Acts 1:15-17, 20-26 / 1 John 4:11-16 / John 17:11-19
When someone says to us, “I've got news for you”, just what would be our reaction?
Obviously, we will be curious. Is it going to be good news or bad news? Does it concern us personally or is it about other people?
And then there is another type of news. Besides good news and bad news, there is also fake news.
Fake news stir up emotions, and creates reactions. Fake news can be difficult to detect initially, but they won't stand the test of time.
Because, eventually truth will prevail. When the murky waters of falsehood subside, the rocks of truth will appear.
For the past two weeks, we have been getting news that are making us anxious and cautious. The situation around the world is raging and escalating, and locally, cases have risen dramatically and measures are being tightened one after another.
For us, the most impactful is that this Sunday's Masses are cancelled and capacity for worship services for the coming weeks is reduced to fifty persons.
That sounds like bad news, but what is the truth in this bad news? Well, the truth is that this so-called bad news has revealed and is revealing that we have taken the situation for granted, we have become complacent, we think that we are out on the words when the rest of the world is groaning in distress.
And the ugly side has also appeared. Healthcare workers are discriminated, there is the blame-game and the finger-pointing and the usual complaining and criticizing.
But what is the truth of the situation calling out to? Is it all just bad news? Is there any good news?
In the gospel, we hear Jesus saying a long prayer. Among the things He prayed for, He prayed that we, His disciples, be consecrated in the truth.
Jesus is the Truth, and to be consecrated in the truth means to be united with Jesus and to be persons of truth.
To be a person of truth is also to be a person of love, because truth and love are two sides of the same coin.
So, when we speak, we must speak the truth, and we must also speak the truth with love.
Truth without love is cruelty. But truth, with love, brings out the clarity of the reality.
So, God may knock us with the hard truth but it always comes with His tender love. God may hurt us, but He will also heal us.
There is a story of a young and successful executive who was traveling down a neighborhood street, in his new sports car.
As his car passed by, suddenly, a brick smashed into the car’s side door! He slammed on the brakes and reversed the car back to the spot where the brick had been thrown.
The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and shouted, “What was that all about? That’s a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost you a lot of money. Why did you do it?”
The young boy was apologetic. “Please, mister…please, I’m sorry but I didn’t know what else to do,” he pleaded. “I threw the brick because no one else would stop…”
With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. “It’s my brother,” he said. “He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up.”
Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, “Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me.”
Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out a linen handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay.
“Thank you and may God bless you,” the grateful boy told the driver. Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home.
It was a long, slow walk back to the car. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door.
He kept the dent there to remind him of this message: “Don’t go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!”
God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts. Sometimes when we don’t have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at us. It’s our choice to listen or not.
This situation is like a brick that is thrown at us. It brings out the truth of our weaknesses and failings.
The World Health Organization Director-General said this, “The greatest failing would be not to learn from this crisis and to leave the world in the same vulnerable state it was in before.”
Faced with the hard truth on this worrisome situation, let us pray that Jesus will also grant us His love and protection.
This is probably the crisis of our generation and we will be talking about this to the next generation and the generations to come.
But may we remember this moment of our history with the truth that is revealed to us and also about the love that God has protected us with.
With truth and love, we will learn and grow from this situation, and we will remember with thanksgiving.