Prayers for today: Let all the earth cry out to God with joy; praise the glory of his name; proclaim his glorious praise, alleluia. (Psalm 65: 1-2)

God our Father, may we look forward with hope to our resurrection, for you have made us your sons and daughters, and restored the joy of our youth. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen. Alleluia.


Blessed James Oldo (1364-1404)



James of Oldo was born in 1364, into a well-to-do family near Milan. He married a woman who, like him, appreciated the comforts that came with wealth. But an outbreak of plague drove James, his wife and their three children out of their home and into the countryside. Despite those precautions, two of his daughters died from the plague, James determined to use whatever time he had left to build up treasures in heaven and to build God’s realm on earth. He and his wife became Secular Franciscans. James gave up his old lifestyle and did penance for his sins. He cared for a sick priest, who taught him Latin. Upon the death of his wife, James himself became a priest. His house was transformed into a chapel where small groups of people, many of them fellow Secular Franciscans, came for prayer and support. James focused on caring for the sick and for prisoners of war. He died in 1404 after contracting a disease from one of his patients. James Oldo was beatified in 1933.


The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John (21.1~19)
Afterwards Jesus appeared again to His disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. "I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realise that it was Jesus. He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?" "No," they answered. He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. Then they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught." Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask Him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to His disciples after He was raised from the dead. When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love Me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." The third time He said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then He said to him, "Follow me!"


The Resurrection
(Homily by Fr. E.J. Tyler)

The Oxford Movement in the third decade of nineteenth century England was, among other things, an attempt to restore the authority and spiritual life of the Anglican Church. This was understood by its leaders as requiring a recovery of the Catholic ethos of the early Church, as interpreted theologically by the Caroline divines of the seventeenth century. All acknowledge that John Henry Newman was its driving intellectual leader, and the elements of his thought continue to be the object of widespread research. Now, Newman saw clearly that the foe of Christian faith in his time was Rationalism. The rationalism that Newman opposed insisted that the validity of Faith and its tenets must be judged by the requirements of so-called “Reason.” In effect, “Reason” meant the formal requirements of logic and demonstration, such that if the believer could not demonstrate his case according to the canons of scientific proof, his case could not stand. Newman opposed this notion of the reasonable as being unreal. It was not how human beings arrived at valid convictions. The human being becomes convinced of something not just because it can be “demonstrated,” but because of a host of factors that are usually impossible to put into syllogistic form. Perhaps the most important factor (among others) leading a person to be convinced of the truth of something is antecedent probability. A formal “demonstration” of the existence of God, which might satisfy the demands of formal logic, of itself and alone will not usually lead to personal conviction of its truth. Rather, what will be decisive will be the convergence of factors which, while in logic might be probabilities, amount in his judgment (i.e., according to his “reason”) to a certainty. Newman also said that in matters moral and religious, what a person perceives to be true will depend in large measure on his own moral state — the state of his heart, of his will. This in turn depends on his fidelity to duty. What I am highlighting in this reference to Newman here is the importance of antecedent probability in arriving at religious truth, and of the state of a person’s heart in what he expects to be the truth.

We have a beautiful Gospel scene before us today John 21:1-19, the scene of the risen Jesus on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. There he is as dawn is breaking, a lone figure whom the disciples see from their boat. He is soon recognized by the beloved disciple, but this recognition followed on their encounter with the risen Jesus back in Jerusalem on the day of his resurrection. Our scene today invites us to recall the frame of mind of our Lord’s closest disciples, his Apostles no less, following his terrible death and hasty burial on the Friday afternoon. A great gloom enveloped them and during the entire Sabbath day that followed, a great darkness covered their souls. It was well represented by the two forlorn disciples leaving Jerusalem for Emmaus on the Sunday morning. They were joined by the risen Jesus, but failed to recognize him. The striking thing about the entire group of disciples — with the exception, we may be sure, of Christ’s own mother — was their conviction that his death was the end. They did not have the slightest sense of the probability of his rising from the dead. He had spoken of this explicitly. He had foretold his rejection, his condemnation, his passion, his death — and had even foretold how he would die. It would be by crucifixion. But he had repeatedly said he would also rise — and had specified that it would be on the third day. Nevertheless, they had no sense even of its probability, let alone of its certainty. They utterly lacked what Newman says is the principal factor leading to conviction in matters of real life; a sense of its antecedent probability. Not only did they not expect it, but they expected the opposite. Because of this they did not accept the various reports coming from reliable witnesses on the day of his resurrection. They regarded it as overwhelmingly improbable, despite all they had seen and known of Jesus Christ and of what he had predicted. Thomas even refused to accept the joint witness of the other Apostles. Why did they regard it as so improbable? Our Lord made it clear to them that it was due to the hardness of their hearts.

As I mentioned earlier, Newman also taught that in matters moral and religious, what a person accepts as likely will depend on his moral state. Religious conviction — or faith — does not just depend on so-called “Reason.” It depends on the state of our hearts, for this will shape what we consider to be probable. In turn, our sense of what is probable will shape our response to those many things that point to the truth of something. It was because of the state of their hearts that the Apostles did not accept the news of the resurrection — in other words, the good news of the Gospel. They regarded it as totally improbable. It was only when the Fact of it was presented before their eyes that they became convinced. Let us ask our Lord to pour his grace into our hearts and make of them good soil for the great truth of the resurrection.


Character

Maturity. Stop making faces and acting like a child! Your bearing ought to reflect the peace and order in your soul.

(The Way, no. 3)

Prayers today: You are a people God claims as his own, to praise him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light, alleluia. (1 Pet 2:9)

God our Father, look upon us with love, you redeem us and make us your children in Christ. Give us true freedom and bring us to the inheritance you promised. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who liveth and reigneth world without end. Amen. Alleluia.


St. Benedict Joseph Labre (d. 1783)




Benedict Joseph Labre was truly eccentric, one of God's special little ones. Born in France and the eldest of 18 children, he studied under his uncle, a parish priest. Because of poor health and a lack of suitable academic preparation he was unsuccessful in his attempts to enter the religious life. Then, at 16 years of age, a profound change took place. Benedict lost his desire to study and gave up all thoughts of the priesthood, much to the consternation of his relatives. He became a pilgrim, travelling from one great shrine to another, living off alms. He wore the rags of a beggar and shared his food with the poor. Filled with the love of God and neighbour, Benedict had special devotion to the Blessed Mother and to the Blessed Sacrament. In Rome, where he lived in the Colosseum for a time, he was called "the poor man of the Forty Hours Devotion" and "the beggar of Rome." The people accepted his ragged appearance better than he did. His excuse to himself was that "our comfort is not in this world." On the last day of his life, April 16, 1783, Benedict Joseph dragged himself to a church in Rome and prayed there for two hours before he collapsed, dying peacefully in a nearby house. Immediately after his death the people proclaimed him a saint. He was officially proclaimed a saint by Pope Leo XIII at canonization ceremonies in 1883.


The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John (6.16~21)

When evening came the disciples of Jesus went down to the sea, got into a boat and went across for Capharnaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come back to them. A strong wind blew and the sea began to stir. They had rowed some twenty five or thirty furlongs when they saw Jesus walking on the sea and approaching the boat. They were afraid, but He said to them: "It is I. Do not fear." Then they took Him on board willingly enough and very soon the boat reached the shore to which they were going.


The New Moses
(Homily by Fr. E.J. Tyler)

Our passage today is from the Gospel of St John, and one of the many connections this Gospel makes is that between Jesus Christ and Moses. At the outset of the Gospel, in its very prologue, Christ is compared with two prophets before him: John the Baptist and Moses. John the Baptist “was not the Light; he was sent to bear witness to the Light.” It is Jesus Christ who “is the true Light” (1:8-9). Through Moses “the law was given to us; through Jesus Christ grace came to us, and truth” (1:17). The hint is that Jesus Christ is a new and much greater Moses. In the sixth chapter of the Gospel, Christ gives a great “sign” that led the people present to identify him as “the Prophet who is to come into the world.” The Scriptures had pronounced that there had never been a prophet equal to Moses, and Moses himself had spoken of the Prophet who would come. They were to listen to him — suggesting that he would be a greater Prophet than Moses. The “sign” (6:14) that Christ had given of feeding the multitudes on the other side of the Sea of Tiberius away from their homes (perhaps suggesting “the wilderness”), surely conjured up the memory of Moses at the head of his people in the wilderness. Moses had appealed to God and God had sent manna from heaven. Here was a new Moses — “the Prophet,” no less. This “sign” given, our Lord presumably directs his disciples to make their way back across the Lake to Capernaum, which they proceeded to do. Evening had come, and perhaps our Lord was busy still in the ministry of the day or had withdrawn to pray. He indicated to them that he would follow, which they interpreted to mean that he would follow them in one of the other boats. So they set off across the water, and “it was already dark, but Jesus had not come to them” (6:17). Imagine the scene — “the sea was rising, because a strong wind was blowing” (6:18). Long before, the children of Israel had passed across the Red Sea with Moses at their head. The disciples are in difficulty and there before them is Jesus “walking on the sea, and drawing near to the boat” (6:19).

Moses had been the great liberator raised up by God to bring the children of Israel out of slavery to the Promised Land. He had been the redeemer of the people from the thraldom of Egypt. He had led them across the Red Sea into the wilderness, and there, as a result of his prayer to God, the people had been fed daily with manna from heaven. Thus they eventually passed through the desert into the land given by God to their forefathers and promised to them through the mouth of Moses. A new and much greater Moses has now come. There is no difficulty he cannot save us from. Whatever be the storms that beat about our craft — the craft of our own individual lives, or the craft of the Church — our Moses is always near at hand. Many times in the course of history the Church has been subjected to appalling vicissitudes. Let us think of the three centuries — three centuries! — following the death and resurrection of Christ and his command to make disciples of all the nations. There were centuries of repeated and ruthless persecutions. Then finally a springtime arrived, and it was shown that Christ had been with them on the turbulent Sea. He had been repeating to them all along, Do not be afraid. It is I! I am with you. These words of Christ to his disciples are themselves very evocative. They mirror the words of Yahweh God speaking to Moses from the Burning Bush. Moses had asked for his name so as to tell the people which God (among the various gods) had sent him. The answer was given: I am — I am who I am! Let us remember that Jesus Christ was and is the Word made flesh. Those stunning words had come from the one God, who would be revealed to be triune. That is to say, they had come from the Word, who now was flesh. Here on the turbulent water he utters them again to his disciples and through them to his Church down through the ages in the midst of their recurring vicissitudes. I am, and I am with you in the midst of everything, come what may. Significantly, when the disciples heard him they willingly received him on board, and “soon” they reached the shore.

Not only does God’s chosen people have a new liberator, a new Moses, but all of mankind does. God has sent his Son to lead his people across the sea of life and sin into the Promised Land of life in God. The new Moses is Jesus Christ, risen from the dead and now with his people as they bring this good news to all the nations. The nations have a new vocation: it is to be disciples of Jesus Christ, through whom have come grace and truth. He is always near, and he is our Saviour. Let us always hear his words, uttered once to Moses, repeated to his disciples, and passed on to us: “It is I! Do not be afraid!” (John 6:16-21)

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Character



May your behaviour and your conversation be such that everyone who sees or hears you can say: This man reads the life of Jesus Christ.
(The Way, no. 2)

Prayers today: By your blood, O Lord, you have redeemed us from every tribe and tongue, from every nation and people: you have made us into the kingdom of God, alleluia. (Rv 5:9-10)

Father, in your plan of salvation your Son Jesus Christ accepted the cross and freed us from the power of the enemy. May we come to share the glory of his resurrection, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Alleluia.


St. Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879)



Bernadette Soubirous was born in 1844, the first child of an extremely poor miller in the town of Lourdes in southern France. The family was living in the basement of a dilapidated building when on February 11,1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette in a cave above the banks of the Gave River near Lourdes. Bernadette, 14 years old, was known as a virtuous girl though a dull student who had not even made her first Holy Communion. In poor health, she had suffered from asthma from an early age. There were 18 appearances in all, the final one occurring on the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, July 16. Although Bernadette's initial reports provoked skepticism, her daily visions of "the Lady" brought great crowds of the curious. The Lady, Bernadette explained, had instructed her to have a chapel built on the spot of the visions. There the people were to come to wash in and drink of the water of the spring that had welled up from the very spot where Bernadette had been instructed to dig. According to Bernadette, the Lady of her visions was a girl of 16 or 17 who wore a white robe with a blue sash. Yellow roses covered her feet, a large rosary was on her right arm. In the vision on March 25 she told Bernadette, "I am the Immaculate Conception." It was only when the words were explained to her that Bernadette came to realize who the Lady was. Few visions have ever undergone the scrutiny that these appearances of the Immaculate Virgin were subject to. Lourdes became one of the most popular Marian shrines in the world, attracting millions of visitors. Miracles were reported at the shrine and in the waters of the spring. After thorough investigation Church authorities confirmed the authenticity of the apparitions in 1862. During her life Bernadette suffered much. She was hounded by the public as well as by civic officials until at last she was protected in a convent of nuns. Five years later she petitioned to enter the sisters of Notre Dame. After a period of illness she was able to make the journey from Lourdes and enter the novitiate. But within four months of her arrival she was given the last rites of the Church and allowed to profess her vows. She recovered enough to become infirmarian and then sacristan, but chronic health problems persisted. She died on April 16, 1879, at the age of 35. She was canonized in 1933.


The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ accoprding to Saint John (6.1~15)

Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Feast was near. When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming towards him, he said to Philip, Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat? He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a little! Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many? Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, He said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make Him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by Himself.


The Loaves
(Homily by Fr. E. J. Tyler)

In the Gospel of St John our Lord is presented as going back and forth between Galilee and Jerusalem in Judea. He comes from Galilee to Judea for the baptism of John and to begin his public ministry. He returns to Galilee where he changes the water into wine at Cana. Then “after not many days” at Capernaum, he “went up to Jerusalem.” There he cleanses the Temple, gives his discourse to Nicodemus and sojourns in the environs in Judea. Then he leaves for Galilee, passing through Samaria where he converts the woman at Sychar, together with many of her townspeople. Back again in Galilee where he cured the nobleman’s son, he returns to Jerusalem for “a feast of the Jews.” Then we notice — in the chapter from which our passage today is drawn — that he is back in Galilee again, where he works the miracle of the loaves for the five thousand men. Despite the danger, he returns to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles and teaches in the temple. There he encounters his enemies, disputes with them, teaching and healing. An attempt is even made to stone him. It is mentioned that he is in Jerusalem for the Feast of the Dedication — so possibly he has stayed from the Feast of Tabernacles to the Feast of the Dedication. He escapes an attempt to arrest him, going “beyond Jordan.” Then he returns to Bethany where he raises Lazarus, and then enters the City for his final redemptive act. Of course, no one would maintain that St John is meaning to present this sequence of events as exactly reflecting all historical details. It is a broad picture made up of significant “signs” and teachings. The feature I am drawing attention to here is the frequent reference to Jerusalem, its feasts and its Temple. These made up the centre of the religion of the chosen people and our Lord is portrayed as acknowledging this by his actions. The point is, I suggest, that many of the “signs” Christ works show that all of this will be transformed in the new dispensation. There will be a new centre, a new temple, new feasts, a new sacrifice and Jesus Christ himself will be its heart and soul.

We are surely alerted to this in our Lord’s first public intervention in Jerusalem, as presented by St John. It occurs in the second chapter, “and the Passover of the Jews was near at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.” Christ cleanses the Temple and points to himself — to his body — as the new Temple. After the Temple — his body — is destroyed, he will raise it up in three days. Inasmuch as this announcement occurs near the feast of the Passover, and inasmuch as Christ’s death itself would be a new Passover, we are reminded not only of the new Temple but also of the new Passover of his death that is coming. There will not only be a new Temple, but a new Passover, because there will be a new liberation from slavery. All of this brings us to our Gospel passage today. We notice that just as this first public manifestation of Christ in the Temple (John 2:13-25) was introduced by the circumstance that “the Passover of the Jews was at hand,” so the event portrayed in today’s Gospel (John 6:1-15) is also introduced by the same circumstance, expressed even in a very similar Greek wording. The Passover of the Jews was near at hand. Our Gospel event today then, also points to a coming transformation of the meaning of the Passover. Christ proceeds to feed the multitudes with a mere handful of food — just as the feast of the Passover is nigh. We remember the children of Israel being led out of slavery into the wilderness on their sojourn to the Promised Land. On the way they were fed from Heaven with manna sent by God. A new liberation is now coming, a new Passover, a new departure from the land of slavery in sin to the Promised Land of life in God. For the journey a new manna would be given, the true bread from heaven. That heavenly Bread is the body of Christ. He is our life. In the former event, the new Temple will be the body of Christ, risen from the dead. In the present event, the new manna will be the body of Christ, risen from the dead. Christ is destined to be man’s true life, his all, his means of life in God and his means of contact with God. The new religion revealed by God consists in union with Christ who is our Temple and our means of communion with the Father.

The miracle done, the people recognized that Christ was the promised Prophet, and the promised King — the Messiah. But they had entirely mistaken notions of the Prophet and the Messiah. They thought he would bring a new temporal liberation, of the same order only greater than that delivered by Moses. But no. Jesus Christ the Son of God had come to liberate the world from sin. He would do this by the sacrifice of his body as a victim on the Cross. The sacrificed Jesus is the ever-present sacrifice of the new people. He is its new Temple, and is its new and constant heavenly food for the journey to the Promised Land. We are speaking of the Holy Eucharist, the summit and source of revealed religion and of our entire Christian life.

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Character

Don't let your life be sterile. Be useful. Blaze a trail. Shine forth with the light of your faith and of your love.

With your apostolic life wipe out the slimy and filthy mark left by the impure sowers of hatred. And light up all the ways of the earth with the fire of Christ that you carry in your heart.

(The Way,1)

Prayers today: When you walked at the head of your people, O God, and lived with them on their journey, the earth shook at your presence, and the skies poured forth their rain, alleluia. (See Ps 67:8-9, 20)

God of mercy, may the Easter mystery we celebrate be effective throughout our lives. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who liveth and reigneth world without end. Amen. Alleluia.


Blessed Caesar de Bus (1544-1607)



Like so many of us, Caesar de Bus struggled with the decision about what to do with his life. After completing his Jesuit education he had difficulty settling between a military and a literary career. He wrote some plays but ultimately settled for life in the army and at court. For a time life was going rather smoothly for the engaging, well-to-do young Frenchman. He was confident he had made the right choice. That was until he saw firsthand the realities of battle, including the St. Bartholomew's Day massacres of French Protestants in 1572. He fell seriously ill and found himself reviewing his priorities, including his spiritual life. By the time he had recovered Caesar had resolved to become a priest. Following his ordination in 1582, he undertook special pastoral work: teaching the catechism to ordinary people living in neglected, rural, out-of-the-way places. His efforts were badly needed and well received. Working with his cousin, Caesar developed a program of family catechesis. The goal — to ward off heresy among the people — met the approval of local bishops. Out of these efforts grew a new religious congregation: the Fathers of Christian Doctrine. One of Caesar's works, Instructions for the Family on the Four Parts of the Roman Catechism, was published 60 years after his death. He was beatified in 1975.


The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John(3.31~36)

The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no-one accepts his testimony. The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.


Wrath
(Homily by Fr. E. J. Tyler)

During the third decade of the nineteenth century in England, the Oxford Movement was rapidly developing. It was spearheaded by a small group of Oxford dons at the centre of which was John Henry Newman — but he was one of a tight group of high-minded friends. From their pens flowed published tracts, books, sermons and reviews. They aimed at a spiritual renewal of the Anglican Church, understood by them as involving a revival of the catholic ethos of the Caroline divines of the seventeenth century — which itself referred back to the Church of the Fathers. It was a catholic revival, and its final upshot was the passing over of its leader and certain others to communion with the Church of Rome. At one point in the Movement — it was during the 1830s — Newman received a visit from some members of Cambridge University, and the subject of the liberalism of certain Cambridge men came up. He observed that what they needed in their religion was a lot more fear. They needed to be more fearful of God. The fear of God was a theme which Newman returned to at various times in his famous sermons. He claimed that modern man too often looks on God as absolutely benevolent, even in respect to sin. The modern image of God is such that we do not fear him, and in fact we take little notice of him. There is a corollary to this. It is that modern man shows relatively little concern for personal and public “sin,” and yet he becomes profoundly incensed at personal and public immorality. Consider the proportion of space given to news of unethical, immoral behaviour of individuals and institutions, and to ethical failures in government or public persons. Such failures are roundly condemned (as often they should be), illustrating the objective reality of the moral realm. People fear being exposed as immoral for this will involve the wrath of society. But they have few apprehensions in respect to “sin,” because this involves merely the supposed wrath of God. The modern media will not accuse a person of being “sinful,” only immoral or unethical. What is behind this is the absence of God. While the wrath of society is feared, the wrath of God is not.

This is to say that one of the most obviously counter-cultural aspects of revealed religion in the modern day is the revelation of the wrath of God in respect to sin. God revealed himself as pure love, as is shown in the person of Jesus Christ, and as is summed up in the terse definition of St John in one of his Letters — that God is love. But modern secular man, for whom God is absent from daily life, has little difficulty with the notion that God is love. This is because he imagines the love of God as a benign acceptance of everything. God is just a benevolent backdrop to life and reality. There are, he deems, intolerable evils in the world and this discounts the proposition that there is an infinite and holy God active in the world. But to the extent that the thought of God is admitted by him at all, he takes it to be a thought of mere benevolence. In fact, this is a facet of the relegation of God beyond the margins of the world of daily life. But it has been revealed that God’s love is a holy love, a mighty love for all that is good. It is a love that will not bear sin. God will not accept the slightest sin and this non-acceptance of sin is what the inspired Scriptures call his wrath. Sin will ultimately be completely rejected by the all-holy God, and this rejection will be a manifestation of divine wrath. Wrath is the converse of a love that is holy. There is a parallel in the indignation of modern man and media towards unethical practices because of the harm it inflicts on others. So too with God in respect to sin. While society is alert to morality and ignores “sin,” God sees every sin and, because of his love for the sinner, hates his sin. All this is to say that we need to recover a sense of the wrath of our loving God. His wrath is his judgment on sin. In our Gospel passage today, St John refers to the sin of rejecting the Son of God. It will incur the wrath of God. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him” (John 3: 31-36).

The person who has little fear of God is a foolish person. The Scriptures are replete with references to the wrath of God on sin. Compare the teaching of our Lord as it is presented in the four Gospels with that of any of the prophets. Christ’s references and warnings of the judgment of God and of the punishment of Hell are far more telling than anything in the Old Testament. In an age that ignores the living God, we ought give special thought to the divine judgment. It will help us turn away from sin and believe the Good News of God’s infinite love for all.

Prayers today: Let us shout out our joy and happiness, and give glory to God, the Lord of all, because he is our King, alleluia. (Rv 19:7, 6)

All-powerful God, help us to proclaim the power of the Lord’s resurrection. May we who accept this sign of the love of Christ come to share the eternal life he reveals, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Alleluia.


St. Martin I (d. 655)



When Martin I became pope in 649, Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine empire and the patriarch of Constantinople was the most influential Church leader in the eastern Christian world. The struggles that existed within the Church at that time were magnified by the close cooperation of emperor and patriarch. A teaching, strongly supported in the East, held that Christ had no human will. Twice emperors had officially favoured this position, Heraclius by publishing a formula of faith and Constans II by silencing the issue of one or two wills in Christ. Shortly after assuming the office of the papacy (which he did without first being confirmed by the emperor), Martin held a council at the Lateran in which the imperial documents were censured, and in which the patriarch of Constantinople and two of his predecessors were condemned. Constans II, in response, tried first to turn bishops and people against the pope. Failing in this and in an attempt to kill the pope, the emperor sent troops to Rome to seize Martin and to bring him back to Constantinople. Martin, already in poor health, offered no resistance, returned with the exarch Calliopas and was then submitted to various imprisonments, tortures and hardships. Although condemned to death and with some of the torture imposed already carried out, Martin was saved from execution by the pleas of a repentant Paul, patriarch of Constantinople, who was himself gravely ill. Martin died shortly thereafter, tortures and cruel treatment having taken their toll. He is the last of the early popes to be venerated as a martyr. The breviary of the Orthodox Church pays tribute to Martin: “Glorious definer of the Orthodox Faith...sacred chief of divine dogmas, unstained by error...true reprover of heresy...foundation of bishops, pillar of the Orthodox faith, teacher of religion.... Thou didst adorn the divine see of Peter, and since from this divine Rock, thou didst immovably defend the Church, so now thou art glorified with him.”


The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John (3.7b~15)

Jesus said to Nicodemus, "(Do not wonder that I told you,) 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." "How can this be?" Nicodemus asked. "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No-one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven— the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life."


Faith
(Homily by Fr. E. J. Tyler)

In our Gospel passage today, Nicodemus is in wonderment at Christ’s statement that in order to enter the Kingdom of God a man must be born again. The Christian is so accustomed to this teaching that he has probably lost the sense of its radical newness. It is evident from Nicodemus’s difficulty that Christ gave every impression that he meant literally and exactly what he said. A new birth was required. Our Lord did not “tone down” his language, but spoke plainly. We are reminded of our Lord’s teaching in the Synagogue (chapter 6 of the same Gospel) in which he announced the doctrine of the Eucharist. He stated that unless people ate his flesh and drank his blood, they would have no life in them. Why could he not have toned down his language and couched it in less startling terms? It would not have been so divisive. He would have retained his disciples. But no. So important was it for salvation that our Lord, who had demonstrated his almighty power and his truthfulness, judged it necessary to reveal so amazing a doctrine clearly and publicly. His hearers could not understand how such a thing could be done, for all they could think in terms of was the eating and drinking of their everyday experience. So they gave up on Jesus Christ. They could not understand, so they refused to believe. It would seem that the same temptation faced Nicodemus when he heard the doctrine from the lips of Christ of the rebirth that was necessary to see the Kingdom of God. He could not understand, because all he could think of was the normal experience of a person’s birth to life. How could a person possibly be “born again”? I cannot see how it can be, so I cannot see how I can believe. That is the temptation facing the one who hears the proclamation of revealed religion. There are so many things we cannot possibly understand in revealed religion. We cannot understand Christ’s being God and Man. We cannot understand his being one of three divine persons in the one God. We cannot understand the Eucharist. We cannot understand — though we can apprehend — the rebirth by water and the Spirit.

It brings us to the fundamental importance of faith in revealed religion. By means of faith in the word of Jesus Christ we come to know things which we cannot understand. But as our Lord points out to Nicodemus, the reasonableness of this faith is itself not beyond our understanding. By that I mean that it is not hard to understand that we can come to know things which we do not understand, and on the word of one who knows. For instance, there are many things in our ordinary everyday experience which we do not understand, but which we have no doubt exist and occur — on the word of those who know. “Do not wonder that I told you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” Our Lord refers to the wind — a natural process many may not understand, certainly in the time of our Lord. No one might understand why it is that polyps causing terminal cancer in a person’s bowel are continuing to appear, but the patient believes — and knows — on the word of the doctor that steps must now be taken. Our Lord is saying that matters of ordinary life show that faith in the word of the one who knows is perfectly reasonable, even if one cannot understand such matters. Faith in matters supernatural is perfectly reasonable, then. Our Lord tells Nicodemus that he and his own know these things — “we speak of what we know,” our Lord states. Perhaps the plural pronoun is an allusion to our Lord’s communion with his disciples and an allusion to the future Church that will speak in his name, and of which he is the head. “I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.” Ultimately our authority is divine. We believe on the word of Jesus Christ who is the Son of God. “No-one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven— the Son of Man.”

Further, and most importantly, this belief is the doorway to life eternal. Faith is the foundation of true religion, and most importantly, of revealed religion. It is the foundation of the Christian life and it takes us to our heavenly homeland. “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:7b-15). Nicodemus was a man who tended to rely on what he could understand rather than on the word of Jesus Christ. He overcame his temptation and became a true disciple. Let us follow his example and make faith in the word of our Lord the basis of our whole life.

Morning Offering: O Jesus, through the most pure heart of Mary, I offer you all the prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your divine heart, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass. I offer them especially for the Holy Father's intentions:

Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for March is: "That the world economy may be managed according to the principles of justice and equity, taking account of the real needs of peoples, especially the poorest".

His mission intention is: "That the Churches in Africa may be signs and instruments of reconciliation and justice in every part of that continent"..


Prayers this week: Rejoice to the full in the glory that is yours, and give thanks to God who called you to his kingdom, alleluia. (4 Ezr 2: 36-37)

God of mercy, you wash away our sins in water, you give us new birth in the Spirit, and redeem us in the blood of Christ. As we celebrate Christ's resurrection increase our awareness of these blessings and renew your gift of life within us. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen. Alleluia.


St. Stanislaus (1030-1079)



Anyone who reads the history of Eastern Europe cannot help but chance on the name of Stanislaus, the saintly but tragic bishop of Kraków, patron of Poland. He is remembered with Saints Thomas More and Thomas Becket for vigorous opposition to the evils of an unjust government. Born in Szczepanow near Kraków on July 26, 1030, he was ordained a priest after being educated in the cathedral schools of Gniezno, then capital of Poland, and at Paris. He was appointed preacher and archdeacon to the bishop of Kraków, where his eloquence and example brought about real conversion in many of his penitents, both clergy and laity. He became bishop of Kraków in 1072. During an expedition against the Grand Duchy of Kiev, Stanislaus became involved in the political situation of Poland. Known for his outspokenness, he aimed his attacks at the evils of the peasantry and the king, especially the unjust wars and immoral acts of King Boleslaus II.. The king first excused himself, then made a show of penance, then relapsed into his old ways. Stanislaus continued his open opposition in spite of charges of treason and threats of death, finally excommunicating the king. The latter, enraged, ordered soldiers to kill the bishop. When they refused, the king killed him with his own hands. Forced to flee to Hungary, Boleslaus supposedly spent the rest of his life as a penitent in the Benedictine abbey in Osiak.


The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John (20.19~31)

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" After He said this, He showed them His hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you." And with that He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told Him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe it." A week later His disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then He said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe." Thomas said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name.


Mercy and sin
(Homily by Fr. E. J. Tyler)

There have been numerous philosophers in the history of human thought, and some of them have been great. More rarely, there have been those claiming a direct contact with the divine and then the personal authority to speak on behalf of the divine. That is to say, they have claimed to be prophets. Mahomet made this claim, and there have been others as well. The one who accepts the Judaeo-Christian revelation would probably have no trouble in allowing that in a certain sense there have been “prophets” outside the pale of this revelation, in that God can speak to whom he wills. In a certain sense, the Magi from the East, being led by a heavenly star, were the recipients of a kind of revelation and were spokesmen of it. They told the inhabitants of Jerusalem that a heavenly star was leading them to the infant King. They were “prophets” of the arrival of the Messiah. As is obvious, being a prophet was not unique to Jesus Christ, even though the Christian will count him as the greatest of the prophets and much more than a prophet. There are, however, several things about Jesus Christ that are unique to him. None of the Old Testament prophets claimed to be divine — of course. Mahomet never claimed to be divine. Nor did Buddha (who may have been agnostic in respect to the divine, anyway), nor did Zoroaster. Jesus Christ claimed to be divine, and this was perhaps the principal reason why he was condemned to death by the religious leaders of the people. Intimately connected with this divine claim was another — with its related practice — which distinguished Jesus Christ. I refer to his ready practice of the forgiveness of sins. No other prophet before him claimed the personal authority to forgive sins. Moses never said to anyone, nor had Abraham, Isaac or Jacob before him, nor did any prophet after him, say to anyone, “I forgive you your sins.” There were ceremonies and rituals of various kinds designed to symbolize man’s appeal for forgiveness and the pardon of God as a result. But no man claimed the power to forgive sins — except Jesus Christ. It is no surprise to read in the Gospels that this caused a sensation among the religious leaders.

It meant, of course, that any sinner could go to a particular man — Jesus of Nazareth — and ask to be forgiven for sins against God. At a word and on his own authority, he could pardon any man his sins. If Jesus indeed had this authority, it would be an extraordinary benefit for sinners. They would have a clear and certain access to the forgiveness of sins — and this is the fundamental problem for every man and woman. How can I obtain the forgiveness of my sins? Of course, the appreciation of this blessing is contingent on the appreciation of the tragedy and the curse of sin. If there is little or no sense of the evil of sin, there will be little or no sense of the magnificence of the blessing of forgiveness. Our Lord forgave the sinful woman after she had entered the house of the Pharisee where Jesus was dining. Your sins are forgiven you, he said to her in the presence of his hosts. It was a great blessing for her. But now, did any of the scribes and Pharisees, observing this display of divine authority, consider asking Christ for forgiveness of their sins? Obviously not, and the reason was that, apart from lacking faith in the person and authority of Christ, they lacked the sense of personal sin. They were not burdened with a sense that they were great sinners — which our Lord shows elsewhere that they were — and anxious to find some way of obtaining forgiveness. In a sense, this is the modern problem. We too lack a sense of personal sin. We may allow that Jesus Christ is the son of God, but our minds and hearts are all too readily clouded with indifference. We lack a concern for sin — at least for deliberate venial sin. As a result, we lack an appreciation for the gift of divine mercy as expressed in the ready pardon of our sins. This divine pardon for sin as constantly present in the person of Jesus Christ in the Gospels, has been handed on by him to his ordained representatives. The result is that now this blessing is even more available than it was when our Lord himself walked the earth.

On the evening of the day our Lord rose from the dead he appeared to the Apostolic band. Having rebuked them for their failure to believe the announcement of his resurrection, he conferred on them his power to forgive sins (John 20: 19-31). It was an extraordinary blessing of divine mercy, and unprecedented in religion. Men were now invested with the power to forgive sins. It means that the divine mercy is readily available wherever those invested men go. They were to go all over the world bringing the forgiveness of sins to all the nations. It is a principal reason for entering the Church which Christ founded on the rock of Peter. Let us have a deep appreciation of the tragedy of personal sin and of the blessing of divine pardon so readily available to all.

Prayers today: The Lord led his people to freedom and they shouted with joy and gladness, alleluia.
(Ps 104:43)

Father of love, by the outpouring of your grace you increase the number of those who believe in you. Watch over your chosen family. Give undying life to all who have been born again in baptism. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, whom liveth and reigneth world without end, Amen. Alleulia,


St. Magdalen of Canossa (1774-1835)



Wealth and privilege did nothing to prevent today’s saint from following her calling to serve Christ in the poor. Nor did the protests of her relatives, concerned that such work was beneath her. Born in northern Italy in 1774, Magdalen knew her mind—and spoke it. At age 15 she announced she wished to become a nun. After trying out her vocation with the cloistered Carmelites, she realized her desire was to serve the needy without restriction. For years she worked among the poor and sick in hospitals and in their homes and among delinquent and abandoned girls. In her mid-twenties Magdalen began offering lodging to poor girls in her own home. In time she opened a school, which offered practical training and religious instruction. As other women joined her in the work, the new Congregation of the Daughters of Charity emerged. Over time, houses were opened throughout Italy. Members of the new religious congregation focused on the educational and spiritual needs of women. Magdalen also founded a smaller congregation for priests and brothers. Both groups continue to this day. She died in 1835. Pope John Paul II canonized her in 1988.


The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark (16.9~15)

When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had driven seven demons. She went and told those who had been with Him and who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen Him, they did not believe it. Afterwards Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either. Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; He rebuked them for their lack of faith and their hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation."


The Heart of Man
(Homily by Fr. E. J. Tyler)

At the time of writing this, there had recently been an interview with Richard Dawkins the self-professed atheist from Oxford, conducted by a journalist of the Australian Dateline television programme. The journalist repeatedly told Dawkins that he was entirely unusual in his positive atheism (which was correct), but it soon became evident that the journalist himself agreed with much of what Dawkins stood for. They were agreed that religion is the source of great harm and violence in the world, and that this is how it has always been. Now, any sensible religious person would agree that great numbers of religious people have been the source of violence and harm. But this is not to say that “religion” has necessarily been the source of their violence. A person who is an adherent of a religion that inculcates love and justice will, for other reasons, be violent and unjust. He may spectacularly sin against the tenets of his religion. Of course, there may be religions that do indeed incline their adherents to violence. On the other hand, many who profess not to be religious have also been violent and harmful. Did Hitler profess or have any religion, or did Lenin and Stalin? Were the leaders of the French Revolution, and in particular its Terror, religious? The idea is absurd. Napoleon Bonaparte, who brought fire and sword to Europe, at best was a deist, but he was scarcely religious in an active sense. He became a little more so as his days drew to their close on the far-flung island of St Helena. There is no doubt, though, that for modern secular man the profession of religion has been discredited by the crimes of many of its professors. However, all ought understand, including the atheist typified by Richard Dawkins, that the mere fact that a person professes religion and engages in religious practices does not mean that his heart is properly moral and religious. His bad actions exclude him as a representative of true religion. As our Lord said, by their fruits you will know them. Religion is a matter of the heart. That said, the question arises, what are some of the features of the heart that are necessary for true religion?

In our Gospel today, our Lord’s disciples failed in a fundamental requisite for revealed religion. They failed in faith. Specifically, they did not believe the reports by direct eye-witnesses that he had risen from the dead. Inasmuch as the Christian religion depends on the acceptance of certain propositions as being historical facts, this failure in belief was a fundamental failure. For instance, if a person does not believe that Jesus Christ died on the Cross and on the third day rose from the dead — and Islam does not accept either — then it is impossible for him to be counted as a Christian. We read that Mary Magdalene “went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it. Afterwards Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either." A dispassionate observer might claim that there was nothing wrong with the state of heart of Christ’s disciples in their unbelief. It was just that they lacked, in their view, sufficient evidence. They were not intellectually satisfied by the claims that he had been seen in the flesh. But as a matter of fact, we have it on the word of Christ that what was wrong and what accounted for their lack of belief was the state of their hearts. We read that “Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen him after he had risen.” This alone shows how religion is very much a matter of the heart. This applies most especially to revealed religion which involves a revelation that is beyond the mere natural. In the nature of the case the heart of man must be properly disposed. If the heart of man is not right, not only will he not practise his religion as he should — and perhaps bring disgrace on revealed religion as a result — but his heart will not even be able to believe. His heart will be too “hard.”

As it turns out, we need the grace of God to properly dispose our hearts to accept the religion he has revealed in his Son Jesus Christ. We need a heart that is not “hard,” a heart that is inclined to believe the testimony of the Gospel. Our Lord said to his Apostles that on his rising from the dead, while they loved him, their hearts were too hard. They failed to believe not because of lack of evidence, but because of a deeper failure. His risen presence before them changed that, and with that they received the mission to make disciples of all the nations. Let us pray that the grace of God will create in us all a new heart, a heart disposed to accept wholeheartedly the Gospel.