What Did Jesus Do After He Died On The Cross?

The first thing that you have to ask is what proof do we have that Jesus really died?  Crucifixion was a method of execution that sometimes took days to complete.  That was the point of the whole extravaganza.  The culprit was punished and a sign hung above his head telling how he got himself into such a predicament and the execution site was always where people could easily and readily see it. It was a test of strength with the criminal always loosing in the end. With the arms extended and the feet nailed down with the knees pushed slightly up allowed the unfortunate to breathe.  He could breathe as long as he kept his arms straight. This meant he had to hold his entire weight up and he would do this until little by little the burning pain in his arms made him slowly lower himself.  When he reached the bottom, he realized that he could not breathe and so pushing painfully on his nailed feet he once again pulled himself up.  This would go on until his strength gave out and he could pull himself up no more. For a strong man, this could take a couple of days.  This is why Pilate was so surprised to hear that Jesus was already dead after only a few hours.  Now, keep in mind that Jesus had been scourged, that is whipped with a whip that had bone sewed into the ends of thongs and blood was drawn each time a blow landed.  He would have lost a lot of blood because of this procedure which was not a normal part of the crucifixion process.  Normally you were scourged and then released.  You may have died later due to infection, but that was not the Roman’s concern.  Jesus also, like all of the criminals, had to carry the cross member called the patibulum for His cross and that weighed between seventy-five and one-hundred-twenty-five pounds. Consider that he was doing this while in shock from loss of blood and very likely had not eaten or drunk anything since the previous night so that weakness from hunger and dehydration was most likely setting in and you can see that this was not a man in possession of his full strength.  Also, there is some speculation that when Jesus fell the first time, the fall caused some internal bleeding that further weakened him.  He was so weak that his escort was afraid that he might die on the way to his execution. That would be bad for them because they were charged with seeing the criminals die on the crosses that had been prepared for them so they arranged for some help from a stranger picked from the crowd to help Him.  So by the time Jesus was actually nailed to the tree, I would think that He was a terminal case already, nothing, save a miracle, could save Him.  So after a while His strength gave out and He died.  The other two men crucified on either side of him were still fat and happy and they did the crucifix shuffle for the crowd. The Romans were taking no chances.  Jesus just may have been faking.  To forestall any thought of that, a roman pierced his body, going into the Heart and blood and water flowed out.  So I have no doubt that Jesus was dead and the manner of His death was homicide by legal crucifixion.

What did Jesus do after He died?  I think we have established that this was not some phony scheme thought up thy Him and his disciples to fool the Romans and the Temple gang. When Adam and Eve sinned, they in effect saw to it that the gates of heaven were closed to themselves and all of there descendants.  That is why Jesus came, to redeem us and to bring us back into fellowship with God the Father. So, from the time of Adam to that Good Friday all people were barred from heaven, so where did they go?  The place that they went has two names and they are Sheol and Hades.  Both of the names refer to the exact same place. Jesus went to Sheol and told the just souls that were there that their wait was over and that they could now enter the Heaven that was now ready to receive them.  The unjust who were also in Sheol but in a place of torment (remember the story of Lazarus and rich man) and they were sent to the place of damnation or as we call it, hell.  

The death of Christ on the Cross is the first part of the story, the grand finale is Easter Sunday, the day death died. 

The Cross

The notion that the cross would be considered a holy thing would have scared the heck out of people of the first century. It would be like us using an electric chair for a religious symbol.  But Paul did say that the cross was a stumbling block to those destined to perish, didn't he?  

The cross was a shameful and painful way to die, so shameful that the law exempted Roman citizens from being executed in such a manner. Jesus was at a double disadvantage during His journey to death for us. He was taken captive in the middle of the night, roughly treated, and almost certainly was denied food and water. So, at the start of the journey, He was weak from hunger and probably starting to become dehydrated.  The trial, illegally held at night had a ton of witnesses against Jesus but no two of them could come up with the same story and the law was clear that a person could not be condemned on the testimony of a single witness. The temple authorities were so inept that Jesus Himself had to give them the evidence that they needed. He had stayed mostly silent, for Jewish law did not require Him to say anything.  So, Caiaphas, who was on the verge of giving up, cast the dice for a final time when He asked Jesus if He was the Messiah, the Son of God, knowing full well that if Jesus remained silent that they would have to let Him go for lack of evidence. Jesus took this opportunity to make the high priest's case for him by stating clearly who He was. I can imagine the joy, rapture, and surprise of Caiaphas when he was handed the evidence that he needed so badly right from the mouth of the culprit.  He polled the assembly and to a man, they condemned Jesus to death. 

Then He was brought to Pilate, the Procurator of the province. For the most part, He gave Pilate the silent treatment, not answering the charges that were being made against Him. I know, it is always better not to say anything to the cops except in Roman law, the silence was taken to mean that you had no defense, that you were guilty as charged. Still. Pilate wanted nothing more than to frustrate the high priest and let this thorn in his side, this Jesus fellow,  go so that Jesus could continue annoying the high priest. Okay, Pilate thought, let's make a martyr out of this man. And he handed Jesus over to be scourged. The whipping was a horror to behold. The cat of nine tails had pieces of bone sewn into the ends and every stroke drew blood. Once it was over, they threw cold water on the corpse-like figure to awaken Him. They gave Him a mock kings cloak, in royal purple and they pressed a crown of thorns into His head. 

Pilate was sure that once they saw this pitiful figure the crowd would cease and desist and he could let Jesus go. He had Jesus brought out and cried, "Ecce Homo" which meant "Behold the man."  But even when they saw Him, bruised, bloody and beaten, with the crown of thorns and the ridiculous purple cape and he appearing more dead than alive, they still, at the insistence of the temple crew hollered for the death of the Good Shepherd.  Pilate asked, "What, I should crucify your king?" Irony had crept into the Roman official's voice and it played right into the hands of the High Priest who recognized only God as the leader of Israel but still answered, "We have no king but Ceasar." Then the high priest, building on his supposed loyalty to the emperor, told Pilate that anyone who let a pretender to the throne to go free was not Caesar's friend,  Well, Pilate had been backed into a corner. Calling for water, he washed his hands and told the crowd that he found no crime in the man before him and that the blood would be on their hands. With a smile and a song in their heart the chief priest and his gang said to Pilate, "Let his blood be on us and our children"  

Defeated, Pilate ordered the crucifixion of Jesus and they led Jesus away and crucified Him between two thieves, one of which was humble enough to accept his punishment and to state that Jesus had done no wrong. Paradise was promised to the Good Thief. The time had come. Jesus had left the ritual Passover meal without completing it. He uttered two words, "I Thirst." Some sour wine was held up to His lips and  after He drank it, finishing the fourth cup of the Passover He said: "It is finished." There was now a new Passover  The old rituals of animal sacrifice was abolished. The people would now worship in spirit and in truth. With a loud cry that showed he left on His own power. He gave up His Spirit into the care of His Father. 

The sky turned black and the rains came. In the temple, God left his earthly dwelling, tearing the temple veil from top to bottom in testimony. The leader of the execution squad said, "Truly this was the Son of God."  The rain cleansed the skin of the Savior and with the permission of Pilate He was removed from the cross, Jesus was then placed into the hands of His mother.  Her tears mingled with the raindrops and the men were hard pressed to tear her Son away from her. But it was late and as the rain stopped the sun reappeared low on the western horizon. They wrapped and carried the body into a garden within the shadow of the Cross and they hurriedly buried Him in a cold stone tomb hewn into the rock. The solemn Sabbath was at hand so the quickly sealed the tomb with a large stone and went to their homes.

In the garden, no one noticed that the birds were singing as the sun dipped below the horizon, it was night.

It's A Service Thing

I give you a new commandment, says the Lord:

love one another as I have loved you.

I always have found it ironic that we commemorate the Mass of the Lord's Supper where the Eucharist is instituted for us and the Gospel that the Church has chosen for us on this holy day is the one where the central theme is the washing of the apostle's feet. 

In Palestine during the time of Jesus people either went barefoot or the wore sandals.  The roads of the day, while surprisingly good due to Roman engineering, were dusty affairs and one thing that you did when a friend arrived is that you provided water and basin and towel so that they could wash their feet and help keep your house clean.  In the richer families, the task of foot washing was delegated to the lowest servant.  It was not the job you aspired to.  You did not go to school to learn it and when a child and you were playing with your friends, no boy would say that he was going to be a foot washing servant when he grew up.

But it is to service that we are called and we have been given an example in Jesus what that service should entail.  True, He washed the disciple's feet, all of them, even the feet of Judas whom Jesus knew was going to betray him. Jesus washed the feet of Judas tenderly and with great love.  Simon Peter, you always know when Peter is going to get himself in trouble because they use both of his names in the narrative, is astonished that Jesus, whom they looked on as their Lord and Master was on his knees scrubbing the dirty feet of the Apostles.   When Jesus came to Peter, Peter protested at the thought of what the Lord was about to do to him.  Jesus simply said to Peter that if you don't let Him wash his feet, that Peter would find himself on the outside looking in.  Peter, being Peter went and did what Peter was apt to do, he went overboard and offered he feet, hands, and head to be washed.  Jesus just went about His task without making any further comment to Peter. Then He explained that they called Him. "Lord and Master."  This was well and good for that is what he is and He took on this lowly job, so it should be with them.  Finally, a lesson that even a dumb old apostle could understand! 

The rest of Jesus' life would be spent in giving us the example on how we are to serve.  The service of Jesus continued right up until the very end when He sacrificed His life to save us from our sins.  He gave His life and was the suffering servant for all of us. What He did, we also must do to one another.  We should stumble over each other in trying to be of help and service to one another.  This self-sacrifice is the mark of a follower of Jesus. 

On this holy day, please remember your relatives and friends who might be in purgatory. The Pascal time is a beautiful time to pray for them and to offer sacrifices of your time and treasure in their name. Sadly, we delude ourselves into thinking that everyone goes to heaven immediately after death. The purging of our connections to sin is something we will volunteer for because we know that everything in heaven is sinless and perfect.  So, pray for them and remember, where they are, someday you may be! 

Destiny

One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, "What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?" They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.


Is there such a thing as destiny when it comes to God's children?  Is our fate written down when we draw our first breath in writing that cannot be effaced because it comes from the hand of God?  

Someone told me that it was the fate of Judas that he and only he would be the one to turn Jesus over to be crucified, that this part of Judas had been written for him and that he could not escape it. 

If we take to heart the last paragraph, then no one is responsible for anything that they do because what they did was decreed by God. 

Actually, there is biblical proof that we have the free will to accept or reject the will of God when it comes to our lives.  Start in the garden of Eden and we see that Adam and Eve had the free will to either to obey God or to disobey Him.  God's will was that they be happy and He gave them the tools that they needed to make themselves so.  But, they decided that they wanted to be like God and so they ate of the fruit and truly, their eyes were opened and they were afraid and ashamed at what they saw.  They exercised their free will. 

So too did Judas Iscariot.  He had all of the tools that the other apostles had and could have followed Jesus to Calvary.  Jesus was going to die, that is why He came down from heaven and if Judas didn't betray Him, someone else or some other circumstance would have intervened and God's plan for man would have been accomplished. 

Our ultimate fate is to be with God in heaven.  This is His will and His pleasure.  He also wants no friend that does not come willingly and of their own free will so He allows us to choose.  We have within us a need to be reunited with the Father.  Nothing else will place our souls at rest.  We have within us a soul that can accept or reject the grace of God at our pleasure.  If we reject God, He will allow us to go our own way.  If we desire Him as a friend, then we will be with Him in heaven for all eternity, and that is a long time! 

So, fate does not control our destiny.  We control it using the free will that God has given us.  Pray for the wisdom to take the proper steps so that one day you may breathe in on earth and exhale in heaven. 

Please remember the poor souls during this holiest of weeks.  I bet that Easter is a time of release for many souls and your prayers can help those that remain.  

The Tale of Two Traitors

Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified,
"Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me."
The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant.
One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved,
was reclining at Jesus' side.
So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant.
He leaned back against Jesus' chest and said to him,
"Master, who is it?"
Jesus answered,
"It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it."
So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas,
son of Simon the Iscariot.
After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him.
So Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly."
Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him.
Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him,
"Buy what we need for the feast,"
or to give something to the poor.
So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night...

Simon Peter said to him, "Master, where are you going?"
Jesus answered him,
"Where I am going, you cannot follow me now,
though you will follow later."
Peter said to him,
"Master, why can I not follow you now? 
I will lay down my life for you."
Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me?
Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow
before you deny me three times."

The happenings at the Last Supper don't always get the recognition that they deserve.  Many things happened at this moment that changed the world forever.  For example, we have the tale of the two traitors.  Before the day was done both of these men will have betrayed the Son of God.   

Judas Iscariot was sitting at table with the other apostles.  There were only two people at that table that knew for certain how this evening was going to end.  Jesus, of course, knew what was going to occur and Judas also knew because he was the instigator of it all.  He had gone to the temple crew and offered to deliver Jesus to them at a time and place when there would be no crowd around so there would be no riot.  The temple gang wanted things to be done quietly and neatly and Judasa assured them that he was their man.  Judas knew that after the Passover meal had concluded that they would be going to the Garden of Gethsemane for they often went there and slept in the quiet coolness of the olive grove.  It was to this place that Judas brought a gang carrying swords and clubs and it was in this place that he betrayed the Son of God with a kiss. He knew or had a  good idea of what was going to happen to Jesus.  The justice system at the time didn't have too many penalties other than banishment or death on the menu for persons found guilty of crimes against the state. So, he knew that there was a good chance that he was betraying Jesus to His death.  Judas did not care.  Once Jesus was arrested it would be his right to confiscate the common purse of the disciples and to keep it as his own.  Also, while it wasn't much, he had received thirty pieces of silver for his service to the High Priest, worth today approximately one-hundred-eighty-dollars. But more than that, the High Priest was under an obligation to Judas.  Maybe after all of this quieted down he could ask for a money changing concession in the temple and therefore be set for life.   All seemed good in the life of Judas until the sentence of death was handed down.  It was then that he realized that he had been wrong.  He went to the temple and demanded to speak to the High Priest.  He told them that he had betrayed innocent blood.  The temple crew laughed and told him that was his concern.  Judas tried to give back the money.  The Chief Priest refused the money and turned to leave. Judas, in despair, took the thirty pieces of silver and flung them at the backs of the retreating temple management team.  The devil inside of Judas now laughed at doubled the despair in the disciple's soul by reminding him of all of the good things that Jesus had done for him personally.  Despair mounted in the soul of the traitor and he went out into the darkness and committed suicide plunging him into the eternal darkness.

Peter, the leader of the Apostles, was a rough and tumble sort of guy.  No one was going to push him around.  He loved Jesus and believed Him to be the Son of God, the Messiah.  He would be the one in the garden to take up a sword and cut of the ear of the high priest's servant causing Jesus to perform one last healing miracle, that went unnoticed on that night, as the passion of our Lord began in earnest as Jesus was tied and brought along to the house of Annas, the former high priest and the father in law of Caiaphas who served Yahewh as high priest that year.  Annas wanted to see this man who had stirred up so much trouble and had overturned the money changers tables in the temple which cost Annas quite a bit of money.  He came out and looked into the face of Jesus and after a question or two, he sent Him on His way.  Annas was not impressed.  The Savior was next brought to the home of Caiaphas who had summoned the council, at least the ones who would be in favor of condemning Jesus for an impromptu and illegal trial by night.  Now, Peter had friends in this household so he was allowed entrance.  He wanted to stay close to Jesus, to defend Him, to die with Him if necessary.  It was a cold night so he went to the fire to warm himself.  In the light of the fire, one servant of the high priest accused him of being a follower of Jesus.  Peter stood to full stature and bravely said, "I do not know the man."  The servant shook her head and went about her business. Later, another asked if he was a follower of this Jesus fellow.  Peter, once again denied even knowing the man.  The man he said, he could not even bring himself to say the name of Jesus. A little while later as the night sky began to lighten, he once again was accosted and this time they mentioned that he was dressed as a Galileean.  Peter, cursed and swore and for a third time denied that he even knew Jesus.  The crock crowed, and Jesus who was being moved from one place to another looked at Peter.  Peter ran out and cried bitterly.

Two men, both followers of Jesus.  Each in their own way a traitor to the Lord.  Each of them deserving to be cut off from friendship forever.  Yet in one respect the two men could not be more different.  Judas, the treasurer, had but one god in his life and there was not much room for another.  When he joined the troop of apostles he did so to make money, he was good at that.  He took command of the group's finances and if there was some leakage from the common purse into his purse, well, that is all well and good.  At first, he thought he had made it for life.  Jesus was popular and he was growing more popular by the day.  Donations came in, not in a flood like he had hoped for but enough to keep them in bread and wine with a little left over for his purse and maybe just a little for the poor.  The treasurer could see the day when Jesus gathered the people and after dispatching the Romans out of Israel, He and the apostles would move into the palace and rule the kingdom.  Over the years, however, although Jesus was popular with the peasants, he was making enemies of the high priest and his family and friends. Judas had to find a way out, one that netted him a profit.  As we have seen, Judas was a follower of Jesus for convenience. He ended up permanently on the outside looking in.  He did not ask for forgiveness, he despaired of the mercy of God and killed himself.  His only friend was darkness.

Peter, on the other hand, was a believer. It was he that first declared that he believed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  Jesus saw strength in Peter and told him that it was upon Peter that He would build His Church and that the gates of hell would not prevail against it.  Peter was a brave man.  He was a true leader and Jesus groomed him for the day when he would lead the twelve and would spread the Gospel, the Good News, over the whole world.  But, it seems that Peter too betrayed the Lord, three times denying that he even knew Him.  Given his rank as chief of the apostles, this was a grave sin, a mortal sin.  Filled with guilt, Peter left the house of Caiphas and cried bitterly and begged for forgiveness.  He was personally forgiven by Jesus on the seashore when Jesus asked three times if Peter loved him.  And three times Peter answered yes.

Two men, traitors both.  Yet they are as different as night and day.  Judas had his pride and this pride would not allow him to ask for forgiveness.  He could have been Saint Judas but instead, he chose that path of darkness.  Peter, on the other hand, swallowed his pride and allowed Jesus to forgive him and he went on preaching and teaching and ending up being crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to die as his Master had. 

This is the week we call Holy Week.  You have a choice to make.  Who is your champion? Is it Judas who remained silent, forsaking repentance and choosing death over everlasting life?  Or do you choose Peter, who repented and worked the rest of his life as a servant of the Lord?  Choose, you have to be on one team or the other.  


We are in an age where the mercy of God is flowing not at a trickle but at a torrent.  He calls us to look at ourselves and see where we have fallen short.  He calls us to repent and to confess our sins so that they can be forgiven.  God's grace is there for the taking, free pardon for what you have done and what you have failed to do.  Do not let Easter find you the same person as you were before Lent began.  Accept the mercy of God and be like Peter. 

Breaking Bread While Being Embalmed

Spikenard

Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany,
where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 
They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served,
while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. 
Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil
made from genuine aromatic nard
and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair;
the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. 
Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples,
and the one who would betray him said,
"Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days' wages
and given to the poor?"
He said this not because he cared about the poor
but because he was a thief and held the money bag
and used to steal the contributions.
So Jesus said, "Leave her alone.
Let her keep this for the day of my burial.
You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came,
not only because of him but also to see Lazarus,
whom he had raised from the dead.
And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too,
because many of the Jews were turning away
and believing in Jesus because of him.

Aromatic Nard, which was imported from Nepal and India even today, would be classified as a luxury type of product.  It is an essential oil pressed from the Spikenard plant and in the ancient world was used as a perfume, a medicine, and sparingly in Roman cooking. In today's reading, we hear that Mary came with a liter bottle of the preparation and poured it on the feet of Jesus and dried his feet with her hair. This was an extravagant gesture of love and Judas Iscariot was quite right in saying that the nard should have been sold for three hundred days wages and the money given to the poor.  Of course, he just wanted to steal the money as he was the treasurer of the group so you have to wonder how much of that money the poor would have received. 

This must have been one of the strangest dinners that ever was given from one friend to another.  Look at the cast of characters that were in attendance.  You had Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead.  You had Jesus, a Messiah, you had twelve ordinary men who followed Jesus, mostly fishermen but also a tax collector and Judas the banker. Then you had Martha, who was doing what Martha did best, she was the hostess at the gathering and you had Mary who was passionate and very caring.  I can imagine what the conversation must have been like.  We are less than a week from Christ's death on the cross. He was telling His friend's good-bye and most likely telling them not to worry that He was doing His Father's will.  For once, Jesus thought about Himself as he defended Mary and told them that what she did, she did for His burial.   The humanity of Jesus was coming out. He was coming to the end of His three-year public life and I wonder if he could see into the future and see what horrors were awaiting Him.  His human side would have been clamoring for self-preservation while His divine side knew what had to be done and was ready and willing to do it. 

The apostles had not a clue of what was about to happen.  They knew what Jesus had said was going to happen but, hey, that was in the future, they had more preaching to do, more souls to awaken to the truth.  Besides, the Messiah would never allow Himself to be punished in such a way.  Hadn't he walked away when the temple gang was going to stone Him, why he walked right past them.  He would do it again!  

The apostles, of course, were wrong.  Jesus came to show how much God loved us and what He was willing to do to secure that friendship between God and creature forever. When Jesus opened his arms on the cross, He did not curse his circumstance and the people that brought Him to the Place of the Skull, no, from the cross He asked that we be forgiven because we knew not what we had done.  He claimed the Good Thief and promised him that on this very day they would be in Paradise together.  He also took care of His Mother, Mary, by placing her into the care of the disciple that he loved the most, John.  Even while He was dying Himself. He spent none of that precious time on feeling sorry for Himself, he ministered to others right up until the time he breathed His last. 

As we move towards the Tridium, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and  Easter let us meditate on the sufferings of Jesus and how much He loved us and to what great lengths He went to bring us the bliss of everlasting life with God and the angels and saints in heaven.  He did this for you and I in a personal way.  He did it because He loved us. 

As part of your Holy Week observance. can you please pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory?  They need our prayers and are often forgotten about.  Thank you. 

SUNDAY EDITION - #4 - The Craziness of American Politics and the Church

Sunday edition #4

AMERICAN POLITICS

WHAT IS AN AMERICAN

CHRISTIAN TO DO?

I grew up in the city of Chicago where I assumed there was only one political party and that happened to be the one that the (real) mayor of the City of Chicago happened to belong to and that was the Democratic Party.  Richard J. Daley, the father, was His Honor the Mayor. After him, the city has suffered under men, including his son, that were less than successful in keeping the city running. True, his honor probably was crooked, he definitely took care of his own and he kept the city working like a well-oiled machine, but he never was caught doing anything wrong. During this time in American politics, the Democratic Party was the party of the working man and the party that the unions endorsed more often than not was the Democratic Party.  My grandfather knew how to vote.  He came from the old country and after serving in World War One in the Battle of Heinz Hospital in Maywood Illinois, he settled down in the Chicago area.  He became an American Citizen and took his obligations to his country seriously and voted in every election.  There were times his neighborhood captain would pick him up in a car so that he could go and vote. He voted a straight democratic ticket, the process of his voting taking less than a minute.  My Uncle John, God rest his soul, told me that. “A working man had no right to vote Republican.”  Back then, the Democrats cared about the working people.   The blue collars and those that dug ditches were their meat and potatoes back then and they looked out for the working people of America and because of this, the wage earner was heard and had some say so on Capitol Hill.   

Without tipping my hand as to how I voted, which I keep secret as a matter of course, I have to say that in modern America it is hard indeed for a Christian to vote Democratic. The Democratic Party has abandoned the working class people and now supports most if not all causes that are working against Christian morality and pandering to an if it feels good, do it sort of mentality.  The family and decency do not seem to be part of the party platform. The planks of the Democratic Party are festooned with mold and rot caused by the embracing of abortion as a right, same-sex marriage, mandated provision of birth control, and other things that the Church deems sinful. Their candidate in the last presidential election stood for all of these things and how she received even one Catholic vote is beyond me.  Maybe it was because of who she was running against.

The Republican Party is no collection of saints either.  The party caters to the rich at the expense of the working class and quite honestly I am still waiting for the Ronald Regan trickle to hit my bank account.  The only thing you can say that is good about the Republican Party is that they have a good record of being Pro-Life and Anti-Abortion.  They do not try to lump the murder of human embryos into “women’s health.”  They tend to see abortion for what it is, murder.  But, this party tends to take care of only its own.  There is a selfishness among its members that divide the riches of the nation into two piles, and those are, “What is mine and what I still have to get.”

Our elected officials sitting in Congress and the House are a bunch of do-nothings who have lost the ability to see outside of the box that they are in.  The boxes, of course, are the parties themselves.  The congress and senate have to start looking across the aisle and they have to start doing what they are being paid to do, and that is to look for the good of the people that put them into office and all those that live in their districts.

We as members of the Church need to speak up a little louder and I do not mean just our bishops, I mean all of us who bend our knees together in prayer.  We know what is right and we know what is wrong.  We must make our voices heard. 

Until Next Week, This is Sunday Edition. 

Palm Sunday

Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,  
did not regard equality with God
something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, the time we set aside to recall the fulfillment of the promise made to Adam and Eve so many years ago.  The drama of our redemption takes place during the Passover. the time when the Jews remembered the way God led them out of Egypt.  But to say that they "remembered it" is to not get it quite right.  What they strove for in their Passover meal was to relive the event as if they were there.  They viewed it not as something that happened to their ancestors, but something that happened to them and they passed this down to their children to keep on the tradition after they were gone. 

This week is the holiest week on our calendar.  The events that took place two millenniums ago are commemorated on Thursday, the day that Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist.  On Friday, the day He suffered and died for us.  And finally on Easter, the day He destroyed death.  He did all of these things for you.  Every strike of the whip was for your sins.  Every broken capillary caused by the crown of thorns caused His very blood to be shed because he loved you, personally.  Every bruise caused by the weight of the cross as it landed on Him as he fell was to cure your disobedience. The nails in hands and feet, the ravages of the insects as he hung there naked and alone on that cruel cross were for your sins.  The cry to His Father for forgiveness because they did not know what they were doing, was because you do not know the injuries you caused to the dignity of the Father.  When h\He died, he did not die with the masses in mind, He died thinking of you, and me, and your neighbor, everyone as a separate individual who was loved so much that Jesus died for each, personally.   You are blessed because you are loved by the Lord and He has proven Himself to be a true friend.    

The Unlikely Prophet and the Passover Plot

Many of the Jews who had come to Mary and had seen what Jesus had done began to believe in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 
So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, 

"What are we going to do?  This man is performing many signs. If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation."

But one of them, Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, said to them,

"You know nothing, nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish."

He did not say this on his own, but since he was the high priest for that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not only for the nation but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God. So from that day on they planned to kill him.

So Jesus no longer walked about in public among the Jews, but he left for the region near the desert, to a town called Ephraim, and there he remained with his disciples.

Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem
before Passover to purify themselves. They looked for Jesus and said to one another as they were in the temple area, "What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?"
JN 11:45-56

If you were the chief priest in Jerusalem during the time of Jesus, you would not consider the job to be one where you would be retiring from as most of them were installed by Romans and dismissed from office for one reason or another in a year or two.  Now, Caiphas was the exception.  His reign as chief priest extended for eighteen years.  He was good at keeping the Sanhedrin and the people in line and pleasing the Romans, who, incidentally, appointed the chief priests.  The chief priest's vestments which were needed to officiate at the temple on the solemn feast days were held by the Procurator and had to be retrieved from him when they were needed.  Now the procurator could either give the high priest the garb he needed to officiate or not depending on if the procurator was pleased with the high priest.  What made the procurator happiest, what pleased him the most, was a peaceful Jerusalem. 

Caiphas is a prophet in our reading today.  He says that it is better for one man to die than to have the whole nation perish. He beautifully encapsulates the role Jesus will take upon Himself in the coming days.  But why is Caiphas so much against Jesus and His teachings?  He must have known that Jesus did not call for a violent insurrection against the hated Roman occupiers.  Jesus instructed his followers that if they were struck on the cheek that they should turn and offer the other cheek.  This was hardly the stuff that a Messiah would be made of.  In Jerusalem, at the time there were plenty of potential messiahs to go around.  For the most part, the would do or say something to attract the attention of the Romans and find themselves either decorating a Roman cross or being the messiah in a lead mine somewhere.

Jesus was different.  He did things that no other potential Messiah had done before. He cured a man that was certified as being born blind, this was unheard of.  He changed water into wine and even, it is said, raised his friend Lazarus from the dead.   He even advocated paying taxes to the Romans in a way that did not upset the people.  He had many followers and the time was getting ripe for Him to be tried and found guilty on some charge and quickly and quietly be executed.  But, a stoning is not what was needed here.  Caiphas realized that whoever executed Jesus would make a lot of enemies among the believers.  So, somehow, he had to take what would be an internal religious capital crime and somehow turn it into a crime that the Romans would feel deserved death. Let the Romans be blamed for the death of this pain in the neck Messiah.  The idea was now out on the table, the whole Sanhedrin knew that the powerful Caiphas and his father in law Annas were after Jesus of Nazareth.  This being the case, Jesus was already dead, He just did not know it yet. 

Prayer for the Holy Souls in Purgatory by St. Gertrude the Great

According to tradition, St. Gertrude the Great was told by Our Lord that the following prayer, each time she piously recited it, would release 1,000 souls (or a vast number) from their suffering in purgatory:

“Eternal Father,
I offer You the most precious blood
of thy Divine Son, Jesus,
in union with the Masses said
throughout the world today,
for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory,
for sinners everywhere,
for sinners in the universal Church,
for those in my own home,
and in my family. Amen.”