May 2006
Pope Benedict XVI's general prayer intention
for May is: "That the abundance of the gifts the Holy Spirit bestows on
the Church may contribute to the growth of peace and justice in the
world."
His mission intention
for May is: "That in the mission countries those responsible for the
public
institutions may, with suitable laws, promote and defend human life
from its conception to its natural termination."
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Third
Sunday of Eastertide B
(April 30) St
Pius V, pope (1504-1572). Michael Ghislieri, a Dominican, became
Pope Pius V. His pontificate is one of the best in the 16th century,
enforcing the decrees of the Council of Trent, publishing the Roman
Catechism, and revising the Missal and Breviary. He set an outstanding
example to the entire Church of holiness of life. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts
3:13-15.17-19; Psalm 4: 2, 4, 7-9; 1
John 2:1-5; Luke 24:35-48.
“And as he said this he showed them
his hands and feet. And their joy was so great”Luke 24:35-48
I remember over thirty years ago a very prominent federal
politician said that he was a just fellow-traveller with Christianity,
rather than a believer himself. The reason for his non-belief was that
he did not accept the fact of the resurrection. Whatever might have
been his reasons for not accepting the resurrection, at least he
understood how central to Christian belief is the resurrection of
Christ. Islam does not believe our Lord rose from the dead because it
(gratuitously)
asserts that he did not die on the cross. They have no evidence for
saying this. It is just their assertion, but at least they see how
important is the doctrine of Christ’s resurrection. Our Lord’s
resurrection was the decisive element in the belief of Our Lord’s own
disciples. Despite his repeated warnings to them that he was about to
be rejected and put to death, and despite his telling them that this
had to happen if he was to fulfil his mission as Messiah, and despite
his telling them he would rise again, when he was crucified their hopes
were completely dashed. It seemed to be the end of everything. Some saw
the empty tomb, others were told about it, but what made all the
difference was that they actually met him in the flesh after he rose
from the dead. They met him face to face, talked with him, physically
touched him and watched him even eat. He specifically told them that he
had flesh and bones: "a ghost does not have flesh and bones
as you can see I have.” They came to know for themselves
that the same Jesus who had lived with them in the flesh was now alive
in the flesh again, enjoying a new and glorious life. He was back with
them from the grave, the same Jesus.
This is surely the main point St Luke is portraying in his
Gospel passage today (Luke 24:35-48).
Our Lord appeared to them to show them that he was alive and in the
flesh. There had been no difficulty in thinking our Lord had survived
his death in a spiritual sense. This was not enough, though, for his
disciples would have expected that of any holy prophet. When he
appeared to them as portrayed here in our Gospel passage, they
initially thought they were seeing the ghost of Jesus. We read in the
OT book of Kings how a long time before this King Saul went to a kind
of a witch and asked her to summon up Samuel from the dead so that he
could speak to him. She did so, and Samuel appeared to Saul. It was the
spirit of Samuel, his ghost we might say, who appeared and told him of
his coming defeat and death. When during his public ministry the
disciples saw Jesus coming to them across the water in the midst of the
storm, they thought they were seeing a ghost. It is not distinctive of
the Christian religion to believe in life beyond the grave in some
sense. What is distinctive is the belief stemming from the disciple’s
encounter with the risen Jesus. It is Jesus in the flesh who has come
back to us from the grave. This fact makes all the difference.
What they saw, what they heard, and what they touched
transformed their fear of a ghost into joy and delight in being with
the same Jesus, the very same Jesus they had been with since the
beginning of his public ministry. It was the same Jesus in the flesh
still, the same Jesus in his entirety. They watched him, now back from
the dead, sit with them and eat and talk, listening to them and being
with them as before. But, while in the flesh with them still, he now
lived by a
life utterly beyond the limitations he had shared with them before. He
was now risen to a glorified life. He could disappear now at will,
appear
wherever he wished at will, and act with power at will. He was utterly
beyond the reach of death and all that led to or was connected with
death. All power in
heaven and on earth had been given to him. In his flesh he now lived a
life completely dominated by his divine life as the Son of the Father.
This same Jesus was with them now for good, and he would be with all
his future disciples. He was the Lord of lords
and the King of kings. He was worth living for and dying for and this
is what the disciples and the infant Church did. Those who believed in
him would be saved because they would be given a share in the life he
now lived by. They would be freed of their sins, and if they lived and
died with him they would rise with him. He is the one by whom all are
to be saved. All that was needed now was truly to repent and truly to
believe.
Let us place ourselves in the scene of today’s Gospel
among the disciples as they look with joy and delight on the risen
person of Jesus, now with them in the flesh again. Let us contemplate
him. This same Jesus is with us now in various ways in the life of the
Church, but especially in his word and in the Sacraments, and most
especially does he come to us in the holy Eucharist. Let us be filled
with a realization of the resurrection: Jesus lives in his risen
glorified body, and he is with us always to bring us redemption and
sanctification.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading:
Catechism of the
Catholic Church: no. 645-646 (The risen humanity of Jesus)
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“Why are you distressed?...
Look at my hands and my feet, ... it is I myself.”(Luke 24:35-48)
Commentary by Blessed
Guerric of Igny (around 1080 – 1157), Cistercian abbot
(1st Sermon for the Lord’s Resurrection, 4)
When Jesus came to his apostles while “the doors were locked,” and he
“stood in their midst”, they “in their panic and fright thought they
were seeing a ghost.” (Jn 20:19; Lk 24:37) But when he breathed on them
saying: “Receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn 20:22), and when he then sent
them that same Spirit from heaven as a new gift, this gift was an
indubitable proof of his resurrection and his new life. For the Spirit
testifies in the heart of the saints and then through their mouth that
Christ is the truth, the true resurrection and the life. That is why
the apostles, who had first doubted even when they saw his living body,
“bore witness to the resurrection with power” (Acts 4:33) once they had
tasted that Spirit who gives life. It is much more to our advantage to
welcome Jesus in our heart than to see him with our eyes or to hear him
speak. The Holy Spirit’s action on our interior senses is much more
powerful than the impression made by material objects on our external
senses…
Now, brothers, what is the testimony that the joy of your heart is
giving to your love of Christ? ... Today, so many messengers are
proclaiming the resurrection in the Church, and your heart exults and
cries out: “Jesus, my God, is alive; they have proclaimed that! At this
news, my discouraged, tepid spirit that was made drowsy through grief,
has come back to life. The voice that is proclaiming this good news
awakens even the guiltiest from death…” Brother, this is the sign by
which you will recognize that your spirit has come back to life in
Christ: if it says: “If Jesus is alive, that is enough for me!” O Word
of faith that is very fitting to Jesus’ friends! ... “If Jesus is
alive, that is enough for me!”
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You have to work with such
supernatural vision that you let yourself be absorbed by your
activity only in order to make it divine. In this way the earthly
becomes divine, the temporal eternal.
(The Forge,
no.730)
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What role
does Sacred Scripture play in the life of the Church?
Sacred Scripture gives support and vigour to
the life of the Church. For the children of the Church, it is a
confirmation of the faith, food for the soul and the fount of the
spiritual life. Sacred Scripture is the soul of theology and of
pastoral preaching. The Psalmist says that it is “a lamp to my feet and
a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). The Church, therefore, exhorts all
to read Sacred Scripture frequently because “ignorance of the
Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.” (Saint
Jerome).
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.24)
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Monday
of the third week of Eastertide
(May 1) St
Joseph the Worker. This feast was instituted in 1955 by Pope
Pius XII and is celebrated on May 1, which is the day when labour is
honoured in many countries. In the Gospel Jesus was called “the son of
the carpenter”. This feast reminds us that honest work, no matter how
seemingly menial, can be sanctified. Through work, we can sanctify
ourselves and others, making each of us participants in the work of
redemption. (Saints)
Scripture today: Acts of the
Apostles 6:8-15; Psalm 119:23-24, 26-27, 29-30;
John 6:22-29
“They could not get the better of him
because of his wisdom, and because it was the Spirit who prompted what
he said” (Acts of the
Apostles 6:8-15)
Many people have found themselves in situations where they are called
upon to account for something in the presence of intimidating people.
Perhaps they
have found that their courage has deserted them because of their
inexperience and lack of personal resources. They have made a bad job
of it and it turned out a debacle. Well now, what is to be said of our
Lord’s express wish that we his disciples be prepared to bear witness
to him before an unbelieving world? There are many situations in which
we may find ourselves more or less called upon to do this. Take the
widespread reading of The Da Vinci Code
and the effect it has had on many persons’ perception of Christ and the
Church. You are at work and your boss or manager (perhaps trying to
appear the big macho man) refers jokingly to St Mary Magdalen and
Christ and the Church, alluding in front of his companions to the
fantasies spun out in The Da Vinci Code.
What are you going to do about it? Many would do nothing out of fear
and the feeling that they are alone.
But in the matter of bearing witness to Jesus no baptized and confirmed
disciple of Christ is alone. There is another Advocate apart from Jesus
himself who has come to him to be with him in bearing witness to Jesus.
Consider today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. It tells
of Stephen who was “filled with grace and power”, which is to say, with
the Holy Spirit. Now, you and I may not be filled with the Holy Spirit
and his gifts to the extent that Stephen was, but the same Holy Spirit
has come to us at our baptism and at our confirmation to help us live
in Christ and to bear witness to him before others. Stephen was
attacked by “some from Cyrene and Alexandria who were members of the
synagogue... and others from Cilicia and Asia.” Stephen bore successful
witness before them too, for they “could not get the better of him
because of his wisdom, and because it was the Spirit that prompted what
he said.” (Acts of the
Apostles 6:8-15) So Stephen brought to the work of
witness his
wisdom and the assistance of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord had said to his
disciples that they were not to worry what they were to say, for the
Spirit of their Father would be speaking in them.
The point to remember every day is that the Holy Spirit accompanies us
to assist us in following the Lord closely. He also assists us in
bearing witness to Jesus in the world where we work and live, among our
friends, within our family, wherever. Let us learn to be devoted to our
great Friend and God, the Spirit of the Father and the Son, and ask his
assistance in the grand and daily work of living our vocation.
(E.J.Tyler)
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In search of Jesus: Comment by
Blessed Henry Suso
(1295 – 1366), Dominican (Life, Chapter 50)
Concerning the question: “What is God?” all the masters who ever lived
could never explain him, for he is above all thought and all intellect.
And yet, a zealous person who diligently seeks some knowledge of God
succeeds, even though in a very distant way… Thus some virtuous pagan
masters sought him in the past, in particular the wise Aristotle. He
scrutinized the course of nature… He sought with fervour and he found.
From nature, he deduced that there must necessarily be a one and only
sovereign who is lord of all creatures, and that is what we call God…
God’s being is a substance that is so spiritual that mortal eye cannot
contemplate it in itself, but it is possible to see it in God’s works.
As Saint Paul said, the creatures are a mirror that reflects God (Rom
1:20). Let us remain there a moment… Look above you and around you, how
vast and high the sky is in its swift movement, with what nobility its
Master has adorned it with seven planets, and how it is decorated with
the countless number of stars. When during the summer, the sun is
shining joyfully and without any clouds, how much fruit, how many good
things does it bring to the earth! What a beautiful green the meadows
are, how smiling are the flowers, how sweetly the song of the little
birds resounds in the forest and fields, and all the animals that had
hidden during the harsh winter hurry outside and rejoice; and among
people, how happy are both young and old with the joy that brings them
so much happiness. O tender God, if you are so lovable in your
creatures, how beautiful and lovable you must be in yourself!
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Things done in the service of God never fail through lack of
money;
they fail through lack of spirit.
(The Forge,
no.731)
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How does man respond to God who reveals himself?
Sustained by divine grace,
we respond to God with the obedience of faith, which means the full
surrender of ourselves to God and the acceptance of his truth insofar
as it is guaranteed by the One who is Truth itself.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.25)
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Tuesday
of the third week of Eastertide
(May 2) St
Athanasius, bishop and doctor of the Church. Born at Alexandria
in the year 295, he accompanied his bishop, Alexander, to the Council
of Nicaea and later he himself succeeded as bishop. He fought
ceaselessly against the Arian heresy and as a result he had to endure
much tribulation and he was several times sent into exile. He wrote
outstandingly to illustrate and defend the true doctrine, especially
about Christ and the Trinity. He died in year 373. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 7: 51-8:1; Psalm 31: 3-4,
6-8, 17, 21;
John 6:35-40
“I can see heaven thrown open’ he said
‘and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God’.”
(Acts of the
Apostles 7: 51-8:1)
We see from our first reading today what Stephen
died for, what he was put to
death for. It was for bearing witness to the divinity of the man Jesus.
By and large in the sweep of the Church’s history there has not been a
problem accepting that Jesus was truly man. That he was a man was
obvious during his
lifetime both to those who knew him well and to those who were his
enemies. During the early Church there were heresies that denied that
Jesus was truly man, but in general this has not been a point of
controversy. The issue is whether he is just man. Islam,
of course, insists that Jesus is no more than a mere man. Today
is the
memorial of one of the Church’s greatest bishops, St Athanasius.
Athanasius lived out almost his entire career struggling against the
denial of the divinity of Jesus Christ. Arius denied the doctrine of
the Council of Nicaea, that Jesus was of the same substance as the
Father. It is a special temptation today to slip into one or other form
of Arianism, whether high or low. Stephen testified to the divinity of
Jesus. He was given a vision of heaven while in the very presence of
his
accusers, and in the transport of that vision he saw Jesus, the Son of
Man, at God’s
right hand. (Acts of the
Apostles 7: 51-8:1) He was given a sight of what the
Church proclaimed, that Jesus was equal to God. We remember that St
John tells us in his Gospel that “the Jews” took up stones to stone our
Lord because in speaking of God as his Father he made himself equal to
God.
That is to say, Jesus is Lord. We are called to make that fact the
centre of our life and to live for Jesus as a result. Moreover, we are
called to be part of the long line of clouds of witnesses who have
preceded us and who surround us. They, like Stephen and Athanasius,
have borne witness to the truth of Jesus to the point of martyrdom
whether by blood or sustained suffering. Our Lord himself gave up his
life
testifying to this truth. Before the leaders of the Jews he
testified that he was the Son of the Living God, and that they would
see him
coming on the clouds of heaven seated at the right hand of the
Power (Matt.26). For this they accused him of blasphemy, and sentenced
him to his death. That is to say, we are talking here of the doctrine
of the Incarnation, which is surely to be considered as the central
doctrine of Christianity, and from which flows the Atonement and the
Redemption of all mankind. So then, as we think of Stephen testifying
to the exalted person of the Son of Man and how no name is higher than
his, let us appreciate again the person of Jesus. He is the centre of
the life of each one of us, the centre of the life of the Church, and
the centre of the life of the world. For this reason, such fantasies as
The Da Vinci Code
ought shock and appal us, and we ought be prepared to
testify calmly, resolutely and with effect to the true personhood of
Jesus when it is insulted by trends in popular culture.
Let us give ourselves over to Jesus and testify to the One who stands
at the right hand of God.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“The true bread come down from
heaven” (John 6:35-40)
Commentary from St Justin
(100 –– 160) Philosopher, Martyr (First Apology, 67.66) - one of the
first descriptions of the Eucharist outside of the New Testament, from
the second century.
On the day that is called the day of the sun [Sunday], all the
inhabitants of the cities and in the country gather together in one
place. The apostles’ memoirs are read as well as the writings of the
prophets for as long as time allows. When the reading is finished, the
person presiding is given the word to draw attention to these beautiful
teachings and to exhort the people to follow them. Then all of us rise
and we give prayer intentions. Afterwards, bread, wine and water are
brought. With all his heart, the person presiding raises prayers and
thanksgiving to heaven, and the people answer with the acclamation
“Amen!”, a Hebrew word meaning: “So be it!”
We call this food the Eucharist, and no one can participate in it if he
does not believe in the truth of our teaching and if he has not
received the bath of baptism for the forgiveness of sins and
regeneration. For we do not take this food like ordinary bread or like
a common drink. Just as by the Word of God, Jesus Christ our Saviour
became incarnate by becoming flesh and blood for our salvation, so the
food that is consecrated by the very word of his prayer and that is
destined to nourish our flesh and our blood so as to transform us, is
the flesh and blood of Jesus incarnate. That is our teaching. In the
memoirs they left us, which we call gospels, the apostles passed on to
us the recommendation Jesus gave them in this way: He took bread, he
gave thanks, and he said: “Do this in memory of me; this is my body.”
He also took the cup, he gave thanks, and he said: “This is my blood.”
And he gave them solely to them (Mt 26:2f.; 1 Cor 11:23f.)…… We all
unite on the day of the sun because it is the first day, the day on
which God freed matter from darkness in order to make the world, and it
is the day when Jesus Christ our Saviour rose from the dead.
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Aren’t you glad to feel the poverty of Jesus so close to you? How
splendid it is to be lacking even what is necessary! But in our case,
as in his, it should pass silently and unnoticed.
(The Forge,
no.732)
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Who are the
principal witnesses of the obedience of faith in the Sacred Scriptures?
There are many such witnesses, two in particular: One is Abraham who
when put to the test “believed in God” (Romans 4:3) and always obeyed
his call. For this reason he is called “Father of all who believe”
(Romans 4:11-18). The other is the Virgin Mary who, throughout her
entire life, embodied in a perfect way the obedience of faith: “Let is
be done to me according to your will.” (Luke 1:38).
(Compendium
of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.26)
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Wednesday
of the third week of Eastertide
(May 3) (Feast of) Saints Philip and
James, apostles. Like Peter and Andrew, Philip was from
Bethsaida. He was crucified at Hierapolis in Phrygia where he had
preached the Gospel. He introduced Bartholomew to Christ. Christ
declared to Philip, “He who sees me sees the Father” and “I am in the
Father and the Father is in me” (John 14: 8-9). St James was a cousin
of our Lord. He was called James the Less, to distinguish him from the
other James. As Bishop of Jerusalem, he wrote one of the epistles of
the New Testament. St James was thrown down from the terrace of the
Temple and then stoned to death. The names of Philip and James are
mentioned in the Roman Canon. (Saints)
Scripture today:
1
Corinthians 15: 1-8; Psalm 19:
2-5; John 14: 6-14
“I am the Way, the Truth and the
Life... To have seen me is to have seen the Father.”(Jn 4:6-14)
One of the most deeply seated assumptions of our culture which we
naturally tend to make our own is that objective truth is unattainable.
This position assumes that all that is attainable is a personal
subjective impression of something, and that judgments are formed on
the basis of that subjective impression. The more ultimate the
issue, the more relative to each person will his judgment be. And so
the response of society to claims of truth is that such claims are
no more than the expression of subjective impressions, values, or
choices. They cannot be regarded as objective truth, because others
have their own equally valid personal impressions. For example, society
tends to dismiss claims that homosexual practices are absolutely wrong,
or that abortion is absolutely wrong, as just the utterances of
cultural or religious prejudice. Claims of truth are deemed to be no
more than perceptions relative to each person, and the so-called truth
is simply the truth as it appears to you or to me or to any one or all
of us. It is not the objective truth but is simply a perspective
relative to each person. Thus each man is the conscious or unconscious
arbiter of his reality and God is accounted as absent. So widespread
are these relativist assumptions that before he became Pope, Cardinal
Joseph Ratzinger spoke of the dictatorship of relativism. Relativism as
a basic assumption rules much of our discourse about the truth.
So it is that it is very difficult to gain a hearing when we state
something absolute about God and Christ. Now, our Lord in today's
Gospel passage makes absolute statements about himself: “I am the Way,
the Truth and the Life. No one
can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14: 6-14) This
means that those who deny this are wrong. Mahomet is wrong because he
did not accept our Lord’s teaching about himself. The other great minds
and religious thinkers and founders were wrong to the extent that they
denied what our Lord revealed. This is very dogmatic language and
the relativist does not like it. The relativist mode of thought allows
for (and prefers to regard) fundamental differences of opinion as a
final situation. It is very reluctant to say that in the final analysis
this or that is right or wrong. It is anti-dogmatic and liberal in
respect to absolute truth - in this case in respect to absolute
religious truth being found in the person of Jesus. It chooses and
prefers to follow the path of chronic doubt, silently (and perhaps
unconsciously) assuming that truth is unattainable. By contrast, the
mode of thought that takes its stand on dogma accepts of course that
some do not see the truth and deals charitably and respectfully with
them, but it is firm in its knowing grasp of reality. It knows that it
knows, and what it does not at present know it will attempt to know. In
the case of Jesus our Lord, the Christian knows that he knows that
Jesus is the only way to the Father, the only Way, the only Truth and
the only Life. He accepts what Jesus has said as dogmatically
interpreted by the Church as being the absolute truth. These are
dogmatic statements, and the relativist does not like their dogmatism
at all.
Let us appreciate these issues very clearly because if we do not our
firm faith in Jesus our redeemer and God will be insidiously
undermined. We may not realizing what is happening to us.
Christ is the truth. God requires of us certitude in the
matter of what he has revealed. Cardinal Newman wrote that his religion
was dogmatic. If we are unclear about all this, our
dogmatic religion will become a very liberal religion in relation to
the objectivity of revealed truth.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“I
will appoint over you shepherds” (Jeremiah 3:15)
Commentary from Paul VI, Pope from 1963 to
1978 (Message for the Day of Vocations 1971)
Faithful to the memory of Jesus, the
apostles rejoiced with the new believers, because in him they had found
not only the shepherd of their soul, but also the head of shepherds.
When the hour had come to return to the Father, upon leaving this
world, Jesus wanted to choose and to call other “shepherds after his
own heart” (Jeremiah 3:15). He did so by his free choice, so that they
might continue his own mission in the whole world until the end of
time. They were to be the people sent by him, his messengers, his
apostles. They would be pastors solely in his name, for the good of the
flock and in the power of his Spirit, to whom they were to remain
faithful.
After his triple profession of love
for Jesus, Peter, the first one of them all, was named shepherd of
Jesus’ sheep and lambs (Jn 21:15). Then all the apostles. And after
them, others more, and all of them in the same Spirit. And at all
times, they must all guide the Lord’s flock, which was entrusted to
them, not so that they would dominate over them, but to be models for
the flock (1 Pet 5:3), with total disinterestedness and great energy of
heart. Only then will they one day be able to receive the reward they
have deserved, when the head of the shepherds returns.
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Sincere devotion - true love of God - leads us to work hard, to
fulfil
the duty of each day, even though it is far from easy.
(The Forge,
no.733)
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What does it mean
in practice for a person to believe in God?
It means to adhere to God himself, entrusting oneself to him and giving
assent to all the truths which God has revealed because God is Truth.
It means to believe in one God in three Persons, Father, Son and Holy
Spirit.
(Compendium of The
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.27)
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Thursday
of the third week of Eastertide
(May 4) Today let us think of the Blessed Martyrs of England andWales
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 8:26-40; Psalm 66: 8-9,
16-17, 20;
John 6:44-51
“The angel of the Lord spoke to Philip
saying, ‘Be ready to set out at noon’..” (Acts 8:26)
It scarcely needs to be said that the Christian life involves living by
faith rather than by sight, and an essential component of the Christian
life is engagement in the apostolate. Therefore any apostolic life
requires faith, faith in the unseen realities revealed by God and
taught to us by the Church. What are these unseen realities? There are
two unseen living realities intimately close to us which we are very
apt to overlook. They are the God the Holy Spirit and our guardian
angel. Both are intimately involved in our participation in the mission
of Christ. The Holy Spirit was the great Promise which before he
ascended to his Father our Lord told the disciples to await. The Holy
Spirit came at Pentecost to the infant Church, and through the
preaching and ministry of the infant Church he came to each believer.
Thus he has come to us to do for us what he did for the infant Church.
But also we have, as we are commonly taught by the Church, an angelic
friend and guide who accompanies us in our life of discipleship and
apostleship, inspiring and guiding us to live for Jesus and to bring
him to others. The angelic friend whom we have been granted is constantly
at our side helping us be guided by the Holy Spirit, who is
our God.
And this is what we see in today’s first reading from the Acts of the
Apostles. The passage tells us about the conversion of the Ethiopian by
Philip (Acts of the
Apostles 8:26-40). This beautiful event began by the
intervention of the angel who prompted Philip to set out for Gaza. The
angel is clearly at the service of Christ’s mission, and places Philip
in the way to be guided by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, one way to grow
in devotion to the Holy Spirit and to learn to be submissive to his
guidance is to pray to our guardian angel for this grace. Well then,
Philip left for Gaza and on the journey “the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go
up and meet that chariot’.” This Philip did and the upshot was the
baptism of the Ethiopian who perhaps subsequently brought the Christian
faith to others in Ethiopia. After Philip had done his work for the
Ethiopian he “was taken away by the Spirit of the Lord” to
more apostolic service in "Azotus, and ...to all the towns
until he reached Caesarea." The point here is that in the
living of our
Christian life and in the daily effort to bear witness to Jesus we are
not alone. We have our guardian Angel to assist us and most importantly
the ever present
and all-powerful Spirit of God. But to realize this we must live by
faith and not just by sight.
Let us resolve to live in familiar yet reverent converse with the Holy
Spirit our God, and with our guardian angel our friend and
fellow-creature. They wish to make us saints.
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“ It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by
God” (John
6:44-51)
Commentary by Saintt Teresa
of Avila (1515-1582), Carmelite nun, Doctor of the Church
(The Book of her
Life), Chapter 12
“When the Lord suspends the intellect and causes it to stop, He Himself
gives it that which holds its attention and makes it marvel; and
without reflection it understands more in the space of a Creed than we
can understand with all our earthly diligence in many years. Trying to
keep the soul’s faculties busy and thinking you can make them be quiet
is foolish…
Many years passed by in which I read a lot of things and didn’t
understand anything of what I read. For a long time, even though God
favoured me, I didn’t know what words to use to explain His favors; and
this was no small trial. In a way amazing to me, His Majesty when He
desires teaches me everything in a moment.
One thing I can truthfully say: although I spoke with many spiritual
persons who wanted to explain what the Lord was giving me so that I
would be able to speak about it, my dullness was truly so great that
their explanations benefited me neither little nor much. Or maybe,
since His Majesty has always been my Master, it was the Lord’s desire
that I have no one else to thank. May He be blessed forever because it
is very disconcerting for me to speak in all truth about His favors.
Without my desiring or asking … , God gave me in a moment completely
clear understanding so that I knew how to explain His favour in a way
that amazed me more than it did my confessors; for I understood better
than they my own dullness…
Once again I counsel that it is very important for the spirit not to
ascend unless the Lord raise it up. What this statement means is quite
apparent.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
People have often drawn attention to the danger of deeds performed
without any interior life to inspire them; but we should also stress
the danger of an interior life - if such a thing is possible - without
deeds to show for it.
(The Forge,
no.734)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What are the characteristics of faith?
Faith is the supernatural virtue which is necessary for salvation. It
is a free gift of God and is accessible to all who humbly seek it. The
act of faith is a human act, that is, an act of the intellect of a
person - prompted by the will moved by God - who freely assents to
divine truth. Faith is also certain because it is founded on the Word
of God; it works “through charity” (Galatians 5:6); and it continually
grows through listening to the Word of God and through prayer. It is,
even now, a foretaste of the joys of heaven.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.28)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday
of the third week of Eastertide
(May 5) Today let us think of Saint Jutta (Judith)
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 9:1-20; Psalm
116; John 6: 52-59
“‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting
me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ he asked, ‘I am Jesus’..”
(Acts of the
Apostles 9:1-20)
For quite some time in our modern period there has been a slogan which
goes, “Jesus yes, the Church no.” That is to say, Jesus is declared to
be accepted and acceptable in our conversation about religion and about
Christianity in particular, but the Church is rejected as obscuring the
face of Jesus and as an encumbrance on Christianity. When Jesus is
referred to in the media there is a due respect accorded his name, but
not so with the Church. The Church contains all that is wrong with
Christianity and it is always an open season against the Church
especially if
those conducting the discussion wish to appear intelligent and
forward-looking.
The exception to this is when the Church’s agenda happens to accord
with that of the world. Now, as is the case with issues involving
Christian belief, if we want to recognize how things are in the sight
of God, we must view things in the light of faith and not just by
sight. That is to say, in order to understand the Church and the
Church’s
relationship with Christ we must look at the Church in way our Lord
does.
Our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles shows us how our Lord
views the Church. The reading narrates the famous event of Paul’s
encounter with the risen Jesus on the way to Damascus, and his
consequent conversion (Acts of the
Apostles 9:1-20). His meeting with Jesus changed his
life. But let us notice how our Lord introduced himself when asked by
Paul who he was: “I am Jesus, and you are persecuting me.” Paul had
been “breathing threats to slaughter the Lord’s disciples” and had gone
to obtain authorisation “to arrest and take to Jerusalem any followers
of the Way, men or women, that he could find.” He had given himself
over to persecuting and eliminating the Church. Yet Christ told him
that he
had been persecuting him. Christ identified himself with the Church.
The two cannot be separated in the sense that where the Church is,
there is Christ, and if one wishes to access the person of Christ one
must go to the Church, the community of Christ’s disciples. This was a
lesson that clearly entered profoundly into Paul’s understanding of the
Christian religion, for he describes the Church as Christ’s body, and
Christ's faithful as being his members.
This close identification of Christ and the
Church was contested and rejected by the Protestant Reformers and the
result was that for great numbers the
Christian religion became a matter between Christ and me, largely
without
the
Church. In this perspective I work out for myself the teaching of
Christ using my
private judgment. This is not Catholic truth. The Catholic looks to the
Church to learn
what Christ has revealed, and the Catholic looks to the Church as the
locale for meeting and living in union with the person of Jesus, for
the Church is Christ's body. This wondrous union between
Christ and his Church is brought about
by baptism, the sacraments and especially the Eucharist (John 6: 52-59),
and his word. Let us resolve with St Paul in our first
reading to serve and love Christ as he comes to us in his body the
Church, and to serve the world every day precisely as members of the
Church.
Let us love the Church in the way Christ did, describing himself
as the Head and Bridegroom and we the Church as his body and his bride.
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“The man who feeds on my flesh and
drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.”(Jn 6: 52-59)
Comment by St Theresia
Benedicta of the Cross [Edith Stein] (1891-1942), Carmelite,
Martyr, Co-patroness of Europe (The Prayer of the Church)
Christ is the way that leads to interior life and to the choirs of the
blessed who sing the eternal Sanctus. Christ’s blood is the curtain in
the Temple through which we penetrate into the Holy of Holies of divine
life (Hebrews 9:11f.; 10:20). In baptism and the sacrament of penance,
he purifies us of sin, he opens our eyes to the eternal light, he opens
our ears to perceive the divine Word, he opens our lips so that we
begin to sing the song of praise, so that we pray the prayer of
reconciliation, of petition, of thanksgiving; and all those prayers are
nothing but various forms of the one adoration…
But it is above all the sacrament in which Christ is personally
present, which makes us members of his body. By participating in the
sacrifice and in the sacred meal, by being nourished with the flesh and
blood of Jesus, we ourselves become his flesh and his blood. And only
when we are members of his body, and to the extent to which we are that
in truth, his Spirit can give us life and reign in us… We become
members of the body of Christ “not only through love…, but also really
and truly by being one with his flesh. That is realized through the
food he gave us in order to prove to us his desire for us. That is why
he lowered himself even to the point of coming to us, and that he
formed his own body in us, so that we might be one, as the body is
united with the head.” (St. John Chrysostom) As members of his body,
animated by his Spirit, we offer ourselves in sacrifice “through him,
with him and in him,” and we unite our voices to the eternal
thanksgiving.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The interior struggle doesn’t take us away from our temporal business -
it makes us finish it off better!
(The Forge, no.735)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why is
there no contradiction between faith and science?
Though faith is above reason, there can
never be a contradiction between faith and science because both
originate in God. It is God himself who gives to us the light both of
reason and of faith.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.29)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday
of the third week of Eastertide
(May 6) Today let us think of Saint Petronax (Saints)
and Saint Dominic Savio
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 9:31-42; Psalm 116: 12-17;
John 6:60-69
“Lord, who shall we go to? You have
the message of eternal life, and we believe” (John 6:60-69)
One of the notable things about the revelation that God gave of himself
was that with it has come the requirement to believe certain things
that
are beyond the mind of man to understand. Many of its dogmas and
doctrines involve mysteries. Cardinal Newman pointed out
in his writings that many religions have claimed a revelation and that
this is
not distinctive to Christianity. One surprising and very fundamental
truth revealed by God to his chosen people of the Old Testament was
that he is one and that there is no other: there is no god but the
Lord.
Another surprise was that the one God is holy and requires holiness:
“Be holy, for I am holy.” Furthermore, he saves: he is a
God rich in mercy and compassion. Whether these surprising revelations
are beyond the mind of man is another matter because elements of them
can be found in the various religions and philosophies of man. But it
ought be obvious that the revelation coming from Christ does entail
mysteries beyond the mind of man and which constitute a requirement of
faith. The doctrines of Christ’s revelation may seem to some to be too
much for man to accept,
nevertheless acceptance of them is required of the one who wishes to
count himself a disciple.
Our Gospel passage today illustrates this point quite graphically (John 6:60-69).
Our Lord had just revealed that unless a person eats his flesh
and drinks his blood he would have no life in him. What could be more
critical a revelation than this, and on what could the balance of our
prospects hang more? According to our Lord, when it comes to the
Eucharist we are speaking of life and death. So it is a central element
in his revelation. Yet it is clearly beyond the understanding of man
and the reaction of very many of his disciples shows this, for their
response was, “This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept
it?” Our
Lord did not hasten to modify the starkness of what he had just
announced, nor did he even explain how he was going to do it - by
changing the bread and the wine into his body and blood. Perhaps he did
not explain the sacramental nature of the Eucharist because he wanted
his doctrine to be stated in all its sheer and unambiguous clarity.
Christian discipleship involves acceptance of many things beyond the
mind of man. And so, as we read, “After this, many of his disciples
left him and stopped going with him.” Time and again in the history of
the Church, the Church will teach in the name of Christ doctrines that
do not suit ordinary human reason and judgment. This is part of a
divine pattern in God’s revelation to man.
Let us take to heart the grand reply of Simon Peter when asked by our
Lord if he and the rest of the Twelve would also be going away. No,
Simon said, for “who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal
life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.” This
is always the response of Christ’s disciple to the Church’s teaching,
for the Church teaches in Christ’s name. Let us stand always with Peter
and his successors in response to whatever God has revealed.
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Do you want to leave me too?”
(John
6:60-69)
Commentary by Saint
Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153), Cistercian monk and Doctor of
the Church
(Diverse Sermons, no. 5)
In the Gospel we read that when the Lord began to preach and, in the
mystery of his body given as food, to instruct his disciples about the
need to participate in his suffering, some said: “This word is harsh”,
and they stopped going with him. But when Jesus asked his disciples if
they also wanted to leave him, they answered: “Lord, to whom shall we
go? You have the words of eternal life.”
In the same way I tell you, brothers, for some still in our day, the
words of Jesus are “spirit and life” and they follow him. But for
others, they seem harsh, so much so that they look elsewhere for some
poor consolation. For “Wisdom raises her voice in the open squares”
(Prov 1:20), and to be more precise, on “the road that is wide and
clear and that leads to damnation” (cf. Mt 7:13), in order to call
those who have gone that way. A Psalm says: “Forty years I stayed close
to that generation, and I said: They are a people of erring heart.”
(cf. Ps 95:10) “One thing God said” (Ps 62:12): one thing, yes, because
his Word is one, uninterrupted and perpetual. He invites sinners to
enter into their heart, because that is where he lives, where he
speaks… “Oh, that today you would hear his voice: ‘Harden not your
hearts…’” (Ps 95:7-8) And in the Gospel we read almost the same words:
“My sheep hear my voice.” (Jn 10:27) “You are his people, the sheep of
his pasture, if today you hear his voice.” (cf. Ps 95:8)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your life cannot be the repetition of actions which are monotonously
all the same, because the next one should be more upright, more
effective, more full of love than the last. Each day should mean new
light, new enthusiasm - for Him!
(The Forge,
no.736)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why is faith
a personal act, and at the same time ecclesial?
Faith is a personal act insofar as it is the free response of the human
person to God who reveals himself. But at the same time it is an
ecclesial act which expresses itself in the proclamation, “We believe”.
It is in fact the Church that believes: and thus by the grace of the
Holy Spirit precedes, engenders and nourishes the faith of each
Christian. For this reason the Church is Mother and Teacher.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.30)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fourth
Sunday of Eastertide (Vocations Sunday)
(May 7) Today let us think of Saint John of Beverley
(Saints)
Scripture today: Acts 4:
8-12; Psalm 118: 1,
8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29; 1 John 3:
1-2; John 10: 11-18
“I am the good shepherd; I know my own
and my own know me, just as the Father knows me”
(John 10: 11-18)
When I was a youth I mentioned to an adult
friend of mine that my hope was that I would eventually be a priest. He
tried hard to dissuade me from this, as he thought it was a waste of a
life. I was quite committed to my hopes and there was really no chance
of his convincing me otherwise, and he ended by saying that he could
not help me. Now, that was many decades ago, but there would be plenty
of good practising Catholics who think the same thing now. Without
saying as much or even being aware that they think in this way, many
would regard it as a waste for one of their children to be a priest or
a religious, or to embrace one of the many other vocations in the
Church that are given over to the person and work of Christ, foregoing
marriage and career and various other temporal prospects for that
purpose. When this is combined with the secular and materialistic
values of our culture, it is not surprising that in the Church's recent
history not many young people have seriously aspired to give their
lives exclusively to our Lord and his mission in this way.
How are we to calculate the nobility and value of various
callings and projects in life? God so loved the world that he sent his
Son to save the world. In becoming man Jesus trod our path, was
raised in a family, went to the village school, practised a trade. But
then he embarked on his saving mission. To save mankind he did not
choose to do it by being a great doctor, a great philosopher, a great
civil ruler, a great inventor, important as all these are in the plan
of God. No, his work was to reveal the plan of God and himself as the
one and only Saviour who takes away the sin of the world. He was the
high priest of mankind offering himself as the victim expiating for the
sin of the world. Then just before he ascended into heaven he commanded
his disciples to go to the whole world making disciples of all the
nations. He would be with them in their work. They would make him
present and all who by faith entered into union with him in the
fellowship of the Church would be saved. Their message was that of our
first reading from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 4: 8-12),
uttered by Peter when he said that “for all the names in the world
given to men, this is the only one by which we can be saved.” Christ is
the only Saviour, and the work of the Apostles was to make this Saviour
present and known to all so that they might be saved. What could be
more beautiful than a life given over to making Christ present in the
midst of men and to drawing others into union with him? On what more
than this does the world depend? Only by means of him are we saved. All
mankind depends on Christ and on knowing and loving him. What then
could be of greater value than a life given over to bringing his person
to the lives of others?
This is the vocation of the ordained priest. The authentic sense
of the faithful instinctively respects this. By his ordination he is
united to Christ in a very special way, a way very different from that
of those who live in Christ and share in his priesthood by baptism and
confirmation. The priest is able at Mass to make present Christ and his
redeeming sacrifice of Calvary. The priest is
able in the Sacrament of Penance to make present Christ in the act of
forgiving sins. The priest
is able in the Anointing of the Sick to make Christ present to the sick
and the dying. The priest in his preaching makes present to the
faithful Christ preaching his word. The priest in his very own person
by virtue of ordination makes Christ present to others. In making
Christ present he makes present the only one by whom the world can be
saved. The priest, the Church teaches us, is another Christ, so great
is the identification wrought by ordination. So where he goes, Christ
goes. As Christ is the Head, the Shepherd and the Bridegroom of the
Church, so the ordained priest shares with Christ in that same
relationship with the Church. The ministerial priesthood is surely a
great and beautiful calling. Every Catholic family could aspire
to seeing a son a priest. There are other vocations too in the Church
that also
involve an intimate and exclusive bond with the person of Christ, but
of
course in ways different from that of the ordained priest. The
consecrated religious gives her life exclusively to Jesus as her
Spouse. So do many other forms of living totally for Christ and his
mission that the Church lays open as beautiful and valued vocations.
Today is Vocations Sunday. Let every family pray
that vocations will abound in the Church. I invite you to
pray for the gift of vocations coming forth from your family, or from
the families of your children.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The Good Shepherd lays down his life
for the sheep" (John 10: 11-18)
Commentary by Pope John
Paul II (Homily for the 25th Anniversary of his Pontificate)
"The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" (Jn 10:11). While
Jesus was saying these words, the Apostles did not realize that he was
referring to himself. Not even his beloved Apostle John knew it. He
understood on Calvary, at the foot of the Cross, when he saw Jesus
silently giving up his life for "his sheep". When the time came for
John and the other Apostles to assume this same mission they then
remembered his words. They realized that they would be able to fulfill
their mission only because he had assured them that he himself would be
working among them. As Peter, a "witness of the sufferings of Christ"
(1 Pet 5:1), was particularly aware of this, he admonished the elders
of the Church: "Tend the flock of God that is your charge" (1 Pet 5:2).
Down the centuries, the successors of the Apostles, guided by the Holy
Spirit, have continued to gather Christ's flock and lead it toward the
Kingdom of Heaven, knowing that only "for Christ, with Christ and in
Christ" could they assume so great a responsibility. I was conscious of
the same thing when the Lord called me to carry out Peter's mission in
this beloved city of Rome and at the service of the whole world. From
the beginning of my Pontificate, my thoughts, prayers and actions were
motivated by one desire: to witness that Christ, the Good Shepherd, is
present and active in his Church. He is constantly searching for every
stray sheep, to lead it back to the sheepfold, to bind up its wounds;
he tends the sheep that are weak and sickly and protects those that are
strong. This is why, from the very first day, I have never ceased to
urge people: "Do not be afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power!"
Today I forcefully repeat: "Open, indeed, open wide the doors to
Christ!" Let him guide you! Trust in his love!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every
single day, do what you can to know God better, to get acquainted
with him, to fall more in love with him each moment, and to think of
nothing but of his Love and his glory. You will carry out this plan, my
child, if you never, for any reason whatever, give up your times of
prayer, your presence of God, with the aspirations and spiritual
communions that set you on fire, your unhurried Holy Mass, and y our
work, finished off well for him.
(The Forge,
no.737)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why are the formulas of faith important?
The formulas of faith are important because they permit one to express,
assimilate, celebrate, and share together with others the truths of the
faith through a common language.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.31)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday
of the fourth week of Eastertide
(May 8) Today let us think of Saint Victor
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 11:1-18; Psalms 42: 2-3;
43: 3-4;
John 10: 1-10
“He goes ahead of them, and the sheep
follow because they know his voice.” (John 10: 1-10)
One of the fascinating elements of life is the presence in a person of
faith, or alternatively, of the lack of faith. There are many ways of
understanding man, and one of them is to understand him by reference to
religion. Various authors have preferred to define man not so much as a
rational animal - the classic definition - but rather as a religious
one. That is to say, such authors
regard religion rather than mere rationality as the most distinguishing
element in the
life of individuals, cultures and societies. Of course, just because a
person (or society) practises religious observances does not mean that
he has religious faith. So perhaps a more basic distinction at least
between man
and man could be drawn in terms of faith. Some people have religious
faith and
others do not. Some place their trust in God and follow him to a
greater or lesser extent, and others do not. Our Lord speaks in today’s
Gospel of the sheep following the shepherd because they know his voice (John 10: 1-10).
They have faith in him and know his voice, and that voice they follow.
Others do not have faith in him and neither know nor follow his voice.
This is not the place to investigate the origins of faith, and in any
case we know that the divine faith that enables a person to entrust
himself to the God of Revelation and to accept what he has revealed is
a gift of God. It comes without fail in the Sacrament of Baptism. But
let us notice what happened in the experience of Peter and the infant
Church as narrated in the first reading today (Acts of the
Apostles 11:1-18). “The apostles and the brothers in
Judaea heard that the pagans too had accepted the word of God”. Peter
was criticised by the Jewish members of the Christian community for
having visited the pagans and associated with them. And so he explained
what had happened and how pagans at Jaffa had sent for him to hear the
message of salvation. When Peter arrived at their dwelling and began to
proclaim the word to them the Holy
Spirit came upon those pagans. Their repentance and their readiness to
believe the message of Peter was so ripe and abundant that there and
then in the presence of Peter they were granted the gift of God, the
Holy Spirit. So Peter had them baptised (Acts 10:48). This passage lets
us know that God works powerfully outside the Church, but with a view
to the recipients of his saving action bracing membership in the
Church. It is this faith that leads the
future convert to Christ and his Church.
This ought give us optimism and courage in our daily work of bearing
witness to Jesus in the world day by day, especially to those not of
the faith. There may be in those around us the secret beginnings of
religious faith which, such as it is, could be God’s work in their
hearts and the vehicle of his plans. This faith, like that of the
pagans of Jaffa who sent for Peter, could be leading them to
repentance and to membership in the communion of Christ’s faithful. The
infant Church was surprised at what God was doing among the pagans. Our
daily witness could be the catalyst for their leap of saving faith. God
is a God of surprises.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Whoever enters through me will be
safe.” (John 10: 1-10)
Comment by St Augustine
(354-430), Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
(45th Treatise on the Gospel of Saint John)
“My solemn word is this: I am the sheepgate.” Jesus just opened the
gate that he had shown us to be closed. He himself is that gate. Let us
recognize him, let us enter and rejoice to have entered.
“All who came before me were thieves and marauders.” We must
understand: “Those who came outside of me.” The prophets came before he
arrived; were they thieves and marauders? Not at all, for they did not
come outside of Christ; they were with him. He had sent them as
messengers before him, and he held in his hands the heart of these
people whom he had sent…… He said: “I am the way, and the truth, and
the life.” (Jn 14:6) If he is the truth, those who were in the truth
were with him. Those who, on the contrary, came outside of him, are
thieves and marauders, for they came only to plunder and kill. Jesus
said: “The sheep did not heed them.”……
But the righteous believed that he would come, just as we believe that
he has already come. Times have changed, faith is the same…… One single
faith unites those who believed that he would come and those who
believe that he has come. We all see him at different times coming in
by the same gate of faith, that is to say, through Christ…… Yes, all
who believed in the past, at the time of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob,
or of Moses or the other patriarchs and prophets, who all announced
Christ, were already his sheep. They heard Christ himself through them;
they did not hear a strange voice, but his own.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I will never share the opinion - though I respect it - of those who
separate prayer from active life, as if they were incompatible. We
children of God have to be contemplatives: people who, in the midst of
the din of the throng, know how to find silence of soul in a lasting
conversation with Our Lord, people who know how to look at him as they
look at a Father, as they look at a Friend, as they look at someone
with whom they are madly in love.
(The
Forge, no.738)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In what way
is the faith of the Church one faith alone?
The Church, although made up of persons who have diverse languages,
culture and rites, nonetheless professes with a united voice the one
faith that was received from the one Lord and that was passed on by the
one Apostolic Tradition. She confesses one God alone, Father, Son and
Holy Spirit, and points to one way of salvation. Therefore we believe
with one heart and one soul all that is contained in the Word of God,
handed down or written, and which is proposed by the Church as divinely
revealed.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.32)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday
of the fourth week of Eastertide
(May 9) Today let us think of Saint Pachomius, (Saints)
and Ven.
Thomas Pickering, Lay brother and martyr (+ 1665) (Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 11:19-26; Psalm
86; John 10:22-30
“The sheep that belong to me .... will
never be lost and no one will ever steal them from me.”
(John 10:22-30)
While it is true that the first of all revealed commandments
is that we are to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength,
this is not the foundation of Revealed Religion. The foundation of our
religion is not our love for God - indispensable as this is - but God’s
love for us. God himself loves each of us with all his heart and
strength and this is the primary thing that has been revealed and which
is the foundation of our love for God. So all our life we ought
be endeavouring to lay the right foundation, which is a profound
conviction of and faith in the love God has displayed for us. That love
is revealed in the person and life of Jesus. He who sees me, our Lord
said, sees the Father. No one comes to the Father, he said, except
through me. We ought be ever growing in an appreciation of the
boundless love of Jesus for each of us, and a realization that all that
he did for mankind, he did for me - that is to say, that in taking away
the sin of the world by his death on the cross, he took away my sins by
dying on the cross for me. By entering the fellowship and the communion
of the Church by baptism, each of enters into a very personal and
individual fellowship and communion with the person of Jesus. As St
Paul writes in one of his Letters, Christ loved me and gave himself up
for me. I must learn to be aware of the fact that Jesus is looking on
me, me in particular, with great love.
It is in this light that we ought read the moving words of our Lord in
today’s Gospel (John 10:22-30).
As can be said of the entire Gospel, they reveal the love of the Father
for us as manifested in Jesus’ love. Christ speaks of the sheep that
belong to him, and those sheep are us who have been baptized. We, each
of us, belong to Jesus, and this belonging to him wrought in our souls
by the new birth of baptism was the fruit of the action of the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit placed us “in Jesus” as St Paul so often puts
it, and as our Lord himself expresses it elsewhere in this same Gospel
of St John, he is in the Father and we are in him. Thus do we belong to
Jesus. That we belong to Jesus is not only the work of the Holy Spirit,
but it is the gift of the Father to Jesus: “The Father who gave them to
me is greater than anyone”. Each of us who belong to Jesus have been
given to him by the Father, “and no one can steal from the Father.” If
we remain in Christ’s care and friendship all will be well: “they will
never be lost and no one will ever steal them from me.” That is
Christ’s determination, and at the prompting of the Father and by the
power of the Holy Spirit he went to unmeasurable lengths to ensure that
we each of us would not be taken from his loving grasp. He gives us
now, and will give us hereafter, eternal life. Let us immerse ourselves
in these loving and reassuring words of the Lord that speak of where we
stand in relation to God, and of God’s attitude to each of us.
The foundation of our religion is God’s love for us. Let us then build
on that foundation by strengthening our appreciation of how totally we
belong to the Saviour, and of how this belonging is God’s gift to us
coming forth from his love.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“My sheep hear my voice” (John 10:22-30)
Comment by Blessed
Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), Foundress of the Missionary
Sisters of Charity
(No Greater Love)
You will consider it difficult to pray if you do not know what to do.
Each of us must help himself to pray: first of all, by having recourse
to silence, for we cannot place ourselves in the presence of God if we
do not practice both interior and exterior silence. It is not easy to
bring about silence within ourselves, but this effort is indispensable.
It is only in silence that we will find a new power and true unity.
God’s power will become ours, in order to accomplish everything as is
right and proper. The same will be true as regards the union of our
thoughts with his thoughts, the union of our prayers with his prayers,
the union of our actions with his actions, of our life with his life.
Unity is the fruit of prayer, of humility, of love.
God speaks in the silence of the heart. If you place yourself before
God in silence and prayer, God will speak to you. And you will know
then that you are nothing. God will only be able to fill you with
himself when you know your nothingness, your emptiness. The souls of
the people who pray much are souls of great silence.
Silence makes us see each thing differently. We need silence in order
to touch the souls of others. The essential is not what we say, but
what God says – what he says to us, what he says through us. In such a
silence, he will listen to us; in such a silence, he will speak to our
soul, and we will hear his voice.
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Those who are pious, with a piety devoid of affectation, carry out
their professional duty perfectly, since they know that their work is a
prayer raised to God.
(The Forge,
no.739)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What are the symbols of faith?
The symbols of faith are composite formulas, also called “professions
of faith” or “Creeds”, with which the Church from her very beginning
has set forth synthetically and handed on her own faith in a language
that is normative and common to all the faithful.
(The Compendium of
the Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.33)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday
of the fourth week of Eastertide
(May 10) Today let us think of Saint Comgall (Saints)
and Blessed Damien of Molakai (Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 12:24-13:5; Psalm
67: 2-3, 5-6, 8;
John 12:44-50
“Whoever sees me, sees the one who
sent me. I, the light, have come into the world”(Jn 12:44-50)
I invite you to notice a detail in the first reading for today, which
is taken from the Acts of the Apostles. St Luke mentions some of the
leaders of the Church of Antioch, who were “prophets and teachers”.
They were “Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen,
who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.” (Acts of the
Apostles 12:24-13:5) Now of course, among those
listed here Barnabas and Saul are very familiar to us for they are
saints of the Church whom we celebrate annually, and as missionaries
they receive a good deal of attention by St Luke in his Acts. But
notice the names of the others, particularly Manaen. He “had been
brought up with Herod the tetrarch”. Consider what may have been his
background, one similar to that of Herod himself. Consider those who
may have educated him, his friends as he was growing up, and all else
that contributed to his being the person he was. If we consider Herod,
one would not have thought Manaen’s background very promising. And yet
here he is featuring as one of the prophets and teachers of the
Christian community of Antioch. He had discovered Christ the Saviour,
as had Saul himself, also a convert with a very unpromising background.
It reminds us that our daily witness to Christ in the world around us
may have surprising results. We know how fruitful was the life of Saul,
well, by the same token, presumably Manaen’s Christian life was very
fruitful also.
Christ was the object of Paul’s life, of Barnabas’s life, of Manaen’s
life. They had all learnt that he is the light of the world. Our Lord
is very clear about himself as reported in the Gospel of St John, and
in particular in our Gospel passage of today (John 12:44-50).
Our Lord tells us that in believing in him we believe in the Father who
sent him, and that whoever sees him sees the Father who sent him. To
see Jesus is to see the Father. There is no one and no thing in the
universe to compare with the person of Jesus, and for this reason alone
he must be brought to the attention of everyone. I suppose we could say
that most things in the world have a relative importance. One person
may think that democracy is important and another may think that
science is, and another something else. But this or that or the other
person can do without those things. They have a relative importance -
relative to various individuals. If, however, we are speaking of a
Person whom to believe or to see is to believe or to see God the
Father, then such a person is objectively important to literally
everyone. Of course, very many do not accept Christ’s claims, others
ignore them, and others indeed deny them. So we who have been granted
the light must bear witness to it with optimism and courage, thinking
perhaps of such converts as Saul and Manaen in the Church of Antioch.
In our passage from the Acts of the Apostles “the Holy Spirit said, ‘I
want Barnabas and Saul set apart for the work to which I have called
them’.” It was the work of bearing witness to Jesus.
Let the thought of these figures spur us on. We
each of us have been called by the Holy Spirit to the work in life of
bearing witness to Jesus. We received this call at our baptism and our
confirmation when the Holy Spirit came to us to enable us to believe
and to give testimony to Jesus. Let us keep this call before us every
day, and fill up our lives with the work of serving Jesus in those
around us, and in bearing witness to Jesus discretely, prudently and
effectively with the Holy Spirit as our guide and our constant friend.
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I have come to the world as its light, to keep anyone who believes in
me from remaining in the dark.”
(Jn 12:44-50) Comment by St Anselm (1033-1109),
Monk, Bishop, Doctor of the Church (Meditations)
O good Master, Jesus Christ, I was without help, I was asking nothing,
I wasn’t even thinking of it, and your light enlightened me in my
night… You removed from me the burden that was crushing me, you pushed
back those who were assailing me, you called me by a new name (Rev
2:17) derived from yours: I am called a Christian. I was prostrate, you
lifted me up. You told me: “Trust! I have redeemed you, I who gave my
life for you. If you want to attach yourself to me, you will escape
evil and the abyss towards which you are running; I will lead you to my
Kingdom…”
Yes, Lord, you have done everything for me. I was in darkness and I
knew nothing about it…, I was going down towards the abyss of
injustice, I had fallen into the destitution of this time so as to fall
even lower. And at the hour when I was without help, you enlightened
me. Even without my asking you, you illumined me. In your light, I saw
what the others were and what I am… You gave me trust in my salvation,
you who gave your life for me… O Christ, I acknowledge that I owe
myself entirely to your love.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our being children of God, I insist, leads us to have a contemplative
spirit in the midst of all human activities; to be light, salt and
leaven through our prayer, through our mortification, through our
knowledge of religion and of our profession. We will carry out this
aim: the more within a world we are, the more we must be God’s.
(The Forge,
no.740)
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What are the most ancient symbols (professions) of faith?
The most ancient symbols of faith are the baptismal creeds. Because
Baptism is conferred “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19), the truths of faith professed at
Baptism are articulated in reference to the three Persons of the Most
Holy Trinity.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.34)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday
of the fourth week of Eastertide
(May 11) Today let us think of St Francis di Girolamo
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 13:13-25; Psalm 89: 2-3,
21-22, 25, 27;
John 13:16-20
“I am not the one you imagine me to
be. That one is coming after me and I am not fit to undo his sandal.”
(Acts 13:25)
There are many things in life that we are interested in, and many
things we are apathetic about. This is legitimate, but it is a sad
thing if we are fairly apathetic about Jesus our Lord. And yet great
numbers clearly are disinterested in him, and as we think of this
phenomenon of disinterest in the Person of Jesus we ought ask ourselves
just how enamoured we ourselves are of him. To counter this state of
affairs we must begin by simply meditating much and perseveringly on
the Person of Jesus and attempting with the aid of grace to gain a
profound appreciation of him. He is the One whom God promised would
come. St
Paul in the Acts of the Apostles addresses the synagogue of Antioch in
Pisidia and speaks of the history of God’s chosen people. The point of
that history and of God’s work in it was the raising “up for Israel one
of David’s descendants, Jesus, as Saviour”. Jesus is the one and only
Saviour, for both
Jews and Gentiles. St Paul
concludes by referring to the words of John the Baptist about Christ:
"Before John ended his
career he said, ‘I am not the one you
imagine me to be; that one is coming after me and I am not fit to undo
his sandal strap’.” (Acts of the
Apostles 13:13-25) Do we share at all in the
self-abasing attitude towards Christ manifested by John in these words?
St Paul in quoting him was quoting a great a great prophet
whose mission was to point to the One long awaited. Let us examine
ourselves on our attitude.
We can scarcely think enough about Jesus, and we certainly will never
appreciate him adequately, but we must all our life be working on it
out of love for Jesus. He deserves nothing less of us. At the end of
our Gospel passage today our Lord says to his apostles “I tell you this
now, before it happens, so that when it does happen you may believe
that I am He.” This statement obviously alludes to the fact that He is
the one long promised by the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms, but it
probably is intended by the Lord to allude also to his divinity. Christ
wanted his disciples to believe firmly “that I am He (or I Am)” (John 13:16-20) He
is the object of all our belief, for he is the Son of the eternal
Father. The foundation of our life and of the universe is the Person of
Jesus. In and through him all things came to be, and as St John puts it
in his Gospel prologue, without him nothing came to be. Our entire
existence
finds its meaning and its prospects in the Person of Jesus, and God’s
plan for each of us - a plan whereby our life contributes to his glory
- is bound up entirely in the Person of Jesus. So let us resolve
to spend
our life in profound appreciation of Jesus, and in saying from the
bottom of our hearts that “I am not fit to undo his sandal strap.” We
must learn to say this not only from our hearts in prayer before God,
but in one way or another before men. Our witness to Jesus in the midst
of the world ought be a sincere acknowledgment of our unfitness to undo
his sandal-strap.
Let us make Christ the foundation and object of our life, and the
object of the life of others.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Amen, Amen, I say to you, no slave is
greater than his master” (John 13:16-20)
From the Second Vatican
Council (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium),
§8
Just as Christ carried out the work of redemption in poverty and
persecution, so the Church is called to follow the same route that it
might communicate the fruits of salvation to men. Christ Jesus, “though
he was by nature God… emptied himself, taking the nature of a slave”
(Phil 2:6), and “being rich, became poor” (2 Cor 8:9) for our sakes.
Thus, the Church, although it needs human resources to carry out its
mission, is not set up to seek earthly glory, but to proclaim, even by
its own example, humility and self-sacrifice. Christ was sent by the
Father “to bring good news to the poor, to heal the contrite of heart”
(Lk 4:18), “to seek and to save what was lost” (Lk 19:10). Similarly,
the Church encompasses with love all who are afflicted with human
suffering and in the poor and afflicted sees the image of its poor and
suffering Founder. It does all it can to relieve their need and in them
it strives to serve Christ…
The Church, “… presses forward amid the persecutions of the world and
the consolations of God” (St. Augustine), announcing the cross and
death of the Lord until he comes” (cf. 1 Cor 11:26). By the power of
the risen Lord it is given strength that it might, in patience and in
love, overcome its sorrows and its challenges, both within itself and
from without, and that it might reveal to the world, faithfully though
darkly, the mystery of its Lord until, in the end, it will be
manifested in full light.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Good gold and diamonds lie far down in the depths of the earth, not
within everyone’s reach. Your task of holiness - your holiness and that
of others - depends on your fervour, your cheerfulness, your everyday,
obscure, normal, everyday work.
(The Forge,
no.741)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What
are the most important symbols of the faith?
They are the Apostles’ Creed which is the ancient baptismal symbol of
the Church of Rome and the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed which stems
from the first two ecumenical Councils, that of Nicea (325 AD) and that
of Constantinople (381 AD) and which even to this day are common to the
great Churches of the East and the West.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.35)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday
of the fourth week of Eastertide
(May 12) Saints
Nereus and Achilleus, martyrs. These martyrs were Roman soldiers
who were converted to the true faith and refused to serve any longer.
Because of this they were put to death, probably in the time of
Diocletian. Their tomb is in the cemetry on the Via Ardeatina, where a
basilica was erected in their honour. (Saints)
Also, Saint
Pancras, martyr (died about 304). Hardly fourteen years old, St
Pancras was martyred during the reign of Diocletian. According to
tradition he preferred to die rather than renounce his faith in Christ.
He was buried on the Via Aurelia, where Pope Symmachus built a basilica
over his tomb.
Scripture today: Acts of the
Apostles 13:26-33; Psalm 2: 6-11;
John 14:1-6.
When we reflect on it, it is fairly obvious that a major reason for
distress in life is that something happens that prevents us from
possessing what we regard as important. A person fails his exams
and he is profoundly distressed. Why? Because he does not possess what
is very important to him - the grade he was aiming at which would have
led to further benefits. We could think of example after example
illustrating the point that what causes distress is usually (though not
always) the perceived loss of what is important to us. Well now, this
means that we ought have a clear idea of what is objectively very
important and make that the object of our hopes and efforts. It is
scarcely wise if a person attributes great importance to things (such
as very great material wealth) that are not really so in comparison
with certain other things (such as a very happy marriage, or normal
good health). So then, if we want to be happy, we need to sort out what
are the most important things to be aiming at in life, and seek our
happiness in them. To take the point further, in view of the fact that
this life is not the end but is merely the stepping stone to eternity,
we need to sort out what is important from the perspective of eternity.
We need to discover what is absolutely important in an ultimate sense.
Our ultimate happiness depends on out attaining what is the ultimately
important thing. If that ultimately important thing is within reach,
and if we are heading towards its attainment, happiness will normally
be ours.
All these are very simple philosophical reflections, but they bear on
what our Lord says to his disciples in today’s Gospel reading. He tells
them not to let their hearts be troubled. “Trust in God still, and
trust in me” (John 14:1-6),
despite all that might happen to them. Then our Lord tells them and us
the important thing to keep our eyes on: the house of our Father in
heaven where each of us has a place reserved. There we shall be with
the Father and with Jesus. “After I have gone and prepared you a place,
I shall return to take you with me; so that where I am you may be too.”
Ultimately this is the important thing, our eternal salvation, our
being with God the most holy Trinity for ever in heaven together with
all the angels and saints. In the first chapter of the First Letter of
St Peter this ultimate goal is put before us very beautifully. St Peter
reminds us “that we have a sure hope and the promise of an inheritance
that can never be spoilt or soiled and never fade away, because it is
being kept for you in the heavens.(vs.4)” If we hold on to Jesus
through faith we can be “sure of the end to which your faith looks
forward, that is, the salvation of your souls.(vs.9)” Ultimately the
only final cause of distress is the possibility of the loss of
salvation. For this reason we must avoid sin, and repent of it when it
is committed. All occasions of distress ought be viewed in the light of
the eternal salvation towards which we are working. And so let us
throughout life bear in mind our Lord’s directive from today’s Gospel:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still, and trust in
me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house.”
Cardinal Newman wrote at the end of one of his greatest books that life
is short, eternity long. Let us understand what are the truly important
things in life, and find our happiness there.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father
but through me”(John 14:1-6)
Comment by St Augustine
(354-430), Bishop of Hippo and Doctor of the Church (Sermon 142)
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” With these words, Christ
seems to be telling us: “Which road are you going to take? I am the
way. Where do want to go? I am the truth. Where do you want to live? I
am the life.” So let us walk with great security on the way; and let us
fear the traps that lie away from the path, for the enemy does not dare
to attack on the way. The way is Christ. But away from the way, the
enemy lays his traps…
Our way is Christ in his humility. Christ, the truth and the life, is
Christ in his grandeur, his divinity. If you walk on the way of
humility, you will come to the Most High. If in your weakness, you do
not despise humility, you will remain full of strength in the Most
High. Why did Christ take the path of humility? It was because of your
weakness that was like an insurmountable obstacle. Such a great doctor
came to you so as to free you from it. You could not go to him; he came
to you. He came to teach you humility, the way of return, for pride is
what prevents us from returning to the life it caused us to lose…
So Jesus, who has become our way, calls out to us: “Enter through the
narrow gate.” (Mt 7:13) A person tries to enter, but the swelling of
pride prevents us. Let us accept the remedy of humility, let us drink
this bitter but salutary medicine… The person who is swollen with pride
asks: “How will I be able to enter?” Christ answers us: “I am the way;
enter through me. I am the gate (Jn 10:7), why look elsewhere?” He made
himself everything for you so that you might not get lost, and he tells
you: “Be humble, be gentle.” (Mt 11:29)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In our ordinary behaviour we need a power far greater than that of the
legendary King Midas, who changed all he touched to gold. We have to
change, through love, the human work of our usual working day into the
work of God: something that will last forever.
(The Forge,
no.742)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why does the Profession
of Faith begin with the words, “I believe in God”?
The Profession of Faith begins with these words because the affirmation
“I believe in God” is the most important, the source of all the other
truths about man and about the world, and about the entire life of
everyone who believes in God.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.36)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday
of the fourth week of Eastertide
(May 13) Today let us think of Our Lady of Fatima
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 13:44-52; Psalm 98: 1-4;
John 14:7-14
“Whatever you ask for in my name I
will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
(John 14:7-14)
In view of the fact that we have been endowed by God with freedom of
choice and action, and in view of the momentous plan which God has for
each of us and which depends of course on our acceptance, we have a
marvellously reassuring guarantee from the Lord in today’s Gospel. That
guarantee is given in our Lord’s words: “Whatever you ask for in my
name I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you
ask for anything in my name I will do it.” (John 14:7-14) It
is clear that the purpose of our Lord’s promise to hear our prayers is
that the Father may be glorified, and what is it that will most glorify
the Father? It is the fulfilment of his sanctifying and redeeming plan
in our lives. As St Paul writes in one of his Letters, “this is the
will of God, your sanctification.” The first chapter of the first
Letter of St Peter puts the matter similarly: we have been chosen “by
the provident purpose of God to be made holy by the Spirit”. So the
prayer to Christ which we may be especially confident of being heard is
the prayer, the constant prayer, that we may be sanctified, made holy
and full of love in God’s sight. Our Lord’s promise in today’s Gospel
is especially reassuring.
As mentioned above, we have been endowed with free will, and so we can
ignore the plan of God for us, or welcome it truly and gladly. In the
first reading from the Acts of the Apostles “the Jews, prompted by
jealousy, used blasphemies and contradicted everything Paul said.” By
contrast, the pagans “thanked the Lord for his message; all who were
destined for eternal life became believers. Thus the word of the Lord
spread” (Acts of the
Apostles 13:44-52). We are believers, and have
welcomed the message of salvation from the Church, as did those
referred to here. But that message must go on to transform us. It must
be embraced by us every day and by the grace of God lived out in its
fulness. For this we need to cooperate generously and perseveringly
with the action of the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. We need to
pray daily for this fidelity in order that God’s saving and sanctifying
plan will be fulfilled in us. We shall have to begin again and again,
repenting over and over again as the days of our life go by. This is
why Christ’s promise to hear our prayers in today’s Gospel is so
reassuring, for if we are sanctified in the Son, the Father will be
glorified. Let us all our life make our prayer that by the power
of the Holy Spirit God will sanctify us, never allowing our hope to
fail or lessen because we are assured by holy Scripture that this is
the will of God, and that Christ will hear our prayers to this effect.
Let our lives be lived in such a way that God will be honoured and
glorified,
and let us pray
unceasingly that this may be.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Whoever has seen me has seen the
Father.” (John 14:7-14)
Commentary by St
Irenaeus of Lyon (around 130 – around 208), Bishop, Theologian
and Martyr
(Against the
Heresies IV, 5)
God’s splendour gives life. Thus, those who see God, will have a part
in life. That is why he who is indiscernible, incomprehensible and
invisible gives himself so as to be seen, understood and grasped by
human beings; it is in order to give life to those who grasp him and
who see him. For although his splendor cannot be plumbed, his kindness
is also inexpressible, and this latter is the reason why he lets
himself be seen and why he gives life to those who see him.
It is impossible to live without Life. There is no life outside of
participation in God; and this participation consists in seeing God and
enjoying God’s kindness. Thus, human beings will see God in order to
live… according to what Moses says in the Book of Deuteronomy: “We have
found out today that a man can still live after God has spoken with
him.” (Deut 5:24) God is invisible and inexpressible… but all beings
learn through his Word that there is only one God the Father, who holds
all things and gives all things existence, according to what the Lord
also says: “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, ever at
the Father’s side, who has revealed him.” (Jn 1:18)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you put your mind to it, everything in your life can be offered to
the Lord, can provide an opportunity to talk with your Father in
Heaven, who is always keeping new illuminations for you and granting
them to you.
(The Forge,
no.743)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why does one profess belief that there is only one God?
Belief in one God is professed because he has revealed himself to the
people of Israel as the only One when he said, “Hear, O Israel, the
Lord your God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4) and “there is no other”
(Isaiah 45:22). Jesus himself confirmed that God is “the one Lord”
(Mark 12:29). To confess that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are also God
and Lord does not introduce any division into the one God.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.37)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fifth
Sunday of Eastertide
(May 14) St
Matthias, apostle (died perhaps about 64 AD). After the
ascension of our Lord, St Peter proposed that the disciples elect an
apostle in place of Judas. The choice was Matthias, who joined the
other Eleven. He had been with them, we are told in the Acts,
from the beginning of the public ministry. It seems that he
worked for the Faith in Palestine, and later was stoned to death. Today
we are reminded that our Christian faith is a gratuitous gift of God to
which we should respond with fidelity and gratitude.
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts
9:26-31; Psalm 22: 26-28,
30-32; 1
John 3:18-24; John 15:1-8
“I am the vine, you are the branches.
Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit..”
(John 15:1-8)
When we hear the Gospel passage about Christ being the
vine and we the branches we tend to think that our Lord is speaking
simply of his relationship with each of us individually. “I am the
vine, and my Father is the vine grower. Every branch in me that bears
no fruit he cuts away and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes
to make it bear even more.” (John 15:1-8) In
hearing these words we think of the involvement of our Lord and of the
Father in the life of each of us. That is essential, of course, but we
tend to forget the greater reality of which we are part. Our Lord is
also speaking of his relationship with the entire body of believers,
which is to say the Church. In uttering these words our Lord was not
speaking to one individual alone, but to his Apostles as a group at the
Last Supper. It was to the Church, the Church in its beginnings, that
our Lord explained that he is the vine and we are the branches. In any
case, we ought never understand our relationship with the person of
Jesus as just a matter between him and me. The truly Catholic sense of
our relationship with Jesus is that I live in him not alone but
together with the entire body of the faithful. We are all together in
him as in a single body. We together are all grafted on to the one vine
which is Christ. I am part of a vast vine, a vast tree as it were, and
the heart and soul of this single organism that is always bearing fruit
is the person of Jesus. This presence of Jesus in the Church makes of
the Church not merely a human reality but one which bears within it a
great divine reality. The members are human, but both the head and the
soul of the Church are divine.
The average person looks on the Church as nothing more than a
very human institution, a body of people who happen to belong to a
particular religion which has various doctrines and moral teachings. It
is considered by many as just a great world religion, one of several.
But of course, we know
from the words of our Lord who is the founder of the Church that those
of us who make up the Church are far from being its principal reality.
If that were all there is to the Church it would indeed be
nothing more than just another world religion. But no. Just as
branches are nothing without the vine, so too the fundamental and
all-pervasive reality constituting the Church is the person of Jesus.
He is the object of the Church’s attention and the abiding source of
the Church’s life. The word “Church” derives from the word to call many
together, and the Church consists of those called into one body by the
word of Christ and by his union with them. The Church was prepared for
in the Old Testament people of God and came into existence by
Christ’s teachings, his association with the Twelve, by his passion,
his death, resurrection and ascension into heaven, and then by the
sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The same Jesus who returned to
his Father victorious over sin and
death now constantly abides within his body the Church as the great
Presence and gift of God. This the Church bears constantly
within herself and offers to all her members and which she makes
available to all mankind. The person of Jesus is the head of the
Church, though hidden and unseen. He is the hidden face of the Church,
and some day we shall see him as he is. From him and from the Father
who is in him comes the all-important Gift of the Holy Spirit, and
those who wish to meet Christ and live his Spirit-filled life do so by
becoming members of his body, branches of him who is the vine. The
living unseen Christ can be located. He is in the Church.
For this reason we ought cultivate a profound reverence and love
for the Church, looking on the Church the way our Lord does. We
maintain a true docility to the Church and to her teaching because we
know it is Christ who guides and teaches us through her. Just as a
human face which we observe manifests the unseen spirit or soul of a
person which we cannot see, so too, the Church which we do observe
makes present the unseen Christ whom we cannot yet observe. So great is
the union of Christ with the Church that our Lord referred to himself
as the bridegroom and to the Church as his bride. In our Gospel today
our Lord puts it differently, saying that he is the vine and we the
Church are the branches. The important thing to realize very profoundly
in all this is that the person of Christ is the great reality
pervading, supporting and dominating the Church. It is for him that we
are members of the Church, and it is in and through the Church that
Christ is united to each of us. So then, let us always be filled with a
sense of the divine character of the Church stemming directly from her
unbreakable union with the divine person of Jesus.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading:
The Catechism of
the Catholic Church, no.771-801
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"By this is my Father glorified,
that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”(John 15:1-8)
St Bernard
(1091-1153), Cistercian and Doctor of the Church (Sermon 58
on the Song of Songs)
I must warn each of you about his vine: for who has never cut back
everything that is superfluous in himself to the point of thinking that
there is nothing more to cut? Believe me, what has been cut, grows
back; the vices that have been chased away return, and we see
tendencies that had gone to sleep waking up again. It is therefore not
enough to cut one’s vine once; rather, we have to do it again and
often, and if possible, even without ceasing. For if you are sincere,
you ceaselessly find in yourself something to cut… Virtue cannot grow
among the vices; for virtue to develop, we must prevent the vices from
increasing. So suppress what is superfluous; then the necessary will be
able to spring up.
For us, Brothers, it is always the time for cutting; it is always
necessary. For I am sure that we have already left winter behind us, we
have left behind the fear without love, which introduces us all to
wisdom, but which doesn’t let anyone grow in perfection. When love
comes, it chases away that fear just as the summer chases away the
winter… So may the winter rains stop, that is say, the tears of anguish
that arise because of the memory of your sins and the fear of judgment…
If “the winter is over” and “the rain has topped” (Song 2:11)…, the
sweetness of the spring of spiritual grace shows us that the time has
come to cut our vine. What else is there for us to do other than to
become entirely committed to this work?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Work with cheerfulness, with peace, with presence of God. In this way
you will also carry out your task with common sense. You will carry it
through to the end. Though tiredness is beating you down, you will
finish it off well; and your works will be pleasing to God.
(The Forge,
no.744)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With what name does God reveal himself?
God revealed himself to Moses as the living God, “the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6). God also revealed to
Moses his mysterious name “I Am Who I Am (YHWH)”. Already in Old
Testament times this ineffable name of God was replaced by the divine
title Lord. Thus in the New Testament, Jesus who was called Lord is
seen as true God.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.38)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday
of the fifth week of Eastertide
(May 15) Today let us think of Saint Isidor the Farmer
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 14: 5-18; Psalm 115: 1-4,
15-16;
John 14: 21-26
“If anyone loves me he will keep my
word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him” (John 14: 21-26)
The scene of our Gospel passage today is the Last Supper and St John in
his account is giving us our Lord’s special teaching to his apostles,
telling them how their (and others’) intimacy with him will continue
unabated after he has gone from visible sight. He says he will show
himself to the one who receives his commandments and keeps them. That
is the person to whom the Lord will manifest himself, implying that he
will not manifest himself indiscriminately to the world at large.
Notice the
freedom with which Jude (not Judas Iscariot) interjects and bluntly
asks a question - it is almost an objection: “Lord, what is this about?
Do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” Now, does
not
this question and the freedom with which it is asked tell us something
of the familiarity with which our Lord’s disciples engaged with him?
Their respect and love for him was great, and after all, Jude addresses
our
Lord in this very instance as “Lord”, showing his and their habitual
veneration for him. But they felt very much at home with him, and this
tells us much about the Christian life and our relationship with God
here on earth and hereafter in heaven. God in Jesus made himself truly
at home with us. Jesus is God-with-us.
Indeed, this is the very point that our Lord impresses on them in his
conversation prior to his death. He speaks of himself and the Father as
making their home with anyone who is a faithful disciple. “If anyone
loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we
shall come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14: 21-26) This
is a fundamental feature of the Christian life, that the three Persons
of the most holy Trinity choose to make their home within the heart of
Christ’s disciples. Inasmuch as our Lord was addressing these words to
the Apostles as a group we can presume he means these words for the
entire Church as well as for each of her members. The entire Church is
called to keep the word of Christ (as is each of her members), and by
doing that it will be the constant abode of the most holy Trinity. Both
the universal Church and each of her faithful members is thus the home
of the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Thus does God
dwell among men. He lives among men within his Church, and the Church
is
where man finds God the Holy Trinity. This abiding indwelling of the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit is real and full now, but will reach its
glorious completion hereafter when God will be all in all. Consider the
constant directness and intimacy with the holy Trinity we are thus
granted.
Let us take seriously the Christian doctrine of the indwelling of the
Blessed
Trinity. Let us base our lives on it as the foundation of our daily
life and of the life of the Church - both here and as we look to the
hereafter. The
Blessed Trinity dwells constantly within the Church, and also within
the soul of each faithful member of the Church who keeps Christ’s word.
What a blessing comes with fidelity!
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“The Paraclete, the Holy Spirit whom
the Father will send in my name” (John 14: 21-26)
Commentary by Joseph
Cardinal Ratzinger [Pope Benedict XVI] (Der Gott Jesu Christi)
In contrast to the words “Father” and “Son”, the name of the Holy
Spirit, the third divine person, does not express anything specific; on
the contrary, it designates what is common to God. But that is
precisely where that which is “proper” to the third person becomes
apparent: he is “what is in common”, the unity of the Father and the
Son, Unity in person. The Father and the Son are one to the extent to
which they go over and beyond themselves; they are one in this third
person, in the fecundity of the gift. Such affirmations can never be
anything other than approaches; we can only recognize the Spirit in the
effect he has. Consequently, Scripture never describes the Holy Spirit
in himself; it only speaks of how he comes to the human being and of
how he is different from the other spirits…
Judas Thaddaeus asked: “Lord, why is it that you will reveal yourself
to us and not to the world?” The answer Jesus gives seems to sidestep
the question: “Anyone who loves me will be true to my word, and we will
come to him and make our dwelling place with him.” In truth, this is
the exact answer to the disciple’s question and to our question
concerning the Spirit. It is not possible to put God’s Spirit on
display like some piece of merchandise. He can only be seen by the
person who carries him in himself. Here, seeing and coming, seeing and
abiding go together and are inseparable. The Holy Spirit abides in the
word of Jesus, and this word is not obtained by means of talking, but
through constancy, through life.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You should maintain throughout the day a constant conversation with Our
Lord, a conversation fed even by the things that happen in your
professional work. Go in spirit to the Tabernacle ... and offer to God
the work that is in your hands.
(The Forge,
no.745)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Is God the only one who “is”?
Since creatures have received everything they are and have from God,
only God himself is the fullness of being and of every perfection. God
is “He who is” without origin and without end. Jesus also reveals that
he bears the divine name “I Am” (John 8:28)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.39)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday
of the fifth week of Eastertide
(May 16) Today let us think of Saint Brendan (Saints)
and Saint Gemma Galgani (Saints)
Scripture today: Acts of the
Apostles
14:19-28; Psalm
145: 10-13, 21;
John 14:27-31
“I shall not talk with you any longer,
because the prince of this world
is on his way.”
(John 14:27-31)
I remember more than thirty years ago (the Servant of God) Pope Paul VI
stated that in the dissent that was widespread in the Church Satan’s
presence was evident. The reports of this papal comment were greeted in
the media with quiet mirth because the notion of Satan being a real
personality and force was regarded as something of a fantasy. But of
course there
is nothing fantastic in the teaching of the Church that Satan is very
real and active. It is a sober and very serious matter and our Lord
came to deal with Satan and the cosmic results of his work. In our
Gospel passage
today he refers to Satan as a prince, a ruler. He is "the prince of
this
world"
and our Lord tells his disciples that he is “on his way” (John 14:27-31).
The battle lines were drawn and Christ's weapon was obedience and the
cross. Satan is the dark prince coming with his forces to attack with
all the power he could muster. He wanted
to deceive and to kill - our Lord referred to him on another occasion
as a liar and a murderer from the beginning. He had deceived our Lord’s
enemies, and had even deceived one of our Lord’s very own - one of the
Twelve - and had drawn him into his power. St John tells us that
during the Last Supper itself Satan entered Judas, and after Satan
entered him Judas went out into the night. Satan is the prince of
darkness whereas Christ is the Light. Much earlier, following
our Lord’s announcement of the doctrine of the Eucharist, he turned to
the Twelve and said that one of them was a devil. The devils were
subject to Satan, and our Lord in one of his teachings referred to the
kingdom and the household of Satan.
Our Lord’s reference to the prince of this world reminds us that there
are two rulers to choose from who dominate the world.
They are not equal, of course, and our Lord in our passage today tells
us that Satan has no power over him. That is perfectly evident in our
Lord’s public ministry in which time and again he sends Satan and the
demons scurrying away at a word. Satan thinks he is about to have a
signal victory over the Messiah by putting an inglorious and final end
to all his activities. But he is deceived for out of that coming
defeat, which Christ in his strength accepts, will arise the victory
over the
world and its prince. Our Gospel reading today reminds us that there
are two great personalities to choose from, two princes, we might say.
Each has his own standard and each follows his own path. There is the
King of kings and Lord of lords, and on the other hand there is the
prince
of this world. One is the Saviour, the other is the Destroyer. One is
the Truth, the other is the father of lies. One is the source of Life,
the other is the lord of death. Let us place ourselves in company with
the
faithful disciples of our Lord and choose him, saying with Simon Peter,
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Choosing Christ means choosing to follow his way, the way of obedience
in the midst of suffering and the cross. Let us listen with love to the
words of our Master, inviting us to take up our cross daily and to
follow him in obedience to the Father. This is the way to share in his
victory. It is the victory of holiness over sin, of life over death, of
Christ over Satan.
Let us today renew our choice, the choice of our baptism, renouncing
Satan and following Christ.
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Peace I leave with you; my peace
I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you."
(John
14:27-31) Comment
by Saint [Padre] Pio de
Pietrelcina (1887-1968), Capuchin (AdFP, 549)
The Spirit of God is a spirit of peace. Even in our most serious
failing, he lets us feel a pain that is tranquil, humble and trusting,
and this is due precisely to his mercy. In contrast, the spirit of evil
excites, exasperates, and makes us feel a kind of anger against
ourselves when we fail. And yet it is towards ourselves that we should
exercise charity first of all. Thus, when you are tormented by certain
thoughts, this agitation never comes from God, but from the demon; for
since God is a spirit of peace, he gives serenity.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From there, where you are working, let your heart escape to the Lord,
right close to the Tabernacle, to tell him, without doing anything odd,
“My Jesus, I love you”. Don’t be afraid to call him so - my Jesus - and
say it to him often.
(The Forge,
no.746)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why is the revelation of God’s name
important?
In revealing his name, God makes known the riches contained in the
ineffable mystery of his being. He alone is from everlasting to
everlasting. He is the One who transcends the world and history. It is
he who made heaven and earth. He is the faithful God, always close to
his people, in order to save them. He is the highest holiness, “rich in
mercy” (Ephesians 2:4), always ready to forgive. He is the One who is
spiritual, transcendent, omnipotent, eternal, personal, and perfect. He
is truth and love.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.40)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday
of the fifth week of Eastertide
(May 17) Today let us think of Saint Paschal Baylon
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 15:1-6; Psalm 122: 1-5;
John 15:1-8
“Whoever remains in me, with me in
him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing.”
(John 15:1-8)
The meaning of life and of the world is one of the most fascinating
questions in the history of mankind. A plant germinates and grows. It
produces its flower and finally dies. What is the meaning of this? What
sense is there to the appearance of this plant, and why has it come and
gone? Many might say that there is no particular meaning in it, and
that it has just come and gone as a simple fact. Well, obviously if we
were to rely simply on our own resources we could not hope to perceive
the entire meaning the plant might have, but we can surely gain some
understanding just by observing what the plant actually does, its
"work", as we might call it.
Consider how
the plant grows and fortifies itself with the nourishment it draws from
its environment. What does it succeed in doing? It produces a beautiful
flower. Perhaps it also produces beautiful fruit which benefits and
nourishes other living things. That work of its brief and unthinking
life manifests something of its meaning and value. The more ultimate
meaning of this we may not know (unless it is revealed to us) but that
limited and obvious meaning alone is good for us to have seen. Or
again, consider the animal world. An animal is born, grows, lives its
life and produces its offspring, and then passes away. What is the
meaning
of this? The entire meaning of it we cannot discern, but to some extent
its meaning derives from what the animal does in its short life. It,
for instance, produces others of its species and this alone gives to
the animal a certain meaning. So then, we can surely say that (by
analogy with human
work) its “work” gives to it a certain meaning.
That is to say, in non-human life we have hints of the general point
that work is
inextricably connected with meaning. If we turn to the human
being we see this connection much more clearly manifested. A child is
born, grows, lives
out his life in a line of activity and work, and finally dies. What is
the meaning of the brief appearance of this human entity? Without
divine help
we could not discern the full meaning of a human life, but just by
reflecting on what we observe we can at least say that the meaning of
that life is both manifested in and derived from the work in life that
person was able to do. As a child is growing we tend to ask, what will
he do? A person whose life is drawing to a close tends to ask, what did
I do? Every human life hinges around work, as does all of society, and
the meaning of both an individual life and the life of a society is to
a fair extent to be found in what is made of the chance to work. If a
person did no work, or if a society worked very poorly, then we tend to
think that there is little meaning in things there.
Whereas if good work is done then much sense can be found in that life.
The question is, though, what in an ultimate sense will constitute good
work?
Well, God has something to say about this central question, and
it comes in today’s Gospel passage in which our Lord describes himself
as the vine and us as the branches (John 15:1-8).
We are intended by God to be branches of the vine who is Christ. If we
remain part of the vine we will bear fruit in plenty, and we are warned
that if we cut ourselves off from him (by sin) then we will not be able
to do anything - as far as God is concerned. So then, good work will
come if we continue to live in Christ, making our home in him by
keeping the word that he has spoken to us. Our lives will have great
meaning if we remain in him and bear the fruit that comes from this.
God intends that we bear much fruit (though he alone may see it) and in
this way glorify him. "It is to the glory of my Father that you bear
much fruit." (John 15:1-8) The
ultimate meaning of our life will be that God be glorified by our
fruitful work in life, and this will be possible only by living
in Jesus. Let us then make our home in him, just as he makes his home
in us, and do our work in life accordingly.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Whoever remains in me and
I in him will bear much fruit" (John 15:1-8)
Commentary by Blessed
Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916), Hermit and Missionary in the
Sahara
(Meditations on
the Psalms, Ps 1 : Bearing fruit in due season)
“Happy the man who … meditates on the Lord’s law day and night. He is
like a tree planted near running water, that yields its fruit in due
season.” (Ps 1:1-3) My God, you tell me that I shall be happy, happy
with true happiness, happy on the last day…, that as destitute as I
might be, I am a palm tree planted beside running water, the living
water of the divine will, of divine love, of grace…, and that I will
bear my fruit in due season. You deign to comfort me; I feel that I am
without fruit, I feel that I am without good works, and I tell myself:
I was converted eleven years ago, and what have I done? What works did
the saints do, and what have I done? I see that my hands that are empty
of anything good.
You deign to comfort me. You tell me: “You will bear fruit in due
season.” … When is that season? The season for all of us is the hour of
judgment: you promise me that, as poor as I see that I am, if I persist
with good will and in the combat, I will have borne fruit when that
last hour comes.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A priest who was saying the Divine Office prepared himself for prayer
in this way: “I will follow the rule of saying, when I start: ‘I want
to pray as the saints pray’, and then I will invite my Guardian Angel
to sing the Lord’s praises with me.” Try this in your own vocal prayer,
and also as a way of increasing your presence of God in your work.
(The Forge,
no.747)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In what way is God
the truth?
God is Truth itself and as such he can neither deceive nor be deceived.
He is “light, and in him there is no darkness” (1 John 1:5). The
eternal Son of God, the incarnation of wisdom, was sent into the world
“to bear witness to the Truth” (John 18:37)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.41)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday
of the fifth week of Eastertide
(May 18) Saint
John I, pope and martyr. Born in Tuscany. In the year 523 he was
elected pope. He was sent by the Arian king Theodoric to the Emperor
Justin at Constantinople, but on his return the king, angry at the
outcome of the mission, had him imprisoned at Ravenna where he died in
526. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 15: 7-21; Psalm 96: 1-3, 10;
John 15: 9-11
"As the Father has loved me, so I
have loved you. Remain in my love." (John 15: 9-11)
A few months ago there was a feature article in The Bulletin on the
psychoanalyst and theoretician Sigmund Freud, and how he stands in our
day. The article made the point that, despite his fame and
widespread recognition, the details of his hypotheses have been largely
debunked. The thought of Freud and so many other influential thinkers
of the modern age reminds us that one of the characteristics of our
secular culture is the loss of insight into the foundations of life and
reality. There are so many people who do not know what are the ultimate
realities on which we base our daily lives and for which we live. Freud
had his theories, Marx had his, Peter Singer has his, and so it goes
on, thinker after thinker, writer after writer. The upshot is that many
people simply do not know what to make of life and reality, and they
prefer to press on after more tangible and obvious goals. The issue of
what we might call the principle and foundation of life and reality is
left unanswered, or does not rise very much in their hearts. Perhaps it
is a result of the profound relativism that marks modern thought,
making it very difficult to believe in the possibility of objective
certainty. One result of this deeply seated confusion and uncertainty
is the loss of joy. True joy carries with it a sense that the joy will
endure, but for this to happen it has to be based on real foundations.
Whatever might be our observations on the character of the modern mind,
the ultimate foundation of life and reality is very, very clear. It has
been revealed to us from on high, and it is expressed in very simple
terms in today’s Gospel. The foundation of everything is the love of
God. God is love both in respect to his inner life, and in respect to
his love for us. Our life is meant to be based on that love and lived
out within it. Listen to our Lord’s words in respect to God's inner
life. He says that the Father has loved him, and that he remains in his
Father’s love, and keeps his commandments. So the inner life of God the
Father, Son and Holy Spirit is a life of love one for the other. Love
is the ultimate reality. Love is the ultimate character of Being -
ultimate Existence being the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Love
is the final bedrock element and it is everlasting and infinite. Our
thought and our life ought then be based on this divine love. Moreover,
in respect to us our Lord tells us that “As the Father has loved me, so
I have loved you.” (John
15: 9-11) This foundation of life and
reality is simple, clear and profound, and as our Lord immediately
tells us, our great goal in life is to “remain in my love.” So then, we
ought day by day be striving to know the love of God and to remain in
it. This path is accessible to the most intelligent and sophisticated,
as well as to the uneducated and lowly. If our ambition is to remain in
the love of God, then we must keep his commandments. “If you keep
my commandments you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my
Father’s commandments and remain in his love.”
So then, let us be very clear as to what life is about, and let us pass
this on with clarity to others. The principle and the foundation of
life is the love of God for us, and life’s programme is to remain in
this love by keeping Christ’s commandments. If we do this, joy will be
ours. “I have told you this so that my own joy may be in you and your
joy be complete.” (John
15: 9-11)
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“As the Father loves me, so I
also love you. Live on in
my love” (John
15: 9-11)
Comment by the so-called “Anonymous Life of Saint Francis of Assisi by
Perusa” (13th century) § 97
From the beginning of his conversion until the day of his death,
blessed Francis was always very hard on his body. But his main and
highest concern was to always have and keep interior and external
spiritual joy. He was convinced that if a servant of God attempted to
have and to keep the interior and external spiritual joy that proceeds
from purity of heart, the demons would not be able to do him any harm
and would be forced to acknowledge: “Since this servant of God keeps
his joy in tribulation as well as in prosperity, we cannot find
anywhere to enter and harm his soul.”
One day, he reproved one of his companions who looked sad and had a
woeful face: “Why are you manifesting the sorrow and pain you feel
because of your sins in this way? That is a matter between God and you.
Ask him in his kindness to give you back the joy of salvation (Ps
51:14). Try to always look joyful in front of me and the others, for it
is not proper that a servant of God should appear before the brothers
or other people with a sad and sullen face.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You have received God’s call to a specific way: it is to be at the
crossroads of the world, while remaining all the while, and as you
carry out your professional work, in God.
(The Forge,
no.748)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In what way does God reveal that he is love?
God revealed himself to Israel as the One who has a stronger love than
that of parents for their children or of husbands and wives for their
spouses. God in himself “is love” (1 John 4:8.16), who gives himself
completely and gratuitously, who “so loved the world that he gave his
only Son so that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17).
By sending his Son and the Holy Spirit, God reveals that he himself is
an eternal exchange of love.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.42)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday
of the fifth week of Eastertide
(May 19) Today let us think of Saint Yves (Saints)
and Saint Celestine V
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 15: 22-31; Psalm
57: 8-10, 12;
John 15: 12-17
“It has been decided by the Holy
Spirit and by ourselves not to saddle you...beyond these”.
(Acts of the
Apostles 15:22-31)
One of the most notable converts in the Church’s history was the great
English theologian and writer, John Henry Newman (1801-1890). As the
leader of the famous Oxford Movement within the Anglican Church he set
his face against what he
called the principle of private judgment as the foundation of religion.
Rather, he insisted, religion essentially involves authority and
obedience. As an Anglican (after he had left behind his early
evangelicalism)
he saw this authority as stemming from the
“ancient Church” of the first centuries. It is this early patristic
catholicism which, he then thought, sets a fixed standard for the
Church of
the
subsequent ages, and for that reason the Church of Rome had to be
judged as being greatly corrupted, and Anglicanism as the middle and
correct way. This is not the place to trace the path by which he came
to see
his mistake, but the starting point of his itinerary towards true
Catholicism was critically important. It was the acceptance of the
authority of the Church as foundational in the Christian religion. The
next question was, where is that authority (and therefore true
Catholicism)
to be found? Just before his entry into the Catholic Church towards the
end of 1845 he published his landmark book, The Development of
Christian Doctrine, in which he set forth the principle of
development in the Church’s doctrine. This principle accounted for the
differences an observer notices between the doctrines and life of the
Church of Rome and those of the ancient Church. Those differences were
legitimate developments. Newman's life and writings were a beacon
pointing to where and in what Church Christ's authority is to be found.
Whatever about the story of Newman’s intellectual journey towards what
he called “the one true Fold”, we are reminded of the
Church’s authority in our first reading today. The apostles and elders
had gathered in council in Jerusalem to resolve an important dispute.
It was whether the gentile converts were to be saddled with all the
requirements of the Mosaic law. This council of Jerusalem wrote that
those who had insisted on this had “acted without any authorisation
from us”. Notice what the letter then states, that “it has been decided
by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves not to saddle you with any burden
beyond these essentials...” (Acts of the
Apostles 15:22-31). That is to say, the Church
gathered in council was conscious that in reaching their conclusion
they were acting in union with God the Holy Spirit. Not only had they
decided the matter, but so had the Holy Spirit. This detail is but one
more in the many that are evident in the Acts of the Apostles and in
the New Testament that the Church in teaching and guiding has the
assistance of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit teaches and guides
through the Church. To know the mind of Christ, Christ’s faithful must
look to the Church’s living teaching authority. The principle of a
living
authority representing that of Christ is
foundational in the Christian and Catholic religion.
The Church is a living teacher, God's living oracle. The religion of
Christ's faithful involves authority and obedience, as Newman
would put it, and not simply private judgement - though one’s
personal judgement has its due place. The Catholic Christian looks to
the teaching of the living
contemporary Church to know the mind of Christ. The authority of the
Church to teach and guide is exercised by the chief pastor and those
bishops in union with him. For this reason every good Catholic must be,
to use a pejorative and emotionally laden word, a papist.
Pope Saint Pius X once wrote that it is impossible (for the Catholic)
to be holy if one
does not love the Pope. He was speaking of the Church’s members and
meant in essence that Christ’s faithful must accept with love and
religious obedience the authority exercised by the Church’s legitimate
pastors. It is something that many martyrs have borne witness to by
their deaths. Thinking of our first reading today, let us make it an
essential part of our Christian life and belief.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“This is
my commandment: love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15: 12-17)
Comment by St Clement of Rome, Pope
from 90 to 100 (First Letter to the Corinthians, 49)
May the person who has the love of
Christ carry out Christ’s commandments. Who can tell of this “bond of
God’s love” (Col 3:14)? Who can express its supreme beauty?
The height to which love takes us is
ineffable. Love unites us with God; love “covers a multitude of sins;”
(1 Pet 4:8) love endures everything, bears with everything (1 Cor
13:7). There is nothing base in love, nothing puffed up. Love does not
divide, love does not push towards a rupture, love does everything in
peace. Love leads all God’s chosen to perfection, and without it,
nothing pleases God. Through love, the Master drew us to himself.
Because of his love for us, Jesus Christ our Lord shed his blood for
us, according to God’s will, offering his flesh for our flesh, his life
for our lives.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don’t ever lose the supernatural point of view. Correct your
intention
as the course of a ship is corrected on the high seas: by looking at
the star, by looking at Mary. Then you will always be sure of reaching
the harbour.
(The Forge,
no.749)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What
does it mean to believe in only one God?
To believe in the one and only God involves coming to know his
greatness and majesty. It involves living in thanksgiving and trusting
always in him, even in adversity. It involves knowing the unity and
true dignity of all human beings, created in his image. It involves
making good use of the things which he has created.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.43)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday
of the fifth week of Eastertide
(May 20) Saint
Bernadine of Sienna, priest. Born near Sienna in the year
1380. He joined the Friars Minor and was ordained a priest and then
went throughout Italy preaching, with great spiritual success and
converting many souls. He propagated devotion to the holy name of
Jesus. In addition he wrote some theological works and did much to
further discipline and study in his Order. He died in Sienna in
1444. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 16:1-10; Psalm 100: 1-3, 5;
John 15: 18-21
“As the Spirit of Jesus would not
allow them, they went through Mysia and came down to
Troas.” (Acts of the
Apostles 16: 1-10)
It has been said in the past that surveys have shown that
despite his
awareness of being in possession of Revealed Truth, the average
Catholic has not been noted for his evangelizing spirit. The average
Catholic does not compare well in this respect with various other
Christian sects. Perhaps this partially accounts for the ongoing
insistence by the Church over the past forty years since the Second
Vatican Council that every member of the baptized is called to holiness
and to participate in the mission of Christ and the Church. That
mission was spelt out by our Lord before he ascended into heaven: “Go,
therefore, and make disciples of all the nations”. Our Lord’s words
show that God’s call to holiness is a call to apostolic holiness. If
only every Catholic would take these words of our Lord to heart! What a
sleeping giant would be roused, and what a difference would be made to
the Church and to the world.
Our first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles makes it very
clear that we are not alone in this all-important and daily mission.
Christ did not entrust us with his command to make disciples of all the
nations, and then leave us to our own resources. He gave us a divine
resource, the resource that had been his own throughout his public
ministry. He sent the Holy Spirit to direct and aid us in the great
undertaking. What is the Acts of the Apostles if not the inspired
record of the evangelizing activity of the Holy Spirit, which when we
read it, reminds us that we are not alone in this work of God? In our
passage of today St Luke tells us that Paul and his companions were
“told by the Holy Spirit not to preach the word in Asia.” Then when
“they reached the frontier of Mysia they thought to cross it into
Bithynia”, but “the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them” (Acts of the
Apostles 16: 1-10). The party went on to Macedonia,
“convinced that God had called us to bring them the good news.” Why did
all this happen? We are not told, but one thing that is very clear from
this account is that the Holy Spirit was directing and assisting the
disciples of Jesus.
The same Spirit of Jesus has been given to us for the same purpose. Let
us then take up the work of seeking daily union with Jesus in his
apostolic mission. We are not alone in this work, a work to be carried
on within our families, among our friends and acquaintances, in the
midst of our daily work environment, everywhere. We have a great Friend
who accompanies us from within, a Friend who was with Jesus throughout
his work of bearing witness right to the end when he offered up his
life in expiation and in witness. Our Friend is the Spirit of Jesus and
of the Father. He wishes to make us holy and apostolic, with the mind
of Christ.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“If you find that the world hates you,
know it has hated me before you.” (John 15: 18-21)
Comment by Origen
(185 – 253), Priest and Theologian (Exhortation to Martyrdom,
41-42)
If, in passing from being non-believers to faith, we “passed from death
to life” (Jn 5:24), let us not be surprised that the world hates us.
For all who have not passed from death to life but who remain in death,
cannot love those who have passed from the dark dwelling place of
death… to the “edifice built of living stones” (cf. 1 Pet 2:5), where
the light of life reigns…
Behold, for us Christians the time has come to boast, for it is
written: “We even boast of our afflictions! We know that affliction
makes for endurance, and endurance for tested virtue, and tested virtue
for hope. And this hope will not leave us disappointed, because the
love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.”
(Rom 5:3-5)…
“As we have shared much in the suffering of Christ, so through Christ
do we share abundantly in his consolation.” (2 Cor 1:5) So let us
welcome the sufferings of Christ with great fervor. May they be granted
us in abundance, if we want to be abundantly consoled, since all “who
are sorrowing will be consoled.” (Mt 5:4) … Those who share in the
sufferings will also share in the consolation, in proportion with the
sufferings which let them have a part with Christ. Learn this from the
apostle, who said with confidence: “Our hope for you is firm because we
know that just as you share in the sufferings, so you will share in the
consolation.” (2 Cor 1:7)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I don’t ask you to take away my feelings, Lord, because I can use them
to serve you with: but I ask you to put them through the crucible.
(The Forge,
no.750)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is
the central mystery of Christian faith and life?
The central mystery of Christian faith and life is the mystery of the
Most Blessed Trinity. Christians are baptized in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.44)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sixth Sunday of Eastertide B
(May 21) Today let us think of St Adrew Bobola
(Saints)
Sripture today:
Acts 10:
25-26,
34-35, 44-48; Psalm 98:
1-4; 1 John 4:
7-10; John 15: 9-17
“I chose you; and I commissioned you
to go out and to bear fruit that will last” (John 15: 9-17)
Our Lord tells us in today's Gospel that “You did not choose me,
no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit.”
In one of his Letters
St Paul also speaks of God’s choice of us: “Before the
world began, God chose us, chose us in Christ to be holy and full of
love in his sight.” That is to say, each of us has a calling to live in
Christ and to be transformed into his likeness. But there is a danger
that in appreciating that this is our vocation, we could
forget that society in general has this calling too. The whole of
humanity has its vocation as does each individual, and it is to show
forth the image of God, and by God’s grace to be transformed into the
image of the Father’s only Son. God wants the life of the society in
which we live to be more and more like his own life, the life of the
Blessed Trinity. Now this gives to every member of the Church a daily
mission to the society in which he lives.
Just as there are many different understandings of the human
person at work in society, so there are many different understandings
of society too. Karl Marx had his understanding of human society, as
expressed in his book Das
Kapital. It
insisted on society being classless and without religion. The result
was atheistic communism with all the suffering that involved.
Adolf Hitler had a fascist notion of society and he set it out in his
book Mein Kampf,
and that understanding resulted in the violation of the rights of
countless people, and a world war too. A great contemporary threat is a
spreading fundamentalist Islamic notion of society, drawn from a
certain interpretation of the Koran. It is
opposed to
democracy and wants all of society to be built on certain Islamic
notions,
including Shariah law. There are certain Western notions too of a
different kind that can cause great harm. Generally they involve the
notion of full personal freedom unrestricted by objective morality,
requiring that society allow whatever the will of the majority decides.
And
so if the majority wants to allow abortion on demand, then that is how
society should go. All these understandings of society can be very
influential in law, in the courts, in the media, and in what people
expect and agitate for in society. The mission of the lay Christian is
to evangelize these notions and to win the victory for Christ.
Now, what is the Christian and Catholic understanding of
society? It is based on and drawn from what Christ has revealed, and
elucidated in the Church’s social teaching. It puts Christ at the
centre and judges social, national, international and cultural life
from the perspective of his teaching. It is this notion which we ought
study, strive to grasp, and then bring to bear on daily life in society
and its problems. We ought have as part of our daily mission to spread
this understanding and to have it gradually influence the understanding
that others in society have. Just as each of us is called to be like
Jesus our Lord and in him to be like our heavenly Father, so too God
intends that human society (which is his creation and which he
sustains) should be more and more like the life of God the Holy
Trinity. Not only ought it be like God, but its very life ought pulsate
more and more with his divine life. Grace ought permeate not only our
personal lives, but the life of society.
Of course this is a vast subject, but it is important that every
lay
Catholic Christian whose proper ambient is the world should grasp the
basic
point. God in Christ is the goal, the exemplar and the
life of society, just as he is of individuals. An understanding of what
this means in detail is gained by the gradual study of the Church’s
social doctrine, and every member of the faithful ought be studying
that doctrine. Christ is the key to the understanding of man, and of
society too. He is the light of the world. The life of society ought be
modelled on and be a participation in the life of the Holy Trinity. Each
individual and all of society, indeed all societies,
have the vocation to be transformed by grace into the image of God’s
Son. It is the lay faithful who have the immense mission to
be the servants of that transformation into Christ, and the lay
person’s daily work is the means whereby the Church offers that service
to the world. It is especially the lay faithful who have the mission of
bringing Christ to his society, to his culture, and to the world
around. His mission is to Christianise the world.
Our Lord in today’s Gospel (John 15: 9-17) commissions
his disciples to go out to bear fruit that will last. The only lasting
fruit is that which flows from the vine which is Christ. Let every lay
member of Christ’s faithful strive to bring all of society into contact
and full union with the person of Jesus.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading:
The Catechism of
the Catholic Church, no.1877-1889
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“As the Father has loved me, so I have
loved you. Live on in my love.” (John 15: 9-17)
Comment by St Augustine
(354-430), Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Sermons on St. John, no. 65)
The Lord Jesus affirms that he is giving his disciples a new
commandment, that of mutual love… Did this commandment not already
exist in the old law, since it is written: “You shall love your
neighbour as yourself” (Lev 19:18)? So why does the Lord call new a
commandment that was obviously so old? Is it a new commandment, because
in stripping us of the old man, he clothes us with the new one (Eph
2:24)? Certainly, the person who listens to this commandment, or
rather, who obeys it, is not renewed by just any love, but by the love
that the Lord carefully distinguishes from purely natural love, when he
says, “as I have loved you.” … Christ gave us the new commandment to
love one another as he loved us. That is the love that renews us, that
makes us into new persons, heirs to the new covenant, singers of the
“new song” (Ps 96:1).
Dearly beloved Brothers, this love even renewed the righteous of past
times, the patriarchs and the prophets, just as it later renewed the
holy apostles. It is the love that now renews the pagan nations. This
love raises up and gathers together the new people from the whole human
race scattered over all the earth, the body of the new Spouse of the
Son of God.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Faced with the
marvels of God, and with all our human failures, we have
to make this admission: "You are everything to me. Use me as you wish!"
Then, for you - for us - there will be no more loneliness.
(The Forge,
no.751)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can the mystery of the Most Holy
Trinity be known by the light of human reason alone?
God has left some traces of his trinitarian being in creation and in
the Old Testament but his inmost being as the Holy Trinity is a mystery
which is inaccessible to reason alone or even to Israel's faith before
the Incarnation of the Son of God and the sending of the Holy Spirit.
This mystery was revealed by Jesus Christ and it is the source of all
the other mysteries.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.45)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday
of the sixth week of Eastertide
(May 22) Today let us think of St. Rita of Cascia
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 16: 11-15; Psalm
149: 1-6, 9;
John 15:26-16:4
"The Spirit of truth who issues from
the Father, he will be my witness. And you too will be my
witnesses." (John 15:26-16:4)
If one approaches the matter from the vantage point of a student and
observer of the religions of mankind, there is, it seems to me, one
clear difference between the phenomenon of early Judaism and that of
early Christianity. The difference I refer to has to do with the
impulse to bear witness and through this witness to win disciples and
converts. Judaism engaged in the making of converts and there are
references in the New Testament to those converts. Our Lord himself
made mention of the proselytism conducted by Judaism. But it does not
appear to occupy the central position it did in Christianity. Our Lord
described his mission before Pontius Pilate precisely in terms of his
bearing witness to the truth - the truth about himself and God’s saving
plan. He recruited his disciples and in particular he chose the Twelve
for them to be with him and to be sent out by him on mission. He called
them “apostles”, which means “ambassadors” or envoys. Just before he
ascended into heaven he gave his disciples the charge to go to the
whole world and make disciples of all the nations. It is very obvious
that an essential component of Christian discipleship is the work of
bearing witness to Jesus, and of bringing others to belief in Jesus.
Our Scriptural texts for today, and in particular our reading from the
Gospel, makes all this very clear. As mentioned above, in his encounter
with Pontius Pilate our Lord described his life’s mission as bearing
witness to the truth, and we remember how he described himself to his
disciples as the Truth. In our Gospel today he tells his disciples that
he is sending “the Advocate” from “the Father”. This Advocate is “the
Spirit of truth who issues from the Father”. “He will be my
witness” (John 15:26-16:4).
So the work of the Holy Spirit who would come to the Church would be to
bear witness to the truth of Jesus. Our Lord immediately adds that “you
too will be my witnesses, because you have been with me from the
outset.” This is the Gospel of St John. The first reading is drawn from
the Acts of the Apostles, written by St Luke, and time and again
in this book the Holy Spirit and the protagonists of Luke’s account are
shown as bearing joint witness to the truth, and as together pushing
ahead the work of bringing Jesus to the peoples. In our passage today
Luke describes their visit to Philippi where they preached to the women
at the riverside (Acts of the
Apostles 16: 11-15). The account narrates the effect
of their words on the devout Lydia who became “a true believer in the
Lord.”
The point here is that it is all a great work of bearing witness to
Jesus and
this work is clearly seen as essential to Christian discipleship. Every
disciple
is asked by the Lord to bear witness to him before others, and the Holy
Spirit will be with him to sustain him in this work. Let us understand
very clearly that if we wish to be disciples of the Master and show our
love and our belief in him as being the truth of God, then we must take
up the daily work of witnessing to his name before the world around us.
Our Lord tells us in the Gospel that if we are not ashamed of him
before men, he will not be ashamed of us before his heavenly Father. It
requires discretion, good judgment and valour, and for this we have the
Spirit who issues from the Father to help us. So then, let us begin!
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The Spirit of truth ...
will be my witness. And you too will be my
witnesses."(John 15:26-16:4)
Commentary
from The
Catechism of the Catholic Church (§ 689-690; 737-738)
The Joint Mission of the Son and the Spirit
… When the Father sends his Word, he always sends his Breath. In their
joint mission, the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct but
inseparable. To be sure, it is Christ who is seen, the visible image of
the invisible God (cf. Col 1:15), but it is the Spirit who reveals him.
Jesus is Christ, “anointed,” because the Spirit is his anointing, and
everything that occurs from the Incarnation on derives from this
fullness (cf. Jn 3:34). When Christ is finally glorified (cf. Jn 7:39),
he can in turn send the Spirit from his place with the Father to those
who believe in him: he communicates to them his glory (cf. Jn 17:22),
that is, the Holy Spirit who glorifies him (cf. Jn 16:14). From that
time on, this joint mission will be manifested in the children adopted
by the Father in the Body of his Son: the mission of the Spirit of
adoption is to unite them to Christ and make them live in him…
The mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit is brought to completion in
the Church, which is the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy
Spirit. This joint mission henceforth brings Christ’s faithful to share
in his communion with the Father in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit
prepares men and goes out to them with his grace, in order to draw them
to Christ. The Spirit manifests the risen Lord to them, recalls his
word to them and opens their minds to the understanding of his Death
and Resurrection. He makes present the mystery of Christ, supremely in
the Eucharist, in order to reconcile them, to bring them into communion
with God, that they may “bear much fruit.” (Jn 15:5)
Thus the Church’s mission is not an addition to that of Christ and the
Holy Spirit, but is its sacrament: in her whole being and in all her
members, the Church is sent to announce, bear witness, make present,
and spread the mystery of the communion of the Holy Trinity.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The great secret of sanctity comes down to becoming more and more like
Him, the only and most loveable Model.
(The Forge,
no.752)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What did Jesus Christ reveal to us about
the mystery of the Father?
Jesus Christ revealed to us that God is “Father”, not only insofar as
he created the universe and mankind, but above all because he eternally
generated in his bosom the Son who is the Word, “the radiance of the
glory of God and the very stamp of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3)).
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.46)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday
of the sixth week of Eastertide
(May 22) Today let us think of Saint William of Rochester
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 16: 22-34; Psalm 138: 1-3,
7-8;
John 16: 5-11
“The gaoler called for lights ...and
escorted them out, saying, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
(Acts of the
Apostles 16:22-34)
There are several details in our passage today from
the Acts which are a little miraculous. There is the earthquake, there
is the sudden opening of the prison doors and there is the unlocking of
the prisoners’ chains. There is also the gaoler’s taking Paul and Silas
to his home and his whole family being converted. The reader would
spontaneously wonder how he subsequently got on with his superiors back
at the prison. But perhaps the most thought-provoking part of the story
of the gaoler’s conversion is his response to Paul shouting to him not
to harm himself, for they were still at the prison. The gaoler
“called for lights, then rushed in, threw himself trembling at the feet
of Paul and Silas, and escorted them out, saying, “Sirs, what must I do
to be saved?” (Acts of the
Apostles 16:22-34) He had been on the verge of
committing suicide, and now he wanted to know how he could be saved.
Once told what he had to do he responded fully together with his
family. In the gaoler’s sudden crisis, we are reminded on the one
hand that there is no circumstance in life from which God is absent,
and which his providence is unable to turn to our account. On the other
hand the gaoler’s question indicates his true readiness for the faith
in
some sense, and this is the further point we can take from the passage.
We are led to think of the readiness to believe and to respond to God
that ought be brought to the surface of a person’s life by any occasion
God chooses to allow. The gaoler had that readiness, and in this
he is an example for us all. Many in the Scriptures did not have this
readiness
when the crisis came and in that they are a warning.
Our Lord on various occasions told his disciples and his hearers that
they must be on the watch, because they knew neither the day nor the
hour of the Master’s coming. The Master comes by grace, he comes in
various events, he comes at death, and all these comings can be sudden
and are part of the providence of God. They require a readiness on our
part to accept God’s will in faith, and to believe. We must strive to
be ever ready for his coming. It has often been said that we ought live
each day as if it were our last and only day. That thought ought make
us ready and concentrate our minds on the one thing that is necessary
in the many things that make up a life and indeed that make up every
day. That one necessary reality is the person of Christ. Who, then, can
help us live
with this constant nearness to God and readiness for whatever he
disposes? In our Gospel today our Lord, speaking of the Holy Spirit,
tells his disciples that “it is for your own good that I am going,
because unless I go, the Advocate will not come to you: but if I go, I
will send him to you.” (John 16:5-11) The
Holy Spirit is the source of our hope and our strength and by his grace
we shall be able to maintain a constant intercourse with God in a busy
life, ever ready for his inspirations, ever ready for his lights and
his calls, ever ready for what he allows. He is our constant Friend and
Guide amid the ups and downs
of life, and he will enable us to turn every occasion into an
opportunity to respond wholeheartedly in the way that will please God.
Our gaoler of the first reading provides us with an example of this,
and our Lord’s words in the Gospel remind us of our great Resource.
“Come Holy Spirit”. Let us pray this prayer so as to be ever ready when
the Master comes.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“If I
fail to go, the Paraclete will never come to you, whereas if I go, I
will send him to you"
(John 16: 5-11)
Comment by John Henry
Cardinal Newman (1801-1890), Priest, Founder of a religious
community, Theologian (Meditations and
Devotions, chapter 14: The Paraclete, 3)
My God, I adore Thee, O Eternal
Paraclete, the light and the life of my soul. Thou mightest have been
content with merely giving me good suggestions, inspiring grace and
helping from without. Thou mightest thus have led me on, cleansing me
with Thy inward virtue, when I changed my state from this world to the
next. But in Thine infinite compassion Thou hast from the first entered
into my soul, and taken possession of it. Thou hast made it Thy Temple.
Thou dwellest in me by Thy grace in an ineffable way, uniting me to
Thyself and the whole company of angels and saints. Nay, as some have
held, Thou art present in me, not only by Thy grace, but by Thy eternal
substance, as if, though I did not lose my own individuality, yet in
some sense I was even here absorbed in God. Nay—as though Thou hadst
taken possession of my very, body, this earthly, fleshly, wretched
tabernacle—even my body is Thy Temple. O astonishing, awful truth! I
believe it, I know it, O my God!
O my God, can I sin when Thou
art so intimately with me? Can I forget who is with me, who is in me?
Can I expel a Divine Inhabitant by that which He abhors more than
anything else, which is the one thing in the whole world which is
offensive to Him, the only thing which is not His? … My God, I have a
double security against sinning; first the dread of such a profanation
of all Thou art to me in Thy very Presence; and next because I do trust
that that Presence will preserve me from sin… I will call on Thee when
tried and tempted… Through Thee I will never forsake Thee.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When you pray, but see nothing, and feel flustered and dry, then
the
way is this: don’t think of yourself. Instead, turn your eyes to the
Passion of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Be convinced that he is asking
each one of us, as he asked those three most intimate Apostles of his
in the Garden of Olives, to “Watch and pray.”
(The Forge,
no.753)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who is the Holy Spirit revealed to us by
Jesus Christ?
The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Most Blessed Trinity. He is
God, one and equal with the Father and the Son. He “proceeds from the
Father” (John 15:26) who is the principle without a principle and the
origin of all trinitarian life. He proceeds also from the Son
(Filioque) by the eternal Gift which the Father makes of him to the
Son. Sent by the Father and the Incarnate Son, the Holy Spirit guides
the Church “to know all truth” (John 16:13)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.47)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday
of the sixth week of Eastertide
(May 24) Our
Lady Help of Christians, Patroness of Australia.
In 1844 at the First Provincial Synod of Sydney, Our Lady Help of
Christians was chosen as the patroness of Australia. In her maternal
love Mary cares for the brethren of her Son who still journey on their
earthly pilgrimage towards heaven amid dangers and trials. She is their
model, mother and powerful help.
Today let us also think of St Vincent of Lerins and St Amalia (Saints)
Scripture today:
(Our Lady: Luke
1:39-56) Acts
17:15.22-18:1; Psalm 148; John16:12-15.
“Mary set out and went as quickly as
she could to a town in the hill country of Judah.”
(Luke
1:39-56)
The annals of human history are generally written in epic form.
Greatness is extolled in the exploits of the heroes which hinge on
great deeds and spectacular achievements. And so we read of the great
generals of classical times, the great rulers, or the great
philosophers or founders of man’s religions. It is most unusual to be
attaching the word “great” to a life that seems to be filled with the
ordinary. Yet this is a feature of certain ones who are great in the
history of salvation as it is traced by God himself in the inspired
histories of which he himself is the author. I refer especially, of
course, to the Gospels and to our Gospel passage for today, on this
solemnity (in Australia) of Our Lady Help of Christians. In our passage
we are presented with the mother of the Saviour. Her life was filled
with the ordinary and here in our passage today her kinswoman
Elizabeth, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and
calling her the mother of her Lord says that she is “of all women the
most blessed.” (Luke 1:39-56) Mary
in response replies that “from this day forward all generations will
call me blessed, for the Almighty has done great things for me.” Mary
was humble and lowly in station before men, but great in God’s plan,
and she has been recognized as such by believers down the ages.
Greatness amid the ordinary. The grandeur of the ordinary life. Who
more than Mary the mother of Jesus shows how much this is part of God’s
plan for his human family! In our passage today we observe Mary in all
her unseen grandeur as the mother of the Messiah-God setting out to
travel as quickly as possible to help her kinswoman Elizabeth prepare
for the birth of her own illustrious child. Hardly anyone notices these
simple events and they are the kind of events that make up the lives of
countless numbers of God’s children. But in the midst of this
ordinariness the greatest drama of all is being played out, a drama far
more demanding, far more eternally significant than that played out by
the Alexanders, the Caesars, the Buddhas, the Mahomets, and all the
other figures that dominate human history. It is the drama of God’s
plan of salvation. It is the drama of bringing redemption and sanctity
to man. God has his plan to redeem and sanctify each and all of us, and
true greatness comes from playing our God-intended part in that plan in
the midst of the seemingly ordinary life which God has disposed for us.
In this, Mary is our mother and our model. She lived the life of a
mother, wife and townswoman. Her path as the first and greatest
Christian was an ordinary path, one like the rest of us, but her
holiness and place in God's plan was beyond compare. Dante puts the
point well:
"Maiden yet a mother, daughter of thy Son - high beyond all other,
lowlier is none."
Mary is so very near to each of us, so much our mother and our model.
For this reason she is the Help of Christians. It is she who more than
anyone can help us be Christians, true followers of the Master. Holy
Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our
death. Amen.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“He, being the Spirit of truth, will
guide you to all truth.” (John16:12-15)
Commentary from The Catechism of the
Catholic Church no.687 - 688
“No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” (1
Cor 2:11) Now God’s Spirit, who reveals God, makes known to us Christ,
his Word, his living Utterance, but the Spirit does not speak of
himself. The Spirit who “has spoken through the prophets” (Creed) makes
us hear the Father’s Word, but we do not hear the Spirit himself. We
know him only in the movement by which he reveals the Word to us and
disposes us to welcome him in faith. The Spirit of truth who unveils
Christ to us “will not speak on his own.” (Jn 16:13) Such properly
divine self-effacement explains why “the world cannot receive [him],
because it neither sees him nor knows him,” while those who believe in
Christ know the Spirit because he dwells with them (Jn 14:17).
The Church, a communion living in the faith of the apostles which she
transmits, is the place where we know the Holy Spirit:
- in the Scriptures he inspired;
- in the Tradition, to which the Church Fathers are always timely
witnesses;
- in the Church’s Magisterium, which he assists;
- in the sacramental liturgy, through its words and symbols,
in which the Holy
Spirit puts us into communion with Christ;
- in prayer, wherein he intercedes for us;
- in the charisms and ministries by which the Church is built up;
- in the signs of apostolic and missionary life;
- in the witness of saints through whom he manifests his holiness and
continues the work of salvation.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When you open the Holy Gospel, think that what is written there - the
words and deeds of Christ - is something that you should not only know,
but live. Everything, every point that is told there, has been
gathered, detail by detail, for you to make it come alive in the
individual circumstances of your life. God has called us Catholics to
follow him closely. In that holy Writing you will find the Life of
Jesus, but you should also find your own life there. You too, like the
Apostle, will learn to ask, full of love, “Lord, what would you have me
do?” And in your soul you will hear the conclusive answer, “The Will of
God!” Take up the Gospel every day, then, and read it and live it as a
definite rule. This is what the saints have done.”
(The Forge,
no.754)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How does the Church express her trinitarian
faith?
The Church expresses her trinitarian faith by professing a belief in
the oneness of God in whom there are three Persons: Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. The three divine Persons are only one God because each of
them equally possess the fullness of the one and indivisible divine
nature. They are really distinct from each other by reason of the
relations which place them in correspondence to each other. The Father
generates the Son; the Son is generated by the Father; the Holy Spirit
proceeds from the Father and the Son.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.48)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday
of the sixth week of Eastertide
(May 25) St
Bede the Venerable, priest and doctor of the Church. Born near
the monastery of Wearmouth (England) in the year 673, he received his
education from Saint Benedict Biscop. Joining the monastery he became a
priest and spent his time teaching and writing. He wrote theological
and historical works, especially upheld the tradition of the
Fathers, and explained the Scriptures. He was called “venerable” while
still alive, and was “the most observant and the happiest of all the
monks”. He died at Jarrow in 735. (Saints)
St Gregory VII, pope.
Hildebrand was born in Tuscany about the year 1028, and after being
educated at Rome, be became a monk. He was of great assistance at the
time to the popes who were working to reform the Church (especially
against lay investiture), and when he himself was elected pope in 1073,
taking the name of Gregory VII, he strenuously carried on this work. He
was opposed especially by the emperor Henry IV, and he had to flee to
Salerno where he died in the year 1085. (Saints)
St
Mary Magdalene of Pazzi, virgin. Born in Florence in 1566,
after a pious upbringing she entered the Carmelites where she led a
hidden life of prayer and self-denial. She prayed especially for the
reform of the Church. She was endowed by God with many spiritual gifts
and directed her fellow sisters along the road of perfection. She died
in the year 1607. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 18:1-8; Psalm 98: 1-4;
John 16:16-20
“Crispus, president of the synagogue,
and his whole household, all became believers”.
(Acts of the
Apostles 18:1-8)
Our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles today presents us with
Paul in Corinth. His zeal and perseverence in proclaiming the news
about Jesus being the promised Messiah shines through in the account.
He works for his living as a tentmaker, and “every Sabbath he used to
hold debates in the synagogues, trying to convert Jews as well as
Greeks”. Then when his helpers Silas and Timothy arrived he devoted
himself full time to the work. Finally his audience turned against him
and Paul told them he was turning to the pagans “with a clear
conscience” for he had done for them all he could. We are told that
“Crispus, president of the synagogue, and his whole household, all
became believers in the Lord. A great many Corinthians who had heard
him became believers and were baptized.” (Acts of the
Apostles 18:1-8) Clearly, Paul’s learning, his
genuineness, and his love won the hearts and minds of his converts. For
those who were properly disposed, he was convincing.
Paul is surely an example and an inspiration for every member of the
Church down through the ages, including our own. Thinking of him we are
led to ask ourselves, how can I be an effective witness to the truth
about Jesus in my everyday life? Like St Paul we must all our lives be
endeavouring to know well Christian doctrine as it comes to us in the
Church’s teaching. If we do not know it, we shall be unable to transmit
and talk about it. Like St Paul we must be constantly growing in our
love for Christ and his
message for if we do not have the person of the Lord at heart, how will
we have the interest to bring him to others when there is the
opportunity? We must cultivate the prudence and the discretion to know
when there is the proper moment to say the right word and how to give
an
adequate answer. Above all we need courage and perseverence in the face
of lack of interest and even ridicule. It takes courage to speak of
Christ and his revelation in the face of a stony silence,
incomprehension, or a silent mirth and scepticism.
Time is ever passing and while Christ our Lord has passed from our
visible sight, the day will arrive when he will come again. In our
Gospel passage today, our Lord solemnly tells his disciples that “in a
short time you will no longer see me, and then a short time later you
will see me again.” Every member of the Church must regard the work of
witness to Jesus as an essential part of discipleship. So let us by our
daily witness to him prepare for his coming. When our time comes
to pass from this world to the next, all we can take with us is our
love for Jesus, and the souls we have drawn to the love of him. Every
day
counts in this work, and St Paul is a shining example for us.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Your life is hidden now with Christ
in God.”
Comment by Blessed Guerric
of Igny (1080 – 1157), Cistercian abbot (Sermon for the
Ascension)
“Father, all those you gave me I would have in my company where I am,
to see this glory of mine.” (Jn 17:24) Happy are they who now have as
their advocate before God their judge in person; happy are they who
have interceding for them the one whom we must adore equally with the
Father, to whom he himself addresses this prayer. The Father cannot
refuse to grant this desire which his lips expressed (Ps 21:3), for he
is united with him in his will, in his power, since he is one and the
same God… “All those you gave me I would have in my company where I
am.” What assurance for those who have faith, what confidence for the
believers! ... The saints, whose “youth is renewed like the eagle’s”
(Ps 103:5) “soar as with eagles’ wings.” (Isa 40:31) …
On that day, Christ “was lifted up before the eyes of the disciples in
a cloud which took him from their sight.” (Acts 1:9) … He strove to
draw their hearts to follow him by making himself loved by them, and he
promised them through the example of his body that their body could be
lifted up in the same way… Today, Christ in truth “mounted a cherub and
flew, borne on the wings of the wind,” (Ps 18:11) which is to say, he
goes beyond the power of the angels. And yet, in his condescendence
before your weakness, “as an eagle… hovering over its brood,” he wants
to “receive you and to bear you up on his pinions.” (Deut 32:11) … Some
people fly with Christ by means of contemplation; for you, let it at
least be through love.
Brother, since Christ your treasure was lifted up to heaven today, may
your heart also be there (Mt 6:21). Your origin is from there, and that
is where you will find your inheritance (Ps 16:6); from there you are
awaiting the Savior (Phil 3:20).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you really want your heart to respond in a genuine way, I would
recommend you to enter one of the Wounds of Our Lord. In this way you
will get to know him closely, you will cleave to him, you will feel his
Heart beating ... and you will follow him in everything that he asks of
you.
(The Forge,
no.755)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How do the three divine Persons work?
Inseparable in their one substance, the three divine Persons are also
inseparable in their activity. The Trinity has one operation, sole and
the same. In this one divine action, however, each Person is present
according to the mode which is proper to him in the Trinity.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.49)
(“O my God, Trinity whom I adore... grant my soul peace; make it your
heaven, your beloved dwelling, and the place of your rest. May I never
abandon you there, but may I be there and entire, completely vigilant
in my faith, entirely adoring , and wholly given over to your creative
action.”)
[Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday
of the sixth week of Eastertide
(May 26) St
Philip Neri, priest (1515-1595). Born in Florence, he came to
Rome and began to devote himself to work among the young men, while at
the same time he led a Christian life and formed a brotherhood to look
after the sick poor. In 1552 he became a priest and formed the Oratory
in which he held services consisting of spiritual readings and hymns,
as well as performing charitable works. He was outstanding for love of
his neighbour, an evangelical simplicity and joyfulness in the service
of God. He was noted for his zeal in converting sinners through the
Sacrament of Penance, and he was a catechist and spiritual guide of
great talent. The Oratory is present in many countries (though not
Australia), and one of its
most illustrious members was Cardinal Newman who began the Oratory in
England. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 18:9-18; Psalm 47: 2-7;
John 16:20-23
“I shall see you again, and your
hearts will be full of joy, and that joy no one will take from
you.” (John 16:20-23)
There are many ways of looking at a human life and
many ways of assessing it. One of the most common is simply in terms of
happiness. A person can pass through life genuinely happy, and when
this is seen it carries a great power of attraction. A happy person is
an attractive person. On the other hand a person for one reason or
another can go through life largely bereft of happiness and never
finding his way to gaining it. Most would look on such a life as
somewhat tragic. Of course, just what constitutes true happiness is
another matter, and we all recognise that a person can be happy for all
the wrong reasons. His happiness could be a very false one because it
springs from the possession of things that are of little true value, or
even simply bad. On the other hand a person’s life could be full of
difficulty and even disaster, and yet he has found the secret to a
happiness based on a much deeper perspective into the reality of his
condition. This form of happiness is especially impressive and
convincing. So it is not hard to see on the one hand that true
happiness is not the same as pleasure or the absence of difficulty, and
on the other that in some sense life is meant to be happy. The
religious person has the sense that God means life to be happy. But
what happiness is here on earth, and how to attain it, is the challenge.
In our Gospel today our Lord speaks of joy. The context of his remarks
is the Last Supper during which he tells them that he is about to be
taken from them. He predicts that they “will be weeping and wailing,
while the world will rejoice”, and he says elsewhere during the Last
Supper that the “prince” of this world was on his way - this prince
would be one of those rejoicing. But while “you will be sorrowful”,
“your sorrow will turn to joy.” He uses the image of the mother who
gives birth to her child and her suffering is transformed into joy.
Clearly our Lord is in the first instance referring to his coming
passion, death and resurrection. “So it is with you: you are sad now,
but I shall see you again, and your hearts will be full of joy.” But
our Lord’s promise of the joy that is coming transcends the particular
moment when they will see him risen. It will be a permanent joy proper
to the disciple of Christ, for, he says,. “that joy no one shall take
from you.” (John 16:20-23)
So then, our Lord intends to bring us a permanent joy, and he expects
us to accept it and live it. He does not want to see any of his
disciples living an
unhappy life, and if any of them do, there is something unsatisfactory
and
immature about their spiritual life. Such persons have yet to arrive.
We who follow the Master must learn to live in the light
of his risen reality and be ever conscious of the heavenly blessings
that have
come to us from him, such that our joy remains despite the presence of
what
would otherwise make us sad. Our Lord intends that we live in faith
with
this well-founded and secure joy in him and in his word, and since this
is his plan we
should make it our business to do so. Let us resolve to live in the joy
of the Lord. In one of his Letters St Paul
tells us: “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice.” St Paul
frames this as a directive, not just as an invitation.
Christian joy in the midst of a broken human condition is incumbent on
the Christian and it bears a wonderful witness to the Gospel.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“The kingdom of God is… justice,
peace, and the joy that is given by the Holy Spirit.”
(Rom 14:17) Comment by Saint Caesarius of Arles
(470-543), Monk and Bishop (Sermon 166)
What is true joy, Brothers, other than the kingdom of heaven? And what
is the kingdom of heaven other than Christ our Lord? I know that
everyone wants to have true joy. But the person who wants to be happy
with the harvest without cultivating his field is deluding himself; the
person who wants to harvest fruit without planting trees is mistaken.
We cannot have true joy without righteousness and peace… At present,
respecting righteousness and having peace, we work hard for a short
time like people bent over good work. But afterwards, we will rejoice
without end because of the fruit of that work.
Listen to the apostle Paul, who said of Christ: “It is he who is our
peace.” (Eph 2:14) … And speaking to his disciples, the Lord told them:
“I shall see you again; then your hearts will rejoice with a joy no one
can take from you.” What is that joy that no one can take from you
other than your Lord himself, whom no one can take from you?
So examine your conscience, Brothers; if righteousness reigns there, if
you want, desire and wish the same thing for everyone as for yourself,
if there is peace in you, not only with your friends but equally with
your enemies, then know that the kingdom of heaven, which is to say
Christ the Lord, abides in you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There can be no doubt that for us who
love Jesus, prayer is the great pain-reliever.
(The Forge,
no.756)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What does it mean to say that God is
almighty?
God reveals himself as “the strong One, the mighty One” (Psalm 24:8),
as the One “to whom nothing is impossible” (Luke 1:37). His omnipotence
is universal, mysterious and shows itself in the creation of the world
out of nothing and humanity out of love; but above all it shows itself
in the Incarnation and the Resurrection of his Son, in the gift of
filial adoption and in the forgiveness of sins. For this reason, the
Church directs her prayers to the “almighty and eternal God”
(“Omnipotens sempiterne Deus...”)
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.50)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday
of the sixth week of Eastertide
(May 27) St
Augustine of Canterbury, bishop (died about 605). He was sent by
Pope St Gregory the Great to England to convert the English people to
Christianity. He baptized King Ethelbert of Kent and many of his
subjects. At Canterbury he erected a monastery and there established
his episcopal see. He set up some dioceses especially in the kingdom of
Kent. One of Augustine’s companions was consecrated Bishop of London,
thus instituting the English hierarchy. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 18:23-28; Psalm 47: 2-3,
8-10;
John 16:23-28
“Ask and you will receive, and so your
joy will be complete.” (John 16:23-28)
Our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes the constant
work of Paul and the missionaries of the infant Church. They worked,
they worked for God, and they worked well. One of the deepest of man’s
natural desires is to work. The lack of it leads to great problems in
the life of an individual, and in society. We have been hearing of the
troubles wracking East Timor - one religious sister there is reported
to have said that a great running sore in East Timor is the lack of
work. There are widespread problems in the aboriginal population. Many
experts are saying that much of the unrest stems from there not being a
culture of work among too many aborigines due to the prevalence of
welfare. Whether these views are correct or not is not my point here.
My point is that man both needs to work, and desires to work. There are
other desires he has that conflict with this need such as the desire
for ease, but his need for work remains. If he can orient himself
towards self-sacrificing work in service of God and of others, this
work will bring him great happiness. His work will give his life
meaning and society will be the beneficiary. All this we can see simply
by ordinary common sense and mature reflection. The Christian is called
not just to work well just as others should, but to sanctify his work.
In our Gospel passage today from St John our Lord makes a most
consoling promise to us.
He says to his disciples: “I tell you most solemnly, anything you ask
for from the Father, he will grant in my name. Until now you have not
asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and so your
joy will be complete.” (John 16:23-28) Now,
if there is not much prayer of petition in our life it could be that
deep down we do not really believe our Lord in what he is promising
here. Of course we could have asked for things that are simply bad for
us, or we could have given up on God and left off asking for what we
wanted. But what of our work in life? Our work is a great reason for
prayer, a reason to be sending petition after petition to the throne of
the most High. We are here on earth to do our work and we ought work
well and in a way that is pleasing to God. Let us then pray for the
objects of our work, the services we are attempting to provide by means
of our work and the persons whom we are endeavouring to serve in our
work. Our prayer ought be accompanying our work to ensure that we are
doing the work God wants us to do and to ensure we do it in a way that
is pleasing to him. All too often we work on our own without calling on
God for his help. Rather, by our constant prayer let us win the grace
to be persevering and thorough in our work and to remain
close to God in the midst of it.
By means of the prayer of petition we
can sanctify our work, and thus sanctify others and be sanctified
ourselves. Let us begin each day eagerly taking up the work God has
placed before
us, and accompany it with constant prayer that God will bless our
efforts in a way that will contribute to his plan.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Whatever you ask the Father, he will
give you in my name.” (John 16:23-28)
Comment from Saint Bernard
of Clairvaux (1091-1153), Cistercian monk and Doctor of the Church
(Sermons for Lent, no. 5, 5)
Every time I speak about prayer, it seems to me that I hear in your
heart certain human reflections that I have often heard, even in my own
heart. Since we never stop praying, how come we so rarely seem to
experience the fruit of prayer? We have the impression that we come out
of prayer like we entered into it; no one answers us with even one
word, gives us anything at all; we have the impression that we have
labored in vain. But what does the Lord say in the gospel? “Stop
judging by appearances and make a just judgment.” (Jn 7 :24) What is a
just judgment other than a judgment of faith? For “the just man shall
live by faith.” (Gal 3:11) So follow the judgment of faith rather than
your experience, for faith does not deceive, whereas experience can
lead into error.
And what is the truth of faith other than that the Son of God himself
promised: “If you are ready to believe that you will receive whatever
you ask for in prayer, it shall be done for you.” (Mk 11:24) Thus, may
no one among you, Brothers, consider prayer to be a small thing. For I
assure you, the one to whom it is addressed does not consider it a
small thing; even before it has left our mouth, he has had it written
down in his book. Without the slightest doubt, we can be sure that God
will either give us what we are asking him or he will give us something
that he knows to be better. For “we do not know how to pray as we
ought” (Rom 8:26), but God has compassion on our ignorance and he
receives our prayer with kindness… So “take delight in the Lord, and he
will grant you your heart’s requests.” (Ps 37:4)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Cross symbolises the life of an apostle of Christ. It brings a
strength and a truth that delight both soul and body, though sometimes
it is hard, and one can feel its weight.
(The Forge,
no.757)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is the
importance of affirming,
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”(Genesis 1:1)?
The significance is that creation is the foundation of all God’s saving
plans. It shows forth the almighty and wise love of God, and it is the
first step toward the covenant of the one God with his people. It is
the beginning of the history of salvation which culminates in Christ;
and it is the first answer to our fundamental questions regarding our
very origin and destiny.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.51)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The
Ascension of the Lord B
(May 28) Today let us think of St. Germanus of Paris
(Saints)
Scripture: Acts of the
Apostles 1:1-11; Psalm 47:2-3, 6-9; Ephesians
1:17-23; Mark 16:15-20
“There at the right hand of God he
took his place, while they, going out, preached everywhere”.
(Mark 16:15-20)
Both during his public life and after his
resurrection our Lord referred to his entry into glory. It was the
climax of his entire mission, and both before and after his
resurrection he had told his disciples that it was
necessary for the Messiah to suffer and die so as to enter into his
glory. Not long before his Passion our Lord took with him Peter, James
and John, who would be the pillars of the infant Church, and went up a
mountain, and there he was transfigured in glory. It was a prefiguring
of what was to come. At the Last Supper our Lord prayed to his heavenly
Father. His prayer was that he, Jesus, had glorified him here on earth,
and now he asks
that he, the Father, glorify him with that glory that had been his
before
the world ever was. So the purpose of our Lord’s life and mission was
to give glory to the Father, to be glorified himself, and to bring all
of us into a share in his glory. The world would share in the glory of
God. He had relinquished the glory that was
his as the Son of God in order to become man. Ascended into heaven, he
had now regained the
glory that was his as God, which he had put away in becoming man. In
celebrating the ascension we celebrate the glory of our Lord as
God. (Mark 16:15-20)
But in ascending into heaven, our Lord was not simply
assuming the state of glory that had been his before the world began.
He was taking his seat at God’s right hand as man too. In this sense we
celebrate the glory of man, man understood as being in Jesus. In
Jesus, the Son of Man and our brother, we ourselves were being given a
stake at the right hand of God. Jesus ascending into heaven
involved the glorification of man, man ascending into glory above and
beyond all that is sinful, broken and inglorious. The resurrection of
our Lord not only brought to the disciples a great joy at seeing their
beloved Master with them once again, but it brought to them the joy of
knowing that if they live and die in him they will rise in him too. The
ascension of the Lord has a similar significance for the Christian, for
not only can he hope to rise with Christ, but he can hope to share in
his glory in heaven. So while the ascension shows forth who Jesus is,
it also shows forth the final vocation of
all of us. We are called to share in the glory of Christ with the
Father. That is what we can look forward to whatever be the
vicissitudes of life. Mary, the first and greatest Christian, has shown
us all
the way. At the end of her earthly life she was taken up in glory, body
and soul, to heaven because of her sinless union with her Son, and now
she
shares in the glory of her divine Son. So then, what a glory it is for
humanity that one of us is divine and what a hope it provides for us
all! Whatever be our sufferings and disappointments, we can look ahead
to glory.
This share in the divine life and glory has come to us
with the gift of the Holy Spirit. At the beginning of our Lord’s public
ministry John the Baptist had told his disciples that Jesus would
baptize with the Holy Spirit, and in our first reading today (Acts of the
Apostles 1:1-11) our Lord, before he ascended into
heaven, tells his disciples that soon they would be baptized in the
Holy Spirit. St John the author of the Gospel specifically tells us how
during his public ministry Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit whom
those who believed in him were to receive. St John comments that there
was no Spirit as yet because Jesus had not yet been glorified. Today in
thinking of the Ascension we think of our Lord together with the Father
now poised to send the Holy Spirit. We celebrate the actual coming of
the Holy Spirit at Pentecost next Sunday. He came to each of us at our
baptism and he made us children of God. Our share in the glory of
Christ is now hidden and is threatened by sin. It will be completed
when we are taken up to be
with him in glory hereafter, if we live a life worthy of our state as
children of God. The
ascension of the Lord into heaven is the necessary preliminary to the
coming of the Holy
Spirit, and with his coming the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Spirit,
dwells with the Church, making of the Church the living
sacrament of God.
Today let us contemplate our Lord leaving his disciples
with his cosmic mission successfully completed. He enters heaven to the
acclaim of all the holy ones and to the warm embrace of the Father in
the love of the Holy Spirit. Christ is there as God once again
in glory. He is there also as man showing to all of us
what our true vocation is. Our vocation is to glory. Jesus and the
Father are poised to send the
Holy Spirit on the infant Church, and through the ministry of the
Church to each of us. In the power of the Holy Spirit the Father and
the Son make their abode with us and enable us to live in them so as to
prepare for an eternity in the glory of Jesus, ascended into heaven and
seated at the right hand of the Father.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading:
The Catechism of
the Catholic Church, no.737-741
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“That they may be one, even as we are one”
(John 17,11-19)
Pope Benedict XVI (Discourse at the
ecumenical meeting during the 2005 World Youth Day)
[What does it mean to return to the
unity of all Christians?]
This unity, we are convinced,
indeed subsists in the Catholic Church, without the possibility of ever
being lost …
On the other hand, this unity does
not mean what could be called ecumenism of the return: that is,
to deny and to reject one's own faith history. Absolutely not! It does not mean uniformity in all
expressions of theology and spirituality, in liturgical forms and in
discipline. Unity in multiplicity, and multiplicity in unity… To this end, dialogue has its own
contribution to make. More than an exchange of thoughts, an academic
exercise, it is an exchange of gifts, in which the Churches and the
Ecclesial Communities can make available their own riches. As a result of this commitment, the
journey can move forward, step by step, as the Letter to the Ephesians
says, until at last we will all "attain to the unity of faith and of
the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of
the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph 4: 13)… We cannot "bring about" unity by our
powers alone. We can only obtain unity as a gift of the Holy Spirit.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I understand. Through Love, you want to suffer with Christ: you want to
put your back between him and the butchers who are flogging him; to
offer your head instead of his for the thorns, and your hands and feet
for the nails. Or at least you want to accompany our Mother, Holy Mary,
on Calvary, and to plead guilty to deicide on account of your sins ...
and to suffer and to love.
(The Forge,
no.758)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who created the world?
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are the one and indivisible
principle of creation even though the work of creating the world is
particularly attributed to God the Father.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.52)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday
of the seventh week of Eastertide
(May 29) Today let us think of St Raymond and his companions
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 19: 1-8; Psalm 68: 2-7;
John 16: 29-33
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when
you became believers?” (Acts
of the Apostles 19: 1-8)
There are some very interesting things about the conversation between
St Paul and the dozen or so disciples whom he found at Ephesus (Acts
of the Apostles 19: 1-8).
Firstly, as with Apollos, these disciples were discovered to have very
incomplete notions. It seems they had learnt their religion primarily
from John the Baptist and were unaware of the fact that John, their
master, had pointed to Christ being the Messiah. Perhaps they had
passed on from John without hearing John’s testimony about Jesus. But
in any case the defining issue for Paul in his conversation with them
hinged around receiving the Holy Spirit. “When he
asked, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?’
they answered, ‘No, we were never told there was such a thing as a Holy
Spirit’.” St Paul’s response to their words makes it clear that this
Gift is the
distinctive blessing coming from Jesus. Jesus is the source of the Holy
Spirit. Moreover, Jesus gives the Holy Spirit not just to certain
holy persons whom God raises up (like John himself) for a particular
work, but for anyone who believes in him and is received into the
Church by baptism (and confirmation). This is shown in the case of
these disciples who “were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus, and
the moment Paul had laid hands on them the Holy Spirit came down on
them”. Presumably the baptism in this case was followed by what we now
call the sacrament of confirmation, which is to say when “Paul had laid
hands on them.”
They now possessed the Holy Spirit.
So Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to those who accept the Church’s
teaching about Jesus and believe in him. But there is more in respect
to the reception of the Holy Spirit by the believer. Paul’s very
question to this group he found at Ephesus shows that he expected the
presence of the Holy Spirit in the heart and life of the Christian to
be
noticed by the recipient. “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you
became believers?” He expects that his coming to the believer will make
a difference that will be in some way experienced and noticed. In the
case of this
group, when they were baptised and received the laying on of hands by
Paul “the Holy Spirit came down on them, and they began to speak with
tongues and to prophesy.” It is evident that while this particular
manifestation manifested the gift of the Holy Spirit in very many
believers in the infant Church, the signs of his coming and his
presence have (in general) changed since then. The essential fruit of
his coming is
a divinely-given inclination to believe in Jesus, an aptitude to accept
the Church’s testimony, a readiness to love Jesus and to follow him,
and
the desire to bear witness to him. God’s will is for our sanctification
and our sanctification is drawn from and focused on the person of
Jesus. The
essential gifts that are needed for this are faith, hope and love, with
various other supernatural gifts that enable us to live a mature
Christian life in Jesus. But of course we must be faithful to these
supernatural
endowments and exercise them daily. If we do this, the desire for
sanctity will grow and will bear fruit, as will the desire to bring
others into contact with Jesus. The action of the Holy Spirit will be
noticed as time goes on, provided we choose to cooperate with him. As
we look back on our Christian life we will be able to say with
conviction that, yes, we received the Holy Spirit. He will be seen to
be a real Person on our lives.
Let us look to Jesus for the gift of the Holy Spirit. When he comes he
will unite us to Jesus and enable us to live a life that testifies to
the truth about him. Let our constant prayer be: “Come Holy Spirit!”
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“That you may find peace in me”
(John
16: 29-33)
Comment by Blessed
Henry Suso (1295 – 1366), Dominican (The Book of Eternal
Wisdom)
“Lord, since the days of my youth my mind has sought an
I-don’t-know-what with impatient thirst. So what was it, Lord? I still
haven’t understood it entirely. It is many years now that I have
ardently desired it, and I have not yet been able to grasp it… And yet
that is what draws my heart and my soul and without which I cannot
settle down in true peace.
Lord, I wanted to find happiness in the creatures of this world, as I
saw so many people doing all around me. But the more I sought, the less
I found; the closer I got, the further away I was. For everything told
me: “ I am not what you are seeking.” So is it you, Lord, whom I have
sought for so long? Has the attraction of my heart always and
constantly been struggling to reach you? Then why did you not show
yourself to me? How could you put off this meeting for so long? On how
many exhausting paths have I got bogged down? For the person whom you
anticipate with so much love, is truly happy, the person whom you do
not let rest until he seeks his rest in you alone.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You tell me: I have made up my mind to go more often to the Paraclete,
to ask him for his light. Good. But remember, my child, that the Holy
Spirit comes as a result of the Cross.
(The Forge,
no.759)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why
was the world created?
The world was created for the glory of God who wished to show forth and
communicate his goodness, truth and beauty. The ultimate end of
creation is that God, in Christ, might be “all in all” (1 Corinthians
15:28) for his glory and for our happiness.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the
Catholic Church, no.53)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday
of the seventh week of Eastertide
(May 30) Today let us think of St. Joan of Arc
(Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 20:17-27; Psalm
68: 10-11, 20-21;
John 17:1-11
“...provided that when I finish my
race I have carried out the mission the Lord Jesus gave me”.
(Acts of the
Apostles 20: 17-27)
When we think of the great personalities of history a question that can
arise in our hearts is, what made them tick? What drove them on? What
gave to their life such vitality? Let us turn to one of the very
great men of history, St Paul - great because of his impact on the
spread of the Christian faith and in making of Christianity a world
religion. If we can identify what was at the heart of his life giving
him the energy and purpose to achieve this, then we can learn from him
and attempt to be achievers (in the Lord) ourselves. Well, consider
what he tells “the elders of the church of Ephesus”. He says that
“Life to me is not a thing to waste words on, provided that when I
finish my race I have carried out the mission the Lord Jesus gave me -
and that was to bear witness to the Good News of God’s grace.” (Acts of the
Apostles 20: 17-27) Paul describes his life as “a
race”. He was in a hurry to achieve his purpose, and that purpose was
to fulfil the mission he had been given by the Lord Jesus. That is to
say, he lived for his work, the work that had been given to him by
Jesus. That work was to tell others about Jesus so that they too might
live in Christ and receive the gift of his grace. That grace redeems
and
sanctifes the believer, and it comes from the Holy Spirit whom Jesus
gives to any who believe in him. That was Paul’s work, and he
fulfilled it to the best degree he could out of love for Jesus - not as
some mere workaholic, but as one who in his work was profoundly in love
with the Person of Our Lord.
All of this reminds us of the place that our work should have in our
life. Everyone of us has, or can have, work to do. That work is perhaps
thrust upon us, or beckons to us, or perhaps it is work we are free to
do and have chosen to do. If it is work that simply should not be done
then, of course, we ought be rid of it. But if it is a good work and a
true service (however humble), and if it has come our way by necessity
or obligation, or if we have legitimately chosen it, then we ought
strive to do it well and for the right reason. Ordinary
human reflection makes it clear that we are born into this world to
serve by our work, and in a general sense it is this which gives to
every person what we could call a mission in life. Work is meant to
fulfil man. If a person over the course of life is doing very little
work then his life is being wasted and it cannot be pleasing to his
Creator. Now, how much more is this the case for a Christian, and St
Paul is a shining example of the Christian life. He strove to complete
the work given to him in life which “was to bear witness to the Good
News of God’s grace.” Like every human being, each Christian has his
work to do in life, and he serves God and his fellow man by means of
this work. But for one who lives in Jesus there is this difference that
he tries every day to sanctify his work, to make it holy by doing it
for God and for others in God, and doing it thoroughly. Moreover he
tries so to work that he will bear witness to Jesus and his grace,
taking whatever opening his work provides to bear explicit witness to
Jesus in word before others.
What a wonderful thing it would be to be told by the Lord Jesus that we
have carried out the work he meant us to do in life. Let us then as
life proceeds seek to know what that work is, and let us seek to do it
well out of love for him. Our daily work is a fundamental means of
sanctification. Let us make our work holy, let us contribute through
our work to the holiness of others, and let it sanctify ourselves also.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“I have given you glory on earth by
finishing the work you gave me to do.” (John 17:1-11)
Comment by St Augustine
(354-430), Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Sermons on St. John, no.106)
“I have made your name known to those you gave me.” In the Saviour’s
thinking, these words include all who were to believe in him as members
of the large Church, which is made up of all nations and of which the
psalmist said: “I will utter praise in the vast assembly.” (Ps 22:26)
So it is truly this glorification by which the Son gives glory to the
Father, spreading knowledge of his name among the nations and to the
countless generations of human beings. Thus, when he said: “I have made
your name known to those you gave me”, this refers to what precedes it:
“I have given you glory on earth…”
“I have made your name known to those you gave me”: not his name as
God, but as Father. That name could not be made known without the
manifestation of the Son. For even before believing in Jesus Christ,
there was not a single people that did not have a certain knowledge of
God as the God of all of creation. For such is the power of the true
God that he could not be absolutely hidden to a creature with reason
who wants to make use of his mind. Except for a small number of
individuals whose nature has really become depraved, the whole human
race recognizes God as the author of this world… But the name Father of
Jesus Christ, through whom he takes away the sin of the world, was not
known at all, and that is the name the Lord makes known to those whom
the Father gave him.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The cheerful love that fills the soul with happiness is founded on
suffering. There is no love without renunciation.
(The Forge,
no.760)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How did
God create the universe?
God created the universe freely with wisdom and love. The world is not
the result of any necessity, nor of blind fate, nor of chance. God
created “out of nothing” (ex nihilo) (2 Maccabees 7:28) a world which
is ordered and good and which he infinitely transcends. God preserves
his creation in being and sustains it, giving it the capacity to act
and leading it toward its fulfillment through his Son and the Holy
Spirit.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.54)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday
of the seventh week of Eastertide
(May 31) The
visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This feast is
celebrated between the solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord and
the birth of John the Baptist, in conformity with the Gospel accounts.
The visitation is the encounter between Mary and her kinswoman
Elizabeth, the mother of St John the Baptist. Mary’s “Magnificat” is
another testimony of her humility and greatness before God. Her
readiness to serve Elizabeth is a good lesson on fraternal
charity. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Zephaniah
3:
14-18
or
Romans 12: 9-16; Isaiah 12:
2-6; Luke 1: 39-56
“My
soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit exults in God my saviour” (Luke 1: 39-56)
The suspicion and hesitation of large numbers of Protestant Christians
in respect to honouring the Blessed Virgin Mary is well known.
Nevertheless, some time back I was told that on one occasion the famous
evangelical preacher Billy Graham said publicly that Protestantism must
look again at this matter and rethink their attitude to Mary the mother
of Jesus. For after all, he told them, “she is the mother of the
Saviour!” Today’s feast of the visitation of Mary to her kinswoman
Elizabeth offers us the opportunity to dwell on the immense beauty of
her pure and holy soul, for the Church presents us with her sublime
prayer, the Magnificat, in which she gives glory to God for what he had
done for her. It is provoked by Elizabeth’s praise of Mary, declaring
herself honoured with a visit of the mother of her Lord, and that Mary
is blessed for believing “that the promise made her by the Lord would
be fulfilled.” Inasmuch as we Christians know Mary to be the holiest of
all believers, her prayer would have to be regarded as one of the
greatest provided us in the Scriptures. It is perhaps especially
valuable in teaching us how to give glory to God for what he has done
for us.
Mary praises God for his greatness as her saviour (Luke 1: 39-56).
Her joy lies in the greatness of God and in the great things he has
done for her and for his people. “He has looked upon his lowly
handmaid.” Each one of us ought be able to share in that joy of Mary’s
because each of us is lowly and yet God has done great if hidden things
for us. He has placed us in his Son Jesus our Lord and given to us a
share in the grace with which Mary’s soul was filled. Mary praises God
for his holiness and his mercy: “Holy is his name, and his mercy
reaches from age to age for those who fear him.” The pattern of God’s
dealings with man is extolled: he routs the proud of heart, he pulls
down princes from their thrones and exalts the lowly. He has regard to
the lowly, the humble, the hungry, and to Israel his servant. That is
to say, the power of the all-holy God is especially shown in his mercy,
in his saving regard for the needy and the lowly. This is the God Mary
glorifies, a God rich in mercy, and her prayer sums up the teaching of
the Old Testament on what God has revealed himself to be. This teaching
reaches its fulfilment in the revelation of her Son Jesus who would
teach that “he who sees me sees the Father”.
Let us ask the Holy Spirit who filled the soul of Mary to help us to be
one with Mary in giving glory to God for the great things he has done
for each of us in choosing us in Christ, before the world began, to be
holy and full of love in his sight. Let us ask Mary to help us fulfil
our vocation. As the Church teaches, she is our mother and model, the
first and foremost Christian.
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Who am I that the mother of my Lord
should come to me?” (Luke 1: 39-56)
Commentary from a Greek Homily from the 4th century wrongly
attributed to St. Gregory of Neocaesarea, who is called the
Thaumaturge, no. 2
“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leapt in her womb.
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” That was the effect of
Mary’s voice: it filled Elizabeth with the Holy Spirit. Like an eternal
spring, with her prophetic words she sets forth a river of graces for
her cousin, and she causes the feet of the child that is held back in
her womb to move and to thrill: the figures of a marvelous dance. When
Mary, who is full of grace, appears, everything overflows with joy.
“Then Elizabeth cried out in a loud voice: ‘Blest are you among women
and blest is the fruit of your womb. But who am I that the mother of my
Lord should come to me?’” You are blest among women. You are the
beginning of our regeneration. You have opened for us free access to
paradise, and you have chased away our former sufferings. No, after
you, the multitude of women will no longer be enough. Eve’s heirs will
no longer fear her old curse or the pain of childbirth. For Jesus
Christ, our humanity’s redeemer, the Savior of all of nature, the
spiritual Adam who heals the wounds of the earthly human being, Jesus
Christ comes forth from your sacred womb. “Blest are you among women
and blest is the fruit of your womb.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Christ is nailed to the Cross. And you? Still taken up with your whims
and fancies - or rather, nailed by them!
(The Forge,
no.761)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is divine providence?
Divine Providence consists in the dispositions with which God leads his
creatures toward their ultimate end. God is the sovereign Master of his
own plan. To carry it out, however, he also makes use of the
cooperation of his creatures. For God grants his creatures the dignity
of acting on their own and of being causes for each other.
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.55)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday
of the seventh week of Eastertide
(June 1) Saint
Justin, martyr. Born of a pagan family in Nablus in
Samaria at the beginning of the second century. He was a philosopher
and was a passionate searcher for the truth, which he found in Christ.
On his conversion to the faith he wrote in defence of the Christian
Faith, though the only works now extant are his two Apologies and
his
Dialogue
addressed to Trypho. He opened a school in Rome and he took
part in public disputations. He suffered a martyr’s death with his
companions during the time of Marcus Aurelius, about the year
165. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 22:30;23:6-11; Psalm 16: 1-2, 5,
7-11;
John
17:20-26
“It is for our hope in the
resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” (Acts 23: 6-11)
At times one gets the impression that there was plenty of humour in the
missionary party of St Paul. Consider the first reading’s account (from
The Acts) of
Paul’s trial in the presence of the Sanhedrin, arranged by the tribune
who wanted to know the precise charge the Jews were bringing against
him. St Luke tells us what happened, and it is really quite amusing.
Paul knew that the Sanhedrin was made up of the Sadducees and the
Pharisees, the former denying the resurrection of the dead, the latter
affirming it together with the doctrine of the angels and spirits
(which doctrine the Sadducees also denied). Paul was a Pharisee, and
turned the situation to his advantage by immediately
putting himself in the camp of the Pharisees, and declared “Brothers, I
am a
Pharisee and the son of Pharisees. It is for our hope in the
resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” (Acts 23: 6-11) With
this statement, St Luke tells us, there immediately broke out a dispute
between the Pharisees and the Sadducees over this very doctrine, with
the Pharisees announcing themselves to be for Paul after all, and
asking
“Suppose a spirit has spoken to him, or an angel?” The upshot was that
the Sanhedrin in council broke down and the tribune
had to
rescue Paul from the pandemonium. The reader cannot help imagining that
Luke
relished narrating this event, and that it probably was a cause of
subsequent laughter among Paul’s party and well beyond.
At times one can slip into thinking of Christ our Lord as being ever
serious, even gloomy. On the contrary, the Gospels show a great
familiarity existing
between our Lord and his disciples. Imagine our Lord day after day
during his public ministry surrounded by his disciples, travelling with
them, living with them in constant community life. There would have
been laughter and fun together with great seriousness and, as we see in
the Gospels, correction of them coming from him. There are hints of the
laughter that our Lord probably provoked in his very discourses and
sayings, such as that his hearers were not to be taking the splinter
out of their brother’s eye when there was already a plank, a beam, in
their own. He spoke too of the joy that was his, and of how he was to
give
this same joy to his disciples. The normal expression of constant joy
is a ready and even pervasive smile. I do not recall having seen a
painting of Christ
smiling and even laughing. Yet the saints who lived constantly in
Christ smiled and laughed, and a
reading of a life of St Philip Neri shows this strikingly. He could
almost be called the joker of Rome and, when in the Pope’s company, the
prankster of
the papal entourage and court. What then are we to say of this point,
occasioned by our reading of today’s passage from the Acts of the
Apostles? It is that the Christian life is a life of joy and peace amid
the difficulties and sufferings of life. Heaven will surely be a place
of peace, joy, smiles and laughter, which is to say a place where every
tear will be
wiped away. The God of peace and joy will be all in all. His peace will
reign forever, and our Christian life now is already a share in this.
Joy is a fundamental aspect of the eternal life we have received as
Christ’s gift.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled”, our Lord says. “Trust in God
still and trust in me.” Let smiles and a holy laughter, then, be part
and
parcel of a dedicated and holy Christian life, a life which while being
joyful is in no way
easy-going.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“So that your
love for me may live in them, and I may live in them” (John
17:20-26)
Commentary by Isaac of the Star (died
1171), Cistercian monk (Sermon 42 for the Ascension)
Just as the head and the body of a
person make one and the same person, so the son of the Virgin and his
members, the chosen ones, make one and the same person and one single
Son of Man. This is the total and complete Christ, the head and the
body, of which Scripture speaks. Yes, all the members together form one
single body, which with its head, constitutes the one and only Son of
Man who, with the Son of God, constitutes the one and only Son of God,
just as he together with God constitutes one single God. Thus the
entire body, with its head, is Son of Man and Son of God, and
consequently God. Whence this word: “That all may be one as you,
Father, are in me, and I in you; I pray that they may be [one] in us.”
That is why, in conformity with this frequent affirmation of Scripture,
the body does not exist without the head, nor does the head exist
without the body, any more than the head and the body exist without
God. That is the total Christ…
Thus the believers, the spiritual
members of Christ, can all say in truth that they are what he himself
is, which is to say, the Son of God and God. But what he is by nature,
they are as associated members; what he is in fullness, they are
through participation. In short, if he is the Son of God because of his
origin, his members are sons of God… through adoption, according to
what the apostle Paul said: “You have received a spirit of adoption
through which we cry out, ‘Abba!’ (that is, ‘Father’).” (Rom 8:15) With
this Spirit, “he empowered them to become children of God” (Jn 1:12),
so that, according to the teaching of “the first-born of many brothers”
(Rom 8:29), they might learn to say: “Our Father in heaven.” (Mt 6:9)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We cannot, must not, be easy-going
Christians:
on earth there must be
sorrow and the Cross.
(The Forge,
no.762)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How do we
collaborate with divine Providence?
While respecting our freedom, God asks us to cooperate with him and
gives us the ability to do so through actions, prayers and sufferings,
thus awakening in us the desire “to will and to work for his good
pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.56)
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Friday
of the seventh week of Eastertide
(June 2) Saints
Marcellinus and Peter, martyrs. The account of the death
of these two martyrs, who died in the persecution of Diocletian, comes
from Pope Damasus who in turn obtained it from the executioner. They
were beheaded in a wood and then buried in the cemetery called
The Two Laurels on the Via Labicana. When peace came to the
Church a basilica was erected over their tomb. Their names are included
in the Roman Canon (First Eucharistic Prayer). (Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 25:13-21; Psalm
103: 1-2, 11-12, 19-20;
John 21:15-19
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?
... Jesus said to him, “Look after my sheep.”(Jn 21:15-19)
It has been said that one of the many differences between Islam and
Christianity as religious phenomena is that Islam is relatively simple
while Christianity is, to say the least, complex. A comparison between
their doctrines about God, let alone other doctrines, surely bears this
out. Islam (drawing on the revealed religions of Judaism and
Christianity) asserts unambiguously that God is one, and that there is
no god but God. This, of course, is also the doctrine of both Judaism
and Christianity, but Christianity teaches that Christ the Son of God
reveals that the one God is not just one Person but three, and that
each
Person is the one God. So then, Christianity is not a simple religion
for it contains many mysteries utterly beyond the understanding of man.
Our
knowledge of these glorious mysteries comes from Christ, and his
teaching is preserved, clarified, expounded and developed by the Church
which he founded, guided as it is by the Holy Spirit.
But while Christianity cannot be described as a simple religion, it is
important that the Christian not lose sight of the wood for the leaves.
There are great central realities to be kept steadily in view day by
day and our Gospel passage for today places them before us. Our Lord,
risen from the dead, placed the central issues before Simon Peter
himself, the one who was appointed by Christ to be the visible Rock of
the Church. Our Lord asks that Simon love him and that he feed his
flock. “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these others do?” (John 21:15-19) That
is what our Lord wants from Simon, and he wants from each of us all our
love. Christianity is a matter of personal love between Christ and each
of his disciples, gathered as they are in the one flock. If we
want to understand what being a Christian involves, let us start with
this conversation between the risen Jesus and his chief disciple, Simon
the Church’s Rock. In asking this question of Simon, our Lord surely
asks the same thing of every disciple, every member of his Church. Its
concrete meaning and application depends on the particular calling of
each disciple. There is a further flow-on from our Lord's question and
Simon’s
answer. It is that as the expression of our love, Jesus our Master asks
us to feed the flock with the life Jesus came to give.
As members of the Church our calling is to share in the Church’s love
for Jesus and also in the Church’s mission. Let us place ourselves in
our Gospel scene and imagine our Lord asking us the question he asked
Simon so long ago, but which he asks us now: Do you love me? Yes? Then
feed my sheep. However rich and complex the Christian religion
is, this issue is very clear.
(E.J.Tyler)
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“Simon, son of John, do you love me?
... Do you love me? ... Do you love me?” (John 21:15-19)
Commentary from Blessed John
XXIII (1881-1963), Pope (Journal of the Soul,
chapter 1958-1963)
Peter’s successor knows that in his person and in his activity, grace
and the law of love uphold, give life and adorn everything. And in face
of the whole world, the holy Church finds its support in the exchange
of love between Jesus and him, Simon Peter, the son of John, as from a
support that is both invisible and visible: Jesus is invisible to the
eyes of the flesh, and the pope, the vicar of Christ, is visible to the
eyes of the whole world. This mystery of love between Jesus and his
vicar must be weighed well. What an honor and what sweetness for me,
but at the same time, what cause for the littleness, the nothingness
that I am to be overwhelmed and embarrassed.
My life must be totally one of love for Jesus and at the same time, one
of total outpouring of kindness and of sacrifice for every soul and for
the whole world. During this episode in the gospel … there is a direct
passing on to the law of sacrifice. Jesus himself announces this to
Peter: “I tell you solemnly: as a young man you fastened your belt and
went about as you pleased, but when you are older you will stretch out
your hands, and another will tie you fast and carry you off against
your will.”
By the Lord’s grace, I have not yet entered that “old age”, but having
completed eighty years, I am on the threshold. So I must hold myself
ready for that last period in my life, where limitations and sacrifices
are awaiting me, even to the sacrifice of physical life and the opening
up of eternal life. O Jesus, here I am, ready to stretch out my hands,
the hands that are already trembling and weak, and to allow another to
help me to get dressed and to support me on the road. Lord, when
speaking with Peter you added: “and will carry you off against your
will.” Oh! After so many graces from which I have benefited during my
long life, there is nothing left that I do not want. It is you who
opened up the path for me, o Jesus. “Wherever you go I will come after
you.” (Mt 8:19)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In this life of ours we must expect the Cross. Those who do not expect
the Cross are not Christians, and they will be unable to avoid their
own “cross”, which will drive them to despair.
(The Forge,
no.763)
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If God is omnipotent and provident, why
then does evil exist?
To this question, as painful and mysterious as it is, only the whole of
Christian faith can constitute a response. God is not in any way -
directly or indirectly - the cause of evil. He illuminates the mystery
of evil in his Son Jesus Christ who died and rose in order to vanquish
that great moral evil, human sin, which is at the root of all other
evils.
(Compendium
of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.57)
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Saturday
of the seventh week of Eastertide
(June 3) Saint
Charles Lwanga and his companions, martyrs. During the years
1885 to 1887 many Christians were killed in Uganda by the king Mwanga
in hatred of religion. Some of those put to death served in the king’s
palace and some even were the king’s personal attendants, and among
these were Charles Lwanga and twenty-one of his companions who were
fervent Catholics. Because they would not acquiesce in the impure
desires of the king some of them were killed by the sword while others
were burned to death. (Saints)
Scripture today:
Acts of the
Apostles 28:16-20.30-31; Psalm 11: 4-5, 7;
John
21:20-25
"What about him, Lord?" Jesus
answered, "what does it matter to you? You are to follow me."
(John 21:20-25)
It is commonly accepted that when a person is young, time seems to move
relatively slowly. Perhaps it is because the young person is usually
looking forward and the future always seems to be afar. By contrast,
the person with many years behind him seems to think that time passes
quickly, and of course he is right. Time never stops, it never slows,
it continually marches swiftly on. The older person remembers the past
well, and it seems to be still before him. It has gone quickly
never to return. If the older person is busy perhaps every day simply
does not contain enough time to do all he would like to do. The point
is that sooner or later a person will normally see that he has to
choose among his options and choose wisely what he intends to do with
the time he has. He cannot do everything, so he must use the time that
is his to the best advantage otherwise life will quickly pass into
insignificance. In practical terms it means that we must learn to focus
on what is important and not worry about what is trivial and
peripheral.
How true that is when it comes to the Christian life! Consider the
Gospel scene today. Our Lord, risen from the dead, has told Simon
something of his future and, as the author of the Gospel puts it, “the
kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.” But what then does
Simon do? He asks our Lord, “What about him, Lord?” referring to St
John the “disciple Jesus loved.” It was a point of curiosity for Simon,
he simply was interested to know about St John. But our Lord told him
not to concern himself about peripheral matters, matters that were not
granted him to know. The important thing for him was to follow Christ
closely: were I to want him to stay behind till I come, how would that
concern you?, our Lord replied. “You are to follow me.” (John 21:20-25) We
are reminded of our Lord’s exhortation not to worry about tomorrow. The
birds of the air are looked after by our heavenly Father, so how much
more will he look after us! “Seek first the kingdom of God and his
justice, and all these things will be given to you.” We are not to lose
our focus in life. Day by day let us concentrate on following the
Master generously.
Let us place ourselves in our Gospel scene today and accept the words
of our Lord to Simon as directed to each one of us. Let us resolve to
concentrate on the one thing necessary, as our Lord on another occasion
commended Mary the sister of Martha for doing. The one thing necessary
is to follow Jesus, to hear the word of God coming from him and to put
it into practice. Life is short and eternity long, as John Henry Newman
once wrote. So let us make the very best of it.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Were I to want him to stay until I
come, how would that concern you? You are to follow me.”
(John 21:20-25) Commentary
by St Teresa of Avila
(1515-1582), Carmelite, Doctor of the Church
Poem “Vuestra soy, para vos nací” – In the Hands of God
I am Yours and born for you,
What do You want of me?
Majestic Sovereign,
Unending wisdom,
Kindness pleasing to my soul;
God sublime, one Being Good,
Behold this one so vile.
Singing of her love to you:
What do You want of me?
Yours, you made me,
Yours, you saved me,
Yours, you endured me,
Yours, you called me,
Yours, you awaited me,
Yours, I did not stray.
What do You want of me?
Good Lord, what do you want of me,
What is this wretch to do?
What work is this,
This sinful slave, to do?
Look at me, Sweet Love,
Sweet Love, look at me,
What do You want of me?
In Your hand
I place my heart,
Body, life and soul,
Deep feelings and affections mine,
Spouse – Redeemer sweet,
Myself offered now to you,
What do You want of me?
Give me death, give me life,
Health or sickness,
Honour or shame,
War or swelling peace,
Weakness or full strength,
Yes, to these I say,
What do You want of me?...
Yours I am, for You I was born:
What do You want of me?
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Now, when the Cross has become a serious and weighty matter, Jesus will
see to it that we are filled with peace. He will become our Simon of
Cyrene, to lighten the load for us. Then say to him trustingly: “Lord,
what kind of a Cross is this? A Cross which is no cross. Now I know the
trick. It is to abandon myself in you; and from now on, with your help,
all my crosses will always be like this.”
(The
Forge, no.764)
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Why does God permit evil?
Faith gives us the certainty that God would not permit evil if he did
not cause a good to come from that very evil. This was realized in a
wondrous way by God in the death and resurrection of Christ. In fact,
from the greatest of all moral evils (the murder of his Son) he has
brought forth the greatest of all goods (the glorification of Christ
and our redemption).
(Compendium of the
Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.58)
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