Why Are We Running?

Easter Sunday

    [In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen].  Forrest Gump, after returning home from the Vietnam War, and after he sold his shrimping company, and after he had tried to figure out what to do with his life, got off his porch and, as he said, “That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run.  So, I ran to the end of the road, and when I got there, I thought maybe I’d run to the end of town.”  He ends up running through his county, through Alabama, and across the United States.  In reflecting on his super marathon, Forrest says, “For no particular reason, I just kept on going.”
    While I have run the CRIM once, and sometimes run as part of my cardio workouts, I’m more in the camp of those who run solely because they’re being chased or chasing after someone.  And as for being chased, as long as you’re not the slowest, generally you’re ok.  
    But John’s account of the first Easter Sunday talks about Sts. Peter and John running to the tomb.  They run there to see if what St. Mary Magdalene said was true: that someone had taken the Lord.  John, who wrote the Gospel, adds what I like to think was a little fun jab at Peter: “They both ran, but the other disciple [that is, John] ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first.”  Peter would have been in trouble if they were running from a bear.
    But they both ran with a purpose: to see the empty tomb.  They saw the burial cloths, and the cloth that had covered the head in a separate area.  They believed Mary Magdalene, that someone had taken the body somewhere else, as St. John makes clear, “they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”  It would not be until the Risen Lord appeared in the Upper Room that evening that they would know that He had risen from the dead.  
    Do we, like Peter and John, run towards the resurrection?  Or do we, like Forrest Gump, run for no particular reason?  As followers of Christ, we should run towards a goal, not aimlessly.  Our life should be a run towards the risen Christ in heaven.  If we’re just running, with no goal in mind, we never know where we might end up, and it might not be in heaven.  
    As we go through each day and the different activities of life, we can treat the parts of the day like smaller races: waking up and getting myself and/or the kids ready–100 meter dash; working in or out of the home–3200 meter run; making dinner and cleaning up the house–400 meter dash.  And as we begin each race, we should do so with a prayer.  Maybe it’s a simple prayer as you wake up, like a morning offering, of even the short pious phrase, “My Mother, My Confidence!”, entrusting our day to the intercession of the Blessed Mother.  Maybe it’s the sign of the cross as you enter your car to drive to work, or as you begin a load of laundry at home.  Maybe it’s the Angelus on your lunch break.  Maybe it’s Grace Before and/or After Meals.  Maybe it’s a pray of thanksgiving as you put your kids to bed or go to bed yourself.  But praying throughout the day makes sure that we’re running towards a goal, and not just running like a chicken with its head cut off.  
    If we don’t focus our energy, we run towards other goals than heaven–earthly prosperity, power, fame–which do not endure and will not save us.  Or, it’s more like running on a treadmill, which expends the same amount of energy, but without actually going anywhere.  To share in Christ’s Resurrection, we have to want to get there.  Simply making our legs go back and forth won’t necessarily get us closer to the new life that Christ wants for us and that fulfills our human nature.  How sad would it be to find out, at the end of our life, that we ran the wrong way, or even didn’t run any distance, but only ran in place.  

The empty tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

    Today, let us join Sts. Peter and John, running toward an empty tomb, because Christ has risen from the dead.  Let us run the race that God has put before us, not aimlessly, but with our eyes fixed on our goal: heaven.  Each day we can run the small and long races, which hopefully push us closer to eternal life.  We use prayer to make sure we’re on the right track, the path that leads to heaven.  
    Forrest Gump later in the movie says, “I had run for three years, two months, fourteen days and sixteen hours….I’m pretty tired.  Think I’ll go home now.”  He had run for years, but without a purpose, without reaching a goal.  May our race of life have purpose, like Peter and John, and, spurred on by the grace and mercy of God, lead us to heaven.  [In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.]

Plethoras of Alleluias!

Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord

    One of the great comedic movies of the 1980s is “Three Amigos” with Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short.  If you’re not familiar with the movie, it’s about three actors in the early twentieth century, who think they’re going to a film shoot in Mexico, only to learn that the locals think that they’re real heroes, and have sought their help to conquer the villain, El Guapo.  There are too many good lines to quote here, and you can probably watch it online somewhere (it’s rated PG, but parents should screen it first to make sure it’s appropriate for their children).
    But, in one exchange between El Guapo, and his chief henchman, Jefe, as they are planning his birthday party, El Guapo asks, “Would you say I have a plethora of piñatas?”  Jefe responds, “A what?”  El Guapo repeats, “A plethora.”  Jefe responds, “Oh yes, you have a plethora.”  El Guapo then asks, “Jefe, what is a plethora?”  Jefe asks back, “Why, El Guapo?”  El Guapo responds, “Well, you told me I have a plethora.  And I just would like to know if you know what a plethora is.  I would not like to think that a person would tell someone he has a plethora, and then find out that that person has no idea what it means to have a plethora.”
    We have a word that we use, especially during the Easter season, but do we know what it means?  What is that word?  It’s not plethora.  It’s Alleluia!  We sing it so often during Easter, and we put it away during Lent, but do we know that Alleluia means?  It’s one of the few Hebrew words that the church retains untranslated, it means “God be praised,” and it’s a response of joy.  It comes from the Hallel psalms in the Bible, psalms 113-118, and many Jews still pray these psalms especially on the most important Jewish feast days.  So, as those who follow the fulfillment of Judaism, it is right that we say, on our most important feast days, Hallelujah or Alleluia.
    But what do we have to praise God for this year?  As we’re stuck in our homes, watching Mass on TV or on the Internet, as so many businesses are closed, and we probably can’t gather with the usual family members for the usual Easter dinner, why would we sing Alleluia?  Can we praise God in the midst of COVID-19?
    We can, and we should, because Easter still celebrates what it has always celebrated, which is worthy of the greatest Alleluia!  Perhaps in years past we have muddled the meaning of Easter because we do have family to visit, hams to cook, Easter bonnets to wear.  But Easter, like every Sunday, is about one thing: the Resurrection.  Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead, God be praised!  Jesus Christ has conquered sin and death, God be praised!  We, too, who have died with Jesus Christ in the waters of baptism can rise with Him to new life, God be praised!  This is truly the reason for the celebration.  All the other stuff is good, too, but it’s not even a pale comparison to the joy we should have from Jesus rising from the dead. 
    We should sing with the Psalmist today, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.”  We heard even in the Sequence sung today that Christ has reconciled us to the Father.  “Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous: the Prince of life, who died, reigns immortal….Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining.”  In the midst of all that is going on, and that is not as it usually is, all that is not as it should be because of COVID-19, Jesus is still risen, we still have the great gift of new and enteral life offered to us.
    And Jesus’ Resurrection means that the world is, little by little, being remade.  It starts as a small seed, that died in the ground but then rose to new life in Jesus, but the tree has started to spread all over the world, granting its fruit of new life to those who partake of it.  Unlike in Eden where our first parents ate of the fruit and brought death to the world, our Lord, on a tree, conquered Satan, the ancient foe, and through that tree, new and eternal life is available for all. 
    It can be easy, like Peter and John, to see the empty tomb, but not believe in the Resurrection, because it is not fully before our eyes.  Because the world is being remade in the light of the risen Christ slowly, we miss the reason for joy.  We focus on the doubt and the darkness, and don’t see the hope and light.
    But Jesus is still victorious, and the light is still there.  Jesus conquered sin, He conquered death, and yes, Jesus has even conquered COVID-19.  We need only stay faithful to Jesus so that we can share in the full victory that was won when Jesus rose from the dead. 
    So today, and every Sunday, which the church calls a little Easter, rejoice in the Resurrection!  Sing with the psalmist, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.”  Join with the words that Nehemiah spoke, foreshadowing the joy of the Resurrection, even in the Old Testament: “‘Today is holy to the Lord your God.  Do not lament, do not weep!  […] Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the Lord is your strength!’”  Alleluia!  God be praised!!

The entrance to the place where Jesus rose from the dead in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Too Good To Be True...But It Is

Easter Vigil

There are more movies than I can count where the ending seems too good to be true: the awkward guy gets the gorgeous girl; the bomb is defused in the last second before it explodes; the lies of the villain are exposed and the persecuted hero is vindicated.  We’ve all seen it in movies, we’ve all read it in books.  But when it comes to real life, very rarely do those things happen.  Life, it seems is more tragic than fiction could ever create.

But tonight is not an example of tragedy.  Tonight, in fact, is when we celebrate something that is too good to be true, but is true, nonetheless.  No one, save perhaps the Blessed Mother, would have dared to hope that Jesus would rise from the dead.  Even the holy women who went to the tomb, weren’t going because they thought Jesus might rise.  They were going to complete the mourning rites which had to be suspended due to the celebration of Passover on the previous Friday night and Saturday.  In fact, none of the disciples can believe the news that Jesus rose from the dead until they see Him and recognize Him.

All of our Old Testament readings from Genesis, Exodus, Isaiah, and Ezekiel were all examples of stories that looked like they were going to have a happy ending, but didn’t.  Adam and Eve are created by God as the crowning of His creation; they are made in the image and likeness of God.  Yet, as the story continues, we know that they disobey God and put mankind on a trajectory of pain, suffering, and death.  

The Chosen People are doubting God as the Egyptians grow closer.  Then God, through Moses, splits the Red Sea in two and they pass through it, even as the water closes in on the Egyptians who follow and destroys Pharaoh’s army.  But, we all know that story.  Not long after they sing their song of freedom, which was sung by our choir after the reading from Exodus, they once again doubt God, and worship false gods.

Isaiah and Ezekiel both prophesy about a time when Israel will be restored to glory, when God will shower His love upon them and give them a new heart and new life.  God promises to take care of Israel, give them peace, and forgive them of their sins for the sake of His Name.  But even after the Israelites return to the Promised Land from their exile in Babylon, after they realize that they were sent away because of their infidelity to God, they still turn away from God, and eventually lose their land and their sovereignty to the pagan Romans.  All of those Old Testament stories have so much potential, so much build up, but never seem to come to the desired climax.

But not so tonight.  Not so with the Resurrection.  This is the night when the good ending finally happens.  This is the night when evil and darkness are conquered, once for all, and good and light win the day.  This is the night which “sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices and from the gloom of sin, leading them to grace and joining them to his holy ones.  This is the night, when Christ broke the prison-bars of death and rose victorious from the underworld.”  Tonight we celebrate that we are not relegated to tragic endings, to falling into sin and darkness.  Tonight we participate in and God renews in us the truth that in Him we can thrive and succeed.

And that new life in Christ, made possible by the Resurrection, will be imparted through the waters of Baptism, which Christ Himself makes holy, to Alexis, Brooklyn, and Camryn.  They will put on Christ and have the opportunity to live a life free of grave sin, free of separation from God, free from Satan.  

The new life of Christ will also be perfected in Christine as she makes her profession of faith and as she and Alexis are confirmed and receive the Eucharist for the first time.  They will be strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit not only to claim that new life for themselves, but also to share it with those they meet by word and example.  And for those of us who are baptized, for those of us who are confirmed, we, too, have that new life of Christ in us, and tonight we can start afresh in living that new life.  

Tonight, as we come to the empty tomb of Christ to worship Jesus and His Resurrection, leave at the tomb all that is not of God.  Do not be afraid to place all your sins, your worries, your fallenness at the place of death, and walk away tonight with the Risen Christ, who offers to us the best ending that we could ever imagine: the new life of the Resurrection.

People of the Empty Tomb

The Resurrection of the Lord—Easter Sunday

There I was, standing in line to go into the aediculum, the structure which is built over the tomb of Jesus in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.  I don’t know what I was expecting to see, but I know that I was getting more and more excited just to go inside and see whatever it was that was in there.  I had been waiting in line for a while with all the other pilgrims who wanted to see the place where Jesus had been buried.  Finally, it was my turn.  I ducked down to walk inside the structure.  I waited in a very small ante-chamber for the group of four people ahead of me to leave.  And then I went in, and guess what I saw?  Nothing!

Now sure, there were candles and icons, but it was an empty tomb!  Jesus was not there.  I saw almost the same thing that Peter and John saw when they arrived at the tomb: nothing.  They saw Jesus’ burial cloths, but other than that, they saw nothing.  I wasn’t expecting to see Jesus’ Body there, but still I think I did expect to see something amazing.  Instead, it was not very ornate: just a few icons of the Resurrection and a few candles burning.

We should be people who expect to see nothing.  Our faith centers around going to a certain place to see nothing.  As believers in the Resurrection, we are believers in not seeing what we should have seen: a corpse of a 33-year-old Jewish man.  Instead, just as Mary of Magdala told Peter and John, and just as Peter and John told the other apostles and disciples in the Upper Room, there was nothing there.  We are the people who rely on the eyewitness testimony of at least four or five people that the tomb is empty.  We are also the people who rely on the eyewitness testimony of the apostles and disciples who not only saw or heard about an empty tomb, but saw the risen Jesus.  

We are the people about whom St. Peter spoke in the first reading: the people who must rely on the witnesses chosen by God in advance, the witnesses who ate and drank with Jesus after He rose from the dead.  We are the ones who received the good news from our parents, who received it from theirs, who received it from theirs, all the way back to eleven, mostly uneducated, men, who told our ancestors that they saw Jesus risen from dead and that if we want that new life, then we, too, must be baptized for the forgiveness of sins and believe in Jesus and follow Him and His rule of life.

Because Christianity has become so common, we often forget the power of the message that there is new life after death.  We forget what force that proclamation has.  But to the first believers it was incredible–literally unbelievable.  How could a man rise from the dead?  But the story was too consistent.  The uneducated fishermen, tax collector, and rag tag bunch of men had too convincing of arguments.  And they were willing to die for that message.  Certainly if they had made it up, they would have recanted as they were about to be skinned alive, crucified, or beheaded.  But they didn’t.  They were joyful, even feeling unworthy to die in a manner like their Lord, and “love for life did not deter them from death.”  Those who believed the apostles also put up with horrible pain and torture; even though they had never seen Jesus.  They just trusted the words of these men.  They were nailed to posts, doused with oil, and lit on fire to illumine the Roman evening.  They were fed to wild beasts, maimed, tortured, and mocked.  But the power of the testimony of those witnesses was strong enough to give them no fear over those who could harm the body but not the soul.  They believed the story of the empty tomb.  Do we?

To believe in the empty tomb, the empty tomb that I saw with my own two eyes, is to fear nothing but to be separated from God.  To believe in the empty tomb is to be impelled, drawn, summoned to proclaim it to others.  To believe in the empty tomb is not simply to believe in a negative, a lack of something, but to believe that the tomb is empty because Jesus is not dead, but alive, and that when Christ returns to show Himself to those who believed in the words of His witnesses, they, too, “will appear with him in glory.”

When was the last time we lived as if we believed in the empty tomb?  When was the last time we lived not worrying about those who can harm our prosperity, but focusing on the one who saved our soul?  That belief is not meant to eliminate all the suffering in our life, but to help us to realize that suffering is not the end unless we want it to be.  And then it only is the end for us because we would rather have the suffering we know than the heavenly bliss that we have to take on the words of eleven uneducated men.  

Believers in the empty tomb still struggle to make a living; still get sick; still watch their loved ones struggle with pain and even death.  But believers in the empty tomb can at the same time know that for those united to Christ in baptism, they have already died with Him, and should rise with Him, too.  

I have been to the tomb in Jerusalem.  I have seen the candles and the icons.  I have seen the emptiness which means that the Resurrection is real.  I still struggle to live each day as a believer in the empty tomb, giving proof that I do not fear what the world may throw at me because I belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God the Father, and the Father cares for those who are His own.  Maybe you struggle to live that way, too.  But today, let us reaffirm our faith in the empty tomb so that we can live like the eleven whose lives were changed by the Resurrection, and who changed others’ lives by the Resurrection.  Today, as the first of many days, let us live as people of the empty tomb with zeal for the kingdom and confidence that God will take care of us in all circumstances, just as He took care of Jesus, His Beloved Son, in raising Him from the dead.