Sunday, May 5, 2024

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, May 5, 2024

(Acts 10:25-26,34-35,44-48; I John 4:7-10; John 15:9-17)

The gospel and the second reading today touch on a central theme of our faith. We believe that God created us out of love and wants us to love around Him and others. But in the world love is often talked about in unedifying ways. Therefore, it is worth asking: what kind of love does God want from us? And how can we distinguish it from unworthy kinds of love?

We can begin with the first reading of the Acts of the apostles. Peter baptizes the non-Jews when he sees them showing the effects of the Holy Spirit. On this occasion the Spirit moves the house of Cornelius to speak in unknown tongues proclaiming the greatness of God. As revealing as this display of the Spirit is, its effects are most often seen in sacrificial love. Saint Paul says in his First Letter to the Corinthians that sacrificial love is more perfect than any other endowment of the Holy Spirit.

In the gospel Jesus gives an account of this sacrificial love. He is with disciples having dinner for the last time before his death. He has just washed his feet, and now he is in the middle of explaining the meaning of this surprising action. He says that he did it with the same love with which the Father loves him. He has placed his disciples on the same level that he occupies. They are no longer servants; from now on they are his friends. As people close to him, Jesus will give his life for them. In response to this love, he asks them to be ready to do the same for him and for each other.

Through Baptism we are included in this circle of friends of Jesus. He died on the cross so that we may have freedom from sin and the destiny of eternal life. As heirs of these gifts, we are also obligated to perform such acts of sacrificial love. We see this love in the heroic acts of the saints. Saint Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan, gave his life to save that of a father in a concentration camp during World War II. After the Nazis chose the man as a scapegoat, the saint offered his life in his place. Saint Gianna Beretta Molla chose to risk her own life to save the child in her womb infected by a fibroid. As a result, she gave birth to her fourth child, but she died from complications contracted when she had the fibroid removed.

Sacrificial love is also found in charitable acts done every day. Saint Paul describes these acts to the Corinthians with a particular finesse: “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury…” (I Cor 13:4-5). Those parish members who visit prisons, hospitals, and nursing homes in nursing homes demonstrate this kind of love.

There is another type of love much talked about. It is inferior to sacrificial love because it seeks illicit pleasure, not the true good of his beloved. Illicit pleasure refers to the union of unmarried couples. Although society no longer censors this type of love, it offends God's plan. As the first book of the Bible describes, God created man and woman to become one flesh and thus multiply, subdue the earth and take care of it. When a person ignores God's will, he not only breaks a commandment but also involves his partner in sin.

God strengthens us with his Spirit so that we love in truth. The Spirit is ours simply for the asking. When we ask for specific things, we don't always receive them because God has something else in mind for us. But he will never deprive us of the Holy Spirit precisely because the spirit enables us to love in the best sense.

Friday, May 3, 2024

Feast of Saints Philip and James, apostles

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

Saul, the first king of Israel, was recognized for his good looks.  He is introduced in the Bible in this way: “There was no Israelite handsomer than Saul; he stood head and shoulders above the people” (I Sam 9:2b).  One commentator says that his demeanor was what most recommended him to be king.  In contrast, nothing is said in Scripture of how Jesus looked.  Nothing.  Yet he tells Philip in today’s gospel that anyone who sees him, sees God the Father.

 Philip is asking for a theophany.  He wants an experience of God like Moses had at the burning bush.  He expects to see something that would be called “awesome” today.  Jesus corrects his largely mistaken notion that the experience of God is always earth-shaking.  When he identifies seeing the Father with seeing himself, he has his self-sacrificing love in mind.  Jesus preaches, teaches, and most of all lives this love.  That is what his Father, as well, is all about.

Philip is no slower learner than we are.  We too often look for a revelation of God in fantastic ways.  The truth is that God reveals Himself to us daily.  He appears every time someone goes out of her way to help another.  When we perform such acts, we become His angels.

Thursday, May 2, 2024

Memorial of Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

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

Today the Church celebrates another saint of enormous proportions.  Saint Athanasius deserves attention for being a creative theologian.  He developed the insight of Christ’s having a divine nature together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  This complemented Christ’s human nature.  Inasmuch as Christ has existed from all eternity in the Trinity, it is said that he is a divine person with two natures.

Athanasius was also a popular writer.  His classic biography of the desert monk, St. Anthony, was a kind of bestseller in the days of pen and papyrus.  The book not only made Anthony famous but also a model of saintly perfection.

Finally, Athanasius had the privilege of suffering for Jesus.  His Arian enemies, who believed that Christ did not share the same divinity as the Father, continually harassed him.  For a hefty portion of his long career as bishop of Alexandria he lived in exile.  No doubt he found in his trials a way to draw close to the Lord who died on the cross.

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

(Optional) Memorial of Saint Joseph the Worker

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

On this Memorial of Saint Joseph the Worker, it is fitting that the gospel pictures God as a farm worker.  Jesus tells in his parable of the vine and branches that God prunes the branches of the grapevine so that they can produce more fruit.

Jesus has in mind the word of God when he cites God as pruning grapevines.  Scripture prunes by instructing and chastising so that its readers know God’s will.  It also encourages and consoles so that they do not fail when life demands hard choices.

The times seem to favor workers.  In recent decades they have been relieved of many back-breaking chores.  AIso, in the United States at least, a tight labor market and the ability to work at home give them more flexibility in choosing jobs.  But these factors do not relieve workers of the responsibility to do their jobs diligently for the good of society. As much as ever they need to refer to the word of God for inspiration and moral direction.  

Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

(Acts 14:19-28; John 14:27-31a)

Toward the end of his letter to the Philippians St. Paul writes that he learned how to be satisfied with whatever he had.  He could endure hardship with equanimity because of his relationship with Jesus Christ.  This relationship of love brings the peace to which today’s gospel refers.

Believing that Christ will return to reward them, his disciples need not fret about persecution or worry about death.  They know that Christ will give them the fulness of life in eternity.  He suffered a worse trial than they have.  It resulted in his resurrection in glory as they will experience.

This same “peace of Christ” is ours by reason of faith.  Let us embrace the promise of the resurrection Jesus made to his disciples.  Doing so, we need not have undo concern about the vagaries of the world or the coming of death.