Homily: Saturday, 7th Week of Easter

Readings: Acts 28:16-20,30-31; Ps 11; Jn 21:20-25

My! Today's readings sure give us a lot on which to reflect, to pray, and to preach; so, I decided just to turn it over to the Holy Spirit and ask for His help.

You see, today’s readings complete the Easter season by presenting us with the final verses of both the Acts of the Apostles and John's Gospel. In a sense they sum up all that’s gone before.

Luke began and ended his Gospel in Jerusalem, and it's in that city, too, where he began his second book, the Acts of the Apostles. In Acts we follow Paul on his journeys through the Greek-speaking world, as he establishes local churches and calls people to Christ while moving inexorably toward his destination, toward Rome – in one sense, the new Jerusalem.

In today's reading we encounter Paul in the final days of his ministry. Imprisoned in Rome, he awaits execution at the hands of Nero, the emperor who will also take the life of Peter. And it's there, in Rome, Luke tells us, that Paul "with complete assurance and without hindrance proclaimed the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ" [Acts 28:31]. Yes, Paul remains the true disciple as he completes his earthly journey of faith.

Our journey of discipleship is much the same – one of discovery, and praise, and wonder, and stumbling, and prophecy fulfilled – a journey filled with a lifetime of experiences, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Like Paul, we, too, sometimes encounter obstacles or outright barriers, or simply head off in the wrong direction, only to be called back by the Holy Spirit. Just like Paul, we need to rest along the way and regain our strength, for discipleship is no easy road. Jesus knows this, for He experienced it too. He knows our weaknesses, all those little pieces of us that crave attention, all that call us away from Him. And so, He comes to us again and again, giving us a taste of that which awaits us.

How did Paul put it to the Jews who visited him in Rome, and to us? We share in the hope of Israel, a hope fulfilled in Jesus’ death and resurrection [See Acts 28:20]. Keep the faith, Paul says, don’t let all the stuff of our lives distract us from the eternal.

Peter, too, learned and preached this. But as John’s Gospel comes to a close, we find Peter just beginning his formation as a disciple. Filled with questions, Peter still awaits the fulness of the Holy Spirit. In his heart Peter knows he’s been given a very special task – “Feed my lambs…feed my sheep” [Jn 21:15,17] – and no doubt he fears all it will bring.

Suspecting Jesus has given him the hardest road to travel, he points to young John, the fair-haired boy, the one whom Jesus loved, and asks, “What about him?” Peter is so devilishly human, isn’t he? He’s so much like you and me, so worried about himself, always comparing himself to others, unaware that God doesn’t compare, that God sees each of us exactly as we are.

Jesus tells Peter this, in effect saying: “Look, Peter, don’t worry about John, or my plans for him. It’s really none of your business. Just do the work I’ve given you.” And to ensure Peter understands, he adds, “You follow me!” [Jn 21:22]

How often are we just like Peter, so caught up in what others are doing that we neglect the work God has given us.

What is God calling you to do – not next week or next month – but what’s His will for you today, right now? Life is a gift, brothers and sisters, and it can end at any moment.  If we take each of those moments that God gives us, and simply follow Him, always doing His will in all those seemingly little things, one moment to the next, He will lead us to the big things.

Even though we’re struggling and broken and torn and sinful, God continues to call us to the work He has for us. He calls us in the moment, in the little things of our lives, in the things He knows we can handle.

This is what Divine Mercy is really all about: it’s about God’s love bringing us back to Him, repeatedly, one tiny piece at a time.

And discipleship? It’s nothing complicated, just a total offering of self, an offering of all those pieces, an offering that God willingly accepts. Through His love, His mercy, and the working of the Holy Spirit, He makes us whole again so we can do our part to complete Christ’s mission on earth.

Yes, indeed, we tend to complicate things, but Jesus keeps it simple: Just follow me!

Homily: Monday, 7th Week of Easter (Year 1)

Readings: Acts 19:1-8; Ps 68; Jn 16:29-33

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Did you happen to catch those words proclaimed in our first reading?

“…the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied” [Acts 19:6].

The Holy Spirit really likes to surprise us, doesn’t He? He takes our so very human, super-rational view of the world and overwhelms it with the supernatural. He wants us to realize that there’s far more to creation than the material world that surrounds us.

In the Talmud, the rabbis tell us it’s well we can’t see the spiritual world, for we would be overwhelmed by the presence of countless angels and demons, surrounding us, fighting for our souls. Interestingly, St. Thomas Aquinas seems to agree with them.

Yes, indeed, there’s far more to God’s creation than what we see with our eyes. And the Holy Spirit occasionally gives us glimpses into that reality. 

But He always gives us a choice, the same choice Jesus gave those who witnessed the miraculous “signs” of His divinity. We can either assume it’s all an illusion, perhaps some clever trick and just walk away…or we can realize we have witnessed and been blessed by the Presence of God Himself.

Just as Jesus performed the miraculous, all those signs, to give people a reason to listen to His Word, so too, did the Spirit give these new Corinthian Christians the supernatural gifts of tongues and prophecy. The people, having witnessed these manifestations of God’s presence, would then listen to Paul as he preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the city’s synagogues.

Do you think all that speaking in tongues and prophesying are hard to accept? If so, you’re in good company. Many early Chirstians felt the same. 

Indeed, a few chapters earlier, back in Acts 10 some Gentiles began to speak in tongues and glorify God, and Peter decided that was reason enough to baptize them. But when some of his fellow Chirstians questioned thuis, Peter said:

“Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit even as we have?” [Acts 10:47]

Today, perhaps more than any other gift, we need the gift of prophecy in the midst of the Church, the Word of God proclaimed in truth. Of course, the question is: would we listen? Sadly, in our weakness too often we ignore or even distort that truth.

In our Gospel passage the apostles laid it on kind of thick, didn’t they? 

Oh, yes, Jesus, “we believe that you came from God” [Jn 16:30]. They acted as if they finally understood all that Jesus had told them. But, of course, they didn’t, and so, Jesus questioned the depth of their faith. How did He put it?

“…the hour…has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone” [Jn 16:32].

Oh, yes, these men, chosen by Jesus, had such deep faith and understanding that on that very night they deserted Him. The only one Jesus could count on was the Father:

“But I am not alone,” He told them, “because the Father is with me” [Jn 16:32].

For this is the core truth of the Trinity: where Jesus is, so is the Father, and so too is the Holy Spirit.

Because of the disciples’ human weakness, Jesus knew He couldn’t count on them until they’d received the Spirit.

Utlimately, it took our loving God’s greatest gift, the gift of the Holy Spirit, to bring the twelve back to Jesus, and to strengthen them, for they had been sent out “to make disciples of all nations…” [Mt 28:19] and they certainly couldn’t do that on their own.

How about you and me? As we prepare to celebrate the Spirit’s live-giving work at Pentecost, work that brought the Church to life through the minds and hearts of Mary and the disciples…How about us? Do we accept the Spirit and His gifts?

It’s through the work of the Spirit that the Church – and that’s not just the pope and the bishops, that’s you and me… It’s only through the Spirit  that we can accomplish God’s work in the world.

Pray to the Spirit, brothers and sisters. Pray to Him daily. He wants to do wondrous things in your lives. He will surprise you just as He surprised those new Christians in Corinth.

He is the Lord and the giver of life, and at every Mass the celebrant invokes Him to give us new life through the Body and Blood of the Lord. Through that new life we can join Him, helping Him as He does His saving work in the world.

Today Jesus offers us hope, a glimpse of light to overpower the darkness of our world:

We are not alone, He reminds us. God is with us, Jesus is with us, the Spirit is with us…now and forever.

Homily: Monday in the Octave of Easter

Readings: Acts 2:14, 22-33; Ps 16; Mt 28:8-15

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During this special time of the year, our first reading is taken, not from the Old Testament, but from the Acts of the Apostles. The Church does this for a very good reason: Acts begins with Pentecost, that special day when the Church, promised and formed by Jesus, is born. It’s the story of the Church, of the Apostles who began to fulfill Jesus’ great commission:

“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” [Mt 28:10-20].

Make disciples, baptize, teach – it all began through the preaching of the first disciples. Before the Gospel was written, it was preached. And it’s in the Acts of the Apostles, during this season of Easter, that we encounter that early Gospel preached by Peter and Paul. Listen again to Peter as he spread the Good News among the Jewish pilgrims on that first Pentecost: 

“God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses. Exalted at the right hand of God, he poured forth the promise of the Holy Spirit that he received from the Father, as you both see and hear” [Acts 2:32-33].

Peter’s focus is the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – the very foundation of our Christian faith. Yes, God raised Jesus…But in our Gospel passage the two Marys went to the tomb, not to see a Risen Jesus, but to anoint His body. 


They knew He had died. 

They had heard Him take His last breath. 

They had seen the soldier's lance pierce His side. 

They had grieved with His Mother as she cradled her Son's lifeless body in her arms; and they had seen Him placed hurriedly in the tomb.

Oh, yes, they knew He had died. In their grief, a grief of emptiness tinged with fear, they made their way to the tomb of a dead man.

They hadn’t understood Jesus when He spoke of His Resurrection. Faced with the finality of death, their faith and their hope had all but disappeared. Only love remained, and it’s this love for Jesus that carried them along the path to the tomb. But the tomb is empty, and a jumble of emotions filled their hearts: astonishment, confusion, fear.

It’s then they encountered their Risen Lord. The One they sought, the One Who was crucified, the One Who had died before their very eyes, is risen.

In the shock of sudden revelation, they realize that death has not had the last word, but that the Word has overcome death.

Faith and hope explode in their hearts. And just as suddenly, all of His teachings, every word He uttered, take on new meaning. Now they know what He meant by the Kingdom of God, for it is in their very midst, catapulted into the here and now by the Resurrection.

Matthew tells us the women left the tomb "fearful yet overjoyed" [Mt 28:8].  Fear and joy – a rare combination of emotions that I suspect exists only in the presence of God.

Oh, yes, they were fearful, for they had just witnessed God's awesome power, and for the first time fully understood Who Jesus is.

He is the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Chosen One, the Son of God. He is risen! And so too have all of His promises, that now make such perfect sense. 

Today our world, too, is filled with fear, but fear of a different sort. It’s not the fear of God, the clear recognition of Who He is. It’s not that fear that grips today’s world. No, today so many are afraid of sickness and of death. And yet Jesus told us: 

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul…” [Mt 10:28]

You see, brothers and sisters, the women at the tomb had no fear of the world, for they were joyful…joyful that their trust in Jesus was not misplaced, that God loved them with an overwhelming love.

Despair had turned to hope, and that tiny kernel of faith had blossomed into a sure knowledge of redemption. This, too, should fill us with joy, even as we struggle to overcome this threat to human life.

How fitting that Jesus chose Mary Magdalene to break the news – the Good News – to a sinful world. Mary, who had been dead in the slavery of her sin, who had been sealed in a tomb of her own making had been given new life. Jesus knew that she, who had experienced God’s healing power in her own resurrection from the deadness of sin…Jesus knew she would believe. 

Mary Magdalene is what every woman and every man is called to be: the sinner who became the saint, living proof of the power of God's love. She’s the “witness” that Peter described as he preached in the streets of Jerusalem, the fruit of Christ's Resurrection.

Today, as you make an act of spiritual communion, it is the Risen Jesus you encounter, the very source of our faith and hope.

Together let us lift our hearts and minds in thanksgiving and celebrate Christ's victory over death and sin, a victory that resounded throughout the universe, and continues to do so today.

Homily: Easter Monday

Readings: Acts 2:14, 22-33; Ps 16; Mt 28:8-15

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Isn't it interesting that throughout most of the liturgical year, our first reading at Mass comes from the Old Testament, except during the Easter Season? At this very special time of the year, our first reading is taken from the Acts of the Apostles.

The Church does this for a very good reason. Acts really begins with Pentecost, that special day when the Church, promised and formed by Jesus, is born. The story of Acts is the story of the Church, the story of the Apostles who begin the task of going out throughout the world to fulfill the great commission given them by the Risen Jesus:

"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" [Mt 28:10-20].

Make disciples, baptize, teach - all begun through the preaching of the first disciples. Before the Gospel, the Good News, was written down, it was preached. And it's in the Acts of the Apostles, during this season of Easter, that we encounter that early Gospel preached by Peter and Paul. Listen again as Peter begins to spread the Good News among the Jewish pilgrims on that first Pentecost:

"God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses. Exalted at the right hand of God, he poured forth the promise of the Holy Spirit that he received from the Father, as you both see and hear" [Acts 2:32-33].

Notice that at the very core of that preaching is the Trinity -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit -- the foundation of our Christian faith.

Yes, "God raised this Jesus..."

In today's Gospel passage the two Marys went to the tomb, not to see a Risen Jesus, but to anoint His body. They knew He had died. They had heard Him take His last breath. They had seen the soldier's lance pierce His side. They had grieved with His Mother as she cradled her Son's lifeless body in her arms. And they had seen that body placed hurriedly in the tomb.

Oh, yes, they knew He had died. In their overwhelming grief, a grief of emptiness, tinged with an underlying fear, they made their way to the tomb of a dead man.

They, like all the disciples, hadn't understood Jesus when He spoke of His Resurrection. Faced with the finality of death, their faith and their hope had all but disappeared. All that was left was their love. And it's this love for Jesus that carried them along the path to the tomb that first Easter morning.

But the sight of the empty tomb filled their hearts with a jumble of emotions: confusion, astonishment, fear.

And then they encountered their Risen Lord. The One they sought, the One Who was crucified, the One Who had died before their very eyes, is risen. And in the shock of this sudden revelation, they understood that death had not had the last word, but that the Word had overcome death. Faith and hope exploded in their hearts, for they realized that they too would be united with Him in the Resurrection.

And just as suddenly, all of His teachings, every word He uttered, took on new meaning. Now they knew what He meant by the Kingdom of God, for it was in their very midst, catapulted into the here and now by the Resurrection.

Matthew tells us the women left the tomb "fearful yet overjoyed" [Mt 28:8]. Fear and joy -- a rare combination of emotions that I suspect exist only in the presence of God.

Oh, yes, they were fearful, for they had just witnessed God's awesome power, and for the first time truly understood Who Jesus is. He is the Messiah. He is the Redeemer. He is the Chosen One. He is the Son of God. It's this same understanding, and all it brings with it, that made them so joyful. He is risen! And so too have all of His promises, that suddenly made such perfect sense.

Yes, they were overjoyed. Overjoyed that their trust in Jesus had not been misplaced. Overjoyed that they, like all of us, are the object of God's overwhelming love. Overjoyed because pessimism had turned to optimism, despair had turned to hope, and that tiny kernel of faith, almost lost during the dark hours after the crucifixion, had blossomed into a sure knowledge of redemption.

Perhaps Mary Magdalene understood this best. Mary -- she who had been dead in the slavery of her sin; she who had been sealed in a tomb of her own making -- had been given new life through the healing power of God's love and forgiveness. And Jesus knew that she, who had experienced this power in her own resurrection from the deadness of sin, would believe.

Who better to break the news -- the Good News -- to a sinful world; for Mary Magdalene was what every woman and every man is called to be. She was the sinner who became the saint. She was living proof of the power of God's redeeming love. She was the "witness" that Peter described as he preached in the streets of Jerusalem. She was the fruit of Christ's Resurrection.

Today, as we receive the gift of Our Lord's Body and Blood in the Eucharist, it is the Risen Jesus we encounter, the very source of our faith and hope.  Lift our hearts and minds in thanksgiving and celebrate Christ's victory over death and sin, a victory that resounded throughout the universe, and continues to do so today.

Reflection: Morning Prayer, Sunday, April 26, 2015

This past weekend Dear Diane and I joined other deacons and their wives on a couples retreat sponsored by the Office of the Permanent Diaconate of the Diocese of Orlando. It was a wonderful retreat, conducted by Fr. Daniel Renaud, OMI, and held at the San Pedro Center in Winter Park, Florida. The theme of the retreat centered discipleship and was based on the beautiful passage from Luke's Gospel describing the two disciples who are joined by the risen Jesus on their walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus [Lk 24:13-35].

I was honored to be asked to lead Sunday Morning Prayer in the chapel. The reading, which I have included below, is from Acts 10 and consists entirely of the words of St. Peter as he preaches to the Roman Centurion, Cornelius, and his household. After the reading I shared the following brief reflection with my brother deacons and their wives.
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"Yes, this man God raised (on) the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.” – Acts 10:40-43
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What a wonderful passage. These are, of course, St. Peter’s words. In fact, Peter is preaching to the Gentiles for the first time, to the Centurion Cornelius and his household.

Peter at the home of Cornelius the Centurion

Peter begins by summing up the Good News of Jesus Christ, and at the same time lets us know what God desires of each of us.

Jesus, who died on the Cross, has been “raised up on the third day” [Acts 10:40]. He’s alive! He eats and drinks and walks and talks among the faithful, just as He did with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Yes, Jesus lives. He’s no disembodied spirit. Indeed, His glorified body bears the marks of His passion and death. How fitting that these marks remain eternally, a constant reminder of God’s enduring love.

But there’s more Good News. His Resurrection brings the fulfillment of a promise; for we, too, shall rise. The longed-for hope of humanity is finally realized. Death is overcome by eternal life.

Is it any wonder Jesus so often tells the disciples not to fear? Yes, the Good News just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it?

Peter now echoes what the Lord told the disciples along the road to Emmaus: “…beginning with Moses and all the prophets…” [Lk 24:27] Yes, “beginning with Moses,” the law-giver. Peter goes on to tell us that Jesus “is the one appointed by God as judge…” [Acts 10:42] That’s right. Jesus is the judge of the living and the dead – the judge who fulfills the Law and brings it to its perfection.

But perfection means more than justice, certainly more than human justice. For in Jesus we come face to face with divine justice, a justice tempered by mercy. As we stand before Him we see the marks of His passion, the marks of God’s love, the wounds of His mercy…and pouring out of them comes hope and forgiveness.

How did Peter put it? “…everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name” [Acts 10:43]. Yes, through Jesus, and only through Jesus, comes our salvation.

The Road to Emmaus

But Jesus is more than a judge. He fulfills more than the Law. Just as Jesus told the disciples on the way to Emmaus, Peter reminds us…“To Him all the prophets bear witness...” [Acts 10:43] All the prophets point to Jesus: He is the Word of God made flesh and through Him the Word of God revealed is brought to fulfillment. Indeed, as Christians we don’t read the Law and the Prophets, the Old Testament, for its own sake, but always with Christ and through Christ and in Christ. Jesus Christ, the Lord of History, fulfills all.

Then, in the very heart of this passage, Peter reveals exactly what’s expected of the disciple… and, brothers and sisters, that includes us. We are called to “preach to the people and testify” [Acts 10:42] – to bear witness to Jesus Christ. It’s a call back to the basics, to the very core of our faith, to the core of our diaconal ministry.

And, yes, it might be our ministry, but we must never forget it's God's work. As the psalmist prayed, "Non nobis, Domine..." -- "Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory" [Ps 115:1].

It's a ministry that will get no easier, for the world may deny Jesus Christ, but we, His disciples, His servants, cannot.

The world can imprison us, but it can’t imprison the Truth.

It can silence us, but it can’t silence the Word of God.

It can even execute us, but it can never kill God’s enduring love.

The Word of God will always sound through the lives of God’s faithful ones.

Even our own sinfulness can’t silence it, because Jesus Christ heals all who come to him. The personal tragedies of our lives can’t silence it. We might be tested, but if the Word of God is deeply rooted in our hearts, we’ll survive the test. Even when we’re unfaithful, Christ remains faithful to us.

We’ve been given a mission, brothers and sisters, one that Pope Francis, Peter’s successor, reminds us of today. We are called to bear witness to Christ crucified and risen from the dead, to testify, through our lives, to the Good News of God's mercy and forgiveness, to remind the world that God is love.

And we’re called to return that love to Jesus; for Jesus is the poor, He is the homeless, the hungry, the dispossessed, the rejected; Jesus is the ill and the dying. Yes, we are called to remind the world of God’s love and to do so without fear.