"Jesus the Resurrection", Homily by Donna Rougeux, ARCWP, Wed. July 11, 2012

1st reading: Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24
Gospel: Matthew 9: 18-26

Good evening Resurrection community. The name of this community speaks of what is happening to our church when we gather for these liturgies so I am very happy about the choice of this name. When we embrace the teachings of Vatican II by coming together as equals to celebrate liturgies, in a place that welcomes all and encourages full active participation, we are bringing new life to our dying church. The readings we heard tonight from Wisdom and the Gospel of Matthew have resurrection as a theme.

The gospel story we are using tonight, in Matthew, is also in Mark and Luke. On the first Sunday of this month Mark's version was used. It was a longer version packed with meaning. The story in Matthew, shows an evolution of the people's understanding of Jesus. The emphasis of the story in Mark was 'Jesus as healer' and in Matthew the emphasis evolves to 'Jesus as the one who conquerors death or as the one who can transform death into new life'....Jesus was resurrected and has the power of resurrection. In Mark's version of the story the synagogue official describes his daughter as sick and in need of healing but in tonight's version he says his daughter just died. Jesus took the girl by the hand and she got up. Is Jesus inviting you to take his hand and arise to new life today?


Sleep, unconsciousness, and death are states that surround us in many forms throughout our life. But the reading from Wisdom teaches us that God is not the author of death. It reads "God created all things to be alive." In fact when we grasp the understanding of resurrection we find that we do not have to fear death because it always leads to new life. Embracing the Jesus who is the resurrection means transforming sleep to awake-ness, unconsciousness to consciousness and death to life.

Our culture here in the United States and in the Catholic church, unfortunately, too often encourages us to stay asleep, and unconscious. Hanging on to status quo requires that we follow the leaders, relying on tradition and being lulled into an untrue image of living in the land of the "free and the brave." If we remain in these states death looms ahead of us. The awakening that comes with maturity and with embracing the teachings of Jesus who is the resurrection, allows us to be conscious and alive. This transformation is life-giving and exciting but comes with responsibility and renders us unable to go back to being asleep. As we mature and grow into our divine selves...the selves that God has designed us to be, we must rely on Jesus. Even though we can't really turn back to being unconscious or asleep we still have the capacity to choose. We can choose to continue growing or to stay where we are. Choosing growth requires courage and strength along with taking less traveled roads and unpopular stances. Luckily we are not alone because Jesus takes us by the hand just as he did in the Gospel story with the little girl, and says to us "arise."

A great illustration in nature of the metamorphosis of a moth or a butterfly can help us understand what happens to us as we encounter transformations, growth and resurrection in our lives.  Listen to this story of a boy's experience with the metamorphosis of a moth.

A boy found a pear-shaped cocoon of an emperor moth. He took it home and kept it for many months. In the meantime, he read about the peculiar-shaped cocoon, how the small end held a narrow opening through which the moth's body must pass. He read that it was no doubt the pressure to which the moth's body was subjected as it passed through this opening that caused the vessels in the wings to develop as the moth emerged.

A year had passed when he noticed the first efforts of the moth to escape her captivity. For several hours it wrestled with the mouth of the cocoon but seemingly could not free itself. Finally, with his penknife, the boy cut away the last few threads, hoping to make the exit a bit easier: It worked! The moth crawled out, dragging her swollen body and tiny wings. The youth continued his watch because he knew the beauty of these creatures at their best, but he was doomed to be disappointed. His seeming kindness had caused the moth to be stunted. She was so stunted, she only lived a short time, crawling painfully instead of flying. She needed that extra struggle to prepare her for life ahead.

How strong are your wings? Have you come through any struggles lately that strengthened you? Are you in the midst of a resurrection?

The other theme in the story tonight is about the faith that we need if we are to be healed and resurrected. Jesus commends the woman who touched his garment for her faith. In the story of the boy with the moth we see his desire to help the moth was possibly coupled with a lack of faith that the moth could endure the struggle. The power of faith in the resurrection Jesus is just what is needed to awaken us from sleep and bring us from death into new life. I close with part of Paul's words to the Ephesians, "May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith, so that you, being rooted and grounded in love, will be able to grasp fully the breadth, length, height and depth of Christ's love and, with all God's holy ones, experience this love that surpasses all understanding, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."