Easter Sunday 2006

[Fr.Paul Weinberger]

Homily by:
Father Paul Weinberger, Pastor
St. William Roman Catholic Church
Greenville, Texas
April 16, 2006
Easter Sunday

For they did not yet understand the Scripture, He had to rise from the dead.

In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit

Amen

Just before the Easter Vigil last night I came into Church and was looking at the Sanctuary. Today’s Gospel and the Gospels ahead will speak again and again of this scene, the scene of the Resurrection. Easter is fifty days from this day forward and so it is all about finding the tomb open. The tomb was in a garden and so the attempt has been made in this Sanctuary to replicate the scene in the Gospels with the presence of angels announcing that Christ has risen from the dead. When I came in last night the two lamps that are burning here had no candles in them and the door of the Tabernacle was wide open. No…there had not been a robbery, but since Holy Thursday night the Blessed Sacrament had been removed, recalling the Passion of Christ beginning in the Garden of Gethsemane with his arrest. So from Holy Thursday until last night, there had been no Holy Communion in this Church in reserve. That Tabernacle door is always as you see it now, locked and shut.

Look above the Tabernacle and you see the Sacred Heart of Jesus with the wounds on His hands, the marks of the nails. You can even see them on his feet. Everyone has probably heard the story of St. Padre Pio, who is a favorite of many. Once the Sacred Heart appeared to Padre Pio in all of his glory but Padre Pio started cursing the apparition. What? What was that all about? Well, all of a sudden the apparition of the Sacred Heart vanished because it wasn’t the Sacred Heart it was the devil. Padre Pio knew it was the devil because there were no nail marks on his hands or feet. The statue you see of the Sacred Heart over the tabernacle is Christ in His risen and glorified body and it was so reminiscent of seeing the Tabernacle door open like the empty tomb.

On Holy Thursday night, as Catholics we recognize that Christ instituted the Eucharist, giving us His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity in Holy Communion under the appearance of bread and wine. This is not the flesh of the dead Christ although it is connected to His Death and Resurrection. What the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar contains is the Risen, Glorified, Life-giving, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. So seeing the Risen Christ above the empty tomb in a garden is reminiscent of the Gospels.

Right after the Gospels is the Book of Revelation. In 1531, Jan van Eyck published this picture that is on the front of your bulletin. If you take a glance at this you can see the Heavenly Jerusalem in the background. In the book of Revelation, there is an Altar in Heaven. It is not a dining room table or a coffee table like you see in many Churches today. It is an Altar…AL TAR! On the Altar in Heaven is the Lamb of God and from His wounded side, the Lamb that was slain but now has risen, blood and water flow. Behind that scene is a cross and next to the cross is an angel holding a very long pole, which is the spear that pierced the side of the Sacred Heart. On the other side is a column at which Jesus was scourged and next to that is a long pole on which was placed a sponge.


To view the painting that Fr. Paul is referring to, please click the link below.
http://catholique-rouen.cef.fr/publier/ ... -1422_.jpg


This is Jan van Eyck’s depiction of Heaven. You can see the angels all around the Altar adoring the Lamb of God. Just as the Altar of God in Heaven is in every Catholic Church, there is an Altar where the Lamb of God deigns to appear through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which is the representation of the Sacrifice of Calvary in an unbloody manner. It is interesting to note in this picture that the people are pushing and pressing in from all sides. I find it interesting that those who are pushing in are, on one side, the women and the other side it appears that there are more men than women in Heaven but I am sure that is just the artist. But wait a minute, over in our Sanctuary we have tried to assemble something similar; the Greenville version of Jan van Eyck’s Adoration of the Mystical Lamb and there appears to be a discrepancy here as well because to your right of the Altar is St. Francis Xavier and next to him is St. Thomas Aquinas and then St. Joseph. Then there is St. John Berchman; the patron of Altar boys and next to him is St. Isidore the Farmer.

To your left of the Altar is…hum…St. Joan of Arc, Our Lady of Victory and St. Therese’, who is about to jump on me for having claimed such a thing as there being more men than women in Heaven. [Laughter] Anyway, Heaven…the reason we went to all of this trouble concerning the Sanctuary is to remind us of Heaven because here in this church on this Altar, Heaven comes down to earth; Heaven and earth are joined in the Most Blessed Sacrament. If we are not aware of any mortal sins and we are Catholics in communion with the Holy Father and the church, we can receive the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ. Heaven enters the human body and enters their soul made by our creator and for about ten to fifteen minutes, remains with us. That is why we seek the Body of Christ.

The fact is, this is an attempt on Easter to get us to think about Heaven, but if the truth be known and is really meditated upon we don’t think about Heaven unless it is to our benefit. I remember in 1984 I had just finished college and the University of Dallas and I traveled to Mexico, just outside Mexico City in Cuernavaca. I was living there with three other men who were also studying to be priests. After a few weeks we decided we would take a trip and get away from school for the weekend. We looked at the map and saw Acapulco. I had never been there so we decided to go. We all got on a very nice, air-conditioned bus and headed to Acapulco.

You see, there is this string of spaghetti that has been glued against the side of the mountain and it is called the road from Cuernavaca to Acapulco and our bus attempted to drive on top of this little bitty string of spaghetti along with all the other buses going the other way. The scenery was breathtaking…that is the word.

“Oh no! No! Ohhh!

See what I mean, it takes your breath away! We had the biggest sadist in the entire world as our conductor. He knew what he was doing the whole time…full consent of the will! May God have mercy on his soul. [Laughter] So, here we are driving along on those blind curves and I was sitting on the front seat so I was able to see everything. Agh! We were driving along and we were in a line with seven buses and then Mario Andretti, my bus driver, decides that he is going to go one mile per hour faster than the bus in front of him on a blind curve. He is making his break on a blind curve and there is a sheer drop off to the left. Forget the Spanish, I just started saying,

“Please God! Please God! Please, please, please God!”

I said this the rest of the trip. I knew how close I was to Heaven…or going somewhere. [Laughter] Along the way there was a building, a la Gilligan’s Island, and there were words painted on it that said, “Flecha Roja has killed 82 people so far this year.” Flecha Roja, broken arrow, is a pun; the bus line is really called Flecha Rojo, Red Arrow. Broken arrow bus lines have killed 82 people this year.

“Please God! Please God! Please, please, please God!”

Well, I was thinking about Heaven because I was about to go somewhere. As you can see, I did not die in a bus crash. When I got off that bus I gave that bus driver the look that that is the universal look; he knew exactly what I was saying to him. I am surprised he did not instantaneously combust as I was praying. I got off in Taxco and it was time to press on to Acapulco. I turned to my fellow seminarians and told them I was spending the night there and would wait for my stomach to catch up with me and then I would take a taxi back to Cuernavaca the next day. I told them if I had to I would walk back but they had to go on without me.

I was getting ready for Heaven because my life was in jeopardy. Apart from that, we don’t think of Heaven. We should, but many feel like there is this automatic promotion to Heaven once the last breath is drawn. That is not Church Doctrine but is heresy. As Catholics, we do not believe that. I don’t care how many funeral homilies you have heard to the contrary, you can study what the Church teaches on this in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which can be purchased for under ten dollars. We are not all going to Heaven although we would all like to. Some people have the attitude that;

“Eh, even if I am that lukewarm about it I am still going to Heaven whether I like it or not.”

We don’t think about Heaven.

The Easter Vigil was very beautiful last night. I confess to you that before I became a priest I never went to the Easter Vigil although I served the Vigil in my home parish every year for seven years. It was a great experience. Last night I asked the two head servers that if they didn’t have to be here for the Holy Saturday Vigil, would they go to the Vigil anyway. They just looked at each other and laughed. To their credit, they didn’t answer. Many Catholics are like that; they could go but don’t want to.

Last night was so beautiful last night with the seven readings, then the Epistle and then the Gospel. It was tremendous to hear of the very beginning of creation and then of course, God attempting to recreate the world after the flood concerning Noah and God promising Abraham the most numerous children in all of the world, as numerous as the stars in the Heavens or the sand on the shores. We just let these beautiful miracles that God has performed just wash over us like waves on a shore. The Book of Ezekiel even shows that even dry bones can receive new life with the breath of God breathed upon them. Again and again God tells us we are going in the wrong direction and calls us back; He sees all our sins but yet calls us to come back so He can forgive us.

The beauty of the Prophet Isaiah…

They shall be taught by God.

Every time I heard a reading it triggered something in me that this was the Word of God. As St. Paul says,

The Word of God is alive; it strikes to the heart. It pierces more surely than a two-edged sword.

I remember my mother telling me about, how as a girl she use to listen to the radio with her family. Many people have told me that during WWII they use to listen to reports about the war and Fireside Chats before the war. Of course no one is alive that was alive during WWII; we all know that. [Laughter] When you talk to whoever was listening to the radio at that time, they all had the same experience. They were huddled around the radio listening intently to the words coming across the airwaves.

Last night the Church was packed and we were in candlelight listening to the Word of God. How beautifully moving. We were supposed to start at 8:30 but started twenty minutes late. It was the pastor’s fault and I have spoken to him about that and he won’t let it happen again. When we started no candles were lit and all the lights were out. We then lit a fire in the church, which is done every year and if you have never been to the Easter Vigil you will have to break down and go. The fire that we lit was blessed and then from that fire, the Paschal candle, the Easter candle or like children call it, the big candle, which is fine until they reach the age of five but after that it is the Easter candle or the Paschal candle. We need a vocabulary. When we say Paschal in all these prayers we don’t mean some town we have driven through but Easter!

Moving along, the Paschal candle is lit from the Easter fire. So it was the first candle lit in an entirely dark Church. We almost didn’t make it because the Instruction says the Mass must start after sundown. I know that and I have always known that and sundown was at 8:30. That is why a couple of weeks ago I announced that the Mass for the Easter Vigil was going to be at 7pm. I was thinking about how long the vigil would be and how far people drive etc. Fortunately Chris reminded me of the instruction and I wasn’t real happy about it but he was right. I was about to transgress the fundamental initial principal of the Easter Vigil by starting early while the sun was still up. Look at how easily we can be led astray. If I had started at 7pm a SWAT Team from the Vatican wouldn’t have swooped in to hold me up. I could have done it but it wouldn’t have been proper.

When that candle was lighted and we heard the words in Gregorian Chant, “Christ Our Light” with the response, “Thanks be to God” it was beautiful. The candle was elevated and came down the Church half way. The same words were repeated and then people began taking their candles and lighting them from the fire that came from the Easter Candle. We made our way all the way to the front as the same thing was repeated. Candles illumined the Church as Chris, in Latin chanted the Exultant so beautifully. But it did take a long time but you know what else took a long time? It took a long time for GOD TO SAVE US!

It took us only three hours and fifteen minutes for the Easter Vigil if you don’t count the twenty-minute delay. The history of Salvation was laid out before us; thanks be to God. We know if we want to get to Heaven that is all we have to do, follow the Light of Christ. That candle represents Christ and that is why the candle was incensed and is so special. Do we really want to follow Christ? Sure, sure we convince ourselves but we have a lot of distractions as well as our own weakened nature.

I was describing the front cover of the bulletin earlier and was bringing to your attention the people pushing in at the Altar. Last night we had people in the pews, on the sides, down the isle and people over here pressing up to receive Confirmation. I am German on both sides and I was glad to see all the people to be confirmed but I thought,

”Maybe next year we could get this more organized where they could line up and then all of a sudden I am saying HELLO, hello! It is just like the picture you picked for the front of the bulletin!”

[Laughter] I am telling on myself, and how easy it is to be distracted. The people last night were so intent on becoming members of the Catholic Church they studied the Catechism. I know that sounds fanatical. There, I’ve said it! They studied the Catechism and they spoke about the mysteries of the faith. What is that they say about converts?

They make the best Catholics!”

Do you know why they say it? They say it because it is true. The people coming forward to be received into the church were pressing forward and it was so inspiring to all of us and helps us to appreciate our faith more, love our faith more, and to live our faith more because there are so many distractions. We also find that we are fighting against ourselves as well.

Let us say that today you were getting ready to come to Mass today and you were putting on your Easter “best” on and all that kind of thing and at that very moment the entire sewer system decide to back up into your home? Isn’t that great? On Easter we get to discuss the sewer…great! Just what you came to Mass to hear. Anyway, the sewer didn’t just back up, it BACKED up and just went everywhere in your house. This would be absolutely terrible! Well, this is happening everyday either by antenna or cable.

“Well, what do you mean Father Paul?”

If you knew that the sewer was going to back up into your home you would hurry and sell the place or do something to stop it but you wouldn’t stay there, right? Yet, sewage backs up everyday through the television. Think about it; what did Jesus say?

Even if a man looks lustfully upon a woman, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

“Oh Father, we don’t believe that anymore, that was just said by Jesus. Or was in Gandhi? No, that’s right, it was Jesus.”

Jesus’ words still apply so why would we have these visions just flashing before our eyes and coming into our own homes just to torture us and send us to hell?

“Oh, I see! We are paying for this cable…great!”

That is an example of not following the Light. You may be thinking that I already have a bias against the television and you are correct. What Jesus says is still binding along with everything else He said. He is the Light but not the light trying to guide us over the cliff to end up in the Grand Canyon, but he wants to lead us to Heaven. All we have to do is follow the Light, meditate on the light, and study the Light. In a darkened room, that is not hard to do. In this world darkened by sin and death we see before us the Conqueror of sin and death in His Glorified and Risen body and that is not enough? I guess I should have turned the statue on its head. The Sacred Heart of Jesus before us, standing on His head. Oh that would be just great and the sign we are all looking for?

The Apostles and Disciples didn’t understand the Resurrection. They started to talk about it amongst themselves concerning which part each other grasped and they began to understand the Resurrection. If we don’t understand Heaven and if we don’t understand this Easter Sunday, which is the exemplar, the model for every other Sunday that comes around every seven days, then it is just the day after Saturday and the day before Monday. We say things like,

“Well, I went to Mass on Sunday and then I did everything else I wanted to do.”

This is not keeping holy the Lord’s Day. What is the classic definition of reaching into God’s pocket and taking time from Him? Sunday is the Lord’s Day and the classic definition of reaching into His pocket and stealing time from the Lord’s Day is five to ten…right? That is stealing! Yes, that is stealing! The Lord’s Day is an Easter. It is not kind of Easter, it is not when the Church gets together and we scrunch up our noses and try to imagine Easter. No, it is the same as Easter, Easter throughout the year if only we have eyes to see. It is like the bread and wine after the Consecration; it is the Risen, Glorified, Life-giving Body of Christ, placed before us under the “appearance” of bread and wine. He still looks like bread and wine, but what we behold and consume is totally Christ.

This day, this Easter Sunday is the Sunday par excellence and every Sunday after it is the Day of the Lord’s Resurrection and the many blessings He wants to offer us. He wants us to rest in Him so that the next six days we can when we are knocked over, crushed, stapled and mutilated or driven to Taxco, we can still survive. He is leading us to heaven.

When we look at these “saints” up here we know that they “got it!” if we don’t get it, it is not because His Word lost effect, it is not because these things have expired or that it is too remote, it is because we don’t want to follow the Light; we choose not to follow the Light.

In van Eyck’s beautiful picture on the front of your readings you can see that the upper picture is obviously the Risen, Glorified, Life-giving Body of Christ and below it is Christ carrying the Cross. If you look closer, it is Christ in the winepress. On top of His Cross is a board with a screw pressing down on Christ. If you wanted to get wine from the grape you had to crush the grape to extract the wine, just as Christ was crushed and allowed Himself to be poured out on Good Friday for us so that we could eat His Body and Drink His Blood in Holy Communion; so He could lead us to Heaven…lead us to Heaven!

For they did not yet understand the Scripture, He had to rise from the dead.

In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit

Amen