Pope at Easter Vigil: Entering the Mystery
Pope Francis during the Easter Vigil in San Peter's Basilica - AFP
Sean Patrick Lovett’s report:
Pope Francis focused his reflections on the women who, going out early Sunday morning to anoint the Body of the Lord, were the first to see the empty tomb.
“We cannot live Easter,” he said, “without entering into this mystery.”
Entering the Mystery
Entering into the mystery, Pope Francis explained, “means the ability to wonder, to contemplate; the ability to listen to the silence and to hear the tiny whisper amid great silence by which God speaks to us”… it “demands that we not be afraid of reality: that we not be locked into ourselves, that we not flee from what we fail to understand, that we not close our eyes to problems or deny them, that we not dismiss our questions” … “To enter into the mystery means going beyond our own comfort zone, beyond the laziness and indifference which hold us back, and going out in search of truth, beauty and love.”
Humility necessary
The Holy Father said humility is necessary to enter into the mystery, the humility to come down from the pedestals of our presumption, to see ourselves as we really are: “creatures with strengths and weaknesses, sinners in need of forgiveness.”
This, the Pope said, is what the women at the tomb teach us. They had kept watch, they went forth and they entered into the Mystery. Pope Francis concluded his homily with the prayer that we might learn from them “to keep watch with God and with Mary our Mother, so that we too may enter into the Mystery which leads from death to life.”
Below, please find the official English translation of the Holy Father's prepared remarks:
Pope Francis
HOMILY FOR THE EASTER VIGIL
4 April 2015
Tonight is a night of vigil. The Lord is not sleeping; the Watchman is watching over his people (cf. Ps 121:4), to bring them out of slavery and to open before them the way to freedom.
The Lord is keeping watch and, by the power of his love, he is bringing his people through the Red Sea. He is also bringing Jesus through the abyss of death and the netherworld.
This was a night of vigil for the disciples of Jesus, a night of sadness and fear. The men remained locked in the Upper Room. Yet, the women went to the tomb at dawn on Sunday to anoint Jesus’ body. Their hearts were overwhelmed and they were asking themselves: “How will we enter? Who will roll back the stone of the tomb?…” But here was the first sign of the great event: the large stone was already rolled back and the tomb was open!
“Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe…” (Mk 16:5). The women were the first to see this great sign, the empty tomb; and they were the first to enter…
“Entering the tomb”. It is good for us, on this Vigil night, to reflect on the experience of the women, which also speaks to us. For that is why we are here: to enter, to enter into the Mystery which God has accomplished with his vigil of love.
We cannot live Easter without entering into the mystery. It is not something intellectual, something we only know or read about… It is more, much more!
“To enter into the mystery” means the ability to wonder, to contemplate; the ability to listen to the silence and to hear the tiny whisper amid great silence by which God speaks to us (cf 1 Kings 19:12).
To enter into the mystery demands that we not be afraid of reality: that we not be locked into ourselves, that we not flee from what we fail to understand, that we not close our eyes to problems or deny them, that we not dismiss our questions…
To enter into the mystery means going beyond our own comfort zone, beyond the laziness and indifference which hold us back, and going out in search of truth, beauty and love. It is seeking a deeper meaning, an answer, and not an easy one, to the questions which challenge our faith, our fidelity and our very existence.
To enter into the mystery, we need humility, the lowliness to abase ourselves, to come down from the pedestal of our “I” which is so proud, of our presumption; the humility not to take ourselves so seriously, recognizing who we really are: creatures with strengths and weaknesses, sinners in need of forgiveness. To enter into the mystery we need the lowliness that is powerlessness, the renunciation of our idols… in a word, we need to adore. Without adoration, we cannot enter into the mystery.
The women who were Jesus’ disciples teach us all of this. They kept watch that night, together with Mary. And she, the Virgin Mother, helped them not to lose faith and hope. As a result, they did not remain prisoners of fear and sadness, but at the first light of dawn they went out carrying their ointments, their hearts anointed with love. They went forth and found the tomb open. And they went in. They had kept watch, they went forth and they entered into the Mystery. May we learn from them to keep watch with God and with Mary our Mother, so that we too may enter into the Mystery which leads from death to life.
Remarks by the President and the Vice President at Easter Prayer Breakfast
East Room
9:30 A.M. EDTTHE VICE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the White House. Religious leaders, lay faithful, it's an honor -- it's an honor to join you in a morning of prayer and reflection, and it's a delight to have many of you back.
For me, reflection is what Holy Week is all about. And I never fail to get a renewed sense of hope and possibilities when I attend Mass on Easter Sunday.
I believe Pope Francis got it right in his Easter Vigil homily when he said, “We cannot live Easter without entering into mystery. To enter into mystery means the ability to wonder, to contemplate, the ability to listen to the silence and hear the tiny whisper amid the great silence by which God speaks to us.”
I think that's who we are as Christians, and quite frankly, I think that's who we are as Americans. We're constantly renewed as a people and as individuals by our ability to enter into the mystery. We live our faith when we instill in our children the ability to wonder, to contemplate, and to listen to that tiny whisper amid the great silence. We live our faith when we nurture the hope and possibilities that have always defined us as a country. We live Easter -- and to live Easter is to live with the constant notion that we can always do better. We can always do better.
That's why I'm so grateful for what everyone in this room does to transform hope into possibilities, and possibilities into opportunity. And that's why I've been so honored to work every single day for the last six-plus years with a man who encompasses that faith to his core. A man who knows what it is to enter into the mystery with a deep and unyielding conviction that it's within each of our reach to make real the promise of the ongoing miracle that is the United States of America.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great honor to introduce you to my friend, the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. Thank you so much. (Applause.) Everybody, have a seat. Thank you. Well, we give thanks for this day that the Lord has made. Good morning, everybody.
AUDIENCE: Good morning.
THE PRESIDENT: Welcome to the White House. It is wonderful to see so many friends from all across the country. My first concern was whether you actually got something to eat. (Laughter.) Sometimes prayer breakfasts are advertised -- (laughter) -- and then you get there and there’s like a little muffin. (Laughter.) A couple of berries. (Laughter.) And though your soul may be nourished, you leave hungry. So I hope that is not happening here.
I want to thank everybody here for their prayers, which mean so much to me and Michelle. Particularly at a time when my daughters are starting to grow up and starting to go on college visits, I need prayer. (Laughter.) I start tearing up in the middle of the day and I can't explain it. (Laughter.) Why am I so sad? (Laughter.) They’re leaving me.
And I want to thank everybody here for the wonderful work that you do all across the country with your remarkable ministries.
We hold this Easter Prayer Breakfast every year to take a moment from our hectic lives for some fellowship, friendship, prayer and reflection. I know pastors here have had a very busy Holy Week, and so for you to travel here and take the time to spend with us is extraordinary after what I know is difficult. I can't say that our work during this season is comparable, but you should try dealing with thousands of people in your backyard on an Easter egg roll. (Laughter.) After that you need quiet reflection -- particularly because I had some of my nephews -- 6 and 4 -- in my house all weekend. And you need quiet reflection after that. (Laughter.) Girls are different than boys.
This morning, we also remember a man of God who we lost this weekend, a man known and loved by many of you -- the dean of American preaching, Dr. Gardner C. Taylor. Anybody who had the privilege of hearing him speak knows what power he had. He was a civil rights hero. He was a friend of Dr. King, who used his spellbinding sermons to spread the Gospel and open people’s hearts and minds. He taught and mentored countless young ministers. So as we mourn his absence today, we also take solace knowing that he leaves a living legacy and that he is in a better place.
I am no preacher. I can’t tell anything to this crowd about Easter that you don’t already know. I can offer just a couple of reflections very quickly before we begin the program.
For me, the celebration of Easter puts our earthly concerns into perspective. With humility and with awe, we give thanks to the extraordinary sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our Savior. We reflect on the brutal pain that He suffered, the scorn that He absorbed, the sins that He bore, this extraordinary gift of salvation that He gave to us. And we try, as best we can, to comprehend the darkness that He endured so that we might receive God’s light.
And yet, even as we grapple with the sheer enormity of Jesus’s sacrifice, on Easter we can't lose sight of the fact that the story didn’t end on Friday. The story keeps on going. On Sunday comes the glorious Resurrection of our Savior.
“Good Friday may occupy the throne for a day,” Dr. King once preached, “but ultimately it must give way to the triumphant beat of the drums of Easter.” Drums that beat the rhythm of renewal and redemption, goodness and grace, hope and love. Easter is our affirmation that there are better days ahead -- and also a reminder that it is on us, the living, to make them so.
Through God’s mercy, Peter the Apostle said, we are given “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” It’s an inheritance that calls on us to be better, to love more deeply, to serve “the least of these” as an expression of Christ’s love here on Earth.
That’s the spirit we feel in the example of His Holiness, Pope Francis, who encourages us to seek peace, to serve the marginalized, and be good stewards of God’s creation. Like millions of Americans, I’m honored that we will be welcoming him to our country later this year.
I want to quote him. He says that we should strive “to see the Lord in every excluded person who is thirsty, hungry, naked; to see the Lord present even in those who have lost their faith… imprisoned, sick, unemployed, persecuted; to see the Lord in the leper -- whether in body or soul -- who encounters discrimination.”
Isn’t that how Jesus lived? Isn't that how He loved? Embracing those who were different; serving the marginalized; humbling Himself to the last. This is the example that we are called to follow -- to love Him with all our hearts and mind and soul, and to love our neighbors -- all of our neighbors -- as ourselves. As it says in the first letter of John, “Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
On Easter, I do reflect on the fact that as a Christian, I am supposed to love. And I have to say that sometimes when I listen to less than loving expressions by Christians, I get concerned. But that's a topic for another day. (Laughter and applause.)
Where there is injustice -- I was about to veer off. (Laughter.) I'm pulling it back. Where there is injustice we defend the oppressed. Where there is disagreement, we treat each other with compassion and respect. Where there are differences, we find strength in our common humanity, knowing that we are all children of God.
So today, we celebrate the magnificent glory of our risen Savior. I pray that we will live up to His example. I pray that I will live up to His example. I fall short so often. Every day I try to do better. I pray that we will be strengthened by His eternal love. I pray that we will be worthy of His many blessings.
With that, I’d like to invite Reverend Dr. Amy Butler to offer our opening prayer.
Mass Homosexual Orgies Discovered In The Vatican (MORE EVIDENCE OF THE HOMOSEXUAL TAKEOVER OF THE VATICAN)
Homosexual orgies, and also a possible murder, have been discovered in the Vatican. This is just another proof of the satanic homosexual takeover of the Vatican. The Muslims conquered Constantinople, but the sodomites conquered Rome. According to a report on the story:
The Vatican has been embroiled in two separate, highly embarrassing, scandals.There is a very dangerous homosexual supporting ring deeply entrenched in the Vatican, which is helping enable it when it conducts mass with such a depraved heretic.
In one, a north Italian priest has been removed from office after allegations emerged that he had been surfing the internet to find gay lovers and had been involved in gay orgies.
The other, which has generated – if possible – even more lurid press coverage in Italy, alleges a priest in the south of the country is under investigation on suspicion of murdering one of his parishioners.
Father Gratien Alabi, from the Democratic Republic of Congo, is under investigation for murder following the discovery of female bones under the flagstones of an ancient mountain chapel.
The bones are anticipated to belong to Guerrina Piscaglia, 50, who disappeared from nearby Arezzo in Tuscany last year, The Times reported.
The case has generated intense media interest, with some papers claiming that Father Alabi had engaged in an affair with the woman, a parishioner of his and another priest’s church, and fathered a child with her.
Father Alabi has denied all claims, protesting his innocence.
Meanwhile, to the north of the country, the local Curia is scrambling to address the allegations made by a 32-year-old man from Rovigo, midway between Bologna and Venice.
The unidentified man apparently approached the media after church authorities failed to take action following his official complaint to the Ecclesiastical Court of the Puglia region against the unidentified 50-year-old priest.
The younger man claimed he met the priest through Facebook, forming a close friendship with the clerical figure who then confessed his homosexuality to his online correspondent.
In his complaint, according to Italian newspaper Corriere del Mezzogiorno, the man included a record of his conversations with the priest.
In these online interactions, the priest admitted to sexual relationships with other religious figures – as well as members of the Vatican’s elite Swiss Guard – using the internet to find new partners and engage in sexual encounters online.
Following the involvement of Archbishop of Taranto Filippo Santoro, the individual involved was immediately removed from office, once the “reliability of the facts” had been established.
He added that the allegations included behaviour that was “absolutely incompatible with the priestly ministry”.
“Needless to say, the feelings of the archbishop and the Curia are those of the regret and dismay,” a Vatican spokesperson told the Italian newspaper.
I have myself experienced, to some measure, this homosexual supporting ring in the Catholic Church, in a conversation I had with one priest and Catholic canon law judge, named Robert L. Kincl (also known as Fr. Bob Kincl), who was ordained in Rome. Kincl had befriended us as a fan of Shoebat.com acting as conservative, yet referred to homosexual fondling as permissible in the conversation. Having been shocked at his remarks, I told Kincl:
How can you, as a priest, be so liberal toward such a sick evil as two men fondling each other, or as two men having a “relationship” just as long as they are not going with other men. It is evil and it is reprobate.I also told him:
It is not tolerable for you, as both a priest and a canon law judge, to be permissive to somebody having a homosexual relationship just as long as they are not being promiscuous with other men. It is deplorable, and in the words of St. Paul, “worthy of death” (Romans 1:32).Kincl defended his position and responded with a rejection of the Old Testament and a twisting of St. Paul’s condemnation of homosexuality in Romans, stating
We do not follow the Hebrew Scriptures. We follow Jesus Christ who never mentioned gay relationships. When St. Paul mentioned such a relationship he was referring to the promiscuousness of the Romans using sodomy.Shoebat.com decided to investigate Kincl and found that he has a dark past. In 1993, Kincl worked as a Commander in charge of clergy at the U.S. Navy, and while he was in the service he defended another chaplain confirmed to be guilty of child molestation, named Robert Hrdlicka.
The investigation revealed that Robert L. Kincl had even written the authorities, not to charge the pedophile who molested the young boys, but urged them to send him back to serve as a chaplain:
Catholic chaplain Lt. Robert Hrdlicka pleaded guilty to molesting boys in 1993. Before his sentencing, six other Catholic Navy chaplains and the church’s archbishop for the military services urged authorities to send Lt. Hrdlicka to a church-run treatment center.Shoebat.com looked up Kincl’s My Life page, to find out that after all these years Kincl is still friends with Hrdlicka the pedophile, since he is on his friends list, of which I took snapshots:
“It is my fervent hope and prayer that he will be able to return to the active ministry as soon as possible,” wrote then-Cmdr. Robert L. Kincl.
Instead, Lt. Hrdlicka went to prison.
Just as we have Muslims, like Bergdahl, who have infiltrated the military, we have people like Kincl who have infiltrated both the military and the Catholic Church, with their depravity.
Kincl is now serving as a priest in Our Lady’s Maronite Catholic Church alongside Msgr. Don Sawyer. When I confronted Sawyer on Kincl, Sawyer vehemently defended Kincl.
Robert L. Kincl, depraved priest who defended a child molesting priest
Don Sawyer, Msgr. at Our Lady’s Maronite Catholic Church where Kincl serves
We asked them how could someone who supports homosexuality and defended a pedophile still be serving as a priest and not be excommunicated, to which Deacon Ron Walker, rolling his eyes, said that the Church’s main objective would be to reconcile him with God, and not excommunicate him.
It seems that the Diocese of Austin could care less if one of its priests supports homosexuality and defended a pedophile.
Bishop Joe S. Vásquez
Vicar General Danny Garcia of the Diocese of Austin
Why is this man serving as a priest when the Catholic Church, in its teachings, forbids homosexuality?
It is not surprising to see how far reaching homosexuality has gone in the Vatican. What other deviancies will enter the Vatican in the next decade remains to be seen. Whatever happened to normal sin? In the good old days, steeling a chicken perhaps constituted such sin, but these days, its sleeping with it.
While we were doing some work in Texas we were told of a man named Msgr. Michael Yarbrough (also known as Michael Yarborough), and how he is a deviant priest who forcefully kissed a young man named Hector Escalante on the lips, and how he was supporting a pro homosexual group called Call to Action. Here is a photo of Msgr. Michael Yarbrough:
Well, we decided that we were going to bait Msgr. Michael Yarbrough. I visited him in a confessional booth where I told him my age and apparently it registered an interest and he asked me if I wanted to come and hang out with him. He fell for the bait. I found it very odd that a priest of his high position, with a very busy schedule, would all of a sudden want to spend time with me.
I accepted his offer, and gave him a call, and asked him if we would meet at a book store. He said that he preferred that we meet in his office. I found this quite disturbing because it was in his office where he kissed Hector Escalante. When I did research on Msgr. Michael Yarbrough, I found a 2002 report written in the San Antonio Express which stated:
Hector Escalante complained that Monsignor Michael Yarbrough kissed him on the lips and groped him in his office in 1998 when Escalante was 27, on his last day on the job as a St. Matthew’s Parish employee.Imagine, a man kissing another man on the lips as “common.”
Yarbrough admitted kissing him but said Escalante misunderstood the gesture, which the priest said was common among men in his family. He denied groping Escalante.
I told Msgr. Michael Yarbrough that it would be better that we meet in a book store, to which he agreed. I asked him how much time he had, and he said, as long as I wanted. After doing some more research, I also found out that on top of kissing a young man on the lips, Msgr. Michael Yarbrough is a also a major donor to a pro homosexual group, called Call to Action, and I found his name on a list made by Call to Action designated as “major donors”. I took a snapshot of the list with Msgr. Michael Yarbrough’s name highlighted:
So, we had the meeting at the bookstore, and after some conversation, I busted him on his heresies and his scandals, and also paid a visit to his church where I was eventually kicked out by his followers (who probably know nothing on how evil this heretic is). Here is the video:
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Revelation 17 King James Version (KJV)
17 And
there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and
talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the
judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With
whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the
inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her
fornication.3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth.
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
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