April 29, 2018 — Fifth Sunday of Easter

ACTS 9: 26-31; PS 22: 26-28, 30-32; 1 JN 3: 18-24; JN 15: 1-8

We have previously addressed the issue of what is included in the readings which we hear at our liturgies on Sunday — that is, the Church operates on a three-year cycle with A being basically the Year of Matthew; B the Year of Mark (our current year as a matter of fact); and C the Year of Luke. One might ask “Where is John?” The Gospel of John is more or less scattered through the other three cycles. All together there are 70 passages we hear from John over the three years, 30 in B, and 20 in A and C. However, these usually occur during Lent and Easter.

The other thing unique about our Easter season, which is right now, is that the First Reading is usually from the Acts of the Apostles (and occasionally from Revelations). The Church has reasons for all of this. The choice and sequence of readings are aimed at giving Christ’s faithful an ever-deepening perception of the faith they profess and of the history of salvation. During this Holy Easter Season, Acts gives us an accurate perception of the development of the Church, and the Gospel of John is an introspective view of salvation.

While the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) provide a view of Jesus from birth to ascension, John focuses on the final 40 months of Jesus’ life, with particular emphasis on His death and Resurrection. John has been called ‘the spiritual gospel’, not because the others are unspiritual, but because it has a special way of drawing our attention to who Jesus is and challenging us to make a personal response to Him. John’s Gospel constantly calls us to a relationship of trust with the Lord. The call is not to a complex system of beliefs, but simply to believe that Jesus really is from God and that to relate to Him is to relate to God. He is God’s Word in human reality. That is essential for us to hear during Easter season.

The First Reading from Acts speaks of St. Paul coming to Jerusalem to be with the other Christians and disciples, including Apostles. Although this event occurred three years after Paul’s conversion, he was greeted with mistrust and doubt. It would have been easy for Paul to just turn his back on those who rejected him and to leave. That is something many of us might have done, but not Paul.

Paul had a great love for Jesus, as we know, but he also felt love for those who followed the Lord and were close to Him during His time on earth. Paul also probably remembered that they saw in himself someone who had persecuted Jesus’ followers; thus, Paul responded with love. If those Paul encountered him were lacking in love, Paul provided a little more love to make up for it.

As a sidelight we must take notice of Barnabas and what he did because it provides a great example to us. Barnabas welcomes Paul into the family of God simply by providing friendship to him. Hospitality is one of the Four Pillars of stewardship. Like Barnabas, we need to be welcoming and friendly to those who come into our parish.

There are three letters attributed to St. John in the New Testament. The first letter, from which today’s Second Reading comes is somewhat different from the other two. All three were seemingly written in a more general way than the letters of St. Paul. Paul’s letters were generally written to a specific community (e.g., Philippians, Corinthians, etc.) John’s letters appear to be written to the general Christian community. However, the First Letter clearly follows the spirit of John’s Gospel.

Despite the richness of this entire reading, let us concentrate on John’s statement that “… we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And his commandment is this: we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us.” If we are in true fellowship with the Lord, we should want to do things that please Him. If we look carefully at our lives, we need to differentiate between what we do to please ourselves and what and how much we do to please the Lord. God is glorified when we do what pleases Him, even if that may not please us at a precise moment.

In the Gospel from John, Jesus uses the image of a vine and its branches. The world He lived in was filled with grapevines. Last Sunday was Good Shepherd Sunday, but the branch depends on the vine even more than the sheep depend on the shepherd. We must be rooted in and connected to Jesus to function effectively. Our goal should be to bear fruit for God’s Kingdom.

In Greek the word for “prune” is the same as the word for “cleanse.” When the Lord prunes us, He cleanses us. Having been cleansed, we are prepared to serve Him and others and to bear fruit. When we bear fruit, in a spiritual sense we bring honor to God.

April 22, 2018 — Fourth Sunday of Easter

ACTS 4: 8-12; PS 118: 1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28-29; 1 JN 3: 1-2; JN 10: 11-18

In the First Letter of St. John, from which our Second Reading comes, John declares, “Beloved, we are God’s children now.” St. John also provides us with our Gospel Reading. In that passage the Lord speaks of being the Good Shepherd. It reinforces the idea of us being the children of God as Jesus says, “…and there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

Jesus is certainly our Good Shepherd. Today, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, is also called Good Shepherd Sunday. It always occurs at this time of year, although Jesus is our Good Shepherd every day and every hour. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep, which is what Jesus did for us, His children.

Throughout the Acts of the Apostles we are treated to St. Peter preaching. Today’s First Reading is another example of that. Five separate times in Acts Peter preaches. His emphasis is always on Christ’s Resurrection. In one way or another in every sermon Peter states, “God raised him from the dead.”

In association with Peter’s stress of Jesus’ resurrection is the call for repentance. Peter tends to remind us that if we truly repent, our sins are forgiven. He tells us that not only are we forgiven, but we are saved, But Peter did not merely proclaim Jesus as a way of salvation, but that He was really the only way to salvation. As he states in today’s reading, “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” Peter explains many times that Jesus provides us all hope, that “our hope is in the Lord.” He is the Good Shepherd on Whom we must rely.

Just as St. Peter wants us to understand and appreciate what Jesus did for us, St. John (in his First Letter, our Second Reading) wants us to know how much God loves us. John asks us to “see what love the Father has bestowed on us.” John tells us we need to not only be aware of it, but also to ponder and meditate on it intently. Do we really do that? It is important.

What might keep us from doing that? Perhaps we feel God must prove His love before we accept it. It may also be doubt, the unwillingness to trust God’s love because our lives may be filled with hurts and the pain of living. Sometimes it may just take us time to gain a complete understanding of God’s love for us.

The idea that we are all God’s children is reinforced many times in Holy Scripture. In Second Corinthians, Paul tells us that God says, “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters.” In his letter to the Romans Paul cites the Holy Spirit, saying “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

Christ is the light of the world, and we are called to provide light as well, to reflect His light. That is what it means by grasping what salvation is, and accepting that we are the children of God.

Nevertheless, as we hear the Gospel of John and the reference to the Good Shepherd, that is what brings everything into focus for us. On this Fourth Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd Sunday, we need to be aware that we remain in the Easter Season. The Easter Season is a continual celebration of the once central mystery of our Church, that Jesus gave His life for us by dying on the Cross. He saved us from our sins.

We have reflected previously on why the image of a shepherd and sheep is an important one during Jesus’ time. To be a shepherd in Jesus’ time required living a life of total self-giving. The area where Jesus lived and worked had ground that was mostly rough and rocky. Raising sheep was, nonetheless, possible. However, it required moving constantly to find pastures for grazing. Every flock of sheep needed a shepherd who would lead the flock from place to place so the sheep could eat and survive. (“The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall lack.”)

Thus, being a shepherd could be very difficult. The shepherd was on duty every hour of every day. In the midst of that sheep could get lost, they could be attacked by predators, and they could be stolen by others. We as people are not that different from the sheep. Sheep without a shepherd were virtually defenseless. Look at out society. We have children who are orphans even though they have parents; we have people who long to be loved and protected. We are among those people. But we have a Good Shepherd, Who loves us and Who is with us always, because we are His children.

April 8 — Second Sunday of Easter (Sunday of Divine Mercy)

ACTS 4: 32-35; PS 118: 2-4, 13-15, 22-24; 1 JN 5: 1-5: JN 20: 19-31

We celebrate the Second Sunday of Easter today, but we also celebrate Divine Mercy. This is relatively new on our Church calendar, as it was proclaimed by St. Pope John Paul II on April 22, 2001. The Pope announced it at the Canonization of Faustina Kowalska who included in her writings her devotion to Divine Mercy, saying “Humanity will never find peace until it turns with trust to Divine Mercy! This is the Easter gift that the Church receives from the risen Christ and offers to humanity.”

The week after we celebrate Easter is the perfect time for us to celebrate the Lord’s Mercy. Mercy is the emphasis of the readings on this Holy day.

The First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles speaks of the early Church, its sense of community, and its understanding of stewardship. When it is written that “they had everything in common,” that is really recognition on their part that God owns everything. Everything belongs to God and through Him to His people. God had touched their lives very deeply, which made it easier for them to share all things. That is part of our stewardship challenge as well — to realize that all that we have and all that we are come from and belong to God. That is what allows us to be good stewards — the trust that results from that belief.

The reading also points out “With great power the apostles bore witness.” This is an indication that they put God first, other people second, and material things were a distant third at best. In our society that promotes the gather, save, and keep attitude, that can also be a difficulty for us.

First John offers our Second Reading. John writes, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God.” Several times in his writings John uses that term “begotten by God.” To be “begotten” we must accept the Lord as our Messiah, not just the Savior in a general sense, but our personal Savior. John provides great emphasis to the idea of love. However, he is not saying that we earn salvation by just loving others, although that is a significant part of what we need to do. We also must put our total trust in the Lord and on His saving grace in our lives.

John is not speaking of an intellectual acceptance of the Lord. He is calling us to a total trust and reliance on Jesus. To have that heartfelt acceptance, we have to not only understand that we are begotten by God, but also all others are begotten as well, our community in Christ. This appreciation is our common ground as Christians. It goes way beyond race or class or culture or language. That is the secret of salvation, and the key to being a good steward.

And then we get to St. Thomas, a story most of all about trust. Thomas is often called “Doubting Thomas,” which is a bit of a mis-statement. It was not that Thomas doubted; quite frankly he did not believe. Thomas, like perhaps most of us, wanted proof and evidence of the resurrection. That is what he states: “I will not believe.” Yet Thomas was present one week later; clearly he still wished to be in the company of those who did believe. In the long run, Thomas does not place his fingers in Jesus’ wounds although the Lord invites him to do so. What is Thomas’ reaction to the presence of the Lord? He declares, “My Lord and my God.” For a Jew, for anyone, this is a remarkable affirmation. In the original Greek the two words “Lord” and “God” are kyrios and theos. Those are titles of deity and divinity.

In a way Thomas may have believed more strongly at that moment than any of the others. Seeing Jesus may have made Thomas believe that the Lord was truly risen, but it was something far deeper and more inward that had him calling Jesus God. Thomas more openly states his belief in the Lord than the others did.

Thomas, like the others, was “called” and “sent.” We, too, are called and sent. The word missionary has at its root the Latin word meaning “to send.” We are all missionaries if we are disciples of the Lord. This Gospel Reading appears virtually at the end of John’s Gospel. One might say that it is the climax of the book. Thomas represents the final accomplishment of the Lord — the triumph over unbelief.

April 1, 2018 — Easter Sunday/The Resurrection of the Lord (the Mass of Easter Day)

ACTS 10: 34A, 37-43; PS 118: 1-2, 16-17, 22-23; COL 3: 1-4, JN 20: 1-9

Today is Easter, the greatest feast in our Catholic calendar. On this Sunday, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. For Catholics, Easter Sunday comes at the end of 40 days of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving known as Lent. Through spiritual struggle and self-denial, we have prepared ourselves to die spiritually with Christ on Good Friday, the day of His Crucifixion, so that we can rise again with Him in new life on Easter.

Last night was our Easter Vigil, called by our US Bishops the “Mother of All Vigils.” Today, then, is the greatest of all Sundays, and Easter Time is the most important of all liturgical times. Easter culminates with Christ’s Ascension to the Father and sending of the Holy Spirit upon the Church. There are 50 days of Easter from today to Pentecost. It should be characterized, above all, by the joy of glorified life and the victory over death, expressed most fully in the great resounding cry of Christians: Alleluia! All faith flows from faith in the resurrection.

It is most appropriate on this Day of Resurrection that the First Reading comes from the Acts of the Apostles and recounts part of a sermon made by St. Peter. Hippolytus of Rome, a Third Century theologian, gave Peter the title of “Apostle of Apostles.” We recognize Peter as the first Pope. Peter was one of the first Apostles and was present and witnessed events with Jesus, including the Transfiguration. Not only did he play a role on this Easter Sunday (as recounted in today’s Gospel), but he initially was the foremost evangelist revealing to people the divinity and resurrection of Jesus.

Peter opens his sermon today by saying, “You know what happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John (the Baptist) preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power.” Peter no doubt gave this sermon scores of times to untold numbers of people. It is important coming from Peter because he was a personal witness to Jesus’ ministry and especially His Resurrection. In today’s reading Peter also says, “This man God raised on the third day and granted that he be visible…to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance.” Personal and firsthand witness is the most powerful way to evangelize. Each of us is called to evangelize through our Baptism and by how we live our lives.

The personal witness of St. Peter is followed by St. Paul’s advice as to what we need to do with our lives, as indicated in the Second Reading from Colossians. Paul is telling us that we, too, were raised with Christ and we need to behave as Christ did after He was resurrected. The first thing Jesus did was leave the tomb. We, too, need to leave the tomb; resurrection means we are not destined to live in a tomb. Jesus ministered, especially to His disciples. Stewardship calls us to live our lives with and to serve others. One of the important pillars of stewardship is indeed service.

Jesus used His God-given power and strength to continue to accomplish things. With the help of the Holy Spirit we can do the same. Today reminds us that as Catholics and Christians we are enabled, not just for eternity, but to do things right now and right here.

Our Gospel last week was the powerful reading of the Passion of Christ. Although the Gospel this week is not as long or as comprehensive, it is equally powerful, especially for what it means to us as Christians. It is the retelling of the Resurrection of Christ and the finding of the empty tomb. St. John’s perspective is important to us for he is most likely the “other disciple” in today’s Gospel Reading. As was the case with the Passion, there is so much in this reading on which we might focus.

Having indicated that nonetheless, it might be of value to concentrate on a couple things. We may not always find humor in the Word, but it is there. For example, John is humble enough not to mention he is the other disciple, but at the same time he is competitive enough to make it clear that he outran Peter. Yet when it came to entering the tomb, he was hesitant and waited for Peter to enter first. The combination of these two decisions tells us a lot about both Peter and John. Throughout Holy Scripture St. Peter is somewhat spontaneous and often acts and thinks before thinking. St. John, on the other hand tends to stop and think; this may have been one of those occasions. Many Apostles were not convinced of the resurrection until they experienced Jesus in reality. John saw and believed. The word translated as “saw” is the Greek word eiden. That means much more than “saw.” It means “to understand and to perceive the significance of something.” Do we share John’s understanding and belief? We should; this is Easter.

March 25 — Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

IS 50: 4-7; PS 22: 8-9, 17-20, 23-24; PHIL 2: 6-11, MK 14: 1 – 15: 47

The official name for today is, of course, Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. We tend to shorten it and simply call it Palm Sunday. It is the final Sunday of Lent and marks the beginning of Holy Week. It commemorates the triumphant arrival of Christ in Jerusalem. We call it Palm Sunday because in our Catholic tradition we receive palm fronds that we use to reenact Christ’s arrival. Palm branches are a symbol of peace and victory. To show great respect to someone, the people of Jesus’ time threw palms in front of the person as a sign of great respect. The prepositional phrase “of the Lord’s Passion” is much more important.

On this day our Gospel Reading is Christ’s Passion, this year from the Gospel of Mark. It is the longest Gospel Reading of the church year. With more than 2,300 words in Mark’s Passion Gospel, that alone is longer than 26 other books of the Bible. In fact it is longer than Paul’s entire letter to the Philippians, from which our Second Reading is drawn.

The purpose of these reflections is in part to plant seeds for possible homily subjects, and to try to take something out of each reading to provide a focal point. On this Palm, or Passion, Sunday many priests opt not to give a homily, or to give a very brief one. There are so many possibilities for emphasis in the Passion alone; yet the other readings also offer “food for thought.” This reflection might be more appropriate to use in a letter to the faithful or some other communication.

The First Reading comes from the prophet Isaiah. More than any other prophet he anticipated the coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. In the last verse of this reading the Messiah says, “I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.” One might say that there are two kinds of courage — the courage of the moment that requires no previous thought, but there is also what might be called a “planned” courage. Jesus shows a “planned” courage in this instance.

The Lord knew the agony in front of Him, but He had an unwavering determination to obey His Father and to follow His Way. Jesus knew what awaited Him, but He suffered for us, in our behalf. As we approach life and living, we need to seek a similar determination to live as Disciples of Christ, and to do what we should do in spite of the possible consequences.

The Second Reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians declares in the opening verse that Christ Jesus was in “the form of God.” Some scholars point out that the ancient Greek word for “form” (huparchein) is difficult to translate because it has more depth of meaning than the word “form” can communicate. When we use the word “form” we tend to think of shape, but that is not what was meant by the ancient Greeks. A better word might have been “essence,” which includes the inner nature of someone as well as the external one.

Because of how we celebrate Christmas, we may lose sight of the fact that Jesus’ existence did not begin in a manger in Bethlehem. Jesus was, is, and always will be. He is eternal. Perhaps on this Passion Sunday we should focus on that because it is really eternity that should be our focus. Being human, it is difficult for us to either appreciate or concentrate on eternity, but that should be the motivation of everything we do.

Mark’s Passion alone provides so much to think about and on which to meditate. We need to carefully listen and hear this Gospel Reading. There is so much here for us. The Passion of Christ is reported in all four Gospels. Those who analyze these things point to the fact that Mark seemed to place Christ’s suffering at the center of his version.

The time of the Passion is significant in many ways. At Passover there was always a great expectation of the Messiah. At that time of year Jerusalem tended to be crowded. As the Romans were the rulers in that part of the world, they were alert to any hint of revolt, which was always a threat from their perspective. Thousands of pilgrims came to Jerusalem as every male Jew who lived within 15 miles was obligated to come, and many more came from great distances, including Galilee.

You might say that the chief priests and the scribes feared the people more than they feared God. There is, as indicated, so much here for us as Catholics. The Last Supper includes the statement from Jesus, “Take it; this is my body.

Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many’.” Christ gave us so many gifts on this day, the gift of life, and the gift of the Eucharist. We must never forget that, now or at any Mass and celebration.

March 18, 2018 — Fifth Sunday of Lent

JER 31: 31-34; PS 51: 3-4, 12-15; HEB 5: 7-9; JN 12: 20-33

There are only a couple weeks left in Lent, actually somewhat less than that, as there is a Sixth Sunday of Lent next week, but Lent officially ends with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday. Salvation of all peoples is at hand. In the Gospel, for example, Jesus states “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Two times earlier in the Gospel of John Jesus, had stated, “My hour has not yet come,” including saying that to the Blessed Mother Mary at the wedding in Cana, which fell at the beginning of His ministry.

As our Lenten season approaches its completion, the readings on this Fifth Sunday of Lent focus on the salvation offered to us by Jesus and our own need for penance and reconciliation always, but especially at this time.

Jeremiah was one of the longest serving prophets. He was a prophet through the reign of five kings of Judah — Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah over a period of 40 years. At the time Jeremiah was growing up, he witnessed the tearing down of pagan places of worship. One of Jeremiah’s most common themes, one that is addressed in our First Reading, was the restoration of God’s covenant. He addresses this new covenant in this way: “The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.”

One might contend that God’s plan of redemption is completed and perfected in the new covenant about which Jeremiah writes. It involves cleansing and spiritual transformation, and the reign of the Messiah. Jesus specifically would institute this new covenant by His death on the cross, and the Lord would institute the recognition and remembrance of it with the bread and cup of communion. The new covenant brings a new relationship with God, one that we realize in particular during this Lenten season. Those connected to God through this covenant have a closer and more personal relationship with God. As Jeremiah writes, “All, from least to greatest, shall know me.”

Although the Second Reading taken from the Letter to the Hebrews is brief, it richly fulfills Jeremiah’s prophecy and another perspective of our redemption and salvation. We are called to obey the Lord and Lent is a time for us to work on that. Jesus struggled with obedience at times; however, He finally obeyed perfectly. As indicated in the reading from Hebrews, “He (Jesus) offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death.” We recall the agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

We may nonetheless misunderstand what Jesus is praying for when He asks that the cup be taken away from Him. In reality His prayer was not to escape God’s will, but to accept it — that prayer was definitely heard. Is that our prayer, to appeal to God to relieve us of suffering and to make our lives more ideal? Or is our prayer to accept God’s will. Is that not what we pray every time we say the Our Father when we invoke the Lord by saying “Thy will be done?” That is our true challenge, to accept and live with God’s will, not to dispute it.

As Jesus indicated and as mentioned previously, “the hour has come.” Today’s Gospel Reading from St. John speaks of Jesus being approached by some Greeks who merely, it seems, want to see Him and meet Him and experience Him. There are a number of clever hints about what all this means in today’s Gospel. First of all, the Greeks initially approach the Apostle Philip, to whom they said, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” Clearly these Greeks had heard of Jesus, perhaps of His reputation as a teacher and a worker of miracles. The point is that they wanted to know more about Him. It is interesting that they chose to approach Philip, who was the only Apostle with a Greek name.

Other scholars have pointed out that there is a parallel between these Greeks and the Magi about whom we hear during the Christmas season. The Magi came from the East, but these Greeks came from the West. The Magi visited in the beginning of the Lord’s life, one might say visiting the cradle. The Greeks are visiting at the completion of His life, one might say visiting the Cross. As the Greeks wanted to know more about Jesus, that is also part of our efforts during Lent, to learn more about Jesus, and to deepen our relationship with Him.

This Gospel is so full of information for us. Just after the Lord announces His hour has come, He also says, “Whoever serves me must follow me.” To be a disciple of Jesus we must follow Him. That does not mean you quit your job or abandon your family, but it does mean that everything you do should be as a servant and follower of Jesus.