Holy Week One - TEMPTATION - 2020

How much less is man, who is only a maggot, or a man's children, who are only worms!" Job 25.6 - Isaiah 41:14 – Psalm 22:6 – Isaiah 53

When the gates of heaven finally opened, inward toward the earth, gates that  were closed by the sin of Adam and Eve, there appear descending to earth the Son of God. He is coming for one reason and one reason alone, for this HOUR. Emptied of all his divine privilege he comes with only the faculties of a human man, the same faculties that Adam had going for him. Satan, by barely lifting a finger was able to totally corrupt the mind and heart of Adam, rendering unfit ever to be allowed to enter the presence of God and share in His glory; the same glory that Satan himself had lost through pride. But now the battle was on. Would Satan be able to do the same to Jesus that he did to Adam? The HOUR has begun.  It begins in the wilderness where Jesus goes after his official anointing and commissioning by the Father through the Holy Spirit at Jesus baptism by John.  This should be easy, he is merely a man, who now is hungry. “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” Mtt. 4:3  Satan tells himself that every human knows that the first priority of life is bread. Without bread death will surely overtake them, ("... death that I brought into the world"). This fails. Next Satan reasons that God did not reach down His hand to protect Adam, to prevent me, Satan from doing him grievous harm. Surely Jesus must be vulnerable to some doubt. Will the Father protect Him from death?  “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you’ and ‘with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” Mtt. 4:6 This too fails. Now Satan must play his trump card. Every man knows that success in this world is inexorably tied to power and control. Surely Jesus knows this. When I show him how I, Satan can guarantee Him that no power on earth shall be greater than the power I can give Him He's mine. I will take Him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, I will say to Him, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.” Mtt. 4:8 This too fails. But Satan is not willing to give up.  This is how our own Lenten time began. We too went with Jesus into our wilderness to be put to the test, a microcasm of our whole life. So how did you do? How have you been managing these deceits sown in your mind, ever so logically, ever so necessary and valid?  These three temptation are the three main principles upon which mark the rights and freedoms of this society in which we live. Unlike Jesus, no doubt we have all failed and our failure has disqualified us from being placed among the just. (Recall Jesus teaching in Matt. 5 which concludes: "Be perfect, just as your Heavenly Father is perfect.") The scales of justice demand it, Satan has claimed us and now carries us off to GEHENNA!

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Passion (Palm) Sunday 2020

While praying in anticipation of the coming of Palm Sunday, this image emerged in my thoughts. Here are some of my thoughts that I derived from the image. Perhaps you may have some personal to yourself. For those who were looking forward to Palm Sunday and the beautiful liturgy that surrounds it this Palm Sunday with the churches empty and the church doors locked seems incomprehensible. At this time in our society with all that is being denied us because of this terrible pandemic the lost of access to worship crushes our hearts. As I looked at the image above, I realized that what is missing in the 2020 picture is not Jesus, rather it is the people. Jesus is not taken away from us, his triumphant entry into our lives is not being prevented. Look, there he is: “Behold, your king comes to you, meek and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.” This gives us an opportunity to penetrate more deeply into the Mystery and meaning of these sacred days we are now entering. Because of man’s abandonment of God’s design that man should embrace truth and holiness of life Sin and Death has carried us away from God; taken us out of the picture, no longer able to gather with the saints in worship. We are prisoners of the guilt of our sins. But, “Behold, Jesus comes!” Palm Sunday and the days of Holy Week are not about us saving us, making us feel good about us, it’s about Jesus savings us who have been ripped out of the picture, rounded up by Satan and imprisoned in the inescapable darkness of death. Jesus comes to defeat Satan, to free us from the bondage of guilt and to restore us ounce again into the "picture" – the picture where the saints are gathered praising God and singing, “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is the he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.” Has there ever been a time when all the churches were locked up? I was reminded of the Cold War days when all of eastern Europe was under the control of Communism. Indeed, the churches were locked up, the priests were rounded up and put into prison, many executed and anyone who would be caught displaying any adherence to religion would be severally punished.  Then in 1979, Pope St. John Paul II made his triumphant 9 day visit to Poland speaking out boldly to all Catholics of eastern Europe, and thus began the end of the reign of Communism. “Upwards of half a million cheering, weeping Poles sank to their knees when "Our own Pope" stepped from his white helicopter in a field outside the town.” [ … Link … ] Catherine de Hueck Doherty, founder of the Madonna House movement who had escaped from communist Russia would say of the of Russian people under oppression that while there may not have been any outward evidence of religion, under every Russian bed there was hidden sacred icons which would come out at night for devotion. For us in these days of confinement, while liturgy my be taken from us grace is not, Jesus is not. Indeed, we have now time, time to explore some of the deeper approaches to prayer that have been taught by the great mystics of prayer. On the side panel of this blog I have provided some direction to just such prayer.

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“The HOUR has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”

As we prepare to enter Holy Week there are two important words that will focus our attention: HOUR and GLORIFY. Sometimes the word "hour" refers simply and literally to a short period of chronological time (a 60-minute period during the day). But in John's gospel, "Jesus' hour" refers more broadly and metaphorically to the climactic event of Jesus' death and resurrection, which it also refers to as his "glorification". (Jo.12:23; 17:1) As you see these words occurring throughout the course of John's gospel, you realize how important they are to understanding the message of the gospel. Jesus understood well why he was sent, "... it is for this HOUR that I have come". We must understand how we too are connected to these words; that Jesus' HOUR continues through time, for it is the final HOUR in the story of creation. It is now our hour in time. To be a true Christian, one must be drawn into the effects of this HOUR, for it is our destiny as well. We must share in the passion of the Cross by the "Christ-like" acceptance of the crosses in our lives. We must undergo the death of all desire for what is sin, the product of evil, until it no longer has influence over us. Finally, we say with Jesus, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit and we enter into our glorification. We may be able to identify with suffering in its many manifestation. So too, we can appreciate the struggle that is required to conquer the inordinate passions that would subdue us. We will all face our own death, our final hour on earth. But how do we understand glorification? It is not uncommon to hear the expression, "glorious", used to describe something one beholds with their eyes, i.e. a theatrical production, a celebration, such as a wedding or an Easter liturgy, sunset and sunrise, the vista of a natural landscape. By glorious we mean something of breathtaking beauty, fulfilled to perfection, eclipsing all our superlatives. Jesus' disciples beheld such a vision in the transfiguration of Jesus. ( He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Mtt. 17:2) St. Paul beheld the glorious risen Jesus, which began his conversion. In Acts he describes it in his own words:  “But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me, and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ ... “And those who were with me saw the light, to be sure, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. Acts 22:6 Paul tells that the glorious brightness of the light caused him to be temporally blinded so that he had to led by the hand into Damascus. This glorification, seen in Jesus, is the glorification God has planned every soul that comes into His presence. It is natural humanity transfigured into a new state, the state of grace. St. Catherine of Siena was given a vision of a soul glorified. The Soul in the State of Grace- Catherine of Siena was permitted by God to see the beauty of a soul in the state of grace. It was so beautiful that she could not look on it; the brightness of that soul dazzled her. Blessed Raymond, her confessor, asked her to describe to him, as far as she was able, the beauty of the soul she had seen. St. Catherine thought of the sweet light of that morning, and of the beautiful colours of the rainbow, but that soul was far more beautiful. She remembered the dazzling beams of the noonday sun, but the light which beamed from that soul was far brighter. She thought of the pure whiteness of the lily and of the fresh snow, but that is only an earthly whiteness. The soul she had seen was bright with the whiteness of Heaven, such as there is not to be found on earth. ” My father,” she answered. “I cannot find anything in this world that can give you the smallest idea of what I have seen. Oh, if you could but see the beauty of a soul in the state of grace, you would sacrifice your life a thousand times for its salvation. I asked the angel who was with me what had made that soul so beautiful, and he answered me, “It is the image and likeness of God in that soul, and the Divine Grace which made it so beautiful.” (Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena ) The goal of the prayer of meditation/contemplation is to connect us consciously with the process of glorification that has begun in us, through our state of grace. This way of prayer opens a vista for us to see into our souls. We experience on a human level what is happening to us on a mystical level. The ways we perceive this experience can vary, from a sense of peace coming over our heart, to visions and revelations, such as describe by the saints and the spiritual writers, (like Catherine of Siena). It is important that we realize our glorification has already begun in us by the state of grace of our souls. People may not be blinded by our outward appearance as we walk around, but there is an evidence that is perceptible to everyone. It is the fruit of our lives, the works of holiness and charity that we display by our actions. All the trees may look alike. You can tell the good ones by their fruit. (Mtt. 7:16) The following are the references for Jesus' Hour in John's gospel. Jesus, to his mother, at the Wedding at Cana: 2:4 – “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” Jesus, to the Jews (using the word "kairos"): 7:6 – Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.” The Evangelist/Narrator: 7:30 – Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. 8:20 – He spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come. Jesus, to his disciples, before raising Lazarus from the dead: 11:9 – “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world.” Jesus, to his disciples, after Andrew and Philip tell him that some Greeks wanted to see him: 12:23 – “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” 12:27 – “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.” The Evangelist/narrator, beginning the "Book of Signs"; introducing the Washing of the Feet:13:1 – Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. Jesus, to his disciples, in the Last Supper Discourses: 16:2 – “They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God.” 16:4 – “But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.” 16:21 – “When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world.” 16:25 [Jesus, to his disciples] – “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures, but will tell you plainly of the Father.” 16:32 – “The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me.” Jesus, praying to his Father, at the end of the Last Supper Discourses: 17:1 – After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you.” Jesus, just before his dies on the cross: 19:27 – Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

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Fifth Sunday of Lent - 2020 - Passion Sunday

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"

Back in March of this year the Stock Markets were at an all-time high. Politicians were ready to claim credit for all the good things that were happening in hopes that it will enhance their chances of re-election. Then this little fellow appeared on the scene and everything changed. Not only did this near invisible creature take over running society but it entered religion and shut down all the churches.  So what's it all about, life on planet earth? When you examine the social/political structures of our world, it is evident that there are many different approaches people have undertaken to make their societies work and to give life meaning and purpose. Here are the five most common political systems operating around the world: Democracy: in a more traditional sense is a political system that allows for each individual to participate. Republic: the main characteristic of a republic is that the government is subject to the people, and leaders can be recalled. Monarchy: commonly thought as absolute monarchy, in which the monarch truly has the ultimate say in matters of government. Communism: where states are dominated by a single party, or a group of people, often considered an authoritarian political system. Dictatorship: where a dictator is the main individual ruling the country making most of the decisions, and usually having enforcers. In all of these systems, those having power and authority make the rules by which everyone is to conduct their life in that society. When a person refuses to live by the rules, they will be punished, they are taken by force and separated from the rest of the society. The most severe form of this is execution, otherwise it is imprisonment. But there is one overall governing order for everything that exists, which we know as God's Kingdom of heaven and earth. God alone is the creator of heaven and earth. It is God, who has designed the heavenly realms and all that they contain. It is God who created the universe we know and assigned everything its purpose in creation. God created this world and gave life to all living things. The crowning form of all life that God created is human kind; it is us, who scripture reveals are created in God's image and likeness. So why are we here? Philosophy and science, and all the social designs of man, can only bring us to the outer doorstep of the visible universe. They have no way of accessing, directly, knowledge of the Kingdom of God, nor can they tell us anything of the special purpose God has designed for us in creation. For this information we must turn to revelation. Revelation tells us that God, who has given us natural life, has planned for us to be transformed and to take on a new form of existence. We are to live in God's presence, in harmony and peace forever. To live in God's presence, we must first learn how to live in God's presence. Our minds and hearts must be purified of all falsehood. They must be re-formed into perfect harmony with God's will. This purification of our minds and hearts begins here, in this life. The bible has our books of studies, and our lessons of formation begins with the Ten Commandments. Revelation tells us that among the heavenly beings that God created, there were some who rebelled, rejecting the purpose God had given them. Because of this they were expelled from God's presence. They are the Fallen Angels or Devils and Lucifer is their leader. But their ongoing rebellion against God's creative design continues. Now they attempt to persuade us, to reject God's plan and join them in their rebellion. (There is a tradition that suggests that the reason some angels revolted was learning about God's plan to give man, this lowly worm that evolves out of the mud of the earth, a dignity that will be higher than they; What is man that you are mindful of him, and a son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him little less than a god, crowned him with glory and honor. Ps. 8:5) Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Rev. 12:7 Their strategy is simple, lies and deception. And so it begins: Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Gen. 3:1 There is a REASON for everything. But who assigns that reason? How do we know what is true? Who do you believe? If you believe in God, then you must trust, must give your whole existence over in faith. But what if you are wrong? It's this seed of doubt with its many convincing arguments, that is constantly whispered in your soul - are you sure - but what if ...? Today, one of the predominant propositions set before us is atheism; "there is no God". It is up to you to determine, "what is good and evil".  A spin off of this is the discrediting of religion. Who's God do you believe? Why do religions fight each other? What of all the scandals if religion is so holy? If God is good, why all the suffering in the world? If there is a God, where is the evidence? And you, you who believe, why is doubt always there in the back of your mind?  And then there is the ever present, "I'm a good person, I can figure out 'what is good and evil'." Lent begins with Jesus in the wilderness, but not alone. It climaxes in the garden, and again, he is not alone. That voice, ever present voice, questioning, casting a pall of doubt and fear; twisting, deceiving, ever rational and logical, yet always outside of the whole truth works on him. In the wilderness, Jesus' response is precise and clear, dispatching his antagonist summarily. But in the garden the voice has returned with a new weapon. What is it, how is it able to crush the heart of Jesus so that the very sweat of his struggle is his life's blood? We discover it in Jesus' words on the cross. “My God, my God, why have you abandon me?” Abandonment. There is nothing more destructive to a trusting faith than to experience being abandon. St.  Ignatius, in his rules for discernment, tells us that God will allow some souls to experience such a test. He calls it "desolation". The full weight of all the negative arguments against one's trust comes crashing down. The soul is left alone and is no match for the Prince of Darkness. Once our faith has passed through the test of abandonment, the devil has no greater weapon left with which to attack our faith. Jesus brings with him into the garden his disciples, to pray with him as he prepares to enter his test of abandonment. He comes and finds them sleeping, (a condition not unfamiliar to many believers). His exhortation to them and to us: "Stay awake and prayer, that you may not undergo the TEST"  As we enter these final days of Lent, Jesus' exhortation is now addressed to us. Are you ready and awake? Are you praying for the grace of "unshakable trust"? + + + + + + + In his passion of ABANDONMENT, Jesus' prayer on the Cross draws on the words of psalm 22. It offers us much support and inspiration for our prayer at this time. The following is the first part of psalm 22. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why so far from my call for help, from my cries of anguish? My God, I call by day, but you do not answer; by night, but I have no relief. Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the glory of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted and you rescued them. To you they cried out and they escaped; in you they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a worm, not a man, scorned by men, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they curl their lips and jeer; they shake their heads at me: “He relied on the LORD—let him deliver him; if he loves him, let him rescue him.” For you drew me forth from the womb, made me safe at my mother’s breasts. Upon you I was thrust from the womb; since my mother bore me you are my God. Do not stay far from me, for trouble is near, and there is no one to help.

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