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Dear Preachers:
Wouldn’t this be the most
appropriate week to offer a prayer, or write a note to a person on death row?
Below we have, as usual, listed the names of three
people currently on death row.
Click the following Links for:
Holy Thursday and
Good Friday
"First
Impressions" reflections.
Today’s
gospel is Luke’s telling of the Passion narrative. It is long and perhaps too
much for one reader. Some parishes where I have preached divide the gospel into
shorter sections and involved several readers. For example: the Last Supper;
agony in the garden; trial before the Sanhedrin, Pilate and Herod and the
crucifixion, death and burial.
In Luke’s gospel Jesus is presented as a prophet. As was the case with other
prophets in the Bible he is rejected for his teaching and actions. The poor
accept him and raise him up; but those who are of an established and privileged
class, along with religious authorities, are threatened by him and plan to kill
him.
Seeing the rising opposition before him Jesus seeks the way of obedience to
God’s will. At the Last Supper he instructs his disciples on what is to happen
and of his decision to stay faithful to his prophetic mission. He models for his
disciples how they are to continue that mission.
Jesus is well aware what will happen to him if he stays faithful to God’s will.
In Gethsemane he experiences intense struggle, anticipating what will happen to
him if he continues his mission. But God is with them, “And to strengthen him an
angel from heaven appeared to him.” Jesus was not sent by his Father just to
die, rather he was to fulfill his mission to reveal God’s love for all – even if
it meant his death.
If I am a follower of Jesus that I too am called to live as a prophet in my
daily life. The prophetic mission begins with listening to God’s word. Jesus has
revealed what the consequences of receiving that word each day are for us: to
embrace the least; forgive sinners; speak boldly against injustice, large or
small; stand with the outcasts, immigrants, imprisoned, homeless and the
grieving. There is more. Each of us must look in to our own lives and answer the
question: “how am I being called today to follow Jesus the prophet?”
Here's some
input on the TRIDUUM.
This is an overview of the days and suggests to
the preacher some things to ponder as we prepare preaching and are involved in
the liturgical celebrations. So, what follows are "notes from a preacher's file
for the preaching of the Triduum." I leave it to you to apply them to each
preaching.
1. Be careful these days not to caricature
the Jewish faith. The Gospels portray its piety and leaders in a very
unsympathetic light. Don't become an unconscious anti-Semite. Such bashing of
the Jews can reveal an insecure faith, seeking assurance in caricaturing the
faith of others. Jewish people suffered their worst pogroms during Holy Week at
the hands of Christians. So, be careful of subtle forms of anti-Semitism. For
example, in John’s gospel there are many references these days to “the Jews.”
What he really means are the Jewish authorities, so why not make the
substitution when “the Jews” show in opposition to Jesus in the readings? Call
them the “Jewish authorities.”
2. Be careful to respect the integrity of each Gospel. Don't harmonize or
fill in to make a composite picture. Stay within the text and treat it
distinctively, learn how each writer saw and witnessed the Christ event.
3. Remember that the principle actor is God. There are some key figures
in the stories for meditation ( Peter, Pilate, etc.), but in the Gospels this
week Jesus absorbs our attention. Put aside all else, even the "moral lessons."
We see nothing but Jesus, and him crucified. What is God doing and saying to us
this week?
4. The Triduum is a unity: this contradicts the conventual's wisdom that
sees each day as a separate unit. Note that in each day of the Triduum there is
explicit reference to the whole paschal liturgy. Each particular day
commemorates the whole of the mystery, while at the same time emphasizing one
aspect of the events. So we preach Good Friday in its defeat and pain in the
light of the hope of the resurrection; we preach Easter in its glory, reminded
of the seeming hopelessness of Good Friday. The renewed emphasis isn't on "holy
week," but on the consciousness of the passion and resurrection as intimately
bound to our own lives as church.
5. This is a good time to work with the lectors. The Word this week is
powerful in its drama, lively in the hearing. The congregation won't need to
follow along with a written text if the lectors and participating preachers are
well prepared.
6. I want to be careful how I preach about suffering and death during
these days. I wonder how we can think of them as positive? In the Scriptures of
the Jewish people, suffering and death are to be avoided and, where possible,
alleviated. The hope we have as Christians is that God will do away with both at
the end. It also seems to be always the poor who suffer the most, who always are
the victims. So, during these days the preacher might invite the congregation to
become more fully involved with God's plan to alleviate suffering by working to
end the suffering of the poor by our deeper involvement in social programs and
in the electoral process itself. Good Friday, for example, should not be a day
that keeps a silence of inattention to the suffering of others. If we keep a
silence this day it may be to ponder the suffering of those around us and to
resolve to do something about it.
7. During Lent I have had a few occasions to use a service of the Cross
used in parishes and retreat houses. It may be useful on Good Friday for a small
group reflection or, if it is not too late to prepare, even for a parish. You'll
need twigs four or five inches long to have each participant make a cross. Red
or purple twine is used to tie them together. Invite people to reflect as they
make the cross on their own cross and on the crosses people of the world carry.
Invite them to place all these burdens on the cross they are making. Then they
can bring their crosses and lay them at the foot of a large cross. If the
assembly is small enough, you can invite them to share some aspects of the cross
(darkness, and death) they see in the world. (I did this recently with religious
sisters and the sharing became powerful.) After they put their crosses at Jesus'
cross, accompanied with a hymn and a short Scripture, you can invite them to
take another's cross home with them and ask them to pray for that unknown
person's cross.
Click here for a link to this Sunday’s readings:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041325.cfm
ONE GOOD
BOOK FOR THE PREACHER
A CRUCIFIED CHRIST IN
HOLY WEEK: ESSAYS ON THE FOUR GOSPEL PASSION NARRATIVES, by Raymond E.
Brown. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1989. Paper, 72 pages.
An eminent biblical
scholar reflects on the four Passion narratives. His strong pastoral interests
come through these very readable essays. Good for preachers. Also good for those
who want to do some meditative reading during Holy Week.
JUSTICE BULLETIN
BOARD
 . . .he humbled himself. . .
--- Philippians 2:8
As we
enter Holy Week, we could use more humble people and humble attitudes,
especially as we contemplate the example of Jesus’ life. In the life of the
Church, Pope Francis had these words to Mexico’s 176 bishops while gathered in
the lavish Cathedral of the Assumption of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary on a
visit nine years ago, “When the Church congregates in a majestic Cathedral, she
should not fail to see herself as a ‘small home’ in which her children can feel
comfortable,” the pontiff urged. “We remain in God’s presence only when we are
little ones, orphans and beggars.” He went on to say, “A casita, ‘small home,’
is familiar and at the same time sagrada , ‘holy,’ for it is filled by God’s
omnipotent greatness. We are guardians of this mystery. Perhaps we have lost the
sense of the humble ways of the divine and are tired of offering our own men and
women the casita in which they feel close to God” (2/13/16). His words, although
directed to bishops, should also speak to the laity as we walk and work in the
world.
God’s ways are merciful, loving, and welcoming. God’s words propose, they do not
impose. Living in a humble state gives a person the freedom to ponder negative
energies, to discern what God is calling the person to respond to, and to turn a
negative energy into a creative good. Indeed, as Thomas Merton states, “To allow
oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender
to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help
everyone in everything is to succumb to the violence of our times” (Conjectures
of a Guilty Bystander ). Many of us working diligently in the ministries of
charity and justice, can get caught up in trying to do too much. It is only by
stepping back and remembering our humble Lord that we can ever hope to
accomplish anything.
This week, as we accompany Jesus to the Cross, let us each take the time to
discern what part of the Cross--the world’s wounds today--we are carrying or
that we are being called to carry. This week, and going forward, let us each be
a “casita sagrada ”--a small, holy home that has a big, open door that is our
heart. Let us truly become family to one another, humbly crying and laughing
together as we build a better life for everyone.
Hosanna!
Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS,
Director
Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries
Holy Name of Jesus
Cathedral, Raleigh, NC
FAITH BOOK
Mini-reflections on the Sunday
scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief
enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.
From today’s Gospel reading:
[Jesus prayed]
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me;
still, not my will but yours be done.”
Reflection:
Jesus
endured intense emotional and psychological pain. He experienced defeat,
discouragement, abandonment, disappointment and frustration. Those suffering
from similar interior distress can find compassion and healing in their
companion Jesus. The one who prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this
cross away from me…,” will strengthen the faith of those who word the same
prayer out of the abyss of their inner turmoil.
So we ask ourselves:
When
have I been distressed and experienced inner healings at the hands of Jesus?
To whom
can I be an instrument of healing in their in their emotional distress?
POSTCARDS TO
DEATH ROW INMATES
“One has to strongly affirm that condemnation
to the death penalty is an inhuman measure that humiliates personal dignity, in
whatever form it is carried out." ---Pope Francis
Inmates on death row are the most forgotten people in the prison system. Each
week I am posting in this space several inmates’ names and locations. I invite
you to write a postcard to one or more of them to let them know that: we have
not forgotten them; are praying for them and their families; or, whatever
personal encouragement you might like to give them. If the inmate responds, you
might consider becoming pen pals.
Please write to:
-
Mario M. Phillips #0604251 (On death row since 10/17/2007)
-
James Little #0846840 (11/21/2008)
-
Jamaal Bacote #0796623 (4/9/2009)
----Central
Prison P.O. 247 Phoenix, MD 21131
Please
note: Central Prison is in Raleigh, NC., but for security
purposes, mail to inmates is processed through a clearing house at the above
address in Maryland.
For
more information on the Catholic position on the death penalty go to the
Catholic Mobilizing Network:
http://catholicsmobilizing.org/resources/cacp/
On this
page you can sign “The National Catholic Pledge to End the Death Penalty.” Also,
check the interfaith page for People of Faith Against the Death Penalty:
http://www.pfadp.org/
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If you are a preacher, lead a Lectionary-based
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