Feast of Saint Matthias, Apostle

 Lectionary: 564

“I have told you this so that my joy might be in you
and your joy might be complete.
This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

 D uring his last supper, as Saint John tells the story, the Lord explained his mission with extraordinary detail; and perhaps more surprisingly, he included in his mission his ardent, joyful love for his disciples. He did not hesitate to call them friends, and to tell them that he would certainly lay down his life for his friends. 

He seemed to consider his devotion to them his purpose, privilege, and greatest joy. And knowing this, we should also be delighted in the privilege and pleasure of his love; it must become our passion and purpose. And it would be demonstrated by our love for one another, which must also be our privilege, pleasure, and delight -- regardless of the bother, discomfort, cost, or pain. 

It's easy to wax eloquent about love; it's not so easy to love others. Most of us ask occasionally, if not often, "When does it get easy?" Sleeping babies certainly charm the socks off their parents and grandparents. Affectionate adolescents, as their moods permit them, can be enchanting. But for human beings who have attained that adult ability to remember and be affected by the past, sleeping innocence and mercurial charm might not so easily overcome our self-protecting instincts. 

Matthias was selected from the many disciples of Jesus to replace Judas Iscariot because he was one of only two who had been with the Lord "beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us." He remembered everything: the early enthusiasm of the first disciples and the crowds; the growing opposition; the quarreling of the disciples about who was the greatest; and the Lord's persistent patience, generosity, gentleness, and courage. He remembered the Upper Room and the sudden plunge from Paschal joy to horror, shock, and grief at the Lord's arrest, trial, passion, and death. 

He also remembered the astonishment of the Resurrection and, with all the disciples, struggled to understand this unparalleled reversal of everything everyone ever knew. The dead do not rise! and yet the Lord had been raised. And he had ascended into heaven. Clearly the story must be told and his mission continued! 

Picked out of the crowd of eligible volunteers, and selected by lot and the Holy Spirit, Matthias accepted the responsibility of eager, willing, and joyful sacrifice. Despite everything he might remember he followed the Lord and proclaimed the gospel truly. Like the Eleven, he would not hesitate to tell the stories of their jealous quarreling, craven flight from Gethsemane, Peter's denial, and Judas's betrayal. As grim as these stories were, they could not be disentangled from the shining, beautiful gospel. 

He knew that the Lord's most faithful disciples are always capable of betrayal; so long as we're human we're given that freedom. It can come from any quarter at any time from anyone; only the Lord is truly and absolutely reliable. Our love of his friends always includes the promise and possibility of forgiveness. Without mutual, persistent, reliable forgiveness, our truth is tarnished and our love, incomplete. 

Today we pray with Saint Matthias and all his disciples for that willingness and spontaneous courage to persist in generous, cheerful, joyful love. We do not give until it hurts; we give until it stops hurting; until it's become as natural and dependable as sunrise and sunset. 

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

Lectionary: 280

I tell of Egypt and Babylon

    among those who know the LORD;

Of Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia:

    “This man was born there.”

And of Zion they shall say:

    “One and all were born in her;

And he who has established her

    is the Most High LORD.”

R.    All you nations, praise the Lord.

 To celebrate the importance of Easter the Lectionary offers seven weeks of readings from the Acts of the Apostles, which is primarily concerned with the Lord's mission to announce the Gospel to the ends of the earth. The Word must spread from person to person, transforming lives as it goes, even as its impact scales the heights of government and business, and penetrates the darkest place of the Internet. 

As they studied the Hebrew scriptures they found ample evidence of the Lord's ultimate purpose, "All you nations, praise the Lord!" 

We must often be reminded that, "your god is too small;" and our God infinitely surpasses even the boundless horizons of human imagination. As Jesus says in today's gospel, "My God is greater than all!" 

The Lord's opponents want to know if he is, or claims to be, the Messiah. "Tell us plainly!" they say. Whether they mean warrior/king/messiah or priest/messiah, their definition of messiah is far too small to fit his mission. And for that reason, they cannot read the many signs he presents. His healing of all those who approach him, his wonderful works of feeding five thousand and changing water to wine, his wisdom and perception, his sheer presence: as marvelous as they are, none fit their expectation of messiah! As Mary Hume said, he was "almost perfect, but not quite." 

To see the Lord we must allow our expectations to wither like worms on a dry sidewalk. We should wait without expectation, For hope would be hope for the wrong thing. We love but must be instructed in what and how to love; and dare not think "about God" lest we think ourselves into a godless life. 

Many people suppose the Lord's mission is to save "one soul at a time" and complain when preaching evangelists make judicious statements about government, business, or entertainment. They should also "stay out of the bedroom," as if the Lord's eyes are blinded by darkness. Like the anti-gentile party in the church in Jerusalem, they suppose that the Gospel cannot be bothered with, or heard by, undesirables. 

But we learn to be surprised like the disciples on Pentecost. Despite all their training, they learned to welcome the gentile converts who needed, wanted, and asked for the privilege of praising the Lord of all nations. 

Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter

Lectionary: 279

I also heard a voice say to me, ‘Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.’ 
But I said, ‘Certainly not, sir,
because nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 
But a second time a voice from heaven answered,
‘What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.’ 

 P eter's vision of a sheet filled with unclean animals coming down from heaven is recounted twice in Saint Luke's Acts of the Apostles. It may be the most important, unexpected, and significant incident in the book. The disciples had not imagined that Jesus's commission to announce the gospel to the world included the gentile world. He might as well have included the birds of the air (Saint Francis) and the fishes in the sea (Saint Anthony!) 

We should also remember the visionary's reluctance to see what he was seeing, or to hear what he was hearing, as he replied to the Voice:

"Certainly not, sir. For never have I eaten anything profane and unclean.” 

Eating unclean meat was unthinkable to any devout Jew; and in all his years of following the Galilean the subject had never come up. The vision came three times and was resisted three times, and we know that number is always significant in the Bible. Third means completely, as in Jesus' plea in Gethsemane and his sojourn in the tomb. There could be no doubt that the Christian missionaries should give up their reluctance to share table fellowship with gentiles if they were to complete their mission. 

Saint Luke adds to the drama as he recounts the amazed horror of Peter's colleagues in Jerusalem: 
    "You entered the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them!”

Nor did he brush off their amazement with a defensive remark like, "What of it? It's no big deal." It was a big deal. It might have been an iceberg to the Lord's Titanic on the Church's maiden voyage! 

And so he "explained it to them step by step." He recounted the entire vision including the fact that it occurred three times. And he described in detail the arrival of men from Joppa, his going with them. his preaching to devout gentiles, and their receiving the same Holy Spirit which had filled the Cenacle on that Pentecost. There was no doubt in his mind; there should be none among the Apostles in Jerusalem. 

And with their acceptance of Peter's testimony, the nascent Church accepted both the gentiles among them and the leadership of the first Pope -- although he had made a course-changing decision that was completely unexpected. In retrospect they would remember the teachings of the prophets, especially Isaiah, about receiving gentiles; and the blessing that Abraham's descendants should be to the entire world. If they had never supposed that the Patriarch's blessing included inclusiveness, it was time they supposed it! 

Popes can do that. Ordinarily, we do not expect course changes from the papacy. Its primary purpose is to keep the Church on course amid the changing currents of a dynamic planet. But sometimes he must take us out of the harbors of our safe places to announce the Gospel to the least among us, especially those who have not found the Church to be a safe place. 

Sinners are welcome among us. No one knows that better than sinners like you and me! And as we have found both welcome and a way out of our sinful beliefs, tendencies, desires, and habits so must all those who put their faith in the Lord. 

Yes, it gets turbulent at times; and divisions arise that should not occur. God is still in charge and how all this conflict will be resolved we cannot imagine. But all things will be well, and all things will be well, and all manner of things will be well. 

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Good Shepherd Sunday

Lectionary: 51

My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.
The Father and I are one.”

 L ike attracts like! It's often said and it's a reliable principle of human life. We find people like us, we like them, and they like us. The attraction may be only momentary, as differences can appear immediately; but it may be lifelong. Many people keep in touch with grade school pals into their senior years. 

Despite the innate freedom which resembles God's own generous freedom, we exhibit a herding or flocking instinct like nearly all animals of the earth, sea, and sky. We like to work and be together. Some paleontologists believe that our instinct for working together separated us from other early human creatures: Neanderthals, the Indonesian hobbit-size people, Homo erectus and Homo naledi. That instinct for cooperation gave us an advantage which grew exponentially as we learned to hunt, cook, and build shelters. Not only do many hands make light the work, many minds think creatively and develop better ways to do everything. 

Suddenly, in the past 10,000 years infrastructures appeared and became essential to everything we know and expect of life. We built cities and languages and standard operating procedures, functioning governments and bureaucracies. We now live in an Anthropocene era and have recreated the world in our own image and likeness.

The Spirit of God walked with Abraham's migration from family and homeland in "Ur of the Chaldees;" and has accompanied that evolving story from the beginning. Salvation History appears in human history. Despite our internecine wars, savage abuse of the weaker among us, and vile contempt for migrants, the Lord has never abandoned the exiles of Eden. In the Passion of Christ we discover how God has not only covered over that incomprehensible history of evil, he has atoned for the damage, and healed the wounds of everyone who would be healed. By his wounds, we are healed. 

In fact, our Salvation will be far more than a restoration of Eden and our place in it. Everyone who is willing to go with the Lord through his passion and death will enjoy the Communion of the Trinity. 

On this fourth Sunday of Easter, we celebrate the Good Shepherd who himself is the sacrificial lamb and the sacrificing priest. His altar is the cross and his God is the Father who commissioned him to be both lamb and priest. And then the same Father restored him to life, and gave him back to us as entirely human but, having died, unimaginably happier, and more beautiful, with an infinite authority to heal, comfort, reassure, and guide us. The Lord can restore us to our original innocence – that innocence we remember from the day we made our first communion – and then bless us with far more satisfaction and pleasure in his company, and with one another. 

He requires only our willingness to trust him, for not even God has the authority to reverse our refusal. Because the human being is essentially free, the god that would destroy human freedom would destroy us; and the Father of Jesus Christ does not do that in this world or the next.  

Nor would such a god be worthy of our love. People can say they love their oppressors – the autocrats who rule North Korea and Russia – the tyrants who conspire against every democracy. By the millions they shout their passionate love for their Supreme Leader and Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un, Hitler, Mussolini, Pol Pot, or Idi Amin. They may weep copious tears when their corrupt governments collapse and their corpses are dragged through the streets, but when their sanity returns along with a breath of freedom and expectation of reasonable prosperity, they remember their fanatic loyalty only as mass delusion. 

The people of Jerusalem, remembering how they demanded the death of Jesus, may have felt that same regret, remorse, and relief as they heard the Apostles announce his resurrection. If they still feared the authorities they flocked to the disciples who healed the sick and forgave sins with the Lord’s own carefree abandon. Something new, incomprehensible, and wonderful was happening and they would not be deprived of it. 

The Shepherd was calling his sheep and the sheep knew their shepherd, because he had been like a lamb led to slaughter. He had not opened his mouth to complain or blame anyone. He had not, like the hypocrites, insisted on his innocence – although he was innocent. 

…it was our pain that he bore,

our sufferings he endured.

We had all gone astray like sheep,

all following our own way;

But the LORD laid upon him

the guilt of us all.

Like a lamb led to slaughter

or a sheep silent before shearers,

he did not open his mouth.

He bore the punishment that makes us whole,

by his wounds we were healed.

For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne

will shepherd them

and lead them to springs of life-giving water,

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Today, on Good Shepherd Sunday, we thank God for the Holy Spirit, that flocking instinct, that gives us the good sense to follow the Lamb wherever he goes. For he alone, above all the dictators, presidents, kings, senators, and Congress persons, is worthy of our trust. 

Saturday of the Third Week of Easter

Lectionary: 278

But there are some of you who do not believe.”
Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him.
And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”
As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer walked with him.

It's unfortunate that today's gospel is read on a Saturday, the day when fewer Masses are offered in many parishes. Saint John's denouement of chapter six describes the reaction of many of the Lord's "disciples" to his rigorous teaching. Where they might have been interested in his teachings or the possibilities of his political, economic, or religious impact, they had never intended to surrender their entire lives to him. They did not want him to rewrite the history and purpose of everything they felt, knew, or believed about themselves and their world. 

Jesus said of those few loyal disciples who remained with him, "...no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.” And, "Did I not choose you twelve?" 

At his call, the Holy Spirit recognized the Son of Mary as the Messiah. That Spirit can be compared to the negative charge on the ground which eagerly responds to the positive charge in the sky, to produce a lightning bolt. The Holy Spirit can abide in all nations and peoples; and seems quite natural, human, and familiar except for its characteristic courage, generosity, and openness. In his spirit people hear his call and recognize something intensely familiar and right. That Spirit greets the Lord's missionaries wherever they go. Despite the cultural differences that make strangers seem odd and alien, that Spirit greets and recognizes our common humanity. It habitually goes the extra mile to understand and assist. 

This Spirit offers a seat on a crowded bus to pregnant women or elderly persons. It stops and assists anyone who might trip and fall in the street, or someone who appears lost in the mazes of a city. Seeing an accident, it calls 911 and urges passersby not to make the situation worse. 

When the Polish Saint Maximilian Kolbe arrived in Nagasaki he spoke not a word of Japanese. But he immediately started sharing his love of the Blessed Mother with strangers in the street and within a short while he was handing out Marian pamphlets in presentable Japanese. People helped him and before he returned to his doomed homeland, he had established a friary which was publishing tracts and attracting devotees. (Miraculously, the friary survived the atomic blast and the friars assisted the wounded and dying survivors.)

It was that spirit which recognized the truth of the Eucharist when Jesus insisted, "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no part in me." And, at the last supper, it responded to the Lord, “Master, then not only my feet, but [wash] my hands and head as well.” The Apostles were all in! 

As the Lord's disciples we must pray that our human spirit is so conformed to God's spirit that they cannot be distinguished. Are we generous, courageous, and wise because the Lord has trained us, or because that's just who we are and what we do? In any case strangers will want to be like us.

Just as the Incarnate Lord Jesus was human and divine -- mysterious polarities! -- so must the Spirit of God inhabit our human spirit. With Thomas we must be ready to greet his Eucharist with "My Lord and my God!" And to "go and die with him.  

Friday of the Third Week of Easter

Lectionary: 277
Habemus Papam! 
Let us pray for Pope Leo XIV, who is now a citizen of the entire world, and our Vicar of Christ.

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
“How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them,
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood,
you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my Flesh is true food,
and my Blood is true drink.

 C ontroversy and conflict has accompanied the mystery of the Eucharist since the get-go. Church historians find the struggle to understand the Lord's meaning of this is my flesh, this is my blood, eat my flesh and drink my blood in the earliest documents and oldest liturgical books in our tradition. Many explanations were immediately recognized and condemned as heretical while the faithful core of the Church has insisted upon the most literal reading of the phrases. 

Enlightened science has attempted to disprove the Lord's words and the Church's teachings. But, while the majority of Catholics dismissed their research and experiments as bone-headed nonsense, some have pointed to their occasional findings as proven Eucharistic Miracles.  

The simplest explanation, and easiest advice to follow, is simply, "The Lord says it! It is so! Who am I to question God's words, meaning, intent, or authority?"

But we do well to ponder the Lord's words and discuss the Real Presence for they lead us to deeper appreciation of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Rather than be distracted by pseudo-scientific microscopy or laughable forensic hematology, the Real Presence invites us to be present to the Lord, one another, ourselves, and life itself. 

My mother sometimes called upstairs, "What's going on up there? You're being way too quiet!" We had to be reminded that she was in the house and listening, and had better consider -- or reconsider -- whatever we were doing in the light of her presence. If she rarely came upstairs, she still had considerable authority over that part of the house.

One meaning of presence is an authority that cannot be dismissed or ignored. It may be the authority of someone dangerous or benevolent, powerful or needy, but it cannot be ignored in any case. The Lord's Real Presence is also reactive and responsive. Though we cannot see, touch, hear, or smell his physical presence, we may and should ask for his concern and guidance. 

We do especially well if we ask the Lord to reveal our sins and "lead us not into temptation." We are too familiar with our concupiscence -- a fascination, curiosity, and tendency to evil -- for Satan's marketing minions remind us continually of it. The Lord reminds us of our dignity and courage in the face of Evil's relentless insults. 

Our practices of Sunday Mass and daily prayer, and of wearing and carrying tactile reminders of the Lord's mercy also remind us of his kindly authority. While Orthodox Church decorate their walls with icons -- windows into eternity -- western Catholics and Protestants place statues throughout our churches and homes. We may often glance toward them, or pause and gaze upon them, and engage in conversations with the Saint or deity. 

Recently, a friend created a beautiful disc with the Tetragrammaton on it. I place it in the center of the altar, before the small crucifix, to bring the awareness of God's merciful authority to mind. 

Referring to the Eucharist, Catholics use the word symbol with careful circumspection. God's presence is more than "just a symbol." The word is useful only if I remember that my body is a symbol of me. I can no more dismiss the symbolic meaning of the human body than I can dismiss the presence of God in my life. If I demean the presence of God I demean myself! I objectify the body -- my own or another's -- as a commodity to be used, bought, sold, wasted, tattooed, displayed, surgically altered, manipulated, terminated, or discarded. 

As we eat and drink the Most Blessed Sacrament we learn to treat ourselves with the deepest respect, for the Lord Jesus has died that I might live and flourish; that I might eat, drink, dance, sing, and embrace others as family, friends, and loved ones. His body and blood lead us into life. 

Thursday of the Third Week of Easter

Lectionary: 276

Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.
Not that anyone has seen the Father
except the one who is from God;
he has seen the Father.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes has eternal life.

 T here is a persistent circularity in the Lord's words. He insists that we must believe in him before we understand what he is saying; and only those who listen to the Father and learn from him can come to Jesus. 

Knowledge of the truth begins with the love of the truth. We cannot know God on our own terms, nor any truth which must fit our terms. We will always struggle to understand the truth in words, metaphors, and concepts that satisfy our curious minds; but those conceptions must be altered by the truth. Truth cannot be refashioned to fit the habitually critical mind; or those who do not want to believe. They lack that spirit of obedience; they are not willing to hear and be instructed. 

Teachers know what I mean because they meet students of all ages who attend class only to get the certificate or degree. They have no passion and less interest in knowing the subject matter, be it Platonism or plumbing. They do not want to be changed by what they study. They're wasting their own time and the teachers'. 

Judges sometimes send DWI drivers to meetings of Alcoholic Anonymous only to achieve the same old results. I heard a "fifth step" of a fellow whose only character defect was that the cops should not have been waiting a hundred yards from the tavern! "It's just not fair!" he said. I suppose he told the judge he had completed his fifth step and should be permitted to drive again.

To know the truth we must be prepared for hurt and humiliation. We're going to learn things we don't know and don't want to know, but must know, love, and serve. And we have decided it's better to love the God who never said to anyone, "Suit yourself!"

The Saved love Truth passionately, and thank God he has called us like Lazarus -- by name -- from our silos, echo chambers, and tombs of willful ignorance.