He is Risen! He is Truly Risen!

 

He is Risen!  He is Truly Risen!

Fr. Malloy’s Midweek Message.  April 12, 2023

Friends,

This week we celebrate the event that changes all of human history, the event that gives meaning and hope to our world, a world so mired in despair, destruction and death.  Resurrection means the triumph of good over evil, the truth that in the end, love wins: love always wins.  After the resurrection, all of human history is bathed in the new light of peace, the new trust in our God who saves us.

Bishop N. T. Wright, the world’s leading scripture scholar, was interviewed by The New York Times about the reality of the resurrection.  He enthusiastically and cogently teaches that the resurrection is a real event.  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/09/opinion/jesus-rise-from-the-dead-easter.html

N.T. Wright: I’m well aware that many people — including some in churches — have treated the resurrection and Easter as a general way of talking about the rebirth of hope or a spiritual metaphor. Indeed, in the New Testament, the idea of resurrection is sometimes used metaphorically to talk about a new moral life, a life where everything is going to be different. But in the New Testament, that’s always rooted in the claim that when they’re talking about resurrection, they’re talking about something that actually happened.

In the first century, the word for resurrection, the Greek word “anastasis,” was never about a vague sense of possibility or the rebirth of hope or anything like that. It was always about people who had been bodily dead now discovered to be bodily alive. I’ve shown in great detail in the book that all the early Christians for whom we have any evidence, right through until around 150 years after the time of Jesus, when they’re talking about resurrection, that’s what they’re talking about.

It’s beyond question that when the first followers of Jesus used that language about him, they intended to say something definite about his being bodily alive, albeit in a whole new way. He seemed to have gone through death and out the other side, but into a new world in which he was emphatically embodied. Unless we are prepared to acknowledge that, we’re simply not taking their words seriously.

Then, as now, claiming that somebody was alive again — particularly somebody who made the sort of claims that Jesus made or were made about him — was revolutionary. It was dangerous talk. So if people don’t like dangerous talk, then stay away from Easter is my advice.

These days let’s get close to this “dangerous talk” of resurrection.  Let’s realize how revolutionary the proclamation of the resurrection was, and still is.  Jesus risen means we have to get busy building a world of peace and justice for all.  We must, as followers of the risen Christ, live the way he told us to live.  We need to forgive.  We must serve the poor and work to eradicate poverty.  We will be filled with peace and joy as we carry on the mission Jesus began, the mission God radically blessed through the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost. 

Alleluia!   Alleluia!! Alleluia!!!  Sing Alabaré

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNi3lRWqWK4

Peace,

Fr. Rick Malloy, S.J.

Keep Safe.    Keep Sane.    Keep Smiling

        

Ha resucitado!  

Ha resucitado de verdad! 

El Miercoles Mensaje del Padre Malloy, S.J.  12 de Abril, 2023

Amigos y Amigas,

Esta semana celebramos el acontecimiento que cambia toda la historia de la humanidad, el acontecimiento que da sentido y esperanza a nuestro mundo, un mundo tan sumido en la desesperación, la destrucción y la muerte.  La resurrección significa el triunfo del bien sobre el mal, la verdad de que, al final, vence el amor: el amor siempre vence.  Tras la resurrección, toda la historia humana se baña en la nueva luz de la paz, la nueva confianza en nuestro Dios que nos salva.

El obispo N. T. Wright, el principal biblista del mundo, fue entrevistado por el New York Times sobre la realidad de la resurrección.  Con entusiasmo y contundencia enseña que la resurrección es un acontecimiento real.   https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/09/opinion/jesus-rise-from-the-dead-easter.html

N.T. Wright: Soy muy consciente de que mucha gente -incluidos algunos en las iglesias- ha tratado la resurrección y la Pascua como una forma general de hablar del renacimiento de la esperanza o una metáfora espiritual. De hecho, en el Nuevo Testamento, la idea de resurrección se utiliza a veces metafóricamente para hablar de una nueva vida moral, una vida en la que todo va a ser diferente. Pero en el Nuevo Testamento, eso siempre se basa en la afirmación de que cuando se habla de resurrección, se está hablando de algo que sucedió realmente.

En el siglo I, la palabra resurrección, la palabra griega "anastasis", nunca se refería a una vaga sensación de posibilidad o al renacimiento de la esperanza ni nada por el estilo. Siempre se refería a personas que habían estado muertas corporalmente y ahora se descubría que estaban vivas corporalmente. He demostrado con gran detalle en el libro que todos los primeros cristianos de los que tenemos alguna evidencia, hasta alrededor de 150 años después de la época de Jesús, cuando hablan de resurrección, eso es de lo que están hablando.

Es incuestionable que cuando los primeros seguidores de Jesús utilizaron ese lenguaje sobre él, tenían la intención de decir algo definitivo sobre su vida corporal, aunque de una manera totalmente nueva. Parecía haber pasado por la muerte y haber salido por el otro lado, pero a un mundo nuevo en el que se había encarnado. A menos que estemos dispuestos a reconocerlo, sencillamente no estaremos tomando en serio sus palabras.

Entonces, como ahora, afirmar que alguien estaba vivo de nuevo -especialmente alguien que hacía el tipo de afirmaciones que Jesús hizo o se hicieron sobre él- era revolucionario. Era un discurso peligroso. Así que si a la gente no le gustan las palabras peligrosas, mi consejo es que se mantenga alejada de la Pascua.

Acerquémonos estos días a esta "charla peligrosa" de la resurrección.  Démonos cuenta de lo revolucionaria que fue, y sigue siendo, la proclamación de la resurrección.  Jesús resucitado significa que tenemos que ponernos manos a la obra para construir un mundo de paz y justicia para todos.  Debemos, como seguidores de Cristo resucitado, vivir como él nos dijo que viviéramos.  Debemos perdonar.  Debemos servir a los pobres y trabajar para erradicar la pobreza.  Nos llenaremos de paz y alegría al continuar la misión que Jesús comenzó, la misión que Dios bendijo radicalmente mediante el Espíritu Santo dado en Pentecostés. 

¡Aleluya!   ¡Aleluya! ¡¡¡Aleluya!!!  Canta Alabaré

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNi3lRWqWK4

La Paz,

P. Ricardo Malloy, S.J.

Sigamos Seguro.    Sigamos Sano.    Sigamos Sonriendo

Holy Saturday: Be Amazed and Amazing

 

Holy Saturday  “… And They Were Utterly Amazed”

There’s an old joke about a guy walking in New York City.  As he passes a manhole cover, all of a sudden there’s a massive explosion underground.  The earth trembles and the manhole cover flies straight up, flipping over and over.  The New Yorker, not fazed in the least, looks up and observes the spinning 150 pound disc as it reaches its apex and starts flipping downward.  He looks intently and, without missing a beat, pronounces, “Heads.”  Nothing amazes a real New Yorker.  They’ve seen it all.

Too many of us today find it hard to be amazed.  Life becomes routine.  Marriage feels like a comfortable old coat.  Nothing our spouses say can surprise us.  Some feel they can predict what their better half will say before they say it.  Notice I didn’t take sides one which is the better half, the husband or the wife.  After a few years in a Jesuit community, it’s even worse.  At least you only have to listen to your spouse tell the same old stories over and over.  I live with twenty Jesuits who keep telling the same old stories over and over and over and over.  And they can probably predict what I will say on most topics.  And certainly nothing I say will amaze them.

This evening we heard Matthew’s Gospel.  But take a look at Mark.  Mark has a telling detail.  Mark’s Gospel tells us, “They were amazed.”  This resurrection is a new story.  This hasn’t been told before.  Nothing, I mean nothing, like this has ever happened before.  It begins to dawn on the disciples that the crucified one has risen.  The women are the first witnesses.  They proclaim: The Lord Jesus lives!  Hopes, dashed and broken, reignite. 

Can we allow ourselves to be amazed?  Can we open our minds and hearts and let in the joyous news that what happens to Jesus happens to us?  Can we believe it?  Will we live it?

But the angel immediately tells them, “Don’t be amazed!”  Get going.  The risen Jesus is heading to Galilee, the region where God among us began his annunciation of the new dawn, the reign of God’s breaking through into our time and space.  Get going.  It’s time to begin to live the way of life he articulated.  Don’t be amazed.  Be amazing.  Start forming the Body of Christ.  Be the Jesus who conquers death and gives us life and life eternal.  Be the Jesus who calls us to love everyone, even our enemies.  Get going and build with God the Kingdom of truth and trust, justice and joy, peace and prosperity, hope and healing, faith and freedom, love and life.

All the readings tonight speak the story of our God.  From the opening words of Genesis to the call of Abraham, to the freedom song of Exodus through the consoling words of the prophets Isaiah, Baruch and Ezekiel, we have a “Top Ten” of scripture readings.  The Psalms are the actual greatest hits of Israel, King David having been the world’s first Rock Star.  St. Paul reminds us we have died with Christ.  And Mark takes us back to the earliest accounts of the moment that changed all of human history, the resurrection of Jesus.

Let’s allow ourselves to be amazed by all this.  And let’s get moving.  Let’s be amazing.  Let’s live as disciples of Jesus.  When we see the equivalent of manhole covers flipping in the air like coins tossed by schoolchildren, let’s realize that something awesome and magnificent is happening.  When we see water poured on heads and lives transformed for eternity, let’s be stunned and astonished.  And then, let’s get moving.  Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to invigorate our lives and get us doing the deeds God needs done to make the reign of God real in our lives and in the lives of our contemporaries.

How?  By responding to those hurt, suffering, and crucified in our days.  Sr. Linda Stilling, SSND, a great apostle to the people of Camden, NJ, for over twenty five years used to say, “You have to stay with people in their pain, until you begin to feel the joy of resurrection.”

Holy Saturday is the time between the cross and the resurrection.  We wait for God’s response to the crucifixion.  Mary Magdalene, Mary and Salome are responding to the horror of his murder.  They want to prayerfully anoint the body of the one they listened to and came to love, the one they had hoped would be the Messiah of Israel.  They find an empty tomb and it begins to dawn on them; the Lord of Life has risen.  The Lord of Life has risen.  Wait, really, the Lord of Life has risen.  This Jesus, their Rabbi and Lord, has overcome death.  They begin to hear again the words of the beatitudes and the parables.  The teachings of the Beatitudes and Matthew 25, feed the hungry, visit those in prison, begin to amaze them.  And they realize it’s time to get moving, to tell the world we are to pray the Our Father, reconcile with those from whom we are estranged, and take up our cross and follow Christ.

The great Jesuit preacher John Kavanaugh, S.J., writes of Holy Saturday: “Jesus entered the deeps of death, a plunge he need not have made, had he not loved us in our sorry state. But he went to death with a “yes,” with the utter trust of Abraham, the constancy of Moses, the bright reliance of Isaiah. In Easter’s vigil, we plunge with him: “Are you not aware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Being like him through likeness to his death, so shall we be through a like resurrection” (THE WORD ENGAGED: Meditations on the Sunday Scriptures, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York (1997), pp. 53-55.)

Chicago’s former Cardinal George tells a story of being in Africa visiting missionary priests of his order.  Several African tribesmen came into the parish center to learn of Jesus.  One man refused to enter.  Cardinal George engaged him in conversation and gently asked him why he did not want to listen to the lessons about Jesus the others wanted to hear.  The man replied, “I’ve decided that it makes no sense when I look at my life - that God would love us, that God would sacrifice himself for us, that God is stronger than the spirits who harm us.  I don’t believe it.  It’s too good to be true” (Francis Cardinal George.  2009.  The Difference God Makes. New York, NY: Crossroads. Pp. 259-260)

That guy is unable to be amazed.  For him, the world is what it’s always been. 

For us who have been given the gift of faith and have opened our minds and hearts to the radical realities of our Triune God, the world changes again this night.  The dawn brings the power of the love of God, the God we experience in the community of the church, the God we receive in the Eucharist.  Let’s allow ourselves to be amazed.  Let’s get going.  And Let us pray.

 

Sábado Santo "... Y Quedaron Totalmente Asombrados"

Hay un viejo chiste sobre un tipo que pasea por Nueva York.  Al pasar junto a una tapa de alcantarilla, de repente se produce una gran explosión bajo tierra.  La tierra tiembla y la tapa de alcantarilla sale volando por los aires.  El neoyorquino, sin inmutarse lo más mínimo, levanta la vista y observa el disco de 150 libras que gira, llega a su cúspide y empieza a voltear hacia abajo.  Mira atentamente y, sin perder un instante, pronuncia: "Cara".  Nada sorprende a un auténtico neoyorquino.  Lo han visto todo.

A demasiados de nosotros hoy nos cuesta asombrarnos.  La vida se convierte en rutina.  El matrimonio se siente como un viejo y cómodo abrigo.  Nada de lo que digan nuestros cónyuges puede sorprendernos.  Algunos creen que pueden predecir lo que dirá su media naranja antes de que lo diga.  Fíjense que no he tomado partido por cuál es la media naranja, si el marido o la mujer.  Después de unos años en una comunidad jesuita, es aún peor.  Al menos sólo tienes que escuchar a tu cónyuge contar las mismas viejas historias una y otra vez.  Yo vivo con veinte jesuitas que no paran de contar las mismas viejas historias una y otra vez.  Y probablemente pueden predecir lo que voy a decir sobre la mayoría de los temas.  Y ciertamente nada de lo que diga les sorprenderá.

Esta tarde hemos escuchado el Evangelio de Mateo.  Pero echemos un vistazo a Marcos.  Marcos tiene un detalle revelador.  El Evangelio de Marcos nos dice: "Estaban asombrados".  Esta resurrección es una historia nueva.  No se había contado antes.  Nada, quiero decir nada, como esto ha sucedido antes.  Los discípulos empiezan a darse cuenta de que el crucificado ha resucitado.  Las mujeres son los primeros testigos.  Proclaman: ¡El Señor Jesús vive!  Las esperanzas, defraudadas y rotas, vuelven a encenderse. 

¿Podemos dejarnos sorprender?  ¿Podemos abrir nuestras mentes y nuestros corazones y dejar entrar la alegre noticia de que lo que le sucede a Jesús nos sucede a nosotros?  ¿Podemos creerlo?  ¿Lo viviremos?

Pero el ángel les dice inmediatamente: "¡No los asombreen!".  Ponganse en marcha.  Jesús resucitado se dirige a Galilea, la región donde Dios entre nosotros comenzó su anuncio del nuevo amanecer, el reino de Dios que irrumpe en nuestro tiempo y espacio.  En marcha.  Es hora de empezar a vivir la forma de vida que él articuló.  No te asombres.  Sé asombroso.  Empieza a formar el Cuerpo de Cristo.  Sé el Jesús que vence a la muerte y nos da vida y vida eterna.  Sé el Jesús que nos llama a amar a todos, incluso a nuestros enemigos.  Ponte en marcha y construye con Dios el Reino de la verdad y la confianza, la justicia y la alegría, la paz y la prosperidad, la esperanza y la curación, la fe y la libertad, el amor y la vida.

Todas las lecturas de esta noche hablan de la historia de nuestro Dios.  Desde las palabras iniciales del Génesis hasta la llamada de Abraham, pasando por el canto de libertad del Éxodo y las palabras consoladoras de los profetas Isaías, Baruc y Ezequiel, tenemos un "Top Ten" de lecturas bíblicas.  Los Salmos son los grandes éxitos de Israel, ya que el rey David fue la primera estrella de rock del mundo.  San Pablo nos recuerda que hemos muerto con Cristo.  Y Marcos nos remonta a los primeros relatos del momento que cambió toda la historia de la humanidad, la resurrección de Jesús.

Dejémonos asombrar por todo esto.  Y pongámonos en marcha.  Seamos asombrosos.  Vivamos como discípulos de Jesús.  Cuando veamos el equivalente de tapas de alcantarilla volteando en el aire como monedas lanzadas por escolares, démonos cuenta de que algo asombroso y magnífico está sucediendo.  Cuando veamos agua derramada sobre las cabezas y vidas transformadas para la eternidad, quedémonos atónitos y asombrados.  Y entonces, pongámonos en marcha.  Dejemos que el Espíritu Santo vigorice nuestras vidas y nos ponga a hacer las cosas que Dios necesita que hagamos para que el reino de Dios sea real en nuestras vidas y en las vidas de nuestros contemporáneos.

¿Cómo?  Respondiendo a los heridos, a los que sufren y a los crucificados en nuestros días.  La Hna. Linda Stilling, SSND, gran apóstol de la gente de Camden, NJ, durante más de veinticinco años solía decir: "Tienes que quedarte con la gente en su dolor, hasta que empieces a sentir la alegría de la resurrección".

El Sábado Santo es el tiempo entre la cruz y la resurrección.  Esperamos la respuesta de Dios a la crucifixión.  María Magdalena, María y Salomé responden al horror de su asesinato.  Quieren ungir en oración el cuerpo de aquel a quien escucharon y llegaron a amar, aquel que esperaban que fuera el Mesías de Israel.  Encuentran una tumba vacía y empiezan a darse cuenta de que el Señor de la Vida ha resucitado.  El Señor de la Vida ha resucitado.  Espera, de verdad, el Señor de la Vida ha resucitado.  Este Jesús, su Rabí y Señor, ha vencido a la muerte.  Empiezan a oír de nuevo las palabras de las bienaventuranzas y las parábolas.  Las enseñanzas de las bienaventuranzas y de Mateo 25, dar de comer al hambriento, visitar a los encarcelados, empiezan a sorprenderles.  Y se dan cuenta de que es hora de ponerse en marcha, de decirle al mundo que debemos rezar el Padrenuestro, reconciliarnos con aquellos de los que estamos distanciados, y tomar nuestra cruz y seguir a Cristo.

El gran predicador jesuita John Kavanaugh, S.J., escribe sobre el Sábado Santo: "Jesús entró en las profundidades de la muerte, una zambullida que no habría tenido que hacer si no nos hubiera amado en nuestro lamentable estado. Pero fue a la muerte con un "sí", con la confianza absoluta de Abraham, la constancia de Moisés, la brillante confianza de Isaías". En la vigilia pascual, nos sumergimos con él: "¿No sabéis que los que fuimos bautizados en Cristo Jesús, fuimos bautizados en su muerte? Siendo semejantes a él por la semejanza a su muerte, lo seremos también por la semejanza a su resurrección" (LA PALABRA COMPROMETIDA: Meditations on the Sunday Scriptures, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, Nueva York (1997), pp. 53-55.)

El antiguo cardenal George de Chicago cuenta una anécdota de cuando estaba en África visitando a sacerdotes misioneros de su orden.  Varios miembros de tribus africanas entraron en el centro parroquial para conocer a Jesús.  Un hombre se negó a entrar.  El cardenal George entabló conversación con él y le preguntó amablemente por qué no quería escuchar las lecciones sobre Jesús que los demás querían oír.  El hombre respondió: "He decidido que no tiene sentido cuando miro mi vida: que Dios nos ame, que Dios se sacrifique por nosotros, que Dios sea más fuerte que los espíritus que nos hacen daño.  No me lo creo.  Es demasiado bueno para ser verdad" (Cardenal Francis George.  2009.  La diferencia que marca Dios. Nueva York, NY: Crossroads. Pp. 259-260)

Ese tipo es incapaz de asombrarse.  Para él, el mundo es lo que siempre ha sido. 

Para nosotros, que hemos recibido el don de la fe y hemos abierto nuestras mentes y nuestros corazones a las realidades radicales de nuestro Dios Trino, el mundo vuelve a cambiar esta noche.  El amanecer trae el poder del amor de Dios, el Dios que experimentamos en la comunidad de la Iglesia, el Dios que recibimos en la Eucaristía.  Dejémonos asombrar.  Pongámonos en marcha.  Y recemos.

Fifth Sunday of Lent. Jesus raises Lazarus

 

5^th Week of Lent.  

“Lazarus, Come Out”

Fr. Malloy’s Midweek Message.  March 29, 2023

Friends,

What do we think about death?  Do we believe that Jesus has power over death?  Do we know deep in our hearts that Jesus saves us from death?  Do we relish and realize that Jesus will give us eternal life?

Many years ago, as an undergraduate at Lafayette College, in a philosophy course, it dawned on me: either I would someday cease to exist, or I would continue to live forever.  Either I would someday just go poof and not be anymore, or I would be given the gift of existence forever.  Those are the only options.  I choose to believe the second alternative.  It makes no sense to me to think that whoever causes me to exist will cease keeping me in existence when this body gives out.  My body replaces all its cells every seven years or so.  But I continue to exist.  I am not just my body.  I am more than my physical existence.  My soul perdures. 

This question of death hit me hard recently.  My college roommate has been diagnosed with brain cancer.  I went up to Philly and visited him 10 days ago.  He’s had one operation and they are also treating the cancer with radiation.  He’s doing OK.  His wife and children support him.  But there is a very good chance he may not be with us a year or two from now. 

We can say that of all of us.  Who knows if we will be alive next week, or next year, or ten years from now?  The only thing that is certain is that no one escapes death.  We all will die.

That is why on Ash Wednesday we hear proclaimed “You are dust and to dust you shall return.”

But we don’t simply stay as dust.  We will be given resurrected bodies and live in “a new heavens and a new earth” in which “every tear will be wiped away” (cf. Is 25; Rev 21).

This is the great promise of our faith.  This is the great hope we have in Christ.  This is the consolation that counters all desolation in our lives.

At the memorial acclimation at Mass, we respond to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist by saying, “Save us savior of the world, for by your cross and resurrection you have set us free.”  That is our hope.  That is our prayer.

These days of Lent, let’s ponder the mystery and promise of Christ’s cross.  We can go to confession and be forgiven our sins.  We can pray the stations of the cross.  We can meditate on the mysteries of the Rosary.

Most of all, we can be stunned and grateful for the miraculous gifts of life and life eternal.

Peace,

Fr. Rick Malloy, S.J.

Keep Safe.    Keep Sane.    Keep Smiling

      

 

 

Quinta Semana de Cuaresma.  

Lázaro, Sal Fuera!

El Miercoles Mensaje del Padre Malloy, S.J.  29 de Marzo, 2023

Amigos y Amigas,

Qué pensamos de la muerte?  ¿Creemos que Jesús tiene poder sobre la muerte?  ¿Sabemos en el fondo de nuestro corazón que Jesús nos salva de la muerte?  ¿Nos alegramos y nos damos cuenta de que Jesús nos dará la vida eterna?

Hace muchos años, cuando estudiaba en Lafayette College, en un curso de filosofía, me di cuenta de que o bien algún día dejaba de existir, o bien seguiría viviendo para siempre.  O algún día desaparecería y dejaría de existir, o se me concedería el don de existir para siempre.  Ésas son las únicas opciones.  Elijo creer en la segunda alternativa.  Para mí no tiene sentido pensar que quienquiera que sea la causa de mi existencia dejará de mantenerme en ella cuando este cuerpo se agote.  Mi cuerpo reemplaza todas sus células cada siete años aproximadamente.  Pero yo sigo existiendo.  No soy sólo mi cuerpo.  Soy más que mi existencia física.  Mi alma perdura. 

Esta cuestión de la muerte me afectó mucho hace poco.  A mi compañero de universidad le han diagnosticado cáncer cerebral.  Fui a visitarle a Filadelfia hace 10 días.  Le han operado una vez y también están tratando el cáncer con radiación.  Está bien.  Su mujer y sus hijos le apoyan.  Pero hay muchas posibilidades de que no esté con nosotros dentro de uno o dos años. 

Podemos decir lo mismo de todos nosotros.  ¿Quién sabe si estaremos vivos la semana que viene, o el año que viene, o dentro de diez años?  Lo único cierto es que nadie escapa a la muerte.  Todos moriremos.

Por eso el Miércoles de Ceniza oímos proclamar: "Polvo eres y en polvo te convertirás".

Pero no nos quedaremos simplemente como polvo.  Recibiremos cuerpos resucitados y viviremos en "un cielo nuevo y una tierra nueva" en los que "se enjugará toda lágrima" (cf. Is 25; Ap 21).

Esta es la gran promesa de nuestra fe.  Esta es la gran esperanza que tenemos en Cristo.  Este es el consuelo que contrarresta toda desolación en nuestras vidas.

En la aclamación memorial de la Misa, respondemos a la Presencia Real de Jesús en la Eucaristía diciendo: "Sálvanos salvador del mundo, porque por tu cruz y resurrección nos has liberado".  Esa es nuestra esperanza.  Esa es nuestra oración.

En estos días de Cuaresma, reflexionemos sobre el misterio y la promesa de la cruz de Cristo.  Podemos confesarnos y recibir el perdón de nuestros pecados.  Podemos rezar el Vía Crucis.  Podemos meditar los misterios del Rosario.

Sobre todo, podemos estar atónitos y agradecidos por los dones milagrosos de la vida y la vida eterna.

La Paz,

P. Ricardo Malloy, S.J.

Sigamos Seguro.    Sigamos Sano.    Sigamos Sonriendo

Christmas 2022: Homily offered by Rick Malloy, S.J.

 

Christmas Homily 2022

Rick Malloy, S.J.

“The Logos was God, and the Logos was in communication with God.” -  Benedict XVI

Little kids’ Christmas play.  Cool 7-year-old Billy trumpets: “I bring Gold.”  Bobby, six, yells: “I bring myrrh.”  Barney, five, and always a little discombobulated, says “Frank sent this.”

What is brought to us as Jesus is born again in our lives and in our World?  What will we send as a result of the Incarnation?  To whom shall we send it?

First, Let me say something about the WORD, the LOGOS.  Second, Something about a Christmas Song.  And Third, something about The Letter, the documentary that aired on PBS the other night. It’s about the encyclical letter, Laudato Si, on the climate crisis.  Pope Francis sent Laudato Si in 2015.  He addressed it to the whole world.  We all must find ways to respond to this crisis. Finally, there will be a final suggestion….

1.  LOGOS.  This Christmas, we need truth and hope more than ever.  THE WORD, THE LOGOS, is truth.  THE WORD is not just in touch with reality, or just corresponding to reality. THE WORD creates and sustains reality, permeates, and penetrates all the pulsating beauty and bodacious being of existence.  The Logos might better be translated “the reason for existence.”  The “Purpose of our lives.”  The “Why we are here” is born in the baby in the manger.  We are born to praise reverence and serve God and be happy with God and all our loved ones forever.  This life is a prelude to life eternal. 

THE WORD has become human, and we see the glory, the glory of the Lord and the glory of “the human person fully alive.”  THE WORD takes on our human being and transforms us, giving us grace upon grace upon grace (John 1:16).  In Greek, grace is charis, from which we get the word charism, meaning a divine gift, a transcendent power.  Thomas Aquinas says grace is the ability to do what we could not do before.

And in this grace, the gift of God, we find hope.  We find purpose.  We find love.  And we and our worlds are transformed.  With this grace we are gifted with Peace.  We need to accept and actualize the gift of grace, this ability to make Peace in our world, in our communities and families and in our hearts.

2: Christmas Songs:  Now the Today show reported the other day that the most played Christmas songs are:  #5 It’s the Wonderful time of year  #4 Jingle bell Rock #3 Rudolph  #2 Rock christmas tree  #1 All I want is You.  But the song we really need to hear is “Do You Hear What I Hear.”

“Do you hear What I hear” was written in 1962 by a husband-and-wife song writing team.  They wrote it in response to the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962.  As we watch the horrors and atrocities happening right now in the Ukraine, we have to ask the first question of the song.  Do you see what I see?  Do we see what’s happening on our Southern Border as Central American countries descend into chaos. 

Do we hear what the lamb says to the shepherd boy, that there is a song high above the trees with a voice as big as the sea?  That song sends the shepherd boy to the mighty king.  The boy tells the King of a child who shivers in the cold.  He calls for the king to bring silver an gold, the wealth of the kingdom to the aid of the poor.  And the King hears and calls the people to pray for peace everywhere.  Let the child bring us goodness and light.

So much to hear in this song.  Peace.  Care for the poor.  Listen and pay attention to the deeper meanings of the Christmas story, the gift and grace of the LOGOS among us.  The call to care for everyone, and the images of nature in the song.  Night wind.  The voice as big as the sea. 

3.  THE LETTER:  We need to pray for peace.  We need to call those who control our political economy to care for the poor and desperate among us.  Even more as we listen this Christmas, we need to hear the cry of the earth. That cry is expressed in a documentary which aired on PBS.

The Letter is a beautiful meditation on people from all over the earth who Pope Francis invited to the Vatican for a conversation about how climate change is impacting their lives.  A woman from Ireland, a indigenous chief from the Amazon, a kid from India, a man from Senegal who breaks down weeping when telling about flood and rising tides destroying the village where he and his family and friends live.  The Letter brings home the impact of climate change on peoples lives. 

What can we do?  This year I suggest we all investigate the problems and challenges of climate change.  Maybe think about changing our diet and living a more planet friendly way of eating.  Maybe find small ways to lessen our global footprint.  Buy stuff from eco friendly corporations. 

Dan Berrigan, S.J., the anti-war activist during the Vietnam war and throughout his life once said: “No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.  And the moral difference between doing something and doing nothing is monumental indeed.”

Finally, one other suggestion.  Let’s Forgive.  This year, as Jesus comes to reconcile us to one another, let’s forgive one another.  Greg Boyle is a well know Jesuit who runs Homeboys Industries in LA helping gang members escape the gang life, and helping the incarcerated get reintegrated into society after serving prison sentences.  His new book is Forgive Everybody. 

Maybe get to the sacrament of reconciliation, confession.  It’s good for the soul, and the world.

Jesus told us to “do this in memory of me” and we celebrate Eucharist daily.  Jesus also taught us to pray and the only command in the prayer is to “forgive those who trespass against us.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s daughter, Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt (I think her husband is a movie star) has a wonderful book, The Gift of Forgiveness: Inspiring stories from those who have overcome the unforgivable.  She tells of people like Sara Klebold, the mother of one of the Columbine Killers.  Imacullée Ilibagiza here tells of how she overcame he hatred for those who killed her family and millions of others with machetes in the Rwandan genocide of April 1994.  Hate filled rhetoric built into a holocaust with horrific consequences.  We need to tone down the truly alarming increase of hate speech in our society.  We need to listen to Christ’s call, “that we all be one.”

The Eucharist, the Mass, is the miracle and mystery of our faith.  When we take bread and wine and pray, the awesome reality of the power of God in our lives, the power to save us is present.  The power to rescue us from all sin and suffering.  The power to open ourselves and our world to transformation in Christ. 

“Frank” didn’t send this.  God sent this.  God becomes one of us, baby bald and vulnerable in the manger where animals munch their meals.  This Lord and savior remains among us as Eucharist, love incarnate, Emmanuel, God with us.  Let us realize and relish once again this amazing and loving God.  God is love.  Let’s forgive and love one another.  Let us pray.

Do You Hear What I Hear?
Said the night wind to the little lamb,
do you see what I see
Way up in the sky, little lamb,
do you see what I see
A star, a star, dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite
With a tail as big as a kite

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy,
do you hear what I hear
Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy,
do you hear what I hear
A song, a song, high above the trees
With a voice as big as the sea
With a voice as big as the sea

Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king,
do you know what I know
In your palace warm, mighty king,
do you know what I know
A Child, a Child shivers in the cold
Let us bring Him silver and gold
Let us bring Him silver and gold

Said the king to the people everywhere,
listen to what I say
Pray for peace, people everywhere!
listen to what I say
The Child, the Child, sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light
He will bring us goodness and light

The Present of Presence: All is Gift

 The Present of Presence: All Is Gift

(Here's an article I wrote for Christmas time years ago... Enjoy) 

BustedHalo.com  an online magazine for spiritual seekers in their 20s and 30s

 

All is Gift: Some thoughts on Christmas presence

by Richard G. Malloy, S.J.

 

HAVERTOWN, PA

December 1958

When I was little, I was small. At the age of four, my brother Timmy is a year older and can reach things I can’t.  One morning, he climbs up on a chair he’s put in the closet we’re not supposed to open, and sees toys on the shelf, new toys, still in their packages.  Fun!  He yanks down a set of blocks and a bunch of other stuff.  Soon I’m busy playing with a new set of beautiful, blond, wooden blocks, putting them one on top of another, and then immediately knocking them down.  Fun!  All of a sudden, our Mom, seeing that we’ve discovered the Christmas stash early, pulls us into the kitchen.  “Time for breakfast, boys.  I’m making chocolate chip pancakes and Maypo.”  I love chocolate chip pancakes and Maypo.  Forget the blocks.

A few days later, it’s Christmas morning.  I rip the bright, colored paper off a new set of beautiful, blond, wooden blocks.  Fun!  I start stacking them and knocking them down.  Fun!  My mother looks to see if I recognize the blocks.  I’m clueless.  The blocks also come in pretty handy as objects to throw at my brother.  Fun!  Mom stops that action.  Not fun!  Pretty soon, I’m sleepy.  Time for a nap.  As I drift off, I hear my brother asking, “Hey, aren’t these the toys we were playing with before?”  “I don’t think so, Timmy,” answers Mom.  “Santa brought these in his sleigh last night.”  “Wow,” my brother replies. 

 

 

PHILADELPHIA, PA

December 2005

When we are young, all is accepted as gift.  We rarely question why and how all the good things of life appear.  We believe whatever we are told.  Santa comes down the chimney.  Reindeer fly.  At the North Pole, elves make the toys.  The magic of Christmas is carried in the glow of the Christmas tree lights and the strong scent of pine in the living room.  Brightly wrapped packages appear during the night.  It’s all so miraculous when seen through the eyes of a little child.

Sing Christmas Carols and drink hot chocolate with marshmallows... Sled...Sit late in the quiet glow of the tree's lights and let God be with you... Most of all, pray.

 

As we mature, we come to realize that God gives even greater gifts at Christmas.  We discern and celebrate the reality and meaning of Christ’s birth.  His present to us is presence.  In a stable is born a baby, the savior of the world.  God lies in a manger, is warmed by the breath of oxen and ass, and makes his home among us.  This Christmas, once again, the miracle occurs.  We are reminded that the life of grace--the reality that God is present in the depths of our hearts and all that we love--is the center of our lives.  God becomes one of us, and we are God’s family.  God makes his home among us.

 

Christ’s birth reveals God’s love for us and promises that we will “come to share in the divine nature” (II Peter 1:4).  In the third century, St. Athanasius proclaimed, “The Son of God became man, so that we might become God.”  We become human-unto-God, as was Jesus, and participate in the mystery of creation’s transformation, “so that God may be all in all” (I Cor 15:28).

 

 

To Do…

This Christmas, be present to the reality and meanings of God’s gifts to us.  Eat hearty.  Party wisely and well.  Don't work too hard.  Read Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and Oscar Hijuelos' Mr. Ives' Christmas, a short, remarkable novel of faith and reconciliation.  Watch It’s a Wonderful Life and “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Laugh and cry watching While You Were Sleeping, the story of an achingly lonely young woman without family, who falls in love with a goofy Irish clan in the week between Christmas and New Years.  Listen to "Christmas in the Trenches" by John McCutcheon, an amazing ballad that poetically retells the historically true event when, for a few fleeting hours, peace broke out in the frozen trenches of France, Christmas Eve 1914.  The singing of Christmas carols on both sides of the lines gave the men the inspiration and courage to lay down their guns.

Click Here  Christmas in the Trenches 

 

Take a child to see Santa.  Give generously to the poor.  Sing Christmas Carols and drink hot chocolate with marshmallows.  Sled.  Sit late in the quiet glow of the tree’s lights and let God be with you.

 

Most of all, pray.  Walk outside at 2:00 AM on a freezing cold, stunningly starlit night, and experience the awesomeness of the universe.  Go to Midnight Mass.  Read the first chapters of Matthew and Luke.  Engage the beautiful rhythms of the Liturgy of the Hours.  Sit in still silence, breath and realize life is a miracle and mystery. 

 

Know that Christmas is the time of year when we remember and ponder the birth of our God who loves us so much that he becomes one of us.  Vulnerable and wrapped in swaddling clothes, appears the one who saves the world.  Realize that Jesus is real and wants to be reborn again in our hearts.  The Lord has a mission for us.  Worship him these days and listen to that inner voice of your imagination where God communicates.  The presence of God confirms for us that St. Ignatius was right: All is gift.  Jesus again gifts us with his presence this Christmas.  O come, let us adore.

 

Rev. Richard G. Malloy, S.J., Ph.D., was an Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Sociology at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, PA. From 2010-2019 he served as Vice President for Mission and University Chaplain at the University of Scranton.  Since 2019 he has served as Director of Mission Integration at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Baltimore, MD.

 

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