indonesian catholic online evangelization

Fr. Agustinus Sutiono O.Carm

Praying is one of three important religious practices in our religion, together with giving alms and fasting. The fact that Jesus put it in a special attention means that praying is a necesity for religious person. However, many of does not how to pray. In the Gospel, we know that the disciples of Jesus came to him and asked Him to teach them how to pray. It means that they did not know how to do it. Because of not knowing how to pray, many of us look for books of prayer, booklets or leaflet of novenas, or many more others, and start to use them in our prayer. Saint Paul said: “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” There is a story from the Prayer of The Frog by Anthony de Melo, as following:

“Late one evening a poor farmer on his way back from the market found himself without his prayer book. The wheel of his cart had come off right in the middle of the woods and it distressed him that this day should pass without his having said his prayers. So this is the prayer he made: “I have done something very foolish, Lord. I came away from home this morning without my prayer book and my memory is such that I cannot recite a single prayer without it. So this is what I am going to do: I shall recite the alphabet five times very slowly and you, to whom all prayers are known, can put the letters together to form the prayers I can’t remember.” And the Lord said to his angels: “Of all the prayers I have heard today, this one was undoubtedly the best because it came from a heart that was simple and sincere.””

A prayer from the deepest of our heart matters most. Jesus gives us some principles to remember when we pray. In praying, we are not to babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. God the Father knows what we need before you ask him. Furthermore, when we pray, we do it unceasingly, secretly, not to be displayed publicly to attract public attention. And Jesus wants us to have a great trust when pray, a strong belief that God will grant every good and beneficial thing that is important for our salvation. Lastly, we ask all these things in Jesus’s name.

The content of our prayer itself is simple. First of all, let us give to God His rights, and then, we express our needs. The rights of God are that His name be hallowed, His Kingdom comes, and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Then we are to express our needs, including the need for our daily food and health, the need to be forgiven and the courage to forgive, the need not to be drown into the current of temptation and the need to be freed or kept far away from every evil thing. To ask these things in Jesus’s name means that whatever we ask to God the Father are to be in accord with the spirit of Jesus, the spirit to serve the will of God, the spirit to make God’s name be glorified through our deeds and every action of love. Thus, a good prayer does not depend on a physical space. It needs a spiritual space, that is our heart.

Fr Agustinus Sutiono O.Carm

Any time Jesus received a question from a scholar of the law or the scribes, He replied to it by asking what they knew about the possible answer according to the source of their knowledge. A scholar of the law stood up to test Jesus and said: “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” Then, he replied: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength,and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” He amended his answer: “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” What a feeling! Feeling flattered, he forgot to answer the second question: How do you read it? Instead of answering, he proposed another question to justify himself, saying: “And who is my neighbor?” Patiently and generously, Jesus replied to his question by offering him a story, a story about a good Samaritan.

Jesus welcame anyone who looked for understanding. He affirmed that eternal life woud belong to anyone who put into practice the commandment to love God with those qualities and to love the neighbour as ourself. We are familiar with this passage of the gospel. The essence of these commandment to love ourself, to love our neighbour and to love God our Lord is the commandment to love. Originally, the word to love means to friend, meaning to make a friend. It means that those three commandments are a commandment to make friendship with ourself, our neighbour and with God. In doing so, we are advised to use our heart, our soul or whole being, our mind and our strength. We know for sure that when we love ourself, we are treating ourself well, accepting ourself unconditionally, doing the best, the most useful and meaningful things to us, and we will not endanger ourself nor put on us unbearable burden and difficulties.

When we employ our mind to think everything that is good and beneficial for our self, for example, for our health, our peace, our wellbeing, we express our love to our self properly. We do not put ourself into trouble. The same principle is applied when we are to love our neighbour. We use our heart, our soul, our mind and our strength to love our neighbour too. The story about the good Samaritan fulfills the description of how to love our neighbour with all our heart, all our being, all our strength, and with all our mind. When we applied this principle dearly, we are fulfilling the first commandment too. Jesus said: “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” It is clear now that when we manage to love ourself properly and love our neighbour in the same way we love ourself, we have shown our love to God. Saint James said that it imposible to love God without loving our neighbour.

To love properly, we need to think correctly and wisely, to use our strength that we have (including our wealth, talent and heath) to act adequately, to involve our heart to guarantee the genuineness of our action of love, and we need our soul to enable us to actualize that call to love. A laziness to think, to follow the movement of our heart to show compassion, to use our strength help others and to show genuiness of our being is a transgression to that commandment. On the contrary, when we continue to love one another with brotherly love, live in harmony with one another, commit ourselves to support, protect, care for and show patience to one another, pass forgiveness, do not count each other’s faults, remain humble and not boastful towards others, we fulfill the commandments of God, glorifying God´s name, and simultaneously we show our love to God.

Fr Gunawan Wibisono O.Carm

4 Oktober 2024

Ayb 38, 12-21 + Mzm 139 + Luk 10: 13-16

Lectio

Pada waktu itu berkatalah Yesus: ‘celakalah engkau Khorazim! Celakalah engkau Betsaida! karena jika di Tirus dan di Sidon terjadi mujizat-mujizat yang telah terjadi di tengah-tengah kamu, sudah lama mereka bertobat dan berkabung. Akan tetapi pada waktu penghakiman, tanggungan Tirus dan Sidon akan lebih ringan dari pada tanggunganmu. Dan engkau Kapernaum, apakah engkau akan dinaikkan sampai ke langit? Tidak, engkau akan diturunkan sampai ke dunia orang mati! Barangsiapa mendengarkan kamu, ia mendengarkan Aku; dan barangsiapa menolak kamu, ia menolak Aku; dan barangsiapa menolak Aku, ia menolak Dia yang mengutus Aku’.

Meditatio

Korazim, Betzaida dan Kapernaum dikecam habis oleh Yesus. Mereka mendapatkan kecaman keras sepertinya karena mereka itu tidak tahu berterima kasih atas segala kebaikan yang telah mereka terima. Banyak mukjizat yang telah diadakan di tengah-tengah mereka, tetapi tidak sedikitpun rasa tobat muncul dari hati dan budi mereka; tidak ada rasa syukur dalam diri mereka untuk semakin berpaut dan mengandalkan kepada Tuhan Allah. Pelaksanaan kewajiban agama sepertinya tidak mengalami pertumbuhan dengan adanya aneka berkat Tuhan yang mereka terima. Tirus dan Sidon pasti akan bertobat, bila mendapatkan belaskasihan seperti itu; itulah keyakinan Yesus. Kedatangan Yesus ke tengah-tengah mereka tidak menggetarkan hati dan budi mereka untuk bersyukur kepadaNya.

Apakah kecaman Yesus menunjukkan bahwa Tuhan Allah pamrih dengan aneka pemberianNya? Tuhan memang parih dalam perihal keselamatan! Mengapa? Karena Dia amat mengharapkan semua orang beroleh keselamatan; dan keselamatan hanya ada dalam Tuhan Allah sang Empunya kehidupan; di luar keselamatan itu kebinasaan. Allah amat menghendaki, agar semua orang beroleh keselamatan.

Kiranya pengalaman orang-orang Tirus, Sidon dan Kapernaum menjadi  peringatan bagi kita, agar kita selalu berani bersyukur kepada Tuhan atas segala yang baik dan indah yang kita terima dari Tuhan. Hendaknya kita pun semakin berani mendekatkan diri kepadaNya, karena karunia-karunia yang kita terima daripadaNya. Kiranya belaskasih Tuhan Yesus semakin membuat kita berani menikmati kehadiranNya; minimal ketika sabda disampaikan kepada kita dalam setiap peristiwa sabda. Ketika Kitab Suci dibacakan, kiranya kita tidak melihat siapa yang membacakan, tetapi kita merasakan bahwa sabdaNya disampaikan kepada kita. Tuhan Allah bersabda dan menyapa kita. Mendengarkan pewartaan tentang Dia berarti mendengarkan Dia yang bersabda; dan itulah yang dikatakan Yesus juga hari ini: ‘barangsiapa mendengarkan kamu, ia mendengarkan Aku’

Oratio

Yesus Kristus, kami bersyukur kepadaMu atas segala berkat dan kasihMu yang Engkau limpahkan kepada kami. Semoga kami semkin menjadi orang-orang yang tahu berterima kasih dan selalu mengandalkan kekuatan dariapadaMu, sebagaimana diteladankan oleh Santo Fransiskus Asisi. Amin.

Contemplatio ‘Barangsiapa mendengarkan kamu, ia mendengarkan Aku; dan barangsiapa menolak kamu, ia menolak Aku; dan barangsiapa menolak Aku, ia menolak Dia yang mengutus Aku’

Kamis 3 September 2024
Hari Biasa, Pekan Biasa XXVI
Lukas 10:1-12

Fr. Ignasius Adam Suncoko

Hanya dalam Injil Lukas, kita menemukan bacaan tentang Yesus mengutus sekelompok besar tujuh puluh dua orang dan sambil memanggil mereka untuk meminta kepada yang empunya tuaian supaya mengirimkan lebih banyak lagi pekerja untuk tuaian. Karya Tuhan dalam berbagai bentuknya tidak hanya dapat dipercayakan kepada sekelompok kecil orang; karya itu membutuhkan banyak orang untuk terlibat. Panennya berlimpah dan beragam; semakin banyak pekerja semakin baik. Ini adalah pesan yang sangat penting bagi gereja di zaman kita saat ini, khususnya di Paroki, Komunitas, Kelompok Kategorial, dan Keuskupan kita. Semakin banyak orang dibutuhkan untuk bertanggung jawab atas kehidupan menggereja untuk karya Tuhan.

Dalam perutusan kelompok besar ini, Yesus dengan cepat memperhatikan kesulitan yang akan mereka hadapi. Yesus mengingatkan bagi mereka yang diutus untuk mengantisipasi bahwa beberapa kota tidak akan membuat mereka merasa diterima. Namun, Yesus menekankan bahwa apakah orang menyambut mereka atau tidak, para murid harus mewartakan “kerajaan Allah sudah sangat dekat denganmu”. Tuhan sangat dekat, apakah Dia disambut atau tidak. Tuhan selalu hadir baik Dia diterima atau tidak. Tuhan terus berkarya di dalam dan melalui mereka yang siap menjadi pekerja-Nya, terlepas dari apakah karya itu dihargai atau tidak. Kita terus-menerus dihadapkan pada kehadiran kerajaan Allah, kuasa Allah di dalam dan melalui Putra-Nya; tidak ada jalan keluar dari kenyataan itu. Satu-satunya cara bagi kita adalah menanggapi realitas tertinggi itu untuk terlibat dalam karya-karya Tuhan. Bagaimana dengan hidup kita? Sudahkah kita mendoakan supaya banyak panggilan khusus: menjadi imam, biarawan-biarawati dan rasul awam yang tangguh di paroki dan keuskupan kita? Sudahkah kita mau terlibat dalam karya besar Tuhan dengan melibatkan diri dalam kehidupan menggereja paroki kita? Pilihan terbaik kita adalah persembahan terbaik untuk Tuhan. Semuanya demi kemuliaan Tuhan. Amrih Mulya Dalem Gusti. Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam.

Pekerja Tuhan harus punya kesungguhan
Kobarkan motto jangan hanya diam
Semuanya untuk Kemuliaan Tuhan
Pekikan “Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam”.