Making this a Holy Week

Many years ago I ran across an illustrated book called something like, 'the new catholics,' or something of that nature.  It contained cartoon images of how catholics live today.  One was the ability to attend Holy Week services away from one's home parish.  Another was having musical instruments other than an organ.  Now this book was composed in the nineties; which caused me to wonder where these people had been for the last thirty years at least.

For these last several days we have read from John's Gospel in which Jesus is engaging in a lively dialogue with the Pharisees and other religious leaders.  Jesus attempts to draw the leadership into a new understanding in regards to the depths of God.  The religious leadership refuses to move from what they have always held as truths.  What Jesus is proposing is a radical sort of faith.  It asks people to take responsibility for faith, and even more so, calls men and women beyond following law.

John's Gospel begins with the observation that men and women preferred the darkness to the light.  And Jesus is the light that will be opposed.  Now w are not just talking about darkness as in sinfulness, but the lack of willingness to engage in the truth and to seek out matters of truth.  If you ever get a chance to read any Flannery O' Conner, it is well worth the read.  She will always put a twist in her stories so that just as we believe we know who the hero's and heroine's are, she changes everything.  Early on Jesus will remind his listeners to follow the teaching of the religious leaders, but not to imitate their lifestyle.

As we had our last soup and speaker last night I was most aware of how much our people love to come together to share faith and hear stories of other's faith.  Faith has nothing to do with how well we sing or the number of candles around the altar, but how we deal with the people like the Samaritan woman, the blind man, the Lazarus' that sit at our gates, and the lepers.  Jesus is trying to move the conversation away from how many angels fit on a pin-head, to how to engage the cross in the world today.

As a young priest I remember the 50+ year old men I would be seated next to, who would tell me that they no longer went to church because Sr. Cornelius yelled at them when they were in third grade.  I go to Church because hearing the Word of God and receiving the sacraments offers a starting point in which to minister, console, and guide.  Listening to stories about the Good Shepherd, helps me be a better Shepherd.  This is the week to pay attention to the journey of Jesus Christ, to hear his words, and sense his long lasting compassion and love.

You can Make Your Act of Contrition Now

This has been the week of confessions and meetings.  I usually keep an alb and stole in the backseat of my car anyway; but these last few day especially.  For those who think that the Sacrament of Reconciliation is all but dead, we still have healthy crowds at the various localities - and not just old people.  For many there is an understanding that the brokenness and hurt they experience in their daily living has some deeply spiritual roots.

On Tuesday I was at the local Catholic High School.  My brother priest, who presided and preached, gave a most excellent homily.  Referring to a terrible act of violence that had occurred at the school nearly fifteen year prior, he explained how and why this was a sinful and evil situation.  Sin is real.  He also spoke about the mother who had endured the violent death of her son, who was able to forgive the perpetrator .  At the crux of his message was that Sin can and does affect communities, and if left to fester, can cause grave and long-lasting harm.  Reconciliation begins the process of healing and peace.

There was an article in Time or Newsweek some years ago reporting on how apologies were becoming part of  business practice.  And there are actually companies that can come in and coach corporate leadership as to how to properly make a public apology.  While this sounds all nice and good, for us of faith we recognize that part of the 'confession' process is also making contrition.

To make the statement, "I firmly resolve with the help of your your grace to sin no more and to avoid the occasion of sin," is committing ourselves to a process of seeking reconciliation and transforming our lives.  When we were little we were taught how to go through a list of sins, compose and confession, and memorize an Act of Contrition.  As adults we maintain a similar process.  The only problem is we forget that we should be working at growing closer to God and one another, finding healing and peace through this process, and rejecting Sin and Evil in our lives.

The whole of the sacrament cannot rest on a mechanical protocol of listing wrongs we have done, but has to be centered on restoration of relationships which we have with God and with others.  I think that people fear the sacrament because they believe they are going to 'be in trouble.'  If we approach the sacrament with the mentality that we are broken and need to be healed, then we can spend some time with expounding upon where we 'hurt' and come to appreciate what we need to do to be healed.

Maybe its time to throw away the second grade examination of conscience.  We might want to be more like the blind man in the Gospel who cries out, "Jesus Son of David, have pity on me."  Then Jesus will touch our senses and make us whole once again.

As a Grain of Wheat Dies

Back in grade school, about this time of year, we would suggest to our mother that maybe we didn't have to go to Mass everyday anymore.  This was our Lenten practice. There were 299 other students who had the same determination, in addition to all 13 Sisters.  So we would suggest that we had done this Mass thing long enough.  Mom's encouragement had something to do with the cross and what Jesus had done for us.

It is amazing how that the suffering and death of Jesus can change our lives and our perspective on things.  And speaking of parents, our summer vacations were in the State parks and forests.  It was the sixties so I thought everyone went into the woods. But with six kids and catholic school tuition, these were the vacations we could afford.  Unless the grain of wheat dies, it remains a grain of wheat.

Dads and Moms, religious people, folks who strive for justice and holiness, seem to understand this concept.  God has priority and takes the center place in our lives.  But to love God also requires that we love one another, and have a sense of self respect and dignity too.  The apostles are sometimes shown to be frumps and nabobs in this aspect.  They try to figure out who the best apostle is, or ask Jesus to rain down fire and brimstone upon townsfolk who were mean to them.  St. Paul will remind us later that the Kingdom is not about eating and drinking, but about doing the will of the Father.

So today when the Greeks want to see Jesus, He gives a response which at first does not seem to have anything to do with the request.  We can see Jesus when we can become people at peace with others and ourselves.  Jesus is visible when we do holy things, and decide to engage in lives of charity and chastity.  There are no wallflowers in the Kingdom of God.  The dying and rising is an ongoing process which embraces the cross and looks forward with joyful hope to the coming of our saviour Jesus Christ.

Our faith calls us beyond nice-ness.  Vatican II spoke about full and active participation in our Liturgy.  But even beyond our celebration of the Eucharist, our response and respect is based on the Paschal Mystery.  The psalmist asks the very apt question, If God does all of these great things for us, what ought our response be?  The mystery we celebrate does not allow for spectators, but challenges us to follow through with our commitments of faith.

In You I Take Refuge

In the Office of Readings today, there is a selection from the Church in the Modern World, formulated during the Second Vatican Council.  The text speaks about a Church which recognizes the needs and concerns of the world around it, and responds with the same prophetic vigor as Jesus did.  Of course yesterday and today we have Jeremiah lament his difficult position as a prophet.  The unrighteous and evil-doers assail him.  He complains to God that this prophet task is most difficult.

About two weeks ago, a woman religious, a Sinsinawa  Dominican to be exact, died in the nursing center at the "Mound."  She had been at my home parish in Rockford while I was in college and seminary.  Her ministry was to the elderly and the sick.  I remember her well because she would visit my maternal grandmother on a regular basis.  Just a wonderful woman.  And just yesterday I ran into another woman religious at one of the nursing care centers here in DeKalb.  I cannot remember where she is now, but it is nice to see her still very active, visiting the nursing center residents.  I consider these scenarios especially when parishioners thank me profusely for visiting the sick and home bound.  This is part of what the Church does in the modern world.

When we were taught about Jesus as children, we were told the stories of his healing and miracles.  It was too early for us to begin to comprehend everything about the Paschal Mystery.  Unfortunately some of us remain with the children's stories rather than to begin to embrace the ramifications of the cross.  So we do not always understand the challenges of our faith, or the teachings of the Church.  In seminary we had the litany of non-negotiables.  These were actions and activities that were not commensurate with the seminary lifestyle.  Having dates with woman woman was one of them.  There was not an equal list of exceptions.

When Jesus teaches about the cross we would sort of like to have a listing exemptions.  But as we see in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus reflects, when I was thirsty, in prison, naked; what you did for the least of my brothers and sisters you did for me.  Carrying the cross has a lot to do with the direction of lives take and the choices that we make.  Being clothed with Christ means that we stand for the values and virtues contained in the Sacred Scripture, and conveyed by the teachings of the Church.

The Body of Christ is a sign and symbol of Jesus in the world today.  Sometimes it is a Body that stands alone because of what it believes.  Early in the Gospel of Mark people are overwhelmed by Jesus' teaching because he teaches as one with authority.  In all of the noise that surrounds us, and even in our own consternation, we have to work at hearing the voice of Jesus.  Then we have to pick up our cross and walk.

By the Power of God

In the fourth Eucharistic Prayer, composed by St. Ambrose, we are given a short synopsis of salvation history. The foundation of our faith is built upon the premise that Jesus comes into out human history, and through his suffering, death, and resurrection, brings us into full communion with God.  Jesus Christ conquers Sin and death and restores us to a relationship of grace and blessing.  This is, in a brief outline, the central theme of our salvation history.  But, it must be reiterated that because of what Jesus does for us, as a self-less action, transforms us forever.  We need to work on that forever part.

As we come towards Holy Week, and the conclusion of Lent 2012, I read on Face book, or hear parishioners, anticipating that chocolate, coffee, or beer, on Easter morning.  Now there is nothing wrong with giving these things up for Lent, but in doing so, in dying to ourselves, did we gain any spiritual insight or wisdom.  Do we understand ourselves better or have a deeper appreciation of God's grace in our lives?The suffering, dying and rising of Christ Jesus is certainly an instrument that brings us into the mystery of faith, but is a model for our own dying to ourselves so as to experience resurrection.

Too often we ask something for ourselves from our relationships.  Quite simply the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ demonstrates how we might reveal good news to those around us.  The ability to comfort hearts and hold hands can be a difficult yet life-giving experience.  Just like the love of the Father overflowing through the Son into our existence, we continue to nurture and nourish that relationship.  We all go to the cross so that we can experience new life.

God leaves us an awesome gift which is meant to change our lives and foster a loving relationship between God and us, and one another.  May the good work begun in us be brought to completion.

The Father and I are One

Many generations ago C.S. Lewis wrote an essay entitled, The Four Loves.  As a book this became very popular and offered another understanding of love and companionship in the 60s and the 70s.  Lewis proposed that Charity was the highest of all for the loves since it best imitated the outpouring of the Father's love upon the world.  The first encyclical of Benedict XVI was on the virtue of love, specifically 'Caritas.' 

In John's Gospel we have an extensive dialogue in Jesus unfolds the relationship that exists between him and the Father.  "The Father and I are one."  This sentiment will conclude with a prayer in which Jesus will prayer that the same unity that exists between the Father and the Son, will also be extended to the apostles as well.  Of course the modem of this communion is the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

St. Paul writes a treatise on 'Love' which all the brides love to have at their weddings.  Paul exhorts us to an understanding of Love which is selfless and self-giving.  Pride, arrogance, selfishness, have not place in a loving relationship.  The cross becomes a model of the kind of love which is conveyed here.  It is a relationship which goes to the cross time and again.  Dying also allows resurrection to take place.  This is why Mark's Jesus keeps challenging the disciples with a very radical vision of the Kingdom of God.

Like in the synoptic Gospels, John keeps re-orientating us to the Kingdom, and the Paschal Mystery.  The journey to  Jerusalem is fraught with obstacles and distractions.  "Father don't you think Jesus would understand?"  I get this question sometimes, especially from students after a class on Catholic teachings.  Uncle Ottis or Aunt Henrietta are understanding of some of our frump and nabob choices.  And to be sure God understands human frailty; but calls us to conversion and discipleship.

Knowing that God loves us faithfully and totally allows us to love one another, and ourselves.  More than having a warm feeling for another, love seeks to heal, reconcile, challenge, and to give new life.  It is an action which continues to direct us to what is good and true.  We are made for God and are to commit our very selves to God, as God is committed to us.  May we be holy as God is holy.


The Son of Man is Lifted Up

We see them at football games, the placards which quote John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish, but might have eternal life."  While this passage is early in the Gospel it sums up John's Gospel, and salvation as well.  Jesus comes into our live as one like us so that we can have salvation and peace.

The cross reveals to us a divine presence that brings us healing and peace when we participate in it's mystery.  The actions of Jesus is the ultimate expression of how "God so loved the world" by making himself a total offering.  In this God demonstrates the radiance of divine love.  Of course in Baptism we are caught up in that love. It was the poet Anne Dillard who suggested that Christians should wear crash helmets and life preservers; that is if we understood the power we were invoking in God's name.

For Nicodemus who begins this Gospel discussion, we understand that he is a seeker of truth.  He approaches Jesus under the cover of darkness, but he is seeking the light of the world.  Jesus expounds upon the understanding that those who search for the truth will come to God through the cross.  But there are those who prefer darkness to light, and they try to stay away from that which is true or good.  In this contrast of light and darkness Jesus conveys the necessity for believers to remain focused on the light, and to participate in the illumination which Christ offers.

The lifestyle of the cross sets up a journey whereas dying and rising are regular parts of our pathway.  We do not have to go looking for suffering, it is part of our life and all around us.  We struggle to live a virtuous life, we are challenged to respond to the sick, suffering, and the poor, and to proclaim Good News.  We embrace the mystery of the cross so that we can have a wider view of Gods saving actions in our world.  The cross stretches our spiritual imagination.

We share in divine love when we are willing to be broken open for the sake of the Kingdom of God.  It sounds easy but it is not.  Saint Lactantius, from the first century, recalls for us that recognizing our sins is a first step in the way to conversion.  Just as Jesus washes the feet of his disciples prior to the Last Supper, we need to be willing to live in charity and chastity.  It is there that we can find God's love and mercy.

Hopefully the cross can speak words of challenge and peace to us.  It is the key to light, happiness, and peace.