Trinity Sunday is the Feast of God's love and mercy.

 

TRINITY SUNDAY  B  2021

This past week, I had the great joy of celebrating with family the fourth birthday of my grand niece Taylor Lewis.  Taylor had been anticipating her birthday for some time and her birthday joy was infectious and we all shared in her love.  I will say that there was a brief meltdown that while Taylor was running in her back yard, she fell and her demeanor changed a bit.  I then put a band aid on her finger that really wasn’t medically warranted but it did help to make her feel better and the party atmosphere resumed.

I tell you on this Feast of the Blessed Trinity as a lead in for us to understand the mystery of the dogma of the Blessed Trinity.

Taylor’s birthday was a source of great family joy among her four siblings, her parents, her grandparents, her aunt and uncle.  This family gathering reaffirms for me that family is the school of love.  Even more than her presents which were important to her, Taylor knows deep in her heart, she is much loved.

Taylor’s birthday party is a beautiful way of introducing this Feast of the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity.  Hold that thought for a moment or two.

Embedded within us is a Trinitarian Spirituality.   We believe in God the Father who is our creator and life-giver.  All is a gift of God.  We believe that God sent his only begotten Son, Christ Jesus, into the world to reveal God’s love for us and to be our Savior and Lord.  We believe in God the Holy Spirit who, on the great feast of Pentecost which we celebrated last Sunday, was sent to us as the Breath and the Spirit of God who will be with us all days until the end of time.  We are the recipients of the gifts of the Spirit that are to be used and shared in the service of one another and the building up of our faith community.

There have been many books written on the dogma, the doctrine of the Trinity – of three persons in one God.   Taylor’s birthday party was all about the love we have for this precious child of God, and our family gatherings are about our relationships with each other that are so life-giving for all of us.  So too, a summary of the great mystery of the Trinity is that God is love.  God is revealed as a communion of persons.  The love that is within the union of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is shared with us.  As the Gospel proclaims:  “God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son so  that  everyone who believes in Him may not be lost, but may have eternal life.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               This feast day of the Blessed Trinity is not a feast for scholars; it is a celebration for lovers.  We celebrate the mystery of the inner life of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,  The inner life of God is communal, is relational; it is family,  In contemplating the Trinity, we reflect on the family of God.  Today is feast of God’s love and mercy.  Pope Francis Writes that mercy reveals the very nature of the Most Holy Trinity.

Moses is the first person to address us in today’s Liturgy of the Word.  We get to eavesdrop on a homily he preached to inspire his people to strengthen their commitment.  If we listen as heirs of his tradition, we hear him call us to remember our own experience of God.  He took his people through their memories of the Exodus and hearing God’s voice.  That suggests that we too might recall how and when we have been aware of God’s presence, of God’s love, of God’s grandeur.  He’s recommending that we allow this Day of the Lord to claim some of our time so that we can remember and appreciate the ways we have come to know God in our individual and communal lives. 

On this Memorial Day weekend, may we remember those who have given their lives in the service of our country.  We gather in prayer as a grateful nation and a grateful people.  This leads us into the Eucharistic mystery as we gather to give thanks to the Lord our God.

Today’s Gospel describes Jesus’ final appearance to the disciples and his commissioning of them to carry on the work of evangelization.  Jesus said to his disciples:  “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing time in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” This is a much expanded vision than the earlier mandate to go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

One of Pope Francis’s favorite themes is the commission given to us by the Lord himself is for us to be missionary disciples.  This call demands that we meet people where they are; we accompany people in the journey of life wherever we find people; and we proclaim to them their God-given dignity as God’s beloved sons and daughters.  As missionary disciples we don’t wait for people to come to us, we are commissioned and sent forth to raise people up wherever they are and help them to claim the love that God has for them.

As we celebrate and seek to understand the mystery of the Trinity, we try to explain the meaning of the Trinity in words, but it must be known in the experience of God that goes beyond words.  As we participate in the divine life of God in the sacraments, we share in the love of God.

And so, we begin our liturgy and most often we begin our prayer and we were baptized:  “In the name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit.”  We profess our faith and trust in the God who is love.  

The final sentence of today’s Gospel are the words of Jesus; “I am with you always, until the end of the age.”  The divine presence will remain with the disciples perpetually.  As the disciples of the Lord, may we hear those words of Jesus spoken to us:  “I am with you.”  I am with you as a God of love, as a God who calls us to help others claim the love that God has for them.

 

Have a Blessed Day.

 

 

On this Mother's Day, we thank all the mothers of our parish for revealing the face of God to us in their love for us.

 

Sixth Sunday of Easter  2021  B

 

This Sunday’s Gospel is the vision statement of the mission and ministry of Jesus: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you.”  If we truly “get” this one statement – “As the Father loves me, so I also love you” – then we have understood the primary Gospel message.

Look back in the Gospels and see for yourself.  All of the great stories Jesus ever told – the Prodigal Son, the Good Samaritan, the woman caught in adultery, the washing of the feet, the cleansing of the lepers, the curing of the blind and the lame – all of these tell the same single tale:  Each of us is graciously, eternally and infinitely loved by God.

As a result of this boundless love relationship that Jesus offers to each of us, he makes only one single request – the very same one he gave to his disciples: “This I command you:  love one another.”

What are the love stories of your life?  In your family life, with the love you share with your spouse, with the love you share with your children and grandchildren, does this not make you more aware of how your life is blessed?  The family is the school of love.  The love you receive in your family life is a precious, precious gift.  Equally the love you give to your family makes you a better person. 

On this Mother’s Day, we thank all the mothers of our parish community for revealing the face of God to us in their love for us.  Their love for us reveal the mystery of God’s love.

For myself, grounded in my mother’s love, I have experienced the love story of my priestly ministry.  Recently this past week, I presided at six funeral liturgies, been involved with families in baptismal and First Communion preparation, anointed and gave communion to older parishioners, baptized twin boys, and had an enjoyable dinner in the home of parishioners.  In all honesty for me, this is a privilege and part of the love story of my priestly ministry.  It is not too much work.  It is the commitment of my life.

My sense it is the same for you as parents.  Giving yourself in love to your children, to your grandchildren is not too much work.  It is the joy of your life.

 

The Gospel message for all of us that the love that is within us is to be shared with all.  This means everyone on the face of the earth is your brother and sister.  The love you and I give to our blood family.  We are to share with our human family.

Now, you can tell me, that this sounds nice, but you’re not living on planet earth if you expect me to share my love with everyone.

Yet, the command of the Lord to us is simple and direct:  Love one another.  Period.  End of story.

In today’s Gospel, we are given a sitting at the Last Supper.  As the Gospel is taken from the conversation Jesus had with the apostles on the night before He died.  I remind you of three actions of Jesus at the Last Supper that reveal the entirety of the Gospel.

            --the institution of the Eucharistic mystery in which bread and wine became the Body and Blood of Christ Himself.  We are a Eucharistic community who give thanks to the Lord our God and are fed and nourished at the Table of the Lord.

            --Jesus washed the feet of his disciples to give us an example that we are to do likewise.  We are to wash the feet of God’s poor and we are to serve one another following the example of Jesus who came to serve and not to be served.

 

            --Thirdly, Jesus spoke those words to us: “As the Father loves me, so I love you.”  Plain and simple, we are God’s beloved.  May we know and experience the love of God each and every day.  As God’s beloved sons and daughters, we are told in the commandment given to us is that we are to share what we have been given.

Isn’t it a joy to know that the most enjoyable mystery of life – love – is the only commandment of Jesus?  That shows that God is on our side.  His commandment is to do what we want most to do and experience – to love and be loved.

Jesus’ was to lay down his life, in a specific way.  Our love lays down our life often in small, forgettable ways. 

 

Faithful to what the Lord is asking of us what loving actions can we do today to serve and love others?  For example, the hours we spend with a sick child or a parent, years caring for someone ill, or giving up something for your children.

So, in our spiritual awareness examen we can ask ourselves:

Will the members of your family hear words of love that you speak today?

Will I speak words of love to the parishioners in need on this day?

What words of love can we speak to the needy and the poor in our midst?  Do the poor in our midst hear words of love being spoken to them by the faith community of St Joseph’s?

Further, there is no need for us to strive to be perfect.  Rather, let people be inspired by God’s love for you, even though all of us have our share of imperfections.  Jesus does not expect us to be perfect.  However, he does expect us to love.

I conclude with the wisdom of the great spiritual writer Jean Vanier:

Jesus says to you, I love you, and I want you to love each other.  I want you to kind to them the way I am kind.  I want you to care for them, the way I care for them.  I want you to be with them when they need you, as I am with you when you need me.

I want you to cherish them.  I want you to sacrifice for them, as I sacrifice for you.  Even if you must give up your life for them, I want you to do this, so that you might know my joy.

My joy is full by being with you, being part of your lives, being as close as a vine is to the branches, to live your life  with you, and hope that you will live my life with each other.

Then, if you do this, all people will know that the Son of God has come, and he has come with the Father, and the Father has come to bring peace and joy and hope to all peoples.

 

Have a Blessed Day.

 

What are the voices in your life that help you to recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd?

 

FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER B  2021

 

 

The Gospels for the eight Sundays of the Easter Season from Easter to Pentecost form a wonderfully cohesive progression from Jesus’ resurrection to our taking up Jesus’ mission to preach the Gospel.  The first three Sundays of Easter always feature appearance accounts of the Risen Lord.

 

This fourth Sunday is termed as Good Shepherd Sunday.  We are invited to reflect on Jesus’ great love and care for us and be assured that we will not be abandoned. Jesus will be with us always.  On this Good Shepherd Sunday, we begin our mission of discipleship as we move us into the second half of the Easter season and our preparation for the celebration of the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost.

 

Today, we hear the words of the Good Shepherd.  “I am the good Shepherd.  I know mine and mine know me.  I will lay down my life for the sheep.” 

 

They will know and recognize my voice.

 

The Shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  The sheep follow him because they do not follow the voice of a stranger.

 

Who speaks the voices in your life in which you feel that you are safe and very much loved?  A second important question:  How well do we recognize the voice of Jesus in our life?

 

Who in your family speaks words of unconditional love to you?  Who in our faith community speak words to you to assure you that you are safe and very much loved?  Who is the first person who spoke to you the words: “I love you?”  Who is the last person to speak those words to you?  When was the last time you spoke the words “I love you” to someone?

 

Our challenge is how to discern the voice of the Good Shepherd among all the voices in our society that want to demand our attention.  VOICES – We hear them all the time, from our first conscious moment till the day we die.  Voices hurt us, heal us, form our self-concept, encourage, or diminish us.   What voices do our youth listen to in the video games and the music and the culture that fantasizes and celebrates violence in all forms of our media?

 

We live in a country that has always been proud of its willingness to use force – sometimes legitimately, sometimes illegitimately – to get its way. 

 

We need to face to the reality that we are a nation that is addicted to violence.  It sustains us and entertains us.  And every now and then when it erupts in a place where we think it shouldn’t   -- we throw us our hands and wonder what went wrong.

 

Just as with person who is addicted to alcohol or drugs, nothing happens until you admit you have a problem.  Our problem as a society stems from the voices we are listening to that mold and shape us.

 

 

 

 

It is not the voice of the Good Shepherd, the Prince of Peace that molded and fashioned the violence that happens far too often in the streets of our cities.  Perhaps it is the voices of the video games and the music and the culture that fantasizes and celebrates violence in all forms of our media.

 

What would it take for the voice of the Good Shepherd to be the dominant voice that we hear in our society?  Perhaps a better advertising firm?  An improved website?  More money? 

 

Surely, it is much deeper than that.  There is a critical need for moral leadership in our society and in our church. We need to be able to hear the stirrings of God’s love that is within – our inner voice.

 

For the voice of the Good Shepherd to be our dominant voice, we need to tap into the inner resources of the mystery of God’s love that is within each one of us.  There is a longing in the hearts of each of us to hear and to know the voice of the Good Shepherd.

 

Today is the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.  Vocation comes from the Latin word vocare “to call.”  Our vocation is our response to the call of God in our lives.  Usually when we think of prayer for vocations, we are talking about prayer for vocations to the ordained ministry and religious life.  And I wish to speak to the importance of ordained ministry vocations in a moment or two, but first I wish to speak of vocation in the sense that we all have a God-given vocation. 

 

By Baptism, God calls the entire community of the baptized to be disciples, to be witnesses of His presence in our world.  All of us have a vocational story to share.  Your vocational story is to be found in the way you share the giftedness you have been given in the relationships, in the work, in the ways you live your life.  Your vocational story is your continuous response to God’s call.  To be aware of your vocation is to be aware of the voice of God in your life on this day.

 

You who are moms and dads, grandmothers and grandfathers, you have an awesome God-given vocation in your family life to witness to the mystery of God’s love in your family life.  My question for you is there prayer in your home family life?   Do you as a family give thanks to God in prayer for the blessings of your family life? If your prayer is unspoken in the hearing of your family, may I suggest that you think about how as a family you could pray together in your home?

 

Family life is a precious opportunity to recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd in your life.  My sister Jean shares that it was her son that was the voice of the Good Shepherd in their family life inviting his mom and dad and his siblings to pray together as a family.

 

It is beautiful when our prayer life invites us to be aware of the voice of the Good Shepherd in our lives.  May we also be aware of the ways we can recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd in the ways we are with each other.  In the actions of kindness, forgiveness, and service in which we receive from others and in the ways that we share our love and service with others are golden opportunities for us to discern the voice of the Good Shepherd in our lives.

 

Message here is that while moms and dads have a precious vocation, all of us without exception need to be aware of the call  of God in our lives in which we are to witness to the mystery of God’s love in our world. 

 

If all of us were to affirm that we have a vocational story to share, this faith community has the potential to transforming the communities in which we live to be place in which the dignity and life of each person would be loved and highly valued.

 

 

In the context of celebrating all the ways we hear and respond to the voice of the Good Shepherd in our lives, may we encourage and pray that some of the young men from our faith community will consider the call of God to the ordained priesthood and diaconate.   For me, the vocation of my ministry as a priest has been a source of grace, considerable joy, and a wonderful opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives.  It has given me the opportunity to get to know you and for us together to celebrate the mystery of God’s love in our midst.  Without any doubt, the Church needs people to respond to the call to the ordained ministry as a deacon and as a priest. 

 

 

Each of us is called to lead others to the gracious mercy of God.  Like the Good Shepherd, we do not do this by herding or forcing people along.  We seek to live lives of such self-evident joy that others can trust that we are leading them in the path of life eternal.

 

Jesus, our Good Shepherd, give us the grace to gently lead others to become more aware of our love and of God’s love.

 

Have a Blessed Day.

 

Catholics aren't perfect; they are forgiven.

 

Third Sunday of Easter  B  2021

 

The New Testament contains many accounts describing for us the experience of the original disciples of Jesus as they found faith through their encounter with their Risen Lord.  The writers of the New Testament pass on these stories in order to share the wonder of finding faith and new purpose through an encounter with the Risen Lord.

Last Sunday we heard the Resurrection appearances of the Risen Lord as it was recalled by the community of John’s Gospel.  Today, we hear Luke’s account of the disciples’ meeting with the Risen Savior.

What is common to all of these stories is the coherent description of how the disciples came to a deeper faith in the Risen Lord:  First, the disciples are confused and frightened; when Jesus comes in their midst, finding faith in him is not easy and immediate; his greeting, however, and his loving acceptance of them into his abiding friendship brings them a great joy, and they find full faith in him; he instructs – all that has taken place is according to the designs of God set forth in the Scriptures; he charges them with the mission of bringing to the whole world the good news of their Resurrection faith and the forgiveness of sins it brings; he promises the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Picking up on the beginning of today’s Gospel, I invite all of us to see our spiritual journey as our Road to Emmaus.  In the challenges and the fears and the hopes of our lives on this day, the Risen Savior is present as he was with those first disciples on their Road to Emmaus.

Our challenge is to recognize how Jesus is present in the challenges and the relationships of our lives.

My question for your prayer is:  Who are the strangers in your midst?  What startles and terrifies you recently?  Why are you troubled?  As you wrestle with these questions, perhaps you too will discover the presence of the Risen Christ.

In the Gospel account, Jesus showed his disciples his hands and his wounded side and said: “Touch Me.”  As with the apostle Thomas, Jesus showed his hands and his side.  For Thomas, he did not understand the meaning of resurrection faith until he touched the wounds of Christ.  I would suggest we are more like Thomas than we might think.  For us to come to an in-depth intimacy with the Risen Lord in our hearts and in our spirit, we must first touch the wounds of Christ. How do we do that?  Simply look to our life experiences.  The wounds of Christ can be found in our dealing with this pandemic crisis, in the instability of our economy, un  the violence we live with in our society,  in our broken hearts when we haven’t experienced mutuality in the love  we have given, in the illnesses in our lives, and in the experience of death in our family life.

 

As we know, what often keeps us from a resurrection faith and hope in the presence of the Risen Lord are the struggles and the messiness of life.  The questions of life often lead to more questions than faith.  Sometimes, we do not experience inner peace as we wrestle with the struggles of brokenness in relationship, with our health, and the disillusionment we experience with failed leadership in the Church, on Wall Street, and in our nation’s leaders.

 

Yet, the mystery of the faith journey of each of us is that we need to look at the messiness and the questions and the disappointments of life; we need to look at this life experiences with faith-filled eyes.  Yes. God accompanies in the struggles of life.  For us to encounter the joy of the Risen Lord, we first need to encounter the crucified Lord in the struggles.

Nancy Veronesi in today’s bulletin calls this experience our sharing in the paschal mystery of the dying and rising of Jesus.  Strange, as it seems, we need to die before we die.  We need to die to our sinfulness, our demons, all that is within that does not witness to the love of Jesus for one and all.

It is the law of spiritual gravity that we need to experience and to trust in Jesus in the wounds of our life so that we may be reborn in trusting and hoping in new life that is God’s Easter promise to us.

Yes, we all struggle in one way or another.  All of us are confronted with touching the wounds of Christ in the struggles of our lives.  In the midst of these struggles, the Risen Jesus speaks these words to us: “Peace be with you.”  Can we experience the love of the Risen Lord in the midst of the struggles of life? 

Will we be any better able to recognize him than those first disciples?  Jesus showed his first disciples his wounded hands and feet and spoke “peace” to them.  Could it be that Jesus is showing us his wounded body in the sick and the homeless who need our care, in the immigrants or prisoners who need to be rekindled by our Easter zeal?

This is a bit of challenge at times because the Church can be compared to the New York City subway.  It’s uncomfortable at times; it’s too crowded at times; it’s often broke; but it gets where you want to go

As we reflect on the Gospel, I would highlight two other components of the Gospel story that are also two movements in our spiritual journey.

1.      We are a Eucharistic people.  “While they were still incredulous, Jesus asked them: “have you anything here to eat?”  As for those first disciples, and so too for us, our own privileged encounter with the Risen Jesus is at table on the Lord’s day, in the context of the community’s meal.

As it was true for the disciples on the way to Emmaus, the Risen Lord is made known in the breaking of the bread.  And so, we gather for the Eucharistic Breaking of the Bread.  We gather to give thanks to the Lord our God for what God has done for us.  We gather to give thanks for the longing that is within us to experience the presence of the Risen Lord in the Eucharist and in the people of our lives

 

2.      The first disciples were to be a missionary people.  Jesus commissioned them “to be witnesses of these things.”  Jesus sends forth the disciples to bear witness.  How often Pope Francis reminds us that we “touch the flesh of Christ” in the wounds of our suffering brothers and sisters to whom we are sent forth from every Eucharist as witnesses of Jesus’ self-sacrificing love.

We seek the grace to be a Eucharistic people who glorify the Lord by the way we witness to God’s love in all that we say and do in the service of one another.

 

Have a Blessed Day.

We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song.

 

Easter 2021

 

In these days of the Easter Triduum which climax with this celebration of the Lord’s resurrection, we have encountered the Lord in different ways.

 

In the Liturgy of the Lord’s supper on Holy Thursday, we encountered the Lord with a towel around his waist washing the feet of his disciples giving us an example of service that his rooted in the Lord’s radical love for us, and we also encountered the Lord in this Sacrament of the Eucharist.

 

In the liturgy of Good Friday, we encounter the crucified Lord on the cross focusing not even so much on the suffering that Jesus endured but rather focusing on his unconditional love for us.

Now on this Easter day, the first disciples did not exactly experience the Resurrection event with the magnificence of Easter music and Easter flowers and a wonderful sense of celebration.  The first disciples did not immediately proclaim:  We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song.

For the first disciples, their Easter faith was much more gradual.  The first disciples encountered the empty tomb before experiencing the Risen Lord.  The Easter Gospel speaks of the empty tomb experiences of Mary Magdalene and the apostles Peter and John.  They only gradually came to an Easter faith.

An important truth of our lives is that we discover important things about our lives at the empty tomb.  Our dealing with this pandemic for many of us is an empty tomb experience as we have been confined to our homes, and we haven’t been able to gather as we would like.

 

This brutal virus makes us feel that we are locked up in a dark tomb for an impossibly long duration, as though the darkness of “Good Friday” might go on forever with little hope in sight.  COVID-19 is virtually the Way of the Cross for all of humanity.

Yet today, as we celebrate Easter morning, may the grace of this Easter Day take on a transformed meaning for us.  For we have been living in the darkness of this pandemic, confined to a kind of tomb-like existence. 

As with the first disciples, our empty tomb experiences are the moments of darkness and confusion in life.  As we peer into the empty tombs of the ups and downs of everyday life, we are challenged to see and believe as the apostle John did as he stared into the empty tomb.

There is the story of the man whose dad came home from the II World War; his dad worked in a factory with a very menial job; he had t pay his won way through college.  Frankly he didn’t think too highly of his dad because he didn’t seem to amount to much.

The young got himself a job in an international conglomerate and seemed to be moving up the ladder of success.

His dad died and at his dad’s wake in walk the CEO of this international conglomerate.  The man was as pleased as could be and went to the CEO to thank for coming to the wake.  The CEO then asked:  are you a relative of the deceased Frank.  The man quickly that he was Frank’s son.  The CEO responded:  “So, you’re the son.”  Then he went to say that your dad saved his life during the II World War and pulled him out of harm’s way.  They had kept in touch, exchanged Christmas cards, and the man repeatedly had told Frank that if there is anything I can do for you, please let me know.  After some years, Frank finally did ask for a favor.  He asked if he get his son a job in his international conglomerate.

Immediately the son was filled with shame in not appreciating his dad and what he had done for him.

On this Easter day, may we be thankful for all that our family has done for us.

More than ever on this beautiful Easter day, we need to trust and embrace the grace Jesus offers.  The Risen Jesus calls us by name and offers us the grace to walk away from the empty tombs of the fears and the demons of our lives so that we live with Easter joy and an Easter peace.  This indeed is our journey to an Easter faith.

On this Easter day the Risen Lord wishes to identify with us and to enter into the experience of the people he loves.  Today God is sending this Easter message to us that the Risen Lord showers upon us the joy and peace that accompanies us as an Easter people.

For me, it is an experience of Easter joy to be connected with you -- those of you who are in this Church on this beautiful Easter Day and those of you are who are present to us virtually.   I can see your smiling faces even though your masks and I am blessed with the friendships we share as a community of faith.  Recently I had another birthday, would you believe.  I would like to share with you my very favorite birthday card that I received.  It was from 3-year-old Anna Hickey.  Anna wrote on this home-made card.  Dear Father Jim, I like coming to Church because everyone is really nice.   Love, Anna Hickey.

For me, this was a most touching birthday-Easter Message.   From Anna, she comes to Church not because it is a day of obligation under the pain of mortal sin.  She comes to Church because she experiences the love of this faith community.

May Anna’s birthday greeting to me define who we are as a faith community.  May we be an Easter people who want to be together to give praise and thanks to our God and be a people who enjoy sharing our love with one another.

This virus has not dimmed one iota God’s love for each and everyone one of us.  The Lord’s Easter message is that all are welcome; all are forgiven; and all are loved by the Risen Lord.

 Jesus is present to us in this moment as much as He was present to Mary Magdalene on the first Easter day. Like Mary, we may have difficulty recognizing how the Risen Lord is present during these days. 

This Easter Day we are challenged to think differently about the blessings of our lives. I am a believer that we can find the joy of the Risen Lord in the blessings of life we enjoy on this day.   Yes, we can’t travel to be with extended family, but may our Easter blessing be the gratitude we have for the family we are with.  Social distance does not lead us to social paranoia – fear of my brother and sister.  Instead, may we be led to new forms of solidarity with one another.

May our Easter faith in the presence of the Risen Christ within our hearts fill us with an Easter joy.   Allow yourself to be loved by the God who goes with us in this pandemic crisis.  Yes, we are looking for a vaccine to protect us from this virus, but be assured that with the eyes of faith the vaccine we most need is found in our solidarity with the Risen Lord and in our solidarity with each other as a community of faith.

We are an Easter people.  This means that are not buried in the tomb of our sins, evil habits, dangerous addictions or this pandemic crisis.  Our Resurrection faith gives us the Good News that no tomb can hold us down anymore -- not the tomb of despair, discouragement or doubt, not that of death.  Instead, the joy of the Risen Lord fills our spirit.

May we listen as the Risen Lord calls us by name and welcomes us into the joy of sharing in His Risen life. 

We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song.

Have a Blessed Easter Day.

Liturgically we light the Easter candle representing the light of the Risen Christ. This Easter candle needs to be lit in the deep recesses of our hearts.

 

EASTER VIGIL  2021

 

Under the cloud of COVID – 19, the great Easter Vigil, the mother of all vigils, is celebrated in a muted fashion this evening.

Muted in the sense we are missing some of the powerful symbols of our Easter celebration, but, without doubt, God is still with us in this joyous celebration of the Easter liturgy.  

We gather in-person and through the gift of livestreaming to express and to celebrate the Easter message:   all are welcome; all are forgiven; and the Lord seeks to fill this world with his love.  May this Easter joy fill our hearts in a way that is beyond the reach of any virus.

From the first Scripture reading, the creation account from the Book of Genesis,  we hear:  "In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep.

In the beginning, all was a dark void.

And in this empty tomb where Jesus was buried, we find the same reality--it is a dark void.

 How many times will we find ourselves in that dark place? A place where any ray of hope is extinguished in the vacuum of fear, of not knowing, of total emptiness.  Do we sometimes have this feeling when our fears get the best of us in dealing with COVID-19 -- the darkness of this shattering reality that we had no idea was coming our way.

But in that place, somehow through the grace of God, we must be patient. As was true in the Creation account, we must wait for the wind of the Spirit, the "wind from God that sweeps over the face of the waters" to fan the dim embers of our faith.

"Then God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light.... God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day."

You see, both darkness and light are part of the first day. Darkness and light are halves of every day ever since that first day.

Darkness and light are essential parts of our lives. And when we find ourselves in that dark lonely place, we must remind ourselves of this truth. There will always ultimately be light in the midst of the darkness.

Darkness is shorthand for anything that scares me—the darkness of a terrifying diagnosis -- either because I am sure that I do not have the resources to survive it or because I do not want to find out.

Darkness is part of every day. But there will be light. What would our lives with God look like if we trusted this rhythm of darkness and light instead of fighting it?  The Easter message of the Risen Lord to us is that the light of the Risen Christ will overcome any and all darkness we experience.

In the paschal mystery of Jesus, the darkness of suffering and death gives way to the light of the Risen Lord.  Yes, our spiritual journey consists in finding that grace-filled rhythm of light and darkness in the life journey of each one of us.

Liturgically we light the Easter Candle because we believe in the light that comes from the Risen Lord.  Indeed, in the light that comes from the Risen Lord, the darkness of fear and the darkness of sin is no more.  This Easter candle needs to be lit in the deep recesses of our hearts.

Yes, there is uncertainty of how long we are going to be in isolation caused by this pandemic; Yes, we are worried about the health of those we love; yes, we may be dealing with the reality of unemployment; Jesus himself takes on human suffering to draw closer to us; but when the Easter candle is lit in the deep recesses of our hearts, we can proclaim with boldness that we are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song.

In this Easter season, may we allow God to fill our hearts with an Easter joy that no one or no situation can take from us.

This night is a night of Easter Joy.   

 

Easter joy can come from unexpected places.  For me, I had another birthday recently, would you believe.  My very favorite birthday was a three-year old Anna Hickey.  It contained for me a most touching birthday/Easter message.  The homemade card read:  Dear Father Jim, I like coming to Church because everyone is really nice.  Love, Anna Hickey.

For me this is an Easter dream, when Anna and everyone else comes to Church to give praise and thanks to God and we enjoy being together as a community who are really nice to each other.  Anna comes to Church not because it is a day of obligation under pain of mortal sin; rather she comes to Church because everyone is really nice.

Jesus worded this message slightly different in his farewell message to his Disciples.  Jesus said: “By this all shall know that you are my disciples, by your love for one another.

In the words of Pope Francis, the grandeur of life lies not in possessions and promotions, but in realizing that we are loved and in experiencing the beauty of loving others.

God desires our Easter friendship.  God desires that we share our friendship with each other. May we allow the Risen Lord to fill this world and our hearts with His love.

Have a Blessed Easter Day.

 

 

 

 

As we venerate the cross today, think about the love God has for you and thank Him.

 

GOOD FRIDAY  2021

 

The last words spoken by Jesus on the cross were: “It is finished.”  Jesus then bowed and gave up His spirit.

When Jesus spoke those final words, he wasn’t just saying, "This is the end of me" as if there was nothing else to do but to give in to his enemies and die. His last words weren’t a final surrender to the power of Satan as if to say, "You have won. I’m done for". These words don’t tell us that Jesus was dead now and that’s all there is to it. He is finished and so is everything that he stood for and promised during his earthly life.

Rather, is it most important to understand that Jesus is saying his mission of saving the world has been completed.  He has finished the task that God has given Him to do, and nothing can be added to what has been done.  Jesus' announcement from the cross, "It is finished" is clear and simple. Jesus has completed his mission. The reason why he came as a human has been fulfilled. He came so that you and I can have forgiveness and salvation. He came to give us the victory. He came to ensure that we would enter his kingdom and live forever.

While on Good Friday, we think of the sufferings of Jesus.  As we pray the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary, we reflect on the Agony of the Garden, the Scourging at the pillar, the crowning with thorns, carrying the cross, and finally his crucifixion. Jesus endured pain, soul-wrenching agony, hanging by the nails in his hands for hours, death on a rough wooden cross, for our sakes

But it is not suffering, not even the suffering of Jesus, that makes this day Good Friday.  It is Good Friday because of love, the reconciling love of God that is revealed to us in the person of Jesus.

God did all this for us. He did all this because of his love for us.  Paul writes, "God has shown us how much he loves us—it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us! … We were God's enemies, but he made us his friends through the death of his Son.” That’s how much God loves us – Jesus died for us even though we don’t deserve it. His death has made us God's friends

That’s why we call today "Good Friday". We call today "Good Friday" because the cross is proof of the powerful love that God has for each of us. No one, not even God, would do something like that unless he truly loved us. Here we see a love that was prepared to endure the ultimate in order to rescue us.

The Good Friday liturgy calls to mind what happened historically to Jesus so long ago.  May the Good Friday liturgy also help us to call to mind the ways Jesus still suffers in the hearts of so many refugees, so many people who are hungry for food for their bodies and the food of love for their spirits. 

Today’s celebration must help us realize that Christ continues to suffer in many of our brothers and sisters. There are too many people that suffer hunger, cold, solitude and discriminations. Perhaps, we do not take note of them. So, our Good Friday liturgy must help us see them.

Also, Christ is suffering and dying in each of us because we are still tied to many things that imprison us. We continue to be slaves of our sins, habits, and weaknesses.  This Good Friday, Christ calls us from the cross to a total change, and to be generous with our lives as he was with his for the sake of our salvation.

As we venerate the cross during our liturgy today, pray and ponder what Jesus has done for you through His death on the cross.  In our Good Friday prayer, we ask for the grace even to embrace the cross as we experience how we are called to be the followers of the crucified Christ.  How can we deal with the crosses and the sufferings of life?

We find meaning in the crosses of our life when we know in the depths of our hearts that the cross of Jesus is a symbol of love and a symbol of hope.   The cross brings to mind the sacrificial love of the one who hangs there. It is a clear proof of His love that He laid down His life for us and challenges to do the same for our brothers and sisters. 

As we venerate the cross during our liturgy today, pray and ponder about what Jesus has done for you through his death on the cross.  Think about the love that God has for you and thank him.