Feverishly working on the book manuscript!
Here are my Good Friday posts from the last two years. . .please, forgive my re-posting.
Rejoice! He is dead! (2006)
Today death dies (2007)
2008? I was on a mission-trip with U.D. students during Holy Week.
think I should get some more rest....I read that post as 2 good Friday Homilies...as opposed to 2 bad Friday Homilies or 2 mediocre Friday Homilies.
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter.
Can't wait till tomorrow night!!
Please pray for my pastor who died of a massive heart attack last night immediately after the Mass of Our Lord's Supper.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of UD, what do you think of Dr. Lazarus retiring?
ReplyDeleteBen,
ReplyDeleteI was a little surprised. But then I counted up the years he has been at UD...seven, right? Seems like a good number.
Unfortunately, his retirement leaves the "UD in the Jesuit tradition" faction of the Board with opportunity to install one of their own. Let's hope the Good Guys win.
Flap,
ReplyDeleteYour pastor's name?
Mom,
I'm very excited for you! I know you are too. I'll be praying for you.
These homilies are very good, very meaningful.
ReplyDelete(2006) "Rejoice that He freely accepted this pain for you, instead of you... Give thanks!... Our Savior is dead."
(2007) "It is better that we rejoice! Breathe in relief! It is better that we laugh and praise God and sing and dance! But black mourning? No. Regret? Absolutely not. How about a kiss of humble gratitude? To touch the cross not with sorrow but with thanksgiving? Our Savior is dead."
I'm remembering a conversation with someone who had become truly angry at the unjust brutality to Jesus. His emotional reaction reminded me then of the passage in Scripture where Peter rejected the news that Jesus should suffer and then die. "God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you." Jesus said, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." Matt.16:22-23.
Ah yes... thinking like a human... an obstacle... ouch...
That Christ allowed the unjust brutality is fundamental. Indeed, the Father planned it. As unnatural and difficult as it can be to imagine much less accept the unjust brutality - it is our challenge to not only accept it but to embrace it fully with thanksgiving. Anything less constitutes rejection of the whole Him which diminishes our potential in Him and for Him because, I'm thinking, anything less prevents the fullest measure of humility in us.
A side question.
Father, I'd really like to know - is there a correct or official term in our faith language for the phenomena of Christ's point of death or 'passing' - denoting the triumph inherent in it and the power unleashed by it?
Aspiring,
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know we refer to that moment as the Consummation. I don't think there's another name...but "consummation" is quite loaded with meaning.
Glad you liked the homilies...thanks!