Homily: Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter
Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter (2022) “Yours, Mine, Ours”
My brother-in-law is retired now, and he has a new hobby. He is going through old family albums and digitizing pictures and putting them on a zip drive. He then sets the slide show to music. As the pictures are shown on the television screen it is usually a walk down memory lane. I am shocked by how young I look. Usually, things look a lot more ideal than they were. When I reminisce, I know what was going on in our family and extended family at the time a photo was taken. There is a lot more complexity to the people photographed than a snapshot can show.
As we read through the Acts of the Apostles during Easter, at certain points, we will get a verbal snapshot of what was going on in the church’s life. When we hear the description it all sounds so ideal. We get a sense that our community life might now measure up.
There is a great example in today’s readings. We hear how everyone gave their property over to the church’s leaders. Then each person got what they needed to live. No one went without. Everyone trusted each other. Things were not important, but the community of faith was all important.
At various times in the history of the Christian Church this type of communal living has been tried. Different religious sects in our own country have tried to implement the community life that Acts describe. We can think of places like Bishop Hill, Illinois and New Harmony, Indiana. For a while communal life works, but things seem to break down over time. Does that mean that the whole idea is without merit? No. It means that it is hard to maintain trust in each other for the long haul.
I lived for six years at a Benedictine Monastery when I was in seminary. The monks lived as is described in Acts. Everything was held in common by the monks. The Benedictine way of living has been practiced for almost 1700 years.
We might reflect today on our trust of others. Are we willing to share what we have for the good of the whole Body of Christ? This takes virtue on the part of leadership and on the part of each member. When we see experience that trust is a glimpse of heaven.
- What is the best community experience I ever had? Were there problems in that community?
- Does community life have to be perfect to be worthwhile? Can I be patient with the imperfections of my church?
Dear Parishioners,
On Sunday we had a wonderful Confirmation celebration. The young people involved, I believe, had a good experience of church. They would never admit it, but they will remember their Confirmation Day forever.
Bishop Tylka was here. He seems very relaxed about coming to parishes and experiencing the liturgy as we celebrate it. I think that we gave him a good picture of our Christian community.
I would like to thank all those who helped make the day a spiritual one. It takes a lot of effort to put on such a celebration. If you want to see what happened go to our Facebook page. We were fortunate to record everything.
May Our Lady of Peace pray for our troubled world this day.
Fr. Mark