Happy Easter to everyone. May the joy of the Resurection of our Savior fill you hearts to the fullest and may that love overflow into the lives of those around you.
Remember to ask you priest to come bless your family and home during the Easter Season. It is a longstanding tradition to during the Easter Season. It is an annual blessing so feel free to ask even if you have had it done before.
The Vigil went very well. I made it through the Exsultet without everyone fleeing from the building.
It really is a glorious night. I wish I could have an MC so that I could enter more fully into the prayer. Maybe as time goes on. This is only my second Easter as a priest and both of them have been on my own so I am still learning.
On another note though some absolutely hysterical things have happened. Remind me to write about them next week. There are some classic moments that I will never forget.
I don’t think a priest is really meant to do 3 Good Friday services. I am exhausted.
I was thinking about the passion tonight and the parallels betweeen what is going on in Florida.
The characters are the same.
You have the Temple Leaders: Modern secularists who are out for her blood just so they can maintain the right to kill as they choose.
You have Judas: Michael Schiavo. Betraying an innocent woman for money and probably a few other nefarious reasons. The more I go on the more I have a hard time putting aside the speculation that he might have had something to do with it.
You have the crowds screaming for her death: Those right to die/planned parenthood types that want to see her die.
You have Pontius Pilate: Any of the many judges that lack the fortitude to do the right thing and hide behind technicalities of the law rather than review the evidence. They just want to wash their hands of the matter.
You have an innocent who is being condemned to death for no crime.
You have the apostles…. or did they flee once again…
The parallels are striking.
I will tell you one thing…. Florida makes some dumb decisions in their courts but then when is that news…
And one more thing…. If she dies, I wouldn’t go anywhere near florida during hurricane season. (that could be the earthquake that destroys the temple). I think the Choir of Angles responsible for nature is the Virtues. Mt 18:10 – “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.”
If Terry Schiavo dies on Good Friday, a day of fasting, take heed. Make no mistake about there will be a clear message from God to the culture of death that we are embracing.
I pray that some miracle will happen that will allow her to live. I would encourage her parents though that if she does die on Friday that they see that as sign that God is with them.
For the rest of us…. O my God, I am heartitly sorry for having offended you. I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of heaven and fear the pains of hell; but most of all because they offen you our are all good and deserving of all my love. With the help of your grace, I firmly resolve to confess my sins, to do my penance and to ammend my life.
It was my intention to watch The Passion of the Christ this week. Fr. Oser (the other priest in the rectory I live at now) and I had it set up for Monday night. I came down and fell asleep on the couch at 9pm or so. So he gave up. It didn’t seem it was going to happen but I asked him if he wanted to see it tonight even though we would have to stay up late.
We just finished and I am convinced it was Divine Providence. It is a such a beautiful movie. It is a prayer and mediatation at the same time. It was a perfect way to prepare to begin the Triduum.
Everytime I see that movie it insipires me with a greater love for Christ and a greater desire for sanctity in my life.
I hope your walk with Christ this week is fruitful. If you haven’t watched The Passion of the Christ recently I encourage you to do it before Good Friday is over.
Well it has been a while since I posted a homily. I hate to do it when there are so many typos and I have been too busy to edit them. Here is the Palm Sunday Homily…typos and all.
Homily – Palm Sunday (Year A)
As we enter Holy week we are presented with a rich tradition of scripture that covers the entire period of Salvation history. One method of praying with the scriptures is what is called the Ignatian Method. It is a method in which we imagine ourselves present in the scriptures we are reading. When using this method a person honestly tries to answer the question of who they are most like and who they most identify with. Sometimes an honest reflection can lead us to a conclusion that we don’t like. We might find that the person we are most like isn’t the one we would want to be most like. The fruit of that meditation can then become a source of prayer.
I would encourage you to use the Ignatian method of scripture reading this week so that Holy week might truly be a fruitful experience of death to sin and resurrection to new life. I would hope also that each of us would draw closer to Christ and be more grateful for the great price he paid for our sins and come to know the love he has for us in that he was willing to pay that price.
I would suggest beginning today when you go home with the readings we have just heard. It is only two chapters of the Bible: Matt: 26&27. There are many characters in there to choose from. I would like to point out 5.
The Disciples: The disciples were with Christ in the good times but they did not hang around long for the bad. They walked with Jesus to Jerusalem when he was going as king. As soon as his suffering began in the garden they quickly went to sleep. Jesus asked them to pray one hour with him. Can we find one hour between now and Holy Thursday to pray with the Lord? Will we too abandon him at the hour when we are called to suffer?
The Jewish Leaders: Christ threatened the power of the Jewish leaders. They did not like being challenged for their sinfulness. They did not like the fact that the people responded to Jesus. They called for his death. They saw miracle after miracle and still they refused to believe? Why? They did not want to believe the message so they refused to believe the miracles. Not only did they refuse to believe the miracles but they manufactured lies in order to kill him. When they could not find anything truthful to use against him they went out and found people who were willing to lie. The believed themselves so righteous that they could justify anything. The lied and got others to lie to kill the man that threatened them.
Pontius Pilate: Pilate lacked the gift of fortitude. He was more concerned with what others were thinking about him than the fact that an innocent man would be put to death. His position as governor was threatened by the Jews through rebellion. They threatened to report him to his superiors and he backed down. He clearly did not want to condemn Jesus. But he wasn’t willing to pay the price to do the right thing. So in the end, he pretended that he had nothing to do with it. He washed his hands of the matter putting the blame on someone else. How valuable is our reputation to us? Is it worth more to us than doing what is right?
Judas: Judas betrayed Christ for the love of money. He was the treasurer of the Apostles. At one point shortly before the entrance into Jerusalem he complained because a woman anointed Christ with expensive oil. He argued that it was wasted and that the money could have been given to the poor. He thought that money spent on Christ was wasted. His concern wasn’t truly for the poor but for himself. He wanted to use the money for himself. In the end he would sell his savior for 30 pieces of silver. This happens to be the same price you would pay for a slave. Judas was the slave to money and in the end he loved money more than Christ. If someone loves money more than Christ, they can have all the reasons or excuses they want to fool others and themselves, but in the end as Christ himself said: It would be better that they had not been born.
The Crowd: There is a reason that the people in the pews take the voice of the crowd. Think about the crowd as St Bernard does. They loved him when they thought he would be king. They waved olive branches when they greeted him and praised him loudly. A few days later they would be calling loudly: “Crucify him”. On Palm Sunday they called him King of Israel and on Good Friday they said they had no King but Ceasar. On Palm Sunday they laid down their cloaks for his donkey to walk on. On Good Friday they were stripping him of his clothes and casting lots for it. Are we as fickle when it comes to being a Christian? Were gung ho one day and another day the most deviant of sinners? Are we faithful and steadfast or do we go whatever way the crowd does.
Each of these presents us with much fruit for meditation. There are certainly others. If we are willing to sit and pray the passion with Christ for one hour then the fruit can be great. It might not be easy for before the cross there is no defense. Spend an hour with Christ this week in prayer or go to sleep as the disciples did. What effect this next week has on you is completely up to you. We each will reap what we are now sowing. If we sow in the flesh then we reap a harvest of corruption. If we sow in the spirit the fruits are our death and resurrection into eternal life. The choice is yours. Choose well.
One of the big challenges I had with my former residence is that there was no office or desk for the priest. Everything was done on my dining room table. I would push the papers back when it was time to eat and then clear the dishes to get back to work. It was very annoying and inefficient.
Today we just finsihed putting together a new desk at the rectory. The pastor here was kind enough to get a desk for the room I am staying in since it really didn’t have one.
The desk that was purchased was from Sam’s. It is the Whalen San Diego Mission Desk. You can find it online. Now this is a great piece of furniture. It is really solidly built. I looked at everything they had at Officemax and Walmart and nothing remotely comes close to this quality. The whole thing is wood and there are no laminates and it is very attractive. It is well laid out and easy to assemble. Overall it is quite excellent. I am looking forward to using my day off to get things organized.
I recently changed my physical residence to share a rectory with another priest. It is a much better situation for me at the moment and it is going to end up saving all 5 parishes involved some money. There used to be two cable, electric, water, fuel bills between the 5 parishes, now there is one.
So posting is a bit slow while I get the internet geared up at the new parish. Also I am in the process of moving the essentials down to it. It is nice to live with another priest again. I enjoy having someone to talk to at night, consult with, laugh with, and most of all pray with. I miss that from the seminary.
Bishop Carlson was very big on priestly fraternity and I agree with him, especially in a rural diocese. I go to confession every 2 weeks and it is a lot easier when I am not 40 miles from the nearest priest.
Children’s adoration continues to be amazing. I could almost feel guilty about it because I get so much out of it. There will be vocations that come out of it and some of the children report hearing God’s voice especially clearly during the holy hours.
On another note the Indult Mass was just granted for our diocese. I have been able to maintain a pretty neutral stance on this volatile issue overall. If we switched back to the Tridentine Mass I would have no problems at all with that. If the Pope removed the Indult I would have no problems with that. I am a follow the book kind of guy. I figure the Church knows best how to worship. That being said I was in favor of granting the indult in this case. Why? Because I, unlike many who quote the indult, have actually read the who thing. Many people are willing to use what parts they like to justify their position. I read it and the situation in our diocese is clearly what it was intended for. So…. I am glad that people will be reconciled with the Church because of it.
Things have been busy here and there will be a bit of news to report soon so I hope all is well. Please pray. I am all over the place for confessions. I will be glad when Easter comes. Especially the first Monday of the Easter season.
