Hymn: “Where Charity and Love Prevail” (Missalette, #301 ...



RCIA Session 12: Holy Week, and The Paschal Mystery

(March 30, 2010: Tuesday of Holy Week)

God faith Church prayer eternal life

Wear prayer shawl over shoulders. Have matzoh, & opaque goblet on a small table with a white cloth

1) Holy Week schedule, alert everyone to times/dates (Adoration = Wed 9 AM – Thu 6 PM; Holy Thursday = 8 PM followed by “keeping watch”; Friday veneration of cross = 12:15 PM; Friday solemn stations = 3 PM; Saturday blessing of food = 11 AM [chapel]; Easter Vigil = 8 PM; Easter Sunday = 8 AM and 10 AM)

2) remind about Good Friday fast/abstinence (continue through Saturday afternoon)

3) treasure hunt: “what could you do to help someone’s soul heal?”

Opening Song: “O Sacred Head, Surrounded” (St. Michael’s Hymnal, #464)

(Exodus 12:1,3,5-8,10-14,17)

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall stand at the head of your calendar; [...] Tell the whole community of Israel: on the tenth day of this month every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb [...]. The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present, it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight. They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of every house in which they partake of the lamb. That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. [...] None of it must be kept beyond the next morning; whatever is left over in the morning shall be burned up.

This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the Lord. For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every first-born of the land, both man and beast, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the Lord! But the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thus, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you.

This day shall be a memorial feast for you [...] Since it was on this very day that I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt, you must celebrate this day throughout your generations as a perpetual institution.

(John 12:1-11)

Jesus therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised to life, had died. And they made him a supper there; and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him.

Mary therefore took a pound of ointment, genuine nard of great value, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and with her hair wiped His feet dry. And the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, he who was about to betray Him, said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii, and given to the poor?” Now he said this, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and holding the purse, used to take what was put in it. Jesus therefore said, “Let her be—that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you have always with you, but you do not always have Me.”

Now the great crowd of the Jews learned that He was there; and they came, not only because of Jesus, but that the might see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also. For on his account many of the Jews began to leave them and to believe in Jesus.

Summary: “The days of Holy Week, the week which commemorates the last days before the death and resurrection of Our Lord Jesus, are the holiest days in the year—the heart of the Church calendar. They contain the core mysteries of our redemption—the suffering, death, resurrection and ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ—which are collectively called the Paschal Mystery. Through Christ’s free choice to undergo them for us, our otherwise certain damnation was broken, and the gates of Heaven opened to us again.”

Opening Prayer:

O God, You willed that Your Son should suffer for us the agony of the cross to deliver us from the power of the enemy; grant to us, your servants, the grace to unite ourselves to Him in His passion, that our own wills might die with Christ and rise again in the purity of His selfless love.

In all fairness, I need to warn you that tonight’s topic—at least at first—will be quite somber… because to look upon the events of Holy Week is to look upon the very heart of our salvation: the same Heart which was pierced with a lance for our sakes. I ask you tonight not to turn away from the discomfort which these hard mysteries can cause; I ask you to look deeply into these events, and see what has been done for you, and for me. Our world claims that joy is found by avoiding pain; Christ knows better. “If you will be My disciple, deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me,” He said (cf. Matthew 16:24). Our life on earth is our one chance to learn, more and more, how to do that.

Jesus did not come to earth merely to be a teacher, or a role-model, or even a miracle-worker… though He was certainly all of these. He came to earth to suffer mockery, rejection, betrayal, and death. He came to suffer in our place, for our sins, and for the sins of every sinner who ever lived—for a people who were usually too lost and blinded by sin to know that we were sinning at all, or that there was a price for that sin that must be paid. He was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Bethlehem in order that He—Who had never sinned—might be condemned by us for the crimes of which we were guilty. It was our sins—and our refusal to accept His mercy—which caused Christ to weep in agony and to sweat drops of blood in the garden. It was our sins which drove the whip through the flesh on His back and tore that sacred flesh open… which drove the piercing thorns into His sacred head. Every sin that we’ve ever committed—and ever will commit—hammered the iron spikes through His wrists, and left Him to die in an agony of shock and suffocation. The ones for whom He was dying on the cross laughed at Him as He died. Don’t look down on those sinful scoffers too openly; those sinners were us.

Back in the first weeks of this process, we first mentioned that we need to diagnose the disease before we can embrace a cure. This week, of all weeks, shows—in very plain language—the terrible price of our fatal disease… the disease of sin. Make no mistake about this: sin is a disease with no natural cure. Once even the smallest cell of sin infects our souls, nothing but a miracle can pull us back from the downward spiral into death. Without such a miracle, our disease is absolutely fatal and inescapable. It is only by appreciating our pitiful and desperate situation without that miracle that we can get even a taste of the enormity of the victory which that miracle brings us. Christ came to die for us… but not only that. He came to break the neck of death itself. He came to crush the head of Sin under His heel (cf. Gen 3:15). And He did it not through any foolish ideas of conquest that our mortal minds usually imagine. He did it through obedience, by complete submission… and by rising from the dead. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. (John 14:6)” “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me, even if he die, shall live.” (John 11:25) [1] Jesus shows the way to eternal life by being the way; He shows us that we gain eternal life not by going around pain and death, but by going through it. That’s one of the most tragic things about those who don’t assist at Mass, and those who don’t come to take part in this, the holiest of the Church weeks: they turn away from the chance to face the suffering and death through which we need to walk in order to reach Heaven. They miss the chance to study at the feet of—and under the cross of—the One Who shows the way, through every evil, into our home of Heaven. Come and see; walk with Christ through every step of the darkness, and He will show you the way, the truth, the life, the light of the world… because He is all of those things, Himself. Follow Him. He’s trustworthy, and He knows the road very well.

In its most basic structure, Holy Week consists of seven days:

1) Palm Sunday (now combined with “Passion Sunday”)

2) Monday of Holy Week

3) Tuesday of Holy Week

4) Wednesday of Holy Week (sometimes called “Spy Wednesday”)

5) Holy Thursday (sometimes called “Maundy Thursday”)

6) Good Friday

7) Holy Saturday, and the Easter Vigil

“Palm” Sunday is the memorial of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem—a curious mixture of celebrity and humility, and of joy and sadness. Jesus is welcomed into Jerusalem with a celebration normally reserved for the return of a worldly king after a great military victory—or the acclaim of a new worldly king who will soon conquer some of the nation’s hated foes. Jesus made a bit of an odd image, since a triumphant king in such processions usually rides in on a mighty, white horse; isn’t it a bit odd that the people on the street would be getting so excited about some guy riding in on a donkey?

Ironically, many members of the crowd did know that Jesus’ ride on a donkey had great significance… because an Old Testament prophecy predicted that the long-awaited Messiah would ride meekly on a donkey (cf. Zechariah 9:9), and would ride as King. This was all true… but not at all as they imagined. They expected a conquering king who would destroy the Romans and restore worldly power to the nation of Israel; but Jesus was a conquering King Who would destroy sin and death itself. When the crowds found out that Jesus wasn’t going to fit their preconceived notions, they grew disillusioned… and then hostile… and it was then an easy matter for the chief priests to stir up these very same people into a bloodthirsty mob which screamed for His blood to be spilled on the cross, only five days later. I say it again: that mob was us. We humans, with intellects and wills clouded and weakened by sin—by selfishness and pride—turn treacherous and hostile when our wills are crossed, and when our eager expectations are denied. I’ve personally been tempted to think that, if I were in that crowd, I would have behaved differently—that “even if all others deny You, even if I have to die for You, *I* won’t deny You!” (Matthew 26:33-35) Have you ever thought anything like that? Our first Pope did, too; he said those very words, mere hours before he denied three times that he even knew our Lord. We mean so well… but the poison in us is deep, and we can’t get rid of it ourselves, no matter how hard we try. It’s God’s grace which will rid us of it, or nothing.

Monday and Tuesday of Holy Week are quiet ones, in which a great deal is happening “behind the scenes”. The city folk are slowly digesting the fact that Jesus is not the military hero they imagined, and that He will not satisfy their every whim. On the previous Friday, a scene in the Gospel of John (which we read at the beginning) describes what may be the final disillusionment of Judas, in which Jesus (again) predicts His impending death. The majority of the Jewish leaders are almost rabid with jealousy and hatred for Jesus, and they’re scheming in every possible way to put Him (and Lazarus) to death… no matter whether or not those methods violate the Law of Moses—the very law to which they appeal, when trying to secure a death sentence against Our Lord. Hatred knows no law except itself. The “pot” is starting to heat toward boiling, in these quiet days.

Wednesday gets its nickname of “spy Wednesday” from the fact that Judas Iscariot—one of the very Twelve whom Jesus chose as close friends and followers—chose that day to go secretly to the chief priests and promise to “spy out” an opportunity to betray Jesus into their hands—in exchange for money. Note: Judas knew that they wanted to put Jesus to death—Jesus had said so, in Judas’s hearing, several times: cf. Matthew 16:21, 17:23, and 26:2; Mark 8:31, 10:33-34, etc.), and Jesus even specified that He would be betrayed into their hands (Mark 10:33). It’s sometimes suggested, in modern dramatizations of the Gospels, that Judas didn’t know the Pharisees would actually kill Jesus (i.e. that they would merely punish and/or discredit Him); but the Scriptures really don’t allow for that possibility. He knew that he was getting money in order to help condemn his Master to death. He agreed, on this solemn day, to be a spy for the forces of death.

The next three days—called “The Sacred Triduum” (meaning “group of three”)—are the highest and holiest days of the Church year, since the salvation of the world depended on their outcome. One last time, on Holy Thursday, Jesus would gather with His disciples to celebrate the great Paschal, or “Passover”, feast; but even though Jesus had warned many people on many occasions, virtually no one in Jerusalem—not even his closest friends—realized that this Paschal “Last Supper” was going to transform the Passover celebration forever… by fulfilling it.

[put prayer shawl over head, raise goblet]

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“Blessed are You, Lord God, King of creation, Creator of the fruit of the vine.” These words come from the sacred ritual of the Jewish ceremonial Passover meal, called the seder; and they were later adopted into the sacred text of the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. God Himself instituted this sacred feast, as an everlasting memorial of Israel’s deliverance from the slavery of Egypt, but that was always the secondary purpose of the Passover Seder; its primary purpose was to point them toward the original promise of Genesis 3:15—that God’s Messiah would eventually come to break the ancient curse of sin which began in the Garden of Eden.

Every year, faithful and observant Jews re-live the redemptive saga of the Exodus from Egypt during what is called the Passover—or Passover—Seder. In this ceremony the father of the house presides, and one of the children—often the youngest son, if he’s able—summarizes the Paschal salvation of the Jews by asking four traditional and key questions of the father. Since the traditional Seder describes our own salvation history as well as that of the Jews, I’d like us to hear and join in a bit of that Seder; Kathy has graciously volunteered to ask the ritual questions asked by the son, I’ll speak the parts of the father of the household, and all of us will speak the “group” parts which would be spoken by the entire family and guests.

Son: Why is this night different from all other nights?

On all other nights, we eat either leavened bread or matzah; on this night—only matzah.

On all other nights, we eat all kinds of herbs; on this night, we especially eat bitter herbs.

On all other nights, we do not dip herbs at all; on this night we dip them twice.

On all other nights, we eat in an ordinary manner; tonight we dine with special ceremony.

Father: There are many questions. Now we begin to answer. Our history moves from slavery toward freedom. Our narration begins with degradation and rises to dignity. Our service opens with the rule of evil and advances toward the Kingdom of God. This is our theme:

Group: We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and God freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand. Had not the Holy One, praised be He, delivered our people from Egypt, then we, our children and our children’s children would still be enslaved.

Father: For the sake of our redemption, we say together the ancient words which join us with our own people and with all who are in need, with the wrongly imprisoned and the beggar on the street. For our redemption is bound up with the deliverance from bondage of people everywhere.

Group: Let all who are hungry come and eat. Let all who are in want share in the hope of Passover. As we celebrate here, we join with our people everywhere. This year we celebrate here. Next year in the land of Israel. Now we are still in bonds. Next year may all be free. For redemption is not yet complete.

In previous weeks, we’ve described the original Passover, in which God passes final judgment on Israel’s Egyptian slave-masters by slaughtering the firstborn from every house in Egypt whose door was not marked with the blood of the sacrificial Paschal lamb. But the Seder itself had a great many specific requirements for its celebration; there were a large number of seemingly unimportant “details” (remember about the importance of God’s “details”?) which were, for some reason, still of great importance to God; He commanded that all these details be kept to the letter, under punishment of expulsion from the community altogether! Here are only a few of those “details”:

1) The sacrificial lamb was to be “spotless”—without fault or blemish (Exodus 12:5).

2) None of the lamb’s bones were to be broken (Exodus 12:46).

3) The lamb was to be sacrificed on the fourteenth day of the first month, with the community present (Exodus 12:6).

4) The lamb was to be killed at twilight (Exodus 12:6).

5) This Paschal lamb was to be eaten, or the Passover would be incomplete (Exodus 12:8-10).

The Jews knew, through the prophets, that God would eventually send a Messiah—an Anointed Savior—Who would be of the House of David and Who would inherit David’s throne forever (Isaiah 9:6), Who would be “without blemish” by being without sin (Isaiah 53:9), Who would meekly suffer and die, like a lamb to the slaughter, to redeem all of humanity by taking our guilt upon Himself (Isaiah 53:4-12), and Who would be able to pay the infinite debt by somehow—incredibly—being God Himself (Isaiah 7:14, 9:5)! In short, this Messiah—Whoever He was—was destined to be the One and Final Paschal Lamb, to Whom the sacrifices of all other Paschal lambs were merely signs, or “types”.

If you’ll remember from previous weeks, God offered covenant after covenant to His people, despite their sin and unfaithfulness, with each new covenant being larger and fuller than the last; and each covenant fulfilled and expanded the previous one, without breaking it. The rainbow-signed covenant with Noah did not abolish the Sabbath-signed covenant with Adam & Eve; the circumcision-marked covenant with Abraham did not break God’s promise to Noah never again to destroy all life by flood; the Law and the Passover under Moses did not do away with the circumcision mandated to Abraham; and David’s throne certainly did not do away with the Passover and the Law given to Moses. Just so: God’s new, final and everlasting covenant would fulfill every last one of the previous covenants, and would expand—one last time—to offer “family ties with God” to all humanity.

In John 1:29, St. John the Baptist made an extraordinary announcement, in the midst of leading the crowds to repentance for their sins: he saw Jesus from afar, and said to his own disciples, “Behold the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world!” His disciples knew exactly what John meant; John was pointing out the long-awaited Messiah of God—Who was not a military king, as the feverishly excited crowds of Palm Sunday expected. The road to our redemption could not be won by the military conquest of a nation, or even of the world; our redemption could only be won by the death of a Lamb.

Four days after this entry into Jerusalem, Jesus was seated in an upper room of an unspectacular house, celebrating the sacred Passover Seder with His disciples. He and His disciples prayed the 1400-year-old prayers, sang the centuries-old songs, and relived the deliverance of Israel from the slavery of Egypt by means of the sacrificial lamb whose blood marked them for redemption from the angel of death. Jesus surprised them all, though, when He got up from table, girded Himself with a towel, took a basin of water, got down on His knees before these men, and washes their feet as would a slave. He also issues this command (Latin: “Mandatum”, which was eventually corrupted into “Maundy”): that those who seek to be called Christian should do the same. If God can get down on His knees to serve us, we cannot allow ourselves to stand above and refuse to serve one another… no matter what our pride might say to the contrary.

But what happened next made this surprise seem paltry, by comparison. [pick up matzoh and break]

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The 5th Luminous Mystery: the Institution of the Most Holy Eucharist

Jesus took the unleavened bread, broke it, gave it to His disciples, and deviated from the traditional script. “Take this,” He said, “and eat. This is My Body, which is given up for you.” There was only one body ever offered in any Seder—the body of the sacrificial lamb. The law required that the Lamb be eaten, or the Passover would remain unfulfilled. If He was to be the Paschal Lamb of God, then Jesus needed to provide a way for that Paschal Lamb to be consumed, as well. At this, the beginning of the final and eternal Passover, nothing would remain unfulfilled.

This day is considered to be the “birthday of the priesthood”; it’s the day on which Christ commanded His Apostles and their successors to “do this”—to call down the Holy Spirit upon simple bread and wine, and change them completely into Christ’s Own Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity—and to do so until He comes again, at the end of time. This is why a special Mass, known as the “Chrism Mass”, is offered by the Bishop of each diocese around the world, in which the sacred oils used in priestly ministry (including chrism) are blessed by the bishop, and at which all the priests renew the sacred vows they made at their ordinations.

While Jesus and His disciples were at supper, one of the disciples—Judas Iscariot—left that sacred sacrificial meal quietly, and went to Jesus’ enemies—the corrupt religious leaders who hated Jesus—in order to betray Him. Scripture doesn’t say why; perhaps Judas was disillusioned when it became obvious that Jesus wasn’t going to be the political hero for which he’d hoped. Scripture says that Satan entered his heart (Luke 22:3), and it does say that Judas was paid thirty pieces of silver to hand Jesus over to His enemies (Matthew 27:3-10). Whatever the case, the social machinery that would bring about the death of the Paschal Lamb of God had started—and by the hand of one of Jesus’ closest friends.

Immediately after singing traditional Paschal songs of praise—which were sung immediately before the fourth and final ceremonial cup of wine—Jesus leads His disciples out to a garden where He often went to pray... and curiously, there is no mention of Him or His disciples consuming that last cup; the Seder, so meticulously followed up to that point, seems to remain unfulfilled.

The 1st Sorrowful Mystery: the Agony in the Garden

Jesus, at the end of this Holy Thursday, looking very shaken and grieved, asks His disciples to watch and pray with Him, while He goes off by Himself and prays. He knows that His hour of suffering and slaughter is near, and He knows that—in addition to the physical agony He must endure, He must now carry the weight of all the sins of all the humans who every lived, and who ever will live—yours and mine. Hell is the state of being separated from the God of Life; and Jesus was being asked to accept the torments of Hell for our sake. He fell down and begged the Father, three times, “Father, all things are possible for You; let this cup pass me by... but not as I will, but as You will!” In His agony, His sweat mingled with blood and fell to the ground... and even the small comfort of His friends was denied Him in His hour of need, as he returned to His disciples to find them asleep.

I should mention that every cup of wine in the Seder has a name, indicating its symbolic purpose—and the fourth cup of wine is known as the Cup of Acceptance.

In one of His darkest hours, Jesus had to endure the inattentiveness and weakness of His three closest friends (Peter, James, and John), who fell asleep in His hour of need. His plaintive question strikes a special chord in the human heart: “Could you not keep watch with me for even an hour?” Jesus will ask the same of us, on Holy Thursday, after the liturgy has ended, and when Jesus has been placed in a special place of reservation; can we stay, pray, and keep watch with Him, for even an hour? The altar is stripped, along with all other key ornamentation, at the end of Holy Thursday’s liturgy… because everything pleasant and reassuring has been taken away, save for Jesus, Himself… and He has been arrested and tortured by the “religious” guards of the temple. Even if it’s physically impossible for us to stay in the Church and pray, can we dedicate even an hour to Him before we retire to the security and comfort of our beds? He was denied all sleep, that night…

Soon, the soldiers sent by Jesus’ enemies arrived to arrest Him. The last vestiges of human comfort were stripped away from Him... as his old friend, Judas Iscariot, showed the soldiers whom to arrest by giving Jesus a kiss... and as the rest of His disciples all ran away, leaving Him completely alone with His enemies.

Jesus was chained, beaten, and dragged before several ridiculously fake criminal trials before the religious leaders; He was convicted of blasphemy—of wrongly claiming to be the Messiah and the Son of God—and He was sentenced to death, but the ruling Romans did not allow the Jewish religious leaders to put anyone to death—they reserved that right for themselves—so for this, the enemies of Jesus changed their story completely. They, the ones who dreamed of a political Messiah who would crush the Romans and expel them from Israel, now went before the Roman procurator—the local governor, named Pontius Pilate—and accused Jesus of disloyalty and treason against Rome! By claiming to be the Messiah, they told Pilate, Jesus was making Himself a King—and any other King would be setting himself up as a rival to Caesar, the current ruler of Rome! And Tiberius Caesar, whose insanity was matched only by his bloodthirstiness, wouldn’t take kindly to any local Roman governors who protected any rivals to Caesar, now would he?

The 2nd Sorrowful Mystery: the Scourging at the Pillar

Pilate, a cowardly man, tried several times to dissuade the crowd from its thirst for Jesus’ death, and even had Jesus whipped until there was hardly an untorn portion of His sacred Body (commemorated in the second sorrowful mystery of the Rosary: the scourging at the pillar), in the hopes that the sight might move the crowds to pity. It didn’t work. Ultimately, Pilate caved in, and ordered that Jesus be sentenced to death by crucifixion.

The 3rd Sorrowful Mystery: the Crowning with Thorns

Once a Jew was condemned to die, the Roman soldiers threw away all restraint. Why not? He was going to die anyway! Why not have fun with Him, and take out on Him some of the frustrations they had from being assigned to this hot, barbaric corner of the Roman empire, thousands of miles away from home? St. Matthew (27:26-30) describes how the entire Roman cohort crowded around Jesus, pressed a crown of thorns deep into His head, dressed Him in a scarlet cloak (in a parody of royal robes), placed a reed in His hand, and mocked him by bowing and crying out, “Hail, O King of the Jews!” They then took turns taking the reed and striking His bloodied head until they tired of it.

The 4th Sorrowful Mystery: the Carrying of the Cross

The people of Jerusalem knew quite well what it was like to watch a man die by crucifixion; we only have their descriptions. Jesus was forced to carry His own cross—or a large part of it—through the city, while the onlookers gawked, threw insults, and even laughed; estimates of the weight of the crosspiece are usually 100-120 lbs., and the forced march through the city was close to half a mile. Tradition tells us that Jesus collapsed at least three times, with the full weight of the cross crashing down upon His torn body.

The 5th Sorrowful Mystery: the Crucifixion

Once Jesus reached the place of execution—a place called “Golgotha”, which means, “skull place”—He was stripped of all His clothing, thrown down upon the cross, and held down while two ¾”-wide iron spikes were pounded through His wrists—through the main nerves of both arms—to pin Him to the cross, which a single spike was driven through both feet to pin Him completely. His cross was then lifted to an upright position and fixed there, leaving Jesus to hang by His wrists and feet, with the iron spikes bearing His entire weight. It was common for a crucified man to die by suffocation—by stretching the arms and the diaphragm to the point where the man can no longer breathe out... unless he puts his weight fully on the spike through his feet, long enough to raise himself us to take a few precious breaths. In the last phases of suffocation, every muscle in Jesus’ body would seize in unstoppable cramps. Every move would scrape the damaged nerves in His wrists, making it feel as if His arms were scalded with hot oil with each movement. Jesus did not die quickly.

When a crucified man pushed himself up for air, he usually didn’t spend that air on anyone but himself; he was in too much agony to care about anything else. There’s a special, sweet grace in the way that Jesus used His precious moments of air to say His seven last statements on Earth; for His killers, He said “Father, forgive them... they know not what they do!” For his Blessed Mother, He indicated His beloved disciple, John, and said, “Woman, behold your son!”, and entrusted her to John’s care. To the criminal crucified with Jesus and who begged Jesus for mercy, He said, “Amen, this day you will be with Me in Paradise!”

But before Jesus spoke His very last words before He died, one last thing needed to happen—one last sign that would remind the world Who He was, and why He was allowing all this to happen to Him. Jesus, near the end of His strength, said, “I thirst!”, and a compassionate Roman soldier soaked a sponge with his own cheap vinegar-like wine that was given to the common guards, stuck the sponge on a reed, and raised it to Jesus’ lips for Him to drink. When Jesus had drunk the wine, He uttered, “It is finished!”... and Jesus, the Paschal Lamb of God, gave up His spirit and died for us.

The fourth cup of wine in the sacred Seder is called the Cup of Acceptance. Jesus drank that fourth cup of wine in His last moments on the cross; and the final and eternal Passover was now completely fulfilled. It was done.

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As Jesus died, the sky darkened in the midst of the day, allowing the Pascal Lamb to be sacrificed in twilight, in accordance with the Law. When the Jews asked the Romans to break the legs of the crucified, to hasten their deaths so that their bodies would not hang on the crosses during the solemn Passover, the soldiers found that Jesus was already dead, so they didn’t break His legs; thus, none of the bones of the Paschal Lamb were broken, in accordance with the Law. To the last detail, everything was fulfilled.

Good Friday is called “good” for our sakes. The description of Our Lord’s Passion and death will be read one last time, on Good Friday… and His death and burial will be described in detail by John, the eyewitness to it all. In honor of that total sacrifice, it is absolutely forbidden for any priest or bishop to consecrate the Eucharist on that day; the Holy Communion that is given on Good Friday must be consecrated on the day before, and reserved. We are given the chance to approach the crucifix and kiss the feet of Christ’s body on the cross (or make some other gesture of reverence). We enter and leave this most solemn of nights in total silence; the Triduum is telling one story, and Friday is but the second of three… so there is no “beginning” or “end” to the liturgy of Good Friday—merely a resumption after a pause, only to leave off again for another 24 hours or so. Holy Saturday begins as Good Friday ends—in somber silence. As with Good Friday, no Masses are celebrated anywhere in the world on Holy Saturday morning and afternoon. Christ’s sacred body lies in the tomb, and His Church will not stir until her Lord does. Jesus is in the tomb, and His Church—His Bride—grieves in silence. To all appearances, everything is over.

Appearances can be deceiving.

Do you remember what I said earlier, about the covenants of God? He offers each new Covenant by fulfilling and surpassing the previous covenants, without abolishing them. This final covenant was going to do the very same thing... and, to put it mildly, the previous covenants were about to be surpassed like no one had ever seen before!

The 1st Glorious Mystery: the Resurrection

On the third day after Jesus’ death, strange things started to happen. First, one of the women who had been in Jesus’ company came running back to the disciples, saying that the stone over Jesus’ tomb had been rolled away, the Roman guards were gone, and Jesus’ body was nowhere to be found. This was followed by several appearances of angels, who claimed that Jesus was no longer dead, but had risen and was alive. Then, alone and in groups, the disciples started to meet Jesus in person—alive, well, and in the flesh—even to the extent that they saw Him eat in front of them. It was two of these disciples whom Jesus met, walking on the road to the village of Emmaus, where Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory?” (Luke 24:25-26), whereupon Jesus patiently explained to them every last prophecy from the Old Covenant that was fulfilled in Him, and in His death and resurrection.

“Vigil”… a word which means “to wait, to anticipate”. Our Lord promised that He would rise again on the third day… and, by the reckoning of the Jewish people, the third day of Christ’s death starts at sundown on Saturday—the sundown which ends the Sabbath. No human was there to see it—to see the moment when Christ reunited His Blessed Body with His Sacred Soul and started to breathe again—to see that Blessed Body transformed and perfected in a way that we will never quite grasp until it happens to each of us at the end of time—to see all the disfigurements erased from His Body except for the wounds in His hands, feet, and side—those of His crucifixion—which He will keep as everlasting signs of His sacrifice. The Easter Vigil liturgy is, by far, the most awesome and majestic of all the liturgies of Christ’s Church; His Church waits in anticipation as She reflects on all of salvation history, from beginning to end, through Scriptures and prayers. The night begins with a single, triumphant fire, which represents the Light of the World—that Light which, beneath the gaze of the sleepy world, shattered the gates of sin and death themselves so that He could return to us. The fire spreads to individual candles, and the same fire, divided but undimmed, lights the entire building. If you want to get a taste of what resurrection means… then watch the Church at Her vigil for Our Lord’s Easter; with each new proclamation of God’s saving plan, more life comes into Her actions. parts of the Mass which were left almost for lost now come back to life again—the Gloria, the bells, the lights… and finally the one word—the “A-word”, the “crown jewel” of the Church’s liturgy—proclaimed at every other reading of the Gospel in every other season of the year. You’ll see…!

For forty days, Jesus made numerous appearances to His disciples—teaching and reassuring, gently rebuking and leading, until hundreds of His disciples had seen Him (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:6). He took His time, and left no room for doubt—especially since His disciples often proved extremely slow to believe this miraculous news. It was all true… and it had a tremendous meaning, far above and beyond being a spectacular and unsurpassed miracle: Jesus died and rose for a reason. [2] Ever since the fall of our first parents, we had been living under a double-curse: we were powerless to stop sinning, and we were powerless to regain the eternal life which we had lost. Jesus defeated our curse of sin by taking it upon Himself and paying the ultimate price for us—and then He defeated the curse of death itself by rising from the dead, never to die again (cf. Romans 6:9).

Finally, on the fortieth day after His resurrection, Jesus led a group of His disciples to the top of a hill near the village of Bethany, and gave them His last instruction on Earth: He said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, "Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And (behold) I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." Then he led them (out) as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven.” (Luke 24:44-51) This marks the second of the Glorious mysteries of the Holy Rosary, and the last mystery that we’ll mention tonight: the Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven.

If you’ll forgive me borrowing a phrase from 12 centuries later (and I’m also swiping this idea from Kathy, who first thought of it!): St. Francis of Assisi—one of the most beloved Saints of all time, and mentioned in earlier sessions—often called his body “Brother Ass” [or, more politely, “Brother Donkey”—beast of burden]. Remember when Jesus entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, as a king riding on a donkey? Jesus’ entry with on an ass into Jerusalem directly parallels Jesus’ eventual Ascension into Heaven with His own body, to take His throne as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords! As Kathy mentioned earlier: Jesus could have chosen to use a mere “disposable human body” and then leave it behind when He ascended to Heaven, but He didn’t; He united Himself to our humanity in body and soul, and His union with us is permanent—it’s for keeps, forever! But don’t ever forget the price that was paid for us—the Precious Blood which bought us our freedom.

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CD Song: “Crown Him” (Michael Card)

Closing Prayer: 1 decade of the Divine Mercy Chaplet

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Ba- ruch at-ta Adonai___ E- lo- he- nu me-lech ha- o- lam bo- ray_ p(eh)-ree ha-ga-fen.

Blessed are you, Lord God, King of creation, Creator of the fruit of the vine.

Ba- ruch at-ta Adonai___ E- lo- he- nu me-lech ha- o- lam bo- ray_ p(eh)- ree ha-a- da- ma.

Blessed are you, Lord God, King of creation, Creator of the fruit of the earth.

Ba- ruch at-ta Adonai___ E- lo- he- nu me-lech ha- o- lam bo- ray_ p(eh)-ree ha-ga-fen.

Blessed are you, Lord God, King of creation, Creator of the fruit of the vine.

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