The Hope and Joy of Easter

St. Paul wrote to the Colossians (3:1): “If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above….”  In other words, live in the light of Easter.  Live with the hope and joy of Easter.  You have been baptized and given a new life.  Live with the hope and joy that this new life in Christ brings.

Our temptation is to live in darkness and despair.  There is so much “Good Friday” in the world today.  So many tragic deaths. So much abandonment on crosses made, in Pope Francis’ words, by “the globalization of indifference.” 

In his Apostolic Exhortation “The Joy of the Gospel,” Pope Francis wrote about the serious temptation to “defeatism which turns us into disillusioned pessimists, ‘sourpusses’ (#85).  People who give in to this temptation “think that nothing will change” (#275).  But because of Christ’s resurrection, we have hope. 

Pope Francis writes: “If we think that things are not going to change, we need to recall that Jesus Christ has triumphed over sin and death and is now almighty. Jesus Christ truly lives” (#275).  This means that “Christ’s resurrection is not an event of the past; it contains a vital power which has permeated this world” (#276).  Because of the resurrection, we have hope and confidence. 

But holding fast to hope requires work.  We have to strengthen the hope that Christ’s resurrection gives, to believe that it “is not an event of the past,” but a force at work in our lives and in the world.  “Faith means believing in God, believing that he truly loves us, that he is alive, that he is mysteriously capable of intervening, that he does not abandon us and that he brings good out of evil by his power and his infinite creativity” (#278). 

That is where our faith is challenged: to believe that evil is not the final word and that God can bring “good out of evil.”  Yet this is what we have just celebrated.  God took the worst evil possible—the crucifixion of the Son—and brought out of it the greatest good—our salvation from sin and death.  This is the reason for our hope and joy. 

Timothy Cardinal Dolan of New York has identified four threats to joy. 

The first is self-pity which puts “me” first, at the center.  Joy comes when God is first, others are second, and I am third.  Self-pity inverts that order and leads to unhappiness.

Secondly, joy is threatened by worry which fosters a negative attitude toward the future, feeds pessimism, and again places “me” at the center.

The third threat to joy is the belief that my happiness depends on something outside of myself.  I believe that certain things or people or situations will make me happy whereas, in the words of Jesuit Fr. John Powell’s book, “Happiness is an Inside Job.”  But what about God?  Shouldn’t God be the source of my joy and isn’t God transcendent?  Yes, but through baptism God is also within.  As baptized temples of the Holy Spirit, we find God within the secret chamber of our heart.

Finally, the fourth threat to joy, according to Cardinal Dolan, is complaining which not only saps our joy but spreads negativity to others who often in turn reinforce our own negative attitude.  The antidote?  Gratitude.  Seeing the glass as half full rather than half empty and being grateful for what fills the glass. 

In our case, we are filled with the light, hope, and joy of Christ’s resurrection.  Having spent forty days of Lenten preparation for the celebration of the Easter Triduum, we now have fifty days in which to savor its hope and joy. 

But we must do more than savor the hope and joy of Easter.  We must live it in our daily lives.  We were made new through baptismal waters.  The world was made new by Christ’s resurrection.  As Pope Francis wrote in “The Joy of the Gospel”: “Christ’s resurrection everywhere calls forth seeds of that new world; even if they are cut back, they grow again, for the resurrection is already secretly woven into the fabric of this history, for Jesus did not rise in vain.  May we never remain on the sidelines of this march of living hope!” (#278).

Our lives are a journey to the Kingdom of Heaven where we will live forever.  We will live body and soul sharing in the glory of Jesus Christ, our Risen Savior.  May we not, as Pope Francis said, “remain on the sidelines,” but may we march forward with hope and joy.  

You are a Temple

Pope Francis has frequently said that God is a God of surprises. We certainly see that in the recent daily Mass readings from the Book of Ezra (1:1-6 yesterday).  Who would have thought that the pagan ruler of Persia Cyrus would allow the exiled Israelites to return to their homeland after seventy years? Not those people who in exile all those years! And who would have thought that God would speak to Cyrus and inspire him to commission those returning exiles to build "the house of God in Jerusalem?"  Even more, who would have thought that the pagan people with whom the Israelites lived during those years of exile would give "them help in every way, with silver, gold, goods and cattle, and with many precious gifts besides...?" Yes, God is full of surprises and can do surprising things in our lives.

In today's first reading from Ezra (6: 7-8, 12, 14-20), God surprises us again by inspiring another pagan king, Darius, successor to Cyrus, to continue his predecessor's policy of rebuilding the temple and even taxing some of his other subjects to provide funds for the project. Finally, the temple is finished and solemnly dedicated for worship. 

I've only seen the dedication of one Catholic church, the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. I'll always remember Archbishop Timothy Dolan ascending a ladder close to
where I was seated to anoint one of the four walls of the new church with sacred chrism. Thus was that space consecrated for a sacred purpose, for worship. Then the altar was anointed with sacred chrism, dedicating it for a sacred purpose. Sacred chrism was also used to anoint my hands when I was ordained thirty years ago, dedicating them for a sacred purpose, for worship. Thus were our heads anointed with sacred chrism at our baptism and confirmation, consecrating us for the sacred purpose of worship.

All of the baptized are sealed with the sacred chrism and consecrated for worship. All of us are temples of God. The Holy Spirit dwells in us and Jesus comes to us in the Eucharist. At the end of Mass we are sent forth: Go! Be the temple that you were consecrated to be! Let others find Christ in you!

The Parish Visitors

I'm in Monroe, NY these days, giving a retreat to the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate.  This group of consecrated women was founded in 1920 in New York City by Mother Mary Teresa Tallon.  They call themselves "contemplative-missionaries in the midst of parish life."  They are dedicated to family ministry through prayer, the visitation of homes, and religious education and they serve in the U.S., Nigeria, and the Philippines.  Here is something their foundress wrote about their charism in 1930.  Her words and the goal of the Parish Visitors are as important today as they were then.

"The trend of the day is toward materialism, overindulgence, luxury, amusement.  Many families, caught up in the whirl of the times, or through poverty, change of residence, or some unfortunate mistake, have let slip the precious heritage of the True Faith which once was theirs.  Many, caught up in the mad seeking for pleasure or the blind battle for the almighty dollar, have forgotten their Creator or, entangled by spurious reading, have denied Him entirely.  All these cases cry loudly for help--for some apostle of holy charity to alleviate, to rectify.  This is where the Parish Visitor of Mary Immaculate comes in; one who can enter homes and seek for the Shepherd's lost sheep, who is consumed with a divine thirst for souls--'Souls!  Souls!  Lord, give me souls!' must be her cry.

On August 15 the Parish Visitors celebrated the 92nd anniversary of their founding with a special guest, Cardinal Timothy Dolan.  I was able to concelebrate Mass with this friend of the Apostleship of Prayer whom I first met when he was Archbishop of Milwaukee.  After Mass we went to visit the nearby grave of Mother Mary Teresa Tallon whose cause for beatification the Sisters hope will soon be opened. 

Archbishop Dolan, an Apostle of Prayer

The news was announced today that Archbishop Timothy Dolan will be leaving Milwaukee to become the next Archbishop of New York. Milwaukee is the location of the national office of the Apostleship of Prayer and we will miss this great friend of ours and of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. When he became the Archbishop of Milwaukee on August 28, 2002 he handed out a card with his picture and on the back significant dates in his life--his baptism, his ordinations as deacon, priest, and bishop. And then, under the dates, as a declaration of love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus, these words:

All for Thee, Most Sacred Heart of Jesus!
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I place all my trust in Thee!
Sacred Heart of Jesus, I believe in Your love for me!
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!
Sacred Heart of Jesus, may your kingdom come!

Yes, Archbishop Timothy Dolan is a true friend and apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. On June 15, 2007 he renewed the 1899 Consecration of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee to the Sacred Heart. And on October 7, 2008 he re-entrusted the Archdiocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. From 2006 to 2008 he served on the Board of Directors for the Apostleship of Prayer in the U.S.

I became the national director of the Apostleship of Prayer in 2003 and shortly after I arrived in Milwaukee I made an appointment to meet with Archbishop Dolan. He wrote about our meeting later that year in "The Priest" magazine. Here's what he wrote:

It was going to be a hectic day. As I previewed my schedule, I could see that I had some tough meetings, with some neuralgic decisions to make on a parish merger, elimination of some staff positions due to a budget shortfall, a "come to Jesus" meeting with a brother priest whose drinking was causing a lot of concern and a group of parents upset about the catechesis in their parish school.

But one half-hour on the calendar vexed me most. Sandwiched in between all these "important" meetings was one that seemed perfunctory and unnecessary, and I was peeved that, on such a demanding day, I had to "waste" 30 minutes on such a "low priority" matter. Maybe I could have it rescheduled.

But he came, and the half-hour--it actually wound up going longer--ended up, so I concluded at compline that night, the most memorable and significant session of that "Excedrin day."

This appointment was with a Jesuit, who works out of Milwaukee, as director of the national office for the Apostleship of Prayer. Remember that? I sure did as he spoke, recalling the morning offering on the mirror in the bathroom at home growing-up, so we could dedicate the day to the Lord every morning as we washed our face and brushed our teeth.

As this priest movingly described his simple ministry, things seemed to calm down and become focused as he spoke of a project so simple it was downright profound: grounding each day in the Lord through a morning offering, conscious of a supernatural solidarity with millions of others within the communion of saints doing the same.

What sticks with me from that encounter is the call to a simple grounding in my life. ... What seems clear is that Jesus is calling [us] to simplicity, to a renewal of the basics in our spiritual life. As Jesus challenged, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God!..."

Bishop Fulton Sheen said that "the mark of a Catholic is to find the divine in the most ordinary and simplest places." He explained that our simple faith summons us "to find the divine in a baby in the arms of his mother at Bethlehem, in prayers tolled on beads, in bread and wine, and in the voice of an old man in Rome." ...

That demanding day with all its critical appointments "grounded" me in the visit of that brother priest who spoke to me about something as simple as turning to the Lord first thing every morning and offering the day to Him.

Thank you, Archbishop Dolan! Continue to stay close to the Heart of Jesus in your new assignment. May His Kingdom grow in New York as you place all your trust in Him.