Holy Thursday Reflection - Do This in Memory of Me

And so it starts.  The three holiest days of our year.  Tonight, we remember the institution of the Eucharist during which our Savior says to us all, "Do this in memory of me".  Of course He means the Eucharist, but doesn't He also mean the rest of it?

The first thing He did was wash the feet of the Twelve.  He does so much in that one act.  He the Teacher and Master becomes the servant.  We are all called to be servants, especially when we are called to lead, we are called to be servants.  He also purifies the Twelve and so are we called to work for the salvation of those around us.  He shows us that we can best do this in humility and through service.  He also washes the feet of Judas, the betrayer.  We are called to love not only those who are our friends but especially those who hate us and who hurt us.

He then gives us the gift of being eternally with us.  By that gift He pledges to stay by us and strengthen us.  He gives us His life.  We then have to be willing to give Him ours.  We are to feed the world with our lives.  Feed them spiritually and bodily.  The life lived to the other is the only true life.  It is a life of Love.  God is Love.  He gives us a new commandment, Love one another as I have loved you.  How did he love us?  He died for us, He gave His very body for us, He suffered for us.  We are called to do the same.  We may not be called to die for anyone or for God, but we still have to die to ourselves.  We can't just do it once, we have to do it day by day, minute by minute.

What is it that I need to die to?  It changes all the time.  But like many people I have my struggles.  Facing my demons is one way I can die to myself.  It's will be painful.  It is already.  But I am strengthened by Him who died for me.  I only have to die to myself and for that I get everything.  Everything that matters because I get love, the Beloved.

This night He gave us all we ever needed.  He shows us how to live a righteous life full of all He has to give us.

Help me Oh Lord to remember this night everytime I receive You.  Remind me Oh Lord that to live with You, I have to die with You.  Grant me Oh Lord the grace I will need to deny myself and walk with You.

Reflections on Passion Sunday

Today we start Holy Week with Passion Sunday.  We triumphantly and publicly herald the entrance of Our Savior into Jerusalem.  We herald His coming as the Great Warrior and leader who will saves from our enemies, then within minutes we are crying Crucify Him! Crucify Him!  How often do we do this in our lives?  We praise God on those days when we wake up and everything is going great.  But then when He asked me to do something, to change, to witness to my faith and risk myself.  How often do I turn away like Peter did, and have I asked His forgiveness for the times I cried Crucify Him?

Today I was lucky enough to be Alter Serving.  As we read the Passion I became aware of the fact that I was standing next to the tabernacle so the Beloved was there.  The one who had been beaten, betrayed, and Crucified was there.  Our Passion is so clean so unemotional, but I could remember the same scenes from the Passion of the Christ.  I especially remember the scene where Peter hears the cock crow and Jesus looks at Him.  The One who dies for us is there.  How can we not weep for what He went through and I am thinking, one more week and I can have back what I gave up for Lent. And He is there, waiting to die for us.  He freely chooses out of love for us to die that death for us.  What am I willing to do for Him? Am I willing to die for Him?  Am I willing to die to myself for Him?  Am I at least willing to give some of my time for Him?

The hardest day this week for me is Friday afternoon until Saturday evening.  To think of the time when Christ wasn't here.  Now He is here always in a tabernacle somewhere.  But there was a time 2000 years ago when we were without Him.  It makes me so sad.  I hate to see the empty open tabernacle, so like a tomb.  The alter is stripped, the world is broken.  But at the sametime I can still sit with Him.  Like a wake or a deathbed.  Just sit with Him and keep Him company.

The comes Easter......but I am getting a head of myself.  We have to wait, and wait makes it all that much sweeter.

Advent vs Christmas

The priest at our church is a lovely and very holy man who lives out his faith everyday in who he lives.  Every year he covers our church and rectory in Christmas lights starting right after Thanksgiving.  There are some people who love the lights and some who object to them as participating in the commercialization of Christmas and not giving the season of Advent it's proper place.

We as Catholics are supposed to use the season of Advent to prepare our lives and our hearts for the coming of our Lord and Savior.  It is a time of reflection and prayer and also a time to show our love for God by helping others.  In the world, this time between Thanksgiving and Christmas has become an orgy of spending and consuming.  A time to beat the next person to the best deal on some new gadget.

If the world has forgotten the meaning of Christmas, whose fault is that?  Is it the stores?  The media?  Or is it our fault?  What good is it, in the midst of all the busy shopping and preparation to have our little church be dark?  As people pass by they would not be reminded at all that this time of the year is different. Instead when you pass St Paul's you can not miss it.  It shines like the light of Christ.  It is the lamp what can't be hidden under a bushel.  It is a beacon to remind people that there are still Christians in our world and that we are preparing for the coming of the God of Love.

How can we as followers of the Light of the world honor Advent in our lives?  What are we called to do to carry that light into the world?  If the world has left Christ out of Christmas it is our fault,not theirs.  To often we fail to carry Gods love in our hearts to rest of the world.  We don't practice our faith in the most meaningful ways, by loving.  To truly prepare for the coming of Christ we have to prepare our hearts by forgiving those we need to forgive.  By examining our thoughts and beliefs and purging ourselves of our biases and prejudices.  Christ is coming into our world and we don't know how he will look.  Is he the homeless man who asks us for a couple of bucks?  Is he the immigrant who doesn't speak English?  Is he the single mom who just needs some help to feed her kids?  The answer is that he is all these people.  Celebrate Advent and Christmas not just by not doing but by doing.  Show Christ to the world by how you live and how you love,and just by not putting up Christmas lights.

As always I write this blog more as a reminder to myself than anything else. If you find anything useful in it please let me know.  If you find anything you disagree with, please also share that.