I was in Jerusalem a few years ago and I had the privilege to go to the Upper Room where the Last Supper had been.  You were would think there would be an altar and all the visible signs of Christianity.  However, it was an empty room with nothing in it. As I imagined the scene in the Upper Room from Acts,  this empty room captured the moment for me.

            They felt alone, didn’t know what to do next, they knew they were waiting but didn’t know for who or what . So what did they do?  Together with Mary and a few others, they sat in prayer waiting to have the emptiness in their heart filled.  They took that time to stop and enter into a time of prayer and reflection about who they were as the followers of Jesus.  What amazes me is that they just didn’t just come with up their own objectives and plan and just do it.  But, would it be the Body of Christ if they had done it?

            There is a lot to learn from the empty Upper Room.  The very first is that we as a community of faith need to remember whose Church this is; it is not ours.  We  have to remember that Jesus left us the Apostles and their successors to lead and guide us.  As a priest, I promised respect and obedience to the Bishop and to the teachings that have been passed down since Jesus himself walked among us.  The Church can never be built in my image or any human image; it is the Body of Christ who is wounded in a very real way at this moment in history.

            The second thing we learn is that before we do any pastoral program or movement, we must time spend in prayer.  We do not need to be in the same physical space to do this.  Like those in the Upper Room, we need to be committed every day to stop at a certain time and spend some time in God’s presence waiting for guidance; not telling God how to do it.  Mary needs to be in that mix.  What mother would lead her children to harm or disunity?  What mother would not give tenderly care for her children and only want the best for them?  Mary is the model of how to be Church; with gentleness, care, service and putting God’s will before our own.

            The final thing that the empty Upper Room teaches us is that we need to have an empty heart when we approach God in prayer.  To empty ourselves of the need to be right, to have it our own way, of our pride and sinfulness, our anxieties and fears and what ever else we have cluttered the room of our hearts with, is the essential step to being led by the Spirit.

            As we prepare for the Pentecost, let us join with one another like they did in the Upper Room.  May our hearts be one this week and may the Spirit reignite our fire.  At noon everyday this week, let us commit ourselves to stop and pray in silence awaiting the Spirit.   As I have been saying, I pray that the Spirit move us into the Apostolic Church that was in that Upper Room and He will recreate us into the Body of Christ, which is alive and ministering to all in His Name. 

 

Come, Holy Ghost, fill the hearts and minds of Thy faithful servants

 and enkindle in them the fire of Thy Divine love.

Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created.

            Who can we be post PAUSE?  My hope is that we return, not to who we were in March 2020, but we return to the Church that was alive in the Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles in today’s first reading.  The same teachings and structure were there or developing, but the Advocate that Jesus promised ignited them with the power to witness and serve and love.

            I wonder if for many years we have tried to be church on our own, without Jesus leading us.   The Gospel today reminds us that we are not orphans who are alone in this world.  In our baptism and confirmation, we become immersed in an eternal relationship with God.  We have never been  alone.  The early Church knew this.  They were less than a generation away from those who knew Jesus, heard him preach, shared meals with him and witnessed his death and resurrection.  They met  the real Jesus through these men and women who had a deep friendship with Jesus..  The early church continued the relationship; they knew that Jesus was alive and they lived in His Spirit; the divine Spirit of God.  They knew that they were not orphans.

            I have been praying this week asking myself the question:  where has that Spirit gone in my life?  Is the Divine Spirit, the Advocate, alive in our communities?  For myself, I would say yes, to the degree I allow it and try to control it.  Asa community yes, but  I do think we need to allow that Spirit to set us ablaze with a love for Jesus that it spills out from the walls of this building into the world.  I truly believe that our life needs to be a the return to the model of the apostolic church and to their fearless proclamation of Jesus.

            How will know that this will happen?  Again I refer back to the the Jesuit writer John Kavanaugh, SJ, who would ask these questions of someone who had left our church for another church or was trying to deepen their relationship with Christ and was wondering if they were on the right path:

 

            “To each person I put the following questions:
Does it lead you into deeper union with Christ?

                        Does it foster a life of greater virtue and service?

                         Does it increase your faith, hope, and charity?

 

An honest reflection on these questions will help us see how we need to grow as individuals and communities  of faith.  The non negotiable will be a radical commitment to the person of Jesus and a living relationship with him.   We are not orphans who have to earn God’s love; we are not the slaves of Christ, but his friends empowered to do his work.  This is His commandment.

            I invite you to an honest reflection of Fr Kavanaugh’s questions; first as an individual and the as the litmus test of whatever faith community you belong to.  Even this virtual community that is developing can be have the same fire of the community of Acts; we just need to give our lives over to Jesus.

            Let us begin to pray for the grace to open our hearts for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God.  May the Advocate recreate us, not in the pre PAUSE church, but into the early community that preached fearlessly and was on fire with Jesus.  Jesus, our brother and friend, will do it, if we get out of his way.

                                                                                       What holds a church up?  If your instant response was the walls, then we need to reread the letter from Peter.  These words were spoken to the newly baptized and they were told who they now were.  They were the living stones of the church.  it was the community that made up the church because in most cases they worshiped in the homes of other Christians, at times in the catacombs, or where ever they could.  I would never say that our sacred buildings are not important but the one thing I have learned in the last two months that without people in these pews and within this concrete walls, then it is an empty building except for the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.

            What I have learned is that we as a church continue to prosper not confined by concrete walls..  In our area, masks have been made, the hungry and the poor have been fed, we have taken care of each other, we have prayed together, we have remade our homes into the domestic church, parents have taken over the faith formation of their youth with Maureen’s help, and I have seen the same thing happen through out the diocese.  It is my firm belief that the grace that has been released into our Catholic communities has been a wake up call to not be confined by the concrete walls, the boundaries of a parish, or own by our own fear of change.  We worship on Sundays with people from St Marys and St John/St Joseph, people in Colonie, people in Greenwich, in Lake George, Virginia and others from out of state.

            Isn’t this what it means to the Catholic Church?  To be the universal community that, like Stephen and the first deacons, who serve the most vulnerable in our time. We exist to be living stones of Christ’s Kingdom, not walled in out of fear or anxiety, but men and women who trust more in God than money or power.  We exist to be a living community not confined by human boundaries, but men and women who serve every person no matter who they are.  We are, like the early deacons, to be the voice of the voiceless and disenfranchised.  The deacons are first and foremost ministers of service who lead us into getting our hands dirty and smell the sheep.  The deacon embodies the call to service that in mandated by baptism.  They are a challenge to the priests and bishops to not be CEO’s but servants.  At the ordination of a Maronite deacon, I heard Bishop Gregory say that the diaconate is the foundation of the priesthood and the episcopacy.

            As I look beyond the gradual reopening of our communities and our churches, my fear is that we will try to go back to hiding behind the concrete walls of a fear to change.  Our focus must be on the promise of Jesus in the Gospel:  “in my Father’s house are many mansions,” not built of stones and concrete but the love that Jesus showed us on the Cross and opened for us by His resurrection.  Now is not the time to hide, now is the time to trust and move led by Spirit of the God that we can trust.

Fr John F. Kavanaugh, a Jesuit Scripture scholar once wrote:  “I once heard a description of Middle Eastern shepherding practices that ties these two images together. The sheepfold, especially one unattached to a larger settlement or dwelling, is a circular wall of stones, topped by barriers of briar. There is a small opening for the sheep to pass through. Once they are all in, instead of closing a hinged gate, the shepherd simply lies across the opening, so that nothing or no one can get through without going over his body first, without confronting or even killing him.”

             At this current moment in history, we need to know that the Good Shepherd is here protecting and caring for us his sheep.  We are walking in a dark valley of fear and worry, but we need to have the faith that he is with us with his rod and staff to comfort us.  He brings us to the table of comfort when we are need peace in our hearts and he is near us when we are feeling we have had enough.   The Good Shepherd has gathered us into the flock of the Church and is at the gate protecting and caring for us.  Our God died to show us that even death and sin could not harm the Good Shepherd and he rose again to show us, his sheep, that suffering and pain is turned into joy.

            So often, we run away from the shepherd not realizing that he is trying to protect us.  We try to find our safety in things and trying to do it all alone.  The reality is that we are not alone and we do not to do it all alone.  Sheep are dependent on the shepherd for food, protection, safety and love.  We need to be as dependent on our Good Shepherd who gave us life for us. 

            Obviously, the sheepfold is the Church and the gateway is baptism.  So often, baptism is seen as something to be done.  The sacrament of baptism is the entry way into the shepherd’s flock and the grace that flows from it is for a lifetime, not just for one day.  Our life in the sheepfold is with one another, fed by the Sacraments and grace, following the Shepherd in the pasture of life and knowing his gently care and protection every step of the way.  Even when we stray, his staff gently pulls us back into the fold, unless we run away.  Even then, the Shepherd will continue to look for us, call us by name, and keep looking.  Unfortunately for some, they prefer to stay hidden walking alone outside the sheepfold; but, some allow themselves to be found and the Shepherd is filled with joy at their return.

            My brothers and sisters, the work of the Shepherd is never done because he is always taking of us his sheep.  We never need to worry that we are alone because we never are.  We never need to worry that we are not safe because the Shepherd in laying at the door of the sheepfold keeping us safe. He anoints the wounds of our sins with the oil of forgiveness and healing.  He sets the table of the Eucharist before us to feed us every step of the way to the eternal pastures of heaven.

            The Good Shepherd is protecting us right now, even in the middle of this pandemic and uncertainty.  As the sheep of His fold, his love and grace are with in no matter what.  Let us entrust ourselves to him right now knowing the he will take care of us and protect us all the days of our life.

            I  have been reflecting a lot the last few weeks on this very familiar Gospel.  One thing that keeps striking me is that they didn’t recognize Jesus.  Neither did Mary of Magdala in John’s Gospel.  Neither did the apostles in last weeks account and neither did Thomas.  I cant help but keep asking myself; would I?  I know what I would look for and I have an idea in my head what Jesus should act like; but is that really him?  Often, we do try to keep Jesus in a safe box with well defined parameters so we keep control over him (or at least the illusion of control).  The reality is that as hard as we try to “tame” Jesus; we can’t.

            So what do we do?  Like the two on the road to Emmaus, we open our hearts to hear him and become a disciple or as the dictionary says:”to be a learner”.  Jesus is the one who will open our ears to the Scripture and to his presence in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. There is another element that can be over looked.  Once our hearts begin to recognize him, we need to ask him into our lives.  The two on the road asked him to remain with them in the inn.  Being a disciple is to ask Jesus to remain in our hearts and our lives every single day.  This is the fundamental meaning of prayer.  It is not as much about asking for something; it is an invitation to God to come into our hearts and teach us how to live.  Prayer is falling in love with God and opening our hearts to him.

            Just like any relationship, we need to get to know each other.  For God, this is easy: we are made in his likeness.  We do not always know God, like the apostles.  The best way is to learn how to pray with the Sacred Scripture and let God teach us who he is. We pray with the Scriptures when we take a passage and just ask God to teach us by it.  It is always good to start with the Gospels and let Jesus teach us how to be his disciples and friends.  This is takes a life time.  Just like any student, we have to conquer our own stubbornness and resistance and open up our minds and hearts to God.  There is no magic formula or “correct” way to pray; it takes a lifetime to let God love us in prayer.

            As I look forward to who we can be after things open up, my prayer is that we grow in this way.  If we allow God to be the foundation of our lives, then even when things like this happen again, we wont need to be afraid.  We will know God is with us.  We maybe walking on the road to Emmaus right now and being forced to find God in the Sacred Scriptures and asking Jesus to come into your hearts with a spiritual communion. My hope is that these days will lead us into a deeper appreciation of the gift of the Mass and the Eucharist.   It is my prayer that by opening our hearts to Christ now, we will recognize him in the “breaking of the bread”.  These are things that can lead us into service and mission, but our service and mission can lead us into them too.  There is no “correct way”.    

            May this week be the week that we ask Jesus for the gift to recognize him in prayer, the Word, the Sacrament of the Eucharist and in our service.  May our hearts burn within us with God’s love.