Prayers today: Come, you whom my father has blessed; inherit the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world, alleluia. (Mt 25:34)

God our Father, on this solemn feast you give us the joy of recalling the rising of Christ to new life. May the joy of our annual celebration bring us to the joy of eternal life. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns world without end. Amen.


St. John Baptist de la Salle (1651-1719)



Complete dedication to what he saw as God's will for him dominated the life of John Baptist de la Salle. In 1950, Pope Pius XII named him patron of schoolteachers for his efforts in upgrading school instruction. As a young seventeenth-century Frenchman, John had everything going for him: scholarly bent, good looks, noble family background, money, refined upbringing. At the early age of 11, he received the tonsure and started preparation for the priesthood, to which he was ordained at 27. He seemed assured then of a life of dignified ease and a high position in the Church. But God had other plans for John, which were gradually revealed to him in the next several years. During a chance meeting with M. Nyel of Raven, he became interested in the creation of schools for poor boys in Raven, where he was stationed. Though the work was extremely distasteful to him at first, he became more involved in working with the deprived youths. Once convinced that this was his divinely appointed mission, John threw himself wholeheartedly into the work, left home and family, abandoned his position as canon at Rheims, gave away his fortune and reduced himself to the level of the poor to whom he devoted his entire life. The remainder of his life was closely entwined with the community of religious men he founded, the Brothers of the Christian School (Christian Brothers, or De La Salle Brothers). This community grew rapidly and was successful in educating boys of poor families using methods designed by John, preparing teachers in the first training college for teachers and also setting up homes and schools for young delinquents of wealthy families. The motivating element in all these endeavours was the desire to become a good Christian. Yet even in his success, John did not escape experiencing many trials: heartrending disappointment and defections among his disciples, bitter opposition from the secular schoolmasters who resented his new and fruitful methods, and persistent opposition from the Jansenists of his time, whose moral rigidity and pessimism abut the human condition John resisted vehemently all his life. Afflicted with asthma and rheumatism in his last years, he died on Good Friday at 68 and was canonized in 1900.


The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (24.13~35)

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognising him. He asked them, What are you discussing together as you walk along? They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days? What things? he asked. About Jesus of Nazareth, they replied. He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see. He said to them, How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going further. But they urged him strongly, Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over. So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us? They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon. Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognised by them when he broke the bread.


Our Companion
(Homily by Fr. E. J. Tyler)

The scene is just outside Jerusalem, and it is the first day of the new week, with the great Sabbath now over. All is quiet and the weather is marked by a sombre peace. The occasional cry of a bird is heard, but apart from that, there is just the subdued voice of two companions walking on the lonely road leading away from the City. We might even say that the quiet of the morning has a touch of the eerie to it, and that this has been so ever since the Friday afternoon two days before. A great prophet had suddenly met a terrible end, orchestrated and achieved by the religious leaders, no less. This wonderful man had traversed the country and filled it with his person, his teaching and his miraculous deeds. A little over a week before, he had spectacularly raised a person from the dead after four days in the tomb, just outside the City itself. He had entered the City, cleansed the Temple of its markets and set up teaching in its precincts. For his disciples he was the hope of the nation. He, they thought, would be the one to set Israel free, for there was no limit to his goodness and his power. A great shock had enveloped his friends and disciples, for the light of their life had been snuffed out. At the moment of his terrible demise, the very earth had rocked. He was now gone. The two lonely walkers continued along the road for the village of Emmaus, their voices subdued, their feelings profoundly depressed. They were lost in their brooding thoughts as they noticed a little distance behind them another solitary walker heading along the road in the same direction as they. They slowed and allowed him to join them as their fitful discussion paused. He quietly reached them, and perhaps they allowed him to walk between them, with one on either side. They were absolutely downcast. What were you discussing, he courteously asked? They stood, distressed, and asked him in wonderment — how could you ask this? Are you a visitor, and do you not know what has just happened here?

The scene is so real, so vivid, so full of factual detail (Luke 24:13-35). There is nothing of the mere “story” to it. It is not a tale, a myth, something of a fable. It is the report of facts that had happened years before the writing of the account. A remarkable thing was occurring in this simple, historical scene. Jesus of Nazareth, who had been mercilessly bundled to his terrible death by ruthless religious leaders, was alive in the flesh and walking on the road with his two companions. There was absolutely nothing like it in all the annals of history. This extraordinary circumstance was unfolding in the midst of the most simple ordinariness. The two depressed and perplexed companions had between them the risen Jesus. They saw him, they heard him, and his physical presence was just as palpable as had been the presence of each of them one to the other. They did not recognize him as yet — perhaps because his fulness of risen life gave to him a special newness, and also because there was simply no expectation in them of their ever seeing him again. But, as they would soon learn, it was the same Jesus and he was joining them in their ordinary life. He was not coming to them in thunder and glory — just as he had not come in thunder and glory to Mary Magdalene a few hours before. He came, risen and victorious, but as one of them. They were still his brothers and he was taking the time, as it were, to be with two ordinary disciples. Why was it that he spent so long a time with two relatively obscure disciples (one being Cleopas)? We have no idea, but it tells us that the risen Jesus joins us in our daily life just as he joined them. As we walk along the road of life towards our goal, we are often depressed with the perplexities of our calling. He, the risen Jesus, is walking with us in all those perplexities of our ordinary and everyday life. He wants to know what is in our minds, and he wants us to let him cast his light on us. There can never be such a companion as Jesus Christ for our journey!

The same risen Jesus joins us in so many ways in everyday life. He resides in his body the Church as its Head. We are the Church’s members, and therefore members of Jesus Christ. We are the branches, he is the Vine. He comes to us in the preaching and teaching of the Church. He comes to us above all in the Sacraments, and in particular — on a regular basis — in the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Penance. Let us pause every day to let him join us and enliven our hearts with his words and his grace. In those two disciples are exemplified each of us. Let Christ be our companion as we journey along the way to our true homeland.

Prayers today: If men desire wisdom, she will give them the water of knowledge to drink. They will never waver from the truth; they will stand firm for ever, alleluia. (Sir 15:3-4)

Father, by this Easter mystery you touch our lives with the healing power of your love. You have given us the freedom of the sons of God. May we who now celebrate your gift find joy in it for ever in heaven. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who liveth and reigneth world without end, Amen.


St. Crescentia Hoess (1682-1744)



Crescentia was born in 1682 in a little town near Augsburg, the daughter of a poor weaver. She spent play time praying in the parish church, assisted those even poorer than herself and had so mastered the truths of her religion that she was permitted to make her holy Communion at the then unusually early age of seven. In the town she was called "the little angel."
As she grew older she desired to enter the convent of the Tertiaries of St. Francis. But the convent was poor and, because Crescentia had no dowry, the superiors refused her admission. Her case was then pleaded by the Protestant mayor of the town to whom the convent owed a favor. The community felt it was forced into receiving her, and her new life was made miserable. She was considered a burden and assigned nothing other than menial tasks. Even her cheerful spirit was misinterpreted as flattery or hypocrisy. Conditions improved four years later when a new superior was elected who realized her virtue. Crescentia herself was appointed mistress of novices. She so won the love and respect of the sisters that, upon the death of the superior, Crescentia herself was unanimously elected to that position. Under her the financial state of the convent improved and her reputation in spiritual matters spread. She was soon being consulted by princes and princesses as well as by bishops and cardinals seeking her advice. And yet, a true daughter of Francis, she remained ever humble. Bodily afflictions and pain were always with her. First it was headaches and toothaches. Then she lost the ability to walk, her hands and feet gradually becoming so crippled that her body curled up into a fetal position. In the spirit of Francis she cried out, "Oh, you bodily members, praise God that he has given you the capacity to suffer." Despite her sufferings she was filled with peace and joy as she died on Easter Sunday in 1744. She was beatified in 1900 and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2001.


The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John (20.11~18)

Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the feet. They asked her, Woman, why are you weeping? They have taken my Lord away, she said, and I don't know where they have put him. At this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise that it was Jesus. Woman, he said, why are you weeping? Who is it you are looking for? Thinking he was the gardener, she said, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him. Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and cried out in Hebrew, Rabboni! (which means Teacher). Jesus said, Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: I have seen the Lord! And she told them that he had said these things to her.


Christ’s choice
(Homily by Fr. E. J. Tyler)

At times — not often, it must be said — one hears the complaint that it is not fair that women are not called to the ministerial priesthood. In a sense it is to be expected that some women would have thoughts of attraction to the ordained priesthood, for the simple reason that the priesthood is a wonderful thing. I think I remember reading somewhere that St Therese of Lisieux as a child felt attracted to the priesthood. The Church has formally declared, of course, that this is impossible in God’s plan, but what can be behind this desire is the notion that an ordained office is more important than, say, intimacy with Christ as his disciple. What is of paramount importance is not office, but loving discipleship. Who were the ones who entered into the deepest intimacy with Jesus Christ during his life here on earth? They were, as we may call them, two “lay persons” who had no office in God’s people. I am referring to the mother and the foster-father of our Lord. Mary and Joseph lived in a wonderfully intimate friendship with our Lord for thirty of the thirty-three years of his mortal life. Manifestly no other person attained such a friendship with him. Consider the scenes of the infancy of our Lord — the nativity scenes and those associated with them, the scene of the presentation in the Temple, with Simeon and Anna gazing with veneration on the face of the Child Jesus — these were ordinary members of God’s chosen people. They had a privileged relationship with the Saviour. During our Lord’s public life we read in more than one Gospel that Martha, Mary and Lazarus were special friends of our Lord. He loved them in a special way. We read that certain women followed Jesus and the apostolic band, and ministered to them with their assistance and resources. At the last, it was certain women with Mary his mother, who stood at the cross of Jesus as he died. There was only one of the Twelve there. It was certain women who were the first to arrive at the tomb early on the Sunday morning. On Easter Sunday, the longest conversation which the risen Jesus had was with two disciples who were not of the Twelve. The principal thing is discipleship.

What I am saying is that while those with a special office in Christ’s Church by ordination are called to an intimate friendship with Jesus Christ, the vocation to a special friendship with him is not exclusive to those with this special office. The most important thing for any disciple is precisely this calling to friendship with Jesus, and then by his grace actually attaining this friendship and living according to it. Who was the most blessed of all God’s creatures? It was not any one of the Twelve, nor any of those who received a special apostolic mission from Christ, such as St Paul. It was, according to the inspired utterance of Elizabeth, the Virgin Mary. She was blessed among women. All generations will call her blessed, and it was her faith and her fidelity to grace — her being full of grace — that was the reason for this. She occupied no ordained office in the Church, although as Christ’s mother, she was mother and model of the Church his body. Let all this be an introduction to our Gospel passage today (John 20: 11-18), in which, according to St John, the risen Jesus shows himself for the first recorded time to his disciples. We may piously assume that, though it is not recorded, Christ appeared first to his most holy mother. Beyond that, we have it before us that he appeared first of all, not to Simon Peter nor to the beloved disciple, but to Mary Magdalene. It may have been something of a reward for her coming so early to the tomb, and waiting when the tomb was discovered to be empty. She was granted a most lovely meeting with the risen Jesus, and before any of the Apostles. Consider the scene. I like to think of our Lord acting somewhat playfully and full of joy in his victory. He asks Mary Magdalene, “Woman, why are you weeping?” — though, of course, he knew why she was weeping. Then came his surprise for her: “Mary!” He addressed her by name, and joy beyond description flooded her soul. “ Do not hold on to me,” he continued. “I have not yet returned to the Father.” It is a symbol of the special dealings of Jesus Christ with every one of the baptized.

According to the Gospel of St John, it was Mary Magdalene who announced to the Apostles the fact of the Resurrection. According to the other Gospels, it was the women. It is surely a symbol of the richness of the vocation of all the baptized. All are called to holiness, that holiness which consists in a loving discipleship and a share in Christ’s mission of bringing the Gospel to others. Each person’s friendship with Jesus and share in his redemptive mission will depend on vocation and circumstances, but each possesses the great dignity of being in Jesus Christ. This is the basic and most important thing in the life of the Church. Jesus addresses each and all of us by name. It is the expression of his personal choice. Let us cherish this choice as the foundation of life.

Prayers today: The Lord brought you to a land flowing with milk and honey, so that his law would always be given honour among you, alleluia. (See Ex 13:5, 9)

Father, you give your Church constant growth by adding new members to your family. Help us put into action in our lives the baptism we have received with faith. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who liveth and reigneth, world without end, Amen.


St. Vincent Ferrer (1350?-1419)



The polarization in the Church today is a mild breeze compared with the tornado that ripped the Church apart during the lifetime of this saint. If any saint is a patron of reconciliation, Vincent Ferrer is. Despite parental opposition, he entered the Dominican Order in his native Spain at 19. After brilliant studies, he was ordained a priest by Cardinal Peter de Luna—who would figure tragically in his life. Of a very ardent nature, Vincent practiced the austerities of his Order with great energy. He was chosen prior of the Dominican house in Valencia shortly after his ordination. The Western Schism divided Christianity first between two, then three, popes. Clement VII lived at Avignon in France, Urban VI in Rome. Vincent was convinced the election of Urban was invalid (though Catherine of Siena was just as devoted a supporter of the Roman pope). In the service of Cardinal de Luna, he worked to persuade Spaniards to follow Clement. When Clement died, Cardinal de Luna was elected at Avignon and became Benedict XIII. Vincent worked for him as apostolic penitentiary and Master of the Sacred Palace. But the new pope did not resign as all candidates in the conclave had sworn to do. He remained stubborn despite being deserted by the French king and nearly all of the cardinals. Vincent became disillusioned and very ill, but finally took up the work of simply "going through the world preaching Christ," though he felt that any renewal in the Church depended on healing the schism. An eloquent and fiery preacher, he spent the last 20 years of his life spreading the Good News in Spain, France, Switzerland, the Low Countries and Lombardy, stressing the need of repentance and the fear of coming judgment. (He became known as the "Angel of the Judgment.") He tried, unsuccessfully, in 1408 and 1415, to persuade his former friend to resign. He finally concluded that Benedict was not the true pope. Though very ill, he mounted the pulpit before an assembly over which Benedict himself was presiding and thundered his denunciation of the man who had ordained him a priest. Benedict fled for his life, abandoned by those who had formerly supported him. Strangely, Vincent had no part in the Council of Constance, which ended the schism.


The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew (28.8~15)

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. Greetings, he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me. While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, You are to say, 'His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.' If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble. So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.


God our Brother
(Homily by Fr. E. J. Tyler)

There is a detail in our Resurrection scene which we ought consider with great appreciation. The women have discovered the empty tomb and have been told by the angel that Jesus their Lord has risen from the dead. Matthew’s description of the angel is of one who inspires heavenly awe. The angel has “descended from heaven.” His “countenance was like lightning, and His raiment white as snow” — reminding us of our Lord’s own Transfiguration prior to His Passion. He tells the women not to fear, and tells the women to see where the Lord had lain. They were now to go quickly and tell his disciples that he had risen from the dead and that he would be going ahead of them to Galilee, just as he said he would. They would see him there. In fact, we learn from other Gospels, especially the Gospels of Luke and John, that our Lord appeared to his disciples that very day and in the days immediately following, there in Jerusalem. They met Him further in Galilee. Now Jesus was risen from the dead in the flesh, but in glory. His divinity, previously veiled by his humanity, was now being revealed in his humanity. His risen manhood displayed the glory of his divinity. Let us never underestimate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was not simply a return of Jesus Christ from the dead, taking up in life from where he left off prior to his Passion. It was a passing from this life into death and then from death to glory, and all this in his human nature — that same humanity which had suffered and died. His humanity now was the means of manifesting his divine glory, and in seeing the risen Jesus, the disciples gazed on the glorious Son of God. Instead of being a veil of the divinity, the humanity of Jesus Christ now revealed the divinity. For this reason we read that the women, when met by Jesus and greeted by him, prostrated in worship before him. They “held him by the feet.” Jesus was now showing forth the glory of one whose place was at the right hand of the Father, above every other name.

But there is a wonderful detail. Our Lord told the women to go and tell his “brothers” that they were to go to Galilee (Matthew 28:8-15). God the Son made man, now glorious and triumphant over death, sharing the throne of his heavenly Father, refers to his disciples as his “brothers.” God the Son regards himself as our “brother.” This is no new thing, for our Lord loved his own while on the earth, and he loved them to the end. But here we are talking of him in his triumph, as the Victor over all, as the one to whom all authority in heaven and on earth had been given, as the Lord of all lords and the King of all kings. This supreme person regards himself as our brother. On one occasion during his public ministry he was speaking to a crowd and word came to him that his mother and his brethren wished to speak to him. He said in reply, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Then looking around at his disciples, he said “Here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of my Father, that person is my mother and my sister and my brother.” God wished to draw us into his family life and make us his children. He sent his own divine Son to become one of us, to become our brother, and to share the divine life with each and all who accept him. To all who accepted him, St John wrote, he gave the power to become children of God. In our Resurrection account the triumphant Jesus refers to his disciples as his brothers. He looks on each of us who believe in him, who love him and who follow him, as his brothers. In Jesus Christ, God has become my brother. How great is the dignity of every person, then! Christ has died for all, and since his Resurrection, mankind can be divided into two groups. There are those who are his brothers by faith and baptism, and there are those who are called to be his brothers by faith and baptism. In either case, each person is endowed with an immense dignity. By uniting himself to every man and woman in his humanity, he confers on each and all a resounding dignity which all others must respect. It will be a defining element in the final judgment.

Each of us can say that God is my Father, and in Jesus Christ, he is my Brother. How great is the love, the humility, the goodness of God! There is no other religion which has such a breathtaking understanding of the infinite, transcendent God. The God of all heights has taken his place by our side and chosen to accompany us along our way to his eternal home, as our brother and our friend. There is nothing more we could ask for. Let us appreciate our blessings — that every heavenly blessing has been given to us in our Brother of all brothers, Jesus Christ our Lord.

St. Benedict the African (1526-1589)

Benedict held important posts in the Franciscan Order and gracefully adjusted to other work when his terms of office were up. His parents were slaves brought from Africa to Messina, Sicily. Freed at 18, Benedict did farm work for a wage and soon saved enough to buy a pair of oxen. He was very proud of those animals. In time he joined a group of hermits around Palermo and was eventually recognized as their leader. Because these hermits followed the Rule of St. Francis, Pope Pius IV ordered them to join the First Order. Benedict was eventually novice master and then guardian of the friars in Palermo— positions rarely held in those days by a brother. In fact, Benedict was forced to accept his election as guardian. And when his term ended he happily returned to his work in the friary kitchen. Benedict corrected the friars with humility and charity. Once he corrected a novice and assigned him a penance only to learn that the novice was not the guilty party. Benedict immediately knelt down before the novice and asked his pardon. In later life Benedict was not possessive of the few things he used. He never referred to them as "mine" but always called them "ours." His gifts for prayer and the guidance of souls earned him throughout Sicily a reputation for holiness. Following the example of St. Francis, Benedict kept seven 40-day fasts throughout the year; he also slept only a few hours each night. After Benedict’s death, King Philip III of Spain paid for a special tomb for this holy friar. Canonized in 1807, he is honoured as a patron saint by African-Americans.


For Holy Saturday morning, let us consider The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John (19.38~42), the account of the Burial of Jesus

(After Jesus had died) Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no-one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was near by, they laid Jesus there.


Christ in death
(Homily by Fr. E. J. Tyler)

This day, the day following the death of Jesus Christ, was the Sabbath, a great day of rest. Christ died on the Friday afternoon, just as the Vigil of the Sabbath was approaching. His body lay in the tomb during the whole of the Sabbath rest and he rose soon after that Sabbath day had ended — in the early hours of the first day of the new week. He died towards the end of the first day, lay in the tomb during the whole of the second day and rose very early on the third day. In his account, St John tells us that on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene arrived while it was still dark — obviously arriving as soon as she could with the Sabbath Day now over — and the stone had been removed. Christ had already risen. So it is especially on the Saturday, the Sabbath day of repose, that we celebrate the period in death of Jesus Christ. He remained in the abode of the dead. It is surely a great mystery, this repose in death of God the Son made man. He shared mankind’s descent into the state of death, which of course, as with every other human being did not involve extinction but a passing in his spirit from the scene of this earthly life. In his humanity he continued to live in his spirit, of course, but in what we might call a Limbo, where the other just souls awaited the opening of the gates of heaven. Consider who were there, and who received him. Moses and Elijah had spoken to him when he was transfigured in glory on the Mount not long before his Passion. They would have received him. So would Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the patriarchs and prophets, David and those good kings who succeeded him, and others such as Simeon and Anna the prophetess who had hailed his arrival as an infant over three decades before. John the Baptist awaited him. His beloved foster-father Joseph, the husband of his most holy mother, received him. So did Anna and Joachim, traditionally considered the parents of Mary. Imagine his meeting with the holy Joseph! He had daily lived and worked with Joseph during all those years at Nazareth. He had been at Joseph’s death in their house at Nazareth, and he and his mother had accompanied the body of Joseph to its burial outside the village of Nazareth.

There would surely have been others among the just in the abode of the dead, others beyond the pale of the chosen people of God. We read of upright men and women among the peoples. For instance, we may think of those good and conscientious Wise Men from the East who had come to honour the infant King. They had been led by a heavenly star — some form of natural revelation — from their own culture and wisdom to an encounter with the King of kings. Were they not representative of very many others of various nations whom God in his goodness led in diverse ways along the path of a good life? Surely so. There were those who conscientiously did good work for mankind, even if they failed in this or that respect along the road of moral goodness. Let us think of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle — may we not think of them as having sought the light and in some measure attained it, endeavouring in the process to be virtuous? We cannot tell how God judged them, but we may be sure that God was working for the salvation of all his children, and that in the event he was a God of mercy and compassion. Let us imagine the acclaim and joy that flooded the place of Limbo to which Christ in death descended on that Sabbath day following his death at Calvary. The field had been won. All that now remained was for him to rise from death and ascend into heaven, and they too would rise with him and ascend to heaven in their spirits. Their Champion had won. The bonds of sin had been broken, and Satan had been left confounded. Imagine Christ in the abode of the dead, among the good and holy souls from God’s chosen people and beyond, who by the aid of God had not died in deliberate, unrepented mortal sin. May we not imagine this day, the day of Christ in death, as the day of joy in Limbo when those there had the privilege of personal contact in their spirits with their divine Brother and Redeemer? We are speculating, but Christ did descend to the dead, and what awaited him there? Obviously, those who also were in the abode of the dead, but who lived in God, awaiting the work of the Redeemer to be accomplished. To them the good news was announced.

On this side of the grave, all was quiet and in gloom for the disciples of Christ. Except for his holy mother, they all seemed to have completely forgotten his solemn predictions that he would rise from the dead on the third day. It was a day of gloom and inactivity. The Light of the world had been snuffed out, and Life was now lifeless. It seemed that Death had had the final say, and that sin had conquered. But no. All was quiet, but a mighty unseen fount of life was preparing to burst forth, a Fount that would never cease to bring life to all. Let us marvel at the mystery of our Redemption, and understand that in Christ is to be found every heavenly blessing.

The Crucifixion Of Jesus


A medical explanation of what Jesus endured on the day He died
by Dr. C. Truman Davis*

Several years ago I became interested in the physical aspects of the passion, or suffering, of Jesus Christ when I read an account of the crucifixion in Jim Bishop's book, The Day Christ Died. I suddenly realized that I had taken the crucifixion more or less for granted all these years - that I had grown callous to its horror by a too-easy familiarity with the grim details. It finally occurred to me that, as a physician, I did not even know the actual immediate cause of Christ's death. The gospel writers do not help much on this point. Since crucifixion and scourging were so common during their lifetimes, they undoubtedly considered a detailed description superfluous. For that reason we have only the concise words of the evangelists: "Pilate, having scourged Jesus, delivered Him to them to be crucified ... and they crucified Him."

Despite the gospel accounts silence on the details of Christ's crucifixion, many have looked into this subject in the past. In my personal study of the event from a medical viewpoint, I am indebted especially to Dr. Pierre Barbet, a French surgeon who did exhaustive historical and experimental research and wrote extensively on the topic.

An attempt to examine the infinite psychic and spiritual suffering of the Incarnate1 God in atonement for the sins of fallen man is beyond the scope of this article. However, the physiological and anatomical aspects of our Lord's passion we can examine in some detail. What did the body of Jesus of Nazareth actually endure during those hours of torture?


Gethsemane

The physical passion of Christ began in Gethsemane. Of the many aspects of His initial suffering, the one which is of particular physiological interest is the bloody sweat. Interestingly enough, the physician, St. Luke, is the only evangelist to mention this occurrence. He says, "And being in an agony, he prayed the longer. And his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground" (Luke 22:44).

Every attempt imaginable has been used by modern scholars to explain away the phenomenon of bloody sweat, apparently under the mistaken impression that it simply does not occur. A great deal of effort could be saved by consulting the medical literature. Though very rare, the phenomenon of hematidrosis, or bloody sweat, is well documented. Under great emotional stress, tiny capillaries in the sweat glands can break, thus mixing blood with sweat. This process alone could have produced marked weakness and possible shock.

Although Jesus' betrayal and arrest are important portions of the passion story, the next event in the account which is significant from a medical perspective is His trial before the Sanhedrin and Caiaphas, the High Priest. Here the first physical trauma was inflicted. A soldier struck Jesus across the face for remaining silent when questioned by Caiaphas. The palace guards then blindfolded Him, mockingly taunted Him to identify them as each passed by, spat on Him, and struck Him in the face.


Before Pilate

In the early morning, battered and bruised, dehydrated, and worn out from a sleepless night, Jesus was taken across Jerusalem to the Praetorium of the Fortress Antonia, the seat of government of the Procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate. We are familiar with Pilate's action in attempting to shift responsibility to Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Judea. Jesus apparently suffered no physical mistreatment at the hands of Herod and was returned to Pilate. It was then, in response to the outcry of the mob, that Pilate ordered Barabbas released and condemned Jesus to scourging and crucifixion.

Preparations for Jesus' scourging were carried out at Caesar's orders. The prisoner was stripped of His clothing and His hands tied to a post above His head. The Roman legionnaire stepped forward with the flagrum, or flagellum, in his hand. This was a short whip consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two small balls of lead attached near the ends of each. The heavy whip was brought down with full force again and again across Jesus' shoulders, back, and legs. At first the weighted thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continued, they cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissues, producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles.

The small balls of lead first produced large deep bruises that were broken open by subsequent blows. Finally, the skin of the back was hanging in long ribbons, and the entire area was an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. When it was determined by the centurion in charge that the prisoner was near death, the beating was finally stopped.


Mockery

The half-fainting Jesus was then untied and allowed to slump to the stone pavement, wet with his own blood. The Roman soldiers saw a great joke in this provincial Jew claiming to be a king. They threw a robe across His shoulders and placed a stick in His hand for a scepter. They still needed a crown to make their travesty complete. Small flexible branches covered with long thorns, commonly used for kindling fires in the charcoal braziers in the courtyard, were plaited into the shape of a crude crown. The crown was pressed into his scalp and again there was copious bleeding as the thorns pierced the very vascular tissue. After mocking Him and striking Him across the face, the soldiers took the stick from His hand and struck Him across the head, driving the thorns deeper into His scalp. Finally, they tired of their sadistic sport and tore the robe from His back. The robe had already become adherent to the clots of blood and serum in the wounds, and its removal, just as in the careless removal of a surgical bandage, caused excruciating pain. The wounds again began to bleed.


Calvary

In deference to Jewish custom, the Romans apparently returned His garments. The heavy patibulum of the cross was tied across His shoulders. The procession of the condemned Christ, two thieves, and the execution detail of Roman soldiers headed by a centurion began its slow journey along the route which we know today as the Via Dolorosa.

In spite of Jesus' efforts to walk erect, the weight of the heavy wooden beam, together with the shock produced by copious loss of blood, was too much. He stumbled and fell. The rough wood of the beam gouged into the lacerated skin and muscles of the shoulders. He tried to rise, but human muscles had been pushed beyond their endurance. The centurion, anxious to proceed with the crucifixion, selected a stalwart North African onlooker, Simon of Cyrene, to carry the cross. Jesus followed, still bleeding and sweating the cold, clammy sweat of shock. The 650-yard journey from the Fortress Antonia to Golgotha was finally completed. The prisoner was again stripped of His clothing except for a loin cloth which was allowed the Jews.

The crucifixion began. Jesus was offered wine mixed with myrrh, a mild analgesic, pain-reliving mixture. He refused the drink. Simon was ordered to place the patibulum on the ground, and Jesus was quickly thrown backward, with His shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire felt for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drove a heavy, square wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly, he moved to the other side and repeated the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flexion and movement. The patibulum was then lifted into place at the top of the stipes, and the titulus reading "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" was nailed into place.

The left foot was pressed backward against the right foot. With both feet extended, toes down, a nail was driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed. The victim was now crucified.


On the Cross

As Jesus slowly sagged down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating, fiery pain shot along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain. The nails in the wrists were putting pressure on the median nerve, large nerve trunks which traverse the mid-wrist and hand. As He pushed himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He placed His full weight on the nail through His feet. Again there was searing agony as the nail tore through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of this feet.

At this point, another phenomenon occurred. As the arms fatigued, great waves of cramps swept over the muscles, knotting them in deep relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps came the inability to push Himself upward. Hanging by the arm, the pectoral muscles, the large muscles of the chest, were paralyzed and the intercostal muscles, the small muscles between the ribs, were unable to act. Air could be drawn into the lungs, but could not be exhaled. Jesus fought to raise Himself in order to get even one short breath. Finally, the carbon dioxide level increased in the lungs and in the blood stream, and the cramps partially subsided.


The Last Words

Spasmodically, He was able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in life-giving oxygen. It was undoubtedly during these periods that He uttered the seven short sentences that are recorded.

The first - looking down at the Roman soldiers throwing dice6 for His seamless garment: "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do."

The second - to the penitent thief: "Today, thou shalt be with me in Paradise."

The third - looking down at Mary His mother, He said: "Woman, behold your son." Then turning to the terrified, grief-stricken adolescent John , the beloved apostle, He said: "Behold your mother."

The fourth cry is from the beginning of Psalm 22: "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

He suffered hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, and searing pain as tissue was torn from His lacerated back from His movement up and down against the rough timbers of the cross. Then another agony began: a deep crushing pain in the chest as the pericardium, the sac surrounding the heart, slowly filled with serum and began to compress the heart.

The prophecy in Psalm 22:14 was being fulfilled: "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint, my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels."

The end was rapidly approaching. The loss of tissue fluids had reached a critical level; the compressed heart was struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood to the tissues, and the tortured lungs were making a frantic effort to inhale small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues sent their flood of stimuli to the brain. Jesus gasped His fifth cry: "I thirst." Again we read in the prophetic psalm: "My strength is dried up like a potsherd; my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou has brought me into the dust of death" (Psalm 22:15).

A sponge soaked in posca, the cheap, sour wine that was the staple drink of the Roman legionnaires, was lifted to Jesus' lips. His body was now in extremis, and He could feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues. This realization brought forth His sixth word, possibly little more than a tortured whisper: "It is finished." His mission of atonement had been completed. Finally, He could allow His body to die. With one last surge of strength, He once again pressed His torn feet against the nail, straightened His legs, took a deeper breath, and uttered His seventh and last cry: "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit."


Death

The common method of ending a crucifixion was by crurifracture, the breaking of the bones of the leg. This prevented the victim from pushing himself upward; the tension could not be relieved from the muscles of the chest, and rapid suffocation occurred. The legs of the two thieves were broken, but when the soldiers approached Jesus, they saw that this was unnecessary.

Apparently, to make doubly sure of death, the legionnaire drove his lance between the ribs, upward through the pericardium and into the heart. John 19:34 states, "And immediately there came out blood and water." Thus there was an escape of watery fluid from the sac surrounding the heart and the blood of the interior of the heart. This is rather conclusive post-mortem evidence that Jesus died, not the usual crucifixion death by suffocation, but of heart failure due to shock and constriction of the heart by fluid in the pericardium.




“Consummatum Est.”

Prayers today: Lord, by shedding his blood for us, your Son, Jesus Christ, established the paschal mystery. In your goodness, make us holy and watch over us always. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
or
Lord, by the suffering of Christ your Son you have saved us all from the death we inherited from sinful Adam. By the law of nature we have borne the likeness of his manhood. May the sanctifying power of grace help us to put on the likeness of our Lord in heaven, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.



The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John (18.1~19.42)

Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your king?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and, carrying the cross himself, he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, "Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews." Now many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write 'The King of the Jews,' but that he said, 'I am the King of the Jews'." Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written." (John 19:15-22)


The King
(Homily by Fr. E. J. Tyler)



Crucifixion was in use among the Persians, Seleucids, Carthaginians, and Romans from about the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD. Alexander the Great is reputed to have crucified 2000 survivors from his siege of the Phoenician city of Tyre. Can we imagine what might have happened to the course of history had Alexander been captured during one of his numerous battles, and subsequently crucified? The thought of Alexander the Great being crucified almost boggles the historical imagination because of his greatness as a general. His potential greatness would have immediately come to nothing. Let us take a second hypothesis. Julius Caesar was captured on two occasions by pirates, and on the second occasion his captors were the feared Cilicians. He was subsequently released on a ransom. He then returned, defeated and captured them, and proceeded to crucify them. Imagine if the pirates had crucified Caesar instead, while he was their captive? Not only would it have been the abrupt end of a most distinguished career, but it would have been one of history’s most resounding humiliations. Alexander the Great, and then Julius Caesar, both crucified by their enemies — the thought is almost preposterous. In our Gospel passage today we have the cold, hard fact of the Lord of lords and King of kings being led out of the Holy City of Jerusalem to the Rock called the Skull. He carried on his shoulders the beam to which he would be nailed. So weak was he that at one point a passer-by was commandeered to carry the wood by his side to the place of crucifixion. There he was crucified between two other criminals. A sign was nailed to the head of the cross, written in the three languages of that part of the world — Latin, Greek and Hebrew, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” It was death in disgrace, a total rejection, and at that point it seemed to be the utter end of everything. But no. It is perhaps the most amazing phenomenon in history and in religion that this Crucified One would within a few days be acknowledged as the Lord of lords, and King of kings. Alexander and Caesar, for all their earthly glory, remain but dust and ashes, and who is to say where they stand now, on the other side of the grave! Not so, Jesus the Crucified One.

Let us place ourselves in that forlorn scene outside the City (John 19:15-22). We stand with a small and heartbroken group. His holy, strong and all-suffering mother, his beloved disciple, and a few other ardent disciples among the women, all are watching. The stark and bare rock stands before us as we hear the thud of the nails and the wood being hoisted to its position. Alexander, Caesar, and so many others of history had their moments of victory and greatness. The greatest of them all is before us, now hanging on the Cross. He is plunged in unheard-of suffering and disgrace. He is engaged in the most decisive of all battles, one on which the prospects of the whole world hangs. He is struggling with titanic forces, for all of hell is beating down upon him, and all of this world’s sin. In the jeers of the religious leaders who see their supposed rival sinking to a terrible death, is heard the laughter of Satan doing all he can to drown Christ in suffering. The Messiah is being done to death. As this most admirable of men — whom the very centurion would soon call a son of God — descended into the darkest depths, a great light was appearing on the distant horizon of the gloom of the world. The field was being won, and the sword of victory was obedience amid humiliation and suffering. Mankind’s champion was himself making up for all the sins of mankind. He stood in the middle of the field, as it were, as the storm bellowed above. He opened wide his powerful arms and asked his loving Father that the sin of the world strike him instead. That it did, and like a powerful bolt of lightning the sin of the world struck him with a force that cannot be measured. It hit him and he received its force with a full and loving heart, and with that the lightning was spent. It had done its work in putting to death the Messiah, so that all of his brothers might live now and forever. The Messiah lay dead, having promised that very soon, indeed on the third day, he would rise again with a new life that he would share with us all. He expiated for the sin of the world, the greatest of victories.

Let us all our lives contemplate the King of kings and Lord of lords hanging on the Cross. In that great event the world was saved, and man was given the lesson of all lessons. If we want to know the secret to being victorious in life, we must look not to the Alexanders and to the Caesars, but to one man, Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews and the Lord of the world. Let us aim in life to know, love and serve Jesus Christ our Lord and God, and in this way come to see and enjoy him forever in heaven. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, the image of the unseen God, the only way to the Father, the only name by which man can be saved. His throne is the Cross. Let us take our stand with him there, on Calvary, next to this one and only throne.

Morning Offering: O Jesus, through the most pure heart of Mary, I offer you all the prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day for all the intentions of your divine heart, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass. I offer them especially for the Holy Father's intentions:


Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for April is: "That every tendency to fundamentalism and extremism may be countered by constant respect, by tolerance and by dialogue among all believers".

His mission intention for April is: "That Christians persecuted for the sake of the Gospel may persevere, sustained by the Holy Spirit, in faithfully witnessing to the love of God for the entire human race".



Prayers today: We should glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he is our salvation, our life and our resurrection; through him we are saved and made free. (See Gal 6:14)

God our Father, we are gathered here to share in the supper which your only Son left to his Church to reveal his love. He gave it to us when he was about to die and commanded us to celebrate it as the new and eternal sacrifice. We pray that in this eucharist we may find the fullness of love and life. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns world without end. Amen.


St. Hugh of Grenoble (1052-1132)

Today’s saint could be a patron for those of us who feel so overwhelmed by all the problems in the world that we don’t know where to begin. Hugh, who served as a bishop in France for 52 years, had his work cut out for him from the start. Corruption seemed to loom in every direction: the buying and selling of Church offices, violations of clerical celibacy, lay control of Church property, religious indifference and/or ignorance. After serving as bishop for two years, he’d had his fill. He tried disappearing to a monastery, but the pope called him back to continue the work of reform. Ironically, Hugh was reasonably effective in the role of reformer—surely because of his devotion to the Church but also because of his strong character. In conflicts between Church and state he was an unflinching defender of the Church. He fearlessly supported the papacy. He was eloquent as a preacher. He restored his own cathedral, made civic improvements in the town and weathered a brief exile. Hugh may be best known as patron and benefactor of St. Bruno, founder of the Carthusian Order. Hugh died in 1132. He was canonized only two years later.


The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John (13.1~15)

It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel round his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped round him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, are you going to wash my feet? Jesus replied, You do not realise now what I am doing, but later you will understand. No, said Peter, you shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered, Unless I wash you, you have no part with me. Then, Lord, Simon Peter replied, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well! Jesus answered, A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you. For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. Do you understand what I have done for you? he asked them. You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord', and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.


The Divine Servant
(Homily by Fr. E. J. Tyler)

In ancient civilizations where sandals were the footwear and dust and dirt a feature of roads, a host commonly offered to provide water for a guest to wash his feet. An example of this is given us when Abraham received the three men by the terebinth of Mamre (Genesis 18: 4). Alternatively, a servant might wash the feet of the guest, and we read in 1 Samuel 25: 41 how Abigail, referring to herself as David’s “handmaid,” says she “would become a slave to wash the feet of my Lord’s servants.” On one occasion our Lord accepted the invitation of a Pharisee to dine with him. The Pharisee omitted the courtesy of offering our Lord water to wash his feet, but during the meal a woman entered the house — a woman with a poor reputation in the town — and proceeded to wash his feet with her tears and dry them with her hair. She then anointed his feet with her perfumed oil. She was showing him signal love and honour. Our Lord accepted her courtesy and sent her away with her sins forgiven. We remember how after our Lord raised Lazarus from the dead, a dinner was held in his honour in the house of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. When all were reclining at table, Mary came in with a pint of pure nard to the value of nearly a year’s wages, and poured it over the feet of Jesus. She was, as a host, washing the feet of Jesus not just with water but with a most valuable substance. The aroma filled the entire house, as she wiped the feet of Jesus not just with a towel, but with her hair. By her hair, she was, as it were, taking the place of the towel that wiped his feet. She was humbly bestowing the highest honour on our Lord that was within her power. The gesture of washing the feet was a mark of genuine humility by the host and of high honour to the guest. In our Gospel today, our Lord, whom the disciples addressed as Master and Lord — and “rightly so, for that is what I am” — knelt before each of his disciples and proceeded to wash their feet. It symbolized Christ being a servant, a slave. It was too much for Simon Peter. “Lord, you shall never wash my feet,” he said.

Ponder the scene (John 13: 1-15), and contemplate what it tells us of the one and only God. It is extraordinary enough, wondrous beyond words, that God is in the midst of this group as a Man. This Man whom they addressed as Master and Lord, with whom Peter felt he could expostulate, was the living God, the God of all things visible and invisible. Through him all things were made, and in him was life, the source of life for all living things. There he stood, there he sat, there he conversed, in his humanity. The great God, so high a God as to transcend all things in every respect, had taken to himself a human nature and thus made himself our brother. But lo! He rises from the table and “wrapped a towel round his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped round him.” The gesture was unmistakable in its significance. God was acting as a humble servant would act towards an honoured guest. That is the attitude of God towards the living work of his hands. The highest and most exalted Reality of all, is humble and loving. This, Reality at its most exalted, is humble and serving. Our Lord was revealing to his disciples what it is to be like God. Simon Peter refused, for it was, he thought, demeaning to the one whom he so loved and venerated. He could not accept that his very feet be washed by his Master and his Lord. But he had to accept it, if Jesus was to be his Master and Lord at all, for Jesus the Master was the predicted Suffering Servant who would take away the sins of mankind. “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me. Then, Lord, Simon Peter replied, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well! Jesus answered, A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean.” Our Lord had come to wash the feet of mankind, making himself the Servant of all men, making them clean all over. That was his grand mission, to make humanity clean of sin and endowed with a share in his own life. His disciples, with Simon Peter at their head, would have the mission of bringing Jesus Christ to the world so that in him the world would be made new.

Let us understand well what it means to be like God. It means to be like Jesus Christ who put aside the divine glory that had been his to become as men are, and humbler still, even to death on a cross. He became the Servant of all, and his final gesture at the Last Supper, washing the feet of his disciples — and just imagine our Lord’s emotion as he washed the feet of Judas Iscariot — showed forth who he really was and what he had come to do. He was the God of all love, and he had come to make mankind clean. Let us take our stand with him and strive to do as he did.