2020/05/10 — 5th Sunday of Easter — Year A

Better late than never, I hope, here are some thoughts about the Mass readings for May 10.

After two Sundays in which the first reading, from Acts, gave portions of Peter's address to the people on Pentecost, today we skip forward — past the healing of the cripple and Peter and John's subsequent run-in with the Sanhedrin — to the event which is generally regarded as the establishment of the diaconate. Acts 6:1-7. There are several elements to consider.

• The initial duty of the deacons was "to serve at table." Feeding the hungry is one of the "corporal works of mercy" which gain one entry into he kingdom of the Father, according to Matthew 25:35.
• The duty of overseeing the distribution is an item of control over community goods. In subsequent centuries, deacons came to be responsible for administering the goods of the Church. From their intimate knowledge of church administration, they were often considered ideal candidates to succeed deceased bishops (including popes).
• But the first deacons also had to be "reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom." These qualities led Stephen to proclaim the gospel of Jesus as Messiah boldly and irrefutably, leading to his martyrdom Acts 6-7. Philip also evangelized, and he baptized the Ethiopian eunuch. Acts 8:4-8, 26-40.

Eventually, the diaconate came to be treated as the final step of preparation for priesthood. When the Second Vatican Council called for the restoration of the diaconate as a permanent ministry, the primary focus was on the ministry of service (but not broader administration within the Church). The ministries of word (including proclaiming the gospel at Mass and at least occasional preaching) and sacrament (baptizing, ministering Communion, serving at the altar during Mass, and presiding at weddings and funerals outside Mass) were also part of the restored diaconate. It is tempting to read "serve at table" expansively to include serving at the altar table.

For the other readings, I'll quote what I wrote about the three years ago.

In the second reading — 1 Peter 2:4-9 — we have a metaphor of stones. Christ is a living stone, and we too are to be living stones built into a "spiritual house," the Church, with Jesus as the foundation. As parts of the Church, we are not inert. Being living stones, we are to be a priesthood, offering sacrifices to God. Of course the most important sacrifice is the one in which we join with the Church as the Church unites with Jesus in offering the sacrifice of Calvary. Beyond that, through Christ we can offer our personal sacrifices to the Father by enduring sufferings and obeying God's will as we understand it.


The gospel — John 14:1-12 — presents a scene at the Last Supper. First,  Jesus promises that he will prepare a place for the disciples (and us) in his Father's house and he will take us there. He tells Thomas that he is the only way to the Father, the truth, and the (eternal) life. He assures Philip [not the deacon we read abut in acts, but the apostle] that his identification with the Father is so close that to see him is the same as seeing the Father.

Although Jesus is the sole way to the Father, we are told in Matthew 25:31-46 that explicit faith in him is not required. Works of mercy toward his least brothers are sufficient.

The Father is in Jesus and Jesus in the Father, so that he is the image of the Father. In the same way, the parable of the vine and the branches, John 15:1-10, tells that Jesus is in us and we are in Jesus, which makes us images of him and, by extension, of the Father, which is what imposes on us the duty of loving one another and letting our love overflow in service to our neighbors.

2017/05/14 — 5th Sunday of Easter — Year A

The past three Sundays have given us readings from Acts and 1 Peter. Two of the gospels have been from John and one from Luke. The pattern continues, with some changes of scene.


In past weeks, we've been hearing from Peter's speech to the crowd on Pentecost as recounted in Acts 2. This Sunday's first reading — Acts 6:1-7 — takes us forward to the situation in which the first deacons were appointed to ensure fairness in "the daily distribution." In the gospel we will hear Jesus tell us that he is the image of the Father. Here, the deacons become the image of Jesus, who came to serve, not to be served. This passage is an example for us. We too should be images of Jesus, and thus of the Father, by our service to others through performance of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. We should also note that it is a well ordered community that enables attracts others to the faith and experiences growth.


The responsorial psalm — verses of Psalm 33, with v. 22 as the refrain — calls us to trust in God, foreshadowing Jesus' exhortation to the disciples to have faith in him.


In the second reading — 1 Peter 2:4-9 — we have a metaphor of stones. Christ is a living stone, and we too are to be living stones built into a "spiritual house," the Church, with Jesus as the foundation. As parts of the Church, we are not inert. Being living stones, we are to be a priesthood, offering sacrifices to God. Of course the most important sacrifice is the one in which we join with the Church as the Church unites with Jesus in offering the sacrifice of Calvary. Beyond that, through Christ we can offer our personal sacrifices to the Father by enduring sufferings and obeying God's will as we understand it.


The gospel — John 14:1-12 — presents a scene at the Last Supper. First,  Jesus promises that he will prepare a place for the disciples (and us) in his Father's house and he will take us there. He tells Thomas that he is the only way to the Father, the truth, and the (eternal) life. He assures Philip that his identification with the Father is so close that to see him is the same as seeing the Father.

Although Jesus is the sole way to the Father, we are told in Matthew 25:31-46 that explicit faith in him is not required. Works of mercy toward his least brothers are sufficient.

The Father is in Jesus and Jesus in the Father, so that he is the image of the Father. In the same way, the parable of the vine and the branches, John 15:1-10, tells that Jesus is in us and we are in Jesus, which makes us images of him and, by extension, of the Father, which is what imposes on us the duty of loving one another and letting our love overflow in service to our neighbors.

2016/07/10 — 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time — Year C

On this Sunday, we hear the parable of the Good Samaritan. It comes as part of a dialogue initiated with a question about what one must do. Our first reading assures us that God's law (what we must do) is not difficult to know.


The first reading — Deuteronomy 30:10-14 — presents Moses pleading with the people —us — to heed the voice of the Lord expressed for them in the book of the law. But it is not merely a matter of careful adherence to specific commands. It is a matter of returning to the Lord with all one's heart and all one's soul — phrases which find their echo in the gospel for today. The law is not remote or arcane. It is already in our hearts, planted there by God. James 1:21 speaks of "the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls." It is a word of which we must be doers, not just hearers.


There are two alternative responsorial psalms. The first — verses of Psalm 69 — tis the prayer of one who is in distress, followed by a promise of help from God. It puts us n the place of the victim in the gospel who is rescued by the Good Samaritan. The second — Psalm 19:8-11 — is praise of God's law.


The gospel — Luke 10:25-37 — presents a scholar of the law asking Jesus what he must do to be saved. Jesus asks him for his opinion. The scholar gives what seems to have been a commonly held opinion at the time, and Jesus endorses it. It is a matter of loving God with one's whole being and loving one's neighbor as oneself. It is worth noting that neither the scholar nor Jesus specifically references the ten commandments, much less the entirety of the specific commands of the law. A slavish obedience to rules done without love, but out of fear, is not what God seeks. When we are animated by love, our specific good deeds will have value. This is also the underlying principle in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's gospel. Mere observance of the commandments is not enough. The spirit behind the commandments must form our actions so that we transcend the commandments.


It may  be that the scholar was asking his question in the sense of seeking to kow what was the minimum standard of conduct. His follow-up question, "Who is my neighbor," can be read as an attempt to establish a limit to the breadth of the love that is commanded. At any rate, Jesus refuses to set any limit. The scholar must follow the example of the Good Samaritan. Given the mutual hostility between Jews and Samaritans, it would have been easy enough for a Samaritan to be unwilling to help a Jew. But this Samaritan loves the Jew as himself, not merely in some theoretical way, but with a love that leads to action. Jesus is saying that all people, without exception, are the neighbors we must love, and if that love is genuine, we will help those we can when they are in distress.


There may be an implication also that there are some rules which love must override. The avoidance of the victim by the priest and the levite may have been because they would incur ritual impurity by touching the victim. But that rule should not have been controlling in such an urgent case of need.


Finally, in the light of the first alternative responsorial psalm, we can see ourselves as the victims in a spiritual sense. We are sinners, in danger of spiritual death if left to ourselves. But Jesus comes to our rescue, taking on our humanity and giving the care we need — namely his own life, on the cross.


The second reading — Colossians 1:15-20 — is the first of several that we will hear from this epistle. It is not intended to have any direct connection with the other two readings, although the emphasis on Jesus' work as savior does correspond with the interpretation of the gospel which sees him as the Good Samaritan par excellence. We can see much of it reflected in the creed we recite at Sunday Mass.
"[T] image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation" —"[T]he Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages." 
[I]n him were created all things in heaven and on earth." —"[T]hrough him all things were made."
"He is the head if the body, the church." — "I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church."
"He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead." — "[H]e suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day."
"[T]hat in all things he himself might be preeminent." — "He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father."
The final lines of the reading recapitulate these passages of the creed, while expanding what it says about Jesus saving work on our behalf.

Good Friday — 2016/03/25

Good Friday is the only day when we don't have a Mass. There is a liturgical service, but we do not consecrate bread and wine to become the Body and Blood of Christ. At the service, we do, however, receive Communion using hosts (altar breads) which were consecrated at the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Thursday. In a way, this underlines our belief that Jesus' sacrificial death on Calvary was made present in sacrament in the offering of his Body and Blood to the disciples at the Last Supper and is made present to us sacramentally at every Mass. The consumption of the consecrated elements from yesterday's Mass signifies the identity of both events. Today we are commemorating the same event we commemorate at every Mass.

The service begins simply, in silence. The clergy and ministers enter the sanctuary in silence, and after a few moments of silence, the priest begins with the opening prayer. There is no greeting or penitential rite, as at Mass. After the liturgy of the Word (the scripture readings and homily) instead of the preparation of gifts and Eucharistic Prayer, containing the consecration, there is a rite of veneration of the cross. Then comes Communion, using the hosts reserved from Thursday, folllowed by two concluding prayers and a silent departure.



As on Holy Thursday, our first reading is from the Hebrew Scriptures. This time it's from Isaiah (Isaiah 52:13 — 53:12). This is the fourth and longest of the Servant Songs: a passage about a servant of the Lord who is led like a lamb to the slaughter — bearing our guilt as he is tortured and killed — but who ultimately has life and takes away the sins of many. Many of the phrases are familiar to those who know Handel's "Messiah" since the libretto uses many of the traditional texts used in the Church. Of course, we see this passage as fulfilled in Jesus. It is his sufferings and death which take away our sins.


The responsorial Psalm — verses from Psalm 31 with a refrain from verse 6: "[Father,] into your hands I commend my spirit" — is a meditation on the mind of Jesus as he undergoes his passion and death. It is a prayer for deliverance as well as one of confidence in God.



Next, the Epistle to the Hebrews (4:14-16; 5:7-9) speaks of Jesus' obedience the the Father as the thing that makes him the source of salvation for all who obey him as well as our eternal high priest.



The gospel reading is the Passion according to St. John — John 18:1—19:42 — which shows Jesus who willingly going to his death on the cross to accomplish the purpose for which he came into the world. (The synoptic Gospel accounts of the passion are read on Palm Sunday year by year.) Pilate clearly believes that Jesus is undeserving of death, but ultimately can't withstand the pressure of the priests and the crowd. I'll just point out the passages which are directly referred to in this gospel.

• 18:14 — Caiaphas' prophecy that Jesus would die for the people is at 11:49-50.
• 18:32 — Jesus' indication of how he would die is found in 3:14, 8:28, and 12:32, all of which speak of his being "lifted up" — like the bronze serpent Moses lifted up in the desert (Numbers 21:49) — and drawing all men to himself.
• 19:24 — the dividing of garments and casting lots is a quote from Psalm 22:19 — the Psalm whose opening words are quoted by Jesus in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34 (implying he prayed the whole psalm).
• 19:36 — not breaking a bone is a commandment given the Israelites concerning the passover lamb — Exodus 12:46, Numbers 9:12 — which indicates the identification of the paschal lamb as a type (prefigurement) of Jesus by the first Christians.
• 19:37 — looking on the one they have pierced refers to Zechariah 12:10, which tells of grief over the death of the one they have thrust through.

Jesus' sufferings and death, willingly accepted, bring the human race redemption from sin.

Christmas Dawn and Day Masses 2015/12/25

The Mass at Dawn or early morning picks up the gospel reading from where it ended at midnight — Luke 2:15-20. It tells of the shepherds' visit to Bethlehem. They found things as the angel had told them and reported that message to Mary and Joseph. Afterwards, the shepherds praised God, and Mary reflected on what they told her. Bothe reactions are highly appropriate for us. The birth of Jesus, with all that it means for our salvation, is surely something for which we should praise and glorify God, and the message that he is Christ and Lord is something that we should reflect on and consider its implications for ourselves. One point to note is that shepherds were not highly prized: this was before Jesus gave us the image of himself as the good shepherd. While it is true that the psalms speak of God as shepherd of Israel, actual shepherds were not so highly regarded. They were rustics with, as Pope Francis says, "the smell of their sheep." That the first announcement of the Messiah's birth is to them shows how far God is from regard for social status and worldly power.

By the way, in his "Christmas Oratorio," Bach follows this traditional arrangement by devoting Parts I and II to the birth of Jesus and the announcement to the shepherds, comparable to the Midnight Mass, and Part III to the shepherds' visit to Bethlehem. Part IV tells of the circumcision, which is told at Mass on January 1; and V and VI cover the gospel of Epiphany: the visit of the Magi.


The first reading — Isaiah 62:11-12 —  has a focus comparable to the angel's message of joy to all people, which the shepherds would have reported to Mary and Joseph. It is that he message of salvation for God's people is proclaimed to the whole world. Given the timing of the Mass, the responsorial Psalm — Ps 97:1, 6, 11-12 — includes a verse about light dawning among the verses of rejoicing. The refrain says, "A light will shine on us this day: the Lord is born for us." As at midnight, the second reading is from Paul's letter to Titus — Titus 3:4-7. Paul reminds us that Jesus' coming ("the kindness … of God our savior appeared), and our incorporation into the Church through baptism ("the bath of rebirth") are gratuitous acts of God because he wants to make us his children to inherit eternal life.



The Mass for Daytime moves from the events of Jesus' birth to its theological significance.

The first reading — Isaiah 52:7-10 — says that the whole world will see that God saves his people; and in the responsorial psalm — Ps 98:1-6, with 3c as the refrain — we join in the rejoicing that God's saving work is displayed before the whole world. Here we are still in the general mood of rejoicing. The following readings expend our view.

Hebrews 1:1-6 presents Jesus as the Son of God through whom the universe was made — as we say in the creed every Sunday. We also hear of his work of purifying us from sin and of his Ascension, supported by quotes from Psalm 2:7, 2 Samuel 7:14, and the Septuagint of Deuteronomy 32:43 and Psalm 97:7.

The gospel — John1:1-18 — tells of Jesus' divinity and of his coming into the world as its light, the bringer of God's grace. Scripture is God's word in the words of men, but Jesus is absolutely the Word of God. This passage used to be read at the end of every Mass except funerals.

The babe of Bethlehem is more than one more descendant of David. His cosmic significance corresponds to his work of saving the world. He is God's love made visible.

2015/11/15 — 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

 We are approaching the end of the Church's year and the beginning of the next one on the first Sunday of Advent: November 29 this year. Next Sunday's gospel is taken from the Gospel of John, so today we get the final passage from the Year B Gospel, Mark, and on the 29th we will hear a passage from the Year C Gospel, Luke. Interestingly, the two readings are parallel passages, quoting Jesus' words about the end times. Today we have arrived at the threshold of the account of  Jesus' passion, which will be the focus of the last days of Lent, so at this point, our readings for Ordinary Time are completed. When Advent begins, we are invited to consider that there are three comings of Jesus: his Incarnation coming to fruition in his birth at Christmas, his coming to believers by grace in scripture and the sacraments, and his return in glory at the end of time. So Advent begins with a look at the end times.



Today's first reading — Daniel 12:1-3 — was written at the time the Jewish people were being persecuted by the successors of Alexander the Great, and it encourages them to stand firm in their adherence to God. It tells of the end times, which will be the end of the persecutions. The archangel Michael will protect them. God has a book with the names of those who are loyal to him, and they will be saved. Then we come to what is most important for us: a promise of resurrection. While it is not clear that there will be a universal resurrection, there will be a resurrection, and the condition of those who are resurrected will depend on their conduct, with great glory, especially for the wise and those who lead others to righteous lives.



We reflect on God's promise of life in verses from Psalm 15 (1, 5, 8-11).



The second reading — Hebrews 10:11-14, 18 — continues telling us about Jesus, our high priest. While other priests live in time and offer sacrifices repeatedly, Jesus' priesthood differs from theirs in two ways. His sacrifice actually takes away sins, and he is eternal, forever at God the Father's right hand, not limited by time. Therefore his sacrifice has eternal value, and only needs to be offered once — although that offering is, like the priest, eternal.



The gospel reading is Mark 13:24-32. Jesus has been speaking of a time of tribulation which includes elements of the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. But the frame now expands to a cosmic scale, with the elements of the universe destroyed. God's people will all be gathered to him — implying the resurrection we heard of from Daniel. Jesus' words are eternal because, as Hebrews tells us he is eternal.



While we don't like to think about the end of the world as we know it — God created it and saw that it is very good — the message today is one of encouragement. We know that there are troubles: natural disasters, diseases, persecutions, all sorts of wrongdoing, deaths of loved ones and eventually our own. But God reassures us that these evils are not forever. Jesus will return; he will set things right; he will give us eternal life with himself. So today's scriptures give us hope.


There was a time when images of the end of the world were used, like images of hell, to frighten people into good behavior, but that was not the concept of those who wrote the scriptures. Their hearers didn't need to be frightened by threats of potential future sufferings, they needed the reassurance that the evils they were already suffering were not the last word. God gave that reassurance to them, and today he gives that reassurance to us in the sacrifice of Calvary and the resurrection of Jesus as the promise of our own resurrection.

2015/11/08 — 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

As we approach the end of this year in the liturgical cycle, the first reading and the gospel show us instances of extreme generosity by poor widows, while the second reading foreshadows the emphasis on the glorious return of Jesus which will become a major theme in the next few weeks.


In the first reading — 1 Kings 17:10-16 — we hear the story of Elijah and the (pagan) widow of the (pagan) city of Zarephath in (pagan) Sidon. The background is that the wicked King of Israel, Ahab, has married Jezebel, the daughter of the King of Sidon, and under her influence has introduced the worship of her god into Israel. Through Elijah, God announced that he was sending a drought on the land. Remarkably, God sent Elijah to the country of Jezebel's father to be safe from Ahab, promising that a widow would provide for him. This is why, as the reading begins, Elijah goes to Zarephath and requests hospitality from a poor widow. Her generosity and reliance on the word of Israel's God bring her and her son life in place of the death which had seemed their certain fate.

We should strive to emulate the widow's faith in the word of God which is proclaimed to us, with its promise, not of earthly life, but of eternal life: the salvation promised in the second reading.


The responsorial psalm — Ps 146:7-10, with response from the beginning of the psalm — leads us to make our own, the sort of faith in God's care for us that the widow of Zarephath exhibited, and to praise God for that loving care. The words recall those of Isaiah which Jesus quoted in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:16-21; Isaiah 61:12), as well as the description of the Lord's care for the widow, the orphan, and the alien, in Deuteronomy 10:18, which then the people (we) are commanded to emulate.


In the gospel — Mark 12:38-44 — Jesus is approaching the last days of his ministry, teaching in Jerusalem. He begins with a warning against the pride and greed of the scribes, whose conduct is the very opposite of God's care for widows. Jesus then calls attention to the generosity of a certain widow. At that time, widows, having lost the income produced by their husbands, basically had no reliable source of income. If there were children, they would be expected to support them. Otherwise, they had to rely on charity from others. So the generosity of this widow who gave all she had to the temple is the most radical generosity possible, and must be based on an absolute faith in God's providential care.

The widow, in giving all she had, is in effect an example of total self-giving. Jesus, giving himself on the cross shows us the epitome of such a gift of self. Pope St. John Paul II teaches us in his Theology of the Body, that marriage is a promise of the mutual self-giving of each spouse totally to the other and that celibacy for the kingdom of God should be a comparable self-giving of the celibate to God.


The theme of self-giving is also found in the second reading — Hebrews 9:24-28. We continue to hear about Jesus as our high priest. There are three main themes: Jesus offers himself to the Father once; this self-offering is on our behalf and takes away our sins; and he will return to bring the fullness of salvation to those whose sins have been taken away.


We might ask the Holy Spirit to show us to what extent we give ourselves either to a spouse or to God. If not in a state which calls for such a total self-giving, do we still give generously of ourselves to those who are in our lives, and do we realize that ultimately all we have and all we are belongs to God? On the other hand, to what extent do we seek to maintain our status, like the scribes of whom Jesus speaks? Do we neglect the needs of others while concentrating on being admired in our community or in our circles of friends and associates? Is our religiosity empty, or even partially for show? We can ask God to help us be more like these generous widows and less like the greedy and status-seeking scribes.

The Catholic belief is that the Mass brings that unique sacrifice of Jesus to us so that we become participants in it as members of his body. This participation should strengthen us to live out the message of the scriptures, if we accept the grace of God which enables us to do so. We can be both those who proclaim God's loving care and who provide for the needs of others on God's behalf.

2015/10/11 — 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today we are reminded to put nothing ahead of God in our lives, because God is the giver of all true goods. God, in Jesus, always invites us to follow him.

The gospel — Mark10:17-30 — tells us one more time that we should not be attached to our possessions. Regrettably, the rich young man doesn’t accept Jesus’ invitation to sell all, give to the poor, and follow him. This is not an invitation which is given to all: it was given to a particular individual in a particular situation, but it is still an invitation worth thinking about.

If Jesus isn’t commanding all of us to sell all we have and give to the poor so we can be his disciples, what does this event mean. Why does he say it’s difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of God? I think it’s because it’s easy to become attached to our possessions to the point that they take first place in our lives. Love of God and love of neighbor — with all they imply — should come first. I need to ask myself always how selfish I am.

The young man serves as an example of excessive attachment to possessions, but even those who are not rich can be excessively attached to what they have or excessively concerned about getting more, beyond the true necessities of life. So Jesus says it’s hard for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of God, but then he expands it to say simply that it is hard to enter the kingdom. In fact, it’s so hard to get into the kingdom that we can’t do it.

“For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.” Nobody gets into the kingdom of God on his own power. That’s why we need Jesus. What’s impossible for us by ourselves is possible with Jesus, when we have faith in him as our savior, when we follow him.

The first reading — Wisdom 7:7-11 — is presented as the words of King Solomon. He has the right idea. He doesn’t pray for power or wealth. He prays for wisdom, which is an attribute of God, a direct gift of God, a grace from God. We should pray as he did: not for power or riches, but for whatever graces we need to draw closer to others and to God.

        The responsorial psalm — Ps 90:12-17 — reminds us of the variable course of our lives and leads us to pray for God's gracious blessing in all circumstances.

Our second reading — Hebrews 4:12-13 — reminds us that God sees into our very being. We can ask him to let us see ourselves as he sees us. We can ask for the wisdom to know how we can cooperate even more with his grace. We may all already be cooperating with God’s grace, but none of us is perfect, so we should ask for the wisdom to know what can improve in us and in our behavior.


        We all have a personal invitation from Jesus — something that will help us follow him better, become better people. Should we be more generous and hospitable with what we have? Should be less critical of others or compliment them more? Should we be more available to people who need to talk to us or spend time with us? Should we work harder, or should we work less? Should we spend less time watching TV or on other entertainment and more time doing something useful? Is there something else in our lives that takes us away from love of God or active love of neighbor? Should we spend more quiet time in prayer? Those are a few examples of things that could be an invitation from Jesus. We can ask God to show us our personal invitation.

     Jesus is always inviting is to follow him more closely, in our sorrows, and in our joys, in good times and bad. The specifics of the invitation my change as we change and as times change. The invitation may seem easy or hard. It may be something that will take time, even a long time. But we shouldn't be like the young man and go away sad. We shouldn't get discouraged. Instead, let’s ask him to help us by giving us the strength we need to accept his invitation.

2015/05/03 — 5th Sunday of Easter, edited May 3.

Considerable time has passed and much has happened between last Sunday's reading from Acts and this Sunday's. (Acts 9:26-31) The Jerusalem community of believers grew under the leadership of the Apostles. The Apostles were arrested and tried a second time, but released. The first deacons were appointed. Stephen was martyred. Saul (who later called himself Paul) persecuted the Christians. Those who fled Jerusalem brought the gospel to other areas. Saul, on his way to persecute the Christians of Damascus had a vision of Jesus and became a Christian. Now we come to today's reading. A plot to kill Saul in Damascus leads to Paul's return to Jerusalem, where he is met with suspicion until Barnabas vouches for the authenticity of his conversion. Then the same group that had martyred Stephen wants to kill him, so he leaves Jerusalem. Finally, we are told that there was a period when all was well for the Christians both in Jerusalem and throughout the Middle East.

Up to this point, the gospel had been proclaimed only to Jews. The Christians were Jews who believed that Jesus was the Messiah. Although there were prophecies that the Gentiles would also come to the Lord, and although Jesus himself had spoken of proclaiming the gospel to all nations (e.g., Matthew 28:19-20), it seems that at first the early Christians held to the Jewish mindset of being a people apart.


Once more, the second reading is from the First Letter of John. (1 John 3:18-24) The passage speaks of faith, action, and love. Our love must be manifested in deeds. Thinking back to the first reading, we can see love in action when Barnabas brought Saul to the apostles and reassured them about him. We see it again when the brothers send Saul to safety in Tarsus when they learn that his life is in danger in Jerusalem.

The reading from John tells us that we do not rely on ourselves. We have the Spirit of God, who reassures us when our hearts would condemn us for our sins. We still believe in God and we keep his commandments when we believe and love one another. Our reassurance is from God's Spirit, not from ourselves.


Scripture gives us several images of the relationship between Jesus and believers. Last week it was a shepherd and his sheep. Paul speaks of the Church as the Body of Christ. John says we are God's children, members of his family. In today's gospel (John 15:1-8), part of Jesus' discourse at the Last Supper, Jesus compares it to a vine and its branches. The branches live in unity with the vine. They share the life of the vine. The vine transmits its life to them. The whole plant grows as long as the branches remain connected to the vine. If a branch is growing in an unproductive way, it will be pruned to make it better. There is a difference between the Church and the vine and branches. Jesus notes the possibility of a person separating himself from Jesus, which branches of a plant can't do. But as humans we have that choice, to remain connected to the vine or not. We can separate ourselves from Jesus and the Church, to our own loss. But if we continue with Jesus, we have life and bear fruit. The vine grows.

Paul's visit to Jerusalem (and there were others to follow) shows that he wasn't trying to go on his own. His connection with Jesus implied unity with the apostles and disciples who were the original "branches." Despite occasional friction with Peter and others, Paul didn't set up a rival church. He remained connected to the vine.

This remains our task today as it was in the time of the apostles: to live the love for one another that will keep us together despite our disagreements and frictions that arise; to remain connected to Jesus, the source of our life. In doing so, we will bring the gospel of life to others.


Edited May 3 to add a couple of additional thoughts.

The Holy Spirit is mentioned in both the first and second readings. The Church as a whole grows with the consolation of the Holy Spirit, and each of us has that consolation as we grow in holiness.

We are to live productive ("fruitful") lives, and to do so we need to be in Jesus like branches of a vine — which means that we are also connected to one another through him. But if without him we can do nothing, this means that all those who bear fruit are connected to Jesus, whether they realize it or not — Karl Rahner coined the phrase "anonymous Christians." God's love and grace do not depend on our passing a theology test.

2015/04/19 — 3rd Sunday of Easter

A couple of events this week have served to remind me that celebrating Easter not just as a day, but as a season, is not the practice of all Christians. Indeed, even many Catholics are not especially conscious of being in an ongoing season of celebration. At Christmas, if tradition-minded we may think of the twelve days of Christmas, and most of us do not remove our Christmas decorations on December 26. We know that there is some continuation of Christmas, some sort of Christmas season. But when it comes to Easter, we aren't accustomed to thinking of, not the twelve days, but the fifty days of Easter. And yet, Easter, the resurrection of Jesus, is — together with his death on the cross — the most important element of our Christian faith. Christmas is only there to make Easter possible.

The Catholic Church two reasons for prolonging the celebration through seven weeks. One is that the "mystery" of Easter, its meaning, is too big to express in just one day. We need to take take to consider it more deeply and extensively. Historically, the season developed as a time for ongoing instruction — called "mystagogy" of the newly-baptized (Baptism being something that was normally done only at Easter). Beyond that, it's just such a gigantic reason to celebrate that it's something we want to make that big a deal of. We need an extended period to do it justice. We spend forty days preparing for it. We should celebrate it even longer.

That's why we're speaking of Sundays of Easter in the title.


All three readings assigned to this day make reference to the forgiveness of sins, and that is one facet by which we can view the meaning and purpose of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. The gospel (Luke 24:35-48) and the first reading (Acts 3:13-15, 17-19) place this in the context of Jesus as fulfilling the scriptures.

The gospel passage is very rich in meaning. It begins with a reference to "[t]he two disciples." Those are the two whose encounter with Jesus on the road to Emmaus has just been recounted. (Luke 24: 13-35) When Jesus appears, the first thing he does after greeting them is to prove that it is he by showing his wounds, and then to prove that he is corporeal by eating a piece of fish. The Pharisees and many other Jews of Jesus' time believed in a general resurrection at the end of time, but a resurrection while the world continued was completely unexpected. So he had to appear to them and show that he had been resurrected bodily.

On the way to Emmaus, Jesus had "interpreted to [the two disciples] what referred to him in all the Scriptures." Now he tells the assembled disciples that "'everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.' Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures." What happened fulfilled the scriptures about him — that it was necessary for him to suffer, die, and rise, "and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations." Here we find an echo of last Sunday's themes of mercy and mission.

The first reading quotes Peter — who has just healed a cripple in the name of Jesus — reviewing the events of Jesus' passion and death. Then he proclaims the resurrection and says that what happened to Jesus fulfilled the scriptures and speaks, as the gospel does, of repentance and forgiveness.

Some of the scriptures which Jesus interpreted as referring to him are mentioned in Acts — e.g., "You  are my Son. Today I have begotten you." (Psalm 2:7) and "The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone." (Psalm 118:22). Throughout the year, these and many other Old Testament passages are seen as fulfilled in Jesus, following the longstanding tradition of interpretation.

From Peter's proclamation of repentance and forgiveness we move to the second reading, (1 John 2:1-5a). Christians aren't supposed to sin, John says, but if we do, Jesus brings forgiveness because he has expiated our sins.


The message for this Sunday, then, is that Jesus' death and resurrection, in fulfillment of the scriptures, bring expiation of our sins when we are repentant and turn to him for the forgiveness which is always available.

The gospel passage also gives  some insight into the significance of the Mass. We have traditionally seen the Liturgy of the Word — readings, creed, and homily — as continuing the work of presenting the scripture in the light of Jesus. We also see the Liturgy of the Eucharist as the breaking of the bread in which we recognize the Lord, as the disciples did at Emmaus. In other words, Jesus comes to us and says, "Do not be afraid, it is I." He explains the scriptures and gives himself to us as he did to the disciples at the Last Supper.

Jesus and Same-Sex Couples — Part 3

Seeker030 posted on his blog and clarified what sort of relationship he had in mind when he wrote the tweet that got me started on this series. I hadn't quite understood what he was getting at, and I have left a comment there, responding to his specific concerns. Please check it out.

As long as we're thinking about Jesus and same-sex couples, there are a couple of further general points I had in mind which I think are worth presenting for consideration.

Jesus must not be thought of apart from the rest of the Bible.  The fact that Jesus did not speak directly to a specific topic does not necessarily mean that Christians are free to do whatever they feel like. We cannot ignore what Paul, and John, Peter, and James tell us about how Christians ought to live. We cannot ignore the prophets and wisdom literature of the Old Testament when they tell us how God wants his people to live. After all, Jesus himself, on the road to Emmaus, interpreted the parts of scripture which referred to him for the disciples. Luke 24:27 Christians believe that Jesus is the Word of God (John 1:1) and that the Bible is the Word of God in human language. There can be no real contradiction between them. What this means is that if we find the Bible telling us to do this or not to do that, then that is how God is calling to live, even if Jesus did not speak about it.


Jesus does not always approve what we want. People sometimes say, Jesus would not want me to have the unhappiness which this rule would bring. But Jesus does not promise pleasure or happiness in this life. In the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12), he calls blessed, people who are poor in spirit, who mourn, who are persecuted. Ultimately, their reward will be great, but for now, we are told that we have a cross to carry daily. (Luke 9:23) The line, "How can something that feels so right be wrong?" is sometimes used to assuage guilty consciences in situations of adultery and fornication. We shouldn't let our feelings overcome what we know about right and wrong or invoke an image of a loving God which has been transformed into an image of an indulgent God.

Whatever moral standards exist are for our good, since God did not send Jesus for the purpose of condemning us, but to save us. John 3:17


"Jesus appreciates same-sex couples who are committed to one another in love."

To sum up my feelings on this, I'd say that Jesus certainly appreciates all, including same-sex couples, who are attempting to live a life of  love, even if their understanding of what is right or wrong is mistaken on some points. And it certainly doesn't matter whether I think they are mistaken.

My belief is that when it comes to sex, for one thing we are supposed to avoid lust. That is one of the big points in the Theology of the Body, which I have been posting about. But lust is not the same thing as attraction, much less is it the same as affection. So an affection which does not seek to reduce the other to an instrument for one's own sexual gratification is legitimate. And when it comes to action, it seems to me that what is forbidden is only those actions which involve contact with the genitals or which more or less inevitably lead to sexual arousal. I believe that there can be innocent touch including such things as embracing, stroking, cuddling, even light kissing — depending on the "tolerance" of the individuals. Different people probably have different levels of activity in which they can engage without sexual arousal. Within those limits, I see no problem in physical expressions of affection and love. (I know that other Side B people take a more rigorous position either because they believe the pleasure that comes from these forms of touch is so sexual as to be restricted to husband and wife, or because it is too difficult for most me to stop before the touch progresses to more explicitly sexual activity.)

So I agree with Seeker030 in the sense in which he meant his tweet. I wouldn't mind some of that sort of expression of love in my own life.

Jesus and Same-Sex Couples — Part 2

Shall we go say hello to the elephant in the room? One point my friend did not state explicitly is that the same-sex couples of whom he speaks are sexually active. If we presume they aren't then this bit is superfluous. But if, as I suppose he means, they could be, then we have to note that among those who care about what Jesus thinks, namely Christians, there are, several schools of thought about the morality of homosexuality. They are sometimes designated by the terms "Side A" and "Side B." Side A holds that gay and lesbian sex can be morally legitimate. Side B holds that a homosexual orientation is not sinful in itself, but sex between members of the same sex is sinful. As regular readers know, I believe tat Side B is correct. (There is also "Side X," which says that even a homosexual orientation which is not acted on is sinful. Since they could never see Jesus appreciating even a celibate gay person, let alone a couple, there is no point in considering their position  for purposes of this discussion.)

I think it makes sense to distinguish between what is objectively right or wrong and what is subjectively right or wrong. I think this is a very important distinction when we talk about what Jesus appreciates. Let's think about drinking alcohol. There are some Christians who think it's morally wrong to drink alcohol. Most think it isn't wrong. They can't all be right. Objectively, either it is alright or it is wrong. But subjectively, if I think drinking is not sinful and I drink, I am not sinning because I do not intend to do anything I believe to be wrong. If the other side is right, then I am objectively doing something wrong even though I have not sinned by knowingly doing something wrong. On the other hand, even if drinking is not objectively wrong, someone who thinks it is and still goes ahead and has a drink is sinning, because he wants to do something he considers wrong.

Now, if Side A is objectively right, there is clearly no problem with saying that Jesus appreciates the couples my friend speaks of (except for Side B individuals who believe they are sinning). But if Side B is objectively right, then there is no problem with sexually inactive couples, but we have a question about those who are sexually active. Here is where the distinction between objective and subjective morality is important, because when Side A people engage in activity which they believe is okay, then they are not sinning, and there is no problem on that score between them and Jesus.


Who am I/are we to judge?  Whether a person is sinning or not is between his conscience and God. It is not my place to judge them. I do not know what's in their conscience. In other words, we can all have our beliefs about whether certain forms of conduct are objectively wrong, but that does not mean we know whether specific individuals have sinned. Of course, unless they tell us or we are there when it happens, we don't even know whether they have done anything or not. So there is no way I can say that these people have incurred Jesus' disapproval. And even in speaking hypothetically of Jesus' disapproval, we have to remember, as I noted at the beginning of the first post, that God is love. Even if someone sins, that does not make God stop loving him.


To be continued.

Jesus and Same-Sex Couples — Part 1

"I'm going to say something controversial here but I think Jesus appreciates same-sex couples who are committed to one another in love."


A very dear friend of mine posted this on Twitter. I'd like to explore it.


"God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him." –1 John 4:16

Of course, the love that is spoken of here, is available to all, whether or not they are in committed relationships, but certainly it can and should be present in committed relationships. So clearly God remains in those who love.

When we read the rest of the epistle, we see that this love has two aspects. There is love of God, which draws us away from sin, and there is brotherly love. Both of them are made possible by God's love for us. This love extends beyond close personal relationships. In the epistle, it includes at least the entire community to whom John was writing. So we are not speaking of romantic love, of eros. We are speaking of love of the sort which God has for us — the love which led Jesus to become one of us and to die for us, agape. Throughout the epistle, John uses agape and words with it as their root where the English translations refer to love.

I see no reason that same-sex couples cannot have the love, the agape, to which we are all called. And surely Jesus appreciates that.


To be continued.

Are You Going to Hell?

First I want to give one good answer to the question so you'll have an idea where this is going. The answer is: not if God can help it.

I'm writing this to summarize a very good talk I heard this evening. The priest who gave the talk grew up in an era when there was a lot of preaching about how terrible hell is and about all the things that would get you sent there. (He told the story of the old Irish priest who was going on about the pains of hell. "There will be the gnashing of teeth," he said; and a little old lady asked, "Father, what about them that have no teeth?" and the priest thundered, "Teeth will be provided.") He, like a lot of others, couldn't take the constant reminders and threats, so at the age of fifteen, he stopped going to church.

In his junior year of college, at a university in Ohio, a new Catholic chaplain (Fr. Brennan Manning) came to campus and started having Mass at midnight every Saturday. Then 20, the speaker decided to check it out. The gospel passage for that Sunday was John 3: 14-21, and Fr. Manning focussed on verses 16 and 17, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him."

The chaplain's preaching on that text was very different from what our speaker (and I) had grown up with. We had known of a vindictive God, always on the alert for our sins and ready to send us to hell for them. But here's the truth instead: God's trying to save us, to bring us to heaven. That's because he loves us that much. And what's more he loves us just the way we are at every moment of our lives. He loves us when we're good, and he loves us when we're bad. He loves us when we're sinning; he loves us when we don't love him; and — just like every other lover — he wants us to love him so he can make us part of his life, share his life with us.

Often in the church we seem to think that we have to become good in order to love God, but that's putting the cart before the horse. It's when we love God that we are drawn to be good.

To add my own comment: I think in a number of cases when people reject God, it's not the real God that they reject — the one who loves them so much that he sent his Son to save them — rather they are rightly rejecting a false picture of God as one who seeks to condemn them.

Retreat — December 2009, cont'd.

In the introductory meeting with my retreat director, Sister Barbara, she suggested that I and the others she was directing should try, during the retreat, to be in the presence of the loving God. (Good advice for anytime.) The next morning, she suggested that I begin reading the Gospel of Mark as a way of becoming acquainted with Jesus — that I should pay careful attention to what he does, says, finds important, feels, notices — and that I should pray for the grace to know, love, and follow him.

By the end of the retreat, I had got as far as Mark 9:1. I noticed him praying, calling followers preaching, calling sinners, healing, protecting his followers, being down to earth, angry with those who refused to listen and opposed his message of God's love.

She also suggested some other passages, from Luke, for me to read and reflect on.

At one point I mentioned a particular person who I felt had undermined me at an important point in my life and who had recently died. Sr. Barbara suggested something she called a "wisdom dialogue," in which I say what bothered me and try to imagine how he would respond. It would be a dialogue aiming at some sort of mutual understanding. I think it is a strategy for what other people call "healing of memory." And I guess it worked, because the incident no longer bothers me as it used to, and I no longer feel as upset with him as I used to.

In prayer times, I occasionally tried to have similar conversations with Jesus. I'm not sure how accurate every word that I thought he would say is as an expression of his thinking. There were some good points, though. At one point the scary questions occurred to me, "Have I given my life to you, Lord, or have I been living for myself all along? Do I really want to be with you?"

There was a question also of feeling God's presence, versus realizing God's presence. I had been operating under the assumption that I was supposed to have some kind of special feeling, but I came to realize that God's presence is a reality regardless of emotion. This is important, because it tells me I can be truly praying even if I don't have some special feeling of God's nearness at that moment. I don't have to consider that I'm not praying.

All in all, I'd say that the retreat was worthwhile, that I got some good ideas about how to pray. Unfortunately, when I got back home, within a couple of days I was back into my old pattern of daily life, where I didn't set aside a block or blocks of time for the sort of Bible reading and prayer that I had been doing. Obviously, I had to be doing other things most of the day, but a half hour would do — only I didn't plan my days, and so I never (or rarely) made the time to do it. Avoidance is so easy.

Perhaps we can say it was a good foundation that I failed to build on.

Holy Week — What God Wants

On March 30, I received the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession or Penance as it used to be called). After I had confessed the sins I needed to, the priest said, "God doesn't want your good works. God wants you." He went on to explain what he meant and I can't reproduce it precisely, but the basic point is that it is us he wants to have with him. Our works are passing things, but we are not. Dean Grey, of Exploding Doughnut, told on his blog of coming on the Chicago Children's Choir rehearsing in a room in the Chicago Cultural Center. They sang a gospel hymn with a refrain which included the words, "I love you. I need you to survive." Maybe that's supposed to be us talking to God. But it is also how God feels about us.

It has been a commonplace point in Lenten preaching to say that our sins are what put Jesus on the cross. The priest I went to made that point with respect to my sins. Then he went on to say, "and Jesus says it's okay." God wants me, and if Jesus needs to go to the cross so he can have me, it's okay. God loves me, and you, and needs us to survive. So he'll pay any price to have us. So it's okay that we put Jesus on the cross. The priest had said in a talk he had just given, that as Good Friday and Easter approach, we should ask ourselves, do we believe what God says. Do we trust his love?

So that's what I hope you'll be thinking about as this week unfolds. Is there a God whose love for you is so great that it's okay that Jesus died, if only he can have you? Do you trust God? Do you trust his love? Will you let him have you?