Divine Mercy

Divine Mercy 2019:

Today we bring out week-long celebration of the Octave of Easter to a close.  This used to be called “Low Sunday” because the church is coming down from this high celebration of Easter.  But, in recent years, this Sunday has been renamed “Divine Mercy Sunday.”  Divine Mercy is a devotion to Our Lord and his great mercy.  Jesus appeared to St. Faustina Kowalska and told her to spread the message of his mercy. Her diary contains these messages from Jesus.  I have always found the message of Divine Mercy to be a beautiful and inspiration message. It is a powerful reminder that Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but to save the world.  Jesus does not want to condemn sinner, but to forgive them. If this sounds at all interesting and inspirational, look into the divine mercy devotion.  You will find it wonderful as I have.

It seems to me that today’s gospel passage is a perfect one for the message of divine mercy.  What are the first words of Jesus: Peace be with you.  The message of mercy is that we find that peace in the mercy and forgiveness of Christ.  But, the context for this message is so important.  Jesus utters these words in the midst of his disciples when they were hiding out of fear.  Why were they afraid?  Jesus had been taken and killed.  Also, the apostles didn’t do so well when Jesus was arrested.  Even Peter denied him three times.  Seems like fear is a good response.  They were afraid of being persecuted by the leaders.  Maybe they feared Jesus’ disappointment.  In the context of all this guilt, shame, and fear, Jesus breaks into the room and utters these simple words: Peace be with you. These words symbolize the forgiveness of sins that Christ won for them.  Peace be with you.  Then he takes it one step further.  Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive are forgiven.  The other reason why this gospel is the perfect gospel for Divine Mercy is that this gospel is the very beginning of the sacrament of confession.  Jesus forgives the sins of the apostles with his words: Peace be with you.  Then he gives them the power of the Holy Spirit so that they can forgive sins by the power of the sacrament of confession.  Divine Mercy Sunday always has a connection to the power of the forgiveness of sins in the sacrament of confession.  

But, I want to make the connection to another sacrament as well.  Thomas wasn’t there the first time.  His doubts remained.  How was Jesus able to overcome those doubts?  He shows Thomas his body.  On this Divine Mercy Sunday we celebrate the Holy Eucharist.  Jesus continues to show us his body, on this altar.  The Eucharist is the sacrament of God’s mercy because it is the body of Christ continually poured out for us.  His mercy endures forever.  

This is an exciting weekend for us here at the Cathedral. At the 11:30 mass, our young people will receive their First Holy Communion.  They are really excited about receiving communion for the first time.  Just like Thomas, Jesus will reveal himself to them in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood.  This great gift is given to all of us as a way for us to grow in our faith.

When I was a kid, someone taught me that there is no better prayer to say after receiving communion than the prayer of St. Thomas that we heard today in the gospel: My Lord and my God.  So, may our First communion kids and all of us who receive our Lord on this Divine Mercy Sunday grow in our faith.  When we receive Holy Communion let us recognized Christ and say: My Lord and My God.

Christ is Alive! Alleluia

Easter Sunday 2019:

Alleluia.  Christ is alive.  Alleluia is a Hebrew word that means “praise God.”  Praise God indeed.  Jesus Christ died on the Cross.  He was buried.  Yet, that tomb is empty.  We proclaim: he is alive.  Today we celebrate that day where Christ completed his mission here on earth.  He came as our savior.  We needed rescuing.  We were slaves to sin and death.  But, Jesus set us free.  Like Moses, he led us across the waters of baptism.  Moses led the people out of slavery in Egypt.  Christ leads us out of the slavery of death.  He is our Savior.  Today we proclaim his victory.

But, I found this gospel passage really interesting.  I find it interesting because of what it doesn’t say.  It doesn’t say that Mary met Jesus.  It doesn’t say that the apostles met Jesus.  In fact, we don’t see Jesus anywhere in this gospel passage.  Now, if you have your bible and you keep reading, you will find that Jesus appears to both Mary Magdalene and the rest of the Apostles.  But, not in this passage.  In this passage, the only proof of the resurrection is the empty tomb.  

It got me thinking about how we can prove the resurrection of Christ.  It seems to me that the most powerful proofs of the resurrection of Christ are all the various appearances of Jesus.  I’m sure all of us have our favorite ones.  There is the road to Emmaus where Jesus speaks with the disciples and they recognize him in the breaking of the bread.  There is the time where Jesus was on the shore and asked Peter 3 times: do you love me?  There was the time when the doors were locked and Jesus appeared saying: peace be with you. These appearances were amazing and miraculous and certainly helped the disciples believe in Jesus.  But, how many of us can say what we have had the same experiences?  Of course, nothing rules it out.  So, if Jesus comes to your family Easter party today, let me know all about it.  We certainly do believe that Jesus is alive. But, for most of us, face-to-face appearances will not be the evidence we use to believe in the resurrection. So, what else?

First, we have the same evidence as listed in the gospel for today’s reading.  The empty tomb.  You know what?  That tomb is still empty.  There is a huge church built over top of the tomb.  But, the tomb is still empty.  There has never been any evidence that they found the body of Jesus.  There has never been any kind of concrete proof of there being a great hoax or whatever.  No, the tomb is empty.  Think about that.  If you visited the tomb of a deceased loved-one and found the tomb empty, you’d be pretty shocked right.  Mary was shocked too.  That tomb is empty.  What could be going on?  So, we have that evidence.

What else do we have?  I think the best evidence for the miracle of the resurrection is the lives of the apostles.  These were lowly and simple guys.  During the passion narratives they don’t seem to great right?  One betrays Jesus, Peter denies him 3 times, many of them flee when Jesus needed them the most.  Yet, after the resurrection, what do we find?  They boldly proclaim the truth of the resurrection.  Today in the first reading Peter stands before everyone who would listen and proclaims his faith in the risen Christ.  Peter denied Jesus three times before maids and servants, and now he willing to tell anyone who would listen that Christ is alive.  What explains this radical transformation? The resurrection.  Peter experienced Christ face-to-face.  He knows he’s alive.  That changes everything.  

So, that gives us two powerful pieces of evidence for the resurrection of Christ.  We have the empty tomb and we have the witness of everyone who believes in Christ. Sure, we start with St. Peter, but really all the saints down through the ages are great witnesses to the power of Christ, who is alive.  

Is that enough evidence for you?  Maybe not.  You might say, it’s not fair.  I need to see him face-to-face.  Well, we are fortunate.  We have the sacraments.  All seven sacraments are encounters with Christ.  These encounters are more veiled than the encounters of Christ in the gospels. But, they are still encounters with the Risen Christ.  Let me just highlight 2 sacraments. 

First, confession.  When we go to confession we humbly acknowledge our sins and Jesus says: peace be with you.  Remember when Jesus first appears to the Apostles in John’s gospel.  The same thing happens.  In fact, he says: peace be with you.  Then he says: who’s sins you forgive are forgiven.  During these last few weeks, we have been having lots of confessions here at the cathedral.  Each and every time a person goes to confession, this is an appearance of the risen Christ that strengthens our faith.

Second, the mass.  One of my favorite appearances of Jesus is the Road to Emmaus.  But, what happens in that story.  Jesus explains the scriptures.  Then he breaks the bread.  The recognized him in the breaking of the bread.  They were face to face with Jesus the whole time, but they only recognized him at mass.  This is why the Mass is the very foundation of our life of faith.  This is the bedrock of Christianity because it is the lasting appearance of Christ which he gave to us as a way to strengthen our faith for the rest of time.  The Mass is the risen Christ appearing to us his disciples.  

So, today we proclaim the resurrection.  The evidence is compelling: the tomb is empty, the disciples changed their lives, Christ continues to appear to us in the Sacraments.  My friends, Christ is truly alive.  Let this foundational truth of our lives fill us with Joy as we celebrate the feast of our redemption.  

5th Sunday of Lent

Homily for the 3^rdScrutiny:

Today we celebrate the 3^rdscrutiny for the members of our RCIA.  If you remember back, the first scrutiny focused on thirst and how Christ gives the living water.  The second scrutiny focused on the man born blind, and how we have been given the spiritual sight of faith.  Today focuses on life.  Lazarus was dead.  But, now he lives.  Each of us has experienced the death of sin.  But, through the power of Christ, he has opened up the way to eternal life. Lazarus’ raising was only temporary. But, we believe that Christ will raise us up to eternal life.  

Have you ever wondered why death feels so bad?  Why does it bring us pain to see people we love go through suffering and death?  In some ways, dying is just a part of life.  Each of us was born and each of us will die.  Nothing is certain in this life except death and taxes right (and right now most of us are pretty aware of our taxes being due next week).  And yet, if death is certain, why should it be painful?  

The Christian answer to this problem of the pain associated with death is that death is not natural.  God did not create us to die.  Rather, he made us to live.  Death only enters the story of the human race after the fall of Adam and Eve.  Death is a byproduct of human sinfulness. Therefore, when we experience death, deep down, we know that something is wrong.  

Jesus came to right that wrong.  God loved us so much that he did not simply leave us to our own punishment. Rather, he sent Christ to raise up the fallen.  Death is the worst enemy of the human race, but Christ has conquered that enemy for us. 

Yet, each of us lives in this weird “in-between” time.  We profess that Christ is the victor over sin and death and that all those who believe in him will live forever.  And yet, we still suffer, we still mourn when someone dies.  But, Christ is even close to us in this pain as well.  My favorite line in the gospel of John: and Jesus wept.  He came to bring us life.  He did that on the cross.  But, even now, he is with us in the midst of our pain and suffering.  

Today’s gospel teaches us two important lessons.  First, Christ has the power to raise the dead.  This gives us hope for ourselves and our loved ones who have died.  This gospel also teaches us that Christ is close to us, especially when we are suffering. So, we turn to him in our toughest times, for the Lord is never far from us.