{"id":995,"date":"2018-04-12T20:10:54","date_gmt":"2018-04-12T20:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/?p=995"},"modified":"2018-04-12T22:26:31","modified_gmt":"2018-04-12T22:26:31","slug":"homily-easter-season-week-02-04-yr-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/2018\/04\/12\/homily-easter-season-week-02-04-yr-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"HOMILY EASTER SEASON WEEK 02 04 Yr II"},"content":{"rendered":"

Faith Transforming Life<\/em><\/p>\n

(Acts 5:27-33; Ps 34; Jn 3:31-36)<\/p>\n

**********************************<\/p>\n

We are invited by today\u2019s readings to allow our faith in the Risen Lord transform our life.<\/p>\n

One consistent theme running through all the liturgies since Easter is transformation. The disciples were transformed by the resurrection of Jesus and the reception of the Spirit from a fearful, timid band into bold, courageous followers of Jesus ready to take on the whole world and speak truth to power. Our Eastern cousins call this theosis<\/em>, divinization, becoming more God-like, and it is the core of our Easter faith.<\/p>\n

Yesterday\u2019s reading informed us the high priest, the council and the whole body of the elders of Israel had assembled to deal with the upstart apostles. Today, the temple police bring the miraculously released prisoners, Peter and the apostles, into their intimidating presence.<\/p>\n

Were they intimidated by this show of institutional religious force? Not at all \u2013 they used that turn of events to proclaim fearlessly the Jesus whom they had crucified was Risen Lord and Savior, and he was now offering new life to all, even them, through repentance, forgiveness of their sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n

In the gospel, John the Baptist speaks words to his disciples that seem more like what Jesus would say to them – about the mystery that was to unfold through the ministry, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. He had been sent by God, was the Word of God made flesh, would rule over all creation, and pour out the Spirit on those who believe without measure, filling them with eternal life, the very life of the Triune God-head itself.<\/p>\n

There is a critical pattern here.\u00a0 Faith in Jesus risen from the dead opens us up to receive the Spirit of Jesus generously poured into our hearts, stirring up within us the priceless gift of repentance that opens us up to receive the unconditional love of God as pure, undeserved forgiveness. That forgiveness and healing constitutes a new reality, a new way of being, a new way of living, of peace, wellness, justice and freedom from sin and sinfulness that is eternal life, the very life of God.<\/p>\n

The pattern concludes with the reality that we are not to sit on this gift but like the apostles, fearlessly proclaim it, witness to it, to the whole world. The catch is that witnessing means more than simply announcing \u2013 it means manifesting this new reality by our lives. As one person put it, if Christians want others to believe in their redeemer, they better start acting more redeemed!<\/p>\n

John Allen Jr., Vatican correspondent and regular speaker at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, shared his experience of interviewing Christians around the world who are being persecuted for their faith. He asked one woman in Africa who witnessed most of her family being massacred by Boka Haram, how she could be so buoyant and full of life. She replied, \u201cThe most precious gift God has given me is my faith. They took away most of my family; I will not let them take away my faith, and my faith asks me to be like Jesus, to love my enemies by forgiving them.\u201d\u00a0 Hers is transformative faith.<\/p>\n

The Eucharist itself is an experience of transformative faith. Humble gifts of bread and wine are transformed by the prayer of faith and the power of the Holy Spirit into the very body and blood of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

\"\"

LA Rel Ed Congress<\/p><\/div>\n

We who receive are in turn transformed into the body of the Risen Christ, empowered to go out and be leaven for the world, bestowing on it the unconditional love of Christ.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Faith Transforming Life (Acts 5:27-33; Ps 34; Jn 3:31-36) ********************************** We are invited by today\u2019s readings to allow our faith in the Risen Lord transform our life. One consistent theme running through all the liturgies since Easter is transformation. The disciples were transformed by the resurrection of Jesus and the reception of the Spirit from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-easter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995","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=995"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1000,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/995\/revisions\/1000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}