Daily Reflection:
Monday, May 11, 2020
This is my homily for Sunday, May 10, 2020, the Fifth Sunday of Easter. The reflection is based on the Gospel (John 14:1-12.)
“Do not let your hearts be troubled…”
My husband died…he has been cremated…he is now on a shelf at the mortuary, waiting for a Catholic Mass and burial…
“Do not let your hearts be troubled…”
I’ve worked so hard these last four years for my college degree, and now I can’t have a proper graduation…
“Do not let your hearts be troubled…”
Recently, I have been diagnosed with cancer…it doesn’t look good for me…I need to make sure that everything is in place before my death…
“Do not let your hearts be troubled…”
Life is so unfair…no high school proms or graduations…
“Do not let your hearts be troubled…”
It looks like our small restaurant, which we just opened last year, is not going to make it; even with the Small Business Administration Loan…we will need to declare bankruptcy…
“Do not let your hearts be troubled…”
As we face any and all difficult situations along our journey of life, Jesus says to us: “Do not let your hearts be troubled…”
These words of Jesus can become, for us, a “Mantra.”
What is a “Mantra?” A “Mantra” is a sacred utterance, when repeated over and over again, is believed to have psychological and spiritual powers.
I encourage you, in these days, to make the words of Jesus a “Mantra:”
“Do not let your hearts be troubled…”
Yes, we will have troubles, difficulties, frustrations, even tragedies, but Jesus and his words can give us the strength to cope, to embrace our sorrows, and to conquer them, not by denying them, medicating them, or forgetting them, but by finding a place in our lives, in our minds, our souls, our physical flesh and bones where they will quietly reside while we move forward with our lives.
How are we able to do this? Faith!
Jesus said: “You have faith in God…have faith also in me…”
If we are a people of faith, in the face of difficulties, we do scoff at the words of Jesus, we do not think that these words are meaningless and have no power…
As a people of faith, we believe that they are the source of our power:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled…”
In all the Resurrection Accounts in the Gospels, we see that the very first word of the Resurrected Jesus to his Apostles is “Peace.” In Hebrew, the word is “Shalom.”
Shalom is a Hebrew word meaning peace, harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare and tranquility, and it can be used to mean both hello and goodbye.
The Resurrection of Jesus brings “Shalom.”
As people of faith, we look at our lives in a totality, not just event by event, incident by incident, disconnected one from another, but from beginning to end, wherever and whenever that end may be, in a real sense from “Hello” to “Goodbye.”
Jesus said “Do not let your hearts be troubled…you have faith in God…have faith also in me…in my Father’s house there are many dwelling places…if there were not, would I have told you that
I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again, and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be…”
As people of faith, we already have our final dwelling place…with God…in God’s home!
We are rooted! As we face the whirlwinds of life, we are deeply rooted and grounded…
Because we are rooted and grounded, we have “Peace;” we have “Shalom”…we have our “Hello” and we also have, when it is time, our “Goodbye.”
And because we are rooted and grounded, and because we have “Shalom,” we can hear these words of Jesus, over and over and over again, during our journey of life and our journey of faith, between our “Hello” and our “Goodbye,” and in these words we find comfort, solace, strength, spiritual power, and we conquer all things:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled…Do not let your hearts be troubled!”
--Fr. Mike