Rejoice, Jerusalem – Walking Together in Faith

On this Sunday, we are halfway through our Lenten journey toward the great feast of Easter. According to the ancient antiphon at the beginning of the Mass, Laetare, Jerusalem, this Sunday is called Laetare: “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in mourning; exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast” (cf. Is 66:10-11).

Jerusalem, the city of peace, symbolizing God’s intimacy with humanity on this earth, spiritually nourishes all who love her, just as a child is nourished by its mother. The exclamation “Rejoice” is addressed both to Jerusalem as an image of the Church, which gathers us into its womb, and to each of us personally and individually. Indeed, a mother’s love for her children is not merely a dynamic meant for a collective but a movement of the heart, a vital flow of blood to each son and daughter she has brought into the world.

The Tension Between the Individual and the Collective

In the readings we have just heard, we can perceive a certain tension between relationships of “one to one”—the heart of God speaking to the heart of each individual—and relationships of “one to many”—God’s love addressed to all together as a single body. It is not so much a matter of differentiating between these two manifestations of God’s, let’s say, motherhood, but rather of realizing that when God speaks to the whole, He includes each of its parts as specifically as possible—each one of us, every human being without exception.

Thus, in the reading from the prophet Isaiah, God addresses the one He calls His chosen one: Jacob, the father of the People of the Covenant. He exhorts him not to turn away from God—that is, not to build his own life project apart from God’s plan, relying on his own strength and doubting God’s faithfulness and power.

In the Bible, constructing one’s own project apart from God is symbolized by the making of idols. Isaiah presents a man and his companions who work together on a beautiful artistic and religious project: they build a false god. And when they finish, they look at it and say: “It is good!” (Is 41:7), echoing the words of God’s blessing at creation: “He saw that it was good.”

However, Jacob and, through him, all the members of the people of Israel, are called to devote themselves entirely to God’s project and to let Him give them wings like eagles, so they may run with God without growing weary, walk with Him without growing tired (Is 40:31).

In the same passage, God calls Abraham His friend. To him and to all his descendants, God pledges His faithfulness and His unwavering presence so that no fear, anxiety, or confusion may take hold of them: “Do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand” (Is 41:13).

The promise to Abraham, the word spoken to Jacob, is addressed to them and, through them, to each one of us, both collectively and individually: “Run with me without growing weary, walk with me without growing tired, be the companion who works with me in creation.”

In other words, God says to Jacob and Abraham and, through them, to us: “Give me your faithfulness, just as I give you mine.”

The Faithful Companionship of Paul and Timothy

In the Second Letter of Saint Paul to Timothy, we see two other faithful companions and friends. Like the idol-makers mentioned in Isaiah, they work together with diligence. However, their shared journey is not limited to a project restricted to the realm of their own human and fragile existence; it is entirely devoted to what Paul calls the Kingdom of Christ.

Indeed, it is “in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingly power,” that Paul addresses Timothy in the same way God once spoke to Jacob, Abraham, and all their descendants: Keep the faith, remain faithful, advance and run with God, rise up with the wings He gives you.

It is with this fervor that Paul entrusts his mission and ministry dedicated to the truth to Timothy. This is not something to be taken lightly or merely according to Timothy’s own convenience. On the contrary, Paul adjures him to fulfill his ministry to perfection. To be a minister of God, as Paul himself was, means to devote oneself entirely and existentially to God, just as God devotes Himself to us: existentially.

Is it not beautiful that these exhortations—from one man to his friend, from an apostle to his spiritual son—are part of the divine revelation contained in the Bible?

This evening, Scripture unveils an important aspect of what it means to walk together in God’s footsteps: transmission. And is it not extraordinary that Paul’s solemn recommendation, spoken this evening in this sacred and historic place, is addressed to us—men and women of today—gathered here to pray together?

Yes, it is certainly wonderful! But also daunting. Because we must ask ourselves:

• What effect does Paul’s admonition have on us?
• Will we leave the church changed, at least a bit…, renewed in our faith, more deeply united to God’s plan for the world?
• Are we ready to become more inwardly aware of the fact that we are entrusted with a ministry and a mission in service of God and creation?

Living Out Our Baptism with Authenticity

Yet in itself, Paul’s words tonight are not extraordinary compared to what we receive every time we participate in worship, every time we enter the church to pray, or even every time God speaks to us directly through a human person in need of our help or love.

What is special of today’s scriptural message is that it depends on us to pass on to the people with whom we walk together the mission that flows from our baptism—the ministry that arises from our faith, hope, and love—the mission that stems from our calling as followers of Jesus. “Proclaim the message; be persistent, whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.” This is the exhortation by which we are called to encourage one another “in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus.”

But Paul’s assurance in carrying out his ministry, as well as God’s command to Abraham and Jacob to place their trust in Him alone, also teaches us how to understand and live out our baptism with consistency—how to be truly followers of Jesus, walking together in His footsteps.

First and foremost, we must become aware that walking together toward unity in one body—the Church—is not for the sake of our own projects, nor to build a new Tower of Babel, a temple to our idols.

Rather, it is about serving the communion that life itself generates, building the spiritual Jerusalem, the City of Peace, or as Paul calls it, the Kingdom of Christ.

It is the Kingdom that welcomes us, that envelops us when we are gathered in worship. It is the society that exists within us and among us when our communion is truly in service of all our brothers and sisters in humanity.

Walking Together in Truth

Thus, each of us must define our priorities according to our life situation. No excuses—we are all responsible for the path our feet take!

Trusting in God alone and renouncing any project where He is kept at a distance means becoming bridge-builders and destroyers of walls of division, people who rejoice in encountering others with an open heart, without judgment, without contempt for what seems different from us.

At the level of our divided and deeply troubled churches, this calls for a conversion of ecclesial mentalities, focusing on Christ himself who leads us, walking together in spirit and in truth.

In contexts where Christians pray and celebrate their unity in the living and indivisible Body of Christ, like here and now, our true identity as followers of Jesus is to be communion.

Let us cast aside our false gods, let go of our divisive and exclusive identities. Let us walk together in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, without weariness, without fatigue; let us fly with the wings God gives us.

Amen.