May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for
us.
The Easter season is a time of grace and peace. We have received the good news of the empty
tomb and the promise of the mercy of God.
We have meditated on the consequences of our love for the Lord and the
consequences of the love that the Lord has for us. We have rejoiced in being part of the flock
of the Good Shepherd and we have embraced our place as beloved children in the
kingdom of the Father. Today our
readings draw our focus to the gift of the peace that the Lord offers to
us. The gift of peace, dear brothers and
sisters, comes through sacrifice.
In our reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear of one
of the major controversies in the early Christian community. In the earliest days of the Church, we had a
mixture of two very different cultures.
There were the Jewish people who knew the law and the prophets, and lived
by a strict legal code that included many laws regarding food and eating. The Gentiles, on the other hand, may have had
a background in a pagan religion or a philosophy, but they did not have many
laws regarding food or eating. From time
immemorial, Jews and Gentiles did not eat together. As history has shown us, it is very difficult
to form a Christian community when they cannot eat together in friendship. The solution, prayerfully determined by the
apostles and elders, was a compromise.
It was not, however, a compromise of a doctrine, but of a
discipline. Each community would
sacrifice something so that the whole body could be at peace. Peace comes only through sacrifice.
In our reading from the Book of Revelation, we are given a
vision of the heavenly city of God. The
holy city of the New Jerusalem is the city of peace. It gleams with the splendor of God and
radiates with the brilliance of precious jewels. Its walls are built on the heritage of the
twelve tribes and its gates are protected by angels. The foundation stones of the city of God are
twelve apostles, and the temple of the city is the Lord God and the Lamb. The peace of the city of God has come through
the sacrifice of the Lamb who lives forever.
In our Gospel reading today we hear from the words of the
Lord Jesus at the Last Supper. Last week
we received our new title as children of God and the new commandment to love
one another as Christ has loved us. This
week, we hear the promise of the Lord Jesus that when we respond in love to his
love, and keep his commandments of love, then the Father and the Son will dwell
within us. Having received the Lord’s
love and responded in love, our souls become a fitting dwelling for the Most
High God. Heaven will not only be up,
but within. And the peace of the Kingdom
of God, present in the soul of the baptized child of God, comes only from
sacrifice. It is the sacrifice of the Son
of God who offers himself on the altar of the Cross. It is the sacrifice of the disciples of the Lamb
of God, who renounce the reign of sin and offer the sacrifice of their worship to
God alone. The gift of the peace of the Lord
is given only through sacrifice. The gift
of the peace of the Lord must be received before the community of believers can
truly join the holy city. This is among the
reasons why we exchange the sign of peace in the Sacred Liturgy after the sacrifice
at the consecration, and before we receive Holy Communion. Christ alone, through the gift of his sacrifice
and through the gift of his apostles, brings us peace.
As we now enter into the mystery of the sacrifice of the Lamb,
let us pray for the grace of prayerful discernment as our two cultures grow together
in friendship and charity. Let us place upon
the altar our sacrifices so that they will be united to the one sacrifice of the
Lamb. And let us rejoice in the love of the
Father and the Son, and share in the gift of peace. Amen.
Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic
Church, Monroe, NC
