APRIL 22 - 23, 2017
4:30 PM (SAT), 7:30 AM, 9:00 AM ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASSES
Greg Smithey is an American fitness instructor, most famous for his 1987 fitness program titled “Buns of Steel,” which sold over one million copies on VHS tapes. It is currently marketed as a DVD titled “The Original Buns of Steel,” and while it may only be #117 among Amazon’s “Exercise and Fitness” DVDs, it has spawned an entire empire of various exercise videos that end with the two words: “of Steel”. Giving us: “Abs of Steel,” “Legs of Steel,” and “Arms of Steel,” among many other combinations and permutations of workouts “of Steel.”
Today is the 2nd Sunday of Easter, also known as Divine Mercy Sunday.
In today’s we hear the familiar Gospel of “Doubting Thomas.” Our First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles presents the idyllic life of the early Church, and in the Epistle, St. Peter encourages us to abide in Faith, reminding us that our Hope is in Jesus Christ and His resurrection, and that were are to persevere in our Love of God and neighbor.
A little under two weeks ago, we were just starting Holy Week with Palm Sunday. We read the Passion of Our Lord from St. Matthew on that Sunday, and then the Passion of St. John on Good Friday.
The brutality of how Our Lord was executed, and the injustice that led to his Crucifixion … not to mention the fear and hatred of the authorities. From His entry into Jerusalem until He died on Calvary, we heard played out the ups and downs of what could easily be the entirety of human history.
Yet on Palm Sunday, roughly 7,300 miles away – that is, about 1/3 of the way around the planet – at St. Mark Cathedral in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, one man wearing an explosive device killed dozens of people.
Immediately, Egyptian Christians flooded the street shouting the Nicene Creed – the Creed we will proclaim in a few short minutes.
Immediately, various militant groups were claiming responsibility.
And immediately, the press descended, hoping for a good story.
In an interview, the wife of the porter, that is, the door keeper at the cathedral – who was perhaps the first person killed by the explosion – his wife said on international television:
I’m not angry at the one who did this … I’m telling him, ‘May God forgive you, and we also forgive you. Believe me, we forgive you.’What followed was 12 seconds of silence.
Commentators are not customarily at a loss for words, yet he stood mute for a full 12 seconds. And then he said:
The Christians of Egypt … are made of STEEL!And commenced to carry on about the magnitude of forgiveness shown by this woman, and how unbelievable it was for him to hear words of forgiveness in a country torn by years … if not decades of violence. His voice cracked he said:
How great is this forgiveness you have!It is to this sort of Faith that we are called to live our lives as Christians.
The First reading speaks of the devotion of the early Christians. But the word translated as "devotion" means "fortitude" or “perseverance.” And so to imitate the early Christians, we must persevere in living out the Gospel message.
St. Peter, in today’s Epistle admonishes the early Church to rejoice as they “suffer through various trials.” The word rendered as “rejoice” falls a bit short of the word Peter uses in the original text, which means rather “to exult, be exceeding glad” … so this is not a passing smile, but rather an overflowing excess of joy that comes from persevering in Faith, and in Hope, and in Love … so that we might “attain the goal of [our] faith, the salvation of [our] souls.”
In the Gospel, Our Lord admonishes Thomas to “not be unbelieving, but believe.” And St. John records for succeeding generations of Christians, Jesus’ statement that:
Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.Where are we on this spectrum of belief? How deep are we willing or able to dig into our spiritual resources – the supernatural graces of Baptism: Faith, Hope, and Love.
How great … or how little … is our faith, our hope, our love … Do we have an overflowing excess, or are we lacking in joy, mercy, or forgiveness.
Yet in Christ, we have been reborn. In Christ we have been raised up … so that we might share in the super-abundance of God’s joy, God’s mercy, and God’s forgiveness.
Which begs the question: are we made of steel? Or are we made of Jello?
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, let us pray for the grace to be strengthened and built up in our resolve to embrace and be transformed by the graces of our Baptism: Faith, Hope, and Love.
May we be “safeguarded through faith” … “by the power of God” as we “rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy” and “attain the goal of [our] faith … salvation”.
