MAUNDY THURSDAY - As One Who Serves

Readings: Exodus 12:1-8,11-14; Ps 116; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-15

There are many ways of communicating with each other. Of course, the obvious way is through speech. But sometimes what we want to say seems to be difficult to capture in words, perhaps because the words are commonly misused, or trivialised. I suppose one of those words is the word 'love'. It's a word that is used very freely, and very seldom seems to be associated with anything more than emotions. One minute we can talk of loving someone or something, and then after some time speak in terms of dislike or even hatred. For the use of the word 'love' to be credible, it must be backed up by something else - by acting consistently well towards a person, to care for their well-being, and so on.

It is noticeable that Jesus doesn't say anything at the beginning of today's Gospel. He simply prepares himself to wash the disciples' feet. Even when Peter kicks up a fuss, he doesn't provide an explanation of what he is about to do. He uses a few words to steady him, then he carries out his task. It is only afterwards that he explains that this was an action of service, of love, from the one who is their Master, their Lord. And this is something that they are to imitate in their leadership of others. It is to be leadership through service.

In Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians we see a similar model of service. Paul doesn't instruct the Corinthian Church with his own ways. He gives them something which he received from the Lord. He recognises that his oversight of the Corinthian Church is not about imposing his own will, but about pointing them in the way of the Lord. He wants them to do what Jesus asked them, and indeed asks the whole Church, to do: to celebrate the Eucharist, and to partake of his body and blood.

In Jesus then, we have an example of how to lead. His example shows us that leadership is about service of others. As soon as that gives way to manipulation, control or domination, it becomes a distortion. It becomes emptied of love. At a time when those who exercise ministry in the Church is under greater scrutiny than ever, it is important to return to these foundational principles. In the midst of the scandals and difficulties, it is clear that the call to conversion and a closer following of Christ's service of others is louder than ever. As Christians, we are reminded that we are closest to God when we are doing what Jesus taught us to do. It is in this kind of service, and in gathering to receive strength from his body and blood that we can be a sign to the world of God's love and mercy

Wednesday of Holy Week-The Eleventh Station of the Cross

Br. Nicholas Crowe gives a reflection on the Eleventh Station of the Cross - Jesus is Nailed to the Cross - in a video specially pre-recorded for Godzdogz.

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Stations of the Cross

During Holy Week, the Dominican students at Blackfriars, Oxford have been leading the Stations of the Cross. Videos of the reflections preached during this devotion are now available on Godzdogz. In addition, this year an ecumenical Stations of the Cross was celebrated under the auspices of Churches Together in Central Oxford, and the prior, fr John O'Connor OP, led the service. Below are photos from these events:

Tuesday of Holy Week - The Sixth Station of the Cross

Br. David Barrins OP gives a reflection on the Sixth Station of the Cross - Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus - in a video specially pre-recorded for Godzdogz.

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Monday of Holy Week - The First Station of the Cross

Br. Robert Verrill OP gives a reflection on the First Station of the Cross - Jesus is Condemned to Death - in a video specially pre-recorded for Godzdogz.

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Lent Retreat - PALM SUNDAY

Readings: Luke 19: 28-40; Isaiah 50: 4-7; Psalm 21 (22); Philippians 2: 6-11; Luke 22: 14 - 23: 56

Sometimes following Christ can seem fairly easy: things are going OK in our lives, and there isn’t anything or anyone really challenging our faith. We happily go to Mass on Sundays, and say, like the crowd of disciples following Jesus into Jerusalem, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ Often, perhaps, we don’t really think about what we’re saying, but when it’s what everyone’s doing, it’s natural and easy to join in.

The Church’s liturgy for today, though, reminds us that things are not always like that. After hearing St Luke’s description of the entry into Jerusalem, we go into the church in a joyful procession, only to be confronted with his account of our Lord’s Passion. The crowds that eagerly welcomed Jesus are now shouting not, ‘Hosanna!’ but ‘Crucify him!’ Jesus is mocked and beaten and finally put to an agonising death. Suddenly following Jesus doesn’t seem quite so easy: it involves following him in his suffering, too, both physical, perhaps, and mental. It involves following him when everyone around us rejects him, when people ridicule our faith, or are openly hostile to it.

This, of course, is a common experience. Often our faith will challenge us and force us to make difficult choices, ones which won’t make our life any easier, as far as we can see. Some, of course, experience greater suffering in this regard than others – some are called upon, for example, to bear witness to the faith through martyrdom, while others might have to put up with being laughed at at work, but, if we do it for Jesus’ sake, it is all nonetheless a sharing in his sufferings.

And that’s the point: it is in uniting ourselves to Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross, both by living our lives, in joy and in suffering, in Christ, and also by sharing in the sacrament of his Body and Blood which makes his sacrifice present to us, that we become his true followers, and can be led by him through suffering and death to the resurrection life he has won for us. And so, during this Holy Week when we call to mind our Lord’s suffering and death, and their place in the mystery of our salvation, let us seek to unite ourselves more closely with Jesus in his suffering so that finally, we may be part of that crowd which follows him into the heavenly Jerusalem, singing together with the angels, ‘Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’

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Lent Retreat - Week 5, Saturday

Readings: Ezek 37:21-28; Jer 31:10-12; John 11:45-56

Some things which occur in the Church are rightly called scandals, which is to say, that they are stumbling blocks for one's faith. This Lent, the scandalous acts of certain churchmen have been exposed once more to the public gaze, and we are rightly ashamed and aghast. As the prophet Ezekiel puts it in today's First Reading, these men of God have "defiled themselves... with their idols and their detestable things [and with] their transgressions" (Ezek 37:23). The scandal of clerical sex abuse is a betrayal on so many levels. It breaks faith with God, with those of God's beloved people who had been entrusted to the pastoral care of the Church, and with all the baptised who are members of the one Body of the Church. As St Paul said, "if one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together" (1 Cor 12:26). For the suffering of the victims is shared by all the baptised, and the shame incurred by the perpetrator of abuse is shared by all of us too. Moreover, these scandalous acts are not only a betrayal, but above all, deeply sinful. And as sin, they bring many evils in their wake, including trauma, pain, division. Thus, these sinful acts are a scandal, an obstacle to faith, for sin always divides us from one another and from God.

However, as Holy Week approaches, we are challenged once again to make an act of faith. We are called to look not at the sins of these churchmen, or even at our own sins, but on the One who takes on our sins and, in pain and suffering, dies for all "the children of God who are scattered abroad" (Jn 11:52). Indeed Christ is the Victim who dies for all victims, and particularly fallen humanity, who are the victims of sin. As St Paul puts it so strikingly: "For our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Cor 5:21). Therefore, Christ suffered for all of us and by his death on the Cross he conquered sin and death, and healed the wounds and divisions of sin. So, through his love shown on the Cross, he gathered all God's people, who had been scattered by sin, into one, as Ezekiel prophesied.

As such, we are called to exchange the scandals of sin that divide us for another scandal, a "stumbling block" that unites us if we have faith, and so it becomes the cornerstone of our faith. And this is, as St Irenaeus calls it, the scandal of the Incarnation. For it speaks of a God who loves all sinful humanity so very much that he became Man and even "became sin". We cannot explore that theologically challenging phrase from St Paul now, but we can say that Christ was born "for us and for our salvation", which means that the Incarnation is oriented towards the Cross. The Cross, which is our focus this Passiontide and which culminates on Good Friday, is that scandal of God's love made visible to the whole world. St Paul says that "God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Rom 5:8), which means that Christ's Cross embraces all sinners, no matter how unloveable they may be, or how detestable their sins are. At the hour of his Passion, Jesus said: "Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out; and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself" (John 12:31f). This suggests that we sinners are not just let off, but we are judged by love, and all of us will be found wanting. So, we're all together, under the Cross and we all need God to "save [us] from all the backslidings in which [we] have sinned, and [to] cleanse [us]" (Ezek 37:23). Therefore, the Cross unites all of us in the purifying love of God, and casts out sin, division, hatred, enmity, and hard-heartedness, which belong to the ruler of this world and not to Christ.

This is hard for us to fathom, and even harder to accept when the crimes that some people commit are so grievous and harm others (or us) so deeply. And yet, that is the challenge of the Cross: we are united as sinners, albeit not all equal in gravity, but nevertheless we are united in our need for Christ's healing love; we are called to focus on what the Cross accomplishes for humanity, and not on the failings of humanity which keep us from Christ and His Body, the holy Church. None of this absolves the failure of judgement shown by certain leaders of the Church, nor the evils perpetrated by some churchmen, but it does remind us that Jesus Christ alone is the Head of his Church, and we receive grace flowing from the Head to us in the Body of the Church. So, although we are scandalized by the sins of some churchmen, we should not let that keep us from Christ and his Church. For it is in this same Body that we approach the Crucified One, whom St Paul called "a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Greeks" (1 Cor 1:23). If any scandal should draw our attention this Holy Week, let it be the scandal of the Cross and of God's prodigal love for all sinful men and women.