Thursday, May 30, 2019

Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter

(Acts 18:1-8; John 16:16-20)

A novel about couple undergoing a trial in their marriage reaches a climax when an adolescent dies in a freakish accident.  At his funeral the youth minister says that the boy is much happier now because he is with the Lord.  Realizing that these words will sound platitudinous, she urges the distraught congregation to have faith.  She reminds everyone of a verse from Ecclesiastes saying: “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”  She has God in mind.  He can hold together any people who are struggling, be they a couple with a marriage problem or a community overwhelmed with grief.  Jesus intimates the same kind of faith in today’s gospel.

The disciples seem naively unaware of the ordeal that Jesus faces.  When he tells them that in a little while they will no longer see him, he is referring to his impending crucifixion.  But then they will see him because God will raise him from the dead.  Earlier Jesus urged his friends to have faith in him.  To overcome the grief they are about to experience they will need to trust in God.

Death separates us from those whom we love.  We believe that God will raise up from the dead all who believe in him.  Yet when it swallows up those about whom we care about the most, we can hardly help but wonder.  At such a moment we are wise to retreat into prayer and mutual support.  Doing so, we will not have to wait for the general resurrection to experience God’s glory.

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

(Acts 7:15.22-18.1; John 16:12-15)

No doctrine of the Church is harder to grasp than the Holy Trinity.  How the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are both three and one almost defies explanation.  They are not three individuals making up a collective like a three-person volleyball team.  The three persons have but one mind and one will.  The Son, of course, has taken on a human nature, and his body is part of his heavenly presence.  But this extrinsic quality does not explain the real difference among the three.  They differ only by their relationships – one is Father; one is Son; and one is the life or Spirit among them.  In today’s gospel Jesus reassures his disciples with reference to the unique triad and unity of the Holy Trinity.

Jesus underscores the unity of the Trinity when he says that the Spirit will teach only what it receives from him.  In turn Jesus passes on only what he has received from the Father.  One might ask whether only the Spirit would be present to Jesus’ disciples or to Christians today.  No, Jesus has said in this same discourse that all three are present to his disciples.  The Church would formulate the Trinity’s presence in this way: “The Father is present to us through the Son and in the Holy Spirit.”

Although they are one, we can develop a relationship with each of the three divine persons.  To do this daily we can make an examination of conscience with the three in mind.  We can say, “Thank you” to the Father, the source of all things, for any good that we have experienced during the day.  We can say, “Forgive me,” to the Son who died because of our sins for any sins we committed.  And we can say, “Please…” to the Holy Spirit who is sent to help us for any special need we have tomorrow.

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

(Acts 16:22-34; John 16:5-11)

Television lawyer shows often picture defense attorneys acting as prosecutors.  In order to exonerate their clients, they uncover evidence that proves another guilty of the crime.  In today’s reading from the Gospel of John, Jesus tells how the Holy Spirit will perform this dual service. 

Jesus calls the Holy Spirit, “the Advocate,” a fitting name for a defense attorney.  He says that the Advocate will convict the world “in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation.”  The Spirit will prove the world guilty of sin for refusing to follow the teaching and example of Jesus.  In doing so, it will show the righteousness of Jesus.  And it will condemn Satan, the prince of the world, for his pride and deceit.

Obviously, the Holy Spirit is a valuable ally in life.  It is a kind of free gift of membership in the discipleship of Jesus.  We want to treasure the Holy Spirit and make use of his assistance.

Monday, May 27, 2019

Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter

(Acts 16:11-15; John 15:26-16:4a)

The Catholic Church bases its health care ethics on the human person’s innate dignity from conception until natural death.  It exhorts medical professionals to honor this dignity by refusing to take part in abortion, assisted suicide and other contradictory procedures.  In doing so, the Church has been criticized.  Doctors who refuse to render death-dealing services have also been threatened with censure.  Jesus warns of such developments in today’s gospel.

He is telling his disciples to expect persecution because they follow his teaching.  He has specifically in mind the harassment of Christians for seeing himself as the Son of God.  But with the coming of the Spirit to complete his teaching, Jesus would include other doctrines. 

Much of Catholic health care ethics is derived from natural law and not from explicitly gospel sources.  Nevertheless, Catholics will have to abide by it even if it means not practicing medicine because of state persecution.  However, we pray that society comes to recognize the truth of natural law morality.  We pray as well that it honors the freedom of citizens to practice their respective religious beliefs.

Friday, May 24, 2019

Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter

(Acts 15:22-31; John 15:12-17)

An old song said, “Love makes the world go round.”  A high school teacher challenged this idea.  He told his students that love does not make the world go round.  Rather, he said, money does.  He was referring to the idea that money motivates most people to work which, in a way, sets the world in motion.  An astrophysicist would give another answer.  She would claim that the earth spins on its axis because of the way it was formed.  The swirling gases and dust from which the earth was formed started the rotation which has never ceased. 

 

With today’s gospel in mind we might ask ourselves, what does love do then after all?  Love puts us in harmony with God.  Since God’s very being is love, we share God’s life when we love others.  There is the difficulty of how to identify true love.  St. Augustine can help us here.  He once preached, “What does love look like? It has hands to help others.  It has feet to hasten to the poor and needy.  It has eyes to see misery and want.  It has ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men and women.  That is what love looks like.”

As we all know, it is easy to talk about love but quite another thing to live.  The novelist Dostoyevsky wrote that love in action is “a harsh and dreadful thing.”  It requires sacrifices that we would be loath to make except for the good of the beloved.  For God, the greatest good, we should be ready to make great sacrifices.