Keeping God's Word

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Keeping God’s Word”

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C

In today’s gospel Jesus tells His disciples, “Whoever loves me will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him”. It sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? If we keep God’s Word, the Eternal, Almighty, Divine Presence will come and be a part of our lives forever, through the good times and the bad, through thick and thin.

The problem is there are many of Jesus’ words that we don’t really believe nevertheless want to keep, words that challenge us, words like...

   “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”… Matthew 6:33

     “Love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you.”…Luke 6:27

       “No one can serve two masters.”… Matthew 6:24

          “Go and sin no more.”… John 6:11

We dismiss the hard words of Jesus, the words that are at the core of his teaching…to love one another – as I have loved you.  Loving one another, showing respect to everyone because of one’s intrinsic worth, one’s divine essence, one’s very nature as a child of God, is how we reflect the love of God in our lives. This love is an active, conscious act of the will; it is how we cooperate with God, allowing ourselves to be transformed by God and in turn helping bring about the transformation of the world. This is what it means to keep God’s word. We just can’t pick and choose which words of Jesus we will accept and which ones we will ignore if we want to have an authentic relationship with Jesus and grow in his love.

In all reality there is another question we need to ask ourselves, “Do we really want God living within us?” Within, well, that may be too close for comfort. It’s better when he’s living some distance away like the “In-Laws” and we can invite over whenever we have something they can do for us. Far enough away that they can only come over when invited. How much God enters our life is pretty much our choice! We can keep God’s Word and look forward to the promises he has made to us, or we can go it alone and see what the world has in store for us. It’s…. our….. call.  

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Photo attribution - Pinterest.com

Those Glory Days

  

Deacon Tom Writes

“Those Glory Days”

Fifth Sunday of Easter,Year C

Today’s gospel has all the makings of a great Hollywood movie that begins on the night before Jesus dies. Jesus and his companions are nearing the end of their last meal together. Judas had just taken “the morsel… and left at once”. “The morsel”, we know, is the Eucharist, Jesus’ legacy to remain a “real presence” for his followers. Judas takes the Eucharist…then leaves.

When Judas leaves, Jesus brings this extraordinary Passover celebration to a dramatic close saying, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him”. What intrigue! Jesus seems to infer that what’s about to happen, his betrayal, torture, and death, will somehow bring Glory to God! How unimaginable!  Yet for God, all things are possible, even turning these horrific events into something that can reveal God’s glory!

How much our faith depends on this Truth, that “…with God, all things are possible”. That includes the fact that God took upon himself our human nature and all of our limitations and experiences to teach us how we might become like him in all ways. Jesus suffers the betrayal of a friend, gets convicted on trumped up charges, suffers beatings and humiliations of all sorts that no one, let alone him, deserves, knows all of this ahead of time and still accepts his suffering and death to teach us to love and forgive one another. And, because he sees what lies ahead as God’s Will, he accepts it all. In fact, he embraces it all knowing that doing God’s Will was all he desired to do in this life.

Jesus leaves his followers with the command to “Love one another as I have loved you”. He sets our hearts and minds on God’s Will….that we love one another as he loves us….completely. Christ held nothing back. He emptied himself on our account…. That’s the standard he set, if we are to be disciples…. to embrace the disappointments, betrayals, broken promises and relationships, sickness and death…to take it all in, the good and the bad, and accept all that comes our way as Christ did, and to do so while remaining faithful to God’s promises that he is with us always, till the end of days. And yes, he sustains us through each and every one of them, through all the glory days of our lives... this one and the one to come.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Image - blackrockpottery.com

Hearing Voices?

Deacon Tom Writes

“Hearing Voices”

Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year C

Jesus often used every day examples from the pastoral settings that surrounded Him. He drew upon them because they didn’t need any explaining. People knew that all a shepherd had to do was to call out and his sheep would follow his voice. It is said that shepherds would graze their sheep in different fields during the day but when night came the shepherds melded the sheep into one sheepfold so they could have safety in numbers. At daybreak, the shepherds would simply call out and, amazingly, each sheep would instinctively follow the voice of its own protector and guardian… What a beautiful image of this dynamic relationship between the sheep and the shepherd.

We may have lost the pastoral setting that the shepherds enjoyed back then, but we are still able to understand the message Jesus wants to communicate when he says, “My sheep hear my voice”. This is what Jesus expects of his disciples….Not only the hearing but also the following too. So, a disciple is one who hears and follows the voice of the Good Shepherd.

Today there are many voices competing for our attention. Whose voice are we attuned to? Jesus is calling us to “eternal life”. He is promising us the safety and security that comes from the Father, a joy and happiness that is “not of this world”. He is calling us to be his disciples and to live our lives according to his teachings on love, forgiveness, and on how to have a genuine relationship with him and one another. Other voices are calling us to focus our attention on ourselves, on getting as much as we can here and now, no matter the cost. Many paths of life to choose; many different flocks to be a part of, and many  different shepherd voices to follow but only one will lead us to green pastures. 

Today’s Responsorial Psalm reminds us of some of the additional benefits we receive from the hands of the Good Shepherd… we are filled with his joy and gladness; we share in his unending kindness and enduring faithfulness. God cannot be outdone in generosity to paraphrase Scripture. He loves each of his sheep; our safety and well-being are his only concern.

May the voice we hear this Easter Season be that of the Good Shepherd, calling us to grow in love and service to our brothers and sisters in Christ, the Risen One!

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

How Do I Love You? Let Me Count The Ways

Deacon Tom Writes

“How Do I Love You? Let Me Count The Ways”

Third Sunday of Easter, Year C

It takes real courage to admit your mistakes. It takes more courage to move foreword and not be paralyzed or held back by mistakes of the past. Peter appears to have resumed his prior way of life as a fisherman after the death of Jesus, perhaps trying to forget those last days: Jesus’ brutal death, his own cowardly denying his friendship with Jesus, his inability to comprehend Jesus’ mysterious presence in the midst of his disciples. It was just too much for him to grasp!

It is understandable that Peter and the others would go back to the way of life that was most familiar to them, fishing. They could pick up where they had left off before Jesus called them and put their ambition and energy into their business. But their flight to the safety of the past is short lived as we read in today’s Gospel.

This is more than an encounter with Jesus. And it is more than a story of Peter’s reconciliation with Jesus. At it’s deepest level it is the story of Peter’s coming to terms with himself, with his own failures and shortcomings, with his own fears and doubts. In confessing his love for Jesus, Peter is able to put to rest his sins from the past and his own weaknesses, to accept them for what they are, and to move beyond them to a new and heightened mental and spiritual life that awaited him. He is able to forgive himself and embrace the work that Jesus gives him to do, “Feed my sheep”. Peter embraces this new mission from Jesus with a renewed enthusiasm fueled by the power he has received from the Holy Spirit. He is now willing and able to assume his role as first among the Apostles and leads them on their mission to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations…”MT 228:19.

Like Peter, many of us have had our “ups and downs” in our relationship with Jesus. We have had our share of doubts and fears and have often disappointed Jesus by our sinful behavior, by our bad choices, by “what we have done and by what we have failed to do.”   Over time these actions become like a wedge and sever our relationship with Our Lord. But today’s gospel gives us all hope that we can never be far from God’s abundant mercy and forgiveness. Jesus will always come looking for us, to nourish us physically and spiritually and to bring us his healing presence and compassion so that we can begin again, renewed and restored.

Easter is a time of God renewing the whole world. Let us embrace his love and forgiveness and be renewed ourselves so that we may be able to experiences the newness of life brought about through his suffering and death.

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

Photo Credit:  2.bp.blogspot.com/jesus-peter-reconciliation1.jpg

Deacon TomWrites,

“Peace be with you”

Second Sunday of Easter (or Sunday of Divine Mercy), Year C

Today on the Octave of Easter we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. It is the eighth day after Jesus’ triumphant victory over death, the reason for our wholehearted joy today. It is fitting for us to reflect on God’s unconditional and constant love for us on this day set aside in honor the Divine Mercy for it is thorough God’s Mercy we were redeemed by the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross.

We read today about the life of Jesus’ Apostles and the early days of the church. They weren’t looking to establish a religion to rival their Jewish faith. They had no such grandiose plans to create a massive organization. What they wanted to do was spread the word about all they had seen and heard. They had to keep Jesus’ story alive. And, to this end they were very successful, as we read today, “…the people esteemed them” as they worked signs and wonders among them. The Apostles were sharing the powers that they had received from the Holy Spirit, “On the evening of that first day of the week”. Enlivened by the Holy Spirit they left the room they had locked themselves in and fearlessly began to proclaim the Gospel, the Good News that God’s reign had begun. And the people were eager to hear that Good News, for not only were “…great numbers of men and woman were added to them”, but also, “…the sick and those disturbed by unclean spirits … were all cured”. And so it began!

Today we ask ourselves in what ways God has shown us his mercy and reflect on the many ways God’s Mercy has touched our live. We may recall the words with which Jesus greeted His Apostles as we begin our contemplation, “Peace be with you”. It is so fitting for us to call to mind the peace of Christ for most of are desperate for God’s peace, a peace the world cannot give. In the shadow of the Christ’s rising from the dead all Christians desire to be filled with his gentle spirit and humble heart. After all, we’re no different than those people who heard the Apostles and followed them. They were looking for inner peace within themselves, peace in their families and neighbors, and in the world around them; they too were eager to ease their troubled hearts and be connected with inner peace of the risen Lord.  Don’t we all? 

As we bask in these “Glory Days” of Easter, let’s strive to find little ways to bring God’s peace into our lives and the lives of our family and friends around us. Because we have experienced God’s love and mercy, let’s pass it on to those who may be carrying heavy burdens or who may be getting beaten down by the challenges they face so they too may experience the precious Gift of God’s peace, one single facet of the infinite Mercy God desires to share with all his children. 

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom