The first picture is the stone where tradition
says Jesus prayed at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, and
where He underwent
the Agony in the Garden and
was arrested.
The center picture is of one of the olive trees in the garden that are
said to be over 2000 years old. It is
said to be among a number of trees that were living when Jesus was in the
garden. The final picture is of the Upper
Room, where Jesus and the Apostles gathered for the Last Supper, and where
Jesus appeared to the Apostles after the Resurrection.
Welcome to "The Deacon's Door"
April 19, 2020
2nd Sunday of Easter
In
the Gospel for the second Sunday of Easter we hear John’s story of Thomas, the
skeptical apostle who needed physical proof of the resurrection. While Thomas is known as the one who doubted
the resurrection of Jesus at first, it is clear that, out of fear and a lack of
understanding, all of the apostles were looking for some kind of sign, some
kind of proof that their Lord had in fact risen from the tomb. The meeting with these men is said to have
taken place in the Upper Room. By
tradition, this is the same room where Jesus appeared, both before and after
the resurrection. It was here that Jesus, made visible his wounds for the
Apostles to see and touch, and the room where the faith of Thomas emerged. It
is where, after the resurrection, Jesus breathed on the Apostles with the Holy
Spirit “on the evening of that first day of the week” (John 20:19). It is where
tongues of fire appeared to them on Pentecost and “they were all filled with
the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4). It is from
there that the apostles went forth with boldness sharing the Good News.
Fear
and lack of understanding stood in the way of the faithful at the time of the
death and resurrection of The Lord and for many of us today, it still
challenges our faith. After all, we,
like Thomas, were not able to be present when Jesus first appeared to His
chosen. So why do we believe? Maybe a timelier question would be, “Why do I
identify as a Christian?”
During
these days of social distancing and isolation, we have been given time to
reflect on many things. Christ has risen
from the dead but we remain tied down and restricted. Why would a loving God allow such things to
happen to our world? Why do such
terrible things happen to good people?
We want to celebrate the Risen Christ and yet the reality of fear,
sickness, death and for some, disaster, are what we are called to face. “We could bear nearly any pain or
disappointment if we thought there was a reason behind it, a purpose, to it.”
This past week, someone very close to me shared the pain he
was dealing with as he returned from the war in Afghanistan. As he shared some of his horrible experiences
that took the life of not only the enemy in battle, but of innocent women,
children and families who were only bystanders, he asked, why these things
happen. Why does a young father with a
family have to face the challenges of cancer and the possibility of an early
death, leaving his family behind? Why,
during this time of Easter celebration, do so many in our world suffer?
Irenaeus, a Greek Bishop and theologian, proposed
the following:
- God
created us to develop into a perfect relationship with himself.
- He
created the world as a place for that development.
- Evil
is thus necessary as a means of our spiritual development and our free
will.
Easter Season is a time of reflection and renewal. How are we doing with the crosses we are
faced with? God will not leave us alone
in the battle. Even Jesus cried out near
the end, “Father, why have you abandoned me?” In the end He gave us His example of faith
and love when He said, “Into your hands Lord I commend my spirit.” Turn it all over to the hands of God.
As a reminder, we will continue to offer other spiritual
services and opportunities that will be announced on the Archdiocesan Web page,
as well as on our parish Face Book Pages, Bulletins and Web Pages. Fr. Atwood has agreed to live stream Mass on
Sundays from Sacred Heart Church. You
can follow that Mass at 9:00 AM on Sunday morning or look for it to be posted
later on Facebook and the SH Web Page. (Sacred Heart Oelwein Mass) It will also
be played at about 3:00 pm on Mediacom each Sunday. I will try to get the link to the IC Web page
as well.
Please look for continued updates as we travel these days
together. I look forward to continuing to reach out
to you on a regular basis until we are able to worship again together with our
Parish Families.
“Pax
et bonum” (Peace and Goodness)
Deacon Jim Patera
319-509-1210
pateraj@msn.com
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