An icon card and a spiritual Saint Ignatius homily are among our Easter gifts

Two Easter spiritual gifts received from our good friend Father John Michalowski, s.j., who was a priest in Maine for many years, then a pastor in New Hampshire, an Ignatius retreat director in Weston, Massachusetts and now serves in a Jesuit parish, Saint Peter's Catholic Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Our Easter gifts from John included a stunning icon card depicting images from the Passion. I found the perfect frame for his card and now is included among my icon collections.  

An stunning Easter card with iconic meditation on the Passion.  

A copy of his homily to parishioners on the Second Sunday of Easter- also Eastern Rite Easter- April 15-16th:

Second Sunday of Easter.A.2023 April 15, 2023
Today we encounter the one called “doubting Thomas.” 

Although Jesus has appeared to the other disciples, Thomas will not believe – “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nail marks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” We may be inclined to disparage his skepticism, but don’t we all wish that we could touch Jesus? 

When we are afraid, as the disciples were when they locked the doors, don’t we wish that Jesus would come and say to us, “Peace be with you”?

Perhaps what we struggle to understand is that it is not a question of our touching Jesus, but of his desire to touch us. In fact, this is what Jesus does. He reaches out to us in prayer, in Word and Sacrament, in the community of the Church, through other people, and even through creation. Clearly that was the experience of the first Christian community that we read about in the Acts of the Apostles. They experienced Jesus in their midst through the teaching of the apostles – the Word before it was written down, except for the Hebrew Scriptures. They experienced Jesus through the “breaking of the bread,” which is the earliest name for the Eucharist. They experienced Jesus through the prayers, and through the “communal life.” In their life in community, there was such love that they shared all things in common. As the First Letter of John says, “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten of God and knows God. …God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. …There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love. We love because he first loved us.” (4:7, 16, 18-19). To grow in God’s love is to become more and more like Christ. It is to put our trust in God and so be willing to share what we have with others. It is to share our time, talent, and treasure, as signs of our love. It is to seek nourishment in the Scriptures, in the Eucharist, and in small Christian communities of sharing, where we are accepted as we are and supported to grow in love. In each of these we come to know that Jesus is with us, and that he touches our hearts and minds, and enables us to grow up in him.

I remember a Jesuit of happy memory. After he got his doctorate and began teaching at a Jesuit university, he was a pretty hard driver. He became the assistant to the provincial for Jesuit formation, and I was rather afraid of him for he is the one who would recommend me or not for ordination. He then became the provincial. He was all set to go to the General Congregation of the Society of Jesus in Rome when he was diagnosed with throat cancer. It was unclear whether they would have to remove his larynx which would render him mute. Fortunately, the doctors were able to remove the cancer and leave the larynx. His voice came back. Even better, he realized that he was entirely in God’s hands and those of the surgeons. He was able to pray the Suscipe in a new way. “Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, my entire will. All that I am and all that I have, You have given to me. To You I return it. Give me only your love, and your grace, that is enough for me.”

He learned to trust all to God’s hands. No longer was it about what he could do for God and others. Jesus touched him. He was loved, and now he and Jesus, his dear friend, would walk together. He mellowed and became an amazing spiritual guide for many over his last nearly forty years.

This is the gift that God has for each of us. St. Ignatius asks us to pray for what we desire. He encourages us not to desire superfluous things, but for the things that last. Let us pray that we might ask Jesus to touch us – in prayer, in the Eucharist, in Scripture, in the community, and in acts of charity. May we come to say with the First Letter of Peter, “Although you have not seen him you love him, even though you do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of your faith…” (1:8).

Lord Jesus, our brother, reach out and touch us. Take fear away. Help us to love as you love. Then we will say with Thomas, “My Lord and my God.” Amen.

Fr. John Michalowski, S.J., St. Peter, Charlotte