5th Sunday of Easter
Maryland Knights of Columbus Convention
May 6, 2023
Annapolis, MD
“Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled”
This afternoon’s Gospel opens with Jesus’ words: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” Yet, even in the happiness of this Maryland State Convention, we may say to ourselves, “But my heart is troubled and the heats of my family members are troubled.” Sometimes, it seems, our troubles pile up and threaten to overwhelm us. And we are not alone. Depression and anxiety are at epidemic levels in our society.
In the midst of our troubles, we often turn to our faith for comfort and consolation. Don’t we sometimes pour out our hearts in prayer, asking the Lord to help us solve a problem or to get through a crisis, or simply to reassure us of his presence, his wisdom, his love in time of trouble. At times, this seems to work well enough – as we pray, the Lord comes to reassure and encourage us. But at other times, pray as we might, we don’t get that emotional lift we’re looking for. How, then, can we take Jesus at his word when he says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled?”
More Than a Palliative
Perhaps when we pray but fail to find comfort or a ready solution to our troubles the Lord is in fact inviting us to a deeper relationship with him. The apostles in the Gospel were deeply dismayed and confused when Jesus told them that he would be leaving them – not only by dying on the Cross and rising but also by going to his Father in heaven. They were the friends of Jesus. They enjoyed his companionship. They loved to listen to his words, even if they didn’t fully understand. They marveled at the words of God which he performed. But they struggled to understand what Jesus’ real mission in the world was. They were tempted to look at Jesus as the leader, an earthly king, who would deliver the people of Israel from their oppressors.
But Jesus’ mission was of an entirely different order. The Son of God assumed our humanity to deliver us from the oppression of sin and death. He became one of us so that we might become one with him, and united to one another dwell forever in love with our heavenly Father. Jesus is inviting you and me to broaden our horizons in hope, to see in our present troubles and suffering the sure path to a life that knows no end, an invitation to share a love that is more than a quick fix to our problems, but rather the only love that satisfies the deepest longings of our hearts, our longing to be loved with a pure and infinite love found only in the heart of God.
Many Mansions
So, when we profess that the Risen Lord is seated at the right hand of God and call on him to intercede for us before his heavenly Father, we are asking not just for help in our present circumstances, but indeed we begging him to prepare for us “a mansion” in heaven. After all, in today’s Gospel Jesus tells his disciples that in his Father’s kingdom there are many mansions and that he is going to prepare a place for them. And we may say, “O good! I always wanted to live in a mansion” – and then imagine the most beautiful house that could ever exist. But, of course, that is not what the Lord is talking about.
No, “the mansion”, the temple, the dwelling place prepared for us is nothing other than the humanity of Jesus – for Jesus humanity is uniquely the dwelling place of God. Jesus is the Word made Flesh. He refers to his Body not as a temple, but THE temple. And our hope and joy is to find our place, to dwell, in the Body of Christ, in that mansion, that temple, not built by human hands but fashioned by the Holy Spirit. As Pope Benedict reminded us, heaven is not an imaginary place. Heaven is Jesus Christ and when we dwell as one in the heart of Christ, we are led by Jesus to the heart of the Father, where we experience inexpressible joy, the fulfillment of all desire, the purpose for which we were made, the reality that puts everything in perspective.
And the good news is that this life begins now. It is not as if we have to endure a life of hardship devoid of God based on a vague promise that things will be a lot better in the life to come. No, the Risen Lord is with us as our Shepherd, truly God and truly man. He is the way who leads us to the Father. He is the truth, the very Word of God who can neither deceive nor be deceived. He is the life, for he shares divine life with his Father in the Holy Spirit and invites us to immerse ourselves in that divine life right here and now, in the midst of our trials and tribulations, our struggles with sin, our mischance. Let us cling to Jesus and love him with all our mind and heart and strength!
United in a Fraternity of Faith and Charity
Isn’t this what Blessed Michael McGivney saw so clearly? He understood profoundly the tribulations of his parishioners, the trials of his fellow Catholics, their true needs, their suffering. Like every parish priest, he preached the faith and celebrated the sacraments, but he extended the truth and love of Jesus beyond the sanctuary into people’s lives. Deeply united to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Father McGivney invited his people to seek and find the Lord’s love and to build their lives on Christ, the living stone, the cornerstone, and to become “living stones” in the temple that is Jesus’ humanity.
It was from his priestly heart that the Knights of Columbus emerged, as a way for men to embrace their faith, to become better husbands and fathers, and, like Jesus, to do the works of God, the works of charity. United in a fraternity of faith and charity, we are able also to support one another in their challenges of life, to help one another seek and find the Lord, to keep our priorities straight, and by our charity to evangelize those who are searching for something More, those who are looking for the One who will fulfill the desires of their hearts.
I thank you, the Knights and Ladies and Families of the Knights of Columbus in Maryland, for your steadfast support, for your witness to the faith, for your works of charity. It is my prayer and yours that the Knights of Columbus will continue to grow in this state, that we will continue to reach younger men and their families looking for support, and that we will indeed bear convincing witness that Jesus Christ is indeed “the way, the truth, and the life!” Vivat Jesus!