St. Joseph Catholic Church

Gil Bailie has hit the nail on the head with this post:

http://cornerstone-forum.blogspot.com/2010/05/vine-and-branches.html

Soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a dear priest friend of mine made a pilgrimage to Eastern Europe.  On his return, we passed a time discussing his trip.  I asked him what was his greatest impression of the trip, to which he immediately replied: “…the clear eyes of the children.”  I knew, without asking, that he was comparing this phenomena with the dull, cynical eyes of the children of the West.  It gave me great pause then, and it gives me great pause now in this season of Easter – the season of promise and hope. 

How have I (we) contributed to the dullness of their eyes?  Most assuredly, our disregard for the most vulnerable among us, our constant search for material gratification, and our surrender to the relentless assault of secular nihilism  have given them a pessimistic view of our world and a pervasive hopelessness – and eyes that are dull.

Pilate’s question to Jesus forever rings in our ears – “Truth!…What does that mean?”   Have we become so dull-eyed that we can not know truth when we see it?  Or are we afraid to speak it, to ourselves and to our children, or so afraid to loose our comfort that we cannot speak it to ourselves?  Our job as parents (and grandparents) is to live lives in harmony with the Gospel, and pass along what we have received – unambiguously and with great love.  We must teach our children to “…love the sinner, and hate the sin.”  To live lives of virtue and to find their proper place in history – passing on what they have received.

Easter is the time to reflect on the promise and on the hope in the resurrection of Jesus.  It is a time of resolution to live the Gospel of Christ,  to celebrate the hope it brings, and pour out our lives for the good of our children.  It is a time to be “clear-eyed” in our view of our own lives and of our world, and to pass that ”clear-eyedness” on to them.

My first job was in a local grocery store.  I was a “bagger” making 22 cents an hour; longing to be a clerk making 57 cents per hour (remember, this was over half century ago.)  The only thing holding me back was the skill of “making change”.  My boss allowed no margin of error and required that the skill be absolutely “second nature”.  And so I worked diligently and he tested incessantly.  I worked as if my life depended on it.

This Easter Season invites us to make a different kind of change in our lives – a change on which our very lives depend.  In this time of resurrection we are invited to listen to His siren call; putting aside foolishness and facing reality with courage, wisdom and prudence.  It is a time to build our “spiritual skill” in the afterglow of the Lord’s rising from the dead.  It is a time to bath in that afterglow, and in the hope that its promise gives to us.

By the way, for the terminally curious, I did learn to make change and it remains with me to this day.

In the ordination rite for deacons, the ordaining bishop addresses the candidate in the following words: “May the good work, which has begun in you, be brought to its completion in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  What has begun in all of us on Ash Wednesday has in it a vision of completion in our pursuit of the virtuous life – our desire for all that is beautiful and pure and true.  Sadly, our desire and our pursuit may be frustrated by the very freedom that God has given when he created us in His image and likeness.  It is that freedom that allows sloth and self-will to dampen our zeal and crush our intention – UNLESS that freedom has as its goal a sharing in Jesus’ Passion.

During this holy season of Lent, through prayer, fasting and almsgiving, allow your heart and mind to be formed into the very image of Christ.  Let the good work, which has begun in you, be brought to its completion in Christ Jesus our Lord.