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Daily Scripture

+ 21st Week in Ordinary Time

Every day is a gift and a blessing.

Readings: I Corinthians 1:1-9 Psalm 145:2-7 Matthew 24:42-51

I give thanks to my god always on your account for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, that in him you were enriched in every way, with all discourse and all knowledge, so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gifts as you wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” [I Cor 1:4-5, 7]

My mother used to say that every day is a gift and a blessing—an opportunity for grace indeed, many graces.

I suppose it’s all according to one’s perspective. The greatest challenge in life is to find something to be thankful for every day. This is particularly difficult during stressful times and certainly during illness of one kind or another.

I think I may have shared difference between a hermit and a nightclub performer. The hermit wakes up at dawn and says, “Thank you, God!” The nightclub entertainer wakes up at noon and says, “Good God, morning?”

There is so much going on in the world at large and in our own particular worlds to bring anxiety and stress. It’s hard work to maintain balance. An active spiritual life based on the confidence that nothing can happen today that can defeat us if we are grounded in the belief that God’s presence is abiding but it’s difficult and sometimes terrifying to let go.

I still remember the first time I road my two-wheeler bike without my dad holding on to the seat. We started off—I, confident that he hand was firmly attached to the seat. I had ridden almost a full block before I realized that he had let go and there I was, gliding down the street. It’s that way with God. We just need to remain conscious that God’s ‘hand’ is not a crutch but that God’s grace within us is real.

Some days it seems as if we are starting all over again.

Second Sunday of Easter 'A'

Saturday March 29, 2008

There are no proofs but you and me.

I assume you have in your home as I have in mine, a box of photographs that never seem to make it into the family album. I was saving them for or a ‘rainy day’ that never arrived. And so as the years pass the photos continue to pile up. Of course digital technology should make it easier but it doesn’t. It only takes longer to get things done faster. In any event, photo albums—hi tech or low tech – reawaken precious memories that create a kaleidoscopic view of our family history and give life to our personal stories. And they help us in the pursuit of new personal and family goals.

This is no less true as we watch kaleidoscopic vignettes of the lives of famous public figures as we reminisce about times long past. Some of us remember the death of FDR and how the Saturday afternoon movies were introduced by a rendition of “Home on the Range,” Roosevelt’s favorite song. Many of us remember quite vividly the tragic death of John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Martin Luther King and more recently the passing of John Paul II and Gerald Ford. Their stories also helped us in the development of communal goals as a church and as a nation.

It is astounding to me that despite the passing of time and the repetition of the texts describing the first Easter event, new insights continue to emerge from a careful reading of our Judeo-Christian history as recorded in the Sacred Scriptures.

But many Christians, Catholics among them, continue to search for Jesus in an empty tomb; searching not for a dead body but for the risen Christ. No, they are not literally heading for an empty tomb to find him but they are searching the texts to prove that Jesus’ resurrection was not a hoax. Did not St. Paul tell us that if Jesus did not rise from the dead, then our faith is in vain? However, in my view, this search is indicative of a ‘Disney World’ view of a mystery that defies human explanation. Archeologists may lbe able to locate the place of burial but may never find evidence for the mystery.

If only we could read the texts this weekend with a fresh mind, almost as if we had never been exposed to a catechism or to doctrinal studies, we might arrive at the core of the mystery described by the biblical writers each in a different way.

The Easter Event is not about the resuscitation of Jesus but about his new identity in the community of believers. As one biblical scholar put it: “In his new identity, Jesus is no longer subject to the constraints of time and space.” Indeed!

There is a story about a priest captured by the Pentecostal movement many years ago who during a wake service screamed at the deceased to “rise up!” He was off his rocker. This is not what resurrection is about.

The biblical writers through a wide use of metaphors against the background of ancient Old Testament ‘tapestries’ and stories are attempting to convince us of the reality of Jesus’ presence in the emerging faith of the early witnesses. The term ‘witnesses’ does not necessarily mean ‘eye witnesses’ but rather those who actually experienced the living Christ. The graphic description of Thomas’ doubt and his instant conversion to belief is hyperbole— an attempt to connect the risen Christ to the physical historical Christ. It is not an attempt to establish proof for his resuscitation—a very subtle but important distinction.

The message is really not complex but its utter simplicity may push us to doubt and/or to fear taking it to heart. If Jesus is truly risen and living in his body, the community of believers, then ought we not find proof for his resurrection not so much in an empty tomb as in the life and mission of the Church? And if so, might we not want to search for those qualities within our community that testify to the reality of the risen Christ among us? What is our personal and communal witness and to what are our energies directed? When ‘outsiders’ come into our community do they leave saying such things as “ Wow! We have seen the living Christ among them?” This is what brings outsiders in; not inflexible dogmas or rigid definitions. It is the mystery of Christ living within the faithful despite the disillusionment of terrorist attacks from without and the frailty of human leadership from within the nation and the Church.

As member s of Assumption Parish we are called to be animators of the word of God. Do we empower people to goodness? Are we ready as were the early believers ready to face the sword in defense of justice? For whom or for what are we ready to die? Or should we not ask, for whom or for what are we willing to live?

A couple of issues come to mind under the title of justice. One is the continuing pursuit of an economy that works for all people, one that will guarantee at least a modest living for the poorest members of our society. This is not achieved by give-away programs or even by charity alone. It requires a commitment to build inclusive and equitable systems that provide a place at our global table for the world’s poor. Candidates make it seem as if it’s simply a matter of casting a vote for the right person but neglect to speak about the sacrifices that true economic justice will demand of everyone. The political system is a means to the end, not an end in itself.

Another is the continuing pursuit of justice within our own Church. This requires a commitment to change what needs to be changed to keep us faithful to the teachings of Jesus and the core of the Gospel. It means the willingness to shed titles and honors. We do not need any more clergy ‘bashes.’ Indeed, it means the willingness to become as powerless as the master who, in the words of St. Paul to the Philippians, did not deem equality with God something to be clung to. Jesus emptied himself becoming like a slave so that all people might be free.

The lack of great leaders often results in our bringing to life a new kind of leadershp from the pew, as it were. In fact, many great leaders loomed larger than life while they were still alive.

We read these texts every year during this holy season but each year they take on new meaning in the light of global and personal events.

I believe the same texts read again this year are saying much more to me than they did last year and I’m getting excited and perhaps a bit nervous about the implications. I hope you are too. Nevertheless, the peace that Jesus breathed into the disciples behind the locked doors of doubt and fear transformed them, animated them, and empowered them to go forth to live the fullness of the risen Christ.

Perhaps they will do the same for each of us and for all of us together.