Reunion 2007

Homily from Reunion Mass

The following homily was delivered by Fr. Matthew Allman, C.s.s.R., son of Jean Suelau Allman ’67.

Readings: Acts 5:12-16
Rev 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19
Jn 20:19-31

There is a lot going on today as we celebrate together. For the universal Church this is
the Second Sunday of Easter. It is the end of the Easter octave and the entrance into the rest of the season, a key point in our ongoing celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord. For the universal Church this is the Second Sunday of Easter. It is the end of the Easter octave and the entrance into the rest of the season, a key point in our ongoing celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord. For the universal Church today is also Divine Mercy Sunday as was revealed to Saint Faustina Kowalska three quarters of a century ago, and promoted throughout the world in recent years by Pope John Paul II. All around the globe today folks are proclaiming and rejoicing in the abundant forgiveness and redemption offered by our loving savior. Then there is our local celebration here. We are gathered at this lovely basilica, around the altar of the Lord and next to the tomb of Mother Seton to celebrate the one hundred and tenth annual reunion of St. Joseph College. As Daughters of Charity, alumnae, friends and family, we are rejoicing in the rich heritage of education and holiness passed on to the students of the College and we are giving thanks for blessing that this heritage has been for our lives and for the world in which we live.

If I tried to say something about everything that brings us together and is going on in our celebration today, I think this whole homily would get away from me and I would go on too long, so instead I am going to keep it simple and focus on the fact that no matter what else is going on today, in the world, in the church, or on these grounds, what we are doing right here and right now is celebrating the Eucharist and there is nothing more important than that.

My mother, Jean Suelau Allman, class of ’67, studied at St. Joseph’s as the bishops of the world gathered in St. Peter’s basilica for the Second Vatican Council. As the bishops met and tried to determine what they wanted to say to Church and the world, the very first document to which they turned their attention was the document on the Church’s prayer, Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution of the Sacred Liturgy. It was published in December of 1963, Mom’s freshman year. When I went off to the seminary, I studied that text, and I happened to use the copy of it that my mom had read in her own classes here at the College. One of the key phrases of the document, and one of the ones that I am sure Mom dutifully underlined, was that the Sacred Liturgy, the celebration of the Eucharist is the source and summit of our lives. The source and the summit. The Council fathers reminded us that Eucharist, this mysterious ongoing point of entry in the reality of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection is the fountain from which all our strength flows and the destination to which all our dreams point. Granted, it might not always feel that way on a typical Sunday in the Mass in the suburbs, but it is the truth.

Our encounter around the altar and the living word is what transforms us and our world day after day and week after week. In our Gospel passage this morning we hear how the resurrected Christ appeared to the gathered disciples on the first day of the week to cast out fear, bring peace to their hearts, and breathe his Spirit into their lives. That is some deep transformation and it is what enables them to go out and bring new live to the world around them as we hear them doing in the Acts of the Apostles in our first reading.

But thinking about the Gospel, we can’t forget Thomas. We can’t forget what a difference the weekly gathering on the first day made for him. When we tell the story, we recognize that Thomas missed out on a blessing when he wasn’t united with this brothers and sisters. It was only after he rejoined their communion a week after the Resurrection that he had his own experience of the risen Lord and discovered the joy of proclaiming him, my Lord, and my God.

If it weren’t for a reunion, Thomas might have missed out on his own encounter with the source and summit of everything. His coming together with old friends and companions served to reconnect him with the one who first called him and the only one who could continue to show him the way to eternal life.

It is my prayer that our reunion today in the celebration of the Eucharist might have a similar effect for each one of us. Here in this Church we are celebrating and giving thanks for the life, death and resurrection, Christ our Lord. This is the action that transformed the apostles and early disciples from men and women of fear into preachers of abundant life and mercy. This is the action that gave Mother Seton the strength to found a community that would educate and serve so many wonderful women. And this is the action which has called each one of us out of the darkness and into the light in our own lives. It is the source of all the graces we have received in life so far and it is a taste of the summit of peace, love, unity, and joy which we all hope to attain in the future. May we celebrate this Eucharist well, and may this reunion be blessed.