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Easter Sunday 2014

Every day the sun rises, our lives are filled with new hopes, new opportunities and sometimes new fears. God gives us a chance to begin again. This is a great gift that many times we take for granted. But there is something more that is going on when we got up this morning, and it was not just colored eggs, chocolate and jelly beans. We remember and recommit ourselves to the life that God has opened for us.

There are three big gifts that have been given us through the Bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The first is that darkness has been conquered by light. The world that has been ruled by the darkness and sin is enlightened by Jesus who rose from the dead and conquered sin. Evil likes to stay hidden in the shadows so it can work for our destruction, but the love of Jesus Christ has pointed the light of his glory on the evils of the world so that they will flee, because the Goodness of God will always overcome the darkness of sin. We are witness of that fact today.

The second gift of the resurrection is that life has conquered death. Mary Magdalene, John and Peter went to the tomb and found it empty. The one whom they loved and saw crucified was not there. The Gospel says that John saw and believed the promise that Jesus made that the Son of man would be handed over to evil men to be crucified, but would be raised from the dead. We live in a world that seems to be fascinated by zombies, the walking dead, the non-living who terrorize the living. The Resurrection of Jesus turns our gaze from the death and decay of the tomb to the brightness and life of loving, giving, forgiving and serving God and one another. Life means growth in wisdom, holiness and love. The resurrected life is a life of courage, faithfulness and the truth not only of what God says, but what he is doing even today for us. The resurrection tells us that God does not desire separation from him, but communion with him.

The third gift of the resurrection is doubt is conquered by faith. St. Peter tells the crowd in the Acts of the Apostles that he is a witness of Jesus death and resurrection, he has seen him. He has heard him. He has touched him. Jesus is real not only in history, but he is the Lord of all history. For those who believe, we do not say Jesus was. We say Jesus is. He is seeking to share his life with us through the gift of faith that was professed when we were baptized. He is willing to walk through the locked doors of our hearts and say “Peace be with you.”

In just a few minutes we will renew the promises that we made at our baptism. We will reject Satan and the darkness of sin in our lives. We will profess our faith in God the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit. God the Father has made us his children worthy of the inheritance of everlasting life. Jesus his Son has conquered sin and death by taking on our human nature and offering his life out of love for the Father and us so that death will never have the final word on us. We profess our faith in the Holy Spirit, because it is that Spirit that is dwelling in us today, that makes it possible to love, to serve, to sacrifice, pray, worship  and to tell the world something that it would not even dare to hope for.

We recommit ourselves to God to be living witnesses to the power of the Risen Jesus Christ to love us, to form us and to bring us joy and meaning in life. He gives us his Body and Blood as the Sacrament of his commitment to us. He will never leave us. Today, we not only witness the Sun rise in the East, but we also we say with our heart and soul and mind that the Son of God has risen from the dead, and he has given us a new day, a new life, and a new love. Let us not take his gifts for granted, but use them for our good, our family’s good, and the good of the whole world.

Easter Vigil 2014

          When you were little and taking a car trip with your parents, a question you probably asked several time was “Are we there yet?” We can’t wait to get to where we are going. But as we get older, we begin to see that reaching our desired destination requires that we take the right roads and have enough gasoline to make the trip. Everything we experience along the way prepares us for what we see when we get there.

          This night is similar. We have been on the road for forty days of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, preparing our hearts and soul to meet the one whom we have been waiting to see, namely Jesus Christ. This road has been more interior than exterior, more of the heart. Before we arrive, we look back to all the events that brought us here: The creation of the world and the human race, the fall of man into sin and the liberation from slavery, the promise of God to save us and strengthen us that we can reach that ultimate goal of heavenly life with him. It is quite a long journey, and tonight, we stop pick up some more people to accompany us.

          The people who join us tonight are those who had walked a different path and taken a different road. They have heard the Risen Lord call to their hearts and offer them a new way, a brighter way, and a holy way. It is a way that will include the cross, it is way that includes struggles. But it is also a path in which we do not walk alone.

          The men, women and children who join us tonight through the waters of rebirth, the profession of faith and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, have a whole new world opened for them. It is the world of the new life of Christ and the guiding strength of the Holy Spirit. As the Church, we ask God to pour out on them all that he has given to us, wise and loving hearts, a strong faith, and a courage to be a living witness to the saving power of Jesus Christ to all around them. They are fed for the first time with the Bread of life and the Blood of salvation.

          Over these last forty days, and for many of them, even longer, they have asked Jesus Christ to show them his face, and they have come to meet him both in his Word and in the Teaching of the Apostles. They have learned that taking on a new life requires a surrendering of their old ways, turning from sin and selfishness so that the grace and generosity of God may fill them up. Tonight their education takes another step, as the Holy Spirit speaks to their hearts through the power of the sacraments and unites them to Jesus Christ in a deeper way. The Holy Spirit turns on the lights and brightens them, so that they leave here different form how they came.

          But tonight is not just about bringing new people into the family. It has much to teach us who have already been on the road a long time. We, old-timers need to remember why we started this path. We have hit a few potholes in life and pulled off the road a few times. Jesus reminds us tonight that just because the road is rough does not mean that we are on the wrong road. The world in which we live is a bumpy place and the ride is not pleasant sometimes, but it is still the best and only road to be on. It is the path for which we have been created we have been. WE human beings have a short memory and in the heat of the moment, we wonder out loud to God, “ARE WE THERE YET?  Jesus response to us is two-fold. Yes and no, which is always a good Catholic response.

We are there in the sense that Jesus is really and truly present to us in our hearts by the movements of the Holy Spirit and as we nurture that life, we can begin to see and experience the beauty he has promised us. We see the outline of the heavenly city, through the lighted candles and we smell the fragrant air filled with the incense of the worship of God. We are fed with the Body and Blood of Jesus himself so that our souls will never again know the pain of spiritual hunger. We watch and wait for the Lord tonight so that tomorrow we can start out again with a purer heart and a clearer vision. As we make room for our new members, may we share what we believe with them, and may all of you who enter the Church tonight share with us your love and faith for the Lord.

Good Friday 2014

When we teach people the meanings of words, we hold up an object, and we say the word. So if we hold up a round red rubber object, we say the word “ball” and the person we are speaking to connects the object with the word. It is not too hard to teach people about things that are concrete such as ball or chair or tree, but what about words that are a little more abstract, like love, for instance.

Some people may put the hands to their heart and say “love,” others may show a picture of a heart and say love. Others may show a picture of two people kissing or holding hands and say “love.” Each of these images gives us an idea, love is a place in our body, love is a thing shaped like a heart, or love is two or more connected to each other.

We gather today to profess that none of those images really hold up to the test of truth. We know that the true reality of love is shown to us today in the way that the world says is a sign of contradiction. Today the Church gives us the real image of love, namely Jesus Christ crucified. If we want to teach the word the meaning of love, we must lift high the crucifix. Jesus says earlier in John’s Gospel, “when the son of man is lifted up, I will draw all people to myself.” This mystery of the death of Jesus, innocent and sinless, for all of us, guilty and sinful, makes no sense in a world that is focused on taking and possessing, acquiring and hoarding.

From the very moment he was conceived in the womb of the woman who stood at the Foot of his Cross, Jesus teaches us that true love consists in giving and surrendering, first to God the Father, and then to all others. This is his lesson today. Jesus gives us the truest and surest way to remain sane in an insane world, take up our cross every day and follow him. The sanity of the cross teaches us that love involves giving, even when we have little. The sanity of the cross teaches us that loves involves obedience, even if we don’t see the outcome. The sanity of the cross teaches us that love involves suffering, even though it hurts. There is no other way to really love in the world.

Some people say that love means satisfying our needs, but they are never really satisfied. Others say that loves means setting limits and that it is earned, but that is a form of self-preservation. Finally others may preach that love always makes you happy, but we know that love can break our heart.

People need to see the cross to really begin to learn the meaning of love. As I have said many times, there are two different definitions. The cultural definition of love is to get from another what we want. Christ’s bodily definition of love is to give away fully all that he is. Nothing is left, all is spent, in the end, the blood and water that flowed from his pierced side has shown he has given all bodily.

Today, we believe that Jesus Christ is still pouring out his love for us poor sinners, because as the God man his suffering continues in those who profess faith in him. He suffers in them, through them and with him.

There are some among us who venerate the cross every day, not just Good Friday. When children sacrifice their personal freedom to carry for their aging parents, they kiss the cross. When dads and moms work two or three jobs to keep a roof over their children’s heads, they kiss the cross. When parents live their lives every day holding in their heart their children who died, they kiss the cross. When we visit the sick, care for the poor, spend time with the lonely, we kiss the cross.

We are living in a world that has been crucified by injustice, selfishness, immorality and a perverse idea of freedom. We exalt false loves over the true suffering and self-surrendering love of Jesus Christ. Many people are on that cross today because of despair, unhealed wounds, or an empty heart. The news to the whole world today, if it would only really listen to it, is that the answer to our sorrows and loses, our tragedies and our tears is Jesus Christ crucified. This cross, as St. Catherine of Siena writes, is the true bridge to the joy of heaven, and the peace that will give us the thrill of God’s joy on earth.

The Church,  as soon to be Saint Pope John XXIII, is our mother and teacher. She wishes to teach us the truth of life and the truth of the world. Today, she lifts high the Body of Christ nailed to the cross for our salvation and says, “This is the wood of the cross, on which hung the Savior of the world. This is true love. This is our only hope. This is the Son giving up his Spirit in love to God the Father for the salvation of the human race and the whole world.” Come let us worship. Come let us live. Come, let us love.

Holy Thursday 2014

We know who we are by our past. Our homes have pictures of our relatives and children. We pass on simple practices that we have learned from our parents and grandparents, and even if they may seem old-fashioned or  silly to the young, we still carry them out because they are events or actions that remind us who we are and what we are about. They become more important as we get older.

St. Paul reminds us of that very human practice tonight. He does not create something new or change something that is old.  He passes on what he received. He serves as a link in a long chain that leads us all the way back to the upper Room, back to Jesus and his Apostles. Because of our baptism, we are links in that chain as well. We become links to Christ, forged in the fire of his love for the Father and the human race that leads him to the cross. We are connected to each other through our bond in the Holy Spirit which makes us members of His Church. We are then sent to into the world, starving for love, not only to give our lives, but to give the very life of Jesus Christ himself. That is what we remember tonight and pass on to others.

This Mass of the Lord’s Supper commemorates and makes truly real three actions of Jesus Christ. The first is Institution of the Holy Eucharist. This is such a beautiful and profound gift in which the Word becomes flesh so that not only could we walk with God, but that God might truly be our food and drink, our consolation and our strength, our hope and reconciliation. He dwells in us. He comes into our bodies and souls in such a way that he nourished us from within by uniting himself with us so that we are able to live a selfless love in a selfish world. The Sacrifice that Jesus will offer on the cross tomorrow out of love for us is given now to feed us on this long and winding journey of life. He so utterly humbles himself that he makes himself vulnerable to us. We hold him in our hands. We receive him on our tongues. We are touched by God himself in such a way that God does not change, but we do.

The second action of Jesus is the Institution of the Ordained Priesthood. Jesus humbles himself and washes the feet of his disciples. He is giving the Apostles one final lesson before his betrayal and death. To wash someone’s feet is a sign of hospitality, mercy and solidarity. He chooses these men to carry on what he began. The Priesthood is a sacrament of hospitality in that priests are entrusted with the care for the travelers on the way through life by giving them the Eucharist, forgiving their sins, and reminding of God’s perfect love for them. Priests are also instruments of God’s mercy by offering the Word of God and seeking to bring back those who have fallen along the way. The priest is also a minister of solidarity because we deal with the dirty feet of people’s life. He accompanies them in the messiness of life. The trials and troubles, the broken hearts and shattered hopes, taking them by the hand and bringing them, if not carrying them to the cross, begging God to make them whole and restore them to a full life in him.

The third action of Jesus on this Holy Thursday is his command to love one another as he loves us. Notice that I said as he LOVES us. He did not just love us and leave us. He loves us now. He is with us now. He is REAL now. The command for all of us is that we take the love we have received and give it to others freely, willingly and selflessly. As I have said many times. WE can only go to heaven together. We go to hell all by ourselves. That love of Christ that we see on the cross tomorrow is what we give to our friends and families, our enemies and those we meet every day.

In a world that has become selfishly turned inward, Jesus commands us to turn outward- to reconcile with those who have hurt us, to seek forgiveness from those we have harmed, to help those left to the side know that the love of Jesus is not just some myth or good feeling, but an action aimed at making us who God created us to be.  As we spend some time in Vigil with the Lord and he prepares to undergo his Passion, may we ponder it in our heart like the Virgin Mary, so we can seek to unite another link to the Body of Christ by handing on our heritage to the next generation and to all we meet..