Fourth Sunday after Easter
15 May 2022, St. Dominic, Canton
James
1.17-21
John
16.5-14
Praised be Jesus Christ!
Already on this Sunday the Easter Season shifts its focus over
from the accounts of the appearances of the Risen Lord Jesus to thinking about
the why and the wherefore of Pentecost, the birthday of the Church, which is
now just three weeks away. In some ways, you might say that this Sunday stands
at a high point on the road, looking back to Easter and forward to Pentecost and
affirming our empowerment by God’s holy will to be that new creation in
holiness and truth, not anxiously grasping at anything or clenching our fists but
simply being filled with God’s light and being born in newness of life by His
word of truth.
St.
John’s Gospel today sums up in just two sentences the essence of what is at
stake in the great mystery we are called to ponder on this our day of rest.
“But I tell you the truth: it is expedient to you that
I go, for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you: but if I go, I will
send Him to you. And when
He is come, He will convince the world of sin and of justice and of judgment.”
We can see the Easter Alleluia blossoming into the fire of
Pentecost and thereby empowering us to cooperate in heaven’s work of renewing
all things on earth for the glory of God’s holy Name. We find ourselves very
much at the center of events in being called to bring forth our genuine sorrow
for sin, to amend of lives, and to make reparation for our sins and offenses
both for our own sakes and for the sake of the life of the world.
One of the mistaken impressions we often have growing up is
to think that those we read about in the Gospels, who lived back in His time, those
who followed Jesus in this life, had some great advantage over us. I am not
saying that the Lord’s closest followers didn’t have a privilege which is not
ours, namely of coming to know Jesus in the flesh. It is understandable that we
envy the kind of life in Christ which His followers experienced back in His own
day and time. We may tend to see our share in Christ’s life as less real or
less intense than that of the Apostles and the disciples and women who
accompanied Jesus through His public ministry, who were with Him in His
suffering and death on the Cross all the way to the joy of His Resurrection
from the dead. But we would not be justified or excused in doing so. That is
not the teaching of Christ. Our Catholic Faith teaches us that this impression
of our being at a disadvantage because we are separated from Him by nearly two
millennia is just that, it is just an impression. The Gospel for Divine Mercy
Sunday makes that eminently clear. “Because thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou
hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen and have believed.”
Our faith may be centered on Christ, but in the fullest sense
by the Divine will our faith is Trinitarian. We are indeed marked by the Sign
of the Cross, which we make In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost. We live out our faith in the One God in Three Divine Persons within
the community of the Church founded by Christ. “But I tell you the truth: it
is expedient to you that I go, for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to
you: but if I go, I will send Him to you.”
A
discovery which I made a lot of years ago was that included in the
supplementary documentation to the Roman Catechism published especially for
parish priests by the Council of Trent there is contained an Index of all the
Sunday Gospels included in the traditional Missal. Each Sunday’s Gospel passage
is noted in this Index with specific references to the Catechism. For
centuries, priests who held faithfully to this Index in preparing their Sunday
sermons could practically get their congregation through the whole Catechism in
the course of a year’s preaching at Sunday Mass.
For the passage from the Gospel of St. John assigned to this 4th
Sunday after Easter, the Index in the back of the Catechism references the two
sentences I just quoted and notes the relative sections of the Catechism
dealing with the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity and the Sacrament of
Penance.
It is the second sentence I quoted which interests me today. In
the relative section of the Catechism treating the Sacrament of Penance it
refers especially to our need for sincere contrition for our sins both great
and small. It addresses our need daily to be voluntarily doing acts of penance
in reparation for what we have done or have failed to do against God and our
neighbor. “And when He is come, He will convince the
world of sin and of justice and of judgment.”
Our faith would have us reject all in our lives that is of
sin. We are exhorted to detest every sin for love of the Creator Who made us
for His love, to detest all sin for love of the Savior Who ransomed us from sin
and death by His Most Precious Blood.
Let me leave you some homework for your quiet time on this
Lord’s Day, this day of rest, this day which is yours in so far as you keep it
with the Lord. In the light of the Catechism and of its references to St.
Thomas Aquinas and to St. Augustine, and to the teaching of the Council of
Trent, my question for you to ponder would be this: Can you honestly say you
detest all that is of sin in your life? Is there some part of your life that
you are failing to reform? Some place where you are holding out on God’s law? Keeping
the laws and commandments to 99% is not enough. Your holdout undermines all the
rest and renders your love of God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength
something less than honest or complete.
I can remember two novelists over the years being recommended
to me by two different superiors who made me the gift to read of a classic
novel by each author. Both books ended up in the trash and for the same reason.
The protagonist in both cases was supposed to have an intimate relationship
with God and enjoy all kinds of spiritual favors. The books described their respective
heroes as having some sort of mystical union or communion with God, as enjoying
special favor and protection by the Almighty. At the same time, however, these
novelists would have the reader believe this to be true even though both heroes
regularly violated the 6th and 9th Commandments. Into the
trash! One grievous sin puts us at odds with God on all fronts and fallen from
grace all around for lack of true love of the Lord. The first and greatest
command, to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength admits of no
reservations or compromises.
The Catechism this Sunday urges us to a genuine hatred of all
sin without exception, to real sorrow for all of our sins out of love for God. Even
with a couple weeks remaining in the Easter Season, we may be well advised out
of love for Christ to let penance mark our lives and open us to the indwelling
of the Paraclete sent to us by Christ from the Father’s Right Hand. “And when He is come, He will convince the
world of sin and of justice and of judgment.”
Praised by Jesus Christ!
PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI
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