Holy Wood

Good Friday

Behold the Wood of the Cross, On Which is Hung our Salvation

Every Good Friday we practice a peculiar form of devotion. We venerate the cross, usually with a kiss. This practice goes back to the 5^th century in Jerusalem, after St. Helen is said to have discovered the true cross of Christ and brought it back to Rome. Since that time Christians have venerated probably the most heinous torture device ever devised by man. It must seem strange to non-Catholics to see us bend down and kiss a piece of wood. We ourselves may feel awkward doing it. It doesn’t seem natural. We’d rather pray before a beautiful statue or painting, not a symbol of death.

We don’t like the cross. We don’t like to confront our own suffering and death. We don’t like to be reminded of the example Jesus set for us on Calvary. Jesus didn’t like the cross, either. He asked his Father to take that particular cup from him. It is the only time in scripture where Jesus asked his Father to not do something. But he embraced the cross when it became clear that it was the Father’s will that he do so. 

We don’t understand the cross, but Jesus did. He didn’t see it as an instrument of humiliation. He saw it as the path to his ultimate glorification. He didn’t think of it as a method of torture. He saw it as a way to draw our own sufferings into his and so give them great meaning and purpose. He didn’t see a means of execution. He knew that through his death he would destroy death forever. He did not see it as the end of life, but the beginning of eternal life. Without his death there could be no resurrection.

Jesus said that if we are to be his followers we are to pick up our crosses and follow him. He never said we had to die with him, only treat our daily crosses as he treated his. Once Jesus accepted the will of his Father to pick up that cross, he used it as a tool for conversion and ultimately the salvation of the world. We are called to do the same. 

Consider the people who were affected by Jesus’ Way of the Cross. There was Pilate’s wife. The women of Jerusalem. Veronica. Simon of Cyrene. The Roman Centurian. The Good Thief. The Beloved Disciple. Mary and the women at the foot of the cross.  All were changed forever by what they experienced that day. It wasn’t Jesus’ words that necessarily changed their lives, it was the action of the cross. 

If we are to be his disciples we must pick up our cross daily and follow him. It is through our individual crosses that we can change the world. Our example in how we handle the suffering in our lives can be the most powerful conversion tool in the world, far stronger than our words of testimony. Jesus’ detractors wanted to see him humbled in the dust. They did not want him to get up and continue on. They wanted to see him defeated. They were watching to see how he would react. 

People are watching us, just as the crowds watched Jesus. People who are hostile to our faith watch most closely of all. They are waiting for us to stumble and fall, and they want us to stay on the ground. How will we react?

Who are the people in our own Vias Delorosas? Can our own submission to the will of our Father cause someone to be so disturbed that they choose to believe? Can those who pray for us find strength in our weakness? Can the stranger who helps us when no one else will be left with an indelible mark of our humility on their hearts? Will the reluctant unbeliever be inspired by our cross to go out and help others? Will the incorrigible sinner come to the Lord for mercy for the first time in his life? Will those who persecute us ultimately come to believe that Jesus truly is the Son of God? Will our own families and those closest to us draw strength from our strength?

Suffering is a part of life. We will all be touched by it in some way or another. How we deal with our suffering will determine its ultimate value. Will we allow it to wear us down and destroy us, or will we see it as Jesus saw his, as a tool to bring souls to salvation? 

It all comes down to the cross. Will we embrace it or reject it? Behold the wood of the cross. Without it there can be no salvation. 

O come, let us adore.

Holy Poverty

Holy Thursday

Pope Francis has quickly set out a major theme of his papacy, that of focusing on the poor. He says the church must both serve the poor and be poor itself. He speaks of two kinds of poverty – material poverty and poverty of spirit. Tonight we see Jesus being truly poor, and giving us the example to be the same. Jesus uses the most extreme example of servility – washing the dirt and grime of the streets off someone’s feet – to show us how we are to view and treat others.

Archbishop George Niederauer once said that Eucharist is what takes place on the top of the altar; foot washing is what happens underneath the altar. Both the Eucharist and foot washing are sacrifices, and one cannot take place without the other. Jesus feeds us with the real food of bread and wine yet we are most fully fed spiritually with his body and blood.

Tonight Jesus shows us, his disciples, that his sacrifice was one of great service. He took the place of the lowliest slave in service to his friends just before he gave them himself in the most intimate way possible, as real food and drink. And he then gave himself to them completely the next day when he suffered and died for our sins. 

There is a wonderful prayer in the Rite of Marriage that prays, “For the hungry poor and the hungry rich”. Everyone hungers, some for food and some for something more. Even the richest people in the world need Jesus, oftentimes more so than those who go to bed hungry every night. Jesus once told the rich young man that in order to live the kingdom of God he must first sell all he had and give it to the poor. Jesus wasn’t telling him that his possessions were in and of themselves bad, but that his attachment to them was keeping him from seeing that the true path to salvation is in serving others. Our attachment needs to be to people, not things.

When we meet the physical needs of someone, we also meet their spiritual needs, don’t we? No matter how small the gesture, we are showing them that someone cares, that there is hope, and that they have value, no matter how many possessions they may have. With Jesus, both the giver and the receiver are fed. Wonderfully, it is in service to others that we ourselves are served. When we meet the physical needs of others, are own spiritual needs are filled, whether we are aware of it at the time or not. What Jesus is telling us tonight is that if we serve others consciously aware that it is our duty to do so as disciples, we reap even greater grace and its benefits. And the chief result of serving others is peace. 

I think perhaps Pope Francis was thinking of this when he chose his name. St. Francis was the saint of holy poverty, not just poverty in goods but poverty in spirit. As it says in his wonderful prayer:

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.

Great Expectations

1^st Sunday of Lent

Cycle C

This morning we hear once again the famous story of Jesus’ temptation in the desert. Jesus entered that desert with thirty years of life under his belt. He had grown up influenced by the beliefs of his day. His religious, social, and political views had been formed during his everyday life in Nazareth. Like his neighbors, Jesus was looking to the end times, when the Messiah would come. The Jews had certain expectations of what the Messiah would be and what he would do when he came. Jesus knew those expectations. He knew what the Jews were looking for in the Messiah, he just didn’t know how they were going to handle the reality of the Messiah.

Jesus must have been tempted to live up to the expectations of the Jews. If he gave them what they wanted, they would accept him and welcome his message. They would find comfort there and everything would be alright. Life could be easy, and isn’t that what everyone wanted?

Jesus knew that the messiah was expected to be a great king, of the line of David, Israel’s greatest king, and that his reign would never end. He knew that kings were supposed to be rich and powerful. He had read the stories of king Solomon, who was richer than any king in history. Jesus knew the people expected the messiah to have all these things and more, and he knew that he had the power to turn these very stones into…what? Anything he wanted. Jesus could have riches and material things like no one had ever seen before. When Satan tempted him to turn “these stones” into bread, what do you think was all around him? Stones as far as the eye could see. What things Jesus could have! If he had more riches than any person on earth surely people would recognize him for who we was.

Jesus knew that the people expected the messiah to be the most powerful king the world had ever seen. Kings and queens from all other nations on earth would come to Jerusalem to bow down before him. That would be the sign that Israel had taken its rightful place once again as God’s chosen people. Jesus knew he had the power to subdue the political forces of the day. He knew he had an army of angels at his beck and call. If that’s what the people wanted, he could give it to them. It would be so easy. No one could withstand his terrible glory.

Jesus knew that the people were expecting the messiah to be someone very special, someone above ordinary people. The messiah would be kind and merciful, but he would also be aloof and unapproachable, just like a king should be. Sort of a distant father figure, not like them. He would be proud and grave. Jesus could be that sort of messiah. That’s what the people expected, that’s the messiah they would respond to.

Jesus was tempted to give them what they wanted. What they got instead was unexpected. Jesus challenged their expectations. He showed them that the messiah wasn’t about riches and power and glory. He showed them that the messiah was about suffering and death, and redemption.

In place of a rich man, they got someone who didn’t accumulate material goods; in fact, he didn’t even have a place to call his own. He didn’t worry about what to eat or to wear, he didn’t care about earthly power. In place of a king with an army of angels, Jesus had twelve poor men like himself, one of whom went so far as to betray him. Instead of a proud, haughty king they got a humble carpenter who wouldn’t even defend himself at his trial. Someone compassionate who healed with a touch and gathered children around him.

Jesus turned their world upside down. Everything was backwards. How could they have been so wrong?

Things haven’t changed much. We also have certain expectations of the messiah. The messiah we seek today doesn’t ask much of us, does he, because we really don’t want that kind of messiah. Today, it seems that the messiah we seek is someone who will be there when we need him, but doesn’t challenge us very much. We pray to him for the things we need when we need them, but the rest of the time he’s just a picture on the wall or a piece of jewelry around our necks. We enjoy hearing stories about how much God loves us no matter what we do. We like to hear stories of Jesus’ miracles and compassion. It really doesn’t matter if we sin, because we’re forgiven.

We like these stories because we’ve reduced the Messiah down to a warm fuzzy friend who’s non-threatening. We fit Jesus into our individualistic lives. It’s all about me, so I like the messiah who’s all about me, but don’t ask me to truly follow him. After all, Jesus wants me to take up my cross daily. Don’t ask me to actually change my life. Don’t challenge me to turn from my sinfulness. Gimme but don’t ask me to give.

We’re often tempted the same way Jesus was, to live up to the expectations of others. The difference is that we give into our temptations, while Jesus didn’t. We work so very hard to turn our stones into bread, or plasma TVs or x-boxes. We have so much food that most of us are considered overweight. We don’t have to go without, so why should we? Society expects us to consume, so we do.

We seek power over others. We’re expected to strive to get ahead and exert our will over others, in our families, in our careers, in our communities, as a nation. We seek prestige and accolades. We all want to be the American Idol and get our fifteen minutes of fame, or infamy. We revel in the celebrity of others. It doesn’t matter if a person leads a moral life or not, just so long as they’re on TV, they’re our heroes.

Everything has been turned upside down. How could we have been so wrong?

Harsh stuff. But this is Lent, and Lent is supposed to be a time of purification and enlightenment. Purification can be painful. Enlightenment can be challenging. When you pray this Lent, what kind of Messiah will you find? When you go deep within yourself this Lent, what kind of person will you encounter?

Will either of them live up to your expectations?