HE IS RISEN, INDEED!

Disciples John and Peter on the Way to the Tomb (Burnand)

The morning of the third day has brought something utterly incredible, unthinkable, even impossible. Mary Magdalene has returned in haste from the tomb with shocking news - she claims that Jesus, lifeless and entombed since Friday afternoon, HAS RISEN FROM THE DEAD!

Peter and John race towards the tomb. John, the only one of the Twelve who followed Christ to the cross itself. John who watched Jesus die the most agonizing of all deaths. John who knew better than the others that there was no doubt - their beloved Master was truly dead.

Peter, the chief of the apostles. The man who had walked on the tempestuous sea toward Christ. The one whom Jesus had renamed "Rock" and to whom he had promised the keys of the kingdom - the new steward of the royal household who had authority to bind and loose (see Isaiah 22:15-24). Peter who had, in terrible fear, rejected the Lord three times. Peter, to whom Christ had said: "Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-32).

And so they run. John, the younger of the two, runs faster. Peter runs as best he can. John, filled with anticipation: "Could it really be? Please, O Father, let it be so!" Peter, filled with hope but also a deep and painful shame: "Please, Master, please... Please forgive me!"

They finally arrive. John waits for Peter, acknowledging his primacy. Peter enters first. The tomb is empty. The Lord's wrappings lie there, the cloth that had covered his face in another part of the tomb, folded. What grave robbers would have taken time to unwrap his body? What is going on here?

They return with more questions than answers. Little do they realize that he will soon come to them in the very room where they had last eaten with him, and things will never be the same - for them and for the whole human race.

Holy Saturday (an Ancient Homily)

I post this selection from today's "Office of Readings" each year because I can't think of a better reflection on Christ's descent to the dead. Enjoy!

 

Second reading

From an ancient homily on Holy Saturday

The Lord descends to the dead

Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.

For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Judeans in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.

I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.

Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.

RESPONSORY

Our shepherd, the source of the water of life, has died. The sun was darkened when he passed away. But now man’s captor is made captive.
– This is the day when our Savior broke through the gates of death.

He has destroyed the barricades of hell, overthrown the sovereignty of the devil.
– This is the day when our Savior broke through the gates of death.

CONCLUDING PRAYER
All-powerful and ever-living God,
your only Son went down among the dead
and rose again in glory.
In your goodness
raise up your faithful people,
buried with him in baptism,
to be one with him
in the eternal life of heaven,
where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
– Amen.

"And he looked for an opportunity to betray him." (Mark 14:11)

This should fill my heart with sorrow and a deep reflection. Judas is the Lord's friend. He has walked with him for three years, learned from him, received Jesus' love at every moment of every day. Judas has himself preached, healed, and shared in Jesus' ministry! And yet as we arrive at the threshold of the Passion where is Judas? Where are his heart and mind now? He is "looking for an opportunity" to betray his Master.

We wonder how it's possible. We feel the deepest kind of pain and confusion. We can taste the betrayal and its bitterness makes us cringe. But we must humbly face the question that follows: "How often do I myself seek an opportunity to betray Jesus?" He is the Truth - where do I willingly and callously seek out gossip, slander, one-upmanship? He is the Way - where do I refuse to follow him because of the sacrifice it requires, preferring to cut my own path no matter how far away from God it leads me? He is the Life - how often do I willingly seek fulfillment and pleasure, distraction and self-centered enjoyment, even though death, darkness, and emptiness always accompany them?

"Judas immediately went out; and it was night." (John 13:30)

Our Father in heaven, open our hearts and help us to empty them of every last ounce of selfish pride. Fill the remaining hollow darkness with the light that leads us to true life and love, and help all of us to refuse to betray you ever again. Amen.

Prayercrastination

While spending some time in quiet prayer yesterday at Our Lady of Victory Church in State College, I made up a new word - "PRAYERCRASTINATION". It's a lot of fun to say, and it's even more fun to do!

"What is prayercrastination?" you may ask. Well, I would say it's merely wasting time with God. I certainly didn't make this up, in fact that's one of Henri Nouwen's definitions of prayer. Another equally memorable take on prayer that I love comes from St. Teresa of Avila, and it too has a way of washing away many of our dry, formulaic, and weak notions about the nature of authentic Christian prayer. Teresa writes, "Prayer is conversation with Him whom we know loves us."

Time and time again, I find myself painstakingly working to develop the perfect plan for my prayer. I get wrapped up in the attempt to control every aspect of the experience and, like a spiritual Goldilocks, I search for the prayer porridge that's just right. But oftentimes my heartfelt efforts to orchestrate the perfect prayer time has a rather curious and dismal result: I don't pray at all! It's the age-old scourge of allowing the perfect to be the enemy of the good - of insisting on the 100% solution when 50 or 60% is all God might need from me right now in order to do His will in and through me. 

I know the thing that seems to be most helpful for me in this regard is to keep remembering that "wasting time" with God is always a good idea, no matter what's going on in my often crazy life. After all, in truth, not one minute spent in prayer is a minute really wasted at all.

So drop what you're doing today for a little while, whether it's five minutes or an hour, and PRAYERCRASTINATE with the One who made you, who loves you, who just wants to spend some time with you!

"Be Brave!"

Pope Francis' words here are quite encouraging if you ask me, though rarely (if ever) an easy task! We all, like Christ crucified, thirst. But what does this thirst mean? From where does it come and precisely how does it yearn to be satisfied?

Deep in my soul, I don't thirst for power, prestige, possessions, or pleasure. Instead I thirst for the fulfillment I was designed to experience. Like a flower reaching up into the sunlight, I yearn to embrace the unreachable source of my nourishment and my very life.

However, that source is only unreachable when I insist on reaching it on my own. When my relationship with God can only grow on my own terms it can never grow at all. The truth is that the mere fact of my existence is sheer grace. I had nothing whatsoever to do with my own creation. I didn't deserve it. I didn't earn it. I had no claim on life at all, and yet here I am.

The Great Mystery who breathes life into me at each present moment calls me to eternal glory in his arms, but the road I must choose to follow for that thirst to be authentically quenched is a long and dangerous one, full of pitfalls and potential setbacks. The wonderful truth is that every single obstacle I will ever encounter was known to God before all ages. I need never fear, "for You are with me" (Psalm 23). I need to trust him, to trust his will, his plan, his timeline.

Oftentimes, I don't even need external obstacles - I am my own worst enemy. As Saint John of the Cross observed, "in becoming aware of their own imperfections, some people grow angry with themselves in an unhumble impatience. So impatient are they about these imperfections that they would want to become saints in a day" (The Dark Night of the Soul, Ch. 5:3). God instead calls me to recognize my weaknesses while striving for a more steady growth in virtue. Virtue grows just like anything else - one day at a time.

Do you wish then to be a generous person? Then think, say, and do generous things. Do you desire to be pure? Let your mind, speech, and actions demonstrate a consistent choice for purity. Do you seek to be a person of great love? Then think loving thoughts, say loving things, and show love through action in the lives of others, especially those who it is not easy to love and those who have no one to love them. This cannot happen without sacrifice, without genuine death to self and self-interest. I cannot happen without the virtue of courage. And so we conclude with the Holy Father's words once more: "Ask Jesus what he wants from you: and BE BRAVE!" Amen.

Enough's Enough.

It never ceases to amaze me just how elusive gratefulness tends to be - is it just me? Just look around us in a typical day and you'll see what I mean:

     - I got a good grade... but it wasn't good enough.
     - I make a few extra bucks helping a neighbor move... but it's not enough cash.
     - Gas prices come down... but not enough.
     - My apartment rent is pretty cheap for a place this size... but not cheap enough.
     - My day went pretty well... but not well enough.

When is "enough" enough? What can I possibly be looking for in this world if nothing in it ever satisfies me? And that's the whole point. I'm not ultimately looking for something in this world to satisfy me, to bring my life meaning and ultimate fulfillment. I am, after all, a soujourner, a wanderer, a passing visitor on his way to that heavenly home for which I serve as an ambassador in this world.

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also."   (Matthew 6:19-21)

5 Things the Devil CAN'T Ever Do

When he is mentioned, which isn't all that much because we're continually pressured to pretend that he doesn't exist, Satan is usually imagined to be big, strong, terrifying, a daunting and powerful force. He is the great tempter, the dark power that battles it out with God in an equal match of cosmic proportions. Basically, the Devil is usually depicted as essentially the god of evil and darkness.

I think it's important every now in then to remember a few things, though. While it is a clear article of faith that the fallen angels do in fact exist (i.e. they are not just myth or literary devices but real intellectual, spiritual beings), we should never put them on a level that is anywhere near the power and majesty of God and the heavenly angels. There is no comparison. They are truly dangerous and powerful if we fight them all on our own, but they are less than shadows compared to the love and light of God.

I've always liked the image of flipping a light switch. Do light and darkness duke it out in UFC-style bloodbath before one of them wins? No. Light banishes darkness. The light of Christ banishes evil, and if I remain in that light, I have nothing to fear.

Just for some spiritual encouragement, I thought I'd throw a list together of a few things that the Devil CAN'T ever do:

1. He can't create anything. Satan is a creature himself. All he can do in his permanently chosen state of rebellion and self-worship is to distort, to twist, and to lie.
2. He can't read your mind. While he can know a lot about you, he is not privy to your most intimate space of communion with God. Your very existence comes directly from God himself, and Satan is not permitted to violate that connection against your will.
3. He can't force you to commit even a single sin. Flip Wilson used to say "the Devil made me do it!" But this is also something that is out of his reach. Sin only comes into my life when I choose it.
4. He can't stand to be mocked. He has no sense of humor because he chose to forever reject humility. Having the gift of full knowledge at his creation, unlike us, he had no excuse to do this. It was a completely free and permanent decision. This means that he is the most foolish rational being God ever created. Don't let him intimidate you. Bring your fears, your anxieties, and your doubts to God in a joyful spirit that always recalls how enormous the gulf between our God and the demons in fact is.
5. He can't love. Mercy and love are not even in Satan's vocabulary. He doesn't get them. He can't do them. He is powerless in the light of Christ's love and mercy. The more I show love and mercy, the more it will utterly burn Satan off like the sun burning off an early morning mist.

Remember those famous words of Pope St. John Paul II: "DO NOT BE AFRAID!"