JOHN 10:11-18
A tourist on vacation in Scotland was walking along a pleasant country road when, all of a sudden, a storm came up. Snow began to fall and the wind howled through the highlands. As he made his way to shelter, braced against this sudden cold, he noticed that several sheep were emerging from the hollows and from underneath the trees, going out to stand on the bare hillsides, facing the storm. A little while later, he met an old and weather-beaten shepherd and yelled out to him, "Aren't sheep the most foolish of all creatures? Here we are in the middle of a storm and instead of remaining in the shelter of the hollows, there they are, courting the full fury of this bitter blast. If I were a sheep, I would have stayed put in the hollows."
By this time, the shepherd was face-to-face with the tourist and he could not resist answering his comment "If you were a sheep, you'd have more sense." Seeing the puzzled look on the stranger's face, the shepherd continued on with an explanation of his cryptic remark. "You see," he said, "down in the hollows the snow gathers into drifts and with those drifts comes death to the sheep. The sheep know that their only possible safety is found in the open on the hills, facing the storm." And with that remark, the shepherd carried on toward his sheep.
The Gospel this Sunday finds Jesus declaring the extend of his love for his sheep "for these sheep I will give my life
I lay down my life freely and I have power to take it up again." We are invited to realize once more the strength that is ours by virtue of our being Jesus' beloved sheep. Like the sheep that did not retreat to the hollows, Jesus risked his life for those he loves. His risk enables and empowers each one of us to follow him.
Today's first reading from Luke finds both Peter and John accepting the challenge to risk and thereby to show that they belong to Jesus, their shepherd. Unwilling to retreat to the hollows by keeping silent or remaining hidden in the upper room in safety and security, the apostles openly heal a crippled man in Jesus' name and boldly declare that they have done so through the power of Jesus, crucified and risen from the dead. Despite the firestorm their words and deeds provoked, Peter and James relationship with their risen shepherd enabled them to withstand the hostility of the authorities. They stood alone and in the open, braced against the very real dangers their words and actions would let loose upon them.
The fate of many disciples throughout our long history brings this home again and again, even into our own age. Whenever we relinquish the safety of the hollows to risk our lives for the sake of the Gospel, we are following in the footsteps of the Risen Lord, the Shepherd.
Just this week we have seen witness in the Sudan in a tiny area called Darfur. We need only pick up a newspaper to face the ravages of war and injustice. There are some who risk all to offer aid where it is so badly needed. Not all those reaching out are popular figures of our age, but they are working just the same. Unfortunately, the voices of so many can be drowned out by the apathy of a world that is intent on its own needs unless jolted by the sheer magnitude of their need.
Today, let us pray for those who hear the cries of those many voices and who cannot ignore them. They are living the Gospel, they are following the Shepherd.
Rev. Thomas G. Moore
Parish Bulletin for Sunday, May 14, 2006
Fifth Sunday of Easter
JOHN 15:1-18
Before we can break open this particular Gospel passage, it is critical for us to look at what comes before this "I AM" declaration concerning the identity of Jesus as the vine and the nature of the relationship of his own to him as branches that draw life from the one true vine. "Get up, let us go"(14:31) is a call to get moving. Jesus has set the stage; his message is not meant for a community at rest, doing business as usual.
His call, the mutual indwelling of himself and his own, is meant for a community engaged in service, a community whose distinctiveness from the world will surely evoke that same world's distrust and hatred. This declaration is meant for a community called to mission and the fullness of its wonderful, powerful imagery loses its relevance unless it is understood in the context of mission.
As an image of the relationship between Christ and the believer, the vine and the branches also affirm the notion of corporateness. "Live in me as I live in you" (v.4) says the Johannine Jesus, who then goes on to explain that any fruitfulness comes from him. "No more than a branch can bear fruit of itself, apart from the vine, can you bear fruit apart from me." Apart from the indwelling Christ, we, as church, with our communal life and ministries of teaching, healing, preaching, and social justice, are no more than branches to be tossed into the fire.
But how does the branch live a life attached firmly to the vine, and how do believers live in Christ and allow Christ to live in them? Jesus answers this by bidding his own to let his words stay a part of them. These words constitute a daily challenge to love, to rejoice, to abide and, when necessary, to submit to the pruning that is inherent in discipleship. Just as pruning bushes and trees often results in what appears to be a near death experience, one that leaves the pruned plant looking bereft of any breath of life, so also those life experiences that knock us to our knees and leave us gasping for breath are the very experiences through which God will make us more fruitful.
There is also challenge in belonging to Christ. Do we dare remain in him and he in us? Shall we live in him and he in us? If so, there shall be pruning, but with the pruning shall come fruit
fruit that will last.
- TUESDAY, May 16
- Easter Weekday
- 8:30 a.m. - Alfred and Ersilia Gallucci
- Requested by daughter Caterina
- WEDNESDAY, May 17
- Easter Weekday
- 8:30 a.m. - Catherine Clydesdale
- Requested by Kas and June Mentzen
- THURSDAY, May 18
- Easter Weekday
- 8:30 a.m. - Carmen Pace
- Requested by daughter
- FRIDAY, May 19
- Easter Weekday
- 8:30 a.m. Intentions: Thanksgiving
- Requested by Anne Paul
Parish Bulletin for Sunday, May 21, 2006
Sixth Sunday of Easter
"Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will discover fire." Teilhard de Chardin wrote these words in Beijing in 1934. Today, as the first reading from Acts is proclaimed, the praying assembly can see these words come alive in the actions of Peter welcoming and loving Cornelius as his brother in Christ. Today, the praying assembly is also challenged to consider whether these words continue to come to life in our world through our love for all others in Christ Jesus.
The conversion story of Cornelius represents a landmark event, for not only does it portray a Roman soldier's welcome into the church and thereby the official beginning of the gentile mission, it also teaches us that conversions or stories about vocation are stories about the gifts of God. God is the chief protagonist in all Lucan conversion accounts and even the smallest details are attributed to the workings of God. Cornelius' conversion was not the result of persuasive preaching; in fact, and as the story reflects, the church, in the person of Peter, had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the plan of God. Recruitment efforts, strategic and calculated planning by the community aimed at church growth-these are nowhere to be found.
Conversion comes to Cornelius and his entire household as a surprising and unexpected act of God's grace. Once Peter realized this, he said yes to a plan, a mind, a will and a love that was infinitely more inclusive, more thoughtful, more powerful and more generous than his own. From then on, he tried valiantly not to get in the way of God's plan or God's saving gift, clearly intended to include and be enjoyed by all people.
Peter's words to Cornelius reflect the fact that Cornelius was not the only one who was enjoying God's gift of conversion. "I begin to see that God shows no partiality." These words (v.34) disclose the enormity of God's gift to Peter. He had indeed begun to see others as God sees them and to welcome them as God would welcome them, freely and fully. Peter's conversion challenges us to discover similar possibilities for growth and responsiveness to God's will and God's ways in ourselves.
Rev. Thomas G. Moore
- TUESDAY, May 23
- Easter Weekday
- 8:30 a.m. - Marie and William Dale
- Requested by daughter June
- WEDNESDAY, May 24
- Easter Weekday
- 8:30 a.m. - Barbara Manza
- Requested by Manza family
- THURSDAY, May 25
- Easter Weekday
- 8:30 a.m. - Bernadette Umoezinwa
- Requested by Felicia
- FRIDAY, May 26
- St. Philip Neri
- 8:30 a.m. - Salvatorie Beltrano
- Requested by Ida and family
Parish Bulletin for Sunday, May 28, 2006
Feast of the Ascension
What's left to do?
Today, Jesus comes full circle. Thirty-three years ago he descended from heaven; 33 years later, he ascends back to heaven. We are not privileged to know what he thought on this day, but, if I were he, I would have three questions about his earthly experience. What did it mean? What did it accomplish? What now?
What did those earthly, human years mean, this new life with a body in time? The Son of God descended from knowing all things intuitively to learning everything bit by ignorant bit. The One who had created all things by simply saying the word now painstakingly forced wood into a chair. That perfectly peaceful person in complete control of divine desire descended to the depth of roiling human passion.
Of course, Jesus was still God, so he retained a few divine perks, but what did that amount to since it was confined within human limits? He forgave a few people, but sinners abound. He healed a few people, but not everyone. So, except for raising a couple of people from the dead who then had to die again the day to day life of Jesus might have been pretty much like our lives. And like all of us intelligent people, he must have occasionally felt ill-at-ease with ignorant villagers; he might have soared like an eagle except for those sometimes obtuse disciples. If only the religious leaders knew more scripture and if the civil leaders were not leftovers from the royal court, if he hadn't been born in the wrong time at the wrong place, he might have succeeded more.
Second question: What did all those years accomplish? Jesus saw the world as a battle between his Father and Satan. So he spent a lot of time and energy exorcising demons. That looks like a strange strategy to us. His main message was the Kingdom of God. But he wasn't dead a few years before that project was put on the back burner by his first followers. They had their own agenda of survival in a secular culture. And his followers are still doing the same thing.
Jesus thought of himself as dying for his friends in faithfulness to his Father. Later theologians have tried to explain how one person's death could make up for all of humanity's sins and what it might mean to be reconciled with God. But whatever the life and death of Jesus meant to his Father, to us it means that God has experienced our pain and joy and dreams and disillusionments. God now realizes what complex, improbable lives we lead.
Last question: What now? Jesus could have decided that he had done what he came to do; that whatever he did or did not accomplish was a matter for the records; that he had done all he could do, and the rest was up to God. Pretty much the way we feel.
But not entirely. Most people have a desire to leave some kind of a legacy: a family, a foundation - some continuation of their life that would somehow vindicate their existence, carry on their project. Jesus had that same desire, magnified to divine intensity.
But if the sin of the world has been forgiven, if humankind has been reconciled to God, what is there left to do? Ah, there's still that pesky Kingdom of God that keeps getting tabled because of more pressing business. When will we learn that the Kingdom is our agenda? If we pursued that, everything else would fall into place.
Rev. Thomas G. Moore
- TUESDAY, May 30
- Easter Weekday
- 8:30 a.m. - Wilhelmina DeAbreu
- Requested by Trudy Weigand
- WEDNESDAY, May 31
- Visitation of Mary
- 8:30 a.m. - Pauline Van Nieuwenhove
- Requested by husband Alfred
- THURSDAY, June 1
- St. Justin
- 8:30 a.m. - Lydia Arsenault
- Requested by husband
- FRIDAY, June 2
- Easter Weekday
- 8:30 a.m. - Amelia Couvinha
- Requested by Helena Sousa
