2d Sunday of Easter
April 26, 1987
John 20: 19-31
Acts 2: 42-47
Holy Cross, Fairfield, Conn.
This Sunday it was the deacons' turn to preach at Holy Cross in Champaign. So here's a homily from the "other" Holy Cross, 30 years ago.
Jesus
appears to the disciples on Easter nite.
We might note that he appears to the disciples,
not just to the 11 apostles.
When
he appears, he wishes them peace, commissions them, and bestows his Spirit upon
them. Jesus’ triumph over death means
peace, mission, the presence of the Spirit—all of which involve forgiveness,
Forgiveness
of sins brings us peace—peace with God and with our neighbor. The disciples are commissioned to preach the
message of peace and forgiveness. They
receive the Holy Spirit, who empowers them to carry out their mission.
Jesus
began his ministry by announcing the need to repent (Mark 1:14-15); the
disciples are being sent to continue his ministry. Jesus was empowered by the Spirit to announce
God’s grace (Luke 4:14,18-19), which is what now happens to the disciples. Jesus told Nicodemus we must be reborn of
water and the Spirit if we are to see the kingdom of God
(John 3:3,5). It is that kingdom of
peace thru forgiveness that the disciples are to announce.
The
presence of the Holy Spirit makes the individual disciples into the
Church. Peace is bestowed upon and thru
the Church; forgiveness of sins is announced by and effected thru the
Church. For it is the Church that Christ
has commissioned, just as the Father commissioned him. It is to the Church that Christ gives the
Holy Spirit.
The
Church’s mission then is to bring peace to mankind—peace with God and peace
between nations and individuals. The
Church’s mission is to bring peace by convincing us of sin in such a way that
we will repent and the Church may breathe God’s spirit of forgiveness upon us,
as Jesus did during his own earthly life.
Jesus
Christ is for us the sacramental sign of God’s everlasting love for the human
race: a sign in flesh and blood, in word
and action. And now Jesus has made his
disciples into the Church, a continuing sacramental sign of peace and
forgiveness. There is no way to salvation
but thru Jesus Christ, in whatever mysterious way that may happen for
individual men and women. There is no
way to Jesus Christ but thru the Church, to which he has given his Holy Spirit.
The
Church, in turn, preaches peace and forgiveness by announcing the Word of
God. Revelation is a gift to us from
God’s Holy Spirit thru the community of God’s people; the community was
inspired to write the Sacred Scriptures and to receive certain writings as
inspired while rejecting others.
The
Church preached peace and forgiveness by interpreting God’s Word for a new
age. What do the Mosaic commandments or
the Beatitudes mean today? How does one
discern God’s will today and so live in his peace? The Holy Spirit continues to guide us thru
the Church’s teachers.
The
Church preaches peace and forgiveness by offering us the sacraments. Baptism cleanses us of sin for the 1st time
and incorporates us into the Church by water and the Holy Spirit. As God’s children, we are privileged to come
to his table, where Christ himself is our food and where he fills us with his
peace and pardons our venial sins. In Penance
we are again reconciled to God by confessing our serious sins in sorrow and
opening our hearts to the Spirit’s grace.
Here, in Penance, we come into intimate contact with Christ, who
forgives and grants peace to us sinners.
Luke
tells us that the early Christians “devoted themselves to the apostles’
teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). It’s abundantly clear from Luke’s writings
that such a lifestyle is the work of the Holy Spirit in out midst. The Holy Spirit bestows a rich life of peace
and grace on the community of those who are saved by the forgiveness of their
sins.
May
the Holy Spirit be with us.
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