THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION

1 MAY 2022

 

          We have just heard this Gospel with our ears.  But the art in our church invites us to see the Gospel with our eyes.  On the left side of the triumphal arch, we see the boat containing Peter and the other disciples on the Sea of Tiberias.  They had returned to their profession of fishing.  They had spent three years with Jesus of Nazareth.  Most of them had run away when he was crucified.  Then they had experienced the risen Christ two times in the upper room.  Now, it seems that they have decided to return to their former profession and carry on with their lives.

            However, they have not caught anything.  The risen Christ has other plans for them.  He tells them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat.  Even though they do not recognize him, they obey him and catch so many fish that they cannot pull the net into the boat.  The beloved disciple recognizes the risen Christ, and Peter swims to shore to meet him.  We see the white smoke from the charcoal fire on which Jesus has cooked the fish.  He feeds them breakfast and asks Peter three times if he loves him.  The three questions remind Peter of another charcoal fire.  We see that fire with the black smoke on the right side of the triumphal arch.  Peter had sat at that fire in the courtyard of the high priest’s house, because he had bragged at the Last Supper that he would die with Jesus.  But out of fear, Peter denies knowing Jesus three times.  When the cock crows (also pictured), Peter realizes his sin and weeps bitterly out of shame.

            Jesus does not ask the three questions to rub his sin of denial into his face.  Instead, he asks the questions to indicate that he knows Peter’s contrition and has completely forgiven him.  Above the image of Saint Peter right behind me, we see Jesus’ response:  feed my sheep.  Jesus could have told Peter that he had blown it.  He could have given the leadership to the Beloved Disciple, whom he loved more anyway.  Instead, he sends Peter and the other disciples on the mission to proclaim the Paschal Mystery to the entire world, symbolized by 153 fish.

            Jesus continues to call human beings to serve as shepherds for his flock.  He has called us priests, deacons, catechists, and your parents to serve you, whom he loves as the beloved sheep of his flock.  Like Saint Peter, all of us have failed.  We have denied knowing Jesus in our actions.  We have admitted our sins, and he continues to forgive us.  Just as Jesus reaffirms his love and trust in Peter, he does the same with us.  Your parents have provided for all of your physical and emotional needs.  Now the Lord reminds them of their responsibility to provide for your spiritual needs.  They brought you to the waters of baptism.  They promised to raise you in the practice of the faith.  Now, they bring you to receive your First Holy Communion.

            Boys and girls, just as Jesus feeds Peter and his disciples on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, he feeds you with his own Body and Blood for the first time today.  As you are fed by the Eucharist in the next few years, the Lord will continue to form you more completely into your true identity:  baptized members of the Body of Christ.  He will also commission you to do what he commissioned Peter and the disciples to do:  to spread the Good News to everyone you encounter.  When Jesus instructed the waiters at the wedding feast of Cana to fill the water jars with water.  They followed his instructions and received a huge abundance of wine.  Peter and the disciples also do what Jesus told them to do.  They haul in a huge catch of fish.  Fed by the Eucharist and doing what Jesus tells you to do, you can expect the same abundance in your life.

 

 

 

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER

24 APRIL 2022

 

          We do not know why Thomas was not with the rest of the Apostles on that first day of the week.  However, if we read the Gospel according to Saint John, we can make an educated guess.  When Jesus told his disciples that he was going to Bethany to raise Lazarus from the dead, his disciples warned him that the authorities were trying to stone him.  But Jesus stated that he would return to Judea.  Thomas bragged, “let us also go to die with him.”

            At the Last Supper, Jesus made one last mention of what would happen to him very soon.  During his three years of public ministry, he had told them that he would be condemned to die on a cross, be buried, and raised on the third day.  However, they could not accept that the long awaited Messiah would be executed like a common criminal.  So, when he assured them at the Last Supper that they know the way he was going, Thomas was the only one courageous enough to say what the rest of them were thinking.  He said, “Lord, we do not know the way you are going.”  All too soon at the Garden of Gethsemane, they all realized the harsh truth that the way to the Father was through his death.  In his devastation, Thomas isolated himself from the rest of the community.  He was not present on the third day because his heart was troubled – by grief, by guilt, and probably by despair.

            In his isolation, he refuses to believe what the others had told him.  Isolated from the community, he cannot believe that his dead mentor has been raised from the dead.  Dead people remain dead!  In the absence of having encountered the risen Lord in person, he demands proof.  He wants to see those wounds on the body of the one whom he had come to love and trust.

            We are tempted to judge Thomas the Apostle harshly.  He is often dubbed “Thomas the Doubter.”  However, we can identify with his doubts more than we are willing to acknowledge.  Like Thomas, we have not encountered the risen Lord in the ways that the other disciples did.  We too want to see signs that the Lord has been raised.  As we look around, our world is as messed up today as it was three weeks ago.  Innocent people continue to be murdered in Ukraine, Sudan, and other places of war and terror.  We still suffer incredible divisions in our culture and in our church.  Misuse of power continues to infect us, along with greed and jealousy.  The lack of respect for the dignity of human life has not abated.  Our families are dealing with the same difficulties and problems.  We want to see the proof the resurrection around us.

            Thomas makes the greatest profession of faith when he encounters the risen Lord and sees the proof in his wounds that the Incarnation has not ended in death.  He says, “My Lord and my God.”  Jesus responds, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”  He refers to us.  We are blessed when we accept the witness of those first disciples and believe that they were telling the truth.  We are blessed when we hear the Lord speak to us in his word to reveal the vision in the Book of Revelation that the one who was dead lives forever.  We are blessed when we encounter the risen Lord in the Eucharist and in those gathered here in his name.

            These fifty days of Easter invite us to deepen our faith in the resurrection.  We are blessed when we trust that death is not the end for us, or for our loved ones who have died.  We are blessed when we are resolved to die to ourselves and trust that we can live for others.  We are blessed when we do not isolate ourselves and separate ourselves from this congregation after suffering terrible losses.  We are blessed when we are willing to let go of bitterness and grudges and breathe forgiveness, as the risen Lord breathed forgiveness when he broke through those locked doors.  Easter makes an incredible difference in our lives.  We are blessed when we truly see and believe.

 

EASTER SUNDAY

17 APRIL 2022

 

          In the year 2000, Bishop D’Arcy gave me permission to take a Sabbatical.  To prepare, I carefully studied the details of the Fall Israel Study Program offered by Chicago Theological Union.  I applied for and received a grant from the Lily Foundation, funding the entire Sabbatical experience.  Then I spent three months living in a convent in the West Bank with a group of 50 priests and sisters.  We studied Scripture in the morning.  When we were not travelling, I walked two miles into the old city of Jerusalem every day.  It was an incredible life-changing experience.  After the Sabbatical, I spent a lot of time remembering what had happened.  I showed slides to various groups and talked about the experience.  Perhaps many were bored with my repetitions.  But, remembering what happened helped me to make more sense of the entire experience.

            This is what happened to the original disciples.  Jesus had been preparing them for his Paschal Mystery for three years.  He told them repeatedly that he would suffer, die on the cross, and be raised from the dead on the third day.  On Easter Sunday, Peter and the beloved disciple enter the empty tomb and see the burial cloths carefully placed aside.  It is the beginning of a life-changing experience for both of them.  However, the full impact of that day will become clear to them only after they have encountered the risen Christ and received the Holy Spirit.  In the Acts of the Apostles, Peter may not have shown any slides to those gathered in the house of Cornelius.  But, he understands better the incredible events of the Paschal Mystery as he explains them in detail to those who are listening.

            During these last three days, we have entered into the passion and death of Jesus Christ.  We celebrated the Memorial of the Last Supper on Holy Thursday.  We paused on Good Friday to recall that his enemies put him to death by hanging him on a tree.  Today, we hear from two of the original witnesses that God raised him on the third day.  During the course of these next fifty days of Easter, we will reflect on their accounts of how they ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

            Unlike Peter and the beloved disciple, we are not original witnesses of what happened.  But today, we are reminded that these events are not just isolated recollections of what happened two thousand years ago.  These events are made present to us in our Liturgical Remembering.  Last night, ten people renounced the evil of Satan and professed their faith in the living God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Then they entered into the watery grave of the baptismal font and emerged one with the risen Christ, with all their sins forgiven.  This morning, we who have been baptized into the risen life of Jesus Christ will renew our baptismal promises and commit ourselves to living them more completely.

            In his Gospel, Saint John never reveals the identity of the beloved disciple.  He is writing to us, who are his beloved disciples through baptism.  Peter is the first to see the evidence of the resurrection.  However, the beloved disciple sees and believes.  In renewing our baptismal promises, we are the beloved disciples who are invited to see the truth.  Christ has born his cross, suffered, and died for us.  We are invited to carry our crosses, endure our sufferings, and die to ourselves on a daily basis.  Whenever we humble ourselves to share in the Lord’s cross, in his sufferings, and in his death, we share now in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  As we listen to the risen Lord speaking to us in his Word in these next fifty days, we deepen our faith in the resurrection.  As we share in the Sacramental life of the Church, we recognize the risen Lord present in the breaking of bread.

 

PALM SUNDAY OF THE LORD’S PASSION

10 APRIL 2022

 

          “It was the best of times:  it was the worst of times ….”  So begins Charles Dickens in his famous novel, A Tale of Two Cities.  In a sense, those words capture the readings which we just heard today.  In Saint Luke’s account of the first Palm Sunday, we heard echoes of that entrance as the best of times for Jesus and his disciples.  After a long journey, they finally arrive in Jerusalem.  Jesus is welcomed by his followers as king, echoing the voices of the angels at his birth:  “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.”  They lay down their cloaks on the road for him to enter on the donkey, a symbol of peace. 

            In Saint Luke’s account of the Passion, we just heared about the worst of times.  Jesus is betrayed by one of his closest friends.  Out of fear, his disciples abandon him.  He is condemned to death, even though he has done absolutely nothing wrong.  He is buried in a borrowed tomb. 

            The Lord’s passion has changed everything for us.  This week, the Lord invites us to reflect more deeply on the Paschal Mystery, which is at the heart of everything we believe as Christians.  The Lord wants us to understand more deeply that our own suffering, insufficiency, uncertainty, and weakness are invitations to knowing the heart of God. They are at the heart of the Lord’s redemption. Our weakness reveals God’s glory.  Our sharing in his dying opens us to share in his rising.

            Be sure to join us for the celebration of the Sacred Paschal Triduum.  Lent ends when we enter into the Triduum by celebrating the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday.  We reflect on his Passion and death on Good Friday.  We celebrate the absolute best of times at the Easter Vigil and at the Masses on Easter Sunday.

 

 

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT

3 APRIL 2022

 

          In the first reading, the people of Israel have lost all hope.  The Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem and their sacred temple and dragged them into exile.  They regard their long captivity in Babylon as their grave.  They see no way of returning to their homeland to resume a normal life.  But the prophet Ezekiel speaks on behalf of God to tell them that God will open the graves of their captivity and have them rise from them.  God had promised that he would never abandon his people, no matter how many times they had abandoned their promises to live their Covenant with God.  God can accomplish what is impossible for humans.

            That is what Jesus does in the Gospel.  Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days.  There is absolutely no hope for him.  Jesus displays his power over death by raising Lazarus from the dead.  In restoring Lazarus to life, Jesus works this last of his signs in Saint John’s Gospel to draw more people to faith.  Martha already has faith in him.  When she meets Jesus as he enters Bethany, she chides him for not coming in time to save her brother.  But she also makes three important faith statements.  She expresses her past experience of Jesus.  She insists that Lazarus would not have died if he had been there.  Then she speaks of her faith in the present:  “Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”  Then she trusts that Jesus will raise Lazarus from the dead in the future.

            During this past year, the Elect have been growing in the faith articulated by Martha.  As they have participated in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, they have come to believe that they will enter into the watery tomb of our baptismal font together with Christ, who entered his own tomb after being crucified.  As they emerge from those waters, they will be one with him in the new life promised by his resurrection.  They go through the third and final Scrutiny at the 10:00 Mass today.  We pray with them and for them that they are delivered from whatever has entombed them in the past and kept them from believing in Christ.

Martha invites the rest of us who have been baptized to express our faith in Jesus Christ.  We can look into our past and remember the many ways that the Lord Jesus has been present to us, especially when we have had to face the deaths of people close to us.  She invites us to see the ways in which the Lord is present now and be grateful for the many blessings we enjoy.  We can express our confidence that the Lord Jesus will be present in the future, even when it comes time for us to pass from this world to the next.  We trust that the Lord Jesus keeps his promise.

Martha’s most dramatic profession of faith occurs when she states her belief that Jesus is the resurrection and the life.  We shared in the Lord’s resurrection when we were baptized, and not just at some future time.  We continue to share in the Lord’s resurrection when we live in the spirit.  Saint Paul reminds us that we are no longer in the flesh.  Baptism has freed us from being enslaved by the power of sin.  In the flesh, we live completely for ourselves.  In the spirit, we are alive because of righteousness.  We can live primarily for God.

Jesus weeps at the tomb of Lazarus.  He weeps not only because he hates the reality of death.  He weeps because so many people have not come to believe in him. He weeps for us when we slip back into living in the flesh.  The Elect invite us to bring those times to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Restored to life in the spirit through the Lord’s mercy, we can confidently express our conviction that Jesus Christ has conquered the power of sin and death by entering into death himself.  He is the resurrection and the life.  Everyone who believes in him will never die.