We can harness the wind to some good purpose, but we are never in control of it. not to condemn the world, The first letter of Peter was written from the church of Rome to churches that are now in modern day Turkey. Just as Jesus was always in communion with his Father so he wants us to be always in communion with him. They had a story they needed to tell and they told it to each other, and they listened to each others story. He had earlier said to them, no one has greater love than to lay down ones life for ones friends. The general call of baptism to be the Lords disciple, which is addressed to us all, is then lived out in particular ways in response to the Lords very personal, daily call to each one of us. In both cases, the hearing of the Word led to a deeper encounter with the Lord in the Sacrament. Such communion, if entered into in faith, is an opportunity to draw life from the Lord. The Lord journeys with us at such times, as he walked with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, whose spirits were certainly drooping. Yet, we are not just passive sheep. We are then sent from the Eucharist to live with his life, to live his life. Our union with Christ through baptism is thereby strengthened in the Eucharist. 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. She began gathering a group of followers about herself, men and women, priests and religious. This mornings gospel reading begins with an image of the disciples locking themselves into a room somewhere in Jerusalem. At the beginning of todays gospel reading, we find the disciples closed off in a room out of fear. The Mark that Peter refers to may well be the author of the first gospel. He calls to us as someone who knows us and cares about us. so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.. When it comes to faith, not all move to the same rhythm. These cookies may track your personal data. 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. An active public apostolate grew out of her contemplative life, working with the sick, the poor, prisoners and plague victims. It was presumably the Spirit who prompted the Ethiopian to read the passage of Scripture that so intrigued him. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. Certainly, the houses in the older suburbs of Dublin all have gates, some of them quite ornate. 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. Todays gospel reading encourages us to trust that if we are generous with the resources we have, small as they seem to us, the Lord will work powerfully through them in ways that will surprise us. With great wisdom he suggests that they should leave the apostles alone and just wait and see. This mornings first reading is set in Damascus and its vicinity. 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. The Lords faithfulness to us prompts us to keep faith with each other, especially with those who are close to us. We tend to put things under lock and key much more than we used to do in the past. In the gospel of Luke, Zacchaeus goes looking for Jesus in broad daylight, even climbing a sycamore tree to see him. 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. Putting words on the events that have caused us such grief can help us to find some meaning in what has transpired. 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. It is the Holy Spirit who helps us to discern what the Lord is saying to us. 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. The initiative we take towards the Lord is always one we take with other disciples. After a profound mystical experience she had a sense of Christ calling her to serve the wider world and universal church. If his teaching is received and lived, it lightens the burden of oppression; it brings joy. It only compounded their grief. It is a very human response to get as far away as possible from places that have unhappy memories for us. he has seen the Father. Eight days later Jesus came and stood in their midst. They seemed lost without Jesus. That is the trust of todays gospel reading. As parishioners of the parish of St John the Baptist, we might think of ourselves as having a special calling to enable, to encourage, using our own gifts while also making way for the gifts of others. In his doubting, Thomas may be like many other disciples today. The prayer of one of the more minor gospel characters, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief, may find a ready place our heart. There will always be an element of unease about our faith, some restlessness that moves us to keep seeking the Lord. In todays gospel Jesus says, the wind blows wherever it pleases. As a result of that initiative they came to recognize the stranger as Jesus at the very moment when he took, blessed, broke and gave the bread to them. He said to them, What matters are you discussing as you walk along? They stopped short, their faces downcast. This is how the Spirit continues to shape the life 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. The word nourishes our faith, and it is out of that nourished faith that we come to the Eucharist. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him. The role of the shepherd was to give life to his flock, to protect them form harm and to lead them to pasture. A sheepfold was an enclosed area with a gate alongside a house. We can be tempted to ask the somewhat despairing question of Andrew in todays gospel reading, What is that between so many? We sense that there is much for the church to do and our resources seem so small at times. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; We live our lives in response to calls of all sorts. Jesus invites us to imagine a shepherd who will stop at nothing to prevent any would-be thief from stealing even one sheep from his flock. He invited Thomas to touch his wounds as he had requested, and then called on him to doubt no longer but believe. We need the same courage or boldness to proclaim the gospel of the Lord today. Jesus will go on to speak about the need to eat his flesh and drink his blood, which has even clearer Eucharistic overtones. He then travelled all the way to Tarsus to encourage Paul to come to Antioch and to work among the believers there. 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. Sheep are gathered in a sheepfold for protection. The gate was the path to life for the sheep. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see. And he said to them, Oh, how foolish you are! If you would like to receive the Daily Reflection via email, please visit our sign up page. Last evening in the Pro-Cathedral, Archbishop Dermot Martin launched the special Year of Vocations. Not that anybody has seen the Father, Just as we can be like the fearful disciples, so we can often be like the sceptical Thomas. In walking with the two disciples, the Lord transformed them from being downcast to having their hearts burn within them; he rekindled their hope. 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. His physical blindness perhaps suggests his spiritual blindness up to this moment. In todays 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. Keep the flock that you have gathered, preserve us in your love, now and forever. Here and now the Lord wants us to know something of that life to the full which is our ultimate destiny. Here was a Pharisee who, on his own admission, was a zealous persecutor of the church. 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. Leading and driving are two very different activities. To enter through Jesus the gate is to respond to his call, the very personal call that he addresses to each one of us. The alarm business is booming. The leaders of the church in Jerusalem had to discern whether this new development in Antioch was the work of the Holy Spirit, or just a human aberration. I am struck by that line in the gospel reading, Jesus came and stood among them. Divine Office He is always at work drawing us into his Easter people. Jesus speaks as the one who gives us a unique access to God. (iii) Monday, Fourth Week of Easter (Year A), In the gospel reading Jesus draws a striking contrast between the good shepherd and the hired man. Jesus exclaimed, I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. The first disciples constantly needed fresh outpourings of the Holy Spirit, if they were to fulfil the mission the risen Lord was giving them. There is a personal bond between the shepherd and this one sheep. Whereas the wind can be destructive, the Spirit is always life-giving. View the embedded image gallery online at: National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, https://www.carmelites.org.au/lectiodivina#sigProId061537aa3b, 25th Anniversary of Santa Cruz Massacre . Jesus shows himself to be the good shepherd in a second way; he knows us through and through, just as he knows the Father and the Father knows him. While walking the hills of Galilee, he would have noticed that before nightfall shepherds gathered their flock and led them through the gate of a sheepfold into the safety of the sheepfold, where they would be protected from wolves and other predators. She spent the last two years of her life in Rome in prayer, pleading on behalf of the cause of Pope Urban VI and the unity of the Church. The story we tell is far from the full story. We all have the potential to be a Barnabas, to open doors for others so that the Lord can work powerfully through them. He envisages people entering and exiting through him, passing through him in one direction or the other. are thieves and brigands; 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. Every so often the Lord prompts the church to take a new step beyond where it has been. he who is born of the earth is earthly himself Marks portrait of the disciple mirrors that of Jesus. and the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Lukes first volume, his gospel. If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus replied: I have told you, but you do not believe. 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 gospel reading puts before us some very striking statements about Jesus. She died at the age of thirty three. He declares that he knows his own and his own know him, just as the Father knows him and he knows the Father. In response, Jesus challenges them to work, not for food that cannot last, but for food that endures to eternal life. Ananias heard the Lord speak to him, directing him to where Saul lived. 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. As a result of the success of this mission, Barnabas came from Jerusalem to Antioch to give encouragement to this new development, and, in his wisdom, he went to Tarsus and brought Saul to Antioch, recognizing that this was a church where someone like Saul or Paul could flourish. Do not be afraid. Even though we may have failed him in the past, through our fear, he stands among us not to condemn us but to renew us, to recreate us in his love. only to steal and kill and destroy. His small income allowed him to support his family, from day to day. It was winter, and Jesus was in the Temple walking up and down in the Portico of Solomon. It falls to us now to embrace Gods 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. unless a man is born from above, Today we read the account from the gospel of John. We are probably to understand my son as my spiritual son. Saul sought to destroy all who responded to the welcoming invitation of Jesus. 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. Yet, he is also a seeker after truth. There is a fullness of life there from which we are all invited to receive. This content is blocked. In the words of todays responsorial psalm, we are invited to taste and see that the Lord is good. This language is very familiar to us from the Eucharist, the body of Christ, the blood of Christ. He discerned that Paul who had recently encountered the risen Lord just outside Damascus would be the ideal person to give leadership to the church in Antioch. It was while Jesus was at prayer after his baptism that the Holy Spirit come down upon him. Our spirits can droop for all kinds of reasons. He wants us to recognize him not as a stranger but as leader who knows us through and through, who can see more clearly and more deeply than we can. Whenever we strive to be faithful to the Lords ways, whenever we seek to witness to him, we can always be assured of the Lords confirming presence. Daily Homilies December 26-31, 2022. 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. for those whose sins you retain, No one can take them out of my hand. Yet, Jesus also declares in that gospel reading that the Father reveals these things to mere children. because you are no sheep of mine. The first reading describes a significant moment in the life of the early church, the preaching of the gospel to pagans for the first time, in the city of Antioch. If we are to come into that abundant life that Jesus came to give us, we must do so by passing through him. The life of God is a life of love given and received. He showed them his hands and his side so that they would be in no doubt that the one who stood in their midst was the one who had been crucified, the one whom they had abandoned in fear. The Eucharist, like all the sacraments, presupposes faith. All of a sudden it is bright beyond 7.00 pm. Her life shows us very clearly that the life of faith has both an inward and outward dimension. No-one has gone up to heaven except the Son of Man who has come down from heaven. Jesus also speaks as one who invites all who are overburdened to come to him for rest. In todays gospel reading Jesus declares, the sheep that belong to me listen to my voice. She offered herself as a victim for the Church in its agony. It is nearly evening they said and the day is almost over. So he went in to stay with them. You must be born from above. The one whom they had been following for several years had been crucified by the Romans. and has entrusted everything to him. There is a mysterious quality to the wind. The Carmelite Rule states that is basic for a Carmelite to "live a life of allegiance to Jesus Christ - how, pure in heart and stout in conscience, he must be unswerving in the service of his Master" [no.2]. When everything seems to be going wrong, he enables us to see the bigger picture of Gods loving plan for our lives. 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. There is something of the searcher, the seeker, in us all. This is a call to Eucharistic communion with the Lord. everybody who believes has eternal life. The role of the shepherd was to give life to his flock, to protect them from harm and to lead them to pasture. When you reflect on that saying of Jesus, it is indeed very reassuring. Our emotions can dull our memories and cloud our reasoning. 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. - 6:00 pm Dinner. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs. In this mornings gospel reading, Nicodemus takes his first tentative steps towards the Lord. There is no other city that is such a significant a pilgrim destination for three major world religions. Catherine, like Jesus, was a mystic in action. In that village culture, a skill could be a small source of income. This new life has an extraordinary impact on their lives from the moment the child is born. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood The Lord was moving the young church in a new direction and Barnabas recognized this and supported it. Nicodemus journeyed closer to Jesus in the course of the gospel of John. # Indicates reflections from the most recent year which are available on the active calendar page And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. He then calls his sheep by name and he leads them out of the sheepfold to pasture. That is why he calls out to us to pass through him, because he knows himself to be the gateway to all that we long for at the deepest core of our being. Catholic Daily Reflections My Catholic Life! 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 Jesus says in the gospel reading, I am the gate, he means it in that second sense. It was St Irenaeus, one of the early theologians of the church, who said that the glory of God is the human person fully alive. That is good news for us all. However, shortly after his return to Rome, Gregory died. Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory? Then, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, he explained to them the passages throughout the scriptures that were about himself. It is a city that no longer holds any attraction for them, because it is the city where their hopes have been dashed, where the perosn they have left everything to follow had been cruelly put to death. God sent his Son into the world so that everyone may have eternal life. Those who have been through an experience of loss know how therapeutic it can be to tell the story of the last days of a loved one. Each of us is responsible for someone or for some others. She was convinced that the wound in the body of Christ could only be healed by great sacrifice. Nicodemus was a teacher of Israel and he related to Jesus as a fellow teacher, we know that you are a teacher who comes from God. It has been said that to understand all is to forgive all. Whoever eats me will draw life from me. Believing in him as the one sent by God will open them up to receive all that he wants to give them. He did not understand what he was reading. Nicodemus, a leading Pharisee, was one such example in the gospel of John. Just click on the month of interest and scroll to the day required. People who are going through a similar grieving experience can give great strength to each other. As the good shepherd, for example, Jesus lays down his life for us. The question What must we do? is as valid a question for us today, as it was for the people of Jerusalem two thousand years ago. In calling us to himself he also sends us into the world afire with the flame of his love. He who comes from above is above all others; As he says to Philip, in another part of the gospel of John, Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. They had rowed three or four miles when they saw Jesus walking on the lake and coming towards the boat. It is a time when, in the power of that Spirit, we rise above our fear and step out with a new courage to witness to the Lord by what we say and do. He is declaring there that if we do our best to keep following him, if we keep on trying to listen to his voice, he will keep us faithful to himself. 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. Those who come to him will find a welcome from him. speaks Gods own words: It is as a mystic that John is known as a 'Doctor of the Church'. All who seek the truth are already standing in the light of Christ, even though they may not be aware of it. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit. Yet, the risen Lord always stands among us empowering us to be an Easter people. Our website uses cookies to give you the best online experience. The Lord, through his word, opens us up to Gods point of view, which is so much more expansive and always rich in possibilities. This is what we find stated very clearly in this mornings gospel reading, which declares that Jesus comes from above or from heaven. Unlike other religious orders in the West which are founded in direct historical lineage to a specific teacher (eg. When Jesus says in todays 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. He is an open gate, not a closed gate. He wanted them to know that his love for them had endured even though they had failed him. He did not send them out in the strength of their own resources alone. His last appearance in Johns gospel is much less tentative; along with Joseph of Arimathea, he sees to it that Jesus is given a dignified burial. The literal translation would be I am. Our Blessed Mother: The Queen of All Saints! The light of Jesus is not the probing light of the grand inquisitor that seeks out failure and transgression with a view to condemnation. Telling the story helps us to come to terms with what has happened. New upmarket housing blocks tend to be gated affairs. At the beginning of our gospel reading, Jesus speaks of himself as the Son of Man who must be lifted up. Shortly after his return, Pope Gregory died. There is a very early tradition in the church, which first surfaced in the early part of the second century, according to which Mark was a companion of Peter. Nothing we do or fail to do will prevent the light of the gospel of Gods 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. It is probably true to say that we are all searching for something. Parents are called upon by their children and then, as parents get older, it is the children who often get called upon by their parents. Vocations Sunday reminds us that the most fundamental call that comes to us in life is the call of 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. 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. There are different ways of telling the story of the troubles in the North of Ireland over the past thirty five years or more. When it was evening, the disciples of Jesus went down to the sea, embarked in a boat, and went across the sea to Capernaum. I am the gate. In group prayer, much will depend on the type of group. We are all being encouraged to see ourselves as belonging to that group. Other boats came from Tiberias near the place where they had eaten the bread when the Lord gave thanks. 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. Your sister in Babylon is the church in Rome. That is our calling too. Yet, the primary purpose of this loving light is to take away our sin. 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. As we allow the Lord to touch our lives through others, through his word, through the Eucharist, we will be strengthened to continue on our pilgrim way with fresh hope in our hearts, just as the two disciples returned joyfully to Jerusalem after meeting the Lord. how are you going to believe me when I speak to you about heavenly things? This is what we find Barnabas doing in todays first reading. In various ways, calls are made upon our time, upon our gifts, upon our energies. We are all called to be mystics to some degree. In that sense, each of us is called to be a shepherd to others. The realism of his talk about eating his flesh and drinking his blood is shocking in many ways. 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. Having been touched by Gods word, he is ready for baptism. When we hear in this mornings 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. It is quite usual just to have an opening in the front wall, for a car to park. and I lay down my life for my sheep. The Bible is the Word of God which is always alive and active, always new. 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. The movement of the prayer is towards silence. The two disciples were struggling with a deep sense of loss. He had spoken to Nicodemus about the need to be born of water and the Spirit so as to enter the kingdom of God. She commenced her role as a public figure, dictating hundreds of letters to popes, monarchs and other letters of note. In todays gospel reading, Jesus tells Nicodemus, a leading Pharisee and expert in the Jewish Law, that he needs the Holy Spirit. However, all Jesus needed was a little generosity on the part of a small boy to feed the crowd. Yet, God pours this Spirit of his love into our lives. There are various ways of practising Lectio Divina either individually or in groups but Guigo's description remains fundamental. 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.