First reading: Job 38:1,8-11
Psalm: Ps 107:23-26,28-31
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 5:14-17
Gospel: Mark 4:35-41

The LORD then said to Job:
Will we have arguing with the Almighty by the critic?

We don’t know:

The verse taken from Job 40:1-2, or, according to Warner Brothers and Tweety Bird, “We don’t know Him very well, do we?”

Job lost everything, and was trying to figure it out.

Job’s loss wasn’t like loosing a 401k nowadays, however grievous that may be. Job’s loss was incalculable. His sons and daughters were dead. His flocks and herds were dead or stolen. His house and all his possessions were gone. He was sitting on a dung heap covered with sores. Three of his —friends— showed up and tried to find fault with Job. Certainly he did something wrong and God was punishing him for it! Job and his friends debated, calculated, argued, and looked. They tried to find the cause. Job lamented his losses. Finally God shows up and says: You do not get it. You can’t debate me, you can’t figure it out, you just cannot know because you have no concept of Me.

Debating God’s plan doesn’t work:

One human technique that is quite common is to debate with God. We think we are engaging in a back and forth. ‘God, why did you do this?’ We hear silence. ‘God, why can’t I?’ We hear silence. We think that we are having some sort of conversation with an almighty vending machine. We ask and the machine will dispense answers. The worst part of it all is that we think we can win the argument, especially when we try to interpret the silence.

It is a fallacy to think we can win the debate. Sure, we run about thinking we can change things. We justify it by saying that we debated God and we won. Church people do that a lot. We think we have an inside track in the debate. Why, why, why? ‘God, don’t you see how marvelousness my plan is, my logic?’

If God had wanted to form a debating team I am sure He would have fashioned us into a different sort of being. God isn’t looking for a debate, He is looking for something else.

Arguing with God doesn’t work:

Another human technique is to argue. When we ask and hear silence we begin to argue. We get really angry because we think we are being ignored, that God isn’t paying any attention to our marvelous plan. Our anger takes over and we blame God as we would blame a vending machine that stole our dollar. We all want to kick that vending machine, to push it over, to get our candy…

If God had been looking for a people who would argue everything, who would subsist on anger, I am sure He would have fashioned us into a different sort of being. God isn’t looking for our anger, nor is He going to respond to it. He is looking for something else.

Calculating God doesn’t work:

Here’s yet another technique, the calculation. God, here’s the deal — and it’s such a deal — if I am good and give to charity, and don’t say mean things about my co-worker who’s only half awake, then would You…

We’re back at the machine and we want to put our four quarters in. We know that if we pay the right amount something yummy will come out.

Our interaction with God is not a give and take, payment in, goods and services out. God’s not looking for a deal. If God had wanted a deal I am sure He could have arranged for a better one, one better than dying on a cross. God’s not looking for a deal, or for people who know how to carefully calculate rules and regulations that will get us from here to heaven, He is looking for something else.

Who shows up?

The only people who show up, most especially when we are at our lowest point, are our closest family members and friends. Think about how essential, how key just showing up is. Think of our children, the look they would have on their faces if we failed to show up for graduation or recital. Think of the husband being there for his wife when she gives birth. Think of the present of a person’s companionship. They could have sent a gift, but how very special when they come in person.

Love is the motivator for showing up, for being there. What happens when we show up? Sometimes nothing. Showing up is a quiet event. It is simply our presence, our being in proximity to those we love; offering support and encouragement. We need not say anything.

Relate that showing up to our ways of interacting with God. Debating, arguing, and calculating have nothing to do with showing up. That can all be done from a distance. We can mail the check. But showing up — that’s different. That’s a step above.

God showed up:

Interesting isn’t it, that God showed up. Job and his three friends could have gone on forever, and wouldn’t have figured out anything. No answers, only questions, only debating, arguing, and calculating. God showed up and put Job to the true test. God didn’t need to explain anything. He simply pointed out Job’s position relative to God’s position. ‘Job, were you there when I created the world, when I laid its foundations, when I gave existence to the creatures of the earth, sea, and sky.’ God gives three chapters of examples — showing Job to be unable to comprehend.

God did show up. He showed up for Job, so that Job would know the truth. What was Job’s loss, his disaster, all about?

The lesson for Job and for us is that we know nothing. Rather we learn that we must acknowledge God as God, and re-orient ourselves, our thinking, to focus on what God wants from us. It wasn’t about what Job had and lost, it was about what Job had to find.

God wants us to see and live clearly:

In the end Job gets it. He says (Job 42:1-6)

I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered.
I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know.
I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you.
Therefore I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes.

God, I knew a lot of facts. I engaged You in transactions, through charity and sacrifice. Now I know that You are more than facts and transactions, more than something to be debated, argued, and calculated. I know that You are God and that You want me to know and love You. I now know that You are not a vending machine that dispenses sons, daughters, oxen, sheep, gold, and jewels.

We understand that God is wisdom but He is not about wisdom. God isn’t looking for us to challenge Him on His wisdom. Rather He wants us to set aside the notion of God as someone we debate, argue, and calculate and to come into a relationship with Him.

By example and word Jesus taught us these lessons. He told us to be like children (Matthew 18:3). He called us His friends (John 15:15). Most of all, as we see today, He asked that we trust in Him.

Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.

I recently read a comment that said that the only time Jesus slept, He was busy of course, was when He was in the back of the boat during a storm. What a picture, a horrific storm and Jesus asleep through it all, peaceful.

The Apostles didn’t see it that way. They panicked. Do you think they were calculating the deals they were going to make with God before they woke Jesus. Perhaps they were angry with God, or were debating with Him.

He woke up,
rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!”

Relate this to Father’s Day. I can see the look on Jesus’ face, like an upset father being woken from a nap on his easy-chair. Jesus woke up and said what any father would say: “Quiet! Be still!” I wonder if He meant the disciples or the sea.

They were filled with great awe and said to one another,
“Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”

Poor Apostles… they still attempted understanding and calculation. They were trying to figure God out instead of relating to Him. They say “Who then is this,” but it isn’t who it is or why it is, it is simply being in the presence of God who is there, who is present to them. God showed up. He’s in the back of the boat. They should have trusted Him.

So for us? For us, it is time to set aside all the worry. The debating, arguing, and calculating have gone on too long. Rather, remember, we are in the presence of God. Our God is the God who shows up. He’s in our lives. He’s home, at work, in the car, in the public square, here in church. He is with us because He wants to be with us. Let’s smile like the child whose parent showed up for his recital, like the friend who was sad before you showed up. Let’s smile because God is with us and He wants us to know Him as He is: Full of love and kindness, rich in forgiveness and compassion (Psalm 86:15). That’s what God wants from us. We shouldn’t say that we don’t know Him very well, but rather that we know and love Him. Amen.

First reading: Exodus 24:3-8
Psalm: Ps 116:12-13,15-18
Epistle: Hebrews 9:11-15
Gospel: Mark 14:12-16,22-26

—This is my blood of the covenant,
which will be shed for many.—

The blood:

Moses sprinkled the people and the altar with the blood of the sacrifice. The Letter to the Hebrews tells us that our Lord and Savior’s perfect blood was shed to:

cleanse our consciences from dead works
to worship the living God.

Our Lord and Savior gave us His blood so that from this altar we might partake of It, and in doing so receive the grace that will transform us into the perfection of His body.

Doing:

Everyone seems to remember the Sinatra-esque interlude I offered during a homily some weeks ago; and they remember that I talked about doing. As Christians we are to be active doers, evangelizing, teaching, caring, welcoming, loving, worshiping.

The act of worshiping is centered on the Holy Mass, and the Holy Mass requires that we offer wine and water which is then mystically and miraculously transformed into the blood of Christ. Our doing in the Holy Mass consists of the offering of the gifts we provide for, the bread and wine, and the action, the doing of a certain work by God’s anointed servants, the presbyters and deacons.

Priests and deacons:

It is interesting that the priest, in the person of Jesus Christ present at the altar, re-offers His blood to the Father. The priest’s action is required for the wine will not be changed without him. Nothing will happen without his work, without the words he uses and the actions he takes. The deacons, from ancient times, have been known as ministers of the chalice of the blood.

The deacon is the proper minister of the chalice and an ordinary minister of Holy Communion — primarily, of the Precious Blood. If you were to observe my actions as a deacon at the altar, my primary service surrounds the care of the chalice, preparing it, and cleansing it. This concept is ancient, going back to the early Church where the deacon held at all times, both in East and West, a very special relation to the sacred vessels and to the host and chalice both before and after consecration. The care of the chalice has remained the deacon’s special province down to modern times.

As such, the deacon is closely tied to the precious blood in the liturgy and in his ministry of service, because his service is a ministry of sacrificial love. The Church’s history testifies to the number of priests and deacons martyred for their faith, their sacrifice, and their service.

While you only need a priest to offer Holy Mass, when we look upon our bishop offering the Sacrifice of the Mass, with his priests and deacons gathered around him, as we saw during the Mission and Evangelism workshop, we see the fullness of our historic connection to Jesus Christ and His apostles. That is the fullness of the Church’s doing in the world, the Holy Mass, the work of charity, and the work teaching and evangelizing the world led by our bishop and the clergy who are in union with him.

The roles:

These orders of bishop, priest, and deacon then are central to our ability to do as our Lord has asked of us. All of us share with them the role of charity, teaching, and evangelizing. We share in the Holy Mass because it is by our work, offering, and presence that the Holy Mass takes place. We are all partners, but with distinct roles, ministries, and duties. We are partners, but we sorely need priests and deacons for their role, for their doing.

We stand here today:

We stand here today and there is no priest present. Without the priest we have no chalice to offer. Symbolically, our cup is empty, the fruit of the vine absent. It is sad, and the entire body of Christ looses because of that.

Now at my hands you will receive the Holy Eucharist, and theologically it makes no difference whether you receive the body, the blood, or both. Regardless of what you receive you do indeed receive the body and blood of Christ, the fullness of our Lord and Savior, and thank God for that.

Yet, we are at a loss.

The body of Christ is calling out:

My friends,

The body of Christ, the Holy Church, is crying out. There is great sadness and great loss because the banquet table is empty in many places. The wine is ready and the wheat has been harvested and milled. The bread has been prepared, but we are at a loss because there is no one to minister. The role is unfilled and the deacons and presbyters have gone missing. Arizona, Texas, the Carolinas, Florida, California, Washington, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania… the body of Christ calls out. They desire in their heart of hearts to be partakers in the blood of Christ, to drink from the chalice of salvation for they know the Lord said (John 6:54):

—Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal
life, and I will raise him on the last day—

Doing part 2:

To eat His flesh and drink His blood, to be partakers in eternal life we need those whose doing, whose actions and words bring us Jesus’ body and blood. We need priests and deacons so that no one is at a loss. We need those who will lead us in evangelizing, teaching, caring, welcoming, loving, and worshiping. It really is wonderful work, a magnificent doing, and we, the men of this parish, need to step up to the plate to take on these tasks.

Uh oh, I see doubts. But we shouldn’t. There is no reason that any young man, any one us us who is currently working, or any one of us who is retired would be prevented from being a priest or deacon.

One of the ancient jobs of the deacon is to chant. We’re supposed to sing a lot of stuff, the Gospel, various proclamations, the prayers of the faithful, the special dismissal during the Easter season… You know that I can’t sing to save my life, but here I am, a deacon. If I had let fear, poor singing ability, my sins, my inadequacies, or my doubts get in the way I wouldn’t be here. Thankfully, what we lack the Holy Spirit makes up for by giving us other skills and abilities.

Women, your call is equally important. The Church needs your support, your encouragement, and your prayer for your husbands, sons, and brothers so that they might step forward. We need good, strong wives and mothers who will go out to the field alongside their husbands and sons to support them, because God’s people need your joint effort.

I will not leave your with a sales pitch, and I could, the advantages are many, but I leave you with the words of St. John Chrysostom:

The work of the priesthood is done on earth, but it is ranked among heavenly ordinances. And this is only right, for no man, no angel, no archangel, no other created power, but the Paraclete Himself ordained this succession, and persuaded men, while still remaining in the flesh to represent the ministry of angels.

Holy Spirit come upon the men of this parish and call them to do your work, the ministry of angels. Holy Spirit come upon the women of this parish so that their strength, encouragement, and prayer may foster many vocations. Amen.

First reading: Deuteronomy 4:32-34,39-40
Psalm: Ps 33:4-6,9,18-20,22
Epistle: Romans 8:14-17
Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20

This is why you must now know,
and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God
in the heavens above and on earth below,
and that there is no other.

We don’t know.

Let’s not try today. Let’s not venture into intricate descriptions of the Holy Trinity, all for the sake of proving how unknowing we are, how limited our grasp of God is.

Often times we spend Trinity Sunday listening to a pastor quote from the stories of saints who had attempted to understand the Holy Trinity. These quaint stories are all part of an effort at explaining what we believe; but is it necessary?

I would rather start by stating the obvious: We are nowhere near understanding God. We cannot know Him through intellectual exercise, through stories, or through complex theological diagrams which attempt to describe His Triune being.

What do we know?

We don’t know God by our power of intellect. We cannot grasp Him on our own or by ourselves. There is little to nothing we can do to explain Him. Yet we do have knowledge of God.

Our knowledge of God comes from His self-revelation. God started with the patriarchs, judges, kings, and prophets, and finally He, Himself, came to us to tell us everything we are to know.

Looking at the process of revelation we find one key element. God doesn’t make Himself complex and unknowable. He reveals Himself, first through the veiled understanding of the patriarchs, judges, kings, and prophets and finally through obvious self-revelation.

What do we know? That God is love! That God desires us! That God is three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! That God wishes us to live as the Holy Trinity lives, in love and unity. That God would sacrifice Himself in order to accomplish the loving relationship He desires.

Love, live sacrificially, be one, live in the image of God. That’s what God wants for us. That’s His revelation. That’s what we know. Not complex, not intricate, but rather simple and in simplicity great.

A process.

Reading the Bible is an interesting adventure. I would liken it to trying to pin the tail on God.

Sometimes we see God as a moving and changing target. We want to pin Him down, and find we can’t. We keep missing the target. Looking at scripture we get the notion that somehow God has changed over time. It is not so.

If we believe that God is God, that He is perfection; then we acknowledge that there is no need for change in God. In fact, as Christians, we call God unchanging. One thing about God is that he is consistent. We however are not.

As we read through scripture, as we experience God, we are faced with a process that is, in effect, a development of understanding. As time passes we grow in our understanding of God’s revealed self, what He actually said, what He actually wants of us.

If we were to stop along the path we might see God as the God who demands animal sacrifices. Of course that was what man understood of God, not necessarily what God wanted. We might see God as the God who is mighty in battle, winning victories for His friends. Of course that was what man understood of God, not necessarily what God is.

Over and over God attempted to re-focus His people. When the prophets told the Jews about God’s way, about God’s reality, they stoned them. The prophets were stoned because God’s way infringed upon what and who the people understood God to be. In effect they said, ‘don’t tell me about this love and change of heart stuff, I want to go on sacrificing sheep and charging a hefty fee for it.’

Those who do listen to God, who do accept His word and His self-revelation, hear the truth. Those who listen to God’s self-revelation get beyond what they know and enter into a process of greater-and-greater understanding. It comes down to Jesus’ words (John 14:15):

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.—

In listening we come to know God’s self-revelation and we learn to keep His commandments which demand that we live the life God has modeled for us.

Where are we headed?

We could engage in a great theological debate today. We could try to grasp the Trinity with our minds. Where we need to be headed, however, is the grasp of the Trinity with our hearts. We are called to enter into the process of knowing God more and more through our listening and by the work and effort we put forward.

That work and effort, that journey, leads us to our destination. The work and effort —“ easy: prayer, kindness, living sacrificially, being one, living in the image of God, and living with great love. Our destination – one: Eternal life with God in heaven.

We’re getting there.

We are on that road my friends. We have entered into the faith, and under the guidance of our Holy Polish National Catholic Church we grow ever more aware of God’s reality. Our knowledge of God and our understanding of Him begins here at Holy Mass and from here, from the roots that were planted in our baptism, that knowledge and understanding grows. That knowledge and understanding grows throughout our lives. We start here, hearing God’s word, God’s self-revelation. We start here, receiving Christ into our bodies so as to become more like Him. We start here, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to know, love, and serve God more and more.

Leaving here God’s reality takes shape in our lives. We begin to see Him in the unity we have within our community, our neighborhood, with our co-workers, our families, even those who persecute and hate us for our faith. We see Him in the love we bear, in the sacrifices we make, big and small. God’s reality, His self-revelation takes shape in the lives of all who call themselves Christian — that’s us. No intricate descriptions of the Trinity are necessary if we live the life of the Trinity.

Keeping it simple.

Leaving here today we will be strengthened. We will walk away with another aspect of our knowledge of God strengthened. Another door will have been opened to us, showing us the way to live in unity, live in love, live like God. If we keep it simple, if we focus on what God has said, what He has taught, the messages He has revealed, we will have joy. We will have knowledge that surpasses quaint stories and theological treatises.

Keeping it real and alive.

I began with a quote from today’s reading from the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 4:39):

This is why you must now know,
and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God
in the heavens above and on earth below,
and that there is no other.

That is as simple as it gets. If we live in the reality that God is God, that there is none other, and that life’s requirement is to know and love Him more and more, then we will have life. Loving and knowing Him means to live life as real Christians, as a people alive and active in the reality God has taught.

We must move beyond the notion that God’s revelation is God showing up and saying: ‘This is how it is!— only to walk away. Then He would have treated us as slaves, only to follow and obey. Rather, He let us know how it is so that we might be His brothers and sisters, so that we might live in His body, so that we would live the life of God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; a life of prayer, kindness, sacrifice, unity, and great love (John 15:15).

“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

Amen.

First reading: Acts 2:1-11
Psalm: Ps 104:1,24,29-31,34
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 12:3-7,12-13
Gospel: John 15:26-27; John 16:12-15

“When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father,
he will testify to me.
And you also testify,
because you have been with me from the beginning.—

Brothers and sisters,

Truth be told:

We testify to the truth. Make no mistake, as Christians we testify to the truth. The Church has received the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit lives in each of us, each one who is a member of the Church. The Spirit is not just a feeling or a warm and fuzzy idea. The Spirit is God, living among us and in us prompting us to proclaim the truth of the Gospel.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, God is truth, God is perfection. Therefore, those in whom the Spirit dwells cannot speak falsehood, lies, deceit, but only the truth.

You and I, members of the Holy Polish National Catholic Church, are recipients of God’s Spirit, of God’s truth. We testify to the truth because to live in God, to live in the power of His Spirit, is to be a bearer of the truth.

The truth received:

The truth we have received is contained in the Holy Scripture and the Tradition of the Holy Church. That truth, established and codified by the undivided Church in the first thousand years of the Christian era is not, I repeat, is not, something we can change. We have a received truth. This is a truth we must proclaim and a truth we must protect.

Being human, and being sinful, we are all aware of the fact that we make mistakes. When we make those mistakes we feel pangs of conscience, a distance from God. Our human weaknesses are easy to project. We see ourselves in a certain way, and therefore everything on earth must carry the same characteristics we possess. We take our human weakness and project our brokenness onto everything we see, sometimes even on the Holy Church. We think: If we are human, the Church must be human. That is a fallacy. Yes, the Church is made up of broken humans, but it is, in and of itself, the dwelling place of God among us. The Church, an institution created by God and guided by the Holy Spirit, is not an institution of human brokenness, but an institution of God’s truth on earth, the place we come to heal human brokenness. The Church is the receiver of the truth and the bearer of the truth, and as such we can rely on its infallibility, its pronouncements, its ways, its teachings, and its healing power.

Unfortunately, some of the Christian bodies in the world have given in to the notion that the Church is just as human as the people who inhabit the Church. They see the Church as something that they can change, adapt, and correct to suit their whims, their desires, a body as malleable as they are. Of course we know that’s not true. Rather the Church stands as the bastion of God’s truth in a world that is constantly spinning and changing. This is received truth, truth the Holy Church protects because it is the truth of God. The Church protects the received truth because it is the rock of faith on which we can find protection from the storms of the world, the fashions of the times.

The uncomfortable truth:

Received truth, infallible truth, is tough.

None of us liked hearing that we were wrong. Even when we were three or four years old and our parents, or an aunt or uncle, told us we were wrong. When we are corrected we aren’t necessarily moved to thoughts of gratitude. The correction we received as small children only seemed worse as we got older. The poor clergy, teachers, parents, spouses, and bosses we’ve encountered, who had to deliver the uncomfortable message, had to put up with our thinking we were right, with our rebellion. The truth, even in human interactions, is very uncomfortable.

Then there’s the Church, standing as the only bastion of pure truth in the world. We look at what the Church says and teaches and sometimes we feel uncomfortable. Our gay friends can’t get ‘married,’ our wives and daughters can’t be priests; yes, what we did the other night was wrong; right, I do have to show Christ’s love to that homeless person and that immigrant; no, I can’t have it my way. We all want the Burger King solution, to have it our way, yet there is no plain Jesus without the fixins’ When we profess faith in Christ and live in the institution He created and infused with the Holy Spirit we have to take the whole deal, fixins’ and all.

I’m picturing the kids who asked their older brother to eat the pickle off their McDonald’s hamburger, because they didn’t care for it. Well my friends, we’ve got to eat it all.

This is the real discomfort that comes from our encounter with Christ and His Church. We cannot have it our way —“ it has to be His way. It is tough. The truth the Church teaches challenges are perceived notions and the al;leged truth created out of human weakness and desires.

Jesus gave the Spirit for a reason:

If Jesus had ascended without sending the Holy Spirit we would have been abandoned, with only words and stories to go on. Instead He sent the Spirit, the Spirit of power and truth.

In the Gospel according to St. John (John 16:13) Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will guide the members of the Church into truth:

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

Jesus further told us that the very reason the Spirit has been sent was sent was so that we, the members of the Church, would know the truth that the worldly cannot receive (John 14:16-17):

And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever,
even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you.

The Spirit was sent so that we would know the truth, so that we would bear the truth, and so that we might witness the truth to the world.

The Spirit is power:

We need power to do what we must do as Christians, to be radical, to be bearers of truths that can be uncomfortable. This isn’t power as the world defines it, access to media, lots of money, big buildings and fancy clothes. Rather it is the power of truth itself.

This is one of the key reasons Christians get into conflict, into trouble when facing down the world. We speak a truth that is as uncomfortable to the world as the truth our parents spoke to us when we did wrong. The: You must love message, and love in a way that is defined by agape.

The truth of love is that it consumes. The truth of agape love is that it is the highest and purest form of love, the love that surpasses all other types of love. It is love that is self-sacrificing, as self-sacrificing as the love Jesus showed for humanity. We call the world to love in such a way as to accept the uncomfortable truth: That to love we must give ourselves up to God, His Church, and each other.

The reason wasn’t once:

The Spirit is a constant. The Spirit repeats the same truth over and over. The Spirit didn’t just show up on Pentecost, hand out the truth and take off. Rather the Spirit lives in the Church, in us, so that we might know the truth and live it powerfully.

The strong driving wind and the tongues of flame were not a one-off event, a long time ago. That wind, those tongues of flame, the power of the Holy Spirit, are in us and are a living constant.

The Spirit bears us up in proclaiming the uncomfortable truth of sacrificial love. The Spirit keeps us from veering into errors born of our wants and desires, transforming us into givers rather than masters who have to have it ‘our way.’ The Spirit keeps us from the fashions of the time and keeps us consistent with the fashion of God.

The Spirit keeps us alive and active, living in God’s way . The Spirit is not the warm fuzzy feeling we get when we think we know better than God, better than God’s way of accomplishing a task. That’s just us feeling good about our ideas. The Spirit is rather the joy we feel when we remain constant and steadfast in proclaiming the received truth, the living the truth, the powerful truth the remains — against all odds, against all fashion.

To know the truth and live it:

To know the Spirit is to know the truth. To be a Christian is to live that truth.

From the moment we were regenerated the gift of Holy Spirit was sealed inside of us (Ephesians. 1:13):

In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

Each of us, who have been sealed in regeneration, has been filled with Holy Spirit, with the truth of God (2 Peter 1:3-4):

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature.

The Holy Spirit born inside of us, living in us, working through us, and teaching us through the Holy Church helps us in living the life our Lord and Savior asks us to live. That life is a life lived in power, truth, holiness, and witness.

Make no mistake, as Christians we testify to the truth. Let us thank God for His truth, for His gift of the Holy Spirit, and for the Holy Church. By the Spirit’s presence we are sharers in truth and proclaimers of truth. We are part of the body of Christ, His Church, not just to be members, but to live powerfully in the truth that is without end. Amen.

“For it is written in the Book of Psalms:
‘May another take his office.’—

History:

I always find a particular comedy skit funny, You know the type. There’s either a group of military inductees or a group of new citizens gathered together, and they’re going to take an oath. Everyone raises their right hand and the master of ceremonies begins the oath… —I [state your name]— Everyone replies: —I state your name.—

This is what today’s lesson is all about.

The band of Apostles had a vacancy, and they needed to fill it. It came down to Judas called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, or Matthias. The Apostles prayed and then lots were drawn.

It is interesting to note that in Jewish culture lots were cast using stones, but the casting of lots was limited to priests. William Silverman and Iain Chalmers in Casting and drawing lots: a time-honoured way of dealing with uncertainty and for ensuring fairness wrote:

Although the masses were forbidden by Jewish law to cast lots for divination —“ which was the prerogative of the priests – God’s authorities on earth were allowed to use lottery devices to guide judgements. Thus the chief priest carried sacred stones inside his breastplate, through which he sensed divine intentions. The stones gave God’s answer, determined when the ‘Yes’ or the ‘No’ stone was drawn out.

Matthias chose the yes stone and was counted among the Apostles. Matthias won the lottery.

The lottery:

How did we come to win the lottery, to be Christians, to be part of the Holy Polish National Catholic Church?

Now certainly some of us are Polish or have a Polish heritage, but many do not. Background doesn’t matter. Some were born into the Church, others came to the Church later in life. Birthright doesn’t matter. Regardless of background or history, each of us won the lot, the yes stone. We have been chosen to be on the inside, to be part of the Holy Church.

Doesn’t it feel great to know that we won the lottery?

Getting stoned:

We are lucky and blessed to be Christian, to have won the lottery, and are part of the true Church, but we must remember that winning comes with sacrifice.

Think about the method of casting lots by which Matthias won. According to Jewish priestly practice the Apostles, the new priesthood of the Holy Church, used stones.

Think about that. They used stones, which can remind us of stoning. Choosing the stone, winning the lottery, being Christian requires that sort of sacrifice. Several chapters later in Acts we will read of the stoning of Stephen. Chapters later the Jews and their Gentile sympathizers attempt to stone Paul at Ico’nium and again at Lystra.

What does it mean?

Would could reduce Christianity to winning, to being right and leave it at that. We could reduce Christianity to sacrifice, to getting stoned, to being a martyr, and leave it at that. Those two things are only the beginning and ending points to our Christian life. We begin by winning and we end winning. We begin with knowledge of sacrifice and we end in sacrifice. Our Christianity is everything that comes between those two points. The practice of Christianity is all the things that add to our winning and add to our sacrifice.

What adds:

What adds to our sacrifice and to our winning is the love that comes in-between, the love that is the marker of the Christian life. Our Lord and Savior prayed, saying:

They do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.

We do not belong to the world because by winning we have been freed from the constraints of the world. The world wants to tell us how we should —love.— The world wants to dictate who we may and may not love.

Thankfully we’re not part of the cheap love, the merely romantic or sexual love the world dictates. Our how of loving is a love that acknowledges the core value and dignity or each and every human being, every human, from the beginning of life and into eternal life.

Thankfully we do not have to choose sides in our loving. The world would have us love some and hate others. We love the lovable, who can be too annoying to love, and we love the broken, who can be too damaged to love. We love because as St. John says:

Beloved, if God so loved us,
we also must love one another.

Our loving is all that occurs between the bookends of winning and sacrifice.

Not complex:

Our loving is not complex and we don’t have to break out the journals and ledgers to count the complexities of loving. We are not part of an accounting/bookkeeping exercise where we enumerate our good deeds. Rather, our Christian life is one where loving, a lifestyle defined by loving, never counts the costs or keeps balances. As the ads say, we JUST DO IT.

Taking our place:

We have won. Our Holy Church and each and every one of us has the assurance St. John spoke of:

—¨This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us,
that he has given us of his Spirit.

We have won and the Spirit of God in us, in our work, in our loving. We have taken our place in the Holy Church. The place that was prepared for us has been filled. Let us never forget the value that our winning adds. When we won the vacancy that could only be filling by our winning was filled. Jesus prayed:—¨—¨

As you sent me into the world,
so I sent them into the world.—¨

We have won and have taken our place, the place we need to be so that Jesus could lead us in filling the vacancies that still exist. There is a vacancy in this pew and that, there is a place for everyone in our Holy Polish National Catholic Church. By the love we carry, by the witness we bear, many more will come to win, to sacrifice, and to love.

We have taken our place. Our winning, our sacrifice, our living lives defined by love wins the victory we all long for, the coming of the Kingdom of God, where we will stand together with all who have sacrificed and have loved. Amen.

First reading: Acts 10:25-26,34-35,44-48
Psalm: Ps 98:1-4
Epistle: 1 John 4:7-10
Gospel: John 15:9-17

“In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.
Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly
is acceptable to him.”

Christ is risen! Alleluia!
He is truly risen! Alleluia!

Talking about Christianity with a non-Christian is a dangerous venture. Today’s scripture gives some insight into how we are to do it.

Danger ahead:

Peter was summoned to the house of Cornelius, a gentile. This was dangerous ground. Peter was a Jewish Christian and still maintained Jewish practices. Entering the house of a gentile would make Peter unclean. Luckily God intervened and sent Peter a vision the previous night. Peter was presented with a tablecloth full of food that Jews would consider unclean. God tells him to slaughter and eat. The mere act of slaughtering in the fashion God presented would be unclean. It came down to this, God saying: Look Peter, I’m telling you its ok —“ just do it.

Peter’s action, his meeting with Cornelius, all that he did, even his testimony to the world, was dangerous. Peter and the rest of the Apostles, the deacons, the community members were sailing into dangerous seas.

God prepared Peter for the encounter at Cornelius’ house, for the danger, and Peter got it. On entering the house he finally got it —“ what God was getting at —“ these people reverence Me and love Me. Who are you to stand in their way? Why shouldn’t you witness to them? This applies to us. These people reverence Me and love Me. Minister to them.

We have been prepared. God has prepared us so that we might speak to those who do not know Him. We are prepared to speak despite danger. Our witness, our message is more powerful than any danger.

Acceptability is conditional:

God prepared Peter, making Cornelius and his household acceptable to Peter, so Peter, representing the Church, could go to them and baptize them. The key point here, the take away, is that the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius and his household, not because of Peter’s acceptance, but in Peter’s sight, because God accepted them.

Peter was prepared for his visit, yet he was astonished at what God did. Peter’s Jewish companions were flabbergasted. We didn’t accept you, yet God accepted you. We didn’t call down the Spirit, yet the Spirit came to you and found you acceptable. Why?

We have to understand a little about Cornelius to understand why.

Cornelius, like all of us, was called by the Spirit. Cornelius, like many of us responded. Even though Cornelius was a Gentile and a Roman Centurion, commanding 100 soldiers, he feared and worshiped God rather than idols. He taught his household about God and asked them to serve God instead of idols. He took fear of God, worship, and service to God, and he made it real through kindness to the poor and needy, and through prayer. When the angel of God came to him he said (Acts 10:4):

“Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God—

We have to recognize that God’s love is for everyone, and the Spirit’s call is to everyone. That love and that call are not enough —“ because we have to cooperate, we have to take action in accepting God at the center of our lives. God didn’t make Cornelius and his household acceptable. Rather, He accepted them because they chose Him. Our being acceptable to God, our inclusion in His body, is conditioned on our choice for God. Our acceptability, our inclusion starts when we chose God and are reborn, regenerated as Bishop Hodur taught.

When we teach others about the faith, when we talk about the faith, we need to joyfully tell those we speak with: God calls you; God’s call is written on your heart; and God will accept you if you respond. The only condition is to live justly and to accept God.

Christianity is required:

As I noted, Peter, representing the Church, went to Cornelius to baptize him and his household. The Church is a requirement. Peter didn’t foist himself, or the Church, on Cornelius. Rather Cornelius, at God’s prompting, summoned Peter and his companions.

God wanted Cornelius and his family to have the benefit of baptism, which Jesus told us is required (John 3:5).

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

God wanted Cornelius and his family to have the benefit of the Church, for the purpose of instruction and guidance.

Now I have to ask, ‘What do we believe about God?’

He is perfection. He is infinite. He is all knowing. He doesn’t make mistakes.

Jesus is God and He told us that we require water and the Holy Spirit for eternal life. God sent His messenger to Cornelius telling him that the Church was required. Jesus Himself told the Apostles that the Church is required (Matthew 28:19-20):

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you

God is right, the Church is necessary. Unfortunately many make a mistake in believing that spirituality, the belief in a spirit, or something unknown and powerful is good enough. They delude themselves when they think that they can make their own path, figure it out on their own. They make mistakes because they miss the lessons and the discipline of the Church, the path that God has set. No one learns on their own. Children need parents, apprentices need masters, students need teachers. God wants us to follow him as members of the Church.

The message to those who do not believe is that the Church is here, open, and for them. We can confidently reassure them that God wants them to be part of the Church, by water and the Holy Spirit, fed with the teachings of the Apostles and their successors. We can reassure them — they are not alone, on their own. They have a place in the Church.

Choices/Had to:

The faith choice, inclusion in the Church, and standing fast on God’s word in spite of danger are all messages for today.

That is the message we bear. As Father taught last week, as branches from the Vine we do not produce the fruit, yet we bear the fruit that our Lord and Savior has produced. The message we bear to the world is the good news of salvation.

Perfection is not required:

Are you perfect? Am I perfect? No! Not even the saints, no one but Jesus Christ, was perfect. Yet Jesus Christ gives us the path to perfection. It is the choice for faith. It is membership in His Holy Church, and with it comes the gifts of perseverance and steadfastness in spite of danger.

How do we get there?

Getting the message out, doing the work of Peter and the Apostles is our task. Our message, the fruit we bear, is hope for humanity. Our message is:

God sent his only Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.

Life is this. This is our mission. It is a dangerous venture, but we have a plan. It isn’t a secret plan — it is written in scripture. Now — put the plan into motion, tell the world that they are welcome. Let us tell them: The Spirit does not discriminate. The Spirit falls on all who accept Him. God cannot be hindered. The Church does not object — we glorify God and welcome you because God grants life to all who come Him. Amen.

First reading: Acts 9:26-31
Psalm: Ps 22:26-28,30-32
Epistle: 1 John 3:18-24
Gospel: John 15:1-8

When Saul arrived in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples,
but they were all afraid of him,
not believing that he was a disciple.

Christ is risen! Alleluia!
He is truly risen! Alleluia!

Fear!

Here comes Paul – and he was on fire for the Lord. He appears in Jerusalem and the Church was afraid of him. Paul left Jerusalem on a mission to destroy the nascent Church. Returning, he was one of them, baptized, and filled with the Holy Spirit.

Remember that Paul sat in Damascus for three days, blind, filled with wonder. Ananias came to him and cured him of his blindness. As soon as he was cured he set out to learn and boldly proclaim the gospel. The Church in Jerusalem hadn’t heard of Paul’s conversion, yet there he is, on their doorstep. They were more than a little afraid.

What do Paul’s conversion and the Church’s reaction to Paul teach us in light of Jesus’ instruction on the vine and branches?

Can I be a Christian?

Paul’s conversion and the Church’s reaction offer an answer to the question: Can I be a Christian?

Paul never whitewashed the things he had done. He told the Galatians (Galatians 1:13):

For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it

Paul spoke to the Galatians concerning his former life. He told them that he had done horrible things, deadly things, in persecuting the Church. Then he goes on to say (Galatians 1:15-16):

But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace,
was pleased to reveal his Son to me

Paul reminds us that regardless of the severity of his sinfulness, his denial, even his hatred, God called him. God called him to do what St. John says we are to do:

believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another just as he commanded us.

Like Paul every person is called to be a Christian, to proclaim Jesus Christ, and to love. Jesus opened every possibility; making it so that every closed door, every closed mind, every closed heart, could lay claim to God. The Holy Spirit offers the Christian life —“ and it is for all. All can be Christian, without barrier, without cost. You and I can really be Christians.

Can I proclaim the Gospel?

Paul’s conversion and the Church’s reaction offer an answer to the question: Can I proclaim the gospel?

Now Paul was an educated man. He didn’t arrive at his position among the Pharisees by being foolish, but look what happened. Paul became foolish for Christ and proclaimed the gospel through that foolishness. St. Paul tells the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 4:9-10):

For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men.
We are fools for Christ’s sake

Paul — educated, astute — saw himself as a fool for Christ. That’s the way it is with Jesus. Regardless of background, the past, college degree or no degree, we are all called to proclaim the gospel. Jesus calls us to proclaim, to give witness to the truth of the gospel. No one can sit on their hands and say, ‘no, not for me, not my job, I’m not qualified.’

You and I, we have to be shameless in our proclamation of the gospel; in proclaiming the truth:

believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another just as he commanded us.

Can we proclaim that? Yes indeed!

Must I work for the Church?

Paul’s conversion and the Church’s reaction offer an answer to the question: Must I work for the Church?

Where did Paul go? Being blinded Paul stayed put, and the Church came to him through Ananias. Ananias healed Paul as the Lord directed. Being healed of his blindness Paul went to the Church, to the Apostles in Jerusalem.

Now remember that Paul was educated in the law and in scripture. Paul knew a lot, and he could have winged it, could have relied on himself. Paul could have run off, proclaiming his version of Jesus, his version of the gospel; but Paul knew better. Paul went to the Church, to seek its commission and its mandate. He came to the Church so that he might take up the true gospel, the gospel our Lord and Savior left to the Church.

Like paul we must work with and for the Church. Paul came to Jerusalem with a boatload of humility. Paul was patient, waiting for Barnabas who: took charge of him and brought him to the apostles. Like Paul we must commit ourselves to working for the Church. We must come to the Church in humility, recognizing the difference between humanity’s self serving excuses and the infallible truth of the Gospel. The unchanging Gospel is taught by the Church. The Church’s teaching and the Church’s path is the totality of unchanging truth. We cannot wing faith; we cannot do a truth makeover, interjecting our personal likes and dislikes, man made dictates and excuses into the gospel message or the Church. We must work for the gospel left to the Church. Like Paul, we must work for the truth, for the Church.

Do I have to learn?

Paul’s conversion and the Church’s reaction offer an answer to the question: Do I have to learn?

After the Hellenists (the Greek speaking Jews) tried to kill Paul the Church sent him off to Tarsus. Ten years passed between Paul’s initial zeal to preach and his first missionary journey. He dedicated those years to learning the gospel —“ first hand from the apostles and disciples who were witnesses to all Jesus said and did (Acts 10:39). Those were years of preparation for the ministry that would be entrusted to him. Paul’s experience points to the value of preparation for the work of the Church.

Like Paul we must combine our zeal to be of service to the Lord with the need for preparation and testing. We are blessed because of the great graces we receive in the sacrament of the Word. The teaching we receive in our Holy Polish National Catholic Church prepares us to proclaim the gospel. The things we do among our brothers and sisters test and mold our abilities. When we face the world we are well equipped to do the work of the Church.

Can I be fearless?

Ananias and Barnabas are interesting. They went to Paul, to help him, even though they were afraid. Remember that Paul carried a mandate that would have allowed him to arrest a Christian. While getting arrested is unpleasant in this day and age, it was downright deadly in Paul’s time. Ananias and Barnabas wouldn’t have feared the lock-up, they would have feared for their lives.

That fear is natural. We want to preserve our lives. We want to live —“- and live a good long time. Ananias and Barnabas naturally feared, but their faith in Jesus Christ, in His promise, overcame that fear.

If we see life as defined set of years, beginning to end, full stop, then we have every right to fear. We would fear because death would mean the loss of everything. One who is dead would be gone forever. Is that what we believe? Of course not! Jesus told us that life passes in an instant, like flowers that are here one day and gone the next. But, Jesus didn’t leave it at that. He told us and He showed us that life is forever.

If we are Christians, if we proclaim the gospel, if we work for the truth taught by the Holy Church, and if we have studied and learned, then our natural fear is overcome. Our natural fear is really un-natural. Our true call is to be courageous, like Ananias, Barnabas, and Paul. We hear Paul tell us (Romans 8:38-39)

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God’s love which is Christ’s promise makes us fearless. We will preserve our lives through the fearless proclamation of the gospel. The life we preserve is eternal life —“ life that lasts forever.

We are grafted on to live, not die.

Jesus’ instruction on the vine and branches teaches that all who are part of Him, who remain in Him, will bear much fruit. We have been grafted onto the vine, grafted on to live, not to die. As Paul was brought into the Church our Lord and Savior brought us into the fold. He brought us in so that, like Paul, we might be Christians, that we might proclaim the gospel, work for His Holy Church, study and learn the gospel, and be fearless in our proclamation.

Jesus told us:

I am the vine, you are the branches.
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit

The fruit we bear is in relation to the life of Christ that is in us. By living the Christian life we will bear fruit. Like Paul, our lives will bear fruit in deed and truth. Let no one say of us, ‘We never thought that he was a disciple.’ Amen.

First reading: Acts 4:8-12
Psalm: Ps 118:1,8-9,21-23,26,28-29
Epistle: 1 John 3:1-2
Gospel: John 10:11-18

Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said…

Christ is risen! Alleluia!
He is truly risen! Alleluia!

Peter said:

Isn’t it interesting that on this Good Shepherd Sunday we open with Peter and John standing before the Jewish court. Peter speaks to the Jewish leaders, confronting them with a tremendous and fearful truth. He tells them that they killed the Messiah. He tells them that the Messiah is raised from the dead. He tells them that the cripple was healed in the name of the Messiah, and lastly that their place, the position, is worthless in light of the Messiah’s coming.

Peter tells the Jewish leaders that their time has ended and that all salvation comes through the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Jewish leadership has nothing to offer. They have nothing, no power and no words, nothing that will draw man closer to God.

Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, put the truth to them. Truth — clear, unequivocal, a truth proven through the invocation of Jesus’ holy name in the healing of the cripple.

Peter is shepherding these obstinate and hard hearted sheep. He shepherded them by showing them the truth of their position. They were in trouble, and without recourse, except to grasp hold of the Messiah, to acknowledge Him as the Son of God come among them.

Of shepherd and sheep:

This isn’t the picture we get when we imagine the Good Shepherd is it? We picture the shepherd gently carrying the sheep, caring for the sheep, feeding the sheep, loving the sheep. When we picture the Good Shepherd we do not picture Peter, the other apostles or ourselves.

Think about Peter. If there ever was an unruly sheep he defined it. Jesus had to put Peter on the right path numerous times. He had to love and care for him and he had to set him straight. Peter was a sheep like the rest of us —“ but like the rest of us he was called to something more.

We see ourselves as sheep. We see ourselves as unruly. We see ourselves as sheep in need of love, care, and gentleness. We can even see ourselves as sheep that need guidance and direction. Sometimes, as with Peter, the Shepherd has to use his staff to get us out of trouble. It’s hard to see ourselves, like Peter, as something more, as a shepherd, but that is what we are called to be.

What does it take to shepherd?:

We are shepherds. We have no need for a lesson on being a sheep; we’re all good at that, but what does it take to shepherd? Why are we to shepherd? How can we shepherd? Should we even try to shepherd?

Reading through the Gospels we hear Jesus telling us to go and do:

Jesus tells the young lawyer: “You have answered right; do this, and you will live.” After instructing him via the parable of the Prodigal Son Jesus tells him: “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:25-37)

Jesus sent the 72 telling them: —Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.— (Luke 10:1-24)

—Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit— (Matthew 28:19) and “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.— (Mark 16:15)

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” (John 20:19-23)

Finally in John 21:15-17 Jesus tells Peter, tells us, to do the work of the shepherd. He tells us to: “Feed my lambs.” To “Tend my sheep.” To “Feed my sheep.”

We are commissioned:

Jesus words are a commission. He calls us to be something more than sheep.

In hearing the Good Shepherd we realize that Christianity cannot be boiled down to a religion or a system of belief. Christianity is more than a religion, more than a system, more than a process, more than a collection of do’s and don’ts. Christianity is an active process of doing, of shepherding others. Jesus requires each of us to be a shepherd in the model of the Good Shepherd. Some are called to formally shepherd via the sacramental ministry as deacons, priests, or bishops; but never forget that each of us is called to shepherd. All of us have been commissioned, by baptism, to go out and to teach, to preach, and to proclaim. We are to go out to tend and feed His sheep.

We speak with one voice, one heart:

Some would make shepherding complex. Some would demand great deeds of daring-do. Those things really aren’t key or even necessary. What is key, what is necessary is that we shepherd with one voice and one heart. Our voice and heart must be that of the Good Shepherd. He tells us that we must feed the sheep, teach them, sacrifice for them, forgive them, and tend or look after them. The sheep are those who do not know Jesus as the the cornerstone, the one name under heaven by which we are to be saved.

The sheep, the people who do not know Jesus, need to be shepherded. It won’t happen through words alone, but rather through our work in making His words, His voice, and His work a reality in the lives of our neighbors. Jesus’ work must be our work, Jesus’ life is the life we are called to lead.

One love:

When we study the work of the great saints we study the lives of those who lived up to Jesus’ call to shepherd His people. Their ministries crossed the boundary between words and deeds. They lived a life that was one with the life of the Good Shepherd. They spoke words that were the words of the Good Shepherd. They loved greatly, because the Good Shepherd loved greatly.

That one love, that powerful love, the love of the Good Shepherd, is in our hands today.

Go and shepherd:

From this day forward we are to bring the life of the Good Shepherd to all of our brothers and sisters.

Why are we to shepherd like that? To show God’s great love.

What does it take to shepherd like that? It takes great love.

Should we even try? Yes, because Jesus has given us great love — He has put it right into our hands — and has commissioned us to go and to do: to feed, teach, forgive, look after, and sacrifice for the sheep that do not belong to this fold. St. John makes it clear in saying:

See what love the Father has bestowed on us
that we may be called the children of God.
Yet so we are.

We are. We are equipped with God’s love so that the sheep might hear His voice through our words, through our acts of love.

How can we shepherd? We shepherd by loving in the smallest ways. We must grasp the opportunities that God places before us. We cannot approach our ministry like Peter did in today’s reading from Acts, by lecturing. That was a unique situation. Rather we must make our Christian love personal and real. Buy a stranger a cup of coffee, take care of someone’s need, do it out of love. Do the smallest of things with great love every day and change the world. When people ask you why just tell them that you are sharing God’s gift of love — the love of the Good Shepherd who cares for His sheep. Amen.

First reading: Acts 3:13-15,17-19
Psalm: Ps 4:2,4,7-9
Epistle: 1 John 2:1-5
Gospel: Luke 24:35-48

[I]f anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous one.

Christ is risen! Alleluia!
He is truly risen! Alleluia!

Lawyers can be annoying:

Lawyers can be annoying. Watching the news, reading the papers, we see lists of people who have broken the law, who have done all sorts of things, some very evil. There, at their side, is the lawyer, the man or woman intent on getting them off-the-hook.

We get upset because these lawyers, these highly educated and highly paid people, are in the criminal’s corner, supporting the wrongdoers.

Advocacy for the guilty:

Those annoying lawyers are advocates for the guilty. They support and give comfort to the guilty, going so far as to say the guilty are innocent. No wonder people get upset; no wonder people write lawyer jokes:

Q. —What is a criminal lawyer?—
A. —Redundant.—

Jesus is that annoying lawyer and judge:

Interesting that St. John is telling us that we have an Advocate in heaven. The word advocate is another term for lawyer. In fact, in the Polish language, the word Adwokat is the term used for lawyers.

A law dictionary published in 1867 notes that an advocate, from the Latin word advocatus, means: One who is called upon to assist or defend another; a defender, patron, or protector…[one who] plead[s] another’s cause in court.

My friends: Jesus is that annoying lawyer. He is the lawyer that advocates on behalf of the guilty. He is the One who pleads for us and defends the guilty —“- that is us — before His Father.

He died for the righteous and unrighteous

St. John and St. Peter, in fact the whole of the New Testament points to the fact that Jesus, the Righteous One died for, was sacrificed for, the unrighteous. His advocacy begins with His blood, the blood that washes away our sin. St. John reminds us:

He is expiation for our sins,
and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.

Isn’t that the core assurance? Isn’t that the most important thing in our lives?

People can’t believe it. In Romans 5:7-8 we read:

Why, one will hardly die for a righteous man — though perhaps for a good man one will dare even to die.
But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

Can we understand that? People don’t believe it and are incredulous because Jesus, our lawyer, died for us —“ died in defense of the guilty.

We have no ability to approach God on our own, to somehow cover our sins. There is nothing we can do to compensate God, or the members of our community, for the evils we have done, whether big or small. But there —“ look —“ there is Jesus, our Advocate, our lawyer. He is standing in our corner.

Jesus brings us before the Father. He stands by us, allowing us to stand tall, to stand as free men and women in the court of heaven. Because Jesus is at our side, because He is our lawyer, our debt has been paid. Our sins, our guilt, all of it, every nagging and biting little evil we do —“ gone! I know I am guilty, but because of Jesus I am free.

The prophet Isaiah put it beautifully (Isaiah 53:5):

But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that made us whole,
and with his stripes we are healed.

He calls all but there is a requirement:

Back to my lawyer friends -—“ let’s consider our annoyance.

Perhaps, and I think this is key; it is because there is no requirement for amendment. When we see lawyers say: ‘I got my client off’ we think that the guilty have walked away from their crime. Society hasn’t been compensated for the wrong they have done. With Jesus the compensation has already occurred. Our lawyer has paid our debt in advance.

Our protection lies in what we preach and teach:

St. Peter told the people in Jerusalem:

—Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.”

Like those hearing St. Peter, we are called to make a dedicated and concerted effort in cooperating with our lawyer, Jesus Christ. Jesus needs our cooperation, our humility. He has paid our debt and in return requires us to acknowledge our guilt and to work with Him in amending our lives.

Amendment of life:

Our message is a message of hope. Jesus is our advocate. He stands with us, has washed us clean, has paid the debt in full — for us. He defends us before the Father. He is here for us, so that we may stand as free men and women. We need only desire it; we need only cooperate with Him. We who cooperate are on the path to heaven, a path open to all. Jesus told us that:

repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,
would be preached in his name
to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

Let’s open ourselves to that message of hope. Let us place our confidence in our Advocate. Let us go forward with a clear message: our sin has been washed away, we are committed to amending our lives, and we have forgiveness based on our repentance and cooperation with Jesus. His truth, His teachings are our reality. His way is the way to heaven.

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.

Brothers and sisters, let us keep His word, repent, and be forgiven. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, is our Advocate and our hope. Amen.

First reading: Acts 4:32-35
Psalm: Ps 118:2-4,13-15,22-24
Epistle: 1 John 5:1-6
Gospel: John 20:19-31

But these are written that you may come to believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

Christ is risen! Alleluia!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Things are written so you may come to believe, but who can?

We wonder.

In this week after Easter we may feel a little like the disciples, with a sense of wonderment. That wonderment is mitigated by the long history, the things that have passed since Jesus’ resurrection. We try to understand things in light of what Jesus said, did, and accomplished. Chief among these are His sacrificial death and His resurrection on the third day. Yet we still wonder. We still have a hard time understanding this resurrection thing.

How can this be?

Imagine sitting in your living room and suddenly a beloved relative, who has died, is standing before you. Imagine too that you know that you are sober and sane. Would you be able to wrap your mind and emotions around that experience? Would you know what to make of it, or how to react?

I think that I would be much like the Apostles. I’d be running around in circles, like a dog chasing its tail, not knowing what to do. Imagine what it was like for the Apostles. At first sullen, then things unexplained, and then WOW! I would hope that my relative would say —peace be with you.— Maybe that would calm me down.

After time passed, and our shock subsided, we might find context for the experience. At least we have knowledge of Christ’s rising. We have context based on the testimony of the witnesses, and our faith, that Jesus conquered death. Jesus is our context for life after death.

We know death.

The Apostles had no context. The Jews who lived during Jesus’ time on earth saw death as finality. Of the Jewish groups, only the Pharisees believed in the resurrection. The Sadducees believed that the soul died with the body. Jewish sacred texts and literature have little to say about what happens after death. The Torah and other Jewish writings on death indicate that the soul goes to Sheol, where the soul continues to exist in some way, but not consciously. The Apostles likely thought that Jesus went to Sheol, to the place of the ancestors, or simply was no more.

We all know death and loss. Death is ever real for us as well. We are saddened by death, depressed by death, and hurt by the death of our loved ones. Death is real because we can see it; we have personal knowledge of its implications, its pain.

We do not know death anymore.

There is Jesus! Imagine the wild scene when Thomas returned.

Thomas! Thomas! Guess what! Wow! You missed it! Jesus! Oh man! You shoulda been here…

Once he cut through the ruckus, and got everyone calmed down enough to understand what they were saying, Thomas would probably have said: Jesus what?

The others were trying to explain the thing we look at so calmly: Jesus lives, He has been raised, death is no more. The Gospel tells us that the Apostles said those things, but we read it in the context of history, and a recitation of words. The Apostles didn’t know the words, they didn’t have the history, and nothing in history could have prepared them for this.

History is the problem.

Jesus has been looked at, disected, examined, philosophized over, theologized on, and has been run through the gauntlet of human examination from the moment he was conceived in the womb of our Blessed Mother, Mary. In biblical studies, a field caled hermeneutics, there are at least six major approaches to understanding the Bible, and the whole point of the Bible, Jesus’ ministry. There’s a Lexical-syntactical method dealing with the words of the bible; a Historical-cultural method; a Contextual method; a Theological method; various Literary methods studying the genres found in Scripture: narratives, histories, prophecies, apocalyptic writings, poetry, psalms and letters; and the Historico-grammatical method.

Each of these approaches to God, to Jesus, depends on our knowledge, on our study. We approach Jesus, much like the Apostles, based on our experience and knowledge. The problem is -—“ we cannot know, not from our experience, not from our limited knowledge, not from all the other stuff that has occurred in history.

Jesus is history and beyond history.

Jesus is God. He is history and is beyond history. He is everything and beyond everything. We cannot put a context, based on our experience, around Jesus and His resurrection. We cannot grasp resurrection based on what we know, based on our study, based on any other historical event. That makes it easy for man to do his all to disprove, to impeach every source, every word on the resurrection. We cannot even match up the accounts from the scriptures. How many women went to the tomb? How many Apostles ran to the tomb? Were Peter and John running to the tomb while Jesus walked with the other disciples on the road to Emmaus? Was Jesus standing by the tomb in the guise of a gardener? The Sea of Tiberias and the fish fry? Was Thomas there, when Jesus walked into the locked room, or not? Nothing agrees, and some assume that the conflicting histories disprove the event.

Remember what I said about the deceased relative showing up and how I would be like a dog chasing its tail, not knowing what to do? So it was with these accounts. Was Jesus raised? Surely as I stand here. Can we analyze it and understand it? Can we get it? Not so easy!

We know.

St. John tells us:

for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world.
And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.

My friends, we are a people born of faith, a people begotten by God. Conquering the world has nothing to do with argument, with armed conflict, with disproving the naysayers and the analysts. Conquering the world has nothing to do with history and a historical analysis of what happened 2,000 years ago. They are not bad things to do, but we can only conquer when we say that we know based on faith. When we come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, when we are regenerated, we win. In that we have life…eternal life.

These are written so you may come to believe. Holy Scripture helps to get us there; it helps us in coming to believe. Faith brings it home. Scripture and faith allow us to give our testimony, to tell all the reason for our hope: Christ has risen! Alleluia!