May 2008 (from May 1)
Morning Offering:
O Jesus, through the most pure heart of Mary, I offer you all the
prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions
of your divine heart, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass. I
offer them especially for the Holy
Father's intentions:
Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for June 2008 is: "That all Christians may cultivate a deep and personal friendship with Christ, in order to be able to communicate the strength of His love to every person they meet".
His
mission intention for June 2008 is: "That the International
Eucharistic Congress of Quebec in Canada may lead to an ever greater
understanding that the Eucharist is the heart of the Church and the source of
evangelisation".
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Thursday
of the Sixth Week of Easter A
(May 1) St.
Joseph the Worker
Apparently in response to the “May Day” celebrations for workers
sponsored by Communists, Pius XII instituted the feast of St. Joseph
the Worker in 1955. But the 
relationship
between
Joseph and the cause of workers has a longer history. In a constantly
necessary effort to keep Jesus from being removed from ordinary human
life, the Church has from the beginning proudly emphasized that Jesus
was a carpenter, obviously trained by Joseph in both the satisfactions
and the drudgery of that vocation. Humanity is like God not only in
thinking and loving, but also in creating. Whether we make a table or a
cathedral, we are called to bear fruit with our hands and mind,
ultimately for the building up of the Body of Christ.
“The Lord God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden,
to cultivate and care for it” (Genesis 2:15). The Father created all
and asked humanity to continue the work of creation. We find our
dignity in our work, in raising a family, in participating in the life
of the Father’s creation. Joseph the Worker was able to help
participate in the deepest mystery of creation. Pius XII emphasized
this when he said, “The spirit flows to you and to all men from the
heart of the God-man, Savior of the world, but certainly, no worker was
ever more completely and profoundly penetrated by it than the foster
father of Jesus, who lived with Him in closest intimacy and community
of family life and work. Thus, if you wish to be close to Christ, we
again today repeat, ‘Go to Joseph’” (see Genesis 41:44). In Brothers of
Men, René Voillaume of the Little Brothers of Jesus speaks about
ordinary work and holiness: “Now this holiness (of Jesus) became a
reality in the most ordinary circumstances of life, those of word, of
the family and the social life of a village, and this is an emphatic
affirmation of the fact that the most obscure and humdrum human
activities are entirely compatible with the perfection of the Son of
God...in relation to this mystery, involves the conviction that the
evangelical holiness proper to a child of God is possible in the
ordinary circumstances of someone who is poor and obliged to work for
his living.” (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow for video
Scripture today:
Acts 18:1-8; Psalm 98:1, 2-4; John 16:16-20
Jesus
said to his
disciples: In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a
little while you will see me. Some of his disciples said to one
another, What does he mean by saying, 'In a little while you will see
me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,' and
'Because I am going to the Father'? They kept asking, What does he mean
by 'a little while'? We don't understand what he is saying. Jesus knew
that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, Are you
asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you
will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? I
tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices.
You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. (John 16:16-20)
It is a great help
in appreciating the significance of Christ’s words to set them against
the words and teachings of other great figures in the history of the
world. In our Gospel passage today our Lord makes the simple promise to
his disciples that “in a little while you will see me no more, and then
after a little while you will see me.”
(John 16:16-20) In the first
instance it is clear that our Lord is speaking to them of his death and
resurrection. The “little while” in which they would see him again is a
mere few
days.
Despite our Lord’s repeated reference during his public ministry to his
passion, death and resurrection, they did not understand. “They kept
asking, What does he mean by 'a little while'? We don't understand what
he is saying.” Their incomprehension is a tribute to the living power
of Christ’s personality - they could not take it in that he would be
gone from them. Now, what other great figure of world history, what
other person of true substance has spoken to his disciples like this?
He would be gone from them soon in death, but very soon they would see
him again and their grief would turn to joy. Certainly not Buddha,
Mahomet, Confucius, or any other ruler or great man. They may not have
denied that they would live on in their spirits, but it would not be a
return to this life bringing by that very fact a great joy to their
disciples. Not only did the Apostles experience the joy of seeing the
risen Jesus, but those of Christ’s disciples who did not see him as
risen also experienced the joy of knowing him as risen. In his Letter
in the New Testament St Peter speaks of the joy that his readers
experience. They have not seen Christ but their hearts are full of joy
because of him. Joy is one of the fundamental hallmarks of faith in
Christ. Its foundation is his resurrection. The joy of the Christian
springs from the fact that the object of their faith, hope and love is
a real and living person, once dead but now alive. It is in him that
the Christian now lives.
That this is a most
distinctive feature of the Christian religion is clear when we think of
other religions. Abraham, Moses and the prophets died, and their
inspired legacy lived on and shaped the living religion of the children
of Israel. That legacy was the word of God in the Scriptures (the Old
Testament) and the Tradition of the chosen people. Mahomet left his
book, the Koran, considered by his innumerable followers to be
inspired, and he left a living memory of himself, taken to be Allah’s
messenger. But he too is dead. So too are all the other great figures
that have influenced thought and religion. They live on in their
spirits because the human soul cannot decompose but in their flesh they
are dead and no one has ever claimed otherwise. Their persons are
simply gone. The joy of the Christian is that Christ who died for them
is alive and is with us. He is not just a dead prophet whose teaching
is enshrined in a holy book providing guidance and support for all
readers from age to age. No, he is a living person who unites to
himself, to his own living person, all who turn to him in faith and
embrace the revelation he entrusted to his Church. He himself, the
living Jesus, abides in his Church and it is he who is the great
Reality and Protagonist of his Church. It is he who speaks to his
faithful in the Church’s holy book, the Bible, and he does so precisely
as a living person and not just as a holy voice from the past. It is he
who encounters his faithful who approach him in the Church’s
Sacraments. It is he who guides his faithful when the Church’s pastors
speak in his name, and most especially when the Successor of Peter
speaks in his name. It is he who worships the Father at the head of his
Church, especially at Mass. It is he who makes present in the midst of
the Church his one sacrifice offered at Calvary, and this he does at
Mass. He abides with us constantly, especially in the tabernacle of
every Catholic Church.
This great Fact of
the living Jesus is the greatest fact that there is. If we want facts
that matter, hard facts on which to base one’s life, facts that will
give consolation and joy, the Fact of the living and risen Jesus is
that fact. There is no other fact in any religion or system of thought
that can compare with it. Jesus is the joy of the ages and the source
of joy in the midst of any grief. Let us then place our faith and hopes
in Jesus, for as he says, in him our grief will turn to joy.
(E.J.Tyler)
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You say you've failed! We never fail. You placed your
confidence wholly in God. Nor did you neglect any human means.
Convince yourself of this truth: your success — this time, in this —
was to fail. — Give thanks to our Lord... and try again!
(The Way, no.404)
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Saint José Maria Escriva de Balaguer
(1902-1975), priest, founder
Homily in Amigos de Dios (Friends of God)
“Stay with us”
The two disciples were making their way to Emmaus. Their appearance was
perfectly ordinary, like that of many another person passing through
the vicinity. And it is there, very simply, that Jesus appears to them
and walks with them, engaging them in a conversation that makes them
forget their tiredness… Jesus on the way. Lord, you are always great!
But your condescending to follow us, to seek us out in our daily
comings and goings, always moves me. Lord, grant us simplicity of
spirit; give us a single eye, an unclouded mind, that we may understand
you when you come to us bearing no external signs of your glory.
When they reached the inn, the journey ended and the two disciples who,
without realizing it, had been struck to the depths of their hearts by
the word and love of God made man, are sorry about his departing. For
Jesus takes his leave of them, “giving the impression that he was going
on farther”. Our Lord never forces himself on us. Once we have
perceived the purity of the love he has placed in our souls, he wants
us to call on him freely. We have to hold him back by force and beg
him: “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is nearly
over, night is falling”.
We are like this too: always lacking in boldness, through lack of
sincerity, perhaps, or from shyness. What we are really thinking is:
Stay with us, because darkness surrounds our soul and you alone are the
light, you alone can satisfy the thirst consuming us… And Jesus stays
with us. Our eyes are opened like those of Cleophas and his companion
when Christ breaks the bread; and even though he disappears once more
from sight, we too will be able to set out again on our journey – night
begins to fall – to speak of him to others since so great a joy cannot
be kept within a single heart.
The way to Emmaus. Our God has filled this name filled with sweetness.
And the whole world is Emmaus because the Lord has opened up the divine
ways of the earth.
(The Daily Gospel, USA)
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Friday of the sixth week in Eastertide
(May 2) Saint
Athanasius, bishop and doctor of the Church (295?-373)
Athanasius led a tumultuous but dedicated life of service to the
Church. He was the great champion of the faith against the widespread
heresy of Arianism. The vigour of his writings earned him the title of
doctor of the Church. Born of a Christian family in Alexandria, Egypt,
and given a classical education, Athanasius entered the priesthood,
became secretary to Alexander, the bishop of Alexandria, and eventually
was named bishop himself. His predecessor, Alexander, had been an
outspoken critic of a new movement growing in the East—Arianism.
When Athanasius assumed his role as bishop of Alexandria, he continued
the fight against Arianism. At first it seemed that the battle would be
easily won and that Arianism would be condemned. Such, however, did not
prove to be the case. The Council of Tyre was called and for several
reasons that are still unclear, the Emperor Constantine exiled
Athanasius to northern Gaul. This was to be the first in a series of
travels and exiles reminiscent of the life of St. Paul.
After Constantine died, his son restored Athanasius as bishop. This
lasted only a year, however, for he was deposed once again by a
coalition of Arian bishops. Athanasius took his case to Rome, and Pope
Julius I called a synod to review the case and other related matters.
Five times Athanasius was exiled for his defense of the doctrine of
Christ’s divinity. During one period of his life, he enjoyed 10 years
of relative peace—reading, writing and promoting the Christian life
along the lines of the monastic ideal to which he was greatly devoted.
His dogmatic and historical writings are almost all polemic, directed
against every aspect of Arianism. Among his ascetical writings, his
Life of St. Anthony achieved astonishing popularity and contributed
greatly to the establishment of monastic life throughout the Western
Christian world.
The hardships Athanasius suffered in exile, hiding, fleeing from place
to place remind us of what Paul said of his own life: “On frequent
journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my
own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the
wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; in toil and
hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst,
through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure. And apart from
these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all
the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:26—28). (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow for video
Scripture today: Acts 18:9-18; Psalm 47:2-7; John 16:20-23
Jesus said to his
disciples: I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the
world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A
woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but
when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a
child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief,
but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no-one will take
away your joy. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell
you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. (John 16:20-23)
Socialization, as
we might call it, pervades the universe. The vast world of inanimate
matter works one element with the other and all things hum in a great
hive of collaboration. The fact that this breaks down all too often in
catastrophes and mishaps just highlights what is happening normally.
Vegetative life works in mutual
dependence and so does
the insect and animal world. Wild dogs hunt in packs as do prides of
lions. That is to say we see everywhere an impetus towards living and
functioning in concert with one’s own kind. Visible creation is social
and in this it reflects the character of the Creator. The Creator too
is social. He is one in being but a Trinity of persons. Man, the child
of God, is also social and he craves to live and work with others and
his pain consists in this tendency being all too often frustrated and
unfulfilled. In our Gospel passage today (John
16:20-23) our Lord sets before his disciples a stark
contrast between them and the world. “I tell you the truth, you will
weep and mourn while the world rejoices.” Our Lord came promising and
establishing a Kingdom, a Kingdom that is of God and one that is the
fulfilment of the world’s deepest needs. But as St John writes in the
prologue of his Gospel, he came unto his own and his own would not
receive him. What causes the world to rejoice, caused Christ to weep.
So too with Christ’s disciples, while they weep and mourn the world
will rejoice. A major research body discovers a method of “improving”
the human race and it involves a profound tampering with the genetic
constitution of the unborn human person. The divide is unbridgeable
with Christians condemning and agitating against all legislation that
would allow this scientific procedure, while various scientists condemn
the Church for its unenlightened stand. The Christian cannot be
conformed to the world if he is to be conformed to Christ.
Christ expects that
his disciples will understand this very clearly and will know what to
expect from the world. This is especially important for the modern lay
Christian. The Church assists him by her teaching and preaching to know
what Christ has revealed and then it is up to him to bring this to the
world by his words, example and work. Of course he must strive to be
effective and not to be unnecessarily offensive. But there are
fundamental values to which he should bear witness daily in his secular
environment. That environment is his home, his recreational circle, his
parish and above all his daily work. He bears this witness especially
by his example, but when the occasion offers it, courageously by his
words. Firstly, this witness is to the person of Christ. It is also a
witness to where he is now to be found - in his body the Church,
founded on Peter and the Apostles and now guided by the successor of St
Peter and those bishops in communion with him. It is also a witness to
the teaching and revelation of Christ in its numerous facets and that
teaching comes above all in the teaching of his Church. At times this
can be a matter full of drama and danger. Consider the Muslim who
gradually becomes convinced that the true religion revealed by God is
the Christian religion and in particular that proclaimed by and
subsisting in the Catholic Church. Depending on the country he dwells
in, acting on that conviction and becoming a Christian himself by
receiving baptism could easily bring the threat of assassination. If
knowing this he proceeds to receive baptism and takes his stand firmly
by the side of Christ and is then killed precisely for doing this, he
is a true martyr. This can happen in our day and is but one instance of
the disciple of Christ being unable to find his home in the world. The
“world” does not take its stand with Christ and so it will rejoice
while the disciple of Christ weeps.
Let us keep our
eyes steadfastly on the person of Christ and receive his teaching with
the obedience of faith. It will mean a wrenching from the world in many
matters as life proceeds. A choice must be made. Two standards are to
be seen flying aloft. One is the standard of Christ, the other the
standard of the world, the flesh and the devil. Let us take our stand
with Christ and be prepared to carry his standard whithersoever Christ
leads. Christ is our joy, joy for all ages.
(E.J.Tyler)
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So you have failed? You — be convinced of it — cannot fail. You haven't
failed; you have gained experience. On you go!
(The Way, no.405)
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Latin liturgy Hymn for Vespers of the Easter Octave: Ad
coenam agni providi (trans. Robert Bridges)
"When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore"
At the Lamb's high feast we sing
Praise to our victorious King,
Who hath washed us in the tide
Flowing from his piercèd side.
Praise we him whose love divine
Gives the guests his blood for wine,
Gives his body for the feast,
Love the victim, Love the priest.
Where the Paschal blood is poured
Death's dark angel sheathes his sword;
Israel's hosts triumphant go
Through the wave that drowns the foe.
Christ, the Lamb whose blood was shed,
Paschal victim, Paschal bread;
With sincerity and love
Eat we manna from above.
Mighty Victim from the sky,
Powers of hell beneath thee lie;
Death is conquered in the fight;
Thou hast brought us life and light.
Now thy banner thou dost wave;
Vanquished Satan and the grave;
Angels join his praise to tell -
See, o'erthrown the prince of hell.
Paschal triumph, Paschal joy,
Only sin can this destroy;
From the death of sin set free,
Souls reborn, dear Lord, in thee.
Hymns of glory, songs of praise,
Father, unto thee we raise;
Risen Lord, all praise to thee,
Ever with the Spirit be.
Amen. Alleluia.
(Daily Gospel, New Hope, KY, USA)
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Saturday of the sixth week
in Eastertide A
(May 3) Saints
Philip and James, Apostles
James, Son of Alphaeus: We know nothing of this man but his name, and
of course the fact that Jesus chose him to be one of the 12 pillars of
the New Israel, his Church. He is not the James of Acts, son of Clopas,
“brother” of Jesus and later bishop of Jerusalem and the traditional
author of the Letter of James. James, son of Alphaeus, is also known as
James the Lesser to avoid confusing him with James the son of Zebedee,
also an apostle and known as James the Greater.
Philip came from the same town as Peter and Andrew, Bethsaida in
Galilee. Jesus called him directly, whereupon he sought out Nathanael
and told him of the “one about whom Moses wrote” (John 1:45). Like the
other apostles, Philip took a long time coming to realize who Jesus
was. On one occasion, when Jesus saw the great multitude following him
and wanted to give them food, he asked Philip where they should buy
bread for the people to eat. St. John comments, “[Jesus] said this to
test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do” (John 6:6).
Philip answered, “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be
enough for each of them to have a little [bit]” (John 6:7). John’s
story is not a put-down of Philip. It was simply necessary for these
men who were to be the foundation stones of the Church to see the clear
distinction between humanity’s total helplessness apart from God and
the human ability to be a bearer of divine power by God’s gift. On
another occasion, we can almost hear the exasperation in Jesus’ voice.
After Thomas had complained that they did not know where Jesus was
going, Jesus said, “I am the way...If you know me, then you will also
know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him” (John
14:6a, 7). Then Philip said, “Master, show us the Father, and that will
be enough for us” (John 14:8). Enough! Jesus answered, “Have I been
with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9a). Possibly because
Philip bore a Greek name or because he was thought to be close to
Jesus, some Gentile proselytes came to him and asked him to introduce
them to Jesus. Philip went to Andrew, and Andrew went to Jesus. Jesus’
reply in John’s Gospel is indirect; Jesus says that now his “hour” has
come, that in a short time he will give his life for Jew and Gentile
alike.
“He sent them...so that as sharers in his power they might make all
peoples his disciples, sanctifying and governing them.... They were
fully confirmed in this mission on the day of Pentecost (cf. Acts
2:1–26) in accordance with the Lord’s promise: ‘You shall receive power
when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be witnesses for
me...even to the very ends of the earth’ (Acts 1:8). By everywhere
preaching the gospel (cf. Mark 16:20), which was accepted by their
hearers under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the apostles gathered
together the universal Church, which the Lord established on the
apostles and built upon blessed Peter, their chief, Christ Jesus
himself remaining the supreme cornerstone...” (Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church, 19).
click on centre arrow for video
Scripture today:
1 Corinthians 15:1-8; Psalm 19:2-5; John 14:6-14
Jesus said to Thomas, I
am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father
except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as
well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. Philip said,
Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us. Jesus
answered: Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you
such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can
you say, 'Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the
Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not
just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his
work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is
in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. I
tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been
doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to
the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the
Father may be glorified in the Father. You may ask me for anything in
my name, and I will do it.
(John 14:6-14)
In the long history
of human culture and thought there have been many and varied claims. It
is astonishing to see the following that some of them have had. Buddha
who lived many centuries before Christ began a movement of religion
that has seen millions of followers and is still strong. Hinduism has
an even longer history and its thought
commands
the respect of numerous scholars and innumerable religious
practitioners. So too Mahomet and the Islam that he founded. Indigenous
religions too have endured impressively - consider, for instance,
traditional African religion. Its sense of the high god compares very
well with elements of some world religions. But now, standing beyond
and above all, are the claims of Jesus Christ. Nothing in the history
of religious thought can compare with them. Furthermore, extraordinary
though his claims are, they have commanded the allegiance of two
thousand years of the cream of the human intellect, from Paul to
Augustine to Aquinas to Newman and to so many others besides. Christ’s
claims are not just utterances about God and the world and how man is
to live. They are about himself and what he will do for those who
believe in him. He presents himself as utterly unique and of
fundamental importance for every man and woman in human history. He who
believes will be saved, he tells his disciples. He who does not believe
- wilfully refusing to do so - will be condemned. That this is a
message for every man and woman on the face of the earth and for all
ages till the end is clear because Christ commands his disciples to go
to the whole world to preach it to all. So Jesus Christ presents
himself as transcending all other sources of knowledge and of life. He
must, then, be taken with the utmost seriousness because if he is not
taken seriously and is uttering the truth, then the results for the
person who passes him by will be tragic. The Church stands in the midst
of the world saying, turn to Jesus and truly consider who he is and
what he will do for you.
In our Gospel
passage today Jesus of Nazareth says, not that he is one way, nor that
he is one great source of truth, nor that he will add valuably to our
life. No, he claims to be the only way that takes us to our true goal.
Who else has had the audacity to claim to be this? He claims to be the
truth, the full truth about God and the world’s salvation. If we know
him we know the Father as well. He is the life, the life of God. He is
the way, the truth and the life. He is all this because he is the one
God, while of course not being the Father who is also the same one God.
He is the Son and is himself the fullness of the divinity, as is the
Father and as is the Holy Spirit. He tells his disciples that no one
can reach the Father except through him. This means that Mahomet could
never reach the Father except through Jesus. Mahomet is powerless to
attain union with God except through Jesus, nor are any of his
innumerable followers. Hence if in fact Mahomet and the Muslim reach
God, then unbeknown to them it has been through the person and the
grace of Christ. So too with Hinduism and with every other religious
way, including all others who have not even heard of the person of
Jesus Christ. Such claims may seem outrageous to the sincere
non-Christian and even to some Christians deferring to the feelings of
those who do not accept the unique claim of Christ and his Church. It
was precisely this claim that led to three centuries of conflict and
persecution within the Roman Empire. Christians did not lead a
military, social or political insurrection on behalf of their religion.
They did not rise up with arms and undermine the state with forms of
insurgency, let alone terror. But the state would not allow the
transcendent claims of Jesus for these claims brought to nought the
claims of other gods. The Christian Church claimed that there is no God
but Christ the Son of God. He is the one true God as is the Father and
as is the Holy Spirit. Christ is the way, the truth and the life, the
only way to the Father. To know him is to know the Father.
Jesus Christ is the
one and only Saviour of the world. In him our future is eternally
bright. He tells us that “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so
that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for
anything in my name, and I will do it.”
(John 14:6-14) Man, the world and the entire universe has in
him its pearl of great price. He is the linchpin and cornerstone of
all. He is the world’s treasure and every man and woman is invited to
sell all to gain that treasure.
(E.J.Tyler)
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That was a failure, a disaster: because you lost our spirit. - You well
know that, as long as we act from supernatural motives, the outcome
(victory? defeat? bah!) has only one name: success.
(The Way, no.406)
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Saint Leo the Great (?-c.461), Pope and Doctor
of the Church
Sermon 71, On the Lord’s Resurrection I (from A select
library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers)
"Those who had been his companions were mourning and weeping... He said
to them, 'Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every
creature' "
Let us not be taken up with the appearances of temporal matters,
neither let our contemplations be diverted from heavenly to earthly
things. Reckon as being in the past those things that are already
almost not worth thinking about and let the mind, intent on what is
permanent, fix its desires there where what is offered is eternal. For
although “by hope we were saved” (Rom 8,24) and still bear about with
us a flesh that is corruptible and mortal, yet we are rightly said not
to be in the flesh if our fleshly desires do not dominate us. Yes, we
are justified in ceasing to be named after that, the will of which we
no longer follow…
Let God’s people, then, recognise that they are “a new creation in
Christ” (2Cor 5,17) and with all vigilance understand by whom they have
been adopted and whom they themselves have adopted. Let not those
things that have been made new go back to their former instability. Let
not him who has “put his hand to the plough” (Lk 9,62) forsake his
work, but let him pay attention to what he is sowing and not look back
to what he has left behind. Let no one fall back into that from which
he has risen. But, even though from bodily weakness he still languishes
under certain maladies, let him urgently desire to be healed and raised
up. For this is the path of healing; this is how we imitate the
resurrection begun in Christ… May our feet be guided from the quagmire
on to solid ground, for, as it is written: “By the Lord are the steps
of a man made firm, and he approves his way. Though he fall, he does
not lie prostrate, for the hand of the Lord sustains him,” (Ps
37[36],23).
These thoughts, beloved brethren, must be kept in mind not only for the
Easter festival but also for the sanctification of your whole life.
(The Daily Gospel, New Hope, KY, USA)
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The Ascension of the Lord
(Seventh Sunday in Eastertide A)
Prayers this week:
Men of
Galilee, why do you stand looking in the sky? The Lord will
return, just as you have seen him ascend, alleluia.
(Acts 1:11)
God
our Father, make us joyful in the ascension of your Son Jesus Christ.
May we follow him into the new creation, for his ascension is our glory
and our hope. We ask this through our
Lord Jesus Christ
your Son in the
unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(May 4) Blessed
Michael Giedroyc (d. 1485)
A life of physical pain and mental torment didn’t prevent Michael
Giedroyc from achieving holiness. Born near Vilnius, Lithuania, Michael
suffered from physical and permanent handicaps from birth. He was a
dwarf who had the use of only one foot. Because of his delicate
physical condition, his formal education was frequently interrupted.
But over time, Michael showed special skills at metalwork. Working with
bronze and silver, he created sacred vessels, including chalices. He
travelled to Cracow Poland, where he joined the Augustinians. He
received permission to live the life of a hermit in a cell adjoining
the monastery. There Michael spent his days in prayer, fasted and
abstained from all meat and lived to an old age. Though he knew the
meaning of suffering throughout his years, his rich spiritual life
brought him consolation. Michael’s long life ended in 1485 in Cracow.
Five hundred years later, Pope John Paul II visited the city and spoke
to the faculty of the Pontifical Academy of Theology. The 15th century
in Cracow, the pope said, was “the century of saints.” Among those he
cited was Blessed Michael Giedroyc. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today:
Acts 1:1-11; Psalm Ps 47:2-3, 6-9; Ephesians 1:17-23; Matthew
28:16-20
Then the eleven
disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to
go. Then they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. Then
Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has
been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And
behold, I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:16-20)
There is an old
saying, that familiarity breeds contempt. Of course it is a caricature,
but like many exaggerations it contains a grain of truth. The truth
contained in it is that there is a danger of failing to remember the
true significance and value of something we are constantly dealing
with. A married couple once deeply in love begin to take one
another for granted and
gradually forget how blessed they are in having each other. A person
has an exceptional opportunity in the work position he has been offered
but he takes it for granted. He fails to exert himself and not only
misses many opportunities for his own advancement but even in the
course of time loses the job. Something of this kind of failure is
often present in the practice of the Christian religion. Take the
celebration of the mysteries of the Faith during the course of the
Church’s liturgical year. Every Sunday is the Lord’s Day and is a
celebration of Christ’s resurrection. Very many Christians do not
celebrate the Sunday. For many it is just a day off from work and if
there is the chance to earn extra money with overtime on the Sunday
they take it. They are familiar with the elements of their Faith but
they neglect them, ultimately to their own cost. The person who does
practise his Christian faith participates in the Church’s celebration
of the mysteries of Christ throughout the year, but the danger can be
of it becoming largely a routine. Whereas, the doing of something over
and over again offers a wonderful opportunity to live it and relive it
with a more and more profound appreciation. We ought strive to do this
constantly. Let us consider the Church’s annual celebration of the
feast of the Ascension of the Lord and endeavour - as we should with
each of the feasts of the Church’s year - to give it real thought and
appreciation. At his Ascension, the Lord Jesus takes his place at the
right hand of the Father where he now intercedes for us. It was the
crown of his mission and his final triumph.
St Paul writes
that, though from all eternity the glory of God was his, the Son of God
put it all aside and became as we men are. Indeed, he became lowlier
still, even to death on a cross. The pattern of Christ’s life was one
of following the path of obedience and abasement. He chose the lowly
path, the path bereft of the glory that was due to him as God, and
indeed it was a path even lowlier than that which is typically ours.
Christ suffered deprivation and poverty, humiliation and rejection. He
chose to die a death that encompassed in itself all that was needed to
make up for mankind’s sins. We can only glimpse at the degree of
suffering that this involved by taking account of the immeasurable
ocean of sin that fills the world. How could we measure even the scale
of one man’s sins, let alone the sins of the world? But this was the
mission of Christ, to take away the sin of the world by suffering and
dying as the Lamb of God. The sins of the world were the measure of his
abasement. Christ the sinless one went down to the very depths for our
sake. But then, immersed in sin at its deepest abyss and having made up
for it all, he rose and was exalted at the highest level, to the right
hand of his heavenly Father. This man whom his disciples knew so well,
this man whom the crowds had followed and whom many had deserted, this
man whom the leaders had utterly rejected and put to death, this man
who had borne on his shoulders the sins of the entire world, this same
man now ascended to the highest throne and as man received the glory
proper to himself as God. He shares equally with his Father the glory
of God. He, our brother, now occupies his place at the right hand of
the Father almighty. He is equal to God in every way in the sense that
he is God, and now as man he enjoys the glory that was his as God
before the world began. He has triumphed over the sin of the world and
his weapon was the path abasement and obedience unto death. The reward
was to enter the highest glory. On the feast of the Ascension we
celebrate that triumph.
Jesus Christ is now
seated at the right hand of the Father and as we heard in the Gospel he
is the Lord with all authority in heaven and on earth. When we think of
the Ascension of Christ into heaven we acknowledge all this. He is our
Lord and King. He is our High Priest constantly interceding with the
Father on our behalf. That constant prayer of his on our behalf is the
sacrificial prayer he offered for us on the Cross and which is made
present at Mass. Our life’s work is to obey everything he has commanded
and to invite all others to recognize him as Lord, receiving baptism
and living according to his word. Let us then resolve to make him the
Lord of our life and to draw all others into union with him.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.659-667
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Let's not confuse the rights of the office you hold with your rights as
a person. The former can never be waived.
(The Way, no.407)
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Saint Hilary (c.315-367), Bishop of
Poitiers, Doctor of the Church
On the Trinity, 7, 34-36
"Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us."
Jesus said: «If you know me, you know the Father too. From now on
you know him and have seen him.» We see Jesus Christ, the man.
The apostles had his outward appearance before their eyes, that is to
say, his human nature, whereas God, who is without flesh of any kind,
cannot be discerned in a wretched fleshly body. In what way, then, can
it be said that to know him is to know the Father?
These unexpected words trouble the apostle Philip...; the weakness of
his human mind makes him unable to understand so strange a statement...
So, with the impetuousness allowed by familiarity and his faithfulness
as an apostle, he questions his Master: «Lord, show us the
Father, and we shall be satisfied!»... It isn't that he wants to
look on the Father with his physical eyes, but he asks to have an
understanding of the one whom he sees with his eyes. Since, seeing the
Son in his human form, he fails to understand how, by this, he has seen
the Father...
Then the Lord answers him: «Have I been so long with you, Philip,
and still you do not know me?» He reproaches him for not
realizing who he is... Why had no one recognized him when they had been
seeking him so long? It was because, in order to recognize him, they
had to recognize the divinity, the Father's nature, within him. Indeed,
all the works he had done were properly God's works: walking on the
water, commanding the winds, accomplishing things impossible to
understand such as changing water into wine or multiplying the
loaves... putting demons to flight, banishing sickness, bringing
healing to bodily ills, correcting disabilities from birth, forgiving
sins, restoring the dead to life. All these things are what he has done
in the flesh and these are what allow him to call himself Son of God.
Hence his reproaches and lamentation: because no one recognized through
the mysterious reality of his human birth the divine nature which was
accomplishing these miracles through the human nature the Son had
assumed.
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Monday of the seventh week
in Eastertide A (after the Ascension)
(May 5) St.
John Joseph of the Cross (1654-1734)
Self-denial is never an end in itself but is only a help toward greater
charity—as the life of Saint John Joseph shows. John Joseph was very
ascetic even as a young man. At 16 he joined the Franciscans in Naples;
he was the first Italian to follow the reform movement of Saint Peter
Alcantara. John’s reputation for holiness prompted his superiors to put
him in charge of establishing a new friary even before he was ordained.
Obedience moved John to accept appointments as novice master, guardian
and, finally, provincial. His years of mortification enabled him to
offer these services to the friars with great charity. As guardian he
was not above working in the kitchen or carrying the wood and water
needed by the friars. When his term as provincial expired, John Joseph
dedicated himself to hearing confessions and practicing mortification,
two concerns contrary to the spirit of the dawning Age of
Enlightenment. John Joseph was canonized in 1839.
John Joseph’s mortification allowed him to be the kind of forgiving
superior intended by St. Francis. Self-denial should lead us to
charity—not to bitterness; it should help us clarify our priorities and
make us more loving. John Joseph is living proof of Chesterton’s
observation: "It is always easy to let the age have its head; the
difficult thing is to keep one’s own" (G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy,
page 101). "And by this I wish to know if you love the Lord God and me,
his servant and yours—if you have acted in this manner: that is, there
should not be any brother in the world who has sinned, however much he
may have possibly sinned, who, after he has looked into your eyes,
would go away without having received your mercy, if he is looking for
mercy. And if he were not to seek mercy, you should ask him if he wants
mercy. And if he should sin thereafter a thousand times before your
very eyes, love him more than me so that you may draw him back to the
Lord. Always be merciful to [brothers] such as these" (St. Francis,
Letter to a Minister).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today:
Acts 19:1-8; Psalm 68:2-7ab; John 16:29-33
The disciples said to
Jesus, Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now
we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to
have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from
God. You believe at last! Jesus answered.
But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to
his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my
Father is with me. I have told you these things, so that in me you may
have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have
overcome the world.
(John 16:29-33)
The leaders of the
Jews once said to Jesus that they had Abraham for their father and this
was their great boast. But great as Abraham was there was much that he
did not see and could not see. He was granted the promise that through
him all the nations would be blessed, but he could not see in what
precise sense this would be so. So too
with
Isaac, Jacob and the twelve patriarchs. So too with Moses and the
prophets. They were masters in Israel but their light was limited.
Moses pointed to the Prophet who was to come, but he did not see the
precise contours of this great prediction. Moreover, he too failed in
faith and obedience on one great occasion and for this reason was
denied entry into the Promised Land. Great as the prophets were, none
of them was Master and Teacher without qualification. By this I mean
that each of them was limited as a light to the people. All this is to
say that, as the beginning of the Letter to the Hebrews states, in
previous times God spoke to the fathers fragmentarily and in many ways
through the prophets. But now at last it was different. He has sent us
his very own Son to speak for him. We now have the one who gives us the
full revelation of God, one who is the Master and Teacher of the things
of God and of his plan in an absolute sense. That is to say that Jesus
is Master and Teacher with whom no other master and teacher can
compare. He is absolutely and without any qualification Master and
Teacher. He is the Light, the Light of the world to whom there is no
equal. All this is contained in the words of the disciples in our
gospel passage today in which they say to our Lord, “Now you are
speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you
know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you
questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.” To what other
prophet or patriarch was it said that he knew all things? This is the
testimony of Christ’s disciples and it is the testimony of the Church
through the ages till the end. Jesus Christ is the Guide of man. He
knows all things.
The critical issue
for every man and woman is faith. The work of life is to believe in
Jesus. That is the work God gives to man and man’s prospects depend on
his doing this work. What is the work of God? is the question Jesus is
asked in chapter 6 of the Gospel of St John. The work of God, our Lord
replies, is to believe in the One whom he has sent. Hence the question
our Lord asks in our Gospel passage today is the question he asks of us
at every point of our life: “Do you believe at last?” (John 16:29-33) As our faith deepens
and overcomes obstacles, the same question - or rather statement of
commendation and encouragement - is made: “Do you believe at last!” It
is faith in Christ which opens the door to the Light of God for that
Light is the person of Jesus Christ and his word. For the Christian,
the results of the presence or absence of the Light of God in the
course of history are exemplified in the history of thought and
philosophy. Consider the brilliance of Socrates, Plato and especially
Aristotle centuries before Christ. But look at the limits of their
conceptions of God! Consider some (not all, of course) of the greatest
philosophers of the last four centuries or so who have chosen to
construct their systems ignoring the Light that is Christ, and observe
the results of their efforts. Their constructs are so often profoundly
flawed, denying the divine, denying free will, denying the foundations
of morality and so many basic facts essential to human life. A study of
the history of philosophy helps us appreciate, I believe, the grandeur
of Christ the Guide of man. So does a study of the history of religion.
As the disciples say to Jesus in our Gospel passage today, Christ knows
all things, and the door to his Light is faith in him. “Do you believe
at last!”, Christ responds to his disciples. He says that to all of his
disciples, including each of us. He also asks it of the world, for the
vocation of the world is to believe in Jesus. As our Lord said to his
disciples before he ascended into heaven, Go to the whole world and
make disciples of all the nations. The one who believes will be saved.
The one who wilfully refuses will be condemned.
Jesus Christ is the
Master and Teacher of the nations. He knows all things. He is risen
from the dead and is the living Light of the world, the world’s only
absolute Light. The work of life for every man is to believe in him and
every disciple has the mission to bring this Light to others so that
all may believe and be saved. Let us then begin the work! So then, now
I begin!
(E.J.Tyler)
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Sanctimony is to sanctity what 'piosity' is to piety: its caricature.
(The Way, no.408)
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Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo
(North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
Sermon 258 (SC 116, p.347f.)
“And God said: ‘Let there be light’” (Genesis 1,3)
“This is the day the Lord has made” (Ps 118[117],24). Call to mind what
the world was like in the beginning: “Darkness covered the abyss while
God’s Spirit swept over the waters. Then God said: ‘Let there be
light,’ and there was light. God then separated the light from the
darkness. God called the light ‘day’ and the darkness he called
‘night’” (Gn 1,2f.)… “This is the day the Lord has made.” It is the day
the apostle Paul spoke about: “You were once darkness, but now you are
light in the Lord” (Eph 5,8)…
Isn’t it true to say that Thomas was a man, one of the disciples, one
of the crowd so to speak? His brethren said to him: “We have seen the
Lord”. But he said: “Unless I touch him, unless I put my hand into his
side, I will not believe.” The evangelists bring you the news and you
don’t believe it? The world believed but a disciple did not believe?…
The day the Lord has made had not yet happened; darkness still covered
the abyss, the depths of darkness of the human heart. Let him come who
is the sign of day, let him come and, without anger, let him who brings
healing patiently, gently say: “Come. Come, touch and believe. You
declared that: ‘Unless I touch him, unless I put my hand into his side,
I will not believe.’ Come, touch, put in your hand and do not be
unbelieving but believe. I understand your wounds; it is for you I have
kept my scars.”
In putting out his hand this disciples is able to bring his faith to
full completion. Indeed, what is faith’s completion? Not to believe
that Christ is only man, not even to believe that Christ is only God,
but to believe that he is man and God… And so the disciple whom the
Saviour granted to touch his bodily members and scars, cried out: “My
Lord and my God.” He touched the man, he recognised the God. He touched
the flesh, he turned towards the Word, for “the Word became flesh and
made his dwelling among us” (Jn 1,14). The Word permitted his flesh to
be hung on the wood…; the Word permitted his flesh to be placed in the
tomb. The Word raised up his flesh, showed it to the disciples’ face,
offered it to their touch. They touched, they cried out: “My Lord and
my God!”
(Daily Gospel, New Hope, Ky, USA)
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Tuesday of the seventh week in Eastertide A
(May 6) Sts. Marian and James (d. 259) Often, it’s hard to find much detail from the lives of saints of the early Church. What we know about the third-century martyrs we honour today is likewise minimal. But we do know that they lived and died for the faith. Almost 2,000 years later, that is enough reason to honour them. Born in North Africa, Marian was a lector or reader; James was a deacon. For their devotion to the faith they suffered during the persecution of Valerian. Prior to their persecution Marian and James were visited by two bishops who encouraged them in the faith not long before they themselves were martyred. A short time later, Marian and James were arrested and interrogated. The two readily confessed their faith and, for that, were tortured. While in prison they are said to have experienced visions, including one of the two bishops who had visited them earlier. On the last day of their lives, Marian and James joined other Christians facing martyrdom. They were blindfolded and then put to death. Their bodies were thrown into the water. The year was 259. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: Acts 20:17-27; Psalm 68:10-11, 20-21; John 17:1-11a
After Jesus said this,
he raised his eyes to heaven and prayed: Father, the time has come.
Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him
authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those
you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought
you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now,
Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you
before the world began. I have revealed you to those whom you gave me
out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have
obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes
from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them.
They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that
you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for
those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and
all you have is mine. And I have been glorified in them. I will remain
in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am
coming to you.
(John 17:1-11a)
I remember speaking a
few decades ago to one clergyman and he said that in his view part of
Christ’s Passion was his fear of complete extinction. Christ, he
thought, felt crushed during his Agony in the Garden in part because he
feared that death would entirely swallow him up into nothingness. He
would not survive in any sense the death that was about to envelop him.
The person I
am referring to could
not see how death alone could be so immense a challenge for Christ if
he knew he would rise again. Well now, to begin with, if we understand
the death of Christ as his being burdened with the sins of the entire
world then his passion and death must have been like no other in the
scale of its burden. If suffering and death came upon our first parents
simply because of their sin of disobedience, what must that suffering
and death be like which expiates for the sins of the entire human race?
Such suffering is incalculable and scarcely unimaginable. So if we
measure the sufferings of Christ not by the sufferings of any other
crucified criminal (such as the two with whom he was crucified) but by
that which is due to the sins of the entire world, it is not hard to
see how immeasurably revolting must have been the prospect of his
Passion to Christ’s perfect and all-holy human nature. It must have
appalled him to the depths. No, it is not necessary to posit the
strange hypothesis of Christ’s fearing extinction in order to
understand that his sufferings were without compare. Such an hypothesis
is not merely dubious. It is indeed utterly groundless. Christ
repeatedly informs his disciples, and his enemies too, that he will
rise from the dead in his body. In our Gospel passage today our Lord
prays to his heavenly Father in the presence of his disciples saying, "
I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world,
and I am coming to you." Jesus is facing a most terrible ordeal, but he
is full of trust, a confidence that lacks the slightest doubt as to the
outcome. He is coming to the Father and the door he is to pass through
is Calvary.
Christ’s great prayer during his Last Supper tells us more. His death for the sins of mankind is not just his path to the Father. It is his path to glory. "Father," he said, "the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you." Time and again as his time approached he told his disciples that he would suffer and die and as a result enter his glory. On the day he rose from the dead he met the two disciples on their way to Emmaus and gently castigated them for not understanding the message of the prophets that the Messiah had to suffer and in this way enter his glory. At the Transfiguration on the Mount not long before his Passion he was shown in glory. It was a foretaste of the glory that would he his as a result of the passing over that he would accomplish in Jerusalem. But there is more about this glory in our Lord’s prayer here. It is the glory he had with the Father before the world began. "And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began." (John 17:1-11a) It is clear that Jesus Christ told his disciples that before the world began he had shared with the Father the glory of God. God’s glory from all eternity had been his glory. St John tells us that in one way or another before his very enemies our Lord in effect claimed to be God. Before Abraham ever was, he calmly told them, I am. It is little wonder then that when our Lord appeared to the Apostles a week after his resurrection, this time with the doubting Thomas there, Christ elicited from him his adoring profession of faith, My Lord and my God! The man in front of them was the eternal God who had put aside the glory proper to him and had, as St Paul puts it, become as men are and humbler still, even to death on a cross. With his Ascension his name would be above every other name, and as Peter would state before the Sanhedrin, there is no other name by which men can be saved. All that the Father has is his, Christ prays, just as all that he has is the Father’s. In very simple words, Christ reveals to his disciples the night before he died the astounding nature of his person and his glory as eternal Son of the eternal Father.
Let us bear in mind what our Lord says is the path to eternal life. "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." We ought never regard the person of Jesus Christ as just a matter of opinion which we may accept or dismiss as we might other issue. Too much is at stake. Time and again in the Gospels faith in Jesus and his word is the hinge from which our eternity hangs. We are called to know him, love him and serve him in this life so as to see and enjoy him forever in heaven. So then, let us take up the work.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Remember that your virtue may seem to be that of a saint and yet be worth nothing if it is not joined to the ordinary virtues of a Christian.
That would be like adorning yourself with magnificent jewels over your underwear.
(The Way, no.409)
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Byzantine Liturgy Akathist hymn to the Mother of God (7th century)
"Hail, favoured one"
An archangel was sent from Heaven to say to the Mother of God: Rejoice! And beholding Thee, O Lord, taking bodily form, he was amazed and with his bodiless voice he stood crying to Her such things as these:
Rejoice, Thou through whom joy will shine forth:
Rejoice, Thou through whom the curse will cease!
Rejoice, recall of fallen Adam:
Rejoice, redemption of the tears of Eve!
Rejoice, height inaccessible to human thoughts:
Rejoice, depth undiscernible even for the eyes of angels!
Rejoice, for Thou art the throne of the King:
Rejoice, for Thou bearest Him Who beareth all!
Rejoice, star that causest the Sun to appear:
Rejoice, womb of the Divine Incarnation!
Rejoice, Thou through whom creation is renewed:
Rejoice, Thou through whom we worship the Creator!
Rejoice, O Bride Unwedded!
Seeing herself to be chaste, the holy one said boldly to Gabriel: The marvel of thy speech is difficult for my soul to accept. How canst thou speak of a birth from a seedless conception? And She cried: Alleluia!
Seeking to know knowledge that cannot be known, the Virgin cried to the ministering one: Tell me, how can a son be born from a chaste womb? Then he spake to Her in fear, only crying aloud thus:
Rejoice, initiate of God's ineffable will:
Rejoice, assurance of those who pray in silence!
Rejoice, beginning of Christ's miracles:
Rejoice, crown of His dogmas!
Rejoice, heavenly ladder by which God came down:
Rejoice, bridge that conveyest us from earth to Heaven!
Rejoice, wonder of angels sounded abroad:
Rejoice, wound of demons bewailed afar!
Rejoice, Thou Who ineffably gavest birth to the Light:
Rejoice, Thou Who didst reveal Thy secret to none!
Rejoice, Thou Who surpassest the knowledge of the wise:
Rejoice, Thou Who givest light to the minds of the faithful!
Rejoice, O Bride Unwedded!
The power of the Most High then overshadowed the Virgin for conception, and showed Her fruitful womb as a sweet meadow to all who wish to reap salvation, as they sing: Alleluia!
(The Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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Wednesday of the seventh
week in Eastertide A
(May 7) Blessed
Rose Venerini (1656-1728)
Rose was born at Viterbo in Italy, the daughter of a doctor. Following
the death of her fiancé she entered a convent, but soon returned
home to care for her newly widowed mother. Meanwhile, Rose invited the
women of the neighbourhood to recite the rosary in her home, forming a
sort of sodality with them. As she looked to her future, Rose, under
the spiritual guidance of a Jesuit priest, became convinced that she
was called to become a teacher in the world rather than a contemplative
nun in a convent. Clearly, she made the right choice: She was a born
teacher, and the free school for girls she opened in 1685 was well
received. Soon the cardinal invited her to oversee the training of
teachers and the administration of schools in his Diocese of
Montefiascone. As Rose's reputation grew, she was called upon to
organize schools in many parts of Italy, including Rome. Her
disposition was right for the task as well, for Rose often met
considerable opposition but was never deterred. She died in Rome in
1728, where a number of miracles were attributed to her. She was
beatified in 1952. The sodality, or group of women she had invited to
prayer, was ultimately given the rank of a religious congregation.
Today, the so-called Venerini Sisters can be found in the United States
and elsewhere, working among Italian immigrants.
Whatever state of life God calls us to, we bring with us an assortment
of experiences, interests and gifts—however small they seem to us.
Rose’s life stands as a reminder that all we are is meant to be put to
service wherever we find ourselves. (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
Acts 20:28-38; Psalm 68:29-30, 33-36ab; John 17:11b-19
Jesus raised his eyes to
heaven and said, Holy Father, keep those you have given me true to your
name, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I
kept those you had given me true to your name. I have watched over them
and none has been lost except the one who chose to be lost and this was
so that Scripture would be fulfilled. I am coming to you now, but I say
these things while I am still in the world, to share my joy with them
to the full. I have given them your word and the world has hated them,
for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My
prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect
them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of
it. Consecrate them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me
into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I consecrate
myself, that they too may be truly consecrated in truth.
(John 17:11b-19)
In the long history
of world literature consisting of (we might say) poetry, the play and
the novel the human story is of unending interest. Especially gripping
is the tragedy. The central personality has before him prospects of
prosperity and flourish and also the possibility of decline and
destruction. Take MacBeth, Hamlet or Lear. Whatever be
the tale,
the tragic choice and end of the central protagonist is in one or other
of its facets a mirror for every reader and viewer. This can happen to
me, the viewer may observe, and as the saying puts it, but for the
grace of God there go I. The best tragedies set before the reader the
drama of personal freedom and of how in the protagonist this freedom
was abused or poorly used. In the Gospels we have various examples of
what is tragic, and perhaps the greatest example is that of Judas who
had been granted wonderful opportunities in his vocation to friendship
with Christ but who fell away. In our Gospel passage today (John 17:11b-19)
our Lord’s Prayer to his Father during the Last Supper continues
and in it he prays for his disciples. He has watched over them and
preserved them, and yet by his own choice Judas has been lost. The
tragedy of Judas and his choice exemplifies the mystery of human
freedom and it is a grand lesson for every one of Christ’s disciples.
St Teresa of Avila, doctor of the Church and outstanding visionary, was
once granted by God a vision of her place in hell were she not
faithful. All of us can choose and let none of us say that I am
incapable of a tragic end. And so our Lord prays for those who belong
to him. They have been given to him by the Father and he prays that
they will be united, that they will be one. “Holy Father, keep those
you have given me true to your name, so that they may be one as we are
one.” Looking well into the future Christ clearly sees what is ahead
for his Church, the bearer of the Kingdom. He sees across the centuries
the divisions that will wrack the Church he has founded on his
Apostles. There will be so many tragedies springing from personal
choice.
Not only is there
the factor of personal choice in failing to be true to God and Christ,
but there are also threats coming from without. There is the world and
there is the Evil One. “I have given them your word and the world has
hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the
world.” Christ himself encountered harsh opposition from the world -
from the world considered separately from Satan - and so too will his
disciples. The world will not only hate Christ’s disciples as it did
Christ, but it will strive to entice and deceive them. Christ prays for
them as he sends them into the world to preach the Gospel to all the
nations and invite all to believe and so to be saved. He prays also
that they will be kept from the Evil One. Satan had already gained a
signal victory by gaining full mastery over one of the Twelve, and as
our Lord said, this had been by Judas’s own choice. Judas had allowed
the Devil to enter him. We read in the sixth chapter of St John’s
gospel that at the end of his discourse on the Eucharist when many of
his disciples left him our Lord asked the Twelve if they too were going
to go. There was to be no turning back from his doctrine. Simon Peter
told him that they would never leave him, and our Lord replied that he
had chosen them but that one of them was a devil. In his prayer during
the Last Supper, with Judas already gone, our Lord prays that his
disciples will be kept from the Evil One. And so there we have the
great factors that can prompt a disciple of Christ to defect and fall
away from him. There is, broadly, a personal choice or preference
coming from within that is contrary to the call of Christ. There is the
influence of the world. Thirdly there is the influence of Satan the
Evil One. The Church has traditionally called these tragic factors the
flesh, the world and the devil. They must be vigilantly watched and
utterly renounced. They can ensnare and lead a person knowingly to
renounce Christ. This is the ultimate tragedy and it is a possibility
for every person who fails to be vigilant.
Christ prays that
we be consecrated in the truth. Let us plant ourselves in his company
and resolve to abide in his word. His word and his grace must be our
life. At the end of his masterly
Spiritual Exercises St Ignatius of Loyola sets before us a
great prayer of offering. In it we are invited to offer Christ
everything we have. We ask for two things, his love and his grace. Let
us be alive to the snares that can entangle us and lead us to fall.
With Christ all will be well, so let us never separate ourselves from
him.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Let yours not be a noisy virtue.
(The Way, no.410)
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Saint Hilary, (c.315-367), Bishop of Poitiers
and Doctor of the Church
On the Trinity, 12, 55f.; PL10, 472
"You do not know where it comes from
or where it goes" (John 3: 7-15)
O Almighty God: according to the apostle Paul your Holy Spirit
“scrutinizes and knows the depths of your being” (1 Cor 2, 10-11) and
intercedes for me by speaking to you with “inexpressible groanings”
(Rom 8,26)… But nothing apart from you can scrutinize your
mysteriousness; nothing foreign to you is powerful enough to sound the
depths of your infinite majesty. All that enters into you is part of
you; nothing outside yourself is able to fathom you…
I firmly believe that your Holy Spirit comes from you through your only
Son. Even if I fail to understand this mystery yet I am firmly
convinced of it. For my spirit is contained within spiritual mysteries
that are your province, as your only Son assures: “Do not be amazed
that I told you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it
wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where
it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of
the Spirit."
I believe in my new birth without understanding it and stand firm in a
faith I cannot pin down. I know I have the ability to be born again yet
I do not know how it is carried out. The Spirit is not restricted by
anything: he speaks when he wishes, says what and where he wishes. The
reasons for his coming and going are unknown to me, but I am profoundly
sure of his presence.
(Daily Gospel, USA)
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Thursday
of the seventh week in Eastertide A
Prayers this week:
Men of
Galilee, why do you stand looking in the sky? The Lord will
return, just as you have seen him ascend, alleluia.
(Acts 1:11)
God
our Father, make us joyful in the ascension of your Son Jesus Christ.
May we follow him into the new creation, for his ascension is our glory
and our hope. We ask this through our
Lord Jesus Christ
your Son in the
unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(May 8) St.
Peter of Tarentaise (c. 1102-1174)
There are two men named St. Peter of Tarentaise who lived one century
apart. The man we honour today is the younger Peter, born in France in
the early part of the 12th century. (The other man with the same name
became Pope Innocent the Fifth.) The Peter we’re focussing on became a
Cistercian monk and eventually served as abbot. In 1142 he was named
archbishop of Tarentaise, replacing a bishop who had been deposed
because of corruption. Peter tackled his new assignment with vigour. He
brought reform into his diocese, replaced lax clergy and reached out to
the poor. He visited all parts of his mountainous diocese on a regular
basis. After about a decade as bishop Peter “disappeared” for a year
and lived quietly as a lay brother at an abbey in Switzerland. When he
was “found out,” the reluctant bishop was persuaded to return to his
post. He again focussed many of his energies on the poor. Peter died in
1175 on his way home from an unsuccessful papal assignment to reconcile
the kings of France and England. (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
Acts 22:30; 23:6-11; Psalm 16:1-2a and 5, 7-11; John 17:20-26
Lifting up his eyes to
heaven, Jesus prayed saying: My prayer is not for them alone. I pray
also for those who will believe in me through their word, that all of
them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May
they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as
we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete
unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even
as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with
me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because
you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though
the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have
sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you
known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I
myself may be in them.
(John 17:20-26)
For the non-Muslim
it is a striking discovery to learn of the profound and enduring
divisions within Islam. In fact there are numerous divisions and many
of them have dated from the first century or two of Mohamed’s death.
However, from the non-Christian side I suspect that the most notable
feature of the phenomenon of Christianity is its
disunity.
It presents to the world a spectacle of countless divisions. There is
the great body of the Catholic Church led by the Pope who is the most
prominent religious figure in the world. But separated from the
Catholic Church are the Orthodox churches and then the numerous
communions of the Protestant Reformation and the almost countless
Christian bodies deriving from them. If, say, Islam wishes to enter
into dialogue with Christianity it would naturally approach the Holy
See, but it well understands that there are numerous other Christian
bodies that will be outside this dialogue. The same applies, of course,
to Islam with the added problem that it has no great figure on their
side in any way comparable to the Pope. My point here, though, is the
disunity of Christians. This has always been a major problem and we see
plenty of references to it in the inspired writings of the New
Testament itself. The inspired authors warn of divisions that are
already existing, and they warn of divisions to come. The first few
centuries of the early Church give plenty of testimony to this
recurring fault line and once the persecution of the Church ceased in
the fourth century the divisions broke out with a vengeance. The issue?
Christian doctrine. The person of Christ himself was the issue, and we
see an example of this in the powerful Arianism that wracked and misled
so many during the fourth century and persisted long after outside the
Church after the Councils of Nicea and Constantinople. Now, did Christ
foresee this? Indeed he did and we see his preoccupation with the
Church’s unity in his prayer to his Father during the Last Supper.
In view of the hard
facts of history and the sad facts of division among Christ’s
disciples, what was the plan of God as it is revealed in the prayer of
Christ? Christ prayed for all those who would believe in him through
the word of the Apostles, and of course their word is the word of the
Church built on them. He prayed for us, for all those who have gone
before us and for all those who will come after. He prayed that we
would be one. “I pray also for those who will believe in me through
their word, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me
and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe
that you have sent me.” It is the will of God that all of Christ’s
disciples be one in him. Christian disunity, the division of the Church
that Christ founded into numerous separate bodies, is not according to
the plan of God. The Church he founded is that of the Apostles with
Peter in their midst and at their head, and it is clear from the
Gospels and from the prayer of Christ at the Last Supper that it is his
will that all Christians be united in this Church. The Church of Christ
subsists in that Church and all Christians ought consider this fact and
ask how is the unity of all who are in Christ to be achieved. How? It
will be effected by the power and the grace of God, and by our being
open to this grace. We can rely on the prayer of Christ in which he
prayed for this unity and which he continues to pray as our High Priest
at the right hand of his heavenly Father. But let us be clear about the
unity planned by God for his Church. Christ prays that “that they may
be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to
complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved
them even as you have loved me.” (John
17:20-26). Christ intends that there be a “complete unity”
among his disciples, one fold under one Shepherd, and that one fold
being truly united in love for Christ and his word. All Christians are
called to work for and build up Christian unity. The result will be
that the world will believe.
It is often
stressed that the Christian is called to bear witness to Christ to the
world. But it can be forgotten that the effectiveness of this witness
depends - as Christ himself prayed - on the unity of Christ’s
disciples. Christ prayed that all would be one, and thus the world
would believe. As we think of Christ’s command to go to the whole world
and make disciples of all the nations, let us also think of his command
that his disciples be united in one fold and under one shepherd.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Many false apostles, in spite of themselves, do good to the
crowd, to the people, through the very power of the doctrine of Jesus
that they preach but do not practise.
But this good does not make up the incalculable harm that they do by
killing the souls of leaders, of apostles, who turn away in disgust
from those who don't practise what they preach.
That is why, if such men and women are not willing to live a consistent
life, they should never offer themselves as front-line leaders.
(The Way, no.411)
Click here for spiritual reading (some classic spiritual authors)
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Jacob of Saroug (c.449-521), Syrian
monk and Bishop
Hexameron: Homily for the first and second days
"God separated the light from the darkness" (Gn 1,4)
While the astonished angels dared not ask for anything, God’s command
rang out: “Let there be light!” (Gn 1,3). And light drove out the
darkness… This took place on the Sunday, the first day, first-born of
its kind, a day bearing mysteries and symbols. God had created two twin
beings with nothing in common: night in its total darkness and the
clarity of day. Night was the elder of the two but day drove it out and
replaced it.
This first of days, foundation of creation, did not flow by hour after
hour; the light did not rise in the East to set in the West… It
underwent no changes; it simply was, as it is written: “And there was
light”. Thus a day was born, formed of night and daylight; evening and
morning followed each other… Then God drew back the first day and
summoned the second. He set the evenings and mornings onto their hinges
so that the great entranceway, which daily opens and shuts, might
revolve.
(Daily Gospel, New Hope, KY, USA)
To consult The Catechism of the Catholic Church (with search engine) click here
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Friday of
the seventh week in Eastertide A
(May 9) St.
Catharine of Bologna (1413-1463)
Some Franciscan saints led fairly public
lives; Catharine represents the saints who served the Lord in
obscurity. Catharine, born in Bologna, was related to the nobility in
Ferrara and was educated at court there. She received a liberal
education at the court and developed some interest and talent in
painting. In later years as a Poor Clare, Catharine sometimes did
manuscript illumination and also painted miniatures. At the age of 17,
she joined a group of religious women in Ferrara. Four years later the
whole group joined the Poor Clares in that city. Jobs as convent baker
and portress preceded her selection as novice mistress. In 1456 she and
15 other sisters were sent to establish a Poor Clare monastery in
Florence. As abbess Catharine worked to preserve the peace of the new
community. Her reputation for holiness drew many young women to the
Poor Clare life. She was canonized in 1712.
Catharine wrote a book on the seven spiritual
weapons to be used against temptation. "Jesus Christ gave up his life
that we might live," she said. "Therefore, whoever wishes to carry the
cross for his sake must take up the proper weapons for the contest,
especially those mentioned here. First, diligence; second, distrust of
self; third, confidence in God; fourth, remembrance of the Passion;
fifth, mindfulness of one’s own death; sixth, remembrance of God’s
glory; seventh, the injunctions of Sacred Scripture following the
example of Jesus Christ in the desert" (On the Seven Spiritual
Weapons). (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
Acts 25:13b-21; Psalm 103:1-2, 11-12, 19-20ab; John 21:15-19
After
Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples and eaten breakfast with
them, he said to Simon Peter, Simon son of John, do you truly love me
more than these others? Yes, Lord, he said, you know that I love you.
Jesus said, Feed my lambs. Again Jesus said, Simon son of John, do you
truly love me? He answered, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus
said, Take care of my sheep. The third time he said to him, Simon son
of John, do you love me? Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the
third time, Do you love me? He said, Lord, you know all things; you
know that I love you. Jesus said, Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth,
when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted;
but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else
will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. Jesus said
this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.
Then he said to him, Follow me! (John
21:15-19)
Our Gospel passage
today is taken from the twenty first chapter of St John’s Gospel, and
there is something special about the position of this chapter in the
structure of the Gospel. The previous chapter, chapter twenty, would
appear to have been the original conclusion to the Gospel because the
final two verses of that chapter constitute an
evident conclusion
summing up the purpose of the Gospel. But then a new chapter begins
almost as an addition or afterthought and this time it is primarily
about Jesus and Simon Peter, with John the beloved disciple getting a
mention. The chapter appears to be a flashback that is meant to throw
light especially on the subsequent role of Simon Peter in the early
Church. In its way it is a special chapter pointing beyond the
resurrection to the life of the Church. So then, what do we see of
Christ and Peter in this final chapter? It contains lessons for the
whole Church, founded as it is upon the Apostles with Peter in their
midst and at their head. To begin with, we see the evident and
altogether special bond between Simon Peter and Christ. Throughout the
Gospel, the author refers to John the brother of James as the beloved
disciple, the one Jesus loved. That is to say, Christ showed special
affection for John. But nowhere does John presume to describe himself
as the one who loved Jesus - as if he was one who loved Jesus more than
did the others. Rather, John was filled with the experience of the love
of Jesus for him. What our chapter today suggests is that it was Peter
who loved Jesus more than the others, and that Jesus expected this of
him because of his role in the Church. When the voice of Christ was
heard from the shore, John recognized that it was the Lord, and said
so. At this it was Simon Peter who jumped into the water and made his
way ahead of the others in order to meet the risen Jesus. It suggests
that he led them in his love for Jesus.
On the shore, it
was precisely this that Christ asked to be assured of. He said to Simon
Peter, Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than do these
others? He asked the question three times, perhaps gently alluding to
Simon’s threefold denial during the Passion. Simon assured Christ, this
time more humbly, that yes, “Lord, you know that I love you.” (John 21:15-19)
Simon understood that Christ was asking and expecting from him an
exceptional personal love, and that he was giving him an exceptional
mission among the Apostles and within the Church. He was to feed
Christ’s lambs, and look after his sheep. He was to be the chief
shepherd of Christ’s flock and his entire inspiration had to be a
personal love for the Good Shepherd who had laid down his life for the
sheep. Three times Christ asked his question, and three times with
increasing distress Simon assured Christ that he loved him. Peter would
never have forgotten this pivotal conversation. In another of the
Gospels Simon is appointed by Christ to be the rock of his Church.
Simon is Peter the rock and on this rock Christ would build his Church.
He would give to Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven empowering him
to bind and loose with heaven’s authority. In the Gospel of St John we
are provided with a different scene, this time with the risen Jesus
speaking to Simon and asking him to feed and care for his Church and
intimating to him that his life of love for Jesus would be crowned with
martyrdom. This role within the Church to which Christ appointed Peter
is handed on to Peter’s successors generation after generation. The
pope is the visible rock of the Church with responsibility to feed and
tend the flock of Christ. All the successors of the Apostles are to
serve Christ as Shepherds of the Church in communion with him. All are
to love Christ just as the successor of Peter is to love Christ, and
Peter and his successors are to lead the way.
Let us place
ourselves on the shore of our Gospel scene and hear the words of Christ
addressed to Simon Peter. In a different sense Christ addresses those
words to every member of his Church. He says to each one of us,
addressing each of us by name, do you love me? Yes? Well, tend my
sheep. He wants us to serve our brothers and sisters with true
Christian love, bringing them more than anything the love and knowledge
of Christ. Let us take up our vocation in earnest.
(E.J.Tyler)
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May
the fire of your love not be a will-o'—the-wisp: an illusion, a dying
fire, that neither sets ablaze what it touches nor gives off any heat.
(The Way, no.412)
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Saint Aphraates (?-c.345), monk and Bishop
at Nineveh, near Mosul in present day Iraq
Expositions, no.6 (SC 349, p.394)
"God does not ration his gift of the Spirit"
If from one fire you light other fires in a great many different
places, the first fire is not lessened in the least… It is just the
same with God and his Christ: although they are one, yet they dwell
within each of the great multitude of men. In the same way the sun is
not a whit diminished in heaven because its power is poured out on the
earth. How much greater, then, is God’s power, since it is by the power
of God that the sun itself subsists…
When it was a grievous burden to Moses to lead the camp alone, the Lord
said to him: “I will take some of the spirit that is on you and will
bestow it on the seventy elders of Israel” (cf. Nb 11,17). But when He
took away some of Moses’ spirit and the seventy men were filled with
it, was Moses deprived in any way? Did anyone notice that he had less
spirit? Moreover the blessed apostle Paul also said: God distributed
the Spirit of his Christ and sent it into the [New Testament] prophets
(cf. 1Cor 12,11.28). But Christ was not in any way hurt by this, for
his Father did not ration his gift of the Spirit.
It is in this sense… that Christ dwells in faithful men. And he suffers
no loss though He is divided among so many. For the Prophets received
of the Spirit of Christ, each as much as he was able to bear. And
today, too, it is the same Spirit of Christ who is poured forth upon
all flesh so that sons and daughters, old men and youths, menservants
and maidservants might prophesy (Jl 3,1; Acts 2,17). Something of
Christ is in us, yet he is in heaven at the right hand of his Father.
And Christ did not receive the Spirit by measure, but his Father loved
him and delivered all things into his hands, and gave him authority
over all his treasure... And also our Lord said: “All things have been
handed over to me by my Father” (Mt 11,27)… And finally the apostle
Paul said: “Everything will be subjected to Christ excluding the Father
who subjected everything to him. When everything is subjected to him
then he himself will be subjected to God his Father who subjected
everything to him, so that God may be all in all” (1Cor 15,27-28).
(Daily Gospel, New Hope, USA)
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Saturday
in the seventh week of Eastertide A
(May 10) Blessed
Damien of Molokai (1840-1889)
When Joseph de Veuster was born in Tremelo, Belgium, in 1840, few
people in Europe had any firsthand knowledge of leprosy (Hansen's
disease). By the time he died at the age of 49, people all over the
world knew about this disease because of him. They knew that human
compassion could soften the ravages of this disease. Forced to quit
school at age 13 to work on the family farm, six years later Joseph
entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, taking
the name of a fourth-century physician and martyr. When his brother
Pamphile, a priest in the same congregation, fell ill and was unable to
go to the Hawaiian Islands as assigned, Damien quickly volunteered in
his place. In May 1864, two months after arriving in his new mission,
Damien was ordained a priest in Honolulu and assigned to the island of
Hawaii. In 1873, he went to the Hawaiian government's leper colony on
the island of Molokai, set up seven years earlier. Part of a team of
four chaplains taking that assignment for three months each year,
Damien soon volunteered to remain permanently, caring for the people's
physical, medical and spiritual needs. In time, he became their most
effective advocate to obtain promised government support. Soon the
settlement had new houses and a new church, school and orphanage.
Morale improved considerably. A few years later he succeeded in getting
the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse, led by Mother Marianne Kope, to
help staff this colony in Kalaupapa. Damien contracted Hansen's disease
and died of its complications. As requested, he was buried in
Kalaupapa, but in 1936 the Belgian government succeeded in having his
body moved to Belgium. Part of Damien's body was returned to his
beloved Hawaiian brothers and sisters after his beatification in 1995.
When Hawaii became a state in 1959, it selected Damien as one of its
two representatives in the Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol. Some
people thought Damien was a hero for going to Molokai and others
thought he was crazy. When a Protestant clergyman wrote that Damien was
guilty of immoral behaviour, Robert Louis Stevenson vigorously defended
him in an "Open Letter to Dr. Hyde." During the beatification homily,
Pope John Paul II said: "Holiness is not perfection according to human
criteria; it is not reserved for a small number of exceptional persons.
It is for everyone; it is the Lord who brings us to holiness, when we
are willing to collaborate in the salvation of the world for the glory
of God, despite our sin and our sometimes rebellious
temperament."
(AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Acts 28:16-20, 30-31;
Psalm 11:4, 5 and 7; John 21:20-25
Peter
turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them.
(This was the one who had leaned back on Jesus’ chest at the supper and
had said, Lord, who is going to betray you?) When Peter saw him, he
asked, Lord, what about him? Jesus answered, If I want him to remain
alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me. Because
of this, the rumour spread among the brothers that this disciple would
not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, If
I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? This is
the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We
know that his testimony is true. There are many other things that Jesus
did. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the
whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.
(John 21:20-25)
Our Gospel passage
today is from a chapter that sets forth the relationship between Jesus
and Peter. Jesus has appointed Peter to look after his sheep. He is to
be the chief shepherd of Christ’s flock and will bear witness to Jesus
until death, a death that Jesus hints will be martyrdom. He requires of
Peter that he love him more than the others
and the
chapter obliquely suggests that indeed Peter does. Our passage today
(John 21:20-25), ending the
chapter, also refers to John the author of the Gospel, who throughout
the account is described as “the disciple Jesus loved.” It seems to
have been manifest to the other disciples that Christ showed the young
John special marks of friendship and understanding. From the fact that
this is a kind of title for John in the Gospel one suspects that this
was known also in the infant Church. After all, at Calvary Christ
entrusted his mother to John, and John to his mother and this too would
have been widely known. But we read in the Gospels that Christ enjoyed
special friendships with others too. For instance, we are told that
Jesus “loved” Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary. We also remember
how the rich young man, a man of excellent qualities approached Jesus
to ask him what he must do to gain eternal life. We are told that Jesus
looked on him and “loved him.” How tragic it was that the young man
walked away from Christ’s invitation! The reference in our passage
today to “the disciple Jesus loved” bring us to the thought of the love
of Christ. Christ loves all and he gave his life for all. St Paul
writes with passion in one of his Letters that “Christ loved me and
gave himself up for me!” The way our Lord shows his love for us varies
from person to person, but there is nothing more certain than that he
does indeed love each of us. Consider what must have been the intimacy
of friendship of Christ for Mary his holy mother and for his foster
father Joseph. But the Gospels do not describe this friendship and
understanding for them in any commensurate way. So too with us. We can
be utterly assured that whatever life brings the love of Christ for us
is certain whatever be its particular manifestations. It is the rock of
life.
The foundation of
the Christian life and indeed of any life is the love of God for us. It
is the principle and the foundation. On this basis, on the basis of
God’s special choice of each of us in Christ, we build the structure of
our life’s path. Let us ask ourselves as we think of “the disciple
Jesus loved”, what is the foundation of my life? On what do I rely and
on what do I build my plans and my hopes? I am following a path or
dealing with what life is bringing. Well, what is the basis of all
this? The basis ought be the love of God for me, and that love is
revealed in Christ the Son of God and my Redeemer. A couple marry and
resolve to make the basis of their lives the love they have for one
another and their promise of mutual fidelity. On that foundation they
build their lives. The ultimate foundation of the life of the Christian
is the love Christ has for him or her. The foundation of John’s life
became the love Christ had for him and it is shown in his chosen title,
“the disciple Jesus loved.” St Paul thought of his own life in the same
terms. Christ loved me and gave himself up for me, he wrote. We each of
us can do the same. We do not have to worry about the good or special
fortune of this or that other disciple of Christ. We do not have to
concern ourselves with the fact that this or that other disciple seems
to have received more special and obvious marks of consideration from
God. God loves me! All I need do, then, is follow Christ. Peter, we are
told in our Gospel passage after being given his mission in life asked
our Lord, what about him - the “beloved disciple”? Our Lord told him,
in effect, to mind his own business. Leave that to the Lord. You, you
just follow me! That is all we need to do. So cast aside all regrets
and bitterness if there be any, put away all comparisons with others
and their lot, and be content in the love of Christ which is most
surely yours, and day by day follow him.
The only thing
which ultimately we need in life is the love of Christ and his grace to
respond to it. All else we should strive to be detached from. If other
good things come our way then we ought be grateful, but if they do not
and if indeed things are taken from us, well, let God so dispose. But
the one thing we do have and which we must have is his personal love
for us. It is this which we must grow in and we will grow in it if we
follow Jesus day by day. Let us pray for the grace to do this. Give me
your love and your grace, O Lord!
(E.J.Tyler)
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The
non serviam of Satan has been too fruitful. Don't you feel the generous
urge to express your daily desire for prayer and work with a serviam —
l will serve you, I will be faithful! — which will surpass in
fruitfulness that cry of revolt?
(The Way, no.413)
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Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of hippo
(North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
Homilies on Saint John’s gospel, 24, 1.6.7; CCL 36, 244
(©Friends of Henry Ashworth)
When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, "This is truly the
Prophet, the one who is to come into the world."
Governing the entire universe is a greater miracle than feeding five
thousand people with five loaves of bread, yet no one marvels marvel at
it. People marvel at the feeding of the five thousand not because this
miracle is greater, but because it is out of the ordinary. Who is even
now providing nourishment for the whole world if not the God who
creates a field of wheat from a few seeds? Christ did what God does.
Just as God multiplies a few seeds into a whole field of wheat, so
Christ multiplied the five loaves in his hands. For there was power in
the hands of Christ. Those five loaves were like seeds, not because
they were cast on the earth but because they were multiplied by the one
who made the earth.
This miracle was presented to our senses in order to stimulate our
minds… and so make us marvel at “the God we do not see because of his
works, which we do see” (Rom 1,20). For then, when we have been raised
to the level of faith and purified by faith, we shall long to behold,
though not with our eyes, the invisible God whom we recognize through
what is visible. This miracle was performed for the multitude to see;
it was recorded for us to hear. Faith does for us what sight did for
them. We behold with the mind what our eyes cannot see; and we are
preferred to them because of us it was said: “Blessed are those who
have not seen and yet believe” (Jn 20,29).
(Daily Gospel, New Hope, KY, USA)
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Pentecost Sunday A
Prayers
this week:
The Spirit
of the Lord fills the whole world. It holds all things together and
knows every word spoken by man, alleluia.
(Wisdom 1:7)
God our Father, let the Spirit you sent on your Church to begin
the teaching of the Gospel continue to work in the world through the
hearts of all who believe. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ
your
Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(May 11) St.
Ignatius of Laconi (1701-1781)
Ignatius is another sainted begging brother. He was the second of seven
children of peasant parents in Sardinia. His path to the Franciscans
was unusual. During a serious illness, Ignatius vowed to become a
Capuchin if he recovered. He regained his health but ignored the
promise. A riding accident prompted him to renew the pledge, which he
acted on the second time; he was 20 then. Ignatius’s reputation for
self-denial and charity led to his appointment as the official beggar
for the friars in Cagliari. He fulfilled that task for 40 years; he was
blind the last two years. While on his rounds, Ignatius would instruct
the children, visit the sick and urge sinners to repent. The people of
Cagliari were inspired by his kindness and his faithfulness to his
work. He was canonized in 1951.
Why did the people of Cagliari support the friars? These followers of
Francis worked hard but rarely at jobs that paid enough to live on.
Under these conditions St. Francis allowed them to beg. The life of
Ignatius reminds us that everything God considers worthwhile does not
have a high-paying salary attached to it. "And I used to work with my
hands, and I [still] desire to work; and I firmly wish that all my
brothers give themselves to honest work. Let those who do not know how
[to work] learn, not from desire of receiving wages for their work but
as an example and in order to avoid idleness. And when we are not paid
for our work, let us have recourse to the table of the Lord, seeking
alms from door to door" (St. Francis, Testament).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture: Acts 2:1-11; Psalm Ps
104:1, 24, 29-30, 31, 34; 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23
(click here
for readings)
On the
evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were
together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and
stood among them and said, Peace be with you! After he said this, he
showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they
saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, Peace be with you! As the Father has
sent me, I am sending you. And with that he breathed on them and said,
Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are
forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.
(John 20:19-23)
I remember watching
a television series on the life of Christ and it was interspersed with
commentary by various New Testament scholars and scholars of the early
Church. I was struck by how many regarded Jesus as beginning a
movement. That is how they referred to the early Church. It was a mere
movement. I suppose those who thought
of the work of Christ in
this way considered the plethora of Christian bodies that characterize
Christianity as the natural upshot of what must have been no more than
an early movement emanating from the work of Jesus Christ. It was a
movement of faith and ideas and various individuals struck out in
various directions from the original impulse according as they felt
called. But that is all wrong. Christ founded his Church. It had a
definite structure. It was a new beginning of the people of God,
building on the old. It had its twelve patriarchs, the Twelve Apostles
referred to in the New Testament as the Twelve. One among them was
appointed by Christ to be the visible rock of the entire edifice and to
whom he gave the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. He had the authority to
bind and to loose and what he determined would be ratified in heaven.
That person was Simon, called by Christ Peter, the Rock. The Twelve
together were the foundation stones. Christ had said he would build his
Church and the gates of Hell would not prevail against it. Well now,
when did Christ’s Church as such come into being? When was it born?
During his public ministry Christ had around him the Twelve whom
repeatedly he sent out to preach and to work miracles, and so to
prepare for his coming. He had various disciples, many of whom were
also sent out. Was the Church as such yet born? No. It was being formed
but it needed a decisive element to give it life and power and that was
the promised Spirit. Once they had received the Spirit Christ’s
disciples would be in him and he in them. He would be their head and
they would be his members sharing in his life, and that, by the power
of the Holy Spirit.
Today we celebrate
the feast of Pentecost. It is the day we celebrate Christ’s gift of the
Holy Spirit to the Church bringing her to birth. St Luke in his Acts of
the Apostles informs us that Christ directed his disciples not to leave
Jerusalem but to await the promised Spirit. With this they would
receive power and they would witness to Jesus to the ends of the earth.
That is to say, things would begin then. All this happened at
Pentecost. But in his Gospel John tells us something that Luke had not
mentioned. He tells us that on rising from the dead Jesus told Mary
Magdalene that he was ascending to his Father: "go and find the
brothers, and tell them: I am ascending to my Father and your Father.."
(John 20:17). Then as we read in our passage today that very evening he
gave to the Apostles (the Eleven) the gift of the Holy Spirit. It seems
that in John’s account Christ ascended to the Father on the day he rose
from the dead and on that very day he returned to give a portion of the
great gift to the Eleven who would be the foundation. The great gift of
the Holy Spirit came from the Father and the Son and with that gift to
the Apostles the Church began to be born, starting with the Eleven. In
this gift Christ endowed his Apostles with a share in his mission and
in his divine power to forgive sins. (John
20:19-23)
It was the first instalment of the Holy Spirit to the Church,
given in the first instance to the foundation stones. Soon, which is to
say after our Lord’s final ascension to the Father after being
witnessed by many more of his disciples, there would be the full gift
of the Spirit given not only to the Apostles but to the entire infant
Church as well. At that the Church began to act with power. Its birth
was complete. The Apostles and the disciples with Mary the mother of
Jesus in their midst, came alive as a body led by their unseen Head.
The Church began to witness to the truth of Jesus with power and
remarkable effect. Today we think of the gift of the Holy Spirit and
the gift of the Church that came into being as a result of the action
of the Spirit. The Church is Christ’s creation, his body. By means of
his Church he is brought to the world, and all of this by the power of
the Holy Spirit.
Today we ought say
with special devotion that part of the Creed in which the Christian
professes to believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the
communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting. All
of this we think of when we think of Pentecost. From the Church we have
received the gift of the Spirit and that Spirit grows within us through
the Church’s ministry of the word and the sacraments. Let us then live
fully in the Church and fully in the Spirit for in this way we shall
live fully in Christ.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
no.731-741
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How pathetic — a 'man of God' who has fallen away! But, how much more
pathetic, a 'man of God' who is lukewarm and worldly!
(The Way, no.414)
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Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross [Edith
Stein] (1891-1942), Carmelite, martyr, co-patroness of Europe
Poetry: "Am Steuer" / "At
the Helm" (trans. Suzanne Batzdorff)
"It is I. Do not be afraid."
Fierce are the waves, Lord, rough the seas,
And dark, so dark, the night.
I beg of you to grant me, please,
On lonely vigil, light.
Then steer your ship with steady arm,
Trust me, and rest your soul.
Your little boat I'll keep from harm,
I'll guide it toward its goal.
Be firm of purpose as you keep
The compass e'er in view.
Through stormy night you'll cross the deep,
'twill help you to steer true.
The needle trembles faintly, then
Holds steady and prevails;
It points your way and guides you when
I, God, direct your sails.
Be therefore steadfast, calm and true,
Your God is at your side.
Through storm and night He'll see you through
With conscience as your guide.
(Daily Gospel, New Hope, KY, USA)
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Monday of the Sixth Week in
Ordinary Time II
(May 12, 2008) Sts.
Nereus and Achilleus (1st century)
Devotion to these two saints goes back to the fourth century, though
almost nothing is known of their lives. They were praetorian soldiers
of the Roman army, became Christians and were removed to the island of
Terracina, where they were martyred. Their bodies were buried in a
family vault, later known as the cemetery of Domitilla. Excavations by
De Rossi in 1896 resulted in the discovery of their empty tomb in the
underground church built by Pope Siricius in 390. Two hundred years
after their death, Pope Gregory the Great delivered his 28th homily on
the occasion of their feast. “These saints, before whom we are
assembled, despised the world and trampled it under their feet when
peace, riches and health gave it charms.”
As in the case of many early martyrs, the Church clings to its memories
though the events are clouded in the mists of history. It is a
heartening thing for all Christians to know that they have a noble
heritage. Our brothers and sisters in Christ have stood in the same
world in which we live—militarist, materialist, cruel and cynical—yet
transfigured from within by the presence of the Living One. Our own
courage is enlivened by the heroes and heroines who have gone before us
marked by the sign of faith and the wounds of Christ. Pope Damasus
wrote an epitaph for Nereus and Achilleus in the fourth century. The
text is known from travellers who read it while the slab was still
entire, but the broken fragments found by De Rossi are sufficient to
identify it: “The martyrs Nereus and Achilleus had enrolled themselves
in the army and exercised the cruel office of carrying out the orders
of the tyrant, being ever ready, through the constraint of fear, to
obey his will. O miracle of faith! Suddenly they cease from their fury,
they become converted, they fly from the camp of their wicked leader;
they throw away their shields, their armour and their blood-stained
javelins. Confessing the faith of Christ, they rejoice to bear
testimony to its triumph. Learn now from the words of Damasus what
great things the glory of Christ can accomplish.” (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today:
James 1:1-11; Psalm 119:67, 68, 71, 72, 75, 76; Mark 8:11-13
(click here
for readings)
The Pharisees came
and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign
from heaven. He sighed deeply and said, Why does this generation demand
a sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it. Then he left
them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side. (Mark 8:11-13)
One of the most
striking and consoling teachings of our Lord in the Gospels is his
teaching on prayer. He tells us that we are to approach our heavenly
Father with confidence and persistence. Ask and you will receive, he
assures us. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened
to you. Then he tells a parable of the widow who importunately
persisted with her demands of the unjust judge and gained her requests.
So too we are to be persistent with our heavenly Father. St Alphonsus
Ligouri
writes that the reason why we do not receive a lot more from God our
Father is that we ask so little of him and he goes on to say that the
prayer of petition is crucial for our salvation. But now, there are
times in the Gospels when our Lord does not grant petitions. For
instance - and this is a petition presented to him by those who loved
him - he was once approached by the mother of the sons of Zebedee with
her two sons in order to ask a favour of him. What do you want me to do
for you? he asked. Grant that these two sons of mine receive first
places at your side in your kingdom. Our Lord did not grant that
request, even when they assured him - and he confirmed their assurance
- that they would share in his “baptism” of suffering. In fact in his
reply he was granting them that greater favour of suffering and dying
with him in the future. On a later occasion, during his Passion, our
Lord was hauled before King Herod and Herod had a request too. He
wanted our Lord to perform a sign. He wanted to be entertained. All he
received from our Lord was a profound silence. Our Lord refused so much
as to speak to him. So some requests are unavailing. In our Gospel
passage today
(Mark 8:11-13) we have something similarly awry. The
Pharisees, no less, come to him with a question. They want him to
perform a sign not as entertainment but as a test. What did they
receive from our Lord? All they got was a profound sigh, in effect
telling them that their case was virtually hopeless. They too received
silence and our Lord’s immediate departure from them.
All through the
Gospels our Lord is shown to be granting requests. People come to him
with all their afflictions and he heals them. A person comes telling
him of someone they love who has actually died. Our Lord gives back
that person alive and well. The blind see, the lepers are cleansed, the
dead are raised. Our Lord is revealing not just the power of God but
the kindness of God and his readiness to hear our prayers. As St John
expresses it, the works of Christ are signs. But it is also very clear
that in all our petitions we must address them to God recognizing that
he is God. Anything you ask the Father in my name our Lord assures us,
he will grant. Indeed, anything you ask me, I will do. But our prayer
must be true prayer, expressed with a lively sense of who we are and of
who God is, otherwise we are addressing an idol of our own creation and
not the living God who has revealed himself in Jesus. Now, granted
this, we ought fill up our lives with earnest petitionary prayer. Think
of all that we need to pray for! Think of the members of our own
families, our parents, our brothers and sisters, our children. Think of
their material and spiritual welfare that needs so much the care and
help of God. Think of all those we have known who have died and who
await our prayers that their period of purification will be hastened
and that they will be admitted into God’s presence in heaven. Let us
pray for the dead. There is no doubt that great numbers would be in
Purgatory, that stage of purification from the effects of sin prior to
entrance into the all-holy presence of God for eternity. They depend on
our prayers, for they are unable to merit now that life for them has
ended. Think of the vast numbers who have no one to pray for them
either in this life or in the next. Prayer is our most powerful weapon
because in it we are enlisting the aid of the great God himself,
Creator and Lord of all.
Let our Lord’s
response to the request of the Pharisees remind us of prayer and of our
Lord’s teaching on prayer. How abundantly he answered the prayers of
those who approached him! But we must pray properly and approach Christ
with the right dispositions. Let us ask our Lord to teach us to pray so
that our prayer may serve his interests and those for whom he died. Our
true prospects depend on our prayer and the one who prays serves
mankind greatly.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Pay little heed to what the world calls victories or defeats. How often
the victor comes out defeated!
(The Way, no.415)
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Saint Gregory the Great (c.540-604), Pope and
Doctor of the Church
Homily 23; PL76, 1182 "Do not neglect
hospitality" (Heb 13,2)
There were two disciples on a journey together. They did not believe
and yet they were speaking about the Lord. Suddenly he himself appeared
but in a form they were unable to recognise… They invited him to share
their company, as one does with a traveller… So they prepared the
table, set the meal, and the God whom they had failed to recognise in
Scriptural explanation they now discovered in the breaking of bread.
Thus it was not in hearing God’s commandments that their minds were
opened but in doing them: “For it is not those who hear the law who are
just in the sight of God; rather, those who observe the law will be
justified” (Rom 2,13). If anyone wants to understand what he has heard,
he should hasten to carry out whatever of it he has already managed to
grasp. The Lord was not recognised while he was speaking; but he
deigned to make himself known when he was offered a meal.
So let us delight in hospitality, my very dear brethren; let us take
pleasure in practising charity. With regard to this Paul affirms: “Let
mutual love continue. Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some
have unknowingly entertained angels” (Heb 13,1f.; Gen 18,1f.). Peter
says, too: “Be hospitable to one another without complaining” (1Pt
4,9). And Truth itself declares to us: “I was a stranger and you
welcomed me”… “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of
mine,” the Lord will say on Judgement Day, “you did for me” (Mt
25,35.40)… Yet in spite of all this, how lazy we are before the grace
of hospitality! Let us take our measure of this virtue’s greatness, my
brothers. Let us welcome Christ to our table so that we may be welcomed
at his eternal banquet. Let us show hospitality to Christ present in
the stranger at this present time so that when judgement comes we may
not be like strangers whom he does not recognise (Lk 13,25) but he may
receive us like brothers into his Kingdom.
(Daily Gospel, New Hope, KY, USA)
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Tuesday of the sixth week in Ordinary Time II
(May 13) Our Lady of Fatima
Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three Portuguese children received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria, near Fatima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. (See February 20 entry for Blessed Jacinta and Francisco Marto). Mary asked the children to pray the rosary for world peace, for the end of World War I, for sinners and for the conversion of Russia. Mary gave the children three secrets. Since Francisco died in 1919 and Jacinta the following year, Lucia, who later became a Carmelite nun, revealed the first secret in 1927, concerning devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The second secret was a vision of hell. Pope John Paul II directed the Holy See's Secretary of State to reveal the third secret in 2000; it spoke of a 'bishop in white' who was shot by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows into him. Many people linked this to the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981. The feast of Our Lady of Fatima was approved by the local bishop in 1930; it was added to the Church's worldwide calendar in 2002. Sister Lucia died in 2005 at the age of 97.
The message of Fatima is simple: Pray. Unfortunately, some people—not Sister Lucia—have distorted these revelations, making them into an apocalyptic event for which they are now the only reliable interpreters. They have, for example, claimed that Mary's request that the world be consecrated to her has been ignored. Sister Lucia agreed that Pope John Paul II's public consecration in St. Peter's Square on March 25, 1984, fulfilled Mary's request. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith prepared a June 26, 2000, document explaining the "third secret" Mary is perfectly honoured when people generously imitate her response "Let it be done to me as you say" (Luke 1:38). Mary can never be seen as a rival to Jesus or to the Church's teaching authority, as exercised by the college of bishops united with the bishop of Rome. "Throughout history there have been supernatural apparitions and signs which go to the heart of human events and which, to the surprise of believers and non-believers alike, play their part in the unfolding of history. These manifestations can never contradict the content of faith, and must therefore have their focus in the core of Christ's proclamation: the Father's love which leads men and women to conversion and bestows the grace required to abandon oneself to him with filial devotion. This too is the message of Fatima which, with its urgent call to conversion and penance, draws us to the heart of the Gospel" (The Message of Fatima, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, June 26, 2000). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today: James 1:12-18; Psalm 94:12-15, 18-19; Mark 8:14-21 (click here for readings)
The
disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had
with them in the boat. Be careful, Jesus warned them. Watch out for the
yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod. They discussed this with one
another and said, It is because we have no bread. Aware of their
discussion, Jesus asked them: Why are you talking about having no
bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do
you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you
remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many
basketfuls of pieces did you pick up? Twelve, they replied. And when I
broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of
pieces did you pick up? They answered, Seven. He said to them, Do you
still not understand? (Mark 8:14-21)
I have often thought
that all too often we miss the liveliness and even the humour that is
present in the Gospels and the New Testament. In the Acts of the
Apostles, for instance, there are accounts of events that are quite
funny and if there were time here I would mention them. In the Gospels
our Lord says things which I am convinced would have evoked laughter
from his
listeners, with himself
smiling as he said them. On one occasion he spoke of our endeavouring
to take the splinter out of our brother’s eye while all the time having
a log of wood in our own! Our passage today is taken from St Mark, and
Mark too, I think, shows a sense of humour at times. Consider our scene
today. We are told that the disciples were with our Lord in the boat,
and that they had among them only one loaf of bread. Our Lord saw them
discussing this and gave the warning to beware of the yeast of the
Pharisees and of Herod. It was the Pharisees and the Herodians, of
course, who were endeavouring to oppose and undermine him and his
teaching. The disciples, though fully aware of the determined
opposition enveloping our Lord from those hostile quarters, may have
taken our Lord to mean that they were not to obtain bread from the
Pharisees and the Herodians. Their bread, their yeast, would be no
good. Who knows, but perhaps they thought our Lord was implying that
the bread that would come from that quarter would be not only bad to
eat, but deliberately tampered with so as to do our Lord and his
disciples harm. I like to think of our Lord gently laughing at their
crass interpretation of what he said, and then saying, "Why are you
talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are
your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but
fail to hear? And don't you remember?" (Mark
8:14-21) That is to say, his exasperation was corrective
but good humoured. He loved his disciples, understood their foibles and
limitations, and gave himself patiently to their formation.
Throughout the Gospels the disciples are shown to love our Lord, to be generous, but to be very limited indeed in their understanding of him and his teaching. Our Gospel passage today gives us one more instance of this. God himself, in the person of our Lord the Son of God, was working on their formation and how slow a work it was! Yet our Lord was lovingly patient, for all would change with the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God would remind them of all that he had told them and would lead them to the complete truth. This promise of the coming and the work of the Spirit is not only a promise which at the Last Supper our Lord made to his Apostles, but it is a promise made through them to the Church he built on them. The Church is Christ’s faithful united with the successors of the Apostles, and with all their limitations they have now the Holy Spirit. The Church is the abode of the Spirit of Christ who vivifies the Church and reminds her of all that Christ said. Not only does he remind the faithful of what Christ said, but he guides the Church to a fuller and fuller understanding of Christ’s doctrine. Thus does Christian doctrine develop. That development represents the Church’s increasing understanding of the teaching of Christ under the guidance of the Spirit of God. And so we have in the course of the Church’s history the Ecumenical Councils that clarify Christ’s teaching when it comes under challenge and when it needs to be applied to this or that epoch. Thus too we have the successors of St Peter intervening at times with solemn definitions or more commonly with Encyclicals or other documents developing the Church’s teaching on Christ, the Trinity, the natural law, sexual morality, social justice and other facets of Christian teaching. All these modes whereby the Church’s doctrine develops over the years and centuries are manifestations of the Spirit of Christ present and active in the Church and leading the Church to remember and more fully understand what Christ has revealed to her.
As we think of the disciples in the boat showing their slowness in understanding let us think of the divine Resource with which Christ has now endowed his Church. That divine Resource is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ and the Father who bears witness to Christ and his teaching, helping the Church and her children to remember and understand the revelation of Christ.. The Holy Spirit is the Gift of God par excellence and he is the possession of the Church. Through the ministry of the Church he is the possession of her faithful. Let us treasure this Gift that is ours from our baptism and pray to the Spirit for light to know and live the teaching of our risen Lord.
(E.J.Tyler)
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'Sine me nihil potestis facere! Without me you can do nothing!' New light, new splendour for my eyes, from that Eternal Light, the holy Gospel.
Should I be surprised at all 'my' foolishness?
I will put Jesus into everything that is mine. And then there will be no foolishness in my conduct: and, if I would speak correctly, I should talk no more of what is 'mine', but of what is 'ours'.
(The Way, no.416)
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Saint Ignatius of Antioch (?-c.110), Bishop of Antioch and martyr
Letter to the Philadelphians
"This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent."
You, who are children of the true light, flee from quarrelling and false teachings. Like sheep, follow your shepherd wherever you go. For it often happens that wolves, seemingly worthy of credence, lead astray those who are running God’s race. But if you stay united they will find no place amongst you.
So take care to participate only in the one Eucharist. Indeed, there is only one flesh of our Lord, one cup uniting us in his blood, one altar, just as there is only one bishop in the midst of his priests and deacons. In this way, all that you do will be done according to God… My refuge is the Gospel, which so far as I’m concerned is Jesus himself in the flesh, and the apostles who incarnate the Church’s priesthood. Let us also love the prophets since they, too, have preached the Gospel: they hoped in the Christ and waited for him; believing in him, they were saved and, remaining as saints worthy of love and admiration in the unity of Jesus Christ, they were accounted worthy to receive the testimony of Jesus Christ and to have a share in the Gospel, our common hope…
God does not dwell where division and anger reign. But the Lord forgives all those who repent if repentance brings them back to unity with God and communion with the bishop. I believe in the grace of Jesus Christ, who will set us free from every chain. I beseech you never to act in a quarrelsome spirit but according to Christ’s teaching. I have heard of those who said: "Whatever I don’t find in the ancient books. I won’t believe in the Gospel"… Where I’m concerned, the ancient books are Christ; the inviolable archives are his cross, his death and resurrection and the faith coming from him. See, then, from where I expect my whole justification, with the help of your prayers.
(Daily Gospel, New Hope, KY, USA)
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Feast of
Saint Matthias, Apostle
Wednesday of the sixth week in Ordinary Time II
(May 14) Saint
Matthias, Apostle
According to Acts 1:15-26, during the days after the Ascension, Peter
stood up in the midst of the brothers (about 120 of Jesus’ followers).
Now that Judas had betrayed his ministry, it was necessary, Peter said,
to fulfil the scriptural recommendation: “May another take his office.”
“Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men who accompanied us the
whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us, beginning from the
baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us, become
with us a witness to his resurrection” (Acts 1:21-22). They nominated
two men: Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias. They prayed and drew lots. The
choice fell upon Matthias, who was added to the Eleven. Matthias is not
mentioned by name anywhere else in the New Testament.
What was the holiness of Matthias? Obviously he was suited for
apostleship by the experience of being with Jesus from his baptism to
his ascension. He must also have been suited personally, or he would
not have been nominated for so great a responsibility. Must we not
remind ourselves that the fundamental holiness of Matthias was his
receiving gladly the relationship with the Father offered him by Jesus
and completed by the Holy Spirit? If the apostles are the foundations
of our faith by their witness, they must also be reminders, if only
implicitly, that holiness is entirely a matter of God’s giving, and it
is offered to all, in the everyday circumstances of life. We receive,
and even for this God supplies the power of freedom.
Jesus speaks of the apostles’ function of being judges, that is,
rulers. He said, “Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me, in
the new age, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory, will
yourselves sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel”
(Matthew 19:28).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Acts 1:15-17, 20-26;
Psalm 113:1-8; John 15:9-17
(click here
for readings)
Jesus
said to his disciples: As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.
Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my
love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his
love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your
joy may be complete. My command is this: Love one another as I have
loved you. Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life
for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no
longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's
business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I
learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me,
but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit— fruit that will
last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This
is my command: Love one another. (John
15:9-17)
One of the
interesting things to note in the English, American or, say, Australian
novel is the notion of religion and of Christianity in particular.
Take, for instance, the novels of James Fernimore Cooper (1789-1851),
the American author of such adventure novels as The Last of the
Mohicans, The
Pathfinder, and The
Deerslayer. Consider, say, The Pathfinder. The
setting is the eighteenth century American wilds, the forest and
habitat of the American Indian, and the conflict between the Indians
and the American settlers, with the French getting a look-in. The
central characters are religious and in particular Pathfinder himself
(who in a further novel is called the Deerslayer) is religious and in
his own view of the matter, Christian. He is an altogether admirable
character in his natural religion and virtues and in his high skill as
a scout and hunter. Frequently on his lips there are references to
Providence and God and religion. It would be unimaginable that
Pathfinder would call God or religion into question in the modern
secular and sceptical sense. He refers to himself repeatedly as a
Christian (and, into the bargain, at one point he betrays his
anti-Catholicism!). But now, we never read any reference to him
praying. In respect to his being a Christian, we never read any word of
his about the person of Christ. There is no reference to a belief in
the holy Trinity. Pathfinder’s God appears in reality to be the God who
has authored the beautiful natural world of forests and lakes, men and
societies. He is the God of creation and of providence guiding men in
their course through life. His God does not seem to be Christ, even
though he always refers to himself as a Christian. In the later novel, The
Deerslayer , there is one reference to the work of redemption
but that is as far as it goes. Pathfinder is near to the God who holds
this beautiful world in being and who provides for his children, but he
is not near to the person of the risen Jesus. In fact, the living Jesus
is entirely absent from his frequent religious allusions.
I mention this as an example of a notion of religion and of
Christianity in particular that can take root in culture. Christianity
as understood by many can be devoid of the person of Christ, understood
as the Saviour and the Son of God. It can even go so far as being
devoid of God. By that I mean that it can be understood as little more
than a life of benevolence. One may hear the statement that someone is
a real Christian, meaning that he is very good to other people. Now,
this is indeed an essential element of the Christian life for it is the
command of Christ that we love one another as he has loved us. But if
it is to be counted as Christian love, it must be based on a personal
love for Jesus. In our Gospel passage today our Lord is very clear on
this point. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now
remain in my love.” If we are to be counted as Christ’s disciples, as
Christians in other words, we must abide in the friendship of Jesus. We
must friends of the living Jesus. The test of this will be whether or
not we fulfil his commands. “If you obey my commands, you will remain
in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in
his love.” We must seek to know the will of Christ and then assiduously
to put it into practice. Christ founded his Church to make this
possible, and entrusted his Church with the gift of the Holy Spirit so
as to be able to speak authoritatively in his name, interpreting
without error what he has revealed. The Church in her teaching explains
what in its detail is involved in loving God and our neighbour. It is
thus that, listening to the voice of his Church, we are able to know
what Christ has commanded and then by obeying his commands thus
expounded, we are able to abide in his love. The fundamental thing is
abiding in the love of Christ, growing in his friendship, and doing so
as members of his family the Church. Pathfinder is one example of many
of how the Christian religion can be whittled away to being a shadow of
its real substance. Its substance is the living risen person of Jesus,
true God and true man.
There is a further
point, one that is most important. Christ is indeed the life of the
Christian, but let us remember that it is his choice of us and his love
for us that is the basis of our life. Christ loved me, St Paul writes,
and gave himself up for me. There is nothing of this in Pathfinder or
Deerslayer. I have called you friends, our Lord says to his disciples
and to each of us who are in him by baptism. He has loved and chosen
us, and on the basis of this we love and choose him. He wants us to go
out and to bear fruit. The fruit is above all to bring all others into
life in him. Let us then devote ourselves to the work.
(E.J.Tyler)
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The only real love is God's Love!
(The Way, no.417)
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The Catechism of the Catholic Church
§1337-1341
"It was not
Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true
bread from heaven."
“The Lord, having loved those who were his own, loved them to the end.
Knowing that the hour had come to leave this world and return to the
Father,” in the course of a meal he washed their feet and gave them the
commandment of love (Jn 13,1). In order to leave them a pledge of this
love, in order never to depart from his own and make them sharers in
his Passover, he instituted the Eucharist as the memorial of his death
and Resurrection, and commanded his apostles to celebrate it until his
return; “thereby he constituted them priests of the New Testament”
(Council of Trent)…
By celebrating the Last Supper with his apostles in the course of the
Passover meal, Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning.
Jesus' passing over to his Father by his death and Resurrection, the
new Passover, is anticipated in the Supper and celebrated in the
Eucharist, which fulfils the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final
Passover of the Church in the glory of the kingdom.
The command of Jesus to repeat his actions and words “until he comes”
(1Cor 11,26) does not only ask us to remember Jesus and what he did. It
is directed at the liturgical celebration, by the apostles and their
successors, of the memorial of Christ, of his life, of his death, of
his Resurrection, and of his intercession in the presence of the Father.
(Daily Gospel, New Hope, KY, USA)
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Thursday
of the sixth week in Ordinary Time II
(May 15) St.
Isidore the Farmer (1070-1130)
Isidore has become the patron of farmers and rural communities. In
particular he is the patron of Madrid, Spain, and of the United States
National Rural Life Conference. When he was barely old enough to wield
a hoe, Isidore entered the service of John de Vergas, a wealthy
landowner from Madrid, and worked faithfully on his estate outside the
city for the rest of his life. He married a young woman as simple and
upright as himself who also became a saint—Maria de la Cabeza. They had
one son, who died as a child. Isidore had deep religious instincts. He
rose early in the morning to go to church and spent many a holiday
devoutly visiting the churches of Madrid and surrounding areas. All day
long, as he walked behind the plow, he communed with God. His devotion,
one might say, became a problem, for his fellow workers sometimes
complained that he often showed up late because of lingering in church
too long. He was known for his love of the poor, and there are accounts
of Isidore’s supplying them miraculously with food. He had a great
concern for the proper treatment of animals. He died May 15, 1130, and
was declared a saint in 1622 with Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier,
Teresa of Avila and Philip Neri. Together, the group is known in Spain
as “the five saints.”
Many implications can be found in a simple labourer achieving
sainthood: Physical labour has dignity; sainthood does not stem from
status; contemplation does not depend on learning; the simple life is
conducive to holiness and happiness. Legends about angel helpers and
mysterious oxen indicate that his work was not neglected and his duties
did not go unfulfilled. Perhaps the truth which emerges is this: If you
have your spiritual self in order, your earthly commitments will fall
into order also. “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,”
said the carpenter from Nazareth, “and all these things will be given
you besides” (Matthew 6:33). “God blessed them, saying: ‘Be fertile and
multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.... See, I give you every
seed-bearing plant all over the earth and every tree that has
seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food; and to all the animals of the
land, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl
on the ground, I give all the green plants for food’” (Genesis 1:28a,
29–30a). (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
James 2:1-9; Psalm 34:2-7; Mark 8:27-33
(click here
for readings)
Jesus and
his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the
way he asked them, Who do people say I am? They replied, Some say John
the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.
But what about you? he asked. Who do you say I am? Peter answered, You
are the Christ. Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. He then
began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be
rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that
he must be put to death and after three days rise again. He spoke
plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter.
Get behind me, Satan! he said. You do not have in mind the things of
God, but the things of men. (Mark
8:27-33)
At times one hears
it said that the important thing in the Christian life is not what you
think but what you do. What matters is not so much that your thoughts
be right but that your deeds be right and this means the practice of
justice and charity towards your neighbour. Now, as is so often the
case, there is here a real truth in the midst of an
untruth and for this
reason the statement gains in credence. After all, our Lord in his
account of the Last Judgment (Matthew 25) places the entire weight of
God’s Judgment on us on the side of what we do for our brothers in
need. On another occasion our Lord said that it is not those who say to
me, Lord, Lord, who will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but those who do
the will of my Father in heaven. But this is not to lessen the great
importance of right thinking - meaning by this a true and correct
faith. All through the Gospels our Lord is requiring and asking of
people that they have faith in him. Do you believe? he is constantly
asking, and this faith necessarily involves a certain perception, a
certain “opinion”, as we might call it. Faith in Christ entails
acceptance of his revelation about himself. And so it is that in our
Gospel passage today our Lord is asking what people are saying of his
identity. “Who do people say I am?” That was the pivotal question. The
scribes and the Pharisees came to our Lord to ask him who he himself
said he was. It was also controverted among the people. It was the
fundamental issue during our Lord’s Passion. The leaders brought our
Lord before Pilate with the assertion that he was claiming to be a
King, which in the event Pilate discovered was a mere ruse. The real
charge was that he claimed to be the Messiah and Son of God. So Pilate
himself asked our Lord who he was. Across the ages, the question is,
who is Jesus Christ? The answers to this from the very beginning have
been manifold. Most will agree that he was a great religious leader or
a great prophet. The important thing is, what is the answer our Lord
requires, especially of his disciples? “Who do you, you who are my
disciples, say that I am?”
The further point
to notice is that it was Peter who gave the answer. “Peter answered,
You are the Christ.” (Mark 8:27-33).
In another Gospel the answer given by Peter is more fully quoted and
our Lord’s response to Peter’s answer is also more fully quoted. He
establishes Simon Peter as the rock of his Church. In Peter’s answer we
have in germ the constant insistence by the Church down the ages that
right doctrine on the person of Jesus Christ is of maximum importance.
Hence it is that in the early centuries of the Church’s history when
there was so much contention as to the nature and identity of Jesus
Christ the Church would not allow this to take its own course. Great
councils were convened to settle and insist on the confession of Peter
and the Apostles. Christ is none other than God, God the Son while at
the same time being true man. He is one divine Person in two distinct
natures. Many other doctrines were insisted on as necessarily implied
in that confession. Because the man Jesus is God Mary his mother is the
mother of God - the mother of God the Son made man, that is. Then as
the centuries rolled on further teachings developed under the guidance
of the Holy Spirit, teachings that constituted an unfolding of the
original testimony given and which Christ asked for. In every doctrinal
challenge that is mounted against the Church’s teaching about Christ
and his revelation, Christ puts again to his disciples the question,
Who do you say I am? It is Peter and his successors who give the
authoritative and correct answer and that answer is a further
implication of the fundamental doctrine that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God and Saviour of the world. The truth of the Church’s many
doctrines - be they about the nature of the Church and her
constitution, the Sacraments, the Trinity and the body of teaching that
has developed over the centuries - is founded on this fundamental
doctrine about Christ. Thus heresies are declared by the Church to be
such. Yes, in the Christian religion it is of immense importance that
our notions of Christ and his revelation be correctly founded.
The doctrine of
Christ is summed up in the Church’s Creeds. The two great Creeds are
the Apostles’ Creed and the Creed of Nicene and Constantinople. The
Apostles’ Creed was the Creed of the Church in Rome, while that of
Nicea was the Creed of the Councils of Nicea and Constantinople in the
fourth century, the century of the Arian and semi-Arian heresies. The
Church invites us to use the Apostles’ Creed in our private prayer, and
she uses the Nicene Creed in her public liturgy. Let us shape our daily
life by the doctrine of the Church ensuring that our mind and heart is
filled with the true teaching of Christ.
(E.J.Tyler)
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The secret that ennobles the humblest, even the most humiliating thing,
is Love.
(The Way, no.418)
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Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), founder
of the Friars Minor
Letter to the whole Order
"I came down from heaven not to do my
own will but the will of the one who sent me"
Almighty, eternal, just and merciful God,
grant us in our misery [the grace]
to do for You alone
what we know You want us to do,
and always
to desire what pleases You.
Thus, inwardly cleansed,
interiorly enlightened,
and inflamed by the fire of the Holy Spirit,
may we be able to follow
in the footprints of Your beloved Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ.
And, by Your grace alone,
may we make our way to You,
Most High,
Who live and rule
in perfect Trinity and simple Unity,
and are glorified
God all-powerful
forever and ever.
Amen.
(The Daily Gospel, New Hope, KY, USA)
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Friday
of the sixth week in Ordinary Time II
(May 16) St.
Margaret of Cortona (1247-1297)
Margaret was born of farming parents in Laviano, Tuscany. Her mother
died when Margaret was seven; life with her stepmother was so difficult
that Margaret moved out. For nine years she lived with Arsenio, though
they were not married, and she bore him a son. In those years, she had
doubts about her situation. Somewhat like St. Augustine she prayed for
purity—but not just yet. One day she was waiting for Arsenio and was
instead met by his dog. The animal led Margaret into the forest where
she found Arsenio murdered. This crime shocked Margaret into a life of
penance. She and her son returned to Laviano, where she was not well
received by her stepmother. They then went to Cortona, where her son
eventually became a friar.
In 1277, three years after her conversion, Margaret became a Franciscan
tertiary. Under the direction of her confessor, who sometimes had to
order her to moderate her self-denial, she pursued a life of prayer and
penance at Cortona. There she established a hospital and founded a
congregation of tertiary sisters. The poor and humble Margaret was,
like Francis, devoted to the Eucharist and to the passion of Jesus.
These devotions fueled her great charity and drew sinners to her for
advice and inspiration. She was canonized in 1728.
Seeking forgiveness is sometimes difficult work. It is made easier by
meeting people who, without trivializing our sins, assure us that God
rejoices over our repentance. Being forgiven lifts a weight and prompts
us to acts of charity. "Let us raise ourselves from our fall and not
give up hope as long as we free ourselves from sin. Jesus Christ came
into this world to save sinners. ‘O come, let us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!’ (Psalm 95:6). The Word calls
us to repentance, crying out: ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and
are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28).
There is, then, a way to salvation if we are willing to follow it"
(Letter of Saint Basil the Great). (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: James 2:14-24, 26;
Psalm 112:1-6; Mark 8:34–9:1
(click here
for readings)
Then he
called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: If anyone
would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel will save it.
What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his life?
Or what can a man give in exchange for his life? If anyone is ashamed
of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of
Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the
holy angels. And he said to them, I tell you the truth, some who are
standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God
come with power. (Mark 8:34–9:1)
There have been
many great leaders in the world who continue to fascinate and astonish
students of history. Their power to inspire and to lead, their power to
offer hope, their capacity to organize, all this and more drew after
them great numbers of persons seeking something much better. We think
of great military commanders such as
Alexander
the Great, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte. We think of
great rulers, we even think of revolutionaries who inspired many others
to follow them and turn the tide of a country and of history. At the
end of his life on the island of St Helena Napoleon reflected on the
enduring influence of one great leader, Jesus Christ. Generation after
generation he outshines all others in that he continues to gain the
hearts of countless persons. They live for him, they love him, they
serve him and they strive to do all this more and more generously and
perfectly. The saint has given his entire life to the person of Jesus,
and the message that the Church sends abroad in her numerous
canonizations of saints is that this is for all. All are called to love
Jesus Christ as totally as possible. But now, let us ask, what is the
condition of following and loving Christ? Our Lord in our Gospel today
tells us that condition. Jesus “called the crowd to him along with his
disciples and said: If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life
will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the sake
of the gospel will save it.”
(Mark 8:34–9:1). The Christian must
do what Christ did, he must accept the cross. More than this, he must
actually “take up” that cross knowing that it is the distinctive way of
following in the footsteps of Jesus. Suffering was the chosen and
redeeming path of Christ, and the Christian's path is to suffer in
union with him. This might seem a little mad, but that is what Christ
has revealed. Suffering is the path to life and to glory.
A couple generously
resolves to have a large family. This brings problems and difficulties
of finance together with stress in coping with the varied developments
of this or that child in the family. They suffer in union with Jesus,
knowing on the word of Jesus that their “cross” which they have taken
up in imitation of him with bear fruit and in its own way will lead to
the resurrection. A person falls victim to nervous disorders or
physical incapacity. Such is what Providence has permitted for him. He
“takes up” that “cross” and actively accepts it from God knowing that
by doing so in union with Jesus his life will mysteriously bear much
fruit and will not only benefit himself spiritually but will benefit so
many others. He has before him the example of the Master who took up
his cross and suffered for the salvation of the world. In his nervous
or physical suffering he is following in the footsteps of the Master.
Again, a person has an increasing feeling as the years go on that his
ambitions to do this or that will come to nothing. The circumstances
never seem right, his own abilities are not up to it, and nothing ever
seems to go as well as is needed. He accepts the cross and makes it the
means of an even greater union with the risen, unseen Jesus. Yet
another gives unambiguous witness to his Christian faith in a hostile
work environment and suffers profoundly as a result of the opprobrium
that gradually comes upon him. A Christian in an Islamic country is
suddenly confronted by a hate-filled extremist who demands at the point
of a gun that he convert to Islam. He refuses and is shot to death or
is left incapacitated for the rest of his life. The cross of each
person differs from that of the next, but whatever is the cross, if it
is a real cross it will be very burdensome. It will be precisely that
which the person does not want to have. It will seem to him to be
heavier than that which some or many others have to bear. By keeping
his gaze on Christ he is able to accept it with love, love for God and
for Christ, and so his life despite his disappointments gains a
powerful meaning and evident joy.
Let us pray for the
grace truly to advance in the Christian way and in union with Jesus by
accepting totally his doctrine on the Cross. In our Gospel passage
today Jesus calls both his disciples and the crowd to him to tell them
all that the only way to follow him is by being prepared to accept and
even embrace the cross. This doctrine turns the problem of evil on its
head and makes evil and suffering the door to glory and life. Let us
pray that the mind of Christ will be given to us so as to be able to
pass through that door, the door of the Cross.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Children. The Sick. — As you write these words, don't you
feel tempted to use capitals?
The reason is that in children and in the sick a soul in
love sees Him.
(The Way, no.419)
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Vatican Council II Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum
Concilium), 47-48
"The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."
At the Last Supper, on the night when He was betrayed, our Saviour
instituted the eucharistic sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did this
in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the
centuries until He should come again, and so to entrust to His beloved
spouse, the Church, a memorial of His death and resurrection: a
sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal
banquet in which Christ is eaten, the mind is filled with grace, and a
pledge of future glory is given to us.
The Church, therefore, earnestly desires that Christ's faithful, when
present at this mystery of faith, should not be there as strangers or
silent spectators; on the contrary, through a good understanding of the
rites and prayers they should take part in the sacred action conscious
of what they are doing, with devotion and full collaboration. They
should be instructed by God's word and be nourished at the table of the
Lord's body; they should give thanks to God; by offering the Immaculate
Victim, not only through the hands of the priest, but also with him,
they should learn also to offer themselves; through Christ the
Mediator, they should be drawn day by day into ever more perfect union
with God and with each other, so that finally "God may be all in all"
(1Cor 15,28).
(Daily Gospel, KY, USA)
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Saturday
of the sixth week in Ordinary Time II
(May 17) St.
Paschal Baylon (1540-1592)
In Paschal’s lifetime the Spanish empire in the New World was at the
height of its power, though France and England were soon to reduce its
influence. The 16th century has been called the Golden Age of the
Church in Spain, for it gave birth to Ignatius of Loyola, Francis
Xavier, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Peter of Alcantara, Francis
Solano and Salvator of Horta. Paschal’s Spanish parents were poor and
pious. Between the ages of seven and 24 he worked as a shepherd and
began a life of mortification. He was able to pray on the job and was
especially attentive to the church bell which rang at the Elevation
during Mass. Paschal had a very honest streak in him. He once offered
to pay owners of crops for any damage his animals caused! In 1564
Paschal joined the Friars Minor and gave himself wholeheartedly to a
life of penance. Though he was urged to study for the priesthood, he
chose to be a brother. At various times he served as porter, cook,
gardener and official beggar. Paschal was careful to observe the vow of
poverty. He would never waste any food or anything given for the use of
the friars. When he was porter and took care of the poor coming to the
door, he developed a reputation for great generosity. The friars
sometimes tried to moderate his liberality! Paschal spent his spare
moments praying before the Blessed Sacrament. In time many people
sought his wise counsel. People flocked to his tomb immediately after
his burial; miracles were reported promptly. In 1690 Paschal was
canonized; in 1897 he was named patron of eucharistic congresses and
societies.
Prayer before the Blessed Sacrament occupied much of St. Francis’
energy. Most of his letters were to promote devotion to the Eucharist.
Paschal shared that concern. An hour in prayer before our Lord in the
Eucharist could teach all of us a great deal. Some holy and busy
Catholics today find that their work is enriched by those minutes
regularly spent in prayer and meditation.
"Meditate well on this: Seek God above all things. It is right for you
to seek God before and above everything else, because the majesty of
God wishes you to receive what you ask for. This will also make you
more ready to serve God and will enable you to love him more perfectly"
(St. Paschal).
(AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
James 3:1-10; Psalm 12:2-5, 7-8; Mark 9:2-13
(click here
for readings)
After six
days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high
mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before
them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the
world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and
Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is
good for us to be here. Let us put up three tents — one for you, one
for Moses and one for Elijah. (He did not know what to say, they were
so frightened.) Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice
came from the cloud: This is my beloved Son. Listen to him! Suddenly,
when they looked round, they no longer saw anyone with them except
Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders
not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen
from the dead. They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what
rising from the dead meant. And they asked him, Why do the teachers of
the law say that Elijah must come first? Jesus replied, To be sure,
Elijah will come first, and restore all things. Why then is it written
that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? But I tell you,
Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just
as it is written about him.
(Mark 9:2-13)
At the height of
his ministry John the Baptist was approached by the leaders of the Jews
and asked who he claimed to be. Was he the Christ, or Elijah or the
Prophet? No, he was none of these, John replied. He was simply a voice
crying in the wilderness for people to prepare for what was coming.
That is to say, John’s identity was not the issue. Great as a prophet
though he was, he was no more than the friend of the Bridegroom about
to appear. But the case was altogether different with Jesus of
Nazareth.
The question of who he
was remained and grew in significance. The people asked it among
themselves and the whole issue was controverted. The Scribes and the
Pharisees put it repeatedly to our Lord because he was doing things as
if his authority in the things of God were supreme. We see our Lord at
times evading the question because of the unbelief and hostility he
could see in their hearts, while at times giving astonishingly bold
answers that shocked them. He spoke of himself as the Son, and of God
as his very own Father. The Father works, so therefore do I. I am the
Bread of life. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will live
forever. He was acting and speaking as if no other person however
eminent ever had the standing and the relationship with God that he
had. In fact, he was acting and speaking as if he claimed to be equal
to God. The Father and I are one, he claimed. Before Abraham ever was,
I AM. Most perplexing of all, he was doing things against which one
could scarcely argue - though other things he did his enemies attacked.
The issue, though, was who he was and who he claimed to be. He himself
in his very person stood at the forefront of all consideration about
him. One could not just take his teaching and consider it separately
from his person, in the way one may take the teaching of some
philosopher and, in theory at least, consider it apart from any thought
to his person. The very person of Jesus was a most central component in
his teaching such that in rejecting his person one was rejecting his
teaching.
Now, God the Father
himself placed the person and identity of Jesus of Nazareth at the
forefront of all consideration of him. He was not just the teacher and
revealer of an important message. He was the Son of the Father, and all
were to listen to him. In our Gospel passage today something happened
that Peter, James and John never forgot. “After six days Jesus took
Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where
they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them.” Christ was
shown to them in glory, glory such as had not been manifested in any
other prophet before him. Moses long before had descended from the
mountain of God with his face radiant and having to be veiled but that
was not of the order that now was shown in Christ. Moreover both he and
Elijah were shown talking with Christ showing that his person was the
centre and purpose of the revelation of God to that point. But more
than anything, the Father himself now intervened to make it
unmistakeably clear who this Jesus was. “Then a cloud appeared and
enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: This is my beloved
Son. Listen to him!” (Mark 9:2-13)
Something very similar had occurred at the beginning of our Lord’s
public ministry, during his baptism by John in the Jordan. The Spirit
of God had descended upon him to anoint him with overflowing grace and
the voice of the Father had come from heaven, saying “This is my
beloved Son. My favour rests upon him.” The Father was launching his
Son on his mission and the Spirit was endowing him with power for it.
But now at the transfiguration of Jesus in glory, the Father was
presenting him to his Apostles and through them, in due course, to the
world. Jesus is the Son of God. All are to listen to him. His person
and his identity is the fundamental thing to apprehend. On this basis
of acceptance of the truth about him, one is to accept all that he says
and commands. God points to this man and says, he is my own divine Son.
Accept him as such totally, and accept totally his entire word.
At the end of the
vision we are told that “suddenly, when they looked round, they no
longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.” Christ presents himself to
us in the simply reality of his humanity and now that he has gone from
our sight he now presents himself even more humbly in the holy
Eucharist. The divine Son of the Father become a man like us and now
risen from the dead and in glory, abides constantly in the Church in
the humble appearances of the Eucharist. Let us give his person and his
word as it comes to us in the ministry and teaching of the Church our
entire faith and obedience.
(E.J.Tyler)
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How little a life is to offer to God!
(The Way, no.420)
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Catechism of the Catholic Church §1362-1366
“Do this in remembrance of me” (1Cor
11,25)
The Eucharist is the memorial of Christ's Passover, the making present
and the sacramental offering of his unique sacrifice, in the liturgy of
the Church which is his Body. In all the Eucharistic Prayers we find
after the words of institution a prayer called the anamnesis or
memorial. In the sense of Sacred Scripture the memorial is not merely
the recollection of past events but the proclamation of the mighty
works wrought by God for men. In the liturgical celebration of these
events, they become in a certain way present and real. This is how
Israel understands its liberation from Egypt: every time Passover is
celebrated, the Exodus events are made present to the memory of
believers so that they may conform their lives to them (Ex 13,3.8).
In the New Testament, the memorial takes on new meaning. When the
Church celebrates the Eucharist, she commemorates Christ's Passover,
and it is made present the sacrifice Christ offered once for all on the
cross remains ever present. "As often as the sacrifice of the Cross by
which 'Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed' is celebrated on the
altar, the work of our redemption is carried out," (Vatican II, LG 63).
Because it is the memorial of Christ's Passover, the Eucharist is also
a sacrifice. the sacrificial character of the Eucharist is manifested
in the very words of institution: "This is my body which is given for
you" and "This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in
my blood." (Lk 22,19-20). In the Eucharist Christ gives us the very
body which he gave up for us on the cross, the very blood which he
"poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins," (Mt 26,28). The
Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present)
the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it
applies its fruit.
(The Daily Gospel, KY, USA)
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The Solemnity
of the Most Holy Trinity A
(Seventh Sunday in
Ordinary Time A)
Prayers
this week:
Blessed be
God the Father and his only-begotten Son and the Holy Spirit: for he
has shown that he loves us.
Father, you sent your Word to bring us truth and your Spirit to make us
holy. Through them we come to know the mystery of your life. Help us to
worship you, one God in three Persons, by proclaiming and living our
faith in you. We ask this
through our Lord Jesus Christ your
Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(May 18) Pope
St. John I (d. 526)
Pope John I inherited the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of
Christ. Italy had been ruled for 30 years by an emperor who espoused
the heresy, though he treated the empire’s Catholics with toleration.
His policy changed at about the time the young John was elected pope.
When the eastern emperor began imposing severe measures on the Arians
of his area, the western emperor forced John to head a delegation to
the East to soften the measures against the heretics. Little is known
of the manner or outcome of the negotiations—designed to secure
continued toleration of Catholics in the West. When John returned to
Rome, he found that the emperor had begun to suspect his friendship
with his eastern rival. On his way home, John was imprisoned when he
reached Ravenna because the emperor suspected a conspiracy against his
throne. Shortly after his imprisonment, John died, apparently from the
treatment he had received.
We cannot choose the issues for which we have to suffer and perhaps
die. John I suffered because of a power-conscious emperor. Jesus
suffered because of the suspicions of those who were threatened by his
freedom, openness and powerlessness. “If you find that the world hates
you, know it has hated me before you.” “Martyrdom makes disciples like
their Master, who willingly accepted death for the salvation of the
world, and through it they are made like him by the shedding of blood.
Therefore, the Church considers it the highest gift and supreme test of
love. And while it is given to few, all however must be prepared to
confess Christ before humanity and to follow him along the way of the
cross amid the persecutions which the Church never lacks” (Dogmatic
Constitution on the Church, 42). (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9; Daniel 3:52-56; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; John
3:16-18
(click here
for readings)
For God
so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not
send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world
through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does
not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the
name of God's one and only Son. (John
3:16-18)
When we think of
the vast history of man and his numerous and varied religions, it is an
extraordinary thing that monotheism, the worship of one only God, is so
widespread in the modern world. Consider the polytheistic religions of
classical Greece and Rome. Consider the religions of the invading
barbarians of the Dark Ages.
Consider
the religions of indigenous peoples. Though there is a serious view
that some instances of apparent polytheism (say, African traditional
religion and Indian Hinduism) are really forms of an obscure
monotheism, there is surely no doubt that polytheism, the worship of
many gods, has been more characteristic of the religions of man. For
this widespread monotheism we have to thank not (primarily) a
developing philosophical thought or a more cultivated religious
instinct among the peoples, but the influence of Judaeo-Christian
revelation and doctrine. Judaism and more especially Christianity have
taught the world that there is one only God. Coming with his own
religious experience, Mahomet drew on this firm testimony and made it
his own as he thought it to be. And so Islam has taught that there is
no god but God, with the proviso that this one God is the God whose
messenger Mahomet claimed to be. Of course, with that proviso and all
that follows from it Islam marked itself off from Christianity and
Judaism as a profoundly distinct religion. Nevertheless it too has
contributed to the world-wide acceptance that there is one God only,
and that all depends on him. But now, among the many things that
distinguish the Christian religion from all others is the absolutely
central doctrine that this one God is not one only person, as is the
position of both Judaism and Islam. Let it be remembered that the Old
Testament does not teach that God is only one Person. It teaches that
there is only one God and that this one living God revealed himself to
his chosen people and prepared them for the Messiah who was to come.
But a stupendous revelation awaited all. The Messiah revealed himself
as God’s only-begotten divine Son. The Father and the Son then together
sent the Spirit. God revealed himself to be one God in three divine
Persons.
It is known to all
who are familiar with the Christian religion that the man Jesus Christ
is the centre and object of the Christian religion because he is God.
That historical man is divine. He is God become man, and in his
humanity he died for the world so that all mankind might find life in
him. Now, in respect to God we might say there are two questions, what
is God? and, who is God? If these two questions are taken as being
distinct and not merely synonymous then the first is a question, we
might say, about God’s nature and asks for a definition of him. The
second question while asking for a definition also asks that he be
identified as a person. So in answer to the question who is God, the
Christian will begin by saying that God is the man Jesus. God is he.
But the answer does not stop there because Jesus himself said that he
who sees me sees the Father. He also said that no one comes to the
Father except through him. He also referred to the Father as “my God
and your God”, “my Father and your Father.” So while God is Jesus, this
same one God is the Father. So the one God is the Father and he is also
Jesus his Son, who is a distinct person from the Father. But there is
more still to this most high mystery. Having completed his redeeming
work on earth Christ ascended to the right hand of his heavenly Father.
Then both the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit, and this divine
Spirit was revealed as a Person, just as much a distinct Person as is
the Father and the Son. So, who is the one God? The one God is Jesus.
The one God is also the Father. The one God is also the Holy Spirit.
Each of these three persons is distinct as a person, and each is fully
the one only God. As our Gospel passage today makes clear, it was the
Father who sent the Son, and as is shown in the New Testament and
confirmed by the Church’s teaching, the Father and the Son sent the
Holy Spirit to vivify, sustain and sanctify the Church. The three
divine persons in the one God are all involved in our salvation. They
revealed themselves to us in order to save us.
The Father is the
ultimate principle of the Godhead and from all eternity he generates
his only Son who is the entire being that he himself is. The Son is
equal to the Father for he is God and as the Son he loves and honours
the Father as Father. The Holy Spirit proceeds as a third and distinct
divine person from both Father and Son as their spirit and life. He
unites the Father and the Son in their embrace of love. He is the Lord
God as is the Father and the Son and is equally to be adored and
glorified. The wondrous thing is that by our baptism we have been
placed in them, and they in us by the gift of a share in their divine
life and by our baptism they dwell within us to sanctify us. Let us do
all things in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit.
(E.J.Tyler)
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A friend is a treasure. But what about the Friend?... For where your
treasure is, there is your heart.
(The Way, no.421)
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Vatican Council II Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum
Concilium), 10
The sacrament of the
Body and Blood of Christ brings us together in him and sends us out to
the world
The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is
directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power
flows. For the aim and object of apostolic works is that all who are
made sons of God by faith and baptism should come together to praise
God in the midst of His Church, to take part in the sacrifice, and to
eat the Lord's supper. The liturgy in its turn moves the faithful,
filled with "the paschal sacraments," to be "one in holiness" (cf Acts
4,32); it prays that "they may hold fast in their lives to what they
have grasped by their faith" (Collect for Tuesday of Easter Week); the
renewal in the Eucharist of the covenant between the Lord and man draws
the faithful into the compelling love of Christ and sets them on fire.
From the liturgy, therefore, and especially from the Eucharist, as from
a font, grace is poured forth upon us; and the sanctification of men in
Christ and the glorification of God, to which all other activities of
the Church are directed as toward their end, is achieved in the most
efficacious possible way.
(Daily Gospel, KY, USA)
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Monday of
the seventh week in Ordinary Time II
(May 19) St.
Theophilus of Corte (1676-1740)
If we expect saints to do marvellous things
continually and to leave us many memorable quotes, we are bound to be
disappointed with St. Theophilus. The mystery of God's grace in a
person's life, however, has a beauty all its own. Theophilus was born
in Corsica of rich and noble parents. As a young man he entered the
Franciscans and soon showed his love for solitude and prayer. After
admirably completing his studies, he was ordained and assigned to a
retreat house near Subiaco. Inspired by the austere life of the
Franciscans there, he founded other such houses in Corsica and Tuscany.
Over the years, he became famous for his preaching as well as his
missionary efforts. Though he was always somewhat sickly, Theophilus
generously served the needs of God's people in the confessional, in the
sickroom and at the graveside. Worn out by his labours, he died on June
17, 1740. He was canonized in 1930.
There is a certain dynamism in all the saints that
prompts them to find ever more selfless ways of responding to God's
grace. As time went on, Theophilus gave more and more singlehearted
service to God and to God's sons and daughters. Honouring the saints
will make no sense unless we are thus drawn to live as generously as
they did. Their holiness can never substitute for our own. Francis used
to say, "Let us begin, brothers, to serve the Lord God, for up to now
we have made little or no progress" (1 Celano, #193). (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
James 3:13-18; Psalm 19:8-10, 15; Mark 9:14-29
(click here
for readings)
As Jesus
came down from the mountain with Peter, James, John and came to the
other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of
the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they
were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. What are you arguing
with them about? he asked. A man in the crowd answered, Teacher, I
brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of
speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams
at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your
disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not. O unbelieving
generation, Jesus replied, how long shall I stay with you? How long
shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me. So they brought him. When
the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion.
He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus
asked the boy's father, How long has he been like this? From childhood,
he answered. It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him.
But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. 'If you can'?
said Jesus. Everything is possible for him who believes. Immediately
the boy's father exclaimed, I do believe; help my unbelief! When Jesus
saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit.
You deaf and mute spirit, he said, I command you, come out of him and
never enter him again. The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and
came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, He's
dead. But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he
stood up. After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him
privately, Why couldn't we drive it out? He replied, This kind can come
out only by prayer. (Mark 9:14-29)
John Calvin laid it
down in the first book of his Institutes (3.1.) that
“the human mind, even by natural instinct, possesses some sense of a
deity”, and that “God has given to all some apprehension of his
existence”. For support he cites Cicero who writes in his well-known
book On the Nature of the Gods that there is no nation
so barbarous
as not to be firmly
persuaded of the being of a God. Be that as it may - and with the far
greater knowledge we now have of the religions of man we can say that
it is not quite as simple as that - a further question is, what are the
foundations or sources of the religious sense? What prompts man to turn
to the unseen powers above? Again, there is no simple answer, but one
source is clearly man’s experience of need, vulnerability and
helplessness. He is in such constant need of help, help that is beyond
the reach of his own capacity and the capacity of others around him.
There are many things that bear down on a person or a family or a
community that no one seems able to do anything about. What is to be
done? The only thing, ultimately, that the subject can do is turn to
the unseen and ask for aid. That is surely one source of religion in
the life of man, but of course it is not the only source. In our Gospel
scene today we have an instance of helplessness so characteristic of
man’s situation. The man in the crowd was helpless before the
affliction long endured by his son. It had affected his son since his
childhood. The description given by the father would suggest something
like epilepsy but it was more than that because the demonic was
involved too. “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a
spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws
him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes
rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could
not. (Mark 9:14-29) The father of
the boy was desperate and he turned to Christ for aid. We too ought
turn to Christ for aid in all our need.
What was our Lord’s
response? He calmly asked the father about his son. He was
compassionate and, humanly speaking, wished to know the case in detail.
But then the father in desperation cried out, “But if you can do
anything, take pity on us and help us.” In part, it was an excellent
prayer, and we have examples of it elsewhere in the Gospels. We
remember how the group of lepers called out to our Lord, Jesus, son of
David, have pity on us. Our Lord immediately told them to go to the
priests and show themselves and as they were leaving they were cleansed
of their leprosy. On another occasion the blind beggar Bar Timaeus
called repeatedly to our Lord that he have pity on him. Our Lord called
him to him and having asked him what he could do for him, there and
then restored his sight. The appeal to God in Christ for aid is
something God wants us to do continually. St Alphonsus in one of his
books writes that the reason why we do not receive a lot more from God
is that we ask so little of him. The reason why we ask so little of him
is that we don’t really believe that asking God for what we need will
make much difference. We lack faith in the goodness and power of God -
and this may mean, in some cases, that we don’t really believe in God.
This very important point in all of the prayer that arises from our
human need is the very point that becomes the issue in our Gospel
passage today. The father of the boy appeals to our Lord saying, if you
can do anything, help us! Our Lord’s response was immediate: “'If you
can'? said Jesus. Everything is possible for him who believes.” We must
take that to heart in all our prayer. If we recognize that we lack
faith, then we ought pray for it, and for this we have the excellent
prayer of the father of the boy in our Gospel passage. “I do believe;
help my unbelief!” I suggest that every time we pray for something we
need we include in that very prayer of petition the further petition
for faith that is contained in these words of the father of the boy.
Let us ask God for what we need, and let us believe that he will answer
our prayer in the way he knows best.
The best prayer of
petition is the Lord’s Prayer, the prayer he taught his disciples when
they asked him to teach them how to pray. Go through it and observe
what our Lord says we ought be asking for. Another excellent prayer of
petition is the Hail Mary, addressed to Mary the mother of Christ
asking her to pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Let us go
to Christ as did the father of the boy and ask him for the help we
need, and ask him too for faith that he can indeed help us.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Jesus is your friend. The Friend. With a human heart, like yours. With
loving eyes that wept for Lazarus.
And he loves you as much as he loved Lazarus.
(The Way, no.422)
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Theodore of Mopsuestia (?-428),
Bishop of Mopsuestia in Cilicia and theologian
Commentary on St John’s Gospel; CSCO 115-116, p197
"Whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep."
Blessed Moses is the doorkeeper of this sheepfold, having established
it on the precepts of the law to allow those who lead their lives
according to its norms to live by them in full security. The shepherd…
leads men like sheep to the pastures of sound doctrine, showing them
the food of the word: that on which they must feed at the beginning and
that on which they should feed later on. He reveals to them the inner
meaning of these words, how Scripture should be understood and also
which teaching ought to be set aside, teaching which, perhaps, others
will deceivingly teach them to the loss of the sheep…
“Let us seek out, then,” says the Lord to the Pharisees, “whether you
or I go in by the entrance that the Law prescribes; which of us
zealously fulfils the Law’s precepts; to whom Moses, the keeper of the
sheepfold, truly opens the door; to whom he grants the praise and
honour due to his deeds; whom he declares to be the true shepherd. If
Moses praises in his book him who fulfils the precepts of the Law, then
there is no doubt that the fulfilment of these precepts is to be found,
not in you, but in me…
“Without lifting a finger to help the sheep, you seek nothing but your
own advantage. That is why you have no authority at all to drive away
anyone… But it is with good reason and just cause that I am called
shepherd, for in the first place I have carefully observed the Law;
then I have taken the door the Law prescribes and which the doorkeeper
himself has shown me; and finally, I have zealously carried out
everything that needs to be done for the good of the sheep.”
(Daily Gospel, KY, USA)
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Tuesday
of the seventh week in Ordinary Time II
(May 20) St.
Bernardine of Siena (1380-1444)
Most of the saints suffer great personal opposition, even persecution.
Bernardine, by contrast, seems more like a human dynamo who simply took
on the needs of the world. He was the greatest preacher of his time,
journeying across Italy, calming strife-torn cities, attacking the
paganism he found rampant, attracting crowds of 30,000, following St.
Francis’s admonition to preach about “vice and virtue, punishment and
glory.” Compared with St. Paul by the pope, Bernardine had a keen
intuition of the needs of the time, along with solid holiness and
boundless energy and joy. He accomplished all this despite having a
very weak and hoarse voice, miraculously improved later because of his
devotion to Mary. When he was 20, the plague was at its height in his
hometown, Siena. Sometimes as many as 20 people died in one day at the
hospital. Bernardine offered to run the hospital and, with the help of
other young men, nursed patients there for four months. He escaped the
plague but was so exhausted that a fever confined him for several
months. He spent another year caring for a beloved aunt (her parents
had died when he was a child) and at her death began to fast and pray
to know God’s will for him. At 22, he entered the Franciscan Order and
was ordained two years later. For almost a dozen years he lived in
solitude and prayer, but his gifts ultimately caused him to be sent to
preach. He always travelled on foot, sometimes speaking for hours in
one place, then doing the same in another town. Especially known for
his devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus, Bernardine devised a
symbol—IHS, the first three letters of the name of Jesus in Greek, in
Gothic letters on a blazing sun. This was to displace the superstitious
symbols of the day, as well as the insignia of factions (for example,
Guelphs and Ghibellines). The devotion spread, and the symbol began to
appear in churches, homes and public buildings. Opposition arose from
those who thought it a dangerous innovation. Three attempts were made
to have the pope take action against him, but Bernardine’s holiness,
orthodoxy and intelligence were evidence of his faithfulness. General
of a branch of the Franciscan Order, the Friars of the Strict
Observance, he strongly emphasized scholarship and further study of
theology and canon law. When he started there were 300 friars in the
community; when he died there were 4,000. He returned to preaching the
last two years of his life, dying while travelling.
Another dynamic saint once said, “...I will not be a burden, for I want
not what is yours, but you.... I will most gladly spend and be utterly
spent for your sakes” (2 Corinthians 12:14). There is danger that we
see only the whirlwind of activity in the Bernardines of faith—taking
care of the sick, preaching, studying, administering, always
driving—and forget the source of their energy. We should not say that
Bernardine could have been a great contemplative if he had had the
chance. He had the chance, every day, and he took it.
(AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: James 4:1-10; Psalm 55:7-11a, 23; Mark 9:30-37
(click here
for readings)
They left
that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to
know where they were, because he was teaching his disciples. He said to
them, The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.
They will kill him, and after three days he will rise. But they did not
understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it. They came
to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, What were you
arguing about on the road? But they kept quiet because on the way they
had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting down, Jesus called the
Twelve and said, If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last,
and the servant of all. He took a little child and had him stand among
them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, Whoever welcomes one of
these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me
does not welcome me but the one who sent me.
(Mark 9:30-37)
It would be fair to
say that one of the principal purposes in God revealing himself to
Abraham, the patriarchs, Moses and the prophets prior to the coming of
Jesus Christ was to educate the people he had chosen in one great fact.
That fact was that there were not many gods but only one. When we think
of
the
religious scene of the ancient world, this doctrine is somewhat
astonishing. There is a view that at one point in Egypt’s long history
the Pharaoh of the time enforced a kind of monotheism. But of course
that monotheism was revolutionary, crass, and in no way to be compared
with the monotheism of the Hebrews. Zoroastrianism had something
approaching a monotheism, but the exalted status of the evil principle
in effect reduces the supremacy of its good deity. Be all that as it
may, there is no doubt that one of the absolutely distinctive features
of the revealed religion of the Hebrews was its strict insistence on
there being one only God. This one only God called Abraham and his
descendants to a special relationship with himself and to a unique
mission, which would amount to a great blessing for the world. The one
God then revealed more and more of himself and not only were all the
other gods - the gods of the peoples - manifested as being nothing to
him, but as being nothing in themselves. There was no god but the Lord
God. Furthermore, Yahweh God gradually revealed himself to be without
limit in his power, majesty, holiness and being. He was the holiest in
the height to whom all praise was due, and in all his works he was most
wonderful. To him and to him alone was due all adoration, thanks and
praise. To him alone were all petitions to be addressed, and he alone
was the one offended by sin and wrongdoing. This was the revelation
peculiar to the Hebrews. It was an historical revelation rooted in
objective facts and not myth, and their religion was moulded and
structured to exalt and praise this one God alone.
But now, something
astonishing appeared and it was yet a further revelation by the same
one God. He, this one only God, this one divine and unlimited personal
Being, revealed himself to be not just one person but three. The one
God revealed himself to be in three distinct Persons, Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. Who revealed this? It was Jesus of Nazareth who revealed
this, and his revelation was openly, visibly and audibly supported by
the Father in both word and deed. This is not the moment to go into
this in any detail by referring to Christ’s words and deeds that showed
this, and by referring to the words of the Father from heaven and his
support of the Son in all his miracles. But let us notice one
surprising feature of God’s character and ways as revealed to us by
Jesus Christ. Exalted in the height and praised in the depth as he is,
without limit in all his excellence and perfections as he is, this one
only God in three persons is revealed as humble. He is at man’s
service. He is lowly and places himself at the last. To be like God our
Father and to be like Christ his Son and to live in the Holy Spirit
means being the servant of all. It means choosing not to be the first
but to be the last. Let us listen to our Lord’s words in the Gospel
today: “They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked
them, What were you arguing about on the road? But they kept quiet
because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. Sitting
down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, If anyone wants to be first, he
must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
(Mark 9:30-37) This solemn
directive as to the character of the true disciple of Christ expressed
the character of Christ himself. He came not to be served but to serve
and to give his life as a ransom for all. In this as in everything
about him he was the revelation of the Father. He who sees me sees the
Father, he told his disciples. So as the Son is, so is the Father.
It has often been
pointed out that a religion is shaped by its image of God, or its gods.
In turn a society is shaped by its image of God because a society is
shaped by its religion or lack of religion. The Christian’s whole life
is shaped by the thought of Christ, the Christ who loved him and gave
himself up for him. That is what God is revealed to be like. He is the
God who became man and in his humanity laid down his life for sinful
man. He who is the first of all made himself the last of all and the
servant of all. Historical revelation, the revelation that began with
Abraham and concluded with Jesus Christ who is God in person, is a
stupendous revelation and one full of surprises. The great God is
humble, loving and in constant service of us his fallen children. Let
us then cast ourselves entirely in his merciful keeping and never
separate ourselves from him, ever striving to be like him ourselves.
(E.J.Tyler)
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My
God, I love you, but... oh teach me to love!
(The Way, no.423)
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Pope Benedict XVI
Homily from the Inaugural Mass of his Pontificate, 24/04/05
"I will lay down my life for the sheep"
In the Ancient Near East, it was customary for kings to style
themselves shepherds of their people. This was an image of their power,
a cynical image: to them their subjects were like sheep, which the
shepherd could dispose of as he wished. When the shepherd of all
humanity, the living God, himself became a lamb, he stood on the side
of the lambs, with those who are downtrodden and killed. This is how he
reveals himself to be the true shepherd: “I am the Good Shepherd . . .
I lay down my life for the sheep."
It is not power, but love that redeems us! This is God’s sign: he
himself is love. How often we wish that God would make show himself
stronger, that he would strike decisively, defeating evil and creating
a better world. All ideologies of power justify themselves in exactly
this way, they justify the destruction of whatever would stand in the
way of progress and the liberation of humanity. We suffer on account of
God’s patience. And yet, we need his patience. God, who became a lamb,
tells us that the world is saved by the Crucified One, not by those who
crucified him. The world is redeemed by the patience of God. It is
destroyed by the impatience of man.
(Daily Gospel, KY, USA)
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Wednesday of the seventh week in Ordinary Time II
(May 21) St.
Cristóbal Magallanes and Companions (d. 1915-1928)
Like Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro, S.J., Cristóbal and
his 24 companion martyrs lived under a very anti-Catholic government in Mexico,
one determined to weaken the Catholic faith of its people. Churches, schools and
seminaries were closed; foreign clergy were expelled. Cristóbal established a
clandestine seminary at Totatiche, Jalisco. Magallanes and the other priests
were forced to minister secretly to Catholics during the presidency of Plutarco
Calles (1924-28). All of these martyrs except three were diocesan priests.
David, Manuel and Salvador were laymen who died with their parish priest, Luis
Batis. All of these martyrs belonged to the Cristero movement, pledging their
allegiance to Christ and to the Church that he established to spread the Good
News in society—even if Mexico's leaders once made it a crime to receive Baptism
or celebrate the Mass. These martyrs did not die as a single group but in eight
Mexican states, with Jalisco and Zacatecas having the largest number. They were
beatified in 1992 and canonized eight years later.
Every martyr realizes how to avoid execution but refuses to pay the
high price of doing so. A clear conscience was more valuable than a long life.
We may be tempted to compromise our faith while telling ourselves that we are
simply being realistic, dealing with situations as we find them. Is survival
really the ultimate value? Do our concrete, daily choices reflect our deepest
values, the ones that allow us to “tick” the way we do? Anyone can imagine
situations in which being a follower of Jesus is easier than the present
situation. Saints remind us that our daily choices, especially in adverse
circumstances, form the pattern of our lives. During his homily at the
canonization Mass on May 21, 2000, Pope John Paul II addressed the Mexican men,
women and children present in Rome and said: “After the harsh trials that the
Church endured in Mexico during those turbulent years, today Mexican Christians,
encouraged by the witness of these witnesses to the faith, can live in peace and
harmony, contribute the wealth of gospel values to society. The Church grows and
advances, since she is the crucible in which many priestly and religious
vocations are born, where families are formed according to God's plan, and where
young people, a substantial part of the Mexican population, can grow with the
hope of a better future. May the shining example of Cristóbal Magallanes and his
companion martyrs help you to make a renewed commitment of fidelity to God,
which can continue to transform Mexican society so that justice, fraternity and
harmony will prevail among all.” (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
James 4:13-17; Psalm 49:2-3, 6-11; Mark 9:38-40
(click here for
readings)
John said to Jesus, Teacher, we saw a
man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not
one of us. Do not stop him, Jesus said. No-one who does a miracle in my name can
in the next moment speak ill of me, for whoever is not against us is for us.
(Mark 9:38-40)
One of the very sad things about the
history of religion and of Christianity in particular is that so much of it is
characterized by strife and conflict. In the New Testament itself we see
evidence of divisions within the Christian community and of the conflict
involved in the upholding of the faith and discipline of the Church. Perhaps the
century
most noted for early Church divisions was the fourth with the rise of Arianism and its various branches. Then at various points in the history of the
Church more divisions arose and at our stage of the Church’s long history there
are tremendous number of Christian bodies of various kinds. The greatest in size
by far is the Catholic Church whose chief pastor is the successor of St Peter.
Fortunately, there is now a great movement towards recovering the Christian
unity Christ prayed for at the Last Supper. Father, he prayed, may they all be
one as we are one. Well now, let us consider our Gospel passage today, with our
gaze above all on our Lord himself. Mark the author of the Gospel - and it is
generally agreed that he is reporting the preaching and recollections of Simon
Peter - tells us that John reports something to Jesus. By way of aside, let us
remember that John, the author of the fourth Gospel, is mentioned by St Paul as
being one of the three pillars of the infant Church together with Peter and
James. He is one of those three whom our Lord takes with him in special moments
of his mission, such as at raising of the little girl from the dead, the
transfiguration, and the agony in the garden. Elsewhere in the Gospels, he is
portrayed as fiery in his defence of the honour of the Master (as when
hospitality was refused to him by a village in Samaria). So Mark, relying on St
Peter, tells us that John came to Jesus to tell him that “we saw a man driving
out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.”
(Mark 9:38-40) John may have been jealous
for Jesus himself, or even a little jealous for his own prerogatives as Jesus’
disciple.
Well now, what was our Lord’s response?
His response was, that man is not doing any harm by doing a miracle in my name.
He is not acting against us by helping someone in need - casting out a demon no
less - and doing so in my name. By doing this he is for us because my name will
be exalted by his good deed. Well now, someone reading this may think that by
this reply Christ is liberally allowing anything to be said or done in his name.
Well, let us pause and consider a few aspects of the case. There is no mention
that the person who is “not one of us” - not in Christ’s band of disciples - is
preaching a doctrine in conflict with that preached by Christ. John does not
come to Christ to tell him that the person driving out demons in Christ’s name
from some afflicted person is also preaching that Jesus is not the Messiah, and
that his claims are false. I am sure it would have been a different matter were
John to have come to our Lord to tell him that this person was preaching that
Christ’s doctrine of the Eucharist, preached at Capernaum (John 6), could only
be a symbol and that what Christ preached cannot be taken as it stands. It would
have been different had John told our Lord that this person was preaching that
Christ is an imposter as the leaders were saying, and that his band of disciples
with Simon Peter at their head were to be resisted and rejected in their
teaching. All this is to say that the person casting out the demon was not
opposing the message of Christ and his disciples. All he was doing was a work of
mercy in Christ’s name, but not as one of the specially chosen band around our
Lord and which our Lord was sending out to preach and drive out demons. So our
Lord told John to let him be. “No-one who does a miracle in my name can in the
next moment speak ill of me.” But it would be different when actual heresies
arose in the Church, and they began to appear very early. Their prototypes in
the Gospels were those who hostilely resisted and contradicted Christ in his
teaching about himself and his mission. That indeed would be speaking ill of him
for it would be denying the saving and redeeming truth about him.
The one casting out demons in Christ’s
name was not preaching and promoting error, but doing a good work in the name of
Jesus and so introducing - in his limited but well-meant way - others to the
knowledge and love of Christ. Let us place ourselves in the company of our Lord
with his chosen band of disciples. Let us observe the magnanimity of Christ and
how he stands above all pettiness. Let us too be magnanimous with the spirit of
Christ. But of course let not a scene such as this be misinterpreted and taken
as showing that Christ cared little for truth and the denial of what he had come
to reveal and to do.
(E.J.Tyler)
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To punish
out of Love: this is the secret that raises to a supernatural plane the
punishment of those who deserve it.
For the love of God, who has been offended, let punishment serve as reparation.
For the love of our neighbour and for the sake of God, let it be imposed, never
as revenge, but as health-giving medicine.
(The Way, no.424)
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Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Carmelite, Doctor of
the Church Spiritual Testimonies, 42
"The Father and I are one."
After having received Communion on the feast of St. Augustine, I understood -
I'm unable to say how - and almost saw (although it was something intellectual
and passed quickly) how the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity, which I bear
imprinted in my soul, are one. By means of the strangest painting and a very
clear light, I was given an understanding that was an activity very different
from merely holding this truth by faith. As a result I haven't been able to
think of any of the three divine Persons without thinking of all three.
Thus I was reflecting today upon how, since they were so united, the Son alone
could have taken human flesh; and the Lord gave me understanding of how although
they are united they are distinct. These are grandeurs which make the soul again
desire to be free from this body that hinders their enjoyment. For although it
seems our lowliness was not meant for understanding anything about them, the
soul, without knowing how, receives incomparably greater benefit from this
understanding even though it lasts only a moment - than from many years of
meditation
(Daily Gospel, KY, USA)
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Thursday
of the seventh week in Ordinary Time II
(May 22) St. Rita of
Cascia (1381-1457)
Like Elizabeth Ann Seton, Rita of Cascia was a wife,
mother, widow and member of a religious community. Her holiness was reflected in
each phase of her life. Born at Roccaporena in central Italy, Rita wanted to
become a nun but was pressured at a young age into marrying a harsh and cruel
man. During her 18-year marriage, she bore and raised two sons. After her
husband was killed in a brawl and her sons had died, Rita tried to join the
Augustinian nuns in Cascia. Unsuccessful at first because she was a widow, Rita
eventually succeeded. Over the years, her austerity, prayerfulness and charity
became legendary. When she developed wounds on her forehead, people quickly
associated them with the wounds from Christ's crown of thorns. She meditated
frequently on Christ's passion. Her care for the sick nuns was especially
loving. She also counselled lay people who came to her monastery. Beatified in
1626, Rita was not canonized until 1900. She has acquired the reputation,
together with St. Jude, as a saint of impossible cases. Many people visit her
tomb each year.
Although we can easily imagine an ideal world in which to live out
our baptismal vocation, such a world does not exist. An “If only ….” approach to
holiness never quite gets underway, never produces the fruit that God has a
right to expect. Rita became holy because she made choices that reflected her
Baptism and her growth as a disciple of Jesus. Her overarching, lifelong choice
was to cooperate generously with God's grace, but many small choices were needed
to make that happen. Few of those choices were made in ideal circumstances—not
even when Rita became an Augustinian nun. For the Baptism of adults and for all
the baptized at the Easter Vigil, three questions are asked: “Do you reject sin
so as to live in the freedom of God's children? Do you reject the glamour of
evil, and refuse to be mastered by sin? Do you reject Satan, father of sin and
prince of darkness?” (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: James 5:1-6; Psalm 49:14-20;
Mark 9:41-50
(click here for
readings)
Jesus
said to his disciples: I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water
in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward. And
if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be
better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his
neck. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter
life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter
life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye
causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of
God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where 'their
worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.' Everyone will be salted with
fire. Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty
again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.
(Mark 9:41-50)
One of the intriguing things about
modern Western culture is that some extremely important things are just not
mentioned in public discourse. What things? Well, in this instance I am thinking
of all reference to “sin”. The media is full of mention of wrongdoing,
immorality and unethical behaviour. Consider very many of the current affairs
programs
- let us say, here in Australia, the Four Corners program and other similar
in-depth analyses of issues in civil and social life. I have often noticed the
high proportion of programs that deal directly with matters of ethics. It could
be corruption in the police force, it could be fraud and embezzlement in the
commercial world, it could be some political illegality, all instances of
wrongdoing. Generally such programs are full of interest and excitement. But
there is no mention of “sin”, which is to say of immorality considered as an
offence against God. Much of the reason for this is that God is deemed to be a
private matter. However this is not the only reason because even in a religious
country such as the United States where God is mentioned often and publicly,
“sin” is not. Take a candidate for the United States presidency at election
time. He or she will often refer to God and to his or her own personal faith -
and Christian faith at that - but what of any reference to “sin”? That is
absent. In our modern Western and largely secular culture - especially in, say,
Australia - “sin” is regarded as an especially private matter in the sense that
its reality is deemed to be a matter of mere personal opinion. Of course it is
true that many “sins” have little or no civil bearing. But my point here is that
“sin” tends not to be regarded as an objective fact whereas wrongdoing and
immorality are. Be that as it may, and it is a subject that could be discussed
at length, let it serve as an introduction to what our Lord has to say. In our
Lord’s discourse, “sin” is a very great fact and it is at the forefront of his
mission and his teaching. It was to take away the sin of the world that he came
among us.
Our Lord teaches us that if there is one
thing we must do in life it is to avoid sin. Listen to his uncompromising words.
They are worth repeating. “And if anyone causes one of these little ones who
believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with
a large millstone tied around his neck. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it
off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into
hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it
off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be
thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better
for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be
thrown into hell, where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched
'.” (Mark 9:41-50). If we sin and do not
repent of our sin, God will judge and punish us accordingly. The wages of sin,
St Paul writes, are death. Death came into the world because one man sinned, St
Paul tells us, and death has spread through the whole human race as a result.
Sin has ruined the world, and God sent his Son to save the world from its sin.
At the end of life we pass to the judgment of God, and the question will then be
simple. Have we obeyed God, or have we refused to obey him? Have we been good in
the sight of God, or have we sinned and failed to repent of our sin? Sin, then,
is the great and terrible fact that will make all the difference to eternity. On
it hinges each person’s prospects of heaven or hell. It must, then, be avoided
and renounced and this is the point of our Lord’s dramatic and harsh words about
anything that leads us to sin. We are to cut it out of our life. Sin is to be
avoided and the occasions of sin - to the extent that is possible - are to be
avoided as well, and all of this for the love of God. So then, the work of every
day is simple but extremely demanding in its detail. We are to love and obey God
and avoid sin, be it in thought, word or deed.
Whatever be the reason why “sin” is
absent from public conversation about the great issues of life and the world,
let not this fact implant in our minds the assumption that “sin” is not a fact
at all. It is the fundamental issue around which hinges life’s success or
failure. Sin is at the root of the world’s woes, and it was to uproot sin that
God became man. Let us then every day set out with the grace of Christ to resist
and defeat sin and to live for God and Christ totally.
(E.J.Tyler)
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To know
that you love me so much, my God, and yet... I haven't lost my mind!
(The Way, no.425)
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Origen (c.185-253), priest and theologian
Homilies on Genesis, I, 5-7
"I came into the world as light, so that
everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness"
Christ is the “light of the world” (Jn 8,12) who also illuminates the Church
with his light. For just as the moon is said to receive its light from the sun
so that, through the moon, the night can also be illuminated, so too the Church,
having received the light of Christ, illumines all who dwell in the night of
ignorance… Thus it is Christ who is “the true light which enlightens everyone,
coming into the world” (Jn 1,9), and the Church, receiving his light, itself
becomes light to the world, “a light for those in darkness” (Rom 2,19), as
Christ said to his disciples: “You are the light of the world” (Mt 5,14). From
which it follows that Christ is the light of the apostles, but the apostles are
the light of the world.
(Daily Gospel, KY, USA)
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Friday of
the seventh week in Ordinary Time II
(May 23) St. Felix of
Cantalice (1515-1587)
Felix was the first Franciscan Capuchin
ever canonized. In fact, when he was born, the Capuchins did not yet exist as a
distinct group within the Franciscans. Born of humble, God-fearing parents in
the Rieti Valley, Felix worked as a farmhand and a shepherd until he was 28. He
developed the habit of praying while he worked. In 1543 he joined the Capuchins.
When the guardian explained the hardships of that way of life, Felix answered:
"Father, the austerity of your Order does not frighten me. I hope, with God’s
help, to overcome all the difficulties which will arise from my own weakness."
Three years later Felix was assigned to the friary in Rome as its official
beggar. Because he was a model of simplicity and charity, he edified many people
during the 42 years he performed that service for his confreres. As he made his
rounds, he worked to convert hardened sinners and to feed the poor as did his
good friend, St. Philip Neri, who founded the Oratory, a community of priests
serving the poor of Rome. When Felix wasn’t talking on his rounds, he was
praying the rosary. The people named him "Brother Deo Gratias" (thanks be to
God) because he was always using that blessing. When Felix was an old man, his
superior had to order him to wear sandals to protect his health. Around the same
time a certain cardinal offered to suggest to Felix’s superiors that he be freed
of begging so that he could devote more time to prayer. Felix talked the
cardinal out of that idea. Felix was canonized in 1712.
Grateful people
make good beggars. Francis told his friars that if they gave the world good
example, the world would support them. Felix’s life proves the truth of that
advice. In referring all blessings back to their source (God), Felix encouraged
people to works of charity for the friars and for others. "And let us refer all
good to the most high and supreme lord God, and acknowledge that every good is
His, and thank Him for everything, [He] from Whom all good things come. And may
He, the Highest and Supreme, Who alone is true God, have and be given and
receive every honour and reverence, every praise and blessing, every thanks and
glory, for every good is His, He Who alone is good. And when we see or hear an
evil [person] speak or act or blaspheme God, let us speak well and act well and
praise God (cf. Rom 12:21), Who is blessed forever (Rom 1:25)" (St. Francis,
Rule of 1221, Ch. 17). (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: James 5:9-12; Psalm 103:1-4,
8-9, 11-12; Mark 10:1-12
(click here for
readings)
Jesus
then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan.
Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them. Some
Pharisees came and tested him by asking, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his
wife? What did Moses command you? he replied. They said, Moses permitted a man
to write a certificate of divorce and send her away. It was because your hearts
were hard that Moses wrote you this law, Jesus replied. But at the beginning of
creation God 'made them male and female'. 'For this reason a man will leave his
father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.'
So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let
man not separate. When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus
about this. He answered, Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman
commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries
another man, she commits adultery. (Mark
10:1-12)
One of the saddest things in the
phenomenon of Christianity is its range and depth of division. Christianity is
divided whereas in the plan of Christ it was meant to be united. Christ intended
one flock and one Shepherd, and now there are many separated flocks. The sources
of this division are many but one obvious one is the way the inspired
Scriptures
are viewed and then interpreted. All account the Scriptures, both Old and New
Testaments, to be inspired by God. But what does this mean, and above all, what
is the principle of their interpretation? The fact is that there are radically
opposite principles of interpretation. John Calvin in his Institutes
absolutely rejects the authority of the Church to rule on the interpretation
of the Scriptures, and places his full emphasis on “the secret testimony of the
Spirit.” Calvin sees the Church as no more than a human authority and its
judgment, so he thought, as no more than man’s judgment. It is the “inward
testimony of the Spirit” that gives certainty as to the Scriptures (Book I,
7.4). Well, this is not the place to deal fully with this position, but let it
serve as a setting for our Gospel scene today. “Some Pharisees came and tested
Jesus by asking, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” The Pharisees
bring forward to our Lord their question about a point of personal and social
morality - about divorce, no less - and they in turn are asked by our Lord to
cite the command of Moses. Why did our Lord ask them what Moses had directed?
Presumably because the legislation of Moses was seen by all as supporting the
morality of divorce. Our Lord took the question that was presented to him to set
forth the real meaning of the mosaic legislation, and to bring the leaders of
the nation’s religious thought back to the original plan of God which had not
been expressed in that legislation. That original plan was expressed in the
Scriptural account of the creation of man. The mosaic legislation was a
practical and civil strategy to manage the people’s hardness of heart and
inveterate refusal to live according to that original plan.
So then, our Lord lays down the true
meaning of the Scriptures as to marriage and divorce. It is contained in the
words of the earliest pages of the Book of Genesis, and Christ quotes the
verses. At the beginning of creation, he says, God 'made them male and female'.
'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his
wife, and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one.
Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate. He tells the
Pharisees that it is this text that reveals the law of God, and that it is to be
understood strictly. When a man leaves his father and mother and marries, he and
his spouse become one. Their union is God’s work. He has joined them together
and their union is not to be dissolved by man. This teaching of Scripture, as
ruled on by Christ, has immense implications for the world because marriage is
obviously at the foundation of the life and health of mankind. It is also one of
the obvious differences between the teaching of Christ and that of very many
other religions - including, and perhaps especially, Islam. We read that in the
circle of his disciples (that is, we might add, with his Church in embryo)
Christ was unambiguously clear on the matter. “Anyone who divorces his wife and
marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her
husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”
(Mark 10:1-12) Christ’s teaching on marriage was utterly different
from and contradicts that of, say, Mahomet. But the point I am really making
here is that Christ stands forth as the interpreter of the Sacred Scriptures. In
those points of fundamental importance which are uncertain and controverted the
Scriptures are not authoritatively interpreted by each person’s sense of the
inward testimony of the Holy Spirit. The Pharisees did not pose their question
while claiming to possess the inward witness of the Spirit on the matter. There
is an objective Oracle, and that Oracle is Christ.
This divine Oracle is present in his
Church, the Church he founded. The Church is not a mere human institution,
consisting of nothing more than its human members. It is the body of Christ and
Christ is her head. When the Church rules on what God has revealed, it is Christ
present in the Church as her Head who is thus determining, and he is doing so by
the power of the Holy Spirit who has been given to the Church as her Guide. Let
us then live by the word of the Scriptures, but read as members of the Church
whose head is Christ and whose Guide and Sanctifier is the Holy Spirit.
(E.J.Tyler)
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In Christ
we have every ideal: for he is King, he is Love, he is God.
(The Way, no.426)
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Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus (1873-1897),
Carmelite, Doctor of the Church
Manuscript B, 2vo-3vo
"Whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives
the one who sent me."
To
be your Spouse, O Jesus, to be a Carmelite, and by my union with you to be a
Mother of souls, should not this suffice me? And yet it is not so. No doubt
these three privileges sum up my true vocation: Carmelite, spouse, mother, and
yet I feel within me other vocations… I feel the need and the desire of carrying
out the most heroic deeds for you, O Jesus… In spite of my littleness, I would
like to enlighten souls as did the Prophets and Doctors. I have the vocation of
the Apostle. I would like to travel over the whole earth to preach your name and
to plant your glorious Cross on infidel soil. But, O my Beloved, one mission
alone would not be sufficient for me. I would want to preach the Gospel on all
the five continents simultaneously and even to the most remote isles. I would be
a missionary, not for a few years only but from the beginning of creation until
the consummation of the ages…
O my Jesus! What is your answer to all my follies? Is there a soul more little,
more powerless than mine? Nevertheless, even because of my weakness, it has
pleased you, O Lord, to grant my little, childish desires and you desire, today,
to grant other desires that are greater than the universe… I understood that
love comprised all vocations, that love was everything, that it embraced all
times and places… in a word, that it was eternal!… My vocation, at last I have
found it… my vocation is Love!
(Daily Gospel, KY, USA)
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Saturday
of the seventh week in Ordinary Time II
(May 24) Mary
Help of Christians
Pope Pius VII, after he returned
to Rome in 1815 from several years of captivity imposed by the emperor
Napoleon Bonaparte, instituted this feast day in honor of the
assistance which the Blessed Virgin had accorded the Church. The
occasion of the Pope’s exile and captivity was the emperor’s resistance
to the authority of the Vicar of Christ, superior before God to his
own. A decree of the emperor in 1809 had ordered that the papal States
be joined to the French empire; violence followed in Rome, when the
French tricolor flag was set up and the papal arms broken. The Pope’s
very courageous bull of excommunication of the emperor was made public
in the following month. Then, one morning, a group of armed men entered
the Quirinal Palace by breaking down the doors with axes, and its
leader announced that the pope must either renounce his sovereignty
over Rome or be taken by the troop to a French General, who would
communicate to him his next destination. The sacrilegious seizure of
his person was executed, and he spent five years in exile in various
places, finally at Fontainebleau, France. After 1815 the clemency of
the great Pope towards the Emperor and his family is a matter of
history; the latter were afforded a secure refuge in Rome itself, when
Napoleon was exiled. And for the Emperor himself, relegated to the
island of Saint Helena, the Pope pleaded for clemency with the
Prince-Regent of England. When Napoleon died, it was with the
assistance of chaplains sent to him by Pius VII. Our Lady, Help of
Christians, was made better known by Saint John Bosco, who consecrated
his Order of Salesian priests to Her. And in Turin, beginning in 1865,
he began to raise in Her honor a vast and magnificent church. Without
ever having a penny in advance, always the needed sums of money arrived
in time. About three-fourths of the gifts offered were presented in
thanksgiving for favors obtained through Her intercession. An example
of her intercession is as follows: A certain Senator of the Kingdom of
Italy was ill; Don Bosco went to visit him and found him very
discouraged and speaking of his imminent death. “What would you do,”
said Don Bosco, “if Our Lady Auxiliatrix obtained your cure from God?”
“My cure! Well, I would give two thousand francs a month for Her
church, for six months.” “Be of good courage,” said the Saint on
rising; “I will see that prayers are said for you.” Three days later,
Baron Gotta, perfectly cured, went to Don Bosco to make his first
payment, giving more than he had promised; and he did not cease to
outdo himself in generosity.
(L’histoire ecclésiastique)
St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi (1566-1607)
Mary Magdalene de Pazzi was born into a noble family in
Florence in 1566. The normal course would have been for Catherine de
Pazzi to have married wealth and enjoyed comfort, but she chose to
follow her own path. At nine she learned to meditate from the family
confessor. She made her first Communion at the then-early age of 10 and
made a vow of virginity one month later. When 16, she entered the
Carmelite convent in Florence because she could receive Communion daily
there. Catherine had taken the name Mary Magdalene and had been a
novice for a year when she became critically ill. Death seemed near so
her superiors let her make her profession of vows from a cot in the
chapel in a private ceremony. Immediately after, she fell into an
ecstasy that lasted about two hours. This was repeated after Communion
on the following 40 mornings. These ecstasies were rich experiences of
union with God and contained marvellous insights into divine truths. As
a safeguard against deception and to preserve the revelations, her
confessor asked Mary Magdalene to dictate her experiences to sister
secretaries. Over the next six years, five large volumes were filled.
The first three books record ecstasies from May of 1584 through
Pentecost week the following year. This week was a preparation for a
severe five-year trial. The fourth book records that trial and the
fifth is a collection of letters concerning reform and renewal. Another
book, Admonitions, is a collection of her sayings arising from her
experiences in the formation of women religious. The extraordinary was
ordinary for this saint. She read the thoughts of others and predicted
future events. During her lifetime, she appeared to several persons in
distant places and cured a number of sick people. It would be easy to
dwell on the ecstasies and pretend that Mary Magdalene only had
spiritual highs. This is far from true. It seems that God permitted her
this special closeness to prepare her for the five years of desolation
that followed when she experienced spiritual dryness. She was plunged
into a state of darkness in which she saw nothing but what was horrible
in herself and all around her. She had violent temptations and endured
great physical suffering. She died in 1607 at 41, and was canonized in
1669. (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: James 5:13-20; Psalm 141:1-3 and 8; Mark 10:13-16
(click here
for readings)
People
were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the
disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said
to them, Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,
for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth,
anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will
never enter it. And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on
them and blessed them.
(Mark 10:13-16)
Over the decades I
have often heard variants of the expression, "the good old days". By
that I mean that I have often heard sentiments that express a sadness
that things have deteriorated from how they used to be. Of course,
there is some truth in this. Society has become more secular in its
culture, even if there were plenty of individuals who
were very
secular in previous times. Forms of practical atheism and religious
agnosticism seem to have spread to a greater extent than used to be the
case. And so we could go on. But there have been many decided advances.
I am convinced that education is of a much higher quality than it used
to be, and pedagogy in our schools is much better. Another advance, I
think, is the appreciation of the value of the child. Of course, there
are anomalies in this. Abortion is far, far greater than it was, say
fifty years ago. Nevertheless, for those children who do make it to
birth, in general their rights are now supported much more than
previously. If there is a case of child abuse the processes of the law
swing into action in the child’s defence. The child tends now not to be
overlooked. Well now, let us think of the child and his needs and
rights because Christ mentions the child in our Gospel passage today.
If Christ is God the Son made man - which he is, and if he is the way
and the truth and the life for man - which he is, then what greater
blessing could there be for a child than to come into contact with the
living Jesus? In our Gospel today we read that people were bringing
little children to Jesus to have them touch him. Indeed, throughout the
Gospels we read of people trying to touch Jesus, and even just to touch
the hem of his garments. If they did this they would be healed of their
infirmities. Contact with Jesus brought healing and life, and he said
that he had come to bring life in abundance. So the friends and
families of children brought them to him for them to touch him. From
that touch, they were confident would come a blessing for their child.
What was our Lord’s
response to the children being brought to him? He warmly encouraged it,
and was indignant with his disciples for making it difficult out of a
misplaced concern for his convenience (Mark
10:13-16). Imagine the delighted smile that appeared on our
Lord’s face as each child was presented to him. Imagine the love that
emanated from his eyes as he gazed on each child, perhaps looking not
only into that child’s heart but looking ahead to what life would bring
for that child. A child can turn out well, and a child can turn out
badly. Consider our Lord’s own disciples. Consider the Twelve. Each was
once a child. John the beloved disciple was once a child, as was Simon
Peter and James. How well they turned out! They became, as St Paul
called them, the pillars of the early Church and Simon himself the
Church’s visible Rock. Judas was once a child too. He grew up, was a
youth, a young man and in his adulthood was called by Christ to be one
of the Twelve. But how badly he turned out! He was once a child. As
Christ gazed into the eyes of each child presented to him perhaps he
thought of his own childhood and of what life entailed for him. We read
that he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and
blessed them. The prayer of Christ is very powerful indeed and we must
assume that Christ’s blessing was a very great thing in the life of
those children. As we think of this scene we are reminded that the
greatest thing we can do for a child is to bring that child into
personal contact with the living Jesus and his word. We read in St Paul
that in Christ is contained every heavenly blessing. Therefore it is so
important that the child be brought into contact and union with Christ.
In our Gospel scene the parents of those children did this. Let all
parents do the same. From the child’s earliest years, let parents bring
their children to Jesus. Jesus resides in his body the Church. He is
encountered in his word as read and proclaimed by the Church, and in
the Sacraments. How tragic if a child grows up and has little or no
contact with the living Jesus.
Our Lord holds up
to us all the dispositions of simple openness to him that we could say
is characteristic of the child. The readiness of the child for love and
for reality is easily translated into readiness for the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God belongs to such as these, our Lord says. And what is
the Kingdom of God? The Kingdom of God in the first instance is Jesus
himself. God’s presence and lordship is found in him, and we become
citizens of that kingdom by entering into union with him. Let us then
be like children brought to our Lord for his blessing.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Lord:
may I have due measure in everything... except in Love.
(The Way, no.427)
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Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Dominican
theologian, Doctor of the Church
Commentary on Saint John's Gospel 14,2
«I am the Way, the Truth and the Life»
Christ is both Way and End: the Way according to his humanity, the End
according to his divinity. Therefore, insofar as he is man he says: «I
myself am the Way» and insofar as he is God he adds: «the Truth and the
Life». These last two words well express the end of this way, for the
end of this way is the ending of human desire... Christ is the way by
which we reach knowledge of the truth while he himself is the truth:
«Teach me, O Lord, your way that I may walk in your truth» (Ps 86,11).
And Christ is the way by which we come to life, while he himself is
life: «You will show me the path to life» (Ps 16,11)...
So if you are wondering which way to go, take Christ, since he is
himself the way: «This is the way; walk in it» (Is 30,21). And Saint
Augustine comments: «Walk by following the man and you will come to
God». For it is better to limp along the way than stride forward apart
from it. Even if someone who is limping on the way does not make much
progress, he draws closer to the end; but the more vigorously a person
runs who is travelling apart from the way, the further he goes from the
end.
If you are wondering where to go, be united to Christ, for he is in
person the Truth we are trying to reach: «This is the truth my mouth
recounts» (Pr 8,7). If you are wondering where to rest, be united to
Christ, since he is the Life in person: «He who finds me, finds life»
(Pr 8,35).
(Daily Gospel, KY, USA)
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The Body and
Blood of Christ
(Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time A)
Prayers
this week:
The Lord fed his people with the
finest wheat and honey; their hunger was satisfied.
(Psalm 80:17)
Lord Jesus Christ, you gave us the Eucharist as the memorial of your
suffering and death. May our worship of this sacrament of your body and blood
help us to experience the salvation you won for us and the peace of the kingdom. We ask this
through our Lord Jesus Christ your
Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
(May 25) St. Bede the
Venerable (672?-735)
Bede is one of the few saints
honoured as such even during his lifetime. His writings were filled with such
faith and learning that even while he was still alive, a Church council ordered
them to be read publicly in the churches. At an early age Bede was entrusted to
the care of the abbot of the Monastery of St. Paul, Jarrow. The happy
combination of genius and the instruction of scholarly, saintly monks produced a
saint and an extraordinary scholar, perhaps the most outstanding one of his day.
He was deeply versed in all the sciences of his times: natural philosophy, the
philosophical principles of Aristotle, astronomy, arithmetic, grammar,
ecclesiastical history, the lives of the saints and, especially, Holy Scripture.
From the time of his ordination to the priesthood at 30 (he had been ordained
deacon at 19) till his death, he was ever occupied with learning, writing and
teaching. Besides the many books that he copied, he composed 45 of his own,
including 30 commentaries on books of the Bible. Although eagerly sought by
kings and other notables, even Pope Sergius, Bede managed to remain in his own
monastery till his death. Only once did he leave for a few months in order to
teach in the school of the archbishop of York. Bede died in 735 praying his
favourite prayer: “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Spirit. As in the beginning, so now, and forever.” His Ecclesiastical History of
the English People is commonly regarded as of decisive importance in the art and
science of writing history. A golden age was coming to an end at the time of
Bede’s death: It had fulfilled its purpose of preparing Western Christianity to
assimilate the non-Roman barbarian North. Bede recognized the opening to a new
day in the life of the Church even as it was happening.
Though his History is the greatest legacy Bede has left us,
his work in all the sciences (especially in Scripture) should not be overlooked.
During his last Lent, he worked on a translation of the Gospel of St. John into
English, completing it the day he died. But of this work “to break the word to
the poor and unlearned” nothing remains today. “We have not, it seems to me,
amid all our discoveries, invented as yet anything better than the Christian
life which Bede lived, and the Christian death which he died” (C. Plummer,
editor of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History). (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture:
Deut 8:2-3, 14b-16a; Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20; 1 Corinth 10:16-17; John 6:51-58
(click here for
readings)
Jesus
said to the Jewish crowds: I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If
anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever. This bread is my flesh, which
I will give for the life of the world. Then the Jews began to argue sharply
among themselves, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus said to them,
I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his
blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has
eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food
and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in
me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the
Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread
that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who
feeds on this bread will live for ever. (John
6:51-58)
If the average person thinks of the
Catholic religion there will naturally come to his mind certain distinctive
religious beliefs and practices. Conversely, if those beliefs and practices are
mentioned, it is Catholicism which will come to mind. It might be, say, papal
authority. If one thinks of Catholicism, many would think of the Pope, and
conversely
if one thinks of the Pope, one thinks of Catholicism. There are other things
that are associated with the Catholic religion while not being exclusive to it.
For instance, many would think of the Catholic Church when they think opposition
to abortion even though this opposition is not exclusive to Catholic teaching
for it is founded on the natural law. Now, one religious doctrine which is
profoundly characteristic of the Catholic religion is the doctrine of the Holy
Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist is at the very centre of Catholicism and of a
truly Catholic life. Catholicism would regard as unthinkable that it lack the
Holy Eucharist and it views the Eucharist as Christ’s greatest gift to his
Church. It sees as one of the tragedies of the Protestant Reformation that so
many lost the Eucharist in the process. I remember at one very successful
ecumenical conference bringing together Catholic and Anglican clergy, the
Catholic bishop explained how in Catholic belief the Eucharist is the summit and
the source of the Christian life. The Anglican bishop in turn explained that, as
he saw it, in Anglicanism the word of God is at the summit. Some Anglicans
themselves may disagree with that bishop, but all would know that the Eucharist
is at the heart of the Catholic religion. There is no question about that. A
deeply Catholic person is rooted in the Eucharist. A principal reason for being
a Catholic is to possess and receive from the Church the ineffable gift of the
Holy Eucharist accompanied, of course, by the word of God as preached and taught
by the Church together with the other Sacraments.
What then is this treasure which the
Church and every authentic Catholic knows to be the greatest of God’s gifts? The
Eucharist is none other than the entire person of Jesus Christ himself, Christ
in his whole humanity and in his entire divinity. The Eucharist is the risen
Jesus in his whole living person. Just as Christ’s full humanity veiled his full
divinity, so in the Holy Eucharist Christ’s full divinity and his full humanity
are veiled in the appearances of bread and wine. At Mass the priest repeats the
words which Jesus uttered at the Last Supper when he changed the bread into his
body and the wine into his blood, and by the power of the Holy Spirit the effect
of those words at Mass is the same as it was then. In memory of Jesus the priest
does what Jesus then did and it is Jesus in him who is doing the work. The
priest acts in the person of Jesus and Jesus acts in him. It is no mere symbolic
action. The reality of bread becomes the reality of Christ’s body and the
reality of the wine becomes the reality of Christ’s blood. All that remains are
the appearances that were there prior to this change of substance. While it
continues to look and feel and taste like bread and wine, its reality is now
utterly different. It is now simply and only Christ himself, just as it was when
Christ did this at the Last Supper. But there is more to the Eucharist than the
presence of Christ in his entire reality. Christ also makes present his one and
only sacrifice of himself at Calvary. He is present precisely as doing what he
did then for mankind on the cross. This unique sacrifice was done once and its
effect was the redemption of mankind and this unique sacrifice is made present
at Mass but of course under different circumstances and appearances. How so? We
do not know. We cannot explain this divine action. It is the mystery of our
faith but it means that we who are baptised are able to truly unite ourselves to
Christ in his sacrifice of himself to the Father on our behalf. Or to put it
better, it is Christ who unites us to himself and this occurs most especially in
Holy Communion.
There is nothing like it on earth. If
only we could realize this! St Paul writes that in Christ is present every
heavenly blessing. The abiding temptation even of those who accept this
unchanging doctrine of Scripture and the Church is to ignore it somewhat because
we do not see the actual form of Christ in the Eucharist. We must learn to
believe Christ’s word precisely because it is his word. Our Gospel today is one
example of it and it is constantly spelt out by the Church in her doctrine. As
Christ is our life, so the Eucharist is our life because the Eucharist is Christ
among us in all his human and divine reality. What a gift this is, so let us not
pass it by!
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.1383-1389
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If Love,
even human love, gives so much consolation here, what will Love not be in heaven
?
(The Way, no.428)
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Origen (c.185-253), priest and theologian
On Prayer, 31, 2-3
"Whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified
in the Son"
It seems to me that the person who is about to pray should withdraw for a little
and prepare himself, and so become more attentive and active for the whole of
his prayer. He should cast away all temptation and troubling thoughts and remind
himself, so far as he is able, of the Majesty whom he approaches, and that it is
impious to approach Him carelessly, sluggishly, and disdainfully; and he should
put away all extraneous things.
This is how he should come to prayer: stretching out his soul, as it were,
instead of his hands; straining his mind toward God instead of his eyes; raising
his governing reason from the ground and standing it before the Lord of all
instead of standing. All malice toward any one of those who seem to have wronged
him he should put away as far as anyone would wish God to put away His malice
toward him, if he had wronged and sinned against many of his neighbours or had
done anything whatever he was conscious of being against right reason.
And although there are a great many different positions for the body, he should
not doubt that the position with the hands outstretched and the eyes lifted up
is to be preferred before all others, because it bears in prayer the image of
characteristics befitting the soul and applies it to the body. I mean that this
position must be preferred barring any chance circumstance. For under certain
circumstances it is allowed to pray properly sometimes sitting... or even lying
down... And kneeling is necessary when someone is going to speak against his own
sins before God, since he is making supplication for their healing and their
forgiveness. We must understand that it symbolizes someone who has fallen down
and become obedient, since Paul says, "For this reason I bow my knees before the
Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named" (Eph. 3:14-15).
And spiritual kneeling is called this because every single existing creature at
the name of Jesus has fallen down before God and humbled himself to Him. The
Apostle seems to me to indicate this by the phrase "That at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth" (Phil. 2:10).
(Daily Gospel, KY, USA)
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Monday of the eighth week in Ordinary Time II
(May 26) Saint Philip Neri (1515-1595)
Philip Neri was a sign of contradiction, combining popularity with
piety against the background of a corrupt Rome and a disinterested clergy, the
whole post-Renaissance malaise. At an early age, he abandoned the chance to
become a businessman, moved to Rome from Florence and devoted his life and
individuality to God. After three years
of
philosophy and theology studies, he gave up any thought of ordination. The next
13 years were spent in a vocation unusual at the time—that of a layperson
actively engaged in prayer and the apostolate. As the Council of Trent was
reforming the Church on a doctrinal level, Philip’s appealing personality was
winning him friends from all levels of society, from beggars to cardinals. He
rapidly gathered around himself a group of laypersons won over by his audacious
spirituality. Initially they met as an informal prayer and discussion group, and
also served poor people in Rome. At the urging of his confessor, he was ordained
priest and soon became an outstanding confessor, gifted with the knack of
piercing the pretences and illusions of others, though always in a charitable
manner and often with a joke. He arranged talks, discussions and prayers for his
penitents in a room above the church. He sometimes led “excursions” to other
churches, often with music and a picnic on the way. Some of his followers became
priests and lived together in community. This was the beginning of the Oratory,
the religious institute he founded. A feature of their life was a daily
afternoon service of four informal talks, with vernacular hymns and prayers.
Giovanni Palestrina was one of Philip’s followers, and composed music for the
services. The Oratory was finally approved after suffering through a period of
accusations of being an assembly of heretics, where laypersons preached and sang
vernacular hymns! Philip’s advice was sought by many of the prominent figures of
his day. He is one of the influential figures of the Counter-Reformation, mainly
for converting to personal holiness many of the influential people within the
Church itself. His characteristic virtues were humility and gaiety. (Cardinal
Newman founded the first English-speaking house of the Oratory.)
Many people wrongly feel that such an attractive and jocular
personality as Philip’s cannot be combined with an intense spirituality.
Philip’s life melts our rigid, narrow views of piety. His approach to sanctity
was truly catholic, all-embracing and accompanied by a good laugh. Philip always
wanted his followers to become not less but more human through their striving
for holiness. Philip Neri prayed, "Let me get through today, and I shall not
fear tomorrow." (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today:
1 Peter 1:3-9; Psalm 111:1-2, 5-6, 9 and 10c; Mark 10:17-27
(click here for
readings)
As
Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him.
Good teacher, he asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Why do you call
me good? Jesus answered. No-one is good— except God alone. You know the
commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give
false testimony, do not defraud, honour your father and mother.' Teacher, he
declared, all these I have kept since I was a boy. Jesus looked at him and loved
him. One thing you lack, he said. Go, sell everything you have and give to the
poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. At this the
man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. Jesus looked
around and said to his disciples, How hard it is for the rich to enter the
kingdom of God! The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again,
Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of
God. The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, Who then can
be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but not
with God; all things are possible with God.
(Mark 10:17-27)
Many years ago I used to notice an
aspect of the literature of the time that I found to be revealing. When I was a
boy I loved to read the Tarzan, Superman, Batman and Phantom comics. Take any
one of those characters. Each of them was a fantasy, but each was highly moral.
No immorality entered into their activities in the stories, of which
they were the main protagonists. But equally, not one of them was religious. God
was altogether absent from the stories. Their morality was religiously agnostic.
Presumably this reflected the intent of their creators who in turn were children
of their cultures. The characters of those stories were secular. Morality was
completely separated from religion. They were moral but entirely disinterested
in religion. Of course, moral characters in fiction need not be like this as we
see in the character, say, of Deerslayer/Pathfinder in the novels of James
Fernimore Cooper of the nineteenth century. But my point here is to raise the
issue of the relationship between morality and religion, being good and being
religious. In our Gospel today (Mark 10:17-27)
a man came to our Lord to ask what he must do to gain eternal life.
So he was religious. He wanted to attain God and he saw in Jesus his guide to
God. Moreover, he was very moral. Our Lord told him that he must keep God’s
commandments. If he did that he would gain eternal life. The man responded by
saying that he had done this from his earliest years, and it was evident that
his moral life, his goodness, had had religion for its inspiration. He had kept
the commandments of God in order to please God. So we are reminded by his case
that religion is a tremendous inspiration for morality. The good life finds its
incentive in God and religion. If we want to be good, having a real relationship
with God will inspire us to be so. In turn, if we want to be religious we must
strive to be good. Our man in the Gospel of today reminds us of all this.
But there is a further point. When the
man gave his reply to our Lord, our Lord looked on him and loved him. Man’s
efforts to be good and to do God’s will draw down on him the special affection
of God. This reminds us of that occasion in the Gospel when our Lord was
preaching the word to a group of his disciples. Word came through the crowd that
his mother and his brethren wished to see him. His reply was, “Who are my mother
and my brothers? Anyone who does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother
and sister and mother.” In a special way Christ loved those who strove to do
God’s will. But there is more still. Having looked on this good young man who
had made it his business since his youth to be good, Christ proceeded to invite
him to something further. He invited him to take the path of perfection and that
path was the following of him. Goodness finds its inspiration in God and
religion, but the path to perfection lies in the following of Jesus Christ. The
converse of this is that desire to be good may be regarded as the foundation or
the basic soil in which the seed of this higher life is planted. If a person is
striving to be good he is disposing himself for the higher call from Christ.
However, if the call comes, the person may still refuse and this we see in the
young man of our Gospel today. Christ called him to perfection and it meant
leaving all and following him. He went away sad because he had many possessions
to which he was attached. He was a good man. He desired God and heaven. He had
always been good. Christ loved him and honoured him with a special call to
follow him. But he turned it down and with that he turned down the chance of
attaining perfection in goodness and holiness of life. It was a tremendous
tragedy for one with so much promise, but it shows that at any point a person
may use his freedom to take a downward path.
God
and morality are profoundly connected. If we wish to be good, love and serve
God. If you wish to love and serve God, God will expect you to strive to be
good. The secular outlook that divorces religion from morality and regards
morality as essential and religion as peripheral is profoundly flawed. It will
lead to the breakdown of morality. God is the life of man and Christ is the way
to God. Indeed, he is the Way, the Truth and the Life. So let us hear his word,
let us feel his love, and let us follow him. At the same time, if we wish to
love God, strive to be good.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Everything
that is done out of Love acquires greatness and beauty.
(The Way, no.429)
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Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), Doctor of the
Church, co-patronness of Europe
Prayer 16
"In my Father's house there are many dwelling places"
Eternal Father, you desire that we should serve you according to your good
pleasure, and you lead your servants by different means and diverse ways. Thus
you show us that under no circumstances can we, or should we, judge a man's
intentions by what we perceive him to do outwardly... The soul that sees light
in your light (Ps 36[35],10) rejoices to behold your varied ways, your countless
paths in each individual. For, although they walk by different paths, they do
not run any the less along the road of your ardent charity. Besides, if it were
not for this then they would not really be pursuing your truth. Hence we see
some who run the way of repentance established in corporal mortification; others
on humility and the mortification of their own will; others on a living faith;
others on works of mercy; and others who are full of love of neighbour, having
set self aside.
By seeing in this way the soul... grows bigger and obtains that supernatural
light by which it discovers the measureless breadth of your goodness. How in
touch with reality they are, those who perceive your will in all things! In
every human action they pay heed to your will without judging that of creatures.
They have understood well and taken to heart the teaching of your truth when it
says: «Stop judging by appearances» (Jn 7,24).
O eternal Truth, what is your teaching? By what path do you wish us to go to the
Father? What is the way we ought to follow? I see no other road than that which
you have paved with the true and solid virtues of your ardent charity. You, O
eternal Word, have sprinkled it with your blood. This is indeed the way.
(Daily Gospel, KY, USA)
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Tuesday of the eighth week in Ordinary Time II
(May 27) St. Augustine of Canterbury (d. 605?)
In the year 596 a small party of some 40 monks set out from Rome to evangelize
the Anglo-Saxons in England. Leading the group was Augustine, the prior of their
monastery in Rome. Hardly had he and his men reached Gaul (France) when they
heard stories of the ferocity of the Anglo-Saxons and of the treacherous waters
of the English Channel. Augustine returned to Rome and to the pope who had sent
them—St. Gregory the Great—only to be assured by him that their fears were
groundless. Augustine again set out and this time the group crossed the English
Channel and landed in the territory of Kent, ruled by King Ethelbert, a pagan
married to a Christian. Ethelbert received them kindly, set up a residence for
them in Canterbury and within the year, on Pentecost Sunday, 597, was himself
baptized. After being consecrated a bishop in France, Augustine returned to
Canterbury, where he founded his see. He constructed a church and monastery near
where the present cathedral, begun in 1070, now stands. As the faith spread,
additional sees were established at London and Rochester. Work was sometimes
slow and Augustine did not always meet with success. Attempts to reconcile the
Anglo-Saxon Christians with the original Briton Christians (who had been driven
into western England by Anglo-Saxon invaders) ended in dismal failure. Augustine
failed to convince the Britons to give up certain Celtic customs at variance
with Rome and to forget their bitterness, helping him evangelize their
Anglo-Saxon conquerors Labouring patiently, Augustine wisely heeded the
missionary principles—quite enlightened for the times—suggested by Pope Gregory
the Great: purify rather than destroy pagan temples and customs; let pagan rites
and festivals be taken over into Christian feasts; retain local customs as far
as possible. The limited success Augustine achieved in England before his death
in 605, a short eight years after he arrived in England, would eventually bear
fruit long after in the conversion of England. Truly Augustine of Canterbury can
be called the “Apostle of England.”
Augustine of Canterbury comes across today as a very human saint, one who could
suffer like many of us from a failure of nerve. For example, his first venture
to England ended in a big U-turn back to Rome. He made mistakes and met failure
in his peacemaking attempts with the Briton Christians. He often wrote to Rome
for decisions on matters he could have decided on his own had he been more
self-assured. He even received mild warnings against pride from Pope Gregory,
who cautioned him to “fear lest, amidst the wonders that are done, the weak mind
be puffed up by self-esteem.” Augustine’s perseverance amidst obstacles and only
partial success teaches today’s apostles and pioneers to struggle on despite
frustrations and be satisfied with gradual advances. In a letter to Augustine,
Pope Gregory the Great wrote: "He who would climb to a lofty height must go by
steps, not leaps." (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: 1 Peter 1:10-16; Psalm 98:1-4;
Mark 10:28-31
(click here for
readings)
Peter
said to Jesus, We have left everything to follow you! I tell you the truth,
Jesus replied, no-one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or
father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a
hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers,
children and fields— and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come,
eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
(Mark 10:28-31)
I am not aware that the founders of the
great religions of the world laid it down as of the essence of their religion
that they themselves be loved and followed as the object of their religion.
Mahomet is thought by the Muslim to be Allah’s messenger and prophet - and that
is how he is referred to, as the Prophet. He is understood to point to Allah and
to announce Allah’s messages and revelations. The Koran is not the
book
about Mahomet, but about Allah and his will for mankind, as Mahomet taught it.
Even if Mahomet is taken by this or that Muslim to be something more in his or
her life than Allah’s messenger and prophet, this is not as it is in the
religion of Islam. Buddha, long before Mahomet, founded what became a great
faith and he bequeathed to countless followers what he taught to be the way of
enlightenment. Happiness would be achieved in the attainment of Nirvana and in a
detachment from all earthly desires. Now, whatever be the practice of this or
that Buddhist, Buddha did not present himself as the object of his way. He is
not the formal focus of the Buddhist faith. Rather, he is the great paradigm and
exemplar of all he taught and it is in that sense that his disciples, past and
present look to him. Again, Zarathustra was a great teacher and the Zoroastrian
religion has for its focus not him but the ultimates he pointed to. The origins
of Hinduism are lost from our sight in history, but it too takes its innumerable
devotees to the numinous as it understands it to be - and not to any founder.
Ah! But the case is very different in the Christian religion. Jesus of Nazareth
is the undisputed founder of the great Christian religion and he is also its
undisputed focus. He is this not just by some curious accident of history, as if
the course of Christian thought just happened to evolve to this - and there have
been scholars who have even proposed this notion. But no, Christ is the object
of Christianity from the beginning and he is this by the formal intention of its
most holy founder.
It is
this which stands forth in our Gospel passage today
(Mark 10:28-31). The passage is from the Gospel of St Mark, and
scholars recognize that Mark’s Gospel is founded on the preaching and
recollections of Simon Peter, for Mark was his assistant. It may be called the
Gospel of the early Church of Rome of which Peter was the first Bishop. In our
passage today it is Peter who states the fact of their ardent following of him
and which drew from our Lord a most important answer. Peter says to our Lord, we
have left all to follow you. It shows the very personal following that this has
constituted. Peter does not simply say that he and they have accepted our Lord’s
teaching fully. No, he states that they have followed him, and left all to do
so. Of course an essential component of this has been the full acceptance of his
teaching. But they were still hearing and learning it, and a great deal they did
not comprehend still. Still, even if they had grasped his teaching as yet only
in part, they had left all in order to follow him. On another occasion a rich
young man came before our Lord and asked what more he needed to do to gain
eternal life. He was asking for teaching. He wanted guidance and implied that he
was ready to accept further teaching. But what did our Lord do? He told him that
if he wanted to be perfect, he should sell all he had and give the money to the
poor, and then come and follow him. The personal following of Jesus would take
him to perfection. In his reply to Peter in our Gospel today our Lord speaks of
the reward coming to those who leave all in order to follow him. The reward is
great beyond measure, but the point we ought notice here is that our Lord places
himself at the centre and focus of the life of his disciple. All this is to say
that the Christian religion and the Church which brings it to mankind proclaims
that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is Lord, he is God and he is man’s Saviour. Life
is to be found not simply in following a teaching as if detached from Christ’s
person. No, he, Christ, is the Way and the Truth and the Life. The height of
religion is the love of Jesus.
Man was made to know, love and serve God
here on earth and so to see and enjoy him forever in heaven. God is the object
of man’s life. What is to be said of God is to be said of Jesus Christ. Christ
said that if we love him we shall keep his word, and if we do this the Father
will love us and both he the Father and Jesus his Son will come and make their
abode with us. Let us keep our gaze on the person of Jesus and understand that
life’s project is to love him with all our heart and to live according to his
word and teaching. If we do this then life, abundant and eternal life, will be
ours.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Jesus, may
I be last in everything... and first in Love.
(The Way, no.430)
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Nicholas Cabasilas (c.1320-1363), Greek lay
theologian
Life in Christ, IV, 6-8 (SC 355, p.267)
"Whoever loves me... my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make
our dwelling with him"
The promise attached to the eucharistic table makes us live in Christ and Christ
in us, for it is written: «He remains in me and I in him» (Jn 6,56). If Christ
remains in us, of what else could we have need? What could we lack? If Christ
remains in us what more can we want? He is both our host and our dwelling. How
happy we are to be the place where he lives! What joy that we ourselves are the
abode of such a host! What could lack those whom he thus treats? What do those
who shine with such a light have in common with wickedness? What evil could
stand up to such good? There is nothing else capable of remaining in us or
coming against us when Christ unites himself to us in this way. He surrounds us
and penetrates our deepest selves; he is our protection and refuge; he hems us
in on every side. He is both our dwelling and the host who wholly fills his
dwelling place.
For we receive, not a part of himself but himself, not just one sunbeam but the
sun..., until we become one single spirit with him (1Cor 6,17)... Our soul is
united to his soul, our body to his body, our blood to his blood... As Saint
Paul says: «What is mortal is swallowed up by life» (2Cor 5,4) and: «I live, yet
no longer I, but Christ lives in me» (Gal 2,20).
(Daily Gospel, KY, USA)
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Wednesday
in the eighth week of Ordinary Time II
(May 28) St. Mary Ann
of Jesus of Paredes (1614-1645)
Mary Ann grew close to God and his people during
her short life. The youngest of eight, Mary Ann was born in Quito, Ecuador,
which had been brought under Spanish control in 1534. She joined the Secular
Franciscans and led a life of prayer and penance at home, leaving her parents’
house only to go to church and to perform some work of charity. She established
in Quito a clinic and a school for Africans and indigenous Americans. When a
plague broke out, she nursed the sick and died shortly thereafter. She was
canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1950.
Francis of Assisi overcame himself (and his
upbringing) when he kissed the man afflicted with leprosy. If our self-denial
does not lead to charity, the penance is being practised for the wrong reason.
The penances of Mary Ann made her more sensitive to the needs of others and more
courageous in trying to serve those needs. "At times when especially impelled by
love for God and fellowmen, she afflicted herself severely to expiate the sins
of others. Oblivious then to the world around her and wrapped in ecstasy, she
had a foretaste of eternal happiness. Thus transformed and enriched by God's
grace, she was filled with zeal to care not only for her own salvation, but also
for that of others to the utmost of her ability. She generously relieved the
miseries of the poor and soothed the pains of the sick. And when severe public
disasters such as earthquakes and plagues terrified and afflicted her fellow
citizens, she strove by prayer, expiation, and the offering of her own life to
obtain from the Father of mercies what she could not accomplish by human effort"
(Pope Pius XII). (AmericanCatholic.org)
click on centre arrow
Scripture today: 1 Peter 1:18-25; Psalm
147:12-15, 19-20; Mark 10:32-45
(click here for
readings)
The
disciples were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the
disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took
the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. We are going up
to Jerusalem, he said, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests
and teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over
to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three
days later he will rise. Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him.
Teacher, they said, we want you to do for us whatever we ask. What do you want
me to do for you? he asked. They replied, Let one of us sit at your right and
the other at your left in your glory. You don't know what you are asking, Jesus
said. Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptised with the baptism I am
baptised with? We can, they answered. Jesus said to them, You will drink the cup
I drink and be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with, but to sit at my
right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they
have been prepared. When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with
James and John. Jesus called them together and said, You know that those who are
regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials
exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become
great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be
slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,
and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark
10:32-45)
There are many things that surely occur
to us as we consider the Gospel passage of today. The scene is one of mounting
drama and the disciples certainly felt it. They were on their way to Jerusalem
where our Lord’s implacable enemies were concentrated. The hunt for him had been
on and all knew it. He had eluded them, they had repeatedly tried
to arrest him and at times to stone him. Our Lord was fully aware that they had
decided that he had to be put to death. And now, to the dismay of the disciples
who so loved him and who wanted to follow him, here he was leading the way back
right into the arms of his foes. Yes, he was “leading the way” ahead of them,
heading directly for Jerusalem. It says a fair bit for the disciples that they
were following him despite these circumstances, unshaken in their love and
conviction that he was the Messiah. Furthermore, we even see James and John
coming forward to ask for front places in his Kingdom! But now, let us look
briefly at this request of theirs and our Lord’s response to it. It was a very
human request, even a little amusing. The admirable feature of it was the
conviction they had of our Lord’s person and mission. He was the Messiah and his
kingdom was God’s Kingdom. They wanted to be with him. They loved him and they
were generously committed to share in his mission in his Kingdom. Of course,
their attitudes were as yet somewhat immature, but all the seeds were there for
a grand and heroic life of serving and loving Christ. Indeed, our Lord himself
said so, as we shall see. They asked for top places, places right at the side of
Jesus in his glory. It reflected their love for him and their determination to
share in his mission, and it reflected too the mixed and limited character of
their motivation. But look at the confident and daring way they introduced their
prayer to our Lord: “Lord, we want you to do whatever we ask.” Whatever we ask!
Consider also our Lord’s kindly and interested response. “What do you want me to
do for you?” What is suggested to us by this interchange?
Elsewhere our Lord told his disciples
what whatever they asked for in prayer they would receive. But here, having
heard them our Lord told them that they had no idea of what they were asking.
“You do not know what you are asking” he said (Mark
10:32-45). Furthermore, their request took no account of what might
be the plan of God, for “to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant.
These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.” Then he asked
the question which was at the core of the whole issue. The issue was being with
him in his glory. That is the issue of life, of course. Ignatius of Loyola in
his association with Francis Xavier in Paris (Xavier tutored Loyola at the
University) kept quietly repeating, What does it profit a man to gain the whole
world and to lose his own soul? That question converted Xavier. The one thing
that matters in life is that at the end we be found with Christ in his glory.
That was the issue in the petition of the two brothers who had come to our Lord
- they wanted to be with Jesus in his glory, and indeed they wanted to be ahead
of all the others in glory too. But the essential thing was being with Jesus in
his glory. Our Lord replied that they did not yet know what they were asking,
and he himself had repeatedly told them what was necessary. For himself, as he
had time and again made clear, it was necessary to suffer so as to enter his
glory. He was at this very point going to Jerusalem to suffer and to die and
then to enter his glory. The disciples too must follow in his footsteps if they
were to share in his glory. And so he asks the brothers the pivotal question,
“Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptised with the baptism I am baptised
with?” They immediately answered, “We can.” Undoubtedly they were genuine, and
our Lord gave his most consoling confirmation. They could and would drink his
cup and share in his baptism. I like to think that this was the very answer our
Lord gave to their prayer. In response to their petition he gave them the wonderful grace of
fidelity unto death that would mark their outstanding lives as his disciples.
The prayer of the disciples and our
Lord’s response is a lesson to us on Christian prayer. We ought repeatedly ask
our Lord that we be found worthy to share in his glory in heaven. The degree of
glory we leave to him. Having asked for heaven, we ought ask that he give us the
grace to be able to drink the cup of whatever suffering is involved in the doing
of the Father’s will as shown in our daily duties and in God’s providence for
us. The most important thing to be prayed for is that we shall be faithful to
God’s will every day until death. Let us make that our daily prayer.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Jesus, may
I be last in everything... and first in Love.
(The Way, no.430)
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John Tauler (c.1300-1361), Dominican at Strasbourg
Sermon 23, for the Sunday after Ascension
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you"
In time of trial the man who genuinely neither wants nor desires anything but
God must hide himself in him and wait patiently for calmness to return... Who
knows where or how it will please God to come back and fill him with his gifts?
As for you, wait patiently in the shadow of the divine will; this is worth a
hundred times more than spurts of flashy virtue... For God's gifts are not God
and we ought to rejoice in him alone, not in his gifts. Yet our nature is so
greedy, so self-centred, that it insinuates itself into everything, grabbing
hold of what does not belong to it and thus tarnishing God's gifts and impeding
God's most precious work...
But as for you, immerse yourself in Christ, in his poverty and purity, his
obedience, love and all his virtues. The Holy Spirit's gifts are given to man in
him: faith, hope and charity, truth and interior joy and peace in the Holy
Spirit. We also find abandonment in him and sweet patience by which we receive
all things from God with a tranquil heart.
All that God permits and decrees, prosperity and adversity, joy or sorrow, all
work together for man's good (Rom 8,28). The smallest of events to happen to a
man was seen eternally by God, it pre-exists in him, it takes place as he has
willed and not otherwise. So be at peace! This peacefulness in all things is
only learned in true detachment and the interior life... Such is the lot of the
noble man when he is firmly established in resting his soul in God, in the
desire for God alone that throws light on everything: all is purified by Christ
along the way.
(Daily Gospel, KY, USA)
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Thursday of the eighth week in Ordinary Time
II
(May 29) St. Madeleine Sophie Barat (1779-1865)
The legacy of Madeleine Sophie Barat can be found in the more than 100 schools
operated by her Society of the Sacred Heart, institutions known for the quality
of the education made available to the young. Sophie herself received an
extensive education, thanks to her brother, Louis, 11 years older and her
godfather at Baptism. Himself a seminarian, he decided that his younger sister
would likewise learn Latin, Greek, history, physics and mathematics—always
without interruption and with a minimum of companionship. By age 15, she had
received a thorough exposure to the Bible, the teachings of the Fathers of the
Church and theology. Despite the oppressive regime Louis imposed, young Sophie
thrived and developed a genuine love of learning. Meanwhile, this was the time
of the French Revolution and of the suppression of Christian schools. The
education of the young, particularly young girls, was in a troubled state. At
the same time, Sophie, who had concluded that she was called to the religious
life, was persuaded to begin her life as a nun and as a teacher. She founded the
Society of the Sacred Heart, which would focus on schools for the poor as well
as boarding schools for young women of means; today, co-ed Sacred Heart schools
can be found as well as schools exclusively for boys. In 1826, her Society of
the Sacred Heart received formal papal approval. By then she had served as
superior at a number of convents. In 1865, she was stricken with paralysis; she
died that year on the feast of the Ascension. Madeleine Sophie Barat was
canonized in 1925.
Madeleine Sophie Barat lived in turbulent times. She was only 10 when the Reign
of Terror began. In the wake of the French Revolution, rich and poor both
suffered before some semblance of normality returned to France. Born to some
degree of privilege, she received a good education. It grieved her that the same
opportunity was being denied to other young girls, and she devoted herself to
educating them, whether poor or well- to-do. We who live in an affluent country
can follow her example by helping to ensure to others the blessings we have
enjoyed. (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today:
1 Peter 2:2-5, 9-12; Psalm 100:2-5; Mark 10:46-52 (click
here for readings)
As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving Jericho, a
blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside
begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, Jesus,
Son of David, have mercy on me! Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but
he shouted all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me! Jesus stopped and said,
Call him. So they called to the blind man, Take courage! Jesus is calling you.
Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. What do you
want me to do for you? Jesus asked him. The blind man said, Master, I want to
see. Go, said Jesus, your faith has healed you. Immediately he received his
sight and followed Jesus along the road. (Mark 10:46-52)
Our Gospel passage today comes from the Gospel of St Mark. Of course, we ought
read any particular passage of the Gospels in light of passages from the other
Gospels. Indeed, we ought read any passage in the Bible in the light of the rest
of the Scriptures. With the fine advances in Scriptural exegesis there is a
tendency, I think, to read passages from a particular Gospel only in light of
the rest of that Gospel. We tend to do this now because we have a deeper
appreciation of the distinctive character and purpose of each Gospel. But of
course all the Gospels and all of the Scriptures have the Holy Spirit as their
common author and hence we ought read any passage of a Gospel not only in light
of that particular Gospel but in light of the other Gospels too. The same divine
Author who speaks in one passage also speaks in all other passages of the
inspired Scriptures. Well then, let us begin our brief consideration of today’s
Gospel by thinking of our Lord’s words at the Last Supper as given to us in the
Gospel of St John. St John, writing years after the event but with our Lord’s
long instruction to his disciples during those final hours before his Passion
still lovingly in his mind, tells us of the union between Christ and his
disciples. Our Lord tells his disciples that they are to remain in him as
branches of the vine. Remain in me, as I remain in you (John 15). Long after,
with our Lord now gone from visible sight, St John reminds his readers of the
intimate yet unseen presence of our Lord to all those who are in him by baptism.
The Christian religion has for its heart and soul the relationship between Jesus
and each member of his Church, and between Jesus and the Church as a whole. He
is in us and we are in him, just as he is in the Father and the Father is in him
- and all of this by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Christian religion is not
merely the acceptance of a teaching. It is at its heart the total acceptance of
a Person and the total acceptance of his teaching is an essential component of
this. It is because we remain in the living risen Jesus that we remain in his
word and teaching.
That is to say, from generation to generation, from age to age, the living Jesus
calls on each of us his disciples and on all of us together who make up his
Church. He calls us, gazes on us, and invites us to follow him more and more
generously. The ongoing call and gaze of Christ defines and shapes the life of
the Christian. The Christian must come to experience that call and gaze of the
living Jesus, and our Gospel passage today is one which can help us do this. Let
us place ourselves in the Gospel scene, then. Christ was passing by
(Mark 10:46-52). The blind
man heard that it was he. Conscious of his need, he called out to Jesus for
pity, for mercy. Nothing and no one would or could stop him. Christ stopped. He
was told that Christ was calling him, and the Church tells us all that Christ is
calling each of us and the whole world. The blind man came forward and Christ
gazed on him, asking how he could help him. Then came the word of Christ making
him whole. Christ called him, he gazed upon him and he saved him. And so Bar Timaeus followed our Lord along the road. Whatever be the need we are suffering
from, Christ is nearby. He calls us to him and the Church is the messenger of
that call. Christ gazes on us, though we do not see him visibly. He asks us to
trust him and asks what we want of him. The first thing we ought ask for is
Christ himself, his grace and love. We ought ask also for our other needs, but
knowing that all will be well if we remain close to Jesus. How and when and in
what precise way he will answer our prayer, only he knows but answer it he will
if we continue to pray for it. Why would he answer the request of the blind
beggar, and refuse us if we continue to ask him? He may see that what we are
asking is not at all in our best interests, and so his answer may not be what we
wanted and expected, but it will be the true and best answer to our prayer. The
blind beggar became, we may presume, a disciple of Christ - for Mark gives us
his name and tells us that he followed our Lord along the road. His need evoked
our Lord’s call. His call led to his gaze. Christ gaze led to his salvation. Bar
Timaeus, the blind beggar, became Christ’s disciple and that was the greatest
blessing of all.
Every day we ought place ourselves, with all our needs and with all the
blessings we have been granted, in the presence of the living unseen Jesus. Day
by day Christ calls us to come to him. he is constantly gazing on us. We live in
the presence of the one who is our brother and our God, our Saviour and our
Friend. He loves us more than do all others. He is the blessing beyond all
blessings and to possess him is to possess all. Let us never separate ourselves
from him.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Do not fear God's Justice. God's justice is no less admirable and no less
lovable than his mercy: both are proofs of his Love.
(The Way, no.431)
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Saint Teresa-Benedicta of the Cross [Edith Stein]
(1891-1942), Carmelite, martyr, co-patroness of Europe
Essays on Woman, ch.6
"I am the vine, you are the branches"
The notion of the Church as community of the faithful is the most accessi ble
to human reason. Whoever believes in Christ and His gospel, hopes for the
fulfillment of His promises, clings to Him in love, and keeps His commandments
must unite with all who are like-minded in the deepest communion of mind and
heart. Those who adhered to the Lord during His stay on earth were the early
seeds of the great Christian community; they spread that community and that
faith which held them together, until they have been inherited by us today
through the process of time.
But, if even a natural human community is more than a loose union of single
individuals, if even here we can verify a movement developing into a kind of
organic unit, it must be still more true of the supernatural community of the
Church. The union of the soul with Christ differs from the union among people in
the world: it is a rooting and growing in Him (so we are told by the parable of
the vine and the branches) which begins in baptism, and which is constantly
strengthened and formed through the sacraments in diverse ways. However this
real union with Christ implies the growth of a genuine community among all
Christians. Thus the Church forms the Mystical Body of Christ. The Body is a
living Body, and the spirit which gives the Body life is Christ's spirit,
streaming from the head to all parts (Eph 5,23.30). The spirit which Christ
radiates is the Holy Spirit; the Church is thus the temple of the Holy Spirit
(Eph 2,21-22).
(Daily Gospel, KY, USA)
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Feast
of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
(Friday in the eighth week in Ordinary Time II)
(May 30) St.
Gregory VII (1020-1085)
The tenth
century and the first half of the eleventh were dark days for the
Church, partly because the papacy was the pawn of various Roman
families. In 1049, things began to change when Pope Leo IX, a reformer,
was elected. He brought a young monk named Hildebrand to Rome as his
counsellor and special representative on important missions. He was to
become Gregory VII. Three evils plagued the Church then: simony (the
buying and selling of sacred offices and things), the unlawful marriage
of the clergy and lay investiture (kings and nobles controlling the
appointment of Church officials). To all of these Hildebrand directed
his reformer’s attention, first as counsellor to the popes and later
(1073-1085) as pope himself. Gregory’s papal letters stress the role of
bishop of Rome as the vicar of Christ and the visible center of unity
in the Church. He is well known for his long dispute with Holy Roman
Emperor Henry IV over who should control the selection of bishops and
abbots. Gregory fiercely resisted any attack on the liberty of the
Church. For this he suffered and finally died in exile. He said, “I
have loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore I die in exile.”
Thirty years later the Church finally won its struggle against lay
investiture.
The Gregorian Reform, a
milestone in the history of Christ’s Church, was named after this man
who tried to extricate the papacy and the whole Church from undue
control by civil rulers. Against an unhealthy Church nationalism in
some areas, Gregory reasserted the unity of the whole Church based on
Christ and expressed in the bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Peter.
Gregory has much to say to our age in which civil or national religion
is making subtle demands: “In every country, even the poorest of women
is permitted to take a lawful husband according to the law of the land
and by her own choice; but, through the desires and evil practices of
the wicked, Holy Church, the bride of God and mother of us all, is not
permitted lawfully to cling to her spouse on earth in accordance with
divine law and her own will” (A Call to the Faithful). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture: Deuteronomy
7:6-11; Psalm 103:1-4, 6-8, 10; 1 John 4:7-16; Matthew 11:25-30
(click here
for readings)
At that
time Jesus said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and
revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good
pleasure. All things have been committed to me by my Father. No-one
knows the Son except the Father, and no-one knows the Father except the
Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all
you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and
you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is
light.
(Matthew 11:25-30)
Once again as in so
many passages of the Gospels, Christ shows his consciousness of being
the fulness of the Godhead, just as his heavenly Father is the fulness
of the Godhead. It is a stupendous mystery and it is accessible only by
faith in his person and word. “All things have been committed” to him
by his heavenly
Father, he tells his disciples in our passage from Matthew today. In
the Gospel of St John (17: 10) our Lord prays to his heavenly Father
saying that “all I have is yours and all you have is mine.” That is to
say, there is a full sharing of everything between the Father and the
Son, meaning above all that the entire divine being that is the Father
is the same one divine being that is the Son. All that the Father is
and has is to be found in the Son as well. In our Gospel today our Lord
tells his disciples that the Father has entrusted the world and all
things to him, and of course the purpose of this is that he, Christ,
will make God reign in all. The Kingdom of God is the lordship of God
everywhere and in all hearts and this is effected by bringing all into
union with Jesus. It is as simple and as difficult as that. Christ is
at the heart of the universe and his mission is to connect everything
to himself. He is its entire linchpin and on him depends everything. It
is said that Einstein strove to find a mathematical and physical
formula that would express the heart and law of the universe. He
failed. It reminds me of one thing that John Henry Newman of nineteenth
century England wrote in his Philosophical Notebook. He was in the
process of writing his great book, the Grammar of Assent, and had begun
to study the German philosophers of the day. He gave them up saying
that they appeared to attempt to reduce reality and the universe to one
principle. Such, he said, was impossible. However, there is one great
Reality which is indeed at the heart of the universe and on which all
of created reality depends, and Newman would be the first to proclaim
it. I am referring to Jesus.
At the Last Supper,
again in the Gospel of St John, our Lord in his prayer to his heavenly
Father says that eternal life is this, to know you Father and Jesus
Christ whom you have sent. In our Gospel today it is clear that this
coming to know Jesus is God’s gift. “No-one knows the Son except the
Father, and no-one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom
the Son chooses to reveal him.” The appreciation and understanding of
the mystery of Jesus is not just the result of natural wisdom and
gifts. God reveals this to the well-disposed and to the humble who
choose to come to Jesus. And so our Lord gives thanks and praise to his
heavenly Father for revealing these things to the lowly. “I praise
you,” Father, Lord of heaven and earth,” our Lord says, “because you
have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them
to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.” It
is a similar prayer to that uttered by Mary in her Magnificat in the
Gospel of St Luke when she was greeted by Elizabeth. The Almighty looks
on his lowly handmaid. He has exalted the lowly and the hungry he has
filled with good things, she proclaims. Now, the greatest of good
things is the knowledge of Christ, and to know Christ is to know the
Father too. Moreover, in coming to Jesus and in attaining the knowledge
of him, we are attaining that true peace of heart for which we were
created. Our Lord warmly invites his disciples with these heart-warming
words: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and
humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is
easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew
11:25-30) Whatever be our problems and difficulties, if we
have Christ and if we choose to follow his way then our lives will be
anchored in his peace.
Let us understand
that in Christ is every heavenly blessing. The world and the happiness
of man depend on him. But to appreciate this we need to be enlightened
by the grace of God. So let us ask for the grace to perceive that our
true treasure lies in knowing Jesus, and appreciating this let us come
to him knowing that peace and joy will be ours if he lives in us and we
in him.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Consider
what is most beautiful and most noble on earth, what pleases the mind
and the other faculties, and what delights the flesh and the senses.
And the world, and the other worlds that shine in the night: the whole
universe. Well this, along with all the follies of the heart satisfied,
is worth nothing, is nothing and less than nothing compared... with
this God of mine! — of yours! Infinite treasure, pearl of great price,
humbled, become a slave, reduced to the form of a servant in the stable
where he chose to be born, in Joseph's workshop, in his passion and in
his ignominious death... and in the madness of Love which is the
blessed Eucharist.
(The Way, no.432)
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Saint Anselm (1933-1109), monk, Archbishop,
Doctor of the Church
Proslogion, 26
My God, I pray that I may so know you and love you
that I may rejoice in you.
And if I may not do so fully in this life,
let me go steadily on to the day when I come to that fullness.
Let the knowledge of you increase in me here, and there let it come to
its fullness.
Let your love grow in me here, and there let it be fulfilled,
so that here my joy may be in a great hope,
and there in full reality.
Lord, you have commanded, or rather advised us,
to ask by your Son,
and you have promised that we shall receive «that our joy may be full»
(Jn 16,24).
That which you counsel through our «wonderful counsellor» (Is 9,5)
is what I am asking for, Lord.
Let me receive that which you promised through your truth,
«that my joy may be full».
God of truth, I ask that I may receive,
so that my joy may be full.
Meanwhile, let my mind meditate on it,
let my tongue speak of it,
let my heart love it,
let my mouth preach it,
let my soul hunger for it, my flesh thirst for it,
and my whole being desire it,
until I enter the joy of my Lord (Mt 25,21),
who is God, one and triune, blessed forever. Amen.
(Daily Gospel, KY, USA)
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Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed
Virgin Mary
(Saturday of the eighth week in Ordinary Time II)
(May 31) The Visitation
This is a fairly late feast, going back only to the 13th or 14th century. It was
established widely throughout the Church to pray for unity. The present date of
celebration was set in 1969 in order to follow the Annunciation of the Lord
(March 25) and precede the Birthday of John the Baptist (June 24). Like most
feasts of Mary, it is closely connected with Jesus and his saving work. The more
visible actors in the visitation drama (see Luke 1:39-45) are Mary and
Elizabeth. However, Jesus and John the Baptist steal the scene in a hidden way.
Jesus makes John leap with joy—the joy of messianic salvation. Elizabeth, in
turn, is filled with the Holy Spirit and addresses words of praise to Mary—words
that echo down through the ages. It is helpful to recall that we do not have a
journalist’s account of this meeting. Rather, Luke, speaking for the Church,
gives a prayerful poet’s rendition of the scene. Elizabeth’s praise of Mary as
“the mother of my Lord” can be viewed as the earliest Church’s devotion to Mary.
As with all authentic devotion to Mary, Elizabeth’s (the Church’s) words first
praise God for what God has done to Mary. Only secondly does she praise Mary for
trusting God’s words. Then comes the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). Here Mary
herself (like the Church) traces all her greatness to God.
One of the invocations in Mary’s litany is “Ark of the Covenant.” Like the Ark
of the Covenant of old, Mary brings God’s presence into the lives of other
people. As David danced before the Ark, John the Baptist leaps for joy. As the
Ark helped to unite the 12 tribes of Israel by being placed in David’s capital,
so Mary has the power to unite all Christians in her Son. At times, devotion to
Mary may have occasioned some divisiveness, but we can hope that authentic
devotion will lead all to Christ and therefore to one another. As Pope John Paul
wrote, “Moved by
charity, therefore, Mary goes to the house of her kinswoman.... While every word
of Elizabeth’s is filled with meaning, her final words would seem to have a
fundamental importance: ‘And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what had been spoken to her from the Lord’ (Luke 1:45). These
words can be linked with the title ‘full of grace’ of the angel’s greeting. Both
of these texts reveal an essential Mariological content, namely the truth about
Mary, who has become really present in the mystery of Christ precisely because
she ‘has believed.’ The fullness of grace announced by the angel means the gift
of God himself. Mary’s faith, proclaimed by Elizabeth at the visitation,
indicates how the Virgin of Nazareth responded to this gift” (Pope John Paul II,
The Mother of the Redeemer, 12). (AmericanCatholic.org)
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Scripture today:
Zep 3:14-18 or Rom 12:9-16; Psalm Isaiah 12:2-6; Luke 1:39-56
(click here for
readings)
At
that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea,
where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard
Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the
Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: Blessed are you among women, and
blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favoured, that the mother of
my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my
ears, the child in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that
what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished! And Mary said: My soul
glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked
upon his lowly servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for
the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. His mercy extends
to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty
deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost
thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the
humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away
empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham
and his descendants for ever, even as he said to our fathers. Mary stayed with
Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.
(Luke 1:39-56)
St Luke, who at the beginning of his Gospel informs us that he has carefully
gone over the “events that have taken place among us” (Luke 1:1-4), reports for
us both the salutation of Elizabeth and the lyrical response that came forth
from Mary. Elizabeth’s words of praise for Mary that she is blessed among women
and that her child is also
blessed
undoubtedly reflect the praise for the mother of Christ and her child in the
infant Church. For very many centuries Elizabeth’s salutation has been part of
the highly sanctioned Hail Mary prayer. It connects Mary and her child and
extols both as being blessed. Mary’s response of praise and gratitude to God is
traditionally called the Magnificat from the first word of the Latin, Magnificat
anima mea dominum - my soul glorifies the Lord! As with much of his Infancy
narrative, Luke could only have gained his knowledge of this scene and of the
utterances he reports from the lips of Mary herself. Mary was his great
“eyewitness”, and one may surmise that this prayer was one she knew well. Who
knows! Perhaps it was a prayer she had already been forming in her young heart
and which suddenly came together under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit on
this occasion. Perhaps she continued to use it in her indescribably rich prayer
life thereafter. Be that as it may - and that is just speculation - it is a
profoundly rich prayer indeed, one which provides a window into the soul of the
mother of Christ and a window into the ways of God. For those who have not been
taught to love Mary just as Christ her Son himself loved her but who
nevertheless have a love for the Scriptures, a consideration of this prayer may
help them to come to know her. The salutation of Elizabeth is prayed regularly
in the Hail Mary prayer, and the Magnificat of Mary is prayed in the official
daily Prayer of the Church. So then, let us consider Mary’s words to God.
Mary’s heart is filled with praise and gratitude to God. Her spirit is filled
with joy in the Lord. Amid all her tribulations deriving from the tribulations
of her Son, Mary was, like her Son, profoundly joyful. My spirit rejoices in God
my saviour. She is his servant, and he, her Lord, her God and her Saviour, has
looked upon her who is lowly. She is lowly before God and she proclaims his
greatness. God is great! His works proclaim this fact both in her own life and
in the life of God’s people. He is the Mighty One, and holy is his name. He has
looked upon her and as a result all generations will call her blessed. And so it
has been. Mary is the blessed one, the blessed Virgin Mary who is full of grace.
The single greatest thing to be said of her is that in every possible respect
and without any qualification, the Lord is with her. All this is a mercy. In
this she is the embodiment of all that God has done for his chosen people, and
in her prayer Mary cannot help but review the merciful works of God for his
servant Israel. Just as Mary is the servant of the Lord, so too is Israel “his
servant.” But consider what God has done, she cries. “He has performed mighty
deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost
thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the
humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away
empty.” God is the strong one and he takes his stand by the humble and the weak
and those who fear him. Above and beyond all, God is a God rich in mercy. “He
has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his
descendants for ever.” By reading and meditating on the prayer of Mary we not
only come to know and love the mother of Jesus, but we come to know the essence
of the ways of God. The prayer of Mary provides us a key to God’s character as
revealed in the Scriptures. God is great, he is holy, and very especially he is
merciful.
The event of the visit of Mary to her kinswoman is meditated on whenever we pray
the second decade of the joyful mysteries of the Rosary. When praying the Hail
Mary during that decade, we repeat prayerfully the words of Elizabeth to Mary
who had just arrived. Let us treasure both the Hail Mary and the Rosary. Let us
also often pray with Mary her prayer as given in St Luke’s account. It is one of
the very greatest prayers of the Scriptures, expressing its very soul.
(E.J.Tyler)
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Live by
Love and you'll conquer always — even when you are defeated — in the battles of
your interior struggle.
(The Way, no.433)
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Saint Irenaeus of Lyons (c.130-208), Bishop, theologian, martyr
Against the Heresies, III 1,1; 10,6
"Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature"
After our Lord had been raised from the dead and the apostles had been clothed
with power from on high by the coming of the Holy Spirit (Lk 24,49), they were
filled with assurance concerning everything and understood perfectly. Then they,
who together and individually had possession of the Gospel of God, went out to
all the ends of the world (Ps 19[18],5), proclaiming the Good News that has come
to us from God and announcing peace on earth to men.
Thus Matthew made known a written form of the Gospel to the Hebrews in their own
language, while Peter and Paul preached the Gospel in Rome and founded the
Church there. After their death Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter (1Pt
5,13), himself handed on in writing Peter's preaching. While Luke, in his turn,
the companion of Paul, set down in a book the Gospel preached by the latter.
Finally, John, the disciple of the Lord, the same who rested on his breast, also
published the Gospel during his stay at Ephesus...
Mark, who was Peter's interpreter and companion, presented the beginning of his
version of the Gospel in this way: «The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. As it is written in the prophets: 'Behold, I am sending my
messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way'»... As can be seen, Mark makes
the words of the holy prophets the beginning of his Gospel, and the one whom the
prophets proclaimed as God and Lord, Mark places at the head as the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ... At the end of his Gospel, Mark says: «And the Lord
Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the
right hand of God». This confirms the prophet's words: «The Lord said to my
Lord: 'Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool'» (Ps
110[109],1).
(Daily Gospel, Ky, USA)
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