What's Your Excuse?

 Her name was Olga Bejano Dominguez. From the age of 23, after a series of illnesses and a heart attack, she was left unable to see, speak, move or breathe without the assistance of a machine. Faced with loneliness and despair, she decided to give her life to God and find in her faith a reason to keep on living with hope. With the help of a nurse, she wrote four books about her experiences and insights which became best sellers throughout her native Spain. Upon her death in December of 2008, her mother said that at least four people were inspired to not commit suicide because of her daughter's writings. Most people would have considered Olga's life over the minute she lost use of her eyes, voice and limbs. And yet she saw her life as only just beginning. God called her at the moment she seemed most weak and unable to serve him and used her to inspire others with the hope that all things are possible with him. 

His name was Amos, a poor shepherd from the town of Tekoa, south of Jerusalem. Though uneducated, he was called by God to speak his word at the royal temple of Bethel. Because of its prestige, Bethel was the home of the most educated priests of Israel. King Jeroboam, who was ruling over Israel at the time, had at his beck and call any number of prophets willing to tell him whatever he wanted to hear. And yet God called a simple shepherd to warn the king that Israel was headed for sure destruction if they did not return to the pure worship of the Lord who had given them the Promised Land. The priests and prophets of King Jeroboam's court would look down their noses at Amos asking him by what right he dared speak to the king. They told him to go somewhere else to find work as a prophet. Yet Amos continued to speak out recognizing that it was not by his own authority that he was speaking but by command of the God of hosts. Despite his lack of credentials, Amos is the first prophet of the Old Testament to have a book named after him. Amos trusted not in his own knowledge and ability, but in the power of God, and God used him to bring his word to the most powerful people of the day. 

Their names were Peter, Andrew, Matthew, Thomas, Philip, Bartholomew, John, James, Simon, Jude, James, son of Alphaeus, and Judas Iscariot. They were simple fishermen, tax collectors and political radicals. Unlike the scribes and Pharisees of the day, they held no prestige and could make no claim to being experts in the Law. Yet Jesus chose them to be the ones to bring his teaching to the people of Israel. In today's gospel, he sends them out with nothing except the clothes on their backs. Despite their lack of education and resources, they are able to cast out demons and heal the sick - miracles which the Pharisees and scribes were never able to perform. Jesus chose simple men for the great task of preaching repentance to the nations. He made them the foundation of the Church he would build which he promised would last through all ages. We stand here today as witnesses to their success through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

What is your name? What do you do? How is God calling you? What is keeping you from saying "yes" to God's call? 

Each of us has been called by God for a task which only we can perform. Each of us is irreplaceable in the sight of God. Saint Paul tells us in the second reading that we were chosen by him even before the world began. No one else in the history of the universe can do what God is calling us to do. 

Are we afraid that we do not have enough education? Are we afraid that we do not have enough resources? Are we afraid that we do not have enough talent? 

Certainly, most of us have an advantage over Olga Bejano Dominguez. She could not see, speak, move or even breathe. Yet she was able to spread God's word of hope throughout Spain. What excuses could we make when faced with her example of courage and perseverance? 

We most certainly have more education and resources than the prophet Amos and the apostles did. Yet their words continue to inspire us over the centuries. Can we honestly say that we are ill-equipped to spread God's word when we consider the obstacles which they faced? 

There is only one resource that is necessary to accomplish God's will - faith. That is why Jesus sends the apostles out with nothing except their clothes, sandals and a walking stick. They already carried within themselves all that they needed to preach the gospel of repentance. We were given that faith at our baptism and it is continually being nourished by Scripture and by the sacraments. No amount of talent or education can take the place of what simple faith is able to accomplish in our lives and in our world. Each of us already carries within us what allowed Olga Bejano Dominguez to overcome her disabilities and what compelled Amos and the apostles to spread God's word with boldness.  

Whoever we are, whatever we are and wherever we are, we are each called to witness to the power and love of our Almighty God. It does not require lofty rhetoric or complicated philosophical arguments. It does not require wealth or prestige. It only requires of us simple faith to believe that God has placed people in our lives for a reason and that he will give us whatever we need to bring his word into the lives of those we live with, work with or bump into in the course of our everyday lives. God has called each of us here today to hear this challenging message and is sending each of us from here as messengers of his good news. Can anything hold us back when God himself is our strength? 

Sent

In the history of the world, there has been no regime as oppressive as the Soviet Union was in the twentieth century. It was particularly cruel in its hatred for religion and determination to persecute people of faith.

Seeing what Christians were suffering there, the Holy Father at the time, Pope Pius XI, made an urgent appeal to the priests of the world to go to the Soviet Union as missionaries.

One young man who responded to that call was Walter Ciszek.

Born in Pennsylvania to Polish immigrants, young Walter had a turbulent childhood and even joined a gang. However, much to his parents’ surprise, he made a break with his past and began studies to be a Jesuit priest. He was then sent to Rome to study Russian language and history so that he could serve as a missionary in the Soviet Union.

When he was ordained in 1937, he was sent first to Poland which was in the midst of the Second World War. Through Poland, he entered Russia posing as a refugee. For a year, he worked as a logger, celebrating Mass and hearing confessions secretly.

However, in 1941, the police discovered his activities,  charged him with being a Vatican spy and sentenced him to 15 years of hard labor. He was sent to Lubyanka prison where he was severely beaten and tortured. Then he was transferred to the infamous Gulag. During those years, he met the spiritual needs of his fellow prisoners offering Mass, spiritual direction and even retreats. All those years of solitary confinement, torture and hard labor were never able to break his spirits. He was determined to serve others no matter what the cost.

After being released from prison in 1955, he continued to minister by establishing underground parishes. Whenever the police would discover his activities, they would send him away to another town where he would just start another parish. In so doing, he let the persecuted Christians of that country know that Jesus had not abandoned them but was still in their midst ministering to them through this courageous and selfless priest.

Then, in 1963, the Soviet government allowed Fr Ciszek to return back to the United States as part of a prisoner swap. He spent the rest of his life teaching and offering spiritual direction until his death in 1984. The Vatican is now examining his life in hopes that one day he can be declared a saint.

In today’s gospel, Jesus tells the apostles that great signs will follow their preaching of the gospel. To our modern ears, the signs that Jesus points out such as picking up snakes and drinking poison sound strange. However, His point was that all things would be possible to those who respond with faith to His call.

Though it would certainly catch our attention to see people drive out demons or cure the sick, there is a still greater sign that accompanies the preaching of the gospel. It is the life of holiness and faith that we see manifested in the saints. Since the day that Jesus ascended into heaven and sent the apostles into the world, women and men like Fr. Walter Ciszek have responded with courage and generosity to His call to preach the gospel and serve the poor. It is because of their dedication, inspired by their faith in Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit, that Christ’s Church has been able to spread throughout the world. It is because of the sacrifice of countless Christians who risked their life to bring Jesus to others that we are free to worship here today.

On this day, we celebrate the ascension of Jesus into heaven. Though we cannot see Him, He continues to be present among us. The signs of His presence will not necessarily be as bold and dramatic as someone driving out demons. Rather, we will see Him most clearly in those among us who love as He loved and who serve others out of love for Him. In fact, no matter how compelling our preaching may be, how inspiring our music or how inviting our programs, if we are not being transformed by the mysteries we celebrate then it all means nothing. No one will listen to us, no matter how convincing our arguments may be, if we are not loving people.

Like Fr Ciszek and so many saints in the history of our Church, we must make Christ present to the world through lives of holiness. It means that no matter what circumstances we may find ourselves in, we respond with love, compassion, kindness and forgiveness. In that way, Jesus will be made known more clearly and certainly than by any other sign we might perform.

Passing On The Mission To Us

Vera was just a junior in high school when she attended the funeral of a religious sister who had been her English teacher. Though she attended Mass every Sunday and would go with her grandmother to Stations of the Cross on the Friday afternoons she was with her, she did not consider herself particularly religious. However, during the funeral Mass, an overwhelming sense came over her that, now that the religious sister was gone, Vera would have to take her place.

At first, she struggled with accepting her call to religious life. She dismissed what she experienced at the funeral as a figment of her imagination. She tried to convince herself that she could do more good as a wife and mother. She told herself that maybe the call she experienced was to be a teacher and not necessarily to be a religious sister.

However, with prayer and the advice of a wise teacher, she finally accepted her call and began her studies with the Holy Union Sisters. LIke the religious sister whose funeral she attended, she spent over fifty years teaching English in High School. Over those years she inspired many young people to follow their dreams and to serve their Lord. At her own funeral, the church was packed with her former students, some of whom had been inspired by her to be religious women themselves or to enter the teaching profession. Her “yes” gave others the courage to say “yes” themselves and to discover that, whenever we agree follow Jesus, miracles happen.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Ascension. After spending forty days with His disciples, instructing them about the Kingdom of God as Saint Luke tells us in today’s first reading, Jesus ascends to His throne in heaven. Just as young Vera experienced, the disciples now discover that they are left behind to take Jesus’ place, to continue His saving mission to the world.

Today’s scripture readings give us three indications about what it means to continue Jesus’ mission in the world. They are, to be witnesses to Jesus, to build up the Body of Christ and to pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus tells the disciples, “...you will be my witnesses...to the ends of the earth.” What exactly are they witnesses to? His death and resurrection. They are to go forth and tell the whole world that,  with their own eyes, they saw Jesus raised from the dead.  They were to announce to all people that He was crucified for our sins but now He has been raised to give us the promise of eternal life. The heart of the message is that, in Jesus Christ, we find forgiveness and healing.

Though we are not eyewitnesses to the resurrection, we still find our identities as believers in that call to proclaim to everyone we meet that Jesus is alive and active in the world. Sometimes with all the crises and controversies that accompany being a Christian in today’s modern world, we can lose sight of this simple fact. Our central message is that Jesus Christ loves us and has changed our lives. Once that truth comes across - once people see in us a joy that the world cannot give and a love that extends even to those who harm us - the other truths which go along with being a follower of Jesus will be easier to understand and accept.

Besides being called to witness to Jesus, the disciples were called to “...build up the Body of Christ”, as Saint Paul teaches us in today’s second reading from the letter to the Ephesians. When Saint Paul uses the term, “Body of Christ”, he is speaking about the Church. In his first letter to the Corinthians he explains that our connection to one another as believers is similar to the connection our body parts have to one another. Through baptism and faith, all of us who follow Christ are interconnected in a real way. The disciples, then, understood that they were called not only to preach the gospel but to establish communities of disciples who would continue their work.

Therefore, being involved in a community of believers is central to being a follower of Jesus. None of us can live the Christian life alone. We need the support of others. And each of us is called to use our gifts to further the mission of the Church. Some of us are called to teach, some of us are called to preach and others of us are called to pray. Whatever our talents may be, we are all called to contribute in some way to build up the Church so that it can be a clearer sign of the ongoing presence of the Risen Lord in our world.

Finally, besides witnessing to Jesus and building up His Church, the disciples were called to await the gift of the Holy Spirit. On the day He ascended into heaven, Jesus promised His disciples that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came down upon them. At the time, they were still confused and fearful. With all they had seen during those forty days, some of them still had doubts. All of that would change once the Holy Spirit came down upon them at Pentecost. Now they did not even fear death but preached the gospel boldly.

We too must pray constantly for the gift of the Holy Spirit to come down upon us both as individuals and as a Church. If we rely on our own talents and organizational skills, we will not get very far. We need the Holy Spirit to inspire us, to strengthen us and also to soften the hearts of those we are called to witness to. Living the Christian life today is becoming increasingly difficult. With all the hostility to the message of Jesus and all the temptations the world offers, we cannot last long without the strength and consolation of the Holy Spirit. That is why along with witnessing to Jesus and building up His Church we must spend time in fervent prayer everyday. As the saying goes, “Those who kneel before God can stand up to anyone.”

Brothers and sisters, many generations of Christians have gone before us. They have sacrificed themselves, even to the point of death, so that we could hear the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Now it is up to us to be witnesses to the gospel and to build up the Body of Christ with the power that comes from the Holy Spirit. If we say “yes” despite our fears and doubts, we will experience many miracles, the greatest of which might just be that we will actually inspire others to take our place once our journey has ended and we are called to join Jesus in His Heavenly Kingdom.

Eager Longing To Give Witness

 A man gave his life over to Christ. Almost immediately, he was filled with a dread that God would call him to be a missionary in Africa. The fear consumed him to the point that it threatened to make him abandon his new found faith. But, in prayer, he felt assured that God would not put him in Africa without first putting Africa in his heart. With time, the man not only stopped fearing that God would send him to Africa, he began desiring to spread God's word there. He did eventually decide to go to Africa as a Christian missionary and was later martyred there. God kept his promise. He first planted the desire in the man's heart and then equipped him to serve in the missions event to the point of giving his life.

Today, we celebrate two of the great missionaries of our faith, Saints Peter and Paul.

Saint Peter was one of the original twelve apostles called by Jesus. Because of his profession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah and Savior of the World, Peter was called by Jesus to be the rock on which he would build his Church. Since that day, a pope has served as the successor to Peter and as the visible sign of the unity of the Church.

 Saint Paul, on the other hand, was not one of the original apostles. In fact, in the days following Pentecost, he sought to crush the fledgling Church through an intense persecution which culminated with the stoning of Saint Stephen, the first to give his life for Christ. On the way to the city of Damascus, Saint Paul would be overwhelmed by a vision of the Risen Lord and converted from a persecutor of the Church to one of its most fervent missionaries. Though he wasn't one of the original twelve apostles, we call Saint Paul an apostle, nonetheless, because of his experience of the Risen Lord. He would be the Church's first theologian helping to formulate the basics of the new Christian faith and spreading that faith throughout much of the Greek speaking world.

 God gave great success to the missionary work of Saints Peter and Paul. But, like the man in our story, neither of them was ready to spread the word from day one. Rather, each needed to spend time with the Lord before setting out to preach to others. Saint Peter spent three years following Jesus and learning from him up to the time of Jesus' death. Then, Peter sat at Jesus' feet after the resurrection, as we read in today's gospel when Jesus called Peter to tend his lambs. Saint Paul, likewise, spent three years praying and reflecting in the deserts of Arabia before finally meeting with Peter in Jerusalem, as we read in the second reading, and setting out on his missionary journeys around Asia Minor and eventually to Rome.

Like the man in our story, Jesus placed a burning love into the hearts of Saints Peter and Paul which expressed itself in a desire to spread the word of Jesus' death and resurrection. Because Saints Peter and Paul desired nothing else than to be faithful to their master, they would eventually give the ultimate witness to their faith by both being martyred in Rome. Saint Peter would be crucified upside down, and Saint Paul would be beheaded.

Today, in this place, Jesus is asking each of us if we love him. And, if we do love him, will we feed and tend his sheep? And, if we will tend his sheep, are we willing to go where we'd rather not go? Are we willing to follow Jesus to where the poor are? Are we willing to follow Jesus to where the hungry beg for bread? Are we willing to follow Jesus to where the sick are seeking treatment?  Are we willing to stretch out our hands to tend Jesus' lambs wherever they may wander?

Jesus understands if we find his questions unsettling or even disturbing. Jesus understands if we hesitate or if we aren't ready to answer. Jesus even understands if our answer to him is "not yet". It very often takes time for us to understand what God wants of us. And, it takes even longer for us to be equipped by God with what we need for the mission. Jesus is a gentle master. He will place within our heart a desire for whatever mission he is calling us to. He will work on us until our fear gives way to love and our love shows itself in service to Jesus' sheep.

In every age, God has provided us, his sheep, with women and men of faith who witness powerfully to his love. It began with Saints Peter and Paul. The task now falls to each of us. In this place Jesus invites us to a meal and asks each of us if we do indeed love him and will serve him. If we are not ready to answer yet, we must pray that God will place in our heart a desire to serve him and the opportunity to know his will for us. That is a prayer that God will certainly answer. We will be both surprised and delighted by where our "yes" to him will take us.  

Still To Be Written

I have a trick question for you.

What is the only unfinished book in the Bible?

A couple of hints. First, it is located in the New Testament. Second, one of the readings for today’s feast was taken from it.

The answer is, the Acts of the Apostles.

Saint Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles to serve as a second volume to his gospel. As the title of the book suggests, it chronicles how the apostles, inspired by the Holy Spirit, continued the saving work of Jesus after He ascended into heaven. Just as Jesus preached the Kingdom of God, so the apostles spread the good news from Jerusalem, to Samaria and eventually even to Rome. Just as Jesus healed those who came to him with diseases and other afflictions, so miraculous healings accompanied the ministry of the apostles. And just as Jesus was put to death, so the apostles and their followers are persecuted and killed with a prayer of forgiveness on their lips in imitation of their master. The Acts of the Apostles is the story of the early Church stepping out in faith to continue the saving works of our Lord Jesus.

However, the reason we can claim that the Acts of the Apostles is an unfinished book is that the story of the Church founded by Jesus to be a light for the nations is still being written. It did not end with the apostles. We who have been baptized and have come to believe in the name of Jesus are writing the next chapter. It is up to us now to preach the Kingdom of God, to heal the sick, to feed the hungry and, if necessary, to suffer ridicule and rejection for the sake of the Savior we have come to love. Jesus left the task to his apostles, they left it to their disciples, and now it has been passed on to us. The pen is in our hand to continue writing the acts of the followers of Christ.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Ascension when, forty days after the Resurrection, Jesus went up to the right hand of the Father in heaven. From His throne in paradise, he continues to watch over, pray for and guide the people whom He has entrusted with His word. Jesus is looking down upon us gathered here today who have believed in Him and are striving to live lives that are pleasing to Him.

We might wonder to ourselves, why did Jesus ascend to heaven? Wouldn’t it have been better if, after His Resurrection, He stayed around to show Himself to others? Then more people would have believed that He had risen from the dead and that He was the Son of God. Why would He leave the apostles after just forty days when He could have still done so much more good on earth?

First of all, we know that Jesus worked many signs and wonders during His life, and still many people refused to believe that He was the Son of God. After the Resurrection, many people saw the empty tomb and still did not believe that He had risen. Even the disciples whom Jesus did appear to continued to fear and have their doubts as Saint Matthew tells us in today’s gospel. There are many who, for whatever reason, simply refuse to believe. Even the sight of the Risen Lord would not convince them.

Secondly, and most importantly, Jesus has left it to us to continue His mission on earth. He has given us His Spirit so that we can do the works He did. He assures us in the gospel of John, “Whoever sees you, sees me; whoever hears you, hears me.” Jesus ascended into heaven to pass on to us the responsibility and mission of witnessing to the truth of His Resurrection. Each one of us has a part to play in the story of salvation which is still being written in our time. As Saint Teresa of Avila wrote so beautifully, “Christ has no body but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world.” Now that Jesus has ascended to the Father, if anyone is to hear the good news and encounter for themselves the love of Jesus it will have to be through us, by our words and by the good and holy lives we lead.

Though the story of salvation is still being written, we know how it will end. In the final chapter Jesus Christ will descend from heaven to reveal Himself to all people and nations as the Son of God and Savior of the World. There will be no denying it. He will finally put an end to sin, suffering and death.  And He will give to us who have believed in Him a share in the heavenly glory of His Kingdom which is our inheritance as children of God. We long for Him to come in His glory and we live with confidence following His commandments knowing that He has already won the victory for us.

A Light In The Darkness

During the height of the Vietnam War, Nguyen Van Thuan served as the bishop of a small diocese in South Vietnam. Along with his brother bishops, he tended to the needs of his flock during the most trying of times.

In 1975, Pope Paul VI called on him to serve as archbishop of what was then the capital of Vietnam, Saigon.

When he arrived in the capital, he was invited to a meeting at the president’s palace. There he was arrested by the Communist authorities and placed into solitary confinement. During the next thirteen years, he would be sent to several prisons without ever being tried for a crime and with no opportunity to prove his innocence.

At first, he felt bewildered by his situation. He wondered how it could all be happening to him. Feeling abandoned by God, he was tempted to become bitter and angry. But, as he was being transported to the prison in a boat along with fifteen hundred other prisoners, a thought came to him. He would make the prison his mission territory and the prisoners his parishioners. Rather than allow the experience of being imprisoned  break him, he would transform it by allowing God’s love to shine through him. As he put it in his memoirs, “I decided then and there that my captivity would not merely be a time of resignation but a turning point in my life.... I would live the present moment and fill it with love.”

During his stay in prison, he showed unfailing kindness to the guards no matter how cruelly they treated him. He would speak to them about the love of God and how it gave him freedom and peace even behind bars. Because of his gentleness, he was able to win the sympathy of his captors. They helped him smuggle in bread and wine so that he could say Mass. They also helped him smuggle out messages to the Catholic people of Vietnam in which he encouraged them to remain faithful to Christ and to have courage under Communist rule.

Whenever a guard or other prisoner asked him why he kept such a positive attitude and showed such kindness to his captors, he would reply that Jesus taught us that we should love even our enemies. If we cannot love those who treat us harshly as our Lord did,  then we do not deserve to be called Christians. Many people, both guards and fellow prisoners, were converted to Christ by his witness.

When he was finally released in 1988, he went around the world telling people about his experience and encouraging those who find themselves persecuted and despised that they do not have to give in to bitterness or despair but that they can transform their circumstances by allowing the light of God’s love to shine through them.

This brave and holy man’s life is a perfect example of the words of our Lord which we hear proclaimed in today’s gospel: “You are the light of the world.... Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” Cardinal Thuan went into one of the world’s darkest places - a Communist concentration camp - and let his light shine there. He did not allow the bitter circumstances he found himself in to extinguish the light he carried within him. And by showing love instead of hate, by responding to cruelty with kindness, he touched many hearts and changed many lives. He turned a place of torture and despair into a cathedral where the love of Christ could be experienced.

In our day-to-day life we run into people who have never experienced the love of Christ. The trials and difficulties of modern day life have made them cynical and hard. They can find no other direction or meaning in life except chasing after their own comfort and pleasure. As lost and wounded as they are, they lash out and belittle those around them. It can be easy for us to react by avoiding them or treating them as harshly as they treat us. But Jesus teaches us another way. He wants us to befriend such people and treat them kindly so that they can have an experience of God’s love. How else can they realize that the love of God is real unless we show them the love which is within us? And seeing our willingness to forgive and treat others with kindness, they will get a glimpse of God’s love for them and come to find a better way in life - the way of faith.

We live in a society which is skeptical about the ability of people to change. For that reason, we have created a vengeful culture which expects harsh prison sentences and even death penalties to be handed out leaving little room for mercy or hope that criminals can be rehabilitated. Laws, harsh punishments and crowded prisons cannot change hearts. Only God’s love can really transform people. It can break down barriers of hostility. It can thaw out cold attitudes and soothe raging hostilities. When people meet Christians who are truly living the gospel of Jesus - who show love to those who hate them and forgiveness to those who harm them - they begin to change. Each of us gathered here today can make that happen by committing ourselves to living the words of Jesus in the power of the Spirit and not allowing the difficulties of life or the meanness of the people around us to make us bitter.

We are the salt of the earth and the light of the world because we have experienced the love of a God who was willing to die on the cross for us. We carry that love within us, and it shines with a brilliance that no darkness can overcome. The world outside is counting on us to bring that light along with us to the dark places of life - to bring hope where there is despair and faith where there is doubt - so that one day all the universe may be set aglow by the love of God.

Where The Action Is!

The success of the movie, Avatar,  made 3-D film-making popular again. With 3-D technology, the viewers get the sense that they are in the middle of the action, that it is taking place all around them. It is an effective way of making the on-screen action more exciting for the audience.

Of course, to have the full effect, the viewer must be wearing special 3-D glasses. Without the glasses, one can still follow the plot, but the thrill of the action is not as intense. It is through the glasses that the audience is brought into the middle of the adventure making them part of the full experience.

The gift of the Holy Spirit is much like those special 3-D glasses. We can manage to live without his power and presence in our lives, and sadly many people do. But by doing so, we do not experience life in its fullness. We do not grasp the real purpose for our existence which can only be found in the God who created us in his image and likeness. Without the Holy Spirit we can manage to get by, but there is much that we will miss along the way.

Today we bring the Easter season to a close by celebrating the feast of Pentecost. It is the day when Jesus' promise to his disciples that they would be clothed with power from on high was fulfilled. While they were gathered in prayer with the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit rushed down upon them like a mighty wind. With this gift of power, the Church was born. The good news would now be preached to the ends of the earth.

Like 3-D glasses, the Holy Spirit made the apostles see things differently. Before they were afraid, hiding behind locked doors. Now they boldly enter the streets of Jerusalem proclaiming to all that Jesus is risen. Before they could not understand the meaning of Jesus' suffering and death. Now with the eyes of the Spirit they understand that his death was necessary for the salvation of the world. Before they were simple friends and followers of Jesus. Now, clothed with power from on high, they are the ones who will carry Jesus' teaching to the ends of the earth. With the vision that only the Holy Spirit can give, the apostles see things in a whole new way.

That gift of the Holy Spirit is not just for the apostles. Rather he has been poured out on each of us through baptism and confirmation. We do not look different because of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. However, with the eyes of faith, we know that he is transforming us day by day, leading us from fear into confidence, from ignorance to understanding and from darkness into light. We understand that the Holy Spirit is opening our eyes to the wonders God is working all around us.

How is it that the Holy Spirit helps us to see our lives and our world in a whole new way?

The Spirit helps us to see that we are the temple of God. Jesus tells us that if we believe in him and are obedient to his commandments then the Father and he will come to make their home within us. We are each carrying within us the presence of the Living God. Whenever we enter a church, we genuflect before the tabernacle because it holds Jesus' body. But Jesus is also present in our hearts in just as real a way. In fact, our hearts are the place he most longs to dwell.

Because the Holy Spirit helps us to see that God is present within us, we treat our bodies with care and respect. We dress modestly. We are careful about how much we eat and drink because we want to nourish our bodies and keep them healthy. We keep our thoughts pure and focused on God, and we avoid using foul language because we understand that we are always in the presence of the Most High God. The Holy Spirit helps us to see our dignity as daughters and sons of God.

If through the Holy Spirit, we can see our dignity as children of God, then we will also recognize that same dignity in the people we meet each day. We will treat them with the care and respect they deserve as temples of the Most High God no matter how they look and no matter their social status. If they are hungry, we will feed them. If they are sad, we will cry with them. If they are lonely, we will be their friends. Without the vision that only the Holy Spirit would give, we would see them as strangers. However, with the gift of faith, we see them as brothers and sisters whom we may never abandon.

If we have been living without the presence and power of the Holy Spirit then we have not been seeing things as they are. We have been missing out on all that life has to offer us. This feast day is an opportunity for us to look within and reflect on the powerful gift we received at our baptism and confirmation. It is time to reclaim our dignity as children of God and to welcome the presence of God into our hearts so that we can begin to see ourselves and others differently and to live fully the life that God is calling us to.

If the presence and action of the Holy Spirit still seems hard for us to understand, one good step to take would be to ask our Blessed Mother to pray for us. She knows in a personal way how powerful the Spirit is. It was by that power that she conceived Jesus and the words of the angel, "Nothing is impossible with God", were fulfilled. She was also present on that day when the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles. Because she wants to lead us to Jesus, she will certainly pray that we come to understand the presence of the Spirit in our lives and begin to draw on his power to fight temptation and to do good for those around us.

Rejection

Rejection is a fact of life for Christians. No matter how kind we are, no matter how eloquently we present the good news, no matter how sensitive we are to others’ feelings, our message will be resisted. If they cannot argue with our logic or common sense, then they will result to calling us names. We will be told that we are backward, that we are hateful bigots. Many will even go so far as to say that Jesus would not approve of our message or that we are acting more like the Pharisees than His disciples. We might even start to question ourselves, wondering whether we just have not found the right way to present the good news to our culture and whether it would be better to stay quiet, keep to ourselves and not share our beliefs with others.

However, Jesus makes it very clear that we can expect to be rejected for choosing to follow Him. No one was holier than He or better at connecting with an audience and yet He still was ridiculed and mocked for what He taught. We see this clearly in today’s gospel. When He tells the crowd that He will give them His Body and Blood as food, they are shocked and disgusted. Many of His own disciples turn their backs on Him.

If there were newspapers in Jesus’ day, imagine what the headlines would have been. They would have said that Jesus had a meltdown or that He had lost His mind. They would have claimed that He was out of touch with Jewish society and culture. They would have speculated that the Jesus movement was in crisis and that many others would soon see Him as a false prophet. What the world says about Christians today is no different from what people said about Jesus.

Jesus’ message is demanding. It requires that we radically change the way we look at life and at the world. It calls for sacrifice and surrender to God’s will. Because it is difficult, we may be able to understand why so many people reject it. But why do so many people still believe and still follow Jesus? Why does He continue to be the most influential person who ever lived?

Saint Peter speaks for us at the end of today’s gospel passage when he says, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” We accept the difficulties entailed in living the gospel message and the ridicule and rejection that are a part of the Christian life because only Jesus has the words of everlasting life. We have not been able to find the love, joy and peace that our hearts yearn for in any other person than in Jesus Christ. Only in Him have we found the truth and meaning our minds have searched for. And we want to share that joy and truth with others even if it means being rejected by them. As we read in today’s Responsorial Psalm, we have tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord and His praise shall be ever in our mouths.

Throughout the centuries, Christians have been persecuted for one reason or another. The first followers of Jesus were put to death for not worshiping the Roman gods. In the last century, many Christians were killed for resisting dictators and oppressive political systems. In our day, the persecution comes from Western culture which rejects the dignity of human persons, especially the weakest and least productive. It denies the sanctity of marriage as God created it between one man and one woman as Saint Paul so beautifully describes it for us in today’s second reading. It makes no room for immigrants and refugees except to exploit and scapegoat them. This is the world to which God has called us to bring the gospel message of love.

With all the difficulties we face, we can be tempted to turn away, to keep to ourselves and to hide. We do not want to be called names or be accused of offending anyone. However, there are many people out there who are hurting and lost. They deserve to be told the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. There are so many who are the victims of this society’s twisted ideologies. They are the children who are neglected and abandoned by their parents. They are the immigrants and refugees who live in the shadows and are subject to exploitation and crime on a daily basis. They are those who have just not been able to gain a foothold in a competitive marketplace. They deserve our love and compassion. Just as important, we need to be their voice and to tell their stories.

We also have a duty to the culture at large to show them that there is a better way. We have been entrusted with a great treasure, namely,  the truth of the gospel message as it has been handed down to the Church through the centuries. It is the only way for our world to find true and lasting justice and peace. Just as we would not deny a hungry person a morsel of food or not give a blanket to a homeless person, just so we cannot deny our world the truth about Jesus Christ and His message about the incomparable dignity of each and every human being. We have to strive with all our strength to pass that message on, even when it is rejected, in hopes that it will finally sink in and make a difference in a world that has grown tired and cynical.

The great Catholic communicator, Fulton Sheen, said it best: “The world today is tearing up the photographs of a good society, a good family, a happy, individual personal life. But the Church is keeping the negatives. And when the moment comes when the world wants a reprint, we will have them." Each of us needs to be an example of the joy and peace that comes from believing in Jesus. Each of us needs to be a light to a world that has too long been imprisoned in darkness. By doing so, we show the world that there is a better way. By doing so, we point others to Jesus who has the words of everlasting life so that they too can be convinced and join us in sharing the gospel until our world is transformed through the love of God.

Third Sunday of Easter

When those suffering from a terminal illness reach a point where they have accepted that they are dying, one of the first things they want to do is make peace with their loved ones. They make a point of calling them to either ask for forgiveness or to offer it to those who may have hurt them. On the other hand, one of the most painful and haunting experiences we could have is to lose a loved one before we have an opportunity to make peace. The finality of death helps us to appreciate how insignificant our squabbles are. None of us wants to carry the burden of a grudge with us as we prepare to meet our Maker.

We can imagine the distress, then, that Peter must have felt on the day Jesus died. Though he had promised to stand by Jesus no matter what, he denied ever knowing him to the guards who were warming themselves over a charcoal fire. When he learned that Jesus would be condemned to death, he ran and hid out of fear. It must have been eating him up inside that when Jesus needed him most, Peter did not stand by him. What was probably most haunting was the thought that he would never have a chance to tell him how sorry he was and to make peace with him. He thought that he would have to live the rest of his life with the guilt and shame of knowing that he had let Jesus down.

What Peter could not understand at the time was that Good Friday was not the last time he would see Jesus alive. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus would rise again with a new, glorified body. He would appear to the apostles during the course of forty days helping them to understand what the tragic events surrounding his death all meant. And he would give them the same Spirit which raised him from the dead so that they could continue his good works of preaching the gospel, bringing forgiveness to sinners and healing to the sick. Peter would have a chance to see Jesus again and to express his love for him.

Today's reading offers us the last appearance of the Risen Jesus as recorded in the gospel of Saint John. The apostles have left Jerusalem with all its reminders of those last days of Jesus earthly life. They have returned to their hometown, the region of Galilee, where they feel most at home and comfortable. It was at Galilee that the apostles, many of them fishermen, had met Jesus for the first time and had begun to follow him. It was at the shores of the Sea of Galilee that they first witnessed how he touched so many lives with his message of love and forgiveness.

When the apostles recognize him, Jesus is on the shore of the sea preparing breakfast for them. Seeing the charcoal fire Jesus had made must have reminded Peter of how it was against the glow of just such a fire that he had denied knowing him. His heart must have been aching to tell Jesus how sorry he was for abandoning him.

Peter would have his chance. He finally has an opportunity to be alone with Jesus as they walk along the beach after breakfast. It is an idyllic, peaceful scene - the type of scene we would imagine ourselves in if we had a chance to meet Jesus face to face. Just as Peter denied Jesus three times, so Jesus asks Peter three times whether he loves him. When Peter replies, "Yes, Lord, I love you.", Jesus gives him the mission of feeding or tending his lambs. By professing his love, Peter makes up for his sin and is restored to his dignity as the chief shepherd.

It is interesting that Jesus does not call him by the name he had given him - Peter, which means "rock". Rather he addresses him as "Simon, son of John". The only other time Jesus addresses Peter this way is when he first meets him and calls him to be a disciple. What Jesus is doing is letting Peter know that, though he has failed, he is still called to be a disciple. This is emphasized at the end of their conversation when he says to him, "Follow me." Jesus forgives Peter and restores his status as a disciple based on a simple profession of love.

We tend to associate mercy and forgiveness with the season of Lent. But it is just as fitting for the Easter season. It was for the forgiveness of sins that Jesus died and rose again. When he appeared to the apostles on the night of the resurrection, his first gift to them was the power to forgive sins. All that Jesus did was centered on giving us new life by reconciling us to the Father. And so the sacrament of Reconciliation, or confession, is not just for the Lenten season. Rather, like the other sacraments, it is a real encounter with the Risen Lord. Through confession we walk with Jesus, tell him that we are sorry for abandoning him, and profess our love for him as Peter did. Jesus then pours his forgiveness and mercy out upon us and renews his call to us to follow him as his disciple. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is one of the beautiful ways that we can come into the presence of our Risen Savior during this Easter season and experience the healing power of his mercy just as Peter did at the banks of the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus calls us to his side today. He has prepared a meal for us. It is his very body and blood. We can approach this table with confidence knowing that he has forgiven us. We can approach this table with joy because he is alive. We can go in peace knowing that he will always be by our side.