Brother Giles' Desk

He is Risen! From Brother Giles Today is a day of great rejoicing in the Church and in the world. Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed! For many of us, it marks the end of Lent, a time of prayer and fasting, a time of focus on the sufferings of Christ. We do this so that we may share in His glory, and that is all good and true. But it's not enough. That's because we have a tendency to look at the negative. It's perfectly understandable; we are part of a fallen race, the human race. Yes, Christ is Risen and He has redeemed us, but despite our best efforts, we still sin anyway. But what if...what if we're looking at it the wrong way? I've said in a previous post that the Passion of Christ wasn't His suffering and death, it was His Passion to create life. God is Happy, and He wants us to be Happy. He wants YOU to be happy   (" I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." Jn 10:10, and      "I have said these things to you so that My ...

From Brother Giles We in the West have a tendency to compartmentalize everything human. We speak of three or four loves (C.S. Lewis wrote about five). Then the tendency is to think of them as separate and different. But does that make sense? "God is Love," not "God is 3, or 4, or 5 loves." The problem we have when we compartmentalize love into separate components is that we feel that we must shut down anything which doesn't fit into our previous definition of that compartment. This can lead to a false understanding of chastity as "Don't touch this, don't think that." Now, to be sure, we must be very careful here. Those rules are all true and very important. We must not get rid of them, as has always been a temptation when people feel that rules are oppressive. Having said that, the problem with seeing chastity in terms of following rules is that, while those rules tell us when we've strayed off the path of chastity, they don't tell us a...

From Brother Giles On Holy Saturday, we mourn the loss of Our Lord, knowing that He will arise again. But did you ever consider how shattering this week was for Our Lady in particular? (We could also call this shattering the sword that pierced her Heart.) She knew that her Son would have to be crucified and be raised again, but her profound participation in His Passion had, I think, the effect of shattering her in her inmost being. And sure, she rejoiced when she saw Him raised from the dead, but I think that shattering didn't go away in a single moment. I once heard a priest say that some people need to be broken, "and I don't mean broken like you break a horse. I mean like you throw a vase on the ground and shatter it."' He was referring to stubborn young people, but maybe the same principle applies even to holy people? Consider what Our Lord did for us on the Cross, something that we often overlook in light of His Sacrifice—He gave us His mother: "Son, beh...

From Brother Giles Jesus has spent the night alone, in a cell, contemplating both the events at Gethsemane, and the sham trial in front of the Sanhedrin. His disciples have all fled. This is probably the loneliest moment of His life. The trial itself was a sham in every way. There were many rules regarding justice under Jewish Law, and they were all geared towards acquittal. For example, if no one spoke up for the defendant, he was automatically released, because he had no advocate to stand up for him. Furthermore, no Jewish trial could be conducted at night, because dark business (a trial for a capital offence) could not be conducted at night. Also, Caiaphas could not "adjure" Jesus to tell the truth about His being the Son of God. It was forbidden under Jewish Law to order a defendant to incriminate himself, and any self-incriminating testimony was considered invalid. The fact that Caiaphas even asked the question was grounds for immediate dismissal of the charges. Then the...

From Brother Giles Today there are actually two distinct Masses. The first, which we will discuss now, is the Chrism Mass. This is the Mass at which the Bishop consecrates the three oils used in the sacramental anointings throughout the year. Those oils are for Baptism, Anointing of the Sick, and Holy Orders. This morning, Mass is celebrated by the Bishop and all the priests (who can make it) of the diocese. This is because, in addition to its being the institution of the Eucharist, it's also the anniversary of the Institution of the Holy Priesthood, in which Christ, the High Priest, shared His ministerial priesthood with the Church, through those men He has chosen. Celebration of the Last Supper begins what the Church calls the Sacred Triduum. "Triduum" can be roughly translated as "The Three Day Event." We call it so because the Church does not consider Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Resurrection of Our Lord as three separate things, but, rather, as one e...

From Brother Giles "Where do you want us to prepare the Passover for you?" There were very strict laws regarding Jewish dining customs, especially at Passover. The Passover lamb, for example, could only be prepared in the Temple in Jerusalem, and only by the priests. I have been privileged to prepare kosher meals for Jewish men, and the restrictions are dizzying. A few: no metal utensils; anything that touches the food must have never ever been used to prepare anything other than kosher food; certain foods, which are otherwise kosher to eat, cannot be served with certain other foods. If only we would prepare our hearts to receive Jesus in the Eucharist with a tenth of the care that the Passover meal was prepared. Something else about Passover: in the Old Testament, the Hebrew word is usually translated as "commemoration." But it means much more. It not only means "to remember," it also means (in Hebrew) to be present to," and even "to participate...

From Brother Giles Again, we see Jesus's Humanity coming to the fore: "Reclining at table, Jesus was deeply troubled..." Today we would say "He was freaking out." Shaken to the core. It was because someone He trusted was about to betray Him. Did He feel the presence of Satan entering the room, ready to empower Judas? We don't know, the Gospel today doesn't say. What we do know is that Jesus "handed him a morsel." This was a deeply intimate act, one that we have lost in the mists of time. To dip into the pot and offer the morsel to someone was to offer the deepest of friendship. Today, boys might prick their fingers to make a blood pact. It was that profound. Jesus was saying to Judas, "I am your most intimate friend. You don't have to do this." What was Judas' response? He took the morsel, and then "Satan entered him." What you are going to do, do quickly," Jesus said. Was He speaking to Judas, or Satan? Again, ...

From Brother Giles We come to the holiest time of the year—the Holy Week. Jesus knows He is going to die. We can almost picture Him looking wistfully at everything: "This is the last time I will see this person before I die," or "I will never see this place again (until I see it new in the Kingdom of Heaven)." Reading the Gospels this week, we can almost picture Him saying His goodbyes. And then we come to today's Gospel. The scene is so poignant: Jesus is with His friends, His clueless disciples, with His betrayer, Judas Iscariot. How much emotion He must feel! Then there is the lovely scene where Mary breaks the alabaster jar and anoints His feet, then wipes them with her hair. What an intimate moment! Talk about receiving the attentions of a woman! And especially when, as a man, He needed it the most. We cannot understand this act from our twenty-centuries-removed perspective. A Jewish rabbi of that time wouldn't even talk to a woman not his wife. He cert...

 Who is Brother Giles? Br. Giles is the pen name for...well, the point of having a pen name is to remain anonymous, isn't it? Besides, this isn't about me.  God has done so much for Veronica and me, and we want to share that with others. That's why we've started this blog. It's a place where we hope Jesus will touch lives and heal hearts, just as He has done for us. I have taken the name Br. Giles in honor of St. Giles, a hermit, monk and abbot of the Middle Ages. He is the patron saint of blacksmiths, breastfeeding, lepers, people with disabilities, cancer patients, and many others. I picked St. Giles as the patron of this ministry because of his kindness, generosity, wisdom, and patience, all virtues that I desperately need! St. Giles was invoked especially for protection against the Black Death. He is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, Saints who were popular in the Middle Ages, and he is the only one of them who did not die a martyr. (He was shot with an arrow, h...