How does this Easter Season call us to change in order to gain focus and direction within our lives and our faith? It would seem the release of Pope Francis’ latest exhortation, Rejoice and Be Glad! lends perfect timing to help answer that question. What suggestions does the Pope make to you and me on how to answer the “call to holiness in a practical way for our own time, with all its risks, challenges and opportunities?” The answer partly lies with one word echoed throughout Lent and in today’s readings…but it doesn’t mean what you think it does! So what is it and what did the Pope have to say? Well better check it all out!

1. 14 April 2018 3rd
Sunday of Easter Princeton,
NJ
Here we are beginning our third week of Easter, singing our alleluias and rejoicing that Jesus Christ has
indeed risen– but what do we do now? I mean - how does this Easter Season change us? How do we
live differently than we did before? As we move through these 50 days of Easter our readings
throughout the week include selections from the Acts of the Apostles. Written by the same author who
penned Luke’s Gospel, Acts gives us insight into the early days of the Church in which we continuously
hear how faith in Christ is shared and supported through Christian Community and kinship and prayer.
Likewise, the Gospels of this season recount for us the post-Resurrection stories of Christ instructing
his followers to go out and preach the Gospel in his name. They tell us how the disciples were
transformed – how they changed within – how they acted in a new way – how they experienced
metanoia – how they left their Upper Room filled with the Holy Spirit and went forth proclaiming the
good news of Jesus the Christ – living a life – not perfectly, but filled with holiness.
So how can we follow the paths taken by these first Disciples? – How do we use this Easter Season
and gain focus and direction within our lives and our faith? And what does it mean to lead a “holy” life?
Well the timing of the Easter release of Pope Francis’ latest exhortation is no accident. It is entitled:
Rejoice and Be Glad!...and in its Preface, the Pope indicates that he has written this document in order
“repropose the call to holiness in a practical way for our own time, with all its risks, challenges and
opportunities.”
So let me sort of scratch the surface and highlight just a few of the comments and recommendations
the Pope wrote for you and me to consider in leading a holy life of discipleship:
He begins with the basic and most fundamental part of holiness – the call for us to be ourselves. While
the lives of saints are examples to inspire us – they are not meant to be copied. That “the important
thing is that each believer discerns his or her own path, [so] that they bring out the very best of
themselves…rather than hopelessly trying to imitate something not meant for them.” As Thomas
Merton said, “For me to be a saint means to be myself.” Or in the in the word of St. Francis de Sales.
“Be who you are and be that perfectly well.”
And to do this, the Pope makes a point that one does not need to be a bishop or a priest much less a
deacon or any particular religious. For we are all called to be a saint by “living our lives with love” and
“bearing witness” to God in everything we do. Which he explains means going through our days with
integrity and honestly in service to others – and giving examples: “like raising a child, caring for the
elderly, [going to school], doing your job”...and my personal favorite – “being a grandparent and
patiently teaching the little ones how to follow Jesus.”
The Pope warns against distractions that make us deaf to God when he writes “[the] presence of
constantly new gadgets, the excitement of travel and an endless array of consumer goods…leave no
room for God’s voice to be heard. We are overwhelmed by words, by superficial pleasures and by an
increasing din, filled not by joy but rather the discontent of those who lives have lost meaning. How can
we fail to realize the need to stop this rat race and to recover the personal space needed to carry on a
heartfelt dialogue with God?”
He reminds us of our need to continue our defense of the unborn, “for at stake is the dignity of a human
1 Deacon Jim Knipper

2. life, which is always sacred and demands love for each person.” But then also reminds us that “equally
sacred are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the
underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm...new forms of slavery – meaning all those who face every form of
rejection. “This is what Jesus demands from us: that in welcoming the stranger we welcome him.”
Indeed, this latest exhortation from our Pope is filled with great joy and insight into what is a continuing
unfolding of the wisdom born at the Second Vatican Council. For he encourages us to “not be afraid of
holiness” as you will become what God had in mind when you were created and that while “our primacy
belongs to our relationship with God we cannot forget that the ultimate criterion on which our lives will
be judged is what we have done for others.”
For this is the metanoia, the change we are called to this and every Easter!
It is why we are told to “repent” all through Lent and even in today’s readings. But the problem is that
we operate under a faulty understanding of ‘repentance,’ as we beat our chests reciting, “through my
fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault…for it is so much more than that. Leading
linguistics experts have written much on this one word and have come to the conclusion, “….that
translating the Greek word ‘metanoia’ to mean ‘repent’ is a linguistic and theological tragedy and the
worst translation in the New Testament.” The true literal translation of metanoia means to change your
position…to change your mental attitude…a physical turn around…a life changing moment…a mighty
change in mind, heart and life wrought by the Spirit…a seeing with a new set of eyes…for until we
change the way we see, we cannot see anything new.
For we need to have our eyes opened in order to recognize that the divine truly dwells within our
imperfect self! The Holy is not out there, over there – but rather right here, right now, in you, in me –
without exception. That is why we begin our Easter Season liturgies with the sprinkling rite, using the
waters from the baptismal fount, to remind us that we all have this calling to be holy by being who we
are for others – for when we were baptized we were called Disciples of Christ – We were anointed with
the sacred chrism and reminded that just as Christ was anointed priest, prophet and King – so, too may
we always live as a member of his body, sharing everlasting life.
For what we celebrate this Easter Season is – yes, Christ has died, Christ is risen and Christ will come
again – but also – we celebrate that all of us – young and old - are all the body of Christ – we are
temples of the Holy Spirit – we are the place where the Divine dwells – for we have the same gifts that
were bestowed upon the first disciples.
And so it is with this indwelling, this belonging, this kinship with Christ that we are all called to this table
to remember him through this welcoming, gathering, breaking, blessing, eating and sharing that we do
it in memory of him. And that is why we come together each week – why we gather together and share
in the Eucharistic Meal that nourishes us as disciples, so that we can go forth – people living through
metanoia – striving to be who we are, holy in God’s sight and ministering to others through forgiveness,
nourishment and healing.
2 Deacon Jim Knipper