March 27, 2016 Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord Acts 10: 34, 37-43; Colossians 3: 1-4; John 20: 1-9 I am reflecting on the readings today in light of my nephew’s cancer returning and he and his wife deciding not to go through another excruciating pain filled chemo treatment. His first treatment coupled with the constant vomiting left him bereft of strength. He is in hospice now and we are all praying and filling them with our love. In reviewing the readings,, I am struck at the people involved each of whom describes how they are ‘witnesses’ to Jesus. In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Luke’s narrative centers on the conversion of Cornelius, a Gentile, a Roman centurion who is described as a “devout and God-fearing along with his whole household, who used to give alms generously to the Jewish people and prays to God constantly.” Cornelius received a vision from an angel and told him to: “…send some men to Joppa and summon one Simon who is called Peter.” Peter the next day was praying when he had a vision of a large sheet filled with animals, reptiles and birds and he was told to Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.” Peter objected since he always kept the dietary laws of his Jewish faith. He was told; What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.” Peter was confused, then he was told that three men had arrived from Cornelius. So Peter went and had a long meeting where Cornelius explained his own vision. This is where todays reading starts. After this passage, Luke writes of Cornelius’ baptism. I’m reflecting on the people chosen to be witnesses in this reading: Luke, the author of Acts and the third Gospel was from Antioch, Syria in the Roman Empire. Paul refers to him as a physician and also one of his followers. Since the early years, the church regarded Luke as a saint and it is believed that he died a martyr. Luke spends a lengthy time on Cornelius admiring his life examples and how he led his own household to be people of prayer. Luke makes an effort to show how Cornelius witnessed, showed love and shared his faith. How well am I witnessing God’s love and how am I sharing my faith? Paul witnessed consistently and completely yet he never met Jesus. Paul is sharing today how each follower must be concerned with the things of heaven. Our life is about the call to be with Jesus in heaven. Jesus has brought salvation to every person by His resurrection. Our lives must be sustained and driven by our faith in Jesus. Each person is to be a witness…how…by the gifts each of us has been blessed with and by our love, in imitation of Jesus, to everyone. Then we have the witnesses in the gospel scene: Mary of Magdala, Peter and the ‘beloved disciple’. Who would ever think that this group of people would be highlighted this Easter for us. We have a Roman centurion, a gentile, a person who did not believe in the Jewish God yet he was a person of prayer. What was his prayer life like…it doesn’t matter, he was chosen. We have Peter, the one who denied knowing Jesus and following Him. Paul who was the first persecutor of the Christians and was the ‘one in charge’ at the first Christian to be martyred, Stephen. Then Paul was called to be a follower and witnesses. Mary Magdalen, a woman, not looked upon with any sort of ‘dignity’ by the people of her time. These people were chosen and called to be witnesses. They came to believe and I too have come to believe. And you who are reading this have come to believe. It was God’s plan. How blessed we are. I started this by mentioning my nephew. I sent him The Gift of Peace by Joseph Cardinal Bernardin. This tremendous witness shared his spiritual journey searching for inner peace as he faced pancreatic cancer. This is from the chapter entitled, Meditation, Suffering in Communion with the Lord. “Throughout my ministry I have focused on Jesus—his message, the events of His life, His relationship to the world. Now more than ever I focus on His cross, His suffering, which was not only real but also redemptive and life-giving. Jesus was human. He felt pain as we do. And in many ways He experience pain and suffering more deeply than we will ever know. Yet in the face of it all, He transformed human suffering into something greater: an ability to walk with the afflicted and to empty Himself so that His loving Father could work more fully through Him. As we look upon the cross and recall the specific ways by which people share in its mystery, there are many perspectives to be considered. I will highlight only one: The essential mystery of the cross is that it gives rise to a certain kind of loneliness, an inability to see clearly how things are unfolding, an inability to see that, ultimately, all things will work for our good, and that we are, indeed, not alone. This sense of being abandoned, this extreme experienced of loneliness, is evident in Jesus cry, ‘‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?’ (Matthew 27:46) If the Lord experienced pain and suffering, can we, as His disciples, expect anything less? No! Like Jesus, we too must expect pain. There is, however, a decisive difference between our pain as disciples and that experienced by those who are not the Lord’s disciples. The difference stems from the fact that, as disciples, we suffer in communion with the Lord. And that makes all the difference in the world! Nevertheless, even this communion does not totally extinguish the loneliness, the sense of abandonment, no more than it did for Jesus. Our understanding of suffering—not merely it inevitability but also its purpose and redemptive value—greatly impacts our ministry of presence. As a matter of fact, suffering severely test us in this regard, and the reason is quite simple Whenever we are with people who suffer, it frequently becomes evident that there is very little we can do to help them other than be present to them, walk with them as the Lord walks with us. The reason this is so frustrating is that we like to be ‘fixers’. We want not only to control our own destiny but also that of others So we are frustrated when all we can do for suffering persons is be present to them, pray with them—become, in effect, a silent sign of God’s presence and love. And yet, the ability to offer that kind of prayerful response is the key that unlocks the mystery of suffering. For, in the final analysis, our participation in the pascal mystery—in the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus—brings a certain freedom: the freedom to let go, to surrender ourselves to the living God, to place ourselves completely in His hands, knowing that ultimately He will win out! The more we cling to ourselves and others, the more we try to control our destiny—the more we lose the true sense of our lives, the more we are impacted by the futility of it all. It’s precisely in letting go, in entering into complete union with the Lord, in letting Him take over, that we discover our true selves. It’s in the act of abandonment that we experience redemption, that we find life, peace, and joy in the midst of physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering. This is the lesson we must first learn from Jesus before we can teach it to others. We must let the mystery, the tranquillity, and the purposefulness of Jesus’ suffering become part of our own life before we can become effective instruments in the hands of the Lord for the sake of others. As Christians, if we are to love as Jesus loved, we must first come to terms with suffering. Like Jesus, we simply cannot be cool and detached from our fellow human beings. Our years of living as Christians will be years of suffering for and with other people. Like Jesus, we will love others only if we walk with them in the valley of darkness, the dark valley of sickness, the dark valley of moral dilemmas, the dark valley of oppressive structures and diminished rights.”(pp 45-49) As followers and witnesses of Christ, we are loved. Cardinal Bernadine wrote these words a week before his passing, “Ultimately, we will all be together, intimately united with the Lord Jesus whom we love so much.” “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.” Today’s psalm response (Psalm 118:24)