Monday, May 20, 2019

Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter

(Acts 14:5-18; John 14:21-26)

The first reading sounds more like a situation comedy than an episode of true history.  Sometimes, however, reality is stranger than fiction.  In any case, people have an odd penchant of adulating men and women as if they were gods and goddesses.  Today athletes and entertainers have godlike status in the eyes of the public.  A Tom Brady or a Nicole Kidman command immense salaries and attention to the banalities of their lives.

In the biblical passage Paul and Barnabas are worshipped as gods after facilitating an instant healing.  The two apostles take advantage of the opportunity to explain God’s love for them.  They tell the pagan townspeople that such a mighty deed is but an extension of the care God shows in creation.  Still like many today the people in the reading refuse to abandon their fantasies.  They continue to prepare sacrifices for the apostles.

Unfortunately the attention paid to athletes and entertainers often detracts from worship of the true God.  We know of people who do not go to church on Sunday in order to watch a football game.  Many as well accept the caprices of entertainers as norms for everyone.  The situation leaves us with a double responsibility.  We must be careful not to fall into these vices.  And we must instruct our youth that the living God demands righteous living.

Friday, May 17, 2019

Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter

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

In today’s gospel Jesus declares himself as “…the truth.”  He means that he is the highest truth because he reveals God the Father.  In reaching for this truth, the scholar does not abandon the truth found in nature.  The physical sciences discover much that leads to God.  Nor should people think that the truth that is Jesus is different from the truth they are supposed to tell in daily life.  When we conform our words to reality, they will eventually tell of Jesus.  Nevertheless, God still belongs to another order than humans.  Jesus, who is one with the Father, has made Him known as much as humans are capable of understanding.

The pregnant gospel passage hints in different ways to the Father.  He is beneficent, that is, ready to shelter those who come to Him in need.  To reach Him one must follow Jesus, the way.  Jesus has just washed the feet of his disciples and told them to do the same to one another.  To follow Jesus, then, is to care for one another by providing service.  Finally, God bestows life.  More than being the source of life, God gives life in its fullness sense.  He enables humans to thrive, to be all that they can be.  In the end this means that all humans become Jesus-like.

Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life.”  We might say that he is the true roadmap to happiness.  When we follow him we will neither lose our way nor become tired and disillusioned.  We will find ourselves ever satisfied, ever grateful.

Thursday, May 16, 2019

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Easter

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

Once in a while we may hear religious sisters talk about their “missions.”  They speak of where they have served as where they have been missioned.  They say something like, “Denver was my first mission, and then I was missioned in Milwaukee.”  Today’s gospel helps us to think of all Christians as having a mission.  Whether it be to some far off city or in the neighborhood where they were born, Christians are sent off to serve.

Jesus is speaking with his disciples at what we call the Last Supper or the Lord’s Supper.  He is preparing them to go out to the world and preach the good news.  He implies that they can be confident of the claims he will make about himself because he will predict all that happens to him.  Then he says that anyone who receives them receives him and God the Father as well: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me."

We were sent forth as “other Christs” on the occasion of our Baptism.  The sending is renewed at every Eucharist.  Occasionally, the mission is explicit.  “Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord” is one of the four approved dismissals at the end of mass.  Whether the priest or deacon uses that wording or not, we are being sent on a mission.  The Lord has allowed us to partake of his Body and Blood not only for our own edification.  Rather, he expects us with this Eucharistic food to assist others on the way of salvation.

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

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

Perhaps the greatest mind in the Age of Enlightenment belonged to the English scientist Isaac Newton.  Newton mapped with mathematical accuracy the laws of mechanics and of motion.  He was also a philosopher and theologian.  The poet Alexander Pope lyrically summed up Newton’s achievements, “God said, ‘Let Newton be,’ and all was light.”  In today’s gospel Jesus speaks of himself also as coming into the world as light.

As light Jesus performs two great services.  First, he uncovers human sinfulness so that people may repent and be reconciled.  Some desire privacy so that their sins may not be known.  But Jesus does not allow them to fool themselves by speaking to their consciences.  More importantly, Jesus shows humanity how to love.  Because of him, the highest measure of love will not have anything to do with sex.  It will be counted in the degree of sacrifice one makes for the good of others.

Sometimes we feel reluctant to allow the light of Christ to shine on us.  We may take pleasure in our sinfulness or we may hate others so much that we do not wish reconciliation.  When these conditions invade our being, we should turn to Jesus in prayer.  His light will provide gentle warmth to draw us out of our funk into his grace.

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Feast of Saint Matthias, apostle

(Acts 1:15-17.20-26; John 15:9-17)

Today’s first reading relating the election of Matthias contains one critical message.  The apostles considered it necessary to select a replacement for Judas.  Having twelve men who would testify to Jesus’ resurrection was essential. Why is this?  Shortly the Holy Spirit will descend upon the group of Jesus’ disciples to begin the mission to the ends of the earth.  If this new reality was to be the New Israel then it would have to be modeled after the Old Israel.  Each apostle would represent one son of Israel, one of the nation’s twelve tribes.

After all, Israel is really more than a nation or a country.  It is a people with an identity and a mission.  It belongs to God and is to reflect his holiness in the world.  This people has been formed over centuries by God’s Law.  Of course, it failed to live it fully because it lacked the Holy Spirit.  Now it will receive the Spirit so that it may accomplish its mission.  The Spirit will also compel the people outward to gather adherents around the world.

The Church is the New Israel, the people of God.  Its success in exemplifying holiness is reflected in its saints.  Sadly sinners belong to the Church as well.  It will take more centuries to achieve universal sanctity, but there are signs of progress.  But more than time, universal holiness depends upon our living the Law that Jesus summarizes in today’s gospel.  We are to love one another as he loves us.