April 19, 2015
Recognizing Christ - Four letter Words
Luke 24:35-48 Readings - USCCB.ORG
Deacon David Lewis
Saint Charles Catholic Church, Imperial Beach / San Diego, CA
Often after Mass, I make my way to
the West Patio and join the crowd between Masses to socialize, and maybe
indulge in breakfast, lunch, or even a doughnut. And while I am out there I
will occasionally hear someone slip and let out a four letter word. Its’
comical to me when among the people they are talking to, one of them will
sometimes say “hey, the deacon is right there”. As an ex-sailor I must say I
have been known to throw out a four letter word once in a while, thankfully it
is a lot less frequent than it used to be. Sometimes when we throw around these
four words we fail to recognize, that while Father or the deacon might not be
sitting nearby, our omnipresent God, that is present-everywhere God is there. We,
just like the two men in today’s Gospel traveling to Emmaus, we often have
trouble recognizing Christ being present among us. And even more like the two
men on the road to Emmaus, we may only recognize God when we are breaking
bread, that is, we often only recognize God when we are here, in this Church,
celebrating the Mass, participating in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. We are
holy as we sit here, quietly worshipping our God, absorbing the beauty of our
Church, breathing in the scents of the Church, listening to the sounds of the
Church, the bells, the hymns, and the prayers, and equally important observing the
absence of sounds in the prayerful silence between the noises.
It’s easy to remember that Christ is
present when we are in here, its easy to remember not to use four letter words
in here. But how are we outside of Church, when God is not so easily
recognized, what four letter words do you use then?
Do we choose to use the four letter words like FEAR or do we
speak of HOPE, hope that through Christ’s death on the cross we are offered
eternal life.
Do we look for the DEAD in things, or do we look for LIFE, do
we dwell on the things that bring us down, like us anxiety, negativity, and
hate. OR do we look at the positives in our life, the graces that God has given
us, the opportunities we are given to grow from.
Do we HATE or LOVE, do we yell, chastise, and belittle those
with opposing views to ours, or do we show them the benefits of following a
loving God, and his son Jesus? The healing freedom gained from a good
confession, the spiritual food we reap as we participate in the Sacraments, and
the hope he offers us?
What four letter words dominate our lives out there?
Do we HURT, or HEAL? Do we FAST or FEED? Do we give MORE or
LESS? Do we build GATEs or WALLs?
In the Gospel today they feared Jesus, because they thought
they saw a ghost, But Jesus tried to first calm them, offering them peace, and
then tried to reassure them that he is real, that he was in fact present to
them, they were able to touch His hands and His feet, real flesh and bones.
Since the ascension, since Jesus raised himself up to heaven, we no longer have
Jesus here in the flesh dwelling among us as he did then, he makes himself
present through others, and in His Church, of which he is the head. Perhaps
that is why it is easy to recognize Christ present when we are here, we see the
face of Christ in the head of the Church, but when looking at the rest of the
body, which is us, the people, is much
harder to recognize as Christ. But if we go out living four letter words of
virtue, Christ will be much more visible to us, and we will make Christ more
visible to others.
When we JOIN instead of RUIN, when we seek to GAIN and not
LOSE, When we are JUST and not EVIL when we seek to FEED instead of REEP we bring
the kingdom of God to others.
When we live a life to GIFT to others and not to make them EARN
our resources, when we focus on what is TRUE and not FAKE, it is then that we
will see all that is HOLY, Jesus who conquered EVIL, who DIED to give us LIFE.
Let us remember as we go out those doors today the most
important of the four letter words our faith offers us, His LOVE, and His HOPE
