Fifth Sunday of Easter

 Lectionary: 54

They strengthened the spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith...

"This is how all will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.”

 O ur faith in God is tested, sorely tried, and proven by our love for one another. Persecutions are dreadful things; they are terrifying like aerial bombing and kamikaze drone attacks. But persecutions and bombings often strengthen a people's resolve, rather than weaken them; but their internal quarreling demoralizes them, and petty disputes destroy them.

Saint Luke tells us in today’s first reading that Saint Paul and Barnabas strengthened the spirits of the disciples in Derbe. They exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.”

We practice perseverance in faith by loving one another, especially when the times are good and there is little real hardship like persecution or martyrdom. Sometimes that means overlooking foolishness; sometimes it means urging loved ones to be more considerate. It always means a deep respect and practical affection for one another. It means humor and kidding without malice or – what they call microaggressions – nasty little suggestions that are masked as humor but feel like insults. 

Sometimes perseverance in faith means diving into difficult discussions and insisting that we finish this conversation and resolve this issue. Sometimes it means learning to live with something that seems both unreasonable and impossible. 

Everyone who practices the Love of God has many stories of the sacrifices they have made for the love of their spouses, children, and parents; as well as for the love of friends, neighbors, strangers, fellow Catholics, fellow Christians, and their enemies. Sacrifice is what we do, often with neither thanks nor recognition. As Jesus says, "This is how you will know that you are my disciples."

This is why we come together each week to attend and celebrate the Mass. We call it the "Sacrifice of the Mass," and we insist that the ritual is more than a remembering or reenactment of the Lord's death and resurrection. It is a sacrifice, an act making holy our time, energies, and resources, as we enter the Lord's passion; as we eat his body and drink his blood, he gathers us into his own body. We become his body, as he is ours, and we die and rise, and are sacrificed with him.

This sacrifice is sweet and delightful for us; it is the heart and core of our life as individuals and as God's people. We cannot go a week without it! We do not want to imagine life without it. Whether the Mass is poorly recited or gloriously celebrated; whether it's quiet or noisy; well-planned or haphazard, its purpose never changes for we do this in memory of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. 

This weekly sacrifice, of course, begins with our daily prayers. If we're not praying daily, we will find little satisfaction in the Mass for it must be the most personal prayer of our week. Whether we're alone or with others, Catholics always pray in union with Mary, the saints and martyrs, and the angels in heaven.

But if anyone habitually misses Sunday Mass, their daily prayers become aimless and unfocused. They are only the pathetic moaning and whining of lost souls; they are not the prayers of the whole Church. 

During the COVID epidemic, when no one was permitted to be with me in the VA hospital chapel, I had to celebrate the Mass alone. I often reminded myself that the saints, martyrs, and angels; and our dear Mother Mary, along with my father and mother, all my ancestors, and deceased friars whom I knew and loved -- we were all there in that quiet chapel. I could not have endured the plague as well as I did without the Real Presence of the Church. 

COVID reminded all of us how dear the Mass is, and that watching it on YouTube or other social media -- or worse, a taped recording of a past event – neither satisfies nor feeds us. Social media is entertainment, not communion; we might as well warm up a bowl of sawdust and water, with a desert of mudpies, and pretend they’re food. 

But we don’t come to Mass to be fed; we’re not religious consumers or cafeteria Catholics. We are here because we love the Lord and willingly make sacrifices with him, through him, and for him! We're here because the world still needs, expects and wants us to be here – whether they know it or not, like it or not. 

And finally, the Mass and the Lord God both remind us that the World – the big, bad ugly world – deserves our sacrificial prayers and our sacrificial life. 

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. 

For God did not send his Son into the world  – nor did he send us into the world – to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

Our prayers, sacrifices, and dedication for the good of our friends and families, for our neighbors and country, for the planet, in union with Jesus – are the least we can do!