Gateway of Salvation: Friday of the Third Week of Easter (Acts 9:1-20; Psalm 117:1bc, 2; John 6:52-59)

To begin to understand the full context of our Gospel reading today, we have to go all the way back to the Garden of Eden.

Adam and Eve had just eaten of the Tree of Knowledge.  Through their disobedience, our human nature became corrupted.  Our human nature became like a sickness, which symptoms include sin, shame, and death.

As part of His response, God said, “The man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil! Now, what if he also reaches out his hand to take fruit from the tree of life, and eats of it and lives forever?”   God then “expelled the man, stationing the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword east of the garden of Eden, to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Now at the synagogue in Capernaum, Jesus declares that He will make the Bread of Life, His very Flesh and Blood, available to us as the remedy of, as the medicine for, those symptoms of our fallen humanity.

Let’s look at the correlations a bit more closely.

First the flaming sword, or blade, that blocked the way to the Tree of Life.  It is no accident then that during His sorrowful passion, the heart of Jesus Christ was pierced by a blade or spear…sometimes, by the way, referred to as the Spear of Destiny.

The instrument that blocked the way to eternal life, then used to pierce the heart of Jesus Christ.  In the process, opening up the way.   Making it possible for the Blood of Jesus Christ and the Fire of the Holy Spirit to flow out from the side of Christ into the Sacramental Life of the Catholic Church for our salvation.

Jesus is indeed the way, the truth, and the life.  The Cross is the Tree of Life and He is the fruit of eternal life.  The Sacramental Life of the Catholic Church (particularly the Mass) is our gateway, the gateway once blocked by the Seraphim, but now opened by Jesus Christ for us to feed on Him in order for us to have true life because of Him and live forever in Him.

The heart of Jesus Christ is of course the Flesh of the Son of Man…the same Flesh we consume through the Eucharist.  What God once barred mankind from eating during the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, Jesus now commands us to believe and eat.  

Similar to Protestants and other non-Catholics today, the Jews chose not to believe.  “How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?”

Jesus gave the only response that He could.  He doubled down in a way only Jesus can.  “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you do not have life within you.”

As Saint Paul will later capture Jesus saying in his first letter to the Corinthians, “This cup (referring to the Eucharist) is the new covenant in my blood”.

The Eucharist is the New Covenant.  The Eucharist is the dividing line of salvation.  

That was a hard teaching for the Jews, almost literally all of His disciples left him.  That was a hard teaching for the Protestant reformers, as they left the Eucharist to follow their own theological musings as we discussed in a recent homily.  That is a hard teaching for many Catholics that do not believe in the real presence.

In our first reading, Jesus said Saint Paul is a “chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles”.  The reality is that each of us are chosen instruments to carry not only the name of Jesus Christ out into the world around us, but also to carry the promise of John chapter 6 out into the world around us.

We are chosen instruments to reunite all the children of God into the Sacramental Life of the Catholic Church, which is the world reconciled and restored.

We are chosen instruments to go out to all the world and tell the Good News.

Thanks be to God!

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Bad Interpretations, Good Intentions: Friday of the Second Week of Easter (Acts 5:34-42; Psalm 27:1, 4, 13-14; John 6:1-15)

It is not uncommon to encounter an interpretation of today’s Gospel reading to be nothing more than an simple act of sharing.  No miracle.  No sacramental grace.  No act of divinity.

Their position is that the willingness of the boy to share his five barley loaves and two fish moved others in the crowd to come forward to admit they too had food and had became willing to share it with others. From their perspective, the real miracle was not in any sort of multiplication of loaves, but rather in simply caring.

In reality, this relatively recent theological invention serves only to justify their own theology while attempting to discredit the Catholic Church and ultimately undermine the Sacramental Life instituted by Jesus Christ.

I am sure to deep dive some of these concepts in future homilies.  For now, there are three key points to keep in mind when understanding the true context of this reading compared to the popular non-Catholic interpretation that I mentioned.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus makes it very clear the crowd has nothing to eat.  There is no possible way that a few people in the crowd could have been hoarding enough food to feed many thousand people.

Watering down the Gospel to a simple act of caring and sharing simply is not a true interpretation of Scripture and it completely ignores what Jesus said.

Further, whenever we see descriptions of signs and superabundance, particularly in the Gospel of John, we should immediately think of sacramental, supernatural miracles.

Saint John makes it very clear people “saw the sign”.  They saw the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fish.  They saw the superabundance that resulted from the miracle.

When we come to Mass, we are privileged to see the sign (albeit, with eyes of faith).  We are privileged to see the Holy Spirit come down upon bread and wine like the dewfall so that simple bread and wine will become the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Contained in that little wafer is the infinity of God.  Contained in that little wafer is the superabundance of grace for our salvation and sanctification.

Finally, Saint John interrupts his story to make it clear that the Feast of the Passover is near.  Therefore, the context of this Multiplication of the Loaves is the Passover.

Non-Catholics often generally this, but the Passover is actually the overriding context of all of Scripture.  This means the Mass and the Eucharist (the fulfillment of the Passover) is the overriding context of all of Scripture.  

When we separate Scripture from the Mass and the Sacramental Life, we are going to get bad interpretations like the one I mentioned at the start of this homily.

When we come to Mass, we come like the crowd in our reading.  We come without the comforts of life.  We come hungry.  We come ready to listen to the Word of God.  We come ready to see and receive the sign of our faith.  We come with the intention of living out the Sacramental Life of His Church.  We come open to receiving superabundant grace through the Eucharist.

We come because of the one thing we seek: to dwell in the house of the Lord.  

Thanks be to God!

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Restored Through the Sacramental Life of the Church: Friday in the Octave of Easter (Acts 4:1-12; Psalm 118:1-2 and 4, 22-24, 25-27a; John 21:1-14)

Today, we are going to talk more about this season of miracles to which our first reading witnesses.  

Last year, we said, Jesus did not heal every physical ailment that He encountered while walking around Galilee and Judea, but he healed many in order for them to be a sign of the true healing miracles He makes available to each and every one of us through the Sacramental life of the Catholic Church.

We must have faith that what was true in the beginning of the Church, continues to be true today.  We must have faith that the gifts of the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost continue to be exercised by His Church today, bearing fruit among His children.

Sometimes, however, we have obstacles in our lives that prevent us from receiving the healing the Holy Spirit wants to give to us through the Church.  We see an aspect of this in our reading today through the themes of poverty and crippleness.

The theme of poverty represents a total obedience to Jesus Christ and His Church, and it represents a total reliance on divine power as opposed to the government, our wealth, our possessions, ourselves, or whatever else we might tempted to rely on.

The theme of crippleness represents a complete helplessness or emptiness.  It represents what some may call, “hitting their bottom”.   It represents that place where all you really have left is Jesus Christ.

Coming to recognize the bottom and coming to recognize that, even with all the resources at our disposal, we cannot meet our deepest needs and desires on our own.  This often becomes the point that true faith can finally begin.  This often becomes the point where the beautiful gate of our soul is finally opened, perhaps for the first time, to grace, healing, and deliverance.

The crippled man had nothing left.  His life was in shambles…left begging outside the Temple.  A sense of pride long gone.  Perhaps even a point of realization that there is nothing the world, the flesh, or the devil can offer that can bring even the slightest bit of joy or consolation.

The Church, through Peter, offered Him Jesus Christ and he came to believe that Jesus could restore his life.  He came to believe Jesus could restore his health.  

Based on the phrase that the no-longer-crippled man clung to Peter and John is a pretty good indication to me that this man became a devout Christian, turning his life and his will over to Jesus Christ through the Sacramental Life of the Catholic Church.

That means he was obedient.  That means he was humble.  That means he was faithful.  That means he was truly healed.

As we complete this Octave of Easter and continue into Eastertide, let us renew those aspects in our lives:  Obedience, Humility, Faithfulness.  In doing so, let the miracle of healing through the Sacramental Life of the Catholic Church become a reality in your life in a superabundant way.

The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone of our healing, deliverance, and salvation.

Thanks be to God!

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Healed Through the Sacramental Life of the Church: Thursday in the Octave of Easter (Acts 3:11-26; Psalm 8:2ab and 5, 6-7, 8-9; Luke 24:35-48)

Our reading today is in the aftermath of an incident that occurred at the Temple in Jerusalem shortly after the Apostles received their charisms, their gifts of the Holy Spirit, at Pentecost.

Peter heals the crippled man at the Beautiful Gate.  The power of the Holy Spirit made manifest through Peter and the Church in order to extend the Kingdom of the Sacred Heart of Jesus into the world around him.

We must remember that, sacramentally speaking, the Sacred Heart of Jesus is ultimately the Eucharist and His Kingdom is the Sacramental Life of the Catholic Church.

In his monthly challenge, Archbishop Lori reminds us “Jesus promised he would be with us always, and the Eucharist is his fulfillment of that promise. We encounter his presence most profoundly in the Eucharist, where he is truly present — body, blood, soul, and divinity — under the appearance of bread and wine.”  

He goes on to say the Eucharist is no ordinary bread, “but an encounter with Christ, who invites us, too, to enter into communion with him through the Eucharist.”

It is through the Eucharist and the Sacramental Life of the Catholic Church that we are granted healing and deliverance.  The Precious Blood of Jesus Christ and the Fire of the Holy Spirit flow from the side of Christ on the Cross into the Sacramental Life of the Catholic Church for us to receive like the crippled man in front of the Temple.

I’ll talk more about this tomorrow at Mass, but for today, Archbishop Lori challenges us to “remain in prayer and adoration for several minutes after Mass to grow in awareness of Christ’s true presence in the Eucharist.”

Ultimately, the crippled man was healed because he came to realize the true presence of Jesus Christ.  From that moment on, he “clung” to the Sacramental Life of the Catholic Church and all the people were amazed.

What amazing thing can God do in your life?  What amazing healing can Jesus bring about for you?

It all starts with the Eucharist and the Sacramental Life of the Church.  As Archbishop Lori asks in his challenge:  “Do you fully realize it is the true body and blood of Christ that you receive in the Eucharist? Do you habitually pray in thanksgiving after Communion for this immeasurable gift? Do you consistently participate in Mass on Sundays and holy days? Do you make an effort to attend more frequently, so that you might avail yourself of the graces of this great sacrament?”

Those are pertinent questions for us to meditate on this Easter season, especially if we feel we are somehow crippled ourselves, whether that is physically, spiritually, emotionally, psychologically.  We must cling to the Sacramental Life of the Catholic Church.  We must fully understand who He is in the Eucharist.  We must have complete faith like the crippled man. 

O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth through the Sacramental Life of the Catholic Church.

Thanks be to God!

Spy Wednesday: Wednesday of Holy Week (Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 69:8-10, 21-22, 31, 33-34; Matthew 26:14-25)

The Wednesday of Holy Week is traditionally known as Spy Wednesday.  It is called Spy Wednesday because it is the Wednesday before the fateful Passover that Judas met with the Sanhedren to make a deal to hand Jesus over to them.  From that point, he spied on Jesus for the Sanhedren and would later make arrangements for His capture in the Garden of Gethsemane overnight during the Passover.  In return, Judas received thirty silver pieces.

As such, we look at Spy Wednesday as a penitential day commemorating Judas’s betrayal of Jesus.

We may wonder what led Judas to betray Jesus.  There are a number of theories out there, but there are two I like to reflect on:  The first is his zeal for what he expected out of the Messiah.  The other is simply his greed.

For the first point, many, including, I think, Judas, were expecting the Messiah to be a great civil King in the order of David.  He probably expected Jesus to lead a great revolt against the Roman occupiers and thus liberate the Jews from the Roman empire.

I suspect the frustration Judas likely felt as a result of the many times Jesus seemed to shun away from such opportunities probably eventually wore him down.  Maybe he saw handing Jesus over to the Sanhedren as an opportunity to put Jesus in a spot where He would have to take on this expected role out of a sense of self-preservation.

Perhaps behind this frustration was a sense of wrath.  

For the other point, we need to go back to our reading on Monday, which takes place six days before the fateful Passover.   Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair.

Who was the only person to react?  Judas.  Saint John makes it pretty clear the motivation for his reaction was greed or avarice.  

We have talked in other homilies about how capital sins (such as wrath or greed), if left unchecked, can (and often will) lead to more serious sin.  In this case, capital sins led to the betrayal of Jesus Christ and ultimately deicide.

As our reading today suggests, Judas was given opportunities to repent.  He refused.  In fact, he outright denies any wrongdoing:  “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?”

His betrayal was made complete after he received the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ in Holy Communion at the Last Supper.   In the process, confirming himself in unrepentant sin.  Or, as Saint Paul will put it later in his first letter to the Corinthians, “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord.”

And answer, he did.  His demons tormented him to suicide.

Spy Wednesday reminds us that even the smallest indulgence of greed, wrath, betrayal, and the like can lead to profound consequences.

But the remedy, like many things, is to call out to Jesus Christ, surrender those things to Him, repent of them, and allow yourself to be transformed by the grace of the Paschal Mystery.

As we continue to walk with our Lord during this most holy time of the year, may we always call out:  “Lord, in your great love, answer me.”

Thanks be to God!

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