John 13:13-33A, 34-35 Love One Another

This is our last week of the Easter season.  We are reminded again what the season is about, just like our Creed professes:  The triumphal resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ after his crucifixion, death and descent into hell, whereupon he rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven. 

Jesus is glorified in all this.  Before he departs upon his journey to the cross (where the story is taken just as Judas departs to fetch the soldiers), he reiterates his new command:  Love one another.

This is not easy.  It involves genuine forgiveness and unconditional love.  It is attainable through practice and sacrifice.  To be his disciples, we are called to do this, to love one another as he has loved us.

John 10: 22-30 You Do Not Believe Because You're Not My Sheep

In today's reading we hear that it was winter and the Feast of the Dedication, that is Hanukkah.  This Jewish feast day is also known as the Festival of Lights.  The story behind it comes from the Book of Maccabees where the tale of how Judah Maccabee raised a fierce and army loyal to God (the army would also be known as the Maccabees) against the Greco-Syrian king who banned Jewish religious practices and defiled the Temple of Jerusalem.  When the Maccabees were victorious over the oppression, the Temple was cleansed, purified, and re-Dedicated to God.  When they rededicated the temple, there was only enough oil for the sanctuary lamp for one night, the rest having been defiled.  Through a miracle the oil lasted for eight days.  That is why Hanukkah lasts eight days with one candle being lit each night.  As a Jew Jesus would have participated in the Feast of the Dedication. 

As a Christian follower, we can ask ourselves what is the parallel between the Jewish celebration and our own this Easter season.  Very clearly the authorities and other leaders are demanding to know if Jesus is the Messiah.  It could not have been easy for Jesus' followers.  However, their courage and stamina against the hardships caused by people who doubted Jesus and were not his followers is an echo of that of the Maccabees.  What was true for the followers of Christ then is true now as we wage battle against threats against Christians whether we are in Syria, Pakistan, or laws against what we believe in other countries around the world.  What Christian has not been persecuted for our faith?  We stand firm and courageous because Christ is our savior and we are his flock.  Like the eternal light of the sanctuary lamp, Christ stands with us incarnate in human history as a Light to the World: God made manifest.  The Light of the World came to give us the light of life. 

John 6:30-35 I Am the Bread of Life

In the Gospel today the crowds test Jesus and ask for veracity that he is who he says that he is by giving them a sign.  This is not unusual.  Throughout the Old Testament prophets tested to make sure that it was truly God that was speaking to them.  In the New Testament even Mary asks for a sign from the angel to know for certain that her pregnancy and child were ordained from God.  In Mary's case she was told that her ancient cousin, Elizabeth, was expecting and in her sixth month, so that Mary could see if it was true for herself, and she did go, and learn the truth that this was indeed for both her and her cousin, a miracle wrought from God.

So today, the crowds press closer to Jesus awaiting that sign, that hope to be fulfilled.  He responds, "I am the bread of life."  He is here, the Word of God, to nourish us daily with that bread that is him, that takes away our sins and leads us to eternal life.  How exciting for them!  for us!--that the Lord has come and the wedding banquet is set and ready for us to partake in it.  This is the gift of salvation through the Resurrection that we continue to celebrate this Easter season.

John 21:1-19 Do you love me?

In today's Gospel the Apostles are fishing, catching nothing.  Easter is a time of joy and new beginnings in the Light of the Resurrected Christ.  As the dawn breaks, they see Christ Jesus upon the shore.  Recall that he had summoned them to be fishers of men in a similar way before the crucifixion.  Again he calls them to be fishers of men, in a sense, by lowering their nets into the ride side of the boat.  Clement of Alexandria wrote about Jesus in a hymn in his Pedagogues III,

"...Fisher of men,

you, their Savior:

from the sea of evil

you pull the pure fish,

out of the hostile storm

you draw them to the life of blessedness..."

We are the fish, while Peter and the Apostles represent the Church in relation to Christ.  They bring us to the shore bathed in light where Jesus is waiting.  That Christ breaks the bread with them in that first breakfast of the Resurrection assures us that he will continue to nourish us. 

Why does he do this?  Love.  He asks Peter three times, "Do you love me?"  It is as if to undo those three times that Peter denied him.  At the same time, each time Peter says, I love you, it could be though of as saying it to each member of the Holy Trinity, with whom he is in communion with; and at the same time, he stands for us, as the rock on which our church is founded.  He answers for us, "Yes Lord, I love you."  My we continue loving the Lord with each moment of our lives.  Amen.

John 6:1-15 Loaves and Fishes

In this first reading we again have the Apostles and other disciples preaching.  Recall that the Sanhedrin was putting them on trial with the possibility of death.  The Apostles and disciples had therefore been in jail and mysteriously released, but we know it was due to heavenly visitors.  Gamaliel was a Doctor of the Law, head of an important rabbinic school, and member of the Sanhedrin.   In recognition of God’s intervention for the Jewish people throughout their covenant, Gamaliel recognizes that God may be present here too.  He argued that they Apostles should not be harmed saying, “have nothing to do with these men, and let them go.  For if this endeavor or this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself.  But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God.”  That which is of human origin will ultimately parish, but that which is from God will endure.

Truth endures forever.  The Apostles, the martyrs, and we seek the Lord, our Truth, and our refuge, for the Lord is our Light and Our Salvation.  Did he not teach us about heavenly things?  Does he not feed us with what we need to nourish ourselves? 

In today’s Gospel Jesus sits with the others and the crowds.  These are the people who walked to where he is currently, which the Lord crossed the waters in a boat with the Apostles.  The crowds had followed him seeking relief from their pains, anxieties, and sicknesses. His words ease their pains, and his heavenly touch and presence cures their ills.  Asking Philip and Andrew if there is enough food for all, he is told no. 

It is springtime.  The Passover is near, and they are with the Lamb.  The loaves and fish are distributed and it is a miracle, everyone receives and an abundance remains.  This is true of the grace and blessings of this feast with the Lord, then and now.  The Lord invites those seeking him into his company and provides nourishment at his banquet, providing the food himself through the Spirit. 

It is the same way at Holy Communion when the Lord invites us to his table.  Every time we receive the Holy Eucharist the Lords blessings and abundant graces are poured out for us.  Christ Jesus is our Paschal lamb.  We are still within the Easter season celebrating his death and Resurrection.  Matthew tells us, “One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” 

Christ came not only to nourish us with bread and wine, but to feed us with himself: that is the Word of God.  The loaves and fishes are a foreshadowing of what happens in the breaking of the bread at mass.  The Holy Eucharist is Christ himself under the species of bread and wine.  The receiving of the host during the Sacrament of Communion is the outward and visible sign of that inward and divine spiritual gift, which is God himself.  May we always love the Blessed Eucharist for what it is, and learn to love being with Christ, the Pascal Lamb and the newness of life which he gives us through his death and Resurrection.  Amen.

Luke 1:26-38 The Annunciation of the Lord

It seems off to have a Gospel reading about the Annunciation during the Easter Season.  Actually this reading should have been on Good Friday, but because of it falling on the Triduum, it is moved to the Easter season. 

This is a story of hope and deliverance, which echoes the Easter message.  Mary is our example of how we should each say yes to God's presence within us, to hold and foster him within us, and to share him with the world. 

The Gospel story is also a reminder of how sacred life is no matter how young, especially in this current culture of death.  Abortion always seems like it is being talked about, but it is still the killing of the innocent.  No matter what age, young or old, life should be seen as precious.  God chose to be made manifest in human form so that our sins and the death that came into being through evil could be undone so that we can have life.

Mark 16:9-15 Go out into all the world

The mission of the Holy Catholic Church takes itself directly from Christ Jesus.  He always gathered to him those who needed healing, those who responded to his call, he taught them, then sent them out to others to share the Good News.  The first reading is from Acts of the Apostles: "Observing the boldness of Peter and John and perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men, the leaders, elders, and scribes were amazed, and they recognized them as the companions of Jesus."  The Apostles and others were just like the vast majority of us.  Yet, they were called to their respective vocations, ministries, and missions that Christ assigned to them, just like we are. 

The others called to accompany Christ Jesus through his ministry were not just the Apostles, but the other disciples chosen to bear witness to the Kingdom, Christ's death, and Resurrection.  The Gospel tells us about Mary Magdalene, "...he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons."  He healed her and saved her.  How many of us have demons, real, imaginary, and those caused by mental trauma or disease, that plague us and hold us back.  Yet she was called just as we are.  What about the two on the road to Emmaus to whom he appeared in a different form?  They were just average guys trying to get on with their lives.  Yet, they too were summoned to bear witness to the Glory of the Resurrected Lord.  And yet these witnesses "returned and told the others; but they (the Apostles) did not believe them either."

Sometimes we are called to do things that we know are right, even though it is difficult, even though others will laugh at us and won't believe.  Doing what is right is sometimes very tough.  Yet in the end we will be judged not by others, but by Christ.  We will be vindicated for our righteousness and living in the Truth by him for we read in the Gospel, "the Eleven were at table, he appeared to them
and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised."  These first witnesses of the Resurrection were vindicated by God.  We are to all go forth and proclaim the Good News!  Alleluia!

John 20:11-18 Invitation into the New Creation

Today’s Gospel is one about grief and love.  “Love is as strong as Death, longing as fierce as Sheol, its arrows are arrows of fire, flames of the divine.” (Eccl. 8:6)  Mary did not come to the tomb to find the risen Savior.  From yesterday’s reading we know that she came to anoint the body of a man they all loved dearly with the precious oils and fragrant spices, mixed with their tears.  Mary is compelled by love to touch Him once more, even if he is dead, as she thinks. 

But the tomb is empty and she is denied even that one little pleasure of reaching out one last time in love.  She is heartbroken.  “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” 

Within this Gospel in the passage before today’s reading Mary has already gone and alerted the Apostles that Jesus’ body is gone.  They have come to see for themselves, and left again.  Mary Magdalene remains, as if still searching for her love.  Desperate, she looks one last time into the tomb.

The Easter gospel brings comfort to the grieving.  As in the original garden when sin and death were introduced into the world, God promised a savior that would come to triumph over these things out of his great love for us.  To herald this savior Mary, held by her grief and love for the one who has saved her from her sins, lingers peering again into the tomb.  Behold, there are two angels one where the head would be, the other where the feet had lain with a space between them, as if it were for God himself; just like the Ark of the Covenant, a new covenant, which Christ came to establish anew with us through God’s infinite love and mercy.

In Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten son, is divine love become manifest.  In the garden Mary encounters the transfigured glorious Christ Jesus, our new Adam. In the midst of sorrow and grief arises joy in the new Creation.  When the angels and Jesus ask, “Woman, why are you weeping?”  That is our cue that the Lord is with us in his glory, we should rejoice and be glad.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of this new creation.  Peter reminds us today, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.“ Like Mary Magdalene, let us let the Spirit help us to overcome the bonds of the old creation and enter more fully this new creation that has been given to us through the Resurrection.  Amen.

He is Risen!

Jesus performed miracles and taught about the Kingdom of God.  We get a real sense from the way that the disciples hid and dispersed after Jesus’ crucifixion on Good Friday that their grief was so intense that they were lost.  They had such great hope in a man who lived humbly, but had such great love for them and had joined them together with himself.  With his death upon the cross Jesus and resurrection on the Lord’s Day, Jesus conquered death, and was raised into new life within the heavenly kingdom, and with him, because he joined us to him. 

In today’s Gospel of Matthew we encounter Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, whom St. Mark in Gospel identifies as the mother of the Apostle James.  They had come to anoint Jesus’ body with oil and spices as the burial tradition required.  These women had travelled with Jesus.  Remember Mary Magdalene was the one who was usually at the knee of Jesus to her sister’s dismay, listening to him as he spoke, interiorizing all that he said.  At the last supper Mary Magdalene had gotten down upon her knees and washed Jesus’ feet with the expensive oil and dried his feet with her hair.  The next time both these women would see Jesus was upon the cross.  Now at the tomb, Jesus is not there.  Their hearts leap with hope that Jesus’ words could be true, that he would rise.

As if it confirm their hopes, Jesus meets them right where they are, just like he meets us. Unlike the Apostles who doubt, these two Mary’s fall at the Lord’s feet and worship him even amidst the fears that they have that he may be an illusion or some sort of apparition.  He directs them to gather together all the disciples in his name in Galilee where they will be safe and where he will come to them.  How could they not be joyful or excited?  The Lord has come in his glory.  He has conquered death.  His kingdom is at hand.  We are to rejoice and be glad.   Alleluia, alleluia!

Happy Easter!

Mt 6: 1-6, 16-18 Ash Wednesday

for today's reading http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/021016.cfm

Today we are summoned to repentance, to reflection, to renew ourselves in God's eyes as his holy people.  Called to fasting we lose ourselves to this world and place ourselves in solidarity with Christ's suffering as we prepare for his Resurrection at Easter.  It is also a time too for us to refocus our loves upon the Lord, to renew ourselves to his laws, to do his will.

I offer you the prayer of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton:

O Father, the first rule of our dear savior's life was to do Your Will.  Let His Will of the present moment be the first rule of our daily life and work with no other desire but for its most full and complete accomplishment.  Help us to follow it faithfully, so that doing what You wish we will be pleasing to you.  Amen.