Homilies

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. While Armstrong prepared for his moonwalk, Aldrin unpacked some bread and wine. He describes what he did next. “I poured the wine into the chalice. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup. It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon and the very first food eaten there were communion elements. I sensed especially strongly my unity with our church back home, and the Church everywhere.”

He then read this passage from the Gospel, “I am the vine and you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, and I in him, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.”

How awesome! Despite the ingenuity, creativity, resources, and research that enabled these two men to stand on the surface of the moon and look back on earth, Buzz Aldrin knew that apart from God, we could do nothing. His story illustrates the point of today’s Gospel. We, the branches, must remain united with Jesus, the vine, if we are to bear much fruit. We unite with Jesus by gathering together as a faith community, listening to his word and sharing his body and blood in the Eucharist.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus told his listeners, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there with them.” The Jesus who rose on Easter Sunday is alive, he is the one we find in our midst whenever we pray.

Think back to the story Barnabas shared with the other apostles in the first reading. On his way to Damascus, Saul encountered the Lord Jesus in a great flash of light, who asked, “Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked and the voice replied, “I am Jesus whom you persecute.” Saul, whom we remember as Paul, was puzzled. He never persecuted Jesus. He had never even met Jesus. However, he was persecuting his followers. Saul then realized that Jesus and his followers were one and the same. Trying to separate Jesus from his followers would be like trying to separate a head from its body.

The church is not just a building where we come to worship. The Church is the people who gather to pray, you and I, in the name of Jesus. To be church, to have Jesus, we come together as a faith community. When we come together, especially to celebrate the Mass, we make Jesus visible to the world around us. By our words and actions, we show others where they too can find Jesus.

We give this sacrament of bread and wine that brings us together two very different names: Eucharist and Holy Communion. Eucharist comes from the Greek word for thanksgiving. With bread and wine we offer God gratitude for our exodus from sin, the many marvels of creation, and the gift of his son, Jesus Christ who redeems us.

The alternate name, Holy Communion, reminds us that this sacrament is a prayer of the faith community. Whenever I celebrate Mass, which transforms bread and wine into the real presence of Jesus Christ, I do so in communion with you who share the conviction proclaimed by Jesus elsewhere in John’s Gospel, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”

The Eucharist creates and celebrates our unity as Catholics. It is the prime symbol of our oneness. As people of faith, we celebrate Eucharist, not as passive spectators, but as active participants. If the Eucharist is to impact us, we cannot afford to be passive and nonchalant about receiving Jesus.

As any gardener will tell us, a branch cannot bear fruit once it is snipped off the vine. This is the concern that Jesus is voicing here. Do we, as branches, stay connected to him, the vine, when we leave this gathering and place? As our dismissal at the end of Mass suggests, we are to go in peace, glorifying the Lord with our lives.

Do we or are we compartmentalizing our lives so that we hardly glorify God or imitate Christ by what we say and do in our homes, at work, in school or in market places? We cannot separate our lives into “church” and “world,” as though one has nothing to do with the other. When you disconnect the two, Jesus cautions that you become a branch cut off from the vine, no longer bearing fruit.

The great Christian truth is we are connected to something larger than ourselves. We are connected to the earth, we dare not pollute by our selfishness. We are connected to nature and all of creation. We are an interconnected human community, making up the mystical body of Christ. We are a communal people responsible for one another.

Our actions have consequences. What we do and say here should be the same as what we do and say when we leave here. We are the branches that make the risen Jesus visible to our age just as past generations made Jesus visible to us.

Bread is not made from a single stalk of wheat nor is wine made from a single grape. To the contrary, bread is made from many grains of wheat and wine is made from many bunches of grapes. Likewise, this assembly is made up of many individuals who come together, empowered by the Eucharist to go forth and be a very visible sign to others that Jesus Christ, our risen Lord, is truly present in their midst.

A navy pilot on leave was talking to his parents about the helicopter he flew. He said, “You know Dad, as complicated as that helicopter is, its whirling rotor is held in place by a single hexagonal nut.” Then turning to his mother, he added, “And Mom, you know what they call that nut?”

She had no idea and said, “I give up. What do they call the nut that holds it all together?” Her son smiled and replied, “They call it the Jesus nut. If something goes wrong, then the next person you’ll meet is Jesus.” An interesting and sensible name, if you ask me. Just as that nut holds the helicopter together, Jesus by his death and resurrection holds us together. That is the underlying message I find throughout these readings. Jesus is the one who holds everything together. He is compared to the cornerstone of a building and in today’s gospel; we hear the familiar image of Jesus as the good shepherd who keeps his flock together.

We could easily limit our attention to that image and forget the rest of the story. A Jesus nut may keep a helicopter together but it doesn’t get the helicopter off the ground. Every component in the helicopter from the rotors to the motor plays a role in getting the helicopter airborne. A cornerstone keeps a building from collapsing but it doesn’t make up the entire building. Every beam matters in the construction of any building.

One might wonder why Jesus would choose such a lowly job for a self-image, calling himself the “good shepherd,” especially when we think of sheep as being dumb animals. Comparing us to sheep doesn’t seem so flattering but then this vulnerable animal develops a fierce loyalty and this is the quality Jesus is looking for in his disciples. Jesus expects us to be as loyal to him as a sheep would be to its shepherd. Also, good shepherds would die while protecting their sheep.

As a parish community, we demonstrate our loyalty to Jesus through our actions in numerous ways; feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, caring about the homeless, welcoming newcomers, and comforting the grieving. The services and many ministries of the Archdiocese do what we cannot do individually or as a parish. Look at the flap on this envelope and you can see a sampling of how the Annual Appeal impacts people throughout our diocese.

The Annual Catholic Appeal supports 63 ministries in Western Washington from Blaine to Camas and from Ocean Shores to Darrington. I invite you during this Easter season to show your loyalty and love in deed and in truth just as Jesus showed his love for us on the cross. One deed we all can do is participate in the Annual Catholic Appeal.

I presume by now you have received a letter from Archbishop Sartain, which outlines some of the many programs supported by the Annual Catholic Appeal. The goal this year is $ 11.7 million. Our parish goal is $ 42,804. Last year 178 families in our parish participated with an average pledge of $367, enabling us to surpass our goal by more than $20,000. That rebate was placed into our capital improvement fund to take care of unforeseen emergencies.

I join Archbishop Sartain in asking you to prayerfully consider how you can support the larger church this year. I hope you will respond with the same generosity that was demonstrated by many last year. I know this parish will generously exceed its goal; what you might not realize is how crucial the rebate we get back will be for our parish in the coming year. That money has been earmarked for installing solar panels, to provide power to Read Hall in the event of a blackout, which is receiving much support, judging by the informal survey that the green team has been conducting recently.

Everyone’s participation is valued. If you haven’t given in the past to the Annual Catholic Appeal, I am asking you to join others who have participated by making some pledge as a sign that you see yourself as a vital member of the Catholic Church of Western Washington. Last year 61% of our families made a pledge. Those whom the Appeal benefits will value a gift of any size.

In this land of ours, where we take religious freedom for granted, I doubt that we will ever be called to lay down our lives as the good shepherd did for us, but we can honestly consider our willingness to sacrifice something in order to help the larger church reach out in its many much needed ministries from educating tomorrow’s priests to visiting the imprisoned, from supporting our retired nuns and priests to visiting the sick in our hospitals, from supporting our youth camps to training tomorrow’s deacons.

In the weeks ahead, I hope you will join me in making a pledge. Keep in mind that this is not the same as our stewardship campaign, which is held in the fall. You can make your pledge in four ways as noted on the envelope; a one time gift by cash or check, electronic funds transfer, monthly charges to a credit or debit card. Take an envelope home with you and prayerfully consider your options. You can even donate stock or donate on line.

On behalf of the Archbishop and the many people who are served by the Church of Western Washington, thank you for all you do and share as loyal disciples of Jesus Christ. May God bless you abundantly and may we continue to follow the good shepherd all the days of our lives.

In today’s gospel Jesus opened the minds of his disciples to understand the scriptures, commissioning them to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Taking that mission to heart, Peter urged his listeners, “Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.”

Converted has many meanings including transformed. Not only was Jesus transformed through his resurrection, but the disciples had been as well and potentially we too can be.

While browsing in a gift shop, a couple admired a display of teacups. Picking one up, the wife said, “Look at this lovely teacup. This is one of the loveliest teacups I have ever seen!” Then would you believe it? The teacup said to them, “Thank you for the compliment but I wasn’t always this beautiful.”

Now, wouldn’t you drop a teacup in shock if one talked to you? Instead of being surprised, the wife calmly asked, “What do you mean that you weren’t always beautiful?” “Well,” answered the teacup, “Once I was just an ugly lump of clay, but one day a man with dirty wet hands threw me on a wheel. Then he started turning me around and around until I got so dizzy that I couldn’t see straight. ‘Stop! Stop!’ I cried. But the man with the wet hands said, ‘Not yet!’

“Then he started to poke me and punch me until I hurt all over. ‘Stop! Stop!’ I cried but he again said, ‘Not yet!’ Finally, he did stop but then he did something worse. He put me into a big furnace! I got hotter and hotter until I thought I was going to burn up. ‘Stop! Stop!’ I pleaded but again he said, ‘Not yet!’ Finally he took me out of the furnace. When I cooled down, a lady slobbered me with glaze and I was put back in the furnace. ‘Stop! Stop!’ I cried again but she said, “Not yet!” Finally, she put me on a shelf next to a mirror. When I looked at myself, I couldn’t believe what I saw. I was no longer an ugly lump of clay. I was beautiful, firm, and clean. I cried for joy. Then I realized all that pain was worthwhile. Without that pain, I would still be ugly and dirty. The pain has passed but the beauty remains.”

Like the teacup, we too will be transformed but do you ever imagine what our glorified bodies will look like in heaven? Jesus is giving us a foretaste of what God intends for us.
He appeared to his disciples more than once after the resurrection, eating fish, going through locked doors, which no earthly body can do, and assuring them that he wasn’t a ghost. They saw his wounded glorified body, which of course amazed them.

Like the teacup, bruised and poked along the way toward becoming beautiful, we are often wounded in this lifetime. Our wounds, suffered for the sake of the gospel, will be part of our glory, just as Jesus’ wounds are part of his glorified body. Our wounds result from being faithful in our vocation, sacrifices made for the sake of our family, asserting the values of human life, speaking out against the injustices of our world, being honest, the rejection or criticism suffered when we speak up for our faith and even our repented sins.

Jesus told the disciples to go and preach the message of repentance to transform us but why? Without repentance, there is no peace, which implies restored relationships between God and us, and people among people. The peace that the risen Christ brought to the disciples was a release from their shame and failures; this truly transformed them. That same peace is offered to us when we choose to repent.

But what happens if we don’t? Do you recall the ghost of Jacob Marley? He appeared before Scrooge wrapped in a chain “made heavy with boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds and heavy steel purses.” He was bound to his chain of sins for eternity. The first two readings assure us that we don’t have to go to our graves bound by our sins. We can break their grasp on us by following Peter’s advice.

Repentance brings us God’s forgiveness, which wipes our slates clean and our sins away. No guilt, no bondage, no jail time, no chains clanking into eternity. God wants to fill us with forgiveness and peace but that can only happen if we admit that we have sinned and we are sorry.

To remain stuck in one’s ways and unrepentant is to remain that lump of clay. To receive forgiveness, we have to admit to our wrong doing, knowing that something has to change. An apology is not enough. Imagine the potter saying, “Not yet! Not yet!” We must also change our ways and turn to God. Realizing that sin stops us from becoming holy can prompt us to put more effort into resisting the temptation to commit that sin again. As John points out, we know we are in a relationship with God when we obey his commands.

Sin weighs heavy on our minds and hearts just as it once did on the disciples, but Jesus did not focus on their sins. He instead offered them peace and forgiveness. He offers us the same today. Our repentance, our turning to God and receiving forgiveness enables us to recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread and bring to others what was given to us…the peace that comes with being in close relationship with Jesus. The time for loosing the chains of sins is now, so we don’t have them binding us, unlike Marley, for all eternity.
Like the teacup, whatever pain we experience in being transformed into something beautiful for God will pass. But the beauty of our glorified bodies in heaven will remain forever and ever.

Today the church celebrates the Feast of Divine Mercy and the end of the Octave of Easter. We have been celebrating Easter Sunday and the resurrection for eight days now, and today, the final day of the Easter Octave we acknowledge as the day of new creation.

It is a day on which the love of God is poured into our hearts in a very profound way. The Feast of Divine Mercy has everything to do with humility, trust and mercy.

When we look at the picture of the Divine Mercy, underneath the picture of Jesus are these words “Jesus, I trust in you.” That is something some do not do very well, to trust in our Lord. We like to think that we trust Jesus, but when it comes right down to it, some really don’t.

Some of us are afraid of letting go of things because we are not sure if God is really going to do what he promised. In the practical day-to-day existence, we trust far more in ourselves and far more in other people, and far more in money and material things than we do in God, which is a pretty tragic statement, especially in light of what Jesus did for us.

When we consider this point of trusting in our Lord, we know that he has made extraordinary promises to us: Promises of heaven, Eternal life, promises of being united with Him, Promises that our sins are going to be forgiven.

For some, the problem is that they don’t have clear evidence to support such trust. In the gospel today, we see Thomas in this very situation and saying, “I am not going to believe unless I see the holes in His hands and feet and the opening in His side.” Jesus appears in His mercy and shows Himself to Thomas and says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” Thomas is our proof. He is representing all of us who doubt.

How often do we struggle with the question with whether or not our sins are truly forgiven? The problem is that we have no evidence, no proof, no sign that our sins are gone. We cannot see our sins on our soul, and we cannot see them removed.

But in the gospel the Lord breathes on the disciples and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them.” “He didn’t say whose sins you forgive are swept under the rug. He didn’t say whose sins you forgive I’ll keep them in mind and I will hold them against them later. He said, “They are forgiven.” That means they are gone.

He made the promise, and the One who has promised is trustworthy, we simply need to place our trust in Him because he has made this promise. When we think about the Feast of Divine Mercy and we think about the Mercy of God, at first glance, one might think that this would be better if it were celebrated during Lent. After all, six weeks of praying and doing penance we were seeking the Mercy of God. Now all of a sudden, here we are on the octave day of Easter, the height of the celebration of our Lord’s resurrection, and suddenly we turn and we are asking God once again for mercy.

Today’s readings reveal the kind of heart in Jesus and in his followers. When Jesus appeared to his Disciples that first Easter, he said, “Peace be with you.” As you can imagine, that greeting meant more than just a hello or good morning. Jesus, in fact, desired to communicate to them something of enormous value.

The peace which Jesus won for us had cost him his blood, his very life. What that peace involved, Jesus tells them clearly, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sine you forgive are forgiven them.” To His Apostles Jesus communicates the Holy Spirit with the power to free us from our sins. The words of absolution comes through the sacrament of Reconciliation and frees us from the shackles that keep us from God.

From the Acts of the Apostles we glimpse mercy in action. The early Christians were so filled with the Holy Spirit that “no one claimed any of his or her possessions as their own.” Rather, they “distributed to each according to his or her need.” Mercy then involves the effort to provide every human being with access to this world’s blessings.

The readings from Acts in turn call us, calls our attention to the corporal works of mercy; Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, Give drink to the thirsty, visit the sick, visit the imprisoned, Bury the dead. Ultimately, mercy results not so much from human effort as from God’s free gift of Grace. As Shakespeare said, “It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven.”

Where do you receive God’s mercy the most? I mentioned earlier how Christ gave the Apostles the power to forgive sin. Yes, the mercy of God is most evident in the sacrament of Reconciliation, Confession. You can’t help but feel the effect of your sins being lifted away as you hear those words of Christ of absolution coming from the priest.

At that moment we should feel the comfort, the peace be with you, the mercy of God upon us. Now free to receive Jesus in the Eucharist the effect on our lives is miraculous. We go out and are able to meet the world with our faith as our shield. We go forth with the power of the Holy Spirit as our guide and mentor. We go out with the food from heaven, Jesus himself. This is our proof.

What more evidence do we need? He has given all we need. We just need to throw fear away, find that humility that says, “yes God, I know you are in control of my life, not me and to bring trust into our hearts. That’s all it takes.

It is easy but we make it hard on ourselves to do so. Humble ourselves and make reconciliation a needed part of your spiritual lives and in return your life will be transformed. You will find peace in God’s Mercy.

God is offering his mercy to us. He has done everything for us, and he has given us the means by which our sins can be forgiven. Humble yourself, confess your sins, and trust in Him.

When Jesus told his disciples about his pending resurrection from the dead, they did not know what he was talking about. But then, how could they? Something like that had never happened before. So naturally that was the last thing on their minds as Mary Magdalene and her companions made their way to the tomb early on Easter morning.

On Friday, they watched from a distance as Jesus took his last breath and was then lowered from the cross, having sustained a cruel and painful death. At sunrise once the Sabbath was over, they came to the tomb to finish the burial rites, wondering “Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” Little did they know what was in store for them and for us.

Not only did they find the stone rolled away but a young man, clothed in white, greeted them giving them the shock of their lives. “Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised, he is not here.”

There is one more verse to Mark’s story of Jesus’ resurrection that we did not hear. “And they went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” Scripture scholars tell us, that based on the writing style and themes of the verses that follow, Mark ended his account abruptly with the words, “they were afraid.” Understandably so, for finding an empty tomb was something they never expected.

The young man whom they had encountered, sitting where the body of Jesus once was, assured the women, “Do not be amazed!” How could Mary Magdalene and her companions not be amazed? To say, “Do not be amazed,” seems, pardon my pun, completely off the mark.

Astonishment and amazement should be our response to all the mighty acts of God including the resurrection story. Throughout scripture, especially those passages that tell our salvation history, we can recount the biblical history of God at work in the world and in our lives. God speaks before all creation; sun, moon, stars, dry land and waters, wildlife and all humanity are born out of nothing. That is amazing. Throughout the scriptures, God provides a way when there is no way, rescuing his people from slavery, defeat and exile. For example, God rescued the Israelites from bondage in Egypt, giving them freedom and life when slavery and death look like their only possible future. That is astonishing. Who would not be amazed when God is at work in the world?

Biblically speaking, there is more to amazement than awe, delight and astonishment. Behind the biblical word that is translated as “amazed,” there is also the sense of being terrified or afraid. That may seem strange that wonder and fear are two emotions that should be linked, but think of the much beloved hymn, Amazing Grace. In that hymn, the grace described as amazing rescues us from sin. Yet this same grace “taught my heart to fear.” This is the biblical sense of being amazed: standing in the presence of a God who will not let anything defeat his life-giving desires, one finds a combination of both fear and wonder.

“Do not be amazed!” The young man said to the women in order to calm their fears. This message is the heart of the Easter story. We need not be afraid. God has raised Jesus to new and resurrected life. This isn’t a case of a dead person being revived like Lazarus was. Not even death can stop God’s life giving desires for us. The resurrection is God’s gift to us, the divine assurance that the fullness of life awaits us when we take our last breath.

God’s life-giving desire is at work even now to overcome those fears that hold us captive and keep us from the fully human life God intends for us to live.

The God who brought life out of nothingness before creation, the God whose mighty acts once rescued people from slavery, defeat and exile, is the God who raises Jesus from the dead and gives new life to us. Like the women in today’s gospel, in the risen Christ, we too can live without fear.

Fortunately for us, the women were not afraid for long. Once they encountered the risen Lord, they could no longer keep the news of his resurrection a secret. They and the disciples lived without fear, sharing the good news that Jesus isn’t a memory, but a presence. Our dearest memory fades in due time, but the presence of the risen Lord remains ever more vivid and real for us as it has for past generations.

Despite what that young man said, the gift of our new life in Jesus’ death and resurrection leaves us all amazed. What God promised, God has delivered; so what he said would happen is true. Jesus is risen from the dead. As St. Paul once said, “If Christ is not raised from the dead, then our faith is in vain.” If he had not been raised from the dead, Jesus of Nazareth would have become a footnote in history.

Instead, the risen Christ has sustained a mission that has been ongoing for two thousand years. His message of change, love and hope is still being fulfilled. In the risen Lord we find our life in God, our hope beyond fear. We rejoice, knowing that God raises us to newness of life. So, do not be amazed for God has called us to live as people of courage, peace and hope in our day. That is the Easter faith we need to take out there when we leave here today. Yes, do not be amazed! Jesus Christ is risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!