Tuesday in the Sixth Week of Easter
Acts 16:22-34; Jn 16:5-11
There is a healthy type of dependence on Jesus but there is also an unhealthy kind of dependence on him.
We know what the unhealthy kind of dependence looks like. We have a couple of examples in the Gospels. They are characterised by us being possessive of Christ, of depending on him simply for material things, a God who makes us comfortable. They are obviously the same attitudes that as weak human beings we also experience in our everyday friendships.
As you would remember, the Gospel of just a few days ago: Jesus crosses to the otherside of the sea of Galilee and his disciples finally find him, and they ask him when did he get there. Master, when did you get here? In other words they were telling him, You did not tell us that you were coming here. We want to have you all for ourselves! But Jesus knows what is going on in their mind and tells them, "You are looking for me not because you have understood the meaning of the miracles that I have did, but because you ate the bread and had your fill.
How many times does that happen to me - perhaps to us all! That we seek God and his miracles with a childhood faith, with a faith that has not yet reached adulthood!
But now is the time to make this qualitative leap forward.
Jesus helps us doing by actually leaving. I remember when I started driving. I always wanted my father with me in the car. But at a certain moment I had to go out and drive on my own, even in the rush hour. Guess what happened? I bet even you all had the same experience. I kept hearing the voice of my father prompting me, "Keep to your lane. Drive slowly. Keep a distance between from the car before you. Don't brake abruptly. Don't forget the indicator lights."
It was at that moment that I really learnt how to drive. I realised that I was careful when I started to drive alone not because my father will start grumbling if I do not drive safely but out of conviction that I must do so for my benefit and of the other drivers!
This, I think if the healthy dependence on Jesus that he we are asked to undertake as disciples of the Risen Lord. This is the moment when we start recalling all that Jesus said and did, and they take on a new meaning out and of conviction. Therefore, Jesus's ascension into heaven is not the end of the story but is the beginning of his presence not simply next to us, but in us and through us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Today also happens to be an important Marian Feast. It is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompei. In Pompei, outskirts of Naples, Italy there is a beautiful shrine dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary, and to whom there is a very old and important devotion. Today we also celebrate the feast of Our Lady Star of the Sea, which happens to be my native parish, which has the same elements as this very shrine, dedicated to Our Lady of Good Voyage.
If there is anyone who was open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, as from the moment of conception of Christ to the moment of his Resurrection and sending of the Spirit, it was Mary. Let us therefore ask for her guidance and example with the words of St Bernard:
In dangers, in anguish, in doubt, think of Mary.
Call upon Mary.
Let her name be ever on your lips, ever in your heart.
And the better to obtain the help of her in prayers,
imitate the example of her life.
Amen.
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