Catholic Community of Jeffersonville St. Augustine
Parish Website

Catholic Community of Jeffersonville St. Augustine & Sacred Heart

Homily
by
Father Thomas E. Clegg

2 Sunday Easter A         St. Augustine Sacred Heart     2008

A local gambler in a small town dies.

  The funeral Mass was well attended by his professional friends

     The priest is giving his homily.

        And at one point he says, “Spike is not really dead. He is only asleep.”

From the rear of the Church a man shouts, “A hundred says he’s dead.”

Now, if I were a betting man…

    I would bet that less that 10% of those in attendance this week

      would realize the pattern of scripture readings

        the Church lays before in this first week of Easter.

Each day thus far we have discovered the same thing.

   We have first readings from Acts of the Apostles that focus on what the

      Early Christians were doing in the post-Pentecost Church.

And then the Gospels are all about what is happening to the apostles

   those first few days immediately after the resurrection of Jesus.

Today’s readings are more of the same.

   But what we need to see and get a real feel for in our lives

       is the contrast between the two sets of readings.

Our first readings this week were filled with miraculous healings,

    fantastic sermons, courageous testimonies, and fearless proclamations.

Our Gospels readings during this same time were filled with

    the apostles not recognizing Jesus, the apostles doubting that he is alive,

     the apostles hiding behind locked doors,

         and the apostles still very much afraid.

And what’s the difference?

  The difference is belief in the power of the resurrection.

      Our Gospel readings are occurring

          in the first few days after the resurrection.

 Those 50 days between that FIRST-- FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK—

  And the great Feast of Pentecost…that day when the Spirit

      drove the apostles from the locked upper room out into the streets

         to proclaim for the first time the power of the risen Christ.

These first 50 days the apostles are still very much afraid.

After he rose, it took Jesus another 50 days to get the apostles ready.

 And during those 50 days they were very much like us….

   Afraid….not getting it….not recognizing Jesus in their midst….

       doubting like Thomas.

In short in those first fifty days they really couldn’t believe the unbelievable.

My friends, we have an advantage over them.

    We know the story well….we have seen Christ operating in our world….

       We have seen the Spirit operating in our world for over 2000 years….

We have over 2000 years of Church growth and Church history

   that tells us we can believe in the unbelievable.

And that really is the Easter message: believe in the unbelievable.

   That really is the message of Easter:

       Have faith…believe in the unbelievable.

There is a story told of a tightrope walker

   who stretched a line between two tall buildings of a cities’ downtown.

      It was a publicity stunt.

        Come lunchtime as workers were crowded below,

          he yelled down asking the crowd if they thought he could walk across.

            Of course they said yes, and he did.

Next he places a stack of dishes on his head,

  “Can I walk across without dropping these dishes?”

      They shout out, “Yes…you can…”

         and slowly he goes out on the rope and slowly he crosses.

Thunderous applause….and then, with the dishes still on his head

   he shows them a wheelbarrow…Can I push the wheelbarrow across?

        By now more people are gathered and they are all shouting,

            “You can do it….You can do it…”

     He looked down one more time and said,

“If you really think I can do it, will one of you ride in the wheelbarrow?”

My friends, it really is one thing to say we believe in Jesus…

    It is one thing to say that we believe he rose…

It’s quite another thing to be willing to ride in the wheelbarrow.

You see, as I said last weekend,

   I believe too often in our lives we are motivated by fear.

    Too often in our lives we really lack the faith

     to believe that God is really with us.

So we give in to despair and fear…

   Like Thomas, we let doubts fill our minds

     and we shout out with our actions,

      God, I really don’t quite trust you yet.

But if we let ourselves get beyond those doubts…

  When we let ourselves move from doubt to trust.

   When we fall to our knees as Thomas did and say, “My Lord and my God” 

My friends

 When we really believe that God has great things imagined for us…

   When we really believe that God is in charge of our lives…

      We can become like those early apostles:

Listen to the words of the first reading

       “awe overcame everyone and they worked many signs and wonders.”

            “all who believed held all things in common.”

EVERY day they devoted themselves to meeting together…

  They ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart…”

Does that sound like a group you would like to belong to?

    I know it does for me.

Well my friends, I have good news for you today…

   You do belong to such a group…It is called the body of Christ.

The secret is you’ve got to believe it.

    The secret is you’ve got to live it.

The secret is you’ve got to be willing to get into God’s wheelbarrow. 

[ Home ]  [ Welcome ]  [ Parish News ]  [ Parish History ]  [ Parish Life ]  [ Faith Formation ]
[ Youth Ministry ]  [ School ]  [ Sister Parish ]  [Prayer Requests ]  [ Contact ]

Catholic Community of Sacred Heart | 1840 East Eighth Street, Jeffersonville, Indiana | 47130
812-282-0423 (Church) | 812-283-3123 (School) | Map & Directions to Sacred Heart Church

Copyright © 2002-2008 www.SacredHeart-Church.com. All rights reserved.
Terms of Use