4th Sunday of Easter B April 21, 2024

4th Sunday of Easter B

April 21, 2024

When I hear about the cornerstone that is rejected I receive an image of a singing frog.  Do you remember the Warner Brother’s cartoon One Froggy Night where the man finds a singing frog inside of the cornerstone of a building?  He takes the frog and puts him up on stage, but the frog will only sing for the man when they are alone.  He finally puts the frog in the cornerstone of a new building that is demolished in the future and the worker in the future thinks he will cash in on the singing frog.  We can guess that he will have the same issue that the frog will only sing for him when they are alone.

In the time of Jesus a cornerstone was a stone used to link two walls at right angles, thus holding up a significant part of the building’s weight.  If the rejected stone is used for this job it must have been rejected for a reason.  As in so many of his images, Jesus turns upside down our expectations. With God that which we think is the correct thing often is not. God uses the imperfect, the broken to advance the kingdom of God.

In the cartoon One Froggy Night a singing frog is certainly a foolish thing.  Sadly only one at a time can hear the foolish frog sing.   We don’t expect a frog to sing and dance, so we reject the possibility and fail to be delighted by the show.

St. Paul has referred to himself as a fool for Christ.  The gospel is often proclaimed by the foolish among us.

We began this month with April 1 being All Fools day. On this day it was ok to pull jokes and pranks on others.  Jokes and pranks work because they upset our expectations.  April fool’s day, Holy Thursday this year, was followed by Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday.  I am told that in the Russian Orthodox tradition is common to tell jokes on Easter Sunday since the resurrection is a joke on the devil.

Like a singing frog, the resurrection was unexpected and only  a few were able to see and understand what had happened. The truth of the resurrection takes time to unpack and to understand.

Foolish things may be foolish, but that does not mean they are unimportant.

In history it has been the fools who speak truth to power. Foolish ones are those who help us to see the absurd nature of life.

In the plays of Shakespeare the fool is the one who speaks truth to power.    In the history of the Russian church Holy Fools were held up as sacred persons.  The fool is the one who sees in a clearer way.  How often does a joke cut through all the posturing and get to the truth of the matter. 

God has used the fool to advance the kingdom of God. How many of the saints were considered foolish in the eyes of the world.  To embrace the gospel means to be out of step with the rest of the world.

The fool cares about things that and others when the world at large has given up on them.

In the gospel Jesus refers to himself as the good shepherd.  Anyone who has worked with sheep knows they are not the brightest of God’s animals, yet the shepherd cares for them.   Sheep are foolish animals.

 To care for sheep one must get to know them.  The shepherd gives them names and comes to know each one according to its ways of being.  The sheep come to recognize the voice of the shepherd.  Pope Francis has said that good Christians are shepherds who smell like the sheep. 

The shepherd risks life caring for these simple animals.  At night the sheep are gathered into an area with a wall around it and one way in and out. The shepherd completes the wall with his body and sleeps there so the sheep can’t leave and no intruders can get into the sheep fold.

In this season of Easter the joke is on the devil. Our God is the Good shepherd.  Our God loves us so much he was willing to become human, to lower himself to be a fool, a member of the flock. 

The stone rejected has become the cornerstone. The followers of Jesus were stones rejected. They were simple fishermen, fools in the eyes of the world. God used these fools to build the church that has lasted to today.  Peter was a fool who promised to stay with Jesus till death until he quickly denied knowing the man. Judas saw Jesus as a stumbling block to his grasp for power so he betrayed Jesus.  Paul saw the Christians as a problem to be eliminated so the sought them out and persecuted them, and on and on.  These fools became the cornerstone of the church.

We often see children as foolish for they see all as new and speak their minds readily. How much truth and humor comes out of the mouths of babes. St. John in his letter, the second reading from today’s mass, calls us blessed and children of a loving God. He reminds us that we have gone astray like sheep, but have now returned to God.

A singing Frog is a foolish thing for those who can’t hear him. The resurrection is a foolish thing for those who refuse to believe.  Sheep are foolish animals for those who refuse to know them. And our God is a foolish God loving us as we are as foolish children.

Thank God our God is so foolish. For our God loves us and in God’s wisdom we are saved from our foolish ways.

Palm Sunday, Year C

By Deacon Paul Cerosaletti • April 13, 2025
I have long thought that the Church gives us the two Gospel passages we hear today — the account of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem and the account of his Passion and death — for very practical reasons: this is the last Sunday before Easter when we will celebrate Christ’s Resurrection and not everyone is able to attend and celebrate the Triduum liturgies during Holy Week. Therefore, the Church places these two critical Gospel passages together so that we hear and experience them in a regular Sunday Mass setting — literally, to ‘fit them in’ before Easter. But there is another equally, if not more, important reason we are to experience these Gospel passages together. And I honestly don’t know if the Church intends this reason or not, but I believe the Holy Spirit intends it. These two Gospel passages remind us as much as any passage that Jesus Christ, while fully Divine, is also fully human. He is like us in all manner except one, in committing sin. He therefore shares with us the experience of the full range of our humanity. In these two Gospel passages we experience Christ moving from triumph to tragedy, from soaring to suffering: the triumphant, soaring entry into Jerusalem and the suffering and tragedy of His Passion and crucifixion. Christ’s human experience is also our human experience, for do not we all experience triumph and tragedy, soaring and suffering? Therefore, we do not have a God and Savior who cannot sympathize with our human experience, but rather one who shares it with us! And we have a God and Savior who not only soared and suffered for us, but soars and suffers with us. Not just two thousand years ago, but right here, right now, in every minute of our lives. For what did Jesus promise? “I am with you always , until the end of time.” (Mt 28:20) When we soar and triumph, Jesus is with us, by our side. And when we suffer and experience tragedy, especially, Jesus is with us, by our side. We are encouraged to give thanks to God in our triumphs and soaring. And we are invited to unite our suffering with Christ’s suffering and offer it up for whatever or whomever is in need. Christ’s suffering was not pointless, and united to His, neither is ours. We offer it up, trust, and hope. Sisters and brothers, that hope comes from our knowledge of the rest of the Gospel story that we will experience with Christ: that His triumph and tragedy, His soaring and suffering does not end in death, but in the glory of Easter Resurrection.

5th Sunday of Lent C - April 6, 2025

By Fr. Chris Welch • April 5, 2025
5 th Sunday of Lent C April 6, 2025 Often someone will approach me and ask if I can do x y or z on such and such a date. I am not always good and knowing my schedule in the future, so I will say, “send me the dates and I will get back to you.” Sometimes they will send me the dates, sometime not. If I say yes, I may find I have a conflict. This is a stalling tactic giving me time to discern how to respond. This is what Jesus does as he writes on the ground. He knows the Scribes and Pharisees are using the woman to trap him, so he bends down to scribble in the dust to have time to answer them. When he does answer them, his statement is not about the woman’s actions, but about the motives of the accusers. He knows they hope to trap him. If he suggests the woman be released, he has broken the Mosaic law, if he suggests she be stoned he will be in trouble with the Romans. So, he focuses on the motive and state of the accusers. In our first reading we are reminded that God is doing something new. Jesus does something new. He doesn’t focus on what the law says, but he focuses on what is in the heart of the accusers. Mosaic law says that those caught in Adultery, both the man and the woman should be killed. Here we only have the woman. We are told she was caught in the act, but where is the man? For the season of Lent, we have been piling stones in our desert. These stones are the Character defects we wish to reform in this season. They are not for killing others but given to God to use to build us into a new creation. Jesus allows the woman to become a new creation. He refuses to condemn her, He encourages her to sin no more and to go free from the accusations of the temple officials. Have you been like the woman accused by others? How did you experience the forgiveness of your God? When have you been like a Scribe or Pharisee pointing the accusatory finger at another? Cast aside the stones you have wanted to hurl at the other and look inside your heart and see how God’s forgiveness has made you a new creation.

Third Sunday of Lent C - March 23, 2025

By Fr. Christopher Welch • March 24, 2025
After Moses has his conversation with God in the Burning Bush, Moses asks God for what name he should use in referring to God. God gives the vague answer, “I am who I am.” Asking for someone’s name is a common occurrence. When we refer to someone with their name, we honor them. We all like to be referred to by name. This is one way we honor a person. Not all of us are good at remembering names, but when we do remember and use the name of the other person, we honor them. One of the names for God is taken from our psalm, “The Lord is kind and merciful”. God is also patient. The parable from the gospel about the fig tree is a parable about God’s patience. God, being the gardener, is willing to wait a year for fruit. God works the same for all of us. God is patient with us. Not everyone comes to faith in the same way or the same time frame. Some take less time, others more. When we see a new face in church we don’t ask “What took you so long?” or “Where have you been?” We simply say, “Welcome! It is good to have you here.” We ask and learn the name of the new person and we speak to him or her each week using their name and making them feel welcome. Maybe you have been a fig tree or known someone who is or was a fig tree. This is a good reason to give thanks to the patient nature of God. Remember the kingdom is in the future and now.