Fr. Hunwicke on Pentecost

Fr. John Hunwicke has died, but I am so pleased to have this video of him preaching at Our Lady of the Atonement Church some ten years ago on the Solemnity of Pentecost.

[This is the direct link to YouTube.]

St. Philip and St. James, Apostles

St. Philip was born in Bethsaida, Galilee. He may have been a disciple of John the Baptist and is mentioned as one of the Apostles in the lists of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and in Acts. Aside from the lists, he is mentioned only in John’s Gospel in the New Testament. He was called by Jesus Himself and brought Nathanael to Christ. Philip was present at the miracle of the loaves and fishes, when he engaged in a brief dialogue with the Lord, and was the Apostle approached by the Hellenistic Jews from Bethsaida to introduce them to Jesus. Just before the Passion, Jesus answered Philip's request to show them the Father, but no further mention of Philip is made in the New Testament beyond his listing among the Apostles awaiting the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room. According to tradition he preached in Greece and was crucified upside down at Hierapolis under Emperor Domitian.

St. James the Less (meaning "the younger), the author of the first catholic Epistle (that is, addressed to the Church generally), was the son of Alphaeus (also known as Cleophas). His mother Mary was either a sister or a close relative of the Blessed Virgin, and for that reason, according to Jewish custom, he was sometimes called the brother of the Lord. The Apostle held a distinguished position in the early Christian community of Jerusalem. St. Paul tells us he was a witness of the Resurrection of Christ; he is also a "pillar" of the Church, whom St. Paul consulted about the Gospel. According to tradition, he was the first Bishop of Jerusalem, and was at the Council of Jerusalem about the year 50. St. James was martyred for the Faith by the Jews in the Spring of the year 62. He was held in great respect by everyone, Jew and Gentile alike, which earned him the appellation of "James the Just."

O Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: grant us perfectly to know thy Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth and the life; that, following the steps of thy holy Apostles, Saint Philip and Saint James, we may steadfastly walk in the way that leadeth to eternal life; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

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Pictured: St. Philip and St. James the Less,
painted panels from the medieval rood screen
at St. Mary's, Worstead, in Norfolk, England

St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor

St. Athanasius, the great champion of the Catholic Faith, was born at Alexandria about the year 296, of Christian parents. Educated under Alexander, who became the bishop of Alexandria, Athanasius made great progress in learning and virtue, eventually going into the desert to spend some time in retreat with St. Anthony.

In 319, Athanasius became a deacon, and as a young cleric he was called upon to take an active part against the rising heresy being put forth by Arius, an ambitious priest of the Alexandrian Church, who denied the Divinity of Christ. This was to be the life struggle of St. Athanasius.

In 325, he assisted his bishop at the Council of Nicaea, where his influence began to be felt. Five months later Alexander died. On his death bed he recommended St. Athanasius as his successor. In consequence of this, Athanasius was unanimously elected Patriarch in 326.

His refusal to tolerate the Arian heresy was the cause of many trials and persecutions for St. Athanasius. He spent seventeen of the forty-six years of his episcopate in exile. After a life of virtue and suffering, this intrepid champion of the Catholic Faith, the greatest man of his time, died in peace on May 2, 373.

Everliving God, whose servant Saint Athanasius bore witness to the mystery of the Word made flesh for our salvation: give us grace, with all thy Saints, to contend for the truth and to grow into the likeness of thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

St. Joseph the Worker

The commemoration of St. Joseph the Worker falls on the first day of the month that is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and was fixed in the calendar by Pope Pius XII in 1955. The pope expressed the hope that this feast would accentuate the dignity of labour and would bring a spiritual dimension to the work we do.

The teaching of the Church reaches back into the Old Testament, when we read in the Book of Genesis that God created man, and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend to it. From that time, God, who is the creator and ruler of the universe, has called men and women in every age to develop and use their talents for the good of others, and as a way of sharing in the creative work of God. In every kind of labour we are to remember that we are obeying the command of God to use our talents, and to receive the fruit of our labours. Our work allows us to provide for our own needs, and for the needs of those for whom we are responsible. It also allows us to show proper charity towards those who are in need.

The Church asks us to look to St. Joseph on this day, and follow his example of work, by which he showed his love and responsibility for the Blessed Virgin Mary and for the Child Jesus. St. Joseph shows the dignity of work – and whether it is manual work, or any other kind of work, we are to do it in a spirit of cooperation with God, and as an offering to Him. Any task, well done, is an offering to God. When we work, we should see it as a work done for God, and it is part of what shows that we are created in His image. In creation itself, God worked for six days, and rested the seventh. So in our own lives, we are to keep that balance between using our energy for work, and then out of respect for our minds and bodies, give a day for our spiritual and physical renewal.

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Holy Joseph, Intercessor

Unto thee God’s children sing;

Be our Patron and Protector,

To God’s throne our praises bring.

Faithful Spouse of faithful Virgin,

Lover of God’s purity;

From thy worthy place in heaven,

Pray that we may faithful be.

Guardian of the Word Incarnate,

Silent guide of God’s own Son;

Guard our hearts and lead us onward

To the life that Christ has won.

Humble man in lofty station,

God has poured His grace on thee;

Pray such grace to us be given,

That we live eternally.

Text: Fr. Christopher G. Phillips, 1991
Music: "Stuttgart" adapted by C. F. Witt, 1715

O God, the Creator of all things, who hast appointed for mankind the law of labour: graciously grant that through the example and patronage of Saint Joseph we may accomplish the work that thou hast commanded, and attain unto the rewards that thou dost promise; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

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Pictured: "Our Saviour Subject To His Parents At Nazareth"

by John Rogers Herbert 1810–1890

St. Pius V: The Pope of Lepanto

Pope St. Pius V - Michael Ghislieri - was born into a poor family on 17 January 1504.  He spent his childhood working as a shepherd, until he entered the Dominican Order at the age of fourteen.  His keen intelligence served well, and eventually he was ordained as a bishop, ultimately occupying the Throne of St. Peter.

St. Pius V lived in times much like our own.  The Council of Trent took place during his lifetime, and as is the case with most Councils, there was a time of confusion following.  He spent much of his life -- before his time as pope, and then until his death -- working to implement the principles of the Council, and strengthening the witness of the Catholic Church.

A very important event took place on October 7, 1571.  It is associated with Our Lady, and also with Pope St. Pius V.

For some time the Muslims had attempted to conquer Europe, not only for political reasons, but also in an attempt to destroy the Church and impose Islam throughout the known world.

On that clear October morning a huge gathering of ships appeared in the Mediterranean Sea, near the Greek port of Lepanto -- 280 Turkish ships, and 212 Christian ships. For years the Muslims had been raiding Christian areas around the Mediterranean and had carried off thousands of Christians into slavery. In fact, all of the ships gathered on that morning were powered by rowers – and the Muslim ships had nearly 15,000 Christian slaves in chains, being forced to pull the oars to guide the ships into battle. The Catholic fleet was under the command of Don Juan of Austria, but the Catholic fleet was at a great disadvantage in its power and military ability. This was a battle that would decide the fate of the world – either the Turks would be victorious and the Church destroyed, or the Catholics would be victorious and would put down the Muslim threat.

Pope St. Pius V knew the importance of victory. He called upon all of Europe to pray the rosary, asking for the intercession of Our  Lady, that God would grant a Catholic victory. Although it seemed hopeless, the people prayed. Don Juan guided his battleships into the middle of the Turkish fleet; meanwhile, many of the Christian slaves had managed to escape their chains and poured out of the holds of the Muslim ships, attacking the Turks and swinging their chains, throwing the Muslims overboard. The combination of the attack by the Catholic fleet and the uprising of the Christian slaves meant that there was a great victory by the Catholics fleet over the mighty Turkish fleet.

We know today that this victory was decisive. It prevented the Islamic invasion of Europe at that time, and it showed the Hand of God working through Our Lady. At the hour of victory, St. Pope Pius V, who was hundreds of miles away in his Papal residence, is said to have gotten up from a meeting, went over to a window, and through supernatural knowledge exclaimed, "The Christian fleet is victorious!" and he wept tears of thanksgiving to God.

This day has been remembered throughout the Church, first as Our Lady of Victory, and then as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary – remembering the victory God granted, and also remembering the means by which that victory was achieved – that it was an intervention by God through the prayers offered by praying the Rosary... something we might consider in our own generation.

O God, who for the confusion of the enemies of thy Church, and for the restoring of the honour of thy worship, didst appoint thy blessed Saint Pius V to be Chief among thy Pastors: grant that we, being defended by his intercession, may so steadfastly follow after thy commandments, that we may overcome all the devices of our enemies, and rejoice in perpetual peace and security; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

St. Catherine of Siena

St. Catherine was born in Siena in the year 1347, and she was the last of 25 children born to her parents. Her father was a wealthy man in the business of dying wool. From her earliest life, Catherine was a different kind of child, spiritually sensitive, and being part of such a large family, she liked to find times when she could be alone with God. It was at the age of six that she had some sort of vision near the Church of San Domenico in Siena. From that moment onward, she followed an even stricter path of devotion, and when she was only seven, she dedicated herself to Christ, taking a private and internal vow that she would never marry, but would live only to serve God.

She wanted very much to dedicate herself to Religious life, and although her parents initially resisted the idea, eventually her father gave in and allowed Catherine to follow whatever she felt God was calling her to do. In 1363, when she was just 15 years old, Catherine became a Dominican Tertiary, and wore the black cloak which designated her as a Dominican sister. She began to increase her charitable work, and spent a great deal of her time in a nearby hospital, caring for the sick.

Throughout this time she became known as someone who gave excellent spiritual guidance, as more and more people came to her, or wrote to her, for spiritual advice. In fact, she became well-known throughout the Church as a devout and gifted spiritual guide, and even as a mystic. It was during a visit to the city of Pisa that she received the stigmata in the presence of a crucifix hanging in the Church of Santa Cristina. As her spiritual fame grew, she was even asked to travel to different countries to act as a mediator for the papacy, which was at that time in exile at Avignon in France. She was very strong in voicing her opinion to Pope Gregory that he needed to bring the Papal Court back to Rome, and unify the Church. When the terrible situation arose with the false election of a second Pope, leading the Church to the edge of schism, she was instrumental in restoring the true Pope to his rightful place.

In the year 1380, when she was just 33 years old, St. Catherine died. She was eventually proclaimed to be a saint, and along with St. Francis of Assisi, St Catherine of Siena was made patron saint of Italy. Pope Paul VI conferred on her the title of Doctor of the Universal Church, and in 1999 she was proclaimed co-patron saint of Europe by Pope St. John Paul II.

O Merciful God, who gavest to thy servant Saint Catherine of Siena a wondrous love of the Passion of Christ: grant that, through her prayers; we thy people may be united to him in his majesty and rejoice for ever in the revelation of his glory; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

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Painting: "St. Catherine of Siena" by Baldassare Franceschini (1611-1689)

Easter V: Christ the True Vine

St. John the Apostle wrote in his first epistle, "this is his commandment, to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he has commanded us.” [I St. John 3:23]

As St. John's words make clear, faith and love always run together, which means we cannot have real faith in Christ without having love for one another. Love is the fruit of faith, like apples are the fruit of an apple tree. If the tree is alive and well and drawing nutrients from the soil and energy from the sun, it produces fruit. Likewise, if faith in Christ is alive and well, drawing life from Him through His Word and Sacraments, it produces love.

God’s love was shown in this: that He sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. We did not first love God; rather, God first loved us, and He sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Christ came out of love for us, while we were still loveless and unlovable. He laid down His life for us, so that we might live through Him and love through Him, and He through us.

Jesus knew His disciples. He knew what was in their hearts. He knew they were prone to arguing, to envy, to bickering over who was the greatest among them, who would get the seats of honour, who was in charge. He knew that they were opinionated men, passionate men. He knew they could be egotistical and self-centered, worried about themselves instead of each other. Jesus knew all that, and yet He loved them. He washed their feet, and He gave them a place at His table, and He said, "Love one another, as I have loved you."

And Jesus knows us. He knows what is in our hearts. Yet He loves us, bathing us in the waters of baptism and giving us a place at His table. He works in our hearts and He fills them with His love. He says to all of us as His disciples, "Love one another, as I have loved you."

It is the Lord Jesus Christ who is the actual source of His love. He is the Vine, we are the branches. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. Apart from Him, we cannot really love. Unless we are first joined to His death and His life by faith, unless we are buried with Him in baptism and are raised with Him and seated with Him in glory, unless we are in communion with Him and He with us, we will not and cannot truly love God or one another.

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Pictured: "Christ the True Vine" 16th century Greek icon

St. Mark, Evangelist

John Mark, later known simply as Mark, was Jewish by birth. He was the son of the woman named Mary in whose home was the Cenacle or "upper room" which served as the meeting place for the first Christians in Jerusalem. He was still a youth at the time of the Saviour's death. In his description of the young man who was present when Jesus was seized and who fled from the leaving behind his "linen cloth," he was probably speaking of himself.

During the years that followed, as Mark grew into adulthood, he witnessed the growth of the infant Church in his mother's Upper Room and came to know very well the traditions and practices of the Church, which we see included in his Gospel. 

In the Acts of the Apostles we find Mark accompanying his uncle (or perhaps cousin) Barnabas and Paul on their return journey to Antioch and on their first missionary journey. But Mark wasn’t ready for the hardships of this type of work and therefore left them at Perga in Pamphylia to return home.

As the two apostles were preparing for their second missionary journey, Barnabas wanted to take Mark with him. Paul, however, objected, and so Barnabas and Mark went on a missionary journey to Cyprus. Time healed the strained relations between Paul and Mark, and during St. Paul’s first Roman captivity, Mark gave Paul valuable service, which St. Paul wrote about. When he was in chains the second time, Paul requested Mark's presence (2 Tim. 4:11).

A close friendship existed between St. Mark and St. Peter; he was Peter's companion, disciple, and interpreter. According to common patristic opinion, Mark was present at Peter's preaching in Rome and wrote his Gospel under the influence of St. Peter. This explains why incidents which involve Peter are described with great detail. Little is known of St. Mark's later life, but there is an account of his martyrdom, when he was tied to a rope and dragged over sharp stones until he was dead. At the time of his martyrdom he was the bishop of Alexandria in Egypt. His relics were transferred from Alexandria to Venice, where a worthy tomb was erected in St. Mark's Cathedral.

 O Almighty God, who hast instructed thy holy Church with the heavenly doctrine of thy Evangelist Saint Mark: give us grace; that, being not like children carried away with every blast of vain doctrine, we may be established in the truth of thy holy Gospel; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

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Painting: "San Marco"

by Giovanni Antonio de' Sacchis "Il Pordenone" (c. 1484-1539)

Remembering an anniversary...

Forty-eight years ago on April 24th, when I was a young man of twenty-six, I was ordained as an Anglican priest in St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Providence, Rhode Island. I had been serving as a Deacon in St. Stephen’s Southmead, in Bristol, England, and made the journey back to America for the occasion.

It was a grand affair. St. Stephen’s in Providence was known as “Smokey Steve’s,” and not without reason. Located in the midst of the Brown University campus, it was (in those days) one of those wonderful Anglo-catholic ghettoes, where those who went to “hear Mass” imagined that the whole world lived by the rubrics of the Anglican Missal and sang from The English Hymnal, a world where the Thirty-nine Articles had more to do with the number of buttons on Father’s cassock than with the detestable enormities of Rome.

April 24th was a perfect spring day that year. Cliché as it sounds, it really did feel like the first day of the rest of my life. Little did I know what a fatal fall was waiting for the Episcopal Church – or maybe I just didn’t want to see it. But I do thank God for that day, all those years ago. It opened the door for my vocation to the Catholic priesthood, a gift that still astonishes me.

St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen

St. Fidelis was born Mark Rey and took the name of "Fidelis" when he joined the Capuchin Order at the age of 35 in 1612. He was born at Sigmaringen, a town in modern-day Germany. He studied law and philosophy at Freiburg. St. Fidelis subsequently taught philosophy at the University of Freiburg, ultimately earning a doctorate in law. During his time as a student he did not drink wine, and wore a hair-shirt. He was known for his modesty, meekness, and chastity. 

In 1604, he and three friends travelled through Europe, and during his travels he attended Mass very frequently; in every town where he came, he visited the hospitals and churches, passed several hours on his knees in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, and gave to the poor sometimes the very clothes off his back.

After he returned home, he took up the practice of law, and was known for his great fairness, and his dislike of ruining anyone’s reputation. He didn’t hesitate to offer his legal help to those who couldn’t afford the cost of a lawyer, and his charity earned him the name of "counsellor and advocate for the poor". He became disenchanted with some of the bad practices associated with many lawyers, and he decided to join the Capuchin friars.

When he entered the Franciscan Order of the Capuchins, he was given the religious name of "Fidelis," meaning Faithful. He finished his novitiate and his studies for the priesthood, offering his first Mass on the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi (October 4), in 1612. As soon as St Fidelis finished his course of theology, he was immediately employed in preaching and in hearing confessions. He was named to be Superior of one of the Capuchin Convents, and many people in the area were renewed in their faith, and several Protestant Calvinists were converted. The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith commissioned Fidelis specifically for work among the Protestants.

The Protestants were very angry at this attempt to convert them. They made threats against Fidelis' life, and he began to prepare himself for martyrdom. It was on April 24, 1622, that St Fidelis made his confession, said Mass, and then went out to preach. During the sermon, leaders of the Protestants called for his death. One of them discharged his musket at him in the Church, but missed him, and the Catholics begged him to leave the place, but he was ready to lay down his life. As he went out and was on the road, a group of about twenty Calvinists started to harass him, calling him a false prophet. One of them beat him down to the ground by a stroke on the head with his sword. Fidelis rose again on his knees, and stretching forth his arms in the form of a cross, and prayed to God for their pardon. Another sword struck him in the head, and he fell to the ground and lay in a pool of his own blood. His attackers continued to stab him, and they hacked off his left leg, saying it was punishment for him coming to preach to them. He was buried by the Catholics the next day, and many who had participated in St Fidelis' martyrdom, were converted, and received into the Catholic Church.

O God, who didst enkindle blessed Fidelis with seraphic ardour of spirit in the propagation of the true Faith, and didst vouchsafe to adorn him with the palm of martyrdom, and with glorious miracles: we beseech thee; that, by his merits and intercession, thou wouldest so confirm us through thy grace in faith and charity; that in thy service we may be worthy to be found faithful, even unto death; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

St. George, Martyr

St. George was born in Cappadocia in what is now Turkey, sometime in the third century. His father died when George was still young and he went with his mother to Palestine, which is where she had come from. Her family there was quite wealthy, and she had a large estate, which fell to George. He was strong and robust, and having embraced the profession of a soldier, was made a tribune in the army of the Emperor Diocletian. He showed himself to be an excellent soldier, very brave, and he received many honours and advancements in his military career.

When Diocletian began persecuting the Christian religion, St. George gave up his commission and posts, and complained to the emperor himself of his severities and bloody edicts. He was immediately cast into prison, and put on trial, questioned and tortured with great cruelty; but nothing could shake his constancy. The next day he was led through the city and beheaded.

So what of the account of St. George slaying the dragon? According to the story, a terrible dragon, which lived in a marshy swamp, had ravaged all the country round a city of Libya, called Selena. It would come near the city looking for something to eat, and when it breathed, it would spread sickness throughout all the people. The people decided to give the monster two sheep every day to satisfy its hunger, but, when they ran out of sheep, they would give the dragon a human victim, whom they would choose by lot. On one occasion the lot fell to the king's little daughter. The king offered all his wealth to purchase a substitute, but the people had said that no substitutes would be allowed, and so the maiden, dressed as a bride, was led to the swamp.

At that very time, St. George happened to ride by, and he asked the young girl what she did, but she warned him to leave her, because his own life was in danger. St. George stayed, however, and when the dragon appeared, St. George, making the sign of the cross, bravely attacked it and stabbed it with his lance, wounding it. Then asking the maiden for her belt, he bound it round the neck of the monster, and the princess was able to lead it without any struggle, back to the town. St. George told the people not to be afraid, but only be baptized, after which he cut off the dragon's head and the townsfolk were all converted. The king would have given George half his kingdom, but the saint replied that he must ride on, bidding the king meanwhile take good care of God's churches, honour the clergy, and have pity on the poor.

This account keeps before us the importance of the witness of St. George, who fought against the Emperor and against all those things that were trying to destroy the Church. The lesson is that good eventually will conquer evil, and all we need to do is put our fear aside, and live in the grace of our baptism.

O God of hosts, who didst so kindle the flame of love in the heart of thy servant George that he bore witness to the risen Lord by his life and by his death: grant us the same power of faith and love; that we, who rejoice in his triumphs, may come to share with him the fulness of the Resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

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Pictured: An icon of St. George 

which is above the altar in my 

Personal Chapel of the Martyr St. George.

Jesus Christ: At One With His Sheep

Our Lord Jesus Christ said, “I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” [St. John 10:14, 15]

In those words He outlines the two characteristics – the two marks – that distinguish the Good Shepherd: an intimate personal knowledge of us, and a sacrificial love for us. And these two characteristics, or marks, embrace two of the major doctrines of our faith: first, the Incarnation – the fact that our Lord took human flesh upon Himself and lived a human life which means that He truly knows us; and the Atonement – the fact that He willingly went to the cross as a sacrifice for our sin, so that each of us could be restored to a unity with God.

From a purely human point of view, we are unable to really sympathize with someone unless we have a knowledge of the other person. The better we know someone, the more understanding we can have. For instance, we are all able to sympathize to some degree with someone who has lost a child, but if we ourselves have experienced the death of a child, our sympathy becomes empathy – we know exactly what they are going through. When we have shared the same difficulties, or we have had the same temptations, or if we have had any sort of similar experience as another person, there is an empathetic knowledge that helps form a bond between us.

This is a tiny glimpse of the knowledge that Christ speaks about in His relationship with us. He shares our human nature, including all our sorrows, our temptations, our difficulties – He says that He “knows us.” And because He shares our human nature, He says that we can know Him.

But He goes even further: He says that He knows us, and we know Him, just as the Father knows Him and He knows the Father. This reveals a profound truth: our Lord Jesus Christ shares our nature, and He also shares the nature of the Father. In other words, He is God and Man in one Person. Here is the foundational doctrine of our faith: that the Eternal Son, who is One with the Father, has taken upon Himself our nature, so that He is Man also, feeling with human feelings, sharing in our human sorrows, knowing by actual experience all aspects of human life. He is our Good Shepherd because He is the Incarnate Son. The two are completely interwoven.

And there is the other distinguishing characteristic, or mark, of the Good Shepherd: that He “lays down his life for the sheep.” Just as His knowledge of us rests upon the truth of the Incarnation, so the sacrifice of Himself upon the Cross reveals another essential Catholic truth: Christ’s Atonement. Although we cannot fully understand the exact way – the precise mechanics – by which the Atonement achieves our redemption because it is, after all, a mystery which is beyond human grasp – it is enough to know that by His death, He has rescued us from the power of Satan, and restored us to a proper relationship with our Father in heaven.

These theological doctrines of the Incarnation and the Atonement are not just matters of speculation, to be considered by professional theologians; but they describe the close and personal relationship we have with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have a Good Shepherd who laid down His life for us. Even though we cannot now see Him with our human eyes, He knows us and we know Him. Sight, although it can be a great help towards knowledge, is not necessary to it. Millions who have never seen Christ in the flesh have learned to know Him more deeply than some of those who were able to witness His life and miracles first-hand. As the Scriptures remind us, there is a knowledge by faith as well as by sight – and it is by faith that we know Him. We know that He has laid down His life for us; that, while we were yet sinners, He died for us. And however deficient we may be in our love for Him, nonetheless He is filled with love for us, and in that love He gives us everything we need. It really is as simple as that: if you want to know Him, then believe in Him; the more you live in faith, the more knowledge of Him you will have.

Our faith is true, and so we know that the Good Shepherd gives us everything we need, both for body and soul; grace sufficient for every need; strength in temptation, guidance in perplexity, comfort in sorrow, companionship in our loneliness, solace in our suffering. And even in death itself, we need fear no evil, for He is there to be our Life, to bring us through the dark valley, and to make us dwell in the house of the Lord, forever.

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Pictured: "Christ the Good Shepherd"

by Charles Bosseron Chambers (1883-1964)

The Best Things In The Worst Times

There is an old chapel in Leicestershire, England, dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Inside the front doors there is a plaque which says, “In the year 1653, when all things sacred were throughout the whole nation either demolished or profaned, Sir Robert Shirley builded this church; whose singular praise it was to have done the best things in the worst times, and to have hope in the most calamitous of ages...”

There are acts of faith, animated by the living Spirit of God, which mean that in hopeless times we do hopeful things, much as the shepherd boy David did, as he prepared to face Goliath. Hopeless by human standards? Certainly! But David, the future king of Israel, was imbued by the strength of God’s Holy Spirit, and as the wicked giant stood poised to slaughter young David, God turned sure defeat into a rousing victory -- one that was startlingly quick and complete. And certainly God’s Spirit can work that way sometimes within our lives... almost as though we were spun around in our tracks, or pulled back just as we were ready to fall off a great precipice.

But, of course, God’s Spirit doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes He seems to work at an excruciatingly slow pace. Remember Job, a man also filled with God’s Holy Spirit, who was reduced to sitting on a heap of rubbish scraping his running sores with broken pieces of pottery. And yet even a person in such circumstances was able to say, “I know that my redeemer liveth... and though this body be destroyed, yet shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and not as a stranger!” There is no doubt at all that that kind of conviction has within it the seeds of ultimate victory. Those are words that could only have been planted in Job by God Himself. That kind of victory means that even though today’s defeat might be bitter to the taste, nevertheless we can live in the knowledge that this hour’s defeat may well contribute to tomorrow’s final victory.

To that end, may we always do the best things, even in the worst times.

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Pictured: "David and Goliath"

From Bible historiale by Guiard des Moulins

French (Paris), c. 1300-1325

Easter III: Christ's Peace

The disciples were behind locked doors on the night of that first Easter day. Rumours of resurrection were all around them, but at this point they were filled with fear rather than joy. They were afraid of the Jewish leaders – after all, if they had done this horrible thing to Jesus, what might they do to His disciples? So they had shut themselves away, unable to take in all that was happening. 

It was into that prison of fear that Jesus came. He did not knock on the locked doors, nor did He wait for someone to invite Him in; rather, He simply appeared in their midst. And what were His first words to them? "Peace to you.” This was not an idle wish, but real words of peace.

The disciples were afraid. “Is this some kind of apparition?” they wondered, or perhaps a ghost? So He shows them His wounds - the nail marks in His hands, the wound of the spear in His side. And there, before their eyes, was the fulfilment of what the prophet Isaiah had said so many generations before: "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Jesus Christ, the Victim of violence, now stands before them as the Prince of Peace, and saying to them “Peace to you.” 

This was a peace which the world cannot give. The Hebrew word for peace is “shalom,” which means more than simply the absence of war and fighting.  It means that everything is in its place, everything is in harmony, everything is whole. What Jesus accomplished on the Cross is now spoken to the disciples, and to all of us, “Peace to you.”

Wherever Jesus is, peace is there. Sin is atoned for. Death is conquered. Life is brimming over. And there is peace. Jesus, the Crucified and Risen One, is our peace. From Jesus Christ Himself, from His wounded Body, come His sacraments of peace and life and salvation. They are there for us in the font and on the altar, all as real as was Jesus in the upper room on that first Easter evening.

The Gospel tells us that the disciples were so joyful, they could scarcely believe it. And who wouldn't be overcome with joy? The Easter news is true. The Lord is risen! How great their joy must have been! To see His wounds, to hear His words, to be filled with His peace.

"Peace to you," the Lord Jesus said to them. He was giving peace for themselves, to quiet their fear, to turn their sorrow into gladness, and He was giving them peace for others – peace to move their feet out of their little locked room and into the world. He tells them that they should “preach in His name to all nations” because they are “witnesses” to all that He has done.

And we know from other Gospel accounts that He breathed His breath on them, and He told them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.” Of course, without the Holy Spirit the disciples couldn’t do what Jesus was sending them to do. "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained," He tells them.

So they are sent out with authority. With His breath and with His words, Jesus authorizes them to do what God alone can do – to forgive sin. There would always be those, even in our own day, who demand to know, “How can mere men presume to forgive sin?” But it isn’t men who forgive sin; rather, it is the One who sends them, the One who breathes on them, who gives them His Spirit and authority. So when Peter or James or John or Bartholomew or Andrew or any of the other apostles forgave, it was Jesus forgiving. Jesus sends them with His own authority, the authority with which the Father had sent Him. Jesus binds His mouth to their mouths, His word to their words, His breath to their breath, His Spirit to their spirit. Their forgiveness was His forgiveness.

And we know that Jesus not only sent out his original apostles, but that He also makes present His words, His peace, and His forgiveness through the priesthood He has entrusted to His Church through apostolic succession. This means that every bishop, and every priest ordained by a bishop, speaks with the very breath and authority of the Risen Christ when it comes to dealing with sin. Every ordination is an echo of that first Easter Sunday in the locked room when the risen Lord Jesus Christ breathed on that fearful band of disciples and sent them as His apostles to be His witnesses, to forgive and to retain sin. Bishops and Priests don’t represent their own persons when they administer Christ's Word and sacraments, but they speak and act in the stead, and by the command, of the Crucified and Risen Christ who sends them through His Church and who ministers through them.

What a comfort this is for those who are looking for forgiveness and peace. This is Christ’s promise – that He doesn't leave us uncertain about forgiveness. He doesn't leave us searching for peace. Rather, God locates forgiveness and peace where it can be found and received - in Peter and the other apostles, and in those who succeed them. Jesus Christ puts men under holy orders, and included as part of those orders is to minister forgiveness in His Name, to conquer sin through the lordship of Christ’s death and resurrection, to proclaim Christ’s word in season and out of season.

Jesus Christ really is risen from the dead. He is alive; He is not dead. He is present; He is not absent. And in the power of His resurrection, He is present with us in the fullness of His divinity and His humanity. Locked doors could not keep Him out. Nothing can. He is present among us as surely and as fully as He was with the disciples in the locked room on that first Easter. He is with us to free us from our fears, to speak His peace into our hearts, to forgive our sins, to turn our sorrow into gladness, and to bless us.

 
We have been reborn in His baptism; we have received His forgiveness; we are nourished with His Body and His Blood. His words, His sacrifice, His ministry – these are the gifts of Easter from Christ to His Church. This is the peace which Christ promised – the peace of God which passes all understanding.

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Pictured: "Appearance Behind Locked Doors" 

by Duccio di Buoninsegna (c.1260 - c.1319)

Pope St. Martin I, Martyr

Although little is known of the early life of the seventh century pope and martyr St. Martin I, we do know that he was member of the Roman clergy, and was elected pope in 649. He immediately found himself in the center of a religious and political controversy, which provides us with facts about him during his pontificate.

In the Byzantine (Eastern) Empire there was a heresy, or false teaching, known as Monothelitism, which said that Christ, while on earth, had no human will, but only a divine one. (The Church teaches that Jesus has two wills: a full and perfect divine one, and a full and perfect human one, and these two wills are in perfect accord with each other.) Why is this teaching important? If Christ had no human will, then He wouldn’t be truly human – He would simply be God dressed up in human flesh. We see the two wills of Christ in Scripture when, for example, Jesus was praying in Gethsemane, and He prayed to His father, “Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.”

Several of the Eastern emperors had favored the Monothelite teaching, and they were supported by the patriarch of the imperial city of Constantinople.

Pope Martin convened a Council at the Lateran, and the bishops gathered there affirmed the true teaching about the two wills of Christ.

Pope Martin lay on a couch in front of the altar, too sick to fight, when the soldiers burst into the Lateran basilica. He had come to the church when he heard the soldiers had landed. The thought of kidnapping a sick pope from the house of God didn't stop the soldiers from grabbing him and hustling him down to their ship.

When Pope Martin arrived in Constantinople after a long voyage he was immediately put into prison. There he spent three months in a filthy, freezing cell while he suffered from dysentery. He was not allowed to wash, and was given the most disgusting food. After he was condemned for treason without being allowed to speak in his defense he was imprisoned for another three months.

From there he was exiled to the Crimea where he suffered horribly. But hardest to take was the fact that the pope found himself friendless. His letters tell how his own clergy had deserted him and his friends had forgotten him.

He died two years later in exile in the year 656, a martyr who stood up for the right of the Church to establish doctrine even in the face of imperial power. Truth is sometimes “politically incorrect,” but, as St. Martin knew, followers of Christ must defend the Faith nonetheless, even at the risk of controversy, personal suffering, and death.

Everlasting Shepherd, favourably look upon thy flock: and keep it with perpetual protection through the prayers of blessed Martin thy Martyr and Supreme Pontiff, whom thou didst appoint to be shepherd of the whole Church; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.