Feast of the Ascension

Ae we gather this weekend to celebrate the feast of the Ascension we pray for the families and friends of those who died in the school shooting in Uvalde Texas  during this past week. Once again the American Nation is thrown into gun related turmoil. Once again we see just how little the loss of life means to some people politicians and otherwise who put their constitutional rights above human life in their promotion of guns and the right to have them and use them .

 Over our lives we have seen or we will see the departure of so many people, Perhaps it is a son or daughter leaving for university or maybe it was someone leaving to go to another country on the other side of the world or the hardest departure of all someone close to us dying.Our lives are made up of so many different times and places of leave-taking and that is what Ascension is really about Jesus leaving the Apostles to return to the Father. The Apostles must have felt awful as  Jesus  told them and us go therefore make disciples of all the nations and know that I am with you yes to the end of time. This Gospel reading is all about the past the present and the future. It is about ourselves in the here and now of today, and what we are doing to make disciples of all the nations in 2022 or at least making disciples of those around us perhaps our families and friends. In this gospel reading Jesus has little to say, but he is definite about what he has to say when he speaks. This is in sharp contrast to the fact that, even at this last minute, some of his disciples still doubted. The disciples did what he told them to do. He asked them to meet him on the mountain, and they did that. Like any gathering of people, their feelings were varied.

Some of them worshipped him, while some of them still doubted. Jesus didn’t seem to have any great problem with that, because he knew that, when the Spirit came, all of those doubts would be ended. It would seem, indeed, that he was in a hurry to take his leave of them, so that the second part of his plan of salvation could get underway. The mission of the apostles was simple to understand; difficult to carry out. It was to teach others all that Jesus had taught them. Just as he asked his disciples to follow him, they were to ask that others should follow him which was so hard then and especially hard in the world of today. The programme of redemption and salvation was to begin at Pentecost and continue from generation to generation, until the end of time. So many things have changed in the Church and society     over the years especially in more recent times. However two things that have not changed are Jesus himself and every word of his message.

The essential message of God and Jesus his Son have never changed up to now and I don’t think that the message  will ever change. Again and again we need to ask ourselves what we are doing to make disciples of all the nations realizing that Jesus and his message are always new for each generation. May we be heralds of the message of Jesus this Ascension as we go forward with faith.

6th Sunday of Easter

This weekend we celebrate the 6^th Sunday of Easter and soon we will be at Ascension and then Pentecost. In this Sundays Gospel Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to the apostles as the advocate. Although Jesus had spoken to the Apostles and told them many different things, he knew them well and realized that they wouldn’t remember everything he said Jesus also knew that they would have to endure many struggles, that they would have to face ambiguity and confusion, difference and disagreement. We see all of this in the Church today with many people agreeing with Pope Francis and many others disagreeing with him on issues of faith. The Apostles would not see eye to eye on everything; they would have different memories of Jesus; they would emphasise different things. In the conflicts that would arise they would have to put their faith to work. That is why he told them and he tells us that the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in his name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.

These words are a direct pointer towards Pentecost and the gifts that the Holy Spirit would bring to the apostles as well as us.  We don’t have the physical presence of Jesus with us the way his first disciples did when he talked with them around the table at the Last Supper, washed their feet, and gave them his reassuring promises. His farewell to them was the  real deal he was going, he would no longer be with them as he had been. But he assured them and us that he is present in a different way, in his gift of the Holy Spirit. In the Gospel Reading Jesus also promised the Apostles Peace  ‘A peace that the world cannot give.’ Sometimes we mistake this peace for our idea of quietness or tranquility, but the peace the Jesus gives is a peace that can be found even in the midst of turmoil. This peace is not something we can manufacture ourselves by our own power. It’s a gift that comes from Jesus, who doesn’t want to lose touch with us. Jesus chose his followers to carry out God’s plan of salvation. He chooses us today to do the same. By allowing us to participate in his work of redemption, he gives us a personal stake in the Kingdom of God.

With all the confusion ambiguity and disagreement that we see in the world at the present time as people of faith  we remember the great gift the Holy spirit. If we keep on trusting in the presence of the Spirit of God we will have peace in the midst of any personal, family, or community turmoil that comes our way as well as someone who will keep us going along the right Road!

5th Sunday of Easter

This weekend we stop and say a prayer for all those who will doing exams in the weeks ahead. Many people is our world put great store on education and sometimes they forget the pressure that this puts on our young people especially at exam time and not all of them are able to deal with that pressure. During this exam season we remember all those who are finding the exams hard to get through and we pray for all those who are doing exams that they may be inspired to do their best and know that there are people out there family, friends teachers and lecturers who value them no matter about the exam results.

In this Sundays Gospel Jesus calls us to a new way of living when he tells us to love one another as I have loved you.  At one level this is a simple call to love, at another it is a big challenge for us to be Christ like  to others in this sometimes horrible world. This means that we should love as Jesus loves, in order to be the face and heart of Christ to a wounded and hurting world. 

The love Jesus speaks of seems to be narrow and restrictive. He is addressing his disciples when he says, “love one another.”  This love may seem insular and applicable just to an inner circle of his followers. Is he telling us that the sacrificial love he calls us to applies only to those around us in the Church? No, of course he is not saying that because we know from other parts of John’s gospel that Jesus’ mission of love includes an outreach to the world. That outreach in our modern times must include all those who are on the margins for many reasons we should not leave them behind as many people might want to do. Jesus wants us to be united with him and one another in A loving and caring community. A loving and caring community that has a great effect on others bringing those who might be doubtful with it.

 What more articulate proclamation of the gospel can there be than a group of diverse people drawn together, not by similarities in education, economic status, neighborhood, citizenship, race, etc., but by the love that God has for them and their bringing that love for one another to other people? Love always demands the best from us and brings out the best in us. Being loved gives us surprising energy and courage. Love makes us fruitful, productive, strong and constant in doing good. Love is the flame that warms our soul, energizes our spirit and supplies passion to our lives. It’s our connection to God and one another.’ We are called to show the love of God to those around us and this is not easy to do but we should try and not be afraid to do that as we go forward in the love and joy of  the risen Lord.

4th Sunday of Easter

This Sunday  we celebrate the 4^th Sunday of Easter  also known as Good Shepherd Sunday.  On this day we also celebrate the 59th World Day of Prayer for Vocations instituted by Pope Paul VI in 1964. We  are encouraged to pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life as we the flock of the Lord need shepherds after the lord’s own heart. The idea of Jesus as the Good Shepherd is a lovely one because it is a well-known fact that the shepherd never leaves his sheep outside the sheepfold. If any are outside the shepherd will seek the lost sheep at all costs until they are found.  The wandering figure of the shepherd, anxiously tending his sheep to the point where he is willing to surrender his life for them, is the image Jesus uses about himself in this Gospel Reading. That mixture of tenderness, toughness, care and self-sacrifice, is one that summarises his own leadership. It is not a leadership of detachment and defensiveness;  Instead , it is the  leadership of involvement and self-sacrificial love.

In the good shepherd’s extravagant love for his flock, his own life matters less than that of his sheep as we know Jesus left us an everlasting memorial in the Eucharist and then gave up his life for us on the cross on Good Friday. When we see how Jesus as a shepherd  actually behaves we see his tenderness in caring for the people and his courage which led him to the cross.   The parable of the Good Shepherd has many consoling truths and promises for people of every time and place including ourselves in 2022. The good shepherd challenges us not to leave the lost sheep behind.” The Gospel of the Good Shepherd teaches us how to embrace the gift of redemption by hearing and recognizing the voice of the Good Shepherd. There are numerous voices out there calling us to believe and to do  things that might seem good, but those voices are not of or from the Lord. We are his people the sheep of his flock and that means that we are people who are able to recognize the voice of the Lord and to faithfully follow him. 

This Sunday  we also pray for all those young and not so young who have a vocation to the priesthood, Permanent diaconate or the religious life. We pray that in their lives they may be like Christ the Good shepherd who came to bring his people into the sheepfold of God and faith in him. We also pray that the good shepherd will inspire many more people to take up the vocation of being shepherds of the flock.