Holy Week 2016

Today’s Gospel

John 12:1-11

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“Crucifixion” by Ronald Raab, CSC 2015

I beg you to bend your knee to the dying and rising of Jesus Christ. This is the week when we tell the story of our faith. There is no other story that will satisfy our hearts or offer us the consolation we are looking for. Rouse your faith this week even if you are weighed down by life.  Stand up for what you believe even if your conscience is weak. Be present to the prayers and liturgies of this week. Be present to the emptiness and pain of your own hearts.

If you find yourself ensnared with hopelessness or if your life does not measure up to your own dreams, walk the redemptive journey to Christ this week. If you are addicted to pornography and power, then walk the way of powerlessness this week in our faith. If you do not get along with your children or have grown tired and angry taking care of your elderly parents, rest in the healing power of Jesus as he washed the disciples’ feet.

If you cannot bear the suffering of young girls and boys caught in human trafficking, then adore the cross of Christ where all suffering finds a home. If you are tired of violence and constant weariness, if you are angry about your spouse coming home from war, crippled and uncertain, then find your home under the shelter of Christ Crucified. If you want another chance with your estranged son, then pray to the Father of heaven and earth. If you have lost your way in your relationships, follow the path of this ancient story.

If you hesitate to believe then listen to Peter and Judas who turned away from Jesus. If your children are burdened by disease, depression and despair, then turn to Mary, the Mother of Jesus, who held the body of her dead son. Wipe the tears from your eyes this week if you are tied to the bedside of your sick child or your spouse with terminal disease. Believe in the story of Jesus and do not think that the story is stuck between the pages of the Bible or hidden in the silence of the pious.

I beg you to walk with Jesus this week. There is no other place to go, no other story that makes sense, no other story that will console the heart. Bend your knee toward heaven. Offer your heart to God again. Enter into the mystery of your suffering and for heaven’s sake be honest about your life and your need for mercy, consolation and peace. Tell the truth about the turmoil of your life and live openly toward God. This is our faith. This is place where new life can happen. This is the story of our conversion, toward the heart of Christ Jesus, in this week we call “Holy”.

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

In this Year of Mercy, we begin the most solemn and sacred celebrations of our Church year this week. The central point of our faith is Christ’s passion, death and resurrection. These liturgies are viewed as one liturgy reminding us how to live our faith in the world, to live as people of hope. These liturgies express the consoling mercy of God through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. There is no other point of our yearly celebrations of Eucharist. In Christ’s resurrection we find our home here on earth.

The Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper:

We begin the Sacred Triduum on Holy Thursday at Sacred Heart at 7:00pm. There is only one liturgy celebrated on Holy Thursday in every parish. In the Tri-Community, we unite on this night to celebrate the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper. During this Mass, twelve members of our community will offer their feet to be washed as Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, helping us pray the connection of prayer and service.

Washing feet is an act of justice that we live in our world. We care for the dignity of every human person from this simple action. Take to heart how you wash feet of your loved ones and serve people in every act of consolation and mercy.

The Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper concludes by processing with the Eucharist out of the church and to an altar of repose. This gesture reveals the presence of Christ from the Last Supper and into the garden of Gethsemane before his death. The alter area is stripped of all non-essentials and the Real Presence of Christ is taken away. In our community, we will process to the parish center where there will be time for Adoration until 9:45pm, followed by Night Prayer.

Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion:

The second Triduum liturgy takes place at Sacred Heart Church at 3:00pm on Good Friday. This is the traditional time for this Holy Week liturgy. During this sacred prayer we proclaim Christ’s death from the Gospel of John. This is the only day of our entire year that Mass is not celebrated. Eucharist is distributed from the consecrated hosts from Holy Thursday. We also pray the longest intercessory prayers of the year. This liturgy recalls our need for God amid the violence, heartache, and loss of our lives. We hold up to Christ the wars, the torture and issues of our world that seem to bring us to despair. We kiss the cross after our Lenten journey, remembering how the Church reached out and marked our lives with the cross of ashes. We pray for the weak and vulnerable. We leave this liturgy in silence as we wait together for new life and resurrection.

The Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter:

We begin the Easter Vigil at 8:00pm on Holy Saturday evening. This Mass is highlight of all of our yearlong liturgies. We begin in darkness and bless the new fire. We bless the Paschal Candle that will be used throughout the year. We proclaim our salvation history with scriptures, sung palms and prayer. We proclaim Christ’s Resurrection from the dead with words from the holy and ancient Gospel. We bless water and welcome those adults who have been preparing all year for baptism. We anoint these holy men and women with the Chrism oil in the Sacrament of Confirmation. We welcome them to the Table of Eucharist for the first time. This is the night! This is the meaning of our Church in Christ’s Resurrection! We belong together in Christ’s love, resurrection and hope for all God’s people.

Morning Prayer of the Sacred Triduum:

I also want to invite you to Morning Prayer on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday at 8:00am. NO MORNING MASS is celebrated on these holy days. Members of our staff will preach during our Morning Prayer. Holy Thursday: Rob Plush Good Friday: Sister Mary, Holy Saturday: Fr. Ron. Please join us for this simple sung liturgy.

Pope Francis invites us into the heart of Jesus’ love and mercy. Please pray for the needs of the world this week. The Church is depending on you to receive the love God has for you this week. Ask for what you need. Pray for reconciliation and peace. Make our faith mean something new for you. Invoke the Holy Spirit. Get involved in prayer. The mercy of God is for the most stubborn of heart, the gravest sins and the most profound misunderstandings.

Let us collect our prayer together in a holy longing during this week. Pray for those who have given up on faith. Pray for all who carry burdens that are too heavy for the human heart. Pray for all who are marginalized and who carry their secret burdens. Pray for our families who may be separated by the lack of forgiveness and stubbornness. Pray for our elderly who may live in fear. Pray for our children who look to God and us for inspiration and hope for the future. Pray for our parish community, for our future, that we may use our rich talents and daily prayer to continue to invigorate God’s Kingdom on earth.

Blessings and peace during this sacred week,

Fr. Ron

On the Margins: Mater Dei Radio, Portland, OR

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord: Luke 19:28-40

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Welcome to Holy Week. Are you prepared to enter into the mystery of our faith, a week long journey into the passion, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus? Bring everything in your heart to this holy time; the misery and hardships; the love and healing in your lives to the mercy of the Lord. We celebrate today the entry of the Lord to Jerusalem. Ready your lives and hearts.

Fr. Virgilio Elizondo, one of San Antonio’s most accomplished and beloved Catholic priests whose work brought him recognition in Latin America and Europe and an esteemed faculty position at the University of Notre Dame, died of a self-inflicted gunshot at his home Monday afternoon...CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY

Today’s gospel says… Jesus said to the Jews:
“Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever keeps my word will never see death.”

Fr. Virgilio taught at the University of Notre Dame. He was a champion for people on the margins of society. He had an accusation against him of sexual misconduct. At 80, his suicide crushes many people in our Church and the news leads us to the consolation of Jesus, the only place we can go.

CLICK HERE FOR AN ARTICLE ON SUICIDE AND THE ELDERLY

“through perseverance” finger painting: Ronald Raab, CSC

Gospel Acclamation: Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance. (Luke8:15)

Today’s gospel (John 8:31-42) invites us to examine to live the truth of Jesus and that truth will set us free. I invite you as we approach Palm Sunday to pray through the truth of your own life. So often we pretend to be something we are not. We pretend to live in self-sufficiency when our hearts are breaking to reach out to Jesus in faith and to the lives of other believers. We pretend to have all the answers in life when we know we are lost and afraid. We hide from our lack of faith and we struggle to admit our real need for help in our lives in so many ways. The Lenten season invites us to empty our hearts in the truth and abundance of Jesus’ life within us.

I invite you to the core of your faith and need for God. Let us be aware that we can not grow with abundance unless we face the truth of our lives and the truth of our God. We will live the Word in life from the depths of truth, justice and hope.

1. How can you discover the Word of God today, the word that harvests love in you?
2. Can you sit today with all of the ways in which you do not face the truth in your life?
3. How does the Word of God bring you truth and freedom?
4. How does the death and resurrection of Jesus enable you to grow, change, persevere and bear witness to love and truth in our world?

Here is another chapter of Bread and Concrete: Connecting Sacraments and Service that was not published in Ministry and Liturgy Magazine last year. Today’s gospel (John 8:12-20) gives us again the words of Jesus, “I am the light of the world.” These reflections are from my time and experiences at Saint Andre Bessette Church in Portland, OR

Searching for Light

“While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9

            Two large darkened-brass candlesticks stand together on the right side of the wooden altar for most of the liturgical year. Another candlestick balances the light on the left side of the ambo. These accessories were hand-me-downs from when the parish was in one of its previous five locations within the neighborhood. These become the holders for 19-inch beeswax candles that I purchase from a family owned religious goods store in Portland.

When I began at the parish, two sisters owned the shop, and the able-bodied sister died some years ago. The surviving sister who sells the candles is physically disabled and always seemed to be in the shadow of her business-savvy sibling. She is a great worrier about every detail having inherited the business responsibilities. She never expected to shine on the frontlines of her shop, now everything depends on her. Her gifts are being drawn out from the darkness of her shadowing her sister for her entire life. I drive to the southeast end of town a few times a year to pick up supplies from the business. I am always grateful that I order all of our liturgical supplies from a woman who so struggles to make ends meet. She has overcome so many issues to sell me a few cases of candles, a bag of ashes, a box of palms and the paschal candle for another liturgical year.

Our paschal candle usually stands at the baptismal font near the entrance of the church. However, in the past few years, I have stored the darkened-brass stand and candle in the closet in the chapel after the Easter season. Many times during these past few years people with mental illness have come into our chapel and immediately lit the paschal candle and played with the flame. The flame has been left overnight on several occasions. Even the flame of Christ can also be a hazard in our building.

Sometimes people will come into the chapel before Mass and play with the lit flames at the altar. People are drawn to the flames, especially when the lights are dim and the chapel is quiet just before Mass begins. We all watch carefully that no person gets hurt or that a fire does not erupt, but sometimes people act out quickly and the danger of fire is imminent. We never know when a person surviving the darkness of long-term mental illness or addiction will lash out, shout out or want to play with the flame on the candle or steal the large candlestick. I have seen this happen on several occasions and I am grateful no person has been hurt or that no fire has been set in our windowless chapel.

I admit I do not blame people for wanting to play with the flickering flame. People live in such darkness and dreariness every day. Even the clothing people wear is dark. Their only belongings are in dark colored backpacks and duffel bags. People also want life to change. Even people who have never been in a church before understand that there is something very meaningful, something very holy, and something that curses the darkness at the altar when the candles are lit. So many people are searching our neighborhood for such a light.

Our block is nestled in neon at night. Flames of artificial light draw music lovers from the suburbs. Prostitutes follow the lights of a car slowing down around the block. Some male prostitutes follow the lit cigarettes of guys hanging out at the bar on the other corner of our block. So many lights gather people into dimly lit spaces of the nightclubs and bars all along our neighborhood.

There are many promises that long to be made in the candlelight of a bar. People believe that the nighttime will bring relief from suffering. So many people obsessively believe that alcohol, sex and drugs will all be the light that everyone is looking for in life. Hook-ups made in the dark seldom work out. Binging in candlelight seldom relieves loneliness. Drug deals on dimly lit corners will not take the darkness away. Selling a body in stilettos does not curse the lonely, nighttime fear. It is no wonder that in daylight, people wander into our dark prayer space searching for promises that will set them free. The hangover seeks a new, healing light during the day. The shame-filled act needs a new light even in the dimly lit confessional. People are playing around with many kinds of light and many varieties of fire.

Our worship space is windowless. No natural sunlight enters our room for prayer. This is not because we want to keep the streetlight out of our prayer; it is simply the result of a cheap remodeling job when an old hotel building was renovated to become our parish church. I reflect on this darkness quite often. The dark chapel is quite the contrast to the other churches in which I have served through the years.

Some years ago, I designed nine large stained-glass windows in the parish church in which I was serving in Burbank, California. The windows were magnificent pastel-colored glass depicting our lived sacramental life of those years in California. The stories of relationships and faith were vivid and articulate in glass. I left the parish before all of the windows were installed. I then became the director of a retreat center where the only window in the chapel was a skylight. That chapel could hardly compare to the rich storytelling windows I left behind. Then I came to this parish community where our prayer space has no windows at all. I used to joke to friends that perhaps the next assignment for me was the grave, where it would be completely dark for all eternity.

So I have been searching for the Light in our chapel as many of our people still search for new life and relief from suffering. The light emanating from the altar candles is quite dim but focused and warm. Even the artificial lights that focus down from the ceiling do not fully light up the space. The real light that shines for me comes from the searching of people. The eyes of our street warriors, the expressions of the weary, the grins of the addicts show me a great light.

I hear Matthew’s gospel in a new way in our chapel. “You are the light of the world.” When I witness a woman stepping out of the darkness of addiction and coming to communion sober, alert and selfless, this great light overwhelms me. When I encounter someone striving to live a better life after a recent divorce, or in recovery from an accident or tragedy, this great light overwhelms me. When I hear that an elderly man has one day of sobriety and smiles with confidence, this great light overwhelms me. When I hear that people have decided to take their medications today for their mental illness, this is my light for the entire day. When I hear that a young veteran has a job interview today and that he is searching our dimly lit clothing closet for a suit, this is sunlight in the chapel for so many of us in prayer.

At the Easter Vigil, to prepare people to ultimately come to the Table of the Lord, we begin in complete darkness in our chapel. The new fire comes from a can of Sterno. I realize this is not the perfect liturgical source for the new fire. However, this is the best we can offer when dealing with fire codes in our building. After the smokeless fire and the paschal candle are blessed, the pastor raises up the new candle and chants, “Light of Christ!” After the third proclamation, the new fire is distributed to the assembly. The glow in the assembly is heartwarmingly beautiful. For just a moment, the darkness in life seems to melt away. The obstacles to people’s unbelief seem to fade into the distance. The stress and violence that shadows our streets seems cast in a new view of hope. The faces of people are shadowed in Christ’s love and new light and energy win out for the evening.

We are the Light of Christ. We believe that no darkness wins out. We believe that our baptismal light is stronger than death. We believe the light of our lives become the miracles of survival and service to one another. As people approach the altar on that most holy of nights, the paschal candle shines freshly blessed, the new altar candles seem to light up the night. The faces of people who once stood in darkness now see a great light from the candles purchased from a woman who struggles with her physical pain and her earthly business.

As I ponder our quest for light, I believe that we see the Light of Christ when our lives are most in darkness. I want in our prayer in our urban chapel for us to become instruments for people well beyond our dark walls that light, joy and peace are seen in what the world would consider dark times. Our Church cannot stand as irrelevant to people’s search for meaning and purpose. However, we are called even in our darkest moments to become light for people longing for direction and hope in life. Our windless chapel in Portland must be an example for every parish community, for every believer that even darkness seems to be the only way, new light can shine from the people we least expect.

“The Freed Sinner”

The Fifth Sunday of Lent 2016

Dear Believers,

Do we dare to stand before Jesus and bare our sinfulness? This is the gospel message today, (John 8:1-11). The adulterous woman is circled with blame and shame. The scribes and Pharisees bring a woman to Jesus carrying with them stones to through at her to kill her. Jesus quietly stoops to the ground and writes in the sand. He turns the blame on them. His authority compels them to stop. “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

The mercy of God is not written in the sand for us but in our hearts. We wait for God’s love and miraculous presence to set us free. Salvation is free. We do not earn our place in God’s love. Salvation is pure gift. We cannot put obstacles in the way of other people’s conversion or burden them with the stones of our blame. We do not shame people into accepting the healing presence of Jesus.

I suspect that if I asked all of you to name your sin, most of you would think that your sin is a sexual sin. The greater sins are those that shred the reputations of others or to blame them for problems we do not want to face. The greater sins, as we hear in Matthew 25, are those of resistance toward people who are hungry, naked and in prison. Our sexual sins are not the greatest sins even though we have been taught to live in shame about our bodies and our lives.

I wonder if this Year of Mercy has made a difference in your life? I wonder if you have the courage to face Jesus as the adulterous woman did? I wonder where you find yourself in this story? Are you standing in the way of Jesus’ love for you? Is it easier to condemn others than to face the beauty and redeeming love of Jesus’ face?

These are questions for you to consider in this Lenten season. I lay awake at night so often unsure that all of you have a personal relationship with Jesus. It is easier to follow the rules of the Church like the scribes and Pharisees than it is to fully believe that Jesus is in your heart and walks with you in your sin.

I also fret about how we label people who feel unworthy of mercy or who have been so abused and put down in life that they cannot rise to the wondrous love of Jesus’ presence. They would rather continue to put themselves down because that is what the Church does to sinners. I know so many people who cannot look Jesus in the eyes because of how other people continue to shame them.

I am sure many of you remember Pope Francis’ comment on the plane going back to Rome a couple of years ago when he was asked about homosexual people. He said, “Who am I to judge?” That question comes from this gospel text. As we stand in the circle to blame other people for their sin, Jesus still frees the sinner. He says to the woman and us to go and sin no more. I pray that in this Lenten season, we may all come to know and understand the freedom that Jesus offers us, the love that sets all hearts free. Our salvation rests on receiving this love and living blamelessly in our world.

Next Sunday March 20 we celebrate Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord. This begins Holy Week. I cannot emphasize enough of the importance of the liturgies of Holy Week. I realize it is also spring break for many schools. However, our faith is so much more important. These liturgies mark the highest holy days of our faith in the Church. They capture the meaning of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection. Please mark your calendars for the Triduum, which means the three liturgies of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. I will write more about these liturgies in next week’s bulletin. The schedule is below.

Blessings in this Lenten journey,

Ron

On the Margins from Mater Dei Radio, Portland, OR

Fifth Sunday of Lent, March 13, 2016

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John 8:1-11  The woman caught in infidelity is brought to be stoned. Jesus bends down to write in the sand, to be re-created by the Father’s love. The powerless woman stands out to us to be an instrument of God’s mercy and love. We all search for the redeeming love of God. This is our Lenten journey.