Yet, here was a Pharisee who stood out somewhat from his peers. In that respect, he may be like many other disciples today. We have asked Creighton faculty, staff and administrators to reflect upon the daily readings each day. Read. Whereas the wind can be destructive, the Spirit is always life-giving. Nicodemus was a teacher of Israel and he related to Jesus as a fellow teacher, we know that you are a teacher who comes from God. We are all invited to turn towards the Lord as the Bread of Life in trusting faith. God was moving in a way that was taking everyone by surprise. Irish Province of Carmelites | All Rights Reserved | Site by Marketing Inputs. This is the reaction of the generous person, of the one who is prepared to give all he or she has, even though it appears to be far less than what is needed. Now as they talked this over, Jesus himself came up and walked by their side; but something prevented them from recognising him. The graces never stop flowing. He like what he saw and gave them all great encouragement, urging them all to remain faithful to the Lord. Jesus fed the hungry multitude in the wilderness with five loaves and two fish. He can be speaking to us through new and unforeseen situations, such as the one in which we find ourselves at the moment. The question that people ask in todays gospel reading is a perfectly understandable one, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? The notion of eatings someones flesh is abhorrent. The first reading this morning is Lukes dramatic account of the call of Paul. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal. So they said to him, What can we do to accomplish the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.. The story the two disciples told to Jesus ended in death and confusion, as they said, they had him crucified some women from our group have astounded us; they went to the tomb early in the morning and did not find the body. Then, in response to the Lords greeting, the sceptical Thomas made one of the greatest confessions of faith in all four gospels, My Lord and my God. We never arrive at our destination, in this earthly life. He not only calls on people to eat his flesh but to drink his blood. He stands ready to pour afresh the Spirit of his love into our hearts, so that we can be recreated, empowered to share in his mission in the world. The Lords invitation, Come to me, all who labour and are overburdened, is addressed to all of us. They were turning their backs on the city where their hopes had been dashed. Jesus speaks of himself in this gospel as the light of the world. Having listened to the two disciples, the stranger spoke to them. Ever since, the church has repeated the actions and words of Jesus at the last supper. God gave us his Son so that we might have life and have it to the full, what this mornings gospel reading calls eternal life. What is important is that we allow the particular story that we tell to be filled out and to be enriched by the very different story about the same events that people who are strangers to us have to tell. We are to keep receiving from Jesus all he wishes to give us, his word, his Spirit, his love, so that, like Peter in todays first reading, we can witness to him before others. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. If we face our doubts and our questions honestly, as Thomas did, and bring them to each other and to the Lord, we too can reach a point where we can make Thomas confession our own, My Lord and my God. There is no longer a strong current flowing in the direction of Jesus and his gospel that will carry us along, whether we really want that or not. We find it very hard to get started. And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. A prophet is only despised in his own country. Divine Office It is evident that Jesus is not speaking literally. Then there is the reaction of Jesus himself. Then out of the blue, the risen Lord stopped him in his tracks. Barnabas inspires us to keep listening to what the Lord may be saying to us in and through the circumstances of our daily lives. Before Mark came to write, much of the tradition about Jesus circulated within the early church in oral form; there were also some written traditions about Jesus. In calling us to himself he also sends us into the world afire with the flame of his love. Clearly the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd that we find in todays gospel reading spoke to Christians from the earliest days of the church. I am sure many of you who have lost loved ones will have been supported in your loss by the supportive presence of family and friends. He can only enter the kingdom of God if he is born of water and the Spirit, born from above. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. Whenever two people share a significant experience together, they invariably talk about it together afterwards; they each tell their own story about what happened. The earliest Christian art is to be found in the Catacombs in Rome. When the Lord appeared to Thomas, he did not rebuke him. When this happens people are being treated as objects or things. It was that full story that Jesus went on to tell them, Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory? Having heard Jesus version of the story, they changed direction; they went back to Jerusalem, where they found the eleven assembled together. The Lords call to each of us is very personal and our response is very personal but it is never a private affair. Our going through the gate is always in response to the call of the shepherd. Barnabas brought Paul from Tarsus to Antioch. The Lords personal call to each of us will always be in harmony with that fundamental purpose of the Lords coming among us. We all have something to receive from someone else. As a Pharisee, Paul could never have envisaged the way he would spend the last thirty years of his life, but the Lord was able to envisage it. He meets us where we are. We can resist for various reasons. We recognize that in and through the Eucharist we enter into communion with the Lord, and with each other, in a special way. She persuaded Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome from Avignon. As he said earlier, No one has greater love than this, to lay down ones life for ones friends. Philip made a calculation: on the basis of the number of people and the amount of money available to buy food, and decided that nothing could be done. After the question Jesus went on to speak not only of eating his flesh but of drinking his blood, which would have sounded even more shocking. The Father and I are one., The feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem. The Lord wants to do the same for us. In other words, it is in giving that we receive; it is in giving life to others that we receive life and become fully alive ourselves. Even though those first disciples were trying to lock away their relationship with the Lord, the risen Lord refused to be locked out. These reflections are the fruit of prayer, spiritual reading and Lectio Divina of these Nuns, and are a wonderful way to become acquainted with the vitality and freshness of Carmelite spirituality. Although a teacher in Israel, Nicodemus responds to Jesus words about this kind of birth with the question, How can that be possible? Yet, the good news is that Jesus came to draw us into his own relationship with God and he makes this possible in and through the gift of his Spirit to us, the Holy Spirit. For some centuries reading the Bible in one's own language was rather frowned upon and this led to a lessening of the practice of Lectio Divina. The good shepherd takes on the role not primarily to get something out of it, but to give something in it. An active public apostolate grew out of her contemplative life, working with the sick, the poor, prisoners and plague victims. As Christians, we are all searching for Jesus in some sense. Nov 15, 2022 | Blogs, Carmelite Musings, Reflections, template-updated The awareness of the lessons I'm learning or being taught by the good Lord is reminding me of how faithful God is, and how He is in it all. In the evening the disciples went down to the shore of the lake and got into a boat to make for Capernaum on the other side of the lake. His last appearance in the gospel is alongside Joseph of Arimathea, as they both arrange for Jesus to have a dignified burial. Their being locked behind closed doors out of fear was the mood of Good Friday. Like Thomas, we can struggle to identify fully with those faith seems so much more assured than ours. The more generously any one of us responds to the Lords personal call to us, the more everyone else is supported in their efforts to respond to the Lords call to them. It is written in the prophets: Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. It is to shape all of our lives. He acknowledges Jesus as a teacher come from God. Our calling is to allow the Spirit of God to be the driving force of our life, as it was the driving force of Jesus life. We gather to celebrate the Eucharist so that we can draw life from the Lord. What Jesus can offer us, more than anything else, is eternal life, a sharing in Gods own life. As he says in his second letter to the Corinthians, the love of Christ urges us on. 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. When we pray, we open ourselves to the coming of the Holy Spirit upon us and to the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This frightened them, but he said, It is I. Jesus uses many images of himself in Johns gospel. Jesus is presented as working powerfully through very meagre resources. Gates are just there to be passed through; they dont as a rule call out to us; if we pass through a gate it is because we have decided to do so. In todays first reading, Peter asks a very important question, Who was I to stand in Gods way? God had worked in a way that Peter had not expected. Catholic Daily Mass Readings and Reflections The message of the Lord working with and confirming his disciples is present in both readings. Do not work for food that cannot last, There is a sense in which we are always trying to get to the other side, like the disciples in the boat who were trying to reach the other side of the Sea of Galilee. (iii) Monday, Fourth Week of Easter (Year A), In the gospel reading Jesus draws a striking contrast between the good shepherd and the hired man. Then, having taken and blessed wine, he gave it to his disciples and said, This is my blood. Parents are called upon by their children and then, as parents get older, it is the children who often get called upon by their parents. Jesus reveals himself to Nicodemus as the giver of the Spirit - the Spirit who propels us towards the kingdom of God. He does not retreat from us even though we might retreat from him. Help us to support Carmelite projects around the world. Do not be afraid. Indeed, the gospel reading states that God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world. You, a teacher in Israel, and you do not know these things! replied Jesus. Reflections | Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles The Lord who came to Paul through Ananias had earlier come to Ananias through a vision. Just below Nazareth, about five kilometres away, while Jesus was a child, a new city was being built by Herod Antipas called Sephoris. men have shown they prefer darkness to the light Jesus went off to the other side of the Sea of Galilee or of Tiberias and a large crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he gave by curing the sick. God has given his Son to us; it falls to us to give ourselves to Gods Son. Obviously this transformation will have a profound effect on the way we actually live and the way we live is the test of the authenticity of our prayer. What is the Lords call to me in the particular circumstances of my life here and now? Given my very particular circumstances, the particular relationships I have at this time, the particular set of gifts and limitations that I have, what is the Lord asking of me? He is an open gate, not a closed gate. The gospel was not experienced as good news by some and they made every effort to silence those who were preaching it. The College of Cardinals elected Urban VI who turned out disastrously. The initiative we take towards the Lord is always one we take with other disciples. Joseph had a marketable skill. The risen Lord is present in the crucible of doubt, drawing us to himself, calling out to us as he called to Thomas, Doubt no longer but believe. I tell you most solemnly, Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you. Unless a man is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. except the one who came down from heaven, In todays gospel reading Jesus declares, Whoever comes to me, I shall not turn away. In one of the most memorable statements of the New Testament the gospel reading declares that the light that has come into the world in the person of Jesus is the light of Gods love, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. Todays gospel reading gives us an insight into the prayer of Jesus, I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth Barnabas who appears in this mornings first reading from the Acts of the Apostles is one of the most attractive characters in the New Testament. he cannot see the kingdom of God.. (v) Monday, Fourth Week of Easter (Year A). However, Jesus knew that this impulse was not from God and he fled from it, and the impulse passed away for the moment, even though the impulse to make the church an earthly kingdom would rear its head more than once in the following centuries. These cookies may track your personal data. and be sure of finding pasture. The basis physical needs of people were very important for him. He was persecuting the church, believing that this was what God wanted him to do. Paul went on to make an important contribution to the life of the church in Antioch, and the church there, in turn, was a great support to Paul in his future missionary work. and I lay down my life for my sheep. For us who have been baptized, the connection between word and Eucharist remains very close. No one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. Jesus invites us to imagine a shepherd who will stop at nothing to prevent any would-be thief from stealing even one sheep from his flock. It follows that the Lord will never call us to something that would result in a diminishment of life for ourselves or for others. Creighton U Daily Reflections - Creighton University In that image Jesus paints in the gospel reading, the shepherd does not lead the sheep to pasture one at a time, but together as a flock. When Peter preached the gospel there, the Holy Spirit immediately came down upon this pagan household, just as it had come down on Peter and the other disciples at Pentecost. He invites people to come to him and he promises those who do so that he will never turn them away. His sisters, too, are they not all here with us? Dostoevsky, the great Russian novelist, was in almost continual religious conflict. Jesus is the good shepherd in that sense. In the gospel reading, after Jesus fed the multitude in the wilderness, the people wanted to take him by force and make his king. They then fail him completely when he enters into his passion and death; all of them deserted him. There is a striking statement in todays first reading, Saul then worked for the total destruction of the church. Having told the story to each other, the two disciples told it to the stranger who joined them on the road. what is born of the flesh is flesh; He lifted the story of the two disciples into this bigger story of Gods faithful love. Now while he was with them at table, he took the bread and said the blessing; then he broke it and handed it to them. Daily Homilies. In the early centuries the church seems to have found Matthews gospel in particular more helpful for the life of faith because of the large amount of the teaching of Jesus it contains, relative to Mark. Thomas too had locked himself away from the other disciples and from the Lord because of his strong doubt. The Lord continues to offer the gospel even to those who have rejected it. Giving of ourselves to those we have some responsibility for will mean attending to ourselves, physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. Gates have become more of a feature of our urban landscape than they used to be. She commenced her role as a public figure, dictating hundreds of letters to popes, monarchs and other letters of note. In the city of Antioch, the gospel was being preached to pagans, and they were responding in large numbers. If we do that, the gospel reading suggests that we can be assured that the Lord will do the rest. In todays first reading, an Ethiopian court official comes to faith in Jesus. The way the risen Lord related to tthem is how he relates to us all. The season of Easter is a good time to invite the Spirit afresh into our lives. He has been travelling his own very personal way of the cross. Pope Paul VI declared her a Doctor of the Church in 1970. In this mornings gospel reading, Jesus declares, I have come so that they may have life, and have it to the full. He comes to recreate us through the Holy Spirit. They were fearful that if we rambled out of the garden some harm might come to us. When it was evening, the disciples of Jesus went down to the sea, embarked in a boat, and went across the sea to Capernaum. Jesus speaks as the one who gives us a unique access to God. The light of Jesus is a light of love, the light of God who so loved the world that he gave his only Son. In Lukes second volume, the Acts of the Apostles, the risen Lord preaches the gospel again to the Samaritans through Philip, as described in our first reading, and on this occasion the Samaritans united in welcoming the message Philip preached. He gave instructions to the disciples, he prayed aloud to God, and somehow the crowd got fed with the young boys small fare. The gospel says that they were talking together about all that had happened. As Peter puts it in todays second reading, You did not see him, yet you love him. It is difficult to know exactly what happened that day in the wilderness when Jesus and his disciples found themselves before a large hungry crowd. In the language of that responsorial psalm, he is there as a shepherd in every valley of darkness to give us comfort. in order to take it up again. Sometimes we may find ourselves in the role of the Ethiopian, seeking the Lord, needing someone like a Philip to guide and lead us. And there are other sheep I have It was getting dark by now and Jesus had still not rejoined them. Marks gospel assures us that even when we are unfaithful to the Lord, he remains faithful to us; even when we fail, he continues to call us to become all he wants us to be. We must take what we read in the Word of God into our daily lives. In time, Mark came to be appreciated on its own terms, and not just as a poorer version of Matthew. Gospel Reflection - Order of Carmelites His standing there spoke powerfully of his faithfulness to them. Todays gospel reading assures us that the Lord comes to us in those difficult and threatening moments. 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. The response of Peter and John was to go the community of believers and in their presence to pray, asking God for help to proclaim the gospel with all boldness. The spontaneous response to such mysterious new life is thanksgiving. Rather, his teaching is liberating and life-enhancing. The people, seeing this sign that he had given, said, This really is the prophet who is to come into the world. Jesus, who could see they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, escaped back to the hills by himself. Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue. The reflections and insights of the sisters flow out from their own life of prayer and experiences. JANUARY DEC 26th to JAN 29th Click here FEBRUARY JAN 30th to FEB 26th Click here MARCH FEB 27th to MAR 26th Click here APRIL He wants people to go freely in and out through him. We have compiled a comprehensive set of reflections on the readings, covering the entire year. The Lord continues to call us to himself, drawing us into an ever deeper relationship with him. for fear his actions should be exposed; All we can do is to surrender to the breath of the Spirit within us and around us, to allow the Spirit to direct us and to lead us. In this situation different people reacted in different ways. It is Paul who in his letters teaches us that through baptism we have become members of the Lords body, temples of his Spirit, sons and daughters of God, sharing in Jesus own relationship with God. His first tentative step was to come to Jesus by night. The feeding of the multitude is one of the few stories from the public ministry of Jesus that is to be found in all four gospels. This is a light to be warmly welcomed, not to be extinguished or imprisoned. That is not to say that Jesus teaching is not demanding. The gate was the path to life for the sheep. Yes, Jesus fed them in the wilderness, but he has something more to give them, not just physical bread but a deeper and more enduring form of nourishment. These cookies may track your personal data. There are a number of similarities between the story of the Ethiopian in todays first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles. Yet, the Lords part in our relationship with him is always so much greater than ours. They were missing the most important bit of the story. He took the few resources that the young boy was generous enough to part with and, having prayed the prayer of thanksgiving to God over these small pieces of food, he somehow fed the enormous crowd. Early on in this period, she was tormented by doubt, but this gave way to mystical encounters with Christ. It was only looking back on their encounter that the two disciples came to realize that the stranger was the risen Lord. Carmelite Spirituality, Gospel Reflection / By Ritche Salgado, O.Carm. It is evident that Catherines mysticism did not withdraw her from the world. Daily Reflections - Passionist The Lord is with his struggling churches to keep them faithful to the end. The Lord journeys with us at such times, as he walked with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, whose spirits were certainly drooping. not to condemn the world, There will always be forces in our world that are hostile to our coming to Jesus. Gradually the words of Scripture begin to dissolve and the Word is revealed before the eyes of our heart. Jesus immediately challenges him to take a much bigger step towards him; he calls on Nicodemus to allow himself to be born from above, to be born of water and the Spirit. I am the gate of the sheepfold. As Jesus says in the gospel reading, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in them. The temptation to lock away our faith out of fear can be very strong. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal., Then they said to him, What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants? Jesus gave them this answer, This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.. speaks Gods own words: In his absence they found themselves struggling with a strong wind and a rough sea. The story they told the stranger was without any hope in it. They saw the Lord; they now knew that the crucified one had been raised from the dead, as he promised. Jesus exclaimed, I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. he has seen the Father. Its natural movement is towards greater simplicity, with less and less talking and more listening. you will not have life in you. Philips response to Jesus showed that he felt overwhelmed by the problem. This realization can keep us hopeful and energized in difficult times. Nicodemus journeyed closer to Jesus in the course of the gospel of John. My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. He said to them, Peace be with you, and showed them his hands and his side. Our website places advertising cookies to show you 3rd party advertisements based on your interests. Yet, Peter was able to see the working of God in this unexpected development. The gospel reading suggests that people of faith, those who seek to be guided by the light of Christ, will always have something very fundamental in common with all who seek the truth with sincerity of heart. When Jesus says in todays gospel reading that, as the good shepherd, I lay down my life for my sheep, he is saying that he lays down his life for each one of us individually. In the language Jesus spoke, and in the language the gospels were written in, the same word could mean either wind or Spirit. In response, Jesus challenges them to work, not for food that cannot last, but for food that endures to eternal life. Having allowed God to work through him to bring the Ethiopian to Jesus, Philip moved on from him, and the Ethiopian continued on his way rejoicing. He invited Thomas to touch his wounds as he had requested, and then called on him to doubt no longer but believe. AdvertisingOur website places advertising cookies to show you 3rd party advertisements based on your interests. The third stage is oratio (response) where we leave our thinking aside and simply let our hearts speak to God. What are we looking to him for? The Jewish feast of Passover was near. Having heard their story, he told them a wider story, drawn from the Jewish Scriptures, a story that began with Moses and the prophets. Philips ministry to the Ethiopian led the Ethiopian to take an initiative of his own, Look, there is some water here; is there anything to stop me being baptized? It is as if the final step of God drawing the Ethiopian to his Son was through the medium of creation, water. Now the risen Lord, through Philip, preaches the gospel to the Samaritans and this time they welcome the gospel. As the shepherd calls his sheep one by one, so the Lord calls his followers one by one; he calls us by name; he calls us in a way that respects our individuality and uniqueness, in accordance with our own particular nature. Only this gospel gives us the dialogue between Jesus and the two disciples, Philip and Andrew. Irish Province of Carmelites | All Rights Reserved | Site by Marketing Inputs. When that happens we begin to remain in his love as he remains in his Fathers love. A contemplative, her life of prayer expressed itself in the loving service of those in need. The painting conveys a sense of this powerful figure now rendered helpless before the risen Lord. It was as if a heavenly light helped him to see everything in a new way.
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