St. Anthony & Our Lady of Fatima

We continue reading the Missionary Discourse of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus encourages the apostles to speak out and foresees the persecution of the missionaries. He urges the disciples to remember the providential love of God. In words reminiscent of the Sermon on the Mount, he points to the Father’s care even for the well-being of sparrows.

At the same time he recognises that great courage is necessary to preach the gospel. It is not easy to shout the truth from the house-tops. It is not easy to declare oneself for Christ in the presence of those who ridicule and mock religion. The gospel reading invites us to ponder on the thousands of Christians who have spoken up for their faith at the risk of losing their lives, not only in distant centuries but also in our own day.

The first reading considers the words of Jeremiah who was persecuted for preaching the truth of God. He speaks of his distress, but also of his trust in the Lord who will protect him. The prophetic mission of Jeremiah and his fidelity amid suffering help us to understand the mission and suffering of Christ.

Our passage from the Letter to the Romans is of great significance. St Paul explains that while our first parents opened the gates for sin to enter into the world, the actions of Jesus Christ brought the free gift of life and salvation

The Gospel of Matthew contains five major speeches of Jesus, designed by the evangelist, so it seems, to reflect and to outshine the five books of Moses. Jesus is the new Moses, who comes to bring the Law and the Prophets to fulfilment.

We hear today the beginning of the second speech, which is known as the Missionary Discourse. The opening words of our gospel passage tell us that the motivation of Jesus in his preaching is compassion for those who are lost. This must be our motivation too in offering the good news to others.

Jesus selects his twelve apostles. They are chosen from among those who have left everything to follow him. It may come as a surprise that with his first words to them Jesus apparently limits the mission of the apostles. The first priority of the mission must be the people of Israel, who are described as ‘the lost sheep’. Later the mission will be extended to all the nations. The message is the one that Jesus has preached from the outset: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ The message and the healings, which the disciples are to work in imitation of Jesus, are to be given freely. 

The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord, which we know also as Corpus Christi, provides a special occasion to consider the gift of the Holy Eucharist, the gift given by Christ to the Church on the night before he died.

The gospel is taken from chapter 6 of the Fourth Gospel, a lengthy chapter which presents the multiplication of the loaves and the walking on the water, followed by the words of Jesus and interventions of the Jews concerning the meaning of the first of these two signs. The verses in today’s reading come towards the end of the chapter, when the words of Jesus clearly focus on the Eucharist.

In the Eucharist we receive repeatedly the once-and-for-all gift of the Bread of Life. As Jesus implies, it is unlike anything which preceded it, unlike ‘the bread our ancestors ate’. This bread is the pledge of God’s gift of life, and is best understood in the context of the paschal mystery, the death of Christ and his self-giving to lead us to life.

Perhaps this feast may also be an occasion for us to question ourselves about the reverence we show to the Eucharist. The Church encourages us to prepare by prayer to receive both Word and Sacrament, to observe a one-hour fast before Communion (except for those who are infirm), to approach the table of the Lord reverently, to spend time in giving thanks for this extraordinary sacrament, and to show a particular respect and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament reserved in our churches. 

The Easter season has come to an end, and we might have expected that the Sunday after Pentecost would be simply one of those Sundays of the year ‘in ordinary time’. The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Trinity Sunday, gives us the opportunity to reflect on the mystery of God, the God who has been revealed to us above all in the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God, and in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

In our gospel reading Jesus teaches Nicodemus, who is searching for the truth, about the basic motivation of God in sending us the only Son. This motivation is love. In creating us God also makes it possible for us to accept the love of God with complete freedom, for we can refuse this love. Believing in ‘the name of God’s only Son’ means acknowledging the reality of the love of God for each of us. We are challenged to allow the love of God into our lives again and again in the daily decisions we must make to embrace what is good and to shun what is evil. If we reject goodness, it is not God who condemns us. We condemn ourselves.

The essence of God’s attitude towards human beings is clear already in the first reading from the Book of Exodus, when the Lord is revealed as a ‘God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, and rich in kindness and faithfulness’. These qualities of God are illustrated as the story of salvation progresses and most fully when, in the fulness of time, God sends the incarnate Son to live and die for us, and pours out the Holy Spirit to be the constant presence of God’s love in the world.

St Paul’s final greeting to the people of Corinth in the second reading sums up our prayer on this feast: ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.’