“Easter Sunday” Painting By: Ronald Raab, CSC

Dear Believers in the Risen Christ,

On this glorious day of Resurrection, I wish all of you a heartfelt and loving Easter Day. This is the day that suffering and death give way to new life. Jesus Christ is Risen! Welcome to our parish community if you are here for the first time and thank you to those who are long time parishioners and friends.

Today’s gospel (John 20:1-9) helps us enter into the scene of Jesus’ Resurrection. Mary Magdalene, Peter and John find the tomb of Jesus empty. They had journeyed with their friend in his condemnation, his crucifixion and his death. They could not let go of the one they loved. Imagine then going to the tomb and not finding Jesus. They must have felt helpless and afraid.

Mary Magdalene was the first to proclaim the Resurrection. She was considered voiceless because she was a woman. She was considered a person without power or credibility because of her place in the community as a woman and a follower of Jesus. She testified to the empty tomb and people believed her! This is another miracle embedded in this sacred text of the gospel.

Jesus’ Resurrection means that a new imagination if possible Incredible things can happen even when we are discouraged or have lost our way. Something new is possible because we share in Jesus’ new life in our own baptism. Easter is a festival of Jesus’ new life but it is also a festival of our own share in it. We renew our baptismal promises so to proclaim to others that something new is possible. Love, hope, compassion and mercy are at the heart of our new life in Christ Jesus.

Easter is about a new imagination of our faith. If Christianity is to survive in our culture, then we are to re-image how we live. Christianity cannot be complacent or lethargic. Following Jesus is more than a strict adherence to rules or to be obsessed about the past. A new imagination means we are to rely on the Holy Spirit in the new issues of our lives. We are to take to heart the love of God and live in creative and beautiful ways.

I want to build our communities on such imagination. I see this when we step out of our comfort zones and serve people who most need the basics of life. I witness this when our poetry class offers new insights and healing about the past, about the childhoods of the poets. I see this new life in our art class when color, shape, shading, nuance and composition shows us a new facet about our skills and opens us up to potential. Our friends who are receiving the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and Eucharist in this Easter season give us all hope for our future.

How can you participate in the new imagination of Jesus’ Resurrection? What do you have to lose?

Easter peace and blessings,

Fr. Ron

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

On the Margins from Mater Dei Radio, Portland, OR

Easter Sunday: John 20:1-9

We are connected to Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection through our baptism. New life is possible. We can re-imagine our lives in Jesus’ love for us. We can be changed, healed and forgiven because we are loved by God. Mary Magdalene shows us that a powerless woman can become the messenger for God’s love and hope.

Good Friday 2017: “Mary holding Jesus”  Painting using only a rag, Ronald Raab,CSC

Verse Before The Gospel PHIL 2:8-9

Christ became obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name which is above every other name.

Holy Thursday 2017: Painting using a rag: Ronald Raab,CSC

Gospel JN 13:1-15

Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come
to pass from this world to the Father.
He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.
The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over.
So, during supper,
fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power
and that he had come from God and was returning to God,
he rose from supper and took off his outer garments.
He took a towel and tied it around his waist.
Then he poured water into a basin
and began to wash the disciples’ feet
and dry them with the towel around his waist.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him,
“Master, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“What I am doing, you do not understand now,
but you will understand later.”
Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered him,
“Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”
Simon Peter said to him,
“Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.”
Jesus said to him,
“Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed,
for he is clean all over;
so you are clean, but not all.”
For he knew who would betray him;
for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

So when he had washed their feet
and put his garments back on and reclined at table again,
he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you?
You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.
If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet,
you ought to wash one another’s feet.
I have given you a model to follow,
so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

Holy Week 2017: Painting using only a rag: Ronald Raab, CSC

GospelJN 13:21-33, 36-38

Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant.
One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved,
was reclining at Jesus’ side.
So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant.
He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him,
“Master, who is it?”
Jesus answered,
“It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.”
So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas,
son of Simon the Iscariot.
After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him.
So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him.
Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him,
“Buy what we need for the feast,”
or to give something to the poor.
So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.

When he had left, Jesus said,
“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself,
and he will glorify him at once.
My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.
You will look for me, and as I told the Jews,
‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.”

Simon Peter said to him, “Master, where are you going?”
Jesus answered him,
“Where I am going, you cannot follow me now,
though you will follow later.”
Peter said to him,
“Master, why can I not follow you now?
I will lay down my life for you.”
Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me?
Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow
before you deny me three times.”

“The anointer” Painting: Ronald Raab, CSC 2017

Gospel JN 12:1-11

Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany,
where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served,
while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him.
Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil
made from genuine aromatic nard
and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair;
the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples,
and the one who would betray him, said,
“Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages
and given to the poor?”
He said this not because he cared about the poor
but because he was a thief and held the money bag
and used to steal the contributions.
So Jesus said, “Leave her alone.
Let her keep this for the day of my burial.
You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came,
not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus,
whom he had raised from the dead.
And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too,
because many of the Jews were turning away
and believing in Jesus because of him.

Palm Sunday and Holy Week: Painting: Ronald Raab, CSC

CLICK HERE to read this bulletin

Dear Believers in the Christ,

Today begins “Holy Week”, the most important week in our Church calendar. We enter into the formal rituals that provide the foundation of our faith in the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Savior.

I invite you with all my heart to pray with us this week. The grace of these rituals, prayers, scriptures and liturgies change us as people by showing us how to follow Jesus. We have been preparing all of Lent to better enter into the mystery of our baptism and to more closely follow the suffering and joy of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Our faith is not a private devotion. Our faith builds us up as the Church, as the People of God. Community heals us. When we pray together with these ancient practices, our lives are formed into love and we learn to serve others based on the love God has for us. Pray with integrity this week. Pray as if you have never prayed before. Pray with your doubt. Pray with your anger about your family. Pray with all the divisions in our country and world. Pray and trust that God can offer you what you need. Pray.

The “Triduum” liturgies express the core of our faith. We begin on Holy Thursday. The Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper gives us a glimpse into Jesus’ love and service. This is the night in which we received the Eucharist itself. On the night before he died, Jesus gave us his continuing Real Presence. Jesus’ presence, however, does not stop at the Church door. Jesus also showed us how to wash feet, a ritual that remains within the liturgy on this holy night. He shows us how to heal people with love, acceptance and hospitality. He shows us that humility must be at the core of our service as the Church. I invite you to reflect on how Jesus washes your feet and your own call to wash the feet of other people in need.

Good Friday or Friday of the Passion of the Lord invites us to enter the mystery of Jesus’ passion and death. Jesus took on himself the sacrifice for our lives and sins. This day is a solemn experience of death but calls us deeply into hope. We know as Christians that death does not have the last word. However, suffering in our world is real and tangible. People starve for food and housing. People experience the brutality of war and violence, shootings and addictions, slander and hopelessness. All suffering is brought to the Cross of Christ. The Cross is our Only Hope.

Holy Saturday, the Easter Vigil in the Night of Easter is a glorious night! On this night we bless the new fire and bless the Easter Candle used for the entire year. We welcome those who have been preparing for Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist to the Church! This is the night of Resurrection. This is our faith!

Blessings to you as enter the magnificence and mystery of this Holy Week.

Fr. Ron

On the Margins: Palm Sunday, April 9, 2017

LISTEN NOW: CLICK HERE

We begin Holy Week. I invite you into the celebrations of our deepest longings in Jesus Christ.

“In my distress I called upon the Lord,…” Painting: Ronald Raab, CSC

Responsorial Psalm Ps 18:2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 7

R. (see 7) In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
The breakers of death surged round about me,
the destroying floods overwhelmed me;
The cords of the nether world enmeshed me,
the snares of death overtook me.
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
In my distress I called upon the LORD
and cried out to my God;
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.