God is in all of life

Dali's Sacrament of the Last Supper

The theme of love in the Gospel is an invitation to reflect upon our own life.

During these “stay at home” coronavirus times, which we will hopefully get beyond soon, our regular contacts may have been limited to a smaller number of people. This can be a blessing, if we have the right attitude.

Let me illustrate my point with a true story.  Over a century and a half ago, “diamond fever” struck Africa. Some people struck it rich. Others made a long, arduous, disappointing search.

One man sold his farm and began trekking through the continent, never finding diamonds.

Meanwhile, on the land the man had sold, the new owner found a strange-looking stone. A visitor noticed it and shouted excitedly, “This is a diamond! It’s one of the largest I’ve ever seen.”
They discovered that the entire farm was covered with gems.

Some people never take the time to see the “gems” in their own families.  So “stop and smell the roses” in your family. Look at God’s love for them. Any gem, of course, may need polishing. But the gem’s there.

So what does Sunday's Word of God have to say to us?In the beginnings of Christianity, a deacon named Philip is traveling to the back-water city of Samaria, proclaiming the “Good News” that Jesus Christ lives. And because Christ lives, we live.

Philip had such remarkable success that the Jerusalem community dispatched Peter and John to Samaria so that they could fire up the newly baptized with the gifts of the Spirit: wisdom (to recognize what truly matters in life), intelligence (to discern what's true), courage (to stand up for what's right), empathy and compassion (for the needy), good judgment, and wonder and awe.

The letter of Peter urges Christians to be patient, especially in adversity, and to speak with “gentleness and reverence.” Like Jesus, if they have to suffer, he asks them to suffer for doing good rather than for doing evil. Jesus is indeed our model.  Remember: in the tragedy of the cross is the triumph of Easter.

Jesus in the Gospel announces his departure from the disciples: his close friends. They feel isolated, alone. But Jesus promises that he still will be with them through the Spirit. He alludes to the mystery of the triune God: Father, Son and Spirit. The triune God lives within us and we live within the triune God. This is called the mystery of the indwelling of God. His presence is as real to us now as it was to the disciples then. The challenge is to find God in our daily lives.

The temptation is that we may tend to isolate God to “church” or “temple.” But God is in all of life: in moments of great joy, in periods of dark sadness, in the nitty-gritty of work. The Gospel invites us to look beneath and beyond ordinary appearances and see the reality of God all around us.

Theodore Roosevelt – author, conservationist, historian, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and 26th President of the United States (the youngest president ever at 42) – had some sound advice when he stated, “A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.”

Roosevelt believed that you found yourself by being involved with everyday life. Like people in the Bible. Yes, let us pray for the grace to find the presence of God everywhere--in ourselves, in other people and in everyday situation-and especially in the nitty-gritty of daily life.

Belief in God is a Good Bet

Caravaggio's Doubting Thomas

We continue to celebrate the Easter miracle for six weeks, despite the coronavirus mantras, e. g, sanitize hands often, maintain social distance and stay home. Our Easter mantra is Jesus Christ lives, and because he lives, we live!

Have you ever witnessed an Easter miracle? A depressed person resurrected to hope; someone with an alcoholic addiction resurrected to sobriety; a troubled marriage resurrected to renewed love; an estrangement bridged; a terrible wrong forgiven.

We can help create little Easter miracles like that. Think about how, and then do it.

Now the word of God carries us back to the beginnings of Christianity, to a community faithful to Jesus Christ – the way, the truth and the life, a community that worshiped together and shared what they had. These early Christians should inspire us to do the same.

The letter attributed to Peter speaks about our new birth in the life-giving waters of baptism: God gifted us with an imperishable heavenly inheritance. Our faith empowers us to overcome hardships and attain our “goal”: salvation, life eternal with the triune God.

In the Gospel according to John, we have a post-resurrection appearance of Jesus in a house where the apostles hide behind locked doors. Jesus suddenly appears here not merely a spirit or ghost; nor was he simply resuscitated. Jesus was the same person that the apostles knew before but his earthly body was transformed. It was, as Pope Benedict XVI phrased, an “evolutionary leap” into a new of spiritual embodiment.

The risen Jesus  then bestows upon the disciples the energizing Spirit, the abiding peace, and the overwhelming mercy of God. But skeptical Thomas wasn’t there. We know little about him, yet “doubting Thomas” is easily identifiable with many people today, because to be human is to question, to ask for concrete evidence.

A week later Jesus appears again, Thomas sees the light and makes that awesome declaration of faith: “My Lord and my God.”

We are born to be in relationship with God. Otherwise, we will experience an emptiness, an unrest, a feeling something is missing. St. Augustine captured this spiritual hunger eloquently: “Our hearts are restless until they can find rest in you, O God.”

We all need a loving, ongoing relationship. But no human relationship will satisfy us completely, because God created us to live in relationship with Him. Yes, God made every human being in His image. Somehow we broke that relationship and clouded that image with sin. Good and bad, generosity and selfishness, light and dark, all live within us.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus re-established our relationship with God through his death/resurrection. Where there was death, we find life. There was an empty tomb, we find hope.

We all cry out for reconciliation and peace, healing and mercy, which we celebrate today— Divine Mercy Sunday. We yearn for truth and peace and justice, and only in Jesus can we truly find it.

Jesus has freed us from death and nothingness so that we can be in relationship with God forever. He founded a church, a community of disciples, to continue God’s work. In this community God transforms us through the sacraments into new creatures, called to live as His sons and daughters.

One final word regarding Thomas the questioner. Various indicators point to God. The order in the universe presupposes an “orderer” like a watch presupposes a watchmaker, hope presupposes a future; and so forth. There are also signs that point to no God—for example, genocide or the holocaust or even pandemic disease. But faith in God is a calculated risk.

Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician, inventor, and philosopher, “wagered” like this:
One does not know whether God exists.
Not believing in God is bad for one’s eternal soul if God does exist.
Believing in God is of no consequence if God does not exist.
Therefore, it is in one’s interest to believe in God. Think about it. In other words, faith in God is a good bet.

At a funeral mass, we hear the words, “For those who believe, life is not taken away, life is merely changed.” Let us pray that our faith in God will empower us to exclaim every day, “My Lord and my God.”

Distant yet Together

Rembrandt's "Raising of Lazarus"

The “distancing” to avoid the spread of the coronavirus has an unintended good effect: it can bring out the best in people. Relatives are checking in on one another more frequently via social media. Neighbors are looking after neighbors via telephone.  People are seeking prayer opportunities via the internet. Pope Francis, e..g., is providing online greetings and “gatherings” for the faithful and the weary worldwide. Seeing images of the Holy Father in a  virtually empty St. Peter’s Square tugs at our hearts and calls us to a deeper unity.

Sunday's Gospel features Lazarus.  At Oxford University, in the lobby of a chapel, there's a statue of Lazarus bound from head to foot.  The image could symbolize who we are and what we should be about:  asking God to untie us from the many things that undermine our relationship with God and one another.  A powerful prayer whenever we enter a church: untie me, God, from attitudes and behaviors that hinder me from becoming my true self.

The word of God this Sunday first carries us back to the sixth century before Jesus. The Hebrews are despondent; Babylonians conquered them, demolished their temple and deported many of them. But Ezekiel proclaims that God will breathe his spirit into the “bones” of the demoralized Hebrews. And the spirit of God will breathe new life into them. They will become new creatures.

That is our destiny and our challenge: to live as new creatures, called to become like God in our attitudes and behaviors.

Paul in his letter to the Christian community at Rome declares that the spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, dwells within us. That spirit can energize us so that we will manifest the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Paul reminds us to pray that the spirit of God transforms us.

In the Gospel according to John, Jesus cries out, “Lazarus, come out of the tomb!” And out comes Lazarus, bound with burial wrappings. Jesus emphasized the raising of Lazarus as a threshold sign in the unfolding of our own salvation history, a sign of his power to give us eternal life; and a promise to put the imperishable on our perishable selves, to put the immortal on our mortal selves.Also, “Jesus wept.” Probably tears of friendship and solidarity.

Jesus gave Lazarus a “second chance.” I always wondered: did Lazarus ever describe what he experienced? Did the “second chance” change Lazarus? We have been given second chances. Are we doing anything differently with the opportunity?

Nothing will separate us from the love of God, to paraphrase Paul's words to the Romans. The triune God lives within us and we live within the triune God.

The Holy Spirit equips us with his gifts so that we can be our best selves: we possess the gifts of wisdom to focus on what truly matters; understanding and knowledge, to probe more deeply into the mysteries of God; counsel to make good moral decisions; fortitude to stand up for what is right; piety to give God praise and worship; and fear of the Lord: a healthy concern never to lose that relationship with God.

In light of Sunday's gospel, we might “shout out” to Jesus: untie me from the attitudes and behaviors that prevent me from becoming my true self: the likeness of God. In this sign and wonder, I pray that God will empower us to leap out of our own death into new life, eternal life within the triune God and one another. Amen.