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Homily, 3rd Sunday Easter, 2024-04-14 (year B) ●● 2024 March 31 ●●Acts 3:13-15, 17-19 ● ● Psalm __ ● 1 John2:1-5a ● ●Luke 24:35-48● ● ●
[__01__] Have you
ever found it difficult to wake up in the morning?
In my case, I sometimes prefer to turn OFF my alarm
or press MUTE or SNOOZE rather than stand up. I bring this up because the Easter
resurrection appearances of our Savior are frequently experienced as wake up
calls to the disciples and to you and me.
Waking up is a PRACTICAL reality.
Here
is a practical example.
I was taking a
trip out of town and needing to connect with an airplane flight at 7 am from
Newark Airport. Counting chronologically backwards, be at airport by 5 am, wake
up by 4 … and I did none of the above successfully.
My brother offered
to pick me up here and called my phone when he arrived. Even this I did not
hear. He went home. I took a later flight. My bad. He forgave me.
How could I have
avoided this – I could have avoided this PRACTICALLY by going to sleep more
punctually (earlier) and less anxiously. More on the solution later… part of
the key of waking up and being alert is being rested!
It’s
hard to wake up when you feel tired.
[__02__] During
Jesus’s Passion and Death …the disciples showed signs of HIGH exhaustion and
LOW alertness
Recall
what took place the night before Good Friday when Jesus goes to pray in the Garden
of Gethsemane. He tells his disciples. “My soul is sorrowful even to death.
Remain here and keep watch with me.” I.e., don’t close your eyes. Don’t press
SNOOZE.
Then
he goes and prays for his “holy hour”, the famous words, “Father if it is your will,
take this cup from me…”
After
his prayer, Jesus returned seeing them
asleep, “So you could not keep watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray that
you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” (selected
verses: Matthew 26:36-41)
The disciples were exhausted, not rested.
Waking up is also a COMMUNAL nad RELATIONSHIP
reality.
The Resurrection
appearances are wake up calls not only so that they can wake up as individuals
– but also wake up “together” as a community.
[__03__] What are
the moments or seasons when we are moved to – caused to – wake up together?
Our
Christmas tradition in my house as a family – growing up – was that we opened
all of our presents on Christmas morning. So we woke up together. Given that I
had younger siblings, as I grew older, I did not want to wake up as early…but
was invited to – required – to do so.
I
was called to be in synch with everyone else and have fond memories even if I
was “forced” to wake up earlier than I intended.
[__04__] This
past Monday April 8 – was a coincidence of scientific and spiritual/Gospel awakening.
There
was a wake up call scientifically and a wake up call spiritually.
This past Monday,
April 8, there was a convergence of scientific and spiritual significance occurred.
Scientifically, it marked the total eclipse of the sun, a phenomenon that
captivated many people worldwide. This event served as a wake-up call,
naturally and scientifically, prompting us to marvel at the world and galaxy
and our place within the universe.
Simultaneously,
spiritually, April 8th commemorated the feast day of the Annunciation on the
Catholic calendar.
The
Annunciation of Jesus being Conceived is a wake-up to our salvation and God’s
mercy.
[__06__] The
Annunication has been celebrated on 25 March, in the belief that the human
beings were created in the “springtime” of Creation (Book of Genesis). March 25 is on or about the 1st
day of Spring.
There
is also the parallel tradtion that human beings – Adam and Eve – fell into sin
and needed redemption on this same day.
Thus, the coming of Jesus and his death must coincided with the creation
and fall of Adam.
I
say all this as a reminder of our own search for God’s light and wisdom and
God’s wake up call.
Each
of us, in our own ways, find ourselves not in God’s orbit and but in our own
self-absorbed orbit!
Jesus
appears individually to his disciples and also invites us into a personal
relationship with him, because he as woken up and arisen first and wishes us to
come with him in a new relationship.
[__07__] What is
the solution to waking up on time?
The
solution to waking up on time is to go to bed on time. I am often guilty of not
going to bed on time.
The
2 go together.
But,
I suggest the desire to “stay up too late” manifests itself in other sinful
ways in our lives –
Do
we have a desire or inclination or to compare ourselves to others?
To
measure our happiness only by material things or monetary value?
Do I
stay up too late because I am nostalgic for or fantasizing about things that
are not actually true?
Am I
living in the darkness of the the past rather than the light of the present?
If
we are going through a tough time such as navigating an illness or caring for
someone who is sick, it is a good to give thanks for the past mercies and
celebrations. At the same time, we are also called to live in the light of the
present to care someone with dignity and honor.
Sometimes
we live in the past because we fear the darkness of a sin or fault from the
past.
Jesus
offers us his mercy, in order to wake us up to reality and also that we can be
forgiven today, in confession.
Isn’t
it true that when we forigive each other, we so not to re-live or re-hash –
re-hashtag – the past but to be alert to
the present.
In
this regard, we are also called open our eyes and ears to his word, to rest and
have pave in his love and thus be recharged in His presence.
Jesus calls us to stay awake! [__end__]
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