Acts 1:12-14 / 1 Peter 4:13-16 / John 17:1-11
The month of June is just two weeks away. That might be important to know because the school break is in June.
And along with the school break, then it is holiday time.
Even though the current worldwide situation is unstable, even though prices from fuel to food has risen, the urge for going on holiday has grown greater.
Maybe it is the “in” thing to do, and we want to be with the “in” crowd.
Maybe it has got something to do with the syndrome called FOMO.
FOMO stands for “fear of missing out”, and it is not just about going for holidays.
It is the feeling of anxiety or worry that other people are having a great and exciting and enjoyable time without us.
This often happens when we see things on social media like friends travelling, partying and having a good time and we are left out, or that we have missed some “in” thing.
So, the fear of missing out stems from some insecurity that we are being left out, or that we are forgotten, or that we are not with the “in” crowd doing the “in” thing.
For the disciples of Jesus, they were looked upon with suspicion, and consequently they faced rejection, and subsequently persecution.
They were not with the “in” crowd doing the “in” thing, but they were not affected by the fear of missing out.
Instead, they formed for themselves a community of faith that united them in prayer.
The 1st reading says that after the Ascension of Jesus, the apostles and disciples went back to Jerusalem and gathered in the upper room.
Together with the apostles and disciples were several women, including Mary the mother of Jesus.
This last mention of Mary together with the apostles and disciples, was an important and significant detail.
Because Mary was together with the apostles and disciples in continuous prayer.
The image of the early Church at prayer expressed what Jesus said in the gospel about knowing the one true God.
And knowing the one true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent leads us to eternal life.
Mary and the apostles and disciples were united in prayer because of their faith in Jesus Christ and in the one true God.
With faith and prayer, the early Church was not affected by the fear of missing out.
They didn’t have to be with the “in” crowd or doing the “in” thing.
And it can be said that they were the opposite of FOMO, and that is JOMO, which stands for the “joy of missing out”.
If they were missing out on what the rest of the world are doing, it is because they had the joy of being belonged to God.
As Jesus said in His prayer to the Father: They were Yours and You gave them to me, and they have kept Your word.
We are in the world, but we are not of the world.
There is no fear of missing out, but we must be a people of prayer and be a Church at prayer.
It is at prayer then we profess our faith in the one true God and in Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
It is in prayer that we proclaim that God is above all.
God must be above all, especially in the Church, or we will be nothing at all.
May Mary and the Saints pray for us, that we can miss out on everything, but we must not miss out on God.