" The Creator's first language is, silence." Those words really silenced me when I first read them, again, many eons ago. The language of silence is so difficult to comprehend, not to mind understand.Obviously I have been silent for some time now. First there was the silence of the empty tomb. Then we were hit with the silence of the now, empty, Chair of Peter. That is a a great deal of silence which we have to face with deep faith, and soul searing quiet. We are being lead where ? Into the darkness of our faith journey. 

           I am of the belief  that the silence you and I had to face , and are facing, is speaking deep truths. Truths that are springing  from the depths of darkness. Truths that become your real foundational source of faith. The Historical Jesus, on His way to becoming The Christ of God experienced the silence of the aftermath of His Paschal Death, while awaiting His Resurrection. As the result of His Resurrection we all now share  before we encounter the finality our Terminal Death. We are guaranteed, with all of creation ,an intimate knowledge of what it means to die and  be resurrected. The Easter Mysteries have this lesson to teach us, "Death is not an end, death is a ,beginning". We are now free to ,name our deaths, but it is essential we claim our births. Otherwise we can fall into discouragement. The Easter Mysteries  are teaching  us, "in every ending there is a beginning. In every beginning, there is an ending." What is dawning in your darkness ? What is being revealed is, NOT, for yourself  alone, but for the building up of the common good. (St. Paul) 

 The word death is a word that is becoming a very frequent visitor to my every day vocabulary. I am now 85 and a half. That half is enunciated more often now , when announcing my age,  just like a child ????? Well I am in my second childhood, and I am now, not prepared to ignore that reality.  I cannot find refuge in fantasy land. Reality is my now, home.  I am becoming more and more comfortable with the oncoming transforming encounter with death. Death is now a recognized and kinda welcomed companion.  Transfiguration is a universal reality. In each encounter we grow into an ever deepening mysterious relationship with, The Real, Reality Itself. The path is sure a winding trail, leading to where ? We are not privy as to our destiny. We grow in the certain knowledge we never journey alone. We are ever and always, a Foursome.  The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have Their Dwelling place in the tabernacle that has been created and gifted to us. A gift that we cannot loose, no matter what...... 

We have again encountered loss. Tomb time,  followed by  another tomb time. From the first Tomb time Came The Resurrection.  From this now tomb time will  emerge new life, challenging us to a new way of living. We are in desperate need to be blessed with the lenses which are able to draw us into having the sight to see Easter-Paschal life springing to life, from the darkness.  The power of The Risen Cosmic Christ will continue to shatter darkness in all its forms. In the wake of the shattering what new life do you envision will become a lived part of all reality ? This is guaranteed to happen, why? We have been chosen, and blessed to be co-creators of all evolving creation. Yes! all of us as a Resurrected People, will have facilitated the shattering, as is our, DESTINY .  " I believe, help my unbelief/disbelief". 

 HOLY SATURDAY 2025...... We must keep before us this challenging thought. We bless ourselves, make the sign of the cross, for the beginning of the Holy Thursday celebration. We do not make the sign of the cross until the end of the celebration of The Easter Vigil. From  Holy Thursday on, what takes place is one gigantic celebration of a Mystery we have been celebrating each and every year. Each year The Liturgy schools us in an understanding we did not have, it is a mysterious gift which comes to us through prayer and reflection. I am now 85,( that is old, old ) and each year I am drawn into an understanding that has been missing from my life. That is wrong, it has not been missing, it has been waiting in my depths waiting to reach consciousness. The more work one puts in the more mysterious the unfolding.

          We are familiar from the piece of art, describing the emergence of light from darkness, and darkness from light. It is a gentle unfolding, what  we would not be aware of until  it is pointed out. From the closing of The Good Friday celebration a Catholic Church is a very cold place to enter into. The tabernacle has its door open, revealing an emptiness. There is no Real Presence, the sanctuary light does not glow red in the darkness. All the art pieces, are clothed in purple. No music, except "silent music". We will be drawn to  this "silent music". What happens next depends on us, and our response to the invitation to solitude. In solitude we are faced with our issues of, "addiction, negativity, fear, and control." We have been drawn in an ever new evolving awareness each Lenten journey. 

            From the emptiness, of  the now, "tomb time", emerges some new understanding which has not been ours until now. It slowly weaves its way into consciousness. Then a new light appears. A new hope awakens within. Our steps have a new rhythm. We want to dance. We want to dance to the rhythm of our own soul's, new music. Where there was the darkness of death, the grieving for the loss of life, now there in new meaning to the words of  Exsultet. This is a hymn praising to glory of the new light, that has entered the darkness. The words that can be found on the internet are a wonderful resource for meditation. Give yourself an Easter gift that will enhance and vivify your life. 

           From the tomb of darkness, powered by the" powerlessness of power", the bright light of hope is gifted to illumine the darkness, and we can join St.Paul in saying, "death, where is your sting". Yes, "death is not an end, death is a beginning",a new beginning, a birthing. A birthing process that must be reverenced, and above all celebrated.  That which is birthed must be nourished, and fed. In that the new creation will be fed and nourished. Then we will not only give birth, we will give life. The Resurrected Christ, no longer the historical Jesus, reveals the transforming power  The Resurrection. Yes !!! St Paul is right. So we can rightly pray, if not a little reluctantly, " I want to know Christ-yes, to know the power of resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in his death." Phil 3:10.

              The Risen Christ will  transform your life, slowly and gentle. This is the relentless, ongoing work of  the power of His Spirit within your depths. May you come to see that in all of life's losses and deaths, the birthing of something, a reality, that is new. lIke all new life it must be taken care of with a gentle, and caring love. Your coming to the fullness of life, is the fulfillment of  the wish of The Revelator. 

           

   2025 GOD FRIDAY..... In order not to wear out my welcome, if I have not done so already this reflection will be confined to just a few Good Friday experiences we meet, every day.

 The Scourging at The Pillar. It took me many, many Lents to awaken to the reality of the  scourging of Christ in my journey. I go back to John O"Shea , " Jesus's story is our story today.". Then to validate that I read each. and every person, place , event found in the Gospel is actually happening within my depths. That set me back on my heels. So, are you ready for this, I am working on accepting, and becoming reconciled with this reality.

       Remember that saying " we are sometimes our own worst enemy." What do we do with an enemy, we punish it, if we cannot kill it. In our 30's we are challenged to accept, we are not the best at anything. All of our plans have come up short. We blame ourselves for our limitations. Sometimes we are carrying the burden, from the past of the voice that criticizes us. We never did anything right. The legacy of perfectionism !!!! Luck I was made aware of this reality, "We are born human and we spend the rest of our lives working on accepting the meaning of this.". " We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are SPIRITUAL BEINGS immersed in the human condition"(De Charden). Please do not just blow by these realities. There is a process in the cessation of self scourging when we accept the fact we are limited. 

            We are The Body of Christ ??? So when we are scourging ourselves we are actually scourging The Body of Christ. When we are relentless in our scourging we will actually scourge any person who does not meet our expectations. Remember, " Expectations are planned resentments". The scourging at the pillar continues, endlessly. Will we accept the reality that the Historical Jesus fell three times on His agonizing journey to Calvary ? He began to make the journey alone, but on the was Simon was roped into carrying the crossbeam for the crucifixion. Simon had no choice but to carry the cross. Have you become aware of The Simon within yourself, and the many Simons who willingly share the  journey to death and resurrection with us? 

  The Stations of The Cross presents for our reflection Veronica .  She saw the Suffering One and something inside of her moved her to go through the crowd and minister to Jesus. The Veronica within, where do you meet her, in your needs ? We must pray that her soothing, mercy-full presence become an essential part of our  spiritual journey. The Christ within will delight in the care, right now. Remember when it comes to the spiritual world, there is no time and space. See how that changes your understanding of spiritual thinkings.

          The desolation on the cross. " My God, My God, why have you abandoned me. In The Garden it was " Father, would that this cup pass from me." There is no such intimacy on Calvary. He went to that place of total abandonment. On our visits to that place of abandonment we very slowly begin to realize, in abandonment is where everything comes to us. Just appreciate what each trip to that place of abandonment  offers you. This is not for you, it is to be shared. The Veronica within is alive and well......

                                                       The Tridium: HOLY THURSDAY.

We are now entering the three day celebration, of a Mystery. Not just any Mystery, but as The Eucharistic  Liturgy teaches, "it is, The, Mystery of our faith". We pray, "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again", The Paschal Mystery for short. How has this Christ come to inter our human history? "He  was conceived by The Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary".  In his Letter to The Philippians, St.Paul teaches, in the second chapter, " He was known to be of human, and it thus that He humbled Himself, obediently accepting death, death on a cross." Death on a cross was not just any death, it was the death reserved as punishment for a runaway slave. 

     It was a death so ignominious, that The Jewish people saw it as ending your life in a place of cursedness, to quote "cursed is he who hangs upon, the wood".  The Historic Jesus, Who became The Christ of God, went to that place of "cursedness", so that when we have to confront, physically encounter our place of darkness, powerlessness, and cursedness we have awaiting us, Who ? The Incarnated Mercy of The Prodigal Father. Who has the power to heal us, soothe us, comfort us, protect us, transfigure and transform. Where do you encounter and embrace such gifts. There must be something virginal, about all, or nearly all of who you are in 2025 encounter with The Paschal Mystery. To be a vital celebration we must bring our new way of being, our new way of seeing. It cannot be the same of the past, it must your contemporary encounters.

       Holy Thursday Solemn Liturgy, beckons us to reflect on, what is now known as the first mass. The priesthood was established. What vivifying understanding has a dynamic effect on each Eucharistic Celebration. Are we actually in each celebration, celebrating the priesthood of The Chosen People of The New Testament ? Or we just at each celebration hoping that something may rub off on us ? " No deposit, no return" holds true for each Liturgical celebration. The Gracious Creative Power will NOT do for us, what we can do for ourselves ???? 

    Can you break into a sweat of blood ? All humans can, if they get that scared. You have to be at the pinnacle of fear for you to sweat blood. It does not usually happen, but if it does The Good Shepherd is there to wipe our brow, and refresh "our drooping spirit." 

You may want to go to last years reflection to round ooff all I have missed. A joyous, mysterious, a vivifying Easter Tridium to all. This is your inner story being revealed. Embrace that which your first reaction is to recoil. Love, prayers, and Paschal Joy to all. Great grandpa Joe. 

 

                                                                          Holy Week 2025......... Palm Sunday Eve,at 9:30 p.m.

Faith is always a journey into the unknown mystery of our lives and our living. We life our lives looking forward but understanding comes in our looking backwards. In what we see, in the reflection of the life we have lived through. Our goal is it to live life, not merely eke out an existence. Yet, that is the lot of not thousands, but millions of our sisters and brothers through our own country and billions across our shared home. 

 This thought just struck me. Why am I making the effort, again this year, to put into words, a spiritual pain that is way beyond the power of human expression ? I do have the right to presume that my word will properly express the in-expression-able ? Then it dawns on me are we not all struggling with the same human life, and the mystery, being discovered, hidden in a same human fleshiness. The same flesh we are contemplating is the same flesh, The Revelator of Mystery, was incarnated into.  John O'Shea wrote " Jesus's story IS our story today. We must read the Gospels, not as the accounts of what happened about 2,000 years ago. It is your story, and my story today. 

 Please, please  read, and listen, attentively to what will bubble up from your depths. This is your truth. This is the gospel you have been chosen to write. You are The Contemporary  Christ writing  a gospel for our contemporary world. The same Holy Spirit that guided the First Evangelists is the same Holy Spirit that is powering all of our lives, into life. As guides we have then have been provided in The Four Gospels accounts of His life, Death, Burial, Resurrection. These Four Gospels are  four accounts of the in-expression-able human misery, degradation and suffering. As His disciples we have been chosen, from eternity, to follow in the footsteps of Him Who has trudged the same journey we are trudging right now. He was not Incarnated in a special humanity and we were gifted a less dignified version. So then, SAME FLESH, SAME SPIRIT...........

 Words that I remember from Palm Sunday's Liturgy, were, " let us then, with, a lively faith, go forward". These words I did my level best to emphasize. I saw them as a prerequisite for the whole week ahead for  both myself and the community I was leading. Always with deep, deep  trepidation !!! We are living, existing in a very tough, tough environment. We are journeying through, what some spiritual authors are calling, an experience of "the dark night of the soul."( There is not enough room to be able to rightly deal rightly with "the dark night of the soul", so I plead with you, please do the necessary.) This is a very demanding, challenging journey. It brings to the forefront the truth that our journey in faith, is a journey into, darkness. A journey into, not knowing what is ahead, having no sign posts, no map. It a journey we are reduced to taking one very careful step at a time. In dark faith we place one foot of the other. We do not take giant steps, we are back to baby steps. 

From the wisdom of those who have gone before, and written of this purification experience. I am happy to say, we do not come out in any way spiritually  poorer.  We slowly emerge come out with a knowledge, a gift of understanding, that was not there before. We are somehow enlightened with new understandings. Understandings that appear very subtly, they take us by surprise. How often has the question been asked, "where did that come from?" The Spirit does for us what is best for us. These are good days to have Thomas Merton's prayer " My lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I do not know for certain where it will end, Nor do I really know myself ....'' Provide yourself and all your friends with a more complete copy of this prayer of surrender. We will continue to refer to this prayer. So are you going to do it now, or when the fear-filled pain gets to the point of, " My God, My God, why have You forsaken me ?"                                        A blessed mysterious Holy Week !!!!! Gramps