Acts 14:21-27 / Apocalypse 21:1-5 / John 13:31-35
There are these four words that are often printed on parcels, on packages and on boxes. These four words are “Fragile, handle with care”.
It obviously means that the contents in the parcel, or package, or box, needs to be handled carefully, otherwise it might be damaged or broken.
So if there are things in life that are fragile and they are to be handled with care, then, the same can be said about life.
Indeed, life is fragile and to be handled with care. More than just to be handled with care, life is fragile and must also be handled with prayer.
In life, there are health issues and illnesses, there are worries about financial sufficiency, there are troubles in family relationships and marriages, and the list goes on and on.
And there is literally nothing in life that is absolutely firm and secure. Even mighty fortresses are laid to ruins over the passage of time, and everything that is deemed strong and mighty will be put to the test.
We know that Jesus personally chose His 12 apostles; the Twelve were handpicked by Him. And yet despite being personally chosen, they all failed, all Twelve of them failed, when they were put to the test.
Today’s gospel passage began with these words “When Judas had gone…” With those four words, what came after showed how fragile and weak the 12 Apostles were.
One betrayed Jesus to His enemies, another denied Him, and the rest deserted Him in His hour of suffering.
Jesus had foretold all this, and as the crumbling began with the departure of Judas, Jesus did not launch into crisis management or damage control.
Rather, He looked beyond the fragility and the failure of the Apostles, and gave them a direction in the form of a commandment, a new commandment: “love one another just as I have loved you”.
So even when the fragility of the Apostles were eventually exposed and they were broken down by their fears, they still had to remember that new commandment that Jesus gave them.
They had to remember that it was Jesus who loved them first, and they had to move on by loving others, in spite and despite their own fragilities, failures and brokenness.
Nonetheless, the new commandment of loving others as Jesus loved them cannot be possibly carried out unless there is prayer.
That’s why the early Christian community was always at prayer. They needed to be healed and strengthened by the love of Jesus in and through prayer.
Indeed life is fragile, it has to be handled with care. And for us, life is fragile, and it has to be handled with prayer.
A parishioner called up the priest and related this incident to him. He knew of this business associate who was suddenly stricken with a critical illness.
When he came to know of the man’s condition, he called him up to express his concern and said that he will pray for him although he knew that the business associate wasn’t a Christian.
The man was depressed and desperate as he could no longer continue working. He told the parishioner that yes, he needed prayers.
Then the man asked the parishioner, “I also want to learn to pray. How do I pray?”
The parishioner, like any good Catholic, told him, “Let me ask my priest.” And so that was the purpose of him calling the priest.
So the parishioner asked the priest, “What prayers to teach him?” The priest had to think. With Catholics, it is easy to teach them prayers like “The Lord’s Prayer”, the “Hail Mary” etc., but what to teach a non-Catholic who had almost no knowledge about the faith?
The priest thought for a while, and then he remembered the two shortest prayer from the gospels.
One was “Lord, help me.” That was said by the Syro-Phoenician woman to Jesus as she begged Him to heal her possessed daughter.
The other is “Lord, save me” which was by Peter as he was sinking into the water.
So the priest told the parishioner, “Teach this to your friend ‘Jesus, help me. Jesus, save me.’ Tell him to pray this when he feels the pain and when he is anxious about the future.”
It is a simple prayer “Jesus, help me. Jesus, save me” Calling upon the name of Jesus for help in time of need and for His saving grace in the fragilities of life will certainly bring about an outpouring of His love.
Yes, life is fragile, handle with care. Life is fragile, handle it with prayer. The prayer can be as simple as “Jesus, help me. Jesus, save me.”