Second Sunday of Easter

Acts 4:32-35
1 Jn 5:1-6
Jn 20:19-31
Admit it. Go on, admit it. It’s true, you know it is. You just don’t want to admit the truth. It’s really nothing to be ashamed of. You doubt. Occasionally, in the deep recesses of your heart, you wonder, you doubt. I think we are rough on Thomas sometimes just because his story makes us confront our own doubt. There’s nothing wrong with the occasional doubt, the occasional question. It is, indeed quite normal, especially if you take your Christianity seriously. It is, after all, an incredible story. A human being rises from the dead? I’ve never seen it happen, I am relatively certain you’ve never seen it happen, yet that is what we are called on to believe. A human being, yet much more than a human being, lived among us, died a horribly violent death, then rose from the grave, living again, thereby assuring that we who follow, we who believe, will live as well. Thomas did not believe, would not believe, without proof. That is a lot like us. We want empirical evidence, proof that this theorem is true, before we believe that it is. Too often we don’t really want to believe, we want to know. Knowing something is true is not the same as believing something is true. Knowing requires proof, but it does not require faith. The mythologist Joseph Campbell was once asked by a priest if he would believe in a personal God, if he would have faith, if the priest could prove the truth of God’s existence. Campbell replied, if you can prove it, then what need would I have of faith? If we know we don’t need faith. The sun will rise in the east whether I have faith it will or not. The sun will set in the west whether I believe it will or not. I can state with certainty that Christ rose from the dead, but I say this because I believe. I say this because I have the great gift given by God, I have faith. The faith I have tells me this is true, despite the lack of evidence, despite the evidence against the possibility of what I believe being true. Being human, however, I do on occasion question, I do on occasion, doubt. That is when I must, I must, rely on my faith. Faith is what makes it possible to overcome the doubt. Faith is what makes it possible to, without seeing, believe.

Deacon John
The Second Sunday of Easter
April 19, 2009

Easter

Acts 10:34a, 37-43
Col 3:1-4
Jn 20:1-9

“For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”
Who can blame them? The empty tomb was a mystery. They had no explanation. Had his body been stolen, had it been moved? Why was the tomb empty? They did finally understand why the tomb was empty. He had indeed risen, he was alive. He had conquered death. Then they began to learn even more of what the empty tomb means. A lesson that we can, that we need to learn. Life can be frustrating. We encounter difficulties of all manner, things that trap us, things that can place us in a tomb, a tomb that shuts us off from those around us, that tries to shut us off from God. These frustrations and difficulties can grow until we feel so trapped we begin to believe there is no way out. We lay in the tomb, trapped. In Christ we have our way out, if we will claim it. We do not need to lie in that tomb of our making. Christ sets us free. Christ rolls back the stone, creating for us an opening, a chance. Christ makes it possible for us to walk out and leave behind an empty tomb.

Deacon John
Easter Sunday
April 12, 2009

Good Friday

Is 52:13—53:12
Heb 4:14-16; 5:7-9
Jn 18:1—19:42

Ecce Homo, Behold your King, or Behold the Man. Pilate brought Jesus out to the people and spoke these words. Behold him, he looked nothing like a king, and barely like a man. Rather, “there was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him,nor appearance that would attract us to him.” How could anyone be attracted to this beaten, bleeding figure? Why would anyone follow him? How could anyone see in this defeated man a king? Yet in this battered, bruised, bleeding figure is our salvation. Soon he would ascend his throne, be nailed to it, hang on it, apparently defeated. In this seeming defeat is our victory. In his death, our life. That battered, bruised, bleeding, crucified king sacrificed all for us. He gave everything so we might live. He hangs there, dying, to restore our life. Look, Behold the Man.
Deacon John
Good Friday
April 10, 2009

Holy Thursday

Ex 12:1-8, 11-14
1 Cor 11:23-26
Jn 13:1-15

The water poured over their feet, into the basin as he washed their feet. Water, but more than water, as Christ poured himself, emptying the pitcher of water, emptying himself. Wine poured into the cup, the cup he took, and blessed, and gave to them to drink. Wine, but more than wine, as Christ poured himself into that cup. He emptied himself, giving all that there was to give, all for them, all for us. It was an act of kenosis, self-emptying, the total pouring out of all that he had, all that he was, all that he is. A pouring out of self, an emptying of self for us. An example for us to follow, a call for us to empty ourselves. We pour out ourselves for others, but more than ourselves. We empty ourselves giving what was poured out for us. We pour ourselves out and into the new life we share, our new life gained as we empty ourselves into Christ.

Deacon John
Holy Thursday
April 9, 2009

Palm Sunday

So you could not keep watch with me for one hour?
What's our hurry? We can't seem to wait for Easter to get here. Get here and get done so we can end Lent, eat what we want on Friday and just get on with things. What's our hurry? This week is a week to be taken slowly, so that all that happens in this week can soak in, so we can experience the sacredness of this week. Today Jesus enters Jerusalem to cheers, only to find himself reviled by Friday, crucified, forgotten, so they hoped. But our hope and our life spring anew with the glorious event of Sunday, the day we have been preparing for these past weeks. Rather than rush through this week, savor it, celebrate it, use it, so we may be all the more ready to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, our opening to life.
Deacon John
Palm Sunday
April 5, 2009

An Idea

If you check the sidebar on the right hand side of this blog you will see that I have added a picture of Blessed John XXIII. Those who follow this blog may know know that I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, an incurable but treatable cancer. I was in remission following an autologous stem cell transplant, but recently realized that something was wrong. The last few weeks as I have waited to see if Poindexter (my name for the disease) had returned or not, something (or Someone?) urged me to pray to Blessed John for his intercession, asking that I may be healed. I thought, why not? He is certainly (to me) the most important Pope of my lifetime. He brought about changes that affected millions, and changes that affect me directly. Without the changes he started, I could not do what I do, I could not be what I am, a Deacon of this Church. And, he's a namesake. So I have begun praying daily for Blessed John XXIII's intercession, that I might be healed, and that a cure for Multiple Myeloma might be found, so all can be healed. I hope that you will join me in this prayer for Blessed John's intercession, especially for the discovery of a cure.
Deacon John
Palm Sunday
April 5, 2009