A reflection for the second Sunday in Easter, year C:
Acts 5:12-16: Revelation 1:9-11, 12-13, 17-19; John 20:19-31
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe… I don’t know about you, but when I imagine this scene, I don’t think Jesus is giving Thomas a hard time. I think he’s encouraging him; consoling him. Think about it: Your friend, the man you loved, your teacher, has just been arrested, tortured and killed. This just happened. Today is Sunday. He was arrested on Thursday, killed on Friday. It just happened. You’re devastated. On top of that, you’re terrified because the people who killed him will probably come and kill you next. The Gospel tells us that the disciples were hiding with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish authorities. They were terrified. So, you’re devastated, sad, and terrified, and on top of that, this guy who you thought was the Messiah, the Christ – you staked your life on that – turns out that he wasn’t. He’s dead. You left everything to follow him and now what? You just wasted the last three years of your life. How are you going to go back home now? What are you going to tell your wife and family? You feel like an idiot, like a loser, like you’ve been taken in. Imagine the shame. And now these women (women were not considered credible witnesses at the time) say that the tomb is open and the body is gone. They’ve stolen his body. That’s not un-belief or cynicism. That’s reality. All of us would come to the same conclusion. There’s nothing wrong with Thomas not believing. In fact, none of the disciples believed without seeing.
Palm Sunday, 11:15am -Decided that it would be busy this morning, so I left early. Turns out that I didn’t leave early enough, got to the Church only 15 minutes before Mass. Parking lot was completely full. Remembered what Fr. Bert Foliot at Our Lady of Lourdes in Toronto once told me: “If you arrive early, you should park further away so that the people who come late can have the spots that are closest to the Church.” Found a spot in the back parking lot.
11:17am – The 10am Mass is just ending. Just saw Fr. Boniface and he’s wearing his red stole. Red stole!?! I thought today was purple! Where’s my red stole? At home. I actually own three sets. All three of my red stoles are at home. Too late to go and get it. I hope Deacon Dave lets me borrow his.
11:30am – Mass starts on time. Deacon Dave was nice and let me borrow his dalmatic. Mass starts without a hitch. I proclaim the “Hosanna” Gospel from the back of the Church. Everything is very solemn.
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I received an email early yesterday morning from a friend who said she’d be thinking about me these days because of the papal election. She wondered if she’d see a progressive pope in her lifetime.
In a way, I guess, Pope Francis is not going to be a “progressive” pope. He is not going to ordain women, agree with the re-definition of marriage, nor will he say that abortion is OK under certain circumstances. He’s Catholic and that means he’s a liberal when it comes to social issues and a conservative when it comes to moral issues. Besides, these terms, “liberal” and “conservative” don’t really apply to Catholicism. They are political terms.
But, is he progressive? Let’s back up a bit: Pope Benedict XVI decided that he needed to serve the Church in a new capacity and that it was OK for the pope to retire. That’s progressive.
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Here’s a reflection I wrote on August 26, 2008 on the Catechesis given by Cardinal Mario Bergoglio (now, Pope Francis) at the 2008 International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec City.
Ok – This may come out sounding a bit complicated, so you’ll have to bear with me –maybe help me sort it out – I apologise for not sorting it out first before bringing you into it, but it is too big to contain. Think of Cat Steven’s song, “I can’t let it in… I gotta let it out…”
I was disappointed about half way during the Eucharistic Congress, because my goal to write a bit about every day was not made possible. By day three, there was just too much. I managed a blog entry on day four, and promised more, but was not able to do it.
The reason why this upset me is because there was so much to share, so many insights, so many “A-ha” moments. We recently taped a Catholic Focus talking about our Eucharistic Congress experience (to be broadcast in September), and it allowed me to “relive” the Congress and be able to remember many of those wonderful moments.
Not surprisingly, for me, many of them had to do, not with the Eucharist specifically, but with marriage. Which makes sense, because what is true for one Sacrament, is true for all of them.
On June 18th, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires and Primate of Argentina, spoke on the daily theme of “The Eucharist builds up the Church, the Sacrament of Salvation”, his talk titled: “The Eucharist and the Church, Mystery of the Covenant”.
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deacon pedro 