PALM SUNDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD

28 MARCH 2021

 

          When Saint Paul wrote to the Church in Philippi, he knew that there were divisions and conflicts within the community.  So he tells them to imitate the example of Jesus Christ.  Unlike our first parents who grasped at equality with God, Jesus emptied himself of his equality with God, took the form of a slave, and remained obedient, even to the point of death.

            This magnificent Philippian hymn sets the stage for Holy Week.  We begin Holy Week by adding our voices to those in Jerusalem proclaiming “Hosanna,” welcoming Christ as our beloved king.  We sing “Hosanna” when we welcome the stranger in our midst, feed the hungry, or care for those in need.  But we also cry “Crucify him” when we fail to do these things.

            Holy Week unveils the drama of the central Mystery of our faith.  Holy Week invites us to put ourselves into the details of the Lord’s passion, death, and resurrection.  At times, we are formed to do the right and just things, even when we do not understand.  In those cases, we are like the unnamed woman who shatters the alabaster jar to “waste” expensive oil to anoint Jesus. But at other times, we betray Jesus with our actions, like Judas Iscariot.  Or we are like Peter, James, and John, unable to stay awake during our watch.  Sometimes we are like Peter, very sure of our faith until we are tested.  More often than we care to admit, we are like Pilate, longing for justice but following the crowd.

            The readings of Palm Sunday set the stage for our participation in this Mystery this week.  Lent ends when we enter into the Triduum with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Thursday evening.  Please join us for the major Triduum Liturgies.  We have gone to great lengths to accommodate the crowds while still observing the pandemic protocols.  You can also follow all the Liturgies online. 

 

 

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT

21 MARCH 2021

 

          Jesus has an important conversation today with a higher authority:  his heavenly Father.  After the stone had been rolled away from the tomb of Lazarus, he addresses his Father:  “Father, I thank you for hearing me.  I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”  Then he cries out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”  When the dead man emerges from his tomb tied hand and foot with burial bands, with his face wrapped in a cloth, Jesus commands that he be untied him and let go.

            On Good Friday, Jesus has a conversation with another higher authority:  Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor.  Pilate says to him, “Do you not speak to me?  Do you not know that I have power to release and I have power to crucify you?”  Jesus answers him, “You would have no power over me if it had not been given to you from above.  For this reason the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”

            In both cases, Jesus confronts death head on.  He knows the horror of death.  He has already expressed his hatred of death by being deeply perturbed and weeping at the tomb of Lazarus.  After being addressed by his Son so that the crowd would believe, the Father raises Lazarus.  Despite Pilate’s cowardly refusal to listen to him, the Spirit raises Jesus from the dead.  Death loses both times.

            Death always brings pain and grief.  But death loses.  The Elect have come to believe that truth in their formation through the RCIA this past year.  As we pray the third Scrutiny over them at the 10:00 Mass, they will be strengthened to approach the waters of Baptism at the Easter Vigil.  They will emerge from that watery tomb with all their sins forgiven, completely one with Christ.  They trust what Saint Paul tells the Romans in the second reading:  “If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit dwelling in you.”

            In his conversation with Martha, Jesus does not tell her that the resurrection is an event that will occur in the distant future.  He tells her that he is the resurrection and the life now.  He promises her that those who believe in him, even if they die, will live.  We already share in his risen life through our baptism.  Only the burial bands of sin can separate us from his risen life.

            It is important to hear this message as we prepare to renew our faith in the resurrection at Easter.  In these final weeks of Lent, we must find ways to turn crucifixion into resurrection now.  We can roll away stones by giving the Lord’s mercy to others.  As Jesus orders Lazarus to be unwrapped with burial bands, we can breathe forgiveness to those who hurt us, just as the risen Christ will breathe forgiveness to the disciples who abandoned him.  We can expose the darkness of our prejudices and tendencies to isolate ourselves to the bright light of the Lord’s love.  We can die to our need for control and embrace the Lord’s call to embrace the will of the Father.

            Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead and instructs those around him to untie him and set him free.  The religious authorities respond to this miracle by resolving to put him to death.  They fear that if this final sign causes all to believe in him, the Romans will take away their land and nation.  The high priest Caiaphas tells the Sanhedrin:  “… it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish.”  He is speaking selfishly of the power of the chief priests, who are aligned with the Romans.  Ironically, his words are truer than he could ever imagine.  When the Spirit frees Jesus from death, no one has to untie his burial bands.  They are wrapped up in the corner of the tomb on Easter Sunday.  He has died for the sake of all nations, and he will never die again.

 

FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT

14 MARCH 2021

 

          At the beginning of his Gospel, Saint John reveals that Jesus is the light sent into the world to dispel its darkness.  Today, Jesus displays that truth to those gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.  During this harvest festival, faithful Jews would build tents in their fields to commemorate the journey of their ancestors from slavery to freedom in the desert, where they lived in tents. On this feast, the priests would bring water from the Pool of Siloam and pour it over the altar in the temple brightly lit with hundreds of candles and torches.

            Jesus chooses to work a miracle (or “sign”).  He passes by a man born blind from birth with his disciples.  Instead of debating about the origins of his blindness, Jesus points out that his blindness will become an opportunity for him to manifest God’s work.  Jesus takes the initiative, because the man does not ask to be healed.  By forming clay from the earthly materials of spit, water, and mud to smear on the man’s eyes, he manifests the truth of the Incarnation.  Jesus, the Son of God has a human body formed by the clay used by his Father to fashion our first parent.  He tells the man to go to the Pool of Siloam.  The man obeys and comes back able to see.

            This sign is visible to everyone.  Like the other six miracles in the Gospel of John, this sign has the power to give authority to the person of Jesus.  It can bring people to faith in Jesus.  It can teach the truth about the Incarnate Word of God and his power to bring light in the midst of darkness.  But the effectiveness of the miracle depends on the openness of people to accept it.

            We see the variety of responses in what happens next.  His neighbors ask a question. Is this the same man who lived among them or someone who looks like him?  The man insists that he is the same person.  He cannot answer their questions about how he was healed.  But he knows that Jesus did it.  Then the Pharisees, the religious leaders, get involved.  Some of them accept the sign.  Others insist that Jesus is a sinner, because he healed the man on the Sabbath.  The light of the world is already bringing about a judgment.  So they drag in his parents.  Afraid of being expelled from the synagogue, they refuse to get involved.  Finally, the religious leaders drag in the anonymous man to grill him.  In contrast to the fearfulness of his parents, he has the courage to speak the truth.  Once he has been expelled, he comes to see Jesus as the Incarnate Son of God, the true light sent to dispel the darkness of the world.

            During this past year, our Elect have been faithful to the Tuesday evening RCIA sessions and have followed the path to faith of the man born blind.  Their eyes have been opened to the truth about Jesus Christ.  They acknowledge him as the Light of the world.  They have turned away from other “lights” that have not saved them from darkness.  They look forward to the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil, when they will be freed from sin and receive the Light of Christ.  At the 10:00 Mass today, we will pray the second scrutiny over them and ask the Lord to continue to open their eyes to the presence of the Light of the world in their midst.

            Saint Paul reminds the rest of us that we have been enlightened when we were baptized.  We have not always lived our baptismal promises.  We have easily slipped back into darkness with our bad choices and sins.  Like Jesse, we have too often judged other people by outward appearances, instead of seeing them as God sees them.  As we pray for the Elect, we can allow the Lord to shine more brightly through us by receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  We can bring our deeds of darkness into the light of the Lord’s mercy and judgment.  We will be much more ready to renew our baptismal commitments at Easter.

 

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT

7 MARCH 2021

 

          Water plays an important role in the Exodus story.  It symbolizes the freedom of the Israelites as they leave their slavery in Egypt and are sent into the desert to learn how to grow in relationship with God.  The infant Moses had been saved from death when his mother hides him in a papyrus basket on the Nile River.  The adult Moses confronts Pharaoh with the first of the ten plagues when he uses his staff to turn the water of the Nile into blood.  Moses dramatically leads his people through the waters of the Red Sea, which saves his people and drowns the Egyptian army pursuing them.  Throughout their forty-year journey in the desert, water plays a powerful role in their growing understanding of their relationship with God. 

            In today’s reading from the Book of Exodus, they complain about their thirst for water and accuse Moses of leading them into the desert to die.  Moses strikes the rock with his staff, causing water to flow to quench their thirst.  Despite the many times that God had proven his faithfulness, their fidelity is weak.  They are easily distracted from God’s providence.  But, God displays the gift of mercy in abundance, like a stream of flowing water that never runs dry.  Saint Paul speaks of this mercy incarnate in Jesus Christ and compares his grace to water being poured out into our hearts.

            When Jesus approaches Jacob’s well, he is thirsting for much more than a drink of water.  He is thirsting for the faith of this anonymous woman who represents the outcast Samaritans.  Just as his ancestors had courted their brides at this well, Jesus is the faithful bridegroom who courts the Samaritans.  He knows that they had chased after six false gods in the course of their occupations by foreign powers.  During their conversation, this woman responds to the courtship of the bridegroom.  At first, she sees him as a kind man who treats her with respect.  Then she recognizes him as a prophet, who speaks the truth with love.  Finally, he reveals to her that he is the Christ, the promised Messiah.  With her thirst for God satisfied, she leaves her most prized possession (her water jar) and becomes the first evangelist and spreads the Good News to her fellow Samaritans.  They trust her witness and come and see for themselves.

            The Elect of our parish are also thirsting for water.  After meeting every Tuesday night for the past year, they have come to understand that their thirst for God’s grace in their lives will be satisfied when they pass through the waters of Baptism at the Easter Vigil.  They have come to understand that the love of God, poured out into their hearts, will release them from all past sins and free them to embrace the Lord’s Sanctifying Grace in their lives.

            At the 10:00 Mass this morning, we prayed the first Scrutiny over them.  When we hear that word, we think that these poor people are being dragged to the front of church to be grilled about their past lives.  However, the three Scrutinies acknowledge the reality of sin in our world.  They acknowledge the truth that Satan does not want anyone else to be conformed to Christ in Baptism.  The Scrutiny invites the Elect to continue to turn away from whatever might lead them away from Christ and look forward to the grace of Christ poured into them in baptism.

            The Scrutinies teach a lesson to us who are baptized.  Like the Israelites wandering in the desert, we have experienced the water of God’s grace and love in the waters of Baptism.  Like them, we are easily distracted from God’s providence.  We constantly seek to satisfy our thirst for God in many other ways.  That is why we use this cycle of readings for these three Sundays of Lent.  They invite us to scrutinize our lives, name our sins, and turn more completely to the Lord.  Through the Lenten disciplines, we can express our awe and gratitude at the Lord’s presence in our lives.  Like the Samaritan woman, we can bring this Good News to others.