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There is something of a hidden quality to the resurrection appearances that has always puzzled me. St. Peter gives voice to this hidden quality in Acts Chapter 10 when he says to Cornelius,

“God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commissioned us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.” (Acts 10:41 to 42)

So, note that Jesus did not appear openly to all, but only to some. Why is this? It is so different from what most of us would do.

If I were God (and it is very good for you that I am not), I would rise from the dead very dramatically. Perhaps I would send trumpet blasts to summon people to my tomb, and I would step out with great fanfare, summoning a multitude of angels to dazzle, and I would step forth to awe many, and strike fear in my enemies who killed me. Or maybe I would ride down on a lightning bolt right into the temple precincts and go up to the high priest and tell him to seek other employment. Surely to accomplish such a feat would be an event that would never be forgotten! Surely too it would draw many to faith, would it not?

And yet none of this is what the Lord does at all! Not only did he appear only to some after his resurrection, but the actual dramatic moment of the resurrection seems to have been witnessed by no one at all. Instead of emerging from the tomb in broad daylight to a fanfare of trumpets, the Lord seems to have come forth before dawn to the sound of crickets. Though St. Matthew mentions a great earthquake causing the rolling back of the stone, and the women finding the guards stunned into unconsciousness, it seems Jesus had already risen from the dead before the stone rolled back.

Such a hidden event! The greatest event the world has ever known, and yet hidden from our eyes. No, this is not our way at all; Cecil B. DeMille would not be pleased.

And when the Lord does appear, it is only to some, as we’ve noted. Two of the appearances have often intrigued me for the details are extremely sparse; they are really mentioned only in passing:

One is the appearance to Peter – It would seem that the Lord appeared to Peter before appearing to the other apostles on that first resurrection evening. For when the two disciples return from Emmaus they are greeted with the acclamation, The Lord has truly been raised, he has appeared to Simon (Luke 24:34). Shortly thereafter, the Lord appears to ten of the apostles, along with some of the disciples.

But why is there so little detail about this appearance to Simon Peter?! We do receive great detail about a conversation between Jesus and Peter two weeks later in Galilee (John 21), but of the first appearance in Jerusalem we get only the passing reference.

In a certain sense, it is a very significant appearance because it moves the resurrection from just some news that the women were sharing, to the apostolic proclamation, the Lord has truly been raised. What moves it from rumor to true fact? The difference is, “He has appeared to Simon.” Here is a kind of early and seminal act of the Petrine office and the Magisterium! But of this crucial apparition, no details are supplied!

 The other appearance cloaked in obscurity is the appearance to the 500 that Paul references here:

He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; (1 Cor 15:5-6)

Here is an amazing appearance, not to  two or three, or even a dozen, but to 500 at once. And yet no details are supplied. Where did it happen? When? For how long? What does the Lord say? What did he do?  Silence.

And then there is a resurrection appearance that never happened, but to worldly minds should have. And that was the resurrection appearance of Jesus to his accusers and prosecutors – his appearance to Caiaphas, to the Sanhedrin, to Pilate, to all who jeered at him as he hung on the cross. Surely they deserved a good dressing down, and they probably could’ve used it. Who knows, maybe they would have fallen to their knees and converted on the spot; maybe they would have worshiped Jesus.

Yes, such are our thoughts, my thoughts, on the strange and hidden quality of the resurrection. Why so hidden, why so selective? Ultimately, I cannot say why; I can only venture a guess, a kind of theological hunch.

My speculation is rooted in the identity of God: God is love (1 Jn 4:16). Love is not merely something God does, nor is it just one of his many attributes. Scripture says God is love. And it is in the nature of true love (as opposed to lust) to woo the beloved, to invite, not to overwhelm or importune, not to force or coerce. For the lover wants to be loved. But to force the beloved to love or to overwhelm the cherished into a fearful love is not to receive true love in return.

By contrast, it is in the nature of Satan to pressure, to tempt, to overwhelm, and to try to coerce us into sin. Satan is loud and loves to use fear as a motivator.

But God whispers; He calls us; He gently draws us in. He supplies grace and evidence but does not overwhelm us with fearsome and noisy events. He is the still, small voice that Elijah heard after the fire and the earthquake (1 Kings 19:12). He is the One who has written his name in our hearts and whispers there quietly. “Seek always the face of the Lord.” (1 Chron 16:11) He does at times allow our life to be shaken a bit, but even then, it is more often something he allows, rather than directly causes.

As for loud and flashy entrances, and humiliation of his opponents, God is not interested.  He does not have a big ego. Even if He could compel the temple leadership to worship him by shock and awe, it is unlikely that their faith response could be called a true faith response. It would be more that they had been forced to believe. Faith that needs to see really isn’t faith, for no one needs faith to believe what he can plainly see with his eyes.

Thus the Lord does rise from the dead, and he does supply evidence to witnesses who had faith, at least enough faith to be rewarded. He sends these eyewitnesses, supplies his graces, and gives us other evidence so that we can believe and love. But none of this is done in a way that overwhelms us or forces us to believe.

God is love, and loves seeks a free and faithful response. The hiddenness of the resurrection, shows forth as an example of tender love. There’s only so much that the human person can take. So the Lord rises quietly and appears to some, but only briefly, and then seems to withdraw – almost as if respectfully giving them time to process what they have experienced. He gives them time to deepen their faith, and to come to terms with what was for them a completely new reality, a reality that would change their lives forever.

How different this is from us, so many of whom think in terms of power, fame, glory, vindication, conquering, and so forth. And how different God is! He is so often tender, hidden, whispering, not needing credit for everything he does, not needing to crush his enemies; but rather always hoping for their conversion, working to win their love; ruing, not rejoicing in the day when their “no” might become a forever “no.” Until then, He is always calling, always willing, always giving grace. His mercies how tender, how firm to the end, our maker, defender, redeemer, and friend.

Why was the resurrection so hidden? God is love. And love woos, it does not wound; it invites, it does not incite; it calls, it does not crush; it respects but does not rule or seek revenge. Yes, God is love.

Of her Glorious Groom, the Church and Bride says,

Listen! My beloved! There he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice… [He speaks to her and says], “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me.” (Song 2:9-10)

Here’s how Cecil B. DeMille would do the Easter Fire:

As I have commented before, all the resurrection stories depict the Apostles and other disciples on a “journey” of sorts to understand the resurrection. A completely new reality was breaking into their world and challenging their understanding. Far from depicting the disciples as credulous, the texts describe them as shocked, troubled, and even quite dubious. These were not men and women prone to naiveté and concocting stories to assuage their grief. These are stories of men and women who are quite stunned by a new reality and struggling to get their minds around something they do not fully understand.

A beautiful example of a journey to resurrection faith is that of Mary Magdalene, who begins her journey on resurrection with the intention of finalizing burial rituals for the corpse of Jesus, and ends by acknowledging that she has seen “the Lord.” Let’s examine her journey and see what it has to teach us about our own.

The Passage in question is John 20. By way of background, recall that Mary had gone to the tomb very early, “when it was still dark,” and found the stone rolled back and the tomb empty. She ran and got Peter and John who then investigated, and (though John believed) there was no conclusion announced after their investigation. They leave and Mary Magdalene is left at the tomb by herself, at least temporarily (for we know from other Gospels that other women were near at hand). Here is where the text picks up:

Then the disciples went back to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her. (John 20:10-18)

Mary Magdalene makes a journey in this passage from fear to faith. Here is a very general outline of the passage:

• I. Fearful Fretting – vv. 10-13
  • Rhetorical Question – “Why are you Weeping?”
  • Rueful Response
• II.Faulty Finding – vv. 14-15
• III. First Faith –
• IV. Flamboyant Felicity – vv. 16-17
  • (1) Status quo ante – v. 16
  • (2) Summons – v. 17
• V. Fullness of Faith – v. 18

I. Fearful Fretting – Mary Magdalene is looking for a corpse. She’d come out to the tomb that morning for one purpose: to finish the prescribed burial customs for Jesus. His body had been placed in the tomb hurriedly on Friday evening, for it was almost sundown and the Passover feast was near. Now the Passover and Sabbath were complete; it was time to anoint the body and finish all the usual customs.

On Friday, she had been through immense trauma, seeing her beloved Jesus, her Messiah, brutally tortured and slowly killed through crucifixion. It seemed as if things could not possibly get worse, yet they just did. It would appear, according to her, that grave robbers had now broken in and stolen the body. Strangely, they had left the expensive linens behind. But never mind that, things had now gone from complete disaster, to total disaster. Now it would seem that she could not even perform a final kindness for Jesus.

And yet, because of her fearful fretting, Mary is not able to look at the information before her properly. Jesus had promised to rise from the dead, on the third day, and this was the third day. The empty tomb does not signify grave robbers; it manifests resurrection! But in her fear and fretful grief, Mary draws only the most negative of conclusions.

And this of course is our human condition. So many of us, on account of fear, and perhaps past trauma, tend to place the most negative interpretations upon our daily life. We are quick to seize on bad news, and we dismiss good news too easily, or barely notice that every day most things go right. Instead, we focus on the few things that go wrong. Yes, so easily we are negative and forget that even in painful transitions, as certain doors close, others open. New possibilities often emerge even in painful circumstances.

Mary is about to encounter something astonishingly new. But for now, her grief has locked her into only the most negative of interpretations.

A. Rhetorical Question – There comes to her, from the angels, a kind of rhetorical question: “Why do you weep?” A rhetorical question is really more of a statement in the form of a question. It is meant to provoke thought, and to rebuke or at least to invite reconsideration. The Angels, it would seem, are inviting her to recall that this is the third day, and Jesus promised to rise. Therefore, why would she weep over an empty tomb? Jesus, who had raised others from the dead, cast out blindness, calmed storms, and healed lepers, had said he would rise on the third day. Why weep over an empty tomb? Rather, she should rejoice!

B. Rueful Response – But Mary will have none of it, and her grief she does not take up the consideration offered her by the angels. She states flatly, ‘I’m looking for a corpse that they’ve taken away. Tell me where you put this corpse so I can continue to go to work.’

Grief does that. It takes away our capacity to see more clearly other possibilities, other interpretations. So easily we catastrophize; we assume the worst. Mary is at her lowest, locked into fearful fretting and colossal grief.

II. Faulty Finding – The text says, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus speaks to her, Woman why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?  But she thought it was the gardener, and goes on speaking of Jesus as a corpse she is looking for.

Why does she not recognize him? Has he changed his appearance? Or perhaps there were tears in her eyes, and she could not see well. We cannot say; but either way, she’s looking right at Jesus, but does not recognize him.

But too often, this is our condition as well. The Lord is more present to us than we are to ourselves; he is more present than anyone or anything in this world. And yet we see everyone and everything except him. This is our spiritual blindness. We must make a journey in faith, and learn to see him. We must come to the normal Christian life, which is to be in living, conscious contact with Jesus at every moment of the day. Does the sun cease to be present simply because the blind man cannot see it? Of course not. And neither does the Lord cease to be present to us simply because we cannot see him. We must make the journey of faith wherein our eyes are opened, the eyes of our faith to see God’s presence everywhere.

III. First Faith – One of the paradoxes of our faith is that we learn to see by hearing. For Scripture says, faith comes by hearing (Rom 10:17). And faith is a way of knowing, and a way of seeing by way of that knowledge.

Thus, Jesus speaks and says “Mary.” And with this word, her faith is enlivened; her eyes are opened and she sees Jesus.

And so it is that we too must allow the Lord to speak to us through his Word, so we can learn to know him and to see him by faith, not by fleshly sight, but by faith.

But Mary’s faith is only a first faith, an initial faith. It needs maturing, as we shall see in the next point.

IV. Flamboyant Felicity – Mary’s initial reaction, having come to recognize the Lord Jesus, is to smother him, to cling to him. Her excess is not merely physical, but bespeaks a kind of clinging to the past. And while it is true that the actual body of Jesus is risen and restored to her, the humanity that has been raised is also a glorified humanity. There is something new that Mary must step back and behold.

A. Status quo ante – Thus Jesus says to her: Do not hold me, that is, “do not cling to me.” Mary’s gesture of embracing the Lord, and his reaction to it, suggest that something has changed that Mary has not yet fully understood. She clings to him as he was. As if to say, “Jesus it’s you! Let’s take up where we were before the crucifixion.” She thinks of Jesus of Nazareth alive again, but she must now also see the Lord of glory. His crucifixion has led now to His glory. That is why Jesus speaks further of the fact that he is ascending to the Father.

We too must lay hold of a deeper understanding of Jesus as we make our journey. Or to put it in Jesus’ terms, we must let the Lord “ascend” in our own estimation. Scripture says elsewhere:

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once regarded Christ from a human point of view, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Cor 5:16-20 )

B. Summons – Mary is then given a summons wherein Jesus says to her: Go to my brethren. Note that this is the first time that he ever called the apostles “brethren.” It seems it took the passion, death, and resurrection to accomplish this in fact. Scripture says elsewhere,

1. I will tell of thy name to my brethren; in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee: You who fear the LORD, praise him! all you sons of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you sons of Israel! (Psalm 22:22-23)
2. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. (Romans 8:29)
3. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified have all one origin. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, “I will proclaim thy name to my brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee.” And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Here am I, and the children God has given me.” (Heb 2:101-3)

Mary is further told that she should say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to My God and your God.

It is interesting that He did not tell Mary to inform them that he had risen, but rather that he was ascending. His purpose was not to stress that he had died and was now alive but that he was glorified and that this was the beginning of a whole new spiritual kingdom where he was to reign with the Father.

Note too that Jesus never said “Our Father” as if the relation that He had to the Father was on the same plane as ours. Jesus’ sonship was by nature, ours is by adoption and membership in the Body of Christ.

Mary and we are also taught another important distinction. In terms of his human nature, Christ can say, “My God.” He chooses to emphasize his human nature here because it is that nature that has risen and is now glorified and changed. As God, he could not suffer or ascend. But as man he can do both and ascend, as Man, to “his God” In terms of his Divine nature the phrase “My God” makes little sense. But Scripture often speaks of Jesus in view of one nature or the other and the result is that the language is affected.

V. Fullness of Faith – Mary makes a remarkable journey. She comes to a fuller faith based on this interaction with the Risen Jesus. How? She says, I have seen the Lord. Mary’s declaration shows that she has already made progress in understanding the new relationship she has with the risen Jesus. She does not say, “I have seen Jesus.” She calls him the Lord. This is resurrection faith: to see the glory of Jesus and understand that he is the Lord of glory and the Word who is God.

Here is true Easter faith: not merely to see a corpse come back to life, but also to be able to see who he really is: “The Lord.” Jesus is Lord, and he is risen from the dead. Scripture says elsewhere,

Phil 2: 5 Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,  and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Mary Magdalene has made a journey from fear to faith. She began by looking for a corpse to anoint. She ends by making the mature Easter declaration: “I have seen the Lord.” It is truly Jesus who is risen in the self-same body. But he is glorified, and now shows forth fully the refulgence of his glory as the eternal Son of God and Son of Man. To come to Easter faith is not only to see Jesus of Nazareth raised from the dead, but even more so to behold that he is the Lord of Glory.

Mary has made the journey. How about you?

There was an informative and helpful article in the Washington Post this Easter Sunday that demonstrates certain keys to success in evangelization. The focus of the article is the happy fact that the Archdiocese of Washington welcomed a record number of converts this year at the Easter Vigil. But the article also documents important factors that helped that number. Let’s review excerpts of the article and consider some important keys for evangelization. My remarks are in red text. (The Full Article is here: Record Number of Catholic Converts for DC)

Austin Russell [a] University of Maryland sophomore…started dating a Catholic woman and befriended other practicing Catholics, he became interested in the Church’s teachings. He enrolled in a class to learn more, and this weekend, he joined a record number of people in the Washington area taking the final steps to convert to Catholicism. Once he is baptized and receives his first Communion this weekend, “I can really walk into the church and say that I’m a follower like everybody else. It’s going to be exciting….Seventy-two percent of new converts cite marriage as an important reason for coming into the church”

And here is the first key: RELATIONSHIPS. Knowing a fellow Catholic who is serious about his or her faith is absolutely central to the conversion of the vast majority of people who find their way to the faith. For Austin, beauty and truth coincided. The beauty of his girlfriend first drew him. But soon enough the beauty AND truth of her faith, and the beauty and truth of the Catholic Faith, which she lives, also attracted him.

For many others, it is within the Call to Holy Matrimony that their call to the Church was experienced. Of the five converts we welcomed in my parish at the Easter Vigil, three of them are either married to, or engaged to a Catholic in my parish.

There is a form of evangelization known as “Friendship Evangelization.” Obviously, the first stage in friendship evangelization is friendship! But it is a particular friendship that sets the stage for witness to the faith rather than just beer drinking, sports, or other superficial things.

[T]he highest conversion rates are in the South, according to an analysis released last week by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), a Georgetown University group that studies American Catholicism. The report also found that adult converts are more active in the church and more knowledgeable about the religion than those who have been Catholic since childhood.

And here are two more keys: Demographics and Well-formed Converts. One we cannot really control, the other we can. The demographics are clear; the US population has shifted south. For the Catholic Church this has been a problem, since we own a LOT of real estate in the Northeast, a region whose population is both declining and aging. We are scrambling to build and establish parishes in the South even as we have to close and consolidate parishes in the North. It is a painful process to be sure. Some very beautiful churches and once-effective schools have been closed. If only we could put those old parish plants on wheels and roll them south! But demographic realities of this sort have a life of their own that we can do very little to change. They are rooted in economies and shifting preferences.

However, another key mentioned here is well-formed converts, and here we can do a lot. Nationally, we have been wonderfully blessed by converts from many Protestant denominations, especially the Evangelicals. They bring with them a great love for Jesus and the Scriptures, a joy, and an evangelical zeal. Marcus Grodi’s The Journey Home tells many wonderful stories of their entrance into the Church, and what they have been doing since that time. Some very great evangelizers are among the ranks of converts: Scott Hahn, Tim Staples, Jimmy Aiken, Peter Kreeft, and so many others!

Welcoming converts joyfully into our ranks, accepting their gifts, and giving good, solid formation, are the keys to more converts. And though not all of them come to us as well-trained as some of the national figures mentioned above, giving solid formation ensures not only their stable status, but also their ability to draw others to the Catholic faith through compelling testimony and well-reasoned, joyful answers to those who ask the reason for their conversion.

Although conversion numbers in the Catholic Church have fallen nationally in recent years, possibly because marriage rates are down, they are up in the Washington area, where there has been an overall uptick in population. The Washington Archdiocese said it is welcoming 1,306 new Catholics this Easter, a higher number than it has ever recorded.

Yet another key (if you ask me) is to dream big and to create high expectations. This record number is good news, but frankly, our numbers should be a lot higher. In a diocese that has 136,000 people in the pews every Sunday, that means that only one in a hundred Catholics were able to call someone to conversion. We can and should do better than that. And note that 136,000  is the actual headcount at masses, not just the number on our rolls. Is it really so unrealistic to expect that one in ten Catholics bring a convert each year? Am I dreaming? If that were to happen, then our Easter harvest would be 13,000! Even half that number would be over 6,000.

Thanks be to God for our higher-than-ever number. But let’s dream big! Let’s work at being more intentional in training Catholics how to evangelize more effectively. It can start with simple training such as this: “When someone asks ‘How are you doing?’ don’t just say ‘Fine’ say ‘God has been very good to me!’”

Some years ago I trained over one hundred people in my parish to evangelize, and though our numbers should be higher, our headcount has edged up by almost a hundred, from 425 to 525 per Sunday, a twenty percent increase. I’m not satisfied. But I’m adding a Mass, not eliminating masses. And we’re going to keep knocking on doors, doing sidewalk evangelization, reaching back into our families, and encouraging Holy Matrimony. It’s working, even in a neighborhood of dramatic demographic shifts.

While the U.S. Catholic Church will soon become majority Latino because of immigration patterns from Catholic countries, converts within the United States tend to be more diverse. In the Washington area this year, nearly one-third are between 19 and 35. That does not surprise Susan Gibbs, an adviser to Catholic organizations and a board member of CARA: “Washington is an interesting case because so many people come here to serve others,” she said. “Young people are searching for a start in life, and part of that journey can be to find faith.” Washington is also home to two of the nation’s largest Catholic universities, Georgetown and Catholic, Gibbs noted, adding that other campus ministries, such as Catholic Terps at the University of Maryland, have active peer fellowship and evangelization programs.

Yes, reaching young adults is another key growth factor in Washington, D.C. In my own parish, we have added a 7:00 PM, Sunday Mass since so many young adults asked us to do so when we met them in our neighborhood walks. We have also started a young adult Bible Study and fellowship that is growing. We want to expand with a kind of “Grill the Priest” offering wherein we have food and the Young Adults get to ask questions of the priest, no holds barred. It’s like Theology on Tap, except the participants call the shots and get to set the agenda based on what is on their mind.

“College, for a lot of these kids, is really a time for discovering who they are,” said Rob Walsh, chaplain at the Catholic Student Center on the University of Maryland’s College Park campus. “They’ve tried one side . . . through partying, through stuff, through sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll, and it didn’t work.” They may also be disappointed by the limits of technology and social media, he said, adding that replacing human interaction with screen time can make young people feel lonely. “You can get so buried in it that you lose a part of who you are, and they reject that,” Walsh said of the young converts.

Yet another key is effective campus ministry. Fr. Walsh is doing great work at the University of Maryland. We also have some great College Chaplains at several of our other Colleges here. FOCUS is also a great asset and is reaching a lot of young people on college campuses throughout the country. As Fr. Walsh points out, many young people are dissatisfied with aspects of modern culture. They seek answers and community.

I would also add that a significant number of them have had it up to here with the dysfunctional and selfish aspects of the lives of their baby boomer parents and grandparents. Many want more than the vain, vapid, and self-centered world of broken families, sexual irresponsibility, and addiction that is the legacy of the sixties and seventies. Frankly, a lot of the young adult Catholics I meet are much more mature and responsible than I was at their age.

Aaron Holland, 18, a freshman there who grew up Methodist and became a Catholic this weekend, said he was drawn to Catholicism because he felt it answered more of his questions. “It’s not so much what I learned in the Methodist Church, it’s what I didn’t learn,” said Holland, who is studying aerospace engineering…

And here is yet another key: clear and cogent answers, in a word, the TRUTH. Many people love to hate the Catholic Church because we have prophetic stands and are often a sign of contradiction to a world lost in relativism, and that often celebrates that there are “no answers.” The angry ones tell us we have to change and parrot the culture to win converts.

And yet many others are hungry for answers and appreciate that the Church tells them clearly what is taught, even if what we teach is not popular or fashionable. For all the problems that the Catholic Church has had with declining numbers in Mass attendance and demographic shifts, the Liberal (Mainline) Protestant denominations, which largely parrot modern trendy thinking, have fared far worse.

It would seem that many people, young adults among them, appreciate that the role of the Church is not to tickle people’s ears, but to speak the truth, even when it is uncomfortable or challenging. Surely, the Church must console and embrace sinners, but we cannot and should not coddle them. That is disrespectful and also leads to the Church not being taken very seriously. A designer church with a designer god is really a sham and most people seem to know it, as the numbers show.

The prominence and popularity of Pope Francis, who was elected last year and has an 85 percent approval rating, could make Catholicism more attractive not only to non-Catholics but also to Catholics who have fallen away from the church, said Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “There’s a renewed interest, a renewed pride in the Catholic Church,” she said. “Personally, I’ve seen more people in church, people coming back.” But this year may be too early to see the “Francis effect” in conversion rates, said Chieko Noguchi, a spokeswoman for the Washington Archdiocese, noting that the course of study leading to conversion generally takes nine to 12 months.

Another key to remember is that, while the Church is Universal, conversions are more dependent on local factors. Pope Francis, or other ways the Church is in the news may have an initial impact on how someone sizes up Catholicism (for better or worse). But there comes a time when the person must encounter the local diocese or parish.

Pope Francis might be able to draw someone to Sunday Mass, but what they find when they walk in the door of the local parish is really more critical to making or breaking the deal. Politics is local, and so is the Church and the experience of faith, even in a worldwide Church of over a billion members. You don’t get Holy Communion on the news or on the Internet.

It takes a parish and a local community to seal the deal. The parish needs to be healthy and inviting. Even a charismatic Pope can only do so much.

The 2006 arrival of Archbishop Donald Wuerl, who is known as one of the country’s most efficient administrators and who has expanded outreach efforts, has perhaps been more instrumental in attracting people, said Sara Blauvelt, director for catechesis at the Washington Archdiocese. “He’s a great leader, and he gives great guidance to his priests,” she said, adding that the archdiocese has been encouraging the laity to go out and invite others to the Church.

Yes, here then is the final key for evangelization to consider from this article: a strong, stable, and steady diocesan Church. The Archdiocese of Washington has been blessed with strong and steady leadership all along. On account of this, the clergy work very well together, and an excellent, well-trained lay leadership has grown over the years.

There are not many factions within the Archdiocese of Washington. We have a legacy of good administrators, solid, orthodox teaching, and far less history of strange and exotic dissent among the clergy and parishes than in many other dioceses. We have over seventy seminarians currently studying.

The Archdiocese of Washington, despite criticism from both the left and right wings in the Church, has always been a middle-of-the-road, steady-as-you-go Archdiocese. Cardinal Wuerl is a fine leader marked with great prudence, as have been all the Archbishops before him. Some want him to be more severe about this or less severe about that. So too, for his predecessors. Nevertheless, time proves where wisdom lies.

Having a strong and stable Archdiocese with a predictable, ecclesial environment has permitted steady growth and has allowed what works to flourish.

OK, so there it is. Take what you like and leave the rest. But I would argue that some very important keys for successful growth are articulated in this article. There are more keys than these, but the ones I’ve highlighted here are evidence enough that evangelization benefits well from certain important factors. Add your own and make distinctions in the comments. Please remember to exercise charity and know that personal attacks against people, parishes, or legitimate and approved movements in the Church will not be published. You are free to state your preferences and what you think will work best, but it is not necessary to attack.

At the Great Easter Vigil, after a lengthy series of Old Testament readings, the lights come on full, the Gloria is intoned, and the opening prayer is sung. Then all are seated for the first reading from the New Testament, proclaimed in the new light of Easter glory. It is Romans 6, the opening text from the New Testament proclaimed by the Church as Christ steps forth from the tomb! It would seem that the Church considers this an important reading for our consideration, given its placement.

Romans 6 is a kind of mini-Gospel wherein the fact of our new status as redeemed, transformed Children of God is declared. And within these lines is contained “Standing Order # 1″ for the Christian who is a new creation: “No longer let sin continue to reign in your death-directed bodies.”

Perhaps we can take a look at this central passage from the New Testament. Here it is in total and them some verse-by-verse commentary:

We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. ⁵If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. ⁶For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,that we should no longer be slaves to sin— ⁷because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. ⁸Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹²Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. ¹⁴For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. (Romans 6:1-14)

1. THE PRINCIPLE – We have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? – Here is a powerful and uncompromising statement. Paul is setting forth the most fundamental principle for the Christian life: sin is not to have any power over us. This is the NORMAL (i.e., normative, to be expected) Christian life, a life that is victorious and that is seeing sin put to death and the blessings of grace coming alive. Paul says, quite clearly, that we have died to sin.

Before returning to this concept, it might be important to consider what the word “sin” means here. The Greek word is ἁμαρτίᾳ (hamartia). In its root, sin (ἁμαρτίᾳ) means “missing the mark” or falling short of a designated goal. In the Greek tragedies, the hero often had a “fatal flaw” wherein he misses the mark, or fails to obtain what he sought due to a moral failing or error in judgment. In Scripture, the word ἁμαρτίᾳ usually means something closer to what we mean by sin today, namely, “a moral failing.” But we should not completely leave behind the notion that sin is a missing of the mark. It is not untrue to say that sin is not so much a reality unto itself as it is a “privation,” a lack of something that should be there. In every sin, something is missing that should be there.

Now St. Paul often describes sin (ἁμαρτίᾳ) at two levels: the personal experience with sin, and the “climate” in which we live. So we might distinguish between Sin (upper case) and sin (lower case). Hence, Sin is the climate in which we live that is hostile to God, that has values in direct opposition to what God values. It is materialistic, worldly in its preoccupations, carnal rather than spiritual, lustful, greedy, self-centered, and alienated from the truth. It will not submit to God and seeks either to deny Him or to marginalize Him. This is Sin. (We need to understand this distinction, for in verse 10 of this passage Paul says Christ “died to Sin.” But clearly Christ had no personal sin. But he DID live in a world dominated by Sin and it was to THAT which he died).

As for sin (lower case), it is our personal appropriation of Sin. It is our internalization and acceptance of the overall climate of sin. For example, a Bosnian child is not born hating a Croat or Serbian child. That hatred is “in the air” and the child often (usually) internalizes it and then acts upon it. Hence, Sin becomes sin.

Now Paul says that we have DIED to all of this. That is to say, the overall climate of Sin can no longer influence us. Neither can the deep drives of our own sin continue to affect us.

But how can it be that most of us feel very strongly influenced by Sin and sin? Consider for a moment a corpse. You cannot humiliate or tempt, win an argument with, or in any way personally affect a corpse. The corpse is dead and you and I can no longer have any influence over it. Paul is saying that this is to be the case with us. We are dead to the world and its Sin. Its influence on us is broken. Because of this, our personal sins and the drives of sin are also broken in terms of their influence.

Ah, but you say, “This does not seem to be true.” Nevertheless, it IS the principle of the Christian life. It is what is normative for us and what, increasingly, we should expect because of our relationship with Jesus Christ. It is true that death for us is a process, more than an event. But to the degree that the old Adam has been put to death in us, his vital signs are diminishing. He is “assuming room temperature” and Christ Jesus is coming alive within us.

And here is the central question: is Jesus becoming more alive in you? It is remarkable how little most Christians expect from their relationship with Jesus Christ. The best that most people hope for is to muddle through this life and just make it (barely) over the finish line to heaven. Mediocrity seems to be what most people expect. But this is not the normal Christian life! The normal Christian life is to be increasingly victorious over sin, to be experiencing the power of the Lord Jesus Christ at work in our lives. We have died to sin. Its influence on us is waning, is diminishing. Increasingly the world and its values seem ludicrous to us and God’s vision becomes precious.

So here is the principle: since we have died and are dying to sin, it is increasingly impossible for us to live in it or to experience its influence.

2. THE POWER – Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.

When Paul (and Scripture) use the word “know,” it always means more than grasping something intellectually. In the Bible, to “know,” means to experience something personally and to have internalized its truth. Thus, when Paul says, “Or is it possible that you have not experienced that we died with Christ and risen with him to new life?” in effect he is saying, grab hold of yourself and come to experience that you have died to your old life and have now received a completely new life. Start to experience this personally.

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation! (2 Cor 5:17). This is the normal Christian life and we ought to be experiencing it more and more.

But here again, we have to fight the sloth of low expectations. Do you think that Jesus Christ died for you so that you would continue to be in bondage to anger, or lust, or hatred? Surely he died to free us from this!

To see your life transformed is NOT your work, it is the work of the Lord Jesus. Since it is His power at work we ought to expect a lot. But low expectations yield poor results. So Paul is saying, come to know, come to personally experience and grasp His power at work in you. Have high expectations! How can we have anything less when the death and resurrection of Jesus are the cause of this?

3. THE PERSONAL WITNESS – For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. –

Once again, Paul says we “know” this. This is the normal Christian life: to experience that our old self was crucified and has died, and that increasingly we are no longer slaves to sin.

In my own life, I have experienced just this, have you? I have seen many sins and sinful attitudes put to death in me. My mind has become so much clearer in the light of Christian faith and I now see and experience how silly and insubstantial are many of the claims of this world. So, my mind and my heart are being transformed. I have died to many of my former negative attitudes and drives.

I’m not what I want to be, but I’m not what I used to be, praise God. A wonderful change has come over me.

How about you? Do you have a testimony? Do you “know” (experience) that your old self has been crucified and that you are being freed from sin?

4. THE PROCLAMATION – in various ways then in the verses that follow, Paul sets forth the essential proclamation of the Normal (normative) Christian life:

1. count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
2. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires…
3. [you] have been brought from death to life…
4. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

Some final questions:

• Do you believe this?
• Do you know (experience) this?
• What do you expect from your relationship with Jesus Christ?
• How are you different from someone who lived under the Old Covenant?
• How are you different from the unbelievers in this world?
• Are you living the normal Christian life of dying to sin and rising to new life in Christ, or are you just muddling through?

The icon above is 18th Century Russian, and is available at most icon distributors. This vision is the Harrowing of Hades, in which Christ pulls Adam and Even from their tombs and summons them to new life.

This song says, “Victory is mine, I told Satan, ‘Get thee behind’ for victory today is mine.”

Nearly all of the Resurrection accounts in the Gospels present the apostles and disciples on a journey to deeper faith. In stages, they come out of the darkness of despair and of this world into the light of faith. Matthew’s account (28:1-10), which is read at the Easter Vigil this year and can also be read at Masses during the day, is no exception. I have also commented on the Johannine Gospel that is often read on Easter Morning (here: From Fear to Faith).

Let’s look at the Easter journey that Mary Magdalene and Mary (likely, Mary the Mother of James and Joseph) make out of darkness into light. Mark (16:1) adds that “Salome” went with them. Salome was the wife of Zebedee, and the mother of James and John. From Luke (24:10), it also appears that Joanna, wife of Chusa, Herod’s steward, was with them. Hence, though Matthew only mentions two women by name, it would seem that our analysis includes these four women. As these women journey through the events of Easter Morning we see their faith deepen and brighten. In a condensed sort of way, we see in this a microcosm of the whole life of the Christian. Similarly, we, journeying in stages, come to a deeper faith and a brighter vision of the Paschal mystery that is our life.

Let’s observe their journey in four stages.

Stage 1 – Disturbance at Dawn. The text says,

After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled back the stone, and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing was white as snow. The guards were shaken with fear of him and became like dead men.

Note that in this first stage it is still quite dark. The text here says, with hope, that the new day was dawning. The Greek word actually used, however, properly means as the first day “approached,” or drew on, without specifying the precise time. Mark (16:1-2) says that it was very early in the morning, at the rising of the sun – that is, not that the sun “was risen,” but that it was about to rise, or that it was the early break of day. Luke (24:1) notes that it was “very early in the morning” (in the Greek text, it was “deep twilight,” or when there was scarcely any light). John (20:1) says that it was “very early, while it was yet dark,” that is, it was not yet fully daylight, nor had the sun risen.

So the point is, it is still quite dark, but dawn is near! And all this creates for us, who read the account, an air of great expectation. An old song in the Taizé Community says, “Within our darkest night, you kindle a fire that never dies away!”

Next, there is a great earthquake! Sometimes God has to shake things up to open new doors and new vision. And in our lives too, there are often violent shakings. But, remember, we are at the dawning of a new day. In just a few short years, if we are faithful, we’ll be with God. And so it is that this earthquake is not unto destruction, but is unto the opening of the tomb that has claimed our Lord, and unto the opening of tombs that have claimed us, emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and so forth. This earthquake, frightening though it may seem, serves only to draw these women deeper into the Paschal mystery and toward the risen Christ.

Now, notice that they haven’t seen him yet or even heard that he is risen. There is only this earthquake. But it has a purpose. Yet for now, it is barely dawn and things are still very unclear to them…

Stage one: Disturbance at dawn

Stage Two: Declaration: Do Not Be Afraid. The text says,

Then the angel said to the women in reply, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are seeking Jesus the crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.

Note that the angel summons them to deeper faith. He exclaims, “Do not be afraid.” Now to most of us, this may seem to be almost a “throwaway” line – one we often hear when we are perceived by others to be anxious. And frankly, when others say this to us it is both annoying and unhelpful. But in this case, the Angel presents a basis for their faith to grow and their anxiety to dissipate.

That they should not be anxious or afraid is firmly rooted in the Lord’s promise and in his Word. The angel is reminding them that the Lord had promised to rise on the third day, and that he has done just as he said. The Lord, who had raised others from death and healed multitudes, has now done exactly what he promised.

Hence, the angel summons them to grow in their faith by pondering the Word of Jesus Christ and coming to trust in His promise.

The angel also presents evidence to them: the empty tomb. He invites them to connect the dots between the promise of Jesus and the present evidence of an empty tomb.

So, it’s getting brighter, by the power of God’s Word and the application of that Word to the present situation.

We too must journey through this stage as we become more deeply immersed in God’s Word and apply it to our present situation. As we grow in knowledge and remembrance of God’s promises and his Word, our anxiety begins to diminish. This happens especially when, like these women, we begin to connect God’s Word with what is actually happening in our life. We start to notice the empty tombs, the many signs of God’s favor and blessing. Things start to add up and we begin to connect the dots between faith and experience. And as we do this, it gets brighter and our faith grows stronger.

Stage two: Declaration: “Do not be afraid!”

Stage Three – Deepening Dispatch. The text says,

Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.”

Learn by teaching – Having been instructed in the Paschal mystery, and having grown deeper in their faith, they are sent by the Lord to inform others. An interesting aspect of teaching is that we often learn more by teaching than we ever learned as a mere student. Hence, we grow in our faith as we begin to teach and testify to it. And simply the acts of teaching and witnessing cause us to grow.

But note the text, “Behold, I have told you.” The true faith is received from God, not invented by us. St. Paul says, “Faith comes by hearing.” Do NOT go and invent your own faith; that is a very bad idea! We receive the faith from God through the Church and through the Scriptures approved by the Church. These women had first been instructed by God’s angel, and only after that are they told to go and tell the disciples. We too are instructed by the Church. Our faith comes from what is heard and then we pass on what we have heard.

So, these women are sent. And as they go, we shall see that they have a great breakthrough. But prior to that breakthrough, they are sent to witness, to proclaim. And this very act for them, and for us, deepens their faith even more.

Stage Three: Deepening Dispatch.

There is one final stage that they must attain. For they are still only able to pass on what others have said; they have not yet personally seen the Risen Lord. That comes next.

Stage Four: The Discovery that is Definitive. The text says,

Then they went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Here we see an important and powerful stage that, frankly, too many Christians ignore. Note that, in this moment, they go from inference to experience. Inference is a form of knowledge based only on what others have said. But experience includes personal witness. Experience means that I myself can personally vouch for the truth of what I proclaim. As we have seen, inference is a necessary stage of our faith (do NOT go and invent your own religion). But the Lord invites us deeper to more personally experience the truth of what the Church has always proclaimed and what her Scriptures have always announced.

Inference to experience – These women have heard from the angel that Jesus is risen, and they receive the teaching with joy. But, on the way, on the road of their lives, they come to personally meet the risen Lord Jesus Christ. Suddenly the truth of what they have been taught is made quite personal to them and they experience it as real. They have gone from inference to experience. And now they will tell not only what they have heard from others, but also how they have personally experienced its truth.

We too are invited to do the same. I need to be able to say, “In the laboratory of my own life I have come to personally experience as true all that the Church and her Scriptures proclaim.” I am now a firsthand witness to Jesus, for I have experienced him personally in my life. I have met him in my prayer and in my experience. He is alive and real to me, and he is changing my life. I have done more than hear about the Lord; I have met him. I do not merely know about him, I KNOW him.

Do you know the Lord, or do you just know about him? Have you met him, or have you just heard about him? On Easter Sunday morning, we have observed a group of women go from the darkness of this world to the light of the normal Christian life. And what is the normal Christian life? It is to be in living, conscious contact with God in my life and to know, personally, the Lord of all glory. It is to be in a living and transformative relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Painting above: The Resurrection by Annibale Carracci

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