2004-04-18 The Resurrection happened two thousand years ago...

April 18, 2004

The Resurrection happened two thousand years ago. Its results are ever more alive today. The multiple tragedies and sorrows of our age can distract us from the more powerful work that Christ is doing among us. As “God is in the details,” we may safely say that what the Risen Christ does in each parish is a clue to what he is doing on the world scene.

On the testimony of parishioners older than I, our parish has never witnessed such a glorious outpouring of faith as in this most recent holy season. This consecrated church was too small for the overflow that came in this Holy Week. Lines of penitents for confession were out on to Park Avenue. If we were a vicious parish at the dawn of Good Friday, by God’s grace we were a holy one by the dawn of Easter.

It is not my custom to thank people at Mass for doing their duty. We come to give thanks to God, and not to ourselves. We do not applaud our splendid choir which volunteers many hours of time and talent. We do not applaud our staff that works overtime and our reverent altar servers. We do not applaud the ladies who volunteer to count collections and perform other tasks, or our ushers or the teachers of our CCD and RCIA and the many others. Our CCD classes for the little ones have grown so large that we need more miniature furniture. Our RCIA classes have brought many from all five continents to the Faith in this holy season. I thank them all in a subdued way, knowing that their reward will be great in Heaven.

I also thank the elderly and infirm who make great effort to worship here, often on crutches and in wheelchairs, in ways that are physically painful. As one who has difficulty organizing himself early in the morning, I thank those mothers and fathers who “magna cum difficultate” organize their little babies to come here cheerfully. At times it is not easy to preach over the crying of babies, but such cries are the future of civilization, and God forbid that anyone be so grumpy that these distractions make one forget that all of us were crying babies ourselves once. (I exclude myself, since at the earliest stage of my infancy I was occupied with reading significant books.)

In short, God has blessed us beyond our deserving and beyond our measure. That is the gracious mercy of our Risen Lord. — If you have time, go to see the Byzantine exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Some of the curators have been unsettled by the number of people praying before those icons. These images are a sign to us of a glory that our ancestors knew, and that in these days by God’s resurrected power, we may be reliving. A blessed Easter to all of you. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia.

Fr. George W. Rutler