In the Beginning

What a wonderful time of year and feast to celebrate. There is something awesome about the baptismal integrity as it provides a footing for our Church. We are baptized into the Paschal Mystery and the prophetic witness of the Apostles. Our Pastoral Council commented my zeal for sprinkling the people. But lots of symbol draws us hopefully to lots of understanding and reflection.

The Easter readings these last few days outline an Easter faith to be lived by the Disciples of Jesus. Christian life is not easy. There are outside factions that accuse and abuse those who seek to remain faithful to the new life in Christ. There can also be brokenness within the community which can cause sin, hurt, and division. But our Easter life, when lived in communion with Christ and one another, can be a source of joy and peace. Perhaps this is why our early Church fathers and mothers so often encouraged us to love one another as God has loved us in Jesus Christ.

As Christians living in the world today it is easy to become discouraged or disillusioned. The early Church felt similar struggles. St. Peter will remind all faithful men and women that our faith and our hope are set upon the promise of God. God's goodness will enable us to counter the Sin and confusion of the world. We place our trust in the understanding that God shelters us beneath the shadow of his wings.

Our Church too is guided and guarded by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. As a baptized people we go back to the well-spring of new life to find our courage and our strength. Our journey is with the risen Christ and is one of ongoing growth and transformation. By endeavoring in faithful witness we maintain lives that are buoyant in faith and daring in hope. Our trip through the baptismal font brings us to new life and sets us forth to love and serve the Lord.

The Crux of Our Faith

The Triduum is a time whereas we as a believing community dissect the Paschal Mystery. We carefully take it apart, and look at each piece of it. We study, reflect and ponder the piece we are looking at. The highlight of our liturgical life comes tonight a the vigil. Some people like roller coasters I like doing the Triduum.

At the Ordination ritual the Bishop gives the newly ordained priest the chalice and paten, with the direction to believe in the mystery one is celebrating, and to imitate that same mystery. With this the Priest begins his work of preaching, teaching, and sanctifying. This weekend is really the springboard for that work. The Paschal Mystery establishing a communion between God and all men and women. For the Church, it continues on the mission and ministry of Jesus in proclaiming 'Good News.'

On Thursday and Friday our H.S. students did a fast for hunger. Bread and water for 24 hours. They were are the Mass of the Lord's Supper, Friday Morning Prayer, and the Veneration of the Cross. For some this was a powerful experience of making that connection between the suffering and death of Christ, and their own dying to self. Again it was an imitation of the mystery that they celebrate.

At mass we proclaim, "Lord by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free, you are the Saviour of the World." This profession of faith makes more sense after we have looked at all of the part very closely, and have experienced professing faith. In the collection of books, Jesus Freaks, we can read about ancient and modern martyrs. What makes them do this standing for truth, and standing with the anawim. I am convinced it is their full and complete understanding of what they are celebrating in the Paschal Mystery.

My Great Grandmother, who escaped eastern Europe at the time of the Russian revolution, settled in Chicago, then moved to Rockford. Every afternoon she would sit in her rocking chair and pray the rosary. When we grandchildren would come to visit their house, she always a joyful smile on her face. She would bring us a plate of fig newtons. Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

The Wood of The Cross

Look down upon me good and gentle Jesus, while before Thy face I humbly kneel and with burning soul pray and beseech Thee to fix deep in my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope and charity, true contrition for my sins and a firm purpose of amendment, while I contemplate with great love and tender pity Thy Five Wounds, pondering over them within me and calling to mind the words which David, Thy prophet said of Thee, my Jesus, “They have pierced My Hands and My Feet, they have numbered all My Bones.” [Psalm 21: 17 – 18]

This has been one of my favorite prayers since I was a child. There is something really powerful in the sign of the cross. As part of the Paschal Mystery it points to the intense love that Gos has for all peoples. Sin and sinfulness cause havoc in the human family especially in our relationship with God. I remember one writer suggesting that the sin and evil we find in the world today are sort of like growing pains. Until the finality of the Kingdom of God everything is in flux. In this constant state of getting reading, the world is in a mess.

The cross challenges us to understand that we are about God and God's kingdom. The Christian is counter-cultural and lives his or her life with the Passion, Death, and Resurrection in mind. Just as Jesus is lifted up on the cross, we are lifted up from our crosses by the Christ who loved us.

To be sure there are the Mother Teresa's and Oscar Romero's who had embraced the cross and brought life to others. But living the cross is also about sharing in another's sorrow, remaining faithful to charity and chastity, and embracing the dignity and integrity in life. The cross makes us strong in doing what needs to be done as disciples of Jesus Christ. God so loved the world.

the Confession Circut

About this time of year I have an alb and purple stole rolled up in the back seat of my car. Tonight I get to do some parish confessions and then go to help at a high school retreat. It is good to do.

As a young priest there were two other parishes that we were connected with. Reconciliation was in the context of a Reconciliation Service. On Mondays we all gathered at St. Thomas, Tuesdays was Ss. Peter and Paul, and Wednesday was at St. Margaret's. At each parish there were about one hundred persons each. The priests would gather for dinner before hand, and then go to the service which would last about two hours.

Today the Reconciliation services seem less popular. It is also difficult to gather priests together for dinner anymore. It is common now to have time available for individual confessions. That seems to work out fine.

In I Corinthians St. Paul alludes to the fact that we are members of the Body of Christ. Paul will use this image to convey the responsibility which we have with and towards each other. If part of the body hurts, the entire body hurts. We do not have to look too far to see how this works in the real world. Just in simple ways disrespect, arrogance, and anger, all lead to brokenness in our homes and communities.

More often than not Reconciliation becomes like spiritual direction. While communal reconciliation made a clear statement that we are sinners together, the one on one approach can be a powerful experience for many people. It is a great sacrament of healing and the affirmation of God's love and mercy.

I will be bouncing around the county for next few days - minus the dinner. It is part of priestly ministry to share the 'Good News.'

Way to the Cross

We have been reading from St. Augustine in the Office of Readings, and of his Sermo Guelferbytanus. As Augustine reflects upon the suffering and death of Jesus, he borrows heavily from St. Paul. In this sermon Augustine recognizes the significance of the cross and that we like Saint Paul keep the cross and its spirituality as the center of our faith lives. To be sure it cannot be in some superficial sense in which we reflect on 'taking up our cross.' Rather the cross of Christ calls us to transformation. Since we began looking at and reading the Theology of the Body, I have found it revealing to re-examine the Genesis story of creation. The story reminds us of the sacred nature of men and women, and our participation in the dignity and integrity given to us by God. God sees us as 'good' and worth redeeming. Jesus comes in human form to bring us salvation. Saint Augustine reflects that Jesus' death should not be a cause for shame, but one of joy. Jesus suffered the death we deserved for our sins and for Sinfulness, Augustine will say. So that while a solemn time this is a week of joy and celebration as we recount all that Jesus did to save us. "By your own blood Lord you brought us back to God" While Jesus does not die year after year, his one death, through his blood, we have life and have this life abundantly. When I was young, during the time of dinosaurs and glaciers, we started this 'doing something for Lent.' I think that the idea was that our Lenten practice was to draw us closer to God and God's love. To forgive or do charity might bring us that much closer to the transformation we are called to. As Saint Paul reflects upon, the instrument of death, in the cross, becomes for us the instrument of life.

Hosanna

Jesus enters into Jerusalem triumphantly. It will be many of the same people who proclaim, 'Crucify him!' Sin and Evil do terrible things to us. On this Palm Sunday we witness the central act of Jesus' mission, his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. The Paschal Mystery draws us into the salvation and peace of Jesus Christ. Matthew who is speaking to a largely Jewish audience wants us to understand that Jesus is the fulfillment of the covenant and the promise of the prophets. Salvation is not only about the forgiveness of Sins, per se, but it ushers in a new lifestyle.

In Matthews passion narrative two figures stand out: Judas and Peter. Judas is becoming disillusioned with Jesus. Perhaps he is still looking for that warrior king. Seeing that this is not in the near future, he arranges to have Jesus arrested. Peter has moments of understanding and revelation. He reaches back into his upbringing, begins to understand the 'Christ,' but then he gets in the way and makes silly statements. Fear and bravado are two of his major obstacles.

Because Judas cannot understand the 'Christ' part of Jesus, realizing what is happening (he just wanted the Pharisees to rough him up a bit) he goes out and ends his life. Peter has begun to have insights into Jesus the Christ, realizing the possibility of forgiveness, goes out and weeps bitterly.

Matthew wants us to understand that Jesus who takes away our Sins does so by his sacrifice, as well as his lifestyle of holiness. The latter is a life in which his followers are invited to participate in. Remember Jesus begins his ministry with the Beatitudes. What better way to describe a life of selfless-ness and mercy than to espouse values which are counter cultural. But it is a life in which we participate in too. The last judgement scene is great. Blessed are those who give water to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, and comfort the grieving.

What a wonderful week we are to begin. I love Holy Week. The Paschal Mystery frees us from Sin and Evil, and allows us to be children of God. "He will save his people from their sins." So we continue to live with Christ boldly pronouncing, Lord by your death and resurrection you have set us free, you are the Saviour of the world.

Get Ready to Lift

When I was little I was enthralled by the story of St. Isaac Jogues and his companions. Isaac as you remember was a Jesuit missionary who established missions in northern New York. His primary work was with the Iroquois and Mohawk peoples of that region. At one point he was captured by the Iroquois, tortured and left to die. He escaped, recovered from his multiple wounds, and returned. He would be captured again and eventually killed. This story helped me to understand the power of the Gospel, and the courage of the men and women who take it to heart. As I had mentioned before our associate pastor gathered a group of us altar servers together on Saturday mornings, for a 5th grade version of a bible study. The notion of prophets and being prophetic became very important. In my small ten year old understanding I had come to realize that when it comes to faith, running away is not an option. Do you suppose the Roman solders who forced Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross of Jesus first said something like, "Remember lift with your legs." I can think of about a dozen parishioners off hand who have been forced into difficult situations. And I know there are more. These folks had no time to prepare for health, personal, or employment issues. They literally were doing what they always do, and life fell on top of them. Suddenly there was this heavy burden in their life. In most cases their faith was their one and only safety net. The challenge to always be prepared to pronounce our faith and to proclaim our belief in Jesus as the Messiah. I know that we always talk about being ready, but we really do have to be connected to our faith at all times. It was sort of unique a many years ago in another parish, as I was greeting people after mass, one woman walked up to complain about the cantor. Behind her was an elderly couple, the woman using a cane, was hunched over and supported by her husband. The older woman looked at me, smiled and said, "Father I think that spring is just around the corner." Some people are better at lifting than others.