Easter: an unopened gift?

John 10:1-10 (4th Sunday of Easter, Year A)

Jesus as the Good Shepherd, S. Callisto catacomb, 3rd century

What happens if someone gives you a gift and you never unwrap it? Obviously you would never get to enjoy the gift. It would never really become a part of your life and would just sit on the shelf unused. Year after year during the Easter season we celebrate the greatest gift we have been given: the new life we have received from Jesus. Do we, however, truly experience this new life? As the years go by, do we experience the peace that should come with this gift of new life from Jesus? To be honest, I often do not experience this peace. I do not think I am alone. Perhaps it is because we do not truly open and use the gift Christ has given us. Oftentimes it sits on our shelves, unopened and unused.

We cannot experience the new life Jesus won for us by His death and Resurrection without our participation. Jesus does not simply wave a magic wand over us and we instantly feel and peace. We need to do something. This point is illustrated by two images for Jesus that we find in the Gospel of the day. 

1. Jesus, the Good Shepherd. This is an image we are more familiar with. If we were to continue reading on in this chapter from John, we would read about how Jesus is a shepherd who gives life to His sheep through His own death. 
2. Jesus, the Gate. This is an image we are less familiar with. Jesus describes Himself as the gate of the sheepfold. Why a gate? When we think about it, the image makes a lot of sense. Imagine that we are trying to enter a beautiful, lush pasture that is gated all around the perimeter. The only way that we can enter into such a pasture is through the gate. Jesus is the gate that leads to the pastures of new life, both now and for eternity. What this image draws out is the fact that though Jesus has opened for us the way to salvation and new life, we personally have to walk through the gate. 

Jesus has given us the gift of new life, but we need to open this gift, we need to do something in order to experience it.

We pass through this gate and experience the new life Jesus has won for us by responding to our vocation. Before the Second Vatican Council, many Catholics thought that the only people who had a vocation were priests and nuns. This way of thinking is still out there. For example, when I was at the seminary and someone made the decision to leave the seminary, people would sometimes say that this individual “lost his vocation”. The Second Vatican Council, in the document called Lumen Gentium, affirmed that each and every baptized Christian has a vocation. In fact, we all have the same vocation: holiness. The primary calling of each of us is to be holy, which means to live like Jesus did. It is by becoming holy that we truly experience the new life that Jesus has given us. This fundamental vocation of holiness is lived in different ways. These different paths towards holiness are what we usually think of when we think of vocations: married life, priesthood, religious life and the single life. This weekend we celebrate the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. It is a great time to remind ourselves that for each of us our primary vocation is to be holy. We also want to pray in a special way that young people in particular will be able to discover the special path that God is showing them to become holy, whether it be a call to the priesthood, married life, religious life or single life. In our baptism we have all been given a vocation and it is by accepting and living this vocation that we pass through Jesus, the true gate, to experience the fullness of life.

We respond to our call to holiness by laying down our lives for others in imitation of Jesus. Jesus laid down His life for us in a total and absolute way by dying for us on the cross. Though we probably are not asked to literally die for others, each of us is called to lay down our lives for our neighbors in a very concrete way through service. Recently, I saw a short video that became very famous online called Interview for the World's Toughest Job. In this video, someone made up a fake job and advertised it online and in newspapers. A number of people, believing that it was a real job, applied for the position and real interviews for the job were held. The video is a compilation of a few of these interviews. During this interview, the applicants were gradually told the expectations and requirements of this job:

• must serve a client who can be very demanding and offer little thanks
• must possess a large number of skills and talents in order to serve client
• there are few, if any breaks while working
• expected to serve their client 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• this job pays absolutely nothing

Each of the people being interviewed responded that the job description sounded inhumane. Some asked if it was even legal. The man doing the interview then revealed that millions upon millions of people actually do this, the world’s toughest job everyday: moms! This weekend, we celebrate Mother’s Day. We want to give thanks to our mother’s for the great love and service they have shown us. Motherhood is a striking example of how people, in imitation of Jesus, concretely lay down their lives in service of others out of love.

When we serve other people, we experience true peace. Service is the way that we unwrap the gift that Jesus has won for us by His death and Resurrection. Service is the path through which we enter Jesus the gate. In order to be an authentic, sustained way of life, this service must be motivated by the faith and love that comes from encountering God. Blessed Mother Teresa, someone who was known around the world for her faith, love and service, formulated the following saying:

The fruit of silence is prayer,

the fruit of prayer is faith, 

the fruit of faith is love, 

the fruit of love is service, 

the fruit of service is peace.

I find this saying very helpful. When we do not experience fully the gift of new life that Jesus gives us at Easter, we can use it as a type of diagnostic tool. Are you not feeling peace? If so, ask yourself if you are serving others. Are you unable to serve your neighbor? If so, ask yourself if you feel love for them. If you feel no love for those around you ask yourself if you have faith. If your faith is weak, check on your prayer life. If you are struggling in your prayer life, take time for silence so that you can rekindle an encounter with God. Today let us test ourselves. Where in this prayer from Mother Teresa are we getting blocked? What can you do about it? Let us unwrap the gift of new life we receive from Jesus. Don’t put it on the shelf, unused and ignored.

You are what you eat

This weekend many children received their First Holy Communion at our parish. Here's my homily for the occasion.

Jesus with the Eucharist, Juan de Juanes, 1579

In 1975, Bishop Nguyen Van Thuan was arrested by the communist, Vietnamese government and imprisoned in a “reeducation camp”. In total, Bishop Van Thuan spent thirteen years in prison, nine of which were spent in solitary confinement.  While in prison, his captures allowed him to write to his friends on the outside to send him an extremely limited number of bare necessities. Can you guess what was on the top of his list of requests? Wine - which he claimed was to be used as stomach medicine - and small, communion hosts. When he finally received the wine and hosts, Bishop Van Thuan was able to celebrate Mass for himself and for his fellow prisoners. He would celebrate Mass from memory because he had no Missal. As he had no chalice, he would place three drops of wine and one drop of water into the palm of his hand. He would later write that celebrating Mass and being able to have Jesus present among them in the Eucharist and to receive His Body and Blood was their greatest source of strength and hope. From personal experience, Bishop Van Thuan understood that the Eucharist is the greatest gift that God has given us. As St. John Vianney wrote about the Eucharist:

God would have given us something greater if He had something greater than Himself to give.

Bishop Van Thuan and his fellow prisoners recognized that the Eucharist transformed them. They discovered that by receiving the Eucharist, they were changed to become more like Him who they received. Now, we have probably all heard the expression “you are what you eat”. If we eat healthy food, for example, we will be healthy. If, on the other hand, I were to eat only chips all day, then I would become quite unhealthy. This rule applies to the Eucharist. Nearly 750 years ago, St. Thomas Aquinas explained it this way:

The actual effect of the Eucharist is the transformation of man into God.

Bishop Van Thuan and his fellow prisoners learned firsthand that receiving the Eucharist changed them to become more like Jesus. They became more like Jesus both as individuals and as a group.

1. Individually they found that they became more like Jesus. Imitating Jesus in His Passion, they were better able to cope with their sufferings in prison, infusing them with patience and a sense of purpose. As well, they were given the strength to look beyond their personal suffering and serve others in the prison. The same thing should happen to us. Receiving the Eucharist should change us, gradually but really and truly, to become more like Jesus.
2. Collectively they grew together in unity. When we receive the Eucharist, we believe that we become - all of us together - the Body of Christ. Receiving the Eucharist should make us a stronger and more united community.

We are privileged to receive the Eucharist weekly and even daily, if we choose. Unlike Bishop Van Thuan, we can do this freely and with comparative ease. We need to be careful that our ready access to this gift does not allow us to lose sight of its true value. Today, as so many among us will receive Jesus in the Eucharist for the first time, let us give thanks for this great gift. Perhaps those of us who have been receiving the Eucharist for many years can use this opportunity to ask ourselves if we are really becoming Him who we receive in the Eucharist. Over our years of receiving the Eucharist, have we changed to become more like Jesus in the way we act? Has receiving the Eucharist strengthened our parish community so that we truly are one body, unity in love? This won’t happen without our cooperation. Let us strive more and more to truly become what we eat.

Frozen and Easter: acts of true love

Act 10:34-43; Jn 20:1-9 (Easter Sunday, Year A)

The Resurrection, El Greco, 1600

One of the most popular movies of this past year was the animated movie Frozen, which tells the story of two sisters, Anna and Elsa, who has the power to create ice and snow. One day, the two sisters had an argument and Elsa accidentally froze the heart of her sister Anna. We soon learn that Anna can only have her heart unfrozen - and her life saved - by an act of true love. What could this act of true love be? At first Anna thinks that her heart will be thawed by a kiss from her fiance, Hans. This plan, sadly, is unsuccessful and Anna slowly becomes more and more frozen. Things seem hopeless for Anna. In anger, Hans seeks out Elsa, confronts her in a fit of rage, and is just about to strike her down with his sword. At this moment, Anna arrives on the scene and saves her sister, Elsa, by putting herself in the path of Hans’ sword just as she herself becomes completely frozen. The sword of Hans simply bounces off the now-frozen Anna. Suddenly though, Anna began to un-thaw. In sacrificing herself to save her sister’s life, she had performed an act of true love. I think that what makes the movie so compelling is that its plot of fall, suffering, redemption and new life, mirrors that of the Easter story. Frozen points a lesson that Easter presents fully. It is a lesson about the nature and effects of true love.

From Easter we learn the real meaning of love. Love is perhaps one of the most misused words in the English language. For example, one moment I can tell my mother I love her, then in the next breath I can say how much I love cake. What is love? Is it a feeling or something more? Where can we go to find an answer? For Christians we believe that we discover the true meaning of love by going straight to the source: God. Remember in the letter of St. John we find this incredible definition for God: God is love. It is not just that God is loving. God is love itself. In order to love, then, we need to act and become like God is. We learn who God is, and therefore what true love is, from Jesus Christ. By His words and example, Jesus taught us that true love is laying down your life for another. True love means sacrificing yourself for the sake of others. When Anna sacrifices her life to save her sister, Elsa, she is showing true love. A mother or father who wakes up in the middle of the night to care for their baby, at the cost of their own sleep, is showing true love. A student who gives up their lunch break to help a friend with their schoolwork is showing true love. Jesus hanging on the Cross is the ultimate icon of true love.

Easter teaches us the effects of true love: goodness and life. When love is true, it creates goodness in others. Normally, when we love people it is because of some good qualities we perceive in them. For example, perhaps you love your friend because they have a good personality. You love this good quality about them, but you did not create this goodness. When Jesus, loves, however, He creates goodness in others. In the first reading we find that those who are loved by Jesus become better people as “He went about doing good”. He loves goodness into those He came in contact with. More than this, when Jesus loves, His love creates life, which is the highest goodness of all. This is what the Resurrection is all about. On Good Friday Jesus performed the greatest act of true love by suffering and dying for us. But this was not the end of the story. Jesus’ act of true, sacrificial love, broke the bonds of death and gave life to Himself and to all of us. In the Gospel, Mary Magdalene, Peter and the beloved disciple discover the empty tomb and finally “understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead”. Jesus’ ultimate act of love could not be contained by the tomb and death. In the movie Frozen, we see this principle reflected. Anna’s act of true love brings life and goodness. In sacrificing herself to save her sister, Anna brought life to herself. In addition, Anna’s love for her sister makes Elsa a better person. When you see the movie you notice that after Anna’s act of love, Elsa becomes a kinder and more loving person herself. In addition to teaching us what love truly is, the Easter story teaches us that true love creates goodness and life.

Easter gives us a very simple way to test the quality of our love. Since being ordained a deacon and later a priest, I have had the opportunity to meet with a number of couples preparing for marriage. In our initial meeting, the conversation usually goes something like this:

Me: Why do you want to get married?

Couple: Because we love each other.

Me: How can you be sure that you love each other?

Couple: ummm… (while silently wishing I would stop asking stupid questions!)

From this, we usually get into a good conversation about what true love is. We talk about how it is more than a feeling, that true loves means sacrificing yourself for the one you love. I then explain that there is a very simple test to know if we really do love someone. I first heard about this test from one of my former teachers. He explained:

In order to know if we truly love someone we need only ask if our love for that person has made them better.

A man truly loves his fiancee if she has become a better person on account of his loving her. A woman truly loves her fiance if he has become a better person on account of her loving him. This is the simple, yet profound test of true love.

Today, on Easter Sunday, we celebrate the love of Jesus for us which lead Him to die for us and rise from the dead giving life to Himself and us all. Without the Resurrection, we would not be here. It is the central, single most important reality of human history. Easter is the victory of love over death. This Easter let us deepen our understanding of true love. Further, let us take a moment to test how true our own love is. Today let us look at one important relationship in our life, perhaps with your spouse or a friend, and ask yourself a very simple and important question: has this individual become a better person because of my love for them?