HUMAN HOLINESS

The Ascension is most closely related, in meaning, to Christmas, for both are incarnational.  At Christmas, what it means to be God became fully a part of what it means to be human.  In Jesus, the human and divine become united in the person and life of one man. That’s what happened in Christmas. 

At the Ascension, this human being – the person and the resurrected body of Jesus – became for all eternity a part of who God is.  The life of a single human being is forever joined to the life of God the Father, the one who created the heavens and the earth. 

It was not the spirit of Jesus or the divine nature of Jesus that ascended to the Father.  It was the resurrected body of Jesus: a body that the disciples had touched, a body that ate and drank with them, a real physical, but gloriously resurrected body, bearing the marks of nails and a spear.  This is what ascended.

RITUAL AND TRANSITION

First of all, I want to congratulate you on all that has brought you to this day, as well as the people who have brought you here: your families, friends, mentors, teachers, coaches and supporters. It is an honor to be able to celebrate this moment with you.

Ironically, it is a day I did not participate in myself. I simply didn’t like the pomp and circumstance, and I have never liked a lot of attention.

What I did not appreciate in my younger years, and most certainly something I appreciate now, is the importance of ritual. It is an old-sounding kind of word, usually conjuring images of royalty, or medieval or primal images in our mind. But I assure you, we are ritualistic people because they help us to accept the changes that are necessary in order for us to grow. We need moments when we break our routine and recognize that we are different . . . as do the people around us. We need moments to celebrate, lest we forget how far we have come – because we have.

5th Sunday of Easter by Fr. Chris Valka, CSB

MOTHER'S DAY

Traditionally, today is known as Good Shepherd Sunday because of the shepherd and the sheep who hear his voice.  Of course, it is also Mother’s Day – a day when we also celebrate our shepherds who have sheep who don’t always hear their voice!

It is a day when I always feel little awkward trying to reflect on the experience of motherhood.  The sanctity of the relationship between a mother and child gives me pause and leaves me humbled.  I don’t know if I could ever have enough courage to allow my soul to live inside another person, but as far as I can tell, that is often what mothers do. 

Thus, I want to share a story I read from the book "Untie the Strong Woman" by Clarissa Pinkola Estes.

Next Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Easter, is commonly known as Good Shepherd Sunday, because of the Gospel regarding the sheep who hear the Master’s voice. And for that reason, it is also regarded as day when speak about vocations - to the priesthood specifically, though most homilists include all vocations.

However, my experience has taught me that today’s Gospel is really the more accurate one about vocations – especially to the priesthood. Next week is the nice version – the much more attractive version. This week is about the hard reality.

“Do you love me”, Jesus asks. Then follow me to where you do not want to go. Follow me and you will die, and it will be glorious. This is the life of service and sacrifice. This is priesthood. And it is not that I don’t want to go, but rather, I am mindful of the death that is required.

These days there is a lot of talk about priesthood and a great deal of criticism (for good reasons), but today I think I would like to speak about it all from a different point of view – from that of today’s Gospel where love leads us to follow no matter the costs.

THE MOTIVATION OF CHANGE

What is it that Thomas couldn’t believe?  That Jesus rose again?  That Jesus appeared to his friends?  Perhaps it was that he and his friends would be able to do even greater works than Jesus? That they would have the power of the Holy Spirit to forgive sins and transform the world?  That they could set a foundation, then, for what we do today?  

Admittedly, that is a little hard to believe. 

I think we, too, would do well to assess our belief.  Do we really believe that we are capable of all that Jesus did?  Do we really believe that we can do the miracles we read about in the Bible?  Do we really believe that our forgiveness is also the forgiveness of God; and likewise, that what we cannot forgive, is held against them and us? 

Every year we hear this story of Thomas right after Easter.  We hear it because we all struggle with believing in the promises of Christ.  Perhaps you are more doubtful of those promises this year than in the past.  Perhaps you can believe more easily.

MYSTERIES WE DON'T NEED TO SOLVE

Over the past few days, we have been contemplating the limitations of our own mentalities – how we tend to think that everything is limited.  The resurrection, it seems to me, is the ultimate example of God’s abundance. 

Nothing is impossible with God.  The rules simply do not obey. 

In 1965, the Late Jewish Rabbi Abraham Heschel wrote, “As civilization advances, the sense of wonder declines.  I argue that this sense of wonder - which we most certainly best see in our children – is humanity’s most compelling trait.  It is the seed of innovation and progress; the stimulus of love and relationships; and it is what leads us here – to a place where we can encounter that magnanimity of God in a single piece of bread.

THE ABUNDANCE OF GOD

We said yesterday that THIS is the instruction manual.  This is the path.  At its most basic level, what we learn from last night – the Last Supper and the washing of the feet - is that the love of God and love of neighbor are not two commands, but one.  Our service to one another breaks down the scarcity mentality that usually drives our decisions and actions.  Our service to each other challenges our competitive mindset and upsets our imposed pecking orders.  The service that flows from our encounter with God in the sacrament reminds us that we will always have enough because the well-spring will never be exhausted. 

But service is not simply a decision.  Today reminds us that service, in God’s name, is a sacrifice.  Because this isn’t just doing some random act of kindness (thought that can be part of it) – the service to which we are called – the service with our participation the in the communion of God requires will stretch us. It will require that give everything, if we take it seriously. 

It requires THIS.  It requires the death of our own ego. 

But death gives way to life.  And emptiness allows for abundance.  The more of yourself that you allowed to be carved away, the more abundant you allow God to be.

PARTICIPATING IN OUR HOLINESS

There has always been an inherent danger in the celebration of this great feast:  which is to make it more “holy” than “human”. That is to say, that it is so very easy to believe that Jesus, as the Son of God, was following a kind of divine script– which consequently puts distance between him and us.  Jesus becomes more of an example or model, held up on a kind of pedestal, rather than a life to be shared and experienced. 

But the entire point of this liturgy – this evening, tomorrow and Saturday/Sunday – is that we are not just called to emulate it – we are called to participate in it. 

I have long said that many of us would be well-served by a sort of spiritual amnesia.  For too long, we have allowed our understanding of the spiritual life to be shaped by dualistic notions that conclude the body is less holy; and that what we do in this life only matters as preparation for the next. 

But that is inconsistent with everything Jesus said and did:  the Kingdom of Heaven is here – it is simply up to us to recognize it.  When we fully embrace our authentic humanity, we fully live out our holiness. And the way we do that is what these next few days are all about.

REFLECTION FIVE:  THE HOLINESS OF OUR HUMANITY

In our last discussion, we will look ahead to Holy Week as a celebration of our humanity as well as God’s divinity, as we seek to heal our dualistic division between the things of heaven and the things of earth.  We will consider what it means to be citizens of our community and the Kingdom of God, rather than consumers.  Belonging, as we will discuss, is associated with the creative contribution to the Kingdom of God here and now, as well as in the future.