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Good Friday

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Good Friday Reflection: The Power of Christ’s Blood (St. John Chrysostom)

You may not know that one of the promises clergy & religious make upon entering their vocation is to pray the Liturgy of the Hours (AKA Divine office.)  This is a routine of prayers that they pray at various times throughout the day to make sure that they don’t lose sight of their relationship with God within their service to His Church.  One of the hours they pray is called the Office of Readings, which includes both a selection from the Bible and something from one of the saints.  The following is the reading for Good Friday, taken from the Catecheses by St. John Chrysostom, one of the early Church fathers.  I moved it back to the front of the blog in honor of what we celebrate today, because Chrysostom says it all so much better than I ever could.  If you’re looking for the readings for the day, click here to get them from the USCCB website.

If we wish to understand the power of Christ’s blood, we should go back to the ancient account of its prefiguration in Egypt.  Sacrifice a lamb without blemish, commanded Moses, and sprinkle its blood on your doors. If we were to ask him what he meant, and how the blood of an irrational beast could possibly save men endowed with reason, his answer would be that the saving power lies not in the blood itself but in the fact that it is a sign of the Lord’s blood.  In those days, when the destroying angel saw the blood on the doors he did not dare to enter, so much less will the devil approach now when he sees, no tthat figurative blood on the doors, but the true blood on the lips of believers, the doors of the temple of Christ. [Read more…] about Good Friday Reflection: The Power of Christ’s Blood (St. John Chrysostom)

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The Cross = a Broken Heart?

Photo Credit: John & Sarah Pollard

Today, the Church celebrates Good Friday.  It seems odd to me to call the day Jesus suffered, died, and was buried “good.”  Because on this day Jesus shed his blood, we have been rescued from sin and death, and we also know just how deep and wide the love of God for us really is that makes it truly good. [Read more…] about The Cross = a Broken Heart?

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Here. We. Go…

Credit: FOCUS Ministries
Image Credit: FOCUS (the Fellowship of Catholic University Students)

With the celebration of Palm Sunday this weekend, we set off into the holiest week of the Church year.  This is a week that culminates with those events that make our faith what they are: Jesus’ suffering, death, and His resurrection.  These events are marked by a three part celebration we call the Triduum – 3 days – which take place on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday (with the Easter Vigil late Saturday night.)  I strongly encourage you to get to all three celebrations – because each one brings to light a little about who we are as Christians and what we believe about our faith.

This will be a bit of a longer post – trying help you see the beauty of each of these days – but hopefully it will help bring them to life for you.

[Read more…] about Here. We. Go…

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Why did Jesus have to die?

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In the Bible (and in the biblical era), the concept of “sonship” is an important one.  A son is more than an heir to the possessions of his father – there are titles, rights, and responsibilities that come particularly to a firstborn (or only) son.  The understanding or claim that Jesus was (is) the only begotten Son of God puts Jesus on equal footing with God – and to many of his first century audience, this was a scandalous claim.  Judaism has an understanding of the sacred that may seem foreign to many Christians – they treat even God’s name with the utmost care and respect.  For a living, breathing human being to claim to be God’s Son was blasphemy, and those who called for Jesus’ execution did so with the intention of safeguarding that which is sacred:

“We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he has made himself the Son of God.”  -John 19:7

While on the one hand, Jesus’ death came about for these very real reasons, the fact is that those who made up the mob crying out crucify him! couldn’t possibly have understood what was happening.  Certainly, Jesus was sentenced to death on a cross for claiming to be God’s son – but He died for a much bigger reason – one which dramatically impacts our claim to live as God’s children. [Read more…] about Why did Jesus have to die?

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The Greatest Rescue Mission of All Time

Scene from Disney’s “Frozen” (2013)

 When Frozen came out last winter, I was a little late to get to see it (I didn’t actually watch the movie all the way through until about 6 months after it’s release.  For a father of two little girls, this may be a serious  sin!)  I was duly impressed, and I can understand why so many compared the quality of what they had in Frozen to The Lion King – both movies do an exceptional job at moving their audiences.  Both also grab onto core themes from our Christian faith. While The Lion King retells the story of Moses (both are princes who flee to the desert, fearing the punishment they are owed for the death of another – and their return is inspired by an encounter with their Father’s), Frozen, grabs onto the story of salvation history: the story we celebrate over Easter weekend.

[Read more…] about The Greatest Rescue Mission of All Time