This week’s liturgy speaks of who Jesus is, and how/why we should put our trust in him. It is a beautiful message of how he is the ONLY person who knows God completely and he is the only true teacher we have.
Reading 1- No Commentary here
Acts 6:1-7
As the number of disciples continued to grow,
the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews
because their widows
were being neglected in the daily distribution.
So the Twelve called together the community of the disciples and said,
“It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table.
Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men,
filled with the Spirit and wisdom,
whom we shall appoint to this task,
whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer
and to the ministry of the word.”
The proposal was acceptable to the whole community,
so they chose Stephen, a man filled with faith and the Holy Spirit,
also Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas,
and Nicholas of Antioch, a convert to Judaism.
They presented these men to the apostles
who prayed and laid hands on them.
The word of God continued to spread,
and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly;
even a large group of priests were becoming obedient to the faith.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 33:1-2, 4-, 18-19
R. (22) Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Exult, you just, in the LORD;
praise from the upright is fitting.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten-stringed lyre chant his praises.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
or:
R. Alleluia.
See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,
upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Reading II
1 Pt 2:4-9
Beloved:
Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings
but chosen and precious in the sight of God,
and, like living stones,
let yourselves be built into a spiritual house
to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
For it says in Scripture:
Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion,
a cornerstone, chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in it shall not be put to shame.
Therefore, its value is for you who have faith, but for those without faith:
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone, and
A stone that will make people stumble,
and a rock that will make them fall.
They stumble by disobeying the word, as is their destiny.
You are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a people of his own,
so that you may announce the praises” of him
who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
2nd Reading
The part that catches my attention most of all is “let yourselves be built into a spiritual house” with Jesus as the “cornerstone”. Jesus wants us (everyone) to be united with him as our loving leader.
Also, the author mentions “him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” This experience of being called out of darkness into the wonderful light is beautiful, and I will give more details in the “Real Life” section.
Gospel
Jn 14:1-12
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You have faith in God; have faith also in me.
In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.
If there were not,
would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come back again and take you to myself,
so that where I am you also may be.
Where I am going you know the way.”
Thomas said to him,
“Master, we do not know where you are going;
how can we know the way?”
Jesus said to him, (I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you know me, then you will also know my Father.
From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip said to him,
“Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time
and you still do not know me, Philip?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own.
The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me,
or else, believe because of the works themselves.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes in me will do the works that I do,
and will do greater ones than these,
because I am going to the Father.”
Gospel
Jesus teaches us about himself in this Gospel. At first glance, it appears impossible to understand. But, as we look closer, we find that Jesus wants the disciples to know who he is. He says, you guys can “believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe because of the works themselves.” “The works”, means God’s works (his actions) tell us about who he is. That’s what “the works” means. If we look at what God does, we know better who he is.
Here is an example to better explain: I know you are a cardiovascular surgeon because you cut open people's chest cavities. Because I know you are a cardiovascular surgeon, I better understand why you cut open people's chest cavities. What you do tells me about who you are. Who you are helps me understand why you do what you do. Does that make sense?
So what did God the Father do to show us who he is? He sent his only beloved Son. He watched his only son get tortured, ridiculed, abandoned, rejected, and KILLED. He did this because he loves us and he wanted to offer his son as a sacrifice.
Most dad’s love their sons right? Yes they do! Jesus said, “As the Father loves me, so I also love you.”1 Since the Father loves the Son, it must have really hurt to watch pitiful, tiny, helpless men kill his ONLY Son. What does this tell us about the Father? He loves us SO, SO, SO, SO much that he would watch the murder of his only Son, knowing that at any moment that he could stop it from happening. It was one of the greatest, if not the greatest act of love EVER. The point is- God loves us. We can tell because of his actions (works). Does that make sense to you?
Jesus- Lord, God, and Teacher
Jesus says that if “you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father. The Father is in me, and I am in the Father. The words I speak, I do not speak on my own. The Father who is in me is doing his works." This all means that Jesus knows everything the Father knows, and the Father knows everything that Jesus knows. It also means that Jesus is equal to the Father.
Let’s think about this for a moment. Does your professor know everything about Jesus? Does your favorite priest know everything about Jesus? Does your daddy know everything about Jesus? Of course not! Our minds are measurable and our brains are small (3 pounds). We can’t completely understand something immeasurable (God) with something measurable (our human minds).
God knows that in order to understand God COMPLETELY, you have to BE God. So he sent his only Son(who is God2). Jesus is the ONLY human who knows God COMPLETELY and therefore he is the best teacher and the only teacher. That is why he says, “no one comes to the Father except through me”. This is also why he calls himself “the way, the truth, and the life.” Once again, God shows us who he is by what he does. What did he do? He sent the best teacher possible and the ONLY teacher as a gift to us. God loves us! What did we do with this beautiful, loving, teacher? We killed him!4
Death of the Teacher
It makes complete sense doesn’t it? Take a look at Matthew 21:33-46 where Jesus talks about the parable of the tenants who killed the landowner’s son. We must think hard about how this relates to us and our lives. Are we the evil tenants who killed the Son? It’s time to change how we are responding to Jesus’ presence. Instead of killing him, let's love him. In other words, let's obey him.
Another point we need to ponder is this: because the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father, the Father must have felt that spear which was thrust through Jesus’ heart. Maybe God the Father was also “cut to the heart” like in last week’s 1st reading5. God lets us share in his life including his suffering. Yes, God suffers too. After all, he did cry when Lazarus died and he did have nails driven through his hands.
This reminds me that God is not a thing or some cosmic force. He is a person who understands me and whom I should try to understand better. It just so happens that there is a guy who knows God completely and can teach me. Se llama Jesus (His name is Jesus).
Jesus, please teach me.
Catechism
I didn’t get what Jesus was saying in this Gospel until I opened up the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) paragraph 236. This book is a tremendous gift from the church and you’ll get more from reading it than you will from my writings. So get it and read it!
Want to know what the church teaches on:
- Divorce? Paragraph 160-1
- Drugs? 2291
- Homosexuality? 237
- The Trinity? 236 & elsewhere as well
Here is a link to the CCC online including glossary/index. http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/
The Point
- God is not some mystical force that is impossible to know about. He is a person.
- God is loving. We know that because he sent his ONLY son and although Jesus was innocent, God allowed his beloved son to be killed as a sacrifice because God loves us.
- God does not want to be hidden from us. He showed himself through a human teacher who walked on Earth- Jesus!
- God loves us so much that he sent us the ONLY teacher who knows him COMPLETELY- his son Jesus who is equal to God.
- We killed our loving teacher with our sins (after all, the sacrifice would have been unnecessary had we not sinned) and we still hurt him today by doing the wrong thing. Let's change for love of him who loves us immeasurably.
Real Life
In November of 2006, I went on a mission trip (my first ever) to minister to the poor people of Juarez, Mexico. I was living your average American life and thought to myself, "why not do some mission work?" because I had time off of work. Here is the most powerful incident that happened to me during my visit- I wrote about it the same day it all happened:
"So, we pulled up to the first house and it was a rotten, wood shack. The street outside was dirty and falling apart. The house was about 10 square feet at most and the neighborhood was the worst-looking one I have ever seen. Anyhow, I was not scared, but I was a little bit intimidated as I and Jim (another volunteer, age 60) walked up to the creeky, wooden gate which was falling apart. You had to slither your way through the gate because it would not open the whole way up and it was covered with rusty nails and was completely dangerous.
Jim and I squeezed in and were greeted by a very HAPPY, pleasant old lady. Her face was beaming with enthusiasm and joy as she saw us approaching. I had a huge bag over my shoulder full of vegetables and food.
She greeted us both in Spanish and I quietly smiled. "Passe" she said as she smiled again. I guess that means "come in" because I heard a lot of people say it to me today. She is one of the smallest ladies I have ever seen. She is very skinny, has white hair, dirty clothes, and a distorted face. One of her eyes looks like it has glaucoma. I was afraid of hugging her too hard because she looked about as frail as a dried up cracker.
The house was actually too small FOR HER! I had to duck to get in and once I got in this dark house, I had to duck in order to enter the "bedroom". THe house consisted of the "kitchen" as soon as you walk in and a bedroom. I can't remember what teh floor looked like, but it wasn't pretty. Once we ducked in, we were also greeted by another younger woman probably in her 30's. She looked much healthier than the older woman. She greeted us with a smile.
I could see in the tiny bedroom that there was a girl lying in bed. SHe was probably about 11 years old and she was taking a nap. She woke up and joined us, but she was not smiling. She looked sad.
Before I knew it, we all ducked into the tiny, dark, dirty bedroom and joined hands. Jim started to say a prayer in Spanish. All the while, the 2 women were praying along with him and I stood right across from the little girl.
The situation looked absolutely desperate to me. I dont know why the young girl was at the house, but it had occurred to me that she couldn't afford to go to middle school. Millions of thoughts and feelings began to run through my mind and my body:
- God will save these people
- this house is in terrible shape
- how do these people continue to live?
- who will save these people?
- how long will the old woman live?
- praise God, we are trying
- I am partly responsible for these people's poverty, because I have given VERY LITTLE to the poor since I turned 18.
As our hands were joined, we were united for a moment. We all were asking for the same things. We all wanted good health, enough food, happiness, and mercy for us all and I knew that God heard every word that we uttered and every thought running through our minds. I looked down at my shoes and I could see my own tear drops on them. At this point, the tears were streaming down my face. I felt so bad for teh little girl and the old woman. I was the only one crying I guess because it was my first time in one of their homes. I was afraid taht I would make the little girl even sadder if she saw me crying, but there was no stopping it at this point."
Okay, fast-forward to present day April 2008. I look back at this memory and can see quite clearly what happened to me on that day. God spoke to me while I was in Rumalda's house. He said, "Hey Chris, I love you. I love these poor people. I am love. Can you see that? Do you see the light that I am?" Yes, I saw the light that was God. 2 things were revealed to me:
- God is love. That is who he is.
- In the light, I glanced at myself and could see my own sinfulness. I could see the pettiness of my life. My life suddenly looked ridiculous. My desire for a flat-panel television looked ridiculous! But God did not show himself to me in a mean way. Truly, it was loving because he wants me to know the truth about him, my life, and the reality of this world.
In Sunday's second reading we are encouraged to "announce the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." The Lord has definitely given me reason to announce praises of him.
God is nice.
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1 John 15:9
in other words, to believe in the Trinity
2 John 14:9
4 Refer to Mass Excitement 7 for more on this
5 See Mass Excitement 7
6 look up the definition of the name Peter on the internet
Below is the an extended section. I want to keep the email short so that it won't be a burden to you. But if you have extra time, read below:
Saint Peter and the Papacy
In Matthew 16: 13-20, Jesus named Peter "Rock"6. His original name was Simon. It's because Peter was the only person who recognized Jesus for who he was that Jesus said he would build his church on Peter and give Peter the keys to heaven. Every man suffers from a big ego. So, before Peter had a chance to toot his horn, Jesus told him that “Blessed are you Simon, Son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.”
In other words, “very good Simon, but you didn’t figure this out with that 3 pound brain of yours. Rather, my Father revealed it to you.” This revelation from God and Peter’s confession of Jesus’ identity is so important to Jesus that he says, “upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.”
At first glance, it looks rather strange that Jesus would “give the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven” to Peter and allow him to “bind and loose” whatever he wishes just because he was the only person who knew Jesus’ identity. But, when you think about Jesus being the best teacher because he knows God COMPLETELY, it makes sense that Jesus would choose Peter as the rock to build his church on because Peter was the only guy who recognized Jesus for who he truly is.
This has very important implications for us. We should listen to what Peter says. In John 21:2, it says “there are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.”
Personally, I want to know what “other things” Jesus did. It just so happens that there were 11 apostles who knew Jesus well (11 because of Judas). Peter was the first pope, and the other apostles were the first bishops and priests of the church. Read the Catechism and you’ll find the other knowledge that God has passed to his church through his best friends on Earth and through continuous divine revelation.
We should love our Church, love our pope, love our bishops, and our sacred Tradition.
Cheers and Love!
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