2nd Sunday of Easter (Gospel: John 20:19-31) Peace be with you

 

In December 2005 it was announced on the news that a man called Denis Donaldson, one of Sinn Féin’s top men (Sinn Féin was the political wing of the IRA), confessed to having been a British spy for the previous twenty years. People were shocked that this could have happened. It seems that he could not live with this secret any longer and so he went public and confessed what he had done. He then had to go into hiding, and sadly, though not surprisingly, he was found and murdered four months later. God be merciful to him. I remember thinking at the time that he must now be living in terrible fear: fear of being hunted down and killed. He had betrayed many and now he would be afraid of what they would do to him. I couldn’t help feeling sorry for him.

 

2000 years earlier on Holy Thursday night, out of fear, the Apostles had all abandoned Jesus, who they believed was the Son of God. Judas had betrayed him for money. Peter tried to be faithful but ended up publicly swearing that he never knew Jesus. They all betrayed him. Now after Easter they are locked in the upper room, afraid. Why are they afraid? First because they could face the same punishment as Jesus since they were his close friends and disciples. If you remember in St. John’s Gospel, after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, it says that some time later they had a dinner for him. Many people came, not only to see Jesus, but also to see Lazarus who had been raised from the dead. Wouldn’t you?! But it also says that the authorities decided it would be best to get rid of Lazarus as well as Jesus. Tie up any lose ends, as we would say. So, the Apostles had good reason to be afraid, from a human point of view.

 

Perhaps they were also afraid of what God might do to them. They had betrayed the Son of God. It is a very human response to be afraid of God when we feel we have betrayed him in some way, by the way we live, or by something we have done. Remember what Jesus said about Judas, whom he knew was going to betray him. ‘The Son of man indeed goes [to his fate] as it is written of him. But woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born’ (Matt 26:24). They are frightening words.

 

Then something beautiful happens. Jesus is suddenly standing with them in the room and he says: ‘Peace be with you.’ The first thing he does is to take away their fear. There are no words of condemnation for having abandoned him a few days before. There are no words of judgement, about how they were unable to be faithful. Instead: ‘Peace be with you.’ ‘It’s alright.’

 

I don’t know about you, but I can certainly say that I have often felt that I have betrayed Jesus and indeed sometimes wish I was not a priest, when my own sinfulness gets the better of me. And in case you think I am just trying to be pious by saying this, I am not. I am a sinner, just like anyone else. I struggle and get tempted, just like everyone else. That is one thing that God has left me under no illusions about. Sometimes I think it would be better for me not to be a priest as I would not have to deal with the sacred. It would be easier to run and hide, so to speak. Think of Peter when Jesus worked the miracle of the great catch of fish. Peter’s reaction was, ‘Leave me Lord, I am a sinful man.’ He was afraid because he was aware of his sinfulness in the presence of someone holy and what was Jesus’ response? ‘Do not be afraid.’ Now, after the resurrection, after the betrayal, injustice, panic, when Jesus appears to the Apostles, the first thing He does is to put them at ease. ‘Peace be with you.’ 

 

Each time in the mass when we recall this wish of Jesus to give us his peace—which is not just a universal prayer for peace, but a reminder of what Jesus said to his followers—He is saying, ‘Do not be afraid, because I am not here to condemn you, even if you deserve to be condemned. Peace be with you.’ God only wants us to draw us closer to himself and to know that He is not going to act as we do to each other, with frowns, or giving out. He knows what we are like. He knows that we betray him, but He still tells us to be at peace, as long as we are willing to repent. I find that very comforting. Remember the good thief on the cross. In the last few moments of his life, he asks Jesus to remember him and Jesus promises him paradise that day. What a wonderful reminder of the mercy of God.

 

Think too of Thomas, who in his grief at the death of Jesus, would not allow the words of others to convince him that Jesus was alive. When you are grieving you don’t want someone else to give you false hope, because it is too painful. And then when Jesus did appear to him, He was so kind in helping him to believe. No giving out, but instead Jesus offered Thomas to put his finger into his wounds, so that he would believe. No condemnation for not believing; only encouragement. That is so characteristic of how Jesus dealt with people. Always with compassion, mercy, love and encouragement.

 

Today is also known as Divine Mercy Sunday, a day when we focus on the infinite mercy of God. God is perfectly just, but God is infinitely merciful. God will not be mocked by those who presume on his mercy: ‘I can do what I want, so long as I repent at the last minute.’ That is presuming on God’s mercy and is a mockery of God and God will not be mocked: ‘Do not be deceived. God will not be mocked’ (Gal 6:7). But God is infinitely merciful to anyone who sincerely asks for his mercy.

 

The Emperor Napoleon had a rule that any soldier who deserted would be shot if captured. This rule was enforced without exception. One young soldier who was tired of war, deserted, but was caught. He was to be executed. He also happened to be the son of Napoleon’s cook. When he was captured, his mother begged Napoleon for mercy. She told him that she was a widow and he was her only son. If he was shot she would lose everything, her only reason to live. He said, “Woman, your son doesn’t deserve mercy.” She replied, “Yes, of course, you’re right. He doesn’t deserve mercy. If he deserved it, it would no longer be mercy.” Napoleon responded, “Well, then, I will have mercy.” And he spared the woman’s son.

 

Mercy is a gift. God’s mercy is a gift. We don’t deserve it, but God longs to show us his mercy and that is one of the reasons He appeared to St. Faustina and asked her to spread this devotion to his mercy, because God does not want us to live in fear, but to be assured that any effort on our part to live as He asks, is enough. We will never manage to live perfectly, but as long as we are striving to grow closer to God, that is enough. God has created us to be with him and God has done everything to make that possible. There is nothing we can do which God will not forgive if we ask him. That is God’s promise to us. All we have to do is reach out to him.

 

‘Peace be with you. It is I. Do not be afraid.’

 

 

 

Easter Sunday

 

 

The greatest desire that everyone has, is to find happiness/fulfillment and to be with the ones we love again. This is what Easter is all about.

 

We believe that God created everything we know: the visible universe and the invisible world of the spirit that we cannot see yet, which was created before the material world. We will see it when we die. Some people get glimpses of it in this life.

 

We also believe that God’s greatest creation was the human being, because we were made in the image of God, with the gift of free will, the ability to love and the ability to suffer. God created us because He wanted us to share in his happiness. When you have a time of celebration, such as a wedding, the birth of a child, a graduation, or something like that, our natural instinct is to reach out to others that they may share our happiness. It is the same reason why God created us, to share in his happiness. When God originally created us, He gave our first parents that happiness, which is explained through the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of paradise. It says that they had everything they could ask for.

 

God gave them one restriction: they were not to eat of the tree of good and evil. In other words, they must not play God, deciding what is right and wrong, good and evil, male and female. Only God is to determine that. They needed to recognize their limitations as human beings. But Satan deceived them and talked them into playing God and going against what God told them. He said, ‘If you eat of the tree of good and evil, you will be like God. You can play God, deciding what is good and evil.’ And they gave into that temptation and stepped across that boundary that God had forbidden them to cross. The reason why God had commanded them not to do this, was because they were not able to play God. It was too much for them. God had told them this for their own good. He showed them their limitations as human beings. If they tried to go beyond their limitations, it would only bring suffering.

 

Why would Satan, who is a being far more powerful than any of us, want to deceive us? Because he hates God and what God created, especially the human being, because we are created in his image and also because we can rise higher than the angels in heaven. Our Lady is higher than any of the angels and Satan hated this idea that he would have to bow down to a human being. So, to get at God, he tries to destroy what is precious to God, that is, us. Satan has no interest in us and in fact despises us.

 

The problem with the sin of our first parents, was that there was no way that they could undo the damage. They could not reverse it. They had opened the door to sin and suffering in our world. It says that after the Fall, sin began to happen, beginning with the murder of Abel, by Cain. And then it spread and spread, because our first parents did not listen to God and respect the parameters which God had given them.

 

However, because God loves his creation, He would not let it remain that way. So, God the Son, took on human nature in the person of Jesus and atoned for that sin. His sacrifice atoned for that sin and undid the damage, thereby reopening the possibility of happiness once more. But because God respects our free will, He doesn’t force that on us. Rather, God offers it to us: ‘I have done this for you and this happiness awaits you if you want it, but you must choose it.’ It is a free choice and a very real choice and we must make that choice. Jesus spoke about this choice many times. It is a real choice and one we must take seriously.

 

Baptism is the most important way of making that choice. When we are baptized we are saying, ‘Yes, I believe this, I accept what God has done for me and is offering me. Let me have it all. Let me be soaked in it, baptized in it.’ But this is a choice that all of us have to make. That’s why as part of baptism the person is asked, ‘Do you reject Satan and do you believe in God the Father almighty creator of heaven and earth,’ etc.

 

Then you might ask, ‘Why baptize an infant, since an infant doesn’t know what is happening?’ We baptize an infant, because we want the grace of baptism, the possibility of heaven for them, from the beginning of their life. But an infant is baptized on condition that the parents promise to teach them the faith as they grow up. Otherwise it is hypocrisy. So if you have had your child baptized, remember that you made a promise to God to teach that child all about God and God will hold you accountable for that promise.

Easter is all about the choice of baptism, because the death and resurrection of Jesus was what reopened the possibility of heaven for us and we must accept that or not, but it is a real choice. God will not force anything on us, because He has given us free will. We must choose.

 

If we look around at our world, we can see what happens when we try and play God. There is chaos. We cannot handle it. Today we are deciding what is good and evil, who lives and who dies, what is male and female. If we listen to God, then we do not do that, because we know that only God can do that. When we live by what God teaches us, commands us, then our life works, our society flourishes in the right way. When we ignore those Commandments, we end up with chaos, which is what we are seeing right now. There is an order to God’s creation and if we follow it, it works.

 

If you think all this is just silly religious stories, then Jesus was lying, the resurrection was pointless, the mass is meaningless, because this is what Jesus taught. Jesus taught that God is real, heaven and hell exist and we must choose what we want.

 

There is a modern error which says, everyone goes to heaven. That’s not what Jesus taught. Jesus said, ‘It is not those who say, “Lord, Lord,” who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my Father in heaven.’ (Mat 7:21)

‘But I’m a good person and I love God.’ But do you do God's will?

 

So it keeps going back to what Easter celebrates, not just the death and resurrection of Jesus, but also the choice to accept that or not. To accept it, is to recognize what God is offering us, the possibility of happiness and being with the ones we love once more. Jesus continually spoke about this choice in all that He taught. It is a real choice and all of us are free to make it. We either accept or reject God. We must take it seriously, because God takes us seriously and when we die, we will be given what we have chosen: life with God, which is what we call heaven, or without God, which is what we call hell and if you think the idea of hell is ridiculous, then Jesus must have been lying when He spoke about hell and Satan. It is a reality.

 

That’s what the event that began at Christmas and culminated 33 years later with the resurrection is about: the promise of happiness that we long for, if we choose it.

 

‘Look, I am coming soon. My reward is with me and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.’ (Rev 22:12)

 

Palm Sunday . On the need to forgive

 

 

Almost every time I celebrate the mass, there is one phrase that often seems to stand out. It is at the consecration when the priest says: ‘This is the chalice of my blood which will be shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.’ That phrase summarizes the death and resurrection of Christ, the mass and the heart of our faith. God has gone to the greatest lengths, so that our sins can be forgiven. He has won that forgiveness but we must ask for it.

 

One of the things that seems to cause the most division that people so often tell me about in confession, is division in families over things like wills, where land or money has been left to someone and others in the family feel hard done by; sometimes over children who won’t forgive parents for their mistakes, or parents who won’t forgive their children, but especially over wills. It is very sad, but it is amazing how much of it exists. We decide that we can’t forgive, or won’t forgive, because we have been hurt too deeply. Unforgiveness is probably the single biggest obstacle to God’s grace helping us in this life. If I refuse to forgive someone, I am preventing the Lord from helping me, because this is one thing that the Lord tells us to do. 

 

No doubt all of us here expect to be forgiven by God when we die. That’s what our faith teaches us, but I wonder do all of us feel that we also have to forgive those who have wronged us. This is what the Lord tells us we must do, if we hope to be forgiven ourselves. We say it every time we pray the Our Father: ‘Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Jesus used many parables to emphasize this. One parable is this:

[Mat:18:²³ “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴ As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. ²⁵ Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

²⁶ “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ ²⁷ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

²⁸ “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

²⁹ “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

³⁰ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. ³¹ When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

³² “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ ³⁴ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

³⁵ “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”]

 

That last line is quite frightening: “And that is how my heavenly Father will treat you, unless you forgive your brother from your heart” (Matthew 18:23-35). The smallest sin we commit against God, is infinitely greater than sins we commit against each other, because there is an infinite distance between God’s holiness and our sinfulness.

 

There is also a common misunderstanding about forgiveness, and it is this: many people have the idea that in order to forgive someone who has hurt me, I must feel like forgiving them. In other words I must have got to the stage where I no longer feel the hurt, and so therefore I can forgive. That is not how it works. If most of us were to wait until we actually felt like forgiving someone who has hurt us, we would probably never forgive. This is where people get stuck: forgiveness is not based on how you feel, but is a decision of our will. I decide to forgive someone, because the Lord asks me to and by doing that I then open the door to allow the Lord to begin to help me get over the hurt. Or to put it the other way around: if I refuse to forgive someone, I am preventing God from helping me to be healed of the hurt. I will not begin to heal as long as the unforgiveness remains.

 

‘Lord I forgive John, please help me to heal.’ When we decide to forgive, we are not saying that what happened no longer matters, or that it wasn’t wrong, or that we no longer feel the pain. We are choosing to forgive the person, so that we can heal. We are letting go of the resentment. We may have to say those words many more times throughout our life, but as long as we do, then we will begin to heal. If I refuse to forgive someone, I become consumed with the hurt, the resentment and anger. It eats away at me like a cancer. I am the one who suffers. You may feel that by refusing to forgive, you are punishing the other person. The truth is they may not even be aware of the hurt they have caused. You are the one who is suffering and the key to healing is in your hands.

 

The deeper the hurt, the harder it is to forgive and the Lord knows that. That is why Jesus spoke about it so many times. When the Apostles asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, He gave them the Our Father. The Our Father is a way of praying, not just a prayer and two whole lines of it are to do with forgiveness. ‘Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.’ If we expect to be forgiven, we too must forgive.

 

It is a terrible thing to meet someone in the later years of their life who has refused to forgive. You can see it in their face. They are angry and bitter and they are not at peace about anything. That is not what the Lord wants for any of us and so He shows us the way out. The key is in our own hands.

 

When you find yourself angry with someone, it usually means you need to forgive them. I doubt if there is anyone who doesn’t need to forgive someone and so many of the stories people tell me are about serious injustices. The bigger the wrong we have experienced the harder it is to forgive. But remind yourself, it is not about how you feel. It is a decision, a choice.

 

St. Maria Goretti died just before her 12^th birthday, in 1902. Her family were poor farmers and shared a house with another family, a father and two sons. One of the sons, Alessandro Serenelli, continually tried to seduce her, but she refused. One day he managed to get her on her own and tried to rape her. She refused and wouldn’t give in to him. Then in a fit of rage he stabbed her fifteen times. She died the next day from her wounds. Initially when Alessandro was imprisoned, he was unrepented and bragged about what he had done. Some years later she appeared to him in a dream and gave him fifteen lilies. He realized that each one represented each of the times that he had stabbed her and that she had forgiven him. From then on, he became deeply repentant, so much so that he was eventually let out of jail early (after 27 years) because of his exemplary behaviour. After he was released he went to her mother to beg her forgiveness. His mother said to him, ‘If Maria can forgive you, then I must forgive you too.’ I can’t imagine the grief and anger that her mother must have gone through, but she forgave Alessandro and I have no doubt that will have brought her peace and set her free.

 

When you are dying, will the injustices carried out against you still matter? Will you still refuse to forgive? The Lord tells us that we will not get into heaven until we forgive those who have wronged us. What is important is that we try, as opposed to refusing. The key to healing is in our own hands, but it is a choice, not a feeling.

 

‘And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you, unless you forgive your brother from your heart.’