indonesian catholic online evangelization

Pentecost Sunday [A]

May 31, 2020

John 20:19-23

“Happy Birthday!” today is the feast of Pentecost, and today is the birth of the Church. We should rejoice because our Church is getting older by age, but getting ever stronger by vitality and creativity in preaching the Good News. Yet, the question is why we celebrate the birthday of the Church on the Pentecost Sunday?

To answer this, we need to understand the biblical meaning of the celebration of Pentecost and what took place to the disciples on the day the Holy Spirit descended upon them. The word Pentecost means the fiftieth, and the feast of Pentecost takes place on the fiftieth day after Sunday Easter. However, the Christian feast itself is originally a Jewish religious festival: the feast of Shavuot or the Feast of Weeks. The feast took place seven weeks after the grand celebration of the Passover. Together with Passover and the Feast of Tabernacle (Booths), Pentecost are the major pilgrimage festivals that require any male Jews to make their way to Jerusalem. Initially, the feast is agricultural in nature. The people of Israel gave thanks for the successful harvests and offered the fruits of their harvest to the Lord. Yet, it also gained a religious meaning. In the feast of Shavuot, the Israelites commemorate the giving of the Law and the making of the covenant with the Lord God in Mount Sinai.

This explains why many people from different nations gathered in around the place of the disciples: they were pilgrims of Pentecost. This answers a more fundamental question about the identity of the Holy Spirit: Why did the Holy Spirit have to present Himself as fire, and no other image like a dove? If we go back to the Sinaitic event itself, we are going to find something remarkable. When God made His covenant and handed down His Law, He appeared Himself to entire Israel as fire [see Exo 19:18]. The Holy Spirit appeared in fire simply because He was the same God who manifested Himself in Sinai. The Pentecost Sunday reveals the fundamental truth about the Holy Spirit that the promised Paraclete is divine.

In Sinai, the Israelites received the Law and entered into a covenant with the Lord. God embraced them and made them “a priestly kingdom and a holy nation [see Exo 19:6]. Israelites became a nation that belongs to God. In the new Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and instilled in them the New Law of Love. He fashioned them to be new People of God [see Pet 2:9]. The new community of God’s family has been born!

Yet, these new people are even greater. The Holy Spirit empowered the disciples to preach the Good News to people from different nations and languages. The Pentecost reversed the negative effect of the tower of Babel [see Gen 11:1-9]. When people were so proud of themselves and tried to become like God with their power, different languages turned out to be a curse that divides them. Yet, with the Holy Spirit that transformed the hearts and instilled humility, languages become a blessing that unites the different people.

We thank the Holy Spirit that gave birth to the Church. We give thanks to the Holy Spirit that has called us to part of the new people of God.

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

6^th Sunday of Easter

May 17, 2020

John 14:15-21

In the last supper, Jesus promised the disciples that He would send another advocate to be with them forever. Who is this other advocate?

We all know that He is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Most Holy Trinity. Yet, how did Jesus describe Him in the Gospel of John, and why did He call the Spirit as such? Jesus named Him as the Paraclete, or in Greek, “Parakletos.” This exceptional word comes from two more basic Greek words, “para” means “at the side,” and “kaleo” means “to call.” Thus, “parakletos” can be understood as someone who is called to be at our side, especially in times of need. It is crucial to see the original setting where this word came: it was the court room. No wonder that the word “parakletos” may be translated into English as an advocate like a lawyer who assists us, defend us and speak on our behalf in the legal trial. Yet, as we know, a good lawyer does not only assist within the court room, he is there before and after the trial. He gives his advice and prepares us for the proceedings. In the end, he consoles us if we face severe judgment as well as rejoices if we emerge victoriously. No wonder in English, the word “paraclete” can be translated as an advocate, comforter, counselor, and even helper. But why did Jesus choose this image in the first place?

The reason is that Jesus knew that as the disciples preached His Gospel, they would face many trials. Peter and John faced trial before the Sanhedrin [Acts 4:5 ff]. Stephen was accused of blasphemy and stoned to death [acts 7]. And Paul was put under many judgments before he gave up his life for Jesus. In this kind of reality, Jesus did the right thing: to send the Paraclete. The Holy Spirit would be at the side of the disciples facing trials and hardship as they were preaching Jesus. Indeed, it is unconceivable for these disciples to endure and even give up their lives without the Holy Spirit that were at their side.

In our time, as disciples of Christ, we are facing a global trial caused by the virus covid19. Some of us are luckier because we just need to stay at home. Some of us are fortunate because we can enjoy the livestreaming mass, even twice a day! But for many, the pandemic means losing their livelihood and even their lives. For many, they cannot go to the church even when there was no pandemic.

We indeed need the Paraclete, but one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is that we are also empowered to be a little paraclete to our brothers and sisters. The moment we, the Dominican community in Surabaya, was required to close the church temporarily for the public service, we immediately were eager to provide an online service to our parishioners. We are thankful that many people donate relief goods to our parish, and our parish priests assisted by lay partners work hard to channel this help to those who are in need.

Instead of complaining that we cannot go to the Church or blaming other for the situations, we should ask the Holy Spirit to empower us to become little paracletes and find ways to be advocates, comforters and at the side of our brothers and sisters in need.

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

5^th Sunday of Easter

May 10, 2020

John 14:1-12

We have closed our churches for public service for weeks. We shifted to livestreaming masses, and we are learning to adjust and to give priority to our health and life, we realize our hearts remain troubled. We long to see Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, we desire to receive Him in the Eucharist, we want to serve Him in the churches, and we miss the sacrament of confession. We are unsure when it is going to end and be back to normal.

We are like the disciples in the Gospel. Their hearts were troubled because Jesus was about to leave them. They were having a Passover meal, and it was supposed a festive celebration. Yet, Jesus announced to them that someone would betray Him, and He would be taken away from them. The disciples had thrown everything away and followed Jesus because they were hoping that Jesus, as the Messiah, would overthrow the Roman empire and restore the glory of Israel. They could not square with the probability of utter failure. Were they holding on false hope? Was Jesus a hoax? Were their sacrifices useless? We are like the disciples. After we give everything to follow Jesus, to serve His Church, and to work in His vineyard, we feel He is missing. Where is Jesus when we needed Him most?

Jesus knew His disciples’ hearts and assured them as He did to have in God and Jesus. Yet, what comes after this word of affirmation is that Jesus told the disciples that there are many dwelling places in His Father’s house, and He will go to prepare the places. To comfort the disciples, Jesus did not say that He would come back victorious, or He would destroy all enemies of Israel. He said that He is going to prepare a dwelling place. It is just not making much sense.

To understand this, we need to know the wedding ceremony at the time of Jesus. During this time, the wedding was done in two steps. The first one is the betrothal, and the second stage is the wedding celebration. During the betrothal, the couple has exchanged vows and have become husband and wife in the eyes of the Law, but they have not stayed together in one house. They had to wait for around one year before the final ceremony. After around year, the bride would be brought in procession to the home of the groom, and they will have a week-long celebration. Why one-year wait? The reason is practical. It gives enough time for the man to prepare for the celebration as well as build a proper place for the bride.

One particular image that the Church has in relation to Jesus is that she is the bride of Christ. If we apply this Jewish wedding rite to the Church and Jesus, we discover that betrothal has taken place, but not yet the final step. Jesus is not with His Church because He is Father’s House to prepare the dwelling place for us, His bride.

In the time of the pandemic, our hearts are sorely troubled, and with the churches are closed, we feel that our Lord is taken away from us. Yet, a difficult time can actually be a passage going to the much better dwelling place prepared by Jesus. We may not see yet the better things we will experience, yet Jesus assures us that God is in control. In this stormy life, we may see a beautiful place prepared by Jesus, our groom.

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

3^rd Sunday of Easter

April 26, 2020

Luke 24:13-35

The two disciples went back home to Emmaus. One of them was Cleopas, and his companion probably was his wife. Perhaps they got afraid of the Roman and Jewish authorities who might go after them after they killed Jesus, the leader. Or maybe, they just got their hope and expectation shattered when Jesus, their expected Messiah, was crucified.

Cleopas and his wife were doing what we usually do in times of sadness and troubles. They told stories and tried to make sense of what had happened. Yet, the thing did not go right. Their dialogue did not make them better. Instead, they became so depressed, and they even failed to recognize Jesus, who was very close. Indeed, we need someone to share our stories, but when this person is not prepared, despite his goodwill, our stories can go from bad to worse. We need to remember that the first dialogue in the Bible took place in the garden of Eden between Eve and the serpent.

Fortunately, Jesus intervened at the right moment. Jesus brought in the missing piece. Jesus offered the word of God. The couple was so blessed because they experienced the first-ever Bible study, and it was Jesus Himself who guided them. Yet, Jesus made it clear that they knew their scriptures, but they were lack of faith. When we read the Bible without faith, it is nothing more than a lovely and inspiring novel or an ancient and mysterious text. Only with faith, we encounter God who is telling His stories. No wonder Jesus said to them that the scriptures are about Him because Jesus is the same God who was present in the creation, who led the Hebrew peoples in their exodus, and who sent prophets to guide the Israelites in the promised land.

Cleopas and his wife remind us of the first couple who also failed to have faith in God, Adam, and Eve. After the first dialogue with Satan that led them to doom, they deserved nothing but death. Yet, God did not allow death to overcome them immediately, but instead, He made them leather cloth as a sign of His protection, as well as the sign of the first blood sacrifice. When they left the beautiful garden as a consequence of their choice, it was also the last time we heard about what happened inside the garden. Why? God was no longer in the garden. He was following Adam and Eve. God did not wish they wondered even farther but guided them back to paradise. As God journeyed with Adam and Eve, he also walked with Cleopas and his wife, as they make their way to the new Eden. In the end of their journey, they recognized Jesus when He took bread, blessed, broke and shared it. These were the eucharistic gestures. They entered the new Paradise, the celebration of the Eucharist.

Our stories in life, even in the most destressing moment like now, make sense when God enters into the pictures with His stories. The journey to Emmaus sheds a brighter light on the purpose of the Holy Mass. In the Mass, we always begin with the reading of the scriptures because we are invited to see our little stories in God’s greatest stories. When we find the meaning of our lives in God, that is the time we discover Jesus alive and fresh in the breaking of the bread.

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP

Easter Sunday

April 12, 2020

John 20:1-9

Today is the day of resurrection. Today is the day Jesus has conquered sin and death. Today is the day of our victory. No wonder among the liturgical celebration of the Church, Easter is the grandest, the longest and the most spectacular. It is the time that the churches are flooded with the faithful. It is the time that parishioners got involved in many activities, practices, and services. It is the time when families gather and celebrate. It is the time the priests receive more blessings!

However, something strange this year. Our Easter celebration is silent and simple. It is like an empty tomb, quiet and dark. And like the empty tomb, our churches are also empty, the pews are without people, and our buildings are darker. This Easter, we do not hold burning candles in our hands. This Easter, we do not sing together the Exultet. This Easter, we still do not receive the holy communion.

We may be like Mary Magdalene or Peter who discovered the empty tomb. Mary Magdalene was confused and at a loss when she saw the empty tomb. She was weeping before the tomb because she thought the body of Jesus has been stolen. She loved Jesus so much, but she had to see His Lord tortured, crucified and buried. It was a painful and crushing experience to see someone she loved dying like an animal. As if not enough with all the pain, this time, the body was missing. Peter did not fare better. After he had told his Master that he would give his life for Him, less than a few hours, he denied Jesus, not once, not twice, but thrice. He realized that he was a coward, and this brought pain and terrible humiliation. To make things worse, he discovered the tomb empty and he failed to understand.

This year is different because God has invited us to go deeper into the tomb. In previous years, we may be dazzled by the shining angel. We focus ourselves on various preparations, on the beautiful songs, on the floral decorations, on a joyous atmosphere, or perhaps on the priests! But this year, God calls our attention to the empty tomb, to endure the silence, to bear the darkness, and to reflect deeper on how Jesus resurrected.

Jesus did not put a spectacular show on how He conquered death. Jesus did not take any selfies when He returned from the dead! Rather, Jesus rose in the secret of the cave. Jesus won over death in the silence of the tomb. Jesus saved us in the hidden and mysterious way. Yet, this is the resurrection, and this is the most beautiful moment in human history.

This year Easter gives us a powerful lesson. God has risen even in the empty tombs of our lives. God is alive even we are far from the church we love and serve. God is alive even when we feel the most powerless inside our homes. God is alive even when we are struggling with many difficulties caused by this pandemic.

Perhaps, it is the time we reflect more on how God works gently in our lives. Perhaps, it is the time to rethink our priorities in life and to place God in the center. Perhaps, it is the time to appreciate the people who love, to reconcile with people who are close to us.

Valentinus Bayuhadi Ruseno, OP