Homily for the Week of May 18, 2014

The Fifth Sunday in Easter, 2014

Acts 6:1-7:  Psalm 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19:1 Peter 2:4-9: John 14:1-12

         With the exception of Native Americans all of us are descendants of ancestors born in a foreign country. Most of you know that St. James Church began about 160 years ago and was built by Irish immigrants who came to Cadyville to avoid starvation. In Ireland, in the 1800s, many husbands and fathers decided that to help their families they had to travel to America to find work. The wife and children would often stay in Ireland. Often before leaving Ireland the family held a wake, the type of gathering that is held the night before a funeral. They gathered to say goodbye to someone they believed they might never see again.   When in the United States these husbands and fathers got a job.  Here our country they spent very little money and each month would sent some money back to their wife and family in Ireland.

        

         And finally, after saving enough money the wife and children would come. I remember a man telling me the story of his great grandfather who did this. He had saved enough money to buy a home. When his wife arrived at the new home with running water, gas lights a bathroom and inside heating he asked his wife: Isn't this worth the wait? His wife replied: You were worth the wait.

         Like this Irish man Jesus is about to leave his close friends. Leaving those we know and love makes us lonely or even hopeless. And it is especially difficult if we do not know when we will see them again, or ever see them. Thomas, one of those friends of Jesus, wants to go with Jesus, but he does not know the way.  Jesus did not leave a road map. Jesus has been preparing the disciples for His departure. Jesus has been packing for quite a while, but his close friends never seemed to notice it. What would they do once Jesus is gone?

         Our First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles is the story of the early church struggling to survive.  Jesus did not leave any instructions what to do when he was gone other than to pray and and join together.  Today’s first reading shows that disagreements did exist within the early Christian community. The first Christians generally fell into two groups: those who spoke Aramaic and viewed themselves as being pure Jewish, and the Hellenists, Jews who had lived outside of Jerusalem for generations and now spoke Greek rather than Aramaic. One of the more important decisions regarded the language they would use at prayer and at Mass?  They decided to use Greek. The same disagreement existed for centuries when the language of Mass was Latin and about 60 years ago it was changed to  the language spoken by the citizens.

         Another problem was the division of labor. The Apostles were being asked to preach and lead the prayers.  They were also asked to take care of widows and orphans.  Whether they wanted it or not, they became administrators and Pastors.  They had to count and distribute the money,  take care of the church buildings and property.  As with any family there were occasional disagreements.  It appears that the Greek Jews who were needy were not getting as much spiritual attention as the Hebrew Jews. There was inequality of distribution. 

         Each of the Apostles was a Bishop.  They had no helpers.  They said: IT IS NOT RIGHT THAT WE SHOULD NEGLECT THE WORD OF GOD TO SERVE AT TABLE.  So they selected seven men of good standing from the group among whom were Stephen, Philip and Nicholas.  Their ministry will be to continue to do the “deeds” of Jesus, the “works” which are the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. They prayed over them and ordained them deacons.   That was the beginning of the Permanent Diaconate in the Catholic Church.  These men were asked to help parishioners who were in need, and to assist the Bishop at Mass by reading from the Bible and preaching.

         During the first 200 years of the Catholic church there were no persons known as priests, yet there were men who did what I as a priest do today. There were only Bishops and Deacons.  Priests came later in order to take over some of the duties of the Bishop.  That is why to this very day a priest is assigned by the Bishop to represent him in the parishes of the Diocese.

         You and I would have never been here today, or been baptized or made our First Communion, or be a spiritual person unless someone had taught us. For most of us that teaching began with our parents. Later we may have had Catholic school teachers or religious education teachers to help our parents with our religious education. In the Catholic Church these are called ministries. The motivation for any form of ministry is a desire to serve others base on the teachings of Jesus that we are called to serve, not to be served.  This gift we all receive at Baptism.    At our Baptism we promised that we would help one another to come to Jesus.  Each one of us does this when we offer support to others by our daily works and acts of kindness and encouragement, by our generous giving of our time, of our talents and of our finances.  Jesus said today: I am the way, the truth and the life. Each of you are the way, the truth and the life when you help others come to Jesus. We can also be troubled by the imperfections of our Catholic Church and its minsters. But Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” He spoke of making room for everyone who would follow Him. This is our task, our hope, our peace and our goal. We must see the Church in all its imperfections and then look past them to see that Jesus lives in the midst of them!