April 25, 1999 |
The news this past week has been more than usually heart rending, especially the gruesome coverage of the killing carnage in Colorado, and the continuing saga of ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia with great numbers of refugees pictured as desperate for food and aid.
This Sunday's Gospel proclaims the good news story of the Good Shepherd images presenting Jesus Christ as the gate for those who enter to have life and have it more abundantly (Jn. 10:10). The promise of abundant life,or life to the fullest is meant to begin to be realized here and now. It is the fruit of the hope that does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given us(Rm 5:5). God does not ration his gift of the Spirit (Jn. 3:34), but we can limit the activity of the Holy Spirit through lack of belief or lack of desire for deeper release of the Spirit within. Often the greatest obstacle to our realization of God's good news if summed up in the saying that the good news it too good to be true, which is expressed well in the following excerpt from an article in American Magazine by Rev. Andrew Greeley entitled A Catholic Revival? What is that good news about God? A doctor of the church, St. Therese of the Infant Jesus (and the Holy Face!) put it succinctly: 'God is nothing but mercy and love.' Or as the Irish Dominican poet Paul Murray says, God loves us so much that if anyone of us should cease to exist, God would die of sadness. Or as the American theologian Robert Barron observes, by his very nature God is constrained to love us like a mother loves her newborn child. Or as, David Tracy has remarked to me, to say that God's name is love is to say that God invites us to share in the community of love that is the Trinity. Or as I try, however ineptly, to portray in my stories, our God is a God of second chances-and third and fourth and fifth and n-order chances. God, in some sense we cannot understand or explain, suffers with us and will eventually wipe away all tears, including perhaps his own. In summary, at the core of the cosmos beats compassionate love. The Big Bang is an explosion of loving passion that dwarfs the sum of all human love but is shared and reflected by each and every human.
Good news? Oh yes. Often so good that it seems too good to be true. Perhaps that is the problem. The good news has not been tried and found wanting, but, to paraphrase G. K. Chesterton, it has been found hard to believe and not tried.
Because the Responsorial Psalm, the Second Reading, and the Gospel all speak of the theme of the Good Shepherd, or Christ the Shepherd, this Sunday is often spoken of as Good Shepherd Sunday. It is a motif that has made its way into much beautiful Christian art and music. Religious congregations (such as the Sisters of the Good Shepherd) and parishes have often taken Christ the Good Shepherd as their patron. As a shepherd, Dr. Reginald Fuller notes, Christ feeds his Church through the apostolic ministry. It is through the ministry of the apostles and their successors that the words and the presence of the Good Shepherd are make known. As we draw closer to Pentecost, the readings and the Liturgy (such as today), will focus more and more on the Community of believers - the Church and the presence of Christ in Her. We are urged this day to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd as the Church presents Him to us - in Word and Sacrament, and not to the false voices and prophets which surround us today. Good Shepherd Sunday is a reminder of the care and the guidance of the Lord for each of us personally.
Easter is the time of a new beginning for all of us in the Church. At the time of initiation of new members the rest of us renew our own baptismal promises. If we make a good confession, complete our penance and receive communion then when we proclaim the promises we made at our own "beginning," we make a new start on our path to holiness. It is a way of keeping our "white garment" free from stain. However, once a year is not enough. That is why we need to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation regularly. It is why the Church recommends the devotional practice of this sacrament at least monthly.
In the message of Palm Sunday the Holy Father said: There is always time for peace. It is never too late to meet again and negotiate. These words are needed at this time as the violence and destruction continues in the Balkans. Human life and the respect for all persons demands an openness to dialogue.
This certainly is the message that we continue to proclaim through this Easter season. We hear that Our Lord is the Good Shepherd. He calls us and, if we hear His voice, we can follow with conviction that He gives us life abundantly. We hear many voices that press upon us with a message. Our modern air waves constantly call out to us to get our attention. To whom do we listen?
As we gather to hear the Word of God let us truly open our minds and hearts to the One who truly loves us. He gave His life for us. More than anything let each of us recommit ourselves to follow him who is our shepherd. Let us put our trust in Him and have the courage to let go of all that distracts us from paying attention to His invitation.
Jesus came only to offer us the abundant life and the way is as we have heard in the Acts of the Apostles, You must reform and be baptized, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ that your sins may be forgiven... (Acts 2:38).
Jesus Christ is the Way to freedom so let us put our trust in Him.
Fr. Ron
O God, who wills not the death of a sinner
but rather that he be converted and live
grant we beseech you
through the intercession of the Blessed Mary, ever Virgin
Saint Joseph, her spouse
Blessed Junipero Serra
and all the saints
an increase of laborers for your Church
fellow laborers with Christ to spend and consume themselves for souls
through the same Jesus Christ
Your Son
who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit
God forever
and ever.
Amen.
1. ACTS 2:14, 36-41.
Today we hear a heavily condensed version of St. Peter's Pentecost sermon. In it he demands that his hearers accept Jesus as the center of their lives and that they repent and change their lives and that they repent and change their whole direction. Be better than your vicious generation.
APPLICATION: Through baptism in Jesus' name, we receive the forgiveness of our sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
2. 1 PETER 2:20-25.
Jesus is the shepherd who guards our lives. Though we strayed from God, Christ suffered for us and has brought us back. Like Jesus, we must seek God's will as we make our way toward the Kingdom.
APPLICATION: Following ng Christ, making a radical change in our lives, means accepting suffering and injustice as he did. It means holding God at the center of our lives and letting all else assume secondary importance.
3. JOHN 10:1-10.
The Gospel selection has still another mixture of metaphors. Jesus is not only the Good Shepherd and the lamb of sacrifice and the apocalyptic lamb, he is also the gate of the sheepfold; he is the way, the access to salvation. All who come outside of the context of Jesus Christ are thieves and marauders.
APPLICATION: Only Jesus is the Way. He alone is the Good Shepherd. When we know the true Shepherd's voice, we will not follow false shepherds or mistake the allure of the world's empty promises for the voice of the true Messiah. He is the model for all who are called to leadership; he is the gate by which we enter the fold of the faithful.
Fr. Eugene R. Sinz
IMAGINE FOR A MOMENT that you are driving somewhere and lose your way. You stop to ask someone for directions and the person tells you "Turn around! You are going the wrong way!" Now if the person giving you this advice spoke to you in New Testament Greek you would have heard "metanoeite," meaning "turn around. " You may find it helpful to know the root meaning of this Greek word because it plays an important role in the New Testament. Jesus' invitation in the Gospels, "metanoeite" (turn around) is translated into English by the words"convert," "repent" or "do penance. " The gospel call to conversion, repentance and penance are essential components of our pilgrimage. During 1999 the pope encourages us to undertake "a journey of authentic conversion." Conversion is the process of coming to believe that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world--along with all that implies!
In the Easter Season the Gospel always reveals to us another aspect of meeting the resurrected Christ. The second reading shows us how this encounter with the risen Lord changes us personally. The firstreading describes how this interaction affects the mission of the Church.
In the Gospel Jesus reveals himself as the "sheepgate" and declares that whoever enters through him will be safe, because he came that others may have life and have the fullness of life. As the sheepgate -- as we see in the second reading -- all can live in accord with God's will because of the way Jesus opened up the kingdom for us through his suffering and death for the sins of all. Likewise, the first reading explains that only in the name of Jesus Christ are sins forgiven and the Holy Spirit received.
We've again seen the risen Lord! The Lord of Life opens for us the kingdom and invites us to enter it with conversion and compassion.
If the Risen Savior is the "conduit" (shipmate) for God's grace, mercy, and life itself; if it is the Church, as Christ's Body, that is the catalyst or the communicator of this work of Christ the Resurrected Lord; then we -- as members of the Body of Christ here at St. Anthony's -- have a special responsibility of welcoming hospitality to make others (both fellow parishioners, guests, and neighbors) aware of Jesus' life-giving activity. What does this imply?
1. First of all, using the occasion of this First Communion Sunday, I remind you how necessary it is to have our children (and grandchildren!) become regular and frequent participants at Mass. How many grade-school children do you see at church? There are even fewer teens!
2. Secondly, whenever someone enters church or sits beside you in church whom you do not recognize, offer them a greeting and introduce yourself.
3. Thirdly, let your neighbors know about St. Anthony's. Invite them to come worship with you. Tell them about the activities of the parish.
4. Fourthly, affirm your fellow parishioners, commend people for doing a good job in the parish, congratulate those who are observing a special occasion, attend the special liturgies which particularly express our common identity.
5. Finally, if you yourself are not a regular church-goer, get back in the habit of weekly attendance at Mass and reception of Communion. If Confession is necessary, do it!
This is putting our Easter faith into action!
--Father Benet OFM
Jesus' resurrection, which is the center of the Christian faith, necessarily bears a relation to other divine actions mentioned in the apostles' preaching:the virginal conception, which implies an intervention of God in man's history and engraves the activity of the Holy Spirit on the succession of human generations from within; and the exaltation to the right hand of the Father, which establishes Jesus' glorified humanity above every creature and makes the risen Christ head of the mystical body. This enthronement in glory, achieved at the ascension, completes the mystery of Christ's resurrection: "Christ entered heaven itself, so that he could appear in the actual presence of God on our behalf."
The resurrection thus reveals the lordship of Christ before whom "all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld bend the knee and whom every tongue acclaims." To us who believe that the Father raised up his Son so that he could live with him for ever, it gives assurance that we too share in his resurrection; here and now, by baptism, we are certain, if we are faithful, of being "set free from sin" and of getting a reward "ending in eternal life," and that he who conquered death will give us entrance, at our own death, to the kingdom of heaven: we have the firm hope of "staying with the Lord for ever." Finally, Christ's resurrection will bring the whole universe this fulfillment for which it is waiting with impatience. "
--The Bishops of France, 1972
Penance, Channel of Redemptive Power. . . For a Christian the Sacrament of Penance is the ordinary way of obtaining forgiveness and the remission of serious sin committed after Baptism. Certainly the Savior and His [saving] action are not so bound to a sacramental sign as to be unable in any period or area of the history of salvation to work outside and above the sacraments. But in the school of faith we learn that the same Savior desired and provided that the simple and precious sacraments of faith would ordinarily be the effective means through which His redemptive power passes and operates.
It would therefore be foolish, as well as presumptuous, to wish arbitrarily to disregard the means of grace and salvation which the Lord has provided and, in the specific case, to claim to receive forgiveness while doing without the sacrament which was instituted by Christ precisely for forgiveness. The renewal of the rites carried out after the [Second Vatican] Council does not sanction any illusion or alteration in this direction. According to the Church's intention, it was and is meant to stir up in each one of us a new impulse toward the renewal of our interior attitude; toward a deeper understanding of the nature of the Sacrament of Penance; toward a reception of the Sacrament which is more filled with faith, not anxious but trusting; toward a more frequent celebration of the sacrament which is seen to be completely filled with the Lord's merciful love. . . [For] every confessional is a special and blessed place from which, with divisions wiped away, there is born new and uncontaminated a reconciled individual-a reconciled world! [RP n. 31]
A priest walked into a barber shop in Washington, DC. After he got his haircut, he asked how much it would be.
The barber said, "No charge, I consider it a service to the Lord. "The next morning, the barber came to work and there were 12 prayer books and a thank you note from the priest.
The next day, a police officer came in and got his hair cut. He then asked how much it was. The barber said, "No charge, I consider it a service to the community. "The next morning there were a dozen donuts and a thank youfrom the officer.
Then a senator came in and got his hair cut. When he was done he asked how much it was. The barber said, "No charge, I consider it a service to the country. "The next morning the barber came to work and there were 12senators in front of the door waiting for a haircut.
