FEAST of JOHN the BAPTIST

A few weeks ago, I read about the life of a circus promoter.  “What interesting work that must be,” I thought, “always being immersed in the hubbub of the circus, with the animals and the acts, and getting a daily dose of watching the joy on children’s faces.”  Then I read on and discovered that he rarely got a chance to actually attend the circus, because he was always out in front, doing the legwork before the circus came to town.  By the time the circus arrived, he was already in the next town. 

How difficult it must be to promote something that you rarely get to enjoy.

That is the life of Saint John the Baptist.  As described in today’s Gospel, even the circumstances of his birth and circumcision showed that John was no ordinary person.  Had he desired it, he most likely could have garnered a large following for himself.  He could even have competed with Jesus for followers.  Instead, he promoted the coming of Jesus, preparing the way for Jesus’ triumphal entry into public ministry.  And then, when the time was right, he simply got out of the way and let Jesus speak for Himself.

How many of us struggle to make a difference in the world, when what most people really mean by “making a difference” is calling the shots?  John the Baptist was a great saint, but more than doing great deeds, he earned his reputation by experiencing the presence of the Messiah, and inviting others to share that excitement.   He pointed the way to Jesus.

This idea of pointing the way fascinates me.  It’s not about doing things, it’s about living in such a way that the things we do no matter how few or many, are done in a sacred way.  Saint John the Baptist’s entire life was a testament to sacred living: his ministry, his speech, even his ascetic life in the desert.  All of these worked together to do one thing – give him the credibility and passion to speak with authority about the coming of Jesus, the Christ – to promote the Messiah.

So when we feel we are in a spiritual rut, that our lives are just filled with mundane tasks, perhaps we could benefit by asking ourselves, “What is the most credible and authentic way that I can do that next task?”  Even something as mundane as taking out the garbage could be the beginning of a transformed life.  Though I have some ideas about how one could take out the garbage in a “sacred” way, I’ll leave it to you and the Lord to come up with some of your own ideas.

I’ll simply get out of His way and let Him speak for Himself.

Sacred Heart of Jesus

The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus comes to us as an invitation to penetrate more deeply the mystery of the humanity of Christ, who out of great love laid down his life for us and poured out that wondrous love by opening his heart on the cross, bidding us to that fountain of precious blood and living water---the blood of the sacrificial lamb, and the water of the Spirit, baptism and Eucharist.  We want to drink deeply of the spring of eternal life.

The Creator of all who once opened the side of the first man to fashion Eve, now opens the side of Christ to give birth to the Church, his bride.  Adam was put into a deep sleep when his side was opened; now the author of life, who sleeps the sleep of death, has his side opened by divine decree that permitted the soldier, without incurring sin, to strike the heart of Christ so that scripture might be fulfilled, they shall look on him whom they have pierced.  

We gaze lovingly at his wounded heart, and are so moved that we desire too to have our hearts wounded by the fire of his love, a wound that heals our defective hearts, a wounded heart thirsting for the blood of the lamb who takes away the sins of the world.  The mystery of the Sacred Heart of Jesus  invites us to penetrate is the mystery of God’s human heart, allowing our hearts to thirst for him and be wounded, so that the more we love, the more we desire to love, the more our hearts suffer and are wounded, the more we find healing.  What was hidden and unseen by mortal eye, is now made visible in the open heart of Christ; what was inaccessible is now a fountain of eternal life.

At the death of Jesus, the earth shook and hard rocks were split.  The Sacred Heart enables our stony hearts to become flesh and beat with the heart of Christ, and to drink deeply of the living water that wells up to eternal life.  This is the will of God for you, your holiness (1 Thess 4:3).  If the wounded world is to become holy, it needs the prayers and works of saints who dwell in the heart of Christ.  This Sacred Heart invites us to such holiness.

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

Pope Francis said this last year, on Trinity Sunday :

"Today is the Sunday of the Most Holy Trinity. The light of Eastertide and of Pentecost renews in us every year the joy and amazement of faith: let us recognize that God is not something vague, our God is not a God “spray,” he is tangible; he is not abstract but has a name: “God is love”. His is not a sentimental, emotional kind of love but the love of the Father who is the origin of all life, the love of the Son who dies on the Cross and is raised, the love of the Spirit who renews human beings and the world. Thinking that God is love does us so much good, because it teaches us to love, to give ourselves to others as Jesus gave himself to us and walks with us. Jesus walks beside us on the road through life."

We can celebrate this great solemnity, not by thinking about or arguing about concepts about how the Trinity works, but by opening our hearts to a deeper relationship with our God, who is love. We can have a relationship with each of the Persons in the Trinity.

Certainly the God who made us can fill us with grateful love. All of creation can give glory to God for the wonders which surround us. As we reflect on the gift of life itself, we may be tempted to feel overwhelmed with life's struggles. Today we can celebrate a merciful and faithful Father who never forgets that we are his gift of life for the world and for all eternity. Today is a great day to speak to our Father and Creator and to give thanks and praise. A step beyond acknowledging the relationship and giving thanks is to rest in and enjoy our Father's embrace. There can be nothing more consoling and healing, however we want to imagine it and relish in it. This embrace allows us to surrender our doubts and fears, our small-scoped wants and needs, even our wounds, our judgments and our angers.

Jesus is God's love who has become one with us in our journey in the flesh on this earth. We can unpack and enjoy that today. We simply are not able to say that God doesn't understand what it is to be human. Being human, is one of the ways God is for us and with us. And, today we can celebrate the life, death and resurrection gift that Jesus continues to be for us. We can let ourselves long to know him better, to fall in love with our brother and savior. And we can ask him for the grace to be like him in laying down our lives for others. Being with him will draw us into being more deeply in love with his way of loving those most in need and it will certainly offer us the deepening desire and freedom to love the same way.

Jesus promised that he would not leave us orphans. As we celebrated last weekend, the Father and the Son sent us the Holy Spirit to gather us in this Trinity of love. We all know that we can orphan ourselves, by clinging to independence and the illusion of "freedom" and identifying ourselves with what we accomplish and what we possess. The spirit which is evil loves to divide and scatter us. But the Holy Spirit offers gifts to heal our wounds and bring us a peace the world's attractions can't give. Today we can celebrate the work of the Spirit within us and among us. Sometimes, it is a small movement, a simple awareness, a conviction which troubles us, or an inner peace we can count on. We can let the Spirit speak the words, the feelings, the deep desires we can't get out and express. We can let the Spirit help us discern small and great choices we make each day - the choices identified by mercy and reconciliation, care for those on the margins, and a deep peace which acknowledges that God is the Father of us all and that Jesus is Lord. We can let the Spirit transform us from mediocrity to being on fire, allowing our hearts to be part of the Spirit's work of renewing the face of the earth.

Trinity Sunday can be a day of celebration, of intimate conversation with our three-personed God, who is love. It can be a day of gifts which bring us closer to our origin, our salvation and our life together in community for others.

Solemnity of Pentecost: The Honourable Bird

A learned Japanese writer once said: “I think I understand about God the Father and the Son, but I can never understand the significance of the ‘Honourable Bird’.” The Holy Spirit has traditionally eluded the comprehension of scholars and preachers; a bird in flight resists capture. This bird-like Spirit flies higher than any aeroplane; it flies across the vast expanse of lands and oceans; it could go down the valleys, along creeks and above the highest mountains.  It brings blessings, healing, new life and hope.

It is difficult to contain or even describe ‘Spirit’. However, spirit-talk suggests life, movement and energy. We talk of creative energy in inspiration; an energy which has the power to break through barriers, break records, and go beyond the expected and the mediocre; the energy that breaks through the locked doors of convention and is not bound by any kind of restriction.

This divine energy is manifested in creation, when it brought life out of nothing. The Spirit is that Breath of Life that came from God and made humans living beings (Gn. 1, 1ff; 2, 18 – 26). The same divine energy, the Spirit, also showed his presence and power in the form of Pillar of Fire and Cloud to protect and guide the pilgrim people of God as the march to freedom across the desert (Ex 14).

This divine energy is the Consuming Fire that ate up the sacrifice of Elijah, the prophet when he challenged the false prophets. The same Spirit lived in the prophets who spoke courageously against the social, moral and religious evils of their time. Mary, the virgin, was overshadowed by the power of God, the Holy Spirit, at the conception of Jesus (Lk. 1, 18 ff.). This “Honourable Bird” appeared again at the baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan (Mt 3).

Now Fifty days after the death and resurrection of Jesus, a group of dispirited followers of Jesus had gathered and locked themselves in the upper room. There was more perspiration than inspiration in the room; there was fear and suspicion, and they listened attentively to every footstep on the stair-case; waiting for the executioners to knock at the door. They must have been praying that no one would discover their hiding place.

In contrast to their expectation, there came the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit; the Spirit takes this group of dispirited folk and fills them with new energy, enthusiasm and confidence. The presence of the Holy Spirit takes away fear, and makes the disciples open their lives to others. The Holy Spirit bears the fruits of love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness and faithfulness (Gal.5:22).

One interesting thing about the Pentecost is that all those who receive the different gifts of the Holy Spirit spoke the same message that was understood by everyone who gathered in Jerusalem from various cultures and nations of the world. The message is LOVE. It has the same sound, texture, effect and power in every person, culture, race and country. When love becomes the language we all speak, the powerful breathe of God will energize everyone.

For the Jewish believers Pentecost was a harvest celebration. For the Christian community it is the celebration of God’s planting the Holy Spirit to bring about a spiritual harvest. Jesus breathes upon them and offers them the same breath or Spirit that brought about order from the chaos as recounted in the book of Genesis. He is telling them that as He was sent into the world to bring order into the lives of all, so they were as well, the incarnations of the Spirit who themselves are sent to bring order out of chaos. Whose chaos you order there will be ordered, and those whose way of living retains their chaos, theirs is retained (Jn. 20:23).

 No more sitting around and worrying or wondering who we are and what we are to do. Jesus did not give them any further instruction except to “Go”. This in itself was encouraging and energising. The “Honourable Bird” was now flying in and through them.

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord: What Goes Up, Must Come Down ( Acts 1:1-11; Eph 1:17-23; Mk. 10:15-20)

At some early point in our earthly lives we all learn an inescapable law:  “what goes up must come down.”  Perhaps it was our childhood playground that taught us this best - a thrilling pull in our bellies as the swing catapults toward the ground; a blast of wind in our face as we rush down the slide; or the exhilarating drop from the highest point of the teeter-totter.  

On today’s Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, it behooves us to remember this law.  In these final days of the Easter season, we contemporary disciples of Jesus stand beside his first disciples while they work to make sense of the new reality in their lives wherein Jesus has “left” them.  As described in  the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples are standing heavy-footed, bent-necked, slack-jawed, staring at the sky - perhaps a sense of despair in their hearts.

How many times have I felt abandoned by Jesus?

How many times have I looked heavenward asking, “What do you want me to do next?!”

We read on in Acts about two white-garmented messengers who ask the disciples, “Why are you standing there looking at the sky?”  They, like the white-washed messengers in the empty tomb, seem to be saying to me, “What are you doing looking here?  Don’t you remember what he told you about the Spirit?!”

The readings in the last weeks have been oozing with messages about the Spirit.  Jesus has been doing his darnedest to prepare us for his rising and for the falling of the Holy Spirit.  “What goes up must come down.”  

It is the Spirit that imbues us with the living Jesus beyond the cross, beyond the tomb, beyond the blank skies above the disciples’ heads at the Ascension.  The Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins proclaims in his poem “God’s Grandeur”:  “the Holy Ghost over the bent world broods with warm breast and with ah!  Bright wings.”  

Do we allow ourselves to receive this Spirit into our lives?  Jesus certainly asks us to use the Spirit as fuel to carry on with him the building of the Kingdom of God on earth.

In the Gospel reading today, Jesus gives us a police artist’s sketch to help us identify the perpetrators of his message of love and forgiveness.  They will be recognizable by their actions.  They will fight for justice and peace by driving out the demons of oppression and hatred.  They will learn new ways to proclaim ancient messages of hope so all might hear.  They will courageously handle and tend to the slippery and slithery sins of our society without being bitten by them.  They will ingest the bitter truths of our world without being destroyed by them.  They will extend healing hands to tend to the wounds of others.  Do I fit this description?

Spirit-laden, may we all work together to continue  the good work of Jesus.

A PONDERING :"Love is aggressive" (SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER)

Our Christian Theology states that God is Love. Egradior is the Latin word for “going outward or stepping forward”. Aggression, coming from the same Latin root, is different because of the “a” prefix meaning against. So it follows that by God’s very nature of being Love, then God is always, infinitely “going out”. God’s loving is not influenced by our being good or bad. Our openness to God’s out-goingness is influenced by our attitudes and actions. What we do in being humans who love is the continuation of God’s stepping out.

REFLECTION

While reading over the First Reading for this Sunday, I opened the tenth chapter of Acts and read the story related there in. I said to myself, “I wrote about this chapter just recently. Did I write a Reflection for the wrong Sunday?” I checked back and found that the First Reading for Easter Sunday, a few weeks ago, is taken from the same chapter. So to refresh your memory, I place here what I wrote then.

The context for our First Reading is delightful. Cornelius, a devout and prayerful man and a centurion of the occupying Roman army has a vision while praying in his house in Caesarea. In this vision, he is told that his generosity on behalf of the Jews has been accepted by God. Cornelius is then advised to send for Simon, called Peter, in Jaffa.

Meanwhile Peter has a vision while experiencing hunger shortly before dinner. A large sheet presents Peter a menu of various creatures and is told to eat. Peter announces that he does not eat unclean things. The accompanying voice admonishes Peter, “What God has made clean, you have no right to call profane.”

Peter was pondering all this when the two men sent by Cornelius arrived to take him to Caesarea. Cornelius has gathered his relations and friends to listen to Peter’s words. We hear Peter’s proclamation which is a brief summary of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Peter assumes that these unbelievers

have heard of the events of Christ’s death.

After Peter’s address,, we do not hear this as part of our First Reading, the Holy Spirit descends and Peter announces that all will be baptized. The Jews who accompanied Peter wonder at their being baptized without their being circumcised. Peter’s vision of the unclean creatures then comes into focus. Peter

and the early church is to extend the baptism of the Spirit from Jerusalem through out the entire world. All creatures are clean now in the universal love of the resurrected Jesus.

What our First Reading today adds is the actual baptism of those non-Jews upon whom God has sent the Holy Spirit. God plays no favorites, shows no partiality. All are included in the “New Creation” brought about by the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus.

The Roman centurion is, to the Jewish mind, as far from God’s embrace as Rome is from Jerusalem. Peter, remembering his vision of all the various foods, extends the inclusion offered by Jesus to the ends of the earth, including the hated Roman oppressors.

            

The Gospel is a familiar section from the “Last Discourse” of Jesus to His disciples. In these five chapters, thirteen through seventeen, John presents Jesus as the loving teacher reminding His students of all that He has tried to teach them and what will be on the final exam. He warns them also about dangers and traps which they will encounter on their way to that exam. There are some elements of the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and some wonderful images of Who Jesus says He is and who the disciples are to be.

What we hear today is a simple, straight-forward command, which if observed, will continue the personality and central characteristic of Jesus Himself. “Love one another as I have loved you.” Before saying this, Jesus tells them that He has loved them as deeply and intimately as the Father has loved Him. Remaining in this love will make keeping this one and only summation of all His teachings, possible and meaningful.

We are named “friends” and “chosen”. This is central to our following of Jesus. If we believe who we are; if we take our name seriously, then the actions of loving will follow. Jesus tells His disciples, and ourselves, that “you are a part of Me, as Vine, you are known, loved, and chosen to be fruitful.”  The “fruitfulness” is that for which Jesus came. The fruitfulness is ourselves, beginning with the disciples and spreading through the early church to all the ends of the earth, including us.

Two weeks ago Jesus told His disciples about the “shepherd” laying down his life for his friends. Love is not always felt, but is expressed in deeds especially the generous surrendering of greeds, envies, demands, expectations. Always, this loving is easier to talk about than execute. It begins with being loved as a gift and not earned. The disciples were asked to receive their being loved by Jesus as the Father loves Him. Remaining in that love will result in remaining as “sent” and “loved” sacraments. Many books have been written about love and how to be loved and express love.

Each of us is writing that book by how we lay down our lives for our sisters and brothers, but not destructively to ourselves. We are fruits as well who are to remain whole and with joy. I have written this Reflection about love and this is easier than going out of my room right now and into the kitchen where there will be a mess, as always. Loving my brothers is easier to write about than washing, drying, putting away, rapping up; the list goes on. Anybody know what love is that does not call for laying aside our demands to follow His command? If so, you write about it and you will be famous.

“Everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.” 1 John, 4

Good Friday: It Is Finished

In the passion story according to John which we have just heard, the last words that Jesus said on the cross before he bowed his head and gave up the spirit is “It is finished” (John 19:30). Three words in English but in the original Greek it is just one word, tetelestai. What does tetelestai “it is finished” mean?

Scholars got more insight into the meaning of this expression a few years ago after some archaeologists dug up in the Holy Land a tax collector's office that was almost intact, with all the tax records and everything. There were two stacks of tax records and one of them had the word, tetelestai, on the top. In other words, “paid in full.” These people don't owe anything anymore. So, when Jesus said "It is finished," what is finished? It is the debt we owe God by our sins. It has been paid in full?

The Jews of Jesus’ time saw sin as a debt that we owe God, a debt that must somehow be repaid. Jesus used that kind of language and often spoke of sin as debt and forgiveness as a cancellation of debt. He told the parable of the unforgiving servant whom his master forgave the debt that he had no way of repaying but who went out and insisted on getting back the small debt that his fellow servant owed him. This was a way of teaching us that when we are forgiven by God we must in turn forgive our neighbour. He taught us to pray "Forgive us our debt as we forgive those who are indebted to us" which simply means "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Jesus clearly used the language of commerce to speak of the spiritual relationship between God and us and between us and our neighbour. So on the cross he says tetelestai "It is paid in full." Our sins have been completely forgiven. It is finished.

So, how do we respond to this last testament of Jesus? Remember, it is not a promise, “Your sins will be forgiven,” and it is not a conditional statement, “Your sins are forgiven if....” How do we respond to it? What do we do? All you have to do is to say “Amen ... So be it.” All you have to do is to believe that these words apply to you personally, no matter the gravity of the sin that you have been involved in. Your debt has been paid to the full and cancelled no matter how huge the amount you owe. All you have to do is to say “Thank you, Jesus” and learn to be grateful to Jesus all your life. That is why we go to church every Sunday. We go to church to perform the Eucharist which means "thanksgiving". That is why we try to be loving and kind to others. If Jesus has been so loving and kind to me in such a big way, why can't I try to be loving and kind to others in the little things of everyday life. That is why we try to avoid sin. If Jesus has paid all the debt that I owe to God, I must see to it that I do not go about accumulating more debt.

As we look up to the cross today and contemplate Jesus dying to make the full payment for our sins, let us thank him, and let us promise him that our whole lives will be one unbroken song of thanksgiving to him who gave his life to make full payment for the immeasurable debt we owe to God.