I Hate 'Happy Easter'!

I've told my congregation so for the past two Easters. In Greece the traditional greeting is 'Christos Anesti!'. Why can't we greet one another with 'Christ is Risen!' and 'Indeed, He is Truly Risen!' 'Happy Easter' seems to me to be just a banal phrase, quasi-religious, but so inoffensive that no one could object to it nor be challenged by it. Could that be why we use it? Have the materialists, atheists, agnostics and those who want to water down our faith won the day and beaten us down so that all we can proclaim is 'Happy Easter'. Time, then, to fight back, rediscover what Christ has done for us and proclaim it from the housetops: 'Christ is Risen!'
But what does 'Christ is Risen' mean? Resurrection is more than resuscitation. Lazarus was to die again; Christ cannot die. Where He had before hidden His Divinity (except at the Transfiguration) He now reveals it gently, stage by stage. He leads the shocked and frightened disciples towards acceptance of the greatest miracle of all: the resurrection not only of Christ but of all the saved. The Resurrection is the Father's response to the self-emptying of the Son. Through the Incarnation the Word and Image of the Father emptied Himself out in humble and obedient love and worship of the Father and thus revealed the Father to us. On Good Friday this self-emptying reached its climax as the Way, the Truth and the Life embraced the suffering of the cross, more the suffering of Love unreturned, rejected and despised. It is in death, the tomb and the descent to the land of the dead that the Word reaches the ultimate state of abasement. The Father's response is to lift the Son from death and us with Him, up out of death and separation from God and from one another into communion with God and a place in Christ on the Father's throne. The Mass then is our chance to participate in the whole work of Christ as by grace, the power of the Holy Spirit we are present as these mysteries unfold. Reason only gets us so far, only faith-filled love can take us all the way.
The icon is a fresco by Emmanuel Panselinos (c.1290) from the Protaton Church, Karyes, Mount Athos

Holy Saturday Thoughts from Yesterday and for Tomorrow

Yesterday I told the congregation that, according to some of the saints, Christ's greatest suffering was not the beatings, the stripping, flogging, crowning with thorns or the crucifixion, dreadful as they were. His greatest suffering, the cup He asked the Father to let pass Him by, was that despite the 'excess' of His love for man in His love for the Father, despite all that He did to reveal His Father's love and mercy still that love would be spurned and some would choose to walk away. Each time we sin; each time we are bitter, resentful, greedy, lustful, lie, cheat or hate, take what is not ours or fail to love we turn and walk away from Him. I pointed to the altar then and the empty tabernacle and spoke of how these symbolise a world without God, without Christ. What if that were always the case? I asked. What if all our tabernacles were empty, our altars bare? I told them what our archbishop had said 'One in ten priests in the diocese are under seventy years old'. 1 in 10. One doesn't need even Junior Cert maths to see what that means. How come other generations could provide so many vocations and this one provide so few? I have made my choice and I pointed to my brother friars and our postulants and the choices they have made. They the people have made choices too. (As one friar recently pointed out we have contracepted ourselves into a vocations crisis). We need to get down on our knees and beg God to save us. We need to turn back and respond with loving acts to the One who loves us so much.
Tonight I sing the Exultet so I haven't given as much thought to my sermon for tomorrow as I should. I hope to point out, as I did last year, how lame our 'Happy Easter' is compared to the Greek 'Christos Anesti!' 'Christ is Risen!' should be our greeting. We have let the materialists, atheists and agnostics, the liberals and the faint-hearted tells us how to live the faith in public for too long. In Irish the traditional daily greeting was 'God be with you' to which the reply was 'God and Mary with you'. You may reply but those were different times. Yes they were different times with different people; they had courage and faith to proclaim what they knew to be true. The three disciples in the Gospel could be a model for facing up to the challenge. We could stand with Mary Magdalen, outside the tomb, outside the mystery, weeping. We could be like Peter, having entered the tomb but not grasping the mystery, not believing. Or we could be like John entering into both the tomb and the mystery, seeing, contemplating, and believing even though we do not yet understand the full wonder of what Christ has done for us. If we really grasp with John what Christ has done we will not be able to keep it quiet; we will want to proclaim it from the rooftops. In rising from the dead He lifts us out of death for we are one person with Him. Heaven is wide open for us and the Uncreated Light is poured out on creation. We are created anew in Christ and called to sit with Him upon the Throne of Heaven, the Throne of God. That is why the Church's liturgy is a song and should be sung. That is why should never stop singing, 'Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen!'

A little pic for Holy Saturday

I don't think I've ever seen the Archbishop of Dublin +Diarmuid Martin wearing a biretta before! This was taken by Brenda Fitzgibbon for the Irish Times and was printed in today's edition. The Archbishop was leading the annual Stations of the Cross in the Phoenix Park yesterday.
By the way, pray for me; I'm singing the Exultet tonight.

Holy Thursday: Support your Clergy, Support the Pope.

Greetings on this Holy Thursday - a traditional feastday for us Capuchins as for all Christians. At Home in my Father's House has a link to John Smeaton's appeal for a declaration of support for the Holy Father. A good deed to do on this holy day and what better than to declare our love and support for the successor of Peter? Today we celebrate both the Institution of the Mass and of Holy Orders in its three degrees of Deacon, Priest and Bishop. We begin the celebration of the ultimate revelation of the Father's love and mercy in the Son's self-emptying on the Cross for us and in His Resurrection. How can Life and Love itself die? How can God love so much that He would embrace even death itself for us? Truly God is all Giver, Gift and Giving and there is nothing lacking in His generosity.

Chant for Wednesday of Holy Week from the Eastern Church

Byzantine Ramblings has this beautiful piece from the Eastern Church's Orthros for Wednesday of Holy Week. When will our chant tradition be restored?

Anniversary of the death of his Holiness Pope John Paul II

Gloria.tv have a video of the favourite song of the late Pope John Paul II (the Great). Today is the fourth anniversary of his death. Eternal memory Holy Father! A Father you were to us, pray for us that we will remain faithful.

Whatever the Doms do we can do better or just as well.

The English Dominicans have photos and an article about their Bro. Ursus. Well we Irish Capuchin Franciscans here in Raheny have Bro. Frederick Francis (his friends call him Freddy or Frank depending on the mood). He does not aspire to ordination as he is not valid matter (not a human male) and will go, in humble obedience, wherever he is sent. Bro. Freddy lives a contemplative life as a hermit (i.e. he never leaves his room), eats little and spends much of his day in silent contemplation of God's goodness and human foibles. He is mortified that I am publicizing him in this way as he prefers the littleness of anonymity.