Message from Fr. Rensch (13 April, 2020):
Mass Intentions:
Yesterday's Easter Mass was offered for the deceased members of the Garbitelli and Wing families, as well as for Casey Marie Marsh (by the Whitleys). Today, the Mass was offered for the Souls in Purgatory (by Mary Johnson).
Important Updates:
We are now within the Octave of Easter. It begins Easter Sunday and concludes this coming Sunday, for a total of eight days. The Church loves celebrating! One day is too short to celebrate Easter. Instead we have a whole week to do it!
This coming Sunday is not only the conclusion of the Easter octave but also Divine Mercy Sunday. I’m scheming for some more confession plans; stay tuned.
Reflection of the Day
(http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041320.cfm)
For the first reading today, the Church gives us St. Peter’s first sermon on the day of Pentecost. In explaining the news of the Resurrection, our first pope proclaims that it was impossible for Christ to be held by death. He could die, yes, but death could not hold him. It makes me think of when a child pushes a soccer ball or basketball underneath the water. You can get it underwater, but eventually the ball will rush back up and out. So too Christ could die, but eventually his relentless life would break through again.
St. Peter’s words reminded me of (another) breathtaking sermon from the early Church, this one by St. Ephrem, the Syrian.
Death trampled Our Lord underfoot, but he in his turn treated death as a highroad for his own feet. He submitted to it, enduring it willingly, because by this means he would be able to destroy death in spite of itself. Death had its own way when Our Lord went out from Jerusalem carrying his cross; but when, by a loud cry from that cross, he summoned the dead from the underworld, death was powerless to prevent it.
Death slew him by means of the body which he had assumed, but that same body proved to be the weapon with which he conquered death. Concealed beneath the cloak of his manhood, his godhead engaged death in combat; but in slaying Our Lord, death itself was slain. It was able to kill natural life, but was itself killed by the life that is above the nature of man.
Death could not devour Our Lord unless he possessed a body, neither could hell swallow him up unless he bore our flesh; and so he came in search of a chariot in which to ride to the underworld. This chariot was the body which he received from the Virgin; in it he invaded death’s fortress, broke open its strong room and scattered all its treasures.
I just love that image of Jesus’ humanity hiding his divinity, and so luring death close to him, so that his divinity could pounce and crush the power of death. Jesus’ human body allowed him to face death head on, and then his veiled divinity could ride victorious over death. It’s just amazing how the fathers and saints of the church could present the sacred truths of the faith in such imaginatively compelling ways to help us better realize them.
After highlighting the inexhaustible dynamism of Christ’s life, St. Peter proceeds to show how the Old Testament contained hints and whispers of the coming miraculous resurrection. He cites David’s words, my flesh, too, will dwell in hope, / because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world, \ nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption. Now, on a human level, David probably had in mind God’s protection in battle. But St. Peter points out that through prophetic inspiration, David’s words come fully to light only in the resurrection. There we see that the words of the psalm apply fully even to one who dies. They apply fully to Christ, who though dead and buried, is even so not abandoned to corruption and the nether world.
St. Peter’s approach (following Jesus’ own approach – more on that later) is the model for interpreting the Old Testament scriptures. St. Peter and all the Apostles love to show that the mysteries of Jesus’ life unveil exciting new depths to the Hebrew Scriptures. Whereas previously certain statements seemed to be exaggerations or poetic license, now explode with their true significance. Whereas before the Scriptures were like a beautiful door, now Christ’s life provides the key to unlock the door and enter inside the meaning.
God bless you all!
Fr. Rensch