This week’s memory verse: For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
1 Peter 2:25
Pray the week: Good Shepherd, grant that in the midst of all that confronts me I may hear Your voice, the voice of comfort and protection, the voice of true assurance. Amen.
Lived Victory!
When He has driven out all His own, He walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow Him, because they recognize His voice.
Thank you for joining today as we continue in our Easter joy. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Lost, wandering, confused, despairing, angry, tired.
Considering our Good Shepherd, Jesus, has caused me to reflect on all those times in my life where I was lost and wandering. In different measure we all live through being lost, wandering, confusion, despair, anger, and tiredness.
One night of my life jumps right out at me. I was literally awake all night, that kind of awake where you know sleep will not come, that kind of awake where you cannot even close your eyes. My eyes were wide open, starring at the ceiling.
A lot had gone on – broken relationships, financial difficulties, job worries, my diabetes not in good control at all, a doctor who could only lecture – no help there. It all rushed through my mind, and it did not seem solutions were forthcoming. I couldn’t even despair.
As I mentioned, people go through times like that and if they have even an inkling of hope to overcome it, they start to actively seek a solution.
Now you might ask: ‘Where was your faith?’ On that, there was little of that left. I was away from the Church. I never rejected Jesus – but as I’ve told many people, that was a constant temptation.
So, what happened, how did I overcome? I’ll start with the fact that there was no miracle or amazing revelation. One day, thinking about my faith, I realized I never took it seriously. I never even memorized some of the most basic prayers beyond the Our Faith and Hail Mary.
I will ask you to consider this – that for the first time in my life I really heard the Good Shepherd’s voice and the message – Get serious! That’s what I did, I got serious.
Did my problems go away magically? No. Did I have to work hard? Yes. As I studied my faith, as I memorized those prayers, as I did the work necessary to overcome my troubles, as I went to church each week my life normalized. My week started right, and it made a huge difference to not just have God as an active part of my life, but to truly listen to His voice, to work at walking His path. To seat Him on the throne as God in my life.
Brothers and Sisters, is all solved? Of course not. What has changed is that I am no longer lost, wandering, confused, or despairing. Angry and tired – sometimes – must work more at that, but I know with absolute assurance that when I was at my lowest the Good Shepherd sought me out. He seeks all of us, calls to us, and we innately know His voice.
Wherever we are on the journey of life, wherever we came from, the Shepherd calls to us. Let us listen, not just to listen, but actively engage and follow for a real overcoming.
This week’s memory verse: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1
Pray the week: Lord Jesus, strengthen my faith and grant me confidence in all times and in every situation for You have given me a victory to be lived. Amen.
Lived Victory!
If you invoke as Father Him Who judges impartially according to each one’s works, conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning, realizing that you were ransomed from your futile conduct with the precious blood of Christ.
Thank you for joining today as we continue in our Easter joy. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Let’s talk about faith. It seems recently I have received a lot of questions about faith, or encountered situations in which the answer to the struggle a person is undergoing is faith.
One would think that faith is an easy endeavor. Afterall, Jesus promised that those who believe in Him would have the best gift ever – victory and eternal life, but for some reason it isn’t all that easy.
A person may have all the good things in life – I mean look at HGTV. My wife and I like to watch “Love It or List It.” In the show a family gets the flaws in their current home fixed while they tour new homes. In the end they must decide whether they will love their remodeled home or list it and buy a new one with all the bells and whistles. Simple enough premise, except the people in these situations miss what they have and don’t really appreciate how lucky they are to have it, to be blessed in the ways they are even with the few flaws they may have around them. In their arrogance they miss the fact others have little to nothing – and are yet more grateful than they are.
That’s how faith works. Some see it, understand it, perceive it, and are grateful for it despite the flaws they may have in their lives. Others completely miss it.
This was the story for the disciples on the road to Emmaus. They were so caught up in their own perceptions and drama they forgot to see with eyes of faith. They did not perceive their hearts burning within them. They did not hear the women’s testimony with faith. Jesus was so astounded He would say, “Oh, how foolish you are!” Exclamation mark on purpose.
Now, not to make this too distant from us, think of the tragedy, destruction, horror, pain, and sadness these disciples had gone through. Can we blame them for not seeing with eyes of faith?
We go through those things as well at different times and in different measure. Perhaps it is a situation where everything does not turn out as we planned, when we receive an impossible diagnosis, or when we see that flaw in the place we live and just wish it would get taken care of. It is indeed about how we conduct ourselves during the time of our sojourning. The lesson of Emmaus is to see with eyes of faith, that go beyond the now and focus on our life in Jesus’ victory no matter how things are going or what our worries are.
Our blessings are abundant even in times that challenge because we have victory in Jesus, and we are continually called to live that victory by faith ransomed from our futile conduct with the precious blood of Christ.
This week’s memory verse: Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in Whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:20-22
Pray the week: Lord Jesus, You have given us the Church to express our fellowship in and with You. Grant that we may faithfully live the hope of Your resurrection visibly. Amen.
Lived Victory!
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading,
Thank you for joining today as we continue in our Easter joy. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
In our Epistle today we hear St. Peter speaking of our new birth, our living hope, and our inheritance that is eternal and indestructible. These words are wonderful, and they mark out how we are set apart.
Consider how last Sunday, on the Solemnity of the Resurrection, we saw Peter and John running to the tomb, encountering the victory of Jesus over death, and a bit confused. Remember that we heard the words: they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.
Now the tone has changed, there is confidence, a surety that this wonderful thing God accomplished was not just for Jesus, but for all of us. The disciples encounter with Jesus gave us a new perspective and a wonderful possession – eternal life that we celebrate today.
Our confidence does not come from mere speculation or wishful thinking. It does not come from the fantasy visions of some religious person. It comes from a lived encounter with the resurrected Jesus.
When Jesus entered the place where the disciples were He offered the simple statement: “Peace be with you.” He established that peace by offering His disciples and us confidence – that as His followers we have entered a new Kingdom reality.
The living Jesus, the victor over death left us something precious, the community of faith described in today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
We often speak of our Holy Church as the full expression of the Pristine Catholic faith.
The truth of that statement lies not just in the way we administer the Church, our democratic tradition (All who believed were together and had all things in common). It lies most importantly in the fact that we receive and live – really live – the teaching of the apostles, the communal life, the breaking of bread, and prayers.
Jesus did not want the disciples to go separate ways, to abandon hope or to doubt and have no confidence. So, He left us powerful grace for our assurance, a communal life centered on Him, and His abiding presence. That allows us to live the resurrected promise of Jesus with vigorous faith because we have nothing to fear, we have nothing to doubt.
Let us then embrace confidence and live the victory we possess in perpetual Easter joy knowing that we fully share in living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Come join us for the 19th Annual Basket Social to be held Sunday, April 30th at the South Schenectady Fire House, 6 Old Mariaville Rd, Schenectady, NY 12306 starting at Noon.This year’s Basket Social will feature:
Join us for this wonderful event.
This week’s memory verse: But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57
Pray the week: Lord Jesus, You overcame all things for me. Grant me the grace to see what You have done with clarity of thought and thankfulness of heart. Amen.
Victory!
For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.
Thank you for joining today as we share in Easter joy. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Jesus came to earth to win, to achieve the victory His Heavenly Father intended.
We might find the incredulity of the Apostles and disciples slightly odd. How could they arrive at the tomb and not understand?
Each of the gospel accounts show Jesus telling and indicating to His disciples that He must die and that He would rise – achieve victory. He told them this three times. Not just once, He repeated it.
In John 14:29 as part of the Last Supper narrative we hear Jesus say: And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.
So, what happened? Here we are with those Apostles before the tomb, seeing the victory of Jesus over death and… we hear silence and see a lack of understanding.
Perhaps, the people of Jesus’ time had trouble recognizing true victory much in the same way as we misunderstand victory in our day.
Like us, the Jews of Jesus’ times engaged in games and sports. The Israelites played board games such as chess, checkers, and backgammon. Pieces of clay, parts of bones, or pebbles were used as game pieces. They also had athletic contests in wrestling, running, and discus throwing. They also understood victory on the battlefield – who is a winner and who was looser.
They, like us, viewed winning as a very personal thing. At most winning was achieved as part of a corporate body – a team or army. I won the game. We beat that team. I came in first. We won the battle. We can, as they could in Jesus’ day, say winner and victor in a thousand different ways but it was always personal and one sided.
Jesus came to earth to win, to achieve the victory His Heavenly Father intended. It was not our kind of victory; it was not within the scope of our understanding. How could this man Jesus sacrifice His life and die, not for His own sake, but so that all of us might win?
Jesus’ victory was not a one sided and personal victory – just for Himself, nor a victory for a small team, but victory for all of us, for all of humanity.
That is the glory of God! Jesus took on all our battles and removed all our obstacles. So, we are victorious in Him. We are in the winner’s circle. All the heavy and ugly things in our lives have been carried away in Jesus’ overcoming. Yes, even the challenge of death has been overcome for us. All praise to our victorious King Jesus! He won for us all.
“I have given you a model to follow,
so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”
On this evening we celebrate the three great sacraments that Jesus left for us. They are Penance (the forgiveness of sins), the Holy Priesthood, and the Eucharist – His very body and blood.
Take a look around. To my left, your right, is the Altar of Repose. It is resplendent isn’t it – or at least as resplendent as our human abilities can muster.
Why?
I recall in my much younger days working in church alongside the Felician sisters as they decorated. The side altar decked out in white and gold, tons of lilies around it, very glorious.
I asked them, and probably my mom too, the very same question:
Why?
Let’s take a little detour to Christmas. It wasn’t that long ago. In the very same spot, we had the Szopka, a castle like structure similarly of gold and light. People ask me quite frequently:
Why?
You don’t really “get” the Szopka until you study it closely. If you look inside it, right in the center, is the poverty of the manger. That poverty is not hidden from us at all, yet it is surrounded by glory. Those who came to that poor manger on the night of Jesus’ birth understood the glory of God as well – they could perceive it despite the exigent circumstances.
The same tonight. We receive Jesus’ great gifts, and in a short time His body is taken and placed in the Altar of Repose. The why is exactly as in the Szopka. Jesus was pulled and dragged all around after His arrest. He was hurt and insulted, spat upon, and finally thrown into prison. This altar represents that prison in spite of its exigent circumstances.
Don’t misunderstand, prison for Jesus and in that day was not the Schenectady County Jail, nor even Attica or Sing-Sing. It was a pit, cold, damp, filled with human waste. It was crowded and Jesus likely stood all night in pain, His wounds becoming infected, His sacred head pounding from the blows. The jailers – masters of cruelty. they had their sport with Jesus too.
Yet!
Yet amid all this, as in the midst of the poverty of the manger, Jesus’ light shone. His glory was all around.
The glory of Jesus’ light constantly showed. It showed to the teachers in the Temple. It showed as He opened the eyes of the blind to see – both physically and metaphorically. It showed as He opened the ears of the deaf to hear. It showed in His feeding of the crowds. His light shone as led all in prison to freedom. It shines from the Altar and from the cross. People who encounter Jesus receive and perceive the light of His glory!
We, a people who were once in darkness now live in the light of Jesus’ glory. We who were once not a people at all are now bound together in the great family of Christ. In that dark and hopeless place where Jesus was to spend the night – light entered.
Sadly, those with and around Jesus on that night failed to see His light. They would not open their eyes and they would not hear. They stayed in a far worse prison constructed of anger and hatred. But we, we have encountered Jesus’ light, and we live in it. His light beams in and from us.
As we have received His great gift of forgiveness and the Word, and as we will receive the magnificent gift of His body and blood as His apostles did this very night, let us recognize the glorious light that fills us and surrounds us. Then, as we place His most sacred body into the Altar of Repose let us realize that no external thing can ever suppress Jesus’ light and glory.