Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Deacon's Bench

Home
Catholic
Religion News
Homily for April 22, 2012: 3rd Sunday of Easter — UPDATED with audio

Homily for April 22, 2012: 3rd Sunday of Easter — UPDATED with audio

Last updated on: April 21, 2012 at 10:38 am by Deacon Greg Kandra

Homily for April 22, 2012: 3rd Sunday of Easter — UPDATED with audio 2012-04-21T10:38:44-04:00 Deacon Greg Kandra

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

[Click here for readings.]

For audio of this homily as it was delivered, click the green arrow below.

https://aleteiaen.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/0422homily.mp3

Three years ago, on the 3rd of July 2009, 33-year-old Scott Fedor was vacationing with his wife at Coldwater Lake in Michigan. It was a place they’d visited often, and loved. But the weather had been dry and the lake had receded, had become more shallow. So Scott wasn’t prepared for what happened when he dove off the dock. He struck the lake floor. The impact instantly broke his neck. He was left paralyzed from the shoulders down.

Scott has spent every day since trying to get back some of his regular life. He’s confined to a wheelchair. But he is determined that one day he will walk again, and he tries to make his life as normal as possible. Which is why, early last week, some of his friends helped him fulfill a dream. They took him to a Bruce Springsteen concert in Cleveland.

Scott Fedor is crazy for Springsteen, knows all his music. Before he left, he sent an email to Springsteen’s PR manager, telling his story and describing how much he loved one of Springsteen’s songs in particular, “Trapped,” which contains the line: “I know some day I’ll walk out of here again.” Scott wasn’t sure if anything would come of it.

Well, something did.

Tuesday night, Scott went to the concert. After it was over, someone from Springsteen’s staff came out to find him. He took him to a service elevator and then backstage. And there, to his amazement, Bruce Springsteen, the Boss, came out to meet him. Scott wrote about on his blog this way:

“He walked right up to me and placed his hand around my neck and kissed the side of my head. ‘God bless,’ were the first words one of the greatest rockers of all time said to me. And at that very moment there was not a doubt in my mind of how blessed by God I really was. I was alive.”

Springsteen posed for pictures and chatted for a few minutes. Then he noticed the holy medal Scott was wearing around his neck – a medal of the Blessed Mother. Bruce Springsteen was wearing the exact same medal. He smiled. “Ah, a Catholic boy,” he said. And Scott replied, “We’ve got to stick together.” And then Springsteen leaned in and gave him another kiss on his head and said again, “God bless you.” And then he was gone.

A priest friend was with Scott that night. He wrote later that he believed the two men – two “Catholic boys sticking together” – managed to see, in each other, Christ. It was a moment of unexpected grace.

You never know where or how you will find those moments. We hear about one of them in this Sunday’s gospel – a very real encounter with Christ that left the disciples, in the words of Luke, “incredulous.”

The disciples met the risen Lord themselves in a tangible, physical way — a figure of flesh and bone, of wounds and scars, who even ate with them. “Touch me and see,” he told them. See, he said, and believe.

This is the last of the resurrection appearances that we’ll be hearing about in the Sunday gospels this Easter season. But whether we realize it or not ,all of them, collectively, point to what we are doing today.

First, there is a communal aspect: after rising from the dead, Jesus appeared togroups of people, always two or more. Secondly, there was often some form of a meal involved, whether it was the breaking of the bread at Emmaus, eating fish here, or preparing breakfast on the seashore. Thirdly, after these encounters, the disciples gained a deeper understanding of his message, his mission, and the scriptures. Finally, he often came bearing a message: Peace. In the end, those he met were somehow changed.

If it sounds familiar, it should. These encounters with Christ foreshadowed what we are doing here and now, in our own celebration – one that is communal, that is a meal, that breaks open God’s word and that leaves us, somehow, changed.

Make no mistake: what happened 2,000 years ago is happening again here. Christ is with us.

The disciples had his presence made real, in flesh and blood.

We have his Real Presence, under the appearance of bread and wine.

When you think about what is happening— what is unfolding here before us and among us—we should be, like the disciples, full of joy. We should be “incredulous.” And we should be profoundly humbled. Christ invites us at every Eucharist to encounter him. To share a meal with him. To touch him. To receive him. To make him a part of us, and to then take him out into the wider world.

Which means that the Resurrection that we celebrate this Easter season wasn’t just a moment in history, something in the past tense.

It is in the present tense.

It goes on.

And, if we choose, it can continue to leave us transformed.

At the concert Tuesday night, Springsteen dedicated one of his songs to Scott Fedor, a folk anthem called “We Are Alive.” The song begins with the image of a cross – “a cross up on Calvary Hill,” the lyric says – and describes a graveyard, where the souls of the dead live on. In many ways, it is a song of triumph over death, of resurrection and hope. The refrain says:

“Though we lie alone here in the dark
Our souls will rise to carry the fire and light the spark
To stand shoulder to shoulder and heart to heart…

We are alive.”

My friends, because of “the cross up on Calvary Hill,” because of Easter morning, weare alive, alive in Christ.

And when we receive the Eucharist, he is alive in us.

Let us never forget that. And pray to continue what began with the bright flame of the Easter vigil, the flame that still burns here in this candle and within each of us.

Carry the fire. Light the spark. Stand shoulder to shoulder and heart to heart.

Because we are alive.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

April 21, 2012

Catholics who are helping turn the tide of opinion on the death penalty

Next Post

April 21, 2012 RIP, Chuck Colson

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category "Mad Men" 9/11 advent All Things New Amazing video amazing videos amazon america Anglicans Anti-Catholicism art ascension thursday ash wednesday Atheists baltimore Bible Bishops Blogging bonnie engstrom Books bridgeport Brooklyn Chaplains children christian art christmas Church Churches CNEWA Converts criticism Deacons Death Penalty easter eastern christian Eastern Christians Ecumenism education Education Eucharist Europe euthanasia Evangelization Exorcism Family Feasts Gay rights Good Friday Great links Great Moments in Journalism Hanging with the saints heather renshaw Hispanic Catholics Hispanics History homelies Homilies Humor Hymn of the Week Immigration indianapolis Inspiration Interfaith news ireland Jesus Jews Journalism Judaism lent Liturgy logos Marriage Mary Media Medical news Mental health Middle East Monks Movies Music Muslims My world and welcome to it New Evangelization new york News Nuns Parenting Parish life peoria Persecution politics Politics Pope pope francis pope john paul Prayer Preaching Priests Pro-life Quote of the day radio rebecca frech ripp Ripped from the headlines rippred from the headlines Sacraments saints Scripture sex abuse Sex abuse crisis SEX ABUSE CRISIS TAGGED WITH: SEX ABUSE CRISIS The people in the pews the visitation project theatre This & that Thomas Merton Trappists TV Uncategorized uncategorized Vatican VATICAN vocation Vocations Voices & Views Women Worth a thousand words Writing Year of Faith year of mercy young people

Select a Month December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was thrown into a den of lions?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Daniel Jonah David Joseph

Books by This Author Books by Deacon Greg Kandra

See All Titles »