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Commentary on Acts 8:5-8,14-17; 1 Peter 3:15-18; John 14:15-21

The common theme of John’s Gospel which we are reading these weeks is the fact that Jesus, following his resurrection, has left us and returned to his Father. At the same time, he is still with us, but in a different way from before his death on the cross. And today’s readings tell us that it is through the Spirit of the Father and the Son that that presence is experienced by us.

We see this clearly expressed in today’s Gospel passage. Jesus is telling his disciples at the Last Supper that, through the Spirit, he will continue to be with them—and us—forever. He calls the Spirit an ‘Advocate’. In other biblical translations he is called a ‘Counsellor’ (NRSV, NIV), ‘Comforter’ (King James), Counsellor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby (Amplified Bible), Advocate (NAB, NRSV). The Greek word is parakletos, from which comes the older word ‘Paraclete’. Basically a ‘paraclete’ is someone like a defence lawyer, someone who stands by you in court and gives you support, advice and comfort in difficult situations where you need help. That is precisely the role of the Spirit in our Christian life. The Spirit teaches, guides, supports, consoles and comforts as we try to be faithful in our following of Christ’s Way.

Pointing the Way
He is the Spirit of Truth, the same Truth that Jesus himself represents. Earlier Jesus said:

I am the way and the truth and the life. (John 13:6)

That Truth is not just a list of dogmas or doctrines. It represents a deep understanding of what life is really about, of how it is to be lived in partnership with one’s brothers and sisters in our common search to make this world truly God’s Kingdom—to make this world the kind of place that God wants it to be. It combines the ideas of wholeness and integrity, a total harmony between the inner and outer self and between the self and God. All this we find in the highest degree in Jesus.

Many in the world do not recognise the Spirit. The ‘world’ here represents all those who live only for themselves, who see everyone else and everything else as stepping stones to their own advancement, pleasure and enjoyment. Such people are totally deaf to the Spirit.

However, we who have accepted Christ and his gospel do know the Spirit:

You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you. (John 14:17)

So, although Jesus tells his disciples that he is about to leave them and they are clearly alarmed and despondent at the idea, he reassures them that he will come back, that he will continue to be with them though in a different way.

An end and a beginning
To the ‘world’, Jesus’ death on the Cross was the end of everything. He had been a flash in the pan, a sensation of a kind in that corner of the world—Jesus Christ the ‘Superstar’. But now, as Jesus speaks with his disciples at the Last Supper, it was all about to end in total failure and degradation. But to those who can see, those who can discern the truth in the cross, he is not a dismal failure, but the reality of the triumph of love over hate. They can see that the object of that love is themselves; they know that Jesus has passed into life and that all those who identify themselves totally with him and his vision of universal Love still enjoy his presence.

Jesus was lifted up in glory on the cross, and he tells us:

On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

And how is that to be brought about? He says:

They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me…

And what are those commandments? Quite simply, it is to put Love at the heart of all living.

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:13)

This is what Jesus did for us and what we are called on to do for others.

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35)

And what is that Love? As we have mentioned before, this ‘love’ (Greek, agape) is an unconditional desire for the well-being of every single person. Another word for ‘love’ in the Gospels is ‘service’. Not the service of the slave for a master, not the service of the specialist—be that person a doctor, lawyer or priest—for the lay person, but the service of one brother or sister to another brother or sister without the distinction of rank, race, nationality, religion or anything else.

The Way to loving God
It is all summed up in the Gospel’s final sentence:

They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.

We love God not just by expressing our love directly for him, but by the way in which we extend Love to all those around us without any exceptions whatever. And all those who love Jesus will receive the love of the Father. But how do we love Jesus? We love Jesus when we love him in our brothers and sisters:

Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me. (Matt 25:40)

When we live our lives in this way we will in turn experience God’s love and grow in our familiarity with him.

Disciples and apostles
We see that love of God and Jesus coming to the people of Samaria in the First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles. That love comes to them through the deacon Philip and his companions as they proclaim the message of the gospel. Great signs of healing follow. The examples of evil spirits being driven out and the curing of individuals who were crippled and paralysed point to the much deeper liberation that comes through our surrender to the gospel—a real healing and being made whole, and a liberation from everything that inhibits our being fully functioning people.

This experience leads to the Samaritans’ total acceptance of the gospel and their being filled with the Spirit of the Father and of Jesus. What they received from Philip, they in their turn will now communicate to others who have yet to hear the message. The lesson for our own Christian lives is so clear. To be a disciple of Christ is to be not only a disciple—a follower—but also an apostle, sharing our experience of knowing Christ with others.

A message to be made one’s own…
The way in which we are to do this is indicated by the Second Reading today:

…in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you…

Given that we have an inner conviction of the truth of Christ and his message, we must be always ready and able to give people an adequate explanation of our faith. It is not just something we hold because we were told to do so, or because we read about it in a book. It may have begun there, but now it is something based on an inner conviction arising from personal experience. As St Paul says,

…I know the one in whom I have put my trust… (2 Tim 1:12)

And that inner conviction must flow out into our behaviour—our words, our actions, the way we relate with other people, whoever they may be.

…but one not always welcomed
Peter tells us to share our faith:

…Maintain a good conscience so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame.

It is a paradox that, like Jesus himself, our very goodness may be the reason we are attacked. But we need also to be sure that we have not given genuine cause for criticism, that we do not proclaim one thing and do something else. We know that happens too often with all of us.

And Peter adds,

For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil.

Indeed the eighth Beatitude (Matt 5:10) describes as happy and fortunate those who are privileged to be maligned and persecuted for their faithfulness to truth and love and justice. And if we think that strange, let us not forget that:

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous [and that means all of us], in order to bring you to God.

So in today’s Mass, we rejoice in the gift of the Spirit by which the Father and Jesus his Word continue to be with us, and in us, and to guide us in the Way in which he guarantees our true happiness and fulfilment. How do we know that is true? We just have to follow his invitation:

Come and see. (John 1:39)

Many have done so and not been disappointed.

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Commentary on Acts 6:1-7; 1 Peter 2:4-9; John 14:1-12

The close identification of Jesus with God the Father is the over-riding theme of today’s Gospel passage. There is also a secondary and related emphasis on our identification with Jesus and his mission.

The context of the Gospel is Jesus’ long discourse with his disciples at the Last Supper. They are aware that Jesus is about to leave them. There is a heavy air of gloom and anxiety as the enemies of Jesus close in around him.

A call to trust
Encouraging words are spoken by Jesus to the Apostles:

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

This is a call to total faith in the Father and in Jesus. It is a single act of trust, for to have faith in the one, is to have equal faith in the other. And, towards the end of the passage, Jesus appeals to the evidence of all they have seen him say and do.

Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves.

The disciples cannot be too happy to hear that Jesus is about to leave them. It is no wonder that their hearts are “troubled”. This, in spite of the promise that Jesus is going away to “prepare a place” for them, that he will return to take them with him, “so that where I am, there you may be also.”

The Way
They should have no trouble understanding and accepting this. Jesus has now been with them for three years and has taught them continuously all during this time. They have seen him teaching and working among the people, and they are told:

…you know the way to the place where I am going.

Thomas, the man who likes to confront and the one with the very literal mind, protests:

Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?

He is clearly thinking in geographical terms. In fact, all Jesus’ words about going and coming are spoken on quite a different level of meaning altogether. However, we can be grateful to Thomas for drawing out of Jesus one of the great sayings of John’s Gospel:

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Here we see another “I AM” statement. It is obvious from all that has already been said that the Way of Jesus, all the coming and going, and the “places” which are being prepared are not to be understood in any literal or spatial sense. They are to be understood totally in terms of mutual relationships, i.e. the mutual relationships between Jesus, the Father and his followers. The ‘Way’ of Jesus, through his coming suffering and death, will end in the new and abundant life he wants for all his followers.

Where does the Way go?
To follow the Way of Jesus is not to ‘go’ anywhere. It is to become a special kind of person, a person whose whole being reflects the Truth and Life that Jesus reveals to us. It is to be a person who is totally identified with the vision and the values of Jesus. To be such a person is to be a person of Truth and Life.

Truth is here understood not in a purely intellectual sense. Truth here is that complete integrity and harmony which Jesus himself, revealed not only in what he said, but in the total manifestation of his life and person. Truth for Jesus was not just something he knew or accepted or believed in; truth for Jesus was what he was in his whole person: thoughts, feelings, actions, relationships. It was that total conformity between his inward self and his outward behaviour. For us to live Truth in that way is also to be fully alive, fully engaged and responding totally to that abundance of life which Jesus came to give us.

Truth and Life
And God the Father is, of course, also Truth and Life. But we go to God the Father through Jesus and we call Jesus the “Way” because he is the visible manifestation in human form of all that his Father is. It is this incarnation of the Father’s being in the human person of Jesus, a man “like us in all things except sin”, which makes him the accessible model for us to grow ever more in the likeness of our God and to experience to the full his love and life in us.

And so Jesus says quite logically,

If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.

Now it is the naïve Philip’s turn to interject:

Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.

It was the hope of every good Jew some day to see God face to face. Says Jesus (with a tinge of disappointment?),

Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Seeing God in Jesus
For, as Jesus continues, he is:

…in the Father and the Father is in [him].

However, this statement must be understood with some qualifications. Jesus is the Son of God and is one with the Father in all things. But to say that when we see Jesus we see God is both true and not altogether true. In his humanness, we see God in Jesus as:

…only a reflection, as in a mirror… (1 Cor 13:12)

And it is a dim reflection because of the veil of his humanness. But when he speaks, certainly it is God who speaks. When he heals, certainly God heals. But when Jesus died on the Cross, God also died? Surely not; God cannot die. The death of Jesus in his humanity was a sublime witness of the love and compassion of the Ever Living God.

Pale reflection
Jesus, in his humanity, is but the palest reflection of the infinite Truth, Goodness and Beauty of God. When we see Jesus, we see God, but there is much that we do not see. And so we speak of Jesus as the Way. We go through him to find the total reality of God. Only a few mystics have been given glimpses of the reality of God. It is a reality for which most of us will have to wait until after we have left this earth to understand. And it is important that we recognise this, because many people tend to speak rather loosely of the relationship between God the Father and Jesus. If we make Jesus, not the Way, but the End, we tremendously limit our understanding of God. Philip thought he knew Jesus very well, spending every day with him. Yet he had not come to recognise God in the words and works of Jesus, and so he did not really know Jesus.

God’s many dwelling places
Today, perhaps, our problem is not so much recognising God in Jesus. In fact, as mentioned, we can go too far in doing so. Our problem is that we fail to recognise God in our world and in the people around us.

At the beginning of today’s Gospel, Jesus says that there are many “dwelling places” in his Father’s house. We can understand this, of course, as ‘heaven’, but God’s dwelling is also the Church—every Christian community is a dwelling place of God. And indeed, each and every disciple who believes in Christ is a part of God’s Temple. There is now no longer for us a material Temple. Furthermore, as Paul told the Romans:

Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been seen and understood through the things God has made. (Rom 1:20)

This is to say, that not only in Christian communities, but indeed in people everywhere and in the whole of our created environment, God’s presence is shouting out to us. The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote: “The world is charged with the grandeur of God”. Every little flower, every singing bird can say to us, “Who sees me sees the Father”.

The same works as Jesus—and even more
Lastly, Jesus has a word for us:

I tell you, the one who believes in me [and in my identity with the Father] will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.

The Church and every member of every Christian community is called on to continue the mission of Jesus.

But how can we do greater works than Jesus? And how can we do them because Jesus is going to his Father? The Church and every Christian community is called on to continue the mission of Jesus. That is evident from the Acts of the Apostles onward. But doing more than he did? Yes! Because by leaving us for the Father, he passed his mandate on to us.

Continuing Jesus’ work
We can do more than Jesus not in terms of more spectacular signs, but rather because Jesus in his humanity here on earth was limited to a very small section of space and time. In his lifetime, he reached only a relatively small number of people. In fact, when he died, all he could show for all his preaching and miracles was a handful of women at the foot of the cross. Peter and the rest were nowhere to be seen. Strangely, it was only by his leaving us that the energy and life he brought was released. By his going, he set in motion a process by which his message—his Way of Truth and Life—could reach every corner of the world.

There are now very few places where Jesus’ message has not been heard. Moreover, the pope or some other religious leader, hooked up to satellites and the internet, can simultaneously reach literally billions of people. Jesus on earth could not do that.

Show the Way
But whether we are pope, bishop, priest, office worker, truck driver or stay-at-home parent, our duty is the same: to lead the people with whom we come in contact along the Way of Jesus—the Way of Truth and Life. By working together, we can do more than Jesus did; or rather, he does it through us. The gospel still needs to be preached with greater enthusiasm, with greater relevance, with greater integrity. As in Jesus’ day, the masses are calling out to be fed and we, the friends and companions of Jesus, have been called to continue to bring the Bread of Life to the world.

Jesus said:

…apart from me you can do nothing.

It is important for us to realise that the opposite is also largely true: without us, Jesus can do little in our world and in our time. This concept is beautifully illustrated through these words attributed to St Teresa of Ávila:

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world,
yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
no hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

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Commentary on Acts 2:14, 36-41; 1 Peter 2:20-25; John 10:1-10

Today is commonly known as “Good Shepherd Sunday” and also as “Vocations Sunday”. It is a day when our Church prays especially for new shepherds and pastors to lead the Christian communities.

The image of God as the shepherd of his people has a long tradition in the history of God’s people.  The image of the shepherd is one which appears several times in the New Testament. It is one that would be immediately understood by the people of the time.

In some parts of the world, especially in hotter climates, sheep are a rarity. Some have never seen a sheep (except perhaps on television, in a zoo or as lamb on the dinner plate!) and still less shepherds. And the shepherd of the Middle East is somewhat different from, say, sheep ranchers of the Australian outback, rounding up on horseback thousands of animals. There, if one goes missing, it is hardly noticed.

The shepherd of the biblical Middle East had a much more intimate relationship with a much smaller flock. He would bring them out to pasture each day and spend all his time with them. In the evening, he would bring them back to the enclosure where they would be safe from preying animals. He knew each one individually and would notice immediately if even one was missing. Jesus’ parable of the Lost Sheep would have resonated perfectly with his hearers.

Where many of us come from, the shepherd walks behind the sheep, often with a dog to help. In the Middle East, the shepherd walks in front of his sheep and they follow him—and only him because:

…they know his voice.

Sheep in Scripture
There are a number of references to sheep and shepherds in the Synoptic Gospels. In Mark, for instance, Jesus is deeply moved by compassion because the crowds are “like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34). By implication, of course, he is their shepherd. In response to criticism by the Pharisees that he was mixing with sinners and the unclean, Jesus told the parable of the shepherd who goes to extraordinary lengths to bring back a lost sheep (Luke 15:3-7). In Matthew, believers are warned about false prophets among them, who are really wolves, but come in sheep’s clothing.  In the final judgement, the good, that is, those who recognised and served Jesus in “the least of these brothers” are good “sheep”, in contrast to the wicked “goats”.

We have also that marvellous passage in Ezekiel where the shepherds of Israel are condemned for their betrayal of their responsibilities, and where God himself promises to take over the gentle care of his flock. There are many parallels in this passage and the Gospel of today. The bad shepherds fatten themselves at the expense of their sheep.  The sheep are left wandering and become a prey to marauding wolves. The Lord of compassion promises to go and gather his sheep and bring them back to good pasture.  Through his compassionate care of them, God’s people:

…shall know that I, the Lord their God, am with them and that they, the house of Israel, are my people…You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, says the Lord God. (Ezek 34:30-31)

Two images
In today’s Gospel passage, which consists of the first 10 verses of chapter 10, there seem to be two separate parables. The first is a warning against people who would want to steal the sheep, and the second focuses on the relationship between the sheep and their shepherd.  The central image, too, is not so much that of the shepherd as of the gate.  In fact, later on in the passage, Jesus says,

I am the Gate.

Here it would seem that Jesus is the Gate of the sheepfold, while the shepherds who come in and out are pastors who are faithful to Jesus. Anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, for instance, by climbing over the fence or breaking through it, is dangerous and should be avoided. They “are thieves and bandits” who comes to steal and do harm to the sheep. The genuine shepherd, however, enters by the Gate (Jesus). He is recognised and admitted by the watchman (perhaps the leader of the community?) at the gate.

The sheep hear and recognise and follow their shepherd’s voice. In a sheepfold, where there are the sheep of many shepherds, the true shepherd knows which ones belong to him. He calls them out one by one. They, recognising the voice of their own shepherd, follow him.  They will not follow other shepherds, even if called by them. It is a free relationship. The sheep go in and out. They follow, not because they are forced to, but by their own choice. The other sheep (belonging to other shepherds) stay behind.

When the shepherd has brought out his sheep to pasture, he goes ahead. And they follow because “they know his voice”. They will not follow a stranger, but run away from him, because they do not recognise his voice.

We are told that the disciples failed to understand the meaning of this parable. This is a reaction which is more common in the Synoptic Gospels, especially Mark (see Mark 4:10-12). Parables are meant for ‘insiders’ and not ‘outsiders’. So Jesus spells out more clearly what he means. He is the Gate of the sheepfold. Those who enter the sheepfold by any other way are not to be trusted, they are “thieves and bandits”—and the sheep will ignore them. But:

Whoever enters by me [the Gate] will be saved.

Fullness of life
Many of the warnings of Jesus here should be read in the context of the story of the blind man in the preceding chapter 9. Here Jesus condemns the blindness of the Pharisees as religious leaders who are totally unfit to bring people to God. They are not good shepherds and they refuse to enter by the Gate.

The passage ends with one of Jesus’ most beautiful statements:

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

To follow Jesus is not, as some seem to fear, to live a half life, a life filled with endlessly dire warnings of “Don’t!”. It is to live life, our human life, to the greatest possible fullness.  As Jesuit Father Eugene Lobo put it, “The Gospel is a statement about how human life is best lived.”  The same writer also said, “Life with God is good for human beings and should be seen to be so.” True evangelisation consists in making this clear by the way we speak and live.  So many people, unfortunately, have the impression that there is something ‘unnatural’ or ‘super-natural’ in being a Christian. Somehow we are not doing a good job.

Called to serve
Today is Vocations Sunday. It is obvious that our Church today is in great need of good shepherds, totally committed to the Way of Jesus. We are asked to pray today especially that our Christian communities will be graced with good shepherds and pastors. It is a pity that we tend to narrow the term ‘vocation’ to those who feel called to the priesthood or what we call ‘religious’ life, as when we ask, “Do you think you have a ‘vocation’?” Or say, “There are very few ‘vocations’ in our diocese.”

Yet we need to emphasise very strongly that every single baptised person has a ‘vocation’. Everyone is called by God to play a specific role in the Christian community and in the wider community. Unless we Christians see that ‘vocation’ is something that we are all called to, it is not likely that there will be enough people to meet the service needs of our Christian communities. Our Christian communities can only grow and thrive when every member makes a contribution to the well-being of the whole.

Unfortunately, a large number, it seems, decide first on their ‘career’ and only then ask, “How can I be a good Catholic?” (that is, if they actually do ask the question). It is absolutely basic for us to ask ourselves at all times, “What does God want me to be? What are my particular gifts? How can I offer these gifts in service to the wider community and to my own Christian community?”

If I live my life as a morally good person, ‘keeping the Commandments’ and saying my prayers and ‘fulfilling my religious obligations’, but do not in fact play an active and constructive part in my community, I am not really a Christian in the proper sense. Yet, it seems that that is the way many people live their Catholic lives.

Unless we Christians see that ‘vocation’ as something that we are all called to respond to, it is not likely that there will be enough people to respond to the service needs of our Christian communities and, by extension, the needs of the wider community. There is still among many, one fears, what can be called a ‘supermarket mentality’ where our Christian practice is concerned. The Church is there to provide me with ‘spiritual’ or ‘religious’ ‘goods’ as I need them. But there is a danger that, like supermarkets in war-torn countries, there may soon be no ‘goods’ available and, worse, no one to distribute them!

Our Christian communities can only grow and thrive when every member makes his or her contribution to the well-being of the whole. When all are giving, all will be receiving in abundance, the abundance that Jesus speaks about in today’s Gospel.

Today we are asked to “pray” for vocations. There is a danger that, although many will fervently do so, they are praying for other people’s vocations and not their own. To say this prayer with sincerity involves my reflecting on how God is asking me to make a meaningful contribution of myself (not just money) to the building up of our community, our parish.

In fact, one has to be deeply impressed by the number of people who do make a substantial contribution one way or the other to the running of our church communities. Nevertheless, today, Vocations Sunday, challenges each one of us to reflect on how we personally are responding to the call that Jesus is making to each of us right now. As a group or community, we respond to that call by seeing that all that is needed for the maintenance and growth of our community is being generously provided.

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Commentary on Luke 24:13-35

Today’s Gospel is one of the great passages of the New Testament. It encapsulates, in a little over 20 verses, the whole Christian life. It is still Easter Sunday as the passage opens. In Luke, all the resurrection appearances take place in the vicinity of Jerusalem and on Easter Sunday.

It begins with two disciples on the road leaving Jerusalem. For Luke, the focal point of Jesus’ mission is Jerusalem. It was the goal to which all Jesus’ public life was headed, and from there the new community would bring his Message to the rest of the world.

They are on their way to a place called Emmaus, about 7 miles (11 km) from Jerusalem. Although the exact location is not now known, it does not really matter—and that is the point. They were on the ‘road’—they are pilgrims on the road of life. Jesus is the Way, the Road. The problem is that at this moment, they are going in the wrong direction.

The Risen Jesus joins them as a fellow traveller:

…but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

Why was that? Was it their presumption that he was dead? Was it their pre-conceived idea of what Jesus should look like?

Seeing their obvious despondency and disillusionment, Jesus asks what they are talking about. With deliciously unconscious irony they say,

Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?

Jesus plays them out a little more with a totally innocent-sounding, “What things?” He wants to hear their version of what happened. To them, the death was the failure of Jesus’ mission. They refer to him as a “prophet” as if, after the debacle of his death, they could not see in Jesus, the Messiah they had earlier acknowledged.

…we had hoped [Greek, elpizomen, sperabamus] that he was the one to redeem Israel.

Again, the delicious irony of their own words is lost on them. To them, “redeem Israel” meant liberation from the tyranny of foreign domination, and perhaps the inauguration of the Kingdom of God as they understood it.

They are puzzled also by the stories of the women describing an empty tomb and angels—but there is still no sign of Jesus. More irony—they are addressing these very words to Jesus!

Jesus then gives them a lesson in reading the Scriptures, and shows them that all that happened to him—including his suffering and death—far from being a tragedy, was all foreordained. Luke is the only writer to speak clearly of a suffering Messiah. The idea of a suffering Messiah is not found as such in the Old Testament. Later, the Church will see a foreshadowing of the suffering Messiah in the texts on the Suffering Servant in Isaiah.

This story emphasises that all that happened to Jesus was the fulfilment of Old Testament promises and of Jewish hopes. All through Acts, Luke will argue that Christianity is the fulfilment of the hopes of Pharisaic Judaism and its logical development. In many respects, Matthew’s Gospel has a similar theme.

As they reach their destination, Jesus makes as if to continue his journey. However, they extend their hospitality to the stranger. They say:

Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.

This echoes in Matthew’s Gospel:

…I was a stranger and you welcomed me… (Matt 25:35)

So Jesus goes in to stay with them—wonderful words. But it would not have happened if they had not opened their home to him.

As they sat down to the meal, Jesus, the visitor unexpectedly acting as host, took the bread, said the blessing over it, broke it and gave it to them. And in that very act, they recognised him. This is the Eucharist, where we recognise the presence of Jesus among us in the breaking of bread. Not just in the bread, but in the breaking and sharing of the bread, and in those who share the broken bread.

Then Jesus disappears, but they are still basking in the afterglow.

Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?

In the light of these experiences, they turn around (conversion!) and go back along the road to Jerusalem from which they had been fleeing. There they discover their fellow-disciples, excited that the Lord is risen and has appeared to Simon. And they tell their marvellous story and:

…how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

All the ingredients of the Christian life are here:

• Running away from where Christ is to be found—we do it all the time.
• Meeting Jesus in the unexpected place, or person, or situation. How many times does this happen and we do not recognise him, or worse, mistreat him?
• Finding the real meaning and identity of Jesus and his mission in having the Scriptures fully explained. Without the Scriptures we cannot claim to know Jesus. Yet, how many Catholics go through life hardly ever opening a Bible?
• Recognising Jesus in the breaking of bread, in our celebration of the Eucharist. The breaking and sharing of the bread indicates the essential community dimension of that celebration, making it a real ‘comm-union’ with all present.
• Responding to the central experience of Scripture and Liturgy by participating in the work of proclaiming the message of Christ and sharing our experience of it with others, that they may also share it.
• Recognizing the importance of hospitality and kindness to the stranger. “I was hungry… and you did/did not feed me…” Jesus is especially present and to be found and loved in the very least of my brothers and sisters.

The scene is also a model of the Mass:

Those walking together on the Road gather together and meet Jesus. First, they meet him in the Liturgy of the Word as the Scriptures are broken open and explained. Second, he is present in the Liturgy of the Eucharist, where what Jesus did for us through his suffering, death and resurrection is remembered with thanksgiving. The bread that is now his Body, and the wine that is now his Blood, are shared among those who are the Members of that Body to strengthen their union and their commitment to continuing the work of Jesus.

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Commentary on Acts 2:42-47; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31

On this Divine Mercy Sunday—the first Sunday after the celebration of Easter—the emphasis is on faith in the presence and power of the living Jesus in our midst. About Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope John Paul II stated:

It is a time where we are blessed with divine mercy as it reaches us through the heart of Christ crucified.

The Risen Jesus now lives on in the community which believes in him. The Apostles are endowed with the same powers that Jesus had during his life here on earth:

Awe came upon everyone because many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

The work of Jesus continues
The First Reading tells us how the community of disciples lived:

Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

People came crowding in from the towns round about Jerusalem, bringing with them their sick and those tormented by unclean spirits—and all of them were cured. This is the living testimony that Jesus is active and continues his saving and whole-making work among us for the disciples do these works—not in their own name, but in the name of Jesus their Lord.

The Second Reading shows the power of the Apostles’ faith as they proclaim the message of Jesus as Saviour and invite people to join their company. As we will learn from readings later this week, we know that many indeed did come. But there is also this telling phrase:

None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem. (Acts 5:13)

Perhaps this is a hint of the counter-witness of the early Christians when they were already being regarded with suspicion by the religious and civil authorities and when it was becoming dangerous to be identified with them? They were a group to be admired, but from a safe distance. It is yet another sign that the early followers were likely to share the same fate as Jesus himself.

Mixed reactions—to be expected
Things have not changed greatly in our own time. For it is through the Christian community and its witness that people come to know of Jesus and are led to faith in his message of truth and life. It is a witness that rests on the shoulders of every single follower of Jesus and we do it not just by explicitly religious actions, but by the very pattern and impact of our daily lives. An impact that arouses both positive and negative responses.

However, the Gospel brings us back to an earlier stage when the disciples have not yet come to the full realisation that Jesus, whom they saw crucified, dead and buried, is now risen and alive. As the Gospel opens we see them huddled together in that room with the doors firmly locked “for fear of the Jews.” At any moment they dreaded the arrival of the police to arrest them as accomplices of the dangerous subversive who had been executed on Golgotha the previous Friday.

Peace instead of fear
And then, all of a sudden, the Jesus they presumed dead is standing among them. He says:

Peace be with you.

The greeting can be taken as a blessing, echoing the ordinary Jewish greeting, Shalom. Or it can be taken as a statement of fact—his presence among them brings deep inner peace. It is the same peace that comes when Jesus calms the surrounding storms in the Gospel stories. And there is also for them an unutterable joy when they see the Lord (‘Lord’ is the title for the Risen Jesus).

But it is not just to be a happy reunion. There is work to be done, the work that Jesus began and which they are to continue.

As the Father has sent me, so I send you.

They are being given a mission. The word ‘mission’ comes from the Latin word ‘to send’ (mittere). All followers of Jesus have a mission and are missionaries.

Passing on his Spirit
He breathed on them, saying:

Receive the Holy Spirit.

In John’s Gospel, this is the Pentecost experience when the Holy Spirit comes down on the disciples. In Luke’s Acts, Pentecost takes place 50 days after the resurrection; for John it takes place on Easter Day. This apparent discrepancy makes no difference—the meaning is the same.

What Jesus does is reminiscent of the Creation story when God ‘breathed’ over the waters and brought life and order into the chaos. He ‘breathed’ again and Adam, the human being made into the image of God, came to life. Now, Jesus ‘breathes’ the Spirit of his Way, of his Truth and Life, making the disciples (in Paul’s term) “new human beings,” full of the Spirit of the Father and Jesus.

The meaning of forgiveness
The very empowering authority of Jesus is transferred to them:

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.

When they act together in the name of Jesus, they have his authority. And, above all, their task is to ‘forgive sin’, that is, to bring about a deep reconciliation between people and God and among people themselves, to make all one in Him.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (Matt 5:9)

We are not just talking here about ‘confession’, instituting the Sacrament of Reconciliation, although its roots can be traced to this encounter. Forgiving sin is much more than a juridical act of declaring sins no longer held against someone. It involves the healing of wounds and division between God and people, and between people as brothers and sisters in one family based on truth, love and justice. That is the work of the Kingdom. That is the work of every Christian community and every member in it.

The doubter
But the story is not yet finished:

Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.

Thomas stands for the sceptic in all of us, and says:

Unless I see …I will not believe.

In the Gospel story generally, Thomas comes across as a bit of a grump. He likes to criticise, to raise objections, to make difficulties, to call into question. He now wants convincing proof.

Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.

The following Sunday—the Sunday we are celebrating today—the doors are again closed. Perhaps now not out of fear, but as an indication of the way that the Risen Jesus now becomes present. Again, there is the reassuring greeting of ‘Peace’, and Thomas is directly addressed:

Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.

Extraordinary confession
There follows the greatest confession of faith in all of the Gospels as Thomas says:

My Lord and my God!

Thomas had been invited to touch the wounds, but he does not seem to have done so. And his cry of recognition is not based only on the evidence of his senses. He does not say, “Jesus, it’s you!”, but rather, “My Lord and my God!” It is, in fact, a profound act of faith in the reality and identity of the Person standing before him. And that is something he cannot see solely with his physical senses. Only the eyes of faith can lead him to so speak.

A further word of encouragement, though, is offered for those of us who have not had Thomas’ privileged experience:

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.

Of course, all belief in Jesus involves some element of seeing, of insight. But we have not had the experience of seeing and knowing the Jesus of his public life—Jesus before the crucifixion.

However, our faith enables us to see him in all the surroundings of our daily life, especially in those people who are filled with his Spirit and who bring him into our lives. And we also see and find him in all the sick, the weak, the oppressed, the poor around us who provide us with opportunities to know, love and show compassion for Jesus. We are even to see him in those who are hostile or who do harm to us, in the sense that we are challenged to be Christ for them in our unconditional love and concern for their well-being.

Breaking down barriers
To see and know Jesus in our lives is, at the same time, to recognise where he comes to us, and then to be ready for the day-to-day opportunities when we can bring him into the lives of others. Above all, can we be true to the mission Jesus gave to his disciples to be instruments of reconciliation, to be peacemakers, breaking down walls of hatred, prejudice and fear? We do this by living lives of integrity, of love and compassion, of real justice for all. Whenever we do that, Easter is celebrated and Jesus is alive among us.

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Commentary on Acts 10:34,37-43; Colossians 3:1-4 or 1 Corinthians 5:6-8; John 20:1-9 or Luke 24:1-12 (for afternoon Masses, Luke 24:13-35)

If Christ is not risen, then our faith has no meaning. Easter, not Good Friday, is the climax of Holy Week. The resurrection is not just an appendix to Jesus’ death, a “proof” of his divinity.

Jesus leads the way by going through death to a life that can never be taken away from him again. “We know that Christ, being raised from death, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.” And that life is shared with us. “I have come that they may have life, life in abundance”, says Jesus.

Empty tomb
The message of Easter is first communicated by the empty tomb. The death of Jesus was an observable and observed fact by both friends and enemies. No one saw the resurrection. It did not involve resuscitation of a corpse.

The first witnesses that something had happened were women. And what they saw was not Jesus but his empty tomb. They were puzzled and alarmed. Then Peter and the Beloved Disciple go to investigate. They find the empty tomb as the women reported. Peter just sees a loss, the absence of a body. But the other disciple sees with the eyes of one who loves and he sees a void filled with the presence of the Risen One. (Our lives too may seem to be marked by absence and loss but those who see with the eyes of love may see them filled with the presence of the risen Lord.)

The Beloved Disciple sees the empty tomb and believes. He sees what cannot be literally seen. He suddenly understands the teaching of Scripture and the words of Jesus that he must “rise from the dead”. Every disciples who loves Jesus is one who sees—and believes with all his/her heart in a Risen Lord.

Same and different
It is clear from the Gospel accounts that the Risen Jesus is the same person who died on the cross. It is equally clear that he is so different that his followers have difficulty in recognising him. In various post-resurrection scenes he does not even look the same. For Jesus now has the face of Everyone.

He is known and recognised only by faith. The basis of that faith is the fact of the empty tomb and the extraordinary transformation of the disciples. They were not expecting to see their Master again. At the time of his arrest and execution, they had fled in all directions. They were terrified and in hiding.

When they finally did realise that he was still with them, even if in a very different way, they were transformed from fearful people to a group overcome with joy and enthusiasm and afraid of nothing. They were now ready to endure what their Master had gone through, to give their lives for Truth and Love, and many of them did so.  

How to find the risen Jesus in our own lives?
How are we to share in all of this? In the reading from 1 Corinthians today we are reminded how at the Jewish Passover the Jews were expected to throw out all the old, leavened bread and to prepare new, unleavened bread. The fermentation caused by the leaven, the yeast, was seen as a kind of corruption. As Paul says, “You must know how even a small amount of yeast is enough to leaven [i.e. corrupt] all the dough”. (Remember the parable Jesus told about a small amount of leaven penetrating the whole batch of dough?)

So, Paul goes on, “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Let us celebrate the feast, then, by getting rid of all the old yeast of evil and wickedness, having only the unleavened bread of integrity and truth.” Easter is not only a time for celebration, for bunnies and Easter eggs, for new clothes and fancy bonnets—it is also a time for deep inner renewal.

It is a time to recommit ourselves to the meaning of our Baptism and Confirmation. We need to remember that as we break and share together the unleavened bread of the Eucharist, we share the Body of Christ, and that body embraces both Jesus and the whole community.

Our mandate
Finally, Peter in the First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles speaks of the mandate that follows from the resurrection. He and his fellow disciples are to proclaim the Good News about the Risen Jesus. The Jesus who will give new life to every single person who accepts him as Lord, who accepts him as the Way, Truth and Life. Peter and his fellow disciples are called “apostles”, people sent out on a mission, “ambassadors for Christ”, Paul calls them.

We, too, share that mission. We are not just disciples, followers of Jesus. We are also meant to be his living ambassadors. No one will know about Jesus and what he means for our lives unless we tell them.

Many people got baptised yesterday. Not a single one of them came to the Church without the intervention of some Christian(s) somewhere. The Good News about Jesus is not to be kept a secret. There are many people out there waiting to hear it. They are depending on you and me, members of Christ’s Body, to tell them.

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Today we celebrate a series of apparitions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes, in the foothills of the Pyrenees in the south-west of France. The apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes began on 11 February, 1858, when Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year old peasant girl from the nearby town of Lourdes, went with her sister and a friend to gather firewood. Inside the cave of Massabielle, just outside the town, Bernadette saw a “lady” standing on a ledge. Afterwards, on realising that she alone among her companions had seen the apparition, she asked her sister Toinette not to tell anyone what had happened. Toinette, however, was unable to keep silent, and told their mother, Louise Soubirous.

After being questioned by her mother, Bernadette told about seeing the “lady”. Both girls were given a beating and Bernadette was forbidden by her mother from returning to the Grotto again. However, a few days later, Bernadette asked for permission to return to the cave with her siblings and the permission was granted.

Similar appearances then took place on 17 further occasions that year: February 14, 18-21, 23-25, 27, 28, March 1-4, 25, April 7, and July 16.  Bernadette described the lady that she saw as dressed in a flowing white robe, with a blue sash around her waist. This was, in fact, similar to the dress of the Children of Mary (a form of the former Sodality of Our Lady).

The cave at Lourdes is now visited by millions of pilgrims every year from all over the world. Several cures have been confirmed as miraculous over the years, but no one knows the many other unrecorded forms of healing which many pilgrims experience. 

In addition to the Grotto, there are a number of churches in the pilgrimage area, a hospital and life-size Stations of the Cross. Few pilgrims leave without a bottle of Lourdes water from the previously nonexistent spring near the grotto that began to flow when Bernadette was directed by Our Lady to drink and wash.

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Commentary on Luke 1:57-66

As we approach the day of Jesus’ birth, the Gospel today speaks of the birth of John the Baptist. It is a day of particular joy for Elizabeth, as the ‘shame’ of her former barrenness is wiped out. She can now stand tall in the presence of her family and neighbours:

Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

In accordance with custom, the boy is to be circumcised on the eighth day and a name given to him. Everyone presumes he will be given the name of his father:

But his mother said, “No, he is to be called John.”

People protested:

None of your relatives has this name.

Zechariah, the father, is consulted. Since his dialogue with the angel, he cannot speak, so he is given a tablet on which to write. Simply he states:

His name is John.

And with that, Zechariah’s tongue was loosed and he could speak and praise God.

This incident became the talk of the whole district, and people began to ask each other:

What then will this child become?

They knew that these unusual happenings all pointed to a special calling for the child. The New American Bible says:

“The circumstances of the birth and circumcision of the child emphasise John’s incorporation into the people of Israel. We will find the same emphasis with Jesus. Luke shows that those who play crucial roles in the inauguration of Christianity to be wholly a part of the people of Israel. At the end of the Acts of the Apostles, he will argue that Christianity is the direct descendant of Pharisaic Judaism. (See also Acts 21:20; 22:3; 23:6-9; 24:14-16; 26:2-8).”

I too can ask the same question about myself: “What then am I called to be?” No matter what age I am, there is still life ahead of me, be it long or short. What is my destiny? What does God want of me? What contributions can I make to other people’s lives? God has expectations of me, based on the gifts he has given to me. Let me reflect on what they might be and how I can make good use of them.

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Commentary on 2 Corinthians 10:17—11:2; Matthew 25:1-13

The Gospel reading comes from Matthew’s account of the end times where Jesus speaks of the coming destruction of Jerusalem, and mingles it with images about the Second Coming of Jesus for the General Judgement. This section also contains three important parables linked to the Final Judgement.

We have the first of these parables for today’s feast. Not surprisingly, it is the parable of the Ten Bridesmaids, sometimes referred to as the Ten Virgins. Jesus says that the Kingdom of God (he uses the word “heaven”) can be compared to ten bridesmaids going out to welcome the bridegroom at a wedding.

Five of them were sensible and had foresight, and the other five were foolish. The sensible ones took a reserve of oil for their lamps, while the foolish ones did not. Then the groom took much longer to come than expected, and all the bridesmaids became heavy-eyed and sleepy.

At midnight the call went up:

Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.

But as the bridesmaids trimmed their lamps, the foolish ones realised all their oil was used up. They asked the sensible young women to share some of their oil. They were refused on the grounds that, if they did, all of them would end up with not enough oil. The foolish bridesmaids were told to go to the “dealers” and buy oil for themselves.

But while they were gone, the groom arrived and those who were ready went into the wedding hall with him. And the door was locked. When the foolish bridesmaids arrived, they begged for the door to be open:

Lord, lord, open to us.

But he answered with one of the most chilling statements in the gospel:

Truly I tell you, I do not know you.

The moral is then given:

Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

We know that in the very early Church many believed (and it is reflected in the earliest letter of Paul) that Jesus would come again during the believers’ lifetime. Even in our own days, there are preachers who talk about the imminence of the ‘end times’. Or, there are people who work on the principle of ‘eat, drink and be merry’, and straighten things out just before the end comes.

Jesus is warning that this is not a very good idea. We do not know when the Bridegroom will come. We have no idea when life on our planet will come to an end. Even more practically, we do not know when our own time on this earth will terminate. The point of these gospel texts is that, whenever it happens, we are to be ready, that our lamps are burning bright.

This is not a question of piling up good works and putting them into some celestial account. It is clear from the gospel that God does not work that way. What is important is, that at any given moment, we are in a right relationship with God.

And how do we do that? We do it by seeking, finding and serving God in every experience of every day, finding and loving God in every person that comes into our life. Sometimes we will fail, but we just turn round and start all over again. What is most important is where we are when he calls us. Strangely enough, we guarantee the future by focusing on the present, on the here and now.

Lucy was just such a faithful virgin who had consecrated her whole life to God and in bringing others to know and love him. She unhesitatingly gave that life back to God.

The short First Reading is from Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. In the passage, he is speaking of people who put themselves in competition with him in preaching the gospel. If people are to boast, he says, they are to boast of what the Lord does through them rather than boasting of achievements as purely their own:

For it is not those who commend themselves that are approved but those whom the Lord commends.

Lucy did heroic things, but she would ascribe them to the Lord to whom she had committed herself as a bride. It is clear that the Lord was with her when efforts to put an end to her life were foiled.

Later in the passage, speaking to the Christians of Corinth, Paul says:

I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Lucy, too, knew only one spouse, her Lord Jesus. She was married in virginity and chastity to him as a sign of total commitment to him. We, too, may ask ourselves to what extent we have become bound and committed to Jesus and his gospel.

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