Father Csaba’s reflection on the gospel Monday 20 August 2018 The feast of Saint Stephen.
Regnum Dei ! 20th August is the feast of Saint Stephen, the day of the Foundation of the Country , for me the national feast dearest to my heart ! On this day we are not remembering that we had to fight the Tartars, the Turks , the Austrians, or the Russian arms, but about that we joined forces , sat down to one table , and together we decided that our common homeland will become a wonderland , the Carpathian basin! The celebration of the Foundation of the Country ,the day of the reconciliation , trust , unity , our most important Christian feast !
Jesus Christ on the first day of His public ministry , does not start with the development of infrastructures, does not write applications necessary for the redemption of the world , but neither does He start to even building a church , but trustingly addresses the young people loafing around in the vicinity of the river Jordan : “ Come , see where I live !”Andrew and John went straight away to Jesus’ simple home in Nazareth ! According to the internet the journey from the river Jordan to Nazareth over 50 kms must have taken the young men 10-11 hours ! What could they have been talking about during the journey ? I like to imagine as the three young men arrive, tired, covered in dust to the simple quiet home in Nazareth ! Jesus lets out a cry of joy : “ My dear mother , come, and greet my newfound friends , together we are going to save the world! Would you mind preparing us dinner we are starving !” Lets imagine sitting down with them at the roughly carved wooden table by St. Joseph, lets watch as Mary is busying herself in the kitchen , preparing a nice dinner , in the meantime Jesus brings out a carafe of wine : “Come let us drink a toast , to your health ! “Then Jesus explains His big plan :” We go to every man , we’ll tell them it’s much better to live together in peace and harmony , than driven by sinful , selfish desires, to wage wars , to argue , to be enemies!! We go to all and teach them the commandment of love , in one word we redeem the world ! Are you with me ?!” The apostles answer is clear : “Yes we’ll go , to build the wonderful kingdom of our creator God of love and peace !” In the meantime Mary is also finished with the preparation of the delicious scrambled eggs , happily they talk and as it is written in the Holy Scripture , that night they slept there at Jesus’ place !!
It is this simple ! Laying bricks , stones wisely a wall will be made , a house , a home , a homeland ! A house built on rocks, a community even in a storm will still left standing , because every community that is built on love, trust can count on God’s powerful help , blessing ! Saint Stephen believed that a country built according to the commandment of love of Jesus Christ will survive ! I am going to Budapest with this same faith to take part in the celebration of our great king’s dream of the founding of our country! His dream , his plan, is my dream , my plan as well ! I believe that if all of us living in the Carpathian basin can put aside our differences in national, religious , political outlooks , patiently we join forces then in reality we can make our common homeland into a wonderland ! If we not only ask with prayerful love , that God’s kingdom may come , but through wise , trustful dialogue , we build it with loyal hard work then our common homeland , the kingdom of Jesus Christ God , our king Saint Stephen’s wonderland despite all hailstorms , wind, storm will still remain standing !!
I wish every inhabitant of the beautiful Carpathian basin a jubilee blessed by God .
With love,
Father Csaba
translated by dr k.e.
‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!’
Matthew 7:24-27
Father Csaba’s reflection on the gospel Monday 20 August 2018 The feast of Saint Stephen.