With the Triduum behind us, we live now in the light of Christ. We, as Christians, are called to bring the light of Chirst to our world. The past three days of liturgical celebrations have given us much to be grateful for and much to reflect on. These days always put me on sensory overload — there are so may sights and smells and sounds that I am not able to absorb it all. It will take days, perhaps weeks, to capture the meanng of this experience and how to live it in daily life. THE CHRISM MASS –The celebrations begin with the celebration of the Chrism Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul by our new Archbishop Charles Chaput. If you have not had an opportunity to attend this Mass, I suggest that you try to be present next year. It is at this Mass the the Archbishop blesses the holy oils used for the Sacraments — the Oil of the Sick, the Oil of Catechumens and the Chrism. The oils are caried to the altar in solemn procession and blessed before the “whole church”. Representatives of the entire Chruch are present — laity, religious, deacons, priests and bishops. At this celebration, we also witness the priests of the archdiocese renew their priestly promises and commitment to the service of God’s people. As lay faithful, we are then asked to support our priests in prayer for their ministry. There was standing room only at this Mass. The beauty of it for me is that everyone who attends really wants to be there. The singing and the responses fill the Cathedral. The people are on fire with their faith and love for the Chruch, the whole church. It is at this celebration that we begin to move out of the sacrifice and “darkness” of Lent and the light becomes visible to us in the faith of the people of God. Please stay tuned as we move forward in our reflections on the Celebration of the Lord’s Supper, the Passion of the Lord and the Easter Vigil, the Mother of all vigils.
Author: Father Cioppi
Ignite other hearts to an active and vital participation in the life of God
In the long history since the creation of the world, we have come to understand that “God looked at everything he had made, and found it very good.” (Genesis 1:31)
God created us and established in our human nature a relationship that is eternal and loving. God reached deep into the ocean of his love and formed humanity in his image and likeness. We are good from the core of our being and free to return his love, which is mirrored in our living a virtuous life.
When Adam and Eve turned away from God they chose to be alienated from him and estranged from one another. They found in their shame no way home and wandered aimlessly without direction; lost and confused in their own self-absorption. This rejection of God was repeated many times throughout history. Every time God reached out in love, we ignored or rejected him.… the more I called to them, the further they went from me (Hosea 11:2).
But then something happened, an event ritualized in these past few days that abruptly changed reality for the world. God gave up his Son to death, the last and most desperate result of Adam’s sin, so the new Adam might lead us back to the Father.
We are present now in the most ancient tradition of the Catholic Church to bring these men and women to the point of their death in Christ. They do not run away, they are running toward the font of living water. Through this Baptism, Christ will lead them back to the Father and the new Adam will give them full communion in His Church.
With the rising of the Sun we will hear a voice calling us to return ‘on the first day of the week.’ It will ignite our Church with new life! The message will reverberate around the world, lighting up its darkened corners and nourishing it’s most wanting dwellings. He will be Risen! Alleluia!
My dear friends, now we too can proclaim what has been handed down to us through the Apostles! We too can give testimony to the truth and be salt for the earth! Christ is alive and “makes all things new.”
Pope Benedict, in his call for a Year of Faith (Porta Fidei, 2011) wrote: “We cannot accept that salt should become tasteless or the light be kept hidden (cf. Mt 5:13-16). The people of today can still experience the need to go to the well, like the Samaritan woman, in order to hear Jesus, who invites us to believe in him and to draw upon the source of living water welling up within him (cf. Jn 4:14). We must rediscover a taste for feeding ourselves on the word of God, faithfully handed down by the Church, and on the bread of life, offered as sustenance for his disciples (cf. Jn 6:51). Indeed, the teaching of Jesus still resounds in our day with the same power: “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life” (Jn 6:27). The question posed by his listeners is the same that we ask today: “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” (Jn 6:28). We know Jesus’ reply: “This is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent” (Jn 6:29). Belief in Jesus Christ, then, is the way to arrive definitively at salvation.”
This call will convert souls, crushing their complacency with a great fire re-ignited this holy night! The fire your hold in your heart, Jesus asks you to release it into the world as a leaven! Release your faith to be salt for the earth!
The Resurrection of Jesus transforms the contentment of our religious practice with a missionary zeal that will transform the earth to a temple for the virtuous life rather than a prison for the vices.
Christ can help us convert souls, illuminating the darkness of this world and filling it with grace. The barriers we built up to stop Christ, all destroyed, all shattered in the wind of the Holy Spirit.
The man who walked through Galilee walks with us still. Evil in all its forms does not have the last word. The final triumph is Christ’s! If we are prepared to suffer and die with Him, as St. Paul reminds us his life becomes our life. We are certain of this truth which is eternal and unchanging!
This now is a new age of Christian hope and faithful maturity, where the virtues will root us in the glory of God. We will save souls in this parish, a small part of the Kingdom of God. We will follow our Apostle to teach and sanctify God’s holy People.
Let us begin by welcoming those who have been lost, confused or like us, complacent, in our faith practice. In our joy this holy night, we welcome them home and invite them to share in the new life Christ gives to us all.
God’s love begins at home, in our families and in our hearts. It is a spark of resurrection joy that helps us forgive; helps us recognize in each other the Christ we seek. In the school of the family, we can enrich a culture that supports virtue; builds solid communities of hope and ensures that neighborhoods and homes practice human respect, consequences for wrongdoing and dignity for all.
Here and now, we can take the light given and proclaimed through us and rededicate our parish to ignite other hearts to an active and vital participation in the life of God.
All Christians are called this day to interior meditation on the mysteries we hold sacred; called to live the virtuous life with a quieter and more serene countenance. But to preach as if Christ is plunging his hands into our hearts and pulling forth love, forgiveness and joy for anyone who seeks him! Christ is alive and “makes all things new!”
Engaged Suffering of Discipleship – Can you drink of this Cup?
The tears of a Father for His only Son splash over us today as the cup of salvation is poured out. In the ringing silence of this moment we find ourselves asking, “Can I drink of this cup?” Can I become this man’s disciple?
Today the cross fascinates the curious. What does the crucifixion mean? Jesus is not on show here. We do not watch him die. He beckons us to die with him. Julian of Norwich says He invites us onto the Cross to be scourged and nailed by the angry and Godless who have been blinded and deafened by the world.
God chose the cross because it fulfills his expectation for the Son of Man. Death on the Cross means to suffer and to die as someone rejected and expelled, as was He by the people He came to save: the People He loves.
To become his disciple is to make a commitment to this person now hanging from a tree, this man who is scourged and pierced; this person who today, all over the world suffers because God loves Him.
Be warned, this commitment places the disciple under the law of Christ which is complete self-sacrificing love. Make no mistake everything depends on your decision to “take up your cross and follow me.”
Whoever enters discipleship enters Jesus’ death and puts his own life into death; this has been so from the beginning. There will be risks; there will be a leaving of comfort zones and individual conveniences. The cross, after all is not a horrible end to a pious life but rather the beginning of community with Jesus. Being alone in this community will be difficult because we never do anything outside communion. Every call of Christ leads to death.
The wounds that will be struck here, and the scars every Christian receives from the struggle, are living signs of the community of the cross with Jesus. Nor does the disciple suffer alone. They gather, as the Church gathers, to receive the blows and the insults of a world of stone throwers, a world of the lost and unguided.
The communal history of the Church is filled with martyrdom. Our discipleship, should we choose to accept it, will be today tomorrow and always for Christ, who gave his body into the hands of those who live in darkness without the light.
If disciples choose to accept their baptism, it means they no longer accept the self. It means seeing only Jesus, who goes ahead of all of us increasing the Truth by decreasing the darkness of sin.
How does a disciple know the cross, come to recognize it in the community of Jesus? They encounter it in the surrender of their will to God’s, in their struggle to perfect the virtues, in their shared ‘agonia’ on Calvary, and in their individual and communal martyrdom.
If the disciple is willing to become a member of this ‘community of burnt men,’ then they will risk the joy of scourging and hanging on the cross. Yes my friends, Christians are in deed ‘signs of contradiction’ in the world, they are ‘salt for the earth,’ they enhance the flavor of God’s holy Word in a complacent world.
Their only sorrow comes from being ashamed of Jesus and taking offense at his rejection. Read the history of the Christian life and you will encounter men, women and even children who amid horrific torment experience the most extreme joy!
“Let this cup pass from me? No, let the disciple drink of this cup completely for this is the reason Jesus came into this world: to glorify God.
But, “can you drink the cup?”
It is a life commitment not so unfamiliar to the world. Once committed, we will hear a voice; gently but firmly cry out, “BE NOT AFRAID, CAST YOUR NETS OUT INTO THE DEEP FOR A CATCH.” Today we meet Jesus at the point of death. Jesus will not allow us to stagnate here. He will not allow the salt of the earth to loose its flavor.
Here in King of Prussia, we are becoming a community that embraces the true dignity of the person and will always seek the integral conversion of everyone to Christ through correct catechesis, prayer and the seven sacraments.
We stretch out our arms, now as always, to embrace humanity and to lift it up to hear the Word of God proclaimed and lived! We are being sent from the Cross to free hearts to encounter, as we will, the true joy of being a member of God’s holy family.
This joy we share is a vivid reminder that obedience to the Cross makes our Catholic Church bold in its proclamation of forgiveness, audacious in our compassion for the sick and courageous in our search for the alienated, the despised and the poor. Christ is alive and we need not be afraid to say it and live like we really believe it!
As a parish, let us choose discipleship. Let us together embrace the Cross and as individuals obedient to His will, let us follow where he leads, and at the same time, recognize that we too are being followed by a God who seeks us out, who desires to find us and hold us dear.
Brothers and Sisters in the Lord, we are never alone. We do not walk Calvary as strangers. We walk the Hill with Jesus; hand in hand; he leads us there, until in the end it is not you, or me nor any human being, nor any creature under heaven, but rather only Christ, who cries out to us today from the Cross, “Come, follow me!”
The Sacrifice of Calvary and the Washing of the Twelve: Engaging the Mystery!
With the sign of the Cross, our parish enters the mystery of God!
We gather in this Upper Room to commemorate the commingling of the ritual of the Mass with the sacrifice of Calvary: the offering of Christ’s Body to the Father. And in this sacred mystery, we commemorate the vehicle through which this sacrifice is offered, the priesthood of the Apostles.
Christ willed that his sacrifice be continually present as a sign of authentic Christian unity. The Eucharist is one and the same time Christ’s sacrifice and the Church’s sacrifice, because in it Christ unites the Church with his redemptive work and invites the Church to share in his suffering.
It is important then that we, who share the one bread and the one-cup, assume a personal attitude of offering. We cannot come to just listen and watch, we need to engage the mystery, to make Christ’s suffering our own, sacrificing our pain, our difficulties, our trials- our whole humanity with him and in him so as to commingle our gift with the gift Christ makes of Himself.
By entering the ritual sacrifice of this night, we share in the victory won by Him over evil in the world. When the words of consecration are uttered and the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ become present in this ritual act, love triumphs over hatred, holiness succeeds over sin, selfless joy conquers selfish pleasure.
The Eucharistic celebration is stronger than all the evil in the universe because Christ offers himself freely as gift to His Father. This night too, Jesus becomes the servant washer, as an example to his apostles of servant leadership and how they will sacrifice their bodies for the love of God. In this way the Eucharist becomes for us an act of freedom and communion with the Father and with the Church.
When we join this moment of grace, the breaking of bread and the washing of the Twelve become how we define our freedom and how we live our communion. For if we do not allow the Eucharist to transform our lives, we surrender to a state of bondage and alienation risking the loss of our souls and the souls of others.
The love of Christ in this Sacrament enlarges our capacity to love and moves us to more sincere and credible acts of charity-because it is Christ living within us! In the Eucharist made present here on our Altar through the hands of the priest, Christ comes to finish the work His Father gave him. He establishes the sacrificial priesthood in the Twelve that our souls might be filled with the same Charity, which led him to die for us on the Cross.
Jesus comes to live in our hearts and to lead us to the one end toward which we struggle every day: the love of God and the love of our neighbors in God. If we will but respond to His love, if we will but let this divine sacrament purify our hearts of all attachments to worldly things, Christ will make us stronger and more determined to love him. He will teach us through the ministry of the Apostle, to understand not only his love for us, but also his love of our neighbor. He will teach us to see into the depths of our brother’s heart, through the humility and compassion of each priest who opens his heart to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
As Christ came to overcome evil with good, so we too, nourished by this sacrament, will learn in our reception, that the charity of Christ is strong enough to reach out and embrace even our enemies, strong enough to conquer them, turning them from enemies into friends.
Yes, we celebrate the ritual Sacrifice of Calvary and the Washing of the Twelve because he has “given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should do also.”
"Truly, this was the Son of God" Mark 14:1-15; 47
Today marks the beginning of a holy week of remembrance. Through Scripture, Song and Sacred Ritual, we commemorate Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. Our Parish Lenten journey leads us now to the gates of Jerusalem where ‘Jesus emptied Himself and accepted death on a cross.’ We come to this time and place, open to the wonders of Christ’s death; a power that brings new life to those who have lost hope, a home to the confused, and healing to those who suffer.
It is on Calvary we find our noblest aspiration as human persons. Tertullian wrote: “The flesh is the hinge of salvation.” We believe in a God Who made Himself human in order to redeem us by the very flesh He gave us.
Jesus, the Son of God, freely suffered death for us in complete and free submission to the will of God. He asks nothing less from us. “By His death He has conquered death, and so opened the possibility of salvation for all of us (CCC, 1019).”
If we can identify with the Centurion of the Gospel, and stand with him beneath the Cross and say with him: “This indeed was the Son of God,” then we will enter more deeply these sacred moments and ponder the great mystery of God’s love for us.
Father, glorify your name.” (John 12:20-33)
Already it is the Fifth Sunday in Lent. Soon the Church will enter its holiest week as She re-enacts the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord. We hear Jesus speaking with his disciples in the Gospel: “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father save me from this hour?’ It was for this purpose that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” (John 12:20-33)
Looming over us will be the trial of the Church played out everyday in the media. While we will hear nothing new, we will hear over and over again painful things, I am sure, that will not be easy. Yet, through this I believe, in the end, we will be a better Archdiocese, a better parish, and a holier people. “For unless a grain of wheat dies, it remains just a grain of wheat.” “But if it dies, it produces much fruit.” (John 12:20-33) Here is our hope: that our suffering and death though unpredictable will strengthen our faith to sing with the psalmist: “Create a clean heart in me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me.”
God is with us my friends, so, as an Archdiocese as well as a parish and within our families, we must cling to the gift God has given us, our faith in Jesus who is the source of eternal salvation for all who seek Him. In the Opening Collect today we prayed, by your help may we walk with the same love your Son possesses when he hands himself over to death. We too, have been led through our Lenten observances to this moment. We have not come here by ourselves. God has led us here to listen to His voice and to encounter His presence in this Church.
Jeremiah too says, “The days are coming, when I will make you a new covenant.” It will not be an old covenant where you are comfortable and have become complacent. “I will be your God and You will be my People.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34) God assures us that in this new way, “the greatest and the least shall know me.” It will be through this humility Paul says that Jesus learned obedience, and ‘became the source of salvation for all who obey him.’(Hebrews 5:7-9)
The Gospel reveals the plan for our salvation: if you want to see Jesus hear these words, “Whoever serves me must follow me.” “Whoever loves his life in this world loses it for the next and whoever hates his life on this earth will preserve it for eternal life.” (John 12:20-33)
My friends this is the time to surrender your worries, anxieties, fear and weaknesses to the Lord Who is strong and merciful and, claim the faith He gives you! Allow these holy days to lead you where you ought to be, in this holy Church. Pray for God’s mercy and forgiveness in your own life and contribute to the holiness of all our lives. Now is the time! Let God’s humility and the Church’s be our own. “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” (John 12:20-33)
If you want to see Jesus, look for Him in the Church and you will find Him.
Jn 3:14-21: “Whoever lives the truth comes to the light.”
How can God love so much and yet allow a person to be judged? Every human person, even if they profess to be atheist or agnostic, searches for Truth and longs to encounter God in a personal and engaging way.
We experience the person of Jesus, in prayer, fasting and in almsgiving. We encounter God in His Son, sacrificed here on our Altar. It is here we find peace in our search for Truth; in this Way we gain eternal Life.
But there are those, even Catholics who reject the possibility of finding God here. They reject the idea of formal religion and cling to personal self-awareness as a means to happiness and fulfillment.
This rejection of God and of His Church is a person’s judgment. It is not God Who judges but rather the person who has condemned himself. Man cannot love himself alone. He must accept God’s love for him as a vital part of his existence.
A student of Socrates once said to him, “I hate you for every time I meet you, you let me see what I am.” (p 131, Barclay) This physical sanctuary, this physical parish gathered, challenges even the most determined atheist. For some, our very presence is a threat to the persons they pretend to be.
These people have alienated themselves from God and have chosen darkness over light. In their shadows they will become lost, they will not find the truth they seek, or the life that will bring them hope or joy.
But, we can witness to our own encounter with God here in our gathering. In our consumption of the sacrifice we offer, and in our acceptance of the light of Christ that makes us a people of eternal hope. Paul proclaims it: ‘God is rich in mercy. He has great love for us.’
My dear friends, our lives in communion are a light in the world! Do not be afraid to let this light shine for the lost to see. Do not be afraid to be hospitable in welcoming those who have made themselves homeless. Open your hearts and demonstrate that the light you possess is for them a Way to see the Truth and the Life of God.
Living With Integrity
One of the virtues that is the most challenging to cultivate and sustain is personal integrity. It’s that quality in us that knows what is “right” and will not let us compromise our beliefs by doing anything else.
I recently read an article about a high school science teacher in a small Midwest town who assigned her students a project. It was relatively straight-forward: collect a sample of 20 leaves from area trees and write a report on what can be known by observing the leaves. The teacher gave her students only one instruction: All of their work had to be original and not lifted from published sources.
When the projects were turned in the teacher discovered that 28 of her 116 students “cut and pasted” into their reports material obtained from Wikipedia. She gave each of those students an “F” which meant some of them would fail the course.
Well, this riled the parents of the offending students. A group of parents complained to the school board and threatened a lawsuit. Bowing to their pressure, the school board ordered the teacher to ignore the use of outside sources, re-grade the projects and change the grades given to those students. To her credit, the teacher refused to do so and resigned. Continue reading “Living With Integrity”
Tear off the barnacles that cling to you
Today we welcome those who desire to enter into full communion with the Christ at Easter and encourage you in your searching and in your repentance of sin. The Scrutinies are meant to deliver you, the Elect from the power of Satan and sin, to protect you from temptation, and to give you strength in Christ. We hope that these Rites will help you complete your conversion and deepen your resolve to hold fast to Christ above everything else.
As we continue our meditation on the Lord’s Passion and Death, we find ourselves in the desert with our ancestors in faith. We find ourselves at the foot of the mountain of Sinai, here at the foot of the Altar. We listen as they once did to Word of God, spoken to us from human lips. We open our ears so these words can enter our heart.
However, we listen with hearts that are Christian. Our hearts have turned to Jesus and so we hear these words as a foundation of our faith in the Church. Paul says, “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.”
In the Gospel, we confront the reality of our own spiritual lives when we acknowledge all the barnacles in life that stick to us; envy, greed, lies, selfishness, anger, busyness and perhaps disrespect of self and other.
Jesus tears them down like the tables in the Temple. He beckons us to listen for the authentic words of God and challenges us to cling to them! Be filled with the same zeal which David said consumed him. Grab a hold of the Word of God and believe in the power of His Name and in the Wisdom of His Life.
My friends, our God is good. He heals the wounds our sins and selfishness bring upon us. Let us acknowledge that our sinfulness hurts us and hurts the Body of Christ.
May our fasting, acts of charity and prayer fill us with hope and lead us to the Easter joy God desires to share with us.
Amen.
Conscience is never formed well outside of Christ
I was listening a broadcaster on the television last week who is Catholic, but he announced quite clearly that he believed in contraception and that it was stupid to think otherwise.
It made me think sadly about him who really believes I am sure that he is still a faithful Catholic and in communion with Christ.
He believes I am sure that his conscience is telling him, this is right, even though Christ says it is wrong. And then I began think of what is a good conscience and how do we form our conscience to be in communion with Christ.
Our conscience is not an isolated or wholly individual thing. Consciences are formed by experience, by authority, by what is human, and by what is divine. Consciences involve the soul, our most human element that seeks after the truth in all things.
The Truth is Jesus Christ. His teaching is infallible in faith and morals. It is not stupid or medieval or ignorant or unenlightened. And so when I come to ask myself what is right and wrong and have to search out what Jesus teaches?
I cannot come to understand His teaching alone: I can only discover truth through the Scripture and equally the Tradition of the Church that is a two thousand year old reflection on the Word of God. Listen prayerfully for the Holy Spirit and to people we trust to be in communion with Christ.
Obedience is not an easy thing to practice. Look at Abraham and his son Isaac. Psalm 116 says is well, “I believed, even when I said, “I am sorely afflicted.” Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones.” Obeying the law of the Lord is not easy because it is not our interpretation of what is right or what the state says is a ‘right’ because all human rights come from God alone. What is important is admitting to yourself that God alone is the master of our lives; that Jesus is the way, the truth and the light. Without him we are not enlightened.
For pilgrims of faith, Christ becomes the door, opening wide the mystery of divine providence which calls to obey the commandments and the will of Christ.
As we begin this Second Week of the Lent, our response to the call of the Transfiguration must be an authentic one as it embraces the response of Jesus, who suffered on Calvary and rose to the heavens in resurrection.
Our response must be one of selfless love, rooted in Christ, that is strong enough to withstand the pressures and the stress of a world captured in a life of sin.
Each of us who bear the Cross of Jesus becomes today-a beloved son or daughter on Whom God’s favor rests. Study the Sacred Scriptures; study the mind of Christ in the writings of the Bishops throughout the centuries.
Make sure your conscience is well formed in truth not ill formed in the lies and shadows of a society that continues to alienate itself from its human dignity and from God.
Pray for those Catholics who believe their enlightenment comes from self-awareness alone and not from Christ, our only true Light. Pray that our parish will always be faithful to the Church’s teaching thus being in communion with Christ.
Let this be our hope and our real joy in life-that the sacrifices we make for the love of Jesus do indeed make a difference in the eternal plan of the Father. Not our will, O Lord, but Your will be done in all things!