SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER

28 APRIL 2019

          Beginning today, we will hear from the Book of Revelation every Sunday during the Easter Season.  Saint John tells us that he has been exiled by the current powers of the world to the penal island of Patmos.  John’s “crime” is that he has proclaimed that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead.  In contrast to the pagan priests who burn incense to nonexistent gods and to the emperor who has no power to save anyone, the risen Christ is both priest and king.  In his vision, the risen Christ tells him not to be afraid.  When the forces of this world collide with the Resurrection, the One who holds the keys to death and the netherworld will prevail.

            On the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples of Jesus are also very afraid.  For three years, they had been followers of Jesus of Nazareth, accompanying him on his travels, hearing his teachings, and seeing his miracles.  Now he has been executed by the powers of the world.  With him dead, they have no one to lead them or give them direction.  Even though Mary Magdalene had told them that she had encountered him raised from the dead, they could not believe.  In the darkness of that evening (which is the eighth day of the week), Jesus breaks through their locked doors, as God had broken through the darkness and chaos on the first day of creation.  He shows them the evidence of the work he has done to make a new creation in the stains of his hands and the absolute love he has poured out from his side.  Instead of chiding them for running away at his darkest hour, he gives them the gift of peace, not just once, but twice.  Then, as the mighty wind had blown over the chaos on the first day of creation, he breathes on them and gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit on this first day of recreation.  With the gift of the Holy Spirit, they become apostles, witnesses of the resurrection sent to proclaim it boldly.  That is exactly what they are doing in that first reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

            On this final day of the Octave of Easter, we are grateful to Thomas.  He helps us to be honest about our fears of living the Paschal Mystery.  Like him, we are very conscious of the reality of the wounds on the Body of Christ.  Like him, we know the pains of self-sacrificing love in the Lord’s passion.  You parents who bring your children to First Holy Communion understand that well.  You know the wounds of sacrificing your own well-being for the sake of your children.  We know the wounds of Christ when we are betrayed by close friends.  We know the wounds of Christ when we make sincere efforts to forgive those who have hurt us.  We know the wounds of Christ when we continue making the sacrifice of permanent commitments.

            Even though we do not experience the risen Christ in the same way that Thomas does, we are blessed when we connect our wounds and the wounds of the Church with the wounded hands and feet and side of Jesus Christ.  If we can renew our faith in the resurrection, we can be assured that those wounds can be healed by the resurrection.  When we open ourselves to Christ’s gift of peace, we can have the same confidence of John, exiled on the penal island of Patmos.  No matter what the powers of the world might throw against us, we have that peace which the world cannot give, that peace that connects us with the love of Jesus Christ.

            Boys and girls, when your parents carried you to the waters of Baptism, they promised that they would teach you how to resist the powers of Satan and to believe in God.  Now you walk on your own two feet and renew those promises yourself.  We are happy for you that you will be fed for the first time with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.  We promise to support you and your parents.  As you continue to share in the Eucharist, we will help you in the lifelong process of growing in faith from being followers of Jesus Christ to being apostles:  witnesses of the resurrection not afraid to proclaim its power, as Peter and the others did after Pentecost.

EASTER SUNDAY     

21 APRIL 2019

          There is a lot of running around in today’s Gospel.  When Mary of Magdala finds the tomb of Jesus empty, she runs to Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved.  Together they run to the tomb.  The other disciple arrives first.  Unlike Peter, who bears the weight of guilt after denying Jesus three times, he had remained at the foot of the cross.

            In all their running around, each of them comes to a different conclusion.  Mary thinks that someone has stolen the body.  Simon Peter is puzzled, because the burial cloths are neatly laid aside.  He probably remembers Jesus calling Lazarus from the tomb and telling the onlookers to unwrap him.  The other disciple sees and believes.  Without Peter’s guilt, he is quicker to remember the Lord’s speaking of his passion, death, and resurrection.  He realizes that the burial cloths represent a completely new reality. 

            On that first Easter Sunday, all three will come to believe that Jesus had been raised from the dead.  When she returns to the tomb, situated in a garden, Mary Magdalene thinks that Jesus is the gardener.  When he calls her by her familiar name, she recognizes him as the risen Christ.  Later that evening, he will break through the locked doors, show the disciples the wounds of his crucifixion, and give them the gift of peace.  Simon Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved would come to understand the deeper significance of the burial cloths left in the garden tomb.  He had reversed the curse brought upon the human race by the sin of Adam and Eve.  Having been kicked out of the garden, they covered their shame at losing the intended intimacy with God.  Having conquered the power of sin and death, Jesus is covered with glory.

            Most of us have done our share of running around on this Easter Sunday.  You parents have probably been running around to corral your children and haul them here to church.  Many of us have been running around to get ready for the feasting of Easter.  Fortunately, our running around has brought us here to Easter Sunday Mass.  We are here, because we trust the witness of those earliest believers.  The actual resurrection of Jesus Christ was an intensely private event that no one experienced firsthand.  Like the fire we blessed at last night’s Easter Vigil that broke the darkness of the night, the bright light of the resurrection dispelled the darkness of that tomb.  But no one saw it.  Like those three original witnesses, we too may be at different places in our faith.  But as we open our eyes of faith to see more clearly, we hear the Lord speaking to us in his Word.  And we encounter his real presence when he feeds us with his Body and Blood.

            In the Gospel of John, the identity of the “disciple whom Jesus loved” is never revealed.  That is because John wants each of us to see ourselves as the “disciple whom Jesus loves,” or “the beloved disciple.”  As the Lord’s beloved disciples, we are probably at different places in our faith.  But we are here to renew our faith.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything in at least three ways.  First, the resurrection of Jesus Christ affects the certainty of death which awaits every single one of us.  Because of the resurrection, death is not the end.  Second, the resurrection of Jesus Christ means that tyrants do not have the last word.  The imperial Roman occupiers of Jerusalem thought that they had the last word when they executed Jesus of Nazareth in such a cruel way.  They were wrong!  Finally, the resurrection of Jesus Christ invites us to follow Saint Paul’s advice:  now is the time to throw out the old leaven of malice and wickedness.  That is why we now renew our baptismal promises.  We renew our intention to resist Satan’s lies.  Power, control, and focus on self will not be the ultimate winners.  Dying to self, sacrificial love, and self-giving efforts will bring new life in Christ.  That is the promise of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which we celebrate today. 

HOLY SATURDAY

20 APRIL 2019

            We waited until dark to celebrate this great Vigil of Easter.  A bight fire dispelled the darkness.  Having blessed that fire, we prepared the new Easter candle, lit it, and carried it into this darkened church.  Then the fire of that candle was shared with the rest of this assembly. In sharing, its flame was not diminished.  Instead, the shared flame lit the church as we heard the proclamation of the Lord’s resurrection in the Exsultet.  Then we listened to the Lord speaking to us in seven readings from the Old Testament, one from Saint Paul, and the Gospel according to Saint Luke.

            Beginning with the first reading that describes God’s bringing light and creation out of watery chaos; we have heard the stories of God’s faithful involvement in our history.  All of these stories find their culmination in this Gospel.  The bright light of Christ’s resurrection has dispelled the darkness of the tomb that held his dead body.  No one witnessed this event.  But the two men dressed in dazzling white tell the women that they should not seek the living among the dead.  They tell them that he has been raised.  Even though the apostles do not believe them, Peter runs to the tomb and is amazed.  It was the beginning of faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

            Now, we who are disciples of Jesus Christ express our faith in this Mystery which is at the heart of everything we believe.  We call forward the elect.  They will renounce Satan and his lies.  They will profess their faith in the Trinity. They will walk to the Baptismal Font, where they will be buried with Christ in the waters of baptism.  They will rise with him, with all their sins forgiven.  Along with the Candidates for Full Communion, the rest of us will renew our baptismal promises.  The newly baptized and received will be sealed with the Holy Spirit and receive the Lord’s Body and Blood for the first time.

            We trust the witness of those women and the other disciples.  We encounter the Lord in the Sacraments tonight.  We know that the Lord is not among the dead.  He has been raised and is living in our midst.

PALM SUNDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD

14 APRIL 2019

          When Jesus prepares to enter Jerusalem, he instructs his disciples to untie a donkey and bring it to him.  They should tell the owners, “The Master has need of it.”  Even though God needs nothing, the Son of God needs that donkey, so it can carry the promised Messiah into the Holy City.  Because he is the Suffering Servant and not a conquering king, he will also need a crown of thorns, a wooden cross, and a borrowed tomb to complete his mission.

            He also has need of us.  The owner of that donkey more than likely branded it to announce who owned it.  We have been branded in Baptism, configured permanently to Jesus Christ.  He needs us to express the ways we have not lived our branding.  He needs us to strip away whatever separates us from him.  He needs us to be untied from habits and behaviors that are destructive, as the donkey was untied for its journey.  He needs us to participate in the Sacred Paschal Triduum this week.

            Lent ends on Thursday night when we celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.  The Lord needs us at that Mass and the other major Triduum Liturgies:  the Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday, the Easter Vigil on Saturday night, and the Easter Sunday Masses.  He needs us to renew our faith in his saving death and resurrection.

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT

7 APRIL 2019

          The Gospels tell us that Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus very much.  Saint Luke says that Jesus was a guest at their home.  If there had been no room in the Inn for his birth in Bethlehem, there certainly would be no room in the Inn when he visits Jerusalem.  Because they are such close friends, Martha and Mary do not hesitate to send a message to Jesus telling him that their brother is seriously ill.  Amazingly, Jesus does not respond to their urgent request.  Instead, he remains two more days in the place where he was. 

            When Jesus finally decides to go to Bethany, it is too late.  Lazarus has been dead for four days.  There is absolutely no hope for him.  When he arrives at the suburbs of Bethany, Martha complains that her brother would never have died if he had responded to her plea.  The fact that she openly confronts Jesus demonstrates their closeness.  We are more comfortable complaining to someone close to us.  Even though Jesus had not responded to her desperate request, she does not give up her faith in him and calls him “Lord.”  In the midst of her pain and sorrow, she trusts his words that he is the resurrection and the life.  The sisters will soon understand that the raising of their brother is a sign pointing to a much greater raising from the dead:  the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  In this greatest sign in the Gospel of John, Jesus resuscitates Lazarus.  Lazarus comes out of the tomb bound with the burial cloths.  He will die again.  When Jesus emerges from his tomb, the burial cloths are laid neatly to the side.  Changed, he will never die again.  He promises that those who die with him will also rise with him.

            We can identify with both Martha and Mary.  We have prayed fervently for very good causes.  We have begged the Lord to spare our loved ones from the ravages of cancer or from danger or from death itself.  Those fervent prayers many times are not answered.  Like both Martha and Mary, we can cry out in prayer to the Lord, expressing our frustrations and anger that he seems to have been absent to our pain.  But Martha and Mary remind us that the Lord loves us, just as much as he loved them and their brother.  Raising Lazarus from the dead is a sign to us that he is present to us in our darkest hours, even when we do not feel that presence. 

            Most importantly, raising Lazarus from the dead reminds us of the Mystery that we preparing to celebrate at Easter – the Lord’s Resurrection from the dead.  Saint Thomas Aquinas said that faith in the Resurrection accomplishes four realities.  It helps remove sadness when our loved ones die.  It removes the fear of death when faced with our own death.  It makes us more diligent to perform good works, because we want to share in the resurrection.  It draws us away from doing evil because of fear of punishment.

            At the 10:00 Mass, we will pray the final Scrutiny over the Elect.  We will pray that whatever remains dead in them will be healed.  We will support them as they prepare to go down into the waters of baptism, as Christ went down into the depths of the tomb.  We will rejoice with them as they rise from the waters with all their sins forgiven are one with Jesus Christ.

            Those good people invite us to reflect on our own baptism.  We have not always lived our baptismal promises.  We have not always given ourselves in sacrificial love to others.  We have not allowed others to help us to roll away those stones in our hearts that keep us from repentance.  That is why the Lord has given us the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Please come to the Penance Service on Tuesday night.  FB 2 promises to call us to repentance, and he promises to be short.  There will be 20 of us priests for individual confession and absolution.  There will be time for a good examination of conscience.  The Lord wants us to leave the stench of our sins in the tomb of his mercy and to renew our trust that he is the resurrection and the life.

FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT

31 MARCH 2019

          When Saint Paul writes to the Ephesians, he reminds them that they were once darkness, but now they are light in the Lord.  He is telling them (and us) of the importance of baptism.  Like the man born blind in today’s Gospel, we were washed clean of our sins when we were baptized.  As Jesus smeared clay to allow him to see, we were anointed with Chrism to enable the Holy Spirit to help us see more clearly.  When we live our baptismal commitments, the light of Christ shines through us to allow every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth to be present in a world in desperate need of all three of those virtues.

            This Sunday, we usually invite the Elect (those preparing for Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist at the Easter Vigil) to come forward for the Second Scrutiny.  From ancient times, the Church has included these good people in this second Scrutiny, which is meant to uncover, and then heal all that is weak, defective, or sinful in their hearts.  It delivers them from the power of sin and Satan, to protect them against temptation, and to give them the strength of Jesus Christ.  However, the ancient Church did not take into account that Laetare Sunday occurs during Spring Break.  That is where all of our Elect have gone.  We continue to remember them in our prayer.  Like the man born blind, they have spent this past year on a journey of conversion, opening their eyes to recognize Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world.  At the Easter Vigil, they will be illuminated (the ancient word for being baptized) to share the light of Christ.

            Saint Paul challenges the rest of us who have been illuminated in baptism not to fall back into darkness.  He does not want us to be like the Pharisees in today’s Gospel.  They choose to remain in darkness, because they refuse to listen to the witness of a person who has encountered the light of the world and has gone through a remarkable conversion experience.  He tries to tell them about his encounter with the one who has opened his eyes.  But they do not listen.  They choose to continue their belief that the man was born blind as a punishment for sin, either his or his parents’.  They dig in their heels to reinforce their blindness.  They insist that Jesus is a sinner, because he healed the man on the Sabbath.  They attack his parents and threaten to kick them out of the synagogue for believing their son.  They throw their son out when he persists in telling them the truth about his experience of Jesus as the Lord.  In their blindness, they persist in being selfish, stubborn, and arrogant. 

            It is easy for us to be critical of the blindness of the Pharisees.  We have become light when we were baptized and received a lit candle as a sign of that illumination.  We have read the Prologue of Saint John’s Gospel and know the truth about Jesus as the Light of the World.  Yet, like some members of the Ephesian community, we have made some bad choices and returned to the darkness.  We have been selfish and refused to share a portion of what God has given us with others, especially with the poor.  We have been stubborn when we refuse to let go of our preconceived notions about the intentions of other people who disagree with us.  We can be arrogant when we ignore the honest attempts of those who love us to make some changes.

            As the Elect go through the last two Scrutinies before their baptisms, we have a special Sacrament that has the power to restore us to our baptismal innocence.  We can bring our fruitless works of darkness to the bright light of Christ’s mercy in the Sacrament of Penance.  Please come to the Parish Penance Service a week from Tuesday.  Once we encounter the amazingly bright mercy of Christ, his light can shine more brightly through us.  His light can produce every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.  The Prologue to John’s Gospel tells us:  “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”