Easter finally arrived and it seems like it was not a moment too soon. That is part of the wondrous beauty of it: God appointed a time and place from the very beginning in which to work the greatest act of mercy and love ever known. It is important to devote the same amount time as we did during Lent to ponder the Easter mysteries, because the reality of the Resurrection is nothing short of breathtaking. It affects everything we do, everything we are as God’s adopted children, how we live our lives, our eventual deaths, and our eternity. We now shift perspective: in the weeks that led up to the Resurrection we looked toward the cross and waiting tomb, and from Easter onward we look away from the cross and tomb to Easter glory. We look at the power of the Resurrection and therefore, the effect the Risen Jesus had on the disciples and the growing community. The mercy of God is central to it all, obvious in that there was no condemnation proffered by the Risen Lord who instead wanted them to understand all He had done. It is fitting, then, that the week after Easter we celebrate the Sunday of Divine Mercy. We must remember that the entire time Jesus suffered, particularly when He was on the cross, mercy was flowing from His stricken heart: He forgave those who crucified Him, and He even granted the gift of eternal life to a criminal crucified beside Him when he asked it of the dying Jesus. It was His mercy that descended to the place of the dead and released the souls of the just, bringing them into Paradise. And it was His mercy that rose on the third day, spared the frightened guards, appeared (no doubt) to His Mother,* and then to Mary Magdalene. One cannot separate mercy from love, any more than evil could separate the Son of God from us. He conquered sin and death. Alleluia! The mercy of Jesus is evident in His first encounters with the disciples who fearfully went into hiding. When He appeared in the Upper Room, they were not yet able to grasp that He would offer mercy rather than judgment. How surprised they must have been! Therefore, it would be good to reflect upon what it must have been like for them during those days between Jesus’ death and reports of His resurrection since we, too, often struggle with mystery, especially in the face of adversity. How would we have responded to such a situation? Perhaps like the apostles at first, we might be fearful or even compare ourselves to others, judging them or bearing anger toward them. We can guess that in those first days, in addition to their fear, there may have been some resentment among them. Perhaps they initially blamed Judas for his betrayal. Some of them may have even resented John, Peter, and Mary Magdalene who claimed to see Jesus resurrected when they had not. And just as they began to let grace take hold, Jesus did appear to them, but without Thomas present. Thomas, one who was so faithful during the ministry of Jesus, subsequently went into turmoil trying to believe how it could be true. After he considered their joyful stories and perhaps had an inkling of hope, would Thomas have resented that they saw Jesus and he didn’t? We do not really know, but they were human and they had just experienced the worst time in their lives; they must have wrestled with so many conflicting emotions and thoughts, including self-recrimination due to their actions. It is probably safe to say that until Jesus appeared to all of them and breathed the Holy Spirit upon them, they were in some considerable turmoil. Fear, blame, resentment, and self-recrimination all take place in the absence of mercy. Therefore, when Mercy appeared before them, that is, the Risen Jesus, all of those feelings were washed away and their spirits were flooded with the joy of grace, especially when Jesus explained everything to them. It was as if their old selves had died and their new selves were raised to life in Christ; it was a ‘baptismal moment’ just as at our Baptism when we die to sin and rise from the waters with new life and in new relationship with God our Father. The mercy of Jesus dispelled all of their inclination to be afraid, or to have resentment directed toward others or toward themselves. Instead, they were filled with courage, wisdom, humility, gratitude, joy, and love, which are the ‘offspring’ of Divine Mercy. That is, these are the graces that fill us when we allow Divine Mercy to release what needs to be emptied. It was Divine Mercy that opened the eyes of two disciples who were fleeing Jerusalem and heading to Emmaus. Mercy is what Jesus offered Thomas when He let Him touch His hands and side. It was mercy that Jesus offered to Peter at the Sea of Galilee when He said, “Feed my sheep.” Therefore, as the disciples of Jesus today, we need to embrace the same great gift of Mercy, not only accepting it for ourselves, but in offering it to others as the best response of love that we can offer Jesus to express gratitude for all that He did in love for us. We do not deserve it, but the nature of God’s Mercy is that it is freely given. Indeed, Mercy died on Calvary, but in victory, Mercy rose on the 3rd day and is forever offered to us. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia! May we rejoice at the gift of Divine Mercy! May we offer ourselves to serve Jesus as His disciples, renewed through the graces of Easter victory! And may we never fear to come before Jesus or to ask for the gift of His Divine Mercy which He lavishes upon all who ask! Let us meet in the heart of Divine Mercy! Peace! ©Michele L. Catanese * Tradition has it that Jesus appeared to His mother Mary before anyone else and that it is not recorded in Scripture because the moment would have been too personal and intimate to do so. Many theologians and saints, not the least of which was St. Ignatius of Loyola, believed that this encounter took place as such. Final note: I must mention St. Faustina, the great saint of Divine Mercy insofar as Jesus appeared to her over a number of years explaining Divine Mercy and asked her to promulgate it. Her diary, known as The Diary of St. Faustina Kowalska, contains description of these appearances and all that Jesus told her. Of course, we cannot forget St. Pope John Paul II who established the Sunday after Easter as the liturgical feast of Divine Mercy. Images: 1. My photo of a Resurrection icon given to me as a gift. 2. Icon, The Risen Lord Appears to St. Thomas, by Fr. William Hart McNichols. If you are interested in obtaining a copy, it can be found at https://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-risen-lord-appears-to-st-thomas-257-william-hart-mcnichols.html. 3. Photo, Sunrise Over the Red Sea, unknown photographer. 4. Painting, Taking the Backroad, by Kim Casebeer. 5. Painting, Divine Mercy, "Jesus I Trust in You." This painting was made based on a vision of Jesus experienced by St. Faustina. In the vision Jesus instructed her to have it made. Note: In compliance with GDPR rules, I wish to make it clear that I do not gather any information on any of my readers at any time. As Holy Week begins our focus should move away from our own efforts in sacrificing to those of Jesus. The first three days of the week after Passion Sunday are actually the last three days of Lent, followed by the three days of the Easter Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. The Triduum ends with the Easter Vigil, and therefore it is important to remember that we are at the tomb of Jesus until sundown; our prayer and sacrifice chosen for the season of Lent does not end until that point. Entering fully into those days is as important as what led up to them since they invite even greater immersion into the suffering and death of Jesus, freely chosen in order to complete the work of atoning for sin and bringing about salvation. In short, we turn our attention away from what we were doing throughout Lent, even though we were doing it for Him, and shift to watching and participating in the events that Jesus suffered during those days we call the Triduum. Our participation comes in the form of our private prayer and in reflecting upon the liturgies that are part of the Triduum, regardless if we are present in church or not. Every moment of those three days is about Jesus and what He suffered to enable what follows on Easter Sunday. Recently I read an excellent reflection by Heather King. In it, she referred to Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete, a Puerto Rican priest and theologian.* She quoted one of his books in which he used the term co-suffering in reference to sharing in the suffering of another. Msgr. Albacete said that it is not appropriate to be like the friends of Job who tried to explain suffering away, and that in fact, attempts at minimizing the suffering of another are harmful. Rather, he suggested, we should risk putting our own faith on the line by entering into the suffering of the one who does not have faith or who questions faith. This moved me to reflect upon what Jesus risked from the very first breath He took as an infant, becoming fully human while remaining fully God. How difficult it must have been when He came into conscious understanding of who He was and what He was to do, remaining in awareness of His full divinity while also living as fully human! How difficult it must have been when He was tempted in the desert as He fasted and prayed, knowing what was to follow in a few short years! How difficult it must have been to know that the people He chose as His closest friends would betray Him! How difficult it must have been with every healing and teaching to know that He would be rejected by His people! How difficult it must have been when He gave His Body and Blood as an everlasting gift at the Last Supper, knowing that some would not recognize His presence! How difficult it must have been to stand in the Garden of Gethsemane and say, “I AM,” and then choose suffering when the soldiers and Jewish officials came for Him!** Therefore, it is important for us to realize that Jesus’ sufferings did not begin at the agony in the Garden, but well before: the suffering of Jesus began with everything He did throughout His ministry. That isn’t to say that He did not have the joy that accompanied His good works and the love of His Holy parents and friends. But ultimately, Jesus knew that all He did would accompany Him to the Cross so that He could accomplish that for which He had come. A final thought on suffering: just as we would never dream of saying to Jesus (during His Passion), “There, there, you’ll be okay,” or “I understand what you are going through,” we should not say those things to those who suffer. Co-suffering means (to me) that we stand with the other, but we do not minimize or attempt to explain it away. Their suffering just is, and it is their road to holiness as much as it was Jesus’ road to our salvation. If there is anything at all we learn about suffering from Jesus, it is that suffering is a mystery, it’s causes, it content, the ‘why’ of it are not where we are invited; it is not about understanding, but rather about the experience itself and accompanying the one who suffers. Jesus suffered for us, and therefore suffering takes on value; if not, God would have chosen another way. What Jesus asks is that we accept what His cross won, and accept that no matter what happens in our life, no matter how little sense it seems to make, no matter how much our feelings seem to tell us that somehow God got it wrong, or at worst, that ‘there is no God because I am suffering,’ Jesus really is there with us. The suffering of Jesus teaches that He chose to go through worse things than we could ever imagine, not because He somehow deserved to take on the sin of humanity, or even that we deserved salvation, (because we certainly didn’t), but because His love for us is that great. We can pray and meditate upon this during our walk to the foot of the cross with Jesus this Holy Week. If we seek it, Jesus will help us more clearly grasp with our hearts rather than with our minds, what it means to be fully human through our suffering and fully loved through His. May we who struggle with our faith during times of personal suffering find grace in Jesus! May we who struggle with being present to our loved ones who are suffering find Love in the wounded heart of Jesus! And may we, at the end of our Lenten journey, find joy in the knowledge that we are never alone! Let us meet on the road and at the cross! Triduum peace! ©Michele L. Catanese * The article from Heather King was found in Angelus news on March 10, 2023. It is called Finding Freedom in Suffering. I highly recommend reading it. Toward the beginning of the article she wrote about Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete. The inspiration for my reflection here and the quote from Msgr. Albacete comes from his book, Cry of the Heart, as quoted by Heather. You can find all of this in her article at https://angelusnews.com/voices/finding-freedom-in-suffering/ ** John 18:1-8 Images: 1. My photo; olive tree in an ancient olive grove in Israel. 2. Painting, The Guards Falling Backwards (Les gards tombant à la renverse), by James Tissot, 1886-94. 3. Icon, Jesus Christ Extreme Humility, by Fr. William Hart McNichols. You can find this icon at fineartamerica.com/featured/jesus-christ-extreme-humility-036-william-hart-mcnichols.html 4. My photo, dry stream bed; Lost Maples State Natural Area, Vanderpool, Texas. Note: In compliance with GDPR rules, I wish to make it clear that I do not gather any information on any of my readers at any time. |
Heart Speaks to Heart
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