On this Divine Mercy Sunday, being celebrated in a time of social upheaval and war in Eastern Europe, I was reminded of this poem by William Blake. The poem speaks of the need for each of us to acknowledge and reverence the image of God in every person. The poem also serves as a reminder to me that only in Christ can we find the satisfaction that answers the deepest longings of the human heart. Let us be peacemakers in our society, and pray for an end to hostilities in Ukraine and the establishment of justice.

David J. Conrad

To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,
All pray in their distress:
And to these virtues of delight
Return their thankfulness.

For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,
Is God, our father dear:
And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,
Is Man, his child and care.

For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity, a human face:
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.

Then every man of every clime,
That prays in his distress,
Prays to the human form divine,
Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.

​And all must love the human form,
In heathen, Turk, or Jew.
Where Mercy, Love, & Pity dwell,
There God is dwelling too.

(William Blake - 1757-1827)

Today, the Second Sunday of Easter, the familiar story of the Disciple (“Doubting”) Thomas’ absence from the upper room is told in the Gospel of John. The room was locked; Jesus appears and stands in their midst and says: “Peace be with you.” When Jewish people greet one another, they say “shalom.” In the New Testament, the apostle Paul frequently used the phrase “grace and peace” when beginning his letters.  I was thinking about how this Gospel story begins with Christs’ greeting, and I began to consider what true peace may mean.

​What does “peace” mean to you? Generally, peace is the absence of any conflict or chaos. On a personal level, it may mean many things: Peace may mean paying off this month's credit card bill or finishing that report for work or having all those many ducks in a row. Peace may be arriving home after fighting rush hour traffic or not fighting with your spouse or children for at least one night. Peace may be not hearing gunfire after dark or having a whole night uninterrupted by a phone call of some bad news. Peace may mean a good report from the Doctor or lab. Peace is something that we all desire for ourselves and should desire for others. I think peace mostly comes from acceptance about things which we cannot control or change.

Many things in your life boil down to the hand with which you have been dealt. You can't change the fact that you were born in a certain place and time, with certain givens for your appearance, IQ, or physical skills. Education and training can open some doors for you, but they cannot change your past, make you taller or skinnier or athletic, or alter the fact that some people are unfair in the way they treat you. Despite the fact that most of our life circumstances are beyond our control, we are all still tempted to fret and complain about things that cannot be changed—which steals our peace. Of course, unfortunate circumstances cause distress and these realizations may also steal your peace of mind.

So what about peace with God? Spiritual peace. For some that idea may seem distant and far away, an unknown concept. Maybe we've never really tried to establish a personal relationship with God or maybe some of us used to feel good about our relationship with God but now we're filled with doubt. Maybe we don't have the feeling we used to have previously, or sin has gotten in the way. You know that kind of sin: the big kind of sin that leaves us feeling guilty—maybe for years. Or maybe it's just a general disenchantment with God and His world and being disappointed by Him time and again. Or perhaps we've grown a bit cold—not turning our backs—but just drifting away from Him.

All or any of these things may steal our peace. I suggest that to overcome those kinds of feelings, we might try to take the focus off ourselves and turn outward to Godly work that needs to be done. That is acceptance. We need to recognize that we aren't trying to earn our own salvation but should focus on Jesus and what He has done for us as the example for our own “acts” as apostles. Peace with God comes through trusting in Jesus, trusting in His love and His care for us, and working for the Kingdom. That may lead to our personal peace in our lives’ circumstances. When our faith led us to baptism, we entered into a relationship with God that will provide us with the peace that God can give. It's not about us… it's about Jesus and what He did for us.

If you don't feel at peace with God, you may still be focused on yourself. There is plenty to do, there are many missions—and work is a blessing—that can bring you peace. Step away from you and turn toward others in this field of souls. Through what you do you might be the reason that others receive some peace here on earth. When a given day begins, countless things are headed your way over which you have no control. It may be bad weather, someone's bad temper, a deadline that won't budge or a client equally resistant to change. The one factor you can control through it all is your attitude toward them. Your attitude today will make all the difference in everything that matters. Jesus is there in the lives and faces of those around you as you do what He would do. It's time to trust in Him and His power to save. Accepting our circumstances may help us to help others—and bring true peace. Peace be with you!

Keep singing!

Elizabeth Dyc

​Just a Note:

A good prayer for an attitude adjustment—John Baillie's “A Diary of Private Prayer”...

Teach me, O God, so to use all the circumstances of my life today that they may bring forth in me the fruits of holiness rather than the fruits of sin.
Let me use disappointment as material for patience;
Let me use success as material for thankfulness;
Let me use suspense as material for perseverance;
Let me use danger as material for courage;
Let me use reproach as material for longsuffering;
Let me use praise as material for humility;
Let me use pleasures as material for temperance;
Let me use pains as material for endurance.

When the Paschal Candle for Easter was blessed on Holy Saturday evening at the Easter Vigil, the priest marked the Cross on the candle with five wax nails, saying while each was inserted:
​

1. ​By his holy
2. and glorious wounds
3. may Christ the Lord
4. guard us
5. and protect us. Amen.

What makes the wounds inflicted on Christ in His Passion glorious?  Our word “glory” finds its root in the Greek word “doxa,” which refers to an appearance so mighty and clear that it bears incontrovertible witness to its own truth.  The truth on display in Christ’s wounds is His love for us, love to the end.

By sin we have lost the original glory that was ours in the Garden of Eden. But now, because of Christ’s Resurrection, even our flesh will be radiant: So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). Those who have remained faithful to Christ to the end will see the renewal of their bodies.  These bodies will be animated by a higher life-principle and endowed with incorruptibility, power, and spirituality, which are properties of God Himself. What is beyond glory - the glory of God?  Nothing; and that is why all of the psalms prayed in the Liturgy of the Hours end with a doxology, or glory speech: “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.”

Let us glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection, through whom we are saved and delivered (cf. Galatians 6:14).

David J. Conrad

Have you ever wondered how the holiday of Easter got its name?  The name Easter comes from the pagan goddess Eastre.  I know some of you are asking how this can be when Easter is a Christian holy-day, one of our most important holy-days.  The story begins during the reign of Constantine. The civilization of the Anglo-Saxons (who existed long before Christianity was born) celebrated the return of spring with a grand festival to commemorate their goddess of offspring and springtime.  This goddess was named “Eastre,” who like many pagan gods and goddesses, was represented by an animal: the rabbit.  Today we know Eastre as the Easter Bunny! During the second century of Christianity missionaries found these northern tribes and learned that their holiday happened to coincide with the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ.  Encouraging the missionary effort, they celebrated these two together and began using the Eastre holiday to remember the Resurrection of Christ.  This made it easier to convert these pagan tribes to Christianity. Whether you are Christian, Jewish, or otherwise, we all know that springtime represents a season of rebirth and renewal—resurrection.

​Belief that Jesus was raised from the dead is not really a leap of faith as Resurrection and renewal are the universal and observable patterns of everything we know. (Thank you, Rev. Rohr!) Resurrection is the example, the paradigm of all life cycles on earth. We could just as well use non-religious terms like springtime, regeneration, healing, forgiveness, life darkness and light. “If incarnation is real, then resurrection in multitudinous forms should be fully expected in our world.” (Rorh) To paraphrase a statement attributed to Albert Einstein, it is not that one thing is a miracle, but that the whole thing is a miracle! As Christians we believe we are all to be resurrected in the fullness of time, and The Risen Christ is not a one-time miracle but a universal pattern created by God for all of His Creation.

If you think of it, like Christ, we are all wounded and resurrected at the same time. Think of this season: all is in re-birth and renewing—and we can do that, too. I think of spring cleaning—we all know that there is new life in sweeping away the leavings of the winter, pruning away the dead branches. In Lent we were called to do so in reconciliation, so why stop now that Lent has ended? We can do spring cleaning for our spirits, our bodies, our homes and Communities. All is renewed. Every day is a new day to do better, to be the best version of ourselves that we were created and meant to be.

Jesus walked, enjoyed, and suffered the entire human journey, and He told us and showed us that we could and should do the same. His life exemplified unfolding mystery in all of its stages—from a hidden, divine conception, to an ordinary adult life full of love and problems, punctuated by a few moments of transfiguration and enlightenment, inevitable and deep suffering—leading to His resurrection, His glorious ascension, and His final return.

(Rev.Rohr) Jesus the Christ, in His crucifixion and resurrection, “summed up all things in himself, everything in heaven and everything on earth” (Ephesians 1:10). Jesus agreed to carry the mystery of universal suffering and He allowed it to change Him (“resurrection”) and us, too, so that we would be freed from the endless cycle of death and darkness. We should strive to live fully resurrected lives: the only way to be happy, free, loving, and therefore “saved.” In effect, Jesus was saying, “If I can trust it, you can too.” We are indeed saved by the cross—more than we may even realize. We can be and are real agents of transformation, reconciliation, and newness.

Don’t give up on your Lenten promises—make some new Springtime/Easter ones! This is resurrection: lives of love and hope, grace and mercy in this world.

Keep singing!

Elizabeth Dyc

Just a Note: A song about the power of resurrection…come out of that grave and let go of those chains that hold you back! Prayer is the doorway to freedom…

Judas was not a puppet in a play written by God; Judas - like each of us - had the dignity of being a free moral agent responsible for his actions. God does not manipulate or force people to do evil things. It is a fundamental principle of morality that we are not to do evil even if good may come from it. If Judas was forced by God to play a predestined role that would make God an evildoer for He would have compelled evil so that good would result. Rather, God permits evil. He does not will it or directly cause it. God is Goodness, Truth and Love, drawing good from evil, where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more (Romans 5:20).

​While Judas’ betrayal of the Messiah was prophesied in Scripture (Psalm 41:9; Zechariah 11:12-13; Acts 1:16-17; Matthew 27:7) and Christ knew that Judas would betray Him (John 6:64, 70-71; 13:21-27; 17:12), none of this means that God’s foreknowledge of Judas’ actions forced him to do them. I might observe you and see what you are inevitably going to do, but my knowledge of your certain course of action does not force you to do it, nor does that deny you of your freedom in any way. An analogy: just because the British in World War II had early on cracked the German's Enigma system (cipher tech) and could thus reliably know ahead of time what operations were in the offing didn’t make the British responsible for the decisions of the Germans, or force the Germans in any way to act on their operational plans.  So it is with God. God, who sees all history at once, knew what Judas would freely do and planned accordingly. Thus Judas remained a free moral agent throughout. In fact, he speaks of his own responsibility: “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood” (Matthew 27:4).

Though Judas later realized he had done wrong and threw the money back that he was paid to betray Jesus (cf. Matthew 27:3-5), contrition is more than just “feeling bad” about having sinned.  True contrition also involves a firm purpose of amendment. For Judas, amendment would have meant returning to the Lord and seeking His mercy.  Judas did not turn to the Lord; instead, he turned inward and, deciding he couldn’t live with his anger and sorrow, killed himself. This is quite different from Peter, who lived with the regret of his denial of even knowing Christ, and, facing the Lord, received His mercy (cf. John 21:15-19).

While the Church does not declare that any particular person is in Hell, we must recall that Jesus said of Judas: The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born (Matthew 26:24). It is hard to imagine Jesus saying this of any person who ultimately makes it to Heaven.  The likely fate of Judas is that he died in sin, despairing of God’s mercy. One is free to hope for a different outcome for him, but while the story of Judas and his possible repentance does generate sympathy and hope for him, the judgment belongs to God.

Sadly, Judas went his way, freely. God is not a puppet master who forced him to play a role. God knew what Judas would do beforehand and based His plans on Judas’ free choice. May we, unlike Judas, exercise our free will in accord with God’s will, and when we fall into sin, imitate Peter in facing the Lord, own up to our failure, and receive God’s mercy.

David J. Conrad

Before you read what I like to think of as my “Please Attend the Holy Week Liturgies” appeal article, I would like to express the gratitude and appreciation I feel toward those generous souls who work in the Music Ministry at St. Aidan. Their commitment is above and beyond: many rehearsals, many liturgies, personal practice and a dedication to service are exemplified by the members of this Ministry. May God bless you for your faith and love!

I have often dreamed of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land: of walking where Jesus walked, following the Way of the Cross, visiting the upper room and celebrating a “Passover” supper and a Mass, visiting Gethsemane and Golgotha—all the places and events of our Christian core belief. The practical questions that occur to one considering a journey such as this are: Who has the time (off from work), the means (the money), or the courage (with the current political climate of unrest and Covid)? All these ‘obstacles’ may be overcome, however, and for myself I hope to make my own pilgrimage before too long—despite all the many, possible, issues.

​In our faith journey as Catholic Christians, we have arrived at the holiest week of our Church Year. We begin with the opening Hosannas for Palm/Passion Sunday: having traded last years’ old palms for Lenten ashes, knowing new palms will be received as we commemorate Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem. We then turn toward the shadow of the cross and Calvary; the Triduum (Holy Thursday—the Last Supper, The Way of the Cross, Good Friday, the Lord’s Passion, the Easter Vigil and then Easter Sunday)—containing all the most important sacred symbols and signs that express our faith and belief in our rituals.

I look forward to the breaking of the bread at “The Table of Plenty” on Holy Thursday, the reception of the Holy Oils and the foot washing lesson of service for all. The Liturgy of Good Friday—the only day of the year that Mass is not celebrated—in which we hear the Word, venerate the cross and receive Communion! I love the fire and light of Christ being brought into the Church at the Easter Vigil; and the return of the Alleluia and Gloria after fasting from them during Lent. Then, on Easter Sunday we celebrate the Mass of the Resurrection of the Lord—“as members of the risen Christ, we have access to a new life, the very life of God” (The Living Liturgy).

I am consoled by this week of holy liturgies. As far as a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land goes, although I may not be able to afford the time, or arrange the cessation of familial responsibilities, eke out the money, brave the danger, survive the impossibilities sometimes of travel—I will travel the Way of Jesus in this week ahead—and you can too! By participating in all of the liturgies we have the opportunity to ‘relive’ the events that took place two thousand years ago: the time and place, the personal witness, the betrayals, the sacrifice and suffering, the joy in the Resurrection and the renewal of our own baptismal vows. I know it is mystery, not history, but in participating I feel I am there.

When we travel, we travel prepared: we pack our suitcases carefully with the items needed for our journey, we leave our homes ready for our return, and we attend to the details that make our journeys meaningful. My suggestion is to take the same care in preparation for this journey of faith: to read the scripture; to be rested in order to truly focus and hear/pray the Word; to prepare your spirit through the Sacrament of Reconciliation; to plan “attendance first” to the liturgies─and let other stuff come second. When we prepare well for a journey, we will make the most of it.

Holy Week is the opportunity to make a pilgrimage—a spiritual pilgrimage—a journey of faith. Like the Muslims who must visit Mecca, we are called to visit all the events of the amazing grace and mercy of God—the Passion, Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The cost is only a little time—no money, no tickets, no danger—and you can bring all the family along! Travel with us this week to Jerusalem, to the upper room, to Gethsemane, to Golgotha, and to eternal salvation. We hope to see you there.

May God bless you and keep singing!

Elizabeth Dyc

Crucifixes, cross and statues within a church have traditionally been covered during Passiontide (the last week of Lent and all of Holy Week).  In the early Church many of the crosses in churches were "gemmatae," that is, covered with jewels and devoid of a corpus or with a corpus of the risen Savior - a sign of the resurrection. These crosses were covered during Passiontide to help people meditate more on the sufferings of Jesus. If the crosses were covered, it was thought necessary to also cover all the other pictures and statues, to evoke a “fasting of the eyes,” generating an environment more and more penitential as the Lenten season draws to a close.  Sacred images are unveiled shortly before the celebration of the Easter Vigil.

​May these remaining days of Lent be for us a blessed time of intensified spiritual renewal as we meditate upon our Lord’s Passion and the love He has for all of us.

David J. Conrad