Cycle A

5th Sunday of Easter, Cycle A

by

On the Fifth Sunday of Easter Our Lord reminds that that we are called to continue his work, and to achieve even greater things than he accomplished during his earthly ministry. He built his Church with growth in mind, generation after generation, founded on him and the Apostles.

In today’s First Reading the Twelve are faced with more work than they can handle, and people are starting to complain. The Twelve cannot take care of everyone. This is no surprise. Our Lord didn’t just appoint one person to carry on his work; he appointed Twelve, and, soon after, the Twelve needed helpers, and other apostles, like Paul and Barnabas, to continue the work in the face of the Church’s explosive growth. The Twelve asked for candidates, but they were also clear that those who would help them in the ministry needed to be “filled with the Spirit and wisdom.” These men would become known as the Seven, and, according to tradition, may have been the first deacons in the Church. The Church’s mission is not just for the clergy. Everyone is called to help according to their possibilities and state of life. As needs increase, each member of the Church must be dedicated to doing his or her part: bishops shepherding their dioceses, helped by priests and deacons; consecrated persons contributing according to their charism; and laity, ordering the world’s affairs in accordance with the Gospel and helping the Church in matters where they may have more expertise. The Holy Spirit kept the apostles faithful to the work Christ wanted them to do, and the Spirit continues to do so for all of us.

In today’s Second Reading St. Peter reminds us that through Baptism we have been incorporated into the Church, and are now living stones in an edifice constructed with a spiritual and priestly purpose. Our Lord described himself to the Pharisees and scribes as the stone rejected by the builders that would become the corner stone (see Matthew 21:42). They had rejected him, but the Father build the Church on him, and he made the Apostles the foundation for his Church. The Lord continues to build the Church through us, on the solid foundations of those living stones who have preceded us and our own efforts at holiness. A living stone is not just edified, but edifying. We are inserted into this spiritual and social structure and helped to support it and to remain solid. If our works are edifying it will attract even those who don’t know Our Lord to see where that special something we have comes from and to seek it out as well.

In today’s Gospel Our Lord, at the Last Supper, prepares his disciples for the moment when he’ll be separated from them on earth and they’ll be expected to carry on his mission. He reminds them that they have a place waiting for them in Heaven, just as they have a place in his Church. He tells them today that they know where he is going. They know the way to the Father’s House too and don’t need him to show them. When the moment was right Our Lord returned and led every one of them to the Father’s House, just as he will lead us one day. In the meanwhile, we have to stay the course he has taught us, and, if we get turned around, ask for directions to get back on track. Helping people get back on track to the Father’s House is what we’re all called to do as Christians, but to do that we must know how to get to the Father’s House.

Christ describes himself as the “way”: we show others the way to the degree that we imitate him. Our Lord became flesh and put some believers on the right track, and those believers have helped him guide us ever since. He sent apostles to the four corners of the world, and they still carry out their mission through us. This is the work he said would be even greater than his own ministry on earth. It spread to the entire Roman empire, then beyond its borders to the whole world. We’re called to continue these “greater works” that he encouraged his first disciples to do. The key is having faith in him.

In today’s Gospel Our Lord describes Heaven not just as his home, but as a place for us to call home as well. Thinking of home evokes so many warm sentiments–rest, security, peace–and it also invokes the memory of the people there waiting to be with us. Many people today live a difficult situation at home, if they have a home at all, but they all dream of that peaceful place where they can be together with their loved ones. A simple family dinner, where everyone sets aside work, school, etc., to spend time together becomes a glimpse of Heaven as each enjoys the company and there are no worries to dampen the evening.

Our Lord has prepared a place for each of us with Our Father in Heaven. How often do we dream of that? How often do we dream of the day in which life’s journey, with all the fatigue and trial, will be over and we’ll finally and permanently be home with the ones we love? How often do we see the need to remind others of our true home as well so that one day we’ll all be there together?

Let’s ask Our Lord today to help us always keep our true home in mind. If we know he’s shown us the way, no burden or obstacle of this life will rob us of our hope in getting there.

Readings: Acts 6:1–7; Psalm 33:1–2, 4–5, 18–19; 1 Peter 2:4–9; John 14:1–12.

4th Sunday of Easter, Cycle A

by

The Fourth Sunday of Easter is traditionally called the Sunday of the Good Shepherd, and it is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Our Lord the shepherd who wants to lead us to green pastures if we respond to his call.

St. Peter in today’s First Reading explains to his astounded listeners how they can approach and enter into Jesus’s flock: through faith in Christ and Baptism. Peter has just concluded his discourse at Pentecost and given testimony to the Risen Christ as Savior to those who believe in him. Baptism is rightly called the “door which gives access to the other sacraments,” because it makes us members of Christ, incorporates us into the Church, and makes us share in his mission (cf. Catechism, 1213). It is thanks to Baptism that the Good Shepherd transforms us into his sheep makes us a part of his flock. Peter describes this invitation as a call by God to whomever the Lord wishes. The most fundamental call is to holiness, to repent and believe in Christ, in order to be forgiven and to receive the Holy Spirit. Baptism is the first step in leading a holy life. In this sense everyone has a vocation, and some, like Peter, the Apostles, and our pastors, are called to help us discover and answer the call as well.

In today’s Second Reading St. Peter reminds us that Christ is the shepherd and guardian of our souls and that we are called to follow him by imitating him as well as accepting his guidance and protection. As at Pentecost, Peter speaks of a call by our Lord, and in this reading he explains what we are called to do: to be patient in suffering for doing what is good, knowing that it is a source of grace and an imitation of Christ. The Lord doesn’t call us to do something that he hasn’t done himself. The Shepherd laid down his life for us, his sheep, and he gathers us back into his flock, no matter how we’ve gone astray. He didn’t hand himself over to evil men alone; he surrendered to His Heavenly Father and the Father did justice for him by raising him from the dead and opening the way to our salvation. Like the Apostles that fateful night of his betrayal, we too were scattered like sheep, but the shepherd and guardian of our souls has gathered together all those who seek his protection and care.

In today’s Gospel Our Lord teaches us that the only way to satisfy the call to holiness in our souls is through him. The call to holiness is a call to recognize Our Lord as the path and source of holiness. Our Lord uses the image of sheep who are accustomed to the voice of its shepherd and frightened by the voice of anyone else. The call to holiness strikes a chord in us, and that chord will clash with anything not in tune with Our Lord. Temptation also makes an appeal in our hearts, and Our Lord teaches us today that it will rob us of something if we let it. It is the voice of a stranger and, as our parents always taught us, we don’t talk to strangers. However, in his teaching today Our Lord doesn’t identify with the shepherd or the gatekeeper of the sheepfold. He describes himself as the “gate” to the sheepfold. Our Lord is not the only one who wants his sheep; he’s just the one who has their best interests in mind. The flock in today’s Gospel is already gathered. It is only through Christ that they can be safe in the sheepfold or led to green pastures. Our pastors are charged to shepherd the sheep, but they can only do that through Christ. If they don’t remain united to Christ, part of his flock, they will lead their sheep astray.

Everyone is called to holiness, and Our Lord has put people in our lives who want to help us live up to that calling and fulfill it. He also teaches us to pray for workers to be sent to an abundant harvest. There is more work than there are workers. When we pray “for vocations” we pray especially for those discerning a vocation to the priesthood or the consecrated life. When we pray “for vocations” we also pray for the perseverance and holiness of those who have already undertaken the path to priesthood or consecrated life. The need for prayers doesn’t end at ordination or solemn consecration. Let’s pray for those who have responded to Our Lord’s call to work in his harvest. Lastly, let’s pray for everyone to simply seek and do the will of God in their lives. We all have a vocation to holiness, and holiness grows to the degree that we follow God’s will.

Readings: Acts 2:14a, 36–41; Psalm 23:1–6; 1 Peter 2:20b–25; John 10:1–10.

3rd Sunday of Easter, Cycle A

by

The Easter season is a time for rejoicing that Our Lord has shattered the bonds of death through his Resurrection. We celebrate his victory because it is our victory as well. He didn’t just shatter the bonds of death for himself, but for all of us.

St. Peter in today’s First Reading proclaims to the astounded crowds at Pentecost that it was impossible for Christ to be held by the throes of death. Peter makes allusion to David because he is convincing his listeners through giving witness to Christ’s Resurrection that Our Lord is the Messiah. The real conquest of the Messiah is death. When the Lord promised David that one of his descendants would be the Messiah he said that descendant would reign forever (see 2 Samuel 7:12-13: “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.”). The angel Gabriel told the same announcement to Mary: “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32–33). Our Lord was that descendant of David, the Messiah. It goes without saying that forever is a long time. Dynasties rise and fall, but David’s endures forever in Our Lord’s because it was impossible for Christ to be held by the throes of death: “God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death.” Peter quotes Psalm 16 and attributes it to David (as the psalms traditionally are) as a prophecy that David knew death would be conquered for him too, through his descendant who would reign forever.

In today’s Second Reading St. Peter reminds us that Our Lord’s blood paid the ransom for our life as well. Through his death and Resurrection the chains of our slavery have been shattered. When Peter speaks of the “futile conduct” handed on by our ancestors he is speaking of sin, including Original Sin, which in some mysterious way spreads to us all and separates us from God. Death came into the world due to sin, and even when we are ignorant of sin, death is a reminder of its presence and its evil. If death had the last world, everything we do in life is futile. Whether our achievements are noble or base, they’d come to nothing. Heaven doesn’t take Visa, MasterCard, or Bitcoin. There’s only one “currency” that grants us eternal life: the blood of Christ. We know that “currency” works because Christ was raised from the dead, and that encourages us to believe and to hope that if we sojourn in a way pleasing to Our Heavenly Father we too will be ransomed from death and our conduct will be worthwhile from here to eternity.

In today’s Gospel Our Lord helps two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus to see that their hopes were misplaced because they didn’t factor in the Resurrection properly. As far as they were concerned, Our Lord was dead. The Messiah was supposed to live forever, but he was dead, so Jesus was just another prophet. There’s a subtle difference between the vocation of the Messiah and the vocation of the prophet: the prophets spoke on behalf of God and performed signs to back it up, but, ultimately, they were rejected and killed. In the disciples’ mind, Jesus fit that pattern perfectly, as events revealed. The Messiah would redeem Israel, and, apparently, Jesus didn’t do it: “…we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel…” Yet they had some facts that they didn’t know how to process: women announcing that angels had announced that Jesus was alive, but their buddies finding only an empty tomb. Our Lord, with all the pastoral tact merited by the case replies, in so many words, “Duh!” He called them foolish and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken. He helped them connect the dots. The clincher was when he revealed who he was to them. They only saw a glimpse of him before he vanished, but that was enough. They ran back to their buddies to share the news and found out they’d had a visit too.

The world today is plagued by people who do not have someone in their life who cares enough about them to tell them “Duh!” once in a while when they’re being foolish. We’re so steeped in a relativistic culture and mindset that no one wants to impose his or her view on someone else, yet when someone is walking off a cliff, figuratively or literally, relativism goes right out the window. Every Christian must admit that Jesus’ response to the disbelief and dashed hopes of the disciples on the road to Emmaus could have easily been said to any one of us when our faith and hope start to wane: “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!” Let’s go to Christ in prayer this week and tell Our Lord, “Lord, I am ready for my ‘Duh!’ moment. Tell me what I need to hear. Turn me away from the cliff.”

Readings: Acts 2:14, 22–33; Psalm 16:1–2, 5, 7–11; 1 Peter 1:17–21; Luke 24:13–35.

2nd Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday), Cycle A

by

Today’s readings remind us why today, Divine Mercy Sunday, we’re celebrating the gift of Divine mercy. The Gospel takes us back to the evening of that first Easter Sunday. The disciples have gathered back together, but more out of fear than of faith: they had all abandoned Our Lord on the Cross. How could they expect mercy after what they’d done?

In today’s First Reading we see the first heady days of a Christian community redeemed and reconciled through the grace of Christ. Long before apostasies, heresies, or schisms we see the first believers sharing their lives, their bread, and their prayers. We also see that the Apostles have a special role in the community: believers are devoted to their teaching. The faith, handed down by Christ to the Apostles, and then handed on through the centuries to us, continues to unite us. Those first believers didn’t believe in a vacuum: the Apostles showed many signs and wonders to bolster their faith. Even today when Christians live in harmony, not only with fellow believers, but with their fellow man, they are a sign and a wonder of the reconciling power of Christ. Lumen Gentium teaches that the Church is called to be a sign and instrument of “both of a very closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race” (n.1). The believers didn’t do it alone, and neither do we. Our Lord has given us sacred ministers to help us live in harmony, and one way they do so is through the sacrament of Reconciliation.

In today’s Second Reading St. Peter reminds us that the great mercy of God is what gives birth to a new hope in us. The Resurrection itself is a sign of the mercy of God. Our hope is alive because Christ was raised from the dead. Before his Resurrection the sins of mankind, from Adam on down, lead to one dire conclusion: death and eternal separation from God. In Christ’s Resurrection we have a living hope that through his mercy death will not have the last word in our lives. We too will inherit the eternal life that he won for us on the Cross. However, this “inheritance” is not automatic. Through trials and our efforts at purification we show that we truly desire the gift of his mercy. Despite Our Lord’s victory we stumble or fall repeatedly, which is why we need his mercy repeatedly.

In today’s Gospel Our Lord shows that he has a special mission for his Apostles: to be the instruments and channels of that mercy for the whole world, through the sacrament of Confession. The Apostles need to be reconciled with the Lord they’d abandoned when he needed them most. Jesus tells them twice, “Peace be with you.” He shows them his hands and feet so that they can see the wounds and know it’s not a dream or an illusion, and the fact that they abandoned him for was not a dream or illusion either: The sin really happened, the price really had to be paid for that sin, He paid the price in full. With the words “Peace be with you,” He says what’s past is past. This reconciliation is meant to be maintained and to spread. Our Lord breathes on the apostles and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” This power comes from Christ through the Apostles, and through the bishops and priests that came after them, through the Sacrament of Confession. When Jesus says “Peace be with you” twice in this passage he is showing us that forgiveness is not a one shot deal, or else Baptism would be enough: we’re always in need of his mercy, because we continue to battle with our sins. When we examine our lives, we always see moments where we could have done more and better, and Confession gives us the peace and grace to keep trying to do more and better.

We spend so much time getting check-ups, watching what we eat, trying to get some exercise, because we’re concerned for our health. All those things are important, but our spiritual health is important as well. Sin is something we struggle with throughout our earthly lives. You should be worried if you think you don’t have any faults or failings that you should work on. Take some time to do a spiritual “check-up”: read Part 3 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Don’t just skim it; read it, and see whether your life and the life in Christ that it presents matches. Confessors are standing by.

Readings: Acts 2:42–47; Psalm 118:2–4, 13–15, 22–24; 1 Peter 1:3–9; John 20:19–31.

Easter Vigil, Cycle A

by

This evening we begin the Easter season by celebrating the gift of new life in Christ. Our Lord lives anew, and, like the candles lit one by one from the blessed Paschal flame in today’s liturgy, that new life reaches each of us, one by one. The candles we bear in this ceremony remind us of that day when someone handed a lit candle to our godparent and said, on our behalf, “receive the light of Christ.” This evening throughout the world catechumens receive the sacraments of Christian Initiation–Baptism, the Eucharist, and Confirmation–and receive new life in Christ as they come fully into the Church.

This evening is a reminder and a renewal of our new life in Christ as well. Whether our celebration of the Easter Vigil includes catechumens or not, we renew our baptismal promises and receive a blessing with holy water to remind us of the blessing of new life in Christ that came to us through the waters of Baptism. These promises remind us how we are to best live the new life Our Lord has given us: we renounce Satan, all his works, and all his empty show; and we renew the basics of our faith that we recall every time we pray the Creed.

Let’s pray for those coming fully into Church communion this evening, and pray that we be renewed in our desire to live well the new life in Christ that we have received. Christ has risen.

Readings: Matthew 28:1–10. See also Easter Vigil, Cycle C and Easter Vigil.