May1 in Year A 11

Divine Mercy Sunday to Fourth Sunday in Eastertide

Click on any date to go to the Thought for that Day

Morning Offering: O Jesus, through the most pure heart of Mary, I offer you all the prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your divine heart, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass. I offer them especially for the Holy Father's intentions:

Pope Benedict's general intention for May is: "That those who work in the media may always respect truth, solidarity and the dignity of each person."

His mission intention is: "That the Lord may grant the Church in China the capacity to persevere in fidelity to the Gospel and to grow in unity."

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Prayers this week: Rejoice to the full in the glory that is yours, and give thanks to God who called you to his kingdom, alleluia. (4 Ezr 2: 36-37)

God of mercy, you wash away our sins in water, you give us new birth in the Spirit, and redeem us in the blood of Christ. As we celebrate Christ's resurrection increase our awareness of these blessings and renew your gift of life within us. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

Apparently in response to the “May Day” celebrations for workers sponsored by Communists, Pius XII instituted the feast of St. Joseph the Worker in 1955. But the relationship between Joseph and the cause of workers has a much longer history. In a constantly necessary effort to keep Jesus from being removed from ordinary human life, the Church has from the beginning proudly emphasized that Jesus was a carpenter, obviously trained by Joseph in both the satisfactions and the drudgery of that vocation. Humanity is like God not only in thinking and loving, but also in creating. Whether we make a table or a cathedral, we are called to bear fruit with our hands and mind, ultimately for the building up of the Body of Christ. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31

Now in the evening of that same day, the first of the week, the doors were closed where the disciples were gathered together for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them: Peace be to you. When he had said this, he showed them his hands Shroud of Turin

and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord. He said to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father sent me, I also send you. When he had said this, he breathed on them and said Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven them; whose sins you retain, they are retained. Now Thomas, one of the twelve (called Didymus) was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples said to him: We have seen the Lord. But he said to them: Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. After eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. The doors were closed and Jesus came and stood in their midst. He said: Peace be to you. Then he said to Thomas: Put in your finger here, and see my hands; and bring your hand here, and put it into my side. Be not unbelieving, but believe. Thomas answered, My Lord, and my God. Jesus said to him: Because you have seen me, Thomas, you believe: blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe. Many other signs did Jesus do in the sight of his disciples which are not written in this book. These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God: and that believing this, you may have life in his name. (John 20:19-31)

The Divine Mercy Let us place ourselves in the room where the disciples were for fear of the Jews. The risen Jesus came and stood among them. They had been crushed by disappointment and fear, and Jesus immediately gave them peace. “Peace be with you” he said to them, and showed them his hands and his side. Having given them a share in his peace, he gave them a share in his mission. "As the Father sent me, so am I sending you." In them, the Church too was being given its mission by the risen Jesus, and we are all members of the Church. This mission the disciples were being given came forth from the mercy of God. The mission was to bring Christ’s redemption and sanctification to mankind and to all of us. With this share in his mission, our Lord gave them the gift of the Holy Spirit to empower them for it. Most especially, he conferred on them the power to take away sins. “Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.” Today then, we think of this mission of mercy given to the Apostles, and with it the power to forgive sins. It is the result and sign of the mercy of God, and for good reason the Church calls this second Sunday of Eastertide Divine Mercy Sunday. When we think of man’s condition — our common condition, so prone to sin, so incapable of reaching the sanctity that God intended for us — we ought be profoundly consoled by the Gospel scene of today. Each of us has been given the gift of the Holy Spirit our Sanctifier. He is the answer to our deepest need. He is the gift and manifestation of the divine mercy. And through his power as exercised by the priest in the Sacrament of Penance frequently and regularly received, our sins are taken away. Pope John Paul II, recognized by all as a great Pope, died on the Vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday — a feast he himself instituted. He was beatified six years later on that same day, Divine Mercy Sunday. If it were asked what was his great message to the Church and to the world, it was certainly the dignity of each human person. He taught that each person is not only a creature of God, but his adopted child with a personal calling to goodness and sanctity. Therein lies man’s dignity.

Goodness and sanctity of life is attained by living as a child of God, united with God our Father. To think that sanctity of life is truly possible, despite the fallen condition in which we all of us find ourselves! Due to God’s mercy, we have a glorious and attainable goal in life, which is union with God and the conquest of sin. This is the Good News of the Gospel, and it is the ever-recurring teaching of the Church and of the Popes, generation after generation. In mid-April of 2011, Pope Benedict XVI concluded two years of Wednesday Audience talks on various saints and doctors of the Church. That last talk in this series, a series that was published also in book format, stressed that sanctity is open to each and every baptized person. He said that “the fullness of Christian life does not consist of realizing extraordinary enterprises, but in union with Christ, in living his mysteries, in making our own his attitudes, his thoughts, his conduct.” He reminded his audience that “A holy life is not primarily the fruit of our own effort, of our actions, because it is God, the thrice Holy (cf. Isaiah 6:3), who makes us saints, and the action of the Holy Spirit who encourages us from within”. In speaking of the attainment of sanctity, he stressed Sunday Mass, daily prayer, and the keeping of God’s commandments in a spirit of Christian love. We are all called to holiness, he said. Pope John Paul II before him was a saint. As a matter of fact, the Causes for beatification of each of the popes before John Paul II going back to Pope Pius XII — John Paul I, Pope Paul VI, Pope John XXIII whose Cause for canonization is proceeding, and Pope Pius XII — are all in progress. Those five successive modern popes will all be canonized some day. Each attained sanctity of life to an outstanding degree. By their lives and their teaching on sanctity they each point to the common call we all have received to attain personal holiness. This is the greatest gift of the divine mercy, together with the means conferred by Christ on the Church to make it possible for us. Each of us ought say, they did it — why not, in my measure, me?

Due to the mercy of God we each of us can hope for heaven, and for the special place there according to the measure intended by God for us. Due to the mercy of God we have been given all the means we need, membership in God’s family the Church, the word of God and the Church’s teaching, the sacraments and all the helps to live a life of prayer and good works. Let us take up the great work we have been given, the work of being saints and calling others to sanctity. God in his mercy and by the gift of his grace can bring it to completion.

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Love God for those who do not love him. You should make this spirit of reparation and atonement flesh of your flesh.

Prayers today: Christ now raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has power over him, alleluia. (Rom 6:9)

Almighty and ever-living God, your Spirit made us your children, confident to call you Father. Increase your Spirit of love within us and bring us to our promised inheritance. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, . .

Athanasius led a tumultuous but dedicated life of service to the Church. He was the great champion of the faith against the widespread St Athanasius

heresy of Arianism. The vigour of his writings earned him the title of doctor of the Church. Born of a Christian family in Alexandria, Egypt, and given a classical education, Athanasius became secretary to Alexander, the bishop of Alexandria, entered the priesthood and was eventually named bishop himself. His predecessor, Alexander, had been an outspoken critic of a new movement growing in the East—Arianism. When Athanasius assumed his role as bishop of Alexandria, he continued the fight against Arianism. At first it seemed that the battle would be easily won and that Arianism would be condemned. Such, however, did not prove to be the case. The Council of Tyre was called and for several reasons that are still unclear, the Emperor Constantine exiled Athanasius to northern Gaul. This was to be the first in a series of travels and exiles reminiscent of the life of St. Paul. After Constantine died, his son restored Athanasius as bishop. This lasted only a year, however, for he was deposed once again by a coalition of Arian bishops. Athanasius took his case to Rome, and Pope Julius I called a synod to review the case and other related matters. Five times Athanasius was exiled for his defence of the doctrine of Christ’s divinity. During one period of his life, he enjoyed 10 years of relative peace — reading, writing and promoting the Christian life along the lines of the monastic ideal to which he was greatly devoted. His dogmatic and historical writings are almost all polemic, directed against every aspect of Arianism. Among his ascetical writings, his Life of St. Anthony (January 17) achieved astonishing popularity and contributed greatly to the establishment of monastic life throughout the Western Christian world. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no-one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him. In reply Jesus declared, I tell you the truth, no-one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. How can a man be born when he is old? Nicodemus asked. Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born! Jesus answered, I tell you the truth, no-one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. (John 3:1-8)

Born again I remember watching a television series which featured several interviews with a prominent agnostic scientist. He was articulate and, though a scientist, was also skilled in philosophical thinking. At one point he mentioned a conversation which he had with a Catholic priest who was an acquaintance of his. Fr. Ted Tyler

The priest asked him why he did not believe in Christ and his Church. The scientist said in reply, Father, it is because I do not have the gift of faith. In our Gospel today our Lord tells Nicodemus that “no-one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” This rebirth of water and the Spirit occurs at our baptism. It is of help to a person’s faith if he can identify some of the ways this rebirth is evident in his own life. A child is born on a farm in a fairly remote rural area. She is baptised in the village church where there is Mass once a month when the priest comes, doing his rural rounds. She grows up on the farm, helping with the animals, the crops, in the house. She has some education and gets to a little beyond primary school, then remains on the farm. She is winning, friendly, unselfish, intelligent, but what is especially notable about her is her Catholic faith. She does not settle for the monthly Mass in her own village church. Every Sunday she mounts her horse and rides to a more distant church where she will attend Mass and receive Holy Communion, and perhaps go to Confession. On her own she learns to pray. She has a deep religious faith. Some might regard her faith as simply a feature of her temperament, in much the same way as her gift for horse riding may be. But it is not. Her faith is the result of her baptism. It is a gift that came when she was baptised and she — without perhaps realizing the importance of her religious choices — has consistently been acting in accord with her God-given inclination to believe. She is inclined to believe in Jesus Christ, she loves him, she is inclined to believe in the teachings of the Church, and resists in her heart any doubts that might stray across her mind. Her faith is, as a matter of fact, the principal thing in her life. It is the main thing making her the kind of person she is.

She marries a young man from the metropolis and moves away from her rural origins to the city where she spends the rest of her long life. She raises a large family in her Catholic faith, sees out the life of her own husband and a couple of her own children. All the while her faith is growing and becoming strong. She lives her entire life in unfailing adherence to the faith of her baptism. All can see that this is the principal thing in a life that is in so many respects good, morally good. She would never think of knowingly doing something that is obviously morally bad. At the root of all this is her faith in Jesus Christ and his teachings, as they have come to her from the Church. Her life is a sign of the power of grace, and it all began at her baptism. Of course, we cannot restrict the power and grace of God to its normal channels, and God could have helped her along in some extraordinary way had she never been baptized. But had she not been baptized, her life may have been utterly different. To begin with, it may have been dogged by religious scepticism, protracted religious doubt, and a secret refusal to believe. One of St Mary MacKillop’s close friends in Adelaide was a non-Catholic. She was an excellent lady, and most generous to Mary whom she loved and admired. But she could not get over her constant religious scepticism. Mary MacKillop’s religious faith was serene and undaunted amid the greatest trials. Her friend lacked religious faith and seemed unable to acquire it. This was, fundamentally, because faith is a gift from God. For those not granted it, it ought be the object of the prayer of petition. It ought be requested repeatedly, and of course, God will grant it. It will open the gates of heaven, and set a person on the road to holiness. It is the first fruits of the new birth that our Lord speaks of in our Gospel today (John 3:1-8). It is a very good thing for every believing Christian to become aware of his or her own faith in Christ. It is an encouraging thing for a Catholic to be conscious of the ease with which faith in Christ and in his Church has come to him. Faith is part and parcel of the new birth of which our Lord speaks in his conversation to Nicodemus today.

Together with our faith, God’s gift to us at the rebirth which is our baptism, there have come two other great gifts that carry us on to union with Jesus Christ. They too are part of the rebirth of baptism. I refer to the capacity to hope in Christ, and especially our capacity to love him. These are gifts from God, not gifts from nature or temperament. They represent his presence in our souls by grace, and his action by grace giving us the readiness, the facility, the habitual inclination to believe, to hope and to love him. Because of this, it is our joy to believe in Jesus Christ and to love him more and more. Let us be very conscious of the work of God in our life from the moment of our baptism when we were reborn of water and the Spirit, and the kingdom of God was opened to us.

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If at any time the going gets harder in our interior struggle, that will be a good moment to show that our Love is in earnest.

Prayers today: The Lord chose these holy men for their unfeigned love, and gave them eternal glory, alleluia.

God our Father, every year you give us joy on the festival of the apostles Philip and James. By the help of their prayers may we share in the suffering, death, and resurrection of your only Son and come to the eternal vision of your glory. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son

Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would Shroud of Turin

know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. Philip said, Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us. Jesus answered: Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (John 14: 6-14)

Philip and James In the Gospel of St Matthew we have a list of the Twelve Apostles. There is James the son of Zebedee whose brother was John, and there is James the son of Alphaeus. Philip also is one of the Twelve (Matthew 10: 2-4). Similarly, in the Gospel of St Mark, James the son of Zebedee and James the son of Alphaeus are given, together with Philip. In Luke, there are two James, the second one being James the son of Alphaeus, and Philip. It looks as if care is taken in each of the synoptics not to confuse the two James, and they do this by giving the name of the father of each. The first Catholic Encyclopedia is of the view that there is “very good ground (Galatians 1:19, 2:9, 2:12) for believing that the Apostle James, the son of Alphaeus is the same person as James, the brother (that is, relative) of the Lord, the well-known Bishop of Jerusalem of the Acts.” The Gospel of St John gives us some details about Philip. Very impressive is the first mention of Philip in the Gospel of St John. We get the impression that the inspired author remembers the details well. He, John, together with Andrew, has just stayed with Jesus and has come to know him as the Messiah, the one about whom the prophets wrote. Andrew went to bring his brother Simon to Jesus, and Simon is told by Jesus that he would be called “Rock.” We are told that the day after this Jesus “finds Philip,” and invites him to “follow me.” It is as if our Lord had been looking for him. No-one brought Philip to Jesus, Jesus found him. Had Jesus known Philip before the formal call? We do not know, but Philip’s response was excellent, for he finds Nathanael and bears witness to the identity of Jesus: “We have found him of whom Moses spoke in the law, and the prophets, Jesus, the son of Joseph, of Nazareth.” This was a momentous discovery for each of these initial disciples, and in a measure their own excellent moral dispositions assisted in their new realization of it. I think the first thing we ought think of about Philip is that he was one of Christ’s first disciples, and must have had excellent dispositions.

Apart from being listed among the Twelve, Philip is mentioned by St John before the miraculous feeding of the multitude. Christ turns towards Philip with the question: "Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" to which the Philip answers: "Two hundred penny-worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one may take a little" (6: 5-7). He is a practical man, and perhaps an organizer. John tells us, though, why Christ put his question to Philip: “He said this to test him, for he knew what he was about to do.” By “testing” John may mean to provide Philip with a further opportunity for his faith to grow. John mentions Philip again not long before the Passion. When some “Greeks” in Jerusalem came to Philip and expressed their desire to see Jesus, Philip reported the fact to Andrew and then both brought the news to Jesus (12: 21-23). In both incidents we are reminded of the distinguishing feature of the Apostle Philip — he had given, and would give, his life to the love and service of Jesus Christ. This is the first great thing we ought learn from Philip, and emulate. But clearly, Philip had more, much more to learn about his beloved Master — and this too we ought remember in thinking of ourselves. We have much to learn yet about Jesus Christ. In our Gospel passage today (John 14: 6-14), our Lord makes wondrous statements about himself. “Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him” No-one can come to the Father except through Jesus Christ. To see and know Jesus is to know and see the Father. No prophet had said such things. No founder of a religion, such as Mahomet, claimed such prerogatives. But at this stage, Philip couldn’t get it, and — candid with his beloved Master as ever — he pressed for an explanation. “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Our Lord’s reply is gratefully recorded by John, throwing further light on the mystery of the holy Trinity. “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father,” and “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”

Let us contemplate the figures of these two Apostles, who loved Jesus Christ and lived the rest of their lives in an unstinting service of him. They bore witness to the truth of his person, Son of God and Son of Man, predicted Messiah for the world, Redeemer of the world from its sins. He is the way to the Father, and he is the revelation of the Father to man. Let us pray for the grace to love Jesus Christ as they did, not counting the cost, but giving their all to him.

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You are certain it was God who made you see quite clearly that you must return to the more childlike little things of your interior life, and persevere for months and even years in those heroic trivialities. (You needn’t take into account your feelings here since they are so often slow to recognise the good.) Your will may be cold but let it be ready to fulfil those little duties out of Love.

Prayers today: I will be a witness to you in the world, O Lord. I will spread the knowledge of your name among my brothers, alleluia. (Ps17:50; 21:23)

God of mercy, you have filled us with the hope of resurrection by restoring man to his original dignity. May we who relive this mystery each year come to share it in perpetual love. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, . .

A life of physical pain and mental torment didn’t prevent Michael Giedroyc from achieving holiness. Born near Vilnius, Lithuania, Michael suffered from physical and permanent handicaps from birth. He was a dwarf who had the use of only one foot. Because of his delicate physical condition, his formal education was frequently interrupted. But over time, Michael showed special skills at metalwork. Working with bronze and silver, he created sacred vessels, including chalices. He travelled to Cracow Poland, where he joined the Augustinians. He received permission to live the life of a hermit in a cell adjoining the monastery. There Michael spent his days in prayer, fasted and abstained from all meat and lived to an old age. Though he knew the meaning of suffering throughout his years, his rich spiritual life brought him consolation. Michael’s long life ended in 1485 in Cracow. Five hundred years later, Pope John Paul II visited the city and spoke to the faculty of the Pontifical Academy of Theology. The 15th century in Cracow, the pope said, was “the century of saints.” Among those he cited was Blessed Michael Giedroyc. (AmericanCatholic.org)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the judgment: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. (John 3:16-21)

God loves us During the last decade of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first, the Australian philosopher Peter Singer attained an international reputation in his discipline. Because of his publications and influence he secured a prestigious position at Harvard, one of the very best universities in the world. Fr. Ted Tyler

His principal interest is philosophical ethics, and his fundamental position is that of utilitarianism. The good is good because it serves the happiness of most, and whatever is most useful in attaining the goal of happiness is thereby good. From this sad philosophical root which has a long pedigree there springs forth the justification of abortion and many other intrinsically evil actions. Abortion is morally acceptable because it serves to put an end to unhappiness. Indeed, there is no such thing as an intrinsically evil action because its moral worth is always determined by its usefulness in attaining happiness. I remember watching an interview with Singer on television years ago, and he was asked about the existence of God. No, he did not believe in the existence of God because if there were a God he would have done a much better job of the world. This, of course, is the greatest and standard objection to the almost universal belief in a moral divinity which is responsible for the existence of the world. It is similar, I suppose, to a situation in which we might find ourselves viewing a very bad piece of work. It is proposed that a certain person, one whom we know to be of excellent moral character and superb ability in whatever he takes on, is the cause of that bad piece of work. We firmly assert that it could not have been he who did it. So too, for Singer and many others, it could not have been God who did the very bad piece of work which we call the world. Now, I do not propose here to contribute towards answering the problem of evil. I refer to this simply to raise the question of the fundamental and ultimate character of reality. Is reality not just a poor or bad job (and therefore evidence in itself that it was not “God” who made it), but is it harsh, unkind, unjust, immoral in its ultimate dimensions? Just as it is quite legitimate to ask whether a person is good or bad, could we not ask the same of reality in its ultimate elements?

In fact, I think many people come to think — without formulating their thoughts clearly — that the world is not just a bad job, but is in some more ultimate sense menacing, unkind, disregarding and morally indifferent. That is to say, prescinding from the Christian and revealed dogmatic teaching, if one were to posit a Person behind the world such as it is, many would tend to think that this Person must himself be morally indifferent because of the way the world acts. Its natural disasters, its brutal repressions, its tolerance of liars and oppressive rulers, and so forth, suggest that reality in its ultimate character is not moral at all. Others would deny this assessment. For instance, a well-known philosopher of eighteenth-century England, the Anglican Bishop Joseph Butler, wrote (in The Analogy of Religion) that the course of the world does indeed show a moral character. The good are rewarded and the evil are punished, and in general the good life is upheld. That is how he discerned the character of the world — indicating a moral Governor. However, to say the least, this is debatable, if we are to rely purely on rational considerations. The world presents a mixed and somewhat inscrutable countenance. If it is the countenance of a Person behind what we might call the veil, there have been opposite answers to the question about the ethical character of that Person. Singer would say that the veil which is the world could only be of a morally indifferent Person, and this in the nature of the case rules out it being “God.” Now, to this whole conundrum there has been an answer from on high. God loves the world. The Creator is an ethical, moral God. He is everlastingly good, and only wills what is good. As our Gospel today reminds us (John 3:16-21), he so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son to save the world from what has caused all the mess, man’s own sin and his rebellion against his Creator. The ultimate Reality which is the Source of all that we know and see, and of all that is beyond what we can ever know and see, the final end-point or Ground of all that is, is Love, not Hate. Behind all the veils, there is a wondrously kind Smile, and Eyes full of compassion. Compassion, not indifference characterizes the ultimate Principle — which is Personal.

The world with all its personal and non-personal components has a Creator — it is not simply there by blind, mysterious necessity. It is not just a brute fact which simply has to be. It is radically unable to be of itself, and exists only because sustained in its existence by him. The Creator is Love, and he loves what is good. We caused the mess by turning our backs on him. But he, good and loving as he is, took the matter in hand and sent his own beloved Son to save the world from its sin. What we must do is believe in the Son, turn away from our sins, and live a life in accord with our faith in him — a faith that shows itself in obeying his commandments. Let us do this, then!

Our guardian Angel The Acts of the Apostles tells us the inspired story of the infant Church and of those who played a part in the early spread of the Gospel. We are told in our passage for today that “at night the angel of the Lord opened the prison gates and said as he led them out, 'Go and stand in the Temple, and tell the people all about this new Life'.” In this instance, the angel removed obstacles and gave guidance and direction as to what to do. Now, God has given each of us a calling to take part in the mission of the Church. He has also given each of us a guardian angel to help us live out our vocation and so attain heaven. We can appeal to our guardian angel to remove genuine (not just apparent) obstacles and to give guidance.

We have, each of us, been given a heavenly friend. In this period of Easter as we prepare for the coming of the Holy Spirit, let us ask our angel to obtain for us the grace to be led by the Spirit of God day by day as we journey towards our heavenly homeland.

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Persevere in your life of piety, willingly and with love, even if you feel arid. Don’t worry if you find yourself counting the minutes or days still to go before you finish that act of piety or that job of work, with the turbid delight of the lazy schoolboy who in a similar situation is looking forward to the end of term; or of the petty criminal who can’t wait to get back to his tricks once he is out of jail again. Persevere, I insist, with a real and effective determination. Don’t cease, not even for a moment, to want to fulfil and benefit from those means of piety.

Prayers today: When you walked at the head of your people, O God, and lived with them on their journey, the earth shook at your presence, and the skies poured forth their rain, alleluia. (See Ps 67:8-9, 20)

God of mercy, may the Easter mystery we celebrate be effective throughout our lives. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, . .

Born in France in the early fifth century, Hilary came from an aristocratic family. In the course of his education he encountered his relative, Honoratus, who encouraged the young man to join him in the monastic life. Hilary did so. He continued to follow in the footsteps of Honoratus as bishop. Hilary was only 29 when he was chosen bishop of Arles. The new, youthful bishop undertook the role with confidence. He did manual labour to earn money for the poor. He sold sacred vessels to ransom captives. He became a magnificent orator. He travelled everywhere on foot, always wearing simple clothing. That was the bright side. Hilary encountered difficulty in his relationships with other bishops over whom he had some jurisdiction. He unilaterally deposed one bishop. He selected another bishop to replace one who was very ill-but, to complicate matters, did not die! Pope St. Leo the Great kept Hilary a bishop but stripped him of some of his powers. Hilary died at 49. He was a man of talent and piety who, in due time, had learned how to be a bishop. (AmericanCatholic.org)

The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no-one accepts his testimony. The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him. (John 3: 31-36)

Belief in the Son A child is born into the world and is cared for by its parents. This is the most natural thing in the world, and we see it replicated universally across the world of living things. It would be a strange thing to see a living thing immediately abandoned by its parent. There may be instances of this in certain species of things, but I know of none. I have often watched birds attacking other things while their offspring make their first attempts at flying. They are protecting their young as those young begin to launch out and look after themselves. The child begins life being cared for, and of course it takes its own life and existence for granted, with food, clothing and shelter provided. There is no immediate anxiety as to life and welfare — all this is unconsciously taken as given. Soon, though, the young learn that they must work. They must work at taking care of themselves. They cannot take things for granted. If they are to get on with others and so make their way, they must work at being acceptable, at avoiding unnecessary offence, at being a good team player. If they are to support themselves in the future, they must prepare for that now by working at their studies, being successful in examinations, and so forth. They must develop skills whereby they can serve the community, and compete in the quest for employment. That is to say, life cannot be taken for granted. If they do not eat, they will starve, and if they are to eat they must work to support themselves and those for whom they have a special care and responsibility. Gradually from the sunny and unclouded security of childhood, they learn that not all is secure by any means. In fact, that nothing, absolutely nothing is entirely secure in life. Life is radically insecure, and it can be engulfed in a tragic destruction in an instant. I remember one priest I knew years ago said at his deathbed that he was grateful for the gift of life. He knew that life may never have been his were it not for the goodness of God, and even with the gift of life, all continued to depend on God for that life to continue and to flourish. If a person has his eyes open and reflects maturely on things, he will understand that in reality he stands and walks on a knife-edge.

The question naturally arises, or should arise: Is there anything upon which I can take my stand and be secure in life? All around me, there is the prospect of death. In the last analysis it is unavoidable, but I do not want it to come soon. However, I am threatened with it constantly, and I see so many people who succumb to this constant, imminent threat of death. Is there anything at all that can secure me from the oblivion of death, or the degradation of sickness and suffering? Well, of course, in the immediate sense there is nothing that can save me from these things, but in the last analysis — which is what is important — there certainly is. It is directly alluded to in our Gospel today. Our Lord tells us that the possession of life eternal is open to us now. Right now in this present life, day by day and week by week, we can be living a life that is indestructible. It is not a “life” that is merely existence or survival. Nor is it merely the enjoyment of all that this life may hold out for us. It is the beginning of what we shall enjoy in eternity with God. If we are interested in personal security then, or even more than mere security, if we wish to enjoy a true personal flourishing, we ought make it our business to be in possession of this eternal life. It comes from the hand of Jesus Christ. He it is who offers us eternal life. I have come, he said, that they may have life, and have it to the full. He was referring to the share in his own divine life that he wished to offer us. Our Lord tells us that the Father has placed everything in his hands, and that the one who believes in him has eternal life. “The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life”. So the key to the yearning for life and flourishing is to believe in Jesus Christ. Further, just as certain steps, if taken, will lead to the loss of the precious gift of life, so we can fail to gain the life of Christ and as a result be lost forever. “Whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him” (John 3: 31-36). The stakes are high, and the choice is clear.

It is a very good thing to have realized at last that nothing in life is secure. It may even be said to be the high point of wisdom to which life should be heading. How important that we learn this lesson as early as possible. The next thing to learn with maximum conviction is that there is a means available both to security and human flourishing. It is belief in and union with the person of Jesus Christ. In all that we do in life, it is above all Jesus Christ whom we ought be serving. If we are doing this, our life is planted on rock, rock that can never be shaken. Come rack, come rope — to put it figuratively — all will be well. As St Thomas More said as he was mounting the scaffold, though I lose my head, I’ll come to no harm.

Filling the world with Christ’s teaching The high priest said to the apostles that they had “filled Jerusalem with your teaching” (Acts 5:27-33). Our Lord had given to his disciples the mission of preaching the Gospel to all creation. Let us ask ourselves, what have I done for Christ in this respect? What am I doing for him? And what shall I do for him? When Pope John Paul II died hundreds of thousands poured into Rome to pay their respects at his funeral. The media all over the world acknowledged him. His beatification in Rome six years later was a similar event. It showed that he strove to fill the world with Christ’s teaching, and even though very many did not accept it, or categorized him misleadingly, the Church had in him a continuation of what the apostles did in Jerusalem, and what they were accused of doing by the high priest.

Let us during these weeks of Eastertide reflect deeply and at length on the mission each of us has been given to bring the risen Jesus to those around us, and to fill our surroundings with his teaching. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to empower us to do this.

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Practise your faith cheerfully, keeping very close to Jesus Christ. Really love him — but really, really love him! — and you will take part in a great Adventure of Love, because you will be more in love each day.

Prayers today: By your blood, O Lord, you have redeemed us from every tribe and tongue, from every nation and people: you have made us into the kingdom of God, alleluia. (Rev 5:9-10)

Father, in your plan of salvation your Son Jesus Christ accepted the cross and freed us from the power of the enemy. May we come to share the glory of his resurrection, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Often, it’s hard to find much detail from the lives of saints of the early Church. What we know about the third-century martyrs we honour today is likewise minimal. But we do know that they lived and died for the faith. Almost 2,000 years later, that is enough reason to honour them. Born in North Africa, Marian was a lector or reader; James was a deacon. For their devotion to the faith they suffered during the persecution of Valerian. Prior to their persecution Marian and James were visited by two bishops who encouraged them in the faith not long before they themselves were martyred. A short time later, Marian and James were arrested and interrogated. The two readily confessed their faith and, for that, were tortured. While in prison they are said to have experienced visions, including one of the two bishops who had visited them earlier. On the last day of their lives, Marian and James joined other Christians facing martyrdom. They were blindfolded and then put to death. Their bodies were thrown into the water. The year was 259. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat Shroud of Turin

down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Feast was near. When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming towards him, he said to Philip, Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat? He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a little! Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many? Jesus said, Make the people sit down. There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted. So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world. Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. (John 6:1-15)

Heavenly Bread There are many notable differences between the Gospel of St John and the other three Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke. John appears to assume in his readership a familiarity with one or other or all of the other Gospels. He uses the space of his scroll to report fewer events while giving at greater length and depth the words of Jesus and their doctrinal significance. For instance, Christ’s claim to divinity is far more explicit in St John. So too is his teaching on the Eucharist — even though he does not narrate the actual institution of it at the Last Supper. John seems to give us his favourite memories of the life and words of Jesus Christ, to which all his life he found himself returning. Perhaps he wrote them down as he recollected and pondered them with the help of the Holy Spirit, speaking of them to his many and various Christian audiences. Perhaps under the inspiration of the same divine Spirit they became his written Gospel, a document of a very different character from the Synoptics. Mixed up with the profoundest of inspired insights were all kinds of historical details. Our Gospel scene today occurred “on the far side of the Sea of Galilee.” “The Jewish Feast of Passover was near.” It was “to Philip” that he asked where bread was to be bought, and it was “to test” Philip that he said this. John remembers Philip’s answer. Then John remembers that it is “Andrew” who reports that there was a boy present with five barley loaves and two fish. All these details show the historical character of the event, and suppose that John has long been contemplating the scene and the words of Jesus. He has never forgotten them, and in this he has been assisted by the Holy Spirit, given to him on the evening of the day Jesus rose from the dead (John 20:22). Well, let us notice one detail in particular which John takes care to mention. It is that the event now described occurred when the Passover feast of the Jews was near. This is the first thing he says after Jesus sits down on the mountain to survey the scene, with the crowd before him. It is, we might say, the introduction to the event that follows, the hinted backdrop for an understanding of the event.

As a matter of fact, the multiplication of the loaves is the only miracle, apart from the greatest of them, the Resurrection, which is recorded in all four Gospels. But in the other Gospels this miracle is not formally connected with the most significant of Christ’s gifts to his Church, the Holy Eucharist. For instance, we read in St Luke that Christ took his disciples and went to the area of Bethsaida (Luke 9:10-17). The crowds followed him and he told his disciples to give them something to eat. They reply that all they have is “five loaves and two fishes.” We notice, incidentally, that there are not all the details here that John chooses to provide. As in John, there are about five thousand men, and twelve baskets full of fragments are collected. Once the miracle is over, the scene moves to another location where Christ is at prayer. He then asks who people say he is. There is nothing specific about a special meaning to be given to the miracle of the loaves and fishes. The case is altogether different in John. The backdrop is the Paschal Feast. The Paschal Feast is mentioned two other times in John’s Gospel: before the cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem by Jesus (2:13), and again after the decision of the Sanhedrin to arrest and do away with Jesus (John 11:55). Our scene today (John 6:1-15) is clearly an introduction to Christ’s doctrine on the Holy Eucharist which is gradually expounded over the course of the entire chapter. It serves as an introduction together with the miraculous event which immediately follows it, namely Christ’s walking on the water to his disciples who are in difficulty. There, amid the “great wind” and standing in the midst of the Sea, he declares, “It is I (ego eimi). Do not be afraid!” — the ego eimi (It is I — I AM) being reminiscent, by hindsight, of God’s own holy name given to Moses from the Burning Bush, I AM. Jesus is the divine source of the Bread from heaven, given for the life of the world. Over the course of the same chapter, Christ will be extraordinarily explicit in his very public teaching on the true Bread from heaven, which is his own flesh and blood. All must eat and drink of this if they are to have life everlasting. It is prefigured by the loaves and fishes.

We see from John’s account of this miracle that it was not worked simply as a sign of Christ’s divine power. It was a sign of a very great miracle to come, with ramifications for every believer till the end of the world. It was a sign of the new Passover, and in particular of the Holy Eucharist. Jesus Christ is mankind’s Bread from heaven, but in a very concrete sense. The bread and wine used at the Paschal Feast became, by Christ’s power and word, his own Body and Blood. It did not become this symbolically or figuratively, but really so. The whole person of Jesus Christ replaces the substance of the bread and wine, leaving the appearances alone untouched. As such, he is the life of the world. Let us recognize Jesus Christ, this heavenly Bread, as our life, then!

Fighting against God Our passage from the Acts of the Apostles (5:34-42) reports the words of Gamaliel who advised that the apostles be let go. He said that if not, the Sanhedrin would be in danger of finding themselves fighting against God. Prescinding from the particular historical context in which these words were uttered, we could ask ourselves if we ever find ourselves fighting against God. For the last ten years of his pontificate Pope John Paul II suffered from increasingly debilitating physical conditions which God chose to permit, despite the pivotal ministry and responsibilities which as pope he had to fulfill. He gave a shining example of one who did not fight against God. On the contrary, he submitted humbly, and transformed his crosses into channels of life. In death he drew thousands to God, and his funeral was perhaps the biggest crowd he ever drew. It was the same with his beatification six years later.

Let us never fight against God and his holy will. Let us, if we wish to be disciples of Christ, take up the cross he chooses to give us every day, and follow generously in his footsteps.

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Say slowly to the Master: Lord, all I want is to serve you. All I want is to fulfil my duties and love you with all my heart. Make me feel your firm step by my side. May you be my only support! Say this to him slowly ... and really mean it!

Prayers today: You are a people God claims as his own, to praise him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light, alleluia. (1 Pet 2:9)

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, . .

Rose was born at Viterbo in Italy, the daughter of a doctor. Following the death of her fiancé she entered a convent, but soon returned home to care for her newly widowed mother. Meanwhile, Rose invited the women of the neighbourhood to recite the rosary in her home, forming a sort of sodality with them. As she looked to her future, Rose, under the spiritual guidance of a Jesuit priest, became convinced that she was called to become a teacher in the world rather than a contemplative nun in a convent. Clearly, she made the right choice: She was a born teacher, and the free school for girls she opened in 1685 was well received. Soon the cardinal invited her to oversee the training of teachers and the administration of schools in his Diocese of Montefiascone. As Rose's reputation grew, she was called upon to organize schools in many parts of Italy, including Rome. Her disposition was right for the task as well, for Rose often met considerable opposition but was never deterred. She died in Rome in 1728, where a number of miracles were attributed to her. She was beatified in 1952 and canonized in 2006. The sodality, or group of women she had invited to prayer, was ultimately given the rank of a religious congregation. Today, the so-called Venerini Sisters can be found in the United States and elsewhere, working among Italian immigrants. (AmericanCatholic.org)

When evening came the disciples of Jesus went down to the sea, got into a boat and went across for Capharnaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come back to them. A strong wind blew and the sea began to stir. They had rowed some twenty five or thirty furlongs when they saw Jesus walking on the sea and approaching the boat. They were afraid, but he said to them: It is I. Do not fear. Then they took him on board willingly enough and very soon the boat reached the shore to which they were going. (John 6:16-21)

The powerful One The seas are a notable feature of planet earth. It is a great thing if any planet is discovered to have signs of water on it. Our planet abounds in water, and its greatest presence is the sea. The sea is a major factor in human history too. There have been various nations over the centuries who have taken to the seas as to their natural element, and have excelled as naval and trading powers. For a period of its classical past, Athens was especially adept in naval warfare. In the early modern era, Britain was a great naval and trading force. Napoleon attempted to bring it to its knees by cutting off its continental trade. But Britain’s dominance of the seas during its conflict with him crippled him. Other societies have reigned on land. The Mongols roared out of the East on horseback, pillaging, burning, slaying, razing to the ground. Whatever the natural element of a particular society, though, all have had a respect for the inexorable sea — friendly or cruel as it may have been. It has offered inexhaustible supplies of food to man, and has brought waves of death to him as well, a mother and a destroyer both. It is a vast tomb that has engulfed countless lives lost through warfare, sickness and various mishaps occurring on its surface. It has never had a master, except for the God who made and sustains it. No man or society can be said to have power over it. It must be respected or else it will open its mighty jaws and consume its disregarding guests. Various events described in the inspired Scriptures reflect the might of the sea and the awe it arouses in man. The children of Israel, on their way out of slavery were pursued by their Egyptian oppressors. There they stood on the shores of the Red Sea, and God commanded Moses. He would put the Sea to his service, and the pursuing enemy was overwhelmed. No-one could master the Sea but God its Creator. For the Hebrew, the seas were great and terrible. The Sea of Galilee was a friend to the region’s inhabitants, and they were often on it, crossing it and working for their sustenance. But it was powerful, and it could bring death.

Our Gospel scene today (John 6:16-21) must have made a profound impression on the disciples of our Lord. Our Lord had just fed the multitude with a handful of food. Doubtless the food, consisting of five barley loaves and two fish, was delicious and entirely satisfying. When our Lord worked the other food miracle, the changing of water into wine (which John also narrates), it was much better wine than anything the guests had consumed to that point. Christ had showed himself to be their Bread of Life, and had given a sign of a new Passover meal to come. He would be mankind’s true food and drink, and would sustain them with a share in his own eternal life. Here again, on the very sea, he shows forth his mighty power. Whoever heard of a man walking on the very sea, striding upon it, making his way along upon its surface, in the midst of surging waves and strong wind? Where is there any such thing in all of the Scriptures? Where is there any such thing in the annals of human history? The nearest thing is the pagan god of the sea, the mythical Neptune. But here we have a real man, flesh and blood, effortlessly making his way towards his friends amid the haze of spray and waves. There he approached, his figure clearly seen, though not yet recognized. He rose and fell with the moving surface, an apparition striking fear into their awe-struck hearts. It is I. Do not be afraid, he calmly called. Wonderful indeed! How manifest was his awesome power. He was Lord of food and drink, Lord of sickness and disease, Lord of the underworld and the demonic, Lord of life and death, and yes, Lord of the sea. He was Lord of all things. Yet he had made himself so vulnerable in becoming man like us. He who was God, was thoroughly man. He became man to take upon himself the burden of the sin of the world — and atoning for the sin of the world would be the greatest display of his power. This divine power, so evident in his walking on the sea, would reach its climactic act in his death and resurrection by which he would redeem the world. It would also be especially manifest in that to which his miracle of the loaves had pointed. As Redeemer, he would give his very self to be mankind’s food and drink. How powerful is Jesus Christ! He gives himself to us in the Eucharist to be our food for life eternal.

Let us contemplate in our hearts Jesus Christ as he calmly walks on the foaming sea, gazing calmly at his labouring disciples. There he pauses. There he tells them, It is I. Do not fear. Jesus Christ, let us always remember, is almighty, and his might shows itself in mercy. I suspect that when Christ boarded the boat, his garments and hair were found not to be drenched but practically dry. Let us place our faith in him, and let us be sure never to be separated from him.

"It is I. Do not be afraid." Time and again in life we are faced with storms of various kinds — situations of varied difficulty. This applies to everyone of whatever circumstance or walk of life, Christian or not, believer or not. There must have been many cases of fishermen caught in rough and stormy weather on the lake of Galilee, and perhaps in its long history there had been many drownings and tragedies. But in the case of the disciples there was this difference, that they were friends of Jesus. And so, while they were indeed caught in the rough weather, Jesus himself came to them on the water. Jesus came to be with them in their difficulty. Whatever be our difficulties, our Lord will come to us. He is ever gazing at us with love and power. We are in the presence of Him who is all-loving, all-powerful. Whatever be the difficulties inherent in the decisions we are called on to make, let us remember that we are in his presence. Let us, then, make our decisions asking his aid. If vicissitudes assail us, we are always in his presence. He can and will help us, just as he helped his disciples with his presence.

Our greatest difficulty and our greatest challenge is holiness. Christ is with us, saying "It is I. Do not be afraid." And just as when he entered the boat, the disciples found themselves near to land, so too, if we trust and obey, Christ will bring us to the goal of our life. He is our strength all the days of our life, in or out of adversity, in seeking the goal of life which is holiness and heaven.

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You need interior life and doctrinal formation. Be demanding on yourself! As a Christian man or woman, you have to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, for you are obliged to give good example with holy shamelessness. The charity of Christ should compel you. Feeling and knowing yourself to be another Christ from the moment you told him that you would follow him, you must not separate yourself from your equals — your relatives, friends and colleagues — any more than you would separate salt from the food it is seasoning. Your interior life and your formation include the piety and the principles a child of God must have in order to give flavour to everything by his active presence there. Ask the Lord that you may always be that good seasoning in the lives of others.
(The Forge, no.450)

Prayers for today: Let all the earth cry out to God with joy; praise the glory of his name; proclaim his glorious praise, alleluia. (Psalm 65: 1-2)

God our Father, may we look forward with hope to our resurrection, for you have made us your sons and daughters, and restored the joy of our youth. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

There are two men named St. Peter of Tarentaise who lived one century apart. The man we honour today is the younger Peter, born in France in the early part of the 12th century. (The other man with the same name became Pope Innocent the Fifth.) The Peter we’re focusing on became a Cistercian monk and eventually served as abbot. In 1142 he was named archbishop of Tarentaise, replacing a bishop who had been deposed because of corruption. Peter tackled his new assignment with vigour. He brought reform into his diocese, replaced lax clergy and reached out to the poor. He visited all parts of his mountainous diocese on a regular basis. After about a decade as bishop Peter “disappeared” for a year and lived quietly as a lay brother at an abbey in Switzerland. When he was “found out,” the reluctant bishop was persuaded to return to his post. He again focused many of his energies on the poor. Peter died in 1175 on his way home from an unsuccessful papal assignment to reconcile the kings of France and England. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Acts 2:14, 22-33; Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11; 1 Peter 1:17-21; Luke 24:13-35

That very day two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a town some seven miles from Jerusalem, named Emmaus. They were discussing all that had happened. It happened that while they talked it over Jesus himself drew near but their eyes were closed to recognizing him. He said to them: What are you discussing as you walk along, and why so sad? One of them, whose name was Cleophas answered: Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who has not known what has happened here in these last few days? What things, he asked? Concerning, they said, Jesus of Nazareth who was a prophet, mighty in work and word before God and all the people. Our Shroud of Turin

chief priests and leaders delivered him up to death and had him crucified. We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Today is the third day since all this happened. Indeed, certain women in our group astonished us. Before dawn they were at the sepulchre, and not finding his body, came back saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said he is alive. Some of our people went to the sepulchre and found it as the women had said but of him they found nothing. Then he said to them: You foolish people and slow of heart to believe what the prophets have said. Had not the Messiah to suffer thus and so enter his glory? Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them all that referred to him in the scriptures. So they drew near the town to which they were heading and he made as if to go on. But they prevailed on him saying: Stay with us, because it is towards evening, and the day is now far spent. So he went in with them. And it came to pass while he was at table with them that he took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him. But he vanished from their sight. They said to one another, Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke on the road and explained to us the scriptures? Rising up there and then they went back to Jerusalem and found the eleven gathered together and those that were staying with them. Yes, they said, the Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon. They told them of the things that had happened on the road and how they had recognized him in the breaking of the bread. (Luke 24: 13-35)

Reverence for the Eucharist In our Gospel scene of today our Lord joins the two disciples on their way to Emmaus. They do not know it is he, but he accompanies them as they walk and talk along the road. He forms them by giving them an extended instruction on the meaning of the Scriptures, a long catechesis or homily on what the Old Testament readings teach about himself. Then when at table with them he took bread, said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened and they recognised him. What are we reminded of in all this? We are surely reminded of the presence of our Lord at Mass, which is the summit and source of the Christian life. Christ is at Mass in his full and total reality, speaking to us and instructing us by means of his word, and by his words that change the bread into his body, making present the sacrifice of himself at Calvary. Our Gospel scene (Luke 24: 13-35) reminds us of Jesus present at Mass and in the Tabernacle. It is just as easy to be inadvertent of the real presence of our Lord in the Eucharist as the two disciples were inadvertent of the real presence of the risen Jesus with them on their way to Emmaus. Being advertent of his real presence requires a constant exercise of faith, and the cultivation of a number of practices ensuring a lively faith and personal reverence. To keep before our mind that Christ, the whole Christ, the risen Christ in all his power, is truly present at Mass and in the Tabernacle, requires a constant effort of faith. This is because we do not see him in his physical form and shape. We see him in another form, the form or appearance of bread and wine. When we enter the church, we do not see our Lord in his human figure. We see a Tabernacle. In fact, we can develop the habit of not even noticing the Tabernacle, in which he is present sacramentally. So we ignore him, not deliberately, but we are still at fault. We do not make the active effort to think and act according to our Catholic faith in the holy Eucharist.

When we enter the church we tend to act and think as if all there is in the church is what we physically see, which is to say the church interior and the people gathered around us. We may enter into some personal prayers, but unless we are on guard, we may just as easily sit down and begin chatting with our neighbour, reading the bulletin, or looking around. Then at the end of Mass, we may find ourselves doing the same before we are yet outside. This is because we tend not to live by faith but by sight. By our faith we know the real presence of our Lord in the Tabernacle. But if we act only by sight, we will neglect the living risen Jesus, truly present, but out of direct sight, and in any case under the appearance of Bread, in the Tabernacle. So too during Mass itself, we are in danger of participating only in what we see and hear. That is to say, we are in danger of participating principally in what we see the congregation doing. Rather, we should strive to participate principally in the action of Christ, who is the head of the congregation and of the entire Church. The whole congregation together participates in what they know by faith Christ to be doing. Let us remember this as we are coming to Mass, resolving to be early for Mass so as to have time to recollect ourselves and prepare in a spirit of faith. We ought ask the Holy Spirit during the penitential rite to help us be conscious of our sins and to ask God’s pardon, thinking of his mercy. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ is present at Mass in the person of the priest. He speaks to us in his word, in the readings of Scripture and the homily. Then in the Eucharistic Prayer we recognize the presence of Jesus who, by the power of the Holy Spirit, transforms the substance of the bread and wine into the substance of his body and blood, and makes present the sacrifice of himself for us at Calvary. He comes to us in Holy Communion enabling us to unite ourselves to him in his offering of himself to his Father. Thinking actively of this many-sided presence of Christ at Mass and in the Tabernacle, let us resolve also to approach the Sacrament of Penance regularly and frequently so as to be worthy of receiving him.

Out of respect for our Lord, we ought cultivate personal practices that protect within us a deep sense of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist. Prayerful silence in the church where our Lord is, reverent genuflections, guarding our eyes and keeping them frequently on the Tabernacle, making the sign of the cross reverently as we enter — making sure in all of this that we have a lively sense of the Eucharistic Jesus. Let us make the Eucharist the source and summit of our entire life.

Further Reading: The Catechism of the Catholic Church no. 1373-1375 (The presence of Jesus in the Eucharist by the power of his word and the Holy Spirit)

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We Christians, with a spirit of youthfulness, have come to collect the treasures of the Gospels, which are always new, so that we can make them reach every corner of the earth.

Prayers today: The Good Shepherd is risen! He who laid down his life for his sheep, who died for his flock, he is risen, alleluia.

God our Father, your light of truth guides us to the way of Christ. May all who follow him reject what is contrary’ to the gospel. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son . .

Some Franciscan saints led fairly public lives; Catharine represents the saints who served the Lord in obscurity. Catharine, born in Bologna, was related to the nobility in Ferrara and was educated at court there. She received a liberal education at the court and developed some interest and talent in painting. In later years as a Poor Clare, Catharine sometimes did manuscript illumination and also painted miniatures. At the age of 17, she joined a group of religious women in Ferrara. Four years later the whole group joined the Poor Clares in that city. Jobs as convent baker and portress preceded her selection as novice mistress. In 1456 she and 15 other sisters were sent to establish a Poor Clare monastery in Florence. As abbess Catharine worked to preserve the peace of the new community. Her reputation for holiness drew many young women to the Poor Clare life. She was canonized in 1712. Catharine wrote a book on the seven spiritual weapons to be used against temptation. "Jesus Christ gave up his life that we might live," she said. "Therefore, whoever wishes to carry the cross for his sake must take up the proper weapons for the contest, especially those mentioned here. First, diligence; second, distrust of self; third, confidence in God; fourth, remembrance of the Passion; fifth, mindfulness of one’s own death; sixth, remembrance of God’s glory; seventh, the injunctions of Sacred Scripture following the example of Jesus Christ in the desert" (On the Seven Spiritual Weapons). (AmericanCatholic.org)

The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realised that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus Shroud of Turin

had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. Once the crowd realised that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, Rabbi, when did you get here? Jesus answered, I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval. Then they asked him, What must we do to do the works God requires? Jesus answered, The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent. (John 6:22-29)

The real Christ The Gospel of St John is recognized as being the most “theological” of the Gospels — it gives more space than do the other three on the doctrinal significance of the facts that are narrated. At the same time, the Gospel of St John is strong on facts, even when they are scarcely necessary to the topic in hand. Our Gospel passage today is from the sixth chapter of St John, which is mainly given over to the Holy Eucharist. The account begins with the miracle of the loaves and fishes, near the time of the Passover feast of the Jews. Jesus is the Bread from Heaven that gives life to the world. It is followed by the crossing back to Capernaum, in which our Lord walks on the Sea of Tiberius to join his disciples in the boat. Perhaps in prophetic manner he is displaying, as the Bread from heaven, his powerful care for his disciples on their journey to the Promised Land of heaven, as it were. Then there is the encounter of the people with Jesus and his disciples back at Capernaum, and this is the focus of our Gospel passage today. Here, as ever, we notice factual details. John chooses to tell us that at the time of the miracle of the loaves “only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they (his disciples) had gone away alone.” The people, seeing the disciples depart, knew that our Lord was still in their vicinity on the nearby mountain, where they had seen him ascend. But the next day they discover that he was gone. Again, John cares to tell us how a number of the people were able to get across to Capernaum to find Jesus. It was by means of “boats from Tiberius” that “landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.” It was not necessary that he tell us this, but he vividly remembers it. He also includes the detail that the next day they asked our Lord how he had got back. Then, apart from all this, there is another thing which John mentions in this passage — various of Jesus’ titles. He is “the Lord.” He is “Rabbi.” He is “the Son of Man.” He is the One on whom God the Father has set the seal of his approval, the One whom the Father has sent.

The title of “Lord” occurs a few times in this chapter. The people address him as “Lord” when Christ tells them that the Bread of God is the One who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. “Lord,” they said to him, “give us this bread always” (John 6:34). As used by them, it is a title of respect for One who can fulfil their longing for life. The same title appears in our passage today, and is here used by the inspired writer himself in his narrative: “Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks” (6:23). It has the full Christian meaning of “Lord” — and obviously refers to the personal divinity of Jesus, as expressed by Thomas in John ch. 20:28, “My Lord and my God!” It is used again at the end of this chapter on the Eucharist by Simon Peter, when he professes full faith in Jesus Christ: “Lord, .... you are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (6:68-69). The people also address him as “Rabbi” (6:25) — a common form of address. We remember that this was the first title with which our Lord was addressed by his disciples when on the threshold of his public ministry (John 1:38, and 1:49). Nathanael, on using this form of address to our Lord, immediately passes to a complete Christian faith: “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel” (1:49) — which is to say, the Messiah, the Christ. It is also the title Mary Magdalene accords Jesus on his rising from the dead (Rabbouni — “my Teacher”, the same form of the word used by the blind man in Mark 10:51). In his day, the title of Rabbi may have been the most common of Christ’s titles. He was widely recognized by the people as the most authoritative teacher of the day. Pilate recognized that it was for envy that the Jewish authorities had handed Jesus over to him. He is also “Son of Man.” This is used by Christ himself, and the one which our Lord may have used most often, conjuring up the prophecies of Daniel, and avoiding the political expectations of the idea of the “Messiah-King.” Finally, he is the one on whom “God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” He is “the one he has sent.” These titles reveal the richness of Christ in our passage.

Jesus Christ, glorious Man, great God! He is our Lord, our Teacher, the Son of Man, the One whom the Father has sent, and on whom he has set his seal of approval. The work of God which we must do, he tells us in our Gospel today (John 6:22-29), is to believe in him whom God has sent. Let us lovingly contemplate his inexhaustible Person amid the historical details John so lovingly provides us. He is the Bread from heaven that gives life to the world. Let us set our eyes on Jesus Christ, and resolve to place our entire faith in him. This the work of God which is to be done in life. Let us do it, then!

Relying on the Holy Spirit When it comes to the doing of good work for God, there will be a pattern. It is that sooner or later there will be difficulties and opposition. It was a pattern above all in the life of Our Lord. It is present in the life of Stephen (Acts 6:8-15). We are told that he “was filled with grace and power and began to work miracles and great signs among the people.” He was doing very good work. But great opposition sprang up: "But then certain people came forward to debate with Stephen," and "they procured some men to say" falsehoods about him, and "in this way turned the people against him as well as the elders and scribes." Stephen found himself surrounded by difficulties. If we aspire to do good work for God, we too must expect difficulties. But amid the inevitable difficulties we have a great Counsellor and Advocate, the Holy Spirit. Our Lord said to his disciples that when they were brought before kings and governors because of their doing what was right, they were not to worry. The Holy Spirit would be with them to speak through them. We see all this exemplified in Stephen. He was filled with grace and power — they could not get the better of him, “because of his wisdom, and because it was the Spirit that prompted what he said.”

Let us then be always ready for difficulties, if we mean to follow our Lord closely. Let us also live in confidence, for we have the Holy Spirit as our friend and guide. Let us trust him.

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You need to imitate Jesus Christ and make him known through your behaviour. I want you not to forget that Christ assumed our human nature so as to raise all men to a divine way of life; and so that, united to him, we might live the commands of Heaven both individually and as members of society.

Prayers today: All you who fear God, both the great and the small, give praise to him! For his salvation and strength have come, the power of Christ, alleluia. (Rv 19:5; 12:10)

Father, you open the kingdom of heaven to those born again by water and the Spirit. Increase your gift of love in us. May all who have been freed from sins in baptism receive all that you have promised. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

When Joseph de Veuster was born in Tremelo, Belgium, in 1840, few people in Europe had any firsthand knowledge of leprosy Fr Damien De Veuster

(Hansen's disease). By the time he died at the age of 49, people all over the world knew about this disease because of him. They knew that human compassion could soften the ravages of this disease. Forced to quit school at age 13 to work on the family farm, six years later Joseph entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, taking the name of a fourth-century physician and martyr. When his brother Pamphile, a priest in the same congregation, fell ill and was unable to go to the Hawaiian Islands as assigned, Damien quickly volunteered in his place. In May 1864, two months after arriving in his new mission, Damien was ordained a priest in Honolulu and assigned to the island of Hawaii. In 1873, he went to the Hawaiian government's leper colony on the island of Molokai, set up seven years earlier. Part of a team of four chaplains taking that assignment for three months each year, Damien soon volunteered to remain permanently, caring for the people's physical, medical and spiritual needs. In time, he became their most effective advocate to obtain promised government support. Soon the settlement had new houses and a new church, school and orphanage. Morale improved considerably. A few years later he succeeded in getting the Franciscan Sisters of Syracuse, led by Mother Marianne Cope (January 23), to help staff this colony in Kalaupapa. Damien contracted Hansen's disease and died of its complications. As requested, he was buried in Kalaupapa, but in 1936 the Belgian government succeeded in having his body moved to Belgium. Part of Damien's body was returned to his beloved Hawaiian brothers and sisters after his beatification in 1995. When Hawaii became a state in 1959, it selected Damien as one of its two representatives in the Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Acts 7:51- 8:1a; Psalm 31:3cd-4, 6 and 7b and 8a, 17 and 21ab; John 6:30-35

So they asked Jesus, What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Sir, they said, from now on give us this bread. Then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6:30-35)

Manna from God One of the most interesting of disciplines is archaeology, and for the past century and a half it has been flourishing. It has also polarized opinions in respect to Old Testament history, with some saying that archaeology has demonstrated that such great events as the Exodus, the long sojourn in the wilderness and the taking of Palestine never happened. Where is the external evidence for Abraham, the patriarchs including Joseph in Egypt, Moses, David, any of the great prophets? Archaeology is largely silent. Others have mounted a vigorous support for the historicity of the great Old Testament events by making surprising use of the little extrinsic evidence available. For instance, some have pointed to the parallels between the Old Testament account of the plagues, and the Ipuwer Papyrus of Leiden 344. Many claim this papyrus was written by an Egyptian named Ipuwer, and that it looks very like an eyewitness account of the effects of the Exodus plagues from the perspective of an average Egyptian. Let us not enter into such matters here. I would only say that I find it inconceivable, humanly speaking, that the powerful tradition concerning the great historical events of the Old Testament was, basically, fantasy. The sheer weight of the Hebrew tradition and memory is powerful internal evidence for its historical character, whatever might be said of various details. There is a further consideration for the Christian. Jesus Christ himself refers to various persons and events as if they actually happened. One such was the gift from God of the Manna in the desert to the children of Israel as they made their way in the wilderness. What would Christ have said if it had been claimed in conversation with him that there never was a Moses, nor an Exodus, nor the Manna in the desert? Moses and Elijah actually appeared with him in glory at the Transfiguration, conversing with him. That is not to say that Inspiration requires us to accept as historical (in the modern sense of the word) the full presentation of the past in the Old Testament texts, in all its pictorial detail. It used to be thought that the doctrine of inspiration required of us that we take creation as having been effected over six days because that is how creation is presented in Genesis 1. The advance of science and textual criticism has showed that this interpretation of the first page of Genesis is misconceived.

Let us consider for a moment God’s feeding of his people with Manna in the desert. We read that God kept his people going with plain food — Manna and quail. In fact, very many people got tired of it. It lacked variety. Back in Egypt they had had melons and a variety of food from the well-irrigated soil of the land there. They wanted something tastier from God, and their grumbling risked a serious punishment. I myself think that such details as this provide even more internal evidence of the plausibility of the account. Be that as it may, the Manna was a great sign of God’s power on behalf of his people. It was always remembered as such. God could carry them through all their trials. It was bread from heaven. In our Gospel today the people, having already seen our Lord’s miracle of the loaves and fishes, demand an even greater sign from heaven as proof of his claims. He had said that the one thing they must do was believe in him. This is the work of God, he had said, that you believe in the one he has sent. So they said, what sign can you do, a sign that we can see, that will induce us to believe in you? “Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'” Not only did this sign preserve the people’s faith in God, but it kept alive their faith in Moses as God’s appointed servant. What sign can you do? Our Lord then gives the true meaning of the Manna in the desert. It was not the true bread that God would give from heaven. It always failed, and in any case it did not preserve from death. There is a truer bread from heaven, and it will give life to all, not just to the children of Israel. “Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” A far more wondrous Bread from God is coming, and He, Jesus, is that Bread. “Sir, they said, from now on give us this bread. Then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:30-35).

Let us learn to read the Gospels within the context of the entire Scriptures. The summit of the Scriptures is to be found in the Gospels because they present the person and teaching of Jesus Christ most directly. Our passage today is from a central chapter in the Gospel of St John. It speaks of the Holy Eucharist, which is none other than the full human and divine reality of Jesus Christ. Let us look on him as our heavenly Bread. He will give us life everlasting both now and hereafter.

Being led by the Spirit In the scene before us involving Stephen, we have two classes of persons — there is Stephen, and there are those who wish to be rid of him. Stephen, we are told, was “filled with the Holy Spirit.” In this description of Stephen, we think of our Lord himself, so utterly filled with the Holy Spirit. We think also of our Lady who is full of grace, and upon whom the Holy Spirit had come. We think of St John the Baptist who received the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb. Stephen, in other words, is in the company of those to whom the Holy Spirit had come, and by whose grace he was testifying to Christ in our passage today. On the other side there is a very different company — those whom Stephen (speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) said were stubbornly resisting the Holy Spirit. They had a long ancestry, and their ancestors persecuted the prophets. They now resisted the good news of Christ and proceeded to put St Stephen to death.

Let us resolve to take the side of those who strive to be led by the Holy Spirit. He will lead us from within our consciences — and our consciences must be guided by the word of Christ as proclaimed and enunciated by the Church.

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Because you are a Christian you cannot turn your back on any concern or any need of your fellow men.

Prayers today: Fill me with your praise and I will sing your glory; songs of joy will be on my lips, alleluia. (Ps 70:8, 23)

Merciful Lord, hear the prayers of your people. May we who have received your gift of faith share for ever in the new life of Christ. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, . .

Ignatius is another sainted begging brother. He was the second of seven children of peasant parents in Sardinia. His path to the Franciscans was unusual. During a serious illness, Ignatius vowed to become a Capuchin if he recovered. He regained his health but ignored the promise. A riding accident prompted him to renew the pledge, which he acted on the second time; he was 20 then. Ignatius’s reputation for self-denial and charity led to his appointment as the official beggar for the friars in Cagliari. He fulfilled that task for 40 years; he was blind the last two years. While on his rounds, Ignatius would instruct the children, visit the sick and urge sinners to repent. The people of Cagliari were inspired by his kindness and his faithfulness to his work. He was canonized in 1951. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:35-40)

Eternal life We are able in our minds to distinguish the existence of something from the kind of thing it is. We can think of a man who does not exist, and one who does. The former is a possibility contemplated by the mind, the latter is an actuality perceived by the senses. So, formally speaking, his existence is distinguishable from his kind or nature. That having been said, one would think that if something does in fact exist, its existence would give to it a certain necessity. After all, what is there intrinsic to the notion of something existing that could interfere with its existence? Why should, say, its duration be limited if it is endowed with existence? Well, of course, there would be nothing to limit its duration, nor any other feature of its existence, were it the very essence of that thing to exist. But the world and the things of our experience cannot be simply identified with their existence, if only for the simple fact that they plainly need not exist. Their existence is limited or qualified by various features of the kind of limited thing they are. Their nature does not require existence, rather existence is given to them from without. So instead of being inherently necessary, as things would be were it of their essence to exist, they are inherently contingent. Ultimately, were it not for the sustaining hand of their loving Creator, existence would never be theirs. The limited things of our direct experience have no necessary hold on existence, as they would were it of their essence to exist. They are vulnerable to decline, mutation, exhaustion and demise. We know from divine revelation that the existence and life granted to us by our loving Creator will never be revoked. But it will mutate — for better or worse as the case may be. Importantly, at the heart of this radical possibility of mutation lies the moral decision. If a person chooses to do what is right, he flourishes in his being. If he chooses amiss in a moral sense, he will wither and even die. What this means is that the great issue ahead of every man and woman is life or death, flourishing or decline, choosing the right or choosing the bad. God has revealed that at the very end each human being will either enjoy the fulness of life, or unending death — and this the result of his choices.

It is to be life or death, then — so we must choose life! Broadly this is the loud and clear message of Moses, the Psalms and the Prophets — in other words, of the Old Testament Scriptures. Now Christ has told us far more of the Afterlife than any Old Testament teacher or prophet. In his parable of the Rich Man and the Poor Man Lazarus, immediately after death Lazarus is taken to the bosom of Abraham, while the Rich Man is buried in Hell. So there is an instant judgment following death, and the ultimate issues for each man or woman take effect — though we know also that for the just there is the blessing of a purification before their full flourishing in Heaven. Christ also made it clear that there will be a Day at the end when he will come to judge the living and the dead. He will raise up the just in their full bodily persons to be with him forever, and the unjust will go to Hell. As has been said, the critical thing on which everything will turn will be the moral choices of each person during life. The experience of a flourishing of his being consequent on good moral choices will be a harbinger of the much greater flourishing in the life to come, following the judgment of Christ. The degradation and decline consequent on bad moral choices will likewise be a harbinger of what is to come, everlasting Hell. Much of this we might dimly guess at by the light of natural reason and the conscience, but there is one thing which has been revealed and which we could never divine were it not for Christ’s word. I am referring to faith in Jesus Christ. This is the path and the gateway to holiness and heaven. Our Lord directly alludes to this in our Gospel passage today: “this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:35-40). The answer to the radical contingency of man, and to the threat to him which sin constitutes, is to look to Jesus Christ our Lord and believe in him. If our whole life is characterized by this course, we shall be raised up by him at the end.

Let us be very aware of the awful possibilities ahead of each of us. We enjoy life and existence, but this need not be. That we do exist, is a gift, a blessing bestowed upon us from on high. Existing as we do, we can nevertheless turn out very, very badly — or we can reach the heights and flourish. It will all depend on our moral choices. It has been revealed to us that at the heart of the moral life is the Person of Jesus Christ. We must look on him and believe in him — and the test of this is whether we resolve to do what he commands. That is what it means to be moral, and so to flourish and live. Choose Jesus Christ, then, and life will be yours!

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Love is the key I remember watching an interview with the famous producer of nature films, Richard Attenborough. He was responding to a question as to whether his observation of nature helped him believe in God. He said that, on the contrary, the savagery that he observed in the animal kingdom posed a problem for him as to the character, and therefore the existence, of God. Animals are killers of one another. The death of one serves to sustain the life of another. How could a moral God create this cruel state of affairs? But Attenborough should have looked at it from a different perspective. This pattern of life being taken to sustain other life is surely a faint reflection of a much higher pattern. I refer to high and noble love, in which one’s life is freely sacrificed for another. Christ is the embodiment of this, and in this he reveals the life of the Godhead. In our passage today (John 6:35-40) our Lord describes himself as the bread of life. He is bread given for our sake, bringing us life. In the Eucharist he makes himself available to be consumed by us so that we might live with an abundant life. Our Lord’s whole life is given over for us in his death. Whoever comes to him will be safe, and his intent is that none of us be lost.

We should never lose our confidence and trust in the total love of Christ for us. He has given himself over for us especially in the Eucharist, so that we may live. Let us steep our entire being prayerfully in this fundamental reality. It is the key to the meaning of life and the universe.

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How very insistent the Apostle St John was in preaching the new commandment that we should love one another. I would fall on my knees, without putting on any act — but this is what my heart dictates — and ask you, for the love of God, to love one another, to help one another, to lend one another a hand, to know how to forgive one another. And so, reject all pride, be compassionate, show charity; help each other with prayer and sincere friendship.

Prayers today: Let us sing to the Lord, he has covered himself in glory! The Lord is my strength, and I praise him: he is the Saviour of my life, alleluia. (Ex 15: 1-2)

Father, in this holy season we come to know the full depth of your love. You have freed us from the darkness of error and sin. Help us to cling to your truths with fidelity. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, .

Devotion to these two saints goes back to the fourth century, though almost nothing is known of their lives. They were praetorian soldiers of the Roman army, became Christians and were removed to the island of Terracina, where they were martyred. Their bodies were buried in a family vault, later known as the cemetery of Domitilla. Excavations by De Rossi in 1896 resulted in the discovery of their empty tomb in the underground church built by Pope Siricius in 390. Two hundred years after their death, Pope Gregory the Great delivered his 28th homily on the occasion of their feast. “These saints, before whom we are assembled, despised the world and trampled it under their feet when peace, riches and health gave it charms.” Pope Damasus wrote an epitaph for Nereus and Achilleus in the fourth century. The text is known from travellers who read it while the slab was still entire, but the broken fragments found by De Rossi are sufficient to identify it: “The martyrs Nereus and Achilleus had enrolled themselves in the army and exercised the cruel office of carrying out the orders of the tyrant, being ever ready, through the constraint of fear, to obey his will. O miracle of faith! Suddenly they cease from their fury, they become converted, they fly from the camp of their wicked leader; they throw away their shields, their armour and their blood-stained javelins. Confessing the faith of Christ, they rejoice to bear testimony to its triumph. Learn now from the words of Damasus what great things the glory of Christ can accomplish.” (AmericanCatholic.org)

Jesus said, No-one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. No-one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. (John 6:44-51)

The answer to death I remember seeing a movie on television years ago, and one scene showed a mother and her young child. The child suddenly asked his mother, Why isn’t there nothing? The mother looked perplexed, as if she scarcely understood the question. Why isn’t there nothing? That question is rarely asked, but it is one of the most fundamental questions about the universe. There are many who would assume that, though the universe obviously changes, in some form it has to be. I clearly remember when I was just beginning secondary school reading in my science text-book that matter can neither be created nor destroyed. It struck me very much, and I have never forgotten the statement. As far as science is concerned, as far as observation and physical experiment is concerned, though various objects such as, say, furniture and buildings, can be “made,” matter itself cannot be created. Though a chair can be destroyed (say, by fire), matter itself cannot be destroyed. At most it can be changed beyond recognition. But that child was introducing a question that was beyond the province of science. Why is there not nothing, instead of there being matter and the universe? I cannot see how any branch of science, based on observation and experiment, could answer this. It must be left to the best examples of philosophy, and above all to Revelation. But there is another fundamental question, related to the one the boy raised with his mother. Why must all living things die, including and especially man? Why is there not just a flourishing of life? Why is there not a complete absence of death? In fact, death is everywhere — death and destruction, pain and loss, and with it fear and flight. One of the most notable things about the universe is its change and transitory character, and ultimately this change and transitoriness seems to be ordered to death. The plant appears, it produces its flower, but then it declines and dies. In this sense a great sigh is heard across the face of the universe: What a pity! How sad! If only...! It is normal to rejoice in being, in existing, in living. But it is also normal to long for an escape from the common lot of existence, which is death. Where and what is the answer to death?

The answer to the first question has come — why isn’t there nothing? God chose to create, and he so chose because of his love. The answer to the second question has also come — where and what is the answer to death? God so loved the world that he sent his only Son. Death, it has been revealed to us, is due to the Original Sin of man. It shows how awful sin is, that it could so devastate the world. The world is far gone in its ruins, and this is an inveterate condition. Were we not to have the benefit of Revelation, we might have the strong hunch that we would persist after death in some sense, but who could prove the truth of this presentiment? Ultimately we would not know. What we do know is that at the end of a useful life we lie in death. It is all over for us. What is there to indicate that this is not the ultimate condition of man? Just as his body has not simply disappeared with death, so his spirit may not have disappeared at death, but it may be little more than dormant, shadowy, cut off in darkness, unknowing of what is external to itself. In other words, it may, after death, be somewhat of a reflection or extension of the body that lies in death. It may be radically incapacitated, and forever sunk in an inactive oblivion — somewhat as the body is, though the body falls to utter dust. This we might think were it not for Revelation, and certainly the opinions of mankind outside Revealed Religion are varied as to the Hereafter. Some have a high image of the Afterlife, many others a very dim image. The important thing, though, is that God has revealed to us what and where the answer to death is. The answer is the Person of Jesus Christ, and he is found above all in the Church which is his creation. So it is that our Lord makes claims that are unique to him. No prophet before him made such breathtaking personal promises. “I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life.” Again, “Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever” (John 6:44-51).

There is a way out for fallen man, and Jesus Christ firmly, clearly and unhesitatingly proclaimed it. The way out is to believe in him. He will give everlasting life to the one who comes to him and places his faith in him — but of course, this faith must not be dead. It must be alive, showing itself in the doing of what God commands. Good Master, the rich young man said, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Keep God’s commandments, Christ replied — and added, if you wish to be perfect, sell all and follow me. The only way to the Father is through Jesus Christ. Let us follow that great path then, and let us never stray from him.

The Holy Spirit the Evangelizer In the Gospels there are various references to the action of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord is led by the Spirit into the desert at the start of his public ministry, there to be tempted by the devil, and there are many other references to the Holy Spirit in the Gospels. In The Acts of the Apostles we read of his direct action on the infant Church, inspiring and guiding her members to bring the gospel of Christ to others. One such instance is described in our reading from The Acts today (8: 26-40). The Holy Spirit tells Philip to go up and meet the chariot in which the Ethiopian is travelling, while reading the Scriptures. Then he takes Philip away to yet another opportunity to preach the good news. The Holy Spirit is the great leader and inspirer of evangelization in the Church.

We have been given the gift of this same Holy Spirit. Inasmuch as we have been given a share in the Church’s mission to bring Christ to the world, we ought look to the Holy Spirit, our great friend and guide, to inspire and guide us in this daily call. Let us pray to be open to his action!

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You will only be good if you know how to see the good points and the virtues of others. That is why when you have to correct, you should do so with charity, at the opportune moment, without humiliating. And being ready yourself to learn and to improve in the very faults you are correcting.

Prayers today: The Lamb who was slain is worthy to receive strength and divinity, wisdom and power and honour, alleluia. (Rv 5:12)

Father, by the love of your Spirit, may we who have experienced the grace of the Lord’s resurrection rise to the newness of life in joy. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three Portuguese children received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria, near Fatima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. (See February 20 entry for Blessed Jacinta and Francisco Marto). Mary asked the children to pray the rosary for world peace, for the end of World War I, for sinners and for the conversion of Russia. The third visionary, Lucia dos Santos, became a Carmelite nun and died in 2005 at the age of 97. Mary gave the children three secrets. Since Francisco died in 1919 and Jacinta the following year, Lucia, who later became a Carmelite nun, revealed the first secret in 1927, concerning devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The second secret was a vision of hell. Pope John Paul II directed the Holy See's Secretary of State to reveal the third secret in 2000; it spoke of a 'bishop in white' who was shot by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows into him. Many people linked this to the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981. The feast of Our Lady of Fatima was approved by the local bishop in 1930; it was added to the Church's worldwide calendar in 2002. Sister Lucia died in 2005 at the age of 97. “Throughout history there have been supernatural apparitions and signs which go to the heart of human events and which, to the surprise of believers and non-believers alike, play their part in the unfolding of history. These manifestations can never contradict the content of faith, and must therefore have their focus in the core of Christ's proclamation: the Father's love which leads men and women to conversion and bestows the grace required to abandon oneself to him with filial devotion. This too is the message of Fatima which, with its urgent call to conversion and penance, draws us to the heart of the Gospel” (The Message of Fatima, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, June 26, 2000). (AmericanCatholic.org)

Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live for ever. He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. (John 6: 52-59)

Body of Christ I regard the public announcement of the doctrine of the Eucharist in the synagogue of Capernaum as one of the most remarkable religious announcements in the history of mankind. Let us take any of the great statements of the prophets in the Scriptures prior to Jesus Christ. There is the promise of God to Abraham that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. There is the prophecy of Jacob to his son Judah — the sceptre shall never depart from him until he comes to whom it belongs (according to one reading). There is the remarkable revelation of God to Moses on Mount Sinai, the prophecy accorded to David about his dynasty, the statements of Deutero-Isaiah about the Suffering Servant, the vision of Daniel about the Son of Man — and so we could go on and on. But whoever heard of a prophet, however great, solemnly stating that his flesh must be eaten and his blood drunk? While by hindsight the Eucharist had its great types in the Paschal Lamb and the blood of the Covenant, it is a doctrine very new on the scene of divine revelation. More broadly, the idea that Zarathustra, Confucius, Buddha, Mahomet, or any other real person of history and not merely of myth would say such a thing in all seriousness would boggle the mind. Imagine anything like this having been said by a serious figure of history — it would immediately have been interpreted as something purely symbolic. There is nothing directly parallel to the proclamation of the doctrine of the Eucharist in the history of revealed religion, nor, I believe, in the religions of the world founded by identifiable figures of history. Prescinding from the divine authority of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, this doctrine is remarkable for its uniqueness, and were it not for the utterly compelling standing of Jesus of Nazareth, it would be dismissed as ridiculous. But John in his Gospel makes it abundantly clear that our Lord deliberately, with great emphasis, and with repetition, publicly told the assembled people in the Synagogue of his town of Capernaum, a congregation that included many of his disciples, that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood if they were to live.

The result was that there was a walk-out, and our Lord lost many of his disciples. Our Lord foresaw it, and did not hasten to “clarify” his meaning. Let us remember too that the three Synoptic Gospels show how careful our Lord was to avoid claims and titles which, though deeply Scriptural (such as the title of Messiah), would be easily misunderstood. The revelation of his true identity was gradual. The Gospel of St John does, I think, throw extra light on this picture drawn by the Synoptics. In St John’s Gospel our Lord is shown directly claiming the Messiahship (as with the woman at Jacob’s Well), and that he was divine (as with the religious leaders themselves): I and the Father are one, and, Before Abraham was, I am. When there is no possibility of being misunderstood, there comes a point when our Lord is clear. Such is the case with his pronouncement in our Gospel passage today (John 6: 52-59). “My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.” He was understood quite clearly, and many left him. But his doctrine stood, and he expected his disciples to accept it if they wanted to remain with him. We read at the end of this episode (John 6:70) that Christ referred to Judas as a “devil” — he did not accept the doctrine, but he remained in our Lord’s company. He was there, but he had set his face against our Lord. This doctrine was not merely told to his disciples in the privacy of the Last Supper, accompanied by the command to do it in memory of him thereafter. It was publicly announced before the world — and then effected at the Last Supper. There was no mistake about it, and from the earliest days of the infant Church this remarkable and unique doctrine was acted on and made the heart and soul of the life of the Christian community. The Eucharist was the direct path to union with Jesus Christ and thereby with the Father, and the ongoing means of sharing in the life of God. It is the continuing miracle of the Christian religion, and is the wonder of the ages.

At the Last Supper our Lord showed that his body and blood would not, of course, be consumed physically. Christ would be consumed sacramentally, under the appearances of bread and wine. But this was not explained in the Synagogue of Capernaum. Perhaps this was precisely because our Lord did not want to be misunderstood. If he had explained that all this would be done sacramentally, it may have been widely thought he meant the whole thing to be a purely symbolic action. But no. The Christian religion, which was to be the fulfilment of all that God had revealed to that point, involved the consumption of God, God the Son made man. In this way a stupendous union would be effected between God and man. It was for real. How it would be done was still to be revealed — and this would come at the Last Supper. Let us rejoice in all that God has done for us! It is a harbinger of heaven, and no eye has seen all that God has in store for us.

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Love and practise charity without setting any limits or discriminating between people, for it is the virtue which marks us out as disciples of the Master. Nevertheless, this charity cannot lead you to dampen your faith — for it would then cease to be a virtue. Nor should it blur the clear outlines that define the faith, nor soften it to the point of changing it, as some people try to do, into something amorphous and lacking the strength and power of God.

Prayers today: You have not chosen me; I have chosen you. Go and bear fruit that will last, alleluia.

Father, you called St. Matthias to share in the mission of the apostles. By the help of his prayers may we receive with joy the love you share with us and be counted among those you have chosen. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

According to Acts 1:15-26, during the days after the Ascension, Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers (about 120 of Jesus’ followers). Now that Judas had betrayed his ministry, it was necessary, Peter said, to fulfill the scriptural recommendation: “May another take his office.” “Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men who accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us, become with us a witness to his resurrection” (Acts 1:21-22). They nominated two men: Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias. They prayed and drew lots. The choice fell upon Matthias, who was added to the Eleven. Matthias is not mentioned by name anywhere else in the New Testament. (AmericanCatholic.org)

Jesus said to his disciples, As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you Shroud of Turin

will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit— fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other. (John 15: 9-17)

The love of God If we are to make sense of life, we have to start somewhere. Do we start with an axiom, a proposition, a wish, or rather with facts of experience? Some philosophers choose to begin with axioms, propositions, or proposals, which, as they regard it, are self-evident, and they construct their system on that basis. Another starting point is to begin with objective facts. I would suggest that there are two great spheres of fact — there are things that are, and then there is moral law: the “is” and the “ought.” I am using the term “fact” broadly — in the sense that we might say that it is “a fact” that you must not steal or murder. The “ought” is as much an experiential fact as the concrete unit. The moral law commanding respect for the life of another is just as real as the chair on which I am sitting. If the chair breaks there are real consequences, and the violation of the moral law has consequences that are just as real. The moral law is a “fact,” but not an empirical fact, yet for a long time it has been assumed in many circles of thought that the only facts are empirical ones. Moral facts are not accessible by the sense of sight or smell. They are accessible by the mind’s moral sense, the conscience. Actually, a moral law can be said to be more real than a physical law. If a person is apprehended for murder, the moral law he has infringed is regarded by society as more absolute than a physical law that played a part in this grave infringement. The murderer may have been driven by his hunger to attempt a robbery (during which he committed the murder) or by alcoholic drink. Physical factors and laws influenced the murderer. But the moral law prohibiting unjust killing was seen by the courts to be absolute, whereas the physical need for money was not. One may disregard the law of hunger, but never the right to life. But let us set aside all such discussion, and simply notice the two great objective facts of human experience: that of the “ought,” and that of what “is.” The moral law is an inescapable reality facing every normal human being, and this moral law comes home to each via that faculty of the mind we call the conscience.

There is a dim sense in man that this moral law, which dictates that he do this and avoid that, has its origin in an ultimate Obliger. Further, man tends to identify the Origin of the “ought,” this ultimate Obliger, with the Origin, the Creator, of all that “is.” The moral Lawgiver and Judge behind the dictates of conscience he takes to be the Creator and Sustainer of all that is. Let us not here dwell on the logic of all this, for I am merely tracing the elements of man’s sense of God. God is viewed as our Creator and our Lawgiver and Judge. He gives us being and the creation around us, and he commands us to act in accord with the moral law. But there is what we might call a deeper yearning of our hearts, and that is for an ultimate Love. We might interpret creation around us as tokens of love, and we might interpret the dictate of conscience as tokens of a Father and Friend — but then again, we might not. Our moral, intellectual and sense experience may not interpret reality in terms of love. Love could be missed, and our hearts left empty. What has clinched the matter is divine Revelation. God has intervened and revealed his personal love for us. He has seen our plight. We are under the oppression of sin, that sin which we have inherited and to which we individually consent. We are enslaved to it just as the children of Israel were enslaved to their oppressors in Egypt. But God has seen us, just as he saw them, and he sent to us our Liberator, Jesus Christ. But Christ has not only redeemed us by his blood, he has chosen to enter into a personal friendship with us. So we are not merely beholden to the God of all that “is” and the God of all that we “ought do.” We are beholden to the God who has offered us his love, a love which in Jesus Christ knew no bounds but went to the limits for us and our salvation. The love of Jesus Christ is a greater fact than any of the basic facts of our human experience. God is much more than we might have expected, basing ourselves simply on all that “is” and all that “ought” be. He is the God of infinite love, who calls us to an intimate friendship with him.

On this feast of St Matthias the Apostle, one called to an altogether special friendship with the Incarnate God, let us treasure our Lord’s words in our Gospel today. They are words that offer us the gift of divine friendship. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15: 9-17). There are many elements in authentic religion and we have just considered some of them. But the crowning element is love.

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You have to live in harmony with your fellow men and understand them as a brother would. As the Spanish mystic says, you have to put love where there is no love to obtain love.

Prayers today: The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord; by the word of the Lord the heavens were made, alleluia. (Psalm 32: 5-6)

Almighty and ever-living God, give us new strength from the courage of Christ our shepherd, and lead us to join the saints in heaven. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

Isidore has become the patron of farmers and rural communities. In particular he is the patron of Madrid, Spain, and of the United States National Rural Life Conference. When he was barely old enough to wield a hoe, Isidore entered the service of John de Vergas, a wealthy landowner from Madrid, and worked faithfully on his estate outside the city for the rest of his life. He married a young woman as simple and upright as himself who also became a saint — Maria de la Cabeza. They had one son, who died as a child. Isidore had deep religious instincts. He rose early in the morning to go to church and spent many a holiday devoutly visiting the churches of Madrid and surrounding areas. All day long, as he walked behind the plow, he communed with God. His devotion, one might say, became a problem, for his fellow workers sometimes complained that he often showed up late because of lingering in church too long. He was known for his love of the poor, and there are accounts of Isidore’s supplying them miraculously with food. He had a great concern for the proper treatment of animals. He died May 15, 1130, and was declared a saint in 1622 with Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, Teresa of Avila and Philip Neri. Together, the group is known in Spain as “the five saints.” (AmericanCatholic.org)

Scripture today: Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 23: 1-6; 1 Peter 2:20b-25; John 10:1-10

“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and Shroud of Turin

a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice." Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them. Therefore Jesus said again, "Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:1-10)

The Gate There is a point to be noticed in our Lord’s parable of the Gate of the Sheepfold. The parable is directed at the Pharisees who were opposing our Lord’s authority to lead the people. Pilate would see that it was because of envy that the religious leaders handed Jesus over to him. They profoundly hated the recognition he was receiving from the people. The people were following his voice, and there was no one among the leaders — meaning above all the Temple aristocracy and authorities — who could in the slightest degree compete with him in religious standing or influence. Christ’s authority over the people was not based on position or office, but on sheer personal quality and supernatural power. There is one point about this perceived authority of Christ which ought be noted. Christ displayed power over the elements such as storms at sea, over the demons, over sickness and death, and over such natural threats as hunger — he fed vast crowds. His power was manifest. But this power did not cower the religious leaders. They were repeatedly silenced in debate with him and could never get the better of him in direct confrontation. But they never seemed to feel personally threatened by Christ’s manifest supernatural power. This indicates, surely, that in everything our Lord did, it was clear that he never intended to exercise his powers aggressively in his own defence. When they picked up stones with which to stone him, he appealed to Scripture and to reason, and then eluded them. He did not, let us say, defend himself by disabling them with a physical paralysis. It seems to me that despite seeing his authority and his power, this emboldened his enemies to be implacable in their intention to do away with this indomitable threat to their religious position. So our Lord was faced with this constant challenge to his being, as he would say to his disciples, the only way to the Father. No one comes to the Father except through me — which is to say, I am the Gate for the sheep. As Peter would say before the Sanhedrin after the Ascension of our Lord to heaven, there is no other name by which men can be saved. But the religious leaders had set themselves absolutely against this doctrine. They refused to shepherd the people through this Gate.

The point to which I am drawing attention, though, is that in the parable, the sheep recognize the voice of the one who enters by the Gate. The Gate is Jesus Christ. The true sheep of God, his chosen flock, are able to recognize the true shepherd, which is to say the one who comes truly in the name of Christ and who approaches them through him and by his mandate. “The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice” (John 10:1-10). The sheep follow him because they know his voice. They do not recognize the voice of a stranger, that is to say, one who does not himself recognize the authority of Christ to save and to sanctify, one who does not come to them by his appointment. There is something in the sheep that equips them for this recognition. What is this, this capacity in them to recognize their true shepherds? Let us not push this point so far as to think that the sheep cannot be deceived, for our Lord elsewhere warns against those who will come claiming that ‘I am he,’ and St Paul in his letters often warns against those who will enter the flock and deceive the faithful. Nevertheless, in our Gospel passage our Lord clearly points to the capacity of the flock of God to see who is their true shepherd, and who comes through the Gate, which is to say, who comes with a divine mandate to lead them to their pastures. They have this power of discerning their true pastors by a gift of grace which embeds, as it were, in a right moral disposition. If a person is trying to be morally good; if a person is living according to his conscience in a morally prudent and enlightened fashion, then that person is good soil for the reception of the seed coming from the hand of God. The seed will be the word of God accompanied by divine grace. That person, living by his conscience and spiritually enabled by the grace and word of God, will be thereby empowered to recognize who it is he should follow. He will know the voice of the Shepherd.

Let us ask God for the grace to be true to our best selves day by day — which is to say, to the light of conscience, that power implanted in us to determine what it is that we should do. On the basis of upright living, sustained by the grace of God and a right conscience, let us be faithful to those pastors of Christ’s church who are properly mandated to lead us to heaven in Jesus Christ. It is those who pass through the Gate, which is Jesus Christ and his mystical body the Church, who are the ones we ought follow. Let us make sure we are led to him who is the only way to the Father.

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Prayers today: The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord; by the word of the Lord the heavens were made, alleluia. (Psalm 32: 5-6)

Scripture today: Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 23: 1-6; 1 Peter 2:20b-25; John 10:1-10

“Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and Shroud of Turin

Prayer for the priesthood In today’s Gospel we are presented with our Lord’s extension of the biblical image, present not only in the New Testament but in the Old as well, of God who is the Shepherd of his people. The fold of God’s sheep, then, is precisely his chosen people. The Old Testament condemned those false and neglectful shepherds of the sheep of the fold of God. Our Lord in today’s Gospel (John 10:1-10) addresses himself to the Pharisees, the neglectful shepherds, and he speaks of himself as the only gate into the fold of God. True shepherds of God’s sheep enter by him who is the Gate. All shepherds must enter by this Gate, and the one who enters by some other way intends to steal the sheep from their true Shepherd who is God. The message to the Pharisees was clear. They envied our Lord for the command he had over the minds and hearts of the people. They wanted the sheep for themselves, and because they refused to go to the sheep through him, they were thieves, stealing the sheep from God the Good Shepherd. In a separate parable, our Lord states that he himself is the Good Shepherd, but here he is the Gate. Indeed, he is the only Gate. A major feature of modern religion is that it tends to think of Christ as just one of several ways to God. It is a curious coincidence that in an age marked by secularism and religious agnosticism, religion has rarely been studied more than it is now. Religion can be studied throughout primary and secondary schooling, and taken as an examinable subject for the Higher School Certificate or its equivalent. Religious studies can be pursued at most universities, and an academic career can be made of it by persons with little personal religion of their own. At the same time, the assumption is widely entrenched that there is no objective truth in religious belief. Religion is a matter of personal preference, and all belief systems are equally valid as ways to the Ultimate, whatever the Ultimate is. The way of Mahomet is one way, that of Buddha another, that of traditional primal religion another, and Christianity too is a way to God. But to claim that Christ is the only way is preposterous. What matters is not your “religious opinion,” but your sincerity of belief. But Christ says something very different from this. He alone is the Gate to the “pasture,” and all must pass through him.

At the Last Supper, Christ told his disciples that he alone is the way to the Father. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He has come to offer us life in abundance, the life that comes from God. This then is the aim of life, to be united with our Lord and to come to know him personally. Eternal life is this, our Lord prayed at the Last Supper, to know you, Father, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Every member of the Church has the mission to represent Christ and the Church in everyday life, so as to lead as many as possible to enter by the one and only Gate of the one and only sheepfold. By passing through that Gate, abundant life will be attained. That abundant life, that “pasture,” is union with the one and only Shepherd of our souls. In a special way, it is the ordained priest who makes present and represents the Good Shepherd. He will do this, provided he always passes through the one and only Gate, indeed provided he himself represents that one and only Gate of the sheepfold. That is why the Church celebrates World Day of Prayer for Vocations, on this fourth Sunday of Eastertide. The Church wishes to remind all the faithful that all are responsible for the promotion of vocations to the priesthood and the religious life, especially the priesthood. In a unique sense, the ordained priest stands in the place of Christ who is both the Good Shepherd and the one Gate of the Sheepfold. Let every family and every member of Christ's faithful consider regularly praying for vocations to the ordained priesthood. Every parent ought pray for the gift of a vocation within his or her family. Every Catholic ought think and speak with reverence for the ordained priesthood. The priesthood comes directly from our Lord as his creation. He has made so much of the spiritual life of the Church to depend on priests, who lead all through him, the one Gate to pasture. If a parish loves the priesthood, prays for priests, assists the efforts of priests, praying all the while for vocations, that parish can expect vocations to the priesthood to come forth from within its midst.

Pope John Paul II once wrote a prayer for vocations: “Jesus, Son of God, in whom the fulness of the Divinity dwells, you call all the baptised to “put out into the deep”, taking the path that leads to holiness. Waken in the hearts of young people the desire to be witnesses in the world of today to the power of your love. Fill them with your Spirit of fortitude and prudence, so that they may be able to discover the full truth about themselves and their own vocation. Our Saviour, sent by the Father to reveal His merciful love, give to your Church the gift of young people who are ready to put out into the deep, to be the sign among their brothers of your presence which renews and saves. Virgin Mother of the Redeemer, sure guide on the way towards God and towards neighbour, you who pondered his word in the depth of your heart, sustain with your motherly intercession our families and our ecclesial communities so that they may help adolescents and young people to answer generously the call of the Lord. Amen.”

Whenever you need to criticise, your criticism must seek to be positive, helpful and constructive. It should never be made behind the back of the person concerned. To act otherwise would be treacherous, defamatory, slanderous even, as well as utterly ignoble.

Liturgical Season	Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat
Second Week of Eastertide A-1	1 Divine Mercy Sunday	2	3 Philip and James	4	5	6	7
Third Week of Eastertide A-1	8	9	10	11	12	13	14 St. Mathias
Fourth Week of Eastertide A-1	15 or World Day of Prayer for Vocations