Easter, Second Sunday, Divine Mercy Sunday, April 23, 2017

Jesus gives his disciples another beatitude in today’s Gospel: Blessed are those who have not seen and believed.  Who here is blessed? You are all blessed for believing in the Risen Lord. Today we conclude the Octave of Easter with Divine Mercy Sunday. Last week on Easter Sunday, we heard about the empty tomb. Today Jesus appears to the disciples after his resurrection.

In Jesus’ first encounter with the disciples they were together on Sunday locked away in hiding.  They just experienced the death of Jesus and were in fear for their own lives.  Suddenly Jesus appears to them ere. Now try to imagine you are at your home with family and friends after a loved one died, it’s late at night, the doors are locked, and a loved one appears out of no where to greet you.  Wouldn’t you be frightened? When they saw him alive they probably feared he was mad at them as they had all abandoned him.  What does Jesus do?  He greets them with, “Peace be with you”. Probably not what they expected, but what they really needed to hear. Jesus shows his wounds on his hands and feet so they believe it’s really him.

Jesus then does something amazing: He breathes on them saying: “Who sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained”.  He sends his disciples to do His work of extending His mercy through forgiveness of sins.   Where else do we hear about God breathing?  In the second creation story in Genesis where God breathes life into the man formed out of clay. Here we see Jesus giving the power to his disciples to restore life to those who are deadened by sin through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  

The disciple Thomas wasn’t at the first appearance of Jesus and refused to believe

unless he could touch Jesus’ wounds himself.   Thomas is very much like people in our own culture today who must experience something themselves before they believe. When Jesus appears again he offers Thomas to see and touch his wounds. We don’t know if he did, but Thomas proclaims his belief: “My Lord and My God”.  Jesus came to Thomas to experience his presence to help him believe.

The Church helps us to believe by using all our senses through the healing power of the Sacraments.  We hear about Jesus through his Word in Scripture at Mass and the homilies help to put it in context of our daily lives.  But many of us like Thomas need more to affirm our belief. We can see Jesus when the priest elevates the host where we can say silently proclaim: My Lord and my God. We get to touch Jesus when we receive him in the Eucharist. We can feel Jesus comfort in receiving oil on our hands and forehead in the anointing the sick.  We can feel Jesus’ presence, by spending time in the chapel being close to Jesus in the tabernacle.

One of the most healing ways we encounter Jesus is through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  The priest in the person of Christ extends His Mercy by saying, “I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” Whenever I hear these words of the priest I feel totally renewed.  My relationship with God has been restored to the original state after Baptism as a new creation in Christ. It’s very healing.  It’s good to know that I can receive it again because I’m a sinner.  I do my best to keep from sinning, but being a fallen human being I’m going to sin again.   By admitting my faults to the priest, expressing sorrow, and being forgiven I’m remaining in a good relationship with God.  

It’s fitting today that we hear about the Lord sending the Apostle to extend his mercy through the forgiveness of sins.   Saint John Paul II decreed in May of 2000 that the Second Sunday of Easter as Divine Mercy Sunday.  Saint John Paul II was very familiar with the message of Divine Mercy from St. Faustina, a native of his homeland of Poland.  I’d like to share some background on where this came from.

During the early part of the 20^th century there were many evils going on through expansion of Nazism and communism and a deep disrespect for the dignity of life. In the 1930s, Jesus chose a humble Polish nun, St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, to receive private revelations about Divine Mercy.

In these private revelations there were 14 time when Jesus requested that Divine Mercy Sunday be observed.  I’d like to share one of those revelations from Jesus with you:

My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the Fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. … Let no soul fear to draw near to Me. … It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy. (Diary, no. 699)

Jesus also appeared to St. Faustina in a vision with his right hand raised in a blessing and his left touching his garment above his heart. Red and white rays emanate from his heart, symbolizing the blood and water that was poured out for our salvation and our sanctification.  The Lord requested this image to be painted with the words, “Jesus, I trust in You”, inscribed under his image, and that it be venerated around the world. Jesus said about this image that: “I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish” (Diary, no. 48) and “By means of this image I will grant many graces to souls” (Diary, no. 742). The image of Divine Mercy is located in front of the altar is usually located in the confessional.
         Our Lord also gave a devotional prayer to St. Faustina with this promise: “Encourage souls to say the chaplet which I have given you” (Diary, no. 1541). “Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death. … Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this chaplet only once, he would receive grace from My infinite mercy. I desire that the whole world know My infinite mercy” (Diary, no. 687).

On Sunday at 10 am we will pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy in the Church.  Your invited to join, but if you’re not able please pick up a Divine Mercy Prayer card after Mass.  It’s easy prayer to pray and you can use your rosary to help.  The traditional time to pray the chaplet is 3 pm if possible, but you can pray it any time. Please pray this often and share with others the Good News of our Lord Resurrection and his desire to extend his Divine Mercy to anyone who comes to ask for it.

If you would like to explore more about Divine Mercy I’d recommend to look into the Marians of the Immaculate Conception Divine Mercy web site, http://thedivinemercy.org/.  If you want to pray the Divine Mercy devotion take it with you on the go and download an app to you Smartphone. http://thedivinemercy.org/apps/

           

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Homily, 2nd Sunday of Lent, Leaving behind our water jar & Living Water

The Samaritan woman encounters Jesus at the well as she seeks to satisfy her thirst.  Jesus is there waiting for her.  She comes to draw water to help satisfy her daily needs, but she discovers the person who satisfies her needs for eternity. 

Jesus breaks down the cultural barriers of the time in being there for the woman. First of all, Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans. They were considered an impure race made up of Jews who intermarried with pagan foreign invaders. They adopted many of the pagan practices of worship which the Jews despised.  Secondly a man would never speak with an unaccompanied woman at the time.   It was also very unusual for a woman to be alone. The Samaritan woman must have been an outcast, since she had to come alone at noon, the hottest time of the day. Women typically joined together to gather water in the morning or evening, at a much cooler time.  Since the Samaritan woman lived in a scandalous relationship she wasn’t welcome to join them.

Jesus doesn’t let her moral situation become a barrier to encounter him.   He knows

she came for water, but she’s thirsting for much more.  She’s thirsting for the satisfaction of true love. Her many husbands only provided temporary love.  Jesus reveals her past and current situation, and she believes him to be a prophet.   The seed of faith planted in her prompts questions to Jesus about the difference in Jewish and Samaritan worship.  Jesus tells her that true worship will be of the Father in Spirit and truth, speaking of himself and the Church, and finally reveals to her that he is the Messiah. 

The woman then goes to the town to tell everyone of this exciting news and leaves something behind: her water jar. I think leaving the water jar is significant. It is a symbol of leaving her past behind.  Her new found faith in the living water of eternal life promised by Jesus was now much more important.  The needs and desires of water and earthly love were secondary to her relationship with Jesus.  They only provided temporary satisfaction.  Everlasting satisfaction came from the spring of water welling up to eternal life that only Jesus could give.  She had found the truth of life through the grace of Jesus being there.  Jesus was there offering this gift freely to her. Her new found gift of eternal life in Christ had transformed her to share the good news with others and leave behind her past behind.

We all have needs and desires that we’re thirsting for and many of us have baggage from the past.   The Samaritan woman thirsted for love trying to satisfy it through her multiple husbands.  The Jews had been freed from slavery in Egypt, but feared death from thirst in the desert. Today we have millions of Middle Eastern refugees thirsting for permanent homes free from persecution.  In our own country thousands of undocumented immigrants thirst to keep their families together.  We may thirst to be healed of illnesses, have relationship restored, or to get a better job to support our family.  We may be thirsting for power, money, or prestige to satisfy our own egos.

Jesus is there to help us discern our deepest desires, some being valid and some not so much.   When our needs are satisfied do they bring about a lasting peace and comfort, or do they leave us thirsting for something else?  What happens when they’re not met?  Sometimes there are no ready answers to difficult situations and it can leave us feeling hopeless.  In baptism we’ve been cleansed with living water to raise to a new life in Christ. This gives us a light in the darkness to assist us with the challenges of this world. When we turn to Jesus our relationship with him helps to reveal what’s most important.   Sometimes the only answer Jesus can give us is in difficult situations is hope for eternal life.  We can go to Jesus in prayer, in the Sacraments, and through members of the Body of Christ to help us.

This Sunday the members of the Right of Christian Initiation of Adults will be going through the first of three Scrutiny’s.  The Scrutiny’s are the rites that these members go through as they prepare to enter the Church. They’ll be receiving Baptism where they will be admitted to the Sacraments of Christian Initiation at the Easter Vigil.  They’re on a faith journey developing a relationship with Christ, and leaving behind their own water jars, so they can receive living water for eternal life. 

We’re on a similar journey as we as we go through Lent.  Our discipline of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving helps us to leave behind the water jar holding everything that keeps us from having faith in Jesus as our Messiah.  As we shed those sinful ways we have the sacrament of reconciliation that will help us restore our relationship with God.  Jesus is waiting for us ready to help without any barriers or concerns about our life’s situation just as he was for the Samaritan woman.

Homily, 6th Sunday, Do we have a strong foundation for God to dwell in

My wife and I went out to breakfast yesterday after 8 am Mass.  We were seated right away, but it’s a good thing we didn’t wait too much longer.  The restaurant quickly filled up with many young families.  When it came time to pay we could barely get through the crowd to pay for the check.  I suspect much of the people there were from all the houses springing up south of Stone Crossings road. 

It appears that the housing industry is doing much better after the economic downturn which started back in 2008.   The collapse of the housing market was a major contributor to the economic decline.   Predatory lending resulted in many people buying houses above their means, and resulted in loss of homes and bank failures.  The housing industry was based on a weak foundation of greed that went unchecked. New regulations put in place helped to build a more solid foundation to return to better times.

Our opening prayer today called for us to become dwellings that are pleasing to God.   We have all seen the impact of what a weak foundation can have on a major industry that affects our economy.     If we are to become a dwelling that pleases God, do we have a strong foundation to build on?    

Our readings today point to ways we can build up and strengthen our own dwelling places.   The first reading from Sirach reminds us that we can choose to keep the commandments. God does not make us follow the commandments nor cause us to break them.  He gives us the freedom to choose.  But in that freedom we can choose life or death, good or evil.  Through God’s wisdom he provides us with the commandments and they are life giving.   We can’t earn our salvation by following the commandments.  Only faith in Jesus can save us.  But we can lose our salvation by choosing to reject the commandments by not loving God and neighbor. 

Jesus seems to raise the bar a bit more.   He tells us that unless your righteousness surpasses the scribes and Pharisees you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.  The Pharisees were all about keeping commandments, all 613 of them.    We quite often hear in the Gospels about the Pharisees challenging Jesus about following the law and he confronts them about loving God and neighbor.   He does so because the Pharisees are only concerned about the external actions of the law.  They weren’t concerned about the interior change of the hearts.  So while the Pharisees were the keepers of the law, they weren’t so concerned about love of neighbor.  Jesus, who is God’s wisdom, was calling the Pharisees to a conversion of hearts.  So if we live as disciples of Jesus, loving God and neighbor, we can surpass the righteousness of the Pharisees, because we’re doing more than just keeping the commandments. We’re sowing the seeds of love, peace, and unity to bring about the kingdom of God.

This sounds like a tall task to accomplish on our own, but St. Paul tells us how it’s possible to keep the commandments and to live as Jesus’ disciples: through the Spirit.   The Spirit we receive in Baptism and Confirmation provides the grace for us to become dwellings pleasing to God.   The grace of the sacraments reveals God’s wisdom and makes it possible to be grateful and life giving to others. 

How can we become and continue to be a dwelling that is pleasing to God?  By asking ourselves if we are welcoming place for Jesus when we receive him in the Eucharist.   We can do this by making it a habit to examine ourselves to make sure our house is in order.   We can stand outside a house and look at its appearance, but we really know what it’s like when we walk through the door and examine its contents. If you watch House Hunter’s International or read South magazine you can get the overall view of a house, both inside and out.   We need to do the same things for ourselves with the Spirit’s guidance.

The Holy Spirit is our guide to examine the interior of our own dwelling to make sure it’s is ready for Jesus to enter.  The commandments can be the cornerstones of our house’ foundation.  Each commandment can be a room we enter to see if we are just keeping them or living them out as Jesus intends, loving God and neighbor.  We can walk through and say we have not killed someone, but is there a grudge we’ve been holding with a family member we’ve refused to talk to for years?   We may not have committed adultery, but do we always look at others with chaste thoughts?  We can say we haven’t outright lied, but have we been fully honest in our dealings with others?  Are there any habits that are kept hidden in the attic that we need to clean out and get rid of?   If there are any rooms that need cleaned up before we welcome Jesus in, we ask for God’s mercy. The Sacrament of Confession can help make our dwelling pleasing to God. 

As we proceed to receive the Eucharist, the Holy Spirit will come down to change the bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood. Let’s invite that same Spirit to come into our dwelling and build a solid foundation by guiding us with God’s wisdom to live out the commandments by loving God and neighbor.