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Commentaries on the Readings: Genesis 1:26-2:3 or Colossians 3:14-15,17,23-24; Matthew 13:54-58 Read Saint Joseph the Worker – Readings DUPLICATE »

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Commentary on 1 John 1:5—2:2; Matthew 11:25-30

The Gospel reading, taken from Matthew, consists of a prayer of Jesus to his Father. In it he thanks his Father for revealing his message, not to those who regard themselves as “wise and…intelligent”, but to the “infants”. The so-called wise and learned can be very arrogant, so that their minds are closed to ideas which are contrary to their convictions.

This was the situation with many of the scribes and Pharisees who refused to listen to the teaching of Jesus and could not see the Word of God in his words and actions. Rather, it was his disciples, people of little or no learning, who were open to hear his message and who, a little further on in this Gospel, will acknowledge their Master as the Messiah, the Son of God and the Saviour King of the new Israel. This was also, of course, because they had been chosen, for:

…no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

But even those who are chosen to hear the message may reject it or lapse from it.

The passage is very relevant to Catherine. She had received little or no formal education and could neither read nor write. Nevertheless, she was clearly a person of high intelligence who became both a philosopher and theologian. She mixed easily in the ranks of popes, bishops and political leaders, and acted as mediator between them. The dictated writings she left behind earned her the title of Doctor of the Church. She was also, from her early years, a deeply spiritual person, a mystic, in very close communication with God. Her childlike quality was that she saw herself totally as an instrument of God in the service of the Church, and especially in bringing about reconciliation and healing between divided factions.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Her whole life was devoted to bringing the Light of Christ into the life of the Church.

Today’s First Reading talks about this ‘light’ saying:

…God is light and in him there is no darkness at all….if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

This was the mission of Catherine—to bring the light of Jesus and his Gospel into the Church so that it might be cleansed of all sin, especially the sin of corrupt power and scandalous division.

The Church still needs people like Catherine, and it is for each one of us to see how we can contribute to making our Church a united community and a source of healing for a divided world.

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Commentary on 2 Timothy 4:1-5; Psalm 40; Matthew 5:13-19

Peter Canisius was very much an exemplar of the teaching in today’s Gospel. The reading is taken from the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. The Sermon begins with the Beatitudes, which are a set of values which should characterise the true disciple of Jesus. In fact, they can be called a portrait of Jesus himself.

They are immediately followed by Jesus telling his disciples that these values are not just for themselves, but are to be communicated to the whole world. And Jesus uses a number of dramatic images to emphasise the impact that his disciples are to make on the world. They are to be the salt of the earth. Salt is a very valuable commodity and is both necessary to give taste to food, but also as a need for the functioning of our bodies. One of the characteristics of salt is that it is totally absorbed into the food so that it cannot be seen, and yet its presence or absence is immediately noticeable.

That is how Christians are to be present in our society. We are to be fully immersed in it, fully part of it but, at the same time, make a difference by the values of the Gospel. If we make no impact, if we live our Christian vocation in a way that is purely for ourselves and is unnoticed by others, then we are like tasteless salt and only good to be thrown out.

Other images are that the followers of Jesus are to be the light of the world. We do that by living our lives in the way that Jesus lived his. No one could say that Jesus was invisible – neither should we be. Or we are to be like a city built in a hilltop (as Jerusalem was) and visible for miles around. Or we are to be like a lamp in a house which, after it has been lit, is not hidden away under something…this would be nonsense. At the same time, our lives are to shine out before the world, not so that people will admire us, but so that they will be led to search for the source of that light and find their way to God, the Father, Source and Goal of all being.

Undoubtedly, Peter Canisius lived out this Gospel. He was a light for the Catholic faith and did not spare himself in spreading its message all over Central Europe. The words of the First Reading from the Second Letter to Timothy can so well be applied to him. Paul is instructing his missionary companion Timothy:

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage with the utmost patience in teaching.

He is warned that people will not want to listen to the truth and will “wander away to myths”.

Timothy, on the other hand, is to:

…be sober in everything, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.

Peter lived in the highly contentious world of the Reformation when there were deep divisions among Christians, between Catholics and Protestants, and between Protestants themselves who, after separating from Rome, became ever more fragmented.

Everything indicates that Peter was a person who spoke with convincing power of argument, but also with courtesy and respect for those who disagreed with him. Our Church today remains deeply divided, but in more recent times there has been a strong desire for the divisions to be overcome and for the restoration of unity, which is not the same as uniformity.

We need to remember the prayer of Jesus at the Last Supper, where he prayed for unity among his followers as a sign of the truth of his and their message:

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

Let that be the guide for our lives too.

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Commentary on 1 Peter 5:5-14; Mark 16:15-20

Ironically, the Gospel reading is from a passage at the end of Mark’s Gospel, a section that is thought to be an added supplement to his original text. It is believed that Mark’s Gospel ends with verse 8 of chapter 16 where we read:

So they [the women] went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

This seems to have been regarded as too abrupt an ending, so brief summaries borrowed from other sources were added on. These include the appearance to Mary Magdalene (from John); the appearance to two disciples “on their way to the country”, a clear reference to the disciples on their way to Emmaus (from Luke); the appearance of the Risen Jesus to the eleven apostles (from Matthew, Luke and John); and Jesus taken up to heaven (from Luke and Acts).

The reading is taken from the appearance to the Eleven where Jesus gives them the mandate to proclaim the gospel to the whole world, and where there is a promise that believers will be able to work wonders—expelling evil spirits, speaking in strange tongues, being protected from harmful elements and bringing healing to the sick. The reading ends with a brief description of the Ascension, when the Risen Jesus goes back to his Father’s right-hand side.

Mark, of course, through his Gospel has spelled out the challenge for followers of Christ to imitate him in living out their discipleship and fulfilling the missionary command to establish the Kingdom where God’s will is being done on earth.

The First Reading from the last chapter of the First Letter of Peter contains instructions to the younger leaders of the community. The first instruction is that all should be eager to serve each other and to not have some dominating over others. They are also warned to be on the watch for evil forces and to be firm and strong in their faith. They need to realise that their brothers and sisters in faith are suffering in many places because of persecution. But in time, God will strengthen them and put them on a firm foundation.

Again, it was through his Gospel that Mark conveyed this message by his presentation of Jesus as establishing God’s Kingdom. Mark also made clear that every follower of Jesus must identify with Jesus’ spirit of self-sacrifice and share in it. As Jesus accepted his cross, and through his death passed to glory, so his followers too must carry their cross to share in the same glory.

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Commentary on Revelation 12:10-12; Psalm 33; John 17:11-19

The Gospel is taken from Jesus’ long prayer at the Last Supper, which comes in John’s Gospel at the end of the long discourse he makes with his disciples.  In this part of the prayer, Jesus is praying for his disciples in their future mission in the world. Although they will be in the world, they will not belong to the world, in the sense that they will not identify with the values of the secular world. He prays:

I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.

If the message of Jesus is to be spread to people, then Jesus’ disciples must mingle with that world, but not be contaminated by its negative values.  For:

They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.

The only way that Jesus’ message will be heard is if its members both by their words and actions challenge the values of the secular world. And so, although Jesus’ disciples do not belong to the world, he sends them into the world. That is where their apostolate is to be carried out. They are to be the leaven in the dough, they are to be the salt that gives taste to the world, they are to be the city on a hill and the lamp giving light to all in the house.

Stanislaus, as bishop, was inescapably involved with political issues, but remained true to the Gospel spirit and eventually gave his life in defence of the Gospel.

The First Reading is from the Book of Revelation and seems a strange choice at first. The passage is expressed in very apocalyptic and symbolic language. The first part of the chapter (not in our reading) is nowadays often used as a description of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, but that is not likely the intended meaning here. Rather, the woman symbolises God’s people in both the Old and New Testament. It was was Israel who gave birth to the Messiah and thus became the new Israel—the Christian Church—which is now being persecuted by the dragon, a symbol of Satan personified in the rule of the Roman Empire. 

This image corresponds to a widespread myth throughout the ancient world that a goddess pregnant with a saviour was pursued by a horrible monster. By miraculous intervention, she bore a son who then killed the monster. Because of Eve’s sin, the woman gives birth in distress and pain and indeed the coming of Jesus was preceded by great trials and suffering for the people of Israel. The dragon’s seven heads perhaps indicate great knowledge and the ten horns widespread power while the seven diadems speak of the fullness of Satan’s domination over the kingdoms of the world.

The woman, Israel, gave birth to a child, destined to be lord of all the nations and who was caught up to God and his throne, a reference to Jesus’ resurrection and ascension to the right hand of the Father. But she then fled into the desert for sanctuary. In other words, God protects the persecuted church in the desert, the traditional Old Testament place of refuge for the afflicted. Twelve hundred and sixty days (v 8) is a symbol of the length of time of persecution.

The struggle between the Christians and their Roman persecutors is symbolised by the war between the archangel Michael, traditionally the protector and champion of God’s people (see Dan 10:13,21) and the Satan, the personification of evil. Michael, of course, prevails as did the Church when the Roman Empire ultimately collapsed. After the battle, Satan now defeated, the author says:

I heard a loud voice in heaven proclaiming,
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Messiah,
for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.”

The passage can be read today as a symbolic representation of Stanislaus’ struggle against a wicked king, who brought about the death of Stanislaus, but who was himself ousted from this throne because of his wicked act.

We, too, should not be surprised if our Christian Way is attacked, even to the point of violence. But let us remember the prayer of Jesus and his promise that he will be with us to the end of time.

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Commentary on 2 Samuel 12:7-10,13; Galatians 2:16,19-21; Luke 7:36-8:3 Read Sunday of Week 11 of Ordinary Time (Year C) »

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Commentary on 1 Kings 17:17-24; Galatians 1:11-19; Luke 7:11-17 Read Sunday of Week 10 of Ordinary Time (Year C) »

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Note: The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ—also known as Corpus Christi—is traditionally celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. But in some countries and in some dioceses, it is celebrated on the following Sunday.

Commentary on Genesis 14:18-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Luke 9:11-17

In a way, we have already celebrated this feast. We did so on Holy (Maundy) Thursday in Holy Week. On that occasion, the emphasis was on the institution, the gift of the Eucharist to us as one of Jesus’ last acts before his suffering and death. It was, moreover, to be an enduring memorial of that great liberating act by which God’s love would be forever kept before our minds.

One reason why we may have this second feast of the Eucharist is that it takes place during the more joyful period of the Easter season when we can celebrate it with greater freedom from the constraints of Lent and Holy Week. In many parts of the world, there will be a solemn and joyful procession of the Blessed Sacrament through the parish grounds or even through the public streets.

Community dimension
Perhaps today we should emphasise more the community dimension of the celebration of the Eucharist, which is often missing. We tend to see ‘going to Mass’ very much in individual terms. If ‘I’ fail to ‘go to Mass’ through ‘my own fault’, ‘I’ have committed a mortal sin. We also tend to talk about ‘hearing’ Mass, or being ‘at Mass’. We ask questions like: “Who said the Mass?” The priest himself may even be heard to announce: “I am saying this Mass for the repose of the soul of…” or even “I am saying this Mass for all of you here”.

On reflection, these expressions are very strange. They tend to present the Eucharist as something that the priest alone does on behalf of other people. People seem to feel themselves present at a performance in which they are only expected to be physically present. This is sometimes further accentuated by a choir doing all the singing (that is, if there is singing) and a ‘commentator’ shouting out all the prayers over the microphone. Quite a number of people come in late and many leave before the end. These things are all so common that we hardly notice them. We may even accept these things as ‘just the way they are’. But it tells us a lot about what it means to people to be present (or not present) at the Eucharist.

Active participation
The Eucharist is essentially, and of its very nature, a community action in which every person present is expected to be an active participant. We are here, on the one hand, recalling what makes us Christians in the first place—our identification with the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. And that identification with Jesus is expressed not through a one-to-one relationship with him, but in a community relationship with him present in all those who call themselves Christian. We relate to him through his Risen Body, which is the whole community bearing his name. There is no place in Christianity for individualism. It is a horizontal faith: we go to God with and through those around us.

Every Lord’s Day we come together as that Body, as a community, to say thanks to him and hence the name ‘Eucharist’ which means ‘thanks’. It is regrettable, then, if we are only in church to ‘keep the Third Commandment’ on a purely private, individual, devotional basis. With that mentality, it will not be surprising if we think it does not matter if we are late or leave early. Because, with that mentality, ‘going to Mass’ is a private affair for me and all the others who ‘happen’ to be there, too.

Some even resent that there is too much going on. They wonder why they cannot be “left in peace to say their prayers”. It is true some Mass celebrations can be overactive or over-intrusive, but on the other hand, it is not a time for contemplative prayer. One can do that much better at home. The whole point of being at Mass is to celebrate together with one’s fellow-Christians as a community of the disciples of Jesus.

Eating together
As well as remembering and giving thanks as a community—as the Body of Christ—the Eucharist is also a time when we express that unity through the eating and drinking together of that Body.

The key to our being in Christ is love, love not only for God, but for every single person. Jesus said that the two ways by which it would be known publicly that we live in him would be by our love for each other and the unity which follows from that:

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

and

…that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John 17:21)

and

I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you [the Father] have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:23)

This, of course, we are to manifest first and foremost by the way we live our daily lives. And one of the reasons we may find it difficult to express ourselves as community during Mass is because we do not have that deepdown sense of togetherness as Christians in general. Mass is not the time to manufacture community; rather, it is the time to celebrate it. Unfortunately, past emphasis on individual morality as the key to ‘saving my soul’ still runs deep several decades after the Second Vatican Council. As a result, we come into the church on Sunday largely as strangers to each other.

Stiff and formal
Not surprisingly, the ‘sign of peace’ is, in many cases, hardly a warm-hearted act of reconciliation and friendship, but a stiff and formal bowing in which some people still decline to take part.

Communion can be seen primarily as ‘receiving Jesus in my heart’. I close my eyes lest I might be ‘distracted’ by the people around me. The choir sings on my behalf while I make ‘my thanksgiving’. Certainly reverence and prayer have their place at Communion time, as throughout the Eucharist. But we need to remember, too, that we are taking part in the joyful celebration of a community of brothers and sisters. This communion calls for sharing and communication and even a certain level of spontaneity and naturalness.

‘Going to communion’ is not a private ‘receiving’, but a sharing—an eating together of the one Bread and the shared drinking of the one Cup. This one Bread and one Cup is Jesus in his Risen Body; it includes not only Jesus, but the whole community present. We recognise in the sharing not just the individual Jesus coming to me, but Jesus in his Body, of which we are all part.

Jesus is in the host, but he is also in the hand that gives the host and in the hand of the one who receives. There are some ultra-devotional people who genuflect just before receiving. By right, they should also genuflect to the whole congregation because that is where the real presence of Christ is. If Jesus is not present by faith and action in this community, what meaning can the Eucharist have?

Eucharistic ministers
Hence the meaningfulness now, in some parishes, of having the induction of lay Eucharistic ministers on this day. We have moved from a purely priest-centred Eucharist at which the laity are passive spectators to one that is community-centred because that is where Christ is to be found. The priest certainly has his role, of course, as the one who presides. He is the focal point of unity around which the community gathers, but it is the community—including the priest—who celebrates.

These ministers may also be bringing the Eucharist to the sick and the homebound. This is, too, an extension of the community celebration of the Eucharist. Our sick brothers and sisters cannot come personally to the community celebration, but they are reminded of their membership when they share the same Body of Christ, which binds all together. In Communion, not just Jesus, but the whole parish comes to them.

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Commentary on Proverbs 8:22-31; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15

Today’s feast is one which many preachers would prefer not to have to talk about. What can one say that is meaningful about such an abstract concept as the Holy Trinity? In one sense, of course, they are right. It was the great St Thomas Aquinas who said that it was much easier to say what God was not than what he is. In other words, every positive statement made about God has to be immediately denied. If we say God is ‘good’, it is obviously true but our concept of ‘goodness’, however exalted, is so limited that God’s ‘goodness’ cannot be remotely described by our concept of it. And the same is so of every other attribute applied to God.

So when it comes to speaking of the meaning and inner relationship of three “Persons” in one God we are floundering in territory where ordinary human language is totally inadequate to express the reality. Our God can only be reached in the “cloud of unknowing”, as Julian of Norwich so beautifully expressed it. God is not any of the things we say he is. It is, as Fr Anthony de Mello used to put it, something like “trying to explain the colour green to a person who has been totally blind since birth.”

In search of an understanding
However, we should not try to get off the hook too easily and decide to speak or think about something altogether different on this Sunday. Provided we are aware of God’s basic unknowability by our limited minds, there are still many helpful things we can consider about our God and the inner relationships which are part of his being. While it is of the utmost importance that we realise this, there are many statements we can make which will help in our relationship with God.

To go back to Thomas Aquinas again, one of his basic principles was that “Behaviour is determined by the nature of things” (Latin, Agere sequitur esse). From the way things act we know something about what they are. We can thus distinguish the different natures of minerals and other non-living substances, plant life, bacterial and viral life, animal life or human life from the different ways in which each is able to function and react. We normally will not confuse a cow and a horse, a bird or a bat, a shark or a whale, a gorilla or a human being. It is not simply their appearances that are different. We realise that each has certain capabilities and that those capabilities arise from the way they are essentially constituted in their inner being. We don’t expect animals to talk as humans do (except in TV cartoons). We don’t expect snails to run in the Derby or the Grand National—or tortoises to outstrip hares, except in fables.

And, in our daily rubbing shoulders with other people, the only way we can know them is by what they reveal of themselves through their behaviour and interactions. When we say they are kind, it is because they consistently behave in a way that is kind. Or when we say they are cruel, again it is because of what we perceive as consistently cruel behaviour. Jesus said:

You will know them by their fruits…A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. (Matt 7:16,18)

And this is because agere sequitur esse.

Limited understanding
At the same time, while we may think we can know a lot about people from their behaviour (and do not hesitate to pass judgement!), we can by no means know everything. Every human being, indeed as science constantly discovers, every created thing is a mystery whose innermost reality is really impossible for us to penetrate totally. And that even applies to our own selves. We do not know ourselves totally. We are a mystery to ourselves—and, a fortiori, to others!

If this is true of created reality, we should not be surprised to face the same dilemma with the Creator. God, in his deepest being, is a mystery we cannot ever fathom. This is not just a ‘cop out’; it is a fact. Nevertheless, on the basis of what God does, we do get some very clear indications of what he is. Agere sequitur esse applies to God also.

What the Christian Testament tells us
And it is in the Christian Testament especially that we get the first hints of there being more than one way of understanding God, although the full theology of the Trinity was only developed later. What it means to have three Persons in one Being is something we do not even try to understand. But we can get some inkling if we confine ourselves to seeing what each of the persons does as a clue to what they are.

In Greek classical drama in the time of Jesus and earlier, the actors put on a mask to indicate the role they were playing (not unlike the elaborate painting of the face in Chinese opera for the same purpose). The Greek word for this mask was prosopon (literally, ‘in front of the face’) and the Latin translation is persona (that through which the sound of the voice came).

So, speaking analogically, we can say that in our God there are three masks, three personae, three roles pointing to three separate sources of action. This is not an explanation. It is a groping effort to get some understanding. Those three roles are that of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Father
We see God as Father, a loving and compassionate Father. Not a daunting patriarchal figure, but one that is easily approached and who can be addressed by the familiar and intimate term “Abba” (similar the English ‘Papa’, or ‘Ah-Ba’ in Chinese and other languages). He is the Creator and giver of all life. Everything good that can be discerned in the world around us comes from him and through him. In him, through him and with him all things exist.

He is the one who cares, the one who waits for the Prodigal to return and forgives completely and immediately. He is the Father of truth, the Father of love and compassion, the Father of justice. The whole of this beautiful world in which we live is a testimony and, at the same time, only a faint indication of what he really is. If we really look at the world he has made (and not at the one we have unmade), our hearts can only be overcome with praise and thanks.

Son
We see God as Son, who in an extraordinary way came to live among us, and whom, in a paradox beyond all understanding, we humans killed. In the Son as a human being, we can see, hear and touch God. We see something of the nature of our God as Jesus heals the sick, identifies with the weak and socialises with the sinful. We see him challenge the dehumanising values that form the fabric of most of our lives and, in the process, he is rejected by those he loves. Though he is God, he empties himself of all human dignity that he might open for us the way to true and unending life.

Spirit
We see God as Spirit, becoming, as it were, the soul of his people. All the good that we do, all our evangelising work, our hospitals, schools, works of social development and social welfare, our care of the sick, the weak, the oppressed and the outcast—all are the work of God’s Spirit working in and through us. Wherever there is love, there is the Spirit of God at work.

Models for our life
And yet, being aware of all this, we still cannot say that we know our God. But there is enough here—if we pray and reflect on it—that is already overpowering in its significance.

We need to remember that we have been called to be and to grow into the image of God himself. In what has been revealed to us through Jesus and the Scriptures, we have more than enough to challenge us and to help us to approach closer to our God. Our ultimate goal, and it is the only goal for all the living, is to achieve perfect union with him. We do that, above all, by loving as he loved—by loving unconditionally and continuing to love where no love, and even hate, is returned.

For this we need the creative power of the Father, the compassion of the Son, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. They are all available to anyone who opens their heart to receive.

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Commentary on Acts 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:3-7,12-13; John 20:19-23

Today we celebrate what is often called the birthday of the Church. Happy birthday to all! We also bring to completion our celebration of the Paschal Mystery – Jesus’ suffering, death, resurrection and ascension, as well as the coming of the Holy Spirit on Jesus’ disciples.

Although this ‘mystery’ is really one great reality, we have stretched its celebration over a period of more than seven weeks. That such a time frame is not to be too excessively emphasised as historical fact is indicated by the two very different accounts of the giving of the Spirit we have in the readings of today’s Mass.

Full of symbols
Most of us are more familiar with the account given in Acts of the Apostles which is the First Reading of today’s Mass. In this account, the Apostles are all gathered in one room at the time of the Jewish feast of Pentecost, which in the Jewish calendar traditionally falls 50 days after the Passover (or Easter in our Christian calendar).

What follows is a scene filled with scriptural symbols. First, there is the sound of a mighty wind from heaven filling the whole house. The word in Greek for ‘spirit’ and ‘wind’ is the same (pneuma), so the wind clearly indicates the Spirit of God.

Then there appeared tongues of fire which rested on the head of each one present. Again we have a symbol of God’s presence. We remember God speaking to Moses from the bush which was on fire. We remember that, as the Israelites wandered through the desert, they were accompanied during the night by a pillar of fire – God was with them. All present are then filled with the Spirit. The sign of this presence is their ability to speak in different languages.

A message for all
Immediately, the Apostles go out and begin to speak to the crowds of people. Jerusalem is filled with Jewish and convert visitors from all over the Mediterranean, from Asia Minor, Egypt and North Africa, even Rome, to celebrate the feast. These people are amazed to hear men, who are clearly relatively unlettered people from the province of Galilee, speaking to them in so many languages.

The meaning is clear. What the Apostles are preaching is a message destined for the whole world and not just for one people. A long time ago, as described in the book of Genesis (11:1-9), men tried to build a tower right up to heaven. For such arrogance they were punished by having to speak in a myriad of languages unintelligible to others. Humanity became deeply divided.

Today, Babel is reversed. All are speaking and hearing the message with full understanding; people are being brought together in unity under God.

Full of fear
The Gospel today has a quite different account of the coming of the Spirit on the disciples. It is the evening of Easter Sunday and the disciples are in a room, with the doors firmly locked. As accomplices in the work of the executed criminal, Jesus, they are afraid they are the next to be arrested. The authorities would surely want to nip this subversive group in the bud before it gets out of control. Fear and anxiety is the prevailing mood among them.

All of a sudden, Jesus is there in their midst and greets them saying:

Peace be with you.

In Hebrew, this is normal the Jewish greeting shalom, but it has a fuller significance here. Earlier, at the Last Supper, Jesus had promised that he would bring peace, a very special kind of peace, to his disciples. A peace they could not get anywhere else and a peace that no one and nothing could take away from them.

Now, he brings that peace to this highly fearful group. In Greek, “Peace with you” has no verb. It can be read either as a wish or a statement of fact; it is something of both.

Jesus then shows them the wounds in his hands and side. There can be no doubt: it is the crucified Jesus himself, risen from the dead. As their fear changes to an unspeakable joy, Jesus again wishes them peace.

Receiving a mission
And then he gives them their mission:

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

Their mission is the same as his; they are to continue doing what he did. Then he breathes on them. Breath symbolises life. In the creation story, God breathed over the waters. He also breathed on the clay of the ground and formed the first human being. Today he breathes on his disciples and gives them a new life, making them a new creation, giving them the life of his Spirit, saying:

Receive the Holy Spirit.

Then he goes on to say:

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

This is no mere juridical authority in which people are declared free of guilt. It is much more than that. The disciples are being given the authority to bring people back to God, to reconcile those who have become separated from their God, to renew their unity with the beginning and the end of their lives. They are also given the authority to decide which people are not yet ready to be forgiven.

Ultimate mission
This is ultimately the mission of the Church, to bring people to God. It is not primarily to make converts to Christianity or to build up the Church, but to work with God in building the Kingdom. The Kingdom realised is the whole world acknowledging the lordship of God our Creator and people directing their lives to be one with him.

This was the mission given by Jesus to his disciples and the same mission has been given to each one of us. So, as soon as a person becomes reconciled with God as Lord and Jesus as Saviour, that person in turn accepts the obligation to become in turn a reconciler of others.

Special gifts
Today’s Second Reading speaks of the gifts that the Spirit of God and Jesus gives to each one for this work. We are not all called to the same thing in the same way:

Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.

We all have exactly the same ultimate goal, energised from the same Source, but with our different qualities of character and ability, and depending on the environmental situation in which we find ourselves, we aim at that goal in different ways.

Working together in different ways towards a common aim, Paul compares us to a human body:

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

Each part is ordered to the well-being of the whole. That should be a picture of the Christian community, of our diocese and of each parish and of each community within a parish. We are all equal in dignity — Jew or Greek, slave or citizen, man or woman, cleric or lay – but different in calling and manner of service.

On this feast of Pentecost, as we celebrate the formation and the mission of the whole Christian community, we also need to reflect on the particular role that God has for me, to reflect on the particular contribution that I can make to the corporate mission of the Church and of the particular group with which I am involved.