4th Sunday of Easter

 My thought for today, regarding what is know often as Good Shepherd Sunday, is why do the sheep need a shepherd? To understand this, from a New Zealand perspective, what is life like for wild sheep in this country? These sheep live in mountainous and difficult places. If they are not shorn of their wool they grow huge and unwieldy  fleeces. Even if they are not threatened by wolves they must face multiple threats and live in uncomfortable situations. By contrast, the sheep that have a shepherd are drenched for diseases and parasites. They are kept secure by fences and have, for most of the time, fresh and green pasture to feed on. They are shorn of their wool in the right season so they do not become overburdened by their fleece. It is a given that sheep are killed for their meat but it is also the case that the farmer wants the best for the sheep and is alert to their needs. When we use this as a metaphor of faith it is clear to us that people can "survive" without faith. Nevertheless, wandering on the mountains of doubt and atheism, unbelievers are prone to anxiety, despair and fear. The hopelessness of lives devoid of ultimate meaning opens up individuals to drug abuse, retail therapy and other forms of addiction to keep the boredom and hopelessness of atheism at bay. We see that existentialist atheists like Camus and Sartre wrote of the need to face the absurdity of life with dignity or Nietzsche who believed we need to create our own morality after the "death of God." The sort of "dignity" and "superman morality" that these philosophers suggested appears to be in short supply. When we consider our own position as Catholics we are no better intrinsically in terms of our human ability to resist evil or cope with addictions. However, we do have the voice of the shepherd: "Jesus said: 'My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.' " (Jn 10: 27) This voice is heard in the Scriptures, the Tradition and the Papal Magisterium. If we listen to that voice we will know security and joy because the shepherd loves us: "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand." (Jn 10: 28-29)  Our Lord also gives us gives us shepherds in the form of the Pope and the bishops. Let us pray for them that they will lead us faithfully according to the mind of the Good Shepherd and that we will have sufficient priests to feed us with the Holy Eucharist.

3rd Sunday of Easter

 Today's gospel speaks to the modern condition. Despite knowing of the resurrection, like the disciples, our society has decided: "I am going fishing." (Jn 21: 3) This is a return to life as it was before our society knew about Jesus. It is a collective form of amnesia. However, the fishing efforts of the disciples yields nothing just as all of the well intentioned psychology and evolutionary biology of our time is fruitless. Just as he did at Emmaus Jesus catches up with the disciples. He invites them and us, once again, to trust him. It is he who knows what is productive and it is he who prepares breakfast. It is only when we live in accord with the Gospel that we can be in harmony and discern what is right.  Once our physical needs are met, as on that Eastertide morning all those centuries ago for Peter, that Jesus asks the key question: "... do you love me more than these?" (Jn 21: 16) Jesus does not even, as on the way to Emmaus, tell Peter that he is foolish. he does not ask for gratitude or an apology. What he asks for is love. So it is with us. Do we, as Catholics, love the Lord "more than these"? Jesus does not ask this question to gratify himself. It is a call to mission. Are we prepared both to love the Lord and to serve him knowing that the cost of doing so it to experience something o the suffering of our Master? It is not a question of what society thinks but the individual encounter and relationship that each Christian has when confronted by the love and generosity of the risen Christ.

2nd Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy)

 What does a world look like without Divine Mercy? It is not hard to see because all you need to do is to watch films. In them you see a world where evil is relentless and sin reigns. Individuals strive to redeem themselves from their past and still get no relief from the futility of existence. All one can hope to do is to postpone the inevitable dissolution and annihilation of death. For the rich and oppressive the opiate is not religion, as Karl Marx would have it as it is for the poor, it  is the thought that there is no judgment nor is there any accounting for what we have done in the flesh. yet, St Paul tells us: "For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil." (2 Cor 6: 10) In the Letter to the Hebrews we are told: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Heb 10: 31) Today's feast reassures us that the Lord Jesus, who suffered, died and was buried, is also risen and that his power is manifested most beautifully in his mercy. This is the mercy that redeems the whole of the world and is greater than any earthly power. Let us trust in him and let him speak to our hearts as he reassures us: "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead , but see, I am alive for ever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades." (Rev 1: 17-18)

Easter Vigil

 The Easter Vigil is the highlight of the liturgical year. I am always amazed that Catholics, who regard themselves as devout, can go willing through a Lord of the Rings movie but complain about the length of the Easter Vigil! The ceremony of light, the history of salvation, the baptism of catechumens, etc are all amazing experiences that plunge us deep into the heart of our faith and the salvation of the world. I encourage everyone to make the most of this opportunity and fully commit to engaging with it. To do so, together with the other rituals of the Easter Triduum, is to enact our deepest mystery and to affirm God's saving action in the world, not just in history, in this present moment and in my life to. As others enter the sacramental and full communion with the Catholic Church I can be reinvigorated in my own faith and filled with joy as the hope we share. 

Celebration of the Lord's Passion (Good Friday)

 This celebration is one of the most powerful in the liturgical calendar. It teases out, in detail, the significance of what we have as a living memorial at every Mass during the year. The Holy Eucharist is not just a meal! It is an anamnesis of the whole of Christ which includes his death on the Cross. This death was not accidental but a gift freely bestowed by God through his Son. The agony, blood and terror of the crucifixion must never blind us to the preeminence of thanksgiving and love that underpin the motivation for the gift and the marvelous fruits that arise from it. Let us also be mindful to fast so as to be more mindful of the sufferings of the Lord endured for us.

Mass of the Lord's Supper (Holy Thursday)

 This Mass has two major themes: sacrifice and service. The two cannot be separated. They are not merely historical events but present realities and living memories of cultic manifestations of divine activity. In the First Reading the Passover sacrifice is described as a "sign," "a day of remembrance," "a festival to the Lord" and a "perpetual ordinance." In the account, from the Second Reading, Jesus mentions twice that what is done is "in remembrance of me." This helps us to understand the significance of the washing of the feet and Jesus' words: "You call me teacher and Lord - and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you." (Jn 13: 13-15) Thus, every Eucharist involves sacrifice and service. Jesus washes our feet! He also asks us to imitate him in his humility, service and love. It is only when we start to serve one another in imitation of the Lord that we can have an insight into the depth of his love for us and the sacrifice that is offered when we conform ourselves to his self-giving. It must also be noted that this Mass does not conclude with a dismissal and blessing. Rather, it is of one piece with the Good Friday Commemoration of the Lord's Passion and the Easter Vigil and so the themes of each ceremony feed into and amplify the themes of the others. 

Passion (Palm) Sunday

 Today's feast a an excellent example of someone "going from hero to zero." Jesus is welcomed into Jerusalem by a festive crowd who continue to rejoice in the cleansing of the temple and Jesus' confrontations and victories over the Jewish authorities and the Pharisees. Then, by Friday of that same week Jesus has a crowd baying for his blood: "Crucify him!". It is apparent from his ministry that Jesus knew how to read character. He would have known that the welcome into Jerusalem was not going to last yet he went through the process of fulfilling prophecy nevertheless. Christians, the media and elsewhere, can be feted and at other times, more often, excoriated. Our job is not to seek public praise but to be loyal to the one who is the "pioneer" (Heb 2: 10) of our salvation. The story of his Passion is ultimately our story since where the head has gone the members will follow. St Paul exhorts the Philippians to identify with Christ and be formed by him: "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to he point of death, even death on a cross." (Phil 2: 5-8) The Church hopes that Catholics throughout the world have been formed by their Lenten journey so that they are brought to identify with their Lord and be of the same mind as him.