Third Sunday of Easter
I was invited to the 5th grade classroom at our school to talk about the life of a priest. As you know, today’s 5th graders are not the same when I was a 5th grader. They asked me some very intelligent and thought-provoking questions. For example, they asked me, “How did you know that God called you to be a priest?” They also asked me, “What is the best part of being a priest?” I said to them, “I love it that much of my life is dedicated to doing good. I bring Jesus to people when they are ill. I am with families when someone is dying. I prepare young people to get married and have a family. I help people when they are in need. I talk with people when they seek spiritual guidance. I bring God closer to people and people closer to God. I love it!” There was a smile on these kid’s faces as I finished my conversation.
On the one hand, I love my calling as a priest. On the other hand, there are also challenges and difficult moments. Last week, at the Children’s Hospital I baptized a sixteen-month-old child who had severe burns from a cooking accident. The child’s may or may not make it. I simply can’t get the image of the child out of my head. Over the years, I have been with families where someone has committed suicide, or a family that has lost a loved one to drug overdose or accidents, couples that struggle to conceive or have had a miscarriage, or a family is falling apart. It breaks my heart to be in some of these situations. Sometimes, it would be wonderful not to feel anything. As a priest, I get to be with people in their happiness and their tragedies. And then, I have the happiness and tragedies in my own life.
Having said all this, I would not exchange my life for anything. If I had another life, I would do it all over again.
I share my experience with the 5th graders with you for a reason. My experience as a priest is not unique to me. All of us carry within ourselves the power of the resurrection.
Sometimes, though, life turns out to be as complicated and complex as it turned out for the apostles. Today’s gospel reading tells us that when Jesus appeared to the disciples, they were startled and terrified. Initially they were troubled. Jesus asked them, “Why do questions arise in your minds?” But gradually, as the reality of the risen Christ dawned upon them, their questions and their troubles were transformed into amazement and incredulous joy. Then Jesus says to them, “You are witness to these things!”
I am a priest, and you are who you are. I have my life and you have yours. I have my calling and you have yours. But there is one thing common to all of us – the power of the resurrection of Jesus. This is an immense power. This is an immense treasure. This is immense mystery. It is within every one of us. And today, Jesus says to us, “You are witnesses to these things!”
As we receive come forward to receive Communion or to receive a blessing, this is our resurrection appearance. We come with our questions, our doubts, our troubles, and our burdens. I pray that at Communion, no matter what our life situation, we may not miss the amazement and the incredulous joy that the risen Christ brings to us.
As we leave the Church today, may we go with Christ sending us forth saying, “You are witness to these things.” Let us return to our home deeply conscious of the immense power, the immense treasure, and the immense mystery within us. The mission entrusted to me as a priest is the same mission entrusted to every one of us. As Jesus says, “You are witnesses to these things!”
The practical implication of “You are witnesses of these things” is captured in a very popular Christian hymn.
Make me a channel of your peace;
Where there is hatred let me bring your love,
Where there is injury, your pardon Lord,
And where there's doubt, true faith in you.
Make me a channel of your peace;
Where there's despair in life let me bring hope,
Where there is darkness, only light,
And where there's sadness ever joy.
Oh, master grant that I may never seek,
So much to be consoled as to console.
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love with all my soul.
Make me a channel of your peace;
It isn't pardoning that we are pardoned,
In giving of ourselves that we receive.
And in dying that we're born to eternal life.
- Fr. Satish Joseph