2020-04-09
– Holy Thursday _
[_01_] This past Sunday evening, I talked with a friend in his
living room, in the living room of his house in New York, in New York state,
north of the city in Westchester County in the suburbs, from all different
places talking to him from New York, Jersey, CT, PA, DE, New Orleans (LA).
He was in his living room.
Usually, when I talk to my friend at his house, I am never
in the living room because I visit him in the summer and he has a nice stone patio
outside and we sit there.
This time we were in the living room. Just a few days ago,
imagine that we all went to N.Y. And, it’s so dangerous !
[_02_] We were there, at least virtually
– electronically – connected there in the living room having gathered for this
virtual “dinner party” via a ZOOM video conference call.
The word “ZOOM” is a brand name for an electronic screen on
a computer where people can meet up and talk to each other. You may have heard
of Skype or FaceTime….it’s all the same idea.
We were together via “Zoom” in his living room in New York.
[_03_] I am using this as a metaphor and of
what it means to see or have a vision for something and someone beyond our
current position and situation.
These electronic devices – such as Skype or Zoom – help us
to see beyond our current place in the
world, to see another place.
[_04_] (Next
part, Bibliography: John Henry Newman, Parochial
and Plain Sermons, Book III, Sermon 6, “Faith and Obedience”, p. 535)
John Henry Newman wrote that FAITH
(F as in Franklin -
A –I –T - H)
is that practical
perception of the unseen world, it is to understand that the world we see is
not enough for our happiness, to look beyond this world towards God, to realize
His presence, to wait upon Him and to endeavor to learn to do his will, and
seek our good from Him. (J.H. Newman, Parochial &
Plain Sermons, Book III, Sermon 6, “Faith & Obedience”, p. 535)
[_05_] That’s faith. It’s a struggle to do
that. It’s a struggle for Jesus himself, faith would be required of him, in
accepting the cross, accepting not only the physical pain of bearing the cross,
but also the emotional pain of being betrayed,
abandoned by His friends.
Jesus was invited to see in the next
world, the next life, though he was at the moment of his arrest and trial, very
much in this world, in our world, in a human body, in human form.
Of course, Jesus did not have a
computer/phone to see what was coming next. He had faith and a profound
relationship with His Father, God the Father in heaven.
[***
PAUSE ***]
[_06_] I’d like to reflect on Holy
Thursday, the liturgy of Holy Thursday, specifically what we mean by belief in
the Word of God.
Now, at every Mass in church at the Mass of the Lord’s
Supper, at Sunday Mass, we might think of the Mass in 2 distinct parts:
The READING at MASS (Part 1)
The RECEIVING at MASS (Part 2)
And, you know to find and participate
in the READINGS. In church, at Lourdes, we turn in our books to a specific page
for the First Reading or Second Reading.
However, at every Mass we do not just
read the word, we RECEIVE the Word. Jesus is the Word made flesh whom we
consume.
We might say that in the vows of
Marriage, of Matrimony, the spouses do not simply read and say words …they
consume and are nourished by each other’s words.
“This
is my body given up for you” is not just meant to be words of the priest at
the altar but also the words of spouses to each other, of mothers and fathers
laying down their lives for their children. We are all receiving and being
nourished by each other’s words.
Jesus takes this word – this vow – to
its highest degree by giving up his life on the cross.
[_07_] Now, one of the things that can
happen at Mass is that we are really quite interested and focused on the
READING of the Word (Part 1) because these readings change explicitly every
day. On the other hand, it seems that
RECEIVING of the Word (Part 2 or Holy Communion) is the same day in and day
out.
I invite you to consider during this long time of fasting
from receiving Holy Communion that while God is the same, we are not the same
receiving Him each day.
There is a different aspect of the Christ’s dying and rising
we need to receive each day.
The Paschal Mystery word for us is that Christ has died,
Christ is risen, Christ will come again.
[_08_] In the COVID 19 crisis, we are called to faith, to see beyond
our living room, bedroom, kitchen table, but also to a faith beyond this world.
And, when the priest raises the host in the Liturgy of the
Eucharist, we are called to a life beyond this world.
And even if you do not believe very strongly right now or
you are having trouble believing or praying, please know that you can lean on
and trust in the prayers of the community of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, even
though we are not physically together, we are spiritually together.
And, Jesus our Lord believes in you and gave his life to
help you see beyond your current situation.
We are all in this together.
Are there not people in your life – living or deceased – it
could be your mother, brother, spouse, sister, brother, child, grandparent,
best friend who helps you to see beyond this world or helps you to see beyond a
current tough or bad situation.
Give thanks for that person. That person was and is key
part of the Body of Christ to you.
Now is the time to remember we are in this together as the
Communion of Saints, of holy ones, not only those whom we miss seeing at Mass
at Our Lady of Lourdes, but also those whom we miss due to their death and
passing from this world.
We are in this together as the Communion of Saints.
[_09_] I had an uncle who died in 2011..
This uncle – my mother’s brother – named Joseph – was equally supportive of my
own priesthood and my own life in general. I have a wonderful mother and
father, my uncle and his wife my aunt have also been great father and mother
figures to me. I always appreciated my uncle’s work ethic, his values,
everything.
One time, I recall that I was going through a tough time
and shared it with him. I do not recall the specifics but only that he said:
“James, you can do it. You have what it takes. All you have
to do is SURVIVE.”
I remember that in tough times – all I have to do is
survive. All we have to do is SURVIVE.
Has not someone said something similar to you in your life?
All you have to do is survive.
You have to survive your addiction, survive your current
problem, survive the sin you committed, survive the sin committed against you.
And, we do not survive on our own strength and might, but
we survive by trusting, by faith in God’s saving mercy.
Jesus died so that we might survive in this life and in the
next.
This faith also invites us to prepare not just externally
but also internally.
And, perhaps, this Holy Week without public Mass in church
is a reminder that we prepare for Mass first at home.
We prepare to go to Mass even while we are at home.
And that is what you are doing really well right now.. you
are preparing each day to go to Mass and you are at home.
You may feel like saying, “Hey I am all dressed up with no
place to go…. No… you have a place to go….”
You have a place to go, a person to meet. I’d like to close
with an example.
[_10_] So, in the beginning of this
reflection, I talked about this little virtual dinner party I attended with
friends, one of whom lives outside the city, in Westchester. Westchester and
New York are in a state of emergency, as we are, but more severe.
One morning, last week, my friend awoke and prepared for hi
work day. He washed up, got dressed, put on a dress shirt and a necktie and
went to the kitchen.
His wife, absolutely astonished at his attire said, “what
are you doing? Where are you going? Why are you dressed up?”
To which he responded, “I have a meeting this morning”
His wife: “What do you mean? You can’t go to a meeting.”
So, why was my friend dressed up? Was he dressed up with no
place to go?
Not really – his meeting was not in NYC but rather on a
computer screen from his living room.
All the preparation was internal, interior, in his own
house.
I hope and pray Holy Week and Holy Thursday and these days
of Easter will help us to prepare in our own rooms, where the Father who sees
in secret will repay us and the Father who gathers us as his family.
Our Lady of Lourdes, pray
for us.
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