Holy Saturday… Uncertainty and Anticipation

I am going to share with you bits of a reflection that I found to be very helpful in thinking about Holy Saturday:

Holy Saturday is one of most important moments of Holy Week - it speaks most directly to the daily reality of our lives. After the shock of death or words that bring despair (such as "cancer," "divorce," "terminal," "sorry, but we have to eliminate your position"), we have to begin living with the "what next?" as we enter the void of unknowing.

Most of us live, from time to time, in Holy Saturday. We experience the jubilation of Easter and the stark pain of Good Friday, but those are immediate and momentary. Holy Saturday is the time in between death and resurrection, fear and hope, pain and comfort. Holy Saturday is the valley of grief and uncertainty, for us and for Jesus' first disciples.

On Holy Saturday, we don't know what the future will bring. We don't know if the cancer can be cured or if we will love again or find the position that fulfills our vocation.

It is difficult for us to experience Holy Saturday during Holy Week. After all, we've read the story; we know that there's a happy ending—resurrection and new life! Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! This luxury wasn't available to Jesus' first followers. All they had was the hope that somehow their Teacher and Savior would live on in their hearts and imaginations.

But, we can still share the journey of the first Christians. Perhaps, put yourself in the shoes of one of the first disciples on Holy Saturday—Peter, Thomas, John, Mary Magdalen, Mary or Martha of Bethany, Jesus' mother Mary. Visualize yourself as one of them: see your life situation in light of the cross, feel your loss at Jesus' hideous death, feel your sense of uncertainty, feel the unknown that lies before you.

And then, because we do have the privilege of knowing the ending, prepare your heart for the Resurrection!

This evening, after the sun goes down and it is liturgically Sunday, we will celebrate the Easter Vigil – where we will profess our faith in the Creed along with our newly baptized brothers and sisters, and we will partake in the Eucharistic sacrifice – the unbloody reenactment of Calvary.

-Katie DiFato

It is finished!

After this, aware that everything was finished, in order that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, He said, “It is finished.” And bowing His head, He handed over the spirit.”

-John 19:28-30

These two verses may be the most potent, and important, words in all of Sacred Scripture. Dr. Scott Hahn wrote, “The meaning of history comes down to 33 years: Jesus’ life. The purpose of His life came in 3 years: His public ministry. The goal of His ministry came in 3 days: the Holy Triduum. The climax of His sacrifice came in 3 hours: the Cross. The result of Jesus’ passion and death came in three words, ‘It is finished.’” This is literally the moment which the whole world has been waiting for, which Our Lord, speaking to St. Faustina Kowalska referred to as “the hour of great mercy for the whole world.”

Every human being is born with a God-given purpose, and every human being dies, but Jesus was the only person ever born whose purpose was to die. He was sent to Earth on a mission: to “free His people from their sins” by dying on the Cross. Essentially, in saying “It is finished,” Jesus is proclaiming triumphantly, “Mission Accomplished!” (In fact, “It is accomplished” is an alternate, and perhaps more meaningful, translation of the text.)

               It is clear throughout the Gospels that Jesus is aware of His destiny, and accepts it, but that does not mean that He did not wish there could be another way. He does not want to die, but He is willing to do so out of love for humanity and obedience to His Father. The second reading from the Good Friday liturgy also states, In the days when Christ was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death. (Hebrews 5:7)  In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed three times, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will. (Matthew 26:39)

               It is interesting that Christ refers to His Passion as a “cup.” Immediately prior to this, at the Last Supper, we read in Matthew’s Gospel: “I tell you, from now on, I shall not drink this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it with you new in the kingdom of my Father.” Then after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. (Matthew 26:29) This is important, because normally at the Passover Seder meal, such as the Last Supper, the hymn was followed by another cup called the cup of consummation. Jesus skips this. Furthermore, when Jesus is about to be crucified, He is offered “wine drugged with a myrrh,” (Mark 15:23) to deaden the pain. Jesus refuses this. It is not until He is about to die that Jesus cries out, “I thirst,” and takes the wine. 

               The Latin for “It is finished” is consummatum est.  Jesus skipped the “cup of consummation” because His entire Passion was His “cup of consummation.” This is why St. John tells us that these things occurred “in order that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.” Just as the sacrifice of the Passover lamb inaugurated God’s covenant with the Israelites and freed them from slavery in Egypt, the sacrifice of the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” fulfills this covenant, makes it new, and frees us from the slavery of sin. 

We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee; because by Thy Holy Cross, Thou hast redeemed the world!

 - Thomas McIntyre

The Fullness of Truth

In today’s readings we see the fullness of truth, God’s word and promises realized.  In the first reading, the promises of the Passover:

“Seeing the blood, I will pass over you;
thus, when I strike the land of Egypt,
no destructive blow will come upon you.

“This day shall be a memorial feast for you,
which all your generations shall celebrate
with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution.”

In the second reading:

“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,
you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

From The Gospel:

“I have given you a model to follow,
so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

Today we celebrate Holy Thursday with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.  The beautiful moment when Jesus institutes the Eucharist, his very BODY and BLOOD, given in sacrifice for us, so that we might have hope.  What joy to know that when receive His Body and Blood, we truly receive HIM, to sustain, to grow, to love.  God proclaims the memorial feast of the Passover in the old testament.  At the least supper, Jesus fulfills the beautiful promise begun so long ago with a new memorial feast, once and for all time! 

How carefully God planted  the seeds, grown and tenderly cared for by our forefathers in faith; Moses, Abraham, David…. Mary who says “yes” and paves the way for Salvation to enter the world through Christ.  Jesus, who taught his disciples, founded the Church and saved us poor wretched sinners.  Today we see all of thousands of years of history, thousands of years of future, eternity, bound together by one single moment in time.  How beautiful is the body of Christ!

-Melinda Cannady

O Sacred Head Surrounded

“Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, “Surely it is not I, Lord?” – Matthew 26:21-22

Betray – such a horrible word. It is worse when the act of betrayal is against a friend.  It’s no wonder the disciples were completely surprised and afraid. Jesus reveals this to His followers; His friends, that one of them will turn against Him and hand Him over.  Before this we learned (in Monday’s Gospel reading) that Judas Iscariot would frequently steal from the group’s contributions.  To some extent we can see why it was easier for him to slip into an act of betrayal when he was tempted by money, an area of sin that he would indulge in. We know because most of us have experienced this in some form.

How many times have we sinned, betrayed Jesus, in smaller matters only to find ourselves falling for something graver because this sin had become a vice? Or how many times do we find ourselves betraying Christ’s love more often when we have let many “little” sins pile up? These sins do not have to be. Each and every sin that we commit is a choice of betrayal or love. This is why Christ accepted His cross and died on Calvary…so that we may no longer be a slave to sin and be eternally separated from His love. We must remember the suffering Christ – what He embraced for our sake. We must frequently call to mind the unconditional love that God has for us on the cross. We must recall in our minds exactly what our sins have done to Christ: betrayal, scourges, mockery, crucifixion, and death.

What would happen if we were able to picture His marred face, His bruised and scourged body, or the nails driven into His hands and feet every time we were tempted to sin? If we practiced this, certainly we would loathe to betray such a Love! And if we did, surely the sight of Him making this sacrifice for us would send us running to Him to beg for forgiveness which He offers freely.

Tomorrow we are preparing to enter into the holiest of days for our Church. Let us fix our gaze on what Love is and place ourselves at the foot of the cross so we might rise with Him.

I encourage you to reflect on one of the beautiful Lenten hymns that our Church sings as you remember Christ’s Passion.

-Helen Almeter

O Sacred Head Surrounded

O Sacred Head Surrounded

By Crown of piercing thorn!

O bleeding Head, so wounded,

Reviled and put to scorn!

Death’s pallid hue comes o’er thee,

The glow of life decays,

Yet angel hosts adore thee,

And tremble as they gaze.

I see thy strength and vigor

All fading in the strife,

And death with cruel rigor,

Bereaving thee of life;

O agony and dying!

O love to sinners free!

Jesus, all grace supplying,

O turn thy face on me.

In this, thy bitter passion,

Good Shepherd, think of me

With thy most sweet compassion,

Unworthy though I be:

Beneath they cross abiding

Forever would I rest,

In thy dear love confiding,

And with thy presence blest.

Martyrdom

I’d like to think I’d say “uh yea!” when Christ asks, “Will you die for me?” Quite honestly I think about martyrdom. In my fantasy theres always a gunman who asks “Do you believe in Christ?” and I’m like “heck yeah silly head!”Then at point blank he blows my head off. Gory, yea, but it is so quick and painless. There is absolutely no effort beyond the combination of lip movement and a gutteral sound, and at the end, I’m in heaven, which sounds sweet. But, I believe that Christ would say that this isn’t martyrdom at all.

See the guy in my fantasy doesn’t worship God. He wants to be heaven not because Christ is there but because he’d rather not be in hell. The guy in this fantasy knows about all the other martyrs but would prefer a bullet to the cortex because its less painful, and the question? Well that’s just because it’s the easiest way to become a martyr. No suffering, super easy, and it is all about me. So yeah. That’s not martyrdom.

Martyrdom if anything is always selfless, and always countercultural. Note that culture is a relative to the word cultus which means worship.  Every martyr that died, did so because their faith was a threat to anothers culture, and that’s what I mean by countercultural. Currently there are 1.2 billion catholics in the world, because throughout history the catholic church had  developed a culture based on the liturgy and by liturgy I mean the mass and feast days, prayer and so on. Since the worship of God was at the center of culture, despite the corruption and misuderstandings, the church has been able to hold the people together.  

Right now we are in a war between cultures. If we go back to the fantasy martyrdom it perfectly resembles the current culture of man. We fight for pleasure and ease and the individual, all of which are not bad except that we worship these values. For example we deny doing what we believe is right because to take a stand could cause us the pain of losing friendships. What we have to see is that to give in to this culture will cause us a greater pain, the loss of what we desire most, God. 

As new evangelists if we wish to bring back the catholics who have fallen, we have to build a new culture, a culture of life based on the liturgy. It is the free gift from God that orients ourselves back to the truth. The time to hide our faith is done. This is a culture of life for all and so it must be made known regardless of our own suffering , regardless of the ammount of effort and regardless of ourselves. Martyrdom does not required physical death, only a death that dies to the ways of the world, and if we can do this then we can honestly say yes when Christ asks, “Will you die for me?”

-Dominic Price

Monday of Holy Week

Psalm 27, Monday of Holy Week

The Lord is my light and my salvation.
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
When evildoers come at me
to devour my flesh,
My foes and my enemies
themselves stumble and fall.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Though an army encamp against me,
my heart will not fear;
Though war be waged upon me,
even then will I trust.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation

The psalm today is one of the many places in Scripture where Jesus acknowledges the trials we face as Christians.  From the beginning of time, people who sought after God had to walk through fires in pursuit of Him.  It is no different today than it was in Old Testament times.  The enemy is still alive and present. He has simply modernized his efforts to thwart our path to Christ.  Instead of our foes being a neighboring tribe, they may be a family member with whom we have a disagreement or an unrelenting boss. He may use an addiction to drugs, alcohol, pornography, or seemingly less obvious foes such as social media. He may use depression or fear to take up the place in our hearts where only Jesus should be.  It is not a matter of if. At some point in our Christian walk, the psalmist tells us , evildoers WILL  come, war WILL be raged upon us.

But as the psalms do so well, this psalm brims with confidence and hope. “The LORD is my light and my salvation, whom should I fear...Though war we waged upon me, even then will I trust. Wait for the Lord with courage!”  In each of our trials, the Lord wants to shelter us, to protect us and rescue us. We just have the difficult task of trusting Him. There truly is nothing to fear if we wait for the Lord to deliver us. While we wait, we can pray that wonderful prayer of St. Michael against evil. We can arm ourselves with the truth and comfort of Holy Scripture.  We can praise Him in our suffering, so that when we come out on the other side, we will know Him better. We can know that in every step of every trial, He is beside us, hurting with us, hoping with us, and ultimately, delivering us from all of our hardships.

This week is Holy Week. Like us, Jesus hurt. He waited for the war that was raged on Him to be finished. He waited on His Father to deliver Him from his pain. He endured torture, physical and the worst, that of being separated from His Father. He is no stranger to pain and empathizes with ours. On Easter Sunday, He was delivered, rescued, redeemed. If we courageously wait on Him, He will deliver us, rescue us, redeem us. 

Entering the Scene

I think today, and really all this week, is a good time to put ourselves into the time of Jesus and evaluate what character we would be in the gospel readings.  For example, on this day, Psalm Sunday, where would you have been as Jesus walked through Jerusalem?  Would you have been in the background wondering whats going on?  Would you be a Pharisee telling Jesus to "order your disciples to stop"?  Or would you have "spread your cloak on the road", "praising God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen"?  In less than a week, however, would you then turn on Jesus and cheer for His crucifixion?  Would you mock Him on the cross and spit in His face ?  Just because everyone else was or because you really wanted to?  Would you love Jesus and believe in Him but fear the Jews and hide in the upper room?  Or would you be at the foot of the cross comforting Jesus's sorrowful mother?  Back to today's readings, when Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper and said "This is my body, which is given for you" And "This cup that is  poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood", would you accept that and see it as it really is?  Would you betray Jesus?  Would you lose focus, arguing about who is greater, and not see the incredibly intimate gift Jesus JUST gave you of His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity?  Do we do this even today?  Lose focus on the true meaning of the Eucharist?  That Jesus doesn't only spill out His blood for our sins on the cross but that He also allows us to fully receive Him into our bodies!!  If we could only fully and completely understand and believe in this miraculous gift of God, imagine just how much we could do with this strength of God inside us.  Just look at the lives of Blessed Mother Theresa and Blessed John Paul II.  These are people who took the power of the Eucharist into the world and used it as it should be used.  How can we use this power?  How has God CALLED us to use it?  Meditate on this throughout Holy Week and ask Jesus to reveal how you can fully accept His sacrifice for you and use the gifts that come from it in your life.  Praise be Jesus Christ, now and forever.

Let's Drop Our Stones

How often are we like the persecutors, waiting for someone to fall? Or how often are we trying to live a life for Christ and be examples to others while they wait for us to fail or condemn us for doing good and being submissive to Christ and His Church?

I think it's safe to say that we've all experienced being on both ends of this spectrum. 

Even though we stumble and fall, how awesome is it to know that God is always with us, always there to welcome us into His arms no matter what. We have the comfort of His eternal, unconditional love. 

But we then should return this love to God. We owe it to Him, and it's the very least we can do. One of the best ways to love Christ is to love those around us here on earth. It pleases Him to see us do good for others. Instead of waiting for others to fall and being there to point our fingers or say to ourselves, "at least I'm not like THEM," we should look for the good and pray for those who are also on the difficult journey to Heaven. Let us not be like the persecutors in today's readings, ready to cast a stone, but be like Christ and love and have mercy on our brothers and sisters. 

-Amanda Kepshire

It's Never too Late

The theme that the Church sets for us in the readings today is “covenant.” These pacts or bonds are woven through the old testament- God forming agreements with his people. In this particular covenant, God promised great things to Abraham and his people. He promises descendants, a line of kings, and land. However, at the end of the first reading, God reminds Abraham of the people’s pledge: “On your part, you and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages.” (Gen 17:9)

Our God is a loving Father. He desires union with us. In the Old Testament, he promised land, descendants, and kingdoms. He now, through Jesus Christ, has formed a new covenant with us in which he offers us salvation! It is precisely now, at the close of Lent, when we should assess how our Lent has been. What are those small “covenants” we have formed with God over the last 40 days? Have we been faithful? If not, why?

As we know, in the Old Testament, God had to renew his covenant with Israel numerous times. In the same way, now in the New Testament, he renews his covenant with us in the Sacraments, especially in the Mass, and when we are repentant in Confession. It is never too late, whether in the shortfalls of our disciplines of Lent, our habitual sin, or broken relationships, to renew our covenant with our God. In these last days of Lent, how can I offer my own preferences, my sacrifices- to complete the great journey of Lent? Our longing is for that Easter Day, when Christ rose- for the cross was not the end. After all, it is NEVER too late to renew our relationship with God. He waits.

-Andy Day

God Is With Us

Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil;

for you are at my side.

He guides me in right paths

for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk in the dark valley

I fear no evil; for you are at my side

With your rod and your staff

that give me courage.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus explains to the people the power God has over evil.

“Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”

When I was younger, I took these kinds of scriptures to mean that if I followed Jesus, if I did what was right, no ill would ever come to me. If I followed the rules, God would keep me safe.

But we know, as we get older and wiser, that bad things do happen to good people. Maybe not all the time, maybe almost never. But there are times when we, the people who follow Jesus and love him, will suffer. Or we will watch other people suffer, we will watch people we know and love walk through the “valley of the shadow of death.”

The truth is that the peace and light that Jesus promises doesn’t mean we will never suffer, but that our suffering will never be more than we can endure. Somehow, even in the face of tragedy and sadness, Jesus is there. The peace he brings is all we need. Whatever it is -- a small inconvenience, a great injustice -- Jesus is there for us, offering whatever comfort we need.

And Jesus knows suffering. As we will witness during Holy Week, Jesus faced almost unbearable fear and suffering -- and he didn’t want it! He begged his father to let the cup pass, if it was at all possible.

But it wasn’t. His suffering had to be endured, for the sake of us all. And because of that, Jesus did what he needed to do.

Jesus knew suffering. He understands it. He doesn’t claim that it is easy or fun, but what he promises is peace and grace to endure whatever we must. In the end, none of it is more than we can handle, because Jesus is there with us, holding our hand as we walk the way.

-Rachel Swenson Balducci

Pope Francis!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I thought it would be awesome to share the words of our new and awesome Pope!!

Click here to see  the Excitement before the Angelus!

Pope Francis: First Angelus Message - On Forgiveness


VATICAN CITY, March 17, 2013 (Zenit.org) -

Here is the translation of Pope Francis' Angelus address given today at St. Peter's Square. * * * Brothers and sisters, hello! After the first meeting last Wednesday, today I can again offer my greeting to everyone! And I am glad to do it on Sunday, the Lords day! This is beautiful and important for us Christians: coming together on Sunday, greeting each other, talking with each other like we are doing now here in the piazza; a piazza that, thanks to the media, has the dimensions of the world. On this fifth Sunday of Lent, the Gospel presents us with the episode of the adulterous woman (cf. John 8:1-11), who Jesus saves from the death sentence. Jesus attitude is striking: we do not hear words of scorn, we do not hear words of condemnation, but only words of love, of mercy, that invite us to conversion. Neither do I condemn you: go and sin no more! (8:11). Well, brothers and sisters, the face of God is that of a merciful father, who always has patience. Have you thought about Gods patience, the patience that he has for each of us? That is his mercy. He always has patience, patience with us, he understands us, he waits for us, he does not weary of forgiving us if we know how to return to him with a contrite heart. Great is the mercy of the Lord, the Psalm says.

 These last several days I have been able to read a book by a cardinal Cardinal Kasper, a smart theologian, a good theologian on mercy. And it did me much good that book, but dont think that I am advertising the books of my cardinals! It is not that way! But it did me much good, much good... Cardinal Kasper said that hearing the word mercy, this word changes everything. It is the best word we can hear: it changes the world. A little mercy makes the world less cold and more just. We need to rightly understand this mercy of God, this merciful Father, who has a lot of patience ... Let us remember the prophet Isaiah, who says that even if our sins are bright red, Gods mercy can make them white as snow. Mercy is beautiful! I remember, when I had just become a bishop, in the year 1992, Our Lady of Fatima had just arrived in Buenos Aires and there was a big Mass for the sick. I went to hear confessions at that Mass. And near the end of the Mass I got up, because I had to administer holy oil. An old lady came to me, a humble lady, very humble, over 80 years old/ I looked at her and I said to her: Grandma, because in our country this is what we call old people: Grandma do you want to go to confession? Yes, she said to me. But if you havent sinned..., [I said]. And she said to me: We have all sinned... . But maybe the Lord does not forgive them... [I replied]. The Lord forgives everything, she told me, certain of what she was saying. But how do you know that, madam? If the Lord did not forgive everything, [she said], the world wouldnt exist. I felt like asking her, Tell me, madam, did you study at the Gregorian? because thats the wisdom that the Holy Spirit gives: interior wisdom about the mercy of God.

 Let us not forget this: God never wearies of forgiving us, never! So, father, whats the problem? Well, the problem is that we grow weary, we do not want to, we tire of asking for forgiveness. He never tires of forgiving, but we, at times, we tire of aski ng forgiveness. Let us never tire, let us never tire! He is the loving Father, who always forgives, who has that heart of mercy for all of us. And we too learn to be merciful with everyone. We invoke the intercession of Our Lady who held in her arms the Mercy of God made man. Now let us all together pray the Angelus. [Following the recitation of the Angelus, the Holy Father greeted those present in Italian.] I offer a cordial greeting to all the pilgrims. Thanks for your welcome and for your prayers. I ask you to pray for me. I renew my embrace of the faithful of Rome and I extend it to all of you, who come from various parts of Italy and of the world, and to those who are joining through different media. I chose the name of the Patron of Italy, St. Francis of Assisi, and that reinforces my spiritual bond with this land, where as you know my family has its origins. But Jesus has called us to be part of a new family: his Church, this family of God, walking together along the way of the Gospel. May the Lord bless you, may Our Lady protect you. Do not forget this: the Lord never wearies of forgiving! We are the ones who weary of asking for forgiveness. Have a good Sunday and a good lunch! [Translation by Joseph Trabbic]

-Shared by Caitlin Mulcahy

Playing Pharisee

So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?” The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.” So the Pharisees answered them, “Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the Law, is accursed.” –John 7:45-49

During the time of Jesus, Judaism was divided up into different factions or “parties,” such as the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes. The Pharisees were mainly scholars and theologians who prided themselves on their knowledge of Jewish ritual Law known as the Torah, which it was their job to interpret and offer judgment. They were considered the “experts” Yet, for all their knowledge and learning, in today’s Gospel reading, the Pharisees refuse to believe in the teachings and authority of Jesus because He is not from their faction.

We can often be modern day Pharisees.

Do we confined our evangelization efforts just to people with whom we are comfortable with, or with whom we share the same interests? Have we secretly (or nor so secretly) judged other people because they aren’t coming to Bible study, or are not as involved at church or don’t understand a particular aspect of Catholic teaching and decided that they are not as “good” Catholics as we are or not dedicated enough to being a disciple of Christ?  Have we ignored what the shy person in Bible study who reads softly and slowly has to say, in favor of the guy who can quote chapter and verse and seems more “learned?”   If we can answer to yes to any one of these questions (and most of us can), we are guilty of being like the Pharisees, which we do not want to be. Not only did they completely miss who Jesus really was, in the end they handed Him over to the Romans to be crucified. We do not want to miss out on something important God might be trying to tell us, because it comes from the “wrong” person or group.

Today, we celebrate the feast of Saint Patrick. (Traditionally St. Patrick’s Day is the 17^th but since it falls on Sunday in Lent, the bishop of Savannah has moved the celebration back one day.) At the age of sixteen, Patrick was taken from the coast of his native Wales by Irish raiders, who sold him as a slave to an Irish chieftain named Milchu. Patrick spent six years tending Milchu’s sheep, until he was instructed in a dream to escape from Ireland, a feat he accomplished with a substantial amount of divine help. Back home in Wales, Patrick felt the call to be ordained and return to Ireland in order to bring the message of the Gospel to the Irish people, which he did in 431 A.D. As a former slave, Patrick would have definitely been the “wrong” person to listen to. In fact, Patrick’s former master, Milchu, actually sent his house on fire with him in it, to avoid the disgrace of having his former slave preach to him! Fortunately, many of the Irish did not follow his example, and instead accepted Patrick’s evangelization efforts, so that by the saint’s death thirty years later, Ireland was well on its to becoming a staunchly Catholic country.

God often sends the “wrong” person to deliver a life-giving message. Don’t be like Milchu. Don’t be a Pharisee. Take time to listen and prayerfully consider what God might be telling you.

About the Author

Thomas McIntyre is a 2012 graduate of Georgia Southern University. He has recently returned to his alma mater to pursue a Master’s Degree in History, and is in his first semester as a graduate student. In addition to classical and ecclesiastical history, his interests include theology, philosophy, dead languages and classic rock music. 

A life less ordinary… A life extraordinary

“Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us;

he sets himself against our doings,

Reproaches us for transgressions of the law

and charges us with violations of our training.”

Wisdom 2:12

When we are faced with the truth, and we are in the wrong, how often is our natural reaction to lash out in anger? We do not want to be wrong. We do not want others to know we are wrong. And we certainly do not want others to tell us that we are wrong! So what do we do? We pick on, or make fun of, the “goody two shoes” who is telling us we are wrong.  Why? “Because he is obnoxious to us.” Or because he is calling us to a higher standard than we are currently calling ourselves to, and we want to rebel against that.

“To us he is the censure of our thoughts;

merely to see him is a hardship for us,

Because his life is not like that of others,

and different are his ways.”

Wisdom 2:14-15

We all have holy, virtuous, good people in our lives. You know who they are. The people who make you want to be a better person. And I am sure we have all experienced at one time or another, a time when we may have done something wrong, or said something wrong, in the presence of someone whom we admire like that. How do you feel? Ashamed. Little. Like a disappointment, maybe.

Darkness and light cannot occupy the same space. It is impossible – darkness is the absence of light. In the same way, good and evil cannot occupy the same space. When someone is living in sin, and is actively choosing that, even just to be in the presence of someone living a life of virtue is difficult. Because they know that they were made for more than that. That they are better than that.

We should strive to be this kind of person – whose “life is not like that of others.” Not in a negative way, but in the way that causes other people to want to be better. In the way that calls our friends to a higher standard. Proverbs 27:17 tells us: “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” We need each other to grow in holiness and virtue. So be the kind of man or woman that helps to sharpen your friends! Live an extraordinary life. Be a saint!

-Katie DiFato

Taking the Trinity Personally since 325

“Three Persons, one Nature” – we take this formula for granted.  But such wasn’t always the case.  In the first few centuries of Christianity, this was still under contention, and the early Fathers of the Church were struggling to articulate it.

The Fathers realized that belief in the Trinity consists of realizing that somehow God is three, without rejecting the Old Testament’s central assertion that God is One.  Passages like today’s Gospel were the building blocks for this doctrine.  Simply put, they show us that (in the words of Pope Emeritus BXVI) “there is a ‘we’ in God:” there is a dialogue in God, a back and forth between more than one something.  

This stands in very strong contrast to the history of thought that preceded the early Church Fathers.  As heirs to the spiritual legacy of Israel, they knew that the New Testament certainly did not reveal a multiplicity of Gods, and as heirs to the philosophical legacy of the Greeks, they knew that God could not be a composite of multiple pieces.  But in the revelation of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, God had revealed some kind of threeness in Himself, and they had to grapple with this.

In their efforts to articulate this “God is three” and “God is one” coherently, the Fathers adopted and developed a concept that has been indispensable to theology and philosophy ever since – the concept of person.

Nowadays, because of the way it was treated in Modern philosophy, our idea of person tends to be more individualistic.  But in today’s Gospel, Jesus expresses His identity as the Person of The Son and illuminates the Divine perspective.

Jesus says that he can’t do anything without The Father, that he only does what he sees The Father doing, that he only seeks The Father’s will, and that he is given his very life by The Father.  Elsewhere in John, he goes so far as to say, “The Father and I are One.” (John 10:30)  In short, his whole identity is defined with regard to The Father. But he never says “I am The Father;” not in John or in any Gospel: he is a distinct person.

What Jesus expresses, then, is His relationship with the Father: a relationship so profound that in it, He and the Father are truly One.  Our relationships, in friendship or romance or family or whatever their nature, unite us with one another.  But no matter how close they bring us, they can provide only a tiny glimpse of the reality that is relationship in God.  In the perfect unity of their relationship, the Three Persons are truly One God.  The complete intimacy of Father and Son that Jesus expresses today give us insight into this truth.

So we come to ourselves: if, in God, being a person is defined as being in relationship, and we are made in His image, then we can’t fully be what we are without being in relationship – relationship with one another and above all with Jesus, who invites us into the intimate life of the Trinity today, saying “whoever hears my Word and believes in the One who sent me has eternal life.”

Grace Greater Than All Our Sin

In the Old Testament reading for today, we see the immeasurable breadth of God’s power.  He created everything on earth and supplies our every need.  As spring begins we see life bursting forth around us; trees beginning to bud, birds singing and building nests, flowers opening and sharing their radiant beauty.  In all of this we find what we need to live, to survive physically from one day to the next.  The sun and rain that nurtures our food, plants from which we get medicine, the wood and other raw materials to build homes, roads, schools, churches, the intellect to use all that God has provided to survive and even thrive.

And yet, despite of all of the beauty and perfection given to mankind, Adam and Eve gave in to the temptation of sin and brought about The Fall. Everything that GOD created was good, but sin brings pain and suffering into the world.  We are like the sick man sitting near the waters of Bethesda in today’s gospel.  We want to be well, forgiven from our sins, but we have no one to help us enter the healing waters.  But God shows us his immeasurable love and mercy, sending us Jesus, to heal us from our sins and to help “keep us on the road to heaven”.  The healing waters of baptism, the gift of the Eucharist, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the sacrament of Reconciliation… gifts from God to guide us back where we belong.  With Him.

Today, be conscious of God’s grace.  Share God’s love and mercy with those you meet, remembering that without HIS love and forgiveness, we would be nothing. From the old French prayer book, Gold Dust:  “How few there are who would thus dare to address God each night:  “Lord, deal with me tomorrow as I have this day dealt with others;… those to whom I was harsh, and from malice, or to show my own superiority, exposed their failings; others, to whom from pride or dislike, I refused to speak; I will not forgive,--to whom I will not show any kindness.” Thank you God for not giving me what I deserve.  Thank you for saving me.

--Melinda Cannady, convert (2011), wife, and mother of two precious little saintmakers.

While we are yearning for the Heavenly Jerusalem

       The first reading today from Isaiah obviously points us toward Heaven. Toward the time when we will walk with the Lord in Paradise and see God clearly face to face. No more crying, no more death, no more (insert frustrating things here), just eternal happiness with the God, who wants to “exult in His people.” A land where there will be no spiritual, physical, or emotional problems, but simply perfection and happiness.

         But our human nature inclines us to ask “what about now?” Are we just sad and miserable creatures trying to get by until we go to heaven? Is Our God a distant god who awaits us in Heaven, and until then we are on our own? NO! God created us “to be a joy” and when this scripture is read in light of our resurrected Christ, new meanings begin to stand out. While we are looking forward to our union with Christ in Heaven, Christ has established His kingdom here on earth in which we are also able to rejoice in and with Him now! There are many places that this intimacy with God is apparent within our faith, especially in two places.

         The first is our Catholic Church. A place where any where in the world

and any day of the week, we are able to take sanctuary in the loving embrace of God’s grace. Free of any judgment we are able to approach God and not receive just a sign, but actually receive Him, who is goodness, physically into our bodies and into our hearts. Within our Church we can rejoice in the Lord’s presence knowing we are loved and that we matter. It is within our church that “the fruit of the vineyard [we] plant” is taken by the priest and through Christ turned into Goodness Himself. It is here we truly catch a glimpse of Heaven!

         Another place we find joy within our faith is our Blessed Mother. Her whom Jesus gave to us on the cross. Her whom Jesus enjoyed, so much so, that He felt He must share Her love and care with us. And we are able to fly to the Virgin Mary anytime with our troubles, and know she will direct us always toward Her Son. In her comfort we can trust and rest, knowing, that our God Himself rested in her arms for the entirety of His childhood.

         So during this time of lent, as we walk with Jesus in the desert, let our hearts rejoice! While life might be tough at times, or we might struggle with our Lenten sacrifices, we know it is in these sufferings we are closest to Him. Jesus is not just our leader, but also our friend. He loves us and in this love we can truly pray, “I will praise you Lord, for you have rescued me.” While in Heaven our happiness will be of all kinds, now we can have peace and joy in Christ as we look forward to eternity.

 Thank you Lord for the gift of Your Church and Your holy Mother!

-Patrick Tunnell

         

In Christ

I would like to focus on today’s second reading, Second Corinthians 5:17-21, which is beautifully tied to today’s gospel reading, the famous pericope of Christ dining with sinners and tax collectors and his telling the Pharisees the parable of the prodigal son.

St. Paul highlights the beautiful sacrament of Confession as the way to enter into the forgiveness of the Father’s love through uniting ourselves to Christ. Let us look at it line by line:

“So for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old order is gone and a new being is there to see” (5:17). St. Paul reminds the Corinthians that they are a new creation in Christ. What does it mean to be in Christ? Christ has died for our sins and rose again so that we might share in His glory, but how can we access that glorious resurrection?

“It is all God's work; he reconciled us to himself through Christ and he gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (5:18). We do not reconcile ourselves to Christ, but rather, Jesus reconciles us to the Father. But where is Jesus? How are we in Christ? Jesus said to His apostles at His ascension that He would send the Holy Spirit, cf. Acts 1:7-8.

“I mean, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not holding anyone's faults against them, but entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (5:19). It would be a cruel trick if Jesus promised us the forgiveness of our sins in Him without giving us a sure way to be united to Him. St. Paul, therefore, reiterates the importance of our connection to Christ through the Apostles and those who succeed them.

“So we are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were urging you through us, and in the name of Christ we appeal to you to be reconciled to God” (5:20). To whom is St. Paul referring when he says “you” and “us”? When St. Paul says “us,” he is referring to himself and the other Apostles, as well as to their successors, the priests and bishops of the Church. “You” refers to those who are in need of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, i.e. all of us! St. Paul is not making a false dichotomy between “the righteous” and “sinners,” like the Pharisees do in today’s Gospel. Rather, he invites the Corinthians (and us) into the gift of Reconciliation in Christ and through apostolic authority.

“For our sake he made the sinless one a victim for sin, so that in him we might become the uprightness of God” (5:21). Again, St. Paul says that it is God’s work. All are sinners, including the Apostles, but in Christ all are made whole and return to the Father like the prodigal son.

-Jacob Pride

"Let us walk humbly with our God."

          In today’s gospel, Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. In his prayer, the Pharisee reminds the Lord of all he has done, fasting, praying and tithing. The tax collector goes humbly, on his knees, and asks for mercy for his sins. Jesus reminds us that it is the tax collector who is justified. “The one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

          For many of us reading this, we are good people trying to live out our faiths in a very secular world. We go to Mass each week, we may attend a Bible study. We spend time in prayer, we fast. It can feel like we are doing so much compared to others.   We measure ourselves against a world that, these days, doesn’t set a very high bar. But even if we measured ourselves against the piety of the holiest man, it is our humility the Lord most desires.  If  we went to Mass every day, made a monthly confession and tithed more than our 10% and came to the Lord showing him all our good deeds, He would be more pleased with the person  who had done none of this but said to Him, “Bless me for I have sinned.”

          There is a great comfort in knowing that it is the condition of our hearts that will hurt or please the Lord. We absolutely should spend as much time as possible in prayer, fasting, almsgiving. These things make us more like Jesus and bring us closer to Him. We just have to do so with humility. We can’t earn our way into Heaven. Jesus took every one of those nails out of the same love for saint and sinner.  We say at Mass, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.” We humble ourselves before we receive the greatest gift ever given, the actual body of Christ. That shows how important humility is in the Christian walk.

          We will all walk through different seasons of life. There will be times when we can make it to daily Mass and monthly confession, times when we can tithe 10% before taxes. Hopefully, we will get on our knees each night of those plentiful times and tell the Lord that we are thankful for His provision and ask for forgiveness for the ways we didn’t honor Him. There will also be times when we can’t get to daily Mass, when our tithe will be in time rather than money. Hopefully we will get on our knees during those times and tell the Lord we are thankful for His provision and ask forgiveness for ways we didn’t honor Him.

          Our God loves us in plenty or in want. He loves us not for what we do or give, but who we are. God doesn’t love us because we’re good. He loves us because HE is good. 

-Keri Ninness

Freedom from the Law

            “[Jesus] said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’” Man, would I love to hear that from Jesus! Clearly, the scribe who questions Jesus in today’s Gospel reading gets it; let’s try to learn from his example and see how he got so close to the kingdom of God.

            The Jews in Jesus’ day were all about the letter of the law, and I can see why, given how complicated their law was; I’m certain I would have broken it on accident a few times per day. They had strict laws for purification, diet, and observing the Sabbath, among other things. If you had a rock for every time I ate a meal with unclean hands, you could stone me!

            One of the purposes for Jesus’ mission (besides dying for our sins, obviously) was to give us freedom from the law. This is not freedom in the way we usually think about it—the ability to do whatever we want, whenever we want. That’s called license. True freedom means being free of any sinful desire or attachment. If we no longer desire to break the law, we are free of it; it is no longer a burden on us. Let’s see a practical example of this.

            Consider a young man who thinks the Mass is boring. He doesn’t understand why we have to go every Sunday. The law is a burden to him. But imagine if someone explained to him that the Mass is heaven come to earth and that we are connected, through our participation in the Eucharist, to every Catholic throughout history, regardless of time! This young man begins to think about Mass differently. He starts coming to Mass every Sunday, and maybe even during the week occasionally. He has achieved freedom from the law!

Bio:

Michael LaPointe is a FOCUS missionary at Georgia Sothern. Originally from Montgomery, AL, he graduated from Auburn University in 2011.