Tag Archives: resurrection

Easter: Living forward into forever

19 Saturday Apr 2025

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Fr. Greg Boyle is a Jesuit priest and the founder of Homeboy Industries – the largest gang intervention ministry in the world.  I recently listened to an interview with Fr. Boyle and in the course of the interview he offered a wonderful insight; “None of us are going to live forever,” he said, “but, in Christ, we are invited to live in the forever.” 

This truth – Jesus is risen! – is the heart of Easter.  The invitation given to us to live in the forever – in baptism we have died with Christ in the hope of rising with him – comes from the heart of Easter.  And this invitation has already begun in our lives.  We are already living in the resurrection today.  We are already invited by the risen Jesus to live now in the forever. 

We need to be clear on what is meant by “resurrection”.  In the resurrection, Jesus “does not come back to life, to his old life, like Lazarus, to die all over again sometime later.  No, in the resurrection, Jesus comes forward to life in a new world, to new life according to the Spirit” (The Mystery of Easter by Raniero Cantalamessa, p. 41). 

The resurrection moves forward – the tomb is emptied – we live into the forever now. 

When sin is forgiven, we live into the forever.  When resentment is let go of in order to understand, we live into the forever.  When friendship is chosen rather than prejudice, we live into the forever.  When we choose to learn the ways of peace and forget the ways of violence, we live into the forever.  When we reach out in care and charity rather than falling back into fear, we live forward into the forever.  When we choose that which is true and good over fleeting illusion, we live forward into the forever.  When we choose to build community rather than to succumb to division, we live forward into the forever.  When we cultivate hope rather than despair, we live forward into the forever. 

That first Easter morning; the women, Peter and John all saw that the tomb was emptied.  The reactions were amazement, wonder and belief.  The tomb is emptied and left behind because Jesus in the resurrection is living forward into the forever. 

Easter – throughout history – has been celebrated in all situations: war, social upheaval, economic uncertainty, pandemics, when the Church is in peace and when the Church is being persecuted.  Easter continues because Easter is not bound by the tombs of this world.  Easter is celebrated today and it will be celebrated next year and all the years after that. 

The tomb is emptied and left behind by Jesus.

Jesus is risen and now, in Christ, we also live forward into forever. 

Jesus is risen!  He is risen, indeed! 

The Resurrection – Only God makes a beginning, only God creates an end.

13 Saturday Apr 2024

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I recently read an article where a woman by the name of Norann Voll reflects on the many lessons she learned from her father growing up on a farm during lambing season.  At one point the author wrote this,

When the miracle of (the twin lambs) lay there in the sawdust and the ewe licked them off, urging them to stand for their first meal, I looked at Dad.  His eyes shone as blue as chicory flowers and his face was wet with tears.  “No human can create a beginning, Nora,” he said, “and no human can create an end.  It’s all in God’s hands.”

Friends, this is a truth of faith and a lesson of Easter.  Only God creates a beginning and an end.  The first reading of the Easter Vigil Mass is the story of creation found in the Book of Genesis.  After that reading the Church prays these words,

Almighty and ever-living God, who are wonderful in the ordering of all your works, may those you have redeemed understand that there exists nothing more marvelous than the world’s creation in the beginning except that, at the end of the ages, Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.   

… there exists nothing more marvelous than the world’s creation … except that, at the end of the ages, Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. 

There is a tradition in our faith that Easter – the day of the resurrection of our Lord – should be considered the eighth day of creation.  Only God can create a beginning.  Only God is the author of life.  Only God could enter the false end that we made – the silence of the tomb – break it open and create a new beginning for us.  From the death of the tomb, Jesus rose! 

This is the wonder that the readings throughout this season of Easter proclaim and that the first disciples experienced!  In today’s gospel (Lk. 24:35-48), after the two disciples share how they encountered Jesus on the road to Emmaus, the risen Lord stands in the midst of his disciples, Peace be with you … Why are you troubled? … Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.  Touch me and see …  Jesus showed them his hands and his feet, his wounds.   God wastes nothing and God redeems all.  Even the wounds of life are taken up into the new creation of the resurrection. 

Only God creates a beginning and an end.  There is nothing more wonderful than the world’s creation except, even more, the new creation brought about by the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ.  This is the truth we know and the hope we live by as Christians. 

If there are tombs in our lives – a besetting sin, an addiction, a wound inflicted or a pain endured – know that only God creates a beginning and only God creates an end.  The tomb has been broken in the resurrection.  Invite the risen Lord into that tomb.  Welcome Christ even into that!  Let his presence, his grace, his mercy pour forth and know that all tombs can be broken in Christ. 

“No human can create a beginning, Nora,” he said, “and no human can create an end.  It’s all in God’s hands.”

Easter as Homecoming and the joy of the Father

01 Monday Apr 2024

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Icon of the Resurrection of Christ. Image may be subject to copyright

What images does homecoming call to mind?  A student coming home for the first time since leaving for studies.  A soldier coming home after a long and dangerous deployment.  A family, after a while apart, being able to come together for a holiday celebration.  Young parents bringing their newborn son to meet his grandparents for the first time.  Dear friends meeting up for some time together.  A child who had been lost in addiction but now sober being welcomed back home.  A tired spouse making it home after a long time away due to work. 

As we think of homecoming in all of its different forms there are some things that are consistent – there is joy, relief, welcome, laughter, peace, tears and embracing. 

In his resurrection and ascension, Jesus returns home to the Father.  What joy there must have been – what laughter, relief, love and embracing!  The risen Jesus returns having fulfilled his mission.  It is in the Letter to the Philippians that we find the hymn singing of this mission, the hymn that goes back to the first generation of disciples.  Jesus, who though in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped but rather emptied himself and took the form of a slave.  Being born in our likeness, Jesus humbled himself and was obedient even to death on a cross. 

Jesus, the Son who emptied himself, stood in the place where we failed and he did not fail.  Where we failed through our pride in the Garden of Eden and chose to disobey, Jesus – in his humanity – obeyed.  Jesus did not rebel, he did not fall back.  Jesus obeyed the will of the Father.  Jesus stood in that place where we failed and he trusted in the love of the Father, even to death on the cross. 

What joy must have been in the risen Lord’s heart as he returned to the Father!  Coming home to Abba!  Through his obedience, Jesus healed what had been broken by our disobedience.  Jesus is the risen Good Shepherd, carrying back to the Father what had been lost.  The risen Lord carries us home to the Father!  The joy in our Lord’s heart is now also our joy!  We were lost and now we are found!  Now, we can return to the Father’s house!  Sin, death and the isolation of the tomb are not our destiny.  We are meant for life with the Father and, in his resurrection, Jesus goes to prepare a place for us!  This is our Easter joy!  Jesus’ joy is our joy – we can go home! 

And God the Father’s joy.  (We often don’t give enough thought to this.)  God the Father who cannot abide sin or death can now – in the return of the Son who conquered sin through his humanity – once again embrace us just as he embraces the Son.  This is the joy of the Father and this is the gift of the risen Son to the Father!  What pain there is in the heart of a parent when there exists a separation between parent and child.  What deep pain.  With the separation of sin overcome; the Father can once again embrace us.  The Father can once again welcome us home!  The heart of the Father rejoices in the return of his Son!   

Easter is homecoming!  The joy of the risen Son fulfilling his mission and returning to the embrace of the Father. Our joy in being brought home in the embrace of the risen Son with the Father.  The Father’s joy in embracing and welcoming us home! 

In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places … if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. (Jn. 14: 2-3)


The Risen Church – Easter, 2020

12 Sunday Apr 2020

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resurrection“…as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.” Each of the four gospels, in its account of the resurrection of Jesus, specifically states the time. It was dawn, it was early in the morning, the day was just breaking.

Maybe it is just a reflection of my own shifting sleep patterns as I get older but I am learning the value of the dawn. To sit quietly and watch as the world wakes up, as night recedes and the light of day dawns is a good and healing thing. In the dawning of the day we are taught unceasingly and even rhythmically how much is just pure gift and how we are each part of something so much bigger than ourselves!

But this dawn, this dawn was different! It was not just another lesson on the seasonal nature of life and creation. This particular dawn proclaimed an empty tomb! It had never happened before – that a tomb had been emptied and not just emptied but vanquished and broken! The one who came forth from this tomb would never return. That dawn – in that cemetery garden outside of Jerusalem – was and will always remain a new day!

The truth is that the Church which proclaims the resurrection of Christ will never be a powerful church – this is not our identity. We are not to be a “powerful church” as the world measures power because all of the world’s measurements, judgments and calculations end at the tomb. Rather, we are to be a “risen church” because we live in the dawn of the new day! We are not stopped by the weight of the tomb. The tomb is emptied and broken and our Lord walks forth from its confines never to return! Everything is different and this is who we are! The risen church – even when hope seems lost – is revived again and again because our bridegroom is risen and he gives us the power to rise!

When fear and uncertainty set in, we rise. When persecution and violence are experienced, we rise. When war and disease destroy lives and threaten what we hold dear, we rise. We rise because we are the church. We rise because we live in the new day. We rise because Jesus is risen and he gives us the power to rise!

And he goes before us. Christ always goes before us – into the fullness of this new day and he calls us to follow after him in hope. This hope was planted by God in the heart of creation on the very first day – that the creator will not abandon his creation. This hope grew and was foretold by the people of Israel in their being brought from slavery to freedom with the waters of the Red Sea being a prefiguring of the waters of baptism which bring us into the new day of Christ and the promise us freedom from death itself. Paul recognizes this truth when he writes in his letter to the Romans, “Brothers and sisters: Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.”

“…we too might life in newness of life.” We live in the new day and we rise. We are the risen church!

“…as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb … you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said … he is going before you …”

 

“… al amanecer del primer día de la semana, María Magdalena y la otra María fueron a ver el sepulcro”. Cada uno de los cuatro evangelios, en su relato de la resurrección de Jesús, establece específicamente la hora. Era el amanecer, era temprano en la mañana.

Tal vez sea solo un reflejo en los cambios de mis patrones de sueño a medida que envejezco, pero estoy aprendiendo el valor del amanecer. Sentarse en silencio y observar cómo el mundo se despierta, cuando la noche retrocede, y la luz del día amanece es algo bueno y curativo. Al amanecer del día, se nos enseña incesantemente e incluso rítmicamente cuánto es tan solo puro regalo, y cómo somos parte de algo mucho más grande que nosotros.

¡Pero este amanecer, este amanecer fue diferente! No fue solo otra lección sobre la naturaleza estacional de la vida y la creación. ¡Este amanecer particular proclamó una tumba vacía! ¡Nunca había sucedido antes, que una tumba haya sido vaciada y no tan solo vaciada, sino vencida y rota! El que salió de esta tumba nunca volvería. ¡Ese amanecer, en el jardín del cementerio a las afueras de Jerusalén, fue y siempre seguirá siendo un nuevo día!

La verdad es que la Iglesia que proclama la resurrección de Cristo nunca será una iglesia poderosa; esta no es nuestra identidad. No debemos ser una “iglesia poderosa” en la forma en como el mundo mide el poder porque todas las medicionesy cálculos del mundo terminan en la tumba. ¡Debemos ser una “iglesia resucitada” porque vivimos en los albores del nuevo día! No nos detiene el peso de la tumba. ¡La tumba está vacía y rota, y nuestro Señor sale de sus confines para nunca volver! ¡Todo es diferente, y esto es lo que somos! ¡La iglesia resucitada, incluso cuando la esperanza parece perdida, revive una y otra vez porque nuestro novio ha resucitado y él nos da el poder de levantarnos!

Cuando surge el miedo y la incertidumbre, nos levantamos. Cuando se experimenta la persecución y la violencia, nos levantamos. Cuando la guerra y la enfermedad destruyen vidas y amenazan lo que apreciamos, nos levantamos. Nos levantamos porque somos la iglesia. Nos levantamos porque vivimos en el nuevo día. ¡Resucitamos porque Jesús ha resucitado, y él nos da el poder para resucitar!

Y él va antes que nosotros. Cristo siempre va antes que nosotros, a la plenitud de este nuevo día y nos llama a seguirlo con esperanza. Esta esperanza fue plantada por Dios en el corazón de la creación el primer día: que el creador no abandonará su creación. Esta esperanza creció y fue predicha por el pueblo de Israel al ser llevados de la esclavitud a la libertad, siendo las aguas del Mar Rojo una prefiguración de las aguas del bautismo que nos llevan al nuevo día de Cristo, y a la promesa de liberarnos de la muerte misma. Pablo reconoce esta verdad cuando escribe en su carta a los romanos: “Hermanos: Todos los que hemos sido incorporados a Cristo Jesús por medio del bautismo, hemos sido incorporados a su muerte. En efecto, por el bautismo fuimos sepultados con él en su muerte, para que, así como Cristo resucitó de entre los muertos por la gloria del Padre, así también nosotros llevemos una vida nueva “.

“… así también nosotros llevemos una vida nueva”. Vivimos en el nuevo día y nos levantamos. ¡Somos la iglesia resucitada!

“… al amanecer del primer día de la semana, María Magdalena y la otra María fueron a ver el sepulcro … Ya sé que buscan a Jesús, el crucificado. No está aquí; ha resucitado, como lo había dicho … e irá delante de ustedes…”

The Gatlinburg Skybridge and our Lord’s Invitation: “Feed My Sheep.”

04 Saturday May 2019

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Gatlinburg-Sky-Bridge-2-793x526The longest pedestrian suspension bridge in North America is set to open later this month in our own Gatlinburg, TN. The bridge stretches nearly 700 ft. and is suspended 150 feet high. Apparently, it has glass panels as flooring in the middle of the expanse. I’ve been hearing people talk about it and have been seeing things on the news about it. Would you walk across it?

Bridges are pretty amazing structures when you stop and think about it. The physics, architecture and engineering that goes into the construction of a bridge is quite daunting. Whether the bridge is designed as a tourist destination (as the Gatlinburg Skybridge is) or if it has a completely utilitarian purpose as any number of interstate bridges dotting our country’s landscape or if it even has reached an iconic status such as the Brooklyn Bridge or the Golden Gate Bridge, every bridge serves the same basic purpose of connecting two points and allowing interaction, traffic and commerce.

One of the traditional titles given to the Pope as the Bishop of Rome is “Pontifex Maximus” which means “bridge-builder”. It is a title rooted in pagan Rome but later christianized. The Pope, as successor to St. Peter, is to continuously work to build, strengthen and restore that bridge which connects our fallen and wounded world with the Kingdom of God. That bridge is the Church itself but like any bridge there are some divine physics and engineering that goes into the structure and maintaining of this bridge. Today’s gospel (Jn. 21:1-19) show some of these divine elements and they are worthy of note.

The disciples are gathered together at the Sea of Tiberias which means that they have done what our Lord requested when he instructed the women at the tomb to tell the apostles that they would find him in Galilee. Obedience to the Lord’s instruction and the grace of community are part of the divine physics that form the bridge of the Church. John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, is the first to recognize the Lord. Love is farsighted and is the first to appreciate divine kindness and the Church must always be led by this true love which is rooted in God alone. Peter has an acknowledged authority (as the Lord said that he would strengthen his brothers) but, is himself, open in humility to guidance as he listened to John, the youngest of disciples. The disciple allowed themselves to be fed by our Lord – the Church must continually be nourished by Christ through Word and Sacrament. All of these elements are part of the physics which must continually make up and uphold the bridge that is the Church.

But there is something else that must be learned from the exchange between Jesus and Peter. When our Lord was bound and on trial, Peter had denied knowing him three times. Now, three times, Jesus asks Peter if he loves him. Jesus does not belittle Peter. He does not punish him or embarrass him in front of the others rather he heals him and he does this by three times inviting Peter to love, to give and even to be as God himself does and is. God is love and true love feeds, nourishes, strengthens, tends, builds up and upholds. True love is willing to go where it would rather not out of care for the other. Jesus invites Peter (and the whole Church) into the very work of God which is to feed, tend and strengthen. The Church is to be the bridge connecting our world with the promise of the Kingdom of God by continuously living this invitation of our Lord to Peter.

After this exchange, our Lord says to Peter (and to us), “Follow me.”

In a special way, we pray for our Holy Father Pope Francis today. He is a good man and a good pope. He deserves our respect and he deserves our prayers as he strives to live his role and as he strives to encourage us to live our role as Church by feeding, tending, strengthening and loving as Christ would have us do.

Easter Sunday – the Lord “primerea”!

21 Sunday Apr 2019

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resurrection2In a recent interview on the life of faith and discipleship, Pope Francis shared an expression often used in Argentina – the expression is “primerea”. “…the Lord ‘primerea,’ anticipates us, waits for us; we sin and He is waiting to forgive us. He is waiting to welcome us, to give us His love, and each time faith grows.”

The Holy Father shared the expression in response to a question where he was asked about whether he ever felt betrayed by God. “Never,” responded Pope Francis. “I was the one who betrayed Him. At times I even felt like God was turning away from me, just as I turned away from Him. At very dark moments you ask yourself, ‘Where are you, God?’ I always believed that I was looking for God, but really it was He who was looking for me. He always gets there first and waits for us.”

The Lord “primerea”.

On Easter morning, Mary of Magdala comes to the tomb … it is empty. Peter and John run to the tomb and all they find are the burial cloths. The tomb is empty. It is empty because the Lord primerea!

A closed tomb is the opposite of primerea – there is no life, life is ended. All that the closed tomb offers is loss, sadness and pain. Life, on the other hand, by its very nature moves forward! It cannot remain stagnant nor be held back – the stone is rolled away and the tomb is emptied because the Lord primerea!

The Lord leaves the tomb in order to anticipate us, in order to show and be the living mercy that forgives us now and ever again on our journey. Even though this Easter Sunday we mark and proclaim in faith that greatest of events which occurred centuries ago when our Lord was bodily raised triumphant from the dead, the truth of the resurrection – and what it means for all time and creation – does not remain in the past. The truth of the resurrection is found in our today and in our tomorrow because this is where the risen Lord awaits us. The Lord primerea!

As Pope Francis remarked, “(The Lord) always gets there first and waits for us.”

Life calls us forward and Jesus is life itself! “Where is the resurrection?” some might ask. Others might demand that we point it out in order to prove it to them! I can say that it is not to be found in the history book nor in a museum. It is found right now and it resides in tomorrow. This is why on Easter Sunday we have this strange little reading about yeast. It is a strange reading really, and why – of all days – do we have it on Easter Sunday? You would think that there would be a reading proclaiming a blare of trumpets and choirs of angels singing. But, no, on our holiest day the Church has chosen this reading. Why?

Old yeast has no life, it produces nothing. It is like the enclosed tomb. But a little yeast that is true leavens all the dough – this little yeast brings life and it brings newness! And it does it truthfully and without the need for fanfare. Christ has been sacrificed and Christ has been raised!

True life does not need spectacle in order to prove itself. The resurrection does not need to prove itself to us nor does the one who is raised need to. Life reveals itself by being life. The resurrection is shown within the hearts that have been enlivened by it, by the hearts that encounter Christ today and move toward tomorrow in hope because the risen Lord awaits them there.

The tomb is empty! The Lord is risen!

The Lord primerea!

The “author of life”

14 Saturday Apr 2018

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St. PeterIt is said that a tree is known by its fruit and in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles we can see that the tree of the resurrection is already bearing amazing fruit! And, here specifically, in the life of Peter.

Peter is boldly addressing the people of Israel. That same man who, not that long ago, denied knowing Jesus, who had run away, who had hidden behind locked doors is now proclaiming Christ publically. Peter has received courage through the resurrection but there is an element to this courage that is important to note. Peter receives the courage of love.

Again, not that long ago, Peter had drawn a sword in defense of Jesus and had struck and wounded another person. But today he is not proclaiming the sword or judgment or retribution. He is proclaiming Christ boldly to all the people of Israel and even those directly responsible for the death of Christ. He is saying that yes, they denied the “Holy and Righteous One” and rather asked for a murderer to be set free but he is also proclaiming that forgiveness and mercy is possible in Christ. To the very ones who killed his lord and master, Peter is offering life and hope in Jesus! He even goes on to say that they acted in ignorance and that by their action God has brought to fulfillment what had been proclaimed beforehand about how his salvation was to be brought into the world.

Peter receives courage through the resurrection of Christ but he also receives a healing of his own heart which allows him to receive and live the courage of love. Peter, when he reminds the people that they asked for the release of a murderer contrasts that with their action of putting the “author of life” to death. It is a specific title and one not used by Peter anywhere else in the Gospels.

Jesus is the “author of life” and in Jesus there is no place for hate, for violence or for retribution. There is only life … only life. To welcome Christ as the author of life means to allow Christ to remove all that is false within our hearts – the desire for hate, and for violence and for retribution. Peter knew the risen Lord and Christ removed these false and evil desires from the heart of Peter. Three times on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, the risen Lord – the author of life – asks Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Three times Peter says “yes”.

It is not just courage that Peter receives in the resurrection of Jesus; it is the courage of love and it comes from knowing and being known by – and loved by – the author of life.

The same courage of love is offered to us and it comes from knowing and allowing ourselves to be known and loved by the author of life.

A day without death: the movie “Risen” and our world’s violence

13 Monday Jun 2016

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risen1There are two scenes in the movie “Risen” that build upon one another. Both scenes involve the Roman tribune Clavius who has been assigned to investigate the empty tomb of Christ.

The first scene takes place right after the crucifixion at which Clavius was present. On the evening of that day, the tribune encounters Pontius Pilate in the baths.  Pilate, I believe, can be viewed as an embodiment of worldly and pragmatic cunning throughout this film.  After confirming that the Nazarene had been executed and buried, Pilate waxes, “One does what one must.”  “I don’t wish the mantle you wear,” responds Clavius.  “Spare me,” says Pilate, “it is your path too.  Your ambition is noticed.  Where do you hope it will lead?”  “Rome,” replies the tribune looking off into his own thoughts.  Pilate’s eyes arch, “And?”  “Position, power …” reflects Clavius.  Pilate presses, “Which brings?”  “…wealth, a good family, someday a place in the country.”  “What will you find?” asks Pilate.  “An end of travail … a day without death …  peace.” asserts the tribune.  “All that for peace,” muses Pilate, “Is there no other way?”

The second scene occurs at the Lake of Galilee. It is night.  The disciples are all asleep.  Clavius notices the risen Lord apart and watching the night sky.  Clavius approaches and sits down beside Jesus.  “I don’t even know what to ask,” he finally admits.  The Lord, now intent on his visitor, says, “Speak your heart.”  “How can I reconcile all this with the world I know?”  “With your own eyes you have seen,” responds the Lord, “yet still you doubt?  Imagine the doubt of those who have never seen.  That’s what they face.  What frightens you?”  “Being wrong,” answers Clavius, “wagering eternity.”  “Well then, know him,” invites the Lord.  Clavius is troubled and goes on to confess, “When you died.  I was present.  I helped.”  “I know,” forgives the Lord placing his hand on the tribune’s shoulder.  “What is it you seek Clavius?” inquires the risen Lord as he then goes on to say, “Certainty … peace … a day without death?”  Clavius gasps, his eyes widen and he is met by the full gaze of Christ and our Lord smiles. The tribune weeps; his heart and his pain have been recognized … and answered.

Clavius was a man fully versed in war and its politics. He was a man of action and hard fought experience.  Yet, he was war and violence weary and this becomes more and more apparent as the film progresses.  The question asked by Pilate, “All that for peace?  Is there no other way?” settles in the heart of the tribune just as the mystery about the Nazarene and his empty tomb begins to grow.  Clavius meets the risen Lord whom he, with his own eyes, had seen executed.  All is thrown upside down as Clavius is met head on with the answer to his question, “How can I reconcile all this with the world I know?”  He cannot.  The risen Lord is the truth and therefore the world as he had known it is not.  The resurrection of the Nazarene changes everything.

In Clavius, we see our world and our society. We are war and violence weary.  We yearn for a day without death.  How many more wars and battles?  How many more acts of random and senseless violence?  How much more political and social media posturing that goes nowhere and does nothing?  How much more division and an unwillingness to listen?  How much more fear?  How much more death?  I think it safe to say that along with the beleaguered tribune we also are done.  Enough!  We just want a day without death.

Our Lord is looking at us. He asks us the same question, “What is it you seek?”  We need to be honest.  It is the answer we have known all along.  The world as we know it, the world we have constructed, the world with its answers that we so often choose to go by even as Christians is not working.  The wars, violence and posturing – and even those given in rebuttal – are not leading to answers.  They are not leading to peace.

The risen Lord is looking at us. “What is it you seek?”  Lord, have mercy and forgive our unbelief!  Help us to be honest and help us to find and live the only true answer – which is you.  Give us the strength of conviction and courage to let go of all we think is true (the world as we know it) but, in fact, is not.  As Clavius followed the joy-filled disciples to Galilee, he stripped off his garments of the tribune.  He let go of that false identity.  Help us to also let go of those “truths as we know them” that are in fact not truth and that only deaden and divide.  You alone are truth; please clean us of all that is not true.

Our Lord is looking at us. We are so violence and war weary.

“What is it you seek?” We want a day without death.

God, grant us the courage to live the answer.

Joy in the Resurrection and the Call to Trust

09 Saturday Apr 2016

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Jesus Christ appears on the Shore of the Lake of Tiberias by James Tissot

It is interesting to note how the disciples react in the gospels when they encounter the risen Lord. They all have this very interesting reaction of a mix of great joy and amazement but also fear and uncertainty.  They rejoice that Jesus is risen and alive but yet they remain locked behind closed doors out of fear of the religious authorities.  The tomb is emptied yet they know that the powers of the world are seeking to persecute and destroy them because they are the followers of this Jesus of Nazareth.  It was true for the first group of followers and it remains true today.

It is also interesting to note how the risen Lord responds to this mix of emotions on the part of his followers. He does not respond by given them a blueprint or map if you will.  The risen Lord in all of these encounters never tells them how things will go or what will happen, how they will witness to him or where it will take them rather all that he continually says is to rejoice in the resurrection and to trust in him.

A scene from the movie “Risen” has remained with me these past few weeks. In the movie the Roman tribune at the center of the story has seen the risen Lord and his world is turned upside down.  He is following along with the disciples and at one point he is with them as they are rushing to Galilee because Mary Magdalene had told the disciples that Jesus had said he would be there waiting for them.  The tribune is running alongside Peter and they both stop to catch a breath.  The tribune asks Peter what he thinks they will find in Galilee and Peter says, “I don’t know.”  Perplexed by this, the tribune then asks him why he is going if he does not know what they will find and Peter responds, “Because I trust.”

Those first disciples, when all the powers of the world were arrayed against them, had nothing other than joy and amazement at the resurrection and trust. It was enough for them and frankly, it is enough for us.  We also have the joy of the risen Lord in our hearts yet we also know fear and uncertainty.  We also do not know where it is all going.  There are also powers arrayed against us.  Christ does not give any one of us a blueprint or a map; rather he gives us some things much more worthwhile – his very resurrection and the call to trust in him.

We find in this Sunday’s gospel (Jn. 21:1-19) that there are also two other things given to aid the disciples in their journey throughout history. One is community – the Church.  The disciples are gathered together again at the Sea of Tiberias and this is not just coincidence.  Peter says that he is going fishing and the others respond that they will go with him.  Together, they all get in the boat.  Scriptures tells us that where two or three are gathered together, there is our Lord in their midst.  It is when they are together and all of them hard at the work of fishing that our Lord appears to them.  The life of Christian faith is not meant to be lived alone.  We encounter the risen Lord together.  Community and the Church are not optional for the Christian, rather they are a source of encounter with the risen Lord.

The other great gift given to the Church in this gospel and a continual way to encounter the risen Lord is the call to charity. Three times our Lord asks Peter if he loves him.  Three times Peter says “yes” and the risen Lord responds with, “feed my lambs … tend my sheep … feed my sheep.” It is a call given to the whole Church.  It is also a gift.  When we feed and tend one another, especially the most vulnerable and poor in our midst, then we meet the risen Lord and we are graced and strengthened in our encounter.  The powers of the world do not understand this and they never will but there is a great power, perhaps the greatest, given to the poor and the vulnerable.  When we live charity, we encounter the risen Lord.

As for the first disciples so for us, we know the joy of the resurrection yet we also can be fearful and uncertain in our world. The risen Lord does not give a blueprint of how it will all work out.  Rather, he invites us to live in the joy of the resurrection and to trust in him and he teaches us that we will encounter him in community and in the living of charity.

The abandoned burial cloths

26 Saturday Mar 2016

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empty_tombAt the end of Luke’s gospel (Lk. 24:1-12), once the women had shared with the disciples what had occurred at the tomb, we are told that Peter runs to the tomb and upon arriving he bends down and sees “the burial cloths alone”. It seems an almost inconsequential thing.  The main fact is the empty tomb, right?  The burial cloths are just an after-thought one might think.  John, in his gospel, is even more precise – the burial cloths are also noted but then John shares that the cloth used to cover the head of Christ was rolled up in a separate place.

In the eleventh chapter of John’s gospel we find the story of the raising of Lazarus. Jesus arrives at the tomb of his friend who has now been dead for four days.  Jesus commands that the stone be removed and then he cries with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” John 11:44 reads this way; “The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his head wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’”  

Lazarus emerges from the tomb still wrapped in the cloths of death because he is raised back to a life that is still bound by mortality. He will one day die again.  In the empty tomb of Christ, the burial cloths have been left behind because Christ has been raised to newness of life.  He who once was dead now lives forever!  Death no longer has power over him!

Our God is a God of life and not of death. Guided by the Spirit we can now read this throughout salvation history.  God created everything and all life out of the sheer gratuity and abundance of his love.  God looks upon his creation and proclaims it to be good!  When the people of Israel were enslaved God heard their cry.  God freed them from their slavery and led them into the new life of their own land and their covenant with him.  The prophets, again and again, call the people back to true life that can only be found in relationship with God.  Even when the people profaned the covenant and the very name of God, God promises that he will restore them and cleanse them for the sake of his own holy name.  God cannot be other than God.  John tells us that “God is love” and Pope Francis asks us all to recognize this holy year that the name of God is mercy.

Through the prophet Ezekiel, God promises that not only will he cleanse us outwardly but, even more so, that he will give us a new heart and a new spirit and that he will take from us our stony hearts and give us natural hearts.

In the empty tomb of Christ, with the burial cloths discarded and left behind, God removes our stony hearts. In the very place of death and decay, God gives us a new heart and a new spirit!  Our God is a God of life and not death.

The new heart and new spirit of the Christian flows from the empty tomb of Christ and this new heart has already begun beating! Our resurrection to new life has already begun.  St. Paul (and all the saints by their very lives) remind us that through our baptisms we have died with Christ in order to rise to newness of life with him.  We now live for God in Christ Jesus!

In Christ, the tomb is emptied and the cloths of burial are left behind. Now, we, in Christ, can leave behind the life-denying cloths that bind us and all of humanity – the burial cloths of sin, violence, arrogance, egocentrism, injustice, isolation and fear.  In Christ, we have risen to newness of life!  In Christ, we can live again for one another and for God!  Death is not the final word!  Newness of life in Christ flows out of the empty and defeated tomb.

The tomb is emptied. The cloths that bind are left behind.  Christ is risen!  We are given a new heart and we can now live in newness of life!