Sunday
April 16, 2017 / Easter Sunday
Title: “Resumed Innocent: Easter Sunday”
[__01__] Innocence is personal.
We are aware that innocence is a
decision affecting a person – sometimes expressed as a verdict in a courtroom by a judge, a jury, or some
decision maker.
In this regard, innocence is simply
the opposite of – or the absence of – wrongdoing, of guilt.
[__02__] Innocence is personal in the Gospel Good
News.
Jesus – personally -- is innocent, yet
he willing to give himself up, to be punished, to have his life taken, for our
sins.
As we pray, he is the true Lamb who
has taken away the sins of the world. Your sin, my sin.
[__03__] Jesus is innocent, willing to be accused of
our sins, our faults, wrongdoing.
As an example, have you ever been in a
situation in which a bunch of people are rounded up after some bad action, some
misbehavior. This sometimes happens in the
classroom, at school, after school.
And, in such a case, a whole group of
people is accused of some infraction or wrongdoing. And, what sometimes happens
is that the truly innocent are rounded up along with the actually guilty.
In such a situation, the friends or
companions will unite, band together, and accept the punishment, though some of
them were not even there. They do so as part of the friendship, as part of the
relationship.
Maybe you have done this for a friend,
maybe a friend did this for you. Innocence is personal.
[__04__] When
we consider our sinfulness, our brokenness, we may focus on the absence of
Jesus or the absence of God at the time.
Or, when we consider that we may have
been injured, wounded by another person’s sinfulness, we also may be inclined
to focus on the absence of the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit.
However, is it not our belief that
Jesus is there walking with us. Even when we have sinned, he is waiting for us
to turn back to him.
And, if someone has sinned against us,
he also experiences the pain and wants to help us to forgive, to have
compassion, to lay down our lives and bury our resentments. Thus, we also rise
from our sinfulness three days from now, if not sooner. Innocence is personal.
If we need a longer interval, Christ
is with us.
The Good News is that Jesus wants to
help us to move from GUILT to INNOCENCE.
[__05__] Innocence, however, is not one-time verdict by
a judge or jury but a way of life and a relationship with Jesus as our Lord and
Savior.
Innocence is personal.
Also, we might remember that we do not
go on trial in order to prove our innocence to other people. Rather, because we are made innocent and good
through baptism and the sacraments and through God’s image, then we will be
tested and tried by others.
[__06__] Innocence
is a personal gift, a blessing, God in which he wants to re-charge us,
re-energize us.
[__07__] The
Resurrection of Easter Sunday – following the trial – reminds us that our
Savior wants to clear our record, grant us forgiveness and make us innocent
again. He wants to be renewed, restarted …or we might say – resumed innocent.
This recovery of our innocence is both
definitive in his resurrection and it is continuous in our faith in his word.
[__08__] For
example, consider that innocence is a journey for you and for me. A process. A
method. This innocence is founded in our acceptance and faith in Christ.
Innocence is connected to Jesus a
person.
Innocence is personal.
[__09__] Is
this innocence not present in the elderly person in our midst, at our table, in
our neighborhood or school?
We are also invited to see the
innocence of Christ crucified in the elderly person – even the elderly person
who may cause us to be “on trial” - the
vulnerable person, the sick person.
Innocence invites us to defend the
person in his or weakness, vulnerability. Their innocence can transform us,
invite us to greater courage, honest, virtue, strength.
[__10__] Also -
consider, e.g., how a person – a mother, father, grandfather, grandmother – is
changed and transformed by the birth and the innocence of a child.
Even before the child is born, while
the child is in the womb, this innocence is transforming the lives of his or
her mother and father. They are invited themselves to uprightness, honesty,
courage in new ways.
Have we not seen the most frozen
ice-cube of grown-ups be transformed – melted – by the innocence of a child ?
Innocence is personal.
[__11__] When I was about 11, I recall some people --
whom I did not know -- observe that my seven-year old brother had attractive
features, a nice smile or some such compliments that we lavish on young
children. Of course, I had no idea. I
was eleven.
I was being asked to see his gift,
personal innocence in a new way.
[__12__] This
Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday, we are also invited to see the innocence of
those who come to church for baptism, for first holy communion, and for
confirmation this Easter.
And, in two weeks – on April 30 – we
will welcome our children for First Communion.
Their innocence, their faith can
transform our lives.
At Our Lady of Lourdes, we are also
blessed with catechists, religious education teachers, volunteers who nourish
and cherish this innocence in our children helping them to grow closer to our
Lord each day.
Innocence is personal and our team of
volunteers takes a personal interest.
And, we are always seeking new and
interested volunteers to join our team.
You may call or email the rectory or staff or me at any time.
We are blessed with these our own
parish leaders and teachers who teach them that God loves them and God helps
them in their trials and difficulties.
They teach them also that rejection
does not have to be an end of innocence but a beginning.
For this is the good news of the
trial, the proceedings after the courthouse and Calvary about innocence and the
person of Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Man,
“The stone rejected by the builders
has become the cornerstone. By the Lord has this been done; it is wonderful in
our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
(Psalm 118:22-24)
[__fin__]
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