PALM SUNDAY OF THE LORD’S PASSION

10 APRIL 2022

 

          “It was the best of times:  it was the worst of times ….”  So begins Charles Dickens in his famous novel, A Tale of Two Cities.  In a sense, those words capture the readings which we just heard today.  In Saint Luke’s account of the first Palm Sunday, we heard echoes of that entrance as the best of times for Jesus and his disciples.  After a long journey, they finally arrive in Jerusalem.  Jesus is welcomed by his followers as king, echoing the voices of the angels at his birth:  “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.”  They lay down their cloaks on the road for him to enter on the donkey, a symbol of peace. 

            In Saint Luke’s account of the Passion, we just heared about the worst of times.  Jesus is betrayed by one of his closest friends.  Out of fear, his disciples abandon him.  He is condemned to death, even though he has done absolutely nothing wrong.  He is buried in a borrowed tomb. 

            The Lord’s passion has changed everything for us.  This week, the Lord invites us to reflect more deeply on the Paschal Mystery, which is at the heart of everything we believe as Christians.  The Lord wants us to understand more deeply that our own suffering, insufficiency, uncertainty, and weakness are invitations to knowing the heart of God. They are at the heart of the Lord’s redemption. Our weakness reveals God’s glory.  Our sharing in his dying opens us to share in his rising.

            Be sure to join us for the celebration of the Sacred Paschal Triduum.  Lent ends when we enter into the Triduum by celebrating the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday.  We reflect on his Passion and death on Good Friday.  We celebrate the absolute best of times at the Easter Vigil and at the Masses on Easter Sunday.

 

 

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT

3 APRIL 2022

 

          In the first reading, the people of Israel have lost all hope.  The Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem and their sacred temple and dragged them into exile.  They regard their long captivity in Babylon as their grave.  They see no way of returning to their homeland to resume a normal life.  But the prophet Ezekiel speaks on behalf of God to tell them that God will open the graves of their captivity and have them rise from them.  God had promised that he would never abandon his people, no matter how many times they had abandoned their promises to live their Covenant with God.  God can accomplish what is impossible for humans.

            That is what Jesus does in the Gospel.  Lazarus has been in the tomb for four days.  There is absolutely no hope for him.  Jesus displays his power over death by raising Lazarus from the dead.  In restoring Lazarus to life, Jesus works this last of his signs in Saint John’s Gospel to draw more people to faith.  Martha already has faith in him.  When she meets Jesus as he enters Bethany, she chides him for not coming in time to save her brother.  But she also makes three important faith statements.  She expresses her past experience of Jesus.  She insists that Lazarus would not have died if he had been there.  Then she speaks of her faith in the present:  “Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”  Then she trusts that Jesus will raise Lazarus from the dead in the future.

            During this past year, the Elect have been growing in the faith articulated by Martha.  As they have participated in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, they have come to believe that they will enter into the watery tomb of our baptismal font together with Christ, who entered his own tomb after being crucified.  As they emerge from those waters, they will be one with him in the new life promised by his resurrection.  They go through the third and final Scrutiny at the 10:00 Mass today.  We pray with them and for them that they are delivered from whatever has entombed them in the past and kept them from believing in Christ.

Martha invites the rest of us who have been baptized to express our faith in Jesus Christ.  We can look into our past and remember the many ways that the Lord Jesus has been present to us, especially when we have had to face the deaths of people close to us.  She invites us to see the ways in which the Lord is present now and be grateful for the many blessings we enjoy.  We can express our confidence that the Lord Jesus will be present in the future, even when it comes time for us to pass from this world to the next.  We trust that the Lord Jesus keeps his promise.

Martha’s most dramatic profession of faith occurs when she states her belief that Jesus is the resurrection and the life.  We shared in the Lord’s resurrection when we were baptized, and not just at some future time.  We continue to share in the Lord’s resurrection when we live in the spirit.  Saint Paul reminds us that we are no longer in the flesh.  Baptism has freed us from being enslaved by the power of sin.  In the flesh, we live completely for ourselves.  In the spirit, we are alive because of righteousness.  We can live primarily for God.

Jesus weeps at the tomb of Lazarus.  He weeps not only because he hates the reality of death.  He weeps because so many people have not come to believe in him. He weeps for us when we slip back into living in the flesh.  The Elect invite us to bring those times to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Restored to life in the spirit through the Lord’s mercy, we can confidently express our conviction that Jesus Christ has conquered the power of sin and death by entering into death himself.  He is the resurrection and the life.  Everyone who believes in him will never die.

 

FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT

27 MARCH 2022

 

          Today’s first reading makes it clear that God sees very differently from the way human beings see.  King Saul had been a successful leader according to human judgment.  But he failed to make proper sacrifices to God.  Instead of choosing offerings that were the choicest fruits and the best of the herd, Saul settled for a less than desirable sacrifice.  So God tells Samuel to go to an insignificant family in an insignificant village.  Even in Bethlehem, God sees differently than does Jesse.  Instead of choosing Eliab with his lofty stature, God instructs Samuel to choose the youngest boy, the shepherd David.  The spirit of the Lord rushes upon David when Samuel anoints him with oil.  That anointing signifies the healing of the body.  It is also a symbol of strength.  God has seen the truth about David.  As David grows and matures, he will prove his strength by defeating the mighty Goliath.  He will also provide proper worship for God. 

            In today’s Gospel, the man born blind eventually comes to see the truth about Jesus.  During this past year, the Elect preparing for the Sacraments of Initiation gradually have had their eyes opened to truth about Jesus the Christ.  During Lent, we anoint them with the Oil of the Catechumens on a weekly basis.  We ask the Lord to strengthen them to see the truth about Jesus Christ more clearly.  When they emerge from the waters of Baptism, they will be clothed with a white garment, indicating because they have put on Christ.  They will receive a candle lit from the Easter Candle, showing the truth that Saint Paul proclaims.  They will be light in the Lord.  Then they will be anointed with Oil in the Sacrament of Confirmation.  Because Chrism is mixed with the sweet perfume balsam, their anointing will suggest through the sense of smell that the Holy Spirit has rushed upon them with wisdom and strength.

            As these good people go through the Second Scrutiny, they remind us that we have been united with Christ through Baptism.  The Holy Spirit rushed upon us when we were confirmed with Chrism, sealing us with wisdom and strength.  When we priests were ordained, the Bishop anointed our hands with the sweet smelling Chrism.  That anointing reminds us that we stand in the person of Christ at the Altar to make an offering on the people’s behalf.

            The Lord chose us not according to our appearance, but because he has looked into our hearts.  The man born blind does not ask to be given his sight.  Jesus chooses him.  The man born blind cooperates with the grace given to him by going to wash in the Pool of Siloam.  When his neighbors ask how he came to see, he responds that the man called Jesus made clay and anointed his eyes.  He gradually opens his eyes and sees the truth about Jesus and worships him.  He becomes a disciple, much as our Elect will become his disciples at the Easter Vigil.

            We who have been baptized and anointed with the Holy Spirit must avoid the blindness of the religious authorities.  As the man born blind gradually begins to see more clearly the truth about Jesus Christ, they become more blinded to that truth.  We are often tempted to resist the promptings of the Holy Spirit to be wise and strong.  We can easily fall back into darkness.  We can fail to see Christ in the people and events around us.  We can choose to cling to the anger and resentments and divisions of these past two years.  We can fall back into destructive habits that separate us from the Lord and each other.  This second Scrutiny over the Elect strengthens them to see their past darkness as they approach the light of Christ.  In this Scrutiny, they urge us to expose our works of darkness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Instead of keeping things secret out of shame, we can expose our darkness to the bright fire of God’s compassionate and merciful love.  If we can be restored through God’s mercy as children of light, our community will be filled with goodness, righteousness, and truth. 

 

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT

20 MARCH 2022

 

          In the Ancient Middle East, men came to woo their perspective brides at wells.  Isaac met Rebekah at a well.  Isaac’s son Jacob met the love of his life, Rachel at a well.  Grateful for protecting his daughter at a well, the priest of Midian gave Zipporah to Moses in marriage.  Now, Jesus approaches Jacob’s well.  He has already revealed himself as the bridegroom when he changed water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana.  He is the faithful bridegroom who has the power to change the ordinary water of human love into the divine life of God.

            This bridegroom now courts an unlikely bride.  Some of the Fathers of the Church have called the Samaritan woman at the well a “half pagan harlot.”  Samaritans were enemies of the Jewish people, because their intermarriage with their Assyrian conquerors had introduced many pagan elements.  In his encounter with this prospective bride, Jesus speaks words of judgment.  She has been married five times.  Currently she is living with a man who is not her husband.  His judgment is honest and to the point, without being condemning or angry.

            Instead of rejecting her as being unworthy of his love, Jesus invites her to enter into a nuptial relationship with him.  Gradually, she responds positively to his invitation.  This woman represents us, the Church.  Over the centuries, Jesus has always loved his bride, the Church, despite the many scandals and sins and bitter divisions and infidelities of her members.  He continues to love us today, even in the midst of our present divisions and the scandals by those shepherds who have abused their sheep instead of caring for them.

            Convinced that Jesus is truly the Messiah for whom she had been waiting, he Samaritan woman shares in his mission of doing the will of the one who sent him.  She leaves her water jar at the well and goes into the town to proclaim the Good News to everyone she meets.  She invites them to respond to his invitation to enter into a nuptial relationship with him.  As his disciples return, wondering what happened, he invites his disciples to do the same, telling them that the fields are ripe for the harvest.  He gives us the same message.  The fields of our world are certainly ripe for the harvest.  Emerging from the worst of this pandemic, we have divisions and anger within our families, within our Church, and within our culture.  First, the bridegroom invites us to judge our own sins and failures.  Once we can be honest about ourselves, we can turn more completely to him during this Lent.  Then he sends us to do what he does for us.  We can embrace those who have become our enemies in the same way he has embraced us.  We can take the risks of reconciling with those with whom we disagree.  We can forgive those who have hurt us deeply.  As Christ’s bride, we can share that same nuptial love given to us.

            At the 10:00 Mass today, we pray the first Scrutiny over our Elect who are preparing for the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil.  Like the Samaritan woman at the well, they have come to recognize the nuptial love given to them by the bridegroom.  As they prepare to satisfy their deepest thirst by passing through the waters of baptism, they acknowledge the ways they have turned away from God.  In this first Scrutiny, we pray that they will be freed from whatever holds them back.  We ask the Lord to strengthen them in these final weeks before they complete their marriage with the bridegroom in the Sacraments of Initiation.     

            These good people are powerful examples to the rest of us.  Through Baptism, we have already accepted the Bridegroom’s invitation.  They invite us to acknowledge our own sins and give them over to the Lord’s judgment.  They invite us to renew our faith in the Church, despite the many sins of her members and even of her leaders.  They invite us to be sent on the same mission as the Samaritan woman and the first disciples:  to do the will of the one who sent him.

 

SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

13 MARCH 2022

 

          During Lent, we use the Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving as tools to help us turn more completely to the Lord.  We enter more deeply into a relationship with the Lord when we pray.  As we pray, we become more aware of the mystery of God, which keeps us in our human limitations from knowing God completely.  The vast mystery of God can make our faith frustrating.  Our scripture readings today provide insights into the journey to faith which involves trusting in God in both times of darkness and times of light.

            God gave Abram two promises.  Abram has already received the first of those promises.  He is living in the Promised Land.  But Abram has also spent decades in darkness, waiting for the granting of the other promise.  He has not been given a son.  As he advances in age, God’s promise seems to have faded.  But Abram trusts God’s promise that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky (pictured in the Covenant with Abram in our center aisle).  Abram expresses his faith in God’s promise by cutting up animals and putting the carcasses on either side of the road.  He walks between the animals, stating that he would rather be cut up like these animals than go back on his word.  Then God provides light for Abram under the appearance of a smoking fire pot and flaming torch passing through the carcasses.  God will not go back on his word.

            In today’s Gospel, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to the top of a mountain to pray.  He has just told his disciples the dark truth that he is called to be a suffering servant.  He will be executed like a common criminal and buried in a tomb, to be raised three days later.  In a blazing instant, the face of Jesus is changed in appearance.  His clothing becomes dazzling white.  In this mysterious light, he converses with Moses and Elijah, and he speaks of his exodus that he would accomplish in Jerusalem.

            Then they hear a voice from heaven.  They had already heard that voice at the Jordan when Jesus was baptized, calling Jesus “my chosen Son.”  They hear it again and are told to listen to him.  Only after the Lord’s death and resurrection would it occur to Peter, James, and John what happened on this mountain.  They have been given a glimpse into the mysterious light of the Lord’s true identity as God’s chosen Son.  They would understand that he has fulfilled the prophecy of the Law (Moses) and the prophets (Elijah).  However, on another hilltop outside of Jerusalem, Jesus would be hanging on a cruel cross in abject agony.  The heavens will fall silent.  Jesus will not be surrounded by Moses and Elijah.  He will be surrounded by two thieves.  There is no shining light – only complete darkness.        

In our journey of faith, we also go through times when there is great light.  In those times, we feel the Lord’s bright presence in our lives.  At other times, we are plunged in darkness, and the Lord seems to be distant or not present at all.  We can learn from the experience of Abram, who trusted the Lord’s promise even in the midst of the darkness of infertility.  We can learn from Peter, James, and John in their darkness.  They walked from the glory of the Mount of the Transfiguration to the horror of Mount Calvary.  Only then would they understand what Jesus meant by his exodus he would accomplish in Jerusalem.  In entering more deeply into prayer this Lent, we reflect on the bright moments of our relationship with Jesus Christ.  In fasting, we connect more readily with the darkness of so many people in the world who do not have enough to eat.  In almsgiving, we share the gifts we have been freely given by the Lord to bring a bit of light to those in need.  We continue to turn to the Lord.  We renew our faith in him, present both in those times of bright light and in those times of unbearable darkness.

 

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

6 MARCH 2022

 

          Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit, who had hovered above him in the form of a dove when he was baptized.  His identity is confirmed by the Father’s voice:  “This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”  Now the Holy Spirit leads his Beloved Son into the desert for forty days, where he is tempted by the devil.  Saint Luke uses the Greek word diabolos, which literally means the “slanderer” or “false accuser.”

            Not only is Jesus the Beloved Son of God, he is also a son of Adam.  Our first parents heard the half-truths of the slanderer and fell for his half-truths.  Eve saw that the forbidden tree was good for food.  It was a delight to her eyes.  The slanderer told her that it would make her wise.  As a result, they convinced themselves that God was withholding something from them.  Their disobedience introduced death, the ultimate separation from God.

            Jesus is also a descendent of his ancestors, who spent forty years in the desert going from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land.  They too were tempted, and failed each time.  When they complained that they had no food, God sent manna.  When Moses did not come down immediately from Mount Sinai, they doubted that God was with them and worshiped a golden calf of their own making.  When they won battles against their enemies, they forgot that God had been the source of their victory.

            In the desert, Jesus has fasted for forty days.  As a son of Adam, he is hungry and very vulnerable.  The slanderer exploits his weakness and tempts him to use his power as the Son of God to turn stones into bread.  Jesus resists the temptation, because his mission is to serve the needs of others, and not his own.  He resists the temptation to receive immediate power and glory, because this would be a shortcut to avoid the cross.  In resisting the third temptation, Jesus understands that his mission is not to be a showy demonstration of power.  The slanderer departs from him for a time, knowing that there will be other vulnerable moments when he can tempt Jesus to depart from the mission given him by his Father.  Jesus will resist all the temptations of the slanderer.  He will conquer the power of sin and death by entering into death himself.  Only after embracing his Father’s will and entering death will he receive dominion over all kingdoms of heaven and earth.

            The Holy Spirit has led us, the Church, who have become the Father’s beloved sons and daughters through Baptism, into this forty-day desert of Lent.  We are sons and daughters of Adam and Eve.  We are descendants of the Israelites in the desert.  We have believed the half-truths of the slanderer too often.  There is nothing wrong with physical pleasures in themselves.  But when we put all our energy into sensual gratification, we fall into gluttony and lust.  When we embrace power and riches as ends in themselves, we are prone to avarice and greed.  When ostentatious displays become our goal, we become prideful and full of ourselves.

            If we can embrace the Lenten disciplines for these forty days, we can learn to strengthen our faith and turn more completely to the Lord Jesus, who died and rose that we might have life.  When we fast, we learn to master a better sense of self-control.  When we give alms, we learn the lesson of detachment and avoid the temptation to create false needs.  When we pray, we humble ourselves before God, relying on his grace.  These disciplines are not intended to punish us for our sins.  Rather, they are intended to strengthen our wills to make choices that bring life and not death.  They can make us more resistant to the lies of the slanderer who takes advantage of us when we are vulnerable.  These disciplines are intended to prepare us to renounce the power of the slanderer and to affirm our faith in the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit at Easter.  

 

ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEDICATION OF SAINT PIUS X CATHOLIC CHURCH

27 FEBRUARY 2022

 

            When Jesus asks his disciples what others are saying about him, he is not surprised by their answers:  John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.  All these answers have a common denominator.  People expected the Messiah to be in the line of prophets who would speak God’s truth to his people.  However, Simon Peter gives the correct answer:  “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Simon Peter has not made a lucky guess.  Nor has he figured this out on his own.  As Jesus points out, it is his heavenly Father who has revealed this truth to him.  Jesus is not impressed with Peter because of any extraordinary intellectual abilities.  Nor is he impressed by any extraordinary holiness.  Peter has neither of these qualities.  When we read about Peter in the New Testament, it is clear that he often sticks his foot in his mouth.  The Scriptures also reveal the list of Peter’s sins.  He denies that Jesus should fulfill his mission as a suffering servant.  He takes his eyes off Jesus when he walks on the waters of the Sea of Galilee and sinks below the surface.  He falls asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus asks him to watch and pray with him.  Worst of all, he is consumed with fear and denies knowing Jesus three times.

Jesus is impressed with Peter’s profession of faith.  He has heard the Word of God.  He has also kept it close to his heart and pondered it.  He has come to believe that the promise God has made to his ancestors has been fulfilled in Jesus.  We assemble every Sunday in this church built of physical stones, because we are the spiritual stones built on the rock of Saint Peter’s profession of faith to do what Peter has done.  We listen to God.  We process our faith in his promise.  We become one body in the Eucharist.

The Prophet Ezekiel describes another sacred building built of physical stones.  He writes to his people while in captivity with them in Babylon.  They have lost their hope and have concluded that God has abandoned them. Their Temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed by the invading Babylonians.  However, he sees himself standing on the Mount of Olives across the Kedron Valley looking at a reconstructed Temple.  Knowing that the Temple represents God’s presence and love for his people, he sees life giving water flowing out of the Temple, bringing life to everything it touches.  God’s love even brings life to the Dead Sea, demonstrating God’s creative ability to restore the newness of the Garden of Eden.

We are here in this church built by the incredible generosity of so many people for the honor and privilege of praising God.  We ask for Peter’s intercession to do what he did in the presence of Christ, the Messiah.  The Lord is truly present in the Sacramental life of the Church.  Despite Peter’s weaknesses and failings, he gradually learned to surrender himself to the life-giving waters of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We can commit ourselves to imitate the model of our patron, Pope Saint Pius X to renew all things in Christ.  We can allow his life-giving waters to flow through us and from us to make a difference in our world torn apart by sin, division, hatred, and war.

On Wednesday, we will be marked with the ashes that commit us to spend the next Forty Days seeking to renounce our own wills and our own ways of doing things.  These Forty Days of grace can unite us more closely to the Mission of Jesus Christ.  As we use the tools of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we can answer the question Jesus had posed to Peter:  “Who do you say that I am?”  Like Peter, we can respond to conform ourselves more closely to the One who has given himself for us out of love.