• Acts 2:42-47. A portrayal of the first Christian community at Jerusalem. The disciples held their property and goods in common, worshiped together at the temple, and broke the bread of the Eucharist in the privacy of their home.
• 1 Peter 1:3-9. This early hymn celebrates new birth in the sacrament of baptism. A Christian can expect not only to relive Jesus’ sorrows but also to share in the supreme hope of Jesus’ glorious appearances.
• John 20:10-30. Jesus confirms upon the apostles the power of the Holy Spirit to forgive sins. He also overcomes Thomas’ unbelief by beckoning him to examine the marks of nails and spear on his body.

Thoughts for your Consideration:

The second reading for this week along with the Gospel passage invites us to contemplate the true meaning of the resurrection in our lives. The second reading is an early Christian baptismal hymn that describes the basic article of faith for the newest members of the Jesus community. Through the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection they are invited to share in the glory and hope that Christ has revealed to them. This new vision of hope will give meaning to the suffering that they all endure as they accepts a life of sacrifice and trials as they become a community of the resurrection that shares all things for the benefit of one another. They sacrifice their own self interest and desire in order to share in the glory of the divine community.

Like Thomas these new candidates have not physically witnessed the resurrection of Christ but they are witnesses of the “Kingdom of God” on earth which is described in the first reading. The sacrifice of the Christian community is to live for each other and to demonstrate a sacrificial love to all God’s people in a lifestyle that can only be described as radically countercultural. Even though these candidates have not physically witnessed the resurrection their witness to the radical lifestyle of the apostolic community and the tangible hope of a society that can actually live for one another gives these candidates the ability to hope in the fulfillment of the resurrection in their own lives.

The first reading reminds me of an interesting reflection by C.S. Lewis as he considered the topic of Christian social morality in his book “Mere Christianity”. This book was developed from his radio broadcast that he gave during World War II where he went on to “explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times.” C.S. Lewis was an agnostic who came to the Christian faith after his unsuccessful attempt at disqualifying it. This book in many ways represents an outsider’s perspective to Christian doctrine and it is an excellent resource for any Christian to come to a very basic understanding of the Christian faith and its morality. In his description of social morality C.S. Lewis offers the following image of a Christian society which we read about in Acts 2:

If there were such a society in existence and you or I visited it, I think we should come away with a curious impression. We should feel that its economic life was very socialistic and, in a sense, ‘advanced’, but that its family life and its code of manners were rather old fashioned – perhaps even ceremonious and aristocratic. Each of us would like some bits of it, but I am afraid very few of us would like the whole thing.

C.S. Lewis does an amazing job in describing the challenging lifestyle that is being depicted in Acts 2. This social morality is defined by the virtue of charity. His description of charitable giving does not reflect our typical understanding of charity where we are invited to offer to the poor from our own surplus. Instead C.S. Lewis offers us a definition of Christian charity that resembles the deep sacrifice and trials that we read about in this week’s second readings.

Charity – giving to the poor – is an essential part of Christian morality… I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditures on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc.., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away to little. If our charities do not pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small.   

To be part of the Risen community is to uphold a socio-economic lifestyle where we contribute to one another through a radical form of charity. In offering his first social encyclical Pope Benedict XVI centered our Catholic social morality under the rubric of charity.  

Charity is at the heart of the Church’s social doctrine. Every responsibility and every commitment spelt out by that doctrine is derived from charity which, according to the teaching of Jesus, is the synthesis of the entire Law (cf. Mt 22:36- 40). It gives real substance to the personal relationship with God and with neighbor.

The first reading is one that troubles many of us within the American Christian community because, like C.S. Lewis suggest, it seems like a socialist model. Obviously the word “socialist” carries an ideological baggage that strikes at the core of the American ideology but nevertheless we are forced to confront this level of charity whereby we ought to examine economic policies that distribute resources for the benefit of the “communal life”. The sacrifices and trials that Peter describes in the second reading are not in vain. They are trails that “may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

• Sirach 24: 1-4, 8-12. Wisdom proclaims her life with God before the creation of the world. Afterwards she wandered the world restlessly until she fixed her abode at the Jerusalem temple.
• Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-18. Before creation God predestined us in Christ as the object of his love and as his very own adopted children Paul prays that we can be enlightened in the great hope to which God has called us.
• John 1:1-18. In the beginning before creation the Word was with God and the Word was God. This Word came to dwell in our midst and offered us a share in his fullness.

Thoughts for your consideration: by John Gonzalez

This week’s readings we celebrate the mystery of Christ as the “Logos” or as John put it in his Gospel, “The Word.”  Last week we reflected on Jesus as the child of Mary and Joseph and his role within the dynamics of the Holy Family. This week we contemplate Christ as “The Word” that became flesh and the “Logos” that is the second member of the Holy Trinity. Within these reading the contemplative philosopher among us will be drawn to the words of Sirach who himself was a famous Jewish Philosopher in the second century BC. Sirach, who like Socrates was drawn to wisdom, comprehends the vast mystery that is the Divine Wisdom.

The first man never finished comprehending wisdom, nor will the last succeed in fathoming her. For deeper than the sea are her thoughts; her counsels, than the great abyss.

In reflecting over these readings we are forced to consider the concept of predestination. Paul’s letters to the Ephesians talk to us about how we have already been “destined” by the Will of God to be His adopted children. Sirach and John reinforce this notion by remind us that the “Logos,” The Wisdom of God, has been active at the foundation of the world in carrying out God’s destined plan for creation. And yet, in Jesus’ public ministry, we hear Jesus inviting us all to share in God’s perfection. Throughout the Gospel, in the Beatitudes, in the Last Judgment reading of Matthew, in the Good Samaritan parable in Luke, in the exhortations made by Paul, James and Peter in their respective epistles, time and time again we are freely invited to partake in the Kingdom of God by living a life of charity and social justice. This is the theological tension that our faith has wrestled with regarding “Predestined Grace” and “Free Will,” the same tension that brought about the great split between the Catholic Church and the Protestant denominations. How should we understand our motivation and incentive towards an expression of Love through acts of charity and social justice if our salvation is indeed predestined?

This past week I had the pleasure of speaking to a neighbor who is also an architect and who in the last few years designed architectural plans for his new house. It surprised me to learn that as he began the construction of his new house unforeseen conditions popped up everywhere forcing him to redesign his plan again and again. Ultimately his goal was accomplished and a new house was built for his family but the final plan had evolved greatly from his initial design. As he was telling me his I thought of the passage in Jeremiah where God instruct Jeremiah to visit a potter’s house. As the potter shaped his clay Jeremiah witnessed the potter reshaping it because the original design did not come out as plan. God reminded Jeremiah that as the Potter did to this clay so too can God act with regards to His own creation.

The wisdom of God is beyond human comprehension. God’s wisdom has us destined towards a perfect social union. Yet this union is based on our ability to freely develop this union. God’s revelation, and more specifically the revealed example of Jesus Christ, offers us the plan for constructing this union which of course God designed and which he may have to redesign based on the unforeseen conditions of our own free actions. Actions of charity and social justice are not methods for us to achieve our own salvation but rather they are the expressions of God’s ultimate social plan (the Kingdom of God) which we are invited to live out. The Biblical passages mentioned in the second paragraph remind us what actions are expected from this union. We may not be able to fully comprehend the final plan, but fortunately for us God supplements our ability to reason with the revelation of “The Word” that became flesh and whose “life was the light of the human race.”

• 1 Kings 17:10-16. The poor widow makes bread for Elijah with her last remaining ingredients only to be blest by God with a year’s worth of flour and oil.
• Hebrews 9:24-28. Christ is the high priest who has removed our sins through his sacrifice. He will come again to bring salvation for those who await him.
• Mark 12:38-44. Jesus warns his disciples against the hypocrisy of the scribes. Jesus then teaches the disciples the true meaning of charity through the example of the poor widow.

Thoughts for your consideration: By John Gonzalez

This week we learn about the true nature of charity. Charity is a prominent virtue of our Catholic faith. In the second chapter of the letter to the Galatians Paul recounts the Jerusalem controversy with the early Christian community over the issue of circumcision. Verse 10 of that chapter reveals the universal importance of charity to the fledgling Christian faith. From this account we know that even during the earliest moment of our Church’s history there have been issues of disagreement. But the topic of charity, “that we remember the poor,” has been a consistent unifying element as the Church developed and spread. No one can argue that charity is an important value within our faith tradition. But like everything else even the concept of charity must evolve so that we can fulfill the spirit of charity within our changing social environment. It is perhaps for this reason that Pope Benedict XVI took the time to devout his recent encyclical to what he called “Charity in Truth.” What is Christian charity in the context of Globalization?

In the Gospel and in the first reading we are told about the spirit of charity. Charity is not only the act of giving. In the Gospel Jesus warns against the mere image of charity where people give comfortably from their surplus and yet do it in a way that publically inflates their image of being charitable and holy people. In both readings we hear that charity is the selfless act of giving especially when it is truly challenging to give. The spirit of charity is not based on our ability to give what is no longer important or desirable for us, it is the ability to give based on the necessity of others.

In the encyclical “Charity in Truth” Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that true charity can only be understood in relationship to justice. For some time now the values of charity and justice have been understood within a hierarchy of values where the individual acts of charity is of principle importance and the work of promoting social justice is secondary. According to the encyclical this is not charity in truth. “Charity goes beyond justice… I cannot “give” what is mine to the other, without first giving him what pertains to him in justice. If we love others with charity, then first of all we are just towards them.”

The encyclical goes on to redefine justice as the act of social and political charity which we are all obliged to give. We are responsible for both individual acts of charity and social acts of charity. This being the case we are not allowed to merely promote voluntary acts of charity while advocating against social laws that promote justice. We cannot feel comfortable with preaching individual charity while denying social programs to help the poor and marginalized. To truly embody charity we must do both. Like the widows in both readings we have to accept the challenge to give for the sake of societies needs. The way this is structured in our society is through a system of taxation that is specifically designated for social programs such as housing, healthcare, education and food programs. The encyclical and today’s scripture readings do not teach us to be libertarians. Instead we are taught to promote the “common good” through our individual and social acts of charity.             

The second reading reminds us that this call to the challenge of promoting “charity in truth” is not built on the social wisdom of this world. It is based on our faith in the “Kingdom of God.” The reading in the letter to the Hebrews tell us about the eschatological mystery where the “Kingdom Of God” is already revealed to us through Jesus but we also await its ultimate establishment in what we call the second coming. This reminds us that we are expected to live and express the true value of charity even in the midst of our imperfect society. We are the individual witnesses to the “Kingdom” and it is through us, united in our relationship with Christ, that we will slowly bring about the true “Kingdom.” This reminds us to persevere in our social and individual acts of true charity and to not be discouraged by the unjust realities of our society or to fall victims of a more convenient  and possibly hypocritical form of charity.