The Second Vatican Council said the liturgy is the most important place for teaching and catechesis in the church. The seasons of lent and easter are the most important times for teaching and catechesis. In the liturgy Jesus, the Bread of life, feeds us with his wisdom.

The easter season is a time for mystagogic catechesis, when we recognize the presence of the Risen Christ in the sacraments, in the church and in the signs of the times. The Second Vatican Council extended the celebration of the easter season.  In the past, the mystagogic catechesis took place for one week after Easter and was focused on the newly baptized. Now in the church’s liturgy mystagogic catechesis takes place, not for just one week, but for 50 days until the feast of Pentecost. It’s not just for the newly baptized, but for the whole Christian community. 

However well we may remember the questions and answers of our catechism or what we learned in theology courses, we’re lifelong learners.  We’ re also forgetful listeners.  We’re living in a changing world which we desperately need to understand, not just through the lens of politics, but  in the light of faith. For those reasons, we follow our liturgy year by year, season by season.

We have to continually study the mystery of the church. That’s true these day with the election of our new pope. The media coverage of this event  has been massive, whether its television,  YouTube, the New York Times. Six thousand journalists covered the pope’s election. It was a big story, but lens of politics, usually the dominant lens of the media, couldn’t  cover it all. 

It seems to me the readings in our liturgy these days offer a better coverage than anything the media might offer.

 Our gospel today speaks of sheep recognizing the voice of the shepherd. Doesn’t it seem these days that the world itself was listening for the voice of a shepherd? Our readings from the Acts of the Apostles these days describe a church breaking out from the confines of Jerusalem to speak to the world a message of life.  Doesn’t that seem to be a picture of our church these days?  In Acts, Peter appears so humble, a poor man yet ready to accept the task of bringing a wisdom, ancient and new, to a world so powerful yet so broken. Is that Pope Leo following in his footsteps?

We need to keep listening for the wisdom that is our daily bread in our liturgy The Good Shepherd still speaks.

This week’s readings from the Acts of the Apostles describe the growth of the church in the Gentile world. Peter journeys to Joppa, the seaport  Jonah embarked from on his mission to Nineveh. On his way he raises up a paralyzed man at Lydda and in Joppa  he raise a young girl, Tabitha, from the dead–signs similar to those Jesus worked.(Saturday, 3rd Week of Easter) 

Doubters, however, question Peter for baptizing the Roman soldier Cornelius and eating at table with him. (Monday) “God has given life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too,” Peter responds, initiating a new phase in the church’s growth. His response is based, not on human judgment, but because he has seen signs from the Spirit.

The readings from Acts from Wednesday to Saturday describe Barnabas and Saul’s opening campaign into the Gentile world. Let’s not ignore, though, the reading from Tuesday which recalls the unknown survivors of the persecution of Stephen who, driven into the Gentile world, “speak to the Greeks, proclaiming the Lord Jesus to them. The hand of the Lord was with them and a great number turned to the Lord.” Clearly, others besides those we know brought the gospel to the Gentiles.

We are all involved in bringing the gospel to the world,not just a chosen few,

In the  Gospel readings from John (Monday-Wednesday) Jesus continues to speak of himself as the Good Shepherd. As Risen Lord, he goes before us, guiding his flock to final pasture. We hear his voice, not the voice of a stranger. His voice is the same as the Father’s voice.

On Thursday, the readings from John bring us back to the supper room. (John 13 ff) For the remaining days of the Easter season, we will listen to Jesus’ words of encouragement and love for his own who are in this world.

The feast of St. Matthias, successor to Judas, celebrated on May 14. Our Lady of Fatima is celebrated on May 13. St. Gemma is celebrated May 16.

Morning and Evening Prayer for the 4th week here.

For this week’s homily please play the video below.

Many recent news stories on the papal conclave seem to suppose that a pope has absolute power in ruling the church. Some think Pope Leo XIV can take the church wherever he wants it to go.

 A look at today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles may help us question that view.. Luke sees Peter as leader and spokesman for the Christian community in Jerusalem. He underscores his importance with his description of the miracles Peter performs in Jerusalem and Joppa. They’re like those Jesus performed. He tells a paralyzed man named Aeneas to get up from his bed and he got up at once. He tells a woman named Tabitha who died to rise up and she rose from the dead. (Acts 9: 31-42)

Afterwards, however, Peter is commanded in a vision to baptize a Roman centurion named Cornelius, but he balks at the command. . It’s altogether against what he believes a Jew should do. . 

It’s not for Peter to judge, however. God plan is unfolding, which Peter may not always understand.. Peter is subject to God’s plan. He must follow his Lord. 

A pope does not have absolute power ruling the church. It’s the Church of Jesus Christ and the pope, like Peter, must listen for his voice. 

Our times finds it difficult to believe in God’s presence and guidance in our world. The future is what we decide it will be, whether it’s the future of the world or the future of the church. We think the world is in human hands.

Peter is a good example to consider when we think of the pope. Our readings today describe the miracles he performed, yet the scriptures always remind us of his humanity.  Peter is human. As he himself said: “I am a sinful man.” He doesn’t know everything. Yet, God reveals his plans to him and he must read the signs of the times. 

That’s why we pray today that Pope Leo be a humble holy man.

When Peter visits followers of Jesus in Joppa I’m sure he had no idea he would be called to journey up the coast to Caesarea Maritime to meet Cornelius, the Roman centurion and baptize him and his household. Significantly, Joppa was the seaport where Jonah began his mission to Nineveh. Like Jonah, Peter was reluctant to undertake the mission he’s given. Jonah and Peter are very much alike.

Only after God’s strong prodding in a vision does Peter accept the invitation from Cornelius to come and speak about Jesus. When he finally goes to Caesarea Maritime Peter experiences nothing less than a Gentile Pentecost .

That’s what we’re seeing in our readings at Mass this week. A Gentile Pentecost.

Not all saw it that way, however. Some in Jerusalem question the apostle for entering a Roman city, baptizing a Roman soldier and his friends and eating at their table. “God has given life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too,” Peter responds. The Spirit has come once more.  

It was not his doing, but the work of the Spirit, Peter adds. “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them as it had upon us at the beginning… God gave them the same gift he gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, so who was I to be able to hinder God?”

The apostle makes no claim his eloquence, wisdom or planning did it. He wasn’t expecting what happened and he doesn’t know where it will lead. It’s the work of God. It didn’t happen in Jerusalem, where the Spirit appeared at first, but in a Roman city Jews considered an enemy’s stronghold.

Is it the same today? The church is on a journey led by the Holy Spiirt. It’s a path that not easily discerned, from our perspective. It’s according to God’s plan, not ours.

I think Pope Francis was following this story of Peter when he called recently for a Synod of Synodality. He’s calling the church to recognize the Spirit but, as we see in the story of Peter, it’s not easy to see the Spirit’s activity beyond the world we know. 

“Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.”

In this week’s readings from Acts of the Apostles, the death of Stephen and the persecution of the Greek-speaking Jewish Christians result in the church’s growth beyond Jerusalem. Philip the deacon and others bring the neighboring Samaritans to the faith and send off the Ethiopian eunuch to Africa with the good news. Peter reaches out to the Roman centurion Cornelius and baptizes him and his household.

For Luke, however, the conversion of Paul, recalled in today’s readings, is more important than any of these events. Paul will be the one he uses to tell how the gospel spread to the ends of the earth. He recalls Paul’s conversion three times in the Acts of the Apostles, indicating Paul’s importance in bringing God’s word to the Gentiles.

Jesus himself appears to Paul and speaks to him “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” All three accounts in Acts insist that Paul is divinely chosen for his mission by the Risen Jesus.

Paul also shows us our capabilities, how far we can rise, from the depths to the heights. That’s why the church recalls his conversion a number of times in the church year. As he himself acknowledges, he rose from being a persecutor of the church to became a powerful force for its growth in the world through God’s grace.

St. John Chrysostom says of him: 

“Paul, more than anyone else, has shown us what we really are, and in what our nobility consists, and of what virtue a human being is capable. Each day he aimed ever higher; each day he rose up with greater ardour and faced with new eagerness the dangers that threatened him. He summed up his attitude in the words: I forget what is behind me and push on to what lies ahead. When he saw death imminent, he bade others share his joy: Rejoice and be glad with me! And when danger, injustice and abuse threatened, he said: I am content with weakness, mistreatment and persecution. These he called the weapons of righteousness, thus telling us that he derived immense profit from them…The most important thing of all to him, however, was that he knew himself to be loved by Christ.”

Paul’s letters were circulated and read among the early Christian churches for their spirituality and their teaching. In the early Roman church, those newly baptized in the church of St. John Lateran at Easter were told to visit the church of St. Paul outside the walls on the Tuesday after their baptism and constantly seek his wisdom and guidance.

May we still seek Paul’s wisdom and may God raise up the Paul in us.

Our reading from the 6th chapter of St. John ends this Friday this way: “ Jesus said these things while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.”  It was a new teaching about Bread come down from heaven. 

Jesus introduced this new teaching by feeding a multitude of people with bread and fish as the Passover feast approached. (Friday, 2nd Week of Easter) Then, during the days of the feast, he gave new meaning to the Passover celebration. Commenting on the readings for the feast in the synagogue in Capernaum, he focused especially on readings from the Book of Exodus.

 “I am the bread of life;
whoever comes to me will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” ( John 6:35)

Jesus is the true bread that comes down from heaven. Moses gave bread to the people and they died. Those who eat this bread will never die. This bread gives life to the world. “Everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life.”  (Wednesday, 3rd Week of Easter) A Teacher sent from God, Jesus offers a wisdom that brings life.

He does not come just as a messenger of wisdom, however. Jesus comes to share his life, flesh and blood, with those who hear him. 

“Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood,
you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my Flesh is true food,
and my Blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood
remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever.” (John 6:52-59)

 Jesus is not only the  bread of wisdom,  he is flesh to be eaten and blood to be drunk. His  solemn words “Amen, amen, I say to you” announce the mystery of the Holy Eucharist. He promises those who eat his flesh and drink his blood that he will remain in them and they will remain in him. “ The one who feeds on me will have life because of me.” 

Chapter 6 of St. Johns gospel, read these days of the Easter season, is one of the most important sources of our belief in the Eucharist. Jesus lived among us. He died and rose again. He ascended into heaven. He remains with us now in signs, especially in signs of bread and wine. If we remain in him we will have life because of him. 

Commentators on John, like Raymond Brown, recognize a two fold meaning given to bread in the 6th chapter of John. In verses 35-51 Jesus describes himself as a Teacher; he is the bread of wisdom. In verses 51-59 the Bread he speaks of is his own flesh and blood. Both meanings are present in the Mass. Jesus is our Teacher as the scriptures are read. He is flesh and blood as the bread and wine are offered and then given to us.