His Excellency,
The Most Reverend Edward K. Braxton, Ph.D., S.T.D.
Diocese of Belleville
May 19, 2024, 11:00 AM Mass
St. Luke Parish, Belleville
“Sir, We Want to See Jesus”
(This is the text as originally written. During the actual delivery, some passages were omitted and other comments were added spontaneously. Nota bene: This text has not been thoroughly proofread. Therefore, there may be errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation.)
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:
Some Greeks came to Phillip and said, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”
St. Patrick, who the Church traditionally honors on March 17th, was a missionary bishop who brought the Catholic faith to Ireland. According to his Confessio, Patrick was kidnapped by Irish pirates as a youth and spent six years enslaved, tending sheep in the Irish wilderness. Eventually, he escaped and studied to be a priest. Later, the Church appointed Patrick Bishop of Ireland and sent him back as a missionary, where he labored 40 years spreading the Catholic faith. Gradually, Ireland became one of the most Catholic countries in the world, sending priests and nuns far and wide sharing the Good News of the Gospel with people who might otherwise have never heard of Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, today, due to the influence of secular culture, the Catholic Church is in great decline in Ireland. Many no longer want to see Jesus. Many of the country’s seminaries have closed and there are fewer than 50 priests in Ireland under the age of 40.
You can be sure that, in his day, Patrick would have been keenly interested in today’s gospel story about “Some Greeks” who wanted to see Jesus. His missionary spirit would have taken note that though they had come for the Passover, these Greeks were not Jewish, but gentiles. Since they spoke only Greek, they approached Phillip, one of two Greek-speaking apostles. Phillip goes to Andrew, the other Greek-speaking apostle, and tells him, “Some Greeks want to see Jesus.” They tell Jesus, “Some Greeks” want to see you. But Jesus, who did not speak Greek, completely ignored them. The Greeks are never brought to meet Jesus and are never mentioned again. Instead, Jesus talks about His coming Crucifixion, and how the Son of Man is to be glorified. At first, St. Patrick might think Jesus has missed an opportunity to increase the number of disciples. Then, with his knowledge of Scripture, he would realize that the Gospel of John stresses that Jesus came to proclaim God’s love first and foremost to the Jewish community, not to gentiles.
If St. Patrick were alive today, he would see the complex tensions between the Jewish people in the State of Israel, the Palestinians, mainly Muslims, in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and Israel’s long-standing allies, including the United States in the face of the tragic war between Israel and Hamas, triggered by Hamas’s cruel October 7th attack on Israel, leaving 1,200 dead and hundreds of Jewish hostages - a war that has created a humanitarian disaster, more than 31,000 Palestinians dead, children and women starving, more than a million and a half people homeless, and the ceasefire that was hoped for by the beginning of Ramadan becoming more and more difficult to achieve. Patrick’s missionary heart would surely be breaking for all of those who are suffering in this international calamity.
St. Patrick, who was often threatened and imprisoned, still boldly preached to the teachings of Jesus Christ to powerful Irish rulers. In this first week of Ramadan, Patrick might pray that, like “Some Greeks” in the Gospel, some Muslims, some Jews, and some American politicians would want to see Jesus, whose universal message of love, justice, and peace should be meaningful for people of all religious beliefs.
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The Christian penitential season of Lent, which is drawing to a close, overlaps with the Muslim penitential season of Ramadan, which began at sunset last Sunday, and continues to April 9th. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, observed by 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide. Like Lent, it is a time of fasting, prayer, reflection, and service. Commemorating Muhammad's first revelation, this annual observance is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, lasting from one sighting of the crescent moon to the next. Fasting from dawn to sunset is obligatory for all adult Muslims. Other than a small, pre-dawn meal, they eat nothing until they break the fast with a nightly feast. During Ramadan, Muslims devote themselves to prayer and study of the Quran. They believe that fasting turns their hearts away from worldly activities and cleanses their souls. There are similarities between Catholic Lent and Muslim Ramadan. Our Easter celebration of the Resurrection on March 31st is just a week before the end of Ramadan Tuesday, April 9th. In the ruins of Gaza, where half the 2.3 million population is squeezed into the southern city of Rafah, many living under plastic tents are facing starvation. They say, "We have made no preparations to welcome Ramadan because we have no food.” It is impossible for them to have a true Ramadan without a cessation of warfare.
Perhaps moved by the Christian season of Lent and his Irish Catholic appreciation of St. Patrick, the President of the United States held out the hope until the last minute that he would be able to announce a ceasefire in the deadly war and the release of additional hostages at the State of the Union Address before the start of Ramadan. Tragically, this did not happen. There are difficult issues about which Israel and Hamas cannot agree. So now in the Gaza Strip, this most holy religious season began with continued bombings even in Rafah, where Palestinians were told they could go for safety. The United States is now in the extremely dangerous position of providing financial and military assistance to Israel and proclaiming its right to defend itself while, at the same time, providing more and more essential food and medical supplies to Palestinians. The American government is now saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “hurting Israel more than helping Israel,” and Mr. Netanyahu dismisses the US position as “wrong,” escalating the public dispute between the two countries. The President recently stated bluntly, “What I want is a ceasefire now!”
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:
Looking at the war-plagued land where Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed the message of God’s abiding Love, St. Patrick would have no interest in the wearing of the green, corned beef and cabbage, three-leaf clovers, and “When Irish Eyes are Smiling.” His passionate commitment to Jesus Christ made him willing to risk life and limb to help people in Ireland see Jesus. He would be spiritually distressed to see Lent, Easter, and Ramadan come and go, and still a world at war. I am convinced Patrick would want Catholics gathered for the Eucharist on this Fifth Sunday of Lent to meditate after receiving Holy Communion on Jesus’s words, “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” Patrick, who confronted warring clans in Ireland, would wonder how it can be that the Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up and died on the cross, and still those He died to save are slaughtering each other.
As we approach Palm Sunday and Holy Week we must pray for our troubled world, we must pray for ourselves that we may be truly prepared to celebrate the Easter mysteries. We must pray for Israel and Hamas, for the United States and other governments. We must pray for the leader of Russia making war against the people of Ukraine that all may in their heart of hearts cry out, “We want to see Jesus!” “We want to see Jesus!”
We pray in these words from the Lorica, or Breast-Plate prayer of St. Patrick:
“Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of everyone who
thinks of me,
Christ on the lips of everyone who
speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that looks upon me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Christ in every heart that hates me.
Christ in every heart that loves me!”
Praised be Jesus Christ. Both now and forever. Amen!