St. John Neumann Catholic Church

The Easter Voice

By Dennis S. Hankins

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.” – Jesus

The terrorist attacks in Boston this past week remind us how powerful and destructive the voices of hatred are in our world. The young men who perpetrated this violence have deep roots in a part of the world where the voice of hatred is violently strong. In this very young century we have heard from those who speak very clearly, loudly, and violently, calling for our destruction. Our hearts go out to those grieving and hurting. We lift up our prayers for those dead and surviving.

One wonders how much longer our world can endure the voices of the Hitlers, the Mussolinis, the Stalins, the Pol Pots, the Bin Ladins, the Castros, the Gosnells. You may not be familiar with his last one. Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 72, is an abortionist in Philadelphia undergoing trial for what went on in his abortion clinic. Investigators describe Dr. Gosnell’s abortion clinic as a “house of horrors.” The grand jury report contains 58 graphic details that I cannot list here. But as I think for a moment about my first 58 years in this world, I am alarmed at how prevalent and pervasive the voices of destruction have been. These thoughts convince me that now more than ever I, we, need the Easter Voice – the voice of Jesus.

I remember when I heard the voice of Jesus calling me to follow him. It was about 1964 when I was only nine years old. In our Pentecostal tradition, it was taught that one must be born again. That’s what happened to me. I heard the voice of Jesus in the immense crater of my heart inviting me to know and follow him. And in that great moment I reached up to his great hand reaching down to me and grasped it.

The Gospel today is filled with great hope and promise. We need to hear the voice of Jesus. Everyday we should pray that our hearts will be ready and willing to hear what Jesus wants us to hear. A relationship with Christ is this real and personal. We have a lifetime to have a conversation with Jesus and to hear what his heart wants to tell us. He wants to speak into our heart of hearts about his love and reconciliation he wills for us and for the whole world. His voice is too small in our world, his light in our lives is too dim, his love in our thoughts and words and actions is too often absent. And when the Voice of Easter is missing, hope is missing too. And instead of Easter there is despair. And hurtful and destructive and deadly things happen.

Martin Luther King, Jr, heard the Voice of Easter. The children’s chorus, ‘Red and yellow, black and white; Jesus loves the little children of the world,’ was sung in churches of all colors in the 1960’s. Martin Luther King, Jr, asked us to believe what we sang. He asked us to understand how colorblind God is. He asked us to let the freedom of Christ ring in our hearts and in our lives, and in our voices. The mighty Voice of the Risen Jesus spoke powerfully in the heart of this man. Prison could not squelch it. Riots could not impede it. Martyrdom has not defeated it.

Mother Theresa heard the Easter Voice. She communed with Christ everyday in prayer before the Tabernacle. In that time of prayer she listened to the Voice – the Voice of Easter. She heard Jesus say, “I am thirsty, I am hungry, I am sick, and lonely, and in prison.” And then she got up and went outside her door and found Jesus on the streets of Calcutta. She bathed him, and fed him, and clothed him. Love is a cross – the only cross Jesus asks us to carry.

We are like sheep to Jesus. And to us he is like a shepherd. He is the great Shepherd of the flock of God. His voice, his magnificent voice is filled with the power and victory of Easter. It is his voice our families, and parish, and work places need to hear in us. Perhaps we can pray today to hear better the Easter Voice. How will we recognize his Voice? Perhaps the words of this hymn written by Horatius Bonar will help answer that question:

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Come unto Me and rest;
Lay down, thou weary one, lay down,
Thy head upon My breast.”
I came to Jesus as I was,
Weary and worn and sad;
I found in Him a resting place,
And He has made me glad.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“Behold, I freely give
The living water; thirsty one, Stoop down
and drink and live.”
I came to Jesus and I drank
Of that life-giving stream.
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived,
And now I live in Him.

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
“I am this dark world’s Light.
Look unto Me; thy morn shall rise
And all thy day be bright.”
I looked to Jesus, and I found
In Him my Star, my Sun;
And in that Light of Life I’ll walk
Till traveling days are done.

We can hear the voice of Jesus and when we do let us pray that we will never again listen to another. Easter reminds us that we must never seek the living One among the dead. The dead voices of hate and destruction and death will not, do not have the last word. He who is Risen speaks with the authority of an endless and indestructible life. It’s that power, the power that raised Jesus from the dead that must animate us, and fill us, and give to us the courageous voice of love, and forgiveness, and reconciliation. May we too be the Voice of Easter.   Amen.

Readings for this Sunday

Our Easter Mission

By Dennis S. Hankins

“Do you love me?” With these words, Jesus searches the heart of Peter.

Only a few days ago, Peter vehemently denounced the Lord. “I don’t know him!” he declared. Warming himself by the fire did nothing to impede the chill growing in his heart. Someone else recognized him, and yet a second time Peter denied the Lord. Then, like clock work, just as Jesus predicted, the cock crowed when the fateful words of denial escaped Peter’s lips for the third time. At that dreadful moment the eyes of Peter and Jesus met and Peter ran from the comfortless fire and wept bitterly.

By the seaside Jesus sits closest to Peter as they eat breakfast together. And three times Jesus asks Peter for his heart. Three times Peter declares his love for Jesus. The symbolism is too obvious to miss. But more on that below.

It seems to me there are at least three points to be made about today’s readings.

The first has to do with fear. Like Peter we can be paralyzed by fear. We seek the comfort of familiar things. We play it safe. We may not let our light shine as we should because we are afraid that we might be misunderstood or labeled. This fear is not imaginary. It’s real. It’s potent. And it’s promoted. Moral beliefs in the United States are increasingly characterized as hateful and bigoted. Opinion and belief couched in a moral framework is assailed and dismissed as archaic and out of touch with reality. Sometimes, people are even labeled dangerous who embrace what is understood as traditional values.

Peter and company appeared before the Sanhedrin and were warned to stop speaking in the name of Jesus. “You’ve filled Jerusalem with your teaching. Now stop it!” they demanded. There was a time when Peter might have complied. But no longer. Jesus had met with him in grace and in the power of resurrection life. This personal encounter with the resurrected Jesus gave new life and freedom to the once fearful and timid disciple. And we too must have that relationship with Jesus. When we know Christ, I mean really know him, and the power of his resurrection, we too can count it a privilege to suffer for knowing him; to obey God rather than men.

The second point has to do with failure. There was that time in Peter’s life when he wept bitterly for denying Christ. Like Peter, we have sometimes denied the Lord complete and full residence in our lives. There are times when we have not picked up our cross and followed Jesus wherever he may lead. But like Peter we can know the grace of God that is greater than our sin and failings. Where sin and failure is great, God’s grace is greater, stronger, and woos us back into the Father’s heart.

On that seashore, Jesus woos Peter back into the power of his love. “Yes, I love you,” Peter assures Christ, somewhat distressed. The memory of leaving his first love brings pain and distress to Peter. But Jesus asks Peter for all of his heart and for all of his help to feed the precious flock of God. “My sheep know my voice and they will hear my voice in your words. Tend to my sheep and feed my lambs, and I will be with you always,” Jesus assures his servant, Peter.

When we love Jesus as we are invited to love him, there is no failure that is stronger than Christ’s love. You may think yourself doomed to live forever in your mistakes and failures and bad decisions. But there is a Savior who is not willing that you should perish. He is in fact not willing that any one should live outside of his love, but he invites all of us into repentance and salvation.

I’m reminded of the hymn: Come Thou Fount. In that hymn is the prayerful plea to God to help us be strong and faithful. The second stanza in part says:

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love,
Here’s my heart. O take and seal it;
Seal it for thy courts above.

And that brings us to the third point. It has to do with faithfulness. We must always pray for the grace and power to be faithful. Inviting the spirit of the Gospel to penetrate deeply into our hearts will give us more desire and strength to be faithful. The Good News of the Kingdom of God forms and shapes our hearts, our words, and our actions. The stories Jesus about love and forgiveness are timeless. His power to heal both body and soul has not diminished these 21 centuries. The Gospel remains the Good News of a loving Father who sent his Son into a world filled with hate, and violence, and scorn for all that his true, and good, and beautiful. And to that world he still says, “Come unto me all of you and find rest for your souls.” It is this message of Christ we are asked to faithfully share with everyone.

As I grow older, it seems to me that the Christian life is more like a marathon than like a sprint. The scriptures are filled with promises of salvation to all who endure. As we plod along we can ask the Holy Spirit to be with us and to teach us and to guide us and to glorify Jesus through us. Praying that prayer will help us to keep our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2)

A vision of Christ is given to us by John in the reading from Revelation today. It is a vision of Jesus as the Lamb of God who was once slain. But he no longer suffers the ridicule and wagging heads on Golgotha. Now, right now, he is at the right hand of the Father, high and lifted up. In that regal setting he receives blessing and glory and honor. A countless number of living creatures and angels and elders sing, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain!” And the elders fall down and worship him in that holy place. Let us join them at the altar of Grace. Let us receive the body and blood of Jesus and become for the world a living sacrifice of his presence even him who loved us and gave himself for us and for the whole world. This is our Easter mission until he comes again!   Amen.

Readings for this Sunday

Easter Mercy

By Dennis S. Hankins

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

In this Gospel passage is the second time we read where God’s breath directly contacts humans. The first time is when God brought Adam into a living relationship with himself. Through this action Adam became a living soul. This second time, Jesus, the God-Man, breathes on his disciples. What is the purpose of this divine breath Jesus breathes on his disciples? Through his breath Jesus gives to his apostles the grace to forgive sins.

We experience this living breath when in confession we hear the priest proclaim:

God the Father of mercies,
through the death and resurrection of his Son
has reconciled the world to himself
and sent the Holy Spirit among us
for the forgiveness of sins;
through the ministry of the Church
may God give you pardon and peace,
and I absolve you from you sins
in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.

These words of absolution are spirit and life. They bring to our soul new life. They give to us a deeper living relationship with him who loved us and gave himself for us. In confession the Paschal Mystery breathes into a new flaming fervency the gift of faith given to us in baptism.

The Mystery of Easter is a new day of mercy that has come upon the world. It is a mercy that is long suffering, invoking a kindness that is pure and gentle. One might think of God’s kindness like the unconditional cuddling a mother gives her baby when she draws it to her breast for nourishment. Such is the heart of God where mercy is; it is more than abundant, it is without measure; it is sufficient and greater than all our sin. The fervent charity of God’s heart is open for whosoever will; all are welcome.

Mercy is not something God withholds. It is something however we may find difficult to seek or think ourselves unworthy. This would have merit if it were not the fact that the first reading today shows God’s love and help and mercy accessible and powerful in its effects even in the shadow of Peter. In Peter’s shadow Easter Mercy heals the afflicted in body and soul and spirit. None were left out. Peter wrote of God’s closeness to his people in his first epistle. To his parishioners at Rome he invited them into the very bosom of the Father saying, “Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.” (1 Peter 5:7)

These words from Peter are filled with the memories of a shadow he cast many years before. In his shadow he witnessed the living Lord of Calvary continuing his ministry of healing the sick, casting out unclean spirits, healing them of their infirmities of heart and mind and body. Human need has not changed nor has Christ for he is the same yesterday, today, and forever!

The power of mercy is possible because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He suffered the ignominy of the cross because of the joy of Easter that loomed in his future. Christ, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith bowed his head on an old rugged cross and crowned a new day of mercy with his inimitable words, “It is finished.” From his pierced side, redemption flowed in the form of merciful water and blood. And one day we’ll stand in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene looking on the only things that are manmade in heaven, the wounds of Jesus that procured for us mercy and forgiveness. On that day we shall proclaim in the words of Thomas: “My Lord and my God!”

Shouldn’t we who are recipients of such boundless mercy be disposed to show mercy to others? If Christ forgives us in a spirit of mercy shall we not also forgive those who trespass against us? This is the power and mission of Easter. It is God’s power in us. It is our mission. For all who have freely received are asked to freely give.

Easter Mercy is the great wonder and joy of knowing Christ. It is this Christ who with infinite mercy invites all who are burdened heavily with sin and despair to come to him. In the shadow of the steeple on our churches reside many who are dead in trespasses and sins. Let us invite them into the protection and shadow of Easter Mercy. Let us say to them and to each other: Fear not, He who is the first and the last lives now and forevermore. He died, and behold He Lives and holds in his hands the keys of Death and Hades. And his mercy is without end!

Blessed be the name of the Lord!   Amen.

Readings for this Sunday

Too Good To Be True?

By Dennis S. Hankins

But their story seemed like nonsense, and they did not believe them.
(Luke 24:11)

All of us have experienced unbelievable moments in our lives. Perhaps you’ve even said, “I just can’t believe it! It’s just too good to be true!” Maybe it was the gift of your first car. Maybe Dad gave you the keys to his car without you asking when you were about to have your first date. Or maybe you were given an opportunity that until that moment could only be a dream. It’s really fun and joyous when dreams come true; when unbelievable events happen and we experience a boat load of happiness.

The very first Easter was initially an apprehensive time for the disciples. We could even say it was a time of unbelief and darkness. At least it was at first. Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and several unnamed women exclaimed, “He is risen!” Many of the eleven simply did not believe their exciting news. To them it was nonsense.

Before we take them to task let’s remember that betrayal and denial and accusation and finally the crucifixion preceded that first Easter morning. Skepticism was thick in the air and fear ruled the hearts of those who were closest to Jesus. When Thomas was told, “We have seen the Lord,” he responded with a heart filled with incredulity, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.” I think we are supposed to hear that with all caps, “I WILL NOT BELIEVE!”

For Thomas it simply was just too good to be true. But Jesus took Thomas at his word, because eight days later Jesus came again to the house where his disciples were staying. He didn’t knock. He didn’t use the door at all. He simply stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” And then he invited Thomas to touch him. Thomas heard Jesus say, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing.” Thomas replied, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus asked, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

How faithful and loving Jesus is. He would not leave Thomas in his doubts nor would he allow Peter to live forever wounded in his denial of the Lord. You see, Easter is for all of us. It is for all who hurt; for all who are in pain; for all who suffer and doubt and struggle to believe. Easter is for all who are wounded in heart and mind; it is for all who live marked with the scars of violence and terror. Easter is for all who battle with the powers of addiction to alcohol and drugs and pornography.

Easter is also for those today who will lose their battle with some dreaded disease. It is for that mom and dad who will bury their child today. Easter is for a faithful wife who is dying with a disease given to her by an unfaithful husband. Easter is for all those who died in the senseless violence against innocent children and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Easter is for all those who are left to grieve in that precious community. Easter is for all who endure genocide, and wars, and rumors of wars, and famine and disease, drought, and destruction.

Easter is good and true and powerful! In the name of the risen Jesus you and I can clothe the naked, and feed the hungry, and give water to the thirsty. In Christ’s name we can comfort the hurting and console the dying. In the name of Jesus we can pray for the sick and suffering. Through Christ we can heal broken hearts and preach the Good News to the poor.

It’s important to remember that Jesus did not buy a grave. He did not pick out a sepulcher for his burial. There was no need to make such arrangements. Joseph of Arimathea loaned him his tomb. Jesus borrowed a tomb because he knew he wouldn’t need it very long. Christ lives! And because he lives every man and woman and boy and girl is invited to claim for themselves his love, his strength, his mercy and forgiveness.

Too good to be true? Peter wrote some years later after the Resurrection of our Lord and said, “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” Yes my friend, it’s true. It’s all true. It’s all very powerful and very good and very true!

Now may the God of peace
who brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep,
by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you
with everything good that you may do his will,
working in you that which is pleasing in his sight,
through Jesus Christ;
to whom be glory for ever and ever.  Amen.
(Hebrews 13:20-21)

Readings for this Sunday