The Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven
Please forgive me if I get a little distraught here but I have always had a problem with this mystery. Why does Jesus Ascend into Heaven? If Jesus is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity this moment in the Gospel makes no sense. The problem is that at every single moment Christ is already in heaven in the presence of His Father. Heaven is not a "place" in the technical sense and so there is no "place" to go to in order to get to heaven. Upward does not equal heavenward. In one sense it can be said that where there is Jesus, so too there is heaven. But, where does He go and why does He go up till the Apostles can no longer see Him in the sky? This is all very strange. I would never be so impious to deny this action of Christ nor would I be so vile as to deny that the Scriptures are recounting a historical fact. However, I have never been able to reconcile this doctrine in my own mind. However, maybe I'm approaching the mystery from the wrong angle.
I would suggest (to myself as well as to the reader) that perhaps the clue is found in the Transfiguration. As the Transfiguration is a manifestation of Christ's glory as God, so too is the Ascension. It is a Theophany which are always directed to instruct our weak human intellect about God's true nature. This leads me to consider its Old Testament foreshadowing. The scene of the Ascension brings to mind the assumption of Elijah into heaven while Elisha (and presumably the rest of his prophetic band) bore witness. The similarity is striking but the differences are stunning in what they say about Christ. Elijah was taken in a chariot of fire, the instrument of God's power, "up" to heaven. But Jesus ascends to heaven of His own power, naming Him God. Elijah imparts a "double-portion" of his own power to Elisha. Christ commissions the Apostles giving them Power over every living thing. The sacrament of Elijah's power is the gift of his mantel but Christ will shortly gift His Holy Spirit. Elisha continues the prophetic mission of Elijah. The Apostles (and especially Peter in the Acts) continue the salvific mission of the Lord. I'm sure that much more could be said about this moment in the Pasch of Christ but this should be enough foster a deeper meditation. Lord, unveil my eyes and give me Your Holy Spirit so that I may see deeper and realize the magnificence of the Revelation of Your very Self.
28 April 2010
27 April 2010
The Second Sorrowful Mystery
The Scourging at the Pillar
Pilot finds no fault in Jesus but yet has Him scourged. Is this normal? If a judge finds someone innocent does he usually punish him? This is not justice; this is capitulation to the crowd. What injustice comes from being a respecter of persons. Pilot failed. He failed in so many ways when he could have stopped this massacre. Certainly Pilot didn't admire the Jewish leaders who called for the death of Jesus. No. Rather, it seems that his actions were rooted in fear. Fear of the crowed who clamor for injustice. But should it not be Jesus who fears? Jesus is the one to suffer the torments not Pilot. Yet, it is Pilot who fears while Jesus stands stands fast in His vulnerability. Pilot places his trust in the will of the people. Jesus trusts in the will of the Father. Jesus teaches us the meaning of courage in the face of injustice. He teaches us, in His suffering, how to face the world - who will deride us and kill us because of His Holy Name. He does not flinch in the face of the consequences of holding firm to the will of the Father. Truly, Christ not only walks with us in our sufferings but also he walks before us. Do we fear to fulfill God's will in our life - in our very flesh? Teach us, Lord, your courage. Teach us to be strong in our vulnerability. Teach us to trust so that we may love as you Love.
Pilot finds no fault in Jesus but yet has Him scourged. Is this normal? If a judge finds someone innocent does he usually punish him? This is not justice; this is capitulation to the crowd. What injustice comes from being a respecter of persons. Pilot failed. He failed in so many ways when he could have stopped this massacre. Certainly Pilot didn't admire the Jewish leaders who called for the death of Jesus. No. Rather, it seems that his actions were rooted in fear. Fear of the crowed who clamor for injustice. But should it not be Jesus who fears? Jesus is the one to suffer the torments not Pilot. Yet, it is Pilot who fears while Jesus stands stands fast in His vulnerability. Pilot places his trust in the will of the people. Jesus trusts in the will of the Father. Jesus teaches us the meaning of courage in the face of injustice. He teaches us, in His suffering, how to face the world - who will deride us and kill us because of His Holy Name. He does not flinch in the face of the consequences of holding firm to the will of the Father. Truly, Christ not only walks with us in our sufferings but also he walks before us. Do we fear to fulfill God's will in our life - in our very flesh? Teach us, Lord, your courage. Teach us to be strong in our vulnerability. Teach us to trust so that we may love as you Love.
26 April 2010
The First Glorious Mystery
The Resurrection of Our Lord
I have grown to like something a Dominican Father says about the Resurrection. He says that if you let God into your heart then you will experience the Resurrection now. Too often the mystery of the resurrection is something that has no concrete reality to us. It is both shrouded by mystery and historically remote. Because of this it is really hard to take this article of faith into prayer. However, if we don't look at it simply as a Historical event in the Pasch of Christ or a future event in the end of time but as a spiritual reality that can happen in our life right now then I think we are on the right track. God wants to make us holy and Christ shows us just how holy it is that He wants to make us. But holiness is not something that happens in the future. Holiness happens with every little decision we make for or against God. It is in and through this daily resurrection that we may hope to enjoy the resurrection of the body when Christ offers the whole of creation to the Father. Divinization happens today!
I have grown to like something a Dominican Father says about the Resurrection. He says that if you let God into your heart then you will experience the Resurrection now. Too often the mystery of the resurrection is something that has no concrete reality to us. It is both shrouded by mystery and historically remote. Because of this it is really hard to take this article of faith into prayer. However, if we don't look at it simply as a Historical event in the Pasch of Christ or a future event in the end of time but as a spiritual reality that can happen in our life right now then I think we are on the right track. God wants to make us holy and Christ shows us just how holy it is that He wants to make us. But holiness is not something that happens in the future. Holiness happens with every little decision we make for or against God. It is in and through this daily resurrection that we may hope to enjoy the resurrection of the body when Christ offers the whole of creation to the Father. Divinization happens today!
The First Sorrowful Mystery
The Agony of Our Lord in the Garden
Knowing His hour had come Our Lord suffered in this garden. But, was it not His memory of the first garden that emphasized His sorrow? What bliss, what perfection was lost by man in the original act of disobedience. All the sins of the world through all time do not compare, equal, or surpass the singular evil of that sin. This is only because it is as a result of the sin of our first parents that all other sins are possible but also because of its own individual radical rejection of God in such a perfect and complete way. How could Christ not weep? Why do I not wail at this tragedy. How was it that He did not spill every ounce of blood as he sweat in the garden while considering just this singular sin? What marvelous strength is found in the person of our Savior! What sustains Him? What comforts? What compels our Lord to proceed from sorrow to deeper sorrow. Love. Only the radical power of Divine Love can conquer this sorrowful abyss. Does He also weep for Himself? The eyes of the pious are never dry when considering the brutality with which Jesus was inflicted. How more so if the scene is viewed with the perfection of Divine eyes. He knows and sees perfectly the violence of all sin. Did He weep for the injustice shown to the One to whom is due unyielding worship? Do I? Did He weep for what this act would do to the hearts of those involved? How did He not die from despair in that garden? How did He even make it to the Cross?
Knowing His hour had come Our Lord suffered in this garden. But, was it not His memory of the first garden that emphasized His sorrow? What bliss, what perfection was lost by man in the original act of disobedience. All the sins of the world through all time do not compare, equal, or surpass the singular evil of that sin. This is only because it is as a result of the sin of our first parents that all other sins are possible but also because of its own individual radical rejection of God in such a perfect and complete way. How could Christ not weep? Why do I not wail at this tragedy. How was it that He did not spill every ounce of blood as he sweat in the garden while considering just this singular sin? What marvelous strength is found in the person of our Savior! What sustains Him? What comforts? What compels our Lord to proceed from sorrow to deeper sorrow. Love. Only the radical power of Divine Love can conquer this sorrowful abyss. Does He also weep for Himself? The eyes of the pious are never dry when considering the brutality with which Jesus was inflicted. How more so if the scene is viewed with the perfection of Divine eyes. He knows and sees perfectly the violence of all sin. Did He weep for the injustice shown to the One to whom is due unyielding worship? Do I? Did He weep for what this act would do to the hearts of those involved? How did He not die from despair in that garden? How did He even make it to the Cross?
The Fifth Joyful Mystery
The Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple
Who is this mystery joyful for? It has never made much sense to me as a Joyful Mystery. It isn't joyful for Mary or Joseph. Relief would be a more accurate description of their state. It isn't joyful for Jesus. He seems to be slightly indignant. It isn't joyful for the teachers of the law. They seem to express amusement more than anything else. And as a reader I don't really experience joy at this moment because I know that this moment is a complete inversion of what is to come in about 20 years. Why is this a joyful mystery? Perhaps the reason comes clear when we understand that joy is what follows from the love of charity. St. Thomas teaches us that to have perfect joy is to be united with the beloved. Here now we begin to see why this mystery is one of joy. Jesus is caritas incarnate. The teachers of the law have the source of the law before them and are filled with joy. Mary and Joseph have found the child Jesus and now, once again, rejoice in His presence. And Jesus, residing in His Father's House finds Himself filled with the joy that only He can know as the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. If this boy where anyone but Love Incarnate then my first inclinations would be true. Yet, as I remember that Jesus is Love I am turned from blindness to sight and my heart is made new. Lord, allow me to never forget that you are Love and the source of all love. Allow me to approach your Blessed person in my iniquity so that I may come to know the true Joy that is Yours to give.
From here on out I will be covering two mysteries a day so that I can accommodate the timetable for my friends charity. Thus tomorrow I will reflect upon both the first Sorrowful Mystery and the first Glorious Mystery.
Who is this mystery joyful for? It has never made much sense to me as a Joyful Mystery. It isn't joyful for Mary or Joseph. Relief would be a more accurate description of their state. It isn't joyful for Jesus. He seems to be slightly indignant. It isn't joyful for the teachers of the law. They seem to express amusement more than anything else. And as a reader I don't really experience joy at this moment because I know that this moment is a complete inversion of what is to come in about 20 years. Why is this a joyful mystery? Perhaps the reason comes clear when we understand that joy is what follows from the love of charity. St. Thomas teaches us that to have perfect joy is to be united with the beloved. Here now we begin to see why this mystery is one of joy. Jesus is caritas incarnate. The teachers of the law have the source of the law before them and are filled with joy. Mary and Joseph have found the child Jesus and now, once again, rejoice in His presence. And Jesus, residing in His Father's House finds Himself filled with the joy that only He can know as the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. If this boy where anyone but Love Incarnate then my first inclinations would be true. Yet, as I remember that Jesus is Love I am turned from blindness to sight and my heart is made new. Lord, allow me to never forget that you are Love and the source of all love. Allow me to approach your Blessed person in my iniquity so that I may come to know the true Joy that is Yours to give.
From here on out I will be covering two mysteries a day so that I can accommodate the timetable for my friends charity. Thus tomorrow I will reflect upon both the first Sorrowful Mystery and the first Glorious Mystery.
25 April 2010
The Fourth Joyful Mystery
The Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple
Our Lord constantly wills to be surrounded by poverty. He impovershes Himself by becoming man. He is born in poverty adored by poor shepherds. He is born into a poor family from a poor town in a poor country. He decends from the lavish throne of heaven into the impovershed world within which we live. For sacrifice His earthly parents offer the offering of the poor on behalf of the One who owns all. He is attended by a prophet of little renown and the poor widow-prophetess announces His visitation. The is no pomp, no circumstance. There is no glory given to He who is waited on by the angelic powers. Again, God makes manifest His glory in the humility of poverty. Our God comes, robed in the majesty of poverty. Lord, give to me the grace to glorify you in humility of spirit and poverty in fact. Strip from me the pride of life and bid me to follow after your example with fervor and devotion.
Our Lord constantly wills to be surrounded by poverty. He impovershes Himself by becoming man. He is born in poverty adored by poor shepherds. He is born into a poor family from a poor town in a poor country. He decends from the lavish throne of heaven into the impovershed world within which we live. For sacrifice His earthly parents offer the offering of the poor on behalf of the One who owns all. He is attended by a prophet of little renown and the poor widow-prophetess announces His visitation. The is no pomp, no circumstance. There is no glory given to He who is waited on by the angelic powers. Again, God makes manifest His glory in the humility of poverty. Our God comes, robed in the majesty of poverty. Lord, give to me the grace to glorify you in humility of spirit and poverty in fact. Strip from me the pride of life and bid me to follow after your example with fervor and devotion.
24 April 2010
Something I Found
Sorry to interrupt the Rosary Meditations but I wanted to share something that I found in my little book on priestly virtue*. I thought that it was fitting for all the news that has been in the world today about priests:
Second Week After Easter
Thursday
The hireling sees the wolf coming ... and the wolf snatches and scatters the sheep. -- John 10, 12.
Sad are the scenes out Lord here envisions. He envisions scandals -- scandals concerning the priesthood.
He foresees wolves in clerical garb.
He speaks frankly of what he sees, to warn and forearm you.
The wolves are sinful priests.
A bad priest preys on the sheep like a wolf
He snatches the from our Lord, who bought them with his precious blood. he does it by his scandalous life. For when the people see the clergy sinning carelessly, they invariably incline to laxity in matters of religion and morals. "Subordinates persuade themselves that they are permitted to do what they see their pastors doing openly" (St. Gregory). Or as St. Augustine puts it: "If a layman sees a clergyman leading a bad life, he himself will lead a bad life."
It is thus that the sinful priest ravishes and murders souls. "Because of their sin, they not only ruin themselves, but they are responsible for other souls, whom they have seduced by their bad example" (St. Gregory). --
Hence the lament of the Good Shepherd in Ezechiel: "And my sheep are become a prey" (Ezech. 34, 8).
Hence his cry for vengeance: "Her princes in the midst of her are like wolves ravening the pry to destroy souls" (Ezech. 22, 27).
Hence his complaint through Sophonias: Judices ejus lupi (Soph. 3, 3).
Scan the pages of Church history, and you will find that these lamentations are well founded on fact. Facts more numerous than one should expect.
Scan the pages of sacred history. Read in particular the prophets, and begin to fear for yourself. "Howl, thou fir tree, for the cedar is fallen, for the mighty are laid waste" (Zach. 11,2). --
The wolf scatters the sheep. Insofar as some will side with the bad priest while others will declare themselves against him. Insofar as he has neither the grace nor the authority to hold them together. Our Lord says: "He who is not with me, is against me" (Luke 11, 23).
The Divine Shepherd lef nothing undone to gather his sheep, and keep them together.
Woe therefore to the priest who scatters them. Listen to our Lord's complaint by the mouth of the prophet: "And my sheep were scattered because there was no shepherd, and they became the prey of all the beasts of the field, and were scattered" (Ezech. 34, 5).
Weigh every word you say in public, lest it cause dissension or disedification. Keep politics out of the pulpit.
But also in private conversation great caution is needed. An indiscreet wood, unnecessary curiosity in the confessional, an ill-timed joke in or out of the pulpit, even a look or a gesture that is too free, can prove ruinous.
Prudence dictates the policy of keeping lay people as much as possible away from clerical gatherings.
"thus saith the Lord God: Behold I myself come upon the shepherds, I will require my flock at their hand" (Ezech. 34, 10).
*. Bierbaum, OFM, Fr. Athanasius. Pusillum: A Vademeccum of Sacerdotal Virtue in Brief Meditations, 6th Edition. Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1951.
Second Week After Easter
Thursday
The hireling sees the wolf coming ... and the wolf snatches and scatters the sheep. -- John 10, 12.
Sad are the scenes out Lord here envisions. He envisions scandals -- scandals concerning the priesthood.
He foresees wolves in clerical garb.
He speaks frankly of what he sees, to warn and forearm you.
The wolves are sinful priests.
A bad priest preys on the sheep like a wolf
He snatches the from our Lord, who bought them with his precious blood. he does it by his scandalous life. For when the people see the clergy sinning carelessly, they invariably incline to laxity in matters of religion and morals. "Subordinates persuade themselves that they are permitted to do what they see their pastors doing openly" (St. Gregory). Or as St. Augustine puts it: "If a layman sees a clergyman leading a bad life, he himself will lead a bad life."
It is thus that the sinful priest ravishes and murders souls. "Because of their sin, they not only ruin themselves, but they are responsible for other souls, whom they have seduced by their bad example" (St. Gregory). --
Hence the lament of the Good Shepherd in Ezechiel: "And my sheep are become a prey" (Ezech. 34, 8).
Hence his cry for vengeance: "Her princes in the midst of her are like wolves ravening the pry to destroy souls" (Ezech. 22, 27).
Hence his complaint through Sophonias: Judices ejus lupi (Soph. 3, 3).
Scan the pages of Church history, and you will find that these lamentations are well founded on fact. Facts more numerous than one should expect.
Scan the pages of sacred history. Read in particular the prophets, and begin to fear for yourself. "Howl, thou fir tree, for the cedar is fallen, for the mighty are laid waste" (Zach. 11,2). --
The wolf scatters the sheep. Insofar as some will side with the bad priest while others will declare themselves against him. Insofar as he has neither the grace nor the authority to hold them together. Our Lord says: "He who is not with me, is against me" (Luke 11, 23).
The Divine Shepherd lef nothing undone to gather his sheep, and keep them together.
Woe therefore to the priest who scatters them. Listen to our Lord's complaint by the mouth of the prophet: "And my sheep were scattered because there was no shepherd, and they became the prey of all the beasts of the field, and were scattered" (Ezech. 34, 5).
Weigh every word you say in public, lest it cause dissension or disedification. Keep politics out of the pulpit.
But also in private conversation great caution is needed. An indiscreet wood, unnecessary curiosity in the confessional, an ill-timed joke in or out of the pulpit, even a look or a gesture that is too free, can prove ruinous.
Prudence dictates the policy of keeping lay people as much as possible away from clerical gatherings.
"thus saith the Lord God: Behold I myself come upon the shepherds, I will require my flock at their hand" (Ezech. 34, 10).
*. Bierbaum, OFM, Fr. Athanasius. Pusillum: A Vademeccum of Sacerdotal Virtue in Brief Meditations, 6th Edition. Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1951.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)