I was leaving the church after a long but beautiful morning celebrating the Easter mysteries. The litigues were just magnificent!!!! I was filled with joy but very tired. And there approached me a homeless man needing food, needing love. At first, I have to admit, I sighed and was a bit frustrated. This man was Christ Risen, the whole point of ritual, Mass, tradition, and liturgy. But in the Spirit, God helped me “rise” above my self centeredness and engage in this man’s struggle, the whole point of Easter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He opened my closed heart to new life. On the way “back to Galilee” , a rich phrase in today’s readings, on my way back to “Galilee”, to normal life, I encountered Christ in this poor, hungry soul. Christ!!!!! Christ IS Risen in bye poor, the lonely, the one who is “different.” This homeless man was my Easter gift from Christ.
Knowing I was a priest, he asked for some holy oil so I gave him a bottle of tbd oil of the sick which tbd priest used to anoint the sick in the Sacrament of Anointing. I prepared a bag of food and juices for him to carry on his sojourn back into the streets.
I believe he was refreshed, if only for a day. And I was refreshed by this gentleman who touched my poverty of spirit. The Risen Lord sent Mary Magdalene back to Galilee, back to where it all began to start a new beginning in the Spirit. Easter, new beginnings, new life, new directions. Easter.... beginning again and again and again.... always a new beginning. A homeless man named Ken created for me a new beginning.
Blessed Easter!
Fr. Frank