
A family was getting ready to visit their elderly relatives when kids started complaining: “Why do we have to go? They are old-fashioned. They only talk about what happened before 1950. They only watch TCM on Foxtel. They even don’t have a computer. The last time when we visited them we asked them if they use a tablet and they answered that they have more than just a tablet. They said that they had a bag full of tablets prescribed by their GP. How can you have a conversation with these people? We have nothing in common! They are like from a different planet.” That’s just one example when people give up on others for the lack of a common, shared experience. The story I have told you sounds funny but there are situations when some who consider themselves clever, modern, knowledgeable, experienced, successful, progressive etc. distance from those who seem lack such qualities.
Dear friends of Jesus!
We continue reading what Jesus did and said during the Last Supper. With St John who was there we keep revisiting that upper room where Jesus gave his Church his Body and Blood, and where he revealed to them the depth of his Sacred Heart, even before his heart was opened up on a cross when a soldier pierced Jesus’ side. This Sunday I would like to stop at the verse 25 of the 14th Chapter of St John Gospel. Jesus says: “I have said these things to you while still with you.” There is no doubt that there are some most important things He said but the time for this homily limits what I can preach, that’s why I would like to focus on a few words from the sentence I have just recalled: “While still with you.” The verb used by John in this sentence menon is used in other places to express Jesus’ abiding in his Father. It doesn’t simply refers to some time spent with somebody but it highlights very
intense and intimate feelings involved. Even those who have very limited knowledge of Christ can sense that Jesus was very close to his Heavenly Father. That there was some special bond between them. We believe that Jesus is God like his Father so we can say that they have a lot in common, that they have the same rich experience of life and love. However we may wonder why Jesus described his time among humans in the same way he described the time he had with his Father. Some of us might think that Jesus should feel among us like those kids from the story, bored and tired. However he didn’t feel that way. He wasn’t tired and bored socializing with his human brothers and sisters. Why? Because what makes us special isn’t how sophisticated we are in our thinking, in our life experience or in our expertise. It is his love for us that made his time on earth so captivating. His love for us still makes the story of each on us captivating for him. That’s what we experience too, when we love somebody his or her story becomes the most fascinating, even if it is very plain.
That’s why when you feel that you confessions are boring and repetitive keep telling Jesus what is happening with you. Don’t judge the quality of confessions by your own standards. You may be bored with yourself but Christ isn’t. He does listen to each single word you confess because he is interested in your improvement even if it is hardly noticeable.
That’s why when you feel that your prayers are boring and low keep talking to Jesus about what is happening in your life. Remember that your prayer isn’t public speaking when you need to prove to be witty, clever and on the top of things. I do believe that when people stop telling Jesus about events, joys, disappointments, concerns, feelings, their successes and failures, they deprive themselves of having in their live the Person who is genuinely interested in them.
I beg you who are listening to this homily, don’t deprive yourself of having Jesus who is so interested in your life story. Remember that the time you spend with Our Lord he describes as menon to highlight a