Today’s scene (Mk 11:27-33) immediately follows yesterday’s event of Jesus cleansing the temple of merchants and finds Jesus already dealing with its repercussions.  Jesus and His disciples return to the temple area and are confronted by the chief priests, scribes, and elders.  They ask Jesus the question at top because of what He had done previously in the temple.  Jesus turns it around on them, saying He will only answer if they tell Him what they believe to be the origin of John the Baptist’s baptism.  Not believing it to be of heavenly origin, they refuse to say human because they fear the crowd’s reaction.  Ultimately they tell Jesus they don’t know, so Jesus also refuses to answer them.  Well, we know Jesus authority: it comes from God…He comes from God… He is God.  We profess this, we believe this, we know this.  Things get a bit more tricky since the time Jesus returned to heaven.  The question of authority is absolutely essential to know where to find the fullness of revealed truth today.  The Catholic Church claims this authority as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.  One in its unity, holy in that it was established and is protected by God, universal in its scope and message, and apostolic in its origin.  It is absolutely vital for any person of good will to ask where the fullness of revealed truth resides.  If Jesus established a church and entrusted it to men with His blessing (Mt 16:18-19), then this is where all men must ultimately look to reside for fulfillment (“the pillar and foundation of truth” [1 Tm 3:15]).  Know your faith, so, for the inquirer, you will “always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope” (1 Pt 3:15) so that others will be led home.

Yesterday’s reading (Mark 11:11-26) has Jesus and the apostles in Jerusalem, then retiring to Bethany for the night, returning to Jerusalem in the morning. On the way Jesus curses a fig tree.  Arriving at the temple Jesus drives out the buyers, sellers, and money changers, raising the ire of the chief priest and scribes who were looking for a way to kill Him.  Leaving there they come across the fig tree, now dead.  Jesus uses this to express the importance of faith in work and prayer and the importance of forgiveness of others so that one can receive forgiveness from God.  After the scene in the temple, Jesus says the words at top to the Twelve.  Two important things to consider here.  First, Jesus dwelling is to be a “house of prayer.”  Today, Jesus, in His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, really resides in tabernacles the world over.  We must always respect these dwellings.  Properly acknowledging the Lord’s presence through our actions (Sign of the Cross, genuflecting, kneeling, good posture), proper attire (beach wear and concert tees stay outside), silence (or if necessary, whispered tones, avoiding idle talk), and disposition (humble and prayerful) should be habit.  Prayer is no more powerful then when in front of the Real Presence.  Do not neglect it at Sunday Mass, and take advantage of it as much as possible throughout the week.  Second, this house is meant “for all peoples.”  Welcome everyone into your church.  May their first (and every subsequent) encounter be a Christlike one.  Never shun or avoid anyone in Church for any reason, but always reflect the love of God.  And invite others to join you for Mass: those new to town, those who have been away, those who belong to another faith tradition, those who are searching.  Our desire should be to bring everyone to an encounter with the fullness of Truth, which is the Body of Christ.

We are blessed this day to celebrate the Mary’s visit to Elizabeth after Mary’s fiat to Gabriel.  Luke (1:39-56) is the only sacred author to record this meeting.  He tells us of Mary going in haste to Zechariah’s house in Judah to see his wife (Mary’s cousin) who, Mary was informed, is with child.  Elizabeth blesses Mary (“the mother of my Lord”) on her approach as Elizabeth’s baby (John the Baptist) leaps in her womb.  She closes with the words at top.  Mary follows with the beautiful and heartfelt Magnificat prayer.  In closing we learn that Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months before returning home.  Elizabeth’s final words hopefully can be applied to each one of us as well.  With the Blessed Mother (and why do so many shy away from such a title when Mary herself says “all generations will call me blessed”?), we should have complete confidence that God is faithful to His Word.  Most of us will never have the extraordinary experience of an angelic visitation, and no one again will experience a virgin birth, but that doesn’t mean that we cannot hear the voice of the Lord and experience His power in our lives.  Sacred Scripture is the Word of God and speaks to each person the words he needs to hear in his current state.  This is an important reason that repeated reading of the Bible throughout one’s life continuously provides help, guidance, and new insight.  We also hear God through the unwritten Tradition of the Church passed on from the apostles.  All of this is safeguarded by the teaching authority of the Church which faithfully transmits this teaching to her flock.  Faithfulness to Christ’s Church and openness to the promptings of the Holy Spirit facilitated by prayer, penance, fasting, reform, and love makes God’s Word real and efficacious to us today and everyday.  How will the Lord’s word be fulfilled in our lives?

Continuing on in Mark (10:32-45), Jesus foretells his arrest, torture, death, and resurrection.  This prompts James and John is to ask that they be seated at Jesus’ right and left in His glory.  Jesus asks them if they are willing to drink the chalice He will drink and be baptized as He will be baptized.  The two say yes, and Jesus says that it will happen to them, but that He is not the one to choose who will sit next to Him in heaven.  This episode makes the other apostles indignant,  This prompts the Lord to say the words above, which He has lived, to all of His followers.  The word “servant,” and even more so “slave,” have very negative connotations, especially today.  No wonder we can find Jesus’ exhortation so difficult to follow.  But Jesus Himself says that this is the proper attitude to take — one that He has embraced Himself.  Remember that Jesus is God.  He lowered Himself to our level so that He could raise us up to His level.  Paul says it well: “Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.  Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.  Because of this, God greatly exalted him” (Phil 2:5-9).  The key is humility.  No one can claim to be more humble or more humiliated than Jesus: God become man who is reviled, rejected, betrayed, denied, tortured, and killed by the same creatures He came to redeem.  Considering all this, is it too much for the Lord to ask that we follow His lead, reject pride, embrace meekness, and consider the needs of others before our own?  How many souls would come to Christ by such an example!

The gospel reading for today (Mk 10:28-31) immediately follows yesterday’s episode of Jesus encountering the rich man.  The headline of this post is Jesus’ response to Peter proclaiming, “We have given up everything and followed you” (v. 28) after the rich man had left.  Jesus concludes by saying, “But many that are first will be last, and the last will be first” (v. 31).  Jesus’ response is difficult and hopeful at the same time.  Difficult because it is not easy setting behind or giving up on goods like family and a homestead; more so, because of the promise of persecutions as well.  Hope comes because the Lord assures us of a multiplication of family and land, and most importantly, eternal life if we only follow Him as completely and perfectly as possible.  But it can be difficult for us to see that second part.  How does losing wonderful things like family and home turn into such gain as Jesus describes?  And persecution is not a wonderful thought.  The virtue of hope, already mentioned, is necessary, but the other theological virtues of faith and love are also indispensable.  Faith manifesting in obedience, hope because Jesus tells us the way to the desired outcome, and love because we do all the things Jesus asks here because He is Lord and He commands us to love God and neighbor.  But we can also see the results here in this life.  When we pray and act selflessly do we not gain many, many brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers in the Lord?  Do we not conquer lands for the Lord by spreading the Good News?  And can we not find joy in persecution (becoming more and more prevalent in the world and in this country) because we hold fast to the truth (cf. Mt 5:11-12, Acts 5:40-41, Jas 1:2).  And then, when we have completed the race (cf. 1 Cor 9:24-27) and fought the good fight (1 Tim 6:12) and this short time on earth gives way to eternity, we will long to hear: “‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy’” (Mt 25:21).

Many different readings were proclaimed today in special Masses due to the Memorial Day holiday.  Re-entering Ordinary Time (now starting the eighth week) we also have the option of getting  back to reading Mark’s gospel from precisely the point we left off before Lent (so, today, Mk 10:17:27).  This is the story of the rich man who implored Jesus to tell him how to gain eternal life.  Jesus lists several of the commandments; the man says he has kept them all.  Then Jesus tells him that he must sell all he has, give it to the poor, and then follow Him.  The man goes away sad.  Then Jesus tells the disciples of the difficulty of those with vast material wealth to be saved (one example of His words are found in the headline).  The astonished disciples wonder who can be saved; Jesus says that all things are possible with God.  “For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains” (1 Tim 6:10; see also vv. 17-19).  Invoking the unity of scripture, we see that Jesus is not talking about wealth being evil per se, but rather that the attachment to it at the expense of God and others is not acceptable and is ultimately destructive.  The rich man went away crestfallen because he could not bear to part with his money.  Whatever our financial situation, let us never go away sad from Christ.  May our material possessions never interfere with our relationship with God and others.  Rather, may we always be considerate of good causes and the less fortunate so that we will use our prosperity, allowed us by God, to advance the cause of His kingdom in this world so that we can be happy with Him forever in the next (and bring many others with us).  Let no earthly thing distract us from this goal.

As we close the Easter Season today, we again read John’s account of Jesus’ appearance to the apostles in the Upper Room (Jn 20:19-23).  Recall that Jesus’ closest collaborators are in hiding for fear of arrest (or worse) after Jesus’ death two days before.  In the midst of this scene Jesus miraculously appears, giving His peace, showing His wounds, and sending them forth with the words above and with the power to forgive (or retain) sins.  What power the apostles received from Jesus!  While the charism of the confessional is reserved to priests like the apostles (and their successors), going forth and proclaiming the Good News is a mission for all Christians.  In this passage we recall baptism in which we became children of God, being wiped free of original sin.  The event of Pentecost (today’s first reading, Acts 2:1-11) recalls confirmation in which “[the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit[; h]ence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed” (LG 11 as found in CCC 1285).  Note that spreading and defending the Faith is an obligation, not an option.  But if we work diligently to remove sin from our lives and open ourselves to, and ask for, the grace of the Holy Spirit, it will not feel like an obligation, but rather a necessity: “[W]oe to me if I do not preach [the gospel]!” (1 Cor 9:16) and “I say I will not mention him, I will no longer speak in his name.  But then it is as if fire is burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding back, I cannot!” (Jer 20:9)  Come Holy Spirit!  Make us like Jeremiah and Paul in our zeal!

Yesterday’s dialogue between Jesus and Peter concludes today (Jn 21:20-25), as does John’s gospel.  Here Peter asks Jesus what is to become of the young man who eventually authored this very gospel.  Jesus replies with “What if I want him to remain until I come?” followed by the words at top (v. 22).  Obviously a source of confusion for some readers since John has to say that Jesus did not mean that he would never die (although he did live to a ripe old age — possibly into his 90’s).  John closes by declaring himself the author of the gospel and that there is much more that he could have said about Jesus but “I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written” (v. 25).  Returning again to yesterday’s theme, Jesus has to immediately repeat His exclamation that Peter should follow Him.  Why?  Because Peter, in an instant, takes his eye off of the ball.  By being so concerned about unnecessary matters, especially about what God has in mind for others, Jesus, an expert at reading hearts, must admonish Peter and help him regain his focus.  Let us never be so distracted or unduly concerned with matters either unimportant or best left to the Lord, that we stray off the path, impede our work on God’s behalf, or delay us from reaching our goals (i.e., God’s will for us and our missionary work for Him) on earth and our ultimate goal, heaven.  And if Jesus must let us know as well, and in no uncertain terms, that we have done the same as Peter, then thank Him and praise Him for the mercy of such correction.  As we celebrate Pentecost tomorrow, let us be mindful of the Holy Spirit and constantly ask for His wisdom and guidance.

As we wrap up the Easter season, the last two weekday readings take us to the end of John (21:15-19).  Today features Jesus’ post-Resurrection dialogue with Peter.  Jesus asks him three times if he loves Him, and Peter answers in the affirmative each time.  And each time Jesus tells him to take care of His sheep/lambs.  Then Jesus foretells the manner of Peter’s death.  Jesus closes with the words at top to Peter.  While Jesus clearly puts Peter in an exalted position in His Church (evidence of this abounds not just here but throughout the New Testament bolstered by the Old), this message is for every person.  Jesus wants everyone to follow Him because He is “the way and the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6 which we heard not very long ago) and He has “the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68 as professed by Peter and also which we heard during this season).  Where (or better, in whom) can anyone find another way or the fullness of truth or hope for everlasting happiness?  The Lord knows what is best for us and blazed a path for us to follow.  We are to start by working diligently to conform our lives to His teaching and will so we can evangelize with conviction and by example to those who do not have the fullness of truth, those who have drifted (or stormed) away from God, and those who don’t yet know the Trinitiarian God.  Let us affirm our love for God in a full-throated manner, following Him in every way, and bring others to Him through our prayers, words, and actions.

As we near the end of the Easter season, we also close out Jesus’ high priestly prayer (Jn 17:20-26) and the long sequence we have been reading from John (the account of Jesus’ arrest immediately follows).  As seen above, Jesus’ prayer now focuses on unity for all who will come to believe in Him, which will help to prove that He came from the Father.  Jesus promises to be with His followers and closes with the consoling hope “that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them” (v.26).  The lack of unity among Christians is a great scandal.  Tens of thousands of denominations with sometimes vastly different beliefs on even very core issues is not an assuring sign to an unbelieving and skeptical world that Jesus’ work continues faithfully today.  And, per the last verse, all too often the personal conduct of Christians of all stripes does not lend itself to edification of non-believers.  While it is not improper to bemoan the fact of a lack of outward unity, we see here that an inward unity must be the starting point of any witness, ecumenism, or dialogue.  This unity begins and ends with Christ.  Only in striving to be at peace and at one with the Truth — and then living our lives according to It — will we then be in a position to let that light shine through us so “that the world may know that” Jesus is from the Father.