The Mass and The Great Escape

Thank the Lord for this beautiful night, beautiful evening He has given us.  The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, and the land of Egypt.  The readings that the Holy Spirit gives us tonight, take us back to the history of the Israelites, the Hebrews in Egypt.  And they are in, they are under extreme oppression; they have been enslaved.  And so they are suffering because it’s becoming unbearable.  And what can they do?  What can they do in that situation?  Egypt is perhaps the greatest earthly power of that time.  What hope is there, that situation seems hopeless.  What can they try?   To assassinate Pharaoh, that could easily turn into a disaster.  Could they try to organize rebellion that also could turn into a bloodbath?  So what are they to do to free themselves from this oppression?  Today, we’re also in a situation with a lot of oppression, with a lot of evil, a lot of suffering.  And some of the suffering, it’s more evident where it’s coming from, but a lot of it, we just kind of think well, that’s the way things are today.  So many situations, that is personal problems, sadness, depression, spiritual attacks, families, the divisions and families and, financial problems, all sorts of things, all sorts of problems in our society.  Where’s all that coming from?  St. John says, “Our world is under the dominion, or the whole world is under the dominion of Satan.”  And so we’re under a worse situation than the Pharaoh of Egypt, that Satan, who is oppressing God’s people right now, and it’s getting harder and harder.  And so many of us, so many people we know, are going through very difficult trials right now.  And so those are signs of this oppression, of evil.  And this takes us back to a problem, a terrible problem of oppression of God’s people, and a problem that we are experiencing in a new way, in ways that have never been experienced before. There’s ways in which evil is oppressing and confusing the people of God, like never before.  The visions which we’ve never before faced, all sorts of new problems that are destroying our families.  So, like the Israelites, we can be wondering, what is the way out?  What is the solution?  How can we be liberated from this oppression?  So the readings today presented, what the problem of oppression are; a real, historical, terrible problem.  God wants to give a solution to this problem.  I’ve often said it, but I’ll say it again, there’s no one who is more practical than the Lord.  There’s no one that’s more realistic than our God.  And so, the Hebrews, what are they going to do?   They’re crying out to the Lord for help.  What are they going to do? And so we know how the Lord raises up Moses and Moses is given many prodigies and powerful signs and miracles, but it doesn’t convince Pharaoh.  And so we have today, the Holy Spirit gives us the reading, the great reading of the Passover.  And so the Lord is telling His people what to do, but it’s really weird what He’s telling them to do.  He’s telling them to take every household to take a young lamb, sacrifice it, put its blood on their doorpost and eat the flesh of the lamb with unleavened bread.  What good does all that stuff have to do with freeing the people of God.  How is that for a realistic plan for liberation?  Sounds just crazy.  Can you imagine?  I mean, think of that, if you’re saying, Moses, when are you going to free us?   I thought you were going to lead us to freedom. And Moses says, okay, this is what we’re gonna do.  You probably would say, we need a different leader, right?  Because this doesn’t make any sense.  And yet it was that crazy seeming plan, which involves obeying God, when it didn’t seem to make any sense.  What was actually, what was truly realistic, and truly practical, it worked.  There’s a movie called The Great Escape, this was the great escape.  So this was solving a very, almost hopeless problem.  What they were called to do that night was without them realizing why do this, but it worked.  And God didn’t say why they were supposed to do that, He didn’t explain why. He just said, do this, and they did it, and they were led to freedom.  And the Lord said, (we heard this tonight) “this day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord, throughout your generations, and you shall observe it as an ordinance forever.”  This ordinance was passed down by the faithful Jews throughout all the centuries.  And so that night in Jerusalem, Jesus with his apostles, was observing this same Memorial at the Passover.  Jesus was revealing that He was the new Moses, to liberate His people, to liberate them on a new Exodus, not from Egypt, but from the domination, the cruel domination of satan, the worst tyrant that there is.  Jesus was revealing the only possible way to escape this tyrant, because he’s very powerful.  But Jesus then revealed something shocking.  He is not just the new Moses, He is the Lamb.  He becomes the lamb, the Lamb that is sacrificed.  And by offering Himself so that land that they had sacrificed centuries earlier, was a prefiguration of Jesus, of this sacrifice, the sacrifice on the cross.  And we have here a relic, a tiny, tiny splinter from that very Cross, in which Jesus was revealing that it was only the power of His sacrifice, the infinite power of Divine Love, the infinite power of Divine Mercy, which was unleashed by His sacrifice.  This was the only means possible to free us from the dominion of satan, and lead us to the true Promised Land, the eternal Promised Land of infinite joy, which is Heaven.  And so Jesus comes as the new Moses, but as also the Lamb of God, by His sacrifice, to lead His people to eternal freedom, but it wasn’t just for them, it was also for us.  And so that night, the night before He died in His last hours of freedom at that Passover meal, Jesus instituted what we are doing right now.  Because He said to His apostles and to their successors, “do this in memorial of Me.”  And so if we’re here tonight, the roots go back to that night of Jesus in  Jerusalem, and those roots are prefigured all the way back to the Moses and in Egypt.  And so the key point, which I’ve often said, but I think it’s so central, is that the Eucharist that we’re celebrating tonight, is rooted and more than rooted, makes present the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.  Beyond time and space, in the Holy Eucharist, we are united to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, it is His sacrifice is made present to us here today, on this little hillside in 2021.  I’ve often shared this vision of one of the visionaries of Fatima, Lucci, who later on entered a convent, and as a novice, one night was awakened by her guardian angel who led her into the chapel.  And there she had a vision over, right on the altar.  She saw Jesus crucified, Jesus crucified on the altar.  And above Him, she saw God the Father, looking down on His Son, and coming down from the Father to the Son, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. So the sacrifice of Jesus and all the Holy Trinity, and at the side of Jesus, she saw Mary, our Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Fatima with her Immaculate Heart.  And then she saw, suspended at the side of Jesus, the Host, and below the Host, a chalice.  And she saw blood coming from the wound in the side of Jesus, the blood and water, and blood coming from the wound, from the crown of thorns, dripping onto the Host, and then falling into the chalice.  So revealing, but by putting it on the altar, and having the Host was making clear that this sacrifice of Jesus and where Jesus says all the Trinity is in His mother is all of that is present in the Holy Eucharist.  The Holy Eucharist makes present the sacrifice of Jesus.  And then she saw from the right hand of Jesus, she saw that the blood, which was dripping out from the wound of that hand, it was turned into water, and the water, the drops of water formed, spelled the words, “Grace and Mercy”.   And that those drops came down upon the altar, and flowed out from the altar, revealing that from the sacrifice of Jesus, made present at the cross flows the grace and mercy, to heal us, and to save us from the power of satan.  And so you can find the image, it’s easy to find the image, I think it shows us what is happening invisibly, but really, in every Mass.  Every Mass is making present, (it’s going to happen on this altar in a few moments) Jesus, that the sacrifice of Jesus, that Jesus crucified, which we have represented here in a Crucifix is going to be made present.  And with Him, the Father, the Son, and His Mother, our Mother.  And from that sacrifice flows through grace and mercy, which can free His people from the power of satan.  And there is no other solution.  There’s no other way that we can be saved from the power of satan.  This is so, for all the problems in our world, there’s a lot of problems, a lot of complicated, terrible problems, but there’s only one real solution, and that is Jesus.  You know, the beautiful prayer that the Lord gave to Saint Faustina, and it reveals to us what is happening in the Mass, “Eternal Father, we offer You, the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.”  So that’s what’s happening in Mass, offering the body to the Father, the Body, Blood, Soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ, in atonement for our own sins, and those of the whole world.   And then, “for the sake of His sorrowful Passion,” which is made present in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, “have mercy on us, and on the whole world.”  That’s the infinite power of Jesus’ sacrifice.  And so that’s the infinite power of His sacrifice made present in the Holy Mass.  And so the point I want to insist on, is this is a practical solution to the worst problems in our world. The Mass is not just some nice thing that we Catholics do.  You know, today, there’s a lot of concern about what are good medicines, or what are good vaccines, to protect against dangerous illnesses, for the worst illnesses, the illnesses that can destroy our soul forever.  There’s only one medicine, and it’s Jesus Christ, and He gives us that medicine, He makes it present in a special way, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  And so what can we do?  I want to mention two things, two things that we can do.  The first is our acts of faith.  Because faith, what I’m telling you today, it’s so central to the Catholic faith, and yet, most Catholics, at least in our country, don’t know it.   I would guess that 95% of the Catholics in our country don’t know what I just told you.  Even though they’re going to Mass, many of them, you know, go to Mass, often, many don’t go to Mass, but many do, but most of them don’t know it.   And this is not some insignificant detail, you know, like saying so and so lives someplace.  This is central to our Catholic faith, this is central to the salvation of the world.  There is no other solution except the sacrifice of Jesus.  And He gives us that sacrifice, it’s not only in the Mass that we can access that sacrifice, but the Mass makes it present.  And so anything we can do, and one thing we can do, is what you’re doing right now, just your effort to come here tonight, to come to this Mass.  To make this little retreat is already a great step in strengthening our faith. So that’s the first thing, faith.   And the second part is sacrifice, uniting our sacrifice to Jesus, because like Simon of Cyrene, who helped Jesus in the very heavy, painful mission that he had.   Simon of Cyrene represents each one of us, and especially those of us who have the heaviest crosses, right now.  Jesus is asking you to help Him carry the cross, all for the sacrifice for the salvation of the world. And so there’s a lot of suffering in our world today.  There’s a lot of suffering, just among us who are here today.  But what Jesus did, He took the suffering that satan was causing, and by making it that injustice and that evil, a sacrifice, He turned it against satan, for the salvation of God’s people.  And so satan is causing a lot of suffering in our own lives. But we’re invited tonight, to unite in the offertory, which is coming up in just a few moments, to unite in the Offertory our own suffering.  We don’t have to go looking for suffering, there’s enough of it that comes to us.  But to offer the suffering that we have in our life, that we’ve had in the past, to offer that in union with Jesus, so that we are helping Him and the great mission of liberating God’s people.  And so tonight, we’re here, not just for a pious practice, but for a very, very urgent mission, to help free God’s people from the power of evil, and Jesus is showing us what we need to do.  But He’s asking for our cooperation, to believe in His sacrifice and unite our sacrifices to His sacrifice, with our Blessed Mother, for the salvation of the world, for the great escape, the new Exodus, the liberation of God’s people, from the oppression of satan, to the promised land, to the eternal Promised Land of joy that God has prepared for His children.  Amen.