Behold,
I make all things new, says the
Lord. It never ceases to amaze me how
Jesus follows through on that promise.
You would think that after fifty Lents and Easters, seventeen of them as
a priest, I would have a pretty good grip on the range of possibility for this
annually recurring holy day. You might
think it is just one big checklist of Things To Do, tweaked and improved after
every year's efforts. Indeed I do have
scripts and lists that meet that description for all the liturgies of Holy
Week, and that would be the sum of it if Easter were about what I do. Yet despite how it does require much of my
doing, that is never the biggest part of Easter.
Major among these
other parts is always the group of souls who are entering full Communion with the
Risen Christ in His Church. Every year
it is the same: an assortment of folks, coming together from the widest variety
of starts, by way of various possible paths and programs, making time and
grappling with talks and teaching, books and meetings, getting to know one
another and the Mystery of Faith; all those lives and all that preparation
converge in the three days of Christ's Passion, Death, and Resurrection. And that's where it happens: Easter. The Resurrection. Christ makes all things new. Every year it is completely different.
This year I was
amazed again at how the prayer of the Church, especially at Mass, focuses with
increasing intensity on these souls as she moves toward and through
Easter. As the day nears, her prayer is
that they be not only prepared and fortified, but indeed defended from the
enemy who would lead them away, stir up doubt or fear, or simply convince them
they cannot or are not good enough.
After Easter Sunday, the prayers of every Mass mention the newest
members of the Body of Christ and beg that the new life they have received be
sustained and bear great fruit.
Even with these
prayers in front of me year in and year out, and indeed coming forth from my
mouth, somehow I forget what the church insists on remembering, which is that
the Resurrection of the Dead is not a past moment among the deeds of Jesus, nor
a future event which we all rightly dread and hope for; but it is also and no
less importantly a present reality brought about in our midst and with our
cooperation in the lives of souls newly born in Christ, and in our lives.
Being present with
and instrumental for these rising and transformed souls is for me a renewal
bordering on complete renovation. My
faith and my life are touched, shaped, and changed. I think you would receive a similar
observation from the sponsors and other helpers along the way who share this
privileged participation.
Payton Akin
Benjamin Freedman
Alexis Mafnas
Chi Tran
Michael Gingell
Courtney
Collis
Anthony
Condon
Benjamin
Flores
Jasmine
Kuzner
Constance
Roby
Kimberly
Temoche-White
Lindsay Aaronson
I
wish all of you could know all of these, our newest brothers and sisters in
Christ, as well as I have come to know and enjoy them. But my experience with them is passing, and
yours lies ahead. They are changed and
newly alive in a life that may seem old to you.
Meet them, welcome them, invite them into your lives; and they will
bring to you the newness they have received.
One of my favorite
prayers in the treasury of the Church is, Oh
God who did so marvelously create human nature, did so much more marvelously
re-create it through Christ our Lord.
Resist the temptation to think that this re-creation applies to some
other person at some other time. Christ
calls you, now, with His promise: Behold,
I make all things new. Truly
He is risen! Alleluia!
Monsignor
Smith
