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April 27, 2022“I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears—Ps. 34.”
It seems that every day we hear or read about negative dark news: continuing war for survival in Ukraine; people struggling for life at our borders; tornados, snowstorms and floods that destroy lives and homes; people shooting up neighborhoods and shopping malls. Among all this horror, where is our risen Jesus?
“And this is the verdict that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light.” (John 3) Jesus tells us that he is the light of the world. He beckons us to have faith in him. We have been given so many gifts in Baptism and Confirmation: wisdom, fortitude, love. He generously gives us the grace to live the truth in our daily lives.
Luke describes how the apostles are thrown into jail because of their ardent preaching about the good news of Jesus. Peter and Jesus’ followers discover that their own talents and resources are not sufficient to change their darkness into light. Like them we need to keep our gaze on Jesus in the Eucharist and in our daily living. There is goodness in each of us. Our relationship with God helps us to see that goodness within ourselves and to spread that goodness in our interpersonal relationships. Again, we need to remind ourselves that God loves each one of us unconditionally. ALSO, God loves EVERYONE unconditionally. So, like Jesus, we treat every person with respect, whether we like them or not.
Jesus went out of his way to enemy territory in Samaria to rescue the woman at the well. Jesus dared to speak to a crippled woman in the synagogue. Jesus courageously cured a man on the seashore on the Sabbath. Jesus was human; he didn’t necessarily like these people. But he loved them because they were images of his Father.
Especially during this Easter season, Jesus is lovingly inviting each one of us to look out for and take care of all those in need: physically, socially, and emotionally. Who are they? We have been given wisdom, knowledge, and fortitude in our sacraments, so that we seek out the needy, recognize them, and respond to them. We allow our God to resurrect in us those latent virtues so much a part of us. With Jesuit poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, we pray, “Let Him Easter in us.”
