Prophets are Faithful to Jesus Christ

by Fr. David M. Knight

April 20, 2024

Saturday of the Third Week of Easter

Lectionary No. 278

Acts 9:31-42/Jn 6:60-69 (278)

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042024.cfm

The readings, summarized in the Responsorial Psalm, are about acknowledging and repaying the good someone has done: “How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me?” (Psalm 116).

Acts 9: 31-42 shows us God rewarding Tabitha, who had been “devoted to good works and acts of charity.” When she died, “all the widows came to Peter weeping and showing him the tunics and cloaks she had made while she was with them.” Through Peter, God “raised her up” to life again. God’s return to her and to us for the good that we do is everlasting life, joy forever.

In John 6: 60-69 we see the opposite taking place. People Jesus had blessed with his ministry, even his own disciples, began “murmuring” against his promise, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.” Many of his disciples said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” When he gave them miracles, they were happy to be with him. But when he asked them for faith they refused him.

We find the same mystery that Jesus found in people’s free responses. Why do some people find joy in the faith while others with the same background and training — perhaps members of the same family — give up the faith as meaningless to them?

The answer Jesus gives sounds like predestination: “Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe…. And he said, ‘For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.’” But he is not denying free will or saying that some are given the grace to believe and others are not. He is simply pointing out that faith is a gift; it is not just a free human choice but the acceptance of a gift from on high. And some will not accept to believe on those terms; they want everything to be clear and simple to them, reduced to understandable human dimensions. They want their religion to be humanly “meaningful.” Many stop going to Mass, mindless of its mystery, because it doesn’t “turn them on.”

Jesus did not explain how we can “eat his flesh.” It was “believe” or “not believe” — no middle ground. As a result, “many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer walked with him.” Jesus asked the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Peter answered for all, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

“How shall we make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for us?” The answer is simple: “Believe” — not because we understand, but simply to be faithful to Jesus Christ.

Initiative: Be a prophet. Respond with faith even when you don’t understand.

Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry

www.ImmersedinChrist.org

Prophets are Nourished and Sustained by Eucharist

by Fr. David M. Knight

Friday April 19, 2024

Friday of the Third Week of Easter

Lectionary No. 277

Acts 9:1-20/Jn 6:52-59

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041924.cfm

The Response (Mark 16:15; used with Psalm 117) is a mandate to all Christians consecrated at Baptism to be prophets: “Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.”

In Acts 9: 1-20 Saul receives the Good News the “hard way”: being struck down and blinded by the brightness of God as Jesus identifies himself to him and tells him what he must do. Jesus seems to take Saul’s conversion for granted; and in fact, when Ananias cures him, Saul, now known as Paul, is baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. Then “he began at once to proclaim Jesus.”

The sequence here is 1. encounter with Jesus; 2. instruction (we presume) from Ananias; 3. Baptism; 4. the gift of the Holy Spirit (which may have preceded Baptism); 5. proclamation of the Good News with joy.

In the Church’s pastoral practice today, children usually receive Baptism first, then instruction — in the course of which, hopefully, they encounter Jesus. And then they may or may not — depending on how consciously they have received the Holy Spirit — begin to proclaim the Good News to others.

Jesus called Paul “an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles.” We are all chosen instruments of God, as truly as Paul was, consecrated as prophets by Baptism and empowered by the Spirit at Confirmation to pro- claim the Good News of Jesus. But before we will do this we must encounter Jesus in a way that is deep, real and personal to us. And we need to pursue instruction as disciples in order to embody the message of Jesus authentically in our lives and express it without distortion in our words.

Eucharist is a key element in all this. If we participate “fully, actively and consciously,” we can both receive instruction and encounter Jesus, come to know him, “in the breaking of the bread” (Luke 24: 27-35).

Eucharist also sustains and nourishes Christ’s life in us. In John 6: 52-59 Jesus said, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me” — and will in turn be sent by Jesus to share with others the joy of life in Christ.

We are sent, not just by Christ, but as Christ: Jesus goes out with us to work in us and through us, as in his own body (which we are). He can give divine life through us because he abides in us, and we in him. Jesus has life from the Father; we have life from Jesus; and in us Jesus gives life to the world. This is our encouragement to “Go out to all the world and tell the Good News”: Christ in us.

Initiative: Be a prophet. Proclaim the Good News with joy. And train for it.

Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry

www.ImmersedinChrist.org

Prophets Embody Faith, Hope and Joy

by Fr. David M. Knight

April 18, 2024

Thursday of the Third Week of Easter

Lectionary No. 276

Acts 8:26-40/Jn 6:44-51

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041824.cfm

The Responsorial Psalm has the same response as yesterday — “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy” (Psalm 66) — but the verses selected focus on God’s saving help rather than his “tremendous deeds.” The readings likewise focus on the joy that comes from being saved: saved from death through the gift of everlasting life.

In Acts 8: 26-40 Philip is asked to explain a passage about the suffering of the Savior that does not seem to speak of joy: “In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who will tell of his posterity? For his life is taken away from the earth.” But when Philip explained about Jesus, the meaning of his death and the triumph of his resurrection, his listener believed, was baptized, and “continued on his way rejoicing.” Even suffering, whether Jesus’ or our own, need not deprive us of joy if we can find meaning and value in it. “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy,” for Jesus has risen from the dead and so will we.

Philip brought joy to the eunuch by teaching him the meaning of Scripture, as Jesus did: “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11). But joy actually comes through the new life given in Baptism. Jesus said, “I came that they might have life and have it to the full (John 10:10). He gives us joy by giving us the divine life of God.

John 6: 44-51 presents the same sequence of learning-believing-life. Jesus quotes Isaiah 54:13: “They shall all be taught by God,” and continues, “Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.” It is not just listening and learning that saves; it is choosing to believe: “Whoever believes has eternal life.”

Believing involves coming to Jesus in faith. We find divine life in living contact with Jesus: “I am the bread of life…. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.” Divine life comes through incorporation into Jesus, through assimilation into his body.

This is expressed, experienced and realized in a unique way in Eucharist. Saint Augustine explains that in contrast to ordinary eating, when we receive Communion we become what we eat. We are transformed more fully, assimilated more completely into Christ. Because we “become Christ” by the sacrament of Baptism (St. Augustine again), we can no more be overcome by death than Jesus was. Because his life in us is sustained and nurtured by the Eucharist, we will “eat and not die.” “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy,” because in Jesus we have the Bread of Life, now and forever.

Initiative: Be a prophet. Embody your faith, hope and joy in the way you participate in Eucharist — through your words, actions and enthusiasm.

Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry

www.ImmersedinChrist.org