“Go, Therefore!”
Fr. John Riccardo
June 2, 2021
“Ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?” (Deut. 4:32-34)
“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, to the end of the age.’” (Mt. 28:16-20)
These readings were placed upon the altar of the Word last weekend as we celebrated the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. They continue to nourish us this week, even as we eagerly anticipate the solemnity of Corpus Christi this Sunday.
It’s so tempting and easy to reduce these magnificent celebrations to either deep but often impenetrable theological discussion or, perhaps especially in the case of the Eucharist, private devotion. Too, there’s sure to be not a little preaching this coming weekend on the very important matter of whether or not there are any conditions for receiving the Eucharist other than one’s conscience.
But what seems to be at the heart of last week’s readings, and even of the celebration this coming weekend, is neither mere theological speculation nor private devotion or pointed, even if controversial, teachings. The heart, it would seem to us in ACTS XXIX, is who God is and our mission as His disciples in this world. That world, we must remember again and again, lest we fall into some sort of gnosticism, was created by Him out of love, rescued by the death and resurrection of His Son, and will one day be filled with His glory “as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14).
The passage in Deuteronomy recalls the exodus, when the Lord rescued the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt by mighty deeds, by signs and wonders, and by going to war against the ruling powers that were subjecting them. This, of course, we are to understand as a type of the definitive rescue from slavery that took place by the eternal Son of God when He became man and defeated the dark powers of Sin and Death and reconciled us to the Father through His passion, death, and resurrection.
The alarming thing is that these startling truths can become humdrum to us! God—God!—the Creator of a universe that is 46 billion light years across, has revealed Himself as One who loves His creation, even when the creature made in His own image and likeness for friendship with Him rebelled against Him. And because of His love He did something about the plight of this creature, us, and went to war for us against powers we cannot compete against. And He has triumphed.
However, when read in conjunction with the Gospel from Matthew last week, and in fact with the entirety of Scripture, we are to understand that this rescue mission of the Son is now something that we are called to carry out in our own daily lives. In other words, yes, it’s for us, but it’s not just for us. We are called, commissioned, and given nothing less than Jesus’ own authority to continue His work of rescue in this world until He gloriously returns. We do this by listening to the guidance of the Spirit who dwells in us as in a temple, by loving God and our neighbor, and by seeking to bring our own sphere of control and influence ever more into conformity with the Father’s plan for humanity. We can do this as a football coach, an attorney, a physician, a teacher, a farmer, or whatever other profession or state of life we might occupy.
There seems to be an increasing temptation in more than a few quarters in the Church to either withdraw into some sort of ghetto or to stand apart from others and condemn them. But our task is to engage with the world by bringing the light and the power of the gospel into every quarter. Doing so will be risky, to be sure; it might cost us greatly. But it will also surely serve as a means to give hope and rescue many who are now riddled with fear, anxiety, and despair.
The Eucharist, to which we will turn our attention in a concentrated way this Sunday, is given to us to conform us to the Lord who rescued us, to give us a deeper share in His heart and mind, and to give us strength for the journey that is life here on this side of the Lord’s return. Surely, “Do this in Memory of Me,” while clearly being the institution of the Eucharist, is to be understood as more than, “Say Mass often,” as crucial for our lives as that is. Isn’t it also to be understood as, “Continue My work of rescuing the world?”
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI once wrote, “Our communities, when they celebrate the Eucharist, must become ever more conscious that the sacrifice of Christ is for all, and that the Eucharist thus compels all who believe in him to become ‘bread that is broken’ for others, and to work for the building of a more just and fraternal world. Keeping in mind the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, we need to realize that Christ continues today to exhort his disciples to become personally engaged: ‘You yourselves, give them something to eat’ (Mt. 14:16). Each of us is truly called, together with Jesus, to be bread broken for the life of the world” (Sacramentum Caritatis, 88).
May it be so! May we grow more deeply in our awareness of who it is who has rescued us, what He has rescued us from. And may we let Him use us, unworthy and fragile as we are, to be a means by which others can be rescued.