WEEKDAY 02 05 EASTER SEASON – Year I
Faith Fully Alive:
Optional Memorial of St. Anselm
(Acts 5:34-42; Ps 27; Jn 6:1-15))
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Years ago, an atheist sociologist, in his analysis of our society and the way it was developing, predicted there would one day be a crisis of the human spirit. Even he could see that our Western culture was deteriorating, and that the present opioid crisis, especially in a city like Vancouver, would be the natural outcome.
The readings today give us a totally different message – one of hope and even joy. In the words of the psalm response, we are to “seek only to live in the house of the Lord all the days of our lives.”
The first stanza proclaims, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; the stronghold of my life.” There is an infinite horizon, a larger narrative for us – a bigger picture into which we can place our lives. The psalm continues to do just that: “Whom shall we fear? Take courage and wait for the Lord.”
Significantly, the psalm rightly puts this in the present tense. We are to “live in the house of the Lord all the days of our lives; to behold the beauty of the Lord and to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” In theology, this is called “realized eschatology” – what our faith promises us, the parousia, is already partially present and we can enjoy it now.
The first words of Jesus to the apostles in the Gospel of John are “What are you looking for?” and to their response, “Where do you live?” he replies simply, “Come and see” and they stay with him the rest of that day. In his last appearance to the apostles by the Lake of Tiberias in the same gospel, Jesus speaks of “dwelling in him.” It is all about an intimate relationship with him that will be fully realized only in the next life, but is already very much present here and now through faith in him, a relationship of prayer, and loving as he commanded us.
The gospel takes on a fuller meaning within this context. The people are hungry, seeking and needing food. Jesus takes the little they have, gives thanks and transforms the fish and loaves into a feast for hundreds that leaves twelve baskets of fragments left over – a not so subtle hint that he is the Messiah who alone can satisfy the deeper hunger and thirst of the nation of Israel, and the whole world. For John, the Eucharist is also our daily manna, meant to nourish and sustain us along our pilgrim way.
In the first reading, we are transported to just after the Pentect event, when the apostles were filled with the promised Spirit of the Risen Lord, and transformed into the Church, the Body of Christ in the world. Their fear was all gone; they were filled with courage, and could not stop proclaiming to all who would listen, even in the face of adversity, persecution and incarceration, that Jesus was who he had claimed to be all along – the Messiah and Lord of all creation. They would even rejoice they were considered worthy to suffer for the sake of the name of Jesus.
What a far cry from what is happening in our world today: people and nations afraid of each other; nations and communities building walls to keep the stranger out; people so afraid of inconvenience that they deny a fetus is human to justify terminating its life in the womb; people so afraid of suffering that we end their lives but call it medical assistance in dying; young people without purpose or meaning in their lives and feeling so unloved that they overdose on opioids in a futile attempt to medicate their soul pain.
How sad and tragic when the opposite, the reality the apostles experienced after the resurrection of Jesus and the gift of his Spirit at Pentecost, could be the scenario instead – joy, excitement, vitality, hope and energy. All that is necessary is humble faith in the name of Jesus; humble repentance to receive his forgiveness of all our wrongdoing; openness to the power of the Spirit to heal us of all our painful emotions, negative attitudes and even addictions through faith, fellowship with others and genuine self-awareness, and the new life of Easter is ours.
Tom was a lost child who became an alcoholic and cocaine addict and ended up in prison. There, a Catholic chaplain heard his story and introduced him to the bible, and especially the Beatitudes. He underwent a conversion experience, was received into the Church, sponsors many other recovering addicts, and had a dream of forming a society to provide a safe residence for inmates transitioning into treatment and after treatment, integrating into society. His experience serves as a model for all those in our society who are still lost and seeking for something upon which to anchor their lives.
Today the church invites us to honor St. Anselm. Born in 1033, Anselm was motivated to enter the monastery of Bec in Normandy due to the reputation of the great teacher Lanfranc. Anselm became a monk at the age of 27, and a student and close friend of Lanfranc, eventually succeeding him as prior and abbot of Bec. After the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, William I replaced the English hierarchy with Normans, and Lanfranc was sent as archbishop of Canterbury. Three years after Lanfranc’s death, Anslem was forcibly made an archbishop in England (1093). Neither an administrator nor a politician by nature, he persevered nonetheless. Through his encouragement of English devotions, he helped heal the wound of the Conquest on the English. Anselm’s fame lies in his role as a theologian and philosopher. His argument for the existence of God still holds strong appeal. In his concern for the oppressed, he was one of the first opponents of the slave trade. Anselm died in 1190. Never formally canonized, he was made a Doctor of the Church in 1720.
The Eucharist is our greatest prayer and deepest intimate union with Jesus. May the Word we hear and the Body and Blood of Jesus that we receive rekindle our faith and empower us to share that faith with others and love them as Jesus has loved us.
