Palm Sunday, Beginning of Holy Week - 2015

Yesterday, March 29, 2015, Passion (Palm) Sunday, I began my third Holy Week as an ordained Deacon.  I assisted at Mass at two of the three parishes that make up the Beverly Catholic Collaborative.  At the beginning of each Mass, there was the blessing of the palms, followed by my proclaiming the Gospel reading according to Mark; of Jesus’ triumphant entrance into the city of Jerusalem.  Crowds gathered around Him, shaking palm branches, and yelling out “Hosanna,” and proclaiming that the Kingdom of David was at hand.  Yet, during that same liturgy, we would hear the Passion of Jesus Christ according to Matthew; during which the crowds are now yelling out, “Crucify Him!”   

The five weeks of Lent were meant to be a time to prepare for this Holy Week, for in many ways, this week will be the most challenging of the Church’s liturgical year.  We are to recall the events that lead to the Crucifixion of Jesus, and to His Resurrection.  We are being challenged to reflect more deeply and personally on what those events mean to our world, our Church and for ourselves personally.  We are being summoned to; if just for this week, live a life of intensive prayer and meditation.  We are being challenged to open our minds, our hearts and our souls to the presence of our Resurrected Savior, and be willing to be transformed by Him; transformed into bearers of the Good News.  Evangelizers, by word and deed; to let others know of the love and mercy of our God!

Sister Death

"Since they are immersed in the resurrection of Christ, which gives true meaning to Sister Death, let them serenely tend toward the ultimate encounter with the Father." (Article 19c, Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order)

To "serenely tend towards the ultimate encounter with the Father," is not an easy thing, especially in this country, where we combating death with all the weapons medical science gives to us. And there is still the fear factor, fear of the unknown, fear of not really knowing what will happen to us as we breathe our last. It is when we have developed a constant relationship with God, when we strive to daily encounter Him, open our hearts to experience His love; that we develope a trust in that love, develope the hope in the resurrection promised us by our Savior.

It is difficult when it just involves us, individually. It is really hard when it involves the possible loss of a love one. My Dad is currently in a local hospital, suffering from pneumonia, and he is in his eighties. To hear the medical staff tell it, it could go either way. I am praying for healing, but I am also praying that my hope and my trust in the Lord's promise is not misplaced.

Feast of St. Mary Magdalene - July 22

“Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?’ She thought it was the gardener and said to him, ‘Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, ‘Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ‘Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord,’ and what he told her.” (John 20: 15-18. NAB)

Today was the Feast day of St. Mary Magdalene, also known as Mary of Magdala. Of the women of the Gospel, she is the one who has received a bum rap. It was Pope Gregory the Great, in a homily he preached in 591 A.D., who implied that Mary of Magdala was a repentant prostitute. Most scholars agree that there is no scriptural proof to that assertion, that Mary was an early and significant disciple of Jesus.

There are many in the Catholic community who want to raise the importance of Mary of Magdala in the life of the Church; promoting a title given her “Apostle to the Apostles,” because she proclaimed the good news of the Resurrection to the other disciples. They hope that by doing so, the status of women in the Church will improve.

Image by Robert Lentz