The Popish Plot
"Between Scenes of the Final Four 2020"
Life without the Eucharist: Day 10
On yesterday's new episode of Catholic Stuff You Should Know, one of the priests, Fr, Mike Rapp, hit the nail right on the head: We are in an indefinite Holy Saturday, bereft of the Lord & His consoling might, but expectantly awaiting the new dawn of East Sunday, of the Resurrection. The trouble, what makes his waiting so unbearable, is that unlike Holy Saturday, when we know exactly when the glory of the Paschal Vigil will begin (& our choir call time), no one can say when the dawn will come. We're stuck in an unending Holy Saturday, & Holy Saturday is not a place in which to tarry.
'Tis the Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent (meaning "Spring;" the Latin name is Quadragesima, meaning "fortieth"): Quadragesima-link & Wikipedia-link Quadragesima.
Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent
The Book of Widsom, chapter two, verses one(a) & twelve thru twenty-two;
Psalm Thirty-four (R/. nineteen[a]), verses seventeen & eighteen, nineteen & twenty, & twenty-one & twenty-three;
The Gospel according to John, chapter seven, verses one, two, ten, & twenty-five thru thirty.
Commentary: Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):
Friends, in today’s Gospel Jesus proclaims during the Feast of Tabernacles that the Father has sent him.Video reflection by the Reverend Jonathan W. Felux (U.S.C. of Catholic Bishops): Daily Reflection.
In his passion to set right a disjointed universe, God broke open his own heart in love. The Father sent not simply a representative, spokesman, or plenipotentiary, but his own Son into the dysfunction of the world so that he might gather that world into the bliss of the divine life.
God’s center—the love between the Father and the Son—is now offered as our center; God’s heart breaks open so as to include even the worst and most hopeless among us. In so many spiritual traditions, the emphasis is placed on the human quest for God, but this is reversed in Christianity.
Christians do not believe that God is dumbly "out there," like a mountain waiting to be climbed by various religious searchers. On the contrary, God, like the hound of heaven in Francis Thompson’s poem, comes relentlessly searching after us.
Because of this questing and self-emptying divine love, we become friends of God, sharers in the communion of the Trinity. That is the essence of Christianity; everything else is commentary.
Reflect: How has God come "relentlessly searching" for you during your life?
"Easter of Hope" Reflection (Array of Hope):
In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus attend the Feast of Tabernacles. This feast commemorated both the end of the autumn harvest and God's provision for Israel during its time in the wilderness after liberation from slavery in Egypt. John the Evangelist makes clear that it is in Jesus, who is from the Father, that we find the greatest example of God providing for His people. Jesus is the Light that overcomes the darkness. He is the Rock from which will flow the Living Water of the Holy Spirit. He is the True Bread that came down from Heaven. And when His hour comes, by His passion, cross, and resurrection, we will be set free from slavery to sin and death, and experience the definitive Exodus!Scripture Study—Exodus 90: Day 75
What is your response to Jesus? The religious leaders rejected Jesus because he was a challenge to their authority. The inhabitants of Jerusalem rejected Jesus for intellectual reasons and then lashed out at Him when He got too "personal." The brothers of Jesus did not believe (see John 7:5), for they wanted Him to prove Himself. Do I insist on maintaining authority over my life? Do I seek reasons to avoid giving myself to Christ? Do I reject Him when His words shine a light on my sin and hypocrisy? Do I refuse to believe until He has adequately proved Himself? Or will I accept Him as my Savior and Lord, as Christ and Son of God, as the True Light that enlightens all men and the Living Water that will quench our insatiable thirst, and entrust my life to Him?
The Book of Exodus, chapter thirty-two, verses twenty-one thru twenty-four.
Commentary: The Golden Calf (cont'd; Exodus, 32:21-24).
Scripture Study—The 3:16 Project
The Book of Daniel, chapter chapter three, verse sixteen.
Shadrach, Meshach, & Abednego answered the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter."Papal Quote o' the Day
"Faith must be accompanied by charity, charity that unites us all with one another & with Christ. It must be accompanied by chairty that, under the inspiration & motion of the Divine Spirit, welds the members of teh Mystical Body together by an unbreakable bond."Saint Quote o' the Day
—Pope Ven. Pius XII (1876-1958, r. 1939-1958)
"Never will anyone who says his Rosary every day be led astray. This is a statement that I would gladly sign with my blood."Chesterton Quote o' the Day
—St. Louis de Monfort (1673-1716, feast: 28 April)
"As an old-fashioned person, who still believes that Reason is a gift of God & a guide to truth, I must confine myself to saying that I do not want a God Whom I have made, but a God Who has made me."
—G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
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