In the gospel reading at Mass [Mark 11:11-26], Jesus’ action of cursing a fig tree for not bearing fruit when it is out of season seems like a strange action to perform:
Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf, he went over to see if he could find anything on it. When he reached it he found nothing but leaves; it was not the time for figs. And he said to it in reply, "May no one ever eat of your fruit again!" And his disciples heard it…. When evening came, they went out of the city. Early in the morning, as they were walking along, they saw the fig tree withered to its roots. [Mark 11: 13-14, 20-21]

The fig tree should be considered a symbol about the Jewish people’s worship. Jesus as he arrived in Jerusalem the last time went to the temple and examined it [v.11]. Many sacrifices of various types were being offered. But the people who were offering the sacrifices were not manifesting the holiness of life and righteous that should have resulted from their sacrificial offerings. So Jesus drives the money changers out of the temple:
They came to Jerusalem, and on entering the temple area he began to drive out those selling and buying there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. He did not permit anyone to carry anything through the temple area. [v. 15-16]

Jesus’ actions challenge us to reflect on the effect of our worship. Does our worship result in us growing in holiness of life and manifesting this holiness by means of righteous deeds? Years ago, someone gave me subscription to a magazine about the church and its liturgies. Often the letters to the editor complained about what the priest of their parish was doing at Mass. Now, I admit that some priests make the Mass their own ritual instead of celebrating the church’s prescribed ritual of the Mass. But reading the letters that were written, I got the impression that some parishioners sat in the pews with the church’s “rule book” for celebrating Mass and evaluated everything the priest did or did not do. They never bothered to write about their worship at the Mass and its effect in their lives.

Yet the high point of the Mass is when we celebrate the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Our participation in the offertory of the Mass should be one where we offer our lives to the Father as Jesus did. We want to live in intimacy with the Father just as Jesus did while on earth. And we want the grace of this intimacy with God to direct our lives so that everything we do is for God’s glory and honor:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. [Colossians 3:16-17]

In John’s gospel, Jesus teaches us that he is the vine and we are the branches. If we abide in him, we should be producing righteous deeds:
I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. [John 15:5]
If worship is having its intended effect, how is God’s righteous manifested in our lives?

Another problem at Mass is our self focus. This problem manifests itself when the Mass is evaluated on whether we like the music or not; whether the homily was good or not; whether he priest we like best presided at Mass or not; etc. Yet one contemporary Christian song sang of this problem. The song contained the phrase that the person was coming back to the HEART of worship. And the heart of worship is God and how the person is worshipping God at Mass.

While emphasize holiness and righteous deeds? The reading from Sirach at Mass [44:1, 9-13] speaks about leaving a legacy behind. Will be remembered after we die? If we have right worship, then the answer is yes. Maybe not in buildings of bricks and mortar, but in the lives of others. Lives of righteous and holiness will affect the lives of others. While they might not remember us by name, the holiness of life that we manifested will have transformed their lives, so that their lives become a constant, eternal remembrance of us:
Yet these also were godly men whose virtues have not been forgotten; Their wealth remains in their families, their heritage with their descendants; Through God’s covenant with them their family endures, their posterity, for their sake.

The saints that we celebrate today, Marcellinus and Peter, are two examples of this principle of writing our names on peoples’ hearts with our holiness of life and deeds of charity and love. Both men are mentioned in the ancient Eucharistic prayer, so they must have lived holy lives that inspired others. Yet, we don’t really know anything about them. Legends about them yes, but historical facts no.

Just a little information about them.
Marcellinus was a priest and Peter was an exorcist. They were beheaded during the persecution of Emperor Diocletian around the year 300 A.D.. Pope Damasus wrote an epitaph apparently based on the report of their executioner, and Constantine erected a basilica over the crypt in which they were buried in Rome. Numerous legends sprang from an early account of their death.

In the gospel, Jesus cleaned the temple of the buying and selling. The commerce that was occurring often did result in transformed lives pleasing to God. Saint Paul reminds us that we are temples of the Holy Spirit by means of our baptism into Jesus’ death and resurrection. Does Jesus need to do a house cleaning us so that we can be holy as God is holy?

 

An author wrote that the world is charged with the grandeur of God.

If we look at the beauty and awesomeness of creation, we should be able to come to the realization that there is Someone [GOD] greater than us who is the source of all existence. The reading from Sirach at Mass [Sirach 42:15-25] mentions this fact:
Now will I recall God’s works; what I have seen, I will describe. At God’s word were his works brought into being;
they do his will as he has ordained for them. As the rising sun is clear to all, so the glory of the LORD fills all his works.

The reading reminds us of the Book of Genesis and the first creation account. God creates out of nothing. God simply speaks and so everything is. Furthermore, everything that is created is good. However, when God creates humanity on the 6^th day, God marvels even more at the creation of man and human in his image and likeness. He describes the creation of humans as being very good:
God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed - the sixth day. [Genesis 1:31]

Like the creation account in Genesis, Psalm 8 describes the beauty of creation and continues with the theme of humans as being very good.
When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place— What is man that you are mindful of him, and a son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him little less than a god, crowned him with glory and honor. [Psalm 8:4-6]

While gazing at the stars of the sky or the beauty of a colorful sunset should lead us to the knowledge of God, or some might say a “higher power,” some are blind to this reality. Saint Paul in his Letter to the Romans chastises some for being blind to the reality of God although they are surrounded by the awesomeness of creation:
For what can be known about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them. Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made. As a result, they have no excuse; for although they knew God they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks. Instead, they became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless minds were darkened. While claiming to be wise, they became fools. [Romans 1:19-22]

The gospel at Mass [Mark 10:46-52] presents the challenge of seeing with the eyes of faith and coming to a knowledge of God and faith in Christ. While we have liturgically just finished the Easter season, in today’s gospel Jesus is about to enter Jerusalem and undergo his passion and death. As a final miracle, the author presents the story of Jesus healing the blind man, Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus recognizes that Jesus is the Messiah:
On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, son of David, have pity on me. [v.47]

Jesus stops and asks Bartimaeus what he wants from Jesus. Bartimaeus’ response is not simply to have physical sight but also to have faith. In other words to have insight.
Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see." [v. 51]

Bartimaeus’ request for faith is granted because he leaves his old way of life as a beggar behind and follows Jesus:
Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you." Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.  [v. 52]

Having faith in Jesus who is about to enter Jerusalem and be crucified is the gospel challenge. We know that the disciples abandoned Jesus in his hour of need. What about us? Are we willing to follow Jesus in good times and in bad? Or do we simply rely on God when a particular need arises in our lives?

Today, we celebrate one of my favorite saints, Saint Justin Martyr. His writings provide a wonderful description of the worship of the Christians in the second century and their belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The account of Justin’s martyrdom manifest the commitment to follow Christ, if we are people who believe that Jesus is the Messiah:
The prefect Rusticus said: “Now let us come to the point at issue, which is necessary and urgent. Gather round then and with one accord offer sacrifice to the gods.” Justin said: “No one who is right thinking stoops from true worship to false worship.”
  The prefect Rusticus said: “If you do not do as you are commanded you will be tortured without mercy.” Justin said: “We hope to suffer torment for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, and so be saved. For this will bring us salvation and confidence as we stand before the more terrible and universal judgement-seat of our Lord and Saviour.”
  In the same way the other martyrs also said: “Do what you will. We are Christians; we do not offer sacrifice to idols.”
  The prefect Rusticus pronounced sentence, saying: “Let those who have refused to sacrifice to the gods and to obey the command of the emperor be scourged and led away to suffer capital punishment according to the ruling of the laws.” Glorifying God, the holy martyrs went out to the accustomed place. They were beheaded, and so fulfilled their witness of martyrdom in confessing their faith in their Saviour.

Martyrs are witnesses who follow Christ daily. In good times and in bad.



 

When the co-cathedral was dedicated, I met one of Cardinal DiNardo’s good friends from Pittsburgh who had the same last name as me. He said something which I have always remembered regarding evangelization and mission. In Pittsburgh many churches are being closed; fewer Catholics are attending church; each day as this priest said part of the body of Christ is being cut off. He then went on to say that we are lucky in this archdiocese because instead of shrinking, we are growing in numbers. Growth, not decay, is the norm for a healthy “BODY.”

I remembered that conversation this morning as I read an article that the Archdiocese of St. Louis will be undergoing a restructuring with fewer parishes being the result of the process. Again, part of the body of Christ is being cut off. This news is another reminder about the importance of Pentecost Sunday that we celebrated several days ago.

Today’s gospel reading at Mass [Luke 1:39-56] on this memorial of the Visitation of Mary with her cousin Elizabeth can be viewed as a reminder that we are missionary disciples. The joy of Jesus’ closeness to us and what God has done (and is doing for us) is the source of joy and the reason for our mission.

The gospel reading is structured after 2 Samuel 6:1-15 where King David brings the ark of the covenant, the symbol of God’s presence with the Jewish people, into Jerusalem. David accompanies the ark with great joy and abandon:
David and all the Israelites made merry before the LORD with all their strength, with singing and with citharas, harps, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals. [v.5]

In the gospel, Mary joyfully brings the ark of the covenant, Jesus the child growing in her womb, to Elizabeth. Even the child in Elizabeth’s womb, John the Baptist, experiences the joy of Jesus’ presence:
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. [Luke 1:41-42]

On Monday, we celebrated Mary, Mother of the Church. Not only did Mary give birth to Jesus, but on the cross, Jesus gave Mary to the apostle John and ultimately to all of us to be our spiritual mother:
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. [John 19:262-7]

In baptism, we are grafted onto to Christ the vine. With the gift of the Holy Spirit that we receive in baptism, Christ lives inside of us. As Saint Paul states in his Letter to the Colossians:
Christ in you, the hope for glory. [Colossians 1:27]
As ambassadors of Christ, we then have a mission and a commission to bring Christ to others as Mary did in today’s gospel at Mass.

Pope Francis, like his two predecessors, has emphasized that we are missionary disciples by nature of our baptism. The importance and necessity of our mission as Jesus’ ambassadors is manifested daily as we watch the news of the day. For instance, we hear about the poor spiritual condition that young people are experiencing with suicide, depression, and hopelessness. And then we hear that his age group is becoming the least religious. As ambassadors for Christ, we should see the connection between these two facts.

As Jesus ambassadors, do we firmly believe that life with Jesus is better than life without him? Most definitely, the answer is “YES” because Jesus came so that we can have life in abundance and we all want abundant life. Pope Francis wrote about the importance of being convinced that life is better with Jesus than without him:
It is impossible to persevere in a fervent evangelization unless we are convinced from personal experience that it is not the same thing to have known Jesus as not to have known him, not the same thing to walk with him as to walk blindly, not the same thing to hear his word as not to know it…It is not the same thing to try to build the world with his Gospel as to try to do so by our own lights. We know well that with Jesus life becomes richer and that with him it is easier to find meaning in everything. This is why we evangelize. A true missionary, who never ceases to be a disciple, knows that Jesus walks with him, speaks to him, breathes with him, works with him. [Evangelii Gaudium, 266]

Regarding our being serious about our call as missionary disciples of Jesus, the pope wrote:
For if we have received the love which restores meaning to our lives, how can we fail to share that love with others?..... When the Church summons Christians to take up the task of evangelization, she is simply pointing to the source of authentic personal fulfilment. For “here we discover a profound law of reality: that life is attained and matures in the measure that it is offered up in order to give life to others. This is certainly what mission means”. Consequently, an evangelizer must never look like someone who has just come back from a funeral! Let us recover and deepen our enthusiasm, that “delightful and comforting joy of evangelizing, even when it is in tears that we must sow… And may the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the good news not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervour, who have first received the joy of Christ.” [Evangelii Gaudium, 8,10]

I share with you something that I said on Sunday during the homily. As Jesus’ ambassadors, everything about us should proclaim Christ. As Mother Teresa stated:
We must proclaim Christ by the way we talk, by the way we walk, the way we laugh – by our life – so that everyone will know that we belong to him.” Making converts to Jesus, however, was not her focus. Rather, she tried to make converts to love. “Only God can change a person’s heart,” she would say. Her job was to love – to radiate the love of Christ and, through her works of love, to show people God’s love for them. By her love, she helped to draw men and women near to God. From there, she said, it’s up to God to take people the rest of the way


 

During the season of Easter which has just ended, the Sunday Mass included a sprinkling ritual as part of the penitential rite. The sprinkling ritual reminded us of the sacrament of baptism by which we became sons and daughters of God. In the past, I have presented the situation that each of us is the pastor of the parish. A dad approaches us and asks how much does it cost to have his child baptized. Hopefully we would look at the dad with a confused look and state the cost of baptism is the child’s life. After all, in baptism a person must die with Christ and so be raised up to a new life as a child of God.

The death in baptism means that Jesus is Lord of my life, not me! Bishop Robert Barron described the requirements of Christ being Lord of our lives:
Is Christ commanding your life in every detail? Is he the Lord of your family life? Of your recreational life? Of your professional life? Is he Lord of every room in your house, including the bedroom? Are you totally given over to him, under his lordship?

A process of constant surrendering to Christ is the process by which Christ, little by little, becomes Lord of our lives. For instance, at times in confession, a young child or teen will confess being disobedient to their parents. It is a violation of the 4^th commandment which teaches us what love is. Love is to will the good of the other person. It requires a surrendering of my will in order to accept and do the will of the other person. As part of the youth’s penance, I ask the person to practice obedience to his/her parents over the next week and to pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit to be obedient. I also ask them as Sirach states in the first reading at Mass [Sirach 35:1-11] to put a smile on their faces as they are obedient to their parents’ commands. God loves a cheerful giver.

Refiner’s fire. The process of surrendering our lives to Christ often occurs when we encounter the trials and difficulties of our lives. Do we say My will be done or Thy will be done. Our surrendering to God’s will acts like a refiner’s fire that purifies as in our ability to love God and love our neighbor. We grow in holiness like God who is holy.

Some of the challenges of surrender that we encounter are:

The Lord’s Day. The third commandment requires us to keep the Lord’s Day holy. This requirement begins by attending Mass. As Sirach states in the first reading, this sacrifice should be offered willingly and joyfully:
In a generous spirit pay homage to the LORD, be not sparing of freewill gifts. With each contribution show a cheerful countenance, and pay your tithes in a spirit of joy. Give to the Most High as he has given to you, generously, according to your means.

Saint John Paul II stated that when Sunday becomes simply part of the weekend, we can lose the meaning of the Lord’s Day and its importance in our lives. While we may come to Mass, we might not be really able to celebrate all that God has done for us:
Unfortunately, when Sunday loses its fundamental meaning and becomes merely part of a "weekend", it can happen that people stay locked within a horizon so limited that they can no longer see "the heavens". Hence, though ready to celebrate, they are really incapable of doing so. The disciples of Christ, however, are asked to avoid any confusion between the celebration of Sunday, which should truly be a way of keeping the Lord's Day holy, and the "weekend", understood as a time of simple rest and relaxation. This will require a genuine spiritual maturity. [Dies Domini, #4]

Individualism; If we are to live with Christ as Lord of our lives, our individualism – the focus on ourselves and the use of our freedom without restrictions placed by others – has to be eliminated in our lives. Yet, our world emphasizes this individualism. In the gospel at Mass [Mark 10:28-31], Peter expresses the sacrifice of oneself that the disciples have made in order to follow Jesus. For instance, Peter gave us his occupation and whole way of life to follow Jesus:
Peter began to say to Jesus, 'We have given up everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you,
there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands
for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age:

Love is the surrendering required of Jesus’ disciples. Love is to will the good of the other person. In this case, the other person is Jesus. This surrendering of ourselves is how we come to discover who we are as individuals. Jesus stated that if we lose ourselves for his sake, we find ourselves. The bishops at the second Vatican council reiterated this fact in their document about the church in the modern world:
Man, who is the only creature on earth which God has willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself. [Gaudium et spes, 24]

We practice this essential quality of surrendering to God’s will every time we celebrate the Mass. The offertory at Mass will be our giving of ourselves in love to the Father just as Jesus does at Mass. After all, we make his total surrendering on the cross to the Father’s will present at Mass. And we join Jesus in this act of surrendering. The challenge will then be to practice daily in our lives what we celebrate at Mass.






 

My story about the chapel of the Holy Spirit which is directly behind the “chair of St. Peter,” where the pope sits during Mass at St. Peter’s in Rome.

Several years ago, Mattress Mack paid for 5 students and 2 chaperones from every Catholic school in the archdiocese to go to Rome for a week. I went with the students at St. Anne Catholic School in Tomball. We went during February, a cold and rainy season in Rome. In order to pack without too much extra stuff, I took 2 pairs of walking (running) shoes. In case one pair got wet, I had a spare. With the colder weather in Rome, I brought one “warm” sweater, my Mickey argyle sweater.

When we got to Rome, I discovered that on Wednesday we would be celebrating Mass at the Holy Spirit Chapel at St. Peter’s with Archbishop Fiorenza. I was shocked. What would I wear? I had no dress shoes and no other sweater. I thought that I would just sit in the back of the chapel out of the archbishop’s sight so he would not see my inappropriate clothes and shoes. But as I entered St. Peter’s, I thought “What the heck, I will never celebrate Mass at St. Peter’s again.” So I went to the sacristy with much embarrassment over my style of dress. I took my jacket off and revealed my Mickey sweater and put my chasuble on. I was standing in the sacristy feeling totally embarrassed, when, right before we were ready to go to the chapel, the sacristan started gibbering in Italian. All the other priests had a chasuble with one religious symbol on it while the bishop had another religious symbol on his. Mine? I was dressed like Archbishop Fiorenza. The sacristan, still gibbering in Italian, quickly took my chasuble off and gave me another. I was feeling about 2 feet tall at that moment.

With the embarrassment over my clothes, this added indignity did not help very much. But as we processed to the chapel, I thought to myself, “Isn’t this incredible! I am going to concelebrate Mass behind the chair of St. Peter in the Holy Spirit Chapel while I am wearing my running shoes and a Mickey argyle sweater!!” God didn’t send a lightning bolt down on me that day, so I guess the heavens were not so concerned about my running shoes and Mickey sweater as I was.

On that first Pentecost, the disciples were gathered in the upper room where about 50 days before they had celebrated the Eucharist with Jesus. Jesus used that place of the Last Supper to have the Holy Spirit descend upon the apostles. As I was thinking about that, I began to reflect on the presence of the Holy Spirit at Mass.

In his document about the Holy Spirit in the life of the church and the world, Saint John Paul II wrote about Jesus final words to his disciples that he would not abandon them but be with them always. Jesus’ departure would unleash the Holy Spirit to be present with Jesus’ disciples always. Regarding the presence of the Holy Spirit at the Eucharist, the pope wrote:
And yet it occurs by the power of the Holy Spirit, who makes it possible for Christ, who has gone away, to come now and for ever in a new way. This new coming of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, and his constant presence and action in the spiritual life are accomplished in the sacramental reality. In this reality, Christ, who has gone away in his visible humanity, comes, is present and acts in the Church in such an intimate way as to make it his own Body. As such, the Church lives, works and grows "to the close of the age." All this happens through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The most complete sacramental expression of the "departure" of Christ through the mystery of the Cross and Resurrection is the Eucharist. In every celebration of the Eucharist his coming, his salvific presence, is sacramentally realized: in the Sacrifice and in Communion. It is accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit, as part of his own mission. Through the Eucharist the Holy Spirit accomplishes that "strengthening of the inner man" spoken of in the Letter to the Ephesians. [Ephesians 3:16] Through the Eucharist, individuals and communities, by the action of the Paraclete- Counselor, learn to discover the divine sense of human life, as spoken of by the Council: that sense whereby Jesus Christ "fully reveals man to man himself," suggesting "a certain likeness between the union of the divine persons, and the union of God's children in truth and charity." This union is expressed and made real especially through the Eucharist, in which man shares in the sacrifice of Christ which this celebration actualizes, and he also learns to "find himself...through a...gift of himself," through communion with God and with others, his brothers and sisters.
For this reason the early Christians, right from the days immediately following the coming down of the Holy Spirit, "devoted themselves to the breaking of bread and the prayers," and in this way they formed a community united by the teaching of the Apostles. Thus "they recognized" that their Risen Lord, who had ascended into heaven, came into their midst anew in that Eucharistic community of the Church and by means of it. Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Church from the beginning expressed and confirmed her identity through the Eucharist. And so it has always been, in every Christian generation, down to our own time, down to this present period when we await the end of the second Christian Millennium.  [DOMINUM ET VIVIFICANTEM, 61,62]

During the Eucharistic prayer, the Epiclesis is when the Holy Spirit is called down upon the gifts of bread and wine. These gifts represent the work of our hands and our spirits. We are asking the Holy Spirit to “transubstantiate” not only the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus but also to really make us who we are, THE BODY OF CHRIST. We have requested this “transubstantiation” during the preparation of the gifts. The priest will say over the bread that will be consecrated:
Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for thru your goodness we have received the bread we offer you; fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life.

About the Epiclesis, the Catechism states:
The epiclesis is a prayer for the full effect of the assembly's communion with the mystery of Christ…. The Church therefore asks the Father to send the Holy Spirit to make the lives of the faithful a living sacrifice to God by their spiritual transformation into the image of Christ, by concern for the Church's unity, and by taking part in her mission through the witness and service of charity. [CCC 1109]

Being transformed into the image of Christ reminds us that we are Jesus’ ambassadors. Recall what Saint Paul told us on Ash Wednesday, 90 days ago:
So we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. [2 Corinthians 5:20]

Mother Teresa described what it means to be an ambassador of Christ:
We must proclaim Christ by the way we talk, by the way we walk, the way we laugh – by our life – so that everyone will know that we belong to him.” Making converts to Jesus, however, was not her focus. Rather, she tried to make converts to love. “Only God can change a person’s heart,” she would say. Her job was to love – to radiate the love of Christ and, through her works of love, to show people God’s love for them. By her love, she helped to draw men and women near to God. From there, she said, it’s up to God to take people the rest of the way

Making the lives of the faithful a living sacrifice to God by their spiritual transformation. The offertory at Mass is often thought of as the time that the collection is taken up. That part of the Mass is the preparation of the gifts. The offertory occurs after Jesus’ words at the Last Supper are proclaimed and the assembly sings the memorial acclamation. We then make then re-present – or make present again – Jesus’ sacrifice the cross:
Therefore, O Lord, as we celebrate the memorial [that is, to make present] of the saving Passion of your Son, his wondrous Resurrection and Ascension into heaven, and as we look forward to his second coming, we OFFER you in thanksgiving this holy and living sacrifice. [Eucharistic Prayer III]

After making Jesus’ sacrifice present, we then include our OFFERTORY with that of Jesus’:
Look, we pray, upon the OBLATION of your Church, and recognizing the sacrificial Victim by whose death you willed to reconcile us to yourself, grant that we, who are nourished by the Body and Blood of your Son and filled with the Holy Spirit, may become one body, one spirit in Christ. [Eucharistic Prayer III]

The prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola describes the attitude that we should have as we make our oblation during the Eucharistic Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, take all my freedom, my memory, my understanding, and my will. All that I have and cherish You have given me. I surrender it all to be guided by Your Will. Your grace and Your love are enough for me. Give me these, Lord Jesus, and I ask for nothing more.

The Holy Spirit then accompanies us as we leave Mass and are “commissioned” as Jesus’ ambassadors to unite the whole world into one body, or spirit in Christ. As the Catechism states:
The Holy Spirit is the … "the principal agent of the whole of the Church's mission."… so the Church, urged on by the Spirit of Christ, must walk the road Christ himself walked, a way of poverty and obedience, of service and self-sacrifice even to death, a death from which he emerged victorious by his resurrection." So it is that "the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians." [CCC 852]
As we leave church today after celebrating Mass on this Solemnity of Pentecost, don’t forget our identity as missionary disciples. And don’t leave the Holy Spirit behind at Mass. Daily invite the Spirit to guide us on our work on behalf of Christ.

Spirit of wisdom and understanding, enlighten our minds to perceive the mysteries of the universe in relation to eternity. Spirit of right judgment and courage, guide us and make us firm in our baptismal decision to follow Jesus' way of love. Spirit of knowledge and reverence, help us to see the lasting value of justice and mercy in our everyday dealings with one another. May we respect life as we work to solve problems of family and nation, economy and ecology. Spirit of God, spark our faith, hope and love into new action each day. Fill our lives with wonder and awe in your presence which penetrates all creation. Amen.
 

In the reading from Acts at Mass today [25:13b-21], Paul has been transferred from Jerusalem to Caesarea, a vacation spot by the sea for the wealthy. Paul has been imprisoned there by the governor, Felix. Felix is hoping to receive an illegal bribe from Paul and then Felix would release him. Bribe? Money? Paul was in Jerusalem to distribute to the impoverished Christians the collection that he had taken up from the various Christian cities where he had preached. Felix never got his bribe. But when he was replaced by Festus, the new governor sought the counsel of King Agrippa regarding what to do with Paul.

Besides describing the interaction between Festus and King Agrippa, Saint Luke provides a theology behind this story. If Rome is concerned about this new group called Christians who are fighting with the Jewish authorities, Luke is saying that they need not be concerned. The conflict is a theological one and not a legal one. The conflict is about a certain man, Jesus, whom Paul said was raised from the dead. The Sadducees who hold a lot of political sway with Rome are opposed to the idea of the resurrection.

The 2^nd or 3^rd century Letter to Diognetus expresses the same theme. There is no need to persecute Christians. Christians are being persecuted for not worshipping the Roman emperor. For Christians, Jesus is Lord, not the emperor. In the letter, the author tries to explain that Christians live peacefully among non-Christians, but they also believe that heaven is their homeland and not the territory of the Roman empire:
Christians are indistinguishable from other men either by nationality, language or customs. They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some outlandish way of life. Their teaching is not based upon reveries inspired by the curiosity of men. Unlike some other people, they champion no purely human doctrine. With regard to dress, food and manner of life in general, they follow the customs of whatever city they happen to be living in, whether it is Greek or foreign.
  And yet there is something extraordinary about their lives. … Christians love all men, but all men persecute them. Condemned because they are not understood, they are put to death, but raised to life again. They live in poverty, but enrich many; they are totally destitute, but possess an abundance of everything. They suffer dishonour, but that is their glory. They are defamed, but vindicated. A blessing is their answer to abuse, deference their response to insult. For the good they do they receive the punishment of malefactors, but even then they rejoice, as though receiving the gift of life. They are attacked by the Jews as aliens, they are persecuted by the Greeks, yet no one can explain the reason for this hatred.
  To speak in general terms, we may say that the Christian is to the world what the soul is to the body. … Christians love those who hate them just as the soul loves the body and all its members despite the body’s hatred. It is by the soul, enclosed within the body, that the body is held together, and similarly, it is by the Christians, detained in the world as in a prison, that the world is held together. The soul, though immortal, has a mortal dwelling place; and Christians also live for a time amidst perishable things, while awaiting the freedom from change and decay that will be theirs in heaven. As the soul benefits from the deprivation of food and drink, so Christians flourish under persecution. Such is the Christian’s lofty and divinely appointed function, from which he is not permitted to excuse himself.

The love that Christians had for one another was the quality which radically distinguished them from others. As some people remarked about Christians:
See how much they love one another.

We might say that LOVE FOR JESUS is what distinguished Christians from others. Love for Jesus means that Christ directs the lives of Christians. Jesus is their Lord. As Jesus tells Peter at the end of today’s gospel at Mass [John 21:15-19]:
Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. [v.18]

Yesterday at Mass, we heard how Christ was directing Paul’s life. After Paul was rescued from the conflict between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, Jesus revealed to Paul that he would be Jesus’ witness in Rome:
The following night the Lord stood by him and said, "Take courage. For just as you have borne witness to my cause in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome. [Acts 23:11]
In today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we see how this revelation to Paul is coming true. He will be sent to Rome after a 2-year imprisonment in Caesarea.

There is another quality which sets Christians apart. The LOVE OF JESUS guided Christians actions. As Jesus tells Peter in today’s gospel at Mass:
When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs. [v.15]

As Jesus said, there is no love greater than to lay down one’s life for another. When plagues broke out, it was the Christians who began the hospitals that would care for the sick and the dying. Roman law allowed a father to abandon a new born child that he did not want. The child would be abandoned on the street in order to die. Christians would take these infants and care for them. Orphanages were established. Education of poor children was begun. All because of the LOVE OF JESUS

Today is the feast day of Saint Philip Neri. His LOVE OF JESUS helped transform the city of Rome in the 16^th century. And yes, like Peter, Paul, and other saints before him, Neri’s practice of radical love was opposed by many. As one author said about Saint Philip Neri:
For all his antics, what is most striking about Philip is that his humility and healthy mistrust of self went hand in hand with a holy confidence and boldness. He was convinced that God’s mercy could do the work of sanctifying and converting far better than his own ingenuity. He wasn’t afraid of the power of sin either. And so, instead of shunning disreputable characters, Philip approached them with trust that God would win them over. When a criminal slipped into the Oratory meeting one day, Philip welcomed him warmly and without sermonizing. He even brought him to a seat of honor. Later that evening, the fugitive tearfully confessed his sins and returned to the Church.
By the time Philip Neri died, on May 25, 1594, the spiritual climate of Rome had been renewed. And almost despite himself, he had founded a congregation of priests who now continue his work and joyful spirit in Oratories around the world.

Think of how Mother Teresa’s practice of the LOVE OF JESUS changed the city of Calcutta where she ministered. Think of the number of men and women who have been inspired by her example to join the religious orders associated with the saint. I have always liked the following story about her:
Mother Teresa was in New York City on a cold, rainy night where she was to give a speech at a hotel. When she arrived at the hotel, she noticed that there was a large crowd in front. She instructed her driver to take her around to the back of the hotel. In the alley behind the hotel, there were a number of homeless people huddled together with their cardboard shelters. Mother Teresa went to the homeless people where she saw a poor man curled up in a fetal position. Her trained eye told her the man was dying. She said to her companion, “Sister, help me carry this man to the car.” She asked the driver to bring them back to the convent. Mother Teresa sat up that night with the homeless stranger, rubbing his hands to warm them, trying to help him sip some soup and whispering prayers in his ears, assuring him that in his last hours on earth he would be loved. He died at dawn. Mother Teresa commended him to God and asked that he be admitted to the eternal love that never fails. She never gave the speech that night. And yet, in reality, she did.

What distinguishes Christians? LOVE FOR JESUS and living  with the LOVE OF JESUS.