Now, today is the 5th Sunday of Easter I was privileged to preach at the Masses. It was also the weekend that 151 Children of our parish received their First Holy Communion. while my homily at the regular Masses does not directly address First Holy Communion I think it reminds us of a particular demon we must confront to be worthy to receive Eucharist both for the first time or for the 10,000th time.
so in lieu of a memory i offer my homiletic thoughts:
The past two
weeks has really challenged my faith. In
a very real sense the events of Boston have shattered my faith. Not my faith in
God but rather my faith in humanity. It seems, to me, that the older the human
race gets the farther away it draws itself from being fully human. People are
so beset with the past that they possess no hope for the future. Anger from the
past finds its way into the present and when it comes to a boil it can take
over and controls our action to such a
degree that the future is taken away.
The future is taken away not only from those who have fallen victim to
anger but the future is also taken from the ones who were consumed with anger.
So much has been
written about the anger of the brothers, so much has been written about the
anger of their family. So much has been written about the anguish of the
victims. So much anger that it can easily flow into our lives. I admit that I became angry and that my anger
sometimes came out in crude statements articulated to friends and family. That
is part of the phenomena of anger; of all the emotions we have anger multiplies
itself most easily. Anger duplicates itself the fastest and more importantly
anger lingers the longest. A couple of
weeks ago I presented a “teaching” in our Lenten series concerning the seven
deadly sins. My topic was anger. I ask
the class to raise their hands if they had anybody in their family who harbored
a long standing anger. Everybody raised
their hand. Proving that our problem with anger is not just experienced on the
level of the geo political but it is profoundly experience so in our most intimate
relationships. Anger is so ubiquitous one can conclude that it we are destined
for it therefore, there is nothing we can do about it; In the face of anger we
are impotent.
But then we get
nudged, nudged by the nothing less than the word of God. The word of god particular
expressed in today’s Gospel.
Today’s gospel
has Jesus announcing his departure from the lives of the disciples. In today’s gospel Jesus also announces his singularly
new commandment Note the detail with which the Gospel begins “When Judas had
left them!” Judas was an angry man. The source of his anger was jealousy, pride
and greed. Judas .as all angry men let this anger get the best of him. It was
from his anger that he betrayed Jesus.
His anger blinded him to the love of Jesus. It is significant though in
that before Jesus could offer his new command, the command to love the anger
had to depart. For the reality is that
Anger and love cannot coexist. Anger and love cannot abide in the same room;
neither can it abide in the same person. When both are available only one will
dominate. And which one dominates is a choice we must make. A choice like all choices that has
consequences.
If we choose to
be angry we are then choosing not to love.
If we choose not to love then we are separating ourselves from Christ.
If we separate ourselves from Christ then we will not be recognized as his
disciples. If we are not recognized as his disciple amongst each other than
ultimately we won’t be recognized by Christ nor hear those long for words. Enter, my good and faithful servant!
So much hinges on
that choice that is unfortuantley often given to us.. Will we persevere in the faith of Jesus as
Paul and baranabas did or will we let the hardship of hate and anger overpower us
thus and limiting or impeding the Kingdom of God.
Will we be among
those who recognize that god dwells in each one of us or will we allow our
tears and our mourning and our wailing and our pain blind us to that sublime
reality? Will we be the beneficiary of
the New Jerusalem or will we be restricted by the rubble of the old.
Yes the choice is
always ours. The choice to hate with an unquenchable anger or the choice to
love with a fathomless love. Jesus chose
the later with his last words being forgive them for they know not what they
do. It was through this kind of love
that Jesus was able to conquer that anger that put him on the cross. The question is always what choice you will
make; I will try loving the rest is up to you!
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est!!
Well said.
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