Sunday, May 2, 2010 Fr. Will Lowery

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Before Mass I met a lady and she said she had just read a very, very funny joke. So I said, “Well how does it go so I can tell it this morning?” She said, “I forgot it.” Forgot how it goes so no funny joke but I’ve go two good stories.

My brothers and sisters in Christ:

There is an Irish legend about the time when kings ruled Ireland. The reigning king had no children to succeed him on the throne. Messengers posted signs in every town and village inviting qualified young men to apply for an interview with the king. Two qualifications were needed. A deep love for God and love for neighbor. The young man around whom the legend centers saw one of the signs that had been placed on the highways. And he had the qualifications and wanted to apply for the interview but he was so poor, had no decent clothes, no money to buy provisions for the journey to and from the castle. So he decided to beg and received sufficient alms to travel and set out for the journey. He traveled a month and saw the castle high on the hill. He also caught sight of a poor old beggar on the side of the road. The beggar held out his hands and pleaded for help. “I’m hungry and cold, could you give me something to wear and to eat.” The young man was moved by the sight of the beggar. He stripped off his warm clothes and exchanged them for a tattered old coat from the beggar. He gave him most of his provisions and then walked on to the castle in tattered clothes without food for a return trip. He arrived at the castle met by guards and let to the visitors area. Then there was a long wait. Finally he was let in to meet the king. He bowed before the throne, looked up and saw the king. “You were the beggar beside the road weren’t you?” “That’s right.” “Why? Why did you do that?” He said, “I had to find out if you really did love God and love your neighbor.”

Now this is a fictitious story but it reminds us all that we will be judged at the end of life on how well we serve Christ in the least of our brothers and sisters.

Now that’s the first story for us to reflect upon this week.

The second was a story of two brothers. Time before time when the world was young two brothers shared a field and a mill. And each night dividing evenly the grain that they had ground together during the day. One brother lived alone. The other had a wife and a large family. Now the single brother thought to himself one day, it isn’t really fair that we divide the grain evenly. I have only myself to care for but my brother has many children to feed. So each night he secretly took some of his grain to his brother’s granary to see that he always had enough.

But the married brother said to himself one day. It isn’t really fair that we divide the grain evenly. I have children to provide for me in my old age but my brother has no one. What will he do when he is old? So every night he secretly took some of his grain to his brother’s granary and as a result both of them always found their supply of grain mysteriously replenished.

Then one night they met each other half way between their two houses and suddenly realized what had been happening and they embraced each other in love.

The story is that God witnessed their meeting and proclaimed, “This is a holy place, a place of love, and here it is that My temple shall be built.” And so it was. The holy place where God is made known to people is the place where human beings discover each other in love.

My brothers and sisters in Christ:

With those two stories is a background for our reflection today. We remember Christ at the Last Supper, how He washed the feet of His apostles and gave them a new commandment. That they love one another as He had loved them. And He said, “It is by this that you are My disciples if you have love one for another.”

The early Christians understood what Jesus taught them. They lived together in love. And the pagans in the area who saw them in their communities of love were so impressed that they wanted to join up, and they too became followers of Christ, because of the example of the communities of love that Christ had formed. “See how they love one another” they would say. A characteristic mark of the early Christians was this love one for the other. The Lord as a result of that called others to be part of the Church.

And we know the story of St. John who wrote our gospel this morning. In his last years, when he was very, very old the only sermon he ever preached was, “My children, love one another.”

St. Augustine, in one of his writings asked a question, “What is love?” And his response was, “It’s eyes to see the needs of others, it’s ears to hear the cries of the poor, it’s hands to help those who need help, it’s feet to hasten to the poor and the neglected, it’s a heart to love.”

There was a Siberian concentration camp during the wartime. There was a sign found in one of those camps that read like this:

I sought my God, my God alluded me.

I sought myself, myself I could not see.

I sought my brother and sister and found all three.

So in conclusion, Christ as given us this new commandment but he’s also given us the Eucharist to make us a community of love, to make us one with Him. Every time we receive Communion the priest says, “The body of Christ.” And we answer, “Amen.”

St. Augustine said, “We are the body of Christ.” Say “Amen” to that.

Amen.

So today we ask the Blessed Mother to help us always appreciate this gift of the Eucharist, this new commandment that Christ has given us to live in the loving relationships with one another and make it our commandment and knowing that the test on the judgement day will be how we have treated one another.

To today we thank the Lord for His gospel. We reflect on it this coming week. We find how we can be more helpful to one another and pray that we will always follow Christ’s invitation to love our brothers and sisters as He has loved us.