4th Sunday of Easter Year C 2013

4^th Sunday of Eastertide (C) 

(Acts 13:14, 43-52; Rev. 7:9, 14-17; John 10:27-30)

After Jesus rose from the dead and had poured out His Most Holy Spirit upon His disciples, there were men and women to be found already living, here on earth, the eternal life of heaven; and today’s readings lead us to celebrate that heavenly gift of eternal life which, even now, begins to take hold of, and shape, the lives of Jesus' true disciples here on earth.  From the book of Revelation we heard:

I John had a vision of a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue.  They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches.

That puzzled John the seer, and he was told:

These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  

Multiform cleansing is one of the main purposes to which we dedicate our use of water.  Those, however, who come out of the great tribulation of which the seer speaks, have washed their robes with the only cleansing agent able to wash away the stains of human sin, that is, the Blood of the Lamb; for it is that Precious Blood, poured out for us, which alone gives the power for supernatural cleansing to the baptismal waters of the Church.  As Jesus said:

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 

People of God: it is a fact of Catholic spiritual awareness that the sacraments of Mother Church are to be regarded as the fruit of the outpouring of Jesus' Blood, and that such a precious outpouring should never be rendered vain by thoughtless irreverence, let alone by downright disdain.  Today, however, far too many parents think they will have their child baptized merely to satisfy their own parents, or, perhaps, to gratify their own pseudo-conscience ("I would like to have my kids done … then I will feel I have done my best for them"), without having any real intention of bringing up their child in the ways of Jesus according to Mother Church's teaching.  They understand baptism only as a ceremony, where water is poured over the child's head whilst a few words are said, and then all is over and done with.  They have little or no reverence for the sacrament, little or no awareness that the water poured out is most truly holy water, water empowered by the shedding of Jesus' blood and enabling those dedicated to Jesus (by personal innocence or intention) to thereby wash their (souls) and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. Such water, and indeed the grace of all the other sacraments, should only be used, poured out, or received, in Spirit and in Truth, that is, in a sincere love of and reverence for Christ in His Church, showing itself as a desire both to obey His teaching and to follow the guidance of His Spirit.

But let us leave doubtful Catholics behind.  Let us look forward and upward, let us seek to learn more about this new life He has won for us, so that hopefully we may come to more fully appreciate our calling and find ever greater delight in worshipping God and serving our neighbour as committed disciples of Christ:

They stand before God’s throne and worship him day and night in His temple.  The One who sits on the throne will shelter them.

The Lamb who is in the centre of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of life-giving water.   And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.  

Those before the throne of God serve Him day and night in His Temple; that is, they delight in Him, praise, worship, and glorify Him in Mother Church, and above all, in JESUS, with ever deeper joy and more consuming zeal.

To understand something of this, just think, my dear people, of the spontaneous "Oh!" and the outburst of clapping which can take place when some big throng of people are surprised by beauty or majesty, power, wisdom or skill, seen or portrayed.  Now those who are before the throne of God catch glimpses of His infinite beauty and truth, wisdom and holiness; His awesome majesty and power; His unimaginable goodness and humility: they see God.  And because God is infinite, just as when travelling by car over countryside or through woodland and guided only by the stars above and the full beam of your car's headlamps, you catch ever-fresh glimpses of beautiful trees, gardens, streams, cottages, valleys and hills lit up by your headlights and all following one another in seamless continuity as you continue on your journey through the night, so it is for those before the throne of God: those thus blessed can never weary of praising and delighting in Him because He is endlessly new and totally beautiful, admirable, and good, filling to overflowing any and every human desire and capacity for joy in being.  Moreover, He who sits on the throne, we are told, will spread His tent over the blessed: they will never have any fear for their treasure and well-being is secure, nor can their love ever be compromised or diminished, for eternal peace and security overarch and protect the plenitude of their heavenly blessings.

The Lamb at the centre of the throne will be Shepherd of those He has brought to springs of living water in the Father’s presence.  Yes, Jesus will be there -- with us and for us -- as our Shepherd, our Leader and our Glory, leading us along the heavenly paths of eternal life, so that, with Him, all that is truly human in us, far from being smothered or denied, will be glorified as He, our Lord and our Brother, is glorified in His humanity. 

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Who can fittingly speak of the intimacy and tenderness of God the Father's relationship with each and every one of His children redeemed by the blood of His Only Begotten and most Beloved Son?  All lingering hurts and humiliations, all accumulated anxieties and fears, will be tenderly wiped away by the all-knowing, fully-understanding, and ever-watchful, love of our Father in heaven.

That is some slight idea, and I hope, some glad anticipation, of the life of heaven.  Now, that life -- Mother Church teaches -- begins here on earth for Jesus' true disciples, but its heavenly fulfilment can only be attained by those who have passed through tribulations of varying degrees chosen by God in His Fatherly goodness to cement their union with Jesus in sincerity, depth, and trust.

These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have  washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 

What are these tribulations?  Let us recall our first reading:

On the following Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.  When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy; and with violent abuse contradicted what Paul said.  

Today many who are turned from God and seeking worldly power and fulfilment behave like the jealous Jews of Paul's time: they reject the Gospel themselves and seek to prevent others hearing and obeying it.  The young are – by peer and social pressures -- challenged to indulge in sex and drugs, urged to be seen having and enjoying as much of the world as anyone one else.  Others have friends or acquaintances who, not trusting God themselves, constantly incite them to worry about the past, the present, or what might imaginably happen in the future; especially with concerns about money, health, or  others’ opinion of them.  For young Christians these are modern equivalents of the persecutions endured by Paul and the early Church; less violent trials indeed but perhaps more insidious temptations awaiting those still immature in the love and discipline required of true disciples of the Lord. 

The Gentiles were delighted, and glorified the word of the Lord.  All who were destined for eternal life came to believe. 

There are many Catholics who have been gladdened to hear the word of God and to experience the grace of God in their lives before such trials and temptations sullied the purity, peace, and joy, of their faith:

The Jews incited the women of prominence who were worshipers and the leading men of the city stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their territory. 

Many, when friends and family oppose them – like those devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city – allow themselves to fall by the wayside.  They may not fall away from Church, but certainly, joy in Jesus no longer fills their heart; and as their longing, so too their searching, for Him dries up; they settle for life on earth and no longer think of, or aspire to, that heavenly life which, after its beginning in baptism, should develop through a life of discipleship and reception of the sacraments, into its full flowering in heaven.

My sheep hear My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.  I give them eternal life, they will never perish. My Father Who has given them to Me is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand.  The Father and I are One.

Dear People of God, you have been called into Jesus' flock; listen, then, to His voice, and follow Him alone.  Do not yield to siren voices whose worldly attitudes and aspirations only serve to stir up tensions and antagonisms, worries and anxieties, in your hearts and lives.  In Jesus alone are true joy and peace,  fulfilment and strength, to be found.  Keep close to His traces and He will lead you to eternal life, for such was the commission given Him by His Father, and to do His Father’s will He lived, died, and rose again.

3rd Sunday of Easter,Year C, 2013

3^rd. Sunday of Easter (C)

(Acts 5:27-32, 40b-41; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19)

The Apostle Thomas was the channel for our instruction last Sunday; this week it is Peter -- helped by John -- who will hopefully stimulate and encourage us to better understand, love, and respond to, Our Lord, as His true disciples in Mother Church and before the world.

Peter was a truly strong and undeniably impulsive character as we have just heard: 

When Simon Peter heard (from John) that it was the Lord, he tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad, and jumped into the sea.  The other disciples came in the boat.

Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish you just caught,’ so Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore full of 153 large fish.  Even though there were so many, the net was not torn.

However, it is Jesus’ three-fold questioning of Peter that is the most striking and significant feature of the Gospel reading for us today:

      Simon, son of John, do you love Me? Do you love Me?  Do you love Me?

That insistence of Jesus is understood by many as His way of giving Peter the opportunity to revoke what had recently been his hasty, fear-driven, three-fold denial of Jesus.  Such a possibility cannot be denied.  And yet, since nothing is simple about Peter, it may be that here Jesus is showing respect for, and relating to, diverse aspects of Peter’s make-up.  For example, let us consider the very first question of Jesus:

      Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?

Peter was both head-strong and self-assertive; and yet, surely, Our blessed Lord was not inviting him there to assert that his own love of Jesus was greater than the love of all the other apostles present?  Peter did not and could not know the inner hearts and minds of his fellow-apostles to make such an assertion; and although he was -- as we have noted -- self-confident, he could not be said to have shown himself as arrogant.  It would seem, therefore, that Jesus was inviting and encouraging Peter to declare, in all truth and humility, that he loved Jesus more than he loved any one, or all, of the other apostles.   And why might Jesus have wanted such a declaration from Peter?   Well, as I said at the beginning, Peter was a truly strong and, should we say, ‘multi-layered’ character: he was a natural leader and a dominant personality, one whom his fellow apostles accepted unquestioningly as their spokesman, and frequently showed themselves ready, willing, and eager to follow in his personal initiatives.   Now that could, of itself, have insinuated into Peter’s psyche a certain vanity, and with it an accompanying reluctance to knowingly do or say anything that might put a strain on such a relationship of accepted dominance with regard to his fellow apostles. Now that might have been part of the motivation behind Jesus’ question, do you love Me more than these?  Moreover -- following the same line of thought -- there are, throughout the Gospel accounts, many instances of a particularly close personal relationship between Peter and John, which becomes most noticeable when, immediately after Peter’s protestation of supreme love in today’s Gospel:

      Lord, You know everything, You know that I love You,

Jesus had to make clear to him the implications, and insist on the prompt and full observance, of those words, for we are told that:

After signifying by what kind of death Peter would glorify God, Jesus said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ ..... Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; ... (and) he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, what about him?’  Jesus said, ’If it is My will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?  Follow Me.’

Nevertheless, there are other scholars who see in Jesus’ three-fold questioning of Peter a then recognized Oriental social procedure used before witnesses when conferring and confirming a ‘legal’ right that is, one fully approved and binding, on someone: 

            Feed My lambs; tend My sheep; feed My sheep.

Most probably, therefore, we have a remarkable instance of Jesus’ great and most compassionate wisdom: He wipes out the memory – in Peter’s own mind and in the minds of the other apostles – of Peter’s moment of weakness and shame and, at the same time, quite dramatically and most emphatically establishes him as head of His nascent Church in accordance with His Father’s manifest will.

Now there are also, in our Gospel reading, revealing words of Jesus relating to Peter’s future crucifixion:

Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.

Jesus is there speaking the truth concerning Peter facing up to his death after years of labour and suffering for Jesus and the Church.  Many modern Catholics and Christians, however, are neither so truthful to themselves, understanding of others, or simple before God.  As moderns they are complicated by far too much self-love and fear of what people might think; and, augmenting such natural  tendencies and frailties, they may also have yielded far too much to the requirements of political correctness ... which all inevitably leads to a frequently observable and widespread tendency to pretence in matters of religious devotion.  Few would be willing to acknowledge in themselves the truth of Jesus’ words about Peter not wanting to go to his death for Jesus.

At this juncture, however, we should recognize that there is no question of Jesus implying that Peter would refuse to face up to his future crucifixion, only that Peter would not want to go; and, in that regard, we should recall that John tells us that:

 

Jesus said this signifying by what kind of death he (Peter) WOULD GLORIFY GOD.

Now, human pretence -- no matter how pious it may seem or present itself – ever glorifies God or truly recognizes Jesus.  Peter, as foreshadowed by Jesus, had -- in the intervening years of struggle for and service of the Church, and after countless hours of soul-opening prayer before God -- become both humble and patient to a degree that we find it difficult to imagine nowadays.  He would in no way seek to pretend to himself or to others that he wanted to go where his captors were leading him, and in this he was most sublimely close to and one with Jesus Whom he had personally witnessed, though uncomprehendly, praying to, struggling with, His heavenly Father and His own human nature in the Garden of Gethsemani.  How, indeed, did He now admire Jesus and glorify God!  For, only Jesus wanted, only Jesus could want – so wholeheartedly and eagerly – to walk to, go to, His crucifixion!

Oh! What wondrous love Jesus conceived for the coming sufferings of His crucifixion after His agony of blood-sweating-prayer in the Garden of Gethsemani!!  There He had fought in prayer with, before, and to, His beloved Father; and when His most beloved Father – after Jesus’ most urgent and ardent prayers -- still left the burden on His shoulders, He, Jesus, knew without any doubt, that He would FIND HIS FATHER in those coming crucifixion sufferings.  And that is why, when carrying His cross, He always -- after each individual fall on the way – endeavoured to get up in response to His Father’s call, totally oblivious to everything but His desire to love His Father to the utmost extremity of His living humanity!!

Peter was a most wonderful disciple of Jesus and he had come to find no difficulty in acknowledging, admitting, his own nothingness: of himself he did not want to go on that journey to his crucifixion because he did not love like Jesus the most beloved Son alone could love; but he most fully trusted in Jesus his brother and Saviour that He could and would draw him after Himself, that He would help him, Peter, humbly follow where Jesus his Lord alone could lead.

Dear People of God, let us most seriously pray for the simplicity of heart to admire Peter’ example; and, above all, for the Gift of the God’s Holy Spirit, that, of His great goodness and most subtle grace, we may embrace Jesus’ teaching and follow ever more closely His most precious example in giving praise and honour, glory and thanksgiving, to God supremely and solely.

Second Sunday of Easter Year C 2013

 2^nd. Sunday of Easter (C)

(Acts 5:12-16; Revelation 1:9-19; John 20:19-31)

On thinking about today’s Gospel reading it might seem strange that the risen Jesus should go to such lengths to prove to the apostle Thomas that He was no ghost, that He was a real man with flesh and bones and with blood cursing through His veins; glorified indeed -- had He had not just entered the room although the doors were closed? -- but nevertheless still recognizably real and objectively present to and with His apostles in the room:

Jesus said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see My hands.  Reach out your hand and put it into My side.  Stop doubting and believe.

After doing so much for Thomas, why does Jesus today refrain from doing anything similar for modern people to prove that He is really with us?  We have to accept the truth about the reality of Jesus’ resurrection and presence to us, for us, and with us, by faith ... how come that Thomas got so much proof?

First of all notice that Thomas did indeed have faith.  A scientist seeing what Thomas saw might simply say, ‘There is something here I cannot understand, but science will be able to explain it later.  Indeed, if I could scientifically study this over a period of time in all its various and relevant aspects, I myself could probably explain it.  For the present I will just have to suspend judgement.’  That was not the attitude of Thomas: straightway he leapt from fact to faith when, after touching the wounds ... fact ... he immediately declared his faith ... with those momentous words:

            My Lord and my God!

Thomas’ sense of touch only confirmed what his eyes saw; and with those earthly eyes he did but see the wounds in Jesus’ hands and side, he did not, could not, see God.  It was the light of faith alone which enabled him to recognize the truth about Jesus and proclaim, My Lord and my God.

There is more to it, however, than simply that.  Something happened to the apostles when Thomas was absent, as we heard in the Gospel reading:

Jesus came and stood in the midst of the Apostles and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.’  And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.’

Up till then the Eleven, had been a group of individuals, united indeed by their love of Jesus, but still a more or less ordinary group capable of breaking up and each going their own way as when Jesus was apprehended.  However, when the Risen Jesus appeared to them -- in Thomas’ absence -- He gave them a distinctive and exclusive mission, As the Father has sent Me, so I send you, after which He bestowed on them the Gift of His own most Holy Spirit with power to forgive and retain sins, as you have just heard.   After that moment those ten apostles in the room with Jesus were no longer ten individuals, friends, all interested in and concerned about Jesus’ end, they had been formed into an enduring unity of unique significance and universal consequence for mankind’s salvation: the CHURCH.  When Thomas originally, and despite what the other Apostles and Mary said, refused to believe until he himself had seen and touched the wounds of Jesus, he knew little or nothing about the Church ... he only knew a group of certain individual friends of Jesus, each with their own hopes and fears, sorrows and longings, each with their very personal and at times quite obvious limitations and failings.  That is why Thomas needed -- and was given by his Lord and God -- that extra help that we today are not offered because we have something still better, we have the witness of that Church established by Jesus; and, in her, we are become members of His very own Body empowered and ennobled by His Holy Spirit Who has washed away the sins that would prevent us from truly recognizing, and overcome the frailties that would impede us from fully loving and serving, Jesus. 

The Church, God’s Chosen People, is, as I have said, the Body of Christ, the  Temple where Jesus has promised to be -- for our finding -- until the end of time; she is the Spouse He will never desert, and the loving Mother of all God’s children born in baptism, through faith in Jesus as sent by the heavenly Father, and by the gift of His most Holy Spirit.  Her sacraments give us the food of life; while the word of Jesus -- alive in her -- is for a light to the nations and the glory of all God’s children.

Poor Thomas!  On being told of the first apparition of Jesus to the assembled disciples in the gospel he was only an individual human being ... we, on the other hand, are so blessed: being members of the Church, having her witness to the truth and the abiding presence of Jesus her Head, with her sacraments channelling for us and accomodating to us the power of His Spirit.  At that moment, Thomas’ refusal was blunt and absolute – a true expression of his personal character – nevertheless, when subsequently, on his own, he had the time and opportunity to think things over, he must have become deeply conscious of the separation between himself and his hitherto mutually committed friends and companions, and how he must have longed to be able to share their new found peace and strength drawn from this so-called Risen Lord Whom he himself could not, as yet, fully embrace.  This longing was indeed God’s prompting that would prepare him to embrace his second opportunity when Jesus once again appeared to all Eleven of His apostles ... an opportunity for which Thomas had been humbly seeking in his heart and mind, an occasion when his touching of Jesus’ wounds prompted and Jesus’ words encouraged him to a total personal commitment of faith towards the Risen Lord he had long loved.

For faith is -- as the Compendium of our Catechism teaches -- the supernatural virtue which is necessary for salvation; it is, indeed, a free gift of God accessible to all who humbly seek it.  The act of faith is a truly human act, an act of the intellect of a human person who, prompted and encouraged by God, freely assents to divine truth revealed by God and proclaimed by Mother Church.  Faith is certain and works through charity.  It is, even now, a foretaste of the joys of heaven; and how this very occasion of today’s celebration evokes such joy for us because one called, at times, ‘doubting Thomas’ should so manifestly provoke and lead us to such great appreciation of and joy in the Church and the Faith as is ours today!!

Yes we Catholics rejoice in Mother Church and our Faith, two supremely wonderful and complementary gifts of God.  Our faith is indeed a joy because it is SURE when so much in life is belittled and betrayed by insecurity ... life-long love and enduring commitment and fidelity between man and wife is hardly expected today and, indeed, frequently mocked in so many presentations of modern life in society where personal gain and pleasure, public approval or even mere acceptance or tolerance, are more than enough to tip the scales against any prospective possibility of sacrifice.   For intellectual, or even religiously-inclined people, Catholic faith can be deemed impossible because the world and our knowledge of it are changing so rapidly that no one can know what time may bring.  One former Christian acquaintance of mine, thus afflicted, could not say, when asked about the divinity of Jesus, what he might ‘believe’ in ten years’ time.  Consequently, for so many, instead of the sure light of faith guiding towards the fulfillment of our human destiny and the abiding promise of a God-given future, there is only an individual, or at best shared, opinion; available, not indeed to guide onwards, but merely to hopefully justify past, personal, options.  There is no love in-and-through life, just adventitious adaptations to whatever might seem the best available personal option.

Catholic Faith, because it is founded on the Word of God, is both sure and certain: it is essential for salvation because it alone can respond fittingly to the great Goodness of God and the sublimity of His promises made to mankind in Jesus.  Even though, for example, one can still read past issues of national and international papers recounting the wonders witnessed by thousands at Fatima and Lourdes, even though pilgrims still today experience startling cures at those and similar shrines, nevertheless every new generation wants to experience for itself so much that, without such corroborating personal experience, the reports of others gradually lose compelling attention and are, inevitably forgotten or simply no longer taken into account.  Faith alone can respond to and overcome such depradations of our human character by time and cupidity.

People of God, there is so much truth and beauty brought to our attention today – I have not even mentioned the wonderful promptings of God spoken of in the Catechism, promptings that speak directly to individual hearts and minds, that relate to individual and secret needs, hopes and aspirations! – so much for which time and space cannot supply, but for which sincere gratitude to the God of our Faith, and thanks to Thomas and the apostolic proclamation of our Mother Church, must provide our present comfort and consolation, our abiding hope and longing,  our inspiration and delight in Jesus.