Grace, Free-will, and Judas
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.
He comes in peace
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]
The Veiling of statues
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.
St. Patrick
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.
Live for the next life
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.
Susanna
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.]
Your Savior
5th Sunday of Lent
Beloved in Jesus Christ,
Today we read in the Holy Gospel, about this woman caught in adultery. Obviously there was also a man involved, but he seems to have sneaked away. Adultery is a poison, it is a sickening attack on holy marriage, on the other spouse, and on the children. Some of us have seen it’s cruel work, it’s ability to change 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 than stoning: Eternal Damnation; the bible is quite clear about this.
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But God, 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]
Resurrection of the Dead
Friends in Christ, when we pray the Creed each Sunday, we profess our faith in God the Father, in his Son, in the Holy Spirit, in God’s creative and saving work in the world – and then the Creed culminates in the proclamation of the resurrection of the dead.
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The catechism teaches us that just as Christ has risen from the dead, so will we. He leads the way. The Creed literally speaks of the resurrection of the ‘flesh,’ and this means we will really be ‘bodily’ alive, not some kind of ethereal soul. A full, human person, in a glorified body. This is our destiny.
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In the gospel today Our Lord states: “The hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God, they who have done good shall come forth to resurrection of life, they who have done evil unto the resurrection of condemnation.”
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The entire life of Jesus Christ triumphs in his defeat of death by his resurrection. Belief in the resurrection of the dead has been an essential element of the Christian faith from the beginning, but as St. Augustine says, ‘on no point does the Christian faith encounter more opposition than on the resurrection of the body.’
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Today, it is generally accepted that the life of a person continues in a spiritual way after death. But how can we believe that this body, so clearly mortal, could rise to everlasting life? Yet this is central to our Faith. To end up as a floating soul somewhere, gives us no real hope of heaven, it is not true, human life.
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Lent is racing toward Easter; Easter is the greatest of feasts for the Church, and this is because Our Lord shows us that we will be able to conquer sin and death and rise in glorious, resurrected bodies. As St. Paul says, (1 Cor 15:12) ‘How can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless. But as it is, Christ HAS risen. As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made to live.
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Our future resurrection is the reason for our hope, when new will be alive with God, and all those we love.
On the need for Confession
4th Sunday of Lent
Friends in Christ, today we hear Our dear Lord tell this parable of the prodigal son. Here is this son, who took his inheritance and left, to find his own way in the world.
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‘And he gathered up all his wealth, and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his fortune in loose living.’
This young man went to try out all the pleasures that the world has to offer; he thought he would find happiness. Jesus tells this parable 2000 years ago, but it still applies today.
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We, still today, try to find happiness in many of the wrong things, and they leave us empty. We think that if we commit this or that sin, we will be happy; if I indulge in this lifestyle or that – after all, everyone else is doing it, ‘God just doesn’t understand, his commandments don’t apply to me.’
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So we often take the easy way out, or we follow the crowd; we may do something wrong to try to make our life easier or happy. But in the end, sin always makes us unhappy and guilty. Then we are like that young man in the gospel:
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‘And after he had spent all, there came a grievous famine over that country, and he began himself to suffer want. And he went and joined one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his farm to feed swine. And he longed to fill himself with the pods the swine were eating, but no one gave them to him.’
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That young man in the gospel had experimented with the promises of the world. But now he was empty and sad. He could only find a job to care for the pigs. He is each of us – when we commit sin, we feel deep down, that we have betrayed Someone. Someone who is very important to us. Someone who loves us – who created us. We wish to turn to God and say: ‘Lord, I feel lost. I need you in my life – please Help me.’
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The devil lures us all the time with his promises: ‘Go ahead, do this – you will be happy. Then we do it. Then the devil says: ‘Look at what you’ve done. Now you are no longer part of God’s kingdom.’ As St. Paul himself said: ‘We end up doing the very thing we didn’t want to do.’ So our sin makes us feel disgusted with ourself, and we don’t even want to pray.
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One of the teachers in school reminded the kids that they would be going to confession this week. We go once a month at St. John’s school. One little boy just blurted out: ‘Awesome!,’ he said. The teacher asked: ‘’you like to go to confession?’ The boy said, ‘I really need to apologize to God for some things; I need to get some things off of my chest.’
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You know, that prodigal son in the gospel – he wallowed in his sins for a long time, his empty life. He hated himself. He felt estranged from God. Then he realizes what each of us knows: There is one thing I have to do. It is difficult, but I have to do it. I have to swallow my pride, and admit my sin. How many times does scripture say that a broken, humbled heart is what God really wants. In other words, he wants us to be sorry, and repent, and throw ourselves into his merciful arms.
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‘And coming to his senses he thought, I shall arise and go to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you, I am not even worthy to be called your son.’
This is exactly what each of us must do. As that boy said in class, ‘we must go and apologize to God.’ We must kneel down and admit our sins to God’s ambassador, the priest: ‘Bless me Father, for I have sinned – and we name our sins.’ There is no happier person on earth, than the one who has gone to confession, who is freed from the burden of his guilt. We are required to go to Confession at least once a year, but really, going every month is best.
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Dr. Carl Jung was a very famous psychiatrist from years ago; Dr. Jung was not a Catholic at all, but he observed in his time, that fewer Catholics had mental disorders. (Of course in those days most Catholics were practicing their faith.) Now for years, he had searched for a way to help his patients resolve their guilt. Late in life, he noticed that one of his clients showed no signs of guilt or bitterness. He asked her how this could be, with all that she had done. How she could be at such peace?
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She said she was a Catholic, and that Jesus had died for her sins; and that he gave the power to forgive sins to His priests when he said: ‘Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven.”
He looked at her with great amazement and said, ‘You’ve found the pearl of great price for which I’ve searched diligently for more than 30 years! Please never stop going to confession.’
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Jesus is the world expert on the human heart, because he made it. He made us. He knows what we need. He knows that we need to get things off our chest, to begin again.
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Friends, we are all the prodigal sons and daughters. We have in the past, and continue, to fall into sin – But love is most often discovered only after it’s been lost.
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‘And while he was yet a long way off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion. And he ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him.’ This father was overjoyed to receive his son back, and this is how it is with Our Heavenly Father.
‘Let us celebrate, he says, because my child has come to life again; he was lost, and is found.’
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So let us conclude by going to Mary. This dear Blessed Virgin will always help us, even if we are discouraged. Mary pray for us, that even if we find ourselves far from God, we will always arise, and return to our Father’s House.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. Joseph]
