Thursday, April 28, 2016

Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter

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

For the last two years a great debate has been conducted within the Church.  Pope Francis had made it known that he was considering a change in the policy of prohibiting all divorced and remarried people from receiving Communion.  Several cardinals reacted with a letter reminding the pope that the prohibition of divorce came from Jesus himself.  As intense as this controversy became, it was likely not nearly as passionate as the one of which the first reading today gives account.

It is easy to imagine the polemics of the different sides.  Paul and Barnabas come to Jerusalem asking why pagan Greeks need to adopt Jewish customs in order to be part of the Church.  After all, they would explain, it is the cross of Jesus that brings salvation.  Furthermore, they would add, expecting circumcision is not practical, much less considerate.  Then the other side weighs in: because Jews are God’s “chosen people,” one must first join this larger group before being adopted into God’s family.  Besides, they surely add, how could one enjoy table fellowship with people who ate the flesh of pigs, apparently the most unclean animal? 

The decision of the apostles to accept pagan Greeks into the Church two thousand years ago underlies our presence at mass.  Similarly Pope Francis made a momentous decision three weeks ago in his apostolic exhortation The Joy of Love.  He upheld the long-standing tradition of the Church forbidding divorce, but he also called for deeper discernment regarding the relationship of married people.  Actually the pope is calling all of us to a closer relationship with God through a more loving care for one another.  Christian spouses especially have the vocation to love so that they may become for all as well as for each other the door to God.

Friday, April 22, 2016

Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter

(Acts 13:26-33; John 14:1-6)

ISIS continues to wreak havoc on Christians not only in Syria and Iraq but also in Europe.  Meanwhile, the reaction in the United States is severe.  Political candidates want to bar all Muslims from entering the country.  There is good reason for hearts to be troubled.

Yet Jesus tells his disciples in today’s gospel not to worry.  He assures them that there is room for all in God’s kingdom.  He wants them to follow him as he leads the way to eternal life.

Supported by one another, we line up behind Jesus.  We will find Muslims in our company as well as members of other religious traditions.  We will not hear non-Christians express explicit faith in Jesus, but we see them like him refusing to hate their enemies.  We also notice them like him willing to forgive those who have hurt them deeply.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Easter

(Acts 13:13-25; John 13:16-20)

A school administrator remembers the day Bishop Daniel DiNardo of Sioux City, Iowa, was waiting with him for a meeting to begin.  The administrator started to set up chairs for the affair, and the bishop did not hesitate to assist him.  The administrator today marvels at the humility of the bishop who today serves as the cardinal-archbishop of Houston.  Cardinal DiNardo that day at least took to heart Jesus’ admonition to his disciples in today’s gospel.

Jesus has just startled his followers by washing their feet.  His action is equivalent to a small business person washing the cars of employees.  Of course, Jesus is not surrendering his role as teacher.  His point is that his followers are not to lord over but to serve one another.  It has been noted that there are no positions of privilege in the Gospel of John.  Even at the end of the work when Jesus commissions Peter to pastor his flock, he gives him no special authority.

We must be careful not to condemn hierarchy.  Rather we should see the need for people with responsibility to have authority to fulfill it.  But we also look for leaders who take to heart Jesus’ example of humble service.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

(Acts 12:24a-13:5a; John 12:44-50)

When we hear of sacraments, we think of the seven signs instituted by Christ to give grace.  But there is more to the concept.  The Church is a sacrament.  It is the visible presence of Christ in the world today.  Over fifty years ago, Dutch Dominican Edward Schillebeeckx published a ground-breaking book entitled Christ, the Sacrament of the Encounter with God.  The work shows with theological finesse Jesus’ claim in the gospel today: when we see him, we see the Father.

Today’s passage serves as a summary of the first half of John’s gospel which shows Jesus being revealed to the world as God’s only-begotten Son.  It reiterates how he has not come into the world to judge it but to save it.  That saving work is related in the gospel’s second half which begins with the next scene of Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples. 

We want to hold on to Jesus by heeding his words.  They will guide us through the difficulties we presently face.  Indeed, they provide comfort as they promise us a share in the glory of the resurrection.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

(Acts 11:19-26; John 10:22-30)

In his Mass Leonard Bernstein composes a marvelous tribute to Scripture.  The song “The Word of the Lord” declares that autocratic powers may incarcerate God’s preachers, but they cannot imprison the message they preach.  In today’s reading from Acts, Luke also shows how the word spreads in the primitive church with similar dynamism. 

Followers of Jesus, after being persecuted in Jerusalem, evangelize in other places.  They preach exclusively to Jews, but their converts do not discriminate.  When they come to Antioch, they preach to everyone.  The Greek followers of Jesus cannot be called Jews because they do not follow the Jewish Law.  The entire community – Jews as well as Greeks – must re-identify.  They call themselves Christians.  It is the beginning of a new era for the Church which is still in existence.

If the word of God seems stymied today because of secularism in many Western countries, it has hardly lost its dynamism in Africa and Asia.  It is convincing large numbers of people in these places that Jesus is the way to happiness.  In today’s gospel it tells of Jesus delivering the message: “I give (my sheep) eternal life, and they shall never perish.”