Bringing Heaven and Earth Together
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- Written by Daragh McNally OP
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Solemnity of the Ascension
Luke 24:46-53
Today in the Ascension of the Lord into Heaven, Christ seems to leave us and enter Heaven. But, He is not truly gone, but is present to us still, but in a new way. Christ ascends to the Father, but in a sense, He takes us all with Him. He brings together Heaven and Earth. The Apostles are not sorrowful at 'losing' Christ once more like they did in the Crucifixion, because this time He has conquered death and so will never be absent from them. They are in fact, joyful. They go back to Jerusalem and go the Temple, where we are told, they were continually 'praising God'. But how is Christ present among us now that He has ascended into Heaven, and what does this mean for us today?
Christ, who is true God and true man, ascends into Heaven, and in a real sense, brings Heaven and Earth together. This is a reality today in the life of the Church. It is a reality everywhere where Mass is celebrated. In the Mass and in the Sacraments of the Church, the grace of God is a reality in the world. Christ has become present to us in a new way in the Sacraments of Faith.
A Peace that the World Cannot Give
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- Written by Patrick Desmond OP
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6th Sunday of Easter
John 14: 23-29
When Jesus' gift of “a peace which the world cannot give” is contrasted with the fragility of the peace our modern world offers, the gulf between them is so vast that they themselves require a mediator to be reconciled. Jesus is that mediator between us and the Father, bringing all things to Himself when He is lifted up on the cross. Today He urges us to allow Him pacify our war-torn world and our war-torn hearts.
Jesus the Good Shepherd
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- Written by David McGovern OP
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4th Sunday of Easter
John 10:27-30
In this time of Easter we celebrate the joy and glory of the risen Lord Jesus. We acknowledge that he is indeed the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep.
Jesus was a marvellous communicator. He used the image of the shepherd when teaching about the nature of God because he knew that those listening to him understood the work of a shepherd and that they could easily recognise what a good shepherd was. A Good shepherd ensures that his sheep are safe; vigilance is the watchword of the Good Shepherd. Jesus asks each one of us to be vigilant. Vigilant against temptations and sin, thus the challenge today is precisely the same as that facing the first century disciples of Jesus, to be ready to suffer for him.
The True Immensity of Jesus' Love
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- Written by Damian Polly OP
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5th Sunday of Easter
John 13: 31-35
This Gospel passage presents a very poignant scene to us. Jesus is speaking with his beloved Apostles at the Last Supper, preparing them for his impending suffering and death. They are in the dark about what exactly is to happen to him in only a few hours but He, the light that has come into the world, is fully aware of how He is to be glorified and how painful this glorification will be for him. Not only will he suffer the physical agony of his passion but he will also suffer through the betrayal of one of his closest companions, the denial of another and the almost universal abandonment of him by the rest of his disciples. And yet, knowing all this Jesus' words to them during the Last Supper are full of love and tenderness. He affectionately refers to his disciples as his 'little children' and he speaks of how He has loved them. He will shortly prove the true immensity of his love for them, and all his children, when he freely mounts the wood of the cross. As Jesus himself says 'Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' (Jn 15:13)
It is the Lord!
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- Written by Matthew Martinez OP
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3rd Sunday of Easter
John 21:1-19
The Gospel reading that the Church presents us with today, portrays an encounter between Jesus Christ and some of his disciples, after the Resurrection. A miracle is the result of this encounter, where the disciples, who were fishing, go from catching nothing to catching so much fish that they have trouble hauling the catch ashore. Even though the disciples do not know whether it is Jesus who is telling them to cast their nets back out again, they still follow his instructions. We are told that the Beloved disciple first recognizes Jesus, and says in faith, “it is the Lord.” Here, we cannot help but think back to the Gospel of last Sunday where the apostle Thomas, previously crippled by doubt, makes a similar faith-filled statement, when he proclaims, “my Lord and my God,” after encountering the risen Christ.