God Is Dead

He's quite the captivating speaker - emotive, gripping.  He uses inflection, passion, urgency. He moves around the Altar, vestments cascading in the broken sunlight.  His booming voice commands attention.  He speaks, too, with his hands.

Some would say he's a good priest --  holy, devout, strict, knowledgeable. He professes the importantance of confession, community, denial of self/flesh/This World.

Women might even tease about his fetching good looks.  He's fairly young, Italian, has good hair, wears his glasses smartly - fit build.

Giggling kids would ooze about his sense of humor and how he used "diarrhea" in a homily once.  He tells jokes. He shares silly stories of his own embarrassing moments, and intertwines his faith into the anectdotes.  He's very popular at St. Ann's in Coppell, Texas, where he is adored by the teen youth. I believe there is even a Facebook fan page for him craeted by those kids!

Truth is, Fathar Alfonse is just a human. He's like me and you. He wears baseball caps and likes to cook, just like the rest of us. He is in conflict with his father.  He says women are pretty.  I would venture to guess he shops at Target.  He speeds and gets tickets.  He and we are the same. He has sinned, and continues to sin.  Just so happens, by his very service to God, that he happens to have way more religious education than most of us do and a wider breadth of the human condition.

But I'm not here to adulate one of the priests at my parish.  I am here, however, to honor Father Alfonse as one of the Vessels of God, thusly, giving glory to God. Father indeed has a special God-given talent with spoken words.  Through Father Alfonse, similar to Monsignor Don, I hear words in ways anew. I breathe them in in ways that offer me more life and warmth. Not all priests possess this ability, even though I'm open to hearing the message from any priest.   So I am thankful to have the blessings of Father Alfonse (the blessings of God).

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Fr. Alfonse opened the Good Friday homily in rather intentionally dramatic fashion with, "I'm about to tell you something, and I'm not exaggerating.".  He quoted the German athiest philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, referring to how all of us - you and I - have killed God. Then Father said (paraphrasing):  God is dead.  Today (dramatic pause) God (slight pause) is dead. And we have killed Him. Everyone of us, you and I included, we've killed Him.

I'd never thought about that before - that on Holy Saturday, the world is without God. There's no heaven. No promise. No life in Him. There's no glory or hope. There's no light or faith. There is Nothing. There is darkness.

My mind and Triduum habits have historically leapt over Holy Saturday from Good Friday's Passion to the "Service of Light" (Christ Light to the world -- the darkness ignited with The Resurrection)  in the Easter Vigil Mass on Saturday night (my second favorite service behind the Washing of Feet on Holy Thursday).   This year, I was awakened to living in darkness.  Yeah, I needed that.

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Next reverberation - more words spoken through Father: Today, we are united with our separated breatheren.

With the understanding that God is dead  today, there is no divide of humanity. If you are athiest, non-Christian, fallen-away Christian ... ANYONE...you and I, we are Godless today. We.Are.The.Same.People.  I'm not sure if it's good or bad, right or wrong, or anything that can be defined, but I find great peace and comfort in knowing that finally, for one day a year, you and I are the same.

Throwing my faith into the aforementioned truth, I can see that I should be unsettled. I should not feel peace. How could I feel peace when I am in a dark, scary, lonely, Godless world? I should feel fear and anxiety.

But I don't. And I'm not going to judge that I feel peace about it.

Fr. Alfonse's Blog