Whit Monday 2021 (EF) - St. Peter in Chains

We celebrate the second day of the Pentecost Octave, called in some places Whit Monday—named after the white garments of the newly baptized. Like the Easter Octave, the Pentecost Octave is aimed at welcoming and praying for the newly baptized, and in earlier days, the newly initiated would wear their new white baptismal garments throughout this Octave as well.

In Rome, the newly baptized would visit a different station church each day of this Octave, and they would receive post-baptismal lessons. The Roman station Church today is the Church of St. Peter in Chains, which I remember visiting a number of years ago. 

Walking into that Church, one almost forgets you are there to pay homage to the chains that held the apostle Peter while he was imprisoned in Jerusalem, because right near the entrance is  Michelangelo’s breathtaking statue of Moses—carved from a single massive block of marble. Moses is the gargantuan figure, with rippling muscles,  grasping the tablet of the law, almost holding back from the righteous reaction of seeing the Israelites worshipping the Golden Calf. 

But then the visitor to St. Peter in Chains makes their way, finally, to the reliquary of the chains. St. Peter was imprisoned by those very chains not long after his speech in today’s epistle from the Acts of the Apostles. Imagine, being newly baptized and contemplating those chains. Peter stood in the streets of Jerusalem, and filled with the Holy Spirit, preached the Gospel, for which he was arrested and imprisoned. But those chains—the chains of man—failed at stopping the Gospel from being preached.

The newly baptized were basically being told: this is your destiny too. You now have a share in the mission of the Gospel, you too, now have the holy spirit filling your soul, you too are being charged with preaching the gospel fearlessly, and like Peter, you too may be arrested and imprisoned, but fear not, the chains of man cannot really hold you, the chains of man cannot stop the mission of the Church.

What shall we preach? The newly baptized might think to themselves. Preach the words of today’s Gospel, just like Peter, just like Christians have done for two thousand years: “God so loved the world, as to give His only-begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish, but may have life everlasting”

Though we are not newly baptized, we contemplate the feebleness of those earthly chains compared to the power of the Holy Spirit, which impels us into the world, to preach the saving Gospel of God’s love for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

5th Sunday after Easter 2021 (EF) - "Ask in my name"

 

Like last week, our gospel places us at the table of the Last Supper---listening to the words spoken by Our Lord to his closest friends on the night before he died. Like last Sunday, we hear the Lord speaking of his upcoming Ascension. “I came forth from the Father and into the world…and I am leaving the world to go to the Father”, a fitting Gospel for us to reflect upon, now just four days until the feast of the Lord’s Ascension.

Beginning tomorrow, the Church will observe three days of rogation, days of penance and pleading God’s mercy upon the world. We will have a high mass with the rogation litanies tomorrow evening at 5:30pm. 

The word Rogation comes from the latin verb rogare which means to petition, to beseech. On the rogation days, we petition the Lord to grant mercy and protection. 

Today’s Gospel is a sort of prelude for the rogation days to come, for the Lord addresses this very idea of making prayerful petition to the Father. We even find different forms of that word—rogare—a few times.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, if you ask the Father anything in My name, He will give it to you.” 

First the Lord teaches us that it is good and right and holy for us to make petition to the Father. Making frequent and prayerful petition to the Father is an important dimension of the Christian life. 

Daily we should pray for those who are close to us—spouses, children, parents, and siblings. Daily we should pray for church leaders, the pope, the bishops, our pastors. Daily, we should pray for government leaders—that they may govern in accordance with the laws of God and labor for the protection of the vulnerable, especially the unborn. We pray for the sick and suffering, the infirmed, the mentally ill, the addicts, the imprisoned. And we pray for ourselves, for all the graces we need to grow in holiness, remain faithful in times of temptation, to bear the spiritual fruits the Holy Spirit wants to see flourish in us.

Today especially, we pray for our mothers, both living and deceased. Grateful for these women and for the sacrifices they made for us, we petition God to bless all expectant mothers and new mothers, mothers who are tired, stressed, depressed, or grieving, mothers who are underappreciated or who face physical, mental, or emotional disabilities in themselves or their children. 

So, the Lord teaches us to make petition to God. But even many of the pre-Christian religions do that, what sets our Christian petition apart is that we are to make petition, in his name, in the name of Jesus, the name above every other name, the name which means “God saves”. We fulfill this directive by ending our prayers, “per dominum nostrum Iesum Christum filium tuum”. Literally mentioning his holy name at the end of our prayers. 

But not only that. To pray “in his name” is to trust that by Christ’s infinite merits, all good things, all necessary things, all that is right and just has been obtained. To pray in his name is to pray in the same filial love and trust with which the Lord prayed so many times in his earthly life, particularly from the cross. 

To pray in his name, we remember that his name, Jesus, means “God saves”. His very name guides us to pray for the eternal salvation of our fellow man—to pray for those whose salvation is in jeopardy, those on their death beds in danger of hell, those who are unrepentant, those who are lukewarm or cold toward God.

To make petition in his name is also to acknowledge that we are but unprofitable servants. On one hand, we have no sufficiency in ourselves;  our sufficiency comes from the Crucified. To pray in his name shows humility—a deep sense of our nothingness.

And yet, the Lord also reveals something quite amazing in the Gospel today. Yes, he goes to the Father to intercede for us. But he also reveals this amazing paradox. On one hand, the ascended Lord, at the right hand of his Father, is forever fixed in that act of love in which he died: making perpetually intercession for his own with the Father.

On the other hand, he says, “I say not to you that I will ask the Father for you: for the Father Himself loveth you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came out from God.”

Christians through the adoption we receive through baptism, have new access to the Father through the Son not previously enjoyed by humanity. We become “sons in the son”. We are so incorporated into that Filial relationship, that when our prayers are rooted in faith, hope, and love, they ARE the very prayer of Jesus. Simply profound!

As we enter into the days of holy rogation, we recall with profound gratitude and humility that which has made rogation possible and effective, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

4th Sunday after Easter 2021 (EF) - The Paraclete

 The Gospel of John’s account of the Last Supper is quite different from the other Gospels. For one, St. John omits the institution of the Eucharist and includes the washing of the Apostles’ feet.  John’s Last Supper is also a much longer text, spanning several chapters compared to just a few verses in other Gospels. And this is so, principally because it contains what scholars call The Lord’s Farewell Discourse in which the Lord delivers one of the most moving, theologically rich, and mystical passages in the whole New Testament. 

The Lord’s Farewell follows the example of the farewell speeches of the great men and women from the Old Testament: people like Jacob, Moses, David, Tobit, Noah, Rebecca, Isaac, and Enoch. Addressing those who are closest to them, they speak about their impending deaths, and offer comfort in the face of the grief their announcement produces.  They promise how after the departure, their deaths, God’s care and God’s saving plan will continue. And they leave instructions on how those left behind should behave.

The Lord’s farewell speech fits this pattern well: he speaks about his coming crucifixion, death, resurrection, and ascension to the Father, and offers instructions for his disciples: they are to love one another, by following his example of humble self-sacrificial service. 

On this fourth Sunday after Easter, the Gospel is taken from a portion of the Lord’s Last Supper farewell discourse in which is explanation his news of his going to the Father so fills the disciples hearts with sadness that they are rendered speechless. “I have spoken these things to you, and sorrow has filled your heart”. Then the Lord then makes an astonishing claim that it’s even hard for us to understand. He says that it’s better for everyone that he does go than if he stayed on earth. 

He must go, he explains, that the Holy Spirit may descend and usher in the final age—the end chapter in God’s Saving Plan in which the world will become convicted of the Gospel. 

The Lord uses a fascinating title for the Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity. The Lord calls him, in Greek, the parakletos, the paraclete—a word having legal connotations, sometimes even translated as Counselor or Advocate, titles given to lawyers. One the Paraclete comes, he will act as a sort of defense attorney, to prove the case for Jesus Christ. The Paraclete will defend Christ’s claim to be God, to be the Messiah, to be the Savior. And this legal case will take place on the world stage over the course of the remainder of human history. And the evidence with which the Spirit will use to prove Christ’s case, is us, the Church.

You want to proof that Jesus Christ is truly God and Lord? Look at the evidence produced by the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church. Look at the courage of the martyrs; look at the saints he has produced, look at their miracles. Look at the unity he has brought among the disparate people of the world who accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Look at the patience and joy and understanding and knowledge he gives to ordinary people who pray.

The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, helps us convince—to convict—the world about the error of sin, and the travesty of not believing and following Jesus. He helps us  prove to the world that God is real and Jesus is worth following. He helps us learn our faith, that we may teach it and preach it with clarity and conviction. And arranges opportunities for us to share the faith with those who yearn for truth and righteousness.  The Paraclete even helps to convince us to turn away from the sins that still linger in us, the destructive habits, the behaviors and attitudes, that are incompatible with the Christian way.  For the enemy is a sort of lawyer too that will use our sins and selfishness as counterpoints. But, as Bishop Perez used to say, the Spirit works through us and sometimes even in spite of us, thanks be to God.

Over half a million adults became Catholic at Easter this year. The Holy Spirit, through the preaching of the Church, through the faithfulness of Catholics like ourselves, drew them, guided them to the truth of Christ. 

May we continue to cooperate with the Spirit’s work to convict the world, giving evidence to the truths of our faith by the integrity of our lives for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

Easter Week 2021 - Monday (EF) - Remain with us, Lord!

 Having encountered the risen Lord on the Road to Emmaus, the two disciple offer that beautiful supplication, “Mane nobiscum”, “Stay with us Lord.” The Carmelite Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen writes, “Stay with us Lord! It is the cry of the soul who has found its God and never again wishes to be separated from Him.” 

The Lord’s appearance on the road was mysterious. The disciples did not immediately perceive him—and for a number of reasons that we can surmise: the lack of understanding concerning his resurrection, their lack of faith that good Friday did not end in defeat, their fear about their own future. 

So too with us. Certainly our weak faith, our fears and anxieties, often keep us from detecting the presence of the Lord. Theologically, we know that God dwells within the soul in a state of grace, and our that the Lord is really and truly present in the Eucharist. The request, “stay with us, Lord” has been answered by God—through sanctifying grace and the gift of the Sacraments. We know this to be true, theologically, intellectually. And yet, we also know there is a difference between knowing something in our heads, and knowing it in our hearts. 

Likely, it is more up to God than our own efforts that the veil of that heart knowledge of the His presence is made known. But when that veil is pulled back, oh boy, we cry out with the disciples, “stay with us”. 

And yet, we know too, that those moments of profound intimate heart knowledge of God are often fleeting, for they are but a foretaste of heaven. God grants these holy moments, these spiritual consolations, to spurn us on in the Christian life. And we do well to recall them in moments of temptation and desolation.

We also do well to dispose our souls to the gift of heavenly consolation, through prayer and charitable works.

In an article for the Universe Bulletin, dear departed Bishop Lennon wrote a powerful description of this powerful spiritual dynamic. He wrote: “ when our life is centered on a false God of prosperity, prestige, or mere pursuit of the good life—one will likely reap a harvest of exhaustion and unhappiness.  But, the person and family, who places Christ at the center of life, including God in  their weekly schedules and activities, meals, chores, conversations, parenting, work, vacations, civic responsibilities, decisions, problems, crises, accomplishments, losses—the whole of their lives become changed and charged with God’s presence.”

Having broke bread with the Lord, the disciples of Emmaus “set out immediately” in order to report what they had seen. The Christian whose life is charged and changed by the Risen Lord becomes an effective instrument of bringing souls to Christ. There are many souls who have not met the Lord, who long to meet him, and often it’s in sharing our encounters with the Lord that will touch them and draw them closer to Him.

May our Easter celebrations help us to put and keep the Lord at the center of our lives, and share our Easter faith with the world, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

5th Week of Lent 2021 (EF) - Monday - Sin is turned in on itself (incurvatus in se)

 The epistle today contains one of the most dramatic responses to the call to repentance in the entire old testament—the entire a city of Nineveh—about 120,000 people—the nobility, the peasantry, even the cattle and sheep—all repented when God sent Jonah to preach to them. 

Contrast the response of the Ninevites to the response of the Pharisees in the Gospel. They have not responded to the Lord with signs of repentance—quite the opposite. They have sent out their own agents to silence the Word of God—to arrest and murder Him.

Where the Ninevites show by their actions how they have turned from evil, the Pharisees have shown how they remain turned toward evil.

St. Augustine coined a phrase to describe this unwillingness to turn toward God. He called it, “incurvatus in se”. Sin is turned in on itself, curved in on itself. Instead of using our gifts and our time for the glory of God, sin has us curved in on ourselves, concerned more for the fulfillment of earthly appetites, than pursuing heavenly goods. 

You will find this same idea in tomorrow’s epistle, in the great story of Susanna from the book of Daniel. You likely know the story well. The two elders lust after Susanna and conspire to have their way with her. Scripture says that as they began to lust for her, “they suppressed their consciences; they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven.” Sin always involves a failure to turn one’s eyes to heaven, the suppression of our consciences, the silencing of the Word that has been preached to us. 

In times of temptation, rather, we are invited by the Lord to turn to him and recognize that He offers the waters that truly satisfy. In times of temptation, we must turn to the Lord for help, for strength, for fortitude. God is never displeased when we lift our eyes to heaven for help, especially when we are being assailed by assaults from the flesh, the enemy, or the world.

In less than two weeks we will celebrate the Great Sacred Triduum. In the Lenten days we have left, let us like the Ninevites show by our actions, our Lenten penances our desire to turn definitively from all sin, to allow the Word of God to echo in our lives, to drink deeply of the life giving waters, that the spring of living water may rise up within us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.