Homilies

Homily – 5th Sunday of Easter in a Time of Almost Safety

/ kredig

Dear Friends, we continue on in the Easter Season and “Alleluia” truly is our song! The readings for this week are about the challenge, in love, to not just speak about it, but to do the loving thing. We hear of our loving God’s desire to be one with us, in Jesus, in the beautiful story of the vine and the branches and the invitation to be “one with God, living in God as God does, indeed, live in us.” Pastor Dick Dahl has given us some wonderfully engaging, challenging and comforting thoughts for this Sunday. Thank you Dick!

Please know that I am here for you if need be, to help, to listen, even to chat–I am a bit behind on my regular calls with some commitments to our new Honduran family in town. For those of you in the Winona area who might wish to help with an evening meal and if you didn’t receive the newest signup tool, let me know and I will send it out. My contact information is: aaorcc2008@gmail.com or by phone, 507-429-3616. Peace and love to all, Pastor Kathy

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Entrance Antiphon

Sing to our God, a new song, for God has done marvelous deeds!  Our loving God has revealed to the nations saving power, Alleluia!

Let Us Pray

Opening Prayer

Good and gentle God, look upon us with love. You have revealed to the nations your saving power and filled all ages with the words of a new song.  Hear the echo of this hymn, sung in love and praise to you in this season of joy.  We ask this of you, and with the Spirit, in Jesus’ wonderful name—Amen.

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Readings:

  • Acts 9: 26-31
  • 1 John 3: 18-24
  • John 15: 1-8

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Homily from Pastor Dick Dahl

Recently Father Richard Rohr had a week of meditations on “Friendship and Grace.” I’m taking the following statement out of context from one of them, but it is still accurate: “… free and gratuitous love is the only love that validates, transforms, and changes us at the deepest levels of consciousness. It is what we all desire and what we were created for. Once we allow it for ourselves, we will almost naturally become a conduit of the same for others. In fact, nothing else will attract us anymore or even make much sense.”

In today’s Gospel-reading Jesus expresses his desire for this kind relationship with us. He says that just as branches share the life of a vine, so it is with him and his followers. How amazing is it that we can not only imagine but can actually share such a life-sharing intimacy with him! He desires it…with you and me. “Remain in me” he says eight different times.

This living bond with him is not experienced in isolation. We may experience it most often through our relationships with other people, and even other creatures such as cherished pets or the beauty of birds or trees and the awesome reflection of his presence in all of creation.

 He says we remain in him when we let his word, his example, guide us. He seemed to always reach out to those whom others rejected or feared—the sick, the disabled, tax collectors, prostitutes, Roman soldiers, foreigners, and the list goes on. Our previous President told people to fear strangers and immigrants. He described them as rapists and murderers. Strangers and outcasts, however, are people whom Jesus welcomed and loved. Or to put it another way, as Matthew’s Gospel does, at the Last Judgment Jesus himself will say, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”

Several in our community, including many of you, very recently welcomed a family who had fled terror in their homeland. In them we met, as it were, other branches of the vine who is Jesus. What we have in common is not the same language or nationality, but the dignity we share as human beings. They are enriching us by the example of their courage, their warm gratitude, and the humility they show in accepting the love and support offered them by those of us who are at first strangers but almost immediately become friends.

Today’s first reading from the acts of the Apostles describes how the first Christians learned to become open and welcoming to the man they greatly feared. They knew of him as one who sought to capture and imprison them. Saul the fervent Pharisee must have seemed to them the way an undocumented immigrant family would feel if they heard a person from ICE or the Border Patrol knocking on their door. Saul, however, was transformed into Paul by an intense encounter with the resurrected Jesus. With the help of Barnabas as intermediary, the early Christians opened themselves to accept and welcome Paul into their community. And what a difference he was to make!

Jesus used the metaphor of the vine and its branches to reveal not only how we live vitally connected with him and others. He used it also to teach us that just as pruning is necessary for branches on a vine to grow back with greater vitality to produce more fruit, so it is for us. He used it to teach us about those aspects of life that none of us like to face or think about. Jesus does not hide us from the painful part of life anymore that he hid from it. Suffering takes many forms. It can be anxiety and soul-crushing depression or the slow crucifixion of addiction. It can be physical illness, pain, or mental and emotional confusion and loss. It may shake us to our core from disappointments, failure, betrayal, deaths of those we love most dearly making us question whether we can or even want to go on.

 We likely do not feel blessed when we have such experiences. We don’t want them any more than Jesus did. However, even if we feel alone and abandoned, the Spirit never leaves us. The Holy Spirit is the life force that makes us one with Jesus, just as a vine nourishes its branches. The love that binds us to Jesus is powerful; it is the Holy Spirit…promised and given to us.

This is what it means to be connected to the vine and to remain in him. Pruning is never fun, but, like branches on a vine, it can free us and transform us in ways we would never have expected.

This is the paradox of sharing in his passion, his death and resurrection.

In today’s second reading John writes: If at times your sense of unworthiness leads you to question God’s love for you, John assures us that God knows us better than we know ourselves. Our faith in the Lord and love for others are the sure signs of God’s gratuitous love that transforms and validates our lives.

So, in summary, today’s readings proclaim the here and now personal relationship that Jesus wants and has with each of us. He repeats to us, “Remain in me.” His Spirit enables us to do this by living his word, through openness to others, especially those in need, those who seem different and at first “other.” But just as the early Christians overcame their fears of their former persecutor Saul, we can challenge ourselves to seek beyond the differences that divide us to find what we have in common with others.

And finally, Jesus prepared us for the pruning that our lives may experience. He called blessed those who mourn, for they shall be comforted; those who hunger and thirst for justice (righteousness), for they shall be satisfied; those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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Prayers of the Faithful

Response: “Loving God, hear us.”

  1. Jesus, in your risen state, be our guide to live out your loving example toward all people, especially the least among us, we pray—Response: “Loving God, hear us.”
  • Jesus, let peace reign in our hearts and give us the strength and grace to be people of peace, we pray—Response:  “Loving God, hear us.”
  • Jesus, you who said you are the vine and we are the branches, we ask that you would always remain close to us guiding our lives in the ways of love, we pray—Response: “Loving God, hear us.”
  • Jesus, grant each of us a renewed faith during this Easter Season to remain true to you living our lives in truth, justice and love, we pray—Response: “Loving God, hear us.”
  • Jesus, give hope to those who continue to suffer now due to job loss and for those who live daily with the threat of losing their jobs—show them all the way through this painful time, we pray—Response: “Loving God, hear us.”
  • Jesus, help us to look to Mary, your mother that she might be a guide for us toward compassion, strength and care for our world, we pray—Response: “Loving God, hear us.”
  • Jesus, help us to see you every day in the faces of all we meet—help us to see your face in all the ordinary events of our life , we pray—Response: “Loving God, hear us.”
  • Jesus, you who never turned anyone away, be with our community, All Are One—especially now as we celebrate 13 years of existence on May 10, 2021—continue to bless us and assist us to be open to all of your people and guide us to always make a place of welcome at our table, but more importantly, in our hearts, we pray—Response: “Loving God, hear us.”
  • Jesus, send your Spirit into the lives of all your followers to enable them to do all within their power to renew your church so in need of that renewal, we pray—Response: “Loving God, hear us.”
  • Risen Jesus, be with all families who have lost loved ones this week, from COVID and all other causes—give them your peace, and help them to find their way through their grief, we pray—Response:  “Loving God, hear us.”

***Let us pray for the silent petitions on our hearts—pause, we pray, then response

Let Us Pray

   Good and gentle God, our source of all strength and wisdom.  We ask that you would give us peace—filled and loving hearts—the energy to always seek after peace through the gifts of lovingkindness and mercy.  Help us to remember that our real task in this world as followers of Jesus, our brother, is to love your people and this world. Help us always to look for inspiration from your mother Mary, a pillar of strength, faith, gentleness and courage. We ask that we might have the strength for these great tasks.   All this we ask of you, Creator God, Jesus, our Brother and your Spirit, one God, living and loving us, forever and ever, AMEN. 

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Let Us Pray—Again, we can’t be together in person, but do always remember, that Jesus lives on in and with and through us!

Prayer of Communion

Jesus, be with us each and every day. We believe as you told us that you are the vine and we are the branches and that if we live in you, you will live in us and bear much fruit.  Give us the grace to follow your lead—we ask all of this in your loving name, Amen.

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Homily – 3rd Sunday of Easter in an Almost Time of Safety Again

/ kredig

Dear Friends, Easter is a wonderful time for us to look back and to look forward. Looking back at all that our brother Jesus was and did and is for us –studying “his path” and trying to do likewise, ourselves, as we move forward into each day. We are told this week, the he “is our Advocate before God” –a very comforting thought, I think. Our God is always encouraging us through the memory of Jesus of Nazareth, to be our best. That is my challenge to myself and to each of you reading this. Please always know that I am here for you should it help to have an ear to listen…you can contact me as always by phone, 507-429-3616 or email, aaorcc2008@gmail.com. Peace and love to you all–each of you, Pastor Kathy

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Entrance Antiphon

Let all the earth cry out to God with joy; praise the glory of God’s name; proclaim God’s glorious name, Alleluia!

Let Us Pray

Opening Prayer

Loving God, author of all truth, a people once in darkness has listened to our Word, Jesus, the Christ. We followed him as he rose from the tomb. Hear the prayer of your newborn people and strengthen us as Church to answer your call.  May we rise and come forth into the light of day to stand in your presence until eternity dawns.  We ask this in Jesus’ wonderful name, Amen.

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Readings:

  • Acts 3: 13-15, 17-19
  • 1 John 2: 1-5
  • Luke 24: 35-48

Homily:

   My friends, we continue our journey through these six weeks of Eastertime.  We are reminded as are the apostles, by Jesus, that “all of this” is happening according to a plan—bigger than them, in other words.  Jesus reminds them and us that he is indeed the Messiah spoken of by all the prophets who came before him. 

   He reminds them that even though his actual presence on earth, in their midst, as a messiah—different perhaps, than what they expected, is, and was, what their God expected and wanted.  Jesus’ messiahship was never about, “saving” them from the Romans, but always about saving them from themselves—as humans and assisting them to become their best selves.

   Peter, post-resurrection, clearly has or takes the responsibility to instruct the Jews and others about Jesus, who they allowed to be crucified.  Peter appears to us in today’s 1st reading from Acts, to be compassionate and understanding of their complicity in Jesus’ death, saying, “You acted out of ignorance,” not understanding all the prophets that came before him, saying that all would happen as it did. 

   But Peter continues—now is the time, “to reform your lives,” and “listen to everything” [pondering what Jesus, the prophet, has told you].  His coming among us was all about letting us know that our God is in love with us—each of us, wanting us to be our best selves, for ourselves, others, and our world.

   John, in his 1st letter, which serves as our 2nd reading today, tells us clearly how we are to become our best selves:  We must come to know this God who loves us so much, and we can be sure that we do, by “keeping the commandments of God,” John says.  Jesus in fact makes that even more simple— “Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.”

   Now, you are probably thinking—that is not at all simple, and you would be right!   When we really think about it, our thought processes go something like this: “Why of course I love God, but my neighbor? —well, that is another story!” Yet, our brother, Jesus asks us in so many words, “How is it that you can say you love God, whom you have never seen, but can’t love your neighbor, whom you have seen?”

   This is perhaps something good for us to ponder these days and weeks of Eastertime.  And maybe a sharper focus might be, to contemplate never doing anything to a “neighbor” that we wouldn’t want done to ourselves.  And, I think, a comfort in our struggle to be our best selves is to remember John’s words today, that, “Jesus is our Advocate with God.”  I have always been comforted in the knowledge that our brother, Jesus, having been a human, in every way and tempted in all the ways that we are, chose to be his best self, so as to show us the way.

   Jesus continues, we see, in the gospel from Luke today to, “open the eyes” of the apostles to what his presence on earth truly means—to what their true parts are, in carrying on his work in the world.  And friends, this is about us too!  What are we being called to do?

   I believe a significant piece to keep in mind, is Jesus’ demeanor in all his dealings after the resurrection with his beloved apostles and disciples.  As we discussed last week, Jesus’ appearances were always accompanied by the words, “Peace be with you.” 

   I believe Jesus knew that his disciples were afraid and confused.  He would send his Spirit to give them strength and that would help, but his peaceful presence among them would do the most good.

   My friends, we—in our lives, following in Jesus’ footsteps, are called to all that these first disciples were called to.  We are called, as were they to see beyond what our eyes tell us—to in fact show that we love God, whom we do not see by loving those in our midst, whom we do see. Seeing Jesus in his risen form, will look to us much like it did for those 1st believers—seeing him, in the actions of love.  Whenever we see unselfish love—true love, that is, “we see the face of God,” as I was recently reminded in the epic play, Les Misérables. 

   Seeing Jesus in our midst, now, is all about being able to see the “extraordinary” in the ordinary.   We all know those times when we see family, friends, colleagues doing the patient work of bringing about the kin-dom—going the extra mile—speaking the kind word, giving the gentle touch, sharing the warm smile, the word of support when no one else is stepping up, being the catalyst for others doing the same.

   Our city of Winona will have the opportunity, soon—we hope, and for some time, to see Jesus in his life among us through the lives of a Honduran family that will come here as they seek asylum from abuses, they suffered in their own country and even at our border.  These young parents of two will strive for a better life for their family among us and with our assistance.

   In conclusion then, Jesus’ words are apt. “You are my witnesses” [that love is stronger than death.]  Amen? Amen! Alleluia!

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Prayers of the Faithful:

Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus”

  1. Jesus, in your risen state, be our guide to live out your loving example toward all people, especially the least among us—let them be foremost in our minds and hearts,  we pray—    Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus”
  •  Risen Jesus, let peace reign in our hearts and give us the strength and grace to be people of peace, we pray—Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus”
  • Risen Jesus, you who desired to heal the  minds, hearts and bodies of those in your midst, grant us health in these same ways, we pray—Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus”
  • Risen Jesus, grant each of us a renewed faith during this Easter Season to remain true to you living our lives in truth and justice and always with love,  we pray—Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus”
  • Risen Jesus, our brother and friend, give hope to those who are suffering now due to job loss—illness of any kind, especially COVID 19, the ravages of nature, —show them the way through this painful time, we pray—Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus”
  • Risen Jesus,  you gave us the gift of forgiveness—give us the generosity and care for others and for ourselves to be able to forgive, and to accept forgiveness from others,  we pray—     Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus”
  • Risen Jesus, with each meal we partake in, remind us that you used common, everyday situations to expound on the love of Abba God—help us to see your face in all the ordinary events of our lives, we pray—Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus”
  • Risen Jesus, you who never turned anyone away, be with our community, All Are One—continue to bless us and assist us to be open to all of your people and guide us to always make a place of welcome at our table, but more importantly, in our hearts.  Additionally, be with our Honduran family, entering soon into our community, we pray—Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus”
  • Risen Jesus, be with all families who have lost loved ones this week, from COVID and all other causes—give them your peace and help them to find their way through their grief, we pray—Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus.”

***Let us pray for the silent petitions on our hearts—pause, we pray, then response

Let Us Pray

   Jesus, you have truly risen!  Alleluia!  Be the strength we need each day to be people of the resurrection—true to our calling to be people of peace and of love. Let us never falter in our commitment to you and your world.  Give us the strength and grace to do what we can to make our world better—help us to be the change we want to see. Let us truly be Easter people of joy, people of forgiveness.  We ask all of this of you, our Brother and Friend and with the Creator and your Spirit of Truth— all, one God, living and loving us forever and ever, Amen.

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Let Us Pray—Again, we can’t be together, nor receive the bread of the altar, but remember that Jesus is always with you—Always! 

Prayer of Communion

Jesus, our brother and friend, look on us, your people, with kindness, as you looked upon your apostles, disciples and friends long ago. By these Easter mysteries, bring us to the glory of the resurrection. We ask this again in your wonderful name, Amen.

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Homily – 2nd Sunday of Easter in an Almost Safe Time Again!

/ kredig

Dear Friends,

Jesus asks us this week in the Gospel, just what do we believe?–perhaps a good question to ponder this week. We continue to be in this time of pandemic that doesn’t allow us to live as we might like to–we have had to be creative in how we reach out to others. Perhaps this time has made us appreciate others more–not a bad outcome if in fact true. Maybe this time has encouraged us to look again at how we live in our world and protect it, helping, not harming, the environment. Maybe these times have caused us to realize in a new way how everyone’s life, day in and day out, is not always on a level playing field. Friends, Easter calls us to these questions and more–may we each be blessed as we ponder and search for the best ways to be in our world that so needs people who can live from their hearts. Peace and love, Pastor Kathy

P.S. Please do not hesitate to be in touch if I can help in any way. Email-aaorcc2008@gmail.com or by phone-507-429-3616.

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Entrance Antiphon

Like newborn children we should thirst for milk on which our spirits can grow to strength. Rejoice in the glory that is ours and give thanks for being called to be part of God’s kindom. Alleluia!

Let Us Pray

Opening Prayer

Loving and merciful God, we no longer look for Jesus among the dead, for he is alive!  From the waters of death you raise us with him and renew your gift of life within us.  Increase in our minds and hearts the knowledge and awareness of the risen life we share with Jesus, who is the Christ.  Help us to grow as your people toward the fullness of eternal life. We ask this in Jesus’ wonderful name, who lives and loves us with you and the Spirit Sophia—one God, forever and ever. Amen.

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Readings:

  • Acts 4: 32-35
  • 1 John 5: 1-7
  • John 20: 19-31

Homily

My friends, I believe many of us enjoy the post-Easter Sunday readings from the Acts of the Apostles that lay out for us how these first followers of Jesus, our brother, chose to live following the memory of his life, death, and resurrection.  We marvel at how they shared with one another, “No one was needy among them,” And it is easy, reading such text, to make the leap to the present and say, “Why can’t we do this in our world today?”  At the very least, why can’t we see to it that, “no one is hungry?”

   A reality check brings us to the fact that, “good ideas” and the people advocating for such, are always more successful at first.  Our continued reading in Acts will show that the love and sharing of everything in common grows thin in the day-to-day living out, of this most, amiable goal.  But does that mean we shouldn’t continue to try to see to it that there is, “no one needy among” [us]?   I would say, “No!”  As we live and grow, we are always called to more, not less, if we are truly trying to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. 

   This brings us nicely into the key thoughts that I gleaned from a select podcast within a group of such, entitled, All My Relations.  I became aware of this from my daughter, Eryn, who indicated that it might be good to use in a homily—sometime. She was right, so here goes.

   The issue being discussed in this particular podcast was the fire in the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris on April 15, 2019, nearly two years ago.  Two women, one a protagonist and the other, an antagonist, are speaking for or against, as the case may be, the fact that within hours of the fire, two prominent people were able to raise 300 million dollars to repair this icon of the Catholic church, a symbol for many of their long-held faith in the goodness of Christianity in their lives. 

   The woman speaking for the goodness—the rightness of these financial gifts seemed to be saying that it is all about peoples’ “sacred places,” and that it is important that we, “hold space for each other” when such tragedies happen in order that people can grieve. 

   The second woman stated that if this is so, why in the past has the same not been done when black church fires have happened?  Additionally, the antagonist takes issue with the Catholic church and the system represented by Notre Dame.  She criticizes the Catholic church as the biggest business in the world and suggests that the money might have better been used to feed everyone who is hungry in our world.  In her mind it is all about, “the will,” to do the right thing. 

   The main issue raised by the protagonist was that “now was not the time,” to make connections between the Notre Dame fire and other tragedies—that we should, “hold space” for others when tragedies happen and make connections later.  The antagonist follows with, “if not now, when?” She goes on to say that when another, yet another mass shooting happens, we can’t stay, “in the moment” and simply grieve, but must raise the obvious need that now, new, stricter, laws are needed to end violence with guns!

   So, my friends, no matter how you may look at this issue, from the side of the protagonist or the antagonist, the issue must be faced that much inequality remains within our world—a truth that is being played out in so many areas today: in the trial of Derek Chauvin in the murder case of George Floyd, in the inequality of vaccine distribution among black, indigenous, and otherwise poor communities which underscores the larger issue of “racism” in our country and the list can go on.  As Christians, who say we follow Jesus, our brother, we too must “hold space” for the lives and goodness of all—no exceptions.

   Easter, a period of six weeks every year, a time really of new life, calls each of us to remember all that Jesus did while physically with us.  When that time ended, he told those 1st followers, who wanted him to stay with them, that he would always be with them—in a different way, but that they would never be alone.  Additionally, he let them know that now, they must be his hands and feet, eyes, and ears—but more so, his heart in our world. 

   The first letter of John, the 2nd reading today seems to be saying that our God is always about “loving those that God has sent.”  This really includes all of us in the grandest sense.  In other words, our God is able to “love all of creation” through our loving actions in the world.  As Jesus said so well and so simply— “Love God and love your neighbor as yourself” –that’s it!

   I personally love that Jesus’ greeting most times after the Resurrection and especially in today’s gospel is, “Peace be with you!”  As you all know, if you regularly read my homilies; I have been working with the Great River Asylum Support Partners (GRASP), to assist a family from Honduras seeking asylum in this country and especially now, in Winona, MN! I believe if we were to ask them the question about what they are most seeking in this country, “peace” from the fear of losing their lives to gang violence in their own country would be high on their list.  Jesus’ prime message, after his Resurrection was to say to his faithful band who once again found their strength, through the Spirit, that he was now sending them—in his place. 

   He gave them and us, by extension some simple commands to follow—tools to use: “Whose sins you retain—whose sins you forgive—it is done!  He was basically saying—do what you feel, in your heart is right! This is not, you see, necessarily about a stated law.

   I have recently been re-reading Thomas Merton’s, Seven Story Mountain and it strikes me, that his basic struggle in life before his conversion to Catholicism and his entrance into a Cistercian monastery was to choose, in his own personal life, “the right thing” to do, as directed by his heart.

   In today’s gospel, Jesus is pressing Thomas, the apostle, and us too, to get out of our heads and into our hearts.  We say we believe, even though we have never seen Jesus, as did those 1st apostles.  The challenge is to name for ourselves, just what, in fact, we actually believe, because it makes all the difference in what we do next.  We are told that those 1st followers “ran” to tell the others that they had seen Jesus!  Does our faith cause such excitement within us that we would “run” to share it—to act upon it?

   Easter is all about bringing “light” into the “darkness” of what life can sometimes be.  And as our friend, Joan Chittister has said of Easter, “it is not a nice fairytale with a happy ending—it is just the beginning!  Amen? —Amen! —Alleluia!

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Prayers of the Faithful

Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus”

  1. Jesus, in your risen state, be our guide to live out your loving example toward all people, especially the least among us—let them be foremost in our minds and hearts, we pray–       Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus”
  • O Risen Jesus, let peace reign in our hearts and give us the strength and grace to be people of peace, let us pray today in a special way for people who need “peace,” now, more than ever, we pray—Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus”
  • Jesus, risen Savior, you who were a healer in every way, freeing people’s minds, hearts and bodies of  illness of every kind, grant us health in these same ways, we pray—      Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus”
  • Risen Jesus, grant each of us a renewed faith during this Easter Season to remain true to you in good times and in bad,  we pray—Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus”
  • Risen Jesus,  our brother and friend, give hope to those who are suffering now due to job loss, illness of any kind, the ravages of weather—show them the way through this painful time, we pray—Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus”
  • Risen Jesus,  you gave us the gift of forgiveness—give us the generosity and care for others and for ourselves to be able to forgive, and to accept forgiveness from others,  we pray—Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus”
  • Risen Jesus, in your new, resurrected life, continue to be our constant model of one who lived very simply upon the earth, and show us new ways to live accordingly, especially when we try to feed the physically hungry in our world, we pray—Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus”
  • Risen Jesus, you who never turned anyone away, be with our community, All Are One—continue to bless us and assist us to be open to all of your people and guide us to always make a place of welcome at our table, but more importantly, in our hearts. We pray too for the success of the new family coming to our community soon from Honduras that their quest for asylum might be granted, we pray—Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus”
  • Loving Jesus, be with all families who have lost loved ones this week, from COVID and all   other causes, give them your peace, and help them to find their way through their grief, we pray—Response: “Hear us O Risen Jesus.”

***Let us pray for the silent petitions on our hearts—pause, we pray, then response

Let Us Pray

   Jesus, you have truly risen!  Alleluia!  Be the strength we need each day to be people of the Resurrection—true to our calling to be people of peace and of love. Let us never falter in our commitment to you and your world.  Give us the strength and grace to do what we can to make our world better—help us to be the change we want to see. Let us truly be Easter people of joy, people of forgiveness.  We ask all of this of you, our loving Savior and with the Creator and your loving Spirit— all, one God, living and loving us forever and ever, Amen.

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Let Us Pray—Again, we must be apart and cannot share the bread of the altar—but remember, and don’t ever forget, Jesus is always with us!

Prayer of Communion

 Loving Jesus, may the Easter sacraments, Baptism and Eucharist that we have received, live forever in our minds and hearts.  We ask this in your wonderful name. Amen.

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Homily – Easter Sunday in an Almost Safe Time Again!

/ kredig

   My friends, we come to this Easter Sunday—the second one we are recording during this time of COVID 19, or “coronavirus”—a word that over a year ago was foreign to most of us—a second Easter, now, that we have been apart.  And we ask, “What can we make of all of this—what should we make of all of this?

   As I said in the bulletin of this past week, “Our Christian lives are all about, living and loving, dying and rising.”  And of course, I was, as you know, not just speaking literally. Our Christian lives have always meant more, or should mean more than mundane actions, day to day, through our lifetimes.  In order that, “living and loving” in our own personal lives can truly stand for something significant, we must, many times, “die to ourselves” as our Scriptures instruct, as Jesus, our brother demonstrated so well in his own precious years upon this earth.  Our lives can never be just about us.  If we are truthful with ourselves, we have seen in the recent past in Washington what selfishness looks like in human form.  And we all have examples of what the opposite looks like too. 

   In our Scriptures today—the 1st reading from the Acts of the Apostles has Peter proclaiming, “We are eyewitnesses to all that Jesus did!” In other words, his living, loving, and giving for others, even unto death and the hope of rising to new life one day! And why is this important?

   Well, being that it is Easter, let’s take a look.  Probably for most of us Christians who have lived a “few” years—decades even, the idea of the Resurrection has always been one of those items we take on faith, and as is the case with most stories that we have heard a number of times, after a while, we cease to think much about them or maybe even with thoughts that aren’t too profound.  Usually, this happens with things that we can’t, as it were, “get our heads around.”

   But say we did come at the Resurrection of Jesus just on a head level.  There is enough in John’s gospel today—if we are really thinking, to let us know that something, “out of the ordinary” had happened. 

   We know that the Jewish “powers” at the time of Jesus’ death (the non-believers) were afraid that his followers who did believe in Jesus’ promise to, “rise again,” (even though they did not know what “rising” would look like) would steal his body and say that they had witnessed the Resurrection.  The Jewish elites, not wanting that to happen, posted a Roman guard at the entrance to the tomb.

   So, let’s look at the words of Scripture in the gospel from John today.  We are told that Peter “observed the linen wrappings on the ground and saw the piece of cloth that had covered Jesus’ head lying not with the wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.”  Why, we might ask, is this detail necessary or important to include here?

   Well, the truth is, if Jesus’ body had truly been stolen, would anyone stop to unwrap it and carry it around naked? And if all were happening naturally, the body would have already begun to decay.  Additionally, why would the face covering have been laid in a different place and folded even?  The exegetes “using their heads” have concluded that, these are signs that point to a resurrection, not a grave robbing! 

   Now, it’s important as well to remember that 2,000 years ago, people were not embalmed, but simply washed and wrapped in clean linen and buried by day’s end. Spices were often added for obvious reasons and that was why the Scriptures tell us that the women were going to the tomb—to add the spices that they couldn’t buy before Passover began—only to find, that their spices weren’t needed and that perhaps a manifestation that they had no way of comprehending—that of the Resurrection, had truly happened!

   John’s gospel names Peter’s companion as, “the other disciple” who went into the tomb next as having, “seen and believed.”  All of this, “the other disciple” whom we believe to be, John, the apostle and author of the gospel, saw with his mind first, made all the connections and responded from his heart, “Jesus is risen, and I believe it!” 

   And finally, the other viable proofs that we have come from those who personally saw Jesus after the Resurrection and that is why I always feel that it is necessary and important to read the complete account from John, including Mary of Magdala’s encounter with Jesus in the garden.  If we were looking for proof—we have it here and it is also a foreshadowing of how we know that there is life after this life. 

   The Scripture, in the extended version, tells us that Mary encountered someone in the garden that she thought was a grounds keeper and that she only realized that it was truly Jesus when he said her name, “Mary”—the way only he would say it.  In other words, Jesus was not recognizable to Mary in this new form.  Whatever “resurrection” is, it clearly is different than being brought back to life, as was the case with Lazarus whom Jesus rose from the dead. 

   We recall that the same thing happens to the disciples on the way to Emmaus in another reading. Someone joins them along the road, whom they do not recognize and who goes on to explain all that has happened the last few days in Jerusalem.  And then, it is only in the “breaking of the bread” that these disciples recognize Jesus—in an action that he often did with them. 

   So, why is it important for us to delve so deeply into these Easter Scriptures?  The answer my friends is two-fold.  First, Easter calls us to initially believe that what Jesus taught all those years ago is not just a nice, religious story, but a life-giving one that once we take out of our heads and lay on our hearts, can make all the difference in our lives and in the lives of others and in our world as we truly try to live and to love as Jesus did. 

   Now, many of us are prone to shy away from such a life saying that we could never be in our world as Jesus was in his and I believe Michael Gerson, in an opt-ed piece in the Washington Post on Good Friday, that I have shared, suggested otherwise. 

   He was connecting the horrors of Good Friday and the events leading up to it to what so many have experienced this past year in the wake of COVID 19.  He pointed to the relation between families who lost loved ones and couldn’t be with them as they died due to the contagion—the loneliness of that for the patient and the family with the loneliness of Jesus in the garden the night before he died when all his apostles could do was sleep instead of being with him for support. 

   Michael Gerson basically told us in this fine piece that we, each of us, have a friend –someone who knows the sufferings we are called to take on in life because our God experienced it all in Jesus. 

   And in other words, the days of Holy Week are not just a good, holy story of so many years ago, but are a blueprint, really, of our lives as Jesus’ followers.  Gerson’s piece details how, through the experience of our brother, Jesus, our, at times, human doubt, is sanctified in the human doubt he experienced on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

   Doubt and faith go hand in hand. “Into your hands, I commend my spirit.”  We believe, yet sometimes we doubt, and we know that our brother, Jesus understands these times for all of us.  I think the beauty of Holy Week, coming to the joy of Easter is really about our God who showed such over-the-top love for us in Jesus—showed us that living up to our human potentials for ourselves and for others is possible and that Jesus will be with us every step of the way, as we try. 

   So, my friends, may those that we meet and greet, associate with, and care for in this world always be able to “recognize” us as Jesus’ followers by our “familiar” actions of love for them!  Amen? Amen! Alleluia!

Homily – Palm Sunday in a Time of Almost Safety Again!

/ kredig

A group of nearly 30 met on Zoom today to begin Holy Week–the holiest week of the year! Included here you will find my homily. Enjoy–be challenged and be blessed!–Pastor Kathy

P.S. Please be in contact if I can help you in any way or you would just like to chat. aaorcc2008@gmail or 507-429-3616.

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My friends, it was my thought as I prepared for this homily, to make it brief and to the point in light of the fact that our Palm Sunday Mass is full of extra things –so we will see how I do! 

   As I suggested in the bulletin earlier in the week, Palm Sunday sets us up to begin the “holiest” week of our Church Year—not at all, “the happiest” week.  Being “holy,” in my mind, is all about doing those things, in my one precious life, that are not specifically about my needs, but more broadly, about the needs of all of us. And for those who regularly read my homilies, you know that I always uplift the need that we must include ourselves in the good we do for others, otherwise, “our cups run dry!”  So, in other words, look for that balance in your lives—good for self and good for others—you and all others are worthy of good in your lives!

   Back then, to the “holiest” of weeks and why that is so.  Jesus, of course, is our focus and if we would know how it is that we can be “holy” too, we have only to keep our eyes on him.  From the get-go of this holiest of weeks; we see Jesus as a man of the Scriptures.  That first, short reading from Mark with which we began today, tells of his joyful entry into Jerusalem.  And how did he come into the city—on a horse with royal trappings—as a king in all his glory?  No, he came on the back of a donkey as the Scriptures said the Messiah would come.  Just as in his birth—he came simply, unadorned—for the poor. This is a piece that we simply can’t, nor should we miss. 

   Isaiah, in the 1st reading today, tells of what the life of the Messiah will be like.  Insults will be part of the life of this Messiah and those who follow such a person.  This is so because messiahs, prophets and the like will be compelled to speak truth to power, as it were, demanding for the least among us, justice in their lives.  Those who are into their power, wealth, or prestige, will not take such demands lightly—there will always be the need to silence such ones—to denigrate them.  But the prophet, Isaiah, is encouraging, saying that such people should know that even though denigration may come; they should not fear because, just as with Jesus, our God will be with us. 

   And even so, we hear the purely human cry that Jesus will utter, later in the week, with the psalmist today: “My God, my God, why have you deserted me?”  This cry of the psalmist today is one that has been repeated and echoed throughout the history of the world from Jesus and onward as he struggled and as his followers have struggled, in his footsteps, to save our people from injustice of every kind.  

   Jesus would ultimately pay the supreme price for such goodness, but because of who he was, he could do nothing else—turning away, remaining silent, protecting himself as many of our bishops seem to have chosen to do, was just not an option.  This is the true story of Calvary. Calvary was his world’s price for asking/demanding even, that the powers-that-be, be their best for all. 

   Palm Sunday, today, gives us a taste of what the entire week will be like, as Paul, in his beautiful letter to the Philippians continues: “Your attitude must be the same as that of Jesus…he took on the image of oppressed humankind…and for this reason, at Jesus’ name, every knee should bend—in the heavens, on earth and under the earth.” 

   My friends, I began today speaking of Holy Week as the holiest of weeks.  Holiness is not about, as I said, silence in the presence of evil, or fear to stand up and say what is right—is truth in any situation, even if we stand alone. 

   A family member recently said to me, “I need to write to the bishop and tell him that we need to hear from him on issues like climate change and gun violence.” I encouraged her to do it! You would think that would be, “Bishop, 101!”

   This week’s National Catholic Reporter (NCR) challenged the nation’s bishops as well, asking, where is their collective voice on climate change in particular, suggesting that if we don’t have an earth that is viable to live on, is that not too, a life issue!

   When we think of what actions are indeed, “holy,” I would lift up a statement made by our president at his first news conference this past week.  When speaking to reporters about the youth coming to our borders unaccompanied by parents and his decision to allow them into the country, he stated that unlike his predecessor, he would not turn them away alone—to go back to the violence they had left, “he just wouldn’t do it!”

   And of course, he has received criticism for this action, but he has made it clear that his actions are based on what is good and right; not on what is easy.

   Each of us, my friends, have like decisions to make in the course of our lives—hard decisions like the racism that lies at the roots of our democracy—an experiment that is touted in our Constitution, claiming that every person has the unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

   Additionally, we, as a country of many, diverse people, trying to live out this democratic dream, must—simply must come to terms with gun violence in our United States. We all know what needs to be done and now is the time to do it!

   In our city of Winona, a Steering Committee that is an off shoot of the Winona Interfaith Council, going now under the name of Great River Asylum Support Partners (GRASP) is actively preparing to accept a family from Honduras and perhaps more in the future coming to our southern border seeking protection from life-threatening violence in their own countries. It will be our intention to help these families and individuals work toward full citizenship should they be granted asylum. At this writing, our group just heard that we have been accepted to receive our first family in a matter of weeks! I believe that all of us involved in this effort have a mixture of anticipation for being able to help in the ways that we can, but also the realization that this will not always be, easy.

   I believe what motivates our group is the knowledge that this is the right thing to do, plus the realization that the life-giving aspects will go both ways—us to them, but also all that they will give to us being from another country and culture, language, and lifestyle.  I will keep you all informed about the ways going forward that you will have opportunities to assist this endeavor.

   So, as we begin this holiest of weeks, let our prayer be that we, each one, might walk into it and through to the Resurrection, following in our brother Jesus’ footsteps, unafraid, trusting as he did, that our Abba God will be with us.  Amen? Amen!

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