Sixth Sunday of Easter

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/052514.cfm

          I'm sure that we have all had times in our lives when we wished that we had someone to speak up for us.  Perhaps this came in the form of a friend putting in a good word for you at work or for a team at school.  Maybe you were falsely accused of something and someone had to come to your defense.  Maybe it was when we were being picked on as a child (or even older) and a friend came and stood up for us.  With the national news saying that there is a rise in bullying in schools, in the work place, and on the Internet, it seems to me that we need more of that last example of standing up for each other in the world.  My hope is that we have all had that joy of having someone stand up for us or speak out for us when we are faced with confrontation. 

          When something does go wrong in life it is really only fair to allow all persons involved to tell their side of the story, especially if there are accusations against a person.  Quite often, the accused needs someone to speak for them, to explain that why they didn't do it, or at least didn't mean to do it. That's why even in our American legal system, even those who cannot afford a lawyer are provided one.  Some worry with this system that a guilty person might end up getting off Scott-free, but we don't want to end up punishing an innocent person either.  I mention all of this to simply say, we all need an advocate from time to time.

          You may have noticed in the Gospel today that Jesus says that the Father, “will give you another Advocate to be with you always”.  Jesus Christ is the first Advocate.  He speaks on our behalf to the Father.  We see this in the Gospels when Jesus reminds us of how He speaks the words of the Father and when we heard last week that He is preparing a place for us in His Father's house.  We especially see it as He dies for our sake on the Cross.  Jesus continues to be our Advocate in Heaven, He speaks to the Father, pleading with Him to continue giving us that grace that makes it possible to work on being His children.  But as He prepares for His Resurrection and eventual Ascension, Jesus knows that we will still need an Advocate here on earth who will speak to us and guide us.  That is the other Advocate that Jesus is referring to:  the Holy Spirit. 

          Just like a defense attorney speaks on behalf of an accused person in court and counsels the accused about what to do and say at different times, the Holy Spirit speaks to the Father and the Father tells the Spirit what to say back to us. As we hear else where in the Gospel of John, we are not to worry about what to say when the world puts us on trial.  Rather, we are to listen to the Spirit and trust in His guidance. 

          Now I do wish to point out an important point.  We are using an analogy here of comparing the Holy Spirit's counseling us to the work a defense attorney does for his or her client.  But please don't think that God the Father is up in Heaven accusing us of crimes like a person on earth might accuse a suspected criminal.  God isn't trying to come up with excuses to imprison us or give us a death sentence.  He loves us too much for that.  So God isn't a prosecutor or a harsh judge, but we still need an Advocate to speak on our behalf.  The reason is, we have sinned against God.  Remember, Heaven isn't a physical place with clouds and harps and winged angels flying everywhere.  Heaven is a state of being in which we are in the presence of God Himself.  There is no room for sin in Heaven.  God doesn't need to accuse us of anything.  We've done this all by ourselves.  God wants us to be with Him.  He mourns the fact that we have sinned against Him.  That is why He sends the Holy Spirit to be our Advocate.  None of us is perfect enough to be sin free and to make it into Heaven by our own merits.  Sometimes I think we assume that if we just work hard enough, we can get in by our own hard work of being Holy.  No, it doesn't work that way.  We need His help.  That is why we have the Holy Spirit.

          As Christians, therefore, our goal should be to live our lives in the Spirit. St. Peter’s First Letter tells us that Jesus “was brought to life in the Spirit” by allowing Himself to be put to death in flesh. We then are called to put our own sinful desires and habits to death and focus on allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us. That is, we are called to live our lives in the Spirit as well.

          In order for any of us to have this life in the Spirit, we must truly accept the Spirit into our very selves. That means taking the gifts and graces that we received in Baptism and Confirmation and making that a part of our lives. It means allowing the spirit to move with in us. A priest friend of mine likes to use the analogy of making chocolate milk. If you just add chocolate syrup to a tall glass of milk and do nothing else, that isn’t all that tasty, but if you start stirring, then it mixes together into something good. Likewise, the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation aren’t going to do us much good, unless we avail ourselves of how the Holy Spirit is moving us closer to the Father.

          You may have noticed that during this Easter Season, we hear a lot about the early Church in the Acts of the Apostles. This week, we hear about the Christians in the city of Samaria and how St. Philip (one of the deacons who were ordained in our first reading last week) preaches about the life of Jesus to them. It sounds as though these people had heard of Jesus before because they had been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, but had never been baptized in the Spirit (In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit). The Apostles in Jerusalem send Peter and John to them so they may receive the Holy Spirit. They receive Him when the Apostles lay hands on them. They had heard of Jesus and maybe even of the Holy Spirit. It isn’t until later with the preaching of Philip and laying on of hands with the Apostles that they finally enter into the life of the Spirit. 

          We have the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, with us to help us. Let us continue on our pilgrimage towards Heaven, and the joy that we will find with God.

The Fifth Sunday of Easter

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051814.cfm

 

         What is the largest gathering of people that you have ever been a part of?  Maybe it was at a specific event, like a concert or sporting event.  Maybe it was to see or meet a famous person.  Perhaps you traveled to a popular destination with thousands of other people from around the world who came on the same day.  There are many possibilities.  If you were seeing a favorite band or going to a destination you had long wanted to see, very likely there were plenty of emotions connected with seeing that person or place or object.  But how did the crowds make you feel?  Did they increase your excitement; seeing so many people coming to the same place or event as you?  Did the crowd make you nervous, wondering if you might loose yourself or others in the vast crowd?  Were you worried that something might happen to you in the crowd?  Were you happy to see so many others coming, or maybe you wished that you could have come at a less busy or hectic time?

          The biggest gathering that I have ever been a part of has to have been at World Youth Day in Toronto, Canada in 2002.  This was the last International World Youth Day in which St. John Paul II was able to attend.  As the saint was nearing the end of his life on earth, he was looking more and more feeble.  It was known that he planned to come to Toronto, but there was a lot of speculation as to how active his participation would be.  When he arrived by plane, he could have had an elevator take him down from the plane and been moved in a wheelchair and I'm sure no one would have thought less of him for doing that.  Instead he chose to walk down the stairs from his plane under his own power.  I found a video online that showed that day and it was amazing.  One bishop was next to him, holding his arm to guide him and give him some balance, but otherwise he walked down on his own.  Thousands if not hundreds of thousands of youth had already gathered in Toronto.  When news got out that the Holy Father had arrived and was walking and waving at people, hundreds of thousands more bought tickets at the last minute to come to the events.  They wanted to be there if the Holy Father could make it.  Well over 800,000 people gathered on an abandoned airfield outside of Toronto to celebrate an evening vigil and then Mass with the future saint the next morning.  We were exhausted from the many miles of hiking we had to do the day before and it rained off and on during the night.  Yet there were so many youth there, I could barely make out anything that was happening on the large stage that was set, let alone see where the Pope was. 

          As far as my reaction to the crowds, I will not lie to you; it was a bit overwhelming for me to be in such a large crowd.  Having grown up in a small Northern Minnesota town, I never could have imagined being a part of such a large crowd.  It took me well out of my comfort zone.  That being said, it was still a very powerful and wonderful experience.  To realize I was at a Mass with the Holy Father and I was saying prayers and singing at the top of my lungs with over half a million youth from all over the world who shared my same faith in Jesus Christ, was truly awe-inspiring.  Nothing else in my life has quite compared to that.

          When one looks at a gathering of the faithful like any of the World Youth Days, or when we look at the large crowds that come here to St. Raphael's on Christmas Eve and Easter Morning, it's astounding and a little bit sad that our churches aren't full to overflowing every Sunday of the year.  When we read through the Scriptures (I'm talking about today's readings and many other places in Sacred Scripture) we can see that God Himself and those who wrote the Scriptures down on paper envisioned a vast number of people to be in heaven.  I'm not just talking about a big group or a large crowd.  I'm talking about a great multitude of people from every nation and every race.  This goes well beyond what typical Sunday attendance suggests.

          St. Peter's first letter today calls people to come closer to God.  He tells us, “Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”  So we ourselves are being brought together to God as stones are brought together to make an altar or a monument to God.  St. Peter elaborates by saying that we are the cornerstone that God has chosen to build His Church.  Though others have rejected that cornerstone (though we may be rejected by those who do not believe) that stone is (we are) precious in God's eyes.  He also talks about “a holy priesthood”.  He goes on to say, “You are 'A chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own'”.  These lines about “a royal priesthood” and “a holy nation” are references to the Book of Exodus when God tells Moses that He will set Israel apart from the rest of the nations of the world.  In other words, the Israelites will be set a part just as priests are set a part from the people.  In making this reference in his letter, St. Peter is saying that we as Christians share in that distinction.  We have been set apart by God for His own.  This is not a small select group, but a great number of people.

          In the Gospel, Jesus is even expecting a large of number of people to come to the Father.  “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.  If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?”  God has made many dwelling places because He is anticipating many people to come and be with Him for eternity. 

          So we know that we are a part of a vast multitude of people that God wants to come join Him in Heaven, but how do we get to Heaven and how do we get others to join us?  First of all we follow Jesus, who is the way and the life and is in the Father and the Father is in Him, as He tells Thomas and Phillip.  Secondly, we show others by example.  We are servants to each other, just as we see the first deacons in the first reading serve at table.  We show our love and respect for each other.  We are a part of a vast assembly of God, let us set our minds and our hearts on the goal of Heaven.

Fourth Sunday of Easter

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051114.cfm

          We all have multiple decisions that we have to make each day: whether it is deciding what we are going to wear, what are we going to eat for dinner, or what am I going to do today on my day off?  If you are at all like me, however, you may have had to face some times where it is difficult, if not nearly impossible to make a decision.  Have you ever had one of those times when you're hungry, but you can not for the life of you figure out what you are hungry for?  Drives you nuts doesn't it?  Now obviously I haven't missed too many meals worrying about this sort of thing, but I do get frustrated with my indecision at times. 

          In order to be accepted into the seminary, potential seminarians are required to take psychological exams to determine if there are areas in our lives we need to work on while in seminary.  Once in seminary, I also had to take a personality exam that looks at how I interact with other people.  One question that often comes up in these sorts of exams is, “Do you have trouble making decisions?”  The first time I saw this question, I literally spent several minutes thinking about it and trying to decide whether I had trouble making decisions!  Because I could think of plenty of times when I had no trouble deciding things like what to eat or what I wanted to do.  But for whatever reason I didn't want to admit that I had trouble making decisions.  Finally, I realized I needed to stop fighting it and just admit, yes, I'm indecisive. 

          Even if you are the type of person who generally doesn't have trouble making decisions, I think we can all relate to those times in our lives when important decisions have to be made.  I'm talking about choosing what to major in at college, or whether or not to buy that new house, or taking on that new job.  These are the big decisions in our lives.  We don't want to jump into things without thinking them through first.  Whether you are decisive or indecisive, giving it some thought is probably a good thing.

          One thing that SHOULD be pretty obvious in our lives as Christians, and SHOULD be an easy decision, is realizing where God ranks in our lives.  Notice that I said, “should”.  God should be first in our lives in all things.  He should be the first we talk to in the morning and the last we talk to at night.  Sadly, sometimes we make decisions that push God out of the way for other things.  That is what we call sin.  As St. Peter mentions at the end of his letter today, we go astray like sheep, but the shepherd calls us back.  Why is that?  Many Christian writers of many different denominations have loved to talk about how we all have a “God-shaped hole” in our hearts and it is only God who can fill it again.  This is a very simple image, but a very profound one as well.  We all need God in our lives, but when we wonder away, there is still a longing in our hearts for God to be a part of it. 

          We see a great example of this longing in our first reading today.  The reading from the Acts of the Apostles is taken from St. Peter's speech at Pentecost.  He tells them, “Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified”.  We are told that the crowd was “cut to the heart” when they heard this.  Meaning they were moved by this speech and felt guilt for Jesus' death.  “What are we to do?” they ask.  “Repent and be baptized”, is the reply.  That moving speech of Peter (of which we only hear a small fraction of in the reading today) reminds the crowd of what they are longing for.  They long for Jesus, they long for His leadership, and so they are baptized.  “Three thousand persons were added that day”, we are told.  Many hearts are moved.

          We long to be with our shepherd.  That is what St. Peter is getting at in his letter.  Christ died for us.  By His wounds we have been healed we are told.  Though we have gone astray like sheep, we have returned to the shepherd, the guardian of our souls.  We are like the sheep, wondering on our own.  We are happy and content to find our own food and water.  But yet we still wonder back to the shepherd, because we long to be with Him. 

          St. Peter obviously had today's Gospel passage in mind when he wrote about that image of the shepherd.  Today we only heard the first half of the apply named “Good Shepherd” passage from John.  We heard today about the image of Jesus as the sheep gate; the way to salvation.  If we were to keep reading we would then hear Jesus call Himself, “The Good Shepherd” and that He knows His sheep and His sheep know Him.  So there is more to the passage than what we heard proclaimed. 

          The point is, there are a lot of images going on here: the sheep, the gates, the shepherds, the voice of the shepherd, the thieves, and the strangers.  The overall message that Jesus is giving us is that He will not lead us astray.  Others (symbolized by the thieves and robbers who steal from the shepherds) may try to lead us astray.  These may be leaders who have made bad choices, but also refers to our own bad decisions that we make because of our sinful habits.  But Jesus doesn't intend on stealing from us or trying to seek His own selfish gain.  He is the gate that will lead to good pastures.  He will lead us as a good and loving shepherd to what we need the most. 

          It is also important that we remember the voice of the shepherd.  Jesus makes sure to point out that it is only the shepherd's voice that the sheep will listen to and follow.  They do not recognize a stranger's voice; in fact they run away from the stranger.  So while we may very well make bad decisions from time to time or listen to bad advice from others  who we thought we could trust, there will still be the shepherd's voice who will call us a remind us of who and what we truly need. 

          So, when we have a big decision to make, or maybe we are unsure of what we should do next, remember that it is the Good Shepherd who is leading us and still calling out to us.  Let us quiet ourselves, enter into prayer and listen for His voice.  He will lead to life so that we may have it more abundantly. 

Divine Mercy Sunday

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/042714.cfm

          Today we celebrate not just the Second Sunday of Easter or the end of the Octave of Easter.  Today we celebrate a special feast day called Divine Mercy Sunday.  This day was officially put on the Church Calendar by St. Pope John Paul II, who was just canonized today in Rome.  This day is associated with the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, which is prayed on ordinary rosary beads.  St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, a young Polish nun who lived in the early 1900’s, received visions of Jesus Christ who gave her a mission to tell others about Divine Mercy.  She taught others the Chaplet and encouraged them to have a devotion to the Divine Mercy.  She also had a painting commissioned that is today called the Divine Mercy image, and was instrumental in having the Second Sunday of Easter declared the official feast day for the Divine Mercy.  One Polish nun (who died at the age of 33 by the way) did all this work to help others understand that Jesus is most loving and merciful person we could ever have.  He truly is Divine Mercy.  

          So what do we mean when we talk about Divine Mercy? It means that this is a mercy that comes from God and it is unlike any mercy that we may experience for humans.  Mercy is about forgiveness.  It's about being forgiven of whatever sins or wrongdoing we may have done and any and all punishments for those sins have been removed.  When it comes to Divine Mercy, then, all our sins are forgiven and the punishment that is being pardoned is eternal death.

          Our human experience of mercy is nothing compared to Divine Mercy.  It isn't like the game that boys might play in which they inflict pain on each other until someone calls “mercy” or “uncle”.  It isn't like when we humans try to forgive each other.  As Christians, we try our best to forgive those who have trespassed against us.  We know from experience, however, that this is not always that easy.  Sometimes we have been hurt so badly, we find it difficult to reach forgiveness.  We keep working at it because it is the right thing to do, but it's still hard.  We may experience this in another way as well in which we have sinned against another and then we seek forgiveness from them, but they find it hard to forgive us.  In addition to all this, even if we are forgiven by another or we learn to forgive someone else, the trust that was once there may be gone.  Forgiveness is one thing; learning to trust again is something completely different.

          Fortunately for us, Divine Mercy is nothing like our limited human ability to have Mercy.  As I already said, Divine Mercy is the whole package.  Forgiven of all sin; acquitted of any punishment.  God is even able to continue to trust us after forgiving us; not like a naïve child who keeps falling for the same practical joke several times is a row.  He knows what He's doing.  He even knows what we are going to do, including all the sins that we will commit in the future, and He still trusts us.  By trusting us, He allows us to make our own decisions.  By trusting us, He leaves Himself open to be saddened by our sins again and again.  But He also allows us to freely choose to love Him and serve Him.  So, He trusts us because He loves us and wants us close to Him.  He forgives us and has mercy on us because of that love. 

          Today's Gospel is a great example of Divine Mercy in action.  We are all familiar with the sins of two of the Apostles during Holy Week: Judas' betrayal and Peter's three denials of knowing Jesus.  Today, however, we hear about another of the Apostles: St. Thomas, otherwise known as “Doubting Thomas”. 

          I have to admit, I always feel kind of sorry for Thomas whenever this reading comes up.  He reminds me of that poor guy who misses that one meeting where all the decisions are made and then ends up with all the jobs that no one else wants.  “Hey Tom!  Sorry you couldn't make that last meeting.  By the way, we elected you as chair person, hope you don't mind.  And we're putting you in charge of planning the company picnic next month.  Have fun!”   So he misses out of being able to see for himself that Christ is risen, which is unfortunate for him.  All joking aside though, he had at least ten of his closest friends (maybe a few others as well) telling him that they saw Jesus alive again.  Even with something as extraordinary as hearing that someone has risen from the dead, I would think that ten or more witnesses telling you that this has happened would be quite convincing.  We can debate all we want about why he refused to believe.  The point is that he doubted.

          Our focus for this Sunday should not be simply on the doubting of Thomas.  Our focus should rightly be on Jesus' response.  His response is not in anger or frustration over Thomas' lack of faith.  He doesn't berate him for what he did or didn't do.  I think we sometimes paint this picture of God in our minds of someone who is in Heaven with a lighting-bolt in hand, poised to smite us for the slightest infraction.  God loves us to much for that, as I have been saying.  So His response to Thomas' unbelief is not of wrath, but of mercy.  He simply tells him, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”  We don't know exactly what tone of voice Jesus used when He said that, but however He said it He didn't dwell on it.  He simply said, “Here is your proof, now start believing”.  In His never ending love and mercy, He is saying “Your sins are forgiven, now go in peace.”

          We may or may not have had to struggle in our faith life with whether or not Jesus truly rose from the dead, but like St. Thomas we have all had to struggle with sin and know we could have done things better.  Today’s feast day of Divine Mercy Sunday reminds us not to dwell on the negatives, but on the fact that Jesus is ready to forgive us and show us mercy.  Believe in this, my brothers and sisters, and ask for his mercy.

Easter Homily

Here is my homily for the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday.  Because the Lectionary gives the option of using the Gospel Reading assigned for the Vigil at Masses on Sunday as well, I chose to preach on the Vigil Gospel (Matthew) at all the Masses.  For those interested, here are links to the readings on both days.  Christ is Rise!  Alleluia!

Vigil: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041914.cfm

Sunday: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/042014.cfm

Some of you know that the sport that I like to watch the most is football. You may also know that the team that I like to watch are the Minnesota Vikings. Though for the last several seasons I have to admit that I feel more like I am a “recovering” Minnesota Vikings fan. Even though their last few seasons have been less than spectacular however, I continue to hope, like other Vikings fans that we will be able to get a good head coach who lead them to victory… And a descent quarterback who can both run and throw the ball … And some good running backs that can work well with the quarterback… And some good offensive linemen to protect the passer … a good defense that can stop the pass and the run … Oh! And a good place kicker who’s consistent … a descent punter that can kick the ball way back … a great coaching staff that can bring them all together as a team. If we could just get those few things – and a good stadium – we’ll be doing alright!

Anyway, despite my love for the Vikings, one of my favorite coaches from the history of the NFL is Vince Lombardi, coach of the Green Bay Packers. In 10 years as head coach of the Packers, he led them to five league championships and won the first two Super Bowls. Today, the trophy that is awarded to the Super Bowl champions is called the Vince Lombardi Trophy in his honor. Now I don’t know that much about Lombardi, but I do know that he was a very tough task-master. My junior high football coach and various professors I had in college liked to refer to “Lombardi Time”. Coach Lombardi had a rule that the players and coaching staff had to be at practice and ready to work 15 minutes before the scheduled time for the team meeting. If you’re on time, you’re late. I’m sure he had that rule because he wanted to light a fire under his players and staff. He didn’t want to waste time while he waited for people to get to practice. He wanted to get right to work. That readiness to work at practice would also translate to a readiness to work at games.

I also remember a drill that my football coaches in junior high made the team do. I don’t remember what they were called, but they were inspired by Coach Lombardi and I remember that I was tired and sore by the end of them. All the players would run in place, moving our feet very quickly. When the coach would blow his whistle, we all had to fall down on the ground and then quickly get back up and continue running in place. The idea was to help us get used to moving quickly and learning to get up quickly if we fell or were hit down. We weren’t going to be doing much playing of football or winning any games if we were going to be taking our time just getting back up.

I obviously don’t know what it’s like being a professional football player, but as a teenage boy, I know we needed those reminders of being on time and that training to keep us quick and working hard. As young boys, we thought we could do anything. We thought we were quicker and stronger and smarter than we really were. The coaches had to help us realize what we really needed.

The Easter account that we hear this year is from Matthew. The thing that stuck out to me about this account is the urgency that we see throughout. First we hear about the two Marys coming to the tomb “as the first day of the week was dawning”. Remember, Jesus was put into the tomb late Friday afternoon. The Jewish Sabbath starts at sundown on Friday and goes until sundown on Saturday, which means no work on that day. So they really couldn’t do much for Jesus’ burial until Sunday morning. So these women came the first chance they had at dawn. Then the earthquake happens and the angel appears. But you can see there is no time for small talk with this guy. “Do not be afraid” they are told. After being shown that Jesus is not there and being invited to see the burial cloths, the angle gives more instructions. “Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.’” These two women have just been given the biggest shock of their lives and they don’t even have to time stand in wonder at the fact that the tomb is empty. Then we are told they quickly go, “fearful yet overjoyed”, when the run into Jesus himself. They pay him homage and He tells them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” Again, no time for small talk, barely even a greeting and they are already being told, go and tell my disciples what has happened. Jesus doesn’t use the word “quickly” there, but you can still sense the urgency: there is no time to loose; Go!
The reason for this urgency should not come as a surprise to anyone. The word needs to get out! Jesus Christ has risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia! In my own weird sense of humor, I like to picture that on that first Easter Sunday morning, Jesus rose, stretched His arms, looked at the angel sitting there and said, “Alright. Now it’s time to get some work done around here!” He started by sending this message via those two women: meet me in Galilee. It is there that He tells them even more. “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Much like a good coach or a good leader is going to light a fire under his staff or players to get them to work hard and be on time, so also Jesus is getting his Apostles into top gear. We too are being sent forth with this great Easter celebration. There is no time to loose, let us tell the world of our Savior.

Good Friday

My Good Friday Homily.  Like Palm Sunday, I tried to keep it simple while giving time for personal reflection.

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041814.cfm

          Last Sunday, I asked you to take something with you from the reading of the Passion so that you could reflect on it throughout Holy Week.  I encourage you to continue doing that. 

          Today we hear from the Passion according to St. John, which is the most unique of the four Gospels.  This Passion account also contains themes and sayings that we hear nowhere else.   A part that always gets my attention is when Jesus and Pilate have a philosophical discussion on the meaning of truth.  “Jesus answered, ‘You say I am a king.  For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’  Pilate said to him, ‘What is truth?’” 

This truth that Jesus is talking about is absolute truth.  The idea of an absolute truth that is true for everyone can seem very strange and foreign to a society like our own that is becoming increasingly relativistic.  “Well, that might be true for you, but not for me.  That’s what you believe, but not me.”  This truth is about the love that God has for us; a love so great that He gave up His only begotten Son that we might be saved.   May we be able to express our belief in this truth as we observe this day of our Salvation.

Holy Thurday: Mass of the Lord's Supper

Here is my Holy Thursday Homily.  If you would like to see the commercial that I refer to, click the following link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flThllGVZEw

Readings:
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041714-evening-mass.cfm

          There's a TV commercial that you may have seen, unless of course you are one of those lucky people who have successfully disconnected yourself from watching any television.  This commercial talks about various companies and inventions and other innovations that all started out in garages.  As they list these they show various pictures and videos of garages.  I don't know enough about the history of these various innovations to know whether they are the actual garages where these events took place, but the images help set the tone of what they are trying to get at. 

          It starts out with a man's voice saying “The Write Brothers started in a garage”.  And they show a large garage with a windsock and an empty field.  The voice continues that “Amazon started in a garage” and we see a garage attached to a nice suburban home with a basketball hoop.  The voice continues to list how Hewlett-Packard, Disney, Mattel, and the musical group The Ramones all started in garages.  Their point, they explain, is that “You never know what kind of greatness can come out of an American garage”.  As the voice over says this, a brand new Cadillac pulls out of a rather futuristic looking garage.  Not only does the commercial try to play off of the viewers' patriotism by mentioning “America”, but they try to entice people to buy a Cadillac by suggesting that they too can share in greatness because this car came from a garage as well. 

          Whether or not you like Cadillac or agree with what they are saying in their commercial, the company is trying to play off a popular idea that small and humble beginnings can result in huge success.  This seems especially popular in this country as the media loves to talk about people who have a “Cinderella Story” or about people who go from rags to riches seemingly overnight.  It might not always turn out that way, but there are certainly plenty of examples of people or groups starting out small and growing into something big.

          Every year, in the evening of Holy Thursday, the Church celebrates the Mass of the Lord's Supper, commemorating the night of the Last Supper.  I had an opportunity a couple years ago to take a trip to the Holy Land.  One day the group I traveled with visited the “Upper Room” where this Last Supper took place.  Many artists have tried to depict this event.  Many of them, including the famous work by Leonardo da Vinci, make it appear as though this took place is a rather large room with beautiful view of the countryside in the background.  In reality the Upper Room is larger than a typical dinning room, but it isn't quite as spacious as Renaissance painters would have us believe.  If you do a search on the Internet for “the Upper Room in Jerusalem”, you can see what it looks like.  In my opinion, the look is not all that impressive.  Several Christian and Islamic groups had control the space at different times in history, so now it has an odd mix of different types of pillars and arches and architectural styles.  The color in the room is mainly gray, white, and brown except for a couple of blue and yellow stain-glass windows that are left over from when it was a mosque.  The room itself is nothing fancy to look at.  It's what happened in there that is really amazing. 

          Today, the Church encourages us to focus on three things about this day: The institution of the Eucharist; the institution of the Priesthood; and the call by Christ to brotherly love.  We remember that first point every time we come to Mass and the priest says aloud the words of Christ, “This is my Body … This is my Blood.”  Today the priesthood and call to brotherly love are added, making this truly a solemn day of celebration.  We remember how it all started from a simple room is the middle of the old city of Jerusalem.

          In looking deeper at the Institution of the Priesthood, we can consider it in a couple of different ways.  On one hand we can look at the starting of the Ministerial Priesthood.  Christ tells the Twelve Apostles to “Do this in memory of me”, commanding them to continue celebrating this most Holy Eucharist as a memorial of how He died for all of us.  So He establishes the Eucharist and the Priesthood to celebrate this sacrament on the same night.  On the other hand we can look at the starting to the priesthood of the baptized.  In a few minutes from now I will wash the feet of six individuals; just as Christ washed His Apostles' feet.  Christ said, “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”  This was not directed only to the Apostles but to all of us.  We are to show an example of love by serving each other.  So a priesthood of all believers is established to continue Christ's work of showing God's love to the world. 

          No matter how you want to look at it, however, Christ established the Eucharist, the Priesthood, and the call to love and serve on the same night for a very good reason: all three work together.  There is no Eucharist without the Priesthood.  One could also add that there can be no Priesthood without love and a willingness to serve.  The Eucharist is about love; the love Christ has for us and as we receive the Eucharist from the priest, we learn to love. 

          The Eucharist, the Priesthood, and our call to love are some of greatest things about our Faith.  They weren't started is some dingy garage like an expensive car or a billion dollar company.  But they did all start is a single room in Palestine.  And they are still helping us to grow in holiness.  Let us not forget that we are truly called to love and serve for Christ.