6th Sunday of Easter - Year A

Acts 8:5-8.14-17; 1Peter 3:15-18; John 14:15-21

Have you seen the new programme from America called The Moment of Truth? The questions it raises are far more interesting than the programme itself which, to tell the truth, is disappointingly contrived. Yet the concept is fascinating.

Take an ordinary man or woman and offer them a choice between truth, money, or their own reputation and see what happens. Actually, the results are mostly unedifying and tend to give a bleak picture of the integrity of the contestants.

Presiding over the charade is the god Polygraph whose disembodied female voice judges with heartless and misplaced confidence: That answer is true. That answer is false.

Viewers complacent enough to continue watching beyond the first episodes of this show might eventually come to realise that it deals more often than not in isolated facts about its sacrificial victims, rather than in the truth. Hopefully, as these sit at home counting their loot and coming to terms with their losses they will come to realise they have been duped and not be overpowered by the ugly glimpse they caught of themselves – not in a moment of truth but – in a moment of greed.

Facts are very different from truth, indeed, facts can lie. My photo of myself at 18 looking for all the world like the heart throb of the day, Ricky Nelson, is undeniably a photo of me, but it lies. I have never, sad to say, borne a resemblance to Ricky Nelson. The charcoal cartoon sketch I brought home from Paris, on the other hand, is recognisably me. Somehow, Monsieur Whoever, in a few strokes of genius, captured the truth with a stick of charcoal and anyone seeing his work exclaims: Hey, that’s you!

The Pharisees bring to Jesus a woman caught in the very act of adultery – no doubt at all about the facts – and now she deserves to die. Jesus looks at her and sees the truth – so very different from the facts – and refuses to condemn her. The tax collector Matthew sits at the counting house despised by all and yet Jesus, seeing the truth about Matthew, calls him into his most intimate circle.

God alone knows the truth about us – we can only know facts - that's why no man can judge another.

Pontius Pilate was totally baffled by the concept 'truth', the Pharisees failed to recognise it when it stared them lovingly in the face, the Greeks laughed at it for its simplicity, Judas sold it not for $500,000 but for thirty pieces of silver. Jesus bore faithful witness to it and then gave his life for it.

Truth is the only real power in this world. That is why Jesus, on leaving his disciples, gave them not courage or eloquence but the Spirit of truth. That would be all they needed - they would be invincible - and the gates of hell would not prevail against them.

I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you for ever, that Spirit of truth whom the world can never receive…

Truth is like gravity, always drawing us back to itself. It needs no army to defend it – it cannot be overcome – only struggled against. Truth is the very power of being – written into the DNA of our existence – nor can it be 'genetically modified.'

When we fight truth we fight ourselves and take ourselves captive. When we believe the truth, surrender to truth, speak the truth, do the truth, we truly become who we were created to be – we become like Jesus. This is because ultimately and inescapably, in the Christian view, the truth is a person, a man with a name – Jesus – a man who is God.

This man showed us in his life, death and resurrection that only truth will stand eternally – because it brings us into communion with God who is Truth – and who is Eternal. All falsehood is doomed eventually to pass away.

Truth has many names, all the names of God – Love, Mercy, Justice, Light, Life.

Truth is constantly searching for us. It seeks to dwell in human hearts and to become act in human lives. The deeds of truth are many - service, obedience, sacrifice, forgiveness, while the greatest expression of truth is the love that keeps the commandments of God.

If you love me you will keep my commandments.

Obedience to God’s commandments is a non-negotiable for the lover of truth - it is the path to Life.

The loving eyes of Jesus see the truth about each one of us. As John 2:25 says: he never needed evidence about any man; he could tell what a man had in him.

How disconcerting! To be gazed at by the eyes of truth! And yet - how comforting! There is one who can understand me, penetrate my defences, untangle my self-deceptions, look beyond the facts, and offer me a Way to freedom from my greatest enemy - untruth. And that Way is himself - the Truth and the Life.

5th Sunday of Easter - Year A

Acts 6:1-7; 1Peter 2:4-9; John 14:1-12

Jesus has dropped a bombshell. He is leaving his disciples behind and where he is going they cannot come. The disciples are deeply troubled and Jesus knows it. Peter, almost frantic, questions his Master: Where are you going? Jesus assures him he will come later but Peter insists: Why can’t I follow you now?

The thought of being without the Lord is obviously too much for the Apostles. Jesus is aware of their distress but can comfort them only to the extent that his Father’s plan allows: Where I am going you cannot follow me now; you will follow me later.

The unalterable truth settles into them. Jesus sees their anguish and gently consoles them: Do not let your hearts be troubled.

These few words, because they are from the Master are already enormously comforting. This is the Jesus who calmed the sea, who fed the hungry thousands, who brought life to a dead man. This is the Jesus who faced every difficulty with unshakeable composure and interior recollection. They had faced many dangers and difficulties with him and they knew who it was now saying to them: Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still, and trust in me.

What wonderful words! We should let them be spoken to every one of our difficult human experiences:

• When the doctor diagnoses a terminal illness
• When a loved one dies unexpectedly
• When a pregnancy miscarries
• When a precious relationship ends
• When a sinner suddenly sees what his sins deserve
• When the world seems to be crashing around our ears

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still, and trust in me.

The effective power of these words lies in their origin, their source. They come from the mouth of Jesus, the Word of God, who speaks only the words of God. Jesus invites us to shift our focus from the disaster before us to him – and to trust that his word is the greater, the more real.

His leaving is unavoidable but it has a context of hope.

• I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full. (Jn 10:10)
• I am going now to prepare a place for you… (Jn 14:2)
• I shall return to take you with me… (Jn 14:3)

We clearly see that all Jesus does is done for us: he came for us, he is leaving for us, he will return for us – and why? – so that where I am you may be too. This is the whole reason for all that Jesus has done and is doing for us - so that we might be with him. But let’s be clear about one thing, it’s not so much that Jesus has gone to prepare us a place but rather that he is preparing us for a place in heaven. Jesus is not preparing heaven for us but preparing us for heaven.

Thomas does not seem to hear Jesus say that he will return to take them with him. He seems to think he will have to find the way himself and bluntly informs Jesus that he knows neither the destination nor the way.

As Thomas’ unbelief gave us those magnificent words: My Lord and my God, so now his incomprehension elicits from Jesus the awe-inspiring, inexpressibly profound self revelation: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.

What man has ever dared make such a claim? From which other man would such a claim be accepted and believed? On the lips of Jesus these unbelievable words are eminently believable – they resonate with all the power of their truth. The Father is the destination; the Son is the Way. No one can come to the Father except through me, says Jesus.

The theological and Christological dimensions of this saying of Jesus are enormous. Whole shelves of books have been written on them. However, I will confine myself to that aspect of his words with which we began, Jesus’ desire to reassure his grieving disciples at the moment when all their hopes appeared to be on the point of being shattered.

I am the Way – not the path you have chosen for yourself. When you see your path blocked, your hopes fade, your desires thwarted, as surely, sooner or later you will, remember then – I am the Way.

I am the Truth – not the material circumstances of your life. All that you see around you, all that happens to you, all that appears to be real in the world is not ultimately real, not the final truth about life. I, and only I, am the Truth.

I am the Life – not your concerns and your busy activities, not your efforts to 'achieve' and your desperate clinging to life here on earth. One day your human life and the life of your loved ones will fail. It will be a moment of great distress. At that time remember and be at peace because, I am the Life.

4th Sunday of Easter - Year A (A Reflection)

The Good Shepherd

Acts 2:14.36-41; 1Peter 2:20-25; John 10:1-10

St Irenaeus was a peaceful man, in fact, his very name means peace. Nevertheless, as the Benedictus antiphon in the Office of Morning prayer for his feast day says: ...he fought strenuously for the peace of the Church.

The whole antiphon reads:

Irenaeus, in keeping with his name, was a man of peace; he fought strenuously for the peace of the Church.

I must admit, I love that antiphon - so beautifully put!

It speaks to a dilemma which has dogged my priesthood from the beginning - two seemingly irreconcilable opposites - building peace and fighting; or to put it another way: fighting for peace.

In the movie 300, perhaps too bloodthirsty to recommend, there is a fight between the hero and a vicious wolf. It’s my preferred image of the Good Shepherd. I know the traditional image of Jesus holding a lamb to his chest and surrounded by peacefully grazing sheep has its own beauty but, considering the contemporary world and the Church in which we live today, I prefer this one - it's the backstage Good Shepherd - mixing it with the enemies of his flock.

We have had many such shepherds in the Church - Pope John Paul II brandishing the sword of his spirit-filled intellect at the proud wolves who take their power from the world and its ways; Mother Teresa, and even Mother Angelica, and, in our own land of Australia we are blessed with Cardinal Pell and some very fine bishops. There are many others, thank God, bishops, priests, deacons and religious, all over the world.

A good shepherd must be ready for combat – offensive and defensive. The battlefield? I think its name today is orthodoxy – believing what the Church believes, teaching what the Church teaches, doing what the Church does – no more and no less.

For all too many Catholics today this has become an impossible demand. Their hearts have turned from the truths of Christ and his Church - they are no longer enough - they no longer captivate or satisfy. Rather than allow themselves to be shaped by the Church and her teachings they seek to shape the Church and conform her to their dissident views.

How do they do it, these enemies of truth? The answer is – bit by bit, step by step, doctrine by doctrine, day after day.

Here, for example, is an excerpt from the transcript of the ABC programme Compass which went to air last week. Here is a Catholic School Principal, a Marist Brother, hard at work - white-anting, de-evangelising, un-catechising the Catholics of Australia:

Br Tony: In my time at school if you didn’t go to church on Sunday you were going to burn in hell - which I don’t think is the case… I think it is possible to be a good Christian, I think it is possible to be a good Catholic and not necessarily have to be at church on Sunday. I will probably be in trouble for saying that.

Can you believe this guy? And it's not as though he doesn't know he is at variance with the Church! This is the bumptious voice of liberalism at its worst, effortlessly setting aside Church teaching in favour of a much more authoritative voice - his opinion!

You have learnt how it is said ..... but I, Br Tony, say unto you ... (cf. Mtt 5:21)

He sounds like he relates to the Church the way his students relate to their school with his adolescent quip: I will probably be in trouble for saying that. The scandal is, of course, that he probably won’t and that we employ him to educate our Catholic young people - to be their shepherd! Speaking for myself I think Br Tony should be asked not only to relinquish his position as principal but told not to go near a class of Catholic students again - until his faith finds some feet.

Last year, in this very parish, I had the distasteful experience of having to listen to the Australian Provincial of a mainstream religious order tell me she did not accept the teaching of the Church on homosexuality and that she counselled the girls she came across to stay in their lesbian relationships but have only one partner. When I reminded her of the clarity of Church teaching on the subject she said: Well, I don’t accept Church teaching on this matter. And that was that!

A final example: Just a few months ago a young woman and her fiancé joined a number of other couples for a marriage preparation session at Centacare in one of the Catholic dioceses near Sydney and were informed by the Catholic presenters that it's definitely okay to use contraception. The young woman, a practising Catholic, challenged this statement and was reassured that Catholics may use contraception so long as it does not cause abortions. I understand that more will be heard of this incident in the months ahead.

Well, it seems there will be fighting. The arrogant wolves are everywhere confronting the shepherds in the Australian Church. Many of the sheep are not even aware there is a battle raging. Many could not care but many do - deeply.

Throughout Australia there are simple, orthodox, heart-broken Catholic parishioners who have been praying for years for courageous shepherds to take a stand. These men and women have glimpsed the turmoil behind the façade of unity and are not deceived – but they are powerless to tear the façade down. Were it to come down we would all be shocked – primarily, I believe, at how small the Catholic Church in Australia really is.

It's funny how, in the end, this all boils down to the individual, each individual one of us. If you were watching Compass the other night how did you feel? What was your reaction? Did you cringe? Was your faith insulted, outraged?

Today the strong (in faith) are getting stronger and the weak, weaker. It’s so obvious. The Brother Tonys and the dissident religious sisters of this world are going at it hammer and tongs behind the façade of unity un-teaching the faithful and completing the process of their unchurching.

Are we to keep silent? Did Jesus not say: Every kingdom divided against itself is heading for ruin; and no town, no household divided against itself can stand (Mtt 12:26)?

Do you think he was joking?

3rd Sunday of Easter - Year A

Acts 2:14.22-33; 1 Peter 1:17-21; Luke 24:13-35

Two of the disciples of Jesus were on their way to a village called Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking together about all that had happened.

• Seven is the perfect scriptural number .. it means completely, totally away from Jerusalem. They were sure they didn’t want to be followers of Jesus. They didn't want to be Catholics anymore.


• They were talking together about all that had happened. There is always a story when someone leaves the faith - I got hurt and let me tell you how - I was betrayed and let me tell you how.

Now as they talked this over, Jesus himself came up and walked by their side; but something prevented them from recognising him.

• Jesus is always by our side but how slow we are to understand that! What a pity we don’t understand it, especially when we have disappointments and things seem to all have come to a big ZERO in our lives. He is there.


• Something prevented them from recognising him. How common! We just can’t see him - and that is because we don’t really know him. We allow our fear, our hurt, our disappointment, our so-called knowledge to blind us to his presence.

He said to them: 'What matters are you discussing as you walk along?' They stopped short, their faces downcast.

• Jesus takes the initiative. He always does that. He gets them to think. Now this is important. I often talk to people who are feeling lost, feeling angry, feeling let down, feeling hurt, and it’s obvious they have stopped thinking. So Jesus gets them to tell him their problem. That's prayer and that’s a wise thing for us to do - to tell Jesus our problems.


• They stopped short .. their faces downcast. Now I may be stretching the Scriptures here a bit but I still want to ask you: do you stop when you pray, when you talk to Jesus? I ask people how they pray and they say, under the shower, in the car, washing the dishes .. and so on. Well, it’s always good to stop - sit down - kneel down - focus - concentrate - give yourself 100% to your prayer.


• And these two were sad, their faces downcast. Well, that’s ok, everyone gets sad sometimes, and those are the times we should especially turn to Jesus. He is right there to listen and to strengthen us and give us back our joy.

Then one of them, called Cleopas, answered him, You must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these last few days.

• Well, that’s a bit strong. Jesus is only trying to help. You don’t have to jump down his throat. But Jesus is not easily put off, even when we strongly express our anger, our hurt, our disappointment, our fears to him.

'What things?' he asked.

• See how Jesus wants to get us to tell him our problems! Of course he already knows everything but we don’t, and that’s why he wants us to tell him our troubles, so that he can give us his answer.

'All about Jesus of Nazareth' they answered `who proved he was a great prophet by the things he said and did in the sight of God and of the whole people; and how our chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and had him crucified. Our own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free.'

• Ah! You had been hoping for something and Jesus disappointed you. That’s a common problem. People who have a sudden death in the family, who go bankrupt in their business, who find they have a terminal disease, or are at the receiving end of some other sort of difficulty, sometimes lose faith. They had been secretly hoping or expecting that Jesus would exempt them from suffering and they were disappointed. A catastrophe happened in their life and they leave the Church. They blame it on the Lord.

And this is not all: two whole days have gone by since it all happened; and some women from our group have astounded us: they went to the tomb in the early morning, and when they did not find the body, they came back to tell us they had seen a vision of angels who declared he was alive. Some of our friends went to the tomb and found everything exactly as the women had reported, but of him they saw nothing.

• So what these men are saying is - 'We left the Church because our hopes were disappointed but there are these people telling us that our hopes were not disappointed at all, that the Lord is really alive and with us'.

Then he said to them, `You foolish men! So slow to believe the full message of the prophets! Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory?'

• Well, Jesus says the words I sometimes feel like saying when I am talking to people who tell me the Church is full of hypocrites and it’s all a money-making concern, and so on. I feel like saying, You foolish men! but I don’t, because when you live in a glass house you can’t afford to throw stones. Maybe if I understood like I should then maybe I could start chiding others, but I don’t think that day will arrive for a while.

Then, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, he explained to them the passages throughout the scriptures that were about himself.

• Then he explained the Scriptures to them and their hearts burned within them. What a wonderful thing it is when someone explains the Scriptures. I used to love the Scripture classes at the seminary. The scriptures are the word of God, they are God speaking, and where God’s word is, God is not far away.

When they drew near to the village to which they were going, he made as if to go on; but they pressed him to stay with them. `It is nearly evening' they said `and day is almost over.' So he went to stay with them. Now while he was with them at the table, he took the bread and said the blessing; then he broke it and handed it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognised him; but he had vanished from their sight.

• He has explained the Word and now he celebrates what looks like the Sacrament. The three pillars of the Catholic Church are Word, Sacrament, Community. So what do these two men do? Naturally enough, they return to the community .. to Jerusalem, the Church. They go back to Peter the Pope, to the Apostles the bishops, and to those gathered around them. They once again become practising Catholics.

They set out that instant and returned to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven assembled together with their companions, who said to them, `Yes, it is true. The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.' Then they told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognised him at the breaking of bread.