Homily: 3rd Sunday of Easter - "Christian for Real"

I'd like to focus on five points from our readings today.

The first is about ignorance. In today's first reading, speaking to the people of Jerusalem just 53 days after Jesus' death on the cross, St. Peter says, “I know you acted in ignorance” He said that first to everybody, then he said, “I know your rulers acted in ignorance.”--those who had a responsibility to know better had a hand in the most heinous sin imaginable, the murder of God in the flesh. Jesus knew they acted in ignorance, which is why he prayed with arms outstretched, with his final breaths, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” All of us are capable of this sort of violent, murderous ignorance. We too can be guilty of ignorance that does not acknowledge the presence of God in our midst.

The second point is how do we overcome that ignorance? St. John talks in the second reading today begins refers to the Christians under his care as “little children”. Jesus himself said, unless you become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. So we need to recognize that we are all little children who still have a lot of learning to do—we need to be educated, we need to learn, the ways of God. All of us little children need to sit in the lap of “Holy Mother Church” and listen and learn like obedient children.

Thirdly, there is a danger for little children who think that they are all grown up. The child who doesn't think he has anything to learn is terribly self-deceived and can get into a lot of trouble. Again, listen to what St. John says, “whoever says, 'I have come to know him' but doesn't obey his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in them.” The one who thinks he knows everything, especially in matters of faith, and closes his heart to learning is the blindest person of all.

Socrates, teacher of Plato, and probably the wisest and most famous Greek philosopher was asked what made him so wise. To which he responded, “I am wise because I know that I do not know what I do not know.” In other words, he knew that he didn't know everything. What made him wise was that he knew that the search for truth and the virtuous life, were never-ending.

And so too for our faith; in this life, the Christian is never a finished product. Not a person in this church, myself most of all, has learned enough, has prayed enough, is as holy as God wants us to be.

The fourth point is that there is a danger of closing our hearts to wisdom and understanding Jesus wants for us. In the Gospel, Jesus appeared to his disciples in the upper room, and St. Luke tells us, he “opened up their minds to understand the Scriptures”. They had heard the Scriptures before, but it had never really taken root. Jesus told them three times that he would be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, he would be scrouged, tortured, nailed to a cross, but on the third he would be raised from the dead. But the way they reacted after his death, it was like he words went in one ear and out the other.

Sometimes that happens to us too. We listen to the readings at Mass, father's homily, and “in one ear out the other”. Just as Jesus opened up the disciples minds to understand the Scriptures, he wants to do so with us.

I heard a statistic that only 3% of Catholics have any exposure to Scripture outside of Sunday Mass. But, the Scriptures are meant to be a daily source of wisdom and nourishment for the soul.

One of the most powerful habits we can form is to read the Bible on a daily basis. Most of you can't come to Mass every day, work and family obligations are more demanding than ever. But each of us can set aside 15 minutes to read and reflect on the Scriptures. But, I promise that if you read through and reflect upon the Sunday Readings a few times before coming to Sunday Mass, if you pour over them, try to figure them out, ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand them; you will dispose yourself to a great degree to the Wisdom Jesus wants to share with you, and the strength he wants to give you.

Finally, the fifth point. Jesus wants to teach us so well, that not only do we know his truth, not only are we living his truth, but he wants to make each of us teachers of his truth. He wants to train us to pass on His truth clearly and effectively to others. He wants to make us bearers of His Word. “Be witnesses of these things” he says in the Gospel.

In the first reading, we see what can happen when we become witnesses. 50 days after the crucifixion, St. Peter stands stands up in front of all of these people, some of whom even called for Jesus to be crucified, and he witnesses--he says, “the author of life, you put to death, but God raised him...repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.” So powerful was St. Peter's witness, that 3000 people asked to be baptized. That has be the most powerful sermon in history. 3000 people repented for not recognized Jesus for who he was—God in the flesh, come to save them from their sinfully hard hearts.

How many of our family members who do not go to Church fail to recognize Jesus for who he is? They think they know him. They think they know him so well that they do not need to come to Church. So we need to be witnesses of our encounter with Jesus—through word and sacrament. Who else, if not you, will teach them? I can't reach them. I'm not invited to their homes, but you are. I don't have their cell phone numbers to invite them out for a cup of coffee and talk about the faith, but you do. I can't volunteer to pick them up and bring them to Church on Sunday, but you can.

Rather than spreading the faith to others, we hide. Instead of being witnesses, we act like we're in the witness-protection program—neither seen nor heard. Perhaps we fail to share our faith because we don't really know it as well as we should. We can't give what we don't have. So each of us needs to study the faith, that we can share it, clearly and patiently.

I recently heard the story of a man named Kiko Arguello, the founder of a Catholic Organization called the NeoCatechumenal Way. As a boy, Kiko attended Mass with his family, but he began to notice how his family was really only attending Mass for the most superficial of reasons, as if merely to fulfill an obligation. He couldn't wait for Mass to be finished because that's how his parents acted. At home, the faith wasn't nurtured. They never prayed together, at the dinner table his parents wouldn't talk about the faith, only about money—how to make money, how the business was going. When Kiko went away to college, he became exposed to one of the most famous atheists in Europe, John Paul Sartre. Soon, Kiko came to believe that the entire Christian faith was a lie, and stopped practicing the faith altogether.

Well, Kiko won the most prestigious award for artistic ability in Spain; he was given a large monetary prize, he appeared on television, he was offered positions, his whole future seemed to be directed at becoming very rich and very famous. But he was struck by the emptiness of all of the glamour. One night, he began to weep in the solitude of his room, at how empty his life felt. But, it was then that he began to feel the flicker of the light of God. The next day he went to a priest. And said, “Padre, Father, I want to be a Christian.” And the priest said, Kiko, you've been baptized, you already are a Christian. And Kiko said, no that's not what I meant. Then the priest interpreted him and said, you've already made your first communion, and Kiko said, yes. So, the priest said, then all you need to do is make a good confession. But Kiko said, I need MORE than a good confession, Father. I need someone to help me to love my enemies when they strike me on the cheek, I need someone to help me to not gossip. I need to be taught how have a pure heart. I need to learn how to lay down my life for others, for that's what Jesus calls us to do.

And so he began approaching fellow Catholics and would say, “Ayuda mi, help me to be a Christian for real”. And this was the beginning of a movement that has become worldwide. Ordinary Christians gathering together to help each other be Christians for real. And we must do the same. Not just go through the motions, but allowing Jesus to open up our minds and hearts to the fullness of faith and charity he wants for each one of us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.