21 April 2013 - tearless

21 April 2013 - tearless

“My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.

What defines us as his sheep is that we recognize his voice.  So how do we come to recognize his voice when he speaks?

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,

The Father gives us to the Good Shepherd to be his sheep.  And since being his sheep means we hear him that must be part of the gift.  We don't attain it with effort.  We listen in faith trusting in our shepherd.  Our shepherd has also become a lamb like us so we can relate to him, know him, and trust that he has our greatest good at heart.

For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne
will shepherd them
and lead them to springs of life-giving water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

His love is so great that he wants to bring the whole world into his flock so that he can be the shepherd of all.  So many wander lost and his heart is wounded for them.  Sheep without a shepherd are hapless and pitiable.  Fortunately he will not rest until all are safe in his pastures.

I have made you a light to the Gentiles,
that you may be an instrument of salvation
to the ends of the earth.”

We are meant for his pastures.  On our own our eyes are filled with tears and our mouths with thirst.  But under his care we rejoice knowing that there is nothing we lack.

The LORD is good:
his kindness endures forever,

20 April 2013 - not our thoughts

20 April 2013 - not our thoughts

“This saying is hard; who can accept it?”

We would like to think that we're past the stage where we question the teaching of Jesus but we aren't entirely.  His thoughts are not our thoughts.  This will always be the case while we are yet imperfectly transformed.  Even so, let us trust him.  When we trust at such times we release great grace in our lives.  Let us not be like the crowd that returns to its former way of life.  

As a result of this,

many of his disciples returned to their former way of life

and no longer walked with him.

Walking with Jesus makes such a big difference and our former way of life just can't compare.  Even when we don't understand what he tells us we can cling to him because we know who he is.

You have the words of eternal life.

We have come to believe

and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

Peter has been walking with Jesus long enough that he can trust him even when doesn't really understand what Jesus is saying better than the crowd that leaves.  When we are tempted to return to our former ways of life we ask "to whom shall we go?"    We don't understand, Jesus.  But we know it is you or nothing at all.   You are the Holy One who alone has these precious words of eternal life. 

If we cling to him even when we don't understand he will be able to work through us to bless his whole Church.

She was being built up and walked in the fear of the Lord,

and with the consolation of the Holy Spirit she grew in numbers.

Peter's trust is so strong that he doesn't hesitate when the LORD calls him to heal a paralytic and even to raise the dead.  These things clearly defy merely human understanding but Peter has learned to take Jesus at his word.  Because it is all based on trust there is no room for pride.  That is why he is able to attend fully to the situations at hand and not just the supernatural and exciting parts.

He gave her his hand and raised her up

She is already alive once more but he doesn't leave her on her own after this.  He gives her his hand.  The LORD wants to use our hands to raise up our brothers and sisters as well.  He wants the whole Church to be able to pray with the psalmist:

How shall I make a return to the LORD

for all the good he has done for me?

Now, transformed by love, we can better understand the words of Jesus about the Eucharist.  And so we answer our own question:

The cup of salvation I will take up,

and I will call upon the name of the LORD

19 April 2013 - unsightly individual

19 April 2013 - unsightly individual

“Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man,

On a human level we know we're better off not proclaiming the gospel to certain people.  They seem like lost causes to us because of how closed they are to the message.  Yet most of these aren't as closed as Saul of Tarsus who is in fact "still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord" when Ananias is called to go to him.  And the message he is called to deliver isn't all sunshine and rainbows.  He is to tell him "what he will have to suffer for my name.”  

Ananias goes.  He is able to obey in part because the LORD reveals to him that he has already been working in the life of Saul.  He is able to proclaim even the difficult parts of Gospel because Jesus shows him the bigger picture.  He knows that the LORD is working for Saul's greatest good and for his as well.


“Saul, my brother, the Lord has sent me,
Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came,
that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 

And indeed he finds Saul as receptive as the Ethiopian in yesterday's gospel reading.  Jesus works in both Saul and Ananias to prepare them for this encounter.  He wants to use both of them in the building of his kingdom.  He is clearly able to do miraculous things in the lives of both of these men separately.  Yet he does not will to do all supernaturally or apart from human instrumentality.  How good it is that Ananias heeds the LORD's command.  And the result is that even though he is involved what Saul does from there proves a supernatural transformation.


and he began at once to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues,
that he is the Son of God.

His zeal for God has been transformed from something earthly and tainted to a zeal which can give itself over to the proclamation of the psalmist.

Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

And with sight restored to his eyes he can now recognize that the Good News is a person: Jesus Christ.

We may be following God zealously as Saul thought he was.  But we need to be ready to lay down our plans if God tells us to do so because our plans are never one hundred percent pure.  They are always tainted by our flesh. We need our eyes to be opened to recognize in Jesus in the ways that he comes to us.  Especially in the Eucharist we can see the true vision of the Father for mankind.  All of our plans should be seen in that light as a litmus test for whether or not they are valuable.


Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. 

He wants to give life to the world.  And he wants to give us hearts for the world and empower us to bring his life to it.

whoever eats this bread will live forever.” 

His love for us is immense beyond all we can ask or imagine.  Let us lay our plans down at his feet and trust in him alone.


For steadfast is his kindness toward us,
and the fidelity of the LORD endures forever.

18 April 2013 - spirited away

18 April 2013 - spirited away

The Spirit said to Philip,
“Go and join up with that chariot.” 

We need to be ready to move when the Spirit calls.  The Father is moving to bring all of humanity to the LORD Jesus and he wants to use us as instruments.

Jesus said to the crowds:
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him,

The Father is definitely drawing the court official of Ethiopia.  His receptivity is obviously supernatural.


As they traveled along the road
they came to some water,
and the eunuch said, “Look, there is water. 
What is to prevent my being baptized?” 

But without Philip he would not have been able to understand the scripture passage he was reading.  There are many such "divine appointments" which the LORD prepares day after day.  We must be attentive to the Spirit so that people like the court official whose hearts are genuinely open aren't left to struggle on their own.


They shall all be taught by God.

Just as God teaches through Jesus he teaches through his body the church.  Just as Jesus makes the Father visible to the world so the Church is called to make Jesus visible.  But to do so we must be animated by the Spirit like Philip is.  Body without Spirit is lifeless.  It has nothing to offer a dying world.  The Body of Christ most perfectly makes Jesus present in the Eucharist.  It is the Spirit that brings him to us in this way.  And it is the Spirit who enables us to recognize him in the appearances of bread and wine.


I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;


Animated by the Spirit and drawing our nourishment from Jesus in the Eucharist we move through the world with immense freedom moving from one point of the LORD's plan for us to another in ways that the world can't even understand.  And in our wake we leave rejoicing.


When they came out of the water,
the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away,
and the eunuch saw him no more,
but continued on his way rejoicing. 

The Ethiopian official has been freed to join the psalmist in his praise.


Bless our God, you peoples,
loudly sound his praise;
He has given life to our souls,
and has not let our feet slip.

17 April 2013 - scattered, not shaken

17 April 2013 - scattered, not shaken

And this is the will of the one who sent me,
that I should not lose anything of what he gave me,

The Father does not will that Jesus should lose any who are given to him.  And that means that there are no circumstances which can pull us from his hands (cf. Rom 8:38-8:39).  We should have great courage even in the face of difficult circumstances.


There broke out a severe persecution of the Church in Jerusalem,
and all were scattered

They are scattered but not lost.  They are farther from one another but no farther from Jesus.  They are persecuted but not abandoned (cf 2 Cor 4:9). They have to leave their places of comfort but they do not lose heart.

Now those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.

They know that the God who transformed the death of Jesus on the cross into life for all can also work amidst these circumstances.


Come and see the works of God,
his tremendous deeds among the children of Adam.

Persecutions can't hold us down, they tell us, because the grave could not hold him.  They are confident  enough to tell us to come and see God work even in the midst of difficult circumstances such as these.  When we face difficult circumstances are we confident enough in God to believe that even or, perhaps, especially in these circumstances we can be witnesses to the power of God.

Jesus really does want to give us a confidence that transcends our circumstances.  He tells us more about what it means that we won't be lost:


For this is the will of my Father,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him
may have eternal life,
and I shall raise him on the last day.”

And seeing the Son means something very specific:


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


Recognizing him in the breaking of the bread is key because this is how he choses to fill us with his risen life.  Eating and drinking are mere prophetic symbols for the true reality of the life we receive from him.  The victorious march of Jesus over the dry land of sin and death should inspire us with confidence and praise because we share it with him.


He has changed the sea into dry land;
through the river they passed on foot;
therefore let us rejoice in him.

16 April 2013 - open door policy

16 April 2013 - open door policy

So Jesus said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven;
my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 

But we are stubborn.  We like to imagine ourselves as religious people without actually being transformed.


You received the law as transmitted by angels,
but you did not observe it.”

We do have a law transmitted by angels, but not so that we might be prideful or have an attitude of superiority.  We are reluctant to recognize Jesus in our self satisfaction with our current degree of religious practice.  We think that because we do and believe certain things we are all set.  And these things are often good.  But they are not God.  We must always be ready to look to him.  We must be ready to see when he is calling us onward to something new.

“What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you?

Jesus is willing to meet us at this point.  He is willing to offer all he has: himself.  He does so in a way that transcends all that we know so far.  To imply otherwise would mean we have already attained the beatific vision.  That is why "eye has not seen and ear has not heard" (cf 1 Cor 2:9).  It is so far beyond the things with which we satisfy ourselves and yet so humble that it can be hard to accept.  This is the bread that the Father gives.  Let us not be so focused on ourselves that we don't recognize it.

We need to pray: “Sir, give us this bread always.” 

He will certainly answer.

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.”

If we are willing to let Jesus move us from the good we know to the vision of God himself we will be empowered to see God just as St. Stephen did.

“Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

He is seeing what the psalmist prays to see.

Let your face shine upon your servant;

save me in your kindness.

This is the vision that is meant to be our eternity.  And it begins now if we will just surrender.  The final journey from this life to the next will be a seamless transition where we have the courage to truly pray:

Into your hands I commend my spirit;

you will redeem me, O LORD, O faithful God.

15 April 2013 - sealed for freshness

15 April 2013 - sealed for freshness

Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you. 
For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.” 

Jesus calls us out for having priorities which are too earthly and which give too much weight to things which are passing away.  We are often building on sand rather than rock in our lives.


So they said to him,
“What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”

There are a few different reasons we ask this.  We recognize our own weakness and wonder if we can really ever lift our desires from the earthly bread we to lasting things.  There is an undertone of despair in this version of the question.  Others, having their pride wounded by Jesus's criticism now try to ask something which sounds impressive.  They say that they will do the works of God if they are just told how.  They won't just contribute to them but they will in fact accomplish them.  The emphasis here is on their own abilities.  But they ask it in such a way that it seems like a separate issue from caring too much about the earthly bread which is temporary.  They don't realize that if they are so fixated on earthly bread they won't have the freedom they need to contribute God's works. 

In both cases we don't ask a question which addresses what Jesus wants to address.   We want bread too much and the kingdom too little.  And the answer Jesus gives applies to both variants:

Jesus answered and said to them,

“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”

If we reorient our lives around the person of Jesus we can find true freedom.  If we trust him we can lift our wills from earthly things to the lasting things of the kingdom.  And we can do it in a selfless way that allows Jesus to work in us to accomplish the works of the kingdom.  Our Father knows we need our daily bread.  Believing in the one he sends allows us to put his priorities first and to trust in him for the rest.

This is the secret which St. Stephen knows.

Stephen, filled with grace and power,

was working great wonders and signs among the people.

He is accomplishing the works of God precisely because he believes in the one God sent.  The Spirit is therefore able to work with amazing power in him.  He isn't interested accomplishing the works of God in his own way because he is fully convicted that the way Jesus offers him is better than that.

Yes, your decrees are my delight;

they are my counselors.