Fr. JC Maximilian

Today we celebrate the memorial of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.  This feast was started in the 13th century to remember the vision of St. Simon Stock, who received the Brown Scapular from our Lady, with the promise that whomever devoutly (this is the key word) wears the Brown Scapular as an external sign of their commitment and dedication to our Lord Jesus, through His most Blessed Mother, will be given special graces at the time of their death.  This is a celebration especially for members of the Carmelite Order, who have a historic root of being contemplatives on Mount Carmel in northern Israel.

Mount Carmel has a long history of being a special place for encountering the Lord.  Today we had a special coincidence, liturgically.  Typically on a memorial, when praying the Office of Readings, the first reading, which is from the Scriptures, is taken from the regular liturgical cycle, so today from Monday in the 15th Week in Ordinary Time.  It just so happened that that reading was from the First Book of Kings, where the prophet Elijah prevails over the false prophets of Baal and Asherah.  You probably remember the story; both the false prophets of Baal and Asherah, and Elijah prepare a sacrificial bull and call on their respective gods to consume the offering.  Of course when the false prophets of Baal and Asherah cry out nothing happens, but when Elijah calls out to the Lord his offering, which his doused with water, is immediately.  And where did this showdown occur?  On Mount Carmel!
As I prayed that reading this morning I was struck by the following words of Elijah, addressed to the people of Israel, “How long will you straddle the issue?  If the Lord is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him.”  OK, I don’t think we have too many worshipers of Baal and Asherah around any more, but I am becoming more convinced that many people are de facto pagans.  How many different excuses have I heard of why a person has missed Sunday Mass — there was football, soccer, cheerleading, or we were on vacation.  I have startled more than a few parishioners when I tell them that they have made those things gods in their lives, above God, the Lord of the Universe.  We put ourselves above God when we cling to a favorite sin, “because it really doesn’t hurt anyone,” or because we disagree with the Church’s teaching.  Politicians who use the excuse, “I am morally opposed to abortion/homosexual unions/embryonic stem cell research/etc., but I will not impose my views on others,” are saying that their careers are more important that God.

In today’s Gospel reading at Mass Jesus tells us that the person who hears the Word of God and obeys that Word is His mother, brother and sister.  Clearly He is not diminishing his mother, Mary, but rather holding her up for all of us as a model.  Mary heard the Word of God and responded by saying, “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according you your word.”  There was no straddling of the issue for Mary.  She clearly acknowledged the Lord as God and followed Him.  We are called to do the same.  Stop straddling the issue — the Lord is God!  Follow Him!

["The sending of the Twelve" by Duccio di Buoninsegna, 1282-1339. I tried to find a decent painting of the sending of the seventy-two, but found nothing. Of course the sending of the seventy-two flows from the authority that Jesus gave the Twelve]

In what do you boast?  Recently the New York Times had an article that boasted in the “fact” that science had disproved the existence of the soul, and therefore there was no need to believe in God.  According to the New York Times, which was reporting on an article that had appeared in the journal Nature, all behavior can be explained by brain physiology, which is basically the same for a human and a dog.  Of course this just demonstrates their erroneous, dualistic thinking, that things are either physical or spiritual so if something can be shown to be a physical process then they conclude that the spiritual does not exist.

As Christians we see the error of this type of thinking, for we do not see things in such a narrow “either/or” way.  Rather we recognize that the Truth is “both/and” — that God, who is Spirit, loved us so much sent His only-Begotten Son to save us.  Jesus is the perfect model of this “both/and” thinking, for He is the Word made Flesh.  In the Incarnation, God who is Spirit took on our human, physical flesh.

Boasting in merely human achievements – while minimizing, forgetting or denying God’s grace – is nothing new.  In today’s first reading we hear from the final chapter of the Book of the Prophet Isaiah.  The Book of Isaiah covers a period of nearly 250 years of Israel’s history, and the constant theme is a call to the people of Israel to remember the Lord.  It seems that the kings of Israel had started to rely too much on their own wisdom and knowledge, and had forgotten that it is the Lord who is the source of nourishment and life.  Isaiah pointed out how their pride was a great sin, that their sins had “become red as blood,” but that if they returned to the Lord their sins would be forgiven and they would become the just and righteous People of God they were called to be.  In today’s passage from the last chapter of Isaiah we hear God speaking passionately to His children in beautiful imagery, “as a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort.”

This image of God comforting His children as a mother comforts her child was the favorite of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus, better known to us as the Little Flower.  In 1997, Pope John Paul II declared St. Theresa of the Child Jesus to be a Doctor of the Church.  Why?  Because he wanted to recognize not only her extraordinary holiness, but also to emphasize the special relevance of her teaching of humility and boundless confidence in God for our times.  Yes, we have made incredible scientific and technological progress in our own times, but we should never think that we can supply our own happiness and stability in life.  Despite what the New York Times says, scientific progress has not eliminated our need for God.  Only God is all-powerful, and only His friendship and grace can fully satisfy the human heart.  The Church has emphasized, in a special way for our culture, the need to foster a childlike simplicity and dependence on God’s goodness.  This is the spirituality of the Little Flower – her “little way” — and this is the message of the Prophet Isaiah.

The Church pairs this passage from Isaiah, which we heard today, with today’s Gospel reading that tells of the sending of the seventy-two disciples, because both speak about the kingdom of God.  When Isaiah says, “in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort,” he is not speaking about the city of Jerusalem on this earth.  Rather, it is a metaphor for the heavenly kingdom.  Our destiny is heaven, which is our true home.  That Truth is the message that Jesus tells the seventy-two to proclaim, “The kingdom of God is at hand for you.”  Notice that sends Jesus them out in pairs, not alone, “to every town and place HE intended to visit.”  Like St. John the Baptist, they are to “prepare the way” for the coming of the Lord, for Jesus Himself will come to all who accept the message of the kingdom of God.

Do you recall that I asked you, in what do you boast?  St. Paul in today’s second reading gives us his answer, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”  That’s right, we are all called to boast in the Lord Jesus!  Jesus has not limited the preaching of the Gospel to just the ministerial priesthood that He established (namely the Apostles).  No, the seventy-two disciples that He sent out on mission in today’s Gospel, represent all His followers.  During the Baptism Rite the priest or deacon touches the ears and mouth of the child and says, “The Lord Jesus made the deaf hear and the dumb speak.  May he soon touch your ears to receive his word, and your mouth to proclaim his faith, to the praise and glory of God the Father.”  ALL the baptized share in the responsibility of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ.  Pope John Paul II said, “For the disciple of Christ the duty to evangelize is an obligation of love” (Ecclesia in America, #1).  Let me emphasize this point, to evangelize – that is to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ – is an OBLIGATION of love.   In other words, it is NOT loving to not witness our Faith in Jesus to others.  While this witnessing must certainly be done in words and deeds, we must keep in mind that it is BOTH – words and deeds.  Just doing acts of social justice without making it clear by our words that it is our love of Jesus Christ that impels us, is not sufficient.  Further in his letter to the Church in America, Pope John Paul II says, “In accepting this mission, everyone should keep in mind that the vital core of the new evangelization must be a clear and unequivocal proclamation of the person of Jesus Christ, that is, the preaching of his name, his teaching, his life, his promises and the kingdom which he has gained for us by his Paschal Mystery” (Ecclesia in America, #66).

We call this “giving our personal witness.”  We give our personal witness to the goodness of God by declaring to those around us what God has done for us.  This is how we introduce people to the Risen Christ.  Remember what we learned from the sending of the seventy-two; first we are not alone, we have the support of the Christian community, the mystical Body of Christ, and secondly, we are just making the introductions.  Jesus will come to visit those who hear our witness with an accepting heart.  He will offer His friendship to them, and enter into a personal relationship with them, sharing with them His mercy and grace.

So I encourage you to boast – boast in the Lord!

[Pieter Paul Rubens. The Martyrdom of St. Stephen. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Valenciennes.]

One of the books that had a significant impact on me, particularly when I was studying psychology, is the book by Dr. Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning.  Viktor Frankl was a protege of Sigmund Freud.  Then World War II broke out, and like most of the other Viennese Jews at the time, Frankl found himself rounded up by the Nazis and shipped to a concentration camp.  The first half of Man’s Search for Meaning, is Frankl’s account of life in the concentration camp – it really is something that I highly recommend that you read.

At first Frankl was intrigued by the apparent randomness of inmate survival.  He started to ask why some prisoners just seemed to shrivel up and die, while others, under the same cruel and inhuman conditions, somehow seemed to survive.  Naturally, at first he thought it had to do with the prisoner’s physical fitness and health, but he soon noticed that often the most physically fit prisoners would die quickly under the horrible conditions of the camp, while those who seem weak, elderly, and/or unaccustomed to hard labor would survive the longest.  Frankl decided to occupy his mind with a psychological analysis of life in the concentration camp in order to try to unravel this mystery.  Based on his observations and professional reflections Frankl became convinced that the key to survival was meaning.  In other words, those prisoners who found a reason to survive survived, and those who did not find a reason to survive, did not survive.  I still remember his account of an older man who had been a watchmaker, and how he designed in his head, and on any scraps of paper he could find, a most beautiful clock that he wanted to make to replace the one in his home village’s clock tower which was destroyed in the war.  For Frankl himself, his reason to survive was to rewrite the book, based on years of psychological research, that he had written and the Nazis destroyed before his eyes.  All of us, deep down, strive to find meaning in our lives, and that meaning, that reason to survive, is what keeps us going.

As we come to the end of the Easter season, the Mass readings that the Church gives us directs our gaze upward.  In our first reading today, from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear about the martyrdom of St. Stephen, and we hear that he “looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.”  St. John, in concluding the Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, invites us to look up at Christ who is the morning star and pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.”  And in today’s Gospel reading, as he finishes the Last Supper, Jesus begins his prayer by “lifting his eyes to heaven.”

As we look up to heaven, what do we see?

“We see an embrace, a clasp of deepest friendship, a union of hearts and minds greater than the most satisfying earthly relationship could ever be” (“Homily Packs:  Seventh Sunday of Easter (C)” found at www.epriests.com, a service of Regnum Christi, 2007).  As St. Stephen breathes his dying breath, seeing Christ in his glory, whispers, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” and like his Divine master forgives those who are unjustly killing him.  In the Book of Revelation, “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’”  Jesus, in the Gospel, prays that we will all share his glory, “so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us.”

The message that God has for us as we come to the end of the Easter Season is the message of death – of Christian death.  The Church is reminding us that for a faithful Christian, one who actively lives their Faith in words and deeds, death is not the end but the beginning.  We are called to keep in mind that our real home, our ultimate destiny is heaven, not life on earth.  All of our prayers really should be, “Come, Lord Jesus,” let the fullness of your reign come now.

This is why as faithful Christians we should never be afraid to think about death.  In fact, the tendency to avoid thinking about death, to try to avoid facing that death is an unavoidable reality, is unchristian.  This does not mean that we should become obsessed about death, because the gift of life, which God has given us should also be celebrated.

How can we find a balance?  How can we learn to keep looking up, so that we do not lose sight of our ultimate goal, our destiny, while not becoming morbid?

It is enough to keep doing the small, normal things that the Church has always taught us to do.  It is enough to visit the cemetery and put flowers on the graves of our relatives and to pray for them.  This would be particularly fitting given that next weekend our country celebrates Memorial Day.  Now that the Mass Intention books are open for next year, we can have a Mass said for our deceased loved ones.  It is enough to follow the rhythm of the Church’s liturgy, which reminds us gently but firmly that this brief life on earth is not all there is, that our true home is heaven.  It is enough to care for the sick, elderly, and dying instead of ignoring them.

If we do these things now, then later, when we find our own death knocking at the door, we will not be afraid to look up and pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.”  We will have no regrets, only smiles, both for the beauty we have left behind, and for the Beauty still in store.

“Today, as Christ come to us under the mysterious veil of Holy Communion, let’s thank him for revealing the meaning of death, and like St. Stephen let’s look up and pray, ‘Come, Lord Jesus!’” (“Homily Packs:  Seventh Sunday of Easter (C)” found at www.epriests.com, a service of Regnum Christi, 2007).

“Even after sharing their lives with Jesus for such a long time, after the disaster of Calvary and the mystery of Easter, after all that, the apostles understood little of Him.  Only a few hours before His ascent into Heaven, they still asked Him when he would establish the Kingdom of Israel, such as everyone conceived it at that time:  a kingdom of earthly and political power” (Luigi Giussani, The Journey to Truth is an Experience, Montreal & Kingston:  McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2006, p. 53).

Clearly the Apostles did not understand Jesus, so why did they follow Him?  St. Luke apparently wanted to make sure that people understood that Jesus really ascended into Heaven, because he records that event twice; first at the end of his Gospel, which was just proclaimed, and at the beginning of his second work, the Acts of the Apostles, which we heard in our first reading.  Do we get it any better than the Apostles?  So, why do we follow Jesus?

Hopefully we follow Jesus, even in our lack of understanding, for the same reason that the Apostles did, because Jesus has become the focus of our affections.  Hopefully, in the midst of the darkness and confusion around us, as it proclaimed during the Easter Vigil, “Christ is our Life!  Thanks be to God!”  For the Apostles Christ Jesus enlightened them; He “was the only one in whose words they felt their whole human experience understood and their needs taken seriously, clarified” (Luigi Giussani, The Journey to Truth is an Experience, Montreal & Kingston:  McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2006, p. 53).

So why did Jesus Ascend into Heaven?  Jesus wanted to come even closer to us, to be even more intimate with us.  If He had stayed on earth He would have remained limited in time and space.  Now that He has ascended into Heaven, by the sending of the Holy Spirit, Jesus dwells within our hearts.

More importantly, the Ascension is the establishment of Jesus’ Kingdom on absolutely unshakable ground.  Earthly kings and emperors, which the Apostles were still looking for, always remain vulnerable because even if their enemies do not usurp their power, death surely will.  However Christ’s reign will never come to an end; He is no longer vulnerable.  Because He has ascended into Heaven, God made Christ the everlasting King, and His kingdom is firm; His Church will never be destroyed.  If we stay faithful to Christ the King, our victory over sin, evil, and injustice is assured, and this will bring us everlasting happiness.  Christ’s ascension should fill us with joy, as it did His Apostles, because now we know for certain that the Christian cause is unassailable, and that Jesus’ lordship is unconquerable.

The fact – that Jesus Christ, true God and true man – by His Ascension has become the everlasting bridge between Heaven and earth posses a challenge to what Pope Benedict XVI calls the “tyranny of relativism” which threatens to enslave the world today.  Too often we are afraid of offending people who do not share our beliefs.  We are so very concerned about being tolerant.  There is a goodness in that tolerance because every human being does deserve our respect because everyone is made in the image and likeness of God, and Jesus came to save everyone.  However such respect and tolerance should never turn into indifference.  Indifference is easy and often more comfortable than actually defending and spreading the Truth.  Yes, I said Truth – a singular – and not “truths” a plural.  There is only one Truth, and Jesus tells us that He is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6).  Only Jesus Christ ascended to the throne of heaven, and He alone is the Savior.  True, God is gracious and His mercy is not limited in any way, but He has made His mercy known by sending His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  Finally, God desires to extend His mercy to every person through the spreading of the Good News of Jesus Christ.  This is why it is our mission, as His Church, to preach “repentance for the forgiveness of sins in his name to all the nations.”

As we receive the Eucharist today, the food that nourishes us, let us ask that we have the strength never to be ashamed of the truth of Jesus Christ, the only Truth that will truly set us free.

[Painting by Fra Angelico, I am not sure of the title, it is something like "Christ the Judge." In case you have not noticed, from the banner on this blog which is part of Fra Angelico's "The Saints," I am a fan of this Florentine, Dominican artist]

First of all, before I forget and get myself into trouble, let me extend my most sincere thankful prayers to all of our mothers here today. As the Blessed Virgin Mary served as the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle of our Lord Jesus during the nine months of her pregnancy, so our mothers are often the first source of our faith, continuing the life of the Church.

I am reminded of a story about a Roman soldier sometime during the first 200 years of Christianity. He had to set off on a long military campaign, leaving behind his wife who was pregnant with their first child. With her husband away, some local women took it upon themselves to help this soon-to-be mother. These women were Christians, and they had an inner joy that was very attractive. The soldier’s wife found herself wanting to know more about the secret of their joy, so they started tell her about Jesus. Soon her child was born – a healthy son. Not long after giving birth she asked her new friends if she and her son could become Christians, and they were baptized into the faith.

Meanwhile the soldier also had met some Christians during his travel. He too was attracted to their inner joy and strength; often enduring great pain and hardship all for the name of Christ Jesus. He listened to the stories about Jesus and explanations about this new Faith. However, he was not able to receive baptism before the campaign ended.

When he returned home, his wife was naturally overjoyed to see him home safe and sound. Yet she was nervous about how he would react to the news that she and their son were baptized into the Christian Faith. She decided to break the news to him gradually. First she showed him their son. As he held his son the soldier expressed his sorrow at not being there to help her during her need, but she said that she had made some new friends who had been a big help, and that they were Christians. Then in an offhanded way she mentioned that their son had in fact been baptized as a Christian. Her husband looked shocked and became very quiet. He looked at his son again very thoughtfully. Then he knelt besides the crib, bowed his head, closed his eyes, and silently began to pray. His wife was puzzled by her husband’s behavior, and knelt next to him and asked what he was doing. He looked at her and said, “I am praying to the one, true God, for if our son has been baptized, he has himself become a holy place. Christ the Lord, his Father the Creator of all, and the living Holy Spirit have made their home in his heart, so we can pray to God there.” [“Homily Packs: Sixth Sunday of Easter (C)” found at www.epriests.com, a service of Regnum Christi, 2007].

Today’s Gospel reading are some of Jesus’ words during the Last Supper, and they are mysterious and glorious. In today’s passage Jesus reveals one of the great secrets of Christian life; that when we are baptized, God himself – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – actually come into our souls and take up residence there. As Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “We will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”

This week we will celebrate the Ascension of the Lord on Thursday; check the bulletin for the Mass times for this Holy Day of Obligation. Have you ever wondered why Jesus ascended back into heaven? Why didn’t he just stick around? By his ascension, Jesus is able to be closer to us; he is able to dwell deep within our hearts, beyond any earthly limits. If Jesus had not “gone to the Father,” he would have remained limited by time and space, as he was during his earthly life. Now that he dwells body and soul in heaven, Jesus can be present to each one of us at all times, through the Holy Spirit.

This is the gift Christ has given us. The prize Jesus won for us by his Passion, Death and Resurrection is the transforming, renewing, life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit within us. How many of you can tell me on what day you were born? What about on what day you were baptized? We all remember and celebrate our birthdays, yet how much more greater is the day we are baptized and made a child of God and given the gift of the Divine life within us!

Unfortunately too often most of us forget about this priceless gift for which Jesus paid such a great price. We often live as if our Christianity is like a membership in a club, like it is something outside of us. This forgetfulness handcuffs God’s power in our lives. The Holy Spirit is polite, and respects our freedom. The Spirit chooses to be a guest within our hearts, not a dictator. The Spirit sits in the living room of our soul, eagerly waiting for us to put our cell phones away, turn off the computer and/or TV, and pay attention to him for a few minutes. The Spirit wants us to ask him for guidance and strength. Whenever we do turn to the Holy Spirit for strength and guidance, the Spirit is able to increase what is good in us, and cleanse us from what is bad.

So why don’t we pay attention to the Holy Spirit dwelling within our hearts more often? The main reason is that we are surrounded by so many other voices, which because of their boastful pride are often louder than the Spirit’s gentle whisper. At other times we get so tangled up in our problems and responsibilities that we are not sure what God wants us to do, or how to do what we think he wants us to do.

God knows this, and he has given us tools to help discern his voice. One of these tools is the sacrament of Reconciliation, often better known as Confession. While the primary function of the sacrament of Reconciliation is to be a clear and undeniable way to receive the grace of forgiveness for our sins, it has a secondary function of helping us to grow in holiness. It gives us the grace of strength and light.

A priest is ordained to be God’s instrument; the advice and direction that he gives within the sacred space of this sacrament is of special value. Regular use of this sacrament quiets down the many other voices that are trying to drown out the Holy Spirit’s voice. The sacrament of Reconciliation makes God’s voice within us clear and stronger, and it gives us the strength to heed that voice.

Today, as Christ renews his commitment to dwell within us, let us renew our commitment to be his worth Temples. And let us thank our mothers who not only gave us the gift of life on earth, but through their faith and by their bringing us to baptism, shared with us the gift of eternal life won for us by Christ Jesus.
[Based on “Homily Packs: Sixth Sunday of Easter (C)” found at www.epriests.com, a service of Regnum Christi, 2007].

Sts. Paul and Barnabas sure do cover a lot of ground.  In our first reading today, from the Acts of the Apostles, eight different cities are mentioned where they “proclaimed the good news,” and that is not counting the unnamed city from which they started the leg of their missionary journey that we heard today.  So a total of nine cities where they not only “proclaimed the good news” but also “made a considerable number of disciples.”

The Acts of the Apostles gives us a type of snapshot of the early Church, and it is marked with a lot of dynamism.  It is active and growing.  In fact, the Church has the very life of Christ Jesus, Himself.  Yet something else is needed, in addition to dynamism, and we start to see that something else in the early Church in today’s reading.

Dynamism without structure is like a firecracker – a lot of noise, but no lasting results.  However, if you add some structure to that dynamism then the energy can be channeled and directed.  The combination of structure and dynamism assures stability, growth, and fruitfulness.  Since the Church was founded to endure, grow, and bear fruit until the end of time, it needed a structure, and we call that structure the hierarchy.

The Church’s hierarchy has been part of God’s plan right from the beginning.  It is not a later human invention.  In fact we can see this hierarchy having its roots in the words of Jesus to St. Peter, after he made his profession of faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God.  Jesus calls Simon, Peter which is a play on the Greek word “petros” which means “rock.”  Jesus goes on to say that upon this “Rock” He will build His Church.

We should recall that originally the Hebrews were nomadic desert-dwellers.  As such, they “were particularly sensitive to the point of reference provided by great rock formations, fixed as they are, compared with sand and dust which can be blown away and scattered by the wind” (Luigi Giussani, Why the Church?, Montreal & Kingston:  McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2001, p. 78).  The word “rock” or “crag” is one of the most frequently used metaphors for truth and safety in the Bible.  In Psalms we hear, “Though my flesh and my heart fail, God is the rock of my heart, my portion forever” (Ps 73: 26), and “God alone is my rock and salvation, my secure height; I shall never fall” (Ps 62: 3), and one last example, “Let the words of my mouth meet with your favor, keep the thoughts of my heart before you, LORD, my rock and my redeemer” (Ps 19: 15).  In saying that He was going to build His Church on the Rock that is St. Peter, Jesus was saying that the papacy would be the visible sign of unity, stability and truth for His Church.

Of course this foundation was added to.  In today’s passage from the Acts of the Apostles we hear that Paul and Barnabas “appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord.”  Sts. Paul and Barnabas were not starting their own churches, for they knew that there is only one Church, the one started by Christ Jesus and entrusted by Him to the Apostles, with St. Peter as their head.  Those ordained by Paul and Barnabas were local church leaders who were entrusted to care for the local Christian communities, and to continue the mission of spreading the Good News.  Right from the start we see the hierarchy of the Church being established  — a Pope, bishops, and priests.

For us Americans the idea of the Church’s hierarchy can be difficult to accept.  We have a democratic mindset:  we vote for everything, from the President and Members of Congress, to laws, to local school boards.  We even vote for the captains of our teams.  While the democratic mindset can be very effective for organizations that are of strictly human origin, the Church is NOT of strictly human origin.  The Church is divine in its origin; it is a LIFE!  It is the Life of Jesus Christ.  The Church is the prolongation of the Incarnation, the Word Made Flesh, through time and space.

The Church is also like a family.  Children do not have the right to vote on what they will eat or when their bed-time will be.  They need their parents to teach and guide them into mature, responsible, generous, and virtuous adults.  Likewise, by our baptism we became the children of God.  Only God’s grace and revelation can enable us to grow into the saints we are meant to be.  We do not have the right to vote on how God should send us His grace, or about what path should lead to moral and spiritual maturity.  God is the one who has to nourish, guide, and teach us.  That is why we call Him FATHER!  He does this through His ministers in the Church, with whom He shares His authority.  As Jesus says in St. John’s Gospel, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20: 21).

We may not always like God’s choice of human ministers, because since they are human they have flaws.  To make up for these human foibles and flaws, God has guaranteed that through the bishops in union with the Pope we will always have access to His grace, which strengthens us, and to the dependable truth about what we should believe (Faith) and how we should act (Morals) in order to grow up in the faith and reach the lasting happiness of Heaven.

Ponder these words from Msgr. Luigi Giussani, the founder of Communion and Liberation, “The authority of the Pope and bishops, therefore, is the ultimate guide on the pilgrimage towards a genuine sharing of our lives, towards a true civilization….  Where that authority is not vital and vigilant, or where it is under attack, the human pathway becomes complicated, ambiguous, and unstable; it veers towards disaster, even when on the exterior it seems powerful, flourishing, and astute, as is the case today.  Where that authority is active and respected, the historic pilgrimage is confidently renewed with serenity; it is deep, genuinely human, even when the expressive methods and dynamics of sharing lives are roughshod and difficult” (The Journey to Truth is an Experience, Montreal & Kingston:  McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2006, p. 74).

As Catholics we are called to “pray and obey.”  At each Mass we pray for the hierarchy of the Church, and in our private prayers we should also pray for the Pope, and all the bishops and priests.  We need to pray that these ministers of God can overcome their flaws and foibles, so that everyone that they meet can encounter the loving presence of Christ Jesus.  Likewise we are all called to practice that most difficult yet most important of virtues – obedience.  God has guaranteed that despite all their imperfections, His ministers will not be able to obstruct the flow of His truth and grace through the Church’s ministry.  In its official teaching about faith (what we should believe) and morals (how we should live), God has promised that His Church will not lead us astray.  Obedience to Christ’s Church – whether in basic things like the Ten Commandments and coming to Mass on Sundays, or in more difficult and counter-cultural things like divorce, contraception, abortion, and embryonic stem-cell research – shows that we trust Chris, the one who established and guides His Church.  As Christ renews His commitment to us by giving us His Body and Blood at this Mass, let us renew our trust in Him, and ask Him to increase our desire to follow Him through the practice of the virtue of obedience.

[Much of this homily was inspired, and parts were taken from, “Homily Packs:  Fifth Sunday of Easter (C)” found at www.epriests.com, a service of Regnum Christi, 2007].

“Make a wish!” How many times have we heard that phrase? Usually it precedes blowing out the candles on our birthday cake, or breaking the wish-bone of the Thanksgiving turkey. Do you remember what you wished for on your seventh birthday? I cannot remember exactly when I wished for this, but when I was around seven I really thought Evel Knievel was cool, and they had this Evel Knievel motorcycle toy that could make jumps. I just thought I would be the happiest kid in the world if I got that motorcycle, and I did get it for Christmas and had a lot of fun with it. But you know what? Even though that toy made me happy, that happiness faded in a few days. Oh, I still had fun with it, well, at least until I was 8 or 9, but I am sure that by Groundhog Day there was something else that I thought would make me really happy.

Wishing seems to be a basic part of our temperament as human beings. It does not matter if we are young or old, an optimist or a pessimist, we all seem to wish for that “something” that will make us happy. The “something” varies depending on our age and background, but there is always something that we are wishing for – maybe it is to win the lottery, to get the perfect job, the perfect boyfriend or girlfriend, a new house, a car, or even a motorcycle. Yet we all know the disappointment, not only of not getting what we wish for, but even when we do get it we find that it does not bring us the real, lasting happiness for which we are longing.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus offers us the fulfillment of the deepest wish of our heart. He says that He is the Good Shepherd and He will give His sheep “eternal life” and promises that they will never perish. How many works of literature and film have told a tale of someone looking for the key to eternal life, a way of avoiding death. Death is our deepest fear, so it is only natural that we would want to avoid it.

Jesus has already defeated death by His Resurrection to a new life beyond the grasp of death and decay. Jesus says of His followers, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” As long as we try our very best to live for Him, death can never defeat us, any more than it defeated Jesus. For those who cling to Jesus, giving Him their entire life, the grave will be the gateway to a new life, one infinitely more wonderful than the life we live now.

Sounds pretty wonderful, doesn’t it? So how do we get this eternal life that Jesus offers to us? We must become the friends of Christ Jesus.

You may have heard some Protestants say “once saved, always saved.” The idea is that once you have accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, then no matter what you do afterwards you will still go to heaven. This sounds pretty nice, but in fact it is contrary to the Gospel.

Jesus came to set us free from the slavery of sin and death. Why would He make us slaves of another kind? God does not want us to be slaves in heaven. He wants us to be friends, and friendship is never automatic. Our friendship with God starts here on earth with our baptism. It grows as we get to know Christ, discover His plan for our lives, and strive to live, with the help of His grace, as He wants us to live. However, at any point along the way we can break off the relationship with Christ. We call this mortal sin. Because He loves us, Jesus leaves us free to do so. He wants us to love Him as completely, as totally as He loves us, but love must be freely given. It can not be forced.

Any friendship is like that. It can be broken by one terrible act of disloyalty, or it can slowly disintegrate due to a lack of attention. Our friendship with Christ is vulnerable in the same way because it is a REAL friendship. In fact, our friendship with Christ is even more vulnerable because Satan does his best to make it hard for us to stay faithful to Jesus. That is why Sts. Paul and Barnabas, in visiting the Christian communities, “urged them to remain faithful to the grace of God.” God is the faithful Good Shepherd, and as Jesus tells us in the Gospel, “no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.” God’s grace never fails, but we, stubborn and selfish sheep, are too often lured into temptation. We allow other, lesser but more immediate things, distract us from the deepest desire of our hearts – Heaven.

This is why one of the greatest virtues is perseverance. God wants to grant us the gift of perseverance for He is eager for us to grow in our friendship with Him. He wants us to become the noble, wise and joyful men and women that He created us to be. Surely each of us, deep down, want the same thing.

If we want to make sure that we will always persevere we need to pray each day, to celebrate the sacrament of Reconciliation frequently and to worthily receive Holy Communion as often as possible. We need to strive every day, no matter how difficult it gets, to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We need to implore the help of our friends in Heaven, the saints, particularly the Blessed Virgin Mary, the refuge of sinners. Most importantly, we must keep our hearts always focused on Christ. No matter what idols try to seduce us – whether they be idols of pleasure, power, success or prestige – we must keep our eyes on Christ Jesus, our destiny, the fulfillment of the deepest longing of our hearts. He will give us eternal life and happiness.

(Image of  The Incredulity of Saint Thomas by CARAVAGGIO)

Early in his pontificate, Pope Benedict started a series of talks on each of the twelve Apostles. For the Holy Father, it is through the experience of the Apostles that we can best understand the Church’s relationship with Christ as the “new family” that exists in the people. One of the Apostles which I think most people can associate with is St. Thomas.

Everyone seems to focus on Thomas’ doubting of the Resurrection. Why did Thomas doubt in the Resurrection of Jesus, even after the men with whom he had lived with for three years so joyfully proclaimed it? Thomas was mad at Jesus. He was angry that Jesus had failed, or at least failed in the mission that Thomas thought Jesus had come to accomplish. Thomas wanted to brood over his disappointment; nursing his anger and sorrow in solitude. That is why when he heard the news of the Resurrection he would not accept it, “Unless I see the mark of the nails . . . I will not believe.”

Jesus was not offended by Thomas’ hesitation and resistance. He was just eager to get his faith back. Most likely with a smile on His face, Jesus was happy to oblige Thomas’ stubborn request. And Thomas sees this. He sees that Jesus lowers Himself to his level, and lets him touch Him. In touching Jesus’ wounds, Thomas feels Christ’s real, physical presence. And Thomas falls on his knees and is the first Apostle to proclaim his faith in Christ’s divinity, calling Him, “My Lord and my God,” the very titles given to God throughout the Old Testament. Maybe instead of remembering him as “Doubting Thomas,” we would be better to remember him as “Believing Thomas.”

How alike St. Thomas are we? How often do we, when our hopes seem to be disappointed, do we get angry; especially at God? Often we just want to be left alone with our hurt feelings, and we do not want to hear the good news of others. We rather brood, and we fail to recognize the evidence of the Resurrection that is being presented to us and the grace that it brings.

In this first Easter meeting of Jesus with His Apostles, which we heard in today’s Gospel reading, He gives the Apostles the Holy Spirit, which has a threefold significance – not only for the Apostles, but for us too. First, Jesus says, “Peace be with you.” By His Passion, Death and Resurrection Jesus has once again restored harmony between heaven and earth. As St. Paul puts it, “Christ is our peace,” or at least as Christians He should be our peace. This is not only a vertical peace, between God and humanity, but it is also horizontal – a peace with all of creation, and one we need to live with one another. It is a peace due to sin being banished and grace being restored.

The Spirit’s presence also expresses the forgiveness of sins. This is why we celebrate this Sunday as Divine Mercy Sunday. Jesus’ death is atonement for our sins, and atonement means to be at-one-ment with God. While God’s forgiveness is freely given, it does require a change of heart to be received. God’s love is boundless, but it cannot be forced. With a change of heart, it is ours for the asking.

Finally in giving the Apostles the Holy Spirit, Jesus also gives them a mission, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Probably one of the most pondered questions about the Resurrection, though often only in our own minds, is why didn’t Jesus appear to Pilate or Herod or Caiaphas or even the Roman Emperor after His Resurrection? Pope Benedict says, “He can only be seen by the person to whom he reveals himself. And he only reveals himself to the one whom he can entrust with a mission” (Joseph Ratzinger, Seek That Which is Above, 1986, Ignatius Press, pp. 64-65). He does not desire to simply ease people’s curiosity. Jesus desires to build His Church, and the Spirit guides the Church so that it continues the work of Christ. In fact, in the Church, Jesus continues to be the incarnate presence of God in the world today.

This mission is not just for the Apostles, nor just for bishops, priests, deacons and religious. As the children of God, all of us, each according to the vocation that God has entrusted to us, should be like God. All of us, I pray, have had the grace to experience the mercy of God in our lives – through the sacraments, particularly Reconciliation, and through prayer. However, there are still many people around us who have not had that grace, or have forgotten about it. We must spread the Good News of God’s Mercy and Love to all the ends of the earth. We must live as the people of the Resurrection. It has to make a difference in our lives, and not be simply relegated to something we are told to believe that happened a long time ago. We need to be excited about the Resurrection, so excited that people can tell we are excited just by looking at us. If you won the Powerball lottery, don’t you think the people around you could tell; wouldn’t they notice a difference in you? Well the new life that the Resurrection gives to us is infinitely better than winning the lottery.

As people of the Resurrection we cannot hold on to resentment, anger and envy. We must forgive. We must have a lively, personal relationship with Jesus, so we can say that wonderful prayer of Divine Mercy: Jesus, I trust in you.

EASTER SUNDAY

“The Lord has indeed risen, alleluia. Glory and kingship be his for ever and ever” (Entrance Antiphon for Easter).

Jesus, the crucified one, has now been raised from the dead. Utter defeat has been transformed into irreversible victory. Satan, and all the powers of evil, did all they could do to breakdown the courage and fidelity of God’s anointed Savior. Satan exhausted his arsenal of hate, injustice, humiliation and pain, and had his way with the Messiah of the world. Despite it all, God’s anointed came out victorious – Christ Jesus Victor!

Many people outside the Christian faith often think that Christmas is the most important of the Christian holidays. Yet we, the Faithful, know that Easter is the holiest of solemnities. The glorious resurrection of Christ Jesus is the key for understanding His entire life, and is the foundation of our Faith. Without the Resurrection, all the other aspects of Jesus’ life would be without meaning. Jesus would have just been recorded in history as a wise teacher, with no more authority over our lives than Socrates or Confucius or the Buddha or Mohammad, or even Dr. Phil. Good Friday, the Crucifixion, would have been the last act of Jesus’ life, hardly “Good News,” just another nice guy, just another dreamer whose dreams were squelched by the harsh reality of real life.

But Jesus did rise from the dead, and His victory over evil, sin, falsehood, injustice, suffering and even death is total and irreversible. As St. Paul writes, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain . . . . You are still in your sins” (1 Cor. 15: 14, 17).

It is interesting, however, that this, the most central event in our Christian Faith – the Resurrection – is not described in any of the Gospels. We have careful accounts of so many of Jesus’ miracles, including His raising Lazarus from the dead, yet we have no description of the Resurrection itself. All we have is the account of the empty tomb. Even Mary Magdalene is uncertain as to what the empty tomb really means. She runs to the Apostles and says, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” St. Peter, and the other disciple, run to see the empty tomb. Clearly this was not the work of grave robbers, because the expensive burial linens are still there. The Gospel says they “saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scriptures that he had to rise from the dead.” They had faith and hope.

When I was in Rome, the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva was near where I was staying, so I stopped there often to pray. In the church is a small, little known marble sculpture of the resurrected Christ by Michelangelo. The figure of Christ is gloriously sculptured. He is young, muscular, confident and energetic. He stands firm, but not stiff. The risen Lord stands alone, the only other figure in the sculpture is His cross. He holds it in His arm; it is rather puny in size, certainly too small to have been used to crucify Him. It is just a flimsy little wooden cross, and he holds it as easily as we would hold a bouquet of flowers. And that is the whole point that Michelangelo is trying to convey in this work of art. The life-giving power of the Risen Lord has overwhelmed the deathly power of the cross. What Easter Sunday does for us is it makes the light of hope shine so brightly in our lives that it shrinks our crosses down to size. We can bear them now, and with joy, because we know that they are leading us towards the glorious victory of the Resurrection. Just like the disciples standing in the empty tomb, the Resurrection gives us our hope, even if we do not fully understand it.

Today we should relish this joy of Easter, thanking God for letting us share in this victory which gives us hope. However, we should not let it stop there. We should not just enjoy Easter, we should allow the reality of the Resurrection to transform our lives. Christ’s Resurrection is the power of eternal life at work in us. We should do something to plug into that power. All of us made an effort to live Lent in a special way – maybe we gave something up, or we committed to saying some extra prayers. Priests are often amazed at how many more people can find the time to make it to daily Mass during Lent, but not during the rest of the year. Holy Mother Church in her wisdom gives us six weeks of Lent and eight weeks of Easter.

In today’s second reading, St. Paul encourages us to “think of what is above, not of what is on earth.” Maybe we should make an Easter resolution that will help us do just that, that will help us keep in mind the eternal life in Christ that is waiting for us if we stay faithful to Him. It might be making a commitment to attend daily Mass, or to spend time each day reading the Scriptures. Maybe we could decide to join one of the Bible Studies that we offer here in the parish, or the Communion and Liberation School of Community, or one of the other prayer groups. Maybe we can commit to keeping the Lord’s day more faithfully, not only by participating in Sunday Mass but also planning special, uplifting activities to do as a family. If we ask the Holy Spirit to give us some ideas, He will not be stingy. We just need to decide to let Easter make a difference in our lives, the way it should.

I leave you with these words of Pope Benedict XVI, “All this makes clear what Easter does mean: God has acted. History does not go on aimlessly. Justice, love, truth – these are realities, genuine reality. God loves us; he comes to meet us. The more we go along his path and live in his way, the less we need to fear justice and truth, the more our hearts will be full of Easter joy. Easter is not only a story to be told: it is a signpost on life’s way. It is not an account of a miracle that happened a very long time ago: it is the breakthrough which has determined the meaning of all history. If we grasp this, we too, today can utter the Easter greeting with undiminished joy: Christ is risen; yes, he is risen indeed!” (Joseph Ratzinger, Seek That Which Is Above, 1986, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA, pp. 54-56).

“Now the holy rays of the light of Christ shine forth, the pure stars of the pure Spirit rise, the heavenly treasures of glory and divinity lie open. In this splendor the long dark night has been swallowed up in the dreary shadows of death have vanished. Life is offered to everyone; the whole world is filled with glory. A heavenly light more brilliant than all others sheds its radiance everywhere, and he who was begotten before the morning star and all the stars of heaven, Christ, mighty and immortal, shines upon all creatures more brightly than the sun” (Attributed to Hippolytus of Rome, Easter Homily: SC 27, 116-118. 164-190).

Those beautiful words were preached by St. Hippolytus of Rome, about 1800 years ago, during the Easter Vigil. The image of Christ Jesus as the Light of the world is very ancient, and is beautifully symbolized during the Easter Vigil with the church being all darkened, and then the Paschal Candle, representative of the Risen Christ, enters and casts away the darkness. As we sing, “Christ the Light! — Thanks be to God,” the church brightens as the light of the Paschal Candle is spread to all those in the church who hold candles. All creation rejoices in Jesus’ victory over sin and death. The drama of God’s mighty deeds and of salvation history is proclaimed in the Old and New Testament readings. We celebrate that that Light, the Light of Christ, is the deepest yearning of our hearts. He is our destiny, and our hearts will be restless until we rest in Him. In the midsts of the darkness of the world, and false lights, we keep our eyes fixed on Christ.

Pope Benedict XVI gives us, all of us, our charge this night when he writes, “The world is indeed dark, but even a single candle suffices to bring light into the deepest darkness. Did not God give us a candle at baptism and the means of lighting it? We must be courageous enough to light the candle of our patience, our trust, our love. Instead of bewailing the night, we must dare to light the little lamp that God has loaned us: ‘The light of Christ! — Thanks be to God!’” (Joseph Ratzinger, Dogma and Preaching, Matthew J. O’Connell, Trans., Chicago, IL: Franciscan Herald Press, 1985).