#john paschal

[omg-hellgirl]

Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall photographed by John Paschall, 1978.

[orthodoxicons]

"And he who arrived only at the eleventh hour, let him not be afraid by reason of his delay.

For the Lord is gracious and receives the last even as the first.

He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour, as well as to him that toiled from the first."

[greenwitchcrafts]

March 2024 witch guide

Full moon: March 25th

New moon: March 10th

Sabbats: Ostara-March 19th

March Worm Moon

Known as: Crow Moon, Eagle Moon, Goose Moon, Hrethmonath, Lenting moon, Lentzinmanoth, Moon of Snowblind, Moon of Winds, Plow Moon, Sap Moon, Seed Moon, Sore Eyes Moon, Storm Moon, Sugar Moon & Wind Strong Moon

Element: Water

Zodiac: Pisces & Aries

Nature spirits: Air & water spirits & Mer-people

Deities: Artemis, Astarte, Athena, Cybele, Isis, Luna & Minerva

Animals: Boar, cougar & hedgehog

Birds: Sea crow & sea eagle

Trees: Alder, dogwood & honeysuckle

Herbs: Apple blossom, broom, high John root, Irish moss, pennyroyal, wood betony & yellow dock

Flowers: Daffodil, jonquil & violet

Scents: Apple blossom & honeysuckle

Stones: Aquamarine, bloodstone, jasper, opal &topaz

Colors: Pale-green, red, violet, yellow & white

Energy:  Balance, beginnings, dream work, energy breaking into the open, exploring, fertility, inner development, karma, prosperity, spirituality, success & truth seeking

For many years, it was thought that the name "Worm Moon" referred to the earthworms that appear as the soil warms in spring. This invites robins and other birds to feed—a true sign of spring.

However, more research revealed another explanation. In the 1760s, Captain Jonathan Carver visited the Naudowessie (Dakota) and other Native American tribes and wrote that the name Worm Moon refers to a different sort of “worm”—beetle larvae—which begin to emerge from the thawing bark of trees and other winter hideouts at this time.

March’s full Moon often plays a role in religion, specifically in Christianity, this Moon is known as the Lenten Moon if it is the last full Moon of the winter season (i.e., if it occurs before the spring equinox) or as the Paschal Full Moon if it is the first full Moon of spring (i.e., if it occurs after the spring equinox).

Ostara

Known as: Alban Eiler, Lady Day & Spring/Vernal equinox

Season: Spring

Symbols: 8-spoked wheel, butterflies, chicks, decorated baskets, eggs, feathers, jellybeans, lambs, rabbits, seeds, shamrocks, spring flowers & sunwheels

Colors: Green, indigo, light blue, pastels, pink, red & yellow

Oils/Incense: African violet, florals, ginger, jasmine, lotus, magnolia, rose, sage & strawberry

Animals: Cormorant, hare, hawk, rabbit, sheep, sparrow & swallow

Mythical: Dragon & Unicorn

Stones: Amethyst, aquamarine, bloodstone, moonstone, red jasper & rose quartz

Food: Dairy foods, eggs(hard boiled), fruits, honey, honey cakes, leafy greens, vegetables, pine nuts, pumpkin, sunflower seeds, sprouts & waffles

Herbs/Plants: Acorn, cinquefoil, dogwood, ginger, Irish moss, olive, strawberry & woodruff

Flowers: Celandine, crocus, daffodil, dandelion, Easter lily,  jasmine gorse, honeysuckle, hyssop, iris, jonquil, linden, narcissus, peony, snowdrop, tansy & violet

Goddesses: Aphrodite, Ariadne, Artemis, Athena, Coatlicue, Cybele,Demeter, Diana, Eos, Eostre, Flora, Gaia, Hera, Idunn, Iris, Ishtar, Juno, Minerva, Persephone, Venus & Vesta

Gods: Adonis, Attis, Celi, Cernunnos, Coel, Dagda, Dalon ap Landu, Dumuzi, Green Man, Lord of the Greenwood, Mithras, Odin, Osiris, Ovis & Pan

Issues, Intentions & Powers: Agriculture, balance, beauty, fertility, growth, life, love & rebirth/renewal

Spellwork: Air magick, fertility, new beginnings & water magick

Activities:

• Go on a hike/walk & look for signs of spring

• Add Ostara symbols to decorate your altar space

• Plant vegetable &/or flower seedlings

• Decorate eggs with bright colors

• Set your intentions for the weeks/months ahead

• Start a new class or hobby

• Create eggshell candles

• Make plans & new routines for the future

• Participate in rituals & ceremonies that connect you with energy & the life force of nature

• Have a feast with your friends &/family with sprouts & leafy greens

• Bake hot cross buns or lavender/lemon flavored treats

• Clean & de-clutter your home

• Try a re-birthing/ renewing ritual

• Bring fresh flowers or plants into into the home

• Host a spring & floral themed tea party

• Make egg based food dishes & desserts

This holiday marks the Spring Equinox, which happens before March 19-22. It is the second of three spring celebrations (the midpoint between Imbolc and Beltane)  during which light & darkness are again in balance, with light on the rise. It is a time of new beginnings & of life emerging further from the grips of winter.

There is much debate regarding the origins of Ostara due to the lack of primary sources about this sabbat. One theory is the name of Ostara came from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre. Another theory is that Eostre is more of a localized goddess in Kent County, England. Despite the questions of her origins, Eostre is associated with modern-day Pagan traditions of Ostara.

There is no evidence that the ancient Greeks or Romans celebrated Ostara, although they did celebrate their own spring festivals, such as the Roman festival of Floralia & the Greek festival of Anthesteria. It was a time to honor the returning sun, fertility & rebirth.

Related festivals:

• Nowruz- March 19th

Nowruz marks the first day of spring & renewal of nature. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox. It is also celebrated as the beginning of the new year by people all around the world for over 3,000 years in the Balkans, the Black Sea Basin, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East & other regions.

It promotes values of peace & solidarity between generations & within families as well as reconciliation & neighbourliness. Nowruz plays a significant role in strengthening the ties among peoples based on mutual respect & the ideals of peace and good neighbourliness. 

Traditional customs of Nowruz include fire & water, ritual dances, gift exchanges, reciting poetry, symbolic objects & more; these customs differ between the diverse peoples & countries that celebrate the festival.

• Holi- March 25th

Holi is a popular & significant Hindu festival celebrated as the The festival of colors, Love &Spring. It commemorates eternal and divine love of the deities Radha & Krishna. Additionally, the day signifies the triumph of good over evil, as it celebratess the victory of Vishnu as Narasimha over Hiranyakashipu. Holi originated & is predominantly celebrated in the Indian subcontinent, but has also spread to other regions of Asia & parts of the Western world through the Indian diaspora.

Holi also celebrates the arrival of Spring in India, the end of winter & the blossoming of love. It is also an invocation for a good spring harvest season. It lasts for a night & a day, starting on the evening of the Purnima (full moon day) falling on the Hindu calendar month of Phalguna, which falls around the middle of March in the Gregorian calendar.

• Easter- March 31st

also called Pascha or Resurrection Sunday is a Christian festival & cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in the New Testament as having occurred on the third day of his burial following his crucifixion by the Romans at Calvary c. 30 AD. It is the culmination of the Passion of Jesus Christ, preceded by Lent (or Great Lent), a 40-day period of fasting, prayer, & penance.

Easter traditions vary across the Christian world & include sunrise services or late-night vigils, exclamations & exchanges of Paschal greetings, flowering the cross & the decoration and the communal breaking of Easter eggs (a symbol of the empty tomb) among many others. The Easter lily is a symbol of the resurrection in Western Christianity traditionally decorates the chancel area of churches on this day & for the rest of Eastertide. Additional customs that have become associated with Easter & are observed by both Christians & some non-Christians include Easter parades, communal dancing, the Easter Bunny & egg hunting.

Other Celebrations:

• Festival of Luna- March 31st

Is a feast day honoring the Goddess Luna who is seen as the divine embodiment of the Moon.

The Temple of Luna was a temple on the Aventine Hill in Rome, dedicated to Luna, the moon goddess. Its dedication was celebrated on March 31st, thus the celebration.

According to Tacitus, it was built by king Servius Tullius. However, the first confirmed reference to a temple to Luna dates to 182 BC & refers to one of its doors being knocked off its posts by a miraculous blast of air & shot into the back of the Temple of Ceres. That account probably places the temple at the north end of the hill, just above porta Trigemina. The temple was struck by lightning around the time of the death of Cinna, as was the temple of Ceres. After the destruction of Corinth, Lucius Mummius Achaicus dedicated some of his spoils from the city to this temple. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD & not rebuilt.

Sources:

Farmersalmanac .com

Llewellyn's Complete Book of Correspondences by Sandra Kines

Wikipedia

A Witch's Book of Correspondences by Viktorija Briggs

Encyclopedia britannica

Llewellyn 2024 magical almanac Practical magic for everyday living

[talonabraxas]

“Alchemical Wedding” by Emily Balivet The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz:

Introductory paragraph

The story follows the Passover and the seven days of unleavened bread exactly. The slaughtering and roasting of the Paschal lamb begins in the evening (near Easter), as does The Chymical Wedding. The Chymical Wedding begins in the evening with CRC sitting at a table with both the Paschal Lamb and the unleavened bread. This would seem to indicate that CRC was Jewish. However, the words "Father of Lights" are curiously in the first paragraph. This phrase, "Father of Lights" appears only once in the King James Bible and it is in the book of James (Jas 1:17). Below is the opening paragraph of The Chymical Wedding;

The nine Lords

The nine Lords are nine books of the New Testament, I Peter, II Peter, James, Jude, I John, II John, III John, the Gospel of John, and the Revelation. CRC believed that the Gospel of John is the only gospel that is historically plausible, and that it is the unleavened bread and its relationship to the Passover that truly divides John's gospel from the synoptic Gospels. The nine lords were bound together with the rest that were at the table (27 total) and CRC cried.

The four paths

In the second chapter CRC sits down to rest under three tall cedars. There is a tablet fastened to one of them which tells of four paths. An important point is that it's the Bridegroom (Bible) that is offering these paths. It reads as follows: The first path leads to rocky places and this is reminiscent of Peter, "the rock" as he's portrayed in the synoptic gospels. The second path in the text is the path taught in John's gospel, as CRC is told not to turn to the left or right on this path and John's is the only account not to mention two men crucified to the right and to the left of Jesus while on the cross as thieves (John 20:18). The third path would be the general letters of Peter, James, Jude, and John. In the letter of James we find reference to the royal way or royal law (Jas 2:8). In the second letter of Peter we find the only reference to one in a thousand (II Pet 3:8). The fourth path is the letters of Paul. This is where one finds the teaching of the dead raised incorruptible (I Cor 15:52), and the only place that the word "consuming" appears in the New Testament (Heb 12:29).

The story then continues, Whereupon I presently drew out my bread and cut a slice of it. It shouldn't go unnoticed that, after reading this tablet, CRC cuts the bread. Symbol XXIV of the symbols of Pythagoras indicates "Never break the bread". Bread is broken in the gospels of Mark, Luke, and Matthew; however bread is never broken in John's gospel. Bread is also broken in the letters of Paul and the Book of Acts; however bread is never broken in the general letters of Peter, James, Jude and John.

As the story proceeds it's evident that CRC took the second path with the following words, yet I still proceeded with my compass, and would not budge one step from the Meridian Line. Meaning that CRC didn't turn to the left or right. It's also noteworthy that CRC says, "I patiently took up my cross, got up onto my feet". Only in John's gospel did Jesus bear the cross. It was Simon of Cyrene who bore the cross for Jesus in Mark, Luke and Matthew's gospels. But at the same time in Mark's gospel Jesus offered a man "take up the cross, and follow me"(Mark 10:21).

[audreyhepburninblackandwhite]

Audrey Hepburn at the 58th Annual Academy Awards on 24 March 1986 held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. She is presenting the award for Best Costume Design. Audrey's pink dress is by Givenchy, and she wore it with a pair of chandelier earrings. Photography by John Paschal

[santoschristos]

'True Sex-power is God-power,' as he put it. As the moment when new life is infused from the spiritual realm into the material, it is crucial moment one the soul is suddenly opened up to the spiritual energies of the cosmos: “at the instant of intense mutual orgasm the souls of the partners are opened to the powers of the cosmos and anything truly willed is accomplished.' Paschal Beverly Randolph art: Eternal Comics (1973) by John Thompson

[siena-sevenwits]

"Come, then! Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord! You the first and you the last, receive alike your reward. You rich and you poor, dance together. You with self-control and you who are weak, celebrate this day. You who have kept fast and you who have not, rejoice today. The table is richly laden: enjoy its royal banquet. The calf is fatted, let no one leave hungry."

- Paschal Sermon of St. John Chrysostom

[bast38]

CHRIST IS RISEN!

Paschal Homily of St John Chrysostom

“If any man be devout and love God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord. If any have labored long in fasting, let him now receive his recompense. If any have wrought from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If any have come at the third hour, let him with thankfulness keep the feast. If any have arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; because he shall in nowise be deprived thereof. If any have delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near, fearing nothing. If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness; for the Lord, who is jealous of his honor, will accept the last even as the first; He gives rest unto him who comes at the eleventh hour, even as unto him who has wrought from the first hour.

And He shows mercy upon the last, and cares for the first; and to the one He gives, and upon the other He bestows gifts. And He both accepts the deeds, and welcomes the intention, and honors the acts and praises the offering. Wherefore, enter you all into the joy of your Lord; and receive your reward, both the first, and likewise the second. You rich and poor together, hold high festival. You sober and you heedless, honor the day. Rejoice today, both you who have fasted and you who have disregarded the fast. The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously. The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away.

Enjoy ye all the feast of faith: Receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness. let no one bewail his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one weep for his iniquities, for pardon has shown forth from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Savior’s death has set us free. He that was held prisoner of it has annihilated it. By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive. He embittered it when it tasted of His flesh. And Isaiah, foretelling this, did cry: Hell, said he, was embittered, when it encountered Thee in the lower regions. It was embittered, for it was abolished. It was embittered, for it was mocked. It was embittered, for it was slain. It was embittered, for it was overthrown. It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains. It took a body, and met God face to face. It took earth, and encountered Heaven. It took that which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.

O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave. For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and dominion unto ages of ages. Amen.”

[monstrousgourmandizingcats]

Between the text of the first three Locked Tomb books themselves, the back matter in Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth, and a few interviews, I think that Tamsyn Muir has provided us with enough information to semi-confidently predict at least one major plot element in Alecto the Ninth. It has to do with Harrow, the Resurrection, and what’s beyond or underneath the stoma.

In the Gideon the Ninth back matter Tamsyn says that Harrow is “named very specifically for the harrowing of Hell” (GtN p. 468 in the paperback). The harrowing of Hell is an event in the traditional Christian theology of Jesus’ death and resurrection where He descends into hell and brings salvation to righteous people who died before His time. As Kate Mary Warren’s “Harrowing of Hell” article in the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1907-1912 puts it:

This is the Old English and Middle English term for the triumphant descent of Christ into hell (or Hades) between the time of His Crucifixion and His Resurrection, when, according to Christian belief, He brought salvation to the souls held captive there since the beginning of the world. According to the "New English Dictionary" the word Harrowing in the above connection first occurs in Ælfric's homilies, about A.D. 1000; but, long before this, the descent into hell had been related in the Old English poems connected with the names of Cædmon and Cynewulf. Writers of Old English prose homilies and lives of saints continually employ the subject, but it is in medieval English literature that it is most fully found, both in prose and verse, and particularly in the drama.

The Biblical citation for this is I Peter 4:6, which describes Christ preaching “even to the dead.” Historically the way this was understood was that people before Christ who had died without “deserving” hell but for whom Jesus Himself hadn’t died yet went to a morally and hedonically neutral underworld space like we see in Ancient Greek religion. It was this particular space in hell that was harrowed. More recently the view has been advanced that He just emptied the place and gave out salvation like Oprah giving out cars, and there is some early evidence for this understanding too (Paschal Homily of St. John Chrysostom; I Corinthians 15). In the interview that Tamsyn did on the Nona the Ninth release day, she tells us bluntly that “Harrowhark is in Hell”.

So that establishes--in my opinion--that Harrow is, is or is going to go, beyond the stoma and release someone, or something, trapped there. One might think based on what we’ve seen of the stoma so far that this would be a very bad thing. “[W[here the things are that eat us,” as Ianthe puts it (GtN p. 382), seems like an awful place filled with awful people, or beings--the thing that possesses Colum in the climax of Gideon the Ninth, the horrifying-looking stoma itself, and of course the devils that the Empire is fighting on Antioch and that have made it to the Ninth House by the end of Nona the Ninth.

But hell is by definition a weird and horrible place with weird and horrible things in it. What if, in the case of at least some of the “things that eat us,” that isn’t their fault, and isn’t how it’s meant to be?

I’m indebted to my IRL best friend and Locked Tomb pusher @mayasaura for pulling these quotes and page numbers for me, as well as realizing a certain numerical discrepancy in the first place:

Twice in the first two books, “ten billion” is given as a figure of people being “avenged” by Blood of Eden (and a certain evil cougar well-known to us all). Cytherea declares herself the “vengeance of the ten billion” on GtN p. 405. Wake gives the same figure on HtN p. 465. Yet suddenly in Nona we get a figure of eleven billion as the capacity for Jod and the OG Lyctors’ cryo ships (p. 13), and ten billion as the figure that The Trillionaires “le[ft]....behind to die, having stolen financing and support and materials” (p. 395). There are a few possibilities here: either The Trillionaires took a billion people with them in their own fleet, Jod is very bad at math for a scientific and medical genius, or the eleven billion capacity for the cryo fleet was supposed to give extra room just to be safe (this is what I think is likeliest). Either way there’s a slight ambiguity about the pre-Resurrection population of the Solar System in general, which, when I noticed it, got me thinking about the other big ambiguity with population figures in these books: the fact that the Nine Houses ten thousand years in the future do not have a population in the high ten digits or even close to it; even the mid-sized individual Houses only have a few million people each (NtN p. 30; the Seventh and Eighth Houses sum to nine million), and the total population is maybe a hundred million at the very most.

So where is everybody?

Jod did not resurrect everybody who lived in the Solar System when he and Alecto “went full fucking Hungry Caterpillar” (NtN p. 409). We know this for a fact; this is where the neo-Niners came from when he fulfilled his promise to Harrow to repopulate her House (HtN p. 35-36). As Jod puts it, “I set many aside, for safety.” Whose safety from whom?

Here’s Jod describing what’s beyond the River in Harrow the Ninth (p. 340-341):

"A genuinely chaotic space--chaos in the meaning of the abyss as well as unfathomable...located at the bottom of the River. The Riverbed is studded with mouths that open at proximity of Resurrection Beasts, and no ghosts venture deeper than the bathyrhoic layer. Anyone who has entered a stoma has never returned. It is a portal to the place I cannot touch--somewhere I don't fully comprehend, where my power and my authority are utterly meaningless. You'll find very few ghosts sink as far as the barathron. If I believed in sin, I would say they died weighted down with sin, placing them nearer the trash space. That's what we've been using it for, in any case. That's where we put the Resurrection Beasts. The rubbish bin...with all the other dross."

Note the deeply dehumanizing and condemnatory language. Rubbish, dross, trash. “Very few ghosts” are down there, supposedly--but do we really think John Gaius would do that? Just pontificate to his Lyctors and tell lies? Lies about the number of pre-Resurrection people whom he’s hated and dehumanized for ten thousand years, the proportion of the human race that for whatever reason he thought couldn't or shouldn't hack it in his brave new thanergy-powered world?

I do. And I came away from Nona the Ninth with a more sympathetic view of his original intentions than did most of the fandom!

I think that at least some of what's on the other side of the stoma is, or are, the souls of the people Jod in his infinite wisdom decided not to resurrect. The world below the bed of the River is directly associated with hell both in the text of the series and in interviews with Tamsyn, and furthermore I think that Harrowhark is going to replicate her namesake's "triumphant descent” and free at least some of these souls, who are in turn at least as likely--probably likelier--to wreck up Jod and impose real consequences on him as Alecto is. I think that this fits the plot, the themes, and The Locked Tomb's overall structure as a story from its cosmology and theology right down to the names of its main characters.

In ten months we’ll see if I’m right!

[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

3rd April >> Mass Readings (USA)

Easter Wednesday 

(Liturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II))

First Reading

Acts of the Apostles 3:1–10

What I do have I give you: in the name of the Lord Jesus, rise and walk.

Peter and John were going up to the temple area for the three o’clock hour of prayer. And a man crippled from birth was carried and placed at the gate of the temple called “the Beautiful Gate” every day to beg for alms from the people who entered the temple. When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms. But Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” He paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them. Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk.” Then Peter took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles grew strong. He leaped up, stood, and walked around, and went into the temple with them, walking and jumping and praising God. When all the people saw him walking and praising God, they recognized him as the one who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with amazement and astonishment at what had happened to him.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 105:1–2, 3–4, 6–7, 8–9

R/ Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord. or R/ Alleluia.

Give thanks to the LORD, invoke his name; make known among the nations his deeds. Sing to him, sing his praise, proclaim all his wondrous deeds.

R/ Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord. or R/ Alleluia.

Glory in his holy name; rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD! Look to the LORD in his strength; seek to serve him constantly.

R/ Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord. or R/ Alleluia.

You descendants of Abraham, his servants, sons of Jacob, his chosen ones! He, the LORD, is our God; throughout the earth his judgments prevail.

R/ Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord. or R/ Alleluia.

He remembers forever his covenant which he made binding for a thousand generations— Which he entered into with Abraham and by his oath to Isaac.

R/ Rejoice, O hearts that seek the Lord. or R/ Alleluia.

Sequence

Victimae Paschali Laudes

Christians, to the Paschal Victim Offer your thankful praises! A Lamb the sheep redeems; Christ, who only is sinless, Reconciles sinners to the Father. Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous: The Prince of life, who died, reigns immortal. Speak, Mary, declaring What you saw, wayfaring. “The tomb of Christ, who is living, The glory of Jesus’ resurrection; bright angels attesting, The shroud and napkin resting. Yes, Christ my hope is arisen; to Galilee he goes before you.” Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining. Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning! Amen. Alleluia.

Gospel Acclamation

Psalm 118:24

Alleluia, alleluia. This is the day the LORD has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Luke 24:13–35

They recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you discussing as you walk along?” They stopped, looking downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” And he replied to them, “What sort of things?” They said to him, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his Body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see.” And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the Scriptures. As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the Eleven and those with them who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!” Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[orthodoxadventure]

HOLY PASCHA: The Resurrection of Our Lord

Commemorated on May 5

Pascha (Easter)

Enjoy ye all the feast of faith; receive ye all the riches of loving-kindness. (Sermon of Saint John Chrysostom, read at Paschal Matins)

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the center of the Christian faith. Saint Paul says that if Christ is not raised from the dead, then our preaching and faith are in vain (I Cor. 15:14). Indeed, without the resurrection there would be no Christian preaching or faith. The disciples of Christ would have remained the broken and hopeless band which the Gospel of John describes as being in hiding behind locked doors for fear of the Jews. They went nowhere and preached nothing until they met the risen Christ, the doors being shut (John 20: 19). Then they touched the wounds of the nails and the spear; they ate and drank with Him. The resurrection became the basis of everything they said and did (Acts 2-4): “. . . for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:39).

The resurrection reveals Jesus of Nazareth as not only the expected Messiah of Israel, but as the King and Lord of a new Jerusalem: a new heaven and a new earth.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. . . the holy city, new Jerusalem. And I heard a great voice from the throne saying “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. . . He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away (Rev. 21:1-4).

In His death and resurrection, Christ defeats the last enemy, death, and thereby fulfills the mandate of His Father to subject all things under His feet (I Cor. 15:24-26).

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing (Rev. 5: 12)

THE FEAST OF FEASTS

The Christian faith is celebrated in the liturgy of the Church. True celebration is always a living participation. It is not a mere attendance at services. It is communion in the power of the event being celebrated. It is God’s free gift of joy given to spiritual men as a reward for their self-denial. It is the fulfillment of spiritual and physical effort and preparation. The resurrection of Christ, being the center of the Christian faith, is the basis of the Church’s liturgical life and the true model for all celebration. This is the chosen and holy day, first of sabbaths, king and lord of days, the feast of feasts, holy day of holy days. On this day we bless Christ forevermore (Irmos 8, Paschal Canon).

PREPARATION

Twelve weeks of preparation precede the “feast of feasts.” A long journey which includes five prelenten Sundays, six weeks of Great Lent and finally Holy Week is made. The journey moves from the self-willed exile of the prodigal son to the grace-filled entrance into the new Jerusalem, coming down as a bride beautifully adorned for her husband (Rev. 21:2) Repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation, prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and study are the means by which this long journey is made.

Focusing on the veneration of the Cross at its midpoint, the lenten voyage itself reveals that the joy of the resurrection is achieved only through the Cross. “Through the cross joy has come into all the world,” we sing in one paschal hymn. And in the paschal troparion, we repeat again and again that Christ has trampled down death—by death! Saint Paul writes that the name of Jesus is exalted above every name because He first emptied Himself, taking on the lowly form of a servant and being obedient even to death on the Cross (Phil. 2:5-11). The road to the celebration of the resurrection is the self-emptying crucifixion of Lent. Pascha is the passover from death to life.

Yesterday I was buried with Thee, O Christ. Today I arise with Thee in Thy resurrection. Yesterday I was crucified with Thee: Glorify me with Thee, O Savior, in Thy kingdom (Ode 3, Paschal Canon).

THE PROCESSION

The divine services of the night of Pascha commence near midnight of Holy Saturday. At the Ninth Ode of the Canon of Nocturn, the priest, already vested in his brightest robes, removes the Holy Shroud from the tomb and carries it to the altar table, where it remains until the leave-taking of Pascha. The faithful stand in darkness. Then, one by one, they light their candles from the candle held by the priest and form a great procession out of the church. Choir, servers, priest and people, led by the bearers of the cross, banners, icons and Gospel book, circle the church. The bells are rung incessantly and the angelic hymn of the resurrection is chanted.

The procession comes to a stop before the principal doors of the church. Before the closed doors the priest and the people sing the troparion of Pascha, “Christ is risen from the dead...”, many times. Even before entenng the church the priest and people exchange the paschal greeting: “Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen!” This segment of the paschal services is extremely important. It preserves in the expenence of the Church the primitive accounts of the resurrection of Christ as recorded in the Gospels. The angel rolled away the stone from the tomb not to let a biologically revived but physically entrapped Christ walk out, but to reveal that “He is not here; for He has risen, as He said” (Matt. 28:6).

In the paschal canon we sing:

Thou didst arise, O Christ, and yet the tomb remained sealed, as at Thy birth the Virgin’s womb remained unharmed; and Thou has opened for us the gates of paradise (Ode 6).

Finally, the procession of light and song in the darkness of night, and the thunderous proclamation that, indeed, Christ is risen, fulfill the words of the Evangelist John: “The light shines in darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

The doors are opened and the faithful re-enter. The church is bathed in light and adorned with flowers. It is the heavenly bride and the symbol of the empty tomb:

Bearing life and more fruitful than paradise Brighter than any royal chamber, Thy tomb, O Christ, is the fountain or our resurrection (Paschal Hours).

MATINS

Matins commences immediately. The risen Christ is glorified in the singing of the beautiful canon of Saint John of Damascus. The paschal greeting is repeatedly exchanged. Near the end of Matins the paschal verses are sung. They relate the entire narrative of the Lord’s resurrection. They conclude with the words calling us to actualize among each other the forgiveness freely given to all by God:

This is the day of resurrection. Let us be illumined by the feast. Let us embrace each other. Let us call “brothers” even those who hate us, And forgive all by the resurrection. . .

The sermon of Saint John Chrysostom is then read by the celebrant. The sermon was originally composed as a baptismal instruction. It is retained by the Church in the paschal services because everything about the night of Pascha recalls the Sacrament of Baptism: the language and general terminology of the liturgical texts, the specific hymns, the vestment color, the use of candles and the great procession itself. Now the sermon invites us to a great reaffirmation of our baptism: to union with Christ in the receiving of Holy Communion.

If any man is devout and loves God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. . . the table is fully laden; feast you all sumptuously. . . the calf is fatted, let no one go hungry away. . .

THE DIVINE LITURGY

The sermon announces the imminent beginning of the Divine Liturgy. The altar table is fully laden with the divine food: the Body and Blood of the risen and glorified Christ. No one is to go away hungry. The service books are very specific in saying that only he who partakes of the Body and Blood of Christ eats the true Pascha. The Divine Liturgy, therefore, normally follows immediately after paschal Matins. Foods from which the faithful have been asked to abstain during the lenten journey are blessed and eaten only after the Divine Liturgy.

THE DAY WITHOUT EVENING

Pascha is the inauguration of a new age. It reveals the mystery of the eighth day. It is our taste, in this age, of the new and unending day of the Kingdom of God. Something of this new and unending day is conveyed to us in the length of the paschal services, in the repetition of the paschal order for all the services of Bright Week, and in the special paschal features retained in the services for the forty days until Ascension. Forty days are, as it were, treated as one day. Together they comprise the symbol of the new time in which the Church lives and toward which she ever draws the faithful, from one degree of glory to another.

O Christ, great and most holy Pascha. O Wisdom, Word and Power of God, grant that we may more perfectly partake of Thee in the never-ending day of Thy kingdom (Ninth Ode, Paschal Canon).

The V. Rev. Paul Lazor New York, 1977

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

23rd September >> Fr. Martin's Reflections /Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for Monday, Twenty Fifth Week in Ordinary Time (Inc. Luke 8:16-18): ‘So take care how you hear’.

Monday, Twenty Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Except USA) Luke 8:16-18 Anyone who has will be given more.

Jesus said to the crowds: ‘No one lights a lamp to cover it with a bowl or to put it under a bed. No, he puts it on a lamp-stand so that people may see the light when they come in. For nothing is hidden but it will be made clear, nothing secret but it will be known and brought to light. So take care how you hear; for anyone who has will be given more; from anyone who has not, even what he thinks he has will be taken away.’

Gospel (USA) Luke 8:16-18 A lamp is placed on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light.

Jesus said to the crowd: “No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light. Take care, then, how you hear. To anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away.”

Reflections (11)

(i) Monday, Twenty Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

I celebrated the Sacrament of Baptism for three children on Saturday. As the godparents lit the child’s baptismal candle from the Paschal Candle, I said, ‘Receive the light of Christ. Parents and godparents, this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly. This child of yours has been enlightened by Christ. They are to walk always as children of the light. May they keep the flame of faith alive in their hearts’. At the moment of our baptism, a light was lit in our lives, the light of Christ, the light of faith in Christ. Our baptismal calling is to keep that light burning brightly in our hearts, so that it shines through everything we say and do. In the gospel reading, Jesus declares that when a lamp is lit, it is meant to be put on a lamp stand, so that people can see the light when they come in. Jesus had in mind a little oil lamp with a wick coming from it that could be lit. How do we keep that light of Christ, that flame of faith in him, alive and burning brightly in our lives? The gospel reading suggests that one of the ways we can do that is by listening to the Lord’s word. Jesus says, ‘Take care how you hear, for anyone who has will be given more’. The more attentive we are to the Lord’s presence in his word, the more we will receive from the Lord and the more the flame of faith will be kept burning brightly. As we listen to the Lord’s word, as it comes to us in the readings of the day, for example, the more we open ourselves up the Spirit of the Lord, that Spirit who can enkindle in us the fire of God’s love, the fire of Christ, and the flame of our faith in him, so that it shines before all through everything we say and do.

And/Or

(ii) Monday, Twenty Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

In the liturgy of baptism, just after their child has been baptized, the celebrant addresses the child’s parents in the following words: ‘This light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly. This child of yours has been enlightened by Christ. He/she is to walk always as a child of the light. May he/she keep the flame of faith alive in his/her heart’. We were all enlightened by Christ at the moment of our baptism. The light of his loving presence shone upon us at that moment and ignited the flame of faith in our hearts. Whereas in John’s gospel Jesus says, ‘I am the light of the world’. In Matthew’s gospel, addressing his disciples, Jesus says, ‘You are the light of the world’. Both are true. We are called to reflect Christ’s light to others, as the moon reflects the sun. In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus says that a lamp is always put on a lamp stand so that people may see the light when they come in. By means of that image, Jesus is telling us that our calling us to allow his light to shine through us for others to see. A light is not meant to be hidden. If we have been enlightened by Christ, we are to let his light shine for others to see. In that sense, there is always a very public dimension to our relationship with Christ. That relationship may be very personal to each of us, but it is never private. We are the public face of Christ to others. We pray this morning that we would be faithful to that calling.

And/Or

(iii) Monday, Twenty Fifth week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading this morning Jesus uses the image of a lighted lamp which should be placed on a lamp stand so that people may see the light when they enter the room. It is an image which calls on us to allow the light within us to shine on others, the light of Jesus, the light of our faith, hope and love. As well as writing deeply theological books Cardinal Newman also wrote some wonderful prayers. One of those prayers is a fitting commentary on this morning’s gospel reading and here is a section of it, ‘Jesus… Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel your presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus! Stay with me and then I will begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be a light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from you; none of it will be mine. It will be you, shining on others through me. Let me thus praise you in the way which you love best, by shining on those around me’.

And/Or

(iv) Monday, Twenty Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

There are many images of faith in the gospels. This morning’s gospel reading suggests the image of the lamp of faith. Jesus is saying that when the lamp of faith is lit in a person’s life, it is not meant to be covered or hidden but it is to remain shining in a public way for all to see. ‘No one lights a lamp to put it under a bed. No, he puts it on a lamp-stand so that people may see the light when they come in’. When the culture is not very supportive of faith, there can be a strong temptation to hide the light of our faith. Yet, we need to let the light of our faith shine all the more in an environment that is hostile to it, because in doing so we give courage to others. When I let the light of my faith shine, I make it easier for other people of faith to do the same. Pope Francis’ first encyclical was entitled ‘The light of faith’. He says at the beginning of that encyclical that there is an urgent need to see once again that faith is a light. He goes so far as to say that once the flame of faith dies out, all other lights begin to dim. The light of faith, he says, is unique because it is capable of illuminating every aspect of human existence. He implies that more than ever today we need to nurture that light of faith within ourselves so as to let it shine in our world through our lives because the world needs this light.

And/Or

(v) Monday, Twenty Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

When Jesus speaks in the gospel reading about lighting a lamp, we have to think in terms of a lamp containing oil which had a wick coming from the oil which could be lit. Many such oil lamps have been recovered from the time of Jesus in the Mediterranean basin. Such lamps were lit to give light when darkness came. As Jesus says in that gospel reading, no one would light such a lamp and then cover it with a bowl or put it under a bed. It would make no sense. The image suggests that if the lamp of faith is lit in a human life, it is not meant to be covered or hidden; rather we must allow it to shed light. We are called to allow the light of our faith to shine through how we live, what we do and how we do it. If we are to do that, we need to nurture that light of faith. The gospel reading suggests that one of the ways we nurture the light of faith is by listening to the Lord’s word. Jesus says in the gospel reading, ‘Take care how you hear, for anyone who has will be given more’. By listening to the Lord’s word, the light of faith will grow more brightly and will shine through how we live our lives. When that happens we are a support to one another on our shared journey of faith. When I let the light of my faith shine, I make it easier for other people of faith to do the same.

And/Or

(vi) Monday, Twenty Fifth week in Ordinary Time

The concluding words of Jesus in this morning’s gospel reading may seem rather unfair to us on first hearing them, ‘anyone who has will be given more…’ Yet, when we attend to those words more carefully, they make sense. Prior to those concluding words, Jesus calls on us to ‘take care how you hear’. In other words, he asks us to listen carefully to his word, to what he says. He promises that does who are attentive to his word, ‘anyone who has’, will receive a great deal from the Lord, they ‘will be given more’. Whereas, those who close their ears to his word, ‘anyone who has not’, will begin to lose what they have been given from the Lord, ‘what they think they have will be taken away’. Jesus is saying that we need to listen to him, if our relationship with him is to grow, or, to put it negatively, if our relationship with him is not to weaken. We live in a world of much noise, of many voices. It can be quite a struggle to make room and time in our lives to listen to the voice of the Lord. This morning’s gospel reading, however, assures us that it is a struggle worth engaging in; it is an effort worth making.

And/Or

(vii) Monday, Twenty Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus tells us that a lamp is meant to be put on a lamp-stand so that people may see the light when they come in; a lamp is not intended to be covered with a bowl. Jesus is suggesting that if the lamp of faith is lit in a human life, it is not meant to be hidden but to keep on shining and spread light. That lamp of faith was lit in our own lives at baptism. When we come of age we have the responsibility of keeping the light of faith, the light of the Lord, burning brightly so that it shines through a life that is shaped by our faith. On another occasion Jesus said, ‘let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven’. The light that shone upon us at baptism is to shape how we live, our works. This morning’s gospel reading reminds me of a reflection by Marianne Williamson, ‘We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. It‘s not just in some of us: it’s in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others’. The conclusion of this morning’s gospel reading reminds us that the more we give in terms of letting the light of our faith shine before others, the more we will receive from the Lord and the brighter the light of our faith will become, ‘for anyone who has will be given more’.

And/Or

(viii) Monday, Twenty Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

For the next two weeks, our first reading will be taken from books in the Jewish Scriptures that are known as the Wisdom Literature. Much of this literature is the fruit of long reflection on human experience; it can have a timeless quality to it. Today’s first reading calls on us not to put off an act of kindness for someone until tomorrow, if we can do it today. There is a wisdom in that instruction that is valid for every age. In the gospel reading, Jesus speaks as a kind of a wisdom teacher. He says that a lighted lamp is not meant to be covered by a bowl or put under a bed, but on a lamp stand so that people may see the light. This is a common sense observation, but what is Jesus implying by it? Perhaps he is saying that our light, the light of our faith, is intended to shine brightly before all, rather than be hidden away. Our faith in the Lord, our relationship with him, is to shine through our whole way of life. One of the ways that the light of our faith can shine is by following the advice of our first reading, by taking the opportunities for acts of kindness towards others that come our way each day. Elsewhere in the gospels, Jesus calls on us to ‘let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven’. When we allow the light of our faith to shine through our ways of relating to others, that light gets brighter. That is the implication of what Jesus says at the end of today’s gospel reading, ‘anyone who has will be given more’. As we try to give expression to the light of our faith in our lives, we create a space for the Lord to nurture and deepen our faith in him, our relationship with him.

And/Or

(ix) Monday, Twenty Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus often uses images from daily life to express some aspect of our relationship with God. He observes that when people light an oil lamp, they put it in a place where the light from the lamp can help people to navigate in what would otherwise be a dark space. There would be no point in lighting such a lamp and then hiding it away and depriving others of its light. Jesus is suggesting that when the light of faith is lit in our lives, it is not meant to be covered or hidden. We need to allow the light of our faith to shine clearly and publicly so that it sheds light wherever we find ourselves, on all those whom we encounter. There can be pressure on people of faith today to hide their faith; in the imagery of today’s gospel reading, to place the lighted lamp under a bed. Yet, it is pressure we need to resist. If any one of us allows the light of our faith to shine publicly, it supports the rest of us in doing the same. Jesus goes on to say in the gospel reading, ‘take care how you hear, for anyone who has will be given more’. Attentive listening to the Lord’s word keeps the light of our faith burning brightly and empowers us to allow that light to shine before all. When we listen and respond to the Lord’s word, ‘we will be given more’, God’s grace will invade our lives ever more abundantly and our faith, our relationship with the Lord, will shine ever more brightly.

And/Or

(x) Monday, Twenty Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus says, ‘take care how you hear’. The gospel reading invites us to ask, ‘How well do we hear?’ These verses come immediately after the parable of the sower. The farmer sowing seed is an image of Jesus sowing God’s word. The hearing Jesus is referring to is the hearing of God’s word. God always has something to say to us but he needs us to be good listeners, to hear well. God speaks to us in a whole variety of ways. In this season of creation, we remind ourselves that he speaks to us through all of creation. Listening to the sounds of nature is one form of listening to God speaking to us. I have become more aware recently of the sounds of birds, the different forms of birdsong. We are fortunate to live in a place where birdsong is abundant and diverse. God can also speak to us through each other. In the first reading, God was speaking to his people through the pagan king of Persia, Cyrus, an outsider, calling on them to go back to their homeland to build their Temple. We are invited to ask ourselves, ‘What may the Lord be saying to us, to me, through the voice of others, including the voice of outsiders?’. God speaks in a privileged way to us through the Scriptures, the Word of God. There is a long tradition in the church of attentive reading of God’s word, a slow, meditative reading that has been compared to a cow chewing the cud. The gospel reading of the Sunday could be the focus of such a prayerful, listening, reading. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus promises that if we listen carefully to the various ways God is speaking to us, ‘we will be given more’. Our attentive listening will create an opening for the Lord to grace us abundantly.

And/Or

(xi) Monday, Twenty Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

The sayings of Jesus in today’s gospel reading begin, ‘No one lights a lamp to cover it with a bowl or to put it under a bed’. What did it mean to ‘light a lamp’ in the time of Jesus? The reference is to a small lamp, usually made of clay, filled with oil and with a wick. It could be set on a stand or hung from it. It is obvious that no one would hide a burning lamp by putting a bowl over it or putting it under a bed. It is lit to give light to those who are in the house or to guests who may come into the house. Jesus is referring to the light of the gospel which is not to be hidden but should be allowed to stream forth into the darkness in the world. We have been given the light of the gospel. Our calling is to allow that light to shine through our lives. On one occasion, Jesus addressed his disciples as the light of the world and called on them to let their light shine by their good deeds, deeds inspired by the message of the gospel. The gospel is not a secret message intended to be kept hidden or revealed to a select few. It is the Lord’s light which is to shine for all to see. We each have a role to play in allowing the light of the Lord’s gospel to shine in our world. Firstly, however, we need to allow ourselves to be illumined by the light of the Lord’s word by listening carefully to it and allowing it to find a home in us. Only then can we be channels of that light to others, thereby sharing in the Lord’s mission of being a light to the world.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[fairfieldthinkspace]

Easter tells us to embrace the fullness of our humanity

Rev. Paul K. Rourke, S.J.

Vice President for Mission and Ministry

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow

Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me…

One short sleep past, we wake eternally

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

-John Donne

I find comfort in these defiantly hopeful words from one of Donne’s “Holy Sonnets,” which I first read as a high school freshman. Since last Easter, death has been a persistent and menacing addition to my year. Unexpectedly, I lost my brother, John, last June. Over the last few months, I have lost a friend to a violent carjacking and two Jesuit brothers dear to me and the whole Fairfield University and Prep community: Frs. Charlie Allen, S.J., and Jim Bowler, S.J.  I loved and looked up to all these men, and miss them terribly. Death has robbed and humbled me, but I no longer feel in the mood to be deferential.  With Donne I feel defiant, and following his example, I say, “Death, I’ve had enough of you!” Surely, Easter is a time for all of us to join in defying death. For our Jewish brothers and sisters, too, the Passover commemorates the Lord’s deliverance of his people from death. The Angel of Death did not claim the first-born of the Chosen People or defeat the Lord’s covenant, but freed the People of Israel from bondage.

The Paschal Mystery the Church celebrates in the Easter Triduum defies death in a singular way: instead of sanitizing or ignoring it, death is confronted head-on and elevated just as it is consigned to oblivion: gory, ignominious death becomes forever the sacrament of our salvation, a reality utterly transformed and transforming. The Risen Jesus is a Wounded Jesus, but his wounds no longer define his destiny: they led to his death, but the Son of God has given them their ultimate meaning: marks of death’s ultimate powerlessness and proof that he will never abandon his humanity. 

Whether or not we have tasted much death in our lives, we, too, are wounded in a world simultaneously infatuated with, and in denial of, death. If the news out of Ukraine or Israel and Gaza have not wounded us with grief, then death has wounded us even more grievously: with stony hearts. However we are wounded, Easter tells us to embrace the fullness of our humanity as Jesus did (his own and ours). The voice of Death tells us to fear our weakness and hide our wounds in shame, but Jesus reminds us that God wants to raise, transform, and glorify every part of us, not just the parts we are proud of. He wants to do the same for all of us, and we are commanded to embrace the wounded brothers and sisters all around us with sacrificial love. When we hide from their pain, or ignore their dignity, we keep our tomb closed with the stone of indifference.

When we defy death and embrace the fullness of life God offers (in ourselves and each other), Easter becomes more than another day on the calendar: it becomes the center and meaning of every day.  When that happens, we can say in the same joyful confidence of Donne’s poem, “Death, thou shalt die.”

Image by Freepik

[catholic-saint-tournament]

SO TRUE about the trinity homilies!! I've gotten really bad ones and really 'meh' ones, and only 1 good one in my lifetime so far. any particular favorite articles online or things like that about the trinity that you favor?

BE STILL my beating heart. I'll give you some of my thoughts and then a list of book recs. Most of the articles that come to mind are academic ones that are behind a paywall - I tend not to read much of popular press, but you might find something if you search Catholic Women Preach, go through America Magazine, or even Youtube.

My thoughts:

The Trinity is one of the greatest mysteries of the Christian faith. A mystery meaning something to be pondered, rather than solved. It's a lot like trying to understand love, because love is so beautifully layered and complex and diverse. Who can fully comprehend the mysteriousness and depth of the human heart and its capacity for loving another? Take that and multiply it by infinity for God, who is love, who is loving itself, who is the act and existence and being of love, who loves into creation, loves unto death on a cross, and loves in sanctifying us and giving us strength. It's the noun of love, while verbing the act of love, and gerunding as the being of love. Love is boundless; there is the lover, the beloved, and the love itself. This is the Trinity in short: it is the lover (God), the beloved (Jesus, and through his humanity, all of us), and the love between them that is poured out on all humanity (the Holy Spirit). What a profound, beautiful mystery that reveals the diversity of God, the unity of God, and the outpouring of God Godself unto all of us.

Book Recs:

Catherine Mowry Lacugna, God for Us: The Trinity and Christian Life, 1993.

Karl Rahner, The Trinity, (Milestones in Catholic Theology) English transl. 1997

Anne Hunt, The Trinity and the Paschal Mystery: A Development in Recent Catholic Theology, 1997.

Sarah Coakley, God, Sexuality, and the Self: An Essay 'On the Trinity', 2013.

John Zizioulas, Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church, 1997.

St Augustine, De Trinitate, find it online here

Leonardo Boff, Trinity and Society, 1988.

St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, part 1, q.27-43, read online here.

I'd start with Catherine Mowry Lacugna *IF YOU ARE FAMILIAR* with Trinitarian theology as a whole.

If not, try Richard Rohr's The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation. Rohr is great for laypersons and those looking for an intro into various parts of Catholic theology, spirituality, and mysticism.

[talonabraxas]

'True Sex-power is God-power,' as he put it. As the moment when new life is infused from the spiritual realm into the material, it is crucial moment one the soul is suddenly opened up to the spiritual energies of the cosmos: “at the instant of intense mutual orgasm the souls of the partners are opened to the powers of the cosmos and anything truly willed is accomplished.' Paschal Beverly Randolph

Eternal Comics (1973) by John Thompson

[audreyhepburninblackandwhite]

Audrey Hepburn and her partner Robert Wolders at the 17th Annual American Film Institute Awards on 9 March 1989 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. The Life Achievement Honoree that year was Gregory Peck. Photography by John Paschal