Sixth Sunday in Easter

May 13, 2012

Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48; Psalm 98; 1 John 4:7-10; John 15:9-17

                Peter's major worldview shift in the Acts of the Apostles reminds us that we need to assess our faith-based parameters to deal with today's social issues. Peter begins by pointing to the risen Jesus as the source of his power and authority. He does not credit himself but points to his faith in the God as the source of his good works. He tells the assembled group that God shows no partiality since God is the creator of all life. God cares for all creatures equally, but likes when we acknowledge him as protector and care-taker.

         

          Peter's proclamation is revolutionary because he believes that salvation comes from the Jews and is for the Jews alone because they are God's chosen people. His whole life's teaching is challenged by his acceptance of Paul's influence about Gentiles who are admitted to the ranks of believers. A faithful Jews sees a Gentile as impure and defiled and certainly uneducated in the Scriptures, the Law, and the Prophets. A Gentile is a foreigner who can never understand the depths of religion, and Jews possess a deeply-ingrained disdain for them. Peter's act of obedience to his moral conscience transforms the life of the believers. If God shows no partiality, no cultural restrictions can be imposed on non-Jews. Certainly, many Jews and Gentiles are uncomfortable with this new alliance, but they realize they belong to the same family of God. Salvation can be extended to all who profess belief in the Lord.

          Peter's action is certainly bold. When reason and rightness tells his conscience to do one thing, he finds his religious tradition at odds with his more enlightened beliefs. One gift of the Second Vatican Council is its emphasis on the primacy of conscience. No one is expect to betray his or her informed conscience, but one has a duty to form and develop it. This means wrestling with all sides of a socially complex situation. It respects authority while questioning the reasons that originally led to a particular teaching. Peter shows us that Christ is in charge of the faith. The Spirit will lead the faithful ones to glorify God.

          The Spirit tends towards inclusion. Christ mandates us to spread the message of his kingdom to the ends of the earth and to baptize in the Trinity's name. Some among us profess the church will be better with a smaller, purer, more obedient group of followers. Everything in the Gospel points in the other direction. The early Christians provided hospitality and care to anyone who called upon the name of the Lord - even their adversaries. God's charity provides a balm for our petty divisiveness. Today, the Spirit leads many more people to Christ, even some with philosophies that conflict with our own. The church will provide. We do not have to solve all of its problems. Christ is willing to do that. We have to remember that it is his church.

          John's Gospel points to love of God as foundational. It is. We have to work at remaining in God's love. We think of love as easy; in some ways it is, but love demands that we constantly work to honor and esteem the other as we do ourselves. Love is demanding and it always confronts our beliefs. We can learn from Peter who is free enough to alter the course of history. Christ came to set us free. Let's not bind ourselves unnecessarily. Live in freedom and work at loving your neighbor. When our paradigms shift, we will see the Spirit's work in plain sight.

Themes for this Week’s Masses

First Reading: Paul and Barnabas set sail for Philippi, a leading city of Macedonia and a Roman colony. Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, listens to their preaching and opens her heart to them. She is baptized and invites them to stay with her. Paul is brought to the Areopagus in Athens and tells them of the "Unknown God" they worship. This God is the same God as the Christians worship and has brought about salvation, including the resurrection of the dead. This concept unsettles some who find it a difficult teaching to accept. Paul travels to Corinth and meets the Jews, Aquila and Priscilla, who were forced to leave Rome because of Claudius' dispersion edict. He learns the tent-making trade and preaches to Jews who reject him. He encounters Titus Justus and Crispus, a synagogue leader, who come to believe. The entire congregation believes the news of Jesus Christ. While in Corinth, Paul receives a vision from the Lord urging him to go on speaking as no harm will come to him. Others are harmed, but Paul escapes injury. Paul travels to Antioch in Syria. Priscilla and Aquila meet Apollos, a Jewish Christian, who is preaching the way of Jesus, but of the baptism by the Holy Spirit he is not informed. They take him aside and teach him the correct doctrine. He then vigorously refutes the Jews in public, establishing from the Scriptures that the Christ is Jesus.

Gospel: Jesus tells his friends that the Advocate will come and testify to him. Meanwhile, they will be expelled from the synagogues and harmed - even unto death. The Spirit of truth will guide his friends to all truth. Jesus confuses them by saying, "a little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me." As they debate, he tells them their mourning will become joy - just like a woman who is groaning in labor pains. As Jesus tells them again that he is part of the Father, he instructs them to ask for anything in his name and God will grant it for Jesus is leaving the world and going back to the Father. The Father loves them because they have loved him. The Father will reward them for their generosity.

Saints of the Week

May 13: Our Lady of Fatima is a name given to Mary after she appeared to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal between May 13 and October 13, 1917. During her appearances, Mary stressed the importance of repentance, ongoing conversion, and dedicated to the heart of Mary through praying the Rosary.

May 14: Matthias, Apostle (first century) was chosen after the resurrection to replace Judas who committed suicide. In the Acts of the Apostles, Peter, quoting a psalm, told 120 people who gathered that they were to choose a new apostle - someone who had been with them from the baptism of Jesus until the resurrection. Two names were put forward and the assembly cast lots. Matthias was chosen.

May 15: Isidore (1070-1130), was born in Madrid to a family of farm laborers. With his wife, he worked on an estate and became known for his piety and generosity. His remains are the cause of several miracles most notably the cure of King Philip III who became his sponsor for canonization.

May 16: Andrew Bobola, S.J., priest martyr (1591-1657), is called the Martyr of Poland because of his excruciatingly painful death. He worked during a plague to care for the sick, but he became "wanted" by the Cossacks during a time when anti-Catholic and anti-Jesuit sentiment was high. His preaching converted whole villages back to Catholicism and he was hunted down because he was termed a "soul-hunter."

***Please note that the Ascension is celebrated in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Newark, Hartford, and Omaha on Thursday. Most of the world celebrates the feast on  Sunday.

May 17: Ascension Thursday is a holy day of obligation. It marks the event in the life of the Resurrected Christ who departed from this temporal earth to return to God. It celebrates Jesus’ visible absence while recognizing his invisible presence to the world. It is the event in the life of Christ when his physical appearances came to an end so he could resume his place at the right hand of the Father in heaven. St. Ignatius was so desirous of learning about the historical Jesus that he traveled to the places in the Holy Lands where Jesus walked and lived. As he was getting kicked out of the Holy Lands, he desired to return to the place of the Ascension to see the direction of Jesus’ feet as he ascended to God. A novena is prayed beginning on this day as we await the arrival of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

May 18: John I, pope and martyr (d. 526), was a Tuscan who became pope under the rule of Theodoric the Goth, an Arian. Theodoric opposed Emperor Justin I in Constantinople who persecuted Arians. John was sent to Justin to end the persecutions. He returned to great glory, but Theodoric was not satisfied, though Justin met all his demands. John was imprisoned and soon died because of ill treatment.

This Week in Jesuit History

·         May 13, 1572. Election of Gregory XIII to succeed St Pius V. To him the Society owes the foundation of the Roman and German Colleges.

·         May 14, 1978. Letter of Pedro Arrupe to the whole Society on Inculturation.

·         May 15, 1815. Readmission of the Society into Spain by Ferdinand VII. The members of the Society were again exiled on July 31, 1820.

·         May 16, 1988. In Paraguay, Pope John Paul II canonizes Roque Gonzalez, Alfonso Rodriguez, and Juan del Castillo.

·         May 17, 1572. Pope Gregory XIII exempted the Society from choir and approved simple vows after two years of novitiate and ordination before solemn profession. In these matters he reversed a decree of St Pius V.

·         May 18, 1769. The election of Cardinal Lorenzo Ganganelli as Pope Clement XIV. He was the pope who suppressed the Society.

·         May 19, 1652. Birth of Paul Hoste mathematician and expert on construction of ships and history of naval warfare.