EASTER SUNDAY OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD

31 MARCH 2024

 

            Mary of Magdala comes to the tomb early in the morning, while it is still dark.  The darkness is much more than the absence of the light of day.  In her personal darkness of grief and despair, she comes to complete the task of anointing the dead body of Jesus.  When she sees that the tomb is empty, she presumes that someone had stolen his body.  Then she runs to Peter and the Beloved Disciple, who run to the tomb.  Peter enters the tomb and remains in the darkness of his three-time denial of the Lord in the courtyard of the high priest.  The Beloved Disciple had been with the crucified Lord in the darkness of Good Friday.  He is the verge of believing that something remarkable has happened.  But there is still darkness, even for him.      

Earlier in the Gospel of Saint John, Nicodemus came to see Jesus “at night.”  He needed the cover of darkness to hide from the other members of the Sanhedrin his interest in hearing from this self-educated preacher from Galilee.  In the darkest of nights, Judas leaves the upper room to betray Jesus.  Saint John says, “And it was night.”

Today, we come to Mass knowing what Mary Magdalene and Peter and the Beloved Disciple did not know.  We know that the Lord has been raised from the dead.  But in professing our faith in the resurrection, we also bring our share of darkness.  We live in the darkness of a world where wars are claiming innocent lives.  Social media and twenty-four-hour news coverage reveal the darkness of a deeply divided nation and the challenge to distinguish between fake news and news that is accurate and factual.  In our Church, we suffer the darkness of division.  We struggle with our own individual forms of darkness – illness, the death of loved ones, the breaking up of relationships, the loss of trust, and much more.

Once we admit the many ways we dwell in darkness, we can take comfort in the witness of Mary Magdalene, Peter, the Beloved Disciple, and all the other eyewitnesses.  They did not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ because they saw an empty tomb.  They believed when they had personal experiences of the risen Christ, receiving his forgiveness, seeing his body transformed by the resurrection, and eating and drinking with him.  Those encounters moved them beyond their darkness.  We trust that what they experienced was true.  The news of the resurrection is not fake news.  These witnesses are credible.  Their lives were profoundly changed by their encounter with the risen Christ.  Most of them gave up their lives, because they were absolutely convinced that the Lord had been raised from the dead, never to die again.

Last night at the Easter Vigil, five people entered the baptismal font and emerged, one with Christ and his Church, with all their sins forgiven.  In the words of Saint Paul to the Colossians, they were raised with Christ.  They were sealed by the Holy Spirit in Confirmation and fed with the Body and Blood of Christ for the first time in the Eucharist.  That is why we renew our baptismal promises today.  In Baptism, we died with Christ and rose with him to new life.  We encounter his risen presence in this Eucharist.  We renounce those temptations to slip back into the darkness of unbelief three times.  We renounce sin, so we can live in the freedom of the children of God.  We renounce the lure of evil, so that sin may have no mastery over us.  We renounce Satan, the author and prince of sin and fake news. 

On Easter Sunday, we turn our backs on the lies of the Devil and renew our intention to share the life of the risen Christ, who is above.  Just as the light of a tiny candle dispels the total darkness of night, we can live in the light of the resurrection to give hope to those we love, to those we encounter, and to ourselves.  The Lord is truly risen from the dead.  He will never die again.  He will share his rising with us every time we share in his suffering and dying. 

 

EASTER VIGIL

30 MARCH 2024

 

            Very early when the sun had risen on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome come to the tomb to complete the anointing of the dead body of Jesus.  Those same three women had stood at the foot of the cross on that dark day before the Sabbath and witnessed the death of the one they loved.  But when they arrive at the tomb, they find that the stone had been moved away.  The tomb is empty.  A man dressed in white announces that the one whose crucifixion they had witnessed has been raised from the dead.  They are to go to Galilee to tell the disciples and Peter.  The risen Lord will go before them.

            This is the eighth day of a new creation.  In their journey to Galilee, they will encounter the risen Lord.  In that encounter, they will become convinced that he had been raised from the dead.  Their lives and the life of the entire world has been changed.  We are here tonight, because these women and the other disciples were credible witnesses.  Death is not the end for Jesus Christ.  They told the truth.  It was not fake news. 

            Gathered here in this Great Vigil, we are about to encounter his risen presence in the Sacramental life of the Church.  The Lord has just spoken to us in his Word (actually in lots of words!).  We now call forward the Elect.  They will encounter the risen Lord when they enter into the watery tomb.  They will be raised completely one with him in the Sacrament of Baptism.  Along with those who will be received into full Communion, they  will be sealed by the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation.  Then they and all of us will encounter his real presence in the Eucharist – in bread transformed into his Body and Wine transformed into his blood.

            Those earliest witnesses were correct.  Death is not the end.  He’s been raised from the dead and promises that we will share in his rising every time we share in his dying! 

 

 

PALM SUNDAY OF THE LORD’S PASSION

23 MARCH 2024

 

            Palm Sunday introduces us to a week filled with contrasts.  Those who shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David” today will yell “Crucify him” on Friday.  At the beginning of the Passion according to Saint Mark, the woman of Bethany empties the entire jar of expensive perfumed  oil on the head of Jesus.  On Friday, he will empty his entire life on the cross.  At the meal, he is surrounded by his disciples.  When taken away to a mock trial, Jesus is abandoned by all, signified by the man who runs away naked.  When he comes to Calvary, Jesus is stripped of his clothing and embraces the pain, nakedness, and horror of being crucified.  He completely empties himself, as Saint Paul reports in his Philippian hymn. 

In the trial before the Sanhedrin, Jesus testifies honestly about himself and is condemned to death.  A few yards below in the courtyard,  Peter testifies falsely about himself out of fear and is plunged into guilt and grief.  The Church is inviting us to admit the ways we imitate Peter and those who abandon him.  In humility and contrition, we can renew our trust in the power of Jesus Christ to forgive us and save us.  As a faithful Jew, Peter knows the custom of praying at certain hours – 9:00 in the morning, noon, and 3:00 in the afternoon to sanctify time itself.  In the Passion, Jesus is crucified at 9:00.  Darkness covers the land at noon.  At 3:00, he delivers over his Spirit.  We sign ourselves at 12, 6, 3, and 9.  Through the cross, Christ has entered and sanctified all eternity and every hour of our being.

Holy Mother Church invites us to observe sacred time during the Sacred Paschal Triduum to enter into these mysteries in a deeper way.  Please join us in this shortest and most important Liturgical Season, beginning on Holy Thursday evening and concluding on Easter Sunday evening.  Details are in the bulletin and online.  You will not be disappointed.

 

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT

17 MARCH 2024

 

            Saint Paul writes to the Romans to tell them that they are no longer in the flesh.  Those in the flesh cannot please God.  Those in the spirit are joined to the Body of Christ when they are baptized.  In contrasting flesh with spirit, Saint Paul is not saying that our bodies are bad and our souls are good.  Those in the flesh cannot recognize any reality beyond what they experience with their five senses.  Those in the spirit, on the other hand, have come to believe in what is beyond their senses:  God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit inviting them to put their trust in much more than they could ever experience with their senses.  Those in the spirit accept the Paschal Mystery and are confident that they too can share in the greatest Mystery:  the resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ.

            Today, Jesus works his seventh and greatest miracle in the Gospel of John.  Even though he loves his friend, Lazarus, he waits two more days before going to Bethany.  When he arrives, Martha, the sister of Lazarus, chides him for not being there.  Good friends can yell at another.  Her sister, Mary, joins her with the same rebuke.  When Jesus asks her, Martha says that she believes that Jesus is the resurrection and the life.  After grieving over the death of his friend, Jesus prays to the Father and calls Lazarus from the tomb.  Not too much later, Jesus will enter that same death.  Unlike Lazarus, who must die again, Jesus will have his trust in the Father rewarded by being raised from the dead, never to die again.

            At the 10:00 Mass today, we celebrate the third and last Scrutiny with our Elect.  We will lay hands on them and pray that they will be protected from the temptations of the devil. In their year-long formation, they have been preparing to die to the flesh when they enter into the watery tomb of baptism.  As they emerge, they will share fully in the person of Jesus Christ.  One with Christ through his Spirit given in Confirmation, they will share his promise of resurrection. 

            It is important for the rest of us to hear today’s readings and deepen our faith as we prepare to renew our baptismal promises at Easter. Saint Paul says that even though the promise of the resurrection is given to us in baptism, the effects of the promise are not guaranteed.  We can turn our backs on that promise and return to living in the flesh.  That is why we embrace the disciplines of Lent to turn our faith more completely to the One who was raised from the dead.

            When we pray the Nicene Creed, we reaffirm our faith in the promise of our bodily resurrection.  Father Alexander Schmemann helps us to clarify what Saint Paul is talking about and how to understand the importance of our bodies as we grow in faith.  “In the long and difficult effort of spiritual recovery, the Church does not separate the soul from the body.  The whole person has fallen away from God; the whole person is to be restored, the whole person is to return.  The catastrophe of sin lies precisely in the victory of the ‘flesh’ – the animal, irrational, the lust in us – over the spiritual and the divine.  But the body is glorious, the body is holy, so holy that God himself ‘became flesh.’  Salvation and repentance then are not contempt for the body or neglect of it, but restoration of the body to its real function as the expression and the life of the spirit, as the temple of the priceless human soul.”

            As members of the Body of Christ, we use our Lenten disciplines of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving to draw us away from the animal, irrational, and lust in us to embrace more fully the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Two weeks ago, the woman at the well taught us that Jesus Christ is the Way.  Last week, the man born blind showed us Christ as the Truth.  Today, Lazarus reveals Christ as the Life.  Jesus promises resurrection.  We must remain open to that promise.

 FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT

10 MARCH 2024

 

            In his Letter to the Ephesians, Saint Paul reminds them that they were once darkness.  Once they were baptized, their identity was fundamentally changed.  As members of Christ’s Body, they are now light in the Lord.  That light does not come from within them.  It comes from their union with Jesus Christ, the light of the world.  It shines through them when they keep their baptismal promises.  He warns them to live their identity and avoid slipping back into darkness.

           We do not know the name of the man born blind from birth in today’s Gospel.  However, he has spent his entire life in darkness.  Just as God had formed Adam from the clay of the earth, Jesus makes clay out of his life-giving saliva and rubs it on the man’s eyes.  After being sent to wash in the Pool of Siloam, he comes back able to see. 

            When the disciples ask why the man was born blind, Jesus tells them that it does not matter.  What matters is that Jesus has made him see.  But then the man gets hassled.  He tells his neighbors that he had been blind, but that Jesus healed him.  They take him to the Pharisees, who argue with each other whether Jesus is from God or not.  Next, the Pharisees interrogate his parents, who do not answer their questions for fear of being kicked out of the synagogue.  Next, he faces the harsh interrogation of the Pharisees, who throw him out, because he insists that Jesus must be from God.  Finally, he sees Jesus with his physical eyes.  Jesus reveals himself to this man who is no longer blind.  His identity is fundamentally changed.  He worships Jesus and becomes a person who is able to see the truth about Jesus Christ.

            At the 10:00 Mass, we celebrate the Second Scrutiny with our Elect, as they prepare to receive the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil.  To use Saint Paul’s analogy, they had been darkness.  They may have been able to see with their physical eyes.  But their eyes of faith have been gradually opened during their yearlong formation to see the truth about Jesus Christ.  Once they are baptized, their identity will be fundamentally changed.  They will become one with Christ to allow his light to shine through them.  In the Scrutiny, they are not harshly interrogated in the way that the Pharisees grilled the man born blind.  The celebrant  calls them forward with their sponsors.  He prays over them and lays his hands on their heads.  The Scrutinies are celebrated in order to deliver the elect from the power of sin and Satan, to protect them from temptations, and give them strength in Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life.  They are intended to continue their conversion and deepen their resolve to hold fast to Christ the light and to carry out their decision to love God above all as children of the light.

            As the Elect prepare for the Sacraments of Initiation, we the baptized need to hear these readings.  Even though we became light when we were baptized, we sometimes slip back into darkness.  In our sins, we lose the ability to see as God sees.  We become like Jesse, who makes judgments based only on physical stature.  We make our own judgments instead of trusting in God’s judgment.  The Church does not celebrate the Scrutinies with us.  Instead, she gives us the  Sacrament of Reconciliation to heal our spiritual blindness so we can see more clearly with eyes of faith.  Restored to the fundamental way we have been changed at Baptism, the light of Christ can shine more clearly through us as we prepare to renew our Baptismal promises at Easter.

            Last week, the woman at the well taught us that Jesus is the Way.  Today, we learn that Jesus is the Truth.  Next Sunday, Lazarus will help us understand that Jesus is the Life.  The Season of Lent helps the Elect to fully embrace the Lord as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  Lent invites the rest of us to examine our consciences and admit the ways we do not see in faith.  Come to the Lenten Penance Service on Tuesday to be conformed more fully into being light.      

 

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT

3 MARCH 2024

 

          In his letter to the Romans, Saint Paul speaks of God’s incredible love poured out into our hearts.  This love has been given to us through the Holy Spirit.  We have not earned this love.  We do not deserve this love.  In fact, the most remarkable manifestation of this love is expressed in the willingness of Jesus Christ to die for us, even though we are sinners.

            In the Gospel, Saint John uses the story of the woman at the well to present this incredible gift of God’s love being poured out for us.  Jesus approaches an unnamed woman, a hated Samaritan who comes to the well at noon to avoid the other women.  He treats her with respect, even though Jewish men would never converse with Samaritan women.  After asking her for a drink from the well, Jesus speaks of the life-giving water that he will give.  As they talk, she is amazed that Jesus does not condemn her for her previous six husbands.  He is the seventh bridegroom who truly loves her and who will satisfy her deepest thirsts.  She gradually comes to believe that he is the long-promised Messiah.  She leaves her jar, her most valuable possession, to bring the good news to the rest of the town.

            This is what has been happening to our Elect.  They have been meeting for months to explore the possibility that Jesus Christ is inviting them to have his life-giving love poured out to them in Baptism.  They have received catechesis.  They have learned that God has always poured out his love.  That is the point of the first reading from the Book of Genesis.  When the Israelites are complaining because they have no water, Moses strikes the rock to provide water.  Instead of throwing rocks at Moses, the pouring out of water tells them that God has not abandoned them and continues to pour out his love for them.  The Elect have prayed together and with us at Mass.  They have been formed into the traditions of the Church.  Bishop Rhoades elected (or chose) them to spend this Lenten Season as a time of Purification and Enlightenment to prepare for the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil.

            At the 10:00 Mass, we celebrate the First Scrutiny.  Of all the Rites of the Church, the Scrutinies are the most misunderstood.  In English, we tend to think of “scrutiny” as a form of harsh interrogation.  That is not what happens.  The priest calls the Elect forward with their sponsors.  He prays over them and lays his hands on their heads.  The Scrutinies are celebrated in order to deliver the elect from the power of sin and Satan, to protect them from temptations, and give them strength in Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life.  The Scrutinies are intended to complete the conversion of the Elect and deepen their resolve to hold fast to Christ and to carry out their decision to love God above all.    

            The Scripture Readings for these three Sundays have been used for centuries to purify and enlighten the Elect during Lent.  That is why we switch to the A Cycle readings, because we are a parish preparing these good people for the Sacraments of Initiation.  Even though we celebrate the Scrutinies only at the 10:00 Mass, all of us baptized people hear these readings as a way of reflecting on our own preparations to renew out Baptismal promises at Easter.  The love of Jesus Christ may have been poured out in our hearts at Baptism.  But, we have not always lived our baptismal promises.  We have tried to satisfy our thirst with lots of other stuff.  We embrace the disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving to empty ourselves of those ways that do not ultimately satisfy.  We join the woman at the well and our Elect in renewing our desire to be reconciled to Jesus Christ, who is the Way.  Next Sunday, we join the man born blind to see Jesus as the truth.  On the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Lazarus teaches us to see Jesus as the life.  Jesus is the way, the truth, and the light.  Lent invites us to embrace him more completely.