Barnabas was a Good Man

“For he [Barnabas] was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.” -Acts 11:24

The book of the Acts of the Apostles begins with the Ascension, where the synoptic gospels end and then moves into an account of the Pentecost. I think it is important to mention that Jesus told them to wait “until the Father sends you the gift he promised” (Acts 1:4)

 

It’s likely the apostles initially believed that the Messiah was coming only for the people of Israel. But gift the Father gives through Jesus, the Holy Spirit, caused the apostles to see that even after the Ascension of Jesus; even after they heard the teachings of Jesus from his very mouth in the previous few years, and even after the crucifixion and resurrection, they still needed to wait for the Holy Spirit. The promised gift is God’s very self, the Holy Spirit.

 

We need the Holy Spirit in order to carry out the work of Christ lest we fall flat on our face. 

 

We need the Holy Spirit for the mission of the Church.

 

Lord, grant us the grace to know you as Barnabas knew you. To be full of the Holy Spirit and faith. Amen.

"I am the Gate"

"He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out…and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.” -John 10:3-4

 “If God gave to them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?’ -Acts 11:17

 

According to the Gospel of John, Jesus uses seven I AM statements about his identity, they are:

I am the bread of life

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 way, the truth and the life

I am the true vine

 

In today’s Gospel Jesus says, “I am the gate” and Peter, as we read in Acts today, is shocked when the same Holy Spirit given to he and all those in the upper room at Pentecost is also given to gentiles who eat unclean animals. This is no trivial matter but one core to understanding the new identity given to them by Christ. Peter was specifically instructed by the Holy Spirit to go with the gentiles and not to distinguish between them and us. One cannot underscore the revolutionary nature in this sense of understanding of God and the other.

 

But why do they trust in this revolutionary notion? Why do these tradesmen and marginalized women from a backwater town of low station in life, trust in this truth with all their lives? Because they came to know the truth, beauty and goodness of Jesus and the gift Jesus gave them – the Holy Spirit – whose voice is that of Christ, sent by the Father. To use the language of the text today, they knew the voice of the one who called them. It was a process of mutual recognition that was cultivated over time, grounded in deep trust and commitment to one another.

 

Trust and faith that builds commitment is gained over time, not stolen or coercively forced upon another.

 

Take some time today to reflect on the times you heard the voice of God speak deeply into your innermost being. The voice of Christ is the gate the leads you into the Kingdom of God. Learn to trust the beauty He speaks into your life and, as Peter said, “Who was I that I could hinder God?” 

 

If you have never had an experience of God speaking into your life, ask for Jesus to show you. You will know His gentle, still, consoling, loving, beautiful voice of fullness when you hear it. Be open to hear it in unexpected ways.

 

“As the deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul thirsts for you, O God.” -Ps 42:1

"I am the Good Shepherd"

 

Good morning dear friends. Today is the Fourth Sunday in Easter, when we consider Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd. I am beginning a week of holiday so I began the day by listening to a voice I have come to trust to help navigate these divisive times. Below is a sermon given by Bishop Robert Barron on the Gospel for today. It reminds me of CS Lewis when he spoke about the truth that is in all cultures and religions but the fullness of the Truth is in Christ.

Please take the time to listen to this important homily. Let it sink in and if you have any questions or concerns please let me know.

https://youtu.be/PqnxgwRrmv0

Easter Blessings,

Fr Rob

Eucharist and Incarnation

Good morning! The text below is from a morning reflection that was sent out by Bishop Robert Barron. If you are not familiar with him, I highly recommend you checkout his ministry called Word on Fire. Here's a link:

https://www.wordonfire.org

So, today, I offer you this reflection by Bishop Barron, who says it far better than I can:

Friends, today’s Gospel declares that the Word really became flesh. Why has the Incarnation been resisted from the very beginning? Why is the extension of the Incarnation, which is the Eucharist, still such a source of division?

I think it has to do with flesh. God became one of us, as close to us as blood and muscle and bone. It is no longer correct to say simply that God is in his heaven and we are on the earth. It is not correct to say simply that God is spirit and we are matter. Matter has been invaded by spirit. In Jesus, God became flesh, and, more to the point, he invites us to eat his Body and drink his Blood. But that means that he wants us to take him into ourselves.

“Now, wait a minute!” many people think. “That’s a little too close for comfort, for it means that he wants to be Lord of my flesh and my bones, that he wants to move into every nook and cranny of my life. My work, my recreation, my sexual life, my life of play—all those fleshy things that I do—he wants to be Lord of all of that!” That’s precisely right.

Certainly, Faith is a Grace

“…and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” -John 6:51

I am thankful the Church has clung to its teaching about the Blessed Sacrament. It’s a deeply unsettling reality. But, could you imagine how unsettling the above verse would have been for those who heard it at the time, spoken by Jesus? There is little wonder that just a few verses later it is written, “When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?’”

 

In a day and age where there is so much ideological hostility, even within the Church, I wonder if the opposite of faith is not actually doubt but that of an ideological certainty that is void of grace. I guess this comes from my own experience of deepening in the truth about the sacramental teachings of the Church as a surrender not to the hubris of certainty but to the beauty and goodness of the deeply abiding intimacy of knowing Him in the Blessed Sacrament. There is an unshakable knowing in this that is not compatible with certainty. This faith is not intellectually or ideologically certain so much as it is unshakable as I gaze upon the body, blood soul and divinity of Christ who said, “I AM the bread of life.”

 

Perhaps I am struggling with the intellectual rancour of certainty, rather than the deep, abiding, unshakable peace freely given by grace. It seems to defy all understanding yet is understood. It reminds me of the Prayer of Saint Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:

were there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved as to love.

for it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.

The will of him who sent me...

“…for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.”    – John 6:38

 

When Jesus discusses the will of God, he does so in a manner that is directed to the good of the other, not himself. He came not to do his own will, but the will of his Father who sent him. The next couple of verses shed light on this question: “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should loose nothing of all that has been given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.”

 

We live in a self-focused, narcissistic culture that is concerned about me, me and me. Jesus shows us the way to live in a narcissistic world that is not self-consumed but focused on the doing the will of God. But amid all the ‘religious’ noise out there, how can I know the will of God for myself? Answering this question is a beautiful way to help our parish in the midst of a painful amalgamation move forward in a healthy, authentic way of following Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

The parish is offering the Alpha program beginning on Monday, May 3^rd for ten weeks. Why not give that a try? It will provide an opportunity to meet other people in the parish and listen to them reflect on the same big questions that you may also share.

 

Also, try reading the Gospel each day and spend a little time reflecting on it. Here’s a link to a talk I gave on praying with Scripture, which may help you: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-Q_NFzRVug&t=1424s

What have you done for me lately?

“What sign are you going to give us, so that we may see it and believe in you?” What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate…” -John 6:30-31

 

“What have you done for me lately?” is a popular question for our impatient age. The Church, of course, is not immune from the impatience of the dominant culture as we search for a new sign, or desire a new experience, or jump on whatever is new and in vogue.

 

The setting for our Gospel text today takes place on the heels of the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus just fed five thousand with merely two fish and five loaves of bread, and they are asking for signs that they may see and believe in him! It sounds to me like they are asking, “What have you done for me lately?”

 

Through this discourse, Jesus doesn’t give primacy to the past, the present or the future. He consumes time, all time, past, present and future as the eternal breaks into history. Through participation in Him in the present, by relying on Him every day, we are given the assurances of God’s working out of salvation throughout history, which gives us the hope for the future.

 

This faith that Jesus reveals is informed by the past, lived out in the present through reception of the gift of bread from heaven, God’s sacrament of love, as we expect the hope of the promises to come. 

 

This is our faith, received in love, as we live in expectant hope.

 

Why does this matter? Because we hunger for spiritual things in a world where our spiritual senses have been dulled. Jesus is the Bread of Life. This is the truth that did sustain the Church through persecution and famine. This is the truth that does sustain the Church in our current age of pandemic and myopia, This is the truth that will sustain the Church as we continue to live in this beautiful but broken world.

 

Keep the faith, love indiscriminately, and allow He who is the Bread of Life to fill your hunger and your thrist.

 

Faith and Work

 “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” -John 6:29

Jesus doesn’t expect much from people he didn’t call, but Jesus expects much from those he does call. In the context of grace, which if freely given, this verse seems to get to the heart of the tension between physical needs and spiritual needs. For those Jesus calls, he teaches a difficult lesson about the difference between the bread that endures for eternal life and the bread that perishes. 

 

Jesus is the Bread of Life and faith calls us to work toward knowing He who was sent.

 

In the reading from Acts today it was written, “And all who sat in the council looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.” This look on Stephen’s face is the fruit of his work in believing in him whom God has sent.

 

Lord Jesus, you are truly sent. Help us to trust in you. Grant us the grace to know you more intimately.

 

 

Too Good to be True?

“While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘have you anything to eat?’” -Luke 24:41

 

Have you ever experienced anything that seems too good to be true? I admit that I love being a priest and the unlikely, winding way that I found myself breaking bread at the Altar is all too much to be true for me. But it is true. I remind myself of that not only because I perform the function of a priest at the Altar, but because of the daily abundance I receive through Christ, with Christ, in Christ. It’s all too much for me to process because I am merely a participant in this daily rhythm of grace.

 

I leave the Altar and I go to the office and the doorbell rings. A man says, “Have you anything to eat.”

 

I see the wounds on his face. I don’t need to look at this hands to see that at this moment he is a penniless man from Galilee preaching to me.

The Impossible Task Ahead

Painting by Jim Padgett

“But what are they among so many people?” -John 6:9

Time and time and time again in ministry people have said to me they don’t feel qualified to be part of some ministry in the church. But Jesus wants us to see that each one of us has gifts. I want to emphasize that point – each and every one of us has gifts for the purpose of building up the church. Not just the people with theology degrees, and not only the personality types that volunteer for everything there is to be part of. Everyone. Saint Paul tells us in his letter to the Ephesians that all the baptized are to share our gifts for the building up of the church.

 

Andrew is feeling overwhelmed by the scope and impossibility of the task ahead and reasonably concludes the five loaves and two fish will not feed the crowd of five thousand. He looks at the miniscule amount of food and questions, “But what are they among so many people?” He confronts the impossibility of the task ahead.

 

Have you ever doubted the significance of what you have to offer? Maybe you have had an idea but lacked the confidence to step out and do it until you had more resources. “It isn’t enough, it will never work” is not the defining criteria in ministry. If the disciples had waited for more resources, they would never have left Galilee. Abundance can flow from simply doing what you sense you are called to do. 

 

This telling of the feeding of the five thousand comes at the beginning of John chapter 6, which leads us into the well-known bread of life discourse where Jesus says, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever comes to me will never be thirsty.”

 

What do you feel inspired to do? It could be to simply call a friend who is lonely. It could be that you have a desire to pray for some aspect of life in the parish. It may seem small and insignificant, but that’s how God broke into the world, small and insignificant. Don’t be afraid to offer your little. Come to Him. He will provide.

He Gives Without Measure

“The one who comes from heaven is above all…He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.” -John 3:31;33-34

Both my father and my brother are electricians. They are excellent at their trade and have understandably earned a great deal of professional respect for their knowledge. If I wanted to learn about electrical work, I would spend time with them soaking in their expertise and experience.

 

The Biblical witness about the person of Jesus Christ is that of being God incarnate - the great I AM who called Moses and spoke through the prophets. John the Baptist testified to the one who was greater than himself, and pointed to Jesus, so that Jesus could increase while the John the Baptist would decrease. Therefore, if we want to understand the wisdom of the ages; if we want to rest our souls in the peace of the great mysteries of life and death; if we want to know how to live a life fully alive we spend time with Jesus the Christ, who, as the text today says, “…gives the Spirit without measure.”

 

The Spirit is God. The Son is God. The Father is God. The Son gives the Spirit, which is God giving God’s very self to sustain us and lead us home while we navigate this beautiful but deeply broken world. What does the Spirit give to us? What are these gifts so freely given without measure? Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Reverence, and Fear of the Lord (Awe).

 

I need these gifts each and every day. How about you? 

Don't Condemn Yourself

“And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light…” John 3:19

In the time this text was first written, one would expect the many gods of the dominant culture were at best indifferent to the world, or even hostile. If one of these gods was assessed as showing favour on anyone it was because of the favour that was first shown to god. The central claim of Christianity is that “God so loved the world…” The primary actor is God, not humanity. And God, as revealed through Christ, loves the world with a deep abiding love. This is where we get our energy to spread such good news; to spread God’s abiding love for the world. God didn’t come to condemn the world but to save the world through him. God loved us first. Our love is a response to that first, perfect love.

 

John beautifully uses the metaphor of light and darkness. We have been reading about Nicodemus these past few days, a man who is often in the shade, looking at the light but afraid to step out into it. This, of course, stands in contrast to the woman at the well, in the blazing light of day. Just imagine, a rejected Samaritan woman portrayed as being in the blazing light while a religious man was lurking in the shadows and afraid of commitment. Jesus was deeply controversial in his day, obviously, and remain so today if we allow him to illuminate our path.

 

The light has come to fully expose God’s love for the world, yet many prefer the security of the darkness, and the Church is not immune from the darkness. Jesus unequivocally speaks about judgement because of this human tendency to go it alone, to do it my way, to hide in the darkness of self-sufficiency. The judgement comes when we choose to hide all, or some of our life, from the light of God’s self-giving, healing, restorative, salvific love.

 

What are you hiding from? Jesus didn’t come to condemn you, but to save you from that which you are hiding from in the darkness. Go, talk to a priest, and hear the words of restorative love God delights to speak into your life. 

Turn the Autopilot Off!

Photo by Richard Bennett @sailmagazine.com

“The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” -John 3:8

I love the ocean. I think I have always loved being at sea. As a former sailor and captain of an 85 foot schooner, I know how important is it to be in a close relationship with what the wind is doing and how you understand the impact a passing system may have on your voyage planning and execution. 

There are many indicators that can be used to determine the true wind speed and direction as opposed to the relative wind across the deck based on the ships heading and speed. So, our direction and speed impacts our experience of the wind. An April northerly wind off the coast of Halifax is experienced very differently if one is heading north at 15 knots or south at the same speed. The course you are on makes all the difference in your experience of the wind.

 

The spiritual life has us dependent on discernment of the Spirit in the midst of the sustaining winds of our culture, which seems to breed a rat-race logic of competition and materialism. How do we shape our course knowing the prevailing wind has an impact on our journey. An easterly wind can be experienced as southerly gust, if your surroundings are impacted by a nearby headland. There are many tangible realities that impact how we experience the wind. There were times I celebrated a high cliff that blocked the wind when being propelled by the engines. Other times, the great cliff was an impediment if under sail and I needed to maintain my heading. There are many factors when one is dependent on the wind, just as there are inherent risks associated by how you respond to the prevailing conditions.

 

Jesus teaches us that a life fully alive is one of rebirth in the Spirit. He is not teaching that we will therefore be blown about as if aimless without a rudder. As witnesses to spirit and truth who have been on this journey for a while, we know and can testify to life-giving truth of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. We have judged it to be true in spite of the storms that can blow, and the sustaining wind of the culture around us. The latter can sap us of courage, diminish our sense of risk and hold us back from sacrifice and service.

 

Christendom is done. The fair winds of comfortable cruising with the ship set to autopilot are done, and the reading from Acts today (4:32-37) gives witness to how far we have been blown off course.

 

We need all hands on deck, and both hands on the rudder, as we navigate through these troubled waters. We need the risky courage to trust that we are being led through this storm of our present age, and all its suffering, by Christ, whom we lift high, just as Moses did with the serpent in the desert.

How do you trust in the midst of a storm? What is the Spirit causing to well up inside of you? What is the Spirit staying to the Church today? How are we called to bear witness in spirit and truth today?

Pornography is an Epidemic

“What is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.” -John 3:5

Nicodemus represents that part in many of us that compartmentalizes our faith. It may be all well and good to earnestly sit in a pew on Sunday morning and give thanks to God, but what about the rest of your life? Is there a part of my life that I don’t want to invite God into? Do I act differently around co-workers because I don’t want them to know I am Christian? Do I compartmentalize my own life and, in the darkness of my innermost self, not invite Jesus to help me through difficult aspects of life?

 

As someone who has many deeply personal conversations with people, it’s obvious to me that online porn is ravaging not just the young, and not only men. You would be surprised to know how many people struggle with their use of porn. It’s an epidemic. Porn destroys our sense of self and it destroys how we look at the other, in their otherness, as beloved children of God. It results in a deep sense of shame, fueled by a powerful addictive cocktail that takes a devastating toll on our identity.

 

The intimacy of sex is beautiful. Porn is not. It’s ugly. It destroys through a process of degrading the self and other.

 

Do you struggle with the use of porn? It is possible to heal from it and to restore the brokenness you experience inside yourself and in your relationships with others. Here are two links that you may find helpful, one is American and the second is Canadian:

 

United States Council of Catholic Bishops:

https://www.usccb.org/topics/marriage-and-family-life-ministries/pornography

 

Jake Khym is a Vancouver-based clinician who co-hosts “Way of the Heart Podcast.”

https://www.wayoftheheartpodcast.com/jake-khym/

 

I pray you open this compartmentalized part of your life to Christ, and to reach out to a trusted friend for compassionate support.

Divine Mercy Sunday 2021

“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” -John 20:21

 In the gospel today we are brought into a room with the doors locked where the disciples of Jesus were gathered in fear. Who knows what was going through their minds? In the past week they had seen their friend, Jesus, enter Jerusalem like a king only to have him betrayed, beaten up and crucified. Their feelings of disappointment, grief, and bewilderment must have been intense, after all, every one of them in some way betrayed him.

 

The text does make it clear to us they were in a state of fear, locked in a room. In the midst of the fear Jesus appeared and said, “Peace be with you.”

 

Jesus ushered in peace, shalom, in the midst of fear. 

 

And then he continued, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

 

Jesus ushers in peace, and this peace has a purpose. It is a peace that is sent, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

 

So, that’s the context for the disciples two thousand years ago. What’s our context?

 

We are in the midst of a global pandemic and we hear new reports of variants of the virus spread more easily. There has been a heightened level of stress in general as a result of the virus but there are also other aspects of the toll the virus is having on us:

 

a)     Job losses: A friend of mine works for an airlines company. He told me of pilots who are out of work and are now delivering food.

 

b)    Mental health: I know teachers are doing their best to support students. But, beyond trying to stay safe themselves and foster a safe learning environment, they are also dealing with increasing instances of mental health issues among their students. 

 

c)     Covid complicates everything, like the grieving process for a loved one. I have been with some of you as you journey with loved ones in hospital, one person at the bedside at a time. Covid has even complicated the process of accompaniment while dying.

 

d)    I have had nurses tell me they are nearly always short-staffed, and it’s very difficult to get holiday approved.

 

It’s a difficult time. Stress levels are high.

 

And, for those of us in the Church, our entire archdiocese is being re-organized; it’s a reorganization that is long overdue, but doing it in the midst of a pandemic is difficult. 

 

It’s difficult for all of you, it’s difficult for your parish staff, it’s difficult for our pastor as he tries to lead us through this. It seems there isn’t one aspect of parish life that is left untouched. Whether its youth and children’s programs or property issues, there is change on top of change, on top of change in the midst of a pandemic. 

 

It seems there is only one thing that hasn’t changed and that’s the words of institution at the Altar. Jesus continues give of His very self for us. This never changes. And when God shows up, as God does, God ushers in peace.

 

On a Divine Mercy Sunday, as we consider this God of peace who shows up in the midst of fear, I suggest we consider the very nature of Divine Mercy through the lens of the words spoken by Jesus in his resurrected appearance to the disciples. 

 

Divine Mercy brings and sense of peace. Peace transforms, it radiates through the person who participates in it and we can’t help but pass it on to others. In this way, peace is like a contagious virus, it’s passed on by personal contact with people who already have peace.

 

And we can’t offer what we don’t have.

 

Okay, if this is all a little theoretical, let me ask you this…have you experienced of mercy yourself. Can you think of any area in your life where you are not at peace? Is there anything from your past that you need to reconcile? Are you in need of forgiveness? Is there someone whom you need to forgive?  

 

Anything? If not, I understand why Jesus would have no appeal to you, for even Jesus said, “I didn’t come to save the righteous but the unrighteous.”

 

If you don’t think you need to be shown mercy it is unlikey the Gospel is going to transform your heart.

 

I can only admit to you that I need God’s merciful grace every day of the week.

 

And for those of you who are carrying heavy burdens and who turned to the church and did not find mercy but condemnation – as a priest in the church, I repent. I am sorry. I don’t know how it got to this because the Church is the refuge of sinners. The Church has always been the refuge for sinners and if we stop being such a refuge we stop being the Church, we stop being the body of Christ.

 

God, who Jesus, the Son, called Father, is Love, and Jesus is the face of this Love – Love embraces sinners. That’s actually the definition of Mercy: Love turned toward the sinner. Mercy is an unmerited gift bestowed on another. And we are all sinners in need of a healing touch. None of us is “okay” but every one of us is “loved”.

Mercy is God’s healing remedy.

Divine Mercy is balm for the soul.

 

If you are hurting, carrying the scars of merciless religion, rather than faith in a merciful God of peace, a peace that surpasses all understanding, please come have a chat with me, Fr James, Bishop Currie or Fr Charlie, who live here in the rectory.

 

And if you are seeking this God of mercy, I would like to invite you to come to the Alpha Taster we will be offering here in our parish starting on Monday, April 12^th at 7:00pm over Zoom. Please visit our website or call the office to register.

 

An encounter of God’s mercy, leads one to live a life of mercy toward others.

 

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

 

This peace has a purpose, and we are sent to proclaim it.

Saturday in the Octave of Easter 2021

“For we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.” -Acts 4:20

 

Mark’s account of Mary Magdalene at the tomb tells us that Jesus first appeared to her and that, “She went out and told those who had been with him.” But, “They would not believe her.” Likewise, they didn’t believe the account of the two who reported that Jesus appeared to them while walking in the country.

 

Later Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples and he “unbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen.” And then Jesus sends this motley crew of men who abandoned him, refused to believe Mary as well as the two men walking in the countryside and says, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.”

 

It seems as though proven failure as a disciple gets one somewhat of a promotion! Of all people Jesus would call into his intimacy, and give them great responsibility, why would Jesus ever choose those men? It seems the only one who truly gets it is Mary Magdalene and she is ignored.

 

Why would Jesus ever choose those men?

 

Why, given my failures, would Jesus choose me? I certainly don’t deserve it, but He has offered me this great gift and I cannot keep from speaking about what I have seen and heard with my own eyes.

 

How about you? What has Jesus done for you? I encourage you to tell your honest account of why this Jesus from Nazareth is on your mind to a friend. You never know what will come of it. Whether your account is believed or not, tell them anyway, like Mary Magdalene did. 

Friday in the Octave of Easter 2021

“Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” -John 21:3

Just imagine what the disciples had been through since beginning to follow Jesus, but especially in the most recent days. I am sure they were each dealing with the shame of having abandoned him. One of their own, Judas, outright betrayed him to the authorities for a small sum of money, and they endured the horror of the crucifixion, but also the joyful bewilderment of the resurrection. And so here we join them, back in Galilee, as Jesus had directed, having already had two resurrection experiences, and Peter says, “I am going fishing.”

 

How do we process all we have experienced? How do we deal with the disorienting madness the world can seem to throw our way – like COVID-19 – or the awe [some] /  [full] mysticism that we may get glimpses of from time-to-time. With all Peter had been through, maybe, just maybe, he needed the time and space to try to mentally, spiritually and emotionally process all that had happened? And, as if someone unknowingly thrust into a leadership position, the others follow Peter and go fishing, in the darkness, and catch nothing.

 

How do we respond to sensory overload? How do we respond to emotional overload? How do we respond to mental overload? Peter goes fishing and his friends join him.

 

And then something healing and restorative happens and it emanates from a place inside each of us that displays our different temperaments. This is what the Saint John Chrysostom wrote about this text:

 

When they recognized him, the disciples Peter and [the beloved disciple] again exhibit their different temperaments. The one was fervent, the other more contemplative. The one was ready to go, the other more penetrating. John is the one who first recognized Jesus, but Peter is the first to come to him.

 

We are all differently gifted and we process our experiences in life differently. Whether we lunge toward Christ in active service, or contemplate Christ’s presence in silence, may we share our gifts in service to He who is risen. Peter needed to heal, and so did the beloved disciple. May we too bring our needs to Christ.

 

How do you respond to emotional overload? If you have a temperament like Peter, you may gain some healing sight by serving the poor. If you are more wired like the beloved disciple, you may need time to sit in quiet contemplation of recognizing Christ’s presence. In time, may we all see Christ and receive the graces he has to offer each of us.

Thursday in Easter Octave 2021

 “They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.” -Luke 24:42

The readings this week in the Easter Octave have forced our hearts and our minds to confront a very challenging truth about our faith. Jesus is risen! He is not a ghost, Jesus himself makes it perfectly clear that his resurrection is not simply a spiritual experience void of real flesh, in real time, in their presence. The resurrection of Jesus the Christ is the object, the centrepiece, of the faith of the church. No real bodily resurrection equals no Christian faith. 

 

In the gospel readings this week we have heard Jesus open up the Scriptures to us so that we may understand that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer. This week so far in the appointed Gospels for each day, we read that Mary Magdalene, “took hold of his feet”, (Matt 28)  Jesus called her by name (John 20), the two disciples walked and broke bread with him, (Luke 24), and here we are today with Jesus, of all things, eating a piece of broiled fish with them (Luke 24).

 

Scripture puts to rest any non-corporeal understanding of the central allegation of the Gospel. Jesus is risen. The post-resurrection Jesus is neither a ghost, nor some sort of disembodied spirit but he has returned from the grave in the flesh to walk, talk, and eat a piece of broiled fish!

 

In the midst of the fear those gathered are experiencing, Jesus comes with the greeting of peace. He then takes them through an interesting few steps to cause their hearts and minds to be opened by this troubling, frightening truth:

 

Step 1: Look at Him. He tells them to, “Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is myself.” 

 

Step 2: Touch Him. “Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones and you see that I have.”

 

Step 3: He ate with them. As if seeing and touching were not enough he asks them for something to eat and, “They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.”

 

Step 4: He opened their minds to Sacred Scripture. Just as he did on the road to Emmaus, “Then he opened their minds to the scriptures…”

 

Step 5: You are witnesses of these things. He has entrusted a task for his witnesses, “that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations.”

 

There is no escaping these uncomfortable truths about Jesus - It is the Gospel and our calling in response to it. How will you respond? Is your heart not burning inside you? Why are you frightened and why do doubts arise in your hearts?

 

 

 

Wednesday in the Easter Octave 2-21

 

Pilgrims walk The Way of Stella Maris in 2019 (www.thewayofstellamaris.com)

“They stood still, looking sad.” -Luke 24:17b

 

In Luke chapter 24, just before we join these two men on the road to Emmaus from the Gospel today, an important context is provided. Basically, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women told them of their experience at the empty tomb and the two men in dazzling clothes who confronted them and said, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen.”

 

Luke details that Peter got up and ran to the tomb but that it, “…seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” (vs 11).

 

So, we join two men on the road to Emmaus who do not believe the “idle tale” they heard earlier in the day. The reason why they are going to Emmaus is unclear but we do know they are sad, likely because the man in whom they had placed their hope was dead. Maybe they are going back to their previous lives of fishing or carpentry and to re-establish the normal routine of life in a land overrun by the Romans.

 

Have you ever had an experience in your life when all your hope in a certain outcome vanished? Have you even been left socially, mentally, physically or financially broken and in a state of great sadness as you consider all that had taken place and how it just didn’t work out the way you had envisioned? Did you ever have a time when you had no clue what you were going to do next?

 

When Jesus approached these two men he asked them, “What are you discussing with each other as you walk along?” The next words are, “They stood still, looking sad.”

 

A person they didn’t recognize as Jesus caused them to stand still.

 

A moment of stillness, in the presence of Jesus, even if you don’t know he is present, is a good time to take stock of the journey you have walked thus far in life. How are you feeling? Can you take a moment to allow how you are feeling to be interrupted by God’s presence in the midst of it? Maybe this stillness will allow you to see that it’s not the distance you have walked that is of foremost importance, it’s being open to a moment of stillness in the midst of it all for the inbreaking of Jesus. Be open to this moment in time being consumed by the eternal. 

 

It’s okay if you don’t understand right away. The disciples on the road didn’t either. But in the stillness God is providing an opportunity for you to reflect on the meaning of everything that has taken place on your journey. And, this is an opportunity to revisit Scripture, where we allow the person of Jesus to interpret his own suffering as he joins us in own own suffering. The suffering of Jesus is not a defeat of hope but a necessary pathway to hope.

 

At the breaking of bread, the fullness of the truth of Christ’s presence became clear and their response was the return to their community of friends to tell them all about their encounter with Christ. May we too be filled with such hope.

“Take this, all of you and eat of it, for this is my body, which will be given up for you.”

 

For you.

 

 

 

 

Tuesday in the Octave of Easter 2021

 

“Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned around…” John 20:16

Today’s gospel reading begins with Mary Magdalene weeping outside the tomb. In John’s account, she had already been there earlier, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone of the tomb had been removed. She ran to tell Peter who ran back with the Beloved Disciple and reported the body had been taken. Once confirmed, it says, “Then the disciples returned to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.”

 

Mary’s grief is palpable. 

In the midst of her disorientation and grief Jesus says, “Mary!” It wasn't until he called her by name that she recognized him. She didn't recognize him earlier, which, I believe points to an important movement in the spiritual life: We respond. We may think it is our initiative, but it is God’s initiation and we respond. God doesn’t love us because we love God. Our love is in response to that first love. God acts, we respond. Our love is nothing more than a dim reflection of that first, perfect love. 

 

Mary only knows him when he calls her by name, even though she asked him a question first. He didn’t respond to the question she asked but simply said, “Mary!” and she knew His voice. The main point being not so much that she didn't recognize him, but that she is known by him. It reminds me of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. They didn’t recognize him either, until he revealed himself to them in the breaking of bread, after having opened up Scripture to them.

 

It is easy amid all the noise in the world today to become discouraged, to even feel like you are in a dark place. I have many, many questions for Jesus about why the Church is being brought to its knees. But I know he calls people by name and I try to stay attentive to him knowing that He is going to act first. We will know the intimacy of His voice because we are fully known by Him.

 

You are here today because Jesus called you here. Like Mary, if you are grieving, know that He is with you, even though you may not recognize him right away. He is with you, he is always with you.

 

As the prophet Isaiah wrote,

 

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by name, you are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.”

 

God loves you. He has spoken this word of truth into your life. It is not your initiative, but Christ's, so what is your response?

Monday in the Octave of Easter 2021

 …they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. -Matthew 28:8-9

The spiritual journey often involves the interplay of fear and great joy. We may sincerely desire to surrender to the upwelling of great joy we have experienced, but fear may hold us back for any number of reasons. Sometimes that fear, or hesitancy to simply fall at the feet of Jesus and worship him is because it may come at a cost, which evokes fear in us. What will my family think? Am I crazy to be doing this? How does worshipping Jesus change the way I currently live my life?

 

A few days ago I spoke to a friend of mine who is new to military chaplaincy. He told me about a conversation he had in a training setting where he was one of the students. A fellow student who knew he was the new chaplain assigned to their unit told him that she really doesn’t like Christians because Christianity ruined the classical development of the Western world. My friend went on to explain the intensity of this other person’s disgust with Christianity and her insistence that he read a book she was convinced would change his mind from the fanciful superstitions he had come to believe. He agreed to read the book - with one condition - that she read one book he recommended and they meet to discuss both books. I admit I look forward to hearing how the subsequent conversation goes between the two.

 

My friend said about the encounter, “She had such passion for the topic, if only her heart could be lit on fire by the Gospel.” I look forward to hearing more about the conversation. Fundamentally, however, when all the layers of philosophical ideas are covered - when we search to understand the great questions of life that have been considered over the millennia, we must ask ourselves along the way if Jesus was actually risen from the dead or not. 

The entire weight of the Gospel rests on one key point: Did the resurrection of Jesus really happen?

 

Peter didn’t preach fuzzy ideas about the dawning of a new day, a new sunrise and all will be well – as wonderful and true as those ideas may be. Paul, a former enemy of the early Christian movement, didn’t go into Gentile territories and risk his life to advocate for what we would describe today as new-age spirituality. He, like Peter, proclaimed that Jesus, who was alive and walked in their midst was also crucified and was killed. That same man was resurrected in body and left the gift of the Holy Spirit for all of us to know him eternally.

 

The passion and zeal of the woman my chaplain friend met was lovely and, no doubt is grounded in many truth assertions of the Classics. The great fullness of the truth she is seeking, however, will only be found in the radical self-giving love of God. The truth of the resurrection doesn’t make anything that is true wrong. Christ fulfills truth and makes it accessible through faith in Him. Jesus didn’t come into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him, as Saint John wrote. 

 

In the midst of all the philosophical debates, as wonderful as they are, there remains one essential question to consider, because it gets to a central point of the entire Christian narrative. Either Jesus is alive or he isn’t. If he isn’t, it’s all rubbish and we should all give up all this nonsensical foolishness and either find a new religion or abandon all religions. Saint Paul said it this way to the Corinthians, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. " But if he is alive, everything changes. 

 

He is risen! Alleluia! And that causes me fear and great joy.