Friday, Easter VII: "do you love me "

... more

--Jn 21:15-19

St. Peter's conversion after he had denied his master three times bears witness to this. Jesus' look of infinite mercy drew tears of repentance from Peter and, after the Lord's resurrection, a threefold affirmation of love for him. The second conversion also has a communitarian dimension, as is clear in the Lord's call to a whole Church: "Repent!"

St. Ambrose says of the two conversions that, in the Church, "there are water and tears: the water of Baptism and the tears of repentance."

-- CCC 1429

St Ephrem the Deacon: "O LORD"

... my allotted portion and my cup

-- Ps 16:1-2a and 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11

Deacons share in Christ's mission and grace in a special way. The sacrament of Holy Orders marks them with an imprint ("character") which cannot be removed and which configures them to Christ, who made himself the "deacon" or servant of all. Among other tasks, it is the task of deacons to assist the bishop and priests in the celebration of the divine mysteries, above all the Eucharist, in the distribution of Holy Communion, in assisting at and blessing marriages, in the proclamation of the Gospel and preaching, in presiding over funerals, and in dedicating themselves to the various ministries of charity.

-- CCC 1570

Wednesday, Easter VII: "Keep watch"

... the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers.

-- Acts 20:28-38

"Just as the office which the Lord confided to Peter alone, as first of the apostles, destined to be transmitted to his successors, is a permanent one, so also endures the office, which the apostles received, of shepherding the Church, a charge destined to be exercised without interruption by the sacred order of bishops." Hence the Church teaches that "the bishops have by divine institution taken the place of the apostles as pastors of the Church, in such wise that whoever listens to them is listening to Christ and whoever despises them despises Christ and him who sent Christ."

-- CCC 862

Tuesday, Easter VII: "this is eternal life"

... that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.

-- Jn 17:1-11a

Christ is Lord of eternal life. Full right to pass definitive judgment on the works and hearts of men belongs to him as redeemer of the world. He "acquired" this right by his cross. The Father has given "all judgment to the Son". Yet the Son did not come to judge, but to save and to give the life he has in himself. By rejecting grace in this life, one already judges oneself, receives according to one's works, and can even condemn oneself for all eternity by rejecting the Spirit of love.

-- CCC 679

Solemnity of the Ascension. "You will be my witnesses": Ascending to the right hand of the Father Christ gives power to the Church

What happens far away impacts each one of us here and now.

Images of tornadoes, floods and other disasters are almost immediately available to the curious through telephones and the internet. We gain powerful impressions of their size and scope through the pictures of damaged homes and land, and most tragically, lost lives.

With all the data that is available to us about these and other events and people in our world, what can often be lacking is the process of meditating on the meaning of these events. We were made to think and to seek understanding about our world and ourselves and without this process our humanity is incomplete. The sheer size and constant flood of the tsunami of images and news reports tends to prevent the needed process of meditating on the import and meaning of these things for us personally, thereby allowing us to move beyond our first instinctive fears aroused by these disasters toward a more serene sense of resolution.

Today we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord, an event that takes Him far away from us, to the highest heavens and to the "right hand of the Father". We could stand around in wonderment like the Apostles did in amazement at this cosmic and awe-inspiring event. We could continue to gaze longingly toward the heavens. But it is better for us if we take the advice of the angels and get busy about the work we are given, to be witnesses in the power Christ sends, thus looking forward to His coming again in power and glory when he "will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven".

How do we "process" this amazing event, moving beyond the news report in today's Gospel about our Lord's glorious Ascension, as wonderful and awe-inspiring as it is, and discover its true importance for us? This is necessary if we are to have a share in His glory which is manifested in the mystery of His return to the right hand of the Father.

You are here today, in this liturgy of the holy Mass, that you might enter into a deeper meditation upon the mysteries of faith and thus gain insight and understanding "through the Church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way." This fullness is above all of love, for just as no body can go on living without a heart, so the Body of Christ must draw its lifeblood from the heart of Christ, infinite in divine Love.

First we are promised: "you will receive power". This power is given through the sacramental life, at the hands of our bishops and priests.

"To proclaim the faith and to plant his reign, Christ sends his apostles and their successors. He gives them a share in his own mission. From him they receive the power to act in his person."(CCC 935)

How do we receive power? First, through the forgiveness of sins. The power given to the Apostles was for the sake of forgiving our sins, particularly through the Sacrament of Confession.

"The Apostle's Creed associates faith in the forgiveness of sins not only with faith in the Holy Spirit, but also with faith in the Church and in the communion of saints. It was when he gave the Holy Spirit to his apostles that the risen Christ conferred on them his own divine power to forgive sins: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." (CCC 976)

Second we are promised: "You will be my witnesses". When we proclaim the Faith through our actions we invite others to take the risk of believing.

"By virtue of their prophetic mission, lay people 'are called . . . to be witnesses to Christ in all circumstances and at the very heart of the community of mankind' (GS 43 § 4)." (CCC 942)

Handing on the faith through the witness of lives filled with God's mercy is the calling of a disciple of the Lord who is now seated at the right hand of the Father to intercede for His Church as the source of salvation for the world.

We are sent: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations".

We cannot give what we do not have. Before making disciples of others we must become disciples ourselves. The gift of the Eucharist is the fulfillment of the Lord's promise that we will "receive power". When we receive Him in a state of grace, that is with all of our sins forgiven through His power in Baptism and Confession, and with adoration and love, we grow in the grace of loving and obedient discipleship.

"From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to them, and gave them a share in his mission, joy, and sufferings. Jesus spoke of a still more intimate communion between him and those who would follow him: 'Abide in me, and I in you. . . . I am the vine, you are the branches.' And he proclaimed a mysterious and real communion between his own body and ours: 'He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.' " (CCC 787)

Saturday after Ascension: "ask"

so that your joy may be complete.

-- Jn 16:23b-28

You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions." If we ask with a divided heart, we are "adulterers"; God cannot answer us, for he desires our well-being, our life. "Or do you suppose that it is in vain that the scripture says, 'He yearns jealously over the spirit which he has made to dwell in us?'" That our God is "jealous" for us is the sign of how true his love is. If we enter into the desire of his Spirit, we shall be heard. Do not be troubled if you do not immediately receive from God what you ask him; for he desires to do something even greater for you, while you cling to him in prayer. God wills that our desire should be exercised in prayer, that we may be able to receive what he is prepared to give.

-- CCC 2737

S Charles Lwanga and companions, martyrs of Uganda: "It was my choice to die"

... at the hands of men with the God-given hope of being restored to life by Him.

-- 2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14

God revealed the resurrection of the dead to his people progressively. Hope in the bodily resurrection of the dead established itself as a consequence intrinsic to faith in God as creator of the whole man, soul and body. The creator of heaven and earth is also the one who faithfully maintains his covenant with Abraham and his posterity. It was in this double perspective that faith in the resurrection came to be expressed. In their trials, the Maccabean martyrs confessed:

The King of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting renewal of life, because we have died for his laws. One cannot but choose to die at the hands of men and to cherish the hope that God gives of being raised again by him.

-- CCC 992