Tuesday, April1 7, 2018

Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter

(Acts 7:51-8:1a; John 6:30-35)

According to one journalist a ferocious debate is taking place about food.  The topic is how to assure that everyone eats when the world’s population rises to ten billion.  The journalist calls the two sides of the debate “wizards” and “prophets.”  Wizards predict that technological manipulation of present crops will be able to feed such great numbers.  Prophets believe that people will have to change eating habits if everyone is to have enough to eat.  They call for eating less meat and more grains and vegetables.  Jesus may be seen as weighing in on the issue in today’s gospel.

The people want Jesus to perform a miracle.  Knowing that he has just fed over 5,000, they want him to give another such sign.  But they are missing the point of Jesus’ feeding.  More than bread, they need to trust in Jesus’ word if they are to grow in life.  By following his teachings, they will come to possess even eternal life.  Thus Jesus shows himself in a sense to be both a wizard and a prophet.  As a prophet, he teaches people to abandon old ways of jealousy and rivalry.  As a wizard, he tells them of a radical way to love one another.

Jesus’ word has been embodied in the Eucharist.  When we take his body and blood, we commit ourselves to his ways.  The food itself has enormous value.  It provides us the grace to let go of hard feelings so that we might take care of one another.  In this way we follow Jesus to eternal life.

Monday, April 16, 2018

Monday of the Third Week of Easter

(Acts 6:8-15; John 6:22-29)

Saints Peter and Paul seem to dominate the Acts of the Apostles.  Yet the story is not primarily about them.  Much less does is it dominated by the work of the apostles as a whole.  Above all, the Acts of the Apostles features the Holy Spirit.  The one whom is to be called the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity is at work throughout the story.  He develops the Christian community and moves its center from Jerusalem.  The Spirit, not Paul or chance, brings the gospel to Rome.  From there it will be dispersed throughout the world. 

Stephen has been chosen for the work of the apostles precisely because he has the Spirit.  Jesus once promised that the Spirit will enable his disciples to defend themselves (Luke 12:12).  In today’s passage the Spirit is seen performing this task.  Stephen’s preaching with the Spirit surpasses the arguments of his interlocutors.  Resenting his mastery, the defeated debaters go to the authorities to silence Stephen.  The Spirit does not spare Stephen martyrdom, but he gives him an unparalleled countenance.  No other person in Scripture is said to have “the face of an angel.”

We have received the same Spirit.  He moves us to speak the truth to power and to recognize our own falsities.  The Spirit, most of all, enables us to make sacrifices for the benefit of others out of love.  In doing the latter, we too will have - to some extent at least - “the face of an angel.”

Friday, April 6, 2018

Friday of the Second Week of Easter

(Acts 5:34-42; John 6:1-15)

Pope Francis has criticized the “culture of waste” found in both rich and poor countries.   He has called the way many people throw food away like “stealing from the table of the poor and hungry.”  There are hundreds of millions of people who are undernourished while the rich and middle classes and often poorer people are growing obese.  Not only is the situation ironic and scandalous, it also blinds one to Jesus’ work in the gospel.

Jesus producing a superabundance of food cannot be appreciated outside a culture where it is in short supply.  In first century Palestine yields were a fraction of modern production and storage from pests a perennial problem.  In today’s passage, however, Jesus takes just enough food for a small family, multiplies it, feeds a crowd of well over five thousand, and finds enough bread for a feast remaining.  John the evangelist is showing why Jesus is the Son of God destined to rise from the dead.  He pictures him here as a new Moses with many elements of the Exodus saga: mention of a sea and of the Passover feast, going up a mountain, and of course feeding legions with bread from heaven.  The people in John’s story understand Jesus to the fulfillment of Moses’ prophecy: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him” (Deuteronomy 18:18).

Following Jesus, we heed his command to care for the poor and needy. In this way, we look forward to his leading us beyond the enticements of this world to a realm of everlasting love.  This is the fulfilment of his Easter promise.  Death itself will not hinder us from reaching our deepest yearning for happiness.

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Thursday of the Second Week of Easter

(Acts 5:27-33; John 3:31-36)

Since atrocities have been committed in the name of religion, we have to be careful about Peter’s statement in today’s first reading, “We must obey God rather than men.”  We hear of Muslim “holy wars,” but there was a time when Christian Europe was so tragically engaged.  To discern whether a particular impulse is of God or not, we must, as the first Letter of John puts it, “test the spirits.”

Testing the spirits means to compare whether a proposed action conforms to Scripture.  Take the case of the committed Christian who asks herself, “Should I take on another ministry, or am I already failing to do justice to the work I have?”  She will find in St. Paul’s writing the bold statements: “I have become all things to all people” (I Cor 19:22) and “Be imitators of me” (I Cor 11:1).  At the same time she may note how Jesus makes strategic retreats at times (e.g., Mark 7:24) and refuses to become overly involved in any one locale (e.g., Mark 1:38).  Obviously we sometimes need assistance in our discernment.  Fortunately, most of us have wise people nearby whom we may consult. 

We Christians have Jesus as our primary model of virtue.  Unlike Mohammed who was a businessman and a warrior, Jesus was a pacifist teacher.  He will not lead us into battles at those which promote social supremacy more than defend the common good.  Some of his sayings are not to be taken literally.  (If you have ever looked at pornography, do not pluck on your eye.)  But we should always pray to him for assistance.  As he says in today’s gospel, he “does not ration the gift of the Spirit” of wisdom.

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Wednesday of the Second Week of Easter

(Acts 5:17-26; John 3:16-21)

There can be no doubt to whose life the angel refers to in the first reading when he tells the apostles, “’Go and take you place in the temple area, and tell the people everything about this life.’”  At the beginning of the Book of Acts as he is about to ascend into heaven, Jesus instructs them “to be my witnesses” in Jerusalem and throughout the world.  The angel is just reiterating that command.

Acts gives various examples of the apostolic witness.  But the most famous summary of “this life” is seen in today’s gospel.  Jells tells Nicodemus, “’God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.’”  Jesus is of God – His “Son.”  He comes to testify to God’s love for “the world” – all humanity.  This love is most powerfully witnessed when he willingly dies on the cross – among the cruelest of sufferings ever endured.

The witness of love has been shown to us today through the apostles, their successors, and many other true witnesses of Christ.  It compels us to love others by sacrificing some of our time, talent, and treasure.  We are more than willing to do this but not really for altruism’s sake.  No, we love even when it hurts, as Jesus says, so that we “’might have eternal life.’”