Fr Martin's Daily Homilies & Reflections

21st April >> Fr. Martin's Homilies / Reflections on Today's Mass Readings (Inc. John 10:11-18) for the Fourth Sunday of Easter (B): ‘I am the good shepherd’,

Fourth Sunday of Easter (B)

Gospel (Except USA) John 10:11-18 The good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep.

Jesus said:

‘I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep. The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not belong to him, abandons the sheep and runs away as soon as he sees a wolf coming, and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep; this is because he is only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep.

‘I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep. And there are other sheep I have that are not of this fold, and these I have to lead as well. They too will listen to my voice, and there will be only one flock, and one shepherd.

‘The Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own free will, and as it is in my power to lay it down, so it is in my power to take it up again; and this is the command I have been given by my Father.’

Gospel (USA) John 10:11–18 The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father.”

Homilies (5)

(i) Fourth Sunday of Easter

I am always fascinated by old stone walls. I find myself wondering what stories the stones would tell if they could speak. According to the gospels as Jesus was entering Jerusalem on a donkey his disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice. When his opponents called on Jesus to order his disciples to stop, Jesus replied, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out’. If only the stones in our old walls could shout out, what would they say to us about all they have seen?

Jesus was attentive to stones, as he was to so much in his surroundings. On one occasion, he quoted from today’s responsorial psalm, ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the corner stone’. In the first reading Peter in his preaching quotes this very same verse. Jesus noticed that sometimes a stone which is rejected by builders as useless to their needs can become, in the hands of other builders, the most important stone of all, a corner stone. Jesus saw himself as the rejected stone. He was rejected in the most brutal way, put to death by crucifixion. Yet, God raised him from the dead and Jesus went on to become the corner stone of a new spiritual building, the church. To say that Jesus was like the rejected stone may suggest that he was completely passive at the time of his passion and death, the victim of other people’s cruelty. Yet, in today’s gospel reading Jesus speaks about his death in a very different way. He declares he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for his flock. He goes on to say that he lays down his life of his own free will; no one takes his life from him. He freely decided to face into his death out of love for all humanity, like the shepherd who, in that culture, often willingly faced death to protect his sheep from wolves and human predators. God sent Jesus into the world to reveal God’s love for all. This was Jesus’ mission and he freely chose to remain faithful to this mission even when it became clear that it would cost him his life. Jesus recognized in the devotion of some shepherds to their sheep his own devotion to all of God’s people. Jesus showed by his life, and especially by his death, just how devoted in love God was to us all. That is why when we look upon Jesus on the cross, we don’t just see an innocent victim of other people’s cruelty and sin. Rather, we see the length and breadth of God’s love, a love that remains faithful to us, even in the face of sin, and that is capable of bringing new life out of death, not just for Jesus but for all those who believe in him.

In his letter to the Galatians Paul declares, ‘I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me’. Paul knew not only that Jesus gave himself out of love for all, but also that Jesus gave himself for each one of us personally. As I look upon the cross, I am looking upon the good shepherd who gave himself in love for me. Jesus’ love, revealed especially in his death on the cross, is personal to each one of us. That is why in the gospel reading Jesus says that, as a good shepherd, he knows his own. Jesus was aware that shepherds were very familiar with each sheep in their flock. If one went missing, he noticed it and went after it. Similarly, Jesus knows each one of us in a very personal way. Indeed, in the gospel reading, Jesus makes the extraordinary claim that he knows each of us as intimately as God the Father knows him and he knows his Father. Jesus and God the Father know each other intimately because of the depth of their love for each other. Jesus knows each of us intimately because of the depth of his love for us. We only know those we love, and, even then, our loved one can remain something of an enigma to us. Jesus, however, loves us with a perfect love, and, so he knows us fully.

In that reading, Jesus not only says that ‘I know my own’ but he also says, ‘my own know me’. However, in this life we do not know Jesus as fully as he knows us; we do not fully know God present in Jesus. That is because we do not love Jesus or God his Father as fully as God loves us through Jesus. The second reading assures that in eternal life, we will see God as God really is, we will know God and Jesus as they really are. That is because in eternal life, our love will have been purified. We will love God and his Son as fully as they love us. In the words of our second reading, we will be like God, as loving as God is loving. This is our ultimate destiny toward which we are journeying, with our good shepherd leading the way before us. On this Vocations Sunday, we remind ourselves that our primary vocation rooted in our baptism is to follow the lead of our good shepherd by listening to his voice.

And/Or

(ii) Fourth Sunday of Easter

Today is Vocations Sunday. In the past we tended to restrict the term ‘vocation’ to the priesthood and the religious life. Yet, everyone in the church has a vocation, and, today, we are invited to reflect a little on the different ways in which we have each been given a vocation. Each of us is called by God. We all find ourselves standing before the call of God. The theme that the Pope has chosen for this Vocation Sunday is ‘vocation to service’. Each one of us, in different ways, has been given the vocation to service. In his message for this Vocations Sunday the Pope reminds us that Jesus is the perfect model of the ‘servant’. He is the one who came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. In the words of the gospel reading this morning, he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for his flock. All that he received from God he gave to others, he gave for others. This is at the heart of our own vocation to service too. All that we have and all that we are we have received from God, and we are called to place what we have received at the service of others.

The Pope in his message for this Vocations Sunday states that service is possible for everyone, through gestures that seem small, but, which are, in reality, great, if they are animated by a sincere love. The ways in which we live out our vocation to service can often be small and hidden. We give something of ourselves in service to someone. What we give may seem insignificant – a listening ear, a word of encouragement, a small gesture of some kind, what the gospel calls in one place a ‘cup of cold water’. We don’t have to think of service in terms only of the big commitment, the huge undertaking, or the absorbing task. The excellent can easily become the enemy of the good. We can undervalue the ways we are already living out our vocation to service, because those ways seem so little, no more than the proverbial drop in the ocean. Yet, the drop in the ocean, or the cup of cold water, can be as precious in the Lord’s eyes as some undertaking that, from a human perspective, seems much more significant. So much of life is lived on the small stage, in the space between myself and one other person or a small number of other people. It is in that relatively small space that most of our vocation to service is to be lived. The way we live out our vocation to service in that space will not make headlines, and may never become known beyond a small circle. Yet, as the Pope says in his message, when interpersonal relationships are inspired by mutual service a new world is created.  

The call to serve goes hand in hand with the call to receive the Lord’s service. It is in receiving the Lord’s service that we are enabled to live out our vocation to the service of others. We can find it difficult to receive the Lord’s service. Like Peter at the last supper we can resist the Lord’s efforts to serve us, ‘you will never wash my feet’. We can go along as if we were self-sufficient and not in need of the Lord’s service. Yet if our service is to be Christ-like it can only flow from allowing ourselves to be served by the Lord. He is the good shepherd who has laid down his life for us, and who goes on giving us the gift of himself. We need to keep on learning how to receive that gift of himself that he makes to us. One of the ways we receive the Lord’s gift of himself to us is by our celebration of the Eucharist. We come to Mass with open hearts to receive the Lord’s service, the Lord’s gift of himself. ‘This is my body. Take and eat’. In taking the Lord’s gift of himself, we allow ourselves to be served by him, and we are thereby enabled to live out our vocation to serve him as he has served us, to serve him in others as he has served us through others.

The call to service is not confined to a certain period in our lives. It does not belong to a certain age category. It is an enduring call throughout out lives. In the course of our lives, we are constantly discovering new ways of responding to that call. Many people discover new and exciting ways of responding to the Lord’s call to service in the latter half of life, or even the last quarter of their earthly lives. There is always a new step to be taken, no matter where we are on life’s journey. In the words of the second reading this morning, there will always be a tension between what we are already and what we are to be in the future, regardless of how young or old we are. We are already the children of God but in the future we shall we like God. We are called to keep on growing into the image of God, into the image and likeness of his Son. This is the call to become more and more the servant that the Lord was and is. There will always be new ways of living the vocation to service, no matter where we are on our life’s journey. We can help each other to live that vocation, by calling forth the service of each other, and receiving it when it is offered. We pray for the grace to recognize ways we might do this.

And/Or

(iii) Fourth Sunday of Easter

When several people are interviewed for a job, the one person who comes through the interview process and is given the job is not always the best candidate for the job. Interviewing is not an exact science. It can happen that one of those turned down for the job might have been the most suitable candidate. Even the most qualified interview panel only has limited vision. There can be more to some of the candidates than meets the eye. In the words of the first reading and responsorial psalm of today’s Mass, one of the rejected candidates may well have proven to be the corner stone, had he or she been given the chance.

Sometimes what we might be inclined to think little of can turn out to be very valuable. I occasionally watch the Antiques Road show on BBC, and I am always amused when someone discovers that something or other that had been lying around in the attic for years is revealed to be worth a fortune. The look of shock and amazement on people’s faces is a sight to behold. In the 1940s a shepherd boy stumbled into a series of caves above the level of the Dead Sea in Israel and discovered jars of scrolls which went back to the time of Jesus and before his time. The discovery of these scrolls has had enormous implications for our understanding of the world into which Jesus was born. These very ordinary caves that no one had paid any attention to for hundreds of years turned out to contain a very extraordinary treasure.

Real quality can often be found in unpromising places. The gospels suggest that Jesus had the capacity to see quality where others saw little of consequence. On one occasion, to take an example, he saw a poor widow put two small copper coins into the temple treasury. Most people would hardly have noticed this woman. However Jesus not only noticed her, but, he called over his disciples and drew their attention to her. Jesus pointed to her as the disciples’ teacher. Even though, in comparison to what the wealthy were giving, what she gave was tiny, Jesus singled her out as someone who, in reality, gave everything, all she had to live on. He saw her as a type of himself who was soon to give all he had on the cross. She was an image of the good shepherd in today’s gospel reading who lays down his life for the flock. Many people of the time would have dismissed her, as someone of little consequence. However, Jesus saw her as more of a corner stone than a stone to be rejected; he saw the real value in her that most others would have missed. In the gospel reading, Jesus, the good shepherd says of himself: ‘I know my own and my own know me’. The good shepherd sees more deeply than other people see.

Today is Vocations Sunday. What is our vocation as people who have been baptized into Christ and who are members of Christ’s body? One way of talking about our shared vocation is to say that we are called to see as Jesus sees. We could say that a Christian is someone whose calling is to see life as Jesus sees it, to see people as Jesus sees them. What distinguished Jesus’ was of seeing people was its generosity. He often saw more than others saw. Taking up the image of today’s first reading and psalm, where others saw a stone to be rejected or ignored, he saw a corner stone. Where others saw people of no significance, he saw them same people as having much to teach the rest of us. Whenever we see people with the Lord’s eyes and relate to them accordingly, we help them to become all that God wants them to be, like the cripple in today’s first reading who, through Peter’s presence to him, came to stand up perfectly healthy. The reverse is equally true. We can have a crippling effect on people when the stance we take towards them is lacking in generosity, is overly critical or dismissive. If are calling is to see life as the Lord sees it, then we have to become familiar with how the Lord sees it. We need to keep listening to the Lord’s word, to listen to the voice of the shepherd, in the words of this evening’s gospel reading. Our aspect of our shared baptismal vocation is to listen to the voice of the Shepherd, so that we can see with the eyes of the Shepherd.

Jesus’ generous way of seeing people was only a reflection of how God sees us. Saint John, in today’s second reading articulates how God sees us. ‘Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us by letting us be called God’s children’, he says. God sees us as his children, as his sons and daughters, and, accordingly, as people with a wonderful destiny. Our destiny, according to that same reading, is to see God as God really is. That is as our ultimate vocation, to see God as God really is, and, thereby to become like God. Our vocation here and now is to see as Jesus sees, to see the signs of God in others – and in ourselves – even when those signs of God are not all that obvious.

And/Or

(iv) Fourth Sunday of Easter

When people go to Rome, one of the places they often visit is the Catacombs, the earliest Christian cemeteries in existence. The earliest Christian art is to be found in the catacombs. The images are very simple and unadorned compared to the Christian art that would emerge in later centuries. Yet the art is very striking just because of its simplicity and its directness. One of the images of Jesus that you find in the catacombs is that of the Good Shepherd. I have a print of the image of Jesus the Good Shepherd from the Catacomb of San Callistus. It consists of a young beardless man with a sheep draped around his shoulders holding a bucket of water in his right hand. Clearly the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd that we find in today’s gospel reading spoke to Christians from the earliest days of the church.

Perhaps one of the reasons why the image appealed to Christians from the very earliest years of the church is because it conveyed something of the personal nature of the relationship between Jesus and his followers. That image from the Catacombs conveys a sense of the close personal connection that the shepherd has with the sheep. The shepherd has gone looking for the one sheep that was wandered off and having found it is taking the sheep home on his shoulders back to the flock. There is a connection between the shepherd and this one sheep. That is what Jesus conveys in today’s gospel reading. He declares that he knows his own and his own know him, just as the Father knows him and he knows the Father. It is an extraordinary statement to make. Jesus is saying that the very personal relationship that he has with his heavenly Father is the model for the very personal relationship that he has with each one of us. Jesus knows us as intimately as the Father knows him, and he wants us to know him as intimately as he knows the Father. There is a great deal to ponder there. When it comes to the Lord we are not just one of a crowd, lost in a sea of faces. In a way that we will never fully understand, the Lord knows each one of us by name. He relates to us in a personal way and he invites us to relate to him in a personal way. He wishes to enter into a personal relationship with each one of us. I am often struck by a line in Saint Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia, where he says, ‘I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me’. We can each make our own those words of Saint Paul. When Jesus says in today’s gospel reading that, as the good shepherd, ‘I lay down my life for my sheep’, he is saying that he lays down his life for each one of us individually.

The Lord who knows us by name, who gave himself in love for each one of us, also calls us by name. Today is Vocations Sunday. The Lord has a calling that is personal to each one of us. He calls us in our uniqueness with our very particular temperament, our unique identity, the background that is specific to each one of us. No one of us is like anyone else. Parents know how distinct and unique each of their children is. They will all have been given the same love; they grow up in basically the same environment. Yet, from a very early age, their uniqueness becomes very evident. The family is a microcosm of the church as a whole. From the time of our baptism, we are each called to be the Lord’s disciples, to follow the good Shepherd. However, the way we do that will be unique to each one of us. The particular way in which the Lord works through us is unique to each one of us. I can do something for the Lord that only I can do. Each person in this church can do something for the Lord that only he or she can do. Each one of us has a unique contribution to make to the work of the Lord in the world, to the life of the church, and that contribution is just as important as anyone else’s contribution. We each have a unique vocation and each vocation is equally significant. Each one of us is vitally important to the Lord. When we each respond to our unique vocation, we give a lift to everyone else. When any one of us fails to respond to that vocation, we are all a little bit impoverished.

The first reading declares that the stone that was rejected by the builders proved to be the keystone. There is a clear reference there to Jesus himself, the rejected one. We can all feel at times like the rejected stone, for whatever reason. Yet, we are never rejected in the Lord’s eyes. He continues to call us in the way that is unique to us. He sees us as the keystone for some aspect of his work. He recognizes the potential for good that is within us all. On this Vocations Sunday we commit ourselves anew to hearing and responding to the call of the good shepherd.

And/Or

(v) Fourth Sunday of Easter

Although it is not possible at the moment, but when people go on pilgrimage to Rome, one of the places they often visit is the catacombs, the earliest Christian cemeteries in existence. The earliest Christian art is to be found there. The images are very simple and unadorned compared to the Christian art that would emerge in later centuries. Yet the art in the catacombs is very striking just because of its simplicity and its directness. One of the images of Jesus that you find in the catacombs is of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, the earliest of which has been dated to the second century. Jesus is portrayed as a young beardless man with a sheep draped around his shoulders. Clearly the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd that we find in today’s gospel reading spoke to Christians from the earliest days of the church.

Perhaps one of the reasons why the image appealed to Christians from earliest times is because it conveyed something of the personal nature of the relationship between Jesus and his followers. That image from the catacombs conveys a sense of the close personal connection that the shepherd has with his individual sheep. The shepherd had gone looking for the one sheep that had wandered off and, having found it, is now taking the sheep on his shoulders back to the flock. It is that personal bond between himself and his individual followers that Jesus conveys in today’s gospel reading. He declares that he knows his own and his own know him, just as the Father knows him and he knows the Father. It is an extraordinary statement to make. Jesus is saying that the relationship that he has with each one of us is as intimate as the very personal relationship that he has with his heavenly Father. Jesus knows us as intimately as the Father knows him. When it comes to the Lord we are not just one of a crowd, lost in a sea of faces. In a way that we will never fully understand, the Lord knows each one of us by name. We only really know those we love. It is because the Lord loves each of us so completely that he knows each of us so fully. I am often struck by a line in Saint Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia, where he says, ‘I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me’. We can each make our own those words of Saint Paul. When Jesus speaks in today’s gospel reading as the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep, he is saying that in love he lays down his life for each one of us individually.

The Lord who gave himself in love for each one of us on the cross, and who, as risen Lord, continues to give himself in love to each of us daily, also calls each of us by name. Today is Vocations Sunday. The Lord has a calling that is personal to each one of us. He calls us in our uniqueness, in a way that takes account of our particular temperament, our unique identity, the background that is specific to each one of us. No one of us is like anyone else. Parents know how distinct and unique each of their children are. They will all have been given the same love; they grow up in basically the same environment. Yet, from a very early age, their uniqueness becomes very evident. That unique identity begins at conception and starts to be formed during the nine months the child is in their mother’s womb. The family is a microcosm of the church; it has been called the domestic church. Within the family of the church, the Lord’s call to follow him, the call of the good shepherd, begins while we are in the womb. The prophet Jeremiah heard the Lord say to him, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart’. The particular way the Lord calls us and works through us will be unique to each one of us. I can do something for the Lord that only I can do. Each one of us has a unique contribution to make to the work of the Lord in the church and in the world, and that contribution is just as important as anyone else’s contribution. We each have a unique vocation and each vocation is equally significant. When we each respond to our own unique vocation, we are supporting others in their response to the unique call of the good shepherd to them.

The first reading declares that the stone that was rejected by the builders proved to be the keystone. There is a clear reference there to Jesus himself. He was the rejected one who became the keystone of a new family, the church. There is a sense in which the Lord sees each of us as the keystone for some aspect of his mission. We are all key to the Lord’s work, and he calls each of us by name from the first moment of our conception to share in that work. On this Vocations Sunday we commit ourselves anew to hearing and responding to the call of the good shepherd.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

20th April >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings (Inc. John 6:60-69) for Saturday, Third Week of Easter: ‘Lord, who shall we go to?’.

Saturday, Third Week of Easter

Gospel (Except USA) John 6:60-69 Who shall we go to? You are the Holy One of God.

After hearing his doctrine many of the followers of Jesus said, ‘This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?’ Jesus was aware that his followers were complaining about it and said, ‘Does this upset you? What if you should see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before?

‘It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

‘But there are some of you who do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the outset those who did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. He went on, ‘This is why I told you that no one could come to me unless the Father allows him.’ After this, many of his disciples left him and stopped going with him.

Then Jesus said to the Twelve, ‘What about you, do you want to go away too?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.’

Gospel (USA) John 6:60-69 To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

Many of the disciples of Jesus who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”

As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer walked with him. Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

Reflections (7)

(i) Saturday, Third Week of Easter

We don’t often think of churches, communities of believers, in the land where Jesus lived and worked, what today’s first reading refers to as ‘Judea, Galilee and Samaria’. Jesus was from Galilee and spent most of his public ministry in Galilee, but he also entered Samaria and his ministry concluded in Judea, although he may also have travelled to Judea from Galilee in the course of his ministry, as the fourth gospel suggests. The first reading declares that the churches in these areas were ‘building themselves up, living in the fear of the Lord, and filled with the consolation of the Holy Spirit’. This is the wonderful fruit of Jesus’ ministry. Today’s gospel reading, from the fourth gospel, is set in Galilee and, in contrast, it highlights a moment of crisis for the original group of disciples that Jesus had gathered about himself. Jesus had been revealing himself as the Bread of Life and declaring that ‘those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life’. Some of the disciples declare, ‘This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?’ The evangelist goes on to state, ‘many of his disciples left him and stopped going with him’. This is a very different picture to the vibrant church in Galilee given to us in the first reading. There is often an ebb and flow to the life of the church in a region. When the tide seems to be going out, we shouldn’t get discouraged. The risen Lord is with us in the lean times as much as in the times of flourishing. In crisis times, it is important that some believers hold firm. This is what we find happening in the gospel reading. When many of Jesus’ disciples left, he turns to the twelve and asks them, ‘What about you, do you want to go away too?’ It is one of those questions of Jesus that hangs in the air for us all. Where do we stand when it seems easier to join the stampede heading for the exit? We are all invited to make our own Peter’s response to Jesus’ question, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the message of eternal life’.

And/Or

(ii) Saturday, Third Week of Easter

This morning’s gospel reading begins with some of Jesus’ followers deciding that they would no longer follow him. They cannot accept the teaching he has been giving about his identity as the Bread of Life and on the need to eat his flesh and drink his blood. ‘This is intolerable language’, they say. It seems that not everyone who started to follow Jesus remained his follower. It is a reminder to us that we cannot take our faith, our relationship with the Lord, for granted. The fact that we have been the Lord’s disciple in the past does not guarantee that we will remain his disciple into the future. Indeed, every day we have to renew our response to the Lord’s call. We have to keep on consciously deciding for him, choosing him. Faith is a gift but it also involves a decision on our part. That is why at the end of this morning’s gospel reading Jesus turns to the twelve and asks them, ‘What about you, do you want to go away too’? Jesus was asking them, ‘Do you want to join the others who have decided to follow me no longer?’ He was putting it up to the twelve to decide for him, to choose him as he had chosen them. The Lord puts the same question to us, ‘Do you want to go away too?’ He waits for our response. We can do no better than to make our own the response of Peter, ‘Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life’. Every time we come to Mass we are making our own Peter’s great act of faith. In choosing to come to Mass we are choosing the Lord as the Bread of Life; we are renewing our baptism. We are then sent from the Eucharist to live out that choice of the Lord in our daily lives, allowing that choice for the Lord to shape all the small and large choices that we make in the course of our day.

And/Or

(iii) Saturday, Third Week of Easter

In the course of John’s gospel Jesus is often portrayed as asking very probing questions. We find one such question in this morning’s gospel reading. Jesus asks the Twelve, ‘What about you, do you want to go away too?’ In the previous verses many of Jesus’ followers are depicted as leaving Jesus because of his words about the need to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Their leaving Jesus is the occasion for Jesus to place the twelve before a moment of decision, ‘do you want to go away too?’ Jesus was probing, looking for them to make a personal decision as to whether they would stay with him or leave him like so many others. The risen Lord looks for a similar personal decision from us, asking us, ‘do you want to go away too?’ In the culture in which we live not everyone has chosen to respond in faith to the Lord’s presence and call. As a result, we each have to make a more personal and more deliberate decision for the Lord than was needed in the past, the kind of decision the Lord looks for in today’s gospel reading. As we strive to make that decision we can do no better than to make our own the response of Peter to Jesus’ question, ‘Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God’.

And/Or

(iv) Saturday, Third Week of Easter

In today’s gospel reading there is a sharp dichotomy between how some of Jesus’ followers assessed his teaching on the Eucharist and Jesus himself assessed his teaching. Some of his followers declared, ‘This is intolerable language’, whereas Jesus himself asserted, ‘the words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life’. The life-giving words of Jesus will be dismissed as intolerable language by some in every generation. Even though Jesus was aware that his teaching would lose him some of his followers, he did not dilute his teaching. Indeed, when many of his disciples left him, Jesus turned to the twelve, his closest associates, and asked them, ‘What about you, do you want to go away too?’ He was prepared to risk losing his core following, rather than compromise his teaching. He would be faithful to God’s vision for human living, regardless of the cost to himself. Those who wanted to accept his vision, and to live by the teaching it expressed, would have to make a conscious decision to do so. That is true for us who seek to be the Lord’s followers today. Remaining faithful to the values of the gospel will often mean standing our ground when many others are leaving. The response of many in the gospel reading to Jesus’ teaching, ‘This is intolerable language’, stands over and against the response of Peter, ‘You have the message of eternal life’. It is Peter’s response we ae invited to make our own.

And/Or

(v) Saturday, Third Week of Easter (not preached)

Today’s gospel reading captures a moment of crisis for the followers of Jesus. Some of those who have already responded to the call of Jesus to follow him, to become his disciples, are now struggling to accept the claims he has been making for himself, in particular his claim to be the Bread of Life that has come down from heaven. In response, Jesus wonders aloud what they will make of his further claim to ‘ascend to where he was before’, to return to the Father who sent him through his forthcoming death and resurrection. Arising from this exchange, the evangelist tells us that ‘many of his disciples left him and stopped going with him’. Jesus could not and would not hold onto disciples against their will. There will always be people who will leave the community of disciples, for a variety of reasons. We have all become aware of that phenomenon in more recent years especially. We can all feel impoverished when those who have been part of our community of faith no longer wish to remain so. At this moment of crisis, Jesus took what might seem to us to be a risk. He asked those left behind, ‘What about you? Do you want to go away too?’ Jesus wanted them to stay but he needed them to want to stay too. The question ‘Do you want to go away too?’ is addressed to us one of us and we each have to make our own personal response to it. It would be hard to find a more appropriate response to Jesus’ question than the response of Peter, which we are invited to make our own at every Eucharist, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe, we know that you are the Holy One of God’.

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(vi) Saturday, Third Week of Easter

There is a striking image of the churches in the land where Jesus lived and worked at the beginning of today’s second reading. It is said that ‘the churches throughout Judaea, Galilee and Samaria were left in peace, building themselves up, living in the fear of the Lord, and filled with the consolation of the Holy Spirit’. The ‘fear’ referred to is a reverential awe at all the Lord was doing among them and through them. The members of the church were building themselves up. The ministry of encouragement, of building up, seems to have been a very important one in the early church. The earliest Christian document we possess is Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, written about twenty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Towards the end of that letter, Paul calls on the members of the church to ‘encourage one another with these words’ and then again ‘encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing’. This is a ministry we all share, because it is rooted in our baptism. Of course, we can sometimes be a source of discouragement to one another in regard to faith in the Lord. It was surely discouraging for Jesus and the other disciples when, in the words of today’s gospel reading, ‘many of his disciples left him, and stopped going with him’. Jesus risked being discouraged further by asking the Twelve, ‘what about you, do you want to go away to?’ It must have been a source of great encouragement to Jesus and to the other eleven disciples when Peter, speaking on behalf of all, said, ‘Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life’. At a discouraging moment for the group of Jesus’ disciples, Peter was an encouraging presence. The ministry of mutual encouragement is all the more important when there are grounds for discouragement, such as in these times. The Lord is always the great encourager, and he continues to empower us to encourage one another in faith, and to build up one another in the Lord.

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(vii) Saturday, Third Week of Easter

There are several stories in the gospels about Jesus calling people to follow him and their responding to his call immediately. In today’s gospel reading, however, we find the opposite happening. Disciples who have been with Jesus for some time left him and stopped going with him. They objected to Jesus’ insistence on the need for his disciples to eat his body and drink his blood. ‘This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?’ They rejected Jesus’ teaching on the Eucharist. It must have been discouraging for the remaining disciples to see other disciples leaving Jesus. We all feel a little sad when people no longer gather for the Eucharist in the same numbers as in the past. We miss the presence of younger people especially. Perhaps sensing the impact of the loss of some disciples on the remaining disciples, Jesus turns to the twelve and asks them ‘What about you, do you want to go away too?’ It is a question that is addressed to each one of us, especially when our faith feels undermined by the actions of others. Jesus must have been very heartened by the response of Peter on behalf of the others, ‘Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe, we know that you are the Holy One of God’. We are all invited to make our own that response of Peter when we too may be tempted to leave the community gathered around the Lord in the Eucharist. Our presence is all the more important when others have left. The willingness of any one of us to remain is an encouragement to everyone else. Like the early churches at the beginning of today’s first reading, we need to build each other up by remaining in communion with the Lord and his disciples and living out of this communion in our day to day lives.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

19th April >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings (Inc. John 6:52-59) for Friday, Third Week of Easter: ‘Whoever eats me will draw life from me’.

Friday, Third Week of Easter

Gospel (Except USA) John 6:52-59 My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.

The Jews started arguing with one another: ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ they said. Jesus replied:

‘I tell you most solemnly, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him. As I, who am sent by the living Father, myself draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will draw life from me. This is the bread come down from heaven; not like the bread our ancestors ate: they are dead, but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.’

He taught this doctrine at Capernaum, in the synagogue.

Gospel (USA) John 6:52-59 My Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink.

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.” These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Reflections (14)

(i) Friday, Third Week of Easter

In today’s gospel reading Jesus declares ‘whoever eats me will draw life from me’. The Lord comes to us in the Eucharist so that we can live more fully with his life, which is a life of love. He gives himself to us in the Eucharist so that he can live in us, and continue his life of loving service today through us. The first reading is the story of how the risen Lord came to Paul. He didn’t come to Paul initially in the Eucharist but through an appearance to Paul. From that moment on, Paul began to live with the Lord’s own life, a life of loving service of others. Up until that moment, Paul had been violently persecuting the church, which he saw as a threat to his Jewish faith. As a result of the Lord’s appearance to him, he came to see that in persecuting the followers of Jesus he was persecuting Jesus himself who was God’s Son. From being the great persecutor of the church, Paul became the great preacher of the gospel to Jews and, especially, pagans. He went from being a violent person to being a peacemaker and reconciler. The Lord began to live in Paul. Some years later, in his letter to the Galatians, Paul could say, ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me’. The Lord was now living his life of loving service in and through Paul. The Lord does not appear to us in the same dramatic fashion as he appeared to Paul, but the same Lord comes to us in a very personal way at every Eucharist, so that he can live his life of loving service of others in and through each one of us today.

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(ii) Friday, Third Week of Easter

We can often find ourselves initially resisting a request that someone makes of us or some declaration that they make to us. We can resist for various reasons. At some level it does not make sense to us, or it appears to make too great a demand on us. In both of our readings this morning we have an example of such resistance. After Saul had his transforming encounter with the risen Lord on the road to Damascus, he was taken in his blind state to a house of one of the members of the church in Damascus. Another member of the church there, Ananias had a vision of the Lord in which the Lord asked him to go to Saul and to heal Saul’s blindness. However, Ananias resisted what the Lord asked of him because he knew Saul’s reputation as a persecutor of the church and he didn’t trust Saul. Yet, the Lord insisted and eventually Ananias did as he was asked. In the gospel reading, the crowd resist what Jesus had just said about giving his flesh for the life of the world as bread to be eaten. Yet, is spite of this resistance, the Lord insisted all the more on the need, not only to eat his flesh, but to drink his blood also. There is a clear reference here to the Eucharist as the moment when we enter into communion with the body and blood of the Lord. On this occasion Jesus did not break through the resistance of those to whom he spoke. Even some of his own disciples would walk away because of this teaching on the Eucharist. Yet, we are asked to take these words of Jesus into our own hearts, extraordinary as they are, tempted as we are to ask the question, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ The Lord wants us to receive him in faith in the Eucharist, so that we can draw life from him, and become channels of his life to others.

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(iii) Friday, Third Week of Easter

The question that the Jews ask at the beginning of today’s gospel reading must have been a question that was on the lips of very many people in the time of Jesus and of the early church. How can this man, Jesus, give us his flesh to eat? In response to that question Jesus goes on to speak not only of eating his flesh but of drinking his blood. It is very striking language, and it would have been scandalous to many people at the time. This language is very familiar to us from the Eucharist, ‘the body of Christ’, ‘the blood of Christ’. It has been the language of the church since its very earliest days. In one of the earliest documents in the New Testament, the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul says, ‘the cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a communion with the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a communion with the body of Christ?’ It was the Lord’s wish that in the Eucharist we would enter into communion with his body and his blood. Such communion, if entered into in faith, is an opportunity to draw life from the Lord. As Jesus says in the gospel reading, ‘whoever eats me will draw life from me’. We come as beggars to the Eucharist, recognizing that we need to draw from the Lord’s risen life so that we can be fully alive in the way God wants us to be.

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(iv) Friday, Third Week of Easter

The first reading tells one of the great stories that we find in the New Testament, the story of the conversion of Saint Paul. He was persecuting the church, believing that this was what God wanted him to do. He was trying to protect God’s people from a very strange message that was being preached by some Jews about a crucified criminal being the long-awaited Messiah. He was being the good Pharisee that he believed God wanted him to be. Then out of the blue, the risen Lord stopped him in his tracks. In one of his letters he wrote, ‘Christ Jesus took hold of me’. It was as if a heavenly light helped him to see everything in a new way. His meeting with Jesus convinced him that Jesus was alive, risen from the dead. He now knew that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah; he was the Son of God. From that moment he knew that Jesus was calling to announce this message to all, especially to the pagans. It was as if the risen Lord was creating him anew; his energies and gifts were being channelled in a new direction; he had become a new creation. Later on, writing to the church in Corinth, he would say, ‘if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation’. Christ is always working to create us anew. What he did for Paul in a very dramatic way, he can do for all of us in smaller ways. This morning we ask the Lord to channel our energies and our gifts in ways that serve his purpose in the world.

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(v) Friday, Third Week of Easter

The language of Jesus in today’s gospel reading must have sounded very offensive to many people. The realism of his talk about eating his flesh and drinking his blood is shocking in many ways. It is the language of the Eucharist. In the Eucharist we consume Christ in a very personal way. In taking him into ourselves in this very intimate way, we are taking in all that he stands for, all that he lived and died for. We are taking in his loving commitment to God and to humanity. In receiving Jesus in the Eucharist, we are inviting him to live out in us his life towards God and towards others. As Jesus says in the gospel reading, ‘whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in them’. The Lord comes to us in the Eucharist to draw us to himself so that he can live in us and through us. We receive his body and blood in the Eucharist so that we may become more fully his body in the world. That is why the Eucharist is at the heart of our lives as disciples of the Lord. The Eucharist was very much at the heart of the life of Sister Gonzaga. Through her own faithful celebration of the Eucharist the Lord came to live in her and the Lord came to others, especially to young people, through her. She drew life from the Lord in the Eucharist, in the words of today’s gospel reading, and that empowered her to give life to others, to give the Lord to others, especially to young people who always had a very special place in her heart. We remember this morning these young girls who are soon to make their first Holy Communion.

And/Or

(vi) Friday, Third Week of Easter

The question the Jews ask in this morning’s gospel reading - ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’- is an understandable one. The language Jesus had used about eating his flesh was shocking. After the question Jesus went on to speak not only of eating his flesh but of drinking his blood, which would have sounded even more shocking. Yet, it is language which expresses the depth of communion which Jesus wants to create between himself and his disciples. In fact, Jesus wants our relationship with him to be as close as his relationship with God the Father. As he says in our gospel reading, ‘as I draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will draw life form me’. Just as Jesus was always in communion with his Father so he wants us to be always in communion with him. The Eucharist is a very special expression of our communion with him and of his with us, but our communion with him is to extend beyond the Eucharist. In the language of John’s gospel, we are to remain in him, as he remains in us. We remain in him by remaining in his word, by keeping his word and allowing his word to shape our lives. Our communion with the Lord in the Eucharist calls us to this ongoing form of communion.

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(vii) Friday, Third Week of Easter

The story of Paul’s transformation is one of the founding stories of our Christian faith. Here was a Pharisee who, on his own admission, was a zealous persecutor of the church. Yet, the Lord managed to break through to him and completely turn his life around, so that the zealous persecutor became the equally zealous preacher of the gospel to the Gentiles. As a Pharisee, Paul could never have envisaged the way he would spend the last thirty years of his life, but the Lord was able to envisage it. Paul’s story reminds us that the Lord’s plans for us may be a great deal bolder than what we might have in mind for ourselves. The Lord took Paul by surprise, and he can take any of us by surprise. Our calling is to allow the Lord’s vision and purpose for our lives to become more of a reality. In receiving the Lord in the Eucharist we are opening ourselves up to the Lord’s vision and purpose for our lives. As Jesus says in today’s gospel reading, ‘whoever eats me will draw life from me’. In receiving the Lord in the Eucharist we give him the opportunity to shape us in the way he wants to. Paul met the Lord on the road to Damascus; we meet the Lord in the Eucharist. In coming to us there he directs us to take the path he wants us to take, just as he directed Paul.

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(viii) Friday, Third Week of Easter

Many questions are asked by people in the course of the gospels. Some are asked by Jesus; others are asked by those who meet with Jesus. In this morning’s gospel reading, the Jews ask the question, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ Far from pulling back in response to that dismissive question, Jesus goes on to speak of the need not only to eat his flesh but to drink his blood as well. The language of eating the flesh, the body, of Jesus and drinking the blood of Jesus is shocking. Yet, it is the language of John’s gospel. Jesus, who gave his life for us on the cross, gives himself to us as our food and our drink in the Eucharist. Jesus goes on to state that he gives himself to us as food and drink so that we might draw life from him. ‘Whoever eats me will draw life from me’. The life which flowed from the side of Jesus as he hung from the cross, symbolized by the blood and water, is conveyed personally to each of us when we eat his body and drink his blood. We come to the Eucharist to draw life from the Lord, as branches draw life from the vine. We are then sent from the Eucharist to live with his life, to live his life.

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(ix) Friday, Third Week of Easter

Syria has been in the news for some time because of the unrest there and Damascus, the capital, has been mentioned more than once. This morning’s first reading is set in Damascus and its vicinity. The story of Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus has captured the imagination of many people in the course of the centuries, including the imagination of many artists. As a result of his meeting with the risen Lord outside Damascus Saul the violent persecutor of the church became the great apostle to the Gentiles. Yet, according to Luke in the reading we have just heard, in the immediate aftermath of his meeting with the Lord, Paul was first struck blind and had to be led by the hand into the city of Damascus. The self-assured Pharisee suddenly found himself completely dependent on others. He was dependent on Ananias, a member of the church of Damascus, to receive back his sight, be baptized and received into the church. Before he began his missionary career the Lord gave Paul this profound experience of his dependence on others, and, ultimately, on the Lord. We can only work for the Lord and serve the Lord to the extent that we are aware of and acknowledge our total dependence on him. As Jesus says in John’s gospel, ‘apart from me you can do nothing’.

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(x) Friday, Third Week of Easter

The first reading this morning is Luke’s dramatic account of the call of Paul. As a result of the risen Lord’s appearance to him, Paul was transformed from a zealous persecutor of the church to an equally zealous proclaimer of the gospel to the Gentiles. After this encounter with the risen Lord, Paul continued to see himself as a Jew, but he now recognized that the Lord Jesus was the face of the God of Israel. He saw in his relationship with the risen Lord the completion of his Jewish faith. Because of his meeting with the Lord, he went from being a violent persecutor of the church to absorbing the violence of others for the sake of the gospel. He no longer sought to impose his religious views on others by violence but he now sought to persuade them by his preaching. His zeal was now tempered by love. As he says in his second letter to the Corinthians, ‘the love of Christ urges us on’. It is his loving communion with Christ that now drives him. As he says in his letter to the Galatians, ‘it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me’. In this morning’s gospel reading Jesus invites each of us into that same communion of love with himself that Paul enjoyed. He calls us to eat his flesh and to drink his blood. This is a call to Eucharistic communion with the Lord. From this communion of love we are sent out, as Paul was sent, to proclaim the love of the Lord by our lives, to allow the love of Christ to urge us on and flow through us.

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(xi) Friday, Third Week of Easter

The question that people ask in today’s gospel reading is a perfectly understandable one, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ The notion of eating’s someone’s flesh is abhorrent. Yet, Jesus does not qualify what he says but, rather, he goes on to say something even more shocking. He not only calls on people to eat his flesh but to drink his blood. It is evident that Jesus is not speaking literally. His way of speaking reflects what he said at the last supper where, having taken, blessed and broken bread, he gave it to his disciples and said, ‘This is my body’. Then, having taken and blessed wine, he gave it to his disciples and said, ‘This is my blood’. Jesus identified himself, body and blood, flesh and blood, with the elements of bread and wine. He went on to instruct his disciples at the Last Supper to ‘do this in memory of me’. Ever since, the church has repeated the actions and words of Jesus at the last supper. In today’s first reading we have the dramatic story of the call of Paul. Paul will later declare in his first letter to the Corinthians, ‘The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a communion in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a communion in the body of Christ?’ This was the faith of the early church and of the church ever since. The Lord wishes to enter into communion with us in a very profound way so that, in the words of the gospel reading, we can draw life from him. The Eucharist is a celebration of life. We are then sent out from the Eucharist to nurture and protect life in all its forms.

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(xii) Friday, Third Week of Easter

There is a wonderful painting of the scene in today’s first reading, the call of Paul, in a church in Rome by the artist Caravaggio. The artist does not depict the risen Lord, only the impact of the risen Lord on Paul. Paul is lying on the ground with his arms raised towards the heavens as light falls on him from above. A large horse stands behind the prone Paul, occupying the centre of the painting. The painting conveys a sense of this powerful figure, Paul, now rendered helpless before the risen Lord. In his weakness, he is ready to be redirected by the Lord. The helplessness and weakness of Paul is conveyed in the first reading by the blind Paul having to be led by the hand into the city of Damascus, a city he had expected to be riding into confidently and authoritatively. Yet, the Lord had wonderful plans for this almost helpless figure. As the Lord said to Ananias, ‘this man is my chosen instrument to bring my name before pagans and pagan kings and before the people of Israel’. It was as if Paul had to become like a little child, needing to be led, before the Lord could work through him with great power. Indeed, Jesus said that unless we become like little children we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Sometimes, it is our very weakness that gives the Lord scope to work through us most fully. When we are overconfident and too sure of our own ability and success we can block the Lord from working in our lives and working through us. In the gospel reading, Jesus declares, ‘whoever eats me draws life from me’. When we come before the Lord in our weakness, in our need, aware of the spiritual hunger within us, we will draw life from him, and, then, like Paul we too will become the Lord’s chosen instruments to bring his presence to others.

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(xiii) Friday, Third Week of Easter

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus speaks of the importance of eating his flesh and drinking his blood so as to draw life from him. Yet, in these Covid times, it hasn’t been possible for believers to receive the Eucharist. We have had to live without the Eucharist and this has been a great loss for many Catholics. Yet, the Lord finds other ways of coming to us when we cannot receive the Eucharist. In today’s first reading, the Lord came to Saint Paul in a very striking way. There came a light from heaven all round him and, as a result, he fell to the ground and he heard the Lord say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ That kind of dramatic experience of the Lord’s coming is not an everyday event. Normally, the Lord comes to us in much more ordinary ways. Do you remember the story of Elijah on the holy mountain of Sinai? He had a sense of the Lord coming to him in the sound of a gentle breeze. The Lord can come to us through the refreshing beauty of nature. Everything is so fresh in nature at the moment as it comes to life again after the winter. The Lord can also come to us through other people, just as the Lord came to Paul through Ananias who entered Saul’s house in today’s first reading. The Lord who came to Paul through Ananias had earlier come to Ananias through a vision. Ananias heard the Lord speak to him, directing him to where Saul lived. The Lord continues to speak to us, to come to us, through his word today. The word of the Lord remains a living word for each one of us today. In these Covid times when we cannot receive the Eucharist, it is good to be alert to the many other ways that the Lord comes to us. These days when we are deprived of the Eucharist can sharpen our awareness of the many other ways the Lord is always coming to us.

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(xiv) Friday, Third Week of Easter

The story of Paul’s conversion in the first reading has captivated artists down the centuries. One of my favourite depictions of this scene is by an artist called Caravaggio. It shows Paul prostrate on the ground beside his horse, looking upwards with a light shining upon him. According to the reading, when the risen Lord appeared to Paul, ‘there came a light from heaven all around him’. The effect of his light was to make Paul temporarily blind, ‘Even with his eyes wide open, he could see nothing at all’. His physical blindness perhaps suggests his spiritual blindness up to this moment. He had been violently persecuting the first followers of Jesus, and in persecuting them he was persecuting God’s Son, Jesus, now risen Lord. This was what Paul came to realize when the risen Lord appeared to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ Yet, the Lord had great plans for this persecutor of the church, but first he had to endure a period of blindness, during which this proud man was completely dependent on others, ‘they had to lead him into Damascus by the hand’. It was only when a member of the church of Damascus, Ananias, laid his hands on Paul in prayer that his sight was restored. The Lord appeared directly to Paul but he also came to Paul through a member of the church he was persecuting. That is how the Lord generally comes to us, in and through the members of the church, the community of faith. That is why we gather as a community of faith, in various settings, especially in the setting of the Eucharist. In the gospel reading, Jesus declares that he comes to us in the Eucharist so that we can draw life from him. We gather to celebrate the Eucharist so that we can draw life from the Lord. Paul once persecuted the Lord, but after his experience near Damascus, he went on to draw life from the Lord as he gather with other members of the church at the Eucharist. Even when we have turned against the Lord, he continues to call us to draw life from him.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

18th April >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings (Inc. John 6:44-51) for Thursday, Third Week of Easter: ‘I am the living bread which has come down from heaven’.

Thursday, Third Week of Easter

Gospel (Except USA) John 6:44-51 I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.

Jesus said to the crowd:

‘No one can come to me unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets: They will all be taught by God, and to hear the teaching of the Father, and learn from it, is to come to me. Not that anybody has seen the Father, except the one who comes from God: he has seen the Father. I tell you most solemnly, everybody who believes has eternal life.

‘I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the desert and they are dead; but this is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that a man may eat it and not die. I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’

Gospel (USA) John 6:44-51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven.

Jesus said to the crowds: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets:

They shall all be taught by God.

Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 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.”

Reflections (12)

(i) Thursday, Third Week of Easter

It is impossible to hear the reference to Gaza in today’s first reading without thinking of the horrific human catastrophe that has been unfolding in the Gaza strip today. The reading describes an event that took place in the very early church on the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. An Ethiopian, an official at the court of the queen of Ethiopia, was on his way home having gone on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He may have been a pagan who was attracted to the Jewish faith. The reading suggests he was someone who had a searching spirit. He was seeking after the truth. He was sitting in his chariot, reading aloud a passage from the prophet Isaiah and struggling to understand what it meant. When Philip, a leader in the early church, approached him, the Ethiopian asked, ‘Tell me, is the prophet referring to himself or someone else?’ His question was the opening Philip needed to preach the gospel to him. Having heard the gospel, the Ethiopian was moved to ask Philip to baptize him. In the gospel reading, Jesus says, ‘No one comes to me unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me’. The Ethiopian was drawn by God the Father to Jesus, without him realizing it initially. God tends to draw us to Jesus through others. On this occasion, God drew the Ethiopian to his Son through Philip. God is constantly drawing people to Jesus and he does so by working through those who already believe in Jesus. God wants to work through each one of us to draw others to his Son, our risen Lord. God needs us to witness to our faith in some way, if others are to be drawn to the Lord. There are people among us searching for the one who says of himself in today’s gospel reading, ‘I am the bread of life’, the one who can satisfy our deepest spiritual hunger. We can all be a Philip for those who are searching. If we are to play that vital role in someone’s life, we need to be constantly seeking the Lord for ourselves.

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(ii) Thursday, Third Week of Easter

When we hear in this morning’s first reading of the road from Jerusalem to Gaza it is hard not to think of the strained and tension-filled relationship between Jerusalem and Gaza today. Yet, the story we have just heard relating to that road is a good news story. The Ethiopian on that road is a seeker. He is reading the Jewish Scriptures, a section of the prophet Isaiah. When Philip, one of the deacons of the church joins him, he invites Philip to join him in his search and to throw light on what he is reading. The probing question he asks Philip about the text gives Philip an opening to speak to him about Jesus. Philip’s proclaiming of the gospel moved the Ethiopian to ask for baptism. When Philip left him, the Ethiopian went on his journey rejoicing. The Ethiopian was searching, but he needed help from someone who was a little further down the road of faith that he himself was. The story is a reminder to us that we need each other on the journey of faith. We all have something to receive from someone else. In the gospel reading, Jesus declares that no one can come to him unless he is drawn by God the Father. Our coming to Jesus is always in response to the Father drawing us to his Son. Yet, the Father draws us to his Son in and through each other, just as God drew the Ethiopian to Jesus in and through Philip. Sometimes we may find ourselves in the role of the Ethiopian, seeking the Lord, needing someone like a Philip to guide and lead us. At other times we may find ourselves in the role of Philip, helping someone to take a new step on their journey towards Jesus. If the Father is to draw us to his Son, we need to be ready both to receive from the faith of others and to give to others from our own faith.

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(iii) Thursday, Third Week of Easter

This morning’s first reading is one of many wonderful stories in the Acts of the Apostles, the story of how an Ethiopian eunuch who served at the court of the queen of Ethiopia came to Christ. The Holy Spirit had a major role to play in bringing the Ethiopian to Jesus, but Philip the evangelist and the Ethiopian himself had their roles to play as well. It was the Holy Spirit who prompted Philip to meet the Ethiopian. It was presumably the Spirit who prompted the Ethiopian to read the passage of Scripture that so intrigued him. The Ethiopian asked Philip to explain the Scripture he was reading and Philip responded to his request. A little later the Ethiopian asked Philip to baptize him and Philip responded to that request too. Even though the Spirit was at work in all of this process, there was a genuine human element at work too. Without the desire of the Ethiopian and the responsiveness of Philip, the work of the Holy Spirit would not have come to pass. The passage reminds us that we need the Holy Spirit to come to Christ and to grow in our relationship with him, but the Spirit, in turn, needs our contribution, our own good desires and our willingness to respond to the call of others.

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(iv) Thursday, Third Week of Easter

There is an interesting sequence across the two readings this morning. In the first reading we have an Ethiopian returning home from his pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He stops to read the Scriptures and he is very touched by a passage from the prophet Isaiah. It leads him to ask questions which eventually results in his receiving baptism into the church at the hands of Philip. Then in the gospel reading Jesus speaks of the bread that he will give as his flesh for the life of the world, a clear reference to the Eucharist. We have the three elements of word, baptism and eucharist in our two readings. Each one of them is at the core of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. In our own lives, the sequence is not so much word, baptism, eucharist as baptism, word, eucharist. Most of us were baptized as infants; we were then introduced to Jesus through the stories in the gospels, perhaps through the Acts of the Apostles and the letters of Paul, and the great texts of the Jewish Scriptures, such as the prophet Isaiah. That in turn led on to our receiving the Eucharist. For us who have been baptized, the connection between word and Eucharist remains very close. At every Mass we first have the Liturgy of the Word, and then the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The word nourishes our faith, and it is out of that nourished faith that we come to the Eucharist. The bread of the word prepares us for the bread of the Eucharist. The bread of the word is a necessary first course, as it were, that prepares us to receive the Eucharist well.

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(v) Thursday, Third Week of Easter

If we look across the two readings this morning we find an interesting sequence. We begin with an Ethiopian, who was clearly drawn to Judaism in some way. He is coming from Jerusalem and is reading from the text of the prophet Isaiah, without really understanding what he is reading. He is a seeker after truth, after God. On his search he meets with a companion who helps him to find an answer to some of his questions, who throws light on the word of God that has so intrigued him. Having been touched by God’s word, he is ready for baptism. Philip, who helped to open up God’s word for him, goes on to baptize him. The proclamation of the word leads to baptism and then in the gospel reading Jesus speaks in language that is clearly Eucharistic, ‘the bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world’. As the search for God leads to the hearing of the word and as the hearing of the word leads to baptism, so baptism leads us to the Eucharist. The sequence for us has been a little different, because it began with baptism. We then received the Eucharist at a relatively early age. We can easily miss out on that earlier stage that we find in our readings, the stage of engaging with the Scriptures, questioning them and searching for answers to our questions. That stage is more appropriate to adulthood. When we engage in it, it helps us to appreciate more fully both the sacrament of baptism and of the Eucharist.

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(vi) Thursday, Third Week of Easter

In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus makes the striking statement, ‘everybody who believes in me has eternal life’. He does not say, ‘will have eternal life’, but he says, ‘has eternal life’. We would normally think of eternal life as beginning after our earthly life is completed, but this morning’s gospel reading suggests that eternal life is somehow accessible to us here and now, during this earthly life. Eternal life in the gospel of John is understood as a life of communion with Jesus, the source of true life. Such a life of communion with the Lord can be experienced here and now by all those who believe in him, who come to him in faith and who try to keep his word. In so far as we are in communion with the Lord in this life we already experience something of the eternal life that awaits us. Communion with the Lord is the gateway to eternal life here and now and beyond this life. We traditionally use the term ‘holy communion’ to refer to the Eucharist. We recognize that in and through the Eucharist we enter into communion with the Lord, and with each other, in a special way. Because it is a time of communion with the Lord, the church has always understood the Eucharist as the anticipation of eternal life. In this moment of communion, heaven comes to earth and eternal life breaks into this earthly life.

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(vii) Thursday, Third Week of Easter

In this morning’s first reading we have a striking example of faith seeking understanding. An Ethiopian officer at the court of the Queen of Ethiopia was on his way from Jerusalem to Gaza. Coming as he was from Jerusalem, he was clearly drawn to the Jewish faith. On his way to Gaza, he sat in his chariot to read from the Jewish Scriptures, the book of Isaiah. He did not understand what he was reading. When one of the early preachers of the gospel, Philip, approached the Ethiopian, he asked Philip to explain to him what he was reading, ‘Tell me, is the prophet referring to himself or someone else?’ Here indeed was faith seeking understanding. Philip’s teaching led to the Ethiopian requesting baptism. When it comes to our faith, there is a great deal to understand. Ultimately, the object of our faith is beyond full human understanding, at least in this life. Yet, the journey of seeking to understand our faith is one we are all invited to set out on. In the gospel reading this morning, Jesus calls on the crowd to hear the teaching of the Father, and to learn from it. Jesus suggests that God is always teaching us and encouraging us to be learners. A little later in that same gospel of John, Jesus declares that, after his death and resurrection, he will send us the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, who will guide us into all the truth. As our faith seeks understanding, we are assured of the guidance of the Spirit, without whom true understanding is not possible.

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(viii) Thursday, Third Week of Easter

In today’s gospel reading Jesus declares both ‘everybody who believes has eternal life’ and ‘anyone who eats this bread will live for ever’. It appears that eating Jesus the bread of life is an image for believing in Jesus. However, when Jesus goes on to say, ‘the bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world’, the term ‘bread’ begins to acquire a Eucharistic meaning. Jesus will go on to speak about the need to eat his flesh and drink his blood, which has even clearer Eucharistic overtones. Yet, eating the bread that is Jesus, in the sense of believing in Jesus, comes before eating his flesh or his body in the Eucharist. The Eucharist, like all the sacraments, presupposes faith. We first come to Jesus in faith before we come to him in the Eucharist. We find a similar pattern in the first reading. The faith of the Ethiopian is first nurtured by Philip through his proclamation of the word before the Ethiopian comes to celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism. The Sacrament of Baptism, like the Sacrament of the Eucharist, also presupposes faith. In the case of infants, it is the faith of the parents and family and the faith of the believing community that is presupposed. The first reading reminds us that an encounter with the Lord in his word is often prior to an encounter with him in the Sacraments. The word of the Lord nurtures our faith in preparation for our encounter with him in the Sacraments.

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(ix) Thursday, Third Week of Easter

There are a number of similarities between the story of the Ethiopian in today’s first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles. and the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke’s first volume, his gospel. The two disciples were journeying away from Jerusalem when the risen Lord joined them in the form of a stranger and opened the Scriptures for them. The Ethiopian eunuch was journeying away from Jerusalem when Philip, one of the missionaries of the early church, joined them and opened up the Scriptures for him. The opening up of the Scriptures for the two disciples led them to the recognition of the Lord in the breaking of bread, the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The opening up of the Scriptures for the Ethiopian led him to the Sacrament of baptism. In both cases, the hearing of the Word led to a deeper encounter with the Lord in the Sacrament. Afterwards, both the two disciples and the Ethiopian went on their way rejoicing. That sequence of word leading to sacrament has always been central to the church’s life. It is present again in today’s gospel reading. In that reading, Jesus declares that we first need ‘to hear the teaching of the Father and learn from it’ before we can come to him as the bread of life who gives us his flesh, his body, for the life of the world. Listening to God’s word prepares us, disposes us, to recognize and receive the Lord who comes to us in the Sacraments. Today’s first reading suggests that such listening to God’s word will often entail a struggle to understand it. The Ethiopian was full of questions as he listened to God’s word. The story of the Ethiopian shows that such questions are not an obstacle on our journey towards the Lord but can serve that journey well.

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(x) Thursday, Third Week of Easter

The portrayal of the Ethiopian in today’s gospel reading suggests that he was engaged in a spiritual search. He had been on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. People who go on pilgrimage are often seeking to know God more fully. On his way home from the pilgrimage, he continued to engage in his spiritual quest, reading from the prophet Isaiah. It is notable that the text says that Philip heard him reading Isaiah the prophet. The Ethiopian was not reading silently to himself; he was reading aloud. This was how people usually read the Scriptures at that time, even when they were alone. His reading of the passage gave rise to a question for him that he sought an answer to from Philip, ‘Tell me, is the prophet referring to himself or someone else?’ When Philip then proclaimed the gospel to him, the Ethiopian took a further initiative on his spiritual quest, again in the form of a question, ‘Look, there is some water here; is there anything to stop me being baptized?’ Having been baptized by Philip, the Ethiopian went on his way rejoicing. Even though the Lord drew near to the Ethiopian through Philip, the Ethiopian himself was drawing near to the Lord, through his reading of the Scriptures, his questioning spirit, and his request for baptism. In the gospel reading, Jesus says, ‘no one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me’. God the Father is always drawing us to his Son, as he drew the Ethiopian to Jesus through Philip. Yet, we ourselves need to take our own steps towards the Lord, the kind of steps the Ethiopian took, if the drawing of the Father is to bear fruit in our lives. Even though God’s quest for us is the more fundamental one, we need to be engaged in our own quest for God. The story of the Ethiopian shows that if we seek the Lord we will find him, because the Lord is always seeking us. These anxious days, when some have more time and space than they might usually have, can be a good moment to enter more fully into our search for the Lord who is always seeking us.

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(xi) Thursday, Third Week of Easter

In today’s gospel reading Jesus declares that our coming to Jesus is in response to the drawing of the Father, ‘no one can come to me unless they are drawn by the Father who sent me’. God the Father draws all people to his Son and our coming to Jesus is in response to the drawing of the Father. Our coming to believe in Jesus is always in response to the initiative of God the Father towards us. God is always drawing us towards his Son and if we come to Jesus, God’s Son, it is because we have responded to the drawing of God the Father. God will seek to draw us to his Son in a variety of ways. In today’s first reading, an Ethiopian court official comes to faith in Jesus. God the Father draws him to his Son firstly through the Scriptures, the Word of God. As he read from the prophet Isaiah, questions rose in his heart and mind. ‘To whom is the prophet referring, himself or someone else?’ His questions arising from his reflective reading of the Scriptures were the means through which God was drawing him to his Son. God continued to draw the Ethiopian to Jesus through the ministry of Philip, who was able to engage with the Ethiopian’s questions in a helpful way. This led to the Ethiopian asking Philip on coming upon some water, ‘Is there anything to stop me being baptized?’ God the Father brought him to the point where he asked for baptism. He was immersed into the risen life of Jesus. Even those of us who have been baptized and who have come to believe in Jesus are being drawn more closely to Jesus by God the Father. God continues to draw us to his Son through the Word of God and through the ministry of other people of faith, like Philip. God never stops drawing us to his Son. In response, he looks to us for something of the same openness to being drawn displayed by the Ethiopian in our first reading.

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(xii) Thursday, Third Week of Easter

In the gospel reading, Jesus declares that all who come to him have been drawn to him by the Father, ‘No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me’. God is always drawing us towards his Son, who says of himself in the gospel reading, ‘I am the bread of life’. God draws us towards his Son as the one who can satisfy the deepest spiritual hunger of our heart. God often draws us to his Son in and through other people of faith. In the first reading, God initially draws the Ethiopian to his Son through the Scriptures. When the Ethiopian reflects on a passage from Isaiah, he begins to ask questions, ‘Is the prophet referring to himself or someone else?’ He needed the help of a person of faith to answer this question, the help of the deacon Philip. God who began to draw the Ethiopian to his Son through the Scriptures now draws him fully to his Son through the spiritual accompaniment of Philip, the preacher of the gospel. Philip’s ministry to the Ethiopian led the Ethiopian to take an initiative of his own, ‘Look, there is some water here; is there anything to stop me being baptized?’ It is as if the final step of God drawing the Ethiopian to his Son was through the medium of creation, water. Having allowed God to work through him to bring the Ethiopian to Jesus, Philip moved on from him, and the Ethiopian continued on his way rejoicing. God will find many ways of bringing us to his Son, if we allow ourselves to be drawn.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

17th April >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings (Inc. John 6:35-40) for Wednesday, Third Week of Easter.: ‘I am the bread of life’.

Wednesday, Third Week of Easter

Gospel (Except USA) John 6:35-40 It is my Father's will that whoever sees the Son should have eternal life.

Jesus said to the crowd:

‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst. But, as I have told you, you can see me and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I shall not turn him away; because I have come from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of the one who sent me. Now the will of him who sent me is that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me, and that I should raise it up on the last day. Yes, it is my Father’s will that whoever sees the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and that I shall raise him up on the last day.’

Gospel (USA) John 6:35-40 This is the will of my Father, that all who see the Son may have eternal life.

Jesus said to the crowds, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. But I told you that although you have seen me, you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”

Reflections (5)

(i) Wednesday, Third Week of Easter

In Luke’s gospel, Jesus tried to preach the gospel to a Samaritan village, but the Samaritans rejected him. Now, in Luke’s second volume, the Acts of the Apostles, the risen Lord preaches the gospel again to the Samaritans through Philip, as described in our first reading. On this occasion the Samaritans ‘united in welcoming the message Philip preached’. The Samaritans’ rejection of Jesus did not mean the Lord’s rejection of them. The Lord never takes our ‘no’ to him as final. He continues to offer himself and the gift of his gospel to us, in the hope that our ‘no’ will become a ‘yes’. In today’s gospel reading Jesus declares, ‘Whoever comes to me, I shall not turn away’. Even though we may have turned away from him in the past, he does not turn away from us. If we come to him, even having initially turned away from him, he will not turn us away because, as he declares in the gospel reading, it is his Father’s will that ‘whoever sees the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life’. There is a time for every matter under heaven, according to the Book of Ecclesiastes. According to Luke, the public ministry of Jesus wasn’t the time for the Samaritans to respond to the gospel (contrary to the gospel of John!) but the preaching of Philip in the period after Pentecost was the time for them to welcome the gospel message. Like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, the Lord knows how to wait on us. He is prepared to wait on our timing, just as he waited on the timing of Paul of Tarsus. According to our first reading, Paul initially ‘worked for the total destruction of the church’. However, after the Lord appeared to him on the road to Damascus, Paul went on to become the great apostle to the pagans in response to the Lord’s call. The great persecutor of the church has left us wonderful letters to his churches which have nurtured the faith of the Lord’s disciples for the past two thousand years. The story of the Samaritans and the story of Paul reminds us that the Lord’s time is always ‘today’.

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(ii) Wednesday, Third Week of Easter

In today’s first reading, Philip preaches the gospel in Samaria and the people there unite in welcoming the message Philip preached. In Luke’s first volume, Jesus had attempted to preach the gospel to a Samaritan village but they rejected Jesus because he was heading for Jerusalem. Now the risen Lord, through Philip, preaches the gospel to the Samaritans and this time they welcome the gospel. The Lord continues to offer the gospel even to those who have rejected it. Even though we may turn from the Lord at times, he never turns from us. This is in keeping with what Jesus says in today’s gospel reading, ‘Whoever comes to me I shall never turn away’. Easter celebrates the faithfulness of God to his Son Jesus, and the faithfulness of Jesus to all of us. The Lord’s faithfulness encourages us to keep turning back to him, to keep coming to him, even after we have turned away from him. Even when we fail to respond to his coming, he remains for us the bread of life and he continues to promise that if we come to him we will never hunger and if we believe in him we will never thirst.

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(iii) Wednesday, Third Week of Easter

There is a striking statement in today’s first reading, ‘Saul then worked for the total destruction of the church’. In the immediate aftermath of the martyrdom of Stephen, Saul, the zealous Pharisee, set himself the task of destroying this heretical Jewish movement. It was this same Saul who went on to become the greatest missionary in the early church, bringing the gospel to major cities in modern day Turkey and Greece. In the gospel reading, Jesus declares that he came to do his Father’s will, which is that all who see the Son and believe in him shall have eternal life. Saul or Paul, while in the very act of persecuting the church, came to see the Son and believe in him and received the gift of eternal life. Paul saw the Son because the risen Lord appeared to him just outside Damascus. We have not seen the Son in the way Paul did; the risen Lord has not appeared to us as he appeared to Paul. Yet, we see him with the eyes of faith. We recognize him in the Eucharist as ‘the bread of life’, in the language of today’s gospel reading. It is Paul who in his letters teaches us that through baptism we have become members of the Lord’s body, temples of his Spirit, sons and daughters of God, sharing in Jesus’ own relationship with God. Although Paul had seen the risen Lord in a unique sense, he didn’t consider the members of the church to whom he wrote, including ourselves, to be any less privileged than himself. It is Paul, the former persecutor of the church, who reminds us in his letters that the bread that we break and the cup that we bless in the Eucharist is a communion with the body and blood of Christ. Our union with Christ through baptism is thereby strengthened in the Eucharist. It is Paul who teaches us in his letters that this communion with the Lord that we enjoy in this life will not be broken by death, because our ultimate destiny is ‘to be with the Lord forever’, as he says. We can be grateful to this former persecutor of the church for opening us for up the riches of our Christian identity and destiny.

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(iv) Wednesday, Third Week of Easter

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus says, ‘whoever comes to me I shall not turn away’. It is a statement that reveals the welcoming nature of the Lord’s presence. Those who come to him will find a welcome from him. The opening invitation of Jesus in this gospel is ‘Come and see’. He invites people to come to him and he promises those who do so that he will never turn them away. In this he is being true to God’s will which is, according to the gospel reading, that all who see the Son and believe in him shall have eternal life’. It is as the source of life, as the one who can satisfy our deepest hungers and thirsts, that Jesus invites people to come to him, while assuring them that they will never be turned away if they do come. It is said of Saul in the first reading that he worked for the total destruction of the church. Saul sought to destroy all who responded to the welcoming invitation of Jesus. There will always be forces in our world that are hostile to our coming to Jesus. Yet, the later experience of Saul suggests that not only does the Lord welcome those who come to him but he seeks out those who are hostile to him. Saul eventually came to Jesus because Jesus went after him. The Lord who welcomes us when we come to him also seeks us out when we walk away from him. When we don’t come to him, he comes after us, not in anger but in love. He is always driven by God the Father’s will that all should see the Son and believe in him and so have eternal life.

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(v) Wednesday, Third Week of Easter

We sometimes find ourselves asking, ‘What is God’s will for my life?’ We often struggle to answer that question. Today’s gospel reading is clear about God’s will for humanity in a general sense, ‘It is my Father’s will that whoever sees the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life’. God, who so loved the world that he gave his only Son, wills that all humanity would come to believe in his Son and, so, find life. Indeed, the verses following on from our reading state that the Father draws people to the Son. Jesus declares, ‘no one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me’. God not only wills that people come to the Son but draws them there. Because Jesus has come to do the will of the one who sent him, he states in our reading that ‘whoever comes to me I shall never drive away’. Jesus is not in the business of driving people away from him, because this is not God’s business. Elsewhere in John’s gospel Jesus declares, ‘When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself’. Not only does the Father draw people to his Son, but Jesus, the risen Lord, draws people to himself. There is a kind of divine gravitational pull towards Jesus, the Bread of Life, who alone can satisfy the basic hungers and thirsts of the human heart. The gospel reading invites us to ask the question, ‘Can we allow ourselves to be drawn?’ In the first reading, the Samaritans are drawn to the Lord through Philip’s preaching of the gospel. In Luke’s first volume, his gospel, the Samaritans refused to be drawn to Jesus, rejecting Jesus’ request for hospitality in their villages, because he was a Jew, heading for Jerusalem. However, the Lord continued to draw them to himself and the time came when they were ready to be drawn. Even though we may resist the drawing power of the Lord, he does not give up on us. He continues to draw us to himself, waiting for the time when we are ready to come to him so that we may have life to the full.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

16th April >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings (Inc. John 6:30-35) for Tuesday, Third Week of Easter: ‘I am the bread of life'.

Tuesday, Third Week of Easter

Gospel (Except USA) John 6:30-35 It is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven.

The people said to Jesus, ‘What sign will you give to show us that we should believe in you? What work will you do? Our fathers had manna to eat in the desert; as scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ Jesus answered:

‘I tell you most solemnly, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven, the true bread; for the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’

‘Sir,’ they said ‘give us that bread always.’ Jesus answered:

‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst.’

Gospel (USA) John 6:30-35 It was not Moses, but my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.

The crowd said to Jesus: “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written:

He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

So they said to Jesus, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

Reflections (12)

(i) Tuesday, Third Week of Easter

More than once in the gospels, people come to Jesus asking him to perform a sign before they will take him seriously. In today’s gospel reading people ask Jesus, ‘What sign will you give to show us that we should believe in you? What work will you do?’ This is immediately after Jesus had done the work of feeding a large crowd with five barley loaves and two fish. Here was a work that was a sign for those with eyes to see. This work pointed beyond itself to Jesus’ true identity. His feeding of the crowd with bread and fish was a sign that Jesus was ‘the bread of life’ in the language of today’s gospel reading. The real significance of Jesus’ miraculous work of the crowd lay in what it has to say about who Jesus is for all those who believe in him. The crowd who were fed would become hungry again, however, Jesus remains the bread of life for all who come to him, not just during his public ministry, but for all future generations who will come to him as risen Lord. Jesus is our Bread of Life today. The promise he makes in today’s gospel reading is made to each one of us, ‘those who come to me will never be hungry; those who believe in me will never thirst’. The risen Lord promises to satisfy the deepest hungers and thirsts in our heart, the hunger and thirst for love, for forgiveness, for justice, for peace, for communion, for life to the full. There is a sense in which those deeper hungers and thirsts will only be fully satisfied at the heavenly banquet in the kingdom of God. However, Jesus’ promises pertains not just to the ultimate future but also to the present. Here and now, in our own place and time, he is bread of life for all who believe in him and for all who come to him. We encounter the Lord as Bread of Life in a special way at the Eucharist, yet the Lord’s invitation to come to him as Bread of Life is not limited to the Eucharist. He is our daily bread of life, in every place and time.

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(ii) Tuesday, Third Week of Easter

In this morning’s first reading, Stephen is stoned to death by those who found his preaching offensive. Luke who wrote the Acts of the Apostles portrays Stephen’s way of dying in a manner that would call to mind how Jesus died. As Jesus on the cross prayed, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit’, Stephen prays to the risen Jesus, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit’. As Jesus on the cross prayed, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’, Stephen prays to the risen Jesus, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’. In other words, Luke presents Stephen as having the same relationship with Jesus that Jesus has with his heavenly Father. We are all called to have the same relationship with Jesus that Jesus has with his Father. Jesus’ intimate relationship with God his Father is to be the model of our relationship with Jesus. In the gospel reading this morning from the gospel of John, Jesus invites us into this intimate relationship with himself. He offers himself to us as the bread of life and calls on us to come to him, to believe in him, so that our deepest hunger will be satisfied and our deepest thirst quenched. We spend our lives responding to this invitation. The coming to him that believing in him involves is a constant coming; it is the journey of a lifetime, a journey into an ever deeper and more intimate relationship with the Lord. A little on in John’s gospel Jesus expresses the nature of this journey in another form when he calls on us to abide in his love, just as he abides in his Father’s love.

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(iii) Tuesday, Third Week of Easter

We have become very aware in recent times of the persecution of Christians in parts of the Middle East and in other parts of the world. It appears that Christians have no future in territories that are currently controlled by ISIS in particular. Huge numbers of believers have been put to death, simply because they profess the name of Jesus. It has been said that there are more Christian martyrs in these years than at any time in the church’s history. Today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles is Luke’s account of the death of the first Christian martyr, Stephen. According to Luke, Stephen’s way of dying reflected how Jesus died. As Jesus entrusted his spirit to God, Stephen entrusted his spirit to the risen Lord. As Jesus died with a prayer asking God to forgive those responsible for his death, Stephen died asking the risen Lord not to hold the sin of his executioners against them. Jesus and Stephen died as they lived. They show us not simply how to die but how to live. We too are to live, entrusting ourselves to the Lord and revealing his love and mercy to those we meet, including those who sin against us. If we are to live in this way, we need the Lord’s help. We need to keep on receiving the Lord into our lives as Bread of life, in the words of Jesus in this morning’s gospel reading.

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(iv) Tuesday, Third Week of Easter

The children who make their first Holy Communion are familiar with the term ‘bread of life’ that Jesus uses with reference to himself in this morning’s gospel reading. They understand that what they receive is bread, but it is not ordinary bread; it is the bread of life. When Jesus says, ‘I am the bread of life’, it is the first of seven ‘I am’ expressions that Jesus uses with reference to himself in the fourth gospel. He will go on to say, ‘I am the light of the world’, ’I am the gate’, ‘I am the good shepherd’,  ‘I am the resurrection and the life’, ‘I am the vine’, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’. The fact that the fourth evangelist has Jesus speak of himself in this way seven times is not by accident. The number seven in the biblical world is always a symbol of completion or fullness. Each time Jesus uses any of these seven expressions with reference to himself in this gospel, he is identifying himself as God’s life-giving presence in human form. More specifically, in declaring himself to be the Bread of Life, he is saying that he alone can satisfy the deepest hungers of the human heart. That is why Jesus’ invitation to us in this gospel of John is the simple invitation, ‘Come’, ‘Come and see, ‘Come and eat’. We spend our earthly lives trying to respond to that life-giving invitation.

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(v) Tuesday, Third Week of Easter

Chapter 6 of John’s gospel from which we are reading all this week is very much a Eucharistic chapter. Unlike the other three gospels, John’s gospel has no account of the actual institution of the Eucharist, but it does have this wonderful chapter, which is unique to this gospel and which is full of Eucharistic themes. In this morning’s gospel Jesus contrasts the bread with which the people of Israel were fed by Moses on their way through the wilderness en route to the promised land with the true bread, the bread of God, which is given not just to the people of Israel but to the world. What is this true bread, this bread of God? Jesus goes on to identify himself as this bread, ‘I am the bread of life’, he says. Jesus gives himself to us as the bread of life on our own journey towards the promised land of heaven. Jesus is our fundamental resource on our pilgrimage through life. He nourishes us spiritually in the Eucharist, but in other ways as well, such as in and through his word. His word is in its own way bread of life. He nourishes us with his Spirit, the Holy Spirit. Our calling is, in the words of the gospel reading, to come to him and to receive.

And/Or

(vi) Tuesday, Third Week of Easter

This morning’s first reading gives us the account of the death of Stephen the first martyr. This reading contains the first reference to Saul in the Acts of the Apostles. He is present at the death of Stephen and entirely approves of the killing. Saul would go on to become the great apostle to the Gentiles. Perhaps the courageous witness of Stephen left some kind of impression on Saul and sowed a seed which would later bear much fruit. God may have touched Saul in some way through the witness of Stephen. We need each other’s witness. Our faith is strengthened by the witness of others, just as it is weakened by the lack of witness of others. One aspect of Stephen’s witness was his willingness to forgive his enemies. His final words were, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’. Stephen’s willingness to forgive his executioners echoed Jesus’ own willingness to forgive those who crucified him. In this way, both Jesus and Stephen revealed something of God’s willingness to forgive each of us. Stephen’s death revealed something of God. If we witness to our faith in such a way that we reveal something of God, then God will certainly touch the lives of others through us.

And/Or

(vii) Tuesday, Third Week of Easter

In this morning’s gospel reading, the people ask Jesus what sign he will give to show them that they should believe in him, in spite of the fact that he had just fed them with bread and fish in the wilderness. Jesus does not answer their question. He does not meet their demand. We cannot make demands on Jesus which have to be met before we believe in him. Our relationship with him does not work in that way. The crowd were trying to bargain with Jesus; do one more sign and we will believe in you. We cannot bargain with the Lord in that way. Instead of granting the crowd’s request, Jesus declares himself to be the bread of life and promises that those who come to him will never be hungry. They are being challenged to take Jesus at his word. This is the essence of believing in Jesus according to the gospel of John. We are to take Jesus at his word and to respond to him accordingly. This morning we are being asked to recognize Jesus as the bread of life, the one who can satisfy our deepest hungers, and, on the basis of that recognition, to come to him and to keep on coming to him.

And/Or

(viii) Tuesday, Third Week of Easter

The first reading this morning from the Acts of the Apostles describes the martyrdom of Stephen, the first recorded Christian martyr. Luke, who wrote the Acts of the Apostles, describes the death of Stephen in a very similar way to how he had described the death of Jesus in his first volume, the gospel. Just as Jesus prayed to God, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do’, so Stephen prays to the risen Lord, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’. Just as Jesus prayed to God, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit’, so Stephen prays to the risen Lord, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit’. It is as if Luke is saying that the fundamental attitudes of Jesus are to be reproduced in that of his followers. The risen Lord seeks to continue living out his life in and through his followers, and that includes us all. Because the Lord wants to live out his life in us, he invites us to come to him as our bread of life, in the words of this morning’s gospel reading – ‘I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never be hungry’. Our coming to the Lord in faith, and our receiving nourishment from him, creates an opening for him to live out his life in us, so that, in some way, we can continue to give flesh to his fundamental outlook and attitudes.

And/Or

(ix) Tuesday, Third Week of Easter

The first reading this morning from the Acts of the Apostles describes the martyrdom of Stephen, the first recorded Christian martyr. Luke, who wrote the Acts of the Apostles, describes the death of Stephen in a very similar way to how he had described the death of Jesus in his first volume, the gospel. Just as Jesus prayed to God, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do’, so Stephen prays to the risen Lord, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’. Just as Jesus prayed to God, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit’, so Stephen prays to the risen Lord, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit’. It is as if Luke is saying that the fundamental attitudes of Jesus are to be reproduced in that of his followers. The risen Lord continues to live out his life in and through his followers, and that includes us all. If the Lord is to live out his life in us, we need to come to him as our bread of life, in the words of this morning’s gospel reading. ‘I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me will never be hungry’. It is only in coming to the Lord in faith, and receiving nourishment from him, that we will be able to reproduce, in some way, his life, his presence, his fundamental attitudes.

And/Or

(x) Tuesday, Third Week of Easter

In the gospel reading this morning the people of Jesus come to him looking for a sign so that they can believe in him. Jesus refuses to give them a sign. Instead he points to himself. He is the sign; he is the sacrament of God’s presence. He points to himself as the bread of life, as the one who can satisfy the deepest hunger and thirst in our lives. ‘Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, whoever believes in me will never thirst’. We all hunger and thirst for love, for forgiveness, for light in our darkness, for new life in our various dyings, for strength in our weakness. Jesus points to himself as the one who can satisfy such hunger and thirst. We do not have to go looking for the spectacular sign, the unusual phenomenon. The Lord is all we need because he alone is the bread of life. He is present to us as bread of life in his word and in the Eucharist. He calls on us, as he called on people in the gospel reading, to come to him, to believe in him. If we do that and begin to taste and see that the Lord is good, we won’t find ourselves looking for signs of one kind or another; we won’t need them.

And/Or

(xi) Tuesday, Third Week of Easter

In today’s gospel reading we find one of the great ‘I am’ statements attributed to Jesus in the fourth gospel. ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry; whoever believes in me will never thirst’. The image of bread corresponds to that of hunger, but the reference to thirst is perhaps surprising in this context. The language of ‘bread’, ‘hunger’ and ‘thirst’ is clearly symbolic. Jesus is declaring that he alone can satisfy the deepest hunger and thirst of the human heart. In the next chapter of John’s gospel Jesus will say, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink’. The language of eating and drinking in this gospel are often symbolic of believing. Jesus is declaring that all who come to him and believe in him will find that their deepest spiritual hunger and thirst will be satisfied. He is stating that he is as essential to our spiritual lives as food and drink is to our physical lives. We are always aware of our physical hunger and thirst; we cannot ignore it. We try to eat and drink on a regular basis. The deeper, spiritual, hunger and thirst in our lives, while just as real, does not always reach the same level of awareness in us. We can much more easily neglect it. If we do so, there will be something seriously out of joint within us. Today’s gospel reading invites us to attend to that deeper hunger and thirst and to recognize Jesus as the one who alone can satisfy it fully.

And/Or

(xii) Tuesday, Third Week of Easter

In Luke’s gospel, Jesus dies with two prayers on his lips, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’ and ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit’. In Luke’s second volume, Stephen dies with similar prayers on his lips, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit’ and ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’. Whereas Jesus prays to God the Father, Stephen prays to the risen Lord.  Luke makes clear that these prayers of Stephen were inspired by the Spirit, ‘Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit…’ Jesus’ prayers to God were also inspired by the Spirit who had shaped his whole life. These are Spirit-filled prayers which we are all invited to make our own. The response to today’s responsorial psalm encourages us to do just that, as it places a version of the prayer of Jesus and Stephen on our lips, ‘Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit’. It is a wonderful prayer to pray at the end of our lives, as Jesus and Stephen did. However, it is also a prayer we can pray throughout our lives. I often find myself praying, ‘Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit’. It is a prayer of trust which is worth praying at any time. We trust those we consider reliable. The Lord is totally reliable. In the words of today’s responsorial psalm, he is a rock of refuge for us, a mighty stronghold to save us. In the gospel reading, Jesus gives us another reason to entrust ourselves to him throughout our lives and not just as the end of our lives. Jesus speaks of himself as the bread of life who can satisfy our deepest hunger and quench our deepest thirst. Here is someone who is, indeed, worthy of our complete trust. Every day we are invited to entrust ourselves into his reliable hands so that we can draw strength from him we need to run the race and keep the faith, in the language of Paul.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

15th April >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies for Today's Mass Readings (Inc. John 6:22-29) for Monday, Third Week of Easter: ‘Do not work for food that perishes but for food that endures to eternal life’.

Monday, Third Week of Easter

Gospel (Except USA) John 6:22-29 Do not work for food that cannot last, but for food that endures to eternal life.

After Jesus had fed the five thousand, his disciples saw him walking on the water. Next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side saw that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that the disciples had set off by themselves. Other boats, however, had put in from Tiberias, near the place where the bread had been eaten. When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into those boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus. When they found him on the other side, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ Jesus answered:

‘I tell you most solemnly, you are not looking for me because you have seen the signs but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat. Do not work for food that cannot last, but work for food that endures to eternal life, the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.’

Then they said to him, ‘What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?’ Jesus gave them this answer, ‘This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.’

Gospel (USA) John 6:22-29 Do not work for food that perishes but for food that endures for eternal life.

[After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, his disciples saw him walking on the sea.] The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat, but only his disciples had left. Other boats came from Tiberias near the place where they had eaten the bread when the Lord gave thanks. When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found him across the sea they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.” So they said to him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”

Reflections (10)

(i) Monday, Third Week of Easter

There are several stories in the gospels of people who go looking for Jesus. In the gospel of John, Nicodemus went looking for Jesus at night. In the gospel of Luke, Zacchaeus goes looking for Jesus in broad daylight, even climbing a sycamore tree to see him. In today’s gospel reading, the people who had been fed by Jesus in the wilderness go looking for him, getting into boats and crossing the Sea of Galilee to find him. When those who look for Jesus eventually find him, they often discover that they get more than they had bargained for. Nicodemus heard Jesus say to him that he needed to be born of water and the Spirit. Zacchaeus heard Jesus invite himself to his home and go on to declare that salvation had come to this house. The people in today’s gospel reading heard Jesus say to them that they were looking for him for the wrong reasons. Having been feed with bread in the wilderness, they wanted more of the same. However, Jesus offers himself to them as someone who can satisfy not just their material hunger, but the deep, spiritual, hunger within them. He can give them not just physical food that cannot last, but food that endures to eternal life. He can offer himself to them as the Bread of Life, as one who responds to the deepest yearnings of their heart, for truth, for a love that endures, for a life over which death has no power. Believing in him as the one sent by God will open them up to receive all that he wants to give them. We are all invited to turn towards the Lord as the Bread of Life in trusting faith. We come before him because we know he has a fullness from which he wants us to receive, so that our deepest hungers and thirsts can be satisfied. The Eucharist is a privileged moment when we come before the Lord as the Bread of Life and open our hearts to all he can offer us.

And/Or

(ii) Monday, Third Week of Easter

In the gospel reading this morning, the people come to Jesus looking for more of the bread they ate when Jesus multiplied the loaves and fish. In response, Jesus challenges them to work, not for food that cannot last, but for food that endures to eternal life. In a sense, Jesus is calling on them to get their priorities right, to put most energy into what is ultimately important. Yes, Jesus fed their physical hunger in the wilderness, but more importantly he wants to feed their spiritual hunger, their longing for true life, the life that endures forever, eternal life. Jesus is concerned when people are physically hungry, when their basic physical needs are not being met, but he always leads us beyond the level of the physical, the material, to more ultimate realities. Jesus takes seriously the horizon of this world in which we live and work, but he also shows us another horizon, a horizon that is not of this world. He wants to lead us towards that other horizon; he wants us to be where he now is, so that we can see his glory. If that is to happen, we must believe in him, as he said to the crowds in today’s gospel reading, ‘this is…’ To believe in him is to relate to him as he relates to us, to remain in him as he remains in us.

And/Or

(iii) Monday, Third Week of Easter

There tends to be a restlessness in all of us. That restlessness drives us to make contact with other people; it often leads us to set out on a journey of one kind or another, whether it is a physical journey, or an inner journey. There is something of the searcher, the seeker, in us all. At the deepest level of our being, we are searching for God. It was Saint Augustine who said that our hearts are restless until they rest in God. In the gospel reading this morning, the people of Galilee set out to look for Jesus. He had fed the multitude in the wilderness; this had made a great impression on them. Jesus was pleased that they came looking for him, but he wanted to refine their search. They looked for him as the giver of bread; Jesus wanted them to look for him as the giver of food that endures to eternal life. As Christians, we are all searching for Jesus in some sense. The gospel reading invites us to pay attention to why we are searching for him. What are we looking to him for? What do we expect from him? Perhaps, like the people of Galilee, our expectations are too small. What Jesus can offer us, more than anything else, is eternal life, a sharing in God’s own life. This sharing in God’s life begins here and now for those who turn to Jesus in faith, and comes to fullness in the life beyond death.

And/Or

(iv) Monday, Third Week of Easter

In this morning’s gospel reading the crowd, who had been fed by Jesus in the wilderness, go looking for him. To look for Jesus, to search for him, is a good thing. Yet, Jesus suggests to the crowd that they are searching for him for the wrong reasons. They want more of the bread that Jesus provided in the wilderness. They are searching for the material bread that Jesus had given them earlier, rather than for Jesus himself. Yes, Jesus gave them bread in the wilderness to eat, but, more importantly, he himself is the Bread of Life who can satisfy their deepest hunger, their spiritual hunger. In this morning’s gospel, Jesus calls on us to search for him for who he is rather than for what he can give us. The temptation is always to relate to people for what they might be able to give to us rather than relating to them for who they are. We are called to love others for themselves rather than for what we can get from them. What is true of our relationship with others is true to a greater extent of our relationship with Jesus. Rather than seeking the consolations of the Lord we are to seek the Lord of consolation. In the words of this morning’s gospel reading, we are to believe in the one that God has sent.

And/Or

(v) Monday, Third Week of Easter

In the gospel reading this morning, the people come to Jesus looking for more of the bread they ate when Jesus multiplied the loaves and fish. In response, Jesus challenges them to work, not for food that cannot last, but for food that endures to eternal life. Yes, Jesus fed them in the wilderness, but he has something more to give them, not just physical bread but a deeper and more enduring form of nourishment. As well as physical hungers, we also have deeper hungers within us, spiritual hungers and thirsts. In this morning’s gospel reading Jesus identifies himself as the one who can satisfy these deeper hungers in our hearts, the hunger for God, for a love that is faithful, for a life that endures beyond this life. The Lord will go on in that same chapter of John’s gospel to speak of himself as the bread of life. If we are to experience him as the bread of life, as the one who can satisfy our deepest hungers, we must believe in him, give ourselves to him in trust and faith. When the crowds ask Jesus, ‘What must we do to do the works God wants?’ Jesus replies that this is only one work God wants, to believe in the one God has sent. That is our fundamental calling, to come to the Lord in faith; all else follows from that. Our presence at the Eucharist is one of the primary ways we come to the Lord in faith and open ourselves to his presence as the bread of life.

And/Or

(vi) Monday, Third Week of Easter

At some level we are all seekers or searchers. We never stand still; we are always looking for more. At the heart of that search for more is a search for God, a search for the Lord who is God with us. At the beginning of today’s gospel reading we find the people of Galilee searching for Jesus. They got into boats by the shore of the Sea of Galilee after Jesus and his disciples and crossed to Capernaum looking for him. When they found Jesus, he addresses them and declares that they are looking for him for the wrong reasons. They want more of the bread that he multiplied in the wilderness. Jesus challenges them to look for him not as the provider of food that cannot last but as the provider of food that endures to eternal life. We can all look for Jesus for the wrong reasons. What we want from him does not always correspond to what he wants for us. What we want from him can be far too limited. He wants to give us what endures and we look for what perishes. We struggle to bring our prayers of petition into line with what the Lord wants to give us. Saint Paul says in his letter to the Romans that we do not know how to pray as we ought. He immediately goes on to say, ‘the Spirit helps us in our weakness’. This Easter season, we ask the Holy Spirit to shape our longing, our desires, so that they correspond more to the Lord’s desire for us.

And/Or

(vii) Monday, Third Week of Easter

In the gospel reading this morning Jesus makes a distinction between food that cannot last and food that endures to eternal life. He had just fed the people in the wilderness with bread and fish; he was very aware that people’s physical hunger needed to be satisfied. As the people continued to look for more of this physical food, Jesus called on them to look for food that endures to eternal life, food that satisfies the deepest hunger in our lives. Jesus has come not just to give people physical food but to give them the spiritual food of God’s presence, God’s life and God’s Spirit. The gospel reminds us that, while the physical and material is vital because we are physical and material beings, our searching must not stop at the physical and the material. There is a great deal more to life than the satisfaction of our physical needs. We have deeper, spiritual hungers and thirsts as well that we need to attend to if we are to live a truly balanced life and be at peace within ourselves. In the gospel reading Jesus offers himself to us as the one who offers us the food that endures to eternal life. He can satisfy the deepest hungers and thirsts in our hearts. Our seeking must ultimately be directed towards him; it cannot stop at or be satisfied with anything less.

And/Or

(viii) Monday, Third Week of Easter

It is probably true to say that we are all searching for something. We are all seekers. In today’s gospel reading, the crowd who had been fed by Jesus in the wilderness go to great lengths to seek him out. When they find him, Jesus reveals to them what it is that motivates their seeking. They are looking for more of the bread that Jesus had given them the day before. He tells them, ‘you are looking for me because you had all the bread you wanted to eat’. Jesus challenges them to look for something more enduring. He calls on them to work not just for food that cannot last, the food which satisfies their physical hunger, but to work for food that endures to eternal life, the food that can satisfy their deeper, spiritual, hunger. Jesus was concerned about people’s physical needs, their physical hungers. That is why he took action to feed the crowd in the wilderness when he saw that they were hungry. However, he was just as concerned, if not more concerned, with people’s spiritual hungers. He presents himself to the crowd as someone who can satisfy not just their physical hunger but their spiritual hunger. He wants the crowd and all of us to pay attention to that deeper, spiritual hunger, by believing in him as the one sent by the Father so that we may have life and have ii to the full. This deeper hunger is more easily neglected than our physical hunger. It is also true that just as we can eat poor quality food in an effort to satisfy our physical hunger, we can try to satisfy our spiritual hunger on poor quality fare. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus presents himself as the only one who can truly satisfy the deeper, spiritual, hunger in our lives.

And/Or

(ix) Monday, Third Week of Easter

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus speaks of two kinds of food, food that cannot last and food that endures to eternal life. He challenges the crowd to reflect on their priorities. Are they working for food that cannot last or for food that endures to eternal life? Jesus takes seriously food that cannot last. Jesus fed the hungry multitude in the wilderness with five loaves and two fish. The basis physical needs of people were very important for him. He fed the hungry, healed the sick; he called on the rich to share with the poor. These basic human physical needs had to be met first. However, having fed the physical hunger of the crowd, some of that crowd now want Jesus to give them more of the same. In response to this preoccupation with Jesus as the provider of physical bread, Jesus speaks of the food that endures to eternal life which he is offering. He is calling on those who have gone looking for him to attend to the deeper hunger in their lives, their spiritual hunger. Jesus presents himself as the one who can satisfy this spiritual hunger. That is why he equates working for the food that endures to eternal life with believing in him. Believing in him is the one work that is required if that deeper hunger in our lives is to be satisfied, the hunger for a love that is unconditional, for forgiveness, for truth, for justice, for peace, ultimately, our hunger for God. We cannot ignore our physical hunger; when we are hungry, we eat. We can ignore those deeper hungers which Jesus alone can satisfy. This is why he draws attention so strongly in today’s gospel to the importance of working for the food that endures to eternal life.

And/Or

(x) Monday, Third Week of Easter

In times of conflict and war, truth is often the first casualty. The aggressor in particular will often bend the truth to try and justify what they are attempting to do. The Jewish religious leaders who were hostile to Jesus were equally hostile to his followers who were proclaiming that God had raised Jesus from the dead. In today’s first reading, we hear of their antagonism to Stephen, a gifted preacher. They procured people to falsify what Stephen had said, ‘We heard him using blasphemous language against Moses and against God… This man is always making speeches against this Holy Place and the Law. We heard him say that Jesus the Nazarene is going to destroy this Place’. Although such accusations were essentially false, they would be a significant factor in the eventual death of Stephen by stoning. Jesus once said of himself, ‘I am the truth’. He revealed to us the truth about God, about what it is to be human, about creation. His followers are to be people of truth, who live by the truth that Jesus proclaimed and lived. Because he is the truth, he can satisfy the deep hunger in our hearts for truth. In the gospel reading, Jesus challenges the crowd to come to him not just as someone who can satisfy their physical hunger, which he had recently done, but as someone who can satisfy their deeper hungers, their hunger for truth, for a love that is faithful, for a life that is eternal. ‘Do not work for food that cannot last, but for food that endures to eternal life’. Jesus offers himself to them, and to us all, as one who can satisfy the deepest hungers of our heart. Such hungers will only be fully satisfied at the banquet of eternal life, but in so far as we keep coming to the Lord and opening our hearts to him, our deepest hungers will begin to be satisfied in the course of our earthly lives.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

14th April >> Fr. Martin's Homilies / Reflections on Today's Mass Readings (Inc. Luke 24:35-48)for the Third Sunday of Easter, Year B: ‘He then opened their minds to understand the Scriptures’.

Third Sunday of Easter (B)

Gospel (Except USA) Luke 24:35-48 It is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.

The disciples told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognised Jesus at the breaking of bread. They were still talking about all this when Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you!’ In a state of alarm and fright, they thought they were seeing a ghost. But he said, ‘Why are you so agitated, and why are these doubts rising in your hearts? Look at my hands and feet; yes, it is I indeed. Touch me and see for yourselves; a ghost has no flesh and bones as you can see I have.’ And as he said this he showed them his hands and feet. Their joy was so great that they still could not believe it, and they stood there dumbfounded; so he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ And they offered him a piece of grilled fish, which he took and ate before their eyes.

Then he told them, ‘This is what I meant when I said, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms has to be fulfilled.’ He then opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘So you see how it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that, in his name, repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses to this.’

Gospel (USA) Luke 24:35–48 Thus it was written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.

The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way, and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of bread. While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them.

He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”

Homilies (6)

(i) Third Sunday of Easter

Catholics of a certain generation associate fish with fasting from meat. Fish was often eaten on a Friday. It had a certain penitential association. It was considered a poorer relative of meat. That attitude has changed. Lots of people do not eat meat, and the benefits of eating fish have been highlighted.

There are lots of references to fish and fishing in the gospels, because some of Jesus’ first disciples were fishermen. Jesus himself fed the multitude in the wilderness with bread and fish. In today’s gospel reading, when the risen Lord asked his disciples, ‘Have you anything to eat?’ they offered him a piece of grilled fish, which he ate before their eyes. When Jesus eats in the gospels, he can either be the host or the guest. In our gospel reading, the risen Lord makes himself a guest of his disciples by asking them if they had anything to eat. He placed himself as a needy person in their debt. Perhaps this was the Lord’s way of trying to reassure his disciples that all was well between him and them. When he stood among them and offered them the gift of his peace, they were ‘in a state of alarm and fright’, thinking he was a ghost. Jesus had to ask them why they were so agitated, and why were so many doubts rising in their hearts. When he went on to show them his hands and his feet, the gospel readings says that ‘they stood dumbfounded’, and that ‘their joy was so great, they could not believe it’. There is a powerful depiction here of the impact of the risen Lord’s appearance to his disciples – alarm, fright, agitation, doubt, disbelief, dumfounded. The poor disciples didn’t know where they were. The ordinariness of eating a little bit of grilled fish might just calm them down.

There was something both extraordinary and ordinary about the appearance of the risen Lord to his disciples. It was extraordinary because how could someone who had been so brutally put to death by the Romans come back to life? It was also extraordinary because how could the Lord offer the gift of his peace, the gift of reconciliation, to the disciples who had failed him so badly during the hour of his passion and death, with one of them betraying him, another denying him, and all of them deserting him. How could anything good come out of the crucifixion of Jesus and the abject failure of his followers? The good news of Easter is that God brought wonderful new life out of the tragedy of Jesus’ death and the tragedy of the disciples’ failure. Jesus was not dead; he was alive with the life of heaven, over which death has no power. The disciples were not dead either; the Lord still had a mission for them. They were to proclaim the good news of Easter to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem, the good news that God’s merciful love is stronger than death and human failure, and all that is needed is for people to repent, to turn trustingly towards this merciful love present in the risen Lord. In the verses after our gospel reading, Jesus promises to empower his disciples for this mission by sending them the Holy Spirit. This extraordinary good news of Easter remains good news for us today. Just as death no longer has power over the risen Lord, death no longer has power over those who believe in him. Our ultimate destiny is to share in the Lord’s own risen life. Also, just as the disciples’ failure did not mean a definitive break in their relationship with the Lord, so our own failings and sins need not separate us from the Lord’s love. He continues to stand among us saying, ‘Peace be with you’. He remains faithful to us, even after we have turned away from him. All he asks is that we keep on turning back to him in trusting faith, acknowledging our failings and opening ourselves up to the Spirit of his merciful love. The Lord’s gift of his peace continues to transform us into his missionaries.

If there was something extraordinary about the appearances of the risen Lord to his disciples, there was also something very ordinary about it. What could be more ordinary than sharing a simple meal of fish? What could be more ordinary than conversing with someone on the road home, as happened when the Lord met the two disciples on the road to Emmaus? The risen Lord often stands among us in and through the ordinary circumstances of our day to day lives. According to today’s gospel reading, it was while the two disciples from Emmaus were telling their story to the other disciples of what had happened on the road and around their table that the risen Lord stood among them. We all have a story to tell about our relationship with the Lord. Whenever we find a space to share something of that story, we are creating an opening for the risen Lord to stand among us. Also, whenever we respond generously to those who asks the question the risen Lord asked, ‘Have you anything to eat?’ the risen Lord stands among us. Easter invites us to leave our minds and hearts open to the many ways the risen Lord is present to us in the common happenings of daily life.

And/Or

(ii) Third Sunday of Easter

Most of us if we look back over our lives will find something or other that we very much regret. We will almost certainly be able to identify times when we failed to live up to the values that we try to live by. We might remember speaking or acting in ways that hurt or damaged others. We might be aware of not doing something that we could have done and, that in our heart of hearts, wanted to do. Sometimes these experiences of personal failure can leave us very burdened. We can find it hard to move on from them; they trouble us and we struggle to be free of them. They can weight heavily on us and drain us of energy. We can find ourselves going back in memory to them over and over again.

The first disciples of Jesus must have felt like this in the aftermath of Jesus’ crucifixion. They had not exactly covered themselves in glory during the time of Jesus’ final journey. They had all deserted the one who had given them so much of himself. Their mood in the aftermath of Good Friday can only have been one of deep regret. They must have felt that their relationship with Jesus was over, and, deservedly so. In all of the gospels, however, the first words that the risen Jesus speaks to his disciples when he appears to them is ‘Peace be with you’. This morning’s gospel reading states: ‘He stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you”’. These are words of reconciliation that sought to assure the disciples of the Lord’s forgiveness. For those first disciples, the initial experience of the risen Lord took the form of a profound experience of forgiveness. This was the risen Lord’s gift to them. The gift of forgiveness can be difficult to receive at times. We wonder if we are really forgiven. According to the gospel reading, when Jesus said ‘Peace be with you’, they responded with alarm and fright and thought that they might be seeing a ghost. The risen Jesus then questioned them, ‘Why are you so agitated, and why are these doubts rising in your hearts?’ It took the disciples a while to realize that they were forgiven.

It is only after the disciples had come to receive this gift of forgiveness that they could be sent out as messengers of the Lord’s forgiveness to others. According to our gospel reading, the risen Lord, having assured them that they were forgiven, went on to commission them to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins to all the nations. It is forgiven sinners who are entrusted with the task of proclaiming the good news of God’s forgiving love to all. This is what we find Peter doing in today’s first reading. He declares to the people of Jerusalem that, although they had handed Jesus over to Pilate, God’s forgiveness was available to those who turn to God by believing in Jesus. The church has been faithful to the mission entrusted to the disciples, proclaiming down the centuries the good news that God’s forgiveness is stronger than human sin. In raising his Son from the dead, God was declaring that even when we reject God’s Son, God does not reject us. The risen Jesus reveals a faithful, forgiving God. Today’s second reading states this clearly: ‘If anyone does sin, we have our advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who is just’.

Before we can receive the Easter gift of God’s forgiveness that comes to us through the risen Lord, we must first acknowledge our need of that gift. In the words of today’s second reading, we need ‘to admit the truth’. The truth is that we are always in need of the gift of God’s forgiveness. Recognizing our need and, in the light of that, asking God for that gift is what we call repentance. Peter in the first reading calls on the people of Jerusalem to repent and turn to God so that their sins may be wiped out. The risen Lord in the gospel reading sends out his disciples to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Within the Catholic tradition, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a privileged opportunity to admit the truth, to acknowledge our need of God’s forgiveness and to ask directly for it. In that sacrament that the risen Lord says to us, ‘Peace be with you’. The words of absolution include the prayer, ‘through the ministry of the church may God grant you pardon and peace’.

The first disciples, having received the gift of the Lord’s forgiveness, were sent out as heralds of that forgiveness to others. In a similar way, we who receive the same gift are sent out on the same mission. As forgiven sinners we proclaim with our lives the presence of a forgiving and faithful God. We extent to others the gift we have received from the Lord. This will not always come easy to us. Who was it who said, ‘to err is human, to forgive is divine’? If that is true, we need divine help to do what is divine. In the verses that immediately follow where today’s gospel ends, the risen Jesus promises his disciples that he would send the Holy Spirit upon them. It is only in the power of the Holy Spirit that they would be able to engage in the task that Jesus was entrusting to them. We need the same Spirit if we are to forgive as we have been forgiven. In the weeks ahead that precede the feast of Pentecost, we might pray the prayer, ‘Come Holy Spirit, fill my heart and enkindle in me the fire of your love’. We could pray this prayer especially during those times when we find ourselves struggling to pass on to others the gift of forgiveness that we continue to receive from the Lord.

And/Or

(iii) Third Sunday of Easter

We began a prayer meeting via Zoom for the season of Lent and we are continuing it into the season of Easter. It is based on the gospel reading for the following Sunday. There are times of silence to reflect on the reading, and then an opportunity for people to share how the word of God is speaking to them. Most of us have found that sharing to be very powerful. The Lord is not only speaking to us through the gospel reading, but also through the breaking of the word by those present. As people tell their story of how the Lord is speaking to them through the reading, they are sharing the Lord himself with the others in the group. It is good to have opportunities to share our faith story with others and to hear others share their faith story with us. We can be helped to experience the Lord’s presence by hearing others share the story of how the Lord has spoken to them through his word. We all have a personal story to tell, and included in that story is our faith story, the story of how the Lord relates to us.

That is what we find happening in today’s gospel reading. Two disciples had a wonderful experience of the risen Lord while they were making their sad journey home from Jerusalem to Emmaus in the aftermath of Jesus’ crucifixion. They were joined by a stranger. However, when this stranger broke the word of God with them, their hearts began to burn. They didn’t want to let go of their travel companion. When they reached their home village, they asked him to stay with them. It was at table in their home as the stranger took bread, broke it and gave it to them that they finally recognized him as Jesus, whose death they had just been mourning. They ran back to the city which they had been glad to leave earlier in the day. They had a story to tell, the story of the Lord’s coming to them in Word and Eucharist. They needed to tell this story to the other disciples and that is how our gospel reading begins, ‘The disciples told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognized him in the breaking of bread’.

It is striking that, according to the gospel reading, it was while the two disciples were telling their faith story and the others were engaging with it that the risen Lord appeared to the whole group in person. The two disciples’ sharing of their faith story with others created a space for the risen Lord to come and stand among them all. Whenever we have the freedom and the courage to share something of our faith story with others, we too will be creating an opening for the risen Lord to stand among us and touch our lives. Yet, the gospel reading also acknowledges the struggle we sometimes have to really believe that the Lord is risen and that he is standing among us. According to the gospel reading, when the risen Lord stood among the disciples, offering them the gift of his peace, they were in a ‘state of alarm and fright, they thought they were seeing a ghost’. Jesus had to ask them, ‘Why are you so agitated, and why are these doubts rising in your hearts’. Alarm, fright, agitation, doubt – these were the initial responses of the disciples to the presence of the risen Lord in their midst. The gospel reading goes on to say that even after the risen Lord showed them his hands and his feet, his wounds that spoke of his love for them and for all, ‘their joy was so great that they could not believe it’. Even when fear and doubt gave way to joy, they still could not believe that the Jesus was powerfully alive in their midst. We have no difficulty believing that Jesus was crucified. Many of us have crucifixes or crosses in our homes or on our persons. However, we can struggle to believe that Jesus is risen, that he stands among us as risen Lord. It is sometimes not as easy to believe in the risen Jesus as in the crucified Jesus. In that regard, we are no different to the first disciples. Today’s gospel reading suggests that Easter faith often grows in the midst of doubt and questions. Believing in the risen Lord is a journey that different people travel at different paces. Yet, what matters is our attitude, our openness to the various ways that the risen Lord may choose to come to us and touch our lives.

The first disciples had good reason to believe that if Jesus did come back to them after his crucifixion it would have been to reprimand them for deserting him in the hour of his passion and death. Yet, in all of the Easter stories of the gospels, there is no reprimand. The coming of the risen Lord to the disciples was for them a profound experience of forgiveness, ‘Peace be with you’. It was also a moment of mission, as the risen Lord sent them out to proclaim to others the forgiveness they had received. The risen Lord comes to us too to assure us that we are loved and forgiven and to send us out as ambassadors of his forgiving, reconciling, love to others.  

And/Or

(iv) Third Sunday of Easter

After we have been through a difficult experience, we can often find ourselves emotionally raw. We can be somewhat vulnerable and brittle, anxious and uneasy. Things that we might normally take in our stride can get us down.

That must have been the kind of space the disciples found themselves in after the crucifixion of Jesus. The person for whom they had left everything to follow had been cruelly put to death. The journey that started out near the Sea of Galilee with such hope and expectation had come to a devastating end on the hill called Golgotha, just outside the city of Jerusalem. In those last dark days and hours, the disciples had not exactly covered themselves in glory. They discovered to their shame and regret that they were only prepared to follow Jesus up to a point, and, certainly not along the way of the cross. In the wake of Good Friday, the disciples were dealing with a great sense of loss and a real sense of shame and guilt; they were also fearful. They worried lest what had happened to Jesus might also happen to them.

It was into that space of loss, shame, guilt and fear that the risen Jesus came. The first words Jesus spoke, according to our gospel reading this morning, were ‘Peace be with you’. We hear that greeting every time we celebrate Mass, just before we are invited to come and receive the Lord in Holy Communion. If the disciples had known in advance that the risen Lord was coming to them and that he would speak to them, they probably would not have anticipated that his first words to them would be ‘Peace be with you’. They might well have imagined that his first words to them would be words of rebuke, or words expressing sadness and disappointment at their failure to stand by him when he needed them. Yet, the words of Jesus did not reflect their failure in any way; rather, they reflected the Lord’s faithful love for them in spite of their failure. In saying, ‘Peace be with you’, the Lord is saying, ‘I am at peace with you and I invite you to be at peace with me and at peace with one another’. The Lord is constantly saying ‘Peace be with you’ to all of us. He says those words to us in a very powerful way in and through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Sacrament of the Eucharist. He can speak those words to us at any time, from within the silence of our hearts. We can find it difficult to say ‘Peace be with you’ to those who have disappointed us or hurt us or let us down badly. However, the Lord is not like us in that respect. In John’s gospel Jesus is portrayed as saying, ‘My own peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives’. Jesus does not relate to us as the world does, as other people relate to us or as we relate to others.

According to this morning’s gospel reading, when the risen Jesus stood among his disciples and said, ‘Peace be with you’, they were in a ‘state of alarm and fright’, so much so that Jesus asked them, ‘Why are you so agitated, and why are these doubts rising in your hearts?’ Something wonderful was happening for them; their shattered hopes were being rebuilt in a way they could never have conceived of, and, yet, there they were alarmed, frightened, agitated and full of doubt. We might find ourselves identifying rather easily with those disciples. Sometimes we too can find it difficult to accept the Lord’s gift of his peace, the gift of his reconciling love. We back away from that gift, for one reason or another. Maybe we find it hard to believe that we could be so graced; we consider that we are not deserving of such a gift. We can allow our own fears and doubts to drown out the Lord’s word of ‘peace’ to us. At the very moment when the Lord is drawing attention to what is best in us, we can be absorbed by what is worst in us.

In order to cut through his disciples’ fears and doubts the risen Lord showed them his hands and his feet – his wounds. These were the wounds of love; he had suffered for them, and for all; he had died that they, and all of us, might have life to the full. In showing them his wounds, the Lord finally broke through to them. Luke says, ‘their joy was so great that they could not believe it’. The Lord’s wounds can break through to all of us when his other approaches to us fail. Perhaps that is why Good Friday continues to speak to so many people. Our own sharing of our wounds, the sharing of our pain, can also build bridges to others. When we are at their most vulnerable, we often draw others to ourselves. When members of our family become ill, we are drawn to gather around them in a supportive, loving way. In attending to them, we are attending to the Lord. The Lord continues to reach out to us through the wounds of others, because such wounds are, in a very real sense, his own wounds.

And/Or

(v) Third Sunday of Easter

Paul Verlaine was a nineteenth century French poet. His early life was somewhat on the wild side. He was imprisoned for a time for having shot at his companion, a fellow poet. While he was in prison he had something of a conversion. His poems written while in prison are very moving. In one of his poems he addresses the risen Lord, ‘Lord... Beneath this troubled canopy where my heart has been digging out its tomb and where I feel the heavens flow towards me I ask you, by what road you’d have me come’. He is asking the Lord to show him the road on which he could come to him. Later in the same poem, the Lord says to him, ‘It is not you who must come to me; it is I who have chosen to come to you. Look at my hands stretched out to you. Here, eat; be nourished. Let your mind be opened to understand’. Verlaine came to understand that, rather than having to find the right road along which to come to the Lord, it was the Lord who was coming to him. He realized that the gap between himself and the Lord would be bridged by the Lord rather than by himself.

Verlaine’s uncertain mood in prison must have been similar to how the disciples felt after Good Friday. They had broken their relationship with Jesus by abandoning him when he needed them most. They had created a gap between themselves and the Lord; they must have felt that this gap was unbridgeable. There was no road they could take to undo what had been done. Yet, on that first Easter Sunday they discovered that the gap they had created between themselves and the Lord was bridged by the Lord. They could not come to him, but he came to them. This morning’s gospel reading suggests that when the Lord came to them, they found it almost impossible to believe. When he appeared among them, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, their reaction was one of alarm and fright. They were agitated and full of doubt. They thought he could not be real; theypresumed they were seeing a ghost. How could someone whom they had betrayed, denied, abandoned be standing among them now, offering them the gift of his peace, the gift of his reconciling love.

We are in the season of Easter, which is seven weeks long. The church gives us this lengthy period of Easter to help us reflect on the various dimensions of the meaning of Easter. Easter has many messages which are vitally important to us, the Lord’s followers, today. One of the messages the feast of Easter proclaims is the Lord’s faithfulness to us, in spite of our unfaithfulness to him. Because of our various failures and weaknesses, we can sometimes find ourselves wondering, like Verlaine in his prison, by what road we can come to the Lord from whom we have turned away. In response to that anxiety, the Lord says to us, ‘it is not you who must come to me; it is I who have chosen to come to you’. We can find that good news hard to believe at times. As was the case with the disciples in today’s gospel reading, doubts can rise in our hearts. Having failed to love the Lord in various ways, we doubt that he could love us in this all forgiving way. Yet, this is at the heart of the message of Easter. Easter invites us to open ourselves to the coming of the risen Lord who loves us in our weakness and frailty and empowers us to go forth renewed.

According to this morning’s gospel reading, the risen Lord broke through the self-doubt of his disciples in three ways. He firstly showed them his wounds. These weren’t just any old wounds. They were the wounds of that greater love which led Jesus to lay down his life for all. He continues to show us his wounds today, to bring home to us the depth of his love for us and the extent of his faithfulness to us. The Lord then opened the Scriptures for his disciples to help them to see that what happened to him, including his passion and death, was already contained within the Jewish Scriptures. The risen Lord continues to speak to us today through the Scriptures. He is present to us in his word, the word of the Lord. Finally, the risen Lord then shared a simple meal with his disciples to convince them that he wanted to be in communion with them in spite of their failures. The Lord continues to call us to his table today. It is above all at the table of the Eucharist that he enters into communion with us and invites us to enter into communion with him. It is in the Eucharist that we can really appreciate that the Lord has chosen to come to us in our brokenness and weakness. It is from the Eucharist that he sends us out in the power of his presence to be his witnesses in the world.

And/Or

(vi) Third Sunday of Easter

Catholics of a certain generation associate fish with fasting from meat. Fish was often eaten on a Friday. It had a certain penitential association. It was considered a poorer relative of meat. That attitude has changed. Lots of people do not eat meat, and the benefits of eating fish have been highlighted.

There are lots of references to fish and fishing in the gospels, because some of Jesus’ first disciples were fishermen. Jesus himself fed the multitude in the wilderness with bread and fish. In today’s gospel reading, when the risen Lord asked his disciples, ‘Have you anything to eat?’ they offered him a piece of grilled fish, which he ate before their eyes. When Jesus eats in the gospels, he can either be the host or the guest. In our gospel reading, the risen Lord makes himself a guest of his disciples by asking them if they had anything to eat. He placed himself as a needy person in their debt. Perhaps this was the Lord’s way of trying to reassure his disciples that all was well between him and them. When he stood among them and offered them the gift of his peace, they were ‘in a state of alarm and fright’, thinking he was a ghost. Jesus had to ask them why they were so agitated, and why were so many doubts rising in their hearts. When he went on to show them his hands and his feet, the gospel readings says that ‘they stood dumbfounded’, and that ‘their joy was so great, they could not believe it’. There is a powerful depiction here of the impact of the risen Lord’s appearance to his disciples – alarm, fright, agitation, doubt, disbelief, dumfounded. The poor disciples didn’t know where they were. The ordinariness of eating a little bit of grilled fish might just calm them down.

There was something both extraordinary and ordinary about the appearance of the risen Lord to his disciples. It was extraordinary because how could someone who had been so brutally put to death by the Romans come back to life? It was also extraordinary because how could the Lord offer the gift of his peace, the gift of reconciliation, to the disciples who had failed him so badly during the hour of his passion and death, with one of them betraying him, another denying him, and all of them deserting him. How could anything good come out of the crucifixion of Jesus and the abject failure of his followers? The good news of Easter is that God brought wonderful new life out of the tragedy of Jesus’ death and the tragedy of the disciples’ failure. Jesus was not dead; he was alive with the life of heaven, over which death has no power. The disciples were not dead either; the Lord still had a mission for them. They were to proclaim the good news of Easter to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem, the good news that God’s merciful love is stronger than death and human failure, and all that is needed is for people to repent, to turn trustingly towards this merciful love present in the risen Lord. In the following verses Jesus promises to empower his disciples for this mission by sending them the Holy Spirit. This extraordinary good news of Easter remains good news for us today. Just as death no longer has dominion over the risen Lord, death no longer has dominion over those who believe in him. Our ultimate destiny is to share in the Lord’s own risen life. Also, just as the disciples’ failure did not mean a definitive break in their relationship with the Lord, so our own failings and sins need not separate us from the Lord’s love. He continues to stand among us saying, ‘Peace be with you’. He remains faithful to us, even after we have turned away from him. All he asks is that we keep on turning back to him in trusting faith, acknowledging our failings and opening ourselves up to the Spirit of his merciful love. The Lord’s gift of his peace continues to release us from our failings and transform us into his missionaries.

If there was something extraordinary about the appearances of the risen Lord to his disciples, there was also something very ordinary about it. What could be more ordinary than sharing a simple meal of fish? What could be more ordinary than conversing with someone on the road home, as happened on the road to Emmaus? The risen Lord often stands among us in and through the ordinary circumstances of our day to day lives. According to today’s gospel reading, it was while the two disciples from Emmaus were telling their story to the other disciples of what had happened on the road and around their table that the risen Lord stood among them. We all have a story to tell about our relationship with the Lord. Whenever we find a space to share something of that story, we are creating an opening for the risen Lord to stand among us. Also, whenever we respond generously to those who asks the question the risen Lord asked, ‘Have you anything to eat?’ the risen Lord stands among us. Easter invites us to leave our minds and hearts open to the many ways the risen Lord is present to us in the common happenings of daily life.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

13th April >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies for Today's Mass Readings (Inc. John 6:16-21) on Saturday, Second Week of Easter: ‘It is I! Do not be afraid’.

Saturday, Second Week of Easter

Gospel (Except USA) John 6:16-21 They saw Jesus walking on the lake.

In the evening the disciples went down to the shore of the lake and got into a boat to make for Capernaum on the other side of the lake. It was getting dark by now and Jesus had still not rejoined them. The wind was strong, and the sea was getting rough. They had rowed three or four miles when they saw Jesus walking on the lake and coming towards the boat. This frightened them, but he said, ‘It is I. Do not be afraid.’ They were for taking him into the boat, but in no time it reached the shore at the place they were making for.

Gospel (USA) John 6:16-21 They saw Jesus, walking on the sea.

When it was evening, the disciples of Jesus went down to the sea, embarked in a boat, and went across the sea to Capernaum. It had already grown dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they began to be afraid. But he said to them, “It is I. Do not be afraid.” They wanted to take him into the boat, but the boat immediately arrived at the shore to which they were heading.

Reflections (5)

(i) Saturday, Second Week of Easter

According to the verse before our gospel reading (John 6:15), Jesus had withdrawn to the mountain by himself, in response to the crowd wanting to make him king. The suggestion is that Jesus needed to be in communion with God in prayer. Jesus’ prayer did not remove him from the struggles of his disciples. It was while he was at prayer that he became aware of the disciples in the boat on the Sea of Galilee struggling with a strong wind and a rough sea. He immediately came to them, speaking a reassuring word, ‘It is I. Do not be afraid’. The literal translation would be ‘I am. Do not be afraid’. In this fourth gospel, the words ‘I am’ on the lips of Jesus suggest the name of God revealed to Moses at the burning bush. Jesus comes to his disciples as God in human form. Once the disciples show a willingness to take Jesus into the boat with them, they reach the shore. The prayer of Jesus created a space for him to be present to his disciples in a very troubling moment. The first reading puts before us a troubling moment in the life of the church, conflict between Greek speaking and Aramaic speaking Jewish Christian widows regarding the distribution of food. This conflict in the church required the Twelve to clarify for themselves and for the other members of the church what their priorities were to be, ‘We will continue to devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word’. The clarity with which the apostles could identify their priorities amid competing claims on their time is admirable. They understood, as Jesus did, that prayerful attentiveness to God’s word would allow their lives to be shaped by God’s purpose and would best serve the life of the believing community. Today’s readings remind us that prayerful attentiveness to God’s word needs to be at the heart of the church’s life, and of our own lives as individual disciples.

And/Or

(ii) Saturday, Second Week of Easter

At the end of yesterday’s gospel reading, we heard that Jesus, having fed the multitude in the wilderness, withdrew to the mountain by himself. The evangelist, John, suggests that Jesus needed to be alone with God the Father who had sent him into the world. While Jesus was alone, the disciples set out to cross the sea of Galilee without Jesus. In his absence they found themselves struggling with a strong wind and a rough sea. Even after evening had given way to night they had rowed only three to four miles. They seemed lost without Jesus. It was then that they discovered that Jesus’ withdrawal to pray did not remove him from them. They saw him coming towards them, speaking words of reassurance, ‘It is I. Do not be afraid’. Almost immediately, they arrived at the destination that they had just been struggling to reach. The gospel reading is suggesting that the Lord who lives forever to intercede for us is always coming towards us. If we are to reach our destination, we cannot do it on our own. We need the Lord’s help. A little later in this same gospel, Jesus will say to his disciples, ‘those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing’. On our own journey, our journey of faith, we depend on the Lord to reach the goal of our life’s journey. We depend on him especially when the wind is against us and the waters of life get stormy. Today’s gospel reading assures us that the Lord comes to us in those difficult and threatening moments. If we are open to his coming and receptive to his presence we will move on through the storms that come our way and reach the shore.

And/Or

(iii) Saturday, Second Week of Easter

The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles shows some tension in the church of Jerusalem. Something of a storm was brewing in this young church, which became the mother church, because it was from the church in Jerusalem that the other churches were founded. The Hellenists, Greek speaking believers, were complaining about the Hebrews, Aramaic speaking believers, because the Hellenists felt that their widows were not being as well provided for as the widows of the Hebrews. The leaders of the Jerusalem church, the Twelve, realized that this problem would not be resolved unless they drew other members of the church into this ministry of providing for all the widows and the other vulnerable people in the church. The Twelve could not do everything; they had to prioritize. They declared to the other members of the church that as the leaders they should be devoting themselves to prayer and to the service of God’s word. As a result, they invited the members of the church to choose people of wisdom and of the Spirit who could attend to this important work of providing for the most vulnerable. Seven suitable people were chosen, allowing the Twelve to focus on what was important in their calling. Here at the very early days of the church we have a good example of how the church must function in every age. No one group within the church can do everything. There is a need for different groups of people to take responsibility for different ministries. This is how the Spirit continues to shape the life of the church. There will always be the kind of tensions or storms within the church that we find in today’s first reading. However, such stormy moments can be times of grace, opportunities for the Spirit in work in new ways in the church. In today’s gospel reading, the Lord came to his disciples as they were struggling with a strong wind and a rough sea and brought them to a safe haven. The Lord is always with his church in the various storms that will assail it. His presence at the heart of the storm can help to ensure that moments of crisis in the church can also be times of new life.

And/Or

(iv) Saturday, Second Week of Easter

There is a sense in which we are always trying to get to the other side, like the disciples in the boat who were trying to reach the other side of the Sea of Galilee. We often feel the call to move beyond where we are, to reach for a different shore. However, once we set out for that other side, we often find ourselves struggling, like the disciples. In the gospel reading, darkness came over the disciples in the boat, and they found themselves facing into a strong wind and having to sail through a sea that was getting rougher. Whenever we take on some new enterprise, or go in a new direction of some kind, we will sometimes find ourselves battling with the equivalent of a strong wind and a rough sea, perhaps with a kind of darkness coming over us. It was at that moment when they were battling with the elements in the darkness that the disciples saw Jesus coming towards the boat, saying to them, ‘It is I. Do not be afraid’. The Lord comes to us all in our moments of struggle, when we sense our vulnerability, our frailty, when a darkness of spirit threatens to engulf us. That may have been the experience of many during these Covid times. The Lord is there with us at those moments in all his risen power, calling on us not to be afraid but to trust in his presence. Once the risen Lord spoke to the disciples, they seem to have reached the shore they were making for immediately. The Lord’s presence to us and our awareness of his presence always makes the journey to the other side, the far shore, seem that bit shorter. Like Saint Paul, we can find ourselves saying, ‘I can do all things through him who strengthens me’.

And/Or

(v) Saturday, Second Week of Easter

In today’s gospel reading, the disciples in the boat keenly feel the absence of the Lord as they struggle with a strong wind and a rough sea. In the words of the gospel, ‘It was getting dark by now and Jesus had still not rejoined them. As a community of faith and as individual believers we can keenly feel the Lord’s absence, especially when we sense that our human resources are not sufficient to get us through some storm or other, some moment of disturbing crisis. We find such a disturbing moment in the life of the early church in the first reading, as conflict arose between two language groups, Aramaic speaking and Greek speaking Jewish Christians. Yet, the Lord was not really absent from the disciples in the boat. He was aware of their struggle and he came towards the boat, proclaiming a reassuring word, ‘It is I! Do not be afraid’. When the disciples were open to taking the Lord into the boat, it quickly reached the shore they were making for. In times of personal or communal crisis we can be assured that the Lord is present to us, even though he may seem to be absent. He comes to us in all his risen power to raise us up above our fears. The first letter of John declares that ‘perfect love drives out fear’. The presence of the risen Lord is the presence of perfect love, of the God who so loved the world that he gave his only Son. If we take the Lord into the boat, into our personal and communal life, we will reach the shore towards which he is leading us. The presence of the risen Lord to the early church in the first reading ensured that its moment of crisis was a moment of new growth. The risen Lord will always bring us through the storm if we turn to him. In the words of today’s psalm, his love will be upon us if we place our hope in him.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

12th April >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for Friday, Second Week of Easter (Inc. John 6:1-15): ‘As many as five thousand sat down’.

Friday, Second Week of Easter

Gospel (Except USA) John 6:1-15 The feeding of the five thousand,

Jesus went off to the other side of the Sea of Galilee – or of Tiberias – and a large crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he gave by curing the sick. Jesus climbed the hillside, and sat down there with his disciples. It was shortly before the Jewish feast of Passover. Looking up, Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip, ‘Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?’ He only said this to test Philip; he himself knew exactly what he was going to do. Philip answered, ‘Two hundred denarii would only buy enough to give them a small piece each.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, ‘There is a small boy here with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that between so many?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Make the people sit down.’ There was plenty of grass there, and as many as five thousand men sat down. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave them out to all who were sitting ready; he then did the same with the fish, giving out as much as was wanted. When they had eaten enough he said to the disciples, ‘Pick up the pieces left over, so that nothing gets wasted.’ So they picked them up, and filled twelve hampers with scraps left over from the meal of five barley loaves. The people, seeing this sign that he had given, said, ‘This really is the prophet who is to come into the world.’ Jesus, who could see they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, escaped back to the hills by himself.

Gospel (USA) John 6:1-15 Jesus distributed to those who were reclining as much as they wanted.

Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. The Jewish feast of Passover was near. When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” He said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people recline.” Now there was a great deal of grass in that place. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much of the fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat. When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.” Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone.

Reflections (8)

(i) Friday, Second Week of Easter

The question Jesus asks towards the beginning of this gospel reading suggests that he fully intends to satisfy the physical hunger of the crowd whom he had been teaching, ‘Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?’ The disciples, Philip and Andrew, didn’t think it was humanly possible to feed such a crowd, as is clear from the somewhat despairing questions they asked, ‘Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?’ and ‘There is a small boy here with five barley loaves and two fish, but what is that between so many?’ Andrew didn’t see the presence of the small boy with his few loaves and fish as having any significance when it comes to feeding this very large crowd. However, Jesus saw the small boy and his few resources in a very different way. He knew he could work powerfully through the boy’s meagre resources if he was prepared to part with them. The small boy clearly was prepared to part with them, because Jesus went on to feed the crowd with his five barley loaves and two fish. Indeed, he fed the crowd abundantly because there were twelve baskets of scraps collected by the disciples afterwards. The gospel reading reminds us that if we are willing to place our own human resources at the Lord’s disposal, meagre as they may seem to us, he will be able to work through them in ways that gwill o beyond all our expectations. When we give him our resources of time, energy, he will nourish the lives of others through us. Like Andrew, we might be tempted to think that we have nothing of value that the Lord could work with. Yet, as Saint Paul says in one of his letters, the Lord’s power is often made perfect in weakness.

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(ii) Friday, Second Week of Easter

I remember some people saying recently when they heard this very familiar gospel story again that prior to this they hadn’t really paid much attention to the presence of the small boy. We tend to focus on Jesus and his disciples, and on the crowd. Yet, the small boy with his five barley loaves and two fish is the key to what happens. In John’s version of this episode, which we have just heard, he is first referred to by Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, but he is referred to in a way which suggests his relative insignificance, ‘There is a small boy here with five loaves and two fish; but what is that between so many?’ However, Jesus does not consider the presence of this small boy with his meagre resources to be insignificant. Jesus knows that if the boy is prepared to part with his precious little store, great things can happen. Indeed, according to the gospel reading, Jesus goes on to satisfy the hunger of the crowd with the five loaves and two fish of this small boy. Perhaps we can never know what exactly happened on that day, but the gospel reading is suggesting that the Lord can work powerfully through what are apparently very insignificant resources, a small boy and his few loaves and fish. Our human resources, inadequate though they may be, matter a great deal to the Lord. If we offer our own meagre resources to him, he can enhance them beyond all our expectations. All the Lord asks is that we are generous with what we have, little as that may be, and he will work through us in ways that will surprise us. The Lord’s way of working is different to how the world works. As Saint Paul came to realize, the Lord’s power is often made perfect in weakness.

And/Or

(iii) Friday, Second Week of Easter

When we are faced with a challenge or a problem the way we speak about it can be very important. We can speak about it in a way that deflates us and drains us of energy or we can speak about it in a way that makes us hopeful and inspires us. In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus sees crowds coming towards him. Seeing that they were in need of food, he asked Philip where food could be bought to give them something to eat. Philip’s response to Jesus showed that he felt overwhelmed by the problem. The words he used were very defeatist, ‘Two hundred denarii would only buy enough to give them a small piece each’. When Andrew chimed in, he too spoke in a way that conveyed a kind of hopelessness. Noticing that there was one small boy with five barley loaves and two fish, he asked, ‘What is that between so many?’ However, the way Jesus spoke in response to the problem was much more inspirational. He gave instructions to the disciples, he prayed aloud to God, and somehow the crowd got fed with the young boy’s small fare. We can all be a little bit like the disciples before the challenges that life throw up. We can become limp before it all. The gospel reading this morning encourages us to remain hopeful even in the face of situations that seem very unpromising. The reading suggests that the Lord can work in surprising ways in situations that seem daunting. Saint Paul seems to have a very strong sense of how the Lord can work powerfully in weakness. That is why he could say in his letter to the Philippians, a little written from prison, from a very unpromising situation, ‘I can do all things through him who strengthens me’.

And/Or

(iv) Friday, Second Week of Easter

Jesus and his disciples found themselves before a situation that seemed beyond their ability to deal with. Philip and Andrew were both at a loss. Their inclination was to do nothing because the situation seemed hopeless. Where could food be found to feed such a crowd? Jesus knew that something could be done and he involved his disciples in doing what could be done, calling on them to make the people sit down and then asking them to collect the pieces that were left over when everyone had eaten. With the Lord’s help what seemed impossible became possible. The gospel reading suggests that the Lord can work powerfully through meagre resources. Like the disciples, we can feel hopeless before certain situations. We find it very hard to get started. It all seems too much for us. Yet, there is always something we can do, no matter how small. It may seem as small as the two barley loaves and five fish, but the Lord can work powerfully through our efforts, small as they may seem to us. We can always ask the Lord to do what he can with the little that we have and if we do that we may discover, like the disciples, that something wonderful happens.

And/Or

(v) Friday, Second Week of Easter

In this morning’s gospel reading we find Jesus and his disciples faced with a hungry crowd and little or no means of feeding them. In this situation different people reacted in different ways. Philip made a calculation: on the basis of the number of people and the amount of money available to buy food, and decided that nothing could be done. Andrew recognized that one of the crowd had a small amount of food but he dismissed this small resource as of no value. There were two other reactions in the story. There is the reaction of the small boy who willing gave to Jesus the few pieces of food that he had. This is the reaction of the generous person, of the one who is prepared to give all he or she has, even though it appears to be far less than what is needed. He gave all he had to give. Then there is the reaction of Jesus himself. He took the few resources that the young boy was generous enough to part with and, having prayed the prayer of thanksgiving to God over these small pieces of food, he somehow fed the enormous crowd. The gospel teaches us that if we give generously from our resources to others, the Lord will work powerfully through those resources, small as they may seem to us. 

And/Or

(vi) Friday, Second Week of Easter

It is difficult to know exactly what happened that day in the wilderness when Jesus and his disciples found themselves before a large hungry crowd. However, the message that the evangelist seeks to communicate through his telling of that event is reasonably clear. Jesus is presented as working powerfully through very meagre resources. He feeds a multitude with five loaves and two fish. The Lord can work powerfully through our own rather limited resources, if we are generous with those resources and place them at the Lord’s disposal. A little can go a long way when it is placed in the hands of the Lord. Saint Paul expresses that truth in these terms: ‘God’s power is made perfect in weakness’. The tendency of Philip and Andrew in the gospel story was to complain about the hopelessness of the situation, ‘Two hundred denarii would not buy enough… What is that between so many?’ We are all prone to throwing our hands up to the heavens in exasperation and even despair. The gospel reading calls on us rather to have an expectant faith, a faith in the Lord’s power to work wonders with even the little that we give him.

And/Or

(vii) Friday, Second Week of Easter

In this morning’s gospel reading, Andrew, noticing that a small boy has give barley loaves and two fish, asks the question, ‘What is that between so many?’ His assessment was that the resources available were much too small to meet the need. We can all find ourselves asking a similar kind of question to Andrew, ‘What is that between so many?’ We see some need or other and we recognize that our own personal resources or those of the group are not sufficient to meet the need. Andrew, Philip and the other disciples went on to discover that the Lord worked powerfully in and through the few resources that the small boy made available. The hunger of the crowd was satisfied and there was food left over. The gospel reading reminds us that the Lord can work powerfully through humble and meagre resources if they are made available to him. We are all aware of our limitations, our weaknesses, and, yet, we are not always so aware of the many ways that the Lord can work through us, in spite of that, if we trust him to do so. The small amount of food that the boy had was not enough to feed the crowd in itself, and, yet, Jesus could not have fed the crowd without it. The Lord needs what we have, even if it seems slight to us, and he can accomplish far more than we could imagine with the little we have.

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(viii) Friday, Second Week of Easter

We are very familiar with the story from the life of Jesus that we have just read. The feeding of the multitude is one of the few stories from the public ministry of Jesus that is to be found in all four gospels. This morning we read the account from the gospel of John. Only this gospel gives us the dialogue between Jesus and the two disciples, Philip and Andrew. That dialogue shows us how the perspective of Jesus differs greatly from that of his two disciples. When Philip saw the large hungry crowd, he also despaired, ‘Six months wages wouldn’t buy enough to give each of them a little’ Andrew was just a little more hopeful. He recognized that there was a boy present who had five loaves and two fish, but he realistically asked, ‘What is that among so many people?’ Jesus, however, saw the rich potential of those meagre resources and immediately began to take control of the situation, ‘Make the people sit down’. In some mysterious way, Jesus worked with those few resources to feed the multitude. When I hear that story, I am often reminded of the comment of Saint Paul that God’s power is made perfect in weakness. The gospel reading this morning suggests that when we ourselves feel at our weakest, our most vulnerable, our lowest, when our own resources seem meagre, the Lord can work powerfully in us and through us.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

11th April >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings (Inc. John 3:31-36) for Thursday, Second Week of Eastertide: ‘He whom God has sent speaks God’s own words’.

Thursday, Second Week of Eastertide

Gospel (Except USA) John 3:31-36 The Father loves the Son and has entrusted everything to him.

John the Baptist said to his disciples:

‘He who comes from above is above all others; he who is born of the earth is earthly himself and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven bears witness to the things he has seen and heard, even if his testimony is not accepted; though all who do accept his testimony are attesting the truthfulness of God, since he whom God has sent speaks God’s own words: God gives him the Spirit without reserve. The Father loves the Son and has entrusted everything to him. Anyone who believes in the Son has eternal life, but anyone who refuses to believe in the Son will never see life: the anger of God stays on him.’

Gospel (USA) John 3:31-36 The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him.

The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things. But the one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy. For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit. The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.

Reflections (8)

(i) Thursday, Second Week of Easter

In today’s gospel reading, it is said of Jesus, ‘he whom God has sent speaks God’s own words. God gives him the Spirit without reserve’. It is because we believe Jesus is full of God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and speaks God’s own words that he is at the centre of our faith, and the centre of our lives as Christians. We believe that God came among us in a unique way through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus has come full of the love and the life of God and as risen Lord that is how he remains among us. According to the gospel reading, if we entrust ourselves to the risen Lord in faith, we will come to share in that life of God which fills Jesus, which is the life of heaven, eternal life. As believers in the Lord, we already begin to live with the life of heaven, and will come to enjoy it fully beyond this earthly life. Because of who Jesus is, our relationship with him is the most important relationship in our lives. It is the foundation of all our other relationships. In today’s first reading, the apostles demonstrate just how central the risen Lord is in their lives. When the religious leaders repeat their formal warning to them not to preach in the name of Jesus, the apostles replied, ‘Obedience to God comes before obedience to men’. It is God present in Jesus as risen Lord who shapes what the apostles say and do, not the religious leaders in Jerusalem. The apostles show us that our primary allegiance is to the Lord and not to any human authority or power. They also inspire us to be faithful to our allegiance to the Lord, even when it is costly, and puts us at odds with the powers that be.

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(ii) Thursday, Second Week of Easter

In this morning’s gospel we are given words spoken by John the Baptist. In the verse just before this gospel reading begins, John the Baptist had said of Jesus, ‘He must increase, but I must decrease’. He then goes on to speak of Jesus, in the opening line of our gospel reading, as ‘the one who comes from above’ and who, therefore, ‘is above all others’. John was very aware that Jesus was above him. He goes on to say of Jesus, in the words of our gospel reading, that he ‘comes from heaven’, that ‘the Father gives Jesus the Spirit without reserve’, that the Father ‘has entrusted everything to the Son’. John was very aware that none of those things could be said about himself. He had a profound appreciation of the uniqueness of Jesus, which is why he could say, ‘he must increase, but I must decrease’. There is a sense in which we never fully appreciate the uniqueness, the specialness, of Jesus in this life. The more we see of Jesus, the more we recognize what is yet to be seen. The closer we come to him, the more we realize how deeper our relationship with him could be. There is always a sense in which we can say with John the Baptist ‘he must increase’ and ‘I must decrease’. As he increases in us and we decrease, we don’t cease to be ourselves. Rather, the more Jesus increases in us, the more we become our true selves, our Christ selves, the person God is calling us to be.

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(iii) Thursday, Second Week of Easter

One of the questions that Jesus is often asked in John’s gospel is ‘Where do you come from?’ When people ask that question they generally mean ‘Where about in Judea or in Galilee do you come from?’ However, the attentive readers of John’s gospel will recognize that there is more to that question than those who ask it realize. The real answer to the question addressed to Jesus, ‘Where do you come from?’ is that Jesus comes from heaven or from God. This is what we find stated very clearly in this morning’s gospel reading, which declares that Jesus comes from above or from heaven. The gospel reading goes on to declare that because Jesus comes from heaven, he is able to bear witness to what he has seen and heard in heaven, what he has seen and heard from God his Father. He is uniquely placed to bear witness to who God is because, according to John’s gospel, he has been with God from all eternity and has come from God. Indeed this gospel would go further and state that Jesus is God in human form. That is why we take Jesus so seriously, why we pay such close attention to what he does and says, to his life, death and resurrection. That is why we treasure the books of the gospels so much, because if Jesus bears witness to God, the gospels bear witness to Jesus. Jesus brings God to us and brings us to God. The risen Jesus, therefore, has to be at the centre of our faith lives and at the centre of the life of the church.

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(iv) Thursday, Second Week of Easter

The gospel reading puts before us some very striking statements about Jesus. He comes from above, from heaven, and bears witness to what he has seen and heard there. He speaks God’s own words. God gives him the Spirit without reserve. God the Father has entrusted everything to his Son. All of these statements claim that Jesus has a unique relationship with God. He is the full revelation of God. That is why the reading ends with the declaration that all who believe in Jesus have eternal life, the life of God. Here and now they already share in the life of God which Jesus brings us. Eternal life is not just a life that begins after death. It is the life of God and his Son and it is received here and now by those who believe in God’s Son. Eternal life, this sharing in the life of God, begins now and will extend beyond the barrier of physical death into the undying life of God. The claims of the gospel reading about Jesus and about what he offers us take time to absorb, so striking and powerful are these claims. If what the gospel reading says is true then how we respond to Jesus, the one whom God has sent into the world, is of enormous significance. The most important decision we can make in life is to believe in the one whom God has sent into the world and allow that belief to shape the whole pattern of our life.

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(v) Thursday, Second Week of Easter

The Acts of the Apostles suggests that as soon as the gospel began to be preached after Pentecost efforts were made by people in authority to suppress it. The gospel was not experienced as good news by some and they made every effort to silence those who were preaching it. However, today’s first reading shows that the efforts of those in authority to silence the gospel were not successful. Although Peter and the other apostles had been given a formal warning by the religious authorities not to preach the gospel, they carried on regardless because they understood that this was their calling in life, the mission they had received from the risen Lord. As they say to the religious authorities in that first reading, ‘Obedience to God comes before obedience to men’. It is a statement worth reflecting upon. It invites us to ask, ‘Who shapes our lives? Is it the Lord or someone or something else?’ Or to put the question in another way, ‘Who or what is Lord of our lives?’ The apostles were clear that Jesus was Lord of their lives and not the religious authorities. It was to him that they must submit, not to them. The attitude of the apostles shows us what is at the heart of our own lives as Christians. We are those who seek to take Jesus as the Lord of our lives. We recognize in the words of today’s gospel reading that ‘he is above all others’, including all human authority, be it religious or political. We spend our lives trying to submit ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus. In submitting to his Lordship, we are assured that we will experience true freedom, what Saint Paul calls ‘the glorious freedom of the children of God’, the freedom to live in the fully human way that God desires for us.

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(vi) Thursday, Second Week of Easter

In today’s gospel reading, John the Baptist says of Jesus, ‘He whom God has sent speaks God’s own words’. Jesus speaks God’s own words because he is the Word of God in human flesh. In the opening verses of his gospel, John the evangelist declared, ‘the Word became flesh and lived among us’. We reflect deeply on all that Jesus said and did, on the whole of his life, on his death, resurrection and ascension, because we know that God has spoken the most powerful and clearest word he could ever speak through Jesus. We are not in the dark about God, wondering who God is and what God is like. In the language of this fourth gospel, it is Jesus, ‘who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known’. Jesus came among us, full of God’s grace and truth, full of God’s gracious love and faithfulness, and we are invited to keep receiving from this fullness of God in Jesus. He has given us so much from his fullness that a life time is not long enough to receive it all. According to today’s gospel reading, God gives the Spirit to Jesus without reserve. God gave all to Jesus without reserve, and what Jesus received from God he has given to us, without reserve. However, there will always be a reserve in our receiving. We struggle to empty ourselves sufficiently to receive all the Lord wants to give us. We spend our lives learning to receive like little children. The greater our capacity to receive from the Lord’s fullness, the greater will be our ability to give as we have received. As Jesus received all from God and gave what he received to us, so Jesus looks to us to receive all from him and to give what we receive to one another. We are to keep receiving from Jesus all he wishes to give us, his word, his Spirit, his love, so that, like Peter in today’s first reading, we can witness to him before others.

And/Or

(vii) Thursday, Second Week of Easter

We live in a sea of words. Words come at us in various forms, be they written or spoken or digital. In the past, people had to seek out the written word in a book. Now, the digital word arrives on our smart phones without us having to look for it. Surrounded by so many words, the task of discerning which words are more important than others become all the more pressing. Today’s gospel reading declares that ‘he whom God has sent speaks God’s own words’ because ‘God gives the Spirit to him without reserve’. Jesus has a unique relationship with God and so he is uniquely placed to speak God’s own words. Indeed, the opening chapter of John’s gospel declares that not only does Jesus speak God’s own words but that he is the Word of God become flesh, God’s Word in human form. As the Lord’s disciples, we pay closer attention to his words than to anyone else’s words because we recognize that his words are God’s words and that his life, death and resurrection is God’s Word to us. Our attentiveness to God’s word present in Jesus allows us to assess the value of all the other words that come towards us. The more we immerse ourselves in the words of God spoken and lived by Jesus, the more we can make wise judgements about the words of others. In the first reading, the apostles did not take seriously the words of the high priest when he warned them not to preach in the name of Jesus. Their fundamental loyalty was to the word of God revealed in Jesus, ‘Obedience to God comes before obedience to men’. Faithfulness to the words of God, especially spoken by Jesus, will often put us at odds with the words of others, but the gospel reading declares that in doing so, in believing in the Son, we are assured of eternal life.

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(viii) Thursday, Second Week of Easter

The words of Peter and the apostles to the high priest, ‘Obedience to God comes before obedience to men’, was a conviction which shaped the life of the first believers. It often brought them into conflict with the religious leaders who thought of themselves as the mediators of God’s word. For us as Christians, obedience to God is obedience to his Son, Jesus, our risen Lord, because as today’s gospel declares, ‘he whom God has sent speaks God’s own words’. The Greek word translated ‘obedience’ suggests attentive listening. We are called to listen attentively to the word of God, especially as proclaimed and lived by Jesus who is God’s Word in human form. As the Word of God, Jesus is the Bread of Life because his words can satisfy the deepest hunger in our hearts, our hunger for truth and for an assurance of God’s love. In the words of today’s responsorial psalm, we are invited to ‘taste and see that the Lord is good’. The gospel reading declares that ‘God gives him (Jesus) the Spirit without reserve’, and in this fourth gospel Jesus declares that his words are ‘spirit and life’. When we listen attentively to the Lord’s word, we are opening ourselves to Holy Spirit, and in the power of that Spirit we will be able to witness to our faith in the Lord with something of the courage shown by Peter and the apostles in today’s first reading.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

10th April >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings (Inc. John 3:16-21) for Wednesday, Second Week of Easter: ‘God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son’.

Wednesday, Second Week of Easter

Gospel (Except USA) John 3:16-21 God sent his Son into the world so that through him the world might be saved.

Jesus said to Nicodemus:

‘God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved. No one who believes in him will be condemned; but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already, because he has refused to believe in the name of God’s only Son. On these grounds is sentence pronounced: that though the light has come into the world men have shown they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil. And indeed, everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it, for fear his actions should be exposed; but the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God.’

Gospel (USA) John 3:16-21 God sent his Son that the world might be saved through him.

God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten 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 believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

Reflections (8)

(i) Wednesday, Second Week of Easter

A common security measure in many homes and businesses are strong lights that come on at night when somebody comes within a certain radius and breaks the beam. It is based on the presumption that during hours of darkness light is the enemy of anyone who might want to break into the premises. Those who might be up to no good prefer the cover of darkness. In the words of today’s gospel reading, ‘everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it, for fear his actions should be exposed’. Light exposes wrong doing. In a sense, it condemns the wrong doer. According to the gospel reading, God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world. When today’s gospel reading says that ‘the light has come into the world’, the reference is clearly to Jesus. Yet, the light of Jesus is not a condemning light whose sole purpose is to expose evil. The light of Jesus is essentially a light of love, the light of God who so loved the world that he gave his only Son. The first letter of John makes two simple statements about God, ‘God is love’ and ‘God is light’. When we step into the light of God’s love shining through Jesus, there is a sense in which our sins are exposed. To see ourselves in the light of Jesus is to recognize how far we fall short of the loving person God has created us to be. Yet, the primary purpose of Jesus’ loving light is to take away our sin. Jesus, the light of God, seeks to draw us to himself so that we may have life and have it to the full. Jesus says of himself in John’s gospel, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life’. The Lord’s light is the light of life because it is the light of love. There is a fullness of life in the Lord’s light from which we can all receive if we keep coming out into this light.

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(ii) Wednesday, Second Week of Easter

We can certainly notice a stretch in the evenings these days. All of a sudden it is bright beyond 7.00 pm. Most of us like the light. We are pleased to know that the daylight is lengthening every day at this time of the year. Our heart sinks a bit when we realize that the days have begun to get shorter. Even though most of us like the light, the gospel reading declares that people have shown they prefer darkness to light. The evangelist is referring there not to daylight, but to the one who declares himself to be the light of the world. Our calling is to ‘come out into the light’, in the words of the gospel reading. This morning’s gospel reading makes the very generous statement that all who live by the truth come out into the light. All who seek the truth are already standing in the light of Christ, even though they may not be aware of it. The gospel reading suggests that people of faith, those who seek to be guided by the light of Christ, will always have something very fundamental in common with all who seek the truth with sincerity of heart.

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(iii) Wednesday, Second Week of Easter

One of the great verses of John’s gospel is to be found at the beginning of our gospel reading this morning, ‘God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him... may have eternal life’. That statement has been a source of inspiration for many believers over the centuries. The evangelist declares that Jesus, God’s Son, reveals God’s love for the world and for each of us individually. All authentic love is life-giving, and God’s love, revealed in the coming of Jesus, is life-giving to an exceptional degree. God gave us his Son so that we might have life and have it to the full, what this morning’s gospel reading calls ‘eternal life’. Therein lies the gospel, the good news of God’s loving and life-giving initiative towards us. The fourth evangelist is also clear that God’s initiative needs our response if it is to be effective. We need to come to God’s Son, to come out into the light, in the words of gospel reading. Having come to God’s Son, we need to remain in him, to remain in his love, and we do that by keeping his word, by living out his new commandment to love one another as he has loved us. God has given his Son to us; it falls to us to give ourselves to God’s Son. Then we will indeed have life and have it to the full.

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(iv) Wednesday, Second Week of Easter

The words of Jesus to Nicodemus in this morning’s gospel reading are one of the strongest and most positive statements in the New Testament about God. It speaks of God’s love for the world, of God’s generous way of expressing his love by giving the world his Son and of God’s desire that all people would experience eternal life through receiving God’s Son in faith. It is a hugely positive image of God and of how God relates to the world. It is a verse worth pondering and reflecting upon at length. Yet, the gospel reading we have just heard acknowledges another reality. It recognizes that people can refuse God’s love, God’s gift of his Son, God’s offer of life. In the words of the gospel reading, ‘though the light has come into the world, people have shown that they prefer darkness to the light, because their deeds were evil’. God can only do so much. We have to open ourselves to God’s love, receive God’s Son, enter into the light and allow it to shine upon us. God wants our response, but God cannot force it. Yet, God is prepared to wait, as Jesus was prepared to wait for Nicodemus. He only gradually came to believe in Jesus as God’s Son given to the world out of love. His first tentative step was to come to Jesus by night. His last appearance in the gospel is alongside Joseph of Arimathea, as they both arrange for Jesus to have a dignified burial.

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(v) Wednesday, Second Week of Easter

According to today’s first reading, Peter and the message he preaches cannot be confined behind bars, in spite of the best efforts of those who want to silence that message. The Easter proclamation cannot be imprisoned, just as the guards at the tomb of Easter could not prevent Jesus bursting forth into new life. The light which shone from the risen Lord and from the preaching of the Easter gospel could not be extinguished by the powers of darkness. The gospel reading acknowledges that even though the light has come into the world, some have shown that they prefer darkness to the light. They hate and avoid the light because they feel threatened by it, as if it will expose what is wrong in them. Yet, the light of Easter is not like the light of the interrogation room. It is not a light to be feared or avoided. It is the light of God who so loved the world that he gave his only Son, in the language of the gospel reading. It is not a condemnatory light; God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but so that, through him, the world may have life and have it to the full. This is a light to be warmly welcomed, not to be extinguished or imprisoned. God has embraced the world through the death and resurrection of his Son. It falls to us now to embrace God’s Son, the light of the world, the one who declared that whoever follows him will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.

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(vi) Wednesday, Second Week of Easter

The gospel of John frequently refers to Jesus as light. On one occasion, Jesus says of himself: ‘I am the light of the world’. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus says with reference to himself: ‘Light has come into the world’. In one of the most memorable statements of the New Testament the gospel reading declares that the light that has come into the world in the person of Jesus is the light of God’s love, ‘God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him… may have eternal life’. The light of Jesus is not the probing light of the grand inquisitor that seeks out failure and transgression with a view to condemnation. Indeed, the gospel reading states that God ‘sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world’. The light of Jesus, rather, is the inviting light of God’s love, calling out to us to come and to allow ourselves to be bathed in this light, and promising those who do so that they will share in God’s own life, both here and now and also beyond death. At the beginning of our gospel reading, Jesus speaks of himself as the Son of Man who must be lifted up. It was on the cross and in his resurrection that Jesus was lifted up, and it was above all at that moment that the light of God’s love shone most brightly. Those who attempted to extinguish God’s light shining in Jesus only succeeded in making that light of love shine all the more brightly. God’s gift of his Son to us was not in any way thwarted by the rejection of his Son. God’s giving continued as Jesus was lifted up to die, and God’s giving found further expression when God lifted up his Son in glory and gave him to us as risen Lord. Here indeed is a light that darkness cannot overcome, a love that human sin cannot extinguish. This is the core of the gospel.

And/Or

(vii) Wednesday, Second Week of Easter

Most of us prefer light to darkness. When we realize shortly after Christmas that the days are starting to get longer, it gives our heart a lift. When we see in late September how much shorter the days are getting we can get a bit discouraged. Light draws us out. On the longer days, we might go for a walk late in the evening, whereas we wouldn’t think of walking so late in the winter darkness. However, we know that much crime is committed under cover of darkness. Darkness gives more protection to those who are intent on doing harm. In their case, it is darkness rather than light that attracts. Today’s gospel reading declares that ‘though light has come into the world, people have shown they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil’. Some people found the light of God’s love and goodness shining through Jesus too threatening. It was challenging to their way of thinking and behaving, and so they sought to extinguish the light. It seemed as if they had done so on Calvary, but the God of light raised Jesus from the dead and the light of God’s loving goodness now shone even more brightly through the risen Lord. The light of the Easter gospel could not be extinguished, just as the messengers of that light could not be imprisoned in today’s first reading. The light that shines through the risen Lord is not a light to be feared, even by those ‘whose deeds were evil’. It is not the harsh light of the interrogator. Rather, it is the light of love, the light of God who so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that all may have life and have it to the full. It is by opening ourselves to this light and allowing it to penetrate our lives that we will come to share in the risen Lord’s own peace and joy, and be the bearers of his peace and joy to others.

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(viii) Wednesday, Second Week of Easter

The first reading suggests that no human power can block the preaching of the gospel, not even the imprisonment of the apostles, Jesus’ closest associates. The risen Lord will always find a way for the gospel to be proclaimed, in spite of people’s best efforts to silence it. That is because, in the words of today’s gospel reading, ‘God so loved the world’. God sent his Son into the world so that everyone may have eternal life. For God, it is a matter of the greatest urgency that the gospel that was proclaimed and lived by his Son, now risen Lord, be announced to as many people as possible. God will stop at nothing to ensure that the world of humanity hears the gospel of God’s saving love for all. The light of God’s love shines through the gospel and God passionately desires that this light would shine upon all, in every time and place, just as the earthly sun shines on all. Yet, the gospel reading also states that people need to be open to this light, to come out into the light, to love the light of God’s enduring love. In the words of today’s psalm, we need to look towards the light so that we can be radiant. Nothing we do or fail to do will prevent the light of the gospel of God’s love from shining upon us, but we can chose to turn away from the light, to block it out, just as Judas left the presence of Jesus at the last supper and went out into the night. The good news is that even when we turn from the light and chose darkness, the light shines in the darkness and, if there is even the smallest opening in us to the light, the darkness will not overcome the light of God’s loving presence.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

9th April >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings (Inc. John 3:7-15) for Tuesday, Second Week of Easter: ‘You must be born from above’.

Tuesday, Second Week of Easter

Gospel (Except USA) John 3:7-15 No-one has gone up to heaven except the Son of Man who has come down from heaven.

Jesus said to Nicodemus:

‘Do not be surprised when I say: You must be born from above. The wind blows wherever it pleases; you hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit.’

‘How can that be possible?’ asked Nicodemus. ‘You, a teacher in Israel, and you do not know these things!’ replied Jesus.

‘I tell you most solemnly, we speak only about what we know and witness only to what we have seen and yet you people reject our evidence. If you do not believe me when I speak about things in this world, how are you going to believe me when I speak to you about heavenly things? No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven; and the Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.’

Gospel (USA) John 3:7b-15 No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.

Jesus said to Nicodemus: “‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to him, ‘How can this happen?” Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this? Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony. If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

Reflections (9)

(i) Tuesday, Second Week of Easter

In the gospel reading Jesus speaks of ‘things of this world’ and ‘heavenly things’. Yet, it is clear from what Jesus has been saying that there isn’t a sharp distinction between the earthly and the heavenly realm. Heavenly things can be viewed through earthly things. The human experience of birth can speak to us of another kind of birth, a being born of the Spirit. The natural phenomenon of the wind can speak to us of the spiritual phenomenon of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the en-fleshed Word, God in human form. To look upon the flesh of Jesus, his human life, is to look upon God. In Jesus, the earthly has become the revelation of the heavenly, and Jesus shows us how to see the deeper, heavenly, reality in and through the earthly reality. In all four gospels, Jesus shows us how so much of human life can speak to us of God’s life, the kingdom of heaven. Just as God became flesh in Jesus, so the Spirit of God can become flesh in our lives. When we allow the Spirit of the Lord to shape our lives, others can see something of the life of God in and through our lives. The first reading shows us one way in which the Spirit of God took flesh in the life of the early church. Within that community of faith, no member was ever in want, because all who had more than they needed shared with those in need, through the agency of the Apostles. Such a life was the fruit of the Spirit’s activity among them. Here in the early church was the life of God in human form. The life of God is a life of love given and received. Our calling as individual believers and as a community of faith is to allow the Holy Spirit to take flesh in our lives so that others can see heavenly things through our way of living and our manner of relating to one another.

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(ii) Tuesday, Second Week of Easter

The birth of a child is one of the greatest causes of joy in human experience, especially for the parents of the child. Life is never the same for a couple after the birth of their child. This new life has an extraordinary impact on their lives from the moment the child is born. There is something wonderfully mysterious about the birth of every child. We encounter something of the mystery of God in and through every human birth. The spontaneous response to such mysterious new life is thanksgiving. In this morning’s gospel reading Jesus speaks to Nicodemus of a different kind of birth. He speaks to him of the need to be ‘born from above’ or ‘born of the Spirit’. If human birth makes the child a son or daughter of his or her parents, birth from above or birth of the Spirit, makes us sons and daughters of God, thereby giving us a share in Jesus’ own relationship with God as Son. If there is something mysterious about every human birth, the kind of birth that Jesus speaks about is even more mysterious. Although a teacher in Israel, Nicodemus responds to Jesus’ words about this kind of birth with the question, ‘How can that be possible?’ Yet, the good news is that Jesus came to draw us into his own relationship with God and he makes this possible in and through the gift of his Spirit to us, the Holy Spirit. There is indeed much to ponder here and much to give thanks for.

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(iii) Tuesday, Second Week of Easter

Jesus speaks about the wind in this morning’s gospel reading. He says, ‘the wind blows where it pleases’. The wind is beyond our control; it doesn’t blow where and when we want it to blow. We can harness the wind to some good purpose, but we are never in control of it. Jesus often spoke about day to day realities, like the wind, as a way of talking about more spiritual realities. In this morning’s gospel, in speaking about the wind he is, in reality, speaking about the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit’, he says. In the language Jesus spoke, and in the language the gospels were written in, the same word could mean either ‘wind’ or ‘Spirit’. Jesus seems to be saying to Nicodemus and to us that the Spirit of God is not something we can control. We do not take the Spirit where we want it to go; the Spirit takes us where God wants us to go. All we can do is to surrender to the breath of the Spirit within us and around us, to allow the Spirit to direct us and to lead us. Like a flag blowing in the wind, we are to move in response to the movement of the Spirit. The spiritual person is the person whose life is shaped and directed by the Spirit. We are all called to be spiritual people in that sense. Discerning where the Holy Spirit is leading us is central to our lives as followers of Jesus.

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(iv) Tuesday, Second Week of Easter

In this morning’s gospel reading we find Nicodemus struggling to understand when Jesus tells him that he must be born from above, born of the Spirit. In response, Nicodemus asks ‘How can that be possible?’ Nicodemus is an example of someone who struggled to come to faith; he struggle to become a disciple of Jesus. He was drawn to Jesus but he could not quite grasp what Jesus was asking of him, not initially at least. Yet, Nicodemus did not give up on Jesus and the last we see of him in John’s gospel is at Golgotha where, after the death of Jesus, he and Joseph of Arimathea ensure that Jesus has a dignified burial. It seems that in the course of Jesus’ public ministry he gradually grew in his relationship with Jesus; he allowed himself to be drawn to Jesus more fully. The journey of faith is not always straightforward. Like Nicodemus we can find ourselves at an impasse. His question, ‘How can that be possible?’ becomes our question. Yet, all we can do is stay with our questions and be faithful to our search. The Lord will do the rest. If we are open and honest, the Lord will draw us to himself in time, in his time and in ours.

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(v) Tuesday, Second Week of Easter

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus speaks of the wind as having a mysterious quality. Although we can hear the sound of the wind, it is not always easy to judge the direction the wind is blowing from and the direction towards which it is blowing. In the language in which the gospels were written, and the language Jesus spoke, the same word could refer to both the physical wind and the Spirit of God. Jesus argues that if there is a mysterious quality about the wind, there is an even more mysterious quality about the Spirit of God. The origin and destination of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is wrapped in the mystery of God. We cannot fully grasp the Holy Spirit and we certainly cannot control the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God’s love, a love whose breadth and length and height and depth cannot be fully comprehended. Yet, God pours this Spirit of his love into our lives. Our calling is to surrender to this Spirit in our lives, to allow ourselves to be born of this Spirit, to be born from above, in the words of Jesus to Nicodemus. This being born of the Spirit will take more than nine months, the period of human birth. The opening of our lives more fully to the Spirit of God is the journey of a lifetime, a journey we are asked to be faithful to until the end of our earthly lives.

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(vi) Tuesday, Second Week of Easter

Jesus often speaks about spiritual realities with reference to various aspects of human experience. When he seeks to give an understanding of the kingdom of God, he tells parables, stories that are deeply rooted in everyday life. We find something similar happening in today’s gospel reading. He speaks about the mysterious reality of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, with reference to the everyday reality of the wind. There is a mysterious quality to the wind. As Jesus says, ‘it blows where it pleases’. Nowadays we can harness the wind to generate electricity, but there is so much about the wind which is beyond our control and understanding. In the words of the gospel reading, we certainly cannot control where it comes from or where it goes to. We also cannot control the strength of the wind. If the wind is beyond our control and understanding, this is true to an even greater extent of the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. We cannot manage the Holy Spirit. If we are not masters of the wind, we are even less masters of the Spirit. Yet, whereas the wind is an impersonal force, the Spirit is a personal force. We speak of the Spirit as the third person of the Trinity. The Spirit is the Spirit of God’s personal love for the world. Whereas the wind can be destructive, the Spirit is always life-giving. Our calling is to surrender to the movement of the Spirit in our lives, to allow the Spirit to shape and mould us. When that happens, our lives will give expression to God’s personal love for the world.

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(vii) Tuesday, Second Week of Easter

In today’s gospel Jesus says, ‘the wind blows wherever it pleases’. In other words, the wind does not blow in accordance with our wishes. When it comes to our relationship with the wind, it is the wind, not us, that has the upper hand. Some days we have a cold wind from the north or the east. Other days we have a warm wind from the south. Most days in this part of the world we have a damp wind from the west. We have to accept the wind that comes our way. We can harness the wind to some extent, to generate electricity, but that is dependent on the strength of the wind, over which we have no control. The wind is a mysterious force which we cannot simply manage to suit ourselves. In the gospel reading Jesus makes a comparison between the wind and the Holy Spirit. Indeed, in the language Jesus spoke and in the language in which the gospels were written the one word could be translated either wind or Spirit. If the wind is mysterious and beyond our control, the Spirit of God is even more mysterious and beyond our control. The Spirit comes from God and goes to God and God is always beyond us, beyond our understanding and our control. However, the Spirit can enter a human life and we know what a Spirit-filled life looks life. Jesus is the one on whom the Spirit came down and remained and his life is pre-eminently Spirit filled. The risen Lord continues to pour out his Spirit into our hearts so that our lives may be Spirit-filled. Paul portrays such a Spirit-filled life when he says in his letter to the Galatians that the fruit of the Spirit is ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control’. Elsewhere Paul suggests that a Spirit-filled life is also a prayerful life. In his letter to the Romans he says, ‘we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words’. It is the Spirit in us who does the praying. The Spirit may be mysterious but when the Spirit takes shape in a human life we recognize the Spirit’s attractiveness. It is the attractiveness of God whose love is beyond human comprehension.

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(viii) Tuesday, Second Week of Easter

In the gospel reading Jesus speaks of ‘things of this world’ and ‘heavenly things’. Yet, it is clear from what Jesus has been saying that there isn’t a sharp distinction between the earthly and the heavenly realm. Heavenly things can be viewed through earthly things. The human experience of birth can speak to us of another kind of birth, a being born of the Spirit. The natural phenomenon of the wind can speak to us of the spiritual phenomenon of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the en-fleshed Word, God in human form. To look upon the flesh of Jesus, his human life, is to look upon God. In Jesus, the earthly has become the revelation of the heavenly, and Jesus shows us how to see the deeper, heavenly, reality in and through the earthly reality. In all four gospels, Jesus shows us how so much of human life can speak to us of God’s life, the kingdom of heaven. Just as God became flesh in Jesus, so the Spirit of God can become flesh in our lives. When we allow the Spirit of the Lord to shape our lives, others can see something of the life of God in and through our lives. The first reading shows us one way in which the Spirit of God took flesh in the life of the early church. Within that community of faith, no member was ever in want, because all who had more than they needed shared with those in need, through the agency of the Apostles. Such a life was the fruit of the Spirit’s activity among them. Here in the early church was the life of God in human form. The life of God is a life of love given and received. Our calling as individual believers and as a community of faith is to allow the Holy Spirit to take flesh in our lives so that others can see heavenly things through our way of living and our manner of relating to one another.

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(ix) Tuesday, Second Week of Easter

The first reading gives us an insight into how the members of the early church looked out for one another. If a member of the community had more that was needed, it was presented to the Apostles who distributed it to those who were in greater need. As a result, none of the members of the community were ever in want. This tradition of sharing from our surplus to give to those in greater need has been an essential feature of the life of the church since its earliest beginnings. One expression of it today is the work of the Vincent de Paul Society. The monthly collection that is taken up outside the church allows them to help people who find themselves in a once-off need or perhaps in a situation that requires a more sustained response. This is one manifestation of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church, what Saint Paul calls a fruit of the Spirit. In the gospel reading, Jesus compares the Spirit to the wind. Just as you cannot see the wind as such but can experience its impact on ourselves, on others, on nature, so we cannot see the Holy Spirit directly, but we can see the impact of the Holy Spirit in our lives and the lives of others. Just as the wind blows wherever it pleases, so the Spirit works where it pleases. We will often see the impact of the Spirit in people and in places where we didn’t expect to find it. We can delight in wherever we happen to find the fruit of the Spirit. As people born of the Spirit through baptism, we have a special calling to allow the Spirit to blow through us and to shape what we say and do.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

8th April - Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies on Today's Mass Readings (Inc. Luke 1:26-38)for the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord: ‘Let what you have said be done to me’.

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

Gospel (Except USA) Luke 1:26-38 'I am the handmaid of the Lord'.

The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.

Gospel (USA) Luke 1:26–38 Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son.

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

Reflections (5)

(i) Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

The gospel reading we have just heard has often been depicted by artists down the centuries, whether on canvas or in glass. It is as if artists recognize the great significance of this scene. God had a purpose for the world but if that purpose was to come to pass it needed the consent of a young woman, named Mary, from a small village in the region of Galilee in Northern Israel. A great deal depended on the consent of this young woman to what God was asking of her. God wanted her to be the mother of the one through whom God would work for the wellbeing and final salvation of all humanity. The son whom Mary would bear would have such an intimate relationship with God that he could be called ‘Son of the Most High’. Because of the unique identity of Mary’s son, he would be conceived in a unique way, through the power of the Holy Spirit. This was a great deal for a young woman to comprehend and consent to. It is not surprising that the gospel reading says she was ‘deeply disturbed’ and was left with many questions, including the question, ‘How can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ God was drawing very close to Mary and it left her with many questions. When God draws near to us and we draw near to God, we too will find ourselves asking many questions. We come to realize that the answers we have given to our questions about God are not adequate. God is so much more mysterious that we imagined, so much more wonderful. The gospel goes on to declare that, in the end, Mary consented to what God was asking of her, ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord, let what you have said be done to me’. She gave herself over to God’s purpose for her life, even though she didn’t fully understand it. She surrendered in faith and trust to God. Because of her act of trusting faith, God’s purpose for all humanity came to pass. Mary is a wonderful model of trusting faith in God, when all is not clear, when we have more questions than answers. She also shows us that our faith, our trusting relationship with the Lord, will always have life-giving consequences for others. Because of our faith, God’s purpose, not just for our own lives but for the lives of others, will come to pass.

And/Or

(ii) Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord

The feast of the annunciation celebrates the moment when Mary said ‘yes’ to God’s call to be the mother of God’s Son. The gospel reading suggests that her ‘yes’ did not come without a struggle. When God first approached her through the angel Gabriel, Mary was ‘deeply disturbed’. When Gabriel went on to announce God’s purpose for Mary’s life, Mary was full of questions, ‘How can this be?’ It was only when Gabriel spoke for the third time that Mary surrendered to what God was asking her through Gabriel, ‘Let what you have said be done to me’. The gospel suggests Mary’s ‘yes’ to God’s call did not come effortlessly; it was not a foregone conclusion. Yet, because of her ‘yes’ we have all been greatly blessed, and, so, today, on the feast of her annunciation, we give thanks for her generous response to God’s call, which has been a source of grace for us all. The portrayal of Mary in this morning’s gospel reading suggests that our own response to the Lord’s call will never be easy; it will always involve something of a struggle. The reading also suggests that, as in the case of Mary, our saying ‘yes’ to the Lord will be a source of blessing for others. My relationship with the Lord may be personal, but it is never private. It always has consequences for others. When I am generous in my response to the Lord’s call, as Mary was, others are helped to come to the Lord. Mary has been described as the first and the model disciple of the Lord; we look to her to inspire us as we seek to take to Lord’s call to heart; we ask her to pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

And/Or

(iii) Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord

In the gospel reading this morning Mary is portrayed by Luke the evangelist as someone whose initial response to the call of God was to raise questions. After she was greeted by the angel Gabriel as ‘highly favoured’, Luke tells us that she was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean. Then when Gabriel announced that she would give birth to a child who would be called Son of the Most High, she asked, ‘How can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ Mary’s questioning did not cease when her child was born. When the shepherds came and told her all they had seen and heard, Luke tells us that Mary treasured their words and pondered them in her heart. When her twelve year old son went missing and was eventually found in the Temple, Mary questioned him, ‘Child, why have you treated us like this?’ When Jesus answered her question by saying that he must be about his Father’s business, Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph did not understand what he said to them and that Mary, in particular, treasured all these things in her heart. The picture Luke gives us of Mary is of a woman who is full of questions, who ponders deeply on all that was happening in her life so as to understand it more fully. She models for us a reflective faith, a faith that seeks to understand. Theology has been described as faith seeking understanding. Mary was a theologian in that sense. Indeed we are all called to be theologians in the sense in which Mary was one. Like her, we too ask questions about God and Jesus and about what it means to respond to God’s call to us in Jesus; like her we are invited to ponder the great mysteries of our faith so as to grow in our understanding of them. As people of faith, we are to be searchers after truth, like Mary. In our searching we have the encouragement of the Lord’s promise to us, ‘Seek and you will find’. 

And/Or

(iv) Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord

There is a lot of very concrete information at the beginning of this evening’s gospel reading: Galilee, Nazareth, Joseph of the house of David, Mary. There is reference to a very particular place, Nazareth in Galilee, and to a very particular couple in that place, Joseph who was betrothed to Mary. It was that particular couple in that particular place at a particular moment in time whom God chose in a special way for the sake of all of humanity. It was to that couple in that place at that time that God’s Son was entrusted for all of us. The gospel reading concludes with the confident declaration, ‘Nothing is impossible to God’. Yet, the one thing that God cannot do is to force our consent. God’s purpose for our lives was dependant on the consent of this particular woman in this particular place at a particular time, and, also, on the consent of her spouse, Joseph. Mary’s consent to God’s messenger allowed God’s purpose to come to pass for all of us. In a certain sense, at the moment of the annunciation, Mary represented us all; we all waited for her to say ‘yes’ to God on all our behalves. All of humanity’s deepest aspirations were focused on this particular woman, place and time. At the annunciation, God’s call met with the complete human response, ‘Let what you have said be done to me’. Luke is presenting Mary here as the exemplary disciple, the one who hears the word of God and keeps it. Because of her exemplary response to God, she became a source of blessing for all of humanity. If we can enter in some way into her response to God’s call, we too will be a source of blessing for others.  

And/Or

(v) Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord

The gospel reading this morning portrays Mary as saying ‘yes’ to God’s call on her to become the mother of God’s Son. The gospel suggests that her response to God’s call did not come easily to her. Initially she was ‘deeply disturbed’ by the greeting of the angel. She was full of questions in response to the further words of the angel. ‘How can this come about?’ she asked. She eventually arrived at the point where she could say, ‘Let what you have said be done to me’. However, she only came to that point after a lot of struggle. We amreminded of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. His prayer eventually brought him to the point where he could say, ‘Not my will but yours be done’. However, that was only after a great struggle, in the course of which he had prayed, ‘Remove this cup from me’. The experience of Mary and of Jesus remind us that responding to God’s call, remaining faithful to God’s will for our lives, will always involve a struggle of some kind. The nature of that struggle will be different for each of us. We engage in that struggle knowing that we are not alone in it. The power of the Most High will overshadow us; the Holy Spirit will come upon us, as it came upon Mary. In our struggle to be faithful, we are also encouraged by the words of Gabriel to Mary, ‘nothing is impossible to God’. In the words of Paul’s first letter to the church in Thessalonica, ‘The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this’. 

Fr. Martin Hogan.

7th April >> Fr. Martin's Homilies / Reflections on Today's Mass Readings (Inc. John 20:19-31) for the Second Sunday of Easter, Cycle B (Divine Mercy Sunday): ‘Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe’.

Second Sunday of Easter, Year B

Gospel (Except USA) John 20:19-31 Eight days later, Jesus came again and stood among them.

In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.

‘As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.’

After saying this he breathed on them and said:

‘Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.’

Thomas, called the Twin, who was one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. When the disciples said, ‘We have seen the Lord’, he answered, ‘Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe.’ Eight days later the disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. The doors were closed, but Jesus came in and stood among them. ‘Peace be with you’ he said. Then he spoke to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Doubt no longer but believe.’ Thomas replied, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him:

‘You believe because you can see me. Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.’

There were many other signs that Jesus worked and the disciples saw, but they are not recorded in this book. These are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing this you may have life through his name.

Gospel (USA) John 20:19–31 Eight days later Jesus came and stood in their midst.

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 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.”

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

Homilies (6)

(i) Second Sunday of Easter

I don’t like seeing a church whose doors are always closed, except when there is Mass or some religious service on. There are, of course, good reasons why the doors of some churches have to remain closed outside the times of public worship. Yet, the open doors of a church say something about what a church is meant to be, a place where the Lord calls people in, perhaps just to sit in prayerful silence. On one occasion, Jesus said, ‘I am the door’. By that he meant that he was an open door, not a closed door. He was the door through whom we could come to God and through whom God always comes to us. Jesus wanted people to come in and to go out through him.

The church is not primarily the building where the community of faith gathers, but it is the community of faith itself. As a community of believers, we don’t want to close the door on ourselves, locking people out, and locking ourselves in. Yet, this is what we find happening in today’s gospel reading. The community of the first disciples had locked themselves into a room, with the intention of locking others out, especially those who might be hostile to them. They were fearful lest those responsible for having Jesus crucified might now turn their attention to his followers. In the immediate aftermath of Good Friday, this was an understandable attitude. The first disciples can hardly be blamed for going into hiding. However, according to the gospel reading, this was now the first day of the week, the first Easter Sunday. Locking themselves away and others out was totally out of place in the time of Easter which began on that Sunday and extends until the end of time.

The risen Lord needed to unlock not just the disciples’ room, but their hearts, minds and wills. There was good news to be proclaimed, the good news that God’s love was stronger than hatred and sin, and that God’s life-giving power was stronger than death. The disciples needed to get out and proclaim this Easter good news. This morning’s gospel reading says, ‘Jesus came and stood among them’. He didn’t knock on the door, hoping one of the disciples would let him in. He simply came and stood among them, the very ones who had abandoned him during the hour of his passion and death, whose leader had denied Jesus three times. He stood there, not to reprimand them, but to show them his wounds, the signs of his own self-giving love, signs of God’s unconditional love for all. As he showed them his wounds through which the light of God’s love shone, he offered them the gift of his peace, declaring that he was at peace with them. The risen Lord was healing their wounded hearts and spirits, freeing them from past failures. Having restored their communion with him, Jesus then entrusted them with the very same mission that God his Father had entrusted to him, ‘As the Father sent me, so am I sending you’. To empower them for this mission, he breathed the Holy Spirit upon them, the Spirit of God’s love. Jesus was recreating them, renewing them, so that they could continue his own mission of proclaiming the good news that God so loved the world that he gave and continues to give his only Son, so that all may have life and have it to the full. Locked doors made no sense now. They had to be out and about.

The same risen Lord stands among us today. We may be tempted to lock ourselves in and lock the Lord out, but he comes and stands among us anyway. He doesn’t wait for us to unlock the door. The situation is too urgent for that. He simply stands among us to pour the gift of the Holy Spirit upon us. He says to us what he said to those first disciples, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’. The risen Lord stands among us full of the Holy Spirit, ready to give the Spirit to us, and our task is to receive from his fullness, so that we can proclaim the gospel of God’s love with our lives, so that, through us, the Lord can continue to touch the lives of others with his healing and life-giving presence. The Lord wants to breathe the gift of the Holy Spirit upon us so that our lives can be the open door through which he continues to come into our world. After the risen Lord left his disciples, they went out and proclaimed the good news of Easter. However, they met with resistance from one of their own, Thomas. He wasn’t ready to receive what the risen Lord was offering him through his fellow disciples. There can be resistances in our own lives to the Lord’s coming and standing among us. Yet, Thomas’s resistance did not shut out the Lord. The Lord came and stood before Thomas offering him the same gift of his peace, until Thomas finally came to make one of the greatest acts of faith in all four gospels, ‘My Lord and my God’. The Lord respects our honest unbelief. He goes at our pace. He keeps stanidng among us, leading us to Easter faith, so that he can lead others to the same Easter faith through us.

And/Or

(ii) Second Sunday of Easter

We know that fear can be very disabling. We often hold back from saying something because we are fearful of how it will be received. If we suspect that someone is going to oppose us for doing something, our tendency is not to proceed with it, even though we might know in our heart of hearts that it is worthwhile. It can happen that some people only discover quite late in life that they have a gift for something. That gift was there all along but they got very little encouragement to recognize it or to use it. The significant people in their lives may have been prone to criticizing, and so, out of fear of criticism, the gift lay dormant and was never really used. Fear of others can hold us back and inhibit our growth as human beings.

This morning’s gospel introduces us to a group of fearful disciples. It is the evening of the first day of the week, Easter Sunday, but the disciples are locked away in fear. The fear which caused them to abandon Jesus in his hour of need continues to take hold of them. They fear those who put Jesus to death, suspecting that what they did to Jesus they could do to them. It may be Easter Sunday, but the shadow of Golgotha hangs over them. The risen Lord comes to his fearful disciples. The evangelist simply states: ‘He stood among them’. Standing is often a sign of strength and confidence. When we stand we assert that we are here. We speak of people standing on their own feet, or standing their ground. The Lord stood in all the strength and self-assurance of his risen life. This was a life that no one could take from him. Rather than standing, the disciples were cowering, trying to make themselves small, invisible even. In standing among them, the Lord led them from fearfulness to boldness, from weakness to strength; he enabled them to leave their self-imposed prison and to go forth as his messengers of Easter good news. The gospel reading states that from being full of fear they were now filled with joy.

We may be able to identify rather easily with the group of fearful disciples in this morning’s gospel reading. Fear of others can prevent us from witnessing to our faith. The culture in which we live encourages us to think of our faith as something very private, to be given expression to only behind the closed doors of our churches. There can be an intolerance of any public expression of faith. In that climate, we can be fearful about giving public witness to our faith in the Lord. We may be committed to the values of the Lord’s gospel, but we can be tempted to hide that commitment from others, fearing ridicule or rejection if we declare where we really stand. In many ways, we can be very like the disciples in this morning’s gospel reading. We need the risen Lord to stand among us as much as the first disciples did, and we can be assured that he does stand among us. He breathes the Holy Spirit on us as he did on those disciples. The seven week Easter season which we are beginning is the time to draw strength from the risen Lord who stands among us. It is a time when we might pray the prayer: ‘Breathe on me, Breath of God, fill me with life anew’. The risen Lord stands among us to give us renewed courage to witness to our faith in the places where we live and work.

As well as being able to identify with the fearful disciples, we may also recognize something of ourselves in doubting Thomas. He had not been with the other disciples when the risen Lord appeared to them. He had moved away from the community of disciples. There may be times in our own lives, when like Thomas, we do not particularly want the company of other disciples. We go apart from the church, the family of believers. There can be all kinds of reasons for this. When the disciples to whom the risen Lord appeared went looking for Thomas in their excitement and declared to him, ‘We have seen the Lord’, Thomas gave them short shrift – ‘Unless I see… unless I put’. Thomas was not ready to return to the fold; he continued to keep his distance. We would have to say of Thomas that, at least, he was an honest man. He was true to himself, even though that meant putting a distance between himself and the other disciples.

It seems that the Lord respected Thomas’ honesty. When he appeared again to the disciples, this time with Thomas present, he accommodated himself to Thomas’ request. There was no rebuke, only an invitation to believe. In response to the Lord’s invitation, Thomas made one of the greatest confessions of faith in the gospels, ‘My Lord and my God’. It is often the case that those who have drifted from the community of believers go on to become people of deep faith who show others the way. The story of Thomas shows us that scepticism and doubt are not necessarily the enemies of faith. It is in being true to ourselves - including our doubts - that we find the Lord or, rather, that the Lord finds us. Thomas did not travel to Easter faith at the same pace as the other disciples. The Lord respected that. No two journeys of faith are the same. The Lord is always ready to meet us where we are.

Thomas belatedly joined the group who saw and believed. We who gather here this morning belong to a different group. We are among those who have not seen and yet believe. In this morning’s gospel reading the risen Lord declares us blessed. Here is a beatitude that embraces us all.

And/Or

(iii) Second Sunday of Easter

We have all become very security conscious in recent years. Most houses are now alarmed. The alarm has become as basic an item as table and chairs. We also feel the need to have good strong locks. Long gone are the days when you could leave the key in the door, at least in the city. Fear of what others can do to us tends to close us in on ourselves, in the very physical sense of getting stronger security, but also in other senses. We tend to be somewhat withdrawn around people we perceive to be very critical. We are slow to open up to someone we think will judge us. We hesitate to share ideas and plans we might have with those who are known not to suffer fools gladly. Fear of others can hold us back and stunt our growth.

In the gospel reading today we find the disciples locking themselves into a room because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities. Even though Mary Magdalene had come to them from the empty tomb announcing, ‘I have seen the Lord’, this was not enough to overcome their fear. What had been done to Jesus could be done to them. Self-imposed confinement was preferable to that prospect. The turning point for the disciples came when the risen Lord himself appeared to them behind their closed doors and lifted them beyond their fear. He did this by breathing the Holy Spirit upon them, thereby filling them with the energy and the power of God, freeing them from the fear that held them back and releasing them to share in his mission in the world. In the power of the Spirit they came to life and went forth from their self-imposed prison to witness publicly to the risen Lord. This is exactly the picture of the disciples that Luke gives us in the first reading today. He describes a community of believers, the church, witnessing to the Lord with great power by the quality of their living.

We can all find ourselves, as disciples, in the situation of those first disciples as described in the first reading. What Shakespeare calls, ‘the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’, can wear down our commitment to following the Lord and to serving him with our gifts. Like the disciples in the gospel reading, we can come to a kind of a full stop on our faith journey. The temptation to pull down the shutters and to lock ourselves away can be very strong. The tendency to self-preservation, which, in itself, is a wholesome tendency, can come to dominate our lives, and prevent us from doing what we are capable of doing with the Lord’s help. The wounds we carry from earlier efforts and initiatives can make us hesitate to put ourselves forward again. Even when someone like a Mary Magdalene comes to us full of enthusiasm and hope we are unaffected. We let them get on with it, while we hold back and stay safe. The gospel reading today suggests that the risen Lord will not leave us alone in our self-imposed confinement. If a Mary Magdalene makes no impact on us, the Lord will find another way to enter our lives and to fill us with new life and new energy for his service. Locked doors, or even locked hearts, are no obstacle to the Lord’s coming. He will find a way to enter the space where we have chosen to retreat and he will empower us to rise above what is holding us back. He does require some openness on our part; at the very least some desire on our part to become what the Lord is calling us to be. The risen Lord stands ready to breathe new life into us. He never ceases to recreate us and to renew us in his love. Easter is the season when we celebrate the good news that the power of the risen Lord is stronger than whatever weakness or discouragement might afflict us.

In a few moments we will celebrate the baptism of N. What the Lord did for the first disciples on that first Easter Sunday he now does for N., breathing his Holy Spirit upon him. As the Lord re-created the disciples by breathing his Holy Spirit on them, he now creates N. as his disciple through the sacrament of Baptism. Today N. is brought into the community of disciples, the church, and we are gathered here to welcome him into that community. N. does not yet have faith in the strict sense, but we carry the faith for him. We are among those whom the risen Lord calls blessed in the gospel reading, those who have not seen and yet believe. We have not seen in the way that Thomas and the other disciples saw, and yet we believe. It is into this believing community that N. is now about to be baptized. Without such a believing community, baptism would make no sense and could not be celebrated. Once baptized into this believing community, hopefully N. will catch the faith for himself, and, in time, be counted among those whom the Lord declares blessed, those who believe without having seen. The light of the Easter candle, the light of Christ, the light of faith, will be carried for him today and for the coming years, but only until he is ready to take that light for himself and to carry it for himself. In the meantime, N. will look to us to shown him what it means to be a disciple of the Lord, what it means to walk in the light of Christ. We pray that we will each be faithful to our own baptismal calling, so that N. may be helped to grow into his baptismal identity and calling.

And/Or

(iv) Second Sunday of Easter

Cardinal Joseph Bernardin was archbishop of Chicago. He was told in August 1996 that a cancer which had been in remission had returned and that he had only a short time to live. He died the following November. During those two months he wrote a book covering the previous three years of his life, entitled, ‘The Gift of Peace’. One of the most difficult experiences of those last three years of his life was a much publicized accusation of misconduct which was made against him by a young man called Stephen. He subsequently withdrew the accusation and acknowledged that it was false. In his book Cardinal Bernardin describes the reconciliation which he initiated with his accuser. Stephen was dying of AIDS at the time, and at their meeting he offered the cardinal an apology which was gently accepted. Cardinal Bernardin offered Stephen a gift, a Bible in which he had inscribed words of loving forgiveness. Then he showed him a one hundred year old chalice, a gift to the cardinal from a man who asked him to celebrate Mass sometime for Stephen. That Cardinal Bernardin celebrated Mass there and then. He described his meeting with Stephen as the most profound and unforgettable experience of reconciliation in his whole priestly life.

In this morning’s gospel reading we find the first disciples dispirited and terrified after the death of Jesus. They have to confront their failure to be faithful to Jesus in the hour of his passion and death. They are in a huddle, having locked themselves away in a room. Suddenly Jesus stands among them and says to them, ‘Peace be with you’ and breaths the Holy Spirit upon them. The risen Lord was reconciling his failed disciples to himself; they came to recognize themselves as forgiven, and, so their hearts were filled with joy. Having experienced the gift of the Lord’s forgiveness, they are sent out in the power of the Spirit to offer to others the gift of forgiveness they have received. ‘Those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven’. That gift and mission is given to all of us who have been baptized into the risen Jesus. Having been reconciled to the Lord we are all sent out as ministers of reconciliation. The sacrament of reconciliation is, of course, a privileged moment of reconciliation, when we receive anew the Lord’s forgiveness and extend that forgiveness to those who have hurt us. However, there are other, more frequent, moments of reconciliation: the daily forgiveness of our brothers and sisters; the speaking of the hard words, ‘I am sorry’ and the gracious acceptance of another’s offer of apology. In these moments, Jesus is standing in our midst, helping us to break out of situations that can be draining of life for everyone involved.

Thomas had not been in the room when the risen Lord appeared to the other disciples. He had missed out on the Lord’s bestowal of the gifts of peace and forgiveness. Thomas seems to have cut himself off from the community of the disciples. He had gone off on his own to nurse his wounds, and so he missed out on the Lord’s presence in the midst of the fearful and failed disciples. He is not unlike so many today who, for a variety of reasons, have cut themselves off from the church. When we cut ourselves off from the community of believers, we lose out greatly. For all its flaws and failings, the church is the place where we encounter the risen Lord. The Lord continues to stand among the community of disciples, especially when we gather in worship and pray, when we gather to serve others in the Lord’s name. It is there that we hear the Lord say, ‘Peace be with you’, that we experience his forgiveness for our past failures, that we hear the call to go out in his name as his witnesses, that we receive the Holy Spirit to empower us to be faithful to that mission. The community of disciples reached out to Thomas; they shared their newfound faith with him, their Easter faith, ‘We have seen the Lord’. Those first disciples remind us of our calling to keep reaching out in faith to all those who, for whatever reason, have drifted away from the community of believers and no longer gather with us. If we do so, we may encounter the same negative response that the first disciples experienced from Thomas, ‘I refuse to believe’.

Yet, even though our efforts may fail, as the efforts of the disciples failed, we know that the Lord will keeps reaching out to us when we cut themselves off from the community of faith, just as the Lord reached out to Thomas. ‘Doubt no longer’, he said to him, ‘but believe’. Then, out of the mouth of the sceptic came one of the greatest acts of faith in all of the gospels, ‘My Lord and my God’. Thomas Merton wrote in his book Asian Journal, ‘Faith is not the suppression of doubt. It is the overcoming of doubt, and you overcome doubt by going through it. The man of faith who has never experienced doubt is not a person of faith’. There was a great honesty about Thomas; he didn’t pretend to believe when he didn’t. The gospel reading suggests that such honesty is never very far from authentic faith.

And/Or

(v) Second Sunday of Easter

Sometimes people of faith can worry when they sense that doubts have crept into their faith. They sense that their faith is not as strong as it used to be because they have all these doubts that they never had in the past. Because of their doubts, prayer does not come as easy to them. They feel that they are no longer on the same wavelength as other people of faith. They start to compare their own faith unfavourably with the faith of others. Yet, faith and doubt are inseparable companions. Some of the church’s saints were plagued with doubt and suffered a great darkness of spirit. Saint Therese of Lisieux comes to mind in that regard. In more recent times, some of the writings of Mother Theresa of Calcutta have revealed that she went through a time of great spiritual darkness and doubt.

Thomas Merton was a Cistercian monk who wrote many books that have been an inspiration to many people. He died about twenty years ago. In one of his books called Asian Journal he wrote, ‘Faith is not the suppression of doubt. It is the overcoming of doubt and you overcome doubt by going through it. The person of faith who has never experienced doubt is not a person of faith’. We often have to pass through a period of great religious doubt and scepticism to pass over into a deeper certitude, a certitude which is not just a human certitude but the certitude of God within us.

The gospels suggest that those closest to Jesus were no strangers to doubt. In this morning’s gospel reading from John, we meet the figure of Thomas. When the disciples sought him out after the risen Lord appeared to them, they went to Thomas with their wonderful news, the Easter gospel, ‘We have seen the Lord’. Thomas could not bring himself to share their Easter faith; he doubted that what they said could be true. He was like a wall, a block that stopped the good news cold. He laid down very clear conditions before he would believe. He insisted not only on seeing the risen Lord but on putting his finger into holes that the nails had made in Jesus’ hands and feet and putting his hand into the wound in Jesus’ side. Here was someone who wanted physical evidence before he would believe. He needed proof of a kind that would banish all doubt. It can be somewhat disconcerting for people of faith to come up against that kind of attitude. They feel helpless before it. When parents who are people of faith encounter such an attitude in their own children it can be especially distressing.

Yet, we cannot force our faith on those who are in a place of doubt, no more than others can force their faith on us when we are in that place. We need to accommodate ourselves to those who cannot share our faith, for whatever reason. This is what we find Jesus doing in the gospel reading. When he appears again to the disciples, this time with Thomas present, he doesn’t reprimand Thomas for his refusal to believe. He meets Thomas in the place where Thomas is, in that place of honest doubt, and he accommodates himself to the conditions that Thomas laid down, inviting him to touch the wounds of his crucifixion. He then gently invites Thomas to move on from doubt to faith, ‘Doubt no longer but believe’. The risen Lord is constantly calling on all of us to go through our doubt and out beyond it into a rich and full Easter faith. He continues to call in that way, even when there is no response forthcoming.

The response of Thomas to that call of the risen Lord is very striking. Out of the mouth of the great doubter comes one of the greatest confessions of faith in all of the gospels, ‘My Lord and my God’. It is a confession of faith that has resonated with believers ever since. We often recite it together as one of the responses after the moment of consecration in the Mass. It is often the case that those who have plumbed the depths of great religious doubt and scepticism emerge from that experience as people of unshakable faith. It is as if their faith has been honed and purified in the cauldron of doubt.

Thomas joined the ranks of those who saw and believed. However, after Thomas’ great profession of faith, Jesus goes on to pronounce a beatitude upon all those who believe without having seen the risen Lord in the way Thomas and the other disciples saw him. Jesus’ beatitude embraces all future generations of believers, including all of us gathered here this morning. We might be inclined to think that those to whom the risen Lord appeared are more privileged than we are. Yet, Jesus’ beatitude hints that a greater blessedness rests upon us who believe with having seen in the way they did. The risen Lord is as present to us in as real a way as he was to those eyewitnesses, through the community of faith, through the Eucharist and through his word. Through all these sacraments of his presence, the risen Lord calls out to us, ‘Doubt no longer but believe’.

And/Or

(vi) Second Sunday of Easter

For the past year or more, most of us have experienced some measure of isolation. We have not been able to gather in the usual way, whether it is in church or in other settings. For some, the experience of isolation has been especially painful and difficult, such as those in nursing homes or in hospitals. Many have felt cut off from others. Yet, even in those moments when we are cut off from others, we are never cut off from the Lord.

The gospel reading begins with an image of the disciples cutting themselves off from others, locked in a room out of fear. Fear can be very isolating. Over the past year, many of our older and more vulnerable people isolated themselves out of fear of contracting the virus. Fear can have an isolating impact on all our lives. The fear of failure, for example, can prevent us from taking initiatives that would result in our being more connected with others. Although the disciples’ fear isolated them from others, it did not isolate them from the Lord. The locked doors may have kept others out, but it could not keep the Lord out. The gospel reading says that ‘he came and stood among them’. The Lord’s love for his disciples overcame their efforts to self-isolate. The disciples may have run away from the Lord at the moment of his arrest, but the risen Lord did not run away from them; he stood among them. He stood there in all his risen power. The same risen Lord stands among us today, especially in those moments when we feel isolated or vulnerable, when fear or anxiety seems to overwhelm us. When we are brittle, we need people to stand by us. ‘Standing’ suggests a readiness to remain, to endure, to be there always. The risen Lord stands among us, especially when our human resources seem to be at their lowest.

According to the gospel reading, when the risen Lord stood among his disciples, he showed them his wounds. The Lord carried his wounds to the other side of death. The risen one is also the crucified one. In showing his disciples his wounds, he was showing them the extent of his love. He had earlier said to them, ‘a man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends’. Jesus stands before his disciples as the embodiment of God’s love. That is how the risen Lord stands among us today. He continues to show us the wounds that speak of the extent of his love for us. As Jesus hung from the cross, his wounds spoke of the depths of human cruelty. As risen Lord, his wounds speak of the depths of God’s love for us. His wounds are the openings through which the light of God’s love shines upon us. The risen Lord stands among us as one who gave his all so that we may have life to the full. Because the risen Lord is also the wounded one, he knows our own woundedness from within. The light of God’s love shining through his wounds can heal our wounds. It is to his wounded disciples that the risen Lord comes in today’s gospel reading. That is why the first words that he speaks to them are, ‘Peace be with you’. ‘Peace’ in the gospels, in the Scriptures, is not just the absence of conflict; it is a fullness of life, a wholeness of body, soul and spirit. The risen Lord stands among us as the giver of peace in that complete sense. The Lord’s action of breathing upon the disciples suggests his desire to recreate and renew them. Just as God created Adam by breathing into his nostrils the breath of life, so the risen Lord recreates his broken, wounded disciples by breathing into them the Holy Spirit. The Lord continues to stand among us to recreate us, to heal us of our wounds by breathing into us the Holy Spirit. Only then, can he send us out as messengers of his love to others, as he sent out the first disciples, ‘As the Father has sent me, so am I sending you’.

If fear kept the disciples isolated, it was doubt and disillusionment that kept Thomas isolated. He was not with the other disciples when the risen Lord stood among them. He had broken with the community of disciples. We can be tempted to do the same when our faith in the Lord and in the community of his followers takes a battering. Yet, just as the disciples’ fear could not isolate them from the Lord, Thomas’s doubt could not isolate him from the Lord. Once again, the risen Lord came and stood among them, with Thomas present this time. He shows Thomas the wounds of his love, inviting him to touch them, and he gently issues an invitation to Thomas that is addressed to us all in those moments when our faith is weakening, ‘Doubt no longer but believe’. It is Thomas who makes the greatest confession of faith in the whole of John’s gospel, ‘My Lord and my God’. Thomas’ journey to the Lord was different to the other disciples. We all have our own journey to the Lord and the Lord has his own ways to meet each one of us wherever we are and to offer us his peace.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

6th April >> Fr. Martin’s Reflections / Homilies on Today’s Mass Readings for Easter Saturday (Inc. Mark 16:9-15): ‘Proclaim the good news to all creation’.

Easter Saturday

Gospel (Except USA)

Mark 16:9-15

Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News.

Having risen in the morning on the first day of the week, Jesus appeared first to Mary of Magdala from whom he had cast out seven devils. She then went to those who had been his companions, and who were mourning and in tears, and told them. But they did not believe her when they heard her say that he was alive and that she had seen him.

After this, he showed himself under another form to two of them as they were on their way into the country. These went back and told the others, who did not believe them either.

Lastly, he showed himself to the Eleven themselves while they were at table. He reproached them for their incredulity and obstinacy, because they had refused to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. And he said to them, ‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation.’

Gospel (USA)

Mark 16:9–15

Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.

When Jesus had risen, early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told his companions who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.

After this he appeared in another form to two of them walking along on their way to the country. They returned and told the others; but they did not believe them either.

But later, as the Eleven were at table, he appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised. He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”

Reflections (12)

(i) Easter Saturday

There is a focus in today’s gospel reading on the refusal of the disciples to believe the report of some of their group that Jesus had appeared to them. They did not believe Mary Magdalene or the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. It was only when the risen Lord appeared to them himself that they believed he had been raised from the dead. Once Jesus had been crucified, the disciples never expected to see him again. The news from others that he was alive was too good to be true. Perhaps we are all a little like the first disciples. We find it easier to believe that Jesus was crucified than that he was raised from the dead. It often seems that the dominant symbol of Christianity is the crucified Jesus rather than the risen Jesus. We tend to have far more images of the crucified Jesus in our churches than of the risen Jesus. Yet, the good news that Jesus is risen is at the core of our faith. As Saint Paul, to whom the risen Lord appeared, says in one of his letters, ‘if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain’. We can also say that if Christ had not been raised, then the disciples who had gone into hiding after the crucifixion of Jesus would never have been seen again. Instead, they became enthusiastic and courageous proclaimers of the gospel of Christ crucified and risen. In today’s first reading, when the Jewish leaders gave Peter and John a stern warning never to teach in the name of Jesus again, they replied, ‘We cannot promise to stop proclaiming what we have seen and heard’. Christ is risen and is alive among us and within us. This is the good news of Easter we are asked to believe in and make our own. It is such good news that the church gives us seven weeks to reflect upon it and absorb it. Just as Lent lasted seven weeks, the Easter season lasts seven weeks, from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. As we absorb the good news of Easter during this time, we can come to say with Saint Paul, ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me’, and we can enter more fully into our Easter calling to bring Christ to others by our lives.

And/Or

(ii) Easter Saturday

The gospel reading this morning suggests that those who had spent time with Jesus, his companions, his closest disciples, were slow to believe the good news of Easter when it was proclaimed to them. Mary Magdalene went to Jesus’ companions to share her wonderful experience of meeting the risen Lord and they refused to believe her. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus went to the other disciples to share the wonderful news of their meeting with the risen Lord and their story was not believed. It was as if those closest to Jesus were in such a dark place that they were incapable of hearing news that Jesus was not dead but alive. Finally, according to our gospel reading, the risen Lord showed himself to his closest companions, reproaching them for their refusal to believe what others had said to them. It took the Lord himself to move his disciples from unbelief to belief. Yet, the Lord kept faith with them; having appeared to them he sent them out as messengers of the good news of Easter. Their initial refusal to believe did not disqualify them from the mission Jesus intended for them. We can find ourselves in a place where we seem incapable of hearing the good news that the Lord is risen, that life is stronger than death and love stronger than sin. Yet, the Lord never gives up on us. He continues to come towards us until our eyes are opened. He continues to believe in us, even when we do not believe in him. Even though the Lord may initially have met with resistance, he continues to hold out to us the privilege of proclaiming by our words and our lives the good news of Easter.

And/Or

(iii) Easter Saturday

In this morning’s gospel reading the disciples refuse to believe when Mary Magdalene comes to them and tells them that she had seen the Lord. They refuse to believe again when two disciples who had been on their way into the country tell them that they had seen the Lord. Eventually the Lord himself appears to the disciples and reproaches them for their failure to believe those who had seen him. It seems that nobody, not even Jesus’ closest associates, was prepared to believe that he had risen from the dead unless they could see him for themselves. They struggled to bring themselves to believe such good news. We can be more prone to believing bad news than good news. We too can doubt the reports of others contained within the New Testament that the Lord has risen. We can be as incredulous and obstinate as the first disciples. Yet every Easter the Lord calls out to us to believe that he is risen, with all that this good news implies for us. Easter is the season when we allow ourselves to be touched by the almost unbelievable good news that the Lord is alive and that we are destined to share in his risen life, not only beyond this earthly life but in the course of it.

And/Or

(iv) Easter Saturday

There is a striking contrast between the way that the disciples are portrayed in this morning’s gospel reading and how they are portrayed in the first reading. In the gospel reading the disciples refuse to believe Mary Magdalene and the two disciples who had left Jerusalem for Emmaus when these three people told them that Jesus was alive and had appeared to them. When Jesus himself appeared to his disbelieving disciples, he rebuked them for their refusal to believe those who had who witnessed to his resurrection. In spite of their initial failure to believe, Jesus commissions them to go out and proclaim the good news of Easter to all creation. That is precisely what we find the disciples doing in the first reading. From being people who refused to believe the Easter gospel, we now find them proclaiming that gospel with conviction and with great courage. The religious leaders in Jerusalem forbade them to preach the gospel of Jesus but the disciples, uneducated as they were, stood up to them and declared to them that they cannot stop proclaiming what they have seen and heard. The disciples are a living sign of how people can change through the power of the risen Lord. Jesus was transformed through his resurrection from the dead and he had a transforming effect on others. The same risen Lord can have a transforming effect on all of us. If we are open to his presence, he can do for us what he did for the disciples, transforming our doubt and disbelief into a faith that is public and courageous.

And/Or

(v) Easter Saturday

In this morning’s gospel reading the disciples refuse to believe when Mary Magdalene comes to them and told them that she had seen the Lord. They refuse to believe again when two disciples who had been on their way into the country tell them that they had seen the Lord. Eventually the Lord himself appears to the disciples and reproaches them for their failure to believe those who had seen him. It seems that nobody, not even Jesus’ closest associates, was prepared to believe that he had risen from the dead unless they could see him for themselves. Only then was their incredulity and obstinacy overcome. Unlike those first disciples, we have no option but to believe that the Lord has risen on the basis of the reports of others. The Lord will not appear to us as he appeared to his original disciples. In John’s gospel Jesus declares blessed those who believe without having seen him, in the way the original disciples saw him. That beatitude embraces all of us here this morning, all who believe without having seen. We believe on the basis of those who have seen the Lord, something the original disciples were very slow to do. The beatitude suggests that we who believe without having seen are no less privileged than those who believed on the basis of seeing the Lord for themselves. The beatitude seems to suggest that we are more blessed in some ways because of our willingness to believe without having seen. Yet, although we may not have seen the Lord, we experience his presence in a variety of ways, in and through his word, the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, and in and through each other, the members of his body.

And/Or

(vi) Easter Saturday

Today’s gospel has a focus on the unwillingness of the disciples to initially believe the Easter story. Mary of Magdala went to them to announce that the risen Lord had appeared to her, and they did not believe her. Two of the disciples went to the other disciples to announce that the risen Lord had appeared to them and their story was not believed either. Jesus himself finally appeared to those who had refused to believe the story of Mary of Magdala or the story of the two disciples and rebuked them for their reluctance to believe those who had seen the risen Lord. The gospel reading suggests that the disciples were very slow to believe the news that Jesus had risen from the dead, until the risen Lord himself appeared to them. Nothing less than a personal appearance of the risen Lord to them would bring them to Easter faith. It is evident that Jesus’ closest associates did not expect him to rise from the dead and had great difficulty in really believing it. However, the first reading shows that once the risen Lord appeared to them and they knew in their hearts that the Lord had risen from the dead, nothing would stop them from proclaiming this wonderful news. When the Jewish authorities warned them to make no further statements about Jesus, the disciples stood their ground, ‘We cannot promise to stop proclaiming what we have seen and heard’. Once doubt and incredulity gave way to Easter faith, after the Lord appeared to them, their faith was unshakable. It is because of their eventual, unshakable, faith and their courage in proclaiming it that we are here today to celebrate our Easter faith. The risen Lord has touched all our lives through the preaching of those eye witnesses of the risen Lord, and for this we give thanks.

And/Or

(vii) Easter Saturday

Today’s gospel reading is often referred to as the longer ending of Mark’s gospel. It was probably added to the end of Mark’s gospel by someone other than Mark, to bring Mark’s gospel more into line with the ending of the other gospels. This passage consists of a summary of the appearances of the risen Lord that are to be found in the other three gospels. There is mention there of Jesus’ appearance to Mary Magdalene, which is found in the gospel of John, of Jesus’ appearances to two disciples, which is found in Luke, and of Jesus’ appearance to the disciples as a group, which is to be found in Luke and John. The mission the risen Lord gives to the disciples at the end of the reading, ‘Go out to the whole world…’ reminds us of the commission the risen Lord gives to the disciples at the end of Matthew’s gospel, ‘Go make disciples of all the nations’. Why did some early scribe think it necessary to make this addition to the ending of Mark? Probably because the way Mark had ended his gospel seemed very unsatisfactory to him and to many others in the early church, ‘So they (the women) went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid’. Why, people must have wondered, end a gospel on this note of fear-filled silence? Mark was sensitive to human failure and, in particular, to the failure of Jesus’ disciples, including the women disciples who had been more faithful to Jesus than their male companions. Yet, he was all the more sensitive to the Lord’s faithfulness to his failing disciples. Mark and his readers knew that the risen Lord met his failing disciples in Galilee, where he renewed their call. Even in today’s gospel reading, the failure of the disciples is in evidence. They refused to believe either Mary Magdalene or the two disciples when they said that they had seen the risen Lord. Yet, it was to these somewhat obstinate disciples that Jesus entrusted his world-wide mission. The Lord continues to call us, weak as we are, to share in his work of proclaiming the Easter gospel.

And/Or

(viii) Easter Saturday

There are many examples both in the past and in the present of people in power and authority seeking to silence those whose public utterances are considered a threat. The spoken or written word can often be experienced as dangerous by those who have a vested interest in preserving the status quo. In today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the religious leaders attempt to silence the preaching of Peter and John, ‘they gave them a warning on no account to make statements or to teach in the name of Jesus’. The pressure by those in authority to silence those considered dissidents does not always meet with success. Courageous people who know they have truth and right on their side can continue to speak out, in spite of the pressure to do otherwise. In our first reading, Peter and John show such courage. They refuse to be silenced, declaring to those who try to silence them, ‘We cannot promise to stop proclaiming what we have seen and heard’. Peter and John recognized that they were subject to a higher authority than the authority of the religious leaders and that was the authority of God, saying to the religious leaders, ‘you must judge whether in God’s eyes it is right to listen to you and not to God’. They were clear that they must listen to God, and God was calling them to proclaim the gospel of Jesus. Peter and John can be an inspiration to us all to be courageous in our own witness to our faith, in spite of pressure to be silent. At the end of the gospel reading, the risen Lord says to his disciples, ‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the good news to all creation’. We have all received that same commission, to proclaim the good news by what we say and above all by the way we live. If we turn towards the Lord, he will give us the courage to be faithful to that commission, just as he gave courage to Peter and John.

And/Or

(ix) Easter Saturday

In today’s gospel reading, the evangelist Mark gives us a list of some of the appearances of the risen Lord to his disciples. He mentions the Lord’s appearance to Mary Magdalene, his appearance to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and his appearance to the Eleven disciples in the setting of a meal. A fuller account of these appearances are to be found in the other gospels. There were many other appearances of the risen Lord, according to the gospels, and according to the earliest witness to the appearances, the apostle Paul. He lists in his first letter to the Corinthians the Lord’s appearances to Peter, and to the Twelve, to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters at the same time, to James, to all the apostles, and, finally, to himself, on the road to Damascus. The tradition of the appearances of the risen Jesus to his followers was an inspiration to the early church, including those who did not have such a privileged experience. The Lord’s appearances to so many remains an inspiration to us all. It was those appearances which allowed the first disciples to understand why the tomb of Jesus was empty on the third day after his crucifixion. It was empty because he had been raised to a new and glorious life, in which his body was transformed. According to today’s gospel reading, when Mary Magdalene told the other disciples that the Lord had appeared to her, they did not believe her, and when the two disciples told the other disciples that the Lord had met them on the road to Emmaus, they did not believe them either. When the Lord himself appeared to this wider group of disciples, he reproached them for refusing to believe these reports. Sometimes good news can be harder to believe than bad news. This Easter we are invited to renew our faith in the good news of Easter. The Lord is risen from the dead. He thereby reveals to us our own ultimate destiny, which is to share in his risen life beyond this earthly life. As risen Lord, he is also present with us throughout our earthly life, empowering us to live in the same self-giving way as he did, the way that leads through death to new life.

And/Or

(x) Easter Saturday

In today’s first reading, the religious leaders are concerned to stop ‘the whole thing spreading any further among the people’. ‘The whole thing’ refers to the preaching of the gospel by Peter, John and others and the favourable response of people to their preaching. However, the religious leaders were fighting a losing battle. The Lord had been raised from the dead; he was on the loose and they could do nothing about it. He had poured out his Spirit upon his followers and in the power of the Spirit they were proclaimed the good news of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, and they couldn’t be stopped. As Peter says in the reading, ‘We cannot promise to stop proclaiming what we have seen and heard’. The gospel reading suggests that initially Jesus’ closest disciples struggled to believe the gospel that God’s love had overcome human hatred by raising his Son from the dead. They did not believe Mary Magdalene when she told them what she had seen and heard, nor did they believe the two disciples who had set out for Emmaus when they told them what they had seen and heard. It was only when the risen Lord appeared to them and they saw and heard for themselves that they believed in the Easter gospel. Then they responded enthusiastically to the Lord’s call to ‘go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation’, which is what we find Peter and John doing in today’s first reading. Having met the risen Lord themselves, no human authority could stop them proclaiming what they had seen and heard. The life-giving power of the risen Lord at work in and through his followers could not be contained or controlled by either religious or political authorities. Easter cannot be cancelled in any time or place. The risen Lord will continue to work in us and through us if we give him the opportunity. The efforts of some to ‘stop the whole thing spreading’ will always be in vain. When it comes to the risen Lord, there is no stopping him.

And/Or

(xi) Easter Saturday

The impression today’s gospel reading gives is that the first disciples found it very difficult to believe reports that Jesus who had been crucified was now alive. When Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and she went and told the disciples what had happened, they were in such deep mourning that they did not believe her. When Jesus appeared to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and they went and told the disciples their news, they did not believe them either. It was only when the risen Lord appeared to the group of disciples themselves that they finally believed that Jesus who was crucified was now living with a new quality of life. On that occasion, the risen Lord rebuked them for refusing to believe the witness of those to whom he had appeared. We are asked to do what the original disciples failed to do, to believe that Jesus is risen on the basis of the witness of those to whom the risen Lord appeared. We find this witness in the gospels and in the letters of Paul. Our belief in the risen Lord is also based on his coming to us personally. He may not appear to us in the way he appeared to the first disciples, but he touches our own lives in a very personal way. We are to belief on the basis of the written testimony of the first eye witnesses, and on the basis of our own personal experience of the risen Lord’s presence in our lives. The risen Lord who comes to us sends us out in the same way he sent out the disciples in today’s gospel reading, to ‘proclaim the good news (of Easter) to all creation’.

And/Or

(xii) Easter Saturday

There is a focus in today’s gospel reading on the refusal of the disciples to believe the report of some of their group that Jesus had appeared to them. They did not believe Mary Magdalene or the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. It was only when the risen Lord appeared to them himself that they believed he had been raised from the dead. Once Jesus had been crucified, the disciples never expected to see him again. The news that he was alive was too good to be true. Perhaps we are all a little like the first disciples. We find it easier to believe that Jesus was crucified than that he was raised from the dead. It often seems that the dominant symbol of Christianity is the crucified Jesus rather than the risen Jesus. We tend to have far more images of the crucified Jesus in our churches than of the risen Jesus. Yet, the good news that Jesus is risen is at the core of our faith. As Saint Paul, to whom the risen Lord appeared, says in one of his letters, ‘if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain’. We can also say that if Christ had not been raised, then the apostles who had gone into hiding after the crucifixion of Jesus would never have been seen again. Instead, they became enthusiastic and courageous proclaimers of the gospel of Christ crucified and risen. In today’s first reading, when the Jewish leaders gave Peter and John a stern warning never to teach in the name of Jesus again, they replied, ‘We cannot promise to stop proclaiming what we have seen and heard’. Christ is risen and is alive among us and within us. This is the good news of Easter we are asked to believe in and make our own. It is such good news that the church gives us seven weeks to reflect upon it and absorb it. Just as Lent lasted seven weeks, the Easter season lasts seven weeks, from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. As we absorb the good news of Easter during this time, we can come to say with Saint Paul, ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me’.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

5th April >> Fr. Martin's Reflections / Homilies for Today's Mass Readings (Inc. John 21:1-14) for Easter Friday: ‘Come and have breakfast’,

Easter Friday

Gospel (Except USA)

John 21:1-14 

Jesus stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish

Jesus showed himself again to the disciples. It was by the Sea of Tiberias, and it happened like this: Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two more of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said, ‘I’m going fishing.’ They replied, ‘We’ll come with you.’ They went out and got into the boat but caught nothing that night.

  It was light by now and there stood Jesus on the shore, though the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus. Jesus called out, ‘Have you caught anything, friends?’ And when they answered, ‘No’, he said, ‘Throw the net out to starboard and you’ll find something.’ So they dropped the net, and there were so many fish that they could not haul it in. The disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord.’ At these words ‘It is the Lord’, Simon Peter, who had practically nothing on, wrapped his cloak round him and jumped into the water. The other disciples came on in the boat, towing the net and the fish; they were only about a hundred yards from land.

  As soon as they came ashore they saw that there was some bread there, and a charcoal fire with fish cooking on it. Jesus said, ‘Bring some of the fish you have just caught.’ Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore, full of big fish, one hundred and fifty-three of them; and in spite of there being so many the net was not broken. Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ None of the disciples was bold enough to ask, ‘Who are you?’; they knew quite well it was the Lord. Jesus then stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish. This was the third time that Jesus showed himself to the disciples after rising from the dead.

Gospel (USA)

John 21:1-14 

Jesus stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish.

Jesus showed himself again to the disciples. It was by the Sea of Tiberias, and it happened like this: Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two more of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said, ‘I’m going fishing.’ They replied, ‘We’ll come with you.’ They went out and got into the boat but caught nothing that night.

  It was light by now and there stood Jesus on the shore, though the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus. Jesus called out, ‘Have you caught anything, friends?’ And when they answered, ‘No’, he said, ‘Throw the net out to starboard and you’ll find something.’ So they dropped the net, and there were so many fish that they could not haul it in. The disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord.’ At these words ‘It is the Lord’, Simon Peter, who had practically nothing on, wrapped his cloak round him and jumped into the water. The other disciples came on in the boat, towing the net and the fish; they were only about a hundred yards from land.

  As soon as they came ashore they saw that there was some bread there, and a charcoal fire with fish cooking on it. Jesus said, ‘Bring some of the fish you have just caught.’ Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore, full of big fish, one hundred and fifty-three of them; and in spite of there being so many the net was not broken. Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’ None of the disciples was bold enough to ask, ‘Who are you?’; they knew quite well it was the Lord. Jesus then stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish. This was the third time that Jesus showed himself to the disciples after rising from the dead.

Reflections (7)

(i) Easter Friday

Several of Jesus’ first disciples were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus called them from their fishing to become his followers, promising to make them fishers of people. When Jesus was crucified and all their hopes in him were dashed, they returned to Galilee and went back to their fishing. Today’s gospel reading suggests that they had lost their touch as fishermen. Perhaps their hearts weren’t really in it. It is hard to go back to what we once did when, in the meantime, we have found something much more fulfilling. Yet, there is a short statement in the gospel reading which would change everything for the better, ‘There stood Jesus on the shore’. The risen Lord would not allow his disciples to go back. He had vitally important work for them to do. He began, however, by helping them with their fishing. His suggestion to throw their nets to starboard resulted in such a huge catch of fish that one of the disciples, the beloved disciple, immediately recognized the stranger on the shore as the Lord. ‘It is the Lord’, he said. Having helped them with their fishing, he then invited them to breakfast, ‘Come and have breakfast’. By very simple gestures, he was drawing them back into communion with himself. They may have abandoned him, but he had not abandoned them nor had he changed his plans for them. The Lord is always standing on the shore of our lives, regardless of what we have done or failed to do. He is always at work from within our own experience drawing us into communion with himself. He remains faithful to us, even when we are unfaithful. Having drawn us to himself, he then sends us out to share in his work of shepherding, the work of serving others in love, and he gives us his Spirit, the Holy Spirit, to empower us to do his work.

And/Or

(ii) Easter Friday

In this morning’s gospel reading we find the disciples returning to their occupation as fishermen. Jesus had called them away from their profession some years earlier. He had called them to follow him and to share in his work of drawing people into God’s kingdom. However, now that Jesus had been crucified, there was nothing to do but go back to what they knew best. They were returning to their past. However, a little bit like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus who were heading in the wrong direction, these disciples were facing in the wrong direction; they were heading back to where they had been. The risen Lord now stood on the shore of the Sea of Galilee to redirect them, to renew the call he had made to them by the Sea of Galilee some years earlier. He first established communion with them, the communion they had broken by abandoning him in the hour of his passion and death. He did so by the simple invitation, ‘Come and have breakfast’. We are often tempted to go back to where we have been, even if it is only in our memories. Yet, the Lord is always calling us forward. Even when we have failed him in various ways, he continues to call us to begin afresh, and to cast our net in a different direction. Our relationship with the Lord always has a future that is full of hope. Easter is a season when we are invited to recognize the Lord on the shore of our lives calling out to us to follow where he is leading us.

And/Or

(iii) Easter Friday

John’s gospel draws heavily on the imagery of light and darkness. Only four verses into the gospel we have that ringing declaration, ‘the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it’. That image of light and darkness is there in today’s gospel reading. The disciples are out on the Sea of Tiberias fishing at night, in the darkness. After the disaster of Golgotha, they have gone back to their former occupation. Yet, they seem to have lost their touch; in the darkness of night, they catch nothing, they labour to no avail. Their professional failure on this occasion harks back to their personal failure during the passion of Jesus when they showed themselves unfaithful to him in various ways. The dark night of failure is something we have all experienced in different ways at different times. Yet, with the coming of the dawn, Jesus stands on the shore, although the disciples did not recognize him at first; the light was shining in the darkness. In response to the word of this stranger, the disciples cast their nets again and this time they catch a huge number of fish. The word of the Lord brings light into their darkness, and their labour bears rich fruit. We are reminded of an earlier saying of Jesus in John’s gospel, ‘those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing’. Today’s gospel reading reminds us that the Lord’s light always shines in our darkness, whatever form that darkness takes. We are being assured that our failures need not have the last word. The Lord remains in communion with us, and if we seek to be in communion with him and are open to his word, he will work powerfully to bring new life out of our failures.

And/Or

(iv) Easter Friday

In the gospel reading this morning the risen Lord comes to a group of his disciples. All of the disciples in that group had failed him during the time of his passion, except one, the disciple Jesus loved. In spite of their failure the risen Lord comes to them. At the time of his coming they were failing again, failing to catch fish, even though they were experienced fishermen. Jesus came to them in the night of their failure. His presence had a transforming effect on them. In response to his word of invitation, they caught a huge haul of fish and they would soon become fishers of people, sharers in his missionary work. Jesus went on to speak a second word of invitation to them, ‘Come and have breakfast’. He, thereby, entered into communion with those who had broken communion with him. Jesus did not reproach his disciples for their failure. He called out to them, spoke inviting words to them, built communion with them. The Lord relates to us as he related to those disciples. In the dark night of our own failures, the Lord stands on the shore of our lives; he comes to us, not to reproach us, but to speak a life-giving word to us, an inviting word, a transforming word. We pray that we would hear that word of the Lord as spoken to each of us this Easter season.

And/Or

(v) Easter Friday

This morning’s gospel reading makes reference to the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The disciples had an unproductive night of fishing on the Sea of Galilee. The gospel reading tells us that as the darkness of night gave way to the light of dawn, ‘there stood Jesus on the shore’. We could savour that verse, those of us who are fortunate to live on the shore. Wherever we live, by the sea or inland, in beautiful or dismal surroundings, Jesus is always standing on the shore of our lives. Like the disciples in the gospel reading, we don’t always recognize him. Even those who had been with Jesus for the previous couple of years did not recognize him on the shore; they presumed he was dead and that they would never see him again. One of the disciples went on to recognize the stranger on the shore, the disciple Jesus loved, the beloved disciple. After the wonderful catch of fish he exclaimed, ‘it is the Lord’. We often need others to point out the Lord to us. In our sorrow, our brokenness, our sense of failure, we can become blind to the Lord who sees us with eyes of love. It is then that we need someone to show us what we cannot see. This is part of the season we are called to render each other; we can open up each other to the Lord, to reveal the Lord to each other.

And/Or

(vi) Easter Friday

In this morning’s gospel reading we find the disciples going back to their work as fishermen in the aftermath of Jesus’ crucifixion. The journey they set out on when Jesus called them from their fishing by the Sea of Galilee had come to an end. Now they could only go back to where they had been before Jesus called them. There can be times in our own lives when we feel that we have gone backwards rather than forwards in our relationship with the Lord. Perhaps something happens in our lives that undermines our faith and our hope. Yet, in the gospel reading, the journey of faith that the disciples thought had come to an end was, in reality, only beginning. Their Lord who had been crucified was alive with a new and risen life. He came to his disheartened disciples and renewed his call to them. That call took the form of a simple invitation, ‘Come and have breakfast’. It was an invitation to a renewed communion with him. It was that renewed communion which would be the basis of the renewed call to go forth and become fishers of people, shepherds of the Lord’s flock. In those moments when we feel that we have gone backwards and that our faith has grown weak, the Lord comes to us too. As he did for those disciples by the Sea of Galilee, he invites us into a renewed communion with him. One of the ways we respond to that invitation is through our presence at the Eucharist, where the Lord says, ‘Come and eat’. We may drift from the Lord in various ways but he is always calling us back into communion with himself and from that communion he sends us out as his messengers of Easter hope.

And/Or

(vii) Easter Friday

The gospel reading this morning gives us a picture of the disciples beside the Sea of Galilee. It was Easter; the Lord had risen. Yet, it didn’t feel like Easter to the disciples. As far as they were concerned, Jesus was dead, and, so they went back to their fishing, but they seemed to have lost their knack for fishing. They caught nothing that night. Their efforts bore no fruit. There are times in our own lives when, even though it is Easter and the Lord is risen, it does not feel like Easter. Perhaps some important hope we had has been dashed; something we have invested a lot of time and effort in does not come to pass; life is not as we had hoped it would be or expected it to be. Yet, even when it does not feel like Easter in our lives, the Lord is there, just as he was standing on the shore of the Sea of Galilee in the early morning when the disciples seemed very lost. It took one the disciples to recognize the presence of Jesus and to help the others see what he saw, ‘It is the Lord’, he said. Sometimes we need someone else to help us to recognize the Lord in situations where he seems to be absent, someone whose sensitivity to the Lord’s presence is a little stronger than ours is at the time. These are the people who help us to see that all is not as dark as it seems. We thank God for such people in our lives and we ask the Lord to help us to be such a person for others.

Fr. Martin Hogan.