Reflection on Easter Sunday

Jesus is risen indeed!

Alleluia!

The day's readings can be found here.

We celebrate today the greatest miracle in the history of the world.  Like the holy women who came to the tomb of Jesus and found it empty, we sacramentally come to the tomb of Jesus by approaching His holy altar — and He is truly there.  He is alive!  Like St. Peter and St. John who come to verify this truth, we come here to proclaim it loud and clear:  Jesus is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

Hopefully over the last six weeks we had a good Lent.  By denying ourselves, by fasting, by being generous to the poor, have we been able to allow Jesus to fill up those parts of our lives that we were filling with other things?  Of course, we are happy that this is a time of feasting: “Finally I can eat chocolate again!” or “Finally I can drink Coke again!” or even “Finally I can enjoy a cold beer!”  These are good things to enjoy with moderation.  But what does this have to do with the Resurrection of Jesus?  What does the empty tomb mean for us today in 2013?

The Resurrection of Jesus gives us hope today.  With tensions mounting in the Middle East, with a weakened economy here in the United States, with confusion in our world about the definition of marriage, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ gives us hope in the midst of a world that is confused and often times pessimistic about the future.

How does the Resurrection of Jesus give us hope?  It is God’s reminder – that no matter what evil we have to suffer – He always has the final victory.  It is through the Resurrection of Jesus that the devil and sin are defeated and that believers share in His blessed promises.  We need this hope: for ourselves, for our families, for our country, and even for our Church as the world seems to get darker and darker.

If you have been away from Christ and His Church since Christmas or even longer, allow today to be a day to be re-committed to Christ.  For all of us, Easter is a sacred time to remember that we are not just called to avoid sin, but to do good and to answer God’s call to holiness.  May God’s love burn in our hearts as we seek to listen and live His holy Word this Easter with renewed hope in the Resurrection of Jesus (Luke 24:32).

Reflection on Palm Sunday

If I’d have been there,

I’d have been there

The day's readings can be found here.

The colors of the sacred liturgy on Palm Sunday express several realities in our faith.  First, we see the purple of the veils over the images: the color of the last five weeks of our Lenten discipline, symbolizing our “stripping away” of those obstacles that get in the way of Jesus filling our hearts, which culminate in this final week of Lent, Holy Week.  Second, we see the bright red of the vestments, which is the color of blood — the Precious Blood of Jesus that has been shed for love of us.  It is not a pleasant image, but it is proof of His love for us — the kind of love that went to the Cross to redeem us from the reign of sin.  Thirdly, we see the bright green of the palm branches.  In fact, everything around us is starting to turn green with Spring freshness!  It shows the purpose of Lent and the purpose of the Cross: that we might have new life in Christ.

My brothers and sisters, I ask that you make Holy Week a sacred time.  Turn off your television this week, turn off the radio, refrain from doing unnecessary shopping, and pray!  If you are able, please make an effort to go to Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Good Friday Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion, and Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday.  These sacred liturgies, in all their solemnity and grandeur, unite us to saving events that happened 2,000 years ago, and they become present here and now.  

A good priest-friend of mine, Fr. Anthony McLaughlin, used to preach on Palm Sunday, “If I’d have been there, I’d have been there . . . .”  In other words, if I had been present 2,000 years ago, I would not have deserted Jesus like so many of His disciples.  Fr. McLaughlin’s point was that, if this is true, then it would be hypocritical to miss Holy Week liturgies.  If I really would have been there for Jesus, then I should show Him my solidarity with Him by being present to Him at Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil liturgies!

Habemus Papam! Pope Francis

This Sunday's readings can be found here.

On Wednesday afternoon, I was in my rectory working on a homily for a wedding.  In the background on my computer, I was listening to a live stream from the Vatican.  I heard the crowd start to scream, so I clicked on my browser and lo, there was white smoke coming out of the chimney of the Sistine Chapel!  It was unreal.

I waited patiently for the ceremonial to start with the marching of the Swiss Guard, Vatican police and Italian military branches.  It seemed like forever before the lights came on in the loggia in the façade of St. Peter’s Basilica.  (Of course, the Italians are masters of suspense!).  Then the cardinal MC announced the new pope, Jorge Bergoglio, and the chosen name “Francis.” I received a text from a priest-friend that read, “Rebuild my church.”

Indeed, the name chosen is very significant.  St. Francis of Assisi received these words from the crucifix in a weathered church in a rustic, old Italian town.  And yet, the obedience of this saint to the command of Christ would be so great that we still appreciate his contribution today.  We know that there are many “firsts” with this new pope: first Latino, first Jesuit, first “Francis”; first to ask for a blessing from the people immediately upon being elected.  These all indicate that Pope Francis is going to be a reformer, a strong leader, and hopefully a saint.

Of course, no pope has the authority to change Christ’s teachings as handed on by the Church, but there is need for a renewal in the Catholic Church today — for the “New Springtime” to start bearing fruit.  We must pray that Pope Francis has the strength to do God’s will, to overcome political pressure that pushes him left or right, and to continue to bring about healing from past sins committed by leaders of the Church.  Pope Francis needs our prayers so that his ministry will be as fruitful and effective as was the one whose name he has chosen to begin his papacy.

Reflections on the Third Sunday of Lent

Complaining:

What good does it do?

The day's readings can be found here.

When I am out and about the marketplace (like at Lacey’s here in Centerville), someone will inevitably ask me how I am doing.  Often times I respond, “Well, I can’t complain . . . .”  A good Texan response to this is, “Well, even if you did, it wouldn’t do any good anyway. . . .”  While this pleasant verbal exchange is commonplace in these parts of the world, there is indeed a lot of truth in these words.  Does complaining really help matters?  Even if there are legitimate reasons sometime to “vent,” is there a more Christian way to do so?

St. Paul the Apostle writes in the second reading today, Do not grumble as some of [the Israelites] did, and suffered death by the destroyer (1 Corinthians 10:10).  St. Paul is referencing the trials that Israel experienced between the Red Sea and the Promised Land.  Many Israelites grew impatient with the journey and ended up worshipping the Golden Calf (Exodus 32:6).  Others, when frustrated, got involved with sexual immorality that led to the idolatry of the Moabites (Numbers 25:1-9).  St. Paul is mainly warning the Corinthians not to put the Lord to the test, which is what Israel did in Exodus 17:1-7.  They were punished by serpent bites – not for being thirsty in the desert – but for their irreverent “grumbling” against the Lord’s providence.

How often do we find ourselves “grumbling” about the inconveniences of daily life?  While there is certainly reason to be angry in the face of grave injustice, is our complaining really about grave injustice or about not getting what we want, how we want, and when we want?  Sometimes, when we complain, we are actually rejecting the Cross in our lives and thus rejecting God’s loving plan for each and every one of us.  Jesus in His teaching and in His example makes it very clear that it is only through the Cross that we receive new life.  There is no Easter Sunday without a Good Friday.

This Lent, the Lord could be asking us to examine more deeply how much complaining we are doing, how critical we are being, and/or how negative our attitude is becoming.  We may find that the Lord wants to transform these tendencies into little crosses we can offer up for different intentions.  After all, without accepting these little crosses with a spiritual outlook, we cannot follow Jesus.  “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

Reflections on the Fourth Sunday of Lent

The Prodigal Father

The day's readings can be found here.

Today’s gospel (Luke 15:11-32) has traditionally been known as the “Parable of the Prodigal Son,” but a number of modern theologians and spiritual writers prefer to call this the “Parable of the Prodigal Father.”  When we look closely at this most beautiful parable that Jesus gives us, we understand a bit more about God’s lavish – almost scandalous – love towards us, His wayward children.

When the son demands his inheritance from the Father, it is a symbol of a person who cuts himself off from God through sin.  In ancient Jewish culture, it was considered a grave offense against the Fourth Commandment to ask for one’s inheritance before one’s father died.  The fact that the son squanders the money in a foreign land in “loose living” adds injury to insult, and as Blessed John Paul II writes, “[It] touches upon every breach of the covenant of love, every loss of grace, and every sin” (Dives in misericordia, 5).  When the son uses up all his inheritance, we are shown analogously the miserable effects of sin: hunger, emptiness, enslavement and despair.  Yet, the young man’s memory of home and his conviction of his father’s love cause him to reflect and resolve to change his life.

The next part of the parable is one of the most moving images of the gospel and is depicted in a vibrant painting by Rembrandt.  When the young man comes home, not only does the Father receive him, but the Father runs toward him – meets him halfway – embraces his son, and covers him with kisses.  “The father of the prodigal son is faithful to this fatherhood, faithful to the love that he had always lavished on his son” (John Paul II, Dives in misericordia, 6).  This is also shown in the great meal, joy and merrymaking that the father initiates at the return of the “squanderer.”

“When God runs towards us, we cannot keep silent, but with St. Paul, we exclaim, Abba, Pater: ‘Father, my Father!’ (Romans 8:15). [. . .] God is waiting for us, like the father in the parable, with open arms, even though we don’t deserve it.  It doesn’t matter how great our debt is.  Just like the prodigal son, all we have to do is open our heart, to be homesick for our Father’s house, to wonder at and rejoice in the gift which God makes us of being able to call ourselves his children, of really being his children, even though our response to him has been so poor” (St. Josemaría Escrivá, Christ Is Passing By, 64).  May this Lent help us to appreciate more and more the extravagant love that our prodigal Father has for each and every one of us.