Father Csaba’s reflection on the gospel ... Friday 5 January 2018
"Follow me.”
Our Lord Jesus Christ started His public mission with a very clear purpose in mind , since He knows people are not bad , but they have to be taught , encouraged, inform and motivate children and adults alike . Jesus Christ’s first pulpit, the family home Mary’s kitchen where He addresses John and Andrew for a whole life, He does not only make them His disciples but His apostles as well.
In today’s gospel as well all He says to Philip: "Follow me”. There is no smalltalk , no beating about the bush, Jesus is not analysing 2000 years ago the world’s distress and misery , the strange, sickly perversions of human nature , but with surgical precision ,determined , with incredibly quickly He gathers His 12 apostles , 72 disciples , the fisher’s of men and with a brave impulse , force He sends them :" As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
9 “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts— 10 no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. "Matthew 10, 7-10
I believe and profess , that if Jesus would have had another 100000 disciples , He would have told them the same , and would have sent them the same way because “the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”I am convinced that at the start of 2018 Christ is saying us the same : Don’t be afraid people are not bad but ignorant . Every generation , and every member of that arrives with a clean slate to this earth. Your duty is to teach them the commandment of love , to make them understand it is better to live in a loving environment, peacefully rather then looking for faults, sins in each other and to squabble. You have to teach your brethren and the generation coming after you that you reap what you sow , goodness produces goodness, mercy brings mercy, kindness produces kindness, peacefulness , a world that even I your Creator God have dreamt of and that we built together ! Lets follow in the footsteps of the apostles Saint John, Saint Andrew, Saint Philip , and lets start proclaiming already from today , where we live , in our families , in our workplace, in our immediate surrounding, that life is beautiful , life is good, and it’s worthwhile to live !
With lots of love ,
Father Csaba
translated by dr k.e.
Jesus decided to go to Galilee, and he found Philip.
And Jesus said to him, "Follow me."
Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter.
Philip found Nathanael and told him,
"We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law,
and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth."
But Nathanael said to him,
"Can anything good come from Nazareth?"
Philip said to him, "Come and see."
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him,
"Here is a true child of Israel.
There is no duplicity in him."
Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?"
Jesus answered and said to him,
"Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree."
Nathanael answered him,
"Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."
Jesus answered and said to him,
"Do you believe
because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?
You will see greater things than this."
And he said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will see the sky opened and the angels of God
ascending and descending on the Son of Man.
John 1, 43-51
Father Csaba’s reflection on the gospel ... Friday 5 January 2018