Presence, Peace, and Purpose: Homily for the Second Sunday of Easter

In my study at home where I do most of my homily preparation,
there’s a bookshelf where I keep all my books for preaching.
and on that same shelf there’s also a photograph,
a 5×7 glossy of Fr. George Haspedis.
Some of you have probably seen the picture.
He’s on a golf green in his shorts and windbreaker,
standing just behind the pin
with a club in his right hand.
A finger of his left hand is pointing up to the sky,
and he’s looking directly at the camera
as if to say, “Keep your focus on what’s above.”

Either that or he’s celebrating a hole in one,
I’m not really sure.

In any case, I keep that picture on my shelf of homily books
as inspiration when I’m preparing to preach.
I looked at it a lot this week
because this is our first Easter without him.

As I spent time contemplating today’s Gospel of the risen Christ
appearing to the disciples,
I kept looking at the photo,
wondering what Fr. George would say about it.
And I thought, maybe he’d apply what he called Haspedis’ Rule of Three,
and talk about the three gifts
that the risen Christ gave to his disciples in that upper room,
the three gifts that he also gives to us.
Knowing Fr. George,
he would probably come up with a catchy way
for us to remember them,
something like this:
The risen Christ gives the disciples three gifts:
his Presence, his Peace, and his Purpose.
Presence, Peace, and Purpose.

And after all, what else does the risen Christ mean but Presence?
He is present to the disciples in the upper room.
He is present to Thomas after he doubts.
He is present to us.
The risen Christ destroys distance.
There is no distance anymore between Christ and the apostles.
There is no distance anymore between Christ and ourselves.
Time and geography are irrelevant for Christians.
Christ is here.
He is here in the Sacred Scriptures proclaimed in our midst.
He is here in the Blessed Sacrament we are about to receive.
And he is here at this gathering in the person sitting next to you in the pew.
Christ is present.

Presence is vitally important.
I was at a cancer support event a few days ago
where our daughter-in-law was asked to speak
about her experience as a cancer survivor.
She talked about the importance of family and friends
in her battle against breast cancer.
If you’ve ever had cancer or known someone with cancer,
you know that presence makes all the difference.
Presence means not having to walk that hard road alone;
presence means companionship;
presence means love.
That is what the risen Christ gave to the fearful disciples.
That is what the risen Christ gives to us
in the midst of our fears and struggles.
Presence.

The risen Christ also brings Peace.
“Peace be with you,” he tells his disciples.
Knowing Fr. George, he would probably remind us
that peace is the translation of the Hebrew word shalom,
a word that means much more than peace.
Shalom is total spiritual wellbeing, harmony with God.
That is the gift of the risen Christ.

The risen Christ puts us in right relationship with God,
reconciles us to the Father and to each other.

Our lives may be chaos and confusion and conflict,
but we can still be at peace because of the gift of the risen Christ.
The peace of Christ is not dependent on what goes on around us
but on what goes on within us.
The peace of Christ is the calm at the center of the storm of life.

First responders are trained to be calm in the midst of chaos.
They trust in that training and in their fellow responders.
We can trust in the words of Scripture and in our fellow believers
to help us live in the Peace of Christ.

And finally, the risen Christ gives us Purpose.
“As the Father has sent me,
so I send you.”
What does our life mean?
Why, ultimately, are we here?
To be the Presence of Christ to the world.
To be the Peace of Christ to the world.
This is our Purpose.

Christ gives us his Presence and his Peace,
so that we can give it to others.
To be a Christian is to be sent into a world that desperately needs
that Presence and Peace.

I’m sure you all remember the devastating flames
that engulfed the Cathedral of Notre Dame a few weeks ago.
Sometimes it feels like our world is going up in flames like that.
When all around us is in flames, we need to be like Father Fournier.
Father Fournier is a priest, but he is also a firefighter chaplain.
He is a first responder to emergencies both of the soul and of the soil.
A firefighter chaplain ministers to the other first responders,
to the victims of the fire and other disasters, and to their families.
In other words, he is there, he is the presence of Christ
when people need that presence the most.

When Father Fournier responded to the fire at Notre Dame,
his emergency training kicked in, and he remained calm.
He was peace.

His training as a priest also kicked in,
and it was he who saved the Crown of Thorns
and the Blessed Sacrament from the burning cathedral.
As the fire began to spread, Father Fournier remained at peace,
so much so that he had the presence of mind
to bless the church with the Eucharist.
“Here I am,” he said in an interview,
“completely alone in the [nave of the] cathedral,
in the middle of burning debris falling down from the ceiling,
I call upon Jesus to help us save His home….
I did not want to simply leave with Jesus:
I took the opportunity
to perform a Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament.”

Fr. Fournier was there, he remained calm,
and he did what he was called to do.
He had Presence, Peace, and Purpose.

These are the gifts of this Divine Mercy Sunday.
In the middle of burning debris falling down upon our world—
whether it’s cancer, addiction, poverty, sin—
whatever is causing our world to go up in flames,
we can call upon Jesus to help us save this home.
We can be present to a world in need,
and bring it peace,
living out the purpose for which we were sent by the risen Christ.

And just as Notre Dame Cathedral will surely rise again,
so too we will rise with Christ to new life.

I know this homily isn’t as long as Fr. George’s would have been.
If here were here he’d probably look at his watch
and claim the extra time for his next homily.
If he were preaching he’d probably also have a handout for you to take with you.

But he doesn’t have to worry about any of that now,
and I trust that he’s experiencing what we all hope to experience one day:
the fullness of the Presence, the Peace,
and the Purpose of the risen Christ.