Homily for the 5th Sunday of Easter, A

Remember the painting that Francis introduced to the church, Our Lady, Untier of Knots? She is not resolving the problem; the way you untie knots is to loosen them. And that’s what Pope Francis was doing. He was untying knots. He was dispelling the fears that we have, especially of people who are different than us.

I have Mass on Sunday, May 3rd 

at St. Isidore @ 9:30/11:30 am

at St. Andrew @ 5:00 pm

frjoedailey@gmail.com

Transcript

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John. 

Jesus said to his disciples, Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God. Have faith also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself. so that where I am, you also may be. Where I am going, you know the way. Thomas said to him, Master, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 

If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him. Philip said to him, Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you for so long a time, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do. and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. 

The Gospel of the Lord 

I was listening to Fr. James Martin's podcast, The Spiritual Life. His guest this week was Andrew Sullivan, a Catholic, writer, and political commentator. Andrew offered a wonderful image of Pope Francis. Remember the painting that Francis introduced to the church, Our Lady, Untier of Knots? She's not resolving the problem. The way you untie knots is to loosen them. And that's what Pope Francis was doing. He was untying knots. He was dispelling the fears that we have, especially of people who are different than us. There's nothing more like Jesus, Andrew said, than dispelling fear. It's a prerequisite for loving someone. J

esus begins, "Do not let your hearts be troubled," because, of course, their hearts are troubled. Jesus is untying the knot. Today's gospel takes place at the Last Supper, where there seemed to be no future. All that lay ahead apparently was failure, suffering, and death. The disciples are afraid. The ground is shifting under their feet. Everything is changing. Jesus is telling them that there is room. He's showing them the Father's heart. 

Thomas blurts out, Master, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? Except that Thomas does know the way. When Jesus went to Bethany after Lazarus had died, Thomas said to his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him. Thomas knows the way that leads to death. He doesn't understand that the way to life is the way of dying and rising. Thomas and Philip, along with all of us, resist this language of dissent. We usually try to change events in order to avoid changing ourselves. 

Philip sees neither the true nature of Jesus nor his own true nature. He still imagines God as other rather than all. God is not a being or even a supreme being. God is being itself, all that is, was, and will be. Think of an old shipwreck at the bottom of the sea. The sea is in the ship and the ship is in the sea. And just like the way the world is in God and God is in the world, The ship is entirely in the sea, just as the world is entirely in God. But God is not entirely in the world, as the sea is not entirely in the ship. God is in everything, but is also more. 

Or, to use another analogy, just like light is not something to see, but the means by which we see everything. So God is not a supernatural being out there. God, as Scripture says, is the one in whom we live and move and have our being. 

Our second reading from 1st Peter gives us another image. "Come to Christ, a living stone rejected by human beings, but chosen and precious in the sight of God." The stone that the builders rejected is the cornerstone on which we stand. On our pilgrimages to the Holy Land, we would visit the ancient city of Capernaum. There's a church built over the first century stone foundation of what is thought to be Simon Peter's house. Part of the floor is glass, so you can see the stone walls of the foundation. What you see is that there is no mortar holding the stones together. 

Like living stones, the author of 1 Peter writes, let yourself be built into a spiritual house. Those foundation stones are living stones rubbed against each other until they fit perfectly together. Only in our living together do we learn what charity and community are all about. Only then are we able to grow and change and to fit together in a way that is strong, sturdy, and durable for the long haul. 

We see this same dynamic in our reading from the Acts of the Apostles. There was a problem in the early church between different language groups that threatened to disrupt the unity of the believers. The Twelve called the community together, and realizing that they couldn't add this to their plate, they decided to form a new ministry. That's what Living Stones looks like, not holding on to a model of ministry that's no longer supporting the Church, but coming together as community, discussing the problem and working out a solution that is acceptable to the whole community. Of course, this requires a certain vulnerability. This is the way of Jesus, dying in order to rise. 

We are in the middle of a major archdiocesan restructuring, strengthening the church for the next generation. Parish listening sessions are taking place all around the Archdiocese of Detroit. The task before us is to find a sustainable way forward to be church. This will require some untying of knots. The only way to be church is to walk together and listen to one another, being built up like living stones into a spiritual house. We walk together, holding on to the promise Jesus gives us. "I shall return to take you to myself, so that you may be with me where I am." "Do not let your hearts be troubled."