Deacon Tom's Homily for Sunday, May 21st

If you were God, how would you manifest your glory?

What’s the one thing you would do to let the human family know who you are? Would you light up the sky with a show of comets to demonstrate your infinite power? Would you step through the curtain of time appearing all over the world as Ruler of the Universe?

In Today’s Gospel, we witness the immortal Son praying to His Beloved Father, accepting His Own death.

Jesus takes all our sins upon Himself. He suffers and dies for us in our place. He pays the price for my sins with His suffering and death. HOW MUCH ARE WE LOVED!!!

This death, and subsequent resurrection, of the Son is the one thing God has chosen to manifest His Glory! More than anything else, this one event most perfectly reveals who God is: He is merciful love, pure, unselfish, healing love. His entire Being, down to the depths of His Heart, is love.

As His children, we must strive to be as much like God as we can; we must try to be as loving as our Father is. How do we do this?

By keeping our eyes on Jesus. Every week we pay attention to the scriptures being proclaimed here at Mass. Every week we listen to the homily, which tries to relate the scripture readings to our everyday lives. At home we pick up the bible and pray the gospels, watching Jesus healing the sick, forgiving those who wrong Him. He shows us how to live.

We work at knowing Jesus better, putting into action His compassion for others, His genuine concern.

My Mother was always fond of saying, “Actions speak louder than words.” St. Francis of Assisi taught his companions, “Preach the gospel always, use words if necessary.” Our lives must shout out that we are Christians, that we are children of a loving Father.

One Friday evening after a weeklong conference, five business people were rushing to catch the plane home. The closing meeting had ended late, the traffic was terrible, they arrived at the terminal minutes before their scheduled departure.

As they rushed through the airport to get the gate, the five of them bumped into a vendor’s stand, knocking dozens of apples all over the floor.

They did reach the gate in time. But one of the men just couldn’t leave. “I’ve got to go back,” he yelled as the door was closing, “Tell Jane I’ll catch the next flight.”

The man went back to the vendor’s stand and began picking up the apples he and his companions had knocked over. He was glad he did. The stand was tended by a ten-year-old girl who was blind.

Many of the apples were badly bruised so the man took some money out his wallet and put it into the girl’s hand. “Here,” he said, “This will pay for the damage to the apples. I am sorry.”

As the man turned to walk away, the young girl asked him, “Are you Jesus?”

“Are YOU Jesus?” Do you reach out in love to your friends? Are you with them when they’re hurting?

Do our lives show Our Father’s love clearly enough that someone might ask us, “Are you Jesus?”