Reconciliation: The Church's Vital Sign

One thread that runs through today’s readings is vitality.  After His resurrection Jesus appears to the Church as one who, despite all appearances, has all power over sin, suffering, and death.  In Revelation, He claims to “hold the keys to death and the netherworld.”  That is authority!  While death seems all around us, and threatens to take us in time, Jesus has co-opted the end of earthly life into His victory.  Physical death thus becomes the gateway to everlasting life.  As a venerable Christmas hymn declares, “Now ye need not fear the grave: Jesus Christ is born to save!”

         

When Saint John first witnessed the Lord’s bold proclamation, he says that he “fell at his feet as though dead.”  Jesus stretches out His right hand and picks him up.  As material and spiritual beings, we hear today about other examples of how spiritual vitality is conveyed in ways accessible to the senses.  Jesus conveys the Holy Spirit of forgiveness and healing by breathing on the apostles as they gather in the upper room.  Later, the sick congregate around the apostles in the hopes that Peter would pass by them—that, maybe, just being in his presence would do something for them.  All of this supports the Church’s sacraments as tangible vehicles of the divine life, powered by His Word and operated by His ministers.

         

Today we advert to Reconciliation, to Sacramental Penance, as the ordinary means of forgiving serious sin and remitting its due punishment for the next world.  Jesus told the apostles, “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”  He wouldn’t have said that unless He thereby invested the apostles with that sacred power.  To this day people approach the precious court of divine mercy in order to unburden themselves of whatever inhibits their growth in holiness, whatever cuts them off from God and others. 

As an authorized agent of the Holy Trinity, the priest forgives sins and liberates souls for sacrificial, Christian love.  He takes them, as it were, by the right—absolving— hand and raises them up.  By coming to meet the Lord with genuine contrition and deliberate intention, the forgiven penitent comes to share in the vitality of the Lord’s Resurrection in a way that transcends our frail and deceptive senses.  Like Saint John we can stand up and resolutely return to life with a new approach, although it requires our prayerful vigilance.

The abiding offer of divine mercy exhorts us to place our sins with humble confidence in the Lord’s open side, to let them there, and to life the new life of grace.  Don’t let any fears hold you back from a good Confession, whether weeks, months, or years have passed since the last one.  Second only to the offering of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Reconciliation is the reason for my existence.  And that’s not just because I’m a priest.  Are you not all partakers in the priesthood by virtue of your Baptism?  Then you, too, live to offer yourselves to the Father in union with the Son; you, too, live to repent of your sins and to embark upon a daily voyage of prayer and sacrifice.  Through this belief, may you have life in His Name!

"Running Shorts" Worth the Wear

As a purely amateur runner barely able to keep a 7:30 pace most days, I discovered Joe Muldowney's "Running Shorts" on the shelf of A Running Start, where I buy my shoes.  The stories in this book are very much along the lines of his columns in the Pottsville Republican-Herald: informative, inspiring, and amusing.

To call it a "Runner's Bible" would be trite, although accurate enough.  As a Catholic priest, I regard it rather as a "Runner's 'Lives of the Saints'."  Muldowney and his several sidekicks have amassed countless exploits throughout his years of racing, which are coextensive with my life.  He skillfully situates his stories within the larger context of the sport's world, national, and local history.  He retraces the thousands of roads and trails that his feet have graced, giving the impression that he is happy to run them again.  Muldowney has encountered his fair share of gainsayers along his route.  His (usually) benevolent responses brim with the confidence of one who starts his seventh decade in a condition that people a third of his age would envy.  Joe's characteristically coach-like advice--born of trials as much as triumphs--encourages the running reader to improve his own habits and outcomes.

In the Irish wake of his book, Muldowney now blogs his ongoing efforts in the book's light and readable style.  At the writing of this review, he shares the preparations for his 16th Boston Marathon. I'll gratefully root him on during whatever workout I will wager that day, and I'll eagerly await his results.

Both the book and the blog known as "Running Shorts" are treasured additions to my regular devotional reading. Whatever your level of, or interest in, physical fitness, you too can derive the encouragement everyone needs to put one foot in front of the other.

Inconthievable!

If seeds in the black earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might the heart of man become in its long journey to the stars?  (G. K. Chesterton)

It was almost fifteen years ago that reading a Desert Father by the name of Neilos the Ascetic prompted me to adopt new habits of diet and exercise.  This is what I took from the excerpt: Vices are interrelated.  Countering our indulgences in one area (e.g., gluttony, anger) can have salutary effects in another (e.g., sloth, lust).  At my personal peak of ponderousness, undisciplined in body and spirit, and having witnessed my father's hospitalization for congestive heart failure earlier that year, I decided to make some changes.

Graduation from College Seminary (1998)

With Dad, at home (circa 2002)

In less than a year I lost perhaps a third of my bodyweight.  Unfortunately, my obsessive tendencies had kicked in.  It took a while, but I regained a few necessary pounds.  There's been some fluctuation, but, thank God, the last few years have held steady.

I wish I could say that my behavioral modifications turned me into a Desert Father, but I have learned that a change of heart is not governed by the externals.  That said, due attention to my physical well-being has proved helpful to my overall condition.  At the very least, I hope to make it easier for the pallbearers.

After my initial weight loss, a number of people who hadn't seen me for some time couldn't believe what they now saw.  When Jesus appeared to people after His Resurrection--people like Mary Magdalene, and the disciples en route to Emmaus--they didn't recognize Him, either.  The big difference in Jesus' case, of course, is the resurrected body: far better than Botox, airbrushing, or even P90X!  In the resurrection, one's physical appearance will match his or her spiritual state, for good or ill.  If you ask me, the transcendence of earthly limitations and defects is a big incentive to cling to Divine Mercy.

Spiritual and physical disciplines can help to make a person more receptive to the divine life and more resistant to sin.  The perennial danger is to become Pelagian, relying on one's own unaided efforts to "earn" eternal salvation.  Pride can wend its way into any human endeavor.  Trusting in the Lord's interests for our union with Him, we call these sayings to mind:

"Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it so much as dawned on man what God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Cor 2:9); 

and again, 

"Dearly beloved, we are God's children now.  What we shall later be has not yet come to light.  We know that, when it comes to light, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  Everyone who has this hope based on Him keeps himself pure, as He is pure" (1 Jn 3:2-3).

Pass the Buck

Readings of Easter Day

A stone out of place, an empty tomb, rolled-up burial cloths: these items convince the Apostles that Jesus has risen from the dead.  Dimly they begin to recognize Him as the Beloved Son, God’s Anointed, and Savior of the world.  Soon they become authoritative witnesses to His Resurrection.  The Eastern Churches call Mary of Magdala “Equal to the Apostles” because she is among the first to receive and to share the Good News.  She shares it with the Apostles, whose testimony eventually becomes the Church’s first evangelization.  The first apostolic homilies, such as Peter conveyed to the crowds, present the content of the True Faith as well as their relationship with the Lord.  The very same content and relationship are meant for the Apostles’ audience—which includes the Church in our own day.

Return to the two apostles at the empty tomb.  Perhaps because of his youth, the Beloved Disciple is the first to arrive.  He symbolizes Apostolic Love.  Peter, the "Keeper of the Keys" (cf. Mt 16:18),  represents Apostolic Office.  Love comes first, but defers to Office.  The Church abides no competition between them.  The same Holy Spirit fosters both gifts for God’s glory and for our good.

Recall that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had declared a Year of Faith that concludes in November.  How does this relate to our current celebration of Easter?  The Apostolic witness gives the Church a program for evangelization, a plan to inbue the world with Christ’s joyful, responsible love.  Think of it as “Passing the BUCK,” where BUCK stands for Belief, Understanding, Conviction, and Kindness.  

We are here today because of the trust that ignited the Apostles' preaching and healing.  The Holy Spirit has guided the Apostles and their successors to provide an articulation of doctrine and morality.  We do well to devote some daily effort, however small, to learn something about our Catholic faith so that we have something useful and beautiful to share.  Our conviction can inspire people to pay attention.  They may not always, or ever, agree; but they will take notice.  As our new Holy Father Pope Francis has quietly demonstrated, compassion also raises eyebrows.  We reach out to people, we grant and seek forgiveness, we change our behavior, just because it’s the right thing to do; but we know the power of a good example.  It speaks so loudly that you cannot hear a word we say.

Clearing out what St. Paul calls the stale, old leaven—whatever in our lives ought to be cast aside for the sake of God, neighbor, and self—we become more receptive to the divine life and become effective evangelists.  Belief, Understanding, Conviction, and Kindness: get these things, pass them on, and watch what happens!