Blog Post 4/16/2023 Cycle A - Offered at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Bethlehem, Pa
Peter, John and the rest of the apostles [except Thomas] were doing something very ordinary, they were praying. The simple, mundane tasks of being a parent, of being a member of a family, of being a friend, of being a part of a parish, is the very "work" of God …. The "work" of God is not measured in effectiveness or efficiency; the hallmark of God's work is the compassion and love,
the justice & healing that inspire and compel that work.
The simplest act of kindness and charity … is … the very work of Christ; the most hidden and unseen acts of kindness will be exalted by Christ in the kingdom of his Father. The hard work of being a Christian is filled with sadness and with joy!
The sadness we encounter points us to Christ’s wounds and we know that [one day] they will be turned into joy.
Jesus greeted His disciples: “Peace be with you.” And then, He invited Thomas’ to touch and believe; Thomas response was a great act of faith, of belief, “My Lord & my God!”
“The peace of Christ is realized in loving when it is most difficult to love, in putting aside our own disappointments and doubts for the sake of another, in forgiving when we are too angry or disappointed to forgive, in reaching out when we expect to be rebuffed or rejected.” [Connections April 10, 2010]
The Risen Christ gives us His PEACE to help us and to
help us help our world. At our Easter
Vigil Mass we sang “Create in Me a pure heart, O
God, a willing spirit.”
The “a willing spirit” struck a deep chord in my heart and soul. That seems to me to be the essential call each one of us must answer – “a willing spirit”, to follow Jesus totally.
Thomas recognized Jesus’ divinity through His humanity. Thomas may have received one of the first, if not the first sound bites when he was labeled “Doubting Thomas.” Thomas represents each of us. Our faith and our doubts in Jesus Christ - true man and true God and our willingness to make a leap of faith in Jesus Christ.
Sometimes we doubt when we [or a loved one] faces sickness [my wife Joanne on Holy Thursday admitted to the hospital, she was released yesterday] or death,
when we lose our job or experience economic hardship, when we live with violence, war or terrorism.
Mother Theresa doubted sometimes; even the Popes occasionally doubt. FAITH is leaping with the doubts and through the doubts into the Lord!
Maybe this Story about a 5 year old boy whose house was on fire can aid our understanding: smoke everywhere, he was on the 2nd floor, blinded by the smoke, on the grass outside his window his father could see him clearly and called to him to jump, the boy said he could not see, and his father assured him that he would catch him. “I CAN SEE YOU SON, JUMP & I AM HERE!”
Jesus waits for us when we doubt; He waits for us to jump into His arms and into faith in Him. Unlike Thomas we don’t have Jesus wounds to touch, but we have wounds: our own, and our loved ones. When we touch those wounds with our compassion and our empathy, we touch Christ!
We are profoundly blessed to receive the wounded and resurrected Jesus in the Eucharist. Jesus is the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the Way to everlasting life.
“Create in me, create in me a pure heart, O God, a willing spirit.”
Pope Francis in his book, The Name of God is Mercy, wrote, “Mercy is the divine attitude which embraces, it is God’s giving himself to us, accepting us, & bowing to forgive.” [pp. 7,8]
For a few minutes, in silence, accept God’s mercy and give God your burdens!
May God Be Praised.
No comments:
Post a Comment