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A Hidden TreasureA Hidden TreasureVocations Sunday

For years we prayed for vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life. Nowadays we recognise the vocation of every Christian to be the light of Christ.

Jesus announced that his mission would be the kingdom or reign of God in the world. His taskforce would be the assembly of followers, later called the Church. In a vastly changed world, the Church of tomorrow will not be the same as the Church of the past.

Jesus once described the kingdom of God as a hidden treasure. The treasure too long hidden is the grace of baptism received by every Christian. It is a vocation, a call to bring the light of Christ to others. According to the late Pope Francis, Spirit filled evangelisers are what the Church needs today. ‘How I long to find the words to stir up enthusiasm for a new chapter of evangelisation full of fervour, joy, generosity, courage, boundless love and attraction!’

Pope Francis and now Pope Leo have asked the Church to engage in Synodality, a method going back to the days of the apostles. A synod literally means walking together. It means discussing what needs to be changed, but above all, listening to the Holy Spirit.

For many people today the Church is irrelevant, so they have walked away in another direction. But there is an emptiness in the jigsaw of the heart that only God can fill. A renewed Church will be closer to the ideals of the Gospel. People will recognise Jesus as the keystone of life.

Let us trust in the Holy Spirit who transformed the confused apostles into zealous missionaries.

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Inviting Jesus in…

When someone dies, people gather around. They need to talk; to retrace the life of the person who has died. Nothing else seems important. Strangers don’t understand. How could they?

This was the experience of the two disciples, as they made their way to Emmaus. They were shattered. The stranger who joined them didn’t seem to understand. But at least he listened.

At the time of a funeral, religious ideas don’t always make sense. The presence of Jesus is not easily recognised. Perhaps we come closest to recognising him in those who come to sit with us, who listen, who bring sandwiches.

Jesus offers us his word, a word of consolation and hope, just as he offered it to his disciples on the road. He is with us too breaking the bread, as he was with them. We are never closer to those who have died than when we gather for the Eucharist.

A Human HeartThird Sunday of Easter

Jesus made as if to go on. He was not going to impose himself. The disciples pressed him to stay for supper. They invited him in, if they had not, they might never have found out who he was.

What is this saying to us today?

An Experience of Faith

It’s interesting to note that after His resurrection, Jesus appeared to those who believed in Him. If we were stage-managing matters, it would be handled differently. Plenty of witnesses to the actual resurrection, followed by a visit to Pilate and his wife, then on to the Sanhedrin. A victory procession, this time on a magnificent horse, not a donkey. His sheer living presence would force anyone to accept Jesus as Son of God. It would have saved an awful lot of trouble in ink and blood.

Reasonable, but not faithful. Just like His birth, God passed by all the centres of power of the time. He appeared to no one except those who were disposed to believe. His followers may have lost hope in Jesus after He died, but they never lost their love for Him or faith in Him. It was this that gave the discerning eye to recognise Him, when others could not. Seeing the risen Jesus was not an experience of empirical data; it was an experience of faith.

A Human HeartSecond Sunday of Easter

A lesson that is as true for today. To those who don’t believe no evidence is enough, to the believer no evidence is needed.