April 12, 2020

Deacon delivers Easter message to children: Jesus will always come to us

REGIONAL
By Deacon Andy Nowicki, Special to iObserve

Deacon Andy Nowicki, of St. Cecilia Parish in Wilbraham, is pictured with his wife Kim and their four children left to right: Justin, Gianna, Timothy, and Stephen.

Today we celebrate Easter albeit in a very different way than we usually do. Admittedly, it is very strange, and it doesn’t feel quite right. Instead of getting dressed up and going to Mass, we are all hunkered down in our homes with our families, isolated from the world and our lives are filled with uncertainty.

Interestingly, this is exactly how the disciples were on that first Easter. Think about it: Once Jesus was arrested and crucified, the disciples took off and hid together in the Upper Room. Effectively, they shut themselves off from the world, living in fear of being arrested, as we will hear in next week’s Gospel.

The disciples, out of their fear, couldn’t bring themselves to go to the tomb, so Jesus, we are told, will go to them. And so, it is with us today. We too, cannot go and meet Jesus at Mass. But Jesus comes to us. He will always come to us.

And during this pivotal time in our history, it is so important that we remember this as individuals, as a community, and as Christians. Many of us may feel like lost sheep because we are unable to go to Mass, or adoration, or confession. What we have to remember is that we are the domestic church.

In the Gospel of Matthew, it says that where two or more gather, Jesus is there with us. The church has always taught that it is in our family homes that church begins, because it is in our homes that children learn their faith. And they learn about God’s love through our actions and examples. We learn and teach this through the many growing pains and nitty-gritty details of everyday life as our family grows together.

Everyday life is often ordinary, and maybe chaotic, or uncertain. Yet, along with our normal routines, the kids’ quarrels, teenage moodiness and sometimes grouchiness with each other, we learn about how to live to show God’s love toward ourselves and each other. 

We help each other.  We serve each other.  We forgive each other. We lift each other up.

We have all been given the gift, though it may not always seem like it, of time. How many of us just a couple of months ago would have loved a break in our busy schedules? Well, now we have it. And we may be questioning how best to use it. We have schoolwork and house projects and binge Netflixing to get away from it all. All these are important, but don’t lose this opportunity to build and form your domestic church: your family’s faith.

Over the next month, use our social distanced time to make Sunday’s different. Make them about something other than our regular routine. Make them about God, about Jesus. Make them about each other. Make them about family. 

Jesus is here. He is knocking at your door. How are you going to receive him?

Have a Happy and Blessed Easter.  Alleluia!