Bishop Kevin Farrell

The Chief Shepherd of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Search

Celebrating the Great Easter Vigil

March 26, 2016 By Bishop Kevin J. Farrell

Celebrating the Great Easter Vigil

The Easter Vigil, the summit of the Triduum, the greatest and most noble of all solemnities, begins in the darkness and desolation of the tomb; the darkness in our world, the darkness in our hearts. In that primordial darkness we linger in watchful wakefulness awaiting in hope the shattering of the uncomprehending darkness by the Morning Star.

In the Resurrection, Jesus vanquishes the darkness, which may obscure but never engulf the Light of Christ which seeks out the darkest corners of our world and our hearts, to quench the flames of despair and hopelessness.

This is what we celebrate at the Great Easter Vigil, the reemergence of the unconquerable Light of Christ symbolized by the new fire from which the Paschal or Easter Candle is lit. The Light of Christ is not quiescent but animated by the Holy Spirit to not only scatter the darkness but to spread the light.

Slowly the darkness of the church surrenders to the Light as the flame from the new fire is spread. The Paschal Candle is placed in its stand and the Exsultet or Easter proclamation is sung. Dating back to about the fifth century this beautiful hymn invites us to “Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her, ablaze with light from her eternal King, let all corners of the earth be glad knowing an end to gloom and darkness.”

It is well to keep in mind that for more than a millennia this hymn was sung in a world lit only by fire. The dichotomy between light and darkness was a much more profound reality than it is in our day when darkness can be dispelled by the flip of a switch. Thus the hymn includes the gift of the bees from whose wax “a torch so precious” is fashioned.

While the Exsultet traces the history of salvation, it is centered upon God’s unshadowed light that “dispels wickedness, washes faults away, restores innocence to the fallen and joy to mourners, drives out hatred, fosters concord, and brings down the mighty.”

Finally, in an allusion to our watchful waiting in primordial darkness, the hymn prays that “this flame may be found still burning by the Morning Star; the one Morning Star who never sets, Christ your son.”

More ancient than the Exsultet is the Baptismal Liturgy that may be traced to sub-apostolic times. Once again we return to the light and darkness dichotomy. The east was associated with the Resurrection and the Second Coming. St. John of Damascus taught, “We adore him facing east, for that is the tradition passed down from the Apostles.” Those to be baptized would face west and renounce the darkness, then turn to Christ in the dawning light in the east.

After their baptism and anointing the newly baptized would join the community for the Easter Vigil.

Today, at Easter Vigil services in their parishes, baptismal rites are essentially the same. In the Diocese of Dallas in 2016 more than 2,300 adults and children will turn to Christ and be received into the Church through baptism or profession of faith.

St. Paul wrote, “Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life” (Rom 6: 3-4). These new Catholics look east awaiting Him whose Resurrection they shared in baptism. We welcome them.

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Filed Under: Being Catholic Tagged With: easter vigil, Exsultet, Resurrection

Keep Christianity in the Holy Land a living faith

March 25, 2016 By Bishop Kevin J. Farrell

Please translate this title: Keep Christianity in the Holy Land a living faith

Christianity is struggling to survive in the land where it originated. Christians have been forgotten in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Catholic Church is fighting to keep Christianity in the Holy Land a living faith and not a relic.

Franciscan priests and brothers have been caring for the holy sites for more than seven hundred years dating back to the meeting of St. Francis of Assisi and the Sultan Malek-el-Kamel in the early 13th Century. In 1342, Pope Clement VI issued a pontifical mandate authorizing the Franciscans as custodians.

Today, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land is doing much more than looking after the holy places, although that is a significant part of their work. They operate schools with more than 10,000 students in grades pre-K through 12.

They have constructed more than one thousand residential units where Jesus walked and preached in Bethlehem, Bethpage and Nazareth and 80 homes have been rehabilitated for Christian families in the Old City of Jerusalem. Friars provide pastoral care in 29 parishes and maintain guest houses and pilgrimages for visitors from throughout the world.

Their pro-active efforts to maintain a dynamic Christian presence in the Holy Land has resulted in 120 young men preparing to become Franciscan priests and brothers. Franciscan archaeologists are seeking to discover new information about the beginnings of the Christian faith in places like Magdala, the home of Mary Magdalen.

On Good Friday a collection will be taken up in every Catholic Church to fund the works of the Franciscans in the Holy Land. We cannot allow the Faith to be snuffed out in the Holy Land. We cannot allow the holy places to fall into disrepair.

Please assist in this most important mission. I ask you to give generously to the Holy Land Collection on Good Friday or donate online at http://www.myfranciscan.org/our-mission/the-good-friday-collection/

Keep Christianity in the Holy Land a living faith and not a relic.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Being Catholic Tagged With: Good Friday, Holy Land, Holy Land Collection

Good Friday: Commemorating the supreme act of mercy

March 24, 2016 By Bishop Kevin J. Farrell

20160324-goodfriday

Mercy is the bridge that connects God and man, opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite our sinfulness.

On Good Friday we commemorate the supreme act of mercy, Jesus giving himself up to an ignominious death to reconcile us to the Father. St. Paul describes it in his letter to the Church in Philippi: “… He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2: 7-8).

This supreme act of mercy flows from the compassion of God. At its root, the word compassion means to “suffer with,” accompanied by a desire to relieve the suffering. God’s compassion is not mere empathy, but a sharing of our suffering and a determination to alleviate it. That desire, that determination manifests itself in God’s mercy. Jesus is the personification of God’s mercy, or, as Pope Francis puts it, “Jesus is mercy incarnate.”

The liturgy on Good Friday is central to the Passion of the Lord. It includes the ancient Christian custom of Adoration of the Holy Cross, dating to the fourth century. (Cf Pilgrimage of Egeria). The antiphon sung during the adoration explains why we both venerate and exalt this symbol of our salvation:

We adore your cross, O Lord.
We praise and glorify our holy Resurrection.
For behold, because of the wood of a tree
Joy has come to the whole world.

Our Holy Father Francis recalls that, “Jesus on the cross feels the whole weight of the evil, and with the force of God’s love he conquers it; he defeats it with his resurrection. This is the good that Jesus does for us on the throne of the cross. Christ’s cross, embraced with love, never leads to sadness, but to joy, to the joy of having been saved and of doing a little of what he did on the day of his death.” The Church of Mercy

Think about this for a moment. Jesus transformed the cross, an instrument of death, a mark of ignominy and human failure, into a symbol of the triumph of love and mercy.

Each of us has his or her cross, and in some cases, crosses. They can be overwhelming, almost unbearable. Let us seek to embrace them, as Jesus did and he will come to us, as Simon of Cyrene did for him, to help us bear our cross. They are our badge of discipleship.

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,* take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matt 16:24)

Filed Under: Being Catholic Tagged With: Good Friday, Triduum

Are we losing civility?

March 23, 2016 By Bishop Kevin J. Farrell

Are we losing Civility?

Paradigms don’t shift overnight, they occur very gradually, like growing old. One day you look in the mirror and realize you are looking at an old man or an old woman. How did this happen, we ask? I don’t remember growing old.

Without our realizing it, civility, a paradigm of our American way of life, has shifted radically. Key elements of that paradigm are respect of self and others, how we are governed, the quality of our private and public discourse and demeanor.

A general lack of respect for self and others is reflected by the acceptance of the ever increasing use of vulgarity and obscenity in the media and public discourse. Many in our government no longer seek to serve the common good or general welfare, but only the good of the party which places retaining or regaining power over truly serving the country. Those seeking public office seldom address issues that are endangering our country but seek only to demonize and destroy their opponents.

Those disagreeing with us no longer are seen as good people holding different opinions but as ill-informed people whose ideas are unworthy of consideration that don’t deserve to be heard. Peaceful protests, a hallmark of democracy, are all too frequently commandeered and misappropriated by those with nefarious intent.

We appear to be on a self-destructive path that disparages common courtesy and compromise. If we do not act to change that, I fear that the words of Samuel Johnson will be prophetic.

When once the forms of civility are violated, there remains little hope of return to kindness or decency.

—

Image credit: Jamelle Bouie on Flickr

Filed Under: In the News

Mercy permeates the Mass of the Lord’s Supper

March 23, 2016 By Bishop Kevin J. Farrell

Mercy permeates the Mass of the Lord's Supper

Our reflection on Mercy Week reaches its climax with the Easter Triduum, the summit of the liturgical year. Holy Thursday marks the end of Lent and the beginning of the Triduum. Our senior Catholics will recall that Lent ended at noon on Holy Saturday, but liturgical reforms that followed Vatican II established the Triduum, beginning Holy Thursday evening and ending Easter evening, as a separate liturgical season, changing the end of the Lenten season to Thursday.

Triduum is Latin for three days. Following the ancient Jewish tradition that a day begins and ends at sunset, the Triduum begins Holy Thursday evening and ends Easter Day with evening prayer. Liturgically the Triduum is only one day, recalling the continuum of the last days of Jesus’ life, his passion, death and resurrection.

It is meaningful that the passion begins with a ritual meal commemorating God’s merciful deliverance of his people from bondage in Egypt, for the Last Supper initiates a new deliverance from the bondage of sin, that leads to redemption. Not just a promise but a new covenant of mercy enduring and perpetuated through the gift of his body and blood. Which we recall in the Eucharistic Prayer:

Take this all of you, and drink from it,
For this is the chalice of my blood,
of the new and eternal covenant,
Which will be poured you for and for many
For the forgiveness of sins.
Do this in memory of me.”(Matt 26:26-29, Luke 22:19)

John in his Gospel describes the incredible sight of Jesus, taking the role of a servant, washing the feet of the apostles, over the strenuous objections of Peter who recognized the incongruity of the situation. Jesus responded, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”

This action of Jesus has taken on new meaning in this Year of Mercy with the decision of Our Holy Father Francis to modify the rubric regarding the washing of the feet to embrace all disciples, establishing that the selection of participants in the Rite is no longer limited to men but can now include women and youth.

After the Lord washes the feet of the startled Apostles he explains the meaning of merciful discipleship:

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 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 13:5-8)

At the conclusion of the supper, Jesus and the Apostles, less Judas, depart for Gethsemane where he will endure his agony and confront his betrayer and cross.

Mercy permeates the Mass of the Lord’s Supper as it does the entire Triduum. It is indeed “twice blessed,” showered upon us in great abundance of love and sacrifice to which we respond in worship and faithful discipleship.

Filed Under: Being Catholic Tagged With: Holy Thursday, Triduum

Mass of the Chrism

March 21, 2016 By Bishop Kevin J. Farrell

Mass of the Chrism

Chances are that you’ve noticed three jars on a shelf in the front of your church. They contain the Holy Oils used in administering the sacraments. The oils include the oil of the sick, used in the anointing of the sick; the oil of catechumens, which is for those preparing to be baptized, and the chrism oil, which is consecrated and used for baptism, confirmation, and holy orders. All are pure olive oil with a bit of balsam and balm added by the bishop to the Sacred Chrism as it is consecrated. They are among the external signs of the internal working of God’s grace in the sacraments.

At the conclusion of the celebration, each priest is given his parish’s oil supply for the following year. The new oils will appear in those jars in the front of your church until they are needed for sacramental celebrations.

Blessing of the oils is not the only important event that occurs during the Chrism Mass. The priests, together with the bishop, renew their priestly promises. They commit themselves to be faithful stewards of the mysteries (sacraments) of God and in following Christ the head and shepherd. The Chrism Mass, concelebrated by the bishop and all the priests of the diocese, symbolizes their unity with the bishop in fulfilling their priestly promises.

The Gospel, most appropriate for this Year of Mercy, is taken from Luke and emphasizes the priestly call to merciful discipleship as Jesus echoes Isaiah 61 in announcing his own anointing as redeemer.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. (Luke 4:16-21)

Traditionally the Holy Oils are consecrated and blessed on the morning of Holy Thursday. But, for a number of reasons, the Church permits the Chrism Mass to be scheduled at another time near Easter. In the Diocese of Dallas, this will occur Tuesday evening of Holy Week at the Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe. It is a public celebration and all are welcome to this beautiful and significant liturgy.

Filed Under: Being Catholic Tagged With: Chrism Mass, Holy Week

Holy Week is Mercy Week

March 18, 2016 By Bishop Kevin J. Farrell

Holy Week is Mercy Week

Mercy is the ultimate and supreme act by which God comes to meet us, (Miseicordiae Vultus 2 ) and therefore is the appropriate appellation for the events surrounding the Passion, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus.

Mercy has two dimensions, Shakespeare’s double blessings, the giving and the receiving. The Incarnation, Jesus “the face of the Father’s mercy,” (MV 1) is the gift of the Father’s love, which is unconditional and is directed toward the needs of another or others. The incarnation responded to our call for deliverance, for restoration for reconciliation, “To you O Lord I call,” (Ps 28:1)

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion is the initiatory episode of Mercy Week. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, enters Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey, the symbol of peace, as opposed to the horse, the symbol of war. He arrives amid the hosannas of the crowd but against the background of the high priests conspiring against him. Mercy incarnate, our substitutiary, who bore our sins, is in place. (Is 53:4-5)”… his words, his actions, and his entire person reveals the mercy of God.” (MV 1)

Later the conspiracy will be “sealed with a kiss,” but not before Jesus’ gives himself in the Eucharist, the New Covenant of Mercy. He perpetuates it to make us co-participants in His sacrament and service. He then surrenders himself to the Father and his betrayer and his accomplices.

Following blasphemous interrogations and a spurious judgment, God’s gift of mercy is rejected by the powers of darkness who cannot overcome it. It cannot be destroyed and awaits the moment when the darkness will be shattered by the Resurrection.

“We need constantly to contemplate the mystery of mercy. It is a wellspring of joy, serenity, and peace. Our salvation depends on it” (MV 2)

Filed Under: Being Catholic Tagged With: Holy Week, Palm Sunday

Stop the Christian Genocide

March 16, 2016 By Bishop Kevin J. Farrell

Stop the Christian Genocide

On Monday Congress approved unanimously a resolution declaring that ISIS is guilty of committing genocide against Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East. The vote by the House of Representatives came as the State Department and White House are facing a congressionally mandated March 17 deadline to make a decision on making a similar declaration. A similar bill is awaiting action in the Senate.

Congressional action came on the heels of Genocide against Christians in the Middle East,  a report submitted to Secretary of State John Kerry by the Knights of Columbus and in defense of Christians. Carl Anderson, head of the Knights of Columbus, states “The evidence contained in this report, as well as the evidence relied upon by the European Parliament, fully support the conclusion that reasonable grounds exist to believe the crime of genocide has been committed.”

In February, the European Parliament declared that genocide by the Islamic State is taking place in the Middle East against Christians, Yazidis and other ethnic and religious minorities. The crime of genocide is defined in international law in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means … acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.

Not only is the Islamic State driving Christians and others out of the lands they have lived in for more than a thousand years, they are determined to obliterate any remnants of their ever having been there, wantonly destroying churches, monasteries, shrines and ancient temples.

I commend members of the House of Representatives and the Knights of Columbus for their efforts to bring this crime, not only against Christians, but against humanity to the forefront. These people, Christians and other minorities, are being systematically slaughtered.

Where is our moral outrage?

I urge you to heed the urgent call from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to support a petition to stop genocide in the Middle East and convince the U.S. Department of State to include Christians in any formal declaration of genocide. The petition is available at www.stopthechristiangenocide.org. Please sign today.

Filed Under: In the News Tagged With: Christian Genocide, ISIS

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • …
  • 79
  • Next Page »

Bishop Farrell on Twitter

Follow @Bishop_Farrell

About Bishop Farrell

Bishop Kevin Joseph Farrell was appointed Seventh Bishop of Dallas on March 6, 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI.
   
MORE ON BISHOP FARRELL

Recent Posts

  • Bishop Farrell’s homily for Mass of Thanksgiving
  • Prefect of the new Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life
  • Simple acts of kindness
  • Prayer does not need words, it only needs faith
  • Baton Rouge

Bishop's Favorite Sites

  • Bishop Farrell Invitational
  • Bishop's Annual Appeal
  • Catholic Charities of Dallas
  • Catholic Diocese of Dallas
  • Catholic News Service
  • Catholic Pro-Life Committee
  • Catholic Schools of Dallas
  • Our Faith Our Future
  • The Catholic Foundation
  • The Vatican
  • USCCB

Sitius favoritos del Obispo

  • Campaña Anual del Obispo
  • Comité Católico Pro-Vida
  • El Vaticano