Easter Sunday!
Beloved in the Lord: Jesus Christ is Risen! Happy Easter!
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Today is Easter, and if Good Friday was a day of sorrow, then today is a day of Victory. Christ has won the victory for mankind; for you and for me. This victory in which we bask today, is a victory over sin, and death, and Satan, and the story of this victory goes back to the dawn of the human race.
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The first man and woman were created in a state of happiness. But then came temptation by that fallen angel: ‘Follow me,’ he says, I will make you happier.’ So our race fell into the trap, and we became slaves to the Ancient Serpent. ‘You are mine now, you fools,’ ‘you are under my power,’ he says. and the devil was happy about it.
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Originally, death had been unknown to us, but now our race is subject to death. Satan became prince of this world, he is a heavy taskmaster. But the Good God did not give up on us. He promised a Savior, who would bring us back, out of this slavery. The Lord had a master-plan to overthrow the devil. And so he sent his own Son secretly into the world as one of us.
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From the moment Christ was born, the Ancient Enemy was suspicious: This Christ, just might be the promised Messiah, and that meant all out warfare. So he tempted the Lord in the desert – tried to figure out who he is. He whispered to King Herod: ‘kill the child. He whispered to the Pharisees: ‘he is a threat to you.’ To Judas: ‘get rid of him.’
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The devil was determined to destroy this Messiah, so that his slaves would be his forever. To Pontius Pilate, and to the crowds he whispered: ‘Jesus must die! And so Christ on Good Friday was nailed to the Cross. That day it seemed to be a defeat for Christ, but actually, it was a trap for the devil.
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An artist once painted the famous Merode alterpiece in Belgium. And in this painting, we see St. Joseph. Now St. Joseph in the scriptures, is a symbol for God the Father. And in this painting, St. Joseph, who is a carpenter – who works in wood – he is depicted, as making a special mouse-trap. He is making this mousetrap out of wood – to catch the Mouse. Who is the ‘Mouse, that he will catch? It is the devil.
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And so Joseph, or really, God the Father, is making a trap, to catch the Mouse. St. Augustine says this: ‘What is this trap, made by a Carpenter – who works in wood? ‘God’s Trap for the devil, is the Cross.
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And who is the bait, placed on the Trap? It is Jesus, he himself becomes the bait. As St. Anselm says, Jesus is the ‘sweet bait, by which He will catch the devil.
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And so, intoxicated with pride, the devil makes a huge mistake; he became reckless, and in his frenzy to condemn Christ, he put the sins of the entire world onto an innocent man – but he had no right, he had no rightful authority over the innocent Son of God. The devil took the bait. Hook, line, and sinker.
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At the death of Christ, the devil jumped for joy. ‘I’ve won! ‘I’ve won.’ ‘The Christ is beaten, and these slaves are mine forever.’ But he would have a great surprise, on the 3rd Day – that is today. Mary Magdalene came to the tomb. And the stone is rolled away! ‘What is this, says Satan?’ ‘Something is wrong.’ And Mary looks into the tomb – and no body. And the angel says: he is not here! He is risen!!
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‘Risen?’ And that word rings in the devil’s head: ‘Risen? That’s impossible? He was brutally crucified, I saw to that! ‘Risen? Then I have been defeated.
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Yes says Jesus. You have lost. Sin, and death, and you, have been conquered Now give me what I want! – What do you want? He wants us. ‘Give me now, my children!! All of them!’
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And as it is written… ‘The great dragon was cast down, the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who leads astray the whole world; and he was cast down, and I heard a voice in heaven say, ‘Now has come the salvation, and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of Christ; for the accuser of our brethren has been cast down. And they overcame him through the blood of the Lamb. Therefore rejoice O heavens. Rejoice.’ (Rev 12:9-12)
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Our sins are forgiven, and Christ has saved the world. So let us love Jesus and Mary and become saints for Christ; praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen. +
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. Paul]
Holy Thursday
Beloved in Jesus Christ, tonight we celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper; we commemorate that night, when Christ the Lord gave us the Holy Mass, his Sacred Body and Blood.
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Jesus said that he would be with us all days, even to the end of the world, and this is how he has done it, in Holy Communion.
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Our first reading today was of the Passover, when the perfect, unblemished Lamb was sacrificed, and then the people ate the Lamb – they participated in that sacrifice. As we know, this was a sign, pointing forward to the New Testament, to the Holy Mass; Christ is the True Lamb of God, offered for us; and when we eat the Lamb, we are participating in this Sacrifice, in the very life of God.
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The Passover foreshadowed the Holy Eucharist, but there are so, so-many places in the Scriptures, where this Holy Banquet is signified. In the Old Testament, we see that, Melchizedek offered Bread and wine; this was a sign of the Holy Eucharist some 2000 years before Christ, and we still recall it in Eucharistic Prayer I.
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The miraculous manna, that white, thin, bread-like food by which God fed his people on their desert journey – it was a sign of the coming Bread of Life.
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There was, at the time of Elijah, the miraculous bread, by which the woman and her son were saved from famine.
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The thin, round, bread used in the holy temple, along with wine, was changed by the priests every week; this too foreshadowed the Holy Banquet here on our altars, that Jesus would give us.
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In so many ways and signs, the Bible is literally loaded with references to this most Holy Sacrifice. If we consider also the New Testament – Look at when Christ multiplies the loaves to feed 5000 people, this is most certainly a Eucharistic Sign. It says, he ‘blessed, broke, and gave then to the disciples. These are special words: blessed, broke, and gave – these were the words used in the early Church to refer to the Mass. And notice, Our Lord did not himself give the miraculous bread to the people, he told his disciples, his first priests, ‘YOU give it to them.’ And His priests still do this today.[i]
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In the 24th chapter of the gospel of St. Luke, we see there that after Jesus had risen, he appeared to two disciples, and it says they finally ‘recognized him in the Breaking of the Bread,’ and then he disappeared. The ‘Breaking of the Bread’ was another phrase referring to the Mass in the early Church. Notice that Jesus disappeared – he is teaching that he is now with us in a new way: under the appearance of Bread, in the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, and this is how he stays with us through all time.
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A final example, of images in Scripture: In Acts of the Apostles, we read that when St. Paul was on a boat, caught in a terrible storm, the men think they will all die, they want to abandon ship. But St. Paul says, ‘Unless you stay in the boat, you will all die.’ This means, you have to stay in the boat – in the Church; the boat is a symbol in the scriptures of the Church, the ‘Barque of Peter.’ Then what does St. Paul do? It says: He took bread, and giving thanks, broke it, and they ate. And in the end, they were all saved.
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Friends, the Great Sacrament we commemorate tonight, is to be found everywhere in the Holy Bible. Scripture was written in a special way, with lots of signs and images, so that those who do not have the True Catholic Faith, will not understand many of it’s profound teachings. But we DO understand, because we are of the Faith.
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The Holy Eucharist, the Mass, is the center of our life, it is our salvation, and that is why it is to be found, sometimes clearly, often hidden, throughout the Holy Text. Our Lord said that this is the Bread that has come down from heaven, he says ‘it is my flesh.’ Many did not believe, and they no longer walked with him. But we believe.
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Lord, help us to love Thee in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar; O Lord, give us this day, our daily Bread.
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[i] We can see also, that after multiplying the loaves, the apostles are in a boat, there is a storm, they are afraid. The boat is a sign of the Church. Jesus comes to them, walking on the sea, and when he gets into the boat the storm ceases. It says, they had not understood about the loaves of bread. The meaning is: when Jesus comes into the boat, into the Church, we are safe from the storms. Jesus comes into the boat in the miraculous bread, every Mass.
Friends in Christ, tomorrow begins the Sacred Triduum; this is when Jesus will reveal God’s love poured out for us.
St. Augustine says, that God, in order to captivate the love of mankind, has shot several arrows of love into their hearts. What are these arrows that God has shot forth? They are firstly, all the beautiful things we see around us in creation. The lovely earth, living creatures, the summer trees and blue sky- all these, that man might love him. Says Augustine, ‘O Lord, heaven and earth and all things, tell me to love Thee.’
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When St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi would hold in her hand a fruit or a flower, she would say that they were like many darts into her heart, to wound her with the love of God.
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St. Teresa said that all the fair things we see, the lakes, the rivers, the birds – all are tokens of the love God bears us.
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But God was not satisfied with these arrows into our heart only; the choicest arrow he had reserved, and it is shot forth to wound us; God’s final and best arrow is Jesus Christ. And this is referred to by the Prophet Isaiah: ‘ Hear O islands; listen O distant peoples. The Lord called me from birth, he has made me a polished arrow, and in his quiver he hid me.’
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Cardinal Hugo says, that as the sportsman keeps in reserve the best arrow for the last shot, in order to catch his prey, so did God among all his gifts, keep Jesus in reserve until the fullness of time should come, and then he sent him as a last arrow, to wound with love the hearts of men. And this love is revealed in the events of the Sacred Triduum beginning tomorrow.
Friends in Christ, in the gospel yesterday, we saw that Judas was complaining about the waste of money, in the anointing of Jesus. He said, the money could have been used to help the poor. But he was not really concerned about the poor; something else was eating him inside.
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Why did Judas betray Christ? Was it love of money? Was it disillusionment? Was he frustrated that Jesus had not led a rebellion against the Romans? Was it ambition? We don’t know.
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Some say he was possessed by the devil, and that would seem likely, for scripture says ‘the devil put it into the heart of Judas to betray Christ,’ and also, we read today that at the Last Supper ‘Satan entered into him.’ But possession by the devil begins with a desire for evil and sin.
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Some have asked: wasn’t this part of the plan of God? Then Judas had no choice? It had to happen this way? And this brings us to the question of grace versus free-will.
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God desires that all people be saved. He offers to all, adequate grace to be saved. No exceptions. But we must cooperate with this grace, we must accept it and act on it – its our choice. The Lord sent many graces to Judas in his life. Judas heard Christ preach often about forgiveness. He heard the Lord himself speak about how the love of money ruins a person. Judas saw thousands of people cured, and Lazarus raised from the dead. These are called ‘external graces,’ but Judas also would have many internal graces – promptings in the heart, inspirations to do good – just as we all receive. But he ultimately rejected God’s grace.
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God respects our free-will. We can reject his grace and choose the way of eternal death, but as long as we are alive, the Lord is offering us grace. Even as Judas hung himself, God offered his mercy to Judas in the last moments of life. Did he repent at the last moment at the end of the rope? We don’t know.
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It certainly is true however, that had Judas done what Peter did, and repent openly of his sin, we would be celebrating a feast-day during the year, of St. Judas. As the poet John Wittier wrote: The saddest words by tongue or by pen, are those words, what might have been.
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Let us include in our prayers this holy week, those many wandering and lost souls that the Lord is calling home by his grace. Let them be moved by the mercy of God which we will see this Good Friday on the cross.
Palm Sunday
Friends in Christ, today is Palm Sunday.
Today with our palms, we walk with Jesus as he enters the city. Jesus comes into the City hailed as king, as the Messiah.
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Now it is true, that in those days the Jewish people probably thought Jesus would be a warrior Messiah, who would raise an army against their enemy, the Romans. But Christ was trying to teach with signs, that they might understand what kind of Messiah he is. Riding the donkey was a sign of peace.
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St. Matthew tells us: ‘This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: ‘Say to daughter Zion, ‘Behold your king is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey.’ The King of heaven is coming in peace, he is not coming for war.
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In the ancient Jewish Talmud a question asks: ‘Why doesn’t your Messiah come riding a horse?’ The answer: the horse is a sign of war, the donkey is a sign of peace. Therefore, it was said that a king came riding upon a horse when he was planning war, and upon a donkey when he was coming in peace.
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In the Talmud it was also written, that the Messiah would appear as a poor man on a donkey only if the people were not worthy of salvation. The truth is, that none of us are worthy of salvation, and so Christ came on a donkey.
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In the Book of Revelation, that last book of the bible, we see images of the final judgment, the end of the world, when Christ will return, not in peace, but to judge, and definitively crush his enemies, at the final trumpet. ‘And I saw .. a white horse, and he who sat on it called Faithful and True, and .. he judges and wages war .. and the armies in heaven .. were following Him on white horses ..’ When Christ appears at the end of the world, it will be to judge, to vanquish his enemies; but today, the Lord comes on a donkey, which means he comes in peace. He is coming to die for you and for me.
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This is what we will remember in the coming days of Holy Week. Let us therefore walk with the Lord in his Passion, that we may celebrate his victory on Easter. The victory of all of us, and the hope of our own resurrection in the world to come.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. John of God]
Friends in Christ, in the final two weeks of Lent, it is a custom in the Church to cover the crucifix and the statues and the pictures in purple, as we have in our church. What is the meaning of the covering up of these images?
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Well, in the 9th century in some countries, a large, purple cloth was stretched out in front of the entire altar. No one could watch the Mass. The idea was, that we are all sinners, and so we will deprive ourselves of the joy of seeing the Holy Mass during Lent. This cloth was called the ‘hunger cloth,’ hungering for Christ. It was removed on Wednesday of Holy Week, when during the reading of the Gospel it says, ‘the veil in the temple was torn in two.’ Then the veil concealing the altar was removed.
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But the practice which we do today is linked to that of the Latin Mass. The two weeks before Lent have traditionally been called ‘Passiontide.’ Passiontide begins on Passion Sunday, in which the gospel says that the enemies of Christ picked up stones and were ready to stone him to death, but he hid himself. – Jesus hid himself. Therefore, from that time on, we hide all of the images of Christ.
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During the course of Lent, if we observe carefully, we will see that the Church herself experiences death with Jesus, leading up to Easter. As Lent begins, the Alleluia goes away, never to be heard again. Organ music ceases, beautiful flowers are removed, to be seen no more, and fasting begins. As we go further toward the Passion, statues and images are covered. We are deprived of all the joys, of even the smiling face of Mary.
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But this dying continues: On Holy Thursday, the altar is stripped, candles removed, bells are replaced with wooden clackers, the Eucharist is taken out of the church, and on Good Friday there is no Mass at all. When we begin the Easter Vigil, we are deprived even of light itself. total darkness. It is as if the Church herself were dead in the tomb with her Lord.
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Veiling of images reminds us again and again, that if Christ had not come, if he had not suffered for us and rose, there would be no salvation, no saints, no Blessed Mother, no hope at all.
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These days we share in the Passion and death of Christ, so that on Easter we may share with gratitude in his glorious Resurrection.
Friends in Christ,
Today is the feast of St. Patrick. We remember today the immigrants who brought the Catholic Faith to our country. Today it is Pol’s, and Mexicans, and Filipinos, and Indians, and others – the immigrants, but in the 19th century it was the Irish, who brought great faith and warm hearts to our land.
Now St. Patrick himself was actually not Irish! He was born in 390 to an aristocratic family in England. So he is from England, and he was named Patricius.
When he was only 9 years old, he was kidnapped by pirates and dumped in Ireland where he was a slave until age 15. Ireland was a land of the Druids and the worst in paganism. Filthy practices were common there, including bestiality. This is the world without God; a world not knowing Jesus Christ, or right from wrong, or even that heaven exists. Patrick felt compassion for these lost souls, and – in the time he was there in slavery he prayed a lot.
He later would write down in his notebook: ‘In those days, my faith grew, and my spirit was stirred up, so that in a single day I said as many as a hundred prayers, and I would often stay in the woods on the mountain and say another hundred prayers at night.. I awoke at dawn, no matter the weather. There was no lack of fervor in me in those days.’
After 6 years as a slave, he escaped and found passage back to England. He turned his back on the aristocratic life of his family, and trained to become a priest, and then he returned to Ireland.
An extremely sensitive person, Patrick’s heart nearly was breaking as he left his homeland. He went as a Bishop. He followed another who had been martyred a year earlier.
It was St. Patrick’s holiness, zeal, and miracles, that transformed an Island of Druids to an Island of Saints. It was his intense love of God which was the secret of the extraordinary impression he produced upon those he met. It is absolutely true, that in less than 30 years, he had converted all of Ireland to the Christian Faith. St. Patrick ordained over 5000 priests, and consecrated 350 bishops.
But a little known fact about St. Patrick is this: Many saints have done miracles, but no saint has raised as many people back from the dead as St. Patrick. No less than 39 times, he raised persons from the dead. He showed the people the promise of heaven. If that lovely Emerald Island, makes us think of heaven, then may St. Patrick today bring alive in us, a joy and a hope in the heavenly homeland ahead.
Friends in the Lord, St. Augustine once said, ‘Ask the kings and emperors and the rich and the learned, who have now passed into eternity – ask them what they now possess of their titles, their wealth, and their awards. They will all answer: ‘Nothing.’
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At a person’s death, we often speak of the great things a person acquired in life, but we should rather observe what he takes with him. When Pope Leo XI was dying, he said, ‘Oh, how much better it would have been for me to be a porter than a Pope.’
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Jesus says today to the Pharisees: ‘You belong to this world, that is why I told you, that you will die in your sins.’ We do not wish to die in our sins. Rather, we wish to work hard for the things that we can bring to the next world. Things of this world are here for us to use; they are not to become the objects of our happiness, because they come to an end.
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The famous Cornelius Lapide said, ‘The world is a stage, and we are actors.’ On this stage, one person plays the part of a CEO, another is a secretary, another is a senator or a teacher; in the drama of life – we each have a role. But when the show is over, the senator is no longer a senator, and the executive is no longer an executive – The scene has come to a close.
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Casimir, the king of Poland, at a party, raised up his cup in a toast and died while drinking it. The scene ended for him. 7 days after his election, Emperor Celsus was killed. The scene ended for him. King Ladislaus, while preparing to get married, died at age 18, the scene was over for him.
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Our life is a drama before God. It is our one chance to play our part, to act our role so as to glorify God. Lent has been a time for us to remind ourselves what is really worth living for. At the end of the play, we do not wish to be like that fool in the gospel who wanted to build more barns to store up his wealth: ‘You fool, don’t you know, your very life will be required of you tonight!’
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Jesus said to the Pharisees: ‘You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above.’ We too, must belong to what is above. As St. Teresa says, true life consists in living in such a way, that we will have nothing to fear at death. So let’s work for those things which will accompany us to the new world ahead, and which will make us happy for all eternity.
Friends in Christ, we have in the first reading today, this story about Susanna.
Susanna is in a garden when some wicked men full of lust, threaten her: They say that either she must sin with them, or else they will denounce her and she will be put to death. With her life on the line, Susanna refuses their demands, and indeed, they denounce her, and she is condemned to death.
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This story is actually a ‘replay,’ if you will, of the test in the Garden of Eden. Notice that Susanna is where? In a garden. She is tested – in a garden.
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In the Garden of Eden, it was Eve who was tested by the Devil, to see if she would be faithful to God under duress. Unlike Susanna, Eve gave in and sinned.
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Now God had foretold that there would be a Woman who would crush the devil’s head, who would be victorious. There are a number of images of this Woman in the Old Testament: Jael, Judith, Ester; Susanna is one of these images of the Woman to come, of Mary. It is interesting that Susanna’s husband was named, Joakim. And that was the same name of father of the Blessed Virgin as well.
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So here is Susanna. For resisting temptation, she is condemned to death. But along comes? Her Savior: Daniel. He takes those men apart separately, and asks: ‘Under which tree did this happen?’ Each answers a different tree. They are caught in their lie, and Susanna is saved. Daniel is an image of Christ, the Savior.
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God had foretold from the beginning that for that wicked Serpent, there would come a Woman and her Offspring, and by this, he would lose his head. This is why Daniel says of those enemies: ‘Your fine lie has cost you your head.’
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The events of our Redemption have been foretold centuries ago, under sign and symbol, including this story of Susanna. They show that God has had a plan for us all along.
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[Notice also that these events revolve around a Tree, and the same is true of Eve – it was the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil where that temptation happened. The Cross has been called the Tree of Life, and it is interesting that Mary is there at the crucifixion, under the ‘Tree.’ Remember that Susanna, in the garden, was there with her two ‘maids.’ We find Mary at the Cross with her two maids: Mary Magdalene, and Mary of Cleophas.]
Passion Sunday
Beloved in Jesus Christ,
In the Epistle today, St. Paul says that unlike the priests of olden times who entered the sanctuary to offer the blood of goats or calves, Christ has done something new. He has entered not an earthly sanctuary, but the heavenly; and not with the blood of animals which cannot take away sins, but with his own blood.
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Sin is the noxious poison that eats away at human life like a cancer. It is sin, that ruins happiness and joy in this life, and takes away hope in the next. All sin creates wounds to a certain extent, but if we think about certain sins, it’s easy to see the wounds and the damage on full display.
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Sins like calumny, whispering things about another, destroying their reputation. Or the sin of adultery, a sickening blow to one’s spouse and the children, turning a happy family into bitter tears.
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The ancient Jews and even today some Muslim societies prescribe stoning to death for this sin, because this crime is a horrible blow to family life. We may think that stoning is too harsh of a punishment, but actually, if the adulterer dies without repentance, his punishment will be much worse: Eternal Damnation; the bible is quite clear about this. But all sin wounds the world, our families, and ourselves.
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God however, in his Providence, did not want sin to have the last word. In the new dispensation, Jesus Christ comes to show us that sin – even very serious sin – can be overcome. By his bitter Passion – by God’s suffering on Calvary – he redeems us from sin, making it possible for a repentant sinner to be healed, and making forgiveness possible.
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When I was a young and naïve priest, an older couple asked if I could bless their marriage, since they’d been married for 60 years. I said, ‘Marvelous!, 60 wonderful years.’ But the man stopped me: ‘It was not all wonderful father,’ ‘There was infidelity, I was unfaithful, but I repented;’ and – as he looked at his wife he said – there was forgiveness.’ Holding hands, they tightened their grip, and she said: ‘Our love is stronger now, than ever before.’
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It is the Passion and death of Jesus Christ that makes it possible to conquer evil, that sin will not have the last word. Soon we will be in Holy Week, and we will walk with Christ in his Passion. This is really the reason that Jesus came into the world, to die for us, to save us, to change everything.
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Once upon a time, there was a great king, who had one, only son, so beautiful, so holy, so good, that he was the delight of his father who loved him as much as himself. Now this son of the king cared very much for one of his servants; so much so, that when that servant had committed a crime and was condemned to death for it, the son offered to die in the place of that servant.
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The father was sad, but he agreed, and allowed his son to be condemned to death in order that that servant might be free from the punishment he deserved; and so the son of the king died the miserable death of a criminal, out of love for that servant.
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Now this story is ridiculous and has never happened in the world and never will, but it is told to us in the Gospels; there we read that the Son of God, seeing that man was condemned to death as punishment for his sins, chose to take upon himself human flesh, and thereby, pay by his death, the penalty that we owed. This is the love of Jesus Christ for us; it shows us how much he has sought us out.
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Our Lord is called the good shepherd. One of those sheep goes straying off where it should not be; – that’s us – driven by curiosity and temptation, into sins of all kinds. Yet this dear shepherd leaves the beauty of heaven to search and search, until he finds us. Seeing that the wolf will kill that little lamb; he gives his life in exchange for the lamb, so the lamb may live. The heart of Jesus is so full of love that he never gives up on us.
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So what then must be our response? We must love Him with our whole heart. We must repent of our sins. We must forgive those who have trespassed against us. And above all, we must unite ourselves to Him daily; speaking to this dear Savior every day in our prayers.
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When we rise, we offer the day to God. We pray at meals and before bedtime: that’s 5 times. We should speak to Jesus often during the day, in our work and in our play. Read a little from the Holy Bible or a spiritual book. In this way, we remain united to the God who has died for us.
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St. Zeno says that Jesus Christ wanted to have for his earthly father a carpenter; he wanted this, so that he could learn carpentry, and thereby handle wood and nails. He says: ‘The Son of God took delight in carpentry work, which, by often using wood and nails, was reminded of the cross, by which he would save mankind.’
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Why did Jesus suffer scourging, thorns, mockery, and death for we ungrateful sinners? It was because he loves us. He saw us spoiled with sin, and made for us a bath in his own blood that we might be cleansed and become dear to God. Christ came upon the earth principally that we might know his love, be forgiven, and ourselves forgive. We then, must return that love by living the Gospel and by praying every single day of our life….. and praying to Mary too!
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The Blessed Virgin was at the cross at the moment of our redemption.
The soldiers, taunting Jesus, ‘Come down from that cross!’
But not Mary: ‘O Jesus, stay on the cross, and save us.’
When we get to Holy Week, let’s stay at the cross with Mary, and pray: ‘Lord, help me; help a sinner who wishes to love you.’
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. Nicholas]
