Fifth Sunday of Easter - 2024

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. One of the fruits that we experience as a result of our remaining in union with Jesus is the consolation we feel deep within our souls. Let us look for a moment at this notion of consolation. St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, developed a special approach to prayer in the form of a thirty-day retreat, called the Spiritual Exercises. In this time of carefully constructed prayer, those who were considering becoming Jesuits would finalize their decision. The key to this decision making through prayer was what Ignatius called the experience of the Consolation of the Holy Spirit. The person praying would make their decision, then that person would look for confirmation that their decision was the right and true decision, pleasing to God. Confirmation of their decision would be given by God through this Consolation caused by the Holy Spirit. St. Ignatius describes consolation this way.  I call it consolation when an interior movement is aroused in the soul, by which it is inflamed with love of its Creator and Lord, and as a consequence, can love no creature on the face of the earth for its own sake, but only in the Creator of them all ….. I call consolation every increase of faith, hope, and love, and all interior joy that invites and attracts to what is heavenly and to the salvation of one’s soul by filling it with peace and quiet in its Creator and Lord. As these effects were being experienced, the one praying knew for certain their choice was God’s choice for them. Even though we are not thinking about joining the Jesuits, that does not mean we cannot experience the benefits of this way of prayer. We all must make important decisions in our lives and we want them to be the right decision; in harmony with God’s will. So, we too can go to God and ask for guidance; and here, Ignatius’ way of praying for guidance can be most helpful. The key here is listening for God’s Voice with our hearts. We have already worked out our decision in our heads; the pros, the cons etc.; now it is the heart’s turn to way in. Our hearts tell us by a deep and certain peace, by a strong conviction, a calm, consoling belief that the Spirit is with us, confirming our decision. With that we can now act. The final test will be in the fruits of our decision. Only good vines produce good fruit. The fruits of the Spirit are our final discernment. That brings us to today’s gospel and Jesus’ example to the vines and their fruit: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.” In his rules for discernment, St. Ignatius points out that when we get off the track of the good decisions we make in service of the Lord the Spirit withdraws the consolation we are enjoying, prunes it so that we see and understand our mistakes and correct them.  It is in knowing Jesus, knowing the gospels, knowing the works and fruits of the Spirit describe in the scriptures that we learn to recognize the Voice of consolation speaking in our hearts: the VOICE of charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity. It is by these fruits that we are able to hear the Spirit’s Voice of Consolation. More on Praying Scripture . . . LINK . . .

.

Video Commentary on this Sunday's Readings 2nd.Reading:  . . . LINK . . . Gospel: . . . LINK . . .

Fourth Sunday of Easter - Good Shepherd Sunday - 2024

FROM THE OFFICE OF READINGS From a homily on the Gospels by Saint Gregory the Great, pope (c. 540 - 604) Christ the Good Shepherd: I am the good shepherd. I know my own – by which I mean, I love them – and my own know me. In plain words: those who love me are willing to follow me, for anyone who does not love the truth has not yet come to know it. My dear brethren, you have heard the test we pastors have to undergo. Turn now to consider how these words of our Lord imply a test for yourselves also. Ask yourselves whether you belong to his flock, whether you know him, whether the light of his truth shines in your minds. I assure you that it is not by faith that you will come to know him, but by love; not by mere conviction, but by action. John the evangelist is my authority for this statement. He tells us that anyone who claims to know God without keeping his commandments is a liar. Consequently, the Lord immediately adds: As the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep. Clearly he means that laying down his life for his sheep gives evidence of his knowledge of the Father and the Father’s knowledge of him. In other words, by the love with which he dies for his sheep he shows how greatly he loves his Father.  Again he says: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them; they follow me, and I give them eternal life. Shortly before this he had declared: If anyone enters the sheepfold through me he shall be saved; he shall go freely in and out and shall find good pasture.  1.       He will enter into a life of faith; 2.       from faith he will go out to vision, 3.       from belief to contemplation, and will graze in the good pastures of everlasting life.  So our Lord’s sheep will finally reach their grazing ground where all who follow him in simplicity of heart will feed on the green pastures of eternity. These pastures are the spiritual joys of heaven. There the elect look upon the face of God with unclouded vision and feast at the banquet of life for ever more.  Beloved brothers, let us set out for these pastures where we shall keep joyful festival with so many of our fellow citizens. May the thought of their happiness urge us on! Let us stir up our hearts, rekindle our faith, and long eagerly for what heaven has in store for us. To love thus is to be already on our way. No matter what obstacles we encounter, we must not allow them to turn us aside from the joy of that heavenly feast. Anyone who is determined to reach his destination is not deterred by the roughness of the road that leads to it. Nor must we allow the charm of success to seduce us, or we shall be like a foolish traveler who is so distracted by the pleasant meadows through which he is passing that he forgets where he is going. +  +  +  +  +  + "No matter what obstacles we encounter, we must not allow them to turn us aside from the joy of that heavenly feast." Throughout the long history of the Church many obstacles have beset the faithful as we now face our own trials brought on by this pandemic of Covid-19. May we be encouraged by the image this Sunday reveals to us, the image of us in the arms of the Good Shepherd.

.

Third Sunday of Easter - 2024

From Easter onward we now become evangelists. In order to evangelize, one must "know" and "understand" the Message they are proclaiming. Here, knowing flows directly from a personal experience of the Message encountered in prayer. Understanding of the Message is rooted in the heart as one is deeply moved when they here it and their life is transformed by what they hear. It is good and necessary to study scripture from an academic perspective, drawing on the rich resource of knowledge handed on through knowledgeable and dedicated scholars. But when one is taught by the Spirit in prayer, not only do they know about the Lord, they "know the Lord" as one whom they have met personally, spiritually, in one's heart. There is a beautiful and inspiring example of this in the gospel story of the two disciples encountering the risen Lord on the Road to Emmaus.     They know Jesus as the holy man of God from Galilee. They have heard him teach, saw his works of power and are deeply impressed. They number themselves among his followers. Their expectation about Jesus, like the others, has been crushed by his Crucifixion. They even have heard reports that he may still be alive. Yet, it is not until they encounter him personally, that their faith becomes a true work of grace, not a product of man's doing. “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?” Only Grace can set our hearts burning within us, when the Spirit opens the scriptures. "...... Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures ......" It is from this experience of grace that the true evangelist springs forth. What do I hear? In the account of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, there is a particular sequence of events that serves as a helpful model for our prayer experience. 1. They are reviewing the events leading up to Jesus' Crucifixion. Likewise we have a passage of scripture chosen that we are pondering for our prayer time. So we: ... retell the event in our own words, as if recounting it to someone else. ... who do I see, who stands out to me, who draws my attention, why? ... what are they doing, what are they saying, is it anything like what I would do? ... what impresses me, what repulses me, what puzzles me about the event? ... of the dialogue, describe what I hear in my own words ... what do I agree with, what do I disagree with? 2. Jesus enters into their discussion, things change. ... here I invite the Lord to enter my prayer, to speak to me, to guide and direct the course of what will follow in this prayer. ... now I speak to the Lord ... I redirect, what I have been considering, to the Lord, telling him how I see things, what moves me, what stumps me about this text. 3. Now Jesus speaks, they listen! ... am I listening or am I still trying to figure things out? (Be quiet myself!) ... what new thoughts are emerging ... no mater how unusual? ... back to quiet, to listening. 4. "Were not our hearts ..." ... rather than answers, I look to my heart ... what is moving, changing the way I feel? ... what is uplifting, encouraging, inspiring, drawing me to it? ... do I feel encouraged to meet what challenges me? 5. They urged Jesus, "stay with us ..." ... when a certain text stands out, we should stay with it, returning to the text as often as it continues to speak to us; even if we have been following a set outline of texts. 6. “They recounted what has happened … and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.” When Grace is at work, the positive feelings remain with us, continuing to speak to our hearts, especially in times and places when Grace is near, especially during the Eucharist or when we are engaged in our chosen devotions. Should it happen that we are in a faith sharing setting, as we share what has been told to us, we see how others are moved by what we say.

Second Sunday of Easter - 2024

The Church celebrates Easter Sunday day for a whole week. For the liturgy of the Word, the Gospel texts are taken from all four gospel writers and their accounts of resurrection of Jesus. Following the close of this day, the Easter season will continue for fifty days – ending with the celebration of the Ascension and Pentecost. As a preparation for Pentecost, the first reading of the liturgy of the word will be taken from the book of the Acts of Apostles and continue reading through the whole book. Acts of Apostles is the second part of Luke’s gospel. It takes us through the unfolding history of the first generation of the Church. This is our story – it is who we are – where we came from – how we got here and why we have gathered in this way to celebrate the sacred mysteries. There are also a couple other things that make this weekend special. It is Divine Mercy Sunday, established by pope John Paul ll on this day in the year 2000. And on this very Sunday, Pope John XXlll and Pope John Paul ll were canonized, Saints of the Church. I find all this quite significant for us at this time in the history of the Church. It is not uncommon to hear it suggested that the Church is in decline and no longer relevant; that perhaps the Church might even disappear, breaking into fragmented pieces, replaced by rational thought and technology. Added to this, we are in the throws of a world wide pandemic. At a time when people need the support of the Church more than ever, churches are closed or severally limited in their contact with their people. It is because we are surrounded by such a cloud of doubt and uncertainty that this time in Church is so important for us, and why we must make reading the Acts of the Apostles a central part of our personal faith life, just as the Church makes it so in the liturgy of the Word. When we turn to Acts and the story of Pentecost, we quickly see that our Church was not made simply by the design of a group of people, a work of human enterprise. It comes from God and is empowered by the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ followers were not great revolutionaries, rather they were a group of frightened and confused and very ordinary people. They also practiced their faith in a hostile environment, oppression by the Romans and the rejection of their fellow Jews. Then comes Pentecost Day and all is changed in a dramatic moment. On that very First Day, Pentecost Day, Acts shows us clearly, that the Church comes under attack. The joyful and exuberant faith of these Spirit-filled people is written off as nothing more than a product of too much alcohol, they are a bunch of drunks. From that first day up to today, the Church is constantly attacked and discredited. This is our constant history. Acts also shows us how the members of this new Church will be, “a-work-in-progress”, made up of frail humans being, sinners now saved, learning and growing under the constant presence of the Holy Spirit. So here we are today, the latest additions to this long history. I strongly encourage you to take up your scriptures and read and study the book of the Acts of the Apostles. May these Easter days be as powerful days of healing and building of your faith as they were for that first generation of believers, we celebrate through these Easter days.

.