Going Home

Today’s the end of the retreat for sisters at St. Francis Center for Renewal.

My first observation: thank God for these good religious women. Strong believers, they are the best of our church.

During this week we read from the gospel narratives of the Passion, mostly from St. Matthew; it’s evident as you read how involved women were in the Lord’s Passion then. They still are now. Surely, most of what happened there we know from them.

The last few days we read the Resurrection stories from the various gospels, each offering its own perspective. Women figure prominently in that story too. They’re the first at the tomb and they, not angels, carry the message to those shut up in the Upper Room.  “The Lord is risen!” they say. They’re the first believers.

We need to read and reflect on these great stories of our faith and be refreshed by them, for they hold what we believe and mirror our present experience. They probe the great mysteries of life.

We read from an article by Fr.Don Senior from Origins on the bodily resurrection of Jesus, which he wrote in response to a TV presentation claiming Jesus’ family tomb had been found with an ossuary containing his bones.

With his usual wide ranging wisdom, Don looks at the implications of Jesus’ bodily resurrection. Rising bodily from the tomb, Jesus embraces both our humanity and all creation. He gives new life to all.  His bodily resurrection has implications in the way we care for the world, our view of social justice, our understanding of the sacraments and our own relationship to others and to our own bodies.

Most of my homilies for the retreat are summarized in previous blogs.

The Passion of Jesus

Wednesday evening: Mission at Plainville, CT

The writers of the gospels are like painters, not photographers. They tell stories of Jesus with their own purposes in mind. They tell them with great artistry and beauty. Even though they spoke languages that we may not understand, and their world is so different, we are moved when we hear them today.

Last Sunday we heard the story of the blind man given the gift of sight by Jesus, a dramatic story that involved the blind man’s parents, his neighbors, the pharisees and Jesus and his disciples, all interacting with one another. The story is told in John’s gospel with great skill.

The greatest story in the gospels is the story of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection. That story would never have been written if Jesus had not recalled it to his disciples after his resurrection. When he appeared to them on Easter Sunday, “he showed them his hands and his side.” It was a story they wanted to forget.

But he reminded them of what happened to him, even though they want to forget it. The story was not to be forgotten; it was to be remembered. It was the first story of the gospels to be written. It’s a book of many lessons. The rest of the stories of the gospel cluster around this one.

At this evening’s service we listen together to the Passion of our Lord according to St. Mark.

Then we pray that the Lord whose presence continues in Bread and in us will show us his hands and his side and, like the disciples, we will  rejoice.

Our Lady of Sorrows

The Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows, which we celebrate in the Roman calendar  on September 15^th, was placed after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (September 14) only recently, in the 20^th century by Pope Pius X.  He took the feast,  formerly the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of Mary, and placed it on this date which is the octave of Mary’s birth (September 7).

Mary’s life is linked to her Son’s life, especially in the mystery of his death and resurrection.

The Passionist, Blessed Dominic Barberi, sees love as the key to Mary’s closeness to Jesus. First, she had a mother’s love that began with his birth and continued through the years of his life.

Then, she had a believer’s love for her Son. She saw him with a vision of faith that left many human questions unanswered. “How can this be?” was not something she said once, but many times. Her final answer always was: “Be it done onto me according to your word.”

Her love led her into the mystery of his death and resurrection. “And there was standing by the cross of Jesus, Mary his mother…” Love made Mary the first witness. A crowd also stood by and saw him suffer and die. One of the soldiers there could have described all that happened in more detail, perhaps.  But it’s not a coroner’s report or a historian’s description that captures this event.

A maternal love, a believer’s love must do that. That’s why we celebrate a woman of sorrows after celebrating the mystery of the Cross. We hope she may call us in to stand with her and share her vision of it all.

In Argentina, after so many disappeared and were killed under a recent brutal regime, a group of mother’s began demonstrations to keep the memory of their lost children alive and bring about justice.

Maternal love doesn’t forget.

A believer’s love always sees more.