Pastor’s Reflection

“The Logic of Gospel”

It was once asked of the Apostle John after he got old…” Why do you constantly talk about love and write it so often in your Gospel? He replied… BECAUSE THERE ISN’T ANYTHING ELSE!”

Easter faith spread rapidly into the gentile world as Paul and Barnabas preached and established communities across Asia Minor. I think it was because the early Christian community got it.  They experienced a “communio,” an in tense Eucharistic bond and affection for each other.  It was something special.  People were hungry for what  happened after these people met the Christ.  Their holy communion w ith each other revealed the risen one, as well as their service worship and teaching. What seemed like defeat when Jesus was crucified, was proclaimed as victory over sin and death.  A new life in Christ was now being offered in baptism,  a life free of fear and full of purpose. Converts became members of the body of Christ, animated by his Spirit and empowered to live as he had lived. Wherever the apostles went, the good news of God’s unconditional mercy gave people an exhilarating sense of liberation from past sins and called them to share in the joy of an incredible group of saints who were redeeming history itself.

Even when the young church encountered persecution, as described in the Book of Revelation, they already knew the end of the story. It gave them great courage.  God had come to earth in Jesus, revealing history as a love story. The risen Christ was the divine bridegroom claiming his bride, the spotless church, representing all of humanity.  A new heaven and a new earth were being revealed in the nuptials of God and creation. Things would be different in that world.

“See how they love another,” was the church’s greatest appeal to outsiders. Even when they were martyred, in the famous words of Tertullian, “their blood became the seed of conversion.” As the church grew, its saints and scholars contributed greatly to human moral and ethical thought, law and social development.  But its real contribution and the foundation of the church has always been the example of love.  As Pope Francis has said of evangelization, new members don’t come by being proselytized, but by attraction. The Gospel models wholeness and integrity but is always centered in love.  When love becomes visible between people in community, it reveals the underlying glory of God’s presence. Others see this love and say, “I want some of that.” That is what glory looks like.

“No one can be condemned for ever,” the Pope says, in his new exhortation, “The Joy of Love,” “because that is not the logic of the Gospel!”  Our most popular intercultural curse is a lie.  Damnation”Is trumped by love.

Such love is only possible because of the resurrection. Only if we are secure in the promise of eternity will we risk giving ourselves away for love. This is perfect union with Jesus, who did precisely that so we might have eternal life. Congrats and much love to our first communicants Confirmed by our dean this weekend.

A gentle week.
Fr. Michael Weldon, OFM

Many thanks to Celebration’s Pat Marrin for the shape of the above reflection.