Prayer: Apostleship of the Sea in the United States

Let us thank God, the giver of all good gifts, for seafarers who leave their families, friends and homes to bring us the good for our table, the cargoes for industry and commerce, the coal and fuels for our country. May we in our turn care for them and their families, and hold them in our prayers so all may sail in safety, and return home to their loved ones.

We pray for all who work in shipping, in management, in unions, in support industries and services. May their work be valued and rewarded with success and a greater understanding by those who benefit from their gifts and skills.

 We pray for all who are in darkness or despair, at home or at sea, in hospital or in prison. May be do everything we can to bring the love of God, the light of Christ and the comfort of the Holy Spirit to them. May they find light in their darkness and hope in their despair.

Prayer: Julian of Norwich

But in our intentions we wait for God, and trust faithfully to have mercy and grace; and this is how in goodness God opens the eye of our understanding, by which we have sight, sometimes more and sometimes less, according to the ability God gives us to receive

Pentecost

June 12, 2011
Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 104; 1 Corinthians 12: 3-7, 12-13; John 20:19-23

Pentecost is portrayed by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles as a momentous event where believers from many nations are gathered together to receive the powerful gift of the Holy Spirit. It is an image that captured the attention of many iconographers and artists. On the other hand, John’s Gospel links the sending of the Holy Spirit, a Pentecost moment, with the Easter appearance of Jesus in the Upper Room. While Luke’s account is filled with tremors, earth-shaking winds, and miracles of speaking in tongues, John’s portrayal is gentle as Jesus appears to his fearful disciples in hiding and wishes them a consoling peace that takes away all fears. When we hear these readings back to back, we wonder which version is correct. How could the accounts be so far apart?

Luke’s version gets all the attention because everyone wants to see the mighty power of God. People want tangible, dramatic expressions that God is present among us (as if the Resurrection isn’t enough!). The storm wind and fire represents the heavenly origin of the Spirit. Luke is attempting to depict not the charismatic power of the early disciples, but to broaden the dynamism of the community’s mission. The Spirit is the principal mover of Pentecost that opens up the church to the uncircumcised. The gathering of Jews from many nations reveals the inclusive nature of the ministry. The Spirit’s reach is as far west as Crete and eastward to the Arabs in the known world. He links it with the Spirit of Christ to dispel any notion that the Spirit is merely Christ’s surrogate on earth. The Spirit provides the continuity between Jesus and the mission of the church. The ministries of the church are continuous with his own ministries – not something that happens at the time of his departure.

John shows the promises of Jesus’ return are fulfilled at his “hour,” which is his exaltation/glorification. The joy Jesus promises is evident in the consolation of the disciples and they receive “peace” as a gift. Just as in Luke, the disciples are sent on a mission, John equates the breathing of the Spirit upon the disciples as their mission. They are to go forth and be the representatives of Jesus. Jesus is the source of eternal life and the Spirit is an expression of the divine indwelling. The disciples are sent to preach forgiveness through the power of the Spirit of Jesus. They can bring others into the community through the Spirit’s baptism. John, therefore, links Pentecost with Easter. Jesus mediates Pentecost through true gentleness, which is more powerful than the most dramatic events.

Paul tells the Corinthians that the Spirit is given uniquely to each person for a specific benefit. The source of these gifts is always from Jesus. Pentecost is always a good time to take stock of the spiritual gifts we received and to check ourselves to discern how well we use these gifts. As we contemplate what we have been given, let’s remember the One who is the source of these gifts. I find it uplifting to contemplate God and to say thanks for the way God has richly rewarded me. I recognize the gifts are particular to us becausee we are believers in a generous God who cares deeply for us.

Sometimes we may not fully understand our gifts and our calling. We may not see that we have a great effect upon those around us because we compare the smallness of our contributions to the greatness of others. We diminish the importance of what we have been given. We ought not to do that! We are to cherish even the tiniest of our gifts; when we do that we glorify God and we let the gifts enlarge themselves in manifold ways. Besides, John’s point is that God’s work is seen most powerfully in the tiny, small, unnoticeable ways. True greatness comes from rejoicing in the tiniest of details or the gentlest, most undetectable acts – like the silent, unseen breath that gives life to others.

Themes for this Week’s Masses

First Reading: While in Corinth, Paul outlines the manner by which we are to morally live as Christians - recognizing that our way will be counter-cultural. God's grace overflows in a wealth of generosity upon the Macedonians and Paul praises their spontaneous service to others as a sign of grace. God will bestow greater abundance on those who give generously to those in need. Paul cautions them to beware of false teachers who present a different Gospel. Paul's actions testify to the authentic message he gave them. While no one is to boast, Paul boasts only in the Lord because of the marvels through adversity he worked in Paul's life. He is fully aware of his weakness and challenges, as he was given a thorn in his side, that tries to keep him from proclaiming his message from Christ.

Gospel: Jesus transforms the justice principle "an eye for an eye" to one of exceeding mercy - as this is the way God deals with our transgressions. He does the same with the teaching on dealing with enemies declaring that we are to love them. Our radical way of life will be an example to many others. We are not to trumpet our goodness for others to hold up, but we are to do it because God in heaven will see our good works in secret. The test of our relationship with God is shown in the ways we relate to him. Jesus teaches the disciples to pray a simple Jewish prayer of dependence upon God. The treasures we store up are to be the ones that we carry into heaven, not the ones we covet on earth. Life is simpler is we live freely and without care like the birds or the lilies in the field. God takes them of them similarly to the way God cares for us.

Saints of the Week

Monday: Anthony of Padua, priest and doctor (1195-1231), became a biblical scholar who eventually joined the Franciscans. Francis sent him to preach in northern Italy, first in Bologna and then Padua. He very especially beloved because of his pastoral care, but he died at age 36.

This Week in Jesuit History

• Jun 12, 1928. Fr. General Ledochowski responded negatively to the idea of intercollegiate sports at Jesuit colleges because he feared the loss of study time and the amount of travel involved.
• Jun 13, 1557. The death of King John III of Portugal, at whose request Francis Xavier and others were sent to India.
• Jun 14, 1596. By his brief Romanus Pontifex, Pope Clement VIII forbade to members of the Society of Jesus the use or privilege of the Bulla Cruciata as to the choice of confessors and the obtaining of absolution from reserved cases.
• Jun 15, 1871. P W Couzins, a female law student, graduated from Saint Louis University Law School, the first law school in the country to admit women.
• Jun 16, 1675. St Margaret Mary Alacoque received her great revelation about devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
• Jun 17, 1900. The martyrdom at Wuyi, China, of Blesseds Modeste Andlauer and Remy Asore, slain during the Boxer Rebellion.
• Jun 18, 1804. Fr. John Roothan, a future general of the Society, left his native Holland at the age of seventeen to join the Society in White Russia.

Prayer: Augustine of Hippo

The apostles saw Christ and believed in a church they did not see. May we who see the church believe in Christ, whom we do not yet see.

Prayer: Monika Hellwig

We are called to collaborate with God in continuing the task of creation, to exercise stewardship of our own lives and of the unfinished world. We are God's guests, invited to make the most of the divine hospitality and to mediate it to one another and to the rest of creation.

Prayer: A Blessing for the Suffering by John O’Donohue – from Eternal Echoes

May you be blessed in the holy names of those who carry our pain up the mountain of transfiguration.

May you know tender shelter and healing blessing when you are called to stand in the place of pain.

May the places of darkness within you be surprised by light.

May you be granted the wisdom to avoid false resistance and when suffering knocks on the door of your life, may you be able to glimpse its hidden gift.

May you be able to see the fruits of suffering.

May memory bless and shelter you with the hard-earned light of past turmoil, may this give you confidence and trust.

May a window of light always surprise you.

May the grace of transfiguration heal your wounds.

May you know that even though the storm might rage, not a hair on your head will be harmed.

Prayer: John de Brebeuf, S.J.

Jesus, my Lord and Savior, what can I give you in return for all the favors you have conferred on me? I will take from your hand the cup of your sufferings and call on your name. I vow before your eternal Father and the Holy Spirit, before your most holy Mother and her most chaste spouse, before the angels, apostles and martyrs, before my blessed fathers Saint Ignatius and Saint Francis Xavier – in truth I vow to vow, Jesus my Savior, that as far as I have the strength I will never fail to accept the grace of martyrdom, if some day you in your infinite mercy should offer it to me, your most unworthy servant.

I bind myself in this way so that for the rest of my life I will have neither permission nor freedom to refuse opportunities of dying and shedding my blood for you, unless at a particular juncture I should consider it more suitable for your glory to act otherwise at that time. Further, I bind myself to this so that, on receiving the blow of death, I shall accept it from your hands with the fullest delight and joy of spirit. For this reason, my beloved Jesus, and because of the surging joy which moves me, here and now I offer my blood and body and life. May I die only for you, if you will grant me this grace, since you willingly died for me. Let me so live that you may grant me the gift of such a happy death. In this way, my God and Savior, I will take from your hand the cup of your sufferings and call on your name: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!

My God, it grieves me greatly that you are not know, that in this savage wilderness all have not been converted to you, that sin has not been driven from it. My God, even if all the brutal tortures which prisoners in this region must endure should fall on me, I offer myself most willingly to them and I alone shall suffer them all.

Prayer: John Henry Newman

God has created me to do him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission – I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do his work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep his commandments and serve him in my calling. Therefore, my God, I will put myself without reserve in your hands. What have I in heaven, and apart from you what want I upon earth? My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the God of my heart, and my portion forever.

Poem: Eastern Point Retreat House

This is a place to fall in love again, those voice in the wind we've heard before;
the psalms of David shout and say,
Amen: The Spirit weeps at our October door.

This is a place where the Gloucester sea
bangs my heart like dolphins,
God dives me deep;
He bindeth me with weeds --;
soaked and salted I am cod.

O fabled, Christian fish of old,
Leviathan or minnow, great and small,
swim the troubled waters of my soul,
take my bait, be my haul,
riding down this summer bay
-- do not be the one that got away.
Leonard McCarthy, S.J.

Seventh Sunday in Easter

Ascension of the Lord
June 5, 2011
Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47; Ephesians 1:17-23; Matthew 28:16-20

The Ascension is one of those inexplicable biblical moments that cause confusion about the actual progression of real events. Matthew tells us the Eleven Disciples went to Galilee as Jesus ordered them to do, while Luke in Acts tells us that Jesus was taken up in bodily form near Jerusalem. For Matthew, the mountain is a place of revelation where Jesus touches the lives of the disciples. The ascension is correlated to the resurrection, but this scene is a partial fulfillment of Daniel's vision of the Son of Man who ascends to heaven on the clouds. Although the disciples see the risen Jesus, his words rather than his appearance are stressed. The disciples worship Jesus even though doubt creeps in.

The farewell of Jesus tells us that God has bestows divine authority over the kingdom on Jesus as the Son of Man. It also contains a general command to go forth and make disciples of all people in different cultures - including the Jews. The disciples are to carry on the teaching ministry of Jesus that lays the foundation for Christian education, theology, and other intellectual work, which includes interpreting the Sermon on the Mount that renews the Old Testament.  Lastly, Jesus promises to be with them now and in the future. He fulfills the meaning of his name - Emmanuel - that is, the divine presence as they make decisions, study, pray, preach, baptize, and teach. His spirit will be present until the kingdom of God comes in its fullness.

Luke stresses the Ascension as the beginning point of the church while his Gospel tells of the life, teaching, and deeds of Jesus. The Acts of the Apostles is both a continuation and a new beginning. Easter is not the end, but a beginning. Jerusalem's centrality marks the continuity between Israel and the church even though the people fulfilled the role of prophet-murderer. The church is founded amidst successive persecutions and receives a refinement of its mission - Israel is to be recast in its mission to the ends of the earth - even to Rome (the new cultural and political end of the earth)- where it will restore all things according to the kingdom of God.

Luke's passage re-enacts Elijah's ascension into heaven. Although there are witnesses, the ascension of Jesus is not to be conceived of as a event within history. The "two men" and "the cloud" are both present in the Transfiguration that was attended by Elijah and Moses. Christ is seen as the ultimate prophet - greater than the two venerable Old Testament figures. Jesus will be the "Son of Man" at his coming and has a direct link with his coming to us again. Therefore, the ascension acts as a reminder that Christ will come again to complete his kingdom, which will end the time of the church's mission.

As with all events in the life of Jesus, it is better for us to consider the meaning rather than piece together the disparate details, although the details always matter. We don't want to be caught short like the disciples who were looking up in the sky trying to figure out what just happened. No, we have to look around us to see where the presence of Jesus is active. The work of the kingdom has been given to us to advance. We are to proclaim the saving work of God in and through the person of Jesus until the kingdom comes in its fullness. Too many people need to hear about the risen Jesus. In our actions and words, we are to make ourselves so desirable that people will envy what we have - the risen Lord in our midst. Our lives are to testify to his saving and sustaining actions and like Mary, his mom, our whole being needs to sing out in song the goodness of the Lord. This song has to reverberate to the ends of the earth.

Themes for this Week’s Masses

First Reading: Paul went to Ephesus introduced believers to the Holy Spirit. Paul recounts the ways he served the Lord with humility, tears and trials, but he is to return to an uncertain fate in Jerusalem. As Paul says goodbye, he urges them to keep watch over each other and to be vigilant about those who pervert the truth of the Gospel. Paul was brought to trial. The Pharisees and Sadducees were so divided that armed forces were sent to rescue Paul from their midst. The Lord told Paul that as he was faithful in Jerusalem, he must go to Rome and be faithful there as well. King Agrippa heard Paul's case and determined Paul was to be tried in Jerusalem, but Paul, as a Roman citizen, appealed to be held for the Emperor's decision.

Gospel: The disciples realize Jesus is returning to the Father and that he is strengthening them for the time he is away. Jesus prays for the safety of those given to him by God. He wants them to be safe as they testify to God's steadfastness in the harsh world. He prays for unity, "so that they may be one just as we are one." He consecrates them to the truth and wards off the Evil One. He also prays for those given to him through the testimony of others. The love Jesus and the Father share is available to future disciples. ~ After the Farewell Discourse ends, Jesus is found at the seashore with Simon Peter who professes his three-fold love of Jesus. Jesus forgives him and asks him to take care of his people even though the authorities of this world will eventually have their day with him.

Saints of the Week

Monday: Norbert, bishop (1080-1134), a German, became a priest after a near-death experience. He became an itinerant preacher in northern France and established a community founded on strict asceticism. They became the Norbertines and defended the rights of the church against secular authorities.

Thursday: Ephrem, deacon and doctor (306-373), was born in the area that is now Iraq. He was ordained a deacon and refused priestly ordination. After Persians conquered his home town, Ephrem lived in seclusion where he wrote scriptural commentaries and hymns. He was the first to introduce hymns into public worship.

Joseph de Anchieta, S.J., priest (1534-1597), was from the Canary Islands and became a leading missionary to Brazil. He was one of the founders of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janiero. He is considered the first Brazilian writer and is regarded as a considerate evangelizer of the native Brazilian population. Alongside the Jesuit Manuel de Nobrega, he created stable colonial establishments in the new country.

Saturday: Barnabas, apostle (d. 61), was a Jew from Cyprus who joined the early Christians in Jerusalem to build up the church. His name means "son of encouragement." He accepted Paul into his community and worked alongside him for many years to convert the Gentiles. He was stoned to death in his native Cyprus. He was a towering  authority to the early church.

This Week in Jesuit History

·         Jun 5, 1546. Paul III, in the document Exponi Nobis, empowered the Society to admit coadjutors, both spiritual and temporal.

·         Jun 6, 1610. At the funeral of Henry IV in Paris, two priests preaching in the Churches of St Eustace and St Gervase denounced the Jesuits as accomplices in his death. This was due primarily to the book De Rege of Father Mariana.
·         Jun 7, 1556. Peter Canisius becomes the first provincial superior of the newly constituted Province of Upper Germany.
·         Jun 8, 1889. Poet Gerard Manley Hopkins died at the age of 44 in Dublin. His final words were "I am so happy, so happy." He had written "I wish that my pieces could at some time become known but in some spontaneous way ... and without my forcing."
·         Jun 9, 1597. The death of Blessed Jose de Ancieta, Brazil's most famous missionary and the founder of the cities of Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro.
·         Jun 10, 1537. Ignatius and his companions were given minor orders at the house of Bishop Vincenzo Negusanti in Venice, Italy.
·         Jun 11, 1742. The Chinese and Malabar Rites were forbidden by Pope Benedict XIV; persecution broke out at once in China.