2010

Can you recall a painful moment in your life, perhaps a night spent in the emergency room due to an accident that injured a friend, or watching your home burn, or being there to watch a loved one pass away? What about that moment, perhaps unexpected when a verbal confrontation ended a friendship? When your world is turned upside down, it seems as though your life is being ripped apart, doesn’t it?

I imagine that is how Peter and his six companions felt. Having just lost Jesus in the trauma of the crucifixion, and witnessed his return in the incredible miracle of the resurrection, they knew life would not be the same for them ever again. Still, Peter opted to do what had been the normal thing for him to do. He went fishing and the others agreed to go with him.

After a long night of catching nothing, someone whom they did not recognized standing on the shore asked, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?” When they told him, “No,” he told them to drop their nets on the right side of the boat and so they did, catching so many fish that they could hardly pull the net in. Just then, the beloved disciple recognized who the stranger was.

In the early light of a new day, the risen Lord greeted the apostles with the familiar smell of freshly grilled fish and bread. How ordinary yet how extraordinary! The last time they had dined together was in the upper room just before they ventured to the garden where Jesus was betrayed. The last time that Peter had stood by a fire, he had denied Jesus three times.

Now he finds himself being quizzed by Jesus. “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Peter replied, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again, Peter was asked the question, and again he gave the same response. This time, Jesus said, “Tend my sheep.” Once more, Peter is grilled. “”Simon, son of John, do you love me?” in exasperation, Peter replies, “Lord, you know everything! You know that I love you.” This time, Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”

Why three times instead of once? Perhaps, Jesus did this to give Peter a chance to recant each of his three denials.  I think of this scene as the gospel of the second chance.  Those who had been in the boat had deserted Jesus in the darkest hour of his life. When he needed them, they had abandoned him. Worse yet, their leader, Peter, had denied him three times in public.

Jesus could have asked, “Why did you do that?” That is the kind of question any upset parent or spouse or friend would typically ask.  Instead of dwelling on the past, he simply asked, “Do you love me?” That is all he wanted to know. Let bygones be bygones. Let hurts be forgotten. Let mistakes be put aside. Let betrayals be dismissed.  All that mattered to Jesus on the beach that morning, right here and now, was simply, “Do you love me?”

Jesus wasn’t speaking only to Peter. He is speaking to us as well, many Easters later. Right now, can you sense him asking you the very same question? Never mind the past. Never mind the many times you have betrayed him or let him down. That is, as the saying goes, water over the dam. What matters to him, here and now, is simply, “Do you love me?” If your response is the same as what Peter said, then picture Jesus saying to you, “feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep!”

Today’s gospel is a beautiful story of forgiveness. Three times, Jesus asked Peter the same question.  He wasn’t taunting Peter. Rather, he was inviting Peter to move beyond his past and take on the challenge of apostleship. He transforms Peter’s regrets and shame into understanding and conviction of the gospel.

It is easy to respond as Peter did and say, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” But then, how do we respond? Are we clinging to our past failures or the failures of others? Have we refused to forgive those who have hurt us in the past? Have we belittled our self worth because of something we did ages ago that continues to haunt us? We would not be today if Peter had allowed his denial of Jesus shame him from proclaiming the good news.

How then do we respond to Jesus’ command?  Feed my sheep, he said, but who are his sheep? They are the marginalized, the hungry, the homeless, those who don’t fit in. His lambs are children in need.  Repeatedly, our Church calls on us to do what we can to uphold the dignity of every human person. That is what social justice is about, striving to safeguard the well being of all God’s children. Jesus is calling on each one of us to be involved, using our gifts and talents to tend his sheep.

We heed his call by sharing what God has given us, our resources and talents, with the rest of his flock. One way of sharing is through the Annual Catholic Appeal, which enables pastoral care ministers to visit the imprisoned and the sick, sustains the ninth largest school system in our state that serves over 23,000 students, prepares those seeking to serve our Church tomorrow, as well providing care for our retired priests. Altogether, this crucial appeal supports 63 important programs throughout Western Washington.  Our goal this year has been set at $42,554. Help us to build a future full of hope with your gift.

In light of the difficult economic situation, I know that not all of our parishioners will be able to support the appeal financially this year. If you are able to participate and not giving at this level already, would you consider a gift of $1 a day to make up for those who cannot give much this year? Know that every gift, no matter the amount, can and will make a difference.  You have made it possible for us to surpass our goal every year and I trust that we will do so again; for this is one way we can say to the Lord, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

The Incredible Power of Jesus’ Divine Mercy

Today we celebrate the Second Sunday of Easter. Our late Holy Father, Pope John Paul II designated the Sunday after Easter Sunday to be Divine Mercy Sunday. Prayers for the intervention of Jesus’ Divine Mercy in human affairs are emphasized. There are many such prayers, most notably the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. This prayer was given by Jesus to Sister Maria Faustina, a Catholic nun who lived in Poland in the first part of the twentieth century. The Church promises that those who pray the Chaplet and receive the sacrament of Reconciliation will receive extraordinary graces. The Chaplet is prayed here at St. Hubert’s on Saturday mornings. All of you are welcome to join us.

God’s mercy is an active mercy. We need only look to our readings this (evening)(morning) to see the powerful effects in the early Church of God’s Divine Mercy. In our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the apostles overcome fear and doubt by healing the sick and driving out demons. Once wracked by doubt and fear when Jesus walked among them, the Resurrection and Pentecost had given them the courage to receive and practice Jesus’ Divine Mercy.

In our second reading we also see the apostle John paralyzed by fear and doubt. John is describing a revelatory encounter with Jesus. This encounter comes at the end of his life when he was in political exile and hard labor on the punishment island of Patmos. John’s revelation frightens him. Jesus responds in John’s revelation with His ever-present Divine Mercy. He reminds John, as he reminds all of us through this Scripture passage, that God has been and always will be with His people. His response to John’s fears and what John believes will be the doubt of his readers is simple but incredibly powerful: “Do not be afraid.”

Finally, in our Gospel from John, we have the classic story of doubting Thomas. Here Jesus’ Divine Mercy goes the extra mile. All that Jesus has done for the Apostles is not enough for the apostle Thomas, Thomas does not believe Jesus has risen from the dead. Seized by fear and doubt in the aftermath of the Crucifixion, he demands a private revelation.  Jesus’ love for his disciples leads Him to appear to Thomas. He offers His Divine Mercy to Thomas with the words “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

For us, Jesus’ Divine Mercy can be just as powerful in overcoming our own doubts and fears. For Jesus’ Divine Mercy is a mercy that not only has as its root charity and forgiveness but also the key element of a change of heart in us that enables us to both receive and accept forgiveness and mercy. In this regard, I offer this story for your consideration.

The country of Rwanda is a small central African country of about eight million people. About 99% of the population belongs either to the Hutu tribe (about 85%) or the Tutsi tribe (about 14%).  The country was a Belgian colony and is overwhelmingly Catholic, whether one is of Hutu or Tutsi background.

 

For much of Rwanda’s history, the two major tribes have had a difficult relationship. In 1994 a radical Hutu faction overthrew a coalition government and implemented a horrible genocide against the Tutsis.  Out of a population of eight million, 800,000 were slaughtered. Whole families were frequently hacked to death by machetes, swords and just about anything else on which Hutus could get their hands. Bodies lay in latrines and fields all around Rwanda. Even Catholic priests and nuns participated in the massacre, sometimes taking in fleeing Tutsis on the promise of sanctuary, and then turning them over the Hutus. Many other Catholic priests and nuns who refused to participate or were of Tutsi background were slaughtered as well.

The radical Hutu government was overthrown after a few bloody months and replaced by a new government of national reconciliation. But how to deal with the horrific massacres and their social and economic aftermath was and is a question the Rwandan government has grappled with ever since.

Responding to Pope John Paul II’s special devotion to the power of Jesus’ divine mercy, Catholic Relief Services has for a number of years now been promoting reconciliation and peace among the people of Rwanda. CRS staff had themselves been killed in the massacre, and the CRS presence in Rwanda had been devastated. In 1998, to prepare for the Great Jubilee Year of 2000 in the Catholic Church, the Rwandan bishops and CRS instituted a series of peace and justice commissions. Thousands of leaders have trained by CRS and the Rwandan dioceses to facilitate the work of the commissions. The commissions urged those who were responsible for the massacres to come forward and seek repentance, and those who were victims were called to forgive them.

Remarkably, neighbors who had lived side by side and then were caught up in the massacre on both sides began to visit each other. Jesus’ Divine Mercy was showered on the people of Rwanda, and Rwandans began to shower that mercy on each other. Throughout the country, because of the trust CRS and the Church still had, men and women confessed to brutal killings and lootings. All were required to ask for forgiveness in public and then visit the homes of survivors and ask for forgiveness directly.

To be sure, the process is not perfect. Nor is it a complete substitute for traditional punishment of such horrific crimes. But what is most remarkable is the reconciliation that HAS occurred. The killers and those who had family members have in some instances become friends. Jesus’ Divine Mercy is clearly present in many of the accounts.

For example, one woman named Drocella, a Tutsi, was separated from her children during the genocide. They stayed at home while she left to do errands in a nearby town. When the genocide began, Drocella returned home as quickly as she could. By the time she arrived, her eight children were dead. They had fled to their Hutu godfather’s home. They had hoped he would protect them. Instead, he gave them up to the killers. Drocella also lost several extended family members in the genocide. However, in the intervening years only one person came forward to confess and ask forgiveness, a man named Philippe. Her journey to forgive started much like the others. She recalled:

“After the genocide, I found myself alone. Everyone around me had died. I said, “Why don’t I go back to church and pray so that I can live again? My heart was very dark and broken. The priest encouraged me and others like me to forgive. I said, “I can’t go through this business of forgiving because of this man Philippe. I see him here. He was the first one to work with us in the church, to help the poor, to do all of the church activities which brought us together. But he was also the first one to kill my people.”

“So every time they started talking about the commission, I felt like my heart was ready to burst. It was heavy, and I wouldn’t get the message. But there was a very dynamic priest here. When he came to my parish, I would bend my head, because I knew why he came. He was coming to tell us to forgive. After the Mass, the priest would walk around and ask, “Where is she? Where is she? I would say, “Why is he looking for me? I lost all my people; my heart is almost going to burst; what does he want me for?

“The Word of God was very helpful to me. My heart is no longer as heavy as it used to be. I felt relieved and then I told one of the people who came to teach us, “You know I think I am going to forgive. I feel ready to forgive.”

Remarkably, through the power of Jesus’ Divine Mercy, and the human dignity work of CRS, Rwandans are the first people in human history to rebuild a nation composed of the perpetrators of genocide and the surviving victims. They still have a long way to go. But if people, brothers and sisters, who once killed each other in cold blood can now reconcile, and seek and provide forgiveness and mercy, cannot we also do so in our families, in our community, and in our world?

Brothers and sisters, let us all reflect on the lessons of Rwanda. Let us pray that we may all overcome our fears and doubts about Jesus’ Divine Mercy. May we practice an active mercy in our own lives, one that reflects Jesus’ Divine Mercy, a mercy that is a signpost on the road to salvation.

The blessings of the Risen Christ be with you! The message of Easter is indeed incredible; one that has captivated the interest of many people since the first Easter morning so long ago. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. As Luke tells us, the women from Galilee were puzzled and terrified when they discovered the empty tomb. They weren’t the only ones.

Clearly, what happened was outside the realm of ordinary human experience. Probably no other event has had a greater impact on world history than their discovery of this empty tomb three days after Jesus of Nazareth had been crucified.

Some critics say the event was staged, claiming that Jesus wasn’t really dead when he was taken down from the cross or that the apostles came and took his body away from the tomb in the dark of the night. The ancient Jewish historian, Josephus, wrote, “Some people actually assert that he had risen. Others retort that his friends stole him away. I for one cannot decide where the truth lies.” To me, what makes the notion of a hoax unlikely is that those who witnessed the risen Christ never changed their story even in the face of persecution and death.

Had he not risen from the dead, the good news of Jesus Christ would likely have faded from memory long ago. At best we would remember him as a great ancient teacher like Plato or Aristotle. But he did rise from the dead and within a century this amazing historical truth had spread like wildfire throughout the Roman Empire. This event touched the lives of many people then and, as your presence here testifies, still does today.

Granted, Jesus’ resurrection is a mystery that cannot be fully explained. For those who seek a rational explanation, none can be offered, for as all four gospels relate, there were no witnesses to the actual event itself.

When you stop and think about it, there are many things we believe without understanding. For example, across the street, I often see sheep grazing. Somehow the grass they eat becomes wool that in turn could well become my next woolen sweater but I don’t understand why or how this happens.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is one mystery Christians have come to believe based on the testimony of those who saw the risen Christ first hand. Judging from other gospel accounts, the body of Jesus Christ that rose on Easter Sunday was radically different from the body that was buried on Good Friday. Jesus did something no other human being has yet experienced.  He was transformed.

Unlike his birth or crucifixion, the resurrection of Jesus is the starting point of our Christian faith. For starters, the resurrection gives us reason to believe that life for us will not end when we take our final breath. Rather, we also will be transformed into something new, just as Jesus was. That gives us cause for joy, prompting us to sing, “Alleluia!” That ancient word, which cannot be translated, expresses hope that we will not die. Admittedly, we dare to believe the unbelievable, but then that is what separates us from others who have respected Jesus only as a great teacher and prophet, but not as the Son of God who rose from the dead. We know that without the resurrection, there would have been no Christianity.

On Good Friday, I noted that the last words Jesus said on the cross were, “It is finished.” What was finished wasn’t his life but his last lesson for his disciples. The teacher had done what he could to convey the good news to disciples who had traveled with him for three years. Class was over.  With the resurrection, they now understood the full impact of his many lessons. Having encountered the risen Christ, the disciples then ventured forth to proclaim the good news to anyone who would listen.

Nothing could keep them entombed in the upper room, for they had seen first hand that Jesus had triumphed over sin and death. They were moved to share this fantastic news at any cost. They passed on the good news that we could experience new life in Christ not only here in this Easter gathering but also in every celebration of the Eucharist.  And that nothing could defeat us any more, not pain, not sorrow, not rejection, not even death.

Fr. Richard Rohr, a renowned Franciscan retreat master, notes,  “The tomb becomes a womb today, waiting for rebirth.” Jesus wishes to transform our present lives, just as he transformed the lives of his disciples after his resurrection.  We don’t have to wait until we die to share in the risen life of Jesus Christ. We can begin right now, in this Mass, in this Easter celebration.

We are here today because someone in our past shared the good news of Easter with us. Over the past few weeks, you may have noticed local ads on TV inviting Catholics who have been away to come home. I have come to know some who have returned in recent weeks.  One observed that all it took was a personal invitation from a parishioner to prompt his return after many years of being away from the Church. He in turn invited someone else to come home. It was moving to watch them both venerate the cross on Good Friday. If you have been away, please accept my invitation to come back again and again.

This day draws more people than usual to prayer. By your presence, you have linked yourself in faith to the risen Christ. Keep in mind that Easter is more than a day; it is a way of life. Every Sunday the Church celebrates Easter anew reminding us that the risen Christ is in our midst inviting us to a new life of faith, hope and love. May the risen Lord continually fill your hearts, your minds, indeed your very lives with his peace, love and joy until the day comes when we too will rise from the dead.

Today, my sisters and brothers, we celebrate Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem for the last time. We come together to celebrate Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. We come together today in celebration for the commemoration of the last week of Jesus’ life on earth. Today is the introduction for our entry into Holy week.

In the opening Gospel from Luke we heard of Jesus’ welcome into the city of Jerusalem, a moment of blessings, popularity and welcome. We hear of Jesus riding on the colt of a donkey with a saddle of cloaks across it. We hear of cloaks being thrown across the road just as a red carpet is rolled out for a king and the waving of palm branches symbolizing triumph and victory.

We hear how the disciples were yelling out “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord”. Everyone was feeding off the excitement and joy of others creating a sense of awe for being in a Kings presence. The peoples Hosannas rang out, they called upon Jesus as a savior, a mighty King.

They hoped that he would cast the oppressors out of their land and bring them glory and honor as did King David before Him. But Jesus walked a different path to glory and worked in a different way to bring God’s salvation to them. They did not understand this way-and when Jesus was betrayed in to the hands of the authorities and did not fight, they turned on him, seeing him as a failure, calling out “Crucify Him, Crucify Him”.

Even as he lay down his life for them, those closest to him fled in fear. It is ironic that as Jesus’ disciples thought he was receiving his rightful kingship, it is only on the throne of a cross that Jesus assumes it.

The Passion narrative we have just heard is the painful litany of Jesus’ returning all to the Father. He willingly emptied himself of everything. He allows himself to be stripped of all that is not God, so that he might show us in the moment of total surrender, where our true treasure lies.

Betrayed by one of his apostles, arrested as a criminal, deserted by his disciples, denied not only once but three times by Peter, condemned by the religious authorities, brutally punished unjustly, stripped of his clothes, crucified between thieves-the innocent Jesus is left to die as a lonely criminal, exposed on a cross, jeered at by the crowds.

How quick they changed. How quickly in 5 days they lost their belief, their faith in Jesus.

The ups and downs that Jesus lived and witnessed are our ups and downs. As we heard in the last few weeks of Lent, Jesus knew what would happen to him-he even knew, as we heard in the story of Peter’s denial, that his closest disciple and friend would claim to not know him when put to the test.

Jesus was walking a path, step by step, which would lead him to the only source of truth and lasting meaning for him and ultimately for us, that he was moving towards the fulfillment of God’s will for him and through him for the world. Jesus knew that in the worst of times in life, even his own, the Father would be there; that he would be surrounded and encompassed by the presence, the mercy, and the love of God.

This is a lesson for all of us to remember. If we depend upon the events of life to give us reward and satisfaction, then we may never achieve them or we may have them taken away in the very moment of tasting victory. We may be at the peak of our lives with money, health, position, material possessions, friends, but in those terms there is nowhere to go but downhill in the weeks, months, and years ahead.

On the other hand, we have the opportunity to walk our own unique path of obedience toward God like Jesus Christ. It is a path which may see us surrounded by possessions, money, popularity, or it may lead us into poverty and loneliness but we will never feel abandoned.

No matter the path, it is the direction, the destination we seek that matters. One’s life is well spent seeking to find and do God’s will. Many  have known the taste of Palm Sunday, the sweetness of success, of popularity, and probably all of us have tasted the bitterness of Good Friday, rejection, loneliness, abandonment.

There is no disgrace, no shame in any situation we find ourselves in, as long as we turn to God. Isaiah from our first reading says “The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced, I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame”.

What saves us from an endless round of ups and downs, what frees us from the events in our lives which we have no control, is our commitment to go forward in obedience to God’s will. It is trust in God’s love to bring about our Easter morning, knowing that the meaning of life is to be found in the love of God through his Son, Jesus Christ, sharing that love with all we meet on our life’s journey.

My Sisters and brothers, never forget what Jesus did for us, yes, you and me. If we remember, then we live in the will of God. We live in communion with Jesus Christ. And when our time comes to leave this earthly life, we can hope that we will hear these words spoken to us: “Amen I say to you, today, you will be with me in Paradise”.

In today’s Gospel, we hear of two very unfortunate incidents that are brought to Jesus’ attention. First, Roman soldiers killed some Jews who were offering sacrifices in the temple and then mixed their blood with the blood of animals the priests offered to God. The second incident involved 18 people who died when a building collapsed on them. The talk of the town was that God was punishing the victims for sins they had committed.

Because pain and awareness of death became a part of life when Adam and Eve rebelled against God, many people in Jesus’ day thought there was a cause and effect relationship between sin and suffering, believing sickness and death were God’s punishment for sin. This conclusion sounds logical but Jesus quickly rejects it.

In the story of Adam and Eve, pain became part of life not as a punishment for sin but as a consequence of their wrong doing. The difference between punishment and consequence is crucial if we are to understand this gospel passage.  Perhaps this story can illustrate the difference.

Driving his new luxury automobile, a drunken driver speeds down the street at 80 mph, fails to stop at a red light and runs into a power pole as he swerves to avoid a pedestrian. The alcoholic suffers a broken leg and totals his new car. A judge suspends his license and orders him to pay a $500 fine. The broken leg and the totaled car are consequences of this drunken driver’s actions but the fine and loss of his license are the punishments. Consequences naturally flow from an action while punishments are imposed by someone else.

Likewise, we can say that suffering and death flow from living in a sinful world. They are not punishments from God for something we did.  Thus, God was not punishing the victims of the two tragedies because of a particular sin they committed.

When my mother died, some people attempted to comfort me with the line that her death was God’s will. I came to realize that her untimely death was a consequence of poor choices she made that impaired her health, but not a punishment from God.  We believe that God knows everything, but since we have free will, a requisite if we are to freely love, God cannot decide the manner or the time of our death.  For the victims of any disaster, I can hardly believe that a loving God would want people to suffer such a fate.  Death strikes them unexpectedly because people choose to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

None of us can predict our future. That death can happen unexpectedly is rarely considered by most of us but it could happen.  Don’t dismiss the possibility that you might die as suddenly as the many victims of the earthquakes in Chile and Haiti did.  If death were to greet you so unexpectedly, would you be ready?

That is the caution Jesus airs, not once, but twice while reflecting on the tragedies brought to his attention. His concern isn’t the fate or judgment of the victims but of the living.  Many of his listeners, he fears, have the mindset that the absence of misfortune in their lives implies that they are living virtuous lives pleasing to God.  Instead of commending them, Jesus warns, “I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”

The examples which Luke uses of people dying in unexpected ways are are a sobering reminder that our time to respond to Jesus’ warning is limited.  In his letter, Paul cautions that not all the Israelites made it to the land of milk and honey. Instead, they “were struck down in the desert.”  We too are on a pilgrimage to the Promised Land, that place we call heaven, but unless we acknowledge our sins and repent, we too may fall short of our desired destination.

The bottom line is this: where we spend eternity depends on our response to Jesus’ call to repentance. The most obvious advice I can offer is for you to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation during this season of Lent. But there is more to reconciliation than a sacramental encounter with a confessor. Reconciliation also means setting ourselves right in our relationships with others as well as God.

The fig tree’s failure to produce fruit brings to mind something else. Jesus’ call to repentance is not merely a call to turn away from evil but also a plea to produce the fruits of good living. In other words, is our love of God evident in our treatment of others? To answer that question, begin at home and consider how you treat your spouse, your parents, your children, and your siblings. It is easy to take members of our family for granted and forget that they are individuals who deserve our respect.

Outside of the family circle, there are so many ways of showing love in the community.  We can meet God by caring for the poor, the sick, the lonely and the elderly. Just think, we have received in our lifetimes a tremendous amount from others, but how concerned are we about giving something in return? How appreciative, how respectful, how loving are we toward others in our lives? Are we takers and not givers? The warning about the unfruitful fig tree is not given to frighten us but to remind us that our time for doing good is limited. We can’t keep putting off good works indefinitely for someday, there will be no tomorrow for us to get our act together.

Lent is an opportunity for taking a hard look at our lives and asking how we stand before God right now. If we have placed spiritual things on the back burner, then we have forgotten the real purpose of why God gave us life. Like the fig tree, we are expected to produce good fruit. It isn’t too late to change our ways, but someday it will be.