FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

26 APRIL 2015

            As we continue to reflect on the transforming power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and apply that Mystery to our lives, our Scripture readings offer us two interesting images today.  Saint Peter gives the first in his speech to the members of the Sanhedrin.  Peter is clearly changed by the power of the resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit.  When the Sanhedrin had interrogated Jesus on Holy Thursday, Peter was so filled with fear that he denied knowing him.  This time, he stands without fear before that same hostile group.  He defends his healing of a crippled man, asking why anyone would condemn him for performing an act of kindness.

            Then he explains how this healing occurred.  He insists that the miracle was not a result of his own power.  Rather, he boldly proclaims the truth that Jesus the Nazorean is the promised Christ, whom they had condemned to death.  He quotes Psalm 118, the psalm we pray today as the Responsorial Psalm, and uses the image of Jesus being the stone rejected by the builders.  That stone, Peter argues, has been raised from the dead by the Father and has become the cornerstone of a new structure being built of living stones.

            That image takes on new meaning for our parish.  Last weekend, Bishop Rhoades led us in the groundbreaking of our new church.  He blessed the cornerstone, the most important part of that structure.  You can check it out after Mass – the stone weighing two hundred pounds in the back of church.  That cornerstone reminds us of the centrality of Jesus Christ in our lives and in our parish.  Our new church may be very beautiful and more spacious.  As we watch the new church being built and put up with the inconveniences caused by construction, we connect that emerging structure to the living members of our parish.  Just as that cornerstone will be the most significant stone in that structure, the risen Christ remains the most important part of ours, inviting us to be transformed through the power of the resurrection, as Peter was transformed.

            The second image comes from the Gospel, and our children receiving their First Holy Communion can tell you all about it.  Jesus says that he is the Good Shepherd.  He addresses this image to the religious leaders who are more concerned about their own welfare than the welfare of those entrusted to their care.  As the man born blind comes to see the truth about him, they close their eyes to the truth.  Jesus uses this image to help us understand that he knows us each of us by name.  He recognizes our voice.  He invites us to recognize him speaking to us in the Word.  He invites us to renew our faith in his life giving death and resurrection.  He has laid down his life for us on the cross to rescue us from the wolves of death and sinfulness.  He has laid down his life so that we can share in the transforming power of the resurrection.

            That is why this First Communion Mass is so important.  These children have been preparing anxiously to be fed by their Good Shepherd, who knows each of them by name, and who feeds them as the Lamb of God under the form of bread and wine.  Boys and girls, we pledge our support to you as you take this important step in faith.  In a moment, you will walk back to the Baptismal Font to renew your Baptismal Promises.  It was at the font that you were incorporated into the risen Christ through the waters of Baptism.  You were clothed with a white garment to indicate that you had put on Christ.  As you renew those promises, we promise to support you and your families as you continue to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd speaking to you every Sunday.  We promise to walk with you as you approach this Sacrament, trusting its power to conform you slowly and gradually into the Body of Christ, of which you are an important member.

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

19 APRIL 2015

          Throughout his Gospel, Saint Luke tells us that Jesus often shared meals with people.  His biggest meal involved feeding thousands of people with five loaves and two fish.  He would eat with sinners and tax collectors, offering them God's fellowship and scandalizing the pious Pharisees.  At the Last Supper, he took bread, blessed, broke, and gave it to those who would soon abandon him, making sure that he would be present in a real way to his disciples through the ages in the form of bread and wine.  On the day of the resurrection, he walked with two disciples running away from Jerusalem.  Even though they did not recognize him, he opened their hearts and minds to the Scriptures that the Christ would suffer and die for them.  At Emmaus, he joined them for a meal, taking bread, blessing, breaking, and giving it to them.  They recognized him in the breaking of bread.

            Today, those same two disciples are back in Jerusalem, back in the same place where their leader had been so cruelly executed, back to the fear from which they had been fleeing.  At a meal, the risen Lord appears.  Again, they do not recognize him, because he has been transformed through the Resurrection.  Again, he gives them his peace, his mercy, his forgiveness for their abandoning him and not believing in him.  He invites them to touch his hands and feet.  He asks for a piece of fish to eat, showing that he is real, that he is not a ghost or a strong reminder of his former presence among them.  In the resurrection, he has redeemed everything that is so wrong with the world, including the betrayal by Judas, the judgment of Pontius Pilate, the hatred of the Sanhedrin, and their own abandoning of him.

            We celebrate Easter for fifty days, because it takes that long to sort out the implications of this greatest of our Christian Mysteries.  In gathering at this Eucharistic Meal, we hear him speak to us in his Word, inviting us to open our hearts and minds to the ways that our sufferings and pain have redemptive significance because of his suffering and pain.  He invites us to face death with the same courage and hope that he did.  Then, we recognize his true presence when we take bread, bless the Father for the sacrifice of Jesus made present as we remember, break, and give.  Then, he sends us to witness to the power of the resurrection in our world.

            When Saint Peter boldly proclaims the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he does not mince any words.  He tells it like it is.  YOU did not recognize the author of life, he tells the people in the Temple.  YOU denied him in front of Pontius Pilate, released a murderer instead, and put him to death.  Peter does not say these things out of arrogant condemnation, but out of a realization of his own sins and failures.  Like him, they did not know what they were doing, and God's mercy is theirs.  He tells them to change their hearts and recognize the truth.

            The risen Lord invites us to have this same attitude.  In the light of the resurrection, he invites us to look at our behavior.  If we really believe in the resurrection, then we need to keep the commandments to love God and neighbor.  In the spirit of true repentance, we can address honestly what is wrong and sinful in our own lives and in our world.  But, we do so with the spirit of mercy and compassion, the mercy and compassion that comes from the transforming power of the resurrection.  We do not gather here to recall the spirit of a great man who taught beautiful lessons and did wonderful things.  We gather here to celebrate his real presence in the resurrection, and learn how to be converted, to turn more completely to the One who has the power to save us.

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER

12 APRIL 2015

          The disciples had many reasons for locking themselves in the upper room.  Their leader had been executed like a common criminal an extremely cruel and humiliating way.  The Roman way of crossing those who crossed them causes fear.  They fear that this will happen to them.  They fear the scorn heaped on them by the skeptical residents of Jerusalem:  "you are in a long line of people duped by fake messiahs."  But there is an even greater fear.  They know that the tomb is empty and have heard of the claims of Mary Magdalene that Jesus had been raised from the dead.  If her report is true, Jesus would certainly be angry with them.  Despite their repeated claims of being faithful, they had proven to be cowards and unfaithful.

            But the risen Christ breaks through those locked doors.  Instead of castigating them and giving them a sermon on being more faithful, he gives them peace.  The Hebrew word, shalom, implies forgiveness and the presence of the messianic age promised by the prophets.  Now that Jesus has been transformed by the resurrection, he shows them what they would recognize, what caused them to run away:  his wounded hands and side.  In case they are do not understand, he says again, "peace be with you."  Then he gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit and tells them to give this gift of mercy, or peace, to anyone coming to believe in the presence of the risen Lord.

            During Holy Week, Father Terry and I spent hours in the Confessional extending this mercy, this incredible peace, to those who were very conscious of their failings and sins.  Over and over again, we, who need God's mercy ourselves, became instruments of that same mercy to others.  Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the Lord does not condemn or yell at us.  He forgives us, and gives us the grace to begin again.

            And then there is Thomas.  We have no idea why he is absent.  I suspect that he is locked in his guilt.  He had bragged that he would go to the tomb of Lazarus in Bethany with Jesus to die with him.  He had told Jesus at the Last Supper that he did not know the way to the Father.  Locked in his guilt and self hatred, he is absent.  Locked In his absence, he cannot believe that the Lord had been raised from the dead.  He demands proof.  He wants to see the wounds that have caused his guilt.  And sure enough, the Lord presents those wounds to him on the following Sunday.  As a result, Thomas moves from the depths of doubt to the highest expression of faith in Jesus:  "my Lord and my God."

            We often look negatively at Thomas and call him doubting Thomas.  However, he can help us understand our faith.  Like Thomas, we are often absent.  Through our own sins and human weakness, we distance ourselves from the Lord and sometimes stay away from the believing community.  At other times, God appears to us as absent from our lives.  Like Thomas, we respond to this absence by wanting tangible proofs of the Lord's risen presence.  We look for a personal and real relationship with Jesus Christ, which we eventually find when we touch his real presence in the Sacramental life of the Church and hear him speak in his Word.  Then, we too can cry out:  "my Lord and my God."  We begin to understand  that doubt is not the opposite of faith, but rather the path through which we pass to a deeper faith.

            Jesus says to Thomas that we are blessed who have not seen and have believed.  We have not experienced the risen presence of the Lord in the same way as Thomas or any of the other disciples did.  But in our growth in faith from the absence of God to God's intense presence in our lives, we have come to believe.  May this Easter Season sustain us in our doubts, carry us through the ways that God may appear absent, and bring us to a deeper faith in the risen presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Through that faith, we truly have life in his name.

EASTER SUNDAY

5 APRIL 2015

            What happened to Jesus on Good Friday was very public.  He was betrayed in a garden by one of his friends and dragged before the Sanhedrin and accused of “making himself equal to God.”  The religious leaders took him to the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, and incited the large crowd to demand his crucifixion.  He suffered humiliation, shame, and horrible pain in front of witnesses on the hill of execution outside the city walls of Jerusalem.  Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin, arranged for his burial with the women who had followed him from Galilee.  There were many witnesses to what happened on Good Friday

            However, there are no witnesses to what happened to Jesus today.  On this day, his followers have to connect what they see with what they believe.  Mary Magdalene sees that the tomb is empty and believes that someone has stolen his body.  Peter sees that the burial cloths are wrapped up neatly inside the tomb and believes that the tomb is empty.  The beloved disciple sees that the tomb is empty, and connects the dots.  Having seen Lazarus emerge from the tomb bound in his burial cloths and destined to die again, the beloved disciple believes that Jesus has been freed from the bonds of death.  With the gift of faith, he sees and believes in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

            During these last two days, we too have seen the passion and cross of Jesus Christ in the major Liturgies of the Sacred Paschal Triduum.  Those rituals have invited us to connect the sufferings and cross of Jesus Christ with those sufferings and crosses which we carry in our lives.  Today, we hear the risen Lord speaking to us in the Word and see his real presence in the Eucharist.  On Easter Sunday, he invites us to put ourselves in the shoes of the beloved disciple and believe in the power of the resurrection.  He invites us to believe that suffering, the cross, and death itself will not have the final words.  He invites us to believe that we too can be transformed by the power of the resurrection.

            In his resurrection, Jesus Christ was so transformed that even his closest disciples did not recognize him.  As they accepted the gift of faith, his resurrection transformed them also.  Look what happened to Peter.  During the earthly ministry of Jesus, Peter showed signs of weakness.  He hesitated to throw his net on the other side of the boat on when Jesus called him.  He tried to talk Jesus out of his role as a suffering servant.  He fell asleep in the Garden at Jesus’ darkest hour and denied knowing him three times.  After believing in the power of the resurrection, Peter is transformed.  He guides the infant Church with a firm hand.  He breaks Jewish ritual laws and baptizes a pagan, Cornelius, along with his family.  He boldly proclaims the truth of Psalm 118 that Jesus is the stone rejected by the builders and has become the cornerstone of a living temple.

              Last night at the Easter Vigil, five members of our community renounced the power of Satan in their lives, professed faith in God, entered the watery tomb of Baptism, and emerged one with Jesus Christ with all their sins forgiven.  Now, we are invited to renew the promises of our Baptism.  In renewing our promises, we trust in the power of the resurrection to transform us.  We trust that Easter Sunday will open our eyes to see what the beloved disciple believed:  Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead.  Because of his resurrection, we can throw out all the old yeast of corruption and wickedness.  We can carry on our lives of faith with new vigor and strength.  Death has no power over Jesus Christ.  And death no longer has power over us!

EASTER VIGIL

4 APRIL 2015

          When people go to graves, they usually go to remember the deceased, to pray for them, and to recall encounters that have been significant.  The women go to the grave of Jesus today, because they did not have enough time to prepare properly the body of Jesus before the Sabbath.  As they make their way, it is impossible to know their feelings.  However, as faithful Jews, they knew the stories we heard as part of our Vigil tonight.  They believed that God had created the world and intended it to be good.  They understood the faith of Abraham as he responded to the God who began salvation history through him.  They were grateful for God leading their ancestors through the Red Sea into slavery.  They knew the words of the prophets who had assured their parents that they would be forgiven, no matter how many times they had wandered away from the Covenant.  More than likely, they were hoping that God would somehow get them through this terrible loss.

            But they were never prepared for what they were about to experience.  They never expected to see an empty tomb, with the stone rolled away.  They never expected to be told that Jesus had been raised from the dead.  It will take them a while to put together the narrative.  Only with time and personal encounters with the risen Christ would they begin to understand that everything we heard tonight would be brought to completion in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

            On Palm Sunday, a young man clothed in a white garment ran away naked in fear, leaving that white garment in the hands of those who were arresting Jesus.  He was running away from his baptismal promises.  Today, a young man clothed wears a white garment and announces the good news of Christ's resurrection.  He ties the experience of Christ's resurrection with the power of Baptism.

            In just a few moments, these five Elect will go into the watery grave of the baptismal font with Christ, and emerge with their sins forgiven, completely one with the risen Christ.  They will be clothed with a white garment, proclaiming the resurrection to us. 

            Our Easter Candle proclaims the truth of what is happening to them.  Even though we lost the Garden of Eden, we now have access to Paradise through the saving Mysteries of the Lord's death and resurrection.  When we renew our baptismal promises, we also renew our openness to allow the resurrection of Jesus Christ to continue to transform us.

GOOD FRIDAY

3 APRIL 2015

          During the proclamation of the Passion, we kept asking a rhetorical question in song:  “Where you there?  Were you there when they turned away from him?  Were you there when they led him away?  Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”  At one basic level, the answer is “no, none of us were there over two thousand years ago in Jerusalem.”  Had we been there, we would have understood how horrible the cross was.  It was a symbol of Roman cruelty.  To everyone under Roman dominion, the cross came to say, “If you cross us, we will cross you.”  The Romans ruled through intimidation and threat.  They did this to maintain the upper hand.  They imposed their intimidation and threat before someone did it to them.  They saw no other way of living.  The powers of sin and death shadowed them everywhere.

            The cross as a symbol goes beyond Roman domination and control.  It is also a powerful symbol of all that is wrong with humanity.  We fallen humans tend to cross those who cross us.  When someone gets in our way or when we feel slighted, our instincts tell us to strike back, to harm, and to humiliate those with whom we are angry.  Our instincts tell us to grab the upper hand, before someone else beats us to it.  Even when we have honest disagreements, we cross those who disagree with us and create greater anger, pain, and division.

            Jesus Christ has taken that cross and turned it into a very hopeful and life saving symbol.  Instead of using his power as the Son of God to gain the upper hand with those who betrayed, judged, and condemned him to death, he uses the cross to do battle with all that is wrong with humanity.  The Passion according to Saint John helps us to understand how he turned the cross into a symbol of self sacrificing love. 

            Instead of harboring resentment and anger at a friend who betrays him, Jesus accepts the hurtful kiss and accepts it as the beginning of his role as God’s Suffering Servant.  He faces the hostility of the Sanhedrin to clarify his true identity as God’s Son.  He endures the denial of Peter so he can forgive him later.  He turns his trial before the Roman governor into a discussion of what truth means.  As the priests are preparing the sacrificial lambs for the Passover, Jesus becomes the Lamb of God whose sacrifice enables us to pass from death to life.  Instead of focusing on his own agony on the cross, Jesus establishes a relationship between his mother and the beloved disciple, making sure that we, his beloved disciples, understand that his mother is also our mother.  After his death, water and blood flow from his side, so that his total gift of self will pass through the life of the Church in the Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist.

            Artists through the centuries have portrayed the final scene of the crucifixion with the Mother of God holding the dead body of her Son in her arms.  We are most familiar with Michelangelo's Pieta in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.  In the fifteenth century, the Spanish painter, Fernando Gallego, painted his own version of the Pieta.  If you have gone to Confession in the past few weeks, you more than likely received a copy of this painting as a penance.  In the image, Mary holds the body of her Son under the cross.  In the background is the city of Jerusalem.  Gallego did not research historical records to understand what Jerusalem looked like at the time of Christ.  Instead, he painted the outline of his own city.  In an artistic way, he is declaring that he was there when they crucified his Lord.  That saving event, which happened only one time in history, is present in his life, in his time, and in his place.

It is in this sense that we are there, when they crucified our Lord.  What happened on Good Friday took place only once in history.  But, the power of that sacrifice continues today, in our lives, in our time, and in our place.  We come forward to venerate the cross today as a sign of its power to save us.  In briefly touching it, or kissing it, or bowing before it, we acknowledge our faith that the cross of Christ has become a powerful symbol of Christ's self sacrificing love, a love that has conquered sin, hatred, revenge and death.  By venerating the cross, we reaffirm our efforts to respond to hurt with the same sacrificial, merciful, and courageous love.  By venerating the cross, we renew our intentions to embrace those crosses in our lives over which we have no control.  It is the cross of Christ which saves us.  It is the cross that allows us to refer to this Friday as "Good."