A Concord Pastor Comments: Homily for May 14

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Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Easter
(Scriptures for today's Mass)

Audio for homily

Boys and girls, there’s a lot of focus on you today but just now

I want to speak to your parents and your families and friends

and to the whole parish.

Today is your FIRST Communion but I’m looking forward to your

SECOND Communion and your 10^th and 25^th and 50^th Communions

but just like today, you’ll need your parents to get you here

to make sure your First Communion

begins a pattern of praying and receiving, week after week.

So, to the grown-ups here: Did you hear what Thomas said?

“Lord, we don’t know where you’re going

- how can we know the way?”

Have you ever been in a place where you feel lost
and don’t know the way out, let alone the way home?
Has there been a time in your life when you just couldn’t figure out

what direction to head in,
what would be the right thing, the best thing for you to do?

which path might GOD want you to follow?

Thomas was feeling just that kind of confusion

when he heard Jesus say, “You know the way.”

It’s the frustration of thinking that maybe

you SHOULD know the way,
certainly that you WANT to know the way

and NEED to know the way

– but you don’t!

And Jesus’ answer is not altogether or immediately satisfying.
At least – it’s not a quick solution.
What Thomas really wants is a GPS

programmed to get him where Jesus is going -

or maybe an UBER ride to that same destination.

But what Jesus offers him is more like,

“Well, Tom, it’s down the road apiece.
Just follow me – and if you lose me… well…

just keep following me…

You’ll know it when you get there!”

What Jesus is saying is,
“Thomas, I AM the GPS! I am the UBER driver!

I am the WAY to what, in your heart of hearts,

you most truly desire.

Stay as close to me as you can
and you’ll be heading in the right direction.
Make every effort to find the path that leads to the TRUTH
and do everything you can / to avoid taking shortcuts
and finding yourself at a dead end.

At an intersection, always choose the path

leading to what you know in your heart is right and good.
Choose that path

and you’ll end up where you’re supposed to be
even if right now you don’t know where that is,
even if right now you don’t know how to get there;
even if right now you can’t see where I’m leading you;
even if right now you can’t see me at all..."

That’s what Jesus said to Thomas

and what he says to us this morning.

Another Thomas, Thomas Merton the spiritual writer,

summed this up beautifully when he wrote these words:

O God, I have no idea where I’m going.
I don’t see the road ahead of me.
I don’t know for certain when or where it will end.
I don’t really always know my own self,
and the fact that I think I’m doing what you ask of me
doesn’t necessarily mean that I am.
But I believe that even the desire to do what’s right
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in everything I do:
the desire to do what you ask of me.
I hope I’ll never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I live my life that way
you’ll lead me by the right path,
even though I may not know I’m on it.
So, I will trust you always, Jesus, especially when I'm lost.
Even then, I will not be afraid, because you will be with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

In a few minutes we’ll go to the altar
where Christ will meet us in the bread and cup of the Eucharist.

We will do here

what Jesus did with his friends at the Last Supper

on the night before he died,

at the same table where Jesus had his conversation with Thomas.

Sometimes the Lord’s path isn’t easy to discern,

sometimes we don’t know where he’s leading us.

But we can always find him here, in the Eucharist, in Communion,

week after week, Sunday after Sunday,

where he renews his friendship with us and promises us,

as he promised Thomas,
to BE the way for us when we are lost

and don’t know where to turn.

So, come to the Lord’s Table this morning

- and week after week -

and be refreshed.
The journey can be very long and we can easily lose our way
but at this table the Lord meets us and reorients us,
once again setting us on the right path.

We need his help because he is the WAY,

he is the TRUTH

and in our heart of hearts

we know that his is the LIFE we truly desire.