3rd Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the third Sunday of Easter are:

1. Acts 3: 13-15, 17-19
   
2. Psalm 4:2, 7-8, 9
   
3. 1 John 2: 1-5a
   
4. Luke 25: 35-48
   

• Conversion excursion
  
• In Protestant circles, particularly Evangelical ones, hardly any service occurs without an altar call.  The problem with altar calls is that they result in a sizeable crowd of new converts who desperately need care and attention now that they have entered the fold, with no one in sight to tend these new members of the flock.  I feel the same thing happens each year when we confirm a new batch of teenagers.
• Once we welcome someone into the church, then what?
• What sort of church should we be if we are going to welcome new adults into our midst on a steady basis?
• Why does sponsorship end at Easter?
• Why is "regular" Confirmation prep done differently from RCIA?
• What should we be doing to help grow and retain our adults?
  

• Sleeping soundly
  
• The phrase "slept like a baby" was never uttered by a parent with a colicky baby.  But I imagine that saying is rooted in the perception that baby's have little to keep them awake at night.  No worries about global warming, stock market trends, where their next meal is coming from, ... so they are free to sleep soundly.
• What keeps you awake at night?
• How did you get into that situation to begin with?
• Do you think it's a situation that you need to get out of?
• What do you think that you can count on God for in that situation?
• What would it be like if you trusted God completely in this case?
• What's stopping you?
  

• Perfecting the love of God
• Loving Jesus and keeping His commandments are two sides of the same coin.  Each makes the other possible, each makes the other authentic, each makes the other meaningful. 
• In a nutshell, what are Jesus' commandments to us?
• How have you learned to act on those commandments in your life?
• Have those decisions and actions of yours made your love for Jesus deeper?
• How?
  

• Hey, it's me!
  
• Years ago during an RCIA session Fr. Martin asked why the early apostles would have a special devotion to Jesus' mother Mary.  We had all sorts of ideas, most of them pretty good, and finally Fr. said, "she looked like Him."  The family resemblance between Mary and Jesus was doubtless noticeable, and that connection between them was something precious then and now.
• When was a time that you recognized the presence of Jesus in another?  Maybe that other person extended a hand to you when you needed it most, or they were the face of Jesus in need, or the cry of the poor looking for shelter.
• How did you respond?
• Did you respond that way because you saw Jesus in them, or just because that was the right thing to do in the situation?
• When you did recognize His face in them, how did that happen?  What allowed you to see things in a new light?
• How did that recognition change you?
  

• Preparation for Reconciliation
  

1. Where is God calling me to be an evangelist?
   
2. Where is God inviting me to greater trust today?
   
3. Where can I love more authentically?
   
4. Where is God leading me to see him in unexpected places?

Without Seeing You We Love You

 Lord, help me to see you in the faces of those I serve.
That I might touch you in touching them.
That they might touch you in touching me.
That I might be utterly authentic, recklessly real.

Teach me how to touch those pushed to the margins.
The homeless, the unwell, the poor, the forgotten.
Touch them without fear.
Touch them without making myself a martyr.

Give me the eyes to see your glorious wounds in theirs.
Your merciful eyes in theirs.
Your loving hands in theirs.
And give me the grace to see my wholeness in their wounds.

Resurrect me Jesus.
By your side, bring me back a new man.
That I can leave behind the shackles of my own fear and ignorance.
And walk in the light of your crazy incarnate love -

That knows no bounds, no boundaries.

 

Shalom!