My dear brothers and sisters of Arundel & Brighton,
Again because of the length of the process of producing and distributing a message like this, especially if you are hearing it from a CD, I am actually writing this before Easter. In fact it is the evening of the Fifth Sunday of Lent. The sun is shining and I have just come from a gathering of our young pilgrims – the ‘Redshirts’ – preparing to go out to Lourdes in July.
So with Easter Sunday still two weeks away and the school holidays beginning, I have been wondering what people have been hoping for. One group of people I have met as individuals over the past few weeks is the group preparing to be received into the Church at Easter; their hopes and expectations are fairly clear. They hope to experience the joy of reaching that place towards which they have been making their way for a long time, some of them over a number of years.
But what of the rest of us? I’m sure that if I’d asked some of those young people what they were hoping for this Easter, they might have replied in terms of getting their exam revision done; that was certainly at the top of their minds when I asked them about school holidays. And if I’d asked some of the parents, they might have replied in terms of good weather – that’s what we all seem to hope for most when holiday is mentioned.
I suspect that it would not be our first and natural instinct to say that what we are hoping for is to experience new life in the resurrection of the Lord. And now, a week into the celebration of Easter, ask yourself what you did experience as you celebrated Christ’s resurrection last weekend.
The answer might be difficult to express, but I hope that it was at least an affirmation of your faith, that we have something to believe in, that we have something in which to place our hope, something that we wish for, for ourselves and perhaps especially for our children.
The disciples in today’s gospel reading are recovering their hope; they had seen this hope shattered when their master and teacher was taken away from them and executed as a criminal. John has the disciples hidden away in a room with the doors closed; Mary of Magdala had been to the tomb and told Peter that she had found the cave empty, and he came to see for himself. He saw and believed, John says. Jesus then appears to Mary herself, and she runs off to tell the disciples, but we don’t hear of their reaction, except that they still appear to be hiding. But then what they had wished for themselves is restored as Jesus appears.
What do we wish for ourselves and for one another? The sort of phrase that we often use is something along the lines of ‘My very best wishes,’ if it is written, or ‘Wish you all the best,’ if it is spoken. But what is the best that we could wish people?
Certainly in terms of the young people that I was with today, the best that I could wish them is not just they grow up happy, safe and confident, but that Jesus is a real part of their lives and that they have the courage to live out the gospel. I believe that if Jesus is missing in their lives, and if the gospel is not part of the way they make decisions, then their lives are not the best; there is something missing that means their lives are not as rich and challenging as they could be. The best for them is part of what we hope to offer them in Lourdes and in our preparation for and follow-up to that experience. We are saying to them, ‘This is the best that you can have. Here is faith, here is a relationship with the person of Jesus, here is the gift of healthy and unselfish friendship shared between you, and offered in service to others.’ That is the best. That is what they deserve.
When Jesus appears to the disciples in today’s gospel, he tells them that ‘As the Father has sent me, so am I sending you.’ He is sending us out to bring the best to people, not just as a wish, but as reality. We are challenged to find ways to show people that this is the best. It is not to be found in ambition, fame or possessions. This is the sort of vision the first reading speaks of today, where we hear how the faithful sold their goods and possessions and shared out the proceeds, where they prayed and celebrated together, and shared their food gladly and generously. The best is like this; it is to be found somewhere in God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ.
And so I wish you all the best for the Easter season. That’s not to do with the weather or getting a rest, but it does include them. It also includes our young people revising for their exams, and the very best that we wish for them.
+Kieran
Listen to the Pastoral Letter below:
