Third Sunday of Easter_C - How Do I Love You - Let Me Count the Ways_042822

              Image Credit:  2.bp.blogspot.com/jesus-peter-reconciliation1.jpg

 

Deacon Tom Writes,

“How Do I Love You? Let Me Count the Ways”

 

Third Sunday of Easter, Year C

 

It takes real courage to admit our mistakes. It takes more courage to move forward and not be paralyzed or held back by them.   

Life after Jesus.

After the death of Jesus, Peter appears to have gone back to fishing. Perhaps he was trying to forget those last days: Jesus’ brutal death, his own cowardly denial of his friendship with Jesus, his inability to comprehend Jesus’ mysterious presence in the midst of his disciples. It was just too much for Peter to grasp.  

It’s understandable that Peter and the others would return to the life they knew, retreating to a place where it was safe. They picked up where they left off before Jesus called them. They put their energy back into rebuilding their businesses. 

But few people could have put that kind of experience behind them and picked up where they left off.  Having a personal experience with Jesus leaves a person changed forever—then, and now. There is no going back. The Apostles’ return to the safety of “normal” was very short lived. 

The issue was bigger than Peter’s physical and emotional encounter with Jesus. It was a mater of Peter coming to terms with himself, with his own failures and shortcomings, with his own fears and doubts. The Gospel today gives us a privileged view into Peter’s soul-searching and honest self-reflection that led to his confessing his love for Jesus. 

Only after this spiritual awakening could Peter forgive himself for his failures and weaknesses, and, most importantly, accept them for what they are: human shortcomings.  

Once he came to grips with his inner demons, he was ready to move forward. He was able to accept Christ’s forgiveness, to forgive himself, and to embrace the work that Jesus gave him to do, “Feed my sheep.” 

Peter embraced this new mission with a renewed enthusiasm fueled by the power of the Holy Spirit. He was then willing and able to lead the Apostles on their mission to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations…” (Mt. 28.19-20).  

He did this at great risk to himself, as we see in the first reading (Acts 5:27-32) as the Apostles challenged the Sanhedrin, the Jewish authorities of the day, ordered them to “stop teaching in that name.”  Peter did not “stop teaching.” From that point on, Peter proclaimed the Gospel. He didn’t repeat his earlier denial and mistakes. His humanness and mistakes gave him the opportunity for reflection, to come to terms with his values and mission, and to go forward, renewed.

There’s a little Peter in each of us. 

Like Peter, many of us have had our ups and downs in our relationship with Jesus. We’ve had our share of doubts and fears. We’ve often disappointed Jesus—and ourselves—by our sinful behavior, our bad choices, by “what we have done and by what we have failed to do.” Over time these actions become like a wedge and sever our relationship with Our Lord and a heavy burden of guilt to ourselves. 

But today’s gospel gives us all hope that we can never be far from God’s abundant mercy and forgiveness. As with Peter, Jesus will always come looking for us. He will nourish us physically and spiritually, and he will bring us his healing presence and compassion so that we can begin again, renewed and restored. 

Then, it’s up to us to forgive ourselves knowing God has already extended his infinite grace and mercy to us.  We can then take up the mantle and begin again. 

Easter is the time God renews the whole world. Renewal is what we need most now to give us strength to be like Peter and do our part to “feed my sheep.”  This is especially important given the present state of our world. Let us embrace Our Risen Savior’s love and forgiveness and be strengthened and renewed so that we may experience the newness of life brought about through Christ’s suffering and death and subsequent rebirth.

 

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom 

 

Recommended Reading:

Everything Belongs by Fr. Richard Rohr, O.F.M. is the founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation who teaches primarily on incarnational mysticism, nondual consciousness, and contemplation, with a particular emphasis on how these affect the social justice issues of our time.

 

Recommended Podcast: Catholic Bytes Podcast is a short, dynamic podcast delivering talks on various topics about the Catholic faith for people on the go.

Second Sunday of Easter - Divine Mercy Sunday_C - Peace Be With You_042422

Deacon Tom Writes

“Peace Be with You!”

Second Sunday of Easter (or Sunday of Divine Mercy), Year C

The Octave of Easter.

Today we’re celebrating Divine Mercy Sunday, the last day of the “Octave of Easter.”

The Octave of Easter is the eight days following Easter, starting with Easter Sunday, Jesus’ triumphant victory over death. 

Although retailers make us think Christmas is the Church’s most important time, Easter is actually “The Big One”—the most important celebration of the liturgical year. This is when Jesus rose from the dead after redeeming us with his Good Friday sacrifice on the Cross. 

He is Risen. 

Divine Mercy Sunday brings the Easter Octave to a close. It’s a celebration of God’s unconditional and constant love for us, a day that honors God’s Divine Mercy. It is thorough God’s Mercy we receive everlasting life something we in no way deserve.

Today, we celebrate with wholehearted joy.

Our readings today show Jesus’ Apostles during the early days of the Church. The Apostles weren’t looking to establish a new religion to rival their own Jewish faith. They had no plans to create a new, competitive spiritual organization. They only wanted to spread the story that Jesus was the fulfillment of all the Prophets  and keep Jesus’ ministry alive. 

To this end, they were very successful, “…the people esteemed them,” as they, like Jesus before them, healed the sick and created miracles among their fellow Jews. 

The Apostles shared the powers that they received from the Holy Spirit. 

“On the evening of that first day of the week…” they left the locked room they had fled to after Jesus’ death. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and fearlessly began to proclaim the Gospel, the Good News, the Evangelion, that God’s reign had begun. 

The people were eager to hear that message, for not only were “…great numbers of men and woman were added to them,” but through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, “…the sick and those disturbed by unclean spirits … were all cured.”  

We've benefited from God's mercy in our lives.

On Divine Mercy Sunday, we reflect on the ways God shows us his mercy and compassion every day. How does God’s mercy touch our lives?

Jesus greeted his Apostles, “Peace be with you.” We use that same greeting to others—many who are desperate for God’s peace, a peace the world cannot give. 

Christians—especially after a successful Lenten reflection and joyful Easter season—should be filled with Christ’s gentle spirit and humble heart. Our spiritual gas tanks are full. We’re ready to take that inner peace we have received and bring it to our families, friends, and neighbors like the Apostles did after encountering the Holy Spirit. Perhaps we may even attempt to lay aside our differences and hostility toward those who have hurt us in the past. This can be a good challenge for us to undertake in these post-Easter days.

Sadly, today we’re witnesses to many horrific tragedies taking place in the world, both locally and globally. We see refugees fleeing Ukraine, people suffering from the past two years of pandemic. We see a growing world of indifference to the needs and suffering of others and we may experience a sense of helplessness. But the Easter message is that we can’t yield to those feelings of hopelessness. So, 

Let’s look for little ways to bring God’s peace into the lives of everyone around us. 

We are summoned to be instruments of Christ’s peace because we have experienced God’s love and mercy in so many ways. This is what gives us the power to help lighten the burden of people whose suffering is unimaginable—to defeat evil with light. 

No one can save the world (except God) but having gratitude for his mercy reminds us we can “pay it forward” and be the tool God uses to show mercy to his people—even if we do just one small thing.

We are the One Body of Christ... and we need to act as the One Body of Christ, in our effort to bring God’s Love, Mercy and Compassion to all. 

That is our mission for this Divine Mercy Sunday and all the days to come. 

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom 

Recommended Reading:

“Living Justice” by Fr. Thomas Massaro, S.J., He is professor of moral theology at Fordham University. His books and articles are devoted to Catholic social teaching and its recommendations for public policies oriented to social justice, peace, worker rights, and poverty alleviation.

Podcast Recommendation: 

Busted Halo Podcast with Fr. Dave Dwyer, C.S.P. is a unique media resource that utilizes a relevant and accessible voice to help people understand the Catholic faith, put it into practice in their everyday lives, and share it with others.

Easter Sunday Vigil_C - Nonesense_041722

                                                       

                                   Image Credit: empty tomb_1574218-LDS_org gallery.jpg

Deacon Tom Writes,
“Nonsense”

Easter Sunday, The Resurrection of the Lord , The Mass of Easter Day, Year C

Do you believe?

For many people the story of that first Easter morning is sheer nonsense. Even the Apostles didn’t believe the woman who said she saw Jesus. 

 

The passage of time hasn’t made believing any easier. Today’s age of cynicism and the challenges of living in a materialistic society are giant obstacles to having faith in anything today, let alone believing someone rose from the dead. 

 

Let’s face it—we all have a little bit of “doubting Thomas” in us—the Thomas who wouldn’t believe it was Jesus until he put his hands into the wounds where the nails had been. 

 

Thomas was lucky; he was able to see with his own eyes. We can’t. We fall into that “blessed” category Jesus mentioned when he said, “Blessed are they who have not seen and have believed.”   

 

What’s your faith level?

 

Many people today have abandoned their faith completely. Others—"casual worshipers”—have faith when it’s convenient. To have real faith requires long-term commitment. As Roman Catholics, we celebrate the true essence of our faith today when we say, “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.”
 

This belief, and our faith in it, is a gift that lies outside the scope of the rational imagination. Without faith, we cannot say this statement. 

 

Too often people challenge faith as irrational. “That’s not true.” “Where’s the science?” “Prove it.”  

 

I might not be able to snap my fingers and produce choirs of angels, but I can look back at scientists, inventors, mathematicians, and other world changers and see how their faith brought us game-changing advancements, and then ask myself, “If these ‘implausible’ things turned out to be real, then “Why not God?”

 

These people had ideas that seemed insane to others but turned out to be true. They believed...they had faith in themselves and their ideas while others failed to do so. Here are a few:  

 

• Fr. Gregoire Mendel—a monk who crossbred pea plants. He’s considered the father of modern genetics. 
• Thomas Edison’s lightbulb now lights the world. 
• Sir Isaac Newton’s study of optics and gravity. His four laws are the foundation of physics today.
• Leonardo Da Vinci drew a scuba suit and airplane years before either was invented.
• Nicolaus Copernicus argued that the Earth revolved around the sun instead of the opposite—getting him into big trouble with the Pope at the time. 

 

The list is too long to continue. There’s Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, the invention of antibiotics, the internet, and let’s not forget Elon “I’m going to shoot my car into space” Musk. 

 

The world is now better because these advanced thinkers had faith in their ideas, often at great personal risk to themselves and/or their reputations. 

 

They did the advanced math and science to bring their discoveries to light, but some would argue the hardest part was having faith in the foundation of their ideas when it meant standing up to peers, the community, and even the Pope himself. 

 

We’re lucky today--our journey to deeper faith can be a gradual one. It’s a lifelong journey where we grow a little at a time, at a snail’s crawl, perhaps; yet, we mature in our faith at a pace we can sustain.

 

That doesn’t mean it’s easy. There are times when we, like Thomas, are called to make a stand—to believe or not believe. If that seems challenging, take some inspiration from the great scientists and thinkers. To them, the line between faith and science was simply the determination to keep on the path and put in the hard work. 

 

Our Lenten journey together has built up to this—our knowledge that the Resurrection of Jesus is real, and that we, who believe in Jesus, and have faith in this miracle, will also rise from the dead. It seems too good to be true.

 

The task we now face is for us to continue to move forward in the afterglow of this Easter Mystery by letting Jesus remain a part our lives in our prayerful spirits, generous hearts, and charitable words and deeds. The more we practice these behaviors daily, the more our faith develops. Our skepticism and disbelief peels away, and Jesus becomes even more real to us and perhaps even to others. 

 

When Jesus is a part of our daily lives, when our relationship with him is a real as it is with a best friend, when we know that He lives, that’s when we experience today’s remarkable story for real. 

 

That’s when faith becomes tangible. Just as the great scientists and philosophers knew their ideas were real, our faith gives us joy knowing with absolute certainty that Jesus is resurrected. He is “not to be found among the dead.” 

 

And, although it sounds like nonsense, for those who believe, death will not have the last word, for we were all created to live in the kingdom where Jesus, resurrected from the dead, will reign forever. 

 

 

Happy Easter!

Deacon Tom 

Recommended Reading:

"Life of the Beloved" by Henri Nouwen. Henri Nouwen was a spiritual thinker and writer who wrote about the life of Jesus and the love of God in ways that have inspired countless people to trust God more fully.

Recommended Podcast:  

Fr. Mike Schmitz: Bible in a Year Podcast. Join in any time of year to begin to discover the spiritual treasures contained in Sacred Scripture. “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ” in the words of St. Jerome. 

Palm Sunday_C - For Crying Out Loud_041022

Deacon Tom Writes,

“For Crying Out Loud”

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, Year C

The tide of public opinion can change in an instant. But what is the “tide of public opinion” and more importantly what does it mean?

In today’s Palm Sunday readings leading into the Holy Week readings, we’ll see an example we can apply directly to our lives. Today, we see people welcoming Jesus back to Jerusalem like a hero. But, in a short time, that crowd will suddenly turn against him in the face of social pressure. This includes many of the people who welcomed him back as well as some in his inner circle.

Why the sudden change?

This is something we can better understand by looking at the world around us and seeing today’s rage and cancel culture. We see stories go viral. The court of public opinion acts as judge, jury, and executioner. If we’re being honest with ourselves, we’ve probably shared some of those stories and thrown a stone or two in the comments.

The tide of public opinion is often nothing more than the collective mindset of the crowd gathering at the moment.

On Palm Sunday, the crowd gathered to welcome Jesus and to sing his praises. They celebrated a man with a reputation for speaking kind words, healing, inspiring, and even challenging religious leaders. Jesus was the original “People’s Champion.” Word of his works spread throughout the land—he was the go-to man for a miracle, an advocate for the poor and disheartened. To some he was a prophet, to others he was the Messiah. But to the religious authorities—he was a large and growing problem.

A spirit of hope filled the air when people heard rumors Jesus was back in town for Passover. They showed up to greet him, waving their palm branches and raising a chorus of “Hosanna.” Many recognized the presence of God in their midst.

Not everyone was happy. The people’s allegiance to Jesus was a direct challenge the Pharisees—the Jewish leaders of the day. The Pharisees told Jesus to, “Rebuke your disciples.” The public attention was eroding their authority.

Jesus didn’t rebuke his disciples. He corrected them, “If they were to keep quiet, I tell you, the very stones would cry out.” (Lk 19:40)

This is the key moment.

If Jesus gave in, the publicity would’ve died out. Jesus may have had a nice Passover dinner with his friends, and everyone would have gone about their business.

Instead, Jesus challenged the Pharisees. They made a plan to get rid of him using public opinion—and one of his closest friends.

If you’ve ever seen a negative news story or post that should have died down but didn’t because someone spread, commented, and instigated—maybe misquoting people, bringing others into the drama, or pre-judging a situation, or even using outright lies—you know exactly what’s happening here.

The Pharisees pulled the strings and convinced the Romans to get involved. Up until that time, the Romans didn’t have a problem with Jesus. Jesus didn’t challenge their rule. He even told people to pay their taxes, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.” That’s not a man Pilate needed to arrest.

Remember (we’ll see this during Holy Week) that Pilate didn’t want to sentence Jesus to death. It was the Pharisees who stirred up the crowd until the Romans were afraid the mob would cause bigger problems.

What a difference a few days can make.

As Jesus stood before Pilate several days later, the Pharisees fueled the crowd to advance their agenda – to get rid Jesus and maintain their power.

The finger pointing, the false accusations, the skillful manipulation of the crowd led to Jesus being condemned to death. Many in that crowd were the same people welcoming Jesus on Palm Sunday.

I ask myself, which crowd would I have been in?

Would I have been in the Palm Sunday crowd welcoming Jesus back? More importantly, would I have believed the Pharisees and joined in their opposition to Jesus with the rest of the Good Friday crowd, too?

This is not an easy question to answer honestly. It’s exactly what happens today. Sometimes we experience a subtle manipulation. Other times it’s a well-meaning social media share. Occasionally, we’re too busy to look at the whole story, or we’re indignant about something, and we make the wrong call. We feed into the crowd mentality. I like to think I would have made the right choice, but...I wonder!

We need to protect against this. We need to learn to see God’s presence in our lives at all times and remain vigilant against the hive mindset.

Our readings today let us see Jesus as the people saw him. For believers Jesus is the “Way, the truth, and the life.” For those in power, Jesus was a problem—an obstacle to living a self-centered life, a life where they didn’t need to think about the common good. They only needed to think about themselves.

Today, we can use these lessons and reflections to remember we are part of the common good, an essential part of the “Mystical Body of Christ.” Every action we take—no matter how big or small—gets us closer or farther from our goal of supporting the common good and sharing the love of Christ to all who cross our path.

Think about this: Many of the people in the crowd on Good Friday were also there to greet Jesus on Palm Sunday.

They were good people caught up in the moment.

Today, we have a chance to imagine what we would have done if we were present at these two remarkably polarizing events. Better yet, we can look into our lives and see what crowds we side with today. Being champions of the poor, the alienated, the marginalized and the abused is the best way to let our Palm Sunday hosannas rise above the crowd around us. Being always aware of “the crowd” keeps us protected from being part of the Good Friday crowd.


Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom

Recommended Reading: Jesus Before Christianity. In this book Dominican Father Albert Nolan presents an account of Jesus' radical involvement in the struggle for full humanity in the context of first-century Judea: he "challenged the rich to identify in solidarity with the poor, a spirituality of solidarity that resonated with white Catholics seeking a new, progressive direction".

Recommended Podcast: Five Minutes with Joan Chittister.  Sr. Joan Chittister is one of the most influential religious and social leaders of our time. For fifty years she has passionately advocated on behalf of peace, human rights, women’s issues, and church renewal.