I must have heard the radio commercial for California Psychics dozens of times now, often in the car on my way to 11:30 Mass at Loyola, but it still has not lost its power to amuse me. "Celebrate the joy of certainty," the ad urges. Well-trained psychics are standing by to answer your deepest questions! The tag line promise -- "Your first reading is guaranteed to be life-changing or your money back" -- prompts so many questions of my own. How long should we wait until we know our life has changed? What will be the proof of disappointment required to cash in on that promised refund?
No matter the spin in the radio ad, our Lectionary selections from the Gospels and the Book of Acts in this Easter Octave do not disappoint. We are, post-Resurrection, celebrating the joy of certainty that Jesus, as he had promised, has broken the power of death. Grief and despair have been vanquished. The tomb is empty! He lives! Readings this week leap off the page, filled with astonishment, amazement, incredulous joy, burning hearts. Disciples rejoicing at the remnant grave clothes, the deep conversation and breaking of bread with Christ at Emmaus, the healing of the crippled beggar by Peter who jumps for joy at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, the baptizing of 3,000 -- each a certainty of the God with Jesus the Living One, transformed by the power of the Spirit. And life has changed indeed for those fear-bound disciples, bold now in their power to exhort, heal, preach, and teach. Here is the proof beyond all measure. Peter can proclaim with all certainty: "God raised this Jesus from the dead; of this we are witnesses."
Last week my husband Jim and I participated in the annual Good Friday Way of the Cross sponsored by Pax Christi, the Catholic Peace organization. We prayed the Stations, walking the streets of Manhattan from the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza at the United Nations to Times Square and beyond, remembering and repenting of all the ways Christ continues to be crucified in the suffering of his people. It was the question from the first Station -- Jesus is Condemned to Death -- that has continued to shape my pondering and prayer. "Do we live in such a way that the enemies of Jesus would condemn us?" Is my joy, my certainty, my own life-changing belief in the power of the resurrection enough evidence to 'condemn' me?