Homily: Friday of the second week in Lent

Gen 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a

Ps 105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21

Matt 21:33-43, 45-46

I'm going to preach today on the Resurrection. The resurrection is so much more than we expect or hope for; we only expect resuscitation. Once at a wake my cousin said, "They did such a good job on her. You'd expect her to sit up at any moment." (She was from Staten Island.) She said the woman would wake up and say "Surprise!" The resurrection is far more than I can say. The women and the disciples didn't recognize Jesus. The glorified body is the same, yet different. "Ain't none of us seen one of them." We are not so alive as we'd like to think; not like the living God; we're just cadavers in the making. The resurrection is the goal and summit of the Creator. Only the Holy Spirit can show us how it looks. The resurrection demonstrates the generosity of Jesus: For Don Corleone, there's only justice; but with Jesus, there is love and forgiveness.
You've heard of Fr Drendel, the old Jesuit who was here so long, a holy man. This is one of his sayings that I really don't like, but I think it's true: "God is tricky." Just look at Matthew 25. Be prepared for all your expectations to be turned upside down--the plan God has is infinitely better. All we can do is proclaim: "Give thanks to the Lord, for his is good".
The part of us we have the biggest problem with, the most sinful area of our life, is where God wants to work with us. Remember, he came here and spent his time with the prostitutes and tax collectors (like the mafia). He didn't go to the Pharisees. They were the holy ones. And they were holy. The problem was that they knew it. It is so often that the greatest people are the worst sinners. You know, the nuns told us all to be good, but they really liked the troublemakers better. They told us about hell and how we'd go there if we were bad. I wasn't a bad kid in school; I was terrified, and I was good. They had us read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn in school, but if I ever did that...
We must let love penetrate us. We must remember our righteousness is not our own. We have/there is no holiness apart from love. God will surprise us with the Resurrection.