Friends, we are winding down on the Sundays of Easter with one more before we move on to the Ascension and Pentecost, and the overall theme and message has been, “to love” –that has not changed, and in fact, it has only grown in importance.  The clear message through today’s readings is that basically, “we have to walk-the-talk!”

   John, in the second reading today from his 1^st letter says, “Love” [can’t just be] “words,” [but must show itself in] “actions.”  The first followers of Jesus, the Christ, sometimes known as the followers of “The Way” were challenged to do just this by Barnabas, a follower of Paul, who advocated for him in today’s 1^st reading from Acts.  Understandably, these human followers of Jesus were afraid of Paul who formerly as Saul, had persecuted Jesus followers, also later called “Christians.”  If these so-called followers of Jesus were true to their words, they must show it in their actions, and at least try to give Paul a chance. 

   I had a personal experience of this dynamic this past week that challenged me to “walk-the-talk,” of which I am very grateful.  A friend and I were having a disagreement, and were delineating our particular points through emails for a few days.  Finally, my friend suggested that we have a phone chat to resolve our issues, or at least see if there was any place for agreement.

   I immediately knew that my friend was right, and I suggested that we Facetime, if she was willing, of which she was, to further help in our hearing one another.  As we began, I suggested a couple of things that we probably agreed on, to get us started.  One was that we are both strong women, and that if an issue arises between us, it would probably be “an engagement,” and secondly, that we probably each liked each other, and because of that were more able to hurt each other. 

   My friend agreed with me on these points, and then we asked the Spirit to “help us hear each other.” I am happy to report that “we did hear each other” and that it was a healing conversation.

   Friends, I do believe that our baptisms and our belief in our brother Jesus call us to this kind of intimacy in attempting to love as he did—otherwise, it is just a sham. 

   Another good friend of mine calls this kind of behavior, where we say one thing, and never, or seldom, act upon it, “crazy-making!” We can’t say things like, “I love God,” but refuse to even try to love my neighbor.  Or a statement that I have heard from some Evangelical ministers, “I wouldn’t want him as my pastor, but he would make a good president.”  The part that makes this “crazy-making” in my mind is that someone who I would call a good and worthy pastor would be someone that I would think would make a good president too! 

   I say this because we want people of strong characters and strong morals that include caring for the least among us in both Church and State instead of individuals who will go to any lengths to care for themselves and control, rather than lead, those who follow them—right?

   Looking toward another issue out there for our consideration is the discussion going on in the highest court in our land—“what is criminal?”  Apparently, those most learned among us where law is concerned, don’t know, or won’t say, as the majority it is thought, will defer to a lower court to decide!  Crazy-making!

   And finally, a very thorny issue at present are the demonstrations going on at many college campuses over the fighting in the Middle East between the Palestinians and the Israelis over the Gaza Strip, and specifically over the United States assisting Israel militarily in this fight. 

   Some of these demonstrations have become violent and all I can say is that if the demonstrations by students, which they have a right to do, would remain peaceful and peace-filled, they would be so much more effective—you can’t become what you say you are fighting or better yet, working against. These demonstrations, in some places, we have learned, are very complicated with some of the demonstrators not being students, entering the fray with hate-filled speech and actions. As in all such cases where people disagree, many innocents are hurt.

   Words from the Dalai Lama XIV today seem appropriate: “Peace does not mean the absence of conflicts; differences will always be there.  Peace means solving these differences through peaceful means; through dialogue, education, knowledge, and through humane ways.’’  Such was the case with my friend and me in the earlier example.  

   John, in today’s gospel writes of Jesus words about God’s love for each of us, comparing this same God’s desire for relationship with us in the symbolism of “the vine and the branches.”  As we witness spring bursting all around us in the small buds on trees waiting to open, and become leaves, fruit, whatever it might be; we can shift our thinking to ourselves as branches on the vine of life and love of our God. 

   Our God is just waiting for us to burst open too, to feel the warmth of that love, not unlike the sun in our skies, warming and sustaining our beautiful earth, becoming our best selves, for ourselves, but also for others by “walking-the-talk,”  Easter is simply about this—love received, and love given! Amen? Amen! Alleluia!

Friends, our parish met yesterday for our monthly Saturday Mass at 4:30 P.M. with 12 “apostles” present. The remainder of the monthly masses are on Sundays at 10 A.M. Below is this weekend’s homily that the Spirit and I worked on this week: Pastor Kathy

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My friends, our readings today let us know that our forebears in the faith, women and men alike, carried on after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ultimate return to his, more heavenly existence, in a stance of much strength—faith and power, in Jesus’ name through the power of his Spirit. 

   We know that this “new life” of faith wasn’t always easy as so many still didn’t believe, or chose not to believe what these first apostles and disciples had come to accept— “a stone rejected” by the religious powers who had become [the] “cornerstone,” of their lives—a cornerstone meant to “show the way” for all who would allow it. 

   And friends, as we ponder these mysteries, we should realize that we are called to the same—to hear the stories of faith and allow ourselves to “break out of our safe boxes,” and cry with strength in the Spirit, “alleluia,” in our hearts at least, if not out loud with our voices. 

   Our human tendency is to move toward the least common denominator in our actions that may speak to our faith, but more so, keep us part of the group and safe.  Peter and the others, in the early days and weeks after Jesus’ physical leaving, are constantly getting into trouble, even being jailed at times because they will not be silent about the truth of Jesus’ life—something that the authorities wanted to squelch. 

   In our own lives too, the same is true.  We can and should constantly speak to the injustices that we see and experience in our world, in State and Church, even if we, like Jesus, have to stand alone.  Unfortunately, the “least common (safe) denominator” that if we agree with, keeps us “part of the family,” so to speak, is alive and well,

in our Church, in this country, for the most part.  The National Council of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) are working toward a summer Eucharistic Council to uplift the Body and Blood of Christ, on the altar, because it seems, they feel this will bring folks who have left, back to the Catholic church. And while advocating for that, these same bishops, except for possibly, a few, are ignoring Pope Francis’ attempts toward more diversity in our beloved Church, in this year’s culmination of a two-year process in a Synod on Synodality. 

   The focus, as I see it, in the NCCB’s actions toward uplifting the Eucharist on the altar, is to move back prior to the Second Vatican Council when all things concerning God were shrouded in mystery, and God was really untouchable. 

   Pope Francis’ synodality process, as I see it, is about uplifting the “eucharist,” we all, each one of us, find in our daily lives—in ourselves, in others, in places, cultures, differing genders, expressions of love, Spirit-inspired new ways and living—tending toward justice for all and so much more. 

   The NCCB is addressing what we already know—what is safe, not what may include more and more people.  Robert and I took time this past week to sit down with the canon lawyer, Father Will Thompson, for the Winona/Rochester, Minnesota Catholic diocese, so that he could spell out what, from the bishop’s viewpoint, our parish, All Are One needs to do to once again be in “good standing” with the hierarchical church.

   Actually, this is what we thought was going to happen, (him spelling out a list of things to do) but it turned out to be a bit different. He deferred to us as he said he basically didn’t know a lot of the back story. Thus, we shared how one of our board members had asked if we had ever invited the bishop to come and visit with us, perhaps have a meal getting to know each other better. We shared that over the past year we have tried to set up a visit with the bishop only to finally learn that he wasn’t willing to see us unless we recanted our choices.  Therefore, we shared that we were finally told through a secretary that we should talk with the canon lawyer about what was actually required in “recanting.” In actuality, we knew what was required but wanted to get the steps all legally correct and it seemed that this was the next step to being able to talk with the bishop. 

   We found Father Will to be very kind, understanding, and even compassionate, yet, in the end, tied to the laws that we were breaking. But, of course, as Robert reminded me, he has to do that, it is his job. It did make me sad though to think that even while, “he heard us, and on some level might have agreed, he couldn’t do anything but what he did—basically be, “the long arm of the law.”

   To our way of thinking, trying to corral people into believing one way, devoid of the Spirit, who we have been told, “is continually renewing the face of the earth,” speaking of a God big enough, and creative enough to see the good in calling women, as well as men to ordained ministry, seeing the good in all ways that true love is expressed, and so much more, is purely, “semantics” and a waste of the precious life and God-given gifts each of us possesses!

   But we went simply to record and be clear that we know what is being asked of us and why, if we don’t comply, our bishop, supposedly, our “shepherd,” will never meet with us.  And I believe, it is no coincidence that this Sunday is “Good Shepherd Sunday.” John tells us that “good shepherds” puts themselves on the line for their sheep, will leave the safe 99, in search of the one who may be standing alone.  So much for the good shepherd. 

   Jesus’ message, my friends, has always been about listening from our hearts, not about constructing rules and regulations to control the Spirit.  Jesus’ ultimate command was to love God and others as ourselves.  We can’t say that we love God if we aren’t open to listening and perhaps hearing another call from the Spirit of our God. Christianity is a “messy” business—what else can I say? But I believe when we really try, to follow Jesus, even if we get “crucified,” we will know peace. 

   Present-day prophet, Sr. Joan Chittister has said it like this: “To move from childish spirituality to adult spirituality, we must not be afraid to question any dogma, any sermon, any edict, writings, admonition—not to deny it, but to wrestle it to the ground. Then we can be sure that neither magic nor authoritarianism will ever substitute for our search for God.”  Amen? Amen! Alleluia!

My friends, during this past week with the experience of traveling to, and seeing the total eclipse of our sun by our moon, a phenomenon that can only happen at certain times and places because the ratio of size, one to another, and the distance between the two being, “just right” as to make this possible; I found that this particular experience fits well into the mystery of the Easter Season. Let me explain.

   I have often spoken about Jesus’ human experience being more about letting us know how much our God loves us than about the “old theology” of Jesus’ coming to “save us from our sins.”  Simply put, Jesus’ coming and living our human existence was really about showing us “the way” to do this well—in other words, attempting to be our best.  And when more people than not, are in fact, attempting to be their best, life is really better for everyone. 

   So, above, as I suggested, that what we experienced in the total eclipse of the sun by the moon, fits well into the Easter mystery, I need to tell you in a bit more detail, exactly what we experienced. 

   We knew that we wanted to pick a spot, and for us, this was near the Illinois/Indiana border, where we would be alone so as to hear all the sounds, and lack of sounds during a total eclipse.  From a previous experience of total darkness during an eclipse in 2017, we knew that birds and other creatures react to this phenomenon of nature in certain ways.  And such was the case this time too.  As the light became “dusky” at near totality at 2pm in the afternoon, frogs in the area ponds began to croak as they usually do at nightfall, and the birds that had been singing, ceased their song. 

   At totality there was the “diamond flash” that we have all heard about and the circle of light around our “black” moon, and total darkness across the land except for the light on the horizon over 50 miles away.  It was an awesome, emotional experience for us that we will never forget, witnessing these stellar shapes that regulate our very existence, so beautifully—in a way, we might say—being a piece of their best selves!  The 2017 eclipse that we experienced, while wonderful, happened for us in a cloudy sky, so the view wasn’t as spectacular as this 2024 one was for us! 

   And then there was the fact that so many traveled, as we did, 100s of miles to witness and experience this awesome event!  Our trip home took considerably longer as we experienced a 100-mile section where we were bumper-to-bumper—cars out front and behind us as far as the eye could see.  One might look at this and be irritated, but we finally realized that it was part of the experience, and it wasn’t able to “extinguish” what we had experienced in the eclipse. 

   The ability my friends, to rise above our day-to-day, often mundane lives, looking for the profound in the ordinary is what truly makes us “Easter people.”  We can get stuck in the “salvation story” of Jesus being sent by a vengeful God to make reparation for our sinful lives, and when, this God, “He” does, we can sing, “alleluia,” or we can rise above our earthly existence to see the glory of our loving God in celestial creations, in our family members and friends, and in the love of our God for us—in sending Jesus who has shown us the way to become our best selves. 

   All the readings today carry that overall theme of “being our best selves” –basically telling us that this should be our personal life’s work. John’s 1^st letter selection today says it well, and I paraphrase, [God’s love comes to perfection in the person who obeys God’s words]. Peter, in his words in Acts, recounts for his listeners how they have failed in the past, and he basically forgives them for what he names as their, “ignorance,” and encourages them now, to begin again, and to become their best.  He goes on to tell them that if they do this, “all the families of the earth will be blessed” [in their offspring]. 

   In conclusion my friends, I wanted to mention a public TV presentation this past week that basically explored what our future on planet earth could look like. I know when I first read the title and the explanation, I found myself thinking, “Oh, this can’t be good!” 

   We ended up watching it anyway and found that my 1^st impression was wrong.  The presenter, Ari Wallach, described how our present existence leaves many of us feeling that “something just isn’t right” –that we are, “between times,” looking, hoping perhaps for something better.  Now, we all know that there are many reasons that we might feel that “something isn’t right” in the here and now –from our relationships with others, within families and nations, climate change, and protecting our beautiful earth, politics, religion and more. 

   Now, amid all this, Wallach says, just because our cities, for instance, aren’t necessarily “people-friendly,” with too much concrete, and too little “green space” doesn’t mean that in future we can’t come up with something better. Computer-generated images then showed more pleasant building shapes with curves rather than straight lines, with all kinds of green plants nestling up along the sides, less cars, more bikes, and so on. 

   It struck me my friends that the “something” or “some things” that aren’t right, are in our hands to change, if we have the will to do so!  Can we do it alone? No! –but we can do our part!  That is what the “letter-writing group” each week is all about, as an example. 

   The Easter story is all about our God first loving us, with the expectation that we will love God in return, and show that love by loving and caring for others, our beautiful world, not only for ourselves, but for those who come after us.  That’s the Easter story and if we can do our part, as did Jesus, continuing his work, then, “alleluia” can truly be our song!  It’s all about “love,” about something ultimately bigger than ourselves—about seeing the splendor, the awesome, in the every day, and continually working toward a world shared by all, for all. Amen? Amen! Alleluia!