Saturday of the Third Week of Lent in Year A
to
Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent in Year A
Index for This Range of Liturgical Days (click on the link ● to be taken to the reflection for that day)
| Liturgical Season | Sun | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Sat |
| Third Week of Lent in Yr A | ● | ||||||
| Fourth Week of Lent in Yr A | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
| Fifth Week of Lent in Yr A | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● | ● |
Solemnities and Feasts that will occur during this Liturgical
Period:
(Click on the link ●
to be taken to the refection)
| Date | Solemnity or Feast |
| 15th March | St Joseph, The Husband of Mary ● |
Saturday of the third week of Lent A
Saint for Today: Click here to find information about the Saint(s) of the calendar day on which you are reading this reflection. Use your Internet browser's "back" arrow twice to return to this reflection.
Click on centre arrow below to play the video:
Scripture today: Hosea
6:1-6; Psalm 50; Luke 18:9-14
Jesus told the
following parable to those who trusted in themselves as being just
while despising others.
“Two men went into the
temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The
Pharisee standing, prayed thus to himself: ‘O God, I give you thanks
that I am not as the rest of men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, as
is this publican. I fast twice a week: I give tithes of all that I
possess.’ The publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up
his eyes towards heaven; but struck his breast, saying: ‘O God, be
merciful to me a sinner.’ I say to you, this man went home justified
whereas the other did not. Every one who exalts himself will be
humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14)
True
faith
As we think of the sea of activity that marks the life of mankind, we think also
of the various goals of this human activity. Man strives to eat, to clothe and
protect himself, to produce works of culture and art, and to achieve a host of
other worthy things. 
But his greatest goal is surely to establish a right relationship with God. The
purpose of religion is to be made right with God. If his conscience is
enlightened as to his own true condition man is aware that he is a sinner, which
is to say that he does not have this right relationship. How, then, is he to be
made right with God? God has revealed the answer to this question, and in our
Gospel passage today our Lord tells of the Publican going home in a right
relationship with God after his prayer, while the Pharisee does not. Well then,
what did the Publican do that reconciled him with God and which the Pharisee did
not do, which in consequence left him unreconciled? Both were sinners, the one
acknowledging his sinfulness, the other blind to his sins. This is the most
obvious difference between the two and our Lord’s introduction to his parable
gives us the indicator as to what was behind this difference. He told the
parable to those who trusted in themselves as being just before God. It was not
simply a question of whether they were just — which, as we know from our Lord’s
strictures on them elsewhere, they were not — but that they “trusted in
themselves.” There are others mentioned in the Gospels who were just and who
trusted entirely in God. The example of this par excellence is Mary the mother
of Jesus who was “full of grace”. The Lord was with her. She was blessed among
women. Yet she trusted entirely in the Lord and regarded herself as his lowly
handmaid. Joseph the husband of Mary was eminently just, as was Simeon who
spoke of the child in the Temple. They trusted not in themselves but in the
Lord. The Publican of our Lord’s parable was not just, but he acknowledged his
sinfulness and trusted in the Lord for mercy. This constituted his faith in God
and it made him right with God.
The Publican acknowledged his sinfulness before God and all he could do was to
entrust himself to the God of mercy. In this he is the model for sinful man.
Mary the mother of the Lord was, as the angel Gabriel said, full of grace and
the Lord was with her. Still, she lived by faith in God and not by any faith in
herself. Sinful man, too, must trust in God and this he begins to do by
acknowledging his sins and appealing to God for pardon. The Pharisee was blind
to his sins and so trusted in himself. He had no faith, for his faith was in
himself. The faith in God of the Publican saved and justified him, and the
Pharisee’s faith in himself kept him in his sins. What this tells us is that
for sinful man the lack of a sense of his personal sinfulness will lead him to
trust in himself. Blind to his sins, he will feel no need for God and his
salvation. The publicans and the sinners came seeking our Lord and longed to be
in his company. The scribes and the Pharisees resented our Lord and were filled
with jealousy at his manifest holiness and authority. They felt no need for him
for they trusted in themselves as being just. Throughout our Lord’s public
ministry he sought faith. Do you believe I can do this for you? he kept
asking. He required trust in himself, in his word, in his teaching, in his love
and power. Faith in him was required for justification. Before he ascended
into heaven, he commanded his disciples to go to the whole world and make
disciples of all the nations. All the nations were to be called to belief,
belief in him. Faith in him was necessary for salvation. He said to them that
the one who believes will be saved, and the one who refuses to believe will be
condemned. If we are to be delivered from our sins and endowed with the gift of
holiness in Christ, we must be able to acknowledge our sins and trust in his
grace. In one form or another the danger lies in being like the Pharisee. The
goal ought be to have the faith of the Publican. It will make us right with
God.
(E.J.Tyler)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You worry only about building up your knowledge. And what you have to
build up is your soul. Then you will work as you ought — for Christ. In
order that he may reign in the world, there must be some people who,
with their eyes fixed on heaven, seek to acquire prestige in all human
activities, so that they can carry out quietly — and effectively — an
apostolate within their professions.
(The Way, no.347)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------(Back to Local Index for This Page)----------------(To Website Liturgical Day Index)----------------
Prayers
this week:
Rejoice, Jerusalem!
Be glad for her, you who love her; rejoice with her, you who mourned
for her, and you will find contentment at her consoling breasts.(Isaiah
66:10-11)
Father
of peace, we are joyful in your Word, your Son Jesus Christ, who
reconciles us to you. Let us hasten toward Easter with the eagerness of
faith and love. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in
the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
Saint for Today: Click here to find information about the Saint(s) of the calendar day on which you are reading this reflection. Use your Internet browser's "back" arrow twice to return to this reflection.
Click on centre arrow below to play the video:
Scripture:
1 Samuel 16:1.6-7.10-13; Psalm 22; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41
As he went along,
he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, Rabbi, who
sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Neither this
man nor his parents sinned, said Jesus, but this happened so that the
work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we
must do the
work of him who sent me.
Night is coming, when no-one can work. While I am in the world, I am
the light of the world. Having said this, he spat on the ground, made
some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. Go, he told
him, wash in the Pool of Siloam (this word means Sent). So the man went
and washed, and came home seeing. His neighbours and those who had
formerly seen him begging asked, Isn't this the same man who used to
sit and beg? Some claimed that he was. Others said, No, he only looks
like him. But he himself insisted, I am the man. How then were your
eyes opened? they demanded. He replied, The man they call Jesus made
some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So
I went and washed, and then I could see. Where is this man? they asked
him. I don't know, he said. They brought to the Pharisees the man who
had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened
the man's eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him
how he had received his sight. He put mud on my eyes, the man replied,
and I washed, and now I see. Some of the Pharisees said, This man is
not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath. But others asked, How
can a sinner do such miraculous signs? So they were divided. Finally
they turned again to the blind man, What have you to say about him? It
was your eyes he opened. The man replied, He is a prophet. The Jews
still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight
until they sent for the man's parents. Is this your son? they asked. Is
this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see? We
know he is our son, the parents answered, and we know he was born
blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don't know.
Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself. His parents said this
because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided
that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out
of the synagogue. That was why his parents said, He is of age; ask him.
A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. Give glory to
God, they said. We know this man is a sinner. He replied, Whether he is
a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now
I see! Then they asked him, What did he do to you? How did he open your
eyes? He answered, I have told you already and you did not listen. Why
do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?
Then they hurled insults at him and said, You are this fellow's
disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses,
but as for this fellow, we don't even know where he comes from. The man
answered, Now that is remarkable! You don't know where he comes from,
yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He
listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of
opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he
could do nothing. To this they replied, You were steeped in sin at
birth; how dare you lecture us! And they threw him out. Jesus heard
that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, Do you
believe in the Son of Man? Who is he, sir? the man asked. Tell me so
that I may believe in him. Jesus said, You have now seen him; in fact,
he is the one speaking with you. Then the man said, Lord, I believe,
and he worshipped him. Jesus said, For judgment I have come into this
world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.
Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, What?
Are we blind too? Jesus said, If you were blind, you would not be
guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
(John 9:1-41)
The true
Light Our
Gospel passage today is a long one from the Gospel of St John. It is
universally appreciated among readers of Scripture that in his Gospel, St John
understands the miracles of our Lord as being “signs.” They reveal who our Lord
is, and the nature of his mission both then and now in the life of his body the
Church. The sacraments of the Church are actions of Christ signifying and
revealing what he is doing now for us who, by faith and baptism, live in him. The
word and preaching of the Church is the word of Christ who continues to speak to
us his brothers and sisters. Christ is not a past religious teacher who speaks
from the grave through written documents which have their commentaries and
masters — as does, say, Mahomet . No, he lives now with us. He is real. He
abides in his body the Church. He is God-with-us now. He acts just as much now
as he did then. What he did then is a sign of what he does now. St John was
with the Master when he spoke and worked his miracles, and during the years of
his long life St John pondered the words he quotes and the events he narrates.
The living person of Jesus now risen was at the forefront of his mind and heart
all his long and apostolic life. I suspect that the events portrayed in his
Gospel and the words of our Lord as recorded there are those that impressed
themselves particularly on his loving memory. He may have written them down
with more and more ample detail as he remembered and preached on them. He would
have constantly and prayerfully returned to his own text as it gradually
developed, sensing (like the prophets) that both in his recall and in his
understanding, he was being guided by the Holy Spirit. All he remembered
related to the great Person who lived now and who was constantly at hand. He
knew that what he wrote was the word of the living Jesus who was the Love of his
life. That Love, the living and risen Jesus who had showed such special love
for him, he communed with as he preached the word and especially as he
celebrated the Holy Eucharist and the Sacraments.
All this is to say that as we read our Gospel passage today
(John 9:1‑41), as with any Gospel passage,
our sense of the present reality of Jesus ought deepen. Very many people think
of Jesus as if he is a mere thought, an image before them, an historical
religious figure who had great impact, a memory, an example for us, a sign, the
source of a body of teaching — all of these and more, but not as a living
person. Well then, let his words speak to us as coming from him now. In our
passage today our Lord is questioned about the blindness afflicting a person
nearby. Whose was the moral fault that brought this punishment? Our Lord said
that the blindness of the man was allowed by God in order that God’s action
might be displayed in his life. We ought, incidentally, remember those words
whenever we see any handicapped person. His debility is allowed by God in order
that God’s work may be done. Time and again I have seen film clips showing the
extraordinary love and dedication of parents of profoundly handicapped persons.
God is at work in and through them, and the handicapped person is being touched
and sustained by God through them. They themselves are being made more and more
like unto God due to their loving dedication. In our Gospel scene today the
blindness of the man was the occasion for our Lord’s teaching about his own
unique and absolute status as the Light of the world. Present in the Church is
this Light that is Christ — not just one among many lights, but as the one Light
that enlightens and is meant to enlighten every man coming into the world.
Light! What a wonderful figure to explain Christ! I remember years ago when I
was in Peru, I was coming home on horseback from being out celebrating Mass in a
village. Darkness fell, and how dark it was! I had no light. We need light for
our life and far more so for our spiritual life. Christ is that Light. He is
the Light of the world. Without him we are like that blind man prior to his
cure by Christ.
Perhaps it is fair to say that most people in the world have at least heard of Christ. They would look on him as a light, a light among many lights, but not the Light. I wonder if even many Christians look on Christ as merely a light and not the Light, which is to say as one light among many. As we think of our Lord stating categorically that he is the Light of the world and then going on to demonstrate this by a sign, let us resolve to live by his light. He is the true and living Light of the world. Let us bring it to others.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your indolence, your carelessness, your laziness, are easygoing
cowardice — so your conscience tells you continually, — but they are
not 'the way'.
(The Way, no.348)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------(Back to Local Index for This Page)----------------(To Website Liturgical Day Index)----------------
Monday of the fourth week of Lent A
Saint for Today: Click here to find information about the Saint(s) of the calendar day on which you are reading this reflection. Use your Internet browser's "back" arrow twice to return to this reflection.
Click on centre arrow below to play the video:
Scripture today:
Isaiah 65:17-21; Psalm 29; John 4:43-54
After two days
Jesus left for Galilee. Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet
has no honour in his own country. When he arrived in Galilee, the
Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had
done in Jerusalem at the
Passover Feast, for they also had been there. Once more he visited Cana
in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a
certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man
heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and
begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. “Unless
you people see miraculous signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will
never believe.” The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my
child dies.” Jesus replied, “You may go. Your son will live.” The man
took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his
servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he
enquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “The
fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.” Then the father realised
that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, Your son
will live. So he and all his household believed. This was the second
miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.
(John 4:43-54)
The word of Jesus
At times one gets the impression from certain commentators on the life of Jesus
that his concern was only for the poor and downtrodden, and that he had no time
for the rich and those of social position. But this was not the case. The
blessing which was his very person was available to all who had faith. Consider
our Gospel scene today (John 4: 43‑54).
The
locale is once again “Cana in Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine”
(John 2). On that previous occasion at Cana when he worked his first miracle
our Lord and his disciples, we are told, had been invited to the wedding.
Imagine our Lord there among the guests during the actual wedding! Then
following the wedding, there was the wedding feast. In all of this, our Lord
was mixing with ordinary folk. But now, on this second visit to Cana it is a
“royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum” who approached him. He may
have been an official at the court of King Herod — who knows! He is, though, a
person of social position and probably some wealth. He had the faith to believe
in the word of Jesus and his request was granted. And what do we then see? As a
result of the healing of his son at the word of Jesus, “he and all his household
believed.” They became believers. In view of the fact that John wrote this many
years later and deliberately included this detail about their faith, let us
presume that the household of the royal official persevered in their faith in
Jesus. This official was not the only one of some position. We read that one
of the women who followed our Lord and ministered to the apostolic band was the
wife of one of Herod’s stewards. On another occasion a centurion, no less, sent
a group of Jewish friends to ask Jesus to come to heal his servant. Our Lord
unhesitatingly got up and followed them. On the way he received a message from
the centurion and then turned around to those with him, saying in amazement that
nowhere had he found faith like that of this centurion. Christ is open to all
and wishes to save all by drawing them into his friendship. We even find him
accepting invitations to dine at the homes of his critics, the Pharisees.
Christ came for all, high and low, rich and poor alike. He came to call
sinners to repentance, and to offer access to the Kingdom of God which was to be
found in him. The basic prerequisite was faith in his person, a faith
manifested by obedience to his teaching. We notice in our passage today that
when the royal official approached, our Lord’s initial response was, it might
appear, a little abrupt: “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,”
Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” But perhaps our Lord uttered these
words with a smile, simply showing that he was looking for more than a request
for a miracle. He was looking for that faith in his person that did not depend
on miracles. He knew how ephemeral was the attitude of so many who followed him
because of his miracles. When the test of faith in his word came — such as when
he unambiguously taught the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist at Capernaum — very
many of his disciples left him. What he said about eating his flesh and
drinking his blood was too much for them. They had not learnt to believe in his
word alone. Unless they saw signs and wonders they would not believe. Our Lord
was looking for more than this from the royal official, and he got it. All this
is to say that we are all invited to place our faith in the person of Jesus and
in his word. Our faith in his person is expressed and is nourished by our full
and hearty acceptance of his teaching. If we do not accept what he says, we do
not have faith in his person. Well now, where do we hear the word of Christ? We
hear it where Christ actually abides, and he abides in his body the Church.
Christ abides in the Church he founded on the Apostles with Peter at their
head. In every generation he speaks his word in the Church’s inspired Book
which is the Scriptures, and it is transmitted in the Church’s official teaching
and preaching. Just as the living Jesus taught during his public ministry and
asked that people place their faith in him, so now, in the life and ministry of
the Church, he asks each of us to have this same faith and acceptance.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As long as the opinion you expressed was orthodox there is no reason to
be upset, even though the malice of whoever heard you caused him to be
scandalized. For his scandal is pharisaical.
(The Way, no.349)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------(Back to Local Index for This Page)----------------(To Website Liturgical Day Index)----------------
Tuesday of the fourth week in Lent A
Saint for Today: Click here to find information about the Saint(s) of the calendar day on which you are reading this reflection. Use your Internet browser's "back" arrow twice to return to this reflection.
Click on centre arrow below to play the video:
Scripture today:
Ezechiel
47:1-9.12; Psalm 45; John 5:1-16
Some time
later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is
in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Hebrew is called
Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered
colonnades.
Here a great number of disabled people used to lie— the blind, the
lame, the paralysed. One who was there had been an invalid for
thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had
been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, Do you want to
get well? Sir, the invalid replied, I have no-one to help me into the
pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone
else goes down ahead of me. Then Jesus said to him, Get up! Pick up
your mat and walk. At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and
walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jews
said to the man who had been healed, It is the Sabbath; the law forbids
you to carry your mat. But he replied, The man who made me well said to
me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' So they asked him, Who is this fellow
who told you to pick it up and walk? The man who was healed had no idea
who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, See, you are well
again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you. The man went
away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. So,
because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews
persecuted him. (John 5:1-16)
Christ
loves me! As
the Gospels show, our Lord appeared on the scene as one conscious of a
world-wide mission. This mission had its roots in the distant past when God
promised Abraham that through him all the nations of the earth would be
blessed. The inspired author of the book of Genesis discerned the origins of
this promise to lie at the dawn of human history when, upon the Fall of man,
God
promised that the seed of the woman would crush the Serpent’s head. With his
saving mission completed, the risen Jesus sent his Apostles forth to make
disciples of all the nations. But while Christ’s mission was for all the
children of Israel and for the whole world, each individual counts. Each single
person matters to him. Each of us is important, and we see an instance of this
in our Gospel scene today, in which our Lord engages with the invalid near the
Bethesda pool. Our Lord is not being thronged by the crowds but is virtually
alone, perhaps with a few of his close disciples — and maybe with John who
reports the incident. He knew the invalid had been in this condition for a long
time. He may at various times have seen him — perhaps even from his hidden
years at Nazareth when he would come up for the annual feasts. Let us observe
that there was no obvious advantage for his wider mission in assisting this
invalid. But he did so. He stopped and “asked him, Do you want to get well?
Sir, the invalid replied, I have no‑one to help me into the pool when the water
is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.
Then Jesus said to him, Get up! Pick up your mat and walk. At once the man was
cured; he picked up his mat and walked.” (John 5:1‑16).
Then Jesus merged with the crowd as it celebrated the feast. There was no
fanfare. All that this did was to bring on our Lord more persecution from the
leaders. It was an act of pure compassion directed at a lone individual. It
involved a subsequent brief meeting directing him to repent of his sins or else
worse would befall him. Our Lord is interested in each individual.
The same risen Jesus abides with us
still, but unseen. He is present in his body the Church, and continually acts
as the Church’s invisible head. The Church brings him to those to whom she
ministers by means of her inspired Scriptures, and by her preaching, teaching,
Sacraments and works of mercy. Jesus looks on each person now, gazing with
compassion on each and every afflicted person. Just as he stopped to look at
and to speak to this invalid in our Gospel passage today, a person who had been
in this condition for a long time, so he gazes with compassion on every person
who is burdened with suffering and sin. He has a predilection for the poor and
the suffering, without meaning to imply that he loves any the less the one who
happens not to be suffering at that point. Indeed, this is Christianity.
Christianity is not simply a teaching about God and the moral life. Nor is it
simply a teaching about redemption from sin and the acquisition of holiness of
life. It is above all a relationship with a living person, the person of
Jesus. He is present to every man and woman, just as during his public ministry
he made himself present to this lone invalid. As risen in glory he is now
present to all, and each and all may call upon him as their friend. He is the
unseen friend of every man and woman, especially one who is overburdened. He
said on another occasion, “Come to me all you who labour and are overburdened
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am
meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. My yoke is
easy and my burden light.” This invitation is lovingly directed to each
individual, and these words ought be heard as being meant for each. The 19th
century Danish thinker, Soren Kierkegaard, once wrote that we ought read the
Scriptures as one would read a letter from a dear friend. As St Paul writes in
one of his Letters, Christ loves me, me, and gave himself up for me, for me.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's not enough to be learned, in addition to being a good
Christian. If you don't correct the brusqueness of your character, if
you make your zeal and your knowledge incompatible with good manners, I
can't see you ever becoming a saint. And despite your learning —
because of it — you should be tied in a stall, like a mule.
(The Way, no.350)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------(Back to Local Index for This Page)----------------(To Website Liturgical Day Index)----------------
Wednesday of the fourth week in Lent A
Saint for Today: Click here to find information about the Saint(s) of the calendar day on which you are reading this reflection. Use your Internet browser's "back" arrow twice to return to this reflection.
Click on centre arrow below to play the video:
Scripture today: Isaiah 49:8-15; Psalm
144; John 5:17-30
Jesus said to
them,” My Father is always working and I, too, am working.” For this
reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; for not only was he
breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father,
making himself equal to God. Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you
the truth, the Son
can do
nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing,
because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father
loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will
show him even greater things than these. For just as the Father raises
the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is
pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no-one, but has
entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honour the Son just as
they honour the Father. He who does not honour the Son does not honour
the Father, who sent him. I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word
and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be
condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the
truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the
voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father
has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.
And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in
their graves will hear his voice and come out— those who have done good
will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be
condemned. By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my
judgment is just for I seek not my own will but the will of the one who
sent me.” (John 5:17-30)
One and Only
There have been rulers in the past (such as Alexander the Great and some of the
Caesars) who strove to be eventually acknowledged as divine. Of course, the
ancient and classical notion of the gods was entirely different from that of the
God of historical revelation. Those who claimed to be gods were seeking to be
counted among those heavenly powers that exercised various levels of influence
on the world and which were supplicated and worshipped by men. But as far as I
am aware no one of any consequence claimed to be equal to the one, infinite
God.
Of course monotheism was rare in the ancient world and outside the revelation
stemming from Abraham (and any religion influenced by Abraham, Moses, the
prophets and Christ) it has always been rare. Hence the claims of Jesus Christ
are stunning, and stunned the leaders of the Jews. The authority with which he
preached and taught was mesmerizing, and he supported this authority with
miracles of great power. If one accepts the historicity of the Gospels it is
clear that no prophet before Christ was in any way his equal, and his unique
standing was made clear by the almighty Father himself on certain specific
occasions (such as at his Baptism and Transfiguration). But the most striking
thing about Jesus of Nazareth was his serene claim to be divine, divine in the
sense of being his heavenly Father’s equal. Our Lord’s enemies quickly saw this
implication in what he was saying. He was not claiming that he himself was the
Father. Nor was he claiming to be in some sense another god (as did, say,
Alexander). No, there was only one God, and that one and only God was his own
Father. His Father was distinct from himself as a person for he himself was the
Son. But being the Father’s very own Son, he shared with the Father the divine
nature. All that the Father does, the Son has been given to do. As his enemies
immediately saw, “not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling
God his own Father, making himself equal to God” (John
5:17‑30).
Our Lord immediately proceeded to explain. He did not deny that he was making
himself equal to God, but as a person he gave full precedence to the Father. He
would only do what he saw the Father doing, and all that the Father does, the
Son does too. Just as the Father gives life to whomever he wishes, so does the
Son. Indeed, the Father has left all judgment over men to the Son so “that all
may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. He who does not honour the
Son does not honour the Father, who sent him.” Christ is placing himself on a
par with the Father in terms of the honour due to him. All of this is by
disposition of the Father. Moreover, so great is Christ’s word that the one who
hears and accepts it will have life, for the Father has granted to the Son to
have life in himself. As I said, no other prophet made such extraordinary
claims. John the Baptist, the greatest of those before him, said that he was
not worthy to bend down to undo Christ’s very sandal straps. Nor did any other
great religious leader or founder ever make such claims either. Mahomet’s
claims cannot compare with them, nor can those of Zoroaster, Buddha, or any
other. Moreover, the leaders saw exactly what was being implied and they
resolved to do away with him. Together with this, Christ manifested marvellous
judgment, holiness and power over the elements of the natural world and over the
underworld. If ever there was a natural lord and king, it was he, and when he
rose from the dead and showed himself to the doubting Thomas, Thomas excelled
himself with his profession of faith. “My Lord and my God,” he cried. Jesus
was Yahweh of the Old Testament, as was his heavenly Father. Before he ascended
into heaven he told his disciples that indeed all authority in heaven and on
earth had been given to him, and that they were to go to the whole world and
make disciples of all the nations. The message of Christianity is Christ
himself, and its call is a call to union with Jesus Christ who is Lord.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With that self-satisfied air you are becoming an objectionable and
repellent type, you are making a fool of yourself, and, what is worse,
you are harming your apostolic work.
Don't forget that even mediocrities can sin by being pompous.
(The Way, no.351)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------(Back to Local Index for This Page)----------------(To Website Liturgical Day Index)----------------
Thursday of the fourth week in Lent A
Saint for Today: Click here to find information about the Saint(s) of the calendar day on which you are reading this reflection. Use your Internet browser's "back" arrow twice to return to this reflection.
Click on centre arrow below to play the video:
Scripture today:
Exodus 32:7-14; Psalm 105; John 5:31-47
Jesus said, “If I
testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. There is another who
testifies in my favour, and I know that his testimony about me is
valid. You sent to John and he testified to the truth. Not that I
accept human testimony; but I refer to it in order that you may be
saved. John was a lamp
that burned and gave
light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light. I have testimony
weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has
given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has
sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning
me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word
dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You diligently
study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal
life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to
come to me to have life. I do not accept praise from men, but I know
you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have
come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else
comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe if you
accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise
that comes from the one God? But do not think I will accuse you before
the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you
believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since
you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I
say?”
(John 5:31-47)
Testimony to Christ
In our passage today our Lord confronts his critics and deals with their demand
for support for his claims and actions. They refuse to accept his testimony
about himself as valid if unsupported by other testimonies. Christ answers that
he himself does not depend on human testimony, but he will refer to it so that
his interlocutors may be saved. John’s was the most obvious testimony to him.
Our Lord’s reference to John indicates that the fulsome words of John about
Jesus, as reported in the Gospels and as given especially in the Gospel of St
John, was a public testimony.
Reading the first chapter of St John may give one the impression that it was to
his own disciples that John testified specifically about Jesus. But our Lord’s
challenge to the leaders as given in our passage today indicates that they too
were well aware that the prophet John had testified to Jesus. All the people
had accepted John as a prophet, and the leaders too — our Lord says here —
“chose for a time to enjoy his light.” John had declared that he himself was not
worthy to kneel down to undo Christ’s sandal straps. Jesus was the promised
One, he had declared. But our Lord adds that there had been a weightier
testimony than that of John: the works and ministry of Jesus himself. Even
without the testimony of John, his teaching and his works would have been
sufficient. When John himself, from prison, sent disciples to Christ for
further confirmation that he was indeed the one who was to come, it was to his
works that Christ referred John. Tell John, he said, that the blind see, the
lame walk, the dead rise again. That is to say, Look at what I am doing and see
how it vindicates the truth of what you said about me before your imprisonment.
His critics could not deny the power of his words and deeds, and because of them
the people held him in high regard. Our Lord pointed to his works even with his
own disciples: at least believe because of the works I am doing, he said to
them, even if it is difficult to believe simply on my word.
But there is more still. Beyond John’s testimony and beyond his own words and
actions, the heavenly Father had testified too: “And the Father who sent me has
himself testified concerning me.” Our Lord may have been referring here to the
voice of the Father at his baptism which was to some extent public, and which
may have been spoken of by various people. Certainly John himself spoke of the
testimony which the Father himself had given of Jesus. And then, our Lord
continues, there is the testimony of Scripture itself, that Scripture to which
the leaders, his critics, were always referring. “You diligently study the
Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are
the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have
life....If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But
since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I
say?” (John 5:31‑47). Our Lord says that
their refusal to come to him shows that they lack faith in their very reading of
the Scriptures. If they had divine faith they would, on hearing John’s
testimony and on seeing Christ and his works, recognize that it was of him that
Moses and the Scriptures had spoken. Our Lord, during his public ministry and
teaching, often referred to the Scriptures and to how he was their fulfilment.
He himself was profoundly steeped in the Scriptures. He knew that they were to
be fulfilled, and that he it was who would fulfil them. He could summarily rout
his opponents in all debates about the Scriptures. When he rose from the dead
he walked with his two disciples on the way to Emmaus and went through the
Scriptures with them, showing how the Messiah had to suffer and die, then rise
and so enter his glory. All of these indicators bear testimony to the grandeur
and uniqueness of Jesus: the words about him of the great prophet John, his own
teaching and works that filled his public ministry, the testimony of the Father
himself, and the fulfilment of the Scriptures in his own person.
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your very inexperience leads you to that
presumption, to that vanity, to all that you imagine gives you an air
of importance.
Correct yourself, please. Foolish and all, you might come to occupy a
position of responsibility (it has happened more than once) and, if you
are not convinced of your lack of ability, you will refuse to listen to
those who have the gift of counsel. And it frightens me to think of the
harm your mismanagement will do.
(The Way, no.352)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------(Back to Local Index for This Page)----------------(To Website Liturgical Day Index)----------------
Friday of the fourth week in Lent A
Saint for Today: Click here to find information about the Saint(s) of the calendar day on which you are reading this reflection. Use your Internet browser's "back" arrow twice to return to this reflection.
Click on centre arrow below to play the video:
Scripture today: Wisdom 2: 1.12-22; Psalm 33; John 7:1-2.10.25-30
After this, Jesus
went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because the
Jews there were waiting to take his life. But when the Jewish Feast of
Tabernacles was near, after his brothers had
left for
the Feast, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. At that point
some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, Isn't this the man they
are trying to kill? Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not
saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is
the Christ? But we know where this man is from; when the Christ comes,
no-one will know where he is from. Then Jesus, teaching in the temple
courts, cried out, Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am
not here on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him,
but I know him because I am from him and he sent me. At this they tried
to seize him, but no-one laid a hand on him, because his time had not
yet come. (John 7:1-2.10.25-30)
Success
One of the very intriguing things in human history is the pattern and the forms
of success and failure. We see certain persons who are able and good, and yet
who, humanly speaking, seem to fail. That is to say, they do not gain status,
social influence and the praise of the many. They may even end their lives in
oblivion. Others perhaps of less ability, fewer human and moral qualities and
much less possession of the truth do well in society and end their days with the
praise of men. Now, some who observe this phenomenon go on to imagine that
ultimate success is indicated and defined by social influence, by status and the
praise of men. “Success” is deemed to be what the world counts to be success.
The truth and value of a person’s position is validated by the extent of its
acceptance by those around him. For instance, some have thought that Mahomet’s
social, political and military success vindicated the truth of his religious
message. He ended his days having attained a remarkable ascendancy in Arabia,
and the Muslim armies extended it at a stunning rate after his death. It showed
— so Islam thinks — that Allah was with him, confirming the truth of his
utterances. Of course, if this were all that there was to the case for Islam, a
serious thinker could not be persuaded. After all, Alexander, Caesar, Genghis
Khan and even Stalin had great “successes.” At a spiritual level, the Arians and
the Nestorians had great “success” over various centuries — in terms of
numbers. I introduce this issue not to discuss it at length, but simply to set
forth the pattern that marked the life of Christ. Who can deny his greatness?
Who can question the loftiness of his message nor the holiness of his person,
nor the remarkable powers he had to work miracles? These are facts which even
Mahomet himself accepted, even if he got no further than looking on Christ (as
did so many in his own day) as but a prophet like the others before him — and
not to be rated with himself. So then, Christ our Lord was great. But look at
his course — as alluded to in our Gospel today (John
7:1‑2.10.25‑30) — and see how different it was from that of the
“successful.”
Christ did not have much “success,” if we define success in terms of status,
influence upon those who matter, and the praise and adulation of the many.
Consider the death of Christ on the cross and consider by contrast the death of
Mahomet. The one involved tremendous rejection, the other was marked by
widespread adulation. Of course, as already mentioned, the Christian would say
that acceptance and adulation is no necessary indicator of truth. To assume
that it is such an indicator, is just that — it is an assumption. But what I am
observing here is a striking pattern in the life of Christ, namely that his path
was one of rejection and it went against the ways of the world. He did not seek
adulation, and indeed he knew it was not the path of God. He saw through
“success.” In our Gospel today we read that “Jesus went around in Galilee,
purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take
his life.” Then when our Lord did go to Jerusalem, we read that “at that point
some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, Isn’t this the man they are trying
to kill?” Our Lord did not seek nor gain the acceptance of those who mattered.
Indeed, the more he announced the central features of his doctrine, the more he
lost his own disciples. We read in St John’s Gospel — in chapter 6, preceding
the chapter of our passage today — that when our Lord taught the doctrine of the
Eucharist, that he was to give his flesh to eat and his blood to drink, very
many of his disciples left him. But so it had to be, for our Lord immediately
turned to the Twelve and asked if they were going to leave him too. There was
to be no turning back from the Truth he had come to reveal. He even lost one of
the Twelve, who in due course went off to betray him. In our Gospel today we
read that his enemies “tried to seize him, but no‑one laid a hand on him for his
time had not yet come.” But the time did eventually come when he allowed himself
to be seized, totally rejected, and condemned to death on a cross. The surprise
is that in the plan of God this is how true “success” was to be gained.
(E.J.Tyler)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nonsectarianism. Neutrality. Old myths that always try to seem new.
Have you ever stopped to think how absurd it is to leave one's
Catholicism aside on entering a university, a professional association,
a cultural society, or Parliament, like a man leaving his hat at the
door?
(The Way, no.353)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------(Back to Local Index for This Page)----------------(To Website Liturgical Day Index)----------------
Saturday of the fourth week in Lent A
Saint for Today: Click here to find information about the Saint(s) of the calendar day on which you are reading this reflection. Use your Internet browser's "back" arrow twice to return to this reflection.
Click on centre arrow below to play the video:
Scripture today: Jeremiah 11:18-20; Psalm 7; John 7:40-53
On hearing his
words, some of the people said, Surely this man is the Prophet. Others
said, He is the Christ. Still others asked, How can the Christ come
from Galilee? Does not the Scripture say that the
Christ
will come from David's family and from Bethlehem, the town where David
lived? Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. Some wanted to
seize him, but no-one laid a hand on him. Finally the temple guards
went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, Why
didn't you bring him in? No-one ever spoke the way this man does, the
guards declared. You mean he has deceived you also? the Pharisees
retorted. Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?
No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law— there is a curse on
them. Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their
own number, asked, Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him
to find out what he is doing? They replied, Are you from Galilee, too?
Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of
Galilee. Then each went to his own home. (John
7:40-53)
Seeking Christ
It has been said that the time of youth is a time of dreams, and the time of
late middle age is a time of regrets. This, like many one‑liners, is too
simple, but one point that it makes is that it is all too easy to go through
life failing to make good the important chances that come our way.
Great opportunities come and they can, for a lack of appreciation and effort,
regrettably be lost forever. In our Gospel passage today we have a glimpse of
the unique and astounding impression Christ made on many persons. “On hearing
his words, some of the people said, Surely this man is the Prophet. Others
said, He is the Christ.” A little later in the passage we are told that the
temple guard who had been sent to arrest our Lord returned without their man,
saying “No one ever spoke the way this man does.” Despite this impact which our
Lord had on people, nevertheless some demurred. We read that “Still others
asked, How can the Christ come from Galilee? Does not the Scripture say that the
Christ will come from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the town where David
lived? Thus the people of our Gospel passage were divided about Jesus.” Some
held back, as did many others who are mentioned elsewhere in the Gospels. On
one occasion a young man of great religious promise came to our Lord, and our
Lord having heard him, loved him. He then invited him to leave all and follow
him. But the young man turned away. A golden opportunity had been forever
missed. On another occasion our Lord announced his doctrine of the Eucharist,
and many of his disciples left him. The issue is expressed in stark relief in
our Gospel passage today, when the reaction of the chief priests and the
Pharisees is recounted. The report of the temple guard made no impression on
their hostile prejudice. They threw back their paltry objections, namely that
Jesus had no following among the leaders (which, actually, was wrong —
Nicodemus, for one, was a secret disciple) and that he had come from Galilee.
Nicodemus’s objection asking his colleagues for openness of mind and the
willingness at least to give Jesus a hearing, is significant for the modern
reader. Modern secular man ranges between hostility to Christ and utter
indifference. Perhaps it is indifference which is more characteristic of him.
The effect of this indifference is a closed mind that refuses to seek the truth
about Christ with real earnestness. It is summed up in the final remark in the
Gospel passage that the chief priests and the Pharisees “then each went to his
own home.” (John 7:40‑53) There they stayed,
in spirit, and did not venture out to seek Christ and his truth. When it comes
to religion, modern secular man is prone to go “to his own home” as it were,
and to stay there. He is sceptical, doubtful, and even hostile to this or that
aspect of the Christian Fact. He does not care sufficiently to seek out with an
open mind and heart the truth of the matter. Christ passes by and he does not
care. He stays in “his own home,” as it were. So life passes and the pearl of
great price is not gained. To gain the pearl one must act with vigour and seek
out the truth about it. This means that if one is in doubt about Christ or
indifferent to him, then a new beginning must be made. The attainment of the
truth, and the resolution of both doubt and indifference, must become one’s
uppermost goal. A conversion to the truth is needed. Let us think of the
various reactions to Christ as reported in our Gospel passage today and ask,
where do I fit in? Am I in the company of those who could see Jesus was the
long‑awaited Prophet, the long‑promised Messiah? Am I among those who settled
for various objections, or am I even among the chief priests and Pharisees who
went back each “to his own home”? Whatever category of person I must at this
point place myself in, I have the freedom to do something about it. I can
resolve to seek the truth with an open heart, praying for the help of God to
dispose me to love the truth, and to seek it earnestly even if it goes contrary
to my prejudices.
(E.J.Tyler)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Make good use of your time. Don't forget the fig tree cursed by our
Lord. And it was doing something: sprouting leaves. Like you...
Don't tell me you have excuses. It availed the fig tree little, relates
the Evangelist. that it was not the season for figs when our Lord came
to it to look for them.
And barren it remained for ever.
(The Way, no.354)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------(Back to Local Index for This Page)----------------(To Website Liturgical Day Index)----------------
Prayers
this week: Sing to the Lord a new
song, for he has done marvellous deeds; he has revealed to the
nations his saving power, alleluia.(Isaiah
66:10-11)
God
our Father, look upon us with love. You redeem us and make us your
children in Christ. Give us true freedom and bring us to the
inheritance you promised. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ
your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
Saint for Today: Click here
to find information about the Saint(s) of the
calendar day on which you are reading this reflection.
Use your
Internet browser's "back" arrow twice to return to this reflection.
Click on centre arrow below to play the video:
Scripture today: Ezechiel 37:12-14; Romans 8: 8-11; John 11:1-45
Now a man named
Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her
sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the
same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her
hair. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Lord, the one you love is
sick." When he heard this, Jesus said, "This sickness will not end in
death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified
through it." Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he
heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. Then
he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea." "But Rabbi," they
said, "a short while ago the Jews
tried to
stone you, and yet you are going back there?" Jesus answered, "Are
there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not
stumble, for he sees by this world's light. It is when he walks by
night that he stumbles, for he has no light." After he had said this,
he went on to tell them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I
am going there to wake him up." His disciples replied, "Lord, if he
sleeps, he will get better." Jesus had been speaking of his death, but
his disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them
plainly, "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there,
so that you may believe. But let us go to him." Then Thomas (called
Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, "Let us also go, that we
may die with him." On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already
been in the tomb for four days. Bethany was less than two miles from
Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in
the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she
went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. "Lord," Martha said to
Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I
know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." Jesus said to
her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha answered, "I know he will
rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Jesus said to her, "I
am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even
though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do
you believe this?" "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are
the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world." And after
she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. "The
Teacher is here," she said, "and is asking for you." When Mary heard
this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered
the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When
the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed
how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she
was going to the tomb to mourn there. When Mary reached the place where
Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had
been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping,
and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply
moved in spirit and troubled. "Where have you laid him?" he asked.
"Come and see, Lord," they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said,
"See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened
the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" Jesus, once
more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid
across the entrance. "Take away the stone," he said. "But, Lord," said
Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odour,
for he has been there four days." Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you
that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took
away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you
that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this
for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that
you sent me." When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice,
"Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped
with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them,
"Take off the grave clothes and let him go." Therefore many of the Jews
who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their
faith in him. (John 11:1-45)
Jesus is Lord
There have been many
great and wonderful men in the world, and they have appeared across the ages and
in various professions. There have been extraordinary military men such as
Alexander the Great. There have been extraordinary rulers, such as Charlemagne
in Europe, and Alfred the Great in England many decades later. There have been
extraordinary religious leaders such as Mahomet. But outside the few cases
mentioned in the Old and New Testaments (such as Elisha in 2 Kings 4, and Peter
in Acts 9), who has done what Christ did in our Gospel passage today?
At
a simple word he raised a man who had been dead for four days and commanded him
to come forth from the grave, which he immediately did. Is there anything that
could be remotely compared with this in the activities of Mahomet, or Buddha, or
Socrates, or Alexander the Great? Our Lord gave a wonderful teaching and
supported it by numerous and striking miracles, of which his raising of Lazarus
from the dead in our Gospel passage today is a dramatic specimen
(John 11:1‑45). Christ showed a sovereign
and effortless power over nature and over life itself, and he displayed this
same power when it came to his own personal course. His greatest miracle of all
was his own rising from the dead, which he predicted. Let us put it this way.
Imagine if, during his life, Mahomet had told his disciples that three days
after he died he would rise again. Then imagine if that had actually happened.
But of course, nothing of the kind occurred at all. Mahomet, surrounded by his
sorrowing wives and grieving friends and followers, breathed his last in the
year 632 in the room of his favourite wife Ayeshah at Medina. There he was
buried, and there his tomb remains close to the great mosque of Medina. Mahomet
never had any thought that he could raise himself from the dead in his body, and
no one else ever thought he could. Death conquered him just as it conquers all
the great and the small of this world. But not so Christ. Christ submitted to
death and then conquered it. The good news is that by means of union with him,
we too will not be overcome by death. The great sign of this is the virgin Mary
his mother, who because of her being full of grace and in union with her risen
Son, was taken by God body and soul to heaven at the end of her life, presumably
after her death.
Whatever else a man may do in life, he cannot overcome death. Death will come,
and when it does a person cannot win in the encounter. But Christ did. He
overcame death in his public ministry when at a word he raised from death the
son of the widow of Nain; when at a word he raised to life the daughter of
Jairus; and when at a word he raised Lazarus from being four days in the grave.
It all showed that there was nothing our Lord could not do had he wished, and
the proof of this was his own rising from the dead. No one raised him from the
dead — as he said, he freely laid down his life, and he freely took it up
again. Our Lord’s resurrection confirms his claim to be divine, just as it
confirms all the things he did and taught. Had Buddha done the same, it would
have been a signal confirmation of his teaching and his works — but of course he
did not rise from the dead. Christ rose from the dead, and thereafter death in
no sense had the slightest hold on him. His resurrection from the dead confirms
all the divine promises made about our Lord himself and about the blessings
offered to man in and through him. He, the same Jesus, lives now by a new and
eternal life and it is this eternal life which he imparts to his disciples who
with faith are baptized into him. So the resurrection of Christ not only
reveals and confirms who Christ our Saviour really is, but it is the source or
principle of our being made right with God. This new life which Christ lives
and which he shares with us who believe and are baptized, makes us adopted
children of God his heavenly Father. Moreover and most significantly, if we
live in union with the risen Jesus we shall not only rise from death in our
spirits, but we shall rise from death at the end in our bodies too. There will
be a complete and entire resurrection from the dead, when at the end of time
following the final and general judgment, we are filled with the life of God in
our bodies too. We shall be glorious in body and soul just as Mary our heavenly
mother is already glorious in body and soul, through the merits and the
resurrection of her divine Son.
Buddha is dead. Socrates and
Aristotle are dead. Mahomet is dead. Charlemagne and Alfred the Great are long
dead. All the great ones of human history are dead. But Christ rose from the
dead and lives body and soul glorious at the right hand of his heavenly Father.
To him has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. He is the Lord of
lords and King of kings. He lives and is present in his body the Church. He
gives himself to us in the Sacraments especially in the Eucharist, and in these
sacramental encounters he gives us a share in his risen divine life. Let us
resolve to live in union with him so as to rise with him.
(E.J.Tyler)
Further reading:
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos.651‑655
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Those who are engaged in business say that time is money. That seems
little to me: for us who are engaged in affairs of souls, time is...
glory!
(The Way, no.355)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------(Back to Local Index for This Page)----------------(To Website Liturgical Day Index)----------------
Monday of the fifth week of Lent A
Saint for Today: Click here to find information about the Saint(s) of the calendar day on which you are reading this reflection. Use your Internet browser's "back" arrow twice to return to this reflection.
Click on centre arrow below to play the video:
Scripture today: Daniel
13:1-9.15-17.19-30.33-62; Psalm 22; John 8:1-11
Jesus went to the
Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where
all the people gathered round him, and he sat down to teach them. The
teachers
of the
law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made
her stand before the group and said to Jesus, Teacher, this woman was
caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone
such women. Now what do you say? They were using this question as a
trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down
and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on
questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, If any one of you
is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. Again he
stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to
go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left,
with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked
her, Woman, where are they? Has no-one condemned you? No-one, sir, she
said. Then neither do I condemn you, Jesus declared. Go now and leave
your life of sin.
(John 8:1-11)
God of mercy
It has often been said that the God of the Old Testament is a God of wrath and
condemnation, while the God of the New is a God of love and forgiveness. Like
many quips and one‑liners, such a statement is an over‑simplification and a
caricature. The God of both Testaments is the same God, but the revelation of
him present in both Testaments shows his nature in different ways and to
different degrees. That is to say, if we are to interpret adequately this
revelation by God over many centuries and finally in his incarnate Son, we must
employ the idea of development.
Up
to Christ there was a developing revelation, and since Christ there is a
development in the Church’s understanding of this revelation. As the Christian
Faith teaches it, God gradually revealed more and more of himself and his plan
until he revealed himself definitively in Christ his Son. Christ is his final
and definitive word. There is no further development of revelation. Even so,
the Church gradually understands more and more of this definitive word that is
Christ. So the Church’s doctrine develops. As an aside, may I observe that
this notion of development could assist in other religions. Certain forms of
fundamentalism in religion exclude development. For instance, there is much
talk of the impasse of Islamic fundamentalism. I suspect that a way through
this for Islam is to become open to the notion of development in its doctrine,
while it holds to the definitive character of its revelation. Islam insists
that the Koran, just as it stands, came from the highest heavens and was
revealed to Mahomet by the Angel Gabriel in instalments. Let us set aside
discussion of that position and make a distinction — that between the
“revelation,” and a doctrine that enshrines an official understanding of the
revelation. The former may be insisted on as being unalterable, while the
latter may develop, become more sophisticated, more refined, more
contextualised. Thus while “jihad” may be part of the revelation, the formal
understanding of it may develop far beyond the original Arabian understanding.
Well now, with this in mind, let us consider our Gospel passage today.
The scribes and Pharisees confront our Lord with what they claimed the Law of
Moses required, which was that the sinful woman before him be stoned. They
quoted the text, and demanded to know how our Lord said it was to be applied.
They were appealing to a God of severity towards sin. But in the Old Testament
there are diverse passages revealing a richly faceted God dealing with his
people at various stages of their development. His progressive revelation of
himself contains both severity with sin and a remarkable mercy and compassion
for the sinner. A process of development of revelation must be taken into
account. The prophets affirm God’s hatred of sin and warn of punishment to
come, but more and more they insist on his love and mercy. On one occasion our
Lord himself quotes against his critics the words of Yahweh in the Old Testament
requiring mercy: “Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘what I want is mercy,
not sacrifice’, and you would not have condemned the blameless.” In our Gospel
passage today (John 8:1‑11) our Lord calmly
presents a challenge to his critics: those without sin ought be the ones to cast
the first stone. Christ does not contradict the divine hatred of sin which was
a factor in the particular historical prescription of death for adultery. But
by his eloquent and powerful silence he brings forward into greater prominence
another feature of the religion revealed by Yahweh: that of mercy and
compassion. He then looks on the sinful woman with love and compassion and
commands her to go and not to sin again. God is giving her time to repent and
to live in a way that is pleasing to him. God’s prohibition of sin which
distinguishes historical revelation from the very beginning still stands in
Christ’s words to the woman. They are a warning to us all and they remind us of
our Lord’s numerous references to God’s judgment and to hell fire. But what
dominates our Gospel scene is the revelation of the divine mercy. God is
merciful and compassionate, and he gives us the opportunity and the grace to
renounce sin and live in his love.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't understand how you can call yourself a Christian and lead such
an idle, useless life. Have you forgotten Christ's life of toil?
(The Way, no.356)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------(Back to Local Index for This Page)----------------(To Website Liturgical Day Index)----------------
Tuesday of the fifth week of Lent A
Saint for Today: Click here to find information about the Saint(s) of the calendar day on which you are reading this reflection. Use your Internet browser's "back" arrow twice to return to this reflection.
Click on centre arrow below to play the video:
Scripture today: Numbers 21: 4-9; Psalm 101; John 8: 21-30
Once more Jesus
said to them, I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will
die in your sin. Where I go, you
cannot
come. This made the Jews ask, Will he kill himself? Is that why he
says, 'Where I go, you cannot come'? But he continued, You are from
below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that
I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins. Who are
you? they asked. Just what I have been claiming all along, Jesus
replied. I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is
reliable, and what I have heard from him I tell the world. They did not
understand that he was telling them about his Father. So Jesus said,
When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am
the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just
what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; he has
not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him. Even as he spoke,
many put their faith in him. (John 8:
21-30)
Being right
There has been a
conviction ever since the Enlightenment that cannot accept that one’s salvation
depends on the correctness of “one’s opinions.” By this is meant that if one
chooses not to believe in Christ and that he is the Son of God and the Redeemer,
then so be it. That just happens to be one’s honest “opinion” and it is
unacceptable to insist that this “opinion” places one’s salvation in danger. It
is viewed as a dogmatism that imposes sanctions on freedom in one’s own
thoughts. Well, while on the face of it such a view of things might seem
somewhat reasonable,
Christ
makes statements in our Gospel passage today that are of very serious import for
modern secular and sceptical man. What immediately leaps out from the passage
are our Lord’s claims about himself. He is not simply, like any great prophet,
speaking of God and his will as it has been revealed to him. He is also and
very importantly speaking of himself. But most seriously, he states that if
what he claims about himself is not accepted, then his hearers will die in their
sins. So it is a matter ultimately of life and death that he, Jesus Christ, be
accepted for who he claims to be. In this sense one’s “opinion” about him, as
we might call it, is indeed of enormous import for one’s very salvation. We
read that Jesus continued, “You are of this world; I am not of this world. I
told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the
one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.” (John 8: 21‑30). Our Lord
continues to stress his claims. “Who are you? they asked. Just what I have
been claiming all along, Jesus replied. When you have lifted up the Son of Man,
then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my
own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with
me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him. Even as he
spoke, many put their faith in him.” (John 8: 21‑30).
He is the Son of the Father who has sent him to announce his word, and he is
sinless, always doing what pleases the Father.
The necessity of accepting Christ’s claims means that in God’s plan — as our
Lord told his disciples on another occasion — the only way to the Father is
through him. As Peter told the Sanhedrin (in the Acts of the Apostles) Jesus is
the only name by which we can be saved. We must approach him, listen to him,
accept him for who and what he claims to be together with his teaching, and then
follow in his way. It is not sufficient to be simply a good person in the
normal sense of the word and then to allow a liberal approach to the matter of
one’s acceptance of Christ’s claims. Obviously, the fundamental requirement is
to follow the voice of one’s conscience (which is the most one can do anyway).
Nevertheless our Gospel text is clear that, having in some sense seen and heard
Christ, one’s salvation is threatened by not accepting his claims. Our Lord did
not say to those who were listening to him that if they genuinely refused to
believe his claims, then all would be well because, after all, they were
sincere. No, he simply said that “if you do not believe that I am the one I
claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.” It suggests that the very
indicator of a right conscience in the one who in some sense sees and hears
Christ is precisely the acceptance of his claims. Our Lord is saying that if
this acceptance is deliberately refused then normally a serious moral and
spiritual failure has been involved, a failure for which one is responsible.
What is at issue here is a fundamental duty which Christ reveals as being
necessary for salvation. That duty is to believe in him and to accept his
word. Our Lord is addressing those who are seeing and hearing him, and we are
told that “even as he spoke, many put their faith in him.” He is saying that if
in some sense one sees and hears him then one’s duty is to believe. If having
somehow seen and heard him one refuses to believe, then an immensely important
duty has been neglected. Belief is an indicator of moral disposition, and
salvation depends on the fulfilment of this duty to believe.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'It seems' — so you say — 'as if
every imaginable sin were awaiting the first idle moment. Why, idleness
itself must be a sin!'
He who pledges himself to work for Christ should never have a free moment, because to rest is not to do nothing: it is to relax in activities which demand less effort.
(The Way, no.357)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------(Back to Local Index for This Page)----------------(To Website Liturgical Day Index)----------------
Wednesday of the fifth week of Lent
Saint for Today: Click here to find information about the Saint(s) of the calendar day on which you are reading this reflection. Use your Internet browser's "back" arrow twice to return to this reflection.
Click on centre arrow below to play the video:
Scripture today:
Daniel 3:14-20. 91-92. 95. (Psalm:) Daniel 3; John 8:31-42
To the Jews who had
believed him, Jesus said, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my
disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you
free. They
answered
him, We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone.
How can you say that we shall be set free? Jesus replied, I tell you
the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no
permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it for ever. So if
the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know you are
Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have
no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's
presence, and you do what you have heard from your father. Abraham is
our father, they answered. If you were Abraham's children, said Jesus,
then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined
to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.
Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own
father does. We are not illegitimate children, they protested. The only
Father we have is God himself. Jesus said to them, If God were your
Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have
not come on my own; but he sent me.
(John 8:31-42)
Christ the Truth
One of the distinguishing values of the modern age is that of freedom. Each age
and culture has its distinctive values and ever since the French Revolution the
cry of Liberty has been heard from culture to culture and it continues to raise
its clamour across the globe. While some oppose liberty, more commonly the
concern is, what exactly is demanded in the insistence on liberty. If we go
back to the French Revolution, we could say that in theory the word meant
freedom from unjust restraint and its meaning is made fairly clear in its
companion terms: Equality and Fraternity.
Liberty,
Equality and Fraternity is what modern man has wanted in his life in society.
The problem is that Liberty has tended to mean License, involving not just
freedom from unjust restraint but from all restraint. The French Revolution
itself revealed this tendency, collapsing into a rampage of terror and mayhem,
with revealed religion and the Church being the first casualty. All this is to
say that the story of liberty in society has shown that the exercise of freedom
must be guided not by values arbitrarily chosen but by objective truth. Both
reason and experience indicate that the freedom to choose must mean the freedom
to seek and to subject oneself to the objective truth. Freedom is not freedom
from anything, but freedom to serve the truth. If Freedom is in fact License
from all that may restrain, then great harm will result. Of course, if there is
to be any liberty at all, to some extent there has to be the freedom to be
wrong. But the freedom to be wrong cannot be absolute, for this results in a
morass of slavery and ultimately death. The modern danger is to disconnect
truth from freedom and to regard truth as a secondary and optional issue.
Ordinary reflection shows that if freedom is to bring happiness to man, it has
to be exercised in the pursuit of truth and in accord with it. The question is,
then, where is the truth to be found, the truth which if freely attained and
accepted will make a person and a society free?
Jesus Christ sets forth with unambiguous clarity the answer to this question.
The truth that will make a person and a society free is that truth which comes
from him. “Jesus said, If you hold to my teaching, you are really my
disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” His
teaching is the truth. He reveals the truth and it is his truth which, when
accepted, shows up truth and falsehood in the thought of man. Consider the
history of philosophy and the vagaries of the thought of some of the greatest of
the philosophers. I have often thought that if anyone wishes to have a sense of
the darkness of the human mind then consider much of the history of philosophy
and much of religion. For instance, on all counts one would have to rank German
philosophers as among the most able, and yet the absurdity of the thought of
many of them is clear. But once orthodox Christian truth becomes the
fundamental perspective, then philosophy is redeemed and placed on the right
track, and thereupon becomes a boon to human culture. The same applies to much
of the religion of man. Christ said that if we hold to his teaching we shall
know the truth and the truth will set us free. Not only does this apply to
human thought, it applies to human life and conduct. Consider what happens when
the truth revealed by Christ in respect to marriage and sexuality — as expounded
authoritatively by the Church — is gradually abandoned. Society becomes awash
with sexual license, and death itself looms on the horizon. In our Gospel
passage today (John 8:31‑42) our Lord sets
forth the issue in respect to freedom. The issue is to avoid sin and to live
according to his teaching. If one chooses sin, to that extent one is enslaved.
If one chooses to hold to his teaching and to live according to it, to that
extent one is free. So the true liberator of the world is the person of Jesus,
and the world will be liberated if it holds to the truth of his word. The true
freedom for which man yearns is to be found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Let us draw near to Christ and place ourselves in his company, knowing that he, the Lord of lords, welcomes us with love. Let us listen to his teaching as it comes to us in the teaching, the preaching, the life and the ministry of the Church. Let us listen and accept it with all our heart, resolving to live by it. It brings us freedom, true freedom from the only lasting form of slavery, which is sin. Holiness in Christ is man’s true liberation, so let us make that the project of life.
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Idleness is something inconceivable in a man who has the soul of an
apostle.
(The Way, no.358)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------(Back to Local Index for This Page)----------------(To Website Liturgical Day Index)----------------
Thursday of the fifth week of Lent A
Saint for Today: Click here to find information about the Saint(s) of the calendar day on which you are reading this reflection. Use your Internet browser's "back" arrow twice to return to this reflection.
Click on centre arrow below to play the video:
Scripture today: Genesis 12: 3-9; Psalm 104; John 8: 51-59
Jesus said, I tell
you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. At
this the Jews exclaimed, Now we know that you are demon-possessed!
Abraham died
and so
did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will
never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died,
and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are? Jesus replied, If I
glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as
your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I
know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do
know him and keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day;
he saw it and was glad. You are not yet fifty years old, the Jews said
to him, and you have seen Abraham! I tell you the truth, Jesus
answered, before Abraham was born, I am! At this, they picked up stones
to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple
grounds.
(John 8: 51-59)
I Am!
This is a tremendous passage in the Gospel, and we can imagine how John the
Evangelist treasured these words of Christ over the decades of his life and
relished recording them in his Gospel. At their heart they speak of the very
person of Jesus and who he is. Christ lays it down that if anyone keeps his
word, he will never see death.
Let us note that here our Lord is not saying, precisely, that whoever keeps the
word of God will never see death — although obviously that is what is implied.
No prophet had said that his own word gives life to the one who keeps it. The
prophets had time and again stressed that life comes from keeping the word of
God. Man lives from every word that comes from the mouth of God. But our Lord
applies the life‑giving prerogative of God’s word to his own word. That is to
say, what has been repeatedly said of God as the source of life, our Lord is
saying of himself. In response to this daring utterance “the Jews exclaimed,
Now we know that you are demon‑possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets,
yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. Are you
greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you
think you are?” (John 8: 51‑59) That is the
question man directs to Jesus of Nazareth from generation to generation: who do
you think you are? Jesus replies, In what I say of myself I do not seek my own
glory for I leave that to my heavenly Father. He is the one who glorifies me.
Jesus in bearing witness to the truth about himself is not seeking personal
glory. He is humble. The truth is, our Lord continues, that I am the very Son
of the Father whom you claim as your God. I know him personally, and were I not
to say this, I would be a liar. I do know him, and I keep his word. That is to
say, I know my heavenly Father utterly and I am entirely sinless before him. In
all that I do I please him. We remember this is what the Father himself said of
his Son at his baptism: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
But now, observe what our Lord then says. “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see
my day; he saw it and was glad.” What did he mean by these words? Their exact
meaning is, of course, a little obscure but they immediately conveyed to “the
Jews” that Jesus, a man in his early thirties, had actually seen Abraham, and
Abraham had seen him. He, then, pre‑existed his own human birth, and Abraham
and he had gazed on one another. Our Lord did not deny their interpretation of
his words. It was given to Abraham to see him. Perhaps our Lord is also saying
that Abraham saw — whether in this life or in the next — his “day” as the
Messiah and Redeemer. But then he went on to make a much bolder claim in
respect to Abraham. Before Abraham was even born, he himself was! To quote him
more exactly, I Am! Christ, in the presence of his enemies and critics, in the
presence of incomprehension and very likely rejection, serenely and
unambiguously places himself in the position of Yahweh God of the Old
Testament. He is the one who revealed to Moses his own name, Yahweh, I am. He
is the God who existed before Abraham ever was. No prophet had spoken like
this, nor has anyone of any consequence in the history of the world. Jesus of
Nazareth, who could challenge his critics to attempt to convict him of any sin,
who claimed always, always, to do what pleased the Father, was here claiming to
be the one and only God, Yahweh of the Old Testament. He was not claiming to be
a god, but the one and only God who had revealed himself to Abraham and Moses.
His critics immediately saw what was being said, and prepared to execute him by
stoning. All through his public ministry, our Lord was reserved as to the
nature of his own person, but the time came during his public ministry and would
reach its apogee during his trial before the high priest and the Sanhedrin, when
he would with the utmost clarity state who he was, the Messiah and the Son of
God, equal to the Father. Our Gospel passage today records one such occasion
when he bore this witness.
(E.J.Tyler)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Add a supernatural motive to your ordinary work and you will have
sanctified it.
(The Way, no.359)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------(Back to Local Index for This Page)----------------(To Website Liturgical Day Index)----------------
Friday of the fifth week of Lent
Click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Jeremiah 20:10-13; Psalm 18:2-7; John 10:31-42
Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, I have
shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone
me? We are not stoning you for any of these, replied the Jews, but for
blasphemy, because you, a mere man,
claim to be God. Jesus answered them, Is it
not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'? If he called them 'gods',
to whom the word of God came— and the Scripture cannot be broken— what about the
one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then
do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'? Do not believe
me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not
believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the
Father is in me, and I in the Father. Again they tried to seize him, but he
escaped their grasp. Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where
John had been baptising in the early days. Here he stayed and many people came
to him. They said, Though John never performed a miraculous sign, all that John
said about this man was true. And in that place many believed in Jesus.
(John
10:31-42)
God’s Son One of the distinctive features of the Gospel of St John
― and there
are many things which mark this Gospel off from the other three (the Synoptics)
― is the emphasis John gives to the divine claims of Jesus Christ. It was as
plain as the day to all who saw and knew Jesus Christ that he was a man.
Although there were certain later groups such as the Monophysites who denied
that Jesus had a truly human nature, such a position would never have occurred
to our Lord’s own contemporaries. He was every bit a son of man as
they
― and
our Lord seems to have favoured the expression of the book of Daniel in
referring to himself. He was the Son of Man. It was a Scriptural title which
stressed the glory and yet the manhood of the Messiah. The humanity of Jesus was
evident. Our Lord was vulnerable to attack and arrest ― and in our passage today
his enemies “tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.” He was heckled,
and his claims were debated. The same Gospel of St John shows our Lord weary
from all his work. He undergoes his Passion and Death ― all of which was the
upshot of what was obvious to all, that he was a living man with human limits.
The great issue was not about this, but about his claim to be the Son of God as
well. In our Gospel text today the leaders of the Jews commence proceedings to
stone him because he, “a mere man,” claimed “to be God.” Our Lord in protest
says, “Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'?”
He is not claiming to be the Father. But the leaders saw quite clearly that even
though his claim was to be the Son of God, it meant that he was claiming to be
divine. Jesus Christ was claiming to be the Son of God in a sense absolutely
unique in the history of God’s chosen people. No one, neither Abraham, nor
Moses, nor any of the prophets or kings, had said this of themselves in the way
Jesus said and meant it. Our Lord appealed to his miracles as the divine
sanction on all that he had done and said. “Even though you do not believe me,
believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me,
and I in the Father.”
This is the central fact about Jesus Christ. He, and only he, is the long-awaited Messiah. But he is a Messiah who utterly transcends all that was expected, in that he is God’s own Son. In Greek mythology, Heracles and other human and divine figures were considered to be sons of gods such as Zeus ― and Zeus was represented as a son of another god. Alexander the Great actively used the title “son of Ammon-Zeus,” a title bestowed on him by Egyptian priests of the god Ammon. It was title also used of wonder-workers. It suggested a share in the divine life of a particular god, and something of a share in his status. The Emperor Augustus was called son of a god ― the god being the deified Julius Caesar. The case was the same with Tiberius Caesar. When certain representatives of the leaders came to our Lord to trap him into a political indiscretion by asking about the payment of taxes, our Lord asked them to produce a coin. Whose head is this, whose inscription? he asked. Now, on the front, the coin said “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus.” That is how it was inscribed in Latin. In a Syrian imprint, it read, “Tiberius Caesar, August Son of the August God” ― obviously making the most of the name of his step-father, the deified Augustus. Of course, all these “gods” were limited figures who had their foibles and their strengths, their spheres of influence and their places in the heavenly scheme. None of them was remotely a parallel of Yahweh. But all this was a blasphemous absurdity to the chosen people of Yahweh, the one only God of all. There were no other gods, and of course, and no sons of gods. The Jews hated the Roman coin, and, of course, the Roman tax. But here was a man, designated as the Messiah by a prophet before him (John), a man esteemed by the people for his holiness and his numerous miraculous works, claiming something never claimed before in the entire history of the chosen people. Jesus claimed to be, not a son of a god as did various notorious pagans, but the one and only Son of the one and only God. He makes this claim here; he made it before the Sanhedrin when placed under oath by the high priest; he was accused before Pilate of claiming this ― which caused fear in Pilate; and he was taunted for it as he hung upon the cross. It is the greatest claim in the history of the world.
There is in Turin the much venerated Shroud of Turin, considered to be the burial shroud of Jesus Christ in the tomb. Despite counter claims, the mysterious image of the Man enwrapped by the shroud continues to win the awe of Popes, numerous scientists, various interested inquirers and countless faithful. The Man of the shroud lies in his majestic dignity ― solemn, powerful, beautiful, ineffable. He is what we would imagine the Christ to be. That Man, risen and living, is God. God the Son became man and died for us. He has united us to himself. Let us never be separated from him, for his love is our life. It is not I, St Paul writes, but Christ who lives in me (Galatians 2:19,20).
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------(Back to Local Index for This Page)----------------(To Website Liturgical Day Index)----------------
Saturday of the fifth week of Lent
Click on centre arrow
Scripture today: Ezechiel 37:21-28; Jeremiah 31:10-13; John 11:45-56
Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus
did, put their faith in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told
them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a
meeting of the Sanhedrin. What are
we accomplishing? they asked. Here is this
man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone
will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place
and our nation. Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year,
spoke up, You know nothing at all! You do not realise that it is better for you
that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish. He did not
say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would
die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the
scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. So from
that day on they plotted to take his life. Therefore Jesus no longer moved about
publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a
village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. When it was almost
time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for
their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover. They kept looking for Jesus, and
as they stood in the temple area they asked one another, What do you think?
Isn't he coming to the Feast at all? (John 11:45-56)
The Atonement One of
the most breathtaking and original features of the person of Jesus Christ is the
understanding of his Passion and Death that he himself had and transmitted to
his disciples. For the Roman Procurator, Pontius Pilate, the execution of Jesus
of Nazareth was probably just a passing hiccup in the administration of his
difficult territory. It would have been just one of many executions, although I
suspect he never forgot his encounter with the Man he handed over to the
irritating leaders and the mob they
aroused to support them. In late 2009
Barbara Frale, an historian on the staff of the Vatican Secret Archives, using
computer analysis of photography of the Shroud of Turin, believed she discerned
the faint imprint on the Shroud of a death certificate. It specified the name of
Jesus of Nazareth and gave the charge: inciting the people to revolt. This claim
has been disputed by other experts, but the point here is that Christ’s death
was understood in very ordinary ways by different people. For the religious
leaders who had been in such conflict with Jesus, and who had been repeatedly
silenced by him in debate, they had pulled off a coup. They had got rid of the
Man they had come to hate ― although it must be remembered that the Sanhedrin
was divided about him. Our Lord’s own disciples had been overwhelmed with
sadness at the catastrophe. Jesus had died! He had been done away with ― Jesus,
the prophet mighty in word and deed before God and men! But all this was very,
very different from the way our Lord himself had spoken of his death, and John
the Evangelist, author of our passage today, always remembered what the high
priest had said, which had been reported to him. Little did the high priest
realize that he had spoken the truth in his crafty scheming. “Then one of them,
named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, You know nothing at
all! You do not realise that it is better for you that one man die for the
people than that the whole nation perish. He did not say this on his own, but as
high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation,
and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to
bring them together and make them one. So from that day on they plotted to take
his life.”
The death of Jesus Christ was a cosmic event, but it went unrecognized at the time and it continues to be unrecognized by very many. It was a cosmic event in the sense that it radically affected the prospects and course of humanity, and as a result it altered the ultimate destiny of the cosmos. We might call it the Big Bang of the spiritual order of the world, marking a new beginning, a new life, a new prospect. As the high priest inadvertently said, Jesus Christ died for the people of God ― but also for all of God’s children. His death was a sacrificial offering to God on behalf of sinful humanity. Setting aside the fact that this is a revealed doctrine ― for it comes from Jesus Christ himself ― consider the sheer originality of it. Is there any other individual in all of history ― Abraham, Moses, any of the prophets or kings, let alone any other founder of any religion ― who made such a claim? Did it ever occur to Mahomet to regard his death as a sacrifice for the salvation of the whole world? This would be preposterous even for Muslims. Did such a thought ever occur to, say, Zarathustra, or Buddha, or to any other serious claimant? Did the notion of it occur to any of the great philosophers? It was hinted at in several of the prophecies, such as that of the Suffering Servant predicted by Deutero-Isaiah, but it came into its own from the lips of Jesus. The death of Jesus Christ was taught by our Lord to be the linchpin of the health and flourishing of all of God’s creation through to eternity. It was the sacrifice that atoned for the sin of the world, and set mankind ― and therefore creation ― in relation to God. This was a staggering perspective on the sufferings, the passion and the death of a single Man, and it had no like in all the claims of the figures of history. The Atonement is an extraordinary and unique doctrine among the teachings of the religions of the world. This, coupled with the doctrine of the Incarnation, is something which we must never take for granted, or grow used to because of familiarity. There is an old saying which, sadly, is at times fulfilled, that familiarity breeds contempt. Let us not take for granted the Atonement by Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ was born primarily to die. By his death he saved his people from their sins. By his sufferings he took away the sin of the world. This is a staggering truth, as a result of which in Jesus Christ, God our Creator was able to look on the world and be pleased. There is a further truth which is just as marvellous. It is that this great act of Atonement is brought sacramentally to the men and women of every generation by means of the Holy Eucharist, celebrated constantly by the Church in the person of the ordained priest. For this reason the Eucharist is the summit and the source of the Christian life both of the Church and of the Church’s members. Let us love the Eucharist, then!
(E.J.Tyler)
----------------(Back to Local Index for This Page)----------------(To Website Liturgical Day Index)----------------
(March 15) SAINT JOSEPH Spouse of the
Blessed Virgin, Virginal Father of Jesus († ca. 30)
Saint Joseph was by birth of the royal family of David, but was living
in humble obscurity as a carpenter, until God raised him to the highest
office ever accorded a mortal man, by choosing him to be
the
spouse of the Virgin Mother, the virginal father and guardian of the
Incarnate Word. Joseph, says Holy Scripture, was a just man. He was
innocent and pure, as became the husband of Mary; he was gentle and
tender, as one worthy to be named the father of Jesus; he was prudent
and a lover of silence, as became the master of the holy house; above
all, he was faithful and obedient to divine calls. His conversation was
with Angels rather than with men. When he learned that Mary bore within
Her womb the Lord of heaven, he feared to take Her as his wife; but an
Angel bade him put his fear aside, and all doubts vanished. When Herod
sought the life of the divine Infant, an Angel told Joseph in a dream
to fly with the Child and His Mother into Egypt. Joseph at once arose
and obeyed. This sudden and unexpected flight must have exposed both
him and his little Family to many inconveniences and sufferings; the
journey with a newborn infant and a tender virgin was long, and the
greater part of the way led through deserts and among strangers. Yet
Saint Joseph alleges no excuses, nor inquires at what time they were to
return. Saint Chrysostom observes that God treats in this way all His
servants, sending them frequent trials to clear their hearts from the
rust of self-love, but intermixing with afflictions, seasons of
consolation. It is the opinion of the Fathers that when the Holy Family
entered Egypt, at the presence of the Child Jesus all the oracles of
that superstitious country were struck dumb, and the statues of their
gods trembled, and in many places fell to the ground. The Fathers also
attribute to this holy visit the spiritual benediction poured on that
country, which made it for many ages fruitful in Saints. After the
death of King Herod, of which Saint Joseph was informed in another
vision, God ordered him to return with the Child and His Mother into
the land of Israel, which our Saint readily accomplished. But when he
arrived in Judea, hearing that Archelaus had succeeded Herod in that
part of the land, and apprehensive that the son might be infected with
his father’s vices, he feared to settle there, as he would otherwise
probably have done, for the education of the Child. Therefore, directed
by God through still another angelic visit, he retired into the
dominions of Herod Antipas in Galilee, and to his former habitation in
Nazareth. Saint Joseph, a strict observer of the Mosaic law, journeyed
each year at the time of the Passover to Jerusalem. Our Saviour, in the
twelfth year of His age, accompanied His parents. Having participated
in the usual ceremonies of the feast, the parents were returning with
many of their neighbours and acquaintances towards Galilee, and never
doubted that Jesus was with some of the company. They travelled on for
a whole day’s journey before they discovered that He was not with them.
But when night came on and they could find no trace of Him among their
kindred and acquaintances, they, in the deepest affliction, returned
with the utmost haste to Jerusalem. We are left to imagine their tears
and their efforts to find Him. After an anxious search of three days
they discovered Him in the Temple, discoursing with the learned doctors
of the law, and asking them such questions as aroused the admiration of
all who heard Him. His Mother told Him with what grief and earnestness
they had sought Him and asked, “Son, why have You dealt with us in this
way? Behold, Your Father and I have searched for You in great
affliction of mind.” The young Saviour answered, “How is it that You
sought Me? Did You not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”
In this way Jesus encourages all young persons who are called to serve
God to persevere in that high vocation, whatever the cost. But we are
told that although He had remained in the Temple unknown to His
parents, in all other things He was obedient to them, returning with
them to Nazareth, and living there in all dutiful subjection to them.
As no further mention is made of Saint Joseph, he must have died before
the marriage feast of Cana and the beginning of our divine Saviour’s
ministry. We cannot doubt that he had the happiness of the presence of
Jesus and Mary at his death, praying beside him, assisting and
comforting him in his last moments; therefore he is invoked for the
great grace of a happy death and the spiritual presence of Jesus in
that hour. The words of the Pharaoh to those who applied to him for
aid, “Go to Joseph” are fitting for the second great Joseph of sacred
history. (Magnificat.ca)
click on centre arrow for video
Scripture today: 2 Samuel 7: 4-5.12-14.16; Romans 4:13.16-18.22; Luke 2: 41-51
Every year his
parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. When he was
twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom.
After the Feast was over, while his parents were
returning
home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware
of it. Thinking he was in their company, they travelled on for a day.
Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When
they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.
After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the
teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who
heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his
parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, Son, why
have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously
searching for you. Why were you searching for me? he asked. Didn't you
know I had to be in my Father's house? But they did not understand what
he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was
obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her
heart.
(Luke 2: 41-51)
Go to Joseph
Some years back I was told that the great Evangelical preacher, Billy Graham,
called into question the typical Protestant prejudice against a place for Mary
in the Christian life. He said to his audience, let us remember that Mary is
the mother of the Saviour! Very true. Consider the passages in the Gospel
narratives of our Lord’s infancy and youth. Consider the years Jesus spent at
Nazareth, the overwhelming portion of his life. Thirty
of his thirty three years were spent in the household of Nazareth and in the
confined scene of the town. Imagine the communion between Jesus and his mother,
between him who was the divine fount of grace and her who was full of grace.
But let us turn to another person in the scene, the foster father of Jesus —
Joseph, whom the Gospel describes as a just man. The Church celebrates him as a
great saint twice during the year under different titles. In March he is
honoured as the husband of Mary and so we think of his life as husband and head
of the household, and in May we think of Joseph the worker, toiling side by side
with his divine foster‑son. Inasmuch as so many years of Christ’s life were
lived in this domestic and very local situation, and inasmuch as so much of his
time was spent in the company of this one man Joseph, the person of Joseph the
husband of Mary warrants our consideration. He is regarded by the Church as a
great saint and how he must have been! If sanctity involves a profound communion
with and love for Christ, let us remember how great must have been his communion
with and love for Christ! He held him in his arms as an infant and helped him
with his first steps. He took him with Mary to the synagogue and instructed him
in so many ways. Imagine Joseph training his young apprentice in the skills of
a carpenter‑builder and imagine them working together all those years. They
would have built homes, furniture and implements together.
The most profound union must have developed between Joseph and Mary and
Jesus. If the angel addressed Mary as full of grace, a gift undoubtedly
bestowed in view of her vocation as mother of the Son of God made man, we must
assume great gifts of grace in Joseph and an immense fidelity to them — but all
lived out in an obscure and hidden scene. Like Mary and like Jesus himself,
Joseph’s great holiness was hidden and scarcely realized by the community in
which they lived. It was the holiest family in all of human history, living a
moral and religious life without equal, incomparably beautiful in the sight of
God and yet ever so hidden amid the ordinariness of everyday life. They had
their meals together, they prayed together, they conversed together, they
fulfilled their daily duties, with Mary cooking and keeping house, and Joseph
and Jesus assisting her and earning the family living through their trade.
Today’s feast of St Joseph invites us to consider Joseph as family man, as
husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of course as foster father of Jesus
Christ. The years passed, beautiful years, toilsome years but years of profound
communion which Mary would ever look back on with gratitude and admiration for
her holy husband. By the time Jesus began his public ministry Joseph had died.
Imagine Jesus and Mary at his side as he breathed his last. Imagine the funeral
procession as it made its way to the cemetery of Nazareth and as the body of
Joseph was lowered into the grave. Imagine mother and son returning home to
take up their course again without their beloved Joseph. He had been the head
of the home, humble, strong, loving. Now he was gone. Over the past two
millennia devotion to St Joseph, the husband of Mary and foster father of Jesus,
has grown in the life of the Church. Just as Mary and Jesus loved Joseph, so
does the Christian. The Church exhorts us to turn to him in our prayers and to
ask for his intercession.
Indeed, the Church has declared St Joseph to the universal protector of the Church. That is to say, all members of the Church are invited to turn to him for his intercession. How could Christ our Lord refuse a petition on our behalf from his foster‑father Joseph? Well then, go to Joseph! Go to him for your needs and ask for his prayers before God. His prayers are powerful. Indeed, go to both Mary and Joseph and ask for whatever you need. Their prayers cannot fail to be heard.
(E.J.Tyler)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For you, who complain to yourself because you are treated severely and
feel the contrast between this harshness and the conduct of those back
home, I copy these lines from the letter of an army doctor: 'There are
two ways of approaching each case: the conscientious professional
attitude — cold and calculating, but objective and useful to the
patient: or the tearful fussing of the family. At the height of a
battle, when the stream of casualties begins to arrive and to
accumulate because they can't be dealt with fast enough, what would
become of a first-aid post if a family stood around each stretcher? One
might just as well go over to the enemy.'
(The Way, no.361)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------(Back to Local Index for This Page)----------------(To Website Liturgical Day Index)----------------