1. The Gospels, which nourish our faith at every Eucharist, were written by believers for believers, that is, for those already baptized or for those who by God’s providence might be seeking baptism. This is why John the Evangelist can say to his readers – Jesus performed many other signs as well, signs not recorded in my Gospel, but these signs, I have recorded, have as their purpose to help you, the readers, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Promised One, so that through this faith you may have life in his name. The four Gospels whose historical character the Church unhesitatingly asserts faithfully hands on to us all that the Lord Jesus, while living among us, did and taught until the day he was taken up into heaven. Does this mean that today’s account of the raising of Lazarus is like the work of a newspaper reporter, submitting copy for the Jerusalem Times? The answer, of course, is “No”. John is writing many decades after the Lord’s resurrection, many decades after the raising of Lazarus. John wants to tell his readers about Jesus and about the impact Jesus had on people like Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus. Nevertheless, transparent in John’s narrative is the historical situation of the particular Church community to which John belonged and for whose benefit he wrote his Gospel. In a word, he wants to describe the impact the risen Christ continues to have on many other persons, many Marys, Marthas and Lazaruses in the course of Church history. In this way, he wants to confront the ever-present issue of belief and unbelief – the issue St. Paul discusses in our second reading – an issue never very far from our lives here at Saint John the Evangelist Parish.
2. The story of Lazarus is the story of one man’s encounter with Christ, the story of God’s power at work in Christ to restore life to someone who had died. Wherever the work of evangelization takes place, the story of Lazarus is an important element in the conversion journey of those who anticipate the reception of Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Eucharist at the Easter Vigil. Candidates for these sacraments are instructed to see themselves in the person of Lazarus and to find Christ the Lord summoning them to life through the mediation of Christ’s body, which is the Church. Just as Christ gave physical life to the dead Lazarus, so through the sacraments God gives the divine life of grace to those who turn away from sin and profess faithfulness to the Gospel. Lazarus was really, truly, physically restored to natural life. You and I are really, truly, sacramentally restored to the faith, hope and charity which unite us to God.
3. Our Gospel reading is familiar in part to many of us who have heard it so often proclaimed at funeral liturgies. The dialogue between Jesus and Martha is most instructive. Martha had said to Jesus – “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died”. “Your brother will rise again”, Jesus replied. Then he said, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” Then the Lord asked Martha, who was the first to hear these words, and the Lords asks us who now hear them at this very Liturgy – “Do you believe this?” St. John records Martha’s response. Only God knows the response of each one here.
4. Whoever believes in me, even if she dies, will live and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. What does this mean? There is physical life and physical death; there is spiritual or eternal life and eternal death. In our narrative, Jesus makes two claims. First he says, “I am the resurrection”. This means that whoever believes in the Lord Jesus, even though she may go down to the grave in physical death, would enjoy eternal life in heaven. This is the life the Holy Spirit first gives us at holy Baptism. Then Jesus says – “I am the life” – meaning whoever receives Christ’s life in Baptism and perseveres in God’s love will never experience eternal death. This is why we say at every funeral Liturgy – “When the body of our earthly dwelling lies in death, we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven.”
5. The Gospel of John is a call to faith, faith in God, faith in Jeus his divine Son made flesh, faith in the Holy Spirit at work in the Church. Two weeks ago, we met the woman at the well in Samaria, and we joined with her town-folks who said to the woman – “We no longer believe because of your word, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that Jesus is truly Savior of the world”. Last week, we met the man born blind whom Jesus cured and to whom Jesus revealed himself. We joined the blind man in his response – “I do believe, Lord” – and he worshiped him. Today we hear what the Lord Jesus said to Martha. He then asked her – “Do you believe me and what I have said? Do you believe me?” Hopefully, we say with Martha – “Yes, Lord, I do believe”.
Friday, April 11, 2014
4th SUNDAY OF LENT (A)
1. In the seventh chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, Moses reminds his fractious Israelites – “You are a people sacred to the Lord, your God; God has chosen you from all the nations to be a people peculiarly his own. It is not because you are the largest of all nations that God has set his heart on you. It was because the Lord loved you that he ransomed you from Pharaoh, king of Egypt.” God said something like this to each one of us on the occasion of holy Baptism: Through Baptism and all that follows therefrom, God has chosen us to be faithful to his Gospel, to be his evangelists, certainly not for personal privilege, certainly not for merits of our own, but because in his love he invites us – he empowers us – to be light for the nations.
2. This passage from Deuteronomy bears witness to what we call “the biblical doctrine of divine election”. If not carefully understood, this doctrine can create difficulties in the minds of some of our contemporaries. Does God have a particular love for some people or a universal love for all peoples? In choosing ancient Israel, was God rejecting the ancient Egyptians? By no means! The Church teaches us that God has a true, sincere, saving will for all peoples. Divine election is not a choosing for the personal advantage of the one chosen but a choosing for particular responsibility. In our first reading today, the prophet Samuel tells us – “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart”. At times, in a seemingly scandalizing manner, God chooses the least likely for the most important missions. God chose David for the salvation of ancient Israel. God chose ancient Israel for the salvation of the ancient Egyptians. How odd of God to choose David; how odd of God to choose the Jews; how odd of God to choose you and me – certainly for no reason but for discipleship-responsibility. Divine election really works because God himself is the main “persona” in the drama – at work through David, at work through ancient Israel, at work in us in the Spirit-directed ministry of the Church. All the while, of course, we humans can very easily fail and thus derail the Holy Spirit.
3. Last week – in preparation for Easter – we reflected on the woman at the well in Samaria as our Savior moved her from sin to grace. Today, we have listened to the wonderful story of the man born blind as the grace of Christ moved him from darkness to the light of faith – according to the Lord’s great promise – “I am the light of the world. No follower of mine will ever walk in darkness, but will have the light of life”.
4. The story of the man born blind, just like the season of Lent, focuses on the question of conversion. The grace of the Holy Spirit draws the blind man to think of Jesus, first as a prophet, then as one sent by God, but finally as his Lord and Savior. Christ’s mission was not to open the eyes of all the blind in his days. He opens in our Gospel reading the blind man’s eyes to show his power and his love, and to show his will to open in us all that inner eye which is the grace of faith. Our second reading speaks to that inner eye of faith as St. Paul tells us – “We were once darkness, but now we are light in the Lord”. Light produces every kind of goodness, righteousness and truth. We are to live as children of the light. Paul then quotes from an early Christian hymn – an Easter message for each one of us, as it was an Easter message for the man born blind – “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead and Christ will give you light.”
P.S.: On the 4th Sunday of Lent, the Church prays especially for all those who will receive the Sacraments of Initiation at this year’s great Easter Vigil. Wherever the RCIA is operative, the 4th Sunday of Lent is the scheduled time for the second of three scrutinies to take place. What is meant by the scrutinies? We must not think of them as examinations to discern the doctrinal or moral readiness of the candidates to be baptized. The scrutinies have a two-fold purpose – they represent the Church’s prayer of intercession for those who are asking for Baptism. They also represent parish communities’ support to encourage the candidates who are soon to become fully initiated members of the parish. What do the scrutinies seek to encourage? They have several objectives: to aid the candidate to engage in a lifelong struggle to put aside the deeds of darkness and to put on the armor of light; to instruct the candidate about sin and darkness from which we have all been delivered by Christ who is our light; to fill the minds and hearts of the catechumens with knowledge and understanding about Christ the Redeemer. And so we pray:
Lord God, source of unfailing light, by the death and resurrection of Christ you have cast out the darkness of hatred and lies and poured forth the light of truth and love upon the human family. Hear our prayers for these elect, whom you have called to be your adopted children. Enable them, as you enabled the man born blind, to pass from darkness to light and, delivered from the prince of darkness, to live always as children of the light. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
2. This passage from Deuteronomy bears witness to what we call “the biblical doctrine of divine election”. If not carefully understood, this doctrine can create difficulties in the minds of some of our contemporaries. Does God have a particular love for some people or a universal love for all peoples? In choosing ancient Israel, was God rejecting the ancient Egyptians? By no means! The Church teaches us that God has a true, sincere, saving will for all peoples. Divine election is not a choosing for the personal advantage of the one chosen but a choosing for particular responsibility. In our first reading today, the prophet Samuel tells us – “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart”. At times, in a seemingly scandalizing manner, God chooses the least likely for the most important missions. God chose David for the salvation of ancient Israel. God chose ancient Israel for the salvation of the ancient Egyptians. How odd of God to choose David; how odd of God to choose the Jews; how odd of God to choose you and me – certainly for no reason but for discipleship-responsibility. Divine election really works because God himself is the main “persona” in the drama – at work through David, at work through ancient Israel, at work in us in the Spirit-directed ministry of the Church. All the while, of course, we humans can very easily fail and thus derail the Holy Spirit.
3. Last week – in preparation for Easter – we reflected on the woman at the well in Samaria as our Savior moved her from sin to grace. Today, we have listened to the wonderful story of the man born blind as the grace of Christ moved him from darkness to the light of faith – according to the Lord’s great promise – “I am the light of the world. No follower of mine will ever walk in darkness, but will have the light of life”.
4. The story of the man born blind, just like the season of Lent, focuses on the question of conversion. The grace of the Holy Spirit draws the blind man to think of Jesus, first as a prophet, then as one sent by God, but finally as his Lord and Savior. Christ’s mission was not to open the eyes of all the blind in his days. He opens in our Gospel reading the blind man’s eyes to show his power and his love, and to show his will to open in us all that inner eye which is the grace of faith. Our second reading speaks to that inner eye of faith as St. Paul tells us – “We were once darkness, but now we are light in the Lord”. Light produces every kind of goodness, righteousness and truth. We are to live as children of the light. Paul then quotes from an early Christian hymn – an Easter message for each one of us, as it was an Easter message for the man born blind – “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead and Christ will give you light.”
P.S.: On the 4th Sunday of Lent, the Church prays especially for all those who will receive the Sacraments of Initiation at this year’s great Easter Vigil. Wherever the RCIA is operative, the 4th Sunday of Lent is the scheduled time for the second of three scrutinies to take place. What is meant by the scrutinies? We must not think of them as examinations to discern the doctrinal or moral readiness of the candidates to be baptized. The scrutinies have a two-fold purpose – they represent the Church’s prayer of intercession for those who are asking for Baptism. They also represent parish communities’ support to encourage the candidates who are soon to become fully initiated members of the parish. What do the scrutinies seek to encourage? They have several objectives: to aid the candidate to engage in a lifelong struggle to put aside the deeds of darkness and to put on the armor of light; to instruct the candidate about sin and darkness from which we have all been delivered by Christ who is our light; to fill the minds and hearts of the catechumens with knowledge and understanding about Christ the Redeemer. And so we pray:
Lord God, source of unfailing light, by the death and resurrection of Christ you have cast out the darkness of hatred and lies and poured forth the light of truth and love upon the human family. Hear our prayers for these elect, whom you have called to be your adopted children. Enable them, as you enabled the man born blind, to pass from darkness to light and, delivered from the prince of darkness, to live always as children of the light. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
3rd SUNDAY OF LENT (A)
1. Our Gospel reading this morning – you have already come to this conclusion – is longer than our average Sunday Gospel. This will be true next Sunday and the following Sunday as well. The Sunday Gospels for the third, fourth and fifth weeks of Lent – in the “A” cycle of readings – focus on the grace of Christian initiation. These Gospels, therefore, have special value to candidates who are moving through the last phases of that process which we call the RCIA – The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. These Gospels also speak volumes to all of us who are moving through another Lenten observance with the hope of celebrating the Easter mysteries with minds and hearts renewed. These Gospels make us intimate participants in three New Testament incidents. In today’s Gospel we are caught up in Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well in Samaria, focusing on her passage and our own passage from sin to grace. Next Sunday we will meet that wonderful character in John’s Gospel described as the man who was born blind, and we will contemplate his own passage and our own passage from darkness to light. Finally, on the week before Holy Week, we will find ourselves with Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus, as we contemplate his passage and our own passage from death to life. This morning we should note carefully what our Preface Prayer says about the Samaritan woman. When Jesus asked the woman from Samaria for water to drink, Christ had already prepared for her the gift of faith. In his thirst to receive her faith, he awakened in her heart the fire of God’s love.
2. Jesus lived in a part of the world where water was and still is a scarce commodity. Not only was clean water scarce; much of the water available was too dangerous to drink. It is hard for us to imagine in our culture a scarcity of water. Even though our water bills have quadrupled, our habits have not changed. We keep the tap running while we brush our teeth, we take marathon showers, we run washing machines when only half full. However, we are the exceptions. The majority of the world’s present population share in Jesus’ experience and that of the Samaritan woman who had to come daily to the public pump. Several years ago, our Holy Father entitled his Lenten message – “Water is Sacred: Protect It”. He wrote: “We are deeply worried to see that entire peoples have been reduced to destitution and are suffering hunger and disease because they lack drinking water. Hunger and many diseases are closely linked to drought and water pollution. Immense areas of Africa are experiencing the scourge as well as many other areas across the globe.”
3. Water, of course, figures as a prominent symbol in the Scriptures. The psalmist, describing the just person as one who follows not the counsel of the wicked but delights in the law of the Lord, has this to say: “The just person is like a tree planted near running water”. And in the familiar 23rd Psalm, the poet writes: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. In green pastures he gives me repose. Beside restful waters he leads me. He refreshes my soul.” In our intriguing Gospel narrative this morning, Jesus distinguishes between the water of everyday life, which the woman could understand, and the living water that can become a fountain providing eternal life for the person who drinks it. Jesus leads the Samaritan woman from her understanding of the water of everyday life to the discovery of the living water that is God’s grace – the grace of the Holy Spirit – that provides eternal life. Thus John the Evangelist’s dramatic account of the incident of the Samaritan woman powerfully described for us the work of the Holy Spirit drawing the woman to Jesus, leading her to faith, turning her from sin, opening her ears to the Gospel, turning her into an evangelist, an apostle, someone who could tell others about the Jesus who had conversed with her at the well. It is the Holy Spirit who brings her town folks to faith, first because of her word, but basically and ultimately because of God’s word.
4. As we watch the Samaritan woman wrestling with the grace of faith, we can be strengthened in our faith-struggles as well. I’m referring here not so much to the Creed that we articulate each Sunday at the Eucharist; I’m referring to something deeper and more foundational, the faith that gives rise to the Creed, that is, our faith in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, our faith-obedience to the demands of the Gospel, that faith which we call “the faith of the Church”. Take a good look at the first reading today. It locates God’s Old Testament people in the desert. They were grumbling against Moses and against God; their temptation was to opt for water and slavery back in Egypt rather than for thirst and freedom in the desert. The place of their grumbling was called Massah, that is, the place of the quarrel, and Meribah, the place where the people tested God by asking – Is the Lord our God in our midst or is he not? This is the faith-question, the God-question from the Old Testament. The New Testament asks the same question, but with its focus on Jesus. Is the Lord Jesus the very Son of God in the flesh, is God at work in Christ in our midst or is he not? This became the faith question of the Samaritan woman. What about ourselves? No one of us has ever seen God. No one of us has seen the Lord Jesus in his historical presence. Our question becomes the Holy Spirit question, or as we can also express it, the Church-question: Is the Holy Spirit at work in the Church – making the risen Christ present and active in our midst or is he not? This is the way and only way the God-question can be expressed for the Catholic Christian in the world of today. The Liturgy today is a wonderful opportunity to profess with the Church and with those Samaritans newly converted to the Church – the Body of Christ – “This is truly the Savior of the world”, and God the Father tells us – “Listen to him”.
2. Jesus lived in a part of the world where water was and still is a scarce commodity. Not only was clean water scarce; much of the water available was too dangerous to drink. It is hard for us to imagine in our culture a scarcity of water. Even though our water bills have quadrupled, our habits have not changed. We keep the tap running while we brush our teeth, we take marathon showers, we run washing machines when only half full. However, we are the exceptions. The majority of the world’s present population share in Jesus’ experience and that of the Samaritan woman who had to come daily to the public pump. Several years ago, our Holy Father entitled his Lenten message – “Water is Sacred: Protect It”. He wrote: “We are deeply worried to see that entire peoples have been reduced to destitution and are suffering hunger and disease because they lack drinking water. Hunger and many diseases are closely linked to drought and water pollution. Immense areas of Africa are experiencing the scourge as well as many other areas across the globe.”
3. Water, of course, figures as a prominent symbol in the Scriptures. The psalmist, describing the just person as one who follows not the counsel of the wicked but delights in the law of the Lord, has this to say: “The just person is like a tree planted near running water”. And in the familiar 23rd Psalm, the poet writes: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. In green pastures he gives me repose. Beside restful waters he leads me. He refreshes my soul.” In our intriguing Gospel narrative this morning, Jesus distinguishes between the water of everyday life, which the woman could understand, and the living water that can become a fountain providing eternal life for the person who drinks it. Jesus leads the Samaritan woman from her understanding of the water of everyday life to the discovery of the living water that is God’s grace – the grace of the Holy Spirit – that provides eternal life. Thus John the Evangelist’s dramatic account of the incident of the Samaritan woman powerfully described for us the work of the Holy Spirit drawing the woman to Jesus, leading her to faith, turning her from sin, opening her ears to the Gospel, turning her into an evangelist, an apostle, someone who could tell others about the Jesus who had conversed with her at the well. It is the Holy Spirit who brings her town folks to faith, first because of her word, but basically and ultimately because of God’s word.
4. As we watch the Samaritan woman wrestling with the grace of faith, we can be strengthened in our faith-struggles as well. I’m referring here not so much to the Creed that we articulate each Sunday at the Eucharist; I’m referring to something deeper and more foundational, the faith that gives rise to the Creed, that is, our faith in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, our faith-obedience to the demands of the Gospel, that faith which we call “the faith of the Church”. Take a good look at the first reading today. It locates God’s Old Testament people in the desert. They were grumbling against Moses and against God; their temptation was to opt for water and slavery back in Egypt rather than for thirst and freedom in the desert. The place of their grumbling was called Massah, that is, the place of the quarrel, and Meribah, the place where the people tested God by asking – Is the Lord our God in our midst or is he not? This is the faith-question, the God-question from the Old Testament. The New Testament asks the same question, but with its focus on Jesus. Is the Lord Jesus the very Son of God in the flesh, is God at work in Christ in our midst or is he not? This became the faith question of the Samaritan woman. What about ourselves? No one of us has ever seen God. No one of us has seen the Lord Jesus in his historical presence. Our question becomes the Holy Spirit question, or as we can also express it, the Church-question: Is the Holy Spirit at work in the Church – making the risen Christ present and active in our midst or is he not? This is the way and only way the God-question can be expressed for the Catholic Christian in the world of today. The Liturgy today is a wonderful opportunity to profess with the Church and with those Samaritans newly converted to the Church – the Body of Christ – “This is truly the Savior of the world”, and God the Father tells us – “Listen to him”.
INTRODUCTION TO HOMILIES FOR 3RD, 4TH AND 5TH SUNDAYS OF LENT
The Easter season is a time for mystagogy. The new Christians, born again at Easter, have been made Christian by the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist. After a week’s celebration of Easter, the new Christian comes back for the period of mystagogy – in other words, the entering more deeply into the mysteries of Christ so as to live these mysteries in everyday life. On the third, fourth and fifth weeks of Lent, these new Christians encountered five wonderful New Testament characters: the woman of Samaria, the man born blind, Martha, Mary and Lazarus. John’s Gospel draws on these stories because he wants to introduce the new Christian in the Johannine community of the early Church to people who have moved through the same spiritual experiences described in the Gospel of John. What are these spiritual experiences? As they learned at Eastertime to live the paschal mystery, they too lived their paschal mystery. The Lord’s paschal mystery was his dying and rising for the salvation of the world. The new Christian in John’s community, like the woman from Samaria, have moved from sin to grace, and with the man born blind they have moved from darkness to light, and with Lazarus they have moved from death to life, eternal life with God the Father and all his saints. The three following homilies reflect on those transitions.
THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL CHAPTER 5 – SPIRIT-FILLED EVANGELIZERS
1. Legend has it that St. John the Evangelist lived his final days in Ephesus. His parishioners would often say to him – When you preach, you’re always talking about love. John would answer them – What else is there to talk about? God is love, his mercy is love in the face of our misery; his forgiveness is really the final form of love. God so loved the world that he sent us his Son to be our Savior. Did he not tell us – “Love one another as I have loved you”? Does not St. Paul remind us that love of neighbor is fulfillment of the law, and is it not true, as John of the Cross reminds us, that in the end we will be judged on how well we have loved?
2. Although he’s only been the Holy Father for one year, many of us – I suspect – would like to say to him – Pope Francis, you’re always talking about evangelization and many of us here are still striving to figure out what it is all about. The Pope would probably respond – Where have you been all my life? What else is there to do? God loves each of us personally, and God loves all of us together as his New Testament people. God wills only what is for our well-being. Do we not love God because God has first loved us? This is the good news Jesus brings us, and what do we do with good news? Do we hide it under the bed? No, we can hardly wait until we tell the good news to all who would listen to us.
3. Father Hehir and I have been reflecting with you on Pope Francis’ Exhortation “The Joy of the Gospel”, discussing together the Church’s missionary transformation, the crisis within the Church of a communal commitment to such a transformation, the proclamation of the Gospel and the social dimensions of evangelization. This evening we focus on Chapter 5. The Pope entitled this last and very brief chapter – Spirit-filled Evangelizers. Chapters 1 to 4 have told us what evangelization is all about; now we focus on what evangelizers are and ought to look like. As we do so, we can profitably keep in mind an old adage that tells us – “Doing follows being” – what we do flows from who we are. My task is to look at this chapter from a doctrinal point-of-view, our being Christian, our sharing in Trinitarian life. Father Hehir will address it from an ethical perspective – if we are truly Christian, what should we be doing?
4. At this point, I should say a brief word about the title given to our efforts this evening – “The Christian of Tomorrow”. It is one of those titles that seemed most attractive weeks before Fr. Hehir and I had put our pens to paper. Many of us perhaps have heard the remark of theologian Karl Rahner – “The Christian of tomorrow will be a mystic or he or she will fall away from the Gospel”. We could have called these thoughts – The Christian in the Early Centuries of the Church, centuries of martyrdom – those marvelous men and women mentioned down the years in the First Eucharistic Canon – Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, Anastasia, all martyrs for the faith, all witnesses to their faith. I think also of the bishop, acknowledging the difficulties of living the faith in a secular age, who said – “I expect to die in my bed, but my successor will probably die in prison, and his successor may be martyred”. But let us return to Rahner’s comment. We must not let some of our terminology get in the way of our understanding. We’ve been talking in this series of talks about entering into the mystery of Christ, encountering Christ in his mysteries. The Greek word for mystery is “mysterion”. The Latin translation of mysterion is sacramental. A mystic is one who by the grace of the Holy Spirit has made great progress in entering into the mystery of Christ through the sacraments of the Church. A mystic is a living mystery, a living witness to the truth of faith. What then does it mean to bear witness? To be a witness does not consist in engaging in propaganda, nor even in stirring people up. Being a witness means being a living mystery. It means to live in such a way that one’s life would make absolutely no sense whatsoever – if God did not exist. (Suhard)
5. Paragraph 259 says it all – “This expression ‘spirit-filled evangelizers’ means evangelizers fearlessly open to the working of the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost, the Spirit made the apostles go forth from themselves and turned them into heralds of God’s wondrous deeds, capable of speaking to each person in his or her own language. The Holy Spirit also grants the courage to proclaim the newness of the Gospel with boldness (parrhesÃa) in every time and place, even when it meets with opposition. Let us call upon him today, firmly rooted in prayer, for without prayer all our activity risks being fruitless and our message empty. Jesus wants evangelizers who proclaim the good news not only with words, but above all by a life transfigured by God’s presence.” The Holy Father immediately adds – “How I long to find the right words to stir up enthusiasm for a new chapter of evangelization, full of fervor, joy, generosity, courage, boundless love and beautiful attraction! Yet I realize that no words of encouragement will be enough unless the fire of the Holy Spirit burns in our hearts. A spirit-filled evangelizer is one who is guided by the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit is the very soul of the Church, that Divine One who quickens, who brings the Church to life, so that the Church can be true to its call to evangelize.” Before offering us a few constructive suggestions, the Pope adds – “I once more invoke the Holy Spirit and implore the Holy Spirit to come and renew the Church, to stir and impel the Church to go forth boldly in the evangelization of all peoples.” I would offer a parenthetical remark. Pope Francis is not acting as a college basketball coach, walking up and down the side of the court in this month of madness, urging and cajoling his players onto victory. Not at all. Forget the emotions for a while. We’re talking about faith; we’re talking about God’s love; we’re talking about the risen Christ and we are asking with Ignatius of Loyola – What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What ought I to be doing for Christ? We’re talking about the Holy Spirit. St. John Chrysostom reminds us – If the Holy Spirit did not exist, we would not be able to say “Jesus is Lord”. If the Holy Spirit did not exist, we would not be able to pray and say “Our Father who art in heaven”. If the Holy Spirit did not exist, there would not be pastors and teachers in the Church. Obviously, if there were no Holy Spirit we wouldn’t be talking this evening about evangelization.
6. Francis observes “spirit-filled evangelizers” are evangelizers who pray and who work. He tells us – “Mystical notions without solid missionary outreach is of no help, nor are dissertations or social or pastoral practices which lack a spirituality which can change hearts.” What is needed is a spirituality which can cultivate an interior life, the mystical or sacramental life, which in turn can give a Christian meaning to commitment and action. The primary reason for evangelization is the love of Jesus, an experience of salvation which urges us to ever-greater love of the Lord Jesus. What kind of love, the Pope adds, would not feel the need to speak of the beloved, to point him out, to make him known? What are the ingredients that make up such a spirituality? First of all, personal encounter with the saving love of Jesus will help us grow in union with the risen Christ. This is why the Holy Father says to us in an earlier paragraph – “I never tire of repeating the words of Benedict XVI which takes us to the very heart of the Gospel – ‘Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction’.” As we enter more and more into the mystery of Christ, who died and rose again for our salvation, we become more aware of the mysterious actions of Christ and his Holy Spirit in our daily efforts to live the Gospel. All of this can become possible as we seek the Lord in prayer. Sometimes we tend to think of our lives in the Lord like the marquee at the movie theater – “My life with God, starring me; also playing – God.” It is God the Father through his Son and in the Holy Spirit who is center stage in spirituality. We come in somewhere in the third act.
7. These paragraphs in Chapter 5 of the Pope’s document may seem overwhelming. What the Holy Father is asking us to do is to develop in prayer and in charity a personal spirituality that will make us true followers of Christ and therefore true evangelizers. We have to realize that this takes time; we have to realize the limits within which we can be evangelizers for others – in the home, at the university, in the office, in the marketplace, in whatever is our calling in life. If it might be of help, I can say that I have on my bathroom mirror a maxim that reminds me each day – “Keep things simple, stupid; don’t complicate the meditation”. With strangling brevity, I’ll make a few suggestions which may prove helpful so that we might begin to practice what Francis is preaching. Let me begin with a few words from an article by Fr. Philip J. Murnion:
“Catholic Americans, like the majority of their fellow citizens, are a believing people in spite of the impact of secularism. We continue to profess faith in a personal God, in Jesus Christ, and in the work of the Holy Spirit. The American Catholic continues to believe in life after death, in heaven and hell, and in prayer as a way of being in communion with God. On the other hand, some fellow Catholics in the rest of Europe have considerably less faith in those realities that are explicitly supernatural. Study after study, comparing the United States with Western Europe, finds that people in the United States, and Catholics in particular, remain people for whom God is important and religion is significant. We would, nonetheless, be foolish to deny the significant problems we face in living according to that faith. Profession of faith is not the same as living the faith; it takes spirituality to turn the profession of faith into a life of faith. And spirituality is our challenge.” My point is – Profession of faith is one thing; living the faith is something else. It takes spirituality to turn the profession of faith into a life of faith. Our challenge, then, is spirituality.
What do we mean by spirituality? Chapter 8 in Paul’s Letter to the Romans speaks of those who live by the Spirit or live according to the flesh. Everyone at this moment in history, living on planet earth, is in one of these two categories. Living by the Spirit means a spirit-guided life, a God-informed life. Living according to the flesh has nothing to do with our bodies. Living according to the flesh means living under the power of sin. If you were to join the Carmelite order, the Jesuits, the Trappistines, your spirituality in most ways would come from living the Rule of your religious order. What about the diocesan priests, and most of all what about our Catholic laymen and women who love the Lord and want to follow him wherever he leads them. Priest and people need a spirituality but must construct one under the grace of the Spirit. It would be our way of living a life of faith, hope and charity under the grace of the Holy Spirit so as to put into practice the Lord’s law of love, the Lord’s law of love of neighbor, even the neighbor who does not love us in return. How can we formulate such a rule of life? It could very well begin somewhere at the beginning of the day with the grace-inspired intention of making one’s Morning Offering, that is, offering one’s prayers, works and sufferings of this day so as to join them with the prayers, works and suffering of the Lord Jesus made truly present for us at every Eucharist, at every Eucharistic Communion. The challenges are to find some time for reading and praying with the Scriptures. This really takes time. It takes patience to grow in praying the Scriptures. Furthermore, from my brief stay so far at St. John’s Parish, I see all sorts of resources available – the priests who serve you, your long-time Pastoral Associate, the various groups that meet for prayer and reflection. It could include some time, but very slowly, to move through the pages of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It means preparing well for the Sunday Liturgy as we encounter Christ in his mysteries. The Sunday Liturgy tells us how we celebrate our faith; the Catechism will help explain the meaning of our celebration. Working with a Spiritual Director could be most helpful.
8. As we all work hard over the next thirty years to respond to what Pope Francis asks of us, we could well keep in mind the words of St. Cyprian 1500 years ago from North Africa – “It is with Christ that we journey and we walk with our steps in his footprints. He it is who is our guide and the burning flame which illumines our paths; Pioneer of salvation, he it is who draws us to heaven, toward the Father and promises success to those who seek in faith. We shall one day be that which he is in glory, if by faithful imitation of his example we become true Christians, others Christs.”
9. What about the question with regard to the Christian of tomorrow? Karl Rahner has suggested that the Christian of tomorrow will be a mystic, or he or she will fall away from the faith of the Church. Pope Francis calls the Christian of tomorrow a “spirit-filled evangelizer”, a God-directed evangelizer fearlessly open to the interior working of the Holy Spirit. I would phrase things this way – The Christian of tomorrow will be a follower of Christ who is transformed by the Holy Spirit through a personally developed, disciplined, practical spirituality, and who thus becomes, always under God’s grace in both being and doing, a true Christian quite literally by the grace of our divine adoption or another Christ.
2. Although he’s only been the Holy Father for one year, many of us – I suspect – would like to say to him – Pope Francis, you’re always talking about evangelization and many of us here are still striving to figure out what it is all about. The Pope would probably respond – Where have you been all my life? What else is there to do? God loves each of us personally, and God loves all of us together as his New Testament people. God wills only what is for our well-being. Do we not love God because God has first loved us? This is the good news Jesus brings us, and what do we do with good news? Do we hide it under the bed? No, we can hardly wait until we tell the good news to all who would listen to us.
3. Father Hehir and I have been reflecting with you on Pope Francis’ Exhortation “The Joy of the Gospel”, discussing together the Church’s missionary transformation, the crisis within the Church of a communal commitment to such a transformation, the proclamation of the Gospel and the social dimensions of evangelization. This evening we focus on Chapter 5. The Pope entitled this last and very brief chapter – Spirit-filled Evangelizers. Chapters 1 to 4 have told us what evangelization is all about; now we focus on what evangelizers are and ought to look like. As we do so, we can profitably keep in mind an old adage that tells us – “Doing follows being” – what we do flows from who we are. My task is to look at this chapter from a doctrinal point-of-view, our being Christian, our sharing in Trinitarian life. Father Hehir will address it from an ethical perspective – if we are truly Christian, what should we be doing?
4. At this point, I should say a brief word about the title given to our efforts this evening – “The Christian of Tomorrow”. It is one of those titles that seemed most attractive weeks before Fr. Hehir and I had put our pens to paper. Many of us perhaps have heard the remark of theologian Karl Rahner – “The Christian of tomorrow will be a mystic or he or she will fall away from the Gospel”. We could have called these thoughts – The Christian in the Early Centuries of the Church, centuries of martyrdom – those marvelous men and women mentioned down the years in the First Eucharistic Canon – Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, Anastasia, all martyrs for the faith, all witnesses to their faith. I think also of the bishop, acknowledging the difficulties of living the faith in a secular age, who said – “I expect to die in my bed, but my successor will probably die in prison, and his successor may be martyred”. But let us return to Rahner’s comment. We must not let some of our terminology get in the way of our understanding. We’ve been talking in this series of talks about entering into the mystery of Christ, encountering Christ in his mysteries. The Greek word for mystery is “mysterion”. The Latin translation of mysterion is sacramental. A mystic is one who by the grace of the Holy Spirit has made great progress in entering into the mystery of Christ through the sacraments of the Church. A mystic is a living mystery, a living witness to the truth of faith. What then does it mean to bear witness? To be a witness does not consist in engaging in propaganda, nor even in stirring people up. Being a witness means being a living mystery. It means to live in such a way that one’s life would make absolutely no sense whatsoever – if God did not exist. (Suhard)
5. Paragraph 259 says it all – “This expression ‘spirit-filled evangelizers’ means evangelizers fearlessly open to the working of the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost, the Spirit made the apostles go forth from themselves and turned them into heralds of God’s wondrous deeds, capable of speaking to each person in his or her own language. The Holy Spirit also grants the courage to proclaim the newness of the Gospel with boldness (parrhesÃa) in every time and place, even when it meets with opposition. Let us call upon him today, firmly rooted in prayer, for without prayer all our activity risks being fruitless and our message empty. Jesus wants evangelizers who proclaim the good news not only with words, but above all by a life transfigured by God’s presence.” The Holy Father immediately adds – “How I long to find the right words to stir up enthusiasm for a new chapter of evangelization, full of fervor, joy, generosity, courage, boundless love and beautiful attraction! Yet I realize that no words of encouragement will be enough unless the fire of the Holy Spirit burns in our hearts. A spirit-filled evangelizer is one who is guided by the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit is the very soul of the Church, that Divine One who quickens, who brings the Church to life, so that the Church can be true to its call to evangelize.” Before offering us a few constructive suggestions, the Pope adds – “I once more invoke the Holy Spirit and implore the Holy Spirit to come and renew the Church, to stir and impel the Church to go forth boldly in the evangelization of all peoples.” I would offer a parenthetical remark. Pope Francis is not acting as a college basketball coach, walking up and down the side of the court in this month of madness, urging and cajoling his players onto victory. Not at all. Forget the emotions for a while. We’re talking about faith; we’re talking about God’s love; we’re talking about the risen Christ and we are asking with Ignatius of Loyola – What have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What ought I to be doing for Christ? We’re talking about the Holy Spirit. St. John Chrysostom reminds us – If the Holy Spirit did not exist, we would not be able to say “Jesus is Lord”. If the Holy Spirit did not exist, we would not be able to pray and say “Our Father who art in heaven”. If the Holy Spirit did not exist, there would not be pastors and teachers in the Church. Obviously, if there were no Holy Spirit we wouldn’t be talking this evening about evangelization.
6. Francis observes “spirit-filled evangelizers” are evangelizers who pray and who work. He tells us – “Mystical notions without solid missionary outreach is of no help, nor are dissertations or social or pastoral practices which lack a spirituality which can change hearts.” What is needed is a spirituality which can cultivate an interior life, the mystical or sacramental life, which in turn can give a Christian meaning to commitment and action. The primary reason for evangelization is the love of Jesus, an experience of salvation which urges us to ever-greater love of the Lord Jesus. What kind of love, the Pope adds, would not feel the need to speak of the beloved, to point him out, to make him known? What are the ingredients that make up such a spirituality? First of all, personal encounter with the saving love of Jesus will help us grow in union with the risen Christ. This is why the Holy Father says to us in an earlier paragraph – “I never tire of repeating the words of Benedict XVI which takes us to the very heart of the Gospel – ‘Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction’.” As we enter more and more into the mystery of Christ, who died and rose again for our salvation, we become more aware of the mysterious actions of Christ and his Holy Spirit in our daily efforts to live the Gospel. All of this can become possible as we seek the Lord in prayer. Sometimes we tend to think of our lives in the Lord like the marquee at the movie theater – “My life with God, starring me; also playing – God.” It is God the Father through his Son and in the Holy Spirit who is center stage in spirituality. We come in somewhere in the third act.
7. These paragraphs in Chapter 5 of the Pope’s document may seem overwhelming. What the Holy Father is asking us to do is to develop in prayer and in charity a personal spirituality that will make us true followers of Christ and therefore true evangelizers. We have to realize that this takes time; we have to realize the limits within which we can be evangelizers for others – in the home, at the university, in the office, in the marketplace, in whatever is our calling in life. If it might be of help, I can say that I have on my bathroom mirror a maxim that reminds me each day – “Keep things simple, stupid; don’t complicate the meditation”. With strangling brevity, I’ll make a few suggestions which may prove helpful so that we might begin to practice what Francis is preaching. Let me begin with a few words from an article by Fr. Philip J. Murnion:
“Catholic Americans, like the majority of their fellow citizens, are a believing people in spite of the impact of secularism. We continue to profess faith in a personal God, in Jesus Christ, and in the work of the Holy Spirit. The American Catholic continues to believe in life after death, in heaven and hell, and in prayer as a way of being in communion with God. On the other hand, some fellow Catholics in the rest of Europe have considerably less faith in those realities that are explicitly supernatural. Study after study, comparing the United States with Western Europe, finds that people in the United States, and Catholics in particular, remain people for whom God is important and religion is significant. We would, nonetheless, be foolish to deny the significant problems we face in living according to that faith. Profession of faith is not the same as living the faith; it takes spirituality to turn the profession of faith into a life of faith. And spirituality is our challenge.” My point is – Profession of faith is one thing; living the faith is something else. It takes spirituality to turn the profession of faith into a life of faith. Our challenge, then, is spirituality.
What do we mean by spirituality? Chapter 8 in Paul’s Letter to the Romans speaks of those who live by the Spirit or live according to the flesh. Everyone at this moment in history, living on planet earth, is in one of these two categories. Living by the Spirit means a spirit-guided life, a God-informed life. Living according to the flesh has nothing to do with our bodies. Living according to the flesh means living under the power of sin. If you were to join the Carmelite order, the Jesuits, the Trappistines, your spirituality in most ways would come from living the Rule of your religious order. What about the diocesan priests, and most of all what about our Catholic laymen and women who love the Lord and want to follow him wherever he leads them. Priest and people need a spirituality but must construct one under the grace of the Spirit. It would be our way of living a life of faith, hope and charity under the grace of the Holy Spirit so as to put into practice the Lord’s law of love, the Lord’s law of love of neighbor, even the neighbor who does not love us in return. How can we formulate such a rule of life? It could very well begin somewhere at the beginning of the day with the grace-inspired intention of making one’s Morning Offering, that is, offering one’s prayers, works and sufferings of this day so as to join them with the prayers, works and suffering of the Lord Jesus made truly present for us at every Eucharist, at every Eucharistic Communion. The challenges are to find some time for reading and praying with the Scriptures. This really takes time. It takes patience to grow in praying the Scriptures. Furthermore, from my brief stay so far at St. John’s Parish, I see all sorts of resources available – the priests who serve you, your long-time Pastoral Associate, the various groups that meet for prayer and reflection. It could include some time, but very slowly, to move through the pages of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It means preparing well for the Sunday Liturgy as we encounter Christ in his mysteries. The Sunday Liturgy tells us how we celebrate our faith; the Catechism will help explain the meaning of our celebration. Working with a Spiritual Director could be most helpful.
8. As we all work hard over the next thirty years to respond to what Pope Francis asks of us, we could well keep in mind the words of St. Cyprian 1500 years ago from North Africa – “It is with Christ that we journey and we walk with our steps in his footprints. He it is who is our guide and the burning flame which illumines our paths; Pioneer of salvation, he it is who draws us to heaven, toward the Father and promises success to those who seek in faith. We shall one day be that which he is in glory, if by faithful imitation of his example we become true Christians, others Christs.”
9. What about the question with regard to the Christian of tomorrow? Karl Rahner has suggested that the Christian of tomorrow will be a mystic, or he or she will fall away from the faith of the Church. Pope Francis calls the Christian of tomorrow a “spirit-filled evangelizer”, a God-directed evangelizer fearlessly open to the interior working of the Holy Spirit. I would phrase things this way – The Christian of tomorrow will be a follower of Christ who is transformed by the Holy Spirit through a personally developed, disciplined, practical spirituality, and who thus becomes, always under God’s grace in both being and doing, a true Christian quite literally by the grace of our divine adoption or another Christ.
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