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4/14/2024 - 3rd Sunday of Easter
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Are You a Witness?
I am writing this message after a long time and many things have happened since then. First of all, I express my heartfelt thanks for all the wishes, prayers and condolences I received at the passing on of my mother. She was 101. She lived a long, simple and saintly life. I am glad that I spent some quality time with her during my vacation, during which I underwent dental surgery that kept me homebound and close to her. On my return to India for the funeral, I was touched by the immense show of respect and love for my mother especially from the Church hierarchy as three Bishops, many priests and religious attended the funeral. As I left India, my close family kept reminding me to return as frequently as before!
During the past months we as a Parish family too bade farewell to 5 of our parishioners. We gratefully remember them in our prayers. May they rest in peace. On a personal level I am thankful to William F Loftus for his support and guidance with all the construction and restructuring of St. John Piermont during the past eight years. Before I left for India in February, I spent some quality time with Mary Leggett, knowing that she was scheduled for advanced medical treatment. Her conversation was particularly inspiring that day. She said that she wanted to be remembered for her wholehearted dedication to the Church of Sacred Heart for more than fifty years. Even when there were instances of people leaving the Church, in her congenial way she cajoled them back. In her characteristic humor she told me that at her passing on there will be a reversal of childbirth! The child comes crying into the world and there are smiles all around. She would go smiling with people in tears around her! This really is an inspiring outlook on life.
During the Easter season the gospel narratives tell us about people whose lives were changed by that first Easter day; people who encountered Jesus, risen from the dead and bringing new hope and meaning to their lives. Last week we heard about Thomas. One man whose own personal experience of Easter enabled him to move from doubt to faith in his risen Lord. In fact, among the apostles, he travelled farthest and brought the faith of Christ to India, where to this day there is a vibrant faith community numbering over six million.
This week we hear about a number of people who witness Jesus coming among them, showing them His wounds and eating food to convince them that He really is alive. We know very little about who these people are. Luke tells us that the eleven disciples were there together with their companions. We don’t know how many or who they were.
We can let our imagination have an adrenaline rush and think of the many people who walked with Jesus, received special favors and miracles or got the privilege of sharing a meal with Him. Now that Jesus was killed, they have all been plunged into the darkness of heart-breaking grief, despair, guilt and fear. At the beginning of that first Easter day they are a grieving, broken community of grieving, broken people.
Now, in the evening everything changed. There are rumors buzzing around; excitement is in the air; hope is struggling to find its way up through crushing despair. The witnesses of the risen Lord are swarming in, Mary Magdelene, the disciples from Emmaus and Peter are all vocal about their experience. Now Jesus Himself appears to all of them and invites them to touch Him, look at His wounds and be at peace because His victory over death is the sure foundation of their faith.
Like each of the people in the Gospel story, each of us has our own particular story and we experience the presence of God in our lives in different ways at different times. Like them, we have all learnt about Jesus in different ways. One lesson we need to take forward from the first faith community is their determination to be ardent witnesses who will take on the mighty world of opposition and show them, Christ is Alive!
Fr Tom Kunnel, C.O