RESURRECTION STORIES

RESURRECTION STORIES

1.     A rough and ready guide to the Resurrection stories in the four Gospels is to imagine that each of the Evangelists is engaged in answering the question: Where is Jesus now? Marks’ answer is: He is coming soon, be ready and stay awake. Mathew’s is: H is Emmanuel, God with us when we meet in his name; he continues to proclaim the coming Kingdom, to teach us and to heal us, and to be our ransom. Luke’s answer to the question is: He is at God’s right hand in heaven, pouring forth the Spirit so that we can preach repentance and forgiveness of sin in his name. To John the answer is: He is in us and we are in him, through the Spirit he has breathed upon us.                                                           The Easter stories are expressions of the Easter faith; that is the way they should be read.

2.     Modern theology has been notoriously coy about dubbing the Resurrection an event in “history”.

3.     Modern scholarship starts from the fact that the stories are contained in written documents, and therefore subjects them to literary analysis. This requires different methods, depending on the purpose which the analysis is intended to serve. If the aim is to establish the historical value of a tradition, the various tools of historical criticism must be brought into action. These include source criticism to establish the relationship between the Gospel accounts, form criticism to identify their social function in the community in the underlying oral stage of transmission, and redaction criticism to establish the tendencies of the different Evangelists in the way they have presented them. It is also necessary to compare them with such historical evidence as may be preserved outside the Gospels. From this point of view the letters of Paul have special importance, partly because he wrote them before any of the four Gospels reached their present form, but chiefly because he has preserved a formal statement concerning the Resurrection which he received from the Jerusalem Church, probably from Peter himself (1 Cor 15, 3 – 7). Other scholarly approaches, such as structural analysis, are concerned with the literary character of the Resurrection stories as they stand in the text, regardless of their Synoptic relationships and their historical values.                                    A connection between appearances and apostolic commissioning is a feature of the Gospel stories. The fact that the foundation appearance to Peter himself (1 Cor 15, 4; Luke 24, 34) is nowhere described suggests that the development of the traditions was not primarily concerned with proof of the Resurrection but with its meaning in experience. This explains the meal setting in the walk to Emmaus (Luke 24, 30 – 35) and assembly of the Apostles (Luke 24, 36 – 43), possibly also John 20, 19 – 29, as it appears to reflect the Sunday Eucharist. See also John 21, 9 – 14. For it was pre-eminently in the Eucharistic assembly that the presence of the Risen Jesus was experienced in the life of the Church.

Resurrection does not mean the sloughing off the human and the resumption of the divine. The divine is rather channeled through and manifested in the human both in the earthly life of Jesus and in his risen glorified humanity. In Chapter XI of her Biography, St. Teresa of Avila maintains that we cannot attain God except through the humanity of Christ. This is one of the main differences between Christian incarnational belief and Hindu avatar belief. Vishnu appears on earth in many temporary forms, animal and human, but the human form of Krishna, for example, is only a screen. With the death of Krishna, Vishnu resumes his full unmediated deity.                                                                                               In Christianity God is known concretely and personally in so far as he renders himself knowable through the Incarnation, Resurrection, and the Holy Spirit’s inspiration. But this is not just a question of our knowledge of God. The humanity of Christ is the vehicle of our union and communion with God through all eternity. We have been incorporated into Christ’s risen body and are raised into the life of heaven. In the communion of saints in heaven, as on earth, it is through Christ’s glorified body that we continue to be embraced and sustained in the love of God. In heaven we shall know God more and more profoundly, but we shall also see his human face, since God is man forever. All our life long we have been trying to know Jesus Christ, Son of God, Son of Mary, trying to know him in prayer, reading the Gospel, listening to teaching. It would be supreme joy to see what he looks like, see him as he looks in himself.                                                                                “Truly, this man was a Son of God” (Mark 15, 39). Notice the irony here. A centurion, a symbol of Roman power, confesses that this crucified Jesus – who couldn’t be more powerless on the cross – is the Son of God. Mark stresses, then, that true power is expressed in embracing human suffering, as Jesus did on the cross, and that discipleship means identifying with Jesus in a ministry of expressing God’s power and love by embracing human suffering.

                                                                          

ANGER

ANGER: MOVING ON

Anger is a feeling that everybody experiences at some time or another. The expression of anger, which is an emotional state of mind, varies from one person to the next. Some people cry when they’re angry, others may feel irritated, and some people feel great rage and fury. Anger can lead to one of two results. Anger can either lead to a constructive result or anger can lead to a destructive result. How you manage your anger will lead to those results. We really want to learn to control our anger so that we don’t hurt other people and even ourselves. We all know that life isn’t always pure joy. Many times during our lives we’re going to experience moments that will make us angry we just have to make sure not to lose control. Anger is not the solution when life does not go as you have planned. It will not solve your problems and will possibly destroy your life and hinder you from reaching your personal goals. Do not waste time thinking about the past and blaming yourself and others, it is much better to move onto something much more productive. Expressing your emotions is healthy. Even expressing the emotion of anger, but being destructive with your anger will not be a very good solution. Just because expressing anger can be healthy doesn’t mean that you’re open to act with disregard while showing your anger. We do not want to let our emotions get the best of us. We need to take control and focus on tasks that are acceptable, not violent, and productive to our lives. If we can learn to forgive ourselves then better things will come in the future. Being angry with others or ourselves is not going to do any good for anybody. If we show that we are unhappy with ones self it will show to others and they will get a negative impression about you that can only dig the hole deeper. Moving on and learning from our mistakes will help us to advance our lives. Do not just brush off your mistakes though that is not what we are trying to teach you, you need to make an effort to not make the same mistake twice. It is best if you try to avoid activities or situations that tend to easily make you angry. Also I’m sure you have activities that make you happy and tend to calm your anger. Make sure to use those activities when you sense your anger and want to behave in a destructive manner. Anger can be good or bad it is indifferent. What comes from the emotion is what we make of it. Stay in control of your emotions at all times to not let yourself become out of line. Use anger to your advantage once you know how to handle it well. I think it is true to say that, given our thoroughly secular environment, we today have a special difficulty. God, who knows our innermost heart, most intimate thoughts and emotions, knows well how very, very difficult it is for us to live consistently by faith. Temperaments differ widely but even the most sanguine and even-tempered among us suffer negative moods from time to time, and when they are on us our instinct is to “have” them, to “sit in them”, to curl up inside ourselves and, at least for a time, regard ourselves as the most important person in the world. Nothing and no one matters, only unhappy me! Such is our natural instinct. Feeling bad-tempered, frustrated, unhappy, we make others aware of it. We let off our irritation and our disgruntlement, spread gloom in the office, dampen the atmosphere of a parish meeting, a family gathering. It may not occur to us that this is unchristian behaviour, deeply uncharitable and, at bottom, a denial of Jesus. Identifying with these negative feelings is, here and now, a refusal to believe in his love. It is to ignore his passionate longing that we should love one another and so bear witness to the world that God is love. Rather, we are adding to the world’s unhappiness and despair. It is not a small fault to let off our disgruntlements, complaints and personal misery indiscriminately on other people who, for all we know, are already burdened. “Bear one another’s burdens”, do not add to them. We are Christians and such behaviour is a scandal. “See how these Christians love one another.”Where is our witness? Loyal love refuses to be miserable and selfpitying, nursing resentments and little hurts. These things must be seen as temptations to sin and firmly rejected. We feel depressed, sad. We have a choice: stay self-absorbed in the dark, unhappy mood, or, while fully recognising the mood, we can choose not to identify with it, refuse to be self-absorbed. If we pray and live our Christian lives faithfully, feeding on all that God has done for us and offers to us in Jesus, then we can choose to “deny self ”, deny ourselves the “luxury” of self-pity and affirm our blessedness. Each of us has one life to live in this world and this life has eternal consequences, for myself and for all other people. If only we could realise how precious, how loaded with consequences is each hour of this life! How many treasures we let fall, how much gold we tread underfoot, opportunities for growing in love of God, of “storing up treasure in Heaven”, disregarded, thrown away! It is of the deepest concern to our loving Creator that we, so gently favoured, be thoroughly Christian. Gloominess, bad temper and moroseness are totally out of place among us. Though we may not be able to throw off a feeling of sadness, we must assume a quiet, unobtrusive cheerfulness. A feeling of grief, sadness, any painful emotion that cannot be dispelled, is an affliction that, borne unselfishly, can be deeply purifying. Loyal love can smile through tears and the sobbing of a broken heart will be free of bitterness. St Thérèse of Lisieux, intent on garnering every detail of her life as a sacrificial offering “for souls”, declared that she was happy in times of unhappiness as these, too, could be offered to Our Lord. Even when we are quite alone and there is no question of our distressing others, Our Lord would ask us to refuse to dwell on, in any way to identify with, our negative moods. As already remarked, this particular, unspectacular denying of self is of untold value in God’s eyes, enabling him to give himself to us in growing measure. Our inner afflictions become a real sharing in our Saviour’s passion. If only every one of his Christian people paid full attention to this interior asceticism that is at hand day by day, what benefits would accrue for the Church and the world so in need of the presence of holiness! As Christina Rossetti wrote: My faith burns low, my love burns low; Only my heart’s desire cries out in me By the deep thunder of its want and woe, Cries unto Thee. Oh, that thunder echoes loud in the compassionate heart of our almighty, all-loving God and will bring its own answer. We cannot know in this life how that hidden, brave asceticism opens our sad world for God’s love to flow in. ■Ruth Burrows is a member of the Carmelite community at Quidenham, Norfolk, and the author of many books on prayer and spirituality.

JUST THREE WORDS

THESE SETS OF THREE LITTLE WORDS CAN MAKE A LOT OF DIFFERENCE IN ONE'S LIFE

 

There are many things that we can do to perk up and strengthen our interpersonal relationships. Yet the most effective involves the saying of just three words. When spoken or conveyed, these statements have the power to forge new friendships, deepen old ones and restore relationships that have cooled. The following three-word phrases can enrich every relationship.

 

I'll Be There: If you have ever had to call a friend in the middle of the night, to take a sick child to hospital, or when your car has broken down some miles from home, you will know how good it feels to hear the phrase "I'll be there." Being there for another person is the greatest gift we can give. When we are truly present for other people, important things happen to them and us. We are renewed in love and friendship. We are restored emotionally and spiritually. Being there is at the very core of civility.

 

I Miss You: Perhaps more marriages could be saved and strengthened if couples simply and sincerely said to each other "I miss you." This powerful affirmation tells partners they are wanted, needed, desired and loved. Consider how ecstatic you would feel, if you received an unexpected phone call from your spouse in the middle of your workday, just to say "I miss you".

 

I Respect You: Respect is another way of showing love. Respect conveys the feeling that another person is a true equal. If you talk to your children as if they were adults you will strengthen the bonds and become close friends. This applies to all inter-personal relationships.

 

Maybe You're Right: This phrase is highly effective in diffusing an argument and restoring frayed emotions. The flip side to "Maybe you're right" is the humility of admitting, "Maybe I'm wrong". Let's face it. When you have a heated argument with someone, all you do is cement the other person's point of view. They, or you, will not change their/your stance and you run the risk of seriously damaging the relationship between you. Saying "Maybe you're right" can open the door to further explore the subject, in which you may then have the opportunity to get your view across in a more rational manner.

 

Please Forgive Me: Many broken relationships could be restored and healed if people would admit their mistakes and ask for forgiveness. All of us are vulnerable to faults, foibles and failures. A man should never be ashamed to own up that he has been in the wrong, which is saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.

 

I Thank You: Gratitude is an exquisite form of courtesy. People who enjoy the companionship of good, close friends are those who don't take daily courtesies for granted. They are quick to thank their friends for their many expressions of kindness. On the other hand, people whose circle of friends is severely constricted often do not have the attitude of gratitude.

 

Count On Me: A friend is one who walks in, when others walk out. Loyalty is an essential ingredient for true friendship; it is the emotional glue that bonds people. Those that are rich in their relationships tend to be steady and true friends. When troubles come, a good friend is there indicating you can "count on me."

 

Let Me Help: The best of friends see a need and try to fill it. When they spot a hurt they do what they can to heal it. Without being asked, they pitch in and help.

 

I Understand You: People become closer and enjoy each other more if they feel the other person accepts and understands them. Letting your spouse know in so many little ways that you understand her/him, is one of the most powerful tools for healing your relationship. This applies to any relationship.

 

I Love You: Perhaps the most important three words that you can say. Telling someone that you truly love them satisfies a person's deepest emotional needs; the need to belong, to feel appreciated and to be wanted. Your family, your friends and you, all need to hear those three little words. "I love you."

 

HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY !!!

 

 

MARY'S PREGNANCY

Mary and Pregnancy That teenager, named Mary of Nazareth, suddenly became a mother-to-be. Like the average woman, she submitted to the miracle of pregnancy, to something that took its own course, irrespective of the mother, because, as in every pregnancy, it was monitored by a higher power. In Mary’s case, it was the Holy Spirit. Mary made a quickie trip to her cousin Elizabeth in Ain Karim about 130 kilometres away. So the young woman was pregnant about 10 days on arrival. A certain poet, thinking of the donkey that carried Mary, wrote, “Mary weighed little for she was concentrating on the future within her.” Her amazement and sheer wonder at being chosen must have made her forget the difficulties of the journey. We can hope for a similar lightsomeness of spirit and body as we wait with Mary to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Advent is a good time to reflect on the pregnancy of Mary, as she waited in joyful expectation for the birth of her son. Reflecting on Mary’s pregnancy can teach us patience and the attitude of joyful anticipation that all of us should have as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus and as we wait for his second coming in glory at the end of time. This attitude of joyful expectation should accompany the pregnancy of every woman as she awaits the birth of her pre-born child. Each child is made in the image and likeness of God, no matter what their handicaps or circumstances of conception. Every child deserves a chance to be born and to continue to grow and develop outside the womb. Jesus identifies with the pre-born since he himself was a pre-born child. Jesus went through all the stages of development that we went through. He was a tiny zygote, an embryo, fetus, infant, child, adolescent and an adult. At no time did he become more human. He simply went through different stages of human development as we all did. When Jesus was developing in the womb he was not a potential person but a real person. Mary also can identify with every pregnant mother in a difficult pregnancy. She did not fully understand God’s plan, yet she trusted. True devotion to Mary means imitating her virtues – her faith, her trust and her willingness to make sacrifices for the sake of her son and others as she stayed with Elizabeth for three months to help Elizabeth deliver John.  When Mary visited Elizabeth, John leapt for joy within Elizabeth’s womb as he recognized Christ’s presence in Mary. Thus we see John who was a fetus recognizing Christ who was a tiny embryo. This should lead us to an even greater respect for the lives of pre-born children and inspire us to work for their protection. Jesus says, "Whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters that you do to me" (Mt. 25, 40). St. Joseph cared for Mary during her pregnancy. He is an example for all men of the stewardship they are called to exercise. Men are called to respect the wonder of procreation and to care for pregnant women emotionally, materially and spiritually. During their pregnancies women become vulnerable and should be able to rely on the support of their husbands and other men in their life who should respect and assist women as the mystery of life unfolds within them. It is fitting that there are major feasts of Our Lady during the celebration of Advent – the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12). Mary appeared as a pregnant woman to Blessed Juan Diego in Mexico in 1531. She identified herself to be "the perpetual and perfect Virgin Mary, holy mother of the true God through whom everything lives, the Creator and Master of heaven and earth". She also proclaimed herself as Juan Diego’s "merciful mother, the mother of all of you who live united in this land, and of all humankind, of all those who love me, of those who cry out to me, of those who seek me, of those who have confidence in me." Mary showed love to a people who had just escaped from the diabolical Aztec empire in which human sacrifices were offered to false gods. Pope John Paul II proclaimed Our Lady of Guadalupe patroness of the Americas. She is also recognized as the Patroness of the Unborn. The moment Mary said ‘yes’ to God, Jesus Christ was conceived in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, so Mary is truly the Mother of our Life.  Throughout history Mary has come to the aid of her people. As Mary put an end to the culture of death in Mexico we pray today that she will intercede for all nations, to intercede for us to put an end to the tragedies of abortion, euthanasia and other attacks on human life, and that we might lead other nations to respect the dignity and value of each and every human life from conception to death.

HOW JESUS SAVES US

JESUS SAVES

NOT AN INDIVIDUAL ETHIC  

In the 2^nd. Century, the version of Christianity called Gnosticism focused on the salvation of the individual soul from the body. The soul needed saving since it had fallen into the body by mistake or mischief. According to the Gnostics, only spirit is good; matter is bad. So the spirit, as a “spark” of divinity, had to be awakened to realize its true being, and set free from the shackles of the body in order to return to the pure light, which is Christ. The Gnostics had no time for the Incarnation, since the divine goodness could not be associated with evil matter. So they had little good to say about ordinary human life or about social institutions. Their point of salvation was the “return” of the human soul to its “source.” Even today, certain forms of Christian spirituality concern themselves only with the salvation of the individual, with no care for the wider world at all. Happily, this individualistic mentality is being phased out with better understanding of the interdependence of person and society.

NOT A SOCIAL ETHIC

                A certain type of liberation theology today locates salvation in society, not in the individual. Sinful and alienating social structures keep human beings from realizing their full potential. For instance, patriarchalism, racism, neo-colonialism, and globalisation – these are the systemic patterns of oppression and marginalisation that engender and perpetuate the moral diseases of envy, competition and violence. Salvation will be accomplished when the social order reflects “the rule of God” preached by Jesus and exemplified by his style of life.

                While this idea of social salvation is admirable, it fails to present a clear picture of how God saves, except through the efforts of humans who work for such a social agenda. Nor is it clear how Jesus is Saviour, except as his proclamation of the good news in Nazareth (Luke 4, 16-32) and his Beatitudes (Luke 6, 20-24) sketch the agenda, while his embrace of the outcast suggested how it might be fulfilled. Thus Jesus is seen primarily (and popularly) as the reformer of the social order, and the good news amounts to the vision of a society freed from distinctions and discrimination.

OVERSIMPLYFYING SALVATION               

Escaping our bodies or changing our social structures will not address the real issue of salvation. The real issue of salvation is the disease of the human heart and the distortion of human freedom that we call sin; salvation consists in the restoration of the person to participation of the divine life in Jesus, thereby bringing about the healing of societal structures. Salvation derives, not merely from a philosophical analysis of the human condition or an ideological critique of society, but essentially from the intervention of God in the personal and social life of man and the latter’s experiential surrender to this divine intervention in Jesus Christ.  

RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

The complex stories of the Bible reveal that salvation was rooted in the history of a long relationship between human beings and the God who created, called, chastised and finally graced them fully in the person of Jesus Christ. Salvation also involves the healing of this relationship that only God can accomplish. God alone saves. The implication of this is that both God and humans are persons, that is, they have the freedom to direct their knowing and love towards others. Only persons can hear and accept, freely give themselves to and accept others, for love means to possess and to be possessed.

The fact that God alone can save implies that human freedom is so enslaved by sin that it cannot direct itself properly. Sin is not a matter of the spirit being polluted by the body, nor is it a matter of people being enslaved by an unjust social order. Sin is a disease of freedom itself that is so profound, so complex, so entrenched, that only God – who has created us as free creatures – has the power, knowledge and love to redirect that freedom rightly. Salvation is not only about getting right knowledge of the self, nor merely about creating the right political order: it is about being in right relationship with God. And only God can make that relationship right.

Good for us, Jesus is God !

JESUS – SAVIOUR GOD

                If God above all is Saviour, and salvation comes from him, then the designation of Jesus in the New Testament as Saviour is of tremendous significance. It means that God saves us through Jesus’ agency. Jesus is God’s prophet, apostle (“sent”), Word, and, most frequently and intimately, God’s Son. Jesus is not only the sort of human that God desired and was pleased with, but also that he is the very human face of God. This is a confession that orthodoxy has defended against all diminutions, for if God has not entered into the fabric of human freedom in order to heal it, then it indeed remains unhealed. Good for us, God has got involved with us in Jesus !

                Precisely through the way in which he was human, Jesus was Saviour. His human freedom expressed the right relationship with God and thus all other relationships as well in an ever-widening pattern of healing and reconciliation reaching even to the structures of human society.

JESUS SAVES  - 2

SELF-EMPTYING

            If Jesus had earned any title to divinity, we should consider an outpouring so total that nothing was left of the merely human. In setting the human to naught, all that remained was the burning flame of the divine. It was the moment when the divinity “absorbed” all that was left of the humanity in pure obedience to preserve it and unite it forever to his Person in the transcendent order. That was the moment when Jesus had the non-dual experience, when he could say, “I and the Father are one,” and “Whoever sees me sees the Father.”  His humanity had become so completely taken up into the divinity, that the Father was no longer an object, related as subject to object, but as subject in subject.

Here Jesus’ humanity came to full flowering; the quality of being human was completely perfected, i.e. that specific quality consisting of the capacity of total self-surrender to the Supreme Being. So it is with us when in union with Jesus we surrender ourselves to the Father. Our individual humanity with all its accumulated excellence is not exposed to futility, but rather consummated in God. This is what the Resurrection of Christ points to.  “Whoever follows Christ the perfect man becomes himself more a man.” “The fact that it is the same God who is at once saviour and creator, Lord of human history and of the history of salvation, does not mean that the autonomy of the creature, of man in particular, is suppressed; on the contrary, in the divine order of things, all this redounds to the restoration and consolidation of this autonomy” (Vatican Council II, Gaudium et Spes, art. 41).

            God may seem to be most absent when we are in pain, but with the denial of every access to pleasure or self-centredness, in the dying which life ultimately imposes on us, there often stirs in the deepest reaches of the soul another kind of life. It will come to flower in those who die gracefully by accepting their mortality and even welcoming it as a stage of growth. When this has been achieved, one has already risen from the dead, even as Jesus did at the moment of his death on the cross. We often notice in the lives of the saints a strange paradox: the deeper their appreciation of the things of God, the greater the darkness they have to endure. As they enter into realms of that union so far beyond the imagination of ordinary believers, the saints can find themselves at times in regions of anguish, which also pass our comprehension. Physically Our Lord’s sufferings were not the most extreme in the history of human torture. But if one takes account of his unique inner spirit, “his unique hypostatic (two natures in one Person) suffering embraces every temporal and eternal suffering possible to a created human being” (Hans Urs von Balthasar). At the same time we might bear in mind another aspect of the paradox of mysticism: even the very bitterness can have its sweetness, and even the very darkness can dazzle.

ASSUMING SINFUL CONDITION

            Now we can begin to understand the sinlessness of Jesus, who was, according to the verse from the Letter to the Hebrews, “in all things like us, sin alone excepted.” This is what distinguishes him from all other human beings, for sin is not part of human nature but a violation of human nature. All sins are “crimes against humanity.” Human nature is, so to speak, the raw material from which a human life has to be built. Human nature is not in itself sinful or sinless, for sin can arise only when the person, the leading edge of the self, chooses to adopt one desire or possibility of action over another. Sin does, indeed, mark our humanity without marring it. On the positive side, sinlessness  does not abolish humanity but brings it to the level God intended for it in the new Adam.

            Good for us that the eternal Son of God assumed our nature and, with it, our sinful condition with its arrogance and self-seeking. And when died the Son, so did our pride and arrogance, for everyone knows how the process of dying signals the exhaustion of arrogance quite perceptibly, and, by that token, the advent of the kingdom of heaven. The perceptible dying process is, theologically, the advent of the purifying love of God.That kingdom is now, in every death that we die to sin.

- concluded