Tag: resurrection

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Sermon: Proper 27 RCL C – “Love is the Law”

Years ago, a young pastor found the roads blocked one Sunday morning and was forced to skate on the river to get to church, which he did. When he arrived, the elders of the church were horrified that their preacher had skated on the Lord’s day. After the service, they held a meeting where the pastor explained that it was either skate to church or not go at all. Finally, one elder asked, “Did you enjoy it?” When the preacher answered, “No,” the board decided it was all right!

The album, The Stranger, by Billy Joel was released in 1977. I must have been in junior high at the time, but I did have a copy and probably wore it out. I could probably still sing along to all of the songs (not that you would want me to).

One of the songs I remember is Only the Good Die Young. At the time, I had no idea what it was all about, but I eventually sorted it out. And even more so when I was introduced to John Keating, the English professor that Robin Williams played in the Dead Poets Society. He told students, all young men, that “Language was invented for one reason, boys – to woo women – and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do.” The song Only the Good Die Young was just such an attempt.

“You got a nice white dress and a party on your confirmation
You got a brand new soul
Mmm, and a cross of gold
But, Virginia, they didn’t give you quite enough information
You didn’t count on me
When you were counting on your rosary

“And they say there’s a heaven for those who will wait
Some say it’s better, but I say it ain’t
I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints
The sinners are much more fun
You know that only the good die young”

“The sinners are much more fun;” therefore, all fun must be declared sinful and stamped out at all costs. How do we stamp out fun? We make laws. How do we force people to follow the laws? We threaten them with all sorts of punishments. And, finally, who is best suited to write and enforce these laws? The Church! Can I get an “Amen”? Actually, religious leaders of every make and model, even before Jesus, have been doing this. During Jesus’ time, and with Judaism, there were two major parties of religious leaders and several minor ones.

The minor groups included the Essenes, Zealots, and Scribes, each with their own agenda. The two main parties we hear most about are the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Who were they?

Between the two groups, the Pharisees were more popular with the people and the common man. Although they were associated with the Temple through their faith, they were not the priests serving there. Instead, they focused on the Mosaic Law found in the Torah and other Old Testament writings. They would interpret the Law further and then interpret their interpretations, all aimed at leading to personal righteousness before God. The problem, and what Jesus criticized most, was that they got so far down in the weeds with their interpretation and application of the Law that they forgot about the souls of the people.

In His criticism of the Pharisees, Jesus said, “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others.” (Matthew 23:4-5) And again He says of them, “You are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.” (Matthew 23:27)

They did, however, believe in the resurrection, but it was earned through works, not by faith. Favor was granted through obedience. To gain eternal life, one had to follow the Law to the letter. The Lord, speaking through the Prophet Daniel, said, “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” (Daniel 12:2) The side of the bed you woke up on depended on whether or not you kept the Law. Nonetheless, this led to their understanding of the resurrection, which was one of the differences between the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

The Sadducees were the priests who controlled everything related to the Temple and the sacrificial system. They strictly followed the Mosaic Law, but their understanding was limited to the Law as written in the Torah—the first five books of the Old Testament. They did not recognize the authority of the other books—the Writings and the Prophets.

The Sadducees were the elites of society and in close relationship with the Romans. If your main concern is Temple worship, then you focus on keeping the peace and the status quo so that sacrifices can continue. They also prioritized their Jewish identity. As we read today, they did not believe in the resurrection. Instead, they believed that when you die, well, you’re dead—nothing more.

With such a belief, you might ask, “What’s the point?” Why go through all these rituals, follow the Law, make sacrifices, and maintain the Temple if, in the end… poof? The answer goes back to their identity. They did what they did for honor, for the nation of Israel, and for future generations. Perhaps the heretical teachings of the prosperity gospel today are the best way to understand the Sadducees—if you follow God and do what He tells you, then you get the big house on the hill. So, the best you can hope for after you die is to be remembered and leave a nice inheritance. Why didn’t they believe in the resurrection? Remember, they only followed what was written in the first five books of the Bible, the Torah, and they did not believe the Torah taught resurrection, so for them, it did not exist.

After the Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D., the Sadducees disappeared because, without the Temple, the sacrificial system could not continue, and there was no need for priests. So, the “brand” of Judaism that continues, even today descended from the Pharisees, with their emphasis on adhering to the Law and its interpretation.

Today in our Gospel reading, Jesus encounters some Sadducees who propose a question which is the equivalent of “If Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickle Peppers.” On other occasions, Jesus will have similar encounters with the scribes and Pharisees. In almost all of these encounters, the religious leaders come to Jesus in an attempt to trip Him up over the Law. If they succeed, they can use their influence and power to denounce Him. But in each case, He turns it around on them and eventually silences them, at which point they resort to lying. At the trial the night before He was crucified, “The chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward.” (Matthew 26:59-60)

Through Christ and His sacrifice on the Cross, we are no longer under the Mosaic Law, but under grace. St. Paul states this clearly in his letter to the Romans: “You are not under law but under grace,” (Romans 6:15), but he quickly adds that sin still exists. How? We are no longer governed by the Mosaic Law, but we are under the law of the Spirit. Paul writes, “We are released from the [Mosaic] law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” (Romans 7:6) And what is the heart of this law of the Spirit? Paul tells us, “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” (Romans 5:14) which includes the love of God because you cannot love your neighbor if you do not first love God.

Our society is quick to impose specific laws on itself and others, whether to maintain order or uphold moral standards. Some individuals ignore these laws altogether and live a lawless life—that’s a different topic. However, most follow these laws, and for the most part, they do so out of fear of punishment, a similar approach to that of the Sadducees and Pharisees. Follow the law to receive a reward. Break the law and face punishment. But the law of the Spirit is beyond any codified system. Why? Because it concerns the heart. It is about love.

We do what God asks of us not because it’s written in a book, but because it’s written on our hearts. We follow His commands not out of fear of being thumped on the head, but because we love Him and want to please Him. We don’t need a law telling us to feed the hungry; we do it because we love our neighbor. We don’t need a law that says, “Don’t drive drunk,” because we should love those who travel with us and those around us enough that we take responsibility for their safety and ours through our actions.

Are you following the law of the Spirit, or are you breaking it? Answer the question: Am I loving my neighbor?

As followers of Jesus, the things we do or don’t do should not be motivated by fear of punishment or reward. Instead, they should be guided by the answer to that one question. Additionally, I would add, err on the side of grace. You can love too little, but you can never love too much.

Let us pray: Breathe into me, Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy. Move in me, Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy. Attract my heart, Holy Spirit, that I may love only what is holy. Strengthen me, Holy Spirit, that I may defend all that is holy. Protect me, Holy Spirit, that I may always be holy. Amen.

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Sermon: Mary Magdalene

Giovanni Battista Pittoni – The Penitent Magdalene

Throughout history, there have been some epic searches. Some have searched for the Garden of Eden, and others for the Fountain of Youth. Later, there would be a great quest for the Holy Grail (thankfully, Dan Brown uncovered that one for us). Then there was the Titanic (James Cameron sank it and found it). And, of course, Jimmy Hoffa, who everyone thought was buried under the Giants Stadium in New Jersey, but Hoffa was a no-show following the demolition. Amelia Earhart and the Devil’s Triangle—those two might be connected—Atlantis and Cleopatra’s tomb are all things we’ve searched for and continue to do so.

In our personal lives, we also search. We search for happiness, love, security, and much more. That actually probably depends on the day or even the hour, but we do search. Perhaps the greatest search in our lives is the search for meaning. Physician Viktor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning, writes: “Man’s search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life and not a ‘secondary rationalization’ of instinctual drives [those being security, food, etc]. The meaning is unique and specific in that it must and can be fulfilled by him alone, only then does it achieve a significance which will satisfy his own will to meaning.” He is postulating that there is a unique meaning to each person’s life, so your meaning of life may not be fulfilling to someone else.

Frankl continues, “It is a peculiarity of man that he can only live by looking to the future—sub specie aeternitatis. And this is his salvation during the most difficult moments of his existence, although he sometimes has to force their mind to the task.” (Source) He points to those who survived the concentration camps in Nazi Germany. Many of the survivors found some meaning in their lives, no matter how small, and that meaning gave them the strength and will to live for something and ultimately survive.

What is the connection between all of this and Mary Magdalene, whom we celebrate today?

Mary Magdalene stood weeping outside the tomb. One of the two angels said to her,“‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?’”

“Whom are you looking for?” What are you searching for? Mary was searching for meaning and purpose in her life that would bring fulfillment. She believed she had found it in the person of Jesus, but then she saw Him so violently stretched out on the cross, and then she saw Him breathe His last. Her meaning in life had died. Then He called her name, and she saw the Resurrected Lord, at which point, her life took on even greater meaning, for she went and proclaimed to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord.”

The Lord has given us all meaning and purpose in our lives. He has seen fit to allow us to search for and find those things and people that bring us happiness. I believe it brings Him great joy to see us realizing our goals and fulfilling our purposes; however, these meanings and purposes, outside of the Resurrected Jesus, are dead. They are vain searches designed to satisfy our egos, and so, even when fulfilled, they leave us unsatisfied. St. Augustine was correct when, in the first paragraph of his Confessions, he wrote, “To praise you is the desire of man… You stir man to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33) Search first for Jesus, our Resurrected Lord, and, like Mary Magdalene, in finding Him, you will find fulfillment in Him, and in all your life’s endeavors. 

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Sermon: Easter 2 RCL C – “Resurrection”

I know I’ve shared this story at a funeral, but I don’t believe I’ve ever shared it with you. 

A man was once sentenced to solitary confinement in a pitch-black prison cell. To relieve his boredom and keep his sanity, he threw a marble against the walls—day in, day out, bang, bang, bang. The marble would bounce off the wall onto the floor and then roll around the room until the man could locate it and repeat the procedure.

One day, he decided to do something different—he would throw the marble up and try to catch it as it came down. Of course, in the pitch black, he missed the catch quite often, so he would listen as the marble hit the floor and bounced around. Feeling around in the general direction of the sound, he would locate it and try again. The longer this went on, the more proficient he became, and the more proficient he became, the higher he would throw the marble. However, when he made his highest throw ever, he did not catch it, and neither was there any sound. The marble simply did not come back down. He became more and more disturbed. What had happened to his precious marble? How could it disappear into thin air like that?! He spent the rest of his life wondering what had happened to his marble, and it eventually drove him to madness, and he died. 

We all have things we wonder about and questions that we seek answers to. Sometimes, we have questions about life: Why does so-and-so not love me? How come all my luck is bad? What did I do to deserve this?

At other times, we question the world around us: Why is the sky blue or the grass green? How was the universe formed? How does Santa get into houses without chimneys? (Just seeing if you were paying attention.)

We also have questions about our faith. Does God hear my prayers? Do I matter to God? Or even, is there a God?

For life’s questions, through our faith, we learn to understand and take each day as it comes. For the questions about the world around us, we explore and study. And for the questions about our faith, we pray and study scripture. However, when it comes to these questions of faith, we also tend to try to make a few deals with God. Why do the hard work if there’s a shortcut?

I’ve never been a Janis Joplin fan in the tiniest little bit, but I remember a song of hers that we would laugh and sing as kids, if only the first verse.

Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes-Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends

That’s about all we knew as kids, but it is the third verse that gets to the theological heart of the matter.

Oh, Lord, won’t you buy me a night on the town?
I’m counting on you Lord, please don’t let me down
Prove that you love me and buy the next round

And there it is. “Prove that you love me.” Prove to me that You hear my prayers. Prove to me that I matter to You. Prove to me that You are there.

The first stanza of the poem, Doubt, by Norman Shirk

Let me meet you on the mountain, Lord, just once.
You wouldn’t have to burn a whole bush,
Just a few smoking branches,
And I would surely be your Moses

In the end, it all comes down to the same statement: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” 

It is easy to criticize poor ol’ Thomas, but there’s a bit of him—maybe a little or maybe a lot—there’s a bit of Thomas in us all.

Like Thomas, in order to increase our faith, we ask the Lord to meet us halfway. However, He already has. The Lord Jesus met us halfway between heaven and hell. He met us on that hill outside of Jerusalem. He met us outside the empty tomb, and He continues to meet us every day exactly where we are. He also meets us at that altar in the Sacrament of His body and blood.

But you say, “Yes, yes, Father John. That’s real nice, but today, I want to be Thomas. I want to see Him, hear Him, and touch Him. I need the burning bush. I need the missing piece of the puzzle. I need to find the stupid marble that fella pitched up into the air and never came back down. Give me these things, and I will.”

A line from a movie I watched inspired the title of my blog—Candle in a Cave. In the movie, an older priest tells a younger one, “We are all blind men in a cave looking for a candle that was lit 2,000 years ago.” 

In some sense, this is true because I can’t show you a burning bush or guide your hands and allow you to touch the wounds of Christ. Sorry, I can’t do it. If I could, we would have folks flocking to this church by the millions to see it. Why? Because they want God to prove Himself to them, to give them a sign. Like Job, they ask God to explain Himself. 

But remember, the Lord was patient with Job for a while, but after much questioning, the Lord answered, “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?” “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? Who created the sky, the animals? Were you there when I breathed life into the dust and created you?” 

Like Job, and even during Jesus’ time on earth, we desire signs and wonders, miracles. Scripture states that at one point during Jesus’ ministry, some Pharisees and teachers of the law questioned him: “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.” Jesus answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

You see, the problem is not with God; it is with us. The Lord has already given us a sign. After three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, He rose! How? Truly, the Lord only knows. As the Psalmist says, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.” But Jesus rose from the grave. How much more proof does a person need? Just because there were no witnesses to the resurrection, does it mean it did not occur? No. Remember what Billy Graham said, “Can you see God? You haven’t seen him? I’ve never seen the wind. I see the effects of the wind, but I’ve never seen the wind. There’s a mystery to it.”

No one witnessed the resurrection of Jesus, but from that day forward, we have all been witnesses to, and have experienced for ourselves, the effects of the resurrection—this new life in Christ Jesus—and it didn’t involve getting a Mercedes-Benz. Therefore, “Do not doubt but believe.” 

Remember our prisoner and his marble? When the guards later entered the cell to remove his body, a glint of light caught one of the guards’ eyes. He looked up toward the ceiling to see the most astonishing sight—a marble caught in a spider’s web. “Of all the crazy things,” he thought. “How on earth did the spider manage to get a marble up there?” He spent the rest of his life wondering.

There are many mysteries in our lives with God, things we can wonder about and seek answers to throughout our lives. However, the question of the resurrection is not one of them, for the proof is all around us.

Let us pray: Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, He who in His great mercy gave us new birth, a birth unto hope which draws its life from the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; a birth to an imperishable inheritance, incapable of fading or defilement, which is kept in heaven for you who are guarded with God’s power through faith; a birth to a salvation which stands ready to be revealed in the last days. Amen.

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Sermon: 2025 Easter Sunday

Nicolas Bertin (1668-1736). La Résurrection du Christ

Sam died. His will provided $50,000 for an elaborate funeral.

As the last attendees left, Sam’s wife, Rose, turned to her oldest friend, Sadie, and said, “Well, I’m sure Sam would be pleased.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” replied Sadie, who leaned in close and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Tell me, how much did it really cost?”

“All of it,” said Rose. “$50,000.”

“No!” Sadie exclaimed. “I mean, it was very nice, but really… $50,000?”

Rose nodded. “The funeral was $6,500. I donated $500 to the church for the services, and the reception, food, and drinks were another $500. The rest went for the memorial stone.”

Sadie computed quickly. “$42,500 for a memorial stone?! Wow, how big is it?”

“Five and a half carats,” Rose said, waggling her fingers.

Today is a good day to laugh at death and the devil, for both have been conquered once and for all.

During this past Season of Lent, we’ve been meditating on passages from The Dolorous Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ—a series of visions given to blessed Catherine Emmerich. It was initially published in 1833 and is also the primary source of the movie The Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson.

The visions provide a brutal account of the events throughout Holy Week, and we’ve looked at some of the more difficult passages, so today, I thought it only fair that I share a portion of the joyous conclusion. When studying these, it is important to keep in mind that they are visions; therefore, they are not biblical—there is no account of the resurrection in scripture. That said, perhaps they may spark our imaginations and offer some insight into that great event. 

Chapter 63: The Resurrection of Our Lord.

“I beheld the soul of our Lord between two angels, who were in the attire of warriors: it was bright, luminous, and resplendent as the sun at midday; his soul penetrated the rock, touched the sacred body, passed into it, and the two were instantaneously united and became as one.  I then saw the limbs move and the body of our Lord, being reunited to his soul and to his divinity, rise and shake off the winding sheet: the whole of the cave was illuminated and lightsome.

“At the same moment, I saw a frightful monster burst from the earth underneath the sepulcher.  It had the tail of a serpent, and it raised its dragon head proudly as if eager to attack Jesus; and had likewise a human head. But our Lord held in his hand a white staff, to which was appended a large banner; and he placed his foot on the head of the dragon, and struck its tail three times with his staff, after which the monster disappeared….

“I then saw the glorified body of our Lord rise up, and it passed through the hard rock as easily as if the latter had been formed of some [soft] substance. The earth shook, and an angel in the garb of a warrior descended from Heaven with the speed of lightning, entered the tomb, lifted the stone, placed it on the right side, and seated himself upon it. At this tremendous sight, the soldiers fell to the ground and remained there, apparently lifeless.”

Can you see the angel of the Lord suddenly appearing before those soldiers, a mischievous grin on his face, asking, “How you doin’?” I somehow suspect that after those boys woke up, they probably had to go home and change their shorts.

Honestly, I don’t know how it all happened, but I do know this: Jesus rose from the dead. Say, “Amen.” We learn from the various Gospel accounts that the women and some of the disciples went to the tomb and found it empty. All that remained were the grave clothes. Some encounter angels, and Mary actually encounters the Risen Lord. Can you imagine what they were all thinking? 

For me, I think at first I would have been like them—afraid, shocked, wondering what those evil men had done with my Lord’s body. Perhaps after a while, pieces would come into focus, only to blow away like wisps of fog. 

The quote from N.T. Wright, which Diane shared with us on Good Friday, holds true not only for John’s Gospel but also for all the Gospel accounts and events of those days. He said, “I don’t know that any of us will ever be able to hold all this in our minds at any one time.  John allows the images to build up, one upon another, upon another, until we’re overwhelmed by them. . . . The only way forward is to allow all the different ideas and levels, the clashes of meaning and misunderstanding, to echo around until they produce prayer, awe, silence, and love.” (John for Everyone, Part Two, p.104)

The same must have been true for the Disciples on that first Easter Sunday. Like us, they had all this information—the prophecies from Isaiah and Ezekiel about the coming Messiah, the salvation of the Gentiles, and the Psalmist’s words regarding the piercing of the Messiah’s hands and feet. They also had the sayings of Jesus: “The Son of Man must be killed.” “Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up.” “This is my body… my blood.” All this information and so much more before Jesus’ death, yet none of it coalesced until after the Resurrection. However, they kept watching and were patient. They remained focused on God, and then, like a rose blooming, it all came together.

St. Paul said to the Colossians, and it is also true for us, “the mystery hidden for ages and generations” has now been “revealed to his saints. To them”—to you!—“God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:25b-27)

It would be like stepping out of that tomb on the first Easter morning. While inside, objects are shrouded in shadows and darkness. Your mind races. What happened here? Then you step out into the clear light of the new day and realize this is all God’s doing, and it is all about God’s love for you. Everything, from the first day when God created the Heavens and the Earth, to Jesus’ first breath in the manger on that first Christmas some 2,000 years ago, to the sunrise of that first Easter Sunday, to this very day, everything has been and is about God’s love for you and His desire to draw you to Himself. 

Laugh at death. Step out of the darkness and the shadows of your self-created tomb and walk in the light and life of Christ Jesus. Rise with Him into life eternal.

Alleluia. Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.

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Sermon: Great Vigil

From Catherine Emmerich: “TOWARDS the close of the Sabbath-day, John came to see the holy women. He endeavoured to give some consolation, but could not restrain his own tears, and only remained a short time with them. They had likewise a short visit from Peter and James the Greater, after which they retired to their cells, and gave free vent to grief, sitting upon ashes, and veiling themselves even more closely.

Later that evening, “about nine o’clock at night,” the Blessed Virgin went out alone. Catherine Emmerich writes, “I saw her stop suddenly in a very solitary spot, and look upwards in an ecstasy of delight, for on the top of the town wall, she beheld the soul of our Lord, resplendent with light without the appearance of a wound, and surrounded by patriarchs. He descended towards her, turned to his companions, and presenting her to them, said, ‘Behold Mary, behold my Mother.’ He appeared to me to salute her with a kiss, and he then disappeared… This sight filled her with inexpressible joy, and she immediately rejoined the holy women, who were busily employed in preparing the perfumes and spices.

The Lord, speaking through the Prophet Ezekiel, said, “I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act.”

On this day, Jesus has been going about His Father’s business, descending into Hell and proclaiming release to those held captive. Now, He is bringing them forth, just as Ezekiel prophesied. 

The bones of those held captive in Hell were restored, and the flesh returned. The sinews and skin were knit back together, and their bodies became whole. Then “the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.” And Jesus, banner in hand, leads them out of the pit and into the light of God. It is this great exodus that Catherine describes and that the Virgin Mary witnessed.

In the end, it is all a mystery, yet we begin to see in that mirror dimly what has occurred; however, we also begin to glimpse our own future.

Gregory of Nyssa, one of the Cappadocian Fathers and a primary contributor to the Nicene Creed, wrote in the 4th century, “Ezekiel, with prophetic spirit, has surpassed all time and space and with his power of prediction has stood at the very moment of the resurrection. Seeing the future as already present, he has brought it before our eyes in his description.” 

There is the release of those held captive in Hell, but it is also a vision of our release from death. It is quite a spectacular scene and offers great hope to those who call upon the Name of the Lord. However, this resurrected life isn’t only about a distant future after we’ve been in the ground for so many years; Jesus has made it available to us today. 

St. Paul, writing to the Romans, states, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Through our baptism, we are raised—resurrected—with Christ Jesus, and the resurrected life is ours today.

So, ask yourself this: If I have been given the resurrected life today, do I still live as though I am nothing more than a pile of bones? Or do I take in this breath of God that has been breathed into me and allow it to fill me with faith, hope, and love? 

This is the night we declare, “Christ is risen!” Believe it. Embrace it. Rise with Him into a glorious new life.

Are you ready?

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

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Sermon: Holy Saturday

We’ve come this far with Anne Catherine Emmerich, so we might as well continue. Chapter 52 of The Dolorous Passion: The Body of Our Lord Placed in the Sepulchre.

The men placed the sacred body on a species of leathern hand-barrow, which they covered with a brown-coloured cloth, and to which they fastened two long stakes. This forcibly reminded me of the Ark of the Covenant. Nicodemus and Joseph bore on their shoulders the front shafts, while Abenadar and John supported those behind. After them came the Blessed Virgin, Mary of Heli, her eldest sister, Magdalen and Mary of Cleophas, and then the group of women who had been sitting at some distance —Veronica, Johanna Chusa, Mary the mother of Mark, Salome the wife of Zebedee, Mary Salome, Salome of Jerusalem, Susanna, and Anne the niece of St. Joseph. Cassius and the soldiers closed the procession. The other women, such as Marone of Naïm, Dina the Samaritaness, and Mara the Suphanitess, were at Bethania, with Martha and Lazarus. Two soldiers, bearing torches in their hands, walked on first, that there might be some light in the grotto of the sepulchre; and the procession continued to advance in this order for about seven minutes, the holy men and women singing psalms in sweet but melancholy tones. I saw James the Greater, the brother of John, standing upon a hill the other side of the valley, to look at them as they passed, and he returned immediately afterwards, to tell the other disciples what he had seen.

The procession stopped at the entrance of Joseph’s garden, which was opened by the removal of some stakes, afterwards used as levers to roll the stone to the door of the sepulchre. When opposite the rock, they placed the Sacred Body on a long board covered with a sheet. The grotto, which had been newly excavated, had been lately cleaned by the servants of Nicodemus, so that the interior was neat and pleasing to the eye. The holy women sat down in front of the grotto, while the four men carried in the body of our Lord, partially tilled the hollow couch destined for its reception with aromatic spices, and spread  over them a cloth, upon which they reverently deposited the sacred body. After having once more given expression to their love by tears and fond embraces, they left the grotto. Then the Blessed Virgin entered, seated herself close to the head of her dear Son, and bent over his body with many tears. When she left the grotto, Magdalen hastily and eagerly came forward, and flung on the body some flowers and branches which she had gathered in the garden. Then she clasped her hands together, and with sobs kissed the feet of Jesus; but the men having informed her that they must close the sepulchre, she returned to the other women. They covered the sacred body with the extremities of the sheet on which it was lying, placed on the top of all the brown coverlet, and closed the folding-doors, which were made of a bronze-coloured metal, and had on their front two sticks, one straight down and the other across, so as to form a perfect cross.

The large stone with which they intended to close the sepulchre, and which was still lying in front of the grotto, was in shape very like a chest* or tomb; its length was such that a man might have laid himself down upon it, and it was so heavy that it was only by means of levers that the men could roll it before the door of the sepulchre. The entrance of the grotto was closed by a gate made of branches twined together. Everything that was done within the grotto had to be accomplished by torchlight, for daylight never penetrated there.

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Sermon: Easter Sunday 2024

Doc Pierre decided that he wanted to get into the ranching business, so he went out and purchased himself a bunch of cows and put them out on the pasture. He also knew he would need a bull, so he called up one of his hands, Ol’ Boudreaux, and gave him the plan. 

“Boudreaux,” he says, “I’m going out to find the bull. Once I’ve purchased one, you hook the trailer to that pick ‘em up truck of yours and come fetch it.”

“How will I know?” Bou asks.

Doc Pierre says, “I’ll send a telegram,” and it was all set.

Doc Pierre goes out searching for the bull with $5,000 in his pocket. He finds one for exactly $5,000. Hoping to lower the price, he asks the rancher if that is the best offer. “Well, I suppose I could let it go for $4,999.” Doc Pierre thinks it’s a good deal and takes him up on it. Then, he heads to Western Union to send the telegram to Boudreaux, but it is there that he learns it’ll cost him $1 per word, and all he’s got left is a $1. He thinks on it a moment, then writes out a one-word message to Boudreaux.

The telegraph operator looks at it questioningly, then back up to Doc Pierre. Doc Pierre nods in understanding and explains, “Boudreaux don’t read so good, so he’ll have to sound it out first. He’ll get the message.” The telegraph operator said OK and sent the one-word telegram: “Comfortable.”

About an hour later, Boudreaux showed up with the pick ‘em up truck and trailer.

Doc Pierre sent, “Comfortable,” and Boudreaux had to sound it out, “Come.. for… da… bull.”

Have you heard of response latency? It is defined as “The interval of time elapsing between a stimulus and a response.” (Source) You may not have heard of it, but you may have just experienced it. I told you what I hoped was a good joke, and hopefully, you laughed! However, there was a short period of time between the punch line and you getting the joke and laughing. The time between is the response latency. It is the time when you have all the necessary information, but not quite yet understanding. It is the time leading up to a moment of clarity or an “Aha!” moment or epiphany. Response latency.

Our Gospel reading this morning tells us that Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus, found the stone rolled away, and ran back and told Peter and John. Hearing this, the two disciples take off. John outruns Peter and arrives first. John stands just outside the tomb, but Peter—never really one for restraint—goes barging in. After gaining his courage, John follows. There, they discover the linen shroud that had covered Jesus’ body and the veil that had been over his face, but the body of Jesus is not there. 

The image on the front of your bulletin depicts the scene. The painting St. John and St. Peter at Christ’s Tomb (c.1640) is by the Italian artist Giovanni Francesco Romanelli. Peter, on the left, is pointing at the shroud and seems to be staring off, trying to understand, but for John,  the response latency is ending. The pieces are falling into place. It is like he is holding up his hands to tell Peter to be quiet so that he can think. The reading tells us that the disciple whom Jesus loved, John, “saw and believed.” Romanelli captured that moment.

The reading then tells us that the two returned home, but Mary, who must have followed behind the footrace, remained. She leaned into the tomb and saw and spoke to the angels, then turning, she saw the gardener, not knowing it was Jesus. 

Now, this is an interpretation on my part, but the gardener was there all along, watching. Maybe he was out of sight, or maybe, in all the excitement and rushing about, all three saw him but more or less dismissed him. Either way, I believe the gardener, Jesus, was there watching this entire scene unfold. And I believe Jesus anxiously anticipated the end of John’s response latency when all the pieces came together. When they did, Jesus smiled and said to Himself, “That’s my boy.” Working behind John’s understanding is God’s grace.

St. John later tells us, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19), and St. Paul tells us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Believing in Jesus is a grace—a gift from God. Jesus anxiously anticipated all the pieces falling together for John to believe, but the reason this could happen for John was because God first loved John—God’s grace was given to John so that he might believe.

Today, we are the ones standing in the tomb. We are the ones seeing the shroud and other linen. Like John, we have all the teachings of the Prophets and all the words and deeds of Jesus at our disposal. In addition, we have the teachings of the Apostles, the Saints, and the Church. We have all the information. Question: have they fallen into place for you, or are you still in that time of response latency? If yes, if they’ve fallen into place, then have a passion for souls and pray that others may receive the light of the Gospel. If not, then pray for God’s grace, so that He might give you understanding.

“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark,” and before Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb, Jesus rose from the dead—He is “the firstborn from the dead.” (Colossians 1:18) He did this out of His great love for us and accomplished it so that you and I might also be given eternal life with Him. 

This is your first day of the week. The empty tomb is before you. Pray that all the pieces, all the information falls into place and that God’s grace pours out upon you that you might believe and live.

In 1917, the Virgin Mary appeared six times to three young children near Fatima, Portugal. On the second appearance, she gave them a prayer that she asked to be added to the end of each decade of the Rosary. Whether you pray the Rosary or not, it is a prayer worth learning. It is known as the Fatima Prayer.

Let us pray: “Oh, my Jesus, forgive us our sins. Save us from the fires of Hell and lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy. Amen.”

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