4th Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the fourth Sunday of Easter are:

1. Act 4: 8-12
2. Psalms 118: 1, 89, 21-23, 26, 28, 29
3. 1 John 3: 1-2
4. John 10: 11-18

• Double down
• Sometimes, it's good to be bold.
• On the rare occasion when someone asks you why you do the things that you do, hold the values that you do, treat others the way that you do, do you tell them a) I was raised that way, b) I'm a Catholic, c) I heard the voice of Jesus?
• Are the good things that you do just the force of habit, or do they represent a considered decision?
• If you compiled a "virtue bucket list" of virtues that you wanted to acquire before you die, which would be at the top of that list?
• How would you go about acquiring that virtue?

• God's enduring mercy
• When have been some times when you had to count on God's mercy?
• How did that mercy come to you?  Was it through circumstances falling into place, the generosity of others, your own hard work finally paying off ...?
• When you decided to rely on God's mercy, did you think that the odds of things turning out well were high?
• Who gets to choose what "turning out well" really means: you, your family, your community, God Himself?

• Spiritual beings
• "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience." - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
• How does the above quote change your thinking about what will change when you return to Eternity?
• How does the above quote change your thinking about what will not change when you return to Eternity?

• Giving your all
• Who are some of the people who have laid down their lives for you, in one way or another?
• What do you think that they got out of such generosity?
• How do you think that they learned to give themselves away like that?
• Does their example inspire you?
• In what way?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Where am I gaining in virtue today?
2. How has God's mercy changed me lately?
3. How am I preparing for the end of my life?
4. Where can I grow in generosity?

Shalom!

3rd Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the third Sunday of Easter are:

1. Acts 3: 13-15, 17-19
2. Psalms 4: 2, 4, 7-8, 9
3. 1 John 2: 1-5a
4. Luke 24: 35-48

• Point of view
• In 2008 a movie called Vantage Point was released that presented an assassination attempt on the president from various vantage points.  Each vantage point provided more missing pieces of the total narrative until the audience finally understood the whole story arc near the end of the movie.  Life in general can often be like that.
• How does God generally reveal the meaning, the big picture of current events to us as Church?
• How do you decide what events going on around you mean?
• Does that big picture really make a difference?

• God's shining face
• Most of us would agree that God watches over us constantly.  But we often let our thoughts end there.
• When God is watching you, what expression do you see on His face?
• What have you done lately that you think made God smile?
• What have you done lately that you think might have brought tears to God's eyes?
  
• Does that have any impact on any decisions that you're faced with now?

• Perfecting the love of God
• It sounds presumptuous to desire to perfect the love of God in our lives, by our lives.  But in some way, that is exactly what God asks of us.
• One way to define love for another is to dedicate yourself to working so that they become the best version of themselves.  So how do you find out what that "best version" of those that you love might be?
• Does that sort of work on our part make the world a better place?
• Does that sort of work make better people of us?
• Is it easy?
• Why is that?

• Peace be with you
• Jesus wishes peace on His disciples a lot during the Easter season.  They seem to have needed it.
• Why do you suppose that it's important that Jesus appeared to His disciples in the flesh, rather than just a vision of some sort, a booming voice from the sky?
• What brings peace to your heart?
• Where is God in that process of achieving peace?
• Why do you suppose that Jesus wished peace on His disciples first, then showed them that all that they had gone through was the fulfillment of Scripture?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. What is going on in my life today that I need to pray about?
2. Where am I giving God joy in my life?
3. Who  in my life might be waiting for generosity from me?
4. Where in my life do I need more peace?

The Empty Upper Room

Pilgrims used to visit here.

Hoping to somehow touch the place, the bench, the cup

Where it all happened, where Jesus appeared, first in bread and wine

Then in His resurrection garb,

Wishing us peace, sending us forth.

Finally, we realized that 

Just like those looking for Him in the tomb,

Or gazing after Him at His ascension, 

We were looking for Him in the wrong places,

Hoping that we could still find him where He had been.

Instead, we eventually realized

That we most earnestly felt Jesus' touch,

Heard His deep laughter,

Found our deepest peace,

Was in the washing of the feet.

Offering ourselves to those in need,

Reminding ourselves that to serve is privilege,

Finding the Face of Jesus in the afflicted, the worn, the forgotten.

As long as we looked for Him there, our memory of Him would be fresh -

And refreshing.

So, there's hardly any point to coming here anymore.

Jesus has left the building.

The only ones who come here now are students of the past.

Trying to find the meaning of life in history's cadaver.

Stretched out safely on a cold table of indifference - to those Jesus came to save.

Shalom!

2nd Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the second Sunday of Easter are:

1. Acts 4: 32-35
2. Psalms 118: 2-4, 13-15, 22-24
3. 1 John 5: 1-6
4. John 20: 19-31

• Stewardship
• I remember reading how the early disciples conducted themselves, and thought to myself how wonderful that all sounded, how simple, how clean, how focused.
• Do you ever feel as though you need to declutter your life in some profound way?
• What would you remove first?
• What makes you feel as though you could do without that?
• What is stopping you?

• God's track record
• In some ways, trying to predict God's actions is both a lost cause, as well as presumptuous.  Part of the thrill of following Him is that you never know what sort of new horizons He will open up in front of you when you least suspect it.  On the other hand, we do know a great deal about what motivates God, what His values are.  One of them is mercy.
• Have you ever been in a position to show mercy to someone else?
• How did you respond in that situation?
• Did they appreciate the mercy?
• Even if they did not, should that matter?

• Transformation
• Just about all of us are convinced at some level that Jesus will be victorious in the end.  We are just unsure about what path He will take between here and that eventual victory.
• What does victory look like?
• How does God triumph in this life?
• How has God triumphed in your life?
• Do you think that those triumphs make any difference in the long run?

• Jesus the gentle
• I took Thomas as my Confirmation name for two reasons: it was my father's first name, and I have an admiration for Didymus.  He always seemed very honest to me.
• When Jesus has led you into something new, something unexpected, how did that come about?
• Do you feel as though Jesus took you one step at a time, or was the invitation forward a total surprise to you?
• Why do you think that it went that way?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Where is God inviting me to let go?
2. Where is God inviting me to show His mercy to someone else?
3. Where is God ready to triumph in my life today?
4. Where is God calling me to new horizons?

Shalom!