Articles
April 2016 - June 2016
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
June 26, 2016
2Kings 19:16b, 19-21
Gal 5:1, 13-18
Luke 9:51-62
At the time of Jesus paper and books did not exist. There were very few people who possessed papyrus and other materials used for writing. Outside of the temple or synagogue Jesus would not have access to them. Therefore when he taught he used what we would consider harsh or strong language. He used images that his listeners would not soon forget. In some his previous teachings we heard Jesus saying, “if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out…if your hand causes you to sin cut it of.”
Jesus in today’s gospel uses similar language with three individuals; one who desired to follow Jesus wherever he went. Another upon being invited requested to bury his father, and the third requested to bid his family goodbye. Jesus uses the analogy of a plow to stress the importance of commitment and being focused in one’s pursuit. Certainly his listeners knew that in plowing a field if one would continuously look back it would be impossible to plow a straight furrow. It is necessary for the farmer to give his all to the task at hand in order to do a good job and eventually reap a fruitful harvest.
The main point in all three readings today is that we must all make decisions/commitments about how we intend to live out our Christian faith. Elisha in the first reading accepted the call to follow Elijah. A sign of this commitment was his slaughtering the yoke of oxen and using his plowing equipment for fuel to boil their flesh. In so doing he marked the end of his previous life, for the tools of his trade he literally offered up in sacrifice and followed Elijah. Elisha was decisive in his choice and so should we.
In our own ways, we have all set our hands to the plow. For young people it is most likely their studies, for husbands and wives their marriage, for priests, their ministry, just to name a few examples. But all of us no matter our state in life have put our hands to the plow of baptism, in which we are committed to follow Christ. The point of the gospel today is not to portray Jesus as being a harsh teacher, one void of feelings and compassion. In fact so often in the scriptures Jesus shows compassion to the sinner, to the leaper, to the blind and to the poor. He weeps at the tomb of his friend Lazarus and frees those afflicted with evil spirits.
To live out our baptismal promises made by our parents and godparents we must invest our energy and our lives in striving to be the best people we can be. Like any given important task, the Christian life demands our undivided attention. It demands our resources. It requires that we not become so easily distracted and lose heart at the first sight of hardships. That is, we are not to turn back in discouragement, in fact we are not to look back! We must give it our all.
The Christian life demands sacrifice. Sacrifice is not just a nice ideal; it’s a way of life. The question is not whether we are willing to sacrifice. Life is filled with sacrifices. It’s always a question of how much are we willing to sacrifice… and for what are we sacrificing? We cannot have things of value and at the same time live foot-loose and carefree lives. All commitments involve sacrifice.
Oh, to be sure, there are those who try to live free and unfettered lives, but what becomes of them? To say “yes” to anything requires saying “no” to a whole lot of other things. For instance, one cannot be “a little bit religious” for very long. You either commit or you end up saying: “I don’t go to Mass very often any more because of this, that or the other thing. To say, “yes” to everything means we can’t say, “yes” to anything in particular. One cannot both commit and keep all of one’s options open at the same time. “No man can serve two masters…” Jesus said.
An important factor in the pursuit of this goal of commitment is the role of the Family. The Church refers to the family using an ancient expression as the domestic church [Ecclesia domestica]. “It is in the bosom of the family that parents are ‘by word and example… the first heralds of the faith with regard to their children. They should encourage them in the vocation, which is proper to each child… “ It is in the family where one learns endurance and the joy of work, fraternal love, generous – even repeated – forgiveness, and above all divine worship in prayer and the offering of one’s live.” [CCC1656] In this way united and loving families are essential to the Christian ideal.
We have thrown our caps over the wall of life and we must follow it wherever it has fallen. In so doing we must realize the freedom, which Paul speaks of in the second reading, a freedom that comes from Christ and frees us to follow our vocation. As Jesus was resolutely determined to go to Jerusalem even though he was very aware of what awaited him there, we too with confidence must journey on towards our Jerusalem with the eyes of faith, with a spirit of hope, and with the freedom that comes from Christ.
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
June 19, 2016
Zechariah 12:10-11; 13:1
Galatians 3:26-29
Luke 9: 18-24
The words of the prophet Zechariah for the early Christians pointed clearly to the risen Lord. This Lord, was the Christ whom some of them had personally experienced during his public ministry and subsequently his passion, death and resurrection. More specifically in today’s first reading these men and women saw in the prophet’s words the foreshadowing of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the disciples at Pentecost, and of the grieving among the disciples over Jesus, who had been put to death. Their interpretation of this prophecy in essence was an attempt to come to grips of who Jesus, the Christ really was for them and more importantly the implications for their future.
Jesus puts the question of his identity to his disciples in today’s gospel. They had just returned from their missionary endeavors and perhaps had been in closer touch with public opinion than he. Our Lord wanted to know what the crowds were thinking about him and after hearing about their misconceptions he wanted to know what his closest followers thought of him. It was only after hearing the misconception of others did Christ reveal aspects of his true identity. “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.” The people were already confused about Christ’s identity and because of this, revealing who he was would generate more confusion. For the Jews were already an occupied people looking for a political savior to redeem them from their misery under the Romans.
The people were looking for a warrior, a political savior and Jesus showed them a suffering servant! His disciples and the early Christians had to struggle with this vagueness about Jesus and his power. He was more than a prophet and in this light his disciples and early followers had to struggle with the ramifications of his teachings, which challenged the status quo. Jesus invited all people to follow him and St. Paul in the second reading develops this notion of how discipleship in Christ breaks down barriers created by humans.
The question posed by Jesus to his disciples is the same question we must contemplate, it is really the question that permeates our Christian pilgrimage. Our personal identification as Christians is based or should be based on how we see Jesus the Christ. Let us recall the ever-faithful Baltimore Catechism, which taught many generations the purpose of our existence. In its question and answer format the catechism sought to clarify and impart the key components of Christ’s Identity.
5. From whom do we learn to know, love, and serve God?
We learn to know, love, and serve God from Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who teaches us through the Catholic Church.
I have come a light into the world that whoever believes in Me may not remain in darkness. (John 12:46)
94. What do we learn from the sufferings and death of Christ?
From the sufferings and death of Christ we learn God's love for man and the evil of sin, for which God, who is all just, demands such great satisfaction.
In today’s gospel Jesus presents himself as the Son of Man who must suffer and be rejected. To truly follow Christ is not a bed of roses. Like the disciples and the early Christians, we struggle with Christ’s identity but the more we come to accept our Lord and his mission here on earth the more we come to understand ourselves and our role in salvation history. And the more we come to understand our role, the greater freedom we experience to live for Christ. Why? Because we were made for Christ! In the words of St. Augustine: our hearts are restless until they rest in thee O Lord.
The Solemnity of Corpus Christi
May 29, 2016
Genesis 14:18-20
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Luke 9:11b-17
The strange and mysterious figure of Melchizedek provides us with familiar symbols of the Eucharist; bread and wine, blessings and priest. Nothing is known of him except that he was ‘king of Salem” and “priest of God Most High.” His origin is unknown; in fact his name has come to symbolize one without mother or father, one without beginning or end. The Roman Canon “joins the memory of the offering of Melchizedek to that of Abel, God’s servant, and to that of “Abraham, our father in faith.” This priest-king blessed Abraham, for his part Abraham paid homage to this strange figure, whatever his origin, because he spoke in the name of the one God who had made heaven and earth. Clearly Melchizedek prefigures Christ of whom sacred scriptures proclaimed “Jesus, the Son of the Most high, born of the flesh, Mediator of a new Covenant for all peoples. He is the only true priest by virtue of his twofold nature, divine and human, and not by virtue of his belonging to a human priestly lineage.”
Our high priest Jesus Christ “at the last supper on the night he was betrayed, instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again…” The Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life.” All of the other sacraments, indeed every ministry and all works of the Church are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. St. Thomas Aquinas wrote eloquently about the Eucharist, in one of his works, he refers to the Eucharist this way “O precious and wonderful banquet, that brings us salvation and contains all sweetness. Could anything be of more intrinsic value? Under the old law it was the flesh of calves and goats that was offered, but here Christ himself, the true God, is set before us as our food. What could be more wonderful than this? No other sacrament has greater healing power; through it sins are purged away, virtues increased, and the soul is enriched with an abundance of every spiritual gift. It is offered in the Church for the living and the dead, so that what was instituted for the salvation of all may be for the benefit of all.” [Opusculum 57]
The spiritual life of every catholic then should have a special place for the Eucharist, for it is in the Eucharist that we gain spiritual nourishment and strength. Unlike physical food that is necessary to maintain life, its effects are limited because the physical body will die. When we are feed on the Eucharist we are not only nourished spiritually, but our life in Christ will last forever. The Eucharist should influence our daily lives. We who participate in the Eucharist should be “ eager to do good works, to please God, and to live honestly, devoted to the Church, putting into practice what we have learnt, and growing in piety”. [Eucahristicum Mysterium 13] The Eucharist should compel us to fill the world with the Spirit of Christ by being witnesses of Christ in the midst of human affairs. It is the Eucharist that forms the foundation of any Christian community; it is our beginning and points us to the end where Christ is seated at God’s right hand.
As Abraham our father in faith paid homage to Melchizedek of old, we too in receiving the Eucharist pay homage to the High Priest Jesus Christ who invites us to the partake of his body and blood and therefore to gain eternal life. Like the Twelve in today’s gospel we have a role in feeding the crowds we encounter in our lives through our witness to the gospel. As we hunger for the bread of life, what we have received must bear fruit to be shared with the world. In faith let us receive him in whom is our only hope.
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
May 22, 2016
Proverbs 8:22-31
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15
From the gospel it becomes clear that the ease with which John speaks of the Spirit, Jesus and the Father shows that the beginnings of the concept ‘Trinity’ is already well grounded in the first century AD. Some 40 years before John wrote, we have Paul’s testimony to the belief in the divinity of each of these three persons, which is our second reading. The word ‘Trinity’ does not appear in the New Testament; it is rather a term used later in the church to express the unity, which characterizes Father, Son and Spirit. Perhaps the best and clearest expression of this belief in the Trinity comes from Matthew, who, writing about 85AD, records Jesus’ words, “…baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.
One of the most significant insights of the New Testament is the thought, attributed to divine revelation and not human thinking, that these three persons are Trinity. The Old Testament did not enjoy this revelation. However, the Old Testament laid the groundwork for this truth. First, it contains a clear belief that God exists and that ‘you shall have no other gods besides Me’. Then, the Old Testament speaks very often about the Spirit of God, particularly through the prophets of Israel. Again, with such statements from Yahweh as “…From the womb before the daylight I begot you”, there are the beginnings of a sense that God begot a son. True, this son, in the Old Testament, was one of the kings of Israel, most often David, but the door is open to say that God, exercising the generative role of Father, produces an offspring. If we think in terms of the Letter to the Hebrews, we can express this relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament this way: “…God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets”, only to speak in full revelation with the advent of His Son become man. Indeed the Book of Proverbs [our first reading] with its words “"The Lord possessed me, the first-born of his ways, the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago; from of old I was poured forth, at the first, before the earth” (8,22-23) – these words, and so many others like them, find fulfillment in the divine person, Jesus. Apart from its concepts, the Old Testament offered to the New Testament writers a language, a vocabulary, which they might use to express the revelation thus far unknown to them. Indeed, it is the language that Jesus and his confreres inherited; he first knew of divine Father, Son and Holy Spirit, then revealed his knowledge of them to his disciples. Three distinct and divine persons, then, while revealed in the New Testament, have a type of ‘preparation’ or ‘anticipation’ for their finally being known for what they are. Distinct as they are, however, they must somehow fit with the belief that there is only one God. And it is in honoring both three distinct divine persons and the oneness of God that the expression ‘Trinity’ is born. [John Kilgallen SJ]
Certainly the mystery of the Blessed Trinity is understood when we approach it in faith. The lesson for us today is to take to heart the relationship between the three persons in the Godhead. That relationship is the example of complete cooperation and perfect love. The way we live and interact with each other must be in accordance with the love and fellowship the persons of the Trinity have for one another. Our ‘persona’ must produce the fruits of the Spirit; it must be filled with holy wisdom, which takes its place at God’s side as a co-worker here on earth preparing for the kingdom that will be fully manifested in the age to come. Indeed as sacred scripture reminds us we must become like little children to enter the Kingdom. The good news today is that this relationship of three persons includes all of us, as Holy Wisdom found delight in the human race let us find our delight in God manifested in the flesh who continues to save us and guide us through his Spirit.
Pentecost Sunday
May 15, 2016
Acts 2:1-11
1Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13
John 20:19-23
This great solemnity of Pentecost is really the birthday of the Church. When Jesus fulfilled his promise to his disciples at his Ascension to send the Holy Spirit. “…You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” [Acts1: 1-11] The Birthday of the Church should always be an occasion for us to reflect on our mission as Christians. And our mission is the same as that of the disciples; we are to bring people to God.
We can only accomplish this mission by allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us, to guide our every action. It is this same Spirit, which we received at baptism and confirmation. In essence, the mission of every Christian begins and draws its meaning from Baptism, where we were indeed washed and made a new creation in Christ Jesus.
We must never be afraid of the Holy Spirit who guides us to all truth. Basil the Great (329-379 AD), an early church father, explains the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives:
"The Spirit restores paradise to us and the way to heaven and adoption as children of God; he instills confidence that we may call God truly Father and grants us the grace of Christ to be children of the light and to enjoy eternal glory. In a word, he bestows the fullness of blessings in this world and the next; for we may contemplate now in the mirror of faith the promised things we shall someday enjoy. If this is the foretaste, what must the reality be? If these are the first fruits, what must be the harvest?" (From the treatise by Basil on The Holy Spirit)
St. Paul reminds us that, “those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you…” [Romans 8: 8-17] And so in carrying out our mission as Christians we must rely on the power of the Spirit to guide us to all truth.
We the people of God are the ones delegated to be that vital link between those who know Christ and those who do not. Empowered by the Spirit we are to be leaven for the world showing forth God’s love manifested by us through the good works we do by faith. To prophecy, to speak in tongues, to have great wisdom, to do mighty deeds, to discern spirits, to interpret tongues, these are all gifts of the Holy Spirit, to those who have been given them and to those who seek them these gifts can only bear fruit if our love for God is manifested through our love for each other day after day. God is love; we are to strive to be like God. To be love for a world that has given up on love.
In this Year of Mercy Pope Francis encourages us that our mission is all about mercy. To live mercy, we must rediscover both the spiritual works of mercy (counsel the doubtful, instruct the ignorant, admonish sinners, comfort the afflicted, forgive offences, bear patiently those who do us ill, and pray for the living and the dead), and the corporal works of mercy (feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, heal the sick, visit the imprisoned, and bury the dead). Let the Holy Spirit guide you as you strive to fulfill your mission in the world to bring people to God by showing mercy.
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth.
The Ascension of the Lord
May 8, 2016
Acts 1:1-11
Ephesians 1:17-23
Luke 24:46-53
The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord is part of a greater whole…the Church celebrates this event forty days after the resurrection of Christ on Easter Sunday and just before the Solemnity of Pentecost. In essence then it is part of the great paschal mystery of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection. Jesus, before his arrest and death had told his disciples that he must return to his Father. This feast today celebrates the event of Jesus returning to the right hand of his Father.
The New Testament has a number of references to Jesus’ return to his Father, often described as ‘ascending’ or ‘being taken up’. The ascension that our Gospel speaks of was written by Luke and placed at the very end of his Gospel. Luke also points to another ascension (the First Reading of today’s liturgy and the more famous one), this time among the earliest verses of Chapter 1 of his Acts of the Apostles.
Luke presents the final words of Jesus to his disciples. Jesus sums up the recent events of suffering and resurrection, a look backward written almost as a formula developed over time in the church to explain and defend both moments in Jesus’ life. Both suffering and resurrection were anticipated in the OT, which is a sure source of truth. Another phrasing used by Christians is ‘these things had to happen’. Both suffering and resurrection help define ‘Christ’; Christian belief, founded on the resurrection of Jesus to life, knows suffering is an essential part of the Messiah as intended by God. To believe this about the Messiah is an essential part of Christian faith in Jesus; suffering does not contradict God’s plan for salvation, but rather is the plan. Resurrection makes perfect sense, not only as the reward for suffering, but as the logical result of obedience to the will of God. Death should have no lasting sting; life, resurrection, through obedience is the reality for the believer. Suffering, so much a part of human experience, yields to life. [John Kilgallen SJ]
The final words of Jesus, also includes our participation in his mystery. It is a participation of repentance for our sins that we might receive the forgiveness of God that he opened for us. As Pope Francis never tires of saying in his homilies, and his interviews, in this the Year of Mercy, that there is plentiful mercy awaiting us, but no mercy without asking for forgiveness, and no authentic asking for forgiveness without repentance of our sins, and earnest intention to change our ways.
In our own way the gospel must continue to be preached, both formally and informally. We hear the word of God proclaimed during Mass, but we are also compelled to bring flesh to the gospel by living its values and teaching them to others, and also by showing mercy and receiving mercy ourselves. The very last words of Jesus, was the promise of the Holy Spirit. Christ’s Ascension must compel us to carry the Good News everywhere, always aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit who guides us. Let us then not stand and stare in the skies but make haste to bring the kingdom of God to those in need. Then when Christ returns in his glory we too will join the Church Triumphant and be united with God.
Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 1, 2016
Acts 15:1-2, 22-29
Rev. 21:10-14, 22-23
John 14:23-29
The first members of the Church were Jewish. They continued to follow their Jewish customs and traditions. Conflicts arose however, when Gentiles started to believe in Jesus. Many Jewish converts insisted that Gentiles had to adopt Jewish ways in order to be true followers of Christ. This conflict was especially acute in Antioch, in Syria, which was one of the four largest cities in the Roman Empire and racially diverse, the setting of our first reading.
Conflict and division has always been apart of the Church, indeed it has always been part of human life. But so has love, and for the Christian divine love has helped in working through the tensions of daily living. Love is not a feeling, it’s a verb. Typical of Jesus in John’s Gospel is the dependence of obedience on love: “if one does not love me, he does not keep my words” – the positive effect of love confirmed by the negative. Typical also is the adjustment Jesus makes: his word is that of the Father who sent me. Thus, it is clear that the truth of Jesus’ statements is the Father; Jesus earlier had said that he simply gives to his listeners what the Father has given him. Here we have another of the many times Jesus, while saying that he and the Father are one, depends on the Father; in our reading today, Jesus says, “the Father is greater than I” – though ‘The Word is God’ - The mystery of the Trinity is never explained, yet always affirmed. [John Kilgallen SJ]
That kingdom which we heard described in the second reading was immense. The wall of the heavenly Jerusalem was high, 1500 miles high and broad, 1500 miles in four directions, forming a perfect cube. The wall was over 200 feet thick. The gates of the city opened in all four directions, indicating that God’s kingdom is open to all people. Yet we must respond to the generous invitation God offers. We sometimes picture God deciding who enters his Kingdom but the simple truth is that a life of holiness will lead to happiness and a life of wrongdoing will lead to unhappiness. In reality, however, it is not God who decides who gets in and who doesn’t. That decision is made by each one of us.
The decision of the early church to disregard certain practices was trans-formative and allowed the followers of Christ to focus on the mission to preach and to live the good news. Notice that the leaders of the church proclaimed, “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us…” The Spirit is the guiding force of the Church and with confidence we must follow.
The love of God is first taught within the home, the domestic church. Love as a verb is what mothers so easily do for their children. The love of God is best described as that of a mother’s love. Like a mother who so patiently allows her child to grow and to struggle learning the simple tasks of life. God allows us as individuals and as a church to struggle at times prompting us to remember the guidance of the Holy Spirit that dwells among us. May we listen to God, recognize his love for us and share it with others. Thereby making the term love not only a verb but also a two-way street.
Fifth Sunday of Easter
April 24, 2016
Acts 14:21-27
Revelation 21:1-5a
John 13:31-33, 34-35
The author of the book of Ecclesiastes wrote “there is nothing new under the sun… Is there a thing of which it is said, ‘See, this is new? ‘ It has already been, in the ages before us.” The disciples of Jesus must have recalled this saying when in today’s gospel Our Lord said “I give you a new commandment: love one another.” Surely they had heard this commandment before. What was so new about it? The book of Leviticus in part instructed the people of Israel how to treat their neighbor and so the concept of love was at the very least implicit in the divine command.
What was this new thing Jesus wanted his disciples to possess? It was easy to love ones own family but what about the foreigner, those who were different? The early followers of Christ were quickly becoming a diverse group of people and old boundaries were already being broken down in order to achieve a community built on love. In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles we see the mighty works of God being made manifest because love had become the cornerstone of preaching the good news, even to the Gentiles. The disciples of Jesus were commanded to take an old concept and to practice it in a new way. They were to love as Christ had loved them. This love therefore had divine origin, because God is love, and the most explicit form of divine love is the advent of our Lord as a human being living among us and dying for our salvation.
In the Book of Revelation we read “the One who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold I make all things new.’” This is possible because God is the author of time that is why divine love is eternal and we all have a place in this marvelous gift of the Lord. To love as Christ loved is to be willing to subtract from ourselves, in order to add to another person. We see this reflected in the love parents have for their children. God as Father invites us to enter into his love to find rest and security in a love that not only makes us whole but compels us to bring peace to our neighbor. This love of God, which is eternal, ever ancient, ever new, is our only hope. It is there for us to find refuge. God’s love is timeless!
It was through Christ’s love and obedience to Father that he was glorified. The death of Jesus, so visibly humiliating, is really glorious; it reveals Jesus’ total obedience to his Father. Such complete obedience calls for praise of God; for this obedience is Jesus’ way of glorifying his Father. Indeed, Jesus’ obedience reveals the goodness and love to which his obedience responds. But the result of the glory given God through obedience is that Jesus will know glory: it will be the glory that flows so naturally from the resurrection, the eternal life of happiness. Such are grounds for praising God who gives life and happiness after the crucifixion, itself a basis for glory. [John Kilgallen, SJ]
For the Christian true glory is achieved only through genuine love and obedience to God. And this glory is measured precisely how we love neighbor and self. The long journey to the Father’s house entails moments of crucifixion and suffering and yet these are a means to eternal glory. Our path to God may vary but our love must be the same, it must be of God. May the love of God be always expressed in our lives as something that is always new and fresh because of its eternal truth.
Fourth Sunday of Easter
April 17, 2016
Acts 13:14, 43-52
Revelation 7:9, 14b-17
John 10:27-30
The relationship of the Son and the Father is characterized in the most intimate way. At the end of today’s gospel Jesus proclaimed, “The Father and I are one.” This relationship is the model for us Christians to follow. The wider model of this unity is the relationship of the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three persons act in concert…humanly speaking of one mind and heart. The relationship Jesus describes of those who listen and obey his words is like that of sheep and shepherd. A sheep knows its shepherd and will not just follow any and everyone. The sheep recognizes the shepherd’s voice and follows the command.
We were made to yearn and to follow after truth. And that truth is personified in the person of Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd. Our relationship to the shepherd is one defined by freedom. We must be free to love… to love the truth. We need to cling to the truth as much as we need bread for our bodies. Jesus shows us the way by loving us, we are free to accept or reject that love. By accepting the love Christ has for us we acknowledge God the Father as our Father as well. In this way we come to know God in a deeper way and therefore we come to belong to the family of God.
Through Baptism and the other sacraments this knowing Christ translates into belonging to Christ our shepherd. Our knowledge grows and deepens by always listening and accepting the voice of the shepherd and following his lead, always with the awareness that we are free to follow someone or something else. In our world there are many competing voices calling out to us in various directions. When we come to know the Good Shepherd we are able to discern the voice of reason and truth and to follow it, leading us to salvation.
The early Christians were encouraged in the second reading through the vision of John of the Church in Heaven. This vision of heaven was meant as an encouragement to the early Christians to keep the faith by following the Lord in spite of bitter persecution. In this vision Christ is pictured as a lamb, hence the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God is also our shepherd to the extent that we hear his voice and follow him. We do not belong to Christ as if we were things; for we are made in his image and our hearing his voice amidst the noise of the world takes faith, which expands our freedom to respond to the Lord.
On this Good Shepherd Sunday we pray that we not only hear the voice of the Lord, but that we follow it in the freedom of love. The future of the Church belongs to our young people and we pray today that they learn to listen to the Good Shepherd and to respond to the wisdom of God in their lives. To walk the path of the Good Shepherd is to walk the path of freedom.
We must all walk this path of freedom in fact our entire Christian life is about walking this path of freedom. 30 years ago I began in earnest to walk this path when I applied to enter the seminary. And 30 years later I have no regrets what I did. Certainly I am a priest today but I never imagined the twists and turns I would experience. It took 11 years of study and formation before I was ordained. Immediately after, I began studies to become a nurse. In essence the first 13 years of priesthood was either studying nursing or working as a nurse. God works in surprising ways and it is our duty to listen to his words and obey them. The last six years have been more of the traditional role of a priest. And yet many priests do not live or work in parishes. They are teachers, scientists, doctors, nurses, lawyers, social workers and the list goes on. To become an effective priest or consecrated religious one most develop the positive human traits like being empathetic, joyful, loyal, responsible, nurturing, reliable, loving and faithful. These are the same traits and more that are required for a healthy and happy marriage.
May our young people experience that freedom in forming their future, never allowing fear or uncertainty to control their lives but a humble trust in the protection of Our Lord who rejects no one and desires that all be saved. May the Good Shepherd guide us all, and in a special way may those who are discerning the religious life and the priesthood find in the voice of the Good Shepherd a message to serve the people of God and to come to an ever deeper understanding of belonging to and knowing the Lord.
May we always listen to the voice of God as to enter into his rest. For our hearts are restless until they rest in thee O Lord.
Third Sunday of Easter
April 10, 2016
Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41
Revelation 5:11-14
John 21:1-19
The Paschal mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection is at the heart of the gospel, the good news of which the apostles and the church following their example preaches to the world [CCC571]. The Paschal mystery, which has reconciled us to God the Father, was preached by the first apostles even in the midst of severe punishment and eventual death. The first reading shows the apostles “rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer for the sake of the name [Jesus Christ]”. These men were actually beaten and then released for preaching about Jesus and his resurrection. This was the third time that they had been warned and yet they continued to spread the good news.
The gospel is good news because it sheds light on our souls and makes us aware of the wisdom and love of the Father. The glory of the resurrection is in full bloom in the readings today and the account from Revelation provides us with a scene from heaven. It focuses on Christ, symbolized as a sacrificial lamb that reigns gloriously with God the Father. This symbol is popular, the lamb standing on a book in which was written the revelation of what was to come. It was only Jesus who was found worthy to break open the seals. This heavenly liturgy recognizes the divinity of Jesus and his equality with the Father.
Jesus as the Son of God is the reason for our sharing in the Good News. He is the reason for this Easter glory that enlightens our hearts. He is the reason that our shortcomings, our failures are forgiven and we are transformed and made whole. The apostles experienced this trans-formative power of Jesus and his rising from the dead. It was on full display as they filled Jerusalem with the good news. Peter in particular experienced this transformation, in our gospel today we see that Peter’s denial of Jesus three times is transformed into his affirmation of his love for Jesus three times. “Lord, you know everything: you know that I love you.” Peter was able to say these words because he realized his weakness, his sins, his mistakes, and he realized that the mercies of Christ was even greater than his denial.
In Peter’s affirmation of the Lord, he shows us the power of grace and mercy, which the Paschal mystery showers upon us. Peter had been restored as a follower of the Lord and was strengthen to preach the good news even in the face of danger and suffering. The Paschal mystery compels us to live as witnesses not only from a distance but to live the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection in our lives, bearing the fruits of our baptism and affirming our love for Christ because of his love for us.
Pope Francis in his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation “On Love in the Family”, reminds pastors and the people of God that “We cannot forget that ‘mercy is not only the working of the Father; it becomes a criterion for knowing who his true children are. In a word, we are called to show mercy because mercy was first shown us’”
In this new relationship we say yes to Christ in our love for him and our willingness to share the mighty deeds of the Lord. We know that Christ indeed has risen from the dead and now reigns in glory with his Father. With the sure and certain hope of the resurrection we can live lives of hope, affirming our love for Christ, always recognizing him in the wonders of his works but most importantly in the relationships we have and in the breaking of the bread where he is revealed in flesh and blood.
Second Sunday of Easter/Divine Mercy Sunday
April 03, 2016
Acts 5:12-16
Revelation 1:9-11a, 12-13
John 20: 19-31
On this Divine Mercy Sunday in the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy we cannot help but recall the words of Pope Francis in the Papal Bull of Indiction and the Holy Father’s reason for calling for such a year: “We need constantly to contemplate the mystery of mercy. It is a wellspring of joy, serenity, and peace. Our salvation depends on it. Mercy: the word reveals the very mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. Mercy: the ultimate and supreme act by which God comes to meet us. ... At times we are called to gaze even more attentively on mercy so that we may become a more effective sign of the Father's action in our lives… a time when the witness of believers might grow stronger and more effective.” [Misericordiae Vultus 2&3]
In today’s first reading we see extraordinary acts of mercy. First in the apostles, namely Peter. The hurt of Peter’s denial and his abandonment of Jesus has long past and he and the other apostles through their hands are producing many signs and wonders. Such miracles further manifest the Divine Mercy of God in healing “the sick and those disturbed by unclean spirits.” We see in this reading that the mercy of God is open to all who present themselves.
The disciples of Jesus locked away in fear were in need of God’s mercy. And certainly God’s mercy was shown to each one of them, including Thomas who was not initially present. Thomas did not believe at first but to his credit he did not walk away, he did not totally dismiss this incredible story but wanted to see for himself before trusting. We are like Thomas sometimes, we must see in order to believe in the Divine.
One in whom we can trust is the resurrected Christ who invites us to receive his divine mercy. In his divine mercy all fear and worry loses its grip over our lives. This is possible however only if we believe in order to see and touch Christ and thereby become witnesses of his resurrection. By remaining with the other disciples for a long fearful week, Thomas teaches us that even in the midst of doubt and fear, we need to remain faithful to our core beliefs, we need to remain among the people of God and as St. Paul says work out our salvation. Thomas, like so many of the saints teaches us that perseverance through doubt and fear yields the peace of Christ whom the Christian should always long for. As our Lord told John in his vision, “I am the first and the last, the one who lives. Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever.” This is the God whom we seek!
On this Easter Day we too are called to show mercy, because the expression of mercy for the Christian is not an option. Last week we renewed our baptismal promises and by virtue of baptism and membership in the Church we must be merciful. The Church herself is called to be merciful. “Mercy is the very foundation of the Church's life. All of her pastoral activity should be caught up in the tenderness she makes present to believers; nothing in her preaching and in her witness to the world can be lacking in mercy. The Church's very credibility is seen in how she shows merciful and compassionate love.”
In our daily lives we show mercy when we are attentive to the hungry and thirsty. When we comfort the sick, when we remain close to those in prison. In this we fulfill the law of love and will be recognized by our Lord on the Day of Judgment precisely because we recognized him in the less fortunate. May we also avail ourselves of God’s mercy and forgiveness during this jubilee year.
The Holy Father ends with these words, which we should always take to heart. “In this Jubilee Year, may the Church echo the word of God that resounds strong and clear as a message and a sign of pardon, strength, aid, and love. May she never tire of extending mercy, and be ever patient in offering compassion and comfort. May the Church become the voice of every man and woman, and repeat confidently without end: "Be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old" (Ps 25:6).”