The Solemnity of Pentecost, Sunday, May 31, 2020

The following passage from the Book of Revelation helps us to understand what this feast means to us believers: “After these things, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that they should not blow upon the earth nor upon the sea nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying: Hurt not the earth nor the sea nor the trees, till we seal the servants of our God on their foreheads. And I heard the number of them that were signed. An hundred forty-four thousand were signed, of every tribe of the children of Israel” (Revelation 7, 1-4).

The “four angels” restraining the four winds is the grace of God which prevents us from being overwhelmed by natural and supernatural forces.  The “earth”, the “sea”, and the “trees” are the people of the world.  The “seal” is the indelible character which each believer receives upon Baptism, and which is strengthened through Confirmation, and is altered with Holy Orders.  The tribes “of the children of Israel” signifies the Church, spread throughout the world.  The number “one hundred and forty-four thousand” means everyone who has true faith in the Lord Jesus.  Thus, we see that through sin, the natural world is subject to disorders which result in famine, earthquakes, fires, disease, terrible storms, and other afflictions, including death.  Likewise, through sin, the original harmony between humans breaks down and so we have quarrels, assaults, riots, and wars.  Similarly, through sin, our fallen human nature is prone to further sin, denial of God, delusions, and the attacks of the devil and his angels.  God is not under any obligation to protect us from the consequences of our actions, and yet he does protect those who give themselves to him as his subjects and who promise to carry out his commandments.  These receive Baptism, and are “signed” in such a way that they are re-created in the Sacrament, making them significantly distinct from all others.  Baptism and the graces that follow from it help protect a person from the consequences of sin, the worst of which is death.  While this seal does not remove the baptized person from this world so that he does not suffer the effects of sin, he is able to overcome them in faith, to see meaning in them, to accept them as the crosses which we must carry after the Lord Jesus, and, in the end, to triumph over death in the Resurrection.  All this is given to the believer who gives himself to God.  It some to him through the power of the Holy Spirit, whose descent of the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary we celebrate today.

Saturday in the 7th Week of Easter, May 30, 2020

John 21:20-25

Peter turned and saw the disciple following whom Jesus loved, the one who had also reclined upon his chest during the supper and had said, “Master, who is the one who will betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus said to him, “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me.” So the word spread among the brothers that that disciple would not die. But Jesus had not told him that he would not die, just “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours?” 

It is this disciple who testifies to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.

This evening we will begin to offer Mass in public again, with the Vigil Mass for the Solemnity of Pentecost.  The bishop has ordered various precautions for the parishes in our diocese, such as occupancy rules, use of masks except for reception of Holy Communion, and sanitation of the pews between Masses.  At our parish, music will be minimal, and at some Masses, not at all.  I heard a large number of confessions this morning.  I think it’s a sign of many people preparing to return to Mass.  

“Peter turned and saw the disciple following whom Jesus loved.”  The Fathers universally knew this disciple to be the Apostle John, the author of this Gospel.  The words of Jesus and Peter that John places at the very end of his Gospel make a very strange conclusion.  First, Jesus asks Peter if he loves him, then Jesus describes the death by which Peter will glorify God, and here Peter asks Jesus about John, who is nearby.  St. John ends his Gospel not with the Great Commission, as in Matthew’s, or with the Ascension and a summary of the subsequent work of the Apostles, as in Mark’s and Luke’s, but with the spotlight on Peter and John.  It makes for an anticlimactic ending.  

To understand this, we must consider that the deaths of the Apostles must have badly shaken the early Christians, many of whom expected the Lord Jesus to return soon, certainly within the lifetimes of his first followers.  The death of Peter must have come as a particularly hard blow, as he was the “rock” upon whom the Lord had said he would build his Church.  At the end of his Gospel, John shows how the Lord not only knew that Peter would die before the final judgment, but also how he would die, that he told this to Peter beforehand, and that Peter, knowing his end from the Lord, followed him even so.  John included this scene to console and to reassure his readers that all was as it was meant to be.  And as Peter persevered to the end, so must all Christians.  As a side note, this would mean that John had to have written his Gospel shortly after reports of Peter’s death reached him, about the years 63-64 A.D.

Next, John presents a conversation between Jesus and Peter regarding himself.  This account contrasts with the prophecy of Peter’s death.  The question of Why did Peter die? changes to, Why is John still alive?  It seems that since John outlived the other Apostles, some of his followers began to think that John would live until the Second Coming.  John himself does not know how much longer he will live, and because no one knows when the Lord will come again, it was entirely plausible that John might be alive when this happened.  At the same tome, John downplays the possibility, showing how Jesus definitely did not prophesy this.

St. John remained in Jerusalem, possibly excluding short mission trips, until at least the year 51, when the Apostles met together in Jerusalem to discuss whether Gentile converts needed to follow the Mosaic Law.  Tradition holds that the Virgin Mary remained in his care the rest of her life on earth.  According to further tradition, she ended her days in Jerusalem and was assumed into heaven there, although a contrary tradition has it that this occurred in Ephesus, where John had gone to preach.  John is said to have been persecuted under the Emperor Domitian and was finally exiled to the island Patmos, where he received the visions which he wrote into the book we know as The Book of Revelation.  After the death of the emperor, John was able to return to Ephesus, which he had made his headquarters, and he died there.  A local legend has it that John did not actually die; in his old age, John had a tomb prepared and he walked into it one day and had it sealed.  It is said that he sleeps there, and will continue sleeping until the Lord comes.  During the Middle Ages, the local people showed the tomb to the crusaders, and pointed to steam rising out of the hill in which the tomb was set.  They said that that this resulted from John breathing in his sleep.

Friday in the Seventh Week of Easter, May 29, 2020

John 21:15-19

After Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples and eaten breakfast with them, he said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He then said to Simon Peter a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”

The traditional understanding of these verses is that Jesus is giving Peter the chance to make right his denial of him on the night of his arrest.  I think that the Lord is testing him, too, and preparing him for the trials to come, since after the third time Peter tells the Lord he loves him, Jesus speaks of Peter’s own martyrdom in the future.  We find it irritating to be asked the same question over and over, especially when the answer seems clear to us.  Here, additionally, the Lord pricks the raw wound of Peter’s guilt in a most trying way.  Peter is well-aware that the Lord knows of his denials: “And the Lord turning looked on Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, as he had said: Before the cock crows, you shall deny three times” (Luke 22, 61).  Peter quails from the pricking, but he does not run away, as he did when he saw the Lord looking at him after the denials.  He is shaken, but he does not fall apart.  We see the hurt that Peter experiences here when we read that “Peter was distressed.”  The Greek here is much stronger: elupeíthei, which means “to be in great pain”, “to grieve”, or “to mourn”.  It is related to a word used in the Septuagint to describe the pains of childbirth (cf. Genesis 3, 16).  Peter was not feeling mere sadness; his heart was breaking.  It is as though what he has dreaded has come true, that his Lord no longer believes that Peter loves him.  The Greek verb here is in the imperfect tense, indicating that he “began to grieve”, or that “he was grieving”.  The imperfect is used to a show that an action was commencing or that it was continued for some time, as opposed to one that began and then was completed: “John was going to the store”, as opposed to “John went to the store”.  The implication is that Peter had been grieving all along since the cock had crowed Holy Thursday night.

Jesus does not seem to respond to Peter’s grief.  He simply repeats his command, “Feed my sheep.”  In fact, this is exactly what Peter needs to hear.  Jesus treats him as a servant upon whom he can rely.  Jesus does not tell him to help the other shepherds, or to do some other kind of work, but tells him to feed them, to lead them to good pasture.  Jesus is saying, Nothing has changed between us.  You are still the rock upon whom I will build my Church.  But then he speaks to him of how he will die, that he will be taken unwillingly to a place where he will “stretch out” his hands, in his own crucifixion.  We might wonder at him being led “where you do not want to go.”  St. Paul talks gladly of laying down his life for the Lord: “For to me, to live is Christ: and to die is gain” (cf. Philippians 1, 21).  An early tradition explains that Peter, condemned to crucifixion, did not feel worthy to die as his Lord had died, leading his executioners to crucify him upside down.  The words of Jesus, “Follow me” seem to call Peter to share in his Lord’s own Death.  Peter faces a choice here, just as he did three years before on the Sea of Galilee.  And he makes the same choice now as he did then.  And strengthened by the Holy Spirit, he will be able to carry out the promises he had made Jesus at the Last Supper: “I will lay down my life for you” (John 13, 37).

A note here: Some recent commentators have claimed that there is significance in the Greek words used here to express the verb “to love”.  One of the words can mean that sort of love that friends have for each other, and the other can mean a stronger feeling, and is used  to describe the love of the Father for the Son (cf. John 3, 25).  I do not agree with that opinion, as it is evident from the Greek of John 21, 17 that these verbs are used interchangeably here.  Also, there seems no special significance to the two different words used to describe the animals Jesus wishes Peter to feed.  When Jesus tells Peter to feed his (the Lord’s) sheep, he means to preach to them, to “feed” them the Sacraments, and to lead them by the example of a holy life to live holy lives themselves so that they might finally graze in the everlasting hills of heaven.

Thursday in the Seventh Week of Easter, May 28, 2020

John 17:20-26

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying: “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”

The unity for which the Lord prayed on this occasion and for which he continues to pray even now before his Father in heaven, is not a physical one but one of grace.  As St. Paul famously explains, speaking of the human body, “And if one member suffer any thing, all the members suffer with it: or if one member glory, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ and members of it” (1 Corinthians 12, 27).  The human body itself is a figure for the reality of the Body of Christ.  

Another sign of this unity is Christian marriage, at the beginning of which the man and woman make vows to each other before God, and together to God, for their union to be exclusive, to be lifelong, and to be open to children.  In consequence of these vows, God joins the man and the woman together so that they cannot be separated.  As the Lord Jesus says, “They are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19, 6).  This unity lasts them the rest of their lives on earth.  No amount of secular intervention can alter this reality.  It is a gift from God, who does not take back his gifts.  

When God bestows unity upon us, we belong to him, as in baptism, or to another, as in marriage, without condition.  Because of this, the unity exists despite physical separation, sickness, old age, injury, confusion, or any other affliction to which we mortal humans are prone.  No matter what happens to us, God preserves the unity for us, for our good.  This allows us to live free from the fear of being rejected by the other.  It underlies the words of Jesus to the women at his Resurrection (Matthew 28, 10), and of the Angel to Mary at the Annunciation (Luke 1, 30): “Do not be afraid.”  

We pray with our Lord to the Father for this gift of unity, and for joy and harmony in it.

Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter, May 27, 2020

John 17:11-19

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying: “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely. I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”

From all eternity, God begot God, and Light begot Light.  The One who begot named the Divine Person who came from him, “The Son”.  This Father and his Son are co-equal in power and in eternity.  When the Son became incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary and was born of her, his name on earth was called “Jesus”, which means, “God saves”.  Here, the Son prays to his Father: “Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one.”  That is, keep these followers of mine in the name “Son” which you gave to me.  The Lord Jesus is praying for us to be known by the Father as his sons: in fact, sons in the Son.  Adopted sons, to be sure, but every bit as much heirs of heaven as the one natural Son.  The state of God’s children by adoption cannot be overstated.  In the natural order, God creates human beings, body and soul.  Human beings are thus creatures of God, but not his natural children.  We are not divine, after all.  But we become his adopted children in the waters of baptism, through which we share in — though we do not possess — the divinity of Christ.  We are thus members of his Body, and so united to each other in this way that the Lord can pray, “Keep them . . . so that they may be one just as we are one.”  The unity of the adopted children of God, the Church, is to be a visible sign of the invisible unity of the Father and the Son in heaven.  The Apostle John was so greatly moved by the Lord’s prayer here that he pleaded with his followers till his dying day for them to love each other (cf. 1 John 4, 7).

Speaking of us as the adopted children of God, the Lord Jesus says, “They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.”  To understand our relation to the world, we must look at the natural Son of God’s relation the world.  St. Paul, speaking on how a Christian should act, says that he should live in the world as though he did not (cf. 1 Corinthians 7, 31).  How much more so this applied to Christ!  The Christian scorns what this world prizes, and prizes what this world scorns.  He sees self-indulgence as the trap that it is, and relishes the chance to serve others solely for the sake of Christ.  Where the secular person sees power, the Christian sees the opportunity to enrich others and glorify God.

Even so, we are mortal and our place, for now, is here.  Therefore, the Lord prays, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One.”  With the Death of Christ, the devil’s power over humans is broken.  He now has power over only those who give themselves to him.  Before the coming of Christ, the devil was much to be feared.  Now, though we must combat his temptations to commit sin, we possess the grace and the strength to refuse to do so.  Through baptism, we are covered with Christ as though with impenetrable armor, and we are overcome by the devil’s shafts only when we strip him off us, resolving to sin.

The Christian, thus armored, must not content himself with sitting back and playing defense against the world.  He has a mission, given him by God.  The Lord Jesus prays: “As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.”  Jesus is “sent”, and we are “sent”.  St. Matthew preserves for us  the Great Commission of Jesus as he was about to ascend into heaven: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matthew 28, 19-20).  Certain Apostles like St. James the son of Alphaeus and St. Matthias stayed in and near Jerusalem during their apostolic endeavors, and others, such as St. Andrew and St. Peter, went off to Greece and Rome, but all went “into the world”: wherever there were people who did not know God, to show him to them.  This commission is meant for us as well; it is meant for all who are the adopted children of God, who wish above all things to tell others about their Father.

Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter, May 26, 2020

John 17:1-11a

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began. I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.”

The Lord Jesus utters the majestic words of this prayer at the very end of his discourse at the Last Supper.  He has spoken to his Apostles about their duty as servants, he has told them of his departure and what that means for him and for them, and he has assured them that though they will not see him, he will always remain with them.  Finally, he has taught them about the Holy Spirit who will unify them in his Body, enlighten them as to his teachings, and make them new men so that they might spread the Gospel.  Here, he speaks to his Father, praying for himself and for them.  

For himself, he asks that the Father “glorify” him. “To glorify” means to show that a person is worthy of honor, love, and respect.  The Lord Jesus has glorified the Father in carrying out his will: “I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.”  The Son will continue to glorify the Father in his obedience in his Passion and Death, and the Father will glorify the Son in the triumph of his Resurrection and Ascension into heaven.  We believers have a part in this glory: “You gave him [the Son] authority over all people, so that your Son may give eternal life to all you gave him.”  

We should consider this.  The Son gives eternal life to all the Father gave him.  That is, the Father, who created us, gave us into the care of his Son for the purpose of our salvation, which gives glory back to the Father.  Each of us, whom God created in his own image and likeness, has been handed to the Son for eternal life in heaven.  To paraphrase Psalm 8: “What am I, that you are mindful of me, or that you visit me? You have made me a little less than the angels, you have crowned me with glory and honor.  You have set me over the works of your hands. You have subjected all things under my feet.”  “All things”, that is, the world, the flesh, and the devil.  The high privilege of glorifying the Father has been granted to us little creatures of clay.

“They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.”  The Son is speaking to the Father here particularly of the Apostles.  He says, “They have kept your word.”  Jesus is testifying that they have remained loyal to him, all except the “son of perdition”.  The loyalty has come at a heavy cost, but “now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you.”  We see something of the intimacy of the Father with the Son, here.  The very words which the Son gave to his Apostles were given to him by the Father.  These words now belong to the Apostles, the Lord says, and through them, to us.  

The Lord Jesus shows us how we belong to the Father and the Son through his Incarnation when he came among us, his easy accessibility, so that people could jostle against him, his speaking openly in public places, his never turning away a person who sought a cure, through his teaching us how to pray, and finally by dying for us on the Cross.  He says of us to the Father, but for us to hear, “The ones you have given me . . . are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them.” Let us then glory in our belonging to God, and glorify him in our gladness and thanksgiving for this most gracious gift.

Monday in the Seventh Week of Easter, May 25, 2020, the Feast of St. Bede

John 16:29-33

The disciples said to Jesus, “Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech. Now we realize that you know everything and that you do not need to have anyone question you. Because of this we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now? Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”

The disciples said, “Now you are talking plainly.”  The Venerable Bede, whose feast is celebrated today, says in his commentary on the Gospel of John that what is happening here is not so much Jesus speaking more clearly, but that the Apostles are hearing more spiritually.  These are earthy men, not trained theologians, and they understand what they see and hear in their own way.  But Jesus is preparing them to become spiritual men, a work which the Holy Spirit will accomplish at Pentecost.  You and I became “spiritual” at the time of our baptism, and the work was “confirmed” when we received the Sacrament of Confirmation.  That is, we received the grace necessary to live and think spiritually, and now we can strive to grow spiritually.

It would pay us to read the words of Jesus in the Gospels while imagining what they would mean to an unlettered fisherman, or to a thoroughly secularized tax collector.  We ought to be amazed at the steadfast faith of his earliest followers, who gave up family, jobs, and worldly goods in order to sleep with Jesus in the open country, to walk with him across the rugged terrain of Galilee and Judea, to have little to eat and no certain prospects before them.  We should wonder what his hold on them consisted of.  We are given a clue to the power of this hold in St. John’s Gospel when John describes how Andrew and the “other disciple”, John, went to see Jesus, whom John the Baptist had pointed out.  John 1, 39 says that they went to the place where Jesus was staying, probably a crude lean-to, and “they stayed with him that day.”  The next morning, Andrew ran and brought his brother Simon to Jesus, telling him, “We have found the Messiah.”  What could Jesus have said to them that would have convinced Andrew of this?  Jesus would have explained what John the Baptist meant by calling him “the Lamb of God”, and what the Prophet Isaiah, particularly, had to say about the Messiah.  But it also seems that the spark of love was struck at that first meeting.  Jesus loved them beyond all telling and they could not help but feel it, feel drawn to it, and begin to respond to it.  

Three years after that first meeting, Jesus tells them that he is more than the Messiah of Israel, a fact they have grown to understand.  Here, he says, “I have conquered the world.”  That is to say, he has conquered it for them.  Now, because he has “conquered the world”,  he provides grace so that they can become spiritual men, they can see beyond the fleeting attractions and distractions of the present life, they can long for heaven with every hope of attaining it.  Filled with the same grace as they, so can we.

Saint Bede (672-735) lived in a monastery in northern England all his life.  He devoted himself to studying the Holy Scriptures and writing commentaries on them.  His work spread across the Christian world and influenced many scholars and theologians.  His Commentary on the Book of Revelation is, I think, the best of its kind, and in it he lays down the foundation upon which all later commentators on it are built.  Besides theological works, he wrote on the arts and sciences.  His most famous work is his “Ecclesiastical History of the English People”, widely available in modern editions.

The Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord, Sunday, May 24, 2020

Matthew 28:16-20

The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

The following is my translation of a sermon by St. Albert the Great (1200-1280) for the Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord.  I find his sermons notable for their brevity, piety, and sharply observed structure.  They possess a lively simplicity and brilliant insights into the Scriptures.  In this sermon, he teaches that there are seven reasons for why Christ ascended into heaven, but for the sake of brevity, he explains only the first six, deferring a full explanation of the seventh for another sermon.  For our purposes, I have lifted a summary paragraph from that sermon and inserted it into its fitting place in this sermon, containing it in brackets.

St. Albert the Great: Sermon 46: On the Ascension of the Lord.

Indeed, after the Lord Jesus spoke to them, he was taken up into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God.  Mark xvi. 19.

Two actions take place here and are to be examined:

I.  Why is it said that God was taken up into heaven?

                        II. Why is it related that he sits at the right hand of God?

I.

The Lord was taken up into heaven for seven reasons.  The first was so that he might spread out and to show the way into heaven.  The second was so that he might arrange on royal thrones the souls he had rescued from Limbo.  The third?  So that he might intercede for us, bringing before the Father the sign of his victory.  Fourth, in order to exalt our nature above all the orders of the angels.  Fifth, in order to prepare dwellings and places of delight for us.  Sixth, in order to excite our hearts to greater ardor for him.  Seventh, in order to reveal the seven seals [ of the Book of Life] that have been unsealed and those that are to be unsealed (cf. Revelation 5, 1, et seq.)  

The first reason for his being taken up into heaven is this: to open and to show the way for us to heaven.  Thus, Micah 2, 13: He shall go up, opening the way before them . . . and their King shall cross over before their eyes.  Note that more than five thousand years had passed in which no one had ascended to heaven, and so the way there was unknown.  Because of this, it was necessary for the Son of God first to open the way, and then to make it known to the elect souls.

He also ascended so that he might arrange on royal thrones those souls whom he had rescued from Limbo.  It is written, in Isaiah 63, 1, that when the Lord should meet with his glorious escort of the angels and the holy souls after his Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection, they would say to the Lord: Who is this who comes from Edom, with the dyed garments of Bosra, this beautiful One in his stole, walking in the greatness of his strength?  "From Edom", according to the Gloss, means, "from the world".  "With dyed garments of Bosra", means, "with his Blood", on the Cross, according to the Gloss.  "This beautiful One in his robe", means, "in the form of his humanity".  

He does this, too, in order to bring before God his Father the sign of his victory -- that is, his scars -- in order to intercede for us with him.  The Gloss on Luke xxiv. 40 says, "The Lord displays his scars so that he might ever show to his Father, in his intercession for us, what kind of death he endured for man."  Paul also says, in Hebrews 7, 24-25: Jesus, because he remains forever, has an eternal Priesthood.  Thus, he is ever able to save those who approach God through him, ever niter ceding for us.  The Gloss on this says, "Christ brings his human nature to heaven in order to intercede for us."

He ascends into heaven in order to exalt human nature over all the orders of the angels.  The Gloss, commenting on the passage of the Apostle in Hebrews 2, 16, For nowhere doth he take hold of the angels, says, "Marvel at how great, and wonderful, and full of amazement it is that our flesh is enthroned above, to be adored by the angels and archangels."  For this reason, I very often allow myself this leaving of my senses, imagining how great is the human race.  When, therefore, the Lord confers such a great honor on our "sister" -- that is, our human nature -- it is worthy and just that we not do those things which dishonors our "sister", by behaving impurely and unjustly, and that we should not pollute our bodies and souls with sin.

He does this also in order to prepare dwellings and places of delight for us.  As the Lord says, in John 14, 2-3: I go to prepare a place for you.  And, if I should go, I shall prepare a place you, so that when I come again, I may take you to myself, so that where I am, you also shall be.  The dwellings of the elect shall be beautiful, secure, and opulent. Conserving these three qualities, it is written, in Isaias xxxii. 18: My people shall be seated in the beauty of peace, the tabernacles of trust, and in opulent rest.  On the other hand, there shall be foulness and filth in the dwellings of the damned.  There shall be eternal disturbance in them, and the irrecoverable loss of every good.

He rose into heaven in order to rouse up our hearts more ardently for him.  Matthew 6, 21: Where your treasure is, there is your heart.  likewise, Matthew 24, 28: Where the body is, there the eagles gather together.  The Son of God, then, is both "body" and "treasure", that is, perfect rest for our souls.  It is right that we daily pursue him with every desire of our hearts, for without him every man is in need, and perishes.  Now, the Lord is raised up as an eagle and sets his "nest" in the heights.  So also ought we to fly with desire after him, as the children of an eagle.  Job 39, 27-28, 30: Shall the eagle be lifted up at your command, and set its nest in the heights?  She remains among the rocks, and abides on craggy mountains, and inaccessible caverns . . . Her young lap up blood.  The Son of God is signified through the eagle, who acts in this way.  "At the command" of the Father, he was "lifted up" in the Ascension, and "he set his nest in the heights" of heaven, where he "remains among the rocks" -- that is, the souls of the elect -- which mightily resisted the temptations of the demons.  He also "abides on craggy mountains" -- that is, among the holy angels -- from whose ranks the apostate angels fell, severed from them by their pride.  He  abides too "in inaccessible caverns" -- that is, in the eminence of the Persons of the Holy Trinity.  Therefore, we ourselves, who "lap up the Blood" of this Eagle should be raised up after the Eagle, Jesus.

Alas!  Today, many imitate that Raven who, enticed by a corpse, did not return to Noah, as it is written, in Genesis 8, 7.  The hearts of many are so ensnared by desires for carnal delights and longings for temporal goods that they neither fly nor are able to migrate after the Lord.

[The Book which John saw in the right hand of the One sitting upon the throne, was the predestined declaration of God concerning salvation and redemption, which he conceived from eternity.  The fact that this Book was written on the inside signifies that there are certain hidden things beyond the knowledge even of the angels and archangels.  The fact that it was seen written on the outside as well signifies that from of old he revealed many things concerning redemption and the state of the Church to certain of the highest angels.  This Book was sealed with seven seals, which could not be unsealed by any angel or man, but only by the Lamb immolated on the altar of the Cross -- the Son of God.  The first seal was opened with the raking on of our flesh.  The second in the Passion of the Son of God.  The third, in the sending forth of the Holy Spirit.  The fourth is opened in the rending of our bodies.  The fifth is opened in the peace of our souls.  The sixth will be opened in the division at the divine judgment.  The seventh will be unsealed in the blessed glorification of the elect.]

II.

It is related that the Lord sits at the right hand of God.  Three meanings for what is said here are indicated: that equality of power, parity of honor, and the sharing of every good is conferred to Christ the man by God the Father.  

Concerning power, it is written, in Matthew 28, 18: All power in heaven and earth has been given to me.  

Concerning honor, the Lord says, in John 8, 54: If, then, I glorify myself, my glory is nothing: it is my Father who glorifies me.  Likewise, in John 17, 24: Father. I wish that where I am, those whom you have given to me, may be with me, that they may see my glory, which you have given to me.  And, in Matthew 16, 27: The Son of man is about to come into the glory of his Father, with his angels.

Concerning the sharing of all good, the Lord says, in John 17, 10: Father . . . all that I have is yours, and all that you have is mine.

Indeed Christ Jesus merited to be elevated to the right hand of the Father in terms of equality of power, parity of honor, and in sharing of every good because he humbled himself even to the weakness and most abject lowliness of our flesh, and, in truth, to the deepest poverty.  Dearly beloved, if we ourselves wish to be added to our Lord's flock, it is necessary for us to punish our flesh in works of penance, and that we endure with equanimity the contempt and reproaches of men, and so we should mercifully spend our belongings in the service of the poor.

Pray, therefore, the Son of God, that we may so live in him in this life, that we may merit to reign with Christ after this life.  Amen.

Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter, May 23, 2020

John 16:23b-28

Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. I have told you this in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but I will tell you clearly about the Father. On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

“Whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.”  St. Thomas Aquinas says that the Lord sets down seven conditions for prayer.  First, we should ask for spiritual goods, and temporal goods only inasmuch as they serve the spiritual.  Second, that a person should persevere in prayer.  Third, prayer should be made in union with others.  Fourth, a person should pray with child-like love for the Father.  Fifth, prayer should be made with humility.  Sixth, the prayer should be made expressing the desire for God to answer it in his own time, and in his own way.  Seventh, one should pray for himself, even in preference to others.  Praying thus, we come before the Lord as truly seeking that his will may be done in our lives, conforming ourselves ever more to Jesus Christ, and not seeking to impose our will on God.

It is not easy to pray in this way, for we must fight our deep-seated pride in order to do it.  Prayer is submission to the will of God.  We may want some good earnestly, even desperately, and so we beg God for it,  But we must remember that “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6, 8).  He possesses all power to answer any prayer, for “All things are possible for God” (Luke 1, 37).  He will give us a better thing than we ask for, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Luke 1, 37).  And he will give what we ask for, or that which is better than we ask for, in his good time: “The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.  You open your hand, you satisfy the desire of every living thing” (Psalm 145:15–16).  

We should ask all things in the name of Jesus, and for this reason, the Mass and Divine Office prayers end with some variation of “We ask this through Christ our Lord.”  The Lord Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us in heaven: “He holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues for ever.  Consequently, he is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 8, 24-25).  Since the Father loves his Son’s name, we should speak it only with great care, also keeping in mind that it is in his name alone that we are saved (cf. Acts 4, 12).

Friday in the Sixth Week of Easter

John 16:20-23

Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy. When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world. So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.”

Jesus uses the sign of a woman in labor to teach about the life of the believer.  The woman is “in anguish” during her labor and delivery, and in like manner, the believer, persevering against the temptations and persecutions in this world, is in anguish.  For the believer, the “anguish” is spiritual and prolonged, while it may also entail physical suffering.  The anguish may result from ridicule or the fear of it; hesitation in obeying our Lord’s injunction of chastity, poverty, and obedience; concern over the loss of friends and ties with family;  and, in some places, fear of surveillance and arrest for believing in Jesus.  In parts of Africa and Asia today, believers are aware that they risk injury and death simply by going to Mass.  In our country, people sometimes have to choose between the Faith and their job.

This anguish results from temptations, as well.  Very many people struggle with temptations against humility, temperance, and purity.  The fight they wage is against invisible enemies: the world, the flesh and the devil.  The world, in that worldly people encourage vice.  Partly this is economic: people enrich themselves by aiding other people’s vices.  By contrast, no one gets rich through helping another to become virtuous.  Partly, this is because worldly people cannot bear even the slightest rebuke and so they seek to make everyone to be like themselves, eliminating its possibility.  The flesh, in that our fallen human nature obscures our discernment and our judgment.  With St. Paul, we say, “I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (Romans 7, 18-19).  Left to ourselves, we cry out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”  But the believer who relies on divine help in time of need, rejoices: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7, 24-25).  And the devil, for, as the Lord said to St. Peter at the Last Supper, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat” (Luke 22, 31).  To this horrifying revelation, the Lord says that he has prayed to the Father for him, and that later, Peter will have the strength with which to console and build up his brother Apostles.

This sign of the woman in labor is further revealed in chapter twelve of the Book of Revelation: “And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery” Revelation 12, 1-2).  This “woman” is the Church on earth, struggling to bring forth the Church Victorious in heaven.  She is harassed by a fearsome dragon with seven heads — the devil.  He attempts to devour her child the moment she bears it, but the child is “snatched up” by God: the saints enjoy divine protection and their souls enter heaven with the death of their bodies.  This divine protection is also shown in the subsequent battle in heaven, with the angels, led by Michael, casting the wicked ones down to earth.  When the devil sees that the Church in heaven is safe from him, he turns against the Church on earth, the woman who was in labor, but she is protected against him as well, though she continues to dwell in the “wilderness” of the present life.  At the end of the Book of Revelation, we see her transformed into the glittering and glowing Bride of Christ, who is prepared for her Bridegroom.

The struggle to live out the Faith, to overcome vices and grow strong in the virtues, is continuous.  It is normal.  And it can be glorious, as we see in the lives of the saints, who had to fight the same temptations as we.  

Thursday in the Sixth Week of Easter, May 21, 2020

John 16:16-20

Jesus said to his disciples: “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.” So some of his disciples said to one another, “What does this mean that he is saying to us, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” So they said, “What is this ‘little while’ of which he speaks? We do not know what he means.” Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you discussing with one another what I said, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”

Although the Thursday in the sixth week of Easter is Ascension Thursday, the U.S. bishops have transferred the celebration of this Solemnity to the following Sunday.  The present Gospel reading is from the Mass that is offered in place of that for Ascension Thursday.

When Jesus says, “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me,” he is speaking to the Apostles and to every Christian since that time.  In St. John’s Gospel, Jesus is saying this at the end of his discourse at the Last Supper.  At that time, he is referring to his Death and Resurrection: he will be arrested and will die on the Cross and be buried, and they will not see him.  But then he rises from the dead, departs his tomb, and appears to them, so they will see him again.  Afterwards, he will ascend into heaven and they will not see him.  After their deaths, the Apostles will see him in heaven.  Indeed, the beatific vision  constitutes heaven.

Note that in all this, Jesus only says that they will not see him.  He does not say that he will cease to be present with them.  His “departure” is physical only.  His divinity never “leaves” them.  We remember that he said to them at the point of his Ascension into heaven, “And behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” (Matthew 28, 20).  He disappears from sight, but he does not go away.

None of us have seen the Lord walk the earth, and yet we believe in him, taking comfort in the Lord’s words to Thomas: “Blessed are they that have not seen and have believed” (John 20, 29).  Yet we have felt his presence in our lives, sometimes for extended periods, and to different degrees.  He allows us this in order to console us, to strengthen us, and to help us imagine what it will be like to actually enjoy his embrace, which helps us to persevere.  In this way, we “see” him.  And we have all had the experience of emptiness in which we do not feel his presence.  That is, we do not “see” him.  He allows this too, in order to help us to grow in our faith, for if we only believe when it is easy, that is not much.  It is when we believe when there seems no reason to do so that we truly believe.  The same with love of him and hope in him.  Knowing this does not provide much help in the moment, however.  It is a grievous experience to be in love with someone and to not know when or if  we are going to see that person again. Yet this is the experience of the greatest saints.  Mother Teresa lived through this for years, and St. Therese of Lisieux writes very movingly about how this affected her, and how she suffered terrible temptations against the Faith during those times. By “disappearing”, the Lord calls forth greater faith from the ones he loves; and by remaining present, he helps them to increase in it.  St. Paul sums up this experience: “For whom the Lord loves, he chastises; and he scourges every son whom he receives” (Hebrews 12, 6).

The day will come, if we hold firm now, when we will say with the forsaken Job, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the last day I shall rise out of the earth. And I shall be clothed again with my flesh, and in my flesh I shall see my God, whom I myself shall see, and my eyes shall behold, and not another: this my hope is laid up in my bosom” (Job 19, 25).

Wednesday in the Sixth Week of Easter, May 20, 2020

John 16:12-15

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”

The Lord continues to prepare the Apostles for their life after his Resurrection by emphasizing the work of the Holy Spirit.  He has already spoken of the unity which will bind them to one another through Christ, and that he will enlighten their minds to the Lord’s teachings.  Now the Lord explains how the Holy Spirit will work.  The Holy Spirit will guide them to all truth; he will not speak independently of the Father as though he had his own mission or purpose, but the Father will speak through him.  He will tell the Apostles of “the things that are coming”.  He will glorify Jesus in that he will enlighten them as to the depths in his words.  Indeed, this is a description of the work of the Christian.  We note St. Paul in today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles: Paul attempts to guide the people of Athens into the truth, showing them how God can be known from nature; he does not bring his own message or promote himself in any way, but God and his Son; he glorifies Jesus in teaching about his Resurrection.  We see clearly that Paul is of the Holy Spirit.  A graphic picture of what this means is provided us in the description of the coming of the Holy Spirit as Pentecost: a tremendous wind filled the room where they were praying, and flames appeared over their heads.  The Holy Spirit himself is Fire and the flames signify that the Apostles are now flames of the Fire.  They actually become more than “vessels” of the Holy Spirit, or, if you will, the wooden torches on which the Holy Spirit burns: their hearts are different now and they think and love in ways not possible before.  They are more confirmed to the mind of Christ than ever before, not just agreeing with him, but thinking with him.  

How radically does the Holy Spirit transform a person?  Let’s look at St. Paul again.  As Saul, he is described in the Acts as making “havoc of the Church, entering in from house to house: and dragging away men and women, committed them to prison” (Acts 8, 3).  He delivered Christians to torture and death.  He destroyed the lives of many men, women, and children because of their belief in Christ.  Not content with the horror he caused in Jerusalem, he was traveling to Damascus to do the same when Christ confronted him.  Years later, he could list his sufferings for the Lord, “”Many labors, in prisons, frequently, in stripes above measure, nearly killed, often. Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods: once I was stoned: thrice I suffered shipwreck: a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren: In labor and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, fasting often, in cold and nakedness” (2 Corinthians 11:23–27).  Here is a man changed into fire by the Fire.

It would aid in our salvation if you and I frequently recalled that we are baptized and confirmed with the same Holy Spirit as St. Paul.  Wherever God puts us, we can all serve him with Fire.

Tuesday in the Sixth Week of Easter, May 19, 2020

John 16:5-11

Jesus said to his disciples: “Now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: sin, because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.”

The Lord, teaching at the Last Supper, had spoken more than once of his departure, even telling the Apostles that though he was going away, he would not leave them as “orphans”.  Previously, they had heard him speak of his departure while preaching to the crowd.  The response of those in the crowd was one of confusion: “Jesus said to them: ‘I go: and you shall seek me. And you shall die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.’  The Jews therefore said: ‘Will he kill himself?’ ” (John 8, 21-22).  But the Apostles seem not to have followed up to ask about his leaving.  Where was he going? Would they be following him there?  Much of his teaching they did not understand; perhaps they thought that he would explain this in his good time.  Here, at the Last Supper, his exclamation, “Not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ”, sounds like a rebuke.  St. Thomas comes nearest to asking where he is going, yet he gets only as far as, “Lord, we know not where you are going. And how can we know the way?” (John 14, 5).  The Lord reads their hearts and tells them, “Because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts.”  It was grief, then, that prevented them from asking where he was going.  They knew the answer to the question all along, but did not dare have it confirmed.  This “grief” of which Jesus speaks tells us much of the love borne him by his Apostles.  They followed him not as a soldier follows his superior, or as an apprentice follows his master, but simply out of their love for him and his teachings.  This love came even though the Lord frequently upbraided them for their lack of knowledge, for their lack of faith, for their hardness of heart.  It came despite the hardness of his teachings and of the demands made upon them personally.  We see the intensity of this love again when Peter, in his weakness, denies the Lord.  St. Luke says, on that occasion, “And the Lord, turning, looked on Peter . . . and Peter, going out, wept bitterly.”  The Lord’s “look” was not of anger, but of love for his friend.  Peter’s bitter tears were shed because he had hurt the love of his life, and the One he loved, loved him still.

Jesus hastens to assure them, who were bearing a sorrow so deep they could not speak, that, “It is better for you that I should go.”  The Lord connects his departure with the arrival of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate.  It was better for them that Jesus went, because by his Death he set them free from sin and opened for them the Kingdom of heaven.  This could not occur without his sacrificial Death.  His going away also provided great motivation for living according to his word so that they might be with him forever in heaven.  And with his Death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven, the era of the New Covenant begins: the Holy Spirit fills them and transforms them so that they might spread the Lord’s Gospel and accomplish his work on earth.

“When he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation.”  The Greek word ἐλέγχω (elégkho), translated here as “convict” also means “to expose” and “to reprove”.  It has also been translated, in this context, as “to convince”.  I think that here the word is better translated as “to expose”: he will expose the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation.  It is not the work of the Holy Spirit to render judgment, to “convict” — that is for the Son at his Second Coming.  But it is the work of the Holy Spirit to enlighten the understanding and to inspire.  In that sense, when the Holy Spirit comes he will expose the world in all its depravity to all the followers of Jesus: they will know the truth of the false and fleeting pleasures the world offers so that they may reject them.  He will also expose righteousness, in that they will understand the purpose of the Son of God in coming among us, and for his Death and Rising.  And he will expose the defeat and punishment of the enemy of mankind, the devil.  Only with the Holy Spirit can these things be known, and only when the Lord dies and rises and leaves this world until the time when he comes again as its judge, can the Holy Spirit come.  Knowing these things will also enable them, indeed, spur them on, to preach to all the nations.  

The Father and the Son have bestowed the Holy Spirit upon us in Baptism and Confirmation to strengthen us in trial, to enlighten us as to the divine will, and the strength to bring the Gospel before all nations.  We have been given everything we need to imitate the love of the Apostles.