It is May and our newsletter has arrived. It is filled with information on so many holy and exciting events as we continue to celebrate the fifty days of Easter. We start by visiting the upper room and study the witness of those who were there, including Mary, the mother of Jesus. We invite you to stand with your family in faith as we celebrate mom and worship together right here in Schenectady. You may view and download a copy right here — May 2014 Newsletter.
Jesus, help me to
see!
Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.†Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.â€
Jesus is here; right now saying, “Peace be with you.â€
The world challenges our faith constantly. As we discussed on Easter, the guards at the tomb had a choice. Would they declare the truth or take the bribe and ignore what really happened? We can imagine that having seen what had happened, taking the bribe was not going to be quite satisfactory. Truth has a way of pushing against our consciences – prompting us to moments where we cannot be peaceful.
Jesus is the reality of heavenly perfection, grace, and truth intersecting with earth. In saying, “Peace be with you.†Jesus is giving a blessing, reassurance, and an instruction to His followers.
The blessing of peace is not a blessing that protects us from all earthly harm or sadness – after all, the apostles all faced struggles, imprisonment, and almost all were martyred for the faith. Jesus’ peace overcame the apostles’ post-crucifixion sadness and remained with them. For us, His blessing of peace surpasses understanding. It is greater than anything we might face. His peace is given to us and is something we own; it is ours forever. His peace is constant and remains with us regardless of what we have faced, have done, will face, or will do. Not even the very depths of pain and sadness can overcome His peace if we believe.
Jesus’ peace is reassuring. The apostles did some pretty horrible things – they abandoned Him, denied Him, were unsure of Him, and may have very well lost all faith in Him. They sit in a locked room, afraid. His peace is their reassurance of forgiveness. We sin in big and small ways – yet Jesus is always prepared to welcome us back and impart His peace if we believe.
The instruction is that His peace will be with us if we acknowledge the truth – the truth of that intersection between heaven and earth. The truth that God sacrificed His Son for us and because of His obedience raised Him from the dead. The truth that, by an act of faith, those regenerated in the waters of baptism were buried with Christ so that they may rise with Him.
When we are faced with challenges, when we fail in sin and error, when we are confronted by the doubt and denial so active in the world, let us recognize the gift of peace Jesus gave us. If we, like the guards, do not feel peaceful then something is wrong in our belief and how we see. Let us “not be unbelieving, but believe†and have His peace.
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb; but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were puzzling over this, behold, two men in dazzling garments appeared to them. They were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground. They said to them, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised.â€
Scripture goes on to tell us:
Then they returned from the tomb and announced all these things to the eleven and to all the others… but their story seemed like nonsense and they did not believe them.
The disciples we incredulous at news of Jesus being risen, and much of the world is incredulous to this day.
If we look at Jesus with human reasoning alone we can make a very strong case that all of this is too incredible to believe.
We do not have the benefit of being among the women who entered the empty tomb, who had the advantage of an explanation from dazzling angels. We do not have the benefit of being in the company of Peter and John as they ran to find an empty tomb. We do not have the privilege of walking along the road to Emmaus with Jesus and having Him reveal Himself in the breaking of the bread. Yet we have the eyes of faith.
Here we are, looking at an empty tomb and hearing the words of the resurrection proclaimed and sung. Here we are, having rushed to church this morning to see the empty tomb. Here we are, to share in the breaking of the bread, and to recognize the reality of the Lord among us.
We aren’t incredulous. We are here, this morning for two important reasons. The first is that we have received the gift of faith. The second is that we continue live, see, and respond because of faith that He is truly risen.
We value the gift of faith – faith in a God that loves us enough that He would sacrifice His Son’s life so that we might have eternal life. Faith that this Christ was more than a prophet, more than a wise man, more than good teacher, but God Himself that came among us, died for us, and because of His obedience to the Father was raised again – showing us our glorious destiny.
Many cannot believe it. If they hear, ‘Christ is risen!’ they respond, ‘No way!’ They remain incredulous. Our faith is foolishness to them.
For us, a people living in faith, the ancient greeting of Easter, the greeting we proclaim to each other is Christ is risen! to which we all reply, He is truly risen!
Please come and join us during Holy Week and Easter. Jesus looks forward to our company during Holy Week as we commemorate His passion and death for us. Having stood by Him through these trials we hold unto the promise that we will rise again with Him.
The schedule below notes all services for Passiontide, Holy Week, and Easter. Please remember that Holy Week is a week of fasting.
It is April and our newsletter has arrived. It is filled with information on so many holy and exciting events. We start by looking at Low Sunday and what fellowship really means. We invite you to take part in this wonderful and holy season, to connect and enter into fellowship with Jesus and us right here in Schenectady. Lots of other news too including new movies, our Basket Social, and legends. You may view and download a copy right here — April 2014 Newsletter.
For I see…
What do you see?
But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.”
Today, our readings and Gospel look at the present and the future.
As Stephen is about to die he looks up and sees Jesus at the right hand of the Father. He is heading toward Jesus, to His loving embrace. Stephen has Jesus with him in his suffering, and because of that forgives his murders. He is also joyful, even in the midst of the stoning, because He knows what the future holds. Stephen is in a moment so totally now, and in his (and our) future.
John is on the island of Patmos. Jesus is speaking with him once again in terms that can be read as very now, in the present, and for the future. Jesus tells John that He is the Alpha and the Omega – timeless. He also tells John: “Behold, I am coming soon.â€
We look at these statements and from them understand that Jesus is ever present, always with us and is also the ultimate goal, our promised future. John knows that Jesus is his present and future. To him Jesus is a joy, better than any other thing the world can offer.
Jesus is delivering His farewell address to His disciples just before the road that will lead Him to Calvary. He is reminding them that they are bound to Him by their knowledge and love, by their unity. They have the reality of God living with and in them, ever present, ever now. They also hear that they have a share in the future reality of God – the kingdom and paradise.
Like Stephen, like John, we need to listen to Jesus and rely on this reality – that He is with us in this moment, in the present, and is not just as a goal or someone we will meet in the future. Also, that we have a share in a wonderful future that surpasses any suffering or difficulty.
Our mothers have seen what Stephen and John saw. They brought us into the Holy Church so that we would see these things, so that we might listen to Jesus and understand a moment so totally now, and a vision for our future.
Because of their faith and the instruction they provided for us we were given an opportunity. When asked, ‘What do you see?’ how will we answer? If we took mom’s lessons to heart we can say: “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.” Saying that we can offer this vision to others. We can let them know about Jesus who is with us now and is our future.
Not another meeting!!!
Yes, just like the apostles.
And when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.
Any organization faced with questions and debate can choose between several courses of action. They can choose to let the boss decide. They can appoint a committee to study the issue and make recommendations. They can have open debate and discussion and still let the boss decide the outcome. They might meet and reach a consensus decision and act in accordance with that decision.
The early Church was not immune to questions and debate. How did they settle those?
We read that Paul and Barnabas were faced with questions and debates in the faith communities they served. They didn’t play the ‘I’m the apostle and I say so’ card. They didn’t appoint a commission to study the issue and give recommendations. Rather, they returned to the center of the Church in Jerusalem where the Church gathered in Council (or Synod) to decide on the matter collectively.
There is one key reason for doing this. The Church can only decide on important issues when it is assembled as one. When it exhibits this physical unity – gathered in Holy Synod – it also exhibits the fact that it is more than a corporation, company, club, or group. It shows the unity it has in the Holy Spirit. In Holy Synod the Church exhibits the unifying and guiding power of the Holy Spirit. The Church does not decide for itself just because. It decides as the Holy Spirit guides it to decide.
Our Holy Church closely adheres to the principals of the early Church in its democratic process. At the local level we gather during annual meetings and regular parish committee meetings to decide as guided by the Holy Spirit. We seek input and guidance from each member of the parish, because the Holy Spirit lives in us individually and most importantly as a collective body – the Body of Christ. Our diocese and the entire Church gather regularly in Holy Synod to exhibit both our physical unity and the underlying unity we have in the Holy Spirit. We trust that when gathered in meetings like these we are more that just a parish, just an organization. We are the Body of Christ, the Holy Church.
Another meeting, question, or debate? Greet each with joy as His disciples, His body, and see the Holy Spirit at work.
A new heaven and earth?
What’s wrong with this one?
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Change is a challenge to us in some of its forms.
Of course we tend to ignore the small or insignificant changes around us because we might not even notice them. The grass grew a few millimeters – we wouldn’t see it, but eventually we notice that its time to mow. Bigger changes confront us and we have to deal with them. It may be a move, new job, a pending graduation, retirement, or a decline in health. These changes unsettle us and may cause us stress.
Today we are confronted with God’s ultimate change – the dissolution of EVERYTHING and the coming of a new heaven and earth.
St. John paints this beautifully in the poetry of Revelation. We see the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. The city is prepared as the new home where God and His people dwell together. God comes to us to live in this new place – talk about a big move. There we are joined with Him in a joy that knows no bounds. All that hinders and hurts us is cast off and there will be no more tears, death, mourning, crying, or pain.
We, as Christians, are called to be an eschatological people. It is a big word, but means that we are a people in touch with this new heaven and earth. We are a people who live in the present, but also live in this time-to-come. We are a people that cannot wait for this change.
When we gather, particularly at Holy Mass, and in the sharing of the Holy Eucharist in communion, we are at once in many places. Instantly we are at the Last Supper, the foot of the cross, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and at the new heaven and earth.
Because we live in all of these places when we “Do this in remembrance†of Him, we are to have no fear, no stress over this coming change. In fact, we are to rejoice in it and pray unceasingly for its coming. We already live there and want to see its fulfillment.
There are many who wish to paint horrific pictures and stories about this moment to come, to instill fear, to make it stressful. Don’t be fooled. We who are His people need only have confidence that all the wrongs, tears, and pains of what we have are nothing compared to the joy to come. Come Lord Jesus!
I can’t hear you.
Just turn it down a little.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.
Spending time with Jesus is a wonderful experience. Over the past few weeks we listened to the Gospels that tell us of the times the disciples spent with Jesus after the resurrection: Time on the road to Emmaus, time in the locked room, and time at the beach. The Acts of the Apostles tell us that: To them he presented himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days, and speaking of the kingdom of God. That plus the three years they had spent with Him during the time of His public ministry was a gift.
In spending time with and listening to Jesus we come to a more robust understanding of the kingdom of God just like the disciples of those days.
I had a priest friend who told me that he spent at least one hour every night praying and listening before the Blessed Sacrament. He noted that to most people the time would seem to leave little remaining for accomplishing tasks during the day. What he found was that he actually had more time, was more productive, and did better ministry.
If we look at the cartoon below (thank you Facebook friends), we see a sheep lounging, with iPod headphones on, the radio going, a magazine, computer, and a television. He is so busy, so distracted, that he cannot hear the Shepherd’s voice. He wonders to himself why he hasn’t heard from the Shepherd.
Jesus tells us, My sheep hear my voice. This isn’t something that magically happens. We don’t have an automatic turn-off switch that kicks in when Jesus wants to say something to us. We have to make an active listening effort. We need to set aside the distractions AND the worries and seek Jesus’ voice.
Let’s consider our lives like a radio that needs to have its station tuner adjusted every-so-often. We need to re-tune ourselves. That effort starts every Sunday morning in church. We need to set time apart to tune ourselves in to God’s word and the amazing graces He offers us through the sacraments of penance, His word, and the Eucharist. From there we need to make an active effort to fine tune ourselves each day in prayer, or scripture reading, or some other spiritual exercise (including shutting everything off and sitting down, saying to Jesus, ‘Here I am Lord, ready to listen.’)
If we make this effort we will receive the eternal life Jesus promised, in even greater abundance right here and now, and nothing will keep us from Him.
Lord, is it You?
Come and have breakfast.
After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tibe’ri-as
Hey, I’m going fishing. Want to come? Sure Peter, let’s do it!
We’ve been here all night and we’re coming up empty. It’s been great hanging out, but let’s head… hold on, there’s someone on the beach. Wait, He’s saying something. What? Cast over the other side? Uh, ok.
Look at this, a huge load of fish. Wait, this seems familiar. Look, it’s the Lord. Peter, it’s the Lord.
We can all picture ourselves in this scene. I can picture the morning sun on the water, the boat a little offshore, the scent of the charcoal fire and the fish cooking.
I always think how beautiful it would be to be there that morning. Recognizing Jesus after we had been separated for some time. His invitation to “Come and have breakfast.” Sitting on the beach with the Lord, having the breakfast He prepared, listening to Him, just being in His presence.
This breakfast is much like our everyday lives.
In today’s Gospel we see that Jesus “showed himself,†“revealed Himself,†“manifested Himself,†or even “clarified Himself†to the disciples. John uses the verb “reveal†twice in today’s Gospel. As far as the Gospel of John is concerned, he notes, This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. The third time must have been the “charm†because John doesn’t recount any of the other appearances, even though Luke and Acts tell us that Jesus kept appearing to them over the course of 40 days. John’s Gospel and Letters use the verb “reveal†eighteen times in total. Compared to the two times it is used in the other three gospels, Jesus’ re-revelation must have been an important concept to John.
We are blessed because this process of re-revealing is not over. The Holy Spirit is constantly re-revealing Jesus to us. Not through spooky “appearances,†but in our hearts.
Like the disciples, sometimes we miss it, don’t get it or get separated. We need to be reminded of the cost of our redemption and the joy that is within our reach. As we walk through our everyday tasks, in our jobs, at home, in our hobbies and pastimes (even fishing) we may well forget the presence of Jesus, His closeness to us, and the fact that He wants us to recognize Him in all things. Jesus is waiting for us to get it, to see Him.
In every moment of our lives we need to recognize Jesus. From breakfast to bed recognize Him.