{"id":7256,"date":"2019-04-28T15:00:17","date_gmt":"2019-04-28T22:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/?p=7256"},"modified":"2019-04-28T06:25:30","modified_gmt":"2019-04-28T13:25:30","slug":"presence-peace-and-purpose-homily-for-the-second-sunday-of-easter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/presence-peace-and-purpose-homily-for-the-second-sunday-of-easter","title":{"rendered":"Presence, Peace, and Purpose: Homily for the Second Sunday of Easter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"In my study at home where I do most of my homily preparation,
\nthere\u2019s a bookshelf where I keep all my books for preaching.
\nand on that same shelf there\u2019s also a photograph,
\na 5×7 glossy of Fr. George Haspedis.
\nSome of you have probably seen the picture.
\nHe\u2019s on a golf green in his shorts and windbreaker,
\nstanding just behind the pin
\nwith a club in his right hand.
\nA finger of his left hand is pointing up to the sky,
\nand he\u2019s looking directly at the camera
\nas if to say, \u201cKeep your focus on what\u2019s above.\u201d<\/p>\n

Either that or he\u2019s celebrating a hole in one,
\nI\u2019m not really sure.<\/p>\n

In any case, I keep that picture on my shelf of homily books
\nas inspiration when I\u2019m preparing to preach.
\nI looked at it a lot this week
\nbecause this is our first Easter without him.<\/p>\n

As I spent time contemplating today\u2019s Gospel of the risen Christ
\nappearing to the disciples,
\nI kept looking at the photo,
\nwondering what Fr. George would say about it.
\nAnd I thought, maybe he\u2019d apply what he called Haspedis\u2019 Rule of Three<\/em>,
\nand talk about the three gifts
\nthat the risen Christ gave to his disciples in that upper room,
\nthe three gifts that he also gives to us.
\nKnowing Fr. George,
\nhe would probably come up with a catchy way
\nfor us to remember them,
\nsomething like this:
\nThe risen Christ gives the disciples three gifts:
\nhis Presence, his Peace, and his Purpose.
\nPresence, Peace, and Purpose.<\/p>\n

And after all, what else does the risen Christ mean but Presence?
\nHe is present to the disciples in the upper room.
\nHe is present to Thomas after he doubts.
\nHe is present to us.
\nThe risen Christ destroys distance.
\nThere is no distance anymore between Christ and the apostles.
\nThere is no distance anymore between Christ and ourselves.
\nTime and geography are irrelevant for Christians.
\nChrist is here.
\nHe is here in the Sacred Scriptures proclaimed in our midst.
\nHe is here in the Blessed Sacrament we are about to receive.
\nAnd he is here at this gathering in the person sitting next to you in the pew.
\nChrist is present.<\/p>\n

Presence is vitally important.
\nI was at a cancer support event a few days ago
\nwhere our daughter-in-law was asked to speak
\nabout her experience as a cancer survivor.
\nShe talked about the importance of family and friends
\nin her battle against breast cancer.
\nIf you\u2019ve ever had cancer or known someone with cancer,
\nyou know that presence makes all the difference.
\nPresence means not having to walk that hard road alone;
\npresence means companionship;
\npresence means love.
\nThat is what the risen Christ gave to the fearful disciples.
\nThat is what the risen Christ gives to us
\nin the midst of our fears and struggles.
\nPresence.<\/p>\n

The risen Christ also brings Peace.
\n\u201cPeace be with you,\u201d he tells his disciples.
\nKnowing Fr. George, he would probably remind us
\nthat peace<\/em> is the translation of the Hebrew word shalom<\/em>,
\na word that means much more than peace.
\nShalom<\/em> is total spiritual wellbeing, harmony with God.
\nThat is the gift of the risen Christ.<\/p>\n

The risen Christ puts us in right relationship with God,
\nreconciles us to the Father and to each other.<\/p>\n

Our lives may be chaos and confusion and conflict,
\nbut we can still be at peace because of the gift of the risen Christ.
\nThe peace of Christ is not dependent on what goes on around us
\nbut on what goes on within us.
\nThe peace of Christ is the calm at the center of the storm of life.<\/p>\n

First responders are trained to be calm in the midst of chaos.
\nThey trust in that training and in their fellow responders.
\nWe can trust in the words of Scripture and in our fellow believers
\nto help us live in the Peace of Christ.<\/p>\n

And finally, the risen Christ gives us Purpose.
\n\u201cAs the Father has sent me,
\nso I send you.\u201d
\nWhat does our life mean?
\nWhy, ultimately, are we here?
\nTo be the Presence of Christ to the world.
\nTo be the Peace of Christ to the world.
\nThis is our Purpose.<\/p>\n

Christ gives us his Presence and his Peace,
\nso that we can give it to others.
\nTo be a Christian is to be sent into a world that desperately needs
\nthat Presence and Peace.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure you all remember the devastating flames
\nthat engulfed the Cathedral of Notre Dame a few weeks ago.
\nSometimes it feels like our world is going up in flames like that.
\nWhen all around us is in flames, we need to be like Father Fournier.
\nFather Fournier is a priest, but he is also a firefighter chaplain.
\nHe is a first responder to emergencies both of the soul and of the soil.
\nA firefighter chaplain ministers to the other first responders,
\nto the victims of the fire and other disasters, and to their families.
\nIn other words, he is there, he is the presence of Christ
\nwhen people need that presence the most.<\/p>\n

When Father Fournier responded to the fire at Notre Dame,
\nhis emergency training kicked in, and he remained calm.
\nHe was peace.<\/p>\n

His training as a priest also kicked in,
\nand it was he who saved the Crown of Thorns
\nand the Blessed Sacrament from the burning cathedral.
\nAs the fire began to spread, Father Fournier remained at peace,
\nso much so that he had the presence of mind
\nto bless the church with the Eucharist.
\n\u201cHere I am,\u201d he said in an interview<\/a>,
\n\u201ccompletely alone in the [nave of the] cathedral,
\nin the middle of burning debris falling down from the ceiling,
\nI call upon Jesus to help us save His home\u2026.
\nI did not want to simply leave with Jesus:
\nI took the opportunity
\nto perform a Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fr. Fournier was there, he remained calm,
\nand he did what he was called to do.
\nHe had Presence, Peace, and Purpose.<\/p>\n

These are the gifts of this Divine Mercy Sunday.
\nIn the middle of burning debris falling down upon our world\u2014
\nwhether it\u2019s cancer, addiction, poverty, sin\u2014
\nwhatever is causing our world to go up in flames,
\nwe can call upon Jesus to help us save this home.
\nWe can be present to a world in need,
\nand bring it peace,
\nliving out the purpose for which we were sent by the risen Christ.<\/p>\n

And just as Notre Dame Cathedral will surely rise again,
\nso too we will rise with Christ to new life.<\/p>\n

I know this homily isn\u2019t as long as Fr. George\u2019s would have been.
\nIf here were here he\u2019d probably look at his watch
\nand claim the extra time for his next homily.
\nIf he were preaching he\u2019d probably also have a handout for you to take with you.<\/p>\n

But he doesn\u2019t have to worry about any of that now,
\nand I trust that he\u2019s experiencing what we all hope to experience one day:
\nthe fullness of the Presence, the Peace,
\nand the Purpose of the risen Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my study at home where I do most of my homily preparation, there\u2019s a bookshelf where I keep all my books for preaching. and on that same shelf there\u2019s also a photograph, a 5×7 glossy of Fr. George Haspedis. Some of you have probably seen the picture. He\u2019s 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\u2019s looking directly at the...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Presence, Peace, and Purpose: #Homily for the Second Sunday of Easter","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[349],"tags":[1117,1114,1115,354,1116],"class_list":["post-7256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homily","tag-divine-mercy-sunday","tag-fr-george-haspedis","tag-fr-jean-marc-fournier","tag-gospel-of-john","tag-notre-dame-cathedral"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Notre_Dame_burning.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pOucj-1T2","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7256"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7261,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7256\/revisions\/7261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}