2nd Sunday of Easter
Robert VerEecke, S.J.
Thank you for showing up today! So many people showed up last week on
Easter Sunday, and then not today, and that always makes me wonder why.
Last year I figured the answer to the question: “where have all the people
gone, one week passing?” was “Gone to Wegman’s everyone”. The 2nd
Sunday of Easter last year was the opening of Wegman’s on Route 9.
Now, once again I’m in a quandary: Why? So many people on Easter and
not today. We did put on a really good show last week. Beautiful music,
compelling preaching, prayerful liturgy. It was a good show. And that may
be the real issue. Maybe people think of Easter service as a “show”, a show
with Jesus in the leading role, and the disciples as supporting actors and
actresses. Like any good show, you may want to return to see it again, even
every year, but it’s not going to be one’s daily or weekly fare. (Like
watching “Easter Parade” at Easter or “It’s a Wonderful Life at Christmas”.)
You are here today because you know that what we are doing is not just for
“show”. You are here because you find something so compelling about this
gathering of the community of believers that there’s no way you want to
miss it. Yes, you know there are elements of “show”. We want to make our
worship of God and celebration of the presence of Jesus in our lives as
beautiful and prayerful and animated as we can, but we want to do it with
the full and active participation of all of you. You know that you are not the
“audience”, passively watching a drama or a comedy or a musical unfold.
You are key players. You make a difference and that’s why I thank you for
showing up.
Today’s gospel is really about “showing up”. That’s what Jesus does. Out of
nowhere he “shows up, shows himself” to the fearful, confused,
overwhelmed disciples. The Risen Jesus has this habit of just “showing up”
at the most unexpected times, when his friends are grieving like Mary
Magdalene in the Garden, or confused and disappointed like the disciples on
the road to Emmaus, or like Peter going fishing because that’s what’s
familiar to him. Jesus is suddenly and without warning present to them in the
garden, on the road, in the upper room, on the beach. The Risen Jesus just
“shows up”. And when he does, he says: “Don’t be afraid. Trust me. I’m
with you. No, really. Really present.”
This Easter week we celebrated three funerals here at St Ignatius. Easter
week is, I believe, the best time of the year for a funeral liturgy. Why is that?
Because the Easter reading that I just mentioned has the Risen Jesus
showing up to comfort, console, encourage, accompany those who are
grieving the death of a loved one: in those stories, it’s about him. This week
there were three very different men, but all the same in their strong faith in
God and their love for the Eucharist. Bernie Hanley was in his late 90’s. He
wouldn’t miss a Mass for the world. He was here daily for years, being fed
by God’s word and the Sacrament of the body and blood of Christ. Jack
Bray would come to the 5:30 Mass and sit in the back but he wouldn’t miss
it for the world. Jon Karis died on Good Friday after a three year struggle
with a devastating cancer, but during that time he became so close to the
Crucified Jesus and now we believe sees him face to face. Because of his
illness, in the last months Jon was not able to take and eat and take and drink
in the ordinary way. I knew how much Jon needed that intimacy with Christ
in the Eucharist, so we found a way of his receiving.
I share these three stories with you as examples of people for whom what we
are doing today is so much more than just a “show”. They knew or came to
know that what we do here is as essential for life as the air we breathe. In the
midst of doubt, confusion, with millions of questions, Jesus just shows up
and says to Bernie, to Jack, to Jon: “I’m here for you. I always have been,
since your baptism. Sometimes in life you could see me and know me in the
love you experienced. Sometimes when you were suffering, not so easy to
know I was with you. But I AM.”
So to you Brian, Sergio, Julie, Cindy, Kristen: I say thanks for showing up
every Monday night since last September to learn more about our faith
community. You had already had a relationship with Jesus and the Trinity of
Love in Father, Son, and Spirit through your baptism, but for many reasons
you are finding your spiritual home within our faith tradition. So thanks for
showing up.