of first importance

The Easter Season readings continually remind us of the reason for Jesus’ coming into our world. In Corinthians 15:1-8, Paul tells us that he handed on to us “as of first importance” that

1 – Christ died for our sins;
2 – He was buried;
3 – He was raised on the third day
4 – He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve …

Jesus comes into the messiness of our world to save us from ourselves…to relieve us from the bondage of self. Jesus comes to give us life, the fullness of life. The proof of Jesus’ divinity is the fact that He was raised on the third day. This is the cornerstone of our Christian faith. Death has no claim on Him. His appearance to Cephas and then the Twelve and then “to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at once” tells us that Jesus comes for all of us. We are all recipients of God’s love, mercy and compassion. Blessed are we who believe!

We need to be pruned to bear good fruit

Jesus says to His disciples of 2000 years ago, and to us His disciples of 2024, that “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does He prunes so that it bears more fruit.” If we have a garden, vineyard or orchard of any kind, we know how important it is to prune the vines/trees/vegetation. With careful pruning, we see to the healthy growth and expansion of our garden/orchard/vineyard and the precious fruit that it bears. Without good regular pruning, our garden/vineyard/orchard languishes and its fruit is far below its potential. The same goes for us in our lives. We need to be pruned in order to achieve our full potential as humans and as children of God on journey. Pruning comes in different ways for each of us. No one wants to be pruned. It hurts but good pruning can lead us to make good choices, choices that will help us to tap our potential and become the persons that God knows that we can be. There is nothing more rewarding than looking back over our lives and seeing the growth that has taken place.

The sufferings of St. Paul

Acts 14:19-28 tells us that “some Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.” Paul was far from dead. He moved on, but Paul’s life as an apostle of Jesus was one filled with sufferings. In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul recounted some of the sufferings that he endured for Jesus. “Five times at the hands of the Jews, I received forty lashes minus one; three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, and I passed a night and a day on the deep. On frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at seas, dangers among false brothers; in toil and in hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fasting, through cold and exposure … and all the while, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches.” And as we know, martyrdom awaited him in Rome at the end of his apostolic journeys. What an incredible story! It’s the material that thriller movies are made out of. In the midst of it all, Paul never waivered in his fidelity to Jesus.

Few of us are going to come anywhere near matching Paul’s apostolic sufferings, but all of us, in some way, will experience some suffering for the name of Jesus. It may be as simple as one of today’s secular people dismissing our treasured Christian values – might even be a family member. It might be more drastic and result in our openly being discriminated against because of our beliefs. It might be a deep inner suffering such as living with adult children who no longer believe. Suffering for Jesus takes many different forms. Like Paul, we are asked to move on from the hurts and continue our journey witnessing to Jesus in our little corner of the world.

The Advocate is ours

Jesus promises His followers of two thousand years ago and of today that we will never have to journey alone. Jesus promises us that the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, will be with us: “I have told you this while I am with you. The advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name – He will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” (John 14:21-26) The Holy Spirit guarantees that the Church will never go off the deep end. The Church will remain true to its mission of proclaiming the Gospel to the ends of the earth. The Church is of divine origin, rooted in Jesus, BUT populated by sinful human beings. History, past and present, shows us that a lot of bad things have happened in the Church BUT the Church, under the guidance of the Hoy Spirit, has weathered the storms. The Holy Spirit, guides the Chruch as a collective body and each of us, its members, to holiness of life. The Holy Spirit inspires us; enlightens us; protects us, and give us all the gifts and graces that we need; e.g., love, unselfishness, mercy, perseverance, chastity, a joyful heart…all that we need BUT we have to be open to the workings of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It’s not magic. We have to cooperate. Come Holy Spirit!

Jesus requires action

1 John 3:18-24 … Children: let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth!

Loving, consoling, affirming words are good and healing BUT they mean little if not followed up by action. We can tell ourselves and others that we are Christians BUT it means nothing if we do not follow up with action. Jesus was a man of action. He cured the sick and raised the dead. He consoled the afflicted and castigated the arrogant. He forgave sinners and challenged the hypocrites. Jesus was a man of action. Jesus commissioned His followers to go out into the whole world – to the very ends of the world – and preach and teach in His name. We are blessed because we are His followers today. We are all different. We live in a variety of circumstances. We have different gifts. BUT we are all called to action in His name. Action might take the form of teaching Christian doctrine; action might take the form of reaching out to the sick and lonely; action might be supporting Christian initiatives. There are countless ways of translating our Christian faith into action. May we be women and men who follow in the footsteps of Jesus.