Good Friday March 29, 2024

Good Friday

March 29, 2024

Two of the names for Jesus are Light of the world and Lamb of God. We see both names are present in the Passion according to John. 

In his telling of the passion John has a back and forth of Pilate as he seeks to find the truth.   The Praetorium is the place where Pilate places charges upon Jesus. He goes in alone while the church leaders wait outside. For John’s telling of the trial, he goes in and out of the Praetorium. For John the Praetorium is the place of Darkness, and the stone steps are the place of light. Ray Brown in his commentary has this to say.

“” The Jews’ are outside the praetorium refusing ot enter; Jesus is inside the praetorium; these are the separated forces of darkness and light. 

 Pilate must shuttle back and forth, for he is the person-in -between who does not wish to make a decision and so vainly tries to reconcile the opposing forces. 

For John, however, one must decide for light or darkness and thus judge oneself as one face the light come into the world.

By not deciding for the truth, Pilate is deciding for falsehood and darkness.”

 

Light is an image that will be very present in the Easter Vigil and season.  As we gather in the darkness at the Easter Vigil the darkness will be  torn by the light of the Easter fire and the Paschal candle ( A name meaning sheep) the Paschal candle will be lite from the fire and many small lights will be lite as the light of the world is passed from person to person. We will sit in darkness and listen the words of scripture telling us about the actions of our God before the time of Christ.

  Later a light will be taken from the Paschal Candle and given to the newly baptized Christians.

On Easter Morning we greet the light of a new day, a day that reminds us of the light of the resurrection. A light we will all experience as we also experience resurrection.

Easter is possible because Christ died and rose for us. 

John tells his story of the passion. He notes that Jesus is condemned to death, at the same time the lambs are being slaughtered for the Passover meal.  The lamb of God dies to take away our sins to free us in the same way the Passover lamb freed the Jewish people.  Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Pilate asks the question, “What is truth”. For Pilate the truth is that Jesus is the son of God and Pilate is unable to grasp this truth.   Here is Brown again;

‘” Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice’ is a test of Pilate; the judge is being judged.

Pilate’s response, ‘What is truth?’ is not to be understood as a profound philosophical question.
It does echo the imperiousness of the Roman who challenged; but ironically it is a self-condemnation.

His failure to recognize truth and hear Jesus’ voice shows that he does not belong to God.

 This the last time in John that Jesus shall speak of truth, and his voice has not been heard.”

After these scenes in the gospel, we go with Jesus to witness his life-giving death.  Unlike Pilate, we know the end of the story and we know the truth of Good Friday. A day that recalls a Roman execution has been named good not because suffering and death are good, but because as a result of Jesus’ passion and death we meet the resurrected Christ on Easter Sunday.

In a few moments we will venerate the cross, a torture device, that has became a sign of hope for all who know the truth of the cross and resurrection.

I applaud you for being here. Many will join us to celebrate the resurrection on Easter, but few are willing to stand and witness the passion and death of Christ.

May this day truly be good for all who join us this night to venerate the cross and honor the passion and death of our Lord.

The Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, November 8, 2025

By Fr. Chris Welch • November 6, 2025
St. John Lateran is the cathedral of Rome. The church was built on land belonging to the Lateran family, thus the name St. John Lateran. Connected to the church is the baptistry, a large building used for baptisms. This is the oldest baptistry in Rome. The building dates to the days of Emperor Constantine and includes image of the battle of Milvin Bridge (312) when Constantine had a vision of the cross and later declared Christianity the official religion of the empire. In our first reading on this feast, we hear of the water flowing in the temple. Water is used in the sacrament of baptism. The baptistry at John Lateran is the oldest of its kind and speaks to us of the sacrament. Water speaks of the two elements of the sacrament of baptism, death and life. Those who are baptized die to their old way of life and participate in the resurrection of our Lord as they experience new life in this sacrament. In the waters of baptism, we are cleansed from the stain of original sin, and we are initiated into the body of Christ. The initiation into the body of Christ is the reason we baptize at the weekend liturgy. The person is being brought in as a member of the body of Christ, and the body of Christ gathers on the weekends at Mass. In the early church there were adults who were baptized. They would spend a period journeying with a sponsor and learning about the faith and at the Easter Vigil the bishop would come (in the early days there were no priests, just bishops), the community would gather, and the bishop would perform the rites of initiation, baptism, confirmation, and Eucharist. The OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults) recaptures this practice of the early church. Over the years it has become common to baptize infants. Canon Law, the law of the church, considers a child of 6 years to be an adult and thus is invited to enter the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. Baptism is the first and most important sacrament. Each time we enter a church we bless ourselves with holy water to recall our baptism. In so many of our sacraments the church takes simple things and uses them to speak about aspects of our faith. Water has become a sign of the death of Christ and a sign of his resurrection. We use oil, a simple element, for anointing and healing in the sacrament of Baptism. The lit candle speaks of the light of Christ brought to the person in the sacrament and finally the cross is made on the mouth and ears of the person for hearing and speaking the word of God. Other sacraments use simple things to speak about a greater reality. We use bread and wine in the Mass; a simple gold ring is exchanged to speak about the love of God that unites a man and wife. Today we celebrate the dedication of an important space in our world church. The Church of St. John Lateran and its baptistry have allowed many to touch into the love our God for many years. We are thankful for this holy place.

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

By Deacon Paul Cerosaletti • October 19, 2025
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25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

By Deacon Paul Cerosaletti • September 21, 2025
Language scholars who have studied the origins of the word mammon in Hebrew and Aramaic have found clear association with words meaning wealth, riches, money, profit and possessions. But there is also evidence that one of the root words for mammon also means “that in which one trusts.” On all of our US currency — each coin and paper bill — is a simple (and, I suspect, often overlooked) phrase: “In God we trust.” This phrase was added during the Cold War to distinguish our currency, and nation, from that of the atheist Soviet Union. On each of our denominations of currency, both coins and paper bills, we have this simple reminder in whom we should be placing our trust in — God — and not what we should be placing it in: the fruit of our human activity, especially money. It is a poignant reminder to us today in light of the Gospel passage we hear and our current experience. This reminder begs us to ask two questions of ourselves and collectively as a country and society: Do we trust in God first? Always, everywhere, in everything? Or do we place our trust first in small-“g” god, or gods of human origin? In answering those questions, we might ask ourselves, what do our actions say about whether we place our trust first in God, or in humans? Where are we spending our time and treasure? This past month has brought us yet more tragic and traumatic reminders of our society’s misplaced trust. The recent spate of wounding and taking of innocent lives through gun violence in service of an ideology of retribution is just the most recent in a continuing human saga of such behavior, behavior that places trust in leading with human action to resolve differences, over our openness and trust in allowing God to lead us to a conversion of heart and to reconciliation. There is more that could be said about the responsible use of wealth in service to God. About detachment from ‘goods’ of this world — goods that God gives us out of love to draw us closer and more deeply into love with God, that we might revere God and God’s creation, but not take those goods in place of God. But in light of our continuing tragedies and the lack of reverence for human life, created by God in the image and likeness of God, of which they are clear evidence, the most important response we can offer is what St. Paul exhorts us to in his letter to Timothy, when he writes: First of all, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity. This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth. And so we will pray to God, as St Paul asks. Pray collectively for those who have suffered violence in all forms against humanity. We will pray collectively for those wounded, those who have lost their lives and their families. And then perhaps most difficult of all, we will pray for those who perpetrated this violence, and all who are tempted to perpetrate violence against humanity. We should be challenged in our prayers to pray for people we don’t want to pray for. We may find the heart that is converted is our own. In all these prayers we place our trust first and foremost in God, who desires to save us, and who “proves his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). In this is our act of Faith. In this is our act of Hope.