The readings for the Third Sunday of Easter - Year B may be found at:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041424.cfm
Over the past two weeks, the Sunday gospels have reflected the confusion and fear that followed Jesus’ resurrection.
Anyone here experienced confusion or fear from time to time?
I do - sometimes, multiple times a day.
And speaking of confusion and fear, I think I have been doing a little too much Easter celebrating.
Earlier, I said to my wife, Karen that my weight and Jesus both have something in common.
In the past two weeks, both have really risen.
Today, the evangelist St. Luke describes Jesus appearing again to the Apostles after He rose from the dead.
And we find the Apostles startled and terrified.
Two more emotions we probably know well.
The Apostles, who knew Him best, struggle to believe the reality of what they are seeing.
And can we blame them?
Even when confronted with undeniable evidence of God's power and presence,
our natural human reaction is often fear or disbelief.
We, like the first Apostles, can be slow to accept the realities of our faith.
And we have their example.
We have the scriptures.
We have our own experiences.
We have two thousand years of church teaching on God’s plan for salvation.
In essence, we have the answers to the test!
And still, we struggle.
The reality that God became man, suffered, died, and rose again can seem too incredible for us to believe sometimes.
And as a result, we, our family, friends and neighbors may be tempted to explain away the gospel as mere fantasy, delusion or some other abstract thing.
But we know it’s more concrete, real and physical than that.
And that’s what makes it so amazing.
The Gospels tell us. Fact, not opinion, that God assumed a physical human nature.
Jesus was physically born from a woman’s body.
He lived a physical life.
He performed physical miracles.
He physically died.
He physically rose from the dead.
He physically appeared to his Apostles after his Resurrection.
And He lives physically today in Heaven.
This is not ideology or fantasy, it’s reality.
Jesus shows the apostles His wounds,
invites them to touch Him,
and eats food in their presence -
concrete proof that he is no ghost,
but rather the living, resurrected Lord.
Physical, present and real.
Yet, because humans make things hard, we have doubts.
And how does Jesus deal with the Apostles' and our doubts and fears?
With patience, compassion and love.
But he also comes with expectations.
Expectations that we will respond as He has, with patience, compassion and love.
Jesus commissioned His Apostles and us to be witnesses,
Witnesses to the very real,
very physical, very concrete fact that God became man,
gave his life and took it back again
to forgive our sins giving us a path to eternal life.
And He commissioned them and us as witnesses to proclaim that good news to everyone.
But our God is so good, he didn’t stop there.
Human Himself, He knew we would need ongoing support to live the life He calls us to.
So, He gave us the sacraments,
physical ways to bridge our human experience with the divine.
In particular, the Sacrament of Reconciliation to absolve us of our sins and keep us on the path to holiness.
And if you think you don’t need the sacrament of reconciliation,
where you make a good examination of conscience and confess your sins to a priest acting in the person of Christ,
if you think you don’t need that, think again.
We all need confession regularly.
Not satisfied with the gift of Himself on Calvary,
Jesus continues giving himself to us in the Holy Eucharist.
Physical, present and real.
The source and summit of our spiritual life.
And in order for us to receive communion worthily we must make a regular, sacramental confession.
So that we can participate fully in this physical reality of God’s divine power.
To help us live our lives in ways that are worthy of those great gifts.
To strengthen us to be strong witnesses to Him in today’s world.
And this world needs strong witnesses.
The world needs to see lives transformed by grace.
Coherent Catholics who live the faith they profess for all to see.
Extending God's love to others. (Pause)
This week, let us all, even in the smallest ways, witness to the gospel by word and deed.
Glorifying God through what we do and how we do it.
So that in the process of being a witness,
and fighting through our own confusion and fear,
our faith will come alive for all to see.
So that more people get to see
just how real and awesome
a relationship with Jesus is
as a result of our personal witness.
