Today is the day… No, Wait! It was last night!!!

          So, you woke up Sunday morning and went to Mass to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord. Well, you were partly right. Sunday does celebrate the resurrection of our Christ, but technically, it was celebrated Saturday evening. The “big” Mass in the Catholic Church is celebrated with the Saturday Vigil Mass. This is not saying that Christ was resurrected on Saturday evening, only that in the Church the day begins, at sunset, the night before. Therefore Saturday evening is Sunday; this is true for every day of the year.

Why the “big” mass you ask? Let’s start with nine, that’s right nine readings, seven from the Jewish bible (Old Testament), one epistle and one Gospel. The Mass begins after sunset outside, symbolically searching for Christ.  

          The Mass is celebrated with three distinctive parts:

Part I is called The Service of Light. Here the Paschal candle is prepared for the blessing of fire and lighting of the Paschal candle.

Part II is the Liturgy of the Word, followed by the Homily,

Part III is the Celebration of the Sacraments of Initiation, both Baptism and Confirmation will be celebrated. This is also when the water is blessed; the Paschal candle may be lowered into the water as part of the blessing. Following the Baptism and Confirmation of the candidates the Mass continues in the customary manner. Oh, one more little thing, today is officially called “Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord.” Just in case you were wondering.

          Yes I have significantly over simplified this remarkable celebration, but what fun would it be to give away all the secrets? This Mass is as beautiful as any in the Catholic Church, if you can attend this service it will be well worth the extra time this Mass requires. Word of note; there is only one Easter Vigil Mass held, so be sure to contact your parish to see what their particular arrangements are.Yes, our Lord is risen!

“May the light of Christ rising in glory dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds.”¹

1.      1- Roman Missal.

by David E. Gonzales

The Passion; the ultimate teaching of humility.

Palm Sunday

  

Luke 22; 14 – 23, 56.

Jesus offers the new covenant of life in the form of bread and wine,

The apostles argue over which one of them will be the greatest,

Jesus teaches humility.

Peter denies Jesus 3 times,

Peter is the rock that Jesus builds his Church.

Jesus asks his disciples to pray with him at the Mount of Olives and twice he finds them sleeping,

his response to them is his prayer for them, that they do not undergo the test.

Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss,

Jesus does not condemn or judge Judas.

The chief priests and temple guards go the Mount of Olives and try to arrest Jesus,

Jesus voluntarily goes with them.

A disciples strikes the right ear of a servant,

Jesus heals the servant.

While bound before the Sanhedrin, he is struck and ridiculed,

Jesus remains silent.

Jesus is interrogated by Pilate,

He offers no defense.

Jesus is tied to a post and flogged,

He offers no resistance, he makes no condemnation.

As Jesus is crucified on a cross,

He begs for the forgiveness of his executors,

He offers no condemnation.                                                                          

As Jesus hangs near death a condemned thief asks for mercy,

Jesus promises the thief a place in heaven.

The love of our God through his Son our Christ has never before been so selflessly displayed, nor has it been since this day. Yet we find it so hard to follow God’s law of love, and oh, how often we fail!

 “Father, into your hands I commend my Spirit”. (Luke; 22; 46)

Scripture is from the NABRE

by David E. Gonzales

Beyond forgiveness…/ 5th Sunday of Lent

John 8; 10-11

            “Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, Women, where are they? Has no one condemned you? She replied, No one sir. Then Jesus said, neither do I condemn you. Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more.”

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In today’s Gospel we see today a very human Jesus. In This Story there are no miracles, no ground shaking, and no thunderous proclamations from the heavens. Here we have Jesus, a crowd of angry protesters, and a sinner. Oh, wait! There all sinners! Even though the woman was caught in the very act of adultery, no one could over look their sins and condemn the woman who allegedly was caught in the very act of adultery. Forgiveness to the women is not explicitly expressed, but condemnation is most certainly withheld. In John 3: 17, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” Jesus did not forgive the women of her sins, for he never judged her in first place. He saw in her the love of his father, the love from where all things were created.

Our Christ understands that we are imperfect. He knows that we will sin again. And yet with this knowledge we are not judged, we are instead offered compassion and the opportunity to keep trying. We are given an opportunity to keep trying to follow this new law of love. To not only to offer forgiveness, but to not even condemn another person for their transgressions. This was, and perhaps still is, a foreign ideal for us as humans.

We are a society fully engaged in a system of legalese; nevertheless we should not confuse civil law with this law of love and this example of personal love. Our Christ came to save the sinner, for the truly righteous does not need to be shown the way.  How many of us are truly righteous? Could you throw the first stone? Let us stop judging and condemning each other and begin living the life our Christ has shown us.

Scripture is from the NABRE

by David E. Gonzales

Reconciliation: 4th Sunday of Lent

Joshua – 5; 12 (first reading)

            … after they ate of the produce of the land, the manna ceased. No longer was there manna for the Israelites, who that year ate of the yield of the land of Canaan.

2 Corinthians – 5; 18 (second reading)

            And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, …

Luke – 15; 32 (Gospel)

            But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.

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          Reconciliation, in a single word, is what today’s readings not only teach us but implore us to practice. The readings give us three ways of reconciliation, the physical, representative and the personal. From the book of Joshua, the Jewish people were returned to eating of the land as the manna that was supplied by God ended. The people and the land were one again brought together.

          2 Corinthians St. Paul uses the sacrifice of our Christ to explain our reconciliation with God. We have been reunited with our God, not just with the Jewish people but with all of humanity.

          In the Gospel reading, forgiveness is the instruction for reconciliation. For it is how we forgive others that God forgive us. The Lord’s Prayer is most supportive in this instance.

          God forgives us even though it is known that we will sin again.God is always reaching out to us, so the onus for reconciliation is on us.This is accomplished through our relationships with each other. The relationship between man and God will always be imperfect until the Parousia has been fulfilled. It will be at this time that God and humanity will be reconciled to perfection.

How secure is your salvation? (3rd Sunday of Lent)

1 Corinthians 10, 12 - (2^nd reading)

The warning, Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.

Luke 13, 8-9 (Gospel)

Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.

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            Many of us believe that we are saved by the passion of our Christ. And we can in fact stand secure in that assurance. We have been given a seat in heaven, but not without condition. We have been given the commandment to love each other, and we are told that the way we love each other by engaging in charity. The fruit referred here is the fruit that comes from the giving of ourselves to each other in charity. Charity without exception, we must be willing to exercise this command to give charity to the poor, charity to our enemies, and charity to all those in greater need than ourselves.

            In much of the New Testament, the word Charity and Love are interchangeable. Charity is a physical and emotional act of loving each other. Charity is caring for someone without the expectation of any return, a totally gratuitous act of compassion.

            The warning and the resolution are plainly listed here, cockiness and laziness may get you cut down, and humility and compassion are the virtues of our Christ that will help us maintain our place in heaven. This is how we transform ourselves from self-absorbed children to the mature Christians of an all loving God. Charity comes in many forms and not all can contribute equally. Each of us has different talents that can be used in these acts of kindness. It is necessary for each and every one of us to contribute in some way, large or small, but always personally. That may mean filling boxes of food or clothing for the poor, or helping in soup lines or giving to your favorite charity that also supports these types of actions. I must point out that this must be a gift of freewill. Therefore taxes that are collected by the government, even though they may support some charity in some way, doesn’t really fall into this category. Charity must be a free and deliberate gift of self; otherwise it’s not really charity.

            Today’s readings are indeed a warning and resolution. Cultivate the ground and work in humility, and pray with this same essence of hope that the seat of our salvation will be available when we arrive at the gates of heaven.

Scripture is from the NABRE

by David E. Gonzales