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Joy Enough to Share

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Click here for today’s Scripture readings.

Acts 1:15-17, 20-26
Jn 15:9-17

This passage from Acts of the Apostles shows Peter standing up in the assembly, recounting Judas’ actions, then reminding all present that Scripture had decreed:  “May another take his office.”   They nominated two men.  Peter’s discourse tells us that each man, Joseph (also known as Justus) and Matthias had been “one of the company while the Lord Jesus moved among us…”  from the baptism of John until the Ascension.  After the nomination, the assembly prayed for Divine guidance for their choice.  They drew lots and Matthias was chosen to be added to the eleven apostles.

Did you ever wonder how Joseph felt?  I think we’ve all shared his possible feelings at one time or another.  We follow the rules, we do our best, yet it seems that somehow we weren’t “good enough” to be chosen.  Or perhaps he congratulated Matthias, then breathed a sigh of relief that he did not have the added responsibilities of being called “one of the twelve.”  Finally, he might have accepted the “luck of the draw” to live as he always had done, a dedicated disciple doing his best to remain faithful to what Jesus had taught him.

The Gospel reading today breathes new life and perspective into “choice.” Jesus said:  “It was not you who chose me, it was I who chose you to go forth and bear fruit…”  This is the ending to Jesus’ pericope of the vine and the branches.  As the vine grower, the Father prunes away barren branches and trims clean the fruitful ones to increase their yield.  Amazingly, Jesus declares:  “you are clean already thanks to the word I have spoken to you… My Father has been glorified in your bearing much fruit and becoming my disciples.”

It is love that brings us to this discipleship.  “You will live in my love if you keep my commandments….”  But we are not alone in this self-giving love.  Jesus tells us he is the vine, we are the branches.  Just as in the vineyard, nutrients are drawn from the roots through the stem to feed and encourage the growth of each fruit.  One of the many important life-sustaining elements that Jesus gives us in this way is Joy.   “All this I tell you that my joy may be yours and your joy may be complete.”  Being chosen to go forth in the world, bearing the fruits of discipleship and love to a world sorely in need of them is the lot of each one of us.  To realize that must bring us joy enough to share.

- Patricia Muehlbauer

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Without Borders

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Click here for today’s Scripture readings.

Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
1 Jn 4:7-10
Jn 15:9-17

We’ve all heard of that wonderful organization Doctors Without Borders. Volunteer professional doctors, nurses and medical people from around the world who volunteer to go and bring their professional skills to help men, women and children victimized by war, famine and disasters of any kind. They look beyond people’s faith, culture, social standing and see only brothers and sisters in desperate need.

Unfortunately we are not people without borders. We want our own space. We mark out borders protecting our space to keep out the people we don’t want in our lives. They could be alienated spouses or relatives, people we dislike in our place of work or men and women of other faiths or cultures or lifestyles, people we see as suspicious newcomers, people of different life styles. There can be any number of people we really don’t want to be part of our lives. We don’t want them crossing our borders.

The compatriots of Jesus had their borders too. They saw themselves as special, their scriptures told them time and again,” I will be your God and you will be my people.” Their land was a holy land given to them by God, it stretched from Dan to Beersheba. They had their own dietary laws and social restraints. In their mindset they were the chosen of God, all others were left to their own devises. They stuck to their own and avoided unnecessary contact with strangers.

In today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles we hear about Peter coming to the home of Cornelius, a gentile, a Roman Centurion. When Peter meets Cornelius he tells Cornelius,” You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean and so when I was sent for I came” Then we have this amazing insight of Peter, “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, God has no favorites, God has no borders, but that in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” And the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The Jewish Christians were astonished that the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles.

That’s not the end of the story. Good people resisted this God without borders and strongly resisted the acceptance of Gentiles into the church. In the Acts of the Apostles we hear over and over again of a resistance to accepting Gentiles into the Church. People wanted to maintain their borders, in fact people today maintain borders. God loves, God works, God heals, God is known, only within our borders.

Have you ever heard someone talking about a friend or a neighbour, praising them to the sky for their kindness and generosity and then they blow the whole thing but saying, “And you know they are not even Catholic.” It’s as if God’s life and grace and mercy are contained within the borders of the Roman Catholic Church.

God is a God without borders. The commandment Jesus gives us in today’s gospel, ”Love one another as I have loved you” is a commandment that challenges us to live our lives as Christian men and women without borders.

This is not an easy commandment to live. It’s easy to love those who love us, but what about loving people who don’t love us? What about loving whom we don’t like, people we try to avoid or people who avoid us? What about loving people with whom we are at odds, people toward whom we feel coldness or anger? What about people, especially relatives, whom we haven’t been able to forgive? Can we open our borders to such people?

Love one another as I have loved you. This is not an easy commandment to live. As someone once wrote so succinctly. This command, love and forgive your enemies, more than any creedal formula or other moral issue, it the litmus test for Christian discipleship.” This is not easy for any of us.

As we continue to celebrate this Mass we can pray for ourselves and for each other that strengthened by the bread of life we will receive at this Mass we will, with the grace of God, try to live this commandment and love without borders.

- Father Paul Cusack, C.P. is the pastor of St. Gabriel Passionist Parish in Toronto, Canada.

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I have called YOU…

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Paul @ Bundoran

Paul @ Bundoran (Photo credit: bettlebrox)

Click here for today’s Scripture readings.

Acts 16:1-10
Jn 15:18-21

Have you ever experienced a vision?

I believe that most of us would respond to this question in the negative.  A vision implies something super natural, certainly not an ordinary occurrence in our realm.  However, if we were asked, “Have you ever had a significant dream?” many of us could recall something specific and even life-changing in our dreams.

The “vision” or dream that Paul experienced in the first reading resulted in a change of plans.  Paul and his followers believed that they were being called by God to go to Macedonia, not their original destination, to proclaim the good news…and so they went.

How do we, in the 21st century experience God’s call?  Sometimes, I think that the people in scripture had a privileged knowledge and knew immediately when God was acting in their lives.  Yet I also believe that the Holy Spirit is with us today and inspires us to be open to hear God’s call. It depends though on how we prepare our lives to listen for our call.  Are we open to listening to God through quiet prayer?  Do we bring what we “hear” to prayer?  If so, we, like Paul, will go forth in confidence to proclaim the good news in answer to God’s call.

However, we are reminded in the gospel reading that road before us will be difficult at best.  We will meet with opposition from the very people we hope to inspire.  Just as Jesus met with resistance from those he came to save, we too will find it difficult to convince people that we are called to more than our world offers.

Lord, keep us ever faithful to your call and give us strength to endure adversity.

- Alice Smith has been a part of Holy Family’s women’s retreat ministry for many years. She lives with her husband on Cape Cod.

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