“He began to send them out two by two…”

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Sunday, June 10th 2012

Scripture

On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?” So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.” So the disciples set out and went to the city, and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal.

While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

(Mark 14:12–16, 22–26 NRSV)

Full Sunday scripture available on our parish website. Click here.

Reflection

The Body and Blood of Christ

Today marks the opening of the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, with the churches here in Ireland playing host to people of faith from all parts of the world.  For the last few years we have been praying to grow in communion with Christ and with each other; we have hoped that this week of faith and prayer  will deepen faith in Jesus Christ, and also help in our commitment to each other.

Fruit of the Congress

A fruit of the congress would be to know Christ more, and to work with him in partnership for a better world.  Our motivation for that is our common belonging to the family of God.

This is what we celebrate each time we come to Mass.  The anthem of the congress begins, ‘though we are many, we are one body’; our unity is in our sharing in the love of God, a love which creates us and is in everyone of any faith, gender, age or creed.

Social Dimension

The congress could be a good show.  It could show us at our best as Christians, both in what we do and what we hope to do.  But it must be more than a show.  The congress especially with its theme of the social dimension of the Eucharist is to impel us on with generosity to help create this better world of justice and of peace.  It is the presence of the Lord Jesus on the table spread throughout every city, town  and village of our country.

A lovely few lines on the Eucharist from the meeting of Jesus on the road to Emmaus:

We heard, eyes cast down,
when at Emmaus he broke
our common bread

and looking up, we saw Him.

His face was blazing like the sun!
We blinked, and then he was gone,

but the bread remained. 

Steven Federle

Donal Neary SJ

Sunday May 27th, 2012

Additional Resources: The full scripture for each coming Sunday is available on our website here.

You can also access the daily readings and liturgical notes here.

Scripture

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”

(Acts 2:1–11 NRSV)

“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

(John 15:26–27; 16:12–15 NRSV)

Reflection

Witnesses are called to give a report on their experience in a legal or conflict situation. We look for them after a traffic accident, in any court case, in a request for a marriage annulment. Jesus today calls his followers his witnesses, because they have been with him for some time. When the gospel writers put the gospels together they stressed that they relied on the statement of witnesses to give them the truth.

Knowing or knowing About

We are witnesses to Jesus only if we know him in prayer, and through the word of the gospels and when we make his word and spirit alive and active in our hearts. We are people who know the Lord Jesus and spread his word and message.  Witnesses to Jesus know Jesus personally, not just know about him.

This can be mysterious and hard to pin down. We know people in our lives, close to Jesus Christ who bring flesh and blood to the gospel, people who in the struggles of their lives particularly on behalf of others, have found a bond of union with Christ –   parents who have fought for the rights of their sick children, and people of every age who spend more than what is required to look after others in the family, and people who fight at personal cost for justice for themselves and others.

A daily Pentecost

Or people in neighbourhoods who have made their locality a better place to live in because they see the needs and hear the call of Jesus in others.  Religious men and women, teachers, helpers of all sorts who have given long beyond the call of duty to others because the Spirit of Jesus has filled their lives. The holy Spirit has found a way with them to make Pentecost a daily reality.

Spirit  of the living God, fall afresh on me; spirit of the living God, fall afresh on us; Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on all.

Donal Neary SJ

7th Sunday of Easter: Ascension of the Lord

Scripture

Later Jesus appeared to the eleven themselves…And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will 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.”

So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.

(Mark 16:14–20 NRSV)

Reflection

Ascension

Twelve sets of footsteps could be seen on the way up to the mountain; maybe more. One less were seen on the way down. The Lord had gone from their sight, left earth, ascended into heaven. His work on earth complete for what he would do; his work now was handed over to the apostles, disciples, men and women who had been with him, heard his message and would be the ones to spread this message.

Present among us

The details of the ascension of Jesus are lost to us; it is commemorated both in Jerusalem and in Galilee. The truth of this mystery is that he would no longer be bodily present among us, but in other ways.

The Mass gives us the ways he is present – in the community, the scripture, and the bread and wine. He is really present where two or more gather in his name; where the word is spoken and when the bread and wine are consecrated into his body and blood.  This presence, the closeness of the risen Lord to us, continues from the church and sacraments into daily life.

Mostly in the ordinary – in the daily and common life and relationships of the community. Where we truly try to live in love in the different situations and relationships of life, there God is present. We find his presence when we read the scripture – moments of pondering the word of God. We find his presence also in every living meal which is a human eucharist.

Absent yet present

The feast today commemorates absence and then sends us to find him present everywhere among us.   The word was made flesh and lived among us; the word has now left us in the flesh and still lives among us.

Risen Lord, lead us into the real presence of your love among us. Word made flesh, be close to us in all our needs. 

Donal Neary SJ

Scripture

“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another”

(John 15:9–17 NRSV)

Reflection

We may often find an energy coming through to us when we remember a loved one who is absent.  This may be the absence through death or just someone who is away.  Something about their memory brings us alive.  We know they are not fully absent, and in the case of death we have a sense that they are still alive.

Alive in Love

Jesus speaks in the gospel about being still alive even after his death.  Mostly we find Jesus alive in the love of others, in our work for the needy and in prayer. Different ‘alivenesses’ at different times.

These words of Jesus in the gospel are among his last  words. Last words from anyone are precious and well remembered. These words are behind the Mass we celebrate. Each time we take part in the Mass, we are taking part in the love which laid itself down for friends. Everything to do with the Mass has to do with love, particularly in the word of God we hear, and in the body and blood we share.

A cheering word

The word of God is an encouraging word, like the cheers of the sidelines egging on a football team. God’s word is the word of love, energizing us to live in his love and to bear the fruit of love, which is to live in care, compassion and love of others. The spirit of the risen Lord is energy for the body, mind and soul. When we think of the bread that comes from heaven as in the Eucharist, we can welcome also the energy of the Spirit giving life to all that is deepest in us.

Donal Neary SJ

Scripture

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

(John 15:1–8 NRSV)

Reflection

Without some centre of unity, groups disband or lose their way. A team which puts its eyes on money rather than on teamwork will lose its way. A family which relies on anything other than love to keep it together will fall apart. The church, the community of Jesus, is something similar.

Cornerstone

What keeps the church together at its best is Jesus. Human leadership, moral authority, ritual dogmatism are not the centre of the church. Leadership can fail, moral authority can take wrong turnings and ritual dogmatism can override the concerns of people. The centre of the church is Jesus Christ. Our unity with Jesus is the central bond of the church. He is the cornerstone.

Light and colour

Jesus uses the image of roots and branches, of fruit and tree, to show that we are very much interwoven parts of each other. Other images like this might be the unity or light and colour in a rainbow, or of source and water in a river. The unity Jesus asks for is the closest we can imagine, and this is his commitment to the church. This unity is not just with Jesus; we are united in the deep roots of belonging to him and to the same God. We are united in the love and power of his resurrection. Everyone is a brother and sister in Christ.

This unity can flow into our desire to serve God and spread the good news of the gospel. We are witnesses to him where we find love, compassion and reconciliation among his people.

May we dwell in you, Lord, as you dwell in us. Give us your peace, your energy, your joy.

Donal Neary SJ

Prayers of the Faithful for Easter Sunday now available. See menu above.

Please see under “Recent Posts” for Holy Week reflection

Scripture

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

(John 20:1–9 NRSV)

You can get the full Easter Sunday readings here.

Reflection

When we ask for a wake up call in a hotel, we hope and trust it will happen.  Wake up call..a phrase we often use.  It means a new way of looking on something.

Wake Up Call

Easter is a  wakeup call – to a beautiful day and a wonderful way of life.  Christ is risen…he is risen indeed.

You can bury truth but it will always rise again.  Truth of today – we come from God and we go to God.  Jesus found that too this day. Nothing not even death could keep him from returning in glory to God.

But in between…that’s where we are now.  And today is the new wake up call.  Remember waking up – to a big day.  Graduation, ordination, wedding, holiday, falling in love, your child’s birthday, going to a  new school – these are awakenings to a new day,

Or to  a bad day, a funeral, redundancy, illness.  We know some day we will waken for the last time. The last time this side anyway. Celebrating Easter – wakening up to a big new world in and around us, and Easter really is every day.

New Friendship

Every day is a discovery of the friendship of Jesus…always there, always new. To the call to partnership with him in his saving work for the world. To joy in all times, even bad.

We look at Mary  of the gospel today.  All seemed lost when she last went to sleep on a dark night. Now all is new because of Jesus. Her life has changed; his wakening after death means we can all wake up now – to love, call, joy.

We can be new – he is risen.

The church can be new – he is risen.

The world can be new – he is risen.

Donal Neary SJ

Jesus, undoubtedly keen on the irony, rides in on a donkey. Before this journey to Jerusalem, Jesus had spoken to a similar crowd that had gathered in a remote location, looking for John the Baptist, looking for Jesus, looking for something. He asked them, “What are you here to see? What drew you into the wilderness? Are looking for a spectacle? For a king? A prophet?” He challenges them, exposing false expectations and political hopes and then makes an odd statement. “You found a prophet, and more than a prophet. This man John is the one about whom it is written: I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you” (Matthew 11:1-10).

Even as he speaks these words, John the Baptist is in prison, awaiting his eventual execution. And Jesus claims him, then, at that very dark and disturbing moment, as his herald, his messenger, the one who comes in the stead of the king, preparing the path that the king will follow in. I hear these words again, as Jesus rides into Jerusalem. What are you here to see? Are you looking for miracles? Food? Do you expect to find a king? A prophet?

The king we have waited for has arrived, but he is not the king that we expected. We come with plans, expectations, hopes, and dreams for what his arrival means, only to find that our thoughts and our plans are not his thoughts and his plans. His crown will be a crown of thorns, his instillation to the reign of the cross, his kingdom the smoking and charred hills of Golgotha.

What are you here to see? What do you expect, what do you find as we walk the path of the herald, the path of our prophet, our priest, our king? We come to the very edge of the end and over, convinced that in the grave we have lost our hosannas, certain that death cannot sing praise. In this week, we have the opportunity to release those certainties and expectations, to let go of our plans and schemes for the coming kingdom. Following the path of Jesus, we find the freedom to die-and the grace to rise. Following the path of Jesus, we have the opportunity to see the kingdom of our world become the kingdom of our Lord and of our Christ. Wait. And see.

Scripture

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.”

(John 12:20–30 NRSV)

Reflection

The gospel today is about  seeming failure, loss, events and experiences we don’t want in life. What we may not have chosen but falls into the earth and can come up new. Christ on the cross must have felt a failure.

Small Deaths

In death we rise to eternal life and love,  and in the smaller deaths of our days we rise to deeper life.  Our sufferings and hurts and little deaths may deepen our  lives, especially suffering with love.

We know many people who say that God worked great in the deepest emptiness they knew. In loss and bereavement, all sorts of deaths we didn’t want — they can see good in it now.

Life as it is

Can we accept life as it is; be grateful for what is good and see the wider vision? I recall a  lady of this parish now dead, who lived with polio all her life. She accepted  that she could do little about it, was grateful  for all sorts of things, and then saw others like herself and began with others the Irish wheelchair Association  and the Special Olympics.

See Jesus on the cross, looking from the height of the cross and the depth  of suffering in love, and he saw the wider picture. The world of love, the world of resurrection, the world to be saved.

The little grain falling on the ground was the most steady of all; and multiplied and fed many with  the bread of life. This is the work of the Lord of the harvest, our partnership with him in service and love.

Donal Neary SJ

Scripture

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.

(Mark 9:2–10 NRSV)

Reflection

We see Jesus in his true colours in the Transfiguration story -  dazzling white, reflecting the light he shines from the Father.

It’s the baptism colour – our white shawl! The colour  and garment which says we belong to God.

Our True Colours

On Tabor -  the apostles rest and see God in his true colours.  A popular song puts it -

But I see your true colors
shining through
I see your true colors
and that’s why I love you 

Here we see Jesus in his true colours – the Son of the Father the one promised and the one we listen to. The one loved in the Trinity.

Borderlands

And the same for us.  God sees us truly and loves us.  The place hints at that. It’s a borderland mountain -  around  Samaria,  a place where no Jew would go.  Jesus shines through on our borderlines – places of guilt, shame, fear, anxiety, and when we are not accepting and loving of ourselves.

Jesus saw the apostles in their true colours. In their sleep, fear and unfaithfulness he cared for them, and loved them to the end.

Lent is a journey to baptism and renewal of baptism on Holy Saturday. The lead-in to our renewal of being sent in the name of Jesus, in the love of the Father and with the energy of the Spirit – to live and love, work and influence the world,  trying to do the world a world of good.

Donal Neary SJ

]]> http://cesarsalad.wordpress.com/2012/02/19/feb-19-2012-seventh-sunday-in-ordinary-time-sunday-gospel-reflection-the-sins-of-this-world/ Sun, 19 Feb 2012 09:16:53 +0000 cesarsalad http://cesarsalad.wordpress.com/2012/02/19/feb-19-2012-seventh-sunday-in-ordinary-time-sunday-gospel-reflection-the-sins-of-this-world/ http://cesarsalad.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/feb-12-2012-sixth-sunday-in-ordinary-time-do-good-without-discrimination/ Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:53:31 +0000 cesarsalad http://cesarsalad.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/feb-12-2012-sixth-sunday-in-ordinary-time-do-good-without-discrimination/ http://gardinerstreetparish.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/gospel-reflection-7th-sunday-ordinary-time/ Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:52:24 +0000 Gardiner Street Parish, Dublin http://gardinerstreetparish.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/gospel-reflection-7th-sunday-ordinary-time/ Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – Feb 19^th 2012.

Scripture

When he entered again into Capernaum after some days, it was heard that he was in the house. Immediately many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even around the door; and he spoke the word to them. Four people came, carrying a paralytic to him. When they could not come near to him for the crowd, they removed the roof where he was. When they had broken it up, they let down the mat that the paralytic was lying on. Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

But there were some of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak blasphemies like that? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you reason these things in your hearts?Which is easier, to tell the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven;’ or to say, ‘Arise, and take up your bed, and walk?’But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I tell you, arise, take up your mat, and go to your house.”

He arose, and immediately took up the mat, and went out in front of them all; so that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

(Mark 2:1–12 WEB)

Reflection

We would all say that our faith and christian life has been helped or hindered by other people. The faith of one effects the faith of all, in the family and in the community and the neighbourhood.

Faith for the paralysed man opened a door to a living relationship with God in Jesus. Faith was the door opening to the forgiveness of sins, and then to the cure of the sick man. It was the faith of the others that brought him to Jesus. We have no evidence that he himself even wanted to go.

Faith of One – Faith of All

The faith of all helped the sick man – he was healed by ‘their’ faith. Our faithful time of prayer may help people we know or do not know. Our example of faith can influence people in our local circle even though we may be unaware of it.

Many people would like faith to be private. That it would have no effect or influence on politics, education, health care and many other issues of society. While faith does not wish to impose, it wishes to have some say in the ordinary issues of life.

The man who owned the house in the gospel incident today lost the roof of his house. Sometimes the faith and convictions of others will effect change in our lives. Faith asks for openness to the goodness and the issues of others. Sometimes we will be challenged in the community of faith, by someone’s life, by a homily or by a story of another’s faith.

In the best of christian community healing and new life happens as it happened for the paralysed man, and as it happened for those who brought him to Jesus.

Donal Neary SJ

The kingdom of heaven has come near, near enough to touch us. This man, a leper, who has been ostracized from his community, his family, and his God, finds the courage to come into town, seeking Jesus. Presumptuous with his very need, he entreats Jesus: “If you want to, if you care, I could be whole.” There is an element of challenge in his request. If you are the Messiah, if you are the Son of God, if the kingdom of God is here, like you are preaching—then save me, make me whole.

Jesus responds, not with a word of healing, not with instructions for the man to go and perform an act of faith, but with a touch. Jesus, deeply compelled and moved by the leper’s petition, reaches out and places his hand on the man. I wonder, how long it had been since someone had touched him, since someone had not recoiled from his very appearance. This healing reaches beyond restoring the health of his skin. This touch offers the man a chance at reinstatement into the life of the town and the opportunity to worship again in the temple. Jesus’ healing touch restores wholeness of body and mind and soul.

But with that touch, with his willingness to come into physical contact with this outcast, Jesus assumes his place. The leper moves into the town. Jesus moves into the wilderness. The leper rejoices to be brought back into community even as Jesus takes on his exile. This is the gospel. This is the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus has come preaching good news and lofty ideals. He proclaims that the very spirit of God empowers him to proclaim words of hope to the poor, to offer freedom to prisoners, provide healing for the blind, and release the oppressed (Luke 4:18-19). In Jesus, God is present with us as one of us, subject to our pains and fears, our illnesses and weaknesses. In Jesus, God reaches out to touch us, to lay a hand of peace and healing on our broken bodies and hearts. In Jesus, all of the lines drawn to divide the clean from the unclean and those who are whole from those who are sick are destroyed.

This is the kingdom of heaven, Jesus reaching out to touch us, Jesus willing that we be clean, Jesus restoring us to community. There are no more outcasts in the kingdom of heaven, there are no more lepers, no more who are unclean or undesirable or unwelcome. This is the kingdom that we, as recipients of these graces, live into and live out of.

Tonight, I think of those who are alone within themselves, those lost to self-imposed exiles and those suffering under the judgment of others. Those voices are not God’s word to you. Those messages are not the good news of Jesus. Jesus says, “I will. I want to, I desire to, I long to see you whole. Be well.” And he reaches to embrace you.

Amen.