May 2nd 2021.  Fifth Sunday of Easter

GOSPEL   John 15:1-8

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL   John 15:1-8

Jesus said to his disciples:

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.

He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit,

and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.

You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.

Remain in me, as I remain in you.

Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own

unless it remains on the vine,

so neither can you unless you remain in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches.

Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit,

because without me you can do nothing.

Anyone who does not remain in me

will be thrown out like a branch and wither;

people will gather them and throw them into a fire

and they will be burned.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you,

ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.

By this is my Father glorified,

that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

SHORTER HOMILY . . . Chapter 15 of John’s Gospel reveals to us the secret of Christian life and greatness. The phrase, “Without me you can do nothing”, is not a threat from Jesus, but a simple statement of the truth that the Christian way of life is not founded on our own initiatives. You might object that most people do things independently of Christ. Will their efforts really come to “nothing”? Yes, all of the things that are done for the glory of this world will not endure one jot beyond this world; they will not lead to eternity. The works of Christ, the works of eternal life, are different. Jesus says that the disciples are “pure” on account of the word that he has spoken to them. The notion of purity in the Bible borrows from the chemical notion of being of a single substance with no contaminants present. The word of Christ has the capacity to purify (when we accept it) by penetrating into us and cutting away that which is extraneous – “circumcision of the heart”. When we act independently of this word that God speaks to our hearts, then we are like the branches that are cut away and thrown in the fire. Each one of us has at some point in our lives been touched by the word of God. But this word must be received and placed at the centre of our existence. In welcoming this word, we are called to live the Easter mystery continually; in other words, a continuous liberation from that which does not bear fruit. Recognizing our weaknesses, every day we must return to this word which separates light from darkness in our lives, and so every day we become a new creation. If we are not rooted in Christ, then our works have no consistency or fruitfulness. Even in the Church it is possible to do works that are useless because they are based solely on our efforts and preoccupations. “Whoever remains in me bears fruit”. This fruitfulness is not according to a quantity that the world calculates but according to heaven’s measure. How many saints lived lives that did not seem to bear concrete results but upon their deaths great fruitfulness was realised! The Christian life is not a story of worldly success. St Stephen, the first martyr, seemed a failure and died an early death, but his martyrdom bore fruit in Paul, the greatest evangelizer of history. If we seek to root our lives in something other than Christ, then we will produce little or nothing. Let us root ourselves in Christ, preserving the luminous word that he has spoken to our hearts. Thus, we will be his disciples and bear much fruit.

LONGER HOMILY FOLLOWS

The first reading tells of the acceptance of Saul by the other disciples. Now, finally, he is joined to the body and his preaching can bear fruit.

On this fifth Sunday of Easter, the first reading is from chapter nine of the Acts of the Apostles. Saul comes to Jerusalem after his conversion, but the other disciples are afraid of him. Barnabas shoes himself to be this marvellous, discerning figure who welcomes the controversial person into their midst. Barnabas appreciates the value of Saul and introduces him to the others. Once Paul has been accepted he is free to proclaim the Gospel, and he does so in a full and effective way because now, finally, he is united to the rest of the body. What must be accepted? What must be rejected? What inspires fear? These thoughts introduce us to the Gospel for Sunday, which speaks of the vine and its branches.

The Father cuts off the branches that are fruitless while he prunes the branches that bear fruit. He is always cutting, one way or another!

Three roles are mentioned in the analogy of the vine. Jesus is the vine, we are the branches and the Father is the vine grower. The description of the process of cultivation is truly enlightening “He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.” This reveals something fundamental of the way the Father works with each one of us. If a branch does not bear fruit, the Father cuts it. Anyone who does not remain in Christ is cut off, gathered and thrown in the fire – a terrible scenario! What is unfruitful is cut away by the Father. The surprising thing is that the branch that does bear fruit is also pruned so that it might bear even more fruit. So the branch that bears no fruit is cut while the fruitful branch is pruned. Does this mean that the Father is always cutting something away? Yes, the Father is always cutting away!

Life should be a process of progressive simplification, a shedding of that which does not lead us to God

We tend to think that we are in a general state of deprivation with regard to something or other, but the fact is that we suffer more from the excesses in our lives. The really good travellers travel light because they know that they need little. It is the same with God. Firstly, the Lord provides everything we need, and, secondly, when we are with the Lord we need nothing else because he is everything. Life is a process of growth in simplification. In other words, a process of becoming free from that which leads us nowhere. The Father cuts these things away. How does he do it? With violence? No, these things die by themselves and then other people come and dispose of these things entirely. The same is true in the ecclesiastical sphere. Many of the things we do are rejected by others. The fact is that many people are not interested in the things we have to say to them in our parishes, because these things we say and do are withered branches, detached from the Father, self-referential, self-celebratory. It is not so much that the world discarded these initiatives of ours but that the Father was never in them – they remained solely our own initiatives. On this matter we should examine our consciences regularly and accept the rejections that the world presents to us. It is as the Lord is saying to us: “My things have eternity within them. They pass through the crises of Easter, but they rise again. And if this initiative of yours does not rise, then maybe it does not come from me at all”.

The deadweight in our lives must be pruned away. All that must be retained is that which leads us to God

The things that do bear fruit are pruned. Where and how are plants pruned, normally? When I speak of these things with young people, I discover that few of them know how to prune a plant. Usually we prune a branch above the first or second bud. If the second bud looks promising then we prune above it, but if it does not look very healthy, then we prune above the first bud. The principle is that we retain nothing that is not going to be fruitful. In our lives there is so much deadweight! And we must allow the Lord to strip us of it. Many of the cuts we receive during life are not things to be complained about but rather welcomed wholeheartedly. The Lord does not want us to have one millimetre more than what unites us to him. Whatever is outside of our union with the Father does not lead us anywhere. All these things are for corruptibility and fire. This beautiful text is full of profound wisdom. It teaches us to free ourselves, or allow ourselves to be freed, from everything that does not lead to heaven. When St Philip Neri famously said, “I prefer Paradise”, this is what he was referring to. Whatever united him to authentic life would be retained by him. He was not speaking in an abstract way of where he would like his life to end up. Rather he was speaking of a choice that he was making moment by moment: the union with those things that lead to paradise and the abandonment of those things that lead to emptiness. How much energy we consume on so many projects that do not lead anywhere! Also in the world of the Church, so much time is spent on ecclesiastical bureaucracy that bears little fruit. This is not to deny that we need a certain order in the Church, but we need to be absolutely rooted in the Lord. Whatever makes us bloom is to be retained jealously. That which causes us to implode is to be abandoned immediately.

April 25th 2021.  Fourth Sunday of Easter

GOSPEL   John 10:11-18

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL: John 10:11-18

Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd.

A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

A hired man, who is not a shepherd

and whose sheep are not his own,

sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away,

and the wolf catches and scatters them.

This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd,

and I know mine and mine know me,

just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;

and I will lay down my life for the sheep.

I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.

These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice,

and there will be one flock, one shepherd.

This is why the Father loves me,

because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.

I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.

This command I have received from my Father.”

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

SHORT HOMILY . . . The Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep, unlike the mercenary who doesn’t care about them. This discourse follows on the healing by Jesus of a man born blind. The blind man is not just physically healed, but also comes to the spiritual vision of Jesus as Christ and Saviour. Jesus is forging a radical new relationship between the people and God. It is not only the Jewish religious leaders who are fixated with norms and prescriptions. All of us have the tendency to treat God as an outsider who must be placated with our practices and observances. The Good Shepherd, by contrast, is not an outsider of this sort. Because life has many dangers, with many wolves lying in wait, the sheep seek security by entrusting themselves to the hired mercenary. But this is a relationship of convenience only. It will never cross the threshold where the mercenary sacrifices his life for the sheep. Without the salvation that Jesus brings, life is lived by trying to figure out how I can get as much as possible by giving as little as possible. Jesus brings a completely different approach to life! A life that can be given away and still not lost because it is eternal life. The life that the Father gives to the Son is the same life. We tend to always feel fragile and incomplete, but when we follow the Good Shepherd we are liberated from the oppression of fear. We tend to be constantly in a state of self-defence, but when we abandon ourselves with trust into the arms of Our Lord, we experience a change of life. Jesus remarks that he has many other sheep that are not of this fold. How can they too be drawn under his protection? By meeting other sheep (like us hopefully) who have been fed and nurtured by him. When a person has entrusted himself to this Good Shepherd, the results are obvious because his serenity irradiates to others. As St Paul says in the letter to the Romans, for those who are in Christ Jesus there can be no more condemnation - the wolf has no further power. Once we are in Christ, we are no longer seeking to earn the approval of God. A father does not love his son because his son deserves it, but because he is his son. We can live a life that is nourished by the founts of existence, by the waters of life, the life that comes from the Father to us through Jesus. Sometimes we feel abandoned in life. Sometimes we entrust ourselves to mercenaries, to illusory things that bring fleeting comfort or security. As the first reading from St Peter exhorts, let us return to the true shepherd and guardian of our souls.

LONGER HOMILY FOLLOWS

Jesus is not looking for mechanical obedience from us; he is looking for true listening and openness to his word

The analogy of the sheep and the shepherd illuminates the relationship between God and us: the sheep recognize the voice of the shepherd and they find pasture by his guidance. So too for us the sense of listening is vital: for faith, listening is the most important of the five senses, since the relationship with the Lord is conveyed by the reception of his word. In Hebrew the verb "to obey" does not exist. Instead, the verb "to listen" is used, because true listening implies an authentic openness to what the other person is saying. But for Jesus this listening leads to the deepest level, that of "knowing", which in Hebrew does not mean having information about someone or something, but being in an intimate relationship with someone. Being known by Jesus means experiencing intimacy with him and it is this which leads us to follow him.

We are called to follow Jesus, not in the sense of superficially agreeing with some code of behaviour, but because we listen to him and are loved by him

How beautiful it is when someone understands us deeply! Love implies understanding and the ability to perceive what is in the innermost centre of the other, in his heart. Jesus knows us - even if we do not fully know ourselves - and it is He alone who knows how to reveal our true identity. We are Christians not because we are superficially in agreement with what Jesus says, but because we feel known to him. Following him flows naturally from listening to his word and experiencing the relationship with him, which is something indelible and which marks us in a permanent and beautiful way.

The Lord speaks his word to me. If I receive that word with openness then I will know myself to be visited and understood by the Lord. This is the foundation of my self-confidence. The eternal has visited me. My misery and weakness are no longer decisive

The stability of our existence derives from our memory of the occasions in which we felt visited and understood by the Lord. If we succeed in keeping alive in our hearts the memory of such moments, no one will be able to shake us, because we are those sheep who "will not be lost ". In fact, that which is eternal has entered us through the word we have heard and through what we have celebrated in the sacraments. That I am weak and miserable matters less than the fact that Jesus really loved me. No-one can erase this fact that is written in my heart.

The word that the Lord is speaking to us draws us into unity with the Father and with each other. We may be anxious sometimes, but if Jesus is our shepherd then no harm can befall us. We must stick close to him and he will draw us into communion with the Father

And there is more: to know Jesus is to know the Father, or He who is "greater". There is always a certain anxiety lurking in our hearts, but to be Jesus' sheep means, precisely, to experience the Father who "is greater than all", and no one can tear anything from the hand of the Father. Saint Paul says: "If God is for us, who will be against us?" (Rom 8:31). No power in heaven and on earth, including death, can separate us from God's love. How much we torture ourselves with useless anxieties! We are like sheep that move away from the shepherd to affirm our independence, but all we succeed in doing is reducing our existence to a great chaotic struggle. Instead, we are called to live united to the very simplicity of God, hidden in that grand final phrase - "The Father and I are one" - which opens to communion without limits and to complete unity. This unity is love and it is the secret of God. We were born to receive a word from the Lord that makes us feel known (“My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me . .”). That word leads us to the union that only the love of God can create. Union with Him and between us.

April 18th 2021.  Third Sunday of Easter

GOSPEL   Luke 24: 35-48

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL   Luke 24:35-48

The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way,

and how Jesus was made known to them

in the breaking of bread.

While they were still speaking about this,

he stood in their midst and said to them,

"Peace be with you."

But they were startled and terrified

and thought that they were seeing a ghost.

Then he said to them, "Why are you troubled?

And why do questions arise in your hearts?

Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.

Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones

as you can see I have."

And as he said this,

he showed them his hands and his feet.

While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed,

he asked them, "Have you anything here to eat?"

They gave him a piece of baked fish;

he took it and ate it in front of them.

He said to them,

"These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,

that everything written about me in the law of Moses

and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled."

Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

And he said to them,

"Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer

and rise from the dead on the third day

and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,

would be preached in his name

to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things."

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

SHORTER HOMILY . . . While the two disciples who have returned from Emmaus are describing their encounter with Christ, Jesus appears in their midst once again. This tells us that the proper place for the encounter with Jesus is in the Church assembly, in the relations between the Christian community. Even St Paul required another member of the Christian community for his eyes to be opened. The Gospel passage tells us that the disciples were afraid because they thought they were seeing a ghost. But the resurrection is not being liberated from a mortal body, it is the rendering immortal of that same body! The life of the resurrection involves the transfiguration of suffering, not its simple elimination. In fact, Jesus eats with the disciples to show that the resurrection is not just a mental thing but concerns the entire person, spirit and body. Jesus saves us completely, not just in part. In the first reading, St Peter proclaims to the Jews that they have crucified the Saviour through ignorance. They did not know where they were doing. The biblical concept of “knowledge” refers to a complete and personal experience. The Gospel then speaks of Christ “opening their minds” to understand Scripture. St Jerome once said that he who ignores Scripture ignores Christ. It is essential that we turn more and more to the fountain of Scripture in order to know Christ. But the contrary is also true. He does not know Christ does not know Scripture because only the lived encounter with Christ can open our minds and intelligence to comprehend the sense of the Bible. Christ is saving us, and this salvation illuminates the entire history of salvation recounted in Scripture. Without  the light of the resurrection of Christ, our understanding of the history of the patriarchs, the sacrifice of Isaac, the story of Joseph, the exodus, etc., is insufficient.  It is the operation of Christ in us that brings this illumination. To be converted in the original Greek means to go beyond one’s customary way of thinking. We are being offered this possibility of entering into the life of Christ, to receive the promises that were made in the Old Testament. Israel had these promises to hand but did not understand them. Salvation involves looking completely anew, with the aid of Christ, at the reality that we already possess. We need to remain with the Christian community in order to receive these Scriptures that illuminate Christ. Equally, we need to receive Christ so that the scriptures will be illuminated, transfiguring our lives. Sometimes we think that by our own efforts we can take on Christ. But what we really need to do is be faithful to the liturgy, accepting that we are ignorant and insufficient by ourselves, that we understand poorly on our own efforts. We must relativize our own knowledge and open ourselves to the power of God who will show us his life and his salvation.

LONGER HOMILY FOLLOWS

Jesus prepared the chosen people over centuries for his resurrection. In our personal lives too, God has prepared us in various ways to deepen our encounter with the risen Lord

In this third Sunday of Easter we hear the proclamation that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has glorified his servant Jesus. Why is this affirmation so important? We find it in the third chapter of the Acts of the Apostle, one of the first announcements by Peter following the resurrection of Jesus. The point is that Jesus does not appear out of nowhere: he is the fulfilment of ancient promises. In the Gospel he tells the disciples: "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled." This is a precise description of the three parts of the Old Testament: the law, the prophets and the wisdom literature (represented by the psalms). The Lord Jesus prepared the world for his coming. His resurrection is the fulfilment of the history of his people. But in our personal stories also there are promises that the Lord brings to completion. There are things that prepare us for our encounter with him. In cases where people are converted to the Lord, one discovers afterwards that these conversions were prepared for over a long period.

Christianity proclaims a life after death, but this afterlife is not some kind of spiritual or ethereal existence. It involves the resurrection of the body, a notion that is difficult to comprehend, but firmly rooted in our faith

There is another important feature of this text. That which we proclaim in this joyful time of Easter is what is perhaps most obvious – the resurrection! This is not just about life after death. Other religions too speak of life after death. Christianity goes beyond vague references to the next life with its eleventh article of the creed which affirms belief in the resurrection of the body. We believe in a resurrection that is not some form of abstract or ethereal existence. But it is not easy to explain what is meant by the resurrection of the body.  In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul provides the analogy of the seed with the plant that eventually comes into existence from the seed. The plant is very different to the seed, but is nevertheless inextricably bound to the seed. In the same way, we will plant one kind of body and rise again with a different, spiritual, body, but the two bodies are nevertheless intimately linked. This mystery cannot be penetrated by rationalistic methods, but its basis in Scripture is clear. In the Gospel, the disciples think that Jesus is a ghost. The original Greek text refers to him as a “spirit”. Jesus says to them: "Why are you troubled? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost [a “spirit”] does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have." Jesus eats with them to demonstrate that he can engage in acts that imply corporeality. It is hard for us to comprehend the meaning of this: how can the risen Lord eat the things of this world? Nevertheless, the Church has seen in these appearances of the risen Christ a truth about the resurrection of the body that it is compelled to proclaim. The great fathers of the Church have been clear on this issue. St Irenaeus of Lyon, a martyr, had an essential motto: “Caro cardo salutis”. This means that the flesh is the pivot of salvation.

Christianity is not opposed to the flesh, but the contrary. It is in the flesh that we are redeemed. It is with our bodies that we are called to love others through concrete actions and service

Are we inclined to think that Christianity is against the flesh? The opposite is the case! The flesh is the place where we are saved. Without the flesh we cannot be saved. The business of redemption is not just mental comprehension. It involves acts and the globality of the person, our muscles and our bones, the things that make us who we are. When spirit and body are separated, we are dead, we are no longer complete! Completeness requires the unity of the human person. The first letter of St John emphasizes this point a lot and condemns those who deny that Christ has come in the flesh. The first heretical movements in the Church were the Gnostics, and they are still with us today. The attempt is to turn Christianity into a theory, a system of abstract values, a philosophy, a specialised form of knowledge. But authentic Christianity is nothing of the sort. The love of a man for a woman involves his body, his actions, his service. It is not a concept and not even a sentiment. In fact, it only becomes a genuine sentiment when it involves corporeal action. If our bodies do not manifest our faith, then our faith is worth nothing. St James says this in his letter, “I will show you my faith by my works”. How else can we demonstrate our faith if not in terms of concrete acts? If I truly encounter God, then this will illuminate every aspect of my person and life. The way I eat and sleep will be redeemed. The way I walk, work, welcome a child; the way I live things concretely, wash the dishes, the way I serve you. How can I love if not with the body? Love is not an abstract, idealised thing. Life is not an abstract thing. The Lord Jesus rises in his flesh because our flesh is destined for the fullness of life of the children of God

April 11th 2021.  Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday)

GOSPEL   John 20:19-21

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL   John 20:19-21

On the evening of that first day of the week,

when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,

for fear of the Jews,

Jesus came and stood in their midst

and said to them, "Peace be with you."

When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.

The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you.

As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,

"Receive the Holy Spirit.

Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them,

and whose sins you retain are retained."

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve,

was not with them when Jesus came.

So the other disciples said to him, "We have seen the Lord."

But he said to them,

"Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands

and put my finger into the nail marks

and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

Now a week later his disciples were again inside

and Thomas was with them.

Jesus came, although the doors were locked,

and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."

Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands,

and bring your hand and put it into my side,

and do not be unbelieving, but believe."

Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me?

Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples

that are not written in this book.

But these are written that you may come to believe

that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,

and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

SUMMARY . . . The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles tells us of the life of community of the early Church. The presence of the Holy Spirit in the early Church was not some sort of unspecified power, but was oriented to the relationships between the believers themselves, a life lived out concretely in love. In the Gospel, Thomas is absent when the apostles gather on the Sunday after the resurrection. He refuses to believe that they have seen him and insists that he himself have the same personal experience that they had. And when does he have that personal experience? Exactly one week later, when the apostles gather again on Sunday and Jesus appears among them. The implication is clear: the normal place to encounter the risen Lord is in the Christian assembly, in the life of relationships that we live out with others. In his first letter, St John asks how I can claim to love the God that I cannot see if I do not love the brother or sister that I do see. We experience the risen Lord in our relationships with those around us. This is the place where he appears to us and where he wishes us to work out our salvation.

Why does Thomas not encounter the risen Lord?

On this Second Sunday of Easter – traditionally known as “Low Sunday” – we hear the account of what happened eight days after the resurrection when Jesus appears. Thomas is not with the others and they tell him, “We have seen the Lord!” Thomas replies that if he does not have the same experience that they had, they how can they expect him to believe? After all, they were not inclined to believe the testimony of Mary Magdalen when she came running from the empty tomb. Thomas refuses to believe unless he has a personal experience of the Lord. But why did Thomas not have this personal experience with the other disciples? Before answering this question, let us look at the first reading.

We have an appointment with the Christian community every week. This is the normal way to encounter the risen Lord, in the shared life of the Church. Thomas absented himself from the assembly and did not meet the Lord.

The first reading is a luminous proclamation of the life enjoyed by the early Church. “The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common. With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favour was accorded them all.

There was no needy person among them”. It is worthwhile repeating these words because they give us a key for understanding what happened to Thomas. The life of the Christian is not the life of a superman, a perfect existence lived out by individuals. Rather it is a life of communion, having one heart and one mind, where everything is done with others in mind, where everything is done out of love. The new life which the Holy Spirit brought to the early church was not power of some unspecified sort, but oriented to the quality of the relations between believers. They became “one heart and one mind”. It was for this reason that Thomas did not encounter the Lord on the Sunday after the resurrection, and it was for precisely this reason that he did meet the Lord another week later. In other words, the real issue is not that Thomas did not see the Lord. The real issue is that he did not remain with the others. According to the typical way of counting days for the Jews, “eight days” indicates the passage of exactly one week. Every week we have an appointment with the Christian assembly, an appointment with communion. The resurrection is communion, fraternal love. Consequently, no one can live the experience of the resurrection as a private event. Thomas cannot experience the risen Lord until he is together with the others disciples. And, in fact, a week later Thomas is with the others and encounters the Lord.

We have the life of the Holy Spirit within us to the degree that we build up the Church, to the degree that we love one another

You might reply, did not Paul encounter the Lord in a completely private fashion on the road to Damascus? But Paul is left blind by the event and needs to be led by others. He does not receive his sight until he meets Ananias, the leader of the Christians that Paul was on his way to destroy. Ananias says to him, “Brother, the Lord Jesus has sent me that to you”. Ananias calls the very man who had come to destroy their community “Brother”! Until he meets the one who will welcome him as a brother, Paul will not recover his sight. Even in the most private of encounters, the experience is not complete until others are present. The experience of fraternity, the fact of living the life of the Church, this is the issue! Unless we build up the Church, our Christianity is fraudulent. The Holy Spirit is the communion between the Father and Son. If he enters into us then it is to put communion into our hearts. It is in the Church above all that one encounters the risen Lord because the Lord’s intention is that we be together! Life is beautiful when it is lived together, in relationship. A life of solitude is generally an unhappy one.

If we wish to experience the power of the risen Lord, then we need to do so in the place where he himself wishes to save us: through our relationships of self-effacing love with those around us

There are many things that could be said about this beautiful Gospel. The power of the gift of the Holy Spirit is proclaimed for the forgiveness of sins. We have focussed on just one aspect of the text. If you want to experience the risen Lord, then it is essential to remain with the Twelve, to remain with the Church. Do not seek to create a do-it-yourself Christianity. What individualism there is nowadays in various approach to the faith and in devotional practices! A faith that tries to function just between me and Jesus and Jesus and me does not work at all. To love God and to love our neighbour is the same commandment. The first letter of St John asks how I can claim to love the God that I cannot see if I do not love the brother that I can see? This Sunday proclaims that the place where the Lord appears is in relationship. We do not find him in some area of our private lives that we have constructed ourselves. Rather we find him in the place where he wishes to save us: in love, in relationship.

Easter Sunday Homily, April 4th 2021

April 4th 2021.  Easter Sunday

GOSPEL   John 20, 1-9

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL   John 20, 1-9

It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb’ she said ‘and we don’t know where they have put him.’

So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. Simon Peter who was following now came up, went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the ground, and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed. Till this moment they had failed to understand the teaching of Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

SHORTER HOMILY . . . Easter Sunday is described in the Gospel as the “first day” of the week, but it is really the eighth day of the Lord’s creation since it follows upon all the sublime events of the previous seven days. If we allow Christ’s resurrection to penetrate into our existence, then everything changes, for everything is now understood from the perspective of heaven and eternal life. In fact, the second reading encourages us to stop thinking of things from an earthly perspective, since our real lives are hidden with Christ in God. We cannot live this new life according to our usual categories of defending ourselves, depending on our own efforts and seeking our own advancement. It is that very “survival” approach that entrapped us in a life without perspective. The second reading goes on to say that, when Christ appears, we too will appear with him in glory. This does not refer only to glory after death. Easter calls for a shift in my life from a perspective on worldly things to the perspective of the resurrection.  When Mary Magdalene arrives at the tomb, she finds that the stone has been moved. No-one could move this stone by themselves. What happens in the resurrection is purely the work of God. Why was the stone moved? To allow Christ out? No! Jesus does not need physical doors to be opened to him any longer. You do not come out of death to return to the old mode of existence. You exit to enter into a new kind of life. Jesus did not come out of death to resume being a carpenter in Nazareth. Instead he passed to an existence with the Father. Why then was the stone moved? For our benefit. It is we who do not see the resurrection, who do not see the true glory of life, who need to stop living out of the multitude of infantile perspectives that we carry inside. Our dependencies on material and self-referential things only render us mediocre, incomplete and take away our beauty. Converts or those who rediscover their faith come to realize that their entire existence has been redeemed. The stone is taken away and a new life is ignited. Only God can remove this stone, but what is important to realize is that this life is ALREADY there and waiting for us. This stone is in the hearts of every man and woman, a stone that only the Lord can move. In the Gospel, the beloved disciple arrives first at the tomb. He allows Peter to enter and then he too goes in, sees and believes. It is only now, in the light of the resurrection, that the Scriptures begin to make sense to the disciples. They did not need new Scriptures or new writings. The removal of the stone and the fact of the resurrection enlightened what they already possessed. Let us celebrate Easter, let us celebrate newness! May the Lord remove the stone so that we may enter into life. In the resurrection, all of our weakness and fragility take on the potential of new life, because in Christ everything that is ours is redeemed.

LONGER HOMILY

God’s solutions are always surprising. The people of Israel escape from Egypt right through the middle of the Red Sea. Abraham receives the promise of the Lord during the night of faith in which he was asked to sacrifice his only son.

On this joyous feast of Easter we listen to the narrative regarding the discovery of the empty tomb. This is described in both the Gospel of the Easter Vigil and that of the Sunday Mass. The stone has been moved and Jesus’ body is no longer there. Peter and John race to the tomb. John arrives first but awaits Peter before entering. There is much symbolism in these different speeds of running and the respectful waiting by John. Peter goes inside and sees the cloths, but the body is certainly not there. Then John enters, “sees and believes”. They had not yet understood the Scripture that he must rise from the dead. Easter is something imponderable, the surprising action of God. It is the aspect of reality that we never calculated. It is the escape route, the solution that we never considered. That which we never understood, the sacred Scriptures, were the deposit in which all of these promises were contained. They tell us that God is surprising, that he is not like us, that his solutions are not the ones that we think us. The escape route for the people of Israel in the great story of the Jewish Passover was through the sea! Who would have ever suspected it! Moses appeared to be leading the people to a dead end, but the sea opened and they had the incredible experience of passing through it. The water that was their salvation was also the instrument by which the oppression of the Egyptians was destroyed. In a similar way, during the night of faith of Abraham, the Lord asked for the very thing that Abraham was most attached to. It was necessary for Abraham to discover that God does not ask; God gives. That which appears death becomes life; that which appears the end becomes the beginning.

Salvation always involves the unexpected action of God

The first three readings from the Vigil recount the great works of the Lord. In the first reading God creates from nothing. He puts life where there is no life. These are things that we are asked to understand, but we are unable to understand this creation from absolutely nothing. We do not comprehend a faith that is actually gaining everything at the very moment when it appears to be losing everything. We do not understand the solution of God which is always in the place where no one would think of looking. The successful escape of the Exodus did not depend on the speed of the people but on the power of God.

Let us free ourselves from our stagnant ways of thinking! The Lord opens roadways in the sea and brings life from nothing!

Our sin leads to destruction, but the Lord places himself there, in the midst of our confused and contradictory pathways. He accepts our sin, takes it upon himself, and transforms it into unexpected salvation. In the night of Easter we sing the proclamation which has the famous patristic phrase “O felix culpa!” - the happy fault that merited such a great Saviour. Because of the Lord, the sin is no longer closed up in itself but open to the saving action of God. The death that we inflict on Jesus is resolved in the response of the Father, the resurrection, the beginning of something that we will never fully understand. Let us free ourselves from our preconceived modes of thinking! God moves the stones and makes the dead rise! He opens roadways in the sea and brings life forth from nothingness.

In order to experience the Easter of the Lord, we do not need any special techniques or mental schemes. All we need to do is abandon ourselves to him and allow him to lead us on his unexpected pathway to life.

It is one thing to be fixated with our own capacities and limits, and to think that life depends on what we make of it; it is something completely different to abandon ourselves to the Lord and be led by him along pathways that are completely unexpected and are not our own. I will never know how the Lord intends to lead me, how he intends me to progress, but the important thing is that he is calling me to let myself be led by him. This Sunday, we proclaim the joyous resurrection of Jesus, which is not a preconceived scheme, or a spiritual technique, but an act of abandonment. It involves handing ourselves over to him and allowing him to lead us to a fuller life, a life that no one will ever be able to take from us. When someone experiences the Easter of the Lord, he will never forget it again. When our pain or our oppression has been illuminated by the power and providence of the paternity of the Lord, then it will remain with us forever. The Christian celebrates Easter over and over again because the seas part in front of us over and over again, the tomb opens in front of us many times, and that which seemed the end becomes a new beginning.