Easter III-C: Acts 5:28-32, 40b-41; Rev. 5:11-14; Jn. 21:1-19

Today’s Gospel tells the post-Resurrection story of our merciful Savior Who goes in search of His band of disappointed and dejected disciples. The incident proves that Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances were not mere hallucinations. In the first part of today’s Gospel, [I read only the first part] the risen Jesus appears to His disciples and gives them a symbol of their mission in a miraculous catch of fish followed by a grilled fish breakfast prepared by Jesus himself. 

Chapter 21 of John’s Gospel shows Peter returning to his old way of life, trying, perhaps, to forget the disastrous events of the crucifixion of his master. Six other apostles join him:  Thomas the former doubter, the two hotheaded sons of Zebedee, the faithful and loyal Nathaniel, and two others who are not named.  Although John mentions that “it was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead” (v. 14), this is actually the fourth appearance.  The first was to Mary of Magdala (20:11-17).  The second was to the disciples without Thomas (20:19-23).  The third was to Thomas and the disciples (20:26-29).  This post-Resurrection appearance of Jesus reminds us of an earlier incident in his ministry, namely the call of Peter and the other disciples after their night of fishing in the Sea of Galilee.  (Fishermen often worked at night in order to be able to sell the freshest possible fish at the market in the morning). In both instances, Jesus asks the disciples to cast their nets into the sea a second time.   In both cases they catch a large number of fish, and in both incidents Jesus invites Peter to follow him. “The Fathers and Doctors of the Church have often dwelt on the mystical meaning of this episode: the boat is the Church, whose unity is symbolized by the net which is not torn; the sea is the world, Peter in the boat stands for supreme authority of the Church, and the number of fish signifies the number of the elect.

Scripture scholars have long wondered about the possible meaning of the count of 153 fish in the catch described in today’s Gospel. One speculation is that it refers to 153 fish found in the Sea of Galilee; another that the number symbolizes all generations of people. So that number represents above all the fullness of the Church. But it also represents the fullness of our own lives when we give them over to Christ. He fills our emptiness with his friendship. He gives us meaning and purpose. He fills our lives with wonder; he fills our lives with love.

give them over to Christ. He fills our emptiness with his friendship. He gives us meaning and purpose. He fills our lives with wonder; he fills our lives with love.

When the disciples follow the direction of Jesus, their nets are heavy with the catch of fish and when they reach the shore, they see fish already on the fire, and Jesus invites them to bring some of their abundant catch in a mutual gesture of sharing.

 

Jesus authenticated their work by adding to the meal some of the fish they had caught.  There is an Eucharistic overtone in this, but there is no mention

of the blessing or breaking of bread, both of which are part of the usual Eucharistic formula. In every Eucharist we have to bring our catch to add to the Eucharistic meal. When the offertory is raised in offering to the Father, the celebrant says the prayer, Blessed are you Lord God of all creation, through your goodness we have this bread and wine to offer, fruits of the earth and work of human hands… The offertory elements are brought forward by and from the congregation to the altar. In the beginning of the Church everyone brought their own bread and wine for the Eucharist and it ended up being some eating superior quality bread and others inferior and therefore, unanimity is brought when the Church started getting the bread and wine for the congregation from their finances, fruit of their labor. Besides the bread and wine we also need to offer our every joys and sorrows, every concerns and worries and the Father will accept them and transform them and give them back to us renewed and transformed as he does with the bread and wine. If we do not bring anything to we go without taking anything from. Often people complain saying I got nothing from coming to Mass; because we didn’t bring anything. So always bring some of our catch to the Eucharistic meal.

Jesus would challenge us today with words similar to what he said to Peter, 'Recast your nets Peter, and try again'. Peter failed the first time because he had been working alone without the help of Jesus. Many of us may well feel like Peter, we have been working all day and night and have caught nothing. We have been working hard on ideas with little or no success. We have been trying to improve our family relationships but not made any headway with it. We have been trying to improve the finances, but not much success. We feel down and perhaps it is because we have been working alone without Jesus in our lives. We have tried to do it all by ourselves and forgotten what Jesus said to his followers a few chapters earlier in St. John's Gospel, 'I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in that person will bear much fruit, for without me you can do nothing' (Jn. 15:5).

 

Cycle [C] 2nd Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy)

 Acts 5:12-16; Rev. 1:9-11a, 12-13, 17-19; Jn. 20:19-31

 The readings for this Sunday are about God’s Mercy, the necessity for trusting Faith, and our need for God’s forgiveness of our sins. The Gospel presents Jesus as soon as he walks into the room where the disciples were, he shows them his hands and his side. He shows them the wounds of his crucifixion. Thomas tells other disciples: “I won’t believe it until I see and touch the wounds.” He does see and probably touched the wounds, and that leads him to exclaim “My Lord and my God!” Jesus’ wounds are his identity card. They shout out to us that God’s mercy is more powerful than death.   

All this is tied in with the special feast we’re celebrating today as Divine Mercy Sunday. Mercy is when God’s love meets our brokenness. We all need God’s mercy. And we all need to see God’s mercy. As Pope Francis, paraphrasing Pope Benedict XVI, once said, “The name of God is mercy.”

And the wounds of Christ, visible for all eternity, are the vivid reminder of God’s mercy. It’s not enough to know abstractly that the name of God is mercy. We need to see it. We need to be reminded of it. So we can say that the mercy of God comes to us through Christ’s wounds. 

 

Whenever Jesus appeared to the disciples after his resurrection they had difficulty in recognizing him. So he shows them his wounds. There are a few things that are believed to be the characteristics of a resurrected body, which can be inferred from the scripture and the observations made from the resurrected body of Christ. All our bodies will rise only at the final coming of Christ. These observations of the conditions of resurrected bodies do not apply to those already dead right now, except Jesus and Mary who have their bodies already risen.

First characteristic is:

1. Identity – The very same body that falls in death will rise to be glorified; we will not get a different body. St. Thomas Aquinas says: For, we cannot call it resurrection unless the soul return to the same body, since resurrection is a second rising, and the same thing rises that falls: if it be not the same body which the soul resumes, it will not be a resurrection, but rather the assuming of a new body (Suppl. Q 79.1).

This does not mean that the body will necessarily be identical in every way. As St. Paul says, our current bodies are like the seed. A seed does not have all the fully developed qualities of the mature plant, but it does have them in seed form. For in the sowing of grain, the grain sown and the grain that is born thereof are neither identical, nor of the same condition, since it was first sown without a husk, yet is born with one: and the body will rise again identically the same, but of a different condition, since it was mortal and will rise in immortality. (Ibid).

2. Integrity – We will retain all of the parts of our current bodies. This means every physical part of our body, even the less noble parts (e.g., intestines). It is clear from the Gospel that Jesus ate, even after the resurrection. He ate a fish while in their company (Luke 24:43). He also ate with the disciples in Emmaus (Luke 24:30). He ate breakfast with them at the lake shore (Jn 21:12). Hence it follows that even less noble parts of our body will rise, for eating and digestion are still functions of a resurrected body. St. Thomas argues that food will not be necessary to the resurrected body (Suppl. 81.4), but it is clearly possible to eat, for Christ demonstrated it.

3. Quality – What about age, gender, and other physical characteristics? Our bodies will be youthful and will retain our original gender.

Paul says in the letter to the Philippians (3:19) that our glorified bodies will be conformed to Christ’s glorified body. Jesus’ body rose at the age of 30-33 years.

St Augustine also speculates that because Christ rose again of youthful age (about 30), others also will rise again of a youthful age (cf De Civ. Dei xxii).

St. Thomas further notes, Man will rise again without any defect of human nature, because as God founded human nature without a defect, even so will He restore it without defect.

(Now human nature has a twofold defect. First, because it has not yet attained to its ultimate perfection. Secondly, because it has already gone back from its ultimate perfection. The first defect is found in children, they long to grow to be youth,  the second in the aged, they long to be young again: and consequently in each of these human nature will be brought by the resurrection to the state of its ultimate perfection which is in the youthful age, at which the movement of growth terminates, and from which the movement of decrease begins (Suppl. Q. 81.1).

Further, since gender is part of human perfection, all will rise according to their current gender. Other qualities such as height and hair color will also be retained, it would seem, since this diversity is part of man’s perfection.

4. Impassability – We will be immune from death and pain. Scripture states this clearly:

The dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality (1 Cor 15:52-53).

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away (Rev 21:4).

5. Subtlety – Our bodies will be free from the things that restrain them now. Subtlety refers to the capacity of the resurrected body to be completely conformed to the capacities of the soul.  (Suppl. Q. 83.1).

In my current lowly body, though I may wish to go to India in a few moments my body cannot pull that off. My current body cannot instantly be somewhere else on the planet. Now the soul is united to body not only as its form, but also as its mover; and in both ways the glorified body must be most perfectly subject to the glorified soul.

6. Clarity – The glory of our souls will be visible in our bodies. We will be beautiful and radiant. It is written in the Scriptures: The just shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Mat 13:43). The body in sown in dishonor, it shall rise in glory (1 Cor 15:43).

In conclusion we can say that our resurrected bodies will be same yet different. That was the reason why the disciples always had doubt about the identity of the risen Jesus. That is why he showed them his wounds which he preserves for us in his resurrected body to show how much he loves us. Those wounds of Jesus tell us loud and clear of our sins and how merciful and forgiving our God is.

The divine mercy picture shows the grace flowing out from his wounds. And when we bring him our wounds in the sacrament of confession, our very wounds become an entrance point for his merciful love. And we experience the peace and the joy that Christ wants to give us. 

 

EASTER SUNDAY: Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Col 3:1-4; Jn 20:1-9 or Lk 24:1-12

 

Albert L. Roper was a prominent Virginia attorney, a graduate of the University of Virginia and its law school, who eventually became mayor of the city of Norfolk. He once began a thorough legal investigation into the evidence for the Resurrection of Christ, asking himself the question: “Can any intelligent person accept the Resurrection story?” After examining the evidences at length, he came away asking a different question: “Can any intelligent person deny the weight of this evidence?” —

We don’t base our Faith on legends, myths, or fairy tales. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is well-documented, and many critics have been silenced (and even converted) when they’ve carefully investigated the evidence [Albert L. Roper, Did Jesus Rise From the Dead (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1965), foreword.]

Recently I watched a YouTube debate on the historicity of Jesus’ existence. Some people contested that Jesus did not exist. They say there are no historical records of his living. They were not talking about the proof of his resurrection, but about his existence. Before we examine the proofs of his resurrection we examine proofs of his existence.

First of all several historians recorded that Jesus lived during the time of Pontius Pilate. With regard to founders of other religions, not a single one of the major religions can provide historical proofs of their living as in the case of Jesus. Records about Buddha were written only 3 centuries after him and about Muhammad 2 centuries after him. But we have the gospels written as early as 30 years after the death of Jesus available.

The first century Jewish historian Josephus said Jesus was a wise man who Pontius Pilate condemned to the cross. (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 18.3.3; see also 20.9.1). In the early second century the Roman historian Tacitus said Christians received their name from “Christus” who was put to death by Pontius Pilate, Procurator of Judea in the reign of Tiberius . (Tacitus, Annals, 15.44). Bart Ehrman, an agnostic scholar who is a leading expert on the Bible wrote, “The view that Jesus existed is held by virtually every expert on the planet. (Bart Ehrman, Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth (New York, Harper One, 2012, p.4).  We include in our Creed the name of Pontius Pilate because it was a verified fact that Jesus was crucified during his time.

The Gospel writers, especially Luke and Matthew generally report incidents with names of the rulers under whose rule the particular incident happened. The Birth of Christ in Bethlehem happened during the time of Herod the great. Later historians found out that when the Gregorian calendar was set they did a mistake of calculating the birth of Jesus 4 years later. Thus it was found out that Jesus was not born in the year 1 AD, as Anno Domino  but in 4 BC.  Most of the reports in the Bible are historical interventions of God among his people. And they are verifiable in time.

There are several theories mentioned in this book “Why we are Catholic” by Trent Horn. The swoon theory says that Jesus just passed out on the cross and woke up in the tomb. The trash theory says that Jesus was buried in a common graveyard and so they didn’t know where he was buried. But the scripture says he was buried in a new tomb owned by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus was also with him and they brought a lot of spices for the burial. Therefore, Jesus was buried in a locatable tomb. Even to this day we know where he was buried and I have been in that tomb. After all it was only three days since the incident took place and they could easily trace the tomb even if not marked, when so much controversy arose.

 

Then there is the hallucination theory: Atheist ,New Testament scholar Gerd Ludemann said, “It may be taken as historically certain that Peter and the disciples had experiences after Jesus’ death in which Jesus appeared to them as the risen Christ. (42). Ludemann doesn’t think,  however, that Jesus actually rose from the dead, but that the Apostles experienced a hallucination instead.

 

First of all, it is individuals, not groups, who almost always experience hallucinations. Multiple biblical authors confirm that groups of Jesus’ disciples claimed to see him after his death. The theory that Jesus’ depressed disciples hallucinated his resurrection doesn’t explain why enemies like Paul saw Jesus and became Christian.

Then there is the empty tomb theory which says the tomb was not empty. But we know even the enemies of Jesus said his tomb was empty. It was not just the women whose testimony generally did not carry much weight at the time, but Peter and John and others had witnessed the empty tomb and the experience of the risen Christ.

 

Then there is the fraud theory, which says the disciples stole and said he is risen. Fraud is normally committed for personal gain: the only thing the disciples had to gain from their fraud was persecution and death. Since people don’t knowingly die for a lie, we can be confident Jesus’ disciples really believed in the resurrection. Anyone would die only for a true thing, not for hiding or defending a lie.

 

Some other reasons why we believe in the Resurrection of Jesus: (a) Jesus himself testified to his Resurrection from the dead (Mark 8:31; Matthew 17:22; Luke 9:22). (b) The initial disbelief of Jesus’ own disciples in his Resurrection, in spite of his repeated apparitions.  This serves as a strong proof of his Resurrection. It explains why the apostles started preaching the resurrected Christ only after receiving the anointing of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. (c)  The transformation of Jesus’ disciples: The disciples of Jesus were almost immediately transformed from men who were hopeless and fearful after the crucifixion (Luke 24:21, John 20:19) into men who were confident and bold witnesses of the Resurrection (Acts 2:24, 3:15, 4:2). 

 (d) The sheer existence of a thriving, Empire-conquering early Christian Church, bravely facing three centuries of persecution, supports the truth of the Resurrection claim.

The Resurrection of Christ is the basis of our Christian Faith, for it proves that Jesus is God.  That is why St. Paul writes: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain; and your Faith is in vain…  And if Christ has not been raised, then your Faith is a delusion, and you are still lost in your sins… 

 

Though the Easter stories are full of people getting confused, like, Mary thinking Jesus' body has been stolen. Peter sees the linen wrappings and can't work out what it's all about. The disciples didn't understand the Scriptures. Mary thinking Jesus is the gardener.  But then, the only disciple who is reported to have believed is the one Jesus loved. He went into the tomb and saw and believed, looking at his face linen folded in a particular way indicating that he is going to come back soon. This disciple’s name is not mentioned, why? Because, that is you and me. Only those who experience Jesus’ love can really see Jesus as risen. Faith requires some understanding but for understanding we need some degree of faith and love. Love opens our eyes of faith. We love him for what he did for us and keep doing for us in our life.

An encounter with the Risen Christ in faith is always a salvific and transforming experience. We can no longer live the same way now that death has been defeated in Christ. The Resurrection banishes vanity from our lives and changes our perspective.

 

Today, the greatest Sunday of the year, let's honor the Lord not only with our voices, but also in our hearts. Let's promise him that between now and Pentecost we will use our creativity to make our Sundays different.

 

When members of the Eastern Church (including the Orthodox) wish someone a Happy Easter they do it with an affirmation of faith: “Christ is Risen.” The customary response is “He is Truly.” Let’s also use Let’s also use that affirmation of faith this year: Christ is Risen. He is truly.

 

 

Good Friday

All of us long for an easy and fairly sudden death when it comes, not a sickly, prolonged death. Why did Jesus choose the most painful death and why did he not choose a death by cutting the throat if shedding blood was an important element of redemption?

One of the things to be remembered is that the crucifixion was already foretold by Isaiah even before the Assyrians and Babylonians (6th century B.C.) and the Romans (3rd Century BC) invented this most cruel mode of punishment.

As we contemplate Our Lord crucified today, we behold a tragedy, the tragedy of an innocent man publicly executed. Jesus’ only “crime” was to identify himself as the Messiah, and that’s who he was; he did so to the Sanhedrin, so they decided to have him killed, and he was handed over to Pilate, who sentenced him to death.[We take the name of Pilate in our creed to tell that this incident was a historical fact, with reference and historians mentioning it].

Isaiah’s description of the Suffering Servant, of the first reading, is a description of Christ raised on the Cross: “…my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted…so marred was his look beyond human semblance…so shall he startle many nations, because of him kings shall stand speechless…”

He takes the punishments we deserve upon himself: “he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins”

Jesus doesn’t just say, “never mind, I forgive you”; he hands himself over to evil men to be tortured and executed. He teaches us how horrible the effects of sin are, not just to us, but to him, and that our sins have consequences.

Yet Isaiah also reminds us that by his wounds we are healed. His suffering is not in vain. He has won pardon for our sins. The prophecy of Isaiah about the suffering servant of God is a contentious point for the Jews of the present time because this prophecy is not yet fulfilled in their bible, if Jesus is not accepted as a Prophet in Judaism. Many Jews turned to Christianity lately because they found the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy in Jesus. The last prophet of Judaism was Malachi who prophesied around 515 BC and since then there were no prophets in Israel and since about 2500 years no prophets and for about 1950 years, no temple, which was the focal point of Judaism, and for their sacrifices? So, where is Judaism, did God abandon them? Did He not keep His promises to them? God kept his promises, but they failed to see the fulfillment of the promise of the Messiah in Christ. The Jews are like someone at the train station wanting to catch a particular train for a destination, the train comes but he could not read the signs properly, so he doesn’t board the train and the train leaves and he is still waiting for his train to come.

 

Good Friday tells us that our God is not only loving and merciful but also just. These two virtues are not balanced in any god and in any other religion, just only in Christianity. If one is perfectly just, he cannot be totally merciful if he is a judge. Simply saying you are forgiven because you said sorry does not fulfill the demands of justice. He should make you pay for it. He will be merciful but not just. However, a just God who knew your inability to pay for the loss, came out and paid for the loss, from the side of the offender by taking our human form. That is the reason when the scripture says Jesus took on our human flesh to become like us in all things, but sin. If he was sinful then he could not pay for the debt from living in sin.

One of the things we need to remember is that any sin we commit, especially the mortal sin is against God before it is towards anyone else. This is because He is the creator and loves every person more than that person cares about himself or herself. Any sin against God assumes a gravity of humungous proportion because it is against God’s sublime Holiness. Therefore no human person is able to repair the damage except someone of God’s caliber. That is the reason Jesus had to become a human being and pay for the human debt. The implication of the Greek words of Jesus on the cross: Tetelestai, meaning it is completed/ it is finished. Its meaning is not, I am finished. But, his mission is finished. When someone paid back a debt the deed was marked at the end: Tetelestai, meaning paid in full. Thus God manifested himself as just and merciful God by Jesus’ death on the cross: Paid in full for our debt of sin.

On the cross, Christ is trusting his Father for us, in our place. He is reversing Adam's lack of trust. As the letter to the Hebrews expressed it: "Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered..." Christ's limitless trust in God rebuilt the bridge between us and God that Adam's lack of trust had destroyed.

 

Death, suffering, and sorrow were not part of God's original plan for humanity; they only showed up after original sin. However, God knew this would have to happen when free will was granted to man who would choose for himself, what is good and evil for him instead of following God’s will.  That is the cause of every evil in the world. Therefore, we can say God is the cause of evil in the world, because God gave man the free will. If he did not give him the free will, he would not be a loving God who would want man to love Him freely. Forced obedience and love are not genuine. However, God restored to man in Christ much more than he lost by his original sin. That is why St. Augustine exclaimed: O happy fault of Adam.

 

When dying Jesus cried out I thirst. Jesus’ thirst was more for souls who really thirst for God, who love God. All Christians are to be missionaries who satiate this thirst of Christ by preaching him, mainly through their exemplary and transparent Christian lives, and drawing others to love and believe in Him. On this Good Friday, when we can keep our head high because we are no longer under the yoke of Satan and sin, we can look at the crucified savior and his cross and say: Behold the wood of the cross on which hung the salvation of the world.

 

 

HOLY THURSDAY: THE LORD’S SUPPER (Ex 12:1-8, 11-14; 1 Cor 11:23-26; Jn 13:1-15) 

 

With this celebration, the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, we inaugurate the Sacred Paschal Triduum. We inaugurate three days of Lord’s life: suffering, passion, death, and Resurrection.

In today’s First Reading Moses describes to the Israelites, still enslaved in Egypt, of the importance of the Passover not only for that night, but for all nights to come.

In the Passover the Paschal lamb was sacrificed and its blood spread over the doorpost and lintels to keep them from death. In the Last Supper the Lord states his intent to become the true Paschal lamb. He will be sacrificed on Good Friday and through his blood we will be saved from the spiritual death that sin inflicts.[The Israelites were forbidden to eat or drink anything with blood, because life of anything was in its blood. However, Jesus told them, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you:  because, his blood was divine blood that needs to run in every soul to remove sin, sickness and death].

In instituting the Eucharist Jesus asks us to perpetually commemorate his sacrifice: “do this in memory of me.” He was not asking them to remember the Passover feast, which all the Jews did every year. He was asking them to remember and do his last supper which embodied his giving of himself on the cross and his rising on the third day. Those three days of his life form one single unit as his/our Passover from the slavery of sin and death.

In every celebration of the Eucharist we re-offer in an unbloody manner what he once offered on the Cross: himself. But that sacrifice that we offer is not different from the original Sacrifice of Jesus, but the same one. There is only one Sacrifice of Christ. We are not doing a different one at each Mass. To stress the concept of the unity of the celebration in the early church when the Popes said Mass in Rome, the neighboring parishes received a consecrated piece of host from the celebration of the Pope which they used in the parishes around Rome. That unity of each Mass with other Masses is still preserved when we use the consecrated body from the previous celebration preserved in the tabernacle. And the unity with the following day’s mass is also maintained when we preserve the remaining hosts for the next day’s Mass.

In today’s Second Reading Paul recalls Christ’s words to celebrate the Eucharist in “remembrance” of him. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.1 Cor 11:26.

This sacrifice is made sacramentally present at every Mass—not for the sake of God, who has no need of it, but for our sake. 

Why do we repeatedly celebrate it? By the repeated celebration it should go deeper and deeper into us and become part of our life and remember it every day that my eternal life gets its effect from this one celebration.

By the washing of the feet of his disciples before a Passover meal Our Lord is teaching a lesson he expects his disciples to imitate, which is why he is so hard on Peter when he balks at having his feet washed by Our Lord. Our Lord’s response is interesting: “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” Our Lord is teaching them to serve one another by this command.

If Peter had refused, would he ever have done it either? Perhaps an inheritance would have been lost, the inheritance of loving one another, in this case, through service, just as Our Lord did. In John’s account of the Last Supper this is just the first gesture showing the importance in Jesus’ mind of his commandment to love.

The washing of his disciples' feet was a perfect image of what this Christ-like love is all about. So, when we refuse to wash the feet of others or like Peter refuse to be washed, mean we do not like to serve others, and love others as Christ did.

For Christ, love is not feelings; it is active and costly, paid by life. That's what the washing of the feet teaches us.

And because he knows we're slow learners, he is going to repeat the lesson even more graphically by the suffering and death of his passion, which he says to do in his remembrance.

Every Mass is the celebration of the passion and death of Jesus. It is not enough to attend just once to dive deep into that mystery. Because our capacity is limited to draw enough grace for our lives from just one celebration. That is why the Church tells us to attend Mass at least on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligations in keeping with Jesus’ command: do this in memory of me.

The Mass is the prayer of the Church par excellence: meaning, there is no greater prayer other than the holy sacrifice of the Mass. From the opening prayer to the closing prayer, the Mass is one continual offering to God the Father by making present the passion of his Son. Almost all of the prayers are addressed exclusively to the Father. [the prayer before the exchange of peace: Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles….  is addressed to Jesus] We, as a community of believers, participate in this awesome drama that is relived every time the Mass is offered. We are not merely spectators but active participants in the Lord’s passion.

 

The Mass is not for our entertainment. Considering that we are reliving the Lord’s passion, we are participating in the sacrificial offering of Jesus on the cross, which is most reflected in the Eucharist. The music should accompany our prayer of thanksgiving for what we have received and should enhance our communal participation. It wouldn’t be appropriate to play rock music during someone’s funeral. Neither would it be appropriate to play music that draws attention to the congregation rather than on the sacrifice unfolding before our eyes. The focus is not community, it is God who loved us in Christ. We are not coming here to get something, but primarily give something, give honor and glory to God for his great gift of salvation.

Therefore, the Mass is not meant to be entertaining.  Liturgy without the cross can be made entertaining, but one involving cross and death cannot be entertaining. A clean, comfortable, inoffensive, tell-me-what-I-want-to-hear celebration, is not what is to be expected at Mass. You can probably get that in non-denominational celebrations, because they are not Holy Masses. They call them, the Lord’s table, meaning just the last supper. We are not celebrating just the last Supper here. It is only one of the three things we do here.

We were not made to be comfortable. Giving one hour a week to attend Mass, fasting an hour before communion, going to church during vacations, putting up with boring homilies– all these are nothing compared to what our Savior endured for us. We have inadvertently trained ourselves to see these small sacrifices as burdens rather than seeing them as paths to sanctification. Sometimes it may go longer than usual.  If someone in your family is dying, would you look the watch and say he/she is taking time to die? If we really know what is going on in the Mass, we can never say that.

Jesus has so much that he wants to say to us, so much that he wants to do for us and through us.  That is why he decided to stay with us and give himself to us directly, entirely, in the Eucharist.

"I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do."

Today, when we receive Holy Communion, let's ask Jesus for the strength we need to wash our neighbors' feet, to be his true disciples, to love at least a little bit more like him - and let's promise that between now and Easter Sunday, we will make an effort to do for someone else what he has done for us.

 

 

 

 

 

Cycle [C] Palm/ Passion Sunday

 Is. 50:4-7; Phil. 2:6-11; Lk. 22:14-23:56

Today all Catholics throughout the world turn their hearts and minds once again to the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. That suffering won for all mankind the definitive victory over sin and hopelessness - a victory we declare and celebrate with these palm branches, the ancient world's symbol of triumph.

Let's not be satisfied with the symbols, but dig deeper into this mystery of our salvation.

God is all-powerful. He could have chosen to save us from sin in many other ways. Why did he choose to do it by suffering? The Passion tells us with perfect clarity the message we most need to hear. The Passion of Our Lord says to us: God is faithful; we can trust him. Trusting God is the most important thing for us, but it's also the hardest, because our trust has been violated. We have all been wounded because people we trusted let us down, in little things and big things.

As a result, we have all built up walls around our hearts, to protect ourselves from being let down again. But those walls also keep out God. God knows that unless we let him into our hearts, we can never experience the happiness we long for. So he came up with a way to win back our trust: the Passion of Christ. The Passion is God saying to us: "No matter what you do, I will keep on loving you. I will never let you down.”  

If we reject him, scourge him, crown him with thorns, betray him, even if we crucify him, he continues to love us: "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." When we ponder on the face of Christ this week he will help us open ourselves to his grace.

 

Monica Bellucci played the role of Veronica in Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ.  She was an Italian actress in her early thirties. Although she had grown up Catholic, she had long ago stopped practicing her faith. At the time when they began filming, she was at a spiritual low point in her life. She explained later that she really wanted to believe in Jesus, but she simply couldn't.

Her scene in the movie is memorable. Jesus is carrying his cross to Calvary, and he falls for the third or fourth time. The crowds surge around him, abusing him as he lies on the ground. The soldiers try to control the crowds. Gliding through the middle of this confusion is Veronica.  She looks at him with love and devotion. She kneels down beside him and says, "Lord, permit me."

She takes a white cloth and wipes his blood and sweat-stained face. Then she offers him a drink.

It is a beautiful moment of intimacy in the middle of violent suffering. It was hard to film that scene. 

The churning crowd kept bumping into Veronica and disrupting the moment of intimacy. So they had to film it over and over again. That was providential. 

After fifteen or twenty times of kneeling before the suffering Christ, looking into his eyes, and calling him Lord, the actress felt something start to melt inside her.

Later, she explained that while she looked into his eyes, she found that she was able to believe. "For a moment," she said, "I believed!"

That experience lit the flame of hope in her darkened heart. This is what Christ wants to do in his Passion, to convince us that we can believe in him, that no matter how confusing and difficult and painful life may be, and no matter how many times we may fail or even sin, he is still loving us, he is trustworthy.

The best thing we can do this week to stay united to Christ, to stay hooked up to his grace is to spend more time in prayer both in quantity and in quality. Come and sit with Jesus here in the Tabernacle.

Take that rosary off the rear-view mirror and use it for what it was meant for. Spend some time reading the Gospels and meditating on them.

Today, on this day when we celebrate the victory of Christ's love, let's ask Christ to show us what to do, and let's promise him that we will not keep the victory to ourselves, that we will carry the palm branch not only in Church, but everywhere we go - being true messengers of the Redemption.

 

Lent: V--C:  Is. 43:16-21; Phil. 3:8-14; Jn. 8:1-11

 

Imagine you’re in a tunnel, standing on a train track, and a train is hurtling towards you. There’s no time to run back, and the walls of the tunnel are pressed up against the track. You can’t get out, and the train is coming. --Something similar was happening to the woman we just heard about in this gospel.

In Jewish law, the three gravest sins were murder, idolatry, and adultery. All 3 were punishable by death. This woman is caught in the act of adultery. And the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the time, know it. She can’t escape. The penalty is death by stoning. She is expecting death. Maybe she’s wishing she had a second chance.

The cruelty of the Pharisees must be terrible for her. They really don’t care about her at all; they just want to use her to trap Jesus.

In Leviticus 20:10 we read, ‘the man that commits adultery with another man’s wife, even he that commits adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, both shall surely be put to death.’ So where is this woman’s accomplice? Why the enthusiasm of these men to condemn only the woman?

It would seem that the principal intention of these scribes and Pharisees is to place the Lord in a legal and moral conundrum. Should he say that the woman should not be condemned, they will be able to accuse him of opposition to the Law of God, and therefore seriously undermine his influence over his followers. Should he uphold the Law, then his message of mercy is shown to be shallow and without substance, thereby assaulting his outreach. Their intent to devastate the ministry of the Lord has become so preoccupying that they have ceased to view the Law as a living and life-giving gift of God to his chosen people.

They were totally unconcerned. Their only aim was to establish their authority. There is no room for mercy in their attitude. When we expect mercy from God we cannot deny it to others.

In forgiving her of her sin Jesus clearly condemns the sin.  He tells the adulterous woman: "Go, and from now on do not sin anymore."  He didn't ignore the sin. But it is also wrong to condemn the sinner along with the sin. He said, "Neither do I condemn you."

 

John Paul II once said: “We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father's love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son.”

When we meet that love, in Jesus, it moves us to change in response. This is why Jesus says to the woman, “Go, and sin no more.”

We are called to a new relationship with God. We come as sinners, and we leave forgiven. God is with us. Christ heals us, fills us with joy, and challenges us to be saints.

 

Louie Zamperini was a record-setting runner when World War II broke out. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps and served in the Pacific. In 1943 his plane crash-landed in the Pacific Ocean, and he was captured by the Japanese.  He was a prisoner of war until 1945, and suffered severe physical and emotional trauma from the brutal guards. When he returned to the US, he got married and tried to settle down to a normal life. But he had flashbacks, and began drinking heavily. He was violent towards his wife. Basically his life was in a downward spiral. In 1949 his wife told him that the marriage was over unless he went to listen to the Christian preacher Billy Graham speak. He describes what happened next:

Billy said that God tells us: "Cast all your cares on me for I care for you."  I said, "Well, if I can get that kind of help, there might be a chance for me." 

So I went forward to the prayer room and I acknowledged to God that I was a sinner and then invited Christ into my life. And then the most remarkable thing that ever happened took place.  True to His promise, He came into my heart and into my life. Zamperini’s life changed. He stopped drinking, and dedicated his life to helping at-risk youth. He was finally able to forgive the guards who had tortured him. His story was published in the book Unbroken, which was later made into a movie. Just like the woman we read about today, he encountered Christ and it changed his life. He was forgiven, and told “Go and sin no more.”

 

When Christ says “Go and sin no more,” what does that mean for our own lives?  It’s an invitation to a new way of life. Lent is a time the Church gives us to enter into that new way of life. Let’s make the most of the remainder of Lent to do exactly that. When our sins are forgiven, it brings us to want to live differently. It brings us to want to be saints. One very practical result is that it brings us to forgive others.

It’s very easy to hold rancor in our hearts when someone hurts us. It can be in little ways, like when someone cuts us off in traffic or fails to invite us to a party. It can be in major ways, like a betrayal or a rejection. But when Christ says “Go, and sin no more,” he’s saying that with his power we can truly forgive others.

When we receive Christ in the Eucharist today, let’s ask him to help us to forgive. And we begin to experience the peace that goes beyond what we can imagine. Christ forgives us, he lifts us up, and he tells us “Go and sin no more.”