Jesus, I love you

Divine Mercy Sunday 
Vancouver, April 19, 2020  
​
Have you ever wondered what the perfect Christian community looks like? We probably try to create that in our homes, in our Churches, and we would even like to see our governments reflect those Christians values transmitted to us by Our Saviour.

The Acts of the Apostles 2 clearly tell us what a Christian society looks like. The Christian community begins with what we live in our own homes. Our relationships with each other. We can hardly expect to teach others what we do not live ourselves.

We can see the center of the apostolic community is the Eucharist, teaching lead to and stem the “breaking of the bread” as Christ had taught at the last supper to eat his body and drink his blood (Matthew 26:26; Luke 22:19) and to repeat this sacred act in his memory, as the Lord taught sacrificing His body the Paschal Lamb offered up for us as a sacrifice.

This is the centre of the Christian community, teaching is not the centre; fellowship is not the centre; but both build up the community with the Eucharist as the source and summit. The Body and Blood of Jesus Christ give us Eternal Life (John 6:53-58).
​
This then is the centre of the Christian community after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ because Jesus’ salvific act finds its fulfilment in the Last Supper and Crucifixion. We cannot diminish the value or teaching or of fellowship; but it is not the center. It is thanksgiving in the Eucharist which Jesus Christ offers Himself to each of us.

---

From this Eucharistic celebration is the expression of truth, and of love, by sharing. “They would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all” according to the needs of the people.

Again a sign of Christianity from its very beginnings was care for the poor to help or to share, to reach out. And people did this however they could offer assistance. This is a fundamental part of our Catholic history. We often forget that. The reason why we have Catholic clinics and hospitals all over the world is because the Catholic Church made these concrete gestures as expressed in the Acts of the Apostles to be applied to help people live dignified lives. Individuals also provide their gifts and talents to support the Church in different ministries or material needs. The Acts of the Apostles tell us building a Christian society means sharing. So, reaching out to the needy cannot ignore spiritual needs. This has marked our Catholic faith; what we call works of charity.

I remember visiting one autumn the Central African Republic and in a remote western part of the country there were three religious sisters running a clinic. Three courageous women, offering their services of nursing and healing to local villagers.

First Peter 1 tells us that while we rejoice, we have trials to endure – for a little while we may suffer, but this leads to the “genuineness” of our faith. It is in the midst of trials that our faith is manifested, or lack of faith. When everything goes well, we can say we believe, we have faith, but what about when we are confronted with trials and for those who lack faith, well, the trials often are used to justify their lack of faith. Therefore we pray that God gives us the grace, the strength we need to overcome our trials; this is why we ask the Saints especially the Blessed Virgin Mary, to intercede for us when we suffer, especially when  feel we are tried to the limit. We need help. We have Jesus. We have grace. We have the saints.

When the Acts of the Apostles speaks of fellowship, this includes praying for each other, and this means asking the saints to intercede for us. Our community begins in our families, extends to our Church community and wherever we take our faith, but it continues through purgatory as we pray for the souls and into heaven where the Saints pray for us. Many have this idea that our community is on earth – and it ends here. Well, for those of us who believe in Eternal life and the communion of Saints it does not end here but continues into Eternity!

Suffering is part of that journey to Eternal Salvation; joy is complete in Heaven where we are united with Jesus Christ, His Mother, the Angels and Saint.

We can see that St. Peter is responding to the faith of the people “although you have not seen him, you love him.” He is speaking to all those disciples including us, who have not seen Jesus, but we love him, our faith, by God’s grace, enables us to say, “I love your, Lord.” This is believing without seeing.

However, we are also called, to deepen our knowledge of the Lord, because faith does not exclude understanding. We can say like St. Augustine, “faith seeking understanding.” We have not seen, but we believe, and we love. And to love means we want to get to know more deeply the one whom we love. This is why God has created us with intelligence, so we can use it to know the Truth and the fullness of the Truth is Jesus Christ Himself.

We can see in St. Peter’s letter, our first Pope, addresses issues of faith without seeing, and joy in the midst of suffering. These Christian paradoxes remain with us to this very day. Some people want a Christianity without the Cross. Some Christians even take the Cross down from their Churches and walls. This is a denial of the human reality and experience of the flesh most intensely experienced by Jesus Christ Himself on the Cross. We cannot follow Christ like Gnostics, rejecting the material world, and putting our faith entirely at the spiritual level. Our faith engages our senses and both joy and suffering. Our liturgies, our devotions, engage our bodily experiences and this includes the cleansing of the heart, mind and body, as St. Peter says, let his be a purification like gold tested in fire.

In St. John’s Gospel we discover the Apostle who is an empiricist: Thomas, who boldly states, “unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

And this contrasts St. Peter’s 1st Letter, addressing the believers, “although you have not seen him you love him.” But Thomas needs to see; he relies are his experience of seeing and touching –two of the most powerful senses to tell us something is real. The tangible even more than the visible, tells me something is present, and this is what Thomas wanted: that he could touch.  This is why Jesus says, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

Jesus had returned to make Himself visible to the incredulous Thomas. He knows the weakness and fragility of our condition. We need something tangible to believe, and Thomas can believe because he touches.

If we go back to the first reading, what does Jesus give us that is tangible: remember we have sight to helps us believe, as the Apostles all had seen Jesus after the Resurrection; we have touch which Thomas experienced; and we have something else. The experience of eating, of taste, of food and drink, of Body and Blood. This is what Jesus left us so we can experience his presence, and this is why the first faith communities came together to break bread, to share in His Body and Blood.

Another fundamental part of community life is “forgiveness.” We know we can hurt others and we can be hurt others. Without forgiveness a community cannot grow; no relationship can move foreword, not with God and not with each other. The early apostolic experience of Jesus’ Resurrection is inseparable from forgiveness. The Apostles given power by the Holy Spirit to forgive sins beginning with the most offensive sins, as we also are called to forgive each other, and ask others for forgiveness. A community without forgiveness is inconceivable; this is what Jesus teaches us. This is why the Sacrament of Confession is fundamental to spiritual grow in our person lives, but also in the life of the Community. Sharing in the Body and Blood of Jesus, the willingness to seek forgiveness and forgive, this is how we are in Communion with each other and with God.

Let us ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, and on this Divine Mercy Sunday, the intercession of Saint Faustina, to help us grow in trust and holiness.
​
Jesus, I trust in you.
Amen.
​