Yet, Peter was able to see the working of God in this unexpected development. She was born in 1347 and died in 1380, at the age of thirty three. In response, Jesus challenges them to work, not for food that cannot last, but for food that endures to eternal life. Thomas could not bring himself to believe that Jesus had risen, just on the basis of what the other disciples told him. The Lords light is not in any way threatening. All we can do is to surrender to the breath of the Spirit within us and around us, to allow the Spirit to direct us and to lead us. Gods work will not ultimately be derailed. The gospel reading is very suited to her feast. There is no longer a strong current flowing in the direction of Jesus and his gospel that will carry us along, whether we really want that or not. The shepherd calls out to each of us individually, by name. The gospel reading suggests that we respond by listening to his voice and allowing his word to make its home in us. His presence at the heart of the storm can help to ensure that moments of crisis in the church can also be times of new life. He had been through the darkness of Good Friday, with all its pain, confusion and disillusionment. Pope Paul VI declared her a Doctor of the Church in 1970. Yes, he desperately wants us to have life and to have it to the full. The very public dying, death, and burial of John Paul II may have been an occasion when many people heard the Lords call more clearly. The general call to be the Lords disciple is lived out in particular ways. Just click on the month of interest and scroll to the day required. It is probably true to say that we are all searching for something. The risen Lord continues to pour out his Spirit into our hearts so that our lives may be Spirit-filled. He's in ALL OF IT. Pauls story reminds us that the Lords plans for us may be a great deal bolder than what we might have in mind for ourselves. Just as the risen Lord stood before his fearful disciples, he stood before the disbelieving Thomas, offering him the same gift of his peace, inviting him to satisfy the conditions he laid down. The Jewish Sanhedrin were worried about the growing popularity of the disciples of Jesus. At the end of that reading, Peter makes reference to my son Mark. The Lord works in life-giving ways in what can seem to be desolate places. Thomas, like the other disciples, saw and believed. And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. Amen. Unlike other religious orders in the West which are founded in direct historical lineage to a specific teacher (eg. For any relationship to grow, both parties need to take initiatives. Catherine was a great mystic or contemplative, but her mysticism did not withdraw her from the world. Gospel (Except USA) As we allow the Lord to touch our lives through others, through his word, through the Eucharist, we will be strengthened to continue on our pilgrim way with fresh hope in our hearts, just as the two disciples returned joyfully to Jerusalem after meeting the Lord. What is he saying to me? This is the action of discernment. Nov 15, 2022 | Blogs, Carmelite Musings, Reflections, template-updated The awareness of the lessons I'm learning or being taught by the good Lord is reminding me of how faithful God is, and how He is in it all. Our coming to Jesus is always in response to the Father drawing us to his Son. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Catherine was one of the great mystics of the church. We can make that same discovery. lives in me The agent of Gods life, the risen Lord, had triumphed over the agents of death. The Sacrament of Baptism, like the Sacrament of the Eucharist, also presupposes faith. The Lord is very attentive to us, but we need to attend to him as well. In the Eucharist we consume Christ in a very personal way. When the Ethiopian reflects on a passage from Isaiah, he begins to ask questions, Is the prophet referring to himself or someone else? He needed the help of a person of faith to answer this question, the help of the deacon Philip. Please see our cookies page for further details or agree by clicking the 'Accept all cookies' button. To believe is always to wait in joyful hope. In the gospel reading, Jesus declares that he came to do his Fathers will, which is that all who see the Son and believe in him shall have eternal life. Now Jesus was challenging him to live by the Spirit. The Lord comes and stands amongst us, regardless of where we find ourselves. He went on to show that he continued to trust them. In calling us to himself he also sends us into the world afire with the flame of his love. She also wrote her great work, the Dialogues, describing the contents of her mystical conversations with Christ. Listen. Saint Paul had that same conviction which he expressed in his letter to the Romans when he said, If God is for us, who is against us? God is for us in and through Jesus our good shepherd. Thomas stood in the light of Easter, yet that light did not dispel his darkness. Our ultimate salvation is much more the Lords doing than ours. Generally the reflection is about three paragraphs. Because it is a time of communion with the Lord, the church has always understood the Eucharist as the anticipation of eternal life. The journey from Law to Spirit can be a difficult one. He was an enabler; he brought out the best in others. Jesus communion with God in prayer directs him to those who labour and are overburdened, inviting them to come to him and receive the gift of rest, the revival of their drooping spirits. The Lord will always be calling us to give of ourselves in some way to others, to give life to others. Having come to know Jesus somewhat, he continues to draw us to himself. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained., Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. That is why he calls out to us to pass through him, because he knows himself to be the gateway to all that we long for at the deepest core of our being. for fear his actions should be exposed; We recognize in the words of todays gospel reading that he is above all others, including all human authority, be it religious or political. The gospels suggest that Jesus identified himself with the shepherds of his time because in saw in their work an image of his own ministry. In todays gospel reading we find two disciples heading away from Jerusalem having shared a very significant experience. This response is inspired by our reflection on the Word of God. Yet, as Jesus declares there, the Father is greater than anyone. In his absence they found themselves struggling with a strong wind and a rough sea. Please check your email now and click the confirmation link to confirm your request. It was an unexpected moment which expressed an important truth about how the Pope sees his ministry in the church. The very personal call that the Lord addresses to each one of us will always be a call to give of ourselves in some way to others, to give life to others. Lectio Divina is a reflection based on the daily Gospel. The Lords faithfulness encourages us to keep turning back to him, to keep coming to him, even after we have turned away from him. The Lords concern is not just with the general, but with the particular, not just with the flock as a whole but with the individuals who make it up. The spontaneous response to such mysterious new life is thanksgiving. The phenomenon of theft is much more common than it used to be. They are portrayed as failing to understand Jesus teaching, especially when he speaks of himself as the Son of Man who must be rejected, suffer and die. Saint Paul says in his letter to the Romans that we do not know how to pray as we ought. The evangelist is perhaps indicating to us that serious doubt and great faith can reside in one and the same person. Yet, is spite of this resistance, the Lord insisted all the more on the need, not only to eat his flesh, but to drink his blood also. Yet, Jesus suggests to the crowd that they are searching for him for the wrong reasons. Seeing the risen Lord was enough to dispel his doubt. He was dependent on Ananias, a member of the church of Damascus, to receive back his sight, be baptized and received into the church. Yet, todays gospel reading suggests that this is not what the risen Lord wants from his followers. We depend on him especially when the wind is against us and the waters of life get stormy. In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. This mornings gospel reading begins with an image of the disciples locking themselves into a room somewhere in Jerusalem. The artist does not depict the risen Lord, only the impact of the risen Lord on Paul. The risen Lords face to face meeting with Thomas dispelled all Thomass doubts. It was winter, and Jesus was in the Temple walking up and down in the Portico of Solomon. These cookies may track your personal data. The words he used were very defeatist, Two hundred denarii would only buy enough to give them a small piece each. Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News. When they found Jesus, he addresses them and declares that they are looking for him for the wrong reasons. In showing them the wounds in his hands and side he was reminding them of the extent of his love for them. It was St Irenaeus, one of the early theologians of the church, who said that the glory of God is the human person fully alive. As Jesus says, it blows where it pleases. Sometimes we may find ourselves in the role of the Ethiopian, seeking the Lord, needing someone like a Philip to guide and lead us. We are being reminded by both readings that, even when our own personal lives and the life of our church seem to hold out little promise, the Lord can be powerfully at work there, if we live towards him in a generous and trusting manner. We all have a role to play in calling forth the gifts of others by recognizing situations that would be ideally suited to them and by creating space for them in which to work. Just below Nazareth, about five kilometres away, while Jesus was a child, a new city was being built by Herod Antipas called Sephoris. This Easter season, we ask the Holy Spirit to shape our longing, our desires, so that they correspond more to the Lords desire for us. The mood of Good Friday took a somewhat different form for him, not so much fear as disbelief. We can be distressed at the degree of doubt that we experience within ourselves, troubled that such doubts may even become more pronounced as we get older. Perth/Singapore/Philippines: 7am; Timor-Leste/Tokyo: 8am; New Zealand: 12pm; Los Angeles: Thursday 4pm; New York/Toronto: Thursday 7pm] to prayerfully reflect on the Gospel of the coming Sunday. He is present to each one of us in a very personal way, as he was present to Mary Magdalene, to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, to Thomas in todays gospel reading. Yet, the later experience of Saul suggests that not only does the Lord welcome those who come to him but he seeks out those who are hostile to him. everybody who believes has eternal life. Yet, Nicodemus did not give up on Jesus and the last we see of him in Johns gospel is at Golgotha where, after the death of Jesus, he and Joseph of Arimathea ensure that Jesus has a dignified burial. Yet, God pours this Spirit of his love into our lives. Just as we can be like the fearful disciples, so we can often be like the sceptical Thomas. It is not a light to be feared or avoided. In walking with the two disciples, the Lord transformed them from being downcast to having their hearts burn within them; he rekindled their hope. In this mornings gospel, in speaking about the wind he is, in reality, speaking about the Holy Spirit, This is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit, he says. Perhaps, therefore, we will find it easy to identify with Thomas in todays gospel reading. At the beginning of todays gospel reading, we find the disciples closed off in a room out of fear. The shepherd enters the sheepfold through the gate. The Spirit may be mysterious but when the Spirit takes shape in a human life we recognize the Spirits attractiveness. As the search for God leads to the hearing of the word and as the hearing of the word leads to baptism, so baptism leads us to the Eucharist. No one who comes to me will ever hunger; no one who believes in me will ever thirst. When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. There were two other reactions in the story. If we are to pass through the gate that is Jesus, we have to consciously choose this gate and exclude other gates. We begin to have hope again. The journey of faith is not always straightforward. It is present again in todays gospel reading. In the gospel reading this morning, Jesus makes reference to stealing. The wind blows wherever it pleases; The Lord journeys with us to lead us towards life, but he needs some openness on our part as well. She came from a prosperous family and her parents wanted her to marry well. What doesnt pass away, because it is of God, is Jesus capacity to work powerfully through humble human resources in the service of Gods people, such as feeding a large crowd with five barley loaves and two fish. We are anxious lest someone might steal from us. When Cleopas had finished telling the stranger their story, the stranger began to tell a different story about the person and the events that were at the centre of Cleopass story. The other evangelists took their lead from Mark. Elsewhere in the gospels, Jesus says, Give and it will be given to you. There are times in all our lives when we feel a strong need to talk to somebody, even a sympathetic stranger who seems welcoming and genuinely interested in what we have to say. Last evening in the Pro-Cathedral, Archbishop Dermot Martin launched the special Year of Vocations. The Lord calls each of us in accordance with our own particular nature. In the world of Jesus, there were no sheepdogs to help the shepherd in his work with the sheep. The Lords call to each of us is very personal and our response is very personal but it is never a private affair. This language is very familiar to us from the Eucharist, the body of Christ, the blood of Christ. Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.. and I shall raise him up on the last day. Are not his sisters all with us? Then they said to each other, Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?. Catherine was one of the great mystics of the church. These writings were dictated by her as she only learnt to write towards the very end of her life. To look for Jesus, to search for him, is a good thing. He can be speaking to us through new and unforeseen situations, such as the one in which we find ourselves at the moment. It is written in the prophets: They will all be taught by God; everyone who, Copyright 2020 The Jesuits | All Rights Reserved | Powered by, Easter 4th Week : Sunday 30th April, 2023, Easter 3rd Week : Saturday 29th April, 2023, Easter 3rd Week : Friday 28th April, 2023, Easter 3rd Week : Thursday 27th April, 2023. In todays first reading, an Ethiopian court official comes to faith in Jesus. That is closer, perhaps, to how Jesus uses the image of the wind in this mornings gospel reading. In todays gospel reading, Jesus presents himself as the only one who can truly satisfy the deeper, spiritual, hunger in our lives. They were astonished and said, Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds? So where did the man get it all? And they would not accept him. But the one who comes from heaven is above all. In that reading, Jesus declares that we first need to hear the teaching of the Father and learn from it before we can come to him as the bread of life who gives us his flesh, his body, for the life of the world. There is another way of looking at a gate. The Lord spoke of himself as the good shepherd. When that happens we begin to remain in his love as he remains in his Fathers love. One thing we can be sure of is that, whatever the Lords personal call to each one of us is, it will always be a call towards life. He calls us to be an Easter people, messengers of his merciful love in our world. The Lord does not take an initial no to him as final. There is a wonderful painting of the scene in todays first reading, the call of Paul, in a church in Rome by the artist Caravaggio. They never follow a stranger but run away from him: they do not recognise the voice of strangers.. Jesus said to the crowds: No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. In the gospel reading Jesus speaks of things of this world and heavenly things. If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus replied: I have told you, but you do not believe. The Lord who came to Paul through Ananias had earlier come to Ananias through a vision. She commenced her role as a public figure, dictating hundreds of letters to popes, monarchs and other letters of note. He immediately went off to Tarsus to look for Saul, or Paul, who had recently come to faith in Christ and Barnabas encouraged him to go to Antioch and support this new development there. The Acts of the Apostles suggests that as soon as the gospel began to be preached after Pentecost efforts were made by people in authority to suppress it. Our website uses cookies to give you the best online experience. The authors were the Nuns of the monasteries that were members of the Saint Teresa Association in 1990. The religious leaders may have wanted to put a lid on what was happening but they discovered that, in the words of Jesus to Nathanael in the gospel reading, the Spirit, like the wind, blows where it pleases. Saturday. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. In todays first reading, Peter asks a very important question, Who was I to stand in Gods way? God had worked in a way that Peter had not expected. The feeding of the multitude is one of the few stories from the public ministry of Jesus that is to be found in all four gospels. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. Barnabas brought Paul from Tarsus to Antioch. He only gradually came to believe in Jesus as Gods Son given to the world out of love. She insisted that she was betrothed to Christ. Yet, the story we have just heard relating to that road is a good news story. The word of the Lord remains a living word for each one of us today. He was a Pharisee, a member of that group who are consistently hostile to Jesus in Johns gospel. Occasionally when myself and my brothers were children, my parents would tie a cloth around the gate to keep it from being opened, so that we wouldnt run out on the road. God continues to draw us to his Son through the Word of God and through the ministry of other people of faith, like Philip. It is a day when we strive to be more finely attuned to the voice of the good shepherd who calls us by name to pass through him, the gate which gives us access to the life of God and the God of life. Jesus was concerned about peoples physical needs, their physical hungers. We can only surrender to the Spirit; we invite the Spirit to lead and guide us, to shape and mould us. It was finally approved by Pope Innocent in 1247 and later underwent mitigations which were not in the original text. Going out about nine o'clock, The gospel reminds us that, while the physical and material is vital because we are physical and material beings, our searching must not stop at the physical and the material.
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