We hear in John’s Gospel today that the disciples were hiding behind locked doors “for fear of the Jews” – I used to think that they were a bunch of cowards for hiding – maybe some of you might think so too – but now I believe their actions where justified. They had every right to be afraid – they had just witnessed their teacher – Jesus – lynched and crucified by an angry mob set loose by the Jewish leaders.
I am certain that they feared for their own safety – they had every reason to believe that the Pharisees that had plotted against Jesus might very well now be plotting to have them killed too – and why not, even though they deserted Jesus and ran away, they were still His disciples – and as such they were a potential threat to their religious authority – just like Jesus had been.
Stepping back – just for a moment though – from the disciples hiding in that room for fear of the Jews – it is interesting to compare the events that took place in Jerusalem that Passover week – to the events that take place in each of our lives – a little less than just two weeks ago Jesus and His disciples triumphantly entered Jerusalem – and today Jesus is dead and His disciples are in hiding.
Isn’t that just like our lives sometimes? Everything can be going along just fine and then out of the blue something bad happens to us – we find out we lost our job, or a friend has cancer or someone we love has accidentally died or committed suicide – and it shakes us to our very core – and our faith is tested – perhaps we question why God if He is so good would allow such a terrible thing to happen to us – perhaps we question if God even exists and whether we were foolish to believe in Him. How quick we are to doubt, how little is our faith – that when the going gets tough and our faith is really put to the test – we would doubt – perhaps it is the strength of our faith that is the only difference between us and the saints.
There is a saying that there aren’t any atheists in foxholes – that when our lives are in danger we cry out to God – but when something bad happens to us – instead of crying out to God, we tend to cry out AGAINST God – why God if you are so good did you let this happen to me – well there’s your answer – look and mediate on the cross and what happened to God’s only Son – that is your answer.
Being a good practicing Catholic – being a saint even – is no insurance policy against bad things happening to us or our loved ones – for it is in our trials and tribulations that our love, that our dedication, that our integrity and our faith are truly put to the test – anyone that has been married for any amount of time realizes that it isn’t all just a bed of roses and that is why the marriage vows include “in good times and in bad – in sickness and in health” because bad things do happen and the only solitude and strength we can experience is not in a weak faith – but in a strong faith – the disciples hiding in that room weren’t cowards – but their faith was weak. So the first question we have to ask ourselves today is – how strong is our faith?
Isn’t it interesting how when things are going good we tend to take life (our health, our loved ones, even our freedom or the price of gasoline) for granted and perhaps forget to give thanks to God for all the many blessings in our lives? We let our guards down and for some reason we think we are or should be immune from the bad things in life. And we begin or continue to take all our blessings for granted and think of them as things we are entitled too. Perhaps if we appreciated more the blessings in our lives we could then be better able to cope with the bad things when they do come along – perhaps we wouldn’t then blame those bad things on God.
The disciples in that room were afraid, but they weren’t cowards – their heads were spinning from the events that had taken place that week, and that they didn’t know what to do. They didn’t understand that Jesus had to die and then rise again – and their faith in Jesus was shaken and that they might have been on the verge of going back to their old ways of living and livelihood – disappearing if you will – becoming once again just another face in the crowd – members of the silent majority – safe and sound back in the places that the world had originally set out for them before this Jesus came along and upset their lives.
Maybe that is how some of us feel sometimes when it isn’t popular to be Catholic – maybe we just want to disappear into the crowd and not be noticed – maybe we are reluctant to speak up or stand out. But we can’t hide anymore than those disciples could.
What the disciples didn’t realize was that they had been called, what they didn’t realize was that they had been set aside, that they no longer belonged to this world but they belonged to Christ – and that He is a jealous God who thirsts for our souls.
They didn’t realize that it was God’s plan that His only Son would be rejected, that He would be convicted, and that He would be crucified – what they didn’t realize though was that God’s plan for Jesus didn’t end there on the cross – Jesus would die and be buried, He would conquer death, He would rise again, and He would be exulted – that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend – of those in heaven and on the earth and under the earth.
What they didn’t realize was that Jesus had made them a part of all that – there was no turning back for them – and what we have to realize today is – that through our baptism each of us have been made a part of that too, each of us have been called to be a part of God’s plan for salvation – and there is no turning back for us either.
Oh we can hide like the disciples did – we can reject Jesus like Judas did that is exactly what the world would have us do – but we belong to Him – we have been called – we have been anointed – we have been set aside – and if we give our lives over to Him – though His death and His resurrection – we can share in God’s glory and peace and experience His kingdom forever – and just like the disciples who received the Holy Spirit – we too have received it – God is with us – and we can do great things – but only if we give ourselves to Christ and let Him work through us.
In our first reading from the Acts of the Apostle – those guys who were hiding in the room for fear of the Jews – who after encountering the our risen Lord and after Christ breathed on them and they received the Holy Spirit – found the courage and strength to go out into the world – even when their lives were in danger – and proclaim Christ crucified – we find that they worked many signs and wonders among the people in His name – and that through their actions – great numbers of men and women were added to their numbers – the second question we need to ask ourselves today is how many people have we added to our numbers?
In some ways we have it much easier than the disciples did – we know how the story ends – it is all recorded for us in the Bible – but not the disciples, they were living it, it was all unfolding before their eyes. So I can kind of understand why they (the disciples) acted the way they did – what I can’t understand though is why those who call ourselves Christian today act (or fail to act) the way we do.
Perhaps that is why – though the doors were locked Jesus appeared to them – to strengthen them for their mission – to give them the courage and resolve they needed to break out of that room and their fear. Perhaps that is why we gather around His table and feast on His body and blood – to strengthen us – to give us the courage to make a difference in the world and NOT just be part of the world.
“Peace be with you” He said – knowing their troubled hearts – it is the same thing He says to us when we experience trouble in our lives – “Peace be with you” – we may not understand why things are happening they way they are – like the disciples didn’t understand why Jesus had to die – and God our Father doesn’t want us His children to worry or experience anxiety in our lives.
But like a good Father He knows that a greater good will come out of whatever bad it is we are experiencing, whatever cross it is we are given to carry a greater good will come out of it.
And He says to each of us “peace be with you” – know that I am with you always and I am waiting for you and that one day you too will be in heaven with me – be courageous – be stouthearted – let your lights shine no matter how bad the circumstances may be so that those around you who don’t believe in me may stop their unbelieving and believe – so those that who haven’t seen me like the disciples did may believe in me though your actions, through your love and your faith – for we know blessed are those who believe and have not seen.
My brothers and sisters we are called to be courageous and faithful in the face of life’s difficulties – we are called to be courageous and faithful in the face of personal danger and persecution – we are called to be courageous and faithful even in the face of death itself.
Those aren’t easy things to do – but here is the hardest – when our “natural” instinct might be to think of ourselves – we are called to think of others – to put them first – and we can only do that when we put Jesus first in our lives.
Oh I know it isn’t easy being courageous – life can be very hard – my wife and I lost two children – we lost our first son to cancer when he was just 18 months old; we lost a daughter who died prematurely six months into my wife’s pregnancy; we lost my wife’s parents who treated me like the son they never had and taught me what it meant to be family; and recently I lost a sister – our lives like I’m certain many of your lives – have been filled with painful loss – and my childhood wasn’t the best either – I came from a poor family (but that in and of itself didn’t matter) the most vivid image I have of my childhood though is of my mother standing over me pounding me with her fists into the floor – life can certainly be hard – very hard – but we can rise above all of it if we focus on the blessings God has given us and if our faith in God is strong.
Yes our son died at 18 months old – but at least we had him for 18 months and at least I had the honor and privilege of holding him in my arms as he died; yes we lost a daughter before she was even born but God gave us three other healthy children – and one of those, our daughter just had a beautiful baby girl; and I might have had a rough childhood but at least I had my wife’s parents for a period of time who taught me what family was all about and today my wife and I have the opportunity and means to provide for my parents in their time of need.
Life can be hard – and if you haven’t experienced any hardship in your lives yet just be thankful and be patient – sooner or later you will. Being Catholic does not exempt you from hardships. And when something bad happens don’t run and hid – run to the cross – look and mediate on it – then questions like why God did this have to happen are answered. Being Catholic can help you get through the hard times.
Life is hard – but Jesus didn’t leave us orphans – “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” and He breathed on them and said “receive the Holy Spirit”.
I had the honor and pleasure of serving as the Deacon at the Confirmation masses Bishop Mitch Rolzanski did yesterday – 106 of our young teenagers were confirmed in our faith. And as Bishop Mitch made the sign of the cross on their forehead with the sacred chrism he said “Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit” and then he said “Peace be with you” words very reminiscent of our Gospel passage today. Each of us has been sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit and we are called to share those gifts to make this world a better place and God wants each of us to share in His peace – in the good times and in the bad.
Now Jesus could have admonished His disciples for abandoning Him just when He needed them most; He could of called them cowards for hiding in that room when they should have been out teaching and baptizing people in His name – but He didn’t – He demonstrated to them then and to us today His divine mercy and forgiveness – no matter what you do – even if you reject me He says – I will love you and I forgive you.
Often times though we don’t feel that God could love us because of the many bad things we have done – but we hear today in our Gospel some beautiful words – “whose sins you forgive are forgiven them”.
In that statement is contained the sacrament of reconciliation – no matter what we do, no matter how far we stray from Him – He is not only waiting but watching for us to come back to Him – He stands there – arms outstretched – waiting not only to embrace us – but to forgive us – to restore us to our place of honor in His Holy family – Jesus is teaching each of us today what it means to be part of His Holy family – He is giving us a model of forgiveness for each of us to base our family life on.
Today is Divine Mercy Sunday and in his Easter message Pope Benedict spoke powerfully about divine mercy. He admitted that in the face of so much pain, evil and injustice, it is sometimes difficult to believe in God. Especially when we see children suffering as victims of war and terrorism, sickness and hunger, partial birth abortion - it puts our faith to the test. How could a world created good be so bad?
Because we are sometimes tempted by unbelief, the pope said, we should be grateful for the disbelief we hear today in the Gospel by Thomas. Jesus answered his unbelief by showing him the wounds in his hands and his side: "Christ” the pope said, “has taken upon himself the wounds of injured humanity." The Holy Father concluded with these words: "The Lord...has countered the arrogance of evil with the supremacy of his love."
God's love - his Divine Mercy - places a limit on human evil. It is his response to the mystery of innocent suffering. The Divine Mercy image, which we have today in our sanctuary, has rays of light coming from the wound in Christ’s heart. The rays have two colors: red and white. The white refers to water and baptism and the red to the blood He shed for us and the Eucharist – the two great sacraments by which we receive His divine mercy.
There is nothing we need to fear or doubt – there is no power in the world greater than the power that is not only behind each of us but in each of us – today – no mater if your young or old – today more than ever than before – each of us needs to stand up for Christ – and not just when it is convenient – each of us needs to boldly proclaim not only with our words but with our very lives that no matter what comes our way Jesus rules in our hearts – that is how each of us can make a difference in this world – that is how we can bring others to Christ.
That’s it – it is finished. Whether you realize it or not, through the grace of God I poured myself out here in hope that it might make a difference in your lives. I thank God for all the blessings in my life and offer up to His glory all that I am and all that I do. And for those of you who say, you know Deacon Nick that is all well and good what you said – but I’m a good Catholic – I believe in God and I go to church – but I’m not a religious fanatic – all I can say is that I thank God that those 11 men who were hiding in that room didn’t say the same thing – all I can say is I thank God for the opportunity He has given me to speak to you, and all I can do is remind you that we have been called to be bold, we have been called to be courageous, to be outspoken – to be fanatics for Christ. And if because I say these things you think I’m foolish and a fanatic then praised be Jesus Christ for allowing me to be His servant.
Let us ask the Holy Spirit now to come and renew the face of the earth and let us pray: Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion-inexhaustible, look kindly upon us today and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to your holy will, which is love and mercy – AMEN.
I am certain that they feared for their own safety – they had every reason to believe that the Pharisees that had plotted against Jesus might very well now be plotting to have them killed too – and why not, even though they deserted Jesus and ran away, they were still His disciples – and as such they were a potential threat to their religious authority – just like Jesus had been.
Stepping back – just for a moment though – from the disciples hiding in that room for fear of the Jews – it is interesting to compare the events that took place in Jerusalem that Passover week – to the events that take place in each of our lives – a little less than just two weeks ago Jesus and His disciples triumphantly entered Jerusalem – and today Jesus is dead and His disciples are in hiding.
Isn’t that just like our lives sometimes? Everything can be going along just fine and then out of the blue something bad happens to us – we find out we lost our job, or a friend has cancer or someone we love has accidentally died or committed suicide – and it shakes us to our very core – and our faith is tested – perhaps we question why God if He is so good would allow such a terrible thing to happen to us – perhaps we question if God even exists and whether we were foolish to believe in Him. How quick we are to doubt, how little is our faith – that when the going gets tough and our faith is really put to the test – we would doubt – perhaps it is the strength of our faith that is the only difference between us and the saints.
There is a saying that there aren’t any atheists in foxholes – that when our lives are in danger we cry out to God – but when something bad happens to us – instead of crying out to God, we tend to cry out AGAINST God – why God if you are so good did you let this happen to me – well there’s your answer – look and mediate on the cross and what happened to God’s only Son – that is your answer.
Being a good practicing Catholic – being a saint even – is no insurance policy against bad things happening to us or our loved ones – for it is in our trials and tribulations that our love, that our dedication, that our integrity and our faith are truly put to the test – anyone that has been married for any amount of time realizes that it isn’t all just a bed of roses and that is why the marriage vows include “in good times and in bad – in sickness and in health” because bad things do happen and the only solitude and strength we can experience is not in a weak faith – but in a strong faith – the disciples hiding in that room weren’t cowards – but their faith was weak. So the first question we have to ask ourselves today is – how strong is our faith?
Isn’t it interesting how when things are going good we tend to take life (our health, our loved ones, even our freedom or the price of gasoline) for granted and perhaps forget to give thanks to God for all the many blessings in our lives? We let our guards down and for some reason we think we are or should be immune from the bad things in life. And we begin or continue to take all our blessings for granted and think of them as things we are entitled too. Perhaps if we appreciated more the blessings in our lives we could then be better able to cope with the bad things when they do come along – perhaps we wouldn’t then blame those bad things on God.
The disciples in that room were afraid, but they weren’t cowards – their heads were spinning from the events that had taken place that week, and that they didn’t know what to do. They didn’t understand that Jesus had to die and then rise again – and their faith in Jesus was shaken and that they might have been on the verge of going back to their old ways of living and livelihood – disappearing if you will – becoming once again just another face in the crowd – members of the silent majority – safe and sound back in the places that the world had originally set out for them before this Jesus came along and upset their lives.
Maybe that is how some of us feel sometimes when it isn’t popular to be Catholic – maybe we just want to disappear into the crowd and not be noticed – maybe we are reluctant to speak up or stand out. But we can’t hide anymore than those disciples could.
What the disciples didn’t realize was that they had been called, what they didn’t realize was that they had been set aside, that they no longer belonged to this world but they belonged to Christ – and that He is a jealous God who thirsts for our souls.
They didn’t realize that it was God’s plan that His only Son would be rejected, that He would be convicted, and that He would be crucified – what they didn’t realize though was that God’s plan for Jesus didn’t end there on the cross – Jesus would die and be buried, He would conquer death, He would rise again, and He would be exulted – that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend – of those in heaven and on the earth and under the earth.
What they didn’t realize was that Jesus had made them a part of all that – there was no turning back for them – and what we have to realize today is – that through our baptism each of us have been made a part of that too, each of us have been called to be a part of God’s plan for salvation – and there is no turning back for us either.
Oh we can hide like the disciples did – we can reject Jesus like Judas did that is exactly what the world would have us do – but we belong to Him – we have been called – we have been anointed – we have been set aside – and if we give our lives over to Him – though His death and His resurrection – we can share in God’s glory and peace and experience His kingdom forever – and just like the disciples who received the Holy Spirit – we too have received it – God is with us – and we can do great things – but only if we give ourselves to Christ and let Him work through us.
In our first reading from the Acts of the Apostle – those guys who were hiding in the room for fear of the Jews – who after encountering the our risen Lord and after Christ breathed on them and they received the Holy Spirit – found the courage and strength to go out into the world – even when their lives were in danger – and proclaim Christ crucified – we find that they worked many signs and wonders among the people in His name – and that through their actions – great numbers of men and women were added to their numbers – the second question we need to ask ourselves today is how many people have we added to our numbers?
In some ways we have it much easier than the disciples did – we know how the story ends – it is all recorded for us in the Bible – but not the disciples, they were living it, it was all unfolding before their eyes. So I can kind of understand why they (the disciples) acted the way they did – what I can’t understand though is why those who call ourselves Christian today act (or fail to act) the way we do.
Perhaps that is why – though the doors were locked Jesus appeared to them – to strengthen them for their mission – to give them the courage and resolve they needed to break out of that room and their fear. Perhaps that is why we gather around His table and feast on His body and blood – to strengthen us – to give us the courage to make a difference in the world and NOT just be part of the world.
“Peace be with you” He said – knowing their troubled hearts – it is the same thing He says to us when we experience trouble in our lives – “Peace be with you” – we may not understand why things are happening they way they are – like the disciples didn’t understand why Jesus had to die – and God our Father doesn’t want us His children to worry or experience anxiety in our lives.
But like a good Father He knows that a greater good will come out of whatever bad it is we are experiencing, whatever cross it is we are given to carry a greater good will come out of it.
And He says to each of us “peace be with you” – know that I am with you always and I am waiting for you and that one day you too will be in heaven with me – be courageous – be stouthearted – let your lights shine no matter how bad the circumstances may be so that those around you who don’t believe in me may stop their unbelieving and believe – so those that who haven’t seen me like the disciples did may believe in me though your actions, through your love and your faith – for we know blessed are those who believe and have not seen.
My brothers and sisters we are called to be courageous and faithful in the face of life’s difficulties – we are called to be courageous and faithful in the face of personal danger and persecution – we are called to be courageous and faithful even in the face of death itself.
Those aren’t easy things to do – but here is the hardest – when our “natural” instinct might be to think of ourselves – we are called to think of others – to put them first – and we can only do that when we put Jesus first in our lives.
Oh I know it isn’t easy being courageous – life can be very hard – my wife and I lost two children – we lost our first son to cancer when he was just 18 months old; we lost a daughter who died prematurely six months into my wife’s pregnancy; we lost my wife’s parents who treated me like the son they never had and taught me what it meant to be family; and recently I lost a sister – our lives like I’m certain many of your lives – have been filled with painful loss – and my childhood wasn’t the best either – I came from a poor family (but that in and of itself didn’t matter) the most vivid image I have of my childhood though is of my mother standing over me pounding me with her fists into the floor – life can certainly be hard – very hard – but we can rise above all of it if we focus on the blessings God has given us and if our faith in God is strong.
Yes our son died at 18 months old – but at least we had him for 18 months and at least I had the honor and privilege of holding him in my arms as he died; yes we lost a daughter before she was even born but God gave us three other healthy children – and one of those, our daughter just had a beautiful baby girl; and I might have had a rough childhood but at least I had my wife’s parents for a period of time who taught me what family was all about and today my wife and I have the opportunity and means to provide for my parents in their time of need.
Life can be hard – and if you haven’t experienced any hardship in your lives yet just be thankful and be patient – sooner or later you will. Being Catholic does not exempt you from hardships. And when something bad happens don’t run and hid – run to the cross – look and mediate on it – then questions like why God did this have to happen are answered. Being Catholic can help you get through the hard times.
Life is hard – but Jesus didn’t leave us orphans – “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” and He breathed on them and said “receive the Holy Spirit”.
I had the honor and pleasure of serving as the Deacon at the Confirmation masses Bishop Mitch Rolzanski did yesterday – 106 of our young teenagers were confirmed in our faith. And as Bishop Mitch made the sign of the cross on their forehead with the sacred chrism he said “Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit” and then he said “Peace be with you” words very reminiscent of our Gospel passage today. Each of us has been sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit and we are called to share those gifts to make this world a better place and God wants each of us to share in His peace – in the good times and in the bad.
Now Jesus could have admonished His disciples for abandoning Him just when He needed them most; He could of called them cowards for hiding in that room when they should have been out teaching and baptizing people in His name – but He didn’t – He demonstrated to them then and to us today His divine mercy and forgiveness – no matter what you do – even if you reject me He says – I will love you and I forgive you.
Often times though we don’t feel that God could love us because of the many bad things we have done – but we hear today in our Gospel some beautiful words – “whose sins you forgive are forgiven them”.
In that statement is contained the sacrament of reconciliation – no matter what we do, no matter how far we stray from Him – He is not only waiting but watching for us to come back to Him – He stands there – arms outstretched – waiting not only to embrace us – but to forgive us – to restore us to our place of honor in His Holy family – Jesus is teaching each of us today what it means to be part of His Holy family – He is giving us a model of forgiveness for each of us to base our family life on.
Today is Divine Mercy Sunday and in his Easter message Pope Benedict spoke powerfully about divine mercy. He admitted that in the face of so much pain, evil and injustice, it is sometimes difficult to believe in God. Especially when we see children suffering as victims of war and terrorism, sickness and hunger, partial birth abortion - it puts our faith to the test. How could a world created good be so bad?
Because we are sometimes tempted by unbelief, the pope said, we should be grateful for the disbelief we hear today in the Gospel by Thomas. Jesus answered his unbelief by showing him the wounds in his hands and his side: "Christ” the pope said, “has taken upon himself the wounds of injured humanity." The Holy Father concluded with these words: "The Lord...has countered the arrogance of evil with the supremacy of his love."
God's love - his Divine Mercy - places a limit on human evil. It is his response to the mystery of innocent suffering. The Divine Mercy image, which we have today in our sanctuary, has rays of light coming from the wound in Christ’s heart. The rays have two colors: red and white. The white refers to water and baptism and the red to the blood He shed for us and the Eucharist – the two great sacraments by which we receive His divine mercy.
There is nothing we need to fear or doubt – there is no power in the world greater than the power that is not only behind each of us but in each of us – today – no mater if your young or old – today more than ever than before – each of us needs to stand up for Christ – and not just when it is convenient – each of us needs to boldly proclaim not only with our words but with our very lives that no matter what comes our way Jesus rules in our hearts – that is how each of us can make a difference in this world – that is how we can bring others to Christ.
That’s it – it is finished. Whether you realize it or not, through the grace of God I poured myself out here in hope that it might make a difference in your lives. I thank God for all the blessings in my life and offer up to His glory all that I am and all that I do. And for those of you who say, you know Deacon Nick that is all well and good what you said – but I’m a good Catholic – I believe in God and I go to church – but I’m not a religious fanatic – all I can say is that I thank God that those 11 men who were hiding in that room didn’t say the same thing – all I can say is I thank God for the opportunity He has given me to speak to you, and all I can do is remind you that we have been called to be bold, we have been called to be courageous, to be outspoken – to be fanatics for Christ. And if because I say these things you think I’m foolish and a fanatic then praised be Jesus Christ for allowing me to be His servant.
Let us ask the Holy Spirit now to come and renew the face of the earth and let us pray: Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion-inexhaustible, look kindly upon us today and increase Your mercy in us, that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent, but with great confidence submit ourselves to your holy will, which is love and mercy – AMEN.
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