Why give it all up for God?

Channel 4 has a daily 90-second programme in which individuals are invited to contribute their “take” on various religious and moral questions. This week’s theme is Why give it all up for God?, and Br Nicholas Crowe, one of the Godzdogz team, is among the contributors:

Click on the picture to watch the video.

Pentecost Vigil and Doorkeepers' Dinner

Pentecost, the titular feast of our Priory of the Holy Spirit, always promises a great celebration at Blackfriars, Oxford. On Saturday evening we held an extended Pentecost Vigil Mass, with readings from Scripture reminding us of the intimate connection of the Holy Spirit's action throughout history with our own Christian lives today. The choir sang Palestrina's setting of Loquebantur variis linguis and Tallis's If ye love me. Fr Richard Ounsworth OP preached about giving birth and the 'unutterable groanings' ('stenagmois alaletois, since you ask') of the Spirit (Rom. 8:26). As usual, the sacristans ensured the church was looking splendidly illuminated, as captured perfectly in the following two photos by Fr James Claffey OP.

Then on Pentecost Sunday, we held our prioral feast, known familiarly as the Doorkeepers' Dinner. This is an occasion for our community to express our gratitude to all those who give their time in the doorkeepers' lodge, by serving them at table. Good food, good drink, and good company: what better way to celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost? (Photos by Br Laurent Mathelot OP)

'These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the evening' (cf. Acts 2:15).

Pentecost 2013 - The Witness of the Spirit

Readings: Acts 2: 1-11; Psalm 104; Romans 8: 8-17; John 14: 15-16, 23-26

The Dominican Priory in Oxford – Blackfriars – is dedicated to the Holy Spirit, which means that we keep today – the feast of Pentecost – as our titular feast. It’s no coincidence, of course, that it was decided, when the friars returned to Oxford in the 1920s, to dedicate this community of the Order of Preachers to the Holy Spirit. As we read in the account of the first Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles, when the apostles received the Holy Spirit, the connection with preaching was clear. The gift of the Spirit is symbolised by the appearance of tongues descending on each of them – tongues, of course, being the organ of speech – and tongues of fire, at that: now fire, of course, is the kind of thing that spreads, and sets light to other things around it, so these tongues of fire represent the Holy Spirit giving the apostles the power not just to speak but to speak effectively about God’s saving plan.

And that, of course, is exactly what they do: this previously confused and timid bunch suddenly get it. They head out on to the streets of Jerusalem, and tell the crowds gathered for the Jewish feast the good news about Jesus – about his incarnation, death and resurrection as the fulfilment of God’s plan for the salvation of his people, salvation which is available to anyone who will repent and be baptised, and so receive for themselves the gift of the Spirit.

But it’s not only us Dominicans who need to be reminded of the Spirit-filled preaching of the Apostles at the first Pentecost: for the Holy Spirit is given to every Christian at their Baptism, when, fulfilling Jesus’s promise that we read in St John’s Gospel, Father, Son and Spirit come to dwell in the hearts of those who love him (cf. Jn 14: 23). And the invitation – the great adventure – of the Christian life is to allow ourselves to become ever more attuned to God, who has given himself to us in his Spirit, so that not only the words, but the lives of each one of us, can convey to those around us the saving truth of God’s love.

Resurrection Appearences: Peter and John (John 21: 15-25)

In this last resurrection appearance of Christ in John’s Gospel we find an exploration of the vocations of Peter and John: the pastor and the contemplative. The pastoral office is laid upon Peter with three instructions: ‘feed my lambs… tend my sheep… and feed my sheep’ (John 21: 15-17). Preceding each of these instructions is a question: ‘Simon, Son of John, do you love me more than these?’  Whereas on the night Jesus died, Peter, out of fear, denied Jesus three times, now Peter is given the opportunity to undo this betrayal and affirm his love. Indeed, as John reminds us in his first letter, ‘it is perfect love that casts out fear’ (1 John 4:18).

This love that casts  out fear is itself dependent on humility, and acknowledging of one's limitations, of  what one's true identity before God. For Aquinas, Peter’s humility is manifested in his despairing cry, ‘You know everything, you know I love you’ (John 21: 17). The true pastor, if he is to serve his flock lovingly, must be humble. This humility will be fully manifested in Peter’s martyrdom, when ‘Another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go’ (John 21: 18). 

Peter, then, will serve Christ in an active life of service through leadership. John, in contrast, is usually associated in the tradition with the contemplative life. Aquinas emphasizes that both these forms of life have Christ as their end and object, yet interestingly Aquinas associates the active life with greater devotion. He writes:  

‘The active life, which Peter signifies, loves God more than the contemplative life (which is signified by John) because it feels more keenly the difficulties of this present life, and more intensely desires to be free from them and to go to God. But God loves the contemplative life more, because he preserves it longer: it does not come to an end with death, as does the active life: “The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob” (Ps. 86:2). (Aquinas, Commentary on the Gospel of John 21: 19-23). 

The active life, then, has the greater ardor yet the contemplative life is objectively higher because it continues even in heaven when we shall contemplate God as he really is. Clearly the Church desperately needs both vocations to fulfill its mission. Indeed, in the Summa Theologiae Aquinas argues that the very best religious orders will be both Active and Contemplative work. He goes on to conclude, unsurprisingly, that the Dominicans are the very best religious order!

Apostolic Co(-)missions.

Luke 24:36-49.

This passage is St Luke’s only account of a resurrection appearance to all the apostles. It brings them to faith and culminates in them being commissioned to preach the Gospel. We too are called to believe and preach the Gospel. We can learn from the difficulties of the apostles. We can also learn a lot from Jesus in this account and how he addresses the problems of the apostles. In effect he is the proto-apostle.

It is interesting how much his risen presence unsettled them (v. 37) It is instructive to look at the set of steps Jesus took in order to bring them to a faith that will lead them to be apostles in their own turn. On first seeing him they thought they were seeing a ghost. This was despite his greeting of peace and the account of the disciples at Emmaus and of the appearance to Peter that they themselves have just narrated (vv. 33-35). He showed them his hands and feet and spoke, identifying himself. Now they are filled with so much joy that they could not believe, Luke adding that this was because they were dumbfounded (v. 41). Although he had invited them to touch him, he then demonstrated his physicality by eating cooked fish. Luke records no further reaction on their part at this point. Jesus then went on to remind them that he had predicted that he would suffer before it happened. He had done so three times: 9:22, 9:44 and 18:33. He now explicitly explained this in terms of the fulfillment of the Scriptures. It would seem that it was absolutely crucial that ‘he opened their minds to understand the scriptures’ (v 45). He was now able to explain that repentance for the forgiveness of sins is to be preached in his name – and that they are witnesses to it. They have now come to informed faith, a fuller faith than before. He now makes clear they will soon receive the Holy Spirit, ‘power from on high’.

This takes us back to the beginning of the ministry of Jesus. Jesus was filled with the Spirit at his baptism (4:1) and in Nazareth claiming that ‘the Spirit of the Lord is upon me’, and sent by God, he proclaimed the good news of salvation (4:18). The apostles now receive the same Spirit, sent by the Father, and so are sent by God on mission.

This pattern used by Jesus is the one the apostles will follow, as described in the Acts, Luke’s second volume. They witness to the resurrection, and explain Jesus in terms of the Jewish Scriptures and as their fulfillment. They call people to repentance in order to receive forgiveness, and promise them the gift of the Holy Spirit. We are called to do the same, no more and no less.

Our role, clothed in the Spirit, clothed with power from on high, is to witness to our faith, to the impact of Jesus and the Spirit upon us and to explain how Jesus fulfills the scriptures. We may also have to help them deal with a range of emotions and spiritual experiences. The Risen Lord and the Holy Spirit are with us, working through us, for it is really their own work, their own mission from the Father, and we are taken up into it as instruments. The same Risen Jesus is still present now, present to our audience. It is the same Holy Spirit who today opens people’s eyes to be aware of the Risen Lord, and to open their minds to what we say, and so bring them to faith.

Resurrection Appearances - Come and have breakfast

'Come and have breakfast' (Jn 21:12)

John 21:1-14

'My favourite words in the whole Gospel!' This is how one of my Dominican brothers referred in a recent homily to Jesus's frankly irresistible invitation: 'Come and have breakfast.'

'In fact,' he continued, 'if I'm ever made a bishop – God forbid – I would take that as my episcopal motto.' Well, here's what it might look like, with apologies to St John Fisher, whose coat of arms seems most apt...

This miraculous catch of fish at the end of the Fourth Gospel is explicitly a resurrection appearance – the third, to be precise (v. 14). A shared meal is typical of the apostolic community formed in the wake of the Resurrection, with strong Eucharistic overtones (v. 13): in this episode, Jesus is on the beach and provides his disciples with his own food, bread and fish (v. 9). This recalls the bread and fish blessed and personally distributed by Jesus at the Feeding of the Five Thousand (Jn 6:9), which incidentally contains the only other Johannine reference to the Sea of Tiberias (6:1, 21:1). Also interesting is the fact that, in Luke 24:43, Jesus eats fish to prove the physicality of his risen body.

Admittedly, this episode in John's Gospel is oddly positioned. John 20:30-1 appeared to finish the Gospel with a flourish after Thomas's strong confession of faith. But, like a Schubert symphony or the Lord of the Rings films, John goes on again. Why?

The best answer, I suspect, is that the Evangelist wants to give a strong account of the early Church's missionary faith, going beyond the personal confession of Thomas just mentioned. The rich symbolism of this final chapter constantly and subtly reminds us that the apostles are called to be fishers of men. When Peter, aimless with apparent boredom, says, 'I'm going fishing...' (v. 3), we're being prepared to see how Jesus's resurrection is a point-of-no-return, entailing a radical conversion of life. It is simply futile for the apostles to return to being ordinary fishermen after having encountered the Risen Lord.

There are suggestive parallels with the other miraculous catch of fish described in Luke 5:1-11, when the disciples are first called by Jesus: the all-night fishing without success, the miraculous catch in obedience to Our Lord's instruction, Peter's spontaneous reaction, and so on. But here we have an unmistakable resurrection appearance. As usual, the disciples fail to recognise the Risen Jesus (v. 4), until the miracle happens; then the Eucharistic meal puts his identity beyond doubt.

The interesting interplay between Peter and the Beloved Disciple will be considered in the next post in this Godzdogz series. Here it will suffice to point out that the belief of the Beloved Disciple ('it is the Lord!' v.7) and the action of Peter ('threw himself into the sea', v. 7; 'drew the net to land', v. 11) are entirely in character, following the pattern of their response to the empty tomb (Jn 20:1-8).

And what about the 153 large fish? At one level, such an exact count could be a natural response to such an amazing catch. As fishermen are wont to say, 'it was this big...' or 'there were this many...' But there is also a possible symbolic meaning. Some have suggested, not without controversy, that 153 signifies wholeness or totality. As St Augustine noted, 153 is the 17th triangular number; 17= 10 (Commandments) + 7 (sevenfold Spirit of God, Rev 3:1, or seven Gifts, 1 Cor 12:9-11); and both 10 and 7 signify wholeness. In addition, there was a view, cited by St Jerome, that 153 was the total number of species of fish. These are problematic, if convenient, interpretations. But, considering that 'the net was not torn' (v. 11), it may be reasonable to suppose that the Evangelist wants to signify the universal mission of the Church, united under Peter (v. 11).

The Church's fidelity to that mission enables us to hear and respond to the divine invitation to come and have breakfast. In the eternal banquet of Heaven, I hope it will not be bread and grilled fish, but a proper, full English breakfast.

Resurrection Appearances – Commissioning of Disciples – Mt 28:16-20

A mountain in Galilee – and the whole Church is there, the eleven. They are there and they are torn. Their Lord, Friend and Master was killed and buried; they are devastated. But already the testimony of the women, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, who have seen him alive near the tomb, fills them again with hope. And they go on their way. The Passion. (BBC, 2008) A mountain in Galilee – and Jesus comes to meet his Church, living and majestic in power, resurrected. But some of them doubted. Yet it is to them that he entrusts his mission, the task of building his church, to make disciples, to baptise and raise them in the faith. A mountain in Galilee – and it is the place of the eternal presence of God to his Church. “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (28:20). And the story of the Good News by Matthew stops there, as a silence opening onto eternity. Twice before, the announcement of the meeting in Galilee is mentioned in this Gospel: at the Mount of Olives, at the prediction of Peter's denial (26:32) and by the angel who met the women at the tomb (28:7,10). But never, in these passages, is a mountain mentioned. While scholars have debated the location of this mountain, with some assimilating it to the mountain of the Temptation (4:8), or that of the Transfiguration (17:1), it is clear to me that it is the place of the spiritual life of the Church. Following our death in Adam, following sin, humanity is devastated, as are the disciples who saw their hopes of salvation crucified. By the feminine, Marian (28:1), immaculate testimony, it finds anew the Way that leads straight to Heaven. All the spirituality of the Church – and ours personally – is there on this mountain. A mountain is earth – Adamah in Hebrew – that rises to God. Nothing surprising therefore in its biblical significance, in the choices often made to erect temples there, in the immediate spiritual meaning it conveys. And is this not what we experience in the Eucharist when the priest says "Lift up your hearts”, referring to that holy of holies of our fleshly temples? Church of St Peter & St Paul, Chaldon, Surrey To leave the valley of death, to leave sin, to rise, always rise, this is what spiritual life means. What this text teaches us, then, is that, despite our doubts and hesitations, despite discouragement that can sometimes break through, beyond despair, the risen Christ comes to us and stays with us to the end of the age.  To leave the valley of tears, to leave suffering, to love, always love, this is the Christian journey. So, despite our wounds and weaknesses, sometimes despite our failures, beyond death, divine Love will join our hearts and live in us forever. So when our mind and flesh are be impregnated with the joy of the resurrection, when our hearts are close to the Lord and when our broken bones rejoice, we will be disciples and we will be able to testify to the nations, to fetch another Adam, to offer him the healing of baptism and to invite him to do the same. It is in this way that the Church is built up. This is how the ages will be accomplished when we are all on the mountain, prostrating ourselves before the God who has saved us. But when we deny him by sinning, turning our back to the encounter with Christ, if we fail to heed his constant appeal, deciding without him what is right for ourselves, if we fill our heart with selfishness and self-sufficiency, then hurtling down, we fall back on the Adamic ground, that of the dust and of the beasts, in Hell. There we will find Judas, dead. It is always a matter of choice. The good Lord leaves us free. The privilege of spiritual and carnal encounter with Christ is above all a 'Fiat' – Marian, immaculate – that needs always to be given with all our soul and all our body. And this is a prerequisite for being sent on mission.