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Fr. Rensch Reflection
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Hello Everyone,Updates:1) Mass was celebrated yesterday for Jimmy Whitley on the occasion of his 50th birthday. The facebook stream cut out halfway through, sorry about that! The full Mass from St. Anthony's is available on the website: https://ourladyvt.
org/sunday-mass. That Mass was offered today for all of the you, the parishioners, as well as for the deceased members of the Albert and Bridget Hassan families. 2) Schedule of the upcoming week:Tuesday at 6:30 pm -- facebook stream of Through Saintly Eyes on St. Louis de Montfort, my confirmation saint, on his feast day!Thursday at 6:30 pm -- facebook stream of Through Saintly Eyes on a saint TBDSunday at 9 am -- Mass live-streamed from OLASunday at 11 am -- Mass live-streamed from St. Anthony'sAll events will be available at the parish facebook page and later on the website.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ourladyvt Parish Website: https://ourladyvt.org/ 3) The bishop sent the priests a message to be passed on to you all. You can find it here:
https://www.vermontcatholic.org/donate/bishops-annual-appeal/Reflection:In a previous reflection, we had the chance to look at the account of the disciples who encounter Jesus on the road to Emmaus, and heard the same passage today. We saw that the pattern of their encounter follows that of the Mass: the engagement with the Scriptures, the exposition of their meaning, and then the Eucharistic revelation. Jesus is made known to them in the breaking of the bread. In addition, we looked at the idea that Cleopas is with his wife. Besides the reasons presented before, I wanted to add one more that makes a strong case by drawing a compelling parallel.The parallel is between Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden and the two disciples of Emmaus. Of both couples, the Bible says that they ate and their eyes were opened. Surely the similarity is striking. Two pairs, both eating, both sets of eyes opened. Nothing in the Bible is coincidental, so it hardly seems that this parallel is accidental. In only adds to the evidence that Cleopas is with his wife. The parallel becomes perfect. The Resurrected Jesus is accomplishing the renewal of creation. Creation fell when the first couple ate from the tree. Jesus restores creation on Easter, and a couple enters into the new garden of grace by eating. Under the form of bread, they eat Jesus himself, the fruit that hung from the tree of the cross. Whereas Adam and Eve listen to the serpent, Cleopas and his wife listen to the Word of God. Whereas they were thrown out of paradise, the new disciples enter in. Whereas the eyes of Adam and Eve were opened to sin and death, the eyes of Cleopas and his wife are opened to life and the victor over death. As they say: if it isn't true, it should be!With Christ's resurrection the whole meaning of life falls into place for Cleopas and his wife. Their eyes are opened. It's like when you see a sketch but cannot make out what it represents, and then it suddenly clicks. For Cleopas and his wife, Jesus' resurrection makes everything click. Their hearts burn within them as Jesus enlightened them.It is not automatic that we can enter into a world in which the Resurrection is the defining moment. We naturally tend to view the world in other ways. It is difficult to shape our lives around the eye-opening knowledge of Christ's victory over death. Here is a comment by St. John Henry Newman on the challenge:
There are ten thousand ways of looking at this world, but only one right way. The man of pleasure has his way, the man of gain his, and the man of intellect his. Poor men and rich men, governors and governed, prosperous and discontented, learned and unlearned, each has his own way of looking at the things which come before him, and each has a wrong way. There is but one right way; it is the way in which God looks at the world. Aim at looking at it in God's way. Aim at seeing things as God sees them. Aim at forming judgments about persons, events, ranks, fortunes, changes, objects, such as God forms. Aim at looking at this life as God looks at it. Aim at looking at the life to come, and the world unseen, as God does. Aim at "seeing the King in his beauty." All things that we see are but shadows to us and delusions, unless we enter into what they really mean.It is not an easy thing to learn that new language which Christ has brought us. He has interpreted all things for us in a new way; He has brought us a religion which sheds a new light on all that happens. Try to learn this language. Do not get it by rote, or speak it as a thing of course. Try to understand what you say. Time is short, eternity is long; God is great, man is weak; he stands between heaven and hell; Christ is his Savior; Christ has suffered for him. The Holy Ghost sanctifies him; repentance purifies him, faith justifies, works save. These are solemn truths, which must be laid up in the heart.
Living in the light of the Resurrection is not automatic. We must aim at it. On that first Easter Sunday, Cleopas and his wife received the grace of seeing the truth of all history; their eyes were opened. They saw that they lived in a world where love, though suffering all, in the end conquers all. They saw that all the other interpretations of life and history are shallow, haphazard, mere shadows. The wisdom of the world is foolishness, because Christ our life has risen from the grave.God bless you all!Fr. Rensch
