ARE YOU QUALIFIED TO BE THE SISTER OR BROTHER OF JESUS CHRIST?

By Kasise Ricky Peprah Dear St. Jude, Every day I find myself thinking of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I do because as Christians we are called upon to emulate Him or die trying. In many challenging situations, I find myself asking what Jesus recommends that I do, how will He want me acquit myself. On these occasions I find myself split into two, one half suggesting I do the easy and convenient, the other, and incidentally the smaller voice, advocating that I take the hard road. St. Jude, very often the small voice loses and I gleefully take the advice of the louder voice. It does not stop there, I then go on to strenuously convince myself that that was the right decision. It does not stop there, the matter keeps worrying me so much that I cannot sleep at night. Is that what is called a conscience? St. Jude, I know that the road to salvation is not meant to be easy but the odds are just too stacked against being good. Every day one is met with many dicey situations requiring the making of choices. Invariably there is always an easy way out and then there is the very difficult way, which normally is inconvenient and often requires discipline, sacrifice, thought for another and very, rather too often, of ‘very little profit’. St. Jude, I am not going to bother you with how life has become unliveable, how very tough choices have to be made, how scruples have become inconvenient, how morality seems to be out-of-fashion, how the good appears to be the wrong and how the wrong has dressed itself up as good. I will not worry you with how the business of heaven has been reduced to just a promise to the poor and how the name of Jesus is but a business opportunity only. I will not waste your time with my tears on how honesty is an endangered species and how mammoth has overtaken God. St. Jude, we Christians are ever more showy and loud, immersed in pomp and concerned with only appearances. There is no noticeable difference between the believer and the unbeliever. To suit ourselves, we have manufactured a new teaching, the gospel of reward, here on earth. The promise of life everlasting appears too distant for our impatience and too uncertain for our unbelief. St. Jude, when I was growing up the message of Christ’s sacrifice was so drummed into us that at Easter, I very often cried, for to me, the sinless Prince of Heaven was being mishandled and subsequently crucified by ungrateful mortals. These days Easter and the three days preceding it are but just holidays from work, opportunities for debauchery and waste and the accumulation of more sin. But I digress. Who are my mother and brothers (and sisters)? Jesus asks. He goes on to provide the answer that it is those who do the will of God that are his mother, brothers and sisters. Why is this important? It is a reminder to all of us that calling ourselves followers of Christ is not enough, that mere fanfare is far from sufficient, that we deceive ourselves if we think that we can shout Jesus, Jesus and promptly wallow in our sinful ways, and that ritual cannot substitute righteous action. Jesus requires more of us. Our faith should mean more. St. Jude, today’s first reading recounts the immediate aftermath of man’s first sin and how Adam passed the buck to Eve and how Eve blamed the Serpent. It appears from day one, we have not wanted to take responsibility for our actions and misdeeds. Adam was master of the world and Eve was to be his companion yet both of them managed to allow a mere serpent to lead them astray. We see this everyday, Christians, heirs to God’s kingdom, shamelessly indulging in sin and blaming it on others or on temptation. To each according to their sin, no transferring of blame. The second reading tells of the endless power of faith. We celebrate every day, at Mass, the victory of Jesus over death. This should serve as a poignant reminder of the omnipotence of our God, but alas we are so deficient in faith, so simple in our minds and so fickle in our thinking that we are in parallel contracts with other mediums. What futility! Our God is omniscient too, of this we should not be in doubt. The Good Book says, God knew us even before we were formed, so we only delude ourselves if we think we can outwit him. The Gospel tells us that God has a simple criterion for selecting his children. If we want to really be the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, it is simple, do the will of God Our Father. St. Jude, many times we complain that our Father is slow to action. I, on my part know that nothing can be farther from the truth. Our problem is that we are not ready to submit to the will of God. Our ‘bodies’ are too sullied to be the ‘temple’ of the Lord. Pray for us St. Jude that we will come to realise that we have an incomparable weapon in the Holy Spirit, that by faith we can surmount every challenge that Our Father is omnipotent and omniscient and that mere ceremony is not enough to earn us salvation. Pray also that we come to know that we must first rid ourselves of iniquity before we can rightfully expect to be heard by our Father. It is true He knows we are sinners and also true that He is loving beyond compare but we must endeavour every second of our lives to be pleasing unto Him, only then will Jesus Christ call us His brother and His sister.