Thursday, April 1, 2021

 Holy Thursday – Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper

(Exodus 12:1-8.11-14; I Corinthians 15:23-26; John 13:1-15)

An American rabbi writes of a Passover his father, a Polish emigrant, had many years ago.  He says that his father had gone to Lithuania to study in a Hebrew school.  However, he was captured by the Soviets and sent to a workcamp in Siberia.  There he and his friends prepared for Passover while harvesting summer wheat.  They saved a few kernels each day and hid them until the following spring to make matzoh.  They fashioned a rolling pin from the gears of an old clock and a piece of wood.  The pin was used to perforate the matzoh dough so that it would bake quickly and thoroughly.  Then in the middle of a Spring night, the boys baked the matzoh in a hut with an oven.  On Passover night they came together to fulfill the biblical mandate that was reiterated in today’s first reading.  They thanked God, the Creator, for His great kindness.

The apostle Paul tells us in the second reading how Jesus transformed the Passover supper.  He took the unleavened bread, blessed it, and said that it was his body.  When he blessed the wine and called it his blood, he spoke of a new covenant between him and his disciples.  The new covenant would supplant the old, not entirely replacing it but adding substantially to it.

Tonight’s gospel reveals the difference.  At the anticipated Passover feast in John’s gospel Jesus washes the feet of his disciples.  The gesture is meant to be symbolic.  Jesus tells his disciples that they are to serve one another as he just served them. In the long discourse that the foot washing initiates, Jesus further explains himself.  His disciples are not only to thank God for His kindness but are to love one another as radically as he loves them.  That is, they must be ready to die for one another. 

Most of us have difficulty acknowledging much good in others.  Some, however, like that police officer killed in Boulder, Co., last week, have the courage to love radically like Jesus.  Tonight we want to pray for him and for the many loving people we have known in our lives.  Perhaps some of these died in the pandemic this past year.  We also should pray for one another and ourselves that we will emerge from this Easter weekend triumphant with the Lord.  We hope to have Jesus’ Spirit of love more deeply embedded with us.

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

 Wednesday of Holy Week

 (Isaiah 50:4-91; Matthew 26:14-25)

 Today is often called “Spy Wednesday” presumably because the gospel of today’s mass tells of Judas “look(ing) for an opportunity to hand (Jesus) over.”  It is an especially egregious act.  The gospel mentions that Judas is paid thirty pieces of silver for his betrayal.  This may sound like a lot of money, but actually it is a paltry sum.  It is like paying a hit man only $50 to murder someone.  Rather than think of Judas as greedy, He may be thought of as malicious.  John’s gospel obliquely conveys this idea. It remarks immediately after Judas leaves the supper chamber, “And it was night.”

 Although Peter’s denial is sometimes compared to Judas’ betrayal, the two are very different crimes.  They differ like a flu differs from a cancer.  Peter is under duress when he says that he does not know Jesus.  In contrast, Judas willingly goes to the chief priests seeking to hand Jesus over. 

 We should see our susceptibility to both kinds of sin.  Like Peter, we might deny Jesus, the truth, by lying when threatened by loss of power, prestige, or money.  It is also possible that we betray our commitments like Judas.  Spouses do this in the act of adultery and priests, in any kind of tryst. We can betray friends by revealing intimate secrets.  In any case, let us continually pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance to avoid all infidelity.

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Tuesday of Holy Week

(Isaiah 49:1-6; John 13:21-33.36-38)

An apocryphal gospel says that Jesus instructed Judas to betray him.  It sees Judas not only as Jesus’ obedient disciple but the only one who truly understood his teaching.  Early on the Church recognized this gospel as false.  It seems to have been composed in the late second century when similarly strange ideas were circulating around the Mediterranean area.

The false gospel does raise the question of whether Judas was ever a sincere disciple.  If not, then why did Jesus choose him?  John’s Gospel tells how Jesus knew of Judas’ evil nature (6:67-71).  Still, Judas might have shown some promise when Jesus selected him for his inner core of disciples.

We should be careful not to write off anyone as irredeemably good or bad.  All of us are capable of a deed as wicked as Judas’ betrayal.  Conversely, any of us may develop the courage to stand with Jesus at the cross like the beloved disciple.  Prayer to a good extent will determine what kind of acts we shall do and what kind of people we will become.  We want to ask God for a heart that marvels at His generosity to us and takes pity on those who suffer.

Monday, March 29, 2021

 Monday of Holy Week

(Isaiah 42:1-7; John 12:1-11)

Anti-Christian theorists claim that the apostles invented the passion story.  They say that after Jesus was crucified, the apostles invented a narrative of how it took place using minutia that they found in the Scriptures.  They even believe that St. Paul admits this when he writes in I Corinthians, “…Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures…”

The Paschal event – Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection – defies ordinary experience.  But that does not mean that it was made up.  It is unique because it was God who entered history to save humans from themselves.  It is much more likely that the apostles saw what happened to Jesus and reflected on it.  Then they proclaimed the historical event with emphasis on those details that corresponded to Scripture.  The coincidence was not scant but multiple and profound.  Many of the references in the Passion accounts refer to the Suffering Servant, whom we meet in the first reading today.  Christ, like the Servant, did establish righteousness without fanfare.  He has become, like the Servant, “a light to the nations.”

Some people try to find justification for their wrongdoing by denying the truth of authority.  We can find this taking place in those who deny the authenticity of the gospel.  Not wanting to repent of their misdeeds as Jesus taught, they try to discredit Jesus.  We are wise not to follow this tack.  In following his teaching, we become more fully human.  Going to the cross with him, we will find eternal happiness.

Sunday, March 28, 2021

 PALM SUNDAY OF THE LORD’S PASSION

(Isaiah 50: 4-7; Philippians 2: 6-11; Mark 14:1-15:47)

Each of the evangelists has their own perspective on the passion of Jesus. Luke sees Jesus spreading his goodness everywhere. John has him reigning over the world from the cross. Mark emphasizes Jesus suffering not only physical but also mental torture. In Mark Jesus dies completely isolated from his people, from his disciples, apparently from his Father, God. Let us look a little at the rejections that Jesus experiences and ask what they teach us.

In Gethsemane Jesus asks his closest disciples to watch with him. But they fall asleep. Much worse, one of the twelve betrays Jesus, and they all flee from him. Jesus is so absorbed in anguish that he fails to respond both to Judas's kiss and to the misbegotten attempt to defend him with a sword. It is not difficult to imagine how Jesus feels when he marches away with his captors: offended, disappointed, depressed.

Jesus cannot expect justice from his Jewish judges. They do the trial at night as if they want to hide the truth. They bring false witnesses who slander him. The verdict ruling is unanimous: he has to die. They add insult to pity when they spit on him, slap him, and ridicule him for being a false prophet. But he is by no means a false prophet. He has prophesied that he would undergo such brutal treatment.

The Roman trial does not go any better for Jesus. Pilate treats Jesus as if he were an animal. He hands him over to executioners to please the Jews. The soldiers then abuse him with scourges and taunts.

Of course, the worst suffering comes with crucifixion. Three groups of people come to mock Jesus: the passers-by, the high priests, and the two other men who are being crucified. No disciple approaches to comfort him while he experiences extreme distress. Finally he can't take it anymore. He cries, "My God, why have you abandoned me?" and dies. Only then does God act. He rips the temple veil in two rendering the place useless. The Roman officer gives the final human judgment when he says of Jesus: "Truly this man was the Son of God."

It seems that God has provided us with this version of passion to help us when we feel abandoned and depressed. It can be after the death of a child or the betrayal of one’s spouse. We don't know how we are going to continue. Then we should think of Jesus in this Gospel of Mark. He endures everything until he breathes his last breath.  Then he discovers that his Father's God has been close by throughout his ordeal ready to redeem him. We can count on the same God because through Jesus Christ he is our Father too.