COME HOLY SPIRIT

Posted on May 20, 2012 by John Brian Schuettler

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year B

An icon of the Christian Pentecost, in the Greek Orthodox tradition. This is the Icon of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. At the bottom is an allegorical figure, called Kosmos, which symbolizes the world.

COME, HOLY SPIRIT

“Come, O Holy Spirit, send from heaven a ray of your light. Come, O giver of graces; come, O light of hearts. You are rest in our labor, peace in difficulties and solace in our grief. O most holy Light! Fill the inmost being of the hearts of your faithful. Grant to your children trust in your seven holy gifts. Give them reward for virtue; give them salvation; give them everlasting joy!

To Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit:

THE HAIL MARY

Hail, Mary, full of grace, our Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.Amen.

BREATHE IN ME

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy, Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy. Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I may love only what is holy.
Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, that I may defend all that is holy.
Guard me, O Holy Spirit, that I may always be holy.
A Prayer of St. Augustine

PRAYER FOR THE SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

O Lord Jesus Christ, Who, before ascending into heaven did promise to send the Holy Spirit to finish Your work in the souls of Your Apostles and Disciples, please grant the same Holy Spirit to me that He may perfect in my soul the work of Your grace and Your love.

Grant me the Spirit of Wisdom that I may despise the perishable things of this world and aspire only after the things that are eternal. The Spirit of Understanding to enlighten my mind with the light of Your divine truth. The Spirit on Counsel that I may ever choose the surest way of pleasing God and gaining heaven. The Spirit of Fortitude that I may bear my cross with You and that I may overcome with courage all the obstacles that oppose my salvation. The Spirit of Knowledge that I may know God, know myself, and grow perfect in the science of the Saints. The Spirit of Piety that I may find the service of God sweet and amiable. The Spirit of Fear that I may be filled with a loving reverence towards God and may dread in any way to displease Him. Mark me, dear Lord with the sign of Your true disciples and animate me in all things with Your Spirit. Amen.

PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT BY ST. ANTIOCHUS

O Holy Spirit, most merciful Comforter: You proceed from the Father in a manner beyond our understanding. Come, I beseech You, and take up you abode in my heart. Purify and cleanse me from all sin, and sanctify my soul. Cleanse it from every impurity, water its dryness, melt its coldness, and save it from sinful ways. Make me truly humble and resigned, that I may be pleasing to You, and that You abide with me forever. Most blessed Light, most amiable Light, enlighten me. O rapturous Joy of Paradise, Fount of purest delight, my God, give yourself to me, and kindle in my innermost soul the fire of your love. My Lord, please instruct, direct, and defend me in all things. Give me strength against all immoderate fears and against despondency. Bestow upon me a true faith, a firm hope, and a sincere and perfect love. Grant that I always do your most gracious will.

Amen.

Citazioni di
Ac 10,25-26. 34-35.44-48: www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9bfhjcj.htm
1Io 4,7-10: www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9ak0lmd.htm
Io 15,9-17: www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9asskgo.htm

“I no longer call you slaves, […] I have called you friends” (John 15:15). These words, spoken to us by the Risen Lord, should be a source of abundant joy and the certain hope for whatever the future holds for us. They are the roots of our life, ever new, always given in a passionate love for Christ, for the Truth and for all humanity.

These words are the bearers of a radical new relationship between God and humanity. They reveal something that humanity, in its human condition and sinfulness, could never have imagined: that the Son of God, the only Son of the Father, calls us His friends.

We should probably think again about what this word ‘friendship’ really means. Like ‘love’, it has been used and abused to such an extent that it seems today to be almost emptied of its real meaning. But Jesus explains to us in today’s Gospel what the authentic friendship of God really means.

The Lord tells us that the status of friends is, as we might put it, qualitatively superior to that of servants. This seems obvious to us today when think of the idea of servitude as against our rights. The condition of a servant seems to us to be clearly unworthy of a human being, who should be able to live freely and able to achieve our great ideals.

Yet we can see that this way of understanding the words of Jesus is incorrect. It’s incorrect in the historical context of the time, and in terms of the unique relationship which is being discussed. The relationship between God and humanity goes deeper than our simple understanding of the words ‘friend’ and ‘servant’. It is not just a relationship between one person and another, but a relationship between man and His Creator and Redeemer.

The situation of servitude before God was, in fact, what made Israel the chosen nation. Israel was called out of slavery in Egypt and put above all the nations of the world to serve the Lord. It was, and is, an honour and privilege for a people to be chosen and called to be servants of God.

Now, through grace, we can say that God has truly descended into our midst in order to raise us up to His Presence.

In Christ, we see the plan of the Father fulfilled. He is the real promised land, that was prepared for us in the womb of the Virgin Mary. We are not like Moses, the servant of the Lord (c.f. Deut 32: 52), destined only to see the promised land from a distance. We are able to enter and dwell there: “as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you […] I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father” (John 15: 9, 15).

This is what is so radically new in this friendship. Humanity, chosen and loved by God, created and called to serve Him, is now destined for a love which is beyond compare. “A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). The Son of God, made man, gives His whole Self and lifts us up towards the Father. He opens the door of his dwelling and welcomes the faithful to the wedding feast.

By choosing us, which really means that He called each of us personally, Christ gives us the joy of sharing in His Life and Sonship. We become participants, as St Peter says, in the divine nature (c.f. 2 Peter 1:4).

Animated by this new and profound communion with the Risen Lord, that accompanies us always and everywhere, we implore the Blessed Virgin Mary, Refuge of Sinners and Our Lady of Fatima, to help us to ‘remain’ in the love of Christ, to love one another and bear fruit as befits the children of God. Amen!

+++

FIRST READING: Acts 2:1-11.

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. And they were amazed and wondered, saying, “are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”

EXPLANATION: “Pentecost” which means “fiftieth” was the second of the three most important of the annual feasts in the Jewish calendar. It occurred seven weeks after Passover and was primarily a feast of thanksgiving for the harvest: the first-fruits of the wheat crop were offered to God on that day. Later on the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai was also commemorated on this feast day. All Jewish men, not legitimately impeded, were expected to come to Jerusalem, to the temple, for the feast. Hundreds of Jews from outside of Palestine also came, and the city was usually full to overflowing. It was very fitting therefore that this feast day was chosen for the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. The Christian religion was to be universal, and the gift of tongues showed its universality. The law given by God to Moses was for the Jews only; the new law, given by Christ, and confirmed by the power of the Holy Spirit, was for all men. The vast gathering of Jews from Palestine and from all nations was a very suitable occasion on which to proclaim publicly the message of Christ given through the mouth of Peter.

Suddenly…a sound came: The Apostles had been told by Our LOrd to wait in Jerusalem (Lk. 24:49), until the Holy Spirit came on them. They were all in one place, probably the room of the Last Supper where Jesus had appeared to them twice after his resurrection.

like the rush of a mighty…: Spirit means breath or wind, so it was fitting the Holy Spirit made his presence felt by the noise of a strong driving wind.

Tongues as of fire appeared: Something that looked like a flame rested on each of them. When God gave the Law to Moses, peals of thunder and lightning flashes signified God’s presence and made the people tremble (see Ex. 19:18ff). The loud noise and the flames signified the presence of the Holy Spirit.

to speak in other tongues…: The first signs of the power of the Spirit. They were given foreign languages and a new superhuman courage to proclaim their faith. Hitherto they had sheltered from the Jews.

and at this sound: This sound “like a driving wind” was heard all over the city, and by devout Jews from “every nation under heaven,” a pious exaggeration and a way of saying that they came from most of the known nations of the Roman Empire, which was the whole world then known to the Jews.

each one heard: Each foreigner who spoke the language of the country he came from heard one or other of the Apostles speaking his language.

amazed…wondered: Little wonder they were amazed. They had enquired of the local Jews, and knew that the Apostles were simple men, with little education, from Galilee. Where did they learn all these foreign languages?

Parthians…: These foreigners say they are from Mesopotamia, Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt and North Africa, Crete and Arabia. There are even Romans present, most of them Jews, but Gentile proselytes also among them.

we hear…tongues: This was the cause of their amazement, these simple folk from Galilee speaking all kinds of languages.

the mighty works of God: The Apostles were speaking of Christ, his teaching, and his resurrection. St. Peter develops this theme later (2:14ff).

APPLICATION: Pentecost day is called the “birthday” of the Church. The Apostles had already received the Holy Spirit on Christ’s first appearance to them after his resurrection (Jn. 20:22). But on Pentecost day the descent of the Holy Spirit was a public manifestation intended to impress and amaze the crowds of local and foreign Jews who thronged Jerusalem on that great festive occasion. The signs and wonders that manifested his coming brought these Jews in huge crowds to the place where the Apostles were staying, and immediately the gift of tongues was used by the Apostles to explain the occurrence. It was a marvel wrought by God, a necessary consequence of the sojourn of Christ among them. He was the Christ whom the Jews had crucified but whom God had raised from the dead, thus proving he was the promised Messiah and his own beloved Son. Christ had chosen the Apostles to bring his good news to all nations—the good news that all men were once more reconciled to God their Creator, and were now adopted sons of God and heirs to heaven.

Today was the day chosen for the opening of this mission of the Apostles. That they were backed by the divine power of the Holy Spirit was proved not only by the gift of tongues but more especially by the change his coming wrought on the Apostles. From this day forward they were men dedicated to one purpose and to one purpose only, to bring the good news, the Gospel of Christ, to the world.

When Peter, representing the eleven, preached Christ, crucified, raised from the tomb by the power of the Father, and now seated at his right hand in heaven, he raised the Christian standard aloft. He and his fellow Apostles (including Matthias and Paul later) gave their lives gladly to plant it throughout the Roman Empire. The remaining twenty six chapters of the book of Acts and the inspired letters of the Apostles tell the story of the growth of the infant Church. It was brought about by frail and mortal men, turned into spiritual heroes by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Twenty centuries separate us from those heroic men of God, but the truth of their labors is with us still thanks to the same Holy Spirit who has remained with the Church down through the years. From generation to generation the message and the means of salvation have been handed down, sometimes through periods of peace and evident progress, but more often through years of persecution and apparent near-extermination. The Church survived because men of God valued eternal life, and the Church as the means of reaching it, more than their own comfort or personal safety.

Our own generation too needs men of principle, men of generosity, men who will put the eternal values before personal conveniences or earthly gain. The Church today has her enemies. They shout loud and long—the same centuries-old themes are put to some of the present-day pop music. But we need not fear. The voice of the Holy Spirit is still as strong as it was on that first Pentecost day in Jerusalem. His powers are divine and will never diminish. He is still at the helm of the barque of Peter and will continue to bring millions to the shores of the eternal kingdom as he has done during the past two thousand years.

“Come, Holy Spirit, enkindle in the hearts of the faithful the fire of divine love.”

Second ReadingSECOND READING: 1 Cor. 12:2-7, 12-13.

No one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

But just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

EXPLANATION: The gifts of the Holy Spirit were very evident in the infant Church. This was necessary to prove to the pagans that the Christian religion was from the real God who controlled all things. As pagans they had their local god or gods to whom supernatural powers were often falsely attributed. But the God of the Christians had real powers and they were distributed freely by the Holy Spirit when occasion demanded. St. Paul in this part of his first letter to the Corinthians is emphasizing that these gifts are not given to an individual for his honor or glory but to help to build up the Church.

No one…the Spirit: One of the first tests of the genuineness of a gift from the Holy Spirit was conformity with the Christian faith. If any man claimed he was moved by the Holy Spirit to blaspheme Jesus, he was evidently a liar and a fraud. On the other hand he who sincerely professed that Christ was God was moved by the Holy Spirit. Faith is a gift from God.

varieties…same Spirit: All the gifts given to the early Christian converts were from the same Holy Spirit and each had its special purpose. It is possible that Paul wished to prevent any temptation for one to boast that he had a better gift than his neighbor. All were from the same source.

varieties…service: The ability to help in administering the affairs of the early Christian communities was a gift of God—each one receiving the gift necessary for his particular task. Helping the sick, feeding the poor, calling the assemblies together, explaining the faith, powers of healing, are all examples of these different ministries, but they all came from the same God.

given for the common good: These gifts were given for the good of the whole community—to help build up the Church, and so that no one should refuse to use the gift he got or claim it as his own.

The body is one: St. Paul now introduces the simile of the human body made up of many members, to describe the Church of Christ. From this we get the title of “Mystical Body of Christ” to describe the Church.

for by one Spirit: It was the Holy Spirit, sent by Christ on his ascension to heaven to direct and inspire his newly-founded Church, who gave us the grace to become members of Christ’s Body.

Jews or Greeks: Meaning all men. Greek stood for Gentile, that was the rest of the world apart from the Jews.

were baptized: The sacrament instituted by Christ to make men members of his Church, his body.

APPLICATION: These verses of St. Paul are very suitable on this the feast day of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. Not only did he make his presence felt by the external exercise of his powers on that first Pentecost day, but he continued to do so for some years until the Church had laid solid foundations in the Gentile world.

These gifts of the Spirit were foretold in the Old Testament as signs of the Messiah’s arrival (see Joel 3:1ff; Acts 2:16ff), and were manifested in the early Church in Jerusalem (Acts 2:4), Samaria (8:17), Ephesus (19:6), Rome (Rom. 12:6), Galatia (Gal. 3:5), and in Corinth. St. Paul has much to say of the gifts given in Corinth because there was evidently some abuse of them or some dissensions because of them in that city.

But for us the important point to bear in mind today on this the anniversary of the public manifestation of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles is the infinite love of God for us, his Chosen People of the new covenant. Through the Incarnation men are empowered to become adopted sons of God; through baptism we become members of Christ’s body, his Church. Through the direct reception of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation, we are made active members of the Christian Church, with all the strength and powers necessary to be effective members, on active service daily, true soldiers of Christ.

Let each one of us take an honest look at himself today and ask himself: Am I really an active member of the body of Christ? Am I spiritually healthy, living in God’s grace and thus helping the whole body to be healthy? Or am I a diseased member, and not only sickly and weak through my personal sins, but spreading that sickness and weakness to my neighboring members by my bad example? But perhaps I can claim I have no very big sins and give no grave scandal, but I am lukewarm in the practice of my religion. I haven’t much time for things of that sort. If I am one of these two types—a diseased member or a lukewarm one—I could hardly call myself a soldier of Christ on active service. Deserters and dishonest draft-dodgers are not at the front.

Thank God, a large percentage of Christians do strive to remain healthy members of his mystical body—they may weaken now and then but they call on their divine physician and put things right again. This is as it should be, but is it all that is expected of us?

The Holy Spirit came to us in Confirmation with his gifts and graces to enable us to work for the whole Church, for the whole body of Christ. We are made soldiers to form an army that will work together for the protection of our nation and our freedom. No man is put into military uniform in order to look after his own interests. We too are not made soldiers of Christ in order to save our own souls only—we are soldiers in order to help our fellow Christians and all men in their common fight against sin and Godlessness. We must then take an active part in the battles of the Church, against everything that impedes the practice of the Christian virtues.

There is a place for everyone in the Church’s line of battle. We need not search far to find it. We need not be physical or intellectual giants in order to fulfill the role destined for us. What we need is sincerity and a bit of moral courage; sincerity in our belief that it is the future life that counts—the present is only a few years of training; moral courage to face opposition and criticism from enemies and often from false friends. When God and the Holy Spirit are on our side, we need not worry about the opinions or sneers of worldly-minded men. If we are true soldiers of Christ we shall win our battles, not by crushing our enemies but by making them too children of God and our brothers for all eternity.

GospelGOSPEL: John 20:19-23.

On the evening of the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

EXPLANATION: For the explanation of these five verses of St. John, see the Second Sunday of Easter. They are repeated here today, the Feast of the Holy Spirit, because on that first appearance of the Risen Lord he conferred the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. Today’s feast commemorates the solemn public and publicized conferral of the same Holy Spirit.

evening of…first day: The evening of the Sunday.

the doors being shut…: He came through the closed door, which shows the spiritual qualities of the resurrected body (see 1 Cor. 15:44-48).

came and stood among them: To prove that he was the Christ who had been crucified and who was now alive once more.

Peace be with you: Jews saluted one another by wishing peace, that is, health and prosperity both in the material and spiritual sense. Here Christ is not only wishing “well-being,” especially the spiritual well-being, but he is giving it (see 14:27).

so I send you: He is now conferring on them the mission he had promised them before his death (see Mt. 4:19; Jn. 17:18; etc.), which was the continuation of the work of divine salvation inaugurated by himself.

Receive the Holy Spirit: He breathed on them and said these words—the sacramental action. He had promised them the Holy Spirit when he had returned to his Father in glory (7:39, 16:7). This condition had been fulfilled that Easter morning.

If you forgive…sins: Catholic tradition has rightly seen in this act the institution of the Sacrament of Penance.

APPLICATION: The liturgical cycle, which each year represents to us God’s mercy and kindness in our regard, closes today with this great Feast of Pentecost, the public solemn descent of the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, on the Christian Church. During Advent we try to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Son of God to dwell as Man among us. Christmas recalls to our minds and hearts the great act of divine love. Lent prepares us for the sufferings endured by Christ during Holy Week on our behalf. Easter is the feast of triumph, Christ’s triumph over death, the guarantee of our final triumph and union with him in his eternal glory. Pentecost crowns Christ’s work among us. The Holy Spirit comes to abide with the Church, directing and effectively aiding its leaders to preserve, explain and spread the gospel of hope and love which Christ had brought on earth. This same spirit helps and aids each member of the Church to live a life of holiness by following the teaching of Christ and by helping his fellow man to do likewise.

Briefly, this annual series of Church feast days recalls to our minds the infinite love of the Blessed Trinity for us finite, mortal men. At the same time it shows us the part played by each of the divine Persons in the eternal plan to share with us the perfect peace and the unending happiness which they enjoy in their heavenly kingdom.

God the Father created us with the intention and plan to raise us up to adopted sonship with him. God the Son took human nature so that we might share in the divinity. Representing all men he gave perfect obedience and reverence to the Creator “even unto death on a cross,” and thus merited sonship for us. The Holy Spirit, the “fruit of divine love,” came from the Father and the Son to bring to perfection the work of our sanctification. Thus the three divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity have cooperated in the great work of infinite love and condescension which opens for us a future of unending happiness, if only we have the common sense to appreciate what has been done for us, and the simple common decency to do in return the few relatively easy little tasks asked of us.

May the Holy Spirit today fill us with gratitude for all that God has done for us.

…And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4: 12

Posted on April 29, 2012 by John Brian Schuettler

El Greco‘s depiction of Pentecost, with tongues of fire and a dove representing the Holy Spirit’s descent.

4th SUNDAY OF EASTER

FIRST READING: Acts 4:8-12.

Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a cripple, by what means this man has been healed, be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, but which has become the head of the corner. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

This excerpt from Acts is a sequence of what was described in last Sunday’s first reading. Peter had cured a cripple-from-birth. He told the people that it was not by his own power that he did this, but through the power of Jesus of Nazareth, whom the Jews had, in ignorance, crucified. But the God of the Jews had raised Jesus from the dead. While the ordinary Jews were very impressed, and many of them accepted the faith of the Apostles, the leaders, the priests and Pharisees of the Sanhedrin, were anything but pleased. They had Peter and John arrested and kept in prison overnight. Next day they were interrogated and Peter answered for them both.

filled…Spirit: This was as Christ had promised his Apostles while he was still with them: “they will hand you over to the Sanhedrin . . . do not worry . . . the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you” (Mt. 10:17-20). Before the highest authorities and in the highest courtroom of the Jews in Jerusalem Peter, who only a short while before had locked himself, together with the other Apostles, in the upper room “for fear of the Jews,” now fearlessly proclaims his belief in the Risen Christ.

done…cripple: This was the miracle that started it all. The healed cripple is evidently produced in court—”this man is standing before you healed.”

name…crucified: It was through the power of Jesus that this miracle was worked—through the power of one whom this Sanhedrin had thought was silenced forever when they forced Pilate to crucify him. Peter courageously tells this to the archenemies of Christ and of his followers, and he wants all the Jews of Palestine to hear of it.

whom God raised: Their plan to put an end to Christ was in vain, for God had raised him from the dead.

stone…builders: Peter says that by rejecting Christ as the true Messiah they had fulfilled the messianic prophecy of Psalm 108, verse 22. This stone, rejected by the builders, the leaders of the Jews, has become the cornerstone which would unite firmly the two walls of the house, the Gentiles and the Jews.

salvation…else: There is only one Savior, one Messiah, sent by God.

no other name: “Name” stands for person, and also the name Jesus, or Joshua in Hebrew, means “God saves.” There is no salvation for those who will not accept and follow Jesus.

As clear and logical as was this discourse of Peter, and moved as he was by the Holy Spirit to deliver it, it fell on deaf ears as far as the vast majority in that Jewish high court was concerned. They had long since desired a political Messiah who would set up a worldwide kingdom for them. Not only did they want to be free from the hated Romans, but they were ambitious to govern all the Gentile nations. Their ambitions and desires were of this world—worldly. Christ’s talk of repentance, mortification, and preparation for the world to come found no responsive chord in their hearts. He was not the Messiah they wanted; hence he was an impostor, a perverter of the people, and so they called on the hated Romans to nail him to a cross.

Now his followers were claiming that God had proved that he was the Messiah and, what was more, that he was divine, by raising him from the dead. They were working miracles to back up this claim, and surely it is well known that God does not work miracles for impostors and sinners (see Jn. 9:31). The reasonable attitude for them to take, even at this late hour, would surely have been to check the evidence. But no, they had already made up their minds and would not change them. No evidence could shift the wall of personal pride which they themselves had built. “There is none so blind as he who will not see,” was surely verified in the case of the leaders of the Jews.

Let us leave their judgement to God and turn our scrutiny on ourselves and on our acceptance of Christ. Do we ever allow temporal interests and worldly ambitions to come between us and our Savior? Are all our dealings with our neighbor strictly according to the commandments of God? Do we ever succumb to the temptation to make an easy dollar to the detriment of our neighbor, forgetting our Christian obligations? If we are employers, do we pay our workers a just wage and respect their rights as fellow men? If we are workers, do we work honestly and fairly, giving a right return for the wages paid us? Do we accept all men as our brothers, as sons of God, who like ourselves are on the road to heaven, and are we always ready to give them a helping hand when and if they need it? Finally, are we, by our faithful observance of the Christian life, a lamp shining brightly, helping the many unfortunate ex-Christians who have left the path of Christ to return to their Savior and to the true road to heaven?

“There is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved.” We Christians are dedicated to the sacred name of Jesus Christ by baptism, but it is only those who live up to the obligations of their Christian baptism who are worthy to bear that name and to share in the eternal salvation which it guarantees.

SECOND READING: 1 John 3:1-2.

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

St. John here sets out in a couple of sentences the basic effect of the incarnation. Already in this life men are made children of God. Because we are God’s children here below we shall see him as he is in the future life.love…given us: The infinite love of God is beyond the comprehension of our finite minds. Why should God love us since he does not need us? Our love has always something of the selfish in it; that is, even we find it difficult to recognize absolutely unselfish love.

called children of God: “Called,” because we are. God decided, before creating us, to share his own eternal home with us—to adopt us. To do this he decreed the Incarnation of his Son: “Yes, God loved the world (mankind) so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16). By joining our human nature to his divine person Christ united us all in a special relationship to God the Father. We are the adopted children of God, as John emphatically says.

would…know us: Christians need not be surprised that the world, that is, the forces of evil in the world, does not recognize them nor show any inclination to imitate or respect them, for this world (of evil) treats God in the same manner.

God’s…now: Already on this earth we are numbered among God’s adopted children. This we realize only through faith. When this life is over we shall have a more direct and intimate knowledge of our good fortune.

when he appears: John is referring to this perfect stage of our sonship here. When the Parousia, or the second coming of Christ, takes place, we too shall be glorified like Christ. We shall be raised to a higher supernatural state.

we shall…he is: Referring to God the Father, John says that in our glorified state we shall see God “as he is.” St. Paul expresses the same truth thus: “For our knowledge (of God) now is imperfect . . . once perfection comes all imperfect things will disappear . . . Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror (the bronze mirrors used in those days) but then we shall be seeing face to face. The knowledge that I have now is imperfect, but then I shall know as fully as I am known” (1 Cor. 13:12). After our resurrection we shall see God as he is, face to face.

During this holy season of Easter, while our thoughts center on the glorious Christ who rose from the dead and returned to heaven, our thoughts should follow him there, and dwell for a while on that happy place for which we were prepared by God and elevated by the Incarnation of his divine Son. St. John gives us a little glimpse of that future home of ours in today’s reading: we shall be glorified like the Risen Christ, he tells us, and we shall see God as he is, not through the veil of faith as we now see him, but in reality. In another book, “Revelation,” John gives us a further glimpse into the heaven which awaits us: “Behold the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself will be with them” as a Father among his children, “he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:3-4).

Heaven, therefore, as St. John describes it, is a state wherein every happiness a man can desire will be attainable, the vision of the infinitely perfect God is the guarantee of this, and every sadness and cause of sadness will be forever removed. In heaven man will have no sorrow, no pain, no regrets; instead he will have everything that is pleasing, beautiful, and good. We all have experienced some moments of happiness in our lives, moments when everything was going smoothly and happily for us, when we had no pain or sorrow or fear. We knew, however, that these were but fleeting moments, they could not, and they did not, last, for that is of the very nature of our temporary life on earth. In heaven, however, these happy moments will be turned into an eternal state, a state that will have no end.

It is hard for us, in fact it is impossible, to form any complete concept of the joys of heaven. All our ideas, all our images are derived from our earthly surroundings. St. Paul, who was given a vision of heaven, tells us that he could not describe to his converts in Corinth what he had seen, because human language had no words or images to describe it. “I knew a man in Christ,” he says, “who fourteen years ago, was caught up into paradise and heard things which must not and cannot be put into human language” (2 Cor. 12:2-3). That vision of St. Paul, that glimpse of what awaited him, made him willing to sacrifice everything on earth, even his very life, in order to reach the heaven God had prepared for him. “For Christ I have accepted the loss of everything and I look on everything as so much refuse if only I can have Christ and be given a place in him . . . I have not yet won but I am still running, trying to capture the prize for which Christ Jesus captured me” (Phil. 3:8-12).

Without having the privileges which St. John and St. Paul had we have a sufficient idea of heaven to make us all desire it. But, like these Apostles, and all the other millions of saintly men and women, we know that we must “work our passage” to reach that abode of God. We must stay on the path of the Christian commandments, ever ready to count as nothing any earthly thing that would lure us off their path. During our earthly life we must keep God and Christ daily before our eyes if we hope to live in perfect happiness with them in the hereafter.

GOSPEL: John 10:11-18.

Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father.”

The Jews were a pastoral people, and it was only natural that their literature, the Old Testament books, should have many references to pastoral life. Our Lord and his Apostles continued this tradition and used pastoral images familiar to the people to illustrate for their hearers the spiritual truths of Christianity. In today’s reading, St. John gives us Our Lord’s description of himself under the well-known image of the good shepherd who not only cares for his flock but is willing to die to protect the life of that flock.

I am…shepherd: He was the owner of the flock; they belonged to him, and he would prove himself a worthy leader and defender of his flock.

lay…life: In those days, wolves, lions and robbers often raided the sheepfolds. The true shepherd should and would defend them with his life. Jesus laid down his life for his flock.

hireling…flees: The hired hand who does not own the sheep will flee when danger threatens. He thinks only of his own safety; he leaves the helpless flock to its fate. It was in Jerusalem, the stronghold of the scribes and Pharisees, that Our Lord preached this sermon. His cure of the man born blind (mentioned in the previous chapter of John) had caused an uproar among the Pharisees. When they could not deny the miracle, they said that Jesus worked it by some demonic power. The blind man, now healed, answered this very tellingly: “We know that God does not hear sinners . . . if this man (Jesus) were not from God he could do nothing” (Jn. 9:31-33). The scribes and Pharisees were the legal shepherds of the Jews, but actually they were far more interested in their own gain and glory than in the spiritual welfare of their flock. The mass of the people were being attracted to Jesus; there was a danger that these leaders would lose their position and the substantial profit it entailed. Hence one of the reasons for their fierce opposition to Jesus. In this sermon, quoted by St. John, Jesus contrasts himself, the true, good shepherd, with these hirelings who were working only for personal gain.

I know my own: As the true shepherd knows every sheep in his flock, and every sheep knows him, Jesus knows each of his followers with a knowledge arising from love, and his followers likewise know him. Unless they do, they are not true followers.

Father…the Father: The mutual knowledge of the Father and Son is infinite, since each is a divine Person. The Christian’s knowledge of Christ can never be infinite, but it can and should be as great as possible. Based on true love, it will be as complete a knowledge as the finite mind is capable of reaching. On the other hand, Christ’s knowledge and love for his followers is infinite because of his divine nature.

I lay…sheep: He said the good shepherd would defend his flock with his life. Now to prove that he is such a shepherd, he states that he is about to do just that.

I have…sheep: Most of the Jews had the erroneous idea that they alone would be God’s flock always, that the messianic kingdom would be for them only. The universality of the promised messianic kingdom was frequently foretold in the Old Testament. Abraham was called to bring a blessing not only on his descendants but on all nations (Gen. 12:3). The Gentiles, therefore, were also to be part of the good shepherd’s flock.

will…voice: This prophecy of Christ began to be fulfilled within a short time after his resurrection. St. Peter received the first Gentile, Cornelius of Caesarea, into the Church within a year of the resurrection. Before the last of the Apostles died, the Church had been firmly established in the principal cities and towns of the Roman Empire.

one flock…shepherd: Allthe followers of Christ form one fold, one Christian Church. As St. Paul puts it to the Colossians: “here (that is, in the Christian Church) there is no Gentile and Jew, no circumcised and uncircumcised, no barbarian and Scythian, no slave and free man; but Christ is all things and in all” (Col. 3:11).

reason…loves me: The Father’s love is poured out upon the Son because, in obedient love, he lays down his life for mankind in fulfillment of the Father’s design.

I may…again: By his death he nailed our sins to the cross; by his resurrection he opened the door from death to heaven for us and proved that he was the Son of God and the Messiah.

no one…from me: He chose death freely, his enemies did not take his life from him (as they thought they were doing) against his will. This freedom is frequently emphasized by Jesus during his public life (17:4, 18:4, 19:30).

this…Father: His voluntary death followed by his glorification in his resurrection was the Father’s purpose in sending him on earth. He freely and willingly accomplished this mission.

The image of Christ as our Good Shepherd has always appealed to human nature. One of the earliest paintings of Christ in the Roman catacombs represents him as carrying an injured sheep on his shoulders. This is a manifestation of love which touches our innermost feelings. We do not mind being likened to sheep in this context. There is something innocent about a sheep, and at the same time a lot of foolishness. Does not this describe the vast majority of men, even many of those who openly oppose Christ? Is there not something very sheep-like about the man who, because God gave him a limited intellect, thinks he knows all things and needs no further help from God? The sheep who thinks it knows as much, and even more, than the shepherd and sets out to fend for itself is no more foolish than the man who thinks he can do without God’s revelation and God’s Church.

Indeed we all act like sheep on many occasions, when it comes to the things that concern our spiritual welfare. We often ramble off from the flock to nibble at little bits of forbidden pasture. However, we have a Shepherd who understands us, one whose patience and love are infinite. He is always ready to go after us when we stray too far; his voice is constantly reaching out to us—in missions, retreats, sicknesses, crosses, and other various ways. How many times have we already felt his loving grace calling and helping us back to the safety of his fold?

There are many who are not so fortunate as we, who either through no fault of their own or through their own fault do not hear his voice and do not know or follow him. This is an opportunity he gives us to show how we appreciate all he has done for us. He died on the cross for all men. He wills all men to profit by his death, and his statement “them also I must bring” is a direct appeal to us to cooperate with him in this work. Every Christian is a missionary. The very fact of living the Christian life in its entirety, in the midst of our fellow man, is of itself a powerful example to outsiders. It influences for good the lax Christian and the non-Christian. It makes them stop and think and look into their consciences. This is generally the first step on the road back to God.

The devout Christian will not stop at good example only. If he truly loves God, he must truly love his neighbor and must want him to have a share in his own good fortune. He knows there is welcome and room in heaven for all men, and he knows that the greater the number there the greater will be God’s eternal glory. He will strive then by every available means to help his neighbor into Christ’s fold.

After good example, prayer will be his most potent weapon. Day in and day out, the devout Christian must pray for the conversion of his fellow men who are wandering aimlessly in the barren desert of this life far from God. He must also learn all he can about the truths of his faith in order to be able to help honest enquirer’s. He must also cooperate with any parochial or diocesan societies for the propagation of the Faith, insofar as his family and financial state allow him.

The sermon preached by our Savior nearly two thousand years ago is still echoing and re-echoing around the world, calling on his faithful flock to do all in their power to help those other children of God who are still outside the fold. Do not shut your ears to this call of Christ today. Give him a helping hand by helping your fellow man to see the light of the true faith.-b182

+++

Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year B

Citazioni di
Ac 4,8-12: www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9ammlod.htm
1Io 3,1-2: www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9abrwoc.htm
Io 10,11-18: www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9arb00j.htm

Today we celebrate the fourth Sunday of Easter, commonly called Good Shepherd Sunday. The Risen Lord is presented in the liturgy as the Shepherd of our souls, who “lays down his life for his sheep” (John 10:11). As we look at Christ the Good Shepherd we are called to pray especially for those who Jesus has placed as shepherds in His Church and also for young people who are called to this mission.

The verb ‘to know’ appears repeatedly in today’s readings. When the Holy Scriptures talk about knowledge – especially knowledge between people – it means something much deeper than our how we use the verb in everyday language.

This biblical ‘knowledge’ isn’t limited to the external or superficial information that we can know about another person. Instead, it refers to an intimate communion and mutual possession that engages the whole of our intelligence, freedom and will.

In the Gospel reading the Lord says “I know my sheep and my sheep know me” (John 10:14), and in the second reading St John says “the world refused to acknowledge him,therefore it does not acknowledge us” (1 John 3:1).

These verses written by St John speak of two different types of knowledge. There is the knowledge that is given to us and there is a knowledge that is not possible, and therefore fruitless, to search for or to pursue directly.

Let’s firstly consider that knowledge of Christ that was given to us by grace as Christians. That knowledge of Christ which is an intimate communion and reciprocal possession of Him is a gift that was granted to us and that inspired St John the Apostle to exclaim: “think of the love that the Father has lavished on us, by letting us be called God’s children; and that is what we are” (1 John 3:1). Knowing Christ cannot be reduced to a simple acquaintance with what the four Gospels narrate about Him, or even with the truth that the Church teaches. Although these things are necessary and also urgent especially in our epoch that is so marked by religious illiteracy. (c.f Pope Benedict XVI Homily Chrism Mass 2012)

The knowledge that Christ gives us is an intimate communion with His own life. It is a communion which transforms us and lifts us up to the reality of being the children of God, through the work of the Holy Spirit who we receive at Baptism. We are truly “called God’s children and that is what we are”. This knowledge, moreover, engages the whole of our person – but it doesn’t depend on us. In fact, it comes as a gift which is rooted in the sovereign initiative of God that takes flesh in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the true Good Shepherd who gives His life for us, His sheep (cf. John 10:17-18).

Christ laid down his life for us, and he took it up again. What does this mean that He ‘takes up’ his life again? There is the obvious meaning: Jesus offered Himself up voluntarily to death on the cross for us, and then He rose from death to live forever. But we can also see a further meaning. By rising, Christ take up the life He gave for us on the cross, bringing us to heaven with Him, and inviting us into His relationship of love with the Father. We become sons just as Christ is the Son, and participants in the same love that Christ has for the Father and for humanity.

This has a special significance for those called to the priesthood. Those who receive the gift of a Vocation are taken up into the life of Christ and made a partaker in His own saving work. The priest becomes a sharer in Christ’s love and mercy who is able to make present in his own person Jesus, the Good Shepherd.

As to that other knowledge, that of the world, St John tells us that it isn’t for us because the world “does not acknowledge us”. Those who have met Christ and possess knowledge of Him should know that this treasure is fundamentally incompatible with the acknowledgement of the world. The Lord himself taught us that we cannot serve two masters (cf. Luke 16:13). The only way to ensure that the world can acknowledge us is for us to attract it once more to the knowledge of Christ so opening itself to God.

Let us ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, Gate of Heaven and Queen of Apostles, that, like her, we will fully open ourselves to the true knowledge of Christ – the Shepherd who leads us to the pastures of heaven. Amen.

Third Sunday of Easter-God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, protect your beloved people Israel from all hurt, in your love

Posted on April 22, 2012 by John Brian Schuettler

The image “http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Tissot_Abraham_and_the_Three_Angels.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.

Abraham and the Three Angels (watercolor circa 1896–1902 by James Tissot

God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, protect your beloved people Israel from all hurt, in your love. As the beloved holy Sabbath goes away, that the week, and the month, and the year, should come to us with perfect faith, with faith in the sages, with love and attachment to good friends, to attachment to the blessed Creator, with belief in your thirteen principles of faith, and in the ultimate redemption, may it be soon, and the Resurrection of the dead, and in the prophecy of Moses, our teacher, may he rest in peace.

Lord of the world! You are the one who gives strength to the weak! Give your beloved Israelites more health and strength so we can love you and serve you, only you, and no other, Heaven forfend. And the week, and the month, and the year, should come to us with mercy, and health, and auspiciousness, and blessing, and success, and riches and glory, and to children, and long life, and abundant food, and Divine providence, for us and all Israel, and let us say, Amen.

Transliteration of the most common version:

Got fin avrum in fin yitskhok in fin yankev, bahit dayn libe folk yisruel fin ale bayzn in daynem loyb az di libe shabes koydesh gayt avek. az di vokh in di khoydesh, in di yor zol inz tsi kimen tsi emine shlayme, tsi emines khakhomim, tsi ahaves khavayrim. tsi dvaykes haboyre burikh hi, ma’amin tsi zayn bishloys esre ikrim shelokh ivigilo shlayme vekroyve bimhayre veyumayni. Iviskhiyas hamaysim. Ivinvies moyshe rabayni olov hashulem.

Riboyne shel oylem! di bist dokh dem noysayn layo’eyf koyekh. Gib dayne libe yidishe kinderlakh oykh koyekh dikh tsi loybn. In nor dikh tsi dinen in kayn andern kholile nisht. In az di vokh in der khoydesh in der yor zol inz kimen tsi gezint in tsi mazl in tsi brukhe vehatslukhe. In tsi kheysed in tsi bonay khayhe arikhay imzoyne revikhay vesiyato dishmayo luni ilkhol yisroayl vene’emar, Umayn.

Third Sunday of Easter, Year B

Citations of
Ac 3,13-15.17-19: www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9asubuc.htm
1Io 2,1-5a: www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9abspcb.htm
Lc 24,35-48: www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9bxwpfx.htm

The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.

FIRST READING: Acts 3:13-15, 17-19.

Peter said to the people: “The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.

“And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out.”

Peter and John, on their way to the temple, met a man crippled from birth. He asked them for alms. Peter said he had neither gold nor silver, but he would give him something better. He told the man, “in the name of Jesus of Nazareth,” to “stand up and walk.” The man stood up and followed Peter and John into the temple, “walking and jumping and praising God” (3:8). The people recognized the man as the cripple who used to be at the gate each day begging for alms. The crowd, full of curiosity and excitement, gathered around the Apostles and the man who had been cured. Peter spoke to the crowd and told them that it was not through their own power or holiness that they had cured this man, but through the power of Jesus.

God…our fathers: Peter emphasizes that he also is a son of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and that their God was also his God.

his…Jesus: Second-Isaiah had described the future Messiah as the Suffering Servant (Is. 52:13-53:12), who would be obedient to his Father unto death. The Apostles and the Christians saw in Jesus this suffering servant (see Acts 8:32ff). Peter tells the crowd that God had glorified this servant Jesus in his resurrection.

delivered…Pilate: Peter now reminds them that a short time previously they had handed over this Jesus to the Roman governor to be crucified and had denied that he was their king or Messiah. They had forced Pilate to condemn him even though Pilate “could find no guilt in him.”

Holy…One: The Suffering Servant of Isaiah was holy, righteous, and innocent of any crime. Like an innocent lamb he was led to the slaughter. This was Jesus whom they, the Jews, had been forcing Pilate to condemn and crucify.

murderer…life: This refers to their choice of Barabbas, whom Pilate thought could save Jesus (Mt. 27:20). Barabbas had committed murder and was awaiting trial. Jesus was about to give the true and everlasting life to all men.

whom God raised: God was able to undo all their wickedness. He raised Jesus from the dead. Peter and all the Apostles and disciples were witnesses of the Resurrection. They had seen and spoken with him, and eaten with him after his resurrection.

acted in ignorance: His Master, when nailed to the cross, had begged his Father to forgive them “for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk. 23:34). Following that example Peter says that the mob that howled for the death of Jesus, as well as the leaders who incited it, acted in ignorance. They did not know that Christ was God, nor did they believe him to be the promised Messiah. They had a built-in prejudice against his claims and were unable rightly to judge.

God foretold: The Jews were acting as God’s agents in carrying out what he had foretold concerning Jesus.

repent…blotted out: The Jews must return to God; they had drifted away from him through their pride and prejudices. If they but return to God, abandoning their prejudices and pride, Peter now tells them that they will obtain forgiveness for all of their sins.

In the early days of the Church in Jerusalem the Resurrection was the topic of conversation among the friends and enemies of Jesus. The latter did their best to deny the fact, but in vain; the followers of Jesus kept claiming that it was a fact, and worked miracles in proof of that claim. In today’s reading the cure of the cripple-from-birth is one such miracle. Peter worked this miracle “in the name (that is, the person and power) of Jesus of Nazareth (3:6), whom the God of the Jews had glorified and had raised from the dead.” If Christ had been an impostor, as the Pharisees and scribes had stated (Mt. 27:63), God would not have raised him from the dead and glorified him. Before a large gathering in the temple precincts in Jerusalem, Peter makes this claim only a few weeks after Christ’s death on the cross. The people were impressed. In spite of the opposition of their leaders the number of Jews who became followers of Christ increased daily, “the total number of whom had now risen to something like five thousand” (see 4:4, the same day this miracle took place). This was a large percentage of the inhabitants of Jerusalem at that time.

No true Christian can have the slightest doubt about the fact of the resurrection of Jesus. The growth of the infant Church in Jerusalem and in Gentile lands is sufficient proof of it. Men and women do not attach themselves to one who has failed, nor do they take on a new and demanding form of life without sufficient conviction. Yet, there are men and women who, like the leaders of the Jews, still refuse to open their eyes to the light and who shut their minds against the most convincing evidence. Such people need help. One of the best ways of showing how grateful we are for the true faith is a willingness and eagerness to spread that faith to our fellow man. Christ became man for them too, he died on the cross for their sakes, and God the Father raised him from the dead so that they too may rise in glory one day. As true Christians, and true lovers of Christ, it is our duty to give a helping hand to those brothers of ours who are sorely in need of help.

However, you may say: “What can we do; we are not missionaries nor preachers? We are not theologically equipped to enter into dialog and convince unbelievers.” The fact is that without becoming missionaries, preachers or theologians, every Christian can act as a missionary, or preacher, or theologian without leaving his home and employment and without opening a book. The Christian who prays often and fervently for his fellow man and who lives his Christian life to the full is a preacher and a missionary wherever he lives and works. In his daily actions he is showing forth Christ. His abounding faith and charity, his unshakable hope in the eternal future which awaits him, will do more to enlighten the mind and will of unbelievers than all the skill of preachers and all the theology of great writers.

Are we not grateful to God and Christ? We are convinced that heaven is the pearl of great price compared with which everything this world has to offer is but as a grain of sand to the desert. We know that God wants all his adopted children in heaven. For that purpose we know that Christ humbled himself even to the death of the cross. We know also that Christ is counting on us to help him to bring them to heaven. Would we refuse him this return for all he has done for us? Would we be true Christians who love God above all things if we did not love our neighbor as ourselves? We want heaven for ourselves; we must want it for them too. Through the grace and mercy of God our prayers and the good example of our Christian lives will be the means of converting many sinners and unbelievers to Christ. He in turn will reward them and us with eternal life.

SECOND READING: 1 John 2:1-5.

My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin; but if any one does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we may be sure that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He who says “I know him,” but disobeys his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps his word, in him truly love for God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him.

About this First Epistle of St. John, see the second reading of last Sunday. In today’s extract from this letter, the Apostle is urging his fellow Christians to avoid sin. If they should sin, they are to admit their fault and seek pardon, which will be given in abundance. He has in mind, evidently, the Gnostic heretics of the time who, among other things, did not keep God’s commandments and yet held that they were not sinning by violating them. John exhorts his Christians not to imitate these heretics.

My little children: St. John uses this affectionate term seven times in his first epistle, and six times the term “dearly-beloved,” as a proof of his real affection for all the followers of Christ.

you…sin: In the preceding verses the Apostle says that we are all inclined to sin and are at times guilty of sin. This is a defect of our human nature. The Jerusalem Bible translation is: “to stop you sinning” and may better translate the Greek and fit in with the context.

advocate…Father: We have an advocate in heaven who has pleaded and is always pleading for us, Jesus Christ, the just one. The Father will hear him.

expiation…sins: By his death on the cross Christ has already made atonement, “expiation,” for all our sins and “for the sins of the whole world.” Those only who by repentance ask to participate can receive expiation.

know…commandments: Although they claimed that they had special knowledge of him the Gnostics did not know him, because they did not keep his commandments. True knowledge brings love and obedience with it. Sincere Christians keep God’s commandments. They know God, all he is and all he means to them.

disobeys…liar: He who violates God’s commandments is saying by his actions that he does not know God as a Father who loves him and deserves every reverence man can give.

who…his word: The faithful service of God—the keeping of his laws—will bring each faithful servant of God to the perfection of love which is the essence of true sanctity. The cause of perfect sanctity must be the true love of God, not the false love of God (shown by ignoring and violating his commandments) preached by the Gnostics.

It is a consolation for us to hear the saintly St. John, the beloved disciple, declare that any one of us, even the best of us, can sin. He loved God and fully realized what lengths God has gone to in order to share heaven with us. The very thought of offending God must have been something abhorrent, something detestable. Yet he knew that all Christians had not received as many graces as he had, and he, therefore, understood that their love could grow cold at times and that they could occasionally offend God. Coming from so great a saint as the beloved disciple, this understanding is consoling. He is but reflecting the mind of Christ, his Master, whom he loved so much. John had lived with Jesus for about three years. He saw how kindly he treated sinners.

The Mary Magdalenes of Galilee, the adultress of Jerusalem, the tax collectors all over Palestine, were all treated with kindness and understanding. If they but asked for forgiveness, even if only indirectly, they were forgiven their sins. In the apostolic circle too, Jesus had been merciful and patient with his worldly-minded disciples. Many months after they had joined him, John himself and his brother James were angling for positions of power (and maybe wealth) in the earthly messianic kingdom which they thought he would set up (Mt. 20:20). All the Apostles deserted Jesus when he was arrested in Gethsemane. That night Peter denied that he ever knew him. However, when they later realized their faults and repented they were freely forgiven. Even Judas would have been forgiven his act of betrayal had he but repented.

We sinners—and we are all sinners in many ways—are dealing with a forgiving God. What is more, we have the forgiving Christ as our Advocate in heaven. Through his passion and cross he has already earned for us the right of forgiveness. On our part all that is needed is the humility to admit that we are sinners and the resolve to turn away from our sins. God and Christ will do the rest. Our Lord has left to his Church his sacrament of mercy. From a delegate empowered by Christ to do so, we can not only receive forgiveness for our sins but a declaration that they are forgiven us. This mercy of God and his divine Son should arouse in us a desire and urge to try to return a little bit of love for all that had been and is being done for our salvation. “Whoever keeps his word,” St. John says, “in him truly the love of God is perfected.” If we strive to keep the laws of God, if we try to live the Christian life, we will have the true love of God in us, we will be moving towards the state of perfection which will be ours in heaven.

Should some overpowering temptation or some unexpected assault of the enemy make us lapse momentarily, we have the guarantee that God will accept us back, if we but avail ourselves of the means his mercy has placed so easily within our reach—sincere repentance and, where possible and as soon as possible, the placing of our sins at the feet of his representative in the Sacrament of Penance.

What earthly mother was ever so kind, so patient, so tolerant toward the children of her womb as our God in heaven is tolerant, patient, kind and merciful toward us his weak mortal children?

GOSPEL: Luke 24:35-48.

The disciples told what had happened on the road, and how Jesus was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

As they were saying this, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself, handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.

Then he said to them, “These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”

This is the continuation of the appearance of the Risen Lord to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. When these two disciples eventually recognized that the “stranger” who had explained the messianic prophecies to them on the way to Emmaus was none other than Christ, they hurried back to Jerusalem to inform the Apostles. They discovered that the Apostles were now convinced of the Resurrection, for Simon had seen him. While they were discussing these things Christ appeared in the midst of them.

Peace…you: This is the usual Hebrew salutation. Coming from Christ it was more than a pious wish.

saw a spirit: Even though they had believed Simon and the two disciples they still were startled to see him there in their midst especially as St. John adds that he came through the closed door (Jn. 20:19). Was he a ghost, then, or was he real? They had seen Lazarus raised from the dead, but it was the self-same Lazarus back on earth to continue life where he had left off. The resurrection of Jesus was different. He had risen to a new life, a life of glory which would last forever. A glorified body is not visible to human eyes, but Jesus took on a human form which could be seen. In this appearance the form was the same as the body that was crucified; on other occasions it was a different form, as was the case on the road to Emmaus (Lk. 24:13-35), and at Tiberias (Jn. 21:1-12).

questionings arise: The Apostles did not believe Our Lord’s prophecies regarding his resurrection; they did not believe he could die, so how could he rise again? Now, presented with the fulfillment, they were still slow to admit the fact.

hands…bones: He now asks them to see for themselves that it is Jesus who is there. They can see the marks of the nails on his hands and feet. He is not a mere spirit; a spirit has not flesh and bones as he had.

disbelieved for joy: It was too good to be true; they could not believe their eyes.

anything to eat: A risen, glorified body does not need food, but to convince his Apostles, Jesus appeared in a body similar to that which was crucified and ate some food to prove that he was really alive again—in a new mode of life, yes, but really alive.

Thus…written: Jesus goes on to remind them of the prophecies of his resurrection which he had given them so often. He spoke also of the necessity of his death and resurrection. This was the plan of God as foretold in “the Law, the prophets and the writings” (Psalms), which was the usual Jewish description of the Old Testament.

forgiveness of sin: Beginning in Jerusalem the Apostles were to preach repentance to the world. Christ by his Incarnation, death and resurrection had obtained eternal life (salvation) for all men; this Christian gospel must be preached to all nations. For this he had chosen his Apostles; they had been witnesses of his public life, his teachings, his death and resurrection.

Our Lord’s glorious resurrection is the crowning miracle of his sojourn on earth among men. It is the foundation and cornerstone of our Christian religion. His death on Calvary proved that he was really human; his resurrection proved he was also divine. During his public life he had claimed to be God. Had that claim been untrue, God the Father could not have raised him from the dead. By his death he made atonement for the sins of the world—”he nailed them to the tree of the cross;” by his resurrection he opened the gates of death for all men and made them heirs to the eternal life.

We need hardly delay to prove the fact of the resurrection of Christ, for without it there would have been no Christianity, no Christian Church. In the story of the appearance which precedes today’s Gospel, we are told how two of Christ’s disciples were so depressed and disorientated by his death that they were giving up all interest in the dead Master and were returning home at the first opportunity (the Sabbath, Saturday, had intervened and they could not travel on that day). The Apostles were no better since Good Friday. They had remained behind locked doors for fear of the Jews. They had no hope left. They too would have left Jerusalem that Sunday were it not for the story brought by Mary Magdalene that Christ’s body had been taken from the tomb. When the Risen Christ appeared to the ten Apostles (Thomas was absent) they thought he was a ghost, so far were their thoughts from a possible resurrection.

When the truth sank into their minds, however, they became changed men. After Pentecost day they fearlessly proclaimed to the Jews, of whom they had been frightened, that Christ whom those same Jews had crucified had risen and was now glorified by the Father. Thousands of Jews in Jerusalem had come to believe in Christ, because they were convinced he had risen and was the Messiah and the Son of God, as he claimed to be. The four Evangelists testify to the truth of the Resurrection and we have the exceptional witness of St. Paul whose radical change of life can have only one explanation—he saw the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus.

Of the fact of the Resurrection we can have no doubts; Christianity is inexplicable without it, and Christianity has existed for more than two thousand years. A more important point for consideration today is what this resurrection means to us. “If Christ has not risen,” says St. Paul (1 Cor. 15:17), “vain is your faith, for you are still in your sins.” But “Christ has risen from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Our faith then is not in vain, for the founder and foundation of our faith is the Word of God who cannot deceive or be deceived, and his resurrection is the guarantee of our resurrection. He is the “first fruits,” the earnest of the full harvest that was to follow after our earthly death. We shall all rise again in glory if we have been faithful during our time on earth, in a less pleasant state if we have not followed Christ here below.

Human life has always been the great enigma for philosophers down through the ages. The resurrection of Christ, which causes and guarantees our resurrection, is the one and only explanation of that enigma. If death were the end of man, with all his gifts of intellect and will, if the grave were to enclose forever this noble being whom God has raised above all other earthly creatures and has endowed with super-mundane gifts and aspirations, then indeed man’s sojourn on earth would be an inexplicable enigma. But the gifts God gave to man were not simply to help him to make a precarious living and enjoy a fleeting happiness, interspersed with much sadness, for sixty, seventy, or even a hundred years. No, they were intended to last for eternity and to reach their real fruition in eternity.

With St. Paul then, we may well sing out today: “O death where is thy victory, O death where is thy sting? … thanks be to God who has given us the victory through Our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:55-57). Yes, Eastertime is a time of rejoicing for every true Christian. It is a time for Alleluias, for praising and thanking God. Our happy future is within our reach. Our eternal happiness has been won for us by Christ and is within our grasp, if only we hold fast to the true faith of Christ, taking the rough with the smooth, going through our lesser Gethsemanes and Calvaries as Christ went through his great ones. If we do this we can hopefully await the angel who will roll back the stone from our grave one day and allow us to enter into the glory of the eternal Easter in heaven.

+++
On this third Sunday of Eastertide, the Church welcomes us into the Cenacle so that we can experience the visit of the Risen Lord, along with the Apostles. This is a most special and unexpected visit, which reveals a ray of the Divine Mystery and calls us with renewed force to conversion.

This visit reveals to us some of the characteristics of the new Presence of the Risen Lord. We can enumerate three: its realism, its abundance and the divine patience.

Firstly, the presence of the risen Christ is shown to be absolutely ‘real’. In the face of the Apostles’ disbelief, Jesus makes two simple gestures. He shows them His hands and His feet and He invites them to touch them. How simple and yet how marvelous! We see how the Christian is given the gift of immediacy with the divine. God stands before us and invites us to touch Him. God does not set conditions for us; He does not call for a special ‘work’ or a special ‘space’ in order for us to meet Him. Rather God crosses for us the road that separates us from Him. God himself is the ‘sacred space’ where we can meet Him. “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.” (Luke 24:39). Then because, as the evangelist tells us, “they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed” (Luke 24:41), Jesus makes a second gesture which is even more disarming and unequivocal than the first – He shares some fish with them and He eats it before them.

Therefore, the presence of Christ is something real. He is truly present, not only spiritually but corporeally too. Just as we are real, with real bodies that take up real space, so Jesus is real and physical too.

But of course, Jesus is real and physical in a new way – an abundant way. This abundance is the second characteristic of his risen presence. He is present in His real body – the crucified body that we adored on Good Friday, but at the same time the body that has been transformed. We say that his body is ‘glorified’; it is totally interpenetrated with the eternity of God, so that He can enter the upper room behind closed doors. He can eat like any other man yet He can appear suddenly and He can be touched. He can speak to those disciples with whom He shared His life two thousand years ago, and yet He is our contemporary and He invites us to share in His life too.

The presence of Christ is therefore both real and abundant, so that, while he stands before us, He also invites us to open ourselves up. We are called to abandon all that limits us and be opened to the greatness and goodness of His Life and Will.

Faced with this abundance of Jesus, we can clearly see how foolish the temptation to philosophical rationalism is for us in the same way as it was also foolish for the disciples. This doctrine, which is increasingly widespread, especially in the West, ascribes the divine ‘omnipotence’ to human rationality. It claims that humans are able to not only question and understand the meaning of reality, but even that we can make ourselves the measure of all things. In fact, the presence of the Risen Jesus shows up our inadequacy and inconsistency. God exists, He is close to us, and He is present in a way that is unpredictable and almost unimaginable for us. This means we don’t have to give up in our weakness: instead we can convert to God’s way of loving.

Finally, the Risen Christ shows the Apostles a ‘patience’ which is moving. So often when faced with unrequited love, we withdraw from relationships with those around us. Jesus, however, loves us insistently, waiting with patience for us to surrender to the splendour of his face.

Let us pray that Our Lady will obtain for us the gift of this ‘surrender’ of heart. Most Blessed Mary, who gave us Jesus, the true measure of the universe, and who is now assumed into heaven where you partake in the glory of the resurrection, direct
us to your Son and generate true life for us. Amen.

Grace is Manifest

Posted on March 18, 2012 by John Brian Schuettler

But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God– not because of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2

_______________________________________________________

Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year B

Citations of
2Ch 36,14-16.19-23:        www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9a3mgabd.htm
Ep 2,4-10:                www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9agg5jb.htm
Jn 3,14-21:                 www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/en/9avvs0c.htm

The words which the Church uses to introduce today’s Holy Mass are an invitation to rejoice. From that invitation, this fourth Sunday of Lent takes the name ‘Laetare Sunday’. In the introit of the Mass, the liturgy uses the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in mourning; exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast.”

Why does the Church call us to rejoice when we are in the midst of our penitential journey? We are faced with a similar question to that which St Peter asked of Dante in the Divine Comedy. In Canto XXIV of the Paradiso, having examined Dante thoroughly on the subject of the theological virtue of faith, St Peter asks him: “this precious joy, on which every virtue is founded, from where did you get it?”

Each of today’s readings address this question. To the people of Judah who “added infidelity to infidelity” the Lord God “tirelessly sent them messenger after messenger, since he wished to spare his people and his house,” (2 Chr 36:15). From the Letter of Ephesians we hear that God was “generous with his mercy: when we were dead through our sins, he brought us to life with Christ,” (Eph 2:4-5). The evangelist brings us into the secret nocturnal dialogue between Christ and Nicodemus “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life,” (Jn 3:15).

Despite the countless infidelities of humanity, which seemed to mock the God who created us out of love and who calls us to true life, the Lord kept sending messengers to correct his people. More than that, he so loved the world that he bestowed upon us the abundance of his mercy, by sending the only-begotten Son who was with Him from all eternity. The Father has, in this way, given us the unbelievable and undeserved gift of His own Joy and so we should proclaim it joyfully together with the whole Church.

Christian joy is neither an intellectual concept nor a moral proposition to be followed. It is actually a person, Jesus of Nazareth, the only-begotten Son of the Father and the Son of Man. This Joy is a gift which has been given to us, if only we would accept it in gratitude to God and his Church. It is a gift which has been continuously offered to us by the Church for the last two thousand years, one which the whole universe cannot contain but which gives life to all things.

Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict, has been calling us back to this truth with gentle insistence since the beginning of his papacy. It is a message which comes to us in a special way today as we journey towards Calvary. In a few weeks the Son of Man will be lifted up on the cross, where he opens his arms to welcome us and make us partakers in that life which triumphs at Easter.

Faced with God’s incredible initiative, we grow in the desire that enlarges our hearts and prepares us to receive the joy of God We also grow in gratitude towards Mary who by her ‘fiat’ became the Gate of Heaven and Cause of our Joy. From our Blessed Mother we ask for light, guidance and protection so that we will not ‘forget Jerusalem’, or prefer the darkness to the light. United with Mary, we can know the truth and truly be “God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it,” (Eph 2:10). Amen.

A Charge to Revive the Role of Faith in the Public Square

Posted on February 25, 2012 by John Brian Schuettler

By Rick Santorum

University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas
Publication Date: September 9, 2010

Three pictures hung in the home of my devoutly Catholic immigrant grandparents when I was a boy and I remember them well — Jesus, Pope Paul VI and John F. Kennedy. The president was a source of great pride and a symbol to Catholics that all barriers had finally been broken. What my family and maybe even candidate Kennedy at the time didn’t realize was that in a key moment in that election of 1960 right here in Houston, Kennedy began the construction of another, even more threatening wall for our society — one that sealed off informed moral wisdom into a realm of non rational beliefs that have no legitimate role in political discourse.

Fifty years ago this Sunday JFK delivered a speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association to dispel suspicions about the role the papacy might play in the government of this country under his administration. Let’s make no mistake about it — Kennedy was addressing a real issue at the time. Prejudice against Catholics threatened to cost him the election.

But on that day, Kennedy chose not just to dispel fear, he chose to expel faith.

Let me quote from the beginning of Kennedy’s speech:

I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.

The idea of strict or absolute separation of church and state is not and never was the American model. It was a model used in countries like France and until recently Turkey, but it found little support in America until it was introduced into the public discourse by Justice Hugo Black in the case of Everson v. The Board of Education in 1947. (Black, by the way, was a Catholic-hating former member of the KKK who ironically enough advocated this strict separation doctrine to keep public funds from Catholic schools.)

While the phrase “separation of church and state” doesn’t appear in the Constitution, the concept of keeping the government apart from religion does.

The first part of the First Amendment prohibits the federal government from establishing a state church, such as existed in England and in some of the states in 1791, and from discriminating for or against particular faiths. The founders were determined to ensure that the new national government had no jurisdiction over matters of religion, in large part to insure that each American would be free to pursue the religion of their choice without state interference. Far from reflecting hostility toward religion, our founders, rooted in their own faith convictions, knew that faith was not just an essential element, but the essence of civilization and the inspiration of culture.

The second reference to religion in the First Amendment guaranteed the free exercise of religion and in conjunction with the prohibition of established churches, these two concepts were to work together to ensure that religion and people of faith had powerful constitutional protections of their right to not only worship as their conscience dictated, but to be free to bring their religiously informed moral convictions into the public discourse.

The phrase “wall of separation” used by Black comes from a letter written by a founder who didn’t even attend the constitutional convention, Thomas Jefferson. After he was elected president he mentioned the phrase in a response to a letter written to him by the Danbury Baptists. The Baptists had expressed concern to him about the right of the government to interfere with the religious pursuits of the people, not the right of the people to engage their government with religiously informed moral judgments. Jefferson’s “wall of separation” was describing how the First Amendment was designed to protect churches from the government and nothing more. Note that the Sunday following the day he wrote the letter, Jefferson attended religious services in the Capitol building — so much for the founders’ hostility or indifference to religion. But Kennedy’s misuse of the phrase constructed a high barrier that ultimately would keep religious convictions out of politics in a place where our founders had intended just the opposite. Kennedy continued:

I believe in an America … where no Catholic prelate would tell the President — should he be Catholic — how to act… where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials.

Of course no religious body should “impose its will” on the public or public officials, but that was not the issue then or now. The issue is one that every diverse civilization like America has to deal with — how do we best live with our differences. Our founders’ vision, unlike the French, was to give every belief and every believer and non-believer a place at the table in the public square. Madison referred to this “equal and complete liberty” as the “true remedy.” Admittedly our country hadn’t always lived up to that ideal — in particular with respect to Jews and Catholics, thus the legitimate reason for Kennedy’s speech. But what JFK advocated sounded more like Ataturk than Madison — that religious ideas and actors were not welcome in public policy debates.

Ultimately Kennedy’s attempt to reassure Protestants that the Catholic Church would not control the government and suborn its independence advanced a philosophy of strict separation that would create a purely secular public square cleansed of all religious wisdom and the voice of religious people of all faiths. He laid the foundation for attacks on religious freedom and freedom of speech by the secular left and its political arms like the ACLU and the People for the American Way. This has and will continue to create dissension and division in this country as people of faith increasingly feel like second-class citizens.

Kennedy took words written to protect religion from the government and used them to protect the government from religion. It worked — in the years following this speech the concept of an absolute “separation of church and state” gained wider and wider acceptance due to its inculcation in the academy. When I was in the senate I used to question student groups by asking them which phrase was in the constitution “separation of church and state” or “the free exercise of religion”? Separation always won usually by a wide margin. Another consequence is the debasement of our First Amendment right of religious freedom. Of all the great and necessary freedoms listed in the First Amendment, freedom to exercise religion (not just to believe, but to live out that belief) is the most important; before freedom of speech, before freedom of the press, before freedom of assembly, before freedom to petition the government for redress of grievances, before all others. This freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, is the trunk from which all other branches of freedom on our great tree of liberty get their life. Cut down the trunk and the tree of liberty will die and in its place will be only the barren earth of tyranny.

This first freedom has now been placed on the lowest rung of interests to be considered when weighing rights against one another. The fruits of this misguided idea are increasingly evident. For example:

The ACLU is currently pushing HHS to force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions under the emergency care mandate of Obamacare.

A University of Illinois professor hired to teach classes on Catholic doctrine was fired because he taught (well…) Catholic doctrine.

Religious organizations are increasingly excluded from Public Universities unless they deny their deeply held religious beliefs. This year, the Supreme Court affirmed that The Christian Legal Society can be barred from the Hastings College of Law because they insist on holding their leaders accountable to Christian standards of sexual ethics.

In 2006, Catholic Charities of Boston was forced to abandon adoptions due to a state law requiring that they assist homosexuals in adopting children.

Kennedy’s error also unleashed a new form of censorship that would make vows to the Almighty a constitutional offense, rob clergy of their First Amendment rights and deprive our leaders and our country of their inspired wisdom and guidance.

When I served in the US Senate I often looked to the moral wisdom found in the writings of such religious figures as Augustine, Theresa of Avila, Thomas Aquinas, and Thomas More as well as from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Herschel.

Mother Teresa’s speech at the National Prayer Breakfast, spoken with a humility that made her quiet voice a loud alarm in our hearts, moved me to take a leading role in an issue that pulled at the moral fabric of our country: partial birth abortion. And it was Pope John Paul II and other Christian leaders’ call for the biblical concept of absolving debt at the Jubilee year of 2000 that motivated me to join Sen. Joe Biden to reduce third world debt. Should I have rejected the instructions from the clergy to relieve debt because it was inspired by the word of God? Did Kennedy reject desegregation because black ministers like the Rev. Martin Luther King arguing from a Biblical premise advocated it? Thank goodness he didn’t.

There’s a long list of Americans moved by faith who took on great causes for the nation they love: Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin shook a nation to war; Jeremiah Evarts, who defended American Indian rights; and Susan B. Anthony, who was inspired by Jesus’ radical view of women as equal to men. What would our nation look like had the spirit not moved in them?

If there were any doubts about Kennedy’s intent to devalue faith’s role in shaping public discourse his concluding words erased it:

Whatever issue should come before me as President, if I should be elected, on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject I will make my decision … in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be in the national interest and without regard to outside religious pressure or dictates.

So pressures or dictates from labor unions or environmental groups are smiled upon, and only the religious ones see a frown. To justify this suspicion toward the legitimate claims of faith, notice that Kennedy and his subsequent followers have invoked their conscience as their guide. All well and good. I too use my conscience as a guide, but you are not born with a competent conscience; it is formed and continues to be formed by something and reflects that formation. If faith in objective and eternal truths is no longer going to inform your conscience what moral code will? And where does that code come from? And what is the basis of its authority? Doesn’t the public have a right to know? Yet Kennedy’s followers never tell us.

What they do tell us is clear: that their consciences are not rooted in faith and as such they can be permitted to freely apply their ideas in making laws and deciding cases. On the other hand, consciences rooted in a belief in God are free to apply their ideas to personal matters, but if your beliefs, in the words of my former senate colleague Chuck Schumer, are “deeply held beliefs” that impact your public positions — they must be excluded.

Writing in the nineteenth century, whose conflicts were prelude to ours, John Henry Newman said: “Conscience has rights because it has duties; but in this age … it is the very right and freedom of conscience … to be independent of unseen obligations. It becomes a license to take up any or no religion … to boast of being above all religions and to be an impartial critic of each of them.” Without some objective moral touchstone, conscience is no more than self indulgence — “I can do what I want simply because my conscience tells me to do it.” A major political offshoot of Kennedy’s philosophy, sometimes referred to as the “privatization of faith,” was best illustrated by Mario Cuomo’s speech at Notre Dame in September 1984. There he espoused his nuanced position on abortion: that, as a result of his religious convictions he was personally opposed to abortion. But he then applies Kennedy’s thesis and refrains from imposing his values upon others whose views, because the truth is indiscernible, are equally valid. A virtual stampede of self-proclaimed Catholic politicians followed Cuomo into this seemingly safe harbor and remain there today. This political hand washing made it easier for Catholics to be in public life, but it also made it harder for Catholics to be Catholic in public life.

Cuomo’s safe harbor is nothing more than a camouflage for the faint of heart — a cynical sanctuary for concealing true convictions from the public, and for rationalizing a reluctance to defend them.

Kennedy, Cuomo and their modern day disciples on the secular left would resolve any conflict between religion and politics by relegating faith to the closet. I see it as a healthy tension that Jesus dealt with directly when he said, “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s.” The early church under Pope Gelasius pronounced the two swords doctrine defining two realms, the realm of the sacred and the realm of the secular. Our founders understood that the secular realm of positive law would be at times unjust and that is why the more important sacred realm would arm people with, as one of our founder’s James Wilson put it, a “principle of revolution” to strive to set things right.

As a senator, whenever I was confronted with an immoral law that was unjust or harmed society, I had an obligation to respect the law, but an equal obligation to work toward changing it to comport with what is moral. I agree with the founders that there is a natural law which can be known through the exercise of reason against which the positive or civil law must be measured and if needed amended.

Martin Luther King laid out his approach for ordinary citizens in a Letter from a Birmingham Jail. He wrote: “There are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. … How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. ”

That said it’s important to exercise prudence in such matters, particularly concerning matters of private personal behavior. Not all immoral conduct should be illegal. There are many good reasons not to fight such behavior with the coercive tools of criminal law. With the common sense of his classical tradition, Thomas Aquinas said that law “does not forbid all the vices, from which upright men can keep away, but only those grave ones which the average man can avoid, and chiefly those which do harm to others and have to be stopped if human society is to be maintained, such as murder and theft and so forth.”

So as long as this immoral behavior is not done in public or has significant public consequence it should stand outside civil sanctions. Aquinas was clear and practical: “The purpose of human law is to bring people to virtue, not suddenly, but step by step.”

An illustration of this dichotomy is the issue of laws pertaining to certain sexual practices and what is called same sex marriage. In 2003 I expressed concern about the court’s decision in a case challenging a Texas sodomy statute. I did so not because I would have voted for the Texas law; following St. Thomas’ wisdom I would have opposed the Texas law.

I raised concerns about the consequences of the legal reasoning the court gave for invalidating the statute. They created a new constitutional “right” to consensual sexual conduct. I warned such a right would be used as a basis to create new a right that could have profound public consequences — same sex marriage.

I have been criticized in the media for daring to speak out on these sensitive moral issues. So be it. I’ve tried, not always successfully, to approach these issues with the appropriate passion for the important matter at hand, with respect for the other point of view, without malice toward my opponent and with the humility that my judgment in some cases may be in error.

As it has been pointed out to me on numerous occasions, there are moral issues where I have differed from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and even the pope — welfare reform, the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and some immigration policies. While all of these issues have profound moral underpinnings none of them involve moral absolutes. War is are not always unjust; government aid is not always just or loving. The bishops and I may disagree on such prudential matters, but as with all people of good will with whom I disagree, I have an obligation to them and my country to listen to their perspective and perform a healthy reexamination of my own position. Let me be clear; I am not arguing here that I have, or our country should, be governed on the basis of religious revelation — that we should for example have laws against murder, stealing, abortion and polygamy only because the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob decreed it so. I wholehearted agree with C.S. Lewis who said “I love God, but I detest theocracies.”

Obviously, not everyone shares the Judeo-Christian moral convictions. All of us have an obligation to justify our positions based upon something that is accessible to everyone irrespective of their religious beliefs. We owe the public arguments based upon reason grounded in truth.

In the Encyclical, Fides et Ratio, Pope John Paul II wrote as his opening sentence:

Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart the desire to know the truth — in a word, to know himself — so that by knowing and loving God, men and women can come to the fullness of the truth about themselves.

The principle of the harmony of faith and reason is a crucial contribution that the Catholic Church brings to the debate. Those of us who are Catholic along with a majority of Protestants and Jews believe that God reveals himself through his creation and, as such, moral truths that should govern a just society are accessible to all — believers and non-believers alike.

At the same time, of course, we must hold fast to our convictions of what is right and what is wrong according to our faith, and not fall into the trap of idolizing our own intellects, or trying so hard not to offend that we succumb to a watery political correctness. It should not make us uncomfortable to call something evil if that’s what it is.

Having convictions doesn’t mean that we don’t understand the complexity of the world — it means that we are able to prioritize the pursuit of truth and justice and call evil what it is.

Our American civilization has reflected a most healthy union of faith and reason. From long experience, we know that faith for its own sake, apart from love of truth is only a sentiment, and that reason for its own sake withers into rationalism. Neither is autonomous. If I have faith only in myself, I belong to a very small religion. And as for the right use of reason, let’s remember what G. K. Chesterton said: “A madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason.”

In his Regensburg address, Pope Benedict XVI contrasted the Judeo-Christian revelation with the concept of God held by some outside of the Judeo-Christian world as aloof from reason. He also discussed those societies which would attempt to live without God, as in secular Europe or Communist China. In the secular West, he said,

… the subjective “conscience” becomes the sole arbiter of what is ethical. In this way, though, ethics and religion lose their power to create a community and become a completely personal matter. This is a dangerous state of affairs for humanity, as we see from the disturbing pathologies of religion and reason which necessarily erupt when reason is so reduced that questions of religion and ethics no longer concern it.

The movement in our country to fly on “one wing,” reason alone, will ultimately undermine the very foundation of our country — freedom.

America is rooted in the founders’ belief that free people, whose God-given rights are protected by a government that allows the individual to pursue their dreams and reap the fruits of their labor, would build the most just and prosperous society in the history of man. They were right; freedom was the key ingredient in the American experiment.

Our founders understood it was relatively easy to establish freedom in our Constitution, the harder task was to create a system that would maintain it against the corrosive force of time. The author Os Guinness describes how they accomplished this as the Golden Triangle of Freedom: “Freedom requires virtue, virtue requires faith and faith requires freedom and around again.”

That freedom requires virtue was explained by the political philosopher Edmund Burke, who wrote

Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites … Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.

Virtue requires faith because faith is the primary teacher of morality. That is not to say that one cannot be virtuous without faith, but for society as a whole faith is the indispensable agent of virtue.

Faith requires freedom. Why has America remained a deeply religious country averting the road to secularism traveled by our European brothers and sisters? Again Madison’s “true remedy,” the combination of “free exercise” and no religious state supported monopoly, has created a vibrant marketplace of religions extolling everywhere the word of God to inspire people to fulfill His special plan for each of us.

Our founders’ inspired brilliance created a paradigm that has given America the best chance of any civilization in the history of man to endure the test of time. Time, this time now in American history is putting that to the test.

I will conclude with a final consequence of what started here 50 years ago by bringing in one of the Catholic Church’s foremost American advocates for religious freedom, John Courtney Murray. He advised us that the first two articles of the First Amendment are “not articles of faith, but articles of peace.” What was Murray getting at?

E Pluribus Unum — out of many one. Our founders believed that if they fostered religion and the Judeo-Christian moral code we would achieve something that was never before seen in a country with so many competing faiths — a truly tolerant, democratic and harmonious public square.

On June 12, 1775, Congress’ first act was to urge a national day of “public humiliation, fasting and prayer” for which it commissioned “ministers of the gospel of all denominations” to participate.

On the assigned day, Congress attended services at an Anglican Church in the morning and a Presbyterian meetinghouse in the afternoon. The following year they convened at Philadelphia’s “Roman Chapel” and later a Dutch Lutheran Church. This is the vision. A vibrant, fully clothed public square; a marketplace of believers and non-believers where truth could be proffered and reasoned, and differences civilly tolerated.

One of my favorite sayings is: We don’t appreciate what we have until it’s gone. For over 200 years we have been blessed with a country often described as a melting pot. The fire that helped to gently melt us together into a country where people of different faiths and cultures come together in our dynamic democracy to peaceably find common ground — is that first freedom — the true remedy.

What the movement spawned here 50 years ago seems to disregard is that repressing or banishing people of faith from having a say in government creates alienation which could lead to disaffection and conflict as we have seen in other countries around the world. Think about all of the people in this country from different cultures who if they lived in their native country would be sworn enemies. Yet when they come to America they are inoculated with something that enables them to work together on the school board and neighborhood associations.A key ingredient in that inoculation is the freedom of conscience that ameliorates the fear, frustration and mistrust that comes from repression.

Kennedy’s speech was historic because it did offer a teachable moment. In the short term it accomplished a great good by helping to put an end to Catholic bigotry. Unfortunately, its lasting impact not only undermined the essential role that faith has successfully played in America, but it reduced religion to mere personal “belief” and helped launch a cultural revolution, proclaiming loudly that on matters of moral consequence, reason has no truths it can discern, nothing of moral significance it can claim to know, much less contribute to the public debate.

That’s the “faith” that is being offered by those who want to change the time tested Golden Triangle of Freedom. You’ll see it in the public square today, and it’s popular because it pretends to impose nobody’s values on anybody. Yet it’s an illusion because it uses a cloak of “neutrality,” “objectivity” and “rationality” that results in the imposition of secular values on everybody while marginalizing faith and those who believe as moralizing theocrats.

Kennedy concluded his Houston speech by saying he did not “intend to disavow either my views or my church in order to win this election.” The sad fact is he could have stood by his beliefs and won; he chose not to. Instead he charted a course that has won many elections, but has put American civilization at risk. I have always felt comfortable to be on the path our founders took, the one that is now less traveled and invites the most criticism. I do so because I believe we all have an obligation to be good stewards of this great inheritance that generations of Americans created with their last full measure of devotion.

That’s why we should feel so blessed to be here at a time when the land that God has so richly blessed is being put to the test. Many generations are never called to do great things, make great sacrifices to maintain liberty. We are the fortunate ones who have the opportunity not only preserve but build on the founders’ vision of freedom supported by virtue which in turn is supported by a vibrant faith — a mutually strengthening interface of church and state that with our collective effort will keep America that beacon of hope that shining city on the hill.

Bless you and may God continue to bless America.

FAITHFUL

Posted on February 4, 2012 by John Brian Schuettler

On Thursday, 2 February, Benedict XVI celebrated Vespers in St Peter’s Basilica on the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, also the World Day for Consecrated Life. The following is a translation of the Pope’s Homily, which was given in Italian.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, 40 days after the birth of Jesus, shows us Mary and Joseph who, in obedience to the Law of Moses, go to the Temple in Jerusalem to offer the child, their first born son, to the Lord and redeem him through a sacrifice (cf. Lk 2:22-24). It is one of the situations in which the liturgical time reflects historical time, because today actually marks 40 days after the Solemnity of Birth of the Lord at Christmas. The theme of Christ as Light, that characterizes the cycle of the Christmas festivities and culminates in the Solemnity of the Epiphany, is taken up again and extended in today’s feast.

The ritual act of Jesus’ parents, which takes place in the humble, hidden manner that characterizes the Incarnation of the Son of God, finds a unique welcome from the elderly Simeone and the prophetess Anna. By divine inspiration they recognize in that baby the Messiah foretold by the prophets. In the meeting of the elderly Simeone and Mary, a young mother, the Old and New Testaments come together in a wonderful way through the thanksgiving for the gift of Light which shone in the darkness and prevented it from prevailing: Christ the Lord, the light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory to your people of Israel (cf. Lk 2:32).

The day on which the Church commemorates the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, we celebrate the Day of Consecrated Life. In fact this Gospel episode to which we refer is a significant icon of the giving of one’s life by those who are called to present again in the Church and in the world, through the evangelical counsels, the characteristics of Jesus, virgin, poor and obedient, the Consecrated of the Father. In today’s feast we therefore celebrate the mystery of consecration: the consecration of Christ, the consecration of Mary, the consecration of those who place themselves in the sequela of Jesus for love of the Kingdom of God.

According to the insight of Bl. John Paul II, who celebrated it for the first time in 1997, the Day dedicated to consecrated life, presupposes certain goals. First, it seeks to respond to the need to give praise and thanks to the Lord for the gift of this state of life which belongs to the sanctity of the Church. Today, the prayer of the entire Community is dedicated to every consecrated person, giving thanks to God the Father, giver of every good, for the gift of this vocation, and with new faith invoke him. Moreover, this occasion offers the opportunity to appreciate increasingly the testimony of those who have chosen to follow Christ through the practice of the evangelical counsels by promoting the understanding of and appreciation for the consecrated life within the People of God. Finally, the World Day for Consecrated Life is meant to be, above all for you, dear brothers and sisters who have embraced this state in the Church, a precious occasion to renew your commitment and rekindle the feelings that inspired and continue to inspire the gift of yourselves to the Lord. This what we wish to do today, this is the commitment you are called to realize every day of your life.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Ecumenical Council Vatican II, I announced — as you know — the Year of Faith, which will begin this October. All the faithful, but in a special way members of Institutes of consecrated life, have welcomed this initiative as a gift, and I hope that they will live the Year of Faith as an opportune time for interior renewal, of which there is always need, with a deepening of the essential values and needs of their own consecration. In the Year of Faith you, who have welcomed the call to follow Christ more closely through the profession of the evangelical counsels, are invited to increasingly deepen your relationship with God. The evangelical counsels, accepted as an authentic rule of life, strengthen faith, hope and charity, which unite one to God. This profound closeness to the Lord, which must be the priority and characteristic point of your existence, will lead you toward a renewed adherence to Him and will have a positive influence on your particular presence and form of apostolate among the People of God, through the contribution of your charisms, in fidelity to the Magisterium, to be witnesses of faith and grace, credible witnesses for the Church and the world today.

The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, by whatever means it deems appropriate, will suggest guidelines and will do its best to encourage that this Year of Faith be for all of you a year of renewal and of fidelity, so that all consecrated men and women may personally and enthusiastically engage in the New Evangelization. While I extend my cordial greetings to the Prefect of the Dicastery, Archbishop João Braz de Aviz — whom I wish to include among those I will create Cardinals in the next Concistory — I gladly take this joyful occasion to thank him and his co-workers for the precious service that they render to the Holy See and to the entire Church.

Dear brothers and sisters, I also thank each one of you, for having wished to participate in this Liturgy, which, also thanks to your presence, is distinguished by a special atmosphere of devotion and of recollection. I wish you every good on the journey of your religious Families, as well as for your formation and your apostolate. May the Virgin Mary, disciple, servant and Mother of the Lord, obtain from the Lord Jesus that “all who have received the gift of following him in the consecrated life may be enabled to bear witness to that gift by their transfigured lives, as they joyfully make their way with all their brothers and sisters towards our heavenly homeland and the light which will never grow dim” (John Paul II, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata, n. 112). Amen.

February 4, 2012

[tags: Benedict XVI]

Fidelity and renewal (L’Osservatore Romano)

Sanctity

Posted on January 22, 2012 by John Brian Schuettler

On January 20, in the Clementine Hall the Holy Father received seventy professors and students of the diocesan seminary of Rome, the “Almo Collegio Capranica”. Tomorrow the 555 year-old college will be celebrating the feast of its patroness St Agnes, and it was on that third-century virgin and martyr that the Holy Father focused his remarks.

“For St. Agnes martyrdom meant agreeing to spend her young life, generously and freely, completely and without reserve, so that the Gospel could be announced as the truth and beauty which illuminates existence. … In martyrdom Agnes also confirmed the other decisive element of her life: her virginity for Christ and the Church. Her path to the compete gift of self in martyrdom was, in fact, prepared by her informed, free and mature choice of virginity, testimony of her desire to belong entirely to Christ. … While still young Agnes had learned that being a disciple of the Lord means loving Him, even at the cost of one’s life”.

“Formation for the priesthood likewise requires integrity, maturity, asceticism, constancy and heroic fidelity in all aspects. All this must be founded upon a solid spiritual life animated by an intense relationship with God, as individuals and in the community, with a particular care for liturgical celebrations and frequent recourse to the Sacraments. Priestly life requires an ever-increasing thirst for sanctity, a clear ‘sensus Ecclesiae’ and an openness to fraternity without exclusion or bias”, said the Holy Father.

“Part of a priest’s journey of sanctity is his decision to develop, with God’s help, his own intellect, his own commitment: an authentic and solid personal culture which is the fruit of constant and impassioned study. Faith has an indispensable rational and intellectual element. … Those who also achieve maturity in this global cultural formation will be more effective educators and animators of that worship ‘in spirit and in truth’ about which Jesus spoke to the woman of Samaria. Such worship … must become … a process whereby man himself, as a being gifted with reason, becomes worship and glorification of the living God”.

“Always maintain a profound sense of the history and traditions of the Church”, the Pope told his audience. “Here you have the opportunity to open yourselves to an international horizon. … Learn to understand the situations of the various countries and Churches of the world. … Ready yourselves to approach all the men and women you will meet, ensuring that no culture is a barrier to the Word of life, which you must announce even with your lives”.

“The Church expects a lot from young priests in the work of evangelisation and new evangelisation. I encourage you in your daily efforts that, rooted in the beauty of authentic tradition and profoundly united to Christ, you may bring Him into your communities with truth and joy”. Priestly Life Requires Ever-Increasing Thirst for Sanctity (VIS)

ADVERSITY BREEDS RENEWAL

Posted on December 23, 2011 by John Brian Schuettler

A new way
of being Christian

From Africa and from the World Youth Day in Madrid, a powerful remedy against faith fatigue and weariness

The Pontiff mentioned that some of his experience during the year have offered a more positive vision of the Church’s future. For example, he said, during a visit to Benin he found “none of the ‘faith fatigue’ that is so prevalent here.” In Africa, he reported, the faithful appear “so ready to sacrifice and so full of happiness” that their attitude is an antidote to Europe’s exhaustion. Another sign of hope, the Pope said, was the celebration of World Youth Day, at which “a new, more youthful form of Christianity can be seen.” Pope Benedict saw five noteworthy characteristics of this vigorous form of Christianity:

First, “there is a new experience of catholicity, of the Church’s universality;
Second, there is “a new way of living our humanity, our Christianity,” in a spirit of service to others;
Third, there is a profound spirit of adoration, most evident during Mass and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament;
Fourth, there is a renewed interest in sacramental Confession, “which is increasingly coming to be seen as an integral part of the experience” of World Youth Day;
Fifth, there is an active sense of joy.

The joyous experiences of faith lived in Madrid with the youth of the world, then the recent Visit to Benin were moments of “great encouragement” for the Pope, showing him that it is possible to give life to “a new, more youthful form of Christianity” able to overcome the “ faith fatigue” ever more present in Europe.

With this persuasion, Benedict XVI addressed the members of the College of Cardinals, the Roman Curia and the Governorate at the traditional Christmas Audience which took place Thursday morning, 22 December in the Clementine Hall. A meeting that, as is custom, was an occasion to retrace the year, marked in a dramatic way, especially in Europe, by the financial and economic crisis. The foundations, the Pontiff explained, are to be found ultimately in the “ethical crisis looming over the Old Continent” and risks pushing individuals and social groups to “practise renunciation and make sacrifices” and remaining entrenched in the defense of mere “personal interests”.

The Pope also spoke of the crisis regarding the situation of Christianity in Europe, reiterating what he previously stated during his Visit to Germany in September: “The essence of the crisis of the Church in Europe is the crisis of faith”. Benedict XVI underlined with a concerned tone the progressing decrease and constant ageing of those who regularly go to church. He also spoke of how the “recruitment of priests is stagnating” and how“scepticism and unbelief are growing” among people.

What are we to do in the face of this reality? The Pontiff’s answer is “action alone fails to resolve the matter” because “if faith does not take on new life, deep conviction and real strength from the encounter with Jesus Christ, then all other reforms will remain ineffective”.

Thus the Pope explained the experiences during his Visits this year to Madrid and Benin: occasions in which Benedict XVI had the opportunity to touch with his own hands the fruits of that “joy in being Christian” which today is “a powerful remedy “ against the “ faith fatigue” which is affecting Christianity in Europe.

In particular from the World Youth Day on Spanish soil, the Pontiff identified five characterizing aspects of “a new, more youthful form of Christianity”: a “new experience of catholicity, of the Church’s universality”; the ability to give a piece of one’s own life not for themselves but for Christ and others; the centrality of adoration as an “act of faith” that shows the “certainty of God’s tangible love for us”; the importance of the sacrament of Confession, sign “we need forgiveness over and over again, and that forgiveness brings responsibility”; the joy of those who know they are accepted and loved unconditionally by God. He observed, where “man’s sense of being accepted and loved by God is lost, then there is no longer any answer to the question whether to be a human being is good at all”.

+++

The Pope challenged those Roman university students who were to listen to him in the Vatican Basilica on 15 December. Speaking of the waiting for God that is characteristic of Advent he asked: “Is God’s invitation to waiting really untimely?”. And, further, “what does Christmas mean for me? Is it really important for my existence, for building society?”.

These are not rhetorical questions. Yet Benedict XVI pointed out straight away that every attempt to build the world without or in opposition to God and in the wake of pretentious ideologies has ended by turning against human beings themselves and their profound dignity, to the point of making them lose the hope of a positive construction in history, as well as esteem and love for themselves.

Giacomo Leopardi wrote in his Zibaldone [note books]: “The man who does not bother about himself is incapable of bothering about anything, because nothing can interest a person except in relation to him or herself. The person who does not desire for his own sake and does not love himself is not kind to others”.

Today’s human beings lack this love. Indeed, they have lost the reason for loving themselves. And they are desperately attached to what they do and what they possess. They seek to find in it their own value, the value of their life, because they do not love and esteem themselves for what they are. “The attachment to what one does as sign of identity”, Fr Luigi Giussani said to university students in 1984, “expresses a lack of self esteem. The affective impulse never wearies the person but increases in its form of expression as it gradually advances. What wears people out is the impulse to possess”.

But when do human beings learn to love themselves? Only when they are the object of great love. “In the experience of great love”, Romano Guardini wrote, “the whole world is summed up in the I-You relationship, and all that happens takes place in that sphere. The personal element to which, in the ultimate analysis, love aspires and which represents what is loftiest among the realities that the world embraces, penetrates and determines every other form: space and countryside, stones, trees, animals”. As these words of the Essenza del cristianesimo suggest, when men and women experience being loved they understand the value of themselves and of the whole world.

For this reason the greatest crime against humanity is the systematic denial of God as a mystery of love from which everything that exists flows, and from which, in particular, flows that unique being which is the free being created and loved for himself, solely with a view to his fulfilment, his happiness, and not dependent upon anything else. Having consummated this denial, human beings have begun once again, as in the darkness of ancient times, to conceive of themselves as children of nothingness, of chance or of natural need. They have ended by losing their self esteem and, with it, the capacity for loving others. The fact that today even the conjugal bond is rejected, stems from a double low opinion: “Can another love me for the whole of my life? And might the other not deserve a faithful love?”. St Paul said with good reason: “he who loves his wife loves himself” (Eph 5:28). Marriage, especially Christian marriage, thus proves to be a sort of new triumph over the apparent uselessness of life and the flaunted affirmation of the human being’s worthlessness.

Being is love. If you experience this even for an instant you can no longer ignore this viewpoint. As long as there is someone to remind you of it with his company. And, ultimately, this is the purpose of all authentic human company: the exaltation of human beings, the promotion of their desire to love and to procreate. I believe that those university students to whom the Pope said: we do not need a generic, indefinite god but rather the living, true God who unfolds the horizon of the human future to a prospect of firm, well-founded hope, a hope rich in eternity that enables us to face the present courageously in all its aspects”, felt understood!

Therefore a vague religious sense or some sort of notion of God that we can make for ourselves is no longer enough. What we need is the proclamation of the Christian God, a God who makes himself a child for humankind: “In the Bethlehem Grotto human loneliness is overcome, our existence is no longer left to the impersonal forces of natural and historical processes, our house can be built on the rock: we can plan our history, the history of humanity, not in utopia but in the certainty that the God of Jesus Christ is present and goes with us”. Only the experience of a newness, of the encounter with this God can restore the true sense of ourselves and of history to us, together with hope in a fulfillment.

PATIENT TRUST IN GOD’S WILL

Posted on December 17, 2011 by John Brian Schuettler

Thursday evening, in keeping with a pre-Christmas tradition, the Holy Father presided at Vespers in the Vatican Basilica with students from Roman universities. Also present at the ceremony – which this year coincides with the twentieth anniversary of the Office for Pastoral Care in Universities, established by Blessed John Paul II – were representatives from a number of academic institutions, and Francesco Profumo, minister for education, universities and research.

Benedict XVI’s homily, extracts of which are given below, reflected on the Apostle James’ call to “be patient until the coming of the Lord”.

“To you who live at the heart of the cultural and social environment of our time, who experience new and increasingly refined technologies, who are protagonists of historical changes which sometimes seem overwhelming, the Apostle’s call may appear to be an anachronism. … His exhortation to patient constancy, which in our time may leave us somewhat perplexed, is in fact the way to a deeper understanding of the question of God and its importance in life and history; because it is in patience, in faithfulness, in the constant search for and openness to God, that He reveals His Face”.

“St. James … reminds us that … we are not alone, and that we do not create history by ourselves. God is not distant from man, He has come close to him, He became flesh. … Patience is the virtue of those people who entrust themselves to this presence in history, who do not let themselves be drawn by the temptation to place all their hope in the present moment, in a purely horizontal perspective, in projects that are technically perfect but far distant from the profound truth that gives human beings their greatest dignity: the transcendent dimension, the fact of being created in the image and likeness of God”.

“In the incarnation of the Son, … God experienced man’s temporality, his growth and development over time and history. The Child is a sign of the patience of God, Who was the first to be patient, constant and faithful in His love for us. … How many times has mankind tried to construct the world alone, without God or against Him! The result is to be seen in ideologies which, in the end, revealed themselves as being against man and his profound dignity”.

“Being constant and patient means learning to construct history together with God, because only if built upon Him and with Him can it have solid foundations. … Let us, then, stoke up hope in our hearts, because the Word of God reminds us that … the Lord is with us and that we can build with Him. … We can plan our entire history, the history of humanity not as a utopia but in the certainty that the God of Jesus Christ is present and accompanies us”.

“The Lord asks each of you to collaborate in constructing the city of man, uniting faith and culture with seriousness and passion. Therefore I invite each of you to seek the true Face of God with patient constancy. … Announce to everyone that the true Face of God is in the Baby of Bethlehem, so close to each of us that no one can feel excluded, no one can doubt the possibility of meeting Him, because He is the patient and faithful God, Who waits and respects our freedom”.

THE HONOR OF GOD

Defending the Honor of God in a culture of death by renewing a Judeo-Christian Living Foundation

Category Archives: GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT