Fifth Sunday of Easter
Also Read: Mass Readings for 28 April 2024 Mass Reading Reflection for 28 April 2024
Gospel: John 15: 1-8
“Without me, you can do nothing.” It is a huge statement made in a few words. Many seemingly overlook this powerful statement.
We are living in a world that tries to get rid of Jesus. Over the last couple of centuries, the West tried to get away from Jesus as much as possible. We can count many attempts from Humanism to Wokeism.
The common factor among these various philosophies is that they all propose to build a better world without Jesus Christ. For them, Christ is inconvenient, or part of the problem. Hence, they argue to get Jesus out of the picture and out of our culture. We have to admit that they have partially succeeded in creating a world without Jesus Christ.
Are they getting a better world? Looking at Europe today, what can you say?
Let us see what Richard Dawkins, arguably the most prominent atheist living today, has to say. According to a recent interview published, he calls himself a ‘cultural Christian’, and prefers to live in a Christian country. He likes the carols and the Cathedrals but is happy to see Christians leaving their faith. It’s like you work towards farmers leaving their farms, yet you want fresh food on your table.
The worst scenario today is that many Christians prefer to remain ‘cultural Christians’ or Christians without Christ. Believe Jesus, “Without Jesus, you can do nothing.” We cannot remain unconcerned about the attempts to get Jesus out of the picture in recent centuries.
When you turn a blind eye to His commandments and look forward to making a better world through shortcuts, you are trying to do it without Jesus.
Jesus commanded, “Do not kill.” But we renamed it abortion.
According to a study (by the Guttmacher Institute, published in 2022) 73 million abortions are performed per year. For comparison, the second world war killed approximately 75 million people (in six years). More than 70 million innocent unborn are brutally killed annually, and we are expecting peace! It is not Jesus’ way of making a peaceful world.
A snap from Great Britain caught the attention the other day. A group of Muslims raise their butts against what used to be an altar in a huge British Church. They were worshipping their pagan god turning to their shrine elsewhere. All because the natural heirs of those beautiful churches and cathedrals were butchered while they were in wombs.
The atheists, the Muslims, the Hindus, and almost everyone want to live in a developed country. Most of the developed countries are or used to be Christian-majority countries. Sadly though, many of them are trying to kick Jesus out of their lives and societies. Many European countries have started to taste the fruits of trying to build without Jesus.
Jesus did not say in vain that you can do nothing without him.
Take it as a warning: if you do not build with Jesus, you are destroying it. It applies to persons, families, societies, nations, and the world.
Don’t forget His words, “Without me, you can do nothing.”
Amen.
