FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
3 MAY 2026
Throughout
his public ministry, Jesus explained to his disciples his mission as the
Messiah. His mission was not to free his
people from Roman occupation. Instead,
his mission would be to suffer on the cross to defeat the power of sin and death. In this final discourse at the Last Supper,
he tells them that their hearts need not be troubled. He insists that they know the way. Either because they had not been listening,
or because they could never conceive of a crucified Messiah, they do not know
the way to the Father. Thomas is the
only disciple with the courage to say that they do not know the way. Very soon, they will be horrified to know
that his painful and horrible death is the way to the Father. Only after he had been raised from the dead
would they understand what he is talking about.
Sustained by his forgiveness for abandoning him in his darkest hour,
they cooperated with the gift of the Holy Spirit to become his Church and
spread the Good News of Salvation to all who would listen.
They would
no longer need to go to the temple to encounter the presence of God. Instead, to use the image of today’s second
reading, they would become living stones, built up through the power of the
Holy Spirit into a spiritual house. As
living stones, they would eventually understand what Jesus is talking about
when he tells them that they would do greater ones than the works of Jesus
himself. You and I benefit from that
promise, because the works of Jesus have gone far beyond the geographical limits
of the Holy Land to reach South Bend!
Like those first disciples, we have become living stones through the
waters of Baptism. We are being built
into a spiritual house. As living
stones, we trust that death will not destroy us either. We trust that through encountering the Lord
in the Sacramental life of the Church, and through our daily dying and our
final deaths, we will be joined with him in his eternal dwelling place.
We know
that we are living stones in a fallen world, affecting even those who have
become living stones through Baptism. We
can see this reality in our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles. Both the Hellenists and the Hebrews are
living stones being formed into a spiritual house. But there are tensions and divisions. The Hellenists complain that they are not
being treated as equals. Their widows are
being neglected in the daily distribution of the goods of the community. The twelve do not tell them to shut and deal
with it. Instead, they listen to their
complaints and agree that something must be done. After discussion and prayer, they choose
seven men and lay hands on them to commission them. These seven men are the first deacons. They accept the mission of overseeing the
distribution of the goods, so that the Apostles can continue to devote
themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.
We are
blessed as a parish to enjoy the presence of a descendant of one of these
original deacons. The Bishop, a successor
of the Apostles, laid hands on him, ordained him a deacon. When it became clear that there are not
enough diocesan priests to serve this parish, Bishop Rhoades discussed the
issue with his advisors and prayed.
Instead of closing our parish or merging it with another parish, he
called one of the retired priests of the Diocese and asked him to be the priest
at Saint Augustine. That old priest
could not say “no,” because too many people had not been able to say no to him
in his former parish. Bishop Rhoades
then appointed Deacon Mel to be the administrator of the parish. The old priest now has the freedom to devote
himself to prayer and to the ministry of the word. The deacon is the administrator, handling all
the issues that drove the old priest crazy in his former parish!
We believe
that Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in him. We trust the way he shows us how to return to
the Father. As living stones, we walk
together in our journey of faith.
