Jesus uses two familiar social situations – dining at table and guest invitation lists- to teach us about knowing our self in both our gifts and limitations. The first parable about wedding guests invites us to reflect on knowing ourselves in relation to others.  We are invited but it is God who invites. Our relationship with God is as those who are poor; we cannot buy our place in heaven. It is in God’s choosing us  that we share in divine riches and sharing in God’s life. If this is how God relates to us, then this is how we relate to others.

The second parable invites us to reflect on how we wish God to relate to us. No one is excluded from the banquet.  Neither should we exclude others from our attention and service. We are called to extend ourselves  to all others, regardless of social or economic class , religious affiliation or gender. We give ourselves over for the good of others.

Jesus makes it very clear, that the journey to Jerusalem, the journey of salvation is very demanding and always requires dying to self.  During Lent, we sang a song penned by Rory Cooney entitled, Jerusalem, My Destiny. Part of the refrain contains these words:  I have fixed my eyes on your hills, Jerusalem, my Destiny. Though I cannot see the end for me I cannot turn away. We have set our hearts for the way; this journey is our destiny.Let no one walk alone. The journey makes us one.

Jesus walks the journey with us and shows us the way to what we desire most in our lives – life with God! Our salvation is not without cost! Being a disciple means daily dying to self and living for the sake of the other – seeking reconciliation with another; accompanying a dying spouse or parent; reaching out in compassion to a neighbor in need.  The journey makes us one.

Who will be saved?  The one who looses their life for the sake of the other.

Although Pentecost was originally a festival celebration of the wheat harvest in ancient Israel, and of the giving of the law which defined Israel as a nation, for Christians it is known as the time when the power of the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, and is sometimes called the birthday of the church. In that sense, Pentecost, which can also refer to the entire 50 days between the resurrection and the coming of the Spirit, is the celebration of the formation of the church as corporate body. Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit to guide his disciples, just before he ascends to heaven, is sealed with the arrival of the Spirit on Pentecost.

The Spirit of God has, of course, been present since the beginning of creation, but the event of Pentecost marks the moment when the Spirit works to mediate the presence of the Risen Christ to the church community.

Pentecost, then, is more about the corporate body of the church than about the spiritual presence of God to individual believers. The Spirit is now available to guide the church in its mission to bring the Gospel to the world.

The effect on the disciples as they receive the Spirit is interesting in this respect. They begin to speak in languages other than their own, with the crowd who gathers hearing the disciples speak in their own language. This is the reversal of what happened with the curse of Babel, which resulted in confusion and lack of understanding between peoples. Rather, at Pentecost, all are made able to understand the message of the Gospel, and are drawn into the church through the power and understanding given by the Spirit.

What should this mean for us today, as a people of the Spirit? By this indwelling of the Spirit, we ourselves become advocates of God’s presence for others.  It maybe as simple as a reassuring touch or a helping hand.  It might be a sacrifice of time  in volunteering for a task that needs to be done for the good of all. In all, we are called to die to ourselves in order to be the true presence of Christ for others.

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It is only in the Resurrection that we begin to understand Jesus’ final command: “love one another as ‘i have loved you.” This commandment to love one another requires a new way of living our lives for the other without counting the cost; dying to self for the common good. Our dying to self reveals the measure of our love for the other.

Most of what I’ve heard about sheep is unflattering. They are reputed to be stupid, lacking in initiative and likely to fall over cliffs or entangle themselves in brush. They are not playful. Lambs have a winsome charm, but the adult animal is a little boring. Rams are distinguished by their horns. Although there may be some variation in color, most sheep resemble every other sheep in the flock. To see one sheep is to have seen them all.

And there is no such thing as an independent or self-made sheep. A sheep needs the shepherd to guide and care for it and – in dire straits – to rescue it. There is nothing sentimental about this relationship: for the sheep it is a matter of survival, and for the shepherd a matter of economy. The sheep are valuable property, not pets to be cuddled.

In our Gospel today, Jesus names himself the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd knows his sheep as individuals. Each one is worthy of his care and attention. Today, let us rest a bit in what the Good Shepherd offers us when we live the paschal mystery. For all our efforts to dying to self for the sake of the other, they do not equal the gift of self that Jesus gives us.

Let us rest a bit this Sunday, basking in Jesus’ care and protection, listening to his voice calling us to his loving embrace, This, too, is living the paschal mystery.

It would seem that the disciples are missing the point of the Resurrection and how the Resurrection changes one’s life because Peter and the others revert back to what they know – they’ve gone fishing! The two scenes in our Gospel, the miraculous catch of fish and Jesus’ dramatic encounter with Peter capture two interrelated Easter mysteries- abundance of new life and love that overflows into following the risen Christ to the point of death. We give our lives because we have first been loved by God. Following Jesus isn’t easy for it means dying to self, even to the point of death for the sake of the other.

We share in this new life only if we are willing to share in its cost -dying to self for the sake of the other. Let us take care that our actions announce God’s blessings and God’s care.

Eastertide is about the resurrection of Jesus; yes, but it also and perhaps especially about the new life he opens up for all in the body of Christ and the unstoppable mission on which he sends us as his disciples. It’s a mission of making sure the poor get good news, of releasing captives (and welcoming them back into our communities!), healing and restoring the sick, the lame, and the blind, witnessing to and joining the work of God’s kingdom whenever and wherever it may be found, and declaring God’s saving love and power that brings us into eternal life through Jesus Christ by our words and our actions.

We haven’t seen the risen Jesus in person with our eyes, yet many of us believe. Many of us can testify that “the Spirit bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God.” Still all of us, at times; and some of us, nearly all the time, struggle with belief, just like Thomas in the story from John’s Gospel.This story comes as a radical shift in tone. This story is for those who haven’t yet believed or seen or felt something of the resurrection of Jesus.

Three times in the Gospel the risen Lord addresses the gathered “Peace be with you.” What is this peace He brings?  It is a peace that allays fears, empowers forgiveness and prompts us to accept that suffering and death is the doorway to new life.

When we live this “Peace of Christ”, our lives are marked by self-giving, forgiveness and genuine care for the other – even our enemies. As we offer the “Peace of Christ” today, let us remember, we move from bright lights to shadows, from joyous determination to fearful confusion. And the good news in this story is that our risen Lord comes to us wherever we are, however we are, and brings us what we need to believe, never condemning us for our doubts but meeting us in them.

In our Gospel today, we meet meet Mary Magdalene and two of the disciples – Peter and ” the one whom Jesus loved” – as they come to the tomb on their early morning pilgrimage . It is difficult to know exactly what they were thinking, but they must have been deeply shaken by Jesus’ violent death. The stories must have already begun to take shape in their minds and hearts. Perhaps they were still too frightened, and too overwhelmed, to utter these stories aloud, even to one another. After all, it had become dangerous to be associated with this Jesus of Nazareth. But, in the midst of their grief and fear, the memories of who he had been and of what he had done, of the ways in which he had engaged their deepest hopes, must have cascaded over them like a powerful waterfall.

Today, rather than trying to understand let us simply run so that we can enter the mystery and embrace it. As we rejoice in the risen life of Jesus, we are confronted with the cost of the Resurrection – self-emptying for the sake of others. Let us run with a purpose!

As we sing Resurrexit Sicut Dixit! Alleluia! Alleluia! let us be willing to identify ourselves with the dying and rising Christ. Let us be the Resurrection!

We have journeyed from Ash Wednesday to this day. This week, we will experience the last hours of the life of Jesus. We must slow down and make choices so that this week does not go by without our taking time to enter into its meaning.

In our Gospel today, even in the midst of great suffering, Jesus extends his compassion to others, so total, that he  willingly empties himself to the point of death. As we enter this week, let us pray that our self-emptying for the good of others will be so total.

We celebrate in the liturgies of this week what we live every day – all the dying to self that characterizes our faithful discipleship. The triumph of this week is in doing our tasks with joy, being kind to those around us [even those cranky folks], meeting setbacks as paths to learning. Then, with Jesus, we can commend ourselves into God’s hands.