Blog by-the-Sea

Let Us Not Be Distracted from the Beauty of the Resurrection Light

 It seems like it happens every year, right before Easter: There is one attack or another against Christianity.  A few years ago, right before Easter, there was a wave of headlines about the supposed finding of the tomb of Jesus.  This year, it took the form of an attack on Pope Benedict XVI. 

Here we go again.  When the mainstream media pick this time of the year to launch an attack against Christianity, I generally think it is best to just ignore it.  It can take the form of a media frenzy with reports blown out of proportion, trying to capitalize on the additional attention that Christians give to their faith at this time of the year.

At best, it takes the mind off of Christ, the penitence of Lent, His Passion and His Resurrection, at a time of year when that is where the focus of our faith should be.  At worst, it runs the risk of dissuading some people from coming into full communion with the Catholic Church when baptisms and confirmations are concentrated at the Easter Vigil.  I suppose there might have been some wishful thinking in that regard in the comment made by Rowan Williams in an interview suggesting that the Pope had lost all credibility because of the Irish sex abuse scandal.  It surely must have caught the attention of Anglo-Catholics now considering whether they will become Catholics.

But the Catholic faith is deeper than that.  It survived through centuries of papal controversies in the Middle Ages, and perhaps we should remember that the holy people in Christianity are the saints and not the clergy; the powerful people are those who pray and not those who vote; and our faith is rooted in the eternal Trinity and not in the latest headlines.

Of course some of those headlines were outrageous.  What would you expect?  It's Easter, and a lot of the mainstream media has no remaining respect for Christianity as a whole, and for Christians in particular.  That is all the more the case, I have no doubt, because of the recent pro-life opposition to the U.S. health care bill, and the roll that is likely to play in upcoming elections to unseat many of the Democratic politicians who supported a health care bill that did not do enough to protect life.

As wrong as clergy sex abuse truly is, the timing and the tone of much of the reporting ought not to outrage us so much as clue us in to its roots in a political and moral anti-Catholic bias.  It is Satan tempting during Lent, tempting us to turn our eyes away from the Lord and the beauty of our Lenten modesty, the beauty of Holy Week, the beauty of the Church's turning from the darkness of Gethsemane to the splendor of Easter light.

Don't turn away from beauty to the soiled ugliness of the press.  Its ugliness is a witness to its destiny.  What in nature is beautiful is healthy, and what is ugly inevitably reflects decay and death.  Look toward the beauty of the Easter sunrise and desire to see the Face of Christ our Lord.

Thomas Peters writes, "What was the point of this attack?  To discredit the public moral witness of the Church, that 'inconvenient voice' of truth in our time."  I think he is correct in that analysis.  Read his American Papist blog post on the subject.  Christopher Blosser has a round-up about it at The Benedict Blog.

The Holy Father needs our prayers and our support, as does the Church as a whole.  We need to defend our Church and the Papacy in the public square.  But let us not be distracted into the political fray so much that it turns our eyes away from the face of God.

A blessed Easter to you all.

Image: The Resurrection by Pieter Lastman, 1612.

Texts and Video on Demand of the Holy Father's Holy Week Events

Passion et chemin de croix
by KTOTV

KTO French Catholic TV has full length videos of all of the Holy Father's Holy Week events available to watch on demand online.  The videos include the Palm Sunday Mass, Holy Thursday, the Good Friday Passion of the Lord and the Colosseum Way of the Cross, the Easter Vigil, the Easter Sunday Mass of the Resurrection, and the Holy Father's Urbi et Orbi Address.

Also included in links from the KTO Holy Week page are a video of the Chrism Mass from Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Wednesday of Holy Week and the Easter Mass of the Resurrection from Notre Dame.  All of the commentary, of course, is in French. 

Texts of the Holy Father's homilies and addresses from Holy Week can be accessed from a Vatican Holy Week Page.

"The Easter proclamation spreads throughout the world"

From Pope Benedict's Easter homily this morning:

"The Easter proclamation spreads throughout the world with the joyful song of the Alleluia. Let us sing it with our lips, and let us sing it above all with our hearts and our lives, with a manner of life that is "unleavened", that is to say, simple, humble, and fruitful in good works. "Surrexit Christus spes mea: precedet suos in Galileam" – Christ my hope is risen, and he goes before you into Galilee. The Risen One goes before us and he accompanies us along the paths of the world. He is our hope, He is the true peace of the world. Amen!"

From his Urbi et Orbi Message (to the Church and to the World):

"Resurrectio Domini, spes nostra! The resurrection of Christ is our hope! This the Church proclaims today with joy. She announces the hope that is now firm and invincible because God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead. She communicates the hope that she carries in her heart and wishes to share with all people in every place, especially where Christians suffer persecution because of their faith and their commitment to justice and peace. She invokes the hope that can call forth the courage to do good, even when it costs, especially when it costs. Today the Church sings "the day that the Lord has made", and she summons people to joy. Today the Church calls in prayer upon Mary, Star of Hope, asking her to guide humanity towards the safe haven of salvation which is the heart of Christ, the paschal Victim, the Lamb who has "redeemed the world", the Innocent one who has "reconciled us sinners with the Father". To him, our victorious King, to him who is crucified and risen, we sing out with joy our Alleluia!"

His Easter Greeting (given in many languages):

"May the grace and joy of the Risen Christ be with you all."

From last night's Easter Vigil homily:

In the Easter Vigil, the Holy Father spoke about the great symbols of light, water, and song in the Easter Vigil liturgy.  Here is his conclusion, at the end of the discussion of the song of the "Alleluia":

"While, strictly speaking, she ought to be sinking, the Church sings the song of thanksgiving of the saved. She is standing on history’s waters of death and yet she has already risen. Singing, she grasps at the Lord’s hand, which holds her above the waters. And she knows that she is thereby raised outside the force of gravity of death and evil – a force from which otherwise there would be no way of escape – raised and drawn into the new gravitational force of God, of truth and of love. At present she is still between the two gravitational fields. But once Christ is risen, the gravitational pull of love is stronger than that of hatred; the force of gravity of life is stronger than that of death. Perhaps this is actually the situation of the Church in every age? It always seems as if she ought to be sinking, and yet she is always already saved. Saint Paul illustrated this situation with the words: "We are as dying, and behold we live" (2 Cor 6:9). The Lord’s saving hand holds us up, and thus we can already sing the song of the saved, the new song of the risen ones: alleluia! Amen."

The Vatican has a page on Holy Week 2009 with links to the Holy Father's homilies for Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, and Good Friday, as well as the text for the Way of the Cross and the homilies for the Easter Vigil and Easter

Picture: "Resurrection" by Pieter Lastman, 1612, from the Getty Museum.  Photo by me.

Pentecost at St. Peter's Basilica: The Journey to the Ends of the Earth

In his homily for the Solemn Mass of Pentecost today in St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the universality of the Church that was born at Pentecost, which spoke the languages of all people.  He spoke of the significance of "Rome" in the ancient world.  He mentioned St. Luke's writing in Acts 1:8 ("But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth"), saying that "the journey of the word of God, begun in Jerusalem, reaches its destination, because Rome represents the entire world and thus embodies the Lucan idea of catholicity."  The Pope spoke about the nature of the Church, the intertwining of multiplicity and unity within the Church, and the role of the Church in service to the peace of Christ.  He said that the Church can be "a ferment of that reconciliation that comes from God" but "only if she remains docile to the Spirit and bears witness to the Gospel, only if she carries the cross like Jesus and with Jesus."

Afterward, he addressed the crowd in St. Peter's Square at the midday Regina Caeli, asking people to "rediscover the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives."  In it are found "the 'I' of the disciple and the 'we' of the Church," which are inseparable.  After the prayer, he made an appeal for peace in  the current fighting in Lebanon.

An article is available from Asia News, which also has a separate article devoted to the Holy Father's appeal for peace in Lebanon.   The Vatican Press Office has the original Italian text of the Pope's homily and his words at the Regina Caeli.  English translations of the homily are available from Zenit and Papa Ratzinger Forum.  Translations of the Holy Father's words at the Regina Caeli are also available from Zenit and Papa Ratzinger Forum.

EWTN's special broadcasts today include two more re-broadcasts of the Mass at St. Peter's Basilica at 12:00 noon and midnight Eastern, 9:00 a.m. and p.m. Pacific.  Watch online.

Go Into All the World

Christ had said to them: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8). Precisely to prepare them for this great mission, Jesus had promised them the Holy Spirit on the day before his Passion, in the Upper Room, telling them: “When the Counsellor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning” (Jn 15:26-27).

The witness of the Spirit of truth must become one with that of the Apostles, thus fusing the divine and human witness into one saving reality. From this fusion flows the work of evangelization, begun on the day of Pentecost and entrusted to the Church as her task and mission down the ages.

- Pope John Paul II, Homily for Pentecost, 1997

* * * * *

“If you see charity, you see the Trinity”, wrote Saint Augustine. In the foregoing reflections, we have been able to focus our attention on the Pierced one (cf. Jn 19:37, Zech12:10), recognizing the plan of the Father who, moved by love (cf. Jn 3:16), sent his only-begotten Son into the world to redeem man. By dying on the Cross—as Saint John tells us—Jesus “gave up his Spirit” (Jn 19:30), anticipating the gift of the Holy Spirit that he would make after his Resurrection (cf. Jn 20:22). This was to fulfil the promise of “rivers of living water” that would flow out of the hearts of believers, through the outpouring of the Spirit (cf. Jn 7:38-39). The Spirit, in fact, is that interior power which harmonizes their hearts with Christ's heart and moves them to love their brethren as Christ loved them, when he bent down to wash the feet of the disciples (cf. Jn 13:1-13) and above all when he gave his life for us (cf. Jn 13:1, 15:13).

The Spirit is also the energy which transforms the heart of the ecclesial community, so that it becomes a witness before the world to the love of the Father, who wishes to make humanity a single family in his Son. The entire activity of the Church is an expression of a love that seeks the integral good of man: it seeks his evangelization through Word and Sacrament, an undertaking that is often heroic in the way it is acted out in history; and it seeks to promote man in the various arenas of life and human activity. Love is therefore the service that the Church carries out in order to attend constantly to man's sufferings and his needs, including material needs.

- Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est

* * * * *

In full agreement with Our predecessors, with those saints whom our age has given to the Church on earth and in heaven, and with the devout instincts of the faithful, We are convinced that charity should today assume its rightful, foremost position in the scale of religious and moral values-and not just in theory, but in the practice of the Christian life. And this applies not only to the charity we show toward God who has poured out the abundance of His love upon us, but also to the charity which we in turn should lavish on our brothers, the whole human race.

Charity is the key to everything. It sets all to rights. There is nothing which charity cannot achieve and renew. Charity "beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." Who is there among us who does not realize this? And since we realize it, is not this the time to put it into practice?

- Pope Paul VI,  Ecclesiam Suam

On the Emmaus Road: Christ Present in His Church

In his reflection before praying the midday Regina Caeli today, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of Jesus' presence with His disciples on the Emmaus Road, taken from today's Gospel reading for Mass (Luke 24:13-25).  The two disciples, downcast and dejected, had lost hope in Jesus, feeling abandoned and betrayed even by the Lord, when they encountered Him on the way.  Still today, he said, we encounter Jesus in the Word and in the Eucharist. 

News articles from Asia News and Catholic News Agency are online.  The Vatican Press Office has the original Italian text with the Holy Father's words in other languages following the prayer.  Full English translations are available at Zenit and Papa Ratzinger Forum.

After the prayer, he said in English:

"I am happy to greet all the English-speaking visitors present at today’s Regina Caeli prayer. On this Third Sunday of Easter, Saint Luke relates how the Risen Christ walks with his disciples, makes their hearts burn within them by his words, and reveals himself in the breaking of the bread. Let us pray that our Easter journey will teach us to open our hearts with joy to the living Christ present in his Church. Upon all of you I invoke God’s abundant blessings!"

Urbi et Orbi: "The resurrection of Jesus is essentially an event of love"

Here is the entire text of the Pope's Urbi et Orbi address for this Easter in the Vatican's English translation from the Vatican Press Office:

Resurrexi, et adhuc tecum sum. Alleluia! - I have risen, I am still with you. Alleluia! Dear brothers and sisters, Jesus, crucified and risen, repeats this joyful proclamation to us today: the Easter proclamation. Let us welcome it with deep wonder and gratitude!

Resurrexi et adhuc tecum sum – I have risen, I am still with you, for ever. These words, taken from an ancient version of Psalm 138 (v. 18b), were sung at the beginning of today’s Mass. In them, at the rising of the Easter sun, the Church recognizes the voice of Jesus himself who, on rising from death, turns to the Father filled with gladness and love, and exclaims: My Father, here I am! I have risen, I am still with you, and so I shall be for ever; your Spirit never abandoned me. In this way we can also come to a new understanding of other passages from the psalm: "If I climb the heavens, you are there; if I descend into the underworld, you are there … Even darkness is not dark for you, and the night is as clear as day; for you, darkness is like light" (Ps 138:8,12). It is true: in the solemn Easter vigil, darkness becomes light, night gives way to the day that knows no sunset. The death and resurrection of the Word of God incarnate is an event of invincible love, it is the victory of that Love which has delivered us from the slavery of sin and death. It has changed the course of history, giving to human life an indestructible and renewed meaning and value.

"I have risen and I am still with you, for ever." These words invite us to contemplate the risen Christ, letting his voice resound in our heart. With his redeeming sacrifice, Jesus of Nazareth has made us adopted children of God, so that we too can now take our place in the mysterious dialogue between him and the Father. We are reminded of what he once said to those who were listening: "All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (Mt 11:27). In this perspective, we note that the words addressed by the risen Jesus to the Father on this day – "I am still with you, for ever" – apply indirectly to us as well, "children of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him" (cf. Rom 8:17). Through the death and resurrection of Christ, we too rise to new life today, and uniting our voice with his, we proclaim that we wish to remain for ever with God, our infinitely good and merciful Father.

In this way we enter the depths of the Paschal mystery. The astonishing event of the resurrection of Jesus is essentially an event of love: the Father’s love in handing over his Son for the salvation of the world; the Son’s love in abandoning himself to the Father’s will for us all; the Spirit’s love in raising Jesus from the dead in his transfigured body. And there is more: the Father’s love which "newly embraces" the Son, enfolding him in glory; the Son’s love returning to the Father in the power of the Spirit, robed in our transfigured humanity. From today’s solemnity, in which we relive the absolute, once-and-for-all experience of Jesus’s resurrection, we receive an appeal to be converted to Love; we receive an invitation to live by rejecting hatred and selfishness, and to follow with docility in the footsteps of the Lamb that was slain for our salvation, to imitate the Redeemer who is "gentle and lowly in heart", who is "rest for our souls" (cf. Mt 11:29).

Dear Christian brothers and sisters in every part of the world, dear men and women whose spirit is sincerely open to the truth, let no heart be closed to the omnipotence of this redeeming love! Jesus Christ died and rose for all; he is our hope – true hope for every human being. Today, just as he did with his disciples in Galilee before returning to the Father, the risen Jesus now sends us everywhere as witnesses of his hope, and he reassures us: I am with you always, all days, until the end of the world (cf. Mt 28:20). Fixing the gaze of our spirit on the glorious wounds of his transfigured body, we can understand the meaning and value of suffering, we can tend the many wounds that continue to disfigure humanity in our own day. In his glorious wounds we recognize the indestructible signs of the infinite mercy of the God of whom the prophet says: it is he who heals the wounds of broken hearts, who defends the weak and proclaims the freedom of slaves, who consoles all the afflicted and bestows upon them the oil of gladness instead of a mourning robe, a song of praise instead of a sorrowful heart (cf. Is 61:1,2,3). If with humble trust we draw near to him, we encounter in his gaze the response to the deepest longings of our heart: to know God and to establish with him a living relationship in an authentic communion of love, which can fill our lives, our interpersonal and social relations with that same love. For this reason, humanity needs Christ: in him, our hope, "we have been saved" (cf. Rom 8:24).

How often relations between individuals, between groups and between peoples are marked not by love but by selfishness, injustice, hatred and violence! These are the scourges of humanity, open and festering in every corner of the planet, although they are often ignored and sometimes deliberately concealed; wounds that torture the souls and bodies of countless of our brothers and sisters. They are waiting to be tended and healed by the glorious wounds of our Risen Lord (cf. 1 Pet 2:24-25) and by the solidarity of people who, following in his footsteps, perform deeds of charity in his name, make an active commitment to justice, and spread luminous signs of hope in areas bloodied by conflict and wherever the dignity of the human person continues to be scorned and trampled. It is hoped that these are precisely the places where gestures of moderation and forgiveness will increase!

Dear brothers and sisters! Let us allow the light that streams forth from this solemn day to enlighten us; let us open ourselves in sincere trust to the risen Christ, so that his victory over evil and death may also triumph in each one of us, in our families, in our cities and in our nations. Let it shine forth in every part of the world. In particular, how can we fail to remember certain African regions, such as Dafur and Somalia, the tormented Middle East, especially the Holy Land, Iraq, Lebanon, and finally Tibet, all of whom I encourage to seek solutions that will safeguard peace and the common good! Let us invoke the fullness of his Paschal gifts, through the intercession of Mary who, after sharing the sufferings of the passion and crucifixion of her innocent Son, also experienced the inexpressible joy of his resurrection. Sharing in the glory of Christ, may she be the one to protect us and guide us along the path of fraternal solidarity and peace. These are my Easter greetings, which I address to all who are present here, and to men and women of every nation and continent united with us through radio and television. Happy Easter!"

The Birth of the Church

In his reflection before praying the Regina Caeli today, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of Pentecost as the celebration of the birth of the Church, as Mary and the Apostles were gathered at the time of the descent of the Holy Spirit.  He mentioned its missionary nature from the beginning, and thus spoke in every tongue.  He also explained the phrase "one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church" from the 4th century Nicene Creed, explained what was meant in calling the Church "Roman."

Asia News has an article.  Full translations are available from the Vatican, Zenit and from Teresa Benedetta at Papa Ratzinger Forum.

The greater part of it, in Teresa Benedetta's translation, includes those explanations of the words we use to describe the Church, as follows:

"In this extraordinary event we find the essential and qualifying notes of the Church: the Church is one, like the community of Pentecost, united in prayer and concord: it was 'of one heart and one mind" (Acts 4,32). The Church is holy, not for its merits, but because, animated by the Holy Spirit, it looks to Christ to conform to Him and to his love. The Church is catholic, because the Gospel is destined to all the peoples, and therefore, from the beginning, the Holy Spirit made it speak in all tongues. The Church is apostolic, because, built on the foundation of the Apostles, it guards their teaching faithfully through the uninterrupted chain of apostolic succession.

"The Church is also by its nature missionary, and from the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has not ceased to push it along the roads of the world, to the extreme ends of earth and to the end of time.

"This reality, which we can verify in every era, is as anticipated in the Book of Acts, which describes the transmission of the Gospel from the Jews to the pagans, from Jerusalem to Rome.

"Rome stood for the pagan world, therefore all the peoples who were not among the ancient People of God. In fact, the Acts conclude with the arrival of the Gospel in Rome.

"We can therefore say that Rome is the concrete name of Catholicity and mission, it expresses loyalty to the origins, to the Church of all time, a Church that speaks all the languages and goes forth to encounter all cultures."

A Blessed Pentecost

I wish you a blessed Pentecost.

(Graphic includes Clipart from: ChristArt)

The Last Few Days of Easter

Sunday, Pentecost, will be the final day of Easter.  Of course, there is no prohibition on remembering the Resurrection at any time.  But the 50 days of remembering Easter this year will draw to a close tomorrow, on a day that is devoted to remembering the events of Pentecost, which followed the Ascension.

So today (Saturday) is the last day of this Easter to most easily recall the Resurrection in and of itself.  I have an easier time finding paintings and other artwork inspired by the crucifixion, a more difficult time finding art about the Resurrection.  I do not know why, but I could speculate.  The cross, it is said, naturally divides a canvas.  In the pictures shown here, in fact, the shape of a cross divides the picture although it is a picture of the Resurrection.

But, perhaps, it is nice this year to have Pentecost Sunday fall within Memorial Day, giving us in the U.S. a little more time to rest, to think about the various things this week-end represents.

In our country, of course, Memorial Day brings to mind those who have died in wars, past and present.  This year, the observance of Memorial Day will be the day after Pentecost.  That deserves its own space, its own day.  And Pentecost deserves its own space, its own day, remembered as Pentecost and not as the Sunday of Memorial Day week--end.

And today deserves its own space too.  It is the last precious day to remember the Resurrection, in its own right.  The last two days of Easter, a celebration of Jesus' life Resurrected, of our own hope for life beyond the grave, and also of our lives now in Christ, with Christ living in us as the Resurrected Lord, a down payment on life beyond the  grave, they are a celebration that the Cross, as important as it is, did not have the last word.  For the Gospel is about both sin and redemption, both the Cross and the Resurrection.  The Cross, for all its artistic beauty, did not have the last word.   The Father had the last word when the Son rose from the grave.

And for anyone who tired of sacrifice during Lent, now is a time of grace, of free gifts.  For anyone whose sadness over the crucifixion needed healing, now is the time for healing.  For anyone who tired of remembering their sins, now is the time for remembering God's grace and the gift of eternal life.  While we can remember that all the year, the Church season specifically devoted to it will draw to a close on Sunday.

So, for one of the last times I can say it this year: Happy Easter!