• Acts 14: 21-27. Paul and Barnabas complete the first missionary journey and report to the community at Antioch which had commissioned them. They relate all that God had helped them accomplish and repeat the need to undergo many trials perseveringly.
• Revelations 21: 1-5. John sees a vision of the new heavens and the new earth, also the new Jerusalem, beautiful as a bride. Every tear will be wiped away.
• John 13: 31-33, 34-35. Jesus will soon depart and recommends love for each other, “such as my love has been for you.”

Thoughts for Your Consideration: By John Gonzalez

The Gospel reading for this weekend offers us the final instruction of Jesus to his disciples before being glorified through his own Passion, Death and Resurrection. The instruction is to “Love one another as I have loved you.” In fulfilling our Sunday obligation of attending Mass we are in fact fulfilling our obligation of remembering Christ as we listen to his Holy words in Sacred Scripture and by participating in the last supper during the liturgy of the Eucharist. But the act of remembering is not an historical exercise. We are not merely role playing with an event that happened sometime in the past. A great Passionist scripture scholar, Fr. Carroll Stuhlmueller, reminds us in his commentary on this passage that “remembrance is re-living now what was done then. …Remembrance combines past, present and future, suffering and glory, hopes and fulfillment. The liturgy of the Eucharist enables us to do much more than we ever anticipated, for it brings the mirabilia Dei, the wondrous deeds of God, from the past right into our contemporary actions.”    

Because of the laws of nature humanity is limited by the dimensions of space and time. However God exists beyond these confines and spiritually we too transcend these natural limitations. That is why it is nearly impossible to describe supra-natural concepts that John witnesses in the book of Revelations such as the new heaven, the new earth and the New Jerusalem. The relevance that the second reading has for us is to remind us of our Christian goal which again transcends time and space. Heaven does not become a personal future reward for us if we successfully live a good life. Heaven becomes a liberated form of existence, an existence where we live in a complete holistic relationship with God and each other. What this existence will look like in the end we do not know, but from what John was able to observe “there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away.” Our Christian hope is for a new culture of life that will replace the current culture of death. The social culture that placed Jesus on the cross will give way to a new culture that will transform the crucified Jesus into the risen Christ.

We are called to share in that liberated existence now. We remember this existence when we recall the life that Jesus lived and the incarnate relationship he had with God and humanity. We re-live that relationship now as Christians building the Kingdom of God by our very example and by advocating for the society based on the culture of life, a life that compassionately walks with all who suffer, a life that stands in solidarity with all who are mourning, wailing or in pain.

The Passionist community takes a vow that remembers the passion and death of Jesus Christ. This act of remembrance calls us to re-live that suffering by serving and standing with all who continue to face the pains and injustice of our contemporary society. The Passionist Constitutions describe it in this way: “His Passion and death are no mere historical events. They are ever-present realities to people in the world of today, “crucified” as they are by injustice, by the lack of a deep respect for human life, and by a hungry yearning for peace, truth, and the fullness of human existence.”

This path of remembrance is described by St. Paul in the first reading when he instructs the disciples to persevere in the faith. “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” God’s Kingdom is not something we wait for, it is something we build together as a community of faith that believes and hopes for a fuller existence. We remember this vision through the life and love that Jesus shared with all humanity. We re-live this vision today when we reach out and relate to all our brothers and sisters and especially those who need us the most. Finally we also hope that these efforts will help build a new society that is founded on the love and life that God wants to share with all of creation.

Christian eschatology calls us to live in the present by looking to the past and remembering tomorrow.

• Isaiah 62:1-5. Jerusalem will no longer be desolate and forsaken but will be overflowing with life. The Lord will address her as “My Delight” and her land will be called “Espoused.”
• 1 Corinthians 12:4-11. There are many gifts and ministries, but one and the same Spirit who accomplished each good action in everyone.
• John 2:1-12. The marriage feast of Cana where Jesus works the “first of his signs” and reveals his glory.

Thoughts for your consideration: by John Gonzalez

In the Gospel of John the first action of Jesus’ public ministry is recounted to us as the miracle that took place at the wedding feast in Cana. The account has a number of curious details, such as the odd interaction between Jesus and Mary his mother and the manner in which Jesus reluctantly conducts the miracle of turning the water into wine. But another detail which deserves our contemplative attention is that venue of the wedding itself. Indeed, if you consider the three readings that have been chosen for this Sunday, then this opening act by Jesus reveals a powerful symbol with regards to Jesus’ purpose.

In the realm of social institutions none is prioritized by the Church above the family unit. A marriage is considered the basic building block of society. In these readings however this prominent social unit is used to symbolize a divine relationship. In the mystery of the incarnation, Jesus embodies the intimate marriage of God with humanity. How appropriate for Jesus to begin engaging publicly at a wedding feast, thus placing this mystical marriage in the context of a conventional marriage.

Isaiah reflects on Jerusalem as a bride of the Lord. Paul does not specifically use the image of marriage but he certainly suggests an intimate union that exists with the Trinity (“One Spirit,” “one Lord,” “One God.”) From this intimate Divine union Paul integrates the human community as individuals who share in this mystical union and who obtains a unique gift that comes from the “One Spirit.”  

The readings ask that we contemplate the mystical union of God with humanity within our own social experience of marriage. Begin by considering your own marriage or one that you have experienced through your family and friends. Consider the love, passion and joy that this interaction brings about. Also consider the challenges, sacrifices and anguish that also has been part of this dynamic. Consider how love has both shaped and challenged those unions.

Then, as you hear these readings, consider the love that God has for all humanity. In the story of the life of Christ himself do we not see the joys and happiness that he brings to humanity as well as the suffering and challenge that his life also presents. Love is not only that warm fuzzy feeling that happens when a couple first lays eyes on each other. Love is all that happens when two are engaged in a mystical union. Love can also be that gut wrenching feeling when you feel betrayed or let down by the other. God’s love for humanity was experienced at the Christmas moment when Christ came into this world and was celebrated by Kings and shepherds alike. But Divine love was also experienced when Christ agonized on the Cross feeling betrayed and abandoned by even his closest friends.

As Christians we are called by Christ to live out this union of God and humanity but many times we may not know what this means. To talk about God’s love for us is to talk about a joyous social reality as well as a great social challenge. Those of us who are married may have considered some great and joyful possibilities before we entered into this union and chances are we may have also considered some theoretical challenges without really knowing what they were going to be like. In the end the only thing that could have prepared us for the joy and sufferings of marriage was the experience itself. In becoming a married couple the two individuals allow themselves to be shaped by a union that pushes and pulls them in all directions. If the couple allow themselves to be directed by a holistic love for each other then this union will be a great gift for their marriage and each other. We Christians are also called to engage with the greater society in a similar way. Ultimately, like Christ, we are called to love and serve one another. Perhaps the wisdom we experience from our own marriages can help us as we struggle to engage in this greater union.

• Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14. Obedience and honor are due to one’s parents, patient consideration especially in their old age when their mind fails.
• Colossians 3:12-21. We are to clothe ourselves with patience, humility, kindness and especially forgiveness within our families.
• Luke 2:41-52. When the boy Jesus was found by Mary and Joseph in the temple, he relpied that he had to be in his Father’s house.

Thoughts for your consideration: by John Gonzalez

The lectionary reflections that are provided by our Passionist office of justice, peace and integrity of creation typically are based on our spirituality of social justice. For that reason many of these spiritual reflections are offered through the lens of our social concerns. With the readings for this weekend however it is appropriate to narrow the focus of our reflection to the family vs. the social unit. This weekend which immediately follows the solemnity of Christmas, our liturgy celebrates the feast of the Holy Family. The readings offer us instructions of essential virtues that are socially relevant but which are an important observance within the family dynamic. Two virtues that stand out in both Sirach and Colossians are patience and forgiveness. This week’s Gospel offer us an interesting demonstration of Patience that Jesus had to have with his own parents. This episode concludes with Jesus applying these virtues and experiencing their formative impact on himself in return.

“He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them… And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.”  

Our Church teaches us that the family unit has a prominent place within our community. Our family is considered the “First Church” for many of us since the initial development of our faith usually begins at home through the actions and instructions that are provided by our parents. Our family becomes the incubator from which we initially develop our sense of being. Our spiritual, personal and moral development has its origins within the interactions of our immediate and extended family. Catholic teaching tells us that the family is “the primary living cell of society.” Even in the realm of justice and peace the Church teaches us that the family experience becomes the source of our initial understanding of these social concepts:    

Indeed, in a healthy family life we experience some of the fundamental elements of peace: justice and love between brothers and sisters, the role of authority expressed by parents, loving concern for the members who are weaker because of youth, sickness or old age, mutual help in the necessities of life, readiness to accept others and, if necessary, to forgive them. For this reason, the family is the first and indispensable teacher of peace.  – Pope Benedict XVI, The Human Family, A Community of Peace, #3

If we strive wholeheartedly towards the “bond of perfection” then our social attitudes must find their immediate application within the family. And yet this can be a very difficult challenge for many of us. Many times our parents, spouses or community members get the brunt of our own stress and frustration because we are closest to them. We are comfortable in their presence and so we sometimes lash out and make greater demands on them than we would with clients, customers or friends. Ironically we sometimes seem to exhibit less patience and forgiveness with them than with others. But the beauty of the family interaction is that this is the unit where we develop ourselves with the greatest sense of integrity, reflecting who we really are. With customers and clients we create an image of professionalism. Even in religious communities we may offer pastoral services but we still maintain a distant professionalism. This is not so with families. Our families know us more intimately so there are no professional airs to keep us distant. For this reason the call to patience and forgiveness within the family becomes a real challenge to truly engage in the acts of Christian humility and to refine our ability to develop authentic patience and forgiveness.

Peace and justice exist when we work with the human community to serve the common good that benefits us all. To do this we must have the patience to honor the experience and comprehend the needs we each have. We must also be able to forgive our brothers and sisters when we each fall into natural patterns of self interest and control. Of course in theory and in the realm of the head we may be able to express these social virtues. I have often said that I love and enjoy the theories of human dignity and rights while I find humanity itself quite frustrating and draining. Authentic peace and justice challenges people like me to move away from the head and to actualize in the heart the ability to be patient and forgiving with people so that together the common good can be truly served. If I cannot be patient and forgiving with my own family member what hope can I have in developing this authentic virtue with others? As our families continue to gather and celebrate let us be mindful of the call to imitate the Holy Family and to develop the virtues of patience and forgiveness with those closest to us.

• Baruch 5:1-9.  The Glory breaks over the new Jerusalem and God’s people return to their homeland.
• Phil 1: 4-6, 8-11. Paul prays for the completion of God’s holiness and charity among these, his favorite converts.
• Luke 3:1-6. John the Baptist is introduced amidst the data of world history.

Thoughts for your consideration: By John Gonzalez

The readings for the second week of advent offer us a peaceful meditation on hope. All three readings are based on the theme that God’s ultimate restoration of our broken humanity will take place. In the first reading Baruch offers a joyful image for Israel’s restoration from the Babylonian exile. Israel’s hope for God’s glory to once again shine on Israel with mercy and justice will again take place. Baruch follows the prophetic tradition. The Prophets like Jeremiah and Isaiah prepare Israel for eminent destruction and desolation because Israel has not followed God’s commands. But the Prophets also place all this within the greater context of God’s ultimate mercy, justice and compassion. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and Baruch, who is writing after the exile, is now consoling Israel that God’s glory will come again.

The second reading takes us to Paul’s later days when he is imprisoned and awaiting trial. Paul’s thoughts, as he writes this letter, are with the community he has left behind. As he fondly considers them he places himself and his cherished community within the ultimate hope that Christ will come again. The gospel reading by Luke sets the stage for the public ministry of John the Baptist. John’s preaching did not occur in an historical vacuum and Luke takes the effort to describe the political and theological setting that leads up to the appearance of John in the Jordan region. It has been 500 years since the Jewish people returned from exile and they are again facing another oppressive political reality. John the Baptist, who prepares the way for Christ, is introduced as part of the prophetic tradition who is now going to break upon the scene of this current historical reality.

Now, 2000 years after the events of John the Baptist, Jesus and Paul, we are again contemplating this peaceful meditation of hope in our time. Christmas has become a highly commercialized holiday. Even those of us like me and my family, who intentionally support the buy nothing alternative to what has become known as black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving), still find ourselves caught up in the frenzy of commercially preparing for the Christmas season. We owe it to ourselves as people of faith to take some time to contemplate our hope. Like our predecessors of the first century AD or the fifth century BC we too are living in uncertain times. Advent and Christmas offer us a great opportunity that surpasses any material hope we may have. It offer us the opportunity to center ourselves in these troubled times in the faith filled hope that God’s glory will break in again in our lives and that somehow the economic, emotional, and even physical sufferings of the moment can find meaning in a holistic future that we can build based on the experience of our suffering. In his second encyclical Spe Salvi, Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that:

His Kingdom is not an imaginary hereafter, situated in a future that will never arrive; His kingdom is present wherever he is loved and wherever his love reaches us. His love alone gives us the possibility of soberly persevering day by day, without ceasing to be spurred on by hope, in a world which by its very nature is imperfect. His love is at the same time our guarantee of the existence of what we only vaguely sense and which nevertheless, in our deepest self, we await: a life that is “truly” life.    

Contemplation is a valuable gift. If we take the time to contemplate and be reflective then we are taking the time actually consider what “truly” life is. Reflection and contemplation are gifts that can not only help us individually but also as a social community. Soon the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross will have a conference on “Free Enterprise, Poverty, and the Financial Crisis.” In promoting this conference the director of the Acton Institute, Samuel Gregg, observes that “there is plenty of talk about global poverty and yet it is striking how much of the conversation is very unreflective.” Mr. Gregg goes on to say, “Another problem is that a great deal of development economics is underpinned by deeply materialistic ideologies and deformed anthropologies of man. But we know that diminished poverty is only partly an economic and material question. It has moral, spiritual, legal, cultural, and institutional dimensions.”

During the second week of Advent let us take the time to reflect on God’s ultimate restoration for us and our society based on the hope that God loves us all and that we in turn can offer that same love and dignity to each other.

Pope Benedict XVI explores the challenges of integral human development today in Caritas in Veritate. He uses the occasion of the 40th year since Paul VI issued his encyclical Populorum Progressio (On the Progress of Peoples) to recall its richness and reinforces its relevance to present world challenges.

After exploring the connection between charity and truth, he turns to the message of Populorum Progressio, stressing that its principles have continuing force and validity to help in social analysis.

He then helps us look at the present challenges facing integral human development. He points to the moral dimension of the economy that is so often overlooked. Integral development must draw together into unity and harmonise the economic, social, political and human dimensions of life. Solidarity and shared humanity are basic building blocks of a sustainable development. We are urged to find the proper balance of rights and duties, including our duties towards the environment. Cooperation, not unbridled competition is needed. Technology can be a positive or a negative force. The encyclical concludes with a call to Christian action.

______________________________________________________________

Love – caritas – is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. It is a force that has its origin in God, Eternal Love and Absolute Truth. (1)

 There you have it! Love is at the heart of Catholic social teaching on justice and society. Our origin in God’s love and our unity as one human family guide both our ‘micro’ relationships with friends, family and small groups, as well as our ‘macro’ relationships in the social, economic and political spheres (1 -2).

Charity received and given is what gives rise to the Church’s social teaching, which is caritas in veritate in re sociali: the proclamation of the truth of Christ’s love in society. This doctrine is a service to charity, but its locus is truth. Development, social well-being, the search for a satisfactory solution to the grave socio-economic problems besetting humanity, all need this truth (5).

 Justice is the primary way of charity or, in Paul VI’s words, “the minimum measure” of it, an integral part of the love “in deed and in truth” Charity demands justice by recognizing and respecting the rights of others. And it also “transcends justice and completes it in the logic of giving and forgiving” Benedict calls us to realize that peace and development are promoted not by relationships of rights and duties alone, but even more fundamentally by “relationships of gratuitousness, mercy and communion”. (6)

Paul VI : key insights that still shape human development today:

• Authentic human development concerns the whole of the person in every single dimension.
• Integral human development is primarily a vocation to act responsibly and in solidarity. It must be based on a vision that is bigger than the individual person. It needs God.
• It is not about merely technical aspects of human life, but about the meaning of our life journey in company with our fellow humans to promote the good of every person who is of unconditional value.
• Two extremes of idealizing technical progress, or a utopian wish to return to humanity’s original natural state, work against progress by separating the moral foundations of progress and our responsibility in this area.
• Integral human development presupposes the responsible freedom of the individual and of peoples: no structure can guarantee this development without human responsibility.
• Underdevelopment is caused by a lack of solidarity and the will to change, not bychance or historical necessity.
• Privilege or positions of power have no place in promoting development.
• True economic development produces real growth, benefits everyone and is genuinely sustainable.
• Paul VI’s vision of development saw people freed from all that limited life – hunger, deprivation, diseases, illiteracy. This requires active involvement in the international economic process, to build educated, equal societies, with democratic processes to enable peace and freedom. (11- 21)

Current challenges or blocks to integral development

• The present crises are increasingly interconnected and require a new integrated way of understanding.
• Uncontrolled speculative financial dealings have damaging effects on the real economy.
• Globalization’s impact on large scale movements of people is not taken seriously enough.
• Unregulated exploitation of the earth’s resources
• An emerging call of the new poor in rich countries where some enjoy ‘superabundance’
• The world’s wealth is growing in absolute terms, but inequalities are on the increase. Jobless growth is unsustainable.
• Corrupt activity by the economic and political classes in both rich and poor countries.
• Large multinational companies sometimes fail to respect the human rights of workers.
• International aid often fails because of irresponsible actions by both donors and beneficiaries.
• Rich countries jealously protect intellectual property, often at the cost of other countries, especially in the area of pharmaceuticals and health care
• There are some cultural practices that still hinder human rights and development .
• The current crisis calls for a profound cultural renewal, to re-plan our journey, to set ourselves new rules and to discover new forms of commitment. (21-22)

In light of the above, Benedict urges us to shift from short term thinking to a “profound and far-sighted revision of the current model of development…Human costs always include economic costs, and economic dysfunctions always involve human costs” (32). The perilous state of the earth’s health as well as the cultural and moral crisis of the moment demand it prompt action with a long-term vision. Forty years ago Paul VI recognized the growing interdependence within the human community. The full force of its impact was still in the future. The ways in which globalization locks the world together must be reckoned with if we are to find an appropriate development model for today (33). Globalisation can assist development, but it can also destroy true progress. The greed and immoral behavior of the few in the world of high finance has been able to bring the world to the edge of ruin. The social, moral, economic and political dimensions of life have been cut off one from another. Isolation is one of the deepest forms of poverty. Our challenge is to reconnect the separated parts and so humanize and harmonize globalization. This is the heart of caritas in veritate (33).

*Kevin Dance, CP is the Director of Passionists International.

• Acts 1:15-17, 20-26
• 1 John 4:11-16
• John 17:11-19

Thoughts for your consideration:

This week’s scriptures takes us through that transitional period between the Ascension and Pentecost. In Acts we find the Apostles attempting to redefine themselves in the midst of this transition. One of the great Passionist scripture scholars, Fr. Carroll Stuhlmueller, CP, tells us in his commentaries on these readings the significance of maintaining the apostolic number at 12. The early disciples struggled to maintain their Jewish identity as representatives of the 12 tribes of Israel in connection with the new Covenant that was established by Christ. At this point of the early Christian history the Apostles and disciples of Jesus saw themselves more clearly as a renewal movement of their Jewish faith versus a new religion altogether. Keep in mind that it wasn’t until St. Paul really engaged the Gentile community into this movement decades later that the term Christian is first coined.

Our early Christian ancestors had quite an identity struggle and a challenging transition, especially from the moment that Christ ascended into heaven till the time that the Holy Spirit fortified them with wisdom and courage. While the first reading offers us an account of at least one significant event that took place at this time the other reading from the epistle of St. John offers us a core value to how the early community members were expected to treat each. Consistent with the central message of the Gospel St. John reminds the community that they are to live with each other in a way that models the love that God has with them and the love that they have to each other. This of course is based on the special relationship that we have in being witnesses to the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The Gospel passage from John offers us an amazing prayer that Jesus recites requesting God to protect these disciples of his who are to remain in this world after he is gone. He is praying for divine protection and wisdom, especially during this transition.

Transitions are hardly ever easy. Momentous transitions such as this are earth shattering. This group needed to redefine themselves completely in the context of their relationship to each other as well as in their relationship to the greater society. Our own society is in a great period of transition. One of the significant marks of this period is the phenomenon that is called globalization. This phenomenon is forcing us to make some significant changes in our lives, especially with regards to how we conduct our various social relationships including politics, culture and economics.

The three readings offer us some insight into how to handle these transitions as a community dedicated to a God who calls us into relationship. The Gospel offers us the insight of truth. In Jesus’ prayer to God, it is truth more than anything else that will fortify us. We must be open to the truth of how God’s creation is being affected by the decisions that are made. We are called to this even if the truth will turn the world against us. The epistle of John offers the insight of love. In the midst of these transitions we are called to be supportive of each other through the powerful expression of a love that is compassionate to one another. And with the reading from Acts we are given the insight of collaboration. The way forward is going to come about as we make decision based on mutual collaboration with one another. We may not agree with every opinion that exist and every decision that is being made but if we can collaborate in a way whereby we respect each other and in turn we are being respected then we honor the prayer that Jesus offered to God where he hopes that we “may be one” just as he and the Father are “one.”

Questions for Reflection with your faith sharing group:

• Identify some personal transitions that have occurred in your life. How have you successfully addressed some of these moments? How does your faith assist you in times like these? Do you see your own moments of transition related to the greater social changes that are taking place?
• How do you think Joseph called Barsabbas felt about losing the opportunity to become the 12^th Apostle? How have you dealt with difficult decisions? How challenging is it for you to accept the will of the group if it goes against your own interest?

• Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
• 1 John 4:7-10
• John 15:9-17

Thoughts for your consideration:

This week’s readings tell us that God is very active, and the source of his action is Love. In all three readings we are made aware that God is the active agent that creates the moments of possibilities for us to love him and in return all of humanity. Our active option is to respond to these moments. This image of God is one that is very different from the traditional metaphysics of God as a watchmaker who creates the Universe, winds it up and sits back to see how things go. These reading tell us that God does not sit back at all but rather he is front and center shaping the world like a potter. According to the readings we are being actively shaped by God to be a reflection of that divine Love to ourselves and each other.

In the first reading the Holy Spirit is intervening in bring Peter and Cornelius together and to begin the Gentile integration of the early Christian community. This is a stretch for Peter who has only understood his experience with Jesus within the parameters of the Jewish community. Yet he allows himself to be moved by the Spirit and to accept (perhaps with some trepidation) this development. With powerful visions the Holy Spirit guides Peter to an awareness that he “should not call anyone profane or unclean.” Amazed at the reception of the Holy Spirit by the gentile household of Cornelius Peter exclaims, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” With this event that was clearly guided by the Holy Spirit the Christian community begins its mission to spread the Gospel to all members of humanity because “What God has made clean [we] must not call profane.”

John declares that true love comes from God. It is too simple these days to say that we are called to love one another. Overall we take this for granted under the rubric that we tolerate each other and show random acts of kindness from time to time. The love that John invites us to express is a mystical love that transcends our own desires and interest. To love with the capacity that God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit has for all of creation is to love God and all creation with such intensity that we lose ourselves completely in becoming love for others. In our own limited mortality it is difficult to truly comprehend such an existence where we, like Jesus, can “lay down one’s own life for one’s friend.” This is the love of self sacrifice.

Jesus puts it all together when he offers the Great Commandment, “that you love one another as I have loved you.” Through the self sacrifice of Jesus in the Passion narratives God again acts with love towards creation. We however are not merely passive recipients in this mystical dance. Scripture constantly reminds us that we are expected to follow the way that Christ has opened for us by following his example. We are to engage in a mystical self sacrificing love for all members of humanity and creation. Within our own society this calls us to look at policies from the perspective of those who are being affected by them. There are no artificial borders or walls that the Spirit will respect with regards to the great love that God has for all creation, Peter became aware of this truth. We are called to love with the same openness where no artificial border such as nationality, culture, language or creed can keep us from honoring the dignity of others. God made all things; nothing God has created should ever be called profane or unclean.

Questions for Reflection with your faith sharing group:

• How have you witnessed God as an active agent in your own life or in society? How have you responded to these moments?
• Consider your own experience of Love. How does it mirror the love that Christ showed his disciples in life and in death? How do you consider the challenge to love all members of humanity with the same openness that Peter showed Cornelius?
• Identify artificial borders that exist in our society. Have you ever witnessed these borders limiting the creative work of God’s love? How do you respond to these borders?

The Christian faith has shown us that truth, justice and love are not simply ideals, but enormously weighty realities. It has shown us that God —Truth and Love in person—desired to suffer for us and with us… Hence in all human suffering we are joined by one who experiences and carries that suffering with us; hence con-solatio is present in all suffering, the consolation of God’s compassionate love—and so the star of hope rises. – Pope Benedict XVI, Spe Salvi

The basic thesis for Pope Benedict XVI is that in the midst of great suffering (social or personal) one can experience some deep meaning that can bring a new vision of true hope that is grounded in the will of God for all of humanity. From this we can begin to address personal and social issues. Below is the link and video link of Pope Benedict’s Easter message. Here I would like to offer a quote from his Urbi et Orbi message in which Pope Benedict identifies many of the issue that impact our global family.

At a time of world food shortage, of financial turmoil, of old and new forms of poverty, of disturbing climate change, of violence and deprivation which force many to leave their homelands in search of a less precarious form of existence, of the ever-present threat of terrorism, of growing fears over the future, it is urgent to rediscover grounds for hope. Let no one draw back from this peaceful battle that has been launched by Christ’s Resurrection. For as I said earlier, Christ is looking for men and women who will help him to affirm his victory using his own weapons: the weapons of justice and truth, mercy, forgiveness and love. – Pope Benedict XVI, Easter Message 2009

Pope Benedict’s encyclical and message of Christian hope identifies the Paschal Mystery not only in its historical significance but also in the meaning of social and personal suffering in our lives which is usually the place where we struggle to identify Hope. In this way Pope Benedict’s social and spiritual message is firmly grounded in the Passionist tradition which has seen the redemtive quality of Christ Passion, Death and Ressurection in the suffering of the world today. Consider this powerful quote from our own Fr. Don Senior, CP on the fourth vow of the Passionist which is to keep alive the memory of the Passion:

But there are other reasons for the Passionist vow. Jesus’ death on the cross was a death in the cause of justice. He was executed because he challenged accepted values. He sided with the poor and the outcasts. He condemned oppressive structures. Jesus was a prophet and prophets meet strong opposition.

His cross reminds us that Christians must listen to the cries of the poor. We are in solidarity with those whom society may forget or even exploit. The cross is a sign of justice. To remind the world about the cross is to challenge the world for its injustice and neglect. Passionists are pledged to that challenge. -Fr. Don Senior, CP

Here are the links of Pope Benedict’s Easter Message for 2009. I offer you this for your thoughts and consideration as we begin to celebrate our Easter season. Let me know what you think of the global challenge to the Easter message.

Pope Benedict XVI’s Easter Message 2009

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5axrSsEU_U0