Christ the King (C)

(2 Samuel 5:1-3; Colossians 1:12-20; Luke 23:35-43)

Today we are invited to rejoice in Christ our King Who is the Son of God made flesh.  We should be aware that throughout the New Testament the many mentions of "the God", for example, “the God of our fathers", "the God of the living", "may the God of hope", and other such expressions, all refer to God the Father, He is "God" because the Father is the source of all. 

However, because He is Father, always and eternally, therefore He always and eternally expresses His Fatherhood in His Son, His co-eternal Son, for without His Son He would not be Himself, that is, He would not be the Father.  The Father withholds nothing from His Son, as Jesus told his disciples at the Last Supper:

All things that the Father has are Mine (John 16:15)

(Father,) all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine. (John 17:10)

And therefore we heard in the second reading that:

            He (the beloved Son) is the image of the invisible God.

The Nicene Creed proclaims in our Mass the eternal relationship between Father and Son in the one Godhead: He is God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, Begotten not made, of One Being with the Father.

Therefore, in the one God, the Son is the essential, total and complete, expression of the Father's very being. 

Creation, on the other hand, is not essential to God; it is a choice He makes and,  though it is an abiding choice of His will, it is only a partial expression in space and time of His infinite wisdom, goodness, and power.  Nevertheless, as true Father He loves creation as He made it (Gen 1:31):

Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.

Since the Son is the total, co-eternal, expression of the nature of God the Father while creation is but a partial, temporal, expression of His goodness and truth, we can begin to appreciate there being a special relationship between the Son and creation, as we heard in the second reading:

He -- the image of the invisible God -- is the firstborn over all creation.  For by Him all things were created, in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers -- all were created through Him and for Him.

Moreover, we can now understand why it should be the Son Who was sent by the Father for our salvation; the Son Who, having taken truly human flesh of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, became the One of Whom the letter to the Colossians says that:

He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. (Col. 1:17)

Indeed, though outwardly seen as a mysteriously humble figure known as Jesus, the son of Mary of Nazareth, the same letter to the Colossians goes on to tell us that:

            In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. (Col. 2:9)

Let us then try to appreciate something of the glory of the Father, manifested to us in the beauty, the truth, and the goodness of His Son through the power of the Holy Spirit.

It was the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the bond of love between Father and Son in the one Godhead, Who guided, strengthened, and sustained, the incarnate Son, Who, -- having been made one with us in all our powers and potentialities, even to the extent of sharing in our native human weakness though without sin -- would be led to the full maturity of His human nature by the Spirit.  This was publicly manifested, as you will recall, at the baptism of Jesus by John in the Jordan:

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.  And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”  Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  (Matt 3:16-4:1)

The beloved, only-begotten, Son of God, the Lord and Saviour of all mankind, had to be brought to perfection in His fleshly existence for our sake; and -- because of our sins -- that perfection could only come through suffering as the letter to the Hebrews tells us:

It was fitting for Him, for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. (Heb 2:10)

And now, we begin to see the true nature of Christ's glory in its earthly manifestation, we begin to glimpse His goodness and His humility:

 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through  fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.(Heb 2:14-15)

This He was able to do because:

Though He was in the form of God, (He) did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Phil 2:6-8)

And having (thus) been perfected, He became the author of salvation to all who obey Him. (Heb 5:9)

Let us now raise up our minds from things on earth to have a look in faith at the heavenly beauty of Him Whom the prophet Malachi, in the name of God, described as the "sun of righteousness":

For you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. (Mal. 4:2)

For this Son-of-God-made-man was revealed in all His beauty by rising from the dead as the prophet Isaiah also had foretold (Isaiah 33:17):

Your eyes will see the King in His beauty, they will see the land that is far off.

Indeed, only the beauty of the risen Christ enables us to raise our eyes in hope to the promised land of our heavenly home with Christ.  As the prophet Zecharia had foretold:

On that day the Lord their God will save them, His own people, like a flock.  What wealth is theirs, what beauty!  (9:16-17).

What beauty must be His since He offers such comeliness and beauty to His faithful flock!  What beauty is His Who, rising like the sun, is able to bestow such blessings on those who formerly:

sat in darkness and in the shadow of death? (Ps 107:10)

To understand a final aspect of the glory of Christ the King let us now just consider Him in heaven.  There, He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and there we can recognize His eternal goodness, truth, and faithfulness; for, we are told that, in heaven, He is eternally solicitous for our well-being:

It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. (Rom. 8:34)

He is able to save forever those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Heb 7:25)

What way to God will those prayers of Jesus open up for us?  What guiding power will enable us to walk faithfully and perseveringly along that path?  Let us carefully attend to Jesus Himself on the Cross and learn His ways.

The people stood looking on (and) even the rulers with them sneered saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself”.(Luke 23:35)

But Jesus did not save Himself.

One of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” (Luke 23:39)

He was the Christ, He knew He was the Christ, but still He did not save Himself.  Why?  Listen yet more closely:

Then (the other criminal hanged with Him) said to Jesus, “Lord”, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”  And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23: 42-43)

Jesus, so calmly and completely certain what was to happen to Himself, did not promise that He would take the former thief with Himself into Paradise, “you will be with Me” He said; in other words, ‘He Who will receive Me into Paradise will draw you there with Me’.  Notice most carefully Jesus’ total commitment to and trust in His Father and in the Spirit Who was working in Him for the Father’s glory, for that is the royal way of Jesus from this world to the next as children of God.

All the conceits of our human sinfulness have gradually to be set aside until we are totally convinced that we can neither grab the fruit of tree of Paradise, nor can we merit heaven for ourselves.  Such fruit is given only to those who -- through faith in Jesus, and in the fear of the Lord -- become increasingly aware of His Gift of the Spirit at work in their lives and who humble themselves with heartfelt gratitude beneath such gentle yet sovereign goodness: those who pray for, and are willing to wait for, His lead in all things; those who sincerely seek to distinguish aright between His guiding and their own passions and fears, between His enlightening and their own imagining, wishing, and wanting; and finally, those who will then commit themselves totally in an endeavour to follow His lead as closely as their trust in Him and death to themselves will allow.

And here we should just glance back at our first reading:

All the tribes of Israel came to David saying: “We are your bone and your flesh.  In times past you were the one who led Israel out and brought them in; and the Lord said to you, ’You shall shepherd My People Israel’”.

Yes, dear People of God, Jesus Christ is Our Lord, He has been with us in and through all the vicissitudes of our lives; whenever we have turned to Him He has been waiting and available; indeed, walking our way for us He has gone before to turn the dark shades of our death into the glowing portal of the heavenly home  which is even now being prepared for us. 

Lord Jesus, trusty Friend and Brother, dear Lord and Saviour, King of all creation and only-begotten Son of the eternal Father, may our celebration today further the rule of Your Spirit in our hearts and minds, promote Your Lordship over our society and our world, and give eternal praise and glory to Him Who is and will be ‘All in All’.

Thirty Second  Sunday Year (C)

(2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:16 – 3:5;

Luke 20: 27-38)

In the first reading from the second book of Maccabees you heard the words:

Ours is the better choice, to meet death at men's hands yet relying on God's promise that we shall be raised up by Him; whereas for you there can be no resurrection, no new life.

Today, many people who do not frequent Church might think on hearing those words that they were from some Muslim source, for on TV and in news bulletins  we – not infrequently – see and hear of predominantly young Muslims shouting out defiance of the West with hatred for America and Israel in particular, and boasting of their willingness to die for what they say is the cause of Islam, believing that thereby they would slaughter some enemies and subsequently, as patriots or perhaps martyrs, ultimately enjoy a heavenly survival.

Here, we must first of all recognize that we are dealing with religious people supposedly aspiring to a better life to come.   They challenge us to learn and to practice something more about the type of commitment our faith requires of us.

I mention this because, in Western society, we are normally surrounded by people so sated with possessions and with the diverse pleasures of life here on earth that they have but the faintest hope or desire for a heavenly life to come, since its appearance on the horizon could only herald the end of their earthly satisfactions.  Many even of our religious, God-fearing, people, professing belief in and hope for a heavenly life to come, seem to be spiritual wimps in comparison with these young Muslims apparently so eager to suffer and willing to die for the Prophet, while they show themselves to be hesitant, wavering, and fearful, in their response to the call of Jesus, even though they acknowledge Him as the Lord of Life and Conqueror of Death for all mankind.  We should, in short, as religious Christians, have a certain measure of admiration for these zealous Muslims around the world together with a large measure of shame for our own faint-heartedness.

However, we cannot ignore the fact that their zeal seems to be closely identified with fanaticism, springing from ignorance and frequently subject to political manipulation, and long-kindled by historic circumstances mingled, at times, with humiliations and deprivations of various sorts.  The fires of hatred, having been thus effectively stoked, now burn so hot, within and around these zealots, that their minds are no longer able to clearly appreciate, nor can their hearts calmly meditate, the faith they would promote; and whilst proclaiming ultimate reverence for the message of the Prophet, it is the present preaching of radical mullahs and the satisfaction of their personal feelings of hatred, that actually rule their lives and claim their allegiance.

This is a warning for us Catholics and Christians: for we have to be strong with a strength that comes from commitment and obedience to Christ in the Church, not from human passions or political motivations.

If, bearing in mind the prominence given to martyrdom in the current political situation, we consider carefully today's Gospel reading, we can hopefully learn something about the nature of our Christian hope and expectation for the resurrection and the promised life in heaven.

The Muslim zealots whom I have mentioned seem to be looking forward to a heavenly life filled with blessings of a distinctly earthly sort: anticipating an abundance of sensual, and even sexual, delights as their reward.  This stems from the ignorance which afflicts them, as I said.  On the other hand, the ignorance of many Catholics, and indeed, Christians generally, leads them to harbour a faint and fragile, but, still seriously false, image of a heavenly experience totally at variance with, and opposed to, anything we know of life as experienced and loved here on earth.  And so, whereas we have Muslim zealots eager about a heavenly future they fondly imagine to be sensual and sexual in such a way and to such a degree as to perpetuate some of the worst aspects of human society and life here on earth; conversely, many Catholics and Christians have no enthusiasm or longing for what they conceive to be a heaven apparently unable to offer comfort in, or fulfilment of, their present human experience.

Therefore, many modern Christians are not willing to publicly declare the reality, let alone the extent, of their heavenly expectations; and, indeed, rarely do we come across those who sincerely and devoutly hope for the future rewards of heaven more than they enjoy the pleasures, or struggle with the cares, of their present worldly experience.

In this situation it is obvious that we should enquire something about the true nature our Christian hope for the Resurrection. Let us therefore turn to Jesus speaking to us in the Gospel reading:

The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are counted worthy to attain that age (to come), and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the Resurrection.

Jesus is speaking here, with total realism and complete absence of sentimentality, of the root condition of humanity on earth, which is, that human beings inevitably die and therefore they marry in order that, through new birth -- the fruit of married love and commitment -- death might not become destruction.  That is the condition of humanity in its present, earthly, state before God.

Now, those who are counted worthy to attain the age to come and the resurrection will not marry because their life will no longer be imperilled by death, Jesus said.  Does that mean, therefore, that the ice-cold, totally sanitized, picture of heaven is confirmed?  Far from it, for the direct implication of Jesus’ words, is, on the contrary, that those who attain to the coming Kingdom of God will no longer be ordinary human beings capable of merely ordinary human joys and fulfilments, but rather, they will be, as Jesus said:

            Equal to the angels and sons of God.

Their life will be immeasurably enriched, having been born again -- not of flesh and blood -- but of God, as St. John tells us in his Gospel:

As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)

Resurrection in Jesus, therefore, will mean a transfiguring re-birth for human beings, who, thereby, will become children of God: no longer subject to earthly limitations of human frailty, incursions of sin and death’s depredations, but finally able to appreciate, and respond wholly and unreservedly to, heaven’s personal fulfilment, transcendent joys, and eternal blessedness.

That fulfilment, those joys, that blessedness, of heaven will not be alien to our human mind and heart, because they filled and fulfilled the mind and heart of Jesus Our Lord and Saviour, Who, in His sacred and perfect humanity on earth delighted entirely in God the Father:

If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.  (John 15:10-11)

And Jesus assures His disciples and us that ‘abiding in His love’ will mean:

That My joy remain(s) in you, and that your joy be full.

Just consider: the joy that filled Jesus’ own human heart will, He promises, abide in us and will gradually, as we open ourselves up to it, bring our joy to the supreme fullness of our capacity for receiving and giving love, so that eternity for us will be the timeless instant of an ecstatic sharing in the love which, as the Holy Spirit, binds Father and Son eternally.  And how can we now begin to open ourselves up to such a treasure?  By thinking on it appreciatively in our mind, and treasuring it lovingly in our heart; by following its lead in loving aspirations and grateful acts of thanksgiving to God; by acts of joyous commitment to God’s will and the service of our neighbour in all things.

It has been rightly said by Dr. Johnson that, for the most part, Christian people do not so much need to be told what they have never heard, as to be reminded of what they have already heard but have now, in fact, forgotten: for the most part they need to be helped to recognize what they have not previously tried to distinguish or appreciate.   And above all that means that too many do not try sufficiently to appreciate what Jesus has won for us and what the Father gives us through the Spirit.  Listen to a passage from our Scriptures, written in the earliest years of Christian development, when some supposed Christians had been living in and for the world long enough to have become half-hearted in their faith:

I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.  So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 

What was the trouble?  It was the same trouble that so many of us Westerners suffer from today:

Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'--and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.  (Rev 3:15-17)

People of God, our readings today, heard in the context of modern events, have something to say to us which these very events we are experiencing might hopefully encourage us to take notice of:

            (God) is not the God of the dead but of the living; for all live to Him.

The Father is God for those who are striving to live in Jesus by the Spirit, wanting, praying, to be led ever forward by the Spirit; the lukewarm prefer to remain where they find themselves comfortable and with easy, earthly, options to hand, and they are in grave danger of suffocating themselves and suffering rejection by God.

There is another such passage from today's second reading, where Paul prays for his Thessalonian converts saying:

May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.   

That Is, he prays, that Christ's love of the Father, that Christ's continuance in that love through thick and thin, might characterise his converts.  He wants none to be spiritually idle, lukewarm and dying; he wants rather, that they live ever more fully, as Jesus said: steadfastly waiting for God and trusting in His Spirit, resolutely loving Jesus with their whole mind, heart, soul, and strength, in and through all life’s circumstances.

People of God, the teaching of the Scriptures before us today and the baleful examples of both fanatical excess and supine indifference in our modern multi-cultural society, can and should give us a most-needed and salutary spiritual jolt to wake up and strive afresh to live as true Catholics and Christians.  

 ALL SAINTS                                                

(Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12)

Today we are celebrating all the saints, all those, that is, who -- known and unknown -- are beloved of God and share in His eternal blessedness by a supremely fulfilling gift of God that can never be lost or taken away, for He is almighty and His will is eternal.  Let us now, therefore, look at those blessed ones we are celebrating and also look closely at the way Jesus traces out for all who would share with them in like blessedness. 

You heard in that first reading something of the glory of heaven:

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

No racism, no sexism, no privileged groups there, but people from all nations and all times; all of them standing as one before the throne of God with the Lamb their Lord and Saviour, and praising God for the victory He has won for them:

Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honour and power and might, be to our God forever and ever.  Amen.

It is there, People of God, we, as disciples of Jesus, aspire to go when this, our earthly pilgrimage, is ended.  Don’t think: “I can’t imagine me enjoying an eternity of nothing else but that”, for the only way to appreciate something of heavenly joy is to recall some special moment when you felt yourself both supremely delighted and uplifted: how time then passed by unnoticed and so, so, quickly, as you later realized!  Now the happiness, the blessedness of Heaven is something of that nature: totally overwhelming, uplifting and ecstatic joy that obliterates time!   Such recollections should help you realise that in heaven there can be no such thing as weariness or boredom, for heavenly joy and blessedness is an eternal instant of total ecstasy which has its origin in the vision of the infinite beauty, goodness and glory, of God Himself.

That blessedness, moreover, is not exclusively reserved for heaven; for those who come to some appreciation of the beauty of God’s truth and awareness of His goodness to all who believe in the name of Jesus, can begin to experience something of that blessedness even here on earth, as St. John tells us:

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.  Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

We who believe in the only Son of God who died for our sins and rose again, we who hope in the promises of Him Who is now seated at the right hand of power, are thereby being purified as He is pure, and being blessed with a beginning of the eternal blessedness which is His.  And as, through prayer and faithfulness in the way of Jesus, we deepen our hope, we come to appreciate -- and perhaps even, at times, imagine we experience -- something of that heavenly joy so intimately bound up with the gift and treasure which is our faith.

If, then, you would grow in that foretaste of beatitude, if you would know more of the heavenly joy to which we are all called as Christians, turn your attention now with me to the Gospel and try to understand better the way through life Jesus has marked out for His disciples.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, Blessed are those who mourn, Blessed are the meek, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, Blessed are the merciful, Blessed are the pure in heart, Blessed are the peacemakers, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake.

There we have the virtues of the one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed out of all the tribes of Israel as mentioned in the first reading, a wonderful compendium of what is best in the Old Testament: the truest fruits of the Law, the inspirations of prophets, and the meditations of sages; all, indeed, finding expression in the ecstasies of the Psalmists, and leading up to and preparing for that which would be the fulfilment and crown of all that had gone before.  As Jesus said (Matt 5:17):

I did not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets but to fulfil them.

Now, however, since with Jesus the time of fulfilment has indeed come, instead of simply recalling the disciplines of the Law and the experiences of the prophets, which had gradually prepared a people for the Lord over the course of Old Testament times, Jesus goes one immeasurable step further: revealing Himself as God in flesh and the supreme glory of the disciples standing around Him:

Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.

It is as if He was saying: such, indeed, were the virtues of the OT, but now, for you who are my disciples, your true title to heavenly glory is that you are My disciples.  It is no longer enough to say that you are among the gentle, the poor in spirit, the merciful, for you who listen to Me and who follow Me, are all of that and more: you are My true disciples and that will be your sovereign passport for heaven and title to glory.

Yes, People of God, I am sure that you will appreciate that, in heaven, before the God of glory, it is not possible that the meekness, the gentleness, of any of the blessed could be admirable before the God of all holiness.  He is pleased to see such virtues of gentleness, humility, patience, mercifulness, or whatever, but being Himself all-holy, He therefore, most necessarily, sees also the limitations of our virtues, and He loves them best as anticipations of Jesus’ grace, preparations for Him.  However, the fact that someone has personally recognized His incarnate Word in Jesus, that someone has loved and served -- in Jesus -- His beloved and only-begotten Son Personally, that does indeed evoke the Father’s love, for to love His Son supremely here on earth is the summit and culmination of all virtue, including and surpassing all that has gone before, in His eyes.   You who are parents will understand.

Perhaps we can picture it best if we think of a sculptor.  God chose His material, the People of God, the nation of Israel, and through the Law and the Prophets He formed -- as does a sculptor with his chisel -- this block ('stiff-necked people' the prophets called them) gradually into some likeness of the Christ who was to come.  This work, however, was always done from the outside, so to speak, just as the chisel of the artist always chips away from the outside.  When Jesus the Christ -- the Son of God made flesh -- came, however, He gave His divine word to His disciples, to take root in their mind and heart and His example to inspire them.  He finally gave His human life for them, and then, having risen from the dead in the power of the Spirit of God, He ascended to the right hand of His Father, from where He sent His own most Holy Spirit to be with His disciples, making them into one Body, His Body, His Church.  The Holy Spirit was given to remain with His Church, guiding her into all truth and protecting her from the snares of the enemy, and in that continuing task the Spirit works from the inside, in the minds and hearts of the disciples, constantly forming them into a living likeness of Christ, their Lord and Saviour, for the Father:

Among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. (Matt 11:11)

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood, crying out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.  But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.  (Jn.7:37s.)

People of God, the glory of our calling, and, indeed, the joy of all the blessed in heaven lies in the fact that, as living members and living likenesses (not plaster-cast copies) of the Son, we are destined to share in His glory, and rejoice in the Father’s love:

You are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God -- and righteousness and sanctification and redemption -- that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord."  (1 Cor. 1:30-31)

In our first reading we heard questions being asked about the blessed in heaven:

Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?

In answer to the first question "who are these arrayed in white robes?" we can recall that we heard St. John tell us:

Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He (Jesus) is pure.

So we know now why the blessed are dressed in white robes: they are disciples who,  in Jesus and by His Spirit, have purified themselves as He is pure.

But what about that second question, "where did these people come from?"  Here we must bear in mind what Jesus has already told us:

Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

That is where those dressed in white have come from; as the elder in heaven said:

These are the ones come out of the great tribulation who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Today we have great reason to celebrate: as disciples of Jesus we have already been given a share in heavenly life and blessedness, and we can experience some measure of that blessedness if we purify ourselves, as St. John told us, by trying to walk ever more faithfully in the way of Jesus, and to appreciate ever more deeply the beauty of His truth.  The final washing of our robes, however, will only be brought about through suffering with and for Jesus, as indeed so many of our Catholic and Christian brethren throughout the world are now suffering , as God wills for each and every one of us in our life.

Even here -- such is the blessedness already given us -- we can, in some degree, come to rejoice in our sufferings for Jesus as the apostle Paul assures us:

Just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.  (2 Corinthians 1:5; Romans 8:18)