Thursday of the Fourth Week of Easter
John heralded his coming by proclaiming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel; and as John was completing his course, he would say, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. Behold, one is coming after me; I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.’ Acts 13:24-25
Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it. John 13:16-17
Lord, help us to accept your invitation and welcome you into our lives. Give us the fortitude to obey your commandments so we can be led out of our dark, confused and troubled world by the Good Shepherd and rest beside still waters. Amen.
Prayer for Pope Benedict XVI
Lord, source of eternal life and truth, give to your shepherd Benedict XVI a spirit of courage and
right judgment, a spirit of knowledge and love. By governing with fidelity those entrusted to his care, may he, as successor to the Apostle Peter and Vicar of Christ, build your Church into a sacrament of unity, love and peace for the entire world. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/041708.shtml
What will Pope Benedict say tomorrow? Media scribes have all been speculating for months about what will happen. They ask the papal nuncio. They ask reporters who cover the
As we contemplate the message from the Pope, let us – I hate to sound too simplistic – start out in the same place Pope Benedict will start…meditating on the scripture readings for Thursday as we always do. Leave the prognosticating to the prognosticators and let us remain root in faith and moving forward in the hope provided by these readings from Acts and John.
God leads us out of our problems. We do not have to remain troubled. You name it: sexual abuse. Priest shortage. Depression. Joblessness. Homelessness. Hunger (physical or spiritual). God alone will show the way to hope.
God. Not Madison Avenue.
God. Not
God. Not Wall Street.
God. Not even
God. Not Viagra.
God. Not Coca-Cola or Pepsi.
God. Not Heineken, Jack Daniels, or Budweiser.
God. Not Microsoft, Yahoo! or Google.
Not Big Macs or chocolate chip cookies or lemon meringue pie will give us a rush that will last. Only Christ gives us the hope that he will lead us out of our troubles if we would only let go of all else that we cling to in this world. When we let go, we are unburdened and able to carry out God’s wishes, not culture’s empty promises.
Just like God takes away the burden of our troubles, he provides to us all that we ever possess. God gave us everything we have as our inheritance. So just because you might be richer, thinner, or smarter or stronger than the person next to you, your power or ability have nothing to do with the gifts you were provided or how these gifts multiply. However, you have everything to do with how you use those gifts for the good of humanity.
There are two words in today’s Gospel that we must understand. “Do it.” What does Jesus mean when he says this? “Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.” John 13:16-17
He makes these comments right after washing the feet of the disciples. Do it. Wash their feet. He has shown how to be a servant-leader so both the disciples then and all of us today have a role model to emulate. Do it. We must preach the Good News and perform good works. Do it. However, nothing that we do in obedience to God or in service to our sisters and brothers will make us worthy to tie His sandals. Do it.
If we can understand this humility, then we have taken the first step. We have put aside our agenda – war, the sexual abuse crisis, married clergy, traditional liturgical music, immigration, gay marriage, women’s ordination, global warming, etc. If those topics come up, they will come up in the context of the Good News. These are important issues but we can’t expect the Pope to address them all like he was delivering some kind of State of the Union message or campaign speech. He doesn’t have to appeal to any demographic or pander to any voters. He has already been elected.
The Church is never going to be about our agenda until we make the agenda provided by Christ our agenda – obedience and humility, believing and doing the
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” Luke 4:18-19
If the downtrodden, the oppressed and afflicted, the forgotten and the neglected can accept Jesus’ message, should we also be able to “do it?”
Christ got into so many confrontations with the Jewish authorities because he refused to address the popular concerns. He did not adopt or deliver the message that people said was popular or that the authorities wanted to hear. So instead, we should expect Benedict XVI to deliver the message that is “Pope-ular.”
The second step is to welcome and receive Jesus in our lives. “Whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” The hope of Jesus should be our moral compass.
This week, in addition to recognizing Jesus as the Good Shepherd, we also learn that Jesus came into the world to shed light upon the darkness. Everyone is welcome to choose to accept the message that the Church preaches so they no longer remain in darkness.
Christ provides the example of not speaking on his own. Instead, he stayed true to the message that the Father provided to him.
Let us vow to stay true to the call of Christ who is counting on us. And let us continue to count on Christ as the source of our faith, hope and love; our piety, study and action.
Maybe we can not save all the world at once. However we can start with one small corner. For example April 22 is Earth Day and it's also the date of Just Neighbors’ next community clinic in
New volunteers need to arrive at 6 p.m. for an orientation. Those of you who have come before please be here no later than 6:30. The clinic should finish around 9pm. The site is in the basement of
Please let Rob Rutland-Brown (rob@justneighbors.org) know by Thursday April 17th if you can attend, and specify whether you speak any foreign languages.
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