Dear friends, today we celebrate the 3rd Sunday of Easter and as Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Do you love me more than these?” so He asks us if we love Him more than the rest of humanity. When after the resurrection Peter and his companions thought all had come to an end, Peter said he was going back to his old work; he was going fishing and 6 other apostles followed him. They went and fished the whole night long and had nothing.
But then Jesus appeared to them, at His instructions, they caught a lot of fish. They recognized him then. When they had come out from the water, without telling them anything, Jesus used the symbols of fish and bread to remind them that their old fishing nets would catch nothing until they remember and agree to use the sacraments He has left them, to ‘catch’ human souls for God. In the bread and the fish, Jesus simply reminded them of the Eucharist; what He did for them before he was crucified. All of us who come to Church, come to celebrate this sacrament: the life of Jesus, that we must go out to live practically.
When we come to celebrate the word of God made flesh, and to share in the bread of life, we are reminded of the life of God in us.
If we do not take heed to what the Lord has commanded us to do, to live for him and one another; to make God’s mercy available to the whole world, we will not be able to make any meaningful impact in our world.
Peter and his companions were walking away, because they thought that was the end. From time to time this happens to us. Our Christian faith demands a lot from us. We have to stand before the whole world to proclaim why we are Catholic, why we are Christians. Sometimes we feel like walking away from our faith
Today it is not because someone will arrest us to ask us to explain our faith, but the laws that our nations are passing, make it more difficult for us to practice our faith the way we should. And so we have to stand out, to proclaim like the apostles. And then when we are asked why we do so, like the apostles, we have to ask them, whether it is necessary for us to obey human laws before obeying God’s law. It is better for us to obey the laws of God, so that human law will come second.
We see all around us what happens. When our nations pass laws, they are not in favor of the will of God. The demand of God’s mercy and forgiveness are not taken into consideration. We have been talking all the time about certain issues that hurt us most. Every year we go out to march because we don’t want the unborn to be terminated when they are still fetuses in their mothers’ wombs. They have no way to complain. They have no way to speak out for themselves. We speak for them.
But, do we really mean what we do? How can we be effective? Can we explain by our actions that, yes, what we are doing is true?
Sometimes we try. Most of the time we give in, because we are afraid of the state laws. But the apostles stood before the council of elders and said “It is better to be obedient to God, than to be obedient to human beings. “ It demands a lot of courage, yet this is what we are called to. We cannot do so until we experience Jesus personally as the apostles did. Until we have Him in us, and we understand that, when we celebrate the Holy Eucharist here, we are receiving the power of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus breathed on his apostles on the day of His resurrection and said “Receive the gift of the spirit.” And when they had received it, the apostles went very joyously to proclaim God to the whole world.
Can we also go out that way?
When we come to receive the Holy Communion, do we believe it is Jesus we receive? Are we sure of what we are doing, or do we doubt. God does not deal with doubts. He doesn’t deal with half measures. He deals with those who are confident and courageous to give out all their best, even to the point of suffering for their faith. He deals with them, and sends them out to proclaim His message. There will be great challenge, yet that is what Christianity is. Christianity does not insulate us from the problems of the world, but it helps us to handle them with relative ease and to bring peace to the world.
Now, we have a practical way of doing many things. But in our parish, in our Diocese, we are asked to live this faith, the faith we receive from Jesus Christ practically. By being available to our brothers and neighbors, our brothers and sisters around, by contributing to the CDA. We are trying. It seems this year we have gone a bit faster. But we can do more. It is not because we love to have a lot of money, for nothing, the more money we are able to put together, the greater the confidence we have to reach out, to carry out all the activities we are talking about and discussing when it comes to our faith. To give a place for women who are pregnant and who otherwise will have gone to commit abortion. To go out to complain and to really preach that abortion is not the right way, that unborn have a say. To be available to those who are homeless, to be available to those who, because of certain laws, cannot make ends meet. It is not that we have enough. Those who contribute are not those who have a lot. It’s those who have nothing but those who understand. If you understand and remember the widow’s mite, she put in all that she had to live on. She lived on her faith. We are not asked to put every penny, but to put in something to be able to help other people to live a good life. We can do it, and do it with joy, if we understand our faith. If we do not understand our faith it is a burden. Let us not see helping the poor and the needy as a burden, but as a way of purifying ourselves and growing in charity towards God. So as we go away today, let our faith in Jesus Christ help us to be able to contribute more to be generous to the needy in our communities, and see the blessings that the Lord will give to us. If we do it grudgingly, no blessing will come. If we do it with love, the blessings will be super abundant. As we go may Christ, who made the apostles to remember that He wants them to feed His sheep, also continue to encourage us to understand His love for us and to help us to feed His lambs.
