FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

28 APRIL 2024

 

          Last Sunday, we celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday.  In his Gospel, Saint John says that Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  He knows each of us by name, as ancient shepherds knew each of their sheep by name.  He loves us so much that he has laid down his life for us.  As the priests were sacrificing the lambs at the altar in the temple for the Passover on the Day of Preparation, the true Lamb of God was being sacrificed across Jerusalem on a hill of execution.  By entering into death, Jesus defeated the power of sin and death.  As the Lamb of God who gave himself completely out of love for us, he feeds us with his Body and Blood at this Mass.

            Today, the First Letter of Saint John reminds us that we must imitate that selfless love in our lives.  He calls us children and insists that we “love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.”  We love by keeping his commandments.  We keep the first commandment when we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ.  If we believe that he has loved us first, then we can keep the second commandment.  We can love one another just as he has commanded us.

            We became children of God when we passed through the waters of Baptism.  To use the image of today’s Gospel, we were grafted as branches onto the true vine that is Jesus Christ.  If we remain connected with the life-giving vine of Jesus, then we can bear much fruit.  Like Paul and Barnabas who boldly proclaimed the truth about Jesus Christ, we too can win believers to Christ.  In bearing fruit, we can share the great love of the Good Shepherd to each other.

            That is why the Eucharist is so critical for our efforts to live as authentic branches of the one vine.  We were baptized only one time when we were grafted as branches onto the one vine and became members of the Body of Christ.  We were sealed with the Holy Spirit only once in the Sacrament of Confirmation.  But we are fed with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ every Sunday, or every day if we choose.  Because it is so difficult to love others as the Lamb of God has loved us, we need the Eucharist to strengthen us.  As Saint Augustine reminds us, we become what we receive.  Every time we receive the Lord’s Body and Blood in the Eucharist, we are changed a little more into who we are:  The Body of Jesus Christ in our world.

            Boys and girls, in just a couple of minutes, we will walk to the Baptismal Font.  After you were baptized and grafted onto the true vine, you were clothed with a white garment, signifying that you put on Christ.  Wearing a white garment now, you will renew your baptismal promises and dip your hands into the waters of the font.  Then you will bring up the gifts and receive the Lord in the Eucharist for the first time.  You will receive the Lord’s promise that he will remain with you, that the Lord will dwell with you and deepen that indwelling every time you come to be fed by the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

            The Lord does not promise that everything will go perfectly with you and with any of us who share the Eucharist on a regular basis.  He warns that we will be pruned.  The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles explains how Saint Paul was pruned.  Before his conversion from Saul of Tarsus to Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles, he worked closely with the Hellenists.  Now they want to kill him.  The disciples of Jesus are afraid of him because of what he had done to Stephen and the other disciples.  As he proclaimed the Good News throughout the Mediterranean Sea, he was pruned many times.  However, the Eucharist sustained him.  The Eucharist sustains us, connects us more closely with the other members of the Body of Christ, and strengthens us to endure whatever difficulties we may experience in the future.

 

FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

21 APRIL 2024

 

            The image of God as a shepherd is a classic one in Scripture.  Just as shepherds guarded, guided, protected, and watched over their sheep, God guards, guides, protects, and watches over Israel.  That is why God expected the human leaders of ancient Israel to be good shepherds of their people.  The prophet Ezekiel criticized the leaders of his day.  He accused them of being shepherds taking care of themselves and neglecting the care of their flock.  Their failure to be good shepherds resulted in the calamity suffered by their people.  He promised that God would some day shepherd his people himself.

            We see this prophecy fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.  At the top of our triumphal arch, the Good Shepherd is seated, drawing the sheep to himself.  As we meditate on this image, we are reminded that we are those sheep.  We are called to be the lamb seated on his lap.  There is another image of the Good shepherd outside the entrance to the Parish Education Center.  It is a copy of a statue believed to be the first image of Jesus the Good Shepherd.  The shepherd is young and without a beard.  He carries a lamb on his shoulders, bringing that lamb through dark valleys and dangerous places to a place of rest and refreshment.

            Today, Jesus proclaims himself as the Good Shepherd, using the words “I am.”  When Moses asked God to identify himself in the burning bush, God responded “I am.”  In the Gospel of Saint John, the first descriptive title given to Jesus comes from the mouth of Saint John the Baptist:  “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.”  At the end of the Gospel, the high priest Caiaphas argues that it was “better for one man to die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”  His statement is fulfilled in ways that he could never have imagined.  At noon on the Day of Preparation, Caiaphas sacrifices an unblemished lamb on the altar in the temple to inaugurate the beginning of the Passover observance.  Across town, outside the city walls, the true Lamb of God, Jesus, voluntarily and once-and-for all lays down his life on the cross of execution, “lest the whole of humanity perish.” 

            On the night of Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin, Peter denied knowing Jesus three times out of fear.  In today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter boldly proclaims the truth about Jesus Christ to the Sanhedrin.  He had encountered the risen Lord and had been filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  What he tells them, he tells us.  We can trust the love of the Good Shepherd, because he knows each of us by name.  He has laid down his life on the cross for us, as shepherds would lay down their lives at the entrance of the sheepfolds at night.  There were no gates at these sheepfolds.  They became the gate preventing wolves and thieves from attacking their flock.  He has become the Lamb of God who feeds us with his Body and Blood. 

            He calls us to imitate his selfless and total love in our roles as shepherds.  He speaks to us who are priests or deacons, teachers, mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, or brothers and sisters.  Filled with the Holy Spirit and fed by the risen Lord’s real presence in the Eucharist, we too must lay down our lives for those entrusted to our care.  When we are humble enough to imitate his example, it is the Good Shepherd working through us who continues the work of salvation.  There is no salvation through anyone else.

            Today’s Collect sums it up.  “Almighty ever-living God, lead us to share in the joys of heaven, so that the humble flock may reach where the brave shepherd has gone before.”  We already share the joys of heaven when we give ourselves in humble service.

 

 

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

14 APRIL 2024

 

            In the passage preceding today’s Gospel, two of the disciples of Jesus had left Jerusalem and were heading for the village of Emmaus, seven miles away.  They were disappointed and broken.  On their way, the risen Christ joined them.  With his risen body transformed, they did not recognize him.  Thinking that he was a stranger, they told him their story.  They had been disciples of Jesus and had been convinced that he was the Messiah.  But he had been executed like a common criminal.  They were running away.  After listening to their pain, Jesus began to speak.  He connected the sayings of the prophets with his experience.  Listening to him, their hearts began to burn within them.  Even though he indicated that he was going further, he agreed to stay with them.  When he took bread, blessed, broke, and gave, they recognized him.  Despite the danger of traveling at night, they immediately returned to Jerusalem. 

            Today’s Gospel picks up that story.  As they are telling the other disciples what happened on the way, the risen Christ stands in their midst.  They do not recognize him.  But he greets them with the words, “Peace be with you.”  Jesus breaks, shares and unlocks for them the words of Scripture.  They begin to understand, and in the process are transformed themselves.  Then they share a meal with the risen Lord, whose transformed body contains the same wounds that were visible on the cross.  Then the risen Lord gives them the mandate to preach in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem to go and transform all the world.

            This is exactly what happens at this Mass.  We began the Mass by being reminded that we are baptized members of the Body of Christ with the sprinkling rite.  Then we heard the Word of the Lord.  Saint Luke emphasizes that the disciples are not seeing a ghost.  They are encountering a physical person who is eating with them. As soon as I stop talking, we will profess our faith and offer our intentions.  Then we will celebrate the Eucharist.  We do not encounter the risen Lord in the same physical way that those original disciples did.  But we encounter his risen presence in a very real way when we feast on his Body and Blood under the form of bread and wine.  Finally, we are dismissed from this Mass to spread the Good News.  We cannot keep the good news to ourselves.

            Throughout this Easter Season, the Scripture readings invite us to renew our faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The first reading for every Mass is taken from the Acts of the Apostles.  In this second volume, Saint Luke helps us to understand how the good news is spread from Jerusalem to the end of the earth (Rome, at that time).  The first members of the Christian community  have accepted the testimony of the original witnesses.  They cannot keep their faith to themselves.  Peter may have denied knowing Jesus out of fear after the Last Supper.  But he has encountered the risen Lord and has known the Lord’s peace and mercy.  He has received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  He is not afraid to proclaim the central mystery of our faith to anyone who hears him.  He tells them that those who crucified him did so out of ignorance.  But with the knowledge that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has raised him from the dead, he invites his listeners to repent and be converted.       

            He speaks this same message to us, who profess our faith in the resurrection while still suffering wounds and being tempted to fall back into sin.  The Letter of Saint John tells us that we express our faith in the resurrection by keeping the commandments.  When we are sent forth from this Mass, we proclaim the good news by redoubling our efforts to love God and neighbor in very specific ways.

 

 

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER

7 APRIL 2024

 

            On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala had come to the tomb of Jesus in the dark.  The darkness was not only the absence of daylight.  The darkness expressed her grief and despair, because she had come to complete the anointing of his dead body.  Later, in the light of that eighth day of the new creation, she encountered the risen Lord and became the Apostle to the Apostles.  She announced the news to the Apostles that he had been raised from the dead. 

            On that same day, they remain in darkness.  In the darkness of the evening, they lock themselves in a room.  Saint John says that they had locked the doors out of fear of the Jews.  They fear that the authorities might do to them what they did to Jesus.  They are also afraid of Jesus.  If Mary Magdalene is telling the truth, Jesus must be angry with them.  Most of them had abandoned him at his darkest hour. Thomas had bragged that he would go to Bethany to die with Jesus.  At the Last Supper, Peter insisted that he would never deny him.  But when one of their own betrayed him and handed him over to be crucified, most of them had run away. 

            Just as the risen Christ had broken through the locked heart of Mary Magdalene, he now breaks through the locked doors of the place where the Apostles are hiding.  He shows them his hands and his side.  He has been raised from the dead.  It is the same body scarred by the nails and spear.  Instead of scolding them, his first words are, “Peace be with you.”  He speaks these words of forgiveness and mercy again and breathes the Holy Spirit on them.”  He tells them to give that same mercy to others.  We receive that gift of mercy every time we encounter the Lord in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

            Saint John does not tell us why Thomas is not with them.  More than likely, his heart is  troubled.  Perhaps his intense grief is made worse by the guilt of what he had bragged about before going to the tomb of Lazarus.  In being separated from the community of believers, he remains in the darkness of unbelief and grief.  On the next Sunday, united with the community, he makes the most profound expression of faith when he sees the wounds:  “My Lord and my God.”  In response, Jesus proclaims that those who have not seen as he has seen will be blessed.

            Jesus is talking about us!  We have not encountered the physical body of the risen Lord as those first disciples had done.  But, we trust that they were telling the truth.  Their encounter with the risen Lord profoundly changed their lives.  In response, they gave their gifts of mercy and forgiveness to others, even to those who persecuted them and took their lives from them.

            In the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Luke describes the community of faith formed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  They are of one heart and mind.  They share their possessions with one another, especially with those who were needy.  During this Easter Season, we will hear from the Acts of the Apostles as our first reading.  We will hear about how they cooperated with the Holy Spirit.  We will hear how they failed.

            As we reflect on their witness, we can reflect on our own community of faith.  Our community is formed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Sometimes we cooperate with the Holy Spirit.  Sometimes we fail.  Like Thomas, we can bring our darkness and fears to our encounter with the risen Lord when we come to Mass.  We can bring our wounds.  We can acknowledge our doubts.  We need to understand that facing our doubts and wounds can be a way of coming to a deeper faith, as Thomas did.  But we must not make the same mistake that he did.  We cannot separate ourselves from this faith community, with all our successes and failures.  Alone and isolated, we are vulnerable.  Gathered here as a community, we can allow the Holy Spirit to breathe courage when we have locked our hearts and minds to the presence of the risen Lord.