The Opening of Minds
Third Sunday of Easter 2021
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Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118; Colossians 3:1-4; Mark 16:1-7
In the first part of the story, the disciples on their way to Emmaus returned to Jerusalem to tell Peter and the other Disciples that Jesus appeared to them. While they were recounting their story, Jesus appears to them again, and like he did with Thomas last week, invites them to touch his wounds, and then he eats to show them that he is not a ghost but a real body. He then explains to them that the Hebrew Scriptures, our Old Testament, which includes the Law, the Prophets, and the Wisdom Writings all testify to the coming of the Son of God. Jesus opened their minds to see the Scriptures in a new way.
We can find amazement and joy when our minds are opened during our study of Scripture. Most do not know the rich tradition of our Judeo-Christian heritage and part of the problem is that we do not know where to begin. The Bible is vast, the Hebrew Scriptures foreign, and we might not see the relevancy of understanding the Old Testament history or New Testament miracles, and then the church has over two thousand years of Church history that is sometime brilliant and mundane, and contains magnificent holy works intermixed with human struggles for power and authority. The best teacher is one who not only explains theological, historical, and socio-cultural aspects of the story, but can point to the wonder of God’s continuing relationship with the people. We hunger for a teacher who can open our minds so we can behold the mystery. We hunger for a teacher who can move us closer to God.
We want our hearts to burn with desire so that our hearts and minds can be opened. We want to learn more, understand more deeply how God operates in our world today. We want to know that God cares for the mundane parts of our lives, not just the holy, and we want to know the God who desires not just our friendship, but desires the friendship of all human beings and encourages their cooperation in developing a world that can sustain all of God’s friends. This is a world of devoid of fear and filled with harmony. We see a great deal of hatred, anger, hurt, and disasters in the world, and we know God cares for all people, even those who are our enemies, and we believe in our common humanity and the common good, and we don’t know how to get there. We live in a imperfect world and yearn for something better.
In the face of great injustice and misery, we wonder, “How can I make a difference?” When our minds are opened, we see that we are sometimes part of the problem, as the veil of our ignorance is pulled aside. As we come into the presence of God, with an awareness that we have not always lived as we were created to live, we discover that God invites us to a common meal of friendship. The conversion of the world occurs one heart at a time. Jesus appeared to his friends one at a time, and he opened their minds. We, too, must share Scripture with one another, a meal too, as we find ourselves in the presence of the living God, free from any judgment, because God’s presence in love and forgiveness. Our hearts once again can burn with desire and we can feel the warmth of God’s friendship.
Scripture for Daily Mass
Monday: (Acts 6) Stephen worked great signs and wonders in the name of Jesus.
Tuesday: (Acts 7) False testimony is lodged against him but he stands angelic before them. Angry opponents stone him, including Saul, who consents to execute him.
Wednesday: (Acts 8) A severe persecution breaks out in Jerusalem and the believers are displaced to Judea and Samaria. Saul, trying to destroy the Church, enters house after house to arrest them.
Thursday: (Acts 8) Philip’s testimony and miracles in Samaria emboldens the believers. Philip heads out to Gaza and meets an Ethiopian eunuch who is reading Isaiah’s texts. Philip interprets the scripture and the eunuch begs to be baptized.
Friday (Acts 9) Meanwhile, Saul is carrying out hateful acts against the believers and is struck blind as he beholds a manifestation of Jesus. The beginning of his call and conversion takes place.
Saturday (1 Peter 6 – Mark the Evangelist) Clothe yourself in humility; be sober and vigilant and resist the devil. The God of grace will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you after you have suffered a little.
Gospel:
Monday: (John 6) Jesus feeds the 5000 as a flashback to the Eucharistic memory of the believers with the Bread of Life discourse.
Tuesday: (John 6) Jesus instructs them, “It was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven; my heavenly father gives the true bread.” Jesus proclaims, “I am the bread of life.”
Wednesday (John 6) God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but that the world might be saved through him.
Thursday (John 6) Jesus states that all that is required is belief in him. Belief is not given to all. The way to the way is through the Son.
Friday (John 6) The Jews quarreled and opposition to the cannibalistic references of Jesus rises because his sayings are hard to accept. He tells the people, “my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” If you eat of Jesus, you will live forever.
Saturday (Mark 16) Jesus appeared to the Eleven giving them instructions to proclaim the Gospel to every creature.
Saints of the Week
April 21: Anselm, bishop and doctor (1033-1109), was a monastic abbot in Normandy who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1093 after the Norman conquest of England in 1066 when the English hierarchy was displaced. Church-state relations peppered his term, but he became known to the church because of his theological and philosophical treatises, mostly for his assertion about the existence of God – an idea greater than that which no other idea can be thought. His method of theology is summed up in “faith seeking understanding.”
April 22: Jesuits honor Mary as the Mother of the Society of Jesus. In the Gesu church in Rome, a painting of Our Lady of the Way (Maria della Strada) is portrayed to represent Jesuit spirituality. Mary had been a central figure to Ignatius’s spirituality. In 1541, seven months after papal approval of the Jesuit Order and two weeks after his election as the first general, Ignatius celebrated Mass at Our Lady’s altar in the basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls in Rome.
April 23: George, martyr (d. 303), was killed in Lydda, Palestine. He may have been a Roman soldier who organized a Christian community in what is now Iran (Urmiah). He became part of the Middle Ages imagination for his ideal of Christian chivalry and is thought to have slain a dragon. He was sent to Britain on an imperial expedition. He became the patron of England (and of Crusaders) and the nation adopted George’s Arms, a red cross on a white background, which is still part of the British flag.
April 23: Adalbert, bishop and martyr (956-997), was Bohemian-born who was consecrated bishop of Prague amidst fierce political opposition. He was exiled and became a Benedictine monk in Rome that he used as a base to preach missions in Poland, Prussia, Hungary, and Russia. He is named the "Apostle to the Slavs." He was killed in Gdansk, Poland.
April 24: Fidelis of Sigmaringen, priest and martyr (1578-1622), was a canon lawyer from Swabia, Germany who became a Capuchin Franciscan in Switzerland in 1612. Prior to priesthood, he tutored nobles in France, Italy and Spain and helped interpret legislation that served the poor. He was known as the "lawyer for the poor." He was later appointed to the challenging task of preaching to the Protestants in Switzerland, where he was killed for being an agent for the king. He was the head of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith in anti-Catholic hostilities. He was accused of being the king's political agent and was assaulted and killed.
This Week in Jesuit History
- April 18, 1906. At Rome, the death of Rev Fr. Luis Martin, twenty-fourth General of the Society. Pope Pius X spoke of him as a saint, a martyr, a man of extraordinary ability and prudence.
- April 19, 1602. At Tyburn, Ven. James Ducket, a layman, suffered death for publishing a work written by Robert Southwell.
- April 20, 1864. Father Peter de Smet left St Louis to evangelize the Sioux Indians.
- April 21, 1926. Fr. General Ledochowski sent out a letter De Usu Machinae Photographicae. It stated that cameras should belong to the house, not the individual. Further, they should not be used for recreation or time spent on trifles rather than for the greater glory of God.
- April 22, 1541. Ignatius and his first companions made their solemn profession of vows in the basilica of St Paul Outside-the-Walls.
- April 23, 1644. A General Chapter of the Benedictines condemned the calumny that St Ignatius was not the real author of the Spiritual Exercises. A monk had earlier claimed that the content was borrowed from a work by Garzia Cisneros.
- April 24, 1589. At Bordeaux, the Society was ordered to leave the city. It had been falsely accused of favoring the faction that was opposed to King Henry III.
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