Sacred Heart of Jesus, I placed my trust in you.

 

Twelfth Sunday in OT  A  2023

 

“Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?  Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.   Even all the hairs of your head are counted.  So, do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

How believable are these words of Jesus?  ”Even all the hairs of your head are counted.  So, do not be afraid.”  How would life be for us if we stop being afraid? 

In fact, when you reflect upon this, “Do not be afraid” is perhaps the most often repeated statement in the Scriptures.

In the first Scripture reading, the Prophet Jeremiah needed to hear those words of Jesus: “Do not be afraid.”   He was the reluctant prophet.  He knew what it was to be afraid.  Indeed, Jeremiah’s prophetic career was riddled with countless fearsome experiences.  When called by God, he feared he was too young.  He feared he would not know what to say or how to speak to his contemporaries in God’s name.  He feared facing others with the truth of their sinfulness.  He feared to speak God’s Word.  He feared not to speak it as well, and when he spoke it, he feared its consequences.  In the Scripture reading today, his hearers wanted to denounce Jeremiah and to lay a trap for him.  You didn’t have to tell Jeremiah about fear.  He was an expert on the subject.

 

Are we in some ways like the prophet Jeremiah?  Is fear the background music of most of our lives?  Do we even fear the cost of doing the right things at times?

 

To the first disciples, Jesus says: “Fear no one…What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light.  What you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops…Do not be afraid.” 

 

What does Jesus do after giving these awesome marching orders to his disciples?  Give them body cameras to wear.  Or perhaps sell them life insurance if things didn’t turn out so well.  Give them bullet-proof vests.  Teach them how to diffuse conflict.  No!  Jesus simply repeats: “Do not be afraid.” 

 

What about ourselves and our fears?

 

How can we really stop being afraid?   As we dig down deeper, there is an aspect of fear that is healthy for all of us.  For example, we should have a healthy fear of the corona virus.   Common sense tells us at times we should be cautious about our health and safety.

 

So, there is an aspect of fear that is built into us that seeks to keep us safe. 

 

However, the message of Jesus calls us in a deeper sense not to be afraid.   Is there something we can do to stop being afraid?  No.  The only way we can stop being afraid is if we trust in God’s promise to us.  The God who watches over even the commonest of birds will take care of us.   Our best response to God’s promise is simply to celebrate, rejoice, and give thanks.

 

Yes, but…Who can believe this?  Who can live without fear?  We are suspicious even of promises.  We are always hearing of promises that aren’t kept.   Even the promises made on one’s wedding are not always kept.  Regrettably, the life experience of many of us have taught us to be suspicious of promises.

                                                                                                  

Yet Jesus made many incredible far-reaching promises:  not only about God knowing every hair on our heads and promising to care for us, but also remember some of the other promises of Jesus: “Today, you will be with me in paradise.”  “I go to prepare a place for you.”  “I am with you always.”  “I tell you, your sins are forgiven.”  From the Beatitudes:  those who mourn will be comforted; the meek will inherit the earth; the pure in heart will see God.”

 

Some of the first disciples believed that when Jesus was crucified, these promises seemed to be all cancelled out.  He had failed.  He was just a dreamer.  Even his disciples no longer followed.  In the accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they are nowhere to be seen at the crucifixion.  All of them deserted and fled.  Pete denied even knowing Jesus.

 

Thanks be to God.  Jesus’ death was not the end of the story.  God raised Jesus.  God made sure that Jesus could keep his promises.  Even death will not keep Jesus from keeping the promises He has made to us, because if we die with Him and we will be raised with Him.  That’s a promise.  And it’s the basis for our hope in all the other promises.  Even the sparrows don’t fall to the ground apart from God the Father, and we are of greater value than many sparrows.

 

From the Gospel, Jesus says that “Everyone who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven.”  That’s a promise.

 

In our spiritual journey given perhaps our old eyes of experience where we have been hurt, are we able to embrace the promises of the one who lived and died and rose again so that we no longer have to be afraid.

 

Yes, we have fragile bodies, but as a people of faith, what would it take for us to live in the freedom of the children of God?  What would it take for us to be convicted that fear must give way to hope?

For us as the disciples of Jesus, fear is not an option.

Today that same crucified and risen Lord is in our midst, allowing us to stop being afraid because of the powerful love of God on which the promise is based:  “Even the hairs of your head are counted; you are of more value than many sparrows.”  The promise continues in the mystery of the Eucharist as we hear Jesus say that “this bread is my body, given for you,” and “this wine is my blood, shed for you.”  We receive Christ in the bread and wine because He promises to share His life with us.   Do not be afraid; I am with you; even the hairs on your hear are counted; and you live in the midst of God’s unending love for you.

 

 

Just echo the word 'trust' as you sit in silence;
let this gift and call of trust fill your being.
Sacred heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in you

 

 

 

You can't wait for the storm to pass; you need to learn how to dance in the rain.

 

ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME  A  2023

 

Father’s Day

 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is traveling to all the towns and villages of Galilee. And he is described as doing two main things: 1. “proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom”   2. “curing every disease and illness”

 

So, what does this make Jesus? the motivational speaker and the talented doctor? What exactly is Jesus doing? 1) Upon first hearing, “proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom” sounds terribly vague to me. Nowadays, when we say, “proclaim the gospel”, we tend to think of someone reading or reciting Bible verses. Is Jesus reading Old Testament verses in town square after town square?

 

No. Jesus is doing so much more. Firstly, “gospel” means “good news”—which Jesus uniquely proclaims. Jesus proclaims the kingdom of God.  The kingdom of God is God Himself. And so, Jesus is not reading a message from a book. Jesus is sharing God. In the end, Jesus is revealing that God is “at hand”, God is present and accessible and revealing that, being the God-man, He is the doorway unto God. Jesus does not inform about God. Jesus gives God.

 

 

The original message of Jesus was that God is already in us and among us; the message is still the same today.  In the words of the Gospel, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  We are living in the reign of God.  So, if you are waiting for God to come into your life and cure your cancer or save your job, you misunderstand the reality of God’s presence.  God is already in your life.  If that is not enough for you, that is a personal tragedy.  God is already in your life.  We are to claim and become more unaware of God’s unending love for us.

 

In the midst of life challenges, God is present to you and within you.

 

A way of saying the same message is:  “You can’t wait for the storm to pass; you need to learn how to dance in the rain.”  God’s presence within you enables us to dance in the midst of the struggles of life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2) Jesus also cures every disease and illness. This second thing that Jesus does is a very manifest consequence of God’s presence. When God is present, we are healed: “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.

 

 In the Gospel account, “Jesus went about all the cities and  villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing any disease and every sickness.”  Jesus is on the move, teaching, preaching, and healing.  He is bringing his way of life to all who will hear him.  His energy comes from compassion.  When he sees people troubled and abandoned, he identifies with them.  His heart goes out to them.

 

 

Today we celebrate Fathers’ Day.  Our congratulations go out to the Dads in our faith community.  May your special day be filled with joy and gratitude for the blessings of your family.  My prayer for the fathers of our faith community is that they give abundant witness to the compassion of God in their family life.  In today’s second Scripture reading in Paul’s letter to the Romans, Paul writes:  “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”  This shows what is involved in divine love, that is, a willingness to die for the undeserving.  Dads, your most biggest challenge in all of life is to witness to God’s love in the life of your family.  To that end, you must pray over Paul’s letter to the Romans.  You are to become channels for passing on that love to others without evaluating how much they deserve it or their capacity to return your love.  You are very much in our prayer today that you will be the icons of God’s love and compassion for your children.

 

In the Gospel, Jesus says to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest.”  While Catholic tradition tends to think of “laborers for his harvest” as priests, deacons and religious, the ministry of compassion is the work of disciples, of the entire community of the baptized.  Don’t get me wrong.  We need to identify young men in our parish community who will respond to the ministry of compassion as ordained priests.  We need to invite young men in our parish to respond to the call to the ordained priesthood and to the permanent diaconate.  Deacon Roger and I are most willing to share this ministry with you.

 

 

 

 

At the same time, may everyone in Church hear and respond to God’s call to the ministry of compassion.   June is the month for final exams.  As the greatest of teachers, Jesus gave his disciples a final exam too.  He sent them out to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and drive out demons.  Within our limitations,

Jesus gives us the same test.  We are called to bring healing to the sick by our love and care.  We are called to bring life to places and situations where hope seems dead.  We are called to cleanse the leprosy of hate, prejudice and injustice.  We are called to drive out these demons from our midst 

 

May we make visible in our parish community the compassion and welcome of Jesus to all who stand in need.

 

 

What is also wondrous, is that, as Jesus makes use of us, we too are being enlightened and healed and liberated and cleansed. God gives freely indeed. We must, in turn, freely give. Otherwise, we betray the love, and, in the process, stunt our growth and happiness. Being an instrument is not an option for a true disciple. It is intrinsic to the love with which we are freely loved. Let us then desire. Let us then love.

 

Pope Francis: The Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect; it is medicine for the sick.

 

Body and Blood of Christ  A  2023

 

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ – the Feast of Corpus Christi.  We celebrate the Mystery of the Eucharist.

May we ponder in faith and in awe the mystery that we celebrate.

Today as we receive Communion, as we receive the host in our hands at Communion, we are holding the Body of Christ.  We are holding Jesus who taught us his parables of love and forgiveness for one and all.  We are holding in our hands Jesus who walked on the water.  We are holding in our hands Jesus who died on the cross to save us from our sins.

What a profound privilege we have to receive the Body and Blood of Christ!

Regrettably, is it not true, we too easily take for granted this mystery of the Eucharist.

Sad to say, it is easy to neglect spiritual food.  It’s too easy to skip daily prayer and the weekly celebration of the Eucharist.  We often don’t seem any worse for the wear and tear.  But over the long haul, we can get out of touch with our deepest spiritual hungers.

The thing of it is with spiritual hungers; we can be spiritually hungry without being in touch with our deep hunger.  As the great St. Augustine, you have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in thee.

Far from being a pit stop for fast food and entertainment in the journey of life, the gift of the Body and Blood of Christ is the necessary sustenance for the spiritual growth of each member of the community and for the community itself.

As we reflect on the mystery of the Sunday Eucharist, we are reflecting on the central prayer of our faith tradition.  We are part of a tradition that is nearly 2000 years old.  The Sunday Eucharist is our participation in the paschal mystery of Christ Jesus.  The Sunday Eucharist satisfies the deepest hungers of the human heart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the congregation approaches the altar and receives communion, it is as if the Church is filling up with Christ.  We are not only in union with Christ, but we are also in communion with all those who receive him.  The Eucharist is a community affair, not simply Jesus and me.  We are not only in union with Christ; we are in communion with all those who receive Christ.  This is the meaning of Church.  The Church is a people of God who are in union with Christ in the mystery of the Eucharist.  We are also a people in communion with all those who receive Christ Jesus in the Eucharist.

There are some who want us to judge whether a person is worthy or eligible to receive Communion.  I am clearly not in that lane.  I believe that none of us are worthy to receive Communion and so we pray before receiving Communion:  Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof but say but the word and my soul shall be healed.”  This is a profound truth that it is the love and mercy of Jesus that enables us to approach the altar.

As Pope Francis, the Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect; it is medicine for the sick.

The Eucharist is our bond of communion with Christ who cleanses us our sins and unites in marvelous communion with God and gives our dignity to be God’s beloved sons and daughters.  Further, the Eucharist binds us together with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.  We are called to be the Body of Christ – the bearers of hope and love to people who are sick in body and spirit.

The Mass is our greatest prayer; we gather to give thanks to the Lord our God.  Yet it is what we do outside the Mass that also determines the genuineness of the offering we make at the altar each Sunday.  By our mutual love and by our concern for those in need we will be recognized as true followers of Christ.  Go in peace glorifying the Lord by our lives in all that we say and do this day and every day.

 

 

 

 

As a Eucharistic community, we gather with an attitude of gratitude.  We gather to give, to give thanks to the Lord our God.  We give thanks because we have been fed and nourished at the Table of the Lord with a food that enables to live as Jesus lives, to love as Jesus loves, to forgive as Jesus forgives.  Amen

 

Have a Blessed Day.

 

 

 

 

The great truth of Pentecost is that the Holy Spirit has the power to enlarge and expand the human heart.

 

PENTECOST  2023

 

On this Feast of Pentecost, we come with grateful hearts always giving thanks to the Lord our God for Father Bob as we celebrate his 95^th birthday and celebrate my 55^th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood. What both Fr Bob and I are both well aware of; it is not our skill or talents that energizes; it is the grace of God working through us. It is the grace of Pentecost, the spirit of Christ Jesus, that energizes our unending desire to minister in the service of our faith communities.

We come with an attitude of gratitude, having no desire to retire. Rather, we have the desire to serve. We discover the love of God best when we seek to minister in the name of Jesus.

Today’s Gospel describes the three gifts that define the priestly ministry of Father Bob and I, and further they are three gifts from God that are to characterize our faith communities.

The first gift comes from the first words of the Risen Jesus to his disciples: “Peace be with you.”  The first message of the resurrection is peace. To disciples who were fearful and kept behind locked doors as their leader had been tortured and crucified, Jesus comes and says, “Peace. Everything is OK.”  The message of the Resurrection is that no matter what happens to us, the Father will not let defeat and death be the end. He will raise us up just as he raised Jesus from defeat to victory.

The Peace of the Lord for Fr Bob and myself has been an inner resource, the spirit of Christ that is within us that defines our faith and our discipleship that the Lord accompanies us in all circumstances and thus there is nothing to fear.

But this peace is not a peace of stillness; it is not a peace of sleep. Immediately after wishing the disciples peace, Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

Peace is the first gift of the Resurrection, but mission is the second. Jesus gives the disciples and us a mission: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”

We have the same mission today as Jesus had from His Father, to spread the good news of the Father’s love, of the Father’s compassion and mercy. Our mission, like that of Jesus, is to help establish the kingdom of God, a kingdom of justice, of peace and of love.

Even after many years of priestly between us, even though we could have retired some years ago, simply put, Fr Bob and I were ordained to carry on the mission that was given to Jesus and to all of us as the disciples of Jesus. Our mission continues to spread the good news of the Father’s love, compassion, and mercy.

The third gift of the Resurrection is the Spirit. Jesus breathes on the disciples and says: “Receive the Holy Spirit.”  In John’s Gospel, we do not to wait for Pentecost. The Spirit is given on Easter Sunday.

 It is the Holy Spirit that gives us courage to take up the mission of Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit that transforms us into the Body of Christ. It is the Holy Spirit that inspires us with love for all our brothers and sisters. It is the Holy Spirit that gives us the power to forgive each other’s sins.

We see how the growth of the Church took place with the influence of the Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles. The Book of Acts is the story of the incredible growth of the first Christian communities. The Acts of the Apostles is kind of like a Gospel of the Holy Spirit. In the first four books of the New Testament, we learn the Good News of what God did through Jesus Christ in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In the Book of Acts of the Apostles, we learn the Good News of what God did through the Holy Spirit.

The first and foremost attribute of the servant church in the Acts of the Apostles is its daring openness to the Spirit.  It is our prayer that we the Church make room for the release of the Spirit in the life of the community and the courage to act when it does. We are not to fall back into being the safe and self-absorbed church, but rather a place of miraculous hope and extravagant hospitality.

God chose a young virgin named Mary to bear God’s Son, and Jesus chose a bunch of Galilean fishermen to share in His ministry.  God chooses Father Bob and myself to proclaim the Good News of the love of Jesus to the faith communities of St Joseph’s and Holy Spirit. Further, God chooses you to hear and witness to His message of hope and promise and love in this place and in our world this day.

The great truth of Pentecost – for the first disciples and for us as well – is that the Holy Spirit has the power to enlarge and expand the human heart if we allow the Spirit of Jesus to grow and enliven us from within.

 

The great meaning of Pentecost is that it was time for God to be born again not in one body that was Jesus but this time in a body of believers who would receive the breath of life from their Lord and pass it to others. We see how the growth of the Church took place with the influence of the Holy Spirit.

 Defensive Christianity is not a Biblical idea. The posture of Christian disciples is not hiding in fear to protect ourselves. No, the disciples are sent to proclaim the Good News of the love of Jesus to one and all. St. Joseph’s and Holy Spirit are called to be sister parishes who help and serve and love one another.

Now more than ever, we invoke the Holy Spirit to wipe away the darkness of anxiety allowing us to be guided by the light of Christ and to trust in God’s promise of new life.

On this day of Pentecost, may we pray for healing and unity for our Church and our nation as we now come to the Table of the Lord. May we all commit ourselves to using our God-given giftedness in the service of one another.

Have a Blessed Day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus' prayer to his Father: "I have finished the work you gave me to do."

 

Seventh Sunday of Easter A  2023

 

In today’s Gospel, we are entering upon very holy ground.  Throughout the Gospel of John, we see the compassionate heart of Jesus as He brings healing to sick people and food to the hungry.    In the Johannine Gospel, we find the love of God demonstrated and explained as nowhere else.  Then in John’s 17^th chapter, we are allowed to glimpse into Jesus’ very soul.

Perhaps we never get any closer to someone else than when we know about their prayer life.  As we eavesdrop on the prayer of Jesus in today’s Gospel, we are indeed entering holy ground.

The setting for this prayer of Jesus is the upper room on the eve of Jesus’s passion and death.  Jesus had just celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples and had washed their feet to give them an example of how they were to continue the mission of Jesus in the life of the Church.

Jesus’s impending death is not a disruption of God’s plan but part of God’s mysterious providence.  Jesus had accomplished His work, revealing the love of the Father for us.  Now it is the time to teach the meaning of that love by His willingness to lay down even His own life.  His dying is his greatest act of giving.

The Lord prayed for his disciples gathered around Him.  At the same time, he looked ahead to the community of disciples of all centuries.  In His prayer for disciples of all time, he saw us too, and he prayed for us.  He prayed that we be consecrated in truth.

“Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come.  Give glorify to your Son, so that your Son may glorify you…I have glorified you on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do…I have made your name known to those you have given me…They were yours and you gave them to me…Consecrate them in truth…I have made your name known to them so that the love with which you loved may be in them, and so that I may be in them.”

The prayer of Jesus to his heavenly Father was a prayer of gratitude that Jesus had finished the work that the Father had given Him to do.  He had made the Lord’s name known to His followers.

Jesus then prayed for us His disciples.  Jesus prayed that we would let God love us and live in us.  To do that, we need, first of all, to trust that God truly does love us.  As John says, we need to know and to believe in the love God has for us.  When we let the reality of God’s love for us sink deeply into who we are and what we believe, something dramatic happens.  We begin to love one another.  We become witnesses to God’s love by letting everyone else see what that love looks like when it is alive in a person’s life.   By being loved so deeply, we become lovers.  We become witnesses to the God whose love brings eternal life -- witnesses to the resurrection.

Jesus finished the work the Father had given Him to do.  What about us?  Do I have a sense of the work God has given me to do?  In other words, what is the purpose of my life.  As a parent, as a sibling, as a leader, as a parishioner, as a member of the community of the baptized, what is the work that God has given you to do.  We are very grounded in discipleship if we try to make the prayer of Jesus our own prayer.  This very evening, I invite you to reflect on the day and with a prayer of gratitude may we say in prayer that we have finished the work God has given us to do for this day.  If there is room for improvement, we ask for the Holy Spirit to be with us tomorrow.

Of course, it would be naïve to think that this is a simple process.  The first followers of Jesus knew all about the resistance to the extraordinary good news about God’s love that Jesus had brought to them.  They knew about the betrayal of Judas, about their own abandonment of Jesus, and about Jesus’ death on Calvary.  God created the world and everything in it good.  But in ways that are hard to understand, there is sometimes abandonment and betrayal of this goodness.  There is hostility and resistance in our world to the message of God’s love for us –  in the political warfare that takes place in the halls of our Congress, in the Church itself there can be hypocrisy and disillusionment, and in our personal and family relationships there can be too much brokenness.  We know all too well the demons we have within ourselves that keep us from witnessing to the forgiving love of God in all circumstances of life.

Jesus in His prayer to his heavenly Father prayed for us with the words:  This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ

What is so important for us as we seek eternal life with God is that eternal life is not just for the future:  it a gift partly given now in our faith.  To be in touch with Jesus is to be in touch with a rich and full eternal life.  Something is given which will last forever – the mysterious life of God.  We touch into that life in prayer.  We are enlightened by Jesus, the light of the world.

Being a witness to the resurrection is not just telling people what they can hope for after death.  Yes, such hope is so very important.   God will raise us from death to live with God forever. God’s love is stronger than death.   But being a witness to the resurrection begins in the here and the now.  Being a witness to the resurrection means letting people see in our lives what it looks like when we live in the God who is love.  It means making visible what happens when the God who is love lives in us.

John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus prayed for His followers.  He prays that His Father consecrate them in truth.  The truth he refers to is the truth of God’s love.  To be consecrated in the truth means being consecrated or made holy in God’s love.    God’s love is like the air we breathe – all around us, giving us life, sustaining us.    When we do this, we may experience some of the resistance and hostility that Jesus experienced, but Jesus has promised that God’s Spirit will be with us and will never abandon us.  This will enable us to be witnesses to God’s love even in a sometimes-hostile world.  Let’s trust in that love as we come to the Table of the Lord in  communion.

Have a Blessed Day.

 

:Do not let your hearts be troubled. Have faith in God; have faith also in me."

 

FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER  2023  A

 

 

There is the story of a grandfather and his four-year-old granddaughter Emily.  As a way of blessing his granddaughter Emily, he gave her a jar filled with dirt.  He simply told her to put a bit of water on the dirt each day, and you will discover life in hidden and unexpected places, but you must be faithful to the practice of putting a bit of water on the dirt each day. 

 

After the first week, Emily told her grandfather nothing is happening.  He again encouraged her to be faithful to the practice of putting a bit of water in the jar each week.  The second week passed, and nothing happened.  Then in the third week, a couple of tiny sprouts began to emerge out of the dirt.  Emily was so excited and rushed to her grandpa to tell him the good news.

 

Grandpa then asked Emily how did this happen?  Emily said I put water on the dirt.  Her grandfather more precisely said that Emily was faithful to the practice of putting water in the jar.  Life happens in hidden and unknown places, in fact, life happens everywhere when there is faithfulness.

 

Listen again to the Gospel:

 

 Jesus said: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  You have faith in God; have faith also in me.”  To calm our troubled hearts, we are to have faith in God and in Jesus.   Indeed, our troubled hearts will be calmed insofar as we are able to trust that Jesus goes with us in all experiences of life.

 

The message of the grandfather to his granddaughter was a message of the need for faithfulness.  The message of Jesus to us in today’s Gospel is also one of faithfulness.  Ultimately, more than any medication or any other quick fix, our trust in God’s faithfulness to us is the way we experience a calming of our troubled hearts.

 

The Gospel proclamation of Jesus:  DO NOT LET YOUR HEARTS BE TROUBLED is valid for all times and under any circumstances.  Every beating human heart knows what it means to be troubled.  Given the reality of the human condition, the struggle to live in an imperfect world, the conflicts that arise from different political viewpoints and clashing cultural values, there is much that can certainly trouble a human heart.

 

In preparing the funeral liturgy for a loved family member, this passage from John’s Gospel is often chosen.  There is a longing in the human heart to experience the words of Jesus:  Do not let your hearts be troubled.

 

Does this mean we will not mourn the losses of our lives?  Of course not!  Are we to sweep under the rug the pain of our lives?  Absolutely not!  We all need to play the deck that we are dealt.  As painful as any situation that we experience, the Word of God is proclaimed to us:  Do not let your hearts be troubled.

 

A cynic might say:  You’re not smelling the coffee, or the tire isn’t hitting the road if you are not overcome with the pain of life.

 

Jesus continues:  Have faith in God.  Have faith also in me.  The invitation to trust in Jesus is the profound truth of our lives.

 

The word of Jesus is not a shield that protects us from the problems of life like a mother would want to protect her child from any pain in life.  That shield does not exist.

 

What Jesus promises us is an inner resource that cannot be taken away.  What Jesus promises is that when we are in touch with the Spirit of Christ Jesus that is within us, we have an inner resource that enables us to mourn, to grieve, endure the crosses of our lives in ways that our hearts are not troubled.  Our hearts are not troubled because we do not face the cross alone, because we have a strength that we receive in Christ Jesus that enable us to affirm that our future is always full of hope.

 

 This Sunday’s Gospel, as is true for the following two Sundays, is taken from the Last Supper discourse of Jesus recorded in John’s Gospel.  The mood of the Easter season is shifting, and our Gospel reflections turn toward unpacking the resurrection in such a way that it leads to Pentecost, the coming of the Spirit, and our discipleship.  Yes, we continue to be challenged in the Easter Season to encounter the Risen Christ.  The Scriptures today invite us to do the works of Christ and to recognize Christ in the other.  The very practical challenge here is that our baptism plunges us not to only into a relationship with the Triune God but also with each other.  Yes, in encountering the Risen Lord, we are to treat others in justice, mercy, forgiveness, and love.

 

In the first Scripture reading from the Acts of the Apostles:  As the number of disciples continued to grow, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.  So, the Twelve called together the communion of the disciples and said we need to appoint others to respond to this need.  The point being it was not enough to say their prayers in a pious fashion to God.  The early Church found its identity and the meaning of the grace of baptism not just in belonging to God.  By belonging to God, we also belong to one another.  Their union as baptized believers superseded all their other differences whether of language, ethnicity, economic or social status.  In Christ, all had become Church and as Church we are to care for and serve one another without distinction.

 

In our parish life, may we have ministries that emphasize our service and care for one another.  As the community of the baptized, all of us, without exception, enter relationship with one another.  We are to serve the needs of one another.

 

As we reflect on the Scriptures, we express gratitude in the presence of the Risen Christ that is within us.  This inner resource enables us to live a life that is full of hope.  As we affirm the presence of the risen Christ that is within us, we are gifted with the vision to recognize Christ’s presence in the face of our neighbor.

 

 

 

I invite you to consider that there is a stranger in your life that is the presence of the Risen Lord.

 

Third Sunday of Easter  A  2023

 

In today’s gospel we have the story of two disciples who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus.  During their walk with the Lord, their eyes were closed from recognizing Him.  But later that day, when Jesus was at table with them, he took bread, blessed, broke it, and gave the bread to them.  At that moment their eyes of the disciples were opened, and they recognized Jesus just before he vanished from their sight.

 

The Easter story and the story of the Emmaus journey hover around us all the time.  It tells us that God never forces himself on us.  To repeat God never forces himself on us but joins us in a walk in the garden or visit of a friend or while sorrowing at the death of a friend or watching the beautiful scenery or reading a consoling letter from someone we love.  God speaks to us in the voices of those who are hurt or are sorrowful, the faces of the poor and the needy, in the victims of prejudice and the generosity of those who care, in an ordinary meal and especially in the Eucharist. Again, God speaks to us in the stranger and in the voices of those who are hurt or are sorrowful.

 

A story:  There once was a little boy who wanted to meet God.  So he packed some biscuits and some soft drink and started his journey.  When he had gone three blocks, he met an old woman sitting in the park just staring at some pigeons.  The boy sat down next to her.  He was about to eat, and he noticed the old lady looked hungry.  So, he offered her a biscuit.  She gratefully accepted it and gave him a beautiful smile.  He offered her a soft drink, and again she smiled at him.

 

They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.  As it grew dark, the boy got up to leave but before he had taken a few steps, he turned and ran back to the old woman and gave her a hug.  She gave him her biggest smile ever.  When the boy reached home a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face.  She asked him what made him so happy.  He replied, “I had lunch with God.”  But, before she could respond, he added, “You know what?  She’s got the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen!”

 

Meanwhile, the old woman also returned to her home.  Her son was stunned by the look of peace on her face, and he asked, why she was so happy?  She replied, “I had lunch in the park with God.”  But before her son responded, she added: “You know, he’s much younger than I expected.”

 

Our God is a God of surprises, and our God is present to us when we welcome the stranger.

 

The Emmaus account is a recognition story, so to speak.  It depicts how the two disciples came to recognize the presence of the Risen Christ in their midst.  There were two key elements in the development of an Easter faith: hospitality to the stranger and the Eucharistic breaking of the Bread.  Insofar as we welcome the stranger in our midst and insofar as we live Eucharistic centered lives, we indeed will be Easter people who discover the many ways the Risen Lord is present to us in the stuff of life.

 

 

For the original disciples, the Risen Lord was present in their midst, and they did not recognize him.  From the Gospel account of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, the key to finding Christ is to know where to look.  The two disciples had all the facts but none of the meaning. 

 

How about us?  Do we too have trouble recognizing the presence of the Risen Christ in our midst?  The message of this Biblical account is that hospitality shown to the stranger is a way of recognizing the presence of the Risen Lord.  I would invite you to consider that there is a stranger in your life that is the presence of the Risen Jesus.  Perhaps this stranger is asking us questions we would rather not hear.

 

Yes, we all have expected ways of recognizing God’s presence in our midst.  Jesus continues to make his presence known but often in ways we least expect.  May we not close down to the unexpected ways we encounter the presence of the Risen Lord in our midst.   

 

None of us has full control over the course of our lives.  The Lord comes to us as an unrecognized stranger.  The stranger in your midst may be a person or it may be a situation you would rather not have to face.  It can be a work situation, an illness, depression, or whatever cross you are facing in your life.

 

 

Back to the

Gospel account, the two disciples, in the midst of their discouragement and disappointment, said to the stranger:  “We had hoped that he would be the one to redeem Israel.”  The disciples were confessing their profound discouragement.  Their hopes were dashed when their leader was crucified.

 

How do we identify with those two disciples in which we too had hoped, and those dreams are shattered:

 

n  We had hoped our children will live out their faith in the same way we do.

n  We had hoped that our Church and government leaders would not disillusion us with how they live their lives.

n  We had hoped that violence and conflict would not continue to characterize our lives.

n  We had hoped all parishioners would be active stakeholders in the life of the parish.

n  We had hoped that Rochester would have more sunshine.

 

The original disciples did not understand the meaning of the suffering and death of Jesus.  They thought they were defeated.  They did not understand that death was not a defeat.  Rather, death was the way to us to share more fully in the Risen Life of Jesus.

 

Like the original disciples we too have difficulty in understanding the meaning of suffering, setback, and death in our lives.  It can seem like our dreams are shattered. 

 

 

I invite you to consider that there is a stranger in your life that is the presence of the Risen Lord.  Recognition does not come easily.  We gather in this Breaking of the Bread so that our eyes will be opened.  We gather in this Breaking of the Bread so that we can embrace unexpected strangers in our life -- whether it be a person or whether it be a situation.  The Risen Lord is to be found in all of life.  It is in hospitality shown to the stranger and in this Eucharistic Breaking of the Bread that we will know the joy of the Risen Lord in our midst.