.. and have it to the full..

I have come

so that they may have life

and have it to the full.

John 10:10

John 10:10 is a key text for the proponents of the prosperity Gospel which advocates that material wealth and physical well-being are a result of God's will and that with faith, positive speech, and gifts to religious causes God will effectively enlarge one's accumulated material wealth.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Paul, in his letter to the saints at Philippi (4:19) tells us that, 'My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus'. 'His riches' means from his abundance, God's infinite capacity to give. In other words, God will provide for our needs - not our wants or desires. He gives of his will, not because we ask of him.

Faith, as the writer of James indicates must be accompanied by good works. It is not inconsistent with Paul's affirmation that we are justified by faith alone. Faith leads to good works, if it doesn't then I cannot be fully transformed in Christ. James is pragmatic, he can see the very issue that we have in our Christian communities today. He sees the ambiguity in those who pronounce faith but do little other than talk. He is reining them in.

The reward for a life lived well, where faith, worship, good works come together, is entry into the Kingdom - for the here and now, and for all eternity. The evidence that there are earthly rewards is thin. The Kingdom Jesus offers is not of this world (John  18:36), of worldly goods, titles or honours but is of another realm. In as much as my circumstances in life may be better than others cannot be attributed to God rewarding me. God's providence doesn't negate the actions we take to improve our lot in life, we do have self-efficacy, our natural talents and the advantage of genetics, family history and opportunity. It does mean that we ought be thankful for what we have.

John 10:10 is a culminating point in the story of the Good Shepherd. Jesus is the gatekeeper who calls his sheep by name, they know his voice and answer to him alone. Some would come to steal his sheep, but his sheep will not listen to them. Jesus is gate and no one may enter but through him. All who enter will be saved. Indeed, he came that we may have life and have it to the full. We have one life here on earth and we are invited to live it fully. Our sole wealth, in the end, is love. We must give freely and accept it with humility.

Peter Douglas

True faith means loving others to the extreme, pope tells Egypt's Catholics

by Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service

The only kind of fanaticism that is acceptable to God is being fanatical about loving and helping others, Pope Francis said on his final day in Egypt.

"True faith," he told Catholics, "makes us more charitable, more merciful, more honest and more humane. It moves our hearts to love everyone without counting the cost."

The pope celebrated an open-air Mass April 29 in Cairo's Air Defense Stadium, built by the anti-aircraft branch of the Egyptian armed forces. The pope concelebrated with Coptic Catholic Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sedrak of Alexandria and leaders of the other Catholic rites in Egypt.

After spending the first day of his visit in meetings with Muslim leaders, government officials, diplomats and members of the Coptic Orthodox Church, the pope dedicated the second day of his trip to Egypt's minority Catholic community.  

Arriving at the stadium in a blue Fiat, the pope was slowly driven around the stadium's red running track in a small and low golf cart, far from the thousands seated in the stands high above. Yellow balloons and a long chain of blue balloons tied together like a rosary were released into the sky as a military helicopter circled high above the venue. 

Surrounded by security, the pope managed to personally greet only one small group of children who were dressed as pharaohs and other traditional figures. They hugged the pope affectionately as security tightly closed in on the group. 

In his homily, the pope used the day's Gospel reading of the two disciples' journey to Emmaus to highlight how easy it is to feel disappointment, despair and defeat when one is trapped by a false notion of who God really is.

The disciples could not believe that the one who could raise others from the dead and heal the sick could "end up on hanging on the cross of shame," the pope said. Believing Jesus was dead, all their dreams died with him on the cross and were buried in the tomb.

"How often do we paralyze ourselves by refusing to transcend our own ideabout God, a god created in the image and likeness of man," he said. "How often do we despair by refusing to believe that God's omnipotence is not one of power and authority, but rather of love, forgiveness and life."

Like the disciples, he said, Christians will never recognize the true face of God until they let their mistaken ideas die on the cross, rise up from the tomb of their limited understanding and shatter their hardened hearts like the "breaking of the bread" in the Eucharist. 

"We cannot encounter God without first crucifying our narrow notions of a god who reflects only our own understanding of omnipotence and power," the pope said.

True faith "makes us see the other not as an enemy to be overcome, but a brother or sister to be loved, served and helped," he said, and it leads to dialogue and respect and the courage to defend the rights and dignity of everyone, not just oneself.

 "God is pleased only by a faith that is proclaimed by our lives, for the only fanaticism believers can have is that of charity. Any other fanaticism does not come from God and is not pleasing to him," he said.