Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Gospel For Today

ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (C)

The state of the economy continues to be a topic of discussion these days, especially the growing divide between the rich and the poor in this country.  In listening to all this talk, I get the impression that certain people are not so much concerned that the poor are poor, as they are angry that the rich are rich.  

We should be concerned, out of love for our fellow man, that the poor have the basic necessities they need and the opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty.  If we can decrease the wealth gap by raising up the poor, that is commendable.  But there are those who argue for decreasing the gap by pulling down the rich, and I am not sure what that is meant to accomplish.

What does this have to do with today's gospel reading?  I suggest that a certain amount of jealousy is involved in this mode of thinking, and it is a jealousy that our Lord seems to have little patience with.

Staying with the economic analogy a little longer, I'll use myself as an example.  I am the sole bread winner for a family of seven, and according to our Federal government we live just over the poverty line.  However, when I look around me, I do not feel poor.  We have a nice home, there are two cars in the driveway, my children have never wanted for clothes, there is always food in the fridge, we are able to take the occasional vacation; plus we have all sorts of modern wonders at our disposal such as high speed internet and smart phones. 

I have never had to worry about where my next meal was coming from or whether I would have a bed to sleep in.  Why should I be jealous of those who own yachts or vacation homes?  Is it simply because I don't have those luxuries?  What right have I to be jealous of those with more?

In today's gospel reading from Luke, the Pharisee is upset because Jesus allows a sinful woman to anoint His feet.  He even forgives her sins!  The scandal!  Doesn't he know what sort of woman this is? the Pharisee thinks to himself.  

Why should this Pharisee, who in his life has no doubt received many blessings, be upset over the charity our Lord shows to this sinful woman?  The answer is jealousy.  And jealousy is rooted in pride.  The sinful woman has one thing this Pharisee lacks, and that is humility.  She is humble enough to realize her sinfulness and to come to the Lord for forgiveness.  Whereas the Pharisee presumes that his uprightness should earn him the Lord's favor.

Our second reading today from Galatians reminds us that we can never earn any favor from God.  We are not justified by works of the law.  (Neither are we justified by faith alone, as we are reminded of in the Epistle of James, but that is another topic).  

The Pharisee believes that he is closer to God than the sinful woman.  That's a little like someone standing on the shore at Myrtle Beach and wading four feet out into the surf; someone else wades out eight feet and boasts because he is twice as close to Spain!  

Certainly some in this world strive to live holier lives than others, and that is commendable.  We should all strive to live according to God's moral code, for our own well being and happiness.  But we should not think that doing so can ever earn for us a greater portion of God's love.  For God's love is infinite and boundless and extends even to the greatest sinner.

When such a sinner repents and seeks God's forgiveness, our response should be to rejoice, and not to resent it.  Resentment betrays out own lack of faith and our presumption that somehow we "deserve more."  

Jesus says the one of whom little is forgiven, loves little.  But we all have been forgiven a great deal -- or can be if we but ask for God's mercy.  It does not matter if we wade our four feet, eight feet, or eighty feet into the ocean.  It is still a mighty long way to the other shore.  God's forgiveness bridges that gap and brings us into His bosom.

Our response, in love, should be to show humble gratitude for His mercy.  Harboring jealousy for our neighbors is a sure sign that we have our sights set on the wrong thing.  Jealousy means we are looking at ourselves and what we think we deserve.  Love means looking at God in awe of the goodness that extends such boundless mercy.  When we focus our sights on God and His love for us, we become incapable or jealousy and resentment.  We become emissaries of mercy.

--
WCU Catholic Campus Ministry
Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister
  
(828)293-9374  |   POB 2766, Cullowhee NC 28723

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Gospel For Today

TENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (C)

Our Catholic faith is rich with signs and symbols.  To everything we see in our liturgy, we read in the scriptures, and that is taught in our catechesis there is a deeper meaning.  Our lives are filled with signs of a deeper meaning and richness, if we have the eyes to see them.

Today we hear a reading from 1 Kings where the prophet Elijah heals the son of a widow of a great illness, through his faith in God.  Our gospel reading from Luke this morning is an obvious parallel.  Jesus does more than heal the son of a widow -- He raises the widow's son from the dead, causing the widow to proclaim, "A great prophet has arisen in our midst."

In the first reading, the miracle Elijah performed served as a sign of his status as one of God's prophets.  The widow tells him, after her son is healed through Elijah's prayer, "Now indeed I know that you are a man of God."  Jesus' miracle also served as a sign.  It reminds us of the miracle of Elijah, and so tells us that Jesus, like Elijah, is a man of God.  But where Elijah healed a sick man, Jesus shows us that he is the ultimate healer by bringing a man back from the dead.  More than the power to heal, Jesus has the power to give life.

As one who has power over life and death Christ is signaling to us that He is more than a mere "holy man."  He is the creator of life itself.  This would be confirmed in the greatest of His miracles, His own Resurrection and victory over death.

Some may ask if Jesus really did conquer death, and have the power to heal and even bring the dead back to life, then why didn't He heal all of humanity?  Why do people still get sick?  Why do people still die?  

Death is a great reality.  None of us can escape it.  We must all deal with it in our own lives, when we lose friends and family.  And eventually we all must face our own death.  So how can we say Jesus conquered death?

In truth, Jesus did not raise every dead man He saw, no more than He healed every blind man or leper He came across.  He only chose a few.  Why?  Because these few are signs and symbols.  They point to a greater reality.

Eternal life in this world is unattainable and would be a curse if it were possible.  No one expects to live forever except for a handful of kooks who think by taking the right combination of vitamins, or merging their consciousness into a supercomputer they can achieve immortality.  These scenarios are the provenance of science fiction, not the real world.  And in science fiction stories, it never ends well.  The supercomputer with human intellect invariably seeks to dominate us lesser mortals.  In Gulliver's Travels, the explorer finds a land where the inhabitants live forever in their physical bodies, which have aged beyond human recognition.  For them eternal life is hell.

We cannot live forever in this world. Even the man Jesus brought back from the dead in today's gospel is no longer with us.  He died again, and this time there was no resurrection.  At least not yet...

For this is what the miracles of Jesus, including his own Resurrection from the tomb which we commemorate every Sunday, are meant to tell us.  Death is not the end.  There will be a resurrection of the dead.  But not in this world.  For this world is fallen.  It simply cannot hold all the glory that is to come.  For this we need a new creation -- a new heaven and a new earth.  And this is what Jesus has promised.

Pope Paul VI says, "We believe that the souls of all who die in Christ's grace... are the People of God beyond death.  On the day of resurrection, death will be definitively conquered, when these souls will be reunited with their bodies" (qtd. in the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1052).  

This new creation is described for us in the Scriptures.  God will make His dwelling among men.  "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away" (Rev. 21:4).

Our current world, fallen and troubled as it is, is a sign of this new world to come.  All the good and joyful things about our existence in this life are but shadows of the glory of our life in eternity.  Enjoy them in this life when you can, and enjoy them all the more for you know they are mere teasers for the happiness of the new earth.  

--
WCU Catholic Campus Ministry
Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister
  
(828)293-9374  |   POB 2766, Cullowhee NC 28723

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Gospel For Today

SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST (CORPUS CHRISTI)

Today is the great solemnity of Corpus Christi, the day set aside by the Church to honor and celebrate Christ's true presence in the Eucharist.  Though Holy Thursday celebrates the institution of the Eucharist (and the priesthood necessary to celebrate it), the commemoration of our Lord's passion suppresses the rejoicing otherwise proper to the occasion.  And so Corpus Christi accents the joyous aspect of Holy Thursday.

This great feast was instituted by Pope Urban IV in 1264, and it was St. Thomas Aquinas himself who composed the Mass.  The Tantam Ergo that is still sung on Holy Thursday and other Eucharistic processions was composed by St. Thomas for this feast.  

The Second Vatican Council called the Eucharist "the source and summit of our faith."  That means our faith truly begins and ends with this Sacrament.  Through it, Christ comes to us and ministers to us in the depths of our human despair and sorrow.  Yet, the holiest of saints will never reach any pinnacle of adoration higher on this earth than Christ in the Eucharist.  

Our Holy Father Emeritus, Benedict XVI, when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, wrote, "If we want to understand the meaning of Corpus Christi, the best thing to do is simply to look at the liturgical form in which the Church celebrates and expounds the significance of this feast... First there is what we are doing right now, meeting together around the Lord, standing before the Lord, and thus standing side by side together.  Next there is walking with the Lord, the procession.  And finally there is the heart and the climax of it, kneeling before the Lord, the adoration, glorifying Him and rejoicing in His presence" (God Is Near Us).

Our Gospel today relates the miracle of the loaves and fishes, where Christ fed five thousand from a mere five loaves of bread and two fish, from which there were enough left overs to fill twelve baskets.  Modernists like to recast this story as a lesson about sharing -- suggesting that the five thousand had enough food in their pockets to feed everyone and Jesus merely taught them to be generous.  But surely this was a true miracle, with Christ showing us how He can take a seemingly small and finite amount of food and with it nourish the multitudes.  

And it is precisely because of this miracle that the crowd returned the next day.  They wished to be fed (some spiritually, most physically).  Rather than hand out another free meal, our Lord spoke to them about "true bread from heaven," which "gives life to the world."  The crowd said, "Lord, give us this bread always."  

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst" (John 6:32-35).  Thus begins the great Bread of Life discourse of John chapter 6 where Jesus insists over and over again that to gain eternal life one must eat his flesh and drink his blood.

How could this be?  How could a man give his very flesh to eat?  How could a man feed five thousand people from five loaves and two fish?  A mere man could do neither.  God can.  The same God who could become Incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary can also transform the bread and wine we bring to the altar into His very Body and Blood.  Is one miracle any more impossible for the Almighty than the other?  Is either more or less dignified?

God, in His divine plan for our salvation, desires to commune with us most intimately.  He desires to dwell within us, make His home in us, both in spirit and in body.  And so He presents Himself to us in a form which we can take into ourselves, which can nourish us, and transform us.

Is there any greater humility to be found in the universe?  Is there a greater gift He could have given us than Himself?

Lord Jesus Christ, you gave us the Eucharist as the memorial of your suffering and death. May our worship of this sacrament of your body and blood help us to experience the salvation you won for us and the peace of the kingdom where you live with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


--
WCU Catholic Campus Ministry
Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister
  
(828)293-9374  |   POB 2766, Cullowhee NC 28723

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Gospel For Today

SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

Jesus said to his disciples: "I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you."  - Jn 16:12-15

Our faith is full of mystery.  There are many things we are asked to believe by faith, which our own reasoning could never reveal to us.  One example is the Eucharist.  In the sixth chapter of John's gospel Jesus tells the gathered crowd over and over again in the most emphatic way, "Truly, truly, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you will have no life in you."  What are we to make of this radical statement?  Most of the crowd left.  Peter and the other apostles remained.  Even though they did not understand what Jesus meant by this teaching, they had faith.  They trusted Jesus.  "Lord, to whom would we go?" Peter tells Christ.  "You have the words to eternal life."

We are like Peter today.  We are asked to have faith.  A scientist in a lab could examine the Eucharist under a microscope all day long and find nothing there but bread and wine.  Our reason alone would never lead us to believe that there is anything special about it.  But Jesus said, "This is my body," and "this is the chalice of my blood."  And so we believe -- not because we perceive with our senses that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of our God, but because we trust in the one who tells us, "This is my body."

Jesus Himself is a similar mystery.  Those in Galilee who saw him, worked with him, lived down the road from him, would not have seen anything with their eyes that would have led them to believe he was anything other than an ordinary man.  Our best doctors today could give Jesus a thorough physical and find nothing in their examinations except for a human being.  Yet we believe he is God incarnate, the maker of the universe, eternal and omnipotent.  This is not a fact subject to the scientific method that we can prove or disprove.  It is a matter of faith.

Today is a special day set aside in the calendar of the Church to honor the Holy Trinity.  In truth, we celebrate the Trinity at each Mass, and whenever we pray in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  How often do we recite those words?  At baptisms, when we cross ourselves, when we pray the Glory Be, whenever we gather as Christians we do so in the name of the Trinity.

The Church teaches, because Christ revealed it, that God exists as a Trinity of Persons united in a single being.  The Father is God, Jesus the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.  And there is one God.  This is not a contradiction.  We are not saying that there are three Gods and one God at the same time.  We are not asked to believe anything contrary to reason.  What is one in God is one thing (essence, or being), and what is three in God is another (person).  This is not self-contradictory and so is not against reason, but it is above reason.  The wisest of our philosophers could ponder the nature of God for a lifetime and come to understand many things about the maker of the universe, but not this.  Nothing in our human experience would lead us to deduce the Trinity.

We don't know how this could be.  In our experience individual persons each have their own unique existence, and so we simply do not understand the concept of three persons sharing one existence.  But, like the Eucharist, it is neither required nor expected that we understand.  It is enough that we trust. 

We have been given a special gift.  We have been given a privileged glimpse into the inner life of God.  Jesus has pulled back the curtain of heaven just a little bit and allowed us to have a peek.  What we see inside is mind blowingly fantastic.  It is nothing we could have expected.  It is a mystery, one in which we are called to participate more and more as we grow in sanctity.

God exists as a community of Persons.  This means God's life is relationship; God's life is love.  This God is the author of our lives and we are made in His image.  Mediate today upon the beautiful mystery of the Holy Trinity and ask God to help you to see the opportunities for trinitarian love in your own life.

--
WCU Catholic Campus Ministry
Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister
  
(828)293-9374  |   POB 2766, Cullowhee NC 28723

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Gospel For Today

PENTECOST SUNDAY

The name "Pentecost" means "fifty days," and is the designation of the great feast celebrated by the Jewish people fifty days after the Passover.  However, the name has taken on greater meaning to Christians because of what happened on a particular Pentecost some two thousand years ago.  Pentecost is celebrated as the "birthday of the Church" because it was at the time of Pentecost, seven weeks after Jesus' Resurrection, that the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles.  From today's first reading (Acts 2:1-11).

Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in different tongues,
as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven
staying in Jerusalem.
At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd,
but they were confused
because each one heard them speaking in his own language.

This ability to speak in tongues is but one gift of the Holy Spirit, but it is one often misunderstood.  Today we think of "speaking in tongues" as something that occurs in Pentecostal churches where one member will begin speaking something that sounds like gibberish to most listeners, but another, blessed with the gift of interpretation, will "translate."  That's not really what we see going on in today's reading.

I was visiting a parish in another state one year for Pentecost and they had the first and second reading divided into two parts, each read by a different reader (for a total of four), and each in a different language.  One was in English, one Spanish, one Korean, and the fourth was in a different Asian language I could not identify.  

They were doing this as a kind of gimmick for Pentecost Sunday.  But I couldn't help think it sounded more like the Tower of Babel than Pentecost.  The story of the Tower of Babel is told in Genesis chapter 11.  The people of the earth all spoke one language at the time, and worked together to build an impressive tower that was said to reach nearly to the heavens.  God decided that was too much and so He confused their languages and scattered the peoples across the earth.

This confusion of languages is the opposite of Pentecost.  In Acts we read of people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Egypt, Asia, Libya, Rome and elsewhere, all who speak different languages, but all of whom could miraculously understand the speech spoken by the Galileans proclaiming Jesus.  It was about an opening of communication, not a confusion of languages.

The message they preached was one of salvation and reconciliation.  It was a message of liberation from sin.  They preached of Jesus Christ crucified and raised from the dead.  It was -- and is -- a message that has power to grant eternal life but only if it is understood and received by the hearer.  And so God granted the gift of understanding to those who heard this first gospel preached that day.

The importance of communicating the Gospel message has not diminished in 2000 years.  But the ability of people to hear it seems to have diminished.  I don't believe it is because people have any less desire to find forgiveness and reconciliation.  I believe there is simply too much static drowning out the message.  Between television, movies, the radio, cell phones, texting, Facebook, Twitter, 24 hour news, constant updates and postings and the like, there is simply so much noise it is a struggle to figure out what is important and what is simply fluff.

But all of those sources of distraction are also potential means of communication.  We are blessed with so many tools for preaching the Gospel that the Apostles did not have.  Can you imagine what Peter, Paul or John would have done with the Internet?  If they had the ability to post a message and have it read by millions?  What would they have written?  What would the world look like if the Apostles had a Twitter account?

We will never know because they did not have access to modern means of communication.  But you do.  "Apostles" means "witness" and you are today's witnesses to the power of God's love and mercy and the forgiveness that can be found in Jesus Christ and through His Church.  At Pentecost the Holy Spirit gave the Apostles the gift to be able to communicate that message to the masses.  That same gift was given by the Holy Spirit to all those who have received the Sacrament of Confirmation.  That means you and I have the same ability, and the same responsibility, to proclaim Christ to the world.

Let us pray today for the wisdom and courage to do so in the many occasions God grants for evangelization in our lives.

--
WCU Catholic Campus Ministry
Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister
  
(828)293-9374  |   POB 2766, Cullowhee NC 28723

at

Gospel For Today

SOLEMNITY OF THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD

In the Diocese of Charlotte, as in many Dioceses in the United States, the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord is celebrated this Sunday.  Whenever this great feast comes around on the calendar, I remember a particular Ascension Sunday Mass I participated in while travelling in Georgia one year.

First, let us briefly remember what the Ascension is all about.  The first reading today is from the first chapter of Acts and is St. Luke's account of what happened "the day [Jesus] was taken up."

[A]s they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.  While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.  They said, "Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?  This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven."

We celebrate today the fact that Jesus ascended bodily into heaven to be united with the Father.  It is the capstone of all the events recorded testifying to Christ's bodily resurrection -- the empty tomb, St. Thomas touching His wounds, Jesus eating a breakfast of fish with His disciples, breathing on Peter, and so on.  All of these things testify to the real physicality of the Resurrection.  

Yet Christ's body was not quite the same as it was before the Resurrection.  It was still a physical body, but also more than that.  He could appear in the middle of a locked room.  He could somehow hide his appearance or identity until He wished to be recognized.  And, of course, His was a body that had conquered death.  It was a Risen Body that did not belong in this Fallen World.  And so He went ahead of us to prepare a New Creation, a new heaven and new earth, a home fitting for perfection where we will one day - God willing - join Him.

Which brings me back to one Ascension celebration in Georgia.  I was away from home and attended Mass at a small parish I had never been to before.  The pastor gave a good homily telling us why it is important that we believe Christ rose bodily from death and ascended bodily into heaven; that in His passion, death and resurrection He redeemed the whole man, body and soul, and so our bodies and our souls will be saved.  

I don't recall any specific words from the homily.  However, I do recall what we sang during Communion.  You see, words set to music have a way of sticking with you.  That is why what we sing at Mass is so important.  Often the words we hear in the homily or even the scripture readings may start to fade by lunch time, but the words of a hymn will stay with us for weeks, sometimes longer. Words set to music are powerful things.  

On that particular Ascension Sunday, as we received the Body of Christ in the Eucharist, the choir had us singing the refrain, "Jesus has no body now but you."  The lyrics of the song were taken from a quote by St. Teresa of Avila.  St. Teresa was making the point that the Church is the body of Christ.  We - all of the baptized - make up His body and we should be the hands and feet, the eyes and the ears of Christ in the world.  This is all quite true and valid.  It is a good point to meditate upon and put into action in our lives.

However, one must question the wisdom of singing "Jesus has no body" as we come forward to receive the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist.  Sung at that particular time in the liturgy, removed from the context of St. Teresa's writings, does that refrain support or undermine belief in the Real Presence of the Eucharist?

And is this an appropriate song to sing at a Mass celebrating the bodily Ascension of Christ?  The pastor preached a very good homily about the Ascension being a real physical event and the astounding fact that Jesus's human body resides in heaven united with the Trinitarian God.  But how many will have forgotten the words of the homily before they pull out of the church parking lot?  Meanwhile they are still humming the refrain, "Jesus has no body..."

The words we say, pray and sing at Mass are vitally important to our faith.  They make a difference.  This is why the Church instructs us that we cannot simply sing anything we want at the Mass.  Just like the lectors cannot read anything they want, but must read the assigned scriptures; and the priest cannot consecrate the Eucharist using any words he wants, but must use the words of consecration, the cantor and choir ought to sing the music assigned to the Mass and not words of their own choosing.  

The Church tells us (in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal) that at the Entrance, Offertory and Communion, we should sing the proper antiphon for that Mass (usually taken from scripture) from the Roman Missal, Roman Gradual or Simple Gradual (all official liturgical texts of the Church).  It is not an absolute requirement.  The Church also gives permission to sing a liturgical chant from another collection of antiphons and psalms approved by the bishops.  But the ideal is clear - we should sing the words (and prayers) of the Mass.  

For the Solemnity of the Ascension, year C, the antiphon (refrain) which is prescribed to be sung at Communion in the Roman Missal is, "Christ, offering a single sacrifice for sins, is seated for ever at God's right hand, alleluia" (cf. Heb 10:12).  Or, from the Roman Gradual, which is the official music book for the Roman Rite, it is, "Sing to the Lord, who has ascended the highest heavens, towards the East, alleluia" (cf. Ps 67:33, 34).

If we sing these words, rather than words of our own making - or even words of a great saint used in the wrong context - we can be assured that we will be supporting, not undermining truths of the faith which the liturgy is attempting to communicate.  We can know with certainty that we are singing the liturgy itself, participating faithfully in the Mass by singing or listening to the words the Church desires us to pray with on this day.

Christ is ascended bodily into heaven.  He is seated at God's right hand forever.  Let us sing to Him songs of praise, alleluia!

--
WCU Catholic Campus Ministry
Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister
  
(828)293-9374  |   POB 2766, Cullowhee NC 28723

at

Gospel For Today

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (C)

"Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him."  -- Jn 14:23

In today's gospel reading, Jesus tells us something about the life of the Holy Trinity.  He speaks of the word that he preaches and tells us, "the word you hear is not mine, but that of the Father who sent me."  What He tells us here is that there is no distinction between His word, His will, and that of the Father's.  The two are one in their thoughts and words.  

In the same passage Jesus speaks of the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, often referred to as the Advocate.  Jesus says, "The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you."  

Let's unpack this sentence a bit.  Jesus has already told us that He speaks with the voice of the Father.  And now He is telling us that the Holy Spirit will teach us the words that Christ spoke to us.  In other words, there is no distinction to be made between the words of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  

The Holy Trinity is a mystery.  We will never truly understand this aspect of God.  I read on a bumper sticker once, "If God were simple enough that we could understand Him, we'd be so simple that we couldn't."  That is true.  God is the Creator, we are His creations.  He is infinite, we are finite.  Even the holiest saints, even the highest angels, can never fully understand God.  

But just because God is a mystery does not mean we cannot know some things about Him which He has chosen to reveal to us.  One of the aspects of God's inner life that has been revealed in Christ is that He is a Trinity of persons.  We believe, because God has revealed it, that God is three Persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) who share the same being, the same existence.  This is hard for us to comprehend because in our experience persons each have an independent existence.  But with God it is not so.  God exists as a community of Persons.  This means that God holds within Himself attributes that we can only experience with others -- communion, relationship, love.  

Because the three Persons of the Trinity share in the same existence, they are alike in all things except in their relationship with one another.  Another way of saying this is that the Son possesses everything in common with the Father except to be Father.  The Father is father of the Son and the Son is son to the Father.  Their relationship to one another is the only thing that distinguishes them.  Likewise with the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son.  His unique relationship proceeding from both the Father and Son in their love for one another is what distinguishes Him from the other two.  (In this passage Jesus speaks of the Spirit being sent by the Father.  Elsewhere, such as Jn 15:26, Jesus speaks of sending the Spirit Himself.)

It is important for us to understand the great unity among the three distinct Persons of the Godhead.  Though we often speak of the Persons of the Trinity as if they had different roles or jobs -- the Father is the Creator, the Son is the Redeemer, the Spirit is the Sanctifier -- these "job descriptions" are overly limiting.  The truth is that the Son and the Spirit both had a role in creation, as well.  "[T]he spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters" (Gn 1:2).  "Let us make man in our image" (Gn 1:26).  Likewise the Father and the Spirit are participants in our redemption.  And the Father and the Son together with the Holy Spirit continue to sanctify us to this day.

For no Person of the Holy Trinity ever acts independently of the other two.  The three Persons are so fully united in love that theologians speak of them dwelling within each other, continually pouring themselves into the other two in this eternal, perpetual cycle of love.  This never-ending giving of one Person in love to the others is the inner life of God. 

Now, if you have followed me this far, you may be thinking, "This is interesting and all, but what impact does it have on me in my life today?"  If you are a Christian seeking to live a life in the grace of God, this has everything to do with you.  We speak of being in a state of grace, and of falling from grace when we commit a mortal sin.  What does it mean to have God's grace?  What is grace?

Grace comes from gratia, and it means a free gift.  Grace is God's gift to us -- and what does God have to give us?  God possesses nothing but Himself.  And that is just what He gives us --   Himself, His very life.

So when we are in a state of grace, we have God's life within us.  And God has shown us what this life is; a life of mutual and eternal love between the Father, Son and Spirit.  No Person of the Trinity is ever separate from the other two.  This means when you receive the Holy Spirit at Confirmation, you receive also the Father and the Son.  When you receive the Son in Communion, you also receive the Father and the Holy Spirit.  The Creator of the Universe wants to come live within you.  The Trinity of Love, and all that that means, can exist inside of you.   

If you meditate upon that fact for a while it may overwhelm you.  When you fully understand that this is what God wants to give us, you cannot want anything else.  

If you keep the word of Christ, which is the same as the word of the Father, which is the same as the word of the Holy Spirit still being proclaimed by the Church today, then the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit will come to dwell in you.  They will make their home within you.  And you will know peace.

God bless!
Matt

--
WCU Catholic Campus Ministry
Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister
  
(828)293-9374  |   POB 2766, Cullowhee NC 28723

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From Davidson: CCM Bulletin week of April 29

Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, falling in love in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.
It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in love, and it will decide everything.
                ~ Pedro Arrupe, SJ



INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT MONASTIC LIFE? LOOKING FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT TO DO THIS SUMMER? (WOMEN ONLY!)
Holy Wisdom Monastery, located near Madison, WI, offers a summer volunteer program of 2-4 weeks at their Benedictine monastery. Volunteers participate in the daily prayers of the community, work in the monastery garden, gather for spiritual exploration and discussion, learn about Benedictine life, and enjoy the local area. Room and board are provided. The program runs June10-July 6. For more info, go to amoyer@benedictinewomen.org, or call Ann at 608.836.1631x197.

WILL YOU BE IN CHARLOTTE FOR THE SUMMER? INTERESTED IN A BIBLE STUDY?
UNC-Charlotte’s CCM is hosted a summer bible study for all college students in the area over the summer. It will focus on scripture study and discussion on topics of current interest. The UNCC CCM house is at 9408 Sandburg Ave, a block from St Thomas Aquinas church, and a block from the UNCC campus. For more info, contact Mary Weiner (mcweiner@email.unc.edu), Kathy Fitzgerald (kfitzge8@uncc.edu) or Sr. Eileen Spanier (ccmuncc@gmail.com).


___________________________
Karen Soos
Associate Chaplain and Catholic Campus Minister
Davidson College
Campus Box 7196
Davidson NC 28035
704. 894. 2423

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From WCU: Weekly Update from CCM

Dear Students,

It may not be finals week yet, but it is a week a finals.  This week we will have our final Wednesday night dinner of the semester, and also our final Mass on campus of the semester.  We will be praying for all of you as you finish up those last minute projects and papers and buckle down to study for your exams.  Please remember that times of stress are not occasions to forget your relationship with God.  If anything, you need to rely on Him more.  Take time each day to pray, to talk to your Father and listen to His word for you.  Schedule prayer time before study time, and you will find that these next two weeks will be less stressful and more productive.  Maintaining your faith gives you a perspective that looks beyond the end of the semester into eternity, and helps you to remember what the important things truly are.

Have a blessed week!
Matt

--
WCU Catholic Campus Ministry
Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister
  
(828)293-9374  |   POB 2766, Cullowhee NC 28723

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From WCU: Gospel For Today

FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (C)

Many of you may know the hymn, "They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love."  The title line for this song is taken from today's gospel reading.  

"I give you a new commandment: love one another.  As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.  This is how all will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
-Jn 13:14-35

St. Augustine once said, "Love God; then do as you will."  Was St. Augustine saying that it was permitted for Christians to do anything at all, so long as they loved God?  Was Jesus saying that all the other commandments and moral precepts that came before Him were abolished in place now of the single command to love?  Are the Beatles right in crooning, "All we need is love?"

The answer is no: at least not in the way that moral relativists would like to believe.  Moral relativism is the idea that there is no such thing as a good or evil action.  Our actions may be judged good or evil based on the circumstances of the particular situation, or some other outside criteria, such as our intentions.  Some actions may be wrong in some situations, but the relativist does not believe that any action is necessarily wrong all the time.  The relativist would read the above words of Jesus, or St. Augustine, and see in them permission to do anything whatsoever, so long as one is motivated by love.

Telling a lie then becomes permissible, so long as you are doing it to spare someone's feelings.  

Having sex before marriage is perfectly fine, so long as the two of you love each other.  But why stop there?  Homosexual acts would also be permitted, if done with love.  And who says love has to be limited to two people?  Why not three or more?  There are no limits in the bedroom so long as what you are doing comes from a motivation of love.

The relativists even cite love as a reason for abortion.  "I love my unborn child too much to bring her into such a cruel, overpopulated world.  I love my unborn child too much to raise him in poverty, without a father."  

What about adultery?  "I don't love my wife any longer.  I love my mistress and want to be with her."

Missing Mass on Sunday?  "God knows I love Him.  I don't need to go to Mass and prove it to anyone else.  I want to spend the time with my friends and family, whom I love.  That's what God would really wants me to do."

It becomes possible to justify any sinful action we choose to commit by finding a loving reason for what we do.  And that is easier than you think; we human beings are experts at finding good reasons to do bad things.  No one, after all, wants to commit an evil action.  We all want to do good things.  So when we are tempted to sin (as we are all too often) we first justify the action in our own minds, giving ourselves permission to do what our conscience tells us is wrong.

Jesus and St. Augustine, however, are not moral relativists.  They teach that there are some actions which simply should never be done because they are wrong, because they are beneath our human dignity and so we do damage to ourselves when we perform them.  Jesus did not come to abolish the commandments, but to fulfill them (Mt. 5:17).  Rather than tossing the commandments out the window, Jesus in fact calls for a more strict observance of them. 
The commandments say not to commit adultery, but Jesus says to even look at another woman with lust is to commit adultery in your heart (Mt. 5:27).  The commandments say not to kill.  Jesus wants more. Jesus says not to be angry, not to insult, not to hate (Mt. 5:22).  What Jesus is doing is peeling back the outer surface of the moral law and showing us the purpose behind it.  And that purpose is love.

Jesus teaches us to call God our Father.  We are all His children.  And like any parent, God sets rules in His house.  The rules established by a good parent are not arbitrary.  They exist for a reason.  Parents tell their children not to play in the kitchen around the hot stove, because they do not want their children to be burned.  Parents tell children to stay in the yard when they play outside, because they do not want them to get lost, or hit by a car in the street.  Parents tell children not to eat cookies before dinner because they want them to be healthy.  

Like any good parent, God's rules for us are there for our own good.  They are there because He loves us.  God made us, so it reasons that He knows what makes us tick.  He knows our needs and desires.  He knows what is good and helpful to us, and what will harm us.  And He steers us away from those things that would lead to our harm (even though, like eating cookies before dinner, they may bring pleasure at the time).  

Thou shall not kill.  Why?  Because killing is an extreme violation of the love one human person ought to have for another.  Hatred is also a violation of that love.

Thou shall not commit adultery.  Why?  Because it is a violation of the love husband and wife ought to have for one another.  Lusting after someone else is also a violation of that love.

Each of the commandments can be seen as a commandment of love.  The first three deal with our relationship with God.  If we love God, we will not be tempted to place other gods before Him, or to take His name in vain.  And we will count it a pleasure to give Him worship and adoration on the holy day He set apart for us as a day of rest.

The final seven commandments deal with our relationship with our fellow man.  If we truly love our neighbors we will not want to dishonor them, lie to them, steal from them, kill them, etc.  

This is why St. Augustine can say, "Love God, then do as you will."  Because if we truly love God in our hearts, we will not want to do anything that is against His perfect Divine will.  We will only desire to do what is good, and so our loving desire will lead us to obey His commands, not to disregard them.  

This is why Jesus tells us "Love one another."  Love is the heart of the entire moral law.  If we perfectly love one another, the commandments will take care of themselves.  Sadly, our love for one another is all too often imperfect.  Even the best of human relationships are tarnished by struggles with selfishness, jealousy, resentment, etc.  Perfect love eludes us in this world.  But we try.  We are striving.  We want to grow in love and Jesus is there to help us in that effort.  

He shows us that the commandments are not there to restrict us, but to help us grow in love.  He shows us the ideal love which is self-sacrifice.  He invites us to follow Him in that love.  This is how the world will know we are His disciples.  This is how all things will be made new.  And in that new heaven and new earth promised to us, we will know perfect love, and we will finally be able to reflect that love perfectly in our own lives.

God bless!

--
WCU Catholic Campus Ministry
Matthew Newsome, MTh, campus minister
  
(828)293-9374  |   POB 2766, Cullowhee NC 28723

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From Davidson: CCM Bulletin week of April 22

A quote as we think about Earth Day:

The human person, who discovers his or her capacity to transform and in a certain sense create the world through his or her own work, forgets that this is always based on God’s prior and original gift of the things that are.
The human person thinks that he or she can make arbitrary use of the earth, subjecting it without restraint to his or her will, as though it did not have its own requisites and a prior God-given purpose, which the human person can indeed develop but must not betray.
Instead of carrying out his or her role as a cooperator with God in the work of creation, the human person sets himself or herself up in the place of God and thus ends up provoking a rebellion on the part of nature, which is more tyrannized than governed by him or her.

Centesimus Annus (The Hundredth Year), no. 37 (John Paul II, 1991)


SENIORS: LOOKING FOR A POST-GRADUATE OPPORTUNITY?
Here are two.
Room at the Inn of the Carolinas in Greensboro, NC is a comprehensive program helping homeless, single, pregnant women, not only during their pregnancies but also after the birth of their babies.  Their service program, St. Joseph of the Poor Lay Service Community students is looking for individuals who are willing to devote one year of service, are at least 21 years old, and who meet the requirements for our Resident Assistant and Child Development Assistant positions.  We offer room, board, a monthly stipend and health insurance to each member of our Lay Service Community. More info at their website: www.roominn.org. Contact me for more info about the volunteer positions.
Christ the King Service Corps, a faith-based community of full-time volunteers in Northwest Detroit, is looking for candidates to begin in August 2013. This is a parish-run program in which  volunteers form a community, not just with each other, but with Christ the King Parish and the surrounding neighborhood. Many of the volunteers have chosen to serve in the program for multiple years. CKS is seeking several certified teachers for Christ the King Catholic School in grades 5-8, community organizers to work on congregational organizing, and individuals to perform community outreach for programs that support people with disabilities and the elderly. You can learn more and apply at CKSCDetroit.org.
WILL YOU BE IN CHARLOTTE FOR THE SUMMER? INTERESTED IN A BIBLE STUDY?
UNC-Charlotte’s CCM is hosted a summer bible study for all college students in the area over the summer. It will focus on scripture study and discussion on topics of current interest. The UNCC CCM house is at 9408 Sandburg Ave, a block from St Thomas Aquinas church, and a block from the UNCC campus. For more info, contact Mary Weiner (mcweiner@email.unc.edu), Kathy Fitzgerald (kfitzge8@uncc.edu) or Sr. Eileen Spanier (ccmuncc@gmail.com).


___________________________
Karen Soos
Associate Chaplain and Catholic Campus Minister
Davidson College
Campus Box 7196
Davidson NC 28035
704. 894. 2423

at
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