Commentary
Sunday, 5/14/2017 Fifth Sunday of Easter
The Early Church Continues to Grow
First Reading Commentary Acts 6:1-7
The Hellenists complained against the Hebrews saying that their widows were being neglected from the daily distribution. In this complaint, the Hellenists were really saying that they were not being ministered to adequately and more importantly, they were not receiving the Eucharist as often as they should. So, the Twelve (Apostles) told the Hellenists to pick seven men from their community who could be appointed to the task.
This situation was especially true for the Hellenists who were believed to be from Palestine. They spoke Greek which created a language barrier for some of the Twelve Apostles and the Early Church was becoming too big for the Twelve to tend to without help. So, the Hellenists agreed to present seven men to the Apostles who they felt were reputable, filled with the Spirit and wise.
The Apostles prayed and laid hands on these men thereby conferring the sacrament of Holy Orders on them. These men were ordained as the first deacons of the Church and given the mission of spreading the Good News by preaching and evangelizing. They are recognized as being some of the most powerful teachers and evangelizers of the early Church and they even converted Hebrew priests. Among the first seven deacons was Stephen who would later become the Church’s first martyr.
So let’s compare the Church in the early years to the Church of today here in this country. During the early years, there was a profound need for more teachers, preachers and evangelists. People cried out to the Apostles and the Apostles knew that they needed help. So, they ordained the first deacons of the Church and later added more priests.
We also have a shortage of priests and deacons in the Church today. So why doesn’t the Church answer the need by ordaining more men? The answer is a sad tragedy. There are not enough men interested in entering the seminaries.
That should not come as a surprise to anyone. In fact, it should be expected because the faithful are shrinking in numbers. You might say that the Church is creating its own problem with its shrinking numbers. In order for the Church to ordain more men, the Church itself must grow. When the number of faithful grows, there will be a growing number of men who will be ordained as priests and deacons.
The Church is shrinking in numbers because the elders are dying, there are people who are leaving the Church and there are people who criticize the Church and therefore do not want to join it. Worse yet, there are people in society today who refuse to identify themselves with any religion. Excluding the elders; it does not matter which group of people we are talking about. Their objections are all the same.
People say that the Church is out of touch, that the Church is too strict, that the Church needs to change and catch up with the times and then there are those who have a problem with the Church because of the scandals. There are also some Non-Catholics who believe that Catholics are idol worshippers.
Before I deal with these issues let’s first understand what the Church is. The Church is not an institution or a series of buildings. The Church is the people! It is my personal opinion that Christ did not name the Church for that reason. Christ did instruct the Apostles to go out and teach all nations and He made Peter the first leader when He said to Peter, “Upon this rock I will build my church.” The “rock” was a human being not some other material or physical item. I cannot say it enough times or strong enough, the Church is the people! The pope, all of the bishops, priests and deacons are all members of the Church just like you and me.
When considering the scandals, I maintain that The Catholic Church is not the only church plagued with scandals and our priests are no less human than anyone else. All of us are sinners. But here is the most important thing; we should not allow another person's human error to stand in the way of our faith!
When we consider the ideas that the Church is out of touch, too strict and needs to catch up with the times, we need to understand that Church doctrine is based on what Christ taught and preached. There is nothing in Church doctrine which is contrary to what Christ instructed us to do. Therefore, it is wrong for the Church to change doctrine. To do so would be changing what Christ taught us and such action would also change the instructions given to us by Christ. If Christ wants changes made, He will let us know.
Understanding this, you cannot say that the Church is out of touch unless you say that God is out of touch with His creation. I am not about to tell God that He is out of touch—are you? The real problem is that we are out of touch with our Church.
Anyone who says that the Church is too strict is either unfamiliar with Church doctrine or does not understand it. There is nothing too strict about giving God the love, praise and honor which He deserves and participating in the sacraments.
The Church does not need to catch up with the times. We need to go back to basics. We need to take the time to acquire a better understanding and knowledge of what our religion is. Then we need to re-connect ourselves to the Church so that we can do a better job of professing our faith.
The idea that Catholics are idol worshippers is a misconception. We do not pray to pictures or statues or any other object. These items are nothing more than images just like a picture one might carry in their wallet of a family member or loved one. Yes, we do sometimes have them blessed which makes them sacred but they are still just images.
Catholics worship God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We honor Mary and the saints and we pray to them for intercession but we do not worship them. I explain this in detail in other commentaries.
So after all of that, what is the bottom line big difference between the early Church and the Church of today in this country? The people during the early Church years were believers who were hungry for nourishment from God’s Word. There are too many people in society today who don’t want to hear it.
To fix the problem we have to do two things. First, we have to understand that our problems are the result of the devil’s work. It is the devil who fills our heads with the evil thoughts that lead us into sin. It is the devil who puts evil thoughts of doubt into our heads. It is the devil who fills our hearts with the evil thoughts which cause us to be at odds with each other about our religion. This divisiveness is the reason why there are so many religions in the world. We need to come to terms with all of this, understand it and then, we can reject it!
Second, we must pray. Pray that people everywhere will grow to accept each other as God’s children. Pray for the peace which this will bring because if we can learn to accept each other as one, we can follow the commandment of loving our neighbors as ourselves. In other commentaries, I point out that if you love your neighbor, you will love God. Remember the Greatest Commandment? You cannot follow one part of that commandment without also following the other. Pray that the Holy Spirit bestows His gifts on us so that we learn to love God with everything that we have and also love our neighbor as we love ourselves. This will not only fix the problems in our Church—this will destroy the devil’s mission completely because he will not be able to divide us!
Believe in the Cornerstone
Second Reading Commentary 1 Peter 2:4-9
In this part of Peter’s first letter, he uses Scripture to teach us that Christ is the cornerstone. The Scriptures that Peter refers to are Isaiah 28:16, Psalm 118:22 and Isaiah 8:14. They tell us that if we believe in the cornerstone, we will not be put to shame. But if we reject the cornerstone, it will make us stumble and fall.
A building gets its strength from the cornerstone and if that cornerstone is removed, the building will fall. Strength is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit who is the Third person of the Trinity and our advocate. But because the Trinity is one God, strength is also given to us by the Father and the Son.
Peter is referring specifically to Christ as being the cornerstone but: make no mistake about it, the message for everyone, Non-Christians alike, is that without God, you have no life. I am not talking about this life on earth although, without God, we would not have this life either. Rather, the Scripture is a warning of the final judgment on the last day and eternal life.
If you reject God, He will reject you on the last day and instead of enjoying eternal life in heaven, you will experience a second death by the sword of the one who rides the white horse in Revelations. The rider is Christ and if you are struck by His sword, you will spend all of eternity being tormented with the devil in the pool of fire and sulfur. Refer to Revelations 19:11-21 and 20:10.
Peter tells us that it does not have to be that way. He tells us that we are all God’s people and we are all called out of darkness into God’s wonderful light. Those of us who believe in God will follow Him in faith into the next life of eternal joy and happiness.
I Am in the Father and the Father Is in Me
Gospel Commentary John 14:1-12
Jesus said to His disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled” and Jesus told them to have faith in Him. This was after everyone had finished eating at the Last Supper. Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet and He had told them that where He was going, they could not follow. Of course, the disciples were upset. Jesus had been telling them for some time that His time had come. The disciples believed in Jesus but they had not yet caught on to what was about to happen.
So, Jesus told them to have faith in Him. He told them that there are many places in His Father’s house and that He was going to prepare a place for them. Jesus promised, “I will come back again and take you to myself…”
Interesting words, Jesus used. He did not say the kingdom or heaven. He did not describe any place. Jesus said, “…take you to myself…” Jesus was making reference to His second coming on the last day when He will come back and take all of us to be with Him. Jesus was also declaring that His house was the Father’s house and that He was one with the Father.
Through the sacraments, God is within us. Every time we partake in the Eucharist, Jesus comes within us. But we cannot be In Him unless we choose to be. Do we live our lives in such a way that we can be in Christ? Those of us who truly want to be in Christ are the people who Jesus is coming back for on the last day. They are the same people who hear the shepherd’s voice in last week’s gospel—John 10:1-10.
Thomas said, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Well, if there ever was a reason why we should put our faith in Jesus and follow His teachings and commandments, He just gave it to us. If there ever was a reason not to believe in someone other than Jesus, He just gave it to us. Notice that Jesus said, “…through me…” In other words, if we are not in Christ, we will not reach the Father.
This does not mean that Non-Christians cannot get to heaven. They are no less children of God and they will not be rejected by the Father simply because they never had the opportunity of being introduced to the Son. But for those of us who are Christian, we must go through the Son in order to reach the Father because we know better. We know that the Son is the second person of the Trinity and if we do not go through the Son, we will never reach the Father because we will have rejected the Son.
Jesus said to the disciples, “If you know me, then you will also know my Father…you do know him and have seen him.” Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father.
Philip was no different from the rest of us. I have addressed this subject before. It is our human nature to need tangible evidence in order to believe something. But God wants us to consider the many works that have been done, especially the works done by the Son and then use the faith that is given to us by the Holy Spirit.
With this in mind; you can imagine what Jesus said, “I have been with you for a long time and you still do not know me…Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?”
In Philip’s defense, none of us can understand the mystery of the Trinity and you have to understand that mystery in order to totally come to terms with what Jesus meant. How can a person be in another person and vice versa? That is a mystery beyond human comprehension. That is why God gave us faith so that we can just believe.
Jesus understood that this is why Philip had a problem so He said, “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves.” The message for Philip and for all of us is, just believe but if you are having a hard time believing because of the mystery, believe because of what you have seen—the things that only God could do.
Then Jesus gave the disciples a very good reason why they should believe. Jesus said, “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.”
How can anyone do anything greater than God when the truth is that none of us can do anything without God? God has a plan for each one of us and His plan is our mission in life. When we complete our mission and reach the Kingdom, we complete the “greater” work that Jesus said we would.
Consider this: It should be no surprise that the Son would return to the Father. It should be no surprise that the Son wants us to be with Him and the Father. But it is truly a great work for us to make it.
Jesus understands this because in His humanity, Jesus faced all of the same limitations, pain, struggles and temptations that we face. The evil one could never overcome Jesus because He is God the Son. But the devil can have his way with us if we give into his temptations. In the weakness of our humanity, we all do.
So, for us, to overcome the obstacles that the devil throws at us in this life is truly a great work. The fact is that the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of faith to help us along the way. If we use it, we will see the Way and follow the Truth. That is the true “greater” work.
