Commentary
Sunday, 4/28/2019, Second Sunday of Easter
It’s All About, Faith
First Reading Commentary: Acts 5:12-16
The Apostles had performed many wonders (miracles) and were held in high esteem and great numbers of men and women had become believers. And yet, when the Apostles were all together in Solomon’s portico, none of the other people dared to join them.
It does not seem to make sense that the people would not want to be with the Apostles but the people were afraid of being persecuted by non-believers and did not want to be brought in front of the Sanhedrin or the Romans. They were believers but afraid to demonstrate their faith in a public way.
Religious persecution is nothing new. It goes on all around the world. Wars have been fought because of differences in religious beliefs. And, considering the fact that we are talking about a time which was soon after the crucifixion of Christ, it is understandable why some people were afraid.
Here in America, we are truly blessed by living in a time and place where we do not have to worry about such extreme persecution. But I wonder how many people don’t go to church because they don’t want others to know how they believe. I wonder how many people are afraid to talk about their faith because they are afraid of what others might think of them. How many people neglect to say a blessing before they eat in a public place because they are too embarrassed? Most of them will tell you that they are just being private but the truth is that they are afraid of demonstrating their faith publicly. We have it easy and we should have no problem professing our faith.
We all know people who go to church and are supportive of their church while there, but as soon as they leave church and continue on with daily life, they seem to leave religion behind. The subject of religion is to be avoided when talking to others unless the conversation is with someone who shares their thoughts and beliefs.
But none of that stops people from seeking the Church out when they have a problem or feel the need for their church. Be it a joyous occasion such as a wedding or baptism or a traumatic occasion such as a funeral or some other crisis, there comes a time when we need the Church.
Such was the case with the other people in today’s reading from Acts. People were laid out on the streets on cots and mats hoping that Peter’s shadow would be enough to heal them when he walked by. There were people who were sick and people troubled with unclean spirits. They were all cured. So, more and more people came to believe and the Church grew.
Peter was so filled with the Holy Spirit that all he had to do was walk by people and they would be cured or healed. That’s awesome indeed but don’t forget who the Holy Spirit is. If the third person of the Trinity says that it will be, it will be! And don’t forget that the Holy Spirit worked through Peter to perform these miracles because of the faith of the people being cured and healed. These were people who were not afraid to show their faith in public on the streets.
When we pray asking for something from God, do we pray with doubt in our hearts or do we pray with faith like the people on the streets waiting for Peter to pass by? I will admit that because I know that God works in His own time and in His own way, that sometimes I am not sure if what I am asking for is a part of God’s Will. It’s like a child asking a parent for something without knowing what the parent is going to say, but they ask anyway. When praying, that doubt may be understandable but doubt is doubt and I will confess that I need to work on that. What about you?
Tell Them What Is to Come
Second Reading Commentary: Revelation 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19
John begins today's second reading by telling us that he was in distress on the island of Patmos for proclaiming God’s word and giving testimony to Jesus. Jesus, in His glory as the Son of Man, appeared to John. The Son of Man told John that He was the, “first and the last” and went on to say, “Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever…I hold the keys to death and the netherworld. Write down, therefore, what you have seen, and what is happening, and what will happen afterwards” What John wrote became the book of Revelation.
At the time that John wrote Revelation, Nero was at the end of his reign as Caesar and Rome which had not yet accepted Christ, persecuted followers of Christ. Patmos was a Roman penal facility and John was a prisoner there because of his preaching.
It is important to note that John is the only Apostle of the original twelve who was known for certain to not be martyred although he was imprisoned. We have to ask ourselves how deep our faith is. Is our faith deep enough and strong enough to die for?
The first time that Christ appeared in a divine state was while He was still on earth at the Transfiguration. Christ appearing to John is the first time that He appears in a divine state after the Resurrection.
Christ, who was dressed as a king, identified Himself to John as God when He said, “I am the first and the last…Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever…I hold the keys to death and the netherworld.”
Christ was reinforcing what He said while on earth, “I am the Alpha and the Omega.” He was telling us that He will never die. By saying that He holds the keys, Christ was telling us that it is He who will pass judgment on who goes to the Kingdom and who goes to the netherworld which we know as hell.
In telling John to write, “…what will happen afterwards”, Christ was telling John to tell us what to expect on the last day. What we do not know is when that day will come. Remember that Jesus told us many times that we do not know the hour or the day. This is a warning. Therefore, we must always be on alert, do our best to live our lives according to God’s Will and ask God for His mercy and forgiveness for the times that we sin.
Priesthood, Confession & Unquestioned Faith
Gospel Commentary: John 20:19-31
In today’s first reading from Acts, we learn that even though the Church was growing, there were people who did not want to be with the Apostles. Keep in mind that the events in Acts occurred after the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles on Pentecost Sunday. Before that day, the disciples remained closed up in the upper room for fear of being persecuted just like the people in today’s first reading.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus appeared to the disciples while they were locked up in the upper room and said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Then He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”
The first thing that Jesus did was to offer His peace to the disciples and then re-affirmed their priesthood with the words, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When Jesus told the disciples to receive the Holy Spirit, He was strengthening the Holy Spirit within them. This is what happens in the sacrament of Confirmation as the priest repeats the words of Jesus. Then Jesus gave all of the disciples the authority to absolve sins. This is the second time that Jesus instituted the sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession.
One of the issues that I have with Non-Catholic Christians is that they do not accept this sacrament. The most common objection that I hear is that they don’t see why they should confess their sins to another man. I maintain that if you are going to declare yourself as a true, loyal Christian, you must accept everything that Christ said and did without exception.
Christ instituted this sacrament—not once—but twice. The first time was in Matthew 16:18-19 when Jesus gave the power of absolution to Peter. If you reject Confession as a sacrament, you reject these two gospels. Sorry, but that’s the way it is.
Thomas was not with the other disciples when Jesus appeared to them after the Resurrection. When they told Thomas that they had seen Christ, Thomas said, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
Faith, by human nature, is not easy because it is difficult for us to accept anything without having some kind of tangible proof. Faith requires us to believe something which we may not be able to prove in a physical or tangible way. When we put things into a worldly perspective, this may not be a bad thing. But God is not of this world—God made this world. Faith in God requires us to step out of our comfort zone and that is something which Thomas was not ready to do and often times; neither are we.
Jesus appeared to the disciples again about a week later and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked but Jesus came and said, “Peace be with you.” Consider these two thoughts. 1- Jesus does not need any doors to be opened for Him but we do. We cannot go through any door without it being open even if opening it means breaking it down. So it is that we cannot enter the Kingdom unless we enter by way of the door that Christ has opened for us. 2- Jesus always brings peace because He is peace. We can never be totally at peace in our lives without the peace of Christ.
We all know people who seem to live in a world of absolute chaos. Nothing ever seems to go right for them and they always are full of complaints. It’s no wonder that they are always complaining when you look at the way that they live their lives. Sadly, these people do not have the peace of Christ and many of them never go to church or spend time in prayer.
We also know people who have problems in their lives but never complain. They are always at peace and one may think that they just don’t care or have given up. In some cases, that may be true. But many of these people have learned to give their problems to the Lord in faith. As a result, they do have the peace of Christ and there is a common denominator among them—they do take their religion seriously, they do go to church and they pray.
Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
There is a powerful lesson for all of us in this gospel. If St. Thomas the Apostle could be taken over by his human nature and have doubt, we too can have doubt. But we must understand where that doubt comes from. The evil one will do anything to keep us from entering the Kingdom and the best way for him to derail us is by attacking our faith and he uses our human nature, in this case, our God given gift of a free will, as one of his weapons to wage his attack. Proof that the devil will use good things to bring about evil.
When we let him, the devil will con us into thinking of God in a worldly way and that simply does not work. Thomas found that out and we should learn from his mistake.
I am convinced that the devil’s con job on some of us is why there are so many people who say that they do not belong to any organized religion but they are spiritual or new age. I believe that this is why there are so many lapsed Catholics and why there are so many Cafeteria Catholics and Cafeteria Christians. These people pick and choose what they want to accept in the bible and reject or ignore the rest.
In fact, I believe that the devil’s con job on us is why there are so many religions and false prophets in the world today. Worse yet, I believe that this is why there are so many people who do not believe anything.
All of this is because in addition to using our human nature as a weapon against us, one of the devil's favorite battle plans is, divide and conquer. Maybe if we spent more time meditating on this, the devil would not have such an influence on us.
John ends today's gospel by telling us that these things were written so that we might come to believe that Jesus is the Christ and that through our belief, we may have life in His name meaning that we may have eternal life in heaven. It's all about faith!
