Friends, I invite us to think back to a time in our lives when we didn’t have so much technology; cell phones, computers, emails and every other device that keeps us, if we choose, eternally connected to the wider world.  Now, I realize for some of the younger people among us, the question is a different one as maybe you can’t remember a time when you weren’t technologically connected.  So, you will have to bear with me for a bit.

I was at meetings last weekend, you will recall, and at one of the breaks; we got talking about how we don’t know how we got along without cell phones before they were so readily available because now we are so dependent on them.  Back then; I can remember needing to find a phone booth if something came up when I was away from home and I questioned if there is even a phone booth to be found anymore.

All of the advances in technology help us to live our lives better, for the most part, but we need to strike a balance that keeps us connected, safe and informed, without being over-stimulated.  When we have grown up without all these new ways to be connected and can remember a time when people couldn’t so readily find us; we sometimes long for those days again, even though we enjoy some of the technology.

I for one love the parts of Facebook that keep me connected to our son and daughter and their spouses and our grandson, but I dislike the technology that interrupts my day with constant calls from political candidates asking for money. I love the technology that helps us, through our webmaster’s expertise to create our wonderful website that helps us share the message of Jesus to the wider world.  I dislike that same technology that allows that which isn’t good to be spread in the same manner—hatred and dislike for others—everything that the message of Jesus is not about.  All that is new is not always good.

Paul and Barnabas, John and Jesus, in today’s readings are proclaiming something new as well, and the good thing is that their message isn’t only good for a certain time, —their message is timeless.  God’s love lasts forever—we won’t need a new and improved message next week like we need to periodically update all our devices.

We might also consider today what is it that we can’t live without—the newest technology that will presumably change my life, or the knowledge that I am loved by God, every day of my life, no exceptions, no time limits.  Now granted; we all make use of present day technology that without a doubt make our lives easier, more interesting and enjoyable—there are now more smart phones than dumb phones, to say nothing of “no phones,” as in my opening example. The point is to keep it all in perspective.

When it comes to what we can’t live without, hopefully a relationship with the source of all being is high on our list and especially through the person of Jesus of Nazareth who was the closest manifestation of this all-inclusive love the world will probably ever see.

The reading from Revelation today speaks of a “New Jerusalem, a new heaven and a new earth.”  In the Greek, “new,” exegete, Diane Bergant says, “ speaks of an extraordinary character of this newness—this is literally an act of God.”  She goes on to say that the marital image is used to describe the loving relationship that exists between God and God’s people—all of us! This new time, just as for those in marital union, is one of unending happiness and peace—to be held by the beloved. I think of this as I have been spending time with two couples that I have the privilege of preparing for marriage later this year. Both couples love each other very much; I have no doubt; so for our God to suggest a relationship with us comparable to  the intimacy of married love speaks to One who loves us profoundly and will go to no end to show us that love.

On this 5^th Sunday of Easter; we celebrate as we have throughout Easter time our belief that when Jesus rose from the dead, everything was made new.  Our lives would no longer be ordinary in any way; we will now and always live extraordinary lives because our God, in Jesus, walks with us each and every day. This reminds me of Fr. Ed Hays, a priest for over 50 years of the archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas and the founding director of the Shantivanam Retreat Center in Easton, Kansas, who died this month and of how he looked at the presence of God in our lives. In an article of “Appreciation,” Tom Fox, former editor of the National Catholic Reporter said, “Hays taught that the incarnation was not just a moment in time, but a continuous “infleshing of the Divine Mystery within us.” Fox goes on, “He told me: “If we believe in infleshment, then we see God not as otherworldly, as separate, as different, but rather as of this world.  The smell of burning leaves, an evergreen, a turkey in the oven…isn’t that the smell of God? Doesn’t God taste like pizza, a good steak, salmon?”  There is no longer any reason to fear; we are loved, plain and simple, by a God who asks for us to love in return.

We might ask, “What kind of love are we talking about, in addition to how this love is spoken of in Revelation today?  The love that Jesus talks about is agape—a love that asks for total commitment.  It isn’t something we do just when it feels good, but when it is very difficult, as well.  Again, I think of married couples and of how life doesn’t present them with unending bliss—but even then, and precisely then, is when they  are called to love fully—agape love. We, as Jesus’ followers must additionally be committed to doing the right thing for all of God’s people when we have support from others and when we do not.  Many times it may mean that we have to stand alone, as did Jesus.  Our satisfaction—better yet, our peace, will come in knowing in our hearts, that we have done the right thing.

Again, looking at committed marital love, what allows that love to grow rich with the years is the willingness to stand by the beloved in the ups and downs of life. But let me be clear; I am not speaking of commitments that have been broken and misused by abuse. Here I think of a friend who is breaking free of a marriage that hasn’t been good for a while—that hasn’t been a mutual undertaking of love, but one where she learned to defer to him and could never really be who she was.

There are so many ways that call us to extend agape love to those in our midst. We are presently concluding a month that calls our attention to child abuse. Each of us is called to be aware of those around us and to speak up in situations where we might suspect that children are being abused. Certainly not an easy thing as our own Church hierarchy struggles to be truly pastoral and demonstrate agape love in regard to all the used and abused children under their care whom they failed to protect.  In our wider world; we may be aware of situations—an overburdened single mom whom we can reach out to, lightening her load, helping her to better care for her children, care for herself.

This past Friday, our country celebrated Earth Day—a day to remember that care of our beautiful earth is most important if we want to give our children and grandchildren a future upon this planet.

We aren’t all called to missionary work as were Paul and Barnabas; the place we share our love isn’t as important as that we do it where we are—now!  If we look around, we will be aware that many people carry a heavy load—many people work in jobs that aren’t ultimately fulfilling—what can we do to help lift the load for them?  Family life at times can be trying and it is in the midst of whatever life brings that each of us is called as were Paul and Barnabas, to “undergo many hardships,” knowing that we don’t do it alone—God in Jesus, is with us.

I believe at the heart of it, each one of us wants to do the right thing and all that stands in the way for most of us, is the human condition. We get caught up in the desire to be in control, to be liked, to be loved; or, we are protecting our good name; or, we may be lazy, fearful or uninterested.

I believe there is that inner quality in each one of us to strive after what is best within us and it is for that reason that many of us are drawn into TV and cinema productions that depict heroes who are willing to give up everything, even that which they hold most dear for the greater good of the whole people.

Last Sunday, April 17 was the World Day of Prayer for Vocations (I’m a little behind, but it’s a prayer we can always be praying!) –a prayer for those called to priesthood and religious life. The intent is to pray for vocations for men to the priesthood and for women to religious life.  I have the vocation prayer that was updated this year to include that Pope Francis be open to the priestly vocations of women, so I would invite you to pray that prayer often.  I have copies for you today and shared it with our board at our April quarterly meeting. I will get it on the website too.  Never underestimate the power of prayer to bring about the changes so needed in our world.

The Second Vatican Council, more than 50 years ago marked the first time that we began as the People of God to proclaim that, “We are Easter People.”  Easter, all those hundreds of years ago, when Jesus walked the earth, called us all to something new through his life, death and resurrection.  Through Jesus, and his Spirit; we have all that we need to effect change within our world in all the places where people are hurting most.  In Jesus’ wonderful name, I say, let’s begin!

 

As I’ve said before, most of us probably take for granted the story of the Resurrection—we accept it because it has been part of our belief system our entire lives.  So our problem again, will be not to explain what happened as much as it will be for us to personally decide what we are going to do about it.  And again, the question we must ask is: “So what now—Jesus has risen—what difference does that make to me in my personal, everyday life?

Let’s first take a look at what was happening in our Scriptures today.  To get the chronological order correct; we need to start with the 2^nd reading from Revelation.  Here we see rejoicing—glory and praise, because Jesus, “the lamb,” has lived, died and rose from the dead to new life—basically conquered evil!  In Jesus, evil no longer has any strength or power. That is why in our times of trouble, sorrow and pain; we should invoke Jesus’ wonderful name.  As Paul says so beautifully to the Philippians and is alluded to in this reading from Revelation, “At his name, every knee must bend, in the heavens, on earth, and under the earth!” Another way of looking at this is—no name has such power and strength to conquer evil than that of the name of Jesus.  So our reading from Revelation depicts the joy of the heavenly multitude in all that Jesus is and has done.

Next, we need to look at the Gospel from John depicting a 3^rd appearance of Jesus to the disciples.  Here again we are struck as we were at Easter by the fact that at first, Jesus’ followers, faithful companions for his entire public life, three or so years, don’t seem to know him. Again, we hear that he didn’t look the same—resurrection changes us!  It isn’t until he does something familiar, telling them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat, resulting in a huge catch of fish, that they recognize him! Now, it might be good for us to stop for a moment and think about the fact that if resurrection has changed Jesus, then that fact signals that we are called to change too.

As we said last week, Jesus’ life wasn’t simply a show to impress, but a gift to us his followers, modeling for us how our lives are to be now. In their parlance, they are, “To feed his sheep.” Our grandson Elliot likes to ask his parents, in response to what happens in his daily life, following their lead of course, “Is this how we do it?”  And to Elliot and to each of us the answer is, “Yes, this is how we do it”—now!

Moving on then to the Gospel message, we find that it really is intended to tie up some loose ends.  After Jesus’ death the apostles really seemed confused and lost—they aren’t sure what has happened nor what to do next, so they go back to what they know best—fishing, to see if they can find their way again. It is kind of like when we leave where we are to go in search of something and when we get there, we can’t remember what we left our present spot for and if we return to the spot we left, we will remember again, what took us away.

We see Jesus working through what they know best, as he will with us, to bring them and us, to a greater truth—a new vision. For us, this will mean that our brother Jesus, working through his Spirit in the daily-ness of our lives, will prompt us to do what we must to best be his followers. We must listen and then, act!

In many ways, this rag-tag group of apostles is quite forlorn because in their hearts they are no doubt feeling badly for the way they turned their backs and abandoned their brother and friend in his greatest hour of need.

The very poignant exchange between Jesus and Peter of whether or not Peter loves Jesus, given the fact that before Jesus’ death, Peter denied three times that he even knew him, is, I think, Jesus’ way of telling Peter and us that he understands our weak human natures and forgives us all for not claiming him in the accused, the downtrodden, the abandoned, the poor, the sick and the afflictions abound where we need “to feed, to tend the sheep.”  But it is there, precisely, where we must care for and tend the flock as Jesus told Peter—if you truly love me, as you say, then you must love my people in every way and in every place where you find them—you must work to protect and care for them.  We all have been unexpectantly refreshed these past three years during the papacy of Francis and especially during his proclaimed Year of Mercy hearing him advocate for the poor in so many ways, encouraging understanding and leniency from his clerics when upholding the laws.

At present, groups within our Church advocating for the ordination of women, RCWP, WOC and the like are preparing to take Francis at his word. As he is willing to deal leniently with the Society of Pius X and lift their excommunications; we women are preparing a letter that will ask him to act likewise with validly ordained women who are at present considered, “illicit.”  We are listening and will hold him to his word!

One of the most powerful things that I learned in my chaplaincy training many years ago was the importance of listening to people’s stories—trusting that what a person tells you is their truth.  Their experiences have shaped their lives and when we can give the gift of listening to another, it can be a gift of life.

This gift of listening, valuing the story, the experience, is what we from different religious denominations must do going forward in order that we can move toward being one as our brother Jesus always intended.  For someone to know that they have been heard and understood is such a gift.  If we can affirm another, perhaps becoming an ally in their fight against injustice, abuse, whatever the issue might be, is to extend this great gift.    Each of us has an experience, a life journey that is worthy of being heard—we all must truly listen if we ever hope to become one!

Reflecting further on today’s readings, putting them in chronological order; we come to the first reading from Acts.  Here we realize that Jesus has returned to Abba God, but he has also sent his Spirit to the disciples to be with them, giving them the strength to proclaim the resurrection even though the powers-that-be are trying to silence them.  Even the threat of death will not silence them as we know.

This is a message that we must hold onto as well in our lives—we must listen for the promptings of the Spirit as she will often lead us to do things apart from the status quo—we can’t trust that something is right or wrong because “everyone is doing it”or not doing it.” As Peter proclaimed in the reading from Acts today, when he was told to stop teaching in Jesus’ name—“Better for us to obey God than people!”

Jesus tells Peter in so many words in today’s Gospel what his fate will ultimately be, yet Peter proceeds to proclaim a truth he cannot keep to himself—that Jesus did live, did teach and preach, did show us how to live, which was basically, to love, and he did die, because to him it was more important that the truth about life be told—that we have a God who loves us totally and wants us to love each other in just the same way.  And finally, that he did rise—something we don’t truly understand, but believe is a transition that awaits us one day too.

That, my friends is the message of Christianity—it’s the message of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.  We are to live, loving to the best of our ability, ourselves, and each and every one we encounter.  God understands in Jesus that we can’t always do it perfectly—each of us has our weak moments, as did Peter—he wasn’t alone in that; but it is also possible to have great moments of strength as did Mary of Magdala and all those first witnesses to the resurrection—being fearless in speaking the truth they knew; proclaiming that Jesus not only lived, died and rose triumphant, but that he continues to live and love through each one of us if we allow that to happen.

So, I would like to end with the question I posed at the beginning:  What difference does it make to us that Jesus has risen?  Has the knowledge of who Jesus was and what he did make any difference in our lives? Just as the disciples didn’t know Jesus after the resurrection because he had changed, will anyone recognize the changes in our lives or is Easter just another day?

 

 

My friends, we continue this week marveling at the Resurrection of Jesus, what it meant for him, what it meant for his first followers and what it means for us.  It is important for us to ponder this event in the life of our brother Jesus and somehow make sense of it, as his followers, so as to allow his message to live on in our lives.  Otherwise, the Resurrection just becomes a tenant of our faith, something we say “yes” to, but which has little or no effect in our lives.

We as Jesus’ followers really have it easy from the standpoint of having heard about the Resurrection all of our lives and so in some ways, believing in it as we do other tenets of our faith may be no problem because we have believed for so long and perhaps that may be a problem for us too in that it encourages complacency. We criticize Thomas for not believing, but we have to remember that he and the others had no reference point for this marvelous happening—they had never heard of anyone being resurrected, nor did they fully know what that meant.  We have to remember from last week, that resurrection wasn’t like being resuscitated—resurrection was something totally different that Jesus had come through!  The other 10 apostles believed because they had seen—Thomas hadn’t the gift of sight as of yet, in more ways than one. Jesus’ comforting words have come down through the years to us, his followers—“Blessed are those who have not seen, but yet believed!” We basque in those words, but what do they really mean to us?

So to us the question we asked last week of those first witnesses to the Resurrection; just what did they believe must be addressed. What do we who have not seen, actually believe? We say we believe that Jesus rose from the dead—somehow moved on to the next life that we all believe we will experience one day. So what does that then signal?

First, it’s important to remember and realize that Jesus didn’t just come as someone who performed great wonders for us to marvel at as in a good story. Jesus came to demonstrate a way of life that each of us, as his followers is called to.  Jesus’ miracles and wonders were not meant to be a show to astound us—no; they were meant to be first a sign that indeed he is the Messiah, come to save us from ourselves and second that he came to show us how to live lives of service, of care, of responsibility—for ourselves and for all others.

Each year, in the parts of the country and world that move from the cold and barrenness of winter to the new life of spring; we have a wonderful sign and symbol of what the Resurrection should mean and bring forth in our lives—the gifts of the Spirit that allow us to reach out to our world, sharing the good news of a life lived totally out of love, not for himself, but as a servant for others—Jesus, our brother and friend.

Perhaps because of the promise of new life that spring brings, our Church often times confirms young people in their faith at this time of year—asking them to say their mature “yes” to the promises that their parents and godparents have made for them all their lives.  Our mature “yeses” made at our confirmations, yeses that must be renewed throughout our lives, cause us hopefully to take the wonders of Jesus’ life and create the same in our lives as his followers.  The wonders, the signs were meant mainly to get our attention, not to stop there.  Jesus performed signs and wonders not as a show, but out of love for those in his world that he knew were suffering, were being treated unjustly, and were being abused.  He said, no, not as long as I am here!” We must do the same! Each of us is important—we can’t leave it to others.

My friend, Fr. Paul Nelson, said it this way:  “Our world needs the presence and spirit of each person who has been given life.  Confirmation calls us to give again our spirit, our thoughts, our convictions, our dialogue, to study willingly, so that we can help direct the course of good creative, redemptive and saving energy, for the earth, for humanity, for all of creation.”

Our first reading today comes from the Acts of the Apostles and relates how Peter and the others went among the people, no doubt empowered by the Spirit of Jesus to cure people of their afflictions.  I think we sometimes feel that we cannot follow in their footsteps because we do not have such powers.  And if we think that, then we would be wrong, because we haven’t allowed ourselves to see the larger picture.  Healing others comes in many ways—a simple smile, the willingness to truly listen to another when we think we are too busy—taking the time and effort to greet others we pass on the street, helping out with the ways that our church community tries to assist those needing our help in our community and world.  We underestimate what our gentle engaging with others can mean to an individual down on their luck or simply lonely.

I visit several people in our area through the Community Care Network sponsored by Winona Health.  Sometimes I feel like I don’t do much for them, but this week when visiting one of them, the realization came upon me that this person really enjoys having me here to talk to, to listen to his concerns, to be another human presence.

I know many of you are engaged in like endeavors.  Don’t underestimate the goodness of what you do.  For those of you at home caring for little ones, listening to them, teaching them to be people who are a credit to our world—don’t ever underestimate the wonders you are performing in what may seem, mundane.

Friends, the Easter Season calls each of us to wonder, to the task of pondering what our lives are all about in the context of our belief in our brother Jesus who gave all so that we each would have life, to the full.  And having life, to the full, will mean, sharing it with others.  May we each be blessed as we strive to be Easter people!

 

 

My friends, I decided for this Easter message, “to cut to the chase,” so to speak and just jump into the story of Easter as it is such a good story! I usually give you some exegesis but decided too to dispense with that and “spend” my words on the story as it is laid out for us today, because again, it is such a good story. It includes all the elements of a really good story: suspense, action, intrigue, and of course, love.

Let’s look at what we are told—Mary of Magdala goes to the tomb, early in the morning—she is looking for her friend who suffered a grievous death, not even two days ago, before her very eyes.  It was all so confusing that day—no one had been able to anoint his body, as was their custom, a task she intended to do now. A secret friend at the Sanhedrin, Joseph of Arimathea had given Jesus a tomb and Mary made sure she knew where it was.  Because of the Sabbath and the prohibition of any, but necessary work; she couldn’t go to the tomb until after the holyday had passed.

She was the first to arrive at the tomb—she couldn’t stay away.  Upon arriving, much to her wonder and shock, she finds that the stone barring the entrance has been rolled away. Her immediate reaction is that Jesus’ body has been taken and this is what she reports to Peter and John.

These two disciples then run to the tomb to confirm that which they can’t yet believe. At this point all three are grieving Jesus’ death and they are looking for a body.  Upon inspecting the tomb and seeing the wrappings on the ground and the material covering his face rolled up in a different place, they suspect that something more than a grave robbing has occurred as was Mary’s first impression—if someone wanted to steal his body, they wouldn’t bother to unwrap it first is what exegetes tell us and no doubt the apostles were thinking as well.  When they saw the evidence, they believed, the Scriptures say.

And we might ask, “What is it that they believed?  It is important for us to remember that these first followers had no experience of a resurrection or of what that truly meant, even though Jesus had told them that he would rise after three days.

Now at this point, we have to fault those who chose the gospel reading for this Easter Sunday morn as they stop short of the ten verses of the story that flesh it out and make it truly the alleluia story that it is! For those of you who follow the lectionary closely, you will notice that today’s selection ends with verse 9 of the 20^th chapter of John, “Then the disciples went back to their homes.” Really! Come on guys, you’re going to end the story there?! (In fact, the selection was made by guys!)

So, I took some “literary license” and included the next 10 verses which includes Mary of Magdala’s poignant and wonderful encounter with her risen rabbi.  As a point of information regarding the word “rabbi” you will recall that earlier I mentioned that Mary had gone to the tomb looking for her “friend.” I said this because when she finally recognizes Jesus she calls him “Rabboni” which is a diminutive of the word Rabbi or teacher. It would be like calling him “teach” instead of “teacher.” Clearly their relationship was one of friendship!

Moving along then, from Mary’s position beside the tomb, where Scripture tells us, “She is weeping,” she discovers two angels when she looks inside the tomb to confirm that Jesus has truly gone—been taken—something! Everyone in this story seems to be on a different page because these creatures in “dazzling robes” ask her why she is weeping.  Now given what happened to Jesus not even two days ago, weeping seems a good reaction to me.  But these “dazzling” creatures had moved to the next page indeed, and Mary will be there soon as she then notices someone behind her who too is concerned about her weeping, but he goes further—“for whom are you looking?”  Now Mary assumes that he is the gardener and asks him if he knows where Jesus’ body has been taken. So our imaginations are piqued—why does she not recognize her rabbi, her friend, the one for which she weeps?

John Aurelio, in his book, Returnings tells us that what happened to Jesus was not a resuscitation where one would appear the same once oxygen was flowing again—Jesus was resurrected, something none of us understands any more than Jesus’ first followers did, but we can clearly surmise that something wonderful and life-changing had occurred because Mary can no longer recognize, at least physically, her friend.

Scripture does tell us though that at one point she does recognize him and it is when Jesus says her name, “Mary.”  No matter what resurrection has done to Jesus physically, she would always know the way he said her name. It is a bit like when we watch an old movie and recognize a character not by their looks, but by their voice. We can also think of our own loved ones and the special ways they name us, the special tone of voice, the special look reserved only for us and we know that what is at the heart of it is love.

Love is something that binds people over time and place and will always be, true.  Stories abound of people who have lost a loved one who later were most sure that they felt their presence in a certain situation, a physical manifestation in another human or animal form not of their loved one, or even in a manifestation of nature—a rainbow, a sunset.

We all recall the story of the disciples on the way to Emmaus who found they were walking with “a stranger” who was really Jesus, only they didn’t recognize him. When they arrived at their home, they invited the stranger in for the evening meal, still not recognizing him, but also not wanting to let him go, because, “their hearts burned within them” at his words.  They finally knew him in an action they had experienced with him so many times before—the breaking of the bread.

So friends, Easter calls us each year to recall the wonderful story of how much our God loves us and wants to share our wonderful lives with us, helping us to be all that we can be, loving us no matter what we do with our lives. And love is really the key—it’s what makes this story so good! When we know we are loved; we can do anything, accomplish any feat.  That’s all God really wanted us to know in sending Jesus—that each one of us is loved.

And because that is such an awesome task, our brother and friend, Jesus, asked us to continue what he could only begin. That is what being his follower calls us to—to see him in our world in all the ways that he showed himself while with us.  Because he advocated for the least among us; we must see him in the poor, the downtrodden, the forgotten, the lonely young and the lonely old, the women around our world not afforded their full rights as human beings simply because of having been born female. We must see our brother Jesus in anyone or group of individuals not treated justly in our world due to race, creed or sexual expression and what we must see is the link that connects us all as Easter people—the connection between us and all others is the love given so freely by Jesus in his life and death, so that we could, “all be one” finally, finally!

His resurrection, what we celebrate today and during the next 50 days in a special way is the realization that we are called to the same, to resurrected life where one day all will be fully accepted and loved as God’s own.  May the journey include us all as we strive to be our best! Amen? Amen! Alleluia!