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Second Sunday of Easter / Divine Mercy Sunday

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Dcn. Jim Marshall & Dcn. Alan Nicklaus April 28, 2019

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9 days after my 30th birthday which is more years past than I care to admit my wife pulled off a surprise birthday party for me no plan was we would go with you 5 Saturday mass at All Saints and the folks who are coming to the party with show up at our house while we were gone Jenny left the door unlocked so we're coming home from church and we come around the corner onto our street and I see my friend from college John going into the front door of my house can I see the Jenny hay who had John going in the front door of our house and she said what I didn't see anything she's very good at this so anyway we get into the garage and I go into the house and about 2,000 people jump out from behind the furniture in that sort of thing and yell surprise I had no clue I had no clue when I saw John going in the front door of my house and for a few seconds after everybody jump find the furniture inside surprise and started hanging singing happy birthday I still didn't have a clue now maybe that makes me gullible and naive and not very suspicious person and that's okay but point in sharing that story is that we see what we're prepared to see we see what we're prepared to see I was not prepared to see a surprise birthday party the idea that somebody would do that was so far from my mind but even when I saw an old friend walking in the front door to my house it was still lost on me plays we believe what we're prepared to believe and casein point of that these days like no other why do people tend to believe what they hear in the new not based on facts or whether they actually have good cause to believe it but they will believe more based on their political views or their worldview or their life experiences much more than solid evidence an interesting thing there is so many things that can affect what we will believe and what we're ready to be looking at the resurrection narratives of the four gospels we see a lot of doubting a lot of unbelief different people are quicker and slower to believing the resurrection but skepticism and doubt are coming things like grief and fear misunderstanding of who Jesus was and what it meant Messiah affected those things and blinded people sometimes even when it was right in front of their eyes is Thomas any more of a daughter than anyone else or does he just get the bad rap this profession of Faith tells us that he had no hesitation in believing once he saw showing his case seeing prepared him to believe I want a gospel today after Jesus speaks to Thomas she says to his disciples you believe because you have seen me blessed are those who have not seen you have to leave blessed are those who have not seen yet believe this is us none of us were here when Jesus was on Earth just walked with him like a disciples dead none of us saw him die I never saw him after his resurrection yet here we are gathered as a faith community believing in the resurrection of Jesus we celebrated today we celebrated it last Sunday on Easter Sunday we celebrate it every time we gather here to celebrate the Eucharist we express our belief that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead it's important for us to remember that believing when it comes to Christian faith is not just a matter of a profession or an intellectual sense to something that's true in the letter of James in the second chapter he makes a point that faith that does nothing in practice is lifeless and the Acts of the Apostles provide us a record of this in the life and Ministry of the Apostles and the other disciples who followed in Jesus footsteps they understood this and they embraced its they worshipped as we heard in today's first reading they continue to work turn the temple as good Jews would do they went about doing good for those in need they preached the good news of the Risen Christ even in the face of persecution our reading today tells us that people esteemed them and great numbers of men and women were added to them there was something about the way they were living that belief that was attractive and many many were drawn to them again the name of the book in the Bible is the Acts of the Apostles their actions their words how they lived where how they showed their How They carried out their belief we are reminded in liturgy and we are reminded in the scriptures of the Easter season in particular that it is our call is Jesus disciples to do the same thing in our time and in our place Jesus Christ was crucified is risen from the dead the greatest act of love in the history of the world the new life offered to us through the resurrection gives all of us a fresh start to let our actions and words share the joy The Hope and the promise of the Risen Jesus with all of the people we encounter in our day he lives if we believe then we must speak and we must act we must share what we have with others just as the Disciples of the early church did warned that we remember that none of us is called to do this on our own as individual disciples rather we are called as a community of Believers we have the inspiration in the help of the Holy Spirit given to us baptism other than the apostles themselves Mary Magdalene is the most consistent person that we hear of in the resurrection narratives in the four Gospels all four gospels present Mary Magdalene coming to the tomb early in the morning she is prepared by her love for Jesus to both see and believe in the Risen Christ she is a mom belief in word and action in the joyful Proclamation that Jesus is risen from the dead

9 1/2 years ago a good friend of mine at gym was deer hunting up north in mid November as he was hunting he began to feel ill as the day progressed he got sicker and he was crawling on his hands and knees writhing in pain one of his Hunting Buddies took him to a nearby hospital in Baudette and they he proceeded to get extremely ill in a short amount of time he was diagnosed with pancreatitis a disease where the pancreas attacks and destroys itself the doctors explained that this was an extremely dangerous sickness and is prognosis was not good immediately they called his wife Lois and he they told her to come on up and be with him is Jim ale there in much pain and the doctors were not to do much for him they moved him to the hospital in Duluth and put them in a coma a prayer hotline went out to many members in the church and in the Christian Community to its gym Louis belong Jim remained in a coma people began to visit and pray with him daily in the hospital in Duluth some people even traveled after work came from the cities and prayed with him through the night and then return it to work the next morning I knew Jim whoever that time was in his young forties a loving to his wife Lois a father of three young adult children Gene and Kathy and Michael two of which were in high school and when was just starting College Jim was a faithful member of the church and served the church in a variety of ways as well as a mentor to many young people he was also a prayer Warrior and was active in the peer community Jim had recently begun a new job at a startup company and did not have health insurance key and Louis recently bought a house in Burnsville I recall hearing the news that Jim was in very serious condition and the pancreas was eating itself and Jim would to come to death if it didn't stop I remember crying out to God our Father Lord Jesus have mercy on my friend Jim please bring him back to full health and day after day I prayed fervently have mercy on my friend Jim take the little faith that we have and spare Jim's life after some surgeries in about two months time Jim being in the ICU the whole time it seemed like it seem to stabilize and now the question was even if you lived would he have significant health issues the red his life good most likely have to be on insulin have enzymes supplements and would not be able to eat meat or other foods are certain beverages Jim was still expected to be in the hospital for another stick two or more months now that he's passed this critical marker at one point in January Jim recalls that he wasn't stable enough to leave the hospital for maximum 4 hours because he needed to return for them to resleeve some drainage from sis the doctor thought it might be a good idea for him to go to a movie but Jim wanted to go to a prayer meeting at this prayer meeting while people were praying over Jim he recalls seeing a young boy crawling underneath the chairs reaching out to touch his leg why the boy was praying with him gym immediately felt a warmth over his whole body wow twist face like a child a couple days after the prayer meeting he overheard the doctors complaining that the scanning equipment was not working it was not identifying Pegasus still had fluid but that all his sis had dried up it was just not possible because it takes about six months for the assist to be absorbed by the body Jim told the doctors that he went to a prayer meeting and believed that he was healed by Jesus they did not believe him and continue to fiddle with the equipment with Jim's sis totally dried up he was soon released from the hospital and went home Jim actually went home about six months earlier than expected with no need for insulin no need to have supplemental enzymes he can eat all kinds of meats and even drink alcoholic beverages Jim was completely healed Jimmy Lewis then went up to the debts and to Duluth a few months later to thank the doctors and the doctors were in shock they wrote him off as a matter of fact they did not even send him medical bills because that would be adding insult to injury after they had found out that he was still alive they sent him medical bills the healings that we hear about in our first reading in Acts exist today honest Divine Mercy Sunday I thank God for his Divine Mercy on my friend Jim I think God the gym was restored to full health Jim acknowledges that it is only because of God's mercy but he is healed today technologies that God's mercy has allowed him to see his three children Mary and they now have seven grandchildren he knows that God was merciful giving gym in employ who paid the 1.5 million in medical bills and gave him a fan gave his family a weekly paycheck while he was in the hospital Lois acknowledges that it is God Mercy that Jim is alive that God showed his love to her God is always merciful if died we believe it would have been merciful if Jim had serious health conditions the rest of his life we believe it would have been merciful but our lord Jesus chose to in his Mercy in a particular way to heal gym completely is Thomas says in the gospel my Lord and my God we too can say thank you for increasing my faith even though I have not seen our God is merciful not because we haven't seen him but because we believe Our God continues to increase our faith actually we do and can see Jesus in the flesh we do see him under the appearance of bread and we see Our Risen Savior Jesus and Jesus is in each one of us because of Jesus death and Resurrection because of the mercy of the father we too can rise with Christ and see him face to face one day we have just celebrated Holy Week where our Lord suffered and died and then hose this is a great mystery and a divine plan of Mystery Jesus did this because we sin and I would have his perfect Divine Mercy we now salvation Jim wishes he could be here with me today at All Saints but he's helping out as a Eucharistic minister at his Parish would love to tell you more details and more about God's mercy but his message is for us is to go out and tell others about the Easter story it is a true story and Jesus has been raised from the dead and his spirit is Among Us healing us and increasing our faith the Lord has risen Alleluia

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