As the Church's great celebration of Easter was made possible by the passion and death of Jesus, our share in its healing, transforming, and saving power is made possible by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Easter Sunday 2020

There was a body in the grave. It was cold; it was definitely a dead corpse, it did not take a breath, and the heart did not pump. You could see it; you could touch it. It looked no different than any other corpse. For those of you who have had a realistic experience with a dead body, you know that it is a profound experience. When one sees a genuinely dead body, a corpse, there is no doubt that it is dead.
In my training as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) for working on a volunteer rescue squad, I was instructed over and over how to check to see if a body was dead. Check the breathing, check the pulse, recheck. However, when my first opportunity during Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) on a real body came, there was no doubt the person was dead. It was obvious.

The disciples of Jesus had such an experience with the dead body of Jesus. They saw it hanging on a tree. They saw the spear go deep into the side and, without a doubt, pierce the heart. They saw the blood and water come forth. They saw the corpse laid into Mary's arms. The women touch it as they prepared it for burial.

What a profound experience then, it must have been to see the empty tomb. What vivid realism it must have impressed on Peter as he saw where the body was laid. This was the place without a doubt that the soldiers were guarding. These professionals would never let their guard down for fear of the punishment, which was the punishment of death.

St. John's Gospels is filled with words to describe this profound experience of Peter. The whole scene in the tomb paints a picture of the resurrection. However, elements of this are lost in the translation, which is more apparent in the Greek language. In the phrase "The linen cloths lying there" the Greek indicates that the clothes were flattened, deflated as if they were emptied when the body of Jesus rose—as if it had come out of the clothes and bandages without their being taken off, passing right through them (just as Jesus entered the upper room when the doors were locked). The Greek says the clothes were fallen, flat, lying, after Jesus' body—which had filled them—left them. One can readily understand the amazement and realism that this conveyed on the witnesses to it.

The language to describe the shroud that wrapped Jesus' head, says that it was not on the top of the clothes but to one side. It was like the clothes stilled rolled up, but unlike them, it still had a certain volume, like a container, possibly due to the stiffness given it by the ointments. It reminds me of paper mâché formed around a balloon, and then the balloon popped.

These details point to a body being raised in a heavenly manner, which transcended the laws of nature. It was not just a body being reanimated as happened in the case of Lazarus, who, by the way, had to be unbound before he could walk and who would later die again. Because of this unique experience of the state of the linens left behind the two Apostles realized that it was not a question of a robbery, which is what Mary Magdalene had thought.

This realistic experience of the empty tomb left many facts perceptible to the human senses. However, the resurrection still requires faith to be accepted. Christ's resurrection is a real, historical fact: there was a dead body, and it came back to life, literally. It was a real physical body that had its soul reunited to it. This physicality was apparent because Thomas could touch it-he put his hands into the nail holes and into the pierced side, "My Lord and my God." But yet, there was something also different about the body. It now had spiritual properties as well; it could pass through the burial cloth and walls. It could no longer suffer damage, decay, pain; it could no longer change or be separated from the soul.

The resurrection of Jesus, although historical, is also a supernatural event; that is, it is far beyond our capacity in this life to totally understand. It transcends sense experience, it requires a special gift of God to accept it as a fact with certainty, and that gift is the gift of faith. As St. Thomas Aquinas says in his great work the Summa Theologica, "the individual arguments taken alone are not sufficient proof of Christ's resurrection but taken together, in a cumulative way, they manifest it perfectly. Particularly important in this regard are the spiritual proofs, especially the angelic testimony and Christ's own post-resurrection words confirmed by miracles” (cf Jn3:13,; Mt 16:21; 17:22; 20:18).

This gift of faith in the resurrection is what we as believing Catholic Christians are celebrating with great joy this day. The apostles' faith is strengthened through the Holy Triduum, the time from Thursday evening to Sunday morning. We, too, have just passed through this time, symbolically, in the Church's celebration of this Holy time. But Christ has left us something even more remarkable to strengthen our faith and joy in the resurrection. He has left us the great mystery of the Holy Eucharist.

"At every celebration of the Eucharist, we are spiritually brought back to the pascal Triduum: to the events of the evening of Holy Thursday, to the Last Supper and to what followed it. We return to Good Friday, the hour of our redemption. In spirit and through the power and authority of the Holy priesthood, as the priest who acts in the person of Jesus Christ, we are all able to be present at the foot of the Cross, present alongside St. John and the Blessed Virgin Mary. "This is the wood of the Cross on which hung the Savior of the World, come let us adore! And we are present too at the empty tomb and are able to proclaim, "The Lord is risen from the tomb; for our sake, he hung on the Cross, Alleluia."

The Holy Mass makes present the Sacrifice of the Cross; it does not add to that sacrifice; it does not multiply it. It makes Christ's one definitive sacrifice present in our time. But, the Holy Mass not only makes truly present the mystery of Christ's passion and death but also the mystery of the resurrection which crowned his sacrifice (EE:14).

As the Church's great celebration of Easter was made possible by the passion and death of Jesus, our share in its healing, transforming, and saving power is made possible by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

At every Mass, we are enabled to be present at all of these events, not in mind, but in reality. And not only are we able to be present sacramentally, truly—we are able to share, here on earth already, in the Joy of that eternal Easter in heaven. The Holy Mass makes truly present, not only the saving events of our salvation but makes truly, sacramentally present the one who is our salvation—Jesus Christ and his self-emptying sacrifice of love for us. And so, at Mass, we, by our baptism, are enabled to offer ourselves as priest-victims in a loving oblation of a gift of self to the Father through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit by willingly uniting ourselves to Jesus' one and only Sacrifice of Love. We are called with our reserve to place our heart on the paten-for love has no reserve. To the extent that we give the gift of our self, we are enabled to receive Him into our bodies and souls and be transformed into His Body, into Love incarnate to become other "christs" for our world.

Those who feed on Christ in the Eucharist need not wait until the hereafter to receive eternal life. In essence, they already begin to possess it on earth as the first fruits of that eternal life. For in the Eucharist we also receive the pledge of our bodily resurrection at the end of the world; "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day: This pledge of the future resurrection comes from the fact, that the flesh of the Son of Man, given as food, is his body in its glorious state after the resurrection. With the Eucharist, we digest, as it were the "secret" of the resurrection. For this reason, Saint Ignatius of Antioch rightly defined the Eucharist as "the medicine for immortality and antidote to death."

I took the last few sentences from an Encyclical on the Holy Eucharist released on Holy Thursday in 2003 by St. John Paul the Second. I recommend all of you to read this incredible Letter. In this encyclical, St. John Paul points out that the Joy of the Resurrection is more than just a pipe dream in your life and mine. It is a tangible and livable reality because Jesus, the crucified, and the resurrection one, is still in our midst.

He is truly here, not just in our hearts, not only in the proclamation of the word, not just in our community gathered, Jesus Christ is still physically with us. Let me repeat it, Jesus Christ is still physical with us, in his resurrected body, a real body, albeit a glorified one. Jesus Christ Emmanuel, He who promised he would be with us until the end of the ages, becomes physically, sacramentally present, IN HIS BODY, BLOOD, SOUL, and DIVINITY at this very Mass and He comes into us at Holy Communion. For this reason, we know the grave is empty; there are no bones of Jesus in the ground anywhere. He lives again in His body, which is present in its entirety in the Holy Eucharist.

Do not go looking for him when someone says he is here or there, for we know where our Lord is; He is in the Holy Eucharist, the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. And He is available to us, along with the power of his divinity and victory of his resurrection at every Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. This truth is the reason for our Easter Joy! A joy that is real, because the Eucharist is real. A Joy that is obtainable in the midst of our sorrow, pain, and death, because Jesus suffered sorrow, pain, and death. But he has defeated death—He has risen! Jesus is the resurrection and the Life. Every Holy Mass is an Easter because At every Holy Mass, we can truly encounter the Risen Lord, Jesus in the Holy Eucharist…This is a real encounter with Him in His resurrected and now living body. If we have faith, if we offer ourselves and all we have entirely to Him, He will transform us more and more into His other-self. We will become instruments of His love and mercy for the world… Our senses fail to see the Risen one, but faith alone rooted in the words of Christ handed down to us by the Apostle is sufficient.

O Come let us adore His resurrected body at this Mass in the Holy Eucharist which I, acting in His person, or better yet, which He acting in my person is about to make present—physically—sacramentally—truly, on this altar of true Sacrifice.

Let us, as St. John Paul the Second has taught at the beginning of this new millennium, put out into the deep of Jesus' love by offering ourselves totally to Him, with Him, in Him, to the Father. Let us adore Jesus--beholding the face of Jesus through the eyes of the Virgin Mary, she who will be with us to help us in our offering of ourselves. For we are weak, and we need a mother's help. Let us pray to Jesus through her, "Hail true body that was born of Mary, the Virgin, that truly suffered and was offered in sacrifice on the Cross for man and that gave forth true blood from its pierced side. Be to us a foretaste of heaven…" We give our hearts totally to you; Help us give our hearts totally to him at Holy Mass.
HAPPY EASTER to all of you. Christus resurrexit! Resurrexit vere! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

How many souls are troubled by doubt because God does not show Himself in the way they expected.

Epiphany January 5th, 2020

Today the Church celebrates the Epiphany or manifestation of the God Child. Jesus, the Eternal Son of God become Man, is manifested and made known to the whole world. Jesus, true God and true Man, the savior of all souls, is revealed, not only to the Jews but to the gentiles as well.

There is much for us to learn from these events. The kings representing the peoples of the entire world go forth to adore the King of all kings. When they saw the star we are told that they were glad beyond measure—is this not a supernatural joy. It is a joy that is beyond what can be measured by human means, which means it is a joy beyond all earthly understanding.

The star led them to a simple little house in a small obscure village, insignificance in the eyes of the world. Three powerful kings, rich beyond compare are filled with such incredible joy when they see the manifestation of their King, their savior, revealed in simplicity and humility. What lessons there are for us in their example. These three kings are also called the three wise men, but why were they wise? It was because they used their natural wisdom to discover supernatural wisdom and joy. True wisdom and our natural common sense lead us to the adoration of God. Aristotle, a pagan, used his human wisdom and common sense to find the truth of the Ten Commandments, including that greatest of all commandments, to Love the Lord your God with your whole soul, mind, body and all of your might, which means to adore Him, to give yourself and all you have in response to what God has given to you, which is everything.

There is a spirit of our present age which is antithetical to the Spirit of God, an anti-spirit if you will, that tries to sell wisdom apart from God. It tries to convince us, that what is important is manifested only in great glamour and noise, only in technological wonders, feats, and riches. It is a spirit that lies and proclaims that God has come to give his peace to all men on earth.

However, the Spirit of God teaches us instead, that God comes only to those who are poor in spirit, to the humble of heart and He manifests Himself in simplicity and silence. God’s Spirit points to the Truth, who is Jesus Christ and who has come to give his peace, not to all men but only to men who are of goodwill; that is right, “peace on earth to men of goodwill!” The Holy Spirit of God teaches that earthly wisdom apart from God and adoration of Him in Spirit and in Truth is a false empty wisdom void of supernatural hope and joy.

This is an important lesson for us moderns who can too easily miss what is the most important among so much glitter and show. Just as the majority of the world missed the incarnation of God--God Himself come into the world in the flesh, as a man and a baby man at that, so too in our day far too many are missing our incredible closeness to this same Jesus.

This is what St John Paul the Second reminded all Catholics during the Year of the Holy Eucharist which he proclaimed during his pontificate. Jesus has not left us alone; He is still here on earth in His true body—He is truly Emmanuel—God with us. As believing Catholics, we can not say, “When Jesus dwelt on earth, for the true faith by the Spirit of God tells us that Jesus, Who is the Truth, still dwells on earth. And by this, I don’t mean in the hearts and minds of believers, but He still dwells on earth in a physical, albeit resurrected, body in the Blessed Sacrament-This is THE great mystery of our faith.

God presents Himself to us under the insignificant appearance of a piece of bread. Perhaps we are in danger of not realizing fully how close Our Lord is to our lives because He doesn’t reveal Himself in His glory, because he does not impose Himself irresistibly, because He slips into our lives in such hidden simplicity and poverty. Instead of wowing us with the riches of His divinity and power Jesus comes hidden to all except those who have the eyes of faith, trust in His words, and love Him with all their hearts by desiring to give their all to Him. How many souls are troubled by doubt because God does not show Himself in the way they expected.

Many of the people in Bethlehem (which by the way means “house of bread”), many of the people in Bethlehem saw in Jesus a child like any other. But the wise kings knew how to see Him as THE CHILD, who from then on would be adored forever by all “men of goodwill.” The kings’ openness to the truth of the Spirit and to the gift of true faith gave them a privileged opportunity, to be the first among the gentile world to adore God become Man. It was not their great learning, or their great riches or even the gifts that they gave, that made them wise, no, it was instead their humble act of adoring God made man, Jesus who really is God Himself. It was their adoration of the unseen God now visible in this child-- it was this act that made them truly wise.

What incredible joy these three wise men must have experience the extraordinary, now manifested in the appearance of an ordinary child. No, the babe did not have a halo around his head; He looked and acted like an ordinary babe, for He was like us in all things except sin. How careful we must be and how easy it is for us to miss the extraordinary in the ordinary of everyday life. And going into the dwelling, they found the child there, with His Mother, Mary, and fell down to worship and adore Him.

Bethlehem itself was a tabernacle of sorts. If every Catholic would come with a strong belief that in just a few moments, Jesus the Son of God who came to be among us, Immanuel, will be reborn on this very Altar during the words of consecration, -would not our churches be bulging at the seams, every single weekend? We can adore Him just like the three wise men, becoming wise ourselves, for Christ is our wisdom. We also kneel down before Jesus, God is hidden in His humanity in our Catholic churches. Jesus present in the tabernacle, the house of the Bread of Life” is the same Jesus the wise men found in Mary’s arms.

Perhaps in light of this wisdom, we should examine ourselves to see how we adore him when he is present on our altar or hidden in our tabernacle in our churches. With what devotion and reverence do we kneel in the moments indicated in the Holy Mass, or each time we pass by those places where the Blessed Sacrament is reserved? We, you and me, are called in a new way at this feast of the Epiphany to manifest Christ to our world by dying to ourselves in order to allow Him to live anew in us and in our lives, this is what adoration means, and those who do so are wise, no others.

The three kings had their star, we have ours-Mary. She is the true star, more brilliant and more beautiful than any other, which lights the way in safety to her Son—Jesus. Let us ask her to help us at this Holy Mass to adore the Father in the Holy Spirit united to Jesus the Truth. She will help us as she helped the three wise men, to offer to our God the gifts of our lives to the Father in union with Jesus’ body, blood, soul, and divinity. Instead of offering God gold, she will help us offer to Him our detachment to all the riches of this world so we can cling to the greatest of all riches, the Gift of His only begotten Son. Instead of offering Him the perfume of costly incense, she will help us to offer as incense our desire to live a noble and virtuous life, one which gives off the ‘aroma of Christ’ as hope to the world. Instead of the myrrh which tries to escape and avoid sacrifice, the Holy Virgin will help us to offer to God in adoration and in true love, the sacrifice of our very lives in union with the sacrifice of Jesus on this altar for our salvation and the salvation of all souls. Stella Maria, Stella Orientis, Sedes sapientiae, Star of the Sea, Star of the East, Seat of Wisdom, pray for us who pray to thee. Amen.