Feasts of Peter and Paul

There will be no post this week.  My father passed away Friday, June 27 at 11:41 pm.  I will be dedicating myself to his memory instead.  Thank you for your understanding.  Please return next week as I intend to continue with my blog.

Corpus Christi – Cycle A (June 22, 2014)

First reading: Dt. 8: 2-3, 14b-16a

“Moses said to the people: ‘Remember how for forty years now the Lord, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert, so as to test you by affliction and find out whether or not it was you intention to keep his commandments.  He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to your fathers, in order to show you that not by bread alone does one live, but by every word that come forth from the mouth of God.

“Do not forget the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery; who guided you through the vast and terrible desert with its seraph serpents and scorpions, it parched and waterless ground; who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock and fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to our fathers.’”
 

Second reading: 1 Cor. 10: 16-17

“Brothers and sisters: The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?  The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?  Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.”
 

Gospel reading: Jn. 6: 51-58

“Jesus said to the Jewish crowds: ‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.’

“The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’  Jesus said to them, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.  For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.  Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.  Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.  This is the bread that came down from heaven.  Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.’”

 

Introductory theme summary:

As the title for this Sunday suggests, the common theme for today’s readings is the Eucharist.  All three readings address some factor relating to the Body and Blood of Christ.  The first reading gives us a look into the Old Testament backdrop for the Sacrament; the Second readings addresses the unity intended to be accomplished by our receiving that Sacrament; and the Gospel teaches us the benefits given to those who participate in that unity.

 

Reflection:

The first thing we need to do is examine the passage, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.”  While it was certainly John’s intention to help all those who heard his teaching realize the simplicity of faith’s reward; it was not his intention to dismiss anyone from their responsibility to work towards the appropriate disposition for receiving the Eucharist.  According to Paul, “Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord.  A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup.  For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment upon himself.” (1 Cor. 11: 27-29)  Therefore, our worthy reception of the Eucharist is conditioned by an appropriate disposition in order to obtain the promised eternal life.  By examining both of these passages we learn there is a danger of omitting the needed “work of faith” for receiving Christ’s promise of eternal life by those who eat his flesh and drink his blood.  In order for the promise of eternal life to be fulfilled for the individual believer, he/she must receive the Eucharist worthily.  What is this “work of faith” that qualifies us as “worthy?”

Well, for that we need to examine the passage, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”  According to John himself, “No one who remains in him sins. (Jn. 3:6)  Thus, remaining in him is conditioned by us not sinning.  This condition is certainly not one that is demanded from the onset of our participation in the Eucharistic meal.  The first reading gives us our clue on that issue.  “Remember how for forty years now the Lord, your God, has directed all you journeying in the desert, so as to test you by affliction and find out whether or not it was you intention to keep his commandments.”  This same principal applies to us today.  We are permitted to suffer afflictions in our day-to-day lives to find out if we intend to remain faithful to our Lord’s will by avoiding sin.  If we fail we lose our abidance, but we have the sacrament of reconciliation to restore us to that abidance so as to return to Him in the Eucharist in order to receive His Spirit by which we become able to remain in Him.  The questing then become; do we have faith enough to get back up each time we fail and believe it actually is possible to live our life free of sin – “The state of Grace?”

Finally, the second reading’s issue of being one in the Body of Christ!  Do we even understand what “being one” in the Body of Christ actually means?  Oneness in Christ takes its significance from Christ himself.  To understand that we need to “look” at Christ’s own body at the point in which it becomes offered to us for our salvation.  That point is: while hanging on the cross in sacrifice.  To become fully one in the body of Christ we need to do as Paul says, “I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.” (Rom. 12: 1).  For it is by offering ourselves as a living sacrifice in union with Christ’s perfect sacrifice that we become joined with Christ in His sacrifice as one body.  The purpose for this joining is explained by Paul as well.  “In my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the Church.” (Col. 1: 24)

So, when we put all this together we arrive at a better understanding of what the gospel is actually teaching us concerning “receiving the Eucharist,” as well as what it means to be “one in the body of Christ.”  Though related they are not the same thing.  The first case – receiving the Eucharist – relates to the condition for obtaining eternal life; the second case – being one in the body – relates to furthering the cause of the world’s salvation. 

Where do you stand in regard to a worthy reception of the Eucharist; and do you further the cause of the world’s salvation by making of your life a living sacrifice to be offered in union with Christ’s perfect sacrifice?

Trinity Sunday– Cycle A (June 15, 2014)

Thank you for your patience.  Please enjoy!

First reading: Ex. 34: 4b-6, 8-9

“Early in the morning Moses went up Mount Sinai as the Lord has commanded him, taking along the two stone tablets.

“Having come down in a cloud, the Lord stood with Moses there and proclaimed his name, ‘Lord.’  Thus the Lord passed before him and cried out, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.’  Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship.  Then he said, ‘If I find favor with you, O Lord, do come along in our company.  This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our wickedness and sins, and receive us as your own.”
 

Second reading: 2 Cor. 13: 11-13

“Brothers and sister, rejoice.  Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.  Greet one another with a holy kiss.  All the holy ones greet you.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.”

 

Gospel reading: Jn. 3: 16-18

“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.  Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believed in him has already been condemned, because he has not believe in the name of the only Son of God.”

 

Introductory theme summary:

As one would expect, the common theme from today’s readings is as the title for this Sunday indicates; the Trinity, with each reading representing one of the three Divine Persons.
 

Reflection:

The subject of a triune God has been a divisive issue for non-Christian religions for centuries.  Not surprisingly because the concept itself is extremely difficult to understand.  The more one seeks to penetrate the mystery, the more difficult the subtleties become.  Since this Sunday is named for the theological perspective, some effort should be made to expound on the mystery in a simplified manner anyway.

The Trinity is one by sharing in the same divine substance.  The One God is triune by consisting of three persons who share equally in the one divine substance.  These three Persons are distinguished by their unique relationship to the other two, which are not interchangeable.  Those three relationships are: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; which are characterized by the two acts or processions of begetting and spiration.  The Father only does that which pertains to begetting (source of all things), the Son only does that which pertains to having been begotten (submissive to in the reception of all things), and the Holy Spirit only does that which pertains to a purely passive procession (able to influence and cause affect without interfering in the freewill or taking possession of all things).

So what does all this mean to us in our day to day lives?  Well, surprisingly, quite a lot.  Most people consider the complex issues of theology as irrelevant to us in any practical sense, but in the case of the Trinity that is far from the truth.  We who become children of God through our faith in and conversion to Christ find ourselves in the place of Christ when we share in His divinity.  In the place of Christ we inherit a Father who possess all things and lovingly desires to give all things to us.  In the place of Christ we receive all things from the Father through humility and obedience.  In the place of Christ we participate in the passive effect accomplished by the Holy Spirit in and throughout the world.

By applying this reality of faith to our daily lives means; we become able in all things.  There is nothing that God desires from us that we cannot do.  The most obvious of which is the one thing most Christians don’t want to be held accountable for: NOT SINNING.  In fact this condition is stipulated as necessary to validate truly remaining in him and thus actually participating in His divinity, in the present or the future.

Sadly, most Christians today want to presume a dispensation from the obligation to reform their lives away from sin completely, and thus live their lives in the state of grace.  As a result, though they may not necessarily be jeopardizing their salvation, which could still be a possibility, what they do for certain is deny themselves the opportunity to participate in the divine nature of Christ.  No one who will not conform themselves to the likeness of Christ will participate in His divinity, in time or eternity. 

And those who say this is not a possibility, do not believe in the Eucharist for all that it truly is.  The Eucharist is the body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ.  By receiving the Eucharist we receive Christ in totality; and by that reception we become able to fulfill this preliminary condition for sharing fully in His divinity.  And from there, there are no limits!!!

Love for life should not deter us from death.  To one’s self we must die in order to live as Christ himself lived.  This is what becoming born (again) of Spirit means in actuality.

Pentecost Sunday – Cycle A (June 8, 2014)

First reading: Acts 2: 1-11

“When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together.  And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving win, and it filled the entire house in which they were.  Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. 

“Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem.  At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language.  They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, ‘Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans?  Then how does each of us hear them in his native language?  We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews an converts to Judaism, Cretans, and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.”
 

Second reading: 1 Cor. 12: 3b-7, 12-13

“Brothers and sisters: No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.

“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone.  To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.

“As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ.  For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.”
 

Gospel reading: Jn. 20: 19-23

“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be with you,’  When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.  The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’  And when he has said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

 

Introductory theme summary:

The common theme from today’s readings in on the equal dignity we all have as members of one body in Christ, and this dignity is accomplished by us sharing in the gifts, works, and services, all coming from the one Holy Spirit.

Reflection:

I suspect Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is seen by Protestants as inclusive to all Christians; but to read this letter as if it was written to us specifically with full knowledge of our present condition of division within Christianity is truly irresponsible.  All scriptures need to be understood first in light of the immediate audience to which it was actually written.  In this case the Corinthians.  That audience needed to understand that what a person’s condition was prior to baptism, free or slave, Greek or Jew, became irrelevant due to his or her baptism, for it was by our baptism in “one” Spirit that everyone is baptized into the “one” body of Christ.   To paraphrase another scripture passages, however, John says that those who left us were never one of us.[1]  This implies that the people John is referring to had been receive into the “one” community by the same “one” Spirit through baptism, but then later left.  As is always the case, scriptures must also be read in the context of the entire message, not by understanding one isolated passage independently of all the rest.  The conclusion must therefore be, though one may well be baptized by the Holy Spirit, and by that become admitted into the community as “Christians,” maintaining one’s separation from that community excludes that one from inclusion with the One Body of Christ.  One cannot be separate from the founder of Christianity, Catholicism, and remain one with Catholicism.  That is an oxymoron! 

If all one wants is to be a Christian, then that person is free to remain or become a Protestant.  All one needs to be saved is to repent their sins believing in the divine nature of Christ and become baptized.  If one wants to be a member of the One Body of Christ, however, than he or she must become, or return to being, a Catholic, and fulfill all the responsibilities intrinsic to being “one.”

I don’t expect this reflection to be popular with many; as is often the case with truth.

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[1] 1 Jn. 2: 19 “They went out from us, but they were not really of our number; if they had been, they would have remained with us.  Their desertion shows that none of them was of our number.”

Ascension Thursday (on Sunday) – Cycle A (June 1, 2014)

My apologies for the delay again.  Thank you for your patience.

First reading: Acts 1: 1-11

“In the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.  He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.  While meeting with them, he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for ‘the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak; for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’

They asked him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’  He answered them, ‘It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’  When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.  While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.  They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?  This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”

Second reading: Eph. 1: 17-23

“Brothers and sisters:  May the God of our lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him.  May the eyes of you hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe, in accord with the exercise of his great might, which he worked in Christ, raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens, far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come.  And he put all things beneath his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.”
 

Gospel reading: Mt. 28: 16-20

“The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.  When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.  Then Jesus approached and said to them, ‘All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

 

Introductory theme summary:

The common theme of today’s readings in on the anticipation of the great event to come, Pentecost. 

Reflection:

In the first reading we have Jesus instructing the apostles to not be concerned with “when” the kingdom will be restored, or even specifically “how” that will be accomplished.  Rather, Jesus redirects their attention to the power and responsibility they will receive when they become baptized with fire as John had told them Jesus would do for them – Receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

In the second reading we have Paul instructing us on what we are all to look for as a result of receiving the Holy Spirit, each of us in our own turn.  His prayer is for us all to receive the Spirit in the fullest possible measure, even to the extent of fully participating in the oneness of the body of Christ, thereby sharing in the fullness of Christ himself.

There is a slightly different specification in the gospel reading, however.  While addressing the apostles specifically, Jesus commands them to, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”  The contention is that this command Jesus gave to the apostles he also gives to all of us.  However, only the apostles knew first-hand what Jesus had commanded them, therefore this statement could only apply to the apostles specifically.  From this we gather that there is a specific responsibility charged to the apostles exclusively: that being keeping the Church faithful to Jesus’ original message. 

If you recall, on the second Sunday of Easter the gospel reading describes a specific encounter the apostles had with Jesus after Jesus’ resurrection, which goes, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.  Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.’  This account informs us very clearly that the apostles received something unique in relationship to everyone’s reception of the Holy Spirit.  In this reading we have the declaration that the apostles receive Jesus’ power to remove sin. 

Returning to today’s gospel reading we learn of an additional power Jesus charges to the apostles: the governance of the Church.  By the words of today’s gospel, they received in addition to the power of governance, also a charge of responsibility.  In fact it is in view of their responsibility to safeguard the authenticity of Jesus’ original message that they are given this power, for all power is given to serve a specific function.  Furthermore this power and responsibility was to continue until the end of the age.

As life continued, and the apostles began to die, it become obvious that the Second coming was going to be delayed beyond what they originally anticipated.  This led to the realization that there was an inescapable need for the responsibility Jesus charged the apostles with to continue to be carried out.  Thus we have what in now known as the apostolic succession.  The apostles appointed specific men to carry out their responsibilities in their stead after they became deceased.  There remains only twelve apostles.  Those who have been entrusted with the succession of their ministry are in fact fulfilling the same ministry of those original twelve apostles, thought their numbers have necessarily grown to accommodate the present size of the Church.

The descent of the Holy Spirit we celebrate on Pentecost is rightly considered the birthday of the Church, but equally important is accepting the apostolic succession as an intended part of our Lord’s Church.  For by it alone can we know what is consistent with Jesus’ original message, because the Lord assured us of that very thing when he said, “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.  But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.  He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming.”  (Jn. 16: 12-13)

I know how difficult it is to subject oneself to authority in this day and age of defiance, but that remains an essential part of true faith in Christ. 

Obedience ...  the ignored virtue!