Making Pilgrimage - A Touch of Irony

This Sunday is Palm Sunday, the liturgical celebration of Jesus' final Passover pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  As the Torah commanded, He traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover in the Spring, Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks fifty days later, and Tabernacles in the fall (Ex.23:14-17; 34:22-23).  Keeping the feasts allowed the Jewish people to not only relive Israel’s deliverance, the giving of the Law, and entrance into the Promised Land; but to look ahead to the time when the Messiah would usher in a period of unequaled freedom, faithfulness, and prosperity.  That reached a fever pitch when Jesus entered Jerusalem amidst the other pilgrims on Palm Sunday.  

Why make pilgrimage to Jerusalem?  Because of the Temple! It is impossible to overstate the Temple's importance in Judaism.  It was the only place on earth from which legitimate sacrifice, avodah, could be offered by Israel’s Levitical priests.  The synagogue and prayer in the home were never a substitute for the sacrificial worship of the Temple, but means for those living at a distance to unite themselves to it. Prayer in the synagogue took place facing the Temple, at the same time as the morning and evening sacrifice.  And although Jews recognized that the universe itself couldn’t contain God, His presence in their Temple was utterly unique.  It was “His House.”  Just look at the love and esteem Jesus showed for His "Father's House" throughout the gospels.

And all of these elements have of course been carried over into Christianity - pilgrimage, the centrality of sacrifice (Jesus' sacrifice, made present in the Eucharist), and even our church buildings as "God's House."

Now, in the title of this post I mentioned that there is an ironic aspect to making a pilgrimage.  I do not mean to discount the wonderful experience that pilgrimage can be - traveling to the places where the awesome events in salvation history took place and being able to pray there.  It simply strikes me that the most important pilgrimage we can make is the one we make down the road each Sunday morning to the local parish where Jesus, God Himself, is present in the tabernacle.  We visit God's House, where we enter into Jesus' Passover from earth to the Heaven in the Eucharistic celebration!  There are surely wonderful benefits to be gained in making a pilgrimage overseas, but it cannot objectively bring you into any more intimate contact with God than your mini-pilgrimage to Palm Sunday Mass in your local parish.  And that is something to celebrate!

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Everyone Loves a Secret ...

Look at today's first reading (Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C), because it speaks to our situation today:

The night of the Passover was known beforehand to our fathers, that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith, they might have courage.
Your people awaited the salvation of the just and the destruction of their foes.
For when you punished our adversaries, in this you glorified us whom you had summoned.
For in secret the holy children of the good were offering sacrifice and putting into effect with one accord the divine institution, 

That your holy ones should share alike the same good things and dangers, having previously sung the praises of the fathers. (Wisdom 18:6-9)

The world keeps moving forward, pursuing many an agenda at odds with God's will.  But when we celebrate the Eucharist - a divine institution, ignored by the majority - we are bringing the grace of salvation into the world.  All grace, all supernatural life, flows from Christ's Passover - His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension - and the Eucharist represents it to us, calling down the Father's power (Rom1:4, 8:11; Jn 6:54-57; 1 Cor 5:7-8, 11:23-32).

Like Israel in Egypt, we celebrate the Passover Sacrifice, as the harsh world outside goes its way, blissfully unaware of the judgment being courted.  The one great difference is that we have been charged with going out and continuing to invite others to join us at the Sacrificial Feast (Mt 22:1-7)!  We don't want to keep this Feast a secret, and more importantly, God doesn't want us to keep it a secret!

My Big 'Ole, Happy Announcement!

I have been waiting for a long time to share this good news:  Just after Thanksgiving, Angelico Press will publish my new book, tentatively titled  

Through, With, and In Him

The Prayer Life of Jesus and How to Make It 
Our Own   

Here is the description from my proposal:

Taking its lead from the Catechism (CCC 2740), this book opens readers eyes to the startling reality of Christian prayer: Jesus pours Himself out to the Father, in the Spirit, through their words and actions. A unique element of the book is its in-depth treatment of prayer in the Jewish home, synagogue, and Temple. By considering the words and actions common to every first century Jew, as well as those unique to Jesus, readers will be shown how His prayer is continued in the Catholic Church’s sacraments and traditional devotions and practices. Chapters follow the chronological order of Jesus’ life. Each begins by focusing upon His prayer at a given stage of life and then shifts to exploring how His prayer is continued in the Church. The final chapters of the book are devoted to what the author has come to view as the two greatest means, outside of the Eucharist, for bringing our prayer and lives into profound union with Jesus’ own ...

I will share more in the days ahead!  Oh hey, here are some early reviews.

 

The Blessed Mother, Receiving Jesus from John (A brief thought on the Priesthood)

Reading Luke's Gospel and praying the Joyful Mysteries this evening held a couple of surprises.  The first was one of those realizations that happens when you've known a couple of facts, but you've never put them together before.  I was meditating on the time when Jesus (age 12) stayed behind in the Temple after celebrating Passover.  Mary received Jesus back after a three day absence, as she did twenty some years later when He rose on the third day - quite a foreshadowing.  What I had not registered before was how the Finding in the Temple and Jesus' death and Resurrection were connected not just by the three day absence, but the Feast of Passover!

The difference between the two events for the Blessed Mother of course, was that she didn't receive Jesus back in the same way after His three days in the tomb.  He appeared to her, visited her; but he didn't return to Nazareth with her the way He did as a boy.  Resurrected and glorified, His body no longer belonged to this world, still subject to decay.  He belonged beside the Father, ascended.

And yet, Jesus did still come to His Mother, again and again, really and substantially in the Eucharist!  Mary lived with the Apostle John from the time of the Crucifixion.  Imagine what John must have felt - the unworthiness and awe - as he returned Jesus to Mary in Holy Communion!  And imagine Mary's incredible love for John, this man who brought her Son physically, sacramentally, back to her when he prayed the Eucharistic prayer!

I think about my parish priests and how they bring Christ to me in exactly the same way.  I don't love and appreciate them nearly enough.  I remember reading a fantastic line from Matt Swaim a couple of years back, about how we can't look at our priests as "mere sacramental vending machines," and thinking how absolutely right he was; but I look into my heart today and realize that I'm guilty of it!  It wasn't intentional; I live and just begin to take certain things for granted.

Every Mass is the celebration of Jesus' Passover.  And united with Mary in the Communion of Saints, we receive her Jesus again and again.  May the Holy Spirit bring the love that filled her heart to ours ... and may we love and appreciate the priests ordained to bring Jesus to us.