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This evening, we gather to celebrate one of the great feasts of Our Lady, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven. In this feast, we commemorate when the Blessed Virgin Mary, born without sin and unstained by sin, was assumed into Heaven. Her body, never touched by the corruption of death, was brought up to Heaven at the moment of her death by Our Lord, and was reunited with her soul in Heaven, where she reigns with God the Father and Our Lord Jesus Christ.

This feast shows us what our eventual outcome will be at the end of time. After we die, our souls go to Heaven, and our bodies remain in the grave. At the end of time, a new Heaven and new Earth will be created. At that time, our bodies will be resurrected, and our souls will be reunited with our newly resurrected bodies. We will then be living in a new Earth, with Our Lord reigning as our king.

With this Heavenly imagery, the choice of readings today might seem a bit strange. Instead of talking about what Heaven will be like, the first reading shows us King David with the Ark of the Covenant. It becomes clear why this reading was chosen when we look at the readings for tomorrow, the actual feast day of the Assumption. The first reading for tomorrow’s Mass comes from the book of Revelation, and shows us an image of Heaven, in which the Ark of the Covenant is seen. After seeing the Ark of the Covenant, St. John says that he sees a woman clothed with the sun. Both the Ark of the Covenant and the woman clothed with the sun are images of Mary.

Why is Mary is seen as Ark of the New Covenant? To begin with, the Ark of the Covenant was the carrier of God’s covenant with the Israelite people. It contained a copy of the Mosaic Law, the laws of the covenant between God and the Israelites. It was the most holy object in Israel, because God resided with the Israelite people through this Ark. It was later lost when the region of Judah was conquered by the Babylonian empire approximately 600 years before Jesus’ birth.

Mary is seen as the Ark of the New Covenant because she held the second person of the Holy Trinity within herself. Our Lord Jesus Christ, was not merely another human, but fully human and fully divine. The Ark of the Covenant did not literally hold God within it, but Mary, the Ark of the New Covenant, received the most unique privilege to carry God the Son within her womb for nine months.

In this evening’s Gospel, we hear the woman who calls out, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.” Seemingly in contrast to the great honor that Mary received in bearing Our Lord, Jesus replies, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” This is not a denigration of Mary, as some groups of Christians hold, but a re-acclamation. She was blessed because she carried Jesus, but was blessed more so because she heard God’s word and responded to it.

As followers of Jesus, we need to follow Mary’s example by listening to God’s word and responding to it with generosity and love. We need to hear Our Lord calling to us, and say in response, “Yes, Lord, I will follow.” Mary shows us through her life, through her example how we should follow Our Lord, how we should bring ourselves to Him. She gave herself completely to God, literally giving her body to care for Our Lord. She was willing to give everything she had, and was assumed body and soul into Heaven at the end as her reward.

Mary continues to follow Our Lord, and she leads us to him. When we pray to her, when we ask her to intercede on our behalf, through her actions, she is always pointing to Our Lord. We worship Jesus as the second person of the Trinity, but honor Mary very highly as his mother.

May we be willing to give of ourselves to God as completely as Mary did, so that one day we may join her son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, in Heaven.

We live in a world filled with noise. How many of us constantly have the radio or TV on at home? We get into our cars, and there’s the radio. We walk outside and hear the noise of vehicles, trains, other people. We’re surrounded, even bombarded, with noise constantly. This noise prevents us from hearing the still, small voice of God speaking in our hearts.

Our Lord knew the importance of silence and solitude. After feeding the five thousand, which we heard last week, Jesus sent his disciples ahead of him in a boat so that he could have some time to pray in private. These times of prayer are what fueled Our Lord’s ministry, kept him going, regardless of the demands that were placed upon him. He also made prayer a priority before any major decision or event. This time, Our Lord used the opportunity for prayer to grieve over the death of his cousin, John the Baptist. Jesus knew that he could take all his concerns to the Father in prayer, and that he would receive the grace to continue in his earthly ministry.

We need to follow Our Lord’s example. We need to bring our concerns, our challenges, our sorrows to the Father in prayer. When we make a major decision, we need to precede it with time of prayer, asking the Father to lead and guide us so that we may do his will. When we have difficulties in our lives, problems that we feel we can’t overcome, we need to bring those to prayer as well, trusting that God will provide the grace to face these challenges.

In our noisy culture, however, it is extremely difficult to bring ourselves to prayer. Because of the constant noise in the world today, it is difficult to silence ourselves and prepare ourselves to be open to God and listen to His response. While it may be difficult to enter into silence, it is all the more important, as the first reading today shows.

When Elijah, long considered Israel’s greatest prophet, reached Mount Horeb, he sought to speak with God. I think when many of us picture God speaking, we imagine something like the movie “The Ten Commandments.” We imagine that God has a deep, booming voice that shakes the rocks and causes earthquakes. When speaking with Elijah, however, God doesn’t speak that way. He doesn’t speak in a great wind, or an earthquake, or even in fire, but in a tiny whispering sound.

This is how God the Father speaks to us today. He doesn’t yell at us, he doesn’t force us to hear him. Instead, he whispers to us. He speaks softly in our hearts, inviting us to enter into silence and prayer so that we can hear his voice. God does answer our prayers, he does speak to us, but he does it so softly that the noise of the world can easily drown it out.

This is why we must allow for periods of silence in our lives. Every day, we must take time to turn off the TV or radio, get away from the noise of the world and listen to God. We need to spend time in prayer, bringing the challenges of our lives, the struggles we’re facing, the sorrows and joys of daily life to God. We also need to spend time silently waiting for an answer. It may not come right away, and it may not even be during times of prayer, but we need to have the periods of silence to open our hearts to God, and prepare them to follow his will.

How do we find this time for silence? It’s often very difficult to do, but is so important for our spiritual well-being. One option is to schedule time during the day to spend in a holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament. The church is always open throughout the day, so anyone can stop in and spend time before Our Lord in the Tabernacle. I realize that it is often impossible to actually spend an hour in adoration, but I wouldn’t be discouraged if you can’t do one hour. Even if you only can spend fifteen minutes in front of Our Lord in silent prayer, the graces that we receive from simply stopping by are immeasurable. Our Lord is here in the church, waiting for us to spend time with him. May we have the faith to spend time with Our Lord in silence.

When we look at the feeding of the five thousand, which we see in today’s Gospel, it’s easy to focus on the surface meaning of the miracle. Our Lord was able to feed five thousand men, plus women and children who were not counted in the five thousand, by multiplying five loaves and two fishes. This in itself would be an incredible event, but there is a far deeper message within Jesus’ actions: the deep and sustaining love of God for each of us.

All those who followed Jesus would have considered the gift of bread and fish in today’s miracle as a great gift indeed, but few, if any, realized the deeper gift that Our Lord was preparing for his disciples: the Eucharist. Even in his great sorrow over the death of his cousin, John the Baptist, Jesus was willing to give of himself to care for the those who followed Him. He knew the faith of those who followed him, and was able to work with that faith to feed them.

Much as Jesus fed the five thousand, Our Lord is also able to feed us through his gift of himself in the Eucharist. This is not merely a physical feeding, as he was able to do with the five thousand, but a spiritually fulfilling meal. Just as Jesus was able to take five loaves of bread and give them to everyone who was present, Our Lord is able to take simple bread and wine and change it into His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity at every Mass that is celebrated throughout the world. Instead of feeding just five thousand, He is able to give himself to all those who follow him throughout time and space.

Just as Our Lord willingly gave to those who followed him out of love, He gives Himself to us out of the same love. Even with his sorrow, Our Lord had compassion on those who followed him, and willingly healed the sick and fed the crowds out of His love. When we receive the Eucharist, we are also receiving the benefit of His love for us.

As Saint Paul tells us in the second reading, God loves us so much that nothing outside of us can separate us from him. Even when Our Lord was in need of solitude, he did not allow that desire to come between himself and His people, but he reached out in pity to those who had traveled far to follow Him. In the same way, Our Lord does not allow anything to come between us and Him, but is constantly reaching out to us in love, constantly sending us the grace to respond to His love and turn to him.

While we can never be separated from God’s love, we can still turn our back on Him. Instead of responding to God’s love with joy and our own love for Him, we can instead refuse His love and ignore him. God loves us so much that He is willing to allow us to refuse his love and ignore Him. In effect, the only way that we can separate ourselves from God is through our own actions. God will never abandon us, but He will allow us to abandon him.

So how do we respond to Our Lord in love? First and foremost, we need to realize that when we receive the Eucharist, we are receiving the greatest gift that Jesus can give us: himself. We need to approach the Eucharist with devotion, and receive it with true joy and a desire to unite ourselves with Him. We need to make sure that we’re receiving the Eucharist out of true love for Our Lord, and not merely because it’s what Catholics are expected to do when we come to Mass.

As St. Jose Maria Escrivá wrote, we must prepare to receive Our Lord as if it were the only time that we would be able to receive Him. I would venture to say that if we were only able to receive the Eucharist once in our lives, we would prepare for the event much like many people prepare for graduations, weddings, and baptisms. Very few people take these major events for granted, with good reason. In the same way, we should not take the Eucharist for granted.

When we receive the Eucharist, Our Lord reaches out to us in love and feeds us with himself. May we never turn away from Him, but always respond to His love.

When we recite the Creed at Mass, as we will in just a few moments, have you ever thought about the passage that states, “he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father”? Today, we are celebrating exactly that event in salvation history, the Ascension of Our Lord.

The feast of the Ascension is traditionally celebrated on the Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter, which happens to be forty days after Easter Sunday, but many diocese, the Archdiocese of Chicago included, have moved it back a couple more days to today, the Seventh Sunday of Easter. The traditional placement of the feast of the Ascension forty days from Easter is significant, as our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles tells us. Following his resurrection, Our Lord spent forty days with the Apostles teaching them and preparing them for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

The number forty frequently appears within the Scriptures whenever there is an event that is important within God’s plan of salvation. Examples would be the forty years the Israelites spent wandering in the desert, the forty days and forty nights that the Great Flood lasted, even the forty days Our Lord spent fasting in preparation for his ministry. All of these events were important periods of preparation for a key point in salvation history. The forty days before the Ascension is no less important. During this time, Our Lord was preparing the Apostles for the reception of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, as well as their mission to preach to the whole world, as St. Matthew records in his Gospel.

Getting back to the first reading, we hear that Jesus ascended into heaven on the fortieth day, disappearing behind a cloud. What’s the significance of the cloud? Did he just happen to pass through a random cloud as he ascended? Not quite. As I’ve mentioned in previous homilies, there is symbolism throughout the Scriptures. The cloud is more than just a convenient way for Jesus to disappear as he ascends, but is actually a symbol of Heaven itself. By disappearing into the cloud, Jesus is shown to already be in Heaven, seated at the right hand of God. In fact, throughout the Scriptures, clouds are present whenever God manifests himself, such as the Father speaking through the clouds at Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River or again at the Transfiguration.

When Our Lord ascended into Heaven, he completed his saving work on Earth, opening the gates of Heaven to us who follow him. Not only does this event lift our hearts to God, as the priest exhorts us to do at every Mass, but it finishes the work that Jesus began in his passion and continued through his death and resurrection. The Ascension of Our Lord opens the gates of Heaven to allow us to enter, while also allowing God’s grace to flow through us by the coming of the Holy Spirit upon all who believe.

As believers, we all want to be recipients of that grace, and we definitely want to follow Our Lord through the gates of Heaven and receive our eternal reward. How do we do this? In order to receive these gifts from our Heavenly Father, we must prepare ourselves much as the Apostles were prepared throughout the forty days that they spent with Jesus following his resurrection. Now, many of us can’t leave work, family, and other obligations to spend forty days totally immersed in prayer and reflection, but we have the tools available to prepare throughout our lives. Most importantly, we have the sacraments, especially Reconciliation and the Eucharist, which provide the graces that we need to overcome our sinful nature and to bring us closer to God. We also have devotions, such as the Rosary, which can aid us in developing a regular pattern of prayer. In addition, we can spend time in study and reflection over the Scriptures, allowing us to be immersed in God’s word. Many more tools are available; these are just a small sampling of the wide variety available to us.

As we celebrate this feast of the Ascension, may we imitate the Apostles in preparation, and one day follow Our Lord into Heaven after our time on Earth is finished.

In the Gospel today, Our Lord promises us that he will send an Advocate who will be with us always to lead, guide and protect us. This Advocate will be a Spirit of truth, and will help us to live that truth in our lives, bringing us to Christ. Through the work of this Advocate, we will be able to love Jesus and follow his commandments. In return, Jesus promises that he will love us, and that God, our Heavenly Father, will also love us and we will reside in Jesus, and Jesus will reside in us. This Advocate which Our Lord promises to us is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity, who came down upon the Apostles at Pentecost, and continues to come down upon us today in the Sacrament of Confirmation.

In the first reading, we see the importance of the Sacrament of Confirmation. Crowds of Samaritans had begun to believe in Jesus, and were baptized, but it wasn’t until the Apostles Peter and John came to the Samaritans and laid hands on them that they received the Holy Spirit. Through the laying on of hands, Peter and John confirmed the belief of the Samaritans and they received the gift of the Holy Spirit.

In the Sacrament of Confirmation, the Holy Spirit comes down upon the baptized believer, completing the process of initiation which began in the Sacrament of Baptism and is continued through the reception of the Eucharist. When we were confirmed, we received the Holy Spirit, which tied us more closely to the Church, uniting us more intimately to the Body of Christ, which we entered at our baptism. It also more strongly obliges us to spread the Gospel throughout the world, while also giving us the obligation to defend the Gospel against those in the world who would attack it.

Among Catholics, there tends to be a common misunderstanding about the Sacrament of Confirmation. For many Catholics, especially those who are in preparation for the Sacrament, there is a tendency to view reception of Confirmation as a “graduation” from religious education. With this view, the newly confirmed feel that they are no longer obligated to attend any religious education program. This, of course, is an inaccurate understanding, as we should be open to any opportunity to grow in our understanding of the Christian faith, allowing ourselves to draw closer to Jesus by learning about him. Only through growth in our faith can we more powerfully and effectively fulfill Jesus’ command to preach the Gospel to all nations.

So, how do we preach this Gospel? As we heard in the second reading today, St. Peter tells us that we must “always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.” By growing in our faith, both spiritually and intellectually, we are able to explain our faith with greater clarity and true desire to share the faith we hold. By sharing our faith, we are fulfilling the commandment by Our Lord to spread the Gospel to all nations. All of us, through our baptism and reception of the Holy Spirit at Confirmation are obligated to preach the Gospel. We do this mainly by living our lives as Jesus commands us: to love God with our whole heart, soul, and being; and to love our neighbor as ourself. By following these commandments, we are able to show how much we love Our Lord. In return, Our Lord promises to love us, and that God, our Heavenly Father, will also love us. Likewise, Jesus promises to be united with us, and we will be united with him. Through our examples when living out our belief in the Gospel, others will be drawn closer to Christ, while we ourselves will also be drawn closer to him.

As we come closer to the end of this Easter Season, may the Holy Spirit guide us into loving Christ and following his commands, and may we experience the depth of Jesus’ love.

At Mundelein Seminary, each deacon is required to preach one homily to the seminary community. This was my opportunity, so it’s obviously geared more towards seminarians than my usual homilies. Of course, it came the day after we returned from the Papal Youth Rally, so I had to throw a little of Pope Benedict’s address into this homily. Hope you enjoy.

In the Gospel today, Our Lord gives us not only one, but two great promises. First, he promises that those who love him will dwell with Jesus and his Father. Second, he promises to send the Holy Spirit to teach and guide. For those of us who are called to the ordained ministry, these promises can be, and should be, very comforting, but they also provide a sense of direction for our lives and ministry.

We know that the Father wants all men and women to love him and to spend eternity with him. We also know that this will not be forced on anyone, but must be a free response on the part of the individual person. This is very comforting for those of us who have responded and continue to respond positively to God’s invitation for love, but it also provides the challenge to show God’s love to those around us who may not have responded in the same way. In the first reading, Paul and Barnabas were in the midst of their ministry proclaiming the Gospel and showing God’s love to all they encountered. While we may not be required to walk the countryside healing the lame, as they did in today’s reading, we still have the obligation to visit the sick, comfort the sorrowing, and all the other corporal and spiritual works of mercy. By performing these works not for show, but through a sincere love of God and neighbor, we will show the love of God and guide others to loving him.

This is where the second promise comes in. Those of us who are called to enter into the ordained ministry are to be conduits through which the Holy Spirit will be able to teach us and remind us of all that Jesus told us. For this reason, we must be open to the work of the Spirit within our lives. We will be called to preach the Gospel, and must spend time in prayer and reflection on the Scriptures to allow the Holy Spirit to guide our words. We must continue to study, spending even just a few minutes every day reading a book that will help us grow theologically and spiritually. We must be open to ministering in places and situations that we might find personally uncomfortable or beyond our abilities. We must open ourselves to the guidance of the Spirit, both for ourselves and for those we serve as ministers.

If we allow the Holy Spirit to work through us, we will show the love that we have for God and will lead others to experience God’s love for themselves. As Pope Benedict reminded us at the youth rally on Saturday, “Remember that what counts before the Lord is to dwell in his love and to make his love shine forth for others.” May the Holy Spirit come down upon us to allow God’s love to shine through us.

“The Lord is my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.” Psalm 23 is probably the most recognizable of the Psalms, and definitely the most popular. It’s easy to see why, as the Psalm evokes a very peaceful scene of a beautiful, grass covered landscape with sheep peacefully grazing and a shepherd calmly watching over his flock.

Today, on this Fourth Sunday of the Easter Season, we celebrate what is commonly known as Good Shepherd Sunday. In addition, this Sunday is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. It’s no coincidence that we celebrate both on the same day, as the two are intrinsically linked. Our understanding of Christ as the Good Shepherd influences our understanding of religious vocations.

In the passages we just heard, we see Christ symbolized as a Good Shepherd, who leads, protects, and guides his flock. As Christians, we are members of this flock. I once heard someone say that it was an insult to be called sheep, as sheep are usually portrayed as slow, stupid creatures that follow their shepherd blindly. This isn’t the case, however, as sheep are actually quite intelligent, as far as animals go. As the Gospel tells us, they can recognize the voice of their shepherd and follow him, while shying away from those whose voices they don’t recognize.

In our world today, many voices try to draw us away from the Good Shepherd. Popular media, such as movies, television shows, and music, try to draw us one way. News channels and programs bring another call. Even the day-to-day demands of life provide an alternative message. Through all this noise, how can we hear the voice of our Good Shepherd calling us to him?

To help us to follow him, we have the Church, which is symbolized as a sheepfold, a fenced-in pen used for protection of the flock. The sheepfolds were used by shepherds to corral the sheep every evening so that they wouldn’t wander away while the shepherd slept, but it also protected the sheep from predators and those who would try to steal the sheep from the shepherd. The teaching office of the Church, the Magisterium, keeps us from wandering away from Jesus and falling into error, but is also called to protect us from those who would cause our spiritual lives harm.

Christ has also given us earthly shepherds to lead and guide us to him. Bishops and priests are members of the Church called to act on Jesus’ behalf. In fact, when the Pope visits the United States next week, his aircraft will be known as “Shepherd 1”, a recognition of his role as earthly shepherd serving the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

All of us have a vocation that we’re called to. For most Christians, indeed the great majority of Christians, the call is to live in the world, whether in the married or single state. This is a highly important vocation, and should not be minimized by anyone. Some men and women are called to enter into a religious vocation, giving up everything to spend their lives working and praying for the coming of the Kingdom. Other men, such as myself, are called to enter the ministerial priesthood, serving the Lord and his people by preaching the word of God, administering the sacraments, and reaching out to those in need.

In the United States, there is a concern within the Church regarding the number of vocations. Many diocese, my own included, are either facing a priest shortage, or will be soon. Many religious orders are also having problems with lack of potential vocations. How do we overcome this problem? First, we must pray for those who are in a religious vocation, those who are discerning a religious vocation, and those who may be called, but haven’t answered yet. Second, we must be willing to ask if a young man has considered the priesthood, or if a young man or woman has considered religious life. Chicago’s Called by Name program is an excellent opportunity for this. In my own life, I had someone tell me three times (not ask, mind you, but tell me) that I was going to be a priest. At first, I said no, but her words came back to me several years later. Without that seed being planted, I may never have considered entering the seminary.

Today, on this World Day of Prayer for Vocations, let us pray for those men and women discerning their vocations, and let us also pray that more young men and women may hear the call of the Good Shepherd and answer willingly.

When I began my Bible study last Monday, I introduced a quote from one of the great doctors and biblical scholars of the Church, St. Jerome. St. Jerome lived in the 4th and 5th Centuries, and is known for creating the Vulgate, a translation of the Scriptures into Latin. In his commentary on one of the prophets, he writes, “Ignorance of Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.” We need to be well versed in the Scriptures if we are to take seriously the call of Jesus to preach the Gospel message to the whole world, as we need to understand that how that Gospel message lives in our lives.

We can see St. Jerome’s maxim in practice in the Gospel today. The two disciples were very familiar with the texts of Sacred Scripture. As Jews, they knew the stories of the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were intimately familiar with the Exodus and Moses receiving the Law. They heard the words of the prophets proclaimed regularly during synagogue and temple services. They knew the texts of the Scriptures, but they didn’t understand how these sacred texts pointed towards Jesus, especially that he must suffer, die and rise again.

As they were walking, Jesus joined them, but they didn’t realize that it was him. Maybe they were deep in grief, maybe Jesus had the ability to mask awareness of himself, but either way they didn’t know they were speaking to Jesus resurrected from the dead. As Jesus broke down the Scriptures, making the connections between the Mosaic Law and the prophets that pointed to him, they began to become aware that Scripture had foretold Jesus’ death and resurrection. They still weren’t aware that Jesus was speaking to them until the breaking of the bread, a phrase commonly used to refer to the Eucharist. At that point, the Gospel tells us that their eyes were opened, and they realized who was speaking to them. In joy, they rushed back to Jerusalem to share with the Apostles and other disciples their incredible experience.

When we read the Bible, do we feel this desire to share what we’ve read? Probably not. For many of us, the Scriptures are hard to understand. There are concepts and phrases which are foreign to us, with good reason. The Scriptures were written in different times for different cultures. While we may not understand the literal texts that we read, there are still truths that are conveyed to us today. This truth may be hard to find, but there are tools and opportunities available to us that lead to understanding.

Probably the most obvious opportunity that we have is the one that we are using right now. Every time we attend Mass, whether weekly or daily, passages of the Scriptures are proclaimed. At every Mass, the Church asks that a homily be given on the Scriptures so that all present might understand the passages that were just proclaimed. This is usually done by the priest, but obviously deacons can fill this role as well. The homilist should dig deeper into the Scriptures so that he can show how they relate to people’s daily lives.

Another way in which we can find the truth within the Scriptures is through daily immersion into them. Daily reading and reflection on the Scriptures is not something that is reserved to those who are ordained or professed religious, but is highly encouraged for all Christians. All of us should be opening the Scriptures daily. This can be as simple as reading a verse or two before bed, but can also include reading commentaries and reflections on the daily Mass readings. There are many good resources online and in libraries and Catholic book stores to provide clarity and understanding, especially for those passages that may seem a bit murky or confusing.

For the third way to understand the Scriptures, I’m going to do a little self-promotion. A fantastic way to really dig into the Scriptures is through a Bible study, which I just happen to be leading on Mondays at 6:30 PM. Through a Bible study, whether in a class format as I’m running it, a group study using a guidebook, or even on an individual basis with a good study bible, the Scriptures are broken down so that the beauty and truth can shine through more clearly. Group studies are particularly beneficial, as difficult questions can be explored and bring clarity to hard to understand passages. Likewise, individual insights can help the entire group to really appreciate the Gospel message and Christ himself who speaks to us through the Scriptures.

Through these tools for understanding the Scriptures, may we draw closer to Our Lord Jesus Christ and be drawn to do His will. As we reflect on the Sacred Scriptures and join Our Lord at the breaking of the bread, the Eucharist, may be able to say with the disciples, “Were not our hearts burning within us as [. . .] he opened the Scriptures to us?”

Today, we join the whole church in commemorating the Divine Mercy of Our Father in Heaven. This feast, Divine Mercy Sunday, was established in 2001 by Pope John Paul II so that we might take time after the joyous celebration of Easter to reflect on the mercy that God has shown to us through the death and resurrection of His son. Although the celebration of the Feast of Divine Mercy is relatively new, the roots of this feast reaches throughout the history of Christianity.

In our Gospel today, we see the disciples locked in a house. They’re terrified because they just saw their master, their teacher, brutally tortured and killed by the religious and civil leaders of their land. They’re terrified that these leaders will come after them next, so they go into hiding. They gather in a house and lock the door. They want to hide, they want to get out of sight so that they won’t be next.

All of a sudden, their teacher who they thought was dead and whose body had been stolen appears to them. They’re amazed, they’re frightened, they’re terrified. What does our Lord say? “Peace be to you.” What an amazing thing to say. This simple phrase, “Peace be to you”, really shows the heard of the Christian mystery. It shows why Christ died and rose again: to bring peace to our lives.

Now, this is not saying that we’re going to have an easy life. We know that there are struggles in life. We all have challenges that we have to deal with. In our second reading today, St. Peter says that we may have to suffer through various trials so that our faith may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We will have to struggle, we will have to face the challenges that come to us, but Our Lord promises us peace, he promises us mercy.

This is what this feast is all about. It is all about realizing in joy the mercy that has come to us through the death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the celebration of the fact that through Christ’s death and resurrection, we have been adopted as God’s children. We no longer are isolated from him in sin. We are now his adopted children, and can now inherit eternal life. This should bring us great joy, and should also bring us great peace.

How should we react to this mercy? Other than the great joy that this brings, how else should we receive God’s mercy, to Our Lord’s call for peace? The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles tells us that the early disciples devoted themselves to the teachings of the apostles and the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers. The early Christians reacted to this message of mercy by giving up everything. They were willing to sell everything they had and give it to be distributed to those in need. Most of us who are Christians are not called to sell everything we own and give it to the Church for redistribution, but how many of us would be willing to do that? Fortunately, we have many brothers and sisters who have entered religious orders who are willing to give up everything, and even close themselves off from the world to enter into a spirit of prayer and sacrifice for all our sakes.

Even if we’re not called to give away everything we own, all of are called to serve the poor. The first reading also reminds us that we are also called to gather on a regular basis, weekly at a minimum, for the celebration of the Eucharist within the Mass. Whenever the New Testament uses the phrase, “the breaking of the bread,” it is referring to the Eucharist. Likewise, we are called to be committed to “the prayers.” In the first reading, this would be regular periods of prayer throughout the day. This practice has carried over to our day in the Liturgy of the Hours, a form of prayer which priests, transitional deacons, and those in religious life are committed to praying at regular periods throughout the day. The Liturgy of the Hours is not exclusively for those in religious life, but is open to and encouraged for all members of the Church. Not everyone is able to take the time or has the desire to pray in this manner, but all are called to spend some time throughout the day in prayer. This might be praying a rosary on the commute to or from work, taking short breaks throughout the day to say a Hail Mary or Our Father silently, even just looking for opportunities to say, “Thank you, Lord, for your mercy and love!” It doesn’t even have to be a memorized prayer, just a brief prayer from the heart.

Because of the mercy that God has shown to us, adopting us as sons and daughters through the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ, we now have the opportunity to inherit eternal life. This mercy is best expressed in our Lord’s blessing, “Peace be with you.” May we be able to say with the psalmist, “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting.”

For 40 days, we fasted, sacrificed, and prayed in preparation for these days. Thursday, we were there when Our Lord gave us the Eucharist at the Last Supper. Friday, we watched as Our Lord was tortured, crucified, and died. Saturday was spent in a watchful anticipation. It was all worth it, because Our Lord has risen from the dead, and we can shout, “Alleluia! Jesus Christ has risen from the dead! Alleluia!”

While we know now that Our Lord had to suffer, die and rise again, we can see in today’s Gospel that the Apostles and disciples didn’t have the clarity of vision that we have with 2,000 years of hindsight. They were still reeling from the fact that their master, whom they had followed for three years, was now dead, killed by the religious leaders and secular authorities. To top it off, now there’s a report that the tomb had been broken into and his body stolen, the ultimate insult to pile on top of injury. Peter and John couldn’t believe it. They had to see for themselves.

Too often, we’re like the Apostles. We have to see it to believe it. If someone tells us in the middle of drought that it’s going to rain tomorrow, we might say something like, “I’ll believe it when it happens.” In some cases, it might even be good to be skeptical, especially when someone is trying to cheat us or lie to us.

There are things, however, that we must accept without any proof. Much of what we profess in the Creed every Sunday cannot be fully demonstrated, and must be believed through an act of faith. This act of faith comes about when we consciously accept a truth that has been revealed by God.

We celebrate one of those revealed truths today. Our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead so that we may also rise with him after our time on Earth has ended. His resurrection and appearance to his Apostles demonstrate to us what will happen for us after our deaths. We must have faith that the resurrection of Our Lord into his glorified body will also happen to us, that our bodies will be glorified as his was. We must also have faith that, as the Apostle Peter said in the first reading, “everyone who believes in him receive forgiveness if sins through his name.”

May we be open to that forgiveness, and pray that those who have died may enter into glory iwth Christ.