Homilies & Thoughts

N.B. I will not ordinarilly post my letters to the parish I serve because they are focused on local matters. However, I think this letter addresses an issue of broader importance.

This week our parish was shaken. ICE came into our community and people were taken away. Fear was left behind. Many of our parishioners are now afraid to go to work, to go to the store, and even to come to mass. Attendance at mass in Spanish dropped. Our trained liturgical ministers were absent. When civil enforcement creates fear that keeps the faithful from the Eucharist and prevents ministers from serving at the altar, it injures the worship owed to God. We must face this as Christians before anything else.

To forget a face is to lose more than a memory. The face mediates relationship. It puts flesh on the spirit. To forget a face is to lose a relationship. It is to lose love.

When sin entered the human story, the face of God grew dim in us. We had been made in his image, made to reflect the living communion of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The image remained, because God does not abandon his own work, but the likeness became blurred. Choosing our own will over the will of God, we lost sight of the One we were made to resemble. Once God’s face became harder to see, humanity itself became harder to understand.

A locked door seems like wisdom when fear has taken hold. The disciples know danger. The crucifixion is still fresh in their minds. Every noise outside could mean discovery. So they stay behind the door, and for a little while the room feels safe. But the longer they remain there, the more that safety will consume and claim them.

Then the risen Christ appears. He stands in the middle of the room, among men who know they are weak. They had scattered when courage was needed. Out of anxiety that it would come for them, they could not watch while evil did its work. Now the Lord stands before them, with the marks of the cross still on his body. He does not speak to their fear.