Reflection for the 5th Sunday of Easter 2023

Lived Victory!

“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these because I am going to the Father.”

Thank you for joining today as we continue in our Easter joy. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Do you celebrate your baptism day? Do you even know when it was?

Because I do genealogy as a hobby I happen to know when mine was without digging through all the papers in that locked metal box in the closet (we all have those don’t we?). Mine was December 14th.

Sometime this week, open that box and look at the date. I know Carin (May 15th) and Vince (April 1st) had to do that to be godparents. Then put it on your calendar as an annual thing, and when it rolls around celebrate. Go out to dinner, have cake, take a trip, and share the time.

We celebrate lots of stuff: team wins, national whatever-it-is-day, a promotion or retirement. We celebrate love on Valentine’s Day. It is only right and fitting that we should celebrate that day when we met the greatest love of all time, the greatest love in all eternity – Jesus in our baptism.

You see, in baptism we are made one in Jesus. We enter the water dying with Him and are thus buried with Him to then rise-up out of the water to new life.

Our Holy Church does not look at this event, baptism, as some kind of ritual cleaning because babies are born all dirty and sinny. No! Indeed, we see baptism as that moment a person is regenerated, brought to new life in Christ Jesus. It is also why the Church must never be a place of criticism and condemnation, but rather a place of welcome, healing, and continual entry into God’s new life.

With this new life come the promises we hear in Scripture and in the Holy Mass today: You will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones. We have true power. You are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own.” We are set apart by God, made different by our baptism. I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself. We have an eternal home that Jesus built for us. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. We have intimate knowledge of God the Father because we know Jesus.

Yes, friends, celebrate the day you received the greatest gift of all. We can buy stuff, acquire, earn, give our children clothes, schooling, hobbies and sports – all good things, but the best gift for Olivia happens today because it is a forever gift, and it is free. 

It happened for you perhaps years or decades ago – don’t forget it, or just tuck it away in a little metal fireproof box. As you take out that paper and look at it recall that you were given the greatest gift ever. Pray in that intimate moment. Picture mom, dad, your godparents and their joy as they gave you this gift. And, thank God each day by living out the new life you entered with thanksgiving.

Reflection for the 3rd Sunday of Advent 2017

Time for
doing.

Brothers and sisters: Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances. Test everything; retain what is good. Refrain from every kind of evil.

Today’s message from scripture is one of doing (while rejoicing).

As we listen to Paul’s instructions to the Thessalonians, it sounds much like the instruction of every parent when they drop their children off somewhere. “Always be respectful. Listen closely. Pick up after yourself. Say ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’ Call me if you need anything. In fact, just call me period.” The list goes on. Most of the time those words are not even heard, because our children know them by heart. They have heard them repeatedly. But, like Paul, we have to wonder if they connect. Hearing is different from grasping and doing.

Reading Paul’s list of final exhortations, we are called to tune in attentively. Not only to listen, but to put these easy to remember admonitions into practice: REJOICE, PRAY, GIVE THANKS, DO NOT QUENCH, DO NOT DESPISE, TEST EVERYTHING, REFRAIN FROM EVIL.

Like to Letter of St. James, the First Letter to the Thessalonians is thought to be one of the earliest writings in the Christian community. Paul is laying out directions for how Christians are to live. What are we to do every day? These things: REJOICE, PRAY, GIVE THANKS, DO NOT QUENCH, DO NOT DESPISE, TEST EVERYTHING, REFRAIN FROM EVIL.

We do not really hear it in English, but in Paul’s Greek, he laid these out in poetic form, a sort of mnemonic device, with a special rhythm so they would be easily remembered. He wanted the faithful to have this in their ears, on their tongues every day, like a song you cannot get out of your head.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all things! These imperatives are to be our individual response toward God. We are to recognize God as the source of our daily joy and we are to offer Him thanksgiving. We are to do so regardless of what is going on around us or even very close to us. We are to find joy and reason to give thanks ALWAYS.

Especially telling, the Thessalonians were facing tragedies and deaths at the time of this letter. Things that were not joyful were shaking their faith, darkening their hearts. Paul reminds them as he reminds us – If these human and earthly things, which have no power over the person faith, over people with the promise of eternal life, and who look to the immanent return of Christ can shake us, what value is our faith, our devotion, our worship? People of real faith cannot be shaken because we stand on Christ Jesus. We own His salvation.

The next set of admonitions apply to us as a faith community, as the Church. We together are to recognize God working right here, among us. Do not quench the Spirt, do not despise prophetic words, test everything and retain what is good! God is at work here, and we see it daily, weekly. We are to take full part in that and re to do it together. We are to be open to God’s voice through the work of the Holy Spirt while at the same time testing to ensure we are consistent with scripture and Holy Tradition.

We are not to be passive or complacent in this time of waiting. We are to sing Paul’s song of God-centered action – rejoicing, praying, giving thanks, discerning, and testing. We are to live this song, this poem. It is to be the rhythm of our lives – our imperative as Jesus’ people. Let’s be His!