Daily Retreat 06/03/06

2006 Jun 3 Sat: Charles Lwanga & co., mts M

Acts 28: 16-20. 30-31/ Ps 10(11): 4. 5 and 7/ Jn 21: 20-25

From today’s readings: "Paul received all who came to him, and with complete assurance and without hindrance he proclaimed the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.... the LORD is just, He loves just deeds; the upright shall see His face.... There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written."

The Incomplete Gospel

St. John’s Gospel ends with a humble assertion of limitation, noting that "there are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written." Clearly, the written gospels, the "good news" about Jesus Christ, accurately give the definitive and comprehensive account of the Lord’s life, but at the same time, they are necessarily only anecdotal and summary, and do not pretend to be unabridged accounts of everything that Jesus said and did.

St. Mark commenced his Gospel with a similar disclaimer: "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." In other words, the whole written Gospel of Mark is just the beginning of the entire good news about Jesus Christ, because He is alive and at work in the world today, in a different manner, but no less so than He was 2000 years ago.

As we’ve seen, the Gospel of St. John is particularly featured during the Easter Season, which comes to an end tomorrow with the celebration of Pentecost. The final verses of the Fourth Gospel read today are thus an invitation to re-read that entire Gospel of St. John, but also to review with thanksgiving in our hearts the good news about all that Christ has done in our own lives!