Today
Roman Catholics across the globe observed the feast of Corpus Christi and
that synchronized with the National
Youth Sunday in the UK. For me, today’s feast was quite special into ways.
On one hand was because it reminded me (and you also) of the distinction
between an irreligious sort of dominion and that which Our Saviour and God holds
as the crucified and risen God. On the other hand was because it marked the end
of the Catholic liturgical year. Truly, in Catholic doctrine, today is like December
31st, last day in the year, and a fresh liturgical year begins next
Sunday with the First Sunday of Advent. In essence, today marked the summary of
the just concluded liturgical year.
Interestingly,
today’s gospel was a revelation of truth. A truth, that indeed Christ is a King
and supreme over all things. This truth was revealed towards the end of the
reading, John 18:33-38. We heard when
Jesus said, My Kingdom is not of this
world,” in response to Pilate’s question. Pilate himself couldn't stand the
truth. This explains why Pilate worked away after he had asked Jesus, “What is truth?” and he (Pilate) confirmed
this truth when he went out to the crowd and said to them, “I find in him no fault at all.” Thought provoking!
Today’s
feast harps on the truth about the Kingdom of life, Kingdom of peace, love and
justice, Kingdom of grace and holiness. My take on today’s reading is that
there are elemental truths about who we are and what we are called to do on earth. These
truths start paramountly from the fact that we are made in God’s image, and
that everything came into being through him. This reveals the truth about human
dignity and sanctity of life, which we refer to as ‘Human Rights.’ We do not have
those rights because they were given to us based on the bigheartedness of our
governments, but rather we have those rights simply and fundamentally because
we are human beings. Ramsey Clark’s quote that “a right is not what someone gives you; it’s what no one can take from
you,” rightly confirms that. Sometimes the messages about God's Kingdom are
not always clear and as such we are inclined often times to search for the truths to grasp them fully. Remarkably, is the truth about God, which has always
been the bone of contention when Christianity comes in contact with other religions
notably Islam. As Christians we are cautioned by today’s feast to ponder about
our relationships with other religions in our pursuit for and understanding of the
truth about God.
The
Catholic Church, for example, recognizes the need to foster better relations
between people irrespective of their religion, and periodically re-examines its
relationship with other non-Christian religions. This idea was presented in Nostra Aetate
and has often times been reviewed. However,
the punch line is that we have been given the signs of Kingdom of God and we
have these signs within our reach. Therefore, we are expected to hold them in our
arms and incorporate them into our daily lives. So when we talk about God’s
Kingdom we are not to make references to time or place but rather to focus our torchlight
on the space we create in our hearts and minds for God. That overall is about
listening to God’s message, which in essence portrays the truth we search for.
And the truth we search for is all about having an open and lively mindset, which
implies tolerance and welcoming point of view. It overall implies listening,
thinking, praying and reflecting.
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