Sunday Gospel Reflection, April 11, 2021: Do not be unbelieving, but believe!

Do not be unbelieving, but believe!

How does our faith inform our life in community? 

    When, in John’s Gospel, shortly after his resurrection from the dead, Jesus appears to the disciples behind locked doors, he breathes the breath of life into them: Receive the Holy Spirit, he says, filling them with God’s mercy and love. In so doing, he calls them to action: Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained. A week later, when he returns and invites Thomas to see, Jesus is speaking as much about understanding as he is about physical sight; he proposes a way of seeing things that will radically change Thomas’s world view. He then calls Thomas to faith: do not be unbelieving, but believe. 

   The First Letter of John reminds us that, as Christians, we are bound together in that very same faith: Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God. We are brothers and sisters through baptism and are bound together in the love of God and of one another in Christian community. The early Christian community is described in the Acts of the Apostles as a community of believers, of one heart and mind. There, too, love was the bond that held them together and allowed them to bear witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, meeting the needs of all in Christ’s name. Their bond is a reason for rejoicing, as Psalm 118 reminds us to do: Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting. We are called to live in love for God and for one another, strong in our belief in the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection to bring salvation to our world. May he breathe life into us as well, that we might be bearers of his mercy and forgiveness to the world. 

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

Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, April 19, 2020: Peace be with you...

Peace be with you…

Is the mercy of God at work in you?

  When, in John’s Gospel, Jesus appears to the disciples on the evening of the Resurrection, they are locked in, and fear dominates their every move.  That fear will continue to dominate their existence until the following week when Thomas is also present and Jesus appears yet again to address the disciples’ doubts.  Jesus is there to liberate them from their fear, offering them peace and breathing the Holy Spirit upon them, the life-breath of their existence as community. Jesus’ divine mercy helps the disciples to move from fear to hope; the very fact that we can find our identity in his breath, in his dying and rising, is God’s mercy at work. 

  Community is also a revelation of God’s mercy at work; the early Christian community in Acts devote themselves to the communal life, breaking bread together, gathering together at the temple, sharing their lives in every way. Christ is still at work in them – his promise of eternal life gives them something to hope in and helps to bond the community together.  It is as Psalm 118 promises:  His mercy endures forever – a celebration of community delivered from peril thanks to God’s mercy.

  We have entered into life in Christ through baptism, a new birth to a living hope, as 1 Peter refers to it, but we have not yet fully entered into resurrection, for our ultimate hope is not yet fulfilled.  But God’s mercy is being played out constantly, and that mercy will lead to our resurrection, to our ultimate joy at union with God:  Although you have not seen him, you love him; even though you do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribably and glorious joy, Peter writes.  When we are aware of the mercy of God active in our lives, then joy can fill us, push us out of ourselves, connect us in community with one another, that we might know fully the experience of being sustained in faith and in the hope that is the death and rising of Jesus Christ.

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

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, April 28, 2019: Unless I see the marks of the nails in his hands...

Unless I see the marks of the nails in his hands…

What does it take for us to know in our hearts that Jesus is Lord?

  It may seem astounding:  a full week after Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit on them, the erstwhile rejoicing disciples remain behind doors that are locked.  Coming to full faith in Jesus isn’t always an instantaneous experience; it is a process that takes time and an opening of heart.  So, Jesus appears to them again in John's Gospel, this time offering the previously absent Thomas a chance to witness Jesus’ resurrected body for himself:  Put your fingers here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, Jesus says to Thomas. Do not be unbelieving, but believe.  Jesus’ invitation for Thomas to see with his fingers might seem odd, but in fact Jesus is calling Thomas to a different kind of sight, inviting him to know with his heart, to see with his heart – and he does!  Thomas doesn’t even need to touch Jesus’ wounds to proclaim his faith:  My Lord and my God!  Thomas has moved from a desire for proof – Unless I see the marks of the nails in his hands – to a profound heart knowledge of Jesus as Lord.

  What’s the next step?  The disciples have to leave that room!  As the Father has sent me, so I send you, Jesus tells them.  So, leave, he tells them… leave so that your heart can give witness to what you know is true.  Let your belief become so much a part of you that your very life is witness to what you now know in your heart.  Eventually, as the Acts of the Apostles tells us, many believers will be added to their numbers in spite of the fear of persecution, because Jesus’ presence is conveyed through the heart knowledge of the men he sent out to teach, preach, and heal the sick and those disturbed by unclean spirits. Jesus remains, in the words of Psalm 118, their cornerstone, rejected by the builders but foundational to the new faith budding in Jerusalem.  John, the author of the Book of Revelation, will tell a similar story:  knowing distress, he nevertheless proclaims God’s word and gives testimony to Jesus. Knowing in his heart who Jesus is gives him the strength to endure.

  To know in our heart that Jesus is Lord, to experience life through the Risen Christ – who himself moved from death to life – calls from us something different, something new, a change so profound that it hits us at our core, a transformation of heart so radical that we are moved to proclaim his good news.  What does it take to know in our heart that Jesus is Lord?  We need to open that heart, for starters.  And, once we do, once we  open to his love in our lives, we too are called, and indeed, sent by Jesus to bring the good news of God’s love to the world.

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

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com