The Sunday Gospel For Men

At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her. Jesus’ disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And the woman’s daughter was healed from that hour. Matthew 15:21-28 The Right Time We often want God to take problems away immediately. He knows the right time, however, and waits for us to arrive at the right disposition of receptivity. When Jesus met this Gentile mother, initially he does not respond to her plea for help. If we have faith in Jesus, why does he not just solve our problems right away? Why does he allow us to suffer? In this case, if Jesus is waging war against the demons, why does he not jump at the opportunity to cast a demon out of a poor child? It seems counterproductive to his mission to let people be possessed and tormented by evil spirits. The woman persists as she begs for mercy, saying, “Lord, help me.” In this, she provides an important example. God often makes us wait so that we can come to the right interior disposition. Rather than taking away our problems, he wants to fix things within us and waits for the right response of the heart. The Gentile woman persists. After she brings her request, she was met with silence from God and resistance from the disciples. Throughout this difficult test, her faith was not shaken. This must be our model for prayer. When you ask the Lord for help, you must remain persistent in your pleading, and you must not waver in your faith. At times, you will not hear God’s response to your prayer. Men may dismiss you and attempt to dissuade you. God may even say that your favor should not be granted at this time or he may have something else in mind that is even better. But whenever you pray, you must follow the example of the woman in today’s Gospel and be persistent in your intercession and constant in your faith. In your prayer today, recall any prayers that have gone without a response. Remain constant in your righteous petitions and firm in your faith.

After he had fed the people, Jesus made the disciples get into a boat and precede him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening he was there alone. Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore, was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. “It is a ghost,” they said, and they cried out in fear. At once Jesus spoke to them, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter said to him in reply, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” After they got into the boat, the wind died down. Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, “Truly, you are the Son of God.” Matthew 14:22-33 Sacred Silence Jesus was seeking silence and solitude for prayer after he heard about John the Baptist’s death (see Matthew 13:13). He and his apostles crossed the Sea of Galilee to a deserted place, but the crowds raced around the sea, and they were waiting to hear him preach. Although he was seeking solitude, he was moved with pity and preached to them. When the crowds dispersed, Jesus sent his apostles ahead, and “he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.” When Jesus prays to the Father, he heeds his own advice. He does not make a spectacle on the streets or in the synagogues. He seeks out solitude, and his Father hears him in secret (see Matthew 6:6) In The Power of Silence, Cardinal Robert Sarah explains the importance of silence in our lives today. He says: If man seeks God and wants to find him, if he desires a life of the most intimate union with him, silence is the most direct path and the surest means of attaining it. Silence is of capital importance because it enables the Church to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, imitating his thirty silent years in Nazareth, his forty days and forty nights of fasting, and intimate dialogue with the Father in the solitude and silence of the desert. (pp. 219-20) The power of silence is rooted in the imitation of Christ. Jesus taught us to pray silently and frequently demonstrated the importance of silent prayer. In the same book, Cardinal Sarah warns that silence can become a kind of idolatry if we seek silence as a goal in itself: “We do not seek silence for its own sake, as though it were our goal. We seek silence because we seek God. And we will find it if we are silent in the very depths of our heart” (p. 193). We must not enjoy silence as a final end, but we must use it as a means of drawing closer to the Father in heaven. In the modern world, we are constantly surrounded by noise. Our phones are always sounding notifications, and even when they are not notifying us of anything, we are continuously checking them. The drive to work is filled with noise from the radio or some podcast or audiobook to which we listen. Many men walk around with AirPods in their ears, oblivious to the world around them. It is so hard to find time to listen to God silently. Even the calls to silent prayer in the Mass are frequently omitted. Like a storm at sea, the noise of the modern world threatens to overtake us. As Exodus men, we have committed to daily silent prayer. This is a time to turn off the interior and exterior distractions that threaten to eliminate the time we have set aside to listen to God. Today, honor your commitment to silent prayer. Imitate Jesus and go to a deserted place to sit silently, drawing closer to your Father in heaven.

Luke 9:28b-36 Jesus took Peter, John, and James and went up a mountain to pray. While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem. Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” But he did not know what he was saying. While he was still speaking, a cloud came and cast a shadow over them, and they became frightened when they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.” After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They fell silent and did not at that time tell anyone what they had seen. The Chosen Son Jesus went up a mountain to pray, and he brought Peter, James, and John with him. These three men were among Jesus’s closest and most trustworthy friends. St. Hilary of Poitiers (d. 367) interprets this event allegorically, saying, “By the three disciples who were taken apart is shown the future election of the people who were to come from a threefold origin: Shem, Ham, and Japheth” (Commentary on Matthew, 186) Thus, just as the world would be reborn through Noah’s offspring, the Church would be born through Jesus’s apostles. Ultimately, Peter, James, and John were given the tremendous gift of witnessing Jesus’s glory to strengthen their faith for their impending trials. Jesus revealed his glory when his “face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white.” It must have been both dazzling and blinding to look at. Similarly, in Exodus, “the glory of the Lord was seen as a consuming fire on the top of [Mt. Sinai]” (Exodus 24:17). Both on Mt. Sinai and on Mt. Tabor, the glory of God is seen as a blinding light. St. Luke asserts that the disciples overhear Moses and Elijah speaking to Jesus about “his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.” This account is slightly different from the other Gospel accounts since they do not include the details of what they spoke about (see Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8). St. Luke is going a step further than the other evangelists and directly connecting Moses and Jesus by identifying Christ as the prophet-like Moses (see Deuteronomy 18:15-19). The three persons of the blessed Trinity are revealed during the transfiguration. The Father speaks aloud, and the cloud of the Spirit overshadows them. Again, the cloud is reminiscent of Moses on Mt. Sinai (see Exodus 24:15-18). Here, Jesus both embodies the prophet-like Moses, and he far surpasses the Old Testament prophecy. For example, God tells Moses: I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kindred and will put my words into the mouth of the prophet; the prophet shall tell them all that I command. Anyone who will not listen to my words which the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will hold accountable for it. (Deuteronomy 18:18-19). But Jesus is not merely the mouthpiece of God; he is the Word of God made man, and the Father commands us to “listen to him.” When the Father revealed himself on the mountain, the disciples “fell silent.” In your prayer today, silently reflect on Jesus’s identity and on the goodness of the most holy Trinity in your life.

Matthew 13:44-52 Jesus said to his disciples: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. “Do you understand all these things?” They answered, “Yes.” And he replied, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.” The Kingdom of Heaven Jesus likens the kingdom of heaven to three illustrations. Through the first two examples, he explains how precious the kingdom is. It is like a treasure buried in a field or like a pearl of great price that a merchant finds. Imagine what kind of rare objects you would drop everything and buy if you found them. Perhaps a signed rookie card of a great athlete, a remote lake house, or a Lamborghini Veneno in your favorite color. Or, perhaps more realistically, think of something so compelling you could not refuse to accept it: the perfect job, an amazing vacation, or seeing a beloved family member after a long time. Whatever it might be, imagine something of such great value that you jump at it without hesitation. The kingdom is compared to things of great value and also ones that you would leave everything to possess. The man who finds a treasure in the field sells everything he owns to purchase the field. Likewise, the merchant sells all that he possesses to attain the pearl. These men do not wait to “get a good deal” upon finding the treasure. They find them, and they do whatever it takes to get them immediately. If we want to enter the kingdom of heaven, we must follow the examples of the men in these stories. We will have to leave everything behind. We cannot be slaves to our phones, our finances, or our free time. Instead, we must abstain from unnecessary phone use, refrain from non-essential purchases, and offer up daily prayer time. If we truly want to be saints and to go to heaven, we boldly must live a generous life, giving every moment to the Lord. Once we understand the value of eternity with God in heaven, we will be compelled to give everything so that we can be united to God forever. The third comparison in this Gospel reading explains the urgency of our decisions. The kingdom is like a dragnet that is thrown into the sea. This net would be pulled between two boats, or it would be thrown into the sea and pulled to shore by two ropes. This net indiscriminately gathers all the fish of the sea. The good fish are put into barrels, and the bad fish are cast back into the darkness. So it will be for us at the end of the age. We will all die; we will all be judged. The elect will experience the vision of God, and the damned will be cast into the fiery furnace. This is not a game we are playing. Our life has real rewards, and our actions have real repercussions. Today offer some time in silent prayer. Meditate on the value and urgency of the kingdom of heaven using the three images Jesus used in today’s Gospel reading: a treasure in a field, a pearl of great price, and a net in the sea.

Matthew 13:24-43 Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “first collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’” He proposed another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.’” He spoke to them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.” All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world. Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.” The Great Harvest In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells a parable about the end of the age. When time comes to an end, the angels will come to separate the children of the kingdom from the children of the evil one. At the end of the age, the children of the evil one will be burnt in “the fiery furnace where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth,” but “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Commenting on this parable, Origen says, “The whole world, not only the Church of God, may be called a field. For as the Son of Man planted the good seed, the devil planted the weeds of evil words. Since these latter words have their origin in wickedness, they are sons of the evil one” (Matthew: Interpreted by Early Christian Commentators, 273). This evil is represented in the parable as a poisonous weed called darnel. The only use for this weed is to burn it. The harvest of the field may seem a distant and unrelatable event. But, as Matthew later recounts, “of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven nor the Son, but the Father only. As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:36-37). The harvest could come anytime—in ten minutes or in ten thousand years. Like the age of Noah, this harvest will be a cataclysmic age. Time itself will end. In the age of Noah, “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). In response to this wickedness, God blotted out man and every beast. But this will...

Matthew 13:1-23 On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.” The disciples approached him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because they look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand. Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says: You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted, and I heal them. “But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. “Hear then the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.” Understanding the Word There is a symmetry in today’s Gospel around the seeds that bear fruit and those that do not. Jesus describes three conditions in which the seeds will not bear any fruit—along the path, in rocky places, and in thorny places. He also describes three levels of fruitfulness in the rich soil: “A hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.” The meaning of “along the path” may be obscured to us. Living in cities with modern roads, many men seldom see natural paths. As these natural paths are frequently traversed, they acquire a stone-like rigidity. When the seeds fall along the path, they fall onto packed dirt, and they cannot penetrate the earth. When the word of God reaches the soul of a man like this path, his heart has already been hardened—he is pre-resigned not to accept the word of God. Rather than experiencing joy, these souls will be eaten up by the birds. Those who do not allow the word of God to take root will be devoured. The seeds that fall on the rocky ground take root. The soul who hears the word of God is filled with unearthly joy. But when tribulations come, the initial joy the soul experienced quickly dies. The soul burns in the hot sun. The last condition of failure is the seeds that fall among thorns where “worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit.” The soul in this condition is verdant and fertile. When the word of God comes to this soul, it takes root and springs forth. However, not only...

At that time Jesus exclaimed: I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him. Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light. Matthew 11:25-30 Freedom In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls a certain set of people to him—all those who labor and are burdened. Commenting on the phrase “labor and burdened,” St. Thomas Aquinas says that “labor” refers both to God’s law and commandments as well as our human fragility. Man’s labor is to follow the commandments of God in man’s weakened state. On the other hand, St. Thomas says that “burden” refers to the weight of sin. As St. John Chrysostom says, “Nothing so weighs upon the soul, and presses it down, as consciousness of sin; nothing so much gives it wings, and raises it on high, as the attainment of righteousness and virtue.” When Jesus promises to give rest to the laboring and the burdened, he is inviting them to a life of virtue—a life of freedom. To accept this freedom, we must take Christ’s yoke upon us and learn from him: “For my yoke is easy and my burden light.” This is a rather confusing teaching. Jesus is freeing us from labor and our burden by promising us his yoke and his burden. Christ’s burden seems heavier than the commandments of the Old Law, for he says, “You have heard that it was said to those of old: ‘you shall not kill’ . . . But I say to you, that everyone who is angry with his brother, shall be liable to judgment” (Matthew 5:21–22). But his burden is light because it changes us at our core—our hearts. While it is difficult for a man filled with hatred to avoid murder, it is easy for a man filled with God’s freeing love to avoid anger. Jesus gives two reasons why we will find rest when we take his yoke and his burden. He has the path to freedom because he is “meek and humble of heart.” St. Thomas says, “[T]he whole new law consists in two things: in meekness and humility. By meekness a man is ordered with respect to neighbor . . . By humility, one is ordered with respect to himself and with respect to God . . . Hence humility makes a man receptive of God.” When we imitate Christ’s meekness and humility, we have a right ordering toward ourselves, toward others, and toward God. Do not fear Christ’s yoke; do not back away from the yoke that lightens all things. Rather, place yourself under it with all haste, and then you will know the pleasure of Christ’s light yoke. For it will not bruise your neck; it will lead you along the narrow way, teaching you how to walk seemly, ordering your every action toward the Lord. In your prayer, today, ask the Lord to give you freedom by yoking you to a virtuous life; pray for the strength to bear this yoke. Then, learn from Christ how to live in virtue—being meek and humble in heart.

Jesus said to his apostles: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because the little one is a disciple—amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.” Matthew 10:37-42 Love and Reception In the first part of today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks of three loves that should not supersede the love of God. They are the love of father and mother, the love of son or daughter, and the love of self. Our love must be ordered in and to God. It is right to love one’s mother and father. Parents are God’s instruments of life and teaching. Likewise, it is right to love son or daughter. As a father, it is your responsibility to provide for your children's education; this education includes showing your children how to love and to recognize that they are loved. Lastly, it is natural to love oneself in order to care for the needs of body and soul. Love of self is often a vice because it is very easy to love yourself in a disordered way. All these loves must be directed toward a love for God. Parents are the instruments of God who brought you life and education. If you are a parent, God has entrusted the care of his little ones to you. And you yourself are a child of God. In rightly loving yourself, you are honoring the God who created you. What does loving yourself virtuously look like? It entails knowing your true good and doing what is necessary to pursue it: Taking up your cross and following Christ. As a Christian, you are called to love yourself by leading a life of prayer and asceticism. As Paul says, “Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14). In the second part of today’s Gospel Jesus talks about the rewards for receiving certain persons. In receiving a disciple, you receive Christ; in receiving Christ, you receive the one who sent Christ, the Father. Likewise, when you receive a prophet—on account of his prophecy—you receive a prophet’s reward, and when you receive a righteous man—on account of his righteousness—you receive a righteous man’s reward. Saint Jerome offer’s an interpretation of the reception of prophets: In every profession (of faith), there are weeds mixed in with the wheat. [Jesus] had previously said: “He who receives you, receives me, and he who receives me, receives him who sent me.” He had challenged the disciples to receive teachers. A concealed reply of the believers could have been: Should we then receive even false prophets and Judas the traitor, and supply their cost of living? The Lord, attending to this matter earlier, says that it is not the persons who are to be received, but the offices; and those who receive them will not lose their reward, even if the one who is received is unworthy. In your prayer today, love Christ first. Then, ask him to show you how this love will manifest itself in your relations to self, others, and God.

Jesus said to the Twelve: “Fear no one. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.” Matthew 10:26-33 Fear No One In Psalm 27, David asks, “Whom shall I fear?”—quem timebo (Psalm 27:1). And in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus answers this question: “Fear no one.” He then deepens his response, saying that we should fear the one who can destroy our soul, but it is wrong to fear those who only threaten to harm our bodies. Putting the soul first and striving for indifference about bodily matters forms a very important part of the writing Principle and Foundation of the Jesuit Order, founded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola. In this reflection, Ignatius writes: [I]t is necessary to make ourselves indifferent to all created things in all that is allowed to the choice of our free will and is not prohibited to it; so that, on our part, we want not health rather than sickness, riches rather than poverty, honor rather than dishonor, long rather than short life, and so in all the rest. This is no easy task. Have you ever met anyone who was so indifferent to created things that he did not prefer a long life to a short life? Sickness to health? Riches to poverty? Honor to dishonor? The spirit of the worldliness tells us that we must always desire the most dignified place. It says that this desire is purely natural. This spirit tells us that having more money is better than having less money. Saint Ignatius does not say that we should desire to be impoverished but that we should not prefer wealth over poverty. We should accept the state of life that the all-knowing God desires for us. We ought not to fear sickness. Saint Ignatius was very familiar with infirmity as he was bedridden for several weeks recovering from a cannonball that hit his right leg in the Battle of Pamplona. Today our world is greatly afraid of sickness. We run from it, hiding from worldwide pandemics and the common cold. We are terrified of “those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” We should not be afraid. We should not fear sickness rather than health or a short life rather than a long one. Why should we not be afraid? We should not be afraid because of… sparrows. God so loves his creation that not one sparrow falls from the sky without the Father’s knowledge. A man, made in the image and likeness of God, known by the Father since the moment of conception, and baptized into the death and resurrection of the Son, is certainly worth many sparrows. Our bodies will die, and our bodies will rise on the last day. This is a fact. We live in a passing world and are made for the next world. We must not fear the trials of this life. Our only fear should be the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. But even here, we know that Christ has conquered death and Hades. Because Christ has been victorious, we must fear no one. In your prayer today, do not be afraid. Thank the Lord for his loving care. Thank him for your wealth or poverty, your sickness or health, your long or short life, and your honors or dishonors. “If God is for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31).

At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; Simon from Cana, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.” Matthew 9:36-10:8 Recognizing God’s Voice In today’s Gospel, Jesus is moved by pity. When he sees the lost sheep of the house of Israel, he says that they are “like sheep without a shepherd”. Through his Apostles, he speaks to the sheep and leads them to life. Have you ever seen sheep without a shepherd? The shepherd protects the sheep from other animals and points the sheep toward verdant pastures. The shepherd knows what is best for the sheep, and he helps the sheep act to their advantage. Without a shepherd, the sheep will wander aimlessly for days on end. They will move from one perceived good to the next perceived good with no mind for prudence. This is the image Jesus chooses to describe the state of the nation: wandering like sheep without a shepherd. To solve the pastoral privation, “he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.” At this point, he instructs the twelve only to preach to the Jewish nation; he will send them to preach to all nations later (see Matthew 28:18-20). When they preach, they are instructed to “Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, [and] drive out demons.” These actions accompany the Apostle’s message to the Jews. A good shepherd calls his sheep and the sheep follow him—“he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice” (John 10:4). As shepherds, the Apostles are calling out to the Jewish nation saying, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” They lead the sheep to the green pastures of repentance and sorrow for sins. The sheep will know this is God’s message to them by the actions accompanying the message: the sick are made well, the dead are brought to life, and the evil spirits are driven away. We are still sheep, but we have a shepherd. In every age, the Apostles and their successors (the bishops) proclaim the message of God to us: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Through the sacraments, the three marks of God’s voice are still heard. Through baptism, the dead are brought to life—we are baptized into Christ’s death and raised in Christ’s resurrection (see Romans 6:3-5). In the anointing of the sick, our infirmities are healed. St. Thomas Aquinas says that this sacrament is “directed against bodily sickness as a result of sin, [and] against other consequences of sin—namely, proneness to evil and difficulty in respect of good (Contra Gentiles 4.73). Demons are still cast out in exorcisms. As the Catechism says, “Exorcism is directed at the expulsion of demons or to the liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to the Church” (CCC, 1673). In your silent prayer today, reflect on how the successors of the apostles are shepherds. Where do you hear the voice of God, and how do you recognize it?

Jesus said to the Jewish crowds: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” John 6:51-58 Frequent Communion Today is the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. This feast was first established in Belgium in the 1200s as a response to the debates about the True Presence and frequent reception of Holy Communion. It came from Julianna of Cornillon’s vision, where Jesus lamented the absence of a particular feast in the Church’s calendar focused on his sacramental presence on the altar. The feast was only a local celebration until one of its major supporters, Archdeacon Jacques Pantaléon, became Pope Urban IV in 1261. This feast is historically celebrated on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday (last Sunday), but in the United States of America, the feast has been moved to Sunday. Today we will reflect on the frequent reception of the true body, blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. History has witnessed many different attitudes toward the reception of the Eucharist. In the early Church, all the baptized received the Eucharist; in the Middle Ages, the Church’s call to live a sinless life led to a holy fear of receiving the Eucharist, making it more distant from the laity. Most lay people received the Eucharist only three times a year at Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, after going to confession and preparing themselves. In 1910, Pope Saint Pius X promulgated a decree in which he famously lowered the age of First Communion to that age at which a child can distinguish between the Bread of the Holy Eucharist and ordinary bread. Not only did he lower the age for First Communion, but he said that after First Communion, children should “frequently approach the Holy Table, even daily if possible.” He declared that the “daily approach to Communion is open to all, old and young, and two conditions only are required: the state of grace and a right intention.” These two conditions deserve further reflection. The State of Grace: This means that you are free from all mortal sins. If you are baptized and have validly confessed all of your mortal sins—grievous offenses against the law of God—then you are filled with the life of God—the life of grace. In this state, you ought to receive the Body and Blood of Christ. A Right Intention: Pope Pius X said, “A right intention consists in this: that he who approaches the Holy Table should do so, not out of routine, or vain glory, or human respect, but that he wish to please God, to be more closely united with Him by charity, and to have recourse to this divine remedy for his weakness and defects.” This list is a wonderful examination of conscience before approaching the altar at Mass. Ask yourself if you are only approaching the Eucharist out of habit, or for your own glory, or human respect. Ask yourself if you want to please God, to be more closely united to Him by charity, and to have his remedy for your own human weakness and defects. In your silent prayer today, reflect on your intentions. Pray that the Lord will purify your intent to please God, be united to him, and have a remedy for your...

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. John 3:16-18 The Holy Trinity Today we celebrate Trinity Sunday, a celebration that stems from the early Church. At first, it only consisted of songs and hymns written in honor of the Holy Trinity in opposition to the fourth-century teachings of Arius. These hymns worked their way into the Mass on Sunday. We now celebrate Trinity Sunday on the first Sunday after Pentecost every year. Understanding the Holy Trinity was of the utmost importance for the early Church. One of the most precise writings about the Trinity is the Athanasian Creed: Now this is the catholic faith: That we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity, neither blending their persons nor dividing their essence. For the person of the Father is a distinct person, the person of the Son is another, and that of the Holy Spirit still another. But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal … Anyone then who desires to be saved should think thus about the trinity. At the center of the Christian faith stands the eternal truth that the one God is three divine persons. This is a beautiful and mysterious truth. As we reflect on this mystery, we pray to the Trinity. Our connection to the Trinity is in the person of Jesus Christ–*true God* and *true man*. Today’s Gospel focuses on the moment when the Father sends the Son into our human world: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” Even before Jesus became man, God was present everywhere—holding all things in existence. But as a man, Jesus bridges our nature and God’s divine nature. The Son became man not only so that we could know of the Father in this life but also to free us from our sins and to win for us eternal life. Quoting Saint Athanasius, the Catechism affirms this, saying, “The Son of God became man so that we might become God” (CCC 460). When we are free from sin, and enlivened by God's grace, we partake in the life of God. We are made for eternal union with God and to partake of his nature. So in your prayer today, reflect on the Holy Trinity and ask God to continue to help you to be free from sin, to grow in virtue, and become more like Him.

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” John 20:19-23 Peace of Christ We see from today’s Gospel that the disciples were still filled with fear for their lives when the resurrected Lord first appeared to them. There is no doubt that this fear was not just of the Jews who had opposed their Lord. They are said to rejoice at the Lord’s appearance only after he speaks peace to them and shows them his wounds to assure them that it is really he—and not merely a ghost. Having gone from their sight for a little while, as he had told them on the eve of his passion, he now appeared to them and began to give them the promised Holy Spirit. It is perhaps startling that he so quickly gets down to business with them. He has returned not merely to live among them in the same form as before. Instead, he immediately gives them his peace and reminds them that because they are connected to him, they are connected to his Father. As the Son was sent by the Father, so too are they sent by the Son—and they will have the same Holy Spirit with them so that they too can offer the forgiveness of sins. They are sent to be the mediators of the one Mediator between God and Man—the ones who will bring the good news to a broken world that heaven is now open. They will teach the world about the life-giving words of Jesus. They will bring the peace that he is so insistent on bringing to them. It is a marvelous scene but also a touching one. Given that all of them (save John) had completely abandoned or even denied him in his hour of greatest need, one might think that a good scolding might be the first thing he gave them. Instead, it is his peace. That they fell prey to fear did not mean that the Evil One had taken them. He had prayed that his Father would keep them from that. And his prayers were answered. Now he has returned, and he is both gentle with them as well as commanding. They were weak, but he will be their strength. They are frightened, but he will make them not afraid. They had left him, but he has not left them at all. He still wants their friendship and their service. In your prayer today, meditate upon the times when you have abandoned or denied the Lord. How did he appear to you afterward? How did he give you peace? How did he stand you back up on your feet? If you have spiritual responsibility for others—children, students, catechumens, friends—ask the Lord to give you that same peace-giving and challenging way of bringing others to Christ and Christian maturity.

After Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples and eaten breakfast with them, he said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He then said to Simon Peter a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.” John 21:15-19 Saint Peter In Matthew 16, Jesus asks the disciples who the people were saying that he was. They responded that some said Elijah, some John the Baptist, and still others one of the prophets. Jesus then asked who they—the disciples—said he was. Peter’s response, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” lead to Jesus’ famous blessing and the founding charter of the papacy, which would be known as the office of Peter: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16: 16-19). Soon after receiving this blessing and task, Peter responded to Jesus’ teaching about the suffering and death the Christ would have to undergo: “Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you.’ But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men’” (Matthew 16:22-23). The key to understanding this passage is to understand what it means to be “behind” Jesus. The most fundamental aspect of this is to be a follower of Jesus. Peter may be the rock; he is not the manager of the Christ’s affairs. To make this kind of mistake is to open oneself up to other errors. And we know that Peter made them, most importantly denying Christ three times on the brink of his trial. In today’s reading, Jesus is testing Peter to see whether he has regained his steadiness. What he wants to know is whether Peter loves him, a question he asks three times. And to Peter’s affirmations, the Lord tells him what his task is: to feed his lambs, tend his sheep, and feed his sheep. Jesus adds to this task the warning that Peter himself would die the kind of death to which he had objected when Jesus predicted it of himself–death on a cross. We men who have responsibilities as shepherds of families or of others in the Church must both love and follow Jesus—not tell him about how he should follow our plans. In your prayer today, ask the Lord if you have been following him. If there have been places where you have been wandering or have been resisting the Lord’s will and trying to substitute your own, ask him to prune your will and make your love complete.

Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” John 14:15-21 The Holy Spirit Today’s Gospel reading prompts us to ask, “How is it that we can have the strength to keep on being friends with Jesus once he has gone away?” After all, those post-resurrection appearances only lasted for a little less than six weeks—then he ascended into heaven. How do you keep up the friendship with a friend who has gone away? The odd-but-true answer is that he went away in order to be closer to us. It is the Holy Spirit whose power brings us Jesus’ eucharistic presence and gives us the gifts we need to be the ambassadors of Jesus to the world. It is the Holy Spirit who is the one who convicts us of the truth and also serves as our advocate, giving us the words needed to speak to this needy, hostile world. It is that Spirit who gives us access to the mind of the Father. It is that Spirit who is, said St. Augustine, the bond of charity between the Father and the Son. Some skeptics like to mock Christians for their belief about a “man in the sky;” they really like to mock the idea that we believe in a “ghost” who speaks to us. As the Lord said, “the world cannot accept” the Spirit because “it neither sees him nor knows him.” But we do know him even if we cannot see him. We understand him particularly when things are toughest. St. Paul writes, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words” (Romans 8:26). In your prayer today, ask the Holy Spirit to pray in you and form you more fully into the image of the Son of God.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way.” Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.” John 14:1-12 Heavenly Dwelling The Christian life is a pilgrimage. We are journeying toward our final destination—heaven. This life cannot and does not last forever. We cannot live forever on this earth or in these bodies, for both this earth and our bodies will pass away. This life in these bodies tests us and prepares us for eternity. The test is in how we respond to God’s revelation in Jesus, for Jesus is the way to the Father and to the Father’s house. Life can be a blessing only with God for without him all life—even, or perhaps especially, everlasting life—is hellish. That is why our Lord’s words are so comforting. We have the way to heaven in Jesus because he is one with the Father. The Father has loved him, and he has given that love to all those whom the Father has given him so that they might live their lives in Jesus. “It is no longer I that live,” says St. Paul, but “Christ lives in me.” He lives in us, and we live our lives in him. As long as we continue to live in that love, we will keep living and find our permanent resting place after this life. In the Father’s house, Jesus tells the disciples, are many dwelling places—or, in other translations, “mansions.” The Father’s house is the destination of our pilgrimage. And the mansions or dwelling places tell us some important things. First, they are dwelling places—plural. Unlike some philosophical or religious conceptions of our final destination, heaven is a place of variety. It is a place where though we are fully alive in God, this does not erase our individuality. Instead, it gives it to us. We are not assimilated to the Borg or melted into the “One” or the “World Soul.” Jesus promises that he loves us as persons—and persons we will remain, reflecting in our own unique way the glory of God forever. Second, they are dwelling places—places to remain. “Mansion” is a good term if you know a little Latin. The word “mansion” comes from “manere”, which translates to remain. In this life, we have no abiding city, for we are ultimately citizens of the heavenly city. That is our destination, our permanent address. And the determining factor in whether we get there is whether we stick close to the way—Jesus—in this journey. In your prayer today, meditate a little upon times when you have not felt fully yourself or fully at home. Perhaps now is one of those times. Then ask the Holy Spirit to keep before your eyes the way that is Jesus and the goal that is the Father’s house.

Jesus said: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” Although Jesus used this figure of speech, the Pharisees did not realize what he was trying to tell them. So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” John 10:1-10 The Sheep Gate Today’s Gospel may seem to be an odd shift from the images of the previous weeks’ Gospels; as you heard, Jesus goes from speaking of himself as the true bread to speaking of himself as a shepherd and a gate. But as Pope Benedict XVI observed, both images concern what we live on—where we get our life. Jesus is speaking to us over and over again about where we find our life in such images as bread, wine, vine, and shepherd. The true shepherd, the Lord tells us, is the one who gives life to the sheep. The image of Jesus as a gate is perhaps a bit odder and less lifelike to us. Yet it is important, for it makes clear that the way to the Father and abundant life is through him alone: “Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.” As the gate, Jesus is the way to heaven. As the bread, Jesus is the sustenance from heaven. As the shepherd, Jesus is the king of heaven. The image of the gate here also tells us who true shepherds must be. They must be those who have entered the gate themselves. Those who will lead others and feed them must be those who follow Jesus and who gain their lives from him. We can see from John’s comment that the Pharisees do not quite understand what Jesus is saying to them—that they are not true shepherds because they reject him. But the Pharisees are not the only targets of this gate analogy. Men who have families are designated shepherds—so, too, are any men in other positions of authority, such as in the workplace. In all cases, they will only be true shepherds if they enter the gate of Christ. Do you have a position in which you are a shepherd of some sort? In your prayer today, ask the Lord to guide you so that you can be a true shepherd who feeds the sheep and tends to the lambs placed in your care. Your success hinges on these followers being able to hear the voice of the true shepherd in you. And hearing that voice is dependent upon your entering fully into the gate who is Jesus. Pray today that those entrusted to you might hear Christ’s voice in and through yours.

That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you discussing as you walk along?” They stopped, looking downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” And he replied to them, “What sort of things?” They said to him, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see.” And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the Scriptures. As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!” Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread. Luke 24:13-35 Finding Christ This Gospel teaches us how Christ reveals himself both in the scriptures and in the breaking of the bread. It is interesting to notice how Jesus chose to reveal himself to the disciples after the Resurrection. He approaches two of the disciples who do not understand his death and are leaving Jerusalem. Then, he asks them what they are talking about, and when he hears their half-understood explanation of his Passion, he begins to explain the mysteries of the scriptures to them. Jesus gives these two disciples an exclusive, all-day, first-person Bible study showing how all the scriptures bore witness to him and to what he had to do in his Passion. He does this all without saying, “Hey, it’s me!” Instead, he speaks with them until they reach the village. By this point, they are so interested in what he has to say that they ask him to remain with them. It is then that he finally reveals himself. He revealed himself while they were at table when “he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them.” As he did this, they recognized who he was. Isn’t it interesting that after spending all day with Jesus—talking about Jesus—these disciples didn’t recognize him until he broke and blessed the bread? After the Resurrection, Jesus reveals himself to us in a new way. Now, like these two disciples, we come to know him through the explanation of the scriptures,...

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name. John 20:19–31 Spiritual Vision Thomas is not present for the first appearance of the risen Christ to the apostles, so his unbelief lasts longer than the others. What Thomas suffered from is a problem all too common to Christians in the modern world. We think we want scientific evidence when what we actually need the most is spiritual vision. Think back on the other accounts of Jesus’s appearances, such as when he showed up along the road to Emmaus. He tells those he encounters that, based on the scriptures, they should have known he was to rise (see Luke 24:13-35). In other words, their spiritual knowledge would have prepared them to believe. Thomas doesn’t have that knowledge here. And though Christ wants his followers always to have that kind of spiritual perception, he still works to awaken it within others when it is dormant. He lets Thomas see and touch his wounds even as he notes in a gentle rebuke: “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” In your prayer today, meditate on how you are cultivating your spiritual vision. Are you really prepared to believe in the Resurrection, the Ascension, and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ? Are you busy pointing out others who have been slow to believe? Ask the Lord to work on yourself so that you will believe and see. The Easter Gospel readings point you to the scriptures, the sacraments, prayer, and company with others whose faith or love are greater than yours. When these all come together, you will be prepared to believe the Lord even before he gives the proof.

On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. John 20:1–9 The Resurrection When the apostles hear the good news of the Resurrection from Mary Magdalene, Peter and John race to the tomb. As theologians have told us, John runs faster because he represents love in the Church. Whereas Peter comes more slowly as he represents authority in the Church and, as such, John allows Peter to enter the tomb first. This story, along with its symbolism, gives us several things to think about—both as we celebrate Easter today and get ready to live out this season with renewed boldness, announcing the good news to others in word and deed. Our first point of reflection is that the authority in the Church is very important. John’s allowing of Peter to enter first is a sign of how, in our leadership roles, we should want to be in harmony with those above us. Concerning the Church’s authority, St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote to the Magnesians around 110 AD: Take care to do all things in harmony with God, with the bishop presiding in the place of God, and with the presbyters in the place of the council of the apostles, and with the deacons, who are most dear to me, entrusted with the business of Jesus Christ, who was with the Father from the beginning and is at last made manifest. Ignatius used the musical term “harmony” to describe what our relationship to the Church’s hierarchy ought to be. Another useful description of this relationship is the image of the Body of Christ that St. Paul used (see 1 Corinthians 12:12-27). Either way, you see that what you do for Christ is not your action alone; rather, it is part of a bigger group which is led by an authority. And in your own domestic church—your home—this reminds you what your authority is. It is not simply about “being first” or “making decisions”; rather, it’s about making sure the business of Jesus Christ is done. Our second point of meditation is that although love must give way to authority, it is the thing that will make us travel the fastest. We can become so caught up in questions about authority that we lose focus on the business of Jesus: communicating his love to others so that they may experience it and then, in turn, communicate it to more people. There is no doubt that we have a crisis of authority in many ways among both Christians and the world at large. But it goes hand in hand with a crisis of love. Love, we are told in the first book of Peter, “covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). Love also drives people to act much faster than appeals to authority. In your prayer today, meditate on the authorities you report to as well as the authority God has given you. How have you responded to proper authority? Begrudgingly? Disrespectfully? How have you exercised it? With gentleness? With strength? And how have you shown the love that drives people to accept authority and accept the truth about Jesus? In your time of silent prayer, think of ways in which you may have failed to accept and distribute these twin gifts of authority and love that God bestows on Christians.