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Take
courage, I have conquered the world |
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After
our dinner with a CFC brother from Manila who was visiting Bangkok, Jean
and I came home late that evening of September 11 and went straight to
bed. Very early the following morning, we were surprised when we were
informed that the International School Bangkok, where our son is a Grade
10 student, suspended classes for that day. I turned on the television and
saw what was happening – an unbelievable catastrophe. These tragic events in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania have moved the entire world into mourning. The horrific images of two planes smashing one after another into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, captured by video cameras and shown repeatedly on television throughout the world, have left deeply imbedded images of terror in the minds and hearts of people all over the world. The images of devastation, of tons of rubble, twisted metal and broken glass, and of enormous smoke and dust billowing from the site; and the scenes of bodies falling from the buildings, of injured people running and crying, and of bloodied victims being carried and evacuated, have created a feeling of horror among many people worldwide. As
a consequence of this catastrophe at the heart of mainland America, the
United States has declared war. What this confrontation means exactly, we
will only find out in the next few weeks, if not months or years. Already
doomsayers have circulated text and email messages about the apocalyptic
predictions of Nostradamus. Many people are fearful and apprehensive. My
brothers and sisters, in the midst of this madness, fear and uncertainty,
we should find consolation, hope and strength in the words of our Lord
Jesus Christ: In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered
the world (Jn 16:33). We should listen to God’s assuring words
expressed through the psalmist: Whoever
clings to me I will deliver, whoever knows my name I will set on high. All
who call upon me I will answer; I will be with them in distress; I will
deliver them and give them honor (Ps 91:14-15). I
have just finished reading the book of Fr. Albert Nolan entitled Jesus
Before Christianity. The book starts with the first part on Catastrophe
and ends with the fourth part on Confrontation.
In his introduction, Fr. Nolan writes, “This book has an urgent and
practical purpose. I am concerned about people, the daily sufferings of so
many millions of people, and the prospect of much greater suffering in the
near future. My purpose is to find out what can be done about it.” In
the first chapter, he writes: “He (Jesus) lived in an age when it seemed
that the world was on the brink of an apocalyptic catastrophe. It was in
view of this catastrophe, as we shall see, and in terms of his own
understanding of it, that Jesus set out on his mission. With what I would
like to call an unparalleled leap of creative imagination, this man saw a
way out, and indeed more than a way out – he saw the way to total
liberation and fulfillment for humankind.” Fr.
Nolan ends his book with the following paragraphs: “To believe in Jesus
is to believe that goodness can and will triumph over evil. Despite the
system, despite the magnitude, complexity and apparent insolubility of our
problems today, humanity can be, and in the end will be, liberated. Every
form of evil – sin and all the consequences of sin: sickness, suffering,
misery and frustration, fear, oppression and injustice – can be
overcome. And the only power that can achieve this is the power of a faith
that believes this. For faith is, as we have seen, the power of goodness
and truth, the power of God. “With
this kind of approach to the problems of our time one will surely come to
recognize the impending catastrophe as a unique opportunity for the coming
of the ‘kingdom.’ For us the impending catastrophe is total and
definitive. It is the event which defines our time; it is our eschaton.
But if we allow it to shake the very foundations of our life, we may find
that Jesus has awakened in us the faith and the hope to see the signs of
the ‘kingdom’ here in our midst, to see our eschaton
as an either-or event and to see our time as the unique opportunity for
the total liberation of humankind. God is speaking to us in a new way
today. God is speaking to us in the events and problems of our time. Jesus
can help us to understand the voice of Truth but, in the last analysis, it
is we who must decide and act.” The
message of John 16:33 is echoed in the book of Fr. Nolan. Jesus has
conquered the world to free us. Jesus came for total human liberation.
This is the good news. This is the message that Couples for Christ
proclaims. This is why at the orientation talk of every Christian Life
Program we always refer to Luke 4:16-21 where Jesus reveals the reason for
his coming – to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to
captives, to give sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free.
Jesus came to liberate us from sin – the fundamental cause of poverty,
captivity, blindness and oppression. This is what Fr. Nolan means when he
writes that Jesus “saw the way to total liberation and fulfillment of
humankind.” In
Couples for Christ we evangelize to help bring about a change of heart in
people. It is not us who effect this change. It is God’s grace. We
merely offer ourselves as instruments, we place ourselves in God’s
hands, to effect this change. And because there is such tremendous joy
being at the palm of God, we want to share this joy with others. And so we
invite people to join us. We proclaim the good news that Jesus has
conquered the world, that Jesus has overcome sin. The proclamation of the
good news is a call to faith in Jesus Christ. But it is up to each man and
woman to make the decision and act. The
call to conversion, to awaken in the hearts and mind of all people the
faith and hope to see the signs of God’s kingdom on earth, cannot be
more urgent than now after the catastrophe. The call to faith in Jesus, to believe that indeed
He has conquered the world and has established the reign of God, cannot be
more pressing than today as the confrontation
begins. Where
there is evil, God’s grace overflows. The scene of thousands of
volunteers helping in the rescue and recovery efforts, of hundreds of men
and women from all walks of life lining up to donate blood; the stories of
courage from the families of passengers who tried to overcome the
hijackers and of firemen who perished in the collapse; the images of
hundreds of thousands in churches from all faiths the world over praying
and sharing the grief, are all manifestations of the light of the grace of
God penetrating the darkness of evil. There
is trouble indeed in the world. But Jesus tells us to have courage. And so
I want to share with you the first stanza of my favorite psalm, Psalm 46: God is our refuge and our
strength, With
such assurance, my brothers and sisters, we should act with even greater
urgency and resolve to proclaim the good news – that God’s kingdom is
here in our midst because Christ has conquered the world – for time is
running short. |
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