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Author: Romo Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno OP

Keadilan Allah

Keadilan Allah

Keadilan Allah
 
Senin pada Pekan Biasa ke-11
19 Juni 2017
Matius 5:34-42
 
Bacaan Injil untuk pekan ini diambil dari Matius bab 5 dan 6 yang merupakan bagian dari khotbah Yesus di gunung. Dimulai dengan Sabda Bahagia (Mat 5:1-12) dan ditutup dengan Yesus yang menyatakan bahwa setiap orang yang melaksanakan sabda-sabda-Nya ini seperti halnya orang bijak yang membangun rumah di atas batu (Mat 7:24-29). Khotbah di gunung ini merupakan pewahyuan penting tentang siapa Allah kita sesungguhnya dan bagaimana Allah ini berinteraksi dengan ciptaan-Nya terutama manusia.
Dari bacaan Injil hari ini, kita belajar bahwa Allah kita adalah Allah yang adil, tetapi Yesus mengingatkan bahwa keadilan Allah bukanlah keadilan manusiawi yang terfokus pada keadilan retributif, atau keadilan yang berazaskan, “Mata ganti mata dan gigi ganti gigi.” Ini adalah keadilan yang kita jalankan sehari-hari. Kita bekerja keras, maka kita patut mendapatkan gaji yang baik. Kita belajar dengan serius, maka kita berhak mendapatkan nilai yang baik. Kita dirugikan oleh orang lain, maka kita berhak mendapatkan ganti rugi yang sepadan. Kita menjadi korban kejahatan, maka kita menuntut pihak berwajib untuk menindak tegas para pelaku. Ini adalah keadilan yang mengerakan pengadilan, perusahaan, sekolah dan bahkan negara. Tanpa keadilan ini, maka Negara akan menjadi kacau balau dan kita tidaklah beda dengan hewan liar di hutan rimba.
Namun, keadilan Allah tidak sekedar berada di tarap retributif, namun keadilan distributif. Ini adalah keadilan yang menjangkau semua manusia agar mendapatkan hal-hal mendasar untuk hidup sebagai anak-anak-Nya. Kita semua diciptakan Allah Bapa sebagai citra-Nya, namun banyak dari kita, hidup dalam kondisi yang buruk dan tidak layak sebagai citra-Nya karena ketidakadilan dan keserakahan sebagian dari kita yang tidak peduli dengan sesama. Yesus pun mengajak kita yang hidup dengan berkelimpahan untuk jangan ragu berbagi dengan saudara-saudari kita yang masih hidup dalam kekurangan. Apakah kita berani bertanya kenapa saudara kita hidup dalam kemiskinan, apakah karena mereka malas atau karena ada ketidakadilan? Saat kita sudah hidup berkecukupan dengan “berjalan satu mil”, apakah kita mau berjalan lebih jauh bersama mereka yang setiap hari harus berjalan jauh demi sesuap nasi? Apakah saat kita memiliki “baju dan jubah” berlimpah, kita masih mau memberi kepada mereka yang bergulat dengan hukum demi sebuah helai baju?
Saat kita hanya fokus pada keadilan retributif, Yesus memanggil kita untuk menjadi adil secara distributif seperti halnya Bapa kita di surga. Menjadi anak-anak Allah berarti menjadi peduli dengan mereka yang tertindas dan miskin karena ketidakadilan karena mereka juga adalah anak-anak Allah. Inilah keadilan Allah.
 
Frater Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP
The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ

The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ

The Eucharist and Justice
The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ
John 6:51-58
June 18, 2017
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. (Joh 6:51)”
Eating is essential to our life. Nobody would deny that eating is a matter of life and death, but there is always significant different between a beggar sitting by the gate of St. Domingo church and most of us who can enjoy a full meal three times a day. The beggar will ask himself, “How can I eat today?” While, we will inquire ourselves, “Where am I going to eat today? Is the ambience of the restaurant welcoming? Is the food as tasty as Filipino delicacy? Is the food safe from any cancer-causing substance?” For some, eating is about survival, but for some other, this phenomenon has evolved into something mechanically sophisticated. The society provides us with almost unlimited options of what we are going to eat, and seemingly we are masters of these foods as we possess the authority to choose what we like and shun what we don’t. But, we actually are slowly turning to be slaves of our appetite as we shift our focus not on the essential but on the trivial, like how we satisfy our fickle cravings.
 What we eat, how we eat, and where we eat reflect who we are, as well as our society, our world. While we can afford to eat at fine-dining restaurants, yet some of our brothers and sisters can only have one instant noodle for the whole day, it means there is something wrong with us, with our world. Once I watched a movie about two young ladies eating fried chicken in one of the fast food restaurants. They were not able to consume everything and threw the leftover at the garbage can. After some time, a poor man came and took that leftover. He brought that home and served it as the dinner for his small impoverished family. Yet, before they ate, they prayed and gave thanks for the food!
 Jesus offered Himself as food in the Eucharist, and this offer becomes the sign of the radical justice and mercy of God. It is mercy because despite nobody of us deserve His most holy body and blood, and attain the fullness of life and the resurrection of the body, He continues to give this profound grace to us. It is justice because He does not discriminate. All of us, whether we are men or women, whether rich or poor, whether healthy or sick, are created in His image and likeness and thus, invited to this sacred banquet. Yes, in the Eucharist, we only receive Jesus in a tiny and tasteless host, yet the small bread that scarcely fills our biological needs, is given to all who are coming to Him seeking rest and joy.
St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians rebuked the Christians there. One of the major reasons was that some (presumably rich) Christians refused to share the Eucharistic meal with other (presumably poor) Christians, and they let them without food. “When you meet in one place, then, it is not to eat the Lord’s supper, for in eating, each one goes ahead with his own supper, and one goes hungry while another gets drunk. (1 Cor 11:20-21). For Paul, this was a gross injustice and an offence against the Eucharist, because as Jesus gave His body and blood for all, so Eucharist has to symbolize this God’s radical self-giving.
Are we like the Corinthians who take the Eucharist yet neglect our hungry brothers and sisters around us? Are we living our identity as God’s image, and thus, reflect God’s radical justice? Do we become more like Christ, and manifest His boundless mercy? Do the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist have effect in us?
Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP
The Revelation of Love

The Revelation of Love

The Revelation of Love

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
June 11, 2017
John 3:16-18

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life (Joh 3:16)”

Today, we are celebrating the Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. This Mystery is rightly called the mystery of all the mysteries because the Holy Trinity is at the core of our Christian faith. Yet, the fundamental truth we believe is not only extremely difficult to understand, but in fact, it goes beyond our natural reasoning. How is it possible that we believe in three distinct Divine Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and yet they remain One God? Many great minds have tried to explain, but at the face of such immense truth, the best explanations would seem like a drop of water in the infinite ocean. Yet, we believe it precisely because the mystery is not coming from the human mind, but is revealed to us by God Himself.
The clearest experience of the Trinity in the Scriptures will be coming from St. Matthew. Jesus said to the disciples, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Mat 28:19).” We observe that we are baptized for salvation only in “one name”. Surely this one name refers to one God himself. Yet, within this one God, there are three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
St. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, often uttered blessings in the name of Holy Trinity. In his second letter, he greeted and blessed the Corinthians, saying “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you (13:13).” The same practice was also followed by St. Peter. In his first letter, he greeted the fellow Christians, “in the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification by the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ: may grace and peace be yours in abundance (1:2). It is true that the term Trinity is not in the Bible because the word was coined to facilitate our understanding, but as we have read, the Holy Scriptures revealed the truth and reality of the Holy Trinity.
If then the Holy Trinity is indeed revealed by God Himself, what is the point of having faith in the Holy Trinity then? The answer may be discovered in today’s Gospel. The identity of God is love (see 1 Jn 4:6). The Father loves the Son totally, and the Son loves the Father radically, and the love that unites the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit. In love, there is the
beautiful dynamic of the three loves. Love is one, yet it is three. Now, it makes sense why God so loved the world and sent His only Son for our salvation. All because God is love.
If God is love and He wants to share His love and life with us, we have to get ready to enter that love. And the best way to prepare ourselves is that we need to become love itself. We need to be more loving, forgiving and generous. In short, we have to be more and more like the Trinity. As St. John of the Cross said, “In the twilight of life, God will not judge us on our earthly possessions and human successes, but on how well we have loved.”

Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

The Spirit of Pentecost

The Spirit of Pentecost

The Spirit of Pentecost
 
Pentecost Sunday
June 4, 2017
John 20:19-23
 
“Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them… (Jn 20:22-23)”
 
Pentecost is the commemoration of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the first disciples in the upper room. The usual images we have in our mind are usually dramatic and vivid. The disciples gathered in the upper room, suddenly the strong wind filled the room, followed by the appearance of the tongues of fire. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the disciples began to speak various languages, and proclaimed the Gospel. This depiction of Pentecost comes from the Acts of Apostles (our first reading today). The same Acts tells us that Pentecost took place 50 days after Easter Sunday (Pentecost itself simply means ‘50’ in Greek).
However, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in today’s Gospel from John gives us a slightly different image from that of the Acts. It is less dramatic, less lively, and less miraculous. There was no strong wind, no tongues of fires that rested on the disciples’ heads, no awesome ability to speak various languages. Only Jesus and His disciples. Yet, if we look closely on Jesus’ actions and words as well as the context of the story, the Pentecost that it represents is a poignant and transformative image.
The disciples locked themselves inside the room because of fear of the Jews. Their master just was executed, and they were afraid that the Jewish authorities and the Roman soldiers would also arrest them. But, it is also possible that they were actually afraid that risen Jesus would get back on them. They deserted Jesus when He was seized, persecuted and sentenced to death. They ran away when He was humiliated on the cross and died as a shameful criminal. It was a payback time, and Jesus could throw them to fire of hell in an instant. Yet, Jesus came not to exact vengeance, but to offer peace. He came not to satisfy His wrath, but to give them the Holy Spirit. This Spirit is the spirit of forgiveness, the power to heal, and the energy to unity. It also the Spirit of mission, of their being sent by Jesus. Indeed, Jesus bore the wounds in His body, but despite His wounds and pains, Jesus forgave them and empowered them to forgive in His Holy Spirit. Jesus showed them that violence only breeds violence, and vengeance causes more harm, and only forgiveness can bring true peace.
In our world today, many of us are hurt by violent words and actions of others, aggravated by the silence of good people. The natural tendency is to be angry and seek for justice. Yet, often, what happens is that we nurture the anger and hatred, and wait until the right time to vent this wrath in even more violent ways. But, keeping anger and hatred destroys nobody except ourselves. We become restless, stressed, and sick. Without realizing it, we become just like those who have hurt us. Pentecost is not just a commemoration of what happened in early Christianity, we need Pentecost right now and here. We pray for the Holy Spirit who empowers us to forgive others and ourselves, for the Spirit of Jesus who brings true peace and justice, for the Spirit of God who heals our brokenness.
 
Blessed Pentecost!
 
Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP
Leaving Jesus

Leaving Jesus

Leaving Jesus
 
Ascension Sunday
May 28, 2017
Matthew 28:16-20
 
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Mat 28:18)”
The typical image of Ascension we have is Jesus is being lifted to the sky, while the disciples are prayerfully watching Him disappear. It is precisely called ‘Ascension’ because the risen Christ, after spending some time on earth, ascends into heaven, going back to the Father. In the movie Risen, the Ascension was depicted slightly different. Jesus does not fly to the heaven, but He is simply standing before His disciples, and lo and behold, the immense light appears and engulfs Jesus, and He suddenly disappears from their eyes. Though it has different details, the Ascension speaks to us about Jesus parting away from His disciples: Jesus leaves the disciples’ presence and goes back to His Father.
However, in the Gospel of Matthew, we have a fundamentally different story of Ascension. In fact, Matthew has technically no story of Ascension. In the last part of Matthew’a Gospel, neither Jesus was taken into heaven nor He left. What Jesus did was to send the disciples to make disciples of all nations, to baptize them and to teach them. It is actually the disciples who are moving away from Jesus. The Gospel of Matthew ends with Jesus’ promise that He will be with His disciples until the end of time. It is clear that in Matthew, Jesus never left His disciples. As the disciples were moving on with their new lives as apostles, Jesus remained and journey together with them.
I entered the minor seminary as early as 14. As I was leaving my home, it was not easy both for me and my parents. There were psychological anxieties and emotional longings to go home. But, the feelings subsided after some time, and a big factor was that my parents allowed and supported my decision to be away from them. They set me free and allowed me to go as a mature man creating his own destiny. Yet, I also realize that they actually never leave me. Biologically speaking, I have in my body the genes of my parents. Not only that, my actions reflect the upbringing that they provided me. From them, I learn the love for God and the Church, discipline and hard work, and basic leadership skills. What people see is me, but what I give them are coming from my parents.
In Ascension, Jesus does not keep us under His arms, He does not suppress our growth, and He does not want that we remain childish permanently. Jesus sets us, His disciples, free and empowers us to become men and women who forge our own paths. We need to leave Jesus so we may become His mature and free apostles. Yet, He never leaves us. We bring Jesus with us because Jesus has formed us in His image. As we receive Jesus from our parents, teachers, catechists, and priests, and after living with Jesus as His disciples, now it is our turn to preach and share Jesus to others, as we make all nations His disciples.
 
Br. Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP
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