Easter is Sharing your Joy!

EASTER IS…..NEWNESS. It’s a new dress, a new suit, a new baptismal garment. It’s a new dawn, a new day, a new person. It’s a new creation. …..A SPECTACLE OF LIGHT. It’s the sparks of the Easter fire and the dance of new flames. It is the Easter Candle and the flames shared hand to hand. …..A PARADE OF SOUNDS. It is the laughter of children, the sounds of delight and surprise. It’s the ringing of bells and the sounds of music. …..NEW LIFE AND DEATH. It is the springtime after winter, sprouting seeds and new shoots. It is the colorful array of spring flowers, warm sunlight and chirping birds. It is the stone rolled away and the tomb found empty. It is faith strengthened and hope springing eternal. It is the death of the old self, the reign of sin, and Satan. …..VICTORY AND TRIUMPH. It is the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, joy over sorrow, optimism over pessimism, hope over despair, love over hate, life over death, Christ over Satan. …..YOU. It is sharing yourself with me. It is kind words and laughter, hugs and caring. It is your friendship. It is being lifted when you are down. It is allowing yourself to be open and growing. It is coming to a deeper relationship with Jesus. It is seeing Him in each other. …..OPEN DOORS. It is feeling free from our hidden self. It is walking out of the tomb. It is allowing others in. It is walking through doors to new life. It is stepping out of the graves we may have dug for ourselves and living in the light. It is opening wide when someone is knocking. It is not barring the door or slamming it in someone’s face. It is opening the door of your heart to receive others with acceptance and welcome. Share your joy!

Symbols of the Season...and a Thought

THE EASTER CANDLE…stands tall in the Main Lobby of our school. It is the symbol of Christ, our light. The candle represents Christ, the beginning and end of all times and ages. Five wax nails are inserted into the candle to signify the wounds that Jesus received in his hands, feet and side when he was crucified. The candle will remain burning brightly for the next fifty days. It is the light of Christ’s revealing love.

WATER…is also one of the great symbols of the Season of Easter. It is a symbol of Baptism through which we are initiated into the Christian Community. The baptismal font of the church has sometimes been referred to as the womb of the church. Baptism bridges our human divisions and calls us to the unity of one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. Vessels of water are placed in the main lobby to remind us of our baptismal call to be disciples of Christ Jesus.
The Risen Christ is here among us in a unique way to remind us that we do not travel alone, that Someone cares and that one day we too shall shine bright and beautiful with the fullness of the Risen Christ’s love.

SOME THOUGHTS ON EASTER BY SAINT AUGUSTINE
Let us chant Alleluia. Then the word of scripture will be accomplished,the word not of combatants any more, but of victors:Death has been swallowed up in victory!
Let us chant Alleluia here in the midst of dangers and temptations.O blessed Alleluia of heaven! No more anguish, no more adversity. No more enemy.No more love of destruction.Up above, praise to God, and here below, praise to God.
Praise mingled with fear here, but without disturbance above.Here we chant in hope, there, in possession;here it is Alleluia on the way,there it is on arriving home.

Easter 2008

As we celebrate the great Easter-event, we are reminded that this awesome season of life and hope spills over into a fifty- day celebration. In fact, at every Sunday Mass we celebrate the Easter-event: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again, we acclaim for 52 weeks a year in every corner of Christendom. The Risen Christ is here among us in a unique way to remind us that our lives our not purposeless, that we do not travel alone, that Someone cares and that one day we too shall shine bright and beautiful with the fullness of the Risen Christ’s love.
A meditative piece that I would like to offer comes from the writer Anne Dillard. This popular author had converted to Catholicism and here is how she looked at that step. She said that at a Catholic Mass surrounded by so many people from different backgrounds with many different colors, shapes and ages, she said, “I am taking a stand with these people. Here I am. One of the people who love God.”We are part of a whole civilization in danger of forgetting the true God. We are in the fast lane of agnosticism or practical atheism which is established on this point of view: Even if there is a God, God really doesn’t matter to me. The Easter Event is a gigantic spiritual huddle by which we hope to get inspired, challenged, comforted, forgiven, and loved by the person of Jesus Christ. Integral to Him is the restoration of the true God to pre-eminence in human life. It all begins by remembering God and God’s loving acts in human history.The followers of Christ were forever changed by the victory of Christ over death and by meeting the Risen Lord in the weeks after Easter. May it happen again this Easter as we gather in prayer and are able to say, “I am taking a stand with these people. Here I am. One of the people who love God.”
What a promising message and astonishing admonition for this season of Easter joy! Allow the Risen Christ to break the chains that bind us, especially those that bind our families, so that we might open our hearts to make room for the One who sets us free-the great liberator, Jesus the Christ.
May we all continue to support and encourage one another as we pray: Stay with us Lord…Live in our hearts forever.

The Holiest of All Things Holy

Holy Week 2008 will arrive with the liturgy of the Passion (Palm) Sunday. We are invited by the Church to join in celebrating throughout this holiest of weeks as we commemorate and celebrate the Christ event. Your presence and participation in your place of worship will place you in the proximity of God’s reach, touch and embrace. You will be within earshot of God’s voice which is attempting to speak to us. In these times of testing, transition and temptation, don’t we all need the reassurance and reaffirmation that only Christ can give us?

This annual observance called Holy Week begins on a high note as we recall the jubilant Jerusalem folk who waved palm branches to welcome Christ into His own city. The Reading of the Passion quickly gives us the sober twist of events. Largely due to political intrigue and fickleness that are interwoven by the conspiracy of Evil, Jesus meets his horrific “Hour of Darkness.” Join your faith community for the climax of events of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday — Easter Sunday. Perhaps the Spirit will inspire us all in the Way of the Lord that we have so easily abandoned or so willingly compromised.Now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation.

A final meditative piece that I would like to offer comes from the writer Anne Dillard. This popular author had converted to Catholicism and here is how she looked at that step. She said that at a Catholic Mass surrounded by so many people from different backgrounds with many different colors, shapes and ages, she said, “I am taking a stand with these people. Here I am. One of the people who love God.”

We are part of a whole civilization in danger of forgetting the true God. We are in the fast lane of agnosticism or practical atheism which is established on this point of view: Even if there is a God, God really doesn’t matter to me.

Holy Week is a gigantic spiritual huddle by which we hope to get inspired, challenged, comforted, forgiven, and loved by the person of Jesus Christ. Integral to Him is the restoration of the true God to pre-eminence in human life. It all begins by remembering God and God’s loving acts in human history.

The followers of Christ were forever changed by the victory of Christ over death and by meeting the Risen Lord in the weeks after Easter. May it happen again this Easter as we gather in prayer and are able to say, “I am taking a stand with these people. Here I am. One of the people who love God.”

HOLY WEEK 2008

The celebration of Holy Week 2008 begins with the liturgies of Palm or Passion Sunday this coming weekend. It has been the tradition that Palm Sunday initiates us into the holiest of octaves-the eight days of Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday. We begin this holy observance of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ with the blessing of palm branches that recall his triumphal entry into the holy city of Jerusalem. We are all joyfully implored to an intense, lively and prayerful Holy Week. This week is a week like none other, which commemorates the activities surrounding the Christ-event.

THE EASTER TRIDUUM

HOLY THURSDAY: This is the night when Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist, our communion with Him. The mandatum, or washing of feet takes place at this liturgy. This action serves as the primary symbol of Christian service. At the conclusion of the liturgy, a procession leads the transfer of the Eucharist to a place of repose for private prayer and adoration until midnight. During this holy evening, we are all invited to prayer with Christ. We do this in remembrance of Jesus praying that first Holy Thursday, after the Passover Supper, in the Garden of Gethsemane. It is a night for prayer and penance.

GOOD FRIDAY: This is the day of Jesus’ death, the most solemn day on our Christian calendar. This is the only day out of the year when Mass is not celebrated. Good Friday is a day of penance for Christians. For Catholics, we are directed to abstain from meat on this day and to fast from eating between meals. We are encouraged to keep the Lenten fast until after the Easter Vigil Services of Holy Saturday Night.

HOLY SATURDAY: The awesome ceremony of the Easter Vigil begins the celebration of Easter. This eventful night includes Baptism and Confirmation of catechumens and candidates who will be received into full communion in the Church. The celebration of Easter spills over into a fifty-day celebration, ending on Pentecost Sunday, the birthday of the Church.

Holy Week, then, is the celebration of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It has no meaning apart from the celebration of Jesus Christ. It is upon Him whom we must place our focus this week. It is a living relationship with Him that we must value above all else. It is this loving and living relationship with the Redeemer Christ that must energize us all to live in His spirit of love, with hope and faith.

With war raging still and the international order unstable, it would be prudent for us to spend time in prayer for tranquility, peace, reconciliation and goodwill, along with the establishment of justice, eradication of terror and a termination of hatred and hostility. Perhaps Holy week could become a week of intense prayer and fasting for these causes.

May God send upon all of us peace, love, goodness and the faith to believe in the Easter promise of eternal life.

NOT TOO LATE...YET!

The days of late Lent are upon us, with just two weeksuntil Holy Week begins and three weeks until the celebration of Easter Sunday. Some of us have beenamazing in our commitment to spend the season of Lent in union with Christ Jesus. Others of us have faltered in our sincere commitment to return to theLord; we need a new burst of energy to restart ourLenten journey. Still others of us have never begun our Lenten practice of prayer, fasting and almsgiving;procrastination never works. For all of us, "now is the acceptable time, now is the time of salvation."

Finally, A Lenten Prayer by Isaac Watts:

When I survey the wondrous Cross. on which the Prince of Glory died. My richest gain I count but loss,and pour contempt on all my pride.

See, from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down;did e'er such love and sorrow meet,or thorns compose so rich a crown.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ my God; all the vain things that charm me most,I sacrifice them to his blood.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,that were an offering far too small;love so amazing, so divine,demands my soul, my life, my all.

Please offer a prayer for vocations to the priesthoodand religious life, especially in the Archdiocese ofChicago. If you know a young man at Saint Pat's whose name you would like to nominate for consideration to the priesthood, please drop a line to me. Please encourage vocations!

btw: I will be in Rome for Easter...blogging all the time!