St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas
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I'm pretty much a coward. A scaredy cat. I'm afraid of heights. I'm afraid of death. I'm afraid of snakes. I don't read Steven King. I'm afraid to walk down a dark street by myself. I'm not into horror movies. I do not go to haunted houses. I stay away from evil spirits, ghosts and anything that approaches divinization like a ouija board. As I have told countless young people who have asked me, I do not know how to do an exorcism and I am not the Archdiocesan exorcist. I'm pretty much a coward. When I am playing sports, I think I am pretty tough, but I still admit that I am no daredevil. Sometimes my pride will be greater than my fear, and my friends will be able to dare me into something risky. But usually when I see the x games or sky diving, or anything of the sort, I am glad it is them and not me.
Those of you who aren't afraid of anything are probably still afraid of the Resurrection of Jesus. The disciples, as we hear today, were terrified. Even though they had fair warning that Jesus might rise from the dead, there was no way for them to get completely ready for it. How do you get ready to see a Resurrected Body? Death meant for them what it means for all of us - the separation of the body from the soul. So they assumed they couldn't be seeing a real human body - it had to be a ghost. At any rate, they were terrified. You and I would be to. Probably most of us here in this room have some unexplainable experience with a miracle or with the supernatural, or with a private revelation from God, or with a bizarre phenomenon. Such experiences can be incredibly weird, terrifying, or warm and inspiring as well. But they are as unpredictable as the appearance of Jesus in today's Gospel. The first experience of the disciples was one of terror. Our reaction would undoubtedly be the same.
In the Gospel story, however, this fear turns into amazement and joy. Jesus doesn't skip out of the room after giving his disciples a little slice of evidence about His Resurrection. Although Jesus does not stick around long, He does more than just scare His disciples, before disappearing again. No, Jesus stays long enough so that his disciples may get a second look at him, so that they can explore his hands and feet, and watch Him eat a piece of fish so that they can see that He is no ghost, but is truly Risen in His human body! What is more, Jesus stays long enough so that He can review how His suffering, death and Resurrection fulfilled all the predictions made by God's Holy prophets. Jesus does not appear only for a quick scare, so that His disciples are more confused than ever. No, He stays with them long enough for their fear to turn into joy and amazement.
So too this Easter season that Jesus' Church has given us. We have some time to be with the Resurrected Jesus, like the first disciples. 50 days to be precise. The 50 days of the Easter season. This is the longest special liturgical season of the year. Longer than Advent, when we prepare for the Lord's coming. Longer than Christmas, when we celebrate that God is with us. Longer than Lent, when we pray, fast and give alms in anticipation of entering into Christ's paschal mystery. So important is this time given us to be with the Resurrected Jesus, and to overcome our fear of the Resurrection, that the Church prescribes for us 50 days! 50 days to consider the evidence as to whether Christ is truly Risen. 50 days to ask ourselves whether the grace of the Resurrection is the power we need to overcome our fear of death and to be set free from sin. 50 days to ask ourselves whether we have been invited personally by Jesus to share in his victory, to no longer be a victim in a world damaged by sin and brokenness, but to instead be a victor with Christ and to join him in defeating sin and death with the power of God's recreative love!
The Church gives us 50 days because we too need time, like the first disciples, for our fear of the Resurrection to turn into joy and amazement. Jesus' Resurrection at first inspires fear in every disciple because it changes everything. Because of the Resurrection, we cannot remain in our sins - we have to move. We have to change. We have to win the victory over sin and death, just as Jesus Himself won the victory. Change is always scary. We have a big investment in who we are at the present moment - it is hard for us to jump out of a plane, for we know if we do, we will never be the same. Overcoming our fear of the Resurrection is something like that. We need time for this fear of the change that the Resurrection of Jesus brings to turn during this season of Easter into joy and amazement. It takes time to recognize the new freedom that is ours because Jesus is truly Risen, to be amazed at the new intellectual and spiritual space opened within us by the grace of the Resurrection. Because of the Resurrection, there is no excuse we can come up with to remain in our sins, as powerful as evil might be and as deep seated as our patterns of sin might be. That is why the apostles first began to preach immediately after the Resurrection that the grace of Christ is powerful enough to destroy the momentum of sin in a person's life. That same powerful grace experienced by the disciples as they probed his hands and feet and conversed with Him is present here tonight - that very same grace - the grace of Christ sharing His abundant Resurrected life with us is the grace we receive by eating His body and drinking His blood - we receive really and substantially in the Eucharist that same body probed by the first disciples. The same grace that kept the apostles from turning back toward their former way of lives, and back toward fear, is the grace that comes to us tonight as we break open the Scriptures and receive Christ's body. It is a grace, the grace of one Eucharist, that is enough to completely set us free to be different as the first disciples were set free to live and to proclaim the truth of the Resurrection. Overcoming our fear of the Resurrection is to remain close to the Resurrected Jesus, not afraid of the change that is possible in and through Him. It is to recognize and to believe by faith that the grace of holiness is closer to us and more powerful within us, than the momentum toward sin and darkness that we also experience.
I'm pretty much a coward. A scaredy cat. I'm afraid of heights. I'm afraid of death. I'm afraid of snakes. I don't read Steven King. I'm afraid to walk down a dark street by myself. I'm not into horror movies. I do not go to haunted houses. I stay away from evil spirits, ghosts and anything that approaches divinization like a ouija board. As I have told countless young people who have asked me, I do not know how to do an exorcism and I am not the Archdiocesan exorcist. I'm pretty much a coward. When I am playing sports, I think I am pretty tough, but I still admit that I am no daredevil. Sometimes my pride will be greater than my fear, and my friends will be able to dare me into something risky. But usually when I see the x games or sky diving, or anything of the sort, I am glad it is them and not me.
Those of you who aren't afraid of anything are probably still afraid of the Resurrection of Jesus. The disciples, as we hear today, were terrified. Even though they had fair warning that Jesus might rise from the dead, there was no way for them to get completely ready for it. How do you get ready to see a Resurrected Body? Death meant for them what it means for all of us - the separation of the body from the soul. So they assumed they couldn't be seeing a real human body - it had to be a ghost. At any rate, they were terrified. You and I would be to. Probably most of us here in this room have some unexplainable experience with a miracle or with the supernatural, or with a private revelation from God, or with a bizarre phenomenon. Such experiences can be incredibly weird, terrifying, or warm and inspiring as well. But they are as unpredictable as the appearance of Jesus in today's Gospel. The first experience of the disciples was one of terror. Our reaction would undoubtedly be the same.
In the Gospel story, however, this fear turns into amazement and joy. Jesus doesn't skip out of the room after giving his disciples a little slice of evidence about His Resurrection. Although Jesus does not stick around long, He does more than just scare His disciples, before disappearing again. No, Jesus stays long enough so that his disciples may get a second look at him, so that they can explore his hands and feet, and watch Him eat a piece of fish so that they can see that He is no ghost, but is truly Risen in His human body! What is more, Jesus stays long enough so that He can review how His suffering, death and Resurrection fulfilled all the predictions made by God's Holy prophets. Jesus does not appear only for a quick scare, so that His disciples are more confused than ever. No, He stays with them long enough for their fear to turn into joy and amazement.
So too this Easter season that Jesus' Church has given us. We have some time to be with the Resurrected Jesus, like the first disciples. 50 days to be precise. The 50 days of the Easter season. This is the longest special liturgical season of the year. Longer than Advent, when we prepare for the Lord's coming. Longer than Christmas, when we celebrate that God is with us. Longer than Lent, when we pray, fast and give alms in anticipation of entering into Christ's paschal mystery. So important is this time given us to be with the Resurrected Jesus, and to overcome our fear of the Resurrection, that the Church prescribes for us 50 days! 50 days to consider the evidence as to whether Christ is truly Risen. 50 days to ask ourselves whether the grace of the Resurrection is the power we need to overcome our fear of death and to be set free from sin. 50 days to ask ourselves whether we have been invited personally by Jesus to share in his victory, to no longer be a victim in a world damaged by sin and brokenness, but to instead be a victor with Christ and to join him in defeating sin and death with the power of God's recreative love!
The Church gives us 50 days because we too need time, like the first disciples, for our fear of the Resurrection to turn into joy and amazement. Jesus' Resurrection at first inspires fear in every disciple because it changes everything. Because of the Resurrection, we cannot remain in our sins - we have to move. We have to change. We have to win the victory over sin and death, just as Jesus Himself won the victory. Change is always scary. We have a big investment in who we are at the present moment - it is hard for us to jump out of a plane, for we know if we do, we will never be the same. Overcoming our fear of the Resurrection is something like that. We need time for this fear of the change that the Resurrection of Jesus brings to turn during this season of Easter into joy and amazement. It takes time to recognize the new freedom that is ours because Jesus is truly Risen, to be amazed at the new intellectual and spiritual space opened within us by the grace of the Resurrection. Because of the Resurrection, there is no excuse we can come up with to remain in our sins, as powerful as evil might be and as deep seated as our patterns of sin might be. That is why the apostles first began to preach immediately after the Resurrection that the grace of Christ is powerful enough to destroy the momentum of sin in a person's life. That same powerful grace experienced by the disciples as they probed his hands and feet and conversed with Him is present here tonight - that very same grace - the grace of Christ sharing His abundant Resurrected life with us is the grace we receive by eating His body and drinking His blood - we receive really and substantially in the Eucharist that same body probed by the first disciples. The same grace that kept the apostles from turning back toward their former way of lives, and back toward fear, is the grace that comes to us tonight as we break open the Scriptures and receive Christ's body. It is a grace, the grace of one Eucharist, that is enough to completely set us free to be different as the first disciples were set free to live and to proclaim the truth of the Resurrection. Overcoming our fear of the Resurrection is to remain close to the Resurrected Jesus, not afraid of the change that is possible in and through Him. It is to recognize and to believe by faith that the grace of holiness is closer to us and more powerful within us, than the momentum toward sin and darkness that we also experience. Most of the time, unfortunately, we assume that sin and temptation are very close to us, and the grace of the Resurrection is very far away. That is why the Church gives us these 50 days of Easter, to turn around this false way of thinking. Easter is a time of grace and change because the power of the Resurrection has brought about the possibility of living in another dimension, of moving to the next level of sharing in God's power over sin and death. Easter is a graced time, a time for a change of heart and a change of life, for because of the Resurrection, it is true that with God, all things are possible! Amen! Alleluia! +m
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