The Good Word

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Hello and welcome to the Word, bringing you the Good News of Jesus Christ every day from the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province. I am Fr. Karl Esker from the Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn, NY. Today is Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter.Today our reading is from the holy gospel according to John.Jesus said to his disciples: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. "I have told you this in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but I will tell you clearly about the Father. On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father."The gospel of the LordHomilyIn the gospel, Jesus tells his disciples openly that he has come from God and is returning to God. I am not sure that the disciples truly understood how closely Jesus was united with God the Father until after Jesus’ resurrection, although he had already told them that he and the Father were one, but he praises them for their faithfulness and belief: “For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God.” The disciples are well acquainted with the human side of Jesus. They know him as a carpenter, a friend, a prophet, and the one sent by God. Now Jesus is asking them to believe that he was not only sent by God, but came from God, and is of God.This touches the core of our belief that Jesus is both human and divine, that the Son of God became man, that he took on our humanity with the pains and joys, strengths and weaknesses that we experience, except sin. In the gospels of Mark, Luke and Matthew, we see clearly the humanity of Jesus and only glimpse his divinity in the resurrection and ascension. In John’s gospel, Jesus’ divinity frequently peeks through, and he says clearly: “I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father."Down through the ages, we have struggled with this mystery of Christ’s dual nature: human and divine, at times stressing his divinity over his humanity, and other times stressing his humanity over his divinity. We should not be afraid of this tension. It is important that we have a right understanding of Jesus so that we can understand who our savior is and be able to relate to him as friend and redeemer, who walks with us.In the first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear about Apollos, a learned and earnest believer in Jesus Christ, but who had not been fully initiated into the way of the disciples. When Priscilla and Aquila, companions of Paul, heard him, they noticed something in his preaching, and look him aside to “explain to him the Way of God more accurately.” Apollos accepted the instruction and became an even more effective preacher, “establishing from the Scriptures that the Christ is Jesus.” Having a right understanding of Jesus has been important to the church community from the beginning.Today the tension continues, and I feel that the stress on Jesus’ divinity has overshadowed his humanity. That can make it hard to relate to Jesus on a personal level. He does not just sit in highest heaven; he is with us every day in the Eucharist and with his Spirit. But, to see him in each and every member of humanity with whom we come in contact, we need to develop a real sense of his presence to us. He said that he would live in us, and we would live in him; and that requires intimacy – a relationship with Jesus as a human being who loves us and understands our difficulties, as well as his being the Son of God who watches over and cares for us.I pray that each one of us can enter into that tension of belief and come to a true understanding of who Jesus is with and for us. May God bless you.Fr. Karl E. Esker CSsRBasilica of our Lady of Perpetual HelpBrooklyn, NY

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I had a wonderful seminary professor, Fr. John Duffy, from Boston. Am I stating the obvious, saying he was wise and from Boston? (I’m from Boston.) Fr. Duffy was a philosopher, an artist, a poet. In fact, his books of poetry are compared to Robert Frost, only better. He was teaching us a theology course and he asked if anyone could tell him the best proof of God’s existence. Our went up and we said you could prove God’s existence through nature, or causality, or there has to be a prime mover, someone to initiate it all. He kept shaking his head, “No, no, no, no.” Finally, we ran out of proofs for God’s existence, and he said the best proof of God’s existence is the communion line which forms every Sunday. Through all the centuries of our church, through our heresies and crusades, through our public and private sins; faith-filled people have lined up every Sunday to receive our Lord in Holy Communion. They remembered. Most of our parents and grandparents did not have a born-again, Billy Graham crusade experience. They received the sacraments. They grew up with them, experienced them every Sunday of their lives. The Eucharist was the transformative food that nourished their souls and made them who they were. It is what they passed on to us. Jesus said, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” We do not need extraordinary spiritual experiences and private revelations. They can be helpful, but they are not necessary. We have all that we need for our salvation in our Catholic faith. God will make God’s home with us and give us all that need when we need it. A steady receiving of God’s Word and sacrament is all the nourishment we need. Easter Blessings,Fr. Kevin MacDonald, C.Ss.R.

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