April 3, 2005: The Second Sunday of Easter

Our first lesson from the Acts of the Apostles today is pretty amazing. This short reading — it contains just five sentences — gives a complete summary and model of the Christian life. If today we did the things this passage describes, we’d be well on the road to perfection.

Because we can profit so much from the advice and example in this brief reading, I’d like to talk about it today. But let me encourage you also to a make note of the bible reference — Acts, Chapter 2, Verses 42–47 — so you can look it up again in your bible at home and hopefully spend some time this coming week quietly praying with these few short verses. Ask the Lord to stir your heart so you can live out his Word as he would have you do.

The reading opens, The brethren devoted themselves to the apostles’ instruction and the communal life. In other words, all the baptized listened with docility and love to the Church, and they lived out Jesus’ command to love God and neighbor. They looked upon the Church as a loving Mother — someone interested in their welfare, a source of love and wisdom ready to help. Today, do we see the Church and our bishops this way? Or do we see them as a source of rules and restrictions that seem out of touch with modern life? This is a key question to think about, because chances are good that the people sitting around you today think just as you do!

To continue with the reading, we next hear how the new Christian community committed themselves to celebrating the Eucharist together and praying together. What did they pray for? Basically two things — and this is interesting: first, they prayed to give praise and glory to God. The passage says that a reverent fear overtook them all. This is not a “fear” that the Lord would punish them or anything like that. No, it was a holy fear; they loved God so much that they were afraid that they might do even something small and unintentional that could offend him. Can you imagine such a loving, attentive sensitivity?

The second thing they prayed for was each others’ needs — not for their own needs and desires. Their entire mindset was outward — thinking about other people.

And their prayer for others didn’t stop there. Desires and words — even fervent words — weren’t enough. Acts tells us that these new Christian brothers and sisters put their desires and words into practice. They shared whatever they had, and they didn’t hesitate to give something away if it could be used to help someone else. We can understand how a mother would gladly go hungry if it meant feeding her children; can we begin to comprehend the same sacrifice for a neighbor? Yet this is what Jesus asks of us — and this is exactly how the earliest Christians lived.

If we were to face ourselves honestly and ask why we wouldn’t give the shirt off our back for a brother Christian, I bet it’s out of pure fear — fear that somehow this loss of something we need will make us suffer and somehow diminish our life. So it’s really perplexing that Acts tells us that the people did all these things with exultant and sincere hearts. They were happy and carefree! What incredible faith.

I’d like to call your attention to one final point in this reading — the very last line, which says, Day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. Non-Christians looked at this community of believers. They saw how wonderful everyone was to everyone else. They saw how joyous they all were. And even though they may not have understood a lot about Christianity, they knew one thing for certain: they wanted a piece of it! That power of witness was like a magnet.

I don’t know about you, but this passage stirs me up. It makes me jealous: I long for that kind of Christian life. It makes me a little cynical, too: we pat ourselves on the back for how advanced we are — how far our civilization has come — but don’t you think we’ve really gone backwards?

For me, it all comes down to two fundamental questions. Where did we lose our fervor? And more importantly, how can we get it back?

In part, I believe we’ve grown to take things for granted that we really shouldn’t. Look at the Holy Eucharist, the very center of our faith. 50,000 Catholic priests around the world have the awesome, mystical power to transform bread and wine into the living body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do we see our holy priests as the Church’s equivalent of the neighborhood McDonald’s? Can you imagine how different things would be if only one person on earth — perhaps the Pope — could make the Eucharistic Lord present? What longing we’d have to make that holy pilgrimage! But instead, we’ve taken Christ’s generosity and cheapened it, make it common, and have valued it less.

Another reason that we’ve lost the old fervor is that our hearts have become divided. We have two loves: God and the world. We love our things, our daily pleasures, our achievements — all our idols. Our God — who’s way up there somewhere — doesn’t seem as real or as important. And I confess that those of us in the holy pulpit don’t always do our job to set things straight. When was the last time you heard a sermon on the Last Four Things — Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell? I assure you: one day, these will be the most important things in your life!

How then, dear friends, can we get back on track? Wouldn’t this be a great goal for this holy Easter season!

To begin with, we need to take charge of our lives. We often speak about “love of God,” but I think many of us take this to mean something emotional. But it isn’t really. Love of God is in the mind and will. We give and show love by making choices and following up on them. Remember in Acts how we saw people loving their neighbor? They did things for them.

With God, I think our first choice has to be to remember. Our second reading today tells us how Jesus Christ in his great mercy gave us a new birth through baptism and makes us heirs. We’re in the will! The inheritance is coming— and boy oh boy, do we have some treasures to look forward to. We just have to remember this and stay prepared to claim what’s rightfully ours! Never, never forget!

How do we remember in the busy-ness of life? By praying — a lot! Keep God in mind. Make him part of your life. Pray to the Holy Spirit to fill you with his incredible gifts.

We should also act like heirs. You’re rich in Christ! Act it! Be generous, not stingy — you’ve got so much it will never run out, no matter how much you give away! Give it up — the Father will give you more! What should we give? Everything! Material things: food, water, clothing, money... Spiritual things: compassion, mercy, empathy, forgiveness, love... time... Remember to give these things to your parish, too, which is a clearinghouse to pass them along to others.

Finally, keep up your hope — even in the midst of this life’s inevitable pains, sufferings, and trials. Don’t lose sight that our hope comes with a guarantee: Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus said he’d rise from the dead — and he did! That’s pretty impressive, right? So shouldn’t we equally believe his other promises too? His promise of the eternal joy and happiness to come? This is the very core of our faith. Hold onto it. Hold onto it tight.

Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, let us promise ourselves today to make a fresh start in the Lord. Let’s do this by forgetting about ourselves and concentrating our love and prayer on God and our neighbors — just as we heard in the example from the Acts of the Apostles. This approach brought peace and joy to the first Christian community 2,000 years ago — and Jesus promises it will do the same for us today.

He is risen. Alleluia!