Easter Triduum, 2022

Solemnity of Easter 2022

Light in the Midst of Darkness

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio

Easter does not seem to take hold of us the way Christmas does. At Christmas we are taken up with those appealing details of Our Lord’s birth that move us to illuminate our homes and set up the creche with the Holy Family, the shepherds, the animals, and the exotic Magi. Yet, the zenith of the Church year and the foundation of our entire faith is found in today’s solemnity. Saint Paul put it clearly: “If Christ has not been raised then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain.”

If the tone of Christmas is that of joy, Easter’s is one of triumph…the triumph of life over death, grace over sin, light over darkness, truth over falsehood. And so, we raise our voices in singing the jubilant “Alleluia!”

Yet the struggle between good and evil goes on. We still experience hatred, sickness, death, and social upheaval. We have been witnessing the horror of war in Ukraine and the plight of refugees.

And still, even in this anxious time, the Church does not shroud her joy at the Lord’s Resurrection for it is a stupendous mystery that transcends and stands above history and escapes our human understanding.

Our Lord’s Resurrection should impact our lives just as it impacted the anxious women who discovered the empty tomb, the fearful apostles cowering in the Upper Room, the dejected disciples on the road to Emmaus, the doubting Thomas before the wounds of his Lord and God, the hate of Saul on the road to Damascus.

The Resurrection of the Lord illumined and transformed their anxiety, that fear, that dejection, that doubt, and hatred. Encountering the risen and glorified Christ, they came face to face with the fundamental truth that God is God, and they were not. They were brought to a greater understanding of their vulnerability, their smallness and their fragility before the Lord who is “the radiance of the glory of God, who upholds the universe by the word of his power.” [Heb 1:3] This is what the Resurrection should do for us.

At the beginning of our solemn vigil, the light of Christ was carried into a darkened church, and slowly we saw this light spread, illumining this sacred space. It was a symbol of the Risen Lord breaking into the midst of a world of sin, of chaos and death.

His is the light that enables us to see. His is the light that shows the way and gives direction to our lives. His is the light that gives warmth and strength, consolation, and joy.

As the Resurrection transformed the lives of the woman at the tomb, the apostles, and the disciples on the way to Emmaus, may it transform us, and make us aware that God is present even when his presence is not directly noticed. May it bring us the good news that although things seem to get worse in the world, the Evil One has already been overcome. May it speak to grieving hearts that death is not the last word and reassure us that our Lord walks with us on the road.”

On this holy night we have the added joy of witnessing the baptisms of our young catechumens, Giuseppe and Julian, and the reception into the Catholic Church of Warren after completing the RCIA process. Our parish rejoices with them and congratulates them. We welcome their families, sponsors, and friends.

On this holy night the faithful renew our baptismal promises, the promises made for us on the day the light of Christ entered our lives. May we never allow it to dim or be extinguished, but may it fill us with firm faith, sure hope, and ardent love, knowing Christus Vincit, Christus Regnat, Christus Imperat! – Christ Conquers, Christ Reigns, Christ Rules!

Holy Thursday 2022

The Lord—Thinking of You and Me

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio

At the Last Supper, the mind of Our Lord might well have been completely absorbed by the prospect of what lay before him—betrayal, denial, abandonment, his suffering, and death. Yet amazingly, Our Lord was thinking of you and me. “Do this in memory of me,” he said—words that that would be carried out through time from the Upper Room to the present. It was a command that unites the three extraordinary gifts that we receive on Holy Thursday.

When Our Lord said “Do this in memory of me” he instituted the Holy Priesthood. He was thinking of you and me in his desire to provide us with shepherds to guide and nourish us—to be his representatives on earth. We might well say that Holy Thursday was the Ordination Day of the apostles as the first priests of the Church. And what a group they were!  

Blessed Cardinal Newman reminds us that, like the priests who would follow them and like everyone else, they were “not angels, not saints, not sinless.” They were but earthen vessels, fragile, weak, fearful, and doubting; always in need of God’s grace and mercy but nevertheless entrusted to stand at the altar and act “in persona Christi” to be stewards and dispensers of the mysteries of God. “God has not granted to angels the power with which he has invested priests,” said St. John Chrysostom. St. Jean Vianney boldly proclaimed that “the priest holds the key to the treasures of heaven.” My friends, on this feast day of the priesthood, let us pray that the Lord will sustain in every priest a grateful awareness of the awesome gift he has received.

When the Lord said, “Do this in memory of me,” he was pointing us to the second gift of this holy night—a gift intimately tied to the first—the Holy Eucharist. The Lord was thinking of you and me as he transformed the Passover table into the Christian altar from which Jesus, the Lamb without blemish would be received. He was thinking of you and me in his desire to bequeath us the gift of himself under the form of bread and wine. We could ask with St. John Paul II, “What more could Jesus have done for us?”

Of all the possible ways Our Lord could devise to remain close to us so that we might know his infinite love, he chose the Eucharist, “a solution so sensational that only God could have conceived it, so miraculous that only God could do it.” [L. Trese: Seventeen Steps to Heaven]

The Holy Eucharist is not a symbol but the Real Presence of the Lord in his Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. It is not just something, but Someone. St. John Chrysostom described the Eucharist as “a gift which angels view with trepidation and which they cannot contemplate without fear because of its splendor.” On this holy night let us rouse ourselves from any casual, mechanical, or perfunctory attitude toward this splendid treasure the Lord has deigned to grant us.

The Eucharist however is not only a mystery to consecrate, to receive, to contemplate, and adore, but also a mystery to imitate, and the Lord shows this by wrapping a towel around his waist and becoming a humble servant to wash the feet of his disciples…the Creator kneeling before his creatures.

As he carried out that humble service, Jesus was thinking of you and me, in his desire to vividly show us that our life should be characterized by humility and service to our brothers and sisters. It is an attitude that flows from the Eucharist. He was showing us what a Eucharistic life looks like.
My friends, on this solemn night, Our Lord, in his infinite love was thinking of you and me, providing us with priests to serve as our shepherds and guides, by bestowing the gift of his very Self in the Holy Eucharist, and giving us the example to follow…the example of humble service which is the key to heaven’s door.

On this night he was thinking of you and me. What more could Jesus have done for us?