FrNikola

Easter Monday (2)

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Today’s readings, as we continue the Easter octave, remind us that Easter is also a proclamation of the end of the greatest fear man has ever faced: death. In today’s First Reading Peter boldly “proclaims” that Christ has risen from the dead after everything he had endured and suffered: his enemies thought death would be a definitive solution, but not even death could contain the Christ. Mary Magdalene is described in today’s Gospel as “fearful yet overjoyed.” A horrible death has not definitively conquered her Lord; rather, in his death Our Lord has conquered death itself for all of us.

The thought of this life ending some day for each one of us has captured the imagination and anxiety of mankind throughout the centuries. Some have faced it with resignation and an attitude of tragedy and drama. Others have shaken their fist at it and tried to squeeze every drop out of their life before it runs out. Christians live this life and the thought of death with hope: we know now, thanks to Christ and through Christ, that death no longer has the last word. Death is a passage to a new and wonderful life for those who believe in Christ.

Let’s treat those little fears about proclaiming Christ and his victory over death as just that: shadows that should vanish in the light of Christ. Christ is truly risen and the fear of death, be it physical death or simply the death of our reputation for sharing the Good News, should no longer hold sway over us.

Readings: Acts 2:14, 22–33; Psalm 16:1–2a, 5, 7–11; Matthew 28:8–15. See also Easter Monday.

Easter Sunday, Mass During the Day (2)

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Today’s Gospel, recommended for celebrations on the afternoon or evening of Easter Sunday, presents a thematic continuity with the Gospel of yesterday‘s Easter Vigil. The implications of the Resurrection are continuing to “dawn” on the disciples that first Easter Sunday, and now, in the evening that day, the “dawn” spreads to the disciples on the road to Emmaus. They too did not believe the holy women’s announcement of what had happened, just like the Apostles. Things were just not turning out as they’d hoped, so they were calling it quits and heading home.

Our Lord calls them foolish, but he doesn’t abandon them to their ignorance. They are not trying to interpret the events scripturally, which is a recipe for failure: how do you rationalize someone rising from the dead? You can’t fathom it through any text book or science other than the Word and science of God. God has to help the profound and amazing reality of the Resurrection “dawn” on them. Even with hearts burning they don’t recognize him until he’s vanished from their sight, but now the light of Christ has dawned on them and they too must spread the news.

We have a new Easter season ahead of us. The contemplation of the Resurrection is not just for today; we have an entire liturgical season to go deeper in the mystery. Let’s spend this Easter season asking Our Lord to help understand his Word, written or otherwise, regarding the new life that has begun not only in him, but in us. This light is not just for us, but for others as well.

Readings: Acts 10:34a, 37–43; Psalm 118:1–2, 16–17, 22–23; Colossians 3:1–4; Luke 24:13–35. See also Easter Sunday, Mass During the Day and Easter Wednesday.

Easter Vigil, Cycle C

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Tonight’s Gospel shows an understandable confusion on the part of the apostles, but also the noble calling of being a witness to the Risen Lord, something to which every believer is called. The Apostles would be privileged witnesses to what Jesus said and did, but the holy women got the scoop: early on that first Easter Sunday morning went to the tomb and angels helped them process the incredible even that had taken place. The angels helped them to see that the empty tomb was all part of Our Lord’s plan. For their dedication to Our Lord they were blessed with being the first witnesses to the Resurrection, witnesses who announced it the Apostles themselves. Peter, to his credit, went to check the tomb, but Luke doesn’t say what he was thinking and he was uncharacteristically silent.

The readings of the Easter Vigil are many and long because they represent all of salvation history. The Old Testament hardly spoke of the resurrection of the dead, and even then the Jews believed it would only come at the end of time. Yet here were signs that it had happened in their lifetimes. The candles we light from the Paschal candle blessed on this solemn night represent the light of Christ spreading like the light of dawn. Today’s Gospel doesn’t show Our Risen Lord appearing to the disciples who had believed in him, yet the empty tomb poignantly symbolizes the dawn of a new life in Christ that we celebrate this evening, not just due to the amazing event of the resurrection, but also due to so many catechumens who receive the light of Christ tonight through baptism.

As we contemplate the candles in our hands that remind us of that day when we received the light of Christ through baptism, it’s a good moment to ask ourselves whether the amazing implications of the Resurrection have dawned on us. Let’s pray in this newly born Easter season that the light of Christ shines in everything we do.

Readings: Romans 6:3–11; Luke 24:1–12.

Good Friday, Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion (2)

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As we contemplate Our Lord crucified today, we behold a tragedy, the tragedy of an innocent man publicly executed. Jesus’ only “crime” was to identify himself as the Messiah, and that’s who he was; he did so to the Sanhedrin, so they decided to have him killed, and he did so to Pilate. As today’s Gospel reminds us, Jesus had his ID card hanging right over his head: “Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews.” If the execution of a guilty man doesn’t give us remorse (and it should, since it presents a failure of all society, not just the criminal), the execution of an innocent man does, or should.

This tragedy is even more profound when we gaze upon the Crucified One and remember that we should have been on that Cross instead of him. An innocent man is dying, brutalized on the Cross, for us. Adam and Eve’s Fall and our sins incurred the death penalty. After all God had given us and done for us, we repaid him by turning our backs on him, again and again. Yet his response leaves us as dumbstruck and confounded as the kings of the world mentioned in today’s First Reading: he takes the punishments we deserve upon himself. He doesn’t just say, “never mind, I forgive you”; he hands himself over to evil men to be tortured and executed. He teaches us how horrible the effects of sin are, not just to us, but to him, and that our sins have consequences.

Even in his last words Jesus asks the Father to forgive us for our ignorance. Today is a day not to dwell on the tragedy we inflicted on the good God who came to save us, but the love with which he did. Let’s die to sin and turn back to God and back to love.

Readings: Isaiah 52:13–53:12; Psalm 31:2, 6, 12–13, 15–17, 25; Hebrews 4:14–16, 5:7–9; John 18:1–19:42. See also Good Friday, Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion.

Holy Week, Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper (2)

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This evening’s liturgy begins the Easter Triduum, and Our Lord begins by bestowing three gifts on us: the Eucharist, the ministerial priesthood, and the commandment to love one another. This evening’s Gospel recalls when Jesus began the Last Supper washing his disciples’ feet, a menial chore usually reserved for a servant. When Peter balks, Jesus warns him that if he doesn’t accept this humble service, he’d be disinherited; Our Lord would deny him something he wanted to give him. Jesus’ gesture is even more poignant considered that he washes Judas’s feet as well.

In the Last Supper Our Lord institutes the Eucharist, celebrating it for the first time, and commanding his Apostles to celebrate in memory of him. In this supper Our Lord makes the apostles able to consecrate the Eucharist and offer it in Christ’s name and person on behalf of the Church, and they would hand this down to their successors, the bishops, and priests who worked with them. If washing the disciples’ feet was a menial gesture, imagine Our Lord being food and drink for us, standing vigil, at times alone, in tabernacles throughout the world, eager to be with his faithful through Holy Communion. In his actions Our Lord invites not just the ministerial priests of his Church, but all believers, to love one another as he has loved them. For a priest that translates into service, whether serving saints or sinners. Part of Peter’s inheritance this night was to receive the teaching of humility and service: if the Master should do such a menial chore out of love, his disciples should not consider themselves exempt.

The faithful who have not received Holy Orders are not exempt either; loving one another often means swallowing your pride and not putting limits or conditions on your self-giving, just as Our Lord didn’t. Let’s begin this Easter Triduum in gratitude for our priests and bishops, for the Eucharist, and resolved to reap the fruits of the forty days of Lent that have concluded to truly grow in our love for one another.

Readings: Exodus 12:1–8, 11–14; Psalm 116:12–13, 15–16c, 17–18; 1 Corinthians 11:23–26; John 13:1–15. See also Holy Thursday, Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper.