Wednesday within the Octave of Easter

Wednesday within the Octave of Easter

(Acts 3:1-10; Luke 24:13-35)

The name Christian registers negatively in the minds of many today.  At Christmas people refuse to use the word.  The Crusades are seen as unforgiveable sins even as current Muslim atrocities beg Christian forbearance.  Standing Christian morality respecting life from conception and preserving sexual intimacy for marriage is viewed as quaint.  It should be noted, therefore, how St. Peter employs the name of Jesus in today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

Peter, John, and all Christians of the day go to temple for prayer.  They do not see themselves as separate from their countrypersons although they recognize they have an advantage.  A crippled man begs them for alms as is his custom.  Peter does not turn away but acknowledges the beggar’s need by looking at him intently.  He tells the man that as a human being, he is powerless to help him.  Then he invokes the name of Jesus which has the power to save.  Pulling the man up from the ground, Peter watches him walk. 

Invoking Jesus’ name allows us to overcome natural limitations.  We should hardly be ashamed of using it name except, of course, in vain.  We need to recognize publicly that it is Jesus who gives us the grace to visit the sick and speak up for immigrants.  We have to keep in mind as well that his name represents love and peace, never oppression and violence.  If the world is to be saved, it will be through his name.

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Tuesday within the Octave of Easter

(Acts 2:36-41; John 20:11-18)

In listening to the gospel today, two questions come to mind.  First, why does Mary Magdalene have difficulty recognizing the risen Lord?  Second, why does Jesus tell Mary not to cling to him?  Answering these questions gives a better understanding of the resurrection.

Mary does not recognize Jesus because the resurrection has transformed him. He does not have the same kind of body as before he died.  It has been eternalized.  It is more than cleansed and more even than restored with blood.  It is recreated so that it beams life.  As a meager comparison, we might think of the difficulty of recognizing a formerly shiftless youth who just undergone basic Marine training.  His body now vibrates energy.

The resurrected body is not to be clung to because it does not belong to this world.  Its eternal nature belongs with the Father in heaven.  When Jesus has ascended, he will send his Spirit which has a place among us.  That Spirit guiding, inspiring, and informing us will be Jesus’ abiding presence to us. It will lead us to eventual full union with Jesus.

Monday, April 17, 2017

Monday within the Octave of Easter

(Acts 2:24.22-23; Matthew 28:8-15)

Of all the evangelists Matthew is most cynical toward the Jews.  He alone pictures Jewish leaders scheming with Judas to arrest Jesus.  Likewise, he alone records the Jewish people saying that Jesus’ blood should fall on them and their children.  The cynicism toward the Jews concludes in today’s gospel.  Matthew alone explains the natural skepticism that arises with the report of a dead person’s coming to life by describing the Jewish authorities bribing the Roman soldiers and promulgating a lie.

Scholars attribute such negativity in Matthew (and John) to the persecution that Christians were experiencing at the hand of Jewish leaders at the time of his writing.  Jewish-Christians were being purged from synagogues as Jewish leaders were reforming the practice of their faith with the destruction of the Jerusalem temple.  Saying that an evangelist read back into the account of Jesus’ life events which reflect his own times does not undercut the authority of Scripture.  Rather it should help Christians to understand and live their faith.

We should not doubt the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  That Jesus appeared to his disciples and to Paul in a glorified body after he died is firmly attested to in Scripture.  His resurrection and visitations have precipitated the coming of the Holy Spirit upon us.  The Spirit enables us to accept the quite implausible occurrence of the resurrection so that we too hope to experience it at the end of time.   The same Spirit moves us to search for the truth of all matters so that our testimony to the resurrection of Jesus has credibility. 

Friday, April 14, 2017

Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion

(Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42)

The Gospel according to John portrays Jesus as fond of personal encounters.  At the beginning of his ministry Jesus engages Nicodemus and then the Samaritan woman in one-on-ones.  These encounters lead to the salvation of both although it is not apparent in Nicodemus’ case until today’s gospel reading.  Jesus also encounters the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda, the man born blind in Jerusalem, and Martha and Mary individually in Bethany -- all with positive outcomes.  However, in today’s account of Jesus’ passion his face-off with Pontius Pilate ends regrettably.

Pilate meets Jesus with objectivity.  He seems interested in determining the veracity of the Jews’ claim that Jesus makes himself out to be a rival to the Roman emperor.  He asks him, “’Are you the King of the Jews?’”  Jesus answers him obliquely which precipitates a conversation on the nature of kingly power.  As the conversation continues, Pilate becomes satisfied that Jesus does not threaten Roman sovereignty.  Pilate quickly maneuvers to release Jesus by first claiming him as the beneficiary of the annual Passover pardon and then by having him scourged so that the normal person would say that he has suffered enough.  But the Jews are portrayed as implacable as they bully Pilate into betraying his judgment of the case.

Each of us should see Jesus as personally confronting her or him today.  He is asking, “Carmen, do you believe that I died on the cross to win your salvation?  Or is this service only a ritual to mark time, no more significant than Halloween?”  Hopefully, we can answer honestly, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Savior of the world.”  That said, we will want to give him homage.

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Holy Thursday – Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper

(Exodus 12:1-8.11-14; I Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-15)

The word remember literally means to put the pieces (or members) back together. When we remember something, our minds restore the image that has been dispersed through time.  We remember a story by calling to mind its basic elements; for example, a man had two sons: one left to spend his inheritance foolishly while the other begrudged his brother a welcome upon returning.  Today’s readings are all about remembering and assigning new meaning to what is recalled.

The first reading gives the mandate to all the children of Israel to remember God’s liberation of their ancestors from slavery.  They are to recall the gracious act by reenacting the meal eaten on the eve of its occurrence.  The second reading from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians itself remembers how Jesus gave new meaning to the mandate when faithfully fulfilling it.  For his followers the meal to be shared will no longer remember God’s deliverance of the Israelites from political oppression.  From that moment it will remember Jesus’ offering of himself as the means of their liberation from sin.

The reading from the Gospel according to John presents a new dimension of Jesus’ anticipated paschal supper with his disciples.  The meal is replaced by the symbolic washing of his followers’ feet.  Typical of John’s gospel Jesus interprets the meaning of his action.  As he serves his disciples by both washing their feet and dying for them the following day, they must serve one another.  In other words, Christians are to love one another to the point of dying on her or his behalf.

We are entering into the mysteries of our salvation.  More than mandates of self-sacrifice they include the graces of the Holy Spirit.  We go forward to celebrate them with solemn joy.  We will be challenged unto death but at the same time renewed for eternal life.