That They May Be One - Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year C

Priests and Seminarians gathered for my First Mass at St. Anthony's Church

(Audio at the end of this post)
Readings: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/060219-7thday.cfm 

A couple of months ago, I was talking with my parents over the phone, and my mom suddenly became very excited.  The new missalettes had just come out in Church, and she happened to wonder, “What will the readings be for my son’s first Mass?”  When she saw, she was astounded: the Gospel passage for this weekend is the exact same one that my parents chose for their wedding.  Astounding indeed, to see the timing of God, especially since we’re one of the few dioceses in the United States that celebrate the Ascension on the Thursday before instead of on Sunday.   So for those of you traveling from other dioceses, we can assure you, “Yes, Jesus did ascend into heaven!”

It was June 13, 1992, when my parents came to this very church to be married.  So this past week, I watched the video of the wedding, and I paid attention to Fr. Joe Miksch’s homily.  Fr. Joe was pastor of St. Anthony’s at the time and is also the priest who baptized me.  Due to a fall this past week, it’s very unfortunate that he couldn’t be here today, and we pray for his quick recovery.  But I’d like to quote what he said in that homily about this Gospel.  He said to my parents, and I think he also says to all of us today, especially married couples, “You have come here today believing in Jesus through the word that was proclaimed throughout all the ages.  Sometimes when there are difficult times in your married life, it might be good to remember that Jesus prayed for you the night before he died that you would be one.  Try to bring about that unity and joy and that peace for which Jesus prayed, that you may be one just as he is one with His Father.  So it’s my prayer for you, and I invite your family and friends to join me in praying, that Jesus may bless your married life provide you with a love that is truly reflective of his own because if he does, no matter what will happen, in good times and in bad, you know your married life will be a happy one.”

Unity, joy, and peace – these are the things that Jesus prays for in today’s Gospel for us who will believe through the apostles’ word.  This is the fruitfulness of divine love, that God’s love has an effect on our lives and on our world.  It’s through my parents’ love for each other that I and my sister were born and raised in a loving environment.  It’s through the love, support, and prayers of many of you that I encountered Christ and discerned a call to enter seminary and prepare for the priesthood.  It’s a tremendous reminder to me that I’m not meant to be alone in my ministry, that none of us are meant to be alone, and God unites us in His Church for our salvation and the salvation of the world. 

Yet I imagine that when Jesus is praying this prayer, he’s not just simply being idealistic.  We can hear him say, “that they may be one as you, Father, and I are one,” and we can think, really?  Jesus, don’t you know about the divisions that will occur in Your Church?  Don’t you know of the persecution and intellectual doubts over time that will make it more difficult to believe?  Don’t you know of the brokenness and harm many people will suffer, especially by those who were supposed to love and protect them?  Indeed, we can look at today’s world and wonder, did Jesus’ prayer really have an effect?

But Jesus doesn’t just remain up in heaven praying this; he came down to be crucified and killed, and he descends into the brokenness of our hearts to redeem our suffering and bring us resurrection.  It’s because of this love that St. Stephen in the first reading can cry out in the midst of being stoned, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”  It’s because of this love that St. John can proclaim at the end of the book of Revelation that, in the midst of the apocalyptic sufferings, wars, and evil, we can pray, “Jesus, come!”  It’s because of this love that we are all here today, and no matter what we’ve been through, whether we’ve been doing awesomely or going through a very rough time, we meet Jesus here. 

And Jesus isn’t just content to leave this all on a spiritual and abstract level; he meets us physically in the Eucharist.  At the Last Supper, knowing that he was about to sacrifice himself for us, Jesus wanted to unite us to his sacrifice, so that we can offer ourselves with him to the Father in the Holy Spirit.  He told his apostles, “Do this in memory of me,” and from the earliest days of the Church, men were chosen to carry out this Eucharist as priests, so that the whole Church could be united with Jesus himself.  Christ also gave his apostles to authority to forgive sins in his name in the sacrament of confession, so that whenever anyone found themselves caught in sin, they could receive forgiveness, to hear the words from the priest, “I absolve you of your sins,” and become free to praise the Lord and receive His Body and Blood. 

These are the gifts that we all receive through the Church and through the priesthood.  So while I was blessed to enter into the priesthood yesterday, this day ultimately isn’t about me.  It’s about God’s faithfulness to us, that He gives us so many gifts in the sacraments and has made possible our unity, joy, and peace in Him.  He unites us in the Church through the various parishes we participate in, and he sends us forth on mission to proclaim his Gospel.  And whether that’s through marriage as my parents received or through consecrated life or priesthood, every one of us receive our own path in following Christ in His truth. 

As Father Joe said in his homily 27 years ago, whenever we find ourselves in difficult times, we can remember that Jesus prayed for us on that night of the Last Supper that we may be one and that He might be in us.  This grace is real and effective, so right now, in this Mass, we can ask our Father in heaven, “How are you calling us to follow You?  What is the unity, joy, and peace that will counter our division, sadness, and restlessness?”  Wait for a response from the Lord, and do not be afraid to follow Him! 

One final beautiful thing about that wedding Mass celebrated here 27 years ago: while Fr. Joe was the homilist, the main celebrant was Father Clarence Korgie, a Franciscan priest who was my grandma’s brother, my great-uncle.  He passed away when I was an infant, so I don’t remember meeting him, but when I watched the video of that Mass this past week, it was beautiful to see him pray the Eucharistic prayer in a prayerful and joyful way.  He then elevated the chalice that he had received for his first Mass in 1949, was used at the wedding of my grandparents Ray and Gloria, and then was used for the wedding of my parents.  This chalice was donated to St. Anthony’s, and it is this chalice that I will be elevating today for my first time as a priest.  Isn’t it incredible that we are united together by God not just through space but through time, because He is eternally present, without beginning or end?   What an infinitely beautiful gift that we are able to share in this love right now!