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April 29, 2018
Fifth Sunday of Easter
On speaking boldly: God is not afraid!
Reading 1 Acts 9:26-31
When Saul arrived in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples,
but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.
Then Barnabas took charge of him and brought him to the apostles,
and he reported to them how he had seen the Lord and that he had spoken to him,
and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.
He moved about freely with them in Jerusalem and spoke out boldly in the name of the Lord.
He also spoke and debated with the Hellenists but they tried to kill him.
And when the brothers learned of this they took him down to Caesarea and sent him on his way to Tarsus.
The church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was at peace.
It was being built up and walked in the fear of the Lord,
and with the consolation of the Holy Spirit it grew in numbers.
Reading 2 1 Jn 3:18-24
Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.
Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth
and reassure our hearts before him in whatever our hearts condemn,
for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.
Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask,
because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
And his commandment is this:
we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another just as he commanded us.
Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them,
and the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit he gave us.
Gospel Jn 15:1-8
Jesus said to his disciples:
"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 every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.
You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.
Remain in me, as I remain in you.
Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine,
so neither can you unless you remain in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches.
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit,
because without me you can do nothing.
Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither;
people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you,
ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.
By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."
PARAGRAPHS 3 AND 4 HAVE ALTERNATIVES AS IN THE SECOND VERSION BELOW
The image of the vine, like that of the good shepherd, sounds more like an elaborate creation of the gospel writer than actual words of Jesus. While the shepherding metaphor dealt with inadequate leaders in the community, this is about the life within - within the community and within the individual.
John's best expression, "Remain in me as I remain in you", doesn't work so well in modern English, and the alternative "abide in me" hardly works at all. We would more likely speak of "being together". "I will be with you" - recalling the famous gesture of ET in parting, touching Elliot's forehead with a glowing finger: "I will be right here."
It's basically a human experience of course because both parties of the relationship are human - Jesus "son of man" with each one of us. So we could take our clue from the best of human relationships, from pillow-talk between a married couple for example. Actually there are people who don't do their most personal talk on the pillow but over coffee down the street. For them it seems good to talk about their love and deepest feelings, about their pride and shame, about the prospect of dying and the one living on without the other, in a semi-public setting because then it has to be real. It's one thing to say "I love you" in the tender darkness; it seems to have another dimension when you say it on the street in broad daylight - though not for all the world to hear, needless to say.
And sometimes the talk might be about how we are together with God, or with Jesus. When we were young it seemed like something to be achieved or "realised" (made real by repeated exercises). Now it is just like the atmosphere we live in. God is, and I am in God, together with Jesus as Jesus is together with me. How that might be explained doesn't matter because it's just a reality, a given. Perhaps that is the biggest surprise for me, that in the end it was not achieved but just given. And it doesn't have to be kept going the way you've got to keep pumping air into a leaky tyre, but is enduring like a power.
The second reading is largely parallel to the gospel passage, almost as if John did a cut and paste when he was writing that letter. But at one point he slipped in an extra word:
Beloved if our hearts do not condemn us we have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
I have taken out the commas because they were not in the original Greek text and they don't really help here. This is a mouthful and there's nothing for it but to speak it in one breath placing the emphasis wherever it falls. In fact it can fall on different parts of the sentence with each fresh speaking of it. The word that stands out for me is "confidence": if we have a clear conscience"we can have confidence in God" - i.e., unless we know we've done something utterly ghastly we can have confidence in God...
"parresia" is the Greek word and it was quite popular with the New Testament writers. It means something spoken with resolve, hence freedom, openness, especially in speech; boldness, confidence. "Boldness" is the most common equivalent in English translations. It occurs in today's first reading where Paul was said to have spoken out boldly in Damascus in the name of Jesus. We also read how Peter spoke out boldly after the Pentecost event.
I think parresia is something to be cultivated. We might be suffering a deficiency of it in our modern diet. Talking about religion in a critical way has replaced the pious or devotional and is easy enough. All you need to say nowadays is: 'I was brought up a catholic..." and a whole scenario is laid open. The convention is that no-one asks a too-personal question like: 'And where do you stand now?'
Spirituality to be real has to be personal conviction, and a test of that is whether we can talk about it openly with confidence. This doesn't come easily because it is the expression of the real self. It takes years to become a self with conviction, a spiritually aware self, a God-centered spiritual self, a confidently convinced self that is arrived at after testing dozens of alternatives along the way yet is still open to further exploring. This is faith as deliberate commitment in the real world.
Pope Francis has called for boldness from the start. In his latest exhortation Gaudete et exultate he devotes ten paragraphs to it. That's where the words in the title come from: "God is not afraid! He is fearless! He is always greater than our plans and schemes. Unafraid of the margins, he himself became one of the marginalised (cf. Phil 2:6-8; Jn 1:14). So if we dare to go to the margins, we will find him there... He is already there."
....................................................................................................................................................................................
The image of the vine, like that of the good shepherd, sounds more like an elaborate creation of the gospel writer than actual words of Jesus. While the shepherding metaphor dealt with inadequate leaders in the community, this is about the life within - within the community and within the individual.
John's best expression, "Remain in me as I remain in you", doesn't work so well in modern English, and the alternative "abide in me" hardly works at all. We would more likely speak of "being together". "I will be with you" - recalling the famous gesture of ET in parting, touching Elliot's forehead with a glowing finger: "I will be right here."
It's basically a human experience of course because both parties of the relationship are human - Jesus "son of man" with each one of us. So we could take our clue from the best of human relationships, from pillow-talk between a married couple for example. Actually we don't do our most personal talk on the pillow, my partner and I, but over coffee down the street. It seems good to talk about our love and deepest feelings, about our pride and shame, about the prospect of dying and the one living on without the other, in a semi-public setting because then it has to be real. It's one thing to say "I love you" in the tender darkness; it seems to have another dimension when I say it on the street in broad daylight - though not for all the world to hear, needless to say. (I don't think this is in any way special, but it is what has happened to us and that strikes me as interesting.)
And sometimes we try to talk about how we are together with God, or with Jesus. (We happen to have a different perspective on "God" and "Jesus" that sometimes gets in the way.) When we were young it seemed like something to be achieved or "realised" (made real by repeated exercises). Now it is just like the atmosphere we live in. God is, and I am in God, together with Jesus as Jesus is together with me. How that might be explained doesn't matter because it's just a reality, a given. Perhaps that is the biggest surprise, that in the end it was not achieved but just given. And it doesn't have to be kept going the way you've got to keep pumping air into a leaky tyre, but is enduring like a power.
The second reading is largely parallel to the gospel passage, almost as if John did a cut and paste when he was writing that letter. But at one point he slipped in an extra word:
Beloved if our hearts do not condemn us we have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
I have taken out the commas because they were not in the original Greek text and they don't really help here. This is a mouthful and there's nothing for it but to speak it in one breath placing the emphasis wherever it falls. In fact it can fall on different parts of the sentence with each fresh speaking of it. The word that stands out for me is "confidence": if we have a clear conscience"we can have confidence in God" - i.e., unless we know we've done something utterly ghastly we can have confidence in God...
"parresia" is the Greek word and it was quite popular with the New Testament writers. It means something spoken with resolve, hence freedom, openness, especially in speech; boldness, confidence. "Boldness" is the most common equivalent in English translations. It occurs in today's first reading where Paul was said to have spoken out boldly in Damascus in the name of Jesus. We also read how Peter spoke out boldly after the Pentecost event.
I think parresia is something to be cultivated. We might be suffering a deficiency of it in our modern diet. Talking about religion in a critical way has replaced the pious or devotional and is easy enough. All you need to say nowadays is: 'I was brought up a catholic..." and a whole scenario is laid open. The convention is that no-one asks a too-personal question like: 'And where do you stand now?'
Spirituality to be real has to be personal conviction, and a test of that is whether we can talk about it openly with confidence. This doesn't come easily because it is the expression of the real self. It takes years to become a self with conviction, a spiritually aware self, a God-centered spiritual self, a confidently convinced self that is arrived at after testing dozens of alternatives along the way yet is still open to further exploring. This is faith as deliberate commitment in the real world.
Pope Francis has called for boldness from the start. In his latest exhortation Gaudete et exultate he devotes ten paragraphs to it. That's where the words in the title come from: "God is not afraid! He is fearless! He is always greater than our plans and schemes. Unafraid of the margins, he himself became one of the marginalised (cf. Phil 2:6-8; Jn 1:14). So if we dare to go to the margins, we will find him there... He is already there."
129. Holiness is also parrhesía: it is boldness, an impulse to evangelize and to leave a mark in this world. To allow us to do this, Jesus himself comes and tells us once more, serenely yet firmly: “Do not be afraid” (Mk 6:50). “I am with you always, to the end of the world” (Mt 28:20). These words enable us to go forth and serve with the same courage that the Holy Spirit stirred up in the Apostles, impelling them to proclaim Jesus Christ. Boldness, enthusiasm, the freedom to speak out, apostolic fervour, all these are included in the word parrhesía. The Bible also uses this word to describe the freedom of a life open to God and to others (cf. Acts4:29, 9:28, 28:31; 2 Cor 3:12; Eph 3:12; Heb 3:6, 10:19).
130. Blessed Paul VI, in referring to obstacles to evangelization, spoke of a lack of fervour (parrhesía) that is “all the more serious because it comes from within”.[103] How often we are tempted to keep close to the shore! Yet the Lord calls us to put out into the deep and let down our nets (cf. Lk 5:4). He bids us spend our lives in his service. Clinging to him, we are inspired to put all our charisms at the service of others. May we always feel compelled by his love (2 Cor 5:14) and say with Saint Paul: “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel” (1 Cor 9:16).
131. Look at Jesus. His deep compassion reached out to others. It did not make him hesitant, timid or self-conscious, as often happens with us. Quite the opposite. His compassion made him go out actively to preach and to send others on a mission of healing and liberation. Let us acknowledge our weakness, but allow Jesus to lay hold of it and send us too on mission. We are weak, yet we hold a treasure that can enlarge us and make those who receive it better and happier. Boldness and apostolic courage are an essential part of mission.
132. Parrhesía is a seal of the Spirit; it testifies to the authenticity of our preaching. It is a joyful assurance that leads us to glory in the Gospel we proclaim. It is an unshakeable trust in the faithful Witness who gives us the certainty that nothing can “separate us from the love of God” (Rom 8:39).
133. We need the Spirit’s prompting, lest we be paralyzed by fear and excessive caution, lest we grow used to keeping within safe bounds. Let us remember that closed spaces grow musty and unhealthy. When the Apostles were tempted to let themselves be crippled by danger and threats, they joined in prayer to implore parrhesía: “And now, Lord, look upon their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness” (Acts 4:29). As a result, “when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31).
134. Like the prophet Jonah, we are constantly tempted to flee to a safe haven. It can have many names: individualism, spiritualism, living in a little world, addiction, intransigence, the rejection of new ideas and approaches, dogmatism, nostalgia, pessimism, hiding behind rules and regulations. We can resist leaving behind a familiar and easy way of doing things. Yet the challenges involved can be like the storm, the whale, the worm that dried the gourd plant, or the wind and sun that burned Jonah’s head. For us, as for him, they can serve to bring us back to the God of tenderness, who invites us to set out ever anew on our journey.
135. God is eternal newness. He impels us constantly to set out anew, to pass beyond what is familiar, to the fringes and beyond. He takes us to where humanity is most wounded, where men and women, beneath the appearance of a shallow conformity, continue to seek an answer to the question of life’s meaning. God is not afraid! He is fearless! He is always greater than our plans and schemes. Unafraid of the fringes, he himself became a fringe (cf. Phil 2:6-8; Jn 1:14). So if we dare to go to the fringes, we will find him there; indeed, he is already there. Jesus is already there, in the hearts of our brothers and sisters, in their wounded flesh, in their troubles and in their profound desolation. He is already there.
136. True enough, we need to open the door of our hearts to Jesus, who stands and knocks (cf. Rev 3:20). Sometimes I wonder, though, if perhaps Jesus is already inside us and knocking on the door for us to let him escape from our stale self-centredness. In the Gospel, we see how Jesus “went through the cities and villages, preaching and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God” (Lk 8:1). After the resurrection, when the disciples went forth in all directions, the Lord accompanied them (cf. Mk 16:20). This is what happens as the result of true encounter.
137. Complacency is seductive; it tells us that there is no point in trying to change things, that there is nothing we can do, because this is the way things have always been and yet we always manage to survive. By force of habit we no longer stand up to evil. We “let things be”, or as others have decided they ought to be. Yet let us allow the Lord to rouse us from our torpor, to free us from our inertia. Let us rethink our usual way of doing things; let us open our eyes and ears, and above all our hearts, so as not to be complacent about things as they are, but unsettled by the living and effective word of the risen Lord.
138. We are inspired to act by the example of all those priests, religious, and laity who devote themselves to proclamation and to serving others with great fidelity, often at the risk of their lives and certainly at the cost of their comfort. Their testimony reminds us that, more than bureaucrats and functionaries, the Church needs passionate missionaries, enthusiastic about sharing true life. The saints surprise us, they confound us, because by their lives they urge us to abandon a dull and dreary mediocrity.
139. Let us ask the Lord for the grace not to hesitate when the Spirit calls us to take a step forward. Let us ask for the apostolic courage to share the Gospel with others and to stop trying to make our Christian life a museum of memories. In every situation, may the Holy Spirit cause us to contemplate history in the light of the risen Jesus. In this way, the Church will not stand still, but constantly welcome the Lord’s surprises.
http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20180319_gaudete-et-exsultate.html