Fullerton T

ASCENSION

In our Gospel reading for the Ascension Jesus tells the disciples to “wait for the promise of the Father”. They cannot go off spreading the news of his resurrection on their own. They are a small, fearful community that has no power. As the Gospels showed, they had a tendency to get Jesus’ message wrong. What’s more, they flee when things get tough. At the Ascension, Jesus was taken up to heaven so that the apostles and everyone since  would receive “the promise of the Father”, the Holy Spirit. In the Gospel reading Jesus told the apostles to “go into the whole world and preach the gospel to ends of the earth.” The gospel writer also reported that the apostles did that “while the Lord worked through them and confirmed the word through accompanying signs. He tells them of several signs by which the world will know they are sent. All those signs have an individual and a corporate application In so many nations and affiliations to political parties or whatever  there is a rise in authoritarianism, popularism and nationalism. Those movements seek to suppress individual dignity and worth. It is noteworthy that Jesus tells his disciples that believers will drive out demons.

 If  we give this some thought, we come to realize there are many demons that inhabit our hearts and minds and the hearts and minds of so many people. There is the demon of racism. There is the demon of self-seeking power. There is the demon that reduces us to the pursuit of wealth as the ultimate value. There is the demon that insists we must be worshipped in order to have worth and dignity when we already have worth and dignity as a son or daughter of God. There is the demon that seeks to enslave by unjust wages there is the crushing demon of poverty. How do we get rid of  these demons? The answer lies in the way we live out the good news of Jesus in our daily lives that other people can see and take as an example of a better way of living. It also means that  a different set of values where we care for and share with one another.  This set of values springs from the revelation of God the Creator. That revelation comes to us in the living out of the Gospel, in the Good News. It is a difficult message to proclaim these days as it runs contrary to our world and our experience of living within it. The words are simple the living out requires much practice, must self-examination, and much changing of our hearts and minds.

In that effort and action, we experience the presence and the love of the God who is source of all life, happiness, meaning and purpose. The challenge  for us as followers of Jesus as we celebrate the Ascension is are we prepared to get rid of our demons  so that we will be an example of faith and love in all we do and say. As a result of being people of  faith and love the people out there will see how we live our lives and they will want to know where we are going as followers of Jesus and go with us to that place..

5TH SUNDAY OF EASTER

This weekend we celebrate the 5^th Sunday of easter as we continue to come out of the COVID19 restrictions. As we get back to Normal we shouldn’t forget all the places in the world who are still battling the COVID pandemic. In particular we pray for the people of India who are being hit hard with the virus as well as many countries throughout the world. In our Gospel reading we hear the story of the vine and the vinedresser of course Jesus is the vine and the Father is the vine dresser and the fruit of the vine that we are hearing about is our faith. The noise that the pruning shears make do not sound very pleasant, in fact, it sounds quite stark, threatening and maybe  painful. I think that I would be saying keep the vinedresser from my door in case he cuts me down .  From the time of Moses, the Hebrew people thought of their nation as the vine that God had taken from Egypt and transplanted into Palestine. There in the fertile valleys and plateaus the nation thrived and grew, as does a vine that is well tended. When we believe in Jesus Christ, partake of his mysteries, and keep his commandments, the Saviour himself comes to live in us, his Father and his brethren, become our Father and our brethren. His person through the Spirit, becomes, the living and interior rule of all we do and say.

The branches exist to draw life from the vine so as to bear fruit. Failing to do so they are useless: cut down, thrown out, good only for fuelling the flames of a fire. So that we may live as fruitful branches in union with Christ, the true vine, he has given us the faith we profess as members of the Church, his true body in the world. Our Lord warns us, as he warned his first followers, to abide in him, that means that we should remain closely united with him, as the branch is joined to the vine. He promises us that if we remain closely united to him, by keeping his commandments he will be ever ready to answer our requests, and to listen our prayers. Let us take courage. Jesus also  tells us “Without me you can do nothing,”. But we know that with him we can do everything. If we remain with him, we can ask anything of the Father and it will be given to us. While we remain healthy branches of the vine, we will be on the road to heaven. Our daily tasks, our work as well as our prayer, our recreation as well as our rest, our joys as well as our sorrows, all of them will  give glory to God and prove that we are worthy to be called disciples of the Lord. So the main question for us today is are we going to remain close to Jesus?  

The story of the Vinedresser is our call to remain closely united with Jesus, as the branch is united to the vine. Or will we be cut down by the vinedresser and thrown on the fire or the  rubbish heap. I would hope that all of us will remain united to the vine so that we will bear much fruit so the world will know that we follow Jesus by all we say and do.

4TH Sunday of Easter

This weekend we celebrate the 4^th Sunday of Easter which is also known as Good Shepherd Sunday. It is also the Sunday by tradition  when we pray in a special way for vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and religious life.

The idea of Jesus as the Shepherd of the flock is good thing because it is well-known fact that the shepherd never leaves his sheep outside the sheepfold. If any are outside the sheepfold the shepherd will seek the lost sheep at all costs until they are found. In the same way Jesus the Shepherd will seek us out and help us to find our way back into the sheepfold of faith. In the Old Testament, the shepherd was a metaphor for the leaders of the  people of God. Most often those leaders failed in their responsibilities and many were corrupt. God excoriates the incompetent and sinful leaders who were appointed to shepherd the people which they did not do.

With the failure of the leaders of the people, God decided to take on the shepherding role. “For thus says the Lord: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. (Ezekiel 34:11). In this Sundays  gospel Jesus likens Israel’s corrupt shepherds to the “hired man” who leaves the sheep to fend for themselves when danger approaches. The hired shepherd may leave the sheep behind but Jesus the Good shepherd who is the Son of the Father does not leave his sheep.  A good shepherd has to be willing to take risks to protect the sheep. A good shepherd has to care for the sheep entrusted to him. As our shepherd Jesus cares He values each of us. He goes the extra mile in order to bring us back into his flock. He died on the cross for each and every one of us. His care for us gives us value: we are important to the Eternal Son of God and his father in heaven. St. Damien of Molokai wrote about a leper who was given a blanket someone had sent in answer to one of Damien’s appeals for help. The man held the blanket close to himself and cried. He asked Fr. Damien if he could be buried with it. You see, to this man, this wasn’t just a blanket.

It was proof that there were people in the world who cared for him as God cares for all of us. One of the most comforting of the Psalms which is also a hymn begins with the line: “The Lord is my shepherd.” It ends with this line: “Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” Goodness and mercy, in the person of Jesus the good Shepherd are with us even now. The Gospel of the Good Shepherd teaches us how to embrace the gift of faith by listening to the voice of the Good Shepherd. There are so many voices calling us to believe and to practice things that might seem good and wholesome, but those voices are not of or from the Lord and what they are saying is not good. We need to tune ourselves into the voice of truth that comes from the Good Shepherd. We are his people the sheep of his flock and that means that we are people who are able to recognize the voice of the Lord and to faithfully follow what he is asking us to do in his name .

3rd Sunday of Easter

This weekend we celebrate the third Sunday of Easter. We continue our journey through the Easter Season as well as our journey out of the COVID19 restrictions as we remain mindful of all those who need our prayers at this time.

Our gospel reading for this Sunday tell us about the two disciples who were on the road. They were leaving Jerusalem, their hopes shattered after Jesus’ death or at least that’s what they felt. Then they met the risen Lord. They didn’t recognize him at first, but they did after he opened the Scriptures and broke bread with them. After their encounter they returned to the community in Jerusalem with the news of what had happened. While they were still speaking to the community, Jesus stood in their midst and said to them peace be with you. He is encouraging them and not to be afraid. It’s still not enough. Then he invites them to touch him. Still more, he asks for food and eats in their presence. The resurrected Christ is present, in the same way he was when they traveled and ate together. He is not just someone who somehow survived what was done to him and escaped. He didn’t experience a near death on the cross – he died and rose again as he said.

Jesus reminds all of us that he is the same, yet there is something very different about him. They knew that he was with them; Yet, the disciples need more in order to accept his new presence with them. What he did for the disciples on the road to Emmaus he does again and again for us in the person of our priests. He expounds what the Scriptures had said about him in the same way our priests do for us today. Do we see that? Can we understand what God can do and has done  for us – bring new life after death? Jesus doesn’t choose just certain Scriptures as proof texts. He tells us as he told the disciples “everything written about me in the law of Moses, and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” What would we be like if Jesus came and stood among us in real flesh and blood, I think that our reaction would be exactly the same as the apostles disbelief. But if we stop and think for a moment Jesus does come amongst us each time  we go to the Eucharistic liturgy, Jesus is there with us on the Altar in the elements of Bread and wine and in the person of the Priest offering these gifts to the Father on our behalf. We remember the last supper when Jesus gave us himself as an everlasting memorial and we remember that each time we hear the prayers of consecration at Mass that we do this in memory of him. 

let us place ourselves in the company of those who evangelize others by word and deed. Let us walk with those who serve the poor and needy in the name of Christ. Let us walk with the outsiders who seek Christ. In the process of being A witness, the context comes alive. For Christ walks with us  the Easter people may we not be afraid to get up and bring the light of Jesus into the world were we are .

EASTER

Having  completed our Lenten observance and after the liturgies of Holy Thursday and  Good Friday we  are now celebrating the Easter Vigil Easter Sunday and the Easter Season. Holy Saturday is the day when we experience watching and waiting at the tomb as we await the celebration of the Resurrection which we celebrate in the Easter Vigil and Easter Masses  we remember that the season of Easter that lasts for 40 days until Pentecost. The Psalm for Easter Sunday says, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Above all days, Easter Sunday is a day of joy . But what is joy? The answer St. Francis gave to this question is famous. St. Francis said to his Brother Leo, “When we come to St. Mary of the Angels [our house], soaked by the rain and frozen by the cold, all soiled with mud and suffering from hunger, and we ring at the gate of the place and the brother porter comes and says angrily: ‘Who are you?’ And we say: ‘We are two of your brothers.’ And … he does not open for us, but makes us stand outside in the snow and rain, cold and hungry, until night falls—then if we endure all those insults and cruel rebuffs patiently, … oh, Brother Leo, … perfect joy is there!”

Whatever we may think of St. Francis’s explanation of perfect joy, Easter reminds us that Francis’s kind of joy is not the end of the story. At Easter, we celebrate the other kind of joy, the kind each of us longs for, when every tear is wiped away, and there is no sorrow any more no more suffering from weather or hunger or hurtful human beings. As we sing in the much-loved hymn by Fr. John Foley, S. J., at Easter, “the cross and passion past, dark night is done, bright morning come at last!” When we ourselves rise to meet our risen Lord, in that bright morning we will hear him say, “Come away, beloved. The winter is past; the rain is gone, and the flowers return to the earth” (Song of Songs 2:10-12). In the loving union of that encounter, all the heart brokenness of our lives will be redeemed. That will be perfect  joy. So in that same vein of perfect joy we say “this is the ‘day which the Lord has made.’ Alleluia!  let us take fresh hope,  with Christ our Passover everything is possible! Christ goes forward with us in our future!” Our celebration of Easter resonates throughout the rest of the year: full of gratitude for Christ’s passion, with joy in his resurrection and, strengthened by the Spirit, we continue our Christian journey. Let us go forward together as Easter people rejoicing in the Resurrection .

HOLY SATURDAY

Today is Holy Saturday and everything is quiet and still as we await the Easter Call that Christ has Rises. As we wait we contemplate what happened during that first holy week. Yesterday I had an opportunity to spend a few quiet moments in our local Church before getting things ready for the Good Friday Passion celebration. The tabernacle was empty and the altar stripped bare of cloths and candles and everything was quiet it was a time to quietly reflect on the events of Holy Week as well as all that has happened over the las 12 months  as we have journeyed with COVID 19.

Today the cross is empty now Jesus lies in the tomb and everything around us is still.’ The heavens and the earth cry out with longing for the sinless one who is not to be found, if we stop to think for a moment we remember that Jesus died and rose again on the third day. We wait, as mourners beside a grave, unsettled, ill at ease, almost not knowing what to do with ourselves. The Church has only one thing to do today: to pray through the emptiness of Holy Saturday. Holy Saturday then is the day when we experience watching and waiting at the tomb as we await the celebration of the Resurrection which we celebrate in the Easter Vigil and the season of Easter. The Jewish people have been celebrating Passover annually for thousands of years, commemorating the night in which God brought them out of slavery in Egypt to begin the journey to the promised land.

At the Last Supper, Jesus also celebrated the Passover but gave it a new meaning. No longer a remembrance of passing from slavery to freedom, but through his own passion, death and resurrection we too pass from death to life with him. Until the fourth century, Easter was the only feast of the Church’s year, and to this day it remains the most important. As the Catechism says: “Easter is not simply one feast among others, but the ‘Feast of feasts’, the ‘Solemnity of solemnities’ Our celebration of Easter resonates throughout the rest of the year: full of gratitude for Christ’s passion, joy in his resurrection and, strengthened by the Spirit, we continue our Christian journey.

HOLY THURSDAY

Lent has ended and now we begin the Holy Week Triduum. The word Triduum is the Latin for three days that is the three days of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the great Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night. The Church celebrates one liturgy each day. We should not think of the liturgies of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil as three separate events, all three form part of one single extended liturgy. In fact at the end of the Mass on Holy Thursday there is no dismissal and blessing instead we accompany Jesus to the Altar of repose. In the same way there is no formal beginning and end to the Good Friday liturgy.  This three-day liturgy concludes with the solemn blessing at the end of the Easter Vigil or at the morning Mass on Easter Sunday.

Holy Thursday is all about the priesthood and the institution of the Eucharist at the last supper. On the Morning of Holy Thursday, there is only one mass celebrated in a Diocese . All the priests gather around the Bishop and the people of God to renew their commitment to priesthood. Also at this Mass the oils of Chrism, Catechumens and the Oil of the Sick are blessed by the bishop, these holy oils will be used in the Baptisms, Confirmations and anointing of the sick in the local parishes over the next 12 months. The theme running throughout this day is one of humble service that is service of God and his people.The Passover feast, celebrated year after year, was a celebration of God intervening to liberate his people from slavery. The blood of the lamb protected them, and the lamb was both a sacrifice and food for them as they began their journey. Now Christ offers himself in the bread and wine and in the washing of his disciples’ feet. His sacrifice liberates us from the slavery of sin.

The Evening Mass commemorates the Last Supper again the theme is service and sacrifice both of these are aspects of the same mystery.  We see Jesus as one who serves, who gives himself. Just as he freely gives himself in washing the feet of his disciples, so too he gives himself  in the bread and wine he takes, blesses and hands to the disciples.  In the same way we receive Jesus in the form of Bread and wine from the hands of our priests. All these acts of self-giving are the same act – that of the Son of Man who came ‘not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ May we take up the mantle of humble service giving a helping hand to others and not counting the cost to ourselves. Many people over the years have given much at great personal cost and have not failed in their example of humble service and that for me  is what  Holy Thursday is all about  Humble service for others and not being afraid of being the presence of Christ for others no matter what the cost is.

PALM SUNDAY

This Sunday we celebrate Palm Sunday, and we will gather in our Churches for the Blessing of the Palms. As we gather we remember that last year we had begun the first COVID 19 lockdown and no one was able to be in Church for Palm Sunday and the Holy Week celebrations it was different to say the least. But as we know a year later we are slowly beginning to emerge from the pandemic but as we begin to get back to normal we must take our time and  be cautious as we go forward. So for us this year things will be different but they will also be the same and that is reassuring. Last Tuesday we marked the 1^st anniversary of the lockdown and we paid  tribute to all those who work  in the NHS and we prayed for all those who sadly lost their lives. may we continue to remember and hold in our prayers all those who have helped during the pandemic as well as all those families who have lost loved ones as a result of the pandemic.

Palm Sunday is just the start as we begin our annual Holy Week journey, from the Hosannas of today we go to the Upper room on Holy Thursday and then on to the denials of peter and the Cross of Good Friday. Then we come to Easter when all that seemed to be lost on Good Friday was redeemed and is redeemed every Easter. So now we stop and think for a moment about how we began our journey on Ash Wednesday and where we are now as we approach the life changing and life giving events of Holy Week. The entrance into Jerusalem is one of the very few events in Jesus’ life which is mentioned in all four gospels.  It is the only time that Jesus accepts and encourages public acclaim as Messiah.  He even goes as far as organising his entrance by telling the disciples to go and fetch the donkey. The key moment in God’s great plan of salvation is about to begin and Jesus knows exactly how it will unfold as he knew and understood what the will of the father would mean for him.The events of Palm Sunday were foretold thousands of years ago.

The first reading from Isaiah, speaks of a courageous and obedient messiah-figure, who says, “I have set my face like flint” against the beatings and scourging that lie ahead, “knowing that I shall not be put to shame.” The second reading from Philippians reminds us of Jesus’ total emptying of His divinity in order that He might identify Himself with the lowest criminal being led to His execution, “obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” And the reading continues but God raised him high and gave him the name above all other names. We move towards the heavenly Jerusalem because Christ himself made the journey to the Cross for us and now he offers to make it with us.  The full drama of the Gospel  begins with the crowd’s fickle acclamation of Jesus as King at the beginning of the reading. On Palm Sunday we feel embarrassed to cry out “Crucify Him” but we do. It reminds us of our own fickle response and our lack of courage in responding to His love and truth.

Yet we know that it was the sins of us all which brought Jesus to Calvary. Palm Sunday and Holy Week are all about Jesus suffering for our inadequacies and our own very real sins. Holy Week is a time for us to realize what we’re really like, and to find that the only remedy for our pains and our fears is love. That is Love of God, love of others and oneself. Are we ready to join our own pains and fears to the Master’s? Are we ready to add as much love as we can possibly muster to His boundless love? As God’s family, we are called to look out for one another. It’s not just about “me myself and nobody else.” It’s about “us and everyone else altogether and the covid 19 pandemic response  has really proved this over the last 12 months. Our journey during Holy Week is all about god’s love for all of us that is his great love that has no end. 

let us not be afraid to set out and go through the week we are beginning today so that we will be able to celebrate the bright light of Jesus present in our lives  at Easter having travelled the journey of Lent and Holy Week.

5th Sunday of Lent

we are now at the fifth Sunday of Lent,  with Holy Week and Easter on the horizon it is hard to think that we are going through lent at such a fast pace.  It will be good to celebrate the Liturgy of holy week with people in the Church as last year the ceremonies were online with no one present in the churches. It has taken us exactly one year from the beginning of the COVID restrictions in Northern Ireland on the 18^th March 2020 to where we are today and time has flown by. It has been a year in which all of us young and old have suffered in so many ways. We have been travelling along a long dark road but now the light is beginning to appear at the end of that road. We thank God that we have got through the various restrictions that COVID has brought and we pray for all those who have lost family members as a result of the pandemic.

We are an Easter People and this means that no matter how dark the darkness  may be the light of Christ will light up our lives and show us the road to take as we go forward with hope and joy in our hearts as we emerge slowly from this pandemic.

In the Gospel for this weekend some Greeks ask to see Jesus. Jesus responds by saying that anyone who loves his life will lose it; to gain your life, you have to be like a grain of wheat which brings forth much fruit only by falling into the earth and dying. The seed which must die to produce a harvest is a powerful image of Jesus death. The Greeks must have been baffled. They were baffled in much the same way that we are when we listen to the stories from scripture about Jesus and all the things that he had done. The gospel goes on to tell us that a voice is heard from the cloud, as at the Transfiguration in the other gospels, but here it speaks of the ‘glory’ that will come to Jesus for giving up his life. It is in his death and resurrection that he draws all people to himself, both Jew and Greek slave and free man.

Many Learned men and women have tried to put their interpretation on the Scriptures but if we listen with open hearts and minds to the scripture readings what the word of God means to us in our lives will become apparent. For many people including me God’s presence is not often thought of  at the time we say or do something but afterwards, when you look back at what has happened or what you have said you often see that the hand of God was with you at that point. I have often said things to people about situations that they were  in and thought to myself where did I get that from? Then on reflection I know that what I said was right and I was inspired to say and do the right thing in the right place.  As we come to the last few days of Lent as we begin to get back to normal living after coming through COVID 19  let us prepare with great intensity for Palm Sunday and the Easter Triduum and then we will really be able to enjoy the Easter feast when it arrives and don’t forget the Easter celebration lasts 40 days until Pentecost Sunday !!!