Encouraging words

The gospel passage we have just heard narrates a precious moment that Jesus shared with his disciples in the Upper Room on the night before he died.  There was great sadness in that room.  Jesus knew that the time was near for him to leave them.  He also knew that the pain they would have to endure would be overwhelming and he wanted to encourage them, so he told them: Do not let your hearts be troubled (Jn 14: 1).  These are words of profound faith.  Perhaps we have heard such words from the lips of others we have known and loved, others who are on their death beds, others who know that they do not have long to live in this world, but they are filled with faith and trust that they are soon going to be with God.  People of faith can utter such words, but those who hear them sometimes have trouble believing them because when our hearts are breaking, no words seem adequate to comfort and console us.

In fact, Jesus made some remarkable claims while he sat with the disciples that evening: he told them that he would come back for them (Jn 14: 3), that they already knew the way to the place where he was going (Jn 14: 4), that in seeing him they had already seen the Father (Jn 14: 9), and that they would ultimately do greater things that he himself had done (Jn 14: 12).  The disciples must truly have had quizzical looks on their faces.  What could these words Jesus was speaking possibly mean After all, Jesus healed dozens, maybe even hundreds of people during his public ministry and the gospels tell us that he fed many thousands of hungry people.  Yet the truth is that since that day when he told the disciples that they would do even greater things, there have been countless millions of people who have received medical attention from Christ's followers, not to mention the vast numbers of those who have been fed, consoled and had the good news of the gospel spoken to them.

All this work has often taken place while Jesus' followers have faced moments of trial and want.  Even in those first days when the disciples were just beginning to spread the good news, there were already challenges.  The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles shows us that the resources at their disposal were already being tested.  They had to get creative in order to find a way not to neglect anyone, most of all those who needed their help, including the widows who were in a precarious position and most needed to be cared for (cf Acts 6: 1).  The task of being present to those in need can often seem too big a responsibility.  At times such as those, we need to turn to God in prayer and faith like the disciples did.  We need to discern new gifts, to call forth these gifts from others and to entrust them with the task of working with us to care for God's people (cf Acts 6: 3-6).

Let us pray today for the grace to recognize the many ways in which the Lord is inviting us to share our gifts with others.  Like living stones, we are being built into a spiritual house (1 Peter 2: 5).  The Lord is truly calling us to believe that even greater things are yet to be accomplished.

Words of encouragement and blessing for our mothers

Today, across this country and in some other parts of the world, we are celebrating Mothers' Day.  Let us pray especially for our mothers, for all those who are expectant mothers, for all mothers who have adopted children, for grandmothers, for godmothers and aunts and for all those women of faith who willingly and joyfully share the example their lives with others, never being concerned for any measure of recognition, but willingly giving of themselves in order to share in Christ's work of loving and caring for his beloved children.  May God bless and reward all of you most abundantly.

His Word Today: Have faith

Good morning everyone,

The gospel passage for today's meditation presents us with words of encouragement.  Sitting with his disciples only hours before he would be separated from them, Jesus said to them: Do not let your hearts be troubled.  You have faith in God; have faith also in me (Jn 14: 1).  This year, we are experiencing the Easter season in a very different way.  With the isolation in place as a result of COVID-19, the usual gatherings and celebrations in this time have been severely scaled back.  In fact, it seems that this period of isolation is causing increasing levels of anxiety, therefore it is perhaps fitting that Jesus' words today should resound in our hearts: do not let your hearts be troubled.

According to the Acts of the Apostles, after the resurrection, the Apostles - who were the ones closest to Jesus and the ones who were most at risk to be disillusioned by the experience of his suffering and death, were actually the ones who were ultimately able to speak on his behalf.  Having returned to Antioch, he stood among his brothers, children of the family of Abraham (Acts 13: 26).  The words he spoke at that moment were filled with new life, joy and conviction.

We are all being invited to see this time of trial not as an end in itself, but rather as a time of testing.  The disciples were also tested as they witnessed the death of Jesus, but their faith was rewarded.  After the resurrection, they were different people.  Will we have the strength of faith to look beyond this moment of trial and to see and celebrate good news?  How will we be different when all of this is passed?  Let us pray for the grace to be strong in our faith and to be witnesses of resurrection.

Have a great day.

His Word Today: Service

Good morning everyone,

The gospel passage for today's Mass is taken from the section of John's gospel where the gathering of Jesus with his disciples on the night of the Last Supper is recounted.  Even in those precious final moments of his earthly life, Jesus was still encouraging his disciples to understand and to cultivate a heart of service within themselves: No slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him (Jn 13: 16).

In these words, the Lord was warning his disciples - and that includes all of us who are his modern-day disciples - that we should strive never to become puffed up with our own egos to the point of forgetting the mission that the Lord has entrusted to us: to proclaim the joy of the gospel in all circumstances.

Evidence of the proclamation, and the joy that was in the hearts of those first disciples can be seen in the first reading for today's Mass, taken from the Acts of the Apostles.  Having completed their journey from Paphos to Perga and then returning to Antioch, where the Christian community was based, Paul - yes, that's the same Saul who had been persecuting the earliest followers of Jesus - stood up in the midst of the synagogue assembly and spoke eloquently about the history of God's continual presence among his people, leading up to the figure of John the Baptist (Acts 13: 13-25).  More details of this speech will be recounted in the coming days, but already we can imagine the passion and conviction with which Paul spoke.  This passion and conviction were born out of his own encounter with the risen Jesus.

The same must always be true for us.  In everything we do, we must always aim to serve the Lord and we must pray for the grace to always do so with the passion and conviction that we first knew when we ourselves were called to follow Him.

Have a great day.

His Word Today: Life

Good morning everyone,

In the gospel passage for today's Mass (Jn 10: 22-30), we encounter Jesus at a time when he was in the temple in Jerusalem.  People were increasingly curious about him, to the point where they were beginning to wonder whether he was indeed the promised one of God (Jn 10: 24).  When they came to ask such questions of him, he replied: I give (my sheep) eternal life, and they shall never perish (Jn 10: 28).

This is the good news that Jesus came to share with us, and this good news is at the heart of the mission of all believers.  Whether in large crowds or in one-on-one conversations, our faith compels us to share this message with others: Jesus gives us eternal life; we shall never perish.  With great joy, the disciples in the early Church shared this news with those they encountered. 

The good news spread from Jerusalem, across the Mediterranean to Greece and beyond.  They went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch preaching the word ... (Acts 11: 19) and a great number of those who believed turned to the Lord (Acts 11: 21).  Even today, what is essential to the task of all disciples is the work of preaching the word: telling others about Jesus and about the eternal life that is our promised inheritance.

Have we come to believe this good news for ourselves? Are we aware of occasions in our lives when we are being invited to share such good news?  Let us pray today for the grace to be fervent disciples.

Have a great day.

His Word Today: Everyone

Good morning everyone,

In the liturgy we celebrated yesterday, we celebrated the World Day of Prayer for Vocations which is also known as Good Shepherd Sunday.  The gospel account that is provided for today's Mass is the continuation of yesterday's gospel.  Jesus speaks of himself, saying: I am the good shepherd.  A good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep (Jn 10: 11).

As we dwell on these words and ponder what they might mean, we should find deep consolation.  Jesus is our good shepherd: the one who has laid down his life for us.  We are celebrating this truth throughout the season of Easter.  How fortunate we are to have an advocate who loves us so much that he is willing to do this for us ... but we should also be careful not to think of this precious gift as something that has been given only to us, as though it is meant to somehow be hidden away as a sign of favouritism.

God never gives such gifts only so that they can be hidden.  The gift of knowing that we are loved so much that our God wants to walk with us and to guide our steps is a cause for great joy that we should always be willing to share with others, and this gift is also given so that others may come to know this truth in their own lives.

In the early days of the Church, this was a temptation for the early followers of Jesus. The Apostles and the brothers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles too had accepted the word of God (Acts 11: 1) and at first, they were confused because they had thought of faith as something exclusively theirs.  It was only when they sat with Peter and voiced their concerns to him that he was able to tell them about the vision he had had while he was praying in the city of Jaffa (cf Acts 11: 5) ... and further to this, he explained that three men had come from Caesarea looking for him and that together they had gone to the house of another man who had seen a vision (Acts 11: 13-14).

As they heard Peter speaking, the Apostles came to understand that the work of evangelization is much bigger than a personal gift: it is meant to be shared with everyone ... and this truth has never changed.  Even today, God's love is meant for everyone.  Our task is to share the good news of our faith with others by joyfully sharing the gift that we have received.  God will do the rest ...

Have a great day.

He calls ... he leads

We have arrived at the fourth Sunday of the Easter season.  Since the day of Easter, we have focused our thoughts and prayers on the encounters that various disciples had with the risen Jesus.  In each case, he appeared to them, he strengthened their belief and he commissioned them: sent them out into the world in order to bear witness to him and to his resurrection.

Today we are given an opportunity to see ourselves as modern-day disciples who are being sent out into the world of today.  We are the ones that Jesus needs now to be witnesses: to tell others about the way that we have encountered him.  Jesus needs us to share the joy of our faith with others so that by our actions we can show our friends, colleagues and all those we meet that our faith makes a difference.

For the past few weeks, many of our routines have been altered as together we continue to do what we can to keep the number of cases of this new coronavirus to a minimum.  We are staying home as much as possible, social gatherings as we once knew them have not happened for quite a while and when we need to go to the grocery or the pharmacy, new protocols have been put in place so that we can maintain a safe distance from one another.  All of this seems very strange, and yet at the same time, it is becoming more and more part of our routines.  In the coming weeks, we might begin to hear about some of the restrictions being relaxed, but we must not think for a moment that things will go back to the normal that we once knew.

It happens from time to time that we must make drastic changes in our lives, and when such changes come about, we have a precious opportunity to ask ourselves what really matters.  This is one of those opportunities.  Even now, as we are still confined by the restrictions imposed, we can begin to ask ourselves how this experience has changed us.  Has the experience of being separated from our loved ones caused us to grow even deeper in our love for them?  Has the thought of an unknown virus that is claiming the lives of so many people caused us to pray differently?  Has the absence of the Eucharist in our lives caused us to hunger for it even more?

Throughout the experience of these days, we are not alone.  We are never alone because Jesus is our shepherd.  Even now, he is calling us by name ... leading us (cf Jn 10: 3).  Jesus is leading us.  He will always be there to lead us.  Using the image of sheep and a shepherd, the scriptures say that he will go ahead of them, and the sheep will follow him because they know his voice (Jn 10:4).  Has the experience of these days helped us to listen differently for the voice of our divine shepherd who is calling to us?  Have we come to know his voice even more clearly?

Across the centuries, experiences of trial have always provided Christians with opportunities to strengthen and to deepen their faith.  This experience is no different.  Saint Peter reminds us that Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example so that we should follow in his footsteps (1 Peter 2: 21).  Before the experience of this coronavirus, there were many temptations luring us away from listening to the voice of Jesus.  Cries for renewed focus to be placed on impending disasters seemed to be falling on deaf ears.  Do you remember Geta Thunberg?  Since the beginning of this year, vast populations in various parts of the world have stopped the frantic pace at which we were living.  This has posed its own difficulties, but on a grander scale, we have the scientific evidence to show that this pause has allowed at least the possibility for some of the pollution to be cleared away.  Could it be that we have realized that we were going astray ... and now we are re-discovering a desire to return to the shepherd and to the guardian of our souls? (cf 1 Peter 2: 25)

Jesus has been with us through this experience.  He has been purifying our hearts and renewing us in our desire to follow him, just as he did with the first disciples.  When they first encountered the risen Christ, they had difficulty believing that he had truly risen from the dead.  We too might still have our doubts, but the Lord is still at work.  He helped the disciples to recover from their fear and to find the confidence they needed in order to testify to the fact that he had overcome death.  We heard a bit of this testimony in the first reading for this Mass (cf Acts 2: 14, 36).  Today, as we celebrate the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, let us give thanks to God for all those who God has called to speak his words to us, and let us also pray that God will give us the words we need to speak the truth about Him to others.

His Word Today: Saint Joseph the Worker

Good morning everyone,

Today, the Church celebrates the Memorial of Saint Joseph the Worker.  It is right that we should pray today for all workers, especially carpenters and all those who strive to exercise their professions with nobility and pride.  These days of physical distancing and social isolation have been very difficult for many of those who would normally be working every day to earn their living.  We should pray today for all those who are facing increased levels of stress and worry because they cannot work at this time.

Joseph, the noble carpenter, was the one who was chosen to act as the earthly father of Jesus.  He makes very few apparitions in the scriptures, but all of them are about his relationship with God.  Saint Matthew tells us that Joseph was faithful to the law and did not want to expose Mary to public disgrace (Mt 1: 19), but while he was struggling to find a way to settle this question, an angel of the Lord appeared to him (Mt 1: 20) to provide him with counsel.  Based on this heavenly assistance, Joseph made bold choices that changed the course of history.

Today's scripture passage from the Acts of the Apostles recounts the encounter that Saul had on his way to the city of Damascus.  As it was with Joseph, Saint Paul encountered a dramatic revelation that changed his life (cf Acts 9:3-6).  The man who had so violently been opposed to the fledgling Christian community ended up becoming one of us because of the words that he had heard: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?  While Paul was convinced that he was fighting an organization, the truth was that he was attacking Jesus: his efforts were aimed at a person, not at an organization.

These words are still being addressed to the Church today.  We are called to act in the name of Jesus.  When we say yes to the Lord's invitation - as Joseph did - it is He who acts through us.  Let us pray for the grace to hear His voice today, and through the intercession of Saint Joseph, let us seek to willingly accept whatever the Lord should ask of us.

Have a great day.