{"id":2436,"date":"2008-04-26T09:48:00","date_gmt":"2008-04-26T09:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/04\/homily-for-april-27-2008-6th-sunday-of-easter.html"},"modified":"2008-04-26T09:48:00","modified_gmt":"2008-04-26T09:48:00","slug":"homily-for-april-27-2008-6th-sunday-of-easter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/04\/homily-for-april-27-2008-6th-sunday-of-easter.html","title":{"rendered":"Homily for April 27, 2008, 6th Sunday of Easter"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> Some of you may have heard the news last week: the pope was in town. <\/p>\n

The deacons and their wives all got tickets to Yankee Stadium. So my wife and I \u2013 along with 60-thousand others \u2013 were able to share in the celebration of the Eucharist last Sunday with the Holy Father. <\/p>\n

It was a remarkable event for a lot of reasons. <\/p>\n

I knew it was going to be different when we got on the Number 4 train headed to the Bronx, and I noticed several people on the subway all praying the rosary. I knew then that we were all headed to the same place. <\/p>\n

First, I can\u2019t remember the last time I\u2019d seen so many priests and nuns and deacons in one place. I had the strange experience of walking into the men\u2019s room at Yankee Stadium and seeing all these men in line wearing robes and vestments. <\/p>\n

I could only imagine what Babe Ruth would have thought. <\/p>\n

But second, there was a tremendous sense of Catholicity \u2013 in every sense of the term. The last time I felt that way was when my wife and visited Rome. In Rome, every corner has a church, every street is named for a saint, and everywhere you go you are surrounded my priests, bishops, nuns, monks \u2013 you are constantly being reminded of where you are, and of the remarkable place that city occupies in our faith. <\/p>\n

And at Yankee Stadium last Sunday, there was a similar sense of connection. <\/p>\n

We were all there for the same reason \u2013 bound by the same faith, the same hope. Christ Our Hope, as the Holy Father\u2019s theme put it. So sitting in the stadium, with the wind whipping around us, you\u2019d look around and see some of Mother Teresa\u2019s nuns, bundled in winter coats, reading their breviaries. You\u2019d see high school boys in khakis and navy blazers. You\u2019d see grandparents and babies and Dominicans and priests from all over the country, quietly, patiently, waiting, praying, watching, laughing, sharing. <\/p>\n

You got a beautiful sense of the universality of our faith \u2013 catholic with a small \u201cc.\u201d <\/p>\n

You sensed it most beautifully during mass, when we all sang the Our Father. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever done that with 60-thousand other people. You could not help but feel a part of something epic \u2013 something great. Something bigger than all of us. <\/p>\n

In that ballpark, there was no mistaking it: we were Church. <\/p>\n

And for a couple of hours last Sunday, we were not that far removed from the people of the early Church. <\/p>\n

Listen, again, to the reading this morning from Acts. <\/p>\n

\u201cPhilip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Christ to them. With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said\u2026.There was great joy in that city.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Last Sunday, there was great joy in this<\/span> city! <\/p>\n

Our challenge now: how do we keep that joy alive? How do we carry that fervor into the world every day? <\/p>\n

I think we do it \u2013 in part — by remembering the gift we have been given. <\/p>\n

Jesus tells us today: \u201cI will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

He came to us last Sunday in Yankee Stadium. <\/p>\n

He comes to us again, every Sunday \u2013 in every mass \u2013 in every Eucharist. <\/p>\n

He comes to us also in prayer\u2026and in his word, the scripture. He comes to us in the beautiful sense of community that we share, not just in great stadiums with thousands of people\u2026but here, in this church today. He comes to us, as well, even with just a few people, a family, gathered around a kitchen table, holding hands, saying grace. <\/p>\n

He has not left us orphans. He has stayed with us. And the great work goes on. <\/p>\n

In so many ways, it was fitting that the pope came to us during the last days of the Easter season \u2013 when everything is new, and all the readings these Sundays have been brimming with possibility. We have spent the last several weeks hearing again the accounts of the early Church, and how it spread.<\/p>\n

Like the early apostles, we are poised to embark on a great new adventure, and carry our faith to others. <\/p>\n

The letter from St. Peter today reminds us of that. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlways be ready,\u201d the author writes, \u201cto give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reason, of course, is Christ \u2013 \u201cChrist our hope.\u201d As the Holy Father wrote: \u201cOne who hopes lives differently.\u201d <\/p>\n

My friends, how will WE live in that hope? <\/p>\n

Emily Dickinson once wrote about that subject in a way that I think Pope Benedict would appreciate. She used a delightful image that has always reminded me of the Holy Spirit \u2013 the Spirit who is mentioned again and again in the readings today, and who we will soon celebrate on Pentecost:<\/p>\n

She wrote: <\/p>\n

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the song without the words
And never stops at all. <\/span><\/p>\n

Let us pray that the hope that \u201cperches in the soul\u201d \u2013 the Hope that is Christ — will always sing in our hearts\u2026so that everyone can hear it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some of you may have heard the news last week: the pope was in town. The deacons and their wives all got tickets to Yankee Stadium. So my wife and I \u2013 along with 60-thousand others \u2013 were able to share in the celebration of the Eucharist last Sunday with the Holy Father. 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