JESUS WANTS YOU FREE

FEAR ENSLAVES

Having lived in and having studied some kingdoms around the world, I have come the conclusion that some kings find it very effective to keep their subjects in constant anxiety. The rule goes like this: if the people are anxious about their life, and worry about where their next meal is coming from, then maybe they will be more willing to do what the king wants. Anxiety keeps them in their place. Fear makes the monarchy firm. More people live in poverty, more people live on food stamps or are unemployed, more they will expect from the government and therefore they will be willing to do whatever the government wants them to do; They will vote for the candidate of the government; they will embrace and support the ideology promoted by those in charge of the government. Where is the freedom of someone who is unemployed and who is receiving subsidies from the government? Can someone who is receiving free stuff from the government vote for a candidate of his/her choice? History teaches us that a big government always produces dictatorship and suppression of freedom, therefore it is ineffective, intrusive, and even corrupt.

But one the greatest things about Jesus is that he does not want his people to be anxious. The main point of Matthew 6:24-34 is that God is King over everything and He does not secure his kingship by cultivating anxiety. God does not need to keep us anxious in order to establish his power and authority. Instead, he uses his power to take away our anxiety. All he is asking us to do is to seek the kingdom of heaven first.

To seek first the kingdom of God is not an easy command.

This is why we talk about “The life of prayer.” We cannot seek first the kingdom, unless prayer is the foundation of our lives; unless the ongoing conversation of prayer is part of everything we do; unless we live by some kind of rule of life that makes prayer, the reading of Scripture, praise, confession, supplication and thanksgiving part of the very fabric of our daily lives.

 When we commit ourselves to prayer, to seeking first the kingdom of God as a way of life over long seasons of time, a strange thing begins to happen. We experience a decrease in anxiety, and an increase in faith. We find ourselves worrying less and trusting God more. This is not because the future becomes any more certain; it is because we come to learn that God is good and trustworthy. We learn how to be faithful creatures, and we learn how to let God be God.

When our lives are governed by prayer and devotion to God we enter into the various circumstances of life filled with God’s Holy Spirit, who gives us the grace we need to do the will of God in each moment. The more we drift away from our prayer, the more we are governed in each moment by our disordered desires and we become dry spiritually.

When we pursue money or any temporal things as the goal of life; when we make compromises and take shortcuts in order to make it in the world, we are on our own. But when commit all of our life and money to God in prayer; when we commit ourselves to doing his will in every circumstance; we have the privilege of trusting him for the results. Then we come to a place where we truly understand the meaning of this Eucharistic words: “and here we offer and present unto thee O Lord, ourselves, our souls, and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee”.

And, as Jesus said, we discover that “All these things” are indeed, added unto us.

St. Paul sums it up in Philippians when he says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:6-7).

Peace and blessings!

Fr. Thierry

"For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay. Habakkuk 2:3

Telling The Truth

In the Gospel this week (John 16: 6-15), we continue with the discussion that Jesus had with his

No one ever said.

disciples. It is all about the truth of kingdom.

We live in a world where the majority of people believe that there is no absolute truth; that everything is relative. And that leads to the theory of relativism.

We also know that more than 2000 years ago, Truth was judged and put to death by those who preferred lies.

What is truth?

According to the dictionary, truth is “conformity to fact; a statement proven to be accepted as true”.

It has nothing to do with whatever works. Truth is not whatever works type of thing; the philosophy of ends-vs-means type of an approach. Lies can work, the fact of the matter is they still remain lies and not the truth! Truth is not what the majority says is true. 70% of people can come together and reach a wrong conclusion. And it happened in our country at least twice in the past eight years.

Why do we need to stand for truth?

One of the biggest problems with Christians today is that they are hiding the truth of the gospel of Christ within the church walls, in a secret place as we see it in Luke 11:33

There is a saying in our society today that we shouldn’t force our beliefs on other people. As Christians we are called to stand up against the devil.

Psalm 94:16 "Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?"

To fully know why we need to stand for the truth, we have to go back to the early Church believers. They succeeded because they were not afraid of standing up for the truth. They won many souls for Jesus. Acts 2: 41 teaches us that 3000 souls were saved.

We need to stand up! You know what, the devil doesn’t care about what you believe as long as you keep to yourself, you keep it private. The devil is concerned when you start speaking publicly, openly. We need to occupy the public square just like the early Church believers. They scared Satan to death!

May God help us to know the truth, to tell the truth, and to live out the truth so that we may be worthy of our callings.

Peace and blessings!

Fr. Thierry Hakpon

Factions

The story of this First Sunday after Easter took place on the same day of the Resurrection (John 20: 19-23). It is the continuation of the account of the Resurrection. It happened on that first day of the week, our modern time Sunday. Jesus, the Risen Christ appeared to his disciples. It was him not a ghost. He is truly alive. We need reflect on two aspects of the story that I found important for every follower of Jesus: (1) All doors were shut for fear of the Jews; (2) Jesus was the reason why the disciples were gathered.

All doors were shut for fear of the Jews

The Sentiments during the week of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus:

            All the Jews were in town for the Passover; the Pharisees, Scribes, Jewish leaders were strictly attached to the observance of the Law; the political power represented by Pontius Pilate took all necessary precaution to prevent any trouble; and the disciples were afraid of Jesus because of the brutality of the Jews against Jesus. All this leads to the idea of “faction”.

James Madison argues in Federalist #10 that the formation of factions is the natural behavior of men. Whether the group is a majority or minority faction, the goals they pursue may be counter to the good of other factions, or society as a whole. 

According to Madison, there are two methods of removing the causes of faction: the one, by destroying the liberty which is essential to its existence; the other, by giving to every citizen the same opinions, the same passions, and the same interests.

Jesus and his followers were seen as a faction against the Jewish and Roman establishments: they must be eliminated. Hence, the fear that came upon the disciples.

Jesus is the reason of their gathering

They made the difficult choice to stand for Jesus. They had the choice to compromise but they didn’t. They had the choice to go back to their own families, but they didn’t. They had the choice to run for their lives, but they didn’t. They stayed in the game with Jesus. It is true that they shut their doors for fear of the Jews, but we have to keep in mind that they gathered together for Jesus.

How about you? Where do you put Jesus in your life? Does He occupy the first place? When it comes to choose between your relations, your friends, your families, your relatives and Jesus, what do you choose?

To overcome the world, we cannot support or please the world, friends, families or relatives for no reason at all. For God to do what he promised in Isaiah 43: 1-12, you must make a choice, a clear choice, which is to be on the right side, his side.

As Christians, we are not going to join the world. There is nothing that can justify our choice of the world, families and friends over Jesus, the Bible, the Church, the Kingdom. Nothing!

Be in the same faction with Jesus!

Peace and blessings!

Fr. Thierry