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Church Seasons and Feasts

Two things to know about Christ’s ascension into heaven

Sister Anna Marie McGuan

May 24, 2020 7:47 am May 24, 2020

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The ascension of the Lord Jesus into heaven is a mystery rooted in history and spoken of in Scripture, like the Resurrection. It is presented both at the end of…

The ascension of the Lord Jesus into heaven is a mystery rooted in history and spoken of in Scripture, like the Resurrection. It is presented both at the end of Matthew’s Gospel and at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles. It is also alluded to in John’s Gospel, when the risen Jesus encounters Mary Magdalene and says, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (Jn 20:17).

The Ascension is the completion of the Easter mysteries of Jesus’ life, passion, death and resurrection, and it is the final step before the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “Jesus’ final apparition ends with the irreversible entry of his humanity into divine glory, symbolized by the cloud and by heaven, where he is seated from that time forward at God’s right hand” (No. 659).

Yet perhaps we feel somewhat like the Apostles who witnessed the Ascension, standing there, looking up, wondering what just happened. Why did Jesus go? Where did he go? The angels’ response to them is apropos for us, too: “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

There are two things to remember about this mystery. First, in a very real way, Jesus’ ascension into heaven is the goal for each one of us. He goes before us, and we are to follow Him there. In the Ascension, the domain of God’s glory is opened to us, and Jesus, in His glorified humanity, takes His rightful place at God’s right hand. It is a privilege for all of us that one of our own, a man like us in all things but sin, has been so glorified. Not only that, he is calling us and interceding for us always so that we will one day join him. As the Catechism states: “Left to its own natural powers humanity does not have access to the ‘Father’s house,’ to God’s life and happiness. Only Christ can open to man such access that we, his members, might have confidence that we too shall go where he, our Head and our Source, has preceded us” (No. 661).

The second thing to remember about this mystery is that Jesus will come back. When that day comes, we should be ready. He has asked us to be his faithful disciples, living in a vital friendship with him. This is not magic, however. It takes the power of the Holy Spirit, whom each of us receives in baptism and confirmation. It also takes a lived relationship with God in prayer. Finally, Jesus expects us to be open, available and ready to cooperate with him in the mission he calls us to.

The last thing Jesus said to the Apostles was, “But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). In Matthew’s Gospel, the last injunction is similar: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (28:19-20). If we live out that mission from Christ, and truly make disciples of all nations, then his presence is with us despite his bodily absence. First and foremost, Jesus is with us in the Eucharist and in the liturgy of the Church. Jesusalso is present spiritually when we pray in his name, as he said: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20).

Jesus’ work on earth is now complete, but the task of bearing witness to Him and making disciples is never done, not until he returns at the end of time. That is the task the Apostles began to do, starting with prayer in the upper room as they awaited the promised Holy Spirit. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was there with them. Clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Apostles and disciples of Jesus began to preach and teach about him to Jews and to Gentiles. They began to do what the Lord Jesus asked them to do: bear witness and make disciples. That task is not just theirs; it belongs to all of us.

Sister Anna Marie McGuan, R.S.M., is Director of Christian Formation in the Diocese of Knoxville.

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Scripture

Bible 101: A Brief Introduction to the Pentateuch

Sister Anna Marie McGuan

May 15, 2020 6:54 am May 15, 2020

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The Books of Moses, also known as the Pentateuch or the Torah, are the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These texts are…

The Books of Moses, also known as the Pentateuch or the Torah, are the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These texts are sacred in both the Jewish and the Christian traditions and hold a preeminent place in the Old Testament because of their teachings and stories, as well as the personages they feature. The Torah also helped shape morality, religious observance, culture, and art across centuries and empires. Each book of the Torah has unique features and contributes distinctively to this first section of the Bible.

The first book, Genesis, takes its name from the Greek word for generation or origin. In Hebrew it is called bĕrēʾšît, which means “in the beginning” — the first words of the book. The first 11 chapters focus on teaching the truth about human persons and the world as created by God. They also detail the entrance of sin into the world and the effects it has on human beings, their relationship to God, and their relationship to one another. In Chapter 12, “salvation history” truly begins, as God calls Abraham to go to a land that he does not know. Abraham responds in faith, and God promises to make Abraham a great nation, blessing all the peoples of the earth in him. The rest of Genesis moves through the story of Abraham, then his son, Isaac, followed by Isaac’s two sons, Jacob and Esau. The story of Joseph and his brothers finishes the book of Genesis. In this memorable saga, Joseph saves Egypt and the surrounding lands from famine and, in so doing, saves his family in Canaan from starvation and destruction. The entire family moves down to Egypt and dwells there.

The book of Exodus picks up generations later. The pharaoh of Egypt does not know Joseph and his story, even though the Hebrews have become quite numerous. Fearing an insurrection, the pharaoh reduces them to slave labor. Moses is then sent by God to converse with Pharaoh and secure the people’s liberation from slavery. Their deliverance happens after a dramatic 10-plague duel which can be understood as divine warfare. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob does battle with the gods of the Egyptians, represented by various natural elements and animals. One by one, the Lord defeats the gods of Egypt. Finally, Pharaoh sends the people away, but then changes his mind, causing the famous scene of the crossing of the Red Sea. The waters miraculously opened up, allowing the Hebrews to pass through, but then collapsed upon the Egyptian forces to their utter ruin and destruction.

In their new found freedom, the descendants of Abraham, under the guidance of Moses, go to Mount Sinai, where the covenant between God and the Israelites was formally established. From this covenant we still have the Ten Commandments and the foundation of morality. The rest of the book of Exodus includes details about the covenant, the building of the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant. There is also an episode that describes the defection of the Israelites from the covenant where Moses intercedes for the people and God reestablishes their bond with him.

The book of Leviticus is at the center of the Torah. This emphasizes its importance — the center of a section or of a book is a sign of its value. This makes sense, because Leviticus explains the laws of sacrifice, along with the distinctions between what is profane and what is holy. “Profane” does not mean “bad” — it only means that such an object cannot mediate God’s presence and holiness. Leviticus provides the framework for the people to live the covenant, with all of its proper sacrifices, in order to truly become God’s holy people.

The book of Numbers describes the journeying of the Hebrew people in the wilderness, as they move from Mount Sinai to the edge of the land of Canaan, and then have to journey in the desert for another 40 years. This time of purification often has been interpreted as an analogy of the spiritual life. Each person must go through life as a preparation and a purification, a journey of faith, hope and love.

The last book of the Pentateuch is Deuteronomy, a name which means “second law,” and it presents a series of discourses given by Moses to the people of Israel on the plains of Moab. At this point, they have finished the 40 years’ journey and are preparing to enter into the land of Canaan. Moses prepares the people by recalling for them their history up to this point in time; he also reminds them of their obligations and God’s blessings upon them. He warns them, too, about the consequences of infidelity. Thus, the Pentateuch closes with a sense of foreboding: God is always faithful … but will the people be so as well?

Sister Anna Marie McGuan, R.S.M., is Director of Christian Formation in the Diocese of Knoxville. Read more from the Bible 101 series here.

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Easter

The Formation of the Gospels and Good Shepherd Sunday

Sister Anna Marie McGuan

May 3, 2020 8:23 am May 3, 2020

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The Good Shepherd Gospel reading on the Fourth Sunday of Easter seems out of place because it takes us back in time before the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus….

The Good Shepherd Gospel reading on the Fourth Sunday of Easter seems out of place because it takes us back in time before the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. On the preceding Sundays of Easter, the focus has been on the Resurrection appearances — beautiful moments of joy, trepidation, surprise and hope. The Good Shepherd passage, however, has something important to teach us about the formation of the New Testament.

In recalling that all of the Gospels were written after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, we have to conclude that everything contained within them was written in the light of the Resurrection, that is, with the end in mind: the victory of Jesus over sin and death. The Gospels, in other words, record the life and teaching, the death and resurrection of Jesus, as told to us through the faith of the Apostles who knew him and loved him. The Apostles are telling the story of Jesus in faith and for faith — to inspire us to believe in Jesus.

Not everything that Jesus said and did was understood at the time, certainly not before the Resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. John himself tells us as much in his Gospel. For example, after the cleansing of the temple, John wrote, giving us just one example of how a word spoken by Jesus could only be understood in the light of later events: “Jesus answered and said to them,^‘Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews said, ‘This temple has been under construction for forty-six years,^* and you will raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the scripture and the word Jesus had spoken” (Jn 2: 19-22).

Another such example is when Jesus spoke about himself as the Good Shepherd: “Although Jesus used this figure of speech,^* they did not realize what he was trying to tell them” (Jn 10:6). After Jesus’ death and resurrection, however, Peter and the others came to understand these words, especially where Jesus explicitly says of himself: “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn 10:11). We know this because Peter refers to Jesus as the shepherd in his first letter: “He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you had gone astray like sheep, but you have now returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls” (2:24-25).

Passages like Jesus’ description of the Good Shepherd illustrate how the evangelists often show how the Apostles were mystified by things that Jesus said and did. Certainly, the Apostles did not hide that fact in their preaching. The Gospel writers told the story of Jesus to the best of their ability, inspired by the Holy Spirit. The process of transmitting Divine Revelation in the form of the Gospels happened rapidly, over the course of about 50 years. But a key to their writing was how they came to understand Jesus’ words in light of his death and Resurrection.

How did the Gospel writers compose their Gospels? The Church teaches about three stages of the formation regarding the canonical (meaning accepted as inspired by God and read in the liturgy) Gospels in the Catechism (CCC, No. 126). The first stage simply relates to the life and teaching of Jesus. Depending on the witness of the Apostles — who were with Jesus, called by Jesus to form his intimate circle of companions and to be the foundation of his Church — who passed on what Jesus said and did. The second stage came when, after Jesus’ Ascension, once they were enlightened by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Apostles preached boldly, not in weakness. They knew and loved Jesus, and they wanted everyone to know who he was. They wanted everyone to have access to the mystery of God’s life through faith in Jesus and through baptism. In the third stage, the Gospel writers selected both oral and written materials to prepare their texts. They organized what they heard and read in order to write most effectively to the diverse audiences of their time.

According to a long-standing tradition in the Church, some of the Gospel writers were Apostles and others were not, but they preserved and wrote down the apostolic preaching: what the Apostles learned from Jesus himself, and what they themselves saw. St. Justin Martyr, who died around 165 AD, identifies the Gospels more than once as the memoirs of the Apostles. The Gospels continue to teach us about the life and teaching of Jesus. They are God’s gift to His Church, and their apostolic origin is undeniable.

Sister Anna Marie McGuan, RSM, is director of Christian formation in the Diocese of Knoxville.

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Easter

The Resurrection and Scripture: Lessons from the Road to Emmaus

Sister Anna Marie McGuan

April 26, 2020 2:14 pm April 26, 2020

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On Easter morning, two disciples were traveling on the road to Emmaus. Leaving Jerusalem, they were downcast and disappointed over what had happened to Jesus. They did not understand the…

On Easter morning, two disciples were traveling on the road to Emmaus. Leaving Jerusalem, they were downcast and disappointed over what had happened to Jesus. They did not understand the stories of the women who said that they had seen him early that morning. As the disciples were walking away from the holy city, Jesus came and walked alongside them.

As in the other resurrection appearances, the disciples did not recognize Jesus. And, as in the other appearances, Jesus did not reveal himself immediately. Instead, he walked with these two disciples and engaged them in conversation. They expressed their frustration and sorrow over the events of Good Friday. One of them, named Clopas, said:

“‘Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?’ And (Jesus) replied to them, ‘What sort of things?’ They said to him, ‘The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel’” (Lk 24:18-21).

Continuing, Clopas explained about the testimony of the women and how strange it all had been. Having only heard the women’s account, the disciples did not know what to make of the disappearance of the body. No one understood what resurrection from the dead even meant.

Jesus listened patiently, but instead of nodding in an understanding way, he turned their sorrow on its head — to their shock and our surprise — saying, “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (Lk 24:25-26).

Jesus explained that it was actually necessary that the Messiah would undergo the suffering of the Passion and crucifixion. He does this by walking the disciples through the Old Testament. The evangelist writes: “Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the scriptures” (Lk 24:27).

At this point, of course, there was no New Testament as we have today, so “all the scriptures” referred to here are only the writings of the Old Testament. The apostles and disciples had only the Greek and Hebrew scriptures of the Old Testament, along with their own experience of being with Jesus and watching him suffer and die. Without Jesus’ help, they could not make the connections between what happened to Jesus and the writings of Moses and the prophets.

What Jesus did on the road to Emmaus was interpret the writings of the Old Testament in terms of their relationship to his incarnation, passion, death and resurrection — all of which fulfilled the Old Testament. They were predicted, and everything that happened to Jesus was there, albeit hidden from the disciples’ understanding. Jesus opened their minds and hearts to see his life and death in the light of the Old Testament. Without the Old Testament, the life, teaching and sacrificial death of Jesus would be incomprehensible.

The Church in every age has followed Jesus’ example on the road to Emmaus, upholding the value of the inspired Hebrew and Greek writings that prepared for the coming of Jesus. The apostles passed on the fullness of God’s revelation by showing reverence to the Old Testament, while composing the writings we now call the New Testament.

The Old Testament is a part of God’s Revelation and finds its fulfillment in Jesus. Additionally, there is a principle of continuity between the Old Testament and the New Testament, such that the two must never be separated. From St. Augustine, the Church still holds this classic maxim: the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament are God’s word, all part of God’s Revelation, in which he shows forth who he is and who we are in relation to Him. Jesus taught this on the road to Emmaus, and his exposition of the Scriptures set the hearts of the disciples on fire.

Sister Anna Marie McGuan, RSM, is director of Christian formation in the Diocese of Knoxville.

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Scripture

Why the Holy Spirit matters

Sister Anna Marie McGuan

April 20, 2020 2:27 pm April 20, 2020

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Jesus told his Apostles at the Last Supper many things about the Holy Spirit, and some of these are included in the readings at this time, such as: “And I…

Jesus told his Apostles at the Last Supper many things about the Holy Spirit, and some of these are included in the readings at this time, such as: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth…” (Jn 14:16-17). In another moment during the Last Supper discourse, Jesus even said to the Apostles, “But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you” (Jn 16:7). The Holy Spirit’s presence with the Apostles, disciples and with the entire Church throughout the centuries is always meant to be a comfort, a consolation, a leader and a guide to Jesus’ friends.

If we think back to the Last Supper, it is totally appropriate that Jesus would make such a promise at that time. The impending departure of Jesus was troubling his friends. They did not know what was about to happen, and they did not understand many of the things Jesus was saying. All they really seemed to grasp at that moment was that Jesus was going away — and this reality left them in the dark, even desolate.

Jesus knew this, so at the Last Supper he not only instituted the holy Eucharist, whereby he would always be present to his friends, but he also promised them the Counselor, the Holy Spirit. He told them that the Holy Spirit would dwell with them and be with them. The Holy Spirit’s presence in and among the disciples would make it possible for them to live for Jesus, just as he was asking them to do. Living for Jesus means more than a simple calling to mind; it is to actually live Christ’s life within the sphere of my own existence. As St. Paul put it, “For to me life is Christ, and death is gain” (Phil 1:21). It is the Holy Spirit that enables that sentence to be true for Paul and for all of us.

The Holy Spirit makes God’s plan for each of us real, and we know the Holy Spirit by what he does in each life. Here is one way the Catechism expresses this: “…[T]he mission of the Spirit of adoption is to unite [God’s children] to Christ and make them live in him…” (CCC, No. 690).

In other words, that mission is to reveal Jesus, the Word of God, and to make the image of Jesus fully alive in each person. The Holy Spirit teaches us who Jesus is and how we are to become more and more like him. He also makes us ready to receive Jesus in faith. The life of a baptized person can be an ever increasing union with God through faith, hope and love. The Holy Spirit is the author of that union; he teaches us how to know God better and love Him more fully.

There are many ways that the Holy Spirit can do this, but two very important ones are through Sacred Scripture and through the sacraments. In Sacred Scripture, the same Holy Spirit who inspired the sacred authors to write is the one who dwells within the heart of each person reading it. As the Spirit inspired the writing, so the Spirit inspires the reading — so that the mind and heart of Christ can be formed in us.

In the Sacraments, we receive grace. Grace makes us like God, but we have to be disposed to it and cooperate with it. What does it mean to be like God? What does God do? Above all else, God knows and loves himself and knows and loves all things in himself. That is why the Lord Jesus taught us that the greatest commandment is to love God: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment.The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt 22:37-39). The Holy Spirit teaches us and forms us to do what Jesus taught us to do. It is the Holy Spirit that enables us to do this, because “The Holy Spirit, whom Christ the head pours out on his members, builds, animates, and sanctifies the Church” (CCC, No. 747).

If you do not have an active and growing relationship with the Holy Spirit, you can ask for that friendship with Him at any time. You can invite the Holy Spirit to play a real, dynamic role in your life starting now. As we turn our minds and hearts toward Pentecost, we can invite the Holy Spirit to renew Pentecost in our own lives.

Sister Anna Marie McGuan, RSM, is director of Christian formation in the Diocese of Knoxville.

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Easter

The Resurrection and the Gospels: Apostolic Eyewitnesses

Sister Anna Marie McGuan

March 27, 2020 8:41 am March 27, 2020

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The readings during the Easter Season, especially during the octave of Easter, the eight days from Easter Sunday to Divine Mercy Sunday, go through several apparitions of the risen and…

The readings during the Easter Season, especially during the octave of Easter, the eight days from Easter Sunday to Divine Mercy Sunday, go through several apparitions of the risen and glorified Jesus to his apostles and disciples. There are several different stories, and not all of them appear in all the Gospels. This may lead one to question their veracity: Why didn’t the Gospel writers share the same stories? Why did some talk about Jesus’ Resurrection appearances in detail, like John, and some almost not at all, like Mark? Do such discrepancies mean that the Resurrection is a falsehood?

Quite the contrary, actually. The diversity of the Gospel accounts of the Resurrection attests more strongly to their authenticity. The reasoning goes like this: if the Gospel writers were going to make up the Resurrection of Jesus or if the Apostles taught a made-up doctrine to the first Christians, they would have been united in their story. It would have been something rehearsed, perhaps even memorized, among the Apostles and evangelists. Instead, each Gospel writer offers a unique perspective. As Craig Blomberg, author of The Historical Reliability of the New Testament, writes: “ … [T]he fact that the four writers each include enough unique material to their narratives, while overall clearly narrating the same event, suggests a greater degree of literary independence … decreasing the likelihood of collusion” (B&H Academic, 2016). In other words, the Gospel writers each had a way to tell the great story of Jesus. They also had audiences they were attempting to reach, so their Resurrection reports, like the rest of their Gospels, vary in some of the details, while agreeing in the essential points.

One of those essentials is that the new humanity of the risen Jesus was different than before. The Resurrection seemed so unbelievable that Jesus himself had to convince his Apostles time and again that it was really he who was in their midst. That is why he ate with them, even cooked for them, and invited St. Thomas the Apostle to touch His wounds. Thomas’ exclamation has echoed down the ages in the Church as the quintessential act of faith in the risen Jesus: “My Lord and my God!” (Jn 20:28).

In fact, the Apostles were absolutely certain that the Jesus who appeared to them was the same Jesus who had died on Good Friday. His humanity was changed, but he was the same person. Only God could do such a thing, could create such a new reality. That is the message that the Apostles proclaimed from the very beginning when they preached. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us, “Christ’s apostles knew that they were called by God as ‘ministers of a new covenant,’ ‘servants of God,’ ‘ambassadors for Christ,’ ‘servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God’” (No. 859). Their relentless witnessing to Jesus, which was inspired by the Holy Spirit and mandated by Jesus himself, got them into trouble time and again, but they did not stop. They and their followers were arrested by the Jewish authorities and sometimes killed. If they were not executed by the Jews, then they were killed by the Roman government. Both St. Peter and St. Paul, for example, were martyred in Rome. The only apostle who did not suffer martyrdom was St. John, the beloved disciple, although he did endure torments and exile. They went to their deaths proclaiming the reality of Jesus’s resurrection from the dead and salvation for all people through him. Before they died, the Apostles ensured that the life and person of Jesus would continue to be preached and that the sacraments would be celebrated. Recall that during the resurrection appearances, Jesus conferred authority on his Apostles. In Matthew, Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” (Mt 28:18).

In John, Jesus breathes on the disciples, imparting to them the Holy Spirit: “‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’” (Jn 20:21-23). As the Catechism states: “Thus the risen Christ, by giving the Holy Spirit to the apostles, entrusted to them his power of sanctifying: they became sacramental signs of Christ. By the power of the same Holy Spirit they entrusted this power to their successors” (No. 1087). The apostles made sure that their authority would not die with them. Since it came from Jesus himself, it was meant to be a part of Jesus’ Church forever.

The Holy Spirit pushed the Apostles out and into the world, to preach and teach people about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Forgiveness of sins was offered in Jesus’ name, and the Apostles had the authority to teach that and to offer that forgiveness to each and every person. They were impelled to share the Gospel, to freely give away what they had received. They passed on that apostolic mission to their successors and, in this way, empowered the Church of all times to make disciples of all nations.

Sister Anna Marie McGuan, RSM, is director of Christian formation in the Diocese of Knoxville.

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