We come together to celebrate this Mass of Thanksgiving, grateful for the blessings that we have received during the mystery of our time together. We have shared more deeply in our time together than we ever do, as we have spoken about that which is most dear to us, our mission and life together. In a very small way, some of us may have experienced the feelings that were present in those of the first believers, as shared in the first reading from the “Acts of the Apostles.” “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. All who believed were together and had all things in common.”
Has this Chapter opened in us a deeper desire to own what we have written in our Constitutions and more recently quoted in the Direction Statement of 2022? Is that what we are asking God to do in us during this time and place in our life together “to transform us into disciples, challenging us to a radical living of the gospel”? Are we open to God working in us and through us and through each other to do this together.
Transformation is a long process and we are all in different places in the journey of the cocoon changing into the caterpillar, and then into the butterfly. Our Sister Saints in our Cemetery have reach that butterfly stage. Those first believers in the early church were told by the apostles the same stories that we have been reading during Holy Week and this week. They were powerful stories of how Jesus washed their feet, fed them himself at the Last Supper. How they left Jesus, denied him, and how Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried. How they did not believe Mary Magdaline or the couple on the road to Emmaus who had reported that they had seen Jesus. The Apostles themselves were going through their own transformation. Today’s Gospel, finds them again in the upper room, doors locked and Jesus in their midst, saying, ‘’Peace be with you,” those words that calmed them, those same words that continue to calm us, on their journey and our journey of transformation. And then those beautiful words again, “Peace be with you. As the father has sent me, so I send you.” This was the beginning of the mandate, the Apostles needed much more time with Jesus as He stayed with them for forty days, continuing to be with them, answering their questions and to helping them to continue the slow process of transformation, sending His Holy Spirit. We too need more time with Jesus and with each other to open our minds and hearts to what we have shared together during these days. The Chapter is closed but there is so much more for us to own deeply in our minds and hearts for the slow transformation of each one of us into disciples, and the challenge to a radical living of the gospel that will move us into deeper actions for justice and peace in a world so in need of our presence and compassion.
Let us go forth from this holy ground on fire with God’s love and grace.
Peace be with you!
– Sister Cecilia LaPietra, OP
Sister Cecilia is the founder and Executive Director of One to One Learning, a literacy program for immigrants.