12/27/2011 – Homily for the feast of St John the Evangelist – John 20:1-8

       We celebrate the feast days of the Evangelists and the Apostles in our Church’s liturgical calendar, signifying to all of the faith how important these men are to the founding of our Church, to the way their efforts helped pass down the faith to us.  Today, we celebrate the feast day of St John the Evangelist.

         Even though we just celebrated the birth of our Savior into the world a couple of days ago, today we are hearing a reading from one of the last chapters in John’s Gospel, as we hear about how the followers of Jesus arrived at his empty tomb, astonished and shocked.  They had believed in Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, but they had just seen him put to death.  They were trying to make sense of everything, of the events that ended Jesus’ life here on earth, events that did not make sense at all.  Mary Magdalene and Peter were the first to reach the tomb.  What they saw did not fit into their hopes and expectations.  Yet, when John reached the tomb, he went inside, he saw, and he believed. 

         Sometimes things happen in our own lives that don’t make any sense.  Sometimes our lives take a direction that we can’t anticipate, that tests the very core of our faith.  Yet, we are asked to lift all of this up to the Lord.  We are asked to walk by faith. We are asked to believe. Just as these early followers of Christ were often confused and bewildered, we are called on to follow the example of John.  May we look at all that is going on around us.  May we face that reality.  Yet, in the midst of the conflicting and confusing messages we receive in our lives, may we believe.