Jesus was rejected, so do you!

The fact is that rejection can break us or make us stronger. It all depends how we handle it. We know that Jesus experienced rejection in many instances, so he is training his apostles, disciples and followers how to handle this process which is present some time or another in our spiritual journey.

Many people are somewhat familiar with what the military calls Basic Training or Boot Camp. Depending on the branch of service, this period of intense formation varies from six to thirteen weeks and is intended to prepare youngsters for whatever they may encounter during their time of service.

Marines, for instance, engage in a 13 week process, which, according to the U.S. Marine Corps Web site, "transforms a young person with the courage to succeed into a mature, highly disciplined, fully capable marine." At the end of the 13 weeks, the trainees are challenged with a final test, called "The Crucible," which is somewhat connected to the "Cross." It is designed to emphasize the importance of teamwork in overcoming adversity. The Crucible is a 54 hours field training exercise demanding the application of everything the recruit has learned thus far. Following their successful completion of the Crucible, the traines are treated to a special meal and are formally recognized at their graduation as full fledged marines.

Our Lord is training his disciples because they will undergo some tough times, for instance rejection and persecution. Rejection is part of our lives, we like it or not. Suppose you have a job as a sales person going door to door to promote and sell the product and you tried to work as hard as you can (10 hours a day), knocking at 100 doors a day. Statistics show that only 10% would even open the door and only 3% will possibly buy your product. Now you had to face 97 slammed doors and barking dogs and some small children saying to you, "Mom said she is not here." Would you not feel discouraged and rejected as Jesus did? Rejection is an ugly word, it is painful.

Let's see how Jesus reacted to rejection and our possible reactions. Our first reaction would be to retaliate. When we are hurt, we instictively want to defend ourselves by getting even. We want them to feel the pain we feel or more. Unfortunately, this is also the reaction of the apostles James and John, as reported by St. Luke the Evangelist. "...Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him, but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them? But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and went to another village." (Lk.9:51-56).

You don't have to burn bridges to follow Jesus ! Jesus had already instructed his disciples how to handle rejection: "just wipe the dust off your sandals and move on" (Lk. 9:5). Jesus always offers a better solution: change rejection into love. We should keep in mind that God is not the enemy of our enemy. Anger is not a good reason to retaliate. God's way is not retaliation, but reconciliation. God is in the business of transforming enemies into allies, competitors into companions, strangers into family. Social codes call for punishment, Jesus' codes call for understanding.

Jesus invites us to look forward not in the past. King Solomon failed because he turned back instead of going forward. The Pharisees turned back by using religion in the wrong way. Living in the past doesn't heal rejection, it makes it more difficult. Living in the past may be sometime a good place to visit, definitely not a good place to stay.

There was a good old pastor who had a good practice to visit the parish school one day a week. He walked into the fourth grade class, where the children were studying the history of USA, and asked them how many states they could name. They came up with about 40 names. He then replied that in his days, students knew the names of all the states. One student raised her hand and said, "Yes, Father, in those days there were only 13 states!" So, my friends, do your math correctly: count your blessings, don't look back, look forward and keep on counting!!!!

Among the symbols employed by the primitive Christians, the fish definitely ranks first. While the use of the fish in pagan art as a purely decorative sign is ancient and constant, the earliest literary evidence to the symbolic fish is made by Clement of Alexandria, born around the year 150 C.E., who recommends his readers (Paedagogus, III, xi) to have their seals engraved with a dove or a fish. Clement did not consider it necessary to give any reason for this recommendation, from which it may be safely inferred that the meaning of both symbols was well known, and therefore, no explanation was needed.

From ancient sources we know that the symbolic fish was familiar to Christians long before the Alexandrian Doctor was born; on Roman monuments, for instance the Cappella Greca and the sacrament Chapel of the catacombs of St. Callistus, the fish was depicted as a symbol in the first decades of the second century.

The symbol itself may have been suggested by the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and the fishes or the story of the seven disciples, after the Resurrection, on the shore of the sea of Galilee (Jn. 21:9), but its popularity among Christians was due principally, it would seem, to the famous acrostic consisting of the initial letters of five Greek words forming the word "FISH (= ICHTHYS):

1) I = Iesous
2) CH = Christos
3) TH = Theou
4) Y = Yios
5) S = Soter (meaning: Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior).

The five words just mentioned are the shortest theological statement about Jesus Christ, whom we worship. This explanation of the symbol is found in the Discourse of Emperor Constantine, "Ad coetum sanctorum, c. xviii - It is not improbable that this Christian formula originated in Alexandria, and was intended as a protest against the pagan apotheosis of the emperors; in fact, on a coin from Alexandria, the emperor Domitian (81-86) is styled as Theou Yios ( = Son of God). The word "Ichthys," then, as well as the representation of the fish, held for Christians a meaning of the highest significance; it was a brief profession of faith in the divinity of Christ, the Redeemer (Savior) of humankind.

Believers in the mystic Ichtys were themselves "little fishes," according to the well known passage of Tertullian (De Baptismo, c. 1): "We, little fishes, after the image of our Ichthys, Jesus Christ, are born in water."

The association of the Ichthys with the Eucharist is strongly emphasized in the epitaph of Albercius, the second century Bishop of Hieropolis in Phrygia, and, in the somewhat later epitaph of Pectorius of Autun. Albercius tells us on the aforesaid monument that in his journey from his Asiatic home to Rome, everywhere on the way he received as food "the fish from the spring, the great, the pure," as well as "wine mixed with water, together with bread." Pectorius also speaks of the Fish as a delicious nurture supplied by the "Savior of the saints."

In the Eucharistic monuments this idea is expressed repeatedly in a pictorial form; the food before the banqueteers is invariably bread and fish on two separate dishes. The peculiar significance attached to the fish in this relation is well brough out in such early frescoes as the FRACTIO PANIS (breacking of the bread) scene in the cemetery of St. Priscilla, and the fishes on the grass, in closest proximity to the baskets containing bread and wine, in the crypt of Lucina. The fish symbol was not, however, represented exclusively with symbols of the Eucharist; quite frequently it is found associated with such other symbols as the dove, the anchor, and the monogram of Christ.

On the monuments, too, the fish appears wth frescoes, sculptured representations, rings, seals, gilded glasses, as well as enkopia of various materials in the fourth century. The type of fish depicted calls for no special observation, save that, from the second century, the form of the dolphin was frequently used. The reason for this particular selection is presumed to be the fact that, in popular opinion, the dolphin was regarded "people's friend." Besides the Eucharistic frescoes of the catacombs a considerable number of objects containing the fish symbol are preserved in various European museums, one of the most interesting, because of the grouping of the fish with several other symbols, being a carved gem in the Kircherian Museum in Rome.

On the left is a T-form anchor, with two fishes beneath the crossbar, while next in order are a T-form cross with a dove on the crossbar and a sheep at the foot, another T-cross as the mast of a ship, and the good shepherd carrying on his shoulders the strayed sheep. In addition to these symbols the five letters of the word I CH TH Y S are distributed around the border. Another ancient carved gem represents a ship supported by a fish, with doves perched on the mast and stern, and Christ on the waters rescuing St. Peter.

After the fourth century, the symbolism of the fish gradually disappeared; representations of fishes on baptismal fonts and on bronze, silver, and golden objects used for liturgical purposes are found in Rome and Trier, now in the Kircherian Museum. Christsianity still uses the fish for ornamental character, probably with minimal reminiscence of the powerful meaning of Fish as Jesus.

I believe that I read the story in the New York Times back in 2006. That story never left my mind because it reminds me of what Advent should not be. The story is about the murder of four prostitutes in Atlantic City, NJ. It describes the dark underbelly of Atlantic City's prosperity: prostitution, drugs, crimes. While the gambling industry brings more than 40 million tourists a year, and billions of dollars, to the city, a less prosperous side continues its slow deterioration into the abyss.

Advent is about "what was, what is, what could be." All that remains of the past is what we call "what was." The "what" is the reality of "who" we are today and we are not what we are supposed to be or we want to be, then what will be?

The doctor of the church, Bernard of Clairvaux in his fifth sermon on Advent describes three advents (comings) of Jesus. In the first coming, Christ comes in flesh and in weakness; in the second, he comes in spirit and in power; in the third, he comes in glory and in majesty; the second coming is the means whereby we pass from the first to the third.

Now, how is the prostitutes' story connected with the three comings of Jesus? Well, Advent is a time of hope, and that hopefulness ran out for Kimberly Raffo, Barbara V. Braidor, Tracy Ann Roberts, and Molly Jean Dilts. They were the four women whose bodies were found in a strip of land between the Black Horse and the Atlantic City Expressway.

While Advent is a time "waiting for the Lord," we experience drastic changes if we let God into our lives. He comes to fill the valleys of depressions, leveling the mountains of pride and making straight our crooked ways. Let us not forget that when the gospel speaks of valleys and mountains, it doesn't give us a lesson in geology, it speaks about our lives. Sometimes we must be courageous enough to undertake this task at the beginning of the new church year, even if it takes extra energy and a generous amount of determination to be not what was or will be, but what is.

Perhaps, the story of Zachary can be a good example for all of us. Little Zachary was doing very badly in math. His parents had tried everything...tutors, mentors, flash cards, special learning centers. In short, everything they could think of to help his math. Finally, in a last ditch effort, they took Zachary down and enrolled him in the local Catholic school.

After the first day, little Zachary came home with a very serious look on his face. He didn't even say "hello." Instead, he went straight to his room and started studying. Books and papers were spread out all over the room and little Zachary was hard at work. His mother was amazed. She called him down to dinner. To her shock, the minute he was done, he marched back to his room without a word, and in no time, he was back hitting the books as hard as before.

This went on for some time, day after day, while the mother tried to understand what made all the difference. Finally, little Zachary brought home his report card. He quietly laid it on the table, went up to his room and hit the books. With great trepidation, his mom looked at it and to her great surprise, little Zachary got an "A" in math.

She could no longer hold her curiosity. She went to his room and said, "Son, what was it? Was it the nuns?" Little Zachary, looked at her and shook his head, no. "Well, then, was it the books, the discipline, the structure, the uniforms? What was it?" Little Zachary looked at her and said, "Well, on the first day of school when I saw that guy nailed on the PLUS sign, I knew they weren't fooling around."

I wonder if it is possible to look at Jesus on the cross and still refuse his love.

The theological argument of the Immaculate Conception is summarized in four Latin words: Potuit, Voluit, ergo Fecit (God could do it, wanted to do it, therefore He did it).

The feast of the Immaculate Conception is a wonderful glimpse into the divine love-story, which call history of salvation. At the very beginning, the Bible tells us that God lavished love on humankind in the act of creation; then that love was betrayed in the garden of Eden, by Eve, meaning the mother of living. Unfortunately, she brought us death and misery by disobeying God’s will. Since God never gives up, he finds another woman, a young girl in Nazareth, who was humble enough to acknowledge her unworthiness, she is courageous enough to say yes to God’s love. There is a parallel between the tragedy of Eve’s proud rebellion and the humble cooperation of Mary of Nazareth.

Mary was indeed conceived without the original sin. To understand the magnitude of this great event, imagine, if you will, that you stained your favorite shirt or dress. What would you do? Chances are, you would use every cleanser you could find to get the stain out. Now imagine that you have tried everything without success, and the fabric is utterly ruined. Then someone saves the piece of clothing by immersing it in a magic liquid that makes it "immaculate," as good as new.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (# 405) states that "God created human kind full of original holiness and justice." Once stained, no matter how hard we tried we could not fix it. God, who never quits in loving us, made Mary to counteract the pride of Eve with the humility of the maiden of Nazareth. "God has done wonderful things for me," Mary says. What marvelous deeds has God done for you lately?

Mary is great because she took us away from the cycle of sin and immersed all of us into the cycle of grace.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed in the fruit of your womb Jesus. Amen

In back to back days, the Catholic calendar places our saints and our departed brothers and sisters. We may speculate and come up with sophisticated theological reasons, however, I feel that the Scripture readings assigned to both events unfold the reasons of both celebrations. On all Saints' Day we read the state of the union address of Jesus Christ: the Beatitudes. On November 2, we read Lazarus' resurrection. It doesn't take a genius to understand that the resurrections in our lives take place only when the gospel's Beatitudes become our beatitudes.

Luke and Matthew have a different approach and a different version of the same message. Matthew places this sermon on the mountain. For Luke, mountains are for praying and plains are for preaching. Luke's version of the sermon is on level ground, where all kinds of people can bear it. Both Matthew and Luke begin the sermon with eight pronouncements. In Matthew, all eight are blessed, but Luke again levels the field by making four of the pronouncements beatitudes and four curses. Four hopes and four "nopes."

Jesus is the classic prophet who comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable. Future hopefulness and future hopelessness are both included. Doctor Luke the evangelist brings two elements on inclusiveness: The inclusiveness of hearing brings the inclusiveness of healing. While Matthew aims the sermon at the disciples, Luke points out that Jesus includes also Judeans, Galileans, Tyrites, and Gidonians. The message of the kingdom is not for the Jewish people only.

Our Saints can be defined as heroes and role models. I like the way a little girl described the saints. She was visiting a beautiful cathedral with her aunt. It was late afternoon and the sun's rays were streaming through a stained glass window that featured the figures of several saints. The little girls pointed to one of the figures standing out in the strong light and asked, "Who is that?" "That's Saint Peter," the aunt replied. Then pointing to another, the girl asked who that was. "That's Saint John," was the reply. When she pointed to another, she was told, "That's Saint James." Then, with a sigh of satisfaction, the little girl said, "Well, now I know what a saint is. A Saint is somebody the light shines through."

The saints and our faithful departed were not perfect, but the light was shining through them, was it not? Sins may hinder the transparency of the window or even break the window, so is now time to clean the window or replace it, if necessary. Big sins are bad, small sins are not better. Some suggested that God created people because he loves stories.

Here is one story illustrating our human condition. Two men called on a pious old monk to seek his advice. "We acknowledge our sinful ways," they told him," "and we want to clear our consciences. Can you advise us on how to do this and get rid of our guilt?" The old monk agreed to help. He said, "First you will have to tell me about your sins." The first man said, "I have committed a terrible sin, a previous sin, a great big sin." The second man said, "oh, I have committed a number of small sins, none of them terribly significant." The holy monk pondered the matter for a while, then said, "Each of you must bring me a stone representing each one of your wrong doings." The two men then set out to carry out the monk's instructions. After a while, the first man staggered back, carrying with him a huge boulder. It was so heavy he could hardly push it. With a loud grunt he placed the boulder before the monk. Then the second man returned carrying a bag of small pebbles, which he promptly laid at the monk's feet. "Very good work," said the monk." "Now each one of you take your stones and put them back where you found them." The first man staggered back to the place from which he had taken the huge boulder. But the second man was unable to remember where he had found each of his little pebbles. So he returned to the wise monk and told him that he couldn't carry out his instruction, to which the monk replied, "You must realize, my son, that sins are like those stones. If a man commits a big sin, it lies heavily on his conscience. But if he truly repents, the burden is lifted. He is forgiven and the load is taken away. But if a man is constantly doing small things that are sinful, he is less likely to repent and more likely to remain a sinner out of habit. Understand, therefore, that is just as important to break the habit of committing little sins as it is to avoid big sins."

The good news is that our good Lord is totally accessible to you when it comes to the question of successful living. He offers you guidance, he offers you light. Humble acknowledgment of our absolute need for the light that comes through the saints and faithful departed. Let the light shine, let it shine, let it shine!

Did you know that out of the 1,752 canons of the church law, 13 of them are dedicated to the pastor (cann.519-533)? The first duty of the pastor is to teach, to sanctify, and to govern. That is such an awesome duty and privilege, that I feel so small as I look at the gigantic task of teaching, sanctifying, and governing.

Thanks be to God that the Second Vatican Council with the Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the church (Christus Dominus) clearly outlined the theological dimensions of the pastorate, comparing it to the biblical shepherding office, which the priest shares with his bishop in the name of Christ (CD, 30-31) That's a relief because the church is "you" rather than "me." I feel confident that you and me can and should build a better world.

You are probably familiar with the poem "Just build a better you." In case you forgot, here is the poem.

God said, "Build a better world"
and I said, "How?
The world is such a cold dark place
and so complicated now!
And I am so tired and useless,
there's nothing I can do."
But God in all His wisdom said:
"Just build a better you!"

There is no doubt that we are living in a world that is getting more complex. What to do then? Just build a better you. Our quick fixes do not really work, unless we allow the gospel to take charge of our plans and our goals. The poem just mentioned ends where the gospel begins. "What kind of better you?"

Lately, library shelves have been bulging with books in which practically every aspect of our society has been dissected, studied, investigated, and analyzed by psychiatrists, psychologists, nutritionists, economists, journalists, environmentalists, anthropologists, political activists, sociologists, including an army of sex experts. One study, however, published under the title, "Rockefeller Report on Education" tells us that what most people want is not security, comforts, or material possessions, but "meaning in their lives." They want a conviction about life they can hold on to.

Who can deny that in the deepest recesses of our being, that gnawing question persists, "after I get there where am I going? where will I be?" The gospel chooses the imagery of light to describe the ultimate fulfillment, "You are the light of the world" (Mt. 5:14). We may not feel that we will shine like the sun, but we are commissioned to be the light, even if it is a little spark. Let us not forget that the light expands by its nature, so if your candle lights another candle, you don't loose any light at all. By being the light there is everything to gain and nothing to lose.

As I have been installed as your pastor, my first concern is our youth. We all want to see them successful and happy. More than ever before, young people congregate and associate with one another. Modern transportation and other conveniences of our our society make it possible. Our youth yields a tremendous influence on one another, either for good or evil. The question is: Who and what the youngsters should be? Let me answer by pointing out two fallacies and a reality.

First Fallacy: Young people today are better than young people of the sixties, seventies, and eighties. The word "young" in the nineties has become a magic word in the media. It has a special fascination and appeal. The achievements of young people from their success in Olympic Games to science competitions are presented with enthusiasm and warmth.

Second fallacy: Young people today are worse that young people in the sixties, seventies, and eighties. It is claimed that young people today are more decadent, more ungrateful, more irreverent, more irresponsible, less religious. They are unwilling to make sacrifices to accomplish what they wish to achieve. If instant success does not come to them immediately or yesterday, they become deeply discouraged.

The reality: Young people today are neither better nor worse than young people in the past. They are neither semi-gods nor fallen angels. They are and will be a mixture of weakness and strength, of noble ambitions and multiple fears. They feel that something is lacking in themselves but are not sure what it is. Convinced that others have failed, they are afraid that they may not succeed. While they may not accept the authority of the parents, yet they bow to the tyranny of their equals.

When we think of summer, we think of sun, shorts, lawn mowing, fireworks, mosquitos, and vacation (hopefully with God!). I may suggest two more ways of celebrating summer: restful silence and God's diet.

The problem with media culture is that it cannot bear silence. When radio was first invented, a desperate announcer, who had run out of things to blather about, suddenly announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, the sound of new York's traffic!" He stuck the microphone out the window. There had to be a constant flow of noise or else what was the point of the medium? Later, technology provided an endless stream of flash and noise to the all-consuming eye and ear of TV and radio. It has not solved the problem of how to fill them with anything valuable most of the time. The wisdom of Christ is mostly silent, and it speaks only whe it has something to say, not just to fill the air with chatter. Let's remember: this summer we seek the wisdom of solitude and avoid the chatter of fools.

The second way to celebrate summer is God's diet. God populated the earth with all kinds of vegetables, so we would live long, healthy lives. Satan created McDonald's and the 99¢ double-cheesesburger. Then Satan said to man, "You want fries with that?" and man replied, "Super-size them." And man gained pounds.

God created the heathful yogurt. Satan froze the yogurt and brought forth chocolote, nuts, and bright-colored candy sprinkles to put on it.

God said, "I have sent you heathy vegetables and olive oil with which to cook them." Satan brought forth steak so big it needed its own platter. And man gained pounds, and his bad cholesterol went through the roof.

God brought forth running shoes, and man resolved to lose those extra pounds. Satan brought forth cable TV with remote controls, so man would not have to toil to change channels between ESPN and ESPN2. And man gained pounds.

God brought forth the potato, naturally low in fat and brimming with nutrition. Satan peeled off the healthful skin and sliced the starchy center into chips and deep-fat-fried them. He then created sour cream dip. The man clutched his remote control and ate the potato chips swaddled in cholesterol. Satan saw this and said, "It is good." And man went into cardiac arrest.

God sighed and created quadruple bypass surgery. And satan created HMOs.

Have a holy and heathy summer!

We are a nation of children, mothers, and fathers. Since we have set aside special celebrations for children and mothers, why not celebrate our fathers? The idea to honor our fathers actually developed during a Mother's day sermon. In the spring 1909, Mrs. Bruce Dodd of Spokane, Wash., heard a mother's day sermon that did not mention the word "father." Her mother had died when she was a child and her father was charged with raising her and her five siblings. Through Mrs. Dodd's influence, the first Father's Day was observed in Spokane, June 19, 1910, and on a national level in 1924.

I call my father and all the fathers the "forgotten heroes," because by reading chapter 3 of the book of Ecclesiasticus (Sir. 3:1-16), I realize how much we didn't do for our fathers, and yet our fathers kept on doing their best without being recognized.

When I was cleaning my closet, I found some papers that I saved long ago in a torn cardboard box. One was a worn-out newspaper article quoting a broadcasting of radio legend Paul Harvey. The title was: "What is a Father?" A father is a thing that is forced to endure childbirth without anesthetic. A father is a thing that growls when he feels good and laughs too loud when he is scared. A father never feels entirely worthy of the worship in a child's eyes. He is never quite the hero his daughter thinks he is. He is never quite the man his son believes him to be. Fathers fight dragons almost every day. They hurry away from the breakfast table to the arena that is an office or factory. They never quite win the fight, but they never give up. Knights in shining armor and fathers in shiny trousers are very much alike, as they march out to face the world each day.

Our fathers are so important that we take for granted what they do every day. While driving in Western North Carolina (I-40), a bumper sticker on the car ahead caught my attention. It was about father and dad: "Any man can be a father. It takes a special man to be a daddy." Any healthy male can biologically generate children, but in my ministry I have discovered that many men are role models, whether they have biological offspring or not. They are the unsung heroes with a love song always in their hearts.

My father was not a preacher. He really didn't speak too much, but preached according to the Franciscan philosophy: "Preach always, sometimes use words." Words teach, but example compels. For me, the father is a teacher who doesn't know everything, but he knows that he doesn't know and that's real wisdom.

A father was walking with his young son. The boy asked, "Daddy, what is electricity?" "Well now, I don't know," said the father. "All I know about electricity is that it makes things run." A little farther on, the boy asked, "Daddy, how does gasoline make automobiles go?" The father replied, "Well, I don't know. I don't know too much about motors." Several more questions followed with much the same result, until at last the boy said, "Gee, dad, I hope you don't mind my asking so many questions!" "Not at all, son," said the father, "You go right ahead and ask. How else will you ever learn anything?"

The father knows he is not perfect, but yet we love him. For him, "discipline" means more than chastisement or punishment, which can be misunderstood by the children. General Douglas MacArthur has been quoted to have said this prayer: "Build me a son, O God, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, but humble and gentle in victory. Give him humility so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength; then I, his father, will dare to whisper, "I have not lived in vain."

Yes, General, you have not lived in vain and we will not whisper, but shout, "Happy Father's Day, General!"

I would characterize the "After-Easter-Syndrome" (AES) in one simple statement: It is power to the powerless and our imperfect lives are made perfect by Christ's love.

Our real world is made up of despair and hope, failure and success, defeat and victory, sin and grace, crying and laughing. Our human nature seems more inclined to despair than to hope; we are more easily susceptible to believing in the worst than to count on the best.

Usually, a pessimist - to prove that the darkness is real - will turn off the light. The optimist simply sees the light at the end of the tunnel. The good news is that we believe in the heroes' ability to snatch victory from defeat, and Jesus proves just that with his resurrection.

Jesus' resurrection did not depend on the faith of his disciples; if it had, it is likely it never would have occurred. His resurrection relied on the power of God rather than on the powerless fear. The defeated disciples, however, made the resurrection meaningful when they shared Jesus' triumph. Jesus knew that fear was an overwhelming burden for the disciples, so He reassured them "Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not fear." (Jn 14:27) - But even with this assurance, the disciples stayed away from his execution. After Jesus' burial, they were hiding. The angel encouraged them: "Fear not...He is risen." There was no reason for fear.

As humans, we are often paralyzed by fear. Our fear ranges from a vague uneasiness and anxiety about everything in general and nothing in particular. We can fear specific things - disease, old age, loneliness, parenting, marriage, strangers, germs, nightmares, bankruptcy, responsibility, death. But, basically, we are afraid of what God will allow to happen to us - what if He allows the same things that happened to His own Son? The worst that could happen is death; but the resurrection of Jesus has overcome even that. Not even death can snatch us from the Savior's grasp. His resurrection has become our personal triumph over our inability and fear.

Probably, no other disciple felt the sting of Jesus' death more than Peter. Jesus had called him "the rock," perhaps counting on him to be steady as a rock. But Peter proved not to be dependable. How do you ever again look squarely in the face of the one you have denied three times? But Jesus' love does not fail, no matter how much we fail him. Our relationship with him does not depend on our ability, but on his love. Peter was not the only one who failed Jesus' love. Still, Peter, James,John, and Mary Magdalene were the first ones to witness the miracle of the resurrection. There is, sometimes, a great sense of irony and humor in our powerless fear and our courage to overcome it.

The message of Easter is that we are not condemned to live a defeated life. God is willing to roll away the stones that seem to seal our destiny. It is true that we have limitations and imperfections. So what? What we cannot do, the cross and the resurrection will do, so we can experience the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

Having celebrated Easter with lilies and alleluias, we have also turned a new leaf into full bloom with the conversion process, which has already begun (I hope) and will continue until we die. Nature, in this time of the year, does just that. If we are not in this spirit, it's never too late to begin now. So we pray that Easter may not simply be a day on the calendar, but a way of life.

Faith is not just a present memory of past events in a distant land, but is a living presence and a guiding power. The stone of selfishness has been rolled away, the tomb is empty of pride and Jesus' resurrection is not the grand finale. That same Jesus is in our midst today, knocking at the doors of our lives. God forbid we dare to celebrate only what has already happened, the pages of faith already written, the miracles already performed. We celebrate our journey today and the miracles of our daily lives. So, Easter is not over and will never be over.

During this season, the doubting Thomas is our guide. What do we know about Saint Thomas? He was one of the twelve apostles. His name in Aramaic means "Twin," translated into Latin "Didymus." Since we cannot answer the question "whose twin he was", I let the scholars have fun with it. My fascination for Saint Thomas is based on the fact that his story is our story: we want to see, to touch, we want a reason to believe. There is a Thomas in each one of us. He didn't quit, but he experienced failure, fear, and disappointment. He makes us understand that we cannot stay in our own tombs of selfishness and greed. It's time to come out and soon. I am not the only one in this life...you see!

Thomas was an outsider for not being with the apostles when the Lord appeared, but soon became an insider for having the privilege of seeing Jesus with his own eyes and touching Him with his own hands. Until we are able to touch the wounds of our sisters and brothers, we would never appreciate the greatness of loving and the risk of believing. Thomas was locked in because of fear, pessimism, and grief. The doors were shut and he was inside. His doubts paralyzed his love for the Lord. Some people can certainly understand Thomas' drama when they feel imprisoned by fear. God seems only a myth, justice is relative, and Jesus a fairy tale. Thomas was a believer who wanted proof. His analytical mind demanded more than hearsay. He was the first who sensed trouble ahead and said, "Let us also go that we may die with Him." (Jn. 11:16), but the hostility and the crucifixion heaped so heavily on him that his rock-like courage was cracked into pieces. The door of fear is so powerful that he can lock us in the tomb and lock us out of faith.

Another door that shut Thomas out was pessimism. He knew things were going badly. He feared the worst and it happened. The arrest, the trial, the execution, and death of his beloved master greatly disturbed him to the point of feeling defeated and full of doubts and fears. If they did this to Jesus, who can you trust? How many times we have been defeated by our own fears, discouraged by our doubts, and eventually become cynical? Thomas' story is our story.

The third door that locked Thomas out was grief. There is no doubt that Thomas loved Jesus, but when what he feared really happened, it broke his heart. Jesus was everything to him, but when He was killed, life faded away for Thomas as well. He was in such a deep grief that he could not be with anyone. He had to be alone. There are times when sorrow needs silence and solitude.

The greatness of Thomas is that he got out of this mess with three positive steps: christian fellowship, truth, and faith. The gospel tells us that on the next appearance, the disciples were in the upper room. The doors once more were locked, but this time Thomas was inside with the others. Thomas realized his first big mistake was withdrawing from the fellowship of the disciples. The next positive step taken by Thomas was his uncompromising honesty. He refused to say he understood what he didn't or that he believed what he couldn't. He would not quiet his doubts by pretending they did not exist. The third positive step was faith to counteract his doubts. Thomas earlier did not air his doubts for the sake of mental gymnastics. He doubted in order to be sure and when he was sure, he committed himself totally and completely: "My Lord and my God."

Doubting our doubts is a sign of wisdom and maturity. Faith, on the other hand, must be embraced as is without hesitation or fear. Of course, faith has a variety of stages and we may experience the frail faith of a superficial believer or the strong faith of a saint. Faith is the eye by which we look to Jesus. A blurry eye is still an eye and so is a weeping and smiling eye. Faith is the hand by which we lay hold of Jesus. A trembling hand is still a hand. Faith is the foot by which we go to Jesus. A lame foot is still a foot.

Thank you, Thomas, for teaching us how to become insiders and how we can open the door to Jesus, wishing to enter into our history and living our story. You have shown us the way: "Don't wait to be perfect in order to love and believe, because you never will."