Living the Paschal Mystery

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord
    [In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.]  Sometimes we use words in the Church that are very important, but whose meaning is not always clear.  For example, in December we celebrate the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  But many Catholics think that it refers to the Annunciation, when Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Blessed Mother, while it really refers to our Blessed Mother’s conception without original sin.  Another phrase that is especially important today is Paschal Mystery. 

The place from which Jesus ascended in Jerusalem

    The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines the Paschal Mystery as, “Christ’s work of redemption accomplished primarily by his Passion, death, Resurrection, and glorious Ascension.”  Today, as we celebrate the Ascension of our Lord, we celebrate the closing out of the Paschal Mystery.  Paschal means related to the Passover, and Mystery, in this sense, means the great work of God that is invisible, but which was manifested in visible ways (the suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord).  Christ’s Passover saved us from death and brought us from slavery in sin to freedom in the heaven, just as the Jewish Passover saved them from the angel of death wiping out the first born in Egypt by the blood of the unblemished lamb, and inaugurated their flight from Egypt, that place of slavery, into the Promised Land.
    But while the Jewish Passover happened some 3,450 years ago, and the fulfillment of that Passover in Christ happened some 2,000 years ago, God does not relegate the Paschal Mystery to the past.  No, we celebrate it each time we come to Mass, and especially each Sunday, the Lord’s Day, as we enter into the moments of our redemption in a mystical way, and participate, as it were, in our own redemption because we join ourselves to Christ’s Passion, death, Resurrection, and Ascension at each Mass.  We do not simply remember what Christ did for us; God through visible signs, allows us to join in what Christ did for us so that we can share the fruits of that Paschal Mystery, which is resurrection and glorification. 
    But as disciples of Christ, God calls us to live that Paschal Mystery each day of our life, and not just in the church building.  Each day we have the opportunity of living out in ourselves what Christ did once for all some 2,000 years ago.  This is what St. Paul means when he says in the first chapter of Colossians: “in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church.”  So how do we live each day in the Paschal Mystery?  How do we participate in Christ’s Passion, death, Resurrection, and Ascension?
    We participate in the Passion and death of the Lord in our daily lives through the sufferings that come to us.  We don’t have to seek out suffering.  It readily makes itself available to us.  Suffering, by itself, is a lack.  But suffering united to Christ’s becomes redemptive by participating in His Paschal Mystery.  We all have various sufferings each day.  Maybe we hate our job; maybe our family drives us up a wall; maybe our sports team lost; maybe gas is more expensive than we would like it to be; maybe we lack trust in our political leadership.  However we experience it, we suffer daily.  But when we unite it to Christ, when we suffer in obedience to the will of the Father and seek not to do our own will, but “the will of the one who sent me,” we participate in redemption, both of ourselves and of the whole world.  This is what the sisters meant when they would say, “Offer it up.”  Now, I know we can use that phrase to basically mean, “stop whining,” but in its truest sense, that phrase reminds us to live out the Paschal Mystery, to suffer (the passion) and die (the crucifixion) to what we want and offer that pain to the Father, who receives it as an offering of love. 
    We participate in the Resurrection when we see God change our suffering that we have offered to Him into new life.  This is when we offer up that bad driver and find that our heart actually grows in love and mercy for whoever he or she may be.  This is when someone at work commends us and maybe even gives us a raise when we think they don’t notice the work we do.  This is when the child who has brought you to the brink of insanity and tested your patience to its last limit runs up to you, smiles, and gives you a hug saying, “I love you, mommy.”  When we offer our sufferings to the Father through Christ the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit, God transforms them into something which gives new life, just as the Father transforms ordinary bread and wine into the Body and Blood of His Son through the power of the Holy Spirit when we offer them to Him. 
    Our participation in the Ascension is something finds its fulfillment when the end of our earthly ministry is over, just as it did the same for Christ at the end of His earthly ministry.  Christ’s Ascension is His glorification, because the Father raises Christ up into glory at His right hand.  For us, the fullness of the ascension happens when we have done everything we can to offer our lives to the Father, when He has given us new life through those sufferings united to Him, and when He welcomes us into glory in heaven.  Christ led the way for us, but He wants us to follow Him–in His suffering and death; in His resurrection; and lastly, in His Ascension.  God does not keep glory for Himself, but shares it with us, according to our nature.  What a joy to allow God to raise us up to the fullness of who we are meant to be, a reality which can only be completed in heaven. 
    But that’s our hope, a hope based in following Christ, not just in His teaching (but certainly those), but also in His Paschal Mystery.  May we rejoice in this Paschal Mystery each time we assemble for Mass, and especially on the Lord’s Day, but may we also live out that Paschal Mystery every day of our lives, suffering and dying with God, allowing God to raise us to new life, and waiting for God the Father to glorify us with His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever.  Amen.  

The Power of Easter

Easter Sunday
    [In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.].  What does Easter mean to you?  You have come here to Mass, so it clearly has some religious importance for you.  Perhaps it is also a day with extra time spent with extended family, and maybe a better meal than usual.  But I dare guess that Easter does not have the same potency for us as it did for our Lord’s first disciples.
    Part of the waning of the extraordinary nature of Easter is due to a lack of appreciation of the seriousness of sin.  Whether it directly affects us or not, we all live in an environment that supposes that everyone is basically good, and everyone generally goes to heaven.  The first disciples did not suffer that opinion; their experience told them the exact opposite.
    The disciples lived in a time when a foreign power occupied their homeland.  This foreign power, the Romans, pushed their pagan views upon all under their rule.  They promoted worshipping false gods; sexual immorality, both homo- and heterosexual in nature; violence and intimidation as the surest way to keep peace (we might say today: might makes right). 
    But the Romans were not the only problem for the Jews.  No, there was real spiritual oppression by their own religious leaders, twisting the law and its meaning.  No small number of Jews found themselves in a position outside of what the Pharisees taught as a moral way of life.  How often do the Gospels relate that tax collectors and sinners were following Christ and changing their lives!  There were also many diseases and illnesses that could shorten a person’s life or lead them to be ostracized from even family and friends.
    Among the Romans, the Pharisees, sickness, and a lack of personal holiness, the disciples knew they needed a savior.  They knew that they had to change, but didn’t know if they could do it.  They hoped for life after death, a place of the fullness of blessings and peace, but did not know if such a place were attainable. 
    We ourselves live in a time that differs greatly and in some ways not at all from the time of the disciples.  Advances in medicine have extended life expectancy, but there are new diseases being developed, and wreaking havoc across the world.  Some Catholic bishops, priests, and laity promote teachings contrary to the faith.  Rather than a foreign government pushing their will upon a particular people, a wide-sweeping acceptance of worship of money and power, sexual immorality of various kinds, seemingly endless violence, even against children, and a might-makes-right mentality are ubiquitous. 
    The power of Easter is that God the Son conquered all that is wrong and fallen through His Death and Resurrection.  We no longer have to wonder if life after death is possible; Christ died and came back to life.  If death, the consequence of sin, no longer has the last word, then everything good and holy is possible.  No power, whether earthly or spiritual, can hold us back if we are in Christ.  No oppressor will have the final victory over us if we belong to Christ, the Victor over sin, death, and everything that connects itself to those fallen realities.
    Easter gives us the answer, just as it gave the answer to the first disciples, and has given the answer to countless generations since then.  Easter is a reminder that sin and death do not get the last word, but God does, because God conquered sin and death in Christ.  If we want Easter to make a difference, and not just be a Sunday where we eat better food and see other relatives, then we must take hold of the Easter graces and practices and live them out each day and each week.  If we want to see endless violence and suffering end, then we need to live as Easter people.
    Easter means making God number one in our life.  Not sports.  Not vacations.  Not relaxation.  Not exercise.  Not even another person, as dear as they may be to us.  God has to be number one.  Those other things and many more are good, but they cannot take the place of God.  If you want the reign of sin and death to which we have grown so accustomed to end, go to church every Sunday and Holyday, not simply to go, but to be transformed by the grace of God.  Go to confession at least every month, to acknowledge that you are a sinner and in need of God’s mercy.  Allow Christ’s victory over sin to take hold in your life by handing over to Christ all that is fallen and sinful, and receive the mercy which makes possible true transformation. 
    Easter means not supporting death, in any of its forms.  If we wish to live in Easter joy, we cannot re-invite the works of death into our life, or the life of others.  In its most extreme positions, it means not supporting abortion or euthanasia.  How can we not expect death and destruction when it’s openly voted for and codified in law?  When we devalue one human life, we devalue all human lives.  Other works of death include racism, unjust prejudice, and even those actions and thoughts of hatred towards other at work, on the road, or in any other place.  None of those are part of the new life that Christ brought.  The demonization of those who have different views, even if the ideas they propose are wrong, does not contribute to the new life that Christ desires for us. 
    If we wish Easter to be more than simply another Sunday; if we wish to see an end to the widespread violence and hate, then we need to open ourselves up to the graces from God that take us away from death and lead us to eternal life.  Go to church every Sunday and Holyday; go to confession regularly; stop supporting works of death.  If we want the joy and peace of Easter, of Christ’s victory over sin and death, then live His life each day to the best of your ability.  Allow the power of Easter to resonate in every inch of our being.  [In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.]

Why Wait?

Ascension of our Lord
    In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  Earlier in May I had gotten a couple tickets for me and Jacob, a friend of mine, to see the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.  I usually get to see this friend once or twice a year because of his (and my) busy schedules.  The entire week before I looked at my weather app each day, to see what it was supposed to be.  Would it rain? Would it be hot?  Would there be thunderstorms or sunshine?  Each day I’d check to see what the weather was forecasted to be, hoping that the game would be played and we could enjoy a game and each other’s company.  The day finally came, it was somewhere around 80 degrees and sunny when the first pitch was thrown, and we had a great time, except that the Tigers lost, 9-0. 

    In my reading of the Epistle today, I focused in on a phrase that St. Luke reported: “they should not depart from Jerusalem, but should wait for the promise of the Father.”  Why wait?  Why not send the Holy Spirit immediately?  Certainly, the apostles could have used it, as St. Mark notes that, even at this late stage in their discipleship with Christ, they still doubted.  Why did Christ make the Apostles wait nine days (as will we) for Pentecost and the celebration of the Holy Spirit?
    This is not to say that waiting meant sitting on their hands.  St. Luke reports that, after our Lord ascended, the apostles did was He commanded and returned to Jerusalem.  But then Peter proceeds to inform them of an impending election, to fill the spot of the betrayer, Judas.  Two candidates are put forward, they ask for the Lord’s help in choosing the correct one, and St. Matthias is chosen as the new twelfth Apostle.  Who knows what else happened, but we do know they remained in that Upper Room for much of the time, until Pentecost happened and the sending of the Holy Spirit.
    Waiting builds anticipation and heightens the senses.  It focuses one on what is upcoming.  My baseball game with Jacob had me attentive to details, hoping sure the event would happen and turn out well, and checking and praying for good weather on a twice-daily basis.  As children wait for Christmas, especially in the days between the end of classes and Christmas Day, there is an attentiveness and an excitement for celebrating Christ’s birth, but probably mostly for the gifts that they hope to receive. 
    When a couple gets engaged, we ask them to wait (usually nine months) before they get married.  This allows time for them to prepare, to make sure they understand the lifelong commitment they are entering into, and make sure that they truly will love each other with the sacrificial love that holy matrimony requires. 
    But then, once the day gets there, the celebration is all the more worth it and joyful.  Yes, it would have been nice to see the Tigers win, but I was really glad to spend time with Jacob and catch up since the last time we saw each other.  On Christmas morning, the kids are often the first ones up, with joyful readiness to tear off the wrapping paper with abandon and discover what presents they received.  And when the wedding day comes, the bride and groom are full of joy and happiness that all their waiting has come to an end, and they can celebrate being the couple, the one-flesh-union, that they had desired to be since their engagement.  Indeed, the emotions are often so high that there are tears of joy from both the woman and the man!
    That is the spirit in which we should wait for Pentecost, for our annual renewal of the gifts and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  We, too, should wait over these nine days, this primordial novena, asking for the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts, minds, and souls with His sacred presence.  We know that the Apostles, having waited nine days, began to speak in tongues, and were so elated that most thought them drunk (I always chuckle at St. Peter’s speech to the crowds, asserting that the apostles aren’t drunk because it’s only nine o’clock in the morning; having lived in East Lansing, I can tell you that nine o’clock means nothing on a football Saturday morning or St. Patrick’s Day).  Yes, this joy that overflowed was the work of the Holy Spirit, but was it perhaps also made possible by their waiting, their anticipation which opened them up for more of a gift of the Holy Spirit?  The amount of gifts that they received from the Holy Spirit could have been at least correlated to, if not caused by, their preparation and waiting. 
    We, living in 2022, are still waiting.  We are not waiting for the gift of the Holy Spirit.  We have received Him at Baptism and Confirmation in particular, but we also see Him at work every time Mass is celebrated.  Still, we can always increase our ability to receive the Holy Spirit, which should be part of our waiting each year from the Ascension to Pentecost. 
    But we are waiting for the Lord to return “‘in the same way as [the Apostles and the Blessed Mother] saw him going into heaven.’”  Our anticipation should grow each day in longing for the Lord to return to us, to set all things right, and to usher in a new heaven and a new earth, where pain and sorrow, death and mourning are no more.  We have waited for almost 2,000 years, and each day we are closer to when Christ returns in glory.  It seems like too long, as it probably felt for the Apostles and the Blessed Mother.  But this waiting can heighten our desire for the Lord, our desire for heaven, if we cooperate with the same Holy Spirit, and do not grow drowsy from our wait.  Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful, and enkindle in us the fire of your love, you who are the gift of the Father and the Son, and are co-eternal God for ever and ever.  Amen.  

A Surprise Every Time

Easter Sunday

The sections in brackets [] are for the Extraordinary Form Mass only.
    [In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.]. In Episode III of Star Wars (the sixth Star Wars movie made) there is a scene that takes place toward the end of the movie, a scene that I always wish would change.  Spoiler alert, for those who haven’t seen it yet.  Emperor Palpatine, the Sith Lord, is lying at the edge of a window that has been shattered, and Jedi Master Mace Windu is about to kill him.  Young Jedi Anakin Skywalker is looking on, having alerted Master Windu that the emperor was the Sith Lord the Jedi had been searching for during the past two movies.  Emperor Palpatine pleads with Anakin to save him, so that the Sith can help Anakin save his wife, Padmé.   Right before Master Windu is about to dispatch the Sith Lord, Anakin intervenes, and Emperor Palpatine is able to disarm and then kill Master Windu.  It’s at this point that Anakin pledges his allegiance to Emperor Palpatine, and becomes Darth Vader.

Palpatine killing Mace Windu

    No matter how many times I have seen that movie, I always want Anakin to simply allow Mace Windu to kill Emperor Palpatine, and stop all the horrors that Darth Vader would cause from that point on.  It’s not a surprise when the scene plays out as it always does, but I’m always in suspense in case somehow, against all odds and all reason, good triumphs in that moment.  Most other movies that I have seen before I am resigned to watch what I know will happen, but with this movie, for some reason, I’m always a little shocked that it follows as it does.
    When it comes to the Resurrection, it’s a movie we’ve seen before.  We know Christ rises from the dead.  We know, when we hear the Gospel that the tomb will be empty.  But what is our response?  Is it a blasé acceptance of facts, or does it hit us fresh each time?  Are we pleasantly surprised that good actually triumphed over evil, and that sin and death were conquered?

An image of the Resurrection from where it happened

    Those first disciples were certainly surprised.  The Evangelists makes clear that no one expected Jesus to rise from the dead (though the Blessed Mother may be an exception to that general rule).  But when they realized it was true, it changed the way they lived their lives.  It gave them hope in the midst of doubt, light in times of darkness, and courage when their enemies pressed all around them. 
    The first disciples lived with the new yeast, leavening their entire lives.  They lived in sincerity and truth, knowing that if the worst that the world could throw at God couldn’t conquer Him, then nothing could.  And if they were with Him, then they couldn’t be conquered, either.  They lived as those utterly convinced that if God was for them, who could be against them?  Especially in the first centuries of the Church, but even continuing into the bloodiest century for Christians ever–the twentieth century, which produced more martyrs than every other century combined–Christians were under regular attack, and not simply with words, or shutting down social media accounts, but pouring oil on them, attaching them to posts, and lighting them on fire to provide lamps through the streets of Rome; crucifying them in mockery of their Lord; sending wild and starving beasts after them in circuses around the Roman world; or, if they were a Roman citizen, executing the more humane sentence of beheading. 
    They gathered in secret in those first few centuries, in various centuries since, and this still continues today in certain places in the Middle East, in China, and in parts of Africa.  They didn’t mind that Mass might not be at a time they wanted, or as often as they wanted, but were happy to be able to gather and be strengthened by God’s Word and the Body and Blood of Christ.  
    So, do we live differently because of the Resurrection?  Are we casting out the old yeast malice and wickedness?  Does coming to this altar of God restore the joy of our youth?  Does it affect the way that we treat each other on the road, in our families, at our job?  Do we want to share the joy of our relationship with Christ, or are we happy to keep it to ourselves?  St. Mark describes the disciples as “utterly amazed.”  You can imagine the thoughts running through Peter and John’s head when they found the empty tomb and the burial cloths off to the side.  When people see the difference that the Resurrection makes in our life, are they utterly amazed?  What thoughts run through other people’s minds as they see us living in the light of the Resurrection?  Do they even see a difference?
    This story, this real-life story of the Resurrection, does not have to be humdrum.  It can feel new every time we watch it, like that scene from Star Wars is to me.  If it doesn’t strike us that way, pray to God to make it new in your life.  Spend time in front of the Blessed Sacrament and ask the Lord to remind you how powerful the Resurrection is, to stir into faith the realization that Christ has conquered sin and death, and if sin and death cannot find victory over Christ, then nothing can gain the victory over us if we’re connected to Christ.  Today makes everything different.  Make sure that others know the difference of the Resurrection by witnessing you!  [In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Sprit.  Amen.]

The Whole Story

 At the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter
    Then Prince Charming kissed Snow White, she awoke, and they lived happily ever after.  Imagine for a second that was the only part of the story that you focused on, or that was told.  We’ve probably heard or watched the story of Snow White so many times, that we could tell it without any trouble.  But maybe there are some parts we forget, or that we pass over because we don’t find them important.  And in passing over them, we miss out on the importance of the ending.
    We just sat through the Reader’s Digest version of Salvation History, especially concerning the Paschal Mystery of the Lord.  We have probably heard some of these stories before, but how well do we remember them?  And these aren’t fairy tales.  These are part of God’s revelation that tell us how to get to heaven.  These are the accounts of just how much God loves us and how we worked from our very beginning to save us from sin and death.  These are the accounts which foreshadowed what Jesus would suffer, and how He would be raised from the dead.  
    But so often we just focus on the end.  All we hear (or want to hear) is: Then Prince Charming kissed Snow White, she awoke, and they lived happily ever after.  But we miss out on just how powerful Jesus’ Death and Resurrection were if we don’t hear the story that led up to it.  
    In Genesis we heard two accounts: the Creation of the Universe and the (almost) sacrifice of Isaac.  We heard the story of how God created the world, and created all things good, not out of any necessity, but simply because He willed to create.  We heard the story of how God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, his beloved son, and how Isaac had to carry the wood for the sacrifice up the mountain on his back, and was willing to lay down his life simply because his father, Abraham asked.  
    As we celebrate tonight, we know that God has recreated the world.  On this first day, when God created light, the light of the Resurrection, symbolized by the light of the Paschal Candle and the lights that grew from it as our candles were lit, shines forth.  As we celebrate tonight, we know that, while God stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, even though Isaac was willing to be sacrificed by his father, God did not stop the sacrifice of His Son, His Beloved, Jesus, who was also willing to be sacrificed.  And if that faith of Abraham was what made him righteous, so the sacrifice of Jesus has now justified us all, and allowed us to become the children of Abraham, and even the children of God by adoption in His Son.
    Tonight we heard how the Chosen People passed from slavery to Pharaoh through the Red Sea and came out from the other side as truly free people on their way to the Promised Land.    Tonight, we celebrate how God truly led us from slavery to Satan to our path to freedom to Heaven, which the Promised Land foreshadowed.  By going through the waters of baptism, by dying with Christ in those waters, we rise to new life.  We’re not there yet; we’re still on the road to the Promised Land, but we’ve been set on the right path, and the danger of Satan can be behind us, no longer to oppress us, if we live as God’s People.
    Tonight we heard the prophecies of Isaiah who told us that God is our husband, who loves us.  Though it looked for a while like God abandoned us, He will never leave us or stop loving us.  He has drawn us back to Himself and given us treasures beyond value.  God has called us to the waters that satisfy, and invited us to seek Him while He can be found.  His Word will have its effect.  Tonight we celebrate that our Bridegroom, Jesus, has given us His all, as every husband is called to do, even to the point of death.  It looked like He left us, like He wasn’t the Messiah we hoped He would be, but the Father raised Jesus up, not only the fulfillment of our hope, but going far beyond what we ever could have hoped for.  God has given us the living waters of baptism to truly quench our thirst, and we are invited to seek after God to find the justification we desire.  God’s Word has its effect, and is already transforming the world to be more like what He created it to be.  
    Tonight we heard from the Prophet Baruch, who encouraged us to seek after the wisdom of God.  And the Prophet Ezekiel told of how God let us see the consequence of following other so-called gods, but will bring us back to the Promised Land and give us a new heart and a new spirit, so that we can live by His decrees.  Tonight we celebrate that in the suffering of Jesus, we saw what our sins deserved, how not following the wisdom of God leads to death.  But in the rising of Jesus, we received a new heart and a new spirit, through the waters of baptism being poured upon us, cleansing us of all past impurities, to that we can live according to the wisdom of God.
    

Resurrection tapestry from the Vatican Museums

And that led us to the joyful proclamation of the angel, appearing like a young man, who announced that Jesus is not dead, but has been raised, and has gone before us.  Again, this is new beyond all hope, because the ancient sentence of death, given to us from our disobedience in Adam and Eve, had been executed, but not upon us, and so we are free from that guilt because Jesus took that guilt and punishment upon Himself.  The new creation, new life, freedom from slavery, the love of God, the waters of life, the wisdom of God, and a new heart and new spirit God promised in the Old Testament are all ours, if we receive as our own what Jesus won by His Passion, Death, and Resurrection.  
    That’s the bigger picture.  That’s a larger piece of the story.  And that larger story helps us to understand the Resurrection.  Because we have heard the story, the ending is all the much sweeter: “‘You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified.  He has been raised.’”  Now that’s a way to live happily ever after!

Our Hope in Christ, Assisted by Mary

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

This past Thursday I buried a brother; not a biological brother, but a brother priest.  Fr. Tom Butler was a priest of the Diocese of Lansing, and well-loved for his sense of humor that he shared with his parishioners and with us priests.  And while many of his jokes could not be told in a church, probably not even in polite company, there is one story for which I will always remember him.

Fr. Tom told this story at a regional penance liturgy at St. Anthony in Hillsdale, where he was pastor for many years.  Fr. Tom and his family were originally baptist, but converted to Catholicism.  His mother embraced the faith, but always found a relationship with our Blessed Mother difficult.  Fr. Tom’s brother passed away some years ago in the Dallas, Texas area.  It was a cold day, and so, at the end of the funeral, he and his mother stayed just inside the doors of the church while the casket was carried to the hearse.  As it happened, his mother turned a little, and was noticeably startled.  Fr. Tom asked his mom if she was alright, and she said yes.

A few weeks later, his mom called Fr. Tom.  She said, “Tom, do you remember your brother’s funeral?”  “Yes, mother,” he replied.  “Do you remember when your brother’s casket was put into the hearse, and I was startled?”  “Mother, are you ok?” Fr. Tom asked.  “Yes,” she said.  “When I was standing there, I felt someone tap me on the shoulder.  I thought it was you, but then when I turned, I saw Mary, the Blessed Mother standing next to me.  She said to me, ‘I’ll watch over your son until you can join him.’  Then she disappeared.”

Perhaps it’s not fair to tug at the heart strings on this day the we honor mothers and celebrate the Ascension of the Lord.  But this story is perfect for these two celebrations.  We all know that the Ascension is when Jesus went, Body and Soul, into heaven.  But the Ascension is also our hope, because where Christ has gone, we are meant to follow.  Jesus took our human nature, which He had united to Himself at the Annunciation, and brought it into heaven at the Ascension.  He showed us the way to get there: by following Him with all our heart, mind, and soul.  Because Jesus has gone to heaven, we hope that we can go there, too.

Hope is not mere optimism, a wish that things will go well.  Hope is the grasping of things unseen.  It is, as we might say, the already, but not yet.  Hope is being at the edge of victory, and only having to finish.  Hope is what belongs to us as baptized Christians.  Our hope is that if we have died with Christ in baptism, then we shall rise with Him to new life.  When we are baptized, God does all the work, and we have only to cooperate with His grace throughout our life to claim the prize of victory.  

And how do we cooperate with God’s grace?  Mary shows us how.  Our Blessed Mother watches over all of us, her sons and daughters, and helps us grow closer to her Son.  Mary always said “yes” to God, and that’s how we take our hope and make it a reality.  It’s as simple and as complicated as that: say “yes” to God in all the decisions of our life.  And if we don’t say “yes” to God, Mary, as our loving Mother, picks us up, cleans off our wounds, and encourages us to try again.

Sometimes it may seem like we give Mary too much honor, and go to her too much.  That is often the complaint from our Protestant brothers and sisters.  Some accuse us of worshipping her, which we don’t; we worship God alone, but we honor Mary, the Mother of God.  But think about it this way: Jesus loved Mary, and Jesus’ love is infinite.  So there’s no amount of love that we can give to Mary that would ever even come close to rivaling the love that Jesus showed her.  

And Mary, free from all sin, does not let that honor stay with her.  Because she is the first and only perfect disciple, Mary always takes whatever honor we give her, and directs it toward her Son.  Mary has no selfishness, no pride, no ego that would cause her to take something away from God.  Her soul, as she herself said, proclaims the greatness of the Lord.

So today, as we celebrate the Ascension and Mother’s Day, we celebrate our hope of eternal life in Christ, and our Blessed Mother who helps us make our hope a reality.  Never be afraid to run to Mary to help you make Christ’s life your own in your daily experiences.  Never be afraid to run to your Blessed Mother when you fall down in sin; she will help pick you up and direct you to the forgiveness that God gives to His children.  Cling to that hope that belongs to us as children of God, that where Christ has gone, we are meant to go, too.  If we die with Christ, we will live with Christ, and if we live with Christ daily, then we will reign with Christ for eternity, in the kingdom of heaven, where our human nature is seated at the right hand of the Father in Christ.  

Why is This Night Different from All Other Nights?

Easter Vigil 

 

At the first question at the Seder, the meal that celebrates the Passover, the youngest child asks: Ma nishtana ha-laila ha-zeh mi-kol ha-leylot?  The English translation is: Why is this night different from all other nights?  On this night, the Passover in the Book of Exodus, when the angel of death passed over the house of the Chosen People, is fulfilled.  And so it is right for us to ask this same question: why is this night different from all other nights?

Why do we read these four readings from the Old Testament rather than one like we usually do at Mass?  We read these readings that point to the Resurrection all throughout Salvation History.  We begin with the creation of the world, and how God created all things beginning on the first day.  So on this, the eve of the first day of the week, the day after the Sabbath, we remember that Jesus Christ began a new creation in Himself, as He conquered sin and death.  We then hear about how Moses and the Chosen People were saved through water as God had them pass through the waters to safety, while He destroyed the evil Egyptians, the symbol of oppression of God’s People, in those same waters.  So, too, our Elect will pass through the water and be saved by it, while Satan’s kingdom will be further destroyed.  We hear from the Prophet Isaiah about being satisfied by the Lord, whose Word will have its effect to make the earth fertile and fruitful.  So God will feed us in the Eucharist and His Eternal Word, Jesus Christ, will continue the work of our baptism to change us to be more like Him.  We hear from the Prophet Ezekiel next as the last Old Testament reading how God, who had allowed His People to undergo the punishment of their infidelity will now save them because of the holiness of His Name, so that all may know that God is truly God and there is no other.  God will sprinkle clean water upon His People and pour out His Spirit upon them.  So we recall that God has now saved us through Christ and sent His Holy Spirit upon us, and especially upon those who will receive the Sacrament of Confirmation tonight.  

Next we sing the Gloria for the first time since Thursday night at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.  This recalls for us the moment of the birth of Jesus Christ when the angels sang the glorious hymn: Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace to people of good will.  We light the altar candles as the visible reminder that when Christ was born, a new light shone upon the world, and the light is Christ Himself.  So the candles around the altar, the altar which symbolizes Christ, are lit.  Then we turned to the New Testament, to the Apostle Paul, who reminded us that in baptism we died with Christ so that we could rise with Him to new life.  And that death that we experienced was meant to be a death from all that separated us from God, and all our sinful ways, into the new life in union with (we can also say communion with) God.  

And, in the high point of the Proclamation of God’s Word, we heard the Gospel of the Resurrection proclaimed.  We listened to the account of the holy women who went to the tomb, early on Sunday morning, only to find that the large stone had been rolled back, and Jesus was not there, but an angel, announcing that Jesus has been raised from the dead.  While we will likely not be here until after midnight, very early in the morning, we wait with watchful eyes and ears, in vigil, to solemnly celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  

Tonight we gather because all of time, and especially all of how God revealed Himself through the Old Testament pointed to this moment.  Tonight we gather because from all people, katholicos in Greek, God has desired His children to share in the Paschal Mystery: the suffering, death, Resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.  And tonight that same Paschal Mystery will be entered into by those receiving the Sacraments: the Elect who will receive Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist; the Candidates who will profess their faith in all the Catholic Church teaches, and then be confirmed and receive the Eucharist as well.  They will begin to make the fullness of that Paschal Mystery theirs through life in the Catholic Church.  

Very shortly we will celebrate that Paschal Mystery in sacramental form.  I won’t explain that yet.  As in the early centuries of the Church, I want our Elect and Candidates to experience it for themselves first, and then to understand the mysteries that they celebrated afterwards.  I will let the symbols speak with their own power to communicate, and then, having joined the Church of Christ, they will have a chance to be guided in their understanding of what happened.  

But, whether you will become Catholic tonight or are already Catholic, tonight is different from all other nights because on this night the doors of our hearts were marked with the Blood of the Unblemished Lamb of God who by His death destroyed death and took away the sins of the world.  On this night life was changed forever because death no longer held sway over us.  This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it, alleluia!!