“The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty”

April 14 2015

TUESDAY, Easter week two

“The Lord is king; He is robed in majesty” 

The Responsorial Psalm is a proclamation of victory: “The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty” (Psalm 93). And this is what Christianity is: a proclamation that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and won the gift of divine life for all who believe in him. The prophets make this proclamation credible by visibly embodying the teachings of Jesus in their lifestyle. They make the living Jesus visible in their bodies.

Acts 4: 32-37 shows us the first Christians as a community making the divine life of Jesus visible in their lifestyle: “The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed anything as a personal possession, but they had everything in common…. There was no needy person among them, for all who owned property or houses would sell them… and the proceeds were distributed to each according to need.”

Suppose all Christians had continued to live like this for the past two thousand years — not literally, but according to the spirit described here: all providing for others’ needs as much as for their own — would there still be poverty on earth? How many wars would never have happened? How many people would be turning to drugs and alcoholism to escape a society they can’t stand?

How many changes will come about if just the prophets begin to live in this spirit? (All the baptized are consecrated, commissioned and committed to be prophets, but not all are aware of what that means). When all of us accept personally this element of our baptismal consecration, we will renew the face of the earth.

Is that possible? “The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.” Jesus has triumphed over sin and death. His reign is assured. It is just a question of how long it takes for us to establish it on earth.

John 3: 7-15 tells us that to do this we must be “born from above.” What is humanly impossible is not impossible to Jesus working in and through the members of his body who have united themselves to him and to each other in mind and will and heart by “devoting themselves to the teaching of the Apostles, and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.“ They are “born of the Spirit” and ready to follow his voice. No matter “where it comes from or where it goes,” they will follow the Spirit’s inspirations. Through them it will become evident that Jesus is risen as Lord and king, robed in majesty.”

Initiative: Be a prophet. Live the Gospel with “radical” love: love that reaches to the roots of your life-goals and choices.

"Happy are all who put their trust in the Lord”

April 13 2015

MONDAY, Easter week two

"Happy are all who put their trust in the Lord” 

The Responsorial Psalm shows us how to deal with fear when we are threatened because of the witness we bear to Jesus: "Happy are all who put their trust in the Lord” (Psalm 2).

In Acts 4: 23-31 Peter and John seek support from the faith of the community after they have been commanded by the priests and elders “never to mention that man’s name [Jesus] to anyone again.”

The response of the whole community is first to recall and proclaim the sovereignty of God “who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them.” Next they affirmed God’s power and the certainty of his triumph over his enemies: “Why did the Gentiles rage, the peoples conspire in folly… against the Lord and his anointed?” Those who conspired against Jesus “brought about the very things which in your powerful providence you planned long ago.”

Then they asked God to give them “complete assurance” by granting “cures and signs and wonders to be worked in the name of Jesus.” And God responded: “The place where they were gathered shook as they prayed. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak God’s word with confidence.”

Normally God does not give such dramatic signs of his presence and power. In John 3: 1-8 Jesus tells Nicodemus that the most basic source of our assurance is in the simple fact that we have been born again; that we are sharers in God’s own divine life; that, in Augustine’s words, “we have become not only Christians, but Christ!”(quoted by John Paul II in The Splendor of Truth, no. 21). We say with the same Saint Augustine, “Give me the grace to do what you command, Lord, and command whatever you wish — Da quod jubes et jube quod vis.” Why? Because “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). Jesus lives in us; we are his body; he has poured out his Spirit into our hearts; he himself acts in and through us. All we have to do is put his words creatively into practice and live them out in the concrete circumstances of our time and place by surrendering to his inspirations. We need to follow the voice of his Spirit, even when we “do not know where it comes from or where it goes” — meaning we have to give up the need for security and control that insists on seeing with mathematical certitude precisely where an inspiration is coming from and leading. This is our role as prophets and we were anointed by God to fulfill it. We will be blessed and bless the world if we do. Happy are all who put their trust in the Lord.”

Initiative: Be a prophet. Trust in the inspirations of the Holy Spirit even when you are not sure where they may lead you. But discern with the community.

Experiencing and Expressing the Risen Life

April 12 2015

THE SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR B

Experiencing and Expressing the Risen Life

Inventory

When do you experience yourself as most alive by grace? Does this usually depend on some expression other people are giving to their faith that supports and inspires you? How much of your experience of grace depends only what you yourself are doing? What have you done that has given you the experience, the felt conviction, of being alive by grace?

Input

The Entrance Antiphon counsels us, “Like newborn infants, long for pure, spiritual milk, so that through it you may grow into salvation.” One way to experience life is to eat food that energizes us. The readings will show us what that food is in our daily lives.

The Opening Prayer reminds us that we are reborn: that God “gives us new birth in the Spirit.” We ask God to “increase our awareness” of the blessings that are ours because of this new life — not so that we will rest complacently in them, but so that we will long for more. We pray, “Renew your gift of life within us.” We ask for divine energy to “grow… toward the fullness of eternal life.” We want our religion to be brought alive by the experience of Christ’s life within us.

The Readings show us how we become aware of this experience. The Responsorial Psalm declares the spontaneous response it evokes: “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting” (Psalm 118).

A visible stance:

Acts 4: 32-35 speaks about experiencing the grace (favor) of divine life through the stance we take toward money and possessions.

We may not have great experiences in prayer or feel a lot of devotion when we are at Mass or doing “spiritual” things. We may even feel “turned off” by religion and indifferent to God.

But feelings are not a good gauge of how religious we are. Feelings come and go. Feelings are produced according to the laws of cause and effect; not by free will. We cannot measure our personal, our real, response to anything by the way we feel about it. Love is shown — and experienced — in deeds.

The problem with experiencing our love for God through deeds is that there are not a lot of things we can do that touch God directly. Also, God is invisible, so we can’t see what effect our actions are having on him.

The way to “see” the stance we are taking toward God is to take a stance toward people and things on this earth — a visible stance that can only be explained or understood as resulting from a stance toward God.

For example, in the early Church, when “all who owned property or houses sold them and donated the proceeds…. to be distributed to everyone according to each one’s need,” this was pretty strong evidence of real belief in the teachings and promises of Jesus. Why else would anyone do that?

The stance we take toward money and possessions is a pretty good indication of the stance we take toward life in this world — and toward life in the world to come. The “eternal life” Jesus promises does not begin when we die; it is ours from the moment we accept it here on earth. The eternal life of heaven is simply the eternal life given to us on earth extended and brought to fullness. To believe in eternal life promised is to experience eternal life given — if our belief is embodied in action.

The way to experience eternal life — divine life, “grace” — given to us is to do something we could not do without it. The way most ready to hand is to take a stance toward treasure on earth that makes it very clear that our hearts are set on treasure in heaven. This is what the early Christians did. It is what Christians still do — in a variety of ways. And when they do they experience freedom, reassurance and joy. They speak from personal knowledge when they say, “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting.”

Faith in the flesh:

John made the point in his Gospel: “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son… who has made him known” (John 1:18 ). Jesus did that by “taking flesh,” taking a human body and becoming a visible member of the human race. This has been the pattern of Christian spirituality ever since. Our religion is faith made flesh, hope embodied in physical human choices, love empowering physical human actions.

“Who [indeed] is the victor over the world?” 1John 5: 1-6 tells us it is those who are “begotten by God” by believing that Jesus, the “only begotten Son of the Father,” became flesh in a physical human body and physically died to give us spiritual life.

Jesus came “through water and blood… not by water alone, but by water and blood.” His own baptism was not just the symbolic gesture of being washed in the Jordan river. The “baptism” toward which his life was bent was a washing in his own blood (Luke 12:50).

On the cross Jesus proved (and experienced) the “breadth and length and height and depth” of his love for the Father and for us by a physical action, his passion and death, that left no doubt about his love. If we want to experience our real, our live union with him in that love, then our love too must be embodied in actions. These are not just any actions: they are actions that could have no other motivation than faith: “The victory that conquers the world is our faith.” Whatever we can do, conquer or achieve without faith is not an unambiguous proof of the life and power of God within us.

This is Christian witness. We bear witness to Jesus Christ as prophets through actions that are both the expression and the experience of his divine life active within us. Through our visible human choices we reveal the invisible life of grace enlightening our minds to believe what Jesus said, converting our desires into hope for what he promises, strengthening our hearts to love beyond the limits of this world.

Then we can say and inspire others to say with us, “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting.”

Unless I see and touch…

When the risen Jesus appears to his disciples in John 20: 19-31 his opening words are always, “Peace be with you.” Where does that peace come from?

Jesus’ first words after the greeting tell us. The first time, “When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.” He showed them the proof of his passion and death so they would know that the living man in front of them had truly risen from the dead. The first source of our peace is in the fact that Jesus is risen and is living still. He is still with us.

After his second greeting, Jesus said, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Then he “breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.”

The second source of our peace is in the fact that we are sent and empowered by the Spirit to continue Christ’s work on earth. We have a meaning and purpose in life. We know what we are here for, and what we have to do. And we know that the light and strength to do it are coming, not from us, but from the gift of the Spirit within us. In other words, we know that the risen Jesus is living and acting in us. We are the risen Jesus.

Jesus said that he would go down into the grave to rise multiplied through resurrection in every living member of his body on earth: “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). Our peace is in the fact that Jesus is risen and living in us.

But Thomas could not find this peace just from the other disciples’ report that they had seen Jesus. He said, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands” and touch his wounds myself, “I will not believe.”

Thank God for hard-headed disciples! Thomas voiced the need we all have to see flesh-and-blood evidence that Jesus is risen and real. Where do we find it? In the flesh-and-blood reality of his body on earth — in the flesh–and-blood experience that we and others are living the life of grace, the risen life, the divine life of Jesus living in us. Every time we act in a way that expresses our faith, and especially when nothing but faith can explain it, Jesus in us is saying to anyone who doubts, “See my hands. Touch me. And do not be unbelieving but believe — that through this belief you may have life.”

Insight

What do I do that cannot be explained except by my faith in Jesus Christ? Are there things I do that I know I would not do unless I were motivated by faith, even though other people might do them for other motives?

Initiative:

Take God’s words seriously. Make some choices consciously based on them.

“I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me”

April 11 2015

SATURDAY, first week of Easter

“I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me” 

The Responsorial Psalm gives us one source of the assurance we need to have if we are going to stand up as prophets in spite of rejection and opposition: “I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me” (Psalm 118).

The whole Psalm is a hymn of confidence based on the experience of calling on God and being rescued. What gives confidence to prophets is the experience of following inspirations that were proven — by their fruits, usually — to have been true.

Acts 4: 13-21 shows us Peter and John standing up to the highest authorities in Israel, daring them to tell them whether “it is right in the sight of God for us to obey you rather than God.”

This is a scary position to take. The Jewish authorities were established by God. It was a religious duty to obey them, and the only justification for disobedience would be an assurance that their command was contrary to God’s. The Apostles had this assurance, based on a conviction that Jesus had sent them to proclaim the Good News (Matthew 10:7; 28: 18-20): “It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.” Where does our assurance come from?

In Mark 16: 9-15 we see Christ’s messengers being rejected by the highest authorities in Christ’s own Church. He sent Mary Magdalen to the Apostles, “but when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.” He sent the two he had joined on the road to Emmaus, “but they did not believe them” either. But God vindicated them. Jesus “appeared to the Eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.” (Add Galatians 2: 1-14).

If the Apostles themselves would not believe the eyewitnesses Jesus sent to them, should we be surprised if Church authorities are slow to accept the insights of the prophets in the Church today? Prophets must expect rejection and even hostility as normal. They must be prepared to accept this with peaceful and loving hearts. They don’t have to prove they are right; God will do that. He does it especially by confirming with peace in their hearts the truth they live out in action. “I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me.” Prophets simply have to proclaim the truth with peace — and live it peacefully themselves.

Initiative: Be a prophet. Combine courage with love. Be ready to accept rejection and hostility — even from authorities — without withdrawing faith, loyalty or love. When you take a stance that is radical, look for the confirmation of interior peace.

The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone

April 10 2015

FRIDAY, first week of Easter

The stone rejected by the builders 

has become the cornerstone

The Responsorial Psalm gives us the key to Christian living: “The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone” (Psalm 118).

Our life must be built on interacting with Jesus, consulting his mind, responding to his inspirations, relying on his strength. The cornerstone of Christian life is constant interaction with the living person of Jesus, who is with us and within us.

Acts 4: 1-12 contrasts Israel’s “leaders, elders and scribes… and all who were of the high-priestly caste” with the disciples of Jesus. For the authorities and recognized leaders in Israel, Jesus was “the stone rejected by the builders.” But for those who believe, he “has become the cornerstone” — of the Church, of life, and of that “life to the full” which is salvation. “There is no salvation through anyone [or anything] else.” If we want to “have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10), we have to deal with Jesus.

What other options are there?

The most common wrong choice for religious people is to build their lives and base their security on keeping God’s laws. But those who do this do not build their lives on God’s deepest, most fundamental and all-embracing laws — such as “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might,” “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (changed by Jesus to “Love one another just as I have loved you,” and “The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself.”¹ These are all general principles that, instead of spelling out precisely what we should do, require us to think. But many prefer to focus on concrete rules, usually of minor (although real) importance, and to obey them rigidly, refusing the challenge of personal interpretation and prophetic application to particular situations. This is called legalism. It was the religion of the Pharisees and the “chief priests,” who rejected Jesus because he was summoning them to interact with the living God. The prophets are those who try to apply rules and principles to concrete circumstances according to the mind of God — by consulting the Spirit of Jesus within them.

John 21: 1-14 gives us a guideline for discerning whether an inspiration is from God. When they followed the voice from the shore and their nets were filled, John said, “It is the Lord!” The sign it was Jesus was the fruit his instructions bore. We should ask if the choices we make are life-giving. Life is a sign of God.

¹Deuteronomy 6:5; John 13:34); and Leviticus 19: 18, 34.

Initiative: Be a prophet. Focus on the living Jesus, not on the dead letter of law. 

O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!

April 9, 2015

THURSDAY, first week of Easter

O Lord, our God, 

how wonderful your name in all the earth!

The Responsorial Psalm is our response of faith to Jesus’ death and resurrection: “O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8).

The theme of Acts 3: 11-26 is that through the resurrection of Jesus — as made manifest in the Church, his risen body on earth today — God “has glorified his servant Jesus” and made clear to all that he “has thus brought to fulfillment what he had announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets.”

God’s promise to Abraham was, “In your offspring all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” This was not the blessing of prosperity through political justice and peace. Jesus did not come to achieve political reforms. He came, not to change the environment, but to change people who would change the environment. He came to establish peace and justice on earth, but indirectly, by first establishing the peace of justice and love in human hearts. Then in and through those humans, his own risen body, he would work “until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets.” The blessing Jesus gives is conversion and transformation of heart: “God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.” This is how God chooses to “renew the face of the earth.”

What God promised through the prophets of old he will bring about through the prophets of today — through those who apply his teaching and principles creatively to current reality. The true mission of the prophets is not to predict the future but to create it by living it out in preview. The lifestyle and behavior of the prophetic Church should make the whole world cry out in admiration: “O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!

Luke 24: 35 to 48 makes the point that the risen Jesus is only revealed in flesh and blood. Jesus said, “Look at my hands and my feet…. Touch me and see that a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” And he “ate in front of them.”

The role of the Church is to give the risen Jesus visible “flesh and bones.” We who live and work and eat and drink with others must do it in such a way that we reveal the presence of the living Jesus in us. Our witness is in what we embody. If in our actions we “give flesh” to the words of Jesus, then indeed we are “witnesses of these things” and the world will cry out, “O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!”

Initiative: Be a prophet. Embody the Good News in your lifestyle: in your words, actions and choices; in what you buy, use and produce; in your profits and losses.

Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord

April 8, 2015

WEDNESDAY, Easter, week one:

Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord

The Responsorial Psalm tells us the path to joy: “Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord” (Psalm 105). Those who seek will find; and what they find will give them the fullness of joy.

In Acts 3: 1-10 the lame man found something he did not seek. Instead of money he received healing. And his cure brought others to find something they were not seeking.

There is a three-step pattern in the Apostles’ preaching of the Good News. First, there is an event that shocks— like the cure of the lame man or the enthusiasm of Pentecost. The event is something that raises a question (Acts 2: 1-13; 3: 9-11; 4:7). This is called pre-evangeliza­tion. It prepares people to listen. It makes those who were not seeking want to hear an answer.

This is the work of the prophets. It doesn’t take miracles; the lifestyle of Christians should be different enough, shocking enough, to raise questions that cannot be answered without the preaching of the Gospel. This is what prepares people to listen to the Good News.

In Luke 24: 13-35 the event that shocked the disillusioned disciples on the road to Emmaus was the apparent defeat of Jesus. In answer to their confused discouragement Jesus passes to the second step — evangelization — which is the proclamation and explanation of the Good News in answer to the question raised. “He interpreted to them the things about himself in all the Scriptures.” As he did so, their “hearts were burning within them” (and see Acts 2: 14-40; 3: 12-26; 4:8-12).

But the process is not complete until it is celebrated, which is normally in Eucharist. “He was made known to them in the breaking of the bread” (and Acts 2: 41-42; 4: 21 to 5:32) It is not enough just to hear and receive the message of the Gospel; we have to respond to it. We have to express our faith and our joy in celebration. “Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord.” When we find what we seek we have to celebrate it. Otherwise we will not really assimilate and appreciate it. In this we pass from prophets to priests.

But the starting point is seeking. And what makes people seek is pre-evangelization: something that raises a question that can only be answered by the news of Jesus Christ. The function of the prophets is to raise that question by the way they live and act. The prophets challenge, but their challenge leads to joy. “Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord.”

Initiative: Be a prophet. Live in a way that cannot be explained except through the principles and values taught (and lived out) by Jesus Christ. 

“The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord”

April 7, 2015

TUESDAY, first week of Easter:

“The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord” 

The Responsorial Psalm insists: “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord” (Psalm 33). In the darkest times the earth is full of light if we look for it. When we feel like saying, “We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader” (Daniel 3: 25), the truth is, the Church is filled with prophets and leaders. We ourselves have the gifts of prophecy and leadership. We just have to use them.

In Acts 2: 36-41 Peter proclaims Christ’s defeat on the cross as his victory: “God has made him both Lord and Christ [Anointed, Messiah]…. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” St. Paul reaffirms this: “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good: (1Corinthians 12:7). The gift of the Spirit is the fruit of Christ’s death and resurrection: his “first gift to those who believe.”

The ability to give us the Spirit is what makes Jesus able to be Lord and Savior today. Through his Spirit, enlightening and strengthen­ing the members of his body on earth, Jesus is able to continue his mission in the world. The “earth is full of the goodness of the Lord” because Jesus is acting in and through us who are gifted with his Spirit.

This means that we are all called to be leaders. Anyone who sees what needs to be said or done in particular circumstances is called to exercise leadership by suggesting it or trying to get it done. Leaders don’t have to have authority (any more than authorities have to be leaders); we follow leaders voluntarily, because we believe they are right.

Leadership begins with example. If we begin doing what is right ourselves — especially what is prophetically right, right that has not yet been generally recognized as right — we give others a chance to follow. This is prophetic leadership.

John 20: 11-18 is one of many examples that show us Jesus using leaders to guide authorities. The Apostles were the ones to whom Jesus gave authority in the Church. But he gave them instructions on what to do through the women who were the first to go to the tomb (Matthew 28: 7, 10; Mark 16:7; John 20:17). And he used Paul to bring Peter, the chief among the Apostles, into line when Peter was afraid to do what was right (Galatians 2: 6-14). In the Old Testament God spoke more through the prophets than through the priests. In today’s Church, since all are prophets and priests by Baptism, we have no reason to assume that prophetic leadership is restricted to the ordained clergy. “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.” We just have to use the gifts given to all.

Initiative: Be a prophet. Lead when you see the way.

Keep me safe, O God, you are my hope

April 6, 2015

MONDAY, first week of Easter ¹

Keep me safe, O God, you are my hope

The Responsorial Psalm is a key to the readings: “Keep me safe, O God, you are my hope” (Psalm 16).

Acts 2: 14-33 says that because David was a prophet “he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,” and that when he wrote (in Psalm 16) “you will not abandon my soul to the nether world, nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption,” he meant the Messiah would be raised from the dead.

This is true, but we should not be simplistic about it. We don’t have to say that David was consciously aware of this. He could have been talking about himself, and only meant that God was not going to let him be killed anytime soon. But actually, whether he knew it or not, he was talking about the resurrection of Jesus. There are many things in the Old Testament that we can only understand in the light of what actually happened later, when Jesus came. (See, for example, Matthew 1: 22-23; 2:15; 2:23; John 19:36).

We saw yesterday that when John and Peter found Jesus’ tomb empty, “they did not yet understand the Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” But they “saw and believed.” Then they were able to understand what had happened. When reading Scripture, we do not believe because we understand; rather, we come to understand because we believe. This is what makes us prophets.

Prophets are those who can see how teachings in the Gospel that are general and abstract apply to the concrete circumstances of their own time and place. Because they really believe, for example, that we should love one another as Jesus loves us, they recognize all sorts of things this love calls us to do, from abolishing slavery to talking to people everyone else ignores. Those who are not living out their baptismal consecration as prophets do not see these things, because they do not have enough real faith in what Jesus says to want to live it out in action. So they just follow the crowd and see things the way everyone else does.

Matthew 28: 8-15 gives us an example of this. Those who appreciated the teachings of Jesus enough to want to believe would accept the women’s witness to his resurrection. Those who did not want to accept his teachings would accept the soldiers’ story. Sometimes our perception of truth depends on what we recognize and accept as goodness. We see that happening today.

¹Weekday readings are the same every year during Easter season.

Initiative: 

Be a prophet. Approach the Scriptures with faith and love. Read and reflect on the words of Jesus, desiring to be challenged. Take it on faith that, in spite of appearances, everything he calls you to do will lead you to greater happiness. 

We are prophets sent to bear witness as Christ’s risen body

April 5, 2015

 EASTER SUNDAY Morning Mass (Year B)

We are prophets sent to bear witness 

as Christ’s risen body.

Inventory:

What do you see that needs to be changed — reformed or renewed — in our society? What do you see “the Church” doing about it?

Stop. When you asked what “the Church” is doing, were you thinking of what the bishops and clergy are doing? Or were you spontaneously thinking of the whole Church — bishops and nuns, laity and priests — all working together?

Do you think of the “Church” as guided and directed “from the top down”? Or do you assume that most of the leadership and initiatives are coming “from the bottom up,” and that those in authority are just accepting and encouraging these initiatives?

Do you think of yourself, with your family and friends, as “being the Church”? Do you feel called to bear witness as Church wherever you are? In everything you do?

How would you summarize your “job description” as a Christian?

Input:

Three things are unique about today’s lay Catholics: 

1. The laity who assemble for Mass today are the most educated congregations priests have faced since the beginning of the world. 

2. They are the first since the earliest days of the Church to be told that they are called to perfection, and not just to “save their souls.” 

3. They are the first to have it explained to them that the vocation for which they are consecrated and empowered by God is the work of transforming society — the mission to “renew the face of the earth.”

In the Opening Prayer we ask God to “raise us up and renew our lives by the Spirit that is within us.” That Spirit was given to us at Baptism, when we were solemnly anointed with chrism on the top of our heads and consecrated to carry on the work of Jesus: Prophet, Priest and King. This is what the Spirit empowers us to do: to be Christ, his risen body on earth, and let him continue his mission in our flesh.

In the Prayer over the Gifts we offer God “the sacrifice by which your Church is reborn and nourished.” The sacrifice we offer at Mass is not only Jesus, but ourselves as included and incorporated in him as members of his body. When the bread and wine are placed on the altar at the Presentation of Gifts there should be a host on the plate for each person present — a sign that we are presenting ourselves to be offered with Christ and in Christ for the life of the world. This is our vocation.

Witnesses to the Resurrection:

The Responsorial Psalm is a meditation on the first reading. The response it calls for is: “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad” (Psalm 118) And this gives us a key to all the readings.

Acts 10: 34-43 shows us Peter explaining the Good News for the first time to a Gentile audience. The good news is that Jesus has risen from the dead. His enemies did not defeat him. He has saved the world. We too will rise from the dead. “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.”

To establish his credibility Peter declares, “We are witnesses of all that he did….” And he says Jesus showed himself visibly “to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.” He says he is preaching because Jesus “commissioned us to… testify” as witnesses do. And he concludes “To him all the prophets bear witness….”

This is the first work of a Christian: to bear witness to the resurrection of Jesus. We do this, not just by talking about it, but by showing that Jesus is alive and active in us who are his risen body on earth. The “sign of Jonah,” which is the only sign Jesus promised to those who asked for signs (Matthew 12: 39-40; 16:4) is not just the fact that Jesus came out of the tomb after three days, as Jonah came out of the fish. A sign has to be seen. And what is seen today is the living presence of Jesus in his body on earth today, which is us. Jesus shows himself visibly in and through us, witnesses chosen by God, who to this day “eat and drink with him” and recognize him in the “breaking of the bread” at Mass (Luke 22:31).

 “If you were raised…”

For the living Jesus to be visible in us, we have to live and act in ways that cannot be explained except by his life present within us (see Acts 2: 1-36; 12: 1-26). We don’t have to work miracles; we just have to think, speak and act on the level of God. We have to set our hearts visibly on the life Jesus promises us in heaven. We have to live visibly by the ideals Jesus preaches, not just by good human principles of reasonable conduct (see 1Corinthians 1: 17-26; 2: 1-16; 3:18-23). We have to live in such a way that our life does not make sense — cannot be explained — except in the light of the Gospel and by the power of the risen Jesus living and acting in us.

In Colossians 3: 1-4 Paul tells us this: “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

This is a question of identity. To be authentically Christian we have to simply “die” to living life in this world according to ordinary human standards. We have to give up everything this world holds out to us, just as if we were dead. Then we have to come to life again to live in this world under an entirely different set of terms. We come back to life to live as the risen body of Jesus. We live for what he lived for and wants to live for now in us. We live to continue his presence and his mission in the world. That is all we live for. Everything else that is presented to us as a possible object of choice — every job, every enjoyment, every relationship, every invitation to do anything — we evaluate in terms of how it will help us carry out the mission of Jesus on earth. There is nothing else to live for. We have died, and our old life was buried with Christ. We have been raised up with Christ to be his risen body on earth. Our minds therefore are set on whatever is important to him. That is what we live for; that and nothing else. This is the good news of our new meaning and purpose in life: a meaning and purpose that are divine. “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.”

In practice, this means we decide never to ask again just whether something would be right or wrong, to our advantage or not, enjoyable or not, profitable or not, acceptable to our friends or not. We might ask these questions. We will certainly take the answers to them into consideration. But we will decide what to do based on the answer to another question: “How will I be bearing witness to Jesus Christ — to his values, to his presence within me — if I choose to do this? How will this job, this relationship, this activity help me to live a life of prophetic witness as the risen body of Jesus on earth?”

It is a simple matter of accepting our new identity as the risen body of Jesus. We live to let him live in us. It is that simple. We say with St. Paul: “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).

If this sounds too radical to even think about, remember you don’t have to be perfect overnight. The path to perfection starts with a beginning. So begin.

 “They saw and believed”

John 20: 1-9 tells us to begin with believing. The first step is to believe that in truth you are the risen body of Jesus. When John and Peter ran to the tomb and found it empty, “they did not yet understand the Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.” But they “saw and believed.”

And then, the Gospel says, “the disciples returned to their homes.”

If you accept, and accept deeply, to believe you are the risen body of Jesus, and that Jesus is alive and living in you, you can “return to your home” — and to all your daily occupations — but you will not return to live as you did before. You will try, little by little, step by step, to live as Christ and to let Christ live in you. This is to begin a new life, a life the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.”

Insight:

Have I really given my body without reserves to be the body of the risen Jesus? Do I find this too threatening to deal with? What is the alternative?

Initiative:

Begin each day by saying, “Lord, I give you my body. Live this day with me, live this day in me, live this day through me.”