Celebrating the Miners Rescue

In the celebrations of these men and their families, in their faith, we see the joy of Heaven breaking into this world. Heaven is rejoicing in the miners rescue now.

Michael Been and Theo's Logic

Yesterday I heard about the death of Michael Been of The Call. Before leaving the house, I looked for my copy of On the Verge of a Nervous Breakthrough, Been's solo CD. I couldn't find it, but I noticed my copy of Daniel Amos' Bibleland. In one of those weird moments I thought "I'll listen to that instead--close enough!"

Driving to the next town for a 12 o'clock Mass, the song "Theo's Logic" was playing. Taylor sings "My grandmother's up there waiting/She spoke to me one night/She said there are millions of us praying/that you will be alright."

It was just what I needed to hear. Sweet communion of the saints! There are millions praying that I will be alright! And not just me, but you, too!

O Mother Mary

O Mother Mary
Statuary
How does your garden grow?
May-flowers crown
Your head
As the children pray

O Mother Mary
Breviary
“Full of grace”, he said
The angel speaks
Your “yes”
And the Christ child moves

O Mother Mary
Estuary
How does water become wine?
“Do what he says”
Even though
His hour had not yet come

O Mother Mary
Sanctuary
Hide me in your womb
The dragon roars
Your seed
Crushes the serpent’s head

O Mother Mary
Reliquary
Assumed to Heaven home
Flesh and blood
Now await
Your family’s arrival there

O Mother Mary
Emissary
How does your garden grow?
May flowers crown
Your head
As the children play

© 2010 Brian Sullivan

Great Expectations

I was reading G.K. Chesterton's "Tremendous Trifles" this afternoon and it got me thinking (Chesterton will often have that effect.) In the chapter "The Dickensian" he says:

"...let us have no antiquarianism about Dickens, for Dickens is not an antiquity. Dickens looks not backward, but forward; he might look at our modern mobs with satire, or with fury, but he would love to look at them. He might lash our democracy, but it would be because, like a democrat, he asked much from it. We will not have all his books bound up under the title of 'The Old Curiosity Shop.' Rather we will have them all bound up under the title of 'Great Expectations.' "

All right, I confess that my knowledge of Dickens is from the scene in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" where Spock gives Kirk a copy of "A Tale of Two Cities" for his birthday. But it occurred to me that what Chesterton says about Dickens could also be said about the Catholic Church.

The Church, contrary to many people's opinion, does not look backward but forward, especially in those places where it most seems to be looking backward.

Imagine someone inherits an old Victorian house once owned by their great-great grandparents. The house is full of what the new owners think of as old, musty antiques. In the oak paneled dining room, there is a beautiful dining room table and chairs,with a matching sideboard full of the family china and silverware and on top of which are pictures of several generations of the family. In the living room there is an upright piano and over the fireplace is a portrait of the pater familias. The bookcase contains many of the classics (which were new at the time!). A gigantic family bible, it's pages well-worn, is in a place of honor on the coffee-table. In the kitchen is lined with a rustic wallpaper. In the pantry is a cookbook in which are scraps of paper with old family recipes. It is full of life and rich with tradition. Father and mother were respected. The family had even had a special way of speaking to each other that was passed on, creating a sense of belonging. It was a warm, inviting place ready for the new generation to settle into.

Except the new generation thinks it needs remodeling. They strip the paneling and wallpaper and paint in brighter hues. The dining room table, chairs and sideboard are sold cheaply, without much profit, and replaced by glass and chrome furniture. The fine china is put away and replaced by Pfaltzgraff. The family pictures are scanned and up-loaded to a digital frame. The portrait of great-great granddad is taken down to make room for a large plasma video screen. The fireplace and piano is replaced by a home entertainment system. The books are left there but never read since they only have time to read "People" magazine. The family bible is moved to make room for the Sunday New York Times. The old family recipes are too complicated to make, so they are replaced by Martha Stewart magazines and a copy of Cooking for Dummies. It is now a functional house for people who spend no time there.

The Church was like that comfortable house. It looked back to it's traditions so it could have a solid foundation for the future. But to some it seem merely old and tiresome. So they got rid of furnishings, family heirlooms and traditions. The altar was replaced by a table. The tabernacles were sometimes moved. The portrait of the Father was too patriarchal and judgmental, so it was moved to make room for inclusive entertainment. Church architecture was modernized until you couldn't tell a church from a theater. The early church fathers and the writings of the saints were ignored in favor of modern theology and contemporary spirituality. Classic chants and hymns were considered too hard to play and sing, so they were replaced by music that is too often impossible to play or sing! We made a new translation of the Bible that has the distinction of being an indistinct translation of the Bible (We're the only ones who use it after all!). We traded our family identity for a cookbook that doesn't even have a recipe for lentil stew! The Pope was ignored and Mother Church was put in a home. They family's way of speaking was changed into jive-talkin'. We were left with a functional house for people who spend no time there.

But now a people who did not know the Pharaohs of post-conciliar polyester have arisen and are heading back to their homeland. As the Holy Spirit is goes ahead of them in a pillar of fire to cleanse the Church, they are finding a beauty that was almost lost to them. It will take time to rebuild the walls of the city of God and to restore his Church, brick by brick, with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other as those who watch them curse them with scorn. They will bring out of the storeroom new treasures as well as old. The way they are taking goes through Calvary back to the new Jerusalem. As they travel they are being lead by a man in his 80's dressed in white who, in the name of God, loves them enough to tell them the truth and give them hope. It seems like an unlikely group for such a task, but I think they will prevail. They have a 2000 year old promise that they will not be overcome, even by death itself. They will overcome because of the blood of the lamb, the word of their testimony and because they did not love their lives even when faced with death. I pray for the grace to join them.

How Not to Become Just Another....

As Pia di Solenni points out in her article "A Necessary Conversation" on Headline Bistro:

"There has to be space in the Church for the faithful to discuss problematic issues. As I mentioned at the conference, if we don’t provide that space for the faithful within the Church, then the Church is effectively telling the faithful to go to other sources, including those biased against the Church."

I agree. Otherwise we become just another Royal Society for Putting Things on Top of Other Things until someone speaks up.

Another Woman Finds Her Freedom

One of the criticisms leveled against the Catholic Church is that it denies women's equality with men and has made the second-class Christians. There have been times when some Catholics have said denigrating things about women. But I think that the Church has actually freed women to find their own best way to follow Christ.

A case in point is today's saint, St. Katherine Drexel. She was the heiress of her family fortune, but gave millons away to work with Native Americans and African-Americans, establishing the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to work with them.

Read her story at one of the links above. This is not a woman who was kept by the Church from finding fulfillment. It was Pope Leo XIII who challenged her to become a missionary! Through her Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, her work is still being done by other women free to follow her as she followed Christ.

Feeling Dusty

I had hoped to make the 12pm Mass at a nearby parish today for Ash Wednesday. My first mistake was to check my e-mail and Facebook a little after 11am. By the time I logged off, I was already running late! My second mistake was to misjudge the attendance at said Mass. Usually there's only about 20 people. Today there was no place to park! So I missed that Mass and ash distribution (I'll go to my parish this evening).

Driving home I thought "How foolish! Here I think I am doing so well spiritually, yet I can't even leave the house on time! How many other things that I think I do well are really mediocre at best. I pray the rosary then forget which mystery I'm on or if I missed a prayer. I read and don't remember what I read. I think I might have a vocation and I am way to easily distracted during Mass!

"Remember Man that you are dust and unto dust you shall return." Was I ever feeling dusty! At least I realized I was in good company--everybody else! I don't think any of us gets it right all the time. It's a matter of rejoicing in God's grace when we do get it right and repenting and getting back up when we fall.

Darwin Sunday?

Charles Darwin's birthday is February 12th, aka International Darwin Day. I recently found out that the Sunday nearest Darwin's birthday is often an occasion for some Christian pastors to preach on Evolution. Not only that, but in the revised common lectionary it is Transfiguration Sunday. A day that should be spent preaching about Jesus' Transfiguration is, for some, a day to preach Darwin's Evolution. I think it is the lesser trumping the greater. Can't evolution be proclaimed some other day? Like Ash Wednesday? "Remember man that you are dust and unto dust you shall return."

Hmm, Evolution Sunday, or is it Darwin Sunday? I have no problem with evolution as a scientific theory. But if it is used (unscientifically) to explain God away, that's a problem. Science can explain matter and energy. These are quantifiable. It cannot explain the immaterial, the unquantifiable; that is the realm of theology and philosophy.

The trouble comes when science merges with philosophy. It moves out of its area of expertise. When scientific evolution tries to say that the universe was not created, but that it evolved and therefore there is no Creator, it is no longer being scientific, but philosophical. The same can be said for religion when it tries to deny basic scientific tenets. It has left religion behind for Creationism, not creation--just because there is a creator doesn't mean the world didn't evolve. Genesis is a book of faith, not science.

My Mother and Our Lady of the Snows

Hard to believe, but today is the 3rd anniversary of my mom's passing through the door of death into Heaven. My sisters and I had the grace of being at her side when she died. The funeral arrangements came together smoothly. Those who had to travel, even back from El Salvador, arrived safely. We were even given permission to use one of our parish's chapels in spite of the logistical difficulties, due no doubt to my mother's intercessory influence in Heaven--she could always get things done!

One time when I was visiting her, my mom had a card with a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (and maybe also the Immaculate Heart of Mary as they are often pictured together). She looked at the picture for a moment and then kissed it reverently. It was an intimate, incredible grace to witness that.

It often snowed at significant times during my mom's illness: going into the hospital, when I visited, when she was transferred to the nursing home and the night between the last wake and her Mass of Christian Burial. Yes, it was January and snow is not that unusual. But one of the Blessed Mother's lesser known titles is Our Lady of the Snows. (That title refers to a snowfall in Rome on August 5th, A.D. 352 on the Esquiline Hill indicating where what is now the Basilica of St. Mary Major was to be built). I came to regard these snows as reminders of God's care for my mom.

Our Lady of the Snows, ora pro nobis.

37 Years Since Roe v. Wade

Today marks the 37th year since Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in 1973. (I was going to say 37th anniversary, but those are usually happy ocassions). We have lost over 40 million children since that time, about 4000 a day. That's just in the US. Worldwide, the numbers are a staggering 46 million per year (approximately). That's about 126,000 per day worldwide!

Data from the Census Bureau on abortions in the US can be found here in this pdf file (note that the numbers must be multiplied by 1000 (as it says, "1,609 represents 1,609,000 which the the number of abortions in 1990!). Another summary using the CDC and Alan Guttmacher Institute's figures can be found here. And from About.com, a list of 10 abortion facts here. This analysis reported by Lifenews.com shows the number of abortions may be as high as 52 million!

To give some perspective, here are the annual mortality rates for leading causes of death. Death from heart disease and cancer combined is 1,191,524. Remember there were 1,609,000 deaths of babies from abortion in 1990. But abortion is apparently not considered a cause of death because babies (or fetuses, if you must) are not people according to these statistics.

Is there some good news? Yes! Here is an article on Crisis Pregnancy Centers.

St. Vincent, pray for us!

Mary, Mother of God

Today, January 1, the Church celebrates the the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. The title "Mother of God" was given to Mary formally at the council of Ephesus in AD 431. It is not meant to exalt Mary so much as to emphasize that Jesus Christ was fully God and fully Man. Mary is not the mother of Jesus human nature only, but since she gave birth to the person of Jesus Christ, who was both God and Man, she gave birth to the Son of God as well as the Son of Man.

Since Mary is also the Queen of Peace, the Church also celebrates the World Day of Peace today. Pope Bendict's theme for today is 'If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation." His message can be found here.

Tis the season--of Advent!

Advent is a largely forgotten season of the year. We jump straight from Thanksgiving to Christmas, forgetting the importance of taking a breath--Advent.

Advent is a time to prepare for the feast of Christmas. Advent means "coming." As we say in the Mass right after praying the Our Father, "Deliver us Lord from every evil and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ."

This "waiting in joyful hope" lies at the heart of Advent. The readings of the first two weeks focus on the second coming of Christ and his judgment so we can prepare our hearts for his return. At the beginning of the third week, that Sunday is also called Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete means Rejoice! We move from a time of preparation and penance to a more joyful time of rejoicing and readiness. Christmas is coming!

Christmas is coming, but it is not quite here. The readings shift to focus of prophesies of the birth of a Savior, a Messiah, a Christ.

The best recommendation I've heard regarding Advent is to think of it as the Church does! It is the beginning of the Liturgical year, the Church's New Year! And just as we make resolutions to lose weight or stop smoking or turn off Oprah, we should make Advent resolutions. We might decide to learn to pray with the Church using the Liturgy of the Hours in some form. Or maybe go to daily Mass more often. We could make a commitment to contribute to the food pantry every month, or to volunteer at on of the parish's social ministries. Advent is the perfect time to examine our lives and ask "Lord, what do you want me to do, to be?"

Try waiting until at least to the third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, to string lights or put up the Christmas Tree or play Christmas music. The commercial, retail world will overwhelm you at times; but the more you enter in to the time of waiting in joyful hope that is Advent, the more joyful your Christmas season will be. For the Church celebrates Christmas for more than just one day! It lasts from December 25th all the way to the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th. Now that's a time of rejoicing in joyful hope!

"Walk(man) on By" (apologies to Burt Bucharach & Hal David)

BBC News Magazine has this story about a 13 year-old boy they invited to swap his iPod for--brace yourselves--a Walkman!

I wonder if occured to the young reporter that in 30 years some other young reporter will have the same feelings he did about the Walkman compared to today's technology as that future young reporter will have when he compares whatever's around in 2039 to what we have now?

In other words, specifically those of GK Chesterton: "My attitude toward progress has passed from antagonism to boredom. I have long ceased to argue with people who prefer Thursday to Wednesday because it is Thursday." - New York Times Magazine, 2/11/23

Best First Line of A Song

Here's a simple survey. What is the best first line of a song you've heard? You were listening to the radio or playing a new CD and the first line of a song just reached out and grabbed you. Some examples:

"What a beautiful piece of heartache this has all turned out to be."
from "Latter Days", Over The Rhine, Good Dog Bad Dog.

"After the rain in the streets light flows like blood"
from "After the Rain", Bruce Cockburn, Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws

"The screen door slams, Mary's dress waves"
from "Thunder Road", Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run

So what's your favorite first line of a song? It has to be a first line, not a whole verse or chorus or a line that's not the first line--that's for another time!

Line, Artist, Album.

Birthday Spirit—A Reflection on Pentecost Sunday

Happy Birthday to Us! Pentecost has been called the birthday of the Church. The disciples of Jesus had been gathered together in prayer for 9 days since the Ascension. There were about 120 of them. Luke names the Eleven Apostles, Judas’ successor, Matthias, and “Mary, the mother of Jesus.”

Imagine being there. You’ve seen or been told that Jesus has returned to the Father in Heaven. He told you that “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses…” You’re not sure what this Holy Spirit is and you’re a little nervous about being a witness. So you pray with the others. And you wait. For 9 days. It’s becoming a little routine. The feast of Pentecost is coming. What began as a feast celebration the first fruits of the spring harvest had also become a commemoration of the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai.

Suddenly, as Luke says, suddenly there is the sound of a strong driving wind. It shatters the quiet of your prayer. As you look around trying to see the source of the wind, you see a fire above you in the room. First wind, now fire. It is strange and frightening. As you watch, the fire divides into smaller flames. The flames come to rest on each of you. Luke calls what is happening being “filled with the Holy Spirit.”

What happens next is perhaps the strangest of all. You hear yourself and your brothers and sisters speaking in different languages. Those who have made the journey to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost hear the commotion and gather outside the house where you are; the same house where Jesus celebrated Passover with the Apostles. They hear you speaking in their native tongues.

In a moment the disciples went from hiding and praying privately to a very public preaching of the Gospel. This was brought about by the Holy Spirit, sent by Jesus from the Father as promised. It is a blazing beginning, a firey birth of the Body of Christ.

The Holy Spirit has come. The Church is alive. The harvest has begun. But what happens now? Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit gives gifts to the Church. This unites the Church. We need each other. The gifts are given to each for the benefit of all. The Holy Spirit also gives us the strength to fight against sin. He nurtures us not only with gifts, but with the first fruit of the Spirit; the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that nourish us to make us strong against sin.

Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit not only to bring the Church into being, but to lead and guide us. He will remind us of what Jesus taught us. As the Spirit of Truth, he will lead us into the Truth. He will lead us to Jesus.

If you want to know Jesus, you do so through the Holy Spirit. He will give you the power to live as Jesus did. He will give you the strength to suffer for the sake of the gospel and to be a witness to Jesus Christ. If you want to be like Jesus, pray that he will send the Holy Spirit into your life. Don’t worry about what others will think. Let’s imitate the early Church and, in obedience to Christ, gather in prayer and pray for a new Pentecost, a re-birth of the Church in the Holy Spirit.

They're Hot! They're Pockets!

Did you know that although Hot Pockets come 2 to a box, you only have to eat one? I was shocked recently to find instructions for cooking one, one!, hot pocket! Stunning. There is even a tab/slot that allows you to re-close the box until you want to eat the remaining Hot Pocket. This fundamentally changes the balance of eating prepared snack type foodstuffs. I mean, what's next? Eating one Funny Bone? Ah, but they cannot be resealed.

Breaking News: Hot Pockets also lists the serving size as one and list the nutritional information based on one pocket. More as this develops.

Topic: Has anyone used Hot Pockets to actually heat their pockets? Discuss.

Kept by Christ—A reflection on the Seventh Sunday of Easter

In today’s reading from John’s gospel, Jesus is praying what has been called his high priestly prayer. It is a prayer for the unity of the Church. He asks the Father to protect the disciples so they may be one as Christ and the Father are one. Jesus has protected them so that not one of them was lost, except for Judas.

And what of Judas? Why was he lost? Jesus calls him “the son of destruction” and says that Judas was lost “in order that Scripture might be fulfilled.” The first reading from Acts tells us that Peter was with 120 others waiting for the Holy Spirit to come on the day of Pentecost. He reminds them that Judas was the guide for those who arrested Jesus. He was the betrayer, the son of destruction. Peter finds in the Psalms that Judas’ vacant office needs to be filled. So they selected Justus and Matthias and after praying, they chose Matthias by lot. This may seem like a strange was to go about choosing a successor to Judas, but it was the ordinary way things were done. We might pick names out of a hat!

I think the deeper reason for Judas being lost is found in the reading from St. John’s epistle. It too is about our unity in God. It is a unity of love. God loves us, so we must love one another. If we remain in love we remain in God and God in us. Judas did not remain in love, he betrayed Love to death. If Judas had sought true repentance, he would have remained in God’s love. The difference between Peter’s denial and Judas’ betrayal is that Peter repented with bitter tears and Judas chose to end his own life outside of God’s love.

But this is Easter, the season of glory and joy in the risen Lord Jesus Christ! So why are the readings talking about Judas? Because the Church understands our human frailty. I am reminded of St. Philip Neri. Philip had a prayer he used to pray every day. It was “Lord, watch over Philip today, or he will betray you like Judas.” St. Philip Neri, whose feast we celebrate this coming Tuesday, understood our frailty. He knew that we are all the kind of people who could betray Jesus. Judas’ price was 30 pieces of silver. Our price is often much less. We betray Jesus every time we deny that Jesus is the Son of God. We do that when we take him for granted, when we put him to the test, when we tell those who ask us about our faith “I do not know him”, when we treat the sacraments casually, when we deny the Church which is his body by dissenting from its teaching, when we do not help those in need.

The good news is that Jesus is praying for us to the Father. The writer of the book of Hebrews says that he always lives to make intercession for us.(Hebrews 7:24-25 ) In today’s gospel, Jesus prays for our unity, he prays for protection, he prays for our joy, he prays that the Father will keep us from the evil one, he prays that the Father will consecrate us in the Truth of his word. Then he sends us into the world protected by this prayer of consecration. Jesus is praying for us now in this Mass. The Eucharist is his answer to all that he prayed for us and all that we pray for ourselves. It is the source of our unity and the way God remains in us and brings his love to perfection in us. Let us receive Christ, remembering St. Philip Neri’s prayer. We are frail but Jesus is our redeemer. He took on our human nature and ascended to Heaven. Let us work for the unity in truth before the Father, for Jesus is that Truth.

Keys to Ascension--A Reflection on the Feast of the Ascension

On the Feast of the Ascension, the Church remebers the day that Jesus returned to Heaven. To some, this sounds childish. It recalls a 3-tiered view of the world with Hell below, Earth in the middle and Heaven above.

But whatever the geography of heaven there is a reality here. Jesus had risen from the dead. Conquering death, he is immortal as Son of Man and Son of God. So, where is he? He could not die again, ever. He is not on Earth. The answer in the Gospels and Acts is that, in some mysterious way, he returned to Heaven to his Father.

Mark's gospel says only that Jesus was "taken up into Heaven", as does Luke's gospel. The first reading from Luke's book of the Acts of the Apostles gives us more detail. The Apostles ask him if he will restore the Kingdom to Israel. He tells them not to worry about that, but promises them that they will receive to be his witnesses when the Holy Spirit comes upon them. Then as they were watching, a cloud took Jesus out of their sight. Why a cloud? Remember the cloud that folowed Israel in the wilderness? That cloud, the shekinah, was the glory of God. In the early Church this was understood to be the Holy Spirit. Luke is telling us that Jesus was taken up into Heaven by the Holy Spirit, God's presence in the world.

What's going on here? At least three things. First, Jesus is returning to the Father to take his rightful place as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus is ruling the universe for the Father. As Paul says in Ephesians "And he [the Father] put all things beneath his [Christ's] feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,which is his body,the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way." Jesus is ruling the world and he is ruling it through his body, the Church. Luke tells us what Jesus is doing now.

Second, Jesus returns to the Father so he can send us the Holy Spirit. Some have said that the Acts of the Apostles could also be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit. It's Ascension Thursday, but Pentecost is coming after 9 days! In the meantime the desciples and Mary, a group of about 120 people, waits and prays. These 9 days of prayer was the first novena! The Pentecost novena to the Holy Spirit is the oldest novena of the Catholic Church.

Third, Jesus is preparing for his second coming. He is preparing a place for us. At the end of time, when his plan for the universe is fulfilled, Jesus will return to Earth. Then every knee will bow and everyone confess that Jesus is Lord. He will judge the world; those who have not lived in God's love will continue to live without God for eternity, those who lived in God's love will continue to live with God for eternity. We call the first state Hell and the second Heaven.

Jesus' Ascension has opened the gate of Heaven to all, but not all will enter. The saints, known and unknown, are there; Our Blessed Mother Mary is there; and the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are there. We will see God face-to-face. The gate is narrow, but is open. Will you enter in?

There is no need to wait until you die or Christ returns to enter Heaven. We do that at every Mass! Jesus is present in his Word during the Liturgy of the Word. He is especially present in the Eucharist. He is present in his mystical body, the Church--in you and me. If Jesus is present, the Heaven is present for, as Pope Benedict has said, "Jesus himself is what we call Heaven."

Jesus is here at Mass. Yet how many of us enter in? He is waiting for us, yet we act as if he is not here at all! We come late, we leave early, we dress as if we were going to a playground rather than Heaven. Yet, these are all external things. How is your heart? Is your heart coming late, leaving early, immodestly dressed? We are here to worship Christ the Lord. Let us show him, by clean hearts, pure minds, working hands and outward modesty, that we believe he is here with us. Let us enter heaven at this Mass and receive Jesus Christ our Lord and God.

Love and the Spirit--A Reflection on the 6th Sunday of Easter

Love. The word “love” occurs 9 times in today’s gospel and another 9 times in the epistle. Friend occurs 3 times in the gospel and joy twice. We expect God to love us. We don’t really believe it, but we expect it! After all, isn’t God supposed to love everyone?

One of the most astonishing statement’s in all of Scripture is found in today’s gospel reading. Jesus says “No one has greater love than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.” Jesus says that we are his friends. This is the love of God we don’t expect; to be his friends. Not only that, but it is the kind of friendship that lays down its life for others.

But isn’t there a catch? Jesus' friendship seems conditional; if we do what he commands us he will be our friend. That sounds more like a servant or slave than a friend. No, we have it wrong. Christ says that he does no longer calls us slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. Isn’t that amazing? We are not slaves but friends because Jesus has told us what he is doing. He tells us through the Scriptures, the Church and the Holy Spirit.

It was the Holy Spirit who led Peter to understand that even the Gentiles are loved by God, are God’s friends. Peter was shown by the Holy Spirit in a vision that God shows no partiality. He accepts anyone who fears him and acts uprightly. In today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke tells us that as Peter was still speaking these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening. God gave the Gentiles the same gift of the Spirit that he gave to the Jewish believers. He gave them himself.

Love is so essential because, as John tells us in his epistle, God is love. If we want to be like God were must love as God loves. We must love without partiality. We must accept all those who God accepts and love all those God loves. And we must lay down our lives for them. This is no sentimental love, but the love of God. It is a love, as St. Paul says, that spared not God’s own Son but delivered him up for us all. A love that will freely give us all things.

When my friend Vincent Druding was ordained to the priesthood last week, one of the verses he used on his invitations and holy cards was from today’s gospel, “No one has greater love than this, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends…It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.”

Vince understood that laying down his life for God’s friends is at the heart of the priesthood. It is also what we are all called to as Christians. In imitation of Christ, we love as he loves. To do this, to have the strength to lay down our lives, we must receive from the Holy Spirit God’s grace, his very life. This life comes to us through the Sacraments, especially Confession and the Eucharist. In Confession, we lay aside every burden and sin that clings to us and holds us back from loving God and his friends. As we receive from this altar the sacred body and blood of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, we will be filled with every grace and blessing. We will receive the strength to love as God loves. As St. John says, “God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.”

Our Blessed Mother is sets an example for us. Having accepted the Father’s love by saying Yes to the angel Gabriel’s news that she was to be the Mother of the Son of God, she went to see her cousin Elizabeth. In that moment of joy and love and friendship, Mary brought Jesus to her.

Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will fall on us as he fell on the Church in Acts so that, filled with the Spirit, we will know the joy and the love and the friendship of Christ. Then let us bring that joy and the love and friendship of Christ to all of God’s friends.

Living in Christ--A Reflection on the 5th Sunday of Easter

In today's Gospel, Jesus uses a agricultural metaphor to talk about the Christian life. He is the true vine and we are branches. We grow as we take his life into ours. Branches cannot survive without the vine. Cut off from the vine, they wither and die. Around my house we have wild grape vines. They grow everywhere! As they climb other plants and trees, their tendrils grab hold. The only way to disentangle them is to prune them, cutting the branches so they are no longer attached to the vine. Once they wither, they're much easier to pull off.

What grows on vine? Grapes. My grandmother used to make grape jelly from the wild grape vines. Saint John uses this story of vines and branches to talk about Christian living because of his theme of the Eucharist. Remaining in the vine, refers back to the Bread of Life discourse in chapter 6. There Jesus also talks about remaining in him "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him." (John 6:56).

The Church only grows by remaining united to Christ. As it does so, the Holy Spirit is free to grow the Church. We see this in the first reading from Acts as Barnabas introduces Paul to the Apostles. As they come to understand Paul's calling, they accept him, even risking their lives to rescue him. The Church was briefly at peace and the Holy Spirit caused the Church to grow.

Saint John also tells us in his epistle that "the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he gave us." The peace we know as we remain in Christ comes from God who is greater than our hearts. Our hearts often condemn us for failing to keep his commandments. But because God is greater than our hearts, we can be confident that God will give us what we ask. John says that "those who keep his commandments remain in him."

We remain in Christ, the true vine by keeping his commandments. We gain strength to keep his commandments through the sanctifying grace of the sacraments. Through the forgiveness of sin in Confession, God prunes away the sins that injure, and even kill, his life in us. In the Eucharist, Jesus gives himself, his true life, to us. As we remain in his life, we will bear much fruit as his life grows in us. If we separate ourselves from Jesus, we will wither and die as a branch does cut off form the vine. Jesus himself says that without him we can do nothing. United to him, we will grow and bear fruit, glorifying the Father.