HOMILY for April 28, 2019: 2nd Sunday of Easter, Cycle C

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2^nd Sunday of Easter, Cycle C

Terranova Hermitage

April 28, 2019

Struggles of Faith: One and All

By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato 

 

A Couple’s Struggle 

This past week, I received an email from a young man named Sean.

Sean and his wife Sharon are in their late twenties. I have known Sean since he was a little boy and I even gave him his First Communion. 

At any rate, Sean emailed me saying that they are considering having their five-month-old baby baptized and would like me to do it. However, they are not sure about this because of where they are with their faith. 

Sean wrote this: “Dear Father Nicholas, I wanted to reach out to you. In full transparency, my wife and I still identify as agnostics and are still trying to discover our beliefs and path. 

“We plan on raising our daughter understanding Christianity while also being exposed to many other faith traditions. We would like to have her baptized out of respect for our family’s belief and because of our own Catholic upbringing.

“Understanding our current situation, would you be comfortable in baptizing our daughter? We are open to discussing this in further detail.”  

Thomas’ Struggle

Well, Sean and Sharon and I will soon be talking and we will discern what is appropriate to do.

I share this email with you because today’s Gospel is also about a struggle with faith. It’s interesting that in our Catholic liturgy, there is a three-year cycle of readings. 

So, over three years, we hear a wide variety of passages and none of them is repeated. Except, on this Sunday after Easter, the Gospel reading is always the same – the same for all three cycles of readings. 

Why is this so? Why is this story about the appearance of the risen Christ and Thomas struggling with his faith always read on this Sunday?

I think it is because faith in the risen Christ and in our own resurrection is challenging. More than anything else, it takes us to the bottom line. 

It hits the challenging center of Christian faith. It hits us directly with the question: do I really believe?

First Recommendation

I want to make two recommendations that, I think, will help us or someone you know who is struggling with faith.

First,focus on the Gospels. The Gospels, taken as a whole, give us a healthy, full, and accurate image of God.  

Don’t focus so much on the Old Testament which sometimes portrays God as simply a judge who punishes and can even be vindictive. Some of that also seeps into the New Testament.

But the thrust of the New Testament, especially the Gospels is to portray God as loving, in fact as love itself. We see this in the compassion, inclusiveness, and forgiveness of Jesus. 

We see this in his positive approach to humanity. So, again, focus on the Gospels as the heart of our faith. 

Second Recommendation

And second,through the Gospels, work at developing a relationship with Jesus. He shows us who God is, what God is like, how God relates to us, and we are invited to relate to God.

In each passage of the Gospel, imagine that Jesus is speaking to you. Ask: “What is he saying to me in this passage?”

In turn, as you read each passage, respond back to Jesus in your own words. Tell him what you are thinking and how you are feeling and what you are struggling with.

This approach to Jesus and the Gospels allows God to be a person and not just an abstraction or a list of doctrines or beliefs. It allows faith to be a relationship and that will end up satisfying much of our struggling.

Conclusion

The last thing I want to say is to suggest that you see your faith as a decision to trust.

Father Richard Rohr has given us an idea of faith that I find very helpful. Father Rohr is a Franciscan priest, a theologian and an author of many books and articles.

He says this: “I believe that faith may be precisely the ability to trust the Big River of God’s providential love, which is the visible embodiment (the Son), the flow (the Holy Spirit), and the source itself (the Father).”

So, Father Rohr sees faith primarily as trust and he likens God to a big river of love.

It bears repeating: “I believe that faith may be precisely the ability to trust the Big River of God’s providential love, which is the visible embodiment (the Son), the flow (the Holy Spirit), and the source itself (the Father).”

This is an approach that will help us and others when we are questioning, seeking and even struggling with faith. It’s certainly helped me in