Advent, Baptism, and Holiness

Advent is the Season in which we prepare for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our preparation for Christmas, in celebration of His First Advent, is a reminder for us to prepare ourselves also for His Second Advent, when He comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead.

Through the Gospel Reading for today (Second Sunday of Advent, Year A), we are being reminded of this in a very interesting way. The Gospel Reading (Matt 3:1-12) ends with John the Baptist’s words:

“I indeed baptize you in water unto penance, but he that shall come after me, is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire.

Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his floor and gather his wheat into the barn; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

By selecting this reading for today, the Church is calling us to prepare for the coming of the Lord in a special way as we remember our baptism.
Coincidentally, over the past few weeks, I have been reading and re-reading Romans 6:1-14 as part of my own personal Penance following Confession; as a constant reminder to myself of the kind of holiness that I am called to by virtue of my baptism:
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid! For we that are dead to sin, how shall we live any longer therein?
3 Know you not that all we who are baptized in Christ Jesus are baptized in his death?
4 For we are buried together with him by baptism into death: that, as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer.
7 For he that is dead is justified from sin.
8 Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also together with Christ.
9 Knowing that Christ, rising again from the dead, dieth now no more. Death shall no more have dominion over him.
10 For in that he died to sin, he died once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11 So do you also reckon that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, so as to obey the lusts thereof. Now, this is not a holiness that we can achieve in our own strength. Rather, it is something that comes about through God’s grace...and as we willingly co-operate with that grace. And this is why I think St. Paul sought to remind the Romans of the call to holiness in the context of baptism – because baptism is ALL about grace.

Baptism is not about what WE do...rather, it is about what God does to us. And the baptism of little infants, by virtue of the fact that they cannot accomplish anything for themselves, is a considerable testimony of the fact that salvation comes by grace alone.

Interestingly, in my days as a Baptist, I believed that baptism was nothing more than a step of obedience in imitating Jesus Christ – nothing more than a visible statement to others that I had chosen to follow Jesus. I certainly disagreed with the Catholic “notion” that baptism conferred any grace. I believed that only those who had made a credible profession of faith should be baptised, and that the only acceptable form of baptism was by immersion.

My belief of “immersion-only” baptism was primarily based on Rom 6:3-4 i.e. immersion was the only mode of baptism that adequately portrays the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus by the believer going under the water (death and burial) and rising up from the water (resurrection).  

The ironic thing was that I was so absorbed in my preconceived proof-texting that I completely missed what St. Paul was actually trying to say...

Couched within the principles of life and death, St. Paul’s argument is that it is precisely through the means of baptism that we die to sin and are raised to new life (i.e. what the Church calls “baptismal regeneration”). St. Paul’s clear teaching is that it is through baptism that we are united to Christ’s death on the Cross; through baptism, we are buried with Him; and through baptism we are raised to newness of life in Him.

It is in this context of being united to Christ through baptism that St. Paul can say that just as Christ died for sin once and for all and now lives unto God (v10); so too we must consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ (v11). And because baptism has made us new creatures in Christ, the sin that has tainted the old creation should no longer have control over us (v12). Instead, we are called, by virtue of our baptism, to live in, through, and for God – knowing that oneday Christ will fully complete the work of the new creation that He has begun in us (Rom 6:21).

In this sense, our baptism is eschatological – through baptism we were made new creatures in Christ, but this work will not be fully completed until we attain the Beatific Vision. St. John, the beloved disciple, put it this way:

“Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of God: and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when he shall appear we shall be like to him: because we shall see him as he is.” (1 Jn 3:2)

So, as we continue through the Season of Advent, may we be reminded of the gift of God’s grace bestowed upon us in our baptism; and may we never cease to storm the gates of heaven with prayers for God’s continued grace in our lives...so that we can be prepared to greet our Lord, not only when we celebrate His arrival at Christmas, but also when He calls us home to eternity.

The Power of the Resurrection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Season of Lent and the celebration of the Easter Triduum, leading up to the Easter Vigil, are important observances for us as Catholics. But we can sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that they are simply commemorations of historical events that transpired 2,000 years ago. They are so much more than that...and they can be powerfully effective in our lives.

Consider the Season of Lent. Through this observance, we are called to remember and draw strength from the strength of our Lord Jesus who overcame His temptations. But when we think how many times we fail in our Lenten commitments, rather than give in we should allow ourselves to be reminded that we are not strong enough to fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil alone. No! We can only overcome insofar as we are strengthened by the power of God’s grace. We should also learn that when we fall, God the Good Father in all His graciousness is there to pick us up, to forgive us, and to set us on our way again.

After this extended time of Preparation, we come to Holy Week and specifically the beginning of the Easter Triduum. On Holy Thursday, we celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper in which we are reminded of the events on the night that the Lord was betrayed. The Mass concludes with the stripping of the altar and the Blessed Sacrament being transferred to the Altar of Repose. The Procession itself is quite moving because it signifies the Lord and His disciples leaving the Upper Room – departing for the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. The sombreness of the Holy Thursday Mass is intensified by the fact that after Mass all the lights in the church are extinguished and the faithful leave the church in total silence. Then there are also those who remain with the Lord to watch and pray.

Good Friday follows – with the devotion of the Stations of the Cross in the morning, and the celebration of the Lord’s Passion at 3pm (being the hour at which Jesus gave up His spirit).  

In all of these events, Holy Mother Church is calling us to do more than simply remember what our Lord went through. Rather, we are being called to unite ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ by being immersed completely in all of these events, and so be transformed through them.

But all of these sombre events – Lent, Holy Thursday, the Passion, etc. – would be useless if it wasn’t for that greatest celebration of all – the celebration which all these things prepare us for...the celebration of the Resurrection and Easter!

Easter Sunday marks the highest day in the Catholic Church’s Liturgical Calendar. Why? Because Easter Sunday is the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; and His glorious Resurrection is the whole basis for our faith. As St. Paul reminds us in his first epistle to the Corinthians – if Christ is not risen, then our faith is empty and pointless (1 Cor 15:14). Or as the Catechism states:

“The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ, a faith believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community; handed on as fundamental by Tradition; established by the documents of the New Testament; and preached as an essential part of the Paschal mystery along with the cross...” – (CCC # 638, emphasis mine)
 

As Catholics, we are quite familiar with the idea of being united with Christ in our sufferings (Col 1:24). When we are sick or struggling with some sort of hardship, we often hear the advice to “offer it up”. Now, this is great advice, because when we unite the sufferings that we endure with those of Christ, they are given redemptive value [see here,  here, and here  for more on this]. But this isn’t the whole story...

Just as we are called to unite ourselves with our Lord in His Passion and Death, what we are called to during the Season of Easter is to unite ourselves with His Resurrection. In other words, it is not just about being united to His sufferings – it is about being united with Him in His fullness.

This was such an important theme for St. Paul that he went so far as to say that he counted all things as nothing more than dung for the sake of gaining the Lord Jesus Christ (Phil 3:8). He went on to explain what he meant by saying that his desire was “to know Christ and the power of His Resurrection and the sharing of His sufferings by becoming like Him in His death” (Phil 3:10, NRSV).

What did St. Paul mean when he said that he wanted to share in Christ’s sufferings, and to know Him and the power of His resurrection? The word that St. Paul uses for “sharing” in Phil 3:10 (i.e. koinonia) is the same word that he uses in 1 Cor 10:16 to speaks about our “communion” in the Eucharist is our being united completely with the Lord Jesus [e.g. see here ].

So, for St. Paul, to share in Christ’s sufferings and know Him and the power of His Resurrection was more than having a theoretical knowledge. Rather, his desire was an intimate knowledge of Christ – an experiential knowledge that comes only from being completely united and immersed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

But, what does it mean to “know the power of Christ’s Resurrection”? To understand this, we need to understand what St. Paul meant by “the power of the Resurrection”.  In Eph 1:20, St. Paul talks about this “power of the Resurrection” when he says that “God put His power to work in Christ when He raised Him from the dead”. But what is so amazing is that he also says in Eph 1:19 that it is this same “power of the Resurrection” which is at work in the lives of the faithful.

How is this so? Well, it all starts with our baptism when, by the power of God, we are born again and raised to new life in Christ [see here and  here].

St. Paul says as much when he tells us that “all of us who have been baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death” and that “just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father”, so we too have been raised to “walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:3-5, see also Col 2:11-12).

St. Paul reminds us that if we have been raised to Christ in baptism (Col 2:11-12), we are called to “seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated, at the right hand of God” (Col 3:1). This means that as new creations, we are called to walk in a way that is worthy of the name “Christian”. And this means to walk in holiness and obedience as imitators of Jesus Christ; it means to live in the way of self-denial for the love of God and of our neighbour.

In this respect, we see that the Seasons of Lent and Easter are not mutually exclusive. Whilst the “flavour” of each Season may be different, the goal of conformity to Christ is always the same. Lent is what prepares us for Easter, and Easter is fruition of what has taken place during Lent. So, whilst our fasting has given way to feasting, may we continue this Easter Season with the same spirit of faith, hope, and love that we sought to cultivate during the Lenten Season.

Resurrection - how did St John believe before the others?

Happy Easter!

This morning as we were in Mass listening to the day’s Gospel reading, I had an interesting theory, which I thought that I’d share. The Gospel reading was taken from Jn 20:1-9:

On the first day of the week,
Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don’t know where they put him.”
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.
For they did not yet understand the Scripture
that he had to rise from the dead.

After hearing that the Lord’s Body was no longer in the tomb, Sts. Peter and John ran to the site. We are told that St. John outran St. Peter, but when he arrived at the tomb, he didn’t venture in. Instead, he remained outside only peering in to see whether the words of the women were true. It was only after St. Peter had arrived, entered the tomb, and affirmed that the Lord’s Body was gone, that St. John entered the tomb.

In a previous blog , I mentioned that one allegorical interpretation of this pericope is that St. Peter (naturally) symbolises the teaching authority of the Church; whereas, St. John symbolises the spirit of the Church. Whilst the spirit of the Church is eager to believe, it always waits for the wisdom of the Church’s teaching authority before it does so.
This morning, I had an additional thought...like I said, just a theory, but food for thought nonetheless...

We are told that after St. Peter had examined the tomb, St. John entered and when he saw, he believed. Whilst we are told in verse 9 that they didn’t yet understand the Scripture that Jesus “had to rise from the dead”, St. John had some sort of faith in the Resurrected Jesus. Now, it may be that St. John was more prone to belief than St. Peter – some people just have a gift of more childlike faith than others. But, I wonder if there wasn’t something more to it – something beneath the surface that St. John wants his readers to dig deeper to find. After all, that wouldn’t be out of key with the way that St. John has written his Gospel. Leon Morris, an Anglican New Testament scholar, said that the Gospel of St. John was a pool in which a child could wade and an elephant could swim. He was right – the Gospel of John is simple to understand, and yet extremely deep in its complexity at the same time.  

Just a few verses prior to this statement of St. John’s belief (Jn 20:9), we are told that he had taken the Blessed Virgin Mary into his own home (Jn 19:27). Think about it...

Jesus died on the Cross on the Friday at 3pm; after which St. John took Mary home with him as his own mother. We are told nothing about what happened on Holy Saturday; and then on Sunday we are told that St. John “saw and believed”. What made his reaction different to St. Peter’s? I would hazard to guess that it was spending time with the Blessed Virgin Mary. Allow me to expand...

Mary stood at the foot of the Cross for the entire ordeal of the Crucifixion; but after His Body was laid in the tomb we hear no more of her – not even when it came to something as important as anointing the Body of her Son. The Blessed Virgin Mary was not in the company of the women who went on Easter Sunday morning to anoint the Body of Jesus. One would think that as His mother, she would be the first to be present for such an important event, especially given that Jesus was her only Child.

Why didn’t Our Lady attend the tomb with the other women? I think that it is because she knew that His Death was not the end. Remember, she had already lost Him once before...in the Temple when He was but a boy of twelve years old (see Lk 2:41-51). And when she found Him...after three days...He asked her why she was looking for Him, as He was simply doing the work of His Father.

St. Luke tells us that Mary treasured these things in her heart (Lk 2:51)...and I believe that she recollected this when she lost Him again at the Crucifixion. She remembered that He was about His Father’s business...and so she didn’t go looking for Him in the tomb. In this way, Our Blessed Mother was the first disciple to believe in the Resurrection.
Now, let’s go back to Holy Saturday. It is probable that St. John and Mary spoke about the events that had transpired on Good Friday. And if Mary knew that Jesus’ death was not the end, she would have shared this with St. John. Imagine that! Not only was Mary the first disciple to believe the Resurrection...but she was also the first disciple to share its glorious message.

Now, I may be wrong...and maybe I’m seeing something that isn’t there...but I don’t so if you consider the significance that Our Lord continually bestows upon His Blessed Mother.

In fact, as the Catholic Church seeks to be more faithful in its witness and evangelisation, I think that this sort of message is timely. If the Church wishes to be successful in her evangelisation endeavours, she must seek the intercession of the Blessed Virgin.

Despite what modern-day marketing tells us, the success of the Church will not be determined by attractive programmes, or fancy-fangled ideas which seek to capture peoples’ attention in an attempt “entice” them into the Church. No! The surest way to lead people to the Lord Jesus Christ is through Mary.

Because Mary always...ALWAYS...points us to Jesus.

[On a parting note, I thought that I’d also share a favourite song of mine that ties in beautifully with the Gospel passage above.]

 

 

The Nativity and the Baptism of the Lord

Following my most recent blog, I had another awe-inspiring thought...this time about the wisdom of Holy Mother Church and the way she has ordered the celebration of the Church’s Feasts...

Christmas Season officially begins with the Solemnity of the Nativity (that’s right folks, Christmas doesn’t begin until the celebration of Vigil of Christmas on 24 December). And it continues up until the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord (which we have just celebrated this past Sunday). I didn’t realise it before, but these two “bookends” of the Christmas Season are actually deeply connected and ultimately speak to the same Mystery.

Allow me to elaborate...

The Solemnity of Christmas is ultimately about the celebration of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ through the Blessed Virgin. That much is obvious.

But what of the Solemnity of Our Lord’s Baptism? Well, to understand, we first need to ask why it was necessary that Our Lord be baptised. As I noted in another recent post, Baptism is our new birth into the family of God – our regeneration, or being born from above (see Jn 3:5). Furthermore, through Baptism, our sins are washed away (Acts 2:38; Tit 3:5). As noted previously, the Church Fathers taught that the baptismal waters were able to accomplish this awesome spiritual reality purely because the waters of Baptism were consecrated at the Baptism of Our Lord e.g.:

“From the moment that Christ is immersed in water, from that moment water washes away all sins." - St. Augustine

“The Lord is baptised, not having occasion to be cleansed, but that, purifying the waters by the contact of His pure flesh, they may have the power of cleansing.” – St. Augustine

“The water of baptism, had it not been sanctified by contact with the body of our Lord, could not purge the sins of believers.” – St. John Chrysostom

 

So, the Solemnity of the Nativity celebrates the birth of Our Lord into this world; and the Solemnity of the Lord’s Baptism celebrates the consecration of the water by which we are born into the Kingdom of God.

But wait...there’s more...in fact there’s a lot more. But, I want to share just a couple more brief points with the hope that they will inspire within us a desire to meditate more deeply, so that we can offer even more praise to God for His Infinite Goodness!!!

Why was Jesus born? The answer is to die...As the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen often said “Most men are born to live; but the Lord Jesus was born to die”. So the Solemnity of the Nativity also speaks to us of Calvary. And the Solemnity of the Baptism of Our Lord does the same thing. St. Paul reminds us that it is through baptism that we are crucified with the Lord Jesus Christ and raised again to new life in Him (Rom 6:3-4).

And finally...

At His birth, the Mother of Our Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, would no doubt have exclaimed “This is my beloved Son!” What did the Father of Our Lord proclaim at His Baptism? “This is my beloved Son”!

Oh the depths of the riches of wisdom with which the Lord has blessed His Holy and Glorious Bride!

The Four Gifts of our Glorified Bodies

In the Second Reading for today (Second Sunday of Advent, Year C), we hear St. Paul say:

“Brothers and sisters:
I pray always with joy in my every prayer for all of you,
because of your partnership for the gospel
from the first day until now.
I am confident of this,
that the One who began a good work in you
will continue to complete it
until the Day of Christ Jesus.
God is my witness,
how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
And this is my prayer:
that your love may increase ever more and more
in knowledge and every kind of perception,
to discern what is of value,
so that you may be pure and blameless for the Day of Christ,
filled with the fruit of righteousness
that comes through Jesus Christ.” – Phil 1:4-6, 8-11

 

St. Paul talks about growing in knowledge and understanding so that we can become pure and blameless, and so prepare ourselves for the Day of Christ, in which the faithful will reach perfect goodness (the fruit of righteousness) through Christ. As mentioned in my previous blog, this is achieved ultimately in the Beatific Vision, where we are made to be fully like our Lord Jesus Christ because we behold Him as He is (1 Jn 3:2).

As we prepare for the coming of Christ in this Season of Advent, our hearts and minds should be drawn particularly to the final article of the Apostles’ Creed:

“I believe...in the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen”

I am busy reading through the Catechism of the Council of Trent, and I happened to be reading through the Catechism’s explanation of this final Article of the Apostles’ Creed, which is certainly worth the read if you have never read it. What I found particularly significant, is the Catechism’s teaching on “What Gifts the Bodies of the Blest shall be adorned after the Resurrection” (see Part I - Question XI).

The Catechism on this point is so profound that I had to share it. There are four gifts principally which our Resurrected bodies will enjoy in Heaven. They are:

1) Impassibility – the gift whereby our glorified bodies will be beyond the reach of suffering any pain or any inconvenience. 

2) Brightness / glory – the gift whereby our glorified bodies will be said to “shine like the sun” (Matt 13:43).

3) Agility – the gift whereby our glorified bodies will be able to go wherever the soul shall please without any hindrance. 

4) Subtility – the gift whereby our bodies will be in complete subjection to the dominion of our souls. 

Of all the above gifts, I’d have to say that my “favourite” is subtility. In our current weak bodies, the flesh and the spirit are at enmity against each other; we want to do good, but we struggle to; we want to avoid sin, but we find ourselves constantly falling (Rom 7:21ff). Or as Our Lord said, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matt 26:41). With the great gift of subtility, our bodies will be in complete subjection to our souls, which in turn will be in complete subjection to God...and so we will be able to perfectly obey the will of our Heavenly Father.

As if to spur us on, the Lord God has left us examples of these great gifts in Our Lord Jesus and in His Blessed Mother. That is a whole different topic, but it is worth mentioning as something to meditate upon during these days of Advent. If we want to attain to these gifts, let us never cease to ask Our Lord through Mary for them. 

And with these amazing gifts in mind, promised by Our Lord to all those who persevere in faith, may we grow in our love for Him as we await the blessed hope and coming in glory of our Great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The Real Issue with Catholic Doctrine

Easter is only a couple of weeks away now, and this Easter will mark the second anniversary of God graciously receiving me and my wife into His Holy Catholic Church. Although I have only been Catholic for two years, both my hands would not be enough to count the number of debates that I have had with Protestants regarding what the Catholic Church REALLY teaches. And in every single debate, the thing that I encounter, without fail, is that Protestants have been grossly misinformed about Catholic doctrine.

In fact, just this week, I came across a Protestant gentleman (no doubt well-meaning) who purported that the Catholic Church uses the Rosary in an attempt to subversively teach her faithful that Jesus is dead and Mary is alive! This is based on the underlying (false) assumption that Catholics place Mary on a higher level than Jesus Christ. The allegation is that because a set of Rosary beads contains a Crucifix (a Cross with an image of the Crucified Jesus) this is meant to show that the Catholic Church really wants Catholics to believe that whilst Jesus is still dead on the Cross, Mary is our only hope because she is alive and in Heaven.  

Of course, if you are Catholic, you are probably shaking your head in disbelief, because one of the greatest truths we hold to as Catholics is that Jesus Christ did not only die on the Cross for our sins; but three days later, He rose again according to the Scriptures. In fact, that is ultimately what this whole Lenten season is about. It is about preparing us for Easter – which is the Church’s greatest feast because in it we celebrate the Resurrection of our Blessed Lord! Not only that, but for us Catholics, every Sunday is a Resurrection Sunday – which is precisely why we don’t worship on Saturday, the Old Covenant Sabbath.

Right now you might be wondering where I am going with this. Tomorrow is the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, and the Gospel reading will be taken from Lk 1:26-38. As I was reading this passage earlier today, one verse in particular struck me as being the real (albeit subconscious) issue that Protestants have with Catholic doctrine (even after you have cleared up all their misconceptions).

In Luke 1:37, the Angel Gabriel declares to Mary: “With God nothing will be impossible.”

It’s that simple. Everything that we as Catholics believe ultimately comes down to this one point – NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!

You don’t believe that in the Eucharist the bread and wine are transformed into the Real Body and Blood of Jesus? NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!

You don’t believe that in matters of faith and morals, the Pope cannot teach error? NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!

You don’t believe that the waters of Baptism wash away our sins? NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!

You don’t believe that Mary was conceived without the stain of original sin? NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD!

You don’t believe that the Catholic Church has remained faithful to the teachings of Jesus handed down through the Apostles? NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD! 

You see? The issue is always the same. Before everything else, the real question that we all need to answer is this: “Do we believe in the power of God?”

And by God’s grace, may our response always imitate that of the Blessed Virgin Mary: “Let it be done according to Thy word”.

The Weakness of the Cross

In today’s Gospel Reading (3^rd Sunday of Lent – Year B), we read of Jesus’ cleansing of the Jerusalem temple:

Since the Passover of the Jews was near,
Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
He found in the temple area those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves,
as well as the money changers seated there.
He made a whip out of cords
and drove them all out of the temple area, with the sheep and oxen,
and spilled the coins of the money changers
and overturned their tables,
and to those who sold doves he said,
"Take these out of here,
and stop making my Father's house a marketplace."
His disciples recalled the words of Scripture,
Zeal for your house will consume me.
At this the Jews answered and said to him,
"What sign can you show us for doing this?"
Jesus answered and said to them,
"Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up."
The Jews said,
"This temple has been under construction for forty-six years,
and you will raise it up in three days?"
But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
Therefore, when he was raised from the dead,
his disciples remembered that he had said this,
and they came to believe the Scripture
and the word Jesus had spoken.
While he was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover,
many began to believe in his name
when they saw the signs he was doing.
But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all,
and did not need anyone to testify about human nature.
He himself understood it well.
(Jn 2:13-25).

Various “entrepreneurs” had turned the temple into a marketplace – making profit from those who came to worship God. In His zeal for true and unadulterated worship to God, Jesus chased these people and their wares out of the temple. In doing this, the Jews understood that Jesus was adopting a position of authority, which is why they asked Him: “What sign can you show us for doing this?” At this point, Jesus lifts the minds of his hearers to the greater reality of what the temple signified i.e. the Temple of His Body. He tells them that the sign He will give them is His death followed by His resurrection three days later.

In this context, St. John adds an interesting “footnote” to this episode where he tells us that many of the Jews subsequently believed in Him because of the signs that He was doing – referring to Jesus’ displays of power in the many miracles He was performing. But St. John also tells us that Jesus would not entrust Himself to them because He knew what was in them. Many of the same followers who were believing on Him at this point would later abandon Him when He would teach them about the necessity to eat His flesh and drink His blood (see Jn 6:66). But I think that by referring to these other signs that Jesus was performing, St. John is encouraging us to think a bit deeper about what is going on here.

To help us with this, Holy Mother Church has given us 1 Cor 1:22-25 as the Second Reading for today, which sheds some light on the Gospel reading:

Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom,
but we proclaim Christ crucified,
a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

In this reading St. Paul tells us that the Jews constantly required signs in order to believe, as affirmed by St. John in the Gospel reading. And in echoing Jesus’ words in the Gospel reading, St. Paul tells us that the sign offered for the Jews is “Christ crucified”. But St. Paul tells us that this sign is a stumbling block to Jews because they saw the Crucifixion as a sign of weakness and not of power. Their problem was that they were seeing things from a human perspective, and not from God’s perspective. In actual fact, the Crucifixion is a sign of the power of God; and even if this is a sign of weakness on God’s part, His weakness is far greater than ANY display of human strength.

How does God make this power evident? St. Paul tells us elsewhere (Rom 6:3-4) that by the Sacrament of Baptism, we are united to Christ in His death and resurrection – and the effect of this is that our slavery to sin is destroyed in His death; and by His resurrection we are born again to a newness of life in the Spirit. This is the power of God!!!

With this in mind, we can see what St. John was alluding to in his reference to the other signs Jesus was performing. St. John was telling us that whilst the Jews believed in Jesus because of His miraculous signs of power, these were only a means to an end. The true sign would be Jesus crucified, which would also be a sign of contradiction and a stumbling block because it seemed to display defeat instead of victory, and weakness rather than power.

The Jews wanted to see signs of power; but they were not looking with the eyes of faith. St. John reminds us that it doesn’t take much to believe in Jesus when He is performing powerful miracles; but it takes true faith to look to the Crucifix and see God’s power in this sign of weakness and utter helplessness.

So today, and throughout this Lenten Season as we prepare for Easter, may we look to the Crucifix and be reminded of the power and love of God on display for us weak sinners. And may we never cease to give thanks for this immense gift of His power that He has bestowed upon us, because it is through being united to Christ’s suffering and death that we will also be united to Him in glory.

Sts. John & Peter – the spirit and wisdom of the Church

Our priest during yesterday’s homily for Easter Sunday raised an interesting point. The Gospel text was John 20:1-9 which speaks of Sts. Peter and John running to the empty tomb of Jesus. St. John outran St. Peter but waited outside the tomb; however, when St. Peter arrived he went into the tomb to see where the Body of Jesus had lain. Only after St. Peter investigated did St. John enter the tomb and believe.

Our priest mentioned that the allegorical sense that the Church Fathers placed on this passage was that St. John represented the spirit of the Church, which is youthful and enthusiastic; whereas, St. Peter represented the wisdom of the Church which moves more slowly. Just like St. John arrived at the tomb, and believed so too the Church is eager to believe but it first waits for the wisdom of the Church to explore and analyse.

I thought that this was a really good allegorical application of the text. Does anyone know where in the Church Fathers I can find this?

If you believe in the resurrection, then pray for those who have died

The book of 2 Maccabees (12:38ff) contains an interesting account. Some of Judas' men had fallen in battle, and Judas discovered that the reason for their falling was because they were guilty of sin. Judas then encouraged his men to take heart, and to sanctify themselves to God and to pray for those who had fallen in battle. In addition, he arranged for a collection which would be sent to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering for those fallen soldiers. What is particularly interesting in this account is the reason given for Judas' actions. In verse 43 we are told:

"In doing this, he acted very well and honourably, taking account of the resurrection".

In other words, the hope of the resurrection was Judas' inspiration for his prayers and offerings on behalf of those who had died, that they might be released from their sins. Clearly, Judas understood that the sin committed by these men was not damning, but it was serious enough that it would continue to bind them until they were sufficiently purified to enter the Most Holy Presence of God Almighty.

And so, during this month of November, which is dedicated to the Holy Souls, may we follow the example of the noble Judas. May we offer our prayers, works, joys, and sufferings for the souls in Purgatory that they may be released from their sins. And may we do so trusting in the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the hope of His Resurrection - knowing that we will oneday be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.