The Church at Peace

 

The Church at Peace

Fifth Sunday of Easter 

When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. Then Barnabas took charge of him and brought him to the apostles, and he reported to them how he had seen the Lord and had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. Acts 9:26-27

Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.  (1 John 3:18, 21-22) 

Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit because you can do nothing without me. John 15:4B-5

Piety

“Come with me to the Palace of Nowhere where all the many things are one.” (Thomas Merton) 

Study

If you think being an Easter person is all about faith alone, the readings today may shake you from the comforts of your foundation.  Because in three different passages, a theology that does not evolve into action is one-dimensional.

Yet action without faith bears no fruit.  Consider the juicy grape that has remained connected to the vine or the dried-up raisin baked in the sun. 

Faith and holiness take root in the “experienced” Resurrected Jesus.  During Lent, Jesus promised that connection.  On the Fifth Sunday of Lent, we heard: “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” (John 12:32).  In the resurrection, Jesus fulfills that promise and asks us to stay connected with him.  

The encounter of the first reading reveals this connection.  Disciples were very skeptical of Saul, The Persecutor-in-Chief from Tarsus.  That was even the case after Saul “reported to them how he had seen the Lord.” 

Saul, soon to be called Paul in his conversion, was feared by the disciples. They could not easily come to believe that Christ had appeared to him. Sharing the transformation of each other is sharing such a moment of closeness to Christ. We need the confirmation of the community for people to believe in our conversion. 

This encounter with the skeptical, divided early Church hardly depicts a “church at peace.”  But maybe that is as much peace as we can come to expect – even today.

That “connecting” encounter is the shared starting line for all disciples…including and especially us!  We must have and share an encounter with the real presence of Christ.  Not sacred vessels.  Not blessed buildings.  Not icons and statues and stained glass. Genuine faith requires a real encounter with the presence of Jesus, face-to-face, toe-to-toe.  

Once the encounter takes place, you cannot keep it a secret. As the lyrics go, “How can I keep from singing?” Consider the many people with leprosy, blindness, physical disabilities, and other ailments.  In the encounter, Jesus cured them, one and all.  Then, Jesus challenged them NOT to say anything until they reported to the local rabbi.  Almost to a person, none could keep that encounter quietly in their hearts as Mother Mary did.

We can study the words in Sacred Scripture and other texts we read.  Yet those very words spur us to act.  We can engage in all kinds of pious practices like prayer, rosaries, the Divine Mercy chaplet, or whatever is your personal favorite, yet those very practices spur us to act. 

If faith is the cornerstone, action is the rest of the foundation upon which we build our Christian lives.

 

In offering his life for us, Christ embraces us in all the ways we let his dying on the cross make up for the ways we have fallen short of who Jesus asks us to be. The more profound look at Christ opens us up to the truth of who we can be in God’s love in Christ.  We become God’s love to the world in the life we give to Christ by our words and actions in his name. (The late Rev. Joe McCloskey, S.J.) 

Action

“The vine and the branches” discourse is the story of a good connection.

Keeping the commandment s allows us to love even as Christ has loved us.  We know that Christ is in us by the Spirit he has given us.  The good fruits of the actions of our lives reveal Christ remaining in us through the Spirit he gave us. 

The vineyard is not an easy place or a place that reflects the Church at peace.  The poor people who survive are left in the vineyard to work after political and military opponents attack Jerusalem.  

The Church today is no less a peaceful place.  Just like the early disciples hated and fear Saul, there are forces of conflict within the Church, in addition to external challenges.

Our job is to keep our eyes on Jesus, the true vine and connection, to embody the commandments to act as he required.  To love him.  And then to love our neighbors.  And even to love our enemies. 

We do not grow in an uncontrolled fashion.  Through life experiences, Jesus and the Holy Spirit prune us so that we can bear more juicy grapes.   The vineyard master guides our growth on the trellis he provides. 

If we want to help heal the hurting world, we must maintain our connection to Christ and our relationship to the community that needs our love. 

Will you embody the juicy grape or the dried raisin?