Triduum – Life on the Chrism Trail

Homily for Good Friday: Celebration of the Passion of the Lord

March 29, 2024
Saint Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17, 25
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
John 18:1-19:42

The heart of the mystery of the Cross that we enter together as the Church of disciples and believers in Christ is the singlehearted love of Jesus Christ. His singleheartedness is seen in the unity of His human will with His Divine will in loving obedience to the Father, an obedience unto death. We see His singlehearted love as He stands silent before the duplicity of the Sanhedrin and the craftiness of Pontius Pilate and the other friends of Caesar. We see His singlehearted love in answering the high priest about the truthfulness of His Gospel and the transparent integrity of His life for which He is slapped and mocked. We see His single-hearted love as He entrusts His Mother, who possesses single-hearted devotion to Him, to the beloved Apostle and vice versa. Finally, we see His single-hearted love as He hands over His Spirit for the salvation of all and for each and every human being — universal and particular love.

Homily for Holy Thursday: Mass of the Lord’s Supper

March 28, 2024
Saint Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
Psalm 116:12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-15

As we have just heard in the Gospel, Peter impetuously remonstrates Jesus for suggesting that Jesus should wash Peter’s feet. Peter is articulating a reverence for Jesus but a reverence that has not yet come to accept the truth that the majesty of God revealed fully in Christ strips itself of all earthly power and manifests itself in humble service and true mercy. When Jesus corrects Peter and tells him that without the washing of the feet Peter would not be able to have any part in him, Peter immediately asks just as impetuously that his head and hands be washed. Then Jesus offers Peter a response that should prompt our reflection in prayer. Jesus says, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so, you are clean, but not all.”