Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Tuesday of the second week of Easter, April 29, 2025, Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

Delivered by Clifford Erikson Guandang from the Parish of Saint Vincentius a Paulo in the Diocese of Malang, Indonesia. Acts of the Apostles 4: 32-37; Rs psalm 93: 1ab.1c-2.5; John 3: 7-15. GETTO THE HEART Thetitle for our meditation today is: Get to the Heart. An educated person and areligious leader such as Nicodemus, when searching for the truth of God, thismeans that he was not perfect. He had limitations and shortcomings. Those whoare considered smart, wise, educated, powerful definitely need more rather thanwhat they already have. In other words, like Nicodemus, we who intend to searchfor the truth of God, are still walking toward the "heart". Ourjourney and effort towards the "heart" actually refers to the focusof our lives, or better, the goal that we will achieve which is God. Someonewho helps others is appreciated as the person who acts to get to the heart.Someone who does evil to others also gets justification from others as theperson who hurts the heart, the core of life. So, what we are saying here:"get to the heart" is something or fact that reflects the core,central and principal of life. OurChristian life in this world is a journey. We really believe that our place inthis world is only temporary. There are some of us who have "arrived at theheart", namely those who have moved from this world at the moments oftheir deaths in the world. Whereas we who are still alive, we take the path ofJesus Christ until the right time calls us and we finally reach the true heartof God. This is a certainty. Jesus explains this truth by saying that He is theSon of Man who comes from heaven which our final and only destination. Wecan ask a question as the following: who is worthy to arrive at the heart ofthe Lord? Is this the freedom of each person or are we as a community ofbelievers having the same call to reach the heart and to be in heaven? Theanswer to that question should be about our Christian hope. We as individualsand community have the same call to finally arrive at heaven and live in theKingdom of God. Nicodemus and every one of us, being encouraged by Jesus Christand guided by the holy Church, are certainly so zealous and diligent to achievethe ultimate goal in the Lord. Everyone wants to be the champion or winner ofthe journey, as Saint Paul says. Weas a community of the people of God or the Church also have the same commitmentto get to heaven together. The Acts of the Apostles teaches us a motto ofliving together as the one Church namely: one heart and one soul. This is a veryimportant tool to help us achieving the goal being united both physically andspiritually with the Lord when we are still living in this world. Livingtogether in goodness and truth in this world is truly an anticipation of ourglorious communion with the triune God in heaven in the future. Let's pray. In thename of the Father ... O Lord Jesus Christ, bless and graciously strengthen uswith the spirit of one heart and one soul, and help us to make this as thewitness of our faith. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit... In the name of the Father ...