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anastpaul · 6 years ago

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MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS FOR LENT 2019

“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (Rm 8: 19)

Dear Brothers and Sisters

Each year, through Mother Church, God “gives us this joyful season when we prepare to celebrate the paschal mystery with mind and heart renewed… as we recall the great events that gave us new life in Christ” (Preface of Lent I). We can thus journey from Easter to Easter towards the fulfilment of the salvation we have already received as a result of Christ’s paschal mystery – “for in hope we were saved” (Rom 8:24). This mystery of salvation, already at work in us during our earthly lives, is a dynamic process that also embraces history and all of creation. As Saint Paul says, “the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (Rom 8:19). In this perspective, I would like to offer a few reflections to accompany our journey of conversion this coming Lent.

1. The redemption of creation

The celebration of the Paschal Triduum of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, the culmination of the liturgical year, calls us yearly to undertake a journey of preparation, in the knowledge that our being conformed to Christ (cf. Rom 8:29) is a priceless gift of God’s mercy.

When we live as children of God, redeemed, led by the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 8:14) and capable of acknowledging and obeying God’s law, beginning with the law written on our hearts and in nature, we also benefit creation by cooperating in its redemption. That is why Saint Paul says that creation eagerly longs for the revelation of the children of God; in other words, that all those who enjoy the grace of Jesus’ paschal mystery may experience its fulfilment in the redemption of the human body itself. When the love of Christ transfigures the lives of the saints in spirit, body and soul, they give praise to God. Through prayer, contemplation and art, they also include other creatures in that praise, as we see admirably expressed in the “Canticle of the Creatures” by Saint Francis of Assisi (cf. Laudato Si’, 87). Yet in this world, the harmony generated by redemption is constantly threatened by the negative power of sin and death.

2. The destructive power of sin

Indeed, when we fail to live as children of God, we often behave in a destructive way towards our neighbours and other creatures – and ourselves as well – since we begin to think more or less consciously that we can use them as we will. Intemperance then takes the upper hand: we start to live a life that exceeds those limits imposed by our human condition and nature itself. We yield to those untrammelled desires that the Book of Wisdom sees as typical of the ungodly, those who act without thought for God or hope for the future (cf. 2:1-11). Unless we tend constantly towards Easter, towards the horizon of the Resurrection, the mentality expressed in the slogans “I want it all and I want it now!” and “Too much is never enough”, gains the upper hand.

The root of all evil, as we know, is sin, which from its first appearance has disrupted our communion with God, with others and with creation itself, to which we are linked in a particular way by our body. This rupture of communion with God likewise undermines our harmonious relationship with the environment in which we are called to live, so that the garden has become a wilderness (cf. Gen 3:17-18). Sin leads man to consider himself the god of creation, to see himself as its absolute master and to use it, not for the purpose willed by the Creator but for his own interests, to the detriment of other creatures.

Once God’s law, the law of love, is forsaken, then the law of the strong over the weak takes over. The sin that lurks in the human heart (cf. Mk 7:20-23) takes the shape of greed and unbridled pursuit of comfort, lack of concern for the good of others and even of oneself. It leads to the exploitation of creation, both persons and the environment, due to that insatiable covetousness which sees every desire as a right and sooner or later destroys all those in its grip.

3. The healing power of repentance and forgiveness

Creation urgently needs the revelation of the children of God, who have been made “a new creation”. For “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor 5:17). Indeed, by virtue of their being revealed, creation itself can celebrate a Pasch, opening itself to a new heaven and a new earth (cf. Rev 21:1). The path to Easter demands that we renew our faces and hearts as Christians through repentance, conversion and forgiveness, so as to live fully the abundant grace of the paschal mystery.

This “eager longing”, this expectation of all creation, will be fulfilled in the revelation of the children of God, that is, when Christians and all people enter decisively into the “travail” that conversion entails. All creation is called, with us, to go forth “from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom 8:21). Lent is a sacramental sign of this conversion. It invites Christians to embody the paschal mystery more deeply and concretely in their personal, family and social lives, above all by fasting, prayer and almsgiving.

Fasting, that is, learning to change our attitude towards others and all of creation, turning away from the temptation to “devour” everything to satisfy our voracity and being ready to suffer for love, which can fill the emptiness of our hearts. Prayer, which teaches us to abandon idolatry and the self-sufficiency of our ego, and to acknowledge our need of the Lord and his mercy. Almsgiving, whereby we escape from the insanity of hoarding everything for ourselves in the illusory belief that we can secure a future that does not belong to us. And thus to rediscover the joy of God’s plan for creation and for each of us, which is to love him, our brothers and sisters, and the entire world, and to find in this love our true happiness.

Dear brothers and sisters, the “lenten” period of forty days spent by the Son of God in the desert of creation had the goal of making it once more that garden of communion with God that it was before original sin (cf. Mk 1:12-13; Is 51:3). May our Lent this year be a journey along that same path, bringing the hope of Christ also to creation, so that it may be “set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom 8:21). Let us not allow this season of grace to pass in vain! Let us ask God to help us set out on a path of true conversion. Let us leave behind our selfishness and self-absorption, and turn to Jesus’ Pasch. Let us stand beside our brothers and sisters in need, sharing our spiritual and material goods with them. In this way, by concretely welcoming Christ’s victory over sin and death into our lives, we will also radiate its transforming power to all of creation.

From the Vatican, 4 October 2018 Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi

Francis

(via MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS FOR LENT 2019)

#mypic #popefrancis #popefrancislentenmessage2019 #catholic #catholicism

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romancatholicreflections · 7 years ago

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13th May >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Mark 16:15-20 for the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord: ‘Proclaim the good news to all creation’. The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada) Mark 16:15-20 Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News Jesus showed himself to the Eleven and said to them: ‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned. These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils; they will have the gift of tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay their hands on the sick, who will recover.’ And so the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven: there at the right hand of God he took his place, while they, going out, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that accompanied it. Gospel (USA) Mark 16:15–20 The Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. Jesus said to his disciples: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs. Reflections (6) (i) The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord Today is World Communications Day. It is appropriate that World Communications Day falls on the feast of the Ascension. The Ascension of Jesus marks the transition from the short time the risen Lord remained visible to his disciples to the long period of the church’s mission to communicate the good news of Easter. After the passion and death of Jesus, his disciples were in no mood to communicate anything. The mood of the disciples after the crucifixion of Jesus is well captured in the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They had no desire to communicate with anyone other than with each other. They reluctantly shared their sad story with the stranger who joined them. When he began to speak to them and tell them another story from the Scriptures their mood began to lift. When at table, in the breaking of bread, they recognized the stranger as their Lord, risen from the dead, they knew they had something really important to communicate to others. They set off immediately to communicate the good news of Easter to others. The disciples were so bruised and battered after what happened on Calvary, that the risen Lord needed to spent time with them to renew them in heart and spirit, to strengthen them for the task of communicating the good news of God’s unconditional love for the world. The primary way the risen Lord strengthened them was by communicating his own Spirit to them, the Holy Spirit. In the first reading, the risen Lord calls on his disciples to wait in Jerusalem for what the Father has promised, the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is in the power of the Spirit that they would be able to respond to the commission of the risen Lord in today’s gospel reading, ‘Go out to the whole world, proclaim the good news to all creation’. From being a dispirited, disillusioned group, the disciples were to be the Lord’s world-wide ambassadors. Such a radical transformation in the lives of these disciples could not have happened if the risen Lord had not appeared to them, spent time with them and communicated his own Spirit to them. The word ‘Ascension’ might suggest departure to us, the opposite of communication. However, this feast celebrates the risen Lord’s communication with his disciples in a very visible, tangible, manner over a short period of time after his resurrection, and, then, his communication of the Holy Spirit to them, empowering them to communicate the Easter gospel to the world. Saint Paul, in the second reading, refers implicitly to the Holy Spirit when he says there that after the Lord ascended he gave ‘his own share of grace’ to his followers. Today’s feast reminds us that through the Lord’s Ascension and his sending of the Spirit we have all been given our own share of the Lord’s grace. In the words of that reading, we have all been gifted ‘for the work of service, building up the body of Christ’. The Lord continues to communicate his own Spirit to us so that we can communicate the truth of the gospel, to each other and to our world. In his message for World Communications Day, Pope Francis says that because we are made in the image and likeness of our Creator, we are able to express and communicate all that is true, good, and beautiful. We recognize the risen Lord as embodying all that is true, good and beautiful. He is the one who is ‘fully mature’, in the words of today’s second reading. In his message the Pope also remarks that the capacity to twist the truth is also symptomatic of our condition, both as individuals and communities. This is what has come to be called ‘fake news’. Pope Francis calls for a shared commitment to stemming the spread of fake news and, in particular, to rediscovering the dignity of journalism and the personal responsibility of journalists to communicate the truth. He reminds us that even a seemingly slight distortion of the truth can have dangerous effects. At the end of his message he declares that the best antidotes to falsehoods are not strategies, but people, people who are ready to listen, people who make the effort to engage in sincere dialogue so that the truth can emerge; people who take responsibility for how they use language. As we approach the vote on whether to appeal the 8th amendment, we are all engaged in the search for truth in relation to this crucial issue, and in the effort to communicate our understanding of this truth in a loving and compassionate way. A fundamental truth of the Christian vision of life is the sacredness of human life from conception until natural death. This truth is the basis of the church’s conviction that the unborn child has the same right to life as every other person, including, of course the child’s mother. It has always been church teaching that when a seriously ill pregnant woman needs medical treatment which may, as a secondary effect, result in the death of her child, such treatment is always ethically permissible. According to today’s second reading, we are all called to become ‘fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself’. We might pray in the coming weeks for the wisdom to make a decision on Friday week that is in keeping with that shared calling. And/Or (ii) The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord The word ‘process�� has been very much in vogue in recent times. In Ireland we associate the word in particular with the phrase, ‘the peace process’. The word ‘process’ in that connection suggests that the attainment of a lasting peace will only happen in stages, and that one stage needs to finish before another stage can begin. A process that has many stages calls for patience, for perseverance and for a hopeful stance. People who like instant success, who want it all to happen now, will be impatient with talk of a process. Yet, so much of life is the experience of process, of moving from one stage in a project onto another. Our own individual lives can be understood as a process. As we go through life we find ourselves moving through a series of stages or seasons. The transition from one stage to another always involves some element of letting go and moving on. Part of the challenge of life is to address and deal with the various moments of letting go and moving on that the process of living entails. The life of Jesus was a unique life because he was a unique person, being, as he was, God in human form. Yet, his life, like every human life, was a process that involved a succession of stages. His hidden years in Nazareth might be understood as one stage in his life, his public ministry as another stage. His baptism was the transition moment between these two stages. His death on the cross was another transition moment between his public ministry and the short period during which he appeared in bodily form in his glorified state to his disciples. St. Paul understood himself as having witnessed the very end of that short period, ‘last of all he appeared also to me’. The ascension that we celebrate today is another transition moment between that short period and the much longer period that endures to this day, during which he is no longer present in bodily form to his disciples. Like the time of baptism and crucifixion, the ascension was a moment when Jesus moved on in some way, and when those closest to him had to let him go. The struggle that his disciples had to let him go at that moment is captured very well by St. John in his gospel when, outside the empty tomb, the risen Lord meets with Mary Magdalene and says to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father’. Yet, today’s gospel reading makes clear that the moving on of Jesus as a result of his ascension did not entail his absence from his disciples. At the end of today’s gospel reading we read, ‘the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven’. Yet, the very next sentence states, ‘the Lord was working with the disciples and was confirming the word (they preached) by the signs that accompanied it’. The Lord was taken up, he was taken away, and yet he was working with them. The Lord did not ascend to distance himself from the church, but to be closer to the church. Again, St. Paul understood this very clearly as a result of his meeting with the risen Lord on the road to Damascus. After persecuting the church with great zeal, the risen Lord appeared to him and asked him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ In persecuting the church, Saul came to realize that he was persecuting the Lord because, as today’s gospel says, the Lord was working with those who were witnessing to him. Today’s feast then is more about presence than about absence. We celebrate the Lord’s presence in the church. His Spirit has been poured into our hearts and, together, we are his body. As the second reading reminds us today, the Lord ascended in order to give gifts to his followers, ‘for building up the body of Christ’. Today’s feast directs our gaze to the body of Christ her on earth in. That is why the question was put to the disciples in today’s first reading, ‘Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking into the sky?’ We don’t need to look into the sky to see the Lord. We only have to look into the eyes of the person sitting next to us. In these times which have been difficult for the church it is good to renew our faith in the Lord’s presence with the church. We believe that the Lord does not cease to work with us, even though we are not yet all that he is calling us to be. In the words of today’s second reading, the church is not yet ‘fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself’. Those of us who are the church are not yet fully mature in Christ. But that does not make us any less the body of Christ. We, the church, are in process; we are on a journey towards that state of being fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself. That is our goal, and the Lord works with us to reach that gaol. The second reading tells us how to reach that goal. We are to live lives worthy of our vocation, bearing with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. In this way we proclaim the good news with our lives. This is the task today’s feast puts before us, and as we engage in that task the Lord will work with us. As that second reading puts it, we have each been given our own share of grace for the doing of that task. We pray on this feast of the Ascension that we would be faithful to the task that the Lord has given us, and that we would come to recognise the ways the Lord is working with us as we seek to do that task. And/Or (iii) The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord You often hear people say, ‘I don’t like good byes’. Many of us can easily identify with that sentiment. We know from our own experience that good byes can be painful. We go on a journey to visit a family member or a friend. When we first meet up there is great joy all round. You often see such joyful scenes at airports. Yet, when we have to take our leave of each other again, there is often great sadness. We may not like good byes, but we cannot avoid them. The most traumatic good bye is certainly around the death of a loved one. We would do anything to avoid having to face into that particular good bye. When someone we love is moving on from us, we would dearly love to be able to reverse what is happening. Yet, it is so often the case that we are helpless before what is happening, and we have to learn to face into the good bye that we had hoped to put off. Most people manage to do just that; they somehow find it possible to let go, even though it can take time. Eventually they may go on to discover that letting go of someone in death does not mean the end of their relationship with that person. They begin to relate to their loved one in a different way; they may begin to understand the person in a way they had never done so before. The ascension of Jesus involved for his disciples some element of letting go of him. When Jesus was put to death on a cross, his disciples must have felt that they would never see him again. Then, to their amazement, he began to appear to them, and they realized that he had been raised from the dead. He may have appeared to many of his disciples more than once. The time came when even those very reassuring appearances of the risen Lord came to an end, and he was no longer present to his followers in a visible form. We like people who are significant for us to be visible to us. Seeing the face of someone we love can mean more than all the phone calls and emails put together. That is why at the departure lounges of airports we long to keep our loved ones in view for as long as possible. We stare after our loved ones who are leaving us. The first reading states that the disciples were staring into the sky. Yet, the question was immediately put to them: ‘Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking into the sky?’ Somehow, such looking skywards was not appropriate. It was not appropriate, because in returning to the Father, the risen Lord had not really left them at all; he was present to them in a new way. That is why today’s feast is much more a celebration of the Lord’s presence than a lament for the Lord’s absence. Today’s gospel reading expresses that very well. While stating that the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven, it immediately declares that the Lord was working with the disciples as they proclaimed the gospel. He was taken from them and at the same time he was working with them. The emphasis of today’s feast is on the second element, the Lord working with them – with all of us. We often use the phrase ‘eternal rest’ to refer to that life into which we pass beyond death. The New Testament strongly suggests that when Jesus returned to the Father, he did not enter into eternal rest. On the contrary, as risen Lord he was working with the disciples. He works with us today. The prospect of eternal rest may be more appealing to many of us than the prospect of eternal work. Yet, it is very much at the heart of the church’s faith that the risen Lord is eternally at work. God is at work through the risen Lord, as Jesus states in John’s gospel: ‘My Father is still working, and I also am working’. What is that work? The Lord’s work today is in keeping with his work in Galilee, Judea and Samaria two thousand years ago. The Lord is at work bringing life where there is death, healing where there is brokenness, hope where there is despair. He is working to liberate people from all that diminishes and dehumanizes them. He is working to bring together those who are at enmity with each other. He is at work lifting people beyond the blindness and prejudice that leads to discrimination and much worse. We need to remind ourselves today more than ever that the Lord is at work, that he returned to his Father precisely to do his work on a scale that was not possible when he walked the hills of Galilee and the streets of Jerusalem. It is reassuring to know that, but it can never leave us complacent, because the Lord looks to all of us to get involved in his work. The gospel reading presents the Lord working with his disciples; he needs disciples today to work with and through as much as he did in the first century. According to our second reading today, the first thing the Lord did when he returned to his Father was to distribute gifts to his followers so that they could involve themselves in his work. We can be sure that he is not sparing with his gifts today. The feast of the Ascension is a good opportunity for each of us to ask ourselves how the Lord might be gifting us, with a view to our sharing in his work. And/Or (iv) The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord When people take their leave of us, we often look towards them until they are out of sight. This is especially the case when those who are leaving are people we have a very close relationship with, and when such people are going on a long journey and will be away from us for some time. Seeing them and knowing that they see us important to us at such moments of departure. When we no longer see them, when they have passed through the departure doors at the airport and are heading towards the security check, we feel that, yes, they have left us, at least for the time being. Unless we have Skype, we won’t see them until they return; the phone call, the letter, the email, will have to suffice in the meantime. In the first reading this morning, it is said that the risen Lord was lifted up while the disciples looked on, and after he was lifted up, they were ‘staring into the sky’. It is as if they did not want the visual connection between themselves and the Lord to end. They peered after him, anxious to see him and to know that he saw them. After the crucifixion they thought they would never see him again; then he appeared to them in bodily form, although in a transformed state. Now, that period of his visible risen presence to them was coming to an end, as he took his leave of them again. They looked into the sky, wanting to prolong this time when the risen Lord was visible to them. According to that first reading, while they were staring into the sky, two men in white put the question to them, ‘Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking into the sky?’ The question that the two men ask on our first reading today suggests that the disciples are looking in the wrong direction if they want to see the Lord. They won’t see him by standing there, looking into the sky. They will have to look elsewhere to see the Lord. The Lord remains visibly present to his disciples, although in a different way to how he was visibly present immediately after his resurrection. The second reading suggests where the disciples need to look to continue seeing the Lord. That reading makes reference to the Body of Christ, the church. According to that reading, when the Lord ascended, he gave gifts to his followers. ‘Each of us’ - in the words of Paul - ‘has been given his or her own share of grace, given as Christ has allotted it’. Because of the Lord’s return to God, we have each been greatly graced and gifted through the sending of the Spirit. The sending of the Spirit and the gifts that accompanied the Spirit’s sending brought into being the Body of Christ, of which we are all members through faith and baptism. It is above all in and through his Body, the Church, that the risen Lord is present and visible in the world. Rather than looking up into the sky to see and meet the risen Lord, we are invited to look towards the members of Christ’s body. We, the baptized, are all called to be the sacrament of Christ, the place where Christ is powerfully present in the world. That is true, even though the church, all of us, can sometimes hide Christ as well as reveal him. The church is both sinful and holy. We are the body of Christ, and, yet, we don’t always live as the body of Christ; we are not yet, in the words of our second reading, ‘fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself’. That is why at the beginning of that reading Paul says, ‘I implore you to lead a life worthy of your vocation’. He was aware that believers do not always live lives worthy of their vocation. We are the body of Christ and our vocation is to live as members of his body. In the words of our second reading, we are to ‘bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience’. In so far as we are faithful to that vocation, we will be fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself, as individuals and as a community of believers, as a church, and Christ will be visible through us. Even though the church does not always live her vocation to the full, it remains the body of Christ; it remains the place where the risen Lord is powerfully present. It is in and through the church, the community of flawed disciples, that we meet the Lord. The feast of the Ascension invites us to look towards the church with new eyes in the expectation of seeing the Lord there. In the gospel reading, Mark says, in almost the same breath, ‘the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven’, and ‘the Lord was working with the disciples and confirming the word by the signs that accompanied it’. The moment of the Lord’s ascension was also the moment when he began to work powerfully in and through his disciples. Today’s feast is not a celebration of the Lord’s absence, but a celebration of the Lord’s presence. Like the first disciples to whom the risen Lord appeared, we too can say, ‘I have seen the Lord’. We see him in and through his body, the church. And/Or (v) The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord As we go through life there are times when we can be tempted to think that this is as good as it can get. We feel content and at peace, perhaps after a long period when we were very troubled and unsettled. When that happens, it is natural to try and keep things as they are. We don’t really want change; we just want the present to continue. Yet, we know from our experience that change comes along. Something happens that unsettles us again and we have to let go of the way things have been and of the contentment and peace that it brought us. We find ourselves having to make adjustments we might have preferred not to have to make. A new struggle comes ourway; we have to work through some unexpected challenge until eventually we reach a new level of equilibrium and contentment. Life seems to have that pattern to it. It doesn’t allow us to become too comfortable for too long. Just when we reach a certain plateau of calm and peace, we find ourselves being stretched again in some new way. We always seem to be on a journey towards a destination that is beyond us. When Jesus called his first disciples in Galilee, he was inviting them to set out on a journey with him. The darkest moment on that journey was undoubtedly Jesus’ passion and crucifixion. The disciples had to deal not only with Jesus’ tragic death but with their own failure to be faithful to him. Then to the disciples’ amazement, Jesus’ tomb was discovered to be empty on the third day after his crucifixion and he started appearing to them in his risen state. The disciples must have felt that this was the end of their journey. They were filled with joy, peace and consolation. Their experience of the tangible, bodily, presence of the risen Lord could not be surpassed. Here was all they could possible hope for. They wanted to hold on to these experiences, to hold on to the risen Lord. Yet, this was not the end of their journey. They had to learn to let go of these experiences. There came a time when Jesus was no longer present to them in visible, bodily form. That is what we mean by the Ascension of Jesus. The death of Jesus entailed a painful letting go for the disciples. This was another moment of letting go, but it was not as painful. Before the risen Lord took his leave of his disciples in this tangible, bodily form, he promised to send them the Holy Spirit. Jesus would be powerfully present to his disciples in and through the Holy Spirit. Just as the disciples might have felt that they could finally settle down and enjoy the Lord’s visible presence to them, a new phase in their journey as disciples was opening up. It was a phase of mission, when they were to go out and witness to the Lord in the power of the Spirit. In the words of Jesus in today’s first reading, ‘You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and then you will be my witnesses’. When we try to be open to the Lord’s call, to respond to his invitation to be in a living relationship with him, we will find that the Lord does not let us settle easily. He is always calling us beyond where we are. No sooner had the disciples began to relax in the presence of the risen Lord than he said to them, in the words of today’s gospel reading, ‘go out to the whole world; proclaim the good news to all creation’. Go, and I will be with you in and through the Holy Spirit. There will always be some element of that challenging call to move on, in the way the Lord relates to us. With the challenging call to take some new path in the direction of other people, there is also the Lord’s promise that we will not be travelling that path alone. The Lord will be journeying with us. The end of the gospel reading this morning declares that the Lord ‘was taken up into heaven’, and also that he ‘was working with’ the disciples. In prompting us to take some new path, the Lord equips us for the path he asks us to take. The second reading declares that when the Lord ascended to the heights, he immediately gave gifts to men and women. The Lord continues to gift us for whatever path he calls us to take. The Lord’s horizon for us is always greater, more adventurous, than the horizon we create for ourselves. That is the mystery and challenge of this feast of the Ascension. No matter how much joy, insight, freedom and delight there is of the Lord in our lives, we must let go and not cling to it, because with the Lord there is always more. The Lord continues to work in the hearts and consciences of us all, no matter where we are on life’s journey, and if we are open to that ongoing work of the Lord we will have to live with a kind of holy unrest, a restlessness that is the restlessness of the Spirit. It is a restlessness that will only be fully resolved when we see the Lord face to face. And/Or (vi) The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord We have all had the experience of leaving some place that has been very significant for us and moving on to another place. At a certain age, young people feel the need to leave home, a place that has been hugely significant for them, where they have received love and have been nurtured in various ways. Leaving home is often a difficult experience emotionally for young people and, yet, there it also holds the promise of something new. Many of us will also have had the experience of having to let go of those who have been dear to us and who move on from us. In the case of young people moving on from home, it can be more difficult for the parents than for the young person involved. Yet, painful as it is for parents, they too can have a sense that there is something promising about their son or daughter moving on and leaving home. It is a pattern that is deeply rooted in life; those we love move on from us in some way. The pain of moving on for both those doing the moving on and those who struggle to let go can ultimately be very life-giving for everyone involved. The leave-taking can open up a whole new horizon which can be full of promise for all. A young person leaves home, falls in love, gets married and returns to the home of the parents on a regular basis with children in tow. The beginning of a new life for the young person, which leaving made possible, can be the beginning of a new life for parents as well. The experience of loss, with all its heartbreak, can give way to an experience of receiving something new and wonderful that would not have been possible without the initial loss. Our faith teaches us that this is also true of the most traumatic experience of loss of all, the loss involved in death. We are letting go of our loved one to a new and fuller life, which we hope one day to share with them. We celebrate today the feast of the Ascension of the Lord. The Lord’s ascension marked the end of that period during which the risen Lord was visibly present to his disciples. This entailed an experience of loss for the first disciples. It was not as painful as the loss they had experienced when Jesus was crucified. On the third day after the crucifixion, the risen Lord appeared to them. He spoke to his disciples, as he had spoken to them before his death; he ate with them, as he had eaten with them before his death. Their sorrow gave way to joy, their despair to hope, their fear to courage. Yet, even this wonderful period during which they saw the risen Lord also had to come to an end. They had to learn to let Jesus go again. The struggle to do that is captured in today’s first reading. As the risen Lord takes his leave of them, they were staring into the sky. It calls to mind the experience of people at an airport seeing off their loved ones. They keep their loved ones in view until it becomes impossible to see them any longer. Yet, the disciples’ experience of loss at the time of the ascension of the Lord was very different in quality to their experience of loss at the time of his crucifixion. Jesus was no longer dead; he was alive with a new life, and he promised that he would come back to them in and through the Holy Spirit. In this morning’s first reading he tells them, ‘you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you’. The Lord would be with them in and through the Holy Spirit. Yes, he was leaving them, but it was a leaving that would make possible a new presence. Today’s gospel reading says that after the Lord was taken up from his disciples into heaven, the same Lord was working with the disciples as they proclaimed the gospel. That is the real meaning of the feast of the Ascension. We celebrate today the many ways that the Lord works with us. It is not so much a feast of the Lord’s departure but a feast of his active and life-giving presence among us. As people of faith, we can get discouraged by the decline in faith today, which finds expression in so many ways. Yet, today’s feast reminds us that the Lord never stops working among us. When it comes to the work that flows from faith, we may get tired and discouraged, but the Lord never tires. As Saint Paul reminds us in today’s second reading, the risen Lord has given us a share in his own grace. He keeps on bestowing his gifts upon us, different gifts to different people, so that, as individuals and as a church, we can become fully mature with his own fullness. Today’s feast calls on us to keep on receiving from the Lord who is always giving to us and is always working among us so that his vision for human living continues to be proclaimed. Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland. Email: [email protected] or [email protected] Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie Please join us via our webcam. Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC. Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf. Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

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frmartinshomiliesandreflections · 4 years ago

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5th April >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 28:8-15 for Easter Monday: ‘And there, coming to meet them, was Jesus’.

Easter Monday

Gospel (Except USA)

Matthew 28:8-15

Tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee: they will see me there.

Filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples.

And there, coming to meet them, was Jesus. ‘Greetings’ he said. And the women came up to him and, falling down before him, clasped his feet. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee; they will see me there.’

While they were on their way, some of the guard went off into the city to tell the chief priests all that had happened. These held a meeting with the elders and, after some discussion, handed a considerable sum of money to the soldiers with these instructions, ‘This is what you must say, “His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.” And should the governor come to hear of this, we undertake to put things right with him ourselves and to see that you do not get into trouble.’ The soldiers took the money and carried out their instructions, and to this day that is the story among the Jews.

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 28:8–15

Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce the news to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had happened. The chief priests assembled with the elders and took counsel; then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’ And if this gets to the ears of the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day.

Reflections (12)

(i) Easter Monday

Today’s gospel reading suggests that just as Jesus’ enemies did away with his earthly life, they also tried to do away with his risen life. A meeting of the religious leaders was held at which it was decided that a story would be put out to explain why the tomb was empty early on the first day of the week. Jesus’ disciples came during the night and stole his body from the tomb. Not only was Jesus crucified as a criminal but his disciples were to be labelled as body snatchers. However, all of these efforts to suppress the good news of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead were in vain. Jesus appeared to the women who had come to the tomb early with their spices. He went on to appear to his disciples in Galilee and, according to Saint Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, there were many more people to whom the risen Lord appeared, some of whom were still alive at the time Paul was writing that letter twenty five years or so after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Those to whom the risen Lord appeared, including Paul himself, went on to preach the good news of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection to Jews and pagans alike. In today’s first reading we find Peter and the other apostles preaching the gospel to the Jews in Jerusalem. Jesus’ risen life cannot be snuffed out the way his earthly life was. Jesus’ enemies had some control over his earthly life; they had and have no control over his risen life. The Lord’s risen life is a glorious flame that no human power can extinguish. The risen Lord is present among us, present within us through the Holy Spirit, in season and out of season, in good times and in bad. He is present to us every day as light in our darkness, as strength in our weakness and as loving communion in our isolation. For this good news, we can all give thanks this Easter Monday.

And/Or

(ii) Easter Monday

The mood of Easter is very well captured at the beginning of this morning’s gospel reading, ‘Filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples’. Easter is a feast that fills us with great wonder and joy because it tells us that God’s love is stronger than human sin, and the life God gives is more powerful than the death humans often inflict on each other. Easter also tells us that we do not walk through life alone. As the risen Lord says to the women in today’s gospel reading, ‘Go and tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee; they will see me there’. As the risen Lord went ahead of his disciples to Galilee, so he goes ahead of us to all the places that we journey to and find ourselves in. Yet, there will always be people who will try to deny Easter and all that it means. That was so from the very first Easter Sunday, as is clear from this morning’s gospel reading. The chief priests and the elders put out a story, to the effect that the disciples of Jesus stole his body while the guards were asleep. You will find modern versions of that anti-Easter story in our newspapers today at times. There will always be those who want to deny what God has done and put something trite in its place. This Easter week, however, we rejoice what God has done, the story of Easter, of life’s triumph over death, of love’s triumph over evil.

And/Or

(iii) Easter Monday

In this morning’s gospel reading we find two very contrasting responses to the news that Jesus had triumphed over death and was no longer confined by the tomb. The woman came up to risen Lord and, falling down before him in worship, they clasped his feet. They then set out immediately, in response to his call to proclaim the good news that he was no longer in the tomb but was on his way to Galilee to meet his disciples. In contrast to the women, the chief priests and the elders of the people gave money to the soldiers to proclaim the lie that Jesus’ body had been stolen. The women proclaimed the truth of the Easter message, a message of hope, of the triumph of life over death, of love over hatred, of grace over sin. The religious leaders of the people proclaimed a lie which simply compounded the tragedy of what happened on Calvary; not only had an innocent man been put to death but his body had been stolen. This Easter Monday we are being asked to identify with the women’s response to the risen Lord. We are all called to be heralds of the truth of Easter, messengers of hope, disciples who announce by our lives that the light of the risen Lord shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it.

And/Or

(iv) Easter Monday

Two journeys are described in this morning’s gospel reading, the journey of the women to the disciples to tell them the good news that Jesus was alive and had appeared to them, and the journey of the soldiers who guarded Jesus’ tomb to the chief priests to tell them the bad news that the body of Jesus was no longer in the tomb because he had been raised from the dead. The momentous events of that first Easter Sunday were not experienced as good news by all. For those who wanted Jesus dead, news that he had risen from the dead was very bad news. This morning we identify with the women and the other disciples, rather than with guards and the chief priests. Like the women, we are filled with awe and joy at the news that Jesus has risen from the dead; like them our instinct is to worship the risen Lord; like them we hear the Lord say to us, ‘Do not be afraid’; like them we are sent from our worship as messengers of hope. Some people can hear good news as bad news, even the good news of Easter. We, however, are invited to savour the good news of Easter, and the church gives us seven weeks of the Easter season to do so. During these weeks we have an opportunity to keep on absorbing the momentous good news of Easter. This news gives meaning to our living and to our dying because it assures us that we are brothers and sisters of the Risen One who is also the Life Giver for all who seek him.

And/Or

(v) Easter Monday

There is a strong contrast in this morning’s gospel reading between the actions of a group of women and the actions of a group of men. The women fall down before the risen Lord and clasp his feet; they then respond immediately to the Lord’s command to go to the disciples and announce to them that he is going to meet them all in Galilee. Matthew portrays them a worshipping the Lord and then going out as his messengers in response to his call. They model for us our own Easter calling. We gather to worship the Lord, to fall down before him like the women. We go forth from our worship to proclaim the good news that the Lord is risen and wants to meet us not just in Galilee but in all the places where we live and work. In contrast to the women, the group of men, both soldiers and elders, conspire between them to spread a false story about Jesus’ disciples stealing his body. They are not open to the good news that Jesus is risen; they cannot take seriously anyone who says, as Mary Magdalene said, ‘I have seen the Lord’. There are versions of that false story around to this day, pouring scorn on the central core of our faith, ‘the crucified one has been raised from the dead’. It is a counter story to the story of the gospels, the women’s story in this morning’s gospel reading, the story of Peter, the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, the story of Paul. It is in and through those stories that we continue to meet the risen Lord. It is to those stories we give our minds and hearts and souls, so that we may have life and have it to the full.

And/Or

(vi) Easter Monday

This morning’s gospel reading falls into two very distinct parts, each part standing in contrast to the other. The first part is full of the joy of Easter. Having heard the message from the empty tomb that Jesus is risen, the women are filled with awe and great joy. Their joy is deepened when the risen Lord himself meets them and commissions them to share the good news, the gospel, with Jesus’ brothers and sisters, his disciples. We have a sense of a joy that is ever expanding, beyond the circle of the women, to the wider circle of the disciples, and beyond them to that much wider circle of all those who will become the Lord’s disciples. We all belong in that wider circle and we are invited to taste the joy of the good news of Easter this Easter Monday. The second part of the gospel reading has a much more sombre tone. There is a conspiracy to suppress the good news of Easter by spreading a false story, that Jesus’ body was, in reality, stolen. Just as money had been used to procure Jesus’ betrayal; it is used again to promote this lie. The second half of this morning’s gospel reading reminds us that there are always forces at work to suppress the Easter story, because this story is so significant and so much depends on it. Easter placed God’s seal of approval on all that Jesus said and did. In raising Jesus from the dead, God raised up all that Jesus stood for. To suppress the Easter story is to suppress the whole story of Jesus from his conception to his death. We are all asked to keep bearing witness to the Easter story even in the face of those who try to suppress it. We are to keep bearing witness to all that Jesus stood for, to his attitudes and values and we are to keep announcing God’s power to transform all our tombs into places of new life.

And/Or

(vii) Easter Monday

This morning’s gospel reading suggests that right from the very first Easter Sunday efforts were made to explain away the empty tomb of Jesus and his rising from the dead. According to Matthew the chief priests and elders put out the story that the disciples of Jesus came and stole his body during the night, and they were prepared to spend a lot of money to ensure that this story took hold. A story of Jesus’ empty tomb and of his resurrection from the dead did not suit their purposes and, so, it had to be suppressed. Efforts to suppress the truth, when the truth turns out to be uncomfortable, have always been a feature of the human story. Yet, the truth has its way of breaking free from all attempts to suppress it. The truth of Easter could certainly not be suppressed. God had done something powerful and wonderful in raising his Son from the dead. Such an extraordinary happening could never be covered over. The transforming impact of the risen Lord could not be hidden. Because of the resurrection a group of fearful disciples became courageous witnesses of the gospel before the world. Because of the resurrection the church was born in earnest. Our presence here this morning witnesses to the truth of the resurrection. The proper response to the resurrection is not to find ways of explaining it away. Rather, like the women at the beginning of our gospel reading we respond to this good news ‘with awe and great joy’. We stand amazed, in awe, before what God has done on that first Easter morning and what he has continued to do ever since, working to bring new life out of every death. We allow something of the joy of that triumph of life to touch our lives, so that even in the midst of the sorrows and struggles of life we remain a joyful, hopeful people.

And/Or

(viii) Easter Monday

The gospels indicate that Judas was willing to betray Jesus for money, thirty pieces of silver. In this morning’s gospel reading the soldiers are willing to propagate a lie about the resurrection of Jesus for money. They are paid to say that Jesus’ disciples stole the body while the soldiers slept. The story of Judas and the story of the soldiers demonstrate the power of money and how that power can be abused. Money, while not harmful in itself, can be made to serve purposes that are contrary to God’s purpose. In this morning’s gospel reading money is being used to silence the good news that God had raised Jesus from the dead, that God had triumphed over the religious and political forces that conspired to put Jesus to death. Money is being used to cancel out the gospel. Yet this was a doomed effort to muzzle the gospel. The lie that the soldiers spread about why Jesus’ tomb was empty is no match for the truth of the gospel. The good news that Jesus has been raised and that Jesus is Lord was proclaimed, despite the lie that was put about, and that good news continues to be proclaimed today. We are being reminded that the Easter gospel has a dynamism that no human power or conspiracy can overcome. God is always at work in and through the risen Lord, accomplishing far more than anything we can imagine, in spite of the best efforts of some to silence the gospel.

And/Or

(ix) Easter Monday

In the gospel reading from Matthew that we have just heard, the women, who were first to the tomb on Easter Sunday and found it empty, are also the first to whom the risen Lord appeared. This group of women are the primary witnesses to the resurrection, the first to proclaim the good news that Jesus is risen and that he will meet his disciples in Galilee. In contrast to this group of women, the gospel reading presents the chief priests and the elders of the people paying off the soldiers who guarded the tomb so that they would propagate the lie that Jesus’ body was stolen by his disciples. The women proclaim the truth of the gospel; the group of men in the gospel reading proclaim a lie. We are all being asked to identify with the group of women. They were faithful to Jesus; they were present during his public ministry, at the cross and at the tomb. Because of their faithfulness, they are sent out as messengers of Easter joy. Our faithfulness will prompt the Lord to send us out too as messengers of Easter joy and hope, proclaiming Easter good news, the triumph of life over death, of God’s love over human sin.

And/Or

(x) Easter Monday

We have been hearing a lot about ‘fake news’ recently. There is an example of such fake news in this morning’s gospel reading. When the soldiers who had guarded the tomb of Jesus went to the chief priests and told them what they witnessed, the chief priests, with the elders, told the soldiers to spread a fake news story, according to which Jesus’ disciples came during the night and stole the body of Jesus while the soldiers slept. This story, false as it is, nonetheless presupposes that the tomb of Jesus was empty on the morning of the first day of the Jewish week, our Sunday. In yesterday’s gospel reading, when Mary Magdalene saw the tomb was empty, she came to the conclusion that someone had stolen the body, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have put him’. This was simply a misunderstanding, which was clarified when the risen Lord appeared to Mary. There is a big difference between misunderstanding and the propagation of a deliberate falsehood. There is nothing false about Easter. It is the truth that grounds all other Christian truths. As Paul declares in his first letter to the Corinthians, ‘if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain’. An essential part of the Church’s mission is to proclaim the truth of Easter and all that it implies. In raising his Son from the dead, God demonstrates his faithfulness to his Son and his faithfulness to all humanity, in spite of its sinful rejection of his Son. Easter announces, again in the words of Saint Paul, that ‘God is for us’. This is a truth which the world needs to hear.

And/Or

(xi) Easter Monday

Money features in Matthew’s story of the passion and death of Jesus and in his story of the resurrection of Jesus. The chief priests paid Judas thirty pieces of silver to betray Jesus to them. Judas subsequently regretted his actions and brought the money back to the chief priests who used it to buy a field to bury foreigners. In today’s gospel reading, the elders of the people handed the soldiers a considerable sum of money to spread the story that Jesus’ disciples came during the night and stole Jesus’ body, and that is why the tomb was empty early on the first day of the week. The money given to Judas served its purpose. Judas’ betrayed Jesus to death. However, the money given to the soldiers did not serve its purpose. The story the soldiers were told to spread did not have the desired effect. The risen Lord appeared to his disciples on several occasions. They knew that the reason the tomb was empty was because Jesus had been raised from the dead, not because his body had been stolen. No amount of money could suppress the extraordinary work of God in raising his Son from the dead. Easter is God’s ‘Yes’ to his Son’s life and death. It is a ‘Yes’ that no human conniving or resistance can silence. Easter is also God’s ‘Yes’ to all of us. Having sent his Son into the world, a world that crucified him, God then sent his risen Son into the world.To all who responded in faith to the gift of God’s risen Son, God poured the Spirit of his Son, the Holy Spirit, into their hearts. Easter is the feast of God’s faithfulness to his Son and to us all. Saint Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians, says of Jesus, ‘the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you… was not “Yes and No”, but in him it is always “Yes”. For in him everyone of God’s promises is a “Yes”’. It is because Easter is God’s ‘Yes’ to us in Christ that it is the most celebratory season in the church’s year.

And/Or

(xii) Easter Monday

It has often struck me that in all of the gospels whereas men are largely to the fore in the story of Jesus’ passion and death, it is women who are to the fore in the story of Jesus’ resurrection. Nearly all of the men in the story of Jesus’ passion and death fare badly, whereas the women in the story of Jesus’ resurrection are portrayed in a very positive light. The strong association of women with Jesus’ resurrection reminds us that so often it is women who have proven to be the guardians and protectors of life. In Matthew’s gospel, a group of women are the first to hear the good news of Easter from an angel in the tomb of Jesus, ‘He is not here, for he has been raised’. It is to these women that the risen Lord first appears, as in our gospel reading. ‘The women came up to him and, falling down before him, clasped his feet’. It is these women who are the first to be sent by the risen Lord to proclaim the Easter gospel, ‘go and tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee; they will see me there’. All of this is happening against the background of a group of men, chief priests and soldiers, conspiring together to spread a false story about Jesus’ disciples stealing his body during the night. Today’s gospel reading might prompt to thank God for all those women who, in our own lives, have revealed the risen Lord to us in a whole variety of ways. It is time that women’s profile in the Easter story was reflected more clearly by their profile in the structures of the church. All of us as followers of the Lord, men and women, have a vital role to play in proclaiming the Easter message of the triumph of life over death. We are all called to be life-givers in some way, people who care for and protect life, the life of each other, the life of the vulnerable, the life of our common home, our environment. This mission of proclaiming the Lord of life, the God of the living, by our lives is all the more vital in a world where the taking of life has become more commonplace, as is evidenced by the shooting of that young female journalist in Derry last week. The world needs the life proclaiming ministry of the risen Lord now more than ever.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

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pope-francis-quotes · 6 years ago

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26th February >> (@ZenitEnglish) #PopeFrancis #Pope Francis’ Message for Lent 2019 (Full Message) “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (Rom 8:19)

“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (Rom 8:19)

FEBRUARY 26, 2019 12:24ZENIT STAFFFRANCIS

Below is the Vatican-provided full text of the Pope’s Message:

***

“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (Rom 8:19)

Dear Brothers and Sisters

1. The redemption of creation

2. The destructive power of sin

3. The healing power of repentance and forgiveness

From the Vatican, 4 October 2018,

Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi

FRANCIS

[Original text: English]

26th FEBRUARY 2019 12:24FRANCIS

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jmlongworth78 · 5 years ago

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Dispersed Worship for Easter 4, May 3, 2020

Gathering Song:

Br. John Michael, OEF · Setting 8 This Is The Feast

George Lengol @ Ground Breaking Ceremony for the new sanctuary on 24 September 1989.

Psalmody:

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Opening Prayer

O God our shepherd, you know your sheep by name and lead us to safety through the valleys of death. Guide us by your voice, that we may walk in certainty and security to the joyous feast prepared in your house, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Anthem:

Br. John Michael, OEF · 5.3 The King Of Love My Shepherd Is

Lessons

First Lesson: Acts 2:42-47

42[The baptized] devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. �� 43Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Second Lesson: 1 Peter 2:19-25

19It is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. 20If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. 21For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. 22“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” 23When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. 24He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

Gospel Acclamation:

Br. John Michael, OEF · Setting 8 - Gospel Accl

Gospel: John 10:1-10

[Jesus said:] 1“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

Gospel Reading & Sermon:

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Hymn of the Day:

Br. John Michael, OEF · ELW780 Shepherd Me, O God 53

Creed

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again in accordance with the scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Prayers for Others

Peace

Offering- Click Here to Give

Thanksgiving for the Word Prayer

Praise and thanks to you, holy God, for by your Word you made all things: you spoke light into darkness, called forth beauty from chaos, and brought life into being. For your Word of life, O God, we give you thanks and praise.

By your Word you called your people Israel to tell of your wonderful gifts: freedom from captivity, water on the desert journey, a pathway home from exile, wisdom for life with you. For your Word of life, O God, we give you thanks and praise.

Through Jesus, your Word made flesh, you speak to us and call us to witness: forgiveness through the cross, life to those entombed by death, the way of your self-giving love. For your Word of life, O God, we give you thanks and praise.

Send your Spirit of truth, O God; rekindle your gifts within us: renew our faith, increase our hope, and deepen our love, for the sake of a world in need. Faithful to your Word, O God, draw near to all who call on you; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory forever. Amen.

Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name,

thy kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us;

and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

Amen.

Benediction/Blessing

May the One who brought forth Jesus from the dead

raise you to new life, fill you with hope,

and turn your mourning into dancing.

Almighty God, Father, ☩ Son, and Holy Spirit,

bless you now and forever.

Amen.

Sending Hymn:

Br. John Michael, OEF · ELW789 Savior Like A Shepherd Lead Us

Dismissal

Christ is risen, just as he said.

Go in peace. Share the good news. Alleluia!

Thanks be to God. Alleluia!

#Easter 4 #Good Shepherd Sunday #Good Shepherd Lutheran Rutland

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luvs-like-a-hurricane · 5 years ago

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Two weeks ago, on a damp and drizzly weekday, I went for an angry walk. My heart pounded and I walked quickly to convince myself that my rapid pulse was from the physical exertion and not my temper. I knew that the actual situation that had triggered my fury, which I can usually keep in check, would be resolved. But I also knew there was a lot of “feeling” I had been avoiding actually “feeling”. My emotions had been piling up; I needed to get away from my house and take some time to process and pray.

Three weeks had passed since the World Health Organization had declared a global pandemic and I had whiplash from how quickly life was changing, sometimes hour to hour. Three weeks in and I felt unseen. I felt unheard. And if I am honest, I felt like God was screwing with us all. As my plans in the short and long term seemed to be quickly slipping away in the wake of COVID-19, I wondered what else I would be giving up in what felt like the most whack Lent of my life. My house was in week two of a self-imposed quarantine but I knew that even at that end of our 14 day period, not much would change. Social distancing and self-isolation would not (and will not) be ending anytime soon. And I felt real damn angry about it. I felt exiled. More than ever before I could relate to the Israelites, wandering in the desert when the promised land had seemed so close. A little dramatic but hey, what else is new?

That afternoon, I soaked my socks walking in mud puddles along the river bank, yelled across the water at God. I yelled and walked and prayed until my anger had burned itself off, leaving only a smokey sadness.

As I turned towards home, it started to rain again, hard. And for some reason, I started thinking about church. I thought of how no one would be there that coming Sunday, nor Easter Sunday quickly approaching. I thought of the empty pews and darkened sanctuary, of the elderly folks struggling to figure out live streams with crackly internet connections. Most of all, I thought of how much I have come to cherish taking communion each week; I am often brought to tears by the honour of confessing and repenting, of accepting and resting in grace, of coming to the Father’s table with my community each week. I thought of how cared for I feel when the pastor gives the absolution to the congregation. Of how my mind, body, soul and spirit are being formed each week in the kneeling and the sipping and the chewing and the praying. Of how I can no longer drink red wine without remembering Jesus. Of how that moment of breaking bread is sometimes sorrowful and sometimes joyful and always communal. And as the rain came down so hard it hurt when it hit my skin, I started to cry. Not cute tears running down my cheeks but true sobs with my head thrown back, making me look like a cartoon character. Can you picture it? The pouring rain and then me, walking down the street audibly and evidently crying without even trying to hide it. Did I mention I can be dramatic? To be fair, I figured anyone who saw me would understand that these days, you sometimes need a good cry.

I couldn’t help but deeply feel the sorrow of being kept from gathering with other members of the Body. And while I knew deep in my soul that the Church is living and moving and united by the Holy Spirit, the more I learn about faith, the more I have become convinced that it is not a solitary activity. As I walked through my neighbourhood, I tried to get it together but every-time I thought I had done it, I would think of not being able to take communion with my church on Resurrection Sunday and start crying all over again. This year I have been learning that there is power in the liturgy: in the gathering and the singing, in the reading of the Word in public, in of the Prayers of the People and in the passing of the peace. I mourned losing that and I cried all the way home. On and off over the last couple weeks I have cried about the Body of Christ being scattered and separated, even as I studied the Bible on Zoom with friends, worshiped in my living room with a piano and a beat tapped out on the door frame, took communion with peach juice and rice cakes. There is so much grace in this season but I missed my church.

But today, gathering or no gathering we celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus. Our Jesus is victorious. He reigns and is King over all. He is not contained by the grave and he is not restrained by social distancing. He is in the liturgy and in the prayers I can’t put words too, in the many walks around the block, in the tears and the loss and in the work from home. Today was Easter Sunday. And while it did not look as I had hoped, this weekend was one of the most beautiful I have lived in recent memory. Over the last couple of days I have prayed with members of my Bible study over Zoom. I have danced and sung in the lineup to go into the grocery store. I have baked 16 loaves of bread with my housemates (flour and sugar and eggs multiplying, loaned and passed on from neighbours). I have walked through my neighbourhood with my housemates delivering the bread to people we love; friends and family in Christ, our community, our Church.

This morning, I got up and read the gospel accounts of Jesus’ glorious resurrection, on my rooftop as the sun rose. The birds were in full chorus, a woodpecker providing a beat behind the melody. I stood with my socks damp again, this time from the dew, and rolled my eyes, laughing at John calling himself the one who Jesus loved. He makes a point of saying that he ran faster than Peter to get to the tomb first. I’m not sure why that is important but hey, how bold and beautiful that John is so secure in his relationship with His Lord that he declares that himself the one that Jesus loved. May I be such dear friends with Jesus that I do not doubt his love for me.

After sunrise I crawled into bed, fell back asleep while still rereading the gospel of John, smiling and remembering Monday night Bible studies spent digging deeply into the disciple’s words and his thesis that Jesus is the light of the world, come to bring us into relationship with the Father. Later, my housemates and I feasted on strawberries and banana pancakes, strong brewed coffee and the sight of pink tulips in full bloom. I doodled lavender and greenery on cards for our friends as we watched the livestream service from my Pentecostal church in Barrie. So different from my Anglican church in Ottawa, today it felt like a hug from home and a reminder of the beautiful and diverse expressions of the Church.

In the afternoon, we went door to door giving out the bread we had baked and braided and tied with blue ribbon, chatting with our friends from the sidewalk. When we got home my mom had sent us huge platters of shawarma and our house got to eat together for the second time in one day, a rare occasion. We talked and ate and praised the Lord. After dinner, I laughed for two hours straight on a Zoom call with my mom and sister, aunts and uncles and cousins. We drank wine, watched the aunties try to figure out the app and talked over each other so no one knew what anyone was saying. It was just like a real Kelly party and it made my soul sing with gratitude. As the sun was setting, my roommates and I went for one last walk, singing in the streets as we took cupcakes to our friend Aidan and my cousins Ben and Luke.

We ended the day in our living room. And we raised our voices in worship to the King of Kings. We praised the name of Jesus because there is nothing else to do on a day like today, so full of joy and community, even from a distance. We drank wine and ate fresh bread and reminded each other that He is risen, taking communion, in community. And while there was still a part of me that mourned not being in church and walking out the liturgy, the Lord was so generous in the joy of this Easter. It was one I want to remember the feeling of for years to come.

The Church is alive and well friends.The Church is laughing and crying and coming together, meeting on Zoom and eating shawarma sitting on the living room floor in sweatpants and Easter dresses. She is yelling love across the street and in Instagram stories. The Church is dancing today as She remembers that Jesus is alive. On this Easter I am reminded that death and loss get their sting but hope and resurrection get the final word. Isolation and scattering may feel like long stretches of Good Fridays and Silent Saturdays but we are Resurrection people; hope wins. And wow, what a party it will be when this season ends and we can hug our loved ones and worship together again!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Jesus is risen. He is working in this crazy season in ways I do not claim to understand. But I know that all is well and all will be well. Because Jesus is risen. He is risen indeed.

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:3-8

PC: Aida, master of food photography

PC: Aida, house photographer

Communion Two weeks ago, on a damp and drizzly weekday, I went for an angry walk. My heart pounded and I walked quickly to convince myself that my rapid pulse was from the physical exertion and not my temper.

#christian #church #communion #coronavirus #covid19 #easter #faith #religion #spring

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grandmasgirl-dot-com · 8 years ago

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WELCOME to an important feast day. In the Church Year, today ranks with Christmas and Easter. It is one of the few days when we use red paraments, symbolic of the Holy Spirit. In the Hymnal it is called "Whitsunday," a name remaining from early modern English. The word "Pentecost" is really a number, Greek for "fiftieth." It is the fiftieth day after Easter. There is an Old Testament Pentecost as well, called shevuoth in Hebrew, which means "weeks." Moses commanded that seven Sabbaths after Passover such a festival should be celebrated. Since Easter was the Sunday after Passover, Pentecost would become the Christian Feast of Weeks. In Jewish tradition this feast is connected with the Ten Commandments. We celebrate the writing of the Law on our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The best thing about this feast is that it has never been commercialized. There are no greeting cards that say "Happy Pentecost." May this festival be preserved from such decadence for many years to come.

Our text is from the prophet Zechariah, after the return from the Exile. It is an extremely important passage because it points out how the New Testament fulfills the Old. I will pour out a spirit of compassion and supplication ... they will look on Him whom they have pierced ... they shall mourn for Him. Consider "I will pour out." God was, is, and always will be the supply base for all human operations. We consume; He produces. He wants it that way. His gifts keep coming while we sinners spoil, wreck, ravage them, and eventually turn them into garbage. God answers this by pouring out more. For sin God poured out the blood of His Son. By that blood He purchased us so that we no longer belong to the devil, but to Him. As if that weren't enough, God continued to pour out the Holy Spirit to repair us on the inside. The Holy Comforter is the Spirit of Compassion. As Jesus' blood took away the guilt of sin, so the Holy Spirit takes away the power of sin, making us over from consumers of mercy into producers. Remember, however, that the mercy and kindness we produce is not from us, but directly from Him.

The text continues ... I will pour out on the house of David. This isn't about a building. Neither is it really about David's biological descendants, although they are the shadow of the Apostles to come who would proclaim David's One Great Descendant, the One who fulfilled all the prophecies. Today the Holy Spirit creates a new house of David beginning with the Apostles, then including all who have believed through their testimony. So we come to you and me. God pours out the Holy Spirit on us, making us compassionate and leading us to pray. He shows us Him whom we have pierced. Yes, I do mean "we." Our sins nailed Him to the cross just as surely as anyone's. The Holy Spirit softens our hearts by showing us the dying Savior and leads us to repentance. Talk about miracles! By giving us a good look at Him whom we have pierced, the Spirit performs this miracle even in hardened criminals. History records thousands who have repented on contemplating the cross. The word "pierced" reminds us at once of the centurion on Good Friday. He was a veteran sergeant, not the sort of person anyone would consider delicate, but as he watched his spear go into Jesus' side, he was crushed with repentance and prophesied that Jesus was the Son of God. Similar things could be said of Paul on the road to Damascus, Augustine listening to the preaching of Ambrose, or Luther trembling as he raised the Communion Chalice. All these men were filled with awe on contemplating the sacrifice of Christ! So were the people of Jerusalem on that first Pentecost Day!

It was about nine in the morning when the Apostles went outside to preach to the crowds, noticing that everyone was hearing the message in his own language. Most of their words are not recorded, but Peter's are. He talked about Jesus. He preached forgiveness to the very people who had demanded, "Let Him be crucified." Some people did not hear clearly, and thought the apostles were drunk. So there will always be those who cannot hear any good news, who know nothing but evil and will hear nothing of good, but for those who heard, Peter fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah. He showed them Him whom they had pierced, they wept, tore their clothes, and asked, "What shall we do?" Peter answered:Repent and be baptized, every one of you, into the name of Jesus the Messiah for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The weeping was coming true, so was the repentance. Jesus was indeed an Only Child, the only Son of the Father, the true Son of Abraham, the ideal Son of David, the Righteous Remnant of Israel. He was the One who could and did keep God's Commandments. Notice Peter says nothing about inviting Jesus, or making a decision. Such talk is not found in the New Testament. Those are doctrines of men. Peter directed his hearers to the God-given way of regeneration, by Holy Baptism in which we are joined to the cross and resurrection of Jesus. That is what Jesus meant by being "born of water and the Spirit." That is the way of salvation for us, Gentiles, everyone.

Zechariah also calls the Holy Spirit a "Spirit of supplication." That means a Spirit of devotion and prayer. How does He fulfill this? He does it by making you the temple of God. You are the house of David today. You are a member of the Body of Christ, the Church, the Bethel where heaven touches earth. That is a big responsibility. When you belong to Jesus you become like Him. He said that the Spirit anointed Him to preach good news to the poor. You can say the same about yourself. You are anointed, a peculiar people, the Spirit is in you to stay. You can drive Him out by persistence in hard-heartedness. You can break the relationship by insisting on your one natural right, the right to God's wrath rather than His grace. Now as we say that it might sound stupid, but remember the flesh doesn't like to look at Him whom we have pierced. We have received a Spirit who makes good use of our knees, getting us down in the dust of contrition, then picking us up by the Gospel of forgiveness. In Him we have freedom not only from the penalty for sin, but from sin itself. He changes you from a consumer of love to a producer. You drink from the Fountain of Life, you become a fountain of life.

Today is the great festival of this Third Person, this Divine Spirit and His gracious work of sanctification. We keep it best by imitating Christ. AMEN.

~ Rev. Lloyd E. Gross

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frmartinshomiliesandreflections · 6 years ago

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22nd April >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 28:8-15 for Easter Monday: ‘And there, coming to meet them, was Jesus’.

Easter Monday

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Matthew 28:8-15

Tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee: they will see me there

Filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples.

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 28:8–15

Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.

Reflections (9)

(i) Easter Monday

And/Or

(ii) Easter Monday

And/Or

(iii) Easter Monday

And/Or

(iv) Easter Monday

And/Or

(v) Easter Monday

And/Or

(vi) Easter Monday

And/Or

(vii) Easter Monday

And/Or

(viii) Easter Monday

And/Or

(ix) Easter Monday

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

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pope-francis-quotes · 6 years ago

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26th February >> (@RomeReports) #PopeFrancis #Pope Francis’ message for Lent 2019: "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (Rom 8:19).

Dear Brothers and Sisters

1. The redemption of creation

2. The destructive power of sin

3. The healing power of repentance and forgiveness

From the Vatican, 4 October 2018,

Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi

FRANCIS

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