Homily for Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord
27 March 2016
Oh don't you dare look back
Just keep your eyes on me
I said you're holding back
She said shut up and dance with me
This woman is my destiny
She said (Ooo Ooo)
Shut up and dance with me
"Okay," you're probably thinking, "Father Rob has lost it if he's singing Walk the Moon lyrics." Or you may be asking, "What does that song have to do with Easter?" Well, maybe nothing . . . or maybe a lot.
In this night / On this day, the Church is the one calling us to "shut up and dance" with her. She does so because her Bridegroom is risen from the dead, and she wants us to rejoice! In this night / On this day, she beckons us like a lover, seduces us like the sirens of the ancient myths to enter into the complete and total ecstasy and joy of the Glory of the Resurrection.
As the song says, "We were victims of the night . . ." Yes, we were. In the night of darkness of sin, we allowed ourselves to be moved by our desires, our wants, our needs. Yet, as victims of THIS night / LAST night (the Easter Vigil), this is where she tells us to "dare [not] look back" and to "keep [our] eyes on [her]." For if we look back, we can't appreciate the joy of the Risen Lord. Keeping our eyes on her, the Church will always lead us to Christ, just as the Blessed Mother does.
This is the night / day, then, that the Bride takes our arm, leads us to the cosmic dance floor, and rejoices with us in the wedding feast of her and her Risen Bridegroom. Yet, she and the Lord continuously desire for us to fall passionately in love with her. "Deep in her eyes" we can "see the future." Just as we feel it as we gaze deeply into the eyes and Heart of Christ in prayer and adoration - just as we will in a short while at the consecration -, so as we gaze deeply into the beauty of the Church, we can see our future, for, truly, "this woman is [our] destiny."
The Resurrection gives us permission to dance, to rejoice. This is the feast of victory for our God! Our "Alleluia!" becomes the song, the dance, the life, the future that we enter into. As Saint Augustine of Hippo and Saint John Paul II remind us: We are an Easter people, and "Alleluia" is our song.
The Church beckons us, seduces us into the "Alleluia" because it is there that we continuously, passionately, and totally fall in love with our God. She invites us to "shut up and dance" with her because the more we gaze upon her beauty, truth and goodness, the more we stop worrying about the past and enjoy the promises that the Resurrection brings about. The "Alleluia" is the primal call of the Christian; it is the song of consummation of the Church.
This is the night / day, then, when that happy fault, that necessary sin of Adam brings forth for us so great a Redeemer. It is the time when Heaven is wedded to Earth, and we are reconciled to God. This is the night / day when the light of Christ illumines the darkness of the world, and invites us onto the dance floor, knowing that "we were bound together to be together" for Christ and His Church for all time and eternity.
This is the night / day where we need to simple "shut up and dance": Dance with the Bride and Bridegroom, with Christ and His Church in the ecstasy and joy of the Resurrection - that eternal Dance by which you and I share in the promises of Christ through Word and Sacrament. This is the night / day where you and I are seduced into the "Alleluia" - a call, a sigh which is ever ancient and ever new. This is the night / day when we rejoice, for this is the Feast of victory for our God.
Alleluia!
4 comments:
Good post.
Dear Catholic Crusader,
Five hundred years ago in 1517, Martin Luther made public his 95 complaints against the Roman Catholic church (hereafter, RCC). Today, we shall do likewise, with another 95 reasons. However, in this critique, we will exclusively fixate on the nucleus of all Catholic doctrine called, Transubstantiation. This teaching is built on the premise that when the priest utters “This is my body” over bread and wine that the “combustible” syllables of these four words ignite with such power and energy that, unbeknownst to our cognizant senses, the substance of bread and wine miraculously change (“by the force of the words” says the Council of Trent; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1375). They are then abruptly replaced with something else entirely; namely, the very body, blood, soul and divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ in some mysterious form which leaves only the outward appearance of bread and wine (i.e., the color, shape, size, taste, weight and texture -- or "accidental" properties, remain unchanged in objective reality). It is claimed that the supernatural power that creates this miracle on a daily basis, 24 hours a day in Masses worldwide, “is the same power of Almighty God that created the whole universe out of nothing at the beginning of time” (Mysterium Fidei, 47). The question is: does the sacred rhetoric of Jesus lead us to conclude He intended it be recited like a magician recites his incantations? (Reason 6, 74). That at the recitation of these four words, the world is obligated to be transfixed on Transubstantiation???
We should think that a rollercoaster of 95 reasons against this doctrine should at least pique your curiosity, let alone make you wonder if, like the calmness of a ferris wheel, you can so calmly refute them. The issue is far from inconsequential, since it’s claimed our very eternal destinies are at stake. So while sensitive to the fact that many are captivated by this doctrine, we are persuaded that the theological framework of the Bible conveys a persistent and vigorous opposition to this theory. God's word tells us to, "study to show yourself approved" (2 Tim 2:15) and we have indeed done just that.
The almost “romantic fidelity” to Transubstantiation springs forth from the opinion that consuming the “organic and substantial” body of Christ in the Eucharist is necessary for salvation (CCC 1129 & 1355; Trent, "Concerning Communion", ch. 1 and “Concerning Communion Under Both Kinds”, ch. 3; Canon 1; Mysterium Fidei, intro). Our burden here is to safeguard the gospel (Jude 1:3). If a religious system professing to be Christian is going to demand that something be done as a prerequisite for eternal life, it is vital to scrutinize this claim under the searchlight of Scripture and with “the mind of Christ” (1 Cor 2:16). Proverbs 25:2 says, "the honor of a king is to search out a matter". We shall do likewise.
Determined to test all things by Holy Writ (1 Thess 5:21; Acts 17:11, 2 Cor 10:5), the following 95 reasons have been compiled to an extravagant length to provoke you to consider the cognitive complexities of this doctrine which we conclude are biblically unbearable. We are so convinced the Bible builds a concrete case against this superstition, that we will not allow the things we have in common to suppress the more urgent need to confront the differences that divide us, such as Transubstantiation. We are told this issue directly impacts our eternal destiny, so it must not be ignored. The Lord Jesus came to divide and conquer by the truth of His word. He said, "Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division" (Luke 12:51-53).
For the full essay of 95 reasons, kindly e-mail me at
Eucharistangel@aol.com
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withoutimage.xyz
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Catholic must know Dogma > Ripped from your soul.
If you're at all interested in knowing ... the Catholic Dogma ... that we *must believe* to
get to Heaven, and which you have *never* seen ...
I list it on my website > > www.Gods-Catholic-Dogma.com
And no ... the anti-Christ vatican-2 heretic cult (founded in 1965) is not the Catholic Church (founded in 33 A.D.).
Currently ... you are outside the Catholic Church and so ... have no chance of getting to Heaven.
Physical participation in a heretic cult (vatican-2, lutheran, evangelical, etc) ... automatically excommunicates you from the Catholic Church (that is, Christianity) >
www.Gods-Catholic-Dogma.com/section_13.2.2.html
Mandatory ... Abjuration of heresy to enter the Catholic Church >
www.Gods-Catholic-Dogma.com/section_40.html
Dogma that one must Abjure to leave the vatican-2 heretic cult and enter the Catholic Church >
www.Gods-Catholic-Dogma.com/section_40.1.html
The BIBLE says ... 15 TIMES ... it is not the authority on Faith,
the BIBLE says the Church in it's Dogma and Doctrine ... is the authority on Faith and the definition of the Catholic Faith ... www.Gods-Catholic-Dogma.com/section_6.html
The Catholic God knows ... what we think and believe ...
Catholic writing of Romans 1:21 >
"They ... became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened."
Catholic Faith (pre-fulfillment) writing of Deuteronomy 31:21 >
"For I know their thoughts, and what they are about to do this day."
Catholic Faith (pre-fulfillment) writing of Job 21:27 >
"Surely I know your thoughts, and your unjust judgments against Me."
Regards - Victoria
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