V Sunday of Easter, Cycle C

Act 14:21-27
Ps 145:8-9, 10-11, 12-13
Rev 21:1-5a
Jn 13:31-33a, 34-35

Being the fifth week after Easter it may difficult to maintain the joy and spirituality of the season; much like during Lent it was difficult to maintain the penances and persevering in “somberness”.  Sometimes it is good to go back and examine where we’ve come, give our present joy some context of why we are joyful, why we must rejoice in the risen Lord.  Today’s readings help us in giving that insight.   All of you are in different places in your life.  You could be quite joyful because it is Easter, it is Spring, you might have a new job or something that is moving you in that way.   Or you could be in a not so good place.  Life isn’t going the way you would like it and you are undergoing some hardship with yourself or in the family.  The context of our readings will give us a deeper understanding to the events not only in scripture, but also in how we look at what is happening in our life.  In our readings today, it seems like what is not proclaimed helps us to understand what was proclaimed.

In the first reading we basically hear about the journey of St. Paul and Barnabas traveling around the Mediterranean; it sounds like a highlight reel of his vacation.  Paul says this one line to the people, exhorting them to persevere in the faith, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”  If someone was going through a tough time in their life and they came across just this one line, it would really provide little consolation.  It almost sounds like he is saying, “Life is tough… get over it.”  But if you look at a few verses before this passage you will see that Paul and Barnabas had just traveled into foreign Gentile territory, healed a man miraculously, and the pagan locals tried to turn them into gods calling them Zeus and Hermes.  As the two was trying to evangelize and turn them to the REAL God, some detractors showed up and convinced the locals to try and stone them.  They were stoned, dragged out of the city, and left for dead. They barely got out alive.  Suddenly Paul’s words of the necessity of undergoing hardship sound a little bit more realistic.

In the second reading from Revelation, we hear the beautiful account of the former heaven and earth passing away to make way for the New Jerusalem: God dwells with the human race; and He will be our God, and we His people.  That sounds like good news!!  Again this sounds all well and good but we don’t have the full picture.  This passage comes from the end of Revelation and as you know, the beginning and middle parts don’t quite sound as beautiful and majestic.  There are a lot of bad things happening before we get to the end!!  Basically a lot of suffering and tribulation – it isn’t over until the Second Coming and that is when the new heavens and the new are formed, with the New Jerusalem, the heavenly city.

Lastly, we come to the Gospel where I got stuck on the very first part of the first verse. When Judas had left them, Jesus said… Why include that?  What does Judas have to do with Jesus and the integrity of the passage about loving one another?  There has to be something significant to Judas leaving and Jesus continuing with His discourse saying, Now is the Son of Man glorified… Nothing is put into John’s Gospel without some sort of signification and so look at what happens up to this point.

If you will remember at the beginning of the Gospel, we hear about this Nicodemus, the Pharisee, coming to visit Jesus.  Nicodemus for fear of reprisal from his colleagues meets Christ in the dark of night and they begin to talk about salvation – being born again of water and spirit.  This is a beautiful passage of our faith in John’s Gospel.  But what makes it even more beautiful is the context in which it occurs. Nicodemus seeing Christ in the dark of night and then the scriptures say that he leaves in the light of day.  He was in darkness, he leaves in the light. We contrast this with Judas, a follower of Christ who is in the presence of the light who leaves Christ in the dark of night.

 [ASIDE:  In addition what does he do before he leaves?  He receives a morsel of food from Jesus Himself!!!  Scholarship is on the fence of this action of Judas receiving morsels from Christ because it is too close for comfort in the theology of the Eucharist and the Last Supper.  But if, for the sake of example, Judas receives the Eucharist from Jesus and then goes out into the dark of night to betray Christ, think of the implications.  But let’s not let this be a lesson on how bad Judas is, but rather be a lesson in what we do!  Don’t we do the same all the time?  We prepare ourselves to receive Christ, we fast one hour before receiving Holy Communion, we dress our best, and pay attention and say our prayers reverently and faithfully.  But after communion, what happens?

I know some of you want me to preach about the “Judas shuffle”.  You know the folks that go straight from the communion line to the parking lot?  But we are mature Christians and so making mature decision. I am give people the benefit of the doubt that those who leave early probably received a text that their house is on fire or that they have an acute IBS or something.  But seriously, my concern is beyond the parking lot.  I desire that all of you, when you get home or go to work, that you try to truly understand what you have received in Holy Communion: the body and blood of Jesus Christ.  What does that mean besides a nice warm fuzzy feeling of community?  It means actually living it out, being radically transformed and converted to Him.  To grow in likeness to Him, imitate Him, and bring Him closer to your life and to those around you.  But I digress… going back to Judas leaving. ]

In order for the Son of Man to be glorified, Judas had to betray Jesus.  Jesus had to be arrested, tried, found guilty though innocent, tortured, beaten, scourged, crowned with thorns, mocked, crucified and finally died.  Jesus had to suffer Good Friday before He could rise to Easter Sunday.  Sin entered the world through Adam, Christ redeems the world through His Cross.  Judas’ act of betrayal sets in motion the events that would lead to our redemption.  And so in His glory, He offers us the Eucharist and these beautiful words of exhortation:  Love one another as I have loved you. We have been chosen and we must choose to follow Christ every day.  We come to Christ, who is our Light, and leave in the light of day, not in the dark of night.   We love, not by our standards or the world’s standards that is the darkness.   But we love by Christ’s standards – He is the light that shines in our path and guides us.

The journey goes on every day.  Every day there should be a conversion to Him, there is a newness to your relationship with Christ.  I invite you all to encounter it.  In this way we can discover and experience the full meaning of Paul’s words, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”  And that the reward of the Kingdom is great – no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, where every tear will be wiped away.  We look back at how far we have come, we look forward to see how far we must go; knowing and hoping for the eternal reward of Heaven and a life with Him to move us onward.

IV Sunday of Easter, Cycle C

Act 13:14,43-52
Ps 100:1-2, 3, 5
Rev 7:9, 14b-17
Jn 10:27-30


The Gospel reading for the Fourth Sunday of Easter always speaks of Christ as the Good Shepherd.  And so fittingly, today is often called Good Shepherd Sunday.  It is also the fiftieth anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.  Earlier this week, we had the Marian Dinner where women gathered from around the diocese to learn more about the vocation to the religious life.  And just yesterday the Diocese of Dallas ordained four men to the order of Deacons.  They will go on in their studies and next year, God willing, will be ordained priests for the Diocese of Dallas.  Last night, we had a St. Andrew’s Dinner at St. Ann’s in Coppell where we had over 35 men from all around the diocese come to learn just a little bit more about what it means to be called to the priesthood.  There has really been a lot of activity in vocations this past week and I am really excited about the future of our Church.

However, this past week we have also had a week of tragedy and it seems out of place to be talking about such things that are far from our minds as vocations.  Our nation has been rocked with the Boston Bombing and the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas; and abroad – earthquakes, civil unrest, and threats of war in Asia.  I am sure you watched these events with eyes glued to the television, getting the latest news and unfolding of what happened next.  And yet in the midst of our grief, our shock, and sadness, events like these always prompt us to ask the tough questions in our lives:  Where is God in all of this?  What is happening to this world? Why does life seem so bleak?  And yet quietly we hear the voice of the Good Shepherd:  My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish…. 

Brothers and Sisters in Christ – it is precisely because of events like these in this past week that we need to promote vocations and for all young men and women to think about, to pray about the priesthood and the religious life.  Our world needs these super heroes to be a witness of God’s ever-loving care and mercy.  In the book of revelation, we read:

They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands…. the elders said to me, ‘These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb….’ 

Since the beginning of the Church, men and women have offered their life and their lives to the preaching of the Gospel being a light to the nations.  They have washed their baptismal robes in the blood of the Lamb – the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  The martyrs and saints that have gone before us have won the victory and so they hold their palm branches in joy. Though we may be more “civilized” today than back then, we know the atrocities and the potential for destruction is incredibly more dangerous than ever before.  The world today needs men and women to open their hearts to the calling of the Good Shepherd to literally lay down their life for Him.

I hear quite often that there is a “vocations crisis” and that we just need to allow priests to get married and that will solve all our problems.  I agree that we do have a shortage of priests but I strongly disagree about changing the discipline of the married priesthood.  Here is a very simple reason why:  If the priesthood and the religious life is about living an extraordinary life – the radical call to discipleship through evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience – if that life is about living extraordinarily how does making available the option of marriage (which occurs day in and day out) challenge others to this extraordinary vocation?  It would simply make the consecrated vocation to be folded within the married vocation.  At a time when the married vocation is suffering so much, couples look to the priests and the religious to help them in their marriage vocation.  They see the inspiration in priests and religious – to see how one should have that personal relationship with Christ.  The priests and religious look to the married to see the communal relationship in the Trinity.  Why change the game or lower the bar - just so more people can get in?  Let’s not forget we already have ordinary heroes day in and day out.  The challenge of chastity says something.  It says that this man is worth listening to because he is willing to sacrifice something that is so personal and so natural for something supernatural.  We need super heroes for the ordinary everyday heroes – all of you.

Yes, I believe there is a vocations crisis; but not a crisis in the sense that we have a shortage of priests and religious.  But a crisis in our first and primary call of vocation: holiness.  We have a crisis in that secularism, materialism, the corruption of power, and the infidelity in the family has caused so much hurt, suffering and anguish because we have failed to promote the vocation to holiness.  We have failed to live out the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love and the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and courage.  Our prayer life – our relationship with God has suffered, and that has caused the loss of faith and hope, and when we are lukewarm we lose the drive to love.  Then all the other virtues, one by one fall to the wayside.  I cannot say what exactly was the cause of the tragedy in Boston and West, but I can say that the heroes that responded and rushed in to help were the ones that heard the call of the Good Shepherd to do extraordinary things.  It is a devastating cycle, but one that can be broken through discovering great and awesome shepherds – ones that are willing to lead and guide the flock of Jesus Christ, especially in the priesthood and the religious life.  One of the less talked about solutions to this vocational crisis to holiness is when men and women step up in courage and hear the call of the Good Shepherd and serve Him in the priesthood and consecrated life.

Where do vocations come from?  They come from you: the family; they come from our own neighborhoods and community.  Look around you – the young person sitting near you could be the next priest, the next religious brother or sister.  The seeds of the faith and the cultivating of the vocation come from you parents. Encourage your children to consider the priesthood and the religious life and be open to a life of holiness yourself.  Consider that a life dedicated to God for we the faithful so that we may have a sign of hope, a sign of extraordinary faith, and a sign of extraordinary love.  Our super heroes of priests, deacons, religious brothers and sisters have all been incredibly inspiring in our lives have they not?  They have helped shaped us and formed to who we are today.  Why not promote and/or consider your children or yourself as being an instrument of God’s peace and love in the world?  My parents did not lose grandchildren when they offered me to the Church – they gained an incredible family.   In the same way, I did not lose my wife and kids when I chose to follow Christ in the priesthood I gained all of ya’ll:  I didn’t have twins, I had five thousand-tupulets!!

For me, in my 323rd day as a priest – there is not a day that goes by that I have not been thankful for God’s calling in my life.  Who am I – why did He choose me?  There are so many more qualified men out there to do His work. When I stand here at this altar holding the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ in my hand, when I assume the person of Jesus Christ – the one who suffered that horribly beautiful passion, that ignominious death, and that glorious Resurrection – I ask who am I to do something so powerful, so beautiful, so wonderful, and so incredible for one who has loved me so much?  The truth is: No one is truly worthy of it and yet He still asks and commands us to do so in Mass.

As Jesus offered Himself to the Father as the high priest and the victim of sacrifice, I assume that role too.  I offer my life and that which is most sacred in me and that has been gifted to me: my obedience, my way of life, and my celibacy to the Father.  Among priests, it is said that the day of your ordination is your Palm Sunday – the rest of your life as a priest is your Good Friday.  The day before my ordination, I prayed as Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.  I desired to intimately unite my future life as a priest with Christ’s priesthood:  Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done.  Who I am today – as a priest of Jesus Christ – is not because of my own merit (I know my failings and my unworthiness) it is because I was open to whatever He had in store for me.  I pursued a relationship with Christ and He gave me the courage, strength, and perseverance to do it.

Today I encourage you to consider the priesthood, consider the religious life.  It is a radical call, it is a tough call, but it is one that has a boundless reward filled with blessing.  Not a day goes by where I do not feel His blessings and see His blessings come down on others.  This is an incredible gift and one that I desire to share with you too.  Consider it, pray for it, and listen to our Good Shepherd:  My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

III Sunday of Easter, Cycle C

Act 5:27-32, 40B-41
Ps 30:2, 4,5-6,11-12,13
Rev 5:11-14
Jn 21:1-19

It is hard to imagine that it has been four weeks since we have celebrated Palm Sunday; it seemed so long ago.  And yet today we are bringing some closure to a little side story to what happened during the proclamation at the Gospel.  It is for me, one of the toughest parts to hear and what I am talking about is Peter’s Three Denials.  I could never get through that part of it without some sort of physiological reaction in moistening the ocular region from my lacrimal gland.  It was really tough to hear.  Peter is one of our heroes.  He was the one that was always first in line to defend our Lord, declared Him the Messiah, and was always listed first among the other Apostles.  He was one of our protagonists and when you read about how he denies Jesus THREE TIMES, pitifully at that, you can’t help but be disappointed in the hero.

However for me, it’s more than that.  If we were just spectators, we would be disappointed.  But in some sense we have to sympathize with dear Peter because his behavior and the way he followed Christ is just so human - reflecting our behavior as well.  In the good times we are "BFFE" with Christ, we are bold in our proclamation of the Gospel when we are with Christ, and we are ready to die for Him.  But when Peter’s best friend and Lord was arrested – the one whom he had sworn to protect, defend, and fight for – he denied him.  He chickened out and the rooster crowed.  That regret is incredible; it is infidelity to the highest level, probably right up there with Judas the betrayer.  As any couple who has suffered with infidelity on any level but especially with an affair, you might have an idea of what Peter was going through.   The difference with Peter though, was that he struggled forward, he had to live with it whereas Judas despaired and could not move forward, but turned inward.  I can imagine Peter being visibly shaken every time he heard a rooster crow (and back then there were lots of roosters).  It was a constant reminder of his sin, his denial and rejection of his Lord and Savior until today’s Gospel.
 
Three times Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?”; three times He asked him.  The first time Peter probably thought what a silly thing, “Of course I love you”, the second time he probably was getting suspicious, and the third time the distress was really there; bringing to light the sin that had been buried and had now been freed.  Can you imagine the burden of that sin being lifted off his shoulders?  What an incredible reconciliation of Peter with Christ, the one whom he had rejected and denied only weeks before!  Nothing says total forgiveness than receiving it from the one you had offended does it?

But that is not the end of the story.  After forgiveness and reconciliation comes a specific charge for Peter – a special task that was entrusted to him:  “Feed my lambs, Tend my sheep, Feed my sheep.”  Out of forgiveness comes not only healing but a strengthening to do better.  To not only do better but to be the best – the best that God has called you to be.  [The last words of the Gospel call Peter and implicitly us to Him with an even greater love and devotion and abandoning our younger immature ways:

“Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”

It is a calling of sacrifice and hardship, but one that is driven out of love for our Lord.  We can do great things out of love!]

In our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, you can see Peter now in action! What does he say to the Temple authorities? “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our ancestors raised Jesus, though you had him killed by hanging him on a tree.  What boldness we hear from Peter – he’s not afraid to make the accusation.  But then he offers recourse: God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins.” He was bold in his accusation, but also bold in proclaiming that sin could and would be forgiven if they had repented.  This would have been true regardless of whether the authorities were responsible for Jesus’ death or not.  But they were so concerned about appearing to be sinless when their real opportunity to be sinlesss was right in front of them through repentance.  Forgiveness was and is offered for the world through Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection.  All we have to do is repent and change our ways to experience that healing forgiveness.

I do not have an incredible conversion story like St. Peter or St. Paul, but I do know what it has been like to be redeemed, healed, and lifted up out of the depths of my sin to a greater purpose and that is why I stand here as a priest today.  (More on that next week!)

Peter’s journey is an incredible journey of coming to faith, failing at the faith, but also coming back to the faith, believing, and being a true Apostle of Jesus Christ.  Peter shows us by his very example of the fickleness of our humanity and the strength that comes from Jesus Christ.  This is a radical change for Peter and one that we should imitate.  Several weeks ago Peter denied Christ three times, ashamed for his association with Him and the Name and afraid of the repercussions and consequences.  Today, he is no longer ashamed and no longer afraid.  Peter and the Apostles rejoiced that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.  The name of course is Jesus Christ - the Lamb that was slain, the Lamb that received blessing, honor, glory and might, forever and ever. Amen!