[stephenkhoo]

22 May, 2012, Seventh Tuesday of Easter
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ACTS 20:17-27; JN 17:1-11

Have you ever imagined or fantasized the day of your funeral? Who will come to visit you at your wake? What will they say about you? What eulogy will your loved ones give on the day of your funeral? What will they write on your tombstone? Indeed, death will come. It may come at a time when we are least prepared. It can come through illness, a mishap or an accident. Whether it comes gradually or suddenly, we will never know. We need not waste time worrying about the time of our departure.

More importantly, when it is the time for us to return to the Lord, will we be ready? What does it mean to be ready? It means whether we will leave this earth fulfilled and happy because we have been faithful to our vocation and responsibilities in life. We can leave this earth with resentment, with regrets, or in peace, knowing that we have done what we can in life, using all the resources given to us for the service of God and of men. We can depart from this world in such a way that the loved ones we leave behind are filled with regrets and sorrow for us, or with joy that we have accomplished what the Lord has set out for us to do. How we leave when the time comes will be dependent on how we live our lives today. In order to prepare for eternal life, we must therefore be prepared for death.

When you arrive at your death bed, how would you judge yourself? The truth is that we do not live just for today. Neither do we live for ourselves. If we only live for ourselves, we will die a miserable death because we know we have been selfish. We cannot rest in peace. We will regret and condemn ourselves. We all have been given a vocation in life. Fidelity to our calling is what gives us peace. We will be required to give an account of how we lived our life with all the resources that have been given to us. Otherwise our conscience will condemn us. We will not be able to face God or those who have been entrusted to us. Most of all, we cannot face ourselves. This is perhaps the real judgment upon death, when we see things in all its clarity, about ourselves, our actions and our motives. Indeed, peace and happiness in the final analysis has nothing to do with success and self-indulgence. Nor is peace to be identified with freedom from suffering or even persecution. It is a question of whether we have lived our life responsibly before God and our fellowmen.

Hence, St Paul wrote, “But life to me is not a thing to waste words on, provided that when I finish my race I have carried out the mission the Lord Jesus gave me – and that was to bear witness to the Good News of God’s grace.” Instead of talking about life and dreaming about life, we must start living fully instead. Just merely thinking of the good things we hope to do one day and our great aspirations of helping the poor might never materialize. Whilst we are still alive, we must be like St Paul, do all we can according to the capacity we are in. It is this singular mindedness of St Paul in fulfilling the tasks given to him by the Lord that explains why he was not worried about his future or his imminent death and possible execution.

In the gospel, Jesus too was fully focused on His ministry. He knew the reason why He came to this earth. Already, right at the tender age of twelve, Jesus told His mother at the Temple, “How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Lk 2:48) At the end of His life, Jesus could proudly say to His Father, “I have glorified you on earth and finished the work that you gave me to do.” It is important to take cognizance that the happiness of Jesus lay in the fact that He gave glory to the Father. All that Jesus wanted in His life was to make His Father known and loved. That is why He said, “I have made your name known to the men you took from the world to give me. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.”

What about us? Have we discharged our responsibility faithfully and conscientiously to those given to us on trust? We must be clear that our children, workers, students, members and our subordinates are given to us on trust. We do not own our children or our workers. We are only stewards of God’s grace. The authority given to us is one of deputizing God the Father. We are simply exercising the office bestowed by God for the good of His people. We are the sheep of His pasture. Only God is the shepherd. “Know that the Lord is God! It is he that made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” (Ps 100:3)

Jesus was totally devoted to the people of God. Whatever He did, it was always with His people in mind. The happiness of His people came before His own. Even as He was preparing to depart from this world, His thoughts went to His disciples. He told His Father, “I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, because they belong to you.” In saying that “all I have is yours and all you have is mine and in them I am glorified” Jesus was declaring that it is His total commitment and identification with His people that He is glorified. In other words, by the life we live, we reflect His image and love in us. We glorify Jesus by our very lives. This is how the celebrant at the end of the mass dismisses us, “Go in peace, glorifying God by your lives.” Jesus’ entire life was one of giving glory to His Father. In His last testament, He said, “Now at last they know that all you have given me comes indeed from you; for I have given them the teaching you gave to me, and they have truly accepted this, that I came from you, and have believed that it was you who sent me.” By revealing Himself as coming from God, we now know the heart of the Father in person, His love and care for us.

So too did St Paul. He knew that he did not leave undone anything that he could have done. He spoke the truth and proclaimed the gospel in and out of season. With a clear conscience, he wrote, “You know what my way of life has been ever since the first day I set foot among you in Asia, how I have served the Lord in all humility, with all the sorrows and trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews. I have not hesitated to do anything that would be helpful to you; I have preached to you, and instructed you both in public and in your homes, urging both Jews and Greeks to turn to God and to believe in our Lord Jesus.” In other words, he truly did his best in spite of all the opposition he faced. Paul had given everything he had to the Church. He emptied himself like Jesus for the people of God.

This explains why St Paul and Jesus were ever ready to depart from the world to return to the Father, not out of escapism from the suffering that comes from the sacrifices in life. St Paul was always ready to meet the Lord. Writing to the Philippians when he was in prison in Rome, he said, “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.” (Phil 1:21-24) A clear indication that we are not faithful to ourselves and not living our life fully is when we are afraid to meet the Lord and face death. If we have discharged our duties well we would be ready to let go.

In the light of such inspiring lives of Jesus and Paul, let our lives glorify God and inspire man. With a clear conscience, we can then depart this world without guilt or regret and our loved ones will also suffer no guilt when our time comes for us to go. Let us take heart in what St Paul said, “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life — in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.” (Phil 2:14-18)