April_10

This is certainly one of the Bible classics. It's the story of Jesus encountering the Disciples on the road to Emmaus that we are so familiar with. I think this story has some elements that I think are human. Jesus joins up with these two disillusioned, disheartened disciples as they are going home to Emmaus on that first Easter Sunday and he says, “What are you talking about?” And they reply, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who doesn’t know what’s gone on these last couple of days?” I think that’s pretty funny. Then Jesus plays it. He goes on to break the Scriptures open for them and then when he breaks the bread, they recognize it is the risen Lord. There is a mystery here. Jesus Christ rose in his body but for some reason people didn’t recognize him. Mary Magdalene didn’t recognize him until he said, “Mary” and she said, “Raboni”. The apostles were out fishing and they didn’t recognize him until John, his beloved, said, “It is the Lord.” Peter was so excited he jumped out of the boat and swam over to see him. Then there was this case here in Emmaus. I guess we’ll have to wait until we get to heaven to find out exactly what had happened.

I want to tell you another story that is a lot less mysterious but I think interesting and parallel to this story today. Fr. Mark Link is a Jesuit writer and author and storyteller. He tells the story, a true story, of a woman named Regina Riley, who had a number of children. Two of her sons fell away from the church. It is a story that everyone here can relate to. We all have families, and in every one of our families, there are members who have fallen away, whom we love and we pray for them. They are good people and we just want more than anything else, for them to return to the faith with us.  Regina Riley prayed every day for her sons and carried this around as a cross. One Sunday, she was at mass and she looked across the aisle and there they were, her two sons, smiling at mom. She watched them of course, as parents always watch their children at church. She watched them and she noticed that they truly participated fully in the mass, and that they weren’t there just for her. After mass, the younger son explained what had happened.

He and his brother had been fishing the week before in Colorado but unfortunately, or fortunately, they got rained out. Day, after day, after day it rained. On Sunday morning they got up at their campsite and it was another washout. They said to one another, "Let’s go into town and get something to eat. Let’s get a good hot breakfast." They got in the pickup truck and they made their way down the mountain road in the mud. It was raining hard and they looked in front of them and there was an old man with a cane, no umbrella, soaking wet, trekking along this muddy road. They stopped and they said, “We’ll give you a lift stranger. Where are you going?” He was a Hispanic man, and he says, “I’m going to mass, about a mile up the road.” He was a talkative man. He never shut up. In my mind’s eye, I built this story around and about Freddie Baca. Any of you know Freddie?   So, this man, he’s gabbing away, and they finally get to this little church, this little capias--chapel. These are two good men. They said to the old man, “We'll wait for you and we’ll take you home after mass.” But after a few moments of sitting in the truck, they said, "Well, we might as well go in." So, they went into mass and then something happened. They were moved. They heard the scriptures and as they celebrated the Eucharist, they were converted again. They both looked at each other and they said, “We’re back.” The younger son told his mom, he said, “Mom, it was like coming home after a long, tiring trip.” Its a lovely story and a simple one and its repeated itself, in many different ways, millions of times.

This story of Luke 24, the two disciples, who are going along home from Jerusalem, once had followed Jesus. They believed that he was sent by God to establish a better kingdom, a better world. Then came the stormy days of Good Friday. They had seen their hope die, their hopes dashed. They left Jesus in an unmarked tomb and headed home. Then they met a stranger on the road and they listened to him. They watched him and something moved them deeply. It was Jesus.

It's almost identical in many ways to the two young men in Colorado. They had once followed Christ also, as children. No doubt they remembered their First Holy Communion. They remembered the activities in church and catechism. Perhaps, they remembered their Confirmation, but then came the stormy days of adolescence. As soon as the magic 13 comes, mom and dad suddenly know nothing. They venture out as if they want to invent their own wheel. They become disillusioned with the faith, for whatever the reason. Perhaps, they were scandalized by the clergy, and many have been understandably. If one is looking for an excuse to leave the church, there is one right there. Maybe, they didn’t like a teaching or two of the church. They probably said church is boring!! And they can’t listen to any more of those sermons that go on and on.

By the way, we tape the sermons and they are transcribed and put on the net. When I start getting long, Renee gives me the dirtiest look because she has to transcribe this stuff. Where are you Renee? Just kind of start going ahem when I start going on. I don’t know why you complain; you only have three kids to care for.

Where was I? Boring. Oh, that’s right. What do you expect for $8 an hour? You want better? (Laughter)

These boys, they had left Jesus in an unmarked tomb and went on their own way. Then they met Freddie on the road and Freddie took them back to church. There, they recognized Christ in his word and in the breaking of the bread. For many of us, this is our story. Now, there are many of you who have never ventured off that road. God bless you. But most of us have ventured off that road. I know I certainly have. I’m so happy to be back home in the church that I love, through God’s grace and God’s mercy. People become disillusioned with the church. Maybe they don’t agree with a teaching or two, maybe they are scandalized, maybe they are just bored. But they will come back, many of them, if they hear the word and if they recognize Christ in the breaking of the bread.

As a matter of fact, this past week, I think most of us have been somewhat involved in the Holy Father’s death and funeral. How many of you watched that funeral mass on television? I was mesmerized by the whole thing. I taped it on Fox and on CNN and I watched the whole three hours on both of them. I can’t tell you how many times I just cried. My eyes filled with tears as I looked on these young pilgrims with their eyes filled with tears, their devotion when they received Holy Communion, kneeling on cobblestones and praying. It was such a catholic event. By that I mean universal; black faces and white faces and Asian faces and gazillions of Poles. There were no train seats or plane seats, so many made the 30 or 35 hour drive in heavy traffic to Rome. Then the Italians… I know why God put his church in Rome. They are the only people who can take, suddenly, an extra 4 million visitors and everyone gets their roll and coffee and some sausage. They take care of people in

Italy

. The friendliest people in the world are Italians, without question.

I was so deeply moved and I don’t even know why. Interestingly, throughout the week, I have been blessed to be part of the reconciliation of four or five people who have come back to the church. I ask them, “Why this week?” They say, “Well I've been watching and I’ve been moved and I want to come home. I want to be Catholic again.” It’s not in some haughty way, but in the most humble way, asking for God’s mercy. Also, this week, people are so easily moved to tears, even men. That’s why we men die so young, we never cry. Women live into their hundreds. They cry all the time. They cry when they’re happy, they cry when they’re sad. We don’t understand women, but we’ve got to learn something from them.

One of the reporters on CNN was asked a question to a commentator “Do you think this will be a time of renewal for the Church?” I heard a non-Catholic commentator say, “Well, he was my Pope too”. He was our pope, even for non-Catholics. The commentator said, regarding whether this will be a time of renewal, said, “I don’t know.” I don’t either but I think it may be. I think there are a lot of people out there, who have left the road and who only need the slightest prayer and invitation from you or a phone call. This may be a very good time to do that and I encourage you to take this opportunity and consider doing that.

Of course you'll hear, “Well, I’m a Christian, but I don’t believe in the church.” You ever heard that? You can’t separate Christ from his church, by his design. Paul learned that lesson the hard way. You know that story; Paul was on the road to Damascus to persecute the Christians, the church. He was knocked off his horse and heard this voice, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And Paul said, “Who are you, sir, so that I may know?” And Jesus replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.” Paul was almost in tears. He didn’t think he was persecuting Jesus. He was persecuting the church. Jesus did not differentiate between Himself and the Church. Paul took that lesson. In many of his writings, he used that notion that the body of the church, we are many members, but we are one body. We all have a function, we are all dignified, we are all needed, but Christ is the head and we are the body. Anyone who says, “I believe in Christ, but not the church,” decapitates Christ. They are going to worship his head and you can’t do that. You can’t separate Christ from his church. As flawed as the Catholic Church is and its leadership over these 2000 years, it is still holy. Our Holy Father said, “Catholics are sinners and priests are sinners, but Jesus Christ is the body of the church and it is holy and it will always be holy.” You can’t separate the two. If we are to encounter Christ, we need to encounter him in the church.

I love the idea of the church as an old broken down school bus that goes through all the neighborhoods, black and white and Hispanic, all the races. Everyone gets on. You know how school buses are. Anyone ever drive a school bus? God bless you. It’s the toughest job in

America

. I can see the Pope driving this bus with all the kids, all these troublemakers in the back of the bus. “Shut up. I am driving bus. I am Pope.” (Polish accent) But maybe a better image is the ark of Peter, the boat of Peter and I can see our Holy Father at the helm, and of course there are those on the port side, and those on the starboard side, the left and the right. Up and down and complaining and fighting each other. The Pope is going like this, “Will you please sit down?” he says. I think he was happy to die. What a job he had for 26 years. Most of us didn’t make it easy for him. We were fractious children at times. But only in his death do we recognize what a blessing this man was and continues to be as a great saint in our church.