The Shalom of Jesus and John

 

Pope John XXIII (1881 –1963)

The Shalom of Jesus and John

Solemnity of Pentecost – May 27, 2012

Acts 2:1-11     I Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13[1]      John 20:19-23[2]

First reading from Acts

When the day of Pentecost arrived, all the believers were gathered together in one place. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong blowing wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then what looked like tongues of fire appeared and settled on their heads. And all were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem. When they heard the roaring in the sky above the house, they gathered in a large crowd, and were stunned to hear their own language being spoken by the disciples. “How can this be,” they exclaimed. ”For these men are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native language! Here we are -- Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabians. And yet we all hear these men speaking of the mighty acts of God in our own languages”

 The word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Glory to you, Lord

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were gathered together behind doors locked  out of fear of the Jewish authorities, Jesus suddenly appeared and greeted them saying, ”Shalom!” (“Peace!”) 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, “Shalom!  As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you refuse to forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Introduction

                         Pentecost: the liturgical summit

With Pentecost we reach the summit of the liturgical cycle which begins with the Son’s descent to earth in the Christmas season, then continues with his ascent back to the Father in the Ascension, and now peaks with the descent of the Holy Spirit of Pentecost. With Pentecost we conclude the Easter season. The Paschal candle will not be lighted during Sunday Mass anymore. But neither will it be relegated to some dark corner in the sacristy for another year. It will, instead, be moved to a privileged spot near the baptismal font. There it will stand throughout the year to remind us that Jesus is present to us in the Holy Spirit of Pentecost. And it will be lighted whenever we baptize our little ones into Christ. Tomorrow, May 28, we will return to Ordinary Time with its color green. Ordinary Time will continue through the warm summer months into late fall. Then we will start the liturgical cycle all over again with the first Sunday of Advent (this year December 2) in preparation for Christmas 2012.

Pentecost: a Jewish harvest feast

Pentecost comes from the Greek pente meaning five or fifty. Pentecost was a Jewish harvest feast which took place fifty days after Passover. At Pentecost a devout Jew was expected to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem to give thanks for the harvest. (Ex 23:14-16) That’s what’s referred to in the first reading: “When the day of Pentecost had come, the believers were all gathered together in one place.” (Acts 2:1) It was on the occasion of that Jewish harvest feast that the Holy Spirit (promised by Jesus before ascending into heaven) was poured out upon the disciples. (Lk 24: 49) Pentecost, a Jewish harvest feast, became a great Christian harvest feast which reaped nothing less than the Holy Spirit. 

Trent’s prisons of certainty

The gospel says that the disciples were gathered together behind doors locked “out of fear of the Jewish authorities.” (Jn 20:19) That’s what fear does: it locks everything up. In the 16^th century, the Church, fearing the Protestant Reformation, summoned the Council of Trent (1545-1563). Trent, driven by fear, wrote for us a theology which locked everything up in prisons of certainty, and put everything into deep freeze. The freeze lasted for four hundred long years, and some of us senior citizens were soundly reared in that deep freeze.

John’s new Pentecost

Then, at long last, there suddenly appeared in our midst a man (or rather an angel) named Angelo Roncalli. He was called by God to open up a Church whose doors and windows were slammed shut out of fear, for four hundred years. On Oct. 28, 1958, the College of Cardinals elected Angelo as pope, and he took the name of John XXIII. A few months later, on Jan. 25, 1959, while speaking to a group of Rome-based cardinals in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, the new pope announced his intention to summon an Ecumenical Council which, he hoped, would cause “a new Pentecost” with fiery tongues to settle upon the Church.

The announcement was greeted, however, with stony silence by the cardinals who feared “a new Pentecost.” In his diary (The Journal of a Soul) John writes that his announcement of a Council was greeted with “impressive, devout silence.” In his address opening Vatican II John said, “We feel that we must disagree with these prophets of doom.” To them he said what Jesus said to the early Church gathered behind doors locked out of fear: “Shalom!” “Peace! “

As Jesus cried “Ephphatha!” (“Be thou opened!”) to the ears and mouth of a deaf and dumb man (Mk 7:32-35), so John cried “Ephphatha!” to a very closed Church which he had inherited. When Vatican II opened on October 11, 1962, a great theological thaw set in, a new Pentecost was enkindled, tongues of fire were ignited everywhere, and a driving wind swept through the Church, blowing open doors and windows slammed shut by fear for four centuries.

John guided the Council through its first session (Oct. 11 - Dec. 8, 1962), but he died of stomach cancer before the second session opened. As he lay dying he said to a friend, “At least I have launched this big ship -- others will have to bring it into port.” When he died on the evening of June 3, 1963, the whole world stood anxiously at his bedside. No pope in history was so beloved nor had such a positive impact on the present and future Church as did Good Pope John.

A call for a new Pentecost

Fr. Henri Boulad S.J., born in 1931, is an Egyptian Lebanese Jesuit of the Melkite rite. He is rector of the Jesuit school in Cairo. He was superior of the Jesuits in Alexandria, regional superior of the Jesuits in Egypt, and professor of theology in Cairo. He has given conferences throughout Europe, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, France, Belgium, etc. He has visited 50 countries on 4 continents and has published some 30 books in 15 languages--mainly in French, Arabic, Hungarian, and German.

In July of 2007 this highly qualified man wrote a lengthy letter[3] to Pope Benedict. In it he complains: “Vatican II tried to make up for four lost centuries, but one now has the impression that the Church today is in the process of once more locking the doors that have been opened, and is tempted to turn back to Trent and Vatican I rather than Vatican II.” Then Boulad calls for a new Pentecost. He suggests the convocation of a general synod which, like Vatican II (1962-1965), would last for three years. The synod would examine in all honesty the sober realities afflicting the Church, and anything else that would be proposed. It would then culminate in a general assembly (a kind of Vatican III) which would bring together the results of this synod and draw appropriate conclusions. Boulad’s suggestion of a Vatican III no doubt has generated its own “prophets of doom.”

                              Shalom—a multifaceted gem

Two great human emotions jump out from the Pentecost gospel:  fear and peace. Jesus breaks through doors locked out of fear, and He wishes the apostles Shalom (Peace) not once, not twice, but three times. (Jn 20:19, 21, 26)  Shalom is usually translated as peace, but it’s a very unique Hebrew word; it’s a multi-faceted gem. The 70 men who translated the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek used 25 different Greek words to translate Shalom. Depending on the context, Shalom takes on different shades of meaning. It can mean peace, health, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, fullness, rest, harmony, calmness, etc.  Most of the time we simply say Shalom, and let the context suggest the shade of meaning.

You wish Shalom to a Church afraid to face the issues confronting it - issues like a married clergy, birth control, homosexuality, divorce, the shortage of priests, the ordination of women, etc. You wish Shalom to a Church reeling under its own scandals. You wish Shalom to churchmen who are prophets of doom and fear a new Pentecost.

You wish Shalom to one whose fears keep him locked up in prisons of certainty. You wish Shalom to one who’s a worrywart or who makes mountains out of molehills. You wish Shalom to one who can’t let go and `let God.’ You wish Shalom to one who can’t forgive and forget. You wish Shalom to one who needs to sort things out and figure out what’s important and what’s not. You wish Shalom to one who’s faint-hearted and needs courage. You wish Shalom to one who’s struggling to keep food on the table and a roof over his head in these hard economic times. Yes, you wish Shalom to one who has received a chilling verdict from the doctor.

Conclusion

The Shalom of Jesus, John and Boulad

You wish them Shalom, as Jesus wished Shalom to apostles filled with fear behind locked doors. You wish them Shalom, as Good Pope John wished Shalom to his Church filled with fear, and then summoned it to a new Pentecost in Vatican II. You wish them Shalom, as Fr. Boulad now wishes Shalom to the Church of today, and then courageously suggests the convocation of a kind of Vatican III to “examine in all honesty the sober realities afflicting the Church.”

---

[1] Or the second reading may be from Galatians 5:16-25

[2] Or the gospel reading may be from John 15:26-27; 16:12-15

[3] The letter can be found in its entirety on the internet. The person who was supposed to deliver  the letter in 2007 never did. It was finally sent to the Pope in 2009 through the Papal Nuncio in Cairo.

The Ascension of the Lord

When He had said this, as they were looking on,

He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him from their sight.

Acts 1:9

The Ascension of the Lord

May 20, 2012

Acts 1:1-11        2 Eph 1:17-23      Mark 16:15-20

First reading from Acts

In the first book, Theophilus, I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them by many proofs after he had suffered, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While meeting with them, he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for "the promise of the Father about which you have heard me speak; for John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

When they had gathered together they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" He answered them, "It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."  When He had said this, as they were looking on, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him from their sight. While they were looking intently at the sky as He was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, "Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen Him going into heaven."

The word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark

Jesus said to his disciples: "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

After the Lord Jesus spoke to them, He was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. The disciples went forth and preached everywhere, and the Lord confirmed their preaching with signs of power.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Introduction

Ascension & Pentecost

Scripture says Jesus appeared to the apostles and disciples for 40 days after his resurrection (Acts 1: 3), and then ascended bodily into heaven. (Mk. 16: 19-20) Counting 40 day after Easter Sunday gives us a Thursday for the feast of the Ascension. But the Church in some places moves the Ascension from Thursday to the following Sunday to make it more convenient for the faithful to celebrate that important feast
.
Then next Sunday will be the feast of Pentecost. It's interesting to note that up until the 4th century the feast of Ascension (when Jesus left the disciples orphonaed) and the feast of Pentecost (when the Holy Spirit was poured upon the orphaned disciples) were but one feast. That communicated the sense of one divine transaction: the emptiness caused the by farewell of the Ascension was immediately filled up with nothing less than a fullness from on high -- the Holy Spirit. Accordingly, and ancient Latin antiphone cries out: "O Admirabile Commercium!" Oh Admirable Exchange! The emptiness of the Ascension is immediately exchanged for the fullness of Pentecost.

A bodily Ascension

Some don’t take the bodily Resurrection of Jesus literally. They say it simply means that He’s alive in our midst by his teaching and example. Such a stance does not do justice to traditional Christian belief which unequivocally confesses that on the third day He rose bodily from the dead. 

 Some also don’t take the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven literally. They say it’s nothing more than the early Church trying to discredit any further claims of the risen Lord appearing. (How can He still be appearing, since He has ascend into heaven?) That, too, does not do justice to the traditional belief which unequivocally confesses that He ascended bodily into heaven. The Westminster Confession of Faith states that with the same body in which He suffered and rose from the dead, “Jesus ascended into heaven and there sits at the right hand of his Father to make intercession for us until He comes again.” The Heidelberg Catechism states that in Jesus’ bodily ascension into heaven “we have our own flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that He, our Head, will also take us, his members, up to Himself.”

The Ascension: the Incarnation continued

In his book  Jesus Ascended: The Meaning of Christ's Continuing Incarnation, Gerrit Scott Dawson admits that the Ascension of Jesus has always been difficult for us humans. It just seems too fantastic.  Did a guy really rise up bodily into the sky and then disappear? Dawson thinks that after 33 years of life in human flesh (which ended up crowned with thorns and crucified on a cross) that Jesus “wouldn’t hang on to his humanity but would drop it like a hot potato, and then get back to being the Son of God - without the drag of our human nature.” Dawson says it boggles our minds to think that Jesus in heaven is “still in our skin suit” - still bearing our humanity. The Ascension, he says, is the Incarnation continued; it is the boggling belief that we have one of our own, who knows what it means to be human, and who is sitting at the right hand of God, making intercession for us.

A liturgical correction

In days past, after the reading of the Ascension gospel, a server would dramatically snuff out the Easter candle burning in our midst for 40 days, as a symbol of Jesus’ appearances for 40 days after his resurrection. After snuffing out the candle, the server would whisk it off to some dark closet in the sacristy, where it would remain out of sight until the next Easter Vigil of Holy Saturday. That liturgical gesture of whisking the extinguished Paschal candle out of sight wordlessly said, "He's left us! He’s gone!”

 But if the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven is really the Incarnation continued, then Jesus has not really left us; He’s not really gone. And that called for a liturgical correction: the Easter candle is not to be snuffed out on the feast of Ascension and whisked off to some dark sacristy. Rather, it is to remain lighted in our midst until Pentecost Sunday (next Sunday)—the feast of Jesus’ new presence in his Holy Spirit. Then the Paschal candle is to be moved close to the baptismal font. There it is to remain visible throughout the year, and there it is to burn brightly whenever we baptize our little ones into Christ.

The Ascension - a strange farewell

Life is about farewells. We’re always saying goodbye along the journey of life. We say goodbye to happy friendships which reluctantly end because people must simply go their separate ways; such are the goodbyes of June graduations. We say goodbye to friendships which end bitterly and can’t be repaired. We say goodbye to our pet dogs who think we are God, but whom we must put down because we love them so much and can’t bear to see them suffer. We say an utterly final and painful goodbye to our loved ones, as we carry them to their graves. Death is the supreme and ultimate farewell in which all our other farewells mystically participate. Orthodox theologian Nicholas Baerdeyev says, “All farewells have the taste of death about them.”

 If he’s right, then what a strange farewell was the Ascension, when the apostles lost their best friend, Jesus! They expressed neither grief nor disappointment as He left them and ascended into heaven and was taken from their sight. Instead Luke writes, “The disciples went back into Jerusalem, filled with great joy, and spent all their time in the Temple giving thanks to God.” (Lk.24:50-53)  

 What a strange way to feel when you’ve lost your best friend! Jesus departs from the disciples in Bethany on Ascension Day, and they are filled not with sadness but “with great joy!” What a strange farewell is that! The disciples’ world is emptied of Jesus’ presence, and their hearts are “filled with great joy!”  Jesus bids the disciples farewell, and they go directly to the Temple where they spend “all their time giving thanks to God.”

Waiting for “power from on high”

What do we do with the emptiness which dots the human journey? Our culture fills it up with fast food, or with banging music, or with cell phone chatter, or with shopping sprees. What did the apostles do with the emptiness they felt at the Ascension? They didn’t fill it up!  They didn’t head for a fast-food joint or the nearest bar. They didn’t gulp down happy pills, or turn up boom-boxes, or go looking for a gang to fill up their empty feeling. Instead they returned to Jerusalem and headed straight for the Temple and remained there alone in constant prayer. There they waited for their emptiness to be filled not with any old thing, but with “power from on high.” (Lk. 24:49)

The apostles of the Ascension deliver a mystic message: It’s OK to feel empty. In your emptiness don’t jump at any old thing to fill up it up. Instead go to the Temple, and in patience, peace and prayer wait for your emptiness to be filled with “power from on high. “

Conclusion

 Easter candle always in sight

When we come to Mass next Sunday, May 27, 2012, it will be the Solemnity of Pentecost. The Easter candle will no longer be lit, as it was for all the Sundays of Easter. It will no longer occupy the prominent place in the sanctuary, which it did during Easter season. But neither will it be whisked off to some dark sacristy closet. It will, instead, be moved to a spot near the baptismal font. There we will see the candle every Sunday at Mass, and it will remind us that Jesus who ascended into heaven has kept his promise not to leave us orphans. (Jn 14:18) And there the candle will be lighted and burn brightly, as we baptize our little ones into the living and resurrected Christ.

Mother's Day: about Peace & Mothers

 

The white and red carnations

 of Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day: about Peace & Mothers

Sixth Sunday of Easter & Mother’s Day, May 13, 2012

Acts 10:25-48   1 John 4:7-10    John 15:9-17

Reading from 1 John

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.

The Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Glory to you, Lord.

Jesus said to his disciples: "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another."

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Introduction

2^nd Sunday of May - Mother’s Day

 In the Church’s calendar today is the Sixth Sunday of Easter. In the Nation’s calendar, this 2^nd Sunday of May is Mother’s Day. Tradition calls for the wearing of a red carnation on Mother’s Day, if your mom is living, or a white carnation if she is deceased.

Mother’s Day originally - about peace

Mother’s Day was not invented by the florists' association nor by the Telephone Co. Historically, it originated in mothers protesting the killing of their sons in war. At the end of the day, it began as an anti-war movement. Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910), famous especially for authoring the lyrics to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, was a pioneer in the anti-war movement. Yearly she would organize Mother’s Day meetings in Boston, Mass., and encourage mothers to rally for peace. She believed that mothers bore the loss of human life more painfully than anyone else. In 1870 she issued a Mother’s Day Proclamation. The Proclamation read in part:  

Arise then, Christian women on this day! Arise, all women who have hearts. Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We, the women of one country, will be too tender towards those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.” From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own. It says: “Disarm! Disarm!”

So Mother’s Day originally was about peace. This original aspect of Mother’s Day is not much emphasized today.

Mother’s Day today - about mothers

Another great pioneer of the Mother’s Day Movement was Anna Marie Jarvis (1864-1948). Julia Howe’s Mother’s Day was about peace, but Anna Marie’s Mother’s Day was about mothers. She had a great devotion to her mother Ann Jarvis (1832-1905) who had a very difficult life. She lost eight of her twelve children before they reached adulthood. Such a tragic life made her very compassionate towards other suffering mothers. During the Civil War, Ann organized women to tend to the needs of the wounded soldiers of both sides, and after the war she promoted a Mother’s Day dedicated to pacifism.

Two years after Ann’s death, her daughter Anna Marie (who never married, and who was intensely devoted to her mother and her selfless spirit) conducted a small tribute to her mother in her mother’s Methodist church on the second Sunday of May, 1907. On that occasion she passed out 500 white carnations (her mother’s favorite flower)  -  one carnation  for each mother in the congregation. (That seeded our present day tradition of mothers wearing carnations on Mother’s Day: a red one for a living mother, or a white one for a deceased mother.) Then Anna Marie embarked upon a mission to make Mother's Day a recognized holiday. Following an act of Congress in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day. So Mother’s Day today is about mothers.

A Mother’s Day story

Mother’s Day always puts me in mind of a great mother who begot a great son. Years ago I had to put down my dog Tina which for many years filled in the lonely spaces of my life. A few days later, despite my grief I had to shop for groceries. After gathering the food for which I had no appetite, I went to the checkout counter. The man there was a young Afro-American . (Color is an important part of the story.) His name was Vernon. Everyone knew and liked him a lot. He immediately noticed my sadness and asked, “What’s wrong?”  I told him I had just put down my dog. Suddenly he reached for his wallet, opened the cash register, did a transaction, and then returned the wallet to his pocket. Not knowing what he had done, I handed him my money. He refused saying, "I've taken care of it!” Think of it! Here was a young black man, a blue-collar worker, who didn’t make fifty dollars an hour, and he was paying for a white man’s groceries!

At the end of the day, that’s a great Mother’s Day story. No doubt, every year this young man wonders what he should give his mom on Mother’s Day. What greater gift could Vernon possibly give her than what he has already given? He has given her a son who is an unselfish and compassionate human being. He has given her a son who knows how to pour the oil of compassion upon someone in need, and who will surely pour the oil of compassion upon his Mom as well in her hour of need. The red carnations  or the chocolates which Vernon will give his mom on Mother’s Day (if he can afford them) will not be a substitute for the real thing; they will be truly sacramental - a sign of the real thing – a sign of something more profound and expensive than the carnations or chocolates themselves.

On the other side of the coin, what greater gift could Vernon’s mom possibly give him than what she has already given him, for “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Good fruit that he is, he has come from a good tree. (Mt 7:17) Mother’s Day cries out to Vernon what the woman in the crowd cried out to Jesus one day: “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that nursed you.” (Lk 11:27)

Conclusion:

About a good son and a good mother

Mother’s Day is about a good son like Vernon; the chocolates and flowers he gives his mom on Mother’s Day are not substitutes for, but signs of, the real thing. Mother’s Day is also about a good mom like Vernon’s mother; she begot a wonderful son who `didn’t fall far from the tree’ -  a wonderful son who didn’t make fifty dollars an hour but who paid for a white man’s groceries!

Anna Maria Jarvis (1864-1948)

 The mother of Mother's Day

I AM

I AM – more important than I DO

Fifth Sunday of Easter, May 6, 2012
Acts 9:26-31     1 John 3:18-24   John 15:1-8

First reading from Acts

When Saul arrived in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. Then Barnabas took charge of him and brought him to the apostles, and he reported to them how he had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. He moved about freely with them in Jerusalem, and spoke out boldly in the name of the Lord. He also spoke and debated with the Hellenists, but they tried to kill him. And when the brothers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him on his way to Tarsus.

The Church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace. It was being built up and walked in the fear of the Lord, and with the help of the Holy Spirit it grew in numbers.

The Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Glory to you, Lord.

“I am the true vine.”

Jesus said to his disciples: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine pruner. He lops off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will bear more fruit. You must go on growing in me, and I will grow in you. For just as the branch cannot bear any fruit unless it shares the life of the vine, so you can produce nothing unless you go on growing in me. Yes, I am the true vine, you are the branches. Whoever lives in me, with me in him, bears much fruit. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask what you will and you shall get it. It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Introduction

The seven great I AMs of Jesus

Jesus does not tell us what He did; He doesn’t say:

“I changed water into wine.” (Jn. 2: 1-12)

“I healed the sick son of a government official.” (Jn. 4:46-54)

“I cured a man who was sick for 38 years.” (Jn.5:1-17)

“I fed 5000 hungry people with 5 loaves and 2 fish.” (Jn. 6:1-13) 

“I gave sight to a blind man.” (Jn. 9:1-41)

“I raised Lazarus from the dead.” (Jn. 11:1-45)

“I restored the cut-off ear of Malchus, the High Priest’s slave.’ (Jn. 18:10)

Rather, Jesus tells us what He is:

"I AM the bread of life." (Jn. 6:35, 48, 51)

"I AM the light of the world." (Jn. 8:12.

"I AM the door of the sheep."(Jn. 10:7, 9)

"I AM the good shepherd." (Jn. 10:11, 14)

"I AM the resurrection and the life." (Jn. 11:25)

"I AM the way, the truth, and the life." (Jn. 14:6)

"I AM the true vine." (Jn. 15:1, 5 -- today’s gospel)

These are the seven great I AMs (Greek:εἰμι) of Jesus recorded in John's gospel.

I AM - the very name of God

I AM, in fact, is the very name of God. In Exodus God calls Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. But Moses asks God, “When I go to the Israelites and tell them that the God of their ancestors sent me to them, they will ask me what is his name? So what can I tell them?” God said to Moses, “You must tell the Israelites that the one whose name is I AM has sent you to them.” (Ex. 3:11-14)

The scribes and Pharisees knew that I AM was the very name of God. One day when Jesus was verbally scrapping scrap with them, He said, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.” But they protested, “Why you’re not even fifty years old--and you have seen Abraham?” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I AM.” That was such a bold claim to deity that the Jewish authorities picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and slipped out of the Temple precincts. (Jn. 8:55-59)

Pope John was a good shepherd

What Good Pope John XXIII did for the Universal Church was, indeed, important. He summoned his Church to Vatican II, which produced 16 important documents, which powerfully changed the course of the Bark of Peter. But what Good Pope John was for the Universal Church was even more important. In his homily on the day of his `coronation’ he didn’t tell the crowds what he was planning to do for the Church - call an Ecumenical Council. But he did tell them what he was planning to be for the Church: a good shepherd. He told the crowds, “Your new pope has in mind St. John's example of the Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who came not to be served but to serve.” (Mk. 10:45)  The next day, John went forth to be a good shepherd, visiting prisoners in a Roman jail and aged priests in a nursing home. John was a good shepherd to the Church, and that was even more important than his calling the Second Vatican Council.

Conclusion

I AM -- more important than I DO

What I am is more important than what I do! When I am bread for someone who’s hungry, when I am light for someone who’s in the dark, when I am a door for someone who’s knocking to get in, when I am a good shepherd to some hungry sheep seeking a green pasture, etc., that’s more important than what  I do as “doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief.” Jesus’ I AMs challenge me to define myself not by what I do but by what I AM.