Glory days (not Springsteen's)

By REV. JOHN YANAS- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

FROM A READING FOR MAY 28, SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
'If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you...' -- 1 Pt 4:14

For a certain age group, the phrase "glory days" evokes memories of the platinum rock album and single of that title by Bruce Springsteen. The single may take them back to their youth and what they remember as "glory days."

So often, our culture views glory as a past experience, rather than a future hope and promise. That's the difference between having a Christian worldview and a secular worldview: The Christian worldview invites us to see events within the larger context of salvation history.

As Catholics, our Christian world is even more defined by the great eucharistic banquet. Within salvation history -- the entire plan of salvation from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to the prophets, and the culmination of this plan through Jesus' life, death, resurrection and ascension -- we as the faithful are caught up in this experience of God's unfolding glory.

In simple terms: People like to plan. We are part of a larger plan that continues to unfold.

Through our participation in the Eucharist, we experience in our lives today the future promise of God's glory: "Jesus raised His eyes to heaven and said, 'Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your Son, so that your Son may glorify you, just as you gave Him authority over all people, and that your Son may give eternal life'" (Jn 17:1-3).

Cross is contradiction
Jesus says that the hour has come for Him to give glory to the Father. Jesus gives glory to the Father by bearing the burden of the cross. The cross becomes a contradiction -- a sign of suffering and death, as well as a sign of hope and new life.

When we look at the cross, we see beyond it to the empty tomb, and to the ascension. Jesus presides over the eucharistic banquet in heaven. We experience a foretaste of the future glory and promise of eternal life each time we participate in the eucharistic banquet here on Earth.

The eucharistic celebration is an experience of the outpouring of God's glory. One might say every day is a "glory day," because, in the Eucharist, we remember what Christ has done for us in the past, is doing in the present and will do in the future.

Jesus provides us the ability to experience God's future glory. We hear this in His prayer in the Gospel: "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours, and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them" (Jn 17:9-10).

Bearing our crosses
The Apostles shared in the experience of being glorified by Jesus through their own sharing in the cross. They had to bear the sufferings of the cross if they wanted to share in its glory. The word "suffer" comes from the Latin "to bear." Each of us bears the cross in our own ways in life.

Our Catholic Christian worldview helps us understand we are never alone in bearing crosses. Along with our Savior's help, we are helped by that "cloud of witnesses" who join in the eucharistic banquet in heaven. Who are they? As we hear in the first reading (Acts 1:12-14), they are "Peter, John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas and James. All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some women, and Mary the mother of Jesus" (Acts 1:14).

These witnesses of God's glory invite us to experience the glory of Jesus Christ by sharing in the cross. "Rejoice to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that, when His glory is revealed, you may also rejoice exultantly" (1 Pt 4:13-16).

These are the true glory days -- not a past event, but a current reality.[[In-content Ad]]