Everyday Evangelization (Ascension Sunday - Cycle A)

The Gospel passage for this Sunday ends with the Great Commission, the final instruction that Jesus gives to the disciples before ascending into Heaven: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19). The words of Jesus are straightforward. We are not to rest until we have brought the Gospel to all the peoples of the world.

But the question arises, has our missionary zeal weakened over the centuries? Are we still on fire with the desire to bring all people to Christ? In discussing the health of the Church, both globally and locally, the phrase "mission vs maintenance" often comes up. The temptation is for us to settle into a pattern of maintenance, where we focus on keeping the status quo going but do not seek growth. But as Pope Francis and many others have emphasized, maintenance is not enough. The Church is to be a Church of mission, always going forth, always proclaiming the Gospel and calling people to Christ.

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Photo Credit: The Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives, where Jesus ascended into Heaven by Zoltan Abraham (c) 2016.

Can Catholic Doctrine Develop? (Easter VI - Cycle A)

The central theme of the New Testament is the offer of God's infinite love for us and the invitation to requite his love with our whole being. In his First Letter, St. John the Evangelist states that God is love. As I have discussed in prior reflections, love, by its very nature, requires a love dynamic. In God, there is the Father, who is the One Who Loves. His love is received and reciprocated by the Son, who is the Beloved. The love that exists between the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Trinity is an eternal exchange of infinite love, which is not bound by time, but takes place in the eternal timeless now of God’s infinite nature.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus states: "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love." (John 15:9) Jesus tells us that his love for us is the same eternal, infinite love that exists within the Holy Trinity. We receive his love by requiting his love with our whole lives. But, we might ask, what does it look like to love Jesus? In the Gospel passage for today, Jesus tells us: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments." (John14:15) In another passage in the Gospel of John, he also states: "I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another." (John 13:34) The answer then is that we love Jesus most fully when we love each other as he has loved us, becoming conduits of his love for all.

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Photo Credit: Detail of the Facade of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome by Zoltan Abraham (c) 2012.

The Way and the Truth and the Life (Easter V - Cycle A)

One of the false claims of secular culture is that Jesus was merely a great teacher who said insightful things about human life but never claimed to be divine. On the contrary, throughout the Gospels, Jesus clearly and unambiguously presents himself as divine, as he does in the Gospel reading for this Sunday. He states: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:19). If a mere human were to say that, we would consider the statement blasphemous. Only Jesus, who is God Incarnate, can make such a claim.

The Gospel passage for today was a key element of the development of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. One way to try to conceptualize the mystery of the Holy Trinity is to start with the premise that God is infinite love. Love, by its very nature, requires a love dynamic. In God, there is the Father, who is the One Who Loves. His love is received and reciprocated by the Son, who is the Beloved. The love that exists between the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Trinity is an eternal exchange of infinite love, which is not bound by time, but takes place in the eternal timeless now of God’s infinite nature.

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Photo Credit: Saint Mary of the Presentation Catholic Church (Geneva, Indiana) - stained glass, Behold I Stand at the Door and Knock, detail from Wikimedia Commons.

Christ Is the Only Way (Good Shepherd Sunday - Cycle A)

Psalm 23, the Responsorial Psalm for this Sunday, is arguably the most well-known and beloved psalm from the Holy Bible and one that is often sung at funerals. The central image of this psalm is that of the Lord as the Good Shepherd, which is the theme of the Fourth Sunday of Easter every year.

The metaphor of the Lord as the Shepherd runs through the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments. In the Gospels, as we see in the passage for this Sunday, Christ applies the image of the Shepherd to himself. He is the Good Shepherd, and we, his followers, are his sheep. In the context of the biblical tradition, for Christ to call himself the Shepherd is to claim divine authority. Christ makes it clear that it is through him and only through him that we can have eternal life. The doctrine of Christ being the only path to salvation is stated very clearly in the New Testament, especially in the Gospel of John. The biblical teaching is clear: There is no way to eternal life in Heaven without Christ.

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Photo Credit: Jesus as the Good Shepherd from the early Christian catacomb of Domitilla/Domatilla circa 350 A.D. from Wikimedia Commons.

Preparing for the Greatest Gift (Easter III - Cycle A)

The account of the encounter with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, found in the Gospel Reading for this Sunday, is one of the most famous and beloved passages from the New Testament. Emmaus was a town about seven miles northwest of Jerusalem. Today, pilgrims can visit the ruins of a Byzantine era church that, according to one tradition, was built at the site where Jesus ate with the two disciples.

In the passage, we see that the two disciples walking toward Emmaus still do not understand what has truly happened. They do not know who Jesus really is and do not understand what he has actually accomplished. Jesus uses the Old Testament to instruct them, starting with Moses and the Prophets. Our contemporary nomenclature with regard to the Books of the Bible is different from what the books were called at the time of Jesus. "Moses" referred to the first five books of the Bible, known as the Five Books of Moses. "The Prophets" meant what we now call the historical and the prophetic books.

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Photo Credit: Ruins of the Byzantine era church at Emmaus by Zoltan Abraham (c) 2016.

Divine Mercy Reshapes History (Divine Mercy Sunday - Cycle A)

One of the most significant sites for human history is the Upper Room, located in the Mt. Zion area of Jerusalem. It was in this room that Jesus ate the Last Supper with the Apostles. It was here that Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, when they were hiding behind closed doors. And it was in the Upper Room that the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples at Pentecost. The original building is no longer there, but in the 12th century, the Crusaders, who worked hard to preserve the holy sites of Christianity in the Holy Land, erected a new structure in its place.

Today, the Upper Room is under the control of the state of Israel. Pilgrims and tourists are welcome to visit the building, but Christians are usually not permitted to hold services there. One rare exception was Pope Francis, who was allowed to say Mass in the room. Today, Christians are limited in their access to this holy place; whereas the first disciples were afraid to leave it, for fear of being arrested.

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Photo Credit: Church of the Divine Mercy, bird's eye view from Wikimedia Commons.

Love Is the Message of Easter (Easter Sunday - Cycle A)

In the midst of our beautiful celebration of Easter, we should remember that, in a way, each Mass is also Easter. On the one hand, each Mass celebrates the fullness of our faith. On the other hand, the Church has given us the gift of the Liturgical Year, a cycle of seasons and feasts, which helps us to focus in on different aspects of our faith. At Easter, we celebrate in a special way the resurrection of Christ.

But just as each Mass is Easter, each Mass is also Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Holy Thursday is rooted in the Jewish Passover celebration. When the Israelites were captives in Egypt, Pharaoh persistently refused to let them go. In response, God sent 10 plagues to overcome Pharaoh's resistance. The last plague involved the Angel of Death flying over Egypt and striking down the first born male in every household. The Israelites could escape this punishment by sacrificing and eating a lamb and smearing its blood on the doorframe of their houses. When the Angel of Death saw the blood on the doorframe, he passed over each of those homes, thereby sparing the family inside.

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Photo Credit: The Empty Tomb of Christ in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre by Zoltan Abraham (c) 2016.