Easter 2020

This Easter Sunday, even though the church doors are locked, rest assured that the gates of Hell are not locked. Indeed, the very door itself is broken down by the Lord of glory and the prisoners of death are being set free. Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven, exult, let Angel ministers of God exult, let the trumpet of salvation sound aloud our mighty King's triumph! Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her, ablaze with light from her eternal King,let all corners of the earth be glad, knowing an end to gloom and darkness. With these words the first Easter liturgy, the Vigil, begins. The words, "knowing an end to gloom and darkness" have a special significance for us at this time. Even though we are denied entrance into our churches to experience in person these beautiful liturgies, we have at least virtual connections and in our missals we have the full text of the words of Easter. With time on our hands, at least for most, we can take up these beautiful texts and let them talk to us deeply and personally. There is a method to be employed here. It is not just reading, as we might think of it with a book or news paper. Its listening, imagining, pondering, repeating; its spiritual reading on a higher level called Lectio Divina.  Here are some suggestion to help us with devotion. 1.      Take the texts for the Easter liturgies and start reading, but slowly, the goal is not to get quickly through them, rather it is pickup on something that stands out. 2.       Remember, liturgy is Jesus praying to the Father on our behalf. This is you who is the “we” in the prayer. 3.       Easter liturgy is rich in imagery, so use your imagination to form a picture of what you are reading. Put yourself in the picture. 4.       There are many who we hear speaking in the Easter liturgy; ancient prophets, disciples of Jesus, ordinary people, Jesus himself and the Father. What stands out in your hearing of these many voices? 5.       The sacrament of Baptism is a part of the Easter Vigil liturgy. Promises are made at baptism. How have you kept your promises? 6.       The Holy Spirit pours new life into hearts. Open yours and ask to be renewed, baptized anew in the Holy Spirit . 7.       Communion is the goal of Easter, communion in the very person of Jesus. “It is no long I who live but Christ living in me”, St. Paul teaches us. While we are unable to see, touch or taste the eucharistic sign of this communion, by “communion of desire” Jesus truly enters us who hunger for this union. Here is a link to an article dealing with praying scripture: [ ...LINK ...]

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Holy Week Four - REDEMPTION - 2020

" It is finished." Then bowing His head he gave up his spirit. The imagery around the passion and death of Jesus is very familiar to us. But a part of that picture may not be so familiar. In the Catholic Catechism, in #631 we read: Jesus "descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens." The Apostles' Creed confesses in the same article Christ's descent into hell and his Resurrection from the dead on the third day, because in his Passover it was precisely out of the depths of death that he made life spring forth. For this reflect, let us look at this part of the mystery of Jesus' passion and death. When Jesus, the human man, died his human soul left his body and went to the abode of the dead, "hell" - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek. Every soul that live, whether good or bad, after they died went to the abode of the dead. The experience of each was different but common to both was their separation from being in the presence of God and seeing his glory. Quoting #633 in the catechism we read: Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into "Abraham's bosom". "It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham's bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell." Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him." Now in this picture of Hades we see the souls of the just, the souls of the damned. But there is a third group, the souls of the "imperfect", souls that are not guilty of the sin of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. Mtt. 12:31. These souls want no part in Jesus and his glory. In the catechism we read: As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come. #1231 Reference is also made to the book of Maccabees where Judas Maccabeus made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin. 2 Macc. 12:46 These are the souls in need of "purgation", of purification (Purgatory). Jesus now proclaims the gospel to them giving them one last chance to embrace TRUTH and be saved. Quoting the catechism: Christ went down into the depths of death so that "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live." Jesus, "the Author of life", by dying destroyed "him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and [delivered] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage." Henceforth the risen Christ holds "the keys of Death and Hades", so that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth." #635 This is Holy Saturday, a day tied intimately to the work of redemption now fully completed. Yet it is a day that is little understood. Let us ponder this part of the great mystery of our salvation. Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear. He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated. For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden. See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree. I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you. Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity." Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday - Office of Reading

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Holy Week Three - VENGEANCE - 2020

Even though in recent years attendance at the Holy Thursday Mass has been in decline, for many I am sure they will feel the loss of this Holy day. With the beautiful interiors of our churches surrounding the beautifully appointed sanctuaries wherein stands the Table of the Lord to edify us, and with the sounds of the many voices of the liturgy our spirits could not but be lifted up. But not this year. With only our contemplation to assist us we can ask the Holy Spirit to carry us back to that first Holy Thursday. What we see surrounding that simple room is a picture dramatically different than how we might imagine it. Satan is gathering his forces for his last opportunity to destroy Jesus and his little flock. The HOUR is upon them but for this small group surrounding Jesus at table the monumental significance of these events now unfolding is hidden. Perhaps it can be said of us also that when we gather for the celebration of Holy Mass we too fail to appreciate the fullness of the great Mystery in which we are about to participate. In the Sacred Liturgy we transcend time and space. We are transported as it were into the time and place of that first Mass. There is only one supper of the Lord, the is only one Death on the Cross, there is only one glorious Resurrection to eternal life. Soon this celebrating and now sleepy group of men will find themselves thrust into the infuneral of Satan's vengeance against their Master. Let us not come the Mass to escape from our own trials by surrounding ourselves in the edifice of beautiful sights and sounds. We do come to be consoled and we will be. Rather let us come to partake of the Food of the Table set before us by Jesus. This food transforms us and empowers us to become one with Jesus in His passion and death so that we may be able to conquer Satan in all his attempts to destroy us. St. Paul lays this out so well for us in his letter to the Philippians. "I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead." Phil. 3:6 We may not be able to be edified by participating this beautiful Holy Thursday liturgy, but the Holy Spirit can take us through prayer and contemplation to be lifted up into Christ's consoling grace. Let us take up chapter 13 of John's gospel, from which the gospel reading for today's Mass is take and enter into the Mystery. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, "Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me." So, after receiving the piece of bread, Judas immediately went out. And it was NIGHT. I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will have denied me three times.

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Holy Week Two - CONDEMNATION - 2020

Satan has come to realize that he is not going to be able to deceive Jesus. So he now adopts a new strategy. Rather than trying to destroy Jesus directly, he now turns his focus on the people who are listening to Jesus and are trying to embrace a life of holiness so that they may be worthy to join the Father in His glory. Satan already has GAHENNA teaming with victims accumulated since the fall of Adam. Just keep deceiving and corrupting people and the mission of Jesus (as Satan understands it) will be completely made fruitless and he will have to return to his Father empty-handed. But now - what is this! "Neither do I condemn you. Go, your sins are forgiven."  From the very bowels of Gehenna a cry thunders forth with all the vehemence of a volcano. "NO, NO, NO!" Satan screams out with fire flowing from his mouth. "This is preposterous, sin is sin, quilt is guilt. All the rules of justice demand it. Justice demands the condemnation of the guilty. That is how I was treated, and so should she, should all of them. How dare He!" Satan has got it right. The guilty must pay for their crimes. Simply letting them go will only motivate them be smarter the next times and not to get caught. They have but one hope - Mercy. No one can can save themselves, they must be saved by another. Consider this illustration taken from the pandemic we are currently experiencing. A person is warned of the danger of this death-dealing virus. But they ignore the warnings, do not change their ways and eventuality contract the virus. At first they stay isolated as instructed but with frequent lapses. Their condition worsens and they have no choice they are moved to the hospital where their condition becomes more grave. They are put on a ventilator, a machine to live for them, but this too fails and they die. Unless someone comes along who can raise the dead back to life dead they will remain. This is similar to how sin works in the life of a soul. But Jesus can raise the dead back to life. In His public ministry He demonstrates this most dramatically, i.e the raising of Lazarus. But something more must happen. And to the sinful woman Jesus says, "... and do not sin again". But how will this be possible? These souls now forgiven were no match for Satan before, will he not just infect them again with sin? Jesus' plan for these souls to be saved by Mercy is unimaginably more profound.  Jesus does not send the forgiven back alone to be victims of Satan all over again, He goes with them. Jesus enters the soul of the one he forgives and lives within them and they within Him.  I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ LIVES IN ME. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20  So when Satan returns to seduce the forgiven one it is Jesus he finds himself up against. The old person is gone and a totally new person has taken its place. In the Office of Readings for Tuesday of Holy Week, quoting St. Basil we read "First of all we must make a complete break with our former way of life, and our Lord himself said that this cannot be done unless a man is born again. In other words, we have to begin a new life, and we cannot do so until our previous life has been brought to an end." I know a person who upon returning from making the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius was greeted by his friends with: "What happened to you, we do not recognize you, you have changed."  When and how this "New Life in the Spirit" comes about may vary, perhaps in a dramatic hour of encounter with Christ, or over a period time while in pursuit of a deeper spiritual life. What matters is that it happens.

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Second Reading, Tuesday of Holy Week From the book On the Holy Spirit by Saint Basil, bishop By one death and resurrection the world was saved. When mankind was estranged from him by disobedience, God our Savior made a plan for raising us from our fall and restoring us to friendship with himself. According to this plan Christ came in the flesh, he showed us the gospel way of life, he suffered, died on the cross, was buried and rose from the dead. He did this so that we could be saved by imitation of him, and recover our original status as sons of God by adoption. To attain holiness, then, we must not only pattern our lives on Christ’s by being gentle, humble and patient, we must also imitate him in his death. Taking Christ for his model, Paul said that he wanted to become like him in his death in the hope that he too would be raised from death to life. We imitate Christ’s death by being buried with him in baptism. If we ask what this kind of burial means and what benefit we may hope to derive from it, it means first of all making a complete break with our former way of life, and our Lord himself said that this cannot be done unless a man is born again. In other words, we have to begin a new life, and we cannot do so until our previous life has been brought to an end.  When runners reach the turning point on a racecourse, they have to pause briefly before they can go back in the opposite direction. So also when we wish to reverse the direction of our lives there must be a pause, or a death, to mark the end of one life and the beginning of another. Our descent into hell takes place when we imitate the burial of Christ by our baptism. The bodies of the baptized are in a sense buried in the water as a symbol of their renunciation of the sins of their unregenerate nature. As the Apostle says: The circumcision you have undergone is not an operation performed by human hands, but the complete stripping away of your unregenerate nature.  This is the circumcision that Christ gave us, and it is accomplished by our burial with him in baptism. Baptism cleanses the soul from the pollution of worldly thoughts and inclinations: You will wash me, says the psalmist, and I shall be whiter than snow. We receive this saving baptism only once because there was only one death and one resurrection for the salvation of the world, and baptism is its symbol.

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