Most Holy Trinity

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061514.cfm

          In preparing for this homily, I took some time to consider the reflection that we find on the front cover of our bulletin this weekend.  The reflection is by an author and theologian named Mary Katharine Deeley.  In short, she talks about how we have many different ways in which we try to explain how God can be three persons in one God.  We can try to use images of three-leaf clovers or a loving family as ways to explain it, but words can only explain things so far before they reach their limits.  “God simply is”, she tells us, and we can only truly begin to understand that when we finally enter into relationship with God.

          Think of this relationship with God like coming to know a friend better.  Or perhaps moving to a new neighborhood or a new town and meeting the new neighbors.  There is also the old phrase, “know thy enemies”.   There is a story about St. Pope John Paul II that when he was at the conclave in Rome that would eventually elect him as Pope, he brought along the writings of Karl Marx to read during breaks in the conclave.  He later told a friend, “if you want to understand the enemy, you have to know what he has written.”   He knew that whether he would be elected Pope or whether he would continue to be the Archbishop of Krakow in Poland, he would be fighting the communists.  If it's important to know our enemies and their thoughts and writings, how much more would it be to know the one who created us, redeemed us, and sanctified us? 

          The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity is really a celebration of relationships:  It is about the relationship between the three people of the Trinity, but also about our relationship with Him.  So we want to know more about the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and why is it that we can say that each of those persons is entirely God and yet why we never say that the Father is the Son or the Son is the Spirit or the Spirit is the Father.  But, as I have been saying, we need to work on our own relationship with Him, before we can hope to understand all of that.  It means allowing God to come into our lives.  This isn't so that God can know us better, He already knows all there is to know, it's about allowing God in without trying to fight it; it's about allowing God to guide us in our lives and we actually listening and trying our best to respond.

          Each of the readings today speak about our relationship with God.  In the first reading from Exodus, Moses is on Mt. Sinai with God to receive a second copy of the tablets with the Ten Commandments on them.  This is after Moses had receive the tablets before, but broke them at the base of the mountain (picture Charlton Heston in the robes and big gray beard).  Now he has to get them again.  God comes down in a cloud and speaks His name to Moses.  Please note: God doesn't do these things all that often; this coming to someone on a mountain and telling people His name.  This is a significant event.  God says, “The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.”  Notice that these words are relational.  He is merciful and gracious to us.  The Old Testament can sometimes appear to make God seem like an angry and vengeful God, but when you study it closer we can see that He give everyone multiple chances and is really kind rather than angry.

          In St. Paul Second Letter to the Corinthians, we hear the very familiar greeting, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you”. Again this is all about relationships.

         Finally, the Gospel of John has a very famous line that we see at many sporting events, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life” John 3:16. This is not about sports, but about our relationship with God. He does this not to condemn (as we might suppose at times) but to save us and bring us to Heaven. 

         So do not be afraid, brothers and sisters of whether we know all there is to know about God or not. That is all a part of the mystery, not a mystery that we can never know, but one that we will slowly but surely come to know better. We will know it by being with Him. Let us continue in that relationship.

Pentecost Sunday

Here is my Homily for Pentecost.  The link below leads to the readings for both  the Vigil Mass and the Sunday Mass.  As you'll see, I reference the first reading for both.  I hope your Easter Season was a blessed one and that your Ordinary time will be holy as well.

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060814.cfm

          A person doesn’t have to have a degree in linguistics to know that understanding a language is important for communicating.  If you have ever traveled overseas, you quickly learn the importance of knowing the language of the people.  Even if you travel to someplace that speaks English, it can be a unique experience learning the local dialect.  Canadians might talk to you about having a good “batt’ry” in you car for winter driving and will remind you to wear a hat that is often called a “toque” (pronounced TOOK) when going outside.  In Great Brittan, if you’re brave enough to rent a car over there, you put your luggage in the “boot” in the rear of the car and to check your oil you would need to look under the “bonnet” in the front.  After being completely frustrated about how they drive over there you might want to go back to your hotel, or you might be renting a “flat” or a “bungalow”,  and just sit back a watch the “telly” for a bit while munching on some fish and “chips”.  As you can probably tell, I enjoy learning about different regional terms for the same object. 

          It gets all the more interesting of course when you get into countries that use a very different language altogether.  Last spring I went on a pilgrimage to Bosnia and Herzegovina.  I was with an English speaking guide, and many of the locals spoke at least some English, but that didn’t mean it was always smooth sailing.  I found that I often needed to be patient until I could figure out what to do next.  There were also a lot of Italians there spending some vacation time.  They would buy various religious articles (rosaries, holy cards, medals, etc.) and would look for a priest to bless them.  I would often be walking around in my black clerical garb and a group of Italians would approach me, talking to me in their native language.  I would of course be left looking at them with a bewildered look on my face.  Eventually, they would show me their religious items and would say something like “benedicio” which reminded me of “benediction” or blessing.  I would then bless their objects.  It always amazes me how we can still learn to communicate, even with a language barrier. 

          Today's Feast of Pentecost draws our focus on understanding what God is saying to us.  In this case, it isn't about knowing the right language, because God speaks all languages.  This is about realizing that God is speaking to us, and allowing the grace of God to help us hear what is being spoken.  That grace is what we receive through the Holy Spirit. 

          There are many readings throughout Sacred Scripture that talk about the Spirit and the gifts that we receive from Him, but I've found that there are just two readings that really help illustrate our relationship with God.  One is from the Old Testament; the other is from the New Testament. 

          The Old Testament reading I'm referring to is the story of the Tower of Babel as found in the Book of Genesis.  On the surface, this looks to be a neat little story that is meant to help explain why there are so many different languages in the world today.  When we start examining the story a little deeper, however, we can see that it is symbolic of humanity's relationship with God.  The people of the story decide to build a great tower towards the sky to make a name for themselves.  In other words, they wish to make themselves equal to God.    Their plan is rooted in their own self-pride: they think of themselves as so powerful and strong that they will be able to build this monstrosity all on their own.  God responds by “confusing their language” as is said in the scripture passage.  He does this, not because He is a God who likes to spoil all the fun of mere mortals on Earth, but because He wishes to teach them humility. 

          When we look at the relationship between God and humans we see many similarities with this scripture.  When sin entered into Adam and Eve, they no longer were satisfied with being God's most beloved creation, but decided to focus on doing their own thing.  Even today, when any of us sin, we are essentially making ourselves into gods, trying to do our own thing and making a name for ourselves.  God has very little choice but to teach us humility, so that we can learn that we can't do it all on our own, but that we need God's help.

          The New Testament reading that pairs up with Babel is the story of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles.  This story is steeped in symbolism as well.  Notice that the faithful are gathered together in one room, they are humbled, praying and asking for God's help rather than being boastful like the people of Babel.  Suddenly there is a noise like a driving the wind that fills the house.  Whenever we hear the words “wind” or “breath” in Scripture, we should think of the Holy Spirit, because wind, breath, and spirit are all the same word in Hebrew and are symbolic of each other in the Bible.  Tongues of flame appear above them and they are filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in many different languages.  In case we are tempted to think that they are only babbling or talking in gibberish, we are told that many people from all over the Roman Empire were there and are amazed that they can understand what is being spoken.  Make no mistake, we are meant to read this and realize that this is a reversal of the punishment of Babel.  Earlier, many people are scattered by many languages.  Now many languages come together as many people come to realize the mighty power of God.

          This is symbolic of us as well.  We have received the Holy Spirit in Baptism and Confirmation.  It is only through the Holy Spirit that we can finally understand what God has been trying to tell all of humanity from the beginning of time:  trust in me; I will guide to paradise. 

          We might not always understand what God is doing or saying to us.  Sin does that to us.  But the Holy Spirit helps us get past that and understand what He wants us to do.  We will finally get that message, and it is a message of love.

Feast of the Ascension of the Lord

 http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/060114-ascension.cfm

I have a love for various authors, but one of my favorites is J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien was a devout Catholic and took his faith seriously. While some would argue that Tolkien did not include much of his theology into his written works, certain images make it seem quite obvious that his writing was certainly influenced by his faith. Near the beginning of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien gives a beautiful description of a vision that one of the main characters has as he begins a perilous journey. This same description is given at the end of the book as that same character sails off into to another land. In the movie adaptation from a few years ago, the director took this description and inserted it in another place all together in the movie. Now, I usually hate it when a movie director changes a story like that, but here I think he actually helps show what Tolkien was originally trying to show.

The movie scene takes place in the third installment called, The Return of the King. Just before a major climax of the movie, it looks as if a city is about to be overtaken by the “bad guys” if you will. Only a few soldiers are left to defend the last stronghold of the city. Among them are the wise old wizard, Gandalf and another character named Pippin. As they hear the enemy attempting to beat down the wooden gate that separates them from a most certain death, Pippin looks up at Gandalf and says, “I didn’t think it would end this way”. Gandalf looks at him with surprise. “End? No the journey doesn’t end here”, he says. “Death is just another path; one that we all must take. The grey rain curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass. And then you see it: white shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.” Pippin, who had look terrified before appears to have hope rush over him. “Well,” he says, “That isn’t so bad”. “No, no it isn’t” Gandalf replies. Just then, the loud pounding of the door reminds them of the danger that awaits them. With a new found hope and courage, Pippin tightly grasps his sword and he and Gandalf prepare for whatever awaits them.

In both the versions in the book and in the movie, this description is not meant to be of a mythical land like the mythical lands described in the rest of Tolkien’s books. I am certain that Tolkien meant his readers to think of Heaven. He wanted us to think of the hope of going there and the eternal joy that comes with being there. When you think about it, this is a rather counter cultural idea. I’m not sure what the culture was like in the 1950’s when Tolkien was writing, but today we live in a society that says “You only live once”. Even on the Internet, the acronym of “YOLO” is used to talk about living life to the fullest. While it is true that we do only live once, (Christians don’t believe in reincarnation) the phrase seems to skip the fact that we still have an eternal life to live after we die. The implication is that this life on earth is it, that there is no life after death and that our one life is our one chance for happiness. We as Christians believe, however, that death is not the end. As Gandalf says, “The journey doesn't end here”.

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord, the day that Jesus Christ entered into Heaven, body and soul. One way to look at this feast day is to say that it is the end of Christ's time on earth. One might even say that this marks the start of a time of Christ's absence from the earth or even an absence from our lives. We may fear that because we don't live in the time when Christ was on the earth that we are not as connected with God as the people of Christ's time were. The Feast of the Ascension, however, doesn't mark the absence of Christ or the end of Christ taking care of us, any more than death marks the end of the eternal life of our souls. Rather, the Ascension marks the beginning of a new and much closer relationship between God and all of humanity.

So why is the Ascension so significant for our relationship with God? Well, the Ascension is Christ's entry into Heaven as I said. When any one of us enters into Heaven, as we all know, our own frail bodies are left behind and it is our souls that are taken up by God. When Christ enters into Heaven, however, He enters in body and soul. Let's consider this for a moment. Everyone else is present in Heaven in spirit alone, but Christ is the first to enter into Heaven with His body and spirit. Even more significant is the fact that His is the first human body in Heaven. Our bodies are less than perfect due to the effects of sin and so cannot enter into Heaven as they are, but Christ's body is perfect and so can enter. He is the first human to bring the human body into the deepest and most intimate relationship that any human can have with God. What all this means is that we, as brothers and sisters of Christ, get to share in this intimate relationship as well.

The readings for this feast day help illustrate this deeper relationship with the Triune God. In the Acts of the Apostles we hear an account of the Ascension. Christ's last instruction before He ascends is for the disciples to prepare for the coming of the Holy Spirit. He adds that power will be given to them and they will be witnesses to the very ends of the world. Jesus is pointing out, this is not the end or a sorrowful time, but the beginning of something new and wonderful. Even those angelic beings point out that this is not the last we will see of Jesus, but that He will return in the same way: a reference to His Second Coming.

The Gospel of Matthew finishes off our readings by telling us what we are to do in our relationship with God. We are not to sit around, wishing for some sign from God of what to do next. Rather we are to go, baptizing “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. Why? Because that is our call: bringing others closer to God. That is what is meant by the command to go and baptize: to bring others closer to God. Christ has brought us into this awesome relationship with the Father. We have hope for eternal life like we never had before. Let us continue celebrating, bringing others closer to Him. Our life in God has truly just begun.

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.