- Acts 2: 42-47
- Psalms 118: 2-4, 13-15, 22-24
- 1 Peter 1: 3-9
- John 20: 19-39
- In it for the long haul
- The early Christians believed that the 2nd coming was immanent. Some of them believed that it was so close, that it was pointless to work to earn a living, that the only activity that made sense was evangelizing to save as many people as possible.
- How/why does your Christian faith affect your priorities in your daily life?
- If you were told that Jesus was coming again in ten years, would you change anything?
- How about 5?
- Why is that?
- The good guys finish last?
- My father in law followed local and national news pretty closely, but it never made sense to him. All of the signposts that he grew up with seemed to have vanished, or at least were no longer paid attention to.
- For those of you who have to remember back a little to their childhood, did life make more sense, did it have more of a sense of purpose when you were young?
- Do you feel that there was a stronger sense of family and community when you were growing up?
- Why do you think that is?
- How can we strengthen our communal lives in these new and interesting times?
- How does God's mercy relate to our communal lives?
- The joy of the Lord
- Happiness is a funny thing. My mother-in-law talked about her happiness a great deal. Years after Mary & I married, I heard that our marriage made her very happy. Always good for a man to know. Baptisms in the family, wedding anniversaries, someone in the family getting a better job, all of these things made her happy.
- What makes you happy?
- Area any of those things with you day in, day out, or do they come and go with time?
- How has what brings you happiness changed through the years?
- What place does Jesus have in your happiness picture?
- Divine Mercy
- I like St. Thomas so much I took his name as my Confirmation name. He gets a bad rap, but he's practical. Thomas immediately realized that if Jesus really had raised from the dead, that was going to be a total game-changer. There was no waffling on this; Thomas wanted to be absolutely sure of this, because he was going to be "all in" if it was true.
- Why do you believe in Jesus' resurrection?
- What evidence of that has come into your life lately?
- Does your conviction bring you peace?
- When is that peace hard to find in your life?
- What are you doing about that?
- Preparation for Reconciliation
- How am I living the Resurrection in my life today?
- How am I supporting the various communities that I'm a member of?
- Where am I looking for happiness in my life?
- What am I doing to bring more peace to my life?
The Master's Touch
I missed Him so much. His deep rumbling chuckle when He laughed,
His warm embrace when He would give us a hug.
The sparkle in His eye whenever He spoke of His Father.
His death had been so cruel, so unnecessary, so improbable,
That the order of the heavens seemed upended on that day,
All hope torn from my breast in the space of a heartbeat.
I could not bear so much bitter disappointment again,
My heart would not be able to take it.
Better to live in the twilight of despondency
Than hope, only to have hope dashed again.
We had gathered again, to share memories, encourage each other.
I, there more for habit and a dull aching friendship than anything.
When suddenly, He was there in our midst, more Present than ever.
I had envisioned those mortal wounds so often of late.
Tried to understand how they would feel.
What it will be like to ebb out the last of life.
But that was no preparation for holding His hands,
Touching His feet, plumbing the spear thrust in His side.
Roaring, stabbing pain assailed my heart as I touched Him.
Certainty that there was no way out but through death
Filled me with sorrow and wonder.
That this Jesus had borne all of his for me.
Suddenly, all pain, all suffering, all grief, all despair
Joined in my heart with His consummate passion,
And I was healed. Not of the pain of those moments,
But from the fear of being alone in that pain, of losing all in the pain.
I looked into His eyes,
And I saw the shores of Eternity there.
And I knew that He would never leave me, us, any of us, again.
He is alive!
Shalom!
His warm embrace when He would give us a hug.
The sparkle in His eye whenever He spoke of His Father.
His death had been so cruel, so unnecessary, so improbable,
That the order of the heavens seemed upended on that day,
All hope torn from my breast in the space of a heartbeat.
I could not bear so much bitter disappointment again,
My heart would not be able to take it.
Better to live in the twilight of despondency
Than hope, only to have hope dashed again.
We had gathered again, to share memories, encourage each other.
I, there more for habit and a dull aching friendship than anything.
When suddenly, He was there in our midst, more Present than ever.
I had envisioned those mortal wounds so often of late.
Tried to understand how they would feel.
What it will be like to ebb out the last of life.
But that was no preparation for holding His hands,
Touching His feet, plumbing the spear thrust in His side.
Roaring, stabbing pain assailed my heart as I touched Him.
Certainty that there was no way out but through death
Filled me with sorrow and wonder.
That this Jesus had borne all of his for me.
Suddenly, all pain, all suffering, all grief, all despair
Joined in my heart with His consummate passion,
And I was healed. Not of the pain of those moments,
But from the fear of being alone in that pain, of losing all in the pain.
I looked into His eyes,
And I saw the shores of Eternity there.
And I knew that He would never leave me, us, any of us, again.
He is alive!
Shalom!
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