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Dear friends
Last week in the gospel Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd” (Jn 10:14). This week in the gospel Jesus says, “I am the true vine” (Jn 15:1). So which one is correct? Is Jesus a “Good Shepherd” or a “true vine”? Well, the answer is Jesus is both and neither. Now, that’s confusing isn’t it? If we read the Bible with a literalist interpretation at all times, the Bible can be very confusing and contradicts itself many times. Jesus is infinitely more than just a “Shepherd” or just a “vine”. At times we (and others) try to pigeonhole Jesus, because it’s just easier that way. The multiple ways in which the Bible describes Jesus isn’t a ploy to confuse or mislead us but rather it’s a way in which Jesus becomes more familiar. Each simile or metaphor that’s used to describe Jesus adds colour to his face, “it’s your face, O Lord that I seek, hide not your face” (Ps 27:8). Jesus wants to be known and loved. Jesus doesn’t want to be distant and elusive. When we think about this, we do the same thing all the time. For example, what’s Sally like? The response might be, “she’s a great mother”. Well, that might be true but that doesn’t encapsulate the whole person of Sally. She’s also a wonderful cook and a great dancer etc. So, let us prayerful reflect on today’s gospel with this in mind. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser” (Jn 15:1) God bless Deacon Tom
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Dear friends
This Sunday is World Day of Prayer for vocations. The purpose of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations is to publicly celebrate vocations to ordained ministry and religious life in all its forms. Vocation comes from the Latin word vocare which means that God calls, we respond. Everyone has a vocation – be it single life, married life, religious life or ordained life. God has a plan for all of us. God has a vocation for all of us, but God doesn’t force his plan on us, rather he gently calls, and we have the freedom to respond to that call, or not to respond. It’s our choice. The prophet Jerimiah articulates this very beautifully: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord”. (Jer 29:11-14) Through prayer, spiritual accompaniment and guidance from those that truly care for us we come to discern our God given vocation. I have no doubt that God is calling young men to the priesthood in our State, our Archdiocese and maybe even our Parish. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit might stir within us the passion to promote vocations to religious life and the diocesan priesthood. We pray also for those that are called, that they might generously response for the life of the Church and the sanctification of the faithful. God bless Deacon Tom Dear friends You might have read that Pope Francis has written a new document. The type of document he released this week was an Apostolic Exhortation. An Apostolic Exhortation is a papal reflection on a particular topic which is intended to be read by all the faithful. We know that Pope Francis’ appeal goes far beyond Catholics and I anticipate this will be true of his new document. The document is called, Gaudete et Exultate (Rejoice and be Glad). It’s quite a lengthy document so it will take any reader some time to digest all the insights. One thing I would like to share in my early stages of reading “Rejoice and be Glad” is what Pope Francis beautifully calls “middle class of holiness”. Here is the short section where Pope Francis makes reference to “middle class of holiness”. Another way I think you could phrase this concept is what I would call “neighbourhood holiness” and I think it is evident in our parishes: “I like to contemplate the holiness present in the patience of God’s people: in those parents who raise their children with immense love, in those men and women who work hard to support their families, in the sick, in elderly religious who never lose their smile. In their daily perseverance I see the holiness of the Church militant. Very often it is a holiness found in our next- door neighbours, those who, living in our midst, reflect God’s presence. We might call them the middle class of holiness”. God bless Deacon Tom Dear friends
I’m not saying anything that you don’t already know when I say, Christians like to party! More accurately, I’d say, we like to feast. As I’ve been writing repeatedly over the last couple of weeks, Easter is the “feast of feasts”. Easter isn’t just a day, it’s a season. A season called Eastertide and it goes for fifty days. Eastertide starts on Easter Sunday and goes all the way to Pentecost which we will celebrate on the 20th of May. Some say Lent is long, but Eastertide is ten days longer! Did I mention Christians like to feast? Eastertide is a time focused on Mystagogy, especially for the newly baptised. Mystagogy is a Greek word with the same root as the English word, mystery. For us Christians, mystery isn’t something we solve, but rather we enter into mystery. Think of the memorial acclamation at Mass, “the mystery of faith”, with which we respond, “we proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again”. This isn’t an answer, in the same way 1+1=2 is, but rather it’s a statement of our faith which we experience. Eastertide, with its focus on mystagogy is a time where we delve more deeply into the mystery of our faith in all its wonder, awe and joy. The fruit of which is a deepening of our faith and a closer relationship with God. This focused time of mystagogy (fifty day) really reminds us that indeed mystagogy is a lifelong process. Christ is truly risen, Alleluia, Alleluia. God bless Deacon Tom Dear friends
“Now if Christ raised from the dead is what has been preached, how can some of you be saying that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, Christ himself cannot have been raised, and if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is useless and your believing it is useless… But Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep.” (1 Cor 15:12-14,20) Easter is not simply one feast among others, but the "feast of feasts," the "solemnity of solemnities" (CCC 1169). Jesus Christ, risen from the dead is so central to our faith as Christians. As St Paul articulates for the community in Corinth and for all of us, Christ rose from the tomb, thereby shattering the chains of death for all of us. The splintered, coarse, heavy and dead wooden cross that Christ was terrifyingly nailed to has now been transformed into green, supple, light and alive, tree of life. In the Gospel of John this reality is made evident. John emphasises that the cross is placed in the middle: “There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle” (Jn 19:18). This alludes to the tree of life in the garden in the Book of Genesis: “The tree of life was also in the middle of the garden (Gen 2:9). Death is transformed into new life, the life of the resurrection. Happy Easter to you and all your families. My prayer for this Eastertide is that the extraordinary power of the resurrection will fill our hearts and minds so that we will come to grasp the width, length, height and depth of God’s love. Amen. God bless Deacon Tom |
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