Dear Friends,

Fr. Dan's view of the sunrise at Mt. Irenaeus.

This morning's sky was a multicolored banner - an announcement of our coming days! Darkness flees and bleakness leaves our life as the Easter light and the joy of Christ's Resurrection break in on us! Ripples of gold, red, pink and orange spread over the hills beyond Mt. Irenaeus as I rose, looked out and thought of you. These bright colors and their movement as the sun rose overtook a foreboding sky and our troubled world, projecting the light of joy and newness of life!  

We welcome you into our habit of praying Scriptures during these Holy Days. We welcome you to take time, sit, catch your breath, and read and reflect on one of the following passages for each Holy Day. Recognize God's Word, our "Living Bread," is food for us.

April 2: Mass of the Lord's Supper

Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 & John 13:1- 16

Hearing again, Christ is the Lamb of God, in Exodus we remember how families would procure a lamb. This would be the meal along with unleavened bread that would strengthen them for their flight from slavery to freedom.

St. Paul tells us how Christ gave himself for us in the Last Supper, through the bread and the cup. St. John offers the powerful picture of the Last Supper and the fullness of our lives in Christ's life. Consider, am I also willing to be poured out for others?

Where is my life especially hungry for God's life? Can I learn from God's example of service so I might serve as Christ Jesus does?  

April 3

Isaiah 52:13; 53:12

Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9 &John 18:1-19, 42

If you gather for Good Friday service, you will join with others praying with many around the world of different nations, powers and traditions, seeking a humility of service and unity for us all in peace.

Jesus the Christ, the great "I am" of God, invites us into his own passage. He passes for us with great nobility, simplicity and humility. He witnesses to us God's great, everlasting love.

What word or words open my heart in these readings to the mystery of Christ dying for us?  

April 4: Easter Vigil

Genesis 1:1-2:2; Isaiah 55:1-11

Romans 6:3-11 & Mark 16:1-7

In my 24 years here at Mt. Irenaeus the word "collaboration" has always been part of discussions, and, more importantly, part of the life lived here. That is probably the reason why the second Scripture reading for Mass on Palm Sunday (Philippians 2:6-11) has become so central for me. 

"Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard
equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bend, of those 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."

The collaborative model of the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - is now shared with us through Jesus. That is the model of love. Jesus shares with us all the many hard things we suffer: rejection, false accusation, indifference, abuse, and death. But He went beyond all that on Easter when He rose from the dead and changed everything because death was no longer final.

When you take the word "me" and turn it upside down, you get the word "we." This is not just a new word but a whole new way of being, a very collaborative way of living. My journey in life has been moving from the "me" to the "we," back into the heart of God, the heart of the world and the heart of people.

One of the many great sayings of the AA movement is, "I may not be much, but I'm all I ever talk about." This sounds like a perfect motto for an increasingly individualistic culture. But what a trap that becomes. The author of the Letter to the Philippians shows us the way out of that trap: "Have the same mind in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though in the form of God ..."