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Last year, I read the book "The Archangel of Westminster" by Michael Shaughnessy. It's a story about an American visiting Westminster Cathedral and, while in there, he encounters Michael the Archangel. The American "interviews Michael and receives a first hand account of the great spiritual battle between Jesus and Satan: the fall from heaven, the temptation in the wilderness, the death and resurrection of the Messiah." One of the most powerful parts of the book is where Michael is describing the crucifixion of Jesus. Michael shares that on Calvary, there were legions of angels with him, ready to battle all the demons who were gleefully encircling Our Lord, basically licking their chops at His imminent death. The army of good angels were taut with a desire to go and do battle, but they were told to stay. Hold. Michael describes how difficult it was to do that, because even the good angels didn't fully understand what was happening. I just found this to be one of the most tragically beautiful images to meditate on. Legions upon legions of angels surrounding Jesus, ready to do battle on His behalf, watching Him being tortured, and being told by God to hold. Because this needed to happen for us, for our salvation. Satan and the demons thought that they were winning, but they lacked the game plan. They didn't know that Christ would be victorious over death and open the gates for us. They didn't know that they were going to lose. There is no greater Love, Catholic Pilgrims. Have a very blessed and holy Good Friday.
Continue ReadingHoly Thursday. The day that Christ instituted the Eucharist. I've had a lot of back and forth conversations this week. It's definitely made for lively discussions. A lady on Instagram was trying to tell me that, as Catholics, we are wrong in thinking that the Eucharist is really Jesus. What was interesting to me is her reasonings. First, she thought that we believe it's the power of the priest that changes the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. "No," I told her, "It's the power of the Holy Spirit working through the priest." Then, she said, "You believe Jesus dwells in the bread and wine." "No, He doesn't dwell there. The bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Jesus. The Eucharist is Him." One of her last attempts at refuting the Eucharist was a new one for me. She didn't think it was possible for Jesus to be in Heaven, yet pieces of His Body be here on our altars. So interesting. It's like she thinks that Jesus places a little bit of His shoulder matter on one altar and then a little bit of His forearm matter on another altar. Do this enough times for a few millennia and how could you not run out of His Body? For her, it's subtraction--Jesus is going to run out. For Catholics, it's more like multiplication. Like the loaves and fishes. God has the ability to multiply and whatever He multiplies, He never runs out of. The Consecration is a miracle, meaning, we won't fully understand it in this life. But, when I was Protestant, what finally clicked with me, was when I realized that nothing that Jesus did could be less than or equal to anything in the Old Testament. It had to be better. The Passover was wonderful and miraculous; Christ took it to the next level. Nothing about what Christ did on Holy Thursday could be symbolic because that would be less than or equal to the Passover meal. He elevated it to a degree that is infinitely staggering. Once, I realized this, I knew that I had to become Catholic. Jesus said, "This is My Body and this is My Blood," and I was done arguing with the Son of God over what He said. Thank God, our souls are nourished by the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, Catholic Pilgrims. Have a blessed Holy Thursday.
Continue ReadingDid you ever wonder what Judas planned to do with the 30 pieces of silver? What were his plans? What in his mind did he think was going to amount to more than his friendship with Jesus? Those 30 pieces of silver were roughly the amount of four months wages, maybe a little more, maybe a little less. So, not even a year's worth of living. I just wonder what was going on in his head? So, you get the money, betray your Lord, and now what? In his greedy mind, what possible good did he foresee those coins purchasing for him that could outweigh what he had with Jesus? He does come to realize his mistake when he tries to give the money back. He must have thought, "This isn't worth it." He says as much, "I have sinned in betraying innocent blood." The temptation is to shake our heads and say, "Judas, Judas, Judas. What were you thinking? Thirty pieces of silver? That's not even a year's worth of wages." But, how many of us have betrayed the Lord for even less? For a day's worth of immoral pleasure? An hour? Swap out the 30 pieces of silver for any other idol that we are willing to take that betrays our Lord. True, we may not be handing Jesus over to the authorities to be ultimately executed, but what it is that causes us to turn our back on Jesus instead of move towards Him? What do we put our hope in more to satisfy than Jesus? We all have something. Those things that we cling to, Catholic Pilgrims, will never satisfy like Jesus. May God give us the grace to remove idols from our lives whatever they may be. Have a blessed Wednesday of Holy Week. *Street in Old Jerusalem.
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