May 5, 2013 Cycle C
Acts 15:1-2,22-29 Revelation 21:10-14,22-23 John 14:23-29
The history of our early Church demonstrates the need to listen better. Sometimes religious traditions would collide. As our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles reminded us, some traditions did collide and yet often communities stood firm, connected to Christ as their cornerstone. As we saw today the dispute at Antioch is a good example of the kind of struggle that occurs in every age. The visitors had come to command and to condemn, and not to listen. They wanted to impose the demands of race and culture on this fledging Christian community. The question of circumcision disguised a bigger debate: whether it was the law that saved, or being baptized into Christ. It was also about who held the power in the Church, which was quickly becoming predominately Gentile.
The upset of the local community is matched by the unspoken fears of those self appointed teachers. Yet, let’s not be too quick to judge them. Acting out of arrogance and self importance, it can be easy to justify certain positions forgetting that it is the Spirit that gives us the gift of faith. And in this particular debate it is the same Spirit that brings the peace of Christ to the community.
So, what is this peace that is promised by Jesus? It is a peace the world cannot give, because it is intimately connected with the Kingdom. Jesus tells His followers of the Pentecost experience. He must return to the Father so that the Advocate can be sent to be with them. The Spirit will be a helper and defender who will teach and hold them together through tough times, and times of trial. And they will be strengthened by the Spirit dwelling within them in Christ’s name. The promise made to the covenant people is fulfilled. The peace of Christ is nothing less than a sharing in life eternal. It is something His followers can have now, if they are willing to keep His word and listen to the Advocate. The Spirit continues to dwell within our communities casting out fear and binding us together.
Here we gather on this weekend, less than twenty days after the tragedy in Boston. Again, we are reminded to reaffirm in our own hearts what kind of community we wish to be and pass on to our children, grandchildren, and the generations to follow. Ultimately it cannot be violence, hatred and fear that we wish to pass on. The Jewish community speaks of “repairing the world” – “Tikkun Olam.” You see God has entrusted us with precisely that task -- to repair our broken world. And we cannot do it as a collection of individuals. We do it only together as a community, as a family.
Cardinal Sean O’Malley in his reflections after the April 15th violence, reminded all gathered that those “events, like every tragedy, are a challenge and an opportunity for us to work together with the renewed spirit of determination and solidarity, and with a firm conviction that love is stronger than death.”
Our Gospel today might be another affirmation truly that peace is our prayer, for we are reassured that in the Spirit a companion has been left with us for the journey ahead. It is always helpful to listen to the Spirit within us and within the Body of Christ.
God’s Spirit can work in amazing and unexpected ways in us and in others. But our minds and our hearts truly need to be open to believe that. On this weekend that we come together as well with our children, we certainly wish to pass on to them an inner peace of heart. We are not to be overwhelmed with the tragedies that have affected our nation, but to be ever reminded that it is through the Eucharist and the children’s First Communion that they are invited to know that their lives are touched anew with God’s love and life. God speaks to them and to each of us through the Scriptures as He prays with us and feeds us with His own Body and Blood to strengthen and to nourish us.
For today we have with us, our children from this parish family, who are going to receive the Eucharist for the first time. The Eucharist is spiritual food which nourishes the Risen Life of Christ in us, which helps His life to grow and to deepen within us. For just as we need to eat everyday to stay strong and healthy, so the Eucharist is creating newness of life in us all. We congratulate our children and their families today as they come to receive this Holy Food. It is in Christ and by living His life that now they will be able to embrace the power of God’s love, the power of His peace within them. And we echo, finally, in these days that have been touched with so much hardship, the prayer and sentiments of St. Francis of Assisi:
“Lord make me an instrument of Your peace,
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is sadness, joy.”
For we come as people of faith today to be united in our resolve not to be overcome by evil, but to continue to combat evil with good, working together to build an even more just free and secure society for ourselves and for those who follow in our footsteps.
Amen. Amen. Msgr. Tom Adrians, Pastor Christ the King