Prendete e Mangiatene

“Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you…For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” (John 6:53, 55-56)

Last week when I was in Italy, I entered countless churches, cathedrals, and basilicas.  All of them were works of art, yet beyond the artistic treasures they contained, every time I walked into one of them, there was treasure that I looked for above all others:  the tabernacle.  For no matter how big or small the church, the greatest treasure it contained was reserved in that small box for in it was Jesus Christ himself.  Take St. Peter’s Basilica as an example.  If you have been inside St. Peter’s with it’s glorious architecture and marble floors, and Bernini’s altar, and the high decorated ceilings, you get lost in the immensity of that structure.  Or you just get plain lost.  There are so many people, most of them tourists, who are part of guided tours that are having the basilica explained to them.  They are taking pictures, posing for selfies with the statue of St. Peter, and as beautiful and wondrous and magnificent as this sublime edifice is…it is not a house of prayer.  That is, unless you go to a small chapel to your right tucked away near the tomb of St. John Paul II where tourists are not allowed to enter.  Two guards stand outside the chapel door to make sure you are going in to pray, and when you enter you find the Blessed Sacrament exposed in what is probably the most beautiful Blessed Sacrament chapel in the world.  There are two nuns keeping vigil up front.  There are maybe a dozen or so people inside, mostly priests and religious.  No photos, no tours, no talking.  Only silence in the presence of the Almighty, for he is really and truly present there.  That presence, His presence, is what we celebrate today on Corpus Christi.  Jesus fed us, nourished us, and stayed with us.

The only Mass that I did not celebrate alone last week was on the Feast of St. Anthony of Padua.  It is a big feast for Italians and I was invited to concelebrate with some Franciscan friars who insisted that I read the gospel in English but I declined fearing the “are you kidding me?” looks that I would get from the Italian faithful on such great a feast if they heard a foreign tongue.  When the words of consecration came, I was struck by the Italian translation of what I say every day: “Prendete e mangiatene tutti (take this all of you and eat of it.).”  The Italian word for “eat” is so much stronger and has so much more meaning within the Italian culture, “mangia,” for it not only means to eat, but it means to eat until one is full and satisfied.  I meditated on those Italian words for days.  This is what Jesus desires when we approach his altar:  that we are fed until we are full and satisfied.  The Israelites ate manna from heaven when they were in the desert, and at first they were satisfied, but then they longed for the food they had when they were still in Egypt.  Pope Francis in his Corpus Christi homily pointed out how foolish that was to desire “slave’s food.”  We are tempted today as well when the world tells us to nourish ourselves “with money, success, power, seems tasty at first—but those are a slave’s food,” says the Holy Father.  He tells us that we must ask, “Where do you want to eat? At the Lord’s table? Or the slave’s table?”  Jesus already told us which table we belong at when he told his disciples the night before he died, “I no longer call you slaves because a slave does not know what his master is doing.  I have called you friends (John 15:15).”  We must reject the food of slaves, the food of this world, the food that distracts us from realizing that we belong at the Lord’s table basking in his divine presence and eating until we are satisfied, for this is the source of true life.

There are so many who take the Mass for granted.  They forget that this must be the center of their week for it is the most important thing they will do all week.  On Sundays, when I go to post a homily or a verse from the readings, I see friends of mine posting pictures of what they are doing with their Sundays instead of going to Mass with the hashtag “#SundayFundays.” I have never used the word “hate” during one of my homilies, and I won’t start now, but I DESPISE that hashtag.  Sunday is the Lord’s day!  It is the day where all of our activities should be centered around our attendance at Mass so we can be fed because if we are not fed, here is what Jesus has to tell us in today’s gospel: “unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you (John 6:55).”  No life.  Plain and simple.  We need to be fed!  Sure, have all the fun on Sundays that you want.  It is a day of rest.  It is a day of fun.  But the fun starts here!  At this table.  In this church.  In His Presence.  Anything else and we are deceiving ourselves and eating from the slave’s table.  We get seduced by laziness and by all sorts of excuses that we make as to why we don’t go to Mass.  Examples:  the priest is boring, the choir stinks, the people are rude, etc.  Excuses that bind us to the table of slaves when all we need and all we long for is what we are fed.  This may sound flippant, but over the last month people have been asking me who is going to replace me and I have responded, half-kidding and half-matter of factly, “a priest.”  That is all we need up there:  a priest that will act in the person of Christ and make that Christ present to us in the Eucharist.  We need this nourishment because Jesus also promises us in the next verse that “whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him (verse 56).”  We walk around this earth aimlessly looking for life, fulfillment, peace and joy when all we have to do to get all of these is to walk into a church on Sunday.  Stop deceiving yourselves.  Embrace the gift that Christ gave us which was the gift of his very self in this Eucharist and hold it above all other treasures.  Let us look for His Presence.  Let us fed by His hand until we are satisfied.  Let us, like Jesus, become a gift for others, and let us take that gift of His presence out into the world.

Renewed, Refreshed, Recreated

“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.”  (Acts 2:4)

Allow me to borrow a page from Pope Francis’ playbook and offer three points on this Pentecost Sunday about the Holy Spirit.  This Spirit that is gifted to us by our Lord Jesus Christ as our Advocate here on earth rains down upon on us this day to renew, refresh and recreate us.

The Spirit renews.  I published in the bulletin today a prayer that every Christian should say daily.  “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.  Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.  And you shall renew the face of the earth.”  90 days ago, we began a journey with Jesus at the beginning of Lent as the Lord set out to make all things new.  50 days ago at his resurrection, He was made new to the point that even his disciples couldn’t recognize him.  So he breathed on them the Spirit so that they could go forth and make things new on the face of the earth with the power of the Spirit.  Today we are called to give our heart to God the Spirit to make us new as well so that we may set the world on fire with his love.  When we are renewed by the Spirit, we should be as unrecognizable as Jesus was after the resurrection because everyone will see something new in us.

The Spirit refreshes.  In the Pentecost sequence, there is a wonderful verse that reads, “You, of comforters the best; You, the soul’s most welcome guest; Sweet refreshment here below.”  The Spirit comforts us in our afflictions.  He brings us solace in times of trail.  One of the prayers in the Mass today says that our soul cries out for the Spirit because we long for the presence of God in our lives.  And finally, when we need rest, when we are parched, when our soul needs soothing, the Spirit comes to offer us “sweet refreshment.”  Like a cold glass of lemonade when we come in out of the sun on a hot summer’s day, the Spirit quenches our thirst for God in a way nothing else can.

The Spirit recreates.  Here we think of recreation as a diversion when we should look at it as re-creation.  The Spirit comes to create something new.  As school has ended and summer has begun, we think of times we will spend this summer in traditional recreation, but how much time will we dedicate to spiritual re-creation with the Spirit as our guide?  We are called this Pentecost Sunday to be recreated in God’s image and likeness; more specifically to be just like Jesus.   This is what this life giving Breath of God seeks to create in each and everyone of us.

I want to end with two examples of priests that received the power of the Holy Spirit at ordination and that impacted me in a special way this past week.  Last night, I had the honor of concelebrating the “Farewell Mass” of the pastor of the first parish I was assigned to who is retiring at the end of the month.  He taught me in my early days of what it meant to be a priest.  He is a model of what a pastor should be.  In his homilies, he always likes to play with words and notice how I used three words in this homily that begin with the prefix “re.”  Well, last night this wise pastor rejected the use of the word “retire” because if you break it down with its prefix it implies just getting tired over and over again.  He prefers the word, which is more commonly used in Spanish, that he is going on jubilee.  There is more of a sense of joy in that word because as we embark on our “jubilee,” we can look back on the work we have done for the Lord with joy and realize that we are still called to labor, albeit more limitedly, in his vineyard until he calls us home.  This is what happened to another priest I worked with in one of my former parishes in Broward.  A retired priest that came down form New York state for health reason and ended up being an integral part of the parish he helped out at.  He would say Mass every Sunday and once or twice during the week.  He would regularly visit the school and CCD children and say Masses for them, help out with confessions, and pretty much lived an “unretired” life.  He always said that when he celebrated his 50^th anniversary two years ago that he would cut back on his workload and only come by every now and then.  I knew, as most of the parishioners did, that he would not do this.  He got ill a couple of weeks ago and last Thursday night he really entered his life of jubilee when he was called home by the Father.  These two men are examples that the Spirit is at work in our lives up until the end.  We will never be finished products here on earth.  We will only be brought to completion when we enter the presence of God.   In the meantime, we are called to live a life filled with the Spirit that prompts us to work tirelessly for the Lord to renew, refresh, and recreate the face of the earth with the power of the Spirit that rained down on the apostles on that first Pentecost Sunday and that we pray rains down on us each and every day.  May these two great priests, one at the end of his life and the other at the end of his official ministerial life, hear the words that are uttered at the end of today’s sequence, and may we hear them one day as well:

Give them virtue’s sure reward;

Give them your salvation, Lord;

Give them joys that never end.  Amen.  Alleluia.

Come Holy Spirit, come!

With Us Always

“And behold, I am with you always…” (Matthew 28:20)

What a comforting promise the Lord gives us at the end of today’s gospel.  This week, many of you came and participated in our 40 Hour Devotion of Adoration to the Blessed Sacrament.  Our Lord was present in our chapel and was never alone.  The amount of people that came, especially in the overnight hours, was incredible.  On Friday night, when I gave Benediction and reposed the Lord, I told everyone present that now that we had concluded the 40 Hour Devotion and enjoyed his presence among us, we had to take his presence into the world.  This is, in part, what we celebrate today with the Solemnity of the Ascension.  Cardinal Dolan tweeted this week, that “today we are not celebrating Jesus leaving us—what we are celebrating is that He remains with us always!”  Despite leaving the sight of the disciples, he promises his presence.  The problem for us is that we often forget that he walks with us in our journey.

So many of us have walked into this church today with problems and stress and anxieties.  We often complain that God has abandoned us.  He’s not there.  He has forgotten us.  But right there at the very end of the Gospel of Matthew is a promise:  “I am with you always.”  God, by his very nature, cannot lie.  He assures us of his presence, and this should be of tremendous comfort to us.  Therefore, as I have invited you to do before, cast off your problems and place them in the hands of our Lord.   Today he becomes our Great Mediator.  He will take on your burdens.  He will walk with you in your troubles.  He is with us especially in this Eucharist.  We need his presence because we cannot journey through this life alone. During my last Mass today, I asked the people if we could take on our problems on our own, and a little girl sitting to my left vigorously shook her head NO!  If a little girl can figure out how much we need God’s presence in our life, why can’t we?  Probably because we like to be independent.  We like to do things on our own.  Except that life has taught me all too well that whenever I set off on my own, I end up falling flat on my face.  But there is Jesus dusting me off, picking me up, and pointing me in the right direction.  Give your troubles to Jesus this day. Do not walk out of here burdened.  Christ makes us free, and his presence gives us overwhelming peace as we all discovered during those 40 hours.

And when we carry no burden, we can act on that final command that Jesus gave his disciples to go to all nations to spread the Good News.  Essentially it’s to do what I told those gathered late Friday night:  once we surrender to our Lord, we can start to freely and joyfully share his presence with the world.  He is with us always until the end.

Jumping Through Hoops: The Confirmation Crisis

“Then [Peter and John] laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 8:17)

Yesterday I accompanied our youth group to the Marlins game and since baseball offers the spectator moments of silence and contemplation, I started thinking about how each of them got there.  How did each of them end up as committed Catholics and part of our youth group?  The majority of them came through our Confirmation program.  They are wonderful kids, respectful, insightful, caring, and always at the service of the Church.  Unfortunately, they are a small portion of the young people who have been confirmed in our parish over the last five years.  The first reading today offers us the scriptural basis for the Sacrament of Confirmation.  Peter and John came to Samaria to lay hands on those that had been baptized so that they may receive the Holy Spirit.  Some of my biggest joys, and sorrows I must confess, have come in preparing our young people for the Sacrament of Confirmation.  I have witnessed young people make bold transformations as they prepare for this sacrament, and then upon receiving it, they dedicate their time to the church and become active in parish ministries like our youth group kids.  Unfortunately, the opposite is more common.  Too often I have seen young people go through the motions of receiving this sacrament as if it were a graduation from CCD and pretty much don’t set foot in church after that.  It is sad, tragic, and it is our fault.  The Church has failed them.

Today’s readings talks to us about the importance of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus emphasized that he would not leave us orphans for he will send us an Advocate who will always be with us.  Why is it so difficult to communicate this to our young people?  They are brought by their parents to complete the Sacraments of Initiation, but we, and I include myself in this, are not doing an adequate job of forming disciples.  The past two years that I have presented our young people to the bishop for Confirmation, I have done so imploring God to have mercy on me for presenting some candidates that weren’t fully prepared for the sacrament.  There have been some who have been wonderful students and very open to the preparation process, but others who treated their weekly CCD class as if they were in math class at 8 in the morning in school.  I only presented them trusting in the grace of the sacrament and that the Holy Spirit may move them even a little.  These children essentially spend two years jumping through hoops so that they can receive a sacrament.  This is not how we mold disciples.  This is something that causes me great distress because I have witnessed hundreds of Confirmation ceremonies and am often left wondering that if we had prepared all those young people adequately and with conviction, we would have a young spiritual army for Christ that would transform the world.  Instead, the world transforms them, and the Good Shepherd is left without sheep.  Quite simply, what we are doing now to prepare candidates for Confirmation is not working and needs to be blown up, thrown out, and let's start from scratch.  It ain't working!  (This is not a manifesto.  This is something that I discussed at great length with the bishop that came to do our Confirmations three weeks ago.  I may write about this more extensively in the future, but not now.)

Those of us gathered here that have been confirmed have received the fullness of the Holy Spirit.  We must be reminded that the Spirit is always with us, for Christ tells us so in today’s gospel.  Confirmation is a challenge to go forth and be apostles of the joy of the resurrection.  It is a challenge to go and transform the world.  This is the challenge that we must be communicating to our young people.  This week the Holy Father posed a rhetorical question during one of his homilies: “How many of you pray to the Holy Spirit? Don’t raise your hand…He is the great forgotten, the great forgotten!...May the Lord give us this grace to always guard the Holy Spirit in us, the Spirit who teaches us to love, fills us with joy, and gives us peace (Homily on May 23, 2014).”  We forget that we have been given this great gift of the Spirit and that all gifts are meant to be shared.  Our Confirmation programs are in crisis.  If those children merely go through the motions and "do what is required" then we are failing them.  Fulfilling pre-requisites is what you do when you are seeking a diploma or degree, NOT when you are preparing to receive a sacrament.  We must re-think how we form our young people because the Church should not confer sacraments based on fulfilling pre-requisistes, it should confer sacrament on those who are ready to be disciples.  I was not ordained a priest simply because I went through 9 years of classes.  I was ordained a priest because the Church and those entrusted with my formation discerned that I was ready to receive Holy Orders.  I wonder if this same logic should be applied as we prepare young people for Confirmation. So I implore you this day to pray for our young people who received the Sacrament of Confirmation this year and in recent years that they may recognize this gift.   Also pray for your pastor and for all lay ministers and catechists who heroically prepare these children, that we may have the courage to start from scratch guided by the Spirit, stop teaching mere classes and start molding disciples for Jesus Christ.

YOU Are the Church!

“…like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5)

Ever since I was a little boy, I have never stayed at one particular parish very long.  My parents had restless heart and I guess they passed that on to me.  From the age of 15 when I started doing missionary work, I wouldn’t stay very long in one place (the exceptions being my home parish and my first parish I was assigned to as a priest).  Of course, this wasn’t my doing.  There was always an archbishop on the other end of the line, inspired by the Spirit, telling me where I was needed next, and I embraced each change as God’s will for me.  After all, I did lay down my life at ordination for the good of the Church and looked my archbishop firmly in the eyes (twice!) and told him that I would be obedient to him and to his successors.  Just a little over 18 months ago, I received a call that I would receive my first pastorate here in this holy place where I received my First Communion.  Since that time, I have grown to love this community that has embraced me as its pastor.  I have found a faith-filled people hungering to be fed the Living Word of God.  So it did come as a bit of a surprise that two and half weeks ago I found myself yet again on the other end of the line with the Archbishop who was asking me to be the pastor of a different community in another part of our Archdiocese later this summer.  Obedience: is it any wonder that priests make that promise twice!  While I embrace the next great challenge the Lord has in store for me, I couldn’t help but think of all of you while I was talking with the Archbishop.  As news started to spread through the parish that I would be transferred, people asked why I stayed for such short a time.  I would respond that our ways are not the Lord’s ways.  When people started telling me that they would follow me to my next parish, I would gently remind them that we follow but one man:  Christ Jesus the Lord.

In a way, today’s readings proved to be providential to go along with this news that I have to share with you today.  One of the first homilies I delivered from this pulpit as your pastor was to remind you that the Church does not consist merely of who is up here preaching but that you are the Church.  In the second reading, St. Peter calls us living stones who are called to be built into a spiritual house.  My brothers and sisters, you are the living Church.  You are what makes this parish community so vibrant and beautiful.  I am merely a humble, unworthy servant that was placed at the service of the royal priesthood you received from the Lord at baptism.  But as I reminded my staff when I shared this news with them, the work of the Church continues.  There is still so much to do and so much that all of you could do that does not depend on who your pastor is.  You are all called to “announce the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9).”  We are indeed called to be living stones that make this Church come alive.  Several years ago I wrote in a homily, “As living stones, we are called to be filled with the Spirit to help edify this spiritual house.  Unfortunately, so many of us are stones, quite literally stones, not living stones, that just sit here and do not contribute to the mission of the Church.  We forget that we are called from baptism to share in Christ's ministry.  It is not sufficient to sit here like stones once a week for one hour.  Our Lord needs you more.  The Church needs you more. “  For me as a pastor, it has never been about the bottom line or about triumphs or defeats, but rather sharing with you the joyful news of the Gospel in order to inspire you to go forth and share that same Good News with others. 

I must confess that it will hurt when I leave at the end of next month.  A friend was telling me this week that I should be used to this, but I replied that I wouldn’t be much of a priest if it did not hurt to let go of people I love.  I have done this goodbye thing all too often over the last 12 years, dried many tears, and heard the question “why?” more than I would like.  But as I said earlier, our ways are not God’s ways.  He has a plan for each of us which makes the first line that Jesus utters in today’s gospel so comforting:  “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”  We have faith in God.  We must have faith in his divine will.  You follow not a man who wears black.  You follow Christ the Lord.  My task was to bring that Christ to you who is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”  As living stones, each and every one of you is precious in the Lord’s eyes.  I just thank the Lord that, even if it was for a short while, I was able to see with my eyes how precious each of you truly is.  

The Shepherd's Voice

“…the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” (John 10:3)

When I was a kid, every day after school we would play football in the street in front of my house.  Imagine that!  We would actually go outside to play instead of numbing our brains to television and video games.  We would play from when we arrived from school until sunset or at least until we heard the voice calling us home for dinner. It was the unmistakable voice of our mother who would call us, and yes there were times where we would ignore it so we could get in a couple of more plays, but we would always obey lest we hear the voice that would come after hers if we didn’t listen:  the voice of our father. 

We’ve been listening to our mother’s voice since we were in the womb and we have a special connection with that voice.  It is a voice that sooths, that brings comfort, that corrects, but that also shows love.  It is a voice that Jesus heard too when he was a child as he heard the voice of our Blessed Mother teaching him how to pray and how to recognize the voice of God and to do his will.  Mary knew all too well what it meant to do the Father’s will, so she taught her Son perfectly how to do the same. 

Today we not only celebrate Mother’s Day, we also celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday.  Jesus tells us in today’s gospel that his sheep recognize his voice and follow him.  The question for us is: do we really?  Do we know what the Shepherd’s voice sounds like?  And do we follow it?  Sometimes that voice calls us to do some extraordinary tasks; tasks that seem almost impossible.  But if God calls us to do something that we deem impossible, isn’t he going to make sure that we succeed?  What the Archangel Gabriel asked of Mary was impossible, yet he said, “nothing is impossible for God.”  Perhaps Mary wasn’t quite ready to be a mother, but the Lord called and he made her ready which is why we honor her with a special month because she listened and obeyed.  Perhaps we hear the voice of the Shepherd calling us into different pastures or calling us to do something that we feel we aren’t quite ready to do or capable of doing.  If it is indeed God who is calling us, he will make us ready and capable to do whatever it is he is calling us to do.  All we have to do is trust in his will for us, for as the psalm says: “he guides me in right paths." And like a mother's voice, his voice will always bring us great comfort and lead us to place of joy and peace.

Walking With Jesus

“Jesus asked them: “What are you discussing as you walk along?” They stopped, looking downcast.” (Luke 24:17)

Yesterday was Confirmation Day here in our parish.  I must confess that now that I’m a pastor, I often get nervous when the bishop starts asking the kids questions as if he’s going to blame me if they answer incorrectly.  We were blessed to have Bishop Luis del Castillo, a retired bishop from Uruguay, presiding at the Confirmation, and he did something quite remarkable that initially freaked me out.  Instead of calling on the kids and asking them questions, he called the first two kids in the first pew to stand up and stand on either side of him to “help him with his homily.”  He went on to break down the readings of the day as he moved back and forth to both teenagers asking them simple questions of how those readings and their Confirmation applied to their daily lives at school and at home.  As I was watching this very gentle soul reach out to our teenagers, I could not help but think about today’s gospel.  What the bishop did yesterday is exactly what Jesus does today.  He took two disciples and broke open for them the Scriptures.

After the confirmations, I asked the young lady who was up there with the bishop how it went.  She quickly admitted how scared she was at first.  Again, just like the disciples of Emmaus.  Afraid after the crucifixion.  Overjoyed after experiencing the power of the Word of the Risen Christ.  To journey through life joyfully and without fear, we must walk with our Lord.  He has so many things to share with us including his very self.  All we have to do is follow the example of the Emmaus disciples and invite him to stay with us.  We can’t push him away.  We can’t fight him as I preached about in a daily homily this past week.  He needs to be right there by our side.

Later on today, I’ll preach to a group of engaged couples getting ready to receive the sacrament of Holy Matrimony.  This gospel is perfect for them as well because for if they want to have a beautiful marriage then they must also walk with the Lord.  As one of my wise former pastors used to say:  “They can’t walk ahead of him.  They can’t walk behind him.  They must walk besides him!”  And as they walk besides him they must also recognize Jesus in each other in the same way that the disciples recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread. 

Which brings me back to the bishop’s homily and the very first question that he asked these kids:  “Have you ever seen God?”  They both answered that they hadn’t. And slowly and with great love the bishop began to explain how they can see God in their family, classmates, friends, and neighbors.  If it applies to confirmed teenagers, it must certainly apply to married couples who must see God in each other every single day.  And it most definitely applies to every Christian who seeks the joy and peace of the Risen Christ.

Don’t walk too fast. 

Don’t walk too slow. 

Pace yourself. 

And walk with the Lord.

Two Saintly Popes, One Message: Be Open to God

“Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” (John 20:26)

Please indulge me and allow our two newest saints to help me with my homily on this Divine Mercy Sunday.   If there is a unifying message between Saint John XXIII and Saint John Paul II is the theme to open ourselves to God.  Far too many times, we are like the disciples hiding in the Upper Room with the doors locked.  We lock ourselves away from the world because of fear, because we do not want to change, because we fear the newness of the Risen One.

When convening the Second Vatican Council, Saint John XXIII said, “Throw open the windows of the Church and let the fresh air of the Spirit blow through.”  This is the same Spirit that Jesus breathes on his apostles in today’s gospel.  Good Pope John knew that renewal is essential not only in the life of the Church but in our own spiritual lives as well.  We must throw open the windows of our hearts and allow the Holy Spirit to set us free from our own Upper Room.

Saint John Paul II repeatedly said: “Do not be afraid.  Open wide the doors to Christ.”  Unlock the doors of your hearts.  Do not be afraid like the disciples were.  Notice a little detail in the gospel today.  Even after Jesus had appeared to them, a week later, the door is still locked!  We may have had a transformative experience on Easter Sunday a week ago, but the world causes us to build walls and lock doors.  These two great saints taught us to be open, to not shut Christ out, and to allow him to breathe his Spirit upon us.

In his homily on Divine Mercy Sunday 13 years ago, Saint John Paul II said, “[Divine Mercy] is the Easter gift the Church receives from the Risen Christ and offers to humanity...Our attention focuses on the gesture of the Master, who transmits to the fearful, astounded disciples the mission of being ministers of Divine Mercy…Jesus entrusted to them the gift of "forgiving sins," a gift that flows from the wounds in His hands, His feet, and especially from His pierced side. From there a wave of mercy is poured out over all humanity.”

So on this Sunday, let us rejoice in Christ’s Divine Mercy. May our words be the words of Good Pope John who opened the Second Vatican Council saying: “Mother Church rejoices that, by the singular gift of Divine Providence, the longed-for day has finally dawned…”  He was talking about the opening of the great council.  Today we rejoice because the “long-for day” that we have been waiting for has finally dawned.  Two great popes, two great men, two great Christians today have been elevated to the altars.  As saints, they become models for the Universal Church to never be afraid of Christ’s Mercy and to open wide the doors of hearts to the Spirit that he so generously breathes on us.  Their lives personify the motto emblazed on the image of the Divine Mercy:  “Jesus, I trust in you!”

Saint John XXIII and Saint John Paul II, pray for us!