30 April 2020 - taught by God

Today's Readings

(Audio)

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him,
and I will raise him on the last day.

We need the Father to draw us to Jesus. We need a revelation of who Jesus is like the one given to Peter, the revelation which could not come from flesh and blood.

The invitation of the Father is received through the Son.

Not that anyone has seen the Father
except the one who is from God;
he has seen the Father.

It might seem that if only Jesus has seen the Father and we need the Father to draw us to Jesus that this would be a problem. But Jesus himself reveals the face of the Father.

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (see John 14:9)

Similarly, the followers of Jesus reveal Jesus at work in their own lives. They make him known by their love and their unity. As Jesus is revealed, so too is his Father. The true teaching from God might seem to come through our fellow Christians, but it is not they, but the Spirit working in them who teaches. This should mean for us that no cults of personality should ever be so compelling that we can be misled. People are vessels. The teaching is from God.

They shall all be taught by God.

Jesus himself is utterly central in all true teaching. He is not replaceable. No one else can reveal the Father except the one who comes from the Father. In his incarnate flesh, his human face reveals his hidden divine nature, and the source of that nature, eternally begotten of the Father.

We are all meant to be taught by God. Perhaps this wasn't the experience we had in catechism class or at RCIA. But it is the blueprint we're trying to build. Philip shows us what it looks like in practice.

“Go and join up with that chariot.”
Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said,
“Do you understand what you are reading?”

Everything that happened between the eunuch and Philip was planned in advanced by God. It was a divine appointment that Philip never could have orchestrated on his own. The teaching the eunuch needed at exactly the moment he needed it was made available by God himself through Philip.

Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this Scripture passage,
he proclaimed Jesus to him.

When the teaching comes from God in this way it is harder to resist.

What is to prevent my being baptized?

Philip was able to play the role he played because for him Jesus was utterly central and the Holy Spirit directed his steps. This may not be true for us, but it can be if we want it.

Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes has eternal life.
I am the bread of life.

Jesus is the bread that gives life to the world. He wants to teach us that it isn't all about us. He wants us to receive the revelation of who he is and who his Father is so that, rooted and grounded in his love, we can allow ourselves to be used just as Philip was used.

29 April 2020 - not rejecting anyone

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Everything that the Father gives me will come to me,
and I will not reject anyone who comes to me,
because I came down from heaven not to do my own will
but the will of the one who sent me.

Jesus has a heart that mirrors and reveals the heart of the Father. It is a heart that does not reject anyone who comes to it. The project of the incarnation was not something selfish which Jesus did for his own sake. It wasn't as though he insisted that we follow his lead and take up our crosses because he needed us to do that to boost his own ego. Rather, everything was for us. He came that we might have life to the full (see John 10:10), to seek and to save the lost (see Luke 19:10), and that the world might be saved through him (see John 3:17). This is what it means when Jesus said he came to do the will of him who sent him. He was perfectly secure in the Father's love. His existence is, from all eternity, a perfect offering back to the Father. It is this Trinitarian power source that enables him to love us selflessly. 

Now those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.
Thus Philip went down to the city of Samaria
and proclaimed the Christ to them.

Philip was plugged into the Trinity for the source of his love. That is why persecution did not deter him. It is the reason why he, a Christian from Jerusalem, was not reluctant to preach to the crowds in Samaria. It wasn't for his own sake, or for his pride. This is why he was powerful in what he said and did, and why the crowds couldn't help but pay attention.

With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip
when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing.

Paradoxically, it is this lack of self-direction that allows Jesus to be the very source of life for those who come to him. From a human perspective it seems that only those who hoard and stockpile have anything to give. Yet it seems that in the Kingdom of Heaven that opposite is true.

I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst.

Our own plans have been scattered by the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Are we able to respond, even a little, by allowing ourselves to be used in the new situations in which we find ourselves? Are we able, even a little, to become bread for others?

Only the Trinity has a love that is able to bridge the gap of our selfishness that separates us one from another, each from God. Only such love can feed a hungry world. This is true at all levels, physically, emotionally, and even spiritually. These three hungers come together when we receive flesh and blood of Jesus. Therefore, in them, we become one bread and one body ourselves.

Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

28 April 2020 - bread of heaven

Today's Readings

(Audio)

my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.

About what kind of life was Jesus speaking? The manna in the desert gave life, at least in a limited sense. It gave them the strength they needed to continue on their pilgrimage and not collapse from hunger along the way. It kept them alive where starvation might have claimed them. Jesus was telling the crowd that there is more to life than survival. 

So they said to Jesus,
“Sir, give us this bread always.”

The crowd was interested. Mere survival so dominated their thinking that there wasn't room for much else. Yet they could imagine freedom from the endless cycle of hunger, struggle, eating, and then back to hunger once more.

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

Jesus promised something more than a one time intervention that would simply remove or even permanently transcend those natural desires. He promised that those who sated themselves on the bread that he would give would have those desires so relativized that as to make them insignificant. Even the desire for life itself would no longer be something to which we would need to claw and cling.

As they were stoning Stephen, he called out,
“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice,
“Lord, do not hold this sin against them”;
and when he said this, he fell asleep.

Stephen was so satisfied by the bread from heaven that he was even able to lay down his own life as an act of peace and forgiveness. He became like the gift which he himself first received. He was now a life given away so as to be shared. Maybe this is what planted an early seed in the mind of Saul.

Now Saul was consenting to his execution.

In giving his life away Stephen revealed something about what being filled with the grace of the heavenly bread looks like. He demonstrated a stability and a peace that could not be caused by this world or the things therein. Only the bread from heaven was a sufficient explanation. So to for us. To the degree that we receive this bread we are satisfied. Yet even while we are satisfied our hope for more grows greater and greater. It isn't like the bread which leaves us hungry and disappointed. Taking more in our greed and our need only leaves us bloated and more hungry later on. Rather, the bread of heaven is a hope that does not disappoint. There is always more available to us. It takes us from one degree of glory to another (see Second Corinthians 3:18). Through it God brings the good work begun in us to completion (see Philippians 1:6).

Into your hands I commend my spirit;
you will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God.

27 April 2020 - food that endures

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.

Jesus does help us even with the wants and desires of ours which are natural and even biological. But he doesn't want us to be content with just that level of fulfillment. If he just fulfilled our desires on demand we would only become more and more selfish, even if he was only answering those desires of ours which were not bad. The problem is that there is nothing in such desires to draw us beyond ourselves. This is why Jesus calls us to want more, not less. He calls us to a food that satisfies our spirits, that leads us beyond the confines of of being closed in on ourselves, and that gives us what we truly need.

Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you.

Only the life given away can endure. Jesus is the Bread of Life because he laid his life down out of love for the Father and for us.  As we share in it we find ourselves more able to make an offering of our own lives. Yet it is also in this bread that we find not only the secret of self-gift but also its reward. We find new life, united in one body. The bread which Jesus gives contains all sweetness within it.

It is the food that endures for eternal life that is the source of the power we see displayed by Stephen in Acts.

people . . .
came forward and debated with Stephen,
but they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.

When we try to give testimony on our own, out of obligation, we tend to be defensive. We have something to prove and we can't conceal our insecurities. When, rather, we give testimony as a gift of self made possible by the food of eternal life that we first receive, then it is that we speak with true conviction, even authority.

All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him
and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

We are called to elevate our desires. Saint Augustine reminds us, God has made us for himself and our hearts are restless until the rest in him. We cannot attain to this by our own efforts. We can't even sate our own natural hunger or that of the crowds around us with any consistency. Much less can we satisfy the deeper spiritual needs that we all share. Jesus can satisfy us at every level at which we hunger. Today he calls us to make sure that we are asking from him as much as he desires to give. Why settle for less?

Jesus answered and said to them,
“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”

We tend to look for work we can do precisely because the results we desire are not as lofty as those which Jesus desires. We wouldn't even confuse ourselves about doing the works of God if we understood how far beyond all we can ask or imagine those works truly are.

Jesus, feed us with the food that endures for eternal life, that gives us life and makes us gift. We believe that you alone can do this. 

26 April 2020 - their eyes were opened

Today's Readings

(Audio)

But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;

Disappointments sometimes prevent us from recognizing Jesus. They even make it hard for us to listen to the testimony of others.

Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning
and did not find his body;
they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.

Jesus catches our attention by the way he speaks and the things he does. But when suffering comes and it is not simply averted or prevented we begin to doubt. If Jesus has the power that it seems at first then why does he permit the challenges we encounter? Why does he delay the victory, the redemption of Israel, if this is truly in his power? Other of his followers suggest to us that apparent failures can be redeemed, that he himself was dead but now lives. Our limited understanding is reluctant at first to accept this testimony. Why would one with such power also allow himself to be so weak? Why delay the victory to the far side of suffering?

And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
and enter into his glory?”

Certainly Jesus has all along been preparing us for the cross, his and our own. He tells us that he who perseveres to the end will be saved. He tells us to take up our crosses and follow him. He tells us that the one and only way to save our lives is for us to lose them for his sake and the sake of the Kingdom. We are on board with these sorts of statements when Jesus himself seems powerful and in control. But when his glory is hidden from us we become fearful and begin to doubt.

Jesus opens our eyes to the true inner necessities and depths of his plan by opening the Scriptures to us.

Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.

The Scriptures reveal the necessity that the blood of the lamb be shed to finally and definitively cover the sins of the people.

you were ransomed from your futile conduct,
handed on by your ancestors,
not with perishable things like silver or gold
but with the precious blood of Christ
as of a spotless unblemished lamb.

There was indeed something so wrong in the human condition after the fall that it was not to be fixed simply by ignoring it. It was not to be healed by pretending it never happened. It was too serious for that. It was this fallen heart that called for the crucifixion. Rather than simply letting our hate fall upon ourselves, the ones who deserved it, all of it was taken on by one who could transform it. The consequences of the fall had to be fully borne by one who could endure them and yet emerge on the far side.

But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death,
because it was impossible for him to be held by it.

Jesus does not abandon us. Even if we give up on him and set off away from Jerusalem, away from the Apostles, and away from faith, he seeks us out. He does this even before we recognize him.

Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.

Our expectations on a natural and human level cause us to doubt, to turn away, and to leave. They prevent us from beholding the reality of Easter. But they are not the finally word. It does not, in the last measure, depend on us alone. Jesus draws near. As he opens the Scriptures and breaks the bread for us we learn to recognize him in a new way that makes sense of his own sacrifice and, in turn, of all the suffering we ourselves may experience.

And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.

We are able, by his gift of grace, to exchange our insistence that he be victorious in the way we wish for our acceptance of a victory that is actually more and not less than we could ask or imagine.,

You will show me the path to life,
abounding joy in your presence,
the delights at your right hand forever.

We need Jesus to keep opening our eyes. Let us ask for him to abide with us and to open our eyes.

But they urged him, “Stay with us,
for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”

25 April 2020 - Mark, his words

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.

We are called, no less than the Eleven, to proclaim the Gospel to every creature. We are promised special and miraculous help and protection, confirmation of our words through accompanying signs. Why, then, are we so reluctant to speak about the good news? And where are these supposed miracles?

Clothe yourselves with humility
in your dealings with one another, for:

God opposes the proud
but bestows favor on the humble.

We imagine ourselves as too humble to proclaim the Gospel, too humble for signs and wonders to be done through us. But it is very often not humility, but pride and self-protection that constrains us. We are in fact too self reliant. We afraid to try anything that exceeds what is natural for us. In the final measure our decision not to speak up is because our abilities are obviously insufficient to the task. Our worldly wisdom won't prove the resurrection. We can cause no signs and wonders to reveal the divinity of Christ.

So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God,
that he may exalt you in due time.
Cast all your worries upon him because he cares for you.

True humility is too humble even for our limitations. It is a virtue that relies on and trusts in God even before it considers ones own abilities or qualifications. Cares do arise in the hearts of the humble and the hearts of the proud. But the hearts of the humble are able to cast their cares upon Jesus, to surrender them to him because they are convinced of his love for them.

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him (see First John 4:16).

Humility is not the same as passivity. Humility is in fact of active posture in which one chooses to care more about God's heart and will than ones own. Humility doesn't make one more susceptible to temptation because one sees herself as too weak to resist. It rather makes her  stronger against it because she knows that God can be strong and powerful even in her own weakness.

Be sober and vigilant.
Your opponent the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion
looking for someone to devour.
Resist him, steadfast in faith,

Humility gives us a power that makes us able to navigate difficult circumstances and even sufferings, still able to proclaim the Gospel with no less power or conviction.  It in fact makes those sufferings into the very instruments that renew us in God's love.

The God of all grace
who called you to his eternal glory through Christ Jesus
will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you
after you have suffered a little.
To him be dominion forever.  Amen.

Lion of Judah by Robin Mark

Shout to the Lord by Darlene Zschech

Saint Mark, pray for us!

24 April 2020 - in abundance

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks,
and distributed them to those who were reclining,
and also as much of the fish as they wanted.

Jesus came that we might have life and have it in abundance. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit. His Father pours out good gifts on those who love him. Yet we stop short of believing this when we see that all we have from an earthly point of view is five barley loaves and two fish. What good are these in the face of the wants and needs that surround us?

Our gifts, insignificant though they seem, are given to us for a reason. We are meant to offer them to Jesus. We may not see immediately how they fit into the larger picture but we are told that they do.

On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable (First Corinthians 12:22).

If we go off on our own and try to feed the crowds there will assuredly by a lot of hungry and probably angry people. But if we first bring our gifts to Jesus he will use them, weaving them together with those of others into a tapestry we could not have foreseen. It is precisely in this sense that our gifts must be treasured and cultivated.

“Gather the fragments left over,
so that nothing will be wasted.”

These fragments might have seemed unimportant in the light of the power Jesus displayed in this miracle. After all, he could just do the same thing again as needed. But Jesus insisted that they should be kept. When Jesus makes use of our gifts for his kingdom we should be thankful. We should reflect on what he has done, treasuring these things in on our hearts just as Mary did. When we remember to be thankful the gifts have an effect that even outlasts their initial use. Our faith is strengthened and we are more ready to be used by Jesus again in the future. The fragments themselves help us to transcend the scarcity mindsets that we so often adopt and come to believe that he really does intend for us to have life in abundance.

It is the hidden abundance in the message of the kingdom that sets it apart from other movements in the time of Jesus, and other religions in our own day.

So now I tell you,
have nothing to do with these men, and let them go.
For if this endeavor or this activity is of human origin,
it will destroy itself.

Christianity looks the same in the aspect of many of its externals. In the face of the cold world of scientific rationalism, or the point of view of economic utilitarianism it seems insufficient. The bread it offers does not seem to be enough. Yet the more Christianity is afflicted the more the secret source that keeps it alive becomes apparent. Jesus has bread about which the world does not know. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.

For if this endeavor or this activity is of human origin,
it will destroy itself.
But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them;
you may even find yourselves fighting against God.

Let us learn to see the abundance Jesus offers, not just in the abstract, but even operating within his body, even in ourselves. Let this give us confidence when we come up against what seem to be our limits.

The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?

23 April 2020 - more than enough

Today's Readings

(Audio)

He does not ration his gift of the Spirit.

We tend not to accept this testimony. We don't always believe that God is trustworthy. Or we aren't sure that we are really hearing his words through the one he sent to speak them, and through his body the Church. Without this trust in God we default to a scarcity mindset. We think he does ration the gift of the Spirit because it seems like there isn't enough to go around. We are jealous of the gifts of others and overly protective of our own because we feel constrained by these perceived limits.

But God is trustworthy. We can and do hear him speaking to us through his word, through the Church, and through Tradition. The Father has given everything over to the Son who longs to pour it out without limit on us. Do we get it yet? The only limits on God are the ones we place on him. If we can overcome these we can expect to be amazed by what he does. Mary was the greatest example of what can happen. She opened herself to the limitless way in which God wanted to pour himself out in her life.

For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her (see Luke 1:37-38)

Even on a human level we aren't as frugal or stingy with gifts to those whom we love, so "how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (see Luke 11:13). Jesus did not come so that we would live in fear that we wouldn't have enough. He said "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (see John 10:10).

Isn't this abundance of God exactly what the Apostles learned, even learned viscerally, at Pentecost? It was exactly this experiential confidence in God that changed everything for them. It changed them from doubters and deniers, from fearful men cowering together in hiding, into bold evangelists.

“We must obey God rather than men.
The God of our ancestors raised Jesus,
though you had him killed by hanging him on a tree.
God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior
to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins.
We are witnesses of these things,
as is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.

The Apostles could say these things because they knew there was no limit on the Spirit. The Spirit himself was there and witnessing, working together with them to confirm there words.

Where in our lives do we fear that we will not have enough? Where do we still need to be convinced that God does not ration his gift of the Spirit. This is a gift that fills not only special and spiritual moments of our lives. That is still scarcity mentality. He wants to fill every aspect of our lives so that we can always have confidence in him.

Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.

22 April 2020 - prison doors opened

Today's Readings

(Audio)

But during the night, the angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison,
led them out, and said,
“Go and take your place in the temple area,
and tell the people everything about this life.”

Do we focus on being thankful for the times when angels open the doors of our prisons and give us freedom? Or do the thoughts of the prisons still dominate us and make us live in fear that we might be imprisoned again? Are we able to go back to the temple and keep preaching because we believe that God is with us? Or are we still too afraid of the consequences?

And this is the verdict,
that the light came into the world,
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.

Darkened minds can cause us to ignore the signs of God's presence and action in our world. They can not only prevent us from acting in the freedom God wants for us, such as freedom to proclaim the Gospel, darkened minds can even prevent us from recognizing his actions in the world around us.

“We found the jail securely locked
and the guards stationed outside the doors,
but when we opened them, we found no one inside.”

It might just seem that our minds are preferring the safe and the familiar. They are reluctant to reach to supernatural explanations when natural ones suffice so often. It is in fact a sort of safety that we prefer. It is the safety of our own control of our lives. We want to remain on the throne and our darkened minds avoid any threat to this control like a plague. We want to believe that we will believe good news when we hear it. But we often don't let ourselves hear it when it causes us to change.

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light,
so that his works might not be exposed.

We fear the light as though it would ultimately hold us to a standard we can't achieve and condemn us. But the first principle that can help us loosen the hold of darkness on our minds is that the light does not come to condemn us.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.

The light is sent to rescue lives and minds that are already on a path toward condemnation. We think that disbelieving it will keep us from prisons that restrict our freedom. But only in the light is true freedom to be found. By disbelieving the light we may avoid condemnation by the world. But salvation from true condemnation is only found in Jesus who is the light. It takes our eyes a while to grow used to the brightness after we get used to the darkness. But let us learn to prefer light to darkness, the freedom that the angel offers to accommodating ourselves to the world.

The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.

21 April 2020 - earthly and heavenly things

Today's Readings

(Audio)

If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe,
how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

Jesus is the one who sums heaven and earth in himself. He is the one in whom water and Spirit together become living water. He is the one in whom death is joined to eternal life. The earthly is meant to be the entry point, something which our minds can grasp, that leads us to the heavenly. The signs point to the reality. Yet the earthly, precisely because it is earthly, is also easy to reject. We can see just water, just a man, or just a death, if we choose.

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

If we want to be persuaded we need to keep watching. We need to not look away when things appear to be all too human. Because it is precisely then that heaven is often the closest at hand.

This has implications for our own lives and the lives of the communities of which we are members. It means that there is not, on the one hand, the social Gospel, and on the other, a privately spiritual Gospel. It often does seem to be thusly divided in our world. But either aspect without the other is missing something. The earthly without the divine quickly loses anything special that sets it apart from any other positive social program. The spiritual without the earthly quickly turns into an illusory subjective quest in which we try to find satisfaction for ourselves alone, which we never quite do.

The community of believers was of one heart and mind,
and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own,
but they had everything in common.

It is precisely because of the fact that in their earthly community life they are of one heart and mind that they are powerful witnesses.

With great power the Apostles bore witness
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,
and great favor was accorded them all.

It is precisely because their witness is what they care about more than anything else that they are able to be united on that earthly level. How are our own lives? How are our own communities? Are they marked by commitment to proclaiming the resurrection? Are they so active in charity that there is no needy person among us?

There was no needy person among them,
for those who owned property or houses would sell them,
bring the proceeds of the sale,
and put them at the feet of the Apostles,
and they were distributed to each according to need.

We must prove our love for the God whom we cannot see by loving the neighbor whom we can (see First John 4:20). We too can be sons of encouragement like Barnabas. The secret is to not look away from the earthly but expect the heavenly. Jesus himself is the interpretative key. Lift high the cross! Proclaim the resurrection in word and in deed.

The LORD is king, in splendor robed;
robed is the LORD and girt about with strength.

20 April 2020 - the peoples entertain folly

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless one is born of water and Spirit
he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.

We are reborn in baptism. This is the font unsealed by the resurrection of Jesus. It is the living water that poured forth from his side. He was submerged in water, the Spirit came upon him,  and the Father recognized him as Son in the sight of everyone. We are submerged and the Spirit makes us sons and daughters in him. This is not merely a past fact with no significance to us now. It is the deepest reality of who we are. But we need to remember to live and act based on that truth.

The wind blows where it wills,
and you can hear the sound it makes,
but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes;
so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

Those who are born of Spirit are moved by a force that is invisible to the secular world. Their new life of water and the Spirit is not a one time event, but a transformation into a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led people. Understanding and judging the things that are happening and so determining how to respond is no longer meant simply to rest on our rational powers. The Spirit shows us deeper patterns of meaning and ways of living than we would figure out on our own.

Why did the Gentiles rage
and the peoples entertain folly?
The kings of the earth took their stand
and the princes gathered together
against the Lord and against his anointed.

We look out to the world and there seems to be one obvious story unfolding, and it is discouraging to say the least. But for those whose minds have been renewed a deeper story is the true one.

Indeed they gathered in this city
against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed,
Herod and Pontius Pilate,
together with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
to do what your hand and your will
had long ago planned to take place.

It seems like the Gentiles rage and the peoples entertain folly. It seems like the world is quite effectively standing against the Lord and his anointed. But this is not what the Spirit shows us. The Spirit reveals that even now God is enabling his word to be spoken with boldness, that even now he is stretching forth his hand to heal, and to work signs and wonders.

And now, Lord, take note of their threats,
and enable your servants to speak your word
with all boldness, as you stretch forth your hand to heal,
and signs and wonders are done
through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

Which perspective characterizes us? Are we more fearful of the folly the people entertain? Or are we more confident in what is and can be accomplished through the name of God's holy servant Jesus, as the Spirit reveals that to us? Peter and John's confidence was undiminished even by imprisonment. Being found worthy to suffer for the name only encouraged them. To have a confidence like that we need to have Spirit-filled prayer like theres. And for that, we need only ask.

As they prayed, the place where they were gathered shook,
and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

18 April 2020 - apostolic tradition

Today's Readings

(Audio)

So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”

Jesus revealed to his disciples that he had risen. This revelation more than any transfer of information from master to student was what prepared the apostles to teach.

They devoted themselves
to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life,
to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.

So what was the teaching of the apostles, exactly? Certainly there were many aspects to it. But it was above all about what Jesus had accomplished in the Paschal mystery. Paul summarized this well:

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures (see First Corinthians 15:3-4).

The teaching of the apostles, Apostolic tradition is what has been passed down to us by those privileged first witnesses of the resurrection. Those who saw and believed were given that blessing in order to be at the service of the future generations who would not see but believe. For this reason, the doubt of Thomas and the response of Jesus was a blessing not for Thomas only but for each of us as well. The response to his doubt can heal the doubts of our own hearts.

Jesus came, although the doors were locked,
and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands,
and bring your hand and put it into my side,
and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”

Jesus brings each of by the route of his death and resurrection to come to belief that he is the Son of God, and that through this belief we may have life in his name. He wants us to cry out with Thomas "My Lord and my God!"

The death and resurrection of Christ open and unseal the font of baptism for the Church. His new life is the source of the new life of all Christians. By faith we enter into the very Paschal mystery that reveals Jesus and draws us to him. And rising from this font we are called to continue to live in this truth, that of who Jesus is, and of who we are in him.

In this you rejoice, although now for a little while
you may have to suffer through various trials,
so that the genuineness of your faith,
more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire,
may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor
at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

We walk by faith and not by sight (see Second Corinthians 5:7). The reason we are not simply given to see is because this is how God chooses to let our hearts and minds be perfected, by our very trust in him. So although we are not given the same glorious revelation that was given to the disciples, or to Thomas, we nevertheless have great riches of faith in which we are called to rejoice. It is not a private but a blessing!

Although you have not seen him you love him;
even though you do not see him now yet believe in him,
you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy,
as you attain the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

18 April 2020 - to every creature

Today's Readings

(Audio)

But later, as the Eleven were at table, he appeared to them
and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart
because they had not believed those
who saw him after he had been raised.

Jesus is risen! Do we believe the witnesses to the resurrection? They tell us a story that is almost too good to be true. The disciples clung to the sadness of what they had experienced, of the loss they had endured. They did not, perhaps could not, immediately believe the witnesses. The joy of the messengers might have even seemed repugnant at first. Pain and sorrow made the disciples defensive in a way that made it hard for them to hope.

Jesus wants to appear to us to give us confidence about the message of his witnesses. He wants us to be able to believe them even when what they says seems to be to good to be true, beyond all we can ask or imagine. We too tend to cling to the sadness of past disappointments as protection against future ones. Jesus rebukes us for the hardness of our hearts. But this rebuke itself is precisely to soften those hearts, to teach them to hope again.

Hearts softened by mercy daring to hope now feel compelled to proclaim this mercy to others.

He said to them, “Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”

We will still come up with rationalizations about why it might be better in this or that situation not to speak up for Jesus. But when those thoughts of ours order us not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus we, strengthened by the revelation of the resurrection, will reply,

“Whether it is right in the sight of God
for us to obey you rather than God, you be the judges.
It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.”

If we don't feel there is anything worth our speaking out then we probably need to spend more time listening to the witnesses of the resurrection proclaim the tidings of Easter joy. Let us truly take those tidings to heart. Let them rebuke us where our hope had gone cold in order to light a new fire of love within us. This fire will make us too his witnesses.

17 April 2020 - gone fishing

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.”
They said to him, “We also will come with you.”

There comes a point for most of us when we shift back from the joy and vigor of the Easter season back to business as usual. It isn't so much that we consciously choose to do so. It is rather that there seems to be no other direction open to us. We are at am impasse, and the old ways are all we know.

So they went out and got into the boat,
but that night they caught nothing.

The thing about the Easter experience is that it reveals to us that our old ways were insufficient. This seemed to satisfy us then. But now are hearts and minds have been awakened to a new and better hope. Hearts that have seen the risen LORD find themselves less able to pretend that anything else in this world can satisfy them.

Does the resurrection mean that we cease to do the jobs we did before? Does it mean that we are all to be full time professional religious? Not necessarily. Even many of them continue to work in the world in a variety of ways. It is rather that the resurrection is meant to shine new light on everything and change even those things that were old and familiar, filling them with new possibilities.

Jesus said to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?”
They answered him, “No.”
So he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat
and you will find something.”
So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in
because of the number of fish.

Jesus did not angrily ask his disciples what they were thinking, tell them to stop fishing, and to get about some more religious work. Instead, he revealed himself to them in the very midst of their ordinary lives, which were in fact no longer ordinary simply by the fact of his presence.

And none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?”
because they realized it was the Lord.

The LORD reveals himself to us so that we can have certainty about who he is.  These individual moments of revelation are crowned and activated by the grace of Pentecost. We begin to see the symmetry, this hidden pattern that unites each revelation.
 The Holy Spirit brings them to fulfillment by filling the gaps between them in our souls, changing them from isolated incidents into something that is the very motivating principle of our being, a new certainty, a new fearlessness in following him.

If we are being examined today
about a good deed done to a cripple,
namely, by what means he was saved,
then all of you and all the people of Israel should know
that it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean
whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead;
in his name this man stands before you healed.
He is the stone rejected by you, the builders,
which has become the cornerstone.
There is no salvation through anyone else,
nor is there any other name under heaven
given to the human race by which we are to be saved.

The LORD is risen! He wants us to know it so deeply that every aspect of our lives is transformed, even things that seem outside of the scope of our Christian walk. He wants us to believe it strongly enough that are not only not afraid to witness to it, but unable to hold ourselves back from doing so. It is this holy assurance that makes the difference when we tell people that there is "no salvation through anyone else". Without it, we sound like bigots. With it, we are offering the love we ourselves have received.

This is the day the LORD has made;
let us be glad and rejoice in it.

16 April 2020 - the author of life

Today's Readings

(Audio)

In these times of Easter joy, Jesus wants to help us understand and even appropriate what took place in his Paschal mystery. We ourselves were like the crippled man, unable to move forward spiritually until he was cured. But Easter changed that. Easter put us in touch with the power of Jesus, risen from the dead. It was this power that allowed the crippled man to walk. It is this power within us that allows us to live and to grow spiritually.

“You children of Israel, why are you amazed at this,
and why do you look so intently at us
as if we had made him walk by our own power or piety?

Jesus wants to reveal that concrete historicity of his resurrection to us, just as he did to the disciples.

Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled?
And why do questions arise in your hearts?
Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones
as you can see I have.”

Since Jesus is both divine and human it is hard for us to keep all aspects of him in mind at once. The suffering and death seem very human. They fit into all that we know about the broken world in which we live. The resurrection and glory of Jesus seem to pertain more to his divinity and Godhead. We easily lose the thread of connection. We understand the before and the after. But Jesus was God and man from the moment of his incarnation, to no less a degree at any point along the way.

“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,
that everything written about me in the law of Moses
and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”

Jesus wants us to encounter him in his resurrected humanity, not simply as some ghostly spiritual presence, but as one who is human in all the ways that we are except sin. The risen Christ is human like we are human, but in his humanity death itself is conquered. 

You denied the Holy and Righteous One
and asked that a murderer be released to you.
The author of life you put to death,
but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.

Jesus absorbed and took upon himself all the destructive impulses, all the hateful desires, all the sins of each one of us in order that those things might be killed. His, however, was a life that could not die. That is why sin did not have the last word, precisely because of who he was. Understanding the humanity of Jesus goes hand in hand with understanding how humanity had failed up to that point, and how it continues to go wrong and those who are not connected to him.

When we encounter Jesus we are invited to faith in him. In place of our sin we receive sanctification. In place of sickness, health. In place of death, life. All this, if we surrender ourselves in faith to him.

And by faith in his name,
this man, whom you see and know, his name has made strong,
and the faith that comes through it
has given him this perfect health,
in the presence of all of you.

15 April 2020 - known to us

Today's Readings

(Audio)

One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem
who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?”
And he replied to them, “What sort of things?”

We have just experienced liturgically the same things about which Cleopas spoke. And yet, like him, we don't fully understand them. Like him, we need Jesus to draw from us a deeper understanding of the inner meaning of those events.

But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
and besides all this,
it is now the third day since this took place.

We too had hopes placed on Easter. Hopefully they were more ambitious than to simply experience transient joy and good feelings during a few celebrations. Hopefully our expectations were closer to those of these disciples, that Israel and the whole world would be redeemed. We were right to expect a real difference in life after Easter, even this specific liturgical celebration this year. Yet now some days have past and we look around us at circumstances that remain seemingly unchanged. We pray the Gloria at daily mass, but begin to lose the sense of what we're celebrating.

they came back and reported
that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.

This is the Easter proclamation. Jesus is alive! This is what we heard at the Easter celebrations. But what does that mean to us now as we go out to this apparently unchanged world, to our apparently unchanged lives?

And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!

For the resurrection to have the transformative impact it is meant to have we need Jesus to unlock its meaning for us.

Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.

We need to learn that the world isn't what changes first. It is we ourselves who begin to experience the firstfruits of the resurrection in our spirits. We are plugged in to a renewed spiritual reality, to a new connection to God and to our brothers and sisters.

And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.

The point is not that nothing changed and we need to subjectively pretend that it did. The point is that, with the proper perspective, the one Jesus teaches us, everything is different. He is with us, he reigns, and he is our source of strength.

It is precisely this inside out transformative that help Peter and John realize that they do have something to give to the crippled man. If their minds had not been renewed by the resurrection they would have stopped at "Silver and gold have I none". But their minds were renewed.

but what I do have I give you:
in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk.”

This is no subjective reality. This isn't merely prolonging the good feelings surrounding a brief celebration. This is a reality that changes everything from the inside out. And if we don't have as ready access to the breaking of the bread it is no less of a revelation even across live streams. And even if that is hard for us, let us avail ourselves even more of the table of his word. Are we still living like COVID-19 might win? It can't win. Jesus is risen. Alleluia.

14 April 2020 - your name here

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“Woman, why are you weeping?”

Why are we still weeping? We still tend to live and think and act as though Easter had never happened. We still weep for all that we lost in the garden when the choice of the first Adam brought suffering and death into the world.

Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for?”
She thought it was the gardener and said to him,
“Sir, if you carried him away,
tell me where you laid him,
and I will take him.”

This old reality no longer prevailed but Mary Magdalene was unable to see the new reality from her old perspective. She needed a paradigm shift. So do we. Mary Magdalene found herself in a garden similar enough to that first garden in order that she could recognize the beginning of a new creation taking place. Even so, it was not the setting, nor even the similarity of the New Adam with the first Adam that triggered her recognition of the scene in which she found herself. It was rather the sound of his voice, and the fact that he knew her name.

Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,”

At first the question of why she was weeping probably seemed cruel to have to answer or even consider. But now it made sense. If Jesus had truly been raised then she need no longer weep for him. And not only that, since in himself Jesus had conquered sickness and death, since he himself was now revealed as the resurrection and the life, there was now a reason for joy and confidence so deep as to cast out sadness and despair.

So, again, why are we still weeping? This Jesus has been raised from the dead! What sadness has any true significance in the face of that? We weep for many reasons. It causes us sadness that we might not get all the things and experiences we desire. It causes us sadness that we might lose those we have. We fear pain and suffering, for ourselves and others. All of this presumes that any of this has some sort of finality, that it is the last word we will hear on the subject. But the resurrection is the last word. And it is a joyous word.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. (see Revelation 21:4).

We cannot construct this new worldview for ourselves. No Easter flowers, no Easter hymns, no beautiful liturgies can bring us across the threshold to Easter joy. Only the voice of Jesus can do that. Let us read and respond with our own names:

Jesus says to you, [your name]!
You turn and say “Rabbouni,” Teacher!

When we hear Jesus speak these words to us we discover ourselves to be, not in the failed garden of Eden, but in the new Eden created by the resurrection, in the presence of the new Adam who healed the damage of the first Adam. Our whole world is changed. Nothing looks the same. It all has the inner luminance of the resurrection.

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart

The words of the gospel are meant to cut us to the heart. They are sharper than any two-edged sword (see Hebrews 4:12). They do this because we have closed down in defensiveness, in order to open us to all that God desires for us to receive. Let us open ourselves to them.

Repent and be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins;
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

13 April 2020 - inconvenient truth

Today's Readings

(Audio)

“You are to say,
‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’
And if this gets to the ears of the governor,
we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”

The resurrection is an inconvenient truth for those to invested in their own power and privilege. The chief priests and elders rightly realized that the old structures of authority were all called into question by this proclamation. If they accepted it, their whole world would have been turned upside down. Their role had been to help God's people live in right relation with him through their actions and sacrifices. This had been good and appropriate. But what did it mean if Jesus was the final sin offering and that the law would now be written on the hearts of every person who accepted that offering as his own? Who would the former Jewish leaders be after that? They did not want to decrease for Jesus to increase.

The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed.
And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day.

The resurrection is still an inconvenient truth in our world today. Authority in our world is so often based on fear. Would it not make such authority nervous if their was a people who had been delivered from fear and could no longer be manipulated? As Christians we are meant to be such people. Set free from fear we are still good citizens, better in fact, who act not from compulsion but from the impulse of love planted by the Spirit within us. But those outside can't see or fathom this so to them we seem like a risk on which they must keep a watchful eye.

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb,
fearful yet overjoyed,
and ran to announce the news to his disciples.

The resurrection can be an inconvenient truth for us to the degree that we still find our meaning and happiness in the temporary things of this world. It reveals that such things don't have the finality we imagine and points the way beyond them. What pre-resurrection habits and beliefs still define us? To what are we desperately seeking to cling? Perhaps we too are still fearful even while we are overjoyed. We all have difficult time allowing Jesus to completely change us from the inside out. All familiarity with the past is laid to rest and useless. Jesus wants to help us to finally surrender this fear so that we can live entirely from the new source of life the resurrection offers.

Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.
Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee,
and there they will see me.”

There is now a man who has been raised "from the throes of death, because it was impossible for him to be held by it." Those who are willing to be removed from the center of their own lives and take refuge in him experience this freedom.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you (see First Peter 1:3-4).

The resurrection freedom of Christ makes us bold witnesses. After all, what have we to fear from speaking of the one who has done so much for us? How can we help but proclaim the gospel?

God raised this Jesus;
of this we are all witnesses.
Exalted at the right hand of God,
he poured forth the promise of the Holy Spirit
that he received from the Father, as you both see and hear.