Claire Smith

Scripture:

Acts 13:26-33
John 14:1-6

Reflection:

Where I am going you know the way.” Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  -John 14:5

Once in Rome, my wife and I were trying to find a particular landmark. We stopped and in our best broken Italian, asked a local which way to go. With great enthusiasm and many hand gestures he gave us a long string of directions to follow. We thanked him with a Grazie mille! (A thousand thanks) and continued on our way. Once we were out of earshot, I asked my wife how much of that she had understood. She replied, “I got the first part, keep going straight. Then he lost me!”

In today’s gospel Thomas is confused and asks Jesus for directions. Jesus says, it is simple: “I AM the way.” His direct answer is both heartening, and at times, difficult to understand. But Jesus asks us as he did His first disciples, “Follow me.”

How many of us start along the path towards the Father and then find ourselves distracted or discouraged, drawn this way and that, turned around and casting about, looking for the way? We may follow one of the paths the world offers: riches or fame, overstimulation or languor, wondering why we are still dissatisfied. And yet, Jesus is always before us, beckoning us onward, saying, “I am the way, follow me.” Unlike our Italian friend in the story above, Jesus doesn’t give us a series of complicated directions then send us on our way to fend for ourselves. No, He accompanies us every step of the way. As He teaches in Matthew 28:20: “I am with you always, until the end of the age.” We just need to pause and center ourselves, then turn once again to Him.

To finish off the story I began with, my wife and I realized we could go forward until we were lost again, then ask another person for directions. So it is on the path to the Father. We can (and should!) ask daily, if not minute by minute, “What is the way, Lord?” Jesus never tires of revealing to us, “I am the way. Follow me.”

Talib Huff is a retired teacher and a member of the retreat team at Christ the King Passionist Retreat Center in Citrus Heights, California. You can contact him at [email protected].

Scripture:

1 Corinthians 15:1-8
John 14:6-14

Reflection:

Even within the ‘bubble’ of a “lifetime faith” (a way of life one has known since early years), we sometimes need a ‘faith with a faith’ to hold fast to the fact that Jesus is the image of God.

Every time our mind is stretched in that direction, and we learn something new about Jesus as the revelation of God and thus gain some insight into the mystery of God, we can so easily slip backward. That is, when we relax or pause from being contemplative, we can easily tend to revert to deeply held and usually unconscious feelings about God that tend to reinforce old images. It is as if humankind has a default position when it comes to the divine, and it re-sets itself every time we pause our prayer or lose focus on Jesus himself.

Jesus is more than the image of God, true as that is. He shows us the dynamic life of God and the kind of life God wants to live with us. In his every word, deed, attitude, and teaching Jesus is revelation itself.  His life was and is with us in the Resurrection, lived in an ongoing dynamic of revelation, healing, compassion and compassionate leadership to bring us home to God.

It takes some faith to truly appreciate that everything we see, hear and feel when we contemplate Jesus is a revelation of God.

To be in a relationship with Jesus enables us to know God and is not so much about proofs (“show us the Father”), but rather it is to step out into life each day trusting that he is the way, truth and life. To adhere to his vision and to live like Jesus, as best we can, is to know God. It is as simple and as profoundly mysterious as that.

The challenge for each one of us, life-long followers as we may be or newly commissioned disciples, is to not take this relationship for granted, but rather to keep growing in faith.  “Have I been with you for so long a time, and you still do not know me?” asks Jesus of Philip.

The question can be a talisman-like one for us, one to keep close and ‘wear’ so that it can serve as a reminder and challenge us to greater depths. It is a question for us to take into this day and indeed, into life.

Fr. Denis Travers, C.P., is a member of Holy Spirit Province, Australia. 

Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop, and Doctor of the Church

Scripture:

Acts 11:19-26
John 10:22-30

Reflection:

St. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria in North Africa, has been recognized by the Catholic Church for his holy life and his profound theology, and is now revered as a “Doctor of the Church.” But in his lifetime, he was regarded as a troublemaker by the Roman emperors and even some of his fellow bishops. He was persecuted and threatened; and banished from his people in Alexandria five times. He spent seventeen of forty-six years of his episcopate in exile.

Although St. Athanasius lived in the fourth century, he experienced intimidation and displacement much like the earliest disciples, whose ministries are described in the Acts of the Apostles. And like Barnabas in today’s reading from Acts, “he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord in firmness of heart” (Acts 10:23) despite all their obstacles.

In the fourth century of Athanasius, the obstacle was a heresy called Arianism, which taught that Jesus was not fully divine. There was bitter division in the Church on this issue. St. Athanasius taught that Jesus the Son of God, the Eternal Word through whom God made the world, entered the world in human form. This is the Incarnation, meaning to “take on flesh.”

St. Athanasius risked his life and his reputation to continue to preach the truth of Jesus’ Incarnation because he believed it so deeply. He challenges us to love our world because Jesus the Eternal Word entered our world in human form and shared our reality, loving it ALL. Our love for this world shows in our reverence for life on our planet: species of animals and plants that have evolved over millennia; as well as the diverse cultures, which are the result of human genius to survive and thrive in varied places around the world.

And so, we pray for courage to respond:

—when ecosystems are being destroyed and Indigenous people removed from their lands,   

—when people struggle to hold on to their cultural ways of life after they are displaced by climate change, war, or persecution,

—when we fail to see the face of Jesus in someone of a different ethnicity, nationality, or religion.

We ask for the graces of loving determination, clarity of thought, and reverence for life that we celebrate today in the life of St. Athanasius of Alexandria, Doctor of the Church. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Patty Gillis is a retired Pastoral Minister. She served on the Board of Directors at St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center in Detroit. She is currently a member of the Laudato Si Vision Fulfillment Team and the Passionist Solidarity Network.

Scripture:

Acts 2:14a, 36-41
1 Peter 2:20b-25
John 10:1-10

Reflection:

When I was a little girl, I remember my parents always being very careful to make sure our backyard gate was always locked. No one could get in, and I, being a little three-year-old girl, could not get out. I wasn’t supposed to talk to anyone through the gate, no matter what they said. The gate was security and safety, giving my parents a sense of knowing that no harm could come to me from outside that gate. 

And what was outside the gate? I remember my parents warning me about bad people who could take me and hurt me. When we went shopping, I always had to hold my Mom or Dad’s hand, I couldn’t talk to strangers, I definitely could NOT take candy from a stranger. At the age of three, I had a very specific understanding of what danger could be. 

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus is the gate. Only good people will use the gate – they would have no need to jump the gate or make a hole through the fence. He is the keeper of the gate – the gate opens, he calls them by name and leads them as a group through the gate. The beauty of this is that the sheep can recognize their shepherd’s voice. They don’t recognize anyone else’s voice.

Jesus came to give new life in abundance. We are totally his, and as we continue to recognize his voice, may we follow him on to our heavenly home.

Patty Masson is the Director of Adult Formation and Evangelization for St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic Church in Spring, Texas.

Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin & Doctor of the Church

Scripture:

Acts 9:31-42
John 6:60-69

Reflection:

Start being brave about everything. Drive out darkness and spread light. Don’t look at your weaknesses. Realize instead that in Christ crucified you can do everything. – Saint Catherine of Siena

Today the Church celebrates the feast day of one of the four women who are Doctors of the Church, Catherine of Siena. Her influence on Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome from Avignon, France was Divine intervention only because she listened to God with deep love and was open to the Holy Spirit.

The above quote from Saint Catherine of Siena goes so well with the readings for today. It is also relevant for our present situation in our country and world. It challenges us to be the one who “drives out darkness and spread light”. It challenges us to be the ones who bring light to those around us. A smile, a small act of kindness or a gentle word. As humans we tend to look at our shortcomings when God has given us many gifts and talents. When we focus on these, we become so much stronger.

In the first reading from Acts of the Apostles, Saint Peter is traveling around and comes across a paralyzed man and through Saint Peter’s healing other people of the region “turned to the Lord”. As he continued his travels he comes to Joppa and hears, through two messengers, that “a disciple named Tabitha” has fallen ill and has died. Seeing the grief of the friends and family he is moved to pray for her and raised her up. It stuck me how both accounts sound like the healing accounts of Jesus in the Gospels. Not surprising that Saint Peter, being the head of the Church, would be the mirror image of Christ showing affirmation of his authority given to him by Christ. Saint Peter is using his authority to spread the light of Christ by alleviating suffering.

As Christians, disciples of Christ, we too are called to use our God given talents to help ease pain and suffer and be joy, peace, and light to others. In the Gospel, Jesus tells the disciples that the words that he has spoken to them are “Spirit and life”. The words of the Gospel and readings from other books of scripture are meant to feed our souls, stoking the Light that lives in us. Saint Catherine’s quote at the beginning of this reflection says it best, “Drive out darkness and spread light.” To do this, we need to take time for prayer and reflection and then put that energy into action. The Saints would most likely say to do the ordinary things of life extraordinarily.

May the Light that was given to you at your Baptism continue to burn as light for others.

Linda Schork is a theology teacher at Saint Xavier High School in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Acts 9:1-20
John 6:52-59

Reflection:

The scriptures of Easter season are filled with the Good News of the Risen Jesus! The responsorial psalm calls us to:

            “Go out to all the world and tell the Good News!”

What is this Good News?!  How do we as believers in the Risen Jesus go out and spread this good news to believers and non-believers alike?  What is the Good News in your life that you want to share because of the hope and promise of the Resurrection?!

Yesterday we celebrated with our first grandchild, Everly, as she received her First Holy Communion!  In his homily, Fr. Joe, a visiting pastor, shared memories of his First Communion received over 70 years ago.  He reminded the children and all of us that having received Jesus means that we carry Jesus in our hearts in a special way.  He challenged us to share this Good News as we participate in a life of service to our sisters and brothers!

We live in turbulent times, no doubt about this!  Here in the city of Louisville, we are reeling from a terrible shooting tragedy on Easter Monday that left five people dead along with nine people injured, one of those remains in critical condition.  It has been a time of church and civic leaders to come together with grieving family, friends and the community at large to pray for an end to this senseless violence. 

Where is the Good News being proclaimed in the midst of this heartbreak and sorrow?!  Good News continues to happen through the outpouring of service and love among the community and the commitment on the part of lawmakers to work more earnestly for justice.

Good News can be found in the conversion story of Saul as we read the familiar account found in Acts.  Saul repented and Paul became a believer in the new life we celebrated at Easter.  Paul dedicated his life to preaching the risen Jesus thus bringing many new converts into the fold.

Good News can be seen and heard as those eighty first communicants, their parents, families and friends share the blessings and nourishment they experienced in celebrating in Eucharist at the Table of the Lord. Jesus gives us hope and promise in these words from the Gospel of John:

            “Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood,
            Remains in me and I in them, says the Lord.”

May we continue to be Resurrection people, sharing the Good News and hope it brings to all.  Alleluia!  Alleluia! Alleluia!

Theresa Secord is a Pastoral Associate at St. Agnes Parish, Louisville, Kentucky.