Weekly HOMILY for May 13, 2007: Absent Yet Present

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Cycle C
Our Lady of Grace
May 13, 2007

Absent Yet Present
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato


A Mother and Daughter

A mother named Terry West has written a very warm story about her relationship with her little daughter.

Terry West worked outside the home and her three-year-old daughter Marion stayed at the next-door neighbor’s house. The neighbor did day care for Marion and two other children.

Each day at noontime, Terry would come home from work on her lunch break. She would pick up little Marion at the neighbor’s house and Marion would be jumping for joy.

Mother and daughter would go home, have lunch and play together for a few minutes. Then, Marion would feel sad when her mother had to go back to work.

One day, Terry West stopped coming home for lunch. Even though her mother had explained this, Marion just could not understand.

But years later, Marion learned that her mother still did come each day. But she would sit at her kitchen window, eating her lunch by herself and watching Marion play in the neighbor’s yard.

Terry West did this because she wanted her daughter to become a little less reliant on her and to learn how to play well with the other children.

Marion now understands well that it was for her own growth and development that her mother stopped taking her home for lunch.


Jesus and Us

This true story can help us better understand today’s Gospel passage.

In it, Jesus is saying to the disciples: “I know you are anxious because I am going to leave you, but it is important for you that I go. For my Father will send the Holy Spirit to be with you and to help you grow in a new way.”

In other words, Jesus’ absence, like Terry West’s absence from Marion, is a time for the disciples to begin a new phase in their development.

And in a similar way, now is also a time of growth for us and this morning I want to focus on two aspects of our own growing, two aspect where we may be feeling Jesus’ absence and yet be assured of how he is present, lest we lose heart.


Our Growth by Relating to Others

First, we need to be attentive to our relationships, attentive to the persons we touch, see and speak with day in and day out.

Remember that Terry West in her seeming absence wanted her daughter to develop good ways of relating to her little friends.

Most of Jesus’ life was devoted to teaching us how to relate to one another. For example, we need to be respectful of one another even when differences and disagreements are present.

In today’s first reading, we hear of a significant conflict in the early Church, but notice how they maintain respect for one another and arrive at a resolution. I think we can largely conceive of our task on earth as developing God’s kingdom by being respectful and caring of all of God’s children.


Our Growth Living by Our Values and Beliefs

And second, we need to live by our values, beliefs, convictions, no matter what. Little Marion West was being challenged to relate well with her peers even when she thought her mother was not watching.

Jesus consistently teaches us to be authentic and not to do things because of what others will think of us or because of what we will get out of it.

It’s something like me, when I am back in the chapel, genuflecting before the tabernacle even when no one else is there looking at what I do.

Someone once said that the test of real character is what we do when we think no one else is watching.

In the same way, the test of our relationship with the Lord is what we do when we think no one else is watching.


Jesus Remains with Us

In this earthly journey, throughout this entire stage of growth we find ourselves in, Jesus remains with us.

Little Marion did not see her mother at lunchtime, but mom was right next door, looking at her through the window. Jesus in today’s Gospel says that he and the Father will actually dwell with us.

They will do this through the Holy Spirit. So, we too may not see Jesus physically with us, but he is here.

And the most important way that Jesus is with us is through the Eucharist, where he’s present as flesh and blood under the forms of bread and wine.


Conclusion

So when we are feeling his “absence,” we can be assured of his presence to sustain and nourish, to comfort and strengthen, to give meaning and hope through all the growing that we must do.

That is the wonderful gift, the sacrament that we have the opportunity to celebrate and receive every Sunday.