He is Risen!

Truly He is Risen!

What Wondrous Love is This?

HT: Donald R. McClarey at The American Catholic

Cowboy - Mend Your Ways

Despite the distracting things in the news, it is Lent. Not just cowboys - we all need to mend our ways.

Johnny Cash - Ghost riders in the Sky

Have mercy on me, Oh God according to thy steadfast love

Today we begin Lent - the preparation for the celebration of the Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. For though we have sinned we are confident that God’s grace is not simply sufficient, but abundant beyond all need in bringing us not just forgiveness but a restoration to the life of Christ.

The side bar has my previous Lent and Easter posts.

Have mercy on me,
O God, according to thy steadfast love;
according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.

Against thee, thee only, have I sinned,
and done that which is evil in thy sight,
so that thou art justified in thy sentence
and blameless in thy judgment.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Fill me with joy and gladness;
let the bones which thou hast broken rejoice.

Hide thy face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart,
O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from thy presence,
and take not thy holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of thy salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors thy ways,
and sinners will return to thee.

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness,
O God, thou God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of thy deliverance.

O Lord, open thou my lips,
and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.
For thou hast no delight in sacrifice;
were I to give a burnt offering,
thou wouldst not be pleased.

The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
broken and contrite heart,
God, thou wilt not despise.Do good to Zion in thy good pleasure;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
then wilt thou delight in right sacrifices,


Psalm 51 RSVCE

He is Risen!

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God’s throne!
Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!





Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,
radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes for ever!

Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Savior shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God’s people!


V. Lift up your hearts.
R. We lift them up to the Lord.
V. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
R. It is right to give him thanks and praise.

It is truly right
that with full hearts and minds and voices
we should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful Father,
and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,
and paid for us the price of Adam’s sin
to our eternal Father!

This is our passover feast,
when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.

This is the night when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from their slavery
and led them dry-shod through the sea.

This is the night when the pillar of fire
destroyed the darkness of sin!

This is the night when Christians everywhere,
washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

This is the night when Jesus Christ
broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.

What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come as our Redeemer?

Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave
you gave away your Son.

O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

Most blessed of all nights, chosen by God
to see Christ rising from the dead!
Of this night scripture says:

”The night will be as clear as day:
it will become my light, my joy.”
The power of this holy night
dispels all evil, washes guilt away,
restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy;

It casts out hatred, brings us peace, and humbles earthly pride.
Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth
and man is reconciled with God!

Therefore, heavenly Father, in the joy of this night,
receive our evening sacrifice of praise,
your Church’s solemn offering.

Accept this Easter candle,
a flame divided but undimmed,
a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God.

Let it mingle with the lights of heaven and continue bravely burning to dispel the darkness of this night!
May the morning Star which never sets find this flame still burning:
Christ, that Morning Star, who came back from the dead,
and shed his peaceful light on all mankind,
your Son who lives and reigns for ever and ever.


Amen.


Exsultet - "The Proclamation of Easter" Easter vigil Mass

Were You There

From Agnus Day


When they crucified my Lord?

The Ascension of Our Lord

About 2500 to 3000 years ago,

the King of Judah has died,

all Judah is in Jerusalem for the coronation of the new king.

Several large choirs are assembled.

It begins:

Narrating Choir: Why do the nations conspire,
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and his anointed, saying,

Kings of the Earth: “Let us burst their bonds asunder,
and cast their cords from us."

Narrating Choir: He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the LORD has them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,

The Lord: I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill."

The New King: I will tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to me,

The Lord: You are my son, today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron,
and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel."

Narrating Choir: Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned,
O rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear,
with trembling
kiss his feet, lest he be angry,
and you perish in the way;

for his wrath is quickly kindled
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

The Second Psalm, is a psalm for the coronation of the new king. On the Feast of the Ascension we celebrate Jesus, a king of the line of Melchizedek and David the King of Judah and of all Glory retuning to Heaven, as Choirs of Angels sing, to sit at the right hand of the Father.

The nations and peoples still plot and conspire in vain, but God laughs at them, He has put his only Son on the Throne and

Blessed are all who Take Refuge in him.

Taking the Cross: Second Station

V: We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee

R: For by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.


From the Gospel according to Matthew. 27:27-31

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

MEDITATION

Jesus, condemned as an imposter king, is mocked, but this very mockery lays bare a painful truth. How often are the symbols of power, borne by the great ones of this world, an affront to truth, to justice and to the dignity of man! How many times are their pomps and their lofty words nothing but grandiose lies, a parody of their solemn obligation to serve the common good! It is because Jesus is mocked and wears the crown of suffering that he appears as the true King. His scepter is justice (cf. Ps 45:7). The price of justice in this world is suffering: Jesus, the true King, does not reign through violence, but through a love which suffers for us and with us. He takes up the Cross, our cross, the burden of being human, the burden of the world. And so he goes before us and points out to us the way which leads to true life.

PRAYER

Lord, you willingly subjected yourself to mockery and scorn. Help us not to ally ourselves with those who look down on the weak and suffering. Help us to acknowledge your face in the lowly and the outcast. May we never lose heart when faced with the contempt of this world, which ridicules our obedience to your will. You carried your own Cross and you ask us to follow you on this path (cf. Mt 10:38). Help us to take up the Cross, and not to shun it. May we never complain or become discouraged by life's trials. Help us to follow the path of love and, in submitting to its demands, to find true joy.

All: Our Father Who art in Heaven
Hallowed be thy Name
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done
On Earth as it is Heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from Evil.



OFFICE FOR THE LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
WAY OF THE CROSS AT THE COLOSSEUM
GOOD FRIDAY 2005
MEDITATIONS AND PRAYERS
BY CARDINAL JOSEPH RATZINGER

Tried: First Station

Ash Wednesday 2009

From a letter to the Corinthians by Saint Clement, Pope. cira 95 A.D.


Let us fix our attention on the blood of Christ and recognise how precious it is to God his Father, since it was shed for our salvation and brought the grace of repentance to all the world

If we review the various ages of history, we will see that in every generation the Lord has offered the opportunity of repentance to any who were willing to turn to him. When Noah preached God’s message of repentance, all who listened to him were saved. Jonah told the Ninevites they were going to be destroyed, but when they repented, their prayers gained God’s forgiveness for their sins, and they were saved, even though they were not of God’s people.

Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the ministers of God’s grace have spoken of repentance; indeed, the Master of the whole universe himself spoke of repentance with an oath: As I live, says the Lord, I do not wish the death of the sinner but his repentance. He added this evidence of his goodness: House of Israel, repent of your wickedness. Tell the sons of my people: If their sins should reach from earth to heaven, if they are brighter than scarlet and blacker than sackcloth, you need only turn to me with your whole heart and say, “Father,” and I will listen to you as a holy people.

In other words, God wanted all his beloved ones to have the opportunity to repent and he confirmed this desire by his own almighty will. That is why we should obey his sovereign and glorious will and prayerfully entreat his mercy and kindness. We should be suppliant before him and turn to his compassion, rejecting empty works and quarrelling and jealousy which only lead to death.

Brothers, we should be humble in mind, putting aside all arrogance, pride and foolish anger. Rather, we should act in accordance with the Scriptures, as the Holy Spirit says: The wise man must not glory in his wisdom nor the strong man in his strength nor the rich man in his riches. Rather, let him who glories glory in the Lord by seeking him and doing what is right and just. Recall especially what the Lord Jesus said when he taught gentleness and forbearance. Be merciful, he said, so that you may have mercy shown to you. Forgive, so that you may be forgiven. As you treat others, so you will be treated. As you give, so you will receive. As you judge, so you will be judged. As you are kind to others, so you will be treated kindly. The measure of your giving will be the measure of your receiving.

Let these commandments and precepts strengthen us to live in humble obedience to his sacred words. As Scripture asks: Whom shall I look upon with favour except the humble, peaceful man who trembles at my words?

Sharing then in the heritage of so many vast and glorious achievements, let us hasten toward the goal of peace, set before us from the beginning. Let us keep our eyes firmly fixed on the Father and Creator of the whole universe, and hold fast to his splendid and transcendent gifts of peace and all his blessings

Source: The Office of Readings for Ash Wedneday at Universalis

Related: Ash Wednesday 2005

Divine Mercy Sunday

The Liturgy of St. James is one ot the three Divine Liturgies used in the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Churches. The least used and oldest (2d Century ?) it’s use is becoming more common though traditionally it has been reserved for October 23, the feast day of St James, and in Jerusalem on the Sunday after Easter. It is also an ancestor of the Syriac liturgies used in many other Eastern Churches.

The hymn that opens the Eucharistic Liturgy is of exceptional beauty and has been adapted into one of the most sublime hymns in English.


“Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” performed by John Michael Talbot.

Here is the hymn sung in Carpatho-Rusyn Chant by Michael Tagge




Cherubic Hymn of of St. James Liturgy sung in Carpatho-Rusyn Chant by Michael Tagge.



Update August 4, 2011: The orginal video was pulled by You Tube. I put up a different one of John Michael Talbot and added the second video

Good Friday

The God of curved space, the dry
God, is not going to help us, but the son
whose blood spattered
the hem of his mother's robe.


"Looking at Stars" From Let Evening Come by Jane Kenyon
HT: Michael Gerson

Tried - First Station

V: We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee

R: For by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

From the Gospel according to Matthew 27:22-23,26

Pilate said to them, "Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?" All of them said, "Let him be crucified!" Then he asked, "Why, what evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Let him be crucified!" So he released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.

MEDITATION

The Judge of the world, who will come again to judge us all, stands there, dishonored and defenseless before the earthly judge. Pilate is not utterly evil. He knows that the condemned man is innocent, and he looks for a way to free him. But his heart is divided. And in the end he lets his own position, his own self-interest, prevail over what is right. Nor are the men who are shouting and demanding the death of Jesus utterly evil. Many of them, on the day of Pentecost, will feel "cut to the heart" (Acts 2:37), when Peter will say to them: "Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God... you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law" (Acts 2:22ff.). But at that moment they are caught up in the crowd. They are shouting because everyone else is shouting, and they are shouting the same thing that everyone else is shouting. And in this way, justice is trampled underfoot by weakness, cowardice and fear of the diktat of the ruling mindset. The quiet voice of conscience is drowned out by the cries of the crowd. Evil draws its power from indecision and concern for what other people think.

PRAYER

Lord, you were condemned to death because fear of what other people may think suppressed the voice of conscience. So too, throughout history, the innocent have always been maltreated, condemned and killed. How many times have we ourselves preferred success to the truth, our reputation to justice? Strengthen the quiet voice of our conscience, your own voice, in our lives. Look at me as you looked at Peter after his denial. Let your gaze penetrate our hearts and indicate the direction our lives must take. On the day of Pentecost you stirred the hearts of those who, on Good Friday, clamored for your death, and you brought them to conversion. In this way you gave hope to all. Grant us, ever anew, the grace of conversion.

All

Our Father Who art in Heaven
Hallowed be thy Name
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done
On Earth as it is Heaven.
Give us this day, our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from Evil.

Amen


OFFICE FOR THE LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
WAY OF THE CROSS AT THE COLOSSEUM
GOOD FRIDAY 2005
MEDITATIONS AND PRAYERS
BY CARDINAL JOSEPH RATZINGER

Tried: First Station
Taking the Cross: Second Station

HT: Charlotte was Both

Lent

I have decided to take a break from blogging for Lent.

Past Lent and Easter posts are in Lent Easter section of the side bar. Please visit the blogs and other sites in side bar. A lot of varity, with a common virtue of quality.

I will update the top election 20008 post when the changes in the election require it, otherwise see you after Easter.

Remember dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return

But

We have a Savior in Christ our Lord.

He is Risen!



Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God’s throne!
Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!


Indeed!


A happy Easter to one and all.

“God does not wait until the guilty comes to be reconciled; he goes to meet them and reconciles them”

It is not man who goes to God with a compensatory gift, but God who comes to man, in order to give to him. He restores disturbed right on the initiative of his own power to love, by making unjust man just again, the dead living again, through his own creative mercy. His righteousness is grace; it is active righteousness, which sets crooked man right, that is, bends him straight, makes him correct. Here we stand before the twist that Christianity put into the history of religion.

The New Testament does not say that men conciliate God, as we really ought to expect, since, after all, it is they who have failed, not God. It says, on the contrary, that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor 5:19). This is truly something new, something unheard of—the starting point of Christian existence and the center of New Testament theology of the Cross: God does not wait until the guilty comes to be reconciled; he goes to meet them and reconciles them. Here we can see the true direction of the Incarnation, the Cross.

Accordingly, in the New Testament the Cross appears primarily as a movement from above to below. It stands there, not as the work of expiation that mankind offers to the wrathful God, but as the expression of that foolish love of God’s that gives itself way to the point of humiliation in order thus to save man; it is his approach to us, not the other way about.

Fr. J. Ratzinger “Introduction to Christianity”


HT: Amy Welborn and Pontifications

Water From the Side of Christ

.




I was participating in a message board on Biblical Contradictions on the defunct Lycos message boards. Cheriklia asked about the strangely worded prophesy in John 7:38 and when was it fulfilled. This is my answer, edited and expanded.

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.


A good question, so I compared translations for a clearer meaning.

That is the text of both the Douay and King James translations and seems to be a very literal translation of Saint Jerome’s Vulgate. However modern translations seem to make more contextual sense in modern English. The Revised Standard Version has, . . .as the scripture has said, 'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.”. The New American Standard Bible has “innermost being”, the Jerusalem Bible has “breast”, and the New International Version has “within him.”


But what is this prophecy about; it is not obvious even with a modern translation. Following the cross-references to Old Testament it seems the Jesus’ was making a conflation/summery/explanation of several Old Testament prophesies.

"But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! Thus says the LORD who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring. They shall spring up like grass amid waters, like willows by flowing streams. This one will say, 'I am the LORDs,' another will call himself by the name of Jacob, and another will write on his hand, 'The LORDs,' and surname himself by the name of Israel." Isaiah 44:1-5, verse 3 highlighted.


"Come, every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in fatness. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call nations that you know not, and nations that knew you not shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Isaiah 55:1-5, verse 1 highlighted.

And the LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your desire with good things, and make your bones strong;and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. Isaiah 58:11

Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the LORD, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.Jeremiah 2:12-13

A glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake thee shall be put to shame; those who turn away from thee shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water. Jeremiah 17:12-13


I next looked at the context of Jesus’ statement

The phrase “living water” has a strong meaning in the Holy Land, it is on the edge of a desert.

Jesus is teaching/preaching in Jerusalem at the eighth day Feast of the Tabernacles. Each day the High Priest went to the pool at Siloam filled a golden cup with water, brought it to the temple and sprinkled it on the altar in remembrance of the miracle of the water at Massah and Miribah (Lev 1-7) with prayers for rain.

All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people found fault with Moses, and said, "Give us water to drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you find fault with me? Why do you put the LORD to the proof?" But the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses, and said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?" So Moses cried to the LORD, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me." And the LORD said to Moses, "Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand the rod with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.) And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the faultfinding of the children of Israel, and because they put the LORD to the proof by saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?" Lev 1-7 verse 6 highlighted.

Among the readings in the temple liturgy for this feast were Zechariah 14:8

On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea; it shall continue in summer as in winter.

and Ezekiel 47:1-2

Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east); and the water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar. Then he brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me round on the outside to the outer gate, that faces toward the east; and the water was coming out on the south side.


So “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, 'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37-39) Jesus is not talking about an obtuse prophesy in an obscure verse but rather: He is publicly procaliming he is the focus of a major prophetic theme of the Old Testament.

As Jesus had explained to Nicodemus.

Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.' The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit." John 3:3-8. Verse 5 highlighted.

And again to the women at the well:

There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?" Jesus said to her, "Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw." John 4:7-15. Verses 10 and 14 highlighted.



This prophecy is first fulfilled on Calvary:

Since it was the day of Preparation, in order to prevent the bodies from remaining on the cross on the sabbath (for that sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him; but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness. John 19:31-35 verse 34 highlighted.

It is fulfilled in the life of the Church:

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him. 1 Peter 3:18-22


What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Romans 6:1-4


This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is the truth. There are three witnesses, the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has borne witness to his Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne to his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who has not the Son of God has not life. 1 John 5:6-12 Verse 6 highlighted

And he said to me, It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the fountain of the water of life without payment. Revelation 21;6


Finally it is fulfilled for all eternity:

Then he showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There shall no more be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall worship him; they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. And night shall be no more; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they shall reign for ever and ever. Revelation 22:1-5 Verse 1 highlighted.


As the Church still sings

Water from the side of Christ wash me!


References

"Dictionary of the Bible" John L. McKenzie S. J., Collier Books.
"Dictionary of Biblical Theology", Xavier Leon Dufour S.J., St Paul Books and Media.


Scripture quoted from the RSVCE

I consulted the KJV, Douay, Old Vulgate, Jerusalem Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, NAB (1970 NT), NASB, and NIV

!!! HE IS RISEN !!!

A Happy and Joyous Easter to one and all!!



I had a plan for lent. God had a different one. Please pray for my friend who spent much of last month in the hospital. She is recovering very well, praise God, but it is still a long stretch.

Lent 2006

.


For lent this year I will be taking a break from posting.

Here are some posts for the season from last year.


Forsaken

Passion

He is Risen


May God’s Blessing be with you and yours. See you after Easter.

He is Risen ! ! !

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God’s throne!
Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,
radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes for ever!

Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Savior shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God’s people!


V. Lift up your hearts.
R. We lift them up to the Lord.
V. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
R. It is right to give him thanks and praise.

It is truly right
that with full hearts and minds and voices
we should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful Father,
and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,
and paid for us the price of Adam’s sin
to our eternal Father!

This is our passover feast,
when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.

This is the night when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from their slavery
and led them dry-shod through the sea.

This is the night when the pillar of fire
destroyed the darkness of sin!

This is the night when Christians everywhere,
washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

This is the night when Jesus Christ
broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.

What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come as our Redeemer?

Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave
you gave away your Son.

O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

Most blessed of all nights, chosen by God
to see Christ rising from the dead!
Of this night scripture says:

”The night will be as clear as day:
it will become my light, my joy.”
The power of this holy night
dispels all evil, washes guilt away,
restores lost innocence, brings mourners joy;

It casts out hatred, brings us peace, and humbles earthly pride.
Night truly blessed when heaven is wedded to earth
and man is reconciled with God!

Therefore, heavenly Father, in the joy of this night,
receive our evening sacrifice of praise,
your Church’s solemn offering.

Accept this Easter candle,
a flame divided but undimmed,
a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God.

Let it mingle with the lights of heaven and continue bravely burning to dispel the darkness of this night!
May the morning Star which never sets find this flame still burning:
Christ, that Morning Star, who came back from the dead,
and shed his peaceful light on all mankind,
your Son who lives and reigns for ever and ever.


Amen.


Exsultet - "The Proclamation of Easter" Easter vigil Mass

Passion

This is Holy Saturday, the saddest day of the Liturgical year; Christ has died, but is not raised. The Apostles, their leader crucified, at least one a traitor, scattered and hiding make their way back to the Upper Room. A tragedy too deep to understand the Savior’s words promising the Resurrection, that will come later, now is the loss of dreams and hope.

Thus it is a good day to comment on Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ. Even though there is a Resurrection scene it leaves us emotionally on Holy Saturday.

The story is easy to lose in the violence. Satan is confronting the Messiah, and throws all in his possession to defeat God’s Anointed and bring mankind totally into the void of evil. Violence upon violence is thrown to defeat Jesus by pain, despair, and hopelessness and finally death. The actions of the crowds and soldiers become more and more inchoate and violent. Satan is smirking more and more as the end comes near. Despite this some good remains, Mary Jesus’ mother, and Mary Magdalene, Veronica, Simon the Cyrine and ultimately the Centurion. But the violence goes on. - - - Finally Satan's victory, Jesus dies. - - - But wait - the tear of God washes clean. The temple veil is torn. The curses of the old law have been fulfilled. We see Satan cry in protest as he realizes he is defeated. On the third day, though the Apostles and disciples have yet to realize it, Christ will be Risen.


It is sometime said that the movie is an episode, not a story, and it should include more of the life of Christ, that this one episode does not give the full context. A reasonable comment from those who are not part of the Church. But I think that it is only an episode, the central episode, is how it should be seen. For in the Church the story of Christ is told throughout the year and the story of the Crucifixion is told in Lent and especially on Good Friday. In the Church the rest of the story of Jesus gives context to Good Friday, but even more importantly Good Friday and Easter give context to the rest the story.


The importance of this movie is not in Mr. Gibson’s heroic struggle to get it produced, or in the record box office that rewarded his efforts. The importance is that every year, even when the rest of the world has forgotten about it, in theaters, church basements, on home video, late night cable the Christian Church will be brought back to the Central story of the Christian faith. The rest of year, the story of Jesus no matter how well or poorly told will be presented in the context of the Crucifixion and Resurrection to reaffirm our faith, build our hope, and light the charity of Christ in our hearts.


While the movie described by some as a means of evangelization, I think it is more for the Catacombs, so that no matter how the Church may be scattered, until God in His grace restores her or Jesus comes again, the story of what Jesus did for us will be told with strength and clarity. For

Though Christ has died

On Easter Christ is raised

And Christ will come again!