Fifth Sunday of Easter, cycle C

JOHN 13: 31-33, 34-35
TODAY IS THE FEAST OF SAINT JOSEPH, THE WORKER. IT'S ALSO THE FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH THAT THE CHURCH DEDICATES TO MARY, THE MOTHER OF GOD AND THE PATRON OF THIS PARISH. IN FACT, THE NAME WE USE FOR THIS MONTH IS A NICKNAME FOR MARY; MY GRANDMOTHER'S NAME WAS MARY, AND SHE INSISTED THAT HER FRIENDS CALLED HER MAE. TODAY WE HEAR ABOUT THE GLORIFICATION OF CHRIST. AND CHRIST IS FIRST OF ALL GLORIFIED BY THE SACRIFICE OF HIS LIFE ON THE CROSS. BUT IT IS OUR DUTY, OUR RESPONSIBILITY, TO GLORIFY CHRIST OURSELVES.
ONE WAY WE DO THIS IS WHEN WE ALLOW JESUS TO WORK AND PRAY THROUGH US, AND WHEN WE SEE OUR JESUS IN OUR FELLOW CHRISTIANS. AND YOU AND I DON'T DO A VERY GOOD JOB OF THIS. JESUS SAYS, “THIS IS HOW ALL WILL KNOW THAT YOU ARE MY DISCIPLES, IF YOU HAVE LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER.” HE DOESN'T MEAN A WARM FEELING; NO ONE CAN TELL WHAT MY FEELINGS ARE, SO I CAN HAVE A WARM FEELING, AND TO AN OUTSIDE OBSERVER, THERE IS NOTHING THERE. SO THE OBSERVER WILL NOT KNOW THAT I AM A DISCIPLE. HE DOESN'T MEAN ACTS OF CHARITY; ACTS OF CHARITY CAN COME FROM LOVE, IT IS TRUE, BUT THEY CAN COME FROM A DESIRE TO PLEASE, A DESIRE TO BE RESPECTED, EVEN A DESIRE TO GET SOMETHING FROM THE PERSON TO WHOM YOU ARE BEING CHARITABLE. THE OUTSIDE OBSERVER CAN'T TELL WHETHER I AM A DISCIPLE BY AN ACT OF CHARITY.
IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD THERE IS A PERSON WHO IS DESPERATELY LONELY. MAYBE SOMEONE WHO IS VERY SHY, SOMEONE WHO IS ASHAMED OF THE WAY SHE LOOKS, SOMEONE WHO IS A LITTLE ODD AND OFF-PUTTING. IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD THERE IS SOMEONE WHO IS AT HER WIT'S END. HER HUSBAND IS LEAVING HER, AND SHE DOESN'T KNOW HOW SHE IS GOING TO CARE FOR HER CHILDREN AND KEEP HER FULL-TIME JOB. IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD, THERE IS A FRAIL, ELDERLY PERSON WHO DEPENDS ON OTHERS TO GET TO THE STORE OR TO CHURCH, AND OFTEN IT'S EASIER TO MAKE A SUPPER OF CRACKERS AND PEANUT BUTTER THAN TO BOTHER PEOPLE TO DRIVE HIM SOMEWHERE. IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD THERE IS A PERSON STRUGGLING WITH AN ADDICTION TO ALCOHOL, WHO COULD TURN HIS LIFE AROUND IF HE DIDN'T HAVE TO MAKE THE DIFFICULT JOURNEY BACK TO SOBRIETY ALONE. AND THEY ARE ALL CATHOLIC.
DO YOU KNOW WHO ELSE IS IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD? DO YOU KNOW THEIR SORROWS, THEIR NEEDS, THEIR EMPTINESS? IN THE EARLIEST DAYS OF THE CHURCH, IN THE DAYS WHEN THE RESURRECTION WAS FRESH, IF YOU WERE A CHRISTIAN YOUR FELLOW CHRISTIANS LOOKED AFTER YOU; AND IF YOU WERE A CHRISTIAN YOU FOUND OUT WHAT OTHER CHRISTIANS NEEDED AND DID ALL YOU COULD TO HELP THEM OUT. THAT WAS SO IMPORTANT THAT THE APOSTLES APPOINTED THE FIRST DEACONS WHOSE JOB IT WAS TO MAKE SURE THAT EVERYONE HAD WHAT THEY NEEDED. PRAYER AND PREACHING WERE IMPORTANT, OF COURSE; BUT CHRISTIANS HAD PUT ON CHRIST, AND IN SERVING THE NEEDS OF YOUR FELLOW CHRISTIANS, YOU WERE SERVING CHRIST YOURSELF. IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE CHURCH, PEOPLE KNEW WHO WAS IN THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD, AND THERE WOULD NOT BE PEOPLE LIKE THOSE I MENTIONED; IT WOULD HAVE BROUGHT SHAME ON THE WHOLE COMMUNITY, IF THEY DID NOT LOOK AFTER EACH OTHER.
DO YOU AND I LIVE SO THAT AN OUTSIDER WILL KNOW THAT WE ARE JESUS' DISCIPLES? NOT IF THERE ARE BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF OURS RIGHT UNDER OUR NOSES WHO ARE ABANDONED, LEFT TO THEIR OWN DEVICES, WHILE WE HAVE THE MEANS TO HELP THEM BUT CHOOSE NOT TO. DO YOU AND I LIVE SO THAT THE PAGANS OF OUR TIME LOOK AT US AND SAY, AS THEY DID IN THOSE DAYS, “SEE HOW THESE CHRISTIANS LOVE ONE ANOTHER!”
ANOTHER WAY WE GLORIFY CHRIST IS TO LISTEN TO HIM, AND TAKE HIM SERIOUSLY. DURING THIS MONTH OUR ATTENTION IS CALLED TO MARY'S PRAYER, THE ROSARY. MARY CARRIED JESUS IN HER WOMB, HELD HIM IN HER ARMS WHEN HE WAS A BABY; PLAYED WITH HIM, CHANGED HIS DIAPERS, SAW HIS FIRST SMILE, HELD OUT HER ARMS AS HE TOOK HIS FIRST STEPS. SHE WORRIED WHEN HE LEFT THE TRADE JOSEPH HAD TAUGHT HIM AND BECAME A WANDERING PREACHER; SHE EVEN WORRIED THAT SOMETHING MIGHT BE WRONG WITH HIM. SHE WATCHED AS HE DIED ON THE CROSS, AND SHE WEPT AS SHE HELD HIS LIFELESS BODY. HER HEART WAS BROKEN AS HE WAS PLACED IN THE TOMB, AND THE STONE ROLLED OVER THE ENTRANCE; AND HER HEART BECAME RADIANT WHEN HE APPEARED AFTER THE RESURRECTION. SHE FELT THE WIND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ON THAT FIRST PENTECOST. MARY KNEW JESUS, KNEW HIM BETTER THAN ANYONE, BEFORE OR AFTER. AND MARY LONGS TO SHOW YOU THE JESUS SHE KNOWS. THE ROSARY IS HER GIFT. THE 20 MYSTERIES SHOW US THE GOSPEL, AND YOU CAN SPEND A LIFETIME THINKING ABOUT EACH OF THEM; THROUGH THE MYSTERIES, IF WE LISTEN, WE HEAR JESUS SPEAKING TO US. IN BETWEEN THE MYSTERIES, WE CHANT THE MANTRA “HAIL MARY”, AND IN THAT RHYTHM WE OPEN OURSELVES TO THE HOLY SPIRIT, WHO BUILDS UP CHRIST IN US, JUST AS HE CONCEIVED CHRIST IN MARY. WE PRAY THE PRAYER OUR SAVIOR TAUGHT US; WE GIVE GLORY TO THE HOLY TRINITY. WE RECITE THE CREED OF OUR FAITH AND CALL TO MIND WHAT WE BELIEVE AND THOSE THINGS FOR WHICH WE HOPE.
THE ROSARY, MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, IS NOT A PRAYER TO MARY. THE ROSARY IS MARY'S MEDITATION ON JESUS, AND OUR HAIL MARYS ARE WORDS OF LOVE FOR THIS MOTHER OF OURS, WHO WAS GIVEN TO US BY JESUS HIMSELF ON THAT FIRST GOOD FRIDAY.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO SAY THE ROSARY TO BE A CATHOLIC. IT ISN'T LIKE THE OBLIGATION TO ATTEND SUNDAY MASS, TO GET MARRIED IN THE CHURCH, TO RECEIVE THE EUCHARIST AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR, TO CONFESS YOUR SINS AT LEAST WHEN YOU ARE IN THE STATE OF SERIOUS SIN. BUT SINCE THE ROSARY BEGAN TO BE RECITED 1000 YEARS AGO, AND BECAME A UNIVERSAL PRAYER OF THE WESTERN CHURCH ABOUT 500 YEARS AGO, THERE ARE NO SAINTS WHO DID NOT LOVE THE ROSARY. EVERY MODERN POPE HAS WRITTEN ON THE ROSARY. GREAT THEOLOGIANS AND ILLITERATE TRIBESMEN, PEOPLE FULL OF YEARS AND LITTLE CHILDREN, HAVE LOVED THE ROSARY, HAVE PRAYED WITH MARY TO JESUS. AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO BELIEVE IN FATIMA, OR LOURDES, OR ANY OF THE OTHER MANIFESTATIONS OF MARY IN RECENT TIMES TO BE A CATHOLIC; BUT AMONG THOSE APPARITIONS APPROVED BY THE CHURCH, HOW OFTEN DOES MARY ASK THAT HER ROSARY BE SAID? THAT SHOULD GIVE US PAUSE.
SAINT PADRE PIO, A MIRACLE WORKER OF OUR OWN TIMES, WORKED HIS MIRACLES THROUGH THE POWER OF THE ROSARY. AND OUR POOR COUNTRY AND OUR DAMAGED WORLD NEED SOME MIRACLES. PLEASE RESOLVE TO SAY AT LEAST ONE ROSARY THIS MONTH, SLOWLY AND THOUGHTFULLY. AND IF YOU WANT TO SAY A FEW MORE, MAYBE YOU CAN SPARE FIFTEEN MINUTES A DAY FOR THIS WONDERFUL DEVOTION, AND LET MARY SHOW YOU HER JESUS.
AND YOU WILL BE GIVING GLORY TO JESUS, AND IN SO DOING, TO GOD THE FATHER.