Holy Saturday

On the seventh day God completed the work he had been doing; he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation. Genesis 2:1-3

Good Friday 2026

 Lectionary: 40

Yet it was our infirmities that he bore,
        our sufferings that he endured,
while we thought of him as stricken,
        as one smitten by God and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our offenses,
        crushed for our sins...

Americans, with our deep convictions about individuality, wonder how one man might suffer for everyone who ever was or will be born. Where is the sense of that; and how does it work? How can a man who lived centuries ago in a distant country bear my infirmities or endure my suffering, or atone for my sins? 

John the Evangelist recognized the prophetic quality of Caiaphas's blunt assessment of the Sanhedrin's predicament, when he berated his colleagues...

“You know nothing, nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish.”

Caiaphas feared the Roman response if Jesus were to take control of Jerusalem as the long-awaited messiah. There would be havoc. Like the American Congress which hesitated to end slavery in the United States, the Sanhedrin refused to believe that God could deliver the Jewish nation from an ominous, overwhelming evil. Faith in Jesus seemed like a fatal illusion for mystics and poets; it was not realpolitik. 

Nor did Caiaphas suppose that one man's right to life might trump the well-being of a nation. If saving Israel cost only the life of one innocent man, the solution was obvious. And given that Jesus had no army and that his popular support could evaporate overnight, his death would solve many problems! "You know nothing!" he said to his baffled confederates. You don't see the obvious! 

But Saint John recognized the guiding hand of God in the ugly remark. He remarked about Caiaphas, 

"He did not say this on his own, but since he was high priest for that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God.

The hopes and fears of all the years would be fulfilled in Jesus. For centuries the Jews had longed for and prayed for the return of all God’s people to Israel and Judah. To this day, they sing "L'Shana Haba'ah B'Yerushalayim" (Next Year in Jerusalem) at the end of the Passover Seder and Yom Kippur. 

Even as a child, Jesus heard his mission spelled out for him in the words of Isaiah the Prophet:

It is too little, he says, for you to be my servant,

to raise up the tribes of Jacob,

and restore the survivors of Israel;c

I will make you a light to the nations,

that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.*

Thus says the LORD….

Christians recognize Jesus's authority far beyond the Jewish nation in his passionate love for every human being. We saw that love when he healed the sick and raised the dead of both Jews and Gentiles; we saw it when, after he died, gentiles insisted on hearing about the Jewish Messiah and then asking for Baptism into him. 

His love is born of his human nature which embraces everyone's humanity and every living thing on earth. Because He is God and man he has within himself the bond which ties him to every human being, and the authority to save us from our sins. His flesh is our flesh and his blood is our blood; and he confirms these ties to us when he commands us to eat this – this is my body – and to drink this – this is my blood – and, “Do this in memory of me.” 

Although this doctrine can be explained only with poetic analogies, it is more than poetry. It is a guiding principle for our lives and the motive for our action. We have watched him die in an apparently futile statement of his faith in God, and seen him raised and returned to us to show us that in Him the Father has conquered sin and death. 

Convinced as we are that Jesus has made human life meaningful in what appears to be an endlessly empty universe; and sure that He has confirmed our right to live, breathe, and rejoice in his divine presence: we make sacrifices with him. 

Even those actions that no one sees -- our prayers, fasting, and generosity -- make a difference far beyond any recognized sphere of influence because they are made in union with Him. The Father who sees in secret repays us. We also do penance with him who has not sinned for we know our sins: those that are publicly known, those that are committed in solitude, and those that seem to have no consequences whatsoever. They also have universal ramifications. 

Our sins have been atoned by the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Our sins, our repentance, and our return to communion with the Lord mark the Way of the Cross for us. We know that, for we have read the history of sin, mercy, healing, and reconciliation in the Old and New Testaments.  

Because Jesus has not sinned, he alone is worthy to offer himself in reparation for our sins. Because he is God’s Son he alone can bring us into God’s presence and present us healed and whole and happy as a gift to our Father. 

We thank God for Good Friday and the faith God has given us to participate in these prayers.

Holy Thursday-Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper

 Lectionary: 39

So when he had washed their feet
and put his garments back on and reclined at table again,
he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you?”

Although I was born in 1948, I remember much about the Second World War, and Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Haiti, the Balkans, Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. So I am not surprised that we are now at war with Iran, have invaded Venezuela, and might send troops into Cuba. I remember something of the past, despite the biases and faults of my memory. However, I notice that when arguments are made against another military adventure, we’re told, “The past doesn’t matter. The world has changed; the army has changed; we have all new technologies. This will be altogether different.”

The ancient Greeks told the story of the merchant who demanded that his neighbor pay back the money he borrowed last year. The debtor replied that he owed him nothing since he is not the same person who borrowed the money. He was drunk at the time, and now he is sober. "I have left behind my past and moved on, and you should too!" he said.

Hearing that argument, the merchant slugged the fellow. 
“Why did you hit me?” the man asked.
The merchant replied, “I didn’t hit you. I’m not the same person who hit you. I have left the past behind me!” 

When Jesus washed his disciples' feet, he asked them, “Do you realize what I have done for you?” He wants us to remember that gesture tonight, and forever. It happened during his Last Supper, when everything he said and did had enormous significance. Details of the meal are recounted in all four gospels, and although the details are differently recorded, they are all important to us. 

He also said that evening, “Do this in memory of me.” I hear in those words the voice of a young man who knows his enemies have been making plans, and that he will die very soon. His disciples do not. They think they are celebrating the Passover, as they have done every year since anyone can remember. And as the Jews will continue to celebrate the Passover long after those disciples have died and been forgotten. We always remember the Passover; we never forget it. But should we remember Jesus of Nazareth every time we keep the Passover? 

By tomorrow evening, the Lord will have suffered his agony in Gethsemane, his arrest and trial, the scourging, and his passion and death. By this time tomorrow evening, he will be dead and buried. The disciples have no idea; but they hear him say, “You must do this in memory of me.’”

If you do nothing else; if you remember nothing else about me and my teaching, my birth in Bethlehem or childhood in Egypt and Galilee, the wonders you have seen, the healing miracles and exorcisms, the parables and predictions. If you remember nothing else, do this in memory of me – and I will be with you.

You must eat this bread; for it is not bread but my body. You must drink this wine; for it is not wine but my blood. And you must be servants and slaves of one another, washing one another’s feet. 

It doesn’t matter how many stories you tell, parables you recount, books you write, sermons you preach, movies you make, ballets you dance, or operas you sing. If you do not eat my flesh and drink my blood and wash one another’s feet, you will not remember me. You will not know me; you will have no part of me.

More than a thousand years before, Moses had warned his people, 

Take to heart these words which I command you today.

Keep repeating them to your children. Recite them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up.

Bind them on your arm as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead.

Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

Moses was facing the last days of his life and he knew that if the people did not take to heart these words, and repeat them to their children, and recite them at home and abroad, forever – then they might as well go back to Egypt and put their chains on again, and make bricks out of mud. The parting of the Red Sea and the destruction of the Egyptian army, and the manna they’d eaten, and the freedom: they’d been given meant nothing. 

In this 21st century we’re faced with the same challenge. We must keep this feast of Holy Thursday; the feast of our Holy Mass. We must eat his flesh and drink his blood and wash one another’s feet, and insist that our children and grandchildren do the same. Failing that, we might as well resume the life of consumers, workers, and soldiers. And we can watch our TV sports and soap operas and situation comedies; and brag about our grandchildren on social media. We can send migrants into concentration camps and fight our useless wars because nothing that Jesus did, or that our parents and grandparents did for two millennia will have made any difference. 

The Lord is with us tonight just as much and more than he was with us in the Upper Room on the night before he died. He speaks to us again, and commands us, 

You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’  and rightly so, for indeed I am.

If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet,

you ought to wash one another’s feet.

I have given you a model to follow,

so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

Wednesday of Holy Week

 Lectionary: 259

...woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.”

Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?”
He answered, “You have said so.”

The Lord said the same thing when "the high priest said to him, “I order you to tell us under oath before the living God whether you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
"You have said so."

And when Pontius Pilate demanded “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jesus said, “You say so.”

There seems little point in speaking the truth to liars. They would not know the truth if it bit them on the leg. They lie even when they think they're telling the truth because their eyes are blind; their ears, deaf; and their hearts, corrupt. 

Judas and Pilate, like the Pharaoh long before them, are left to their own devices; they have no guidance from God and can only pursue the path they see; that of evil. Such was God's design. Although there is no law which says they must sin and God does not command anyone to sin, they had neither the vision nor the power  to resist it. 

Saint Ignatius described the course of evil when he spoke of how good people are tempted by good. They find nothing attractive about evil and Satan doesn't waste his time making evil suggestions to them. Rather, he suggests good things like having more money is better than having less; and people are happier when you say this than when you say that. "So try to make more money, and tell people what they want to hear. Doesn't that make perfect sense?" 

Once they have set out on the path of not asking what God might want, they must inevitably follow the path of evil.

Satan cannot suggest that good people do God's will because he has no idea what that might be. Even when what he suggests happens to conform to God's plan -- as Judas, Pilate, and Pharaoh did -- neither he nor they can see where it leads. Their intent is to do evil, although they might deny that to themselves. They are completely confused; their minds are dark. 

Jesus knew what Judas' question meant. The man was lost and would not return. Judas had accepted thirty pieces of silver, and nothing the Lord might say would dissuade him from the course he'd set. The stage was set; the characters, in place; and their lines were memorized. They had only to begin acting. 

As we celebrate Holy Week, our course is also set. We must follow Him from the Upper Room into the courts of Caiaphas and Annas, Herod, and Pilate; and then to Calvary. Our hearts are set on following Him wherever He might lead. 

Tuesday of Holy Week

 Lectionary: 258

Hear me, O islands,
listen, O distant peoples.
The LORD called me from birth,
from my mother's womb he gave me my name.
He made of me a sharp-edged sword
and concealed me in the shadow of his arm.

Isaiah's Second Servant Song describes the Lord's mission; it is his identity and purpose; and is suggests his name, Jesus, "because he will save his people from their sins." (Mt 1:21)

That his name, his identity, and his mission all amount to the same thing sounds alien to most Americans. Most of us were given our names at birth; and then, somewhere between kindergarten and several graduations, we developed identity and selected a profession. Or we may have settled for a job and, perhaps, a career. 

Some of us hoped that these choices did not affect our identities, saying, "I may be a lawyer, doctor, or accountant but I don't act like it!" But we probably do anyway. We might go to great lengths to not play the part, but people who know us well know the difference. When I showed up at the breakfast table wearing bright yellow Bermuda shorts and a matching shirt, my mother exclaimed, "It's perfect! No one will ever guess that you're a priest!" I had not thought of that when I put them on and prepared to go to Mass with her. (That's a long time ago now.) 

Jesus knew who he was from the beginning although he seemed to live a hidden life for a while. His enemies certainly denied who he was from the outset. Some remembered his origins in Nazareth and wondered, "Where did he get all this? Aren't his brothers and sisters here among us?" Saint Mark says his own family, hearing of both his growing reputation and the opposition he was meeting, decided to come and take him home. Perhaps they intended to lock him in the cellar until he quit acting so strangely. 

Since the day he ascended into heaven within sight of his disciples, the world has tried to redefine his mission and purpose, despite allowing him to keep the name Jesus. The Church has recognized these heresies and consistently combated them. 

"He cannot deny himself." Saint Paul said of Jesus to his disciples Timothy:

If we are unfaithful
he remains faithful,
for he cannot deny himself.

Saint John of Patmos speaks mysteriously  in the Book of Revelation of hidden names. First, Saint John alludes to Isaiah 62:2-4: 

Nations shall behold your vindication,

and all kings your glory;

You shall be called by a new name

bestowed by the mouth of the LORD.

You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the LORD,

a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

No more shall you be called “Forsaken,”

nor your land called “Desolate,”

But you shall be called “My Delight is in her,”

and your land “Espoused.”

Isaiah 65:24-15 also speaks to the wicked of a cursed name, and about their relationship with the just who have sacred names: 

My servants shall shout for joy of heart,

But you shall cry out for grief of heart,

and howl for anguish of spirit.

You will leave your name for a curse to my chosen ones

when the Lord GOD slays you,

and calls his servants by another name.

John of Patmas writes to us, 

‘“Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the victor I shall give... a white amulet upon which is inscribed a new name, which no one knows except the one who receives it." 

and:

"The victor I will make into a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never leave it again. On him I will inscribe the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, as well as my new name."

Clearly, this name, although it seems unknown to our conscious minds, is known by the Lord and by the hearts who love Him. And, like Jesus, we cannot deny who we are in God's sight. 

Monday of Holy Week

Lectionary: 257

Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil
made from genuine aromatic nard
and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair;
the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. 

I know little about fragrant oils but a liter sounds like an awful lot to pour over a man's feet. However, I have smelled myrrh and it's a powerful scent. It's easy to imagine how "the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil." The neighbors down the street must have noticed. And the astonishment of those in the room; and the complaint of at least one of them. 

Myrrh was used to anoint dead bodies, which were immediately buried or entombed. Mary's odd behavior, outrageous expenditure, and invasive odor certainly upset more than a few people. If Judas was the only one to object, the rest may have been too surprised, polite, or cowed by the presence of the Master to complain about it.

However, we should notice that Nicodemus did something similar when he attended the Lord's entombment several days later. 

"The one who had first come to him at night also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds."

That's enough for an entire village of corpses! 

Their excess is heavy with meaning for us. They remind us of Isaiah's proclamation in today's first reading: 

Here is my servant whom I uphold,

my chosen one with whom I am pleased....

This man, whose presence overwhelms us is the same Cloud of Glory that overwhelmed the priests in Solomon's temple. He has come from God and is returning to God. He is the One who was with God in the beginning, and is God. (John 1:1-2) He is the One through whom all things came to be, and he is with us here. 

This overpowering myrrh smells of heaven itself, which may be initially repulsive -- as death and corpses and futility and waste are repulsive. But that is because we do not understand the ways of God. His light is too bright for blind eyes; and his voice, too loud for those who don't listen. 

Jesus, by his human nature and his sacrifice has made our humanity beautiful in God's sight, and by his compassionate divinity has made the divine delightful to our taste, smell, touch, hearing, and sight. But Jesus is a cultivated taste, meant for everyone though welcomed by few. 

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world. 

Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion

 Lectionary: 37 and 38

Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God (as) something to be grasped.

Several weeks ago we overheard a conversation between Jesus and Satan. God's perennial antagonist offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the earth, and the Lord refused the offer. He insisted that he would serve God alone, and would worship neither Satan nor his power. In fact, he seemed to renounce every claim to power. 

But Satan and his people have always suffered a profound confusion about power. He thinks it has given him authority. Satan, it may be true, has control of material things and can manipulate them in any way he sees fit. However, whether his power is economic or military or government; mechanical, chemical, electrical, or atomic; whether it is fame, popularity, or influence: it is not authority. Authority and power should not be confused. 

All authority in heaven and on earth, as the Gospels tell us, belongs to God the Father, and to anyone on whom he bestows it. We know, as God's people -- and Satan is not among God's people --  that he gave all authority to Jesus, the Son of Mary. If the Lord didn't seem to have much authority or power as he stood before his accusers, His time would come. 

Satan has great power today but he does not have the authority. Many politicians suppose their power over armies, navies, and air forces gives them authority over the minds and hearts of men and women. Many wealthy people with their lackeys, propagandists, and influencers, with their money and luxuries, with the deference they’re given by the adoring public and other elites, suppose that they have authority; although they never have so much as they want. 

They do not; authority remains with the Lord who calls every nation and every citizen of every nation to live freely in mercy and in justice, in righteousness, truth, and beauty. Any member of any despised minority and any criminal condemned to death knows what the Lord knows,“They may control my body but they cannot control my mind.” 

As Christians gather for Palm Sunday, we remember the final contest for all authority in heaven and on earth. This is the epic struggle between Good and Evil, between God and Satan. But we already know how this war ends, as the Book of Revelation tells us, 

Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back, but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it.

There is no contest! Within “an instant, within the blink of an eye,” Satan with all his naked, brute power is overthrown. 

But the victory does not come so easily to Earth, because Satan and his angels are thrown down to earth and they can still deceive the whole world. We, the Church, must remain until our hearts, and all the hearts of those who are being saved, are united in the Lord. 

During Holy Week we will watch as Jesus defeats the Enemy in the only way it can be done; by obedience to his Heavenly Father, by believing in God in the face of death, by dying to himself, and by waiting for the Redemption that has been promised. 

Death, with his customary impudence, will find him on the cross and will swallow him up, taking him from our sight and carrying him into hell. But neither death nor Satan can foresee what Jesus does upon his arrival in Hell. 

We call it the Harrowing of Hell, when Satan stripped of all his power, watches helplessly as the Lord takes everyone who faithfully observed God’s law, from Adam and Eve, to Abraham, Moses, and David, from Hosea to Jeremiah to Zechariah, from Sarah, Rebecca, Miriam, Deborah, Ruth, Judith and Esther; and all the unknown holy men and women who believed in God and Truth and Goodness despite their many disappointments and sorrows. The Lord finds them, sets them free, and brings them into paradise with the repentant thief, and all the saints and martyrs. 

Holy Week invites all of the faithful to go with us to the Upper Room, the Cenacle, where the Lord will celebrate his Last Supper, and give us his own flesh to eat and his blood to drink. We will go to pray with him in Gethsemane, and endure his trials before Annas and Caiaphas, Herod and Pontius Pilate. We will carry our crosses with him to Calvary, and stand with Mary his Mother. We will remain as the dying man gives us to Mary his mother and she becomes our mother. We will remain with Mary Magdalene as she stays by his tomb, though she cannot imagine what will happen on Sunday morning. 

And we will gather again on Easter to hear the voices of heaven, and earth, and under the earth declare, “Jesus Christ is Lord!” 

And we will hear the Victor over sin, Satan, and death announce;

All power (and all authority) in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent

 Lectionary: 256

Thus says the Lord GOD:
I will take the children of Israel from among the nations
to which they have come,
and gather them from all sides to bring them back to their land.
I will make them one nation upon the land,
in the mountains of Israel,
and there shall be one prince for them all.

On this day before Palm Sunday, as we prepare to relive the story of Jesus' arrival in the Holy City, the Church offers the above passage from Ezekiel. It concerns the "one prince for them all." 

Perhaps J.R.R.Tolkien was thinking of that phrase when he penned his famous incantation:

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,

One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. 

As I have studied the Old Testament -- especially Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Ezekiel -- and recited the Psalms daily, I notice how important the return of all Jews to Israel is for the Bible. The prophets agree their diaspora came upon them due to their grievous sins against the Lord. If their systematic neglect of widows, orphans, and aliens was not enough, their sacrifice of infants was unspeakable. (It was a common practice throughout the Phoenician world, and suppressed only when Rome leveled Carthage, the Phoenician capital.) 

The Assyrian army first invaded and destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel. They forced many Israelites to flee while some were forced to move to Assyria. (The Book of Tobit is situated in Assyria.) Later, the Babylonian army captured and leveled Jerusalem. Even the marvelous Temple of Solomon was destroyed, while the Jewish leaders were forced to migrate to Babylon. 

History might have forgotten the Israelites as it forgot the "Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites." (Exodus 3:8) However, God would not forget his promise to Abraham, 

I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will find blessing in you." (Genesis 12)

Remembering the promise and the covenant, the scattered tribes of Israel wait hopefully for the Lord to bring them back to their native land where they will be ruled once again by David or his heir. 

I hear that poignant longing for reunion in our Eucharistic Prayer 2:

Remember, Lord, your Church,

spread throughout the world,

and bring her to the fullness of charity,

together with Leo our Pope

and N. our Bishop, [and his assistant Bishops]

and all the clergy. 

And in Eucharistic Prayer 3:

...you never cease to gather a people to yourself, 

so that from the rising of the sun to its setting 

a pure sacrifice may be offered to your name. 

Saint Paul saw that universal communion restored in the Body of Christ. He urged the Corinthians in both his letters to send money to Jerusalem to support the Christians who endured ostracism from their Jewish people, and also a drought and famine. Because there is only one Body of Christ, if one member suffers all the members suffer. That's how the human body functions, and the Risen Lord Jesus is a human being!

He also felt God's intense desire that everyone -- Jew first and then gentile -- should recognize the fulfillment of Abraham's promises and Moses' Law in Jesus. That too would fulfill Ezekiel's prophecy:

I will take the children of Israel from among the nations

to which they have come,

and gather them from all sides to bring them back to their land.

I will make them one nation upon the land,

in the mountains of Israel,

On Palm Sunday we joyfully greet the "One Prince for them All." In his Kingdom all nations, peoples, tribes, clans, and families will worship the LORD. 

Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent

Lectionary: 255

I hear the whispering of many:
“Terror on every side!
Denounce! let us denounce him!”
All those who were my friends
are on the watch for any misstep of mine.

Christian typology has long recognized the Prophet Jeremiah as the most Christlike of all the Hebrew prophets. The young unmarried man was chosen before he was born; he was despised and abused by many of his contemporaries; he warned of impending doom, and saw it come. So we read his anxious musings in today's reading in the light of what happened to Jesus, and we suppose that the Lord found his own fate in the words of Jeremiah. 

First, they heard the whispering of their enemies. A speaker should watch and read the reactions of their hearers as they speak to them, and both prophets knew their audiences far better than the faithful who stood among them and were rapt in every word they spoke. They saw those who were not as enthusiastic; as well as those who walked away, and those could not be bothered. They saw those who wanted to trap them, that they might prevail and take their vengeance on them.

But Jeremiah and Jesus also knew "...the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion: my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph." Only with that assurance can they continue. 

In their failure they will be put to utter shame,

to lasting, unforgettable confusion.

True sons of Abraham, they shared the confidence of the psalmist who wrote 

I have seen a ruthless scoundrel,

spreading out like a green cedar.

When I passed by again, he was gone;

though I searched, he could not be found. (Psalm 37:35-36)

Jeremiah prayed that he might see the downfall of his foes in the words,

O LORD of hosts, you who test the just,

who probe mind and heart,

Let me witness the vengeance you take on them,

for to you I have entrusted my cause. 

God's vengeance is severe: his Word will never speak to them, relieve their anxiety, heal their distress, or give them a sense of accomplishment, satisfaction, or purpose. It will not allow them even a sense of humor about themselves and their failure. Left entirely to themselves, which was clearly what they preferred, they wicked will wish for death and never learn that the only way to die is to oneself. 

And finally, in the resurrection Jesus will sing with Jeremiah... 

Sing to the LORD, and 

praise the LORD,

For he has rescued the life of the poor

from the power of the wicked!

 

Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent

 Lectionary: 254

When Abram prostrated himself, God spoke to him:
“My covenant with you is this: you are to become the father of a host of nations.
No longer shall you be called Abram;
your name shall be Abraham....

The New Testament writers refer to Abraham 74 times in their twenty-seven books and letters; and the early Church understood that our religion reflects the Faith of the first patriarch rather than the Law of Moses. While Jesus insisted that he had not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it, the Church understood that a scrupulous adherence to the demands and taboos of laws would satisfy neither the demands of faith nor the needs of the human heart. We must believe in God if we would be saved; playing by the rules satisfies no one. 

Faith is always a matter of the heart; seeking salvation through appearances can lead only to moral and social disintegration. If that vain ambition is characteristic of a culture or nation, those people face extinction. That is not a matter of divine revenge against foolishness; rather, it is the inevitable consequence of human life without purpose or meaning. 

In her book, Body and Identity, Angela Franks shows how western philosophy and culture lost its sense of purpose when it dismissed the ontological foundation of life and reality. If knowledge includes only what can be seen, touched, heard, or smelled; measured, weighed, and analyzed; and does not address the underlying question of why anything exists, it wanders into uncertainty and relativity. That knowledge cannot include the worth of anything. Not only does it waste time, treasure, and energy; it regards human beings as useless, disposable commodities. 

Jesus' New Covenant takes us back to Abraham's faith in the LORD who personally called him out of the Ur of the Chaldeans in Mesopotamia. The patriarch found his purpose in obedience to God. His faith was blind in the sense that he did not know where God was leading him. He saw a fulfillment of God's promise when Isaac was born of his barren, aged wife.

Jesus insisted that we should believe as Abraham believed. Saint Paul (Romans 4:3 & Galatians 4:6) and Saint James reminded their readers of that Abrahamic dimension of faith. Lent and its practice of penance tell us that we can neither hide from God nor fool him. God looks into the heart. He knows who we are better than we know ourselves; He knows our destination. Despite all the glittering appearances and distracting promises of this world, we go with Him. 

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

Lectionary: 545

The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”

Pope Saint John Paul II dedicated his papacy under the epigram, Totus Tuus. Anticipating the second millennium since the birth of Jesus, he called for a Holy Year in 1987 as a year of reflection on the Immaculate Conception and Nativity of Mary. He addressed his encyclical Redemptoris Mater to all Christians, reminding them of Mary's unique names -- Kecharitomene and Theotokos-- and her vocation as the Mother of God. 

Kecharitomene is the original Greek expression, translated in today's gospel as Full of Grace. It is the name by which the Angel Gabriel greeted her.

 

But she was greatly troubled at what was said

and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.

No one had ever been addressed by God in such a way, and she was understandably troubled. What could it mean for her, her family, her betrothal to Joseph, and the children who might be born of this couple? It was clearly a name like that of Abraham, Sarah, and John (the Baptist) which would change everything, even the history of the world. As the angelic conversation continued she learned the name she should give her firstborn son, Jesus. 

The story must remind us of our identity before the God who names us at our Baptism. Our parents and family chose our baptismal names! Usually, these words were chosen with great care and mean something. 

Mary's name was more than just a word to identify her among others; it was also a commission from the Lord. As the Most Blessed among Women and the Mother of God she would become the Mother of the Church. In fact that mission was given to her on Calvary; as she gave her Firstborn Son to God she beheld her son, the Beloved Disciple. We recognize in that moment the birth of the Church by the flood of Blood and Water which flowed from his wounded side. 

Disciples Jesus and followers of the Way learned to like the name Christian despite its first disreputable inflection. You might notice that Paul avoided using the word in his conversation with King Agrippa, who said to Paul,  

“You will soon persuade me to play the Christian.”

Paul replied, “I would pray to God that sooner or later not only you but all who listen to me today might become as I am except -- for these chains.”

Whether we like the word or not, Christian means that we are anointed like Christ -- and come with binding chains. We are sent as missionaries to announce the name of Jesus, 

"...making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

The story of Mary reminds us that our names and missions are not arbitrarily chosen; we have a purpose. 

Recently, I remembered a peculiar expression from the 1990's, "I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!" In the Saturday Night Live persona of "Stuart Smalley," Al Franken expressed the bewilderment of a generation of uncertain young people. 

I was ordained by then; had passed through the initial crises of personal identity as a Franciscan priest; and understood Franken's humor. But, was being liked by some people the best anyone could hope for? It's not much of an identity, nor does it suggest one's purpose in life. 

Thirty years later, identity, purpose, and mission are fighting words in the United States; and people pretend to be greatly offended if anyone fails to acknowledge and respect their plastic identities. In some states offenders can be prosecuted for ignoring the civil rights of bizarre identities. But we've seen 'em come; and we've seen 'em go. Does anyone remember multiple personalities? That was the thing for a while. And Goth. I can't help it if I'm goth!  I heard one teenager complain.

Christ the Anointed One remains, as does Kecharitomene, Theotokos, and Christian. We know who we are and to whom we belong.

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

Lectionary: 252

You belong to this world,
but I do not belong to this world.
That is why I told you that you will die in your sins.
For if you do not believe that I AM,
you will die in your sins.”
So they said to him, “Who are you?”

Realizing their mortal peril, they asked, "Who are you?"

The question recurs, in one form or another, frequently in the Gospel of Saint John, and throughout human history. Who was this man? Where did he come from? What was he talking about? Who gave him such authority? Why did he care so much? Why doesn't he just go back to wherever he came from?

Living in a flattened universe which cannot imagine or reckon on a spiritual dimension, we have a hard time explaining to our skeptical neighbors, family, and friends that Jesus is Lord, and that his throne is a cross. It is harder to explain that everyone must take up their crosses and follow him to Calvary.

Reality has a rude way of intruding into the narrow dimensions of our space and time. Clueless despite their cleverness, they can only speculate about what might happen and should happen.

Knowing the Truth who is God, and recognizing the Son, the Ambassador whom Truth has sent, we walk amid the familiar dimensions of time and space but our hearts and minds recognize the spiritual dimension where meaning, purpose, and satisfaction appear. We can see consequences coming that might not appear in the predictable dimensions. You can see the meaning of ominous remarks like, "You will die in your sins."

"God rescues us from dangers beyond all human expectation. We felt within ourselves that we had received the sentence of death, so that we might not trust ourselves but in God, who raises the dead; from so great a danger did he deliver us, and does deliver us; we hope in him, for he will deliver us again." Saint Basil

Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent

 Lectionary: 251

Then Jesus straightened up and said to her,
“Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?”
She replied, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.
Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

How can anyone not love this story of Jesus mocking his enemies by playing in the dust, and saving a woman from death with the same silly gesture? It is comical, instructive, and inspiring. 

"He is My Savior!" we might shout, as we watch the street gang drop their stones and melt away. A simple inoffensive suggestion -- "“Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” -- sends them running for cover. 

We know as he knows that the outcome will be different when the city officials and Roman authorities get involved. The same gang will regroup and scream at him from behind the Roman soldiers. On that occasion he will remain silent, saying nothing in self-defense, for he knows and they sense that the hour has  come. The comedy will be over; the tragedy will begin; the glory will appear in its time. 

In the hour of our salvation we will stand silently with him. We will take our places on Calvary with Mary, the Beloved Disciple, and the Penitent Mary Magdalene. We will behold our salvation breaking into history; as unexpectedly to the authorities as his suggestion to the street gang.

 

Who can believe what we have heard?

A hanged man died and deified;

Isn’t this story a bit absurd?

The whole world saw him crucified.

The hanged man died and deified

Belonged to us as one of our own;

The whole world saw him crucified.

A man as common as a stone

Belonged to us as one of our own.

Bore dignity beyond the skies,

This man as common as a stone.

We could not see through his disguise

His dignity beyond the skies.

Enmeshed, begrimed in politics,

We could not see by his disguise

An excellence that would bollix

The powers meshed in politics.

The holy struggle to revive

An excellence that should bollix

those who rule and now deprive

The holy struggling to revive.

They'll stand at last to fill their lungs.

Those who rule will be deprived

but will praise God with splintered tongues.

They'll also stand and fill their lungs.

And no one dares call it absurd;

Their praising God with splintered tongues.

Who would believe what we have heard?

                    Fr Ken Bartsch, OFM Conv.