We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song!

The first disciples did not exactly experience the Resurrection event with the magnificence of the Easter music coming from our new organ.  Our Easter Alleluia’s resonate that we are an Easter people.  We are celebrating the victory of life – the Risen Life of Christ – that conquers death.

For the first disciples, their Easter faith was much more gradual.  The first disciples encountered the empty tomb before experiencing the Risen Lord.  The Easter Gospel speaks of the empty tomb experiences of Mary  Magdalene and the apostles Peter and John.  They only gradually came to an Easter faith.

We have much to learn from the gradual growth in faith of the foundational disciples, Peter and John and Mary Magdalene.  We cannot celebrate Easter in one day; we cannot come to faith in one Mass.  Together, as a community of faith, as God’s Easter people, we make the journey together over the course of a lifetime.

An important truth of our lives is that we discover important things about our lives at the empty tomb.  Just as the first disciples experienced the empty tomb before they came to a resurrection faith, we need to encounter the empty tombs of our own lives.

As with the first disciples, our empty tomb experiences are the moments of darkness and confusion in life.  As we peer into the empty tombs of the ups and downs of everyday life, we are challenged to see and believe as the apostle John did as he stared into the empty tomb.

It is an empty tomb experience when Gospel values cannot be recognized in the way we live our lives.  Plain and simple, we need to walk our talk as the followers of Jesus.  Yes, self-centeredness, greed, lust, power and control, fears, anxieties are demons most of us are familiar with but we need to trust and embrace the grace Jesus offers.  The risen Jesus calls us by name and offers us the grace to walk away from the empty tombs of the fears and the demons of our lives so that we live with Easter joy and an Easter peace.  This indeed is our journey to an Easter faith.

It is the experience of an empty tomb when we do not recognize the presence of Jesus in our lives.  The Risen Lord is present to us 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  But our empty tomb experiences of suffering and loss cloud our resurrection faith.   Are we able to stay with the experience of loss and grief as did the first disciples and gradually recognize how the Risen Lord does call us by name and invites to walk away from our demons and live with an Easter joy.  There is Easter joy with each sunrise and in the simple sharing with one that you love.  We ask for the grace of spiritual sightedness to recognize that the Risen Lord is indeed in our midst.

Yes, it’s at the tomb that we can make sense of the questions that have followed us on our Lenten journey.  The life issue we all face at the empty tomb is that without trusting in the grace of God, we will never get away from the empty tombs of our life that can too easily enslave us.  As we try to make sense of the horrific terrorists’ attacks in Brussels upon so many innocent people, we wonder what is happening in our world.  In the negativity and the mean-spiritedness in the process of choosing our next president, we would like to think that we are better than this.  In the random acts of violence that happen too often on our streets, we wonder what it takes for us to love one another and to get along with one another.  Does it have to be that difficult?

We are a long ways from the message of Jesus at the Last Supper when he gave us an example of how we are to transform the world.  Jesus got down on his knees and washed the feet of His disciples, and said we are to do likewise:  that is to say, we are to wash the feet of God’s poor.  Jesus did not ask to die for one another.  He asked us to live for one another.

We receive the Eucharist at Mass so that we can witness of the love of Jesus by the way we live our lives.   The Easter grace we seek to make more connections between the presence of Jesus that we receive in the Eucharistic body and blood of the Lord, and the Jesus we experience in our love and service of one another.  On this Easter day, we pledge to use our hands and feet for the work of forgiveness, for the work of loving one another.

Acts of violence always gather the headlines.  But, following the example of Jesus, may we engage simple acts of service with great love.

For myself, I am easily touched by little things that are done with great love.  I received this past week a birthday card from one of our precious students at St. Joseph’s School.  In her card, she simply said: “I have asked God to watch over you on your special day.  Be happy and eat a lot of birthday cake.”  These words touched the innermost part of my heart.  Her simple prayer for me is more meaningful that any possible gift that I could receive.  The Risen Lord is present to us in the love we experience from one another.

 What does it mean for us to allow ourselves to be touched by the person of the Risen Jesus?  What will it take for us to be convicted of the Easter message that Jesus seeks to fill with this world with His love?  What will it take for us to believe that God’s love will triumph over   poverty, conflict, violence and war?  What will it take for us to believe that God will never abandon us?

When we look at life with the eyes of our heart, with the awareness of the deep spiritual center of our lives, we will experience Easter joy in many, many life experiences.  Easter is about Jesus.  Easter is about real life.  Easter is about how we experience the risen Jesus in our lives.  The real Easter mystery is when you experience the presence of the Risen Lord in the beauty of sunrise, in the simple sharing with people you love, in the ways you wash the feet of God’s poor, and in this mystery of the Eucharist we are fed and nourished at the Table of the Lord.  In this jubilee year of mercy, may the Risen Savior shower you with His merciful love.

The message of Holy Saturday is that the silent love of God is revealed even at the tomb.

We are in the midst of the great Easter Triduum as we remember and as we celebrate our sharing in the paschal mystery of the Lord Jesus  -- our sharing in the dying and the rising of Jesus.  On Holy Saturday,  we gather in silent expectation between Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

On Good Friday, we celebrated the depth of the Lord’s saving love for us.  He died out of love for us.  His death on the cross expresses the limitless love of God.  In giving up his spirit on the cross,  Jesus said:  “It is finished.”  The words of Jesus do not convey the defeat of death; rather “it is finished” communicates that the saving mission of Jesus for our forgiveness and reconciliation is complete.  The mission of our salvation has been accomplished by Jesus.

On Easter Sunday, we celebrate our sharing in the new life of Christ Jesus.   We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song.  Jesus Christ is risen.    All of creation shouts with joy.

But back to Holy Saturday morning, we are in-between.  We are buried with Christ in the tomb.  It is time of silence.  It is time of expectation. It is a time of faith.  God does not abandon us in the experience of grief, of loss, and of death. 

Holy Saturday is about real life when it seems we can be overcome with grief, despair, and with fear.  God appears to be too silent for us.

We called to believe in the silent love of God who grieves with us, who is buried in the tomb with us, who has a solidarity with all who feel a sense and are vulnerable.

But the clear Holy Saturday message is that we are never abandoned by the silent love of God.  We are called to trust in Christ Jesus, to trust that death is the pathway to life, to a sharing in the fullness of the Risen life of Jesus.

In this prayer, we celebrate with our elect from the parish who will celebrate the
Sacraments of Initiation this evening during the great Easter Vigil.  If you have never been to an Easter Vigil, it should be on your bucket list.  It is the mother of all vigils.

Our chosen elect will share in the risen life of Jesus in the celebration of the sacraments of initiation.  We pray for our elect and we pray for all of  us, even those of us who have washed in the waters of baptisms many, many moons ago, we gather in silent expectation on this Holy Saturday to prepare in prayer and in silence to celebrate our baptismal grace of being God’s beloved and to commit ourselves to bear witness to the love of Jesus in all that we say and do.

Good Friday reveals the limitless love of God for us.

It was 3:00pm.  Jesus said:  “I thirst.”  He could hardly speak.  A soldier fixed a sponge on a spear and held it up  to his lips.  It was terribly bitter but it was enough.  He strained to raise his head and look up to heaven.  “It is finished,” he cried and then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

When Jesus spoke those final words, he wasn’t just saying, "This is the end of me" as if there was nothing else to do but to give in to his enemies and die. His last words weren’t a final surrender to the power of Satan as if to say, "You have won. I’m done for". These words don’t tell us that Jesus was dead now and that’s all there is to it. He is finished and so is everything that he stood for and promised during his earthly life.

Rather, is it most important to understand that Jesus is saving his mission of saving the world has been completed.  He has finished the task that God has given Him  to do, and nothing can be added to what has been done.

Jesus has paid the price in full – he has cancelled all debt.
His sacrifice has been a perfect one, acceptable to the heavenly Father who, looking down on his Son hanging lifelessly from the cross, said, "Well done, this is my Beloved Son with whom I am well pleased".

It is finished. Everything is complete!

What is it that is finished when Jesus says, "It is finished"?

Reconciliation is finished.   A terrible gap has come between God and all humanity caused by sin and evil. Our offences, our disobedience,  the hurt we have caused God and others have destroyed our relationship with God. Recall a time when you have done something that has hurt someone else and because of that your friendship with that person has been damaged, a gap has come between you, and you felt uneasy when you met that person.   In fact, you may have avoided that person. All of that doesn’t change until you put aside your differences and friendship is restored.

Sin has a devastating effect on our relationship with God.  Sin separates us from God and if we want to have any hope of going to heaven to be with God, then someone had to deal with sin and restore our relationship with God. So God sent his Son into the world for this very purpose.

Jesus died on the cross to get rid of the power of sin to condemn us. His death bridged the deep gulf between God and us. "Salvation is finished", Jesus cried. The restoration of the friendship between God and humanity has been finished. The task for which God's Son came to earth has been completed.

He has won forgiveness for all people.
Nothing else needs to be done.
Salvation is complete. "It is finished".

That’s why we call today "Good Friday". It certainly wasn’t a good day for Jesus. He endured pain, soul-wrenching agony, hanging by the nails in his hands for hours, death on a rough wooden cross, for our sakes. We call today "Good Friday" because the cross is proof of the powerful love that God has for each of us. No one, not even God, would do something like that unless he truly loved us. Here we see a love that was prepared to endure the ultimate in order to rescue us.

We have known love to do some very powerful and strange things.   There is the story of a priest, Father Maximilian Kolbe,  who offered his life in place of a family man in Nazi Germany. His offer was accepted and the priest died to save this person’s life.

Because of love, people do extraordinary things for others. They give us a glimpse, a small glimpse, at the kind of love that God has for us. God the Father sent his dearly loved Son into dangerous territory. He allowed his Son to be treated cruelly. He stood by and watched his innocent Son be nailed to a cross and to hang there in agony. He could have rescued him and cursed those who were treating him so brutally and maliciously.  When Jesus cried out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" we sense something of the terror of bearing the weight of the sin of all humanity.

God did all this for us. He did all this because of his love for us.

Paul writes, "God has shown us how much he loves us—it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us! … We were God's enemies, but he made us his friends through the death of his Son." (Romans 5:8,10). That’s how much God loves us – Jesus died for us even though we don’t deserve it. His death has made us God's friends.

Jesus' announcement, "It is finished" is clear and simple. Jesus has completed his task. The reason why he came as a human has been fulfilled. He came so that you and I can have forgiveness and salvation. He came to give us the victory. He came to ensure that we would enter his kingdom and live forever.

As we venerate the cross during our liturgy today, pray and ponder about  what Jesus has done for you through his death on the cross.  Think about the love that God has for you, and thank him. Live this day with an attitude of gratitude.  We are celebrating the limitless love of God for us.

At the Last Supper, Jesus gave us an example of how we are to transform .the world

In today’s Gospel account, Jesus wraps a towel around his waist, takes a pitcher of water and, on the night before he dies, begins washing the feet of his disciples.  The disciples are stunned.  The washing of feet was usually done by a slave.   It was Jesus who was washing their feet.  Jesus is certainly acknowledging in gratitude the courage of his disciples in having walked with him for three years to this dark night.  He is surely proclaiming that in such walking, despite all that will happen on the next day, they have arrived nonetheless at the threshold of new life.  But most of all, Jesus is teaching them that this new life is gained not in presiding over multitudes from royal thrones;  it is gained, however, in walking with the humble and in humbly serving this world’s walkers.  When he tells his disciples to do as he has done in washing their feet, he is commissioning them to walk as he has walked and to heal as he has healed.

His disciples are to change the world by getting down on their knees and washing the feet of God’s poor.

This is the authentic mark of the follower of Jesus Christ:  that he and she wash the feet of the beggar, the leper, the miserable sinner rejected by everyone else.

Jesus the teacher demonstrated his life-giving message:  foot washing.  He did not ask his friends to die for one another, but to live for one another.  Holy Thursday is a celebration of life, and life together as a people of God.

In the Gospel account we find that Peter was uncomfortable with having Jesus wash his feet.  Peter, who was somewhat of an activist, would have preferred to see himself doing the washing, washing the feet of Jesus, and even of the other disciples.  Sometimes it is harder to remain passive and allow someone else to bathe us than it is to bathe someone else. 

But having our feet washed and washing the feet of others are two sides of the coin we call the Christian life.

Peter’s image of God was more of a king rather than a humble servant.  He was imprisoned by his image of who God is.  Jesus was giving Peter a different image of God and saying the only way to stay close to Jesus was to let him wash you.

The first and most essential part is to let the Lord wash us.  As Jesus said to Peter, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.  First, the Lord washes us clean so that we belong to the Lord.  Only then are we qualified and empowered to wash the feet of our sisters and brothers in the Lord.  When this truth dawned on Peter, he overcame his reluctance and cried our, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head.”  For this to happen all that the Lord needs from us is simply to be there, to present ourselves to him and to let him wash us.

The other side of the coin, which is equally important, is that after our feet have been washed by the Lord, we must go and wash the feet of others.  After Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, he said to them:

“Do you know what I have done for you?  You call me Teacher and Lord – and rightly so, for that is what I am.  So if I, your Lord and Master, wash your feet, you are to wash the feet of one another.  I have given you an example, what I have done, you are to do likewise.

On this holy night, we pledge once again to use our hands and feet for the work of forgiveness, for the work of loving each other.  We pledge to wash each other’s feet, to hand over our lives for each other, for the sake of the world.  We pledge ourselves to do Eucharist, to do this in memory of the One who gave his life for us.

Isn’t it odd what we experience this evening in this liturgy of the Lord’s Supper?  The meaning of salvation focuses on the voice of God speaking to us through Jesus with a towel around his waist asking us to find the towel with our name on it:  “As I have done for you, so you also must do.”

Service rooted in love is the example Jesus gives to his disciples.  It is a radical form of service because it is based on a radical form of love.

So, the question I leave with you as we ritually wash the feet of parishioners is:  Where is your towel with your name on it?

The beginning of violence is the end to dialogue.

As we enter into the holiest week of the Church year, our Gospel is the account of the Lord’s Passion as told by the evangelist Luke.  The whole Gospel leads us to a reflection on the meaning of the Lord’s death.  The Passion account speaks for itself; it doesn’t need a lengthy homily.

I would simply like to reflect with you on one scene from the Garden of Gethsemane:

Jesus said to his disciples:  “Pray that you may not undergo the test”…Then after a short time of prayer, Jesus than asked his disciples:  “Why are you sleeping?  Get up and pray that you may not undergo the test.”

When Jesus tells his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane to pray lest you enter into temptation, he is inviting them to stay in touch with their spiritual center.  Prayer focuses us in our relationship with Jesus – our union with God.  This is our spiritual center.  When we are a people of faith, a people of prayer, we indeed have an inner strength that resists the tests and temptations of life – the temptations of power, of greed, of lust, of selfishness, of pride, of violence, whatever it is.

In the Passion account, the disciples fall asleep.  The meaning here is that they have lost touch with their spiritual center.  As a result, they are overwhelmed and overcome.  The world is too much for them.

What Jesus says to them is literally a wake-up call.  “Why do you sleep?”  He says:  “Rise, pray, lest you enter into temptation.”

For the disciples, the temptation is about to arrive.  A crowd armed with swords and clubs came into the Gethsemane led by Judas.  The disciples who had fallen asleep initially now ask Jesus if they should strike with the sword, but they do not wait for an answer.  They do not do what He tells them to do (pray); and even when they ask for advice, they go off on their own.  They cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest.  The message here is that the beginning of violence is the end to dialogue.  Once we start to fight, we no longer have ears to hear each other.  In this account, Jesus heals the ear and restores dialogue and forgiveness and reconciliation.  This is the message of Jesus.  Forgiveness and Reconciliation and Love are the meaning of the death of Jesus.

As we enter into these days of Holy Week, the message of Jesus to his disciples in 2016 is the same.  “Pray, lest you enter into temptation.”  Keep in touch with our spiritual center so that the temptations, the fears, the stresses of life do not overwhelm us.  The danger for us as for the first disciples is to fall asleep and lose our connection with our spiritual center.  Our spiritual center is our relationship with Christ Jesus.

May each of us during these days of Holy Week be people of prayer focusing on the spiritual center of our lives.

When Jesus forgives, He does not condemn. He does not remember. He makes all things new.

The Gospel tells of the account of the woman caught in the act of adultery.  This Gospel is one of the most graphic Gospel accounts of the mercy of Jesus that leads to new life.  The take-home message for us is that this Gospel story is not about adultery.  It is about forgiveness -- God’s forgiveness.

The Lenten season calls us to repentance.  This has been the theme of our journey of forty days.  What is repentance?  Repentance is not something we do; but it is allowing the forgiving power of God to touch our lives and to lead us along new paths.

In this Johannine Gospel account, we actually have two trials going on at the same time.  The first and most important trial:  the prosecutors in the persons of the Pharisees are putting Jesus to the test  --  will Jesus uphold the Law of Moses  --  dealing the death penalty to adulterers or not?  It is Jesus who is on trial.  He is the enemy, the heretic, the threat to the Pharisees and scribes who consider themselves the holders of God’s prophecies and promises.  The trap is set to prove that Jesus is not who he claims to be.

It’s a “Catch 22 dilemma.”  If the Lord upholds capital punishment, the people will see him as unmerciful and hard-hearted.  If He sides with pardon or acquittal, the Pharisees will convict him of infidelity to the Law of Moses.  That’s one trial going on.

The second is that of the woman herself who has been dragged from her bed of infidelity and brought before this public trial.  Jesus has suddenly been called upon to be the acting judge of her case.  Jesus then bends down and began to write on the ground with his finger.  The silence of Jesus must have been deafening as the crowd waited for a verdict.  The scribes and Pharisees rattled on, persisting in their judgments and condemnations.  Then Jesus stands and utters those memorable words:  “Let the one among you who is without sin cast the first stone.”  Then he stooped and continued to write on the ground while beginning with the eldest, the wisest, the most experienced, one by one they walked away.

Then we hear the compassionate words of Jesus:  “Woman, where are they?  Has no one condemned you?”  She replied, “No one, sir.”  Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.  From now on, sin no more.”

We do not know this woman’s name, or what happened to her.  Though some have claimed that this woman was Mary Magdalene or even Mary of Bethany, there is really no evidence to identify her.  With certainty she is a distinct person with her own history and her own life; yet, she is also symbolic of every person who stands in need of compassion.  She is you, me, all of us.

Notice carefully the authority Jesus exercised.  He acted not as her judge.  He acted as her Savior.  Our God is not a God of condemnation.  Our God is a God of mercy and compassion.

Jesus did not wish that this woman be imprisoned by the mistakes of her past.  Our God is a God of second chances.  This Gospel is not too good to be true.  It is what we believe.

Can you imagine what your life or my life would be like if we were prisoners of the worst mistake we ever made?  Who of us can say that we have not done some dumb things in our life?  

Our God is not a God of condemnation.  He is a God of mercy and forgiveness and compassion.  This is what this gospel account is all about.  In contrast to the values of society, the Gospel proclaims the mercy of Jesus to save this woman and to enable her to turn her life toward a God of love.

Jesus did not claim that the woman did not sin, he simply does not condemn her for it  --- and even more Jesus saves her from self-righteous accusers.  Please God, may we in the name of Jesus never ever be the verbal equivalent of the stone-throwing scribes and Pharisees.  Rather, may we as the disciples of Jesus witness to God’s healing love in the lives of people.

When Jesus forgives, He does not condemn.  He does not remember.  He makes all things new.  He gives life when all seems dead.  He invites us to turn to Him with open hearts and pray with prophet Isaiah, the apostle Paul, and the anonymous woman of the Gospel:  “The Lord has done great things for me.  I am filled with joy.”

We go forward as forgiven sinners, as sons and daughters of a loving God, and as the disciples of Jesus.  Our God is a God of second chances.

Is there too much of the older brother in us and not enough of the merciful, welcoming father?

Traditionally this Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Lent, is known by its Latin name:  Laetare Sunday.  Laetare is the Latin word for rejoice.  There is to be joy in our lives as the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The scripture readings give us reason to rejoice.  The psalmist tells us we are to be radiant with joy.  The Gospel parable gives a most significant reason for joy.  Jesus tells us of a God who wishes to shower his sons and daughters with his merciful love.

In this parable of the prodigal son, this wonderful parable of the merciful father, this most beautiful parable of God’s forgiving love for us, I invite you to consider the stuck point for both the prodigal son and his older brother.  Both of the sons had a falling out with the father. The younger son is lost in sin and the older son is lost in self-righteousness.  Neither was filled with joy.

The younger son didn’t see what he had.  He imagined that he could have a better life away from his father and family.  That son broke away after demanding his inheritance.  The younger son seems irresponsible, pleasure-oriented, and self seeking.

The older son also did not see what he had.  However, this son stayed at home and did what was expected of him.  The older brother is very responsible and stays at home and works on the farm faithfully day in and day out, but his heart was not in it.  Inside, he had been jealous of his brother, who had the nerve to ask for his inheritance and then skipped off to squander it on loose living.

My prayerful question for us today is to ask if there a part of the older, responsible, rule-keeping brother in us as well?  We are the ones who go to Church every Sunday, we are the ones try to live a good Christian life; we keep the commandments for the most part and there we are entitled to God’s favor.

Sometimes our hearts can be filled with anger when people are not as Christian as we are.  We can be angry with those who don’t keep the rules.  The older son, even though he kept all the rules of his religion, his heart was not filled with joy.  His heart was not touched by his father’s love.  His keeping of the rules was a burden.

What about us?  Is coming to Mass on Sunday, is living a chaste life, is sharing what we have with others – is our spirituality a burden for us and are we secretly jealous of those who live a more reckless life than we do.  Does our faith bring joy to our hearts -- the experience of laetare – or are we carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders in living a spiritual life?

The older brother in this Gospel parable has such a powerful message for us.  If there not joy in the practice of our faith, we do not as of yet know Jesus in our hearts.   Instead of judging what is wrong in our younger’s brother way of living, instead of being   judgmental  about how others are living, may our focus be on encountering Christ who gives meaning  and purpose to our lives.

Yes, we will still experience  suffering and the cross in our Lenten journey and in the journey of our life.  But even the crosses will not take from us the joy of knowing the Lord and wanting to give Him thanks for the ways our lives are blessed.

Pope Francis wrote his exhortation EVANGELI GAUDIUM, The Joy of the Gospel.  Francis says the joy is a litmus test of us encountering the Lord.   The point is it is not enough even to keep all the commandments if our hearts are not touched by the joy and the love of the Lord.  If our practice of religion comes with anger toward those who have no regard for the spiritual ilfe, then we are not getting it.  There is still too much of the older brother in us and not enough of the merciful and welcoming father.

Yesterday, we had a pre-cana session for those preparing  for the sacrament of marriage.  There is much obvious joy in their hearts as they share their love with their spouse to be.

So too, may there be much joy in our hearts in knowing the Lord in prayer and in knowing the Lord in our prayer and in our love and service of one another.

At the end of the day, the merciful father was filled with compassion and love and joy with the return of his younger son whereas the older brother was filled with anger and jealousy when he heard the sound of music and dancing.  May whatever anger there is within us toward another be turned into compassion so that we will be able to hear the sound of music and dancing in our hearts.