Blog by-the-Sea

Father Cantalamessa's Lenten Sermons and Good Friday Homily

ZENIT has posted English translations of Father Raniero Cantalamessa's Lenten sermons and Good Friday homily given as preacher of the Pontifical Household.  I have moved this post up each week so that I can post links to all of them together.  That seems like a good idea because people sometimes look for them weeks or months later, and it makes it easier for them to find what they are looking for.

First Lenten Sermon: "And Being in Agony He Prayed More Earnestly", Part 1 and Part 2:  Gethsemane

Second Lenten Sermon: "To Obey God Is What He Wants"

Third Lenten Sermon: "The Rocks Were Split"

Good Friday Homily: "God Manifests His Love for Us"

In his Good Friday homily, Father Cantalamessa spoke about the recent hype over the Gnostic "Gospel of Judas", alluded to the approaching release of the Da Vinci Code movie, and called upon Catholics to not respond in silence:

There is much talk about Judas' betrayal, without realizing that it is being repeated. Christ is being sold again, no longer to the leaders of the Sanhedrin for thirty denarii, but to editors and booksellers for billions of denarii. No one will succeed in halting this speculative wave, which instead will flare up with the imminent release of a certain film, but being concerned for years with the history of Ancient Christianity, I feel the duty to call attention to a huge misunderstanding which is at the bottom of all this pseudo-historical literature.

Setting aside those fictional works, he said that the best way to reflect on the mystery of Good Friday this year would be to re-read the entire first part of the recent Papal Encyclical Deus Caritas Est. 

Photo:  Seventeenth century German crucifix from the Chapel of Reconciliation of the Church of the Nativity, Rancho Santa Fe, California.

Way of the Cross - Good Friday 2006

On April 11, I first posted a link here to ZENIT's text of the Way of the Cross meditations that Pope Benedict XVI led at the Colosseum today.  I have moved this post up because the Vatican has now posted a beautiful version of the text here.  Click on the pictures to see the prayers and meditations for each of the stations.  I am changing the link in the Way of the Cross category in the sidebar from the ZENIT text to the visually beautiful Vatican version.  The Vatican website has also posted words of Presentation by Archbishop Angelo Comastri, who composed this year's prayers and meditations for the Way of the Cross, and an introductory prayer by Pope Benedict XVI, both here.

Archbishop Comastri is Vicar General of His Holiness for Vatican City and President of the Fabric of St. Peter's.  The earlier ZENIT text can be found here. 

Washing One Another's Feet: Forgiving Tirelessly

Here are links and quotes from the Pope's homilies today:

Today's Chrism Mass:

The Asia News story is here.  ZENIT has the whole homily in English here.  The Vatican website has only the Italian so far, and translations into other languages (including English) will be posted later here.  Here is an excerpt from ZENIT's translation:

To be a priest means to become a friend of Jesus Christ, and this ever more with the whole of our existence. The world has need of God -- not of any god, but of the God of Jesus Christ, of the God who became flesh and blood, who has loved us to the point of dying for us, who rose and has created in himself a space for man. This God must live in us and we in him. This is our priestly call: Only in this way can our action of priests bear fruits.

The Mass of the Lord's Supper:

The Mass of the Lord's Supper at the St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome is discussed by Asia News here.  The Vatican has the Italian and will have an English translation soon here.  Here is an excerpt from the Asia News article:

"The Lord wipes away our filth with the purifying force of his goodness. Washing one another’s feet means above all forgiving one another other tirelessly, always ready to start together anew even when it seems pointless. It means purifying one another by helping each other and accepting that others help us; [it means] purifying one another by giving each other the hallow strength of God’s word and introducing ourselves to the Sacrament of Divine Love."

Updated April 15: A ZENIT transcript of the homily from the Mass of the Lord's Supper is now available online here. 

New Against the Grain Posting Online

Christopher has posted a new collection of links for Holy Week on Against the Grain, including links to posts on this blog reflecting on St. Boniface and the photos and quotations for The Stations of the Cross.  I am always happy when I see that he has liked something I wrote or quoted, and always appreciate the excellent collections of blog posts and articles he works so hard to collect.  It is well worth seeing for links to other good blog posts for Holy Week.

Evil Does Not Have the Last Word

Asia News has posted its article about Pope Benedict XVI's message at today's General Audience here.  In today's message, the Pope explained the meaning of each of the days of the Easter Triduum, which will begin tomorrow evening, and looked forward to Easter.  Here is an excerpt:

"'Despite all the darkness in the world, evil does not have the last word,' said Benedict XVI, frequently changing his prepared text off the cuff. 'For our part, let’s commit ourselves to create a more just world with more courage.' The pope then invited the faithful to participate in celebrations of the Triduum starting tomorrow. 'These days are intended to re-ignite in us an urgent desire to follow and to serve Christ, mindful of the fact that he loved us to the point of giving up his life for us.'”

The ZENIT translation is here.  The Vatican translation is here.  Keep in mind that they may differ both because of the translators' preferences and also because one may be based on the prepared text while the other is translated from the message as actually delivered. 

From Sea to Sea to the Ends of the Earth

ZENIT's English translation of Pope Benedict XVI's Palm Sunday homily is online here.  The Italian text is on the Vatican website here.  Here is an excerpt from ZENIT's English translation:

"Penetrating with a glance the clouds of history, we see emerge from afar in the prophecy the network of Eucharistic communities that embraces the whole world, a network of communities that constitute Jesus' "Kingdom of peace" from sea to sea to the ends of the earth. He comes to all cultures and to all parts of the world, everywhere, to the miserable huts and poor peoples, as well as to the splendor of cathedrals. Everywhere, he is the same, the Only One, and in this way, all those gathered in prayer, in communion with him, are also united among themselves in one body. Christ rules making himself our bread and giving himself to us. Thus he builds his Kingdom."

"Where Hope Lies"

The Carmelites of Indianapolis' website, praythenews.com, has featured Carmelite sisters' perspectives on events in the news for years now.  The latest is a perspective on Holy Week, drawn from an article about Holy Week that appeared in The Voice.  Sister Ruth's perspective is well worth reading:

"For too many people, there is that mistaken belief that Easter was something that happened long ago and that it's merely a once a year commemoration. A day to show off a new spring outfit, consume chocolate bunnies and revel in the joy of a spring break. But the true significance of what happened has not been totally saturated within for so many. Especially in these times of terrorist bombings, wars in distant lands, people are wondering where hope lies.

"In every age, there has been evil done by human beings in the name of God. Those who think they were doing God's will instead inflicted terror on those who had different beliefs, never realizing that these too were God's children. In the death of Jesus, those responsible must have felt they were doing the will of God in getting rid of this "troublemaker," this One who was advocating justice for the poor and the afflicted, who insisted that all people were to be held in reverence, who came with the universal message of love. Or so they thought they were going to get rid of him. But God had another plan. Truth could not be denied, justice would not wait and love was not to be squelched. The message of Easter is a message that is not confined by space and time. Karl Rahner writes in a meditation on the Easter event:

"'Easter is not the celebration of a past event. The alleluia is not for what was; Easter proclaims a beginning which has already decided the remotest future. The resurrection means that the beginning of glory has already started. And what began in that way is in process of fulfillment. Does it last long? It lasts thousands of years because at least that short space of time is needed for an incalculable plentitude of reality and history to force itself through the brief death agony of a gigantic transformation (which we call natural history and world history) to its glorious fulfillment.'

"We live in that eschatological tension that the reign of God is both realized and not yet. There is both the agony and the ecstasy, that which is fulfilled and that which is in the process of fulfillment. But in all this, there is for me, that one core belief, that the Lord is truly risen. And in believing that, believing that truly all will come to its glorious fulfillment. For as the Exultet proclaims "Christ has conquered! Glory fills you! Darkness vanishes forever!"

Reflections on the Bl. Angela of Foligno's Instruction on the Crucifixion

"He who is totally light, and from whom all light comes, and without whom there is only darkness, gave a veil the power to cover him.  He bestowed upon whips the power to beat him unmercifully.  He bestowed upon nails the power to enter and pierce the most divine hands and feet of the God who made everything.  He gave power to the gibbet, called the cross, to hold up its maker and Lord, pierced and bloodied.  He bestowed upon the sponge, the vinegar, the gall, and many insensible creatures, the power to insult their God and maker and have full dominion over him.  Finally, he bestowed upon the lance the power to enter, open and pierce his most divine side.

"These created things should have and could have been obedient to their own Lord and maker, and not to the creature who was misusing them.  But the most profound, most faithful, and totally extraordinary humility of this most high and majestic God deflates and confounds our pride-filled nothingness!  The very author of life, who alone is, wished to be annihilated and made subject to all creatures, even the insensible ones, so that you, who were dead and had become insensible to divine realities, might have life through his humility and abasement.  And you, O man, who were nothing, know that he, who alone is, has loved you with a love so pure and so faithful that solely out of love for you he wished to be annihilated, in order to give you most perfect being.

"The nails and the lance should and could have bent and not obeyed a creature’s misuse of them; and not pierced and wounded the most divine hands, feet, and side of their own Lord and maker.  They, and other insensible objects, obeyed a creature in opposition to their Lord and maker, only because they had received power over him."

- Angela of Foligno, The Book of the Blessed Angela (Instructions), Instruction XXII (an excerpt from a circular letter to her spiritual “sons”), ca. 1298 a.d., translated from the Latin by Paul Lachance, O.F.M., as published in Angela of Foligno Complete Works, Paulist Press, Classics of Western Spirituality series, c. 1993 by Paul Lachance, O.F.M., pp. 278-279.

From the Gospel for Good Friday:

"So Pilate said to him,
  “Do you not speak to me?
Do you not know that I have power to release you
  and I have power to crucify you?”
Jesus answered him,
  “You would have no power over me
  if it had not been given to you from above.
For this reason the one who handed me over to you
  has the greater sin.” (John 19:10-11)

Reflections:

There is a contrast between Jesus and Barabbas that Jesus seems to have foreseen.  The one, Jesus, was the good shepherd who gave up His life for His sheep.  The other, Barabbas, was freed in His place while Barabbas’s disciples apparently remained behind in jail (Mark 15:7).  Jesus might have been seen as a Captain, as Peter and another disciple carried swords for battle, and yet Jesus told them not to fight (John 18:11).  He presented Himself to the Roman soldiers who came with Judas and asked them to let his men go free (John 18:1-8), and they fled.  It would take a Captain to sacrifice Himself to let His disciples go free (John 18:8), and thereby they escaped death and injury while He went to the cross. 

Angela wrote near the dawn of the Italian Renaissance, when the miraculous and the artistic beauty of the faith held sway.  It is one thing to believe that Jesus could have fled silently during the night and did not do so (as might more often be observed in our own time), and quite another to believe that He could have simply commanded the nails not to pierce His flesh (Angela's observation).  Whatever excesses there were in medieval Christianity, they had great acceptance of the poetic, the beautiful and the miraculous.   In a later age, people often see primarily Christ's humanity, although they could also see his divinity.  Angela saw primarily Christ’s divinity, although she also saw His humanity.

“If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out,” we read at Luke 19:40.  Inanimate objects obey His commands.  Psalm 96:12 speaks of trees rejoicing, and Isaiah 35:1 says the desert shall rejoice.  Creation praises Him.  He who commanded the dead Lazarus to come forth from the tomb, He who healed the sick and cast out demons, could command the nails, the sword, the soldiers and the cross, but He chose not to do so.  He who had the power of God over all things, who created all things (John 1:2), chose to die in a created human body, chose to accept nails. 

His love is unfathomable.  He who said of His church “the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it,” (Matt. 16:18) also said “I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:20)  He who died for us did so out of love for us.  The good shepherd gave up His life for His sheep, and did so willingly from love.  “ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.”  (John 10:18)

The battle with Satan was won on the Cross.  Jesus cried, “It is finished,” as He died.  He is the light that shines in the darkness, “and the darkness does not comprehend it.”  (John 1:5)   He who loved us and gave up His life for us said the gates of hell will not prevail against His Church.  However dark it has sometimes seemed to be, His word prevails.  We abide, not only in growth and sunlight, but in the darkness of the battle, and He again calls His sheep by name and saves us from the wolves, when we are His instruments and when we act as fallen creatures.

He “prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground” as He prayed in Gethsemane (Luke 22:44).   He accepted the Father’s will in the crucifixion, in order to give eternal life to those who were fallen. 

Together at the table of the spotless Lamb

"Jesus told his disciples that he longed to  celebrate the Passover with them before He died.  What does this reference from the Gospel of Luke have to say to us?  I want to see us together at the table of the spotless Lamb, who is food, table, and also waiter.  The fruits on this table are the true solid virtues.  No other table bears fruit, but this one does; and its fruit is splendid and life-giving because this table is Life. 

"A groove has been beveled into this table, and this one channel flows with blood and water mixed with fire; and if you rest your eye on this channel, you can see the secret of God's heart.  I mean, the pierced side of His Son.

"This blood is a wine on which our soul gets drunk, and the more we drink, the more we want.  We're never fully satisfied becasue Christ's flesh and blood are joined with the infinite God.  Those of us who eat at this table and become like the food we eat begin to love as God does.  That's why we run enthusiastically to God's table!"

- St. Catherine of Siena, Letters, from Incandescence: 365 Readings with Women Mystics compiled by Carmen Acevedo Butcher, Paraclete Press, 2005.

"It was then that he thought himself begin to look great."

"All the four evangelists take notice of this passage of Christ's riding in triumph into Jerusalem, five days before his death. The passover was on the fourteenth day of the month, and this was the tenth; on which day the law appointed that the paschal lamb should be taken up (Exod. xii. 3), and set apart for that service; on that day therefore Christ our Passover, who was to be sacrificed for us, was publicly showed. So that this was the prelude to his passion. He had lodged at Bethany, a village not far from Jerusalem, for some time; at a supper there the night before Mary had anointed his feet, John xii. 3. But, as usual with ambassadors, he deferred his public entry till some time after his arrival. Our Lord Jesus travelled much, and his custom was to travel on foot from Galilee to Jerusalem, some scores of miles, which was both humbling and toilsome; many a dirty weary step he had when he went about doing good. How ill does it become Christians to be inordinately solicitous about their own ease and state, when their Master had so little of either! Yet once in his life he rode in triumph; and it was now when he went into Jerusalem, to suffer and die, as if that were the pleasure and preferment he courted; and then he thought himself begin to look great."

- Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706-1721), comments on Matthew 21:1-11, first published 1721, Christian Classics Ethereal Library.