"Joy to the world, He's risen, alleluia"

It is a long-standing Καθολικός διάκονος tradition to post Keith Green's "Easter Song" on Easter Sunday. At least for me, it wouldn't be Easter Sunday without this song, which always immediately takes me back to my early days as a Christian:

Christ is risen!

Resurrection of Christ by Noel Coypel, 1700

"Do not be amazed! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Behold the place where they laid him" (Mark 16:6). This is what the angel said to Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James, and Salomé.

"Father, forgive them"

For a number of years I was privileged to preach all or some of Jesus' Seven Last Words as He hung on the Cross at The Cathedral of the Madeleine. We ceased this devotion after Good Friday 2013 for reasons I do not know. Nonetheless, below is my first ever reflection on our Lord's Seven Last Words, spoken as He hung on the Cross:

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Reading: Luke 23:34

“Father, forgive them” is the first of the seven last words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because forgiveness is where it all begins and is what is necessary for God’s purpose to be accomplished. Jesus willingly suffers and endures the humiliation, the degradation, the pain and the anguish that sin, our sin, merits. In His agonies are gathered up and recapitulated all the suffering that ever was and all that ever will be.

It would defeat the purpose of what God was doing in Christ for the Lord to endure the miseries of his passion and not, even while enduring them, forgive those at whose hands he suffered. It is only by forgiving that the cycle of violence, the very cycle in which Christ is not caught up, but to which He willingly submits for our sake, is broken and, fulfilling his Messianic mission, sets humanity free. In Christ, we see that forgiveness is the necessary condition of reconciliation.

It is clear that those inflicting torture on Christ, those crying out for his death, and those carrying out Pilate’s sentence, did not know what they were doing. In other words, they did not know they were torturing and killing the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Israel’s Messiah, the Son of God, the second person of the Blessed Trinity. Therefore, the first reconciliation we must bring about on the basis of our Lord’s first word is with the Jews, the people through whom God, according to his inscrutable wisdom, first entered into covenant and through whom, in Christ, his promise of salvation is extended to all humanity. Therefore, we must reject any anti-Jewish charge of deicide. Surely, believing such a charge, which many Christians did for quite a few centuries, contributed to one of the worst horrors imaginable, the most systematic genocide of the bloody twentieth century, the Sho'ah. In Christ, who is God’s covenant, the new and everlasting covenant is extended to all without prejudice. We, as sharers in this covenant, are called to reconcile a humanity that all too readily divides on the basis of race.

In their eyes they were putting to death a rebel, a blasphemer, a trouble-making, but (to borrow Fr John Meier’s description) a marginal Jew. So, Jesus also suffers on behalf of the poor and marginalized, like the two thieves, like the people of Darfur, Iraq, North Korea, and those dumped onto the streets and abandoned in cities throughout the world.

Besides, Jesus pleading to his eternal Father to forgive those torturing him and putting him to death cannot be anything other than efficacious. If we believe that Jesus’ pleadings for forgiveness are ever ignored by the Father, then our own forgiveness and, hence, our very salvation is called into question.

God still brings about forgiveness and reconciliation through the Body of His Son, which now, in and through the Eucharist, takes the form of the Church. Reconciliation, like the Eucharist, is a sacrament precisely because it is not confined to those times and places in which we formally and ritually celebrate it. Of necessity it extends beyond the confessional. Reconciliation is a way of life, a mode of being, for any disciple of Jesus Christ.

Divine Mercy Novena: Day 1

Let's not forget that today, Good Friday, begins the annual Novena of Divine Mercy. Of course, you may make a Divine Mercy Novena anytime you choose, but the one that begins today, in advance of Divine Mercy Sunday (the Second Sunday of Easter), is truly unique:

because it is the first novena in the history of the Catholic Church which was created by Jesus. St. Faustina records in her Diary that Jesus instructed her to write down the Novena which she would begin on Good Friday, 1937. Jesus told her that on each day, she would bring a different group of souls to the Fountain of His Mercy. From the Fountain of His Mercy, these souls would be refreshed and granted graces for the hardships of their earthly life and especially for the hour of their death. Jesus promised St. Faustina that He would refuse nothing to any soul whom she brought to the Fountain of His Mercy. He told her that once these souls were refreshed at the Fountain of His Mercy, He would bring them into His Father’s House, at which time St. Faustina would beg the Father, on the strength of the bitter Passion of Jesus, for graces for these souls. St. Faustina responded that she did not know which souls she should bring to the Fountain of Mercy, but Jesus told her that He would tell her on each day (Divine Mercy apostolate)

On the first day of the novena, Jesus requested that St Faustina pray for all people, the whole of humanity, but particularly for those ensconced in sin. In her diary, St Faustina wrote the words Jesus spoke to her: "Today bring to Me all mankind, especially all sinners, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. In this way you will console Me in the bitter grief into which the loss of souls plunges Me."

Feast Day of Divine Mercy, by Stephen B. Whatley

The Divine Mercy novena prayer for the first day:

Most Merciful Jesus, whose very nature it is to have compassion on us and to forgive us, do not look upon our sins but upon our trust which we place in Your infinite goodness. Receive us all into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart, and never let us escape from It. We beg this of You by Your love which unites You to the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon all mankind and especially upon poor sinners, all enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. For the sake of His sorrowful Passion show us Your mercy, that we may praise the omnipotence of Your mercy for ever and ever. Amen

In addition to the prayer for each day of the novena (you can find all of the prayers here), pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for the intention expressed in the novena prayer for that day. You might begin by making the Sign of the Cross, praying the novena prayer for that day and then praying the Chaplet.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us
St Joseph, pray for us
St Mary Magdalene, pray for us
St Faustina, pray for us
Pope St John Paul II, pray for us
Venerable Matt Talbot, pray for us
Servant of God Luigi Giussani, pray for us
Servant of God Cora Evans, pray for us
All holy men and women, pray for us

Life is short - pray hard. Jesus, I trust in You.

The Triduum: Good Friday

We worship your cross, O Lord, and we praise and glorify your holy resurrection, for the wood of the cross has brought joy to the world (Antiphon 3: Morning Prayer for Good Friday)

Martyre de Jésus de Nazareth, by Nicolas Aimé Morot, 1883

"He mounted the Cross to free us from the fascination with nothingness, to free us from the fascination with appearances, with the ephemeral."- Servant of God Msgr. Luigi Giussani

The Triduum Begins: Holy Thursday

From the beginning of the Mass of Lord's Supper this evening until we are dismissed at the end of the great Paschal Vigil, we are in liturgy. Between now and then, it is a time for prayer, silence, and to open ourselves to the Spirit in order to gain a deeper understanding of what the Father has done for us in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Jesus and Judas

Tonight, at the Mass of the Lord's Supper, during the reading of the Gospel, I was struck, not for the first time, by the person of Judas Iscariot. Maybe this arose from going to confession just before Mass. Anyway, as I thought about Judas, I remembered 24-7 Prayer's Anagnorisis series from last Lent, especially Andy Freeman's videos on Judas (you can watch them all here). but especially the final video.

This traitor, too, is loved. I pray to live in gratitude for this, which means living in the awareness, always, that I am loved with an everlasting love, a love that is stronger than death. Thank you, Jesus.

Pastoral ministry is being a fool for Christ

I'll be honest and admit that I've really never been a fan of or a participant in April Fool's Day. My admission is not intended to exhibit a morally superior attitude. I am fine with April Fool's Day and once in awhile, despite myself, have to admit, "That was a good one."

Thinking about April Fool's this evening St Paul's passage from the fourth chapter of his First Letter to the Corinthians popped into my mind:

For as I see it, God has exhibited us apostles as the last of all, like people sentenced to death, since we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and human beings alike. We are fools on Christ’s account, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clad and roughly treated, we wander about homeless and we toil, working with our own hands. When ridiculed, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we respond gently. We have become like the world’s rubbish, the scum of all, to this very moment (1 Cor 4:9-13)

In this passage Paul employs sarcasm when he tells the Christians of Corinth "you are wise in Christ... you are strong... you are held in honor." Paul is rehearsing for them what they think of themselves in contrast to how they perceive him and his co-workers.

Not too long ago at a luncheon I sat next to one of the wisest priests I know, a man getting on years, with a long distinguished ministry as a pastor, administrator of Catholic institutions, who has served at the highest diocesan levels. He said to me, "When it comes to the Church many people are naive." This statement can be taken in a variety of ways and applied across many situations and circumstances. It is a general observation. But few people really know how demanding pastoral ministry truly is, especially when considered in light of the earthly "rewards" one receives for engaging in it (paltry at best). St Paul knew, your bishop knows, your pastor knows, his associate pastor(s) either knows or is in the process of finding out (i.e., being disabused of his[/their] naivety), many deacons know. This is why ministry is a calling. It is not for everyone. Discernment for ministry has to be taken seriously, both by the Church and by the person seeking ordination, or institution, as a minister.

What drew my attention in the passage from 1 Corinthians today was not what Paul and his fellow workers were subjected to, but how Paul insisted he had to respond: 'When ridiculed, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we respond gently." If you balk at this then you're not foolish enough to minister in the name of Christ.