One day, Greeks came to the Apostles, and they said to Philip, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." (Jn.12.21). What had they heard about that Galilean that they were anxious to meet him? Had they heard of the miracles he had worked? Had somebody talked to them about his message he proclaimed wherever he met people? Had people talked about his personality, his kindness and compassion, his knowledge, his authority? What kind of questions were they going to ask him? Many of us might want to say what the Greeks said, with the desire to get "to know Jesus more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly" (Godspell).
The millennium celebration would like to awaken our hunger and thirst for Jesus and for everything he stands for.
The preparations for the celebration of the 2000th birthday of Our Saviour are gaining momentum. Dioceses, parishes and various church groups have designed programs that are meant to implement the suggestions found in the Pope's Apostolic Letter "The Jubilee of the Year 2000". Some groups feel challenged by Lk.4, 16-18; their members are determined to implement the social teaching of the Church. Some dioceses have developed pastoral plans based on the Apostolic Letter. Some wish to penetrate the meaning of the Scriptures
Fr. Erik in his reflection will speak about the relationships of Jesus and what they mean to the Lord's disciples. Fr. Gregory Roetker gives us a meditation of Jesus' love for the poor.
May all our special efforts at this time bear rich fruit.
God bless you all,
Fr. George Neumann, S.A.C.
As the Great Jubilee Year of 2000 draws closer, we continue to reflect on the role of Jesus Christ in our lives and in the life of the Church. The sacrament of baptism, which incorporates us into Christ, is the place where we first encounter the fullness of Christ. However, on the road to that encounter, Vincent Pallotti serves as a trustworthy guide. Vincent Pallotti knows that such every encounter with Jesus Christ will be the result of formative stages in spiritual living. They will never be the result of an accident.
In the last issue, I reflected on the first stage of coming closer to Christ, namely, the sharing of Christ's mindset and purpose. The second stage requires that we share Christ's relationships, to the Father, to the Spirit and to the brothers and sisters of the Church.
Pallotti himself insisted upon this stage of spiritual growth into Christ with all that was in him. However, it would be a terrible injustice to interpret Pallotti's insistence on the love of God and neighbour as merely the observation of the commandments. Instead, Pallotti understood this sharing of Christ's relationships as a result of the dynamic of love. In other words, if you truly love another person, including Christ, then that love will lead you to a desire to share that person's relationships.
Take yourself as the example. Imagine a person in your life who has sealed with you a bond a friendship. That person holds many interests in common with you, shares many likes and dislikes, and is of a common mind on many crucial issues. It is a good start for the friendship. However, a day soon dawns on which you ask the person to listen to a problem you are having with another cherished person in your life, a spouse, child or parent. Instead of being attentive and offering an opportunity for you to unburden your heart, the friend tells you that they are not intcrested. After all, they insist, they have forged friendship with you, not with this other person. They are interested in you, not all the other people who are involved in your life.
The result of such a conversation would be incredulity. You would know immediately that you placed the hope of friendship and love in the wrong person. You would know yourself not truly loved. For how can they claim to love you early, and yet fail to cherish what is closest to your heart? How can they claim to hold you in loving esteem, but fail to respect and honour the people who are knit to your soul? It defies the dynamic of love.
This is the warning of Vincent Pallotti. To love Christ will require a deep love of all that is closest to his heart. To esteem Christ above all men and women, will mean that we hold in high honour all the persons with whom he is in deepest relationship. We must take great care not to defy the dynamic of love.
Love for Christ will mean a love for his Father. Jesus loves the Father as his apostle, thus we must love the Father as his apostles. Christ expresses his love in unity with him, and we must share in that relationship by holding unity with God in highest regard. Over and over again, Pallotti expresses his desire to love God the Father as Jesus did. If you love Jesus with Pallotti's passion, then it is easy to understand that Pallotti not only wanted to love as Jesus did, but he wanted to love the persons Jesus did.
Love for Christ will mean a love for the Holy Spirit, We come to share Jesus' relationship with the Holy Spirit who hovered like wind across the waters of creation. Through Jesus we enter into relationship with the Spirit who settled upon Isaiah and Pallotti, so that they might be anointed to proclaim good news. In love with Christ, we learn to love with him the Spirit who transformed the Cenacle of Jerusalem into the heartland of the mission. Pallotti desires to be in that room with the Spirit, because Jesus wants to be there with the Spirit.
Finally, a love of Jesus will mean a love of neighbour. Is it even fathomable that we would protest our love for the Lord to the heavens and even consider the possibility that it will exclude a love for all the people who Jesus has loved into salvation? Pallotti never fails to link love of Jesus with a desire to love others as he did. However, to love the neighbour as Jesus did means to be constantly concerned about their salvation. Pallotti writes that "the commandment of love bids us to love our neighbour as ourselves. Therefore, we are obliged to care for our own eternal salvation and that of our neighbour in every way possible. In the observance of these commandments we imitate Jesus Christ, who is the Apostle of the Eternal Father."
Vincent Pallotti once wrote, "May the life of our Lord Jesus Christ
be my life, now and forever." That line contains the agenda of his life,
and the life of those who are incorporated into Christ through baptism.
It is also the purpose of this preparatory year dedicated to Jesus Christ.
Let Christ's life be our life, let his thoughts be our thoughts, let his
purpose be our purpose, and let his loves be our loves. Let is be so, as
Pallotti would say, now and forever.
Fr. Erik K. Riechers, S.A.C.
Lord Jesus, create me anew. Through the holiness and perfection of Your life destroy whatever is imperfect in my life. Be my life. I have a deep trust that You will work in me. Nurture me with Your divine life and thus make me a new creation. May I become every day more Like You.
St. Vincent Pallotti
William A. Barry, S.J., Who Do You Say I Am?, Ave Maria Press
As the Year 2000 approaches, the Holy Father invites us in a special
way, to deepen our relationship with God by focusing on each person of
the Trinity. In light of this, Rev. William Barry's book, Who Do You
Say I Am?, provides the reader an opportunity to draw closer to Jesus
Christ. Just as the words and stories of scripture have the ability to
affect us profoundly, so too can gaining a greater understanding of the
historical Jesus. Through the presentation of the fruits of modern scriptural
scholarship, the reader meets the historical Jesus in his world. By gaining
a sense of the life of Jesus, the reader can then relate his/her own life
experiences to those of Jesus'. These points of contact provide an opportunity
to dialogue on a more personal level with the Second Person of the Trinity.
In effect, Jesus becomes less distant and a growing friendship develops.
Ron Laginski
Everything ought to focus on the primary objective of the Jubilee: the strengthening of faith and of the witness of Christians. It is therefore necessary to inspire in all the faithful a true longing for holiness, a deep desire for conversion and personal renewal in a context of ever more intense prayer and of solidarity with one's neighbour, 'especially the most needy.
The first year therefore will be the opportune moment for a renewed
appreciation of catechesis in its original meaning as "the Apostles'
teaching: (Acts 2:42) about the person of Jesus Christ and his mystery
of salvation. In this regard, a detailed study of the Catechism of the
Catholic Church will prove of great benefit, for the Catechism presents
"faithfully and systematically ... the teaching of Sacred Scripture, the
living Tradition of the Church and the authentic Magisterium, as well as
the spiritual heritage of the Fathers, Doctors and Saints of the Church,
to allow for a better knowledge of the Christian mystery and for enlivening
the faith of the People of God". To be realistic, we need to enlighten
the consciences of the faithful concerning errors regarding the person
of Christ, clarifying objections against him and against the Church.
Pope John Paul II
"The Jubilee of the Year 2000" no. 42
In preparation for the Great Jubilee Pope John Paul II has asked us to embark on a three-year journey to rejuvenate our faith. During this year we are to focus on Christ. In the title of a small book the author, Hans-Urs von Balthasar, asks two questions: Does Jesus know us? Do we know Jesus? This last question is a continuous challenge for us, especially during this year 1997.
From the gospel of John echo back to us the words of John the Baptist: "Standing among you is the one, whom you do not know" (Jn. 1,26). Do not these words ring true in our time and in our state of awareness? Perhaps now, the gospels pose a special challenge for us "to know the Lord more clearly, to love Him more dearly, to follow Him more nearly". Understandably, the important event in our Lord's life and His speeches, parables and miracles provide the larger part of our knowledge about Him. Our passage above does not belong to these elements. However, it is not a meaningless 'aside' only. It lets us take an intimate look into the Lord's 'option for the poor'.
After the strenuous debates with the members of the Sanhedrin and the Sadducees the Lord was tired. Not tired enough, however, to keep him from observing the rich temple-visitors flinging their offerings into the treasury and from observing the poor widow giving all she had. We have to be careful here. Jesus is not really castigating the wealthy worshippers; He is not even accusing them of outward show. He is praising the widow. And His praise tells us something about the intrinsic value of giving and the risk involved,and ultimately it speaks to us about Christ and His values. The widow's gift was greater than all the others because she gave out of her poverty and gave up her security.
People who have lived and worked among the poor have - at some time
- come to wonder at the generosity and sharing of those who have least.
We all tend to value the contributions people make to their parish, to
charities, to worthwhile causes, according to their market value. The observation
Jesus makes in our selection seems to be so casual, so unpremeditated that
it might well slip by without our realizing that He is asking us to turn
our whole sense of values upside-down. The value of a gift does not exist
in its monetary or material content but in the spirit in which it is given.
A gift which is given with a grudge, a gift that is given for the sake
of prestige or self-display, loses significantly in value. The only real
gift is the one that flows from a loving heart, and which is given because
the giver cannot help giving. The fact that the Lord recognizes a true
giver is very consoling and yet discomforting at the same time, for the
Lord knows us too and the depth of our hearts.
Jesus on his way to Jerusalem
In this part of Luke's gospel Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, to his
suffering and death. This context makes our seemingly casual episode even
more significant. The poor widow's offering foreshadows what Jesus would
offer on the cross: Himself. As in the widow's offering there was a great
risk in the Lord's offering. In the gospels we are faced with an undeniable
fact: Jesus was afraid to die. In the time before His death all human security
was gone: His mother, His disciples, His friends; none of them could help.
In His dying on the cross Jesus gave up literally everything to the Father
for us. Like the widow Jesus gave all He had. More obviously than the widow,
Jesus gave all He WAS. Out of His poverty, He put in the 'treasury' of
His Father everything He had: His whole living, His whole dying. Is it
too bold to think that the courageous offering of the widow gave Jesus
encouragement on His way to offer Himself?
Fr. Gregory Roetker, S.A.C.
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