Readings of the day: Acts 8:1b-8; Psalm 66:1-3a, 4-5, 6-7a; John 6:35-40
Has anybody ever experienced somebody
who is joyful, even when this person is experiencing great suffering or
distress?
Ever since my first time serving as a
Basilian in Cali, Colombia, seven years ago, the Easter season has brought to
my mind many experiences there of people who showed great joy amid the
suffering and distress of deep poverty. My first Palm Sunday in Colombia was
especially moving. We Basilians were carrying bundles of palm branches we had
cut through the poorest neighborhood of the parish we serve in Cali. Along the
way, children left their shelters (often made of scrap metal or even cardboard)
three; four; five; six at a time to embrace us and greet us with bright smiles.
These children showed so much joy and gratitude for the service of the
Basilians in their neighbourhood; their parish. This remains one of my most
moving moments of my life as a Basilian: Great joy amid such great distress;
suffering; poverty!
I see similar joy amid suffering and
distress when I minister with the poor in our own inner city of Rochester:
House of Mercy, Bethany House with the Sisters of St. Joseph… On Easter Sunday
at Sanctuary Village, a tent city relocated to a loading dock, over one hundred
fifty people, most homeless, joined us in worship with lively song to greet our
risen Lord. How beautiful, this joy amid homelessness; poverty; hunger! I also
see this joy amid suffering when I visit the sick in hospitals and homes; when
I anoint the sick with blessed oil.
This joy amid suffering; distress;
persecution is the experience of the people in our first reading today, from
the Acts of the Apostles. The persecution led by Saul (who would later be
converted and become the great St. Paul) had “scattered” all but the Apostles “throughout
the countryside of Judea and Samaria.” Facing persecution, the Apostles do not
give up their ministry. We hear in Acts especially of the ministry of the
Apostle Philip: Preaching, healing the sick and those with “unclean spirits.”
And we hear of how the people responded to Philip’s ministry in Samaria: “There
was great joy in that city.”
The people of Samaria recognized the presence
of Christ risen in the Apostles, even amid great suffering; distress;
persecution. They recognized and hoped in the presence of the Lord who says in
John’s Gospel to us today: “I am the bread of life… This is the will of my
Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal
life, and I shall raise him on the last day.” They recognized and hoped in the
signs of eternal life that were already with them in the Apostles’ loving service.
Our Psalm response today was the song of these people, even amid their
suffering: “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy”!
And the risen Christ invites us to make
this song our own, by serving especially amid those who suffer; who are sick;
dying; homeless; displaced; persecuted. Many of us know already, I am
confident, how, when we serve with joy, we receive joy, even from people who
suffer; people in distress; people whose only gift (but what a gift!) to us is
joy.
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