Month: April 2010

We Are An Easter People

“I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world, but to save the world.” John 12:46-47

Another Easter Vigil has come and gone. In our parish, there are 22 new Catholics, and in our Archdiocese, the largest number of converts in its history. Why do you think this is happening?

I think the answer can be found in the passage above. It seems as though we are living in a dark time. There is hopelessness, anger, worry, a lack of trust. Gratefully, there are many people are turning to God for the “Light” which will banish their darkness.

On Confirmation retreats, I like to use the image of Jesus probing our hearts with a flashlight, shining His Light on the places we’d rather keep hidden. That is the only way true healing can occur, but we have to let Him in. That’s what is happened to all these folks who have made the decision to become Catholic. Let our prayer be that they, along with us, always remain in the Light of the Risen Christ.

Pope John Paul II, in his first homily as Pope, summed things up by saying, “We are an Easter People, and Alleluia is our song.” We are not “Good Friday People,” although there would have been no Easter without the passion and death of Jesus. But the story continued, a new chapter began. And so it is with us. We turn from dark to Light, and nothing is the same.

Let’s pray that the Light burn brightly, banishing our personal and communal darkness. Alleluia

Spirit

Holy Saturday

The time of waiting is drawing to a close. In my parish, 22 people are waiting to join the Church tonight at the Easter Vigil.

This is only a part of the Exultet, an ancient hymn which will be sung tonight at the beginning of the Easter Vigil; it is one of our Church’s most beautiful hymns.

This is our passover feast,
When Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.

This is the night,
when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from their slav’ry,
and led them dry-shod through the sea.

This is the night,
when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin.

This is night,
when Christians everywhere,
washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

This is the night,
when Jesus broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.

What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come as our Redeemer?

Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.

O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

It will not be long now.

Papacy Spirit

John Paul II

Five years ago today, Pope John Paul II returned home to his Father’s house. When he died, it was like everyone lost a dear friend, a confidant, a teacher. As we remember him on this Good Friday, here are a few lines from a meditation he wrote, found in his book of poetry entitled “Roman Triptych.”

Fulfillment-Apocalypsis

The End is as invisible as the Beginning.

The universe came forth from the Word,

and returns to the Word.

In the very center of the Sistine Chapel, the artist

depicts this invisible End

in the visible drama of the Judgement-

This invisible End has become visible as

the height of transparency:

Omnia nuda et aperta ante oculos Eius!

(All is laid bare and revealed before his eyes)

Matthew’s words are here transfigured in the painter’s vision:

“Come, you blessed… depart from me, you accursed…”

And so the generations pass-

naked they come into the world and naked they return

to the earth from which they were formed.

“From dust you came, and to dust you shall return”;

What had shape is now shapeless.

What was alive is now dead.

What was beautiful is now the ugliness of decay.

And yet I do not all together die,

what is indestructible in me remains!

Catholic Church Papacy Spirit

Holy Thursday

This image of Christ washing the feet of His Disciples is from a series of frescos painted by Giotto and found in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. I have been blessed to have seen the originals more than once, and they are precious and powerful, and the story about how they survived World War Two is miraculous. They are, however, not the main story today.

Tonight, the Church commemorates the Institution of the Priesthood and of the Eucharist. As I was praying this morning, it was hard not to be drawn into the turmoil surrounding both at this time in our history. Without a doubt, these are difficult days, but hope is not lost, the story will not end this way. Something comes after Good Friday!

Without going into a lengthy discourse, I think the answer to the present problems lies in the words of Christ spoken right after He washed the feet of His disciples (John 13:15). Jesus says “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

Could the answer to so many of our present problems be connected to the way we have lived out this model Christ gave to us? I think so. We would not find ourselves in such a mess, whether it be our country, our Church, or even our personal lives, if each and every one of us were living lives that faithfully mirror the life of Jesus.

The Lord knew at the Last Supper that the story would not end there. It couldn’t. More had to be done, because He knew we would not live up to the model He laid out that night. We’ll save that part of the story for tomorrow and Saturday.

Last April, I attended a daily Mass at my parish. In our pastor’s homily that morning, he said something that I wrote down as soon as I got home. He said, “whenever something is crazy in your life, go to the Eucharist.” I was struck by the simplicity of the message, and I think it has important relevance today.

It seems to me that there is much to be angry about right now in our world. However, instead of turning up the volume, the hostility, the downright hatred, we should turn to the Eucharist for our answers. Make a Holy Hour for our country, our President, our elected officials. Make a Holy Hour for those who have been abused. Make a Holy Hour for those who did the abusing. Make a Holy Hour for those who have harmed us in any way, and for those we have harmed.

Christ told us He is the Way, the Truth, the Life. He has the answers and the means to solve all our problems. It is Love.

We celebrate these Holy Days because of His great Love. This is the model He left us. It is the solution to all our problems, past, present and future.

May God bless all our priests, and may they faithfully follow the Way of the Master, our Great High Priest.

“When something is crazy in your life, go to the Eucharist.” Amen