Dear Brothers and Sisters,
My dearly beloved Sons,
The richness of the feast of the Holy Rosary, which unfolds both in the texts of the Mass and in those of the office, leads us to ponder all the mysteries of the Lord’s life through Mary’s eyes and heart. Pius XII wrote on August 7th, 1947, to the members of a congress which took place in Paris, and then in Lisieux between September 23rd and 30th, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus:
Whereas in the order of nature a child, as he grows, should learn to become self-sufficient, in the order of grace, the child of God, as he grows, understands ever better that he will never be able to be self-sufficient, and that he should live in a superior docility and dependence.
Who might forget that if Mary gave birth without pain to Jesus in the Bethlehem stable, the all-sorrowful Virgin received all of us as her children and gave birth to us at the foot of the Cross: “Woman, behold thy son… behold thy mother.” (Jn 19:26-27) John the Evangelist, to whom these words were addressed, adds consequently: “And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own.”
“Potestis bibere calicem quem ego bibiturus sum? Dicunt ei: Possumus.”
Mt. 20,20-23
In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Today for the feast of St. James we read a passage from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew in which the mother of James and John asks Jesus to command that her sons sit with Him in His kingdom. Notice that Jesus does not rebuke her for this request, but instead, addressing himself to both the mother and her sons, only responds: “You know not what you ask.” Neither the mother nor the sons understand the profound suffering and true martyrdom that following Jesus entails, and they don’t even grasp the enormous honor they are asking of Him. Jesus continues “Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink?” as if to say ‘Can you do whatever it takes to follow me in my glory? The only way to glory and my kingdom is my sorrowful passion. Can you remain with me in my suffering? Or will you abandon me?’ They respond “We can.” This is certainly the right response, and also true, insofar as they both will suffer for Christ, and Saint James will be the first apostle to be martyred, and Jesus affirms this “My chalice indeed you shall drink.”
MASS FOR EASTER DAY
Rich and poor, exult together. You who have abstained, and you who were neglectful, honor this day. You who have fasted, and you who have not fasted, rejoice today… All of you, enjoy the feast of faith… Let no one bewail his misery, for our Kingdom has appeared. Let no one weep on his sins, for forgiveness has risen from the tomb. Let no one fear death, for the Savior’s death has set us free. Death held Him, and He has smothered death; He descended into hell, and He has despoiled it… Hell, where is thy victory? Christ is risen, and the devils are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns.
At the end of Lent, the Church seems to break with the austerity and bareness to which she has accustomed us since Ash Wednesday, and even since Septuagesima Sunday.
The Chrism Mass and the Mass in Cœna Domini, or Mass of the Lord’s Last Supper, are liturgically very rich. The former was traditionally celebrated around the bishop in the cathedral churches, on the morning of Maundy Thursday. During this Mass, the oil of the infirm and the oil of catechumens are blessed, and the sacred chrism is consecrated. These holy oils are then taken to each parish, where they are normally kept in a small cavity closed by a door in the wall of the church. The oil of the infirm is used for the sacrament of extreme unction, which gives a special grace to bear a state of disease. The oil of catechumens grants to those who will be baptized the strength of the Holy Spirit for the fight of spiritual life. Lastly, the holy chrism, oil mixed with perfume, is used for the consecration anointing during baptism and confirmation, after episcopal and priestly ordinations, and during the dedication of churches and altars.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
My dearly beloved Sons,
After Lent, the time of spiritual preparation, to which was added a part of penance, after our entry last Sunday into the time of Passion, we are now beginning with Palm Sunday the Holy Week.
This week is called holy, for the events we commemorate are holy: the institution of the Eucharist and of the sacrament of Holy Orders, the death and resurrection of Our Lord. This week is holy, for these events, holy in themselves, are also sanctifying for those who accept to follow Christ.
As a sort of current flowing from one another, they gave to each other the sweet words of life, and, yearning with sighs and longing desires, tasted of that delightful food of the celestial country, the perfect fruition of which they were not as yet permitted to enjoy.
From the Gospel: “Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.”
The feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle recorded by all four of the Gospels. This sign, this miracle, is considered as central within the kerygma, for it has always been understood as prefiguring the Holy Eucharist: the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fish as pointing to the miraculous reality of the true bread of heaven who is Jesus Christ given to the Church as his Real Presence among us until the end of time. And in this way this gospel has always been associated with the Fourth Sunday in Lent, Laetare Sunday, with its introit: “Rejoice O Jerusalem”, pointing to the Easter Sacrament by which the people are fed with the true Bread of Life.
But we must also remember that this miracle begins the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, the great discourse on the Eucharist, whose climax is Jesus’ words: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh”. It is those words that cause a number of Jesus’ followers to leave him. It is those words that anger the scribes and the Pharisees. It is those words that help set off those events that lead to the Cross. It is those words that lie at the heart of the Church’s understanding of and faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
When the people who were fed by the miracle of the loaves and fishes were looking for Jesus later, he had no illusions about what they were looking for. He said to them: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” I love the clarity of this. The people were seeking him to see what he could give them next. The miracle as a sign is a two edged sword; it proves nothing in the end. Taken at face value it may be part of a mysterious magic show instead of the sign that points to a deeper reality And we can imagine the people reacting like the townspeople in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical Carousel singing:
If the ox was wont to push with his horn yesterday and the day before, and they warned his master, and he did not shut him up, and he shall kill a man or a woman: then the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death. [Exodus xxi, 29] The ox that pushes with his horn is the carnal appetite, which with the horn of pride kills a man or a woman: that is to say, his reason or his good will. Because his owner, the spirit, does not shut him up, he is killed along with the ox: body and soul will be eternally punished together. Hear this, you abbots and priors! If you have an ox that pushes with his horn, a monk or canon who is proud, a lover of wine and pleasure, and you will not shut him up, so that men and women are not scandalized by his bad example: the ox shall be stoned to death, and die in his sin, and the abbot or prior who would not restrain him will be punished eternally.
As the living Father hath sent Me and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eateth this bread shall live forever. (Jn 6:57-58)
But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." (Luke5:8)
We believe that the Mass, celebrated by the priest representing the person of Christ by virtue of the power received through the Sacrament of Orders, and offered by him in the name of Christ and the members of His Mystical Body, is the sacrifice of Calvary rendered sacramentally present on our altars. We believe that as the bread and wine consecrated by the Lord at the Last Supper were changed into His body and His blood which were to be offered for us on the cross, likewise the bread and wine consecrated by the priest are changed into the body and blood of Christ enthroned gloriously in heaven, and we believe that the mysterious presence of the Lord, under what continues to appear to our senses as before, is a true, real, and substantial presence. […] Every theological explanation which seeks some understanding of this mystery must, in order to be in accord with Catholic faith, maintain that in the reality itself, independently of our mind, the bread and wine have ceased to exist after the Consecration, so that it is the adorable body and blood of the Lord Jesus that from then on are really before us under the sacramental species of bread and wine, as the Lord willed it, in order to give Himself to us as food and to associate us with the unity of His Mystical Body. The unique and indivisible existence of the Lord glorious in heaven is not multiplied, but is rendered present by the sacrament in the many places on earth where Mass is celebrated. And this existence remains present, after the sacrifice, in the Blessed Sacrament which is, in the tabernacle, the living heart of each of our churches. And it is our very sweet duty to honor and adore in the blessed Host which our eyes see, the Incarnate Word Whom they cannot see, and Who, without leaving heaven, is made present before us.