Father Paul Weinberger, Pastor
St. William Roman Catholic Church
Greenville, Texas
March 12, 2006
2nd Sunday of Lent
To You will I offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving and I will call upon the name of the Lord.
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen
These are the words from the Responsorial Psalm; Cardinal Ratzinger, who is now Pope Benedict XVI, in the mid 1980s, quotes these words again and again in a book. You can still purchase his book. It is called “Feast of Faith.” The book is about the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Whenever you look at the extended schedule for the week in the bulletin you will notice that every time the Mass is mentioned, it is mentioned as the “Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.” This has not been the practice in this country for about forty years. In the Vatican and in areas throughout the world it is referred to as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with obvious exceptions here and there.
In “Feast of Faith”, Cardinal Ratzinger laments this lesser understanding of the Mass. In the book he addresses the fact that people have begun to look at the Mass as merely a meal. Upon this Psalm here, this aspect of a thanksgiving sacrifice, he builds his argument for the renewal of the Mass as a Sacrifice. Words help to form us and when we speak of the Mass incorrectly we can lead others astray.
Look at the sacrifice of Abraham and see how richly he was blessed by offering everything to God. He offered all that was important to God and God richly blessed him. This prefigures the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the greatest sacrifice.
Perhaps when you go home you can pull out the bible and study Genesis 22 because what you have here in the First Reading are bits and pieces of Gen. 22. It says,
God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, “Abraham.” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, Isaac, your only one whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you.”
By this time Abraham was very old and Isaac was his only son with Sarah and he’d grown to be a young man and now God was ordering this sacrifice. Abraham did not put up an argument and did as the Lord told him. So, they took the wood for the sacrifice and loaded it on a donkey or mule and Abraham carried the fire. They walked toward the mountain called Mt. Moriah, which the Jews for centuries have contended that is the place for the current day Jerusalem. When they approached the mountain and the wood could no longer be carried by the donkey, the load of wood was placed on the back if Isaac, who had to carry the wood for the sacrifice.
If you look at the large plaques on the wall, The Stations of the Cross, you will see the wood for the Sacrifice that Christ takes upon His back in order to carry it to Mt. Moriah or just outside the walls of Jerusalem 2000 years ago on Good Friday.
The Lord would not allow Abraham to sacrifice his own beloved son. The Lord’s messenger called out to Abraham and God told him not to lay his hand on the boy or do the least thing to him. He continued saying,
I know how devoted you are to God. Since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son.
Abraham loved Isaac but he did not do what so many do today. Abraham had not made an idol out of Isaac. This is indeed a problem, especially given the fact that fewer and fewer children are being born. The temptation would be greater to idolize the child. The fact is, Abraham freely offers his child in sacrifice but God stays His hand. God said to him that he is not to do the least thing to him. Then God provides a sacrifice for Abraham. There is a ram caught by its horns in a thicket and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.
The understanding of sacrifice, holocaust, immolation is all through the book that we are studying here on Wednesdays from 3 to 4 and 7 to 8. If you get a chance you can look at your bulletin and see that the Sixteen Carmelites of Compiegne in William Bush’s book, To Quell the Terror, is the topic for the classes on Wednesday. This is fitting because on January 6, 2001, Pope John Paul II wrote “On the Beginning of the New Millennium” at the end of the Jubilee 2000. He places a special emphasis on the saints and the constant study of them. He says that there has to be a lived theology of the saints because they can direct and guide us. Just as you have seen among your children how older brothers and sisters can guide the younger ones, the saints are the same for us; they are our older brothers and sisters in the faith and they guide us.
Pope John Paul is very emphatic and says there must be a lived theology of the saints so that the faith can be seen in a three dimensional way. By studying this true and historical account of the Carmelite martyrs it helps to dispel the fictional accounts by Gertrude von Le Fort and George Bernanos, who were two people who wrote about the Carmelites but there is fiction mixed in with fact like the wretched Davinci Code, which was purposely done that way to deceive. Fiction and fact mixed together do not satisfy as the truth of the historical facts can. William Bush on the other hand has done the Church a great service in writing the basic account of the sacrifice and offering of these sisters.
When the French Revolution began in 1789, it was directly connected to the American Revolution here in the USA. The king of France had given generously to the American cause; money as well as material goods. He gave so much so that his position in France was weakened. France was approaching its anniversary; thirteen hundred years of unbroken service to the church. I know, I know, it is hard to believe. Yes, I said France; you aren’t losing your hearing. Twelve hundred and ninety six years had gone by since King Clovis of the Franks was baptized. Just four years were due before they celebrated their thirteen hundredth anniversary. The savage animal known as the French Revolution, which had to be fed many victims, interrupted this. The appetite of the French Revolution consumed many Catholic priests, nuns and Catholic men and women.
These sixteen nuns were in a convent outside Paris in Compiegne minding their own business when the French Revolution freed them or liberated them. They were told to run but the sisters merely closed the door and asked them to leave them alone. They ushered them out telling them they could not remain in the convent. The mother Superior of this order was very level headed; she was not sentimental. No doubt when some of the sisters in the convent heard of the terror of the Revolution they volunteered as martyrs of the Revolution to help bring it to an end and restore peace to France and to the Church.
Mother Superior would hear nothing of taking a vow of martyrdom. William Bush points out that the Mother Superior did something far better than the vow of martyrdom. He says,
There was never a vow of martyrdom as one reads in the fictional versions but rather an Act of Consecration whereby each member of the company would join with the others in offering herself daily to God, soul and body in holocaust and sacrifice to restore peace to France and to Her Church. The mother superior allowed the sisters to voluntarily make an Act of Consecration every day.
So it wasn’t the “silver bullet” of a vow of martyrdom. No, it was a daily Act of Consecration that God would accept them as a holocaust, that God would restore peace to France and to Her church. So these sixteen Carmelite sisters went to their death. Three others were never arrested and therefore were never sent to their death. Mother Superior was wise because she offered God something much better than a vow of martyrdom with the daily offering of an Act of Consecration.
The Gospel today is about the Transfiguration of the Lord. On the calendar of the Church the Feast of the Transfiguration is August 6th. On August 6, 1945, the first bomb dropped over Hiroshima and then three days after the Feast of the Transfiguration a second bomb was dropped over Nagasaki. The city of Nagasaki if the last island in the chain of islands that make up Japan. This island holds the greatest population of Catholics dating back to 1549 when St. Francis Xavier landed there on August 15th, the Feast of the Assumption. From that time forward the Catholic faith flourished so much so that by 1597 the Church in Japan was under persecution. By this time one of the Japanese, who had been ordained a Catholic priest was martyred on a hill overlooking Nagasaki.
It is interesting that St. Francis Xavier had dedicated his life to the Lord in on a hill overlooking Paris known as the Hill of Martyrs where the first archbishop of Paris was martyred, which was St. Denis. This is where St. Francis Xavier and St. Ignatius and a few others started the Society of Jesus. St. Francis was sent east and he visited Japan. Along with him he brought the Catholic faith and the tradition of actually offering oneself to God as a holocaust or a martyr. There are two kinds of martyrs in the church, white and red. The Red Martyrs are the ones I have been talking about, the martyrs who have shed their blood as witnesses to Christ. White Martyrs are those who are not called to shed their blood but rather make a daily consecration to the Lord offering body and soul to Him through their sacrifices, which they are called upon to make.
In Nagasaki there was a doctor, Dr. Takashi Nagai, whose father had been a doctor and scientist. Dr. Nagai was the Dean of the Radiology Department at the University in Nagasaki and he was a very respected man in the city. He was married to a woman whose ancestry traced all the way back to the Japanese martyrs. She was Catholic but the dean was pagan. They had two children and the day the bomb was dropped his wife was vaporized; his wife went up as a holocaust. He found the outline of her body in their home and still present in her hand, or where her hand had been was her rosary, which is on display in a museum in Nagasaki. After the bomb was dropped at a funeral address, Dr. Nagai relates how all of the events of August 9, 1945 were part of God’s Providence to bring the war to an end and peace to Japan.
This man writing this was still a pagan just as many Japanese are today; they are not Christian but pagan. The greatest concentration of Catholics in Japan is in Nagasaki as I said before, but it is a small minority mixed in with millions. Dr. Nagai mentions that he heard the bells every day from the Cathedral of the Assumption in Nagasaki named for the Assumption of Our Lady because St. Francis Xavier arrived there bring them the faith on her feast day in 1549. He said that the bells had a deep impact on his entering the Church but the greatest influence was his wife and her deep faith as well as her connection with the martyrs and the unbroken faith in her family for centuries that followed Christ.
The Carmelite Sisters in Paris 1793-94 had decided that they would follow the Lamb wherever he decided to lead them; not go out in front of Him but to follow Him. The Lamb of course is Christ. This is a reference to Revelations. Maybe you can look at chapter 14 of the Book of Revelations after you read Genesis today. It talks about offering to God, first fruits. In the Old Testament those who went into the field to harvest the crops would give the first ten percent of what was taken in, not the scraps or the tail end but the first ten percent was given to God as a holocaust, which was a worthy sacrifice. The Book of Revelations refers to the martyrs as first fruits and a worthy holocaust.
In Nagasaki Dr. Nagai points out that the bomb that was dropped was destined for a munitions plant in Nagasaki. Instead the wind had moved the bomb to detonate just above the Cathedral of the Assumption. The people of Nagasaki were inside praying at that time and had been doing this for a long time during the war. The people would come by to pay a visit at the cathedral and daily consecrate their lives, asking God to take their lives as a worthy offering for the end of the war and to bring peace to the world. When the bomb dropped the people in the Cathedral were instantly vaporized and so were the people in surrounding areas. They were called up to God.
After this they had a funeral for those who had been killed and Dr. Nagai wrote something but someone else had to read it because he was suffering the effects of radiation poisoning. Here is part of what he wrote.
Before this moment there were many opportunities to end the war. Not a few cities were totally destroyed. There were many cities destroyed in Japan by conventional bombing but the war didn’t come to an end when they were bombed. These were not suitable sacrifices nor did God accept these cities.
Remember that this is a pagan speaking. This is a scientist and they are not sentimental people. Kind of like Joe Friday on the old Dragnet series who wanted just the facts, ma’am. That is all scientists’ want but what I just read came out of the pen of a scientist. They aren’t given to bouts of sentimentality.
Only when Nagasaki was destroyed did God accept the sacrifice. Hearing the cry of the human family God inspired the Emperor to issue the Sacred Decree by which the war was brought to an end.
Yea, it was brought to an end and I hope I can remember the day the Emperor announced the end of the war in Japan; the unconditional surrender of Japan. Oh yea, August 15, 1945. St. Francis Xavier arrived there August 15, 1549. The pagan Emperor announced on radio the unconditional surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945. Dr. Nagai continues,
Our Church of Nagasaki kept the faith during four hundred years of persecution when religion was proscribed and the blood of martyrs flowed freely. During the war this same Church of Nagasaki never ceased to pray day and night for a lasting peace. Was it not then the one unblemished Lamb that had to be offered on the Altar of God? Thanks to the sacrifice of this Lamb many millions would have otherwise fallen victims to the ravages of war have been saved.
You notice he doesn’t say Japanese or American? He says
“Thanks to the sacrifice of this Lamb”, referring to Nagasaki, “many millions would have otherwise fallen victims to the ravages of war have been saved.”
Of course what does he know? He is only the Dean of the Radiology department and a lifetime citizen of Japan. I guess he has an opinion too. This man understood sacrifice and holocaust, as he was about to come into the Church. This understanding of sacrifice with the Carmelites in the French Revolution mirrors very closely the understanding of the Japanese Christians of Nagasaki in the 1940s.
St. Therese’ of Lisiuex was a white martyr. She did not rush into the arms of any guillotine; rather she suffered as a White Martyr in the convent daily with her sufferings and sacrifices, which she offered to God for peace in the world and the good of the Church as well as the salvation of souls. There is one account here in the Canonization Process of St. Therese’ where she is having a conversation with her oldest sibling, who was in the same convent. Her name was Marie. At this point St. Therese’ has three days left before she dies. Marie gives this account.
Three days before her death when Therese’ was tormented by fever she refrained from asking for some ice water. Nor would she ask for some grapes when someone had forgotten to leave them in her reach.
Here she is with a raging fever and is in the last days of her life and she can’t even get a glass of water around this place, or some lousy grapes. I am sorry, that is Fr. Paul spending his one minute in the convent at Lisieux. That is about as long as they would allow me there, I am sure. Marie continues,
I noticed her mortification; I noticed her sacrifice when I saw Therese’ looking at the glass and I said, “Would you like some ice water?”
I am sure if St. Therese would have had enough voice she would have said the American word, “DUH!” But she refrained.
“Would you like some ice water?” Therese’ said, “I would, very much.”
No doubt it was like one of these famous hospital tables where all of the most important things you will need like ice water is placed and then they roll it over in the corner. All you can do is stare at it because you can’t go over and get it. It is like Lassie, you can only whine. St. Therese’ is there suffering terribly and her sister finally gets a clue and offers her water. Then Marie says,
Mother Superior has obliged you to ask for all that you need so, you need to do so out of obedience.
Here it is, three days before you are dying and what do you want? A lecture, and FROM THE WOMAN WHO IS NOT GIVING YOU YOUR WATER! Right? I don’t know how St. Therese’ did it. Probably after drinking some water, St. Therese’ says to Marie,
I ask for all that I need but not for what gives me pleasure. I would not ask for grapes either if they were not there.
St. Therese’ understood this daily sacrifice and that it was a way to bring peace to the world and the Church. She was filling up what was lacking in the sufferings of Christ until He comes again. This understanding of sacrifice is something the saints focused on every day. It wasn’t the silver bullet we like to consider, like the vow of martyrdom.
When Our Lord is transfigured in front of Peter, James, and John He is in a sense pulling the curtain back a little and letting them see His Glory. He is manifesting Himself to Peter, James, and John. The beauty of His Divinity was so brilliant. They said something similar about the light at Nagasaki, it was so brilliant that you had to hide your eyes and couldn’t look at it directly.
Christ has the power and control over His Divinity and He has the power to lay down His life for His friends. He does not call us slaves but friends and He freely offers His life on the Cross for you and me and our sins. By manifesting Himself to Peter, James, and John. For example, Christ before Pilate and the great Roman Empire; He could have zapped the Roman Empire in all its glory and strength back to the stone age if He’d wished but He didn’t. Christ allowed Himself to be tortured and crucified and He suffered so that He could offer Himself as the Great High Priest on the Altar of the Cross. He is the Victim and the Lamb of sacrifice and He is the thanksgiving sacrifice that is re-presented at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass today, the day we recall His Resurrection.
For our part the Church is urging us to make of our lives the rest of Lent, a worthy sacrifice, a thanksgiving sacrifice. From what we receive here at the Mass we are greatly blessed just as Abraham was greatly blessed by God and with that Blessing we are to go and do great things such as the daily act of consecrating our lives to follow and imitate Christ as well as to suffer with Christ so that we might rise with Christ.
To You will I offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving and I will call upon the name of the Lord.
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen