5th SUNDAY OF EASTER--5/22/11 by Msgr. Eric R. Barr, STL READINGS: ACTS 6:1-7; 1 PETER 2:4-9; JOHN 14:1-12 I. Where is Home? A. We live in such a time of upheaval--Oh, we think it normal, but it is a time of great turmoil. Every one of our major institutions is under question, including the Church. People are drifting--unsure about what is right and wrong, lost in the chaos that we call this American culture. Drugs, pornography, homelessness, materialism, violence. At times, you can almost hear the people crying out for an end to chaos, an end to violence, an end to confusion. B. Stories 1. A woman, touched by drug and alcohol abuse, walks through the neighborhood trying to live a normal life with her husband and kids. But she is on the edge of disaster, barely holding everything together. At night, when she takes a drink, waiting for her husband to come back from wherever he is, she looks in the mirror, and a tear runs down her cheek as she says: Where is the house that I can call home; Where is the place for me to rest; Somewhere never to be alone, Where is the house that I can call home? 2. A homeless man, who loves to walk the neighborhood, gets a bit of a thrill about making moms and dads who see him a bit uncomfortable, worried about whether he's going to cause trouble in the neighborhood. But when night comes, and he goes to his place under the bridge in the park to sleep--he puts his arms around himself, trying to hold himself like his mother once held him so many years ago and he whispers: .....Where is the house that..... 3. A little girl rides her bike on the streets of our community. She's glad to be outside away from the yelling, away from the screaming that always goes on in her house. She dreams of those fairy tale castles and wonderful princes in the books she reads at school and the movies she sees. She loves her parents but hurts when they yell or hit her. When she rides by the church, the biggest building in the area, she imagines it to be a castle as she sings to herself: .....Where is the house that ..... C. The dreams of those who are hurt, or confused or sinners are not impossible dreams. "There are many mansions in my Father's house," says Jesus today, "And I am going to prepare a place for you." We have a home with the Lord. But as comforting as that is, how do we get there? Do we have to just wait till we die to be happy? How do we find the Way, the Truth and the Life? II. Finding Christ A. Christ is the Way--Despite confusing times and doubts about our faith and the Church, look to the Cross. It's huge isn't it? It will sweep away all that blocks our path to Christ and the Lord will be the one who paves our way in life. This is not wishful thinking. Our whole faith and Church was founded on this Cross. Do you think the sins of people in the Church are stronger than that? If you seriously think that all the struggles we are going through in the Catholic Church now will destroy our Church, then you are not walking the Way. As long as we stay close to the Cross, we can never be lost, not our faith, nor our Church, nor ourselves. Christ is the Way. B. Christ is the Truth--We live in a world of people claiming multiple truths. Only Christ is the Clearest Truth--everything else is shadow. If the world says it's ok to cheat--ask Christ--is this the truth? If the world says it's ok to have sex with whomever you want as long as we both agree to it--ask Christ--is this the truth? If the world says it's ok to abort, euthanize the old or sick, to commit suicide if you want--ask Christ--is this the truth? Ask him, listen to your heart–Christ is the Truth. C. Christ is the Life--We live in a world more powerful than we are. Sometimes our struggles, our burdens, our sorrows are just too much. We think we can't go on. We don't commit suicide but we give up, we just exist, we don't pray, we don't grow, we just are. And then we do things we shouldn't, we sin in our laziness--no going to church, no self-improvement, no looking out for others. What Easter tells us is that anyone close to the Life of the Risen Lord, can't help but be alive and resurrected from all that weighs us down. Stay close to Christ and his Life will infuse you with the courage to go on, not just go on but really live. Christ is the Life. D. Together we walk, and when our journey is done and we walk over the horizon, there on the other side we will see the Risen Lord, and the Lord will say to us, to every last one of us if we have believed that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, he will say: Here is the house that you can call home; Here is the place for you to rest; Here you will never be alone; My Father's House, here is your home.
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