Thoughts on Good Friday

 

Good Friday is the most somber day in the Church, as Christians observe the Crucifixion of Jesus and his death on Calvary. Today, Catholics fast in mourning to accompany our Lord in his suffering on the cross. On this solemn Friday, tradition calls for a day of prayer and reflection. 

Today is the only day of the year when the Church does not celebrate Mass and tabernacles are empty of the Eucharist throughout the world. The faithful adore and contemplate the cross, and many pray the Stations of the Cross.

We pray God will give us the grace to take up the crosses of our own lives with joy and unite our suffering to that of our Savior. As we meditate on Christ’s Passion today, we are also reminded of the vital need to continue proclaiming Christ in the culture. May Jesus and the power of his cross give us the courage to share the message of our redemption with all those in our lives who need to hear it. 

God bless you,

Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on death

 

Making Our Deaths Fruitful

What I appreciate as I read Scripture is that Jesus saw death, and his own death in particular, as more than a way of getting from one place to another. He saw his death as potentially fruitful in itself, and of enormous benefit to his disciples. Death was not an ending for him but a passage to something much greater. When Jesus was anticipating his own death he kept repeating the same theme to his disciples: “My death is good for you, because my death will bear many fruits beyond my death. When I die I will not leave you alone, but I will send you my Spirit, the Paraclete, the Counselor. And my Spirit will reveal to you who I am, what I am teaching you. My Spirit will lead you into the truth and will allow you to have a relationship with me that was not possible before my death. My Spirit will help you to form community and grow in strength.” Jesus sees that the real fruits of his life will mature after his death. That is why he adds, “It is good for you that I go.” If that is true, then the real question for me as I consider my own death is not: how much can I still accomplish before I die, or will I be a burden to others? No, the real question is: how can I live so that my death will be fruitful for others? In other words, how can my death be a gift for my loved ones so that they can reap the fruits of my life after I have died? This question can be answered only if I am first willing to admit Jesus’ vision of death, as a valid possibility for me. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on Palm Sunday

 Palm Sunday begins Holy Week, that most solemn week of our Church’s year when we contemplate the passion and death of our Lord that leads to His glorious Resurrection. The idea of being on pilgrimage this week occurs to me. In the Middle Ages pilgrimages were common. You probably remember having to read some of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, still unfinished at his death in 1400. The word that Chaucer uses for pilgrims is palmers. “And palmers . . ./ from every shires ende/ Of Engelond, to Caunterbury” they go. The word palmer was used because those pilgrims who ventured (3,000 miles!) all the way from England to Jerusalem, the greatest of pilgrimages, brought back a palm frond as their prized souvenir. On Palm Sunday you receive your blessed palms. So, this Holy Week be a “palmer,” be a pilgrim.   

During Holy Week it is important to try to be with Jesus.  In

your prayer imagine those last few days, beginning with His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the crowds waving palms.  Try to see in your imagination our Lord enduring the terrible pain and suffering, both mental and physical.  He endures such suffering to save us from our sins and to assure that we, like the Good Thief, can be happy with Him forever in Paradise.  This suffering leading to salvation is the Father’s will, and Jesus always follows His Father’s will perfectly. 

So, this week try to make a pilgrimage journeying with Jesus as He enters Jerusalem, as He makes plans for the Passover supper, as He gives the Apostles the Eucharist and instructs them the last time.  Then walk with Him to Gethsemane and see His suffering begin.  Stay with Him that longnight of His arrest.  Call to mind the many agonizing events of Good Friday, perhaps praying the Stations of the Cross and the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary.  Then wait at the tomb and mourn quietly with the Church on Holy Saturday.  But do not allow your pilgrimage of Holy Week to sadden or discourage you.  After all, we know the rest of the story!  May your Holy Week pilgrimage make ever more clear God’s tremendous love for us, and

what He was willing to do to save us.  As St. John Henry Newman wrote of God’s love in his Meditations on Christian Doctrine, “He [God] preferred to regain me rather than to create new worlds.”  (March 7, 1848)   

 

Don Saunders, S.J.  

Thoughts on blessings

 

Live Under the Blessing

Jesus suffered and died for our sake. He suffered and died, not in despair, not as the rejected one, but as the Beloved Child of God. From the moment he heard the voice that said, “You are my Beloved, on you my favor rests,” he lived his life and suffered his pain under the Blessing of the Father. He knew that even when everyone would run away from him, his Father would never leave him alone.  For us, the greatest temptation is to lose touch with the Blessing. We are Beloved Sons and Daughters of God. When we live our suffering under the Blessing, even the greatest pain, yes, even death, will lead us deeper into the forgiving and lifegiving heart of God. But when we think we are not loved, when we reflect on ourselves as living under a curse, when we say or think: “I am not good,” our suffering will lead us to despair and our death cannot give life. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on forgiveness

 

God Forgives You

This morning I meditated on God’s eagerness to forgive me, revealed in these words: “As far as the East is from the West, so far does God remove my sin” (Psalms 103:12). In the midst of all my distractions, I was touched by God’s desire to forgive me again and again. If I return to God with a repentant heart after I have sinned, God is always there to embrace me and let me start afresh. “The Lord is full of compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy.” It is hard for me to forgive someone who has really offended me, especially when it happens more than once. I begin to doubt the sincerity of the one who asks forgiveness for a second, third, or fourth time. But God does not keep count. God just waits for our return, without resentment or desire for revenge. God wants us home. “The love of the Lord is everlasting.” Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on solitude

 

Open Yourself to the Great Encounter

I am not saying there is an easy solution to our ambivalent relationship with God. Solitude is not a solution. It is a direction. The direction is pointed to by the prophet Elijah, who did not find Yahweh in the mighty wind, the earthquake, the fire, but in the still, small voice; this direction, too, is indicated by Jesus, who chose solitude as the place to be with his Father. Every time we enter into solitude we withdraw from our windy, earthquaking, fiery lives and open ourselves to the great encounter. The first thing we often discover in solitude is our own restlessness, our drivenness, and compulsiveness, our urge to act quickly, to make an impact, and to have influence; and often we find it very hard to withstand the temptation to return as quickly as possible to the world of “relevance.” But when we persevere with the help of a gentle discipline, we slowly come to hear the still, small voice and to feel the gentle breeze, and so come to know the Lord of our heart, soul, and mind, the Lord who makes us see who we really are. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on Passion Week

 Jn. 12: 20 – 33 5^th Sunday of Lent (B) 

Unless the grain of wheat die 17 March 2024 

 

Only two weeks of Lent remain: this week, traditionally called Passion Week, and next week, Holy Week. Since Lent is meant to prepare us for Easter, we should consider

finishing Lent well these last two weeks.   

Today’s Gospel can teach us how to finish Lent well. The Gospel reminds us of what might be

called the "essence of Lent" in two of the best-known teachings of

Jesus:  

“. . . unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it

remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it

produces much fruit.”  (Jn. 12: 24)·

                   

“Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in

this world will preserve it for

eternal life.”  (Jn. 12: 25) 

These two verses expound a paradox at the very center

of our Faith, a paradox that comprises the essence of Lent. Our English word paradox comes from the Greek paradoxos, meaning “unbelievable.” It is a seemingly contradictory or even absurd statement that is somehow true. The well-known Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi also reminds us of common paradoxes of our Faith: in giving we receive; in pardoning we are pardoned; in dying we are born to eternal life. Our Lord’s paradox of the grain of wheat is the essence of Lent because it speaks of sacrifice and death. 

In the thinking of the World, sacrifice is unpopular.  Much more frequently we are told not to “give up,” but to “fulfill, enrich, develop,” “get more, enjoy more.” And "enjoy now; don't wait." 

Personal sacrifice always means dying to self. We act

against our natural human desires, which have been warped by Original Sin and driven by concupiscence. We know we must strive to act "agere contra," to act against our lower, more natural

desires.   

So, sacrifice is a type of death: a death to our desires and selfishness; a death to our cupidity, sensuality, and sloth; a death to what, on the surface, might seem to be our worldly fulfillment. In this death of self-sacrifice, we live the paradox:  the grain dies, but produces much fruit; our life of grasping greed, seeking pleasure, and realizing self-fulfillment, is sacrificed; our eternal life in heaven is preserved. 

We are entering the home stretch of Lent, and we will finish Lent well by striving to live the

paradox: 

·                    dying to self through some sacrifice  

·                    giving up something – perhaps some time we spend on pleasure, and use that time for prayer  

·                    serving someone else’s need (almsgiving, acts of charity,

kindness, cheerfulness) 

We live the paradox the more we imitate Christ and follow Him closely. During these last two weeks of Lent, Passion Week and Holy Week, we strive to follow the Lord in suffering.  Then, we can truly celebrate Easter more joyfully, knowing that one day we will follow Him in glory. 

-Fr. Don Saunders, SJ