Holy Saturday: Easter Vigil

Then God said: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”….  

God created man in his image; in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them…. 

And so it happened. God looked at everything he had made; and he found it very good.

 Genesis 1: 26,27, 31

Thus says the Lord: 

This is for me like the days of Noah, 

when I swore that the waters of Noah 

should never again deluge the earth; 

so I have sworn not to be angry with you, 

or to rebuke you. 

Though the mountains leave their place 

and the hills be shaken, 

my love shall never leave you 

nor my covenant of peace be shaken, 

says the Lord who has mercy on you.

Isaiah 54: 9-10

Thus says the Lord: All you who are thirsty, come to the water!

Come to me heedfully, listen, that you may have life…. 

Seek the Lord while he may be found, call him while he is near.

Isaiah 55: 1, 3, 9

I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts…. You shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Ezekiel 36:26-28

If then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.

Romans 6: 8

Why do you seek the living one among the dead?
He is not here, but he has been raised.

 Luke 24: 5-6

There are constant reminders of ugliness, pain, injustice, and cruelty in our world. Disasters of nature and illness are hard to take. Atrocities resulting from human behavior are the worst. Across the globe there are many reminders of the need for peace, justice, beauty, and love.

Our Easter celebration is a much needed and essential reminder of what we are called and graced to be. Created as the image of God and baptized to be another Christ, each Christian person is called and graced to be light shining through the darkness, an instrument of peace in situations of animosity, a source of beauty rising from the ugliness and muck of life. May the Easter greeting of each of our parish family be less action and words and more a clear sense of who we are and a deepening desire to be, by God’s call and grace, what we are intended to be.

In the Love of Jesus,

Father Lenny Zamborsky
April 4, 1999

For Reflection:

Throughout Salvation History, God has gifted his people with immeasurable love and boundless mercy. Just brief snippets of the beautiful Scriptures shared at the Easter Vigil fill my heart with thanks for our Faith. What a journey this life of ours is! How graced we are to be called the friends of Christ Jesus, his sisters and brothers. I pray that I can answer God’s call to be light to a world of darkness and peace to those who may be suffering around me from violence or despair.  I am not always even pretty sure of what God intends me to be, but Easter makes me confident that his plan will unfold – no, make that enfold me – if I allow the grace of Jesus work in my heart. Alleluia! He is risen!

Good Friday: Easter Triduum

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.”
Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother.”
And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

After this, aware that everything was now finished, 
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, 
Jesus said, “I thirst.”
There was a vessel filled with common wine.
So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth.
When Jesus had taken the wine, he said,
“It is finished.”
And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.

John 19:25-30

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses,  but one who has similarly been tested in every way,
yet without sin.
So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy 

and to find grace for timely help.

Hebrews 4:15-16

The Rosary reminds the Catholic community and each of us of Mary’s role in Salvation History, and the gift she is as intercessor and example. The fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary are meditations upon the sufferings, the joys, and the glories in Christ’s life and in the lives of those who, like Mary, are close to him. The repetition of “Hail Marys” is in fact a beautiful example of contemplative prayer, which has been getting considerable attention in spiritual writing for the last several years.

In the Love of Jesus,

Father Lenny Zamborsky
October 10, 1999

For Reflection:

I have often tried to place myself at the foot of the Cross, contemplating the faithfulness of John and the three Marys, and feeling awestruck that, moments before his death, Jesus was still reaching out in love to them. He not only gave his beloved mother into John’s care, Jesus has made Mary, Mother of God, loving Mother to all of us. Mercy and grace are poured out from the Cross upon us. Mary leads me gently through her Son’s thirty-three year journey on Earth, drawing me closer into the Paschal Mystery and ever nearer to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Holy Thursday: Easter Triduum

So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power,  and that he had come from God and was returning to God, Jesus rose from supper, and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist.

So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on, and reclined at table again, he said to them,  “Do you realize what I have done for you?  You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.  If I therefore, the Master and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that, as I have done for you, you should also do.”

John 13:2-5, 12-15

The three day Liturgy of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday is one celebration of God’s Love, God’s Power, and God’s Gift. It is the celebration of the Christian person redeemed and empowered.

It is the celebration of the victory of life, goodness, beauty, and love. It is a mysterious, awesome celebration of life-giving death and resurrection.

All are invited to the Feast. All are welcome to partake of the gifts. All are asked to pray for each other at home and in our parish home that the call might be heard and responded to, and that the grace might be received and effective.

In the Love of Jesus,

Father Lenny Zamborsky
March 28, 1999

  

For Reflection:

Holy Thursday Liturgy has always been a favorite of mine, as if the entire Family of Believers gathers together after difficult times and takes a breather before going on with the struggle. Jesus and his disciples gather around their own family table, and we gather at the Eucharistic Table in love and thanksgiving. 

The Triduum Liturgy begins in an intimate family setting. The great gift of the Sacrament of Eucharist strengthens and sustains me on the journey, and constantly promises that Christ is with us always.

Am I a foot-washer? Never was the invitation to follow Jesus’s example at the Last Supper clearer and more profound then when our entire Parish Family gathered and gently and humbly washed each other’s feet on Holy Thursday. Eucharist calls us to love one another and to serve one another.

Whatever God has given you, bless it, break it, and share it. It is enough.  

– Father Lenny

Morning of Reflection for Eucharistic Ministers

April 12, 2008

Wednesday: Holy Week

It was now about noon, 

and darkness came 

over the whole land until three in the afternoon because of an eclipse of the sun. 

Then the veil of the temple 

was torn down the middle.
Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 

“Father, into your hands 

I commend my spirit.”
And when he had said this he breathed his last.

Luke 23:44-46

When life is dark because of loss, disappointment, discouragement, hurt, and failure, look to the light.  If it is too dark, cling to the memory of light. If even memories of light will not come forth, the light of God’s love is held in the hands and hearts of those who care deeply about us. Sometimes God’s eternal love is the only source of peace.

In the Love of Jesus,

Father LennyZamborsky
April 30, 2006

For Reflection:

For many years, some of us came together on this night for a prayer service with roots in the very early Church, called Tenebrae, meaning shadowy darkness. It seemed that the entire world stood still, as if standing watch at the tomb of Jesus throughout the night, with not a single spark from the Light of Christ.

 With readings from Scripture and from related readings from the pens of writers past and present, along with tender hymns, and lots of candles, we contemplated the darkness in the world before Jesus became Man, and the darkness at the moment of his death on the Cross.

We prepared to once again celebrate the Easter Mysteries, and the Light of Christ that glowed strongly on that first Easter morning and always and forever since. What a lovely way to be invited into the Triduum.

Tuesday: Holy Week

Now there was a virtuous 
and righteous man named Joseph who, 
though he was a member of the council, 
had not consented to their plan of action.
He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea
and was awaiting the kingdom of God.
He went to Pilate 
and asked for the body of Jesus.
After he had taken the body down,
he wrapped it in a linen cloth
and laid him in a rock-hewn tomb
in which no one had yet been buried.
It was the day of preparation,
and the sabbath was about to begin.
The women who had come from Galilee with him followed behind,
and when they had seen the tomb
and the way in which his body was laid in it,
they returned and prepared spices and perfumed oils.
Then they rested on the sabbath according to the commandment.

 Luke 23:50-56

Simply put, the reason Jesus came to this world as the perfect gift was to die and rise, pouring out his love and life upon the world.

In the Love of Jesus

Father Lenny Zamborsky
April 16, 2006

For Reflection:

From where he was hanged on the Cross, Jesus poured out his very being upon the world, reminding me that in the Diocese of Cleveland this is the evening when the bishop and priests gather to celebrate the Chrism Liturgy, blessing the oils to be used sacramentally throughout the time of Easter until next year’s Holy Week. 

Oil is an ordinary but essential staple of human life. Blessed, oil becomes sacramental, gently poured for healing of body and soul in the beautiful Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. Poured out oil marks each of us in Baptism and Confirmation as kingly children of God and fills us with the Spirit of the Living God, sent out to build God’s Kingdom on Earth. At Ordination, priests are anointed to be faithful shepherds and gentle teachers to their Flock.

At Jesus’s birth, Joseph, his father, wrapped the newborn in swaddling clothes and laid him gently in the manger. At his death, Joseph, his friend, wrapped his lifeless body in burial clothes and laid him in the tomb. As the faithful women disciples went to prepare the oils to anoint Jesus’s body, I bow my head as I ponder Jesus as gift to us – Sacrament of Love.

Monday: Holy Week

Then going out, he went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, 

and the disciples followed him.
When he arrived at the place he said to them, 

“Pray that you may not undergo the test.”
After withdrawing about a stone’s throw from them, and kneeling, he prayed, saying,
“Father, if you are willing, 
take this cup away from me;
Still, not my will but yours be done.”

Luke 22:39-42

As people of faith and people with Gospel values, there is a particular perspective and way of looking at things that can make us different from some of the anticipating, fearing, and celebrating that goes on around us. As we rejoice and give thanks to God for the gift of Salvation and our personal knowledge of the Lord Jesus, we also ask, “What is it, Lord, that you are calling me to at this time in my life and at this time in the history of the world?”

In the Love of Jesus

Father Lenny Zamborsky
November 28, 1999

For Reflection:

“Not my will but yours be done.” Not an easy prayer to say – and mean it. Even Jesus begged his Father to spare him from the suffering he was born to endure, for the love of us. I am sure that, in that moment of fear and dread, the love he always felt flowing through his very being, uniting him to his Father, completely filled both Father and Son with great agony. 

I pray that, if I cannot take away a sister’s or brother’s suffering, that I will freely share another’s pain prayerfully and in unity.

Palm Sunday: Holy Week

As he rode along, the people were spreading their cloaks on the road...

They proclaimed:
“Blessed is the king who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest.”

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”

He said in reply,
“I tell you, if they keep silent,
the stones will cry out!” 

 Luke 19:36-40

This holy season invites all of us to be people of hope who bring salvation to the world. May all of us, our families and our friends, be light, goodness, and beauty – positive and Godly energy in our world. As people of hope, we remember what God has done and continues to do. We remember who we are, and who we can become. We celebrate the power of Love. We believe in the promise, not then and there, but here and now.

In the love of Jesus,
Father Lenny Zamborsky

December 25, 1997

For Reflection:

The shouts of the rejoicing people welcoming Jesus in the streets of Jerusalem as Savior and King remind me of the heavenly host of angels proclaiming “Peace and Glory in the highest” to the shepherds at our Lord’s birth. I contemplate God the Father’s Gift of Emmanuel – God Is with Us –into the world, a world made holy for all time by Jesus Christ’s birth, life, death, and Resurrection.