3 rd Sunday of Easter – B

I think we all know people who always seem to be able to find the cloud in the midst of the silver lining, or people who always see a glass half empty rather than half full. The Easter season is meant to be a time for us to do just the opposite – to see that every cloud has a silver lining and to see that a glass can be half full as well as half empty.

Our Opening Prayer today speaks of how our Risen Lord has not only made us sons and daughters of God through our Baptism, but that prayer also speaks of how He has restored the joy of our youth.

For those among us today who are the young people or the youth of our Church, that prayer may not have too much significance since our youth are at the time in their lives when life should be filled with joy. With all of the pressure that is being placed on our youth these days when it comes to extra-curricular activities, sports, and standardized tests that making just getting into high school a source of pressure, we might ask to what extent we might be depriving our youth of some of the joy they are meant to know at this time in their lives.

For those of us who are adults, the Opening Prayer refers to the restoration of the joy of our youth. None of us has had a youth that was perfect, or perfectly care-free, but the heart of this prayer is not a hope to return to a nostalgic past that may have never existed in reality. The heart of this prayer is rather a hope to experience a joy here and now that is expressed in terms that inspire a sense of freedom from fear, worry, anxiety, and all that might be associated with a weariness that comes with age.

In our world today, there are many reasons why we can see dark clouds rather than silver linings – Darfur, Iraq, Iran, Nepal are only the most recent sources of worry and concern are around our globe. Gas prices, immigration reform, violence and other forms of callousness toward the gift of life are among our many domestic worries. And each one of here has our own particular burdens and struggles.

But to counteract all of this troubling news, we can rejoice because at the Easter Vigil, six adults took a leap of faith and celebrated the fullness of initiation into the life of our Church by celebrating the sacraments of initiation. And last week and this week, and six different Masses, young people of our parish are celebrating their first Holy Communion. Yesterday, a young parishioner from Paul VI High School completed her own RCIA program and was received into the Catholic Church, and yesterday and last Saturday two couples from our parish celebrated the sacrament of Marriage. As you saw last Sunday at the 10:30 Mass, the parishioners of our parish are taking the words of the Book of Genesis seriously – they are being fruitful and multiplying, and we continue to celebrate the Baptism of infants every Sunday at our parish.

These sources of joy in our parish are public displays of the blessings and the favors that God is also bestowing on us in sometimes private and unseen ways in our own lives and in the lives of our families.

Certainly there are many reasons for concern and worry in our world, in our homes, and in our hearts. But if life in our parish over the past few weeks has been any indication, if we try we can also see many signs of God's favor, God's love, and God's presence in our world, in our homes, and in our hearts as well.

Although he would probably never be numbered among the great preachers of our time, Frank Sinatra asked a question very consistent with the message of our Opening Prayer today, when sang, “Don't you know that it's worth every treasure on earth to be young at heart?”

In the spirit of Easter today, let us do our best to find silver linings even when we see dark clouds in life; let us look at glasses as half full rather than half empty; and; let us allow the Spirit of Jesus, our Risen Lord, restore to us the joy of our youth.

Thomas P. Ferguson
April 30, 2006