{"id":2322,"date":"2019-05-02T04:16:27","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T04:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/?p=2322"},"modified":"2019-05-02T04:16:27","modified_gmt":"2019-05-02T04:16:27","slug":"easter-faith-transformation-eternal-life-empty-tomb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/02\/easter-faith-transformation-eternal-life-empty-tomb\/","title":{"rendered":"Easter-Faith-Transformation-Eternal life-Empty tomb"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 02 04\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Faith, Transformation and Eternal Life<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

(Acts 5:27-33; Jn 3:31-36)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Faith, transformation and eternal life \u2013 these three words sum up the message from today\u2019s readings.<\/span><\/p>\n

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We believe in the resurrection of Jesus; we experience transformation through forgiveness and healing, and we then live lives of obedient love.<\/span><\/p>\n

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It all begins with faith. We believe what Peter and the apostles proclaimed to the Jewish leaders in the first reading: God our Father (Creator for the Indigenous, YHWH for the Jews, Allah for the Muslims) has raised Jesus as Leader and Savior from the dead to new life (he would never die again) through the power of the Holy Spirit who also serves as a witness to this unprecedented, earth-shattering, historic event. Never before in the history of humanity has such a momentous event occurred. No wonder the apostles were beside themselves in fearlessly witnessing to this great event.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The consequence of this act of God in history is powerful and personal. We are to repent, to turn around, to change, to put on our higher mind, confess our sins, and receive complete and total forgiveness. God won\u2019t even remember our sins \u2013 they no longer exist (Hebrews 8:12). Step 5 of the 12 Step program puts it this way: \u201cAdmitted God, ourselves, and one other person the exact nature of our wrongs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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But there is more \u2013 we are to be open to receive healing of our sinfulness – that which makes us sin. Good spirituality is all about letting go. We are to let go of our painful emotions such as anger and resentment, our defects of character and negative attitudes such as false pride, stubborn self-will and self-righteousness, and even all our addictions, whether chemical or process. Step 6 states: \u201cWe humbly asked God to remove all our defects of character\u201d (I would add, \u201cand fill us with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.\u201d)\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"An empty jail and an empty tomb \u2013 powerful symbols that invite us to leave behind us a string of empty tombs as we begin to experience that eternal life that Jesus came to give us through the Holy Spirit. That eternal life, here and now, is peace, joy, a right relationship with God, all other people, our selves and all of God\u2019s creation. It is freedom from guilt and fear, anger and resentment, shock and shame, sadness and self-pity \u2013 the big eight emotions that underlie all our dysfunction. We have been set free \u2013 free to live and to love.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Our response, as the Gospel puts it, is the exact opposite of the Jewish leaders who wanted to kill the apostles \u2013 so stuck were they in their own self-constructed religious paradigm that they simply could not believe and be healed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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We, on the other hand, now have eternal life, and are to live in obedience to the Son whose command to us is to love God with our whole being; love others as we love ourselves, love one another as he has loved us, and even love our enemies by forgiving them. That is truly newness of life.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Jean Vanier and St. Mother Theresa of Calcutta come to mind as two persons whose faith in the resurrection and whose experience of the forgiveness and healing power of Jesus led them to commit themselves to the service of the poor and disadvantaged totally and wholeheartedly. They serve as excellent examples and inspirations for us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Eucharist is a share in the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a celebration of faith that sends us out to live our faith, forgiven and healed, through acts of love, and to leave behind us a string of empty tombs.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 02 04\u00a0 Faith, Transformation and Eternal Life (Acts 5:27-33; Jn 3:31-36) *************************************** \u00a0 Faith, transformation and eternal life \u2013 these three words sum up the message from today\u2019s readings. \u00a0 We believe in the resurrection of Jesus; we experience transformation through forgiveness and healing, and we then live lives of obedient […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-easter","category-homilies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2322"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2324,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2322\/revisions\/2324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}