Fr. Frank Majka, SJ – The Bridge

Early Spring in Omaha

Opened Minds (Easter 3)

Jesus opened his disciples’ minds. That’s what the gospel says.  He opened the minds of the disciples hiding in the upper room just as he had opened the minds of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus earlier that day.

Jesus opened their minds to understand that what had happened in the Passion and Resurrection was not some accident or unexpected and unfortunate series of events. Jesus opened their minds to see that the whole history of God’s dealings with human beings in general and the Chosen People in particular had pointed to these things, had “prefigured” them and, conversely, that his passion, death, and rising gave ultimate meaning and significance to all that had gone before. When the Emmaus disciples heard what Jesus told them, they came alive. The disciples in the upper room surely felt the same.

But what does all this have to do with us? Just this. We may sometimes think that our lives are just one disconnected thing after another, a whole lot of beads with nothing to string them onto or nothing holding them together. Just individual beads.  This is how post-modernists see things. They are distrustful of “meta-narratives,” that is, stories that are large enough to contain other stories and give them purpose, direction, and meaning. But that is precisely what the Christian faith is.

Christians believe that God is making something out of his actions and the actions of others, that he is even able to take things that look meaningless (like the suffering and death of Jesus) and bring about something wonderful that “fits” the story of his own love for us. St. Paul said it in Romans, chapter 8, when he wrote that God work to bring all things into good for those who love him. We believe that God is able to create his story and bring it about and that his will can “be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

So, we do not live without hope, nor must we think that the things we do or undergo lack meaning and value. Every time we celebrate the Eucharist, we are being reminded of the ability of God’s story to encompass the whole all our little stories. And especially during the Easter season we are reassured that even those things that look like they don’t belong in God’s story have a part to play in the praise and glory of God. That is what Jesus showed the disciples when he opened their minds.

The One Command (Easter 2)

Jesus gave Christians a commandment simple to state but difficult to obey: Love one another as I have loved you.

He showed what he meant on Easter night when he appeared to those followers of his who’d abandoned him or denied him during the passion.  Instead of calling them to account he wished them peace, blessed them, breathed his Spirit over them, and told them to be a community of reconciliation and forgiveness.  He never once brought up their cowardice and disloyalty; he didn’t even hint at it; he didn’t wait for an apology before expressing his love for them. What remarkable generosity and forgiveness Christ showed!

Easter is a good time for us — as individuals and as a church — to ask ourselves: Are we making an effort to be loving, forgiving, and reconciling people or are we harsh, demanding, and unforgiving? If the latter, then we aren’t obeying the one commandment Christ gave us, and we need to ask for the gift of being able to imitate his generous kindness to those who’d let him down.

Ms. Bunny Says Hello

Jesus’ Easter and Ours

In the Resurrection, Jesus broke through to a fullness of life that none of us has experienced. What we know about the risen Jesus, however, can tell us what awaits us.

First of all, matter, which can often act as factor that limits what we can do, will no longer weigh us down but will share in the freedom of the sons and daughters of God. Matter no longer limited Jesus’ ability to appear even in places that had been locked to keep anyone from entering. In fact, St. Paul says in Romans, chapter 8, that nature itself longs for us to be glorified so that it, too, can be transformed along with us.

In the risen Jesus we also see that our dearest and deepest relationships will continue to exist. When he appeared to the disciples, Jesus still called them his friends and showed his trust and love for them. We can expect the same to be true for us, too, and can anticipate that heaven will be filled with friendship and love.

Finally, the risen Jesus remained a human being, not swallowed up into some kind of amorphous state, but truly staying an individual, even to the extent of bearing the marks of the wounds of his crucifixion and death.  We, too, will be ourselves, having passed into a different way of being, for certain, but remaining who we are.

So, the mystery of Easter shows not only what the fullness of life is like for Jesus, it also gives us a glimpse of what it will be like for us — a future we can anticipate with joy.

Happy Easter!