Ascension Sunday, REFLECTION Sunday´s Gospel

“Stop looking up in the sky! Get stuck in there’s work to be done!”

(Fr. James McTavish FMVD)

Today we celebrate Christ’s Ascension. The gospel is taken from Mark 16, 15-20. The first reading is from Acts 1,1-11 and the second reading from Ephesians 1, 17-28.

Today is Ascension Sunday. Jesus ascends to heaven ‘to take his place at the right hand of God’. How lucky we are to have a friend in high places! Often when you need something done it helps to have a friend in high places. They can assist you, open doors for you, make the way ahead easier. The disciples are so impressed at seeing the Lord ascending into heaven that they are stood still, looking up into the sky. Two men in white (angels in disguise!) ask them ‘Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking up into the sky?’ It is a reminder not to be daydreaming but that there is some serious work to be done. If Jesus has gone back to the Father it is to empower his disciples. To give them strength to work in the Lord’s vineyard and to start to reap the harvest. 

Jesus gives instructions to the disciples in the gospel “Go into the whole world, proclaim the Good News to all creation”. Go ‘into’, so the mission is not a spectator sport. It is not just to stand by idly watching on from a distance. The lot of every Christian is to get stuck in, to get their hands dirty. Jesus empowers the disciples for this great and challenging task. ‘These are the signs that will be associated with believers: You will cast out evil spirits, you will speak new languages, pick up snakes in your hands, be unharmed if you drink deadly poison and laying hands on the sick they will recover’. As the song goes, “You will see miracles, if you believe”. In His Ascension Jesus does not abandon the disciples but accompanied and ‘worked with them’. The greek word for ‘worked with’ is synergy. Synergy is where the total amount is greater than the sum of the parts or in other words one plus one equals not two but three! Sometimes we can feel our efforts are very small but the Lord multiplies our efficiency. The little seed in the Lord’s hands can bear fruit 30, 60, 100. 

This why St Paul in the second reading encourages the Ephesians asking that God may “enlighten the eyes of your heart”. What a beautiful expression! Do you know your heart has eyes? To what is St Paul referring? He is talking about that inner sense capable to see God working in the world. Many think that God is silent or simply does not care about the world. But if we open the eyes of our heart we will see him working very hard in the world around us. The pure of heart will see God and are able to read the Good News of God in the events around them. Lord open our eyes of faith so we can collaborate with your powerful works in the world. To see God already at work give so much courage in sharing the Good News to others. He has already planted what the Tradition of the Church calls “seeds of the Word” in the hearts of all men. Seeds of truth and goodness. To announce the Gospel is simply to remind people of the treasure they have in them and to help them recognize the good work of God in their lives already. God is already present we just need to collaborate. Lord how can I collaborate more with your work in me, in my family, in my community?

In what way is God working already in the world? We can see it in many ways if we have eyes to see. Today is the 43rd World Communications Day. Pope Benedict XVI in his message speaks of God’s presence in the world. Talking of technology and all the means of communication like cellphones, chatting, Internet and the like he writes “their popularity with users should not surprise us, as they respond to a fundamental desire of people to communicate and to relate to each other. This desire for communication and friendship is rooted in our very nature as human beings … it should be seen primarily as a reflection of our participation in the communicative and unifying Love of God, who desires to make of all humanity one family. When we find ourselves drawn towards other people, when we want to know more about them and make ourselves known to them, we are responding to God’s call - a call that is imprinted in our nature as beings created in the image and likeness of God, the God of communication and communion.” For this reason Pope Benedict encourages the young to be evangelizers of the great digital continent, “Human hearts are yearning for a world where love endures, where gifts are shared, where unity is built, where freedom finds meaning in truth, and where identity is found in respectful communion. Our faith can respond to these expectations: may you become its heralds!” 

So there is no time to be looking up in the sky and daydreaming. There is work to be done. Open our eyes of faith Lord to see where you are calling us to action! To collaborate with you to make sprout these seeds of the Word you have already planted. If we believe we will see miracles. Let us be courageous and go into the whole world. Christ will be with us to accompany us and to work with us. This is our guarantee. He will confirm our words with powerful signs. The world is waiting for Good News, the people are waiting for words of hope and Christ is waiting for your response. What are you waiting for? Let’s go!

Easter, REFLECTION Sunday´s Gospel

“I command you…”

(Fr. James McTavish FMVD)

In the film “Braveheart” there is a moment when William Wallace cries out his famous slogan “Freedom!” Freedom is highly valued in our world of today and rightly so. But what is our concept of freedom? For some it is to do whatever they feel like or want to without reference to anyone else. And of course there can be no reference to any rules or prohibitions as this would limit this supposed ‘freedom’. But is this really true freedom? 

Jesus today in our Gospel (John 15, 9-17) opens the door to true freedom. True freedom for man is to do the will of God. Authentic and liberating freedom is for the creature to do the will of his Creator otherwise man ends up not free but actually enslaved. Five times Jesus mentions ‘commandments’ or ‘commands’. What has this got to do with true freedom? It seems that the commandments, especially the commandments of the Church are the antithesis of freedom! If you ask many people today about the Church and the Catholic faith they will say that it is a list of commandments, rules and regulations if you like that curb freedom. As if it is just to follow a big list of “Don’ts”. Don’t do this, don’t do that! So many reject faith and belief in God because they desire freedom. But does not true freedom have certain rules? How do we see those rules? As a way of denying freedom? Closer inspection will reveal that these rules and commandments are actually the only way to safeguard authentic freedom.

A simple example may suffice. What is the most powerful sports car in the world? To avoid prolonged discussion let us take as an example of fine craftsmanship a Lamborghini. Now a Lamborghini has a huge engine and an aerodynamic body contour – it is designed to go fast. But there are certain rules to follow. If the manufacturer commanded you “Put high grade petrol in the tank” only a foolish man would fill up the tank with diesel. If the creator of the car said “Remain on the road” how would you understand this? As a prohibition designed to stop you enjoying the car? Is it not in fact a commandment to actually ensure its best performance. The rules and regulations or commandments and prohibitions are to be observed so that one can make maximum use of the potential of the racing machine. If we decide to be rebellious we can say “No one tells me what to do. I will not follow this commandment to stay on the road. It is my car and I will do what I want with it. I want to be free so I will drive it at 180 miles per hour on the pavement of the high street. Freedom!” Yes and your ‘freedom’ will result in you crashing your car and also damaging untold lives. 

Now imagine the Creator of heaven and earth grants you the gift of receiving another high performance engine, a product of so much power and energy. To what am I referring? The human heart. The motor of our lives, the source of all our vitality. And if the Creator of this superb work of art gives some guidelines to follow, so that it can be used to its maximum potential, who but the most ignorant and dull person would not listen to those instructions. And thus Jesus, who fully reveals God to us and man to himself explains to us how to get the maximum power and benefit out of the human heart. He does not want us driving along in first gear in our loving all our lives. He gives us commandments to protect our heart, to ensure and safeguard the love contained therein. If he tells us to live from his love, to remain united to him, to not mix this love with other loves it is not to curb our freedom it is to canalize and maximize our potential as human beings. 

For example there are some commandments of the Church regarding sexuality. Are they to curb and curtail it only or to order and direct it so that its true beauty can be revealed? And if we say “I will do with it what I want. No one tells me what to do. I want to be free.” What happens? Well instead of dominating our instincts they soon dominate us. Far from being free one becomes become enslaved. How many people addicted to pornography on the Internet, alcohol or gambling will testify to the truth of this. They will tell you themselves that the initial novelty is very soon replaced by a total enslavery and oppressing dependence that when severe can damage many lives. But the same is also true of many inner vices such as judging others or holding resentment. At first it seems you have control but very soon things get out of control. How much sweeter to listen to the voice of Jesus than the voice of the Accuser.

If Jesus tells us to remain in his love and obey his commandments it is for our own good. He tells us them “so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete” (John 15,11). And what is this difficult commandment he gives us that supposedly takes away our freedom? “Love one another!” If we don’t love we actually lose our freedom and very soon become enslaved. Our human heart is made to love. It is a high powered machine capable to love! Only in loving God and each other does our heart do what it is made to do. Use it! Don’t be afraid. 

Lord help us to be mature in our Christian following, to welcome your commandments especially that of loving and discover in that our true freedom. Amen.

Easter, REFLECTION Sunday´s Gospel

“I am the Good Shepherd” 

(Fr. James McTavish  FMVD)                 

Today the Church celebrates Good Shepherd Sunday. The gospel is taken from John, chapter 10 (verses 10-18) where Jesus announces “I am the Good Shepherd”. This image was very dear to the first Christians. In early Christian art Jesus was frequently depicted as the caring shepherd carrying the lamb in his arms in frescoes in the catacombs. Many sarcophagi had the Good shepherd carved on them. The shepherd was an image very familiar to the people of Israel. In the well known Psalm 23 we hear “The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want. In green pastures you let me graze; to safe waters you lead me;  you restore my strength. You guide me along the right path for the sake of your name. Even when I walk through a dark valley, I fear no harm for you are at my side; your rod and staff give me courage.” For the Israelites, the King was a figure appointed by God to shepherd the people and take care of them.

Jesus as Good Shepherd has a great love for each and every sheep. He is willing to lay down his life for each one of us. Even when we go astray, he comes to find us. On the Holy door of St Peter’s basilica there is a panel showing the good shepherd hanging from a cliff edge reaching out to rescue a fallen lamb. Sometimes we too go astray. We fall or become rebellious sheep! We do not want to listen. The Good Shepherd comes to find us. He approaches with gentleness and firmness, through the voice of our conscience, through his Word, through those around us to guide us along the right path. He opens a way in front of a difficult situation. He leads us to the green pastures.  As St Gregory the Great noted “Anyone who follows him with an undivided heart is nourished in a pasture which is forever green”. How green and abundant are the pastures of his Word where we can find rest and nourish ourselves. This Good Shepherd loves his sheep so much that he even becomes food for them. We see this clearly in John’s gospel where the discourse of the Good Shepherd is linked to Jesus announcing that he is the bread of life. Jesus himself is the green pasture for the sheep. He leads his sheep to quiet pools as he himself is the living water. In his book on Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict XVI stated “Jesus is not only the Shepherd but also the nourishment, the true pasture who gives his life for us”.

The Good Shepherd guides his sheep. Each one of us is so loved by God that he guides our path of life, trying to help each one of us find the way. “God writes straight but with crooked handwriting” notes the old Portuguese saying. God asks us to trust him. He knows us and knows what is best for us. “I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me” (Jn 10, 14). It is comforting when someone knows you, knows what you like, what you need. Last week I was sick with an infection. I lost my appetite and felt a bit weak. One of the priests went to buy me antibiotics. He came back and said “I know you have lost your appetite but I have brought you something I know you will like and I know you will be able to eat it”. Imagine my surprise when handing me the antibiotics he also gave me a bar of Toblerone! I was able to eat it and regain some strength! How much more God knows us, our likes, our longings. He knows what is best for us. He also knows our limitations and weaknesses but is not afraid to carry them on his own shoulders with so much joy.  Jesus said “My own know me”. How great to know Jesus, to know his love. Pope Gregory the Great said that when Jesus said “I know my sheep” he is actually saying “I love them”. How great to know this love. To know Jesus and to know ourselves. As Gaudium et Spes announced “The mystery of man is solved in the mystery of Christ” (GS 22). The more we listen to Jesus in prayer the more we will really know his love for us. If we do not encounter this love we remain lost sheep. Pope John Paul II commented “Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it. This, as has already been said, is why Christ the Redeemer "fully reveals man to himself".” (Redemptor Hominis 10). Jesus said “My own know me” so “The man who wishes to understand himself thoroughly-and not just in accordance with immediate, partial, often superficial, and even illusory standards and measures of his being-he must with his unrest, uncertainty and even his weakness and sinfulness, with his life and death, draw near to Christ.” (RH 10)

And each one of us is called to be a Good Shepherd to others. Are we good Shepherds? The greek word for ‘good’ is kalo,j (kalos) and could also be translated as ‘beautiful’ or ‘noble’. Thus we have a beautiful shepherd in Christ, a noble Good Shepherd who never uses the sheep for his own advantage. The rod and staff of the shepherd are a sign of dedication not oppression – the rod to fend off attacking wolves and the staff to assist the rugged climb. How about us? In the sheep entrusted to each one, the younger brother and sister in the family, the children for those teaching in schools, and all of us who in some way have people under our authority, are we good Shepherds? Noble shepherds? Let us imitate Jesus the Good Shepherd. For him there are no black sheep. He loves the stray ones more. The Good Shepherd leaves the 99 righteous ones, and goes in search of the lost one. Let us ask the Good Shepherd to be more like him, to be able to reach out to the lost and abandoned sheep.

PAPAL MESSAGE FOR EASTER

"The Resurrection Is Not a Theory, 

but a Historical Reality"

(Benedict XVI's Easter message)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Rome and throughout the world,

From the depths of my heart, I wish all of you a blessed Easter. To quote Saint Augustine, "Resurrectio Domini, spes nostra – the resurrection of the Lord is our hope" (Sermon 261:1). With these words, the great Bishop explained to the faithful that Jesus rose again so that we, though destined to die, should not despair, worrying that with death life is completely finished; Christ is risen to give us hope (cf. ibid.).

Indeed, one of the questions that most preoccupies men and women is this: what is there after death? To this mystery today’s solemnity allows us to respond that death does not have the last word, because Life will be victorious at the end. This certainty of ours is based not on simple human reasoning, but on a historical fact of faith: Jesus Christ, crucified and buried, is risen with his glorified body. Jesus is risen so that we too, believing in him, may have eternal life. This proclamation is at the heart of the Gospel message. As Saint Paul vigorously declares: "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain." He goes on to say: "If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied" (1 Cor 15:14,19). Ever since the dawn of Easter a new Spring of hope has filled the world; from that day forward our resurrection has begun, because Easter does not simply signal a moment in history, but the beginning of a new condition: Jesus is risen not because his memory remains alive in the hearts of his disciples, but because he himself lives in us, and in him we can already savour the joy of eternal life.

The resurrection, then, is not a theory, but a historical reality revealed by the man Jesus Christ by means of his "Passover", his "passage", that has opened a "new way" between heaven and earth (cf. Heb 10:20). It is neither a myth nor a dream, it is not a vision or a utopia, it is not a fairy tale, but it is a singular and unrepeatable event: Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary, who at dusk on Friday was taken down from the Cross and buried, has victoriously left the tomb. In fact, at dawn on the first day after the Sabbath, Peter and John found the tomb empty. Mary Magdalene and the other women encountered the risen Jesus. On the way to Emmaus the two disciples recognized him at the breaking of the bread. The Risen One appeared to the Apostles that evening in the Upper Room and then to many other disciples in Galilee.

The proclamation of the Lord’s Resurrection lightens up the dark regions of the world in which we live. I am referring particularly to materialism and nihilism, to a vision of the world that is unable to move beyond what is scientifically verifiable, and retreats cheerlessly into a sense of emptiness which is thought to be the definitive destiny of human life. It is a fact that if Christ had not risen, the "emptiness" would be set to prevail. If we take away Christ and his resurrection, there is no escape for man, and every one of his hopes remains an illusion. Yet today is the day when the proclamation of the Lord’s resurrection vigorously bursts forth, and it is the answer to the recurring question of the sceptics, that we also find in the book of Ecclesiastes: "Is there a thing of which it is said, ‘See, this is new’?" (Ec 1:10). We answer, yes: on Easter morning, everything was renewed. "Mors et vita, duello conflixere mirando: dux vitae mortuus, regnat vivus – Death and life have come face to face in a tremendous duel: the Lord of life was dead, but now he lives triumphant." This is what is new! A newness that changes the lives of those who accept it, as in the case of the saints. This, for example, is what happened to Saint Paul.

Many times, in the context of the Pauline year, we have had occasion to meditate on the experience of the great Apostle. Saul of Tarsus, the relentless persecutor of Christians, encountered the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, and was "conquered" by him. The rest we know. In Paul there occurred what he would later write about to the Christians of Corinth: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come" (2 Cor 5:17). Let us look at this great evangelizer, who with bold enthusiasm and apostolic zeal brought the Gospel to many different peoples in the world of that time. Let his teaching and example inspire us to go in search of the Lord Jesus. Let them encourage us to trust him, because that sense of emptiness, which tends to intoxicate humanity, has been overcome by the light and the hope that emanate from the resurrection. The words of the Psalm have truly been fulfilled: "Darkness is not darkness for you, and the night is as clear as the day" (Ps 139 [138]:12). It is no longer emptiness that envelops all things, but the loving presence of God. The very reign of death has been set free, because the Word of life has even reached the "underworld", carried by the breath of the Spirit (v. 8).

If it is true that death no longer has power over man and over the world, there still remain very many, in fact too many signs of its former dominion. Even if through Easter, Christ has destroyed the root of evil, he still wants the assistance of men and women in every time and place who help him to affirm his victory using his own weapons: the weapons of justice and truth, mercy, forgiveness and love. This is the message which, during my recent Apostolic Visit to Cameroon and Angola, I wanted to convey to the entire African continent, where I was welcomed with such great enthusiasm and readiness to listen. Africa suffers disproportionately from the cruel and unending conflicts, often forgotten, that are causing so much bloodshed and destruction in several of her nations, and from the growing number of her sons and daughters who fall prey to hunger, poverty and disease. I shall repeat the same message emphatically in the Holy Land, to which I shall have the joy of travelling in a few weeks from now. Reconciliation – difficult, but indispensable – is a precondition for a future of overall security and peaceful coexistence, and it can only be achieved through renewed, persevering and sincere efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. My thoughts move outwards from the Holy Land to neighbouring countries, to the Middle East, to the whole world. At a time of world food shortage, of financial turmoil, of old and new forms of poverty, of disturbing climate change, of violence and deprivation which force many to leave their homelands in search of a less precarious form of existence, of the ever-present threat of terrorism, of growing fears over the future, it is urgent to rediscover grounds for hope. Let no one draw back from this peaceful battle that has been launched by Christ’s Resurrection. For as I said earlier, Christ is looking for men and women who will help him to affirm his victory using his own weapons: the weapons of justice and truth, mercy, forgiveness and love.

Resurrectio Domini, spes nostra! The resurrection of Christ is our hope! This the Church proclaims today with joy. She announces the hope that is now firm and invincible because God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead. She communicates the hope that she carries in her heart and wishes to share with all people in every place, especially where Christians suffer persecution because of their faith and their commitment to justice and peace. She invokes the hope that can call forth the courage to do good, even when it costs, especially when it costs. Today the Church sings "the day that the Lord has made", and she summons people to joy. Today the Church calls in prayer upon Mary, Star of Hope, asking her to guide humanity towards the safe haven of salvation which is the heart of Christ, the paschal Victim, the Lamb who has "redeemed the world", the Innocent one who has "reconciled us sinners with the Father". To him, our victorious King, to him who is crucified and risen, we sing out with joy our Alleluia!