Easter Sunday: The Long Night is Over
"So [Mary of Magdala] ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb." (John 20:2-3)
Last night after I got home from the Easter Vigil, I had trouble sleeping. I had to get up early for the Sunrise Mass and was a little anxious about today's huge Easter celebration. As I lay in bed tossing and turning, I could not help but turn my thoughts to Peter. If I had trouble sleeping on that long Saturday night as I awaited the dawn, imagine Peter. The gospel does not tell us where he went when the cock crowed after he had denied his Master for the third time. The pain of those three denials had to weigh heavy on his heart. When pressed three times, he denied he knew a man he had given up everything to follow. He denied this Jesus whom he had personally seen cure the deaf, heal the blind, feed thousands, speak with authority, raise the dead, and actually saw him transfigured and in his glory! How could Peter bear such unspeakable pain at denying someone whom he had once confessed to be the Son of the Living God? This Jesus who had chosen Peter to be the rock on which he was to build his Church was now dead. This was the pain that most probably did not let Peter sleep in those long hours after his Master had been killed. We feel this shame as well when we walk into church, into the presence of the divine, knowing that we too have denied our Lord through our words and deeds. We choose to embrace the darkness and to lay restless in the shadows not realizing that the dawn is fast approaching and redemption is at hand.
So Peter waits in the Upper Room with his brothers early in the morning while it was still dark when Mary Magdalene comes to the door out of breath saying that the Lord was not in the tomb. Could it be? Here is a fascinating aspect of the resurrection accounts: Mary runs to Peter when she sees the empty tomb, Peter and John run to the tomb to see for themselves, and the disciples of Emmaus run to Jerusalem to tell their brothers that they had seen the Lord. Everyone is running! But why does Peter run? Well, because quite simply, when you make a mistake as huge as the one Peter made and you have a chance to make things new and to be redeemed--you RUN to your Redeemer! Except that his Redeemer isn't there. John believed, but Peter went back to the Upper Room wondering what all of this meant. It is later on in this gospel where Peter's doubts are finally laid to rest when in that locked room Jesus himself appears before them. Imagine all your anxieties, all your worries, all your sins, all your pains, and all the burdens that your carry around on a daily basis vanishing into thin air at the blink of an eye. That's how Peter felt must have felt when he saw the Lord before him. The denials? That was history. What lay before Peter was the present, and what a present it was: his Lord, his Master, his Savior was alive!
My friends, this is Easter! We have been redeemed. The long reign of sin has ended because Jesus Christ has triumphed over sin and death and thus, we are reborn, made new, and restored back to the image and likeness of our God. Christ has reclaimed us for our Father. Sin has no dominion over us, the darkness has vanished with the morning sun, and now we are free to allow the Risen Lord to re-create us, to re-fashion us into his image, and to allow him to give us the joy, peace and serenity that we so yearn for. Rejoice, Peter! Your restless nights are over. The Master is alive! "Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory. Your risen Savior shines before you! (Easter Proclamation)" My friends, this is Easter! The long night is finally and eternally over!
Holy Saturday: The Silence of the Empty Cross
Imagine being one of the disciples who fled in the garden and now comes the morning after to see with his own eyes the place where his Master had been murdered. Gogotha is silent unlike the noise the crowds made when they jeered the Master the day before. The cross that carried the Lord still stands there as a reminder of what transpired. The empty cross reminds this disciple of the harsh reality that he was not there when his Master needed him the most. Now the Master is gone. What now? What do you do when you’ve dedicated three years of your life to a cause that was cruelly crucified? The disciple walks away from the Mount of Skulls dejected and forgetting what the Master had told them would follow this tragedy. So he goes back to the upper room to join his brothers, asking questions, and seeking answers. Confused and shaken he carefully locks the door behind him and sits there in the silence of the Upper Room with the uncertainty of not knowing what lies ahead. What now?
Good Friday: Who Would Believe What We Have Heard?
God’s only Son was arrested, scourged, and crucified. On a piece of dead wood, the giver of life gasped for air. “Who would believe what we have heard (Isaiah 53:1)?” We gaze upon the cross this day to see how much God loves us. Innocent, undefiled, silent, he accepts the cross and sheds his blood to cleanse us of our sins.
“He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, One of those from whom men hide their faces, spurned, and we held him in no esteem (Isaiah 53:3).” So many times we look away in shame for we do not deserve this kind of love. We cannot bear to look, but this gruesome scene would become God’s ultimate masterpiece. This is why we venerate the cross on this day. We embrace it and even kiss it. This instrument of torture and death would break open the doors to paradise. That is why on this day, we cannot help but feel a bit helpless, a bit ashamed, for we do not deserve this love. But God has found us worthy because of the sacrifice of his only Son. Who would have believed that God would allow his Son to hang lifeless on a cross? This is what we contemplate today, the madness of the cross, and we now embrace it as the Lord embraced it, for by this holy piece of wood we have been redeemed!
Holy Thursday: The Priesthood of Jesus Christ
“For all my foes I am an object of reproach, a laughingstock to my neighbors, and a dread to my friends; they who see me abroad flee from me. I am forgotten like the unremembered dead; I am like a dish that is broken…But my trust is in you, O LORD; I say, “You are my God.
During the holiest of weeks, the world seeks to bring us down. Such it was with Jesus. During the Passover, the Lamb of God was persecuted, arrested, beaten, and crucified. It seems that things have not changed much. “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first (John 15:18).” Jesus uttered those words during the Last Supper when he instituted the priesthood and gave those who were close to him the power and authority to celebrate the Eucharist and forgive sins. He knew that all at that table, save the disciple whom he loved, would one day give their lives for the Gospel.
Once again, the Church and the holy priesthood, which feeds the people of God, are being persecuted during the holiest of weeks. What you read, what you see, or what your hear in the news is not what I see every day. I see a people yearning to be fed. I see a people who wait hours in a line waiting to confess their sins and to have their hearts washed clean. I see packed churches, waiting lists for retreats and Catholic schools, crowded parking lots, fully stocked food pantries for the poor, overflowing containers of supplies for Haiti, hundreds of thousands of young people marching for the unborn, knees buckling from adoration, rosary beads being worn out, children singing God’s praises, teenagers reenacting the Lord’s final steps, and a genuine thirst for the spiritual in a world consumed by the material.
…And I have nothing to do with any of this. I am merely a servant of the common priesthood that we all share by our baptism. I simply place myself at the service of God’s people and walk with them in their faith journey, assist them in building up the Kingdom of God here on earth, and feed them when they are hungry and pick them up when they fall. This is the priesthood of Jesus Christ. It is not about power, fame, or glory. It is doing what our Lord did: “He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist (John 13:4b-5).”
This is the Year of the Priest. Today we celebrate that ministerial priesthood that, unworthy as I am, I have been called to share. We celebrate 2000 years of courageous men who have laid down their lives for their people. We celebrate the men whose stories are not told, whose midnight hospital visits and selfless acts are not chronicled, and whose heroism once inspired a young boy to follow in their footsteps. This is the priesthood of Jesus Christ! It was the Lord’s gift to us along with his precious body and blood on this night that was different from all other nights, and it is time for our voices to be heard that our Church, holy yet with imperfect servants, and our priesthood will not and shall not be slandered during this the holiest of weeks.
Holy Wednesday: Last Call
For the past two days I have seen lines and lines of people approaching priests for confession. One parish I visited had close to 900 people show up for a penance service. And they say our people our conflicted about their faith (more on that tomorrow). I see people who, ignoring the voices of the world, want to turn their hearts totally over to God this Holy Week and embrace the new life that Jesus is offering this Easter. It’s never too late to approach the Lord and ask for forgiveness. It wasn’t too late for Judas in today’s gospel, but he chose to follow the voices of the world. Let it not be so with us. If it’s been a while since you approached a priest for confession, ask the Lord for the courage to confess your sins this Holy Week. Christ stands ready to lift that burden off your shoulders and carry it with him all the way to the cross.
Holy Tuesday: Denying the Lord
“Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times.” (John 13:38)
In the depths of our hearts, we all want to please the Lord. We love him, and we would like to think that if we were ever put in the position that Peter was put in, that we would not deny the Lord. Would we really? Peter walked with the Lord, dined with the Lord, was present at the Transfiguration, saw all the miracles in person, and yet, he still denied three times. There are many martyrs in the Church’s history, including Peter who had learned from his mistakes, who ended up laying they’re lives down for the Lord. They ended up following the Lord to the end. Yet they’re journey to the martyr’s crown was difficult.
Today, ask yourself, what lengths would you go to in order to follow Christ? How many times have we denied him at work, school, with friends because we were ashamed of our faith and not courageous enough to stand up for it? Why is it so difficult to wear our faith on our sleeve and let the world know that we are not ashamed to be Christians? We must ask for courage this Holy Week to be bold enough to follow Jesus all the way to the cross and not succumb to the same temptations that allowed Peter to deny the Lord. If your faith is ever is challenged by someone, do not deny it or laugh it off in order to not cause trouble or get in argument. Don’t deny the Lord, by all means, cause trouble!
Holy Monday: Knowing What Is To Come
How would you spend your last days with your loved ones if you knew that the end was near? For three years Jesus had spent his time with his own and now he was preparing to leave them. He had forged a loving friendship with them. “He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end (John 1:13).” What must have been going through our Lord’s mind those final days during that fateful week as he walked with those he loved? Jesus is about to demonstrate how much he loves us by the giving of his body and blood both at the Last Supper and on the cross. What will we give to him this week?
Day 40: A Change Is Gonna Come
“Blessed is the king who comes?in the name of the Lord.?Peace in heaven? and glory in the highest.” (Luke 19:38)
In the early 1960’s during the Civil Rights Movement, Sam Cooke wrote a movingly brilliant song called “A Change is Gonna Come” as he longed for an end to segregation and the oppression of African-Americans in our country. In the last verse of the song he sings,
“There've been times that I've thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come.”
The Jewish people longed for someone to bring change to Jerusalem. They had longed for centuries for the Messiah to come to restore the kingdom of David and Solomon. So for pious Jews in first century Jerusalem observing what transpired on that first Palm Sunday as Jesus was welcomed into the holy city as the king who comes in the name of the Lord, they must have thought that a change was definitely gonna come. But it was not the change they were expecting.
Jesus rides into Jerusalem on this day, and he will indeed bring change: for those who are weary, for those who, like the song says, think they can’t last very long, and for those who are oppressed and enslaved to the things of this world. May the Easter dawn next Sunday find our hearts completely transformed after our 7 day journey with the Lord. The holiest of weeks has begun, and indeed, a change is gonna come.
Day 39: Looking Up
What must have been going through the mind of our Lord as he stared up at Jerusalem on the day before that first Palm Sunday? He would be welcomed into the City of David as a king, but he knew that the hero’s welcome would be short lived. He would be going into the sacred city, only to be cast out of it five days later like a criminal to be nailed to a cross. As we stand with Jesus on the verge of Holy Week, we must remember how that week transformed the world, history, and ultimately our lives. As Jesus looked up at Jerusalem, he knew that things would never be the same. His heart was ready for that fateful week. We are called to walk with the Lord through the palms to the Upper Room to the garden to praetorium and ultimately to Calvary. After that walk, after this week, things should never be the same for us as well. Are our hearts ready to make this journey with our Lord?
Day 38: One Last Word on Trust
To finish up the theme we have been meditating on all week on discouragement and trust, let’s end on another quote from Mother Teresa that you’ve probably heard before: “I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much.” We’ve spent all week talking about placing out trust in God, and here comes this saintly woman who tells us how much God trusts us. The faith God has in us to do great things is humbling especially when we consider our own sinfulness. But if our loving God believes in us and trusts us, then we should be able to handle any cross that we called to carry.
Day 37: Trusting Like Mary
“Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God.” (Luke 1:30)
Today we focus on Mary’s “yes” to God in our Lenten journey as we celebrate the Annunciation. Mary trusted completely in God’s will and placed her life in his hands. No doubt qualities that her Son would inherit as he followed his mother’s example and did the same by submitting to God’s will by dying on the cross. Because Mary trusted in God’s will, she was able to give us the gift of her Son. Imagine what gifts we can give to the world if only we learn to trust God like Mary.
Day 36: Take Courage, Hope in the Lord
“Put your hope in the Lord. Take courage and be strong.” (Psalm 26:14)
For some reason, discouragement seems to be the theme that I have been running into in my ministry this week. Sure sign that we’re struggling to get to the finish line this Lent. I’ve seen it with friends, parishioners, and yep, I’ve had bit moments of it as well (ministerial hazards if you will). And yet yesterday, as I celebrated Mass privately, I noticed the entrance antiphon jump out at me that is quoted above from Psalm 26. Whatever we may be going through, whatever struggle may be bringing us down, our hope should be in the Lord and in nothing else. Place your life in his hands, take courage, and be strong!
Day 35: You Are Not Of This World
Carrying over from yesterday’s meditation, Jesus reminds us that we are not of this world anymore than he is of this world. This is so important to remember when we allow the world to drag us down and beat us up. The world has no power over us because we have been redeemed by our Lord who has claimed us for himself and made of us a holy people. If we fix our eyes on the things of heaven and not on the daily transgressions or problems of what is here below, then there is nothing that this world could throw at us that could possibly bring us down. We have been lifted up bec