Easter Birthdays!

When you think about the upcoming Easter Celebrations this Sunday, I’m sure you don’t think of them as “birthdays,” unless your birthday happens to fall on March 23.  But these next few days of celebrations are really about unique birthdays for you, your family, and our family of faithful.  Let me explain.

Tomorrow, Holy Thursday, the liturgy commemorates the birthday of the priesthood!  It’s the day of the Last Supper – the Eternal Covenant!  It’s the day when Jesus Himself “ordained” and “commissioned” his disciples to repeat, with word and gestures, the meal before his sacrifice as a way to remember Him.  It is through His priests that Christ makes Himself truly present, especially in the Eucharist!  The liturgy surrounding this event reminds us of the commission to serve God’s people, shown in the act of the priest washing the feet of 12 men who represent the apostles.  In a way, this Last Supper gave birth to the everlasting Paschal Covenant through the Ministerial Priesthood.  So if you see your parish priest, wish him a happy birthday!

On Good Friday, a day that reminds us of the sad events of Jesus’ suffering and death, it may be strange to consider this as a birthday celebration – unless of course, it actually is your birthday.  However, if we think of physical death as the entrance to eternal life, we’ll see how our physical departure from this earth is truly a birth into eternal life! 

Yet the type of birthday I want to commemorate is the birthday of Mary’s spiritual maternity of all humanity. 

Think about how Mary, a virgin with Child, is called to be a spiritual mother for us all.  We hear much about Mary at the beginning of Jesus’ life, since she gave birth to the Son of God!  (Now that’s a birthday we can’t forget.)  We get a quick glimpse of Mary again when Jesus was about the age of 12.  Mary and Joseph found Jesus teaching in the temple area – His Father’s House.  At the end of Jesus’ life, Mary is once again revealed as “woman” and “mother.”  She consoles Jesus on the way of the cross and finally, to the top of Calvary’s hill.  It is there that Jesus pronounces a new maternity for Mary when He declares that John, the Beloved Disciple, will now become her son.  Theologians see how the gesture launches Mary’s maternity to a universal level.  John, the Beloved Disciple, who had his own biological mother, is given a new mother – a spiritual mother in the order of grace!  This “birthday” celebration is bittersweet for Mary.  She gains another child to care for!  In fact, she receives all God’s children, even though she loses her only Son.  John also celebrates a new birth – a spiritual birth, as he takes Mary as a spiritual mother.  The spiritual maternity of Mary gives us something to solemnly celebrate on a sad day, which is providentially called “Good Friday.”

Finally, on Holy Saturday (the Easter Vigil) we celebrate another birthday: in fact, many, many birthdays!  Those people in the RCIA program (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults), the catechetical program where people learn the Christian Faith and enter the Catholic Church, are reborn through the Baptismal Waters and Confirmed with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Yes, this is a birthday of new life members in the Church.  With this birthday, we even have “birthday candles,” – the paschal candles, Baptismal candles, and the individual tapers of the faithful!  But, unlike the tradition of blowing out these candles to make a wish, we keep these candles burning in our hearts to give us more than a wish – these candles give us faith and hope!

In the next few days, the Universal Church will truly experience a new life in Christ.  We can look at these events, not just as solemn celebrations but as true “spiritual birthdays” for ourselves and those who will become our new Catholic brothers and sisters at the Easter Vigil. 

As we begin these three holy days, called the Triduum, I pray that you and your families experience the joy and love of God.  I also hope that you receive the spiritual “birthday gifts” God gives to us.  If you don’t know what gifts you receive, consider these: (1) the priesthood and ordained priests of Jesus Christ, (2) the gift of Mary’s spiritual maternity, and (3) the gifts of enlightened new brothers and sisters in Faith at the Easter Vigil. 

Considering that even if it’s not your natural birth date, we can say this Holy Season of Easter is a spiritual birthday for us who receive new life in Christ!

Happy Easter and Happy Birthday!

A St. Joseph Feast (Last Weekend)

If you recall, my priestly fraternity group gets together to celebrate the annual “St. Joseph Day.”  Normally, this feast day is celebrated every March 19th (today).  However, since a feast day cannot be celebrated on its appointed day when it falls during Holy Week, the Archbishop designated that the Feast be celebrated last Saturday.  Since we priests had evening Palm Sunday Masses last weekend, our priestly fraternity group got together last Sunday for our annual feast!  This year we welcomed back Cardinal William Keeler, the former Archbishop of Baltimore, to join the group of 20 clerics for a real celebration!  It always makes me a little nervous to cook for the “big guy,” so I resorted to a few classics, such as a “Farfale Bolognese” (the recipe can be found in the book, “Recipes for Family Life”), as well as a filet mignon.  For this celebration, I wrapped the filet in apple wood-smoked bacon and topped it off with parsley butter.  For the recipe, [click here].

The Lamb of God who “feeds” us!

During church liturgies this weekend, consider how the Lord feeds us by removing our sins!  People normally think of sin as that which fills us with bad things.  As true as that may be, sins are also seen in the spiritual life as acts that empty us.  Think about how we feel when we sin.  We feel empty.  What can fill us up?  The Lamb of God – the true Easter Meal!  When the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, feeds us, He actually fills the void that sin creates.  A great family prayer, an Easter Grace Before Meals, can be the “Lamb of God Prayer” we say at Mass.  That way, we not only enjoy our Easter meal together, we also celebrate God’s mercy – the most important ingredient of the Lamb’s Supper!

Let us pray:

Lamb of God, You take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us and grant us peace!  Amen.

Ask Fr. Leo for fatherly advice.
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