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May 1, 2017This past Sunday, as the “neophytes” of St. Joseph’s gathered to reflect on celebrating the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil, they talked about those rare moments in life when you are aware of the very presence of the Holy Spirit. They spoke of the magical feeling in the Church as they were received into the Catholic faith, a feeling they experienced again as they saw young children receiving First Eucharist at Mass this week. They shared a new feeling of belonging and the tremendous sense of welcoming that had been given to them by our community. You could say they now know themselves as one of a precious flock.
This coming Sunday is Good Shepherd Sunday, part of our continuing celebration of Easter and of ourselves as the community of the baptized. In our readings this weekend, we will hear in the Acts of the Apostles how Peter exhorted all to be baptized as a way of saving themselves from the corrupt generation that had executed our Lord and Savior on the Cross. In the second reading, in the First Letter of Peter, we are invited to reflect on how Jesus suffered for us so that now we all may count ourselves among his beloved flock. And in the Gospel, Jesus tells us that, like sheep, we are to follow the voice of our shepherd.
Who are the good shepherds of your life who lead you to THE Good Shepherd, Christ Jesus? Like the recently baptized adults and youth of our parish, each of us has people in our lives whose voices help lead us back when we go astray. Often these are people in our own families or a soul friend or a priest.
On the Tuesday of Easter week, like our neophytes, I had a magical experience of holiness, spending the day with our pastor Father Jim Schwartz and Father Tom Rosica, CSB, at the Salt and Light Catholic Media studios in Toronto. Besides seeing editors at work on documentaries and Catholic news programming that will be viewed around the world, we had a tour of many treasures from our recent Popes. One especially memorable item was a chair that Pope John Paul II prayed in for three hours every morning while on retreat at Strawberry Island before World Youth Day in 2002, now used as the presider’s chair in the Salt and Light chapel where we celebrated Eucharist with the staff. As the two priests talked throughout the day, they found more and more people, especially other priests and religious sisters, who they knew in common and delighted in sharing their memories and experiences. Listening to their voices was indeed a sacred moment.
This coming week, the St. Joseph’s flock welcomes all to come and hear the voice of Father Rosica as he joins us for a three-night reflection on Experiencing Resurrection in our lives. He will break open and unpack the four Gospel accounts of our Risen Lord. Recently he wrote: “One doesn’t sit at a computer and tap out ‘Jesus is Risen.’ It has to be performed and enacted. If the Resurrection were meant to be a historically verifiable occurrence, God wouldn't have performed it in the dark without eyewitnesses. Resurrection was an event transacted between God the Father and God the Son by the power of God the Holy Spirit. Not a single Gospel tells us how it happened. We don’t know what he looked like when he was no longer dead, whether he burst the tomb in glory or came out like Lazarus, slowly unwrapping his shroud and squinting with wonder against the dawn of Easter morning in a garden in Jerusalem.”
Join us in Church on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, 7:00-8:30PM, as Father Rosica leads us into a deepening exploration of what the Resurrection experience means for us in our lives today. Register online.
