Join Mary Magdalene's Easter joy.
I expect many of us have seen The Passion of the Christ. It actually came out 18 years ago. Ever since, that movie illustrates the Passion for me. I can see Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, on trial, being beaten, and on the cross as depicted in this film. It is hard to watch because they made the film as authentic as possible regarding the brutality of life in Israel under Roman rule.
As the film moves from the trial to Golgotha, the place of a skull, and the crucifixion, gloom enshrouds the moment. Everything in the film darkens, they used a lot of browns, grays and black.
But they had a problem. Mary Magdalene was played by Monica Bellucci. She is a very lovely Italian actress and her beauty was distracting from the gloomy mood.
So they tried to “dirty up” Ms. Bellucci. When I say, “dirty up” I mean they put dirt, real live dirt, on her face. They were literally grabbing it up from the ground and rubbing it on her face. Very authentic. And, of course, she’s crying a lot, so her eyes and face get a little puffy, her tears run through the dirt, and they added more dirt.
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Be alive in Christ. (Saturday Easter Vigil sermon)
We celebrate Easter this evening with the joy of welcoming Drew Smith into Christ’s Body, the Church and the joy of First Communion with him and this whole group of youngsters. And there was great joy in working with these kids over the last few weeks to prepare them. Deacon John and I loved meeting with them. That took form in several ways.
You spend time with these kids and you become refreshed in your hope for the future! They are so bright, so thoughtful and so faithful. They listened carefully and spoke in turn. They were kind and respectful to each other and to Deacon John and me. Now, I know that is causing some degree of surprise to their parents. “Why can’t they be like that at home?” (I get it. My parents had the same wonder when my friend’s parents would remark about how nice I was.)
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God doesn't give up (Saturday Easter Vigil sermon)
There are few biblical stories that are as well known as the Flood. When Father Tim and I begin our first communion classes, I spread a dark blue towel on the floor which represented water. I asked If they knew the story of Noah and the Flood. They all responded almost on cue. Mention old Noah and his ark to the average person on the street and I’m willing to bet that you would get a fairly decent outline of the story-animals, water, rainbows, the whole deal. The story of the flood and Noah and the ark still captures our imaginations. It’s not at all difficult to find toy arks and Fisher Price animals to fill them. We used that exact set. Our set had a toy Noah himself-wearing a brown robe, and a long, flowing white beard. I think all kids love the idea of all the animals on the boat and the grand exotic adventure that the story seems to signify. I bet we all have at one time or another tried to imagine how all of those animals could fit. Perhaps, how did Noah feed them, or what about the smell of all the manure?
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