Jesus is Glorified in the Members of His Body

by Fr. David M. Knight

April 27, 2024

Saturday of the fourth week of Easter

Lectionary No. 284

Acts 13:44-52/Jn 14:7-14

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042724.cfm

The Responsorial Psalm promises: “All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God” (Psalm 98). The readings take on special meaning if we understand “ends of the earth” to mean, not just countries, but in every country all areas of life and activity: family and social life, business and politics. When and how will the “saving power of God” be seen in all these areas? And when it is, will not the prophetic words of the Church’s prayer be realized: “Send forth your Spirit and our hearts will be regenerated. And you will renew the face of the earth!”

In Acts 13: 44-52 we see God using the very opposition of his enemies to accomplish his purposes. This is a pattern in the Gospels, most evident in the triumph of Jesus through his death and defeat on the cross (see Matthew 2:23; 4:12-16; Acts 11:19). Now, when the Jews in Antioch rejected their preaching the Apostles saw how this opened another door: “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you reject it… we are now turning to the Gentiles…. so that we may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.”

In the Church of our day, vocations to the priesthood and religious life have declined. But it takes only a little prophetic insight to recognize how God is using this to raise up the laity and animate them to live out their baptismal consecration by full participation in the ministry and apostolate of the Church.

Through the full participation of the laity in the Church’s mission, the reign of God will be established in all those areas the clergy can never reach: business, politics, family and social life. Vatican II says that this is where the laity are by vocation:

They live in the ordinary circumstances of family and social life, from which the very web of their existence is woven. They are called there by God… for the sanctification of the world from within, in the manner of leaven. (Church, #31).

For those who feel unworthy to exercise ministry and leadership in the Church Jesus tells Philip in John 14: 7-14 that just as the Father is working in Jesus, Jesus will be working in his followers: “Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do and will do greater ones than these.” As the Father is “glorified in the Son” so the Son is glorified in the members of his body. “Whoever has seen me [Jesus] has seen the Father.” And whoever has seen the graced members of the Church, clergy or laity, in action has seen the Church and Jesus. It is the function of the prophets to assure this “by the witness of a life resplendent in faith, hope and love” (ibid.) so that “all the ends of the earth may see the saving power of God.”

Initiative: Be a prophet. Take Christ’s truth with you wherever you go. Live it.

Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry

www.ImmersedinChrist.org

Prophets Allow Jesus to Act With, In and Through Them

by Fr. David M. Knight

April 26, 2024

Friday of the fourth week of Easter

Lectionary No. 283

Acts 13:26-33/Jn 14:1-6 

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042524.cfm

The Responsorial Psalm proclaims that Jesus is a Shepherd who will always  be  with us, because he is divine: “You are my Son; this day I have begotten you” (Psalm 2). The proof is that he rose alive from death.

Acts 13: 26-33 tells us, “The inhabitants of Jerusalem and their leaders failed to recognize” Jesus. They were not his sheep; if they had been, they would have known his voice. Foolishly, they thought they could get rid of him by having him put to death. But by this they simply “accomplished all that was written about him.” And then “God raised him from the dead.” He returned!

Jesus’ resurrection is the central fact to which the Church bears witness. Without the Gospel, nothing can explain it, and nothing in the Gospel can be explained without it. To rise from the dead Jesus had to be divine; and because he was divine, he had to rise from the dead. His resurrection was the Father’s way of reasserting: “You are my Son; this day I have begot- ten you.” By raising Jesus, the Father validated all of Jesus’ claims — to take away our sins, to give life and joy “to the full,” to give peace, the Holy Spirit and eternal life — and “has fulfilled for us what God promised to our ancestors.” Jesus is with us, shepherding forever.

John 14: 1-6 shows us that Jesus fulfilled another promise of God, and is “with us” in a  way beyond our imagining: “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days… I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 10:10).

The way we need to follow, the truth  we need to know, the life we need to live is  within us, because Jesus is within us. At the Last Supper, when Thomas asked, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus answered: “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.” But he is in us; he has made us his body. Following Jesus means being Jesus, sharing in his own divine life, light and love. God has said to each of us: “You are my Son; this day I have begotten you!”

Jesus added, “I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.” The truth is, we can be where Jesus is now, because where he is we are, and where we are Jesus is. He is the divine Shepherd who guides and enlivens us from within. We can consciously make him a part of everything we do by saying repeatedly, “Lord, I give you my body. Do this with me, do this in me, do this through me.” And he will.

Initiative: Be a prophet. Let Jesus act in and through everything you do.

Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry

www.ImmersedinChrist.org

Signs of the Prophetic Spirit within Us

by Fr. David M. Knight

April 25, 2024: Feast of St. Mark, Evangelist (Thursday of the fourth week of Easter)

Lectionary No. 555

1 Pt 5:5b-14/Mk 16:15-20

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042524.cfm

“Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord”: the Responsorial (Psalm 89) celebrates God’s fidelity even when he seems to have forgotten his promises.

1Peter 5: 5-14: In this letter, Peter introduces himself as “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.” He is encouraging new Christians to live out in their society — at home, in work (even as slaves) and in general behavior — the divine life they have received through Baptism. Especially in hardship and persecution. They are reborn as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people.” Because they share in God’s divine life, God says to them: “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Christians are “aliens and exiles” on this earth “waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God... waiting for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.” And yet, “for the Lord’s sake [we] accept the authority of every human institution.”

Peter gives particular advice to slaves, wives, husbands, and urges all in general to have “unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind.” Then he re-introduces himself “as an elder myself” to “exhort the elders among you.” “Elder” from presbyteros, “presbyter,” was the traditional name for an ordained priest, which Vatican II revived and encouraged for use in our day. Peter’s advice to the “clergy” is: “Tend the flock of God.... Do not lord it over those in your charge, but be examples.” And he urges all, “Clothe yourselves with humility... for ‘God is stern with the arrogant, but to the humble he shows kindness.’” This is prophetic witness.

Mark 16:15-20 lists some “signs [that] will accompany those who believe”:

They will cast out demons... speak in new tongues... pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.

We can include these phenomena in the “gift of the Spirit” or “manifestation of the Spirit,” in which the life of the risen Jesus in us is made visible in actions inexplicable without it.

The “gift of the Spirit” can take the form of what we call today the “charismatic” gifts: speaking in tongues, “prophesying,” etc. But Mark’s list is still being verified. Not literally, but much more impressively. Church ministry is constantly casting out “demons” of addiction to wealth, power, violence, alcohol, sex. etc., and “healing” people of sin. Not dramatically, but effectively.

Prophetic Christians speak a “different language” than their peer group, and many Church teachings are “foreign” to every culture. Christians in business and politics handle “snakes” all the time in the form of offers, proposals and problems that can destroy faith, hope and love — and survive it. We all drink “deadly poison” daily from ads and the media. We may be influenced by them, but we develop immunities. These are all “signs” of the prophetic Spirit in us.

Decision: Identify the “signs” of the Spirit in your life. Thank God for them!

Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry

www.ImmersedinChrist.org