Chains Pulled Loose
Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
[T]here was suddenly such a severe earthquake that the foundations of the jail shook; all the doors flew open, and the chains of all were pulled loose. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted out in a loud voice, “Do no harm to yourself; we are all here.” (Acts 16:26-28)
Your right hand saves me, O Lord. (Psalm 138:7)
“Now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you.” (John 16:5-7)
Piety
Now I say to you in conclusion: Life is
hard,
At times as hard as crucible steel.
It has its bleak and difficult moments.
Like the ever-flowing waters of the river,
Life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood.
Like the ever-changing cycle of the seasons,
life has the soothing warmth of its summers
And the piercing chill of its winters.
But if one will hold on,
he will discover that God walks with him,
and that God is able to lift you from the fatigue of despair
to the buoyancy of hope and transform dark and desolate valleys
Into sunlit paths of inner peace.
(Eulogy for the Martyred Children - Martin Luther King Jr. – 1963)
Study
Jesus rocks foundations. Buckle your seat belt today.
First, we find Paul and Silas in
prison. Like Daniel in the New Testament. Like Martin Luther King in
Birmingham, Alabama. Like Sister Helen Prejean visiting convicted killers in
Louisiana’s Angola Prison. Yes, even like Dan Berrigan (who would have been 100
years old this week) and the Catonsville Nine or the Plowshares Actions.
Many Christians have come to know the inside of a prison. Like Jim Bayne
related in Sunday’s reflection, some leave voluntarily. Jim was “just visiting” in the Kairos Prison Ministry. Others like Dan Berrigan, the late torture victim
Diane Ortiz, Sr. Ardeth Platt (who inspired a character in Orange Is the New
Black), the Kings Bay Plowshares prisons in jail now, or Catholic Workers like
Bill Frankiel-Streit and Kathy Boylan and Michael Walli, give up their freedom
voluntarily in protest of war, nuclear arms, racism, or other injustice.
God turned the table on the prisoners, Paul and Silas. God set them free. God cut some of the chains
that bound them. Then, they freed the prison guard and led him to believe.
Then, in the Gospel reading from John,
God turns the tables on the world’s ruler (Satan) and condemns him to prison.
Jesus foretells that the Holy Spirit will convict the world because they do not
believe in him.
Once again, we see the tension between “things of the world” and “things of
God.” What chains bind you? Will an earthquake be strong enough to break those
bindings and free you to love and serve those in need?
Action
TK Howard (right) set the scoring record for De La Salle HS this season. A random shooter shot and wounded her last week while she was out to get ice cream with friends.
God never cuts the chains of our responsibility to each other. During the Sunday Mass live-streamed from “Old” St. Pat’s in Chicago, Fr. Paul Novak, OSM, (from the De La Salle Institute where he is high school president), preached about three innocent students out to get ice cream. They got caught in the crossfire of a random shooting.[i] TaKiya “TK” Howard, a senior at De La Salle Institute went into surgery Monday to have a bullet removed from behind her ear. She was shot in the ear and neck and still had a bullet lodged in her body because the ER doctors could not remove it with risk last week. TK committed to playing Division 1 basketball at Murray State University in Chicago next year.
Although God cuts some of the chains, he never cuts the chains that bind us to each other. Fr. Paul, emotional and visibly shaken at how gun violence touched so close to home, (See 1:15 into this video link) said:
Mighty God, you have fed and nourished us with the gift of Christ’s presence in the journey of our lives. To strengthen our faith and our loving service for you and for each other. May the gift of his spirit remain in us. May we be fortified by his love for us. May our actions continue to shape the world in which we live. May the gift of His Presence continue to grow within us so that the lives of each other can be transformed. May the gift of this Eucharist strengthen us to live the life of faith to carry the journey forward and to celebrate the presence of God in our midst.
We have talked about [gun violence] a lot of times in this church. I guess when it hits home its different. We spent a great deal of tie talking about God’s love for us today. We really do need to know how to love each other in this life and to be less afraid of each other. And to grow in equity and respect.
We are interconnected -- responsible for each other -- respectful of each other through the journey of our lives…
We all have to be actively involved in this to heal our communities, heal our nation, and help our world. We know what the issues are. We know what the problems are, and we know what the solutions are. So, let’s get busy.
He noted that the next night Chicago had seven more people injured or killed by gun violence. Then next night three more. Fr. Paul challenged those present in the congregation and those present in the live-stream connected by the fiber optic chains of WI-fi: “What do you want? How do you want to live in this life, in this place in this time with each other?”
Moving beyond the issue of violence in the modern world, he also addressed the hope of ending the COVID-19 pandemic with these words of encouragement:
The vaccine is a gift—God’s gift to us. Make use of it in your lives. It is a gift that will bring healing and hope and will continue to renew us as we journey forward. So, I encourage you to tell your friends, family members, and co-workers. You don’t have to be belligerent. You just have to be honest. You just have to be open. And you have to remind them that “I respect you. I care about you. And I care about the ways we can interact as we journey forward. We all want to get back to what we experience as the norm. Can you help us do that?
So, let’s get busy!
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