04.12.12~Cath Matters for 4/15/12

SUNDAY READINGS - Second Sunday of Easter or Divine Mercy Sunday FIRST READING: Acts 4:32-35. The company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the Apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the Apostles' feet; and distribution was made to each as any had need. EXPLANATION:The Acts of the Apostles is a book which gives a brief history of the infant Christian Church, from the Ascension of our Lord until the year 63 A.D.---period of about 30 years. Its first twelve chapters deal with the beginnings of the Church in Jerusalem and its neighborhood before the Church moved out to the Gentile lands. Today's four verses of Chapter Four describe the fervor of the first Jerusalem Christians, who were so filled with the love of God and neighbor that everyone shared with his fellow-Christians all that he had. The Christian community in Jerusalem had all things in common; it was the ideal Christian family while it lasted. who believed...soul: The newly converted lived in a truly fraternal charity atmosphere. had...common: There was a complete sharing amongst them of all earthly possessions. great...testimony: The Apostles from the day of the Descent of the Holy Spirit convincingly and effectively preached the truth of Christ's resurrection. Miracles confirmed their preaching (see 3: 12; 4: 7; 6: 8 etc). great grace...all: "They were all given great respect" (by the people in general). Thus the Jerusalem Bible. That this is the meaning is clear from 2: 47; 4: 21 and 5:13. possessors...them: This was a free act done out of love of God and neighbor at a time when Christian idealism was at its height. laid...feet: Those who sold their lands or houses gave the proceeds to the Apostles to be distributed among the needy members of the community. APPLICATION: In this brief glimpse of the life of the first Christian community in Jerusalem, St. Luke (the author of Acts) emphasizes the ideal of Christian brotherhood, which animated the first Christians so much that many of them gave their possessions gladly for distribution among those of their brothers who were short of the necessities of life. As is clear from the incident of Ananias and Sapphira nobody was compelled to sell his possessions or to give all he possessed to the community (see 5: 4), but those who did so were setting a lofty and praiseworthy ideal for all time. While the vow of poverty, taken by religious, is an imitation of this early Christian ideal---the religious gives all that he or she has or may have to the community---such an act of abdication is of necessity restricted to relatively very few. The vast majority of men and women need personal possessions to support themselves and their dependents. The life of religious is governed by two other vows, obedience and chastity, which make the observance of poverty not only feasible but desirable. The life of a religious is regulated by obedience: he can be moved not only from one occupation to another but from one place to another, even from one country to another. Personal property would be a serious impediment here. The vow of chastity means that the religious will have no spouse and/or family to provide for, and so the chief need for personal possessions is removed. But, granted that our Christian religion does not demand of all of us that we should follow the example of the first Christian community in Jerusalem, we still have an important lesson to learn from today's reading. While we can, and the vast majority of us must, retain our personal possessions, we must still be always ready to share them with those in need. We are not the real owners of what we possess; we are only the administrators of the property God has given us. He is the real owner, and he expects us to use what he has given us justly and charitably. We use our possessions first and foremost to provide for our own needs and the needs of those depending on us. That charity and justice begin at home is true in this sense, but they do not end at home. While we provide for the needs of the home let us not exaggerate these needs; let us not indulge in luxuries for ourselves and our family, while there are neighbors on the brink of starvation. We need, today especially, a revival of that wonderful spirit of fraternal feeling which led many of the first Christians to sell all they possessed and distribute the proceeds to the needy. However, instead of selling our possessions, we need to use them well and wisely, so that we can give a helping hand not only to our fellow-Christians but to men and women of every nation and creed who are in need of help. Four-fifths of the world's population today are living in poverty, and some on the starvation line, through no fault of their own. One-fifth are living a life of comfort and sufficiency, many of them actually in luxury. While we may not be and most likely are not, among the latter, there are things we too could and should do without if we allow Christian charity to govern our lives. Have a good look at your home, your way of dressing, your meals, your recreations and entertainments and you may find many occasions for saving a dollar to give to relief organizations. When you put on your heavy winter overcoat think of the poor, naked children in Africa and elsewhere who have not even a little shirt to keep out the cold. When you sit down to your four-course dinner think of the unfortunates who would be glad of one bowl of rice a day. When tempted to spend a night drinking with your friends stop and think of the thousands of children dying for want of a bottle of milk. The Christian community in Jerusalem earned the respect of all for their charitable behavior. All you can do for your needy neighbor may not earn you any headlines in the daily papers, but if you do what you can you will be printing your name where alone it matters. You will be inscribing yourself in the Book of Life which is kept in heaven. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SECOND READING: 1 John 5:1-7. Every one who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God, and every one who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth. EXPLANATION: This first Epistle of St. John is an encyclical letter written between 90 and 100 A.D. to all the churches of Asia Minor, when the gnostic heretics were trying to undermine the Christian faith. These Gnostics claimed to have a special knowledge of God and to be sinless, without keeping his commandments. They ignored the commandment of fraternal charity. It is doubtful if they admitted the divinity of Christ. St. John exhorts the Christians to continue to know and love God---this knowledge and love of God are shown by keeping his commandments. All men are sons of God. If, therefore, we love God we must love all of God's children. "Anyone who says: 'I love God' and hates his brother is a liar" (4: 20). Through Jesus Christ we know God is our Father; we know Christ is the promised Messiah and the Son of God. Let us live then as God's children in obedience and love. believes...Christ: This is the basis of the Christian faith. The Messiah was promised to Abraham and to his descendants. This promise was repeated many times in the Old Testament. The one who would bring blessings on all nations came at last in the person of Jesus who was, therefore, called the Anointed or the Christ. a child of God: Everyone who accepts Jesus as Messiah becomes an adopted son of God. We, therefore, became his brothers and God's sons. loves...child: Anyone who really loves God must love God's children, that is, all mankind, for it is God's commandment. keep his commandments: The man who keeps God's commandments proves that he loves God. not burdensome: What is done out of love is not a burden but a pleasure. born...world: Having been made sons of God "born of God," we are no longer subject to any forces hostile to God; we have been given the power to overcome them. The "world" in St. John, invariably means the sinful forces opposed to the truth and the light of God. victory...faith: Those who accept Christ as Messiah and Son of God overcome the allurements to sin. Christ conquered death, sin, and the world by his death and resurrection. This victory was won for us and not for himself. Therefore, if we live according to our Christian faith, the world will have no hold on us. by water and blood: When Christ insisted on being baptized in the water of the Jordan he was taking on himself the sins of the world (the sins of all time); he became our passover lamb. When he shed his blood on the cross he washed away all those sins and won the victory over evil for all those who would believe in him. not...water only: The Gnostics, against whose false doctrines John is warning his fellow-Christians, held that the baptism of Jesus alone was significant for giving the Holy Spirit to believers. John insists that the shedding of his blood on the cross was a necessary part of the work of our redemption. The water and blood which came from the side of Christ when pierced with a lance (Jn. 19: 34) were for John a proof of the redemptive value of Christ's death and the bestowal of the Holy Spirit. They were also symbols of the sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist, the principal sacraments of the Christian church. spirit...witness: The same Spirit which descended on Jesus at his baptism in the Jordan remained with him all through his death. This the Agnostics denied, saying the Spirit left him before his death. Spirit...truth: Christ promised the Holy Spirit to his Church: "that Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive" (Jn. 14: 17) "but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name" (14: 26), "when the Advocate comes ... the Spirit of truth who issues from the Father, he will be my witness" (15: 26). Now that witness, who was with Jesus all through his life, is with his Church, a testimony to the eternal truth of the Christian faith. APPLICATION: "This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith." In one short sentence, St. John, the beloved disciple of Christ, expresses the profoundest philosophy ever put before thinking man. We have had many philosophers and many searchers after the meaning and purpose of rational life on earth. We have had many attempts at explanations, but all have failed, for none of them satisfied the innate desires and total capacity of human nature. Of all the beings on our planet, man alone has the faculties for perceiving the truth and for enjoying the beautiful. While he shares with the animal kingdom the impulse to self-preservation and the perpetuation of the species, he has within him powers that surpass all animal instincts and raise him above the material world where he lives and moves. He can perceive beauty, truth, love, joy and happiness. With his will, which is motivated by the good, he can and does desire to possess these supramundane "goods," not only for a few short years but forever. How can man do this? How can he fulfill that desire for perpetual happiness, that longing for unending love, that craving for eternal beauty and joy especially if his life is to end forever in the grave and if the same dreary fate is to await him as awaits the dumb animals? This is where the goodness and infinite generosity of God steps in. It was he who gave us these spiritual faculties. Of their very nature they seek for spiritual fulfillment, and therefore he has planned for us an existence after our earthly death, in which all our rational desires will be fulfilled. This is the message of the Christian faith. St. John says that it conquers and puts in its proper place, in relation to man, our world and all its false attractions. This is the good news which Christ came on earth to establish and announce to men. God has planned a future life of perfect happiness for all who will accept it. Through sending his divine Son in our human nature, he has elevated our nature and given us a new status, the status of adopted sons. It gives us a right to the eternal kingdom of the Father. Our mortal life, if left to itself, would end naturally in the grave. But through the incarnation it is transformed into a new and everlasting life. As the preface of the Mass for the dead says : "life is not taken away (from us) rather it is changed." Death for the adopted son of God is not the end but the beginning of the true, beautiful and happy, unending life. This is surely a story of victory and the true philosophy of life. Our Christian faith alone gives the answer to all the problems which have disturbed men down through the ages. We, therefore, have the truth. We know the real facts of life and death. We have God's revelation through Christ, but we must put our knowledge into daily practice. It is not enough to be a Christian, nor enough to know where we are going, "it is not those who say to me 'Lord, Lord' who will enter into the kingdom of heaven but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven" (Mt. 7: 2 1). We must live as Christians, and travel the road marked out for us by Christ. We must do the will of God every day of our lives. We must love God, then, and love our neighbor who is a fellow-child of God like ourselves. We must keep God's commandments. When we truly realize what reward awaits us, the keeping of the commandments will not be a burden but, as St. John says, a pleasure and a privilege. Our Christian faith is surely the victory which overcomes the world. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GOSPEL: John 20: 19-31. On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe." Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." Now Jesus did many other things in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. EXPLANATION: Last Sunday's gospel, also taken from St. John, described the first hint at the resurrection which the Apostles received. Peter and John, convinced that the body had not been taken away, because the winding sheets were left behind, were beginning to believe. But the others were skeptical, the two disciples on the way to Emmaus paid no heed to the women's story, and Thomas refused to believe the testimony of the other ten, even when this present appearance of our Lord had convinced them. evening of...first day: The evening of the Sunday. the doors being shut...: He came through the closed door, which shows the spiritual qualities of the resurrected body (see 1 Cor. 15: 44-48). came and stood among them: To prove that he was the Christ who had been crucified and who was now alive once more. Peace be with you: Jews saluted one another by wishing peace, that is, health and prosperity both in the material and spiritual sense. Here Christ is not only wishing "well-being," especially the spiritual well-being, but he is giving it (see 14: 27). so I send you: He is now conferring on them the mission he had promised them before his death (see Mt. 4: 19; Jn. 17: 18 etc.), which was the continuation of the work of divine salvation inaugurated by himself. Receive the Holy Spirit: He breathed on them and said these words---the sacramental action. He had promised them the Holy Spirit when he had returned to his Father in glory (7: 39; 16: 7). This condition had been fulfilled that Easter morning. If you forgive...sins: Catholic tradition has rightly seen in this act the institution of the Sacrament of Penance. Thomas, one of the twelve...: He stubbornly refused to believe the word of the other ten Apostles and perhaps of disciples also who may have been with them. He needed personal evidence and the merciful Savior gave him that evidence. eight days later: For Thomas's sake the risen Jesus appeared again in the very same place and circumstances. He asked Thomas to prove for himself that his body bore the marks of the crucifixion. Thomas answered: Whether Thomas did touch the sacred wounds we are not told but his statement: My Lord and my God: Proves how convinced he now was. And his statement goes further in expressing the divine nature of Christ than that of any other person in the four Gospels. "Lord and God" were the words used in the Old Testament to stress the true God "Yahweh Elohim." Blessed...who have not seen: Christ is not belittling Thomas's expression of faith, but rather his slowness in accepting it on the testimony of others. Far greater, therefore, and more meritorious, Christ says, is the faith of all those, including ourselves, who have not had the privilege of seeing the risen Christ with our bodily eyes, but yet have believed in him on reliable testimony. Many other things: These last two verses were the original ending of John's gospel. Chapter 21 was added later. His reason for writing his gospel was that men might believe that the Jesus who lived and died in Palestine was the promised Messiah and the true Son of God. He who believes this and lives up to his belief will have everlasting life because of what this Jesus has done for all men. APPLICATION: It may surprise and amaze us that the Apostles were so reluctant to believe that Christ had risen from the dead, to live forever in glory with his Father in heaven. But we must remember that during their two or three years with him they saw nothing in him but a mere man, one with divine powers, but yet a man; certain prophets of the old covenant had some such powers also. Christ had "emptied himself" of his divine nature, and he had foretold his resurrection many times. But that he could be really God, as well as man, was something they could not then grasp, and if he was a mere man death had to be the end. Their slowness of faith had its value for the future Church and for all of us. If they had been expecting the resurrection, and anxiously looking forward to it, people could say that they imagined it, that they persuaded themselves it had happened. Indeed, there have been men proud of their acuteness of judgement, who have said that the story of the resurrection is a story of mass hallucination, although all the evidence proves the opposite. Their conviction that it could not happen, could not be removed from their minds except by impressive evidence that it had. Hallucination is born in a mind already expecting and hoping for the imagined fact. We can thank the Apostles and especially Thomas, the last to give in, that our faith in the resurrection and divine glorification of Christ is that much the stronger. Our Christianity which would have ended before the first Easter week had passed, if Christ had not risen in glory, spread rapidly to the then known world and is still spreading, because its author was none other than Christ "our Lord and our God." How prophetic were the words of Gamaliel at the meeting of the Sanhedrin which tried to prevent the Apostles from preaching the new Christian faith: "If this plan or work is of men, it will be overthrown; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow it" (Acts 5: 38-39).b167 Click to return to our Home page