Peace Be With You - Third Sunday of Easter

Click here to view this week's Mass. The video for the 4 PM vigil Mass will be available by about 7 PM on Saturday.

Did you ever wish that you were one of Jesus' apostles? That you were able to sit down and talk to him while he was of human flesh, a person? I know at times I have wished that. It seems that the apostles had such an advantage. They could know exactly how real his death and resurrection were because they were there. They saw him die. And, after he died, they talked with him and, according to this weekend's Gospel, even saw him eat broiled fish! They spoke with, and probably laughed with, the risen Jesus. And then he told them more about establishing his Church.

But, did you ever stop and think that there is something that you and I can see of Jesus today that they could not? Think about it for a moment. While they could see and touch Jesus, they could not see what we see today. They could not see the Church, the Body of Christ, as we see it now. We can see the Church that covers the entire planet! Just after the resurrection of Jesus, the Church was only a few thousand people. Today, we the Church are almost 2.4 billion strong!

We the Church are the Body of Christ. Christ is the Head. We are the Body. We do not have to imagine the Church that Jesus Christ intended, we can see it all around us. The apostles could not do that! They had to have faith that Jesus would empower them to bring his message to the world. It must have been very difficult for them, since they could not see the Church alive as we see it today, to trust and have faith that they, fishermen and laborers, would bring the message of Jesus to the ends of the earth - but they did.

And it must be difficult for you and I, who can not see Jesus walking and talking, dying and rising, to trust and have faith that we, common people, will bring the message of Jesus Christ to even more people - but we will.

It was St. Augustine who first had these thoughts. This really helped me to better understand how to appreciate the benefits that we do have, rather than thinking too much on what the apostles had that we don't. If anything, I believe that given our own knowledge of the success of the Church that we know, the apostles might be the ones wishing that they had our advantage!

As we continue the fifty-day celebration of the Season of Easter, Happy Easter!!!

God's Peace,

Deacon Dave