DIOCESE OF GALLUP

Easter Sunday – March 27, 2005

Dear Friends,

Happy Easter!

How many of you receive Newsweek Magazine? This week’s issue has a wonderful cover article called “How Jesus became Christ.” The subtitle is “From Resurrection to the rise of Christianity.” It is extremely well written for a secular magazine and worth reading. Most of all, it is interesting to see the national media so captivated about what we celebrate today.

     Today, we celebrate resurrection and resurrection life. We celebrate simply how from death – from our many deaths – can come new life. Resurrection is a verb. Life and death; hope and despair; the anguish of waiting – this morning’s Gospel is awash with gut-wrenching emotion.

     It’s early morning, still dark. Mary Magdalene makes her way to the tomb of Jesus, perhaps carrying spices to complete the burial ritual. Perhaps she is simply making a visit, trying to recapture a bit of closeness to Jesus, even though death has separated them – or so she thinks. She sees that the stone has been moved away from the entrance to the tomb. She runs to Peter and says, “The Lord has been taken from the tomb! We don’t know where they have put him!” Shortly afterward, in that same resurrection story in the Gospel of John, Jesus appears to her, but at first she does not recognize him. She thinks he is the cemetery grounds keeper. She sees only a grounds keeper until he calls her by name.

     Our experience of life follows Mary Magdalene’s pattern on this Sunday morning. There are times when Jesus seems to have disappeared from or lives, when our relationship with God seems lost. But when Jesus does appear to us – when he shows up in other members of his body, where he said we could find him – often we don’t recognize him. Like Mary Magdalene, who thought he was just a gardener, we think he is just … a parent … a teacher … a classmate … a sister or brother … just a bus driver … just another homeless person on the streets of Gallup or Grants or Winslow … just Aunt Marge or Uncle Harry.

     In spite of what he told us, we have a hard time recognizing Jesus in the members of his body on earth. This Easter, as we celebrate new life, let’s ask for new vision. We don’t want to be among the people who said, “Lord, if we had only known it was you!” “If we had only known it was you, we would have tried to help .. we would have accepted the help you tried to give us … we would have seen that your need was greater than ours … we would have respected you even though you were different.” In whom will you meet the Risen Jesus today? Tomorrow? All this week? Throughout the year? How will you greet him?

     Let me end with a contemporary resurrection story. This past Thursday morning I was watching ABC’s Good Morning America during that program Charlie Gibson did an interview of a young 30-year-old National Guard Captain Scott Southworth, who in March of 2003 was helping to train Iraqi police in Baghdad. It was a difficult job in a war zone and with a triple digit heat. Scott explains “that at the end of those days, we wanted to d something that would bring us back to reality.” So they would visit an orphanage run by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.

     On one occasion while he was there, a young boy with cerebral palsy named Ala’a and who learned English after being abandoned as a four-year-old, dragged himself across the floor to greet the American. The two soon became inseparable. Scott loved spending time with Ala’a and watching him discover new things. For Ala’a, it was the first time someone made him feel special. After a few months, affection, comfort and a bond began to grow and Ala’a started to call Scott “Baba,” which means “daddy” in Arabic.

      When Scott learned that Ala’a soon would be transferred to a government hospital for the disabled where he would not receive adequate care, this young, single American made a life altering decision to become Ala’a’s legal foster father and bring him back to America.

     “For me it was a spiritual decision,” he said. Scott, a Christian, said he could not justify leaving the boy behind he imagined himself one day trying to get into heaven, and trying to explain why he left behind the young Christian Iraqi boy with cerebral palsy. “Every excuse I came up with was just that: it was an excuse.”

     But the adoption process would not be easy and Scott’s company was heading home. Back in the United States it took six months of legal battles before Scott could return to Baghdad with a humanitarian visa for Ala’a.

     Ala’a now has been in the United States for two months. The bachelor and the abandoned boy are happily adjusting to their new lives as father and son, and they recently got more encouraging news. Scott said they went to a cerebral palsy expert last week and go incredible news: “After a long examination the doctor said he believed he was going to walk – hopefully as early as this fall. Indeed a contemporary resurrection story.

     Our unselfishness openness to others, our genuine efforts and willingness to reach out to others in need – all these testify to the world that Jesus has been raised from the dead and that he continues to live in us. Proof of the resurrection is not found in an empty tomb. Rather, it is seen in the committed lives of those who believe. Have a Happy Easter celebration.

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	Easter Sunday – March 27, 2005 Dear Friends, Happy Easter! How many of you receive Newsweek Magazine? This week’s issue has a wonderful cover article called “How Jesus became Christ.” The subtitle is “From Resurrection to the rise of Christianity.” It is extremely well written for a secular magazine and worth reading. Most of all, it is interesting to see the national media so captivated about what we celebrate today. Today, we celebrate resurrection and resurrection life. We celebrate simply how from death – from our many deaths – can come new life. Resurrection is a verb. Life and death; hope and despair; the anguish of waiting – this morning’s Gospel is awash with gut-wrenching emotion. It’s early morning, still dark. Mary Magdalene makes her way to the tomb of Jesus, perhaps carrying spices to complete the burial ritual. Perhaps she is simply making a visit, trying to recapture a bit of closeness to Jesus, even though death has separated them – or so she thinks. She sees that the stone has been moved away from the entrance to the tomb. She runs to Peter and says, “The Lord has been taken from the tomb! We don’t know where they have put him!” Shortly afterward, in that same resurrection story in the Gospel of John, Jesus appears to her, but at first she does not recognize him. She thinks he is the cemetery grounds keeper. She sees only a grounds keeper until he calls her by name. Our experience of life follows Mary Magdalene’s pattern on this Sunday morning. There are times when Jesus seems to have disappeared from or lives, when our relationship with God seems lost. But when Jesus does appear to us – when he shows up in other members of his body, where he said we could find him – often we don’t recognize him. Like Mary Magdalene, who thought he was just a gardener, we think he is just … a parent … a teacher … a classmate … a sister or brother … just a bus driver … just another homeless person on the streets of Gallup or Grants or Winslow … just Aunt Marge or Uncle Harry. In spite of what he told us, we have a hard time recognizing Jesus in the members of his body on earth. This Easter, as we celebrate new life, let’s ask for new vision. We don’t want to be among the people who said, “Lord, if we had only known it was you!” “If we had only known it was you, we would have tried to help .. we would have accepted the help you tried to give us … we would have seen that your need was greater than ours … we would have respected you even though you were different.” In whom will you meet the Risen Jesus today? Tomorrow? All this week? Throughout the year? How will you greet him? Let me end with a contemporary resurrection story. This past Thursday morning I was watching ABC’s Good Morning America during that program Charlie Gibson did an interview of a young 30-year-old National Guard Captain Scott Southworth, who in March of 2003 was helping to train Iraqi police in Baghdad. It was a difficult job in a war zone and with a triple digit heat. Scott explains “that at the end of those days, we wanted to d something that would bring us back to reality.” So they would visit an orphanage run by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity. On one occasion while he was there, a young boy with cerebral palsy named Ala’a and who learned English after being abandoned as a four-year-old, dragged himself across the floor to greet the American. The two soon became inseparable. Scott loved spending time with Ala’a and watching him discover new things. For Ala’a, it was the first time someone made him feel special. After a few months, affection, comfort and a bond began to grow and Ala’a started to call Scott “Baba,” which means “daddy” in Arabic. When Scott learned that Ala’a soon would be transferred to a government hospital for the disabled where he would not receive adequate care, this young, single American made a life altering decision to become Ala’a’s legal foster father and bring him back to America. “For me it was a spiritual decision,” he said. Scott, a Christian, said he could not justify leaving the boy behind he imagined himself one day trying to get into heaven, and trying to explain why he left behind the young Christian Iraqi boy with cerebral palsy. “Every excuse I came up with was just that: it was an excuse.” But the adoption process would not be easy and Scott’s company was heading home. Back in the United States it took six months of legal battles before Scott could return to Baghdad with a humanitarian visa for Ala’a. Ala’a now has been in the United States for two months. The bachelor and the abandoned boy are happily adjusting to their new lives as father and son, and they recently got more encouraging news. Scott said they went to a cerebral palsy expert last week and go incredible news: “After a long examination the doctor said he believed he was going to walk – hopefully as early as this fall. Indeed a contemporary resurrection story. Our unselfishness openness to others, our genuine efforts and willingness to reach out to others in need – all these testify to the world that Jesus has been raised from the dead and that he continues to live in us. Proof of the resurrection is not found in an empty tomb. Rather, it is seen in the committed lives of those who believe. Have a Happy Easter celebration. Back