Experiencing the Spirit of Christ

May 10, 2015

THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

Experiencing the Spirit of Christ

Inventory (Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year B)

What gives me the greatest joy in life right now? Does it ever cause me to say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!”?

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Everything in the liturgy is speaking to us of joy. The Entrance Antiphon begins: “Speak out with a voice of joy….” This is a joy that is spread by love: “Let it be heard to the ends of the earth!” And why do we rejoice? It is because God is giving new life to us and extending this life to the whole world: “The Lord has set his people free!”

The Opening Prayer begins, “Ever-living God, help us to celebrate our joy… and to express in our lives the joy we celebrate.” Love can’t keep joy to itself. The alternative Opening Prayer looks to the day when joy will be complete throughout the whole redeemed and risen human race: “May our mortal lives be crowned with the ultimate joy of rising with him.”

The Responsorial Psalm celebrates the inclusion of the whole human race in this joy: “The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power” (Psalm 97). The Church rejoices because the power of the risen Jesus is shown in the extension of his saving love to every person on earth.

From Law to Spirit

In Acts 10: 25-48 God taught Peter a lesson that altered his whole understanding of the Church’s ministry. Peter had been praying on the flat roof of his house when he saw in vision a net filled with creatures Jews were forbidden to eat. A  voice from heaven said, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter, who never hesitated to contradict God (see Matthew 16:22) answered as a law-abiding Jew, "By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean” — to which the voice responded, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane!”

This happened three times, and Peter was still “greatly puzzled about what to make of the vision that he had seen.” He was not a fast learner.

Then some men came to invite him to the house of a Roman centurion, Cornelius, who with his non-Jewish friends wanted to hear about Jesus. Peter went, although he said to them, "You know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.” Peter was catching on.

Then an extraordinary thing happened. While Peter was telling them about Jesus, “the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word,” and the Jewish Christians who had come with Peter “were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.”

This converted Peter from a legalist to an apostle! He said, “Can anyone withhold the water of baptism from these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” So he ordered them to be baptized.

This decision, with Paul’s extended ministry to the Gentiles, surfaced the division within the Church between the “Pharisee party” whose loyalty was to the rules and customs they grew up with, and those who responded to the Holy Spirit. That division still splits the Church today and will do so until Christ comes in glory. Phariseeism was, is and always will be the most destructive virus in Christianity.

The Law of Love:

1John 4: 7-10 gives us the only real answer to this. It is love. John, by the end of his life, had made it his theme song: “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God… Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

Jesus taught Peter this three times (John 21: 15-17 ). He kept asking Peter, “Do you love me?” And each time Peter said he did, Jesus answered, “Feed my sheep.”

If we know Jesus, know his mind and heart, and not just his laws, we will try above all things to heal and nurture and encourage one another  — especially those who “have most need of mercy”: the sinful and straying and confused, those who feel excluded and rejected by the Church. We will interpret laws by love. Then we will have the “mind of Christ” and the true mind of the Church (see 1Corinthians 2:12 to 3:15).

The “Jesus Command”

In John 15: 9-17 Jesus tells us that to “remain in his love” we must keep his commandments. Then he summarizes all of his commandments in one: “This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you.” To do this we have to understand his love and know his heart, just as Jesus understood the Father’s love and knew his heart. We have to grow into intimate friendship with Jesus Christ.

This is what he offers us: “I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learned from my Father.” The key to ministry, to prophetic witness, to the transformation of the world as faithful stewards of Christ’s kingship, is simply this: intimate knowledge and love of Jesus Christ. He is the vine, we the branches. We bear fruit by letting his love give life through us.

It is through love, the love that moved Jesus to “lay down his life for his friends,” that “The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.”

And continues to reveal it.

Insight

When do I feel most united to Christ: when I am condemning others for their faults or nurturing them with love? When I am “standing up for the law” or adapting the law with love?

Initiative:

Use “ the fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22)— love, joy and peace —as a “rule of thumb” to discern whether you are thinking with the “mind of Christ.”.

“Let all the earth cry out to God with joy”

May 9, 2015

SATURDAY, Easter week five

“Let all the earth cry out to God with joy”

Though both readings speak of opposition to the Gospel and persecution, the Responsorial verse tells us: “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy” (Psalm 100). The truth is that people’s rejection of the Church can be a sign that we are truly united with Jesus, the “stone that the builders rejected,” who “has become the cornerstone” (1Peter 2:7). Anything that indicates we have “died with Christ” to the attitudes and values of this world is an assurance that we have also “risen to new life in him” (Entrance Antiphon). This is a cause to rejoice.

In Acts 16: 1-10 we see Paul subjecting Timothy to the unnecessary pain of circumcision in order to make his ministry acceptable to Jews who were still locked into the law. We know that the apostles were ready to endure persecution for preaching the Gospel (see Acts 4; 18-33; 14: 8, 19-21), but still the “Holy Spirit prevented them” from preaching in some places — presumably because God knew they would not be accepted there. Christians neither seek persecution nor let it deter them; they simply follow the Holy Spirit without regard for consequences. This is the guiding principle behind prophetic witness. Whether we are accepted or rejected, praised or persecuted, “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy” (cf. Philippians 1: 12-22; 2Timothy 4: 1-9).

In John 15: 18-21 Jesus tells us that being rejected by people can be a sign we are united to Christ: “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world--therefore the world hates you.”

There could be other reasons for rejection, of course. Christians — and more commonly clerics, because of their public status and high visibility — might be hated because of their arrogance, injustice or hypocrisy. Peter warns the early Christians: “Let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief maker. Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name” (1Peter 4:14-16). As prophets, we are not trying to draw attention to ourselves by getting ourselves stoned (civil disobedience is a separate issue); we are just trying to live out the message of Jesus authentically. And no matter how people respond to it, we will persevere in peacefulness and in love. As long as we are united to Christ, whether in his suffering or in his glory, “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.”

Initiative: Be a prophet. Bear witness to the Resurrection by living the Gospel fearlessly, regardless of consequences.

“I will give you thanks among the peoples, O Lord ”

May 8, 2015

FRIDAY, Easter week five

“I will give you thanks among the peoples, O Lord ”

The Responsorial Psalm is the exclamation of one who rejoices in God’s saving love for all people: “I will give you thanks among the peoples, O Lord ” (Psalm 57).

In Acts 15: 22-31 we see this saving love embodied in the Church’s response to the Gentile converts. The community disclaims those who “without any mandate from us have upset you with their teachings and disturbed your peace of mind.” The Apostles and presbyters confidently affirm, “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities….”

The spirit of the Church guided by the Spirit is the exact opposite of what Jesus condemned in the Pharisees and “scribes,” or specialists in the application of the law: “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them” (Matthew 23:2-4; Luke 11:46). The spirit that should always prevail in the Church is the spirit Jesus expressed when he said, "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

This is the spirit of the prophets, who look, not to the letter of the law, but to the goal of the law, conscious that the intention that governs and determines the goal of every law or regulation in the Church is Jesus’ commission to Peter, “Feed my sheep.” In fulfilling this command we know that we truly love him and those to whom he has sent us (see John 21: 15-17).

The freedom of spirit with which prophets approach laws is rooted in Jesus’ words at the Last Supper (John 15: 12-17): “I no longer call you servants, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” Prophets try to judge out of intimate knowledge of God’s mind and heart. Because of this the prophets are constantly ministering to others as priests (by Baptism). This is to live Christ’s love. Jesus said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.” To minister, serving the needs of others, is literally to “give one’s life” for others, because every minute we give to another in service is a minute of our life. On this earth life and time are synonymous; for any one of us they begin and end together.

Jesus who gave us the commandment, “love one another as I love you” told us later, “I chose you to go and bear fruit.” We show our love for God and others by constantly giving expression to the life of God in us in order to communicate it to others.

Initiative: Be a prophet. Listen, learn and live by the heart (love) of Christ.

“Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations”

May 7, 2015

THURSDAY, Easter week five

“Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations” 

The Responsorial Psalm directs us to focus our attention on what God is doing, and to let that guide our judgments about human behavior: “Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations” (Psalm 96). In particular, our interpretation of laws should be based on what we experience the Spirit doing in the Church. This is what the readings teach us.

In Acts 15: 7-21 the “Apostles and presbyters” resolved the dissension between the missionaries and the Pharisee party in the Church by basing their decision on three things.

First was the spiritual experience that Peter, Paul and the missionaries had of the Holy Spirit blessing their work among the Gentiles. Peter reminded them that God chose “that through my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the Gospel and believe. And God… bore witness by granting them the Holy Spirit just as he did us” (see Acts 10 and note the immediate opposition of the Pharisee party, Acts 11: 1-18). Then “Barnabas and Paul… told of all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles.”

Second, James quoted God’s words in Scripture to show how “the words of the prophets agree with this.”

Finally, their conclusion reflects political sensitivity to the feelings of the Jewish Christians. The Gentile converts were asked to give up some foods that were especially abhorrent to Jews. These restrictions waned as their cause ceased to be an issue.

In their discussion and discernment, the Apostles and elders were in fact following Jesus’ instructions in John 15: 9-11: “Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.” Their focus was on love, not law observance. The “commandments” Jesus urged them to keep were his own, not the rules and regulations already established in Judaism. And the greatest of his commands was simply, “Love one another as I love you.” Their decision was guided by their desire to love the Gentiles as Jesus loves all.

Jesus told them to keep his commandments “just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.” This focuses us on mission, because that is what the Father sent Jesus to do. And it coincides with Jesus’ great command to Peter: “If you love me, feed my sheep” (John 21: 15-17). To truly obey Jesus with love, we must love and nurture his sheep. That is what guided the community’s decision about what to impose and not impose on the Gentile converts. And that is the spirit that must guide us all today. To do this we must have the courage to interpret laws in the light of the Spirit and their pastoral purpose.

Initiative: Be a prophet. Look to the goal of each law and do what will achieve it. 

“Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord”

May 6, 2015

WEDNESDAY, Easter week five

“Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord” 

The Responsorial Psalm tells us: “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord” (Psalm 122). The readings give us a choice of what we will rejoice in.

The basic choice appears in Acts 15: 1-6. We can rejoice in “all that God has done” or just in the fact that the rules are being kept. This was the concern of those who “had come down from Judea” to Antioch and were instructing the new Gentile converts whom Paul and Barnabas had brought into the Church, “Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice, you cannot be saved.” They were not rejoicing in “all that God had done” through Paul and Barnabas, and “how he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27). All they cared about or rejoiced in was law observance and “orthodoxy” according to their own understanding of what acceptable teaching was.

There are still those in the Church — and their “name is legion” (see Mark 5:9) — who perpetuate this same attitude. They are the natural descendants of the Pharisees, identifiable in any parish or diocese by their auto-assumption of responsibility for defending the Church against all pastoral interpretations or prophetic applications beyond the letter of the law. They do not care about “opening a door” for anyone. They just want to close the door to any innovations or change. Any priest or lay minister whose first concern is to “feed the sheep” (John 21: 15-17) will be engaged by them in “dissension and debate” as Paul and Barnabas were. Law and order are all that gives them joy, and they are usually recognizable by their joylessness.

When the Church envoys told of the conversion of the Gentiles they “brought great joy to all the believers” — except for the those who came from the “party of the Pharisees.” These “stood up and said, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to keep the law of Moses.’” What a contrast!

In John 15: 1-8 Jesus teaches us to rejoice in what bears fruit — which really means to focus on union with him. “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit…. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” The focus is on union of mind and heart with Jesus, not on law.

Disciples are learners. Learners change and grow. The Father “prunes” them so that they will “bear more fruit.” Not to change, grow and bear increasing fruit may mean that we are not “abiding” in Christ and that his words are not “abiding in us.” And it probably means we will not “go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.”

Initiative: Be a prophet. Focus on bearing fruit through live union with Christ.

“Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom”

May 5, 2015

TUESDAY, Easter week five

“Your friends make known, O Lord, 

the glorious splendor of your kingdom” 

The Responsorial Psalm alerts us to the importance of celebrating the action of the risen Christ in the Church: “Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom” (Psalm 145).

In Acts 14: 19-28 we see a pattern that both reveals the presence and assures the permanence of the risen Jesus in the Church.

1. Paul recovers from his stoning after being left for dead, and “the next day went on with Barnabas to Derbe,” where they “proclaimed the good news….” This is a fulfillment of Jesus’ promise in today’s Gospel: “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid…. I am going away, and I will come back to you.” In the “risen” Paul Jesus continues to work

2. In Derbe and other cities Paul and Barnabas “made a considerable number of disciples,” and before they left “appointed presbyters for them in each church, and, with prayer and fasting, entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had put their faith.” They left the new church communities provided with all the priestly functions necessary to assure their continuation  (especially, but not solely, Eucharist).

3. On their return to Antioch they “called the church together and reported what God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles,” doing what the Responsorial Psalm recommends: “Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom.” Making known and celebrating the work of God in the Church is an important element in maintaining the community’s faith and awareness of the risen Jesus in their midst.

In John 14: 27-31, Jesus predicted all of this and its fruits: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” Yes, the Church will suffer persecution and setbacks. But just as Paul and Barnabas “strengthened the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue in the faith, saying, ‘It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God,’” so Jesus had strengthened the apostles, saying, “I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.” Each time that the work of the Spirit in the Church shows that Jesus has indeed “come back,” we need to celebrate it — because the “world must know” that the “ruler of this world” has “no power” over Jesus. To assure this, “Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom.”

Initiative: Be a prophet. Recognize, report and celebrate the action of the risen Jesus in the Church — especially as revealed through setbacks and persecution.

“Not to us, O LORD, but to your name give glory”

May 4, 2015

MONDAY, Easter week five

“Not to us, O LORD, but to your name give glory”

The Responsorial Psalm teaches us to experience God by depending on God: “Not to us, O LORD, but to your name give glory” (Psalm 115).

In Acts 14: 5-18 we see again the pattern of the “kerygmatic” or “heraldic” preaching of the Good News: First, pre-evangelization: a miracle raises a question to which the only true explanation is Christ’s action in his risen body (14: 8-14): “Not to us, O LORD, but to your name give glory.”

Then comes evangelization, the preaching of the Gospel in answer to the question (14: 15-18, with Paul’s presumed development). But unlike previous occasions (see Acts 2: 41-47; 4:4, 23-36), there is no record of the third phase, eucharist: the celebration of the Good News by those who believe — presumably because the Jewish faction “won over the crowds, stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city” (verse 19).

To bear witness to Christ as prophets we don’t have to work healing miracles. But we do have to be a visible, living miracle of grace! The “pre-evangelization” essential to effective proclamation of the Good News is a lifestyle, a way of living and acting, which raises questions that cannot be answered except by the teaching of Jesus and the empowerment that comes from his resurrection. The cost of prophetic witness is to live in radical contradiction to the spirit of this world and to risk persecution by those who are threatened by this.

In John 14:21-26 the apostle Jude Thaddeus asks, "Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” Why do people, even within the Church, resist the prophets and reject their witness?

The answer is that, like the Jews who stoned Paul, they identify religion with observance of the rules and adherence to orthodox doctrine, and find their security in this. But those who love Jesus enough to want to know him will become disciples, studying his words. They will enter into intimate union with God: “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

Obviously, right doctrine and rules are important; they are just not Christianity. Christianity is truth and love experienced live with God: “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send, will teach you everything.” Constant attention to and dependence on God’s action through the Holy Spirit is our only real security: “Not to us, O LORD, but to your name give glory.”

Initiative: Be a prophet. Live in dependence on the Spirit. Seek guidance through God’s words in Scripture. Listen, love and live.

We are Called to Bear Fruit by Living Union with Jesus

May 3, 2015

THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

We are Called to Bear Fruit 

by Living Union with Jesus

Inventory (Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B)

The Entrance Antiphon invites us to: “Sing to the Lord” because he has “done marvelous deeds” and “revealed his saving power” (Psalm 97). What “marvelous deeds” of God have I experienced? How do I see his “saving power” revealed in the Church and in the world today?

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In the (alternative) Opening Prayer we ask God to “give us voice to sing your praise.” Why? Because God has “revealed to the nations” his saving power and “filled all ages with the words of a new song.” The spirit of the Church is a spirit of praise for what God is doing and has done — and is doing still through us.

The Challenge of Grace:

The Responsorial Psalm tells us that when the Church assembles, the pervading spirit should be praise: “I will praise you, Lord, in the assembly of the people” (Psalm 22).

But in Acts 9: 26-31 we see that praise presupposes something. It presupposes openness to the “more” of God and to the blessed challenge of living “life to the full” by grace.

Saul (renamed “Paul” in Acts 13:9) caused panic when he tried to join the Christians he formerly persecuted. They “refused to believe he was a disciple.” But the real trouble came when he preached Jesus to the Greek-speaking Jews in Jerusalem. They “responded by trying to kill him.” What was their problem?

It was another kind of fear: fear that Saul was destroying their way of life, introducing change into their religion, calling into question the rigidly secure, unshaking structure of their religious laws. Jesus was a threat, because Jesus called them to be more than Jews; that is, more than adherents to a particular cultural embodiment of God’s revelation. Jesus was calling them, not to deny what they knew, but to go through it and beyond it in order to know God more deeply. And Saul was speaking for Jesus.

We have the same problem today when people, instead of finding joy in church, praising God because he has “revealed to the nations” his saving power and “filled all ages with the words of a new song,” prefer to focus on the sustaining discipline of rules and regulations. They seek assurance from a checklist of freeze-dried doctrines and simplified moral observances instead of opening themselves to the boundless challenge of responding to the infinite truth and love revealed in Jesus Christ. They try to “kill” any voice that shakes the structure or “opens the windows” (the phrase of John XXIII when he called for the Second Vatican Council) to clearer, deeper understanding of the un-codifiable revelation of God. Their devotion is to desiccated doctrines instead of to the living voice of Jesus who, though “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8), continues to “fill all ages with the words of a new song” as the Church reflects more deeply on Scripture and revisits the roots of her tradition. They are dry branches devoid of fruit. They come alive only to stone the prophets.

The Law of Love

1John 3: 18-24 tells us to stop talking so much about what is right and wrong in the Church, and to concentrate instead of living out the love Jesus taught us: “Let us love in deed and in truth and not merely talk about it.”

This is how we know we are “orthodox” and “committed to the truth.” To know if we are “at peace” with God we have to ask if we are at peace with our own consciences — and with others.

John doesn’t recommend we measure our behavior against a whole checklist of laws. We can lose the forest for the trees by doing that. He tells us to go straight to the “law of all laws”: the law of love. Jesus’ commandment “is this: …to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ” (that is, to build an intimate relationship of friendship and love with the person of Jesus above all things) and to “love one another as he commanded us.” If we do this we will experience the “fruit of the Spirit” — “love, joy and peace” (Galatians 5:22). This is the first fruit of grace.

“Live on in me”

The Christian religion is not a religion of doctrines and laws, or even of “love” understood as a human virtue. Nothing we believe or do can make us Christians. To be a Christian is to receive a new life. The word “grace” means “the favor of sharing in the divine life of God.” The only way to be “Christian” is to be “in Christ” as a member of his body.

In John 15: 1-8 Jesus makes it clear that in Christianity everything depends on being united to Christ. “I am the vine, you are the branches… apart from me you can do nothing.” The first, middle and last thing a Christian should be asking all day long is, “Am I doing this in union with Christ? On this job, on this date, in this conversation, in this undertaking is Christ acting in me and through me?” If not, then the words of a famous American apply, “I shoulda stood in bed!”

Our goal as Christians is to live always — as much as possible, as deeply as possible, as constantly as possible — in conscious union with Jesus Christ, who is living in us as we are living in him. He is the vine, we are the branches. We can do nothing except by his life coursing through us, which means his thoughts inspiring our thoughts, his voice speaking through our words, his love expressing itself though our love, his goals, principles and values directing every choice and decision we make. “If you live in me and my words stay part of you, you may ask what you will” – and we will “bear fruit” that renews the world!

Insight

How do I – or could I — remain conscious of acting in union with Christ all day long? What can I do to make his “words remain” in me?

Initiative:

Say frequently throughout the day, “Lord, let me think with your thoughts and speak with your words and act as your body on earth!”

“All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God”

May 2, 2015

SATURDAY, Easter week four

“All the ends of the earth have seen 

the saving power of God”

The Responsorial Psalm promises: “All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God” (Psalm 98). The readings take on special meaning if we understand “ends of the earth” to mean, not just countries, but in every country all areas of life and activity: family and social life, business and politics. When and how will the “saving power of God” be seen in all of these areas? And when it is, will not the prophetic words of the Church’s prayer be realized: “Send forth your Spirit and our hearts will be regenerated. And you will renew the face of the earth!”

In Acts 13: 44-52 we see God using the very opposition of his enemies to accomplish his purposes. This is a pattern in the Gospels, most evident in the triumph of Jesus through his death and defeat on the cross (see Matthew 2:23; 4:12-16; Acts 11:19). Now, when the Jews in Antioch rejected their preaching the Apostles saw how this opened another door: “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you reject it… we are now turning to the Gentiles…. so that we may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.”

In the Church of our day vocations to the priesthood and religious life have declined. But it takes only a little prophetic insight to recognize how God is using this to raise up the laity and animate them to live out their baptismal consecration by full participation in the ministry and apostolate of the Church.

Through the full participation of the laity in the Church’s mission, the reign of God will be established in all those areas the clergy can never reach: business, politics, family and social life. Vatican II says that this is where the laity are by vocation:

They live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of their existence is woven. They are called there by God… for the sanctification of the world from within, in the manner of leaven. (Church, #31).

For those who feel unworthy to exercise ministry and leadership in the Church Jesus tells Philip in John 14: 7-14 that just as the Father is working in Jesus, Jesus will be working in his followers: “Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these.” As the Father is “glorified in the Son” so the Son is glorified in the members of his body. “Whoever has seen me [Jesus] has seen the Father.” And whoever has seen the graced members of the Church, clergy or laity, in action has seen the Church and Jesus. It is the function of the prophets to assure this “by the witness of a life resplendent in faith, hope and love” (ibid.) so that “all the ends of the earth may see the saving power of God.”

Initiative: Be a prophet. Take Christ’s truth with you wherever you go. Live it.

“You are my Son; this day I have begotten you”

May 1, 2015

FRIDAY, Easter week four

“You are my Son; this day I have begotten you” 

The Responsorial Psalm proclaims that Jesus is a Shepherd who will always be with us, because he is divine: “You are my Son; this day I have begotten you” (Psalm 2). The proof is that he rose alive from death.

Acts 13: 26-33 tells us “the inhabitants of Jerusalem and their leaders failed to recognize” Jesus. They were not his sheep; if they had been, they would have known his voice. Foolishly, they thought they could get rid of him by having him put to death. But by this they simply “accomplished all that was written about him.” And then “God raised him from the dead.” He returned!

Jesus’ resurrection is the central fact to which the Church bears witness. Without the Gospel nothing can explain it, and nothing in the Gospel can be explained without it. To rise from the dead Jesus had to be divine; and because he was divine he had to rise from the dead. His resurrection was the Father’s way of reasserting: “You are my Son; this day I have begotten you.” By raising Jesus the Father validated all of Jesus’ claims — to take away our sins, to give life and joy “to the full,” to give peace, the Holy Spirit and eternal life — and “has fulfilled for us what God promised to our ancestors.” Jesus is with us, shepherding forever.

John 14: 1-6 shows us that Jesus fulfilled another promise of God, and is “with us” in a way beyond our imagining: “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days… I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 10:10).

The way we need to follow, the truth we need to know, the life we need to live is within us, because Jesus is within us. At the Last Supper, when Thomas asked, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus answered: “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.” But he is in us; he has made us his body. Following Jesus means being Jesus, sharing in his own divine life, light and love. God has said to each of us: “You are my Son; this day I have begotten you!”

Jesus added, “I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.” The truth is, we can be where Jesus is now, because where he is we are, and where we are Jesus is. He is the divine Shepherd who guides and enlivens us from within. We can consciously make him a part of everything we do by saying repeatedly, “Lord, I give you my body. Do this with me, do this in me, do this through me.” And he will.

Initiative: Be a prophet. Let Jesus act in and through everything you do.