Friday, May 7, 2021

Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter

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

In one of Shakespeare’s greatest speeches King Henry V rallies the English army against the numerous French.  The king calls his men “brothers” so that they will stand with him in the fight.  After they win the battle, however, Henry retreats from the metaphor.  The soldiers are no longer “brothers.”  In today’s gospel Jesus calls his disciples not “brothers” but “friends.”  Unlike Henry, he will not take back that relationship.

The word “friends” may make some people think that the relationship between Jesus and his disciples is shallow.  After all, some people have thousands of “friends” on Facebook.  But assuredly that is not Jesus’ intention here. St. Thomas Aquinas sees “friends” as “other selves” as Aristotle defines the term.  Jesus’ friends not only know all about him but also are enriched by his insights into and affection for them.

We too share Jesus’ friendship if we obey his commandments.  As he says many times, his commandments boil down to a sincere love for one another.  Our friendship with Jesus results also in our sharing his destiny.  We become heirs of his eternal life.

Thursday, May 6, 2021

 Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter

(Acts 15:7-21; John 15:9-11)

In today’s gospel Jesus tells his disciples to keep his commandments.  In this way, he says, his joy will be in them.  The joy that he is referring to is the exultation of completing his mission and experiencing the resurrection.  To appreciate the wonder of this joy, it is helpful to compare it with pleasure, its counterfeit.

Many seek pleasure and count it as happiness.  But joy is a much better approximation of the happiness people desire deep within.  Pleasure is superficial.  It is a phenomenon of the sensual faculties that lasts a moment and then clamors for more sensation.  Joy, on the other hand, is spiritual satisfaction that pervades one’s being. Gained only with effort, it lasts a long time and gives continual consolation.

Jesus’ promise to share with us his joy implies that we follow him.  In all likelihood, our discipleship will not cost us our lives.  But it will entail our sacrifice of self in love.  This is a meager cost for the exultation that his joy brings.

Wednesday, May 5, 2021

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

(Acts 15:1-6; John 15:1-8)

A second-century layman named Marcion taught that Christians did not need the Old Testament.  For him the God of the Old Testament was fierce and distinct from the loving Father of Jesus Christ.  If Marcion had been in charge when Paul was converting gentiles, Paul might not have needed to go to Jerusalem in today’s first reading.

But Paul would certainly have rejected Marcion’s theology.  He would have acknowledged the continuity between the Old Testament and the New.  He certainly saw Christ as the fulfillment of the promise God made to the Jews since Abraham.  This truth, however, did not resolve the most pressing issue in the first century Church: did a male Gentile have to be circumcised before he could be incorporated into Christ.  If he had to be circumcised, the thrust of preaching Christ to the Gentiles, would have been almost surely thwarted.  But Paul was not looking for an easy way to convert Gentiles.  He always insisted on practicing “the truth of the gospel.”

The text says that the apostles and “the presbyters of the Jerusalem community met together” to resolve the matter.  It could not be decided by the fiat of one person but necessitated the injunction of the Holy Spirit.  Knotty issues of our time need the same kind of deliberation and prayer.  Should the Church deny Holy Communion to politicians who defy its explicit teaching on abortion?  Should the Church accept married men for ordination to the priesthood where there is an acute shortage of priests?  How might the Church allow women into positions of governance?  These are the kind of concerns that requires intensive solicitation of the Holy Spirit. 

Tuesday, May 4, 2021

 Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

 (Acts 14:19-28; John 14:27-31a)

 Abraham Lincoln steered the United States through its most perilous moment.  He is often considered strong as a bull and clear-sighted as an eagle.  In truth he suffered from severe depression that made him consider suicide.  But he refused to allow himself that way out.  He rebounded from his melancholy to think himself through personal difficulties and to give due attention to the great challenge of his time.  In the first reading today we see Paul responding to a crisis with similar resiliency.

 Paul deeply wants his fellow Jews to believe in Jesus.  He knows that they will find salvation only through him.  He preaches Jesus’ lordship in the synagogues of Asia Minor, but the assemblies continually reject his message.  In today’s reading from Acts he is beaten and left for dead by the Jews in the town of Lystra.  But Paul rises from the setback to redirect his message.  If he cannot convince the Jews of Jesus, he surmises that the pagans may heed him.  Then, he will reason later, the Jews might convert from a sense of missing out on something glorious.

 We too may feel defeated at times.  Perhaps our friends don’t believe in Jesus or are at best lukewarm about their faith.  Still to us Jesus not only is our destiny but our joy in attaining it.  We must not lose heart.  Rather we can find in Jesus the wisdom and strength to overcome the indifference of friends.  Also, we will meet others with similar experiences and convictions as ours to support us along the way.

Monday, May 3, 2021

 

Feast of Saint Philip and Saint James, apostles

(I Corinthians 15:1-8; John 14:6-14)

 In today’s gospel Philip asks Jesus to show him and the other apostles “the Father.”  He does not understand that Jesus has done this since the moment they met.  His mistake is mirrored in all the confusion about the two apostles we celebrate today.

At times Philip has been misidentified with the Philip of the primitive Christian community who was appointed to take care of the Greek-speaking widows.  Philip, the apostle, was a Hebrew from Bethsaida who is mentioned a number of times in the Gospel of John.  James, sometimes called “the Less,” is distinguished from James “the Greater,” the fiery son of Zebedee.  This distinction, however, is not the one that causes difficulty.  James “the Less” is also the son of Alpheus of whom almost nothing is said in the New Testament.  He is confused with James, “the brother of the Lord.”  This James, who may be a half-brother or a cousin of Jesus, plays a prominent part in the Jerusalem community.  It is probably this latter James to whom Paul is referring in today’s first reading.

Not much is known about Philip, James, or – for that matter – any of the apostles besides Peter.  But this does not mean they were not important.  Tradition indicates that all the apostles died as martyrs.  (The Beloved Disciple, whom John’s Gospel indicates will not be martyred, was probably not one of the twelve apostles.)  They also formed the group that Jesus chose as the foundation of his Church.  They had the solemn duty to testify to him in an often hostile world.