St. Mark the Evangelist

John Mark, later known simply as Mark, was Jewish by birth. He was the son of the woman named Mary in whose home was the Cenacle or "upper room" which served as the meeting place for the first Christians in Jerusalem. He was still a youth at the time of the Saviour's death. In his description of the young man who was present when Jesus was seized and who fled from the leaving behind his "linen cloth," he was probably speaking of himself.

During the years that followed, as Mark grew into adulthood, he witnessed the growth of the infant Church in his mother's Upper Room and came to know very well the traditions and practices of the Church, which we see included in his Gospel. 

In the Acts of the Apostles we find Mark accompanying his uncle (or perhaps cousin) Barnabas and Paul on their return journey to Antioch and on their first missionary journey. But Mark wasn’t ready for the hardships of this type of work and therefore left them at Perga in Pamphylia to return home.

As the two apostles were preparing for their second missionary journey, Barnabas wanted to take Mark with him. Paul, however, objected, and so Barnabas and Mark went on a missionary journey to Cyprus. Time healed the strained relations between Paul and Mark, and during St. Paul’s first Roman captivity, Mark gave Paul valuable service, which St. Paul wrote about. When he was in chains the second time, Paul requested Mark's presence (2 Tim. 4:11).

A close friendship existed between St. Mark and St. Peter; he was Peter's companion, disciple, and interpreter. According to common patristic opinion, Mark was present at Peter's preaching in Rome and wrote his Gospel under the influence of St. Peter. This explains why incidents which involve Peter are described with great detail. Little is known of St. Mark's later life, but there is an account of his martyrdom, when he was tied to a rope and dragged over sharps stones until he was dead. At the time of his martyrdom he was the bishop of Alexandria in Egypt. His relics were transferred from Alexandria to Venice, where a worthy tomb was erected in St. Mark's Cathedral.

 O Almighty God, who hast instructed thy holy Church with the heavenly doctrine of thy Evangelist Saint Mark: give us grace; that, being not like children carried away with every blast of vain doctrine, we may be established in the truth of thy holy Gospel; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

____________________________________________

Painting: "San Marco"

by Giovanni Antonio de' Sacchis "Il Pordenone" (c. 1484-1539)

Octave Day of Easter: Divine Mercy

The final day of the Easter Octave is Divine Mercy Sunday, when we give thanks to God for the great mercy He gives us through His acts of salvation which we have remembered and celebrated throughout Holy Week and Easter. And we remember our own dear Pope St. John Paul II, the Pope who commended this celebration of God’s Mercy to the whole world as a kind of “crown of joy” for Easter.

On Easter Day the focus was on the open, empty tomb. It was a monument to the victory of Jesus Christ. And because of that victory, every skeptic, every agnostic, every would-be follower, every seeker after the truth must confront the plain and simple fact: there was no body to be found in the tomb. The women went there expecting to find a body. What they found instead was an empty tomb. The grave clothes were neatly in their place. Angels preached the good news, "He isn’t here. He’s risen!" And you can be sure that if the body had been hidden someplace, it would have been produced very quickly by the Jewish leaders, or by the Roman officials. Even today, the unbelieving world would love for archaeologists to find the bones of Jesus hidden away in some grave someplace, so that it could put an end to this Christian claim once and for all – because the truth of the matter is this: if you take away the resurrection of the body, everything else is meaningless.

Still, an empty tomb isn't necessarily the last word for everybody. People can try to explain it away; they can try to ignore it. In fact, when we look at the scriptural accounts, we see that the disciples themselves didn't believe it at first, until they saw the risen Christ. Thomas didn't believe it, and he let that be known. "Show me a risen Jesus with nail marks in his hands and a spear mark in his side, and let me touch him, and then I'll believe," was what Thomas said.

And what about us - we who cannot see, and yet who are called to believe that Jesus Christ is risen? What does Christ say? "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe."

The gospel tells us that the disciples had locked themselves in a room – probably the cenacle – on that first Easter Sunday. It was near sunset. They were hearing rumors of the resurrection, but they were filled with fear rather than joy. They were afraid of the Jewish leaders. After all, if they had done this horrible thing to Jesus, what might they do to His disciples? And it’s into that prison of fear that Jesus comes. He doesn't knock on the locked doors. He doesn't wait for someone to open the door and invite Him in. No, Jesus simply appears in their midst.

And His first words were, "Peace be with you.” He shows them His wounds - the nail marks in His hands, the scar of the spear in His side – and with that, we cannot help but remember what the prophet Isaiah said so many generations before: "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” His peace is a peace which the world cannot give. It’s peace between us and God, it’s peace with one another. The Hebrew word for peace is “shalom,” which means much more than just the absence of war and fighting; “shalom” means that everything is in its place, everything is in harmony, everything is whole. In fact, this peace is really what “atonement” – at-one-ment – is all about.

The Gospel tells us that fear gave way to joy. "The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord." And who wouldn't be? They could see with their own eyes that the resurrection is true. The Lord is risen, and He’s right there in front of them!

Notice that Jesus said to them twice, "Peace be with you." The first time He said it, He was giving peace to them for themselves, to quiet their fear, to turn their sorrow into gladness. But the second time He said it, He was giving them peace for others – peace to move their feet out of their little locked room and into the world. He tells them, "As the Father sent me, so I am sending you."

And then He breathes His breath on them. He speaks His words into them. His words deliver what they say. "Receive the Holy Spirit," He says to them. Without the Holy Spirit the disciples couldn’t do what Jesus was sending them to do. "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained," He tells them.

So they are sent out with authority. Jesus authorizes them to do what God alone can do – to forgive sin. There would always be those, even in our own day, who demand to know, “How can mere men presume to forgive sin?” But we understand that we don’t just look to the men who receive the power; rather, we look to the One who sends them, who breathes on them, who gives them His Spirit and authority. When Peter or James or John or Bartholomew or Andrew or any of the other apostles forgave, it was Jesus forgiving. Jesus sends them with His own authority, the authority with which the Father had sent Him.

What about us today? The apostles who were in the upper room that day are now with Christ in heaven. Did this power to forgive die with them? Actually, we know that Jesus not only sent out his original apostles, but He also makes His mercy and forgiveness forever present through the priesthood He has entrusted to His Church through apostolic succession. This means that every bishop, and every priest ordained by a bishop, speaks with the authority of the Risen Christ when it comes to dealing with sin. This means that every ordination echoes that first Easter Sunday in the locked room when the risen Lord Jesus Christ breathed on a fearful band of apostles and sent them out to forgive sin.

What a comfort this is for those who are looking for forgiveness and peace. This is Christ’s Divine Mercy – the fact that He doesn't leave us searching around for forgiveness; He doesn't leave us searching for peace. He doesn't leave it up to someone just to talk about forgiveness. Rather, God locates forgiveness and peace where it can be found and received - with Peter and the other apostles, and with those who succeed them. Jesus Christ puts men under holy orders, with part of those orders being to minister mercy and forgiveness in His Name.

Jesus Christ has ensured that His mercy and forgiveness will always be ministered in and through His Church, because Easter isn’t just one day, a long, long time ago. Nor is it one day a year, when we celebrate an historic event in Jerusalem. The gifts of Christ’s death and resurrection are distributed whenever and wherever people are being baptized into Christ’s death; whenever and wherever sins are being forgiven by the command of Christ; whenever and wherever the baptized are being fed with the Body and Blood of Christ. Wherever that happens, the gifts of Easter come to us, and there we receive the very Mercy of God.

Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. He’s alive, not dead. He’s present, not absent. And in the power of His resurrection, He is present with us in the fullness of His divinity and His humanity on our altar, in our tabernacle. Locked doors couldn’t keep Him out. Nothing can. He is present among us as surely and as fully as He was with the disciples in the locked room on that first Easter. He is here with us to free us from our fears, to speak His peace into our hearts, to forgive our sins, to turn our sorrow into gladness, to bless us, and especially to shower upon us His own Divine Mercy.

Almighty Father, who hast given thine only Son to die for our sins, and to rise again for our justification: grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness; that we may always serve thee in pureness of living and truth; through the merits of the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

____________________________________

Painting: "The Doubting Thomas"

by Carl Bloch (1834-1890)

Friday in the Octave of Easter

After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberas; and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat; but that night they caught nothing. Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, "Children, have you any fish?" They answered him, "No." He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, for the quantity of fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his clothes, for he was stripped for work, and sprang into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off. When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish lying on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

- St. John 21:1-14

O God, who hast united the diversity of nations in the confession of thy Name: grant that they who are born again in the font of Baptism, may be of one mind in faith and in godliness of life; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

_____________________________________

Painting: "The Miraculous Draught of Fishes"

by David Teniers the Younger (1610–1690)

Thursday in the Octave of Easter

Then the two disciples told what had happened on the road to Emmaus, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. As they were saying this, Jesus himself stood among them. But they were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit. And he said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have." And while they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. Then he said to them, "These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

-Luke 24:35-48

Christ shows them his wounds - the nail marks in His hands, the wound of the spear in His side. And there, before their eyes, was the fulfilment of what the prophet Isaiah had said so many generations before: "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." 

Jesus Christ – the Victim of violence, now stands before them as the Prince of Peace, and saying to them "Peace to you." This was a peace which the world cannot give. The Hebrew word for peace is "shalom," which means more than the simple absence of war and fighting; it means that everything is in its place, everything is in harmony, everything is whole. What Jesus accomplished on the Cross is now spoken to the disciples, and to all of us, "Peace to you."

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal Mystery hast established the new covenant of reconciliation: grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

______________________________

Painting: "The Risen Christ"
by Arnold Friberg (1913-2010)

Wednesday in the Octave of Easter

That very day two of the disciples of Jesus were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, "What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see." And he said to them, "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?" And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, who said, "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

- St. Luke 24:13-35

On the road to Emmaus, we see where Jesus directs the attention of the disciples. Not to themselves. Not to their personal experiences or subjective feelings. He directs them to the revelation of Almighty God. Jesus opens up the Scriptures for them and beginning with the words of Moses and going all the way through the prophets, He shows how His death and resurrection form the rhythm of the Scriptures from the very start.

That's how Jesus turns stubborn hearts that are slow to believe into hearts that burn with faith in Him.  It's through the Scriptures that are preached and taught in their fullness by the Church which Jesus Christ has founded. If our hearts are slow to believe and our minds are dull in the knowledge of God, we have only ourselves to blame for not listening to God’s Word as it’s taught to us by our Holy Mother the Church.

See what the Gospel then tells us. Although their hearts were burning, their eyes were not yet opened. Jesus pretends to go on, but the disciples insist that He join them for supper. It was nearing the end of the day, and evening was coming. They enjoin Him to remain for supper.

Although Jesus was their guest, He sits at the head of the table. He takes the bread, He blesses and breaks it, and He gives it to them. It is an echo of the last meal that Jesus had with His apostles on the night in which He was betrayed. Here again is Jesus, breaking bread. And St. Luke tells us that "their eyes were opened and they recognized Him." In the breaking of the Bread, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Jesus is recognized and known.

O God, who dost gladden us with the yearly solemnity of the Resurrection of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord: mercifully grant that we may so observe this temporal feast; that we may be found worthy to attain to everlasting felicity; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

_________________________________

Painting: "The Supper at Emmaus"

by Gari Melchers (1860-1932)

Tuesday in the Octave of Easter

Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, and seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.

- St. John 20:11-18

O God, who by the glorious Resurrection of thy Son Jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light: grant that we, who have been raised with him, may abide in his presence and rejoice in the hope of eternal glory; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

___________________________________

Painting: "Christ and St. Mary Magdalene at the Tomb"

by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)

A Hymn for Eastertide

God our Father, Lord of glory,

Thanks and praise we give to Thee;

In Thy mercy to our fathers,

Thou didst bring them through the sea.

So by water hast Thou saved us,

|: Now from Adam's sin set free. :|

Jesus Christ, our Risen Saviour,

Of Thy sacrifice we sing;

As the lamb in ancient myst'ry

To Thy people life didst bring,

So in Eucharistic glory,

|: Thou, God's Lamb, art made our King. :|

Holy Spirit, Breath from heaven,

We Thy precious gifts embrace;

At creation all things living

Thou didst sanctify with grace.

So may we, creation's glory,

|: Be for Thee a dwelling place. :|

Loving mercy of the Father,

Sacrifice of Christ the Son,

Quick'ning power of the Spirit:

In us let Thy work be done!

May we rise to life eternal,

|: That our Paschal joy be won. :|

Text: Fr. Christopher G. Phillips

Tune: Cwm Rhondda, John Hughes (1907)

________________________________

Pictured: "The Resurrection"

by James Tissot (1836-1902)

Monday in the Octave of Easter

So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, "Hail!" And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me." While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sum of money to the soldiers and said, "Tell people, `His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.' And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." So they took the money and did as they were directed; and this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

- St. Matthew 28:8-15

O God, whose blessed Son did manifest himself to his disciples in the breaking of bread: open, we pray thee, the eyes of our faith; that we may behold thee in all thy works; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

_____________________________

Painting: "The Three Marys at the Tomb"

by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Easter Day: Claiming God's Promise

Our celebration of Easter tends to surround us with familiar things. We commemorate all the events of Holy Week, and when we come to the Easter celebration, we expect the familiar music, the traditional flowers, the usual order of the Mass, a sermon which speaks the day's message.

That was not so for St. Mary Magdalene, as she made her sad journey to the tomb on that first Easter morning. She had kept watch with the Sorrowful Mother at the foot of the cross on Friday afternoon. She had seen the lifeless body of Jesus placed in the arms of His Mother, and she knew He was dead. She had helped to make the hasty burial preparations, and now she was returning to finish what she thought would be her last act of love towards her Master. But it was then that things seemed to be disoriented, and not as she expected.

When Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb in the semi-darkness, what she saw was very disturbing. The massive stone had been rolled away from the opening, the entrance to the tomb was wide open, and she knew things were not the way they should be. Her first thought? Grave robbers! In fact, those were the first anguished words from her mouth when she ran back to tell the disciples, Peter and John. "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have put him!"

We can understand her panic and her grief. First they had crucified her Master. Now they had stolen His body – the body to which she had planned to give her final loving care. As soon as she tells them, Peter and John both run to the tomb.

John is faster; Peter is braver. John takes a tentative peek inside and sees the strips of burial linens. He hesitates. But Peter, never one to hesitate over anything, heads directly into the tomb. He sees the burial linens along with the cloth that covered Jesus' head. But something is strange here, out of the ordinary. Everything is neat and in order. The head cloth is folded up by itself, separate from the shroud. Whoever did this was not in much of a hurry. The grave-clothes are exactly as there were on Christ’s body, completely undisturbed. Whatever had happened, it was obvious that this was hardly the work of grave robbers.

John finally gathers up enough courage to go inside the tomb to take a good look for himself. And he records this solemn sentence about his own reaction: "He saw and he believed." He saw the empty tomb and the undisturbed linens, and he believed Jesus' word that He would rise from the dead on the third day. He saw and he believed. That’s where we get the phrase, “Seeing is believing.”

But we should understand that seeing is not necessarily believing. And conversely, believing does not necessarily involve seeing. When it comes to our faith, “seeing” puts the evidence before the eyes, but “believing” is trusting that Jesus is true to His word. It is quite possible to see and not believe.

The Pharisees saw with their own eyes the miracles Jesus performed, but they did not believe. Peter saw the same things in the tomb that John did, but Peter did not believe at first. Later that week, another apostle, St. Thomas said, "Unless I see His wounds and touch them, I will not believe."

It was not just what John saw, but it was also what Jesus had said, which led John to believe. And Jesus prepared us for the fact that it is possible to not see and yet believe, when He said to St. Thomas, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." That’s a direct reference to us. And St. John emphasizes this point when he writes, "They did not yet know from the Scriptures that Jesus had to rise from the dead."

Jesus would soon open their minds to see from the Scriptures that Christ must suffer and on the third day rise. That is why He gave them an empty tomb and undisturbed linens. It was to preach to them on that first Easter morning. They were not yet able to get it from the Scriptures, because it is later, near the end of his Gospel, that St. John writes, "These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name."

We do not see what those disciples saw on that first morning. In fact, we cannot see what they saw. The original sites are there, and we can visit them as places of prayer and devotion, but things no longer look as they did. If we travel to Jerusalem and visit the very site of the resurrection, the only reason we know it is the place is because others have told us that it is. There is nothing there now that would let us know what had happened.

Sometimes we might be tempted to think that it would have been easier to believe all this back then, at the time of Mary Magdalene, and Peter, and John. They were eyewitnesses to all that surrounded Jesus' death and resurrection. They saw all of this with their own eyes. Sometimes it seems as though it would be so much easier, if we could just see “with our own eyes!” Just to be able to peek into the open, empty tomb to glance at the linen burial cloths, maybe a glimpse of a bright angel or two, and a look at the face of the resurrected Jesus. It would be so easy for us to believe if only we could see, or at least we imagine it would be.

But the written record handed down to us tells us differently. Seeing is not necessarily believing. Mary Magdalene saw Jesus with her own eyes and she thought He was the gardener. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus saw Jesus; in fact, they walked and talked with Him for seven miles, but they didn’t recognize him until He broke the bread at the table with them. Seeing is not necessarily believing.

Look around at the people of any Catholic parish. There is little visible evidence to tell the world that it is a gathering of holy people, cleansed and claimed by the blood of Christ. But God has declared that it is so – and He expects us to live in such a way that this fact becomes evident to the world.

The next time you hear someone say, “Seeing is believing,” don’t accept that. It simply isn’t true. If we follow only what we see, we will end up racing from one tomb to the next, from one church to the next, from one preacher to the next, perhaps even from one religion to the next, – always searching for something that we can see with our eyes, but coming up empty. We will end up as Mary Magdalene started out on that first Easter morning when she said, "They have taken my Lord, and I don't know where they have put him."

As believers and members of Christ’s Holy Catholic Church, we do know where Jesus is. First of all, we know He is at the right hand of the Father in heaven, restored to His place of eternal glory. But we also know that He is in the midst of His Church, which is the living Body of Christ. And we know this: the same crucified and risen Jesus, who defeated death and crushed the head of Satan, and whom Mary Magdalene saw in the garden that morning, is located in the tabernacle of every Catholic church, hidden yet really present, unseen yet truly and objectively with us. He calls each of us by name from the waters of baptism, making us new creatures by the power of His death and resurrection. We are buried in Him and He is buried in us. When we receive Holy Communion, He buries His crucified body and blood in us, and He remakes us by giving us new life. He could not be any clearer about it: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise Him up on the Last Day."

Jesus gave His life so that we could have eternal life.

When we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, we are also claiming the promise of the resurrection of our own bodies on the Last Day. In rising from the dead, Jesus gives us a glimpse of the Last Day of the old creation on this day, which is the first day of the new creation. The stone is rolled away. The tomb is empty and orderly. Death has been swallowed up in victory. The disorder and darkness of death has been reordered by the Light of Christ. Death has been swallowed up in victory. Jesus Christ is risen, and in Him, we too will rise in glory.

__________________________________

Painting: "The Resurrection of Christ"

by Noël Coypel (1628-1707)

The Vigil of Easter: Baptismal Glory

The Vigil of Easter is the night which shines with the glory of Christ’s resurrection – the night in which we recall and reaffirm our own participation in His resurrection which is ours through the power of our baptism.

Baptism is a one time thing, once done it is done. But it isn’t something that is done once and then simply remembered with a certificate, like graduations and anniversaries. It is something done once, but with eternal effects. And so in that sense, baptism is not just a one time thing “over and done with.” It is a daily thing in its effects. Baptism is a daily garment, something we wear each and every day. In baptism God has marked us with his seal of ownership, branded us as sheep of His pasture, and taken away the stain of original sin by washing us with Christ’s blood.

The Christian life is a daily baptism, and baptism is the daily life of a Christian. It is a daily dying and rising. Just as we go to sleep each night and get up in the morning, so we daily die to sin and rise up to live in Christ through our baptism. Daily dying and rising is the daily life of the baptized.

St. Paul writes, "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?" He writes this as though everyone would know this and agree wholeheartedly with it. We were buried with Christ by baptism into His death. Baptism unites us with the death of Jesus.

In the death of Jesus on the cross, God has given the world a death in which a sinner may die now and live forever. We can either die now in the death of Jesus and live forever in His life, or we can live now apart from the death of Jesus, and die forever in our own death. There is no third option. Jesus died for sin and rose from the dead. Scripture teaches us that "the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God." Baptism joins us to the death of Jesus. It nails us to His cross, buries us in His tomb. God has put our sin out of His sight. He has buried it in the death of His Son. He has hidden it in His wounds. He has sealed it in His grave.

Baptism in the death of Jesus is a death with hope. "If we have been united with Jesus in a death like his, we shall also be united with him in a resurrection like his." We know how our story ends. We know how the last chapter comes out for those who are joined to Christ. Christ has died. And we have died with Him. Christ has risen. And we will rise with Him. That means whatever may come our way in this life – whether poverty, disease, pain or persecutions - our present sufferings cannot compare with the glory that will be revealed in us. Whatever burden the cross of Christ may bring to us now, it does not compare with what we will be ours in the resurrection of the righteous.

Baptism sets us in a struggle. Because of our baptism, we have become the enemy of the devil, the world, and our own sinful natures. The devil rants and roars against baptism, and will stop at nothing to keep us away from living in its power. The world hated Christ and crucified Him, and so the world tries to crucify everyone who is joined with Christ.

However, by confessing our sins we bury them in Baptism. We drown them in the blood that flowed from Jesus' side. This is what St. Paul means when he says, "Reckon yourselves dead to sin." We are to confess our sins. We are to bury them in Christ’s grave. In confession, we are setting Baptism to work for us, releasing the power of Jesus' death and resurrection in our lives.

We cannot conquer sin ourselves. Christ alone conquers sin for us, and He does it through the daily application of the fruits of baptism. We no longer live, but we died and were buried, and so Christ now lives within us. Our life is the resurrected life of Jesus. He is at work in and through us. We are "alive to God in Christ Jesus" and it is only "in Christ Jesus" that we are alive to God. Apart from Him, we would be dead, but because we are joined to Him by baptism, we live.

Holy Saturday

O God, Creator of heaven and earth: grant that, as the crucified body of thy dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Stone of the Anointing

Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

What Christ Saw

Imagine, for a moment, seeing as the Crucified Christ sees. As He looks out from His place on the Cross, what is it His eyes rest upon? His blessed Mother, certainly. The Magdalene, St. John, a few scattered disciples, some Pharisees, along with some soldiers.

But what He truly sees - what His eyes rest upon - is us. Christ sees all of us as He looks down in agony from His cross. We bear some responsibility for all of this. It is futile to blame any one person or group of people. The fault is everywhere and it is no further away than our own hearts and wills. Sinfulness is universal and, like a deadly disease, it infects us - every one of us. So, in the words of St. Paul, we must confess that the good we want to do, we do not do; and what we want to avoid doing is the very thing we do.

So we watch now with Christ. But as we watch, we had best do it with contrite and humble hearts, praying for our own forgiveness and for the forgiveness of the entire world. Pray with the understanding that Jesus Christ, knowing all there is to know about each one of us, submitted to death on a cross so that we might be forgiven and restored to unity with God and with each other through the merits of His sacrificial self-offering.

So we behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And He looks upon us, the lambs for whom He – the true Lamb – is sacrificed. May we accept His forgiveness so that we may do the good; and in doing the good, may we receive His peace.

__________________________

Painting: “What Our Lord Saw from the Cross”

By James Joseph Tissot (1836-1902)

Good Friday

Today Golgotha is sheltered within a magnificent and ancient basilica, but on that Friday called “good” it was a barren hill outside the city walls of Jerusalem. It is a hill soaked with the blood of criminals, executed for crimes both petty and grave, and it is a hill consecrated by the Blood of our Lord, our God-made-Flesh.

 
He is the innocent Victim, surrounded by a cruel mob. His ears hear the animosity of those who bear hatred in their hearts. The sentence of death by crucifixion had been dragged reluctantly from the lips of the civil authority. And if we could see, we would be appalled by the hideous efficiency of the soldiers as they complete their brutal work of inflicting death.

Also here are the temple priests who will hurry away from the scene even before the Victim takes His final breath. They have a Passover to keep, but it is a Passover now emptied of any real meaning or power because the Passover lambs have been made impotent by the one true Passover Lamb who is shedding the only blood which can fend off the angel of death.

The Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world. His last powerful cry will prove that no man has taken His life from him, but that He has laid it down of His own divine Will. He will bow His head in token of assent to that deed which was not understood by those who did it. It will be finished. The price of sin paid, the kingdom of heaven opened to all believers, the redemption of man accomplished.

The disrespect and the ill-treatment by those who were there will cease. The mockery and the spite and the violence done to the Saviour of the world will give way to the silent anguish of mournful hearts and the tender care of loving hands. The soldiers will have satisfied their discharge of duty. They will gather up their instruments of execution and they will leave. The people who had come to satisfy their morbid curiosity and spiteful feelings will feel cheated that the spectacle was so brief. The disinterested loiterers will disperse. And this hill, this Golgotha which had been the scene of such cruelty will be wrapped in the silence of death, deserted by all except those few faithful souls who keep a watch of love around the Cross, wondering in their aching hearts what they should do.

It is nearly over, and yet it continues. Loving hands yearn to take the Lord down from the Cross, and yet we leave Him hanging there. Our own sin, our own inaction, our own lukewarm love will not let Him come down from the Cross. How often have we “hid our faces from Him,” and have been ashamed to confess Him before the world, and so have left Him hanging there. How often, when the world has denied Him and insulted Him and abused His mercy and blasphemed His Name and ridiculed His Body the Church, we have held our tongues, and so have left Him hanging there.

So we find ourselves on a barren hill outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem, and we remember how often we have ignored the very truth for which Christ died, as we look upon the Cross and see that battered and bruised face, and view that lifeless form, and realize the part that we have taken in that cruel death.

It is almost more than we can bear. It is as though we should go away and hide our faces from Him for very shame and grief – except His love constrains us and asks us to stay. Our hearts cry out in sorrow for what we have done and for what we have failed to do, and we know that we cannot leave Him hanging there any longer. Our Lord Jesus Christ is no dead body left on a cross. No, His is a living and life-giving Body waiting to be taken down even by those who have despised and rejected him. He is the Bread of Life, of Whom whosoever shall eat, will live.

Therefore, let us draw near in faith and wrap our Lord’s Body in that fine linen which is the righteousness that comes from God. Let us place within the folds of that linen the bitter herbs of our penitence and anoint him with the oils and spices of our gratitude and our love. With reverence and with true devotion let us lay that Sacred Body in the sepulcher of our hearts, so that the miracle of Christ’s love will rise up in our lives, just as He rose up from the grave on the third day.

“It is finished,” He declared from the Cross. So let it be finished. Let it be completed. Let it be fulfilled in us, so that with hands and hearts and lives cleansed by His blood and enlivened by His love, we may not leave Him hanging there, but take Him down from the Cross, and let Him live in us.

Almighty God: we beseech thee graciously to behold this thy family, for which our Lord Jesus Christ was contented to be betrayed, and given up into the hands of wicked men, and to suffer death upon the Cross; who now liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

____________________________________________

Pictured: "The Small Crucifixion" ca. 1511/1520 by Matthias Grünewald

Gethsemane

Jesus came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, and said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.

- St. Luke 22:39-46

_____________________________

Pictured: “Gethsemane” by H. Siddons Mowbray (1858-1928)

Maundy Thursday

An upper room had been prepared. The unleavened bread was baked. The Passover lamb had been sacrificed and roasted. Jesus was at the head of the table with His Israel, His family. He took the large piece of unleavened flat bread that signaled the opening of the Passover meal. He gave thanks to His Father for the gifts. He broke it and gave the pieces to His disciples. 

Until this point, theirs had been a Passover like any other Passover, recalling God's mercy and love to Israel when He had brought them out of slavery in Egypt into freedom, through the blood of the Passover lamb smeared on their doorposts.

Then Jesus spoke, and what He said at that moment had never before been said at a Passover meal. "Take, eat. This is my body, which is given for you." And again, after the supper, Jesus took a chalice of wine, gave thanks and then said something that had never before been said at a Passover meal, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood." And in doing this, Christ treated the Passover as if it was His own to do with as He pleased – and in fact He could, because it was and is the Lord’s Passover.

With these words, Jesus transformed the Passover meal forever. Under the outward form of the bread, He gives His body as food – the very body He received from His mother Mary; the body that was conceived in her through the Word spoken by the angel in the power of the Holy Spirit; the body that was wrapped in swaddling-clothes and laid in a manger; the body that was whipped and beaten, spit at and slapped; the body that was nailed to the cross, laid in the tomb, and raised from the dead on the third day.

And in the cup, He gives His blood. This is the blood of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. The medieval artists who depicted a chalice at the foot of the cross and a stream of blood pouring into it from the wounded side of Jesus understood the force of Christ’s words, because the blood that was shed on Calvary's cross is our drink.

Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. He was offered up for our sins on the Cross, and in the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, this offering is perpetually brought before the throne of Almighty God.

It is in the context of the Upper Room, of Jesus' washing the feet of His disciples and His feeding them His body and blood, of His humbling Himself to His coming death on a cross, that Jesus then says to His disciples, "A new commandment, I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you that you also love one another." Two more times, Jesus says it in His Upper Room sermon: "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." And again, "These things I command you that you love one another."

Of what things does Christ speak? What is new about this so-called "new commandment?" It's not love – that’s not new. The commandment to love is an old one. No, what's new is in how Jesus gives His love, by washing us and feeding us. Through baptism and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass – and indeed through all the Sacraments – this is how our Lord communicates His love to us. These are Christ’s mandates, His "commandments" by which we are able to love one another as we have been loved by Him. This is what Jesus is saying: "This is my commandment, that you be fed with my Body and my Blood, just as a branch is fed by the vine to which it is attached, so that you may love one another with the love with which I have loved you." "A new commandment I give to you, that you be washed by me and be fed at my table, so that you may love one another as I have loved you."

Jesus' new commandment to His disciples is to receive His love in all the ways He has to give, to be loved by Him so that His love would flow through them to one another. His love poured out for us in His death, poured into us through Baptism and through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, bears fruit as His love has its way with us. The same Body that bent down as a servant to wash the feet of His disciples, now bends our bodies down to help cleanse one another, by forgiving one another, by loving one another. He said, "By this all will know that you are my disciples, when you have love for one another."

We do not love in order to be loved by God. Jesus loved us, long before we loved Him. While we were yet sinners, He loved us and laid down His life for us. His was "love to the loveless shown, that they might lovely be."

We love one another because we already are loved by God in Jesus Christ. And we now receive His love so that we can love one another as He has loved each one of us. This is the commandment given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ – and with that truth, we celebrate this Holy Night so that we can be prepared for the glory of our Lord’s resurrection.

 

O God, who in a wonderful Sacrament hast left unto us a memorial of thy Passion: grant us, we beseech thee, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of thy Body and Blood; that we may ever know within ourselves the fruit of thy redemption; who livest and reignest with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

_______________________________________________________

Pictured: Gothic Altarpiece of the Last Supper, Jaume Huguet, C.1463