The Third Sunday of Easter. Today‟s sacred scripture readings remind us of the importance of witnessing to our faith…actually, it is not just the importance of witnessing to our faith that we must recognize but that the command to do so does not come from the Vatican or the Chancery—or any other human directive—but comes from God through Jesus Christ His only begotten Son. I know how easy it is for us all to become “confused” by society and to equate our Faith with directives and edicts from Rome or Hartford…but we must always remember who is the Source, Summit, and Font of our Faith…God and that the Church is both human and Divine.
From that starting or reference point we then must come to realize that we are called to witness our faith not only in words but also in deeds. We live and share God‟s Word by keeping His commandments…His Truths. Faith is not something we live only on Sundays or during Lent or that we celebrate on Easter Sunday morning. It must pervade every moment of our lives. Certainly that is difficult, but it being difficult does not make it any less an excellence which we must strive to achieve. We are called to live as Easter people, grounded in a life of prayer, relying on God‟s abundant mercy and love, in solidarity with our brothers and sisters.
In the first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear that those who put the “author of life” to death acted out of ignorance. They called for the death of Jesus and the release of a murder because of the wave of public opinion and ignorance and fear against what Jesus was pro-claiming. Today‟s reading ends with a strong declaratory statement: “Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.” Even in the midst of ignorance—even ignorance that originates from and comes to us out of evil from those who have the power to influence public opinion—will be destroyed and rebuked by God‟s Word and Truth. It is up to us with our free will to choose how we will witness to the faith of Christ.
In the second reading from 1 John we are told clearly that “…the way we may be sure that we know him (read: Christ) is to keep his commandments. Those who say, „I know him,‟ but do not keep his commandments are liars, and the truth is not in them. But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him.” How much clearer could it be—to know Him is to keep His commandments, His truths. In today‟s world it seems that we are always seeking a way to improve or make better whatever it is we are working on or making, whether it be the economy, a medical treatment, a teaching methodology or tool, or a hundred other situations of life. We even try to “make better or more convenient” the Word of God. We amend His truths to fit more comfortably into our world today. A good person doing “bad” things forces us, in an attempt to be “kind and compassionate people,” to moderate the truth since these “good people” whom we know and love couldn‟t do something bad or evil. Therefore we realign our relation-ship to the Truth. Yet the Truth remains unchanged.
In today‟s Gospel of Luke we hear Christ Himself telling his wayward disciples: “thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” When I read this and reflect on it I do not read it as a starting point from which we will then negotiate a “contract of faithfulness” with Christ. Rather it is a call, an invitation which we are asked to freely accept and then live out—to be His brothers and sisters—with great benefits and obligations...it is a covenant which He offers to us. And the obligation for us is to live out His command to go out and preach (with both words and deeds) all that He asks of us.
In today‟s world it is difficult to be a faithful Chris-tian and even more so to be a faithful Catholic. The world calls us to something else, something more selfish and in-ward thinking rather than being a person of self-emptying love. This week I had communications with a parishioner quite upset with me and the Church over Senate Bill 899 and its many implications for the Church, life in general, and society as a whole. First and foremost, I have said many times in homilies that “communications is more of what is heard and less of what is said.” That is very true and much of the comments made to me were interpretations of things I did not say or implied and of things misunderstood in the proposed legislation. However, be that as it may, the bottom line is that our faith—and here I am talking about the Truths given to us by Christ—calls us to make difficult decisions and challenges us to a higher excellence, that of God, which can be very hard and troublesome to live out each and every day. Will we always succeed? No. Will we be for-given and loved by God? Yes. But does the difficulty in living out the Truths of Christ mean that we should dilute them or make them easier to accept, or seek something less excellent? The Church does not accept that way of thinking. There are absolute truths in this world. Murder, rape, steal-ing are always wrong and evil. That is simply the reality of life. How we live-out these truths and how we bring these truths “…to all the nations” is with the message that Christ Himself spoke in the very beginning of today‟s Gospel: “Peace be with you.” May all that we say, do and preach in our Church and lives be with filled with His peace!
Peace, Father Michael
