April 23, 2023 (Third Sunday of Easter)
/“Easter Heartburn”
by Fr. Dominic DeLay, O.P.
[This is the text composed by the homilist prior to delivering the homily.]
Yesterday, two of Jesus’ disciples were hiking the Dish, and they were talking and debating about all the things.
“It’s Earth Day, and no one cares.”
“Today’s Earth Day? I knew it was National Jelly Bean Day.”
“My point exactly.”
“If the earth were a jelly bean, what kind of jelly bean do you think it would be?”
“Okay, now you’re really asking for it.”
“That sounds like you want to add to the high rate of violent crime.”
“You say you’re worried about violent crime, but I bet you’re against gun control.”
“Pretty much.”
Now it happened that as they were debating, a stranger came along and said, “He is risen.”
“Well, yeah,” said the first disciple, but why would you say that to us when we’re talking about all the terrible things going on these days?”
“What sort of things?”
“Well for starters,” said the second disciple, “didn’t you hear that they found another swastika on campus?”
“And sexual assault on campus is a real problem.”
“And that pretend student is back. He slept on our hall’s couch last night.”
“And besides that, my bike got stolen. Again.”
“And I already have midterms next week.”
“And someone I know thinks National Jelly Bean Day is more important than Earth Day. And you come up and say, ‘He is risen.’ We know that. We’re Catholic – which is Christian, by the way – and we celebrate Easter. In fact, we celebrate Easter for fifty days. Do you?”
“Well, actually I’m Muslim, but I saw you in front of Memchu on Easter Sunday doing your donut ritual. I know Christians believe that through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus has defeated sin and death with love and that the risen Jesus is present in the world. Christians celebrate with sacred chocolate bunnies, colored eggs, jelly beans, and, I guess, donuts.”
“That’s right, mostly.”
“So why are you walking around without hope? I agree that there are a lot of terrible and scary things going on, but don’t we need to work together to make things better? Doesn’t your faith tell you that God walks with us and that ultimately everything will be alright?”
And then this Muslim stranger began explaining how all the Jewish and Christian scriptures supported this belief.
As they approached the Dish, the disciples’ new companion said, “We Muslims just finished Ramadan, our month of fasting, and now we’re in the middle of Eid, our own three-day celebration. Come and feast with us.” And they did, and their spirits were lifted.
After the feast, on their way home, Jesus’ disciples spoke enthusiastically.
“I think I have heartburn,” said the first disciple.
“I don’t think it’s heartburn. My heart burns too. I think this is what they call hope, maybe joy too.”
And when they got back home, they put together an impromptu Earth Day celebration for their dorm. They asked their new Muslim friend to come and to bring friends. They brought an extra bike they had for their new Catholic friend. And a bunch of jelly beans.
The celebration was dubbed the First Annual Earth is a Green Jelly Bean Fiesta. They all ate a booger-flavored bean as they acknowledged their sins against the planet. Then they took and ate green beans as they pledged to do big and small actions together for the Earth during spring quarter. They debated all night what issues the other jelly bean colors stood for. And they got actual heartburn. Or was it a deeper level of joy?
