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Fifth Sunday of Easter, May 18, 2014, by Fr. Kevin Anderson

In a few weeks you will graduate from High School . . . and let me warn you, from then on people will ask, “You graduated from High School?”

 

I mean, accidentally give the wrong amount of change in a transaction, and it's “And you’re a High School graduate?'   Ask at the hardware store how the jumper cables work, and you get the look, “They let you out of High School?” 

 

Forget just once that your underwear goes inside your pants, and it's “And what High School did you go to?”  Stick your head out of the car during a drive-through car wash to see if the water’s hot or cold, and it’s “Oh, and they let you graduate?”

 

Lots of us have done some dumb stuff that people would question whether we were worthy of a  diploma.  I suppose it would be the same when people think to themselves, “And you’re a Christian?”  when they see certain behavior or hear certain language.  But too often, people have a narrow view of how a Christian is supposed to act. 

 

Do you think that you are any less a Christian if they don’t have scripture memorized or can’t name our new Bishop.   Is a Christian one that never tells a lie?  Never swears? Lives a perfect and sinless life? 

 

It is like the story of the son who was awakened by his Mom on a Sunday morning.  The Mom said, “Get up, it’s time to get ready for Church.”   “Ah Ma, give me one good reason why I should go to church.”  “Hmm, I’ll give you two good reasons.  #1, you are 40 years old. #2 you are the Priest.”

 

In the gospel, Jesus says that he is the way, the truth and the life . . . for he sets the bar for what a Christian acts like.  On one hand he was a good, devoted, temple-going Jew who said that he doesn’t want to change any of the rules . . . but then he constantly was shaking things up by healing on the Sabbath (where no one was supposed to do any work), challenging the religious authorities, talking to women, respecting tax-collectors.  He even gave communion someone at the first Eucharist to someone who wasn’t worthy . . . Judas.

 

Now recently in the Catholic church we canonized two new saints:  Pope John Paul 11 and Pope John 23rd who also give different picture of what a Christian is.  Of course, now that they are saints, we drop the Pope title and simply call them saints.  That is Saint John Paul II and Saint John 23rd

 

It is amazing that these two men were made saints on the same day, because they represent two different styles of being a Christian.  John Paul II was more about rules and obedience and he wanted to bring things in more.  Whereas John 23rd was more open-minded and wanted to open things up more.  And now they are both saints.

 

You’ve probably heard more about John Paul II because he is more recent and was a Pope for a longer period of time.  He was considered a very smart man, a scholar who could speak many languages.  He traveled all over the world and everywhere he went, he had massive crowd and big Masses in stadiums.  He is accredited for helping to liberate Poland from communist rule and he canonized more saints than all the other Popes before him, combined.  He was known as John Paul the Great.

 

John 23rd wasn’t a scholar, didn’t speak many languages.  He came from a very simple background.  He was known as a humble man.  He is accredited with starting Vatican II, which opened the windows of the Church to make it more relevant and understandable.  Hence the Mass went from Latin to the language of the people.  The priest now stands on the other side of the altar facing the people.  John 23rd is called the Good Pope.

 

In the gospel, Jesus says that there are many dwelling places . . . which means that there is not just one style of how a Christian (or a saint) is to act.  Maybe you are one who wants to bring things in, follow the rules and lead in big, massive ways.  Or maybe you are one that wants stretch others and open new possibilities by uses your common attributes (nothing fancy) and you show your faith in everyday situations   

 

The trick is to be yourself.  To not live up to someone else’s expectations of you . . . as a graduate or a Christian.  God will use all of you.

 

There are many stories about both of our new saints.  One that I like is . . . someone once asked John 23rd (when he was Pope), “How many people work at the Vatican?”  He answered, “Oh about half.”   

 

God will take all that you have . . . your humor, your flaws and good points (and as the second reading said) will call you out of darkness into a wonderful light.

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