Albrecht DÜRER, 1516
Posted on 05/03/2005 6:46:53 AM PDT by Salvation
Albrecht DÜRER, 1516
The Apostles Philip and James by Durer.
Thank you for those portraits. I had seen the one of St. James before.
Tuesday May 3, 2005 Sixth Week of Easter
Reading (1 Corinthians 15:1-8) Gospel (St. John 14:6-14)
Our Lord tells us in the Gospel today that no one comes to the Father except through Him. Now if we are going to go to our heavenly Father through Our Lord, then the question is how. How is this going to be accomplished? Saint Paul, in the first reading today, tells us that what is of first importance is that Jesus died for our sins, He was buried, and He rose from the dead. That is the means by which we go to our heavenly Father. If we are going to come to the Father only through the Lord, it is going to be only through His death and Resurrection. It is the only way.
We do not believe in a Jesus Christ who is not crucified and who is not risen. What good would it be? It would be like saying that we can go to the Father through one of us (because we have not been crucified and we are not resurrected either, as yet). So what would it mean? It would be worthless.
It is of first importance, Saint Paul says, that Jesus died for our sins. That is the first thing he wants people to understand. Recall that when he talked to the Corinthians he said, When I was among you, I decided to speak of nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That was the point of Saint Paul’s preaching. Anything else, he said, would have taken away the power of the Cross. And so for us as Christian people, we must keep our focus specifically on Jesus Christ crucified. There is no other way to go to our heavenly Father. It is only through the wounds of Christ, only through the blood that He poured out for us on the Cross, only through the open wound in his heart, that we are able to enter into glory. There is no salvation apart from the Crucifixion, so it is not possible to focus anywhere else if we want to be able to enter into eternal life.
And so we need to keep our focus solely on the Lord – but on Jesus Christ crucified. Certainly we can focus on the Resurrection, but there is no Resurrection without the Crucifixion. Regardless of what mystery it is that you might want to focus on, it matters not as long as you do not deny in any way, shape, or form the Crucifixion. If you want to look at the Risen Christ Who had appeared to all of these people, if you want to focus on the Glorified Christ as He is seated right now at the right hand of His Father, it matters not as long as we are focused on the One Who was pierced for our offenses, Who was wounded for our sins. He maintains those wounds even now. Even in His glorified state, He still has the holes in His hands and in His side and in His feet. He still has His heart wide open to us because it was pierced with a lance. It is in that way that we have access to the Father – and only in that way.
That is the point of first importance, Saint Paul tells us. That is the Gospel message: that Jesus Christ died for our sins. Anything other than that is not the Gospel. Therefore, anything other than that is not going to be true prayer because it removes Jesus from the Cross; or shall we put it the other way, it removes the Cross from the Christ, and you cannot. There is no Christ without the Cross. And not only is there no Christ without the Cross, but there is no salvation for any of us without the Cross. It is not only a matter of looking at the Cross of Jesus in our prayer, but it is a matter of uniting ourselves with Jesus on His Cross so that we are able to share with Him in the work of salvation. As we pray and we look at that crucified Lord, it is not just to look at a distance, it is to be one with Him, to be united with Him, to be crucified with Him, so that we can be glorified with Him, as Saint Paul would say. That is what our lives are to be about. That is the point of first importance. Anything else and we fall into the problem that the Jews and the Greeks had: the Cross becomes a stumbling block or it becomes foolishness. But for we who believe, the Cross is the power of God and it is the wisdom of God, and the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ for our sins is the message of the Gospel which is of first importance.
* This text was transcribed from the audio recording with minimal editing.
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Tuesday, May 03, 2005 Meditation John 14:6-14 The one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these. (John 14:12) Today we celebrate two of the original apostles: Philip and James. History has not left us with many details about what happened to these two men after Pentecost. We don’t even know whether this James (also known as “James the Lesser”) is the same one who oversaw the church in Jerusalem, the one who authored the New Testament letter with that name, or another James altogether. However, we do know that both Philip and James were with Jesus throughout his ministry, that they were there at his death and resurrection, and that they were in the upper room at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down upon them. We also believe that both Philip and James were martyred because of their preaching and witness. We may not know the details, but we can trust that, just as Jesus promised, these two did end their days doing even “greater works” than he did as they went out into the world with the message of the gospel. We too have received the Holy Spirit and been called to announce the gospel. We all know that we should try hard to evangelize and to bless those around us. We Catholics tend to be very good at knowing what is expected of us—even if we don’t always do it! But today, maybe we should dare to dream instead of think about where we may be falling short. If Jesus really did promise that we could do greater works than he did, what might those “works” look like? What wonders might Jesus be prepared to work through us if we step out in faith and trust? Saints in the past have done some pretty amazing things in Jesus’ name because of their faith. Can we expect the same to happen for us? Of course we can! Nowhere in Scripture does it say that healings are no longer possible, or that the food in a soup kitchen cannot be miraculously multiplied, or that an unbelieving friend cannot have an overwhelming experience of God’s love. Let’s try to take Jesus at his word and see what happens. “Lord, I place my faith in your promises, even the ones that seem outlandish to me. Help my unbelief, Jesus! By your Spirit, make me like Philip and James.” 1 Corinthians 15:1-8; Psalm 19:2-5 |
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In it in Uffizi gallery in Florence. Tempera on canvas, 45 x 38 and 46 x 37 cm.
World Gallery of Art, http://www.wga.hu is a good web resource.
FEAST OF THE DAY
Little is known about the life of St. Philip other than what is
mentioned in the Gospel of John. Philip was one of the first apostles
called by Jesus and called the town of Bethsaida home. After
receiving his call to follow the Lord, Philip went to Nathaniel to
proclaim the Good News that the Messiah had come. St. Philip is
mentioned throughout the life of Jesus and the early Church. It was
Philip who answered Jesus when the Apostles were questioned on
how to feed the multitudes, it was Philip who, at the Last Supper,
asked the Lord to show the Father, and it was Philip who converted
the Ethiopian eunuch.
As the Church began to spread throughout the world, Philip traveled
to Phyrigia. While he was preaching in the city of Hierapolis, Philip
was arrested and sentenced to death by crucifixion. After following
Christ even to death, Philip's body was taken away by the faithful
and buried. His relics were translated to Rome and placed in the
church of Sts. Peter and Paul in the year 590.
James the Lesser, also known as "the Just" for his piety, was the
second of the two James called by the Lord to be an Apostle. There
is very little known about the life of St. James, and he receives light
treatment in the gospels. The Church ascribes an Epistle of the New
Testament to his authorship. It is supposed that James was a close
relative of Jesus and thought to perhaps even be a cousin. St. Paul
describes James as a "pillar" of the Church.
After the Resurrection of the Lord, James was made leader of the
Christians in Jerusalem and faced constant threats upon his life.
Jews took various actions against the early Christians to stop the
movement and it was one of these actions that killed St. James. After
being summoned to appear before the Sanhedrin James was
condemned and forced to renounce the name of Jesus from a high
tower. When at the top of the tower, instead of denying Jesus' name,
James proclaimed it loudly. He was thrown to the ground and then
stoned to death for this profession of Faith.
St. Philip and St. James together are the patrons of Uruguay and St.
James is the patron of the dying.
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