The Fact of Christ's Rising from the Dead!

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the Easter Vigil, Year C

My brothers and sisters in Christ, we have walked a long journey to arrive here this evening… the 40 days of Lent are past… Shannon, your months now of preparation to enter the Church have come to their fruition! … and in our Liturgy of the Word, the richest and longest of the year, we have seen how God worked patiently and quietly down through the long millennia, calling His people back to Himself. We have also walked the long journey of this Holy Week, experiencing in prayer and liturgy the Lord’s arduous journey to Calvary. They have been heavy days, in some sense, heavy with an awareness of our own sin, heavy with an awareness of the Lord’s suffering. No Mass has been celebrated since the Mass of the Lord’s Supper anywhere in the world, the only hiatus like that of the entire year. By God’s grace and the Church’s invitation, we have encountered sin and death face to face.

Paul points this out to us very clearly in our Epistle: “Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” This is the full symbolism of baptism… washing, but also death… we descended into the waters of baptism, into death, into the Flood, into the darkness of the tomb.

However, we have not gathered in the dark of the night, in the initial darkness of our church, simply to encounter death. We have not fasted, given alms, and prayed simply to know our own weakness. We must face the reality of sin and death, but this is not the message of our faith. St. Paul spoke of our baptism into Christ’s death, but he continued, he had more to say, “We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.”

Jesus walked through all our pain and sorrow, took upon His own bloody shoulders all of our sadness and sin… and He went to the Cross, He died for us, and was buried in the tomb. Jesus faced this pain and darkness head on, He did not flinch, He did not turn away. Humanly speaking, it should all have ended there. His closest followers were sad and divided, His enemies appeared to have won. All that was left was a little security, a little mopping up, the small matter of sending some soldiers to guard the tomb.

But on the Third Day, at dawn, after the long night had passed, that tomb was empty! This is not a religious idea, this is no theory about life and the world and the meaning of everything. This is a historical fact, and the data supports its hard truth… the tomb was empty, despite being guarded, the body was not there. The angels told them something strange and unexpected, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead? He is not here, but he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners and be crucified, and rise on the third day.”

He has been raised! He had told them, they had heard the words, but they did not understand… how could they have imagined! No mere worldly victory, no mere material or physical power or dominion, but conquest over sin and even death itself! Jesus conquered death by death! O Happy Fault of Adam, which won for us so great a redeemer!

We greet this news with more than joy at a distant historical event… this is no mere lore, no mere legend from long ago. This is the crux of our faith and life. Paul said it so clearly in another place, “If Jesus has not risen from the dead, we are the greatest of fools.” Our faith is not a set of ideas or theories, no mere philosophy or theology… it is grounded on a fact, on a victory, it is rooted in the one who said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” the one who was killed, and rose again.

The invitation to us tonight is to draw near this great joy and beauty, and to allow it to impact our lives, our words and deeds. Paul had this so clearly in mind. Let me close with his words to the Romans, words spoken now to us with the living voice of the Church, the Body of Christ, of which we are members by our baptism:

For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection. We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin. For a dead person has been absolved from sin. If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God. Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.

May the beauty of this night, may the joy of Jesus’ rising from the dead drive these words deep into our hearts… death no longer has power over him! In Him, death no longer has power over us! Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, alleluia, alleluia! He is risen indeed, alleluia, alleluia!

+ A. M. D. G. +

Holy Thursday: Eucharist, Priesthood, Humble Charity

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper

My brothers and sister in Christ, with this Mass of the Lord’s Supper, we enter into the Sacred Triduum, the three holiest days of the year when we walk with our Lord Jesus Christ from the Upper Room to Calvary and then to the Tomb. Tonight at this Mass we gather as Jesus gathered with His Twelve Apostles, and we follow His instructions: “Do this in memory of me.” From that night to the present, we Christians have followed that command every time we gather for the Mass, but in a very particular way on Holy Thursday. The central Mystery that we mark and remember and receive is the Eucharist, the most precious gift of the Lord’s own Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. This is real food, real drink, and it is really Jesus Himself.

Jesus’ gift of Himself had its roots deep in the experience of God’s Chosen People, Israel. Perhaps 2000 years before Christ, Abraham was told by God to take his only son, Isaac to the top of Mount Moriah and to sacrifice him. Abraham obeyed the Lord. Isaac, his son bore the wood for the sacrifice up the steep slope, and moments before that terrible sacrifice, Isaac asked Abraham, “Father, where is the ram for sacrifice?” Abraham told his only son, “God will provide the sacrifice.” Isaac was bound and Abraham’s arm was raised to kill him when the Angel of the Lord stayed his hand, and there, caught in the bush, was the ram. God provided the sacrifice, and God kept the covenant promises He had made to Abraham.

Later, Abraham and Sara’s offspring were held captive in Egypt. As we heard in our first reading, they kept there the first Passover, when the blood of the paschal lamb marked their doorposts, and the Angel of Death passed over them, and they escaped from under Pharaoh’s might, across the Red Sea, through the desert, and into the Promised Land. Each year they remembered that protection and exodus by celebrating the Passover Feast, and each year once again they sacrificed a lamb and marked their doorposts so as not to forget what God had done for them. God was faithful to His covenant and promises to His people

In the fullness of time, God provided the sacrifice that He had intended to offer all along, fulfilling all that had been promised and foreshadowed. In our second reading, in a letter written decades before even the Gospels, St. Paul tells us what happened: In that upper room, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Then he took the cup saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” No longer was the flesh and blood of an animal to be offered as some imperfect proxy of the priest and people. The Great and Eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ, offered no lamb, but Himself, and He gave that very gift of Himself to His apostles under the appearance of bread and wine. By the protection and grace of the Holy Spirit, that Gift has been handed down to us, and we continue to keep that feast and offer that sacrifice, and to receive the Lord’s Body and Blood.

So, tonight, we remember this perfect gift of the Eucharist, this is the principal mystery that we celebrate. And yet there is more! How did that gift come to us, who was to repeat and imitate the Lord’s actions? At the Last Supper, the Apostles were consecrated and ordained, receiving the gift of Holy Orders along with that sacred order, “Do this in memory of me.” We only know of those words because of their testimony and witness, and this too has been handed down to us. We do not receive the Eucharist out of our own creativity or ingenuity. We do not produce the Eucharist out of our own merits or virtues, rather, it is given to us despite our unworthiness through the Holy Priesthood. The Apostles were the first bishops, and they passed on that power and authority and gift by the laying on of hands. No man can priest himself, and no Christian can produce the Eucharist out of good will or even profound desire. This gift has been handed down in an unbroken line from Jesus Christ to the Apostles, and down through the long generations to us. Why did Jesus choose only men for this particular ministry? His Blessed Mother was far worthier, and He broke every taboo and barrier in reaching out to the women of His time and calling them to follow Him. We do not know why the Lord made this choice, but we know that He did, and the Church has followed and obeyed that mysterious choice ever since. In every age both men and women have answered the most basic call of the Gospel, to holiness, and the Church lifts up the men, women, and children of every nation as Saints, whose example and intercession helps us to follow their example! The priesthood is no worldly power possessed by some against others, but rather a call to imitate Christ and to serve in a particular way that Jesus Himself instituted. We can but faithfully obey and receive this gift.

Finally, the Church calls us to reflect this night, not only on the Gift of the Eucharist, not only on the Holy Priesthood by which that Gift comes to us, but also upon the fruits and effect that Gift should have in our lives… humble service to each other and to the world.

In our Gospel, we hear not of the Eucharist, directly, but of Jesus washing His Twelve Apostles’ feet. Jesus is indeed teacher, and master, and Lord. He is Himself God, and yet He humbles Himself and performs the task of the lowest servant, even when Simon Peter resists. He gives the Twelve a model to follow, and not only the Twelve. As your pastor, the Church insists that I too must publicly offer this witness, to humble me, and to humble you, and to remind each and every one of us that if we are given this most Precious Gift of the Eucharist, it is precisely so that this good seed of Jesus Body and Blood would be planted in our hearts and lives, and then would bear the rich harvest of humble charity.

The Lord gives us this perfect gift, this perfect sacrifice. The Lord calls us to the highest holiness and virtue, and by this Eucharist He gives us the healing and grace that we need to respond. Tonight, may we receive Him who saved us on the Cross with open hearts, may we be transformed, and through us, the whole world.

+ A. M. D. G. +

Do you hope as big as God wants you to?

 + J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the 5th Sunday of Lent, Year C

 

As I processed in, we said together:

Give me justice, O God, and plead my cause against a nation that is faithless. From the deceitful and cunning rescue me, for you, O God, are my strength.

We call upon the Lord; we seek His justice and mercy. He is our strength. When you turn your mind and heart to the Lord, what do you hope for? Last Sunday we saw that the two sons’ hope fell far short of what the Father desired to give them. The younger son, as he finally began his weary journey home, was only hoping to be fed, while the older son, who had never left, also seems to have looked at his father as an employer, and was fixated on getting his due. Neither of them grasped the depth of their father’s love. Does any of this ring true for you? I know it does for me! We live in a world of supply and demand, a world of contracts and prices, and we very readily allow that to limit our understanding of God. So often we hope for far too little from our Father, when He wants to do wonderful things in us and through us. God wants to transform our lives and our world, and we want Him to help us find our keys!

In our first reading, Isaiah is making reference to the Exodus as he speaks to people coming out of the Exile: in both cases the people of Israel were lost in a foreign land, slaves in Egypt and exiles in Babylon. The prophet wants them to remember the amazing things God had done for them: deliverance from slavery, passing through the midst of the sea. The most fearsome army was simply washed up dead on the shore. And now, says Isaiah, God is doing something new, something hidden that is about to burst forth! The Church gives us this text to prepare us for the coming weeks, the holiest weeks of the year! We are about to pass through, liturgically, the new work that Jesus Christ, Himself God, did for us… it happened long ago, but it is still waiting to burst forth in our lives like the torrents in the southern desert.

Just as the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt, and exiles in Babylon, we are all too easily bound by sin and we cast ourselves out of God’s grace; we languish away from the sacraments and the truth of God’s love. We hold ourselves in bondage, and God just wants to set us free! What binds you? Look within your heart: lies you tell yourself or others? Bitter hatred or grudges that you nurse like poison in your heart? Fear or anxiety about this life or the next? The myth of self-sufficiency? Like Pharaoh’s army, God wants to snuff out and quench those burning lies that brand your heart and soul, and bind you far from His love. God calls you to throw down these weapons of self destruction so that you can reap a joyful harvest with hearts and hands open to His love. It is a great deal to hope for, and we often hesitate, and fix our eyes on some trifle that seems to be much nearer, but God has great gifts in mind for us!

This brings us to our Gospel. In the midst of this stand-off between Jesus and his enemies, the poor woman is used as a pawn. She’s been dragged out of the arms of the man with whom she was committing adultery. That man was left stunned, but she’s the one dragged shamefully before the crowd and thrown down at Jesus’ feet. The scribes and Pharisees are not concerned with adultery as such; the woman is just a chance to trap Jesus. If he endorses the stoning her as the Law demands, He abandons His talk of mercy and puts Himself in opposition to the Roman occupation. If Jesus tells them not to stone her, He opposes the Law, and sets Himself against the Jewish tradition. In either case, the scribes and Pharisees are confident that He will be discredited, and if they’re lucky, killed! What a despicable way to treat this woman! They’re hearts are tight shut against Jesus and against her.

Jesus chews on all this in silence, no doubt experiencing some considerable anger and frustration, but most of all strong compassion. He is not focused on His opponents, but on her. After He gets rid of them with one short word, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,” he is left alone with her.

She is also embroiled in lies. We don’t know the story; we only know that it was adultery, that the man and the woman lied to each other with their bodies, making a sham gift of themselves that was not blessed by marriage, that very likely wasn’t even fully endorsed by their hearts. Jesus looks at her and sees the bitter lie. If only we could see that gaze, filled with compassion, love, and an invitation. Our world is obsessed with part of what Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you,” but it does not want to hear at any cost how He finished, “Go, and sin no more.” As the story is told, we perhaps hope for the woman to be saved from death. She may only have hoped that it would be quick, but Jesus sees her, and loves her, and desires for her to be healed and converted. He wants her to embrace true love, not the false and bitter dregs of forfeit love. God wants to do something new and surprising, far beyond our expectations.

And so we come to our own condition. What is the Church saying to you and to me with these readings? Where does this lead us on this Fifth Sunday of Lent? In less than two weeks we will enter the Triduum, and we will walk with Jesus. I would propose to you that very many of us, perhaps all of us, approach this with hopes and desires far too small and low, with our eyes fixed on the ground rather than on heaven. Our lives are busy and hectic and stressful. We are often scattered and exhausted, and the Enemy goes to work to keep us from noticing anything beyond each day’s static. The Church, our Mother, invites us to lift our eyes on high, and to dare to imagine for a moment that God really loves us, really heals us, really teaches us the fullness of truth. Can we dare to hope for eternal life, perfect love, deep healing of all our wounds? As the cacophony of voices surround us speaking to us of our faults and failures, or whispering that we don’t really need God, or telling us that sin really isn’t sin at all, will we allow the Lord to send that crowd away and look into our eyes?

In our 2nd reading, Paul describes his own desire, and he is a man radically configured to Christ, a man who hopes great things. “I consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord,” he says. Can we grasp such a hope, such a focus? He knows that he has not already arrived, that the journey, and even the battle, continues on ahead:

Brothers and sisters, I for my part do not consider myself to have taken possession. Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.

This is what we are marvelously offered… the prize of God’s upward calling in Christ Jesus, the calling that Jesus extended to that mistreated woman who had herself believed any number of lies, and Jesus took her by the hand, and drew her to her feet. This upward calling, this great hope, is offered to us as well. May we expand our hearts and minds to receive this new and great hope as we enter into this Eucharist, as we enter into the holiest weeks of the year which lie ahead.

 + A. M. D. G. +

We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the 4th Sunday of Lent, Year C

Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in mourning; exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast. (cf. Is 66:10-11)

We began our Eucharistic Liturgy today with these words from our Entrance Antiphon, and they give us this Sunday’s nickname… Laetare Sunday, from the Latin word that means “Rejoice.” We are just past the halfway mark of Lent! The joy of Easter is drawing near… there are still weeks of discipline and repentance ahead, but our goal is in sight!

What leads us into joy? What prepares our hearts to receive the fullness of consoling joy the Father has prepared for us? The second operative word for our liturgy today is “Reconcile.” We heard it in the Collect, or Opening Prayer, we heard it in our second reading, and our Gospel couldn’t capture the mystery of reconciliation more vividly!

Even in our second reading it is there, albeit a little hidden! Joshua has led the people of Israel across the Jordan River, and their escape from the slavery of Egypt and their long 40 years wandering in the desert is complete. It didn’t take so long for them to come out of Egypt, but it took a lot longer for Egypt to come out of their hearts… So the Lord tells them, “Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.” They celebrate at Gilgal on the Plains of Jericho, it is the Passover. They remember their rescue from Egypt, the way that the Angel of Death passed over them because of the blood of the Paschal Lamb. And, the next day, having arrived, the manna ceased… they would now be fed with the produce of the Promised Land.

Notice how much journey and process is involved… God calls Abraham, then later Isaac, then latter Jacob, also known as Israel… Israel’s sons end up in Egypt, and long years later they have come out of Egypt and have entered the Promised Land. And, yet, this was still perhaps well over a thousand years before Jesus was born in Nazareth! God calls us in freedom, He doesn’t force us, and so responding to that call is a journey! One very fruitful way that we can read and apply the Old Testament history to our lives is to see in the historical struggles of these men and women are own personal struggles to respond to God!

What does it mean to be reconciled to God? How do we get there? What are the obstacles? Listen to the psalm:

Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.

At its root, reconciliation is something God does for us and in us… “from all his distress he saved him.” God offers… will we respond and accept this salvation? And therein lies the obstacle, our will, our persistent choosing away from God.

As we reject God’s will and God’s law, we get farther and farther away into the outer darkness, the wasteland, the “distant country” of our parable. We end up in a place like that lost son, eking out a poor miserable existence, wishing we could eat some garbage. In our materially wealthy world, this is a very accurate spiritual description… rampant poverty and emptiness, even if the car is new and the plate is full! And if the thought occurs to go back, to turn back, to repent… very often we severely limit or doubt God’s mercy. Notice that even as the son turns back, he expects only to be hired, not to be loved. This is what happens when we begin to bargain with God. We offer Him little dribs and drabs in return for some service or result. And some don’t even turn back for fear of being rejected… “Father, I’m excommunicated because I got a divorce.” “Father, I don’t know if God can forgive what I’ve done.” Brothers and sisters in Christ… these lies are driven by the Enemy, who wants us to stay far away out of fear. God can forgive anything if we want to be forgiven. That doesn’t mean that all the consequences of past sin are quick or easy to work out, but God’s door is open. Trust the Lord’s mercy! Most important, come to confession, especially if it’s been a long time, especially if some heavy sin or burden has been weighing on your heart. If you didn’t already get my letter, you will on Monday… go through that examination of conscience and prepare yourself to receive infinite mercy!

There is a second barrier that we erect… the barrier that the elder son puts firmly between himself and his father’s love… this is self-righteousness! I would hazard a guess that for many of us who find ourselves here at Mass, this may be the greater danger… many of us, by God’s grace, do not frequently commit serious public, or hidden sins. Many of us may not carry deep in our hearts the desperate fear that we have been cast out and can never go back. And, yet, that doesn’t mean that the enemy isn’t gnawing at us and trying to keep us away from God’s joy. We can be so very close to God’s altar, and yet so far away. Do we think God owes us something? All we have is a gift. Do we think we can nurse little bitter grudges against our siblings or neighbors? We keep saying, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others.” Do we look down on all those people “out there?” May God save us from such darkness! At the end of the story, the elder son who never left is himself far, far away from the Father. That can happen to us, even as we are indeed here, even as we are practicing our faith. We, too, are in need of reconciliation!

Now, at the end, we come to the greatest challenge… are we, in St. Paul’s words, “ambassadors for Christ?” This is the goal, not only that we would be reunited in the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, not only that we would be welcomed back into the Loving Father’s arms, but that having received this gift we would share it with others. This is the New Evangelization, this is the Mission… missio in Latin means sent… we are sent with glad tidings, that we have been redeemed, reconciled to God. St. Paul says it beautifully:

Whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Our trespasses have not been counted against us! Can we embrace this fully and deeply? If so, we can then bring these tidings of joy and truth to all those who are so much in need of that message. Call them to mind… the spouse who should be sitting next you your, or your children who should be taking their children to Mass somewhere… your neighbor or boss or employee, your classmates at school… they need God just as much as you do, and if you will be reconciled, then you become an ambassador, a messenger, who brings that to them. With St. Paul, I implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God! We have three weeks before Easter… do not waste this time, get in the box, go to confession, receive God’s mercy, and offer it to each person in your life who needs it too.

+ J. M. J. +