Beloved in Jesus Christ,
today is Good Friday. It is ‘Good,’ because it is the day that the Son of God has died for our sins.
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We have just heard the events of the Passion read from Holy Scripture. We will Venerate the Cross, and we will receive Holy Communion – the Hosts that were consecrated last night will be brought out for us, to receive today.
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But notice, today there will be no Consecration; you will not hear the priest say, ‘This is My Body, this is my Blood.’ There will be no chalice; you will not hear the Eucharistic prayer said by the priest.
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So many would say, ‘then this is not a Mass.’ But let’s note something. This priest here, is wearing a chasuble, it is required. The chasuble is ONLY worn by a priest when he is at Mass, not for a prayer service. So what gives? Are we still at the Mass from last night or something?
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At the time of Our Lord, the Passover was celebrated by sacrificing a lamb, and then the meal which included 4 cups of wine. The 1st cup was offered, then a 2nd, then the Cup of Blessing said over the Lamb; a hymn is sung, and finally the 4th cup, the cup of consummation, completed the Passover.
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When Jesus offers the Passover with his disciples at the Last Supper, what happens? In the Gospels, the 1st cup of wine seems not to be mentioned. But St. Luke reports to us the 2nd cup, and then the 3rd cup – the cup of blessing. But no lamb is mentioned. I guess that’s because the Lamb is sitting there at the table, Christ is the Lamb, who will be sacrificed for us. Then the Scriptures tell us that a hymn was sung. Ok. Everything matches up with the Passover meal.
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But then there is supposed to be the 4th cup of wine to conclude the Passover – the cup of consummation. But it is not mentioned. The 4th and final cup of wine is not mentioned, and so it seems that the Passover has not actually concluded. We ARE told, that the Lord went to the Garden of Olives to pray, and there he said: ‘Father, if it is possible, let this CUP pass by me.’ So our Lord mentions a ‘Cup.’
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Then later, as Jesus is carrying the cross, soldiers offered him a cup of wine mixed with gall – there is another cup of wine – but Christ did not take it. If that was the 4th cup of the Passover, well, he was not ready to end the Passover yet.
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But let’s note today what we read in the Holy Gospel: As Our Lord hung on that cross, he said: ‘I thirst.’ He is signaling for the 4th cup. ‘Now there was a vessel filled with common wine, so they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop, and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine he said, ‘It is finished.’ In my bible, the translation reads, ‘It is consummated.’
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So here is the mystery of the missing 4th cup. Our Lord concludes the Passover sacrifice on the cross. The Lamb is now sacrificed, the Lamb of God.
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Last night, at the end of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, there was no dismissal; there was no final blessing – because Mass continues. We are still in Mass. Because what is Mass, really? It is both, the Lord’s Supper and the Sacrifice of the Cross. And while the Passover is complete, the resurrection still must come. And so, the Mass continues to Easter.
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The Blood of the Passover Lamb protected the people from the angel of death, but that was only a Type. The Blood of Jesus protects us from Eternal Death, and obtains for us the hope of our own resurrection, in the life of the world to come. Amen.
Beloved in Christ,
tonight is Holy Thursday. Here, we remember the Last Supper in which Jesus gave us the two sacraments of the Holy Mass, and the Priesthood.
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The Last Supper was the first Mass; it was there that Christ took bread and said, ‘This is my Body.’ And he took the chalice, ‘This is my Blood.’ This is what we call the Lord’s Supper, the Holy Mass, the Divine Liturgy, the Breaking of the Bread, the Holy Sacrifice – and we continue to faithfully do this down to the present day.
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If you read about the first Christians, you will see that they were doing exactly what we do; they believed exactly as we believe. In the year 152 for example, Justin Martyr said: ‘We call this food Eucharist; and no one is permitted to partake of it except one who believes our teaching……Made into the Eucharist by the Eucharist prayer…. it is the flesh and blood of that Incarnate Jesus.’ So Jesus gives us the Mass.
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Also on this night, he gives us the Priesthood.
‘Do this,’ he told the Apostles – his first priests. ‘Do this in memory of me,’ keep doing it. And so we do.
‘Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven them.’ ‘He who hears you, hears me.’ Our Lord sent his priests to continue his work on earth, forgiving sins, baptizing, teaching, and most importantly, feeding his lambs with the Bread of Life, so that they can go to heaven.
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During the Last Supper, Christ knelt down and washed the feet of his Apostles; he did this to teach them, that they must be humble priests; we also re-live that on Holy Thursday, when those dressed as Apostles have their feet washed.
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After the Last Supper, Christ and is disciples left the Upper Room and went to pray at a Garden, the Garden of Gethsemane. There Our Lord saw all the sins and evils and horror that will ever happen, and he took it upon himself. It was so intense that he sweated blood through his skin; doctors say such a thing happens only under acute conditions of extreme stress. But even then, as Jesus prayed, his disciples fell asleep; ‘Could you not pray just one hour with me?’, he asked.
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Well, tonight at the end of Mass, our procession will follow Jesus, as we go to a garden. We will go to the Garden to pray with the Lord, to keep him company as he begins his journey to the Cross.
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These sacred days reveal the great love of Christ for us. St. Augustine says, that in order to captivate the hearts of men,[i] God has cast several darts of love into their hearts. He has given us the beautiful world, animals, forests, birds and seas – he has tried to lure us by many ways to love him.
Cardinal Hugo says, the sportsman keeps in reserve his best arrow for the last shot, in order to secure his prey; so did God keep Jesus in reserve until the fullness of time, and then he sent Him as a last arrow, to wound with love the hearts of men.
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[i] The Incarnation, Birth, and Infancy of Jesus Christ, p. 89-90
Friends in the Lord, in the Gospel today, we find ourselves with Christ at the Last Supper. The scripture scholar, Alfred Edershein, says, that the house where Christ had the Last Supper, is none other than the home of the parents of St. Mark! How can he claim this?
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Well, Jesus sends Peter and John to prepare for the Passover. He says: Go into the city to a certain man carrying a water pitcher; follow him, and he will show you the place for the Passover. Now that man with the water pitcher, he was very pleased to permit the Passover in his house. This tells us that he must have been a follower of Christ.
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Now why did Jesus do it this way? – it was because he did not want to give away the location to Judas. He wanted to offer the First Mass – the Passover – in peace. So he probably told the rest of the Apostles the location of the Supper, just before it was to be, so that Judas would have no time to inform the authorities.
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During the Last Supper, Judas went out, and he went straight-away to the authorities to tell them where Christ was. But when he brought the soldiers to the house, they had already left for the Garden of Gethsemane. So they went to the Garden, Judas knew it was Jesus’ custom to go there.
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Ederschein then speculates that a young boy living in that house, whose father was a follower of Christ, must have heard all of this, and it being night time, he wrapped himself quickly with a cloth, and followed after to see what would happen.
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Now when Jesus was arrested, and the disciples fled, scripture says: ‘a certain young man was following him, having a linen cloth wrapped about his body, and they seized him, but leaving the linen cloth behind, he fled away from them naked. Most scholars believe that this boy was in fact St. Mark who eventually wrote the gospel.
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So the Last Supper must have been offered in St. Mark’s parent’s house.
The day Jesus sent them to prepare the Last Supper, he knew exactly what would happen. He knew Judas would betray him. He knew Peter would deny him, and he knew St. Mark would even give up his clothes, rather than himself have to suffer. Jesus knew all their failings and sins, and he knew ours. He could see them all. But he nevertheless continued, by his own choice, because he wanted to rescue us from our sins.
And when he had left, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.’
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The glory of Christ has arrived, and that glory is the cross.
As Judas left the Upper Room, Jesus knew exactly how the events of that night would unfold. The Cross was awaiting the Savior.
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In this life, if we look at history – we will see that glory always comes with sacrifice. In war, the glory is not so much to those who come home from war, rather, the glory is really given to those who laid down their lives, with the greatest courage.
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In daily life, if you wish to find someone who is sincere, who is wise, who is able to appreciate your struggle – you need to speak to someone who has suffered in life, who has been through a lot. Sacrifice leads to greatness.
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But embracing suffering, making sacrifices – this is not an end in itself. There is something supernatural, some type of power in sacrifice, that we know at some deep level. It is because sacrifices made willingly – well, these are, in a mysterious way, united to the Eternal Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, and somehow deep down, we know that doing something very difficult, because it is ‘the right thing to do’ – we know at some level that it will be rewarded, it will be to our glory.
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This week it becomes clear, that what we sense to be true, really is true. Our Lord will make the supreme act of sacrifice, greater than any that has ever been made – an explosion in history. Not because he suffered more than anyone physically, but because upon himself he literally took all the guilt of every person. His interior suffering is incomprehensible.
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Yet we see that this great act will be rewarded. Christ will be raised up and he will conquer death and sin and the devil, for all of us. This power comes from this infinite sacrifice.
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All of our own sacrifices and noble actions are united to that of Christ, in particular at Holy Mass. And this is why Jesus says to us, through the priest: ‘Pray that my Sacrifice and yours, will be acceptable to God, the Almighty Father.’
And it is why we reply to Jesus: ‘May the Lord accept this Sacrifice at your hands, for the praise and glory of his name, for our good, and the good of all his holy Church.’
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Everything we have that is good is offered with Christ, for God’s glory.
Friends in Christ,
here at the beginning of Holy Week, we read in the Gospel of the events leading up to the Passover. Because of Passover and the great crowds going to the Feast, it would have been difficult to find a place to stay in Jerusalem. Lodging would be very hard to find.
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Jesus therefore goes to Bethany, just outside the boundaries of Jerusalem; he goes to his friends’ home, the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. It was there, that we see this scene played out, in which Mary anoints Jesus’ feet and wipes them with her long hair. There is a tradition that believes this Mary to be Mary Magdalene, who once again anoints Jesus’ feet as she had when she was forgiven by the Lord. But this time, she does it to prepare him for his death.
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At the time of Christ, no respectable woman would ever appear in public with her hair down. On the day a girl was married, her hair was bound up, and she would never show it loose and flowing in public again. Yet we see Mary, anointing Jesus’ feet and wiping them with her hair – her love is so strong, that she doesn’t even think of what might be said of it, at all. She is carried away by love. This is how people are when they are lost in love.
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It was Jesus, whose mercy forgave her, and gave her a new life; in the same way, the hearts of Christians should also be this way.
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The Venerable John Leonard one day saw Jesus appear to him as a hunter, passing through the woods with an arrow in his hand. ‘Lord, what are you doing?’, he asked. Jesus answered, ‘I am hunting after hearts.’
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St. Alphonsus says, ‘If Jesus gains our heart, we shall gain Jesus. And the advantage is all on our side.’
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Origen says, if it be that Jesus Christ has given himself to each one, what great thing will a man do if he give himself wholly to Jesus Christ?
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Our Lord shows us his love in this Holy Week, pouring out every drop of his blood for you and for me. He wishes more than anything, to press us to his heart, but it is also necessary for us, like Mary Magdalene, to give our heart to Jesus.
Palm Sunday
Friends in Christ, this is Palm Sunday. We remember today, Our Lord Jesus, riding up to Jerusalem on the donkey, and this was a kingly symbol which had been foretold by Zechariah. (9:9)
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It says in the Holy Gospel of St. Mark, that this donkey had never been ridden before. So this should give us pause. If you take a donkey, or a horse, that has never been ridden on, and you get on it, what happens? It bucks you off!!
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A little 5th grade girl who is a horse rider – I asked her about this – She said, ‘Father, donkeys are worse than horses, if they aren’t trained, they buck like mad.
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So what’s with this? Jesus gets on, and rides nice and smoothly into Jerusalem.
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Also, if you take a donkey or a horse into a crowd that is cheering and yelling and waving branches hysterically, what happens? That animal is spooked, and goes wild! Even well-trained police-horses, in crowds, wear blinders to keep them from getting nervous. So what gives? Jesus rides this donkey that no one has ever ridden, into a wild crowd, and it is calm as anything.
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It’s because that donkey’s creator is riding him. Jesus is Lord of all creatures, of all the earth, of all creation – and he comes as king. This is the same Lord who told Peter to cast his net and he would catch fish. And all those fish obey the command of Jesus and go right into his net. This is the Lord of all creation, riding into Jerusalem.
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People think that he is the Messiah, the King, who will crush the Romans and make their nation great, in a worldly way. But this Savior will do something different. He has come to die, to save us.
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The true King. What does he want? He wants to take back the earth. The world has been under the power of Satan since the fall of Adam and Eve. Jesus wants it back. He wants us back, who have been under the dominion of this cruel tyrant.
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We will see this drama played out this week. We will see how, with great sacrifice, Jesus Christ defeats the devil. Let’s walk with him in the Sacred Triduum this week. It is by the Passion that we get to Easter, it is through the cross that we find the resurrection.
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St. Alphonsus, pray for us.
Friends in Christ,
a week from Saturday, we will celebrate the greatest Liturgy of the year, the Easter Vigil. The new fire will be blessed, just outside the church at dusk. And from the new fire, will be lit the Easter Candle. This Easter candle represents the Light of the World: Jesus, and as it is carried into the dark church, we will chant: ‘Lumen Christi!’ – Christ our light.
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This light, shining in the darkness, represents Jesus. He is risen, he has conquered the darkness of death. As father lights that Easter candle from the new fire, he says: ‘Christ yesterday and today, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega. All time belongs to him and all the ages.’
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Jesus Christ, in himself, is the meeting of time and eternity; the joining of heaven and earth, of God and Man. ‘Christ yesterday and today, the beginning and the End.’ As Our Lord walked the earth, he kept a certain shroud of mystery about his origin – for most of his life. But as his Passion nears, he begins to reveal more.
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In today’s Gospel he drops the bomb – the unvarnished truth. They said to him, ‘You claim to have seen Abraham, yet you are not even 50 years old!’ And he said: ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.’ This is the bombshell.
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Abraham at that time was long dead, and so he was in the ‘Limbo of the fathers,’ waiting with the others, for the gates of heaven to be opened. How could Jesus have seen him? He could have seen him if he sees the other world, if he’s been there, if he is – God. And this is what Christ proclaims, he uses the Divine Name: ‘Before Abraham came to be, I AM.’ Literally, before Abraham was made, I already existed.
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According to St. Augustine, Jesus said ‘before Abraham came to be,’ because Abraham was a creature – a man – created. He used the Divine Name: he said, ‘I AM,’ because the Son of God exists ‘Yesterday and today, he is the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega. All time belongs to him.’
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Jesus reveals that in himself, God has visited his people, and he has come to save us. To him be glory and power forever and ever.
Friends in Christ,
today is the Feast of the Annunciation. It is the day which commemorates the moment when the Son of God took human nature in the womb of the Virgin Mary, 9 months before Christmas. And so it is a feast of our Lord and of Our Lady.
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The great Dom Gueranger gives us thoughts to ponder for this day, about the encounter between the angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary. He says that while we consider this encounter, we should think of another encounter, between Eve and the Serpent. If we will take notice, Nazareth is the counterpart of Eden.
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In the garden of Eden there is a virgin and an angel; and a conversation takes place-between them. At Nazareth a virgin is also addressed by an angel; but the angel of Eden is a spirit of darkness, and he of Nazareth a spirit of light.
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In both instances it is the angel that has the first word. ‘Why,’ said the serpent to Eve, ‘has God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?’ His question implies contempt for the frail woman, and he hates the image of God which is in her.
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On the other hand, the angel of light, Gabriel approaches the Virgin of Nazareth in peace; and how respectfully he bows before her: ‘Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with thee!’ He shows respect for the image of God that is in her.
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Back in Eden, Eve soon looks longingly at the forbidden fruit. She wants the independence it is to bring her. She takes the fruit, and death takes possession of her: death of the soul and ultimately death of the body.
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But at Nazareth Mary has heard the angel’s explanation; the will of heaven is made known to her, and she bows before God’s will, and says to the angel: ‘Be it done to me according to thy word. As St. Irenaeus said, the new Eve repaired the disobedience of the first Eve.
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This event now makes the relation between the eternal Word and a Woman, the relation of Son and Mother; and it gives God a means by which he can triumph over the Devil. Never was there a more humiliating defeat for Satan. The frail creature, over whom he had so easily triumphed at the beginning of the world, now crushes his head by her faithful obedience. God would not choose a man for the instrument of His vengeance, the humiliation of Satan would not have been great enough. He chose woman.
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Mary, help us also, to crush Satan’s power in our life, and allow Christ to be born daily in us.
‘I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin.’
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Friends in Christ, today Our Lord is saying to the Pharisees that he is going away, and that after he is gone, they will realize what they have done, and they will discover their mistake too late.
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It is true that some who crucified the Lord later realized their mistake and turned to Him and become followers of Christ. But for many, they were hardened in their heart – to their grave.
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William Barclay tells us that Our Lord’s words call to mind three things about our human life:
First, there are certain opportunities which come and which do not return. Every person is given the opportunity in this life to decide for Christ or not. But it is an opportunity that can be refused and lost.
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In speaking as he does, Jesus is also implying that life and time are limited. No one has all the time in the world. No one has unlimited life; therefore it is within that allotted time that we must make this decision for Christ or not. No one knows how much time he has.
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Finally, just as we have an opportunity to choose the Lord in this life, there is also in the end, Judgment. The lost opportunity involves an unfavorable Judgment, and the greater was the opportunity that we had, the greater the time we had, or the more graces we were given – the greater the Judgement will be, if it these opportunities were refused.
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‘I am going away, and you will search for me, and you will die in your sin.’ Jesus Christ gives each person enough time and enough opportunities to choose him in this life; but the time and the opportunities are limited.
Friends in Christ, today is the feast of St. Turibius of Spain. St. Turibius was born in 1538; as a child he had a very Christian heart, but never intended to be a priest or religious. He was educated in Law, and was so brilliant that he became professor of law at the University of Salamanca.
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His talent was noticed by the King, who made him chief judge of the ecclesiastical court of the Inquisition at Granada. This was a surprising position for a layman to hold, but there was more to come.
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In those days, Spain was extending it’s influence all over the New World. Now in Peru, corruption was everywhere, as Spanish explorers sought their fortune. Because corruption had also infected the church in Peru, it was almost powerless to convert the people to Christ. It was therefore believed that only a person with great strength of character and a great mind could succeed there. And so, in a surprise move, Turibius, then a layman, was recommended to be Archbishop of Lima, Peru!
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He was shocked by this decision and protested, but to no avail. At age 43, he was ordained a priest (evidently he agreed to it), then a bishop and then immediately sent to Peru.
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Arriving in Lima, he soon realized the enormous responsibility laid upon him. His diocese stretched some 400 miles along the coast, and inland up the Andes mountains. Worse, was the attitude he found by the Spanish explorers. They had come to make their fortune, and they made the Indians serve that purpose, they were treated very badly. The vast distance between Peru and Spain made addressing issues of justice very difficult. In all of this, religion seemed to be completely lost, and the example given to the natives was only greed and self-indulgence.
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Turibius set to work, first traveling through the vast, rugged diocese. He began by reforming the clergy and restored discipline to the priesthood. He was inflexible and strict with regard to the scandals and sinful lifestyles that he saw. Using his authority, he fought against the injustices and vice, and worked at protecting the natives from exploitation.
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Turibius founded numerous churches, religious houses, and hospitals, as well as the first seminary in the New World, and he also gave Confirmation to the future: St. Rose of Lima.
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He made it a point to study and master the various Indian dialects, so that he could speak to the people in their own tongue. Turibius visited every part of his diocese, often staying for days with neither bed nor sufficient food, and he went to confession every day.
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He earned a lot of enemies for himself, but he won scores of converts, because the natives realized that he loved them more than gold.
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St. Turibius is the patron saint of Peru, and of the rights of native peoples.
