Listen to the homily here.
One of my favorite books was Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
· It was written as a novella (a small book) by Edwin Abbot published in 1884
· The major character was “a square”
o He lived in two dimensions
o Now, remind that we live in the third dimension with up, down, left, right
o He lived in the two dimensions
· What inspired me, was this square was on a plane…thus flatland
· He could just see left or right, but there was no “upward” or “downward”
o He had a house, a room
· Then a sphere entered into his world
o The square could not even understand how it was actually a sphere…he could only noticed one point, or walk around with a circle
o The sphere pulled him out of the flatland world, into the third dimensional world
o He could then see “above” his world
Now, listen to our Gospel today in John
· “On the evening of that first day of the week,when the doors were locked, where the disciples were,for fear of the Jews,Jesus came and stood in their midst…”
· Twice!
· Jesus did not break down the door…or a window…or the wall
· He just appeared
As Jesus was both a man and a God, he rose from the dead and entered with his glorious body…in a different place
Now as fun as Flatland is through literature, the best book is in the Bible!
· God is in a different place
o Moses and the burning bush
§ God was in a pillar of fire and light
o Jesus not only show entering into a room that was locked, people didn’t really “see him”
§ Mary Magdalene thought he was a gardener
§ Jesus was on the beach at dawn, and John believed that it was Jesus, and he told Peter, “It is our Lord…”
Finally
· Our readings used the word “believe, believes or believers” 13 times
· Actually, this small geometrical book inspired me to believe in Jesus Christ, God, heaven and hell—something beyond our world
· As well as things we see physically, but perhaps not spiritually
o Baptism: holy water
o Confession: prayer and the sign of the cross
o Anointing of the Sick: oil
o Eucharist: bread and wine that really become Jesus Body and Blood
Do you believe?
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