Ascension 2024 - Awaiting the Spirit

 

Ohioans have certainly had reason to look to the sky lately! A month ago we witnessed a rare celestial event: a total solar eclipse. I remember sitting in the church parking lot back on April 9, gazing up at the sky. And in that moment of totality—of total eclipse--I could form no other words except “wow.”

Last night there was another very rare celestial event, for this part of the globe at least: the Aurora borealis also known as the Northern Lights could be glimpsed. I must have missed the news about this, as I didn't find out about the northern lights until this morning when I opened up Facebook and saw these beautiful pictures of the ribbons of blues and purples and greens of the Aurora borealis all throughout my Facebook feed.  From the pictures, it really looked like a site to behold.

What a coincidence that our readings this weekend depict the apostles gazing skyward. Before their very eyes, on the 40th day after his resurrection on Easter Sunday, the Lord Jesus ascended skywards. 

No doubt, the reaction of the Apostles was even more intense than our reaction to the eclipse and the aurora. Not just “wow”—look at that spectacle. But, the Lord’s ascension meant something for the rest of their lives. You saw the eclipse or you didn’t see the eclipse…we went on with our lives It was a marvel to see, it’s a lovely memory. But it didn’t really change anything for us, right? Likewise, last night, you saw the aurora borealis, you didn’t see the aurora. Again: a really neat spectacle. A wondrous phenomenon of God’s creation. But hardly life changing. 

But for the Apostles, witnessing the Lord’s Ascension meant something. The course of their life would now be quite different. For one, it was further proof of the Lord’s divinity and that God was at work in a major way. Secondly, it was a powerful reminder for them, as it is for us, to remain focused on heaven. Not just the sun and moon and stars, of course, but God’s heavenly domain, our eternal homeland. Reaching heaven and serving heaven is to be the main impetus of our life. We are to remain vigilant against anything that might distract us from our earthly journey toward heaven. As we reflect upon often in Advent, we are to be prepared for the Lord’s final Advent—his return from heaven. Thirdly, since the Lord Jesus was no longer going to be physically present, the apostles’ leadership of the Church had truly begun. They were responsible for passing on what they received and ensuring that the Church remained faithful to her mission. 

And of course, the Ascension meant that their mission to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth was about to begin. Over the course of 40 days after Easter, the Lord had appeared to them many times, proving that he was truly risen from the dead. He proved that God was truly victorious. Life is triumphant over death. He made them witnesses of his resurrection so that they would be prepared to go out and share the good news with the world.

And yet, notice, that just prior to his ascension, the Lord tells the apostles that they still aren’t ready to begin the mission. Even with everything they’ve witnessed—everything they’ve seen. They won’t be ready until they receive the Holy Spirit. 

Preaching the Gospel is going to change the world. The apostles are going to speak to kings and princes and emperors, rich and poor, sick and healthy, learned and unlearned, Jew and Gentile. They are going to speak about the things they’ve heard and seen and witnessed. In fact at the last supper the Lord told the apostles that they “will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these.” The Lord healed the sick of Galilee, and His Apostolic Church has gone on to found hospitals spanning the globe. The Lord taught the ignorant of Galilee, His Apostolic Church has gone on to found schools and universities and teach people of every tongue. The Lord gathered in his earthly ministry, lets say, a few dozen followers. His Apostolic Church has baptized millions upon millions. The Lord fed a few thousand in the multiplication of the loaves, His Apostolic Church has fed and clothed and healed and taught billions.

We’ve done great things, by not by our own power. The Holy Spirit has impelled us into the world, has animated, guided, empowered, uplifted, emboldened, enlightened, and gifted the Church with those spiritual gifts necessary for the mission.

The Ascension is a marvel to celebrate—one of the great events in salvation history. But, in a sense, it was a means to an end. The Lord said, I have to go, so that the Holy Spirit may come. The event prepared them for Pentecost. And they did as the Lord commanded. The apostles spent the next nine days from Ascension Thursday to Pentecost Sunday: waiting for the Holy Spirit through prayer together. As we’ll hear next Sunday, they gathered in the upper room with the mother of Jesus and prayed. 

And as they did, so should we. During this next week, pray to be more and more open to the Holy Spirit: to be guided, empowered, uplifted, embolded, enlightened and gifted with spiritual gifts for the mission God has planned for you and for this parish.

The apostles gathered in the upper room with Mary, this is a good week to pray the rosary every day. Our Mother wanted what was best for her sons, the apostles, and she wants what’s best for us, all her spiritual children—and that’s profound openness to the life and gifts of the Holy Spirit. 

Now, yes, we have all received the Holy Spirit at Baptism. The day of our Baptism for every Christian is Pentecost Sunday. But, today’s feast of the Ascension reminds us of the need to constantly be cultivating that readiness for the Holy Spirit to move us and gift us and fill us and send us. At the direction of the Lord Jesus, the Apostles waited for the wind of the spirit to blow, and like them we are to unfurl the sails of our minds and souls, constantly, through daily prayer and mindfulness of God, so that we will respond with faith when the Holy Spirit so moves us.

Last night (Friday evening) we had a beautiful event. You see lined up on at the foot of the communion rail, candles. Each one of those candles is a soul who moved by the Spirit entered this church to pray. Parishioners and folks who just happened to be walking by last night from 7 to 8pm felt the Lord calling them to pray. It was truly a sight to behold. I’m deeply proud of our brothers and sisters who made last night a success. 

May these final solemnities of the Easter season animate us in joy in our share of the Gospel mission, guide us and open us more deeply to the gifts of the Lord, and help us to remain intent on the pursuit of heaven, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

Annunciation 2024 - Mary does not eclipse, but magnifies the Divine Sun

 

Due to March 25 falling during Holy Week this year, the Solemnity of the Annunciation is transferred to the first day after the Easter Octave, that is today, April 8. 

Interestingly, today also coincides with a solar eclipse, a celestial event where the moon passes between the earth and the sun, totally obscuring the sun's light. 

It is a providential coincidence that invites us to consider the profound relationship between the Blessed Virgin Mary and her Divine Son, Jesus Christ.

Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said, "God who made the sun, also made the moon. The moon does not take away from the brilliance of the sun. All its light is reflected from the sun. The Blessed Mother reflects her Divine Son; without Him, she is nothing. With Him, she is the Mother of men." 

In the cosmic dance we witness today, the moon, by eclipsing the sun, does not diminish its light but momentarily draws our gaze so that we might appreciate the sun's brilliance all the more when it reemerges. In the same way, Mary, in her humility and obedience announced at the Annunciation, does not overshadow Jesus but reflects and magnifies His divine light. Just as the moon is illuminated by the sun, Mary's life is wholly illuminated by the grace and love of God through Jesus. She is the immaculate mirror reflecting His perfect light into the darkness of our world.

Just as the moon reflects the light of the sun, Mary reflects the love and grace of her Son, Jesus Christ. She does not eclipse or diminish His glory but rather magnifies it through her faithfulness and obedience. “My soul”, she says, “doth magnify the Lord.”

The eclipse today, then, becomes a profound metaphor for our spiritual lives. There are moments when our faith seems overshadowed by doubt or fear, just as the sun is momentarily covered by the moon. Yet, these moments do not signify the absence of God's light but rather an invitation to trust in the steady, illuminating presence of Mary, our guide, who always reflects the light of Christ back to us, guiding us through periods of darkness back into His radiant love and mercy.

It is in these moments that we can turn to Mary, our Blessed Mother, who will always guide us back to her Son. As St. Louis Marie de Montfort reminds us, "[Mary] is the safest, easiest, shortest and most perfect way of approaching Jesus and will surrender themselves to her, body and soul, without reserve in order to belong entirely to Jesus."

On this day of celestial wonder and divine grace, let us renew our commitment to journeying towards Jesus by walking with Mary, the star of the new evangelization, who leads us to her Son. Let the eclipse remind us that even in moments of darkness, the light of Christ, reflected in the heart of Mary, is our ever-present guide and hope, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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Let us offer our prayers to the Father, guided by the light of Christ and accompanied by the Blessed Virgin Mary, as we present our needs and the needs of the world.

For the Church, that under the maternal guidance of Mary, it may shine forth as a beacon of divine love and truth in the world, leading all people closer to Christ. Let us pray to the Lord.

For world leaders and all those in authority, that they may be inspired by the humility and obedience of the Blessed Virgin Mary to serve with integrity, seeking justice and peace for all people. Let us pray to the Lord.

For all who are experiencing moments of darkness and doubt in their lives, that through the intercession of Mary, they may see the light of Christ and feel His comforting presence amidst their trials. Let us pray to the Lord.

For our community, that we may embrace Mary’s example of faithful service and unconditional love, opening our hearts to God’s will and serving one another with generosity and compassion. Let us pray to the Lord.

For all who are ill or suffering, especially those among our families and friends, that they may find healing and consolation in the love of Jesus, with Mary as their tender advocate and guide. Let us pray to the Lord.

For all the faithful departed, that through the mercy of God and with the intercession of Mary, they may be welcomed into the heavenly kingdom and enjoy eternal peace. Let us pray to the Lord.

Lord, hear the prayers we offer today, trusting in the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. May our lives reflect the light of your Son, Jesus, as we strive to follow Him more closely each day. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Easter Sunday 2024 - The end of the eclipse

 On Good Friday, the world was darkened by an eclipse of the sun, much like the one that we will experience here in Northeast Ohio, a week from tomorrow. 

That eclipse of the sun, causing darkness to fall over the land, was certainly fitting, in response to the mourning and sorrow experienced by Jesus’ disciples, especially his Mother, who stood at the foot of the cross. The eclipse was also a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, such as Amos 8:9, which speaks of the sun going down at noon and the earth being darkened on a clear day. It appeared, for a moment that darkness had triumphed—that the violence of man overcame the goodness of God. The extent to which man would go to secure his power, his comfort, his ego. He would lie, conspire, manipulate. He would torture and slaughter the innocent lamb of God. 

Yes, there for a time, it appeared that Good Friday was a victory, not for God, but for evil. It appeared that the eclipse that began with original sin in the Garden of Eden would last forever. 

But, the eclipse has ended. The stone rolled in front of the tomb, has been rolled back to reveal that the tomb is empty. And easter celebrates a morning when light was so bright it blinded roman soldiers and burnt an image into a burial cloth—a morning when life triumphed over death, where truth trumped falsehood, when hope was victorious over despair, when faith championed doubt, when God put Satan in his place. Jesus Christ is risen today! 

And the Easter proclamation is not a mere historical recollection but a living reality that continues to reverberate through the centuries. The resurrection of Christ offers new life, transformation, renewal, conversion, spiritual resurrection, to all who profess Him.

Old ways, which we have sought to cast aside during the season of Lent, make way for new beginnings. Easter means, “I will not let selfishness keep me from the generosity God wants from me. I will not let fear keep me from the courage God wants from me. I will not laziness keep me from the life giving endeavors God wants for me.” Pride and Envy, Lust and Sloth no more. It is time to live for purity, generosity, goodness, and peace.

For, the extraordinary news of Easter morning is that not only did Jesus Christ conquer death for himself. The good news is that he shares that victory over death and sin and despair and darkness and sin and evil with us. His victory is ours. He invites us to share in his triumph. If that is not extraordinarily Good News, I don’t know what is. 

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure everybody in this Church could raise their hands in agreement, that there are periods in life that seem more like Good Friday than Easter Sunday. Periods of life filled with death and darkness. Periods of life when we wonder about life’s meaning, when we struggle with sickness or the death of someone near to us, periods of life when we seem stuck on a cross, or overwhelmed, like life has buried us in a tomb, when we struggle to find God amidst all the chaos and violence and evil in the world.

But, the message of Easter is that Good Friday does not get the last word. Easter Sunday does. Our faith in Jesus Christ allows us to be confident that evil and death do not get the last word, that there is truly nothing that can keep us from the love and life God wants for us. That his mercy endures forever and that God will always have the last word over Satan. So, if there is a part of your life, that still seems to be stuck in Good Friday, I invite you to ask Jesus very sincerely today, to enter that part of your life, to transform it. Ask him to come into that Good Friday broken relationship, that Good Friday doubt or confusion, that Good Friday sense of defeat. And to allow him to bring Easter Victory to your Good Friday sufferings.

The Easter Gospel also speaks to our experience of obstacles. In John’s Gospel this morning we hear how Mary of Magdala had come to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. Mark’s Gospel includes the detail that as she and the other women made her way to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus, she wondered  “Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” After all, the stone was heavy. It was large. It was truly a foreboding obstacle. It took several people to roll it into place. 

What beautiful fervor, that Mary and the holy women, despite the obstacle, go to fulfill the duty of charity anyway. They could have stayed home. They could have dwelt on the enormity of this obstacle and stayed home. But they go anyway. 

And they find the stone already moved, the obstacle has already been removed by God. The power of the resurrection was already at work. 

And then, Mary ran. Mary ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them of the empty tomb. Talk about overcoming obstacles in order to do the work of God! In first-century Jewish society, women were often marginalized and their testimony was considered less reliable than that of men. In many cases, their testimony was considered inadmissible. And yet she goes, and testifies. The power of the resurrection already animating her mind and heart and will.

The power of Christ’s resurrection is unleashed when we refuse to allow fear to keep us from doing God’s will. 

Good Friday was not an obstacle for God’s will to be done, nor was the stone of the garden tomb. Nor were the social and cultural norms of his day. 

Now there are certainly some social and cultural norms in our own day which want to keep the Church from spreading and continuing the saving mission of Christ. 

Emphasis on personal autonomy over the sanctity of life, romantic permissiveness and the normalizing of perversion, relativism and moral subjectivism which denies the existence of truth—moral, philosophical, or theological. 

And like Mary of Magdala, we cannot allow these dark forces to keep us from spreading the saving Gospel of Christ. God desires our freedom from spiritual, intellectual, and emotional bondage. 

The fact that you are here today is a sign that God wants you to respond to an invitation to believe, and like Mary of Magdala, to become instruments of the Gospel. Unlike so many these days, you are here, which means God has already begun to move away some stones in your lives. The eclipse has already begun to wane. 

So continue to allow the power of Christ’s resurrection to animate your lives every day. Don’t go back into the tomb and roll the stone in front of the light of God. Say yes to God every day. And every week. 

The Early Christians celebrated every Sunday as a “little Easter”. They knew that without this little Easter every week, they’d be allowing those forces which conspired against Christ on Good Friday to have power over them; they were allowing excuses and fears to keep them from serving the Lord. So every Sunday for them was an opportunity open their lives to the Easter victory of Christ, to all Easter to resonate in their lives. And it is meant to be for us as well.

In just a few moments, we will renew our baptismal promises: our resolve to not be mastered by sin, by those immovable rocks, but that through the faith of the Church, we will seek Him who longs to be found, over and over in our lives. For He is Risen. Death couldn’t hold him. Unbelief and human cruelty couldn’t vanquish him. Politics can’t replace Him. Science can’t explain him away. The noise of the world cannot silence him. Perversion, selfishness, human weakness cannot keep him from being longed for. 

For He was bound and now brings power. He was bruised and now brings healing, He was pierced and now eases pain, He was persecuted and now brings freedom, He was killed and now brings life. For he is Risen. Indeed, he is Risen. Alleluia. Alleluia. For the glory of God and salvation of souls.