3rd Sunday of Easter 2021 - Love of God perfected in us

 At 10am this morning(yesterday), His Excellency Bishop Malesic ordained 5 men to the transitional diaconate. They are called transitional deacons, as their ordination to the Sacred Order of Deacon is a transitional step on their way to priestly orders. This is in contrast to the permanent deacons, who will remain in the Order of Deacons permanently. The new transitional deacons will serve in parishes over the summer and throughout the next year as they complete their seminary formation. They are certainly in our prayers.

I’ve mentioned it before, but my favorite moment in the ceremony for diaconate ordination, is when the deacon kneels in front of the Bishop who hands the newly ordained the Book of the Gospels. The bishop then charges him: “receive the word of God whose herald you have become: believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.” Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.

What is the significance of this ritual? The Church needs the ordained to be men of Truth, don’t we. Men who know the Scriptures, know the Gospel, and who teach Truth and live the Truth. We want priests who have encountered Jesus in prayer and will help others meet him and live his teachings. 

Right belief is required for right teaching. Right teaching is required for right practice. Without this harmony of right belief, teaching, and practice in our shepherds, the sheep become scattered. So many divisions in the Church come from church leaders failing in their duties to believe rightly, teach rightly, and live rightly. Rather we need good shepherds whose minds and hearts are in union with the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his flock.

I meet a lot of Catholics these days who simply don’t know their faith. Some of my young couples that I work with in marriage preparation, they cannot name the seven sacraments, some of them don’t know there ARE seven sacraments, nor do they know what sacraments are. They can’t name the 10 commandments or more than one or two books of the bible. I recently asked a young Catholic if she knew what is meant by “the state of grace”, and she said, “oh, like the Taylor Swift song”. I kind of laughed and cried at the same time.

By the way, googling the lyrics of Taylor Swift’s hit single, I wouldn’t recommend listening to it, one does not find an explanation of the necessary condition of soul at death to attain heaven, the soul’s possession of the gift of sanctifying grace which is lost through mortal sin, without which the soul upon death will be severed from the life of God forever.

In the first reading today, St. Peter guided by the Holy Spirit goes into the streets of Jerusalem and begins to preach. “The author of life you put to death but God raised him from the dead”. Peter, once slow to believe, who even denied knowing his master as he carried his cross, now filled with conviction, speaks the Truth.

And he does so passionately, but patiently, he says, he put the author of life to death, and I know, that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did” but now it’s time to believe. He is patient with those who acted out of ignorance. But he’s also very clear. Now it’s time to repent, and convert. 

I remember within my first week or two of seminary. And I remember sitting in my room with the catechism. And my mind was being blown. I’d never encountered the Truth so clearly presented. I had a pretty lousy catechetical education as a young kid. My parents were not at all concerned about the quality of the catechesis I was receiving in my parish PSR program. They did not at all understand that they were tasked to be the primary educators of faith. 

And in seminary I quickly came to discover how inadequate my catholic education had been. So many of the other seminarians, and my seminary professors, knew the faith, very well. And I remember a very pivotal moment, when I was sitting there with my catechism, and I prayed, Lord, if I believe any errors, help me to be free of them. If at any point, I think I know better than the Church, humble me, correct me. Replace my ignorance with your truth.”

Theological knowledge is important. Believe what you read. Teach what you believe. We should always be open to doctrinal correction. If I believe or teach any error, may I be corrected. But the third part of that diaconal charge is also essential. Live what you preach. Live the truth of the Gospel.

“Those who say, “I know him,” but do not keep his commandments are liars, and the truth is not in them,” writes saint John in our second reading. It is not enough to know about God. Head knowledge, theological knowledge isn’t the end-all-be-all measure of the Christian life. The ability to give a theological treatise on grace will not gain us entry into heaven. If we claim to know God and claim to be in right relationship with him but are not keeping his commandments, then we are deceiving ourselves. 

Now of course, sometimes we fall into sin out of weakness. Those falls are easy to confess and repent of. John, rather, is very concerned with the Christians who are allowing sin to take root in their lives and are failing to repent of them.  If you are justifying serious sin, attitudes and activities that holy mother church defines as sin, allowing them to take root, you are deceiving yourself. “Repent, and be converted,” says Peter in our first reading, “that your sins may be wiped away.”

For when we do, and this is good news, they are. God grants mercy and gives us strength to change. Change is scary, but the Lord is with us. He walks with us showing us a new way of living. The one who hears God’s word, who puts that word into practice in his daily life, “the love of God becomes perfected him” writes John. Our love for God increase, and the presence of God’s love in our souls becomes perfected. When we keep his word—through right belief and right practice—God’s love reaches its intended goal, the perfection of our souls. 

The one who goes to confession every two weeks, because he acknowledges the sins of his life, and confesses them because he loves God and wants to grow in perfection, is much closer to the kingdom, than the one who refuses to acknowledge his sins or has justified them and is allowing them to take root.

In the Gospel we see this progression of perfection on display: in the beginning of the story, the disciples are filled with fear, fear stemming from ignorance.  Then as they spend time with the Lord, who teaches them, their ignorance is replaced with understanding. They spend more time with him in conversation. They eat with him. They study the scriptures with him. Their fear is transformed into joy, and the Lord proclaims them and charges them at his witnesses.

Here is a beautiful program of Christian growth for all of us. We study our faith and grow in our conviction that Christ is Risen. We immerse ourselves in the scriptures, allowing God to open our minds to his truth through them. We come to Mass to eat with Him, to be bolstered in our love for Him as we share the Eucharistic meal with Him. And then we are sent out as witnesses—our faith, our relationship with Jesus—having a real, observable difference in our day-to-day lives: our speech, our activities, our relationships, our leisure activities.

Through repentance, conversion, and the embrace of our Catholic faith, may we be free from error and fear; may the love of God be perfected in us, that we may be his true witnesses for the glory of God and salvation of souls.