March 28, 2024 / Holy Thursday
What can we do practically to liberate our world from the terrible oppression of evil?
Key Points
- The Exodus is a prefiguration.
- The Sacrifice of Jesus is the only source of salvation.
- That Sacrifice is made truly present in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
- Our faith is needed to receive these graces.
- Jesus calls us to offer with Him.
This is a computer-generated transcription that has been included to make the homily searchable. It has not been verified by the author.
“Before the Feast of Passover, Jesus knew that His hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world. And he loved them to the end.” On this Holy Thursday, as I said, the first Holy Thursday of this great new reconquest, we can’t give the Encounters anymore, right now. And so I want to share, because then, the information shared in the Encounters is so foundational for our little mission. And so I wanted to take some time with these, precisely on this night, this Holy Thursday, which invites us to go back all the way back to the last supper that Jesus gathered with his apostles. And in fact, what Jesus is doing on the Last Supper, as we heard in the first reading, is going back even many centuries earlier, all the way back to the Israelites in Egypt. And so what we’re celebrating here on this little Tepeyac, in this year, 2024, is rooted all the way back in those, all the way back when the Israelites are in Egypt. And so they were facing a great problem, a terrible problem of oppression. God’s people being oppressed by perhaps the most powerful, the greatest power in the world at that point, that of Egypt, the pharaoh of Egypt. And so this is not a fairy tale. This is a real historical event of this great oppression. And so this, how do you, these very numerous people, how do you save them from that oppression. And this has the meaning for us today because we’re not being oppressed by the pharaoh of Egypt. We’re not being oppressed by the pharaoh of Egypt. But we have not only the oppression of many evil forces, powerful evil forces in our world, but also the oppression of satan himself, as Saint John says, the whole world is in a power of satan, and his power is so great now. And all of us are feeling the weight of that oppression and see the terrible consequences of it. And so what we’re celebrating today, I think that’s a very important point. It is not just because we want to celebrate a nice traditional rite, something that we’ve been, or our faith has been teaching us for many years, for many centuries. But it’s to free us from oppression, to liberate God’s people for the salvation of God’s people. That that’s what the exodus is about, that the exodus that Jesus was celebrating that night, which was rooted in many centuries earlier, is about saving His people from their oppression, from their slavery. And so how do you do that? How do you celebrate? How do you free so many people from such a powerful oppressor? And so we heard the reading, in the first reading that we’re used to hearing that but think how crazy that must have sounded. Imagine Moses coming to the elders of the people saying, Okay, I’ve got a plan to free our people, hundreds of 1000s of people. Here’s what we’re going to do. Everybody, this is what God told me to do. Everybody, take a young male lamb and sacrifice it. Put its blood on your door post and eat the lamb with unleavened bread. How does that sound like a plan for freeing up people from Egypt? What kind of revolutionary ever came up with such a crazy plan? Does it have anything to do with it? Can you imagine enlisting that does have anything to do with it? Maybe you could have gotten together and got some weapons and, you know, coordinate our attack and something but sacrificing a lamb and eating it. What does that have to do with anything? And Moses said, That’s what God told me to do. So why don’t we do it? And they did it. And that crazy plan worked. One of the most amazing moments in all of human history, which permitted this people without them incurring bloodshed, they didn’t have to kill anybody. They were able to escape. A lot of Egyptians were killed, but not because the Israelites killed them. But because they were obstinate. And so that’s an important point that what we’re celebrating tonight is not just a nice, symbolic, rite. It is this one of the greatest events in history of saving God’s people from oppression. The Mass we’re celebrating tonight, is rooted in this great act of saving God’s people from oppression. The point I’m trying to make is that it’s about something very practical. Because for a lot of people, the Mass doesn’t seem at all practical, right? It doesn’t seem to have anything to do with all the real problems in the world, it seems that a lot of people just kind of an escapism, you just kind of take part in the rite, forget about the problems for a little bit, but you haven’t done anything. But what we actually see is this Mass is rooted in a historical event, which was about saving people from almost an impossible situation. And it was so important that God wanted them to do this every year. We heard him say, this day will be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall observe it as an ordinance forever. And so that’s what Jesus was doing that night. That night before He died, He was celebrating this, that rite that God had given to His people. So He’s celebrating with His apostles, the Passover rite. Because whether they knew it or not, He is the new Moses, the new liberator, leading his people on a new Exodus, not the exodus from Pharaoh, and from Egypt, but from the cruel oppression of satan, and evil. And so how is He going to do it? He’s not going to act like most revolutionaries, He’s not going to do it the way Lenin did, and so many revolutionaries throughout history. What He’s going to do, after He’d been preparing His apostles for three years, they still couldn’t understand it, at all. What was He going to do? He was going to become Himself, the lamb. The pascal lamb that they have been offering all these centuries, was a prefiguration for Him. He is the true lamb, who accepts to become the victim, the lamb that is sacrificed. And He makes Himself the victim and He draws in the power of satan. Satan focuses all his hatred, and all his evil and all his cruelty on Jesus. And he’s organized with the elite, this great plan, this great conspiracy to satan as the original conspiracy theorists that he organized as this great plan to destroy or the original conspirist, this great plan to trap Jesus, trap Jesus in his net. And so he seems to be succeeding. It’s worked, Jesus has been captured. Then Jesus being condemned, being tortured, Jesus is killed. But satan didn’t realize that what seemed to be his triumph was Jesus accepting to become the victim, to lure satan out of his hiding to attack Jesus. And so that Jesus could, by His sacrifice, by the infinite power of His love poured out and sacrificed, destroy the power of satan, and liberate His people, so that all those who followed Him could be liberated. Leading them now to the true eternal promised land of heaven. And the book of Revelation shows the power of this lamb, who vanquishes all the forces of evil, the great dragon and all the forces of evil. So that’s what Jesus was celebrating mysteriously that night, when he said, “Take this, all of you and eat it, this is my body. This is the blood of the new covenant.” But then he added something, because he wanted you and I tonight, in 2024, to also be able to participate. If he hadn’t said, what’s coming next, we would read in Scripture, the great, mysterious thing that Jesus did in the last supper, how special that must have been to be there. I wish I could have participated in that. But to give you a chance to participate in that, He said to His apostles, “Do this in memory of me.” Keep on doing this. And so that’s what we’re doing right now, tonight, in this Mass, we’re obeying Jesus, Do this in memory of me. As St. Paul said, “every time we celebrate this, we proclaim the death of Jesus until He comes.” But this truth, so what does that mean? That means that the Eucharist, which gives us the true Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus, but contains, perhaps an even more mysterious, mysterious reality. Thats the only thing that can save our world, that can save us from the power of satan, there’s only one thing that can save us from the power of hell. And that is the sacrifice of Jesus. And so 2000 years ago in Jerusalem, He offers this sacrifice. And here we are in this little Tepeyac in 2024, and by this sacrament, beyond time and space, we are united to His sacrifice. And His sacrifice is made present to us today. And this is the great truth that has been so terribly lost. How many Catholics realize this great – what word can you use to describe, I was going to say gift, but gift doesn’t begin to describe the infinite treasure that Jesus has entrusted to us and made it capable for us to access which is His sacrifice, not repeated, but become present, in this sacrament of the Holy Mass. Sister Lucia, who had been one of the children of Fatima, later on when she joined the convent one night, she was what – excuse me, let me back up. Yeah, yeah, that’s right. So when she was awoken by her Angel one night in the convent, who led her to the chapel. And they’re above the altar, she saw Jesus crucified, above the altar. And above Him, she saw God the Father, and coming down from the Father to the Son, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. And on one side of Jesus, our Lady of Fatima with her Immaculate Heart, and suspended in midair, she saw a chalice and a host. And from the wounds of Jesus, blood was flowing onto the chalice, onto the host and into the chalice. And then from the wound of his other hand, she saw water coming out, that the blood, well, the blood turned into drops of water, which formed the words, graces, and mercy, and was flowing upon the altar, and then out from the altar. And that vision, which is so special for us, because it shows us the invisible reality that is happening in every Mass, in this Mass this evening. It is Jesus crucified, who is present in His sacrifice, and where He is present, His Father and the Holy Spirit are present. And He is always there with His Blessed Mother, our mother. And to make it very clear that this was representing the Mass, it was on the altar, and there was the host and chalice. And from His wounds, graces and mercy were flowing. That’s what’s happening at the Mass. It’s this great source of God’s divine grace and mercy to free our world. And God’s given us so many signs like Padre Pio the stigmatist, who lived intensely, especially during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the sufferings of Jesus. And so many Eucharistic miracles that the Lord has given in our times, especially in our times, because there’s such a crisis of faith in our times, the Lord is multiplying these Eucharistic miracles, and many of them involve blood on the host to make clear that this is a sacrifice. And the prayers that Jesus gave to St. Faustina, (let me see if I can. Let there be light, so that’s good. I can see) that what Jesus said to Saint Faustina, “Eternal Father, I offer you, the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.” That’s what’s happening in the sacrifice, we’re able to offer to the Father, the one sacrifice, which is worthy of Him, which has infinite power, for the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us, and on the whole world. For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, which is made present in this sacrifice. So that’s what the Mass is about. It’s not just a religious rite. It’s about saving us, the only thing that can save us, save our world from the evil that is present. There’s all sorts of evils and all sorts of persons seeking, seeking what to do, but the only solution is Jesus in His sacrifice. And that’s what the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is about. So if His sacrifice is infinitely powerful, and if it’s made present in the Holy Mass, why are there still so many problems in our world? How can those both be true? How can a Mass have that power, and yet our world is such a mess, still, so with so much power of satan, what is lacking? What is lacking is not God’s power. It’s our cooperation because part of it depends on us. God does his part. But He has also entrusted to us a part. He’s given us an essential part also. And I want to focus on two key acts for our cooperation tonight. You know, the Church has many; were familiar with the Roman Rite, there’s the traditional Latin Mass, as it was celebrated for many, many centuries. And then a lot of changes were made after Vatican II. A lot of them may be not so good. But there’s other rites also, this other ancient rite in the Catholic Church, like the light that some religious orders have, like the Dominican Carthusian, the Carmelites, and other ancient like Mozarabic, and different rites, and they have a lot of differences among them. And yet, in all of them, this great mystery is made present. So those things can change, but what cannot change, what is central for this grace is to flow. What do we see in the Gospel? When Jesus went to Nazareth, he cannot work, the Gospel says, many miracles there, but not because He was less powerful. But it was something on their part that was lacking. The Gospel says because of their lack of faith, And then the gospel shows us someone like the woman with a hemorrhage who comes up and wants to touch Jesus and she can only touch His cloak. And then she feels His grace flowing into her. And Jesus says, “My Daughter, your faith has healed you,” your faith. So what we need is for these grace’s to flow from His sacrifice, through the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass into us and into our world, is faith. That’s what we’re the Mission of Divine Mercy is about, faith so that God can act. And that’s why the devil has attacked faith in the Holy Eucharist, to destroy our faith in the Real Presence of Jesus. And in the fact that the Mass is not just the Lord’s Supper as the protestants believe. But it is the making present of His sacrifice. The angel of Fatima before our Blessed Mother appeared to the children of Fatima in 1916, the angel at one point taught them this prayer, I won’t give you the whole prayer. But the angel said to pray in reparation for what? For the outrages, sacrileges, and indifferences with which Jesus Christ in the blessed sacrament is offended. The outrages, sacrileges, and indifference against our Lord’s presence in the Blessed Sacrament. That was over 100 years ago. Has the Church fixed those problems? Do we not have the outrages, sacrileges and in differences that there were 100 years ago? Or has it gotten much worse? What would the angels say today about what’s going on? If that was 100 years ago. And then the angel said to the children listen to this because the angels are asking us to do this tonight also, “take and drink the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Horribly outraged by ungrateful men,” horribly outraged by ungrateful men. “Make reparations for their crimes and console your God.” So we have a lot of new people listening now to these homilies, not just here at the mission, but also online. And so I thought it seemed too important to come back to these foundational truths. And a lot of changes, I said were made after the Second Vatican Council. A lot of them were not actually called for by the council. But they were just the committee making these changes. And I think a lot of them were disastrous. Pope Benedict was recognizing that there have been a lot of grave problems in the way these changes were made. And so there’s been a lot of good efforts made to try to restore traditional elements of our celebration. St. Paul says, “less the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” And that’s the danger, that we empty the Mass of the power of the sacrifice of the cross of Jesus Christ. Not because His sacrifice is less powerful, but because our faith doesn’t permit that sacrifice, the graces of mercy to flow. I gave one example in the Encounters with this was when I was in Monterey. I mean, there’s a big is the big missionary, national missionary Youth Congress in like 10,000 youth from all over the Mexico gathered for this, and they want it to be a very special Mass. And so they had this really, really professional praise and worship band. And so leading the music, very lively music throughout all the Mass. And to make it even more special for the young people, they gave each one of them a balloon. And so you’ve got 1000s of young people in this big church, all with balloons. What’s happening all during Mass when you have a lot of balloons. So I don’t think anyone fell asleep during that Mass. And maybe at least that wow, that was that Mass went really quickly. And I imagine that people did it were well intentioned. But how many of those youth were able to make an act of faith that this is the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary? Because nothing says the sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary like balloons. I imagine, that’s what the apostles were doing on Good Friday, right? That they’re in Jerusalem, they were probably handing out balloons, right to the people who are going up. Or maybe not. But that crazy example, which was a real example, and of course there are many more, is a sign of the crisis in our Church, when instead of strengthening faith in the Holy Eucharist, those balloons, unfortunately, were not strengthening faith, they were attacking faith. And unfortunately, so much of what is done in our liturgy today is not strengthening the faith in this great mystery, but it’s attacking the faith. So that’s the reason for the Encounters with Jesus. ou know, the Encounters with Jesus, that’s not something that we dreamed up. They begin, it was shortly after these, I met these ladies in Monterey. And I learned about the mission, it was within about a year, or maybe even less, and less actually, that I was asked to begin these retreats. And I didn’t know what to do. And so I asked does the Lord want to give any, any guidance, and He sure did want to give guidance. He gave a whole work, a whole manual about how we should do these retreats. Even like the name, the name came from the Lord. The name of these retreats we were using was youth 2000, and the Lord wanted us to use the name “Encounter with Jesus.” And He gave a lot of instruction about what talks He wanted us to give. And it was focused on silent prayer, and adoration, of the Holy Eucharist. And so that’s the first point about our cooperation, and which is so central to the mission, of this Mission of Divine Mercy is faith. And then the second point that Jesus asks us to help Him in this sacrifice, to help him save the world, by your sacrifices. Like Simon of Cyrene, who was asked, forced, not asked, forced to carry the cross of Jesus. All of us have things which are very painful, humiliating, sad, in our life, which we didn’t want. And what we felt maybe were forced upon us. And we say, Why me? Why would God do this to me? Like imagine, Simon of Cyrene was at first. And then later Simon of Cyrene, I imagine, was still saying, “Why me?” But not why was I forced to do this. But why was I given the grace to do this? Do you think Simon of Cyrene now in heaven, would trade, having carried the cross of Jesus for anything? I think he’s just eternally amazed that he had the privilege of carrying the cross of Jesus. But you and I also have that privilege. Unfortunately, that privilege is very camouflaged, and often very painful. But what Jesus has asked you to do, is to bring what is hard and sad, and difficult and painful in your life and unite it, your crosses, to His cross. And those of you who have suffered most are the ones who have the greatest sacrifice to give him. And that’s what the Mass is also for. That’s what the offertory is for, for us to offer our sacrifices with His. So that’s not just the sacrifice of Jesus. It’s the sacrifice of Jesus and you, Jesus asking you, to help Him, liberate the world, save the world, redeem souls. And so we’re here tonight, not as spectators. But we’re here both to receive the grace and mercy from Jesus. But we’re here also, to help Jesus, to help save the world by taking that part of our life, which seems worthless, worse than worthless. And saying, Jesus, I want to give this to you, I want to offer this with you. So to conclude, just to summarize, these points, in a world dominated by evil, we all know there’s so much evil in our world, we often feel what can I do? What can I do practically? That’s what Jesus has given us. Something we can do practically. The only solution we know is the sacrifice of Jesus. And that sacrifice becomes present in this holy Mass, like the Holy Mass we’re celebrating tonight. And so with our Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Guadalupe, let us do two things. Let us make an act of faith in the Real Presence of Jesus, and in His sacrifice that becomes present here. And with that faith, make an act of love, a gift of our suffering, of our pain, of our sadness, of our humiliations, of our heartbreaks, of our struggles with Him for this new Exodus, for the liberation of God’s people, for this great reconquest that God is beginning tonight, not tonight, it is beginning, beginning now in these days. I’m just going to say a few words in Spanish. Amen.
KEYWORDS / PHRASES:
John 13:1-15
Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14