Reflecting on the Triduum

The three most important days on the Church calendar, beginning with sundown on Holy Thursday and the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper and closing with Evening Prayer on Easter Sunday after sundown.

I believe we have a long way to go in helping worshipers understand how the Triduum is Passover for us Christians.  One of the many reasons I treasure the First Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation which I use on all the Sundays of Lent is this one phrase: We do this in memory of Jesus Christ, our Passover and our lasting peace…  Likewise, I delight in lifting the consecrated Bread and Cup before Communion in the Triduum liturgies and saying, Christ our Passover has been sacrificed: this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  Happy are those who are called to his supper!

Seeing Salvation

Seeing Salvation

Easter Sunday of the Lord’s Resurrection (A)  |  Archbishop Malcolm McMahon OP invites us to envisage the difference that the […]

The Dominican Friars in Britain

Easter 2020

Easter Sunday of the Lord’s Resurrection  |  Fr Martin Ganeri invites us to renew and deepen our faith in the […]

The Dominican Friars in Britain

What is So Good About Easter?

t is Easter. But it seems like we were celebrating Christmas only yesterday. Now I know that Easter comes early this year, but I don’t think that the early date is the whole of the explanation. The truth is that Christmas remains in our minds because it is easier to celebrate Christmas than Easter. Look at the Christmas story. It is clear; it is peaceful; it is well defined. In the Christmas story, you know where Jesus is—he is in the manger. You can say, “Look, there is where to find him. See him, touch him, love him.” Easter is more elusive, more nebulous. There is very little of serenity and peace in the Easter stories. Instead we find people scurrying about, frightened, conflicted, confused.

He is Risen!

He Is Risen! - Word on Fire

Our first reading for this Easter day is Peter's great kerygmatic speech on Pentecost morning. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter addresses the Jerusalem crowd, telling them the impossibly good news that Jesus of Nazareth, a man who moved through their ordinary towns and villages, has been raised from the dead. The Easter faith of the Church is not an abstraction, not a vague claim about God's fidelity or our hope for immortality. Rather, it is the startling assertion that God has brought this man Jesus back from the dead. May we bask in the glow of this still surprising revelation.

Word on Fire

The Earthquake and the Light - Word on Fire

In Matthew's version of the Easter story, symbols of novelty and transformation abound: it is the first day of the week, light is dawning, a stone has been rolled back, the very earth shakes, and an angel, a bearer of light, comes and speaks a word of hope. Easter is the day when everything changed, when God's mercy turned the world as we know it upside-down. We Christians are the proclaimers of this reversal.

Word on Fire

God’s Great Yes to Humanity - Word on Fire

Easter Sunday represents God’s great yes to humanity. Throughout history, humanity has turned its back on God, but the Lord has constantly sent rescue operations to bring us back into community with him. The Resurrection of Christ is the definitive rescue operation and is our great hope for salvation. Mass Readings Reading 1 – Acts 10:34-43 […]

Word on Fire

Easter: Recalling 2020’s Lockdown

EASTER SUNDAY, YEAR A

EASTER SUNDAY, YEAR A 12th April, 2020 Acts 10:34,37-43; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-9. Today’s responsorial psalm reads: This day was made by the Lord: we rejoice and are glad. (Psalm 117). Indeed, t

Sunday Homily

Today’s responsorial psalm reads: This day was made by the Lord: we rejoice and are glad. (Psalm 117). Indeed, this day brings joy to our lives as we ended the unusual Lenten and Easter triduum. Halfway into the Lenten period, the world went into a lockdown due the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic brought humanity to its knees. Human wisdom and strength were defeated in the face of the pandemic. This morning, our joy and gladness are derived from the risen Christ. His resurrection reassures us of our world. Having been made to pass through the purifying period of isolation, we are better equipped to face our world. we rejoice because the pandemic is not God’s judgement but a call to change. Through the Easter blessings, we are better equipped to face the realty of our broken world. The spirit of the risen Lord will renew the face of the earth.

Happiness in Hope

The flowers, the Easter appointments, the joyful music, the Alleluias, even the Easter suits and dresses and for some, bonnets, all proclaim our joy in the renewal of the world, our Easter joy.

The celebration of Easter stands in stark contrast to our commemoration of Good Friday. On Good Friday there were no flowers, no alleluias, no solemn music. There was the Cross.

And yet, both Good Friday and Easter, as well as Holy Thursday, are bound together into one celebration, the celebration of the Paschal Mystery. The name
paschal refers to the lamb who was sacrificed and whose sacrifice brought life.
You see, before Jesus’ sacrifice mankind had lost the capacity to have a spiritual life. Mankind’s sin, his decision to push God out of his life, destroyed his own
spiritual life. God is the Lord of Life, but mankind decided that he did not need God.

Let Easter Affect Our Whole Life

Let Easter affect our whole life

Easter Sunday, Year A First Reading: Acts 10:34a, 36-43 Second Reading: Col 3:1-4 Gospel Reading: Jn 20:1-18 “I go to my religion for comfort,” a woman told me; “I would never let it affect my real...

The B.C. Catholic

“I go to my religion for comfort,” a woman told me; “I would never let it affect my real life.”

C.S. Lewis once prayed that he might so pass through eternal things that he did not lose sight of temporal things. It was a “slip of the tongue,” he said, but he wondered whether, perhaps, that was what he really wished!

As editor of The B.C. Catholic, I once asked my staff what our front-page story should be for the Easter edition. One of them replied, jokingly, “Why, Christ’s resurrection, of course!” We all laughed; but surely, had I been thinking of eternal things instead of temporal things, I would not have asked the question, nor laughed at the answer. (To do myself justice, I did make it my front-page story!)

The Power of Death has been Destroyed

Today we celebrate our Lord’s resurrection from the dead. This means that we are also celebrating that day on which, and the event by which, the power of death was destroyed. As we have already seen, every person who ever has, or ever will, live on earth will rise from the dead because of our Lord’ resurrection. Those who die in Christ will share in His glory; those who die apart from Him will remain in their sin for eternity. But either way, the body of every person will rise and be reunited with their soul and live forever in one of only two possibilities.

Because of this reality, we must choose well. The choice of where we will spend eternity is made in this life, before we die. Once the soul leaves the body there is no way to change one’s mind. In other words, there will be no opportunity to repent at the moment of our judgment (which takes place immediately after death). For this reason, the Church gives to us the reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Colossians not only to remind us that when Christ our life appears on the last day that we will appear with Him in glory, but more pertinent to the moment we are in, we have to seek what is above and to think of what is above rather than being concerned with what is on earth. After all, as St. Paul says, we have been raised with Christ.

Something Missing As It Should Be

Something missing as it should be

Easter Sunday It doesn’t need restating but I’m still going to say it- our celebration of Holy Week this year has been unprecedent...

michaelckw.blogspot.com

It doesn’t need restating but I’m still going to say it- our celebration of Holy Week [in 2020] was unprecedented. Although priests have been faithfully celebrating the Holy Week liturgy, they have done so without the assistance and attendance of a congregation…

Today, adds to the list of missing items from Holy Week. We have a missing body from the tomb. But instead of leaving us to languish in despair at what has been taken away, it is good news to us Christians. A corpse may be missing, but the Risen Saviour and Lord is not. It may be sad news to hear that we are not having our palms blessed, feet washed, crosses kissed this year. But an empty tomb and a missing corpse is always good news!

Clergy E-Notes

Pro-life reflections and intercessions related to the Sunday readings

Do You Know the War is Over?

Homily: Easter Sunday A. Do you know the War is over? - SINGLE HUMANITY

Easter Sunday we celebrate the victory of life over death. Am I aware the war is over and do I feel the joy of this victory?

SINGLE HUMANITY

A believer in the risen Christ is a warrior. He fights because he believes in victory. Easter is a feast for tireless fighters who believe in victory of life even though the world gives the impression of the victory of death; a believer in the resurrection believes in love even in the world where it’s hatred that seems to be evident. Yes, Easter is a feast for those who despite the blows they may have received from the experiences of life yet they fight-on in hope for a better tomorrow –they never surrender. They refuse to remain prisoner of the shroud. They believe in life and love.

Alleluia, Jesus is Alive

Alleluia resounds again in this holy season beginning with this great Feast of Feasts: Easter Sunday. Joyful news! Easter news! Our Saviour is not in a tomb. He is alive. He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia. On Good Friday millions of people throughout the world gather to venerate the Cross of the Lord. Without Christ, epitomised by Good Friday, we are lost, confused, and overcome by sinfulness. There is a seeming triumph of falsity over truth, of injustice over justice, of evil over goodness. Jesus was falsely charged of crimes He did not commit and unjustly sentenced to a death He did not deserve. His very good friend and an apostle betrayed Him. His trusted companions deserted Him. The people He loved demanded His crucifixion and chose to have a bandit, Barabbas, released in His place. To crown it all, Jesus is scourged, mocked, led on a death march, nailed to the cross where He dies after a few hours and is hastily buried in a tomb.

Peter’s Joy

I remember when I was a young priest, Archbishop Hunthausen talked to a group of us.** He made a simple point, but one I will never forget: that disciple and discipline are practically the same word. Now, I am not great on discipline. Anyone who has seen the mess in my office knows that. But I know that without self-denial – putting first things first – I cannot be a disciple.

Discipline is a hard word for us, especially for us Baby Boomers. We have been given so much and we take things for granted, get upset when things don’t go our way. It’s not the same with people who have come from other countries. A man told me about growing up under an oppressive regime and how his family escaped when he was a teenager. The only thing they brought was determination and gratitude for every opportunity to study and work. That man excelled and is now making a beautiful contribution to our country.

Jesus Continues in the Church

We could presume that the first person to see Jesus risen from the dead was his own mother Mary. The Gospels tell us about Jesus appearing to the apostles, Mary Magdalene, and many others. In the Gospel today (John 20:1-9), we heard of Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John seeing Jesus’ empty tomb and later in that chapter John tells us about Jesus appearing to them that day.

In our first reading from Acts, Peter said that the Father “granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.” (Acts 10:40-41) The life of Jesus and the meaning of his passion, death and resurrection has been impacting people ever since those days, more and more people every year. If you throw a stone into a pond, it will cause a ripple to spread out more and more until eventually is gets to the edges of the pond and the entire pond has been affected. The graces of Jesus’ death and resurrection have been spreading out to more and more people ever since.

The Risen Church — Easter, 2020

Christ always goes before us – into the fullness of this new day and he calls us to follow after him in hope. This hope was planted by God in the heart of creation on the very first day – that the creator will not abandon his creation. This hope grew and was foretold by the people of Israel in their being brought from slavery to freedom with the waters of the Red Sea being a prefiguring of the waters of baptism which bring us into the new day of Christ and the promise us freedom from death itself. Paul recognizes this truth when he writes in his letter to the Romans, “Brothers and sisters: Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.”

The Stone Rolled Back

In today’s Gospel we see the stone rolled back and the cold, gaping emptiness of the tomb. There is something very different about this narrative and that of the raising of Lazarus. Lazarus came forth from the tomb still wrapped in the burial cloths, for death kept its hold on him. He would still die. In today’s Gospel, the cloths are left behind – a sign that death could not hold Jesus in its clutches. The cloth covering Jesus’ face is singled out, for now Jesus’ face is unveiled. Those who look upon the risen Christ will see the glory of God revealed. While the empty tomb does not, of itself, tell us what happened to Jesus, it does raise a question and it prepares us, as it prepared Mary of Magdala, Peter and the Beloved Disciple, to be vigilant so that when the risen Christ made himself known to them they would be ready to recognise him.

Rising

Light and Goodness. Let it be. Heavens and earth, day and night. Movements of moon and stars that would never have been, had they not been willed into existence. Water, sky, and earth. The great parade of natural kinds, nurtured by earth, fills the horizons. Waters teem and trees flower. Fertility. Multiplicity. Creeping creatures, urgent and easy, wild and gentle, small and great. God is the original environmentalist, the first cause of all our species, the eternal lover of diversity. Good. Yes.

Then the final good gift. “God created them in God’s own image; male and female God created them.” This final nature, a human one, would be given all else: as gift to nurture, name, and affirm. All is benefaction, and the human, made specially in the likeness of God, is empowered to know existence and pronounce it all good. All is benediction.

Saved in Hope

Alleluia! Alleluia! The Lord is risen! Even in the midst of a pandemic, the Church defiantly proclaims from the rooftops Jesus’ victory and rightfully so. The Gospel reading for the vigil, which we have permission to also proclaim at the Mass on Easter day, speaks of Mary and the other Mary coming to the tomb early in the morning. When they arrived, there was an earthquake. When the angel appeared to roll back the tomb, his appearance was that of lighting. Let’s sit with this image for a moment because many of us recall waking up in the middle of the night last July to an earthquake centered in Monroe. Remember that? It was followed shortly after by an aftershock, which most of us also felt. I think a number of us can also recall a time when a great lightning storm woke us up in the middle of the night at some point in our life. You see, there is something about earthquakes and lightning that shake and shock us into taking notice of our surroundings. Everything that we think that is important before these moments are suddenly forgotten. The first priority is to process what is going on. The second priority is to act accordingly