6^th Sunday of Easter, C                          May 13, 2007

Remember the first reading?  The early Christians argued over whether Gentile converts to Christ had to keep the law of Moses.  Must they be circumcised and follow a host of other practices regulating every facet of daily life?  The answer reached was basically, no.  Gentiles didn’t have to become Jews in order to become Christian.  But the resolution was not a win lose situation.  It was a compromise, with each side giving something in order to reach harmony.  The Gentiles were given freedom from the Jewish law, but they were asked to respect the sensitivities of the Jewish Christians and, when living near Jewish Christians, the gentiles had to refrain from offending them. Specifically, they had to avoid things not sinful in themselves, but, nevertheless, repugnant to Jews.  These included eating meat sacrificed to the Roman gods, eating meat not slaughtered according to kosher rules, and marrying certain close relatives, a practice forbidden to Jews but culturally acceptable in other parts of the Christian world.

Now, this two thousand year old controversy is not just of historical interest.  It is still very fresh and new.  We still find intolerance, insensitivity to the practices and customs of those of different religions or cultures.  For example, many European countries have outlawed wearing in public Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps, and similar religious garb.  You could be arrested for wearing a cross around your neck in Saudi Arabia.  Until last month, symbols of pagan, earth-based religions were forbidden on grave markers in US military cemeteries.  And how many Americans are for kicking out of our country anyone who doesn’t speak English?  I, for one, am glad we haven’t done this in the past.  I wouldn’t be here if we had, for, my father arrived here from Germany in 1929 not knowing a word of English.  Maybe you can think of other examples of narrow-minded intolerance.

A good place to start is right at home.  How many tensions between parents and teenagers simmer unresolved because parents are too rigid and demanding?  “My way or the highway” is not an effective parental strategy for family unity.  While it is necessary to set firm boundaries and limits on behavior, often a situation can improve when parents ease up a little and compromise.  Having said that, are there any teenagers among us?  Raise your hands.  Don’t worry!  I’m not going to call on you.  I just want to see where you are.  Now, I don’t want to hear about any of you using what I just said to your parents as a reason to have things your way rather than your parents’ way!  You, too, must learn to compromise to settle disagreements at home.

So, today is the first time some of our young people are receiving Holy Communion.  You know, every time we receive communion we are saying we want to be one in love with everyone else who receives Christ, we want to be at peace with them, we want to be free of hurtful arguments and tensions with everyone, especially in our own families.  How can there be harmony in your family?  One way is to put your self in the other person’s shoes, to try to really understand the other person’s point of view, to see things the way the other person sees them. 

So, if something unpleasant is brewing in your family, if tensions are at a breaking point and life is uncomfortable, ask Our Lord for help to compromise, to be sensitive to others, to not demand things be your own way.  Then, you will feel deep down inside the peace the world cannot give, the peace that comes only from Jesus, and the peace he wants to give you more than anything.