2007

In the Haggadah, prayed at Passover by Jews, we find this ancient prayer:

How many gifts God has bestowed on us! Had God brought us out of Egypt and not divided the sea for us, it would have been enough!

Had God divided the sea and not permitted us to cross on dry land, it would have been enough!

Had God permitted us to cross the sea on dry land and not sustained us for forty years in the desert, it would have been enough!

Had God sustained us for forty years in the desert and not fed us manna, it would have been enough!

Had God fed us with manna and not given us the Sabbath, it would have been enough!

Had God given us the Sabbath and not brought us to Mt. Sinai, it would have been enough!

Had God brought us to Mt. Sinai and not given us the Torah, it would have been enough!

Had God given us the Torah and not led us to the land of Israel, it would have been enough!

Had God led us into the land of Israel and not built for us the temple, it would have been enough!

Had God built for us the temple and not sent us the prophets of truth, it would have been enough!

Had God sent us prophets of truth and not made us a holy people, it would have been enough!

Perhaps it would have been enough for us and we would have been content to celebrate Passover but God knew that there was much more that had to be done if salvation was to be universally experienced. Had God made us a holy people and not sent his son, God knows that would not have been enough.

Had God sent his son and not have him die on the cross, God knows that would not have been enough. Had God had his son die on the cross and not rise from the dead, God knows even that would not have been enough. The good news that Jesus shared would have died with his disciples. At best, he would be remembered along with Aristotle and Plato as a renowned teacher. But God had his son rise from the dead, and from the moment Mary Magdalene discovered the empty tomb, we have celebrated each Easter what will be our ultimate odyssey, crossing over from death to new life, from evil to light, from this world to the next, namely, our own resurrection to eternal life. There is no separation of the body and soul on earth, nor will there be in heaven.

To proclaim the resurrection of Jesus Christ is to proclaim new life for us in the face of death. Just as the Passover depicts the passage of the ancient Jews from oppression in Egypt to new life in the Promised Land, Easter has always been the story for us of new life, not only for the risen Lord, but also for those who follow in his footsteps.

What makes this story so important? First of all, the resurrection is God’s endorsement of everything Jesus claimed and taught. Jealous men in search of power could not destroy Jesus by hanging him on a tree. No, God had the final word.

Secondly, this faith event is the cause of our salvation. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul tells us if Christ had not risen from the dead, our faith would be futile and we would still be mired in sin. The first born of the dead, Jesus Christ, gives us the assurance that we are bound for the same destiny. The risen Christ represents the starting point of our journey.

Every journey begins with a first step and for the Christian, that first step is baptism. At the Easter Vigil, many people around the world joined the Church through this sacrament. For them, this night marks their emergence into the fullness of new life, liberated from the darkness of sin. Easter is also a fitting moment for those of us who are already baptized to renew our baptismal promises, for as Paul said to the Romans, “You must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.”

As the baptized, we are also message bearers. None of us would be gathered here had Mary Magdalene not shared the news of the empty tomb with the other disciples. For some people, the story of Easter may seem too incredulous to believe yet that is what compels so many of us to do just that.  The resurrection of Jesus laid the groundwork that love, compassion, generosity, humility and selflessness would ultimately triumph over hatred, bigotry, prejudice, despair, greed and death. Alleluia! What the world has been desperately yearning for, countless generations of Christians have found in the risen Lord. How blessed we are that God sent us his risen son who fills us with hope and new life!  God sees that it is enough! A blessed Easter to you and your loved ones! 
 

What an odd name to give this day; Good Friday. It may be difficult for us to see the good in a day that commemorates such a horrendous death.  Knowing that this is Act II of the drama unfolding before us, we might be inclined to even fast forward to Easter morning rather than dwell on the reality of what happened so long ago on the hill known as Golgotha.

We have no clue how long Jesus hung on the cross before he said, “It is finished.” According to John, those were Jesus’ last words. None of us have any idea what our last words will be when the appointed moment of our death arrives. Perhaps the moment will come unexpectedly as it did for my father when he died of a heart attack or we might be unable for any number of reasons to speak what is on our mind. But should we be blessed with the chance to say any last words, would we or could we say what Jesus did? His dying words suggest not an air of defeat, but of victory. Having accomplished what he had set out to do, he was now ready to go home to his Father.

To some degree, what we say would depend on how ready we are to cross that threshold we call death. Undoubtedly a fair number of us might be afraid to. We don’t want to let go of what is familiar, our loved ones and our surroundings, to venture into the unknown. At that moment, our faith could very well be tested to the limit. Do we really believe that there will be new life on the other side? Do we really believe that some day we will as Jesus did, rise from the dead? Do we really believe that a heavenly banquet awaits us? As the moment nears, will we have second thoughts about what we have believed in all these years?

Unlike other animals, we know that someday we will die. That is Adam and Eve’s gift to us along with sin. By eating of the tree of knowledge, they became aware of those realities. What they didn’t know is what happens once they would die. When they introduced death and sin into our world, they also ushered in fear, which has gripped humanity ever since.

That was Jesus’ mission; to rid our world of fear so that at our appointed moment, we would have no reason to be afraid. Looking back over the story of his passion, you can tell that Jesus had no fear of dying. He never let any fear of death overpower him. Not once did he curse his fate.

Jesus defeated death by embracing it. He didn’t let fear and its many forms control his decision. He rejected the urge to turn his back on his Father or to mistrust him. This act of faith enabled Jesus to atone for all the sins of the human race, including yours and mine. No wonder then that he could say, “It is finished.” He had triumphed over Satan. He did what had to be done to save us from sin. His death on the cross was and remains the ultimate sacrifice.

Unlike Adam, who tried to live apart from God, Jesus surrendered his life completely to his Father. The good news for us is this; his death means life for us! Everlasting life! And that means freedom from fear. Because of what Jesus did, nothing can separate us from the love of God in this lifetime and the lifetime to come. This is why we call this day good.

May we see what happened on the cross not as a folly, but as an example to follow, doing what we can, each in our own way, to conquer sin with acts of love, so that when the time comes for us to stand before God, we too can proudly say, “It is finished,” having done what we could each in our own way in our lifetime to build his kingdom.
 

This evening with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the curtain rises on Christianity’s greatest drama, the Triduum. For the next three days, Catholics around the world will be immersed in a three act drama not even Shakespeare could surpass.  Unfortunately, few see the events of these three days as one story; rather many see this for the most part as separate and distinct stories.  Worse yet, they are observed through the lens of history as something from the ancient past that has little or nothing to do with us in the 21st century.

Since the readings began with the Exodus account of the first Passover, listing the requisites for its ritual Seder meal, we might be wise to take a page from our Israelite-Jewish ancestors when approaching our own sacred rites.  They believe that in some mystical manner all Jews, past, present and future, are somehow present at that key episode in their history. Everything is spoken of in the present tense.  God’s interaction with them is not something that took place in the distant past, but something that continues to take place right here and now.

How differently might we react to the momentous events of the next 72 hours if we saw ourselves as taking part in them? Granted, it could take some time to acclimate ourselves to a new mindset. Still, we could try. That is what those of us who traveled to the Holy Land endeavored to do as we stood in the upper room envisioning this meal, walked the Via Dolorosa, stood in the courtyard at Galincantu with Peter as he denied Jesus three times, knelt in the church of the Holy sepulcher as though we were at the foot of the cross after celebrating Mass at the Lord’s tomb. 

If we see ourselves as being present at the Last Supper, Jesus is washing our feet, challenging us firsthand to be people of service just as he was to his disciples. “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” He is speaking to all generations of believers, past, present, and future, not just the apostles.

He is also instituting the incomparable gift of the Eucharist, as Paul tells us long before the gospels were written, before our eyes.  “This cup is the new covenant of my blood. Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For each time you do, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Is this a gift we are anxious to accept or inclined to pass up?

We are very much aware by watching the look in his eyes, the expression on his face, the tone of his voice that this is no ordinary meal or gift, this is no ordinary gathering. Something is up. We don’t yet know what, but it doesn’t seem to bode well. We have to allow the drama to unfold later after we leave the upper room.  We are urged to spend time in the garden with him in prayer as his disciples did, then continue the journey with him as he carried the cross along the Via Dolorosa to the place of the skull.  Ultimately, we will witness the climax of this great drama when the light of the Easter Candle will dispel the darkness of sin in our midst. For me, that is one of the most exciting moments of year, one that sums up all that this story is all about. Christ is our light. There is no other way to make our way to the Promised Land, following in the footsteps of our ancestors.

Years ago, Walter Cronkite, the renowned news anchor for CBS, hosted a TV series called You Are There. Try that from now until Easter morning. See if it doesn’t change the way these events unfold for you.  While most of you did not have the opportunity firsthand to literally journey through the Holy Land, you can if you choose to place yourself in this awesome drama that will be unfolding before us.
 

Whenever we go on trips, most of us pick up souvenirs to remember the places we visit. Like others in our group, I did not come back empty handed from the Holy Land. Along with the cold that I picked up flying back from Cairo, I picked up a Jerusalem cross made of olive wood, a Coptic cross made of camel bone, a yarmulke, a Jewish prayer shawl, and a camel hair carpet depicting the tree of life.

Today, each of us received a souvenir of Holy Week, a simple yet powerful reminder of a trip we have just begun. Our souvenir is a palm branch. (I was tempted to bring one home from Jerusalem but the stem was prickly, so I decided that wasn’t too practical.) Take your blessed branch home and keep it as a reminder of the trip that we have just begun.

From the Mount of Olives near Bethany where he mounted a colt and rode into the city amid cries, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord,” we ventured to the upper room where Jesus shared his last meal with the apostles, a meal that has been celebrated many times since all over the world, a meal we celebrate at every Mass.  We then trekked back to the Mount of Olives where Jesus prayed fervently and the disciples slept.

After he was arrested, we find ourselves in the high priest’s courtyard where Peter denied him three times before hearing the cock crow. How often have we denied Jesus in the past year? Then we witnessed his trial before Pilate in a place called Antonia’s fortress and later watched be mocked by Herod.  Walking the Via Dolorosa in the early morning hours in the snow to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher will remain an unforgettable experience. My feet were cold and wet but my discomfort paled compared to what Jesus endured for us. Before long, we were at the Place of the Skull where they crucified him and divided his garments.

I hope your palm branch will remind you of what we have seen and heard from the words of praises that greeted Jesus as he came into the city to his dying words, “Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit,” to the words spoken by the centurion, “This man was innocent beyond doubt.”

Don’t discard your branch when you get home; save it as a precious souvenir of the passion and death of Jesus. Treat this branch with reverence, mounting it, perhaps, behind a crucifix as a reminder that Jesus is our king and savior.

These palm branches are more than a simple souvenir of a distant event; they are also an invitation to recount our salvation history during the holiest week of the year.

Lent ends at sundown this Thursday. Then the Triduum begins, the three most sacred days of the year. We begin at 7 with a recollection of the Last Supper on Holy Thursday. After Mass, I urge you to spend time in prayer adoring the Blessed Sacrament anytime before midnight. On Good Friday, our celebration resumes at 7 with the Passion of the Lord according to John and the veneration of the cross.

The Triduum concludes on Holy Saturday at the Easter Vigil when we recall our history of salvation. We will gather at a fire at 9 in the evening, a visual reminder that Christ, our light, has risen from the dead. On that night, we will welcome those adults who have been preparing to join our Church. 

A week from today, your palm branch will be more than just a yellowed souvenir of this day; it will a symbol to display proudly in your home as a reminder that someday you too will rise from the dead and feast with Jesus at the heavenly banquet.

From his days as a football player to his legendary career in sports casting, Pat Summerall loved being the last guy in the bar, telling the best stories and having a grand time. But the price became too steep: his trademark smooth announcing style slipped away, his memory lapsed, and relationships with both family and friends became severely strained.

Finally, when he was 62, a circle of friends “intervened” and convinced him to go to the Betty Ford Center for treatment. The worst part of the treatment, Mr. Summerall remembers was admitting his dependency on alcohol. “I sat at meetings where you have to introduce yourself and say your problem,” he recalls. “Some people never got the courage to say it. It was tough to say, ‘I’m Pat and I’m an alcoholic.”

“After a while I became more aware of what alcohol did to me and I wanted to live a hell of lot longer.” In due time, he came to realize that the person he was before doesn’t work. What finally convinced Mr. Summerall to get help for his drinking was the letter he received from his daughter. She said, “I’d always been proud that we had the same last name, but now I can’t say that.”

Mr. Summerall’s story isn’t so unusual. Every day people who belong to AA gather to share their stories. Most introduce themselves by admitting who they are.  While some realize that on their own, many do not until they are confronted by those who cared about them.

In his encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, Jesus confronts her sinfulness when she admits that she has no husband. “You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’ For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband.”  Compelled to face up to her past choices and values, she realizes her need for God.

The Samaritans viewed themselves as being religious but they were influenced by the idolatry of their neighbors so they didn’t know the true God, much less where or how to worship him. In this encounter, Jesus reveals the truth not only to the woman but to her neighbors as well. Notice how the community of Samaritans comes to faith while the disciples missed the point that ultimately only God can quench our thirst and satisfy our hunger.

Around the world many adults, recognizing their need for God, are preparing to be baptized or come into full communion with the Church at Easter. This weekend they are going through the first of three scrutinies. The very word, scrutiny, suggests a close examination on our part to see if they are ready or worthy to join our ranks.  Actually they are testing themselves. “Am I ready to become a Christian?”

In defining this rite, the Church says that “mature catechumens should have the intention of arriving at an intimate knowledge of Christ and his Church, and they are expected to progress in sincere self-knowledge, in a serious appraisal of self, and in true penance.” For those of us who have been sitting in the pews for years, we might wonder well we could measure up to them.

This being Lent we should consider a serious appraisal of self as well.  I suspect many of us are afraid to look in the mirror and see ourselves as we really are.  Yet to be reborn in the life of Christ begins with confronting our own lives as they are and seeing our need for such rebirth. Lent is nearly half over yet how have we dealt with those moral choices which can potentially destroy our lives?

We have to take responsibility for our sins. Until we do, we can be easily duped, blindsided, lured into thinking that our wrongdoing isn’t so wrong, after all. Just as the alcoholic may not see the danger in a single drink, we may not see the harm in a single sin. Yet that single sin when multiplied can destroy our relationships with family, friends and God. Unless we confront our sinful nature, we cannot experience a close relationship with God who yearns so much to share with us his gifts of forgiveness, reconciliation and rebirth.

We confess to God communally at the start of Mass that we have sinned, yet few of us are willing to go the extra step and personally admit our wrongdoing to another person. It isn’t easy to say to a priest, “I have sinned,” yet the sacrament of reconciliation is a vital step toward achieving peace of mind and a fuller relationship with God.

Renowned Catholic evangelist, Matthew Kelly, views this sacrament as one of the seven pillars of our faith, yet one our culture sees no need for and sadly that is how many Catholics feel as well. When we avoid this sacrament, he cautions, we risk creating God in our image, forgetting that we are created in the image of God, “the divine psychologist.” Kelly likened the sacrament to a car wash. Don’t we feel good whenever we take time to wash the grime off our cars?

Paul promises that faith brings us hope and yet how often have we given up on what our Church faith has to offer?  This time will we trust God to give us sinners the fullness of new life? That move is up to us.