9 3, May, 2020 catholicweekly.com.au Fra Angelico’s St Peter Preaching in the Presence of St Mark , painted around 1433. IMAGE:WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/PUBLIC DOMAIN ... like those first Catholics so hungry for the Blessed Sacrament, we can in the meantime hear and share the basic Christian procla- mation, with our children, friends, colleagues.” Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP Jesus the Nazarene was “com- mended to us by signs and wonders fromGod”. He was put into the hands of sinful men “by the deliberate inten- tion and foreknowledge of God”. And He was “raised to new life” by the same God. For Peter, Jesus is the fulfill- ment of the promises to Israel and the hopes of the human heart: we were waiting for a Saviour-King; we were craving life after death; what we half hoped for was confirmed by Christ’s Resurrection. Chris- tians are, above all, witness- es to Christ’s life, death, ris- ing and ascension, and to the saving power of these events: as Peter says, “all of us are wit- nesses to these things”. All of us Christians are wit- nesses to these things. Chris- tianity is not principally an NGO, though it does various good works not-for-profit. Nor is it primarily an in- stitution, though it has its administrators, laws, strate- gies, buildings and the rest. Nor, chiefly, is it a cult, either in the sense of an exclusive group of the true believers or in the sense of those who wor- ship in a particular way. No, we worship in the ways we do, with the people we do, because we are given them by Christ. We share in the sancti- fying, teaching and shepherd- ing work of the Church. We serve humanity in all these ways because we are witness- es to Christ and because these things are an essential part of giving that witness. So we have something of the who, to whom and what of Christian preaching. Today Peter also demonstrates the how. Patristic authors divid- ed history into three epochs: the age of the Father, from the creation, fall and covenants, to the Law, prophets and wis- dom of Israel; the age of the Son, spanning the Incarna- tion, Passion, Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord; and, finally, the age of the Spirit, which begins at Pente- cost, handed on in the apos- tolic tradition, testified to by signs and wonders in every age, and enacted in works of Christian charity. 25 years ago I was given a cross. I was a young academ- ic at the Australian Catholic University when a Mercy sis- ter and Scripture scholar, Sr Barbara Stead RSM, was ap- pointed as my mentor. She taught me many things but ultimately I accompanied her as she died of cancer. Af- ter her death, the sisters gave me her very solid, German, bronze cross, which I hung on my habit Rosary and sounds like a bell as I walk along. It is, I sometimes joke, an early warning system that the arch- bishop is coming! Sculpted on the face of that cross is not the customary image of Christ crucified, but rather one of today’s Emmaus story (Lk 24:13-35). Christ, having broken open the Word for the disciples on the road, stops with them long enough to sup with them. But what He does is reprise the Last Sup- per. At this first Eucharist after the Resurrection the two “rec- ognised Him at the Breaking of the Bread”. At our Baptism and Confir- mation certainly, and perhaps at other times in our lives also, we receive spiritual gifts so we can give witness to Christ in this age of the Spirit. But the place that we are regularly ‘re- charged’ with that power is, Contact us for more information on how you can watch EWTN EWTN is a non-profit organization supported entirely by donations Email: asiapaci f i
[email protected] Mobile: 0451 679 561 Fax: (02) 9475 5080 Write: PO Box 2276 Tuggeranong ACT 2901 EWTN Highlights Preview www.ewtn.com TELEVISION • RADIO • NEWS • ONLINE • PUBLISHING Global Catholic Network Download the FREE EWTN App on Google Play or App Store and start watching from your mobile devices or to any of these digital media players on your HD TV . www.facebook.com/EWTNasia/ WATCH ONLINE EWTN ASIA-PACIFIC FEED www.ewtn.com/asia-paci fi c www.ewtn.com/catholicism/adora a on May 10, 10:30 AM | Marriage Catechumenate Encore: May 12 - 8:00 PM & May 16 - 12:00 AM May 17, 10:30 AM | Dealing with Brokenness Encore: May 19 - 8:00 PM & May 23 - 12:00 AM Francine & Byron Pirola Fr. Joseph MaryWolfe Find the career you deserve Call Katie (02) 9390 5402 catholicjobsonline.com. au SEE OUR LATEST JOBS of course, at our Emmaus, the Mass, when the Word of God and the Bread of Life are both broken open for us by Christ. We are, dare I say, like my iPhone, in need of such regu- lar recharging if our commu- nications and other Apps are to work! During this time when churches are closed and pub- lic gatherings prohibited, I knowmany are missing ter- ribly the reception of the Eu- charist. Next week we’ll celebrate 200 years since the arrival of the first official priests in the colony, securing at last the regular celebration of Mass in this land: I will have more to say about that then. But like those first Catho- lics so hungry for the Bless- ed Sacrament, we can in the meantime hear and share the basic Christian proclamation, with our children, friends, col- leagues. We can give witness “to all these things” in this Great South Land of the Holy Spirit by worthy lives. And we can prepare to recognise and receive Him again “in the breaking of the Bread”. This is the edited text of the homily by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP for the 3rd Sunday of Easter (Year A), Live streamed from St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, on Sunday, 25 April 2020. FROM THE ARCHBISHOP