thoughts and observations on the daily readings
Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Readings may be found here St. Paul had gumption. He went right to the cultural heart of the Greek world and announced to the brightest and best that they had missed the truth of God. His message here differs significantly from other instances of his preaching in Acts. In those other settings, speaking to Jews and to new Christians, Paul focused on the Lord Jesus and the Holy Scriptures. Here in Athens, Paul speaks in philosophical arguments so familiar to the Greek schools. He speaks “their language.” He draws on their own tradition to point out the absurdity of worshipping idols made with human hands while ignoring the Creator of all. While the response was mixed, Paul’s conviction and his argument hit home for some and the door was opened for Paul to go further and introduce them to the Christ. In the gospel passage today, Jesus speaks about the gift of the Spirit and the role of the Spirit in teaching the disciple and empowering him or her to speak the truth of the Lord. There is the foundation for the whole ministry of Paul and his creative, courageous visit to the Areopagus. I love the word “gumption,” defined as “shrewd or spirited initiative and resourcefulness.” (Lexico.com) “Spirited” indeed! What was true for Paul is true for every one of us empowered by the Spirit. So where’s your gumption?
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Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter Readings may be found here Every loving parent knows the truth that even as you would do anything for your children, one of the most important things you do is help them to grow and thrive as mature adults. When young, you must protect them; but that same protection can become oppression if it lasts too long. An “empty nest” might bring strong emotions, but it should also inspire satisfaction in a job well done. We have a parallel to this truth in the passage from John. Jesus has been preparing his disciples at great length for the events of His passion and death. Even as they grieve at the news of His departure, He has been teaching them that this moment is actually for their good and the good of the mission. His departure will open the gift of the Spirit to them – the gift that will teach, strengthen, and empower them to take up His work of healing and reconciliation. Whereas Jesus own earthly ministry was limited to the range that His own two feet carried Him on the roads of Galilee and Judea, these disciples will seed a new family of faith that will carry the Gospel and the presence of Jesus Christ across vast distances and through the years to come. God Who is all powerful, never exercises that power to dominate or control. The Spirit descends “like the dewfall,” the Servant of the Lord does not break the “bruised reed” or “quench the smoldering wick.” God’s power, the power of love, seeks only the free and loving response of the beloved. Even if the disciples struggle to understand in the moment, He is loving them in a way that will bring from their free hearts the best of responses. They will grow and mature in the faith and become more and more the men and women made in the image and likeness of God. They will “bear fruit” (15:8, 16), their “joy will be complete” (15:11), they will love as they have been loved (15:10), they will testify (15:27). All these things belong to the disciples of Jesus Christ - all these things belong to you and I should we make a similar free and loving response to the call of the Lord. He would have us grow, mature, and “take flight” in the life of grace. Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Readings may be found here Hospitality is a gift. When offered freely and fully it blesses the guest and the host. Welcoming one another binds friends and family, lightens the burdens of life, encourages joy and creativity, and consoles those who feel lonely or bereft. During this time of pandemic, the loss of everyday hospitality has been painful for all of us. We all miss those family dinners, Sunday afternoons at the beach or a BBQ, and sharing a drink without the use of facetime or zoom. Hospitality is a universal value in every age and in every culture. It seems to flow from somewhere deep in our humanity and it is a beautiful thing. Early Christians found great blessings in hospitality. In a time when travel was dangerous and difficult, the mission could only go on with the help of those who would open their homes for refuge, worship, and to support evangelists like Paul. And along the way, we learned that the exercise of hospitality was itself a kind of mission and preaching – one that built up the Church and strengthened her bonds of communion. We have a beautiful example today in Lydia. The baptismal water was not yet dry and she was already inviting the evangelizers into her home! And Lydia is an early pioneer of a long chain of hospitable disciples. From those early days flowed the hospitality of the monastic movement and the Christian commitment to the housing of the traveler, the refugee, the homeless. It’s the same instinct of joyful generosity that staffs the soup kitchens and works in this pandemic to get supplies to the homebound and unemployed. Even if we must still wait for those Sunday dinners with family and friends, we can still exercise that gift of hospitality today. There’s a neighbor who could use some human warmth, a parish social ministry that needs volunteers, a program for the homeless or hungry in need of resources. Hospitality is a gift: “Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.” (Hebrews 13:2) Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter Readings may be found here Hatred and violence burn hottest from a distance. When people divide into camps and distance themselves from the “other,” they have an easier time of convincing themselves that the other side is evil or unworthy. When, by contrast, people recognize common humanity or common struggle, it gets much more difficult to fan the flames of division. Perhaps this is why Pope Francis has frequently called upon believers to “build bridges.” The early Christian community struggled with questions of identity: did the Gentiles belong? If so, would they have to keep Jewish ritual custom in order to live the Christian life? Paul certainly became the most public and insistent proponent of a new kind of People of God, one that joined Jew and Greek in the communion made possible by the grace of Christ. It is curious then that Paul has Timothy, son of a Greek father and Jewish mother, circumcised. Did Paul recognize that Timothy himself might be a bridge between communities? Perhaps Paul recognized that hatred requires distance and that getting to know this man, a child of both worlds, would encourage understanding, empathy, and compassion across that divide. In the passage from John, Jesus is speaking to His disciples about rejection and persecution. The words are intensified by their place on the eve of His passion and death. And Jesus warns these frightened men and women that they will experience similar suffering. The warning contains the seeds of consolation in that He is assuring them of His solidarity with them in that suffering. And here is a great irony, the trusting, uncomplaining suffering of the Lord will in fact change hearts. The soldier at the foot of the cross will marvel at the “Son of God.” Many of the people that called for His death will repent and believe at the preaching of the Apostles. As Jesus prophesied, they and many other disciples did more than preach, they offered their lives in witness to the Lord. Again, that strange transformation happened as crowds baying for blood were shamed into compassion by the peace and fidelity of the martyrs. The hatred could not stand before the truth of love. Suffering and solidarity built the bridge that bode countless men and women into the communion of the Church. Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter Readings may be found here In Christians settings, we talk a great deal about love, and rightly so. After all, at the heart of our faith is the conviction that God is Love. In the gospel passage today, Jesus sums up the life of discipleship with one command: “love one another.” That command has a context in Jesus’ own stance of loving, unselfish, gift for us. He reveals the depth and breadth of the command by His life and ministry and in the nature of His sacrificial death. Saying all this still leaves the challenge for each of us in discerning the call of love daily, and in every kind of circumstances. Too often, popular culture reduces love to sentiment or desire. The love we imitate in Christ risks, gives, sweats, and bleeds for the beloved. It is a way of living, not a passing fancy. Look to those early Christians in Acts as they struggle with the everyday challenges of a small and vulnerable community in a world of violence and oppression. Their love for one another expresses itself in so many concrete ways. Today, we hear about the ongoing struggle to unify a multicultural body of disciples. They work with each other to find solutions that are charitable – meant to strengthen their bonds even if each must sacrifice in some way. In the midst of the pandemic, all of us can give witness to the way in which friends, neighbors, and strangers have adapted to extraordinary circumstances with generous hearts. The everyday ordinary and extraordinary deeds, risks, and care one for another is a wonder to behold. It is the mystery of love unfolding in our midst. “Do ordinary things with extraordinary love…” Saint Mother Teresa. Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter
Feast of St. Matthias Readings may be found here After the reign of King Solomon, the Kingdom of Israel and its twelve tribes divided in civil war, producing a Northern Kingdom (10 tribes) and a Southern Kingdom around Jerusalem (the tribes of Judah and Benjamin). This now divided people fell to invasions. The northern tribes were exiled and dispersed by the Assyrian Empire (the “lost tribes”). The southern kingdom experienced conquest and exile at the hand of the Babylonian Empire. These exiles, however, were returned to Judah and Jerusalem when the Persians in turn conquered Babylon. For some 500 years before Christ, the returned exiles struggled to reestablish themselves in the face of foreign invasion, conquest, and oppression by Persians, Greeks, and finally Romans. In this now reduced land of Judah, they dreamed of the Golden Age of King David and the restoration of the fullness of Israel and her twelve tribes. When Jesus called twelve apostles, He was signaling that the moment of restoration and renewal had arrived – albeit in a form very different from previous expectations. The reign of God now revealed will not be an earthly power like that of Israel of old, but the Person of the Son of God. And as we hear today, this Jesus brings a restoration of the human heart, summoned into the communion of love between Father and Son. Remember that when the ancient people had called for a king, the Prophet Samuel had warned them that an earthly king would lord it over them, taxing and working them for his own benefit. They would have been wiser to remain with the Lord as their Sovereign for His interest was ever and own their own well-being. Thus we hear Jesus today say that His own are not servants, but friends. Now as He loves them, He commands them so to love. In the passage from Acts, on this Feast of Matthias, we see the body of Apostles restored to the fullness of twelve after the betrayal and death of Judas. This Divine intervention again signals restoration to the longed for twelve tribes – a people made whole once again. You and I are called to holiness and in a very real sense, holiness is “wholeness.” The grace of Jesus Christ restores us to what God intended and made us to be: beings who love and are loved. Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter Our Lady of Fatima Readings may be found here Human beings are frequently transactional in their interactions. I am not commenting here on economic systems, but the way in which people will enter into, or make use of relationships to secure some benefit; social, financial, or emotional. It’s no surprise that wealthy, famous, talented, or high raking persons attract friends and followers easily. Consciously or unconsciously, people are drawn to these qualities and the perceived benefits that flow from such connections. It’s also no surprise that the powerless, the poor, the sick, and the strange are so often overlooked, ignored, or forgotten. Now you may be thinking that some relationships are not really a “transaction” - it is possible for us to unselfishly love so much that we want the good of the other even more than any benefit to ourselves. And you would be right. Jesus Himself models this kind of relating. Today, in John, we hear the Lord use a beautiful image, that of the vine and the branches, to express the truth of His unselfish gift if Himself to and for others. He is drawing His disciples and all of us who hear His voice in this passage into a deeper, life giving way of relating to Him and to one another. On this day when we remember the miracle at Fatima and the appearances of Our Blessed Mother to three poor children in rural Portugal, I am reminded of how Mary, the first and best disciple of the Lord, leads us in this new relating. Is it not true that in her appearances over the centuries, she invariably offers her consolation and wisdom to those who have been forgotten or ignored? Over and again, the upstanding have rejected the first accounts of such appearances because those who received the gift of her presence seemed so unlikely. Even in the life of faith, it is possible to fall into a “transactional” kind of relating – God as the ultimate dispenser of benefits. Even in the faith setting, we look “up” too much and “down” too little. I find Pope Francis’s repeated calls for the Church to pay renewed attention to the “periphery,” challenging and compelling. He wants us to live this mystery of the vine and the branches and to see the mysterious presence of God at work in unexpected people, places, and ways. Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter
Readings may be found here As we continue to live through these very challenging circumstances, there are some very strange effects of social isolation. On the one hand, we miss being with family and friends – on the other hand, weeks of lockdown can leave us frustrated and impatient with those close at hand. Is it possible to want to be together and need to get away all at the same time? In the passage from John today, Jesus continues His address to His disciples regarding the coming events of His passion and death. As He describes it today, He “is going away.” Throughout this chapter, He has been reassuring them that this departure is not a disaster but a change that will bring new possibilities. He has spoken to them of the ways that He will continue to be with them, and the ways in which they will come to do His work and carry His word to others. More than once He has told them not to be troubled and here He promises them His peace. In the biblical understanding, peace is not the absence of conflict, it is an active reality – right relationship with God and neighbor. The events that are about to occur, as overwhelming as they may be for the disciples, will be the moment when peace, right relationship, is restored by Jesus’ self offering. For this reason they must rejoice even if they feel bereft and broken-hearted. In a moment when we might be getting fed up with confinement and impatient with those that share our space, this passage is a good reminder of the agony and the glory of relationship. We can indeed be petty and cruel. We betray and hurt those we love. But the deeper, lasting truth is that our lives are meaningless without each other. In relationship, in forgetting ourselves, in loving one another, we find a purpose and joy that no suffering can overcome. As Jesus reveals the face of the God of love, He reveals to us the truth of us, made in the image and likeness of God. Near or far, together or apart, He speaks His love and His peace – “do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter
Readings may be found here Today in our Psalm, we pray, “not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give the glory.” This Psalm of humble praise acknowledges our dependence upon Divine mercy and providence. In the passage from John, we hear from Jesus about the promised gift of the Spirit. Here Jesus is speaking of His approaching departure and He is reassuring the disciples that He will remain present to them. The Spirit will continue to teach and guide them. This is exactly what happens in the early Church as revealed by the Acts. Peter and Paul, among others, receive guidance by the Holy Spirit - and they teach, heal and minister by that same power. As Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians also indicates, claims regarding gifts of the spirit also caused challenges to the early Church. Paul had to correct zealous individuals claiming the authority of the Holy Spirit for words and actions that enhanced their own reputation. Paul rejected these claims because they divided rather than united the Church. Even in our own time, the nature of this gift of the Spirit may appear puzzling. There are sometimes tensions between what an individual might believe that they have learned by the power of the Spirit and the larger Church. How are we to reconcile that tension? We might begin by noticing that when Jesus addresses His promise today, he speaks not to an individual, but to a plural “you” (“Y’all” in Southern parlance and “youse guys” in my native Brooklynese). He is speaking of a gift to the Body of Christ that is the Church. Among the Saints, there are certainly individuals who have been inspired by the Holy Spirit. But even these individual gifts, when authentic, work to build up rather than divide that Body of Christ. Even as Jesus makes His promise today, notice that the promise is linked to those who “keep His word.” Consider this rather strong assertion from #738 of the catechism: “the Church's mission is not an addition to that of Christ and the Holy Spirit, but is its sacrament: in her whole being and in all her members, the Church is sent to announce, bear witness, make present, and spread the mystery of the communion of the Holy Trinity.” We are all, I pray, open to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but the discernment of the authenticity of the Spirit belongs to the whole Church. For all gifts of the Spirit exist not to assert us or our authority, but the presence and goodness of God to Whom belongs glory forever and ever! Saturday of the Fourth Week of Easter Readings may be found here My dog Agnes is a Labrador. She is built for one purpose, retrieving. She has a wide chest and big lungs for buoyancy and a double coat to stay warm in the water. She has a thick tail for steering, and webbed feet for paddling. It’s not just what she does, it’s who she is – and you can see it in her when there is a ball or frisbee to about. She comes alive with purpose and a kind of joy that all is as it should be. Today in the Acts, we hear Paul and Barnabas summoning Israel to remember its purpose. When God called Abraham and established the family of Abraham, He told Abraham that this family of faith would be a “blessing to the nations.” Even as God called this one man, God’s purpose was the reconciliation of all. The prophets reminded the people of this vocation over and again, but somewhere in the cruelty of history, invasion, conquest, exile, and oppression, some of the people lost this sense of purpose. They did not want anything to do with the foreign oppressors let alone devote themselves to being a blessing to them. Remember that Saul was one such. He was persecuting Christians precisely because they welcomed Gentiles into their communities. The converted Paul, however, becomes the Apostle to the Gentiles. He remembers the reason for which this People of God were made: to participate in the Divine purpose of reconciliation and healing. As Jesus speaks to Philip and the others today in the passage from John, notice that His mission and purpose flow from His identity. It is the communion between Father and Son that underlie Jesus’ own mission. And Jesus is speaking here also of their identity. He is remaking them in His image, entrusting His work to them, giving them a renewed purpose in communion with Him. While we are more than capable of inauthenticity and sin, we were not made for such. We were made to love and to be loved, to participate in God’s own mercy and compassion for the world. Our purpose flows from this truth of our identity. And when we embrace that identity and that purpose, we know the gift promised by the Lord: that His “joy may be in us, and that joy may be complete.” |
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