301. The Church Gets Going (John 20:19-31)

“Christ who is God, supreme over all, has arranged to wash man clean of sin and to make our old nature new.”
- St. Hippolytus

John 20:19-31: In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. ‘As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.’ After saying this he breathed on them and said: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.’ Thomas, called the Twin, who was one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. When the disciples said, ‘We have seen the Lord’, he answered, ‘Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe’. Eight days later the disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. The doors were closed, but Jesus came in and stood among them. ‘Peace be with you’ he said. Then he spoke to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Doubt no longer but believe.’ Thomas replied, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him: ‘You believe because you can see me. Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.’ There were many other signs that Jesus worked and the disciples saw, but they are not recorded in this book. These are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing this you may have life through his name.

Christ the Lord  We call St. Thomas the Apostle “doubting Thomas”; we may be off the mark in doing so. Jesus did not ask the other apostles to believe in his resurrection without showing them the wounds in his hands and sides. Thomas was merely demanding his rights as an apostle when he demanded the same privilege. And none of the others responded to the risen Christ with a faith as complete and firm as Thomas’: “My Lord and my God!” Thomas knew what this meant. He knew that if Christ has come back from the dead, then everything he said about himself, everything he claimed to be, was true. Jesus blessed him for his faith.

Our faith, and the faith of all Christians throughout the centuries, is built upon the solid foundation of the apostles’ testimony to the risen Christ, a testimony validated by twenty uninterrupted centuries of Church life, of saints and martyrs, of sacraments, Liturgy, and a college of bishops that links us directly, even physically, to that little group of frightened apostles who encountered the Risen One. Blessed indeed are we who have believed: although we have not seen Christ in the flesh, we have seen, experienced, and benefited from the undeniable work of his Spirit. In times of darkness and doubt, we know where to look to recover the light.

At the beginning of creation, “the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters.” (Genesis 1:2) When God created man and woman, he “formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being.” The word for “wind” in Hebrew (and in Greek, the language of the New Testament) is the same as the word for “breath” and “Spirit.” Thus, when St. John points out the detail of Jesus breathing on the disciples as he gives them the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the commission to carry on his work of evangelization, he is calling to mind the “wind” and the “breathing” of the first creation. The Fathers of the Church understood this first post-Resurrection appearance to the apostles as the start of a new creation. Jesus has won the forgiveness of sin, which marred the first creation, and dubs his apostles messengers and distributors of this forgiveness. As they spread it throughout the world and build up the Church, all mankind is to be renewed, elevated to a more sublime intimacy with God. As St. Paul put it, “So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Christ the Teacher  Jesus Christ is the only Savior, the only Mediator between sinful, fallen mankind and the one God who can give them eternal life. He achieved his mediation by his loving obedience to God’s will even through humiliation, torture, and death on a cross. This obedience reversed the disobedience of Adam, and reestablished communion between God and men; it opened once again the flow of God’s grace. In his first appearance to the confused group of apostles on the first Easter, he teaches us how he wants that flow of grace to irrigate the human family: through the ministry of the Church guided by the Twelve Apostles. He bequeathed his peace to them; he sent them on a mission just as his Father had sent him; he breathed his Spirit into them; he transferred to them his divine power of absolving from sin, the very thing that obstructs our communion with God. Do we wish to find Easter joy, won for us at such a terrible price? We need only dip into the flowing fountain of God’s grace, which is his one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church.

At the beginning of his Gospel, St. Matthew told us why Jesus came among us: “He will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) In this first meeting with his apostles after his atoning sacrifice on the cross, Christ eagerly begins the fulfillment of that mission. His first post-resurrection deed is to “breathe” on the Twelve, inaugurating as it were a new creation (God had “breathed” into Adam’s nostrils to give him life at the first creation), one that will rise up from the first creation that had been so disfigured by sin. And with that breath, he delegates to them his power to wipe sins away, to administer the forgiveness from sin that he won through his self-oblation on Calvary. Ever since, that ministry has been carried our through the sacrament of confession. How eager Christ was to grant this surpassing grace to his Church! How close it must be to his heart if it was one of the first things he did after coming back from the dead! If he cares about it that much, then so should we.

Often we look for extraordinary and emotional encounters with the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we think that unless we experience a special feeling or perceive a supernatural phenomenon, the Holy Spirit is not at work. Yet, Jesus shows us that the primary mode of operation followed by the Holy Spirit is the same one he followed in his Incarnation: he turns normal realities into vehicles of grace. The Holy Spirit acts in our lives powerfully through the sacraments of the Church, through the preaching and teaching of the Church’s ministers, and through our own prayer and reflection on the Scriptures. If we are ready to find the Holy Spirit in these ordinary channels that Christ has established, he will readily fill our lives with the extraordinary fruits of his action.

Christ the Friend  St. John tells us why he wrote his Gospel: he wants us to believe in Jesus Christ, so that we may “have life through his name.” Life. We cherish life, and yet we sense that there is more to it than the limited version we experience. Our hearts seem unsatisfied even by all that life offers us. We always want more. God made us like that. He made us thirsty for a happiness that only he can give, in order to make sure that we would seek him. Our life is a quest for Jesus Christ, a quest of which he is the author, the companion, and the end. He wants to give us what we most want; he asks only that we believe in him, that we trust and follow him.

Thomas: When Jesus turned to me and told me to touch his wounds, his eyes were merry. I had been stunned when he appeared, but then I felt ashamed when he made reference to my earlier comments. But his eyes were so bright, so inviting, that I stepped forward. He held out his hands, those same hands that had cured so many sick and crippled people, those strong, carpenter’s hands that had multiplied the loaves and commanded the sea. He held them out to me. They were pierced through, but he was smiling. I looked at them. They were wounded hands; I held them, and I felt the wounds. Then he took my left hand and brought it to his side. He was really there. The Lord had returned – the same Lord. It was no ghost, no vision. It was the Lord, the Teacher. And I looked back into his eyes, and it was as if I had seen him for the first time. That’s when I knew. I knew in an instant that it was true, that he was not simply a rabbi, a prophet, or a king. I knew that he was Yahweh himself. Yahweh himself had come to visit his people, to save them. I fell on my knees. I cried with joy. Emmanuel! Really, truly… The New Covenant had finally come.

Christ in My Life  Why don’t I trust you more? If you were to let me see the wounds in your hands and feet and sides, would that be any more evidence than you have already given me of your greatness, your goodness, your presence, and the transforming power of your love? Lord Jesus, I want you to be in the center of my life. You are God, and you know my name, and you call to me. I want to hear you, Lord…

How passionately I should love your Church! It is your chosen instrument for reaching out and touching each one of your beloved brothers and sisters everywhere in the world. How would I have found you if it were not for your Church? Bless your Church, Lord. Make it grow, make it flourish; fill it with saints. Teach me to be a joyful, faithful child of the Church. To build it up right here, right now…

I have tasted the life you have in store for me. I know the difference you have made in my life. I know that I need your grace, and I know where to find it and how to cooperate with it: by seeking out and fulfilling your will. But what about all the people in the world who don’t know what a difference you can make, who don’t know where to find the grace they thirst for? Make me a channel of your peace…

PS: This is just one of 303 units of Fr. John’s fantastic book The Better Part. To learn more about The Better Part or to purchase in print, Kindle or iPhone editions, click here. Also, please help us get these resources to people who do not have the funds or ability to acquire them by clicking here.

148. Sent to Conquer (Mark 16:9-20)

“… That missionary responsibility must once again become strong within us: if our faith makes us glad, let us feel bound to speak of it to others. The extent to which people will be able to accept it will then be in God’s hands.”  - Pope Benedict XVI

Mark 16:9-20: Having risen in the morning on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary of Magdala from whom he had cast out seven devils. She then went to those who had been his companions, and who were mourning and in tears, and told them. But they did not believe her when they heard her say that he was alive and that she had seen him. After this, he showed himself under another form to two of them as they were on their way into the country. These went back and told the others, who did not believe them either. Lastly, he showed himself to the Eleven themselves while they were at table. He reproached them for their incredulity and obstinacy, because they had refused to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. And he said to them, ‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned. These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils; they will have the gift of tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay their hands on the sick, who will recover.’ And so the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven: there at the right hand of God he took his place, while they, going out, preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word by the signs that accompanied it.

Christ the Lord  With the Resurrection, Christ completed his mission on earth. All that remains is for him to enter into the eternal Tabernacle of heaven, clearing the final stretch of the path he wants us to follow. On the cross, Jesus made himself into mankind’s definitive offering to God, the sacrifice that reconciles our rebellious human family with God, our creator and the source of our true meaning. By ascending bodily into heaven, Christ shows that this offering – himself – is truly acceptable to God. No longer do we need to question whether or not God is pleased with us, whether or not he has forgiven us, whether or not we can live in the communion with him that our hearts long for. If we remain in Christ (through baptism and an active life of prayer, virtue, and sacramental grace) we can be certain that our lives are already linked to heaven. As St. Paul put it, “our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). Jesus Christ, victim of our sin, has now taken his place “at the right hand of God,” which simply means that he has received all power and authority over heaven and earth. If we are faithful followers of such a Lord, we will soon take our own places at his side.

Christ the Teacher  Christ came to conquer. Before he ascends into heaven, Jesus commissions his Apostles (the “Eleven” now, instead of the “Twelve,”) to proclaim the gospel (meaning literally, the “good news”) to the entire world. He promises that whoever believes their proclamation and is baptized will be saved. He assures them that “signs” will accompany their work, to indicate to the world that God is with them.

In these few lines, St. Mark summarizes the whole history the Church. Jesus Christ is the Commander-in-Chief of an army of faithful followers on earth. His apostles are his generals (among whom Peter is the Chief of Staff), carrying out his orders to defend and extend the Kingdom of God’s truth and grace to every corner of the earth. Since Christ himself commissions his generals, we can be assured that he will work through them; in fact, for the soul who really wants to discover the newness of life in Christ, the only sure way to do so is by believing in the apostolic preaching and receiving the sacraments through the apostolic succession. The Church, which the Holy Spirit guides through the apostles and their successors, the bishops, is the visible presence of Christ in time and space: as he ascends into the heavenly realm, the apostles in turn bring him (through their mission of preaching and baptizing, and the guaranteed authority and sacramental system that fulfilling such a mission presupposes) into the hearts of men on earth. As baptized Catholics ourselves, we ought not only to give due thanks to God for having reached out to our own souls through the ministry of the Church, but also eagerly fulfill our duty to take an active part in the Church’s perennial mission.

Christ the Friend  Jesus knows that at times it will be hard for us to carry out this mission – just as it was hard for the apostles to believe in the Resurrection. So he promises to accompany our faith with signs that will “confirm” the gospel that we hear and pass on. These signs have never been lacking in the Church at large, and even in our own lives. Every age has boasted of its saints, those men and women who have generously heeded God’s call and filled the world with miracles both visible and invisible. The Church itself has steadily increased in extension, in vitality, and in beauty, and it is still the world’s most vibrant spiritual and moral force.

In our own lives too, we have experienced the presence of God in countless ways, not the least of which is the consistent and dependable sacred signs of the sacraments. So many quiet, refreshing moments in front of the Tabernacle, so much strength and consolation from Holy Communion, such deep and liberating peace after every confession… Our own experience of the Risen Lord, the Friend who never fails us, should move us to bring others closer to him, just as the apostles were moved.

Christ has been a faithful friend who fulfills his promise; the “signs” have not waned. But have we really learned to read them?

Christ in My Life  I believe that you are enthroned and reigning even now in heaven. From there, you are working tirelessly to extend your Kingdom on earth. You are present in your Church, in every Christian, drawing each person closer to you in every moment. Your love continues to flow out upon this fallen world. You are with us; you are with me. You will never abandon me. I believe in you, Lord…

I believe in your Church, Lord. I want to stay close to you and be faithful to you, I want to do things your way, not my way, and thus I cling to your Church. You have given me a role in the Church’s mission. What a mysterious yet marvelous reality. I have my own mission within the Church’s mission, and only I can fulfill it. Thank you for giving it to me. Help me to accomplish it with love…

I know you fill our lives with signs of your love and power and forgiveness. You have given me so many signs in my life! How you must love me! Why do you care so much about me? O Lord, make my entire life a sign of your goodness and truth. Teach me to do your will, always with docility…

PS: This is just one of 303 units of Fr. John’s fantastic book The Better Part. To learn more about The Better Part or to purchase in print, Kindle or iPhone editions, click here. Also, please help us get these resources to people who do not have the funds or ability to acquire them by clicking here.

286. You Are My Friends (John 15:9-17)

“He had no need of us in order to save us, but we can do nothing without him… So let us love one another as Christ loved us and gave himself for us.”  - St. Augustine

John 15:9-17: ‘As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my own joy may be in you and your joy be complete. This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you. A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you. I shall not call you servants any more, because a servant does not know his master’s business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father. You did not choose me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last; and then the Father will give you anything you ask him in my name. What I command you is to love one another.’

Christ the Lord  The moment is solemn. Jesus is at table with his intimate collaborators, his handpicked Twelve Apostles, and he knows that this is the last time they will be gathered in this way until they meet again in eternity. Nothing is carelessly said. Everyone on their deathbed has their final words, what they want to leave as their legacy. Jesus explains that he has loved us, and that he longs for us to remain in his love, to stay in his friendship, so that we may experience the indescribable joy that flows from true love. And then he lays down his one commandment, the new commandment, the summary of all his teaching and of his entire life: “Love one another as I love you.” The law of Christ, the law of Christ’s Kingdom, the only eternal law, is the law of love. Christ is Lord, because he commands with authority. But he is Lord of love, in love, and because of love, and his “command” is a heartfelt invitation to follow his example.

We can think of this part of his discourse as his battle plan – indeed, he is on the verge of heading into battle, his final battle against evil and all the forces of darkness. And with the consummating sacrifice of his life he will give birth to his Church militant, the body of believers who will take that same battle to the ends of the earth and the far corners of human history and culture. The plan is simple and straightforward. It is all summed up in his single, final, definitive command: love one another as I have loved you. To fight for the Lord and his Kingdom is to fight to fulfill that command.

Christ the Teacher  Jesus, God himself, teaches us the nature of love. Love is self-giving: the greater the self-giving, the greater the love. “A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.” When we put our lives at the service of others, when we live in order to give and not to take, when we are willing to suffer so that someone else can rejoice, then we may call ourselves his disciples.

Just to make sure we don’t misunderstand this lesson, he illustrated it by his own suffering and death. He accepted mockery, humiliation, torture, rejection, injustice, misunderstanding, betrayal, and finally death, not because he was too weak to resist, but to show us what love really is: self-giving, self-forgetting generosity. Jesus Christ hanging on the cross, bearing the weight of our sins and the punishment these sins have earned, thinking not of himself but of the souls he came to save, even pleading for their forgiveness up until the very end – this is love. Far from warm fuzzies and dreamy emotions, the love of Christ – and therefore the love of the Christian – is a love that gives without ever counting the cost, a love that gives without ever asking for something in return, a love that gives and gives and gives, just like God. And the more it gives, the more it has; the more it loves, the better it loves. We learn to love by loving. When we learn this lesson of true love and self-giving, we tap into the inexhaustible source of energy and enthusiasm that is God himself.

Christ the Friend  Mary: My child, Jesus has now told you the most important thing that is in his heart. He has looked into your eyes, he has chosen you, and he has revealed his soul to you. He has held nothing back. You know him. He has come to offer you his friendship. If you reciprocate, if you also bare your heart to him in prayer, heed his call to follow him, and fulfill his commands, then your life will bear “fruit that will last” and your “joy will be complete.” It is his promise, and he keeps his promises. Following Jesus Christ is a matter of the heart, a personal response to a personal invitation. And since the heart is the core of your being, anything that touches your heart touches every aspect of your life. Jesus wants to abide in your heart so that his friendship can color every nook and cranny of your life. Let him in again, today, right now.

Christ in My Life  Lord Jesus, you have wished to be my friend. I have so many friends. Friendship seems so simple, so natural. Do you really want to live like that with me? Don’t you want something more dramatic, more impressive, more historic? After all, you are the King of the universe. But no, you just want my friendship. And I want yours. It is all I want. Increase my faith, Lord, and teach me to walk always by your side…

You keep repeating the same lesson, Lord, that you want me to love as you have loved. Why do you keep insisting? Because I still haven’t learned it. It’s like when I was a kid and my coaches and teachers kept drilling the fundamentals. How many times I had to write out the alphabet! How many times I had to shoot a layup! The fundamentals of eternal life – help me get them right, so I can help others…

I am so grateful that you have made me your soldier. You didn’t need me; you could have conquered without me. But you chose to include me, to make me your ambassador, to give me a mission, a responsibility, a field of action. Now I can show you that I love you, that I am thankful for the innumerable gifts you have given me. I can show it by giving myself wholly to the mission you have entrusted to me…

PS: This is just one of 303 units of Fr. John’s fantastic book The Better Part. To learn more about The Better Part or to purchase in print, Kindle or iPhone editions, click here. Also, please help us get these resources to people who do not have the funds or ability to acquire them by clicking here.

285. Bearing Fruit for Christ’s Kingdom (John 15:1-8)

“Others may have their wealth, may drink out of jeweled cups, be clad in silks, enjoy popular applause, find it impossible to exhaust their wealth by dissipating it in pleasures of all kinds, but our delight is to meditate on the Law of the Lord day and night…”  - St. Jerome

John 15:1-8: ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that bears no fruit he cuts away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes to make it bear even more. You are pruned already, by means of the word that I have spoken to you. Make your home in me, as I make mine in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit all by itself, but must remain part of the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is like a branch that has been thrown away – he withers; these branches are collected and thrown on the fire, and they are burnt. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask what you will and you shall get it. It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit, and then you will be my disciples.’

Christ the Lord  The world’s greatest leaders influence people from the outside in; their speech, their ideas, their example, their presence – they move us and motivate, they draw us and stir us. Christ, however, goes much deeper. He not only calls us from the outside, but he also unites himself to us so intimately that his very life flows through our veins. “I am the vine, you are the branches.” Where does the vine stop and its branches begin? Their union is too complete to tell. The same sap gives life to the vine and to its branches. He is Lord from within, renewing hearts from the inside, as only God can do. Once again, Jesus Christ stands alone among great historical figures; not only does he excel over all others in their own game, but he plays in an entirely different league; he is a leader, but he is also the Lord.

Christ the Teacher  Jesus tells us point blank what the Father wants. God wants us to “bear much fruit” and to “be [his] disciples.” God wants our lives to show forth his goodness, to bring lost souls back into the fold, and to fill human society and culture with the justice and beauty they need to flourish. Our desire to do something with our lives is a gift from God; we are created in his image, and he is the Creator – we too yearn to build, to contribute, to make a difference that will last not only in this life, but into all eternity.

Bearing this fruit requires in the first place our own efforts to stay united to the vine, through prayer, the sacraments, and loving obedience to God’s will. And it also requires our being pruned – the purification of our selfishness that comes through suffering and sacrifice. Love and sacrifice, as all the lives of the saints attest to, and as Christ himself exemplifies, keep the sap flowing. They yield the fruit we yearn for most: living a life that resounds with meaning and energy, a life that positively impacts others and exudes joy and enthusiasm, a life that changes this world for the better in as profound a way as Christ’s own life did, and a life whose meaning and impact overflow into eternity. This is what God wants for us; this is why Jesus came to earth. Bearing such fruit makes life worth living; without it we are dry, dead branches good for nothing except the fire – pretty simple lesson, pretty dire consequences if we don’t learn it well.

Christ the Friend  Christ goes on to tell us how to how to achieve this fruitfulness: “Remain in me… cut off from me you can do nothing.” As long as we stay united to the vine, whatever apostolic activities we engage in will yield a harvest – even a small branch dangling near the ground will produce its fruits as long as it’s united to the vine. Separated from Jesus Christ, no one can live in communion with God, the only source of lasting fruit. How much we need to learn how to pray and make this the center of our lives! This is Christ’s constant refrain from the moment of his incarnation: Come to me, learn from me, follow me… My heart yearns for you to make my friendship the highest value of your life, so that I can fill you with true peace, meaning, and joy – the kind that you long for but can never achieve on your own. The sacraments, the Church, prayer, the Bible – these are all extensions of my effort to stay intimately united with you, to guide you along the path of everlasting life, and to reveal to you the glories of my love. These were my final words before I went to death on the cross, my last lesson, and I really mean them: remain in me; stay close to me; do not forsake me; trust in me.

Christ in My Life  Lord, your very life flows through my veins. Why don’t I think of this more? Why do I let myself act as if this world were all there is? I know that my life now is a training ground of love, a chance to exercise the virtues of faith, hope, and love that you have grafted into my soul, an opportunity to spread your Kingdom to those around me. In my fidelity to that mission is your pleasure; in it is my joy…

No one loves me more than you. No one has given me more than you – no one can. If I succeed on my own, the satisfaction is real, but it passes; I need another success to feel satisfied again. If I possess something nice, I enjoy it for a while, but then it gets old. You want me to enjoy fruit that will last, the undying fruits of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22)…

Of all the people I know, how many are united to the vine of your friendship, Lord? Half? A little less, a little more? You are yearning for all of them to live close to you, so you can make their lives bear fruit, the kind they yearn for. So I ask you, why don’t I feel a bigger burden to pray for them and to show them your love? Why am I satisfied in my comfort zone? Let the light of your heart illumine my heart…

PS: This is just one of 303 units of Fr. John’s fantastic book The Better Part. To learn more about The Better Part or to purchase in print, Kindle or iPhone editions, click here. Also, please help us get these resources to people who do not have the funds or ability to acquire them by clicking here.

271. One Flock, One Shepherd (John 10:11-18)

“Death is certain, and life is short and vanishes like smoke. Therefore you must fix your minds on the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ who so burned with love for us that he came down from heaven to redeem us.”  - St. Francis of Paola

John 10:11-18: ‘I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep. The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not belong to him, abandons the sheep and runs away as soon as he sees a wolf coming, and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep; this is because he is only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep. And there are other sheep I have that are not of this fold, and these I have to lead as well. They too will listen to my voice, and there will be only one flock, and one shepherd. The Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own free will, and as it is in my power to lay it down, so it is in my power to take it up again; and this is the command I have been given by my Father.’

Christ the Lord  Jesus Christ was sent to the Jews to be their Messiah in accordance with God’s ancient promises to his Chosen People. Yet God was not satisfied to save only one group of people –  he wants his blessing to reach all nations, every corner of the earth. Christ the Savior, then, receives Lordship not only over the little flock of Israel and Judah but over all the flocks of the earth. In him, we all come under one Lordship, that of the Good Shepherd, who is the one pastor of the one flock. The effect of the wolf (the devil) is to catch and scatter the sheep; Christ frees and unites us. And even if the wolf attacks the shepherd himself, as he will during Christ’s Passion, the shepherd has the power both to lay down and raise up his life, so the one flock will never perish, never be scattered, never be captured. Because Christ the Good Shepherd is our Lord, the Church (the one flock) will never fail. Our membership in this flock is perhaps the greatest gift we have received from the Lord after the gift of life itself. Unfortunately, we often take them both for granted.

This is one of the most compelling reasons behind the Church’s missionary mandate. We are all called to spread the Good News of Christ, to “make disciples of all nations,” bringing everyone into this one flock. Only the Catholic Church has the divine guarantee that it will never fail (never be scattered by wolves). Other churches and other religions may have sincere believers and parts of the truth, but only Christ’s one flock gathered around his vicar’s staff is guaranteed never to fail. Building the Kingdom of the Lord, then, means building up his Church.

Christ the Teacher  The fall of Adam and Eve came about as a result of their lack of trust in God. Jesus Christ came to win back that trust. By giving up his own life to atone for our sins, he showed that the Father is worthy of our trust, that he will forgive us, protect us, and lead us to rich pastures. God will never abandon us in our need – never. The Passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ are his proof. Though the wolf (the devil) attacked and scattered Christ’s disciples on that first Good Friday, Christ did not flee; he gave up his own life, freely suffering what in truth we, because of our sins, deserved to suffer and freely obeying with the total obedience that Adam and Eve had lacked. Because of his docility in embracing the Father’s will, the Father rewarded him by raising him from the dead. Christ was faithful to his mission, even knowing what it was going to cost him. That mission consists in saving us from sin and estrangement from God. He is the Good Shepherd, the one we can trust, the one who cares more about our lives than we do ourselves, the Lord who came not be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for ours.

Note how this mission of carrying out the Father’s plan, of obeying the Father’s will, consumes Jesus and constitutes in his mind the entire meaning of his life: “The Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again… and this is the command I have been given by my Father.” This is how Christ, the perfect man, lived out his human existence, focusing wholly on the Father’s will, being passionately faithful to his sonship. To discover and fulfill our own identity as children of God, and thus experience life as he created us to live it¬ – both now and in eternity – Jesus invites us to do the same: “The sheep follow, because they know his voice” (John 10:4).

Christ the Friend  Jesus: I know my own and my own know me. When I created you, I built two needs into your soul: the need to love and the need to be loved. If you don’t learn to love, you will never flourish, and if you don’t discover that you are loved, you will never learn to love. Love is always a two-way street – an exchange, an embrace. It’s much harder for you to let yourself be loved than it is to love, because to be loved, you have to let yourself be known. You cannot be loved fully by someone who doesn’t know you fully. This is why every earthly love is precarious; you never know if the person who loves you will continue to do so when they know you better.

I know you through and through, completely, even better than you know yourself. I know all the things you keep hidden from others, all the things about you that you barely understand yourself. I know you so thoroughly because I gave you life, I brought you into existence, and I have been holding you and sustaining you every instant of your life. I know you uniquely and totally, so I can love you as no one else can. You never have to worry about my love waning, because I have already shown you, while you were still a sinner, still a rebel, that my love endures to the end, even to death on a cross. You have nothing left to fear. Nothing is hidden from me, and yet I still love you without an ounce of ambiguity or reluctance. I know you, and now you know me. I love you, so come now and love me…

Christ in My Life  How can I thank you for bringing me into your flock and saving me from so many dangers? You have called out to me, and you have given me ears to hear your voice. Never let me be separated from you, Lord. Only you love me enough to lay down your life for my sake. Teach me to be worthy of your love. Teach me to be docile, to stay at your side no matter what…

I am so used to thinking about your sacrificial love. I look at crucifixes all the time. But I know that I haven’t plumbed the depths of this lesson. You gave your life because you loved me. How can I discover the full import of that truth? I think it’s only by following in your footsteps. Only by giving my own life for your Kingdom, by sacrificing myself for the good of my neighbor and those around me…

How can I love you, Lord? Love wants to give, but what can I give you that you don’t already have? I know the answer, Lord. I can love you by loving those you put into my life. Every one of them. You love them, and so you are within them, and when I love them, I am loving you. May our wills become one…

PS: This is just one of 303 units of Fr. John’s fantastic book The Better Part. To learn more about The Better Part or to purchase in print, Kindle or iPhone editions, click here. Also, please help us get these resources to people who do not have the funds or ability to acquire them by clicking here.