When do you get angry, when are you severe?

Anniversary of El Shaddai

On Saturday mor­ning, 9 November, I celebrated Holy Mass for the anniversary of the cha­rismatic Catholic community El Shaddai, which meets in the Peace Church in Am­ster­dam.

This is always a festive celebration with a beautiful choir and even li­tur­gical dancing under the Gloria and an offe­ring procession. The Mass is joyful and many communities of El Shaddai come, inclu­ding from other parts of the Netherlands and abroad. Apart from Pastor Dean Eric Fennis and spiritual director Pastor Ruben Torres, Fr Frans Mulder sma and Gerard Noom sma and two Filipino priests concelebrated

Why so rude?

HOMILY DEDICATION OF THE LATERAN BASILICA IN ROME - ANNUAL FEAST OF EL SHADDAI

Why so severe?

Why do we meet today Jesus our Lord
acting with such an anger?
Why so severe?
We like to think of Him as a good shepherd,
mild and meek,
full of understan­ding and mercy.
And really, that’s how He is.

And we?

But think of yourselves,
when do we get angry?
We’ll get angry when something
really touches our heart.
Sometimes we know
it was not good what we did,
we had to be more patient,
we should no be troubled so easy etcetera.
But sometimes people may get the impression
that we are angry and severe,
but it is not so much anger,
but we may be worried for instance
for a good reason.

It was love

If you are very worried about your child or teena­ger,
you want to tell him or her
not to do this or that
because it is harmful or dan­gerous,
you want to warn him or her
that a certain action may have serious consequences,
yes, than you may be seen as severe
or even acting out with anger,
but it was love that made you do and say
what you did.
That is different and you may really hope
that your child or teena­ger
will be able to see the love
that was behind your action.

Love is essential

This is very important,
that one may be able to sense
the love in our words and actions,
because the love we discover
even if the words spoken sounded a bit severe,
this love that we feel
and that we seek to transmit to others,
is really essential.
If your son or daughter
is able to sense the love
that is behind your words and actions,
it will be a great help for them
to understand and accept
what you are saying or doing.

Preventive system

Saint don Bosco told this to his collaborators.
He called it “ the preventive system”,
that means: it is better
to guide and talk with each other as friends
and talk on before­hand,
that we show the beautiful and virtuous ways of living
and help them to follow a marvelous track in life
before there is any wrongdoing.
which is always better than correc­ting someone afterwards.

So does He!

This is what the Lord God is doing with us.
He prefers to inspire us,
gives us understan­ding and wisdom
and He shows us the good directions.
He does so through his Holy Spirit.
That’ s why He gave us His Son
and His words in the Bible,
that’s why he pours out the Holy Spirit
through the sacra­ment of confirmation,
that also is why we can feel in our hearts
that something is the right thing
to do, to say, to choose.
We feel an inner satisfaction
if we have done something beautiful,
for God, for our fellow man.

In the temple

But why then, is He acting
in such a rude way in the temple?
Why is He spea­king harsh and rude words,
why is He thro­wing them
out of the temple,
those merchants and money-cha­gers,
those bankers with their money?

If there are central values at stake

In fact, we all know that if it is
about our profound conviction
as a Christian, as a catholic, as an upright human person,
we have to speak clearly,
when it comes to saving someone from drow­ning,
we should not hesitate and procrastinate
but jump into the water
and when someone is about
to do something very wrong,
we should not wait or beat around the bush
but speak clearly and act.

The only sacrifice

That is what Jesus is doing here today.
He came down to earth
to bring us salvation,
not any lon­ger the sacrifices of the Old Testa­ment
are helpful or desired,
but a heart that is converted
that makes a new start.
No lon­ger is needed all this
for the sacrifices of animals,
paid with special temple money
but the one and only sacrifice of the cross
will satisfy all sins
and the only thing we have to do
is accept this redee­ming love of Jesus
with our hearts and minds and lives.

It is because it is about
this central and profound conviction
that Jesus is acting in this way:
there is no other or better way
to make it clear
and this message is extremely important.
Not these animals and sacrifices can save you,
but the sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus
will do so.

Grateful

Let us today be grateful
for His love
and ask for the grace
to live this love in our dealing with others,
especially all those who are very dear to us,
for whom we carry responsibility..

Prayer for the Pope

And let us today pray for our holy Father,
Pope Francis,
since is it is of his ca­the­dral church
that we celebrate today the dedication.
God bless you!