Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 13, 2018: You will be my witnesses...

 You will be my witnesses… 

How do you manifest Christ to the world? 

   When Jesus ascended, the disciples weren’t exactly ready for it:  Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of Israel, they ask him in the Acts of the Apostles, just moments before he is lifted up and taken up into heaven.  The image of ascension to heaven has been prefigured in Psalm 47:  God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy, the psalmist sings, calling upon all nations to shout with cries of gladness.  But the disciples?  They are just confused, staring open-mouthed, looking at the sky…

   Both Acts and Mark’s Gospel before it make it clear:  Jesus rose so that the disciples could at last understand their mission:  Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.  The disciples are to be Jesus’ ongoing physical presence in the world, sharing his salvation, his good news or gospel, with everyone. They are to act in his name, Jesus tells them, because everything done in his name manifests his love, that is, makes his love visible to the world.  They are capable, Jesus is telling them, of extraordinary acts of love through which they will reveal Christ for who he is:  God’s love incarnate. 

   It’s not an easy job, to be sure.  Paul tells the Ephesian community that they must bear with one another through love, that they might build up the body of Christ.  How?  With all humility and gentleness, with patience…  Paul prays that the depth of their awareness of that love might be given through the Spirit:  may the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, he says. If the Ephesian community can come to appreciate all that God has done in Christ, and come to share in all Christ has left them through the Spirit, they will know the hope that belongs to his call, manifesting Jesus’ presence in the world, and building that hope for others.  To be the Church we are called to be requires nothing less.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source: www.wordle.net

Sunday Gospel Reflection, May 8, 2016: May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened...

  May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened…  

  How has the Holy Spirit changed you?  

  

   The Ascension of Jesus, who mounts his throne to shouts of joy (Psalm 47),  is directly preceded by Jesus’ assurance in Luke’s Gospel that the Holy Spirit -- the promise of [the] Father, a kind of garment of power from on high -- will come to dwell with and in the disciples.  Once they have been baptized by the Holy Spirit, as Luke describes their transformation in the Acts of the Apostles, the apostles will be sent forth to become Jesus’ witnesses, in Jerusalem and throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.  They are sent forth, in other words, to proclaim the Good News, to tell the story of the Messiah whose death, Resurrection, and Ascension offer salvation to the entire world.  And so are we.

   Moreover, all of this activity depends, as Paul tells the Ephesians, on the transformation of our innermost being:  may the eyes of your hearts be enlightened by means of the Spirit, whose indwelling Paul associates with wisdom, revelation, and knowledge.  For it is only if we know God’s love revealed in Jesus that we can see with the eyes of faith and speak to the hope that belongs to his call…  Ascension is that call, a call for us to be led by the Spirit into the world to fulfill our own mission, as we hold unwaveringly to the confession that gives us hope, and share the hope with the world.

This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.

Image source:  Wordle

Sunday Gospel Reflection, July 12, 2015: So that we might exist for the praise of his glory...

So that we might exist for the praise of his glory…

What does it mean to be sent forth?

In Sunday’s first reading, the prophet Amos – a simple shepherd and a dresser of sycamores – is sent forth as a foreigner to preach God’s message regarding the coming demise of the northern kingdom.  Naturally, no one wants to listen.  But Amos understands that he has been called by God, who said, Go, prophesy to my people Israel; Amos is thus following through on a compulsion of God from within and will hold fast to his message.  Like the author of Psalm 85, Amos must trust in God, trust in the relationship God offers him, trust in the love of God itself as his motor and motivation. 

Jesus likewise sends his disciples forth in Mark’s Gospel, giving them very specific instructions on how to reach others with his message, and how to be sure they themselves don’t lose sight of the fact that the message holds for them, as well.  Like Amos, the disciples are simple, working class men, not professional preachers; they take nothing for the journey but a walking stick.  But they know and trust – as should we – that redemption is at work in them; they simply need to see God’s grace at work and proclaim it.  Because, as Paul reminds the Ephesians, God destined all for redemption; our role is to respond positively to what God is doing in us, in effect, to say yes… and then to tell the world.  We exist for the praise of his glory!

We might not all have degrees in Scripture, but if we have faith, if we believe that redemption is at work in us, we too have the capacity to proclaim the Good News, and that capacity will grow each and every time we act on it. Redemption is not a one-time thing; it is always at work in us, always ongoing.  Our proclamation of the Good News is meant to show others that redemption is at work in them as well. Ite, missa est:  we are sent, thanks be to God, at the end of Mass, to do just that. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.

Image source:  Wordle