You’re God’s Intercessors
Acts 16:16-34; Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21; John 17:20-26
Sin is a reality that needs no researchers to prove, it suffices to look at ourselves and realize that we too are sinners. This doesn’t mean that virtuous persons do not exist, but the presence of sin necessitates a new vocation, the vocation to become intercessors: those who spend their lives in prayer and penance for the salvation of the world. Monasticism has long shown us the need for people like that, not just the present day Charismatic intercessors.
Today’s gospel provides us with two models of intercessors: visible and invisible. Jesus spent his life as a visible intercessor among human beings, through his incarnation – “the Word be- came flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). As long as he was upon earth, Jesus was the intercessor and mediator between God and human beings: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave him- self as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the prop- er time” (1 Timothy 2:5-6). All the accusations against his disciples of breaking the Sabbath, the healing of the sick and the expulsion of demons are Jesus’ way of interceding for those in need.
As Jesus returns to his Father, he promises and prays for another advocate, an invisible yet active intercessor: the Holy Spirit: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself inter- cedes for us with groaning too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27). With the departure of Christ, the Church and Christians perform their heroic acts through the intercessions and power of the Holy Spirit.
Even today, the visible Church, you and I, through our “Prayers of the Faithful,” penances and mortifications, intercede for one another and present the needs of the world to God. But the triumphant Church, the saints in heaven, also are intercessors be- cause they too pray to God for us upon earth. An intercessor is one who refuses to live for himself alone, but lives for others and works for the salvation of others. An intercessor is one whose life, like Christ’s, is offered for the good of the other.
The unselfishness and altruism of an intercessor is the model put forward for every Christian today; that there is no one who is so bankrupt that hasn’t the capacity to do good and help others. In fact, to be an intercessor is to realize that life upon earth is a call to be there for one another. It is a conscious reminder that even when we do not see God, he is ever present through his Holy Spirit sustaining and encouraging us in our weaknesses and strength.
How does one explain the endurance of physical beating and incarceration of Paul and Silas, in our first reading, yet they sag and prayed after such an abuse without complaining, without the intercession of the Holy Spirit? In fact, the breaking of their chains and the destruction of the prison where they were locked up came through the action of the intercessor Spirit of God. Not only that the Holy Spirit set Paul and Silas free, their jailer was converted through the actions of the invisible intercessor Holy Spirit, and the visible ministry of Paul and Silas.
The same Holy Spirit wishes to work through you and me to touch hearts and bring them faith and healing. The same Holy Spirit lives deep down within us, just waiting for us to accept to be instruments of God’s love, compassion and forgiveness to our fellow human beings. Jesus needs your voice, intelligence, beautify, all you’ve got to be used as intercessory tools for the salvation of the world. Indeed, your Christ of today, the visible intercessor of God in the world.
“Come, Lord Jesus,” the cry of our second reading, will become a reality in our world today, to the degree to which you and I become intercessors of our brothers and sisters. It is the power of love that makes God visible among us.
Assignment for the Week:
Choose a person or group of persons for intercession prayer this week.
Ascension Day: Heaven is Our Home!
Acts 1:1-11; Hebrews 9:24-28; Luke 24:46-53
As a seminarian in theology, in the 90s, the seminary rector saddled me with lots of responsibilities. For a while, I managed to discharge them as best as I could, but they began to weigh me down. One day, I went to the rector to complain about all the responsibilities given me, whether he could give other seminarians some of the functions I had to discharge. His response to my request was unexpected; he said: “Ayo, the reward for hard work is extra hard work!” Really!
Our first reading and the gospel appear to be a glorious crowning of the earthly mission of Jesus Christ – his ascension into heaven. In a sense, that is correct: Jesus ascends to heaven to rest after dying and resurrecting from the dead in order to redeem human beings from sin. Really, is Christ resting in heaven, what about the sins, which seemingly appears to be on the increase every single day on earth?
Yes, heaven is our home, and Jesus precedes us there, and he waits to receive and welcome us to heaven, in our turn. But any idea as to what Jesus is doing in heaven right about now? The “World” he so loved, and which his Father sent him to redeem, has he abandoned it (Jn 3:16)? Interestingly, there is no end to Christ’s love of the world and his salvation of the world does cease because he is not visibly present in the flesh upon earth, as he did once upon a time!
A liturgical pointer to what Jesus is doing right now in heaven is ad rem. The priest says at every Eucharistic Celebration: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world.” Why does the priest say “takes away” and not “took away”? What is certain to everyone who chooses to see is that sin is still very much around! So, to what purpose, the death and resurrection and Ascension of Christ?
Indeed, the reward for good work is extra good work – Jesus continues (meaning he extends salvation to every generation) our work of salvation even in heaven! He takes away the sins of the world even as you read this homily! This is the central point of today’s second reading. The permanent efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross provides us the access to heaven, but Jesus’ priesthood remains forever for the permanent effectiveness of the redemption his blood brings. According to our second reading, we have “a great priest over the house of God.” This great priest is Jesus Christ himself. In heaven, where he appears before his Father, he takes away my sins and your sins – Jesus is alive and active even in heaven.
Jesus departs and leaves us with an assignment in today’s gospel – to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins to all nations. If Jesus “took away” the sins of the world, my sins and yours today wouldn’t get a chance of forgiveness; but because of the continuous taking away of the sins of the world, Jesus “takes away” my sins and your sins even now, and he will continue to do that into every generation.
If Jesus continues his work of saving the world even in heaven, we should continue to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and we should continue to work daily on our own repentance, so that we might be with Jesus in heaven, for heaven is our eternal home! There is something else, those who have made it to heaven too, those we call SAINTS, are not jobless – they are praying for us.
Since every solemnity in the Catholic Church celebrates, at least, an aspect of the mystery of our salvation, two aspects of that mystery, present in the Creed we profess, is that heaven is our home and the importance of “communion of the saints.” Just as Jesus, after completing his work on earth is rewarded with a place “at the right hand of God” in heaven, we too should work out our salvation “in fear and trembling” in the hope of being with Jesus in heaven. Also, because the saints in heaven are in communion with those of us on earth, let us ask for their intercession as we struggle daily to make heaven!
Assignment for the Week:
Try to convince someone in doubt that there is no sin God cannot forgive.