Our Destination: Home with God

Rembrandt's Storm on the Sea of Galilee

Happy Mother's Day.  My prayer for all mothers is this: May the Lord bless and keep you. May He show his face to you and have mercy upon you. May He turn his countenance to you and give you peace. Kudos to all mothers for all you do.

In Sunday's Gospel, Jesus says we have a dwelling place with God. What precisely will this place be like? We don’t know! In death, we will have to let go of our earth-bound existence, with unconditional trust that God will bear us away within himself forever.

Sunday's word of God in the Book of the Acts takes us back to the beginnings of Christianity. The early Church is beginning to diversify. The challenge then and now is how to stay united as we diversify.

Suddenly in today’s passage, a problem arises: the community is neglecting some people in need. The community solves the problem by ordaining some as deacons. The Greek word diakonia means service. And that is why the Church continues to have so many agencies that do so much good for others, especially the needy.

The letter of Peter evokes the image of a spiritual house, a living temple of God. The living Christ is the cornerstone or center of this community.  And we are the stones.

One of my favorite images of the church, one of the oldest, is a boat. We are on a journey, with
a map and stormy weather, people slipping, survivors being pulled in, mutinies, getting off
course, being attacked. A boat needs a captain. Peter didn't seem ideal, yet what his crew and
subsequent crews managed to do has lasted over two thousand years. Today there are more than 1.2
billion Catholics.

Perhaps we might best describe the Church as a community who believe in God as Triune
and in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the redeemer of humankind, and who shape their lives
according to that belief; a community which remembers that belief ritually in the Eucharist, and
recognizes the Bishop of Rome as the foundation of its unity.

Like many things in life, this global community lives with some messiness and muddles through as best it can. We continually have to strive to do the right thing, to forgive, to let go of feelings of resentment and bitterness and, as the prophet Micah said centuries before Jesus: "do right and love goodness and walk humbly with our God."

We remember and celebrate the awesome presence of the Living Christ, gloriously alive, in our midst. He is our way into eternal life, our true Good News who scatters the “fake news” all around us, and our life who overcomes death. We retell the stories of Jesus;we  celebrate the sacramental presence of the living Christ in liturgical signs. The same Spirit who transformed the disciples from cowards hiding behind closed doors into heroes proclaiming fearlessly that Jesus is alive, that same Spirit lives within our global community, within us, and can fire us up to do wonders for God if we will only let the Spirit do so.

Jesus Christ is gloriously Alive

Delacroix's Christ on the Sea of Galilee

Happy Mother's Day! I remember my mother as one of my best cheerleaders. Moms encourage, mentor, teach, and patiently listen. And the most important thing a mother can give? Unconditional love! We can never fully measure such love. Thank you for all you do on behalf of family life.

The word of God describes St. Paul’s first missionary journey through the country we know as Turkey. Paul and Barnabas first told the Jews the good news: Jesus Christ is gloriously alive and because He lives, we live forever.  This good news outraged some in the synagogue.
Then Paul and Barnabas proclaimed the Gospel to the Gentiles, the non-Jews. God gifted these people with faith in Jesus. They repented, were baptized and focused their lives on God.

This Easter season, we have been meeting different biblical personalities.

Today we meet Paul, also known by his Jewish name, Saul. Born in Tarsus, southeast Turkey, he was well educated in Judaism and Greco-Roman philosophy. He was by trade a tent-maker. But he was a rabid persecutor of Christians.

Suddenly, enroute to Damascus, Paul was struck by an amazing visionary experience of Jesus, gloriously alive. This turned Paul’s life upside down. He became one of the greatest evangelizers: established Christian faith communities, authored letters shaping the history of Christian thought, and eventually was beheaded by order of the emperor Nero.

Paul and the apostles lived and died for their communities. Our response is gratitude to God for our community, which gives a virtuous purpose to our lives. A few good reasons why I’m grateful:

 We are a worldwide community, a diverse family that celebrates the presence of the living Christ in our liturgies and especially in our Eucharist. Yes, the triune God abides in us, and we abide in God.

We are people of the good news, servants of God’s people. My favorite image of the Church is Peter’s fishing boat. We’re on a journey, with a map, stormy weather, people slipping overboard, survivors, mutinies, sometimes off course, attacked. And a boat of course needs a captain: if everybody grabs the wheel, we’re all in trouble.

 We are a community with splendid heroes. Consider the litany of saints. These men and women lived the beatitudes. They recognized who they are (creatures of an all-mighty Creator); they sought God in their daily lives. They were peacemakers, bridge-builders.

We are a community moved to serve the basic needs of the poor. Think of Jesus’s many examples and teachings, for example Matthew chapter 25. Yes, we are the mystical body of Christ attempting to meet people’s needs.

Alas we are also a community of saints and sinners. Some people behave scandalously; they make a mess out of their lives and the lives of others  So, we have to muddle through as best we can and stay true to Jesus who is our way, our truth and our life.

The word of God, for example the Acts with its narrative about the missionary journeys of Paul, prompts us to thank God for the heroes and heroines before us, and for the faith community to which we belong. Yes, be grateful and confident, and invite others to the spiritual resources, the “living waters” of this faith-filled community of service.