‘A Holy Week question: what did Jesus do on Easter Saturday?’

Every Christian knows the story: Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. But what did he do on Saturday?

That question has spurred centuries of debate, perplexed theologians as learned as St. Augustine and prodded some Protestants to advocate editing the Apostles’ Creed, one of Christianity’s oldest confessions of faith.

Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and most mainline Protestant churches teach that Jesus descended to the realm of the dead on Holy Saturday to save righteous souls, such as the Hebrew patriarchs, who died before his crucifixion.

The catechism of the Catholic church calls the descent “the last phase of Jesus’ messianic mission,” during which he “opened heaven’s gates for the just who had gone before him.”

An ancient homily included in the Catholic readings for Holy Saturday says a “great silence” stilled the earth while Jesus searched for Adam, “our first father, as for a lost sheep.”

Often called “the harrowing of hell,” the dramatic image of Jesus breaking down the doors of Hades has proved almost irresistible to artists, from the painter Hieronymus Bosch to the poet Dante to countless Eastern Orthodox iconographers.

But some Protestants say there is scant scriptural evidence for the hellish detour, and that Jesus’ own words contradict it.

On Good Friday, Jesus told the Good Thief crucified alongside him that “today you will be with me in paradise,” according to Luke’s Gospel. “That’s the only clue we have as to what Jesus was doing between death and resurrection,” John Piper, a prominent evangelical author and pastor from Minnesota, has said. “I don’t think the thief went to hell and that hell is called paradise.”

Full Story: What did Jesus do on Holy Saturday?

Source: Religion News Service

Article taken from ucanews.com - http://www.ucanews.com
URL to article: http://www.ucanews.com/2012/04/04/a-holy-week-question-what-did-jesus-do-on-easter-saturday/

A Lenten meditation : Who is Christ for you and for me?

 Let us begin by proclaiming Mt 16:13-15.

 Jesus asked his disciples: “Who am I for you?”  Jesus is alive today and He is asking you and me: “Who am I for you.” 

“Who am I for you?” Jesus questions you and me. How do we answer this question? We may answer it in two ways, objectively and subjectively. The objective answer is easy. We all know it well. We answer: “You are the Son of God and the Son of Mary, our Savior, our Redeemer, the Way, the Truth, the Life, the Light. You are the Good Shepherd, the Good Samaritan, the Santo Niño, Eucharistic Bread and Wine, the Sacred Heart, the Liberator of the oppressed… You are the Prophet who denounces evil and injustice and announces the Good News of the Kingdom, the Beatitudes.” Jesus, “You are the Teacher, the one who teaches with authority.”

We may give an objective answer when we study or discuss the question “Who is Christ?” in a detached, scholarly, scientific, professional manner.  We may give an objective response when we preach without fire, when we live without personal commitment. Hopefully, we do not answer the question in an unscientific, a-historical, fundamentalist or biased manner. Generally, the objective answer in itself is cold, external, perhaps non-committal at all.

I believe that Jesus is looking for our subjective and personal answer, the answer that commits us to Him, the answer that comes not mainly from books, but from our personal life: from a loving encounter with the Lord who lives in us. After all, Christianity does not mean reciting a creed: it means, “Knowing a person” (W. Barclay). St. Paul preached: “I know whom I have believed” (2 Tim 1:12): the Suffering Servant, the Crucified and Risen Lord!

Who is Christ for me? For Peter – and for us -, He is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Mt 16:16). For John – and for us -, Jesus is the Son of God (I Jn 5:10). Who is Christ for me? Do I really know him? Not just with my reason illumined by faith, but, above all, through my love for him: “It is only with the heart that one can see clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye” (The Little Prince).This is the task of our Christian lives:  to know the Lord! (Cf. Phil 3:12-14). Integral knowledge, biblical knowledge implies “a personal encounter with him, intimate experience, loyalty, love, adherence to the person, doing his will” (Francisco M. López Melús).

In reality, knowing Jesus means following him. The mystery of Christ may be partly and progressively unveiled when we follow Him – always in a deeper and deeper way. This is what true faith is all about: the following of Christ.

Following Christ means to go after Him, to imitate his life and virtues, to identify with him, to see Him in the community prayer of the Church, in the Sacraments, in the Word of God, in loving the neighbor, particularly the needy, and in personal contemplative prayer. We feel his presence also in our work of mission and in those we try to evangelize. Following Jesus entails radically to experience the paschal mystery (“I have seen the Lord”), to experience, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, filiation and fraternity, and, therefore, to become and behave as adopted children of God, and brothers/sisters of one another in Christ.

Let me tell you an old story: the story of a poor old man. To be able to eat one meal a day, he had sold, little by little, everything he had, except a violin he loved. A day came when it was time to sell it. So the old man went to an auction. The auctioneer began cautiously with 20 US dollars. After a while, it only reached 50 dollars. But then, the auctioneer asked if anyone in the audience knew how to play the violin. One man came forward. After dusting off the violin and tuning it, he began to play beautiful songs: “Those were the days, my friend,” The Sounds of Silence, “De la saeta al cantar”…, the song of joy of the 9th Symphony of Beethoven…The auction resumed and the bidding of the violin continued with 50 dollars. The violin was sold finally for 800 dollars. The neighbors of the old man – other poor people – asked him: “How much did they give you for your old and dusty violin?” He answered: “800 dollars!” They retorted: “How can that be?” The old man said: “The hand of the master touched it.”

Jesus is our only Master, our only Word, our only Way. Let Him touch us! All believers in Jesus, in a particular way religious men and women are asked by their faith in him to have a passionate love for Jesus, to be his zealous heralds, and his fascinating witnesses (cf. John Paul II, VC, nos.109, 81, and 93).

Like the prophet Jeremiah was seduced by God, let Jesus seduce us Jeremiah said then: “You seduced me, Lord, and I let myself be seduced” (see Jr 20:7). You and I say now: “You seduced us Jesus, and we let ourselves be seduced by You.” However, Lord, “We continue to be sinners in need of your forgiveness and grace.

In this Lenten Communitarian Penitential Rite, we pray: “Dear Jesus, you are our Savior and Redeemer, our brother and friend! We ask You humbly: please forgive us our sins, refresh our hearts, and renew our lives. Amen.”

         

                                     

 FR. FAUSTO GOMEZ, O.P.

                                    St. Dominic’s Priory

“Communitarian Penitential Rite”

  March 30, 2012

Evidence found for beatification of Vietnamese cardinal

The Vietnamese Church is working to gather evidence relevant to the cause of beatification of Vietnamese Cardinal Francis Xavier Van Thuan, promoted by the Pontifical Council “Justice and Peace”, of which Van Thuan was President.

As reported to Fides from local sources in the diocese of Hue (Central Vietnam), among the testimonies gathered by the Church of Hue, there are two women (a nun and a lay person) who claim to have been healed through the intercession of the Cardinal.
Fides is able to anticipate briefly the two stories.

Sister Marie Thi Lan, of the Congregation of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate, said that in 2009 she had to undergo a delicate eye surgery. The doctors never gave her assurances that her sight problems would have been resolved and feared the danger of blindness”. I prayed to the Cardinal and my eyes healed without surgery,” says the nun.

Also in the diocese of Hue, a woman of the parish of Thach Han, Mrs. Mary Le Thi Than, aged 70, was bed-ridden for over 40 years because of a severe form of neuralgia. She relied on prayer and intercession of Cardinal Van Thuan and has recently healed, resuming a normal life and daily activities, which for decades was unable to do.

Full Story: A nun and a lay healed through the intercession of Cardinal Van Thuan

Source: Fides

Article taken from ucanews.com - http://www.ucanews.com

URL to article: http://www.ucanews.com/2012/03/22/evidence-found-for-beatification-of-vietnamese-cardinal/

Be mindful,and you will see!

Second Sunday of Ordinary Time, year of Mark, John the Apostle tells us this story of vocation: “John (the Baptist) was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God.’ The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ – which translated means Teacher -, ‘where are you staying?’ He said to them, ‘Come, and you will see.’ So they went and saw where Jesus was staying, and they stayed with him that day” (John 1:35-39).

Normally people have the same desire to become better and better -  to transcend themselves. It is because “man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for” (CCC. 27). As people want to fulfill their life with a meaning they find out that God alone is the eternal good, from him and to him they have a full life. The psalmist today says, “I delight to do your will, my God; your law is in my inner being!” (Psalm 40:9).  For us Christians, Christ Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, through whom we will go to God the Father (cf. John 14:6).
If the two disciples of John the Baptist (Andrew and John, son of Zebedee), as they had met and followed Jesus, were invited to come and discern the place where the Lord stayed; today also we are invited to “come” and discern Christ in our heart through faith (cf. Ephesians 3:17). The question is, how can we “come” to the Lord once He is already in our heart? The invitation “come” implies the expectation of getting closer – the action that expresses proximity of relationship. Here the Buddhist meditation technique “Vipassana” (insight) could be of some help: Being uninterruptedly mindful! Not by walking round to find things outside but by watching into ourselves we can come closer to God, who is always in our heart and even obviously so when we love and obey the teaching of Jesus (cf. John 14:23).

Living in a media manipulated society like nowadays, let us fall not into the trap of things that attract us on the outside but distract us from listening inside to God’s call. May we be always simple and faithful like Samuel, not permitting any word that God plants into our heart to be without effect (cf. 1 Samuel 3:19). May we be always careful of using our body, which is “a temple of the Holy Spirit,” not for immorality, but for the immortality – the Lord (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:13c-15a, 17-20). May we be constantly mindful of the actual presence of God in our heart so that all the time we should act in accordance to His law. Like our beloved Brother Lionel, whose 90th day returning home to the Father we commemorate today, often said when he was alive, using the words of St. Catherine of Siena, “All the way to heaven is heaven, because He said I am the Way;” let us be mindful that our Lord Jesus Christ daily invites us to live with him now in heavens. Amen.

Peter Thoại O.P.

When The Word becomes flesh

    Just like last year’s Christmas, a small group of local lay faithful, as they were finding a way to make their holidays meaningful, again asked me this year to join them for some volunteer trips. We visited Lar de São Luís Gonzaga on December 24, Centro de Santa Margarida on December 25, and Instituto de Menores and Ká Hó Settlement on January 1, 2012. All the same places! Yet my experience of faith and of life was not necessarily the same; it was renewed. The trips have added new vigor to my beliefs and helped me better understand how “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (Jn 1:14), primarily to the shepherds (cf. Lk 2:8-14) – those who were generally poor and to some extent outcasts, considered by the “respectable” to be ignorant, dirty and lawless (Jerome Kodell).

SIMPLE FAITH STRENGTHENED

Lar de São Luís Gonzaga and Centro de Santa Margarida are rehabilitation centers that provide health care services for male and female adults who are mentally retarded, physically handicapped, or with mental disabilities. Thanks to the Sisters of Saint Ann and the Macau Caritas staff, we were arranged to meet the residents of each center in their recreation room, which was much cleaner and more hygienic than one could think. There we sang, danced and played with them. From them I’ve learnt that even when we cannot do anything, just a handshake or a little word “Hello” could also make them a day.

People with mental retardation, nowadays called “intellectual disability” or “developmental delay” to avoid hurting people’s feelings, are those who learn and develop more slowly than others of similar age. In fact, the residents we met seemed to be mentally disabled or disordered rather than retarded – they came out with serious trouble acting and functioning in everyday life. Their physical appearance was mostly disfigured and changed. Many of them liked to talk and make friends with the guests, though they could not articulate their thoughts or express themselves properly. While those who still stay physically healthy were singing, dancing, making noise, and thus making the center sound as if a paradise; the others were much weaker, looking so depressed in their wheelchairs.

One the member of our group, Pablo, told me that he has a younger brother living in the center. Wondering why his brother was not present in the recreation room and also as a way to express my appreciation for his generously offering me a drive, I had the Sister in charge bring me to the man. It was a place of total silence and almost without hope. The residents staying here appeared to be in persistent vegetative state. They lost cognition and could not act voluntarily. Thinking of taking care of these people and making sure to treat them with full dignity I see not only a strenuous and energy draining but also stressful and depressive job it is. Moreover, who can say if the caregiver’s emotional well-being won’t be one day affected? Looking outside the door was walking from side to side a Sister whom without her religious habit I would not be able to tell who she was!

So admired the hard work they have been doing I asked the Sister in charge if the Sisters have ever been wearied of this daily routine and if they have ever failed to see the human being of those appearing in the vegetative state. The answer I had was quite straightforward and not as much theological as I expected. It’s just a simple faith! Their care for the patients is more than mere duty. Grounded in their simple faith in a God incarnate of Christian faith, they see beyond these ignorant and dirty faces the different facets of God’s Image. Yes, it is with simple faith that they recognize how precious these intellectually delayed are; because God has intended to be born for them and to dwell among them, they are fully and simply deserving respect, affection, care, attention, and dignity. It is with simple faith sustained by a prayerful life that the Sisters never fail to trust in God who always provides enough for their daily life. It is with simple faith that the Sisters are able to acknowledge God’s love bestowing upon their lives and that they are, in turn, called to love the brothers and sisters sent to them.

From the witness of the Sisters I have learnt that, since we do not know what kind of life God may call us to be in the future, it should be a right attitude for me to live fully today just with simple faith, constant hope and grateful love. Looking at Pablo’s brother, who could tell that this gentleman used to be an altar server about forty years ago? Yes, this was true until he got a very bad cold.

LITTLE HOPE BOLSTERED

January 1, 2012 – New Year’s Day and feast day of our Mother of God – we set off for the Instituto De Menores – a government institution in Coloane where juvenile delinquents are kept for certain re-education. Here we met a group of about thirty young boys, roughly ten persons less than last year. Thank God! Among many new friends I, however, recognized an old one. He now looked thinner but more mature. We were both happy seeing each other; and with confident we were talking for quite a while.

Learning from last year’s experience, this time I made myself so bold as to try to add some spiritual values into the program. But how could we go further once we had not known one another before? Several icebreaker and teambuilding activities were used to create an open environment in which all participants should be willing to open up and take part. Common Christmas and New Year songs were also employed to break down our barrier of languages and cultural differences to the minimum. After nearly two hours singing, dancing and playing together we could finally create a friendly atmosphere in which all people felt it more comfortable and relaxed to open up to one another. Before it was time for us to call it a day we made use of the last thirty minutes to tell the students the purpose of our visit, also the culmination of the program, using 1 John 1: 1-3. Sitting down in a circle facing each other, we began sharing our faith, then exchanged the meanings of life, stayed in communion with one another’s intentions, and finally joined in the prayer of the Lord.

Had the students been Christians, this kind of activities might be only mediocre. As most of them were not, the way they responded really touched all the members of our visiting group. We did not expect them to open up that much. Yet they did; for it was the Word and the Holy Spirit that opened their hearts and helped them utter their own words of intentions. Unadorned but filled with hope they one after another spoke their mind and offered prayers for a brighter new year for themselves and for their family back at home. I wished that their parents, relatives, and friends had just been there to hear how they prayed for them. Their hearts have been softer than one might think! The Word has obviously struck a chord with them and enlightened their hope for a better future.

No one is born a criminal, I believe so. We are mainly made by the environment we live in. The boys indeed reminded not only the parents of their children at home, but also anyone of us, who are basically vulnerable and can be any time affected by negative social influences from a city of indulgence like Macau. Why not we let the Word rather than the world outside make up our lives? Why not we continue to hope that we can transcend ourselves to become perfect as our Father in heaven who is perfect?

Leaving the Instituto De Menores at about 5:00 pm, we then headed for Ká Hó Settlement. It was at twilight in a remote leper colony when an 86 year-old woman was hanging in there waiting for the last Christmas visitors like us.

HUMILITY EXTOLLED

Very often we are told that people able to receive God incarnate into their lives are those simple in life and humble in heart. “Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are the humble” (Mt. 5: 3-5). Though being poor and having nowhere to latch onto would help people easily depend on God; being able to acknowledge that what we have is nothing as compared to knowing the Truth from God and to detach our selves so as to lovingly attach to God is more important and blessed. The Christmas trips have allowed me an opportunity to meet both of those people. Writing down these reflections on the feast day of the Epiphany of our Lord, the story of the magi has again illumined the teaching why so important is the virtue of being simple and humble for those who want to find God.

The magi are indeed the simple and humble persons. No matter whatever meaning the Latin word “magus” may be rendered (e.g. sage, priest, astrologer, wizard, seer, or king), the crucial point is that they are typical intellectual and noble people who might have enough. They are, however, ready to leave everything behind and follow the star travelling far to do the new born king homage. In our human logic, not many people would actually risk leaving certain things seeking for something uncertain. How could the magi do it if they did not have faith, hope and love for God? And even when they happen to possess such (theological) virtues, still they could not find God in “an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” (Lk 2:12), if they did not humble themselves to enter the dusty, dirty, filthy stable where Jesus was born. Moreover, “on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. They prostrated themselves and did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of god, frankincense, and myrrh.” (Mt. 2:11) They have emptied themselves of all the best of the earth out of their love for God. Still intellectual and noble they are even praiseworthy for being simple and humble seeking and thus manifesting the Love of God. They are not intellectual noble snobs!

In contrast to the gentile magi are the intellectual noble Jews in Jerusalem. Precisely mentioned in the Bible they are King Herod, chief priests, and the scribes of the people. Without doubt they must be learned people, very well educated and highly ranked in the society of that time. Certainly they have ever heard of the Messiah, where he would be born and what he would do (cf. Mt. 2: 4-6). Nonetheless, the knowledge they have could only bring them fame and fortune of anyone but God, unless they were humble enough to love God more than their egos and things. The danger increases when they were so concerned about their earthly security and let themselves be tempted to sin and go against God. Perhaps it is not too much to say that the intellectual like chief priests and scribes are but hirelings or ornaments to the evil authority like King Herod’s. They indeed knew it very well, even quoted from the prophet that the Messiah had been born in Bethlehem of Judea. Nevertheless, they did not move their legs following the magi to find him and pay him homage. Knowing what kind of person King Herod and how greatly troubled he was at hearing the news, still they told him the information, which later led to the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity

* * *

“The Word has become flesh and dwelled among us” (Jn. 1: 14). The Good News has become visible to all creatures in the whole universe. Through the humble beginning of Jesus, God has made his love manifest to all peoples and nations. Though the light has come, the glory of God shines upon his creatures (cf. Is. 60: 1-6), the humility of God incarnate, nevertheless, invites us to humble ourselves so as to find him first of all in the lowest places – the outcasts, seemingly ignorant, dirty and lawless. With simple faith, constant hope, grateful love, and especially with profound humility, we can, therefore, find and meet God in any walks of life. O Baby Jesus, fill me with faith, hope, love and humility so that I can daily live fully the life you have called me to be. Amen.

On the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, 2012

Peter Thoại O.P.

Epiphany Proclamation 2012