"Lord and God"

He is risen indeed!

The Word for Sunday: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041617.cfm

In his popular book, Mere Christianity, the Christian apologist C.S. Lewis famously said about Jesus: "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg--or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.”

In short, in the opinion of Lewis, Jesus was either a crazy man, the world’s greatest liar who led scores of crowds to believe a false claim, or he is indeed the Son of God before whom we bow in awe and worship to follow in his way. Therefore, if the resurrection of Christ is true, then anything is possible. 

This (evening) day we gather and claim to be his followers.  We claim that we have made the choice to believe that Jesus is indeed the Son of God.  The beautiful liturgies of Holy Week and Easter have touched many in this parish community. I’ve heard a great deal of positive feedback.  Yet the temptation is to concentrate on the external; on the music, the flowers, the incense, candles and the visual stimulation that we have all experienced.  While that certainly has its place, it is not why we are here.

We are here to make the choice and to proclaim that Jesus of Nazareth was neither a crazy man nor a liar.  That the ancient claim that he returned from the dead is true and that event alone proves to us that all he said and did is true and that all he promises to us provides hope for our lives. That the God Jesus preached is the way God is: merciful, forgiving, patient, and one who will never be outdone by generosity.  That God desires our salvation and will wait patiently until we come home to him. 

But, the greatest proof we have that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, in addition to the words and wonders Jesus performed, is the resurrection. In fact, the resurrection is so pivotal, that if Jesus would did not rise we would be as foolish to make the claims for him as he was to claim it for himself.  In other words, without the truth of the resurrection, there would be no Christian faith.  That is how central to our claims this event becomes. No other founder of a religion in history as ever claimed to rise from the dead, nor his followers have claimed such, except Christians. So it either makes us lunatics, liars, or disciples of the Gospel to do so.  

But, we cannot prove the resurrection – it defies reason, logic and every conceivable law of nature. Dead bodies do not come back to life. But Jesus now assumes some mysterious, touchable, visible form which combines spirit and matter, no longer subject to the natural laws of death and decay. This is resurrection – a form yet to be seen and experienced in eternity. Scholars agree that Jesus’ resurrection is not at all a miraculous return from the dead or something like a near death experience. If that is what the resurrection was, then Jesus would have died again. When Jesus appeared to his Apostles, he told no story of a tunnel of light, or hovering over his body, or seeing long lost dead relatives waiting for him.

Yet we will hear this Easter season of the reaction of the Apostles, of Mary Magdalene, of Thomas who doubted, of talking angels who questioned visitors at the empty tomb that early morning, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead?” (Lk 24: 1-10). We will hear of disciples whose lives were instantly transformed from fear to overwhelming joy, wonder, and bold courage. So convicted were they that Jesus was alive and eternally present again that no force or threat on earth could change their minds. When they saw the risen Lord it became a transforming experience and changed them forever. So, through this event, God invites us to believe and to be transformed to deeper discipleship and more courageous faith.

Easter reminds us that God’s invitation is extended beyond boundaries, beyond race and nationality, beyond politics or geography – God’s invitation in Christ Jesus is open to anyone who “testifies” that Jesus is Lord and universal Savior of humanity. That he is the anointed one – come to bring freedom from sin and death to all humankind.

The rising of Christ from the dead gives hope to those who have died. And if the dead have hope then the living also have hope. If we the living have hope, then the death and resurrection of Christ is true.

The great witness we have today in our Gospel story is that of the empty tomb. Women, named Mary Magdalene and Joanna and men named Peter and John who could hardly contain their joy and wonder once they came to conviction – because of an empty tomb. But, that alone would not be enough. It was not a onetime event meant to be recalled through history books but the beginning of a transforming experience for all believers.  It was an invitation to see Christ alive and present right up to our day and beyond.

Where do we find the risen Christ today? We no longer look in empty tombs but in His Church, His Body – Jesus baptizes, confirms, becomes our food of liberation in the Eucharist as he did last night for our newest Catholic/Christians among us. Christ unites in marriage, comforts the dying, forgives sin, chooses and calls in the priesthood. In those holy sacraments the risen Christ continues his work.

And, in our world today, where there is far too much agony and not enough ecstasy, many are confused, lost, abandoned, hurt, empty, despairing, filled with prejudice and hatred, unloved and forgotten. Many people are dead in spirit and mind or numbed by a world which presents promises that cannot fulfill; that the answer to every problem can be found only in science, technology, money, or fame.

This is the good news of Easter and the invitation to every one of us to share in the life of His Church. God has no limits. We bring this good news to a world that is empty; to replace the agony of meaninglessness, or science and technology alone, of loneliness and rejection, of poverty and sadness with the ecstasy of faith and hope.

Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia, Alleluia!

O God, who on this day, 

through your Only Begotten Son, 

have conquered death

and unlocked for us the path to eternity, 

grant, we pray, that we who keep

'the solemnity of the Lord's Resurrection

may, through the renewal brought by your Spirit, 

rise up in the light of life.

(Collect for Sunday)

Good Friday of the Lord's Passion

The Word for Good Friday: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041417.cfm

Passion according to John: John 18: 1 - 19:41

This is absolutely one of those days where the ancient liturgy speaks for itself.  The rejoicing of last Holy Thursday night is replaced by the starkness and drama of the Good Friday liturgy. In fact, in this case, the Eucharist is really not the center of the liturgy.  Rather, it is replaced by the proclamation of the Passion of Jesus according to St. John and the veneration of the cross by all present.  While Communion is distributed, the consecrated hosts are those from last night's Mass. So, this is the only day of the year in which there is no Mass.

Here at this parish we are blessed with outstanding music.  Our adult choir will sing this evening during the veneration of the cross and we always encourage people to not rush home after doing so in order for personal meditation.We simply change the order of the service slightly by offering the Eucharist after the large cross is carried through the Church and placed in a prominent location before the altar. Holy Communion is then offered and then the cross is venerated so the folks are able to come forward to honor the cross and reflect on it more personally. Whatever physical gesture we use to venerate (honor) the cross through a bow, a touch, a genuflection, kneeling for a moment, or a kiss to the wood of the cross, what matters more than anything is where our heart remains.  Is it just for "show" or so others will think I'm pious?  Or is it a real expression of love and gratitude for all the cross of Christ means for our lives?  In honoring the cross we are giving reverence to Jesus himself and committing ourselves once again to walk in his way.  It's a big order at times, we all know that, but God's infinite patience is our hope.

At any rate, the reading of the Passion of Christ from John's Gospel earlier provides a powerful framework for this significant day.  May it be for all of us a moving service that goes beyond the drama of a well done liturgy.  Our call to conversion, gratitude for God's overwhelming mercy, and joyful anticipation of our newly baptized tomorrow evening along with the next 50 days of Easter joy be for all of us a new beginning once again.

God can never be outdone yet all we do for him through our selfless service, our washing of each other's feet, has the power to let his light shine brightly in this all too dark world.

O God, who by the Passion of Christ your Son our Lord,

abolished the death inherited from ancient sin

by every succeeding generation, 

grant that just as, being conformed to him, 

we have borne by the law of nature

the image of the man of earth, 

so by the sanctification of grace

we may bear the image of the Man of heaven. 

Through Christ our Lord. 

(Collect of liturgy)    

A Holy Thursday: "Jesus says . . . "

"As I have done for you, you should also do."

The Word for Holy Thursday: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041317-lords-supper.cfm

At one time or another we have all played the game called “Simon says.” The point of the game is simple.  Pay attention to the one calling out “Simon says . . .” and then he/she gives a direction: “touch your nose, raise your hand, sit down, stand up.” If the one calling the commands begins the direction with “Simon says” do such and such, we do it.  If they simply say, “touch your nose” you just hold the previous position.  The key is to obey the command of “Simon” whoever that is.  It would be interesting to research the origin of this simple game but it may indeed also be a way to explain the richness of today and tomorrow, two of the holiest days of the Christian calendar.

Still, we are not here playing a children’s game.  But, we do listen to a command not from “Simon” but from Jesus himself.  This evening at our annual Mass of the Lord’s Supper, we hear: “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”(Jn 13:15). The setting is the Last Supper with Jesus and his trusted band of disciples. Judas of course being among them.

Jesus provides for them an indelible example of selfless service – he washes their feet, the task of a slave, to provide an example for them of how they are to conduct their future ministry.

But to what is this connected?  Is it just saying “Jesus says, go wash feet” so we do it? Our lives as Catholic Christians is directly tied to this command which is intimately connected to the Holy Eucharist, given by Jesus to his Church.  In the other Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we are familiar with the scene of the Last Supper which provides more of what “Jesus says.”

There we hear Jesus say: “Do this in memory of me.” For, “This is my body . . . this cup is the new covenant in my blood.”  As St. Paul teaches his Corinthian Church in our second reading this evening (1 Cor 11 23-26) and therefore us as well: “The Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, given thanks, broke it and said . . . Do this . . .”

The key to understanding Holy Thursday is to see these commands of the Lord as spoken in time but extended to all future time. Paul states: “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.” 

As we gather in faith, we share in the very life of God who feeds us for our journey to eternal life.  We hear, “Jesus says, do this . . .” and so we do.  We see him wash feet in selfless love.  He lays aside his own glory, lowers himself to a level below the Apostles themselves, and provides for us the meaning of the divine food we consume.  In a true sense, God washes feet and we as well to be truly disciples of the Lord.  

Our lives are centered on the “source and summit of the Christian faith,” as the Church defines the Eucharist but it must be lived out in action to one another.  The Eucharist, the Mass, is not a private devotion but a call to “full, active, and conscious” participation in our faith.

Finally, if that was not enough, that God should wash feet as an example to us, he journeyed to the Cross.  On this Good Friday, as always, we hear from the prophet Isaiah: “Because he surrendered himself to death and was counted among the wicked; and he shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses.” (Is 53: 12).  His life given on the cross is our salvation.  If that was not enough, nothing more would be.

So, we enter these solemn two days to be continued by the glory of the Resurrection marked at the Easter Vigil with birth in the waters of baptism of new members and the next 50 days of resurrection joy.

 Let us, “Do this” because “Jesus says.”

O God, who have called us to participate

in this most sacred Supper, 

in which your Only Begotten Son, 

when about to hand himself over to death, 

entrusted to the Church a sacrifice new for all eternity, 

the banquet of his love, 

grant, we pray,

that we may draw from so great a mystery, 

the fullness of charity and of life. 

through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, 

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. 

(Collect of Mass)

Spy Wednesday

"One of you will betray me"

This Wednesday of Holy Week, in our Gospel for the morning Mass, we recall that event which the Gospel writers have related as a very dark moment in the story of the passion of Christ: the "betrayal" of Judas, one of Jesus' Apostles.

Did Judas deliberately turn on Jesus by secretly going to the authorities, accepting payment for his deed as promised by the chief priests (Mt 26: 14), and willingly turn him in to the arresting mob, soldiers, wishing him captured and crucified?  Why would he do such a thing?  There really isn't a clear explanation in the Gospels as to Judas' real motivation.  Why would he have turned on Jesus so blatantly and deliberately after the years of hearing his teachings, witnessing his miracles, seeing his compassion and knowing his wisdom and goodness?  Why?

Well, one book I read (Jesus: An historical approximation by Jose Pagola) on the life of our Lord implied that perhaps Judas real intention was not to see Jesus imprisoned and killed at all.  Rather, his intention was to contain Jesus and allow him to present himself to the chief priests in a display of his teaching and power.  The chief priests wanted to simply question Jesus and Judas felt that after that questioning, they would be see potential. When those authorities witnessed what Jesus could do, they would see him as a useful ally in their motives to rid the nation of Israel of the occupying Romans.  So, his motivation was to use Jesus for his own revolutionary purposes as Judas was aligned with the zealot party, a group wishing to rise up and expel the Romans essentially.

So, he assumed that the desire of the chief priests was more political and militaristic, rather than a target on the back of Jesus himself wishing him eliminated.  Once he realized their true reasons and how they had used him to achieve their end of capturing Jesus, he realized his motivation gone very bad and returned to them, flinging the coins, with deep regret over what he had done; but it was too late.  He deeply despaired and could not bring himself to return to the other Apostles, nor to face Jesus in any way, so he went out and hung himself.  How very sad but a betrayal nonetheless.

As we enter the sacred Triduum tomorrow, let's take a bit of time to recognize the times we have turned against our Lord and others.  The sins that Jesus sacrificed his life for are nailed to the cross we will reflect on Friday and through the glory of the resurrection, transformed into the promise of his mercy and forgiveness with the hope of eternal life.

Mt 26: 14-25 

One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, 
went to the chief priests and said,
"What are you willing to give me
if I hand him over to you?"
They paid him thirty pieces of silver,
and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
the disciples approached Jesus and said,
"Where do you want us to prepare
for you to eat the Passover?"
He said,
"Go into the city to a certain man and tell him,
'The teacher says, My appointed time draws near; 
in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.'"
The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered,
and prepared the Passover.

When it was evening,
he reclined at table with the Twelve.
And while they were eating, he said, 
"Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me."
Deeply distressed at this,
they began to say to him one after another,
"Surely it is not I, Lord?"
He said in reply,
"He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me
is the one who will betray me.
The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him,
but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
It would be better for that man if he had never been born."
Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply,
"Surely it is not I, Rabbi?"
He answered, "You have said so."