March 31, 2024 / Easter Vigil
A whole series of apparitions manifest Jesus’ Resurrection. What is the importance of apparitions in the life of the Church? What hope does His Resurrection give us today?
Key Points
- Are apparitions from heaven important?
- What is the message of hope in the readings today?
This is a computer-generated transcription that has been included to make the homily searchable. It has not been verified by the author.
You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified. The women who have come this morning, early to the tomb, see first of all, what the Gospel says a young man dressed in white, which we know, was an angel. And this is one of the early apparitions first of the angels, and then apparitions of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And so one of the things this is speaking about is apparitions. The importance of apparitions, and what they are revealing. All the accounts of this Easter that we have in a gospel a whole series of apparitions. But why did the Lord appear? He could have just risen from the dead. And He told His apostles, He was going to rise from the dead. So He shouldn’t have had to appear right? They should have just believed. Right? He said that and they should have believed. And I raise that question, because oftentimes apparitions, and that type of grace is treated as something unimportant. I remember when I was in Monterey, 30 years ago, and I was sharing with my brother priests there, that what I was experiencing with these ladies, who had been experiencing interior locutions, and other graces, like visions, and so forth. And so they, a lot of them, thought those things should not be given any importance. I remember one of them who was a good friend of mine and priest, a good friend of mine, but he didn’t, we saw this very differently. He was preaching to our group, kind of like Amici Christi, a group that we had down there, and he said, you know, all this talk about apparitions and that kind of stuff he said, look at our Blessed Mother, she didn’t need apparitions. And I thought, the angel of the Lord appeared unto Mary. He says that he prays that three times a day, the Annunciation, was that a little bit important, was that a little bit of an important moment in our blessed mother’s life, and the angel appeared to her. So I thought, that’s crazy. This is a very good intelligent priest; how can he say that? Just a sign of how something is wrong. Another priest there, he was one of the ones in charge of our studies for the brothers of St. John, and he had come to visit us, and he knew what I was involved in. And so he was talking to us, and he said, you know, in the Church, we have the sacraments, there’s doctrine. And he says, and then there’s this little thingy like apparitions. And so we’re in Mexico here. I don’t think the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe, it was a little thingy. Has anything been more important for the evangelization of the Americans than the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe? St. Paul, the sixth said the Church exists to evangelize. Yeah, and the Spanish missionaries were trying to evangelize. They’re having very little success until the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe and it’s so such an amazing backstory that we’re learning today about all the ways that the Lord had been preparing the peoples back then, and how her apparition spoke so deeply the way He had already been preparing them for. But I think it’s probably the most important event in the whole history of our American continent. And so, to say that these are unimportant thingy’s, he uses the French word, but it sounds about like that. There’s something wrong, something wrong about our understanding. And listen to what St. Paul says, and this is the first letter of Corinthians. He says, “Now I would remind you, brethren, in what terms I preach to you the gospel by which you are saved.” This gospel, which is powerful enough to save and the only thing that saves, and he says, “For I delivered to you as a first importance, what I also received.” So what is of first importance? And St. Paul summarizes it in just a few verses. What is the first importance? So listen to what he says. He says, “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.” But St. Paul doesn’t stop there, listen to what else he says. “And He appeared to save us. And then to the twelve. Then He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time.” Five hundred at one time, “most of whom are still alive, there’s some that have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared also to me.” So St. Paul, when he’s talking about what is the first importance, what can save, in that, most of it is talking about apparitions. Isn’t that kind of weird, surprising, the important St. Paul places and the Church places on the apparitions. And I’ll read you another example. We had a passage from the Gospel of Mark, but I’ll read you what comes a little bit later. “Now, when He had risen early, on the first day of the week, He appeared, first to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that He was alive, and had been seen by her, (this is the apostles), they would not believe it.” I don’t want to say that the bishops and priests are carrying on the apostolic tradition of not believing. But it says they will not believe it. “After this, He appeared in another form to two of them as they’re walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.” So at least they’re consistent, right? They don’t believe them either. And I imagine sometimes, say if the apostles were priests, going to talk to their bishop at this point and said, you know, Bishop, there’s these ladies, you know, the from our group, they went to the tomb, some say they saw angels, some said they saw Jesus Himself. We didn’t see anything. You know, how women are, very emotional, you know, that they’ve been traumatized. So we didn’t believe them. And what would the bishops say? Well, that’s good. You’re being prudent. You’re not giving in to all these crazy things, and all these emotional women. But what did Jesus say? What would Jesus say in that case? Well we know what He would say because the gospel tells us. It says,” afterwards He appeared to the eleven themselves as they sat at table.” And what does He tell them? Does He say congratulations for being so prudent in your discernment? No, he upbraids them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed. And it doesn’t just say they had not believed in the resurrection; it says they had not believed those who saw Him after He had risen. They had not, he upgrades them for their lack of belief in those who saw His apparitions and reported as apparitions. So the resurrection, which is the foundation of our faith, shows us that maybe these apparitions are a little bit more important than we realize. Friday, for those of you who are with us for the way of the cross, or yesterday, for the meditation, with our Blessed Mother, we shared with you some meditations, some powerful meditations from a mystic called Maria Val Torta. But for me, the favorite part of her books are the accounts of the resurrection, and the many apparitions she recounts. And so I would invite you to treat yourself, especially if you’ve been through the passion, to treat yourselves to her accounts of the resurrection. John Paul the second, about Maria Val Torta speaks and recounts an apparition of Jesus, first of all, and it’s not in the gospel, but first of all, to our Blessed Mother. And it’s interesting that St. John Paul, the second, also spoke of that, it says, even though it’s not in the Gospel, it was very easy to believe that Lord appeared first of all, to His mother. And so on this new Tepeyac, where we’re celebrating this Easter, the Lord has spoken to us of very special promises for this Tepeyac, of special manifestations, that I don’t know when they’ll happen or how they’ll happen, but like there’s something special He’s preparing for us. So what do these apparitions manifest? They manifest that if we suffer with the Lord, we will share also His resurrection. St. Paul said in the reading today, “if we have grown into union with Him through a death, like His.” So what is that talking to us about? It’s revealing to us that the sufferings, the sacrifices, the humiliations, the heartbreaks that we experience, are an opportunity to be united with Jesus and His passion. And that is important because we often don’t realize that. They don’t seem like that. They just seem like bad, horrible things that happen. But what St. Paul is telling us, that those are opportunities to die with Christ, to be united with Him. And if we are united in His death, through our sufferings, we don’t have to go looking for sufferings. Sufferings have a way of finding us. You don’t have to go looking for them, but just the ones we have in our life. By offering those to the Lord, those can become what unite us to Him. And then St. Paul says, We shall also be united with Him in the resurrection. So when we’re sharing His cross, that’s a sign that we are called also to share His resurrection. “If then we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.” So our experiences of suffering, and the different deaths that we experience in this life, are preparing us to share forever, in the glory of His resurrection. And His apparitions, through the apparitions of the risen Lord, help us to believe in His Word, and the power of His Word. One thing that’s been so encouraging for us now is to hear so many people, but with the little will not so little with the words that the Lord has given us to share. So many people telling us how those words have like watered their hearts, given them hope and strength. And we have this beautiful reading from the prophet, from the Lord, through the prophet Isaiah. “Thus says the Lord, all you who are thirsty.” He doesn’t say all you who are holy, or virtuous, or strong or pure, He wants that for us. But we can only be that when we first come to Him. But we can already be thirsty. “All you who are thirsty, come to the water. You who have no money. Come receive grain and eat, come without pain, and without cost. Drink wine and milk.” Without pain, without cost. Drink wine, and not low-fat milk, but good rich milk. “Why spend your money for what is not bread, your wages for what fails to satisfy? Listen to me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fair,” rich, fair. “Come to me hastily. Listen, that you may have life.” And so this is a message of mercy, he says, “Seek the Lord while He may be found? Call him while he is near.” And so and this is not just addressed to holy people. It says, “Let the scoundrel forsake his way. Let the wicked man his thoughts that have turned to the Lord for mercy to our God who is generous and forgiving.” So the Lord is wanting to call all, not just those who are holy, but all those who are most in need of His mercy. And then he says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways, says the Lord.” And that’s a key difference. It’s key and prophetic messages because a lot of times people judge prophetic messages by our human criteria. And say well, I don’t think God would do that. And that’s not the way I imagined things. But God’s ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. “As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high, (this is a good place to think about that) as high as the heavens are above the earth, so higher my ways, above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts.” So if we judge God, by our thoughts, we’ll never be able to receive the true Word of God. Because God’s ways in God’s words are always completely beyond this. His mysteries, as the prayer we had today said, “God, who, through the preaching of the prophets, revealed the mysteries of our times.” He doesn’t say by the studies of the experts, he says, By the preaching of the prophets, because these are divine mysteries. “For justice from the heavens, the rain and snow come down, and did not return there until they have water the earth, making it fruitful and fertile, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be, that goes forth from my mouth, my word shall not return to me void, but shall do My will, achieving the end for which I sent it.” We have this very word that is given to us in this Easter Vigil. And also here we think of the God who continues to speak through the prophets. Like for instance, the great words he is given through St. Faustina about Divine Mercy. And the words is given, I believe, right now, through our little mission. There’s like this great dew which is descended from heaven for our parched earth. And so some people think, I heard some people say, all these are messages of doom and gloom. No, they’re not messages of doom and gloom. I mean, they’re doom and gloom if you’re, if you’re an enemy of God. But if you’re open to God, they’re messages of great hope, and great mercy, not just for saints, but for those of us who are still struggling with sin. As Jesus says, in His Divine Mercy, what He needs from us is our trust. He knows that we are weak. He knows we’re struggling. He knows we’re fearful. But He asked us to put our trust in Him. Because the more we trust, the more He can pour out His mercy. Trusting that Jesus is our merciful Savior, all powerful savior. And finally, that His apparitions are consolation for His bride. Friday, Good Friday, we were speaking about how the Church is the bride of Christ, His mystical body, and His bride, which is called to follow Him and His suffering, in His passion. So that the Church, and it’s also each one of us, individually. But after the great trial, which the Church is going through, right now, after this great trial, as the Church is sharing His passion, it is to prepare to share His constellation, and His triumph, His glory, that is manifested in His apparitions. His apparitions manifest His glorious, living presence. And so we have this reading, another reading from the prophet Isaiah, calling His bride to union with Him. So calling the Church and each one of us, it says, “The one who has become your husband is your maker. His name is the Lord of hosts.” So speaking of the union with God, as a spousal union, “the Lord calls you back, like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, a wife married in youth. And then cast off, says your God. For a brief moment, I abandon you, but with great tenderness, I will take you back. In an outburst of wrath for a moment, I hid my face from you. But with enduring love, I take pity on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer. Though the mountains leave their place, and hills be shaken. My love shall never leave you.” Human love often is weak and failed. But His love, He says, will never leave you. “Nor my covenant of peace be shaken, says the Lord, who has mercy on you. Oh afflicted one. storm battered and unconsoled,” afflicted, one storm battered and unconsoled. “I lay your pavements in carnelians and your foundations in sapphires, I will make your battlements of rubies, and your gates of carbuncles and all your walls of precious jewel. All your children shall be taught by the Lord. And great shall be the peace of your children, in justice shall you be established, far from the fear of oppression, or destruction, cannot even come near you.” And so in conclusion, in this feast of the resurrection of 2024, of the beginning of the reconquest, with our Blessed Mother, who appeared at Tepeyac, and he wanted this to be a new Tepeyac mysteriously. We believe in the apparitions of our risen Lord, who began back then, but He didn’t stop, like Saint Faustina and many apparitions of our Lord. Sometimes it’s a baby, sometimes in His sufferings, sometimes in His glory. And those apparitions continue. Why? To strengthen our faith, in His promises, in His Word, to strengthen our hope. So I’ll just end with reading some of those passages from Isaiah. “Oh afflicted one, storm battered and unconsoled. For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great tenderness, I will take you back. In an outburst of wrath for a moment, I hid my face from you. But within enduring love, I take pity on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer. Though the mountains leave their place, and the hills be shaken.” And so much is being shaken in our world today. “My love shall never leave you, nor my covenant of peace be shaken, says the Lord who has mercy on you.”
I’m just going to say a few words and Spanish.
Halleluiah, Amen.
KEYWORDS / PHRASES:
Isaiah 55:1-11
Mark 16:1-7
Isaiah 54:5-14