#feeling like mary magdalene fr

[temis-de-leon]

never in my life i imagined i would see Simeon's feet so upclose

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

20th September >> Fr. Martin's Reflections/Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for Friday, Twenty Fourth Week in Ordinary Time (Luke 8:1-3): ‘With him went the Twelve, as well as certain women’.

Friday, Twenty Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Except USA) Luke 8:1-3 The women who accompanied Jesus.

Jesus made his way through towns and villages preaching, and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom of God. With him went the Twelve, as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments: Mary surnamed the Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and several others who provided for them out of their own resources.

Gospel (USA) Luke 8:1-3 Accompanying them were some women, who provided for them out of their resources.

Jesus journeyed from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God. Accompanying him were the Twelve and some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their resources.

Reflections (9)

(i) Friday, Twenty Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

According to today’s gospel reading, as Jesus made his way through towns and villages, he was accompanied not only by the twelve but by certain women who had been touched by Jesus’ healing powers. In thanksgiving they were providing for Jesus and the twelve out of their own resources. Luke is probably referring to financial support given by these women. One of them, Joanna, was clearly a woman of some means, being the wife of one of the stewards of Herod who was tetrarch of Galilee. I often hear people who serve the local community say that they wanted to give something back. They received something precious and they want it make a return in some way. The Lord has blessed and graced us all in some way and having been blessed by him we often feel the need to make some return to the Lord by serving him in some way, perhaps by serving people in our local community. The return we make to the Lord for what he has given to us will be personal to each one of us. We may not have much in the way of financial resources like the women in the gospel reading, but we often have time and energy, as well as reserves of compassion and empathy. The Lord welcomes all the ways in which we can serve him today, just as he must have greatly appreciated the service he received from the group of women mentioned in our reading. Just as he journeys with us to support and bless us, he also looks to us to journey with him, especially when he is present to us in the broken of body, mind or spirit.

And/Or

(ii) Friday, Twenty Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Women don’t have quite as strong a profile as men in the gospels. Yet, the women who do feature tend to leave a lasting impression. We think of Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well, Martha and her sister Mary who were friends of Jesus and offered him hospitality, the Syro-Phoenician woman who displayed a steadfast faith in the face of Jesus’ reluctance to respond to her request, the widow who put all she had into the temple treasury, Anna who spent all her time in the Temple of Jerusalem and spoke to others about the child Jesus, the faithful women who stood by the cross when the male disciples had fled, Mary Magdalene who, according to John’s gospel, was the first to whom the risen Lord appeared and the first to proclaim the Easter good news. All these women, and many others, model for us some aspect of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. This morning’s gospel reading speaks of a group of women who travelled with Jesus and the Twelve, and who provided for them out of their own resources. They were clearly women of some means who provided very practical, including financial, support for Jesus and his ministry. Jesus was served by these women. We think of Jesus as the great servant of others and, indeed, he said of himself that he came not to be served but to serve. Yet, he also allowed himself to be served; there were times when he needed to be served. This morning’s gospel suggests that Jesus benefited in a special way from the service of women. As the Lord’s followers we are called to serve others in his Spirit but we are also called to allow him to serve us in and through the service of others, and in particular the service of women. This morning we thank the Lord for the many ways that women serve us in the church. Without their faithful service, all of us who form the church would be so much the poorer.

And/Or

(iii) Friday, Twenty Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

We generally think of Jesus as the servant of all, and, indeed, that is how he presented himself. According to the gospels, he declared that he came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Yet, even Jesus needed to be served at times. He was dependent at times on the service that others gave him. This morning’s gospel reading draws attention to the ways that some women served him. Luke states that, as Jesus made his way through towns and villages preaching, several women provided for him out of their own resources. Their service of him enabled him to serve others. If Jesus was in need of the service of others at times, we his followers certainly are. We are called to serve, but we are also called to receive the service of others, because we need their service. Serving others calls for generosity; allowing ourselves to be served by others calls for humility, the recognition that we are limited and that others can bring to us what we do not have within ourselves. As Paul saw so clearly, within the church, the body of Christ, we are all interdependent. The Spirit is at work in all our lives in different ways. We need the service of others and others need our service. We all have something to give and something to receive. This morning’s gospel encourages us to be open to receive the service of the Lord as it comes to us in and through those who journey with us and cross our path in life.

And/Or

(iv) Friday, Twenty Fourth week in Ordinary Time

The gospel reading this morning presents us with a picture of Jesus and the twelve disciples travelling in the company of certain women who provided for Jesus and the twelve out of their own means. They were clearly women of means, who had resources that they could place at the disposal of Jesus and his closest associates. He, in turn, must have been grateful to have been supported and provided for in this way. In his life of service of others he had no opportunity to provide for himself in a material way and he was dependent on the generosity and hospitality of others. This group of women played a key role in giving Jesus the freedom to do God’s work by supporting him materially and financially. The gospel reading calls on us to imitate the women by using our material resources to further the work of God and the coming of God’s kingdom. These women can inspire us to use what we have been given to serve the Lord and his people.

And/Or

(v) Friday, Twenty Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

In this morning’s short gospel reading Luke tells us that among those who accompanied Jesus on his journeys were a group of woman. They appear to have been women of some means, because they provided for Jesus and the twelve out of their own resources. In that culture, it would have been unusual to see women following a male religious leader in such a public way. The normal setting of women would have been the domestic space. It would not be normal for a woman to be meeting in pubic with a man who was not a relative. Jesus was in the process of forming a new kind of community in which the gender and social differences of the time were no longer important. Saint Paul expressed that vision of Jesus very clearly when he said in his letter to the Galatians, ‘there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ’. If Jesus’ vision and practice inspired Paul, it needs to keep on inspiring us in the church today. We have to do all we can to ensure that our parish community is as inclusive and embracing as the community Jesus gathered about himself. Jesus created a space for people, men and women, to serve each other and to serve him. We need to keep on working to create that same kind of space in which everyone’s gifts are recognized and everyone has an opportunity to use them. In different ways we are all called to serve the Lord out of our own resources.

And/Or

(vi) Friday, Twenty Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

From the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus has been gathering a community of disciples about himself. Today’s short gospel makes clear that this community embraced not only men, but women, with three being mentioned by name, including one from the best society. Joanna was the wife of an administrator at the court of Herod Antipas. In the context of that culture, this was a highly unusual community to be forming, one which would invariably encounter strong resistance. This group of Galilean women will be mentioned again by Luke as standing at a distance from Golgotha, watching all that took place around the death of Jesus, as seeing Jesus’ tomb and how his body was laid and then as coming to the tomb on the first day of the week after Jesus’ death, with Mary Magdalene and Johanna mentioned by name. It is said of the women in today’s gospel reading that they had experienced Jesus’ healing power. Mary Magdalene (not to be confused with the sinful woman of the previous episode) had been in particular need of healing. In gratitude for what they had received from Jesus, they now devote themselves to his service and the service of the disciples, providing hospitality out of their means. They model for us both the openness to receive from Jesus and the willingness to give generously from what has been received. We too have been greatly graced and we are called to give from what we have received. In giving from what we have received, Jesus assures us that we will receive even more, ‘give, and it will be given to you’.

And/Or

(vii) Friday, Twenty Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

There is a lot of human wisdom in today’s first reading, from the first letter of Saint Paul to Timothy. He quotes an obvious truth, ‘we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it’. On that basis, he warns Timothy and his community against longing to be rich. Paul recognizes that the excessive love of money can be the root of a lot of evils and declares, in particular, that those who set their hearts on wealth tend to wander away from the faith. It is a message that is very much in keeping with Pope Francis’s call on us to live simply. In the gospel reading, we hear of a group women who lived in that way. These women weren’t poor; they had material resources. One of them was the wife of the chief steward of Herod, the tetrarch of Galilee. Even though they seem to have been better off than many of their contemporaries, they were not attached to their resources, their wealth. The gospel reading says that they provided for Jesus and his disciples out of their resources. Jesus and his disciples were poor and they depended on the generosity of people like these women to continue with their work. All of these woman had experienced the healing power of Jesus in their lives, and this was their way of expressing their gratitude to him. Today’s readings remind us that it is not what we possess that matters so much, but what we do with what we possess. Like the women, we have all been blessed and graced by the Lord in various ways. Like them, we are called to use our resources, including our material resources, in grateful service of the Lord and his people.

And/Or

(viii) Friday, Twenty Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s gospel reading shows us that women played a very important role in Jesus’ ministry. It mentions a large group of women, three of whom are named, who travelled with Jesus and who provided for him and his close associates out of their own resources. They were clearly women of some financial means. Joanna’s husband was Herod’s steward, which was a very important position to hold in the royal court. They point ahead to the vital role women were to play in the church and continue to play today. The gospel reading reminds us that Jesus was not only a giver but a receiver. He once spoke of himself as the Son of Man who came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus gave everything, his very life, so that we might all come to share in his risen life. Yet, Jesus also knew how to receive from others. He may have come to serve rather than to be served, but he also needed the service of others, such as the service of the women in today’s gospel reading, and he allowed himself to be served by others. The risen Lord continues to serve us today, in all sorts of ways, but he also continues to need our service. He needs our willingness to serve him, if his own service is to be effective in our world today. We too are called both to serve and to be served. We each have much to give to others and also much to receive from others. We can each bring the Lord into the world in a way that is unique to each of us, and we each need others to bring the Lord to us. Today, in the light of the gospel reading, we might thank God for all who have brought the Lord to us in the course of our lives. We thank him, in particular, for the women who performed that service for us.

And/Or

(ix) Friday, Twenty Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Sometimes one of the four gospels gives us information about Jesus that we don’t find in any of the other three gospels. Today’s gospel reading from Luke gives us information about the ministry of Jesus we wouldn’t otherwise have. It tells us that while on his journeys in Galilee to preach the gospel Jesus was accompanied not only by the Twelve but also by a group of women who provided for Jesus and the Twelve out of their own personal resources. They were clearly women of some means who had the financial resources to provide for Jesus and his closest associates. One of the women, Joanna, was the wife of a high ranking official at Herod’s court. Another of the women was Mary Magdalene, who had experienced Jesus’ healing power in her life. These women used their material resources to support the work of Jesus. In the first reading, Saint Paul speaks about those who long to be rich and who love money. This could not be said of these women, who willing gave of their resources in the service of the Lord. Jesus once said that he came not to be served but to serve. However, from time to time, he needed to be served. He needed people to provide him with hospitality so that he could have somewhere to lay his head. He needed practical, material, support, the kind provided by this group of women. Just as Jesus needed the service of others from time to time, the risen Lord continues to need our service today. He needs us to give generously of ourselves to him in love, so that he can serve others through us. The Lord needs us to serve him if he is to serve others in the way he desires.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[hieromonkcharbel]

The life of a Christian is like that of a traveller in a foreign land, who never delays because he is anxious to get back to his own country. The Secret of the Mass very aptly puts on his lips the following prayer: "May these mysteries, O Lord, quench the ardour of our earthly desires, and teach us to love only the things of heaven!" We need this prayer very much, for present satisfactions and goods, with their tangible, concrete character, may always make an impression on our senses and heart, even to the point of detaining us in our progress toward heaven, and of making us forget the emptiness of all earthly things. Another characteristic of the pilgrim is that he is never satisfied until he reaches his native land; this unrest throws a veil of sadness over his life. Thus, the Christian, God's pilgrim, can never be wholly content until he reaches heaven and possesses God. Today, sighing, he runs toward Him; he quickens his step, sustained by the hope of meeting Him "face to face" some day. His hope, however, is accompanied by a feeling of sadness, because he hopes for what he does not yet possess. His is the holy sadness of those who are seeking God. Let us thank God if He has made us experience this; it is a good sign; it is a sign that our heart has been captivated by His love, and that earthly things can no longer satisfy it. Once again the words of Jesus comfort us: "Your sadness shall be changed into joy."

(Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, "Divine Intimacy")

[tomicscomics]

The Harrowing of Hell (Doom + Animal Crossing + Jesus), and just in time for Easter!

Several of my patrons helped me form this idea over at Patreon.com/Tomics!

1. Ben Wurth reminded me to include the BFG since it’s a staple of the Doom games. 2. Fr Nathan Rawlins suggested framing the crossover as the Harrowing of Hell as well as suggesting a sort of juxtaposition between Jesus kicking butt in Hell in Doom fashion and Jesus rising to see his friends in a cute Animal Crossing scene. I didn’t have enough time to execute all his ideas, but I very much appreciate them. 3. Will Herrman suggested basing the image off of Michelangelo’s “Last Judgement”, which would have been amazing, but I didn’t have the time for it. I liked the idea a lot, though, so maybe someday I can try again.

JOKE-OGRAPHY: 1. Two videogames came out last month. The first was "Animal Crossing: New Horizons", where you play as a cute little human living in a cute little house on a cute little island with cute little animal neighbors. The second was "Doom Eternal", the latest entry in a series where you play as a space marine waging a brutal one-man war against the forces of hell. Because the games released on the same day, lots of people across the internet made artwork of the two games’ worlds coming together in a wholesome unofficial crossover. In my picture here, I add Jesus to the mix. That way I get to draw stuff from two of my favorite new games AND I get to make it Easter themed! 2. In the middle image, Jesus is based on Doomguy (the marine you play as in Doom), while the Holy Spirit is based on K. K. Slider (a traveling musician in Animal Crossing). Jesus rips and tears while the Holy Spirit shreds (on His guitar). That works, right? 3. In one hand, Jesus is holding a Holy Water Pistol, which is a bonus weapon in “Doom II RPG”. It seemed fitting for Him. In the other hand, Jesus wields the mighty BFG 144000. It’s ripped off of the BFG 9000, which is a super-powered weapon from the Doom series. In Doom, BFG stands for “Big Fun Gun”… probably… while my version stands for “Beatific Fission Gun”, a play on the term “Beatific Vision”, which is the personal experience of God that you get in heaven. Naturally, demons can’t handle that, so they’re atomized by the weapon’s light. The number 144000 is based on the number of the servants of God in the Book of Revelation. 4. The framing of the middle image is based somewhat on the first Doom cover, a true classic. 5. The demons featured in the picture are all based on different Doom demons… except for the raccoon-lookin’ dude. That’s Tom Nook from Animal Crossing. He’s a guy who builds you a house BEFORE telling you that it’ll put you hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Jesus came to pay the unpayable debt of sin, so I had Tom Nook represent that. Please, hold your applause. 6. The title “Tomb” rhymes with “Doom” and comes from the fact that, while Jesus was laid to rest in His tomb, He descended to the world of the dead. This marks the “Harrowing of Hell”, as we Christians call it, where Jesus breaks into Hell to collect all the righteous folks who died before the gates of heaven were opened. He brings them to paradise, then resurrects back to the mortal world for a bit. The subtitle “Infernal Crossing” is a play on “Animal Crossing” and comes from the fact that Jesus is crossing through Hell to do what He’s gotsta do. 7. All the pink words among the red ones in the left panel (Wild World, New Leaf, City Folk, New Horizons) are titles of Animal Crossing games. 8. “Rip and Tear” is the Doom Marine’s motto as he fights demons. The “until it is done” part is added by a mysterious narrator at the beginning of the new game. I changed “done” to “finished” to give the quote a more Biblical feel. 9. “Raze Hell” is the new Doom’s tagline. I added “Rise Again” to be more Jesus-y. 10. In the right panel, I add “hm?” to the end of a question like the character Tom Nook does in Animal Crossing. Does that make ME the villain, hm? 11. The framing of the right image is based on a phone background I saw on the Animal Crossing Twitter account. 12. Peter is in the background fishing, which is one of the many tasks you perform in Animal Crossing. 13. Mary Magdalene is in the foreground holding a custom shirt (the design is small, but it’s based on one of my own at my Etsy shop (Etsy.com/Shop/TomicsComics)! Customizing clothing is another task available in Animal Crossing. 14. Peter, Mary, and Mary Magdalene are each emoting like characters in Animal Crossing (question mark, yellow starburst of shock, wavy flowery happiness). I… I think that’s everything. Happy day to you all.

[pamphletstoinspire]

Easter Sunday - April 4, 2021

The Temple of Christ’s Body is restored; He is risen, alleluia!

Today is the Feast of Feasts!

On this, the holiest day of the entire year, and for the entire Octave of Easter, Latin Catholics greet each other with the words of Luke 24:34, “Surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia!” (“The Lord is risen indeed!”). The person so greeted responds, “Et apparuit Simoni, alleluia!” (“And hath appeared unto Simon!”). Catholics may even answer their telephones with this greeting. An old Ukrainian legend relates that, after His Resurrection, Christ threw Satan into a deep pit, chaining him with twelve iron chains. When Satan has chewed through each of the twelve chains, the end of the world will come. All year long, the Evil One gnaws at the iron, getting to the last link in the last chain — but too late, for it is Easter, and when the people cry “Christ is risen!” all of Satan’s efforts are reversed. When the faithful stop saying the Easter acclamation, the end of time has come…

Throughout the entire Easter Season, the Angelus prayer that is offered, when possible, at the ringing of the Angelus bells, is replaced by the joyous Regina Coeli, which begins, “Queen of Heaven rejoice, alleluia: For He whom you merited to bear, alleluia, Has risen as He said, alleluia.”

On this most beautiful of Feasts, the Easter table should be adorned with the best of everything — the most beautiful china, a pure, white tablecloth, the best possible wine, flowers (especially pussy willow, lilies, and spring bulb flowers), etc., all with the colors white and gold — symbolizing purity and glory — and the traditional symbols of Easter predominating. And we should look our best, too; it is common for those who can afford it to buy a new outfit to wear on this day. This custom springs from the idea of “newness” inherent in the entire Season — the new members of the Church baptized at the Vigil in their new Baptismal albs, the New Law, a new life in Christ.

by Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger, 1876

“And on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalen cometh early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher.”–John xx, 1.

Alleluia! Once more we greet the joyous Easter-day, the glorious festival, the feast of feasts! Alleluia! the lofty note of triumph resounds throughout high heaven to salute the Lamb of God, the mighty Conqueror, while earth takes up the glad refrain, and Alleluia wakes happy, holy thoughts in Christian souls, absorbed in fervent homage in many a temple wherein is celebrated this great festival with all the splendor of our Holy Church. And yet, alas! to how many it brings no real heartfelt joy!

How many, who call themselves Christians, unite in a merely external manner in the celebration of today! To outward seeming they rejoice; but only a superficial joy is theirs. To them the spiritual delight, the real happiness–in a word, the Alleluia of the Paschal time–brings no deep meaning; while to those who have, from spiritual death, risen to the life of grace, and then, with zealous earnestness, continue their efforts to attain perfection, this feast will prove a happy day indeed. The joy of Easter will penetrate the very marrow of the soul.

So it was with Mary Magdalen, and so, too, it will be with every Christian who, like that great saint, and also like Mary the Immaculate Mother of Christ, is sincerely disposed for a proper participation in the joy of Easter. And today, my brethren, I will explain to you in what this special preparation for it consists; so that to each and every one of you it may be given to feel the delight of Mary Magdalen, when she beheld her risen Lord.

O Mary, thrice happy Mother of Jesus, may we participate in the joy felt by Magdalen on that Eastermorn! May a faint reflex of your sentiments, as you embraced your beloved Son and Lord, arisen from the dead, fall upon our hearts today! I speak in the name of the newly-risen Jesus, to the greater glory of God!

Dear brethren, let us dwell for a few moments upon the scene! The Redeemer, Master of life and death, had scarcely burst the bonds of His prison-house, when countless souls, ransomed by His infinite mercy from Limbo, hovered over His sepulcher. Myriads of angels too were there, bowing in homage before their King. The rosy dawn dispelled the lingering shades of night which had hung like a pall over Jerusalem, and revealed the uncertain steps of one whose attitude of deep dejection betrayed her grief. It was Mary Magdalen.

She approaches the tomb. It is empty, and now a new anxiety weighs upon her; when suddenly Christ stands before her, not as she had known Him in life, but in the dress of a gardener. Not recognizing Him she asks: “If thou hast taken Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him and I will take Him away.” Now the Lord calls her by name: “Mary,” and she feels that it is the voice of Jesus, the voice which uttered the consoling words: “Thy sins are forgiven thee.” It was a voice she could not fail-to know. She looks up at Him; she recognizes Him; she falls prostrate at His feet. “Jesus, Master, you live! Alleluia!” Heavenly joy thrills her heart as she hastens to the disciples with the glad tidings that Jesus lived, and had appeared to her.

Each child of the Church should share the joy of Magdalen, the penitent and forgiven. And if in it he has no part, where can be found the cause? I answer: Something is wanting in the preparation of the heart. Look at Mary Magdalen, and learn from her. She rejoiced, because her’s was a soul purified by sorrow and tears of repentance. In her we behold the Magdalen, who, sinking beneath the burden of her contrition, gave vent to her feelings at the feet of Jesus.

Christian! if you feel not the joyous influence of the Paschal time, is it not that you are, as yet, unreconciled with your risen Lord? that your soul is marred with the disfiguring stain of mortal sin? For others the Easter jubilee; for you the mournful memories of Good Friday! For, alas! you have crucified your Saviour in your heart. Let me beg that you will not refuse to unite with those fervent souls whose Alleluia resounds throughout the earth, but that, by fervent prayer, you will obtain the grace of contrition, and, having “arisen with Christ,” by a worthy confession you may rejoice with His faithful followers.

And you, lukewarm and indifferent Christian, what sentiments does this glorious day awaken within your heart? Alas! it is cold; the Alleluia finds no responsive echo there. And what wonder? You may not indeed have crucified your Saviour by mortal sin; but the many venial faults which sully the purity of your soul, drive Him from you, and sorrowfully He stands afar off.

Mary Magdalen knelt at His feet. It was her dearest joy to be near her Lord, but that privilege was never hers, until by tears of sorrow she had cleansed her soul from the slightest stain of sin. She was a penitent soul. Imitate her example, purify your soul from its sins and faults, and then, with the illustrious penitent, can you truly welcome your risen Lord.

Secondly.–Mary Magdalen had disposed her heart for the celebration of Easter by meditation. She was a contemplative soul. Absorbed in adoration at the feet of Jesus, she listened to the words of divine wisdom which issued from His lips, and, according to Christ Himself, she “chose the better part.”

But how many Christians, celebrating Easter exteriorly, do not meditate, and hence a cold and lifeless faith is theirs, causing them to listen with indifference when the most sublime truths of religion are presented for their instruction. Nay, even the good and pious are not free from censure in this regard. They believe, they pray, but they do not meditate; and even by them the solemn mysteries of our redemption are not celebrated according to the spirit of our Holy Mother Church. Her wish and desire is that we may endeavor to bring the truths of holy faith before our mental vision, in as vivid a manner as though we had lived at the time those wonderful scenes in the great work of our redemption took place, and had witnessed them in the very order in which they transpired. Then we will begin to realize the reward which in an eternity of bliss awaits the purified soul and feel the sweetness of its Alleluia on earth.

Thirdly.–Mary Magdalen’s heart was prepared by works of self-denial. She was a mortified soul, and how could it have been otherwise with her? Was she not the same to whom was given the grace to behold, with her own eyes, the dreadful spectacle of a lacerated, scourged, nay, even of a crucified and dying Saviour? Was she not the same devoted lover of Jesus upon whom, as she knelt beneath the cross, His tears and blood fell down? And her entire subsequent life, when she dwelt in solitude in the little hermitage in Gaul, was spent in acts of penance, although, from the Redeemer Himself, she had heard the blessed words: “Thy sins are forgiven thee!”

And you, Christians, if your hearts are not entoning the Alleluia today with her exultation, why is it? Because you do not love the cross, and strive to escape from the observance of the holy season, which this day terminates. Immediately preceding the festivity of Easter, the Church, during the days set apart for penance, strives to instill into the hearts of her children that penitential spirit, which will impel them to take up the cross and follow their suffering Redeemer to Calvary. Have you spent the holy season according to that spirit? Then, indeed, you may rejoice with Mary Magdalen today. But, if not, although the grandeur of the ceremonies which are displayed before you can not fail to produce an impression and excite some joy, it will be but a transitory impression and a superficial joy, in which the Alleluia has no part.

Fourthly–Mary Magdalen, in her longing after the divine word gave up every thing, and followed her Saviour in His apostolic missions. Trampling under foot the opinion of the world, and casting aside the promptings of human respect, in the presence of Him she found her greatest happiness. Such sentiments animated her, when, at the banquet given by the haughty Pharisee, she knelt publicly at the feet of Jesus. With such feelings she sought Him on Good Friday, prostrating herself before Him; and so also on the Easter-morn did she seek for, and find her risen Lord.

Child of the one true Church, do you wish to rejoice with Mary Magdalen? Then with her resolve to follow your Lord, and for this end seek Him with neverflagging earnestness; and, having found Him, contemplate in Him the adorable model, by imitating which you will one day behold Him face to face. Souls who are satisfied to lead an ordinary Christian life, who do not hunger and thirst after perfection, who lead not an interior life, do not participate in the joy of this great penitent, and alas! they will never understand it.

In conclusion, the soul of Mary Magdalen was a grateful and loving soul towards Jesus. She recognized Him on that Easter-morn by His voice; and as He spoke her name, “Mary!” the thought of the countless favors she had received at His sacred hands rushed swiftly over her. Her heart overflowed with its burden of gratitude; and oh! she felt how sweet it would be to cancel that debt by the perfect love with which she would regard her Saviour during an eternity of purest bliss. Then, indeed, could she worthily celebrate the feast of feasts!–the glorious Easter jubilee in heaven!

Mary’s love was sincere, magnanimous, self-sacrificing, and constant. Of this Christ Himself has given testimony: “She hath loved much.” This mighty love not only gained for her an unconditional pardon of her former sins, but it became the source of numberless graces for her future life. And the same is promised to every member of the one true Church, whose love for Jesus is sincere, magnanimous, self-sacrificing, and constant, like that of Mary Magdalen.

The recurrence of Easter, my brethren, should increase every year our confidence in divine Providence, and remind us of the unwearied solicitude with which God has, from our very infancy up to the present moment, watched over us, guided our footsteps through the dangers which encompass us, and through His Holy Spirit is ever whispering to us to renounce our sins, to “love much,” that He may “forgive us much.” If we listen to that whisper we will indeed “arise with Christ; “we will participate to the utmost in the true spiritual jubilee of this blessed day.

Thus, my brethren, let your preparation for Easter be according to the disposition of St. Magdalen; and you will celebrate with Magdalen, in the spirit of the Church, Easter on earth, and soon, with Magdalen also, Easter in heaven forever. Amen!

“And the disciple whom Jesus loved came to the sepulcher.”–John xx.

As often as the Church, in commemoration of the glorious Resurrection, celebrates the yearly recurrence of the Paschal time, and entones the joyous Alleluia with her children, so often do we recall to mind those privileged souls who, the Gospel tells us, had the happiness of hearing the glad tidings: “Jesus, lives; He has arisen,” of listening to, of beholding the risen Jesus. This privilege was not limited to one or two; but was enjoyed by a number of the disciples, who believed and hoped in the Lord. Often, too, we go in spirit to the sepulcher with the holy women who went thither bearing ointments, and think of that bliss which filled their hearts when, from the angel of the Lord, they heard the welcome words: “He is arisen.” We think of Mary Magdalen, whose joy found utterance in the single word, as she knelt before her Lord, “Rabboni.”

We behold the wondering Apostles, when, on the evening of the same day, as they were assembled together “with closed doors,” their Master stood before them and pronounced the blessed words: “Pax vobis”–“Peace be unto you.”

But there is one Apostle, St. John, upon whom our attention should be particularly centered, that we may attain a better understanding of the state in which the Christian must be before the real joy of Easter can illumine his soul. We have seen him at the Last Supper; we have beheld him at the foot of the cross, and let us hope that we may have shared, to some extent, in the love which filled his heart at those solemn times. Let me, brethren, today present, for your contemplation, St. John, the disciple of love. Let us glance at him as he stands by the sepulcher of the Risen One, and endeavor to picture the joy which overflowed his heart as he beheld the Lord.

O Mary, Mother most joyful, infuse into our hearts that bliss which filled your own upon that first happy Easter-morn, that we, like St. John, may experience its most wonderful effects for the salvation of our souls! I speak in the name of the newly-risen Jesus, for the greater honor and glory of God!

“He is risen; we have heard it even from the angels!” said the holy women, as they returned from the sepulcher. And as the Apostles heard the wondrous tale, two of their number immediately arose and hastened away; but the “dearly beloved Apostle,” St. John, in the fervor of his love, left St. Peter far behind, and, arriving first at the sepulcher, found the stone rolled away. St. Peter, however, was the first to enter the empty tomb. In him, therefore, is illustrated the Apostle of faith, while St. John typifies the disciple of love. In the divine economy, every thing is full of a deep, mysterious meaning, and herein we learn that faith must first penetrate the soul before the flame of divine love is enkindled in the heart. John followed Peter, and, as he placed his hand upon the winding-sheet, which, but the evening before he had wrapped about the sacred body of his Lord, a flood of joy rushed over his soul, and filled his heart with happiness, as he felt that Jesus had indeed arisen, that Jesus lived.

We will today consider the character of his holy Easter joy, and endeavor to understand how mighty and sanctifying it was rendered by the excessive ardor of his love for Christ. To clearly realize the intense joy of this saintly disciple, we must recall the feelings which agitated his heart while, for love of the crucified One, he stood beneath the cross, and think of those words of Holy Scripture: “According to the greatness of my sorrows your consolations gladdened my soul.” St. John stood at the foot of the cross wholly absorbed in compassion, adoration, gratitude, and resolution, according to the will of God, to follow Jesus unto death, through love; and, therefore, the Alleluia of the Easter joy, in which his heart rejoiced at the tomb of the arisen Jesus, was a participation in the sentiments of adoration, thanksgiving, and determination to be faithful to his calling as Apostle in proportion to his love for Christ.

The one who loves, so rejoices at the happiness of the beloved object that it would seem as if he were happier to see the joy of his friend than to feel his own. For example, what joy is experienced by a mother whose child has met with some great good or benefit, or has been unexpectedly saved from some impending danger! But of true friendship Holy Writ testifies that it is stronger than all other love–witness that of David and Jonathan.

But incomparably more tender was the friendship of St. John for his Saviour, and in the same measure his heart rejoiced at the certainty that He had burst the bonds of the grave and lived once more. This joy must have stirred his heart to its very depths, and moved him, in a much greater degree, than it affected St. Peter and the other Apostles, because he had beheld his Saviour in agony upon the cross, in suffering and in death. His loving heart was more sensitive than theirs.

The Alleluia of his Easter joy was the outburts of his overflowing friendship. It was, at the same time, one of adoration and thanksgiving for the consummation of the Redemption. Until that time the life and labors of the Lord had been, as it were, veiled in the obscurity of a mystical darkness; but by the Alleluia which came forth from the heart of Jesus as He rose from the tomb, all radiant with celestial light, this vail was rent, and that Easter morn forever dispersed the gloom. St. John, as he stood by the grave of the risen Jesus, realized more clearly than ever the whole order of salvation; and what an “Exultet” arose in his heart as he entoned it, in the same sense in which it is sung by the Church on Holy Saturday, to announce the joyful truth that Christ had risen. As often as we hear it, our souls are filled with the joy of this holy Easter day. St. John entoned it at the sepulcher, in the name of the whole human family. Even as the Church sends forth her most joyful chants, so sang his heart, overflowing with the joy of that Easter day: “O Ineffable Miracle of Grace! to forgive Thy servant his sins, Thou hast delivered up Thy Son!”

“Of what avail had it been for us to be born into the world had we not received the grace of redemption? O happy fault which gave us such a Deliverer!”

St. John also thanked God, as he had never done before, for the grace of the election which, in the kingdom of Christ, became his portion, recognizing more clearly than ever the privileges which he enjoyed before all men, even the Apostles, especially that one which gave him the care of Mary, the Immaculate Virgin, the Queen of heaven, the Mother of his Lord. How he rejoiced that he would have her example and her prayers! for it would be her duty to care for her adopted son as became a tender and loving mother. Well may St. Paul exclaim: “I chastise my body that I may not become a castaway.” No marvel was it that St. Peter trembled when he thought upon the judgment which would come after death; but St. John, the adopted son of Mary, was, through her, assured of his eternal salvation. And in relation to the duties of his apostleship in general, as he stood by the Saviour’s tomb, how greatly encouraged he felt!–how firmly he resolved to be a fruitful branch in the vineyard of the Lord!

What invigorates the soul in its apostolic calling is the strengthening power of faith, hope, and charity, united with an earnest love of our neighbor. These were precisely the sentiments which prevailed in the heart of St. John as he burst forth in that glorious Alleluia by the grave of Christ.

The certainty of the Resurrection, as St. Paul affirms, is a pledge of the whole treasure of faith, “If Christ had not risen again, as He said,” writes the Apostle of the nations, “we would have been miserably deceived and disappointed and left without a name.” But He did arise, and we possess our holy faith with its promises for time and eternity. We also shall arise and live with Him forever. But St. Paul was not at the sepulcher; he did not touch the sacred body of Christ, but the beloved disciple did. With what strong testimony for the truth of the Resurrection, therefore, could John announce the Gospel with the assertion that he had lived with the Redeemer on the most intimate terms of holy union; that he beheld Him when He breathed forth His last sigh upon the cross; and looked upon Him after He had risen from the dead. The sentiments of his heart were that of triumphant faith.

What invigorates a soul in the exercise of its apostolic calling is victorious hope. “The Lord, who calls me to this office, is also my strength, and will, at some future day, be my reward.” Who experienced this in a higher degree than St. John? To whom was more fully and more bountifully given the vivifying power of Christian hope than to him who was permitted, while still on earth, to pierce the golden vista of the celestial vault, and gaze upon the mysteries of heaven?

Finally, what urges the true Apostle on in his holy mission more than any other thing is love–the love of God and man. In these respects, St. John was, as you know, eminently called the disciple of love. His very Epistles, contained in Holy Writ, stand, and will remain forever, undying testimonials of this his apostolic love. This, dearly beloved in Christ, is the character of the Easter-day of St. John and of his Easter Alleluia; and these the conditions, to feel it re-echoed in our own hearts. Amen!

“In Thy light we shall see light.”–Ps. xxxv.

The glorious orb of day was still invisible to the expectant world in the early Easter-morn, when the earth trembled as if moved by some terrible convulsion of nature and an angel of the choir of the Powers, radiant and beautiful, hovered above the sepulcher wherein lay the Body of Christ, and descending rolled the stone away. Instantaneously the glorified soul approached, the Sacred Body was transfigured, and the Lord arose, body and soul, more brilliant than the sun, which now burst forth in all its splendor to pay fitting tribute to Him Who gave it light–Who came forth the Victor of all the powers of evil, the Conqueror of death and hell. Then were seen the millions of holy souls who, for four thousand years, had languished in the gloomy prison of Limbo, full of trust in the Lord, and waited until “patience had her perfect work.”

Adam and Eve, the venerable patriarchs and prophets, St. Joseph, St. John the Baptist, with legions of holy angels, surround the Redeemer, the Sun of justice, the Lord Who had risen in all the grandeur of His Majesty. Yet a little while and He will ascend from the Mount of Olives, penetrate the heavens, and take His place at the right hand of the Father, clothed with the glory which flows from His divinity to His humanity, and send throughout high heaven celestial light to intensify the bliss of the angels and saints therein. In other words, all that which causes heaven to be heaven, will be imparted in its full extent by Christ to all the blessed therein. Let us today, therefore, look up to Him as the Sun in the kingdom of eternal beatitude. Let us picture to ourselves the heavens opening to our wondering view, while strains of sweetest music fall on our raptured ear. It is the angels entoning their Easter hymn.

O Mary, Queen of heaven, enthroned at the side of thy divine Son, pray for us that we may one day see Him in His glory and share in His beatification forever! I speak in the holy name of Jesus, Who arose from the dead, to the greater honor and glory of God!

What causes heaven to be heaven is, first, its external magnificence. When God created the visible world, the angels burst forth in praise, as Holy Scripture says in the Book of Job, on beholding such a stream of divine power and wisdom and goodness. Even after the sin of our first parents it still presented a scene of beauty and grandeur, and it does so still.

What a wonderfully majestic spectacle is afforded by the “deep and dark blue ocean” as it seems blended with the brilliant skies which it reflects in its depths! What a glorious radiance is cast upon the changing waters by the setting sun as he sinks to rest–as he gilds the ever-tossing waves with tints of the most gorgeous hue. The world of stars which sparkle in the darkness of the night, form a most enchanting sight; how then would it be, were we permitted to contemplate those wonders of creation through that lofty arch of the heavens, so far above the stars, and view the essence of those objects of which we now only behold the exterior appearance?

But as a diamond, encircled by precious stones, emits rays of dazzling light from the center of a diadem, so does the glorified humanity of Christ shine forth amid the angels and saints, as the mystical Sun, compared to which, our sun is naught but a waning light. In this glorious radiance of the humanity of Christ, the Blessed eternally contemplate the crown of the creation, especially if we consider its transfiguration at the end of time.

As God the Father created the world by the Son, so do we contemplate in the light which is Christ, the ideal of the creation as it was conceived by the eternal Father, and consider it so in all its relations to the creation of grace through the same Jesus Christ. No one can so well explain the beauty of a work as the author thereof. Contemplative soul, look up to Christ, Who has arisen, and rejoice; soon shalt thou see Him in His glory.

What adds to the happiness of heaven is, secondly, the sight of the glorified world of spirits. The angels are the blossoms of the creation. The doctors of the Church with St. Bernardine of Sienna affirm that God created more angels than visible corporeal beings because He was Himself a Spirit. Those beautiful spirits are divided into nine choirs, each end higher than the other, as we are taught to believe by our holy faith, viz: Angels, Archangels, Principalities, Thrones, Dominations, Powers, Virtues, Cherubim, and Seraphim. Each choir is higher, and therefore more beautiful than the other. We will one day behold in heaven the reason of this, but some of it we are already permitted to know.

For all their beatitude and glory, the angels are mediately indebted to Jesus. The holy Fathers assert that it was the confession and adoration of the Son of God, Who was to become man, into which mystery God permitted them to glance, which confirmed them forever in grace. And after Christ ascended into heaven the angels beheld, according to their ranks, the increase of glory which they were to receive from the glorified King of that celestial realm. This increase of glory, conferred separately on-every choir, like rays of light, is centered in the brilliant humanity of Christ, the King of every choir of them.

It is somewhat similar to the choirs of the Saints, which are different too, glorified by their individual graces. In heaven we will one day, through the grace of God, behold Adam and Eve, the Patriarchs, the Prophets, the Holy Innocents, the Virgins, the Confessors, the Bishops, the Martyrs, and the Apostles of Christ. Each of these choirs is distinguished by a particular degree of glory. By whatever degrees of glory these choirs are distinguished, transfigured, and beatified, their different glories, with those of Mary herself, the Queen of the Saints, are as so many rays which are concentrated in Christ as the Sun.

What adds to the individual bliss enjoyed by the saints of God in heaven, is the fact that it is a reward conferred upon them for the holy lives which, in imitation of Christ, they led upon earth. But, as the Church at the Council of Trent taught, God crowns only the gifts of His grace whose Creator is Christ. The rays of all the merits of the saints unite therefore in Him, the author of grace.

What causes heaven to be heaven is the united enjoyment of all its joys through Christ our Lord. In that blissful home all will be united in love with Christ and with one another, as He is one with the Father and the Holy Ghost. Heaven is mine; all is mine through Jesus Christ! Such will one day be the outburst of joy of every sanctified soul.

What causes heaven to be heaven is the thought that it was already lost to us, and that Christ, the Redeemer, regained and re-opened it for all. Alleluia! What enhances its bliss since Christ ascended thither, is the character it possesses as the kingdom of triumph. Here, too, we have no reason to envy the angels, for upon one occasion only had they an opportunity of acquiring merit through Christ, when they confessed and adored the Son of God made man, and were thereby confirmed in grace. Although they are, as St. Paul calls them, ministering spirits, they but fulfill the will of God without increasing their happiness or merit. This is not the case with us children of men. Every breath, every thought, every desire, every work, through divine grace, may be an occasion of merit for us to increase our glory in heaven, which is, therefore, for us also the kingdom of triumph.

Life is, as Holy Writ testifies, a warfare against the enemies of salvation; but Christ conquered them, and we can do likewise through Him. We know not what joys of heaven would have awaited us if we had never sinned; but this much is certain, it would never have become what it is now, the kingdom of triumph, which character elevates its joy in an immeasurably great degree. In conclusion, beloved in Christ, “what is heaven?” Listen! It is God. “I myself,” says the Lord. “I am your infinite reward.” Yes! It is the beatific vision of God, an intimate union with Him who is all delight, beatitude, and love. All this we shall possess through Christ. The end and aim of the creation is God Himself, the glorification of His perfections in their exterior relations. We distinguish, in this regard, His omniscience, omnipotence, wisdom, mercy, longanimity, justice, truth, majesty,–His beauty, beatitude, and love. But all these divine attributes concentrate their most brilliant radiance in the work of Redemption, consummated by Christ. So, then, it is Christ through Whom we are permitted to contemplate God in the triumph of His perfections in heaven, and be there inseparably united with Him.

That is proved by His prayer as High Priest: “Father, I pray Thee, let them be one with Us, as We are one;” and again: “No one knoweth the Father save the Son, and those to whom the Son will reveal Him.” This is verified by Christ the Sun, in the kingdom of light, as it is written: “In Thy light we will see light.”

The various ways in which God so wonderfully conducts us to our destiny, in conjunction with the fate of all, will then decidedly prove that it is Christ to whom we are indebted for the possession of heaven. Therefore, one day, the tribute of praise will resound before His throne in heaven: “Worthy is the Lamb to receive divinity, adoration, gratitude: Who has redeemed us with His blood, and has made us as kings in His celestial realm.” St. John asserts: “The city of God needs no light, for Christ is her light.” He, the glorious Sun of Redemption and Salvation. Amen!

The Resurrection of Our Lord

Easter Sunday

by Fr. Raphael Frassinetti, 1900

Gospel. Mark xvi. 1-7. At that time: Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought sweet spices, that coming they might anoint Jesus. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came to the sepulchre, the sun being now risen. And they said one to another: Who shall roll us back the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And looking, they saw the stone rolled back: for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed with a white robe: and they were astonished. Who saith to them: Be not affrighted: ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: He is risen, He is not here: behold the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there you shall see him, as he told you.

No longer are there tears in our eyes; no longer are heard wailings of grief, but hymns of the greatest joy. Our Lord is risen. Jesus, the good God, is risen glorious and triumphant from the tomb. Let us rejoice! Let those tremble and despair who are His enemies! The Jews bragged of the success of their execrable work; but their triumph is short. They did not see that all this happened to Our Lord, because He desired it so. They triumphed for a while, when they had shut up His body in the tomb, but Christ, full of life and immortal, now passes through the stone vault and is truly risen. He is indeed risen and endowed with greater beauty; clothed in light, like that of the sun; the crown of thorns is changed into a beautiful diadem, the wounds into signs of victory; the blasphemies of the Jews into the exultation of the angels; His sorrowful death into a most happy life. O day of happiness for the whole earth! “This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us exult and rejoice therein.” What fruit shall we draw from this feast? It is this: Jesus Christ is risen from the dead to die no more; so also when we rise from our death of sin, we should die no more, but continue in the life of grace.

It is a fact that many rise from the sleep of death during these days of the paschal joy; because the Church has made an express law that every Catholic must go to confession and communion at Easter. Therefore many, obedient to the law, confess, bewail their sins and promise to remain faithful to the graces of a new life. Many, however, are not steadfast; a few days have scarcely passed before they forget, and by sin fall back again into death. Have such really risen? It appeared as if they had, but if they had been really converted they would certainly not have fallen back into sin so easily and in so short a time.

I should like to believe that all you, my dear young friends, who have gone to confession, have really made up your minds not to fall into sin again. Just think what a terrible thing it is to be in the state of moral death; by sin you become an enemy of God and you cease to be the brother of Jesus Christ. The character of the soul is goodness; and so beautiful is it that God loves it and takes special delight in it. You are by Baptism brothers of Jesus Christ, associates of the angels, of the Blessed Virgin and the saints in heaven. It is worth your while, then, my dear young people, to preserve with the greatest care the purity which you have again acquired by the use of the sacraments. Unhappy beings, if you become bad again, you are throwing away your last chance of salvation; it is very hard to rise from the state of sin to life; the devil will make every effort to hold on to you; he will redouble his watchfulness, will strengthen his net about you, will double the chains that already bind you. He will send his servants to you, who will surround you in such a manner that nothing good can come near you. He will make the life of a sinner seem most delightful, so that in your blindness you would not change it if you could. That is the great difficulty–that we are our own obstacles. We would not love God if we could, we would not serve Him if we could–such are the machinations of the devil to keep you in his service. So you see it is not as easy as you think to return to God. Without grace we can do nothing, and we cannot run to Him and stay away from Him at will. When God has seen you unfaithful to Him several times, after having been saved by His mercy, He will no longer give you those extraordinary graces which brought you out of your evil ways heretofore; now He will let you go, He will abandon you as a thoroughly worthless subject.

From these considerations you can gather that it is most important for us to be in the state of grace, for on it our salvation depends. It is also very essential never to think lightly of the state of grace, not to let it go and come as we often do in the Sacrament of Penance; we return again and again to confession accusing ourselves of the same sins, and thus we continue until the day of our death. When once we have risen as Christ has risen, to die no more, we also must begin a new life. If in the past we have been so fond of the world that we thought of nothing else, now in our new life we must live with Jesus Christ; we will renounce the world to flee from those unlawful pleasures, to lead a celestial life, to be in heaven rather than upon this earth. “If you have risen with Christ, relish the things of heaven, not the things of earth.” Do not run after the pleasures of this world with such a relish; look for the joys of heaven, pray to God, use the sacraments frequently, and hear the word of God; then this new life will also be a resurrection for you, a glorious day; and will foreshadow the day on which you will be crowned with the crown of perseverance.

[lawrenceop]

Holy Land Retrospective - Day 1

A JOURNEY OF FAITH: INTRODUCTION

One year ago, on the feast of Divine Mercy, I made my way to Heathrow airport after Mass, for my first pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This journey, organised by 206 Tours, was an answer to my prayers. Until recently I did not feel ready nor worthy to walk in that place where “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14). But shortly after I returned from studies in Washington DC, I felt this yearning to see the Holy Land, and so I prayed for the opportunity to go, and I left it in God’s hands. Two weeks later, an email arrived inviting me to serve as one of a team of spiritual directors on a unique pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the company of Jim Caviezel, and led by the wonderful Fr Donald Calloway MIC. Truly, God is provident, and his generosity exceeds our asking! 

Divine Mercy Sunday 2020 was the 28th of April, and I flew out on a night flight after a rather gruelling round of questions at the airport. At one point, I did not think I would be allowed to board but I kept clutching my Rosary and saying prayers silently. I entrusted all to Jesus who, it seemed to me, had arranged this pilgrimage for me at this opportune time, just after the Easter Octave.

On this nine-day pilgrimage, I took 1453 photos on my phone, and I shared the best of these on Facebook as we went. I often find that this is the best way to share my experiences with my family and friends. I also had my DSLR camera with me, and I took 1416 photos with my camera. I have been sharing these photos on my Flickr page, posting on liturgically appropriate days. For example, on the feast of the Annunciation (25 March) I shared this photo of the site of Mary’s house in Nazareth where the Word became incarnate in Our Lady’s womb.

Now as the liturgical anniversary of this wonderful pilgrimage comes round, I wanted to relive those days; to give thanks to God and Our Lady for this trip; to remember the places we saw, and the people I met; and to reflect theologically and spiritually on this pilgrimage with the aide-memoire of the photos I took. It shall be a novena of sorts. 

For, in what follows, for the next nine days, I will post no more than nine photos a day (sometimes fewer), and I will choose photos taken on my camera only, and which I have not already uploaded to Flickr. Clicking on the link for each photo (links are all in red text) will take you to the Flickr page where you can see the photo in larger sizes. This exercise is meant to help challenge me to look at the entire photo collection again with fresh eyes. I hope it will help you, too, to see the places associated with Christ and the mysteries of our salvation. Thank you for joining me on this journey of faith.

ARRIVAL IN THE HOLY LAND

I arrived at daybreak in Israel, on the Monday of ‘Low Week’. The drive to Jerusalem took about an hour, and my eyes soaked in the landscape before me, the topography that Jesus had also looked upon; the dusky green foliage; a field heavy with wheat and ripe for the harvesting (cf Lk 10:2). And we went across hills and through rocky ravines, going from the seaside city of Tel Aviv to the ancient hill-top citadel of Jerusalem. As we approached the words of Psalm 48 resounded in my mind: “His holy mountain rises in beauty, the joy of all the earth.Mount Zion, true pole of the earth, the Great King’s city! God, in the midst of its citadels, has shown himself its stronghold.”

Green wooded hills gave way to white stone as various dwellings and buildings were perched on the hills, and soon, I saw banners with the lion of Judah on them: we had arrived in the Holy City of Jerusalem. But, above all, that first morning in the Holy Land, I noticed the light, as photographers are wont to do: as the sun rose, the skies turned pale blue, and the light grey clouds were tinged with gold and orange; it seemed to me a divine light, full of promise.

We didn’t have anything planned until the evening, so I had the whole day to explore. Tired from the flight, but too excited to sleep, I went and had breakfast in the hotel – the food, throughout this pilgrimage, was delicious and healthily Mediterranean, with many salads, fresh produce, and honey from the comb. And then, I went to explore this most ancient and unique of cities: Jerusalem, the abode of peace! My first stop was the Holy Sepulchre, and I went without any cameras. It’s important, where possible, to just be present in a place, to look and observe, and take in the experience through every sense. Only on subsequent visits would I use my camera to transmit what I had first contemplated. 

PHOTO 1: This was taken from the rooftop of the Christian Information Centre, just within the Jaffa Gate, which was about 10 minutes walk from our hotel. From here, one has a panoramic view from the edge of the Christian Quarter. We are looking at the complex that constitutes the church of the Holy Sepulchre, and beneath the large dome is the Aedicule, which is the structure that enclosed both the Empty Tomb of Christ as well as the spot where the angel had sat upon the stone which had been rolled away from the opening of the tomb. 

Now after the sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulchre. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. (Mt 28:1-2)

Looking at the Holy Sepulchre from this angle, I notice that the church is flanked by two minarets, and to the right of this shot, the Temple Mount with the Dome of the Rock is prominently visible. As always, the three Faiths which regard Jerusalem to be a sacred site, are always present and very evident; the three photos I have chosen for this day demonstrate this. And yet, here, in this photo, beneath this dome that crowns the Holy Sepulchre, is the centre of the world. For here, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and universal Saviour, all creation was redeemed and is for ever transformed. 

He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent. For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Col 1:18-20).

PHOTO 2: I met some of my fellow pilgrims from this large group (we were about 240 in total!) in the Holy Sepulchre, and they wanted to visit the Western Wall next so I went with them. Here, the monumental stones impress upon us the grandeur and antiquity of Jerusalem. In fact, everywhere, we walked upon ancient slabs of stone, and I was always aware of the history of the city, and I wondered how many millions had walked those same paths as I was now on; who else had seen these buildings and pilgrimaged to these place? In places like Jerusalem it seems like all of humanity has passed through it, and I am humbled – aware of my paucity in the face of the enormous procession of people who have been here over the millennia. The stones of the Western Wall were already here when Jesus came to the Temple; when he came here as a boy and was found teaching in the Temple they were just a few decades old. Looking upon these walls, and indeed, upon the walls and gates of Jerusalem, such as the Jaffa Gate which I entered every day, I would think of these lines from Psalm 122: “I rejoiced when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.” And now our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem... For the peace of Jerusalem pray, “May they prosper, those who love you.” May peace abide in your walls...”

PHOTO 3: The various ‘Quarters’ of Jerusalem run into each other, and although we approached the Western Wall through the Jewish Quarter, we returned to the Jaffa Gate through the Muslim Quarter and via the Holy Sepulchre at the heart of the Christian Quarter once more. Here is a typical street scene taken in the Muslim Quarter, although it was less crowded than usual. Shops line the street, with shopkeepers calling out like sirens to entice you in. But what caught my eye was the texture and size of the stones beneath our feet, and the way the bright sunlight was filtered through the awnings above, and the patterns of shade and dappled light on the ground. 

The Lord is your guard and your shade; at your right side he stands. By day the sun shall not smite you nor the moon in the night. (Ps 121:5-6)

"For love of my brethren and friends I say: "Peace upon you." For love of the house of the Lord I will ask for your good." Amen. (Psalm 122:8-9) Tomorrow: DAY 2 - Gethsemane and Ein Kerem.

[orthodoxydaily]

Remembering the Myrrhbearers

By Fr. Basil Rhodes from saratoga, California. 

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Today our Holy Orthodox Church asks us to remember all those who were eyewitnesses to Christ's Crucifixion, His death and burial, and who returned to witness His Risen Body: the Holy Myrrhbearing Women along with the Righteous Joseph of Arimathea and the Righteous Nicodemus. We can’t even begin to imagine how challenging, how terrifying, how dangerous it was for these righteous disciples to stay close to Christ during those terrible times so that they COULD be witnesses of His Crucifixion and Resurrection. That’s why we honor them today! The Holy band of Myrrhbearing women who remained faithful and steadfast in their service to the Lord are: Mary the Mother of God, Mary Magdalene, Mary and Martha the Sisters of Lazarus, Salome the daughter of Joseph and mother of James and John, Joanna – a wealthy follower and supporter of Jesus, Susanna, another wealthy disciple of Jesus, and Mary the wife of Cleopas and mother of St Simeon who would succeed James as second bishop of Jerusalem. The Gospel of John tells us that Nicodemus, a high-ranking Pharisee, spoke to Christ originally in secret, and at night. Later, after the Crucifixion, he spent vast sums of money to purchase a hundred pounds of myrrh, spices and fragrant oils with which to properly prepare the body of Jesus. Thus, he too is considerd a “myrrhbearer.” When it was discovered that He was a believer, Nicodemus was cast out of the synagogue and suffered eventual martyrdom. The holy and righteous and “Noble” Joseph of Arimathea was a wealthy member of the Jewish Sanhedrin and also a secret follower of Christ. Along with St. Nicodemus, St. Joseph removed Christ's body from the Cross, prepared it for burial, and placed it in his own sepulcher. Thus, he too is ranked with the myrrhbearers. Later, temple spies discovered his activities and told the authorities, who imprisoned St. Joseph. However, the resurrected Christ appeared to St. Joseph in prison and convinced him of His Resurrection. Some time later the Jews released St. Joseph from prison and banished him from Jerusalem. He then traveled throughout the whole world preaching the Gospel, eventually bringing the word of salvation to Britain, where he reposed peacefully in the Lord. The myrrhbearers, who selflessly sacrificed all for precious myrrh with which to anoint and care for the Body of Christ, announced the Resurrection of Christ when others hid for fear of the temple authorities. All of the disciples were afraid, yet these holy myrrhbearers loved Christ so much, that they acquired the gift of holy courage to withstand all of the trials and temptations that would come their way as they preached the Gospel everywhere. This concerns us all because, in a sense, we are all myrrhbearers. Since the Body of Christ, in the words of the Holy Apostle Paul, is the Church, therefore all members of the Church are members of the Body of Christ. Do we take care of our own bodies? Do we practice good hygiene? Do we go to the doctor if it is sick? Do we wear appropriate clothing to keep it protected from the weather? Do we spend money for food and medical care? Therefore we care for our own bodies, we must also care for the Body of Christ, we must care for the Church, which is crucified by this world every single day. To do anything for the Church, for the Body of Christ, in this world, is difficult, because it requires faith and commitment, like those myrrhbearers had. Sadly, those who have little faith also have little time and patience to care for the Church. For instance, a visitor recently came here and said to me: 'You are so lucky to have such a beautiful little church'. I was a little surprised by the statement, but didn’t say anything. Firstly, there is no such thing as 'luck.' Secondly, what we have here doesn’t belong to us, but to God. And thirdly, anything that is here is certainly not the result of luck, but of one of two things: either it is the result of God's undeserved blessing, which can be given to us and can be taken away from us. Or else it is the result of tears and sweat and blood, sacrifice and hard work, in other words - myrrhbearing, selfless caring for the Body of Christ. Our myrrhbearing is not only coming to church and participating in the sacraments, it is also doing those myriad things which are so difficult because they require our sacrifice. For example: Those who sing in church are myrrhbearers. Those who clean the church are myrrhbearers. Those who prepare the flowers for the Feast Days are myrrhbearers. Those who look after the grounds are myrrhbearers. Those who sew vestments and altar-coverings are myrrhbearers. Those who prepare food or wash the dishes are myrrhbearers. Those who donate icons or make offerings of money are myrrhbearers. Those who come and pray from their hearts for the salvation of all are myrrhbearers. In short, all those who really work, who really sacrifice and put themselves out for the Body of Christ, the Church, are myrrhbearers, because they show that they too selflessly love Christ. And what is the reward of myrrhbearers? It is they who will see, know, and declare the resurrected Christ because He will reveal Himself to them first. It is they who will clearly understand the meaning of the words of the angel: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is Risen!” This is our joy, not only to feel, but also to know that the Body of Christ, the Church, is Risen. She is the place of the Resurrection, and we are witnesses of Christ's Crucifixion and Resurrection. Moreover, when we care for the Church, the Church cares for us, for we are risen with Her. May we all always have and cherish this inner knowledge of the Truth of Christ, being myrrhbearing witnesses to His Crucifixion and His Resurrection. Amen.

[romancatholicreflections]

15th April >> Fr. Martin’s Reflection on Today’s Gospel Reading (Matthew 28:1-10) ~ for ~ Easter Vigil (Evening): ‘He has risen’.

Easter Vigil (Evening) Gospel (Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Canada & Southern Africa) Matthew 28:1-10 After the sabbath, and towards dawn on the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala and the other Mary went to visit the sepulchre. And all at once there was a violent earthquake, for the angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat on it. His face was like lightning, his robe white as snow. The guards were so shaken, so frightened of him, that they were like dead men. But the angel spoke; and he said to the women, ‘There is no need for you to be afraid. I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said he would. Come and see the place where he lay, then go quickly and tell his disciples, “He has risen from the dead and now he is going before you to Galilee; it is there you will see him.” Now I have told you.’ Filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples. And there, coming to meet them, was Jesus. ‘Greetings’ he said. And the women came up to him and, falling down before him, clasped his feet. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee; they will see me there.’ Gospel (USA) Matthew 28:1–10 He has been raised from the dead and is going before you to Galilee. After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow. The guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men. Then the angel said to the women in reply, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.” Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” Reflections (3) (i) Easter Vigil There is something very dramatic about tonight’s liturgy. We begin outside the church. We struggle with the elements to light the Easter Candle. We process into a darkened church with only the Easter candle for light. Gradually, the light of that Easter Candle passes to everyone in the church. In that suffused Easter light, we sing the great Easter Proclamation or Exsultet. It is a very elaborate and dramatic entrance procession before we begin our Liturgy of the Word. The drama of that entrance procession is unique to this night. It is fitting that we begin our liturgy in such a dramatic way because tonight we are celebrating a very dramatic event, God’s raising of his Son from the dead. Jesus who had been brutally and shamefully crucified by the Romans is wonderfully and gloriously raised to new life by God his loving Father. This year our gospel reading is from Matthew’s account of the finding of the empty tomb by the women. Of the four evangelists, it is above all Matthew who highlights the drama of this earth-shattering moment, this turning point of history. He alone tells us that when the women went to the tomb, there was a violent earthquake during which an angel came down from heaven whose face was like lightning and whose robe was while as snow and who proceeded to roll away the stone in the front of the tomb. None of the other evangelists describe the scene that greeted the women in such a dramatic way. These were conventional Jewish images for some decisive and powerful intervention of God. God had shattered everyone’s expectations. The women who went to the tomb that morning did so to show their respect for someone who had touched their lives in a very significant way. Their expectation was that all would be quiet at the tomb in the early morning; there they could pray for the dead. Instead, they discovered that the tomb was empty and they heard a message that Jesus had risen from the dead. His body was no longer in the tomb. God had raised Jesus’ body to a new and glorious life. If Jesus’ earthly life was taken from him, this was a life that no one could take from him. If Jesus was not to be found in the empty tomb, where was he to be found? In the gospel reading, the angel announces to the women, ‘he is going before you to Galilee, it is there you will see him’. When the risen Jesus himself subsequently appears to the women, he gives them the same message, ‘go and tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee; they will see me there’. They are to head north to Galilee where Jesus had conducted his public ministry. It was in Galilee that he healed the sick, forgave sinners, welcomed the excluded, gathered a community about himself. It was in Galilee that Jesus awakened a new hope in those who were longing for something better. It was there that Jesus revealed in his words and in his actions the God of the living, the God of mercy and compassion. Where better to meet the risen Lord than in Galilee which was synonymous with Jesus’ joyful, celebratory, life giving ministry. That is where the male and female disciples now have to go to meet Jesus, not to the tomb. ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; it is there you will see him’. Where is Galilee for us today? Where do we meet the risen Lord today? He is to be found in all those places where Jesus’ disciples make present the life-giving ministry of Jesus, where his followers reveal by their actions the God of the living, the God of mercy and compassion, the Father of Jesus and, now, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Father of us all. The angel told the women that they would not find Jesus in the tomb, the world of the dead. If we are looking for the one who is alive, we are to seek him where there is life. We find him where the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, shapes human lives. We find him where the sick are being cared for, where everyone’s dignity as sons and daughters of God is respected, where his followers are building communities that place Christ at the centre. We find him where the excluded are being made to feel welcome, where people work courageously to create a culture of life, cherishing all human life from conception to death. We will find him where believers are working in the service of his project to bring about the kingdom of God on earth. In that sense, Easter is not just a past event. It is a present reality. We are called to be an Easter people. The feast of Easter is as much about life before death as life after death. It is a feast that calls us to open ourselves fully to the Spirit of the risen Lord so that we can be life givers in our world today, creating modern day Galilees. We need the Holy Spirit if we are to become that Easter people and, perhaps, the gift of the Spirit we need most of all at this time is the gift of courage. The first words of the angel to the women were, ‘there is no need to be afraid’. The first words of Jesus to the women were ‘Do not be afraid’. The violence done to Jesus on Calvary generated a great deal of fear among his followers. Now that Jesus is risen there is not need for fear. Easter is a feast of courage. The risen Lord encourages us, empowers us, to be his messengers of life for our time and place. And/Or (ii) Easter Vigil I am sure many of us will have had to make a sad walk in our time. It might have been a walk to the bedside of someone close to us who was very ill, or a walk to some neighbour to sympathize at a time of bereavement, or even a walk to the grave of a close relative or friend. These kinds of walks take their toll on us; they can leave us drained of life and energy. Tonight’s gospel reading begins with such a walk. Mary of Magdala and the other Mary walk to visit the tomb of Jesus. They had walked with him around Galilee and then they had walked with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They had looked on from a distance as Jesus hung dying from the cross; they had seen Joseph of Arimathea lay the body of Jesus in his own new tomb and roll a great stone over the door of the tomb. Now they walked to visit the tomb. Even in death, they could not separate themselves from the person who had given meaning and purpose to their lives. The sad walk of the women towards the tomb at the beginning of tonight’s gospel reading gives way to the joyful running away from the tomb towards the end of tonight’s gospel reading. ‘Filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples’. What came between the sad walk and the joyful run of the women was the good news they heard from an angel in the tomb: ‘Jesus who was crucified… is not here, for he has risen, as he said he would’. That is the same good news that brought us to the church here tonight, ‘Jesus is not dead; he is risen; he is alive and living among us’. The good news that the women heard from the angel was confirmed for them in a wonderful way when the risen Lord himself appeared to them. Now the great joy of the women gave way to something deeper still, to reverential worship, ‘and the women came up to him and, falling down before him, they clasped his feet’. We too have come to this church tonight to meet the risen Lord and to worship him. The risen Lord then led the women beyond worship; he sent them out as his messengers to tell the other disciples that they must leave for Galilee where they too will meet the risen Lord. The Lord has risen for all his followers, not just for the women. That includes all of us here this evening. We do not have to go to Galilee to meet the risen Lord. We can meet him here in Clontarf. All of his followers can meet the risen Lord wherever they happen to be. Like the women, we are sent out on mission from our worship to proclaim this good news. The women in tonight’s gospel reading were led from the sadness of Good Friday to the joy, worship and mission of Easter Sunday. The journey they travelled to the tomb was geographically short, but it was spiritually immense. That journey the women travelled was the Easter journey; it is a journey we can all travel with them. Our short journey into the church tonight behind the Paschal candle is a powerful symbol of what our whole lives as Christians are about. We are followers of a risen Lord. As the risen Lord went ahead of his first followers into Galilee, so he is always going ahead of us. The Lord desires to journey with us, to meet with us. What he wants from us is a corresponding desire to journey with him, to meet with him, the same desire that drove the women to go to the tomb on that first Easter Sunday, the desire that led the two disciples on the road to Emmaus to say to the stranger, ‘Stay with us; it is towards evening’. Easter is the time to renew our desire to meet the Lord who desires to meet us. When the risen Lord met the disciples after he rose from the dead, he met them in their brokenness. They were full of sadness at their loss, full of remorse at their own failure, full of confusion over how everything had turned out. They were a spent force. Yet, the Lord met them where they were. That is how we will often be when the Lord meets us. We search for him out of our pain and loss and, perhaps, remorse. Because the Lord is risen, our search will never be in vain. When he comes to us, he will call us to look beyond what is troubling us and to look towards him. He will call on us to look towards him in prayer, to worship him, as the women did, and in our worship of him to find joy in our sadness, strength in our weakness, and peace in our remorse. When we look towards him in worship we will also hear him calling us to go forth as his messengers, to set out on his mission, like the women, in tonight’s gospel reading. He will send us out to bring the good news of his risen presence to all who need to hear it. ‘Go’, he will say to us, ‘tell my brothers and sisters that they will see me’. We are sent out to help others to see the face of the risen Lord that we have seen. Even more than that, we are sent out to show the face of the risen Lord to others through our own presence to them. We pray this Easter night for the grace to be faithful to that wonderful calling. And/Or (iii) Easter Vigil I think there was only one time in my life when I experienced total darkness. I was somewhere in the Aran Islands for a few days as a teenager. I rambled outside the place where we were staying one night. The sky was dark and there was no light of any kind to relieve the darkness. I had lived all my life in the city where I never experienced total darkness. I remember feeling the need to turn around and head back to the house where I was staying. I couldn’t really cope with the experience of total darkness, at least not on my own. I suspect that if I had been with somebody it would have been easier. You will have noticed that tonight’s liturgy began in darkness. We turned off all the lights of the church. It is the only night of the year when we do that. Some of you who stayed on in the church while we gathered outside may have found the darkness a little disconcerting. Then the paschal candle was brought into the darkened church. The light of that candle punctured the darkness and became the focal point in that dark church. Gradually, the light was passed from the paschal candle to the candles we were holding and soon the darkness of the church gave way to a soft light and in the glow of that light we sang our Exultet, the song which calls on the earth to ‘rejoice in shining splendour’ and proclaims ‘Darkness vanishes forever’. It concludes with a reference to Christ the Morning Star, ‘who came back from the dead and shed his peaceful light on all mankind’. I find that a wonderful description of Christ, ‘the Morning Star who came back from the dead and shed his peaceful light on all mankind’. On this Easter night, our gathering in darkness was a prelude to celebrating the feast of light. The evangelists Matthew, Mark and Luke speak of darkness in connection with the crucifixion and death of Jesus, ‘darkness over the whole land’. The story of the passion and death of Jesus ends in darkness. Those same three evangelists begin their story of the resurrection of Jesus with a reference to light. Matthew writes in tonight’s gospel reading, ‘After the Sabbath, and towards dawn on the first day of the week, Mark of Magdala and the other Mary went to visit the sepulchre’. The light of dawn was the prelude to the greater light that would shine on these women from the empty tomb of Jesus, and the even greater light again that would shine on them when the risen Lord himself appeared to them. The women must have walked to the tomb in great sadness in that dawning light of the first day of the week. However, in response to the message from the empty tomb tonight’s gospel reading tells us that they were ‘filled with awe and great joy’. Then, in response to the greeting of the risen Lord we are told that the women ‘came up to Jesus, and, falling down in worship before him, clasped his feet’. Their journey in darkness of spirit to the empty tomb ended in the light and joy of worship. The one whom they had been mourning as crucified they now worshipped as risen. The darkness of Golgotha had given way to the light of Easter. As the fourth evangelist says at the very beginning of his gospel, ‘the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it’. Tonight we have gathered in this church to do what the women are described as doing in the gospel reading, to worship the risen Lord. Like them we are called into the light of the Lord’s risen presence. Many of us will have come here tonight carrying our own darkness within. We might find it very easy to identify with the sad journey of the two women to the tomb of Jesus in the half-light. We are living in dark times. The greed of some has brought darkness to many in the form of loss of work and loss of income. Some of us may be struggling with the darkness of some other form of loss, the loss of a loved one in death, the loss of some cherished hope we had for ourselves or for those whom we love, the loss of a friendship that was important to us. We may be struggling with the darkness of discouragement or despondency. This Easter night assures us that such darkness is not the ultimate reality of our lives; it need not have the last word. The light of the risen Lord has entered every experience of darkness. We need never find ourselves in total darkness because Christ the Morning Star has shed his peaceful light upon us. The resurrection of the Lord assures us that the place of death, whatever form death takes, can also be the place of new life. That was the discovery the women made on that first Easter morning. The light of the risen Lord is present at the heart of darkness. Like the women we can absorb that light into ourselves in moments of worship. In worship we are enlightened by the Lord’s light, just as we lit our candle from the paschal candle. As the women were sent on mission by the risen Lord, we too are sent out from our worship to bring the light of the Lord’s presence to those we meet. Fr Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland. Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ieJoinus via our webcam. Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC. Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf. Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

[riverdamien]

Finding God's Strength in Any Crisis

Grace Revealed: Finding God's Strength in Any Crisis Fred Sievert--a Book Review Judges 2:11-19; Matthew 19:16-22 Judges is a book we do not hear of very often, only six times a year in the lectionary; It is a book about the results of not following God. The Israelite's sin, follow false God's and live in ways of mistreating people, largely being self centered, and wanting quick fixes in much the same way that we live today. Materialism and all of the ism's are our gods. We get hooked on a feel good theology, which feels good, more like mutual masturbation, than in centering on those outside of our selves, and we stay in our little tribes. We want addictions, grief, emotional, sexual, and physical abuse to be fixed. We want homeless people off the street, and especially to give them medications and get them into treatment for their addictions. Silvert in his book Grace Revealed: Finding God's Strength In Any Crisis, debunks those false gods. He calls us back to the God of the Bible who finds God's strength within us and calls us to be compassionate. "Real love demands attention and dedication. You dare see someone as they really are, and connect with them in that genuineness. You set yourself up for a roller coaster of feelings, but you keep yourself strapped in until that ride reaches its destination. Mary Magdalene loved Jesus this way. When all the other disciples had abandoned him, she stayed at the foot of the cross. When they were asleep, she ventured to the grave. There was no sugarcoating his death, and she did not avoid her grief. Her honesty and courage led to a new Reality, one that called her by name. “Mary!” Easter is something you experience when you don’t avoid Good Friday. When you endure and confront your chaotic feelings when a relationship dies…a dream dies…a career dies…a body dies. The cross is reality. And the power of Christianity is that it doesn’t avoid this death. Rather, it empowers you to embrace it so you can discover a different life, on God’s terms and not your own. Mary Magdalene loved reality. She followed her feelings bravely, from cross to grave to a new relationship." Rev. Greg Weeks The thesis of Siever's book is that real love calls us to face the reality of the issues we face. For example sometime ago I had been hurt, and started crying sitting in church, people got up and walked away, they could not stand to see me cry, or even ask me what was wrong. I never cried in church again. Real love calls us to away from the false gods that tell us all will be well, every thing can be fixed in a moment. to walking with people in their pain, for all of us are in pain at one time or another, all of us suffer or will suffer and we will die. Jesus tell us in our gospel today: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ."If you would be perfect, go sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me. Matthew 19:16-22." Fr. River Damien Sims, sfw. D.Min., D.S.T. www.temenos.org

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

9th April >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on John 20:1-9 for Easter Sunday, Cycle A: ‘He saw and he believed’.

Easter Sunday, Cycle A

Gospel (Except USA)

John 20:1-9

He must rise from the dead.

It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb’ she said ‘and we don’t know where they have put him.’

   So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. Simon Peter who was following now came up, went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the ground, and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed. Till this moment they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

Gospel (USA)

John 20:1–9

He had to rise from the dead.

On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.

Homilies (4)

(i) Easter Sunday

Many of our gardens are beginning to look very colourful. We are well into spring and summer is just over the horizon. The growing light and warmer temperatures are bringing new life to nature. I often take a walk in some of the local parks and it is lovely to see how fresh the trees and shrubs look as they burst forth with new life.

According to John’s gospel, from which we read this morning, there was a garden in the place where Jesus was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb. It was in this tomb where Joseph of Aramathea and Nicodemus buried Jesus. Jesus was buried in a garden. In the gospel reading this morning, Mary Magdalene comes to the garden where the tomb was. Just after our gospel reading finishes, we have the account of the risen Lord appearing to Mary Magdalene. At first she didn’t recognize him. She thought he must be the gardener. I like to think of the risen Lord as a kind of gardener. Perhaps that is because I like doing a bit of gardening myself. A good gardener makes the earth come alive with colour and fragrance, and that, in turn, can give life and joy to those who enter the garden. We have wonderful gardens very close to us here in Finglas, the Botanic Gardens. I love to walk there. As I do, I often give thanks for the gardeners who over many decades have given us this wonderful gift, with all its colour and fragrance. To walk there is to feel more alive, even in Winter when there is little growth, and even more so in Spring, Summer and Autumn. There is a sense in which all those gardeners are doing the Lord’s work. They are helping us to become more alive, renewed in body, mind and spirit. This was very much the work of the risen Lord.

After Jesus’ death on the cross, the disciples were lifeless. They had lost all their enthusiasm for the Lord’s work. Some of them went back to their fishing; others had locked themselves away out of fear. In this morning’s gospel reading, Mary Magdalene is very distressed. According to John’s gospel, she had stood by the cross as Jesus was dying, alongside Jesus’ mother, Mary the wife of Clopas and the disciple known as the ‘beloved disciple’. Very early on the first day of the week, our Sunday, she came to the tomb and found the stone that covered the opening had been rolled away and the tomb empty. She presumed people had stolen the body of Jesus. In great distress she ran to Simon Peter and the beloved disciple and announced, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him’. Jesus’ undignified death was terrible to see, and, now, she thought his body had suffered the further indignity of being stolen. Simon Peter and the beloved disciple ran to the tomb, as Mary Magdalene had ran to them. They shared her distress. Running can be a sign of panic and concern. This was the mental and emotional state of the disciples on that Sunday morning. It was only when the risen Lord appeared to them that they understood why the tomb was empty. Jesus’ broken, disfigured, body had been transformed by risen life. He was now more alive than he had ever been. The wounds of his crucifixion were still on his body, but now they were openings through which the light of heaven, God’s eternal light, was shining. Jesus had been transformed and his various appearances to his disciples transformed them. This lifeless, fearful, despondent group were raised to new life. They were filled with the risen Lord’s joy and peace; their fear gave way to courage, their despondency to hope. The work that Jesus had begun before his crucifixion would continue. As risen Lord he would be with his disciples until the end of time, doing his work through them. The garden of their hearts and souls came alive through the touch of the heavenly gardener.

That is how the risen Lord is present to all of us today. He comes among us to raise us to new life, to communicate his own peace and joy to us, to give us his strength in our weakness, to renew our hope when we are feeling despondent, to give us courage when we are fearful. He comes to us to bring light into our darkness, the light of God’s faithful love. He journeys with us, as he journeyed with the two disciple on the road to Emmaus, so that we can begin to enjoy in the here and now something of that risen life that awaits us beyond our earthly lives. There are times in our lives when we struggle to believe that the risen Lord is journeying with us. We struggle to recognize him. In today’s gospel reading, the beloved disciple is the first to recognize that the Lord was alive and present. When he looked into the empty tomb, he believed. He didn’t need the risen Lord to appear to him. We are all beloved disciples, greatly loved by the Lord. Our love for the Lord in return can help us to see with the eyes of the beloved disciple, recognizing the Lord even in places that are usually associated with death and loss. This morning we ask for the eyes of the beloved disciple to recognize the Lord’s presence at every step of our life journey.

And/Or

(ii) Easter Sunday

If you go to Glasnevin cemetery today you will see small watch towers around the perimeter walls. They were built to enable a watch to be kept for grave robbers. When the cemetery was first laid out in the middle of the nineteenth century stealing bodies from graves and selling them on was quite common. In the gospel reading for Easter Sunday from John’s gospel Mary Magdalene visits the tomb of Jesus early on the first day of the week. When she found the tomb empty she concluded that grave robbers had been at work. When reporting her discovery of Jesus’ empty tomb to Peter and the beloved disciple she exclaimed, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb and we don’t know where they have put him’. On discovering Jesus’ tomb to be empty her first thought was not that Jesus had been raised from the dead but that his body had been stolen. An empty tomb in itself is open to more than one explanation. It was only when the risen Lord appeared to his followers and spoke with them that they understood the real reason why the tomb was empty. The tomb was empty because Jesus was no longer held by the tomb; he had been raised from the dead. He had undergone an extraordinary transformation and that transformation affected his whole person, including his body. Having expressed himself through his physical body before his death, he was now expressing himself through his transformed, glorious body.

 The earliest reference to the appearance of the risen Lord to his disciples is to be found in the first letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians, written about twenty five years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. In that letter Paul passes on to the church in Corinth what he himself had received from others, namely, that Christ ‘was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures’ and that ‘he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers and sisters... then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles’. Paul concludes by stating, ‘last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me’. Earlier in that letter Paul asked, ‘Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?’ Paul was very clear that he had seen the risen Jesus and that the risen Lord had appeared to him. All those to whom the risen Lord appeared would have been just as clear about their experience as Paul was. In the light of that experience of the Lord appearing to them, they understood why his tomb was empty.

 We have not seen the risen Lord in the way that Paul and other eyewitnesses saw him, but we share their conviction that Jesus is risen and that is what we are celebrating on this feast of Easter. The eyewitnesses saw and believed, and because they saw and believed, we are able to believe without having seen in the way that they saw. At the end of the chapter of John’s gospel we read from this morning, Jesus declares, ‘Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe’. If Jesus had not been raised from the dead there would have been no community of disciples after Jesus’ death; there would have been no church and, therefore, no gospels, no letters of Paul, no New Testament, no sacraments. Without the resurrection, we would not be here this morning. In raising Jesus from the dead, God ensured that the seed that Jesus sowed by his life and his death would bear fruit. Because of his resurrection, Jesus is not only the seed that falls into the earth and dies, but the seed that in dying bears much fruit.

 The resurrection of Jesus speaks powerfully to us of God’s faithfulness to all of humanity. God sent his Son into the world as his most precious gift. Even when God’s most precious gift was rejected; even when God’s Son was put to death in the most ignominious way possible, God did not take back the gift of this Son. Rather, God raised his Son from the dead and gave his Son to humanity again, this time as risen Lord. The resurrection proclaims that, in the words of Paul’s letter to the Romans, ‘nothing can come between us and the love of God’, not even the crucifixion of God’s Son. The death of Jesus revealed his faithfulness to God and to all of humanity; having lived his life for us, he died his death for us. The resurrection of Jesus reveals God’s faithfulness to Jesus and to all of us. That is why Easter is such a feast of hope; it demonstrates in the words of Paul’s letter to the Romans that ‘God is for us’. Easter proclaims that God is for us in all the circumstances of our lives, including those moments when we come face to face with our own failings, our own lack of faithfulness, our own sin, when we are confronted with our own vulnerability as human beings. We experience our own vulnerability most intensely as we face into our own death. It is then, above all, that, because of Easter, we can say, ‘God is for us’, and that nothing, not even our own death, can come between us and the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And/Or

(iii) Easter Sunday

 When people start to run it can indicate any number of things. They may be running because they are rushing for some appointment that they are late for. Sometimes people run out of fear; they are in a hurry to get away as quickly as possible from some dangerous situation. People also run because they are in a race and they are competing with other people to be the first across the line. Others run out of a sense of excitement, as when people who are close to each other and who have not seen each other for years run towards each other when they meet up again.

 The running that we find in the gospel reading this morning comes into this last category. Mary Magdalene came to the tomb of Jesus on the first day of the week to grieve there. To her great surprise, she discovered that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance to the tomb and the body of Jesus was no longer there. In her excitement she ran to Simon Peter and the beloved disciple to tell them what she had found. In their excitement, they ran to the tomb together, with the beloved disciple outrunning Peter. The gospel reading captures the excitement of that morning. Expectations had been shattered.

 Initially the finding of Jesus’ empty tomb left his followers puzzled. Mary Magdalene thought the body had been stolen. It was only the beloved disciple who understood the true significance of the empty tomb. In the words of this morning’s gospel reading, ‘he saw and believed’. The other disciples understood the true meaning of the empty tomb only when the risen Lord appeared to them. Then they understood that the one who had been crucified had been raised from the dead and was now powerfully alive. Jesus had been wonderfully transformed. Because of this, Jesus’ followers were also wonderfully transformed. From being a fearful, despondent group who had given up on Jesus’ mission, they became joyful, courageous preachers of the good news, declaring that in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God was powerfully at work on all our behalves.

 Resurrection is ultimately about transformation. Jesus who was transformed through being raised to new life holds out the possibility of transformation, not just for his own original followers, but for all of us who turn to him in faith. St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians speaks of the final transformation that awaits us beyond death. He declares that the risen Lord will transform our humble bodies into copies of his own glorious body. What God has done for Jesus in bringing him through death into a transformed life, God will do for all those who believe in Jesus. It is because of that first Easter Sunday that we can face death, our own death and the death of our loved ones, with great hope. Easter Sunday does not preserve us from the experience of Good Friday. We each travel our own way of the cross, and, sometimes, that way can be very dark and difficult. However, Easter Sunday assures us that Good Friday is never the final act in our life’s drama. Death does not have the last word. The God of the living will bring us through death to a new and transformed life.

 The resurrection of Jesus holds out the possibility of transformation within our earthly lives as well as beyond them. After the death of Jesus, the disciples had lost all heart. The idealism and enthusiasm they first had when they set out to follow Jesus had disappeared. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus provide a good picture of the mood of the disciples after Good Friday. Luke tells us that they walked along, their faces downcast. Their encounter with the risen Lord completely transformed them. The dying embers of their faith, hope and love were fanned into a living flame. We can all find ourselves in the same place as those two disciples at the time they set out for Emmaus. The difficult experiences of life can drain away our idealism and our enthusiasm. Repeated experiences of failure, disappointment and disillusionment can lead us to give up on various worthwhile endeavours we had been engaged in. A sense that God has let us down or that God has not answered our prayers can undermine our faith, and cause us to turn away from God. When life goes against us, the temptation to drift into discouragement and disillusionment can be very strong.

 The feast of Easter makes it possible for us to resist that temptation. The risen Lord continues to meet with us as he met with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. He continues to call us by name as he called Mary Magdalene by name; he continues to breath the Holy Spirit into our lives as he breathed the Spirit upon the disciples who had locked themselves into a room out of fear; he continues to reveal himself to us in the breaking of bread at the Eucharist. The risen Lord continues to meet us in our weakness and brokenness in order to renew and transform us.

 We need to give the risen Lord the opportunity to accomplish his transforming work in our lives. Like Mary Magdalene in today’s gospel reading, we need to seek the Lord. One of the ways we do this is through prayer. We can be sure that in seeking the Lord, he will come to us, as he came to Mary Magdalene. In coming meet us, he will then call on us to become messengers of Easter joy and hope. He will call on us to share in his life-giving work. The Lord wants to work through us today to bring the light of God’s love into the dark corners of our world. That is our Easter mission, our baptismal calling, which we take up afresh this Easter Sunday.

And/Or

(iv) Easter Sunday

 The death of a loved one can be one of the most distressing and disorientating experiences of life. The landscape of our lives changes, as someone who has been such a vital presence for us is no longer visibly and tangibly there. It can take time to begin to live with the loss and re orientate ourselves. That is probably how the disciples of Jesus felt after his cruel death at the height of his human powers. The one who had been central to their lives, who had given meaning to their lives, was gone. The men seemed to have gone into hiding after Jesus’ crucifixion. The women, in contrast, rendered Jesus a final service; they visited his tomb as soon as the Sabbath was over to anoint his body with their spices. They were paying their respects to his mortal remains, which is what people have always done when a loved one dies. It was a conventional and reassuring service to the deceased. Similar reassuring acts of loving service by men and women to the living and the deceased have been a light in the darkness of these recent difficult days and weeks.

 Yet, what the women discovered early on that first day of the week was not reassuring to them, at least not initially. They found that the tomb of Jesus was empty; his body was not there. All four gospels tell the story of the women’s discovery of Jesus’ empty tomb slightly differently. According to John’s account, which we have just heard, the first thing Mary Magdalene did on discovering Jesus’ empty tomb was to run from the tomb. Thinking the body of Jesus had been stolen, she had to tell some of the other disciples what she had just witnessed. According to Matthew’s account, the women, on finding Jesus’ tomb empty, ‘stood there not knowing what to think’. Did the women run or did they stand there totally confused? Possibly they did both. It was only after the risen Jesus appeared to them that the women and the male disciples understood why the tomb was empty. Jesus had passed beyond death into a new kind of life, a resurrected, glorious, life. What happened on that first Easter morning was far more than the disciples could possibly have anticipated or imagined. I am reminded of that verse from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, ‘eye has not seen nor ear heard nor the human heart conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’. To say that those first disciples were dumbfounded would be an understatement. On that first Easter Sunday, they struggled to come to terms with an astonishing event that went beyond anything they could have hoped for. In these days when we can be prone to despondency, it is worth reminding ourselves that, in the end, the Lord will not only fulfil our deepest hopes, but far exceed them.

 What happened on that first Easter Sunday had enormous implications not only for those first disciples but for all of us who are trying to be the Lord’s disciples today. On the cross Jesus absorbed all human sin. In his resurrection from the dead, he defeated sin with life-giving love; he showed that God’s love cannot be buried and God’s faithfulness cannot be shut up in a tomb. Because of Jesus’ resurrection, we can be sure that God’s love present in Jesus is stronger than sin and death. Jesus’ resurrection assures us that beyond death there is new life, beyond darkness there is light, and beyond sin there is forgiveness. Jesus died and rose from the dead out of love for us all, so that we might have life and have it to the full. His resurrection shows us that our own death, like his death, can be a gateway to a new form of life.

 Not only can we look forward to this new life as our ultimate destiny, but we can begin to experience this new life in the course of our earthly lives. The risen Lord who met with those first disciples wants to meet with each one of us here and now as we struggle with the consequences of the Corona Virus. His coming to us will be very personal to each one of us, taking different forms for different people, just as his coming to those first disciples was very personal to each of them. How he came to Mary Magdalene and the women was different to how he came to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus or how he came to the disciples as a group by the Sea of Galilee. The feast of Easter invites us to be alert to the unique way that the risen Lord wants to touch our lives and journey with each us in a personal way. We are invited to open ourselves to the Easter life that the risen Lord offers us, with all its hopes and possibilities. As an Easter people, we are full of hope, because each of us can say with Saint Paul, ‘I can do all things through him who gives me strength’. We can live already, here and now, in these difficult days, in the strength of the Lord’s risen life, while looking forward to its fullness beyond death.

 One of the questions the disciples had on that first Easter morning was, ‘If Jesus is not in the tomb, where is he now?’ In the light of his appearances to them, they came to understand that he was to be found among themselves, the community of believers. The risen Lord journeys with us, and he wants to journey through us as well; he wants to take flesh in our lives so that we become living signs of his Easter presence. He wants to live in us so that his life-giving love becomes a reality in our world today. We can be grateful this Easter for the ways that the Lord’s life-giving love has taken flesh in the lives of so many people in these days when so much has been put on hold. When you look around at the generosity of spirit that is so evident at this time, it is clear that Easter has not been put on hold, and never will be.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[hieromonkcharbel]

The life of a Christian is like that of a traveller in a foreign land, who never delays because he is anxious to get back to his own country. The Secret of the Mass very aptly puts on his lips the following prayer: "May these mysteries, O Lord, quench the ardour of our earthly desires, and teach us to love only the things of heaven!" We need this prayer very much, for present satisfactions and goods, with their tangible, concrete character, may always make an impression on our senses and heart, even to the point of detaining us in our progress toward heaven, and of making us forget the emptiness of all earthly things. Another characteristic of the pilgrim is that he is never satisfied until he reaches his native land; this unrest throws a veil of sadness over his life. Thus, the Christian, God's pilgrim, can never be wholly content until he reaches heaven and possesses God. Today, sighing, he runs toward Him; he quickens his step, sustained by the hope of meeting Him "face to face" some day. His hope, however, is accompanied by a feeling of sadness, because he hopes for what he does not yet possess. His is the holy sadness of those who are seeking God. Let us thank God if He has made us experience this; it is a good sign; it is a sign that our heart has been captivated by His love, and that earthly things can no longer satisfy it. Once again the words of Jesus comfort us: "Your sadness shall be changed into joy."

(Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, "Divine Intimacy")

[pamphletstoinspire]

Easter Sunday.

The Temple of Christ's Body is restored; He is risen, alleluia! Today is the Feast of Feasts!

On this, the holiest day of the entire year, and for the entire Octave of Easter, Latin Catholics greet each other with the words of Luke 24:34, “Surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia!” (“The Lord is risen indeed!”). The person so greeted responds, “Et apparuit Simoni, alleluia!” (“And hath appeared unto Simon!”). Catholics may even answer their telephones with this greeting. An old Ukrainian legend relates that, after His Resurrection, Christ threw Satan into a deep pit, chaining him with twelve iron chains. When Satan has chewed through each of the twelve chains, the end of the world will come. All year long, the Evil One gnaws at the iron, getting to the last link in the last chain — but too late, for it is Easter, and when the people cry “Christ is risen!” all of Satan's efforts are reversed. When the faithful stop saying the Easter acclamation, the end of time has come…

Throughout the entire Easter Season, the Angelus prayer that is offered, when possible, at the ringing of the Angelus bells, is replaced by the joyous Regina Coeli, which begins, “Queen of Heaven rejoice, alleluia: For He whom you merited to bear, alleluia, Has risen as He said, alleluia.”

On this most beautiful of Feasts, the Easter table should be adorned with the best of everything — the most beautiful china, a pure, white tablecloth, the best possible wine, flowers (especially pussy willow, lilies, and spring bulb flowers), etc., all with the colors white and gold — symbolizing purity and glory — and the traditional symbols of Easter predominating. And we should look our best, too; it is common for those who can afford it to buy a new outfit to wear on this day. This custom springs from the idea of “newness” inherent in the entire Season — the new members of the Church baptized at the Vigil in their new Baptismal albs, the New Law, a new life in Christ. 

by Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger, 1876

“And on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalen cometh early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher.”–John xx, 1.

Alleluia! Once more we greet the joyous Easter-day, the glorious festival, the feast of feasts! Alleluia! the lofty note of triumph resounds throughout high heaven to salute the Lamb of God, the mighty Conqueror, while earth takes up the glad refrain, and Alleluia wakes happy, holy thoughts in Christian souls, absorbed in fervent homage in many a temple wherein is celebrated this great festival with all the splendor of our Holy Church. And yet, alas! to how many it brings no real heartfelt joy!

How many, who call themselves Christians, unite in a merely external manner in the celebration of today! To outward seeming they rejoice; but only a superficial joy is theirs. To them the spiritual delight, the real happiness–in a word, the Alleluia of the Paschal time–brings no deep meaning; while to those who have, from spiritual death, risen to the life of grace, and then, with zealous earnestness, continue their efforts to attain perfection, this feast will prove a happy day indeed. The joy of Easter will penetrate the very marrow of the soul.

So it was with Mary Magdalen, and so, too, it will be with every Christian who, like that great saint, and also like Mary the Immaculate Mother of Christ, is sincerely disposed for a proper participation in the joy of Easter. And today, my brethren, I will explain to you in what this special preparation for it consists; so that to each and every one of you it may be given to feel the delight of Mary Magdalen, when she beheld her risen Lord.

O Mary, thrice happy Mother of Jesus, may we participate in the joy felt by Magdalen on that Eastermorn! May a faint reflex of your sentiments, as you embraced your beloved Son and Lord, arisen from the dead, fall upon our hearts today! I speak in the name of the newly-risen Jesus, to the greater glory of God!

Dear brethren, let us dwell for a few moments upon the scene! The Redeemer, Master of life and death, had scarcely burst the bonds of His prison-house, when countless souls, ransomed by His infinite mercy from Limbo, hovered over His sepulcher. Myriads of angels too were there, bowing in homage before their King. The rosy dawn dispelled the lingering shades of night which had hung like a pall over Jerusalem, and revealed the uncertain steps of one whose attitude of deep dejection betrayed her grief. It was Mary Magdalen.

She approaches the tomb. It is empty, and now a new anxiety weighs upon her; when suddenly Christ stands before her, not as she had known Him in life, but in the dress of a gardener. Not recognizing Him she asks: “If thou hast taken Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him and I will take Him away.” Now the Lord calls her by name: “Mary,” and she feels that it is the voice of Jesus, the voice which uttered the consoling words: “Thy sins are forgiven thee.” It was a voice she could not fail-to know. She looks up at Him; she recognizes Him; she falls prostrate at His feet. “Jesus, Master, you live! Alleluia!” Heavenly joy thrills her heart as she hastens to the disciples with the glad tidings that Jesus lived, and had appeared to her.

Each child of the Church should share the joy of Magdalen, the penitent and forgiven. And if in it he has no part, where can be found the cause? I answer: Something is wanting in the preparation of the heart. Look at Mary Magdalen, and learn from her. She rejoiced, because her's was a soul purified by sorrow and tears of repentance. In her we behold the Magdalen, who, sinking beneath the burden of her contrition, gave vent to her feelings at the feet of Jesus.

Christian! if you feel not the joyous influence of the Paschal time, is it not that you are, as yet, unreconciled with your risen Lord? that your soul is marred with the disfiguring stain of mortal sin? For others the Easter jubilee; for you the mournful memories of Good Friday! For, alas! you have crucified your Saviour in your heart. Let me beg that you will not refuse to unite with those fervent souls whose Alleluia resounds throughout the earth, but that, by fervent prayer, you will obtain the grace of contrition, and, having “arisen with Christ,” by a worthy confession you may rejoice with His faithful followers.

And you, lukewarm and indifferent Christian, what sentiments does this glorious day awaken within your heart? Alas! it is cold; the Alleluia finds no responsive echo there. And what wonder? You may not indeed have crucified your Saviour by mortal sin; but the many venial faults which sully the purity of your soul, drive Him from you, and sorrowfully He stands afar off.

Mary Magdalen knelt at His feet. It was her dearest joy to be near her Lord, but that privilege was never hers, until by tears of sorrow she had cleansed her soul from the slightest stain of sin. She was a penitent soul. Imitate her example, purify your soul from its sins and faults, and then, with the illustrious penitent, can you truly welcome your risen Lord.

Secondly.–Mary Magdalen had disposed her heart for the celebration of Easter by meditation. She was a contemplative soul. Absorbed in adoration at the feet of Jesus, she listened to the words of divine wisdom which issued from His lips, and, according to Christ Himself, she “chose the better part.”

But how many Christians, celebrating Easter exteriorly, do not meditate, and hence a cold and lifeless faith is theirs, causing them to listen with indifference when the most sublime truths of religion are presented for their instruction. Nay, even the good and pious are not free from censure in this regard. They believe, they pray, but they do not meditate; and even by them the solemn mysteries of our redemption are not celebrated according to the spirit of our Holy Mother Church. Her wish and desire is that we may endeavor to bring the truths of holy faith before our mental vision, in as vivid a manner as though we had lived at the time those wonderful scenes in the great work of our redemption took place, and had witnessed them in the very order in which they transpired. Then we will begin to realize the reward which in an eternity of bliss awaits the purified soul and feel the sweetness of its Alleluia on earth.

Thirdly.–Mary Magdalen's heart was prepared by works of self-denial. She was a mortified soul, and how could it have been otherwise with her? Was she not the same to whom was given the grace to behold, with her own eyes, the dreadful spectacle of a lacerated, scourged, nay, even of a crucified and dying Saviour? Was she not the same devoted lover of Jesus upon whom, as she knelt beneath the cross, His tears and blood fell down? And her entire subsequent life, when she dwelt in solitude in the little hermitage in Gaul, was spent in acts of penance, although, from the Redeemer Himself, she had heard the blessed words: “Thy sins are forgiven thee!”

And you, Christians, if your hearts are not entoning the Alleluia today with her exultation, why is it? Because you do not love the cross, and strive to escape from the observance of the holy season, which this day terminates. Immediately preceding the festivity of Easter, the Church, during the days set apart for penance, strives to instill into the hearts of her children that penitential spirit, which will impel them to take up the cross and follow their suffering Redeemer to Calvary. Have you spent the holy season according to that spirit? Then, indeed, you may rejoice with Mary Magdalen today. But, if not, although the grandeur of the ceremonies which are displayed before you can not fail to produce an impression and excite some joy, it will be but a transitory impression and a superficial joy, in which the Alleluia has no part.

Fourthly–Mary Magdalen, in her longing after the divine word gave up every thing, and followed her Saviour in His apostolic missions. Trampling under foot the opinion of the world, and casting aside the promptings of human respect, in the presence of Him she found her greatest happiness. Such sentiments animated her, when, at the banquet given by the haughty Pharisee, she knelt publicly at the feet of Jesus. With such feelings she sought Him on Good Friday, prostrating herself before Him; and so also on the Easter-morn did she seek for, and find her risen Lord.

Child of the one true Church, do you wish to rejoice with Mary Magdalen? Then with her resolve to follow your Lord, and for this end seek Him with neverflagging earnestness; and, having found Him, contemplate in Him the adorable model, by imitating which you will one day behold Him face to face. Souls who are satisfied to lead an ordinary Christian life, who do not hunger and thirst after perfection, who lead not an interior life, do not participate in the joy of this great penitent, and alas! they will never understand it.

In conclusion, the soul of Mary Magdalen was a grateful and loving soul towards Jesus. She recognized Him on that Easter-morn by His voice; and as He spoke her name, “Mary!” the thought of the countless favors she had received at His sacred hands rushed swiftly over her. Her heart overflowed with its burden of gratitude; and oh! she felt how sweet it would be to cancel that debt by the perfect love with which she would regard her Saviour during an eternity of purest bliss. Then, indeed, could she worthily celebrate the feast of feasts!–the glorious Easter jubilee in heaven!

Mary's love was sincere, magnanimous, self-sacrificing, and constant. Of this Christ Himself has given testimony: “She hath loved much.” This mighty love not only gained for her an unconditional pardon of her former sins, but it became the source of numberless graces for her future life. And the same is promised to every member of the one true Church, whose love for Jesus is sincere, magnanimous, self-sacrificing, and constant, like that of Mary Magdalen.

The recurrence of Easter, my brethren, should increase every year our confidence in divine Providence, and remind us of the unwearied solicitude with which God has, from our very infancy up to the present moment, watched over us, guided our footsteps through the dangers which encompass us, and through His Holy Spirit is ever whispering to us to renounce our sins, to “love much,” that He may “forgive us much.” If we listen to that whisper we will indeed “arise with Christ; “we will participate to the utmost in the true spiritual jubilee of this blessed day.

Thus, my brethren, let your preparation for Easter be according to the disposition of St. Magdalen; and you will celebrate with Magdalen, in the spirit of the Church, Easter on earth, and soon, with Magdalen also, Easter in heaven forever. Amen!

“And the disciple whom Jesus loved came to the sepulcher.”–John xx.

As often as the Church, in commemoration of the glorious Resurrection, celebrates the yearly recurrence of the Paschal time, and entones the joyous Alleluia with her children, so often do we recall to mind those privileged souls who, the Gospel tells us, had the happiness of hearing the glad tidings: “Jesus, lives; He has arisen,” of listening to, of beholding the risen Jesus. This privilege was not limited to one or two; but was enjoyed by a number of the disciples, who believed and hoped in the Lord. Often, too, we go in spirit to the sepulcher with the holy women who went thither bearing ointments, and think of that bliss which filled their hearts when, from the angel of the Lord, they heard the welcome words: “He is arisen.” We think of Mary Magdalen, whose joy found utterance in the single word, as she knelt before her Lord, “Rabboni.”

We behold the wondering Apostles, when, on the evening of the same day, as they were assembled together “with closed doors,” their Master stood before them and pronounced the blessed words: “Pax vobis”–“Peace be unto you.”

But there is one Apostle, St. John, upon whom our attention should be particularly centered, that we may attain a better understanding of the state in which the Christian must be before the real joy of Easter can illumine his soul. We have seen him at the Last Supper; we have beheld him at the foot of the cross, and let us hope that we may have shared, to some extent, in the love which filled his heart at those solemn times. Let me, brethren, today present, for your contemplation, St. John, the disciple of love. Let us glance at him as he stands by the sepulcher of the Risen One, and endeavor to picture the joy which overflowed his heart as he beheld the Lord.

O Mary, Mother most joyful, infuse into our hearts that bliss which filled your own upon that first happy Easter-morn, that we, like St. John, may experience its most wonderful effects for the salvation of our souls! I speak in the name of the newly-risen Jesus, for the greater honor and glory of God!

“He is risen; we have heard it even from the angels!” said the holy women, as they returned from the sepulcher. And as the Apostles heard the wondrous tale, two of their number immediately arose and hastened away; but the “dearly beloved Apostle,” St. John, in the fervor of his love, left St. Peter far behind, and, arriving first at the sepulcher, found the stone rolled away. St. Peter, however, was the first to enter the empty tomb. In him, therefore, is illustrated the Apostle of faith, while St. John typifies the disciple of love. In the divine economy, every thing is full of a deep, mysterious meaning, and herein we learn that faith must first penetrate the soul before the flame of divine love is enkindled in the heart. John followed Peter, and, as he placed his hand upon the winding-sheet, which, but the evening before he had wrapped about the sacred body of his Lord, a flood of joy rushed over his soul, and filled his heart with happiness, as he felt that Jesus had indeed arisen, that Jesus lived.

We will today consider the character of his holy Easter joy, and endeavor to understand how mighty and sanctifying it was rendered by the excessive ardor of his love for Christ. To clearly realize the intense joy of this saintly disciple, we must recall the feelings which agitated his heart while, for love of the crucified One, he stood beneath the cross, and think of those words of Holy Scripture: “According to the greatness of my sorrows your consolations gladdened my soul.” St. John stood at the foot of the cross wholly absorbed in compassion, adoration, gratitude, and resolution, according to the will of God, to follow Jesus unto death, through love; and, therefore, the Alleluia of the Easter joy, in which his heart rejoiced at the tomb of the arisen Jesus, was a participation in the sentiments of adoration, thanksgiving, and determination to be faithful to his calling as Apostle in proportion to his love for Christ.

The one who loves, so rejoices at the happiness of the beloved object that it would seem as if he were happier to see the joy of his friend than to feel his own. For example, what joy is experienced by a mother whose child has met with some great good or benefit, or has been unexpectedly saved from some impending danger! But of true friendship Holy Writ testifies that it is stronger than all other love–witness that of David and Jonathan.

But incomparably more tender was the friendship of St. John for his Saviour, and in the same measure his heart rejoiced at the certainty that He had burst the bonds of the grave and lived once more. This joy must have stirred his heart to its very depths, and moved him, in a much greater degree, than it affected St. Peter and the other Apostles, because he had beheld his Saviour in agony upon the cross, in suffering and in death. His loving heart was more sensitive than theirs.

The Alleluia of his Easter joy was the outburts of his overflowing friendship. It was, at the same time, one of adoration and thanksgiving for the consummation of the Redemption. Until that time the life and labors of the Lord had been, as it were, veiled in the obscurity of a mystical darkness; but by the Alleluia which came forth from the heart of Jesus as He rose from the tomb, all radiant with celestial light, this vail was rent, and that Easter morn forever dispersed the gloom. St. John, as he stood by the grave of the risen Jesus, realized more clearly than ever the whole order of salvation; and what an “Exultet” arose in his heart as he entoned it, in the same sense in which it is sung by the Church on Holy Saturday, to announce the joyful truth that Christ had risen. As often as we hear it, our souls are filled with the joy of this holy Easter day. St. John entoned it at the sepulcher, in the name of the whole human family. Even as the Church sends forth her most joyful chants, so sang his heart, overflowing with the joy of that Easter day: “O Ineffable Miracle of Grace! to forgive Thy servant his sins, Thou hast delivered up Thy Son!”

“Of what avail had it been for us to be born into the world had we not received the grace of redemption? O happy fault which gave us such a Deliverer!”

St. John also thanked God, as he had never done before, for the grace of the election which, in the kingdom of Christ, became his portion, recognizing more clearly than ever the privileges which he enjoyed before all men, even the Apostles, especially that one which gave him the care of Mary, the Immaculate Virgin, the Queen of heaven, the Mother of his Lord. How he rejoiced that he would have her example and her prayers! for it would be her duty to care for her adopted son as became a tender and loving mother. Well may St. Paul exclaim: “I chastise my body that I may not become a castaway.” No marvel was it that St. Peter trembled when he thought upon the judgment which would come after death; but St. John, the adopted son of Mary, was, through her, assured of his eternal salvation. And in relation to the duties of his apostleship in general, as he stood by the Saviour's tomb, how greatly encouraged he felt!–how firmly he resolved to be a fruitful branch in the vineyard of the Lord!

What invigorates the soul in its apostolic calling is the strengthening power of faith, hope, and charity, united with an earnest love of our neighbor. These were precisely the sentiments which prevailed in the heart of St. John as he burst forth in that glorious Alleluia by the grave of Christ.

The certainty of the Resurrection, as St. Paul affirms, is a pledge of the whole treasure of faith, “If Christ had not risen again, as He said,” writes the Apostle of the nations, “we would have been miserably deceived and disappointed and left without a name.” But He did arise, and we possess our holy faith with its promises for time and eternity. We also shall arise and live with Him forever. But St. Paul was not at the sepulcher; he did not touch the sacred body of Christ, but the beloved disciple did. With what strong testimony for the truth of the Resurrection, therefore, could John announce the Gospel with the assertion that he had lived with the Redeemer on the most intimate terms of holy union; that he beheld Him when He breathed forth His last sigh upon the cross; and looked upon Him after He had risen from the dead. The sentiments of his heart were that of triumphant faith.

What invigorates a soul in the exercise of its apostolic calling is victorious hope. “The Lord, who calls me to this office, is also my strength, and will, at some future day, be my reward.” Who experienced this in a higher degree than St. John? To whom was more fully and more bountifully given the vivifying power of Christian hope than to him who was permitted, while still on earth, to pierce the golden vista of the celestial vault, and gaze upon the mysteries of heaven?

Finally, what urges the true Apostle on in his holy mission more than any other thing is love–the love of God and man. In these respects, St. John was, as you know, eminently called the disciple of love. His very Epistles, contained in Holy Writ, stand, and will remain forever, undying testimonials of this his apostolic love. This, dearly beloved in Christ, is the character of the Easter-day of St. John and of his Easter Alleluia; and these the conditions, to feel it re-echoed in our own hearts. Amen!

“In Thy light we shall see light.”–Ps. xxxv.

The glorious orb of day was still invisible to the expectant world in the early Easter-morn, when the earth trembled as if moved by some terrible convulsion of nature and an angel of the choir of the Powers, radiant and beautiful, hovered above the sepulcher wherein lay the Body of Christ, and descending rolled the stone away. Instantaneously the glorified soul approached, the Sacred Body was transfigured, and the Lord arose, body and soul, more brilliant than the sun, which now burst forth in all its splendor to pay fitting tribute to Him Who gave it light–Who came forth the Victor of all the powers of evil, the Conqueror of death and hell. Then were seen the millions of holy souls who, for four thousand years, had languished in the gloomy prison of Limbo, full of trust in the Lord, and waited until “patience had her perfect work.”

Adam and Eve, the venerable patriarchs and prophets, St. Joseph, St. John the Baptist, with legions of holy angels, surround the Redeemer, the Sun of justice, the Lord Who had risen in all the grandeur of His Majesty. Yet a little while and He will ascend from the Mount of Olives, penetrate the heavens, and take His place at the right hand of the Father, clothed with the glory which flows from His divinity to His humanity, and send throughout high heaven celestial light to intensify the bliss of the angels and saints therein. In other words, all that which causes heaven to be heaven, will be imparted in its full extent by Christ to all the blessed therein. Let us today, therefore, look up to Him as the Sun in the kingdom of eternal beatitude. Let us picture to ourselves the heavens opening to our wondering view, while strains of sweetest music fall on our raptured ear. It is the angels entoning their Easter hymn.

O Mary, Queen of heaven, enthroned at the side of thy divine Son, pray for us that we may one day see Him in His glory and share in His beatification forever! I speak in the holy name of Jesus, Who arose from the dead, to the greater honor and glory of God!

What causes heaven to be heaven is, first, its external magnificence. When God created the visible world, the angels burst forth in praise, as Holy Scripture says in the Book of Job, on beholding such a stream of divine power and wisdom and goodness. Even after the sin of our first parents it still presented a scene of beauty and grandeur, and it does so still.

What a wonderfully majestic spectacle is afforded by the “deep and dark blue ocean” as it seems blended with the brilliant skies which it reflects in its depths! What a glorious radiance is cast upon the changing waters by the setting sun as he sinks to rest–as he gilds the ever-tossing waves with tints of the most gorgeous hue. The world of stars which sparkle in the darkness of the night, form a most enchanting sight; how then would it be, were we permitted to contemplate those wonders of creation through that lofty arch of the heavens, so far above the stars, and view the essence of those objects of which we now only behold the exterior appearance?

But as a diamond, encircled by precious stones, emits rays of dazzling light from the center of a diadem, so does the glorified humanity of Christ shine forth amid the angels and saints, as the mystical Sun, compared to which, our sun is naught but a waning light. In this glorious radiance of the humanity of Christ, the Blessed eternally contemplate the crown of the creation, especially if we consider its transfiguration at the end of time.

As God the Father created the world by the Son, so do we contemplate in the light which is Christ, the ideal of the creation as it was conceived by the eternal Father, and consider it so in all its relations to the creation of grace through the same Jesus Christ. No one can so well explain the beauty of a work as the author thereof. Contemplative soul, look up to Christ, Who has arisen, and rejoice; soon shalt thou see Him in His glory.

What adds to the happiness of heaven is, secondly, the sight of the glorified world of spirits. The angels are the blossoms of the creation. The doctors of the Church with St. Bernardine of Sienna affirm that God created more angels than visible corporeal beings because He was Himself a Spirit. Those beautiful spirits are divided into nine choirs, each end higher than the other, as we are taught to believe by our holy faith, viz: Angels, Archangels, Principalities, Thrones, Dominations, Powers, Virtues, Cherubim, and Seraphim. Each choir is higher, and therefore more beautiful than the other. We will one day behold in heaven the reason of this, but some of it we are already permitted to know.

For all their beatitude and glory, the angels are mediately indebted to Jesus. The holy Fathers assert that it was the confession and adoration of the Son of God, Who was to become man, into which mystery God permitted them to glance, which confirmed them forever in grace. And after Christ ascended into heaven the angels beheld, according to their ranks, the increase of glory which they were to receive from the glorified King of that celestial realm. This increase of glory, conferred separately on-every choir, like rays of light, is centered in the brilliant humanity of Christ, the King of every choir of them.

It is somewhat similar to the choirs of the Saints, which are different too, glorified by their individual graces. In heaven we will one day, through the grace of God, behold Adam and Eve, the Patriarchs, the Prophets, the Holy Innocents, the Virgins, the Confessors, the Bishops, the Martyrs, and the Apostles of Christ. Each of these choirs is distinguished by a particular degree of glory. By whatever degrees of glory these choirs are distinguished, transfigured, and beatified, their different glories, with those of Mary herself, the Queen of the Saints, are as so many rays which are concentrated in Christ as the Sun.

What adds to the individual bliss enjoyed by the saints of God in heaven, is the fact that it is a reward conferred upon them for the holy lives which, in imitation of Christ, they led upon earth. But, as the Church at the Council of Trent taught, God crowns only the gifts of His grace whose Creator is Christ. The rays of all the merits of the saints unite therefore in Him, the author of grace.

What causes heaven to be heaven is the united enjoyment of all its joys through Christ our Lord. In that blissful home all will be united in love with Christ and with one another, as He is one with the Father and the Holy Ghost. Heaven is mine; all is mine through Jesus Christ! Such will one day be the outburst of joy of every sanctified soul.

What causes heaven to be heaven is the thought that it was already lost to us, and that Christ, the Redeemer, regained and re-opened it for all. Alleluia! What enhances its bliss since Christ ascended thither, is the character it possesses as the kingdom of triumph. Here, too, we have no reason to envy the angels, for upon one occasion only had they an opportunity of acquiring merit through Christ, when they confessed and adored the Son of God made man, and were thereby confirmed in grace. Although they are, as St. Paul calls them, ministering spirits, they but fulfill the will of God without increasing their happiness or merit. This is not the case with us children of men. Every breath, every thought, every desire, every work, through divine grace, may be an occasion of merit for us to increase our glory in heaven, which is, therefore, for us also the kingdom of triumph.

Life is, as Holy Writ testifies, a warfare against the enemies of salvation; but Christ conquered them, and we can do likewise through Him. We know not what joys of heaven would have awaited us if we had never sinned; but this much is certain, it would never have become what it is now, the kingdom of triumph, which character elevates its joy in an immeasurably great degree. In conclusion, beloved in Christ, “what is heaven?” Listen! It is God. “I myself,” says the Lord. “I am your infinite reward.” Yes! It is the beatific vision of God, an intimate union with Him who is all delight, beatitude, and love. All this we shall possess through Christ. The end and aim of the creation is God Himself, the glorification of His perfections in their exterior relations. We distinguish, in this regard, His omniscience, omnipotence, wisdom, mercy, longanimity, justice, truth, majesty,–His beauty, beatitude, and love. But all these divine attributes concentrate their most brilliant radiance in the work of Redemption, consummated by Christ. So, then, it is Christ through Whom we are permitted to contemplate God in the triumph of His perfections in heaven, and be there inseparably united with Him.

That is proved by His prayer as High Priest: “Father, I pray Thee, let them be one with Us, as We are one;” and again: “No one knoweth the Father save the Son, and those to whom the Son will reveal Him.” This is verified by Christ the Sun, in the kingdom of light, as it is written: “In Thy light we will see light.”

The various ways in which God so wonderfully conducts us to our destiny, in conjunction with the fate of all, will then decidedly prove that it is Christ to whom we are indebted for the possession of heaven. Therefore, one day, the tribute of praise will resound before His throne in heaven: “Worthy is the Lamb to receive divinity, adoration, gratitude: Who has redeemed us with His blood, and has made us as kings in His celestial realm.” St. John asserts: “The city of God needs no light, for Christ is her light.” He, the glorious Sun of Redemption and Salvation. Amen! 

THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD EASTER SUNDAY by Fr. Raphael Frassinetti, 1900

Gospel. Mark xvi. 1-7. At that time: Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought sweet spices, that coming they might anoint Jesus. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came to the sepulchre, the sun being now risen. And they said one to another: Who shall roll us back the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And looking, they saw the stone rolled back: for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed with a white robe: and they were astonished. Who saith to them: Be not affrighted: ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: He is risen, He is not here: behold the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there you shall see him, as he told you.

No longer are there tears in our eyes; no longer are heard wailings of grief, but hymns of the greatest joy. Our Lord is risen. Jesus, the good God, is risen glorious and triumphant from the tomb. Let us rejoice! Let those tremble and despair who are His enemies! The Jews bragged of the success of their execrable work; but their triumph is short. They did not see that all this happened to Our Lord, because He desired it so. They triumphed for a while, when they had shut up His body in the tomb, but Christ, full of life and immortal, now passes through the stone vault and is truly risen. He is indeed risen and endowed with greater beauty; clothed in light, like that of the sun; the crown of thorns is changed into a beautiful diadem, the wounds into signs of victory; the blasphemies of the Jews into the exultation of the angels; His sorrowful death into a most happy life. O day of happiness for the whole earth! “This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us exult and rejoice therein.” What fruit shall we draw from this feast? It is this: Jesus Christ is risen from the dead to die no more; so also when we rise from our death of sin, we should die no more, but continue in the life of grace.

It is a fact that many rise from the sleep of death during these days of the paschal joy; because the Church has made an express law that every Catholic must go to confession and communion at Easter. Therefore many, obedient to the law, confess, bewail their sins and promise to remain faithful to the graces of a new life. Many, however, are not steadfast; a few days have scarcely passed before they forget, and by sin fall back again into death. Have such really risen? It appeared as if they had, but if they had been really converted they would certainly not have fallen back into sin so easily and in so short a time.

I should like to believe that all you, my dear young friends, who have gone to confession, have really made up your minds not to fall into sin again. Just think what a terrible thing it is to be in the state of moral death; by sin you become an enemy of God and you cease to be the brother of Jesus Christ. The character of the soul is goodness; and so beautiful is it that God loves it and takes special delight in it. You are by Baptism brothers of Jesus Christ, associates of the angels, of the Blessed Virgin and the saints in heaven. It is worth your while, then, my dear young people, to preserve with the greatest care the purity which you have again acquired by the use of the sacraments. Unhappy beings, if you become bad again, you are throwing away your last chance of salvation; it is very hard to rise from the state of sin to life; the devil will make every effort to hold on to you; he will redouble his watchfulness, will strengthen his net about you, will double the chains that already bind you. He will send his servants to you, who will surround you in such a manner that nothing good can come near you. He will make the life of a sinner seem most delightful, so that in your blindness you would not change it if you could. That is the great difficulty–that we are our own obstacles. We would not love God if we could, we would not serve Him if we could–such are the machinations of the devil to keep you in his service. So you see it is not as easy as you think to return to God. Without grace we can do nothing, and we cannot run to Him and stay away from Him at will. When God has seen you unfaithful to Him several times, after having been saved by His mercy, He will no longer give you those extraordinary graces which brought you out of your evil ways heretofore; now He will let you go, He will abandon you as a thoroughly worthless subject.

From these considerations you can gather that it is most important for us to be in the state of grace, for on it our salvation depends. It is also very essential never to think lightly of the state of grace, not to let it go and come as we often do in the Sacrament of Penance; we return again and again to confession accusing ourselves of the same sins, and thus we continue until the day of our death. When once we have risen as Christ has risen, to die no more, we also must begin a new life. If in the past we have been so fond of the world that we thought of nothing else, now in our new life we must live with Jesus Christ; we will renounce the world to flee from those unlawful pleasures, to lead a celestial life, to be in heaven rather than upon this earth. “If you have risen with Christ, relish the things of heaven, not the things of earth.” Do not run after the pleasures of this world with such a relish; look for the joys of heaven, pray to God, use the sacraments frequently, and hear the word of God; then this new life will also be a resurrection for you, a glorious day; and will foreshadow the day on which you will be crowned with the crown of perseverance. 

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19th April >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on John 20:19–31 for Divine Mercy Sunday (Second Sunday of Easter): ‘My Lord and my God!’

Divine Mercy Sunday (Second Sunday of Easter)

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

John 20:19-31

Eight days later, Jesus came again and stood among them

In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you’, and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.

‘As the Father sent me,

so am I sending you.’

After saying this he breathed on them and said:

‘Receive the Holy Spirit.

For those whose sins you forgive,

they are forgiven;

for those whose sins you retain,

they are retained.’

Thomas, called the Twin, who was one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. When the disciples said, ‘We have seen the Lord’, he answered, ‘Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe.’ Eight days later the disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. The doors were closed, but Jesus came in and stood among them. ‘Peace be with you’ he said. Then he spoke to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Doubt no longer but believe.’ Thomas replied, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him:

‘You believe because you can see me.

Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.’

There were many other signs that Jesus worked and the disciples saw, but they are not recorded in this book. These are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing this you may have life through his name.

Gospel (USA)

John 20:19–31

Eight days later Jesus came and stood in their midst.

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

Reflections (5)

(i) Second Sunday of Easter

It has been said that Easter is the feast of God’s faithful love. On Good Friday, humanity had crucified the one whom we believe to be God’s love made flesh. It was as if this brutal hatred gathered up every rejection of love there has ever been. However, the rising of Jesus from the dead announced that human rejection of God’s love did not have the last word. In raising his Son from the dead, God gave his Son back to the world that had rejected him. Easter celebrates God’s radical faithfulness. The risen Lord is the living sign of God’s enduring love.

The first words of the risen Lord to his disciples in today’s gospel reading are, ‘Peace be with you’. Jesus was making peace with his disciples who had failed him in the hour of his passion and death. He was reconciling them to himself, displaying his faithfulness to them, in spite of how they had failed him. In showing them the wounds in his hands and side he was reminding them of the extent of his love for them. As he said earlier, ‘No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends’. His wounds were no longer just the marks of human cruelty but signs of a divine love. I am struck by that line in the gospel reading, ‘Jesus came and stood among them’. During the hour of his passion and death, Jesus’ disciples, with the exception of the beloved disciple and the women, ran from him. They ran from the suffering and crucified Jesus. Yet, the risen Jesus came and stood among those very same disciples, even though they had locked the doors of the room where they were gathered out of fear. His standing there spoke powerfully of his faithfulness to them. He went on to show that he continued to trust them. He sent them out to continue his mission, ‘as the Father sent me, so am I sending you’. Before sending them, he breathed the Holy Spirit upon them, the Spirit of God’s enduring love. According to the Book of Genesis, God created Adam by breathing into his nostrils the breath of life. The risen Lord recreates his failed and fearful disciples. The power of the Lord’s faithful love to recreate people, to transform them with new life, is at the heart of the Easter message. Having recreated them through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord could then send them out as ambassadors of his reconciling love, ‘those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven’.

The same risen Lord who stood among his disciples on that first Easter morning stands among us on in this Easter time, with all its anxiety and uncertainty. Those disciples represent us all. In the past, we may have turned from him, or even run from him, like those first disciples, but he now stands among us; he stands beside us. He is present to each one of us in a very personal way, as he was present to Mary Magdalene, to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, to Thomas in today’s gospel reading. He is present among us and to us, offering us his peace, the gift of his faithful love. He stands ready to pour afresh the Spirit of his love into our hearts, so that we can be recreated, empowered to share in his mission in the world. As risen Lord, he shows us the wounds of his passion, as signs of his self-giving love, and also to assure us that he identifies with us in our own wounded-ness. Like the Lord, we carry our own wounds, some of them arising out of the crisis we are all going through, but, just as the Lord’s wounds were transformed by his rising from the dead, the risen Lord can transform our wounds too, recreating them as channels of new life for others. The light of Easter shone through the wounds of Jesus, and if we open ourselves to the risen Lord standing beside us, his light can shine through our wounds too. As we bring the broken pieces of our lives to the risen Lord, his Easter grace can restore and transform us.

If the disciples represent us all, the disciple Thomas can speak to our experience in a particular way. Thomas could not bring himself to believe that Jesus had risen, on the basis of what the other disciples told him. He insisted not just on seeing the risen Lord for himself, like the other disciples, but on physically touching his wounds. Far from rebuking Thomas for his refusal to believe, the Lord accommodated himself to Thomas’ demands and, as a result, out of the mouth of the sceptic came one of the greatest confessions of faith in the gospels, ‘My Lord and my God’. Thomas’ journey to Easter faith was different to that of the other disciples. We are being reminded that people come to faith in the Lord by different ways. When it comes to faith, not all move to the same rhythm. Thomas’ story assures us that no matter where we are on our faith journey, even if we are full of doubt and scepticism, the Lord stands beside us, gently calling out to us, ‘doubt no longer, but believe’.

And/Or

(ii) Second Sunday of Easter

 We tend to put things under lock and key much more than we used to do in the past. Alarms, security lighting, codes to get in and out of premises, strong gates and doors have become much more the norm than they used to be. We feel the need to lock ourselves in and lock others out. We probably have more to protect than we used to and we are also aware that the threats to our possessions are greater than they used to be. It is important that people feel safe in their own homes, but all the security can leave us a little bit more cut off from our neighbours and friendly visitors than we would like.

 This morning’s gospel reading begins with an image of the disciples locking themselves into a room somewhere in Jerusalem. They had locked themselves in to lock others out, especially those who had been responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. They feared that what was done to Jesus could be done to them. However, in spite of the locked doors, the risen Jesus came and stood among them. It seems that it wasn’t possible to lock the Lord out. The Lord stood in the midst of his fearful disciples; he spoke to their fear, ‘Peace be with you’, and he drove out their spirit of fear by breathing the Holy Spirit into their lives. By the time he left, the locks on the doors had become unnecessary. The disciples now understood that those who put Jesus to death did not have the last word, and would never have the last word. The agent of God’s life, the risen Lord, had triumphed over the agents of death. God’s love revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus had triumphed over human wickedness.

 The gospel reading suggests that even when we might cut ourselves off from others, we do not cut ourselves off from the Lord. The Lord is there before us even if we have not invited him in, even if we have locked ourselves away from him. He does not retreat from us even though we might retreat from him. He never ceases to come to us, and in coming he says to us what he said to his disciples on that first Easter morning, ‘Peace be with you’. The disciples had abandoned the Lord on Good Friday, with the exception of the beloved disciple. Yet, when the Lord came to them, he offered them his peace, the gift of reconciliation. He showed them his wounds on his hands and his side, signs of that greater love which led him to lay down his life for them. In different ways we too can abandon the Lord; we may deny and even betray him by something we say or do. Yet, the Lord will always seek us out and offer us the gift of peace, the gift of his reconciling love. Indeed, he will pour that love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, just as he breathed the Holy Spirit on his failed and fearful disciples on that first Easter Sunday.

 Thomas was not with the other disciples when the risen Lord stood in their midst. When those disciples abandoned their locked room and went to Thomas with their wonderful news, ‘We have seen the Lord’, he refused to believe them. Thomas too had locked himself away from the other disciples and from the Lord because of his strong doubt. He would not join the community of those who had experienced the risen Lord for themselves. Just as the risen Lord would not allow the disciples’ fear to lock him out of their lives, so he would not allow Thomas’ doubt to lock him out either. The Lord accommodated himself to Thomas’ doubt, meeting Thomas’ demand to put his hand into the wounds of the crucifixion. Because of the Lord’s gracious accommodation of Thomas the great sceptic went on to make the great confession of faith, ‘My Lord and my God’. Great doubt did not prove to be the enemy of great faith. Indeed, both can often reside in the same person.

 When we find ourselves struggling with great religious doubts, and, as a result, maybe putting a distance between ourselves and the Lord and between ourselves and the community of believers, the Lord continues to engage with us and seek us out. As he did with Thomas, he accommodates himself to our doubt. The experience of Thomas shows us that religious doubt need not keep us from the Lord or the church; Thomas’ story suggests also that great doubt can be the prelude to great faith. Dostoevsky, the great Russian novelist, was in almost continual religious conflict. On the one hand, he felt the strong desire to be in union with God; on the other hand, he felt an almost violent tugging away from any contact with God. He eventually surrendered to the God who was drawing him. In his diary he wrote, ‘It is not like a child that I believe in Christ and confess him. My hosanna has come forth from the crucible of doubt’. Faith will always include doubts or it is not faith. The risen Lord is present in the crucible of doubt, drawing us to himself, calling out to us as he called to Thomas, ‘Doubt no longer but believe’.

And/Or

(iii) Second Sunday of Easter

 We can probably find it easy to sympathize with the fearful disciples in this morning’s gospel reading. There they were, locked into a room, in a self-imposed prison, out of fear. They were fearful that those who put Jesus to death would come looking for his followers. They may have been asking themselves, ‘Are we next?’ They wanted to keep their association with Jesus hidden, out of the public glare. Perhaps we can all be a little bit like those disciples, especially in these times. Being a member of the community of those who believe in Jesus can be a source of bemusement to many, or even derision. The temptation to lock away our faith out of fear can be very strong. We keep it under wraps or find ourselves being apologetic about it.

 Yet, today’s gospel reading suggests that this is not what the risen Lord wants from his followers. Even though those first disciples were trying to lock away their relationship with the Lord, the risen Lord refused to be locked out. He stood among them in all the power of his risen life. He offered them the gift of his peace, the gift of his reconciling love. They had abandoned him when the hour of his passion and death came, but he had not abandoned them. He showed them his hands and his side so that they would be in no doubt that the one who stood in their midst was the one who had been crucified, the one whom they had abandoned in fear. He then declared that he was sending them out on mission, in the same way that his Father had sent him into the world on mission. The Lord was saying to them, in effect, ‘open those doors and get out there’. He did not send them out in the strength of their own resources alone. He first of all breathed on them, saying, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’. He breathed new life into them; he recreated them in his love. This was a moment of new creation. Joy replaced their fear and they could now break out of their self-imposed prison.

 This morning’s gospel reading shows us the difference that Easter made in the lives of the first disciples. Their being locked behind closed doors out of fear was the mood of Good Friday. The risen Lord stood among them to replace that mood with the mood of Easter. It is that mood of Easter that we try to imbibe and enter into during these seven weeks of the Easter season. We try to open our hearts to the gift that the risen Lord is offering us, the gift of his peace, of his reconciling love. Even though we may have failed him in the past, through our fear, he stands among us not to condemn us but to renew us, to recreate us in his love. Easter is a time when we open ourselves to the renewing power of his Holy Spirit. It is a time when, in the power of that Spirit, we rise above our fear and step out with a new courage to witness to the Lord by what we say and do. We can always slip back into the mood of Good Friday, tentative about our relationship with the Lord, fearful of making it known. Yet, the risen Lord always stands among us empowering us to be an Easter people. He will always ignore our locked doors and stand before us in his risen power.

 One of the disciples in the gospel reading is mentioned by name, Thomas. The mood of Good Friday took a somewhat different form for him, not so much fear as disbelief. When the other disciples came to him in the power to the Holy Spirit to announce, ‘We have seen the Lord’, he could not bring himself to believe this news. Their Easter faith left him cold; he could not be shifted from his Good Friday mood. He laid down very clear conditions before he would join this community of Easter faith, ‘Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe’. Just as we can be like the fearful disciples, so we can often be like the sceptical Thomas. When someone precious has been taken from us, when we have experienced some bitter loss, when we see bad things happening to good people, when we have struggled with some experience of death, it can be difficult to believe in the emergence of new life, the possibility of a new beginning. Just as the risen Lord stood before his fearful disciples, he stood before the disbelieving Thomas, offering him the same gift of his peace, inviting him to satisfy the conditions he laid down. It was only then that Thomas became a member of those Easter disciples, with his wonderful confession, ‘My Lord and my God’. The Lord meets us where we are, in all our fears and doubts, and he does so to draw us into a sharing in his risen life. He is always at work drawing us into his Easter people.  

And/Or

(iv) Second Sunday of Easter

We all know from our own experience that liturgical time doesn’t always correspond to where we are on our own life’s journey. In the words of today’s second reading, we can find ourselves being plagued by all sorts of trials in the season of Easter as much as in any other season. The circumstances of our own lives can make it very difficult for us to sing the Easter Alleluia with any conviction. There is often some tension between the Easter cry, ‘Christ is risen! Life has triumphed over death!’, and our own present experience. Even though we are an Easter people, we never stop being a Good Friday people also, at least on this side of eternity. We can sometimes find it difficult to believe in the ultimate triumph of life over death, of joy over sadness, especially during those times in our lives when we feel somewhat sad and lifeless.

Perhaps, therefore, we will find it easy to identify with Thomas in today’s gospel reading. When the other disciples approached him with the good news of Easter, ‘We have seen the Lord’, their message did not resonate with him in any way. The darkness of Good Friday was still too real for him and prevented him from being moved by their Easter proclamation. His own reasoning did not allow him to believe that life had triumphed over death, that the crucified Jesus was now the risen Lord. Thomas stood in the light of Easter, yet that light did not dispel his darkness. If his fellow disciples were full of Easter faith, he was full of doubt. They claimed to have seen the risen Lord; Thomas declared that he would not believe until he not only saw the Lord but touched his wounds. In his doubting, Thomas may be like many other disciples today. Many believers can be troubled by their sense that the light of Easter does not seem to have penetrated their lives sufficiently. We can be distressed at the degree of doubt that we experience within ourselves, troubled that such doubts may even become more pronounced as we get older.

Like Thomas, we can struggle to identify fully with those faith seems so much more assured than ours. The prayer of one of the more minor gospel characters, ‘Lord, I believe, help my unbelief’, may find a ready place our heart. Today’s gospel reading assures us that the Lord understands a doubting, questioning, faith. When the Lord appeared to Thomas, he did not rebuke him. His first words to him were, ‘Peace be with you’. He invited Thomas to touch his wounds as he had requested, and then called on him to ‘doubt no longer but believe’. The gospel reading does not state that Thomas actually touched the wounds of Jesus. Seeing the risen Lord was enough to dispel his doubt. Then, out of the mouth of the great sceptic came one of the most complete professions of faith inthe four gospels, ‘My Lord and my God’. We are being reminded that serious doubt and great faith can reside in one and the same person.

Thomas, like the other disciples, saw and believed. However, the Lord recognizes that only a small group of disciples will see and believe, and, so, he speaks a beatitude over the many future disciples who believe without seeing. That beatitude embraces all of us gathered here this morning. As Peter puts it in today’s second reading, ‘You did not see him, yet you love him’. The church is the community of those who believe in and love the Lord, without having seen the Lord in the way Thomas and the other eyewitnesses did. We look forward to that eternal day when we will see the Lord, face to face. Because we do not yet see him face to face, our faith is always a faith that hopes. To believe is always to wait in joyful hope.

The risen Lord’s face to face meeting with Thomas dispelled all Thomas’s doubts. Because we only live in hope of such a meeting, there will always be some element of doubt in our own faith. As Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians, ‘now we see as in a mirror, dimly’. The questions and doubts of our reason are an inevitable part of seeing dimly. Such questions and doubts are not an enemy of faith. They can lead, rather, to a deepening of our faith. If we face our doubts and our questions honestly, as Thomas did, and bring them to each other and to the Lord, we too can reach a point where we can make Thomas’ confession our own, ‘My Lord and my God’. In one of his encyclicals, Faith and Reason,the late Pope John Paul II stated that ‘the church remains profoundly convinced that faith and reason mutually support each other… they offer each other a purifying critique and a stimulus to pursue the search for a deeper understanding’. We can all learn to seek the Lord with humility, sincerity and honesty, just as Thomas did. The Lord considers anyone who is a seeker and who wishes to believe as a believer already. If we remain true to our spiritual search, the Lord has his own way to meet each one of us and to invite us, as he invited Thomas, ‘Doubt no longer but believe’.

And/Or

(v) Second Sunday of Easter

 Even though the Pope had been seriously ill for several months, the news of his death yesterday evening came as a great shock and has caused great sadness both within the church and beyond it. His last illness was in some ways a very public one. We watched as his health prevented him from being directly involved in the Holy Week ceremonies for the first time in his long pontificate. His frustration at being unable to speak clearly to the people gathered in St. Peter’s square was painfully obvious. He has been travelling his own very personal way of the cross. That way of the cross became more difficult this past week, the Easter octave, when the church celebrates the resurrection of Christ.

 We all know from our own experience that liturgical time does not always resonate with where we are on our own life’s journey. In the words of today’s second reading, we can find ourselves being plagued by all sorts of trials in the season of Easter as much as in any other season. The circumstances of our own lives can make it very difficult for us to sing the Easter Alleluia with any conviction. There is always going to be some tension between the Easter cry, ‘Christ is risen! Life has triumphed over death!’, and our own present experience. Even though we are an Easter people, we never stop being a Good Friday people, at least on this side of eternity. We can sometimes find it difficult to believe in the ultimate triumph of life over death, of joy over sadness, when death and sadness remain very palpable realities for us.

 Perhaps, therefore, we find it easy to identify with Thomas in today’s gospel reading. He had been through the darkness of Good Friday, with all its pain, confusion and disillusionment. When the other disciples approached him with the good news of Easter, ‘We have seen the Lord’, their message did not resonate with him in any way. The darkness of Good Friday was still too real, for him to be influenced by the Easter proclamation of the other disciples. His own reasoning did not allow him to believe that life had triumphed over death, that the crucified Jesus was now the risen Lord. Thomas stood in the light of Easter, yet that light did not dispel his darkness. In that respect, he may be like many other disciples today. Many believers can be troubled by their sense that the light of Easter does not seem to have penetrated their lives sufficiently. They can be distressed at the degree of doubt that they experience within themselves, a degree of doubt that, as they get older, can become more pronounced. Like Thomas, they may find it difficult to identify fully with those believers who acclaim with conviction, ‘We have seen the Lord’, and whose faith seems so much more assured than theirs.

 Such people can take heart form today’s gospel reading. Indeed, we can all take heart from it, because there is something of Thomas in all of us. The prayer of one of the more minor gospel characters, ‘Lord, I believe, help my unbelief’, finds a ready place in most of our hearts. Today’s gospel reading assures us that the Lord understands a doubting, questioning, faith. When the Lord appeared to Thomas, he did not rebuke him. He accommodated himself to Thomas’s demand to touch his wounds, before calling on him to ‘doubt no longer but believe’. Then, out of the mouth of the great sceptic came the fullest profession of faith in the gospel, ‘My Lord and my God’. The evangelist is perhaps indicating to us that serious doubt and great faith can reside in one and the same person.

 Thomas, like the other disciples, saw and believed. However, the Lord recognizes that only a small group of disciples will see and believe, and, so, he addresses a beatitude to the many future disciples who will believe without seeing. That beatitude embraces all of us gathered here this morning. As Peter puts it in today’s second reading, ‘You did not see him, yet you love him’. The church is the community of those who believe in and love the Lord, without having seen the Lord. We look forward to that day when we will see the Lord, face to face. Because we do not yet see him face to face, our faith is always a faith that hopes. As Peter declares in that first reading, ‘we have a sure hope’. To believe is at the same time to wait in joyful hope.

 The risen Lord’s face to face meeting with Thomas dispelled all Thomas’s doubts. Because we only live in hope of such a meeting, there will always be some element of doubt in our faith. As Paul says in one of his letters, ‘now we see as in a mirror, dimly’. Recurring doubts and uncertainties coming from our reasoning are normal in the life of faith. The questioning of our reason that is an inevitable part of seeing dimly is not an enemy of faith. It can lead, rather, to a deepening of our faith. If we face our questions honestly, as Thomas did, and bring them to each other and to the Lord, we too can find ourselves exclaiming, ‘My Lord and my God’. In one of his encyclicals, Faith and Reason, Pope John Paul II stated that ‘the church remains profoundly convinced that faith and reason mutually support each other… they offer each other a purifying critique and a stimulus to pursue the search for a deeper understanding’. Here was a philosopher Pope, a questioning Pope, whose whole life proclaimed ‘My Lord and my God’. As he now comes to meet his Lord face to face, we pray that his hopeful faith will continue to inspire us all.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  revmartinhogan@gmail.com

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EASTER SUNDAY

The Temple of Christ's Body is restored; He is risen, alleluia!

Today is the Feast of Feasts!

On this, the holiest day of the entire year, and for the entire Octave of Easter, Latin Catholics greet each other with the words of Luke 24:34, “Surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia!” (“The Lord is risen indeed!”). The person so greeted responds, “Et apparuit Simoni, alleluia!” (“And hath appeared unto Simon!”). Catholics may even answer their telephones with this greeting. An old Ukrainian legend relates that, after His Resurrection, Christ threw Satan into a deep pit, chaining him with twelve iron chains. When Satan has chewed through each of the twelve chains, the end of the world will come. All year long, the Evil One gnaws at the iron, getting to the last link in the last chain — but too late, for it is Easter, and when the people cry “Christ is risen!” all of Satan's efforts are reversed. When the faithful stop saying the Easter acclamation, the end of time has come…

Throughout the entire Easter Season, the Angelus prayer that is offered, when possible, at the ringing of the Angelus bells, is replaced by the joyous Regina Coeli, which begins, “Queen of Heaven rejoice, alleluia: For He whom you merited to bear, alleluia, Has risen as He said, alleluia.”

On this most beautiful of Feasts, the Easter table should be adorned with the best of everything — the most beautiful china, a pure, white tablecloth, the best possible wine, flowers (especially pussy willow, lilies, and spring bulb flowers), etc., all with the colors white and gold — symbolizing purity and glory — and the traditional symbols of Easter predominating. And we should look our best, too; it is common for those who can afford it to buy a new outfit to wear on this day. This custom springs from the idea of “newness” inherent in the entire Season — the new members of the Church baptized at the Vigil in their new Baptismal albs, the New Law, a new life in Christ. by Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger, 1876

“And on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalen cometh early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher.”–John xx, 1.

Alleluia! Once more we greet the joyous Easter-day, the glorious festival, the feast of feasts! Alleluia! the lofty note of triumph resounds throughout high heaven to salute the Lamb of God, the mighty Conqueror, while earth takes up the glad refrain, and Alleluia wakes happy, holy thoughts in Christian souls, absorbed in fervent homage in many a temple wherein is celebrated this great festival with all the splendor of our Holy Church. And yet, alas! to how many it brings no real heartfelt joy!

How many, who call themselves Christians, unite in a merely external manner in the celebration of today! To outward seeming they rejoice; but only a superficial joy is theirs. To them the spiritual delight, the real happiness–in a word, the Alleluia of the Paschal time–brings no deep meaning; while to those who have, from spiritual death, risen to the life of grace, and then, with zealous earnestness, continue their efforts to attain perfection, this feast will prove a happy day indeed. The joy of Easter will penetrate the very marrow of the soul.

So it was with Mary Magdalen, and so, too, it will be with every Christian who, like that great saint, and also like Mary the Immaculate Mother of Christ, is sincerely disposed for a proper participation in the joy of Easter. And today, my brethren, I will explain to you in what this special preparation for it consists; so that to each and every one of you it may be given to feel the delight of Mary Magdalen, when she beheld her risen Lord.

O Mary, thrice happy Mother of Jesus, may we participate in the joy felt by Magdalen on that Eastermorn! May a faint reflex of your sentiments, as you embraced your beloved Son and Lord, arisen from the dead, fall upon our hearts today! I speak in the name of the newly-risen Jesus, to the greater glory of God!

Dear brethren, let us dwell for a few moments upon the scene! The Redeemer, Master of life and death, had scarcely burst the bonds of His prison-house, when countless souls, ransomed by His infinite mercy from Limbo, hovered over His sepulcher. Myriads of angels too were there, bowing in homage before their King. The rosy dawn dispelled the lingering shades of night which had hung like a pall over Jerusalem, and revealed the uncertain steps of one whose attitude of deep dejection betrayed her grief.

It was Mary Magdalen.

She approaches the tomb. It is empty, and now a new anxiety weighs upon her; when suddenly Christ stands before her, not as she had known Him in life, but in the dress of a gardener. Not recognizing Him she asks: “If thou hast taken Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him and I will take Him away.” Now the Lord calls her by name: “Mary,” and she feels that it is the voice of Jesus, the voice which uttered the consoling words: “Thy sins are forgiven thee.” It was a voice she could not fail-to know. She looks up at Him; she recognizes Him; she falls prostrate at His feet. “Jesus, Master, you live! Alleluia!” Heavenly joy thrills her heart as she hastens to the disciples with the glad tidings that Jesus lived, and had appeared to her.

Each child of the Church should share the joy of Magdalen, the penitent and forgiven. And if in it he has no part, where can be found the cause? I answer: Something is wanting in the preparation of the heart. Look at Mary Magdalen, and learn from her. She rejoiced, because her's was a soul purified by sorrow and tears of repentance. In her we behold the Magdalen, who, sinking beneath the burden of her contrition, gave vent to her feelings at the feet of Jesus.

Christian! if you feel not the joyous influence of the Paschal time, is it not that you are, as yet, unreconciled with your risen Lord? that your soul is marred with the disfiguring stain of mortal sin? For others the Easter jubilee; for you the mournful memories of Good Friday! For, alas! you have crucified your Saviour in your heart. Let me beg that you will not refuse to unite with those fervent souls whose Alleluia resounds throughout the earth, but that, by fervent prayer, you will obtain the grace of contrition, and, having “arisen with Christ,” by a worthy confession you may rejoice with His faithful followers.

And you, lukewarm and indifferent Christian, what sentiments does this glorious day awaken within your heart? Alas! it is cold; the Alleluia finds no responsive echo there. And what wonder? You may not indeed have crucified your Saviour by mortal sin; but the many venial faults which sully the purity of your soul, drive Him from you, and sorrowfully He stands afar off.

Mary Magdalen knelt at His feet. It was her dearest joy to be near her Lord, but that privilege was never hers, until by tears of sorrow she had cleansed her soul from the slightest stain of sin. She was a penitent soul. Imitate her example, purify your soul from its sins and faults, and then, with the illustrious penitent, can you truly welcome your risen Lord.

Secondly.–Mary Magdalen had disposed her heart for the celebration of Easter by meditation. She was a contemplative soul. Absorbed in adoration at the feet of Jesus, she listened to the words of divine wisdom which issued from His lips, and, according to Christ Himself, she “chose the better part.”

But how many Christians, celebrating Easter exteriorly, do not meditate, and hence a cold and lifeless faith is theirs, causing them to listen with indifference when the most sublime truths of religion are presented for their instruction. Nay, even the good and pious are not free from censure in this regard. They believe, they pray, but they do not meditate; and even by them the solemn mysteries of our redemption are not celebrated according to the spirit of our Holy Mother Church. Her wish and desire is that we may endeavor to bring the truths of holy faith before our mental vision, in as vivid a manner as though we had lived at the time those wonderful scenes in the great work of our redemption took place, and had witnessed them in the very order in which they transpired. Then we will begin to realize the reward which in an eternity of bliss awaits the purified soul and feel the sweetness of its Alleluia on earth.

Thirdly.–Mary Magdalen's heart was prepared by works of self-denial. She was a mortified soul, and how could it have been otherwise with her? Was she not the same to whom was given the grace to behold, with her own eyes, the dreadful spectacle of a lacerated, scourged, nay, even of a crucified and dying Saviour? Was she not the same devoted lover of Jesus upon whom, as she knelt beneath the cross, His tears and blood fell down? And her entire subsequent life, when she dwelt in solitude in the little hermitage in Gaul, was spent in acts of penance, although, from the Redeemer Himself, she had heard the blessed words: “Thy sins are forgiven thee!”

And you, Christians, if your hearts are not entoning the Alleluia today with her exultation, why is it? Because you do not love the cross, and strive to escape from the observance of the holy season, which this day terminates. Immediately preceding the festivity of Easter, the Church, during the days set apart for penance, strives to instill into the hearts of her children that penitential spirit, which will impel them to take up the cross and follow their suffering Redeemer to Calvary. Have you spent the holy season according to that spirit? Then, indeed, you may rejoice with Mary Magdalen today. But, if not, although the grandeur of the ceremonies which are displayed before you can not fail to produce an impression and excite some joy, it will be but a transitory impression and a superficial joy, in which the Alleluia has no part.

Fourthly–Mary Magdalen, in her longing after the divine word gave up every thing, and followed her Saviour in His apostolic missions. Trampling under foot the opinion of the world, and casting aside the promptings of human respect, in the presence of Him she found her greatest happiness. Such sentiments animated her, when, at the banquet given by the haughty Pharisee, she knelt publicly at the feet of Jesus. With such feelings she sought Him on Good Friday, prostrating herself before Him; and so also on the Easter-morn did she seek for, and find her risen Lord.

Child of the one true Church, do you wish to rejoice with Mary Magdalen? Then with her resolve to follow your Lord, and for this end seek Him with neverflagging earnestness; and, having found Him, contemplate in Him the adorable model, by imitating which you will one day behold Him face to face. Souls who are satisfied to lead an ordinary Christian life, who do not hunger and thirst after perfection, who lead not an interior life, do not participate in the joy of this great penitent, and alas! they will never understand it.

In conclusion, the soul of Mary Magdalen was a grateful and loving soul towards Jesus. She recognized Him on that Easter-morn by His voice; and as He spoke her name, “Mary!” the thought of the countless favors she had received at His sacred hands rushed swiftly over her. Her heart overflowed with its burden of gratitude; and oh! she felt how sweet it would be to cancel that debt by the perfect love with which she would regard her Saviour during an eternity of purest bliss. Then, indeed, could she worthily celebrate the feast of feasts!–the glorious Easter jubilee in heaven!

Mary's love was sincere, magnanimous, self-sacrificing, and constant. Of this Christ Himself has given testimony: “She hath loved much.” This mighty love not only gained for her an unconditional pardon of her former sins, but it became the source of numberless graces for her future life. And the same is promised to every member of the one true Church, whose love for Jesus is sincere, magnanimous, self-sacrificing, and constant, like that of Mary Magdalen.

The recurrence of Easter, my brethren, should increase every year our confidence in divine Providence, and remind us of the unwearied solicitude with which God has, from our very infancy up to the present moment, watched over us, guided our footsteps through the dangers which encompass us, and through His Holy Spirit is ever whispering to us to renounce our sins, to “love much,” that He may “forgive us much.” If we listen to that whisper we will indeed “arise with Christ; “we will participate to the utmost in the true spiritual jubilee of this blessed day.

Thus, my brethren, let your preparation for Easter be according to the disposition of St. Magdalen; and you will celebrate with Magdalen, in the spirit of the Church, Easter on earth, and soon, with Magdalen also, Easter in heaven forever. Amen!

“And the disciple whom Jesus loved came to the sepulcher.”–John xx.

As often as the Church, in commemoration of the glorious Resurrection, celebrates the yearly recurrence of the Paschal time, and entones the joyous Alleluia with her children, so often do we recall to mind those privileged souls who, the Gospel tells us, had the happiness of hearing the glad tidings: “Jesus, lives; He has arisen,” of listening to, of beholding the risen Jesus. This privilege was not limited to one or two; but was enjoyed by a number of the disciples, who believed and hoped in the Lord. Often, too, we go in spirit to the sepulcher with the holy women who went thither bearing ointments, and think of that bliss which filled their hearts when, from the angel of the Lord, they heard the welcome words: “He is arisen.” We think of Mary Magdalen, whose joy found utterance in the single word, as she knelt before her Lord, “Rabboni.”

We behold the wondering Apostles, when, on the evening of the same day, as they were assembled together “with closed doors,” their Master stood before them and pronounced the blessed words: “Pax vobis”–“Peace be unto you.”

But there is one Apostle, St. John, upon whom our attention should be particularly centered, that we may attain a better understanding of the state in which the Christian must be before the real joy of Easter can illumine his soul. We have seen him at the Last Supper; we have beheld him at the foot of the cross, and let us hope that we may have shared, to some extent, in the love which filled his heart at those solemn times. Let me, brethren, today present, for your contemplation, St. John, the disciple of love. Let us glance at him as he stands by the sepulcher of the Risen One, and endeavor to picture the joy which overflowed his heart as he beheld the Lord.

O Mary, Mother most joyful, infuse into our hearts that bliss which filled your own upon that first happy Easter-morn, that we, like St. John, may experience its most wonderful effects for the salvation of our souls! I speak in the name of the newly-risen Jesus, for the greater honor and glory of God!

“He is risen; we have heard it even from the angels!” said the holy women, as they returned from the sepulcher. And as the Apostles heard the wondrous tale, two of their number immediately arose and hastened away; but the “dearly beloved Apostle,” St. John, in the fervor of his love, left St. Peter far behind, and, arriving first at the sepulcher, found the stone rolled away. St. Peter, however, was the first to enter the empty tomb. In him, therefore, is illustrated the Apostle of faith, while St. John typifies the disciple of love. In the divine economy, every thing is full of a deep, mysterious meaning, and herein we learn that faith must first penetrate the soul before the flame of divine love is enkindled in the heart. John followed Peter, and, as he placed his hand upon the winding-sheet, which, but the evening before he had wrapped about the sacred body of his Lord, a flood of joy rushed over his soul, and filled his heart with happiness, as he felt that Jesus had indeed arisen, that Jesus lived.

We will today consider the character of his holy Easter joy, and endeavor to understand how mighty and sanctifying it was rendered by the excessive ardor of his love for Christ. To clearly realize the intense joy of this saintly disciple, we must recall the feelings which agitated his heart while, for love of the crucified One, he stood beneath the cross, and think of those words of Holy Scripture: “According to the greatness of my sorrows your consolations gladdened my soul.” St. John stood at the foot of the cross wholly absorbed in compassion, adoration, gratitude, and resolution, according to the will of God, to follow Jesus unto death, through love; and, therefore, the Alleluia of the Easter joy, in which his heart rejoiced at the tomb of the arisen Jesus, was a participation in the sentiments of adoration, thanksgiving, and determination to be faithful to his calling as Apostle in proportion to his love for Christ.

The one who loves, so rejoices at the happiness of the beloved object that it would seem as if he were happier to see the joy of his friend than to feel his own. For example, what joy is experienced by a mother whose child has met with some great good or benefit, or has been unexpectedly saved from some impending danger! But of true friendship Holy Writ testifies that it is stronger than all other love–witness that of David and Jonathan.

But incomparably more tender was the friendship of St. John for his Saviour, and in the same measure his heart rejoiced at the certainty that He had burst the bonds of the grave and lived once more. This joy must have stirred his heart to its very depths, and moved him, in a much greater degree, than it affected St. Peter and the other Apostles, because he had beheld his Saviour in agony upon the cross, in suffering and in death. His loving heart was more sensitive than theirs.

The Alleluia of his Easter joy was the outburts of his overflowing friendship. It was, at the same time, one of adoration and thanksgiving for the consummation of the Redemption. Until that time the life and labors of the Lord had been, as it were, veiled in the obscurity of a mystical darkness; but by the Alleluia which came forth from the heart of Jesus as He rose from the tomb, all radiant with celestial light, this vail was rent, and that Easter morn forever dispersed the gloom. St. John, as he stood by the grave of the risen Jesus, realized more clearly than ever the whole order of salvation; and what an “Exultet” arose in his heart as he entoned it, in the same sense in which it is sung by the Church on Holy Saturday, to announce the joyful truth that Christ had risen. As often as we hear it, our souls are filled with the joy of this holy Easter day. St. John entoned it at the sepulcher, in the name of the whole human family. Even as the Church sends forth her most joyful chants, so sang his heart, overflowing with the joy of that Easter day: “O Ineffable Miracle of Grace! to forgive Thy servant his sins, Thou hast delivered up Thy Son!”

“Of what avail had it been for us to be born into the world had we not received the grace of redemption? O happy fault which gave us such a Deliverer!”

St. John also thanked God, as he had never done before, for the grace of the election which, in the kingdom of Christ, became his portion, recognizing more clearly than ever the privileges which he enjoyed before all men, even the Apostles, especially that one which gave him the care of Mary, the Immaculate Virgin, the Queen of heaven, the Mother of his Lord. How he rejoiced that he would have her example and her prayers! for it would be her duty to care for her adopted son as became a tender and loving mother. Well may St. Paul exclaim: “I chastise my body that I may not become a castaway.” No marvel was it that St. Peter trembled when he thought upon the judgment which would come after death; but St. John, the adopted son of Mary, was, through her, assured of his eternal salvation. And in relation to the duties of his apostleship in general, as he stood by the Saviour's tomb, how greatly encouraged he felt!–how firmly he resolved to be a fruitful branch in the vineyard of the Lord!

What invigorates the soul in its apostolic calling is the strengthening power of faith, hope, and charity, united with an earnest love of our neighbor. These were precisely the sentiments which prevailed in the heart of St. John as he burst forth in that glorious Alleluia by the grave of Christ.

The certainty of the Resurrection, as St. Paul affirms, is a pledge of the whole treasure of faith, “If Christ had not risen again, as He said,” writes the Apostle of the nations, “we would have been miserably deceived and disappointed and left without a name.” But He did arise, and we possess our holy faith with its promises for time and eternity. We also shall arise and live with Him forever. But St. Paul was not at the sepulcher; he did not touch the sacred body of Christ, but the beloved disciple did. With what strong testimony for the truth of the Resurrection, therefore, could John announce the Gospel with the assertion that he had lived with the Redeemer on the most intimate terms of holy union; that he beheld Him when He breathed forth His last sigh upon the cross; and looked upon Him after He had risen from the dead. The sentiments of his heart were that of triumphant faith.

What invigorates a soul in the exercise of its apostolic calling is victorious hope. “The Lord, who calls me to this office, is also my strength, and will, at some future day, be my reward.” Who experienced this in a higher degree than St. John? To whom was more fully and more bountifully given the vivifying power of Christian hope than to him who was permitted, while still on earth, to pierce the golden vista of the celestial vault, and gaze upon the mysteries of heaven?

Finally, what urges the true Apostle on in his holy mission more than any other thing is love–the love of God and man. In these respects, St. John was, as you know, eminently called the disciple of love. His very Epistles, contained in Holy Writ, stand, and will remain forever, undying testimonials of this his apostolic love. This, dearly beloved in Christ, is the character of the Easter-day of St. John and of his Easter Alleluia; and these the conditions, to feel it re-echoed in our own hearts. Amen!

“In Thy light we shall see light.”–Ps. xxxv.

The glorious orb of day was still invisible to the expectant world in the early Easter-morn, when the earth trembled as if moved by some terrible convulsion of nature and an angel of the choir of the Powers, radiant and beautiful, hovered above the sepulcher wherein lay the Body of Christ, and descending rolled the stone away. Instantaneously the glorified soul approached, the Sacred Body was transfigured, and the Lord arose, body and soul, more brilliant than the sun, which now burst forth in all its splendor to pay fitting tribute to Him Who gave it light–Who came forth the Victor of all the powers of evil, the Conqueror of death and hell. Then were seen the millions of holy souls who, for four thousand years, had languished in the gloomy prison of Limbo, full of trust in the Lord, and waited until “patience had her perfect work.”

Adam and Eve, the venerable patriarchs and prophets, St. Joseph, St. John the Baptist, with legions of holy angels, surround the Redeemer, the Sun of justice, the Lord Who had risen in all the grandeur of His Majesty. Yet a little while and He will ascend from the Mount of Olives, penetrate the heavens, and take His place at the right hand of the Father, clothed with the glory which flows from His divinity to His humanity, and send throughout high heaven celestial light to intensify the bliss of the angels and saints therein. In other words, all that which causes heaven to be heaven, will be imparted in its full extent by Christ to all the blessed therein. Let us today, therefore, look up to Him as the Sun in the kingdom of eternal beatitude. Let us picture to ourselves the heavens opening to our wondering view, while strains of sweetest music fall on our raptured ear. It is the angels entoning their Easter hymn.

O Mary, Queen of heaven, enthroned at the side of thy divine Son, pray for us that we may one day see Him in His glory and share in His beatification forever! I speak in the holy name of Jesus, Who arose from the dead, to the greater honor and glory of God!

What causes heaven to be heaven is, first, its external magnificence. When God created the visible world, the angels burst forth in praise, as Holy Scripture says in the Book of Job, on beholding such a stream of divine power and wisdom and goodness. Even after the sin of our first parents it still presented a scene of beauty and grandeur, and it does so still.

What a wonderfully majestic spectacle is afforded by the “deep and dark blue ocean” as it seems blended with the brilliant skies which it reflects in its depths! What a glorious radiance is cast upon the changing waters by the setting sun as he sinks to rest–as he gilds the ever-tossing waves with tints of the most gorgeous hue. The world of stars which sparkle in the darkness of the night, form a most enchanting sight; how then would it be, were we permitted to contemplate those wonders of creation through that lofty arch of the heavens, so far above the stars, and view the essence of those objects of which we now only behold the exterior appearance?

But as a diamond, encircled by precious stones, emits rays of dazzling light from the center of a diadem, so does the glorified humanity of Christ shine forth amid the angels and saints, as the mystical Sun, compared to which, our sun is naught but a waning light. In this glorious radiance of the humanity of Christ, the Blessed eternally contemplate the crown of the creation, especially if we consider its transfiguration at the end of time.

As God the Father created the world by the Son, so do we contemplate in the light which is Christ, the ideal of the creation as it was conceived by the eternal Father, and consider it so in all its relations to the creation of grace through the same Jesus Christ. No one can so well explain the beauty of a work as the author thereof. Contemplative soul, look up to Christ, Who has arisen, and rejoice; soon shalt thou see Him in His glory.

What adds to the happiness of heaven is, secondly, the sight of the glorified world of spirits. The angels are the blossoms of the creation. The doctors of the Church with St. Bernardine of Sienna affirm that God created more angels than visible corporeal beings because He was Himself a Spirit. Those beautiful spirits are divided into nine choirs, each end higher than the other, as we are taught to believe by our holy faith, viz: Angels, Archangels, Principalities, Thrones, Dominations, Powers, Virtues, Cherubim, and Seraphim. Each choir is higher, and therefore more beautiful than the other. We will one day behold in heaven the reason of this, but some of it we are already permitted to know.

For all their beatitude and glory, the angels are mediately indebted to Jesus. The holy Fathers assert that it was the confession and adoration of the Son of God, Who was to become man, into which mystery God permitted them to glance, which confirmed them forever in grace. And after Christ ascended into heaven the angels beheld, according to their ranks, the increase of glory which they were to receive from the glorified King of that celestial realm. This increase of glory, conferred separately on-every choir, like rays of light, is centered in the brilliant humanity of Christ, the King of every choir of them.

It is somewhat similar to the choirs of the Saints, which are different too, glorified by their individual graces. In heaven we will one day, through the grace of God, behold Adam and Eve, the Patriarchs, the Prophets, the Holy Innocents, the Virgins, the Confessors, the Bishops, the Martyrs, and the Apostles of Christ. Each of these choirs is distinguished by a particular degree of glory. By whatever degrees of glory these choirs are distinguished, transfigured, and beatified, their different glories, with those of Mary herself, the Queen of the Saints, are as so many rays which are concentrated in Christ as the Sun.

What adds to the individual bliss enjoyed by the saints of God in heaven, is the fact that it is a reward conferred upon them for the holy lives which, in imitation of Christ, they led upon earth. But, as the Church at the Council of Trent taught, God crowns only the gifts of His grace whose Creator is Christ. The rays of all the merits of the saints unite therefore in Him, the author of grace.

What causes heaven to be heaven is the united enjoyment of all its joys through Christ our Lord. In that blissful home all will be united in love with Christ and with one another, as He is one with the Father and the Holy Ghost. Heaven is mine; all is mine through Jesus Christ! Such will one day be the outburst of joy of every sanctified soul.

What causes heaven to be heaven is the thought that it was already lost to us, and that Christ, the Redeemer, regained and re-opened it for all. Alleluia! What enhances its bliss since Christ ascended thither, is the character it possesses as the kingdom of triumph. Here, too, we have no reason to envy the angels, for upon one occasion only had they an opportunity of acquiring merit through Christ, when they confessed and adored the Son of God made man, and were thereby confirmed in grace. Although they are, as St. Paul calls them, ministering spirits, they but fulfill the will of God without increasing their happiness or merit. This is not the case with us children of men. Every breath, every thought, every desire, every work, through divine grace, may be an occasion of merit for us to increase our glory in heaven, which is, therefore, for us also the kingdom of triumph.

Life is, as Holy Writ testifies, a warfare against the enemies of salvation; but Christ conquered them, and we can do likewise through Him. We know not what joys of heaven would have awaited us if we had never sinned; but this much is certain, it would never have become what it is now, the kingdom of triumph, which character elevates its joy in an immeasurably great degree. In conclusion, beloved in Christ, “what is heaven?” Listen! It is God. “I myself,” says the Lord. “I am your infinite reward.” Yes! It is the beatific vision of God, an intimate union with Him who is all delight, beatitude, and love. All this we shall possess through Christ. The end and aim of the creation is God Himself, the glorification of His perfections in their exterior relations. We distinguish, in this regard, His omniscience, omnipotence, wisdom, mercy, longanimity, justice, truth, majesty,–His beauty, beatitude, and love. But all these divine attributes concentrate their most brilliant radiance in the work of Redemption, consummated by Christ. So, then, it is Christ through Whom we are permitted to contemplate God in the triumph of His perfections in heaven, and be there inseparably united with Him.

That is proved by His prayer as High Priest: “Father, I pray Thee, let them be one with Us, as We are one;” and again: “No one knoweth the Father save the Son, and those to whom the Son will reveal Him.” This is verified by Christ the Sun, in the kingdom of light, as it is written: “In Thy light we will see light.”

The various ways in which God so wonderfully conducts us to our destiny, in conjunction with the fate of all, will then decidedly prove that it is Christ to whom we are indebted for the possession of heaven. Therefore, one day, the tribute of praise will resound before His throne in heaven: “Worthy is the Lamb to receive divinity, adoration, gratitude: Who has redeemed us with His blood, and has made us as kings in His celestial realm.” St. John asserts: “The city of God needs no light, for Christ is her light.” He, the glorious Sun of Redemption and Salvation. Amen!

THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD EASTER SUNDAY by Fr. Raphael Frassinetti, 1900

Gospel. Mark xvi. 1-7. At that time: Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought sweet spices, that coming they might anoint Jesus. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came to the sepulchre, the sun being now risen. And they said one to another: Who shall roll us back the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And looking, they saw the stone rolled back: for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed with a white robe: and they were astonished. Who saith to them: Be not affrighted: ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: He is risen, He is not here: behold the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there you shall see him, as he told you.

No longer are there tears in our eyes; no longer are heard wailings of grief, but hymns of the greatest joy. Our Lord is risen. Jesus, the good God, is risen glorious and triumphant from the tomb. Let us rejoice! Let those tremble and despair who are His enemies! The Jews bragged of the success of their execrable work; but their triumph is short. They did not see that all this happened to Our Lord, because He desired it so. They triumphed for a while, when they had shut up His body in the tomb, but Christ, full of life and immortal, now passes through the stone vault and is truly risen. He is indeed risen and endowed with greater beauty; clothed in light, like that of the sun; the crown of thorns is changed into a beautiful diadem, the wounds into signs of victory; the blasphemies of the Jews into the exultation of the angels; His sorrowful death into a most happy life. O day of happiness for the whole earth! “This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us exult and rejoice therein.” What fruit shall we draw from this feast? It is this: Jesus Christ is risen from the dead to die no more; so also when we rise from our death of sin, we should die no more, but continue in the life of grace.

It is a fact that many rise from the sleep of death during these days of the paschal joy; because the Church has made an express law that every Catholic must go to confession and communion at Easter. Therefore many, obedient to the law, confess, bewail their sins and promise to remain faithful to the graces of a new life. Many, however, are not steadfast; a few days have scarcely passed before they forget, and by sin fall back again into death. Have such really risen? It appeared as if they had, but if they had been really converted they would certainly not have fallen back into sin so easily and in so short a time.

I should like to believe that all you, my dear young friends, who have gone to confession, have really made up your minds not to fall into sin again. Just think what a terrible thing it is to be in the state of moral death; by sin you become an enemy of God and you cease to be the brother of Jesus Christ. The character of the soul is goodness; and so beautiful is it that God loves it and takes special delight in it. You are by Baptism brothers of Jesus Christ, associates of the angels, of the Blessed Virgin and the saints in heaven. It is worth your while, then, my dear young people, to preserve with the greatest care the purity which you have again acquired by the use of the sacraments. Unhappy beings, if you become bad again, you are throwing away your last chance of salvation; it is very hard to rise from the state of sin to life; the devil will make every effort to hold on to you; he will redouble his watchfulness, will strengthen his net about you, will double the chains that already bind you. He will send his servants to you, who will surround you in such a manner that nothing good can come near you. He will make the life of a sinner seem most delightful, so that in your blindness you would not change it if you could. That is the great difficulty–that we are our own obstacles. We would not love God if we could, we would not serve Him if we could–such are the machinations of the devil to keep you in his service. So you see it is not as easy as you think to return to God. Without grace we can do nothing, and we cannot run to Him and stay away from Him at will. When God has seen you unfaithful to Him several times, after having been saved by His mercy, He will no longer give you those extraordinary graces which brought you out of your evil ways heretofore; now He will let you go, He will abandon you as a thoroughly worthless subject.

From these considerations you can gather that it is most important for us to be in the state of grace, for on it our salvation depends. It is also very essential never to think lightly of the state of grace, not to let it go and come as we often do in the Sacrament of Penance; we return again and again to confession accusing ourselves of the same sins, and thus we continue until the day of our death. When once we have risen as Christ has risen, to die no more, we also must begin a new life. If in the past we have been so fond of the world that we thought of nothing else, now in our new life we must live with Jesus Christ; we will renounce the world to flee from those unlawful pleasures, to lead a celestial life, to be in heaven rather than upon this earth. “If you have risen with Christ, relish the things of heaven, not the things of earth.” Do not run after the pleasures of this world with such a relish; look for the joys of heaven, pray to God, use the sacraments frequently, and hear the word of God; then this new life will also be a resurrection for you, a glorious day; and will foreshadow the day on which you will be crowned with the crown of perseverance.

From: www.pamphletstoinspire.com

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

11th April >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 28:1-10 for Easter Vigil: ‘He is not here, for he is risen’.

Easter Vigil

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Matthew 28:1-10

He has risen from the dead and now he is going before you into Galilee

After the sabbath, and towards dawn on the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala and the other Mary went to visit the sepulchre. And all at once there was a violent earthquake, for the angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat on it. His face was like lightning, his robe white as snow. The guards were so shaken, so frightened of him, that they were like dead men. But the angel spoke; and he said to the women, ‘There is no need for you to be afraid. I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said he would. Come and see the place where he lay, then go quickly and tell his disciples, “He has risen from the dead and now he is going before you to Galilee; it is there you will see him.” Now I have told you.’ Filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples.

And there, coming to meet them, was Jesus. ‘Greetings’ he said. And the women came up to him and, falling down before him, clasped his feet. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee; they will see me there.’

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 28:1–10

He has been raised from the dead and is going before you to Galilee.

After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow. The guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men. Then the angel said to the women in reply, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.” Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Reflections (4)

(i) Easter Vigil

I think there was only one time in my life when I experienced total darkness. I went to the Aran Islands for a few days as a teenager. I rambled outside the place where we were staying one night. The sky was dark and there was no artificial light of any kind to relieve the darkness. I had lived all my life in the city where I never experienced total darkness. I remember feeling the need to turn around and head back to the house where I was staying. I couldn’t really cope with the experience of total darkness, at least not on my own. We all need light in our lives. From your own home, you will have noticed that tonight’s liturgy began in darkness. We turned off all the lights of the church. It was a little disorientating. Then, without any Paschal Fire this year, we lit the Paschal Candle. Gradually, the few of us who are here lit our candles from the Paschal Candle and in the glow of that dim light, and with the help of a torch, the Exultet was sung, the song which celebrates Christ the Morning Star, ‘who came back from the dead and shed his peaceful light on all mankind’. On this Easter night, our gathering in darkness was but a prelude to celebrating this feast of Christ, the Morning Star.

This year our gospel reading is from Matthew’s account of the finding of the empty tomb by the women. Of the four evangelists, it is above all Matthew who highlights the drama of this earth-shattering moment. He alone tells us that when the women went to the tomb, there was a violent earthquake during which an angel came down from heaven, whose face was like lightning and whose robe was while as snow and who proceeded to roll away the stone in front of the tomb. None of the other evangelists describe the scene that greeted the women in such a dramatic way. These were conventional Jewish images for a powerful intervention of God. Matthew was saying that what God did on that first Easter Sunday was like an earthquake; it shattered everyone’s expectations. The women who went to the tomb that morning did so to show their respect for the corpse of someone who had touched their lives deeply. Their expectation was that all would be quiet at the tomb in the early morning; there they could pray for the dead Jesus. Instead, they discovered that Jesus’ body was no longer in the tomb. They heard a message that God had raised Jesus’ body to a new and glorious life.

If Jesus was not to be found in the empty tomb, where was he to be found? In the gospel reading, the angel announces to the women, ‘he is going before you to Galilee, it is there you will see him’. When the risen Jesus himself subsequently appears to the women in Matthew’s gospel, he gives them the same message, ‘go and tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee; they will see me there’. They are to head to Galilee where Jesus had conducted his public ministry. It was in Galilee that he healed the sick, forgave sinners, welcomed the excluded, gathered a community about himself. It was in Galilee that Jesus awakened a new hope in those who were longing for something better. It was there that Jesus revealed by his words and actions the God of the living, the God of mercy and compassion. Where better to meet the risen Lord than in Galilee which was synonymous with Jesus’ celebratory, life giving ministry. That is where the disciples must now go to meet Jesus, not to the tomb.

Where is Galilee for us today? Galilee is all around us in these anxious days? Where do we meet the risen Lord today? He is to be found where people are making present the Lord’s life-giving work. We find him where the Spirit of the risen Lord, the Holy Spirit, is shaping human lives. We find him where the sick are being cared for in intensive care units and in hospitals, where the isolated are made to feel they are not alone, where people give generously of their time and gifts to that others can live a fuller life. We find him where people are building community, even among those physically separated. We find him where people are working in various ways to create a culture of life, cherishing all human life from conception to death. We find him where believers are working in the service of the Lord’s project to bring about the kingdom of God on earth.

In that sense, Easter is not just a past event. It is a present reality and we are called to be an Easter people. The feast of Easter is as much about life before death as life after death. It is a feast that calls us to open ourselves fully to the Spirit of the risen Lord so that we can be life givers in our world today, creating modern day Galilees. We need the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the risen Lord, if we are to become that Easter people. Perhaps, the gift of the Spirit we need most of all at this time is the gift of courage. The first words of the angel to the women were, ‘there is no need to be afraid’. The first words of Jesus to the women were ‘Do not be afraid’. The violence done to Jesus generated a great deal of fear among his followers. Now that Jesus is risen there is no need for fear. Easter is a feast of courage. In these anxious, even fearful, times, we need courage, and the risen Lord is there to give us courage. He is the great encourager. He gives us courage so that we can encourage one another in this troubling time, so that we can bring the light of Easter into the darkness of Good Friday.

And/Or

(ii) Easter Vigil

I think there was only one time in my life when I experienced total darkness. I was somewhere in the Aran Islands for a few days as a teenager. I rambled outside the place where we were staying one night. The sky was dark and there was no light of any kind to relieve the darkness. I had lived all my life in the city where I never experienced total darkness. I remember feeling the need to turn around and head back to the house where I was staying. I couldn’t really cope with the experience of total darkness, at least not on my own. I suspect that if I had been with somebody it would have been easier.

 You will have noticed that tonight’s liturgy began in darkness. We turned off all the lights of the church. It is the only night of the year when we do that. Some of you who stayed on in the church while we gathered outside may have found the darkness a little disconcerting. Then the paschal candle was brought into the darkened church. The light of that candle punctured the darkness and became the focal point in that dark church. Gradually, the light was passed from the paschal candle to the candles we were holding and soon the darkness of the church gave way to a soft light and in the glow of that light we sang our Exultet, the song which calls on the earth to ‘rejoice in shining splendour’ and proclaims ‘Darkness vanishes forever’. It concludes with a reference to Christ the Morning Star, ‘who came back from the dead and shed his peaceful light on all mankind’. I find that a wonderful description of Christ, ‘the Morning Star who came back from the dead and shed his peaceful light on all mankind’. On this Easter night, our gathering in darkness was a prelude to celebrating the feast of light.

 The evangelists Matthew, Mark and Luke speak of darkness in connection with the crucifixion and death of Jesus, ‘darkness over the whole land’. The story of the passion and death of Jesus ends in darkness. Those same three evangelists begin their story of the resurrection of Jesus with a reference to light. Matthew writes in tonight’s gospel reading, ‘After the Sabbath, and towards dawn on the first day of the week, Mark of Magdala and the other Mary went to visit the sepulchre’. The light of dawn was the prelude to the greater light that would shine on these women from the empty tomb of Jesus, and the even greater light again that would shine on them when the risen Lord himself appeared to them. The women must have walked to the tomb in great sadness in that dawning light of the first day of the week. However, in response to the message from the empty tomb tonight’s gospel reading tells us that they were ‘filled with awe and great joy’. Then, in response to the greeting of the risen Lord we are told that the women ‘came up to Jesus, and, falling down in worship before him, clasped his feet’. Their journey in darkness of spirit to the empty tomb ended in the light and joy of worship. The one whom they had been mourning as crucified they now worshipped as risen. The darkness of Golgotha had given way to the light of Easter. As the fourth evangelist says at the very beginning of his gospel, ‘the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it’.

 Tonight we have gathered in this church to do what the women are described as doing in the gospel reading, to worship the risen Lord. Like them we are called into the light of the Lord’s risen presence. Many of us will have come here tonight carrying our own darkness within. We might find it very easy to identify with the sad journey of the two women to the tomb of Jesus in the half-light. We are living in dark times. The greed of some has brought darkness to many in the form of loss of work and loss of income. Some of us may be struggling with the darkness of some other form of loss, the loss of a loved one in death, the loss of some cherished hope we had for ourselves or for those whom we love, the loss of a friendship that was important to us. We may be struggling with the darkness of discouragement or despondency. This Easter night assures us that such darkness is not the ultimate reality of our lives; it need not have the last word. The light of the risen Lord has entered every experience of darkness. We need never find ourselves in total darkness because Christ the Morning Star has shed his peaceful light upon us. The resurrection of the Lord assures us that the place of death, whatever form death takes, can also be the place of new life. That was the discovery the women made on that first Easter morning. The light of the risen Lord is present at the heart of darkness. Like the women we can absorb that light into ourselves in moments of worship. In worship we are enlightened by the Lord’s light, just as we lit our candle from the paschal candle. As the women were sent on mission by the risen Lord, we too are sent out from our worship to bring the light of the Lord’s presence to those we meet.

And/Or

(iii) Easter Vigil

 I am sure many of us will have had to make a sad walk in our time. It might have been a walk to the bedside of someone close to us who was very ill, or a walk to some neighbour to sympathize at a time of bereavement, or even a walk to the grave of a close relative or friend. These kinds of walks take their toll on us; they can leave us drained of life and energy. Tonight’s gospel reading begins with such a walk. Mary of Magdala and the other Mary walk to visit the tomb of Jesus. They had walked with him around Galilee and then they had walked with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They had looked on from a distance as Jesus hung dying from the cross; they had seen Joseph of Arimathea lay the body of Jesus in his own new tomb and roll a great stone over the door of the tomb. Now they walked to visit the tomb. Even in death, they could not separate themselves from the person who had given meaning and purpose to their lives.

 The sad walk of the women towards the tomb at the beginning of tonight’s gospel reading gives way to the joyful running away from the tomb towards the end of tonight’s gospel reading. ‘Filled with awe and great joy the women came quickly away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples’. What came between the sad walk and the joyful run of the women was the good news they heard from an angel in the tomb: ‘Jesus who was crucified… is not here, for he has risen, as he said he would’. That is the same good news that brought us to the church here tonight, ‘Jesus is not dead; he is risen; he is alive and living among us’. The good news that the women heard from the angel was confirmed for them in a wonderful way when the risen Lord himself appeared to them. Now the great joy of the women gave way to something deeper still, to reverential worship, ‘and the women came up to him and, falling down before him, they clasped his feet’. We too have come to this church tonight to meet the risen Lord and to worship him. The risen Lord then led the women beyond worship; he sent them out as his messengers to tell the other disciples that they must leave for Galilee where they too will meet the risen Lord. The Lord has risen for all his followers, not just for the women. That includes all of us here this evening. We do not have to go to Galilee to meet the risen Lord. We can meet him here in Clontarf. All of his followers can meet the risen Lord wherever they happen to be. Like the women, we are sent out on mission from our worship to proclaim this good news.

 The women in tonight’s gospel reading were led from the sadness of Good Friday to the joy, worship and mission of Easter Sunday. The journey they travelled to the tomb was geographically short, but it was spiritually immense. That journey the women travelled was the Easter journey; it is a journey we can all travel with them. Our short journey into the church tonight behind the Paschal candle is a powerful symbol of what our whole lives as Christians are about. We are followers of a risen Lord. As the risen Lord went ahead of his first followers into Galilee, so he is always going ahead of us. The Lord desires to journey with us, to meet with us. What he wants from us is a corresponding desire to journey with him, to meet with him, the same desire that drove the women to go to the tomb on that first Easter Sunday, the desire that led the two disciples on the road to Emmaus to say to the stranger, ‘Stay with us; it is towards evening’. Easter is the time to renew our desire to meet the Lord who desires to meet us.

 When the risen Lord met the disciples after he rose from the dead, he met them in their brokenness. They were full of sadness at their loss, full of remorse at their own failure, full of confusion over how everything had turned out. They were a spent force. Yet, the Lord met them where they were. That is how we will often be when the Lord meets us. We search for him out of our pain and loss and, perhaps, remorse. Because the Lord is risen, our search will never be in vain. When he comes to us, he will call us to look beyond what is troubling us and to look towards him. He will call on us to look towards him in prayer, to worship him, as the women did, and in our worship of him to find joy in our sadness, strength in our weakness, and peace in our remorse. When we look towards him in worship we will also hear him calling us to go forth as his messengers, to set out on his mission, like the women, in tonight’s gospel reading. He will send us out to bring the good news of his risen presence to all who need to hear it. ‘Go’, he will say to us, ‘tell my brothers and sisters that they will see me’. We are sent out to help others to see the face of the risen Lord that we have seen. Even more than that, we are sent out to show the face of the risen Lord to others through our own presence to them. We pray this Easter night for the grace to be faithful to that wonderful calling.

And/Or

(iv) Easter Vigil

There is something very dramatic about tonight’s liturgy. We begin outside the church. We struggle with the elements to light the Easter Candle. We process into a darkened church with only the Easter candle for light. Gradually, the light of that Easter Candle passes to everyone in the church. In that suffused Easter light, we sing the great Easter Proclamation, theExsultet. It is a very dramatic entrance procession before we begin our Liturgy of the Word. The drama of that entrance procession is unique to this night. It is fitting that we begin our liturgy in such a dramatic way because tonight we are celebrating a very dramatic event, God’s raising of his Son from the dead. Jesus who had been brutally and shamefully crucified by the Romans is wonderfully raised to new life by God his loving Father.

This year our gospel reading is from Matthew’s account of the finding of the empty tomb by the women. Of the four evangelists, it is above all Matthew who highlights the drama of this earth-shattering moment. He alone tells us that when the women went to the tomb, there was a violent earthquake during which an angel came down from heaven, whose face was like lightning and whose robe was while as snow and who proceeded to roll away the stone in front of the tomb. None of the other evangelists describe the scene that greeted the women in such a dramatic way. These were conventional Jewish images for some powerful intervention of God. God had shattered everyone’s expectations. The women who went to the tomb that morning did so to show their respect for someone who had touched their lives in a very significant way. Their expectation was that all would be quiet at the tomb in the early morning; there they could pray for the dead Jesus. Instead, they discovered that Jesus’ body was no longer in the tomb. They heard a message that God had raised Jesus’ body to a new and glorious life.

If Jesus was not to be found in the empty tomb, where was he to be found? In the gospel reading, the angel announces to the women, ‘he is going before you to Galilee, it is there you will see him’. When the risen Jesus himself subsequently appears to the women, he gives them the same message, ‘go and tell my brothers that they must leave for Galilee; they will see me there’. They are to head north to Galilee where Jesus had conducted his public ministry. It was in Galilee that he healed the sick, forgave sinners, welcomed the excluded, gathered a community about himself. It was in Galilee that Jesus awakened a new hope in those who were longing for something better. It was there that Jesus revealed by his words and actions the God of the living, the God of mercy and compassion. Where better to meet the risen Lord than in Galilee which was synonymous with Jesus’ celebratory, life giving ministry. That is where the disciples must now go to meet Jesus, not to the tomb.

‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; it is there you will see him’. Where is Galilee for us today? Where do we meet the risen Lord today? He is to be found in all those places where Jesus’ disciples make present the life-giving ministry of Jesus, where his followers reveal by their actions the God of the living, the God of mercy and compassion. The angel told the women that they would not find Jesus in the tomb, the world of the dead. If we are looking for the risen Lord, we are to seek him where there is life. We find him where the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, shapes human lives. We find him where the sick are being cared for, where everyone’s dignity as sons and daughters of God is respected, where his followers are building communities that place Christ at the centre. We find him where the excluded are being made to feel welcome, where people work courageously to create a culture of life, cherishing all human life from conception to death. We will find him where believers are working in the service of the Lord’s project to bring about the kingdom of God on earth.

In that sense, Easter is not just a past event. It is a present reality. We are called to be an Easter people. The feast of Easter is as much about life before death as life after death. It is a feast that calls us to open ourselves fully to the Spirit of the risen Lord so that we can be life givers in our world today, creating modern day Galilees. We need the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the risen Lord, if we are to become that Easter people. Perhaps, the gift of the Spirit we need most of all at this time is the gift of courage. The first words of the angel to the women were, ‘there is no need to be afraid’. The first words of Jesus to the women were ‘Do not be afraid’. The violence done to Jesus generated a great deal of fear among his followers. Now that Jesus is risen there is no need for fear. Easter is a feast of courage. The risen Lord empowers us to be his courageous witness, his messengers of life for our own time and place.

 Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  revmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

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[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

27th December >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on John 20:1-8 for  Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist: ‘He saw and he believed’.

Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

John 20:2-8

The other disciple saw, and he believed

On the first day of the week Mary of Magdala came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb’ she said ‘and we don’t know where they have put him.’

So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. Simon Peter who was following now came up, went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the ground, and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed.

Gospel (USA)

John 20:1a,2-8

The other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first.

On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we do not know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed.

Reflections (8)

(i) Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist

Today’s gospel reading is also the gospel reading for Easter Sunday morning. I have often been struck by the repeated reference to people running in that reading. When Mary Magdalene discovered that the tomb of Jesus was empty on that Sunday morning, she ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. These two disciples then run together to see for themselves what Mary told them, with the other disciple running faster than Peter and reaching the tomb first. The running of these three disciples captures something of the initial distress and confusion of that first Easter morning. The body of Jesus had been placed in the tomb two days previously. Where was it now? Mary Magdalene was of the opinion that the body of Jesus had been taken away or stolen. We are not told the opinion of Simon Peter. However, it is said of the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, that when he saw the empty tomb he believed. He understood the true significance of the empty tomb. Jesus had risen from the dead. This ‘beloved disciple’, as he is often referred to, has been identified with the disciple John, whose feast we celebrate today, and who stands behind the gospel that bears his name, the gospel according to John. This disciple is portrayed as seeing more deeply than either Mary Magdalene or Simon Peter. He recognized the presence of the risen Lord in the emptiness of the tomb. We need something of this disciple’s way of seeing today. We sometimes fail to recognize the presence of the risen Lord in the various distressing experiences of emptiness in our lives. At such confusing and troubling moments, we can feel that the Lord is absent. Yet, Christmas is the feast of Emmanuel, God with us, and today’s gospel reading reminds us that the risen Lord is always with us, even in those times when we are tempted to feel he has abandoned us.

And/Or

(ii) Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist

This morning’s gospel reading makes reference to someone called the disciple Jesus loved. This disciple, who is never given a name, is mentioned several times in the course of John’s gospel. He is first mentioned in the context of the last supper, where he is described as lying close to the heart of Jesus. Earlier in the gospel Jesus had been described as lying close to the Father’s heart. In other words, this disciple has the same relationship with Jesus that Jesus has with his Father. The writer of this gospel probably wants all who read the gospel, all of us, to identify with this disciple, to see ourselves in him. This nameless disciple is the disciple we are all called to become. We are all beloved disciples, who are called to have the same intimate relationship with Jesus that Jesus has with his Father. In this morning’s gospel reading, this disciple has a sharper eye than Peter. Because he sees with the eyes of love, he alone recognizes from what is visible in the tomb on that first Easter morning that Jesus has indeed been raised from the dead. In the emptiness of the tomb, he sees the fullness of new life. As beloved disciples, this is the kind of seeing we are called to, a hopeful seeing which is attuned to the presence of the Lord, even in situations that seem empty and unpromising.

 And/Or

(iii)  Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist

This morning’s gospel reading features a disciple who is referred to as ‘the one Jesus loved’. This disciple is never given a name in the gospel of John, although he has often been identified with John the son of Zebedee. Even though he is never referred to by name, he is clearly a very significant character in the story of Jesus that the fourth gospel tells. There is one other character in the story of John’s gospel who is clearly very significant but, again, is never given a name, and that is the character referred to as ‘the mother of Jesus’. Both of these people are identified in this gospel not by their name but by the very special relationship they had with Jesus – ‘the disciple Jesus loved’ and ‘the mother of Jesus’. It is as if the evangelist is saying that what really defines all of us is our relationship with the Lord; it is that relationship which gives us our identity. The disciple Jesus loved was an historical figure in the circle of Jesus, but for the evangelist, he is also a representative figure; he is the ideal disciple, the disciple we are all called to become. We are all invited to identify with this disciple, because we are all disciples whom Jesus loves. This disciple is described at the last supper as lying ‘close to Jesus’ heart’; at the end of the Prologue to John’s gospel Jesus is described as ‘close to the Father’s heart’. In other words, this disciple has the same relationship with Jesus as Jesus has with the Father. Because he is a representative figure, the evangelist is saying that we are all called to have the same relationship with Jesus that Jesus has with the Father. As the Father loves Jesus, Jesus loves us. As Jesus remains in the Father’s love, we are called to remain in Jesus’ love. That is the core message of that wonderful gospel we have come to know as the gospel according to John.

 And/Or

(iv)  Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist

It is appropriate that we celebrate the feast of Saint John the evangelist so close to Christmas. The opening eighteen verses of his gospel provide us with the memorable line which sums up in a few words what we are celebrating at Christmas, ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’. John’s gospel, the last of the four gospels to be written, is based on the eye witness testimony of one of the followers of Jesus, the one described in this morning’s gospel reading as the disciple Jesus loved. This description could give the impression that Jesus loved this disciple more than all the other disciples. However, Jesus loved and loves all his disciples equally. He said to all of his disciples as a group, and he says to us, ‘As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you’. We are all beloved disciples. What distinguishes this particular disciple from the others, according to John’s gospel, is that he received and responded to the love of Jesus more fully than all the others did. According to this gospel, he was the only male disciple who was present at the foot of the cross; he remained faithful when others had shown themselves to be unfaithful. His faithful love brought him to the empty tomb quicker than Peter; his faithful love gave him the insight to recognize the true meaning of the empty tomb before any else understood its meaning, ‘he saw and believed’. He is the disciple who encourages all of us to give ourselves wholeheartedly in love to Jesus as he has given himself fully in love to us.

 And/Or

(v) Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist

Yesterday was the feast of Saint Stephen, today we celebrate the feast of Saint John, traditionally understood to be the author of the fourth gospel. Whereas Stephen was martyred as a young man, John, or the disciple Jesus loved, as he is referred to in this morning’s gospel reading, seems to have lived a long life. Like Stephen, the beloved disciple was a wonderful witness to Jesus. Yet, whereas Stephen witnessed to Jesus primarily by his death, the beloved disciple witnessed to Jesus primarily by his life. He was the eye witness who was close to Jesus in love and who witnessed to what he had seen and heard by his preaching and teaching, and eventually by inspiring the writing down of the fourth gospel. In this gospel this beloved disciple is described as close to the bosom of Jesus at the last supper. The opening verses of John’s gospel, the Prologue, describe Jesus as close to the bosom of the Father. In other words, this disciple has the same loving relationship with Jesus that Jesus has with God the Father. In that regard, the beloved disciple is the disciple we are all called to become. We are all called to have the same intimate relationship with Jesus that Jesus has with the Father. In the words of the fourth gospel, we are called to abide in Jesus’ love just as he abides in the love of the Father. If Christmas is the feast of Immanuel, God with us through Jesus, today’s feast reminds us that we are called to be with Jesus as he is with the Father, to be present to him in love as he is present to the Father in love.

 And/Or

(vi)  Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist

Today we celebrate the feast of the fourth evangelist, traditionally identified as John the son of Zebedee. It is this evangelist who, at the beginning of his gospel, gives us the statement that expresses in a very succinct way the meaning of the feast of Christmas, ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’. The Word who was with God in the beginning and who was God at a certain moment in history became the enfleshed Word, in the person of Jesus, son of Joseph from Nazareth. According to the fourth evangelist this human being was none other than God in human form. This child, this adult, was the fullest revelation of God possible in a human life. The fourth evangelist had a very profound insight into who Jesus was and he witnessed to this insight in his preaching, his teaching and in the gospel that he wrote, so that we too might see what he saw, might believe as he believed. The gospel reading for this feast focuses on the capacity of this beloved disciple, as he is often called, to see deeply and clearly. Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter and the beloved disciple all came to the tomb on the first Easter Sunday and found it empty, but it was only the beloved disciple who ‘saw and believed’. He saw more deeply than the other two; he alone saw the true significance of the empty tomb and the arrangement of the burial clothes. Jesus had been raised from the dead. Today we pray for something of this disciple’s insight into Jesus; we pray that we might see as he sees, believe as he believes, and witness to what we see and believe as fully as he did.

 And/Or

(vii)  Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist

Today we celebrate the feast of Saint John, traditionally regarded as the author of the fourth gospel. He is often identified with the person referred to in the fourth gospel as ‘the disciple that Jesus loved’. This beloved disciple features in this morning’s gospel reading. Two days ago we celebrated a birth, the birth of Jesus. Yesterday, we commemorated a death, the death of the first martyr Stephen. This morning’s gospel reading brings us from death to resurrection. Mary Magdalene, Peter and this disciple that Jesus loved all found the tomb of Jesus empty on that first Easter morning. However, it is only of the disciple Jesus loved that it is said, ‘he saw and he believed’. He alone saw the empty tomb as a sign that Jesus had risen from the dead. Whereas when Mary Magdalene saw the empty tomb she thought that Jesus’ body had been stolen, when this disciple saw the empty tomb he knew that Jesus had triumphed over death and was now alive with a new quality of life. Today we celebrate the feast of someone who saw more deeply than others, who recognized the presence of the risen Lord in places where others failed to see him. He saw with the eyes of faith. This is the quality of seeing that we are all called to have and that we need to pray for. One of the most memorable lines of the fourth gospel is ‘The Word became flesh and dwelt among us’. Because the Word became flesh, the Word who is God is present in all flesh, in all of human life. He is present even in those unpromising places where we might expect only death to be found, as in the tomb of this morning’s gospel reading. This morning on this feast of Saint John, we ask for the grace to become aware of the Lord’s presence, even in those situations where he seems to be absent. We pray for something of that deeper seeing of the beloved disciple, so that all flesh can begin to speak to us of the Word who is God.

 And/Or

(viii) Feast of Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist

Within the Christian tradition we have always valued the four gospels above all other Christian literature. That is why we stand for the gospel reading, why we introduce it with the singing of the Alleluia, and why, during solemn Masses, we incense the Lectionary or Book of the Gospels. We sense that the Lord is present to us in a privileged way in and through the four gospels. This morning we celebrate the feast of the writer of the last gospel to be written, the fourth gospel. This fourth evangelist has been traditionally identified with John, one of the Lord’s closest disciples. There is a glorious quality to the portrait of Jesus in this gospel. It is as if he is transfigured on every page of this gospel, and not just in one scene as in the other three gospels. It is appropriate then that the gospel reading for the feast of this evangelist is an Easter gospel. Itrefers to three disciples, Mary of Magdala, Peter, and the disciple Jesus loved. This last disciple is not named but he has been identified with the disciple John in the Christian tradition. At the very end of the gospel reading, it is said of him that ‘he saw and believed’. He alone believed that Jesus had risen,simply on the evidence of the empty tomb. He saw more deeply than the other disciples. The fourth gospel that he inspired helps us to see more deeply too. In the opening chapter of his gospel, this evangelist wrote, ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’. He encourages us to see beneath the surface of things, to recognize the presence of the Word in the flesh of life. His gospel teaches us that the fabric of life can speak to us of the Lord. Light, water, bread, vines, gates, shepherds, paths, and so much else, can be a revelation of God if we can see them with the eyes of faith and love, with the eyes of the beloved disciple.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  revmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

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