THE ALLELUIA IS FOR ALL OF LIFE

This Easter Season the headlines have seemed overwhelming, a true challenge to the spirit of the Easter Alleluia. There wasthe massive earthquake devasting towns in Turkey and Syria. This was an area already ravaged by the decade old war. We have gangs terrorizing neighborhoods and even cities leading to the utter senselessness of teenagers not feeling safe to leave their home without a gun. We continue the widespread neglect of the environment, along with the degradation of women around the world. Just to add two other hideous manifestations of evil we still have tens of thousands of would-be immigrants locked out at the border and the on-going violence of a war that goes beyond insanity in Ukraine.

Of course, it has never been different. The expression of good and evil only changes superficially. Conditions were the same at the Crucifixion. What we always have to remember is that there is no victory of the Alleluia without the Passion and Death of Jesus. The Pascal Mystery connects Good Friday and the glorious Easter morning. Jesus surrendered to the Father’s will. In this submission, Jesus entered into and shared all human suffering and injustice, all hatred and death. When Jesus prayed in the Garden that this cup may pass, the Father’s will was that God would share totally and absolutely in the consequences of evil with all people and for all times. Whether it is a senseless death of a child in a car accident or the slow death of a senior in nursing home, or the madness of the Russian missiles in Ukraine or those dying by a drive by shooting, death is universal. It happens in an incredible variety of ways and degrees of suffering. The Pascal Mystery reveals that Jesus chose to share this evil with all humankind.

When Jesus pitched his tent among us, he entered the presence of darkness, violence, hatred and division and all other utterances of evil leading to death. The moment of the Incarnation led directly to the death on the Cross.

In light of today’s headlines telling us the omnipresent story of evil, the narrative remains the same. Likewise, the pull of despair and hopelessness exposes a tremendous challenge for the human heart.

The Pascal Mystery includes both the sufferings and death of Jesus and God’s response in the resurrection. It is God’s supreme message of love. This divine gift is without conditions or limits. It encloses us in mercy and forgiveness. It tells us a story of the triumph of love. In the Alleluia, a word almost too profound to explain, we have a symbol of the ultimate victory over evil and the triumph of God’s love. In the divine confrontation against the evil in our midst, God has spoken and the word is Alleluia. This last word of God was not division but a call into a loving community. The last word was not violence but a healing peace and a call to celebrate the human potential for good in all situations. God will not let hopelessness and despair prevail, but in the resurrection, God offers the always possible victory in the conflict with human degradation. God has spoken in the Risen Christ and we ask, Death where is your sting? In Christ, we now have the opening to life in its fullness encompassed in love.

Love is the answer because true love is of God. It will set us free in spite of the constant onslaught of evil. God has not abandoned us. That same God of Easter morning is present with us on our Good Fridays when we encounter evil in our daily experience. The Alleluia is ever-present to us in our difficulties.

We need to grasp the utter beauty and richness of the Alleluia. It calls us to hope and love each and every day. We may not be able to solve the horror and senseless brutality taking place in Ukraine. We can, however, bring the love rooted in the Alleluia to that little bit of the world we live in. This love is not just our human effort, but the grace and power of an ever-loving God using our broken and limited human efforts.

Our daily world is where God’s presence is uncovered by our relationships and responsibilities. When we respond in love, we both proclaim and live the victory of the Alleluia. When we live in love, we are truly and concretely an instrument of God’s peace.

The answer to the expression of evil that engulfs our world will never be in despair and hopelessness. It will never be in a withdrawal to a circumscribed world where we try to achieve a a false security in our illusions and fantasies.

The true answer will always be to embrace life in all its limitations and messiness. We need to act where it is possible in our situation. We can work for reconciliation and healing. Maybe we cannot create racial harmony or eliminate poverty and injustice, but we can reconcile with a testy mother-in-law or difficult neighbors. We can serve and celebrate the good in the context of our relationships and responsibilities. We do not need to travel very far to offer a helping hand or to make our neighborhood a safer place. In this way, we break the bonds of feeling helpless. There will constantly be an opening to begin at home and move to beyond to accept God’s call in the gospel to expand our horizons for love and service.

The Alleluia will never ring hollow nor lose its wonder and beauty as long as our heart stays open to the love of God present in the Crucified and Risen Christ and knocking at the door of our heart in the needs of our neighbor.

Alleluia!

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SUNDAY REFLECTION ON THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

In the Gospel of Matthew, the Resurrection is not a Hollywood ending. It not a guarantee that all are problems will pass away. It is not an easy solution to the burden of life’s relentless encounter with sin, injustice sickness, aging and even death.

What the Resurrection is, however, is another glorious stroke in the portrait of a loving God that began with the description of Emmanuel, (God is with us) in chapter one. All throughout the Gospel we have this growing exposure of a God of love and life: Emmanuel.

The entire Gospel is of one piece.

So, in the Passion, while we have is a picture of people’s injustice and hatred and rejection, we also have an underlying theme of God’s plan of love at work. In the Garden Jesus prays that this cup not be necessary. On the Cross, Scripture is sighted that this suffering was the plan of God to reveal the true nature of the Messiah. Here is our God who shares our pain and loss. Here is our God who shares the travesty of our suffering in this valley of tears. Here is our God who enters into the depth of ultimate anguish of death only to open up the final expression of our reality. In the resurrection we have the revelation of life free of all the consequences of sin. This is the ultimate expression of love and freedom in the hands of our saving God. This is Emmanuel!

This whole Gospel of Matthew is woven together to unveil Emmanuel (God is with us). This Gospel is a revelation of love without limit or condition. This message of Good News proclaims the final word of God. It moves beyond sickness or suffering. It breaks the bondage of division and violence. It lets reconciliation and peace overcome the impossible. It lets pardon and love be the mustard seed that becomes the tree whose healing shadow covers all of life’s hurts in its loving embrace. It is the fullness of truth and the ultimate invitation into life and love, Emmanuel!

Our challenge is to know this is not just information to identify but a deep and gripping mystery only open to us by an acceptance of Christ Crucified and Christ Risen. I is only in the struggle of our own life will we find the life-giving direction and meaning of this Mystery of love. This is done solely by walking in the footsteps of Jesus to Jerusalem and sharing in the wonder of the Pascal Mystery.

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Exsultet

Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven,

exult, let Angel ministers of God exult,

let the trumpet of salvation

sound aloud our mighty King's triumph!

Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her,

ablaze with light from her eternal King,

let all corners of the earth be glad,

knowing an end to gloom and darkness.

Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice,

arrayed with the lightning of his glory,

let this holy building shake with joy,

filled with the mighty voices of the peoples.

(Therefore, dearest friends,

standing in the awesome glory of this holy light,

invoke with me, I ask you,

the mercy of God almighty,

that he, who has been pleased to number me,

though unworthy, among the Levites,

may pour into me his light unshadowed,

that I may sing this candle's perfect praises.)

(V. The Lord be with you.

R. And with your spirit.)

V. Lift up your hearts.

R. We lift them up to the Lord.

V. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

R. It is right and just.

 

It is truly right and just, with ardent love of mind and heart

and with devoted service of our voice,

to acclaim our God invisible, the almighty Father,

and Jesus Christ, our Lord, his Son, his Only Begotten.

Who for our sake paid Adam's debt to the eternal Father,

and, pouring out his own dear Blood,

wiped clean the record of our ancient sinfulness.

These, then, are the feasts of Passover,

in which is slain the Lamb, the one true Lamb,

whose Blood anoints the doorposts of believers.

This is the night,

when once you led our forebears, Israel's children,

from slavery in Egypt

and made them pass dry-shod through the Red Sea.

This is the night

that with a pillar of fire

banished the darkness of sin.

This is the night

that even now, throughout the world,

sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices

and from the gloom of sin,

leading them to grace

and joining them to his holy ones.

This is the night,

when Christ broke the prison-bars of death

and rose victorious from the underworld.

Our birth would have been no gain,

had we not been redeemed.

O wonder of your humble care for us!

O love, O charity beyond all telling,

to ransom a slave you gave away your Son!

O truly necessary sin of Adam,

destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!

O happy fault

that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!

O truly blessed night,

worthy alone to know the time and hour

when Christ rose from the underworld!

This is the night

of which it is written:

The night shall be as bright as day,

dazzling is the night for me,

and full of gladness.

The sanctifying power of this night

dispels wickedness, washes faults away,

restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners,

drives out hatred, fosters concord, and brings down the mighty.  

On this, your night of grace, O holy Father,

accept this candle, a solemn offering,

the work of bees and of your servants’ hands,

an evening sacrifice of praise,

this gift from your most holy Church.

But now we know the praises of this pillar,

which glowing fire ignites for God's honor,

a fire into many flames divided,

yet never dimmed by sharing of its light,

for it is fed by melting wax,

drawn out by mother bees

to build a torch so precious.

O truly blessed night,

when things of heaven are wed to those of earth,

and divine to the human.

Therefore, O Lord,

we pray you that this candle,

hallowed to the honor of your name,

may persevere undimmed,

to overcome the darkness of this night.

Receive it as a pleasing fragrance,

and let it mingle with the lights of heaven.

May this flame be found still burning

by the Morning Star:

the one Morning Star who never sets,

Christ your Son,

who, coming back from death's domain,

has shed his peaceful light on humanity,

and lives and reigns for ever and ever.

R. Amen.

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TRIDUUM

When I was young, Easter meant very little to us. The really big thing was Lent. The great time was at noon on Holy Saturday when we could eat candy and indulge in whatever else we gave up for Lent. This, this like too many religious practices over history, was an incredible distortion of the Church’s message.

Today, we have another caricature of Easter. The big day is Good Friday. For many, if not most, Easter is an afterthought in much of our popular religious practice. The point we need to understand is that we are an Easter People!!

The Church’s teaching is very clear. The Death and Resurrection are one event! We take thirteen and a half weeks to celebrate, in the most solemn and beautiful way, the central reality of our faith, the Pascal Mystery. The goal of Lent is a time of penitential preparation to enter as profoundly as possible into the mystery of the Crucified and Risen Christ. This one event includes the Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ. This is the event of the Triduum, the three most holy days of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Vigil/Easter. This is followed by seven weeks of the Easter Season to further ponder this great Mystery. This same event is celebrated and experienced in every Mass.

These thirteen and half weeks are a meaningful portion of the entire Church year. The goal is much more than to recall this story. It goes far beyond a history lesson. We do not repeat history. We celebrate the Mystery and in the celebration we are present to the Mystery, the one and singular and historical event. The power of the Spirit in the Church makes us present to the saving event, the Pascal Mystery.

Here is the bottom line of all this material. The Church understands the Triduum, and the liturgy in general, in this way. It is not a reenactment. It is not simply a telling of the story no matter how solemn.

The celebration is the power and presence of God’s saving grace coming into our lives here and now. This one saving event is not broken into parts. It is the Mystery of the saving action of God in Jesus Christ. We are entering into the deepest reality of our life. We are experiencing. here and now in our worship, the presence of the saving love. It is calling us to eternal life right in this present moment. When we receive communion, the minister does not say this is a remembrance of the Body of Christ. The words state the reality. This is the Body of Christ!

In the three holy days of the Triduum, we have the pinnacle of all the most sacred events in our liturgy. This is the most hallowed time to celebrate, and in the celebration not only recall, but be present to the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is what liturgy does. It brings us into the presence of the Pascal Mystery that we celebrate. We do not repeat it. We enter into the one most singular event. This is why we are Easter People! We long to encounter not only the crucified Christ but the glorious Alleluia of the Easter victory of good over evil, of life over death! It is our invitation to life eternal.

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REFLECTION FOR HOLY WEEK

WHY LORD? 

The second book of Isaiah, (Is 40-55), is generally called Deutero-Isaiah. It is a book of comfort. It is directed to the Jewish people in exile in Babylonia. The message is one of hope and deliverance in the midst of darkness and desperation. Among the fifteen chapters of this part of Isaiah there are four passages that are called the Suffering Servant songs. They describe a person intimate with God and living with faith and integrity. It is no surprise that he is the Suffering Servant because of his conflict with evil. He is a voice of hope in a miserable situation.

The early Christian Church cherished these special selections of Isaiah to help them to understand the mystery of a Crucified Christ. Their confusion was overwhelming as they encountered the face of God on a cross. It should be the same for us if we let the reality sink into the depths of our heart. The question is the same for us as the early Christian, Why Lord? This is a question that never goes away in our journey in a sinful and broken world. There are so many situations in our life that our heart bursts out with the question, Why Lord? However, there is no situation more real for our plea, Why Lord? than Jesus abandoned on the cross.

The Suffering Servant passages invite us into the mystery anew as we apply them to Christ our Crucified Savior.

In the first reading on Passion Sunday we have a few verses from the third Suffering Servant in Isaiah (Is 50:4-7) They describe a faithful servant who listens to God and reaches out in service to help his people only to be rejected.

In the beginning of this selection there is a great insight of what is one of the most essential elements of being a disciple. “Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear.” (Is 50:4) The word used for “open” also is used in the Hebrew language to drill a well for water. It is a powerful word to describe how God is constantly reaching out to us in this relentless fashion. Our task is to listen each and every day. We need the divine guidance. We need to face our ever-changing circumstances with the light of our encounter with God.

It is most appropriate at the beginning of Holy Week that we hear the call of God: Listen my child. I have the message of wisdom, light and love for you in this holy season. Listen my daughters and sons to the story. It is always new and deeper than you ever imagined. Let the journey of Christ open your heart to my presence in your life. Let the passage of Christ to Jerusalem enlighten your heart and life to see my grace and my love in your struggles and your joys. Only your life will be able to help you understand. So, my call is for you to listen most of all at this most solemn of all celebrations of the death and resurrection of my son. It is your gift and your guide into my Kingdom of peace, joy and love. Listen, and you will understand and embrace my answer to your question, Why Lord?

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