Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Welcome to Holy Week.
For the Spartan fans among us, by the time you read this we should already know whether Izzo has gotten you, yet again, to the Final Four. For us Wolverines, we can be thankful that during this most grace-filled week of the year our attention can be undivided on receiving the greater, imperishable graces that God wants for us. See, there’s always a greater blessing in being a Michigan fan. Jk…
On a different note, with this being the most important week of the year I am reminded of a date that is just passed: March 25. Now I know that some of you are thinking, “Hey, that’s the day that marks nine months before Christmas. Only 270 (or so) days of shopping left!” As you hopefully also know, we celebrated the Annunciation of the Lord this past Wednesday. It marks the moment in history when a poor, simple, faith-filled young woman said “yes” to God’s will that she become the Mother of God. And through her yes and the conception in her womb of the Word of God made flesh, she cooperated with God’s saving plan for us. There is, simply put, no human person who has done anything as significant for the human race and all of creation as what Mary did. Our gratitude to God and her can never be exhausted. Take time this week to thank God and Mary for your life and especially for your divine, eternal life.
March 25, 2015, also marked the 20th anniversary of one of St. John Paul II’s most important works: an encyclical called The Gospel of Life, as called in Latin Evangelium Vitae.
This great saint reminds us,
“The Gospel of Life is at the heart of Jesus’ message.” He also says, “Man is called to the fullness of life, which dare exceed the dimensions of his earthly existence, because it consists in sharing the very life of God. The loftiness of this supernatural vocation reveals the greatness and the inestimable value of human life even in its temporal phase.”
During Holy Week we are reminded that our lives were purchased from sin and death and for God’s own life at the greatest price possible: the blood of Jesus, the human life of God. Because of our worth and destiny to share in God’s own abundant life every threat to human dignity and life must necessarily be felt in the Church’s very heart––and so in each of our hearts––and engage us, the Church, in proclaiming the Gospel of Life in all the world and to every creature.
Today this proclamation is especially pressing because of the increase and gravity of threats to the life of individuals and peoples, especially where life is weak and defenseless. St. John Paul goes on to quote a most important passage from a Vatican II document that gives a sobering list of the many ways that we violate the dignity of the human person, from murder and genocide, to abortion and euthanasia, to human trafficking of children and women, wrongful imprisonment and deportation, to coercion of others, inhuman living conditions and the treating of humans as mere instruments. These are but a few of the many infamies that poison human society. Moreover, they are a supreme dishonor to the Creator.
March 25 and Holy Week are a reminder of the pressing need for Jesus and the Gospel of Life to reign in our lives. There is real hope and healing in Jesus, and only in Jesus. St. John Paul said that the Gospel of Life was meant to be a “pressing appeal addressed to each and every person, in the name of God: respect, protect, love and serve life, every human life!”
St. John Paul II the Great, pray for us! Mary, Mother of God, pray for us!
May God bless you and your family abundantly this greatest of all weeks.
Fr. Jonathan