Easter Vigil

         For some reason, prominent in my mind today is Jesus lying motionless in his tomb. The horrible events of yesterday are over. All the commotion and butchery, all the insults and pain have subsided. The coolness of the cave, probably even a little damp, seems to offer some comfort, some balm to the raw wounds of His tortured body. The deafening silence seems in awe of Him, Who is laid there.
         He, who taught us every day of His life, who preached by word and example how our lives are to be lived, what does He wish to show us now, as He lies there quietly, motionless? Soon there will be the Resurrection. Soon there will be the proof that He would indeed rebuild the temple that was destroyed. But right now, as He lies there motionless, what lesson, what insight can we glean?
         By dying yesterday, by willingly giving up His life, He took upon Himself all the sins of the world. Everyone’s, yours and mine, He shouldered. This is what redemption required. One sacrificial lamb, the Christ, would be offered up for the sins of mankind. By our Baptism into Christ, we acknowledge that we are sinners. And, bearing the stains of sin we needed to be washed free of the effects of our misdeeds. Regardless of when the baptism was, when we were young, or in the recent past, every day we live we acknowledge our indebtedness to Jesus.
          Today, though, right now, there is no movement, no preaching, and no miracles. He lies there still, as though He is waiting for something to happen. Maybe today is for us. Maybe, today is our day to feel the pain, the sorrow, the shame, that our lives have caused. Maybe today we are to focus on where our lives are headed, to recognize that there are areas in our life that need to change. What has transpired over these two days was necessary because of mankind, us. Use this time to contemplate where your life is going. How important are these events to us? Do we really see and understand that Jesus is dying for US? His conquering evil and death is so that we shall be able to rise with Him tomorrow in glory?
         After reading this, close your eyes. Picture yourself there in the small cave with the buried Jesus. It is just you and the lifeless body of Jesus. There is no noise, very little, if any, light. You have witnessed the Last Supper, the agony in the garden, the mock trial, the scourging, and the crucifixion. What do you feel? What are your thoughts? Here is a man who died for you! He suffered intensely, so that you would not. Does the direction of your life change? Does it need to change? What one thing can we do to unite ourselves completely with Jesus? What will show our total acceptance of Jesus? It is to have the same love and concern for others that Jesus has for us. Then, and only then, do we reflect Christ. Then, and only then, can we consider ourselves ready for the Resurrection.

Another Look at Jesus’ Humanity

       Continuing our look at Jesus’ humanity, we see in today’s Gospel Jesus revealing to the Apostles that one of them will betray Him. A friend, a follower, not only walks away, but is the mechanism that enables Jesus’ enemies to capture Him. Someone who Jesus walked and talked with, someone he had taught for three years, they ate and laughed together; Judas turned his back on Him and wanted to be with him no more. How this must pierce Jesus’ heart? The ache inside, the need to cry, the tightness in His throat… how this betrayal must have hurt Him.
We can look on this and say it was a necessary evil. It had to happen. Judas made a mistake. He thought he was doing something that would eventually advance the cause of Jesus. But, we really cannot explain it away, nor, should we. If we explain this away, then we will explain away our own failings, our own betrayals, our own “necessary evils”.
This is, however, one more time that Jesus shows us how we are to deal with the trials of our day. He could have thrown up his hands and shouted, “This is useless”, “Nobody seems to care”, “The heck with him”. But no, all He says is, “What you have to do, do quickly”. No verbal assault. No recriminations. No judgment. He sees the weakness, He understands the weakness, and yet He loves. In spite of the human hurt that must have been felt, He loves.
Each one of us has played the role of Judas at some point in our lives. It may not have been as drastic, or maybe it was, but the point is that our lives are full of hills and valleys. We valiantly strive towards our God and then again, we flee Him. Through all of this, He loves us, He understands. He patiently waits for us to return to Him.
We, all of us, every person that we know and meet have turned our collective back on Jesus. We do this time and time again…and we don’t even realize it. “Yes, I know I have sinned, but look at THAT person…” We just did it again! We turned our back on Jesus. We sit smugly, with moral superiority, judging others, while refusing to look within, at ourselves. In that judgment, we are saying we really aren’t that bad, at least not as bad as that person. If that is the case, then there must be levels of redemption.  Some need it more than others? Are we not saying too, that we don’t need Jesus, as much as other people do? We don’t need salvation, redemption as much as others? The other person does, but we don’t.
This obviously, is false, but our actions, how we live our lives, how we treat others seems to point in that direction. Each time a son or a daughter, a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, a neighbor, a co-worker, a person that we see on the street, each time we make a judgment on any one of these, we deny them the love of Jesus. We deny that Jesus’ way of life is anything but a pipe dream. Once again, we betray Jesus.

If You Hear My Voice

      “If you should hear My voice, harden not your hearts.” This is a phrase we hear time and again in the Bible. The God, who made us, loves us and is concerned about us, He cautions us not to turn a deaf ear. If we should hear his voice!! He is not saying, “If I should speak to you”. That is a given. God constantly speaks to us. The question is, “Will we hear it”?
       God pours Himself out to us always. His love speaks to us in a cool breeze when we are hot and uncomfortable. He manifests His greatness and beauty in those magnificent sunrises and sunsets. He sends us friends who console us, are concerned about us. He sees our worries and concerns, our fears, our transgressions. Through all of these He assures us that His love is constant. It does not waver. He does not waver. He is beside us, strengthening us so that we can cope.
     “If you should hear My voice…” – the important word is IF. How many times do we see, hear, feel and experience all of the above and simply pass them off as “nice”, or “refreshing”, or “co-incidences”? If we truly believe that God is infinite, that He loves us totally, then why would we think that He doesn’t speak to us constantly? Maybe, we need to ask ourselves a question. Do we believe He is infinite? Do we believe that He loves us totally? Do we believe that He speaks to us constantly?  What do we believe?
      This infinite God constantly displays His goodness, His love, His beauty, His faithfulness. This same God also gave us free-will. It is up to us to seek Him out, to find Him, to hear His voice. He will not shout His word at us, so that we must believe His message. He presents it in the flutter of a butterfly’s wings, in the rustle of a tree’s leaves, in a cool wind, in the smile of an acquaintance. But, in our anxiousness over an illness, an unsettling day, an unruly child, in all our worries and concerns we can easily miss God’s voice. His voice will be heard in a normal, everyday kind of experience. And, at that time, in that place, under those circumstances it is something totally unexpected but, oh so totally meaningful. “Why, right now, did that happen?” We know it is special to us. We know it is God speaking to us. About what …? Its significance, its meaning is for us to ascertain. Here is where we delve into His words for us and understand their significance. We must be open to His thoughts and apply them to our lives. This is where the rest of the phrase comes into play. “…Harden not your hearts”.

First and Last

      There is a very human and warm Gospel passage^-1 in today’s Mass. The mother of the sons of Zebedee, (James and John) asks Jesus that her two sons be allowed to sit at His right and left side. Isn’t this really a very natural and motherly trait, wanting the best for her children and willing to do anything to help them?
      But, Jesus turns to them and tells them that they don’t realize what is necessary for them to do to accomplish what they are asking. “Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” These words echo down through the ages to all of us. What are we willing to do, to tolerate, to endure for the prize? Very often we want the accolades, the notoriety, and the fame. We want our lives to be comfortable, not plagued with difficulties. We want to be recognized and seen as someone special. But what makes someone special? Jesus tells us bluntly, “…Whoever would be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you must be your slave”.
      Well there it is the formula that gains the prize. How simple is that? We cannot covet the accolades, the notoriety or the fame. This is not the way to the prize. This is not why Jesus came into this world, to teach us to strive for success and glory. How many times, how many ways does Jesus warn us with His words and Life, not to seek out the first position but the last? He goes on to tell them, “…that even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.” (I think it rather humorous that the other Apostles became indignant at James and John. They probably wanted those prized positions for themselves??)
      If we are honest with ourselves, if we view our lives without those rose colored glasses, we see how picky and trite we can be. We look at people who are different from us and … look away. The unwashed, the dirty, the people who wear their clothes differently than we would, the people who don’t act the way we think they should, all of these we look down our noses at. We judge them to be problems. But, we don’t judge our problems. Who are we that we can treat them with little or no concern? Are we not all struggling to live our lives with a sense of decency and goodness? Ahh.. There is the problem! We don’t judge ourselves. We don’t do any introspection of ourselves. We don’t critically look at our way of life. So, how can we possibly see that our lives are struggling to achieve decency and goodness, if we don’t look critically at our actions, our motives, and our judgments?
      Jesus wants us to follow Him. He has shown us the way. But before we can make that first step along His path, we have to place our trust and love in Him. We must love Him enough; trust Him enough that we can face our weaknesses. It is only through Him that we gain the freedom to accept ourselves, with our failings. It is only through Him that we gain the courage to judge ourselves and see ourselves as we are. Then, and only then, in seeing our own frailty and knowing that He still loves us, do we realize that all the people that we meet, ALL of them are loved and struggling. What we do then is….

-1 (Matthew 20: 17 – 28)

Where is Your Belief Leading You?

Do you believe in God?

Is this God all-good? Or all-bad? Or a little of each?

If He is all-bad, where did all the beauty in this world come from, and why would you believe in Him?

If He is sometimes good, and sometimes bad, how can He be God, who is always constant, and never capricious?

God must be all-good.

His plan, therefore, must also be good, because He is good.

Since we are here, we must be part of His good plan; and His plan for us must be good, as well.

Does God ever stop loving us, ever stop being aware of us? The answer must be no, since God is constant. He always loves us and is always aware of us.

Everything we receive, that which we like and don’t like is part of this all-good God’s plan for us. We just don’t know why these things happen! And, we don’t know where they will lead? This not knowing, however, if we let it, can erode our trust in God. We can wind up not trusting the very One, whose good plan for us permits these things to happen.

And so, we vainly replace our trust in God with trust in ourselves, our abilities, our thoughts, our desires. We, like Adam, seek to be our own little god. In abandoning our trust in God and substituting trust in our own judgments, we begin our own private hell. Always striving to trust something else, while not knowing who or what, like a fish on a boat deck, we flounder aimlessly trying to get back into the waters of belief.

Oh Lord, I believe. I want to believe. Help my unbelief.

…The Father Almighty…

Joseph and Jesus

(2^nd in a series of a presentation on The Apostles Creed)

      We call God, a Father. What is a father, fatherhood? Yes, a father brings his children into the world, but this is merely a biological function. The real meaning of fatherhood is derived from the relationship existing between father and child. He fiercely protects and stands by his offspring. He works diligently, in so many ways, so that his children will have food, clothing and a roof over their head. He is attentive to his children’s needs and is always nearby to assist them. All of this flows out of his love for that which he brought into the world and for whom he has responsibility.
      It is in this fashion, but so very much more, we call God our heavenly Father. The first line of William Wordsworth’s, Ecclesiastical Sonnets. XXI, reads “Father – to God himself we cannot give a holier name…” In Christianity, God is called Father because of the Father-Son relationship, as well as the qualities of being creator, law-giver, and protector. If the qualities we mentioned above depict what a human father is on earth. How much more so does God reflect these qualities?  This sentiment is fully contained in Matthew, chapter 6, verse 26:
“Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they are?
      Our Father in Heaven, He is always with us, always caring for us, what a wonderful realization to have. We know He is watching over us, and is attentive to our needs. Why then, do we worry so? Were we worried as children, when we crossed a street, while holding our father’s hand? When we were awakened at night by a strange noise, weren’t we comforted because our father was nearby? To whom did we go when we had a problem, that we were afraid to tell mom? Wasn’t it dad?
      Why do we concern ourselves about our security, our health, our stature, our complexion? All of these fade into insignificance when we realize that God, our Father, is with us, is looking out for us. Have we forgotten that God IS nearby? Have we overlooked the fact that He loves us more than we can possibly imagine?  Or, do we know He is near us, but don’t trust Him? We don’t trust that we will like, or agree with, His determination of what is best for us. Maybe we are afraid that once we give up our will and accept what He thinks is best for us, we will never be happy again.
       Whatever our concern is, we must re-establish our relationship with God, the Father. We must, like little children, hold His hand when crossing the streets in our life. When we are frightened by the onslaughts of life, we must look to Him and see the calm in His eye. He has not left us. We have wandered from Him. The Gospel in today’s Mass has two lines that are appropriate to this:

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind…”                 goto next segment>>

-1  Matthew 22: 36-37

 

A Private Chat

Christ's Tenderness with John

     The fervent prayer in Sunday’s Mass was that we remain ever vigilant and faithful to Jesus’ message of love. We heard in a passage from the Gospel:
          “Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes”-1
      The Gospel goes on to remind us that we don’t know when the thief, nor death, will come to our door. Our fervor must not be allowed to wane. But, it is impossible to consistently remain true to the message of Christ, if this all-important task is left solely to our own devices. Our human response will always have its high and low points. Because of our frailty, it is so very important for us to trust Christ, to ask Jesus to come to us, to ask Him to surround and protect us with His love.
     We hear in His words, His disdain for the lukewarm soul:
          “But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.”-2
And,
          “I come into your heart so that through your fervor you may atone for the offenses which I have received from lukewarm and slothful hearts that dishonor me in the Blessed Sacrament”-3
And again,
          “…the souls …who have become lukewarm wound My Heart most painfully.”-4
     In today’s fast-paced world, where energies are spent on the workplace, shopping, taking the kids to sports and social events, and a myriad of other attention and time-consuming activities, when do we talk to God? It can be so easy to push Him farther and farther back. We have received so much in our lives, and a thank you takes so little time. We have no excuse for ignoring Jesus. Our tepid, lukewarm fervor is either out of ignorance on our part, or worse, a matter of indifference. Both of which are an insult to our Savior and Redeemer.
     Please, for your own good read the following and afterwards, close your eyes and do it. It only takes a moment:
              Shut out all external thoughts from your mind. No worries or cares are allowed to enter for the moment. When quiet, inside, close your eyes and picture yourself next to Jesus. By the look on His face, you know He loves you. Put your arm around His waist and rest your head on His chest. Tell Him of your sorrow for your life’s actions. Tell Him of your love for Him and desire to be better. Then remain calm and listen to your heart. Allow His thoughts to well up inside you.

     It only takes a moment, but you have allowed Christ to come into your life. Try to do this on a regular basis. This is not an action of the lukewarm.

-1– Luke 12: 37
-2—Revelations 3:16
-3– Third apparition of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
-4– Apparition of Jesus to St. Faustina