The Ascension of our Lord

First Reading: Acts 1:1-31.

Christ returns to his Father, promising to send the Holy Spirit, and sending out the Apostles.

Second Reading: Ephesians 1: 17-23.

St Paul prays that we may recognize the destiny to which God is calling us.

Gospel: Luke 24: 46-53.

Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to give us power to witness to him.

Points for Reflection

1. While on earth, the body of Jesus was subject, like ours, to limitations of time and space. At his resurrection, he passed into another order of life to be united with his Father.

2. After repeated appearances to the apostles, he finally withdrew, making it clear that they could expect to see him no more in the flesh until his return in glory. But this means that there is now a man, one of us, raised to a position of equality with God.

3. This has implications for our relationship with each other. If God has so raised Jesus, he has so raised human nature and every man and woman as brothers and sisters of Christ.

4. As Christians, therefore, we ought to have a universal concern. We are involved with the whole world. Jesus expected the apostles to be concerned with the whole of the world. He sent them out “to all nations”. Equally, we have to do anything in our power to help all the people of the world to become one family, the family of God. Jesus will always be with us to inspire and strengthen us as we do our very best to be living witnesses to his merciful, infinite and universal love.

St. Matthias

According to Acts 1:15-26, during the days after the Ascension, Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers (about 120 of Jesus’ followers). Now that Judas had betrayed his ministry, it was necessary, Peter said, to fulfill the scriptural recommendation: “May another take his office.” “Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men who accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us, become with us a witness to his resurrection” (Acts 1:21-22).

They nominated two men: Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias. They prayed and drew lots. The choice fell upon Matthias, who was added to the Eleven.

Matthias is not mentioned by name anywhere else in the New Testament.

Comment:

What was the holiness of Matthias? Obviously he was suited for apostleship by the experience of being with Jesus from his baptism to his ascension. He must also have been suited personally, or he would not have been nominated for so great a responsibility. Must we not remind ourselves that the fundamental holiness of Matthias was his receiving gladly the relationship with the Father offered him by Jesus and completed by the Holy Spirit? If the apostles are the foundations of our faith by their witness, they must also be reminders, if only implicitly, that holiness is entirely a matter of God’s giving, and it is offered to all, in the everyday circumstances of life. We receive, and even for this God supplies the power of freedom.

Quote:

Jesus speaks of the apostles’ function of being judges, that is, rulers. He said, “Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me, in the new age, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory, will yourselves sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28).

At Fatima, Pope Asks Mary to Help Keep Priests Holy

Pope Benedict XVI waves after arriving at the Marian shrine of Fatima in central Portugal May 12.

FATIMA, Portugal (CNS)—Pope Benedict XVI prayed at the site of Mary's apparitions at Fatima and entrusted the world's priests to her, saying the church needs "holy priests, transfigured by grace."

The pope prayed that Mary keep priests from the temptations of evil and "restore calm after the tempest."

While he did not explicitly refer to the priestly sex abuse crisis, the pope's remarks May 12 in some ways echoed what he said on his flight to Portugal the previous day, when he called the scandal a "terrifying" example of sins committed by the church's own ministers and urged a process of penance and purification in the church.

The German pope arrived at Fatima to the cheers of more than 40,000 faithful, many of them sick or disabled, who had waited for hours at the sanctuary. Some watched from stretchers as the pope waved from a pavilion overlooking a vast plaza in front of the shrine, as cold rain showers alternated with sunshine.

The pope then knelt in the Chapel of the Apparitions, built on the site where three shepherd children witnessed a series of apparitions beginning May 13, 1917. In a prayer recited before a statue of Mary, he recalled that Pope John Paul II had placed in its crown a fragment of a gunman's bullet that seriously wounded him May 13, 1981.

He noted that the Polish pope was convinced Mary had saved his life that day.

"It is a profound consolation to know that you are crowned not only with the silver and gold of our joys and hopes, but also with the 'bullet' of our anxieties and sufferings," Pope Benedict said. He left a gold rose at the statue's feet.

After celebrating evening prayer with priests, religious and seminarians, the pope pronounced the "act of entrustment and consecration of priests to the immaculate heart of Mary." In the Year for Priests, he said, it was important to remind priests that Christ is their model of holiness.

"Help us, through your powerful intercession, never to fall short of this sublime vocation, nor to give way to our selfishness, to the allurements of the world and to the wiles of the Evil One," he said.

"Let your presence cause new blooms to burst forth in the desert of our loneliness, let it cause the sun to shine on our darkness, let it restore calm after the tempest," he said. "Come to our aid and deliver us from every danger that threatens us."

The entrustment of the world's priests to Mary was a late addition to the papal program in Fatima. It came as the pope and other church officials have responded to disclosures of hundreds of past cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests in several European countries.

In his comments to reporters aboard his plane May 11, the pope described the scandal as a grave spiritual failing that highlights the need for penance and spiritual conversion inside the church. In a letter to Irish Catholics in March, the pope said abusive priests had betrayed the trust of innocent young people and would answer to God for their sins.

At the evening prayer service in Fatima's immense and modern Church of the Most Holy Trinity, the pope spoke about the importance of the Year for Priests and his hope that the church's ordained ministers would strengthen their commitment to their vocations, above all through prayer.

He told priests that their own spiritual lives were crucial to their effectiveness in proclaiming the radical challenge of the Gospel.

"How much we need this witness today! Many of our brothers and sisters live as if there were nothing beyond this life and without concern for their eternal salvation," he said.

The pope encouraged priests to look out for one another's spiritual health and intervene when necessary.

"Be especially attentive to those situations where there is a certain weakening of priestly ideals or dedication to activities not fully consonant with what is proper for a minister of Jesus Christ. Then is the time to take a firm stand, with an attitude of warm fraternal love, as brother assisting his brother to remain on his feet," he said.

The pope also urged priests to help the church discern new vocations. As with many European countries, Portugal has seen a gradual but consistent drop in the number of seminarians; today there are about 290 seminarians in the country, down nearly 60 percent from 35 years ago.

The vocations rate in Portugal, where nearly 90 percent of the population professes Catholicism, is today among the lowest in Europe. Church officials said increasing participation by young people in Catholic lay movements was a hopeful sign for the future, and they were also hoping the pope's visit would stir new interest in vocations.

---from American Catholic

3rd Sunday of Lent (C)

First Reading: Exodus 3: 1-8, 13-15. God reveals himself to Moses and promises to bring the Israelites out of slavery.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10: 1-6, 10-12. Some of the Israelites accepted their deliverance from slavery, but did not respond with faith in God. This brought them death.

Gospel: Luke 13: 1-9. The fruitless tree will be cut down; but God will give us yet another chance to turn to him and do his will.

Points for Reflection by Fr Carlo Tei

Today’s Scripture Readings warn us against the danger of being overconfident about our salvation.

1. The First Reading presents Moses, who is called by God to deliver the Israelites from slavery.

2. In his Letter to the Corinthians St Paul points out that the history of Israel must be a warning to us Christians. All the Israelites, under the leadership of Moses, crossed the Red Sea, but most of them, because of their lack of faith in God, did not reach the Promised Land. They died in the wilderness. The same thing could happen to us as well: the fact that we are all baptized will not guarantee our salvation, unless our hearts are really converted to God.

3. The same warning comes from today’s Gospel: “If you do not repent, you will all perish”. Jesus refers to two tragic incidents that took place in Jerusalem: a repression of a group of Galileans and the fall of a tower, which caused the death of many people. Jesus points out to the crowds that those who were murdered and killed in those two incidents were no greater sinners than the rest: “If you do not repent, you will all perish as they did”. Then he clarifies his thought with the parable of the barren fig tree. Israel must repent before the time of grace runs out.

4. We are Christ’s disciples. He has delivered us from slavery to sin. We belong to his Church, and we all share the same Eucharistic Banquet. This, however, is no guarantee of salvation. Unless we repent, we will all perish. Thus, what really matters in our Christian life is our being converted to God. A living example of “conversion to God” is Jesus Christ Our Lord. Like him, we should put God the Father at the centre of our values and concerns. It is by doing the will of God, like Jesus did, that we are gradually converted to him.

Father Matteo Ricci in China, JS

2nd Sunday of Lent

First Reading: Genesis 15: 5-12, 17-18. God made a covenant with Abraham because of his faith.

Second Reading: Philippians 3: 17-4:1. If we persevere with Christ as our model, he will change our weakness into glory.

Gospel: Luke 9: 28b-36. The Apostles Peter, James and John see Jesus in the glory of his future Resurrection.

Points for Reflection --Fr Carlo Tei

When God made his covenant with Abraham, he allowed Abraham for a moment to see his glory in the form of fire.

In the same way, once Peter, James and John had accepted Jesus as the Messiah who had to suffer and die, they were allowed for a moment to have a glimpse of his future glory: the glory of his Resurrection. With a mixture of exaltation and awe, they recognized Moses and Elijah with him, symbolizing the law and the prophets, and Jesus as the Lord of both. Jesus spoke to them of his death as the necessary prelude to his Resurrection, according to the will of the Father, whose voice, proclaiming him as his chosen Son, was heard coming from a cloud.

If, as Paul tells us, we also are to be transfigured, it will mean following Jesus Christ, our Leader and Saviour, in everything, including a love for the Father and our brothers and sisters that might lead us to our cross. There is no avoiding the road of love that leads to our personal Calvary if we are to follow Him up the glory of the Resurrection.

It is difficult for us, as it was for the Apostles to follow, trust and love a Messiah obedient to death--even a death on a cross out of love for the Father and for us. We are so often tempted to follow our own standards of living instead of moulding our thoughts, desires, plans and actions upon our faith in Jesus.

As we are preparing for the celebration of Easter, God invites us once again to “listen to his chosen Son”. Though difficult it may be, if we answer God’s call, he will transfigure us, too, and we will hare his Son’s glory and build a better world.

A TIME OF GRACE

5th Sunday of the Year C

First Reading: Isaiah 6: 1-8.  Isaiah has a vision of God and realizes that he is called to speak for him. Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11.  Paul preaches the Resurrection of Christ as the basis of our faith.
Gospel: Luke 5: 1-11.  Peter recognizes a more than human power in Jesus and responds by following him.

Points for Reflection-by Fr Carlo Tei

1. The Scripture Readings of the 5th Sunday of the Year (C) give an account of what happened to three of the most illustrious figures in the history of salvation: the Prophet Isaiah and the Apostles Paul and Peter. In a certain moment of their lives, all three experienced:

• the living presence of the Lord;

• their own unworthiness;

• and their dependence on him.

At the end of their experience:

• they entrusted themselves to the Lord;

• allowed him to take charge of their lives;

• and were enlisted to carry out the work entrusted to them by God.

2. What happened to these three great servants of the Lord is something that also touches upon our lives.

• First of all, God speaks to us, too, although to each one of us in a different way. We should always be open and attentive to the Spirit, who reaches us through the events and the people we come across in our daily lives or through “his own special ways”.

• Secondly, there are times when we feel our unworthiness before God. They are privileged moments when we are given the opportunity to free ourselves of our illusions and are reminded that all that is good and worthwhile comes only from God.

• When we recognize our unworthiness, we also come to know God’s merciful love for each one of us. And every experience of God’s love for us becomes the source of our love for others and the starting point of our missionary witness, of our work of evangelization. The more we recognize that God is love, the more we feel commissioned to tell other people about God and his love; and to share this love with anyone we come across in our daily lives, especially with those who feel lonely and neglected, and with those who are still waiting for some fishers of men to help them free themselves from the power of evil hidden in so many wordly illusions, enchantments and deceitful attractions.

Presentation of the Lord

At the end of the fourth century, a woman named Etheria made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her journal, discovered in 1887, gives an unprecedented glimpse of liturgical life there. Among the celebrations she describes is the Epiphany (January 6), the observance of Christ’s birth, and the gala procession in honor of his Presentation in the Temple 40 days later—February 15. (Under the Mosaic Law, a woman was ritually "unclean” for 40 days after childbirth, when she was to present herself to the priests and offer sacrifice—her "purification.” Contact with anyone who had brushed against mystery—birth or death—excluded a person from Jewish worship.) This feast emphasizes Jesus’ first appearance in the Temple more than Mary’s purification.

The observance spread throughout the Western Church in the fifth and sixth centuries. Because the Church in the West celebrated Jesus’ birth on December 25, the Presentation was moved to February 2, 40 days after Christmas.

At the beginning of the eighth century, Pope Sergius inaugurated a candlelight procession; at the end of the same century the blessing and distribution of candles which continues to this day became part of the celebration, giving the feast its popular name: Candlemas.

Comment:

In Luke’s account, Jesus was welcomed in the temple by two elderly people, Simeon and the widow Anna. They embody Israel in their patient expectation; they acknowledge the infant Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. Early references to the Roman feast dub it the feast of St. Simeon, the old man who burst into a song of joy which the Church still sings at day’s end.

Quote:

"Christ himself says, ‘I am the light of the world.’ And we are the light, we ourselves, if we receive it from him.... But how do we receive it, how do we make it shine? ...[T]he candle tells us: by burning, and being consumed in the burning. A spark of fire, a ray of love, an inevitable immolation are celebrated over that pure, straight candle, as, pouring forth its gift of light, it exhausts itself in silent sacrifice” (Paul VI). --from American Catholic

Priests and the digital world: Part 1

Priests and the digital world: Part 1