Dr. Wojciech Kosek
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This translation was published here on 29 Dec 2023.
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(Duration of meditations and songs: about 58 min.)
Inside the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Rome, erected through the efforts of St. Don Bosco, one can admire a picture depicting his dream of two columns. Namely, on 30 May 1862, Don Bosco saw a great sea battle in his dream, in which many small and large ships went up against a single, magnificent ship – the symbol of the Church. The Pope was its helmsman. Although fiercely attacked by enemy ships, this ship emerged victorious from the battle. How was this possible? (0:53)
Standing at the helm, the Pope saw at one point two columns emerging from the sea. At the top of one of them, more powerful and higher, was the magnificent Blessed Host, shining brightly, and the column bore the inscription: “Salus credentium” (“Salvation of believers”). On top of the second, lower column, the figure of the Immaculate Virgin Mary was visible; this column bore the inscription: “Auxilium Christianorum” (“Helper of Christians”). The Pope immediately directed his ship right between the columns, and when he reached them, he moored to both of them. The enemy ships scattered at this sight, and there was a profound silence on the sea. (1:16)
Don Bosco commented on the dream: “There are only two ways to save ourselves in such a great drama: devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Help of the Faithful, and frequent Holy Communion. Every effort should be made to implement these two practices everywhere and in everyone’s life.” (0:31)
Today, as we once again seek to prepare for the best possible participation in the Holy Mass, we are aware of how much our Community of the Perpetual Rosary must be anchored in a deep bond with the Immaculate Virgin Mary, with Her plan to combat the powers of evil in the world. In carrying out the plan of the Great Novena, we desire to fulfill Her wishes that She spoke to all of us at Fatima. At the same time, we desire that our relationship with Christ coming to us in the Blessed Host will become more powerful and grow so that we not only desire to fulfill the plan of God and the Immaculate One but have the power of God necessary to carry it out. (1:10)
Let us, therefore, enter with open hearts into a time of meditation on the great Eucharistic mystery of the Incarnate God, on the mystery of His true Divine-human presence, on the mystery of our sacramental participation in His victorious passage through the Abyss of Death to new and eternal life in the Resurrection. (0:34)
Let us enter full of gratitude to God for the fact that it will be given to us in just a few dozen minutes, thanks to the priestly ministry of the venerable priest ……………….., to truly be in the Upper Room of the Last Supper, to truly participate in the Mass, celebrated by Jesus the night before the Passion in the presence of the Apostles…. and not only the Apostles, but all believers of all times who have ever partaken, are partaking or will partake of this holy celebration, and therefore above all in the presence of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Immaculate Mother of Jesus, who, like us today, participated many times in the Eucharist, celebrated by priests chosen by her Son. (1:14)
The Holy Mass is called the “Most Holy Sacrifice,” so we understand participation in it as standing on Golgotha at the feet of the Crucified One so that His blood would wash our souls of the effects of sins. This understanding of the Mass is of great value, for it allows us to participate in the Death of Jesus with poignancy and creates a suitable climate for us to respond with the love of our presence to the love of Jesus’ Sacrifice, His giving Himself up for us. (0:47)
It is worth realizing that the Holy Mass is not just the making present of the Sacrifice of Jesus. It has four main parts, with the first two making up the larger whole called the Liturgy of the Word and the next two making up the larger whole called the Eucharistic Liturgy. In the Liturgy of the Word, the first part is the readings along with the homily, and the second part is the prayer of the faithful. These two parts of the Liturgy of the Word allow us to prepare ourselves to enter into the mystery of Sacrifice and Glory accomplished within the Eucharistic liturgy, so first, at the time of Transubstantiation and Communion, to stand by Jesus dying on Golgotha, and then, after Communion, to glorify Jesus and the Holy Spirit given to us by the Risen One. (1:20)
With the beginning of the Eucharist, we are to make an effort to detach our thoughts from the daily concerns of mortality and turn our hearts to our eternal destiny. At this time, we are given the grace to immerse ourselves in the crystal water of the fountain of God’s word, in His powerful call: do not be afraid, I have loved you, I want your good, trust in Me unreservedly, lean on the truth of My words! I am your king and protector! (0:46)
Yes, the time of the Liturgy of the Word has one primary purpose: to renew in me the power of the spirit, the power of faith in the truthfulness of the words that God addresses to me and will direct to me. During the Liturgy of the Word, I receive the grace of power to confess with all my being: I believe that You, Jesus Christ, are the principal celebrant of this Eucharist; I believe and confess with poignancy that You, Jesus Christ, will soon, after the Liturgy of the Word, stand during the Transubstantiation in the reality of human body and blood in the midst of us, stand as each of us here stands in the reality of his body and blood – as a human being in this particular place and time, here, in this church. I believe that in receiving Holy Communion, I will indeed be very close to You, as close as possible; I will be with You, delivering Yourself to death for me… delivering Yourself for the salvation of me and all of us. (1:28)
The Holy Mass as a Sacrifice is an encounter with You, Jesus, who washes me from the effects of my sins and empowers me to serve my brothers and sisters, to bear witness to Your love. The Church encourages us to offer to God at the time of the Transubstantiation, together with the priest, the Sacrifice of the Son of God, as well as those sacrifices that we ourselves make in the hardships of each day. We are convinced that God values our toil, our daily pains united with the pain of His Son. The sacrifice we make on the altar with the priest will bring us God’s blessing for the hours and days ahead on our way to eternity. (1:02)
The Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Sacrifice make up the whole as a unique cry for God’s graces, and it seems to us that with the reception of the Body and Blood of Jesus – such a bodily-touchable Gift of God – the purpose of the Mass is accomplished. The brief thanksgiving included in the Missal and recited with the priest after Communion is the closing of our cry for God’s graces. Now that we have received for what we have asked, it seems to us that we are to go at once with the power of God into the world to bring forth a harvest, to powerfully convey to the people of the world an invitation to another such celebration. So we go to convince the people relying on their own strength that God wants to support them, that He wants to give them power during the Holy Mass. (1:18)
However, the world does not want to accept our invitation, for the world does not understand the need to appeal to God’s help; after all, the world perfects ways of solving problems on its own and continues to indulge in the illusion that it does not and will never need God to do so. The world even fights us because we seem too stupid and weak to it since we put the responsibility for human fate on God. We know that the world does not want to owe anything to God and does not allow God to impose anything on it or forbid it anything. The world is convinced that it is allowed to kill, steal, and lie because, in its mind, anything that serves its agenda is good. (1:14)
When confronted with the complacency of the world, with its belief in its own powers, our proclamation of the Holy Mass as a time when God grants power to its participants loses. Moreover, when we become healthy and effective in our actions, we ourselves are subject to the temptation of a shallow understanding and experience of the Holy Mass. Since our daily participation in the Mass ensures our success in life, we are inclined to come for the gifts supposedly due to us. At the same time, we fail to notice that during the Mass, we love ourselves and our little world more and more and notice less and less the God present in it, present in the Body and Blood! (1:06)
Instead of a dialogue of love, a dialogue of mutual bestowal in relation to Jesus, the Incarnate God, we will be mere recipients of the help supposedly due to us, and this when we for Him will not have time at the Holy Mass. Christ’s sacrifice is for us and to us, and we carry as a gift for Christ our sins and our cry for forgiveness. But is this the highest degree of love that Jesus desires from us… and that He desires for us, for our perfection as persons like Him? (0:55)
The situation is somewhat ameliorated by the fact that many people offer Christ the daily struggle against the sin of the world, the hardship of bearing witness to Catholic truth, and enduring persecution. However, it is worth knowing that even this is not all Christ can expect from us. It is because participation in Holy Communion gives us such an excellent opportunity to love Jesus that no other way of entering into a relationship with Him gives us. (0:46)
Are we, however, aware of these genuinely supernatural possibilities? Probably not, since after receiving Holy Communion, we immediately leave the temples to go to the world and its affairs, maybe even useful ones and maybe even ones that Jesus judges as service to Himself. However, it is worth considering whether it is good that our consciousness is absorbed by service almost immediately after Jesus comes to us in Body and Blood. We have welcomed Jesus into the dwelling of our hearts and almost immediately say to Him, “Make Yourself comfortable in my home, but do not get offended that I already have to leave! Stay here as long as You want, and then just leave and close the door. And see You next time!” (1:16)
After Holy Communion, we imminently leave Jesus alone in the dwelling of our hearts and go out from Him to the world’s affairs… We leave as if He does not have a heart that thirsts for our loving presence… We run out hastily as if we do not believe that He loves us and wants our love… He still renews His coming to us even though we do not comprehend the possibilities of loving Him we have been given. Moreover, we still do not believe He really comes to us as every man comes to his friend for a visit or to ask for help…; He comes in bodily, physical, and real form – He, God Incarnate! (1:15)
We used to think that we loved Jesus when we confidently turned to Him for help and offered Him our pain or, sometimes, our time. However, is this enough? Whether the test of love is only one’s ability to express a request for a gift or even to make a sacrifice for a loved one?… The test of love is, above all, the authentic inner joy of being with the loved one and – when his well-being requires it – the inner joy of sacrificing oneself for him to defend his integrity, his worth. The joy of being with a loved one, for better or worse – is the sign of love, the sign of an actual bond. (1:06)
Such a bond is love when persons want to be with and for each other and to bestow cordiality on each other in moments of peace and real help in times of struggle. (0:18)
Jesus is our defender again and again, but are we the defenders of Jesus? Do we have the strength to defend Jesus continually and effectively defend Him? Unfortunately, the current situation of our homeland reveals that we are not effective defenders of Jesus and His rights: the killing of children in the embryonic state and their mothers’ wombs, the anti-Church propaganda that is omnipresent in the media, the flood of non-sacramental unions and promiscuity, the relegation of honest people to the margins – these are indicators of our impotence. Comparing them with the development of truly Catholic social culture in other centuries, we can see that, despite many personal victories, we are not full of God’s power as defenders of Jesus. The world has not been conquered by us for Him. Why? (1:19)
The answer we are about to hear will require each of us to make an effort to open our minds and hearts. Let us, therefore, ask the Holy Spirit to assist us in this task. (0:19)
Song: Come Holy Spirit – 1-9 stanza (3:00)
The essential issue relates to our ability to love Jesus during Eucharistic union with Him. In order to love Jesus not only during the Eucharist but also after it, it is necessary to know that the Holy Mass is not only the Sacrifice made for our sins by Christ on Golgotha but simultaneously the Sacrifice He makes in the Upper Room to the Father for His victory before going out to fight the hitherto prince of this world, the devil. (0:49)
Jesus saves us based on His human capabilities, so before going out to fight the prince of this world, He calls on God for help – He makes a sacrifice in the Upper Room for victory. (0:20)
If we, therefore, do not limit our participation in Christ’s sacrifice to the time of the Eucharist but extend it to the time immediately following its close, then – having indeed Jesus in His body and blood – we will indeed participate in this battle that He with our participation is victoriously waging against the devil and the world subjected to him. (0:38)
Before addressing the issue of spiritual warfare after the Holy Mass, let us first consider the currently prevailing church customs in light of liturgical and biblical texts. It will allow us to understand better the importance of prayer time after the celebration. (0:29)
“You are welcome to come to Mass, and afterward meet for tea!” – such announcements we may often hear, and it seems natural to us: people meet with God and then with each other. In order to evaluate these customs honestly, two points should be noted here. (0:29)
First, the so-called “agape,” to which those who crown the Holy Mass with a social gathering often erroneously [1] refer, did not take place after the Eucharist, but during it: “agape” was the second part of the Mass. The Eucharist had a pattern almost identical to today, with one exception in the second part. The scheme of the Eucharist was as follows: (0:38)
As a result of the fact that many of the wealthy early Christians abused food and wine during the “agape,” this element had already been abolished by the Apostles (cf. 1Cor 11:18–22, 33–34). However, a trace of it remained: it is the universal prayer, i.e., the prayer of love (in Greek agape) for the Church and brothers in need. (0:32)
Second, we probably do not realize that when we combine the Holy Mass with a social gathering, we subordinate it to a particular overarching structure, of which we humans are the creators. However, it was initially different: the Holy Mass was indeed part of an overarching structure, but a structure strictly defined by the Savior. Well, He, after celebrating the Holy Mass, began to realize the next stage of His life, the next stage of salvation history: He set out from the Upper Room to walk the way to Golgotha and, through death, descend into the Abyss, into the land of the dead. This way of Jesus – is not a walk among the roses but the most intense battle against the powers of evil, which Jesus overcomes by the power of obedience to the Father, obedience despite the cries of fear that fill the human dimension of His person (cf. Heb 5:7). (1:28)
It is essential to realize that it was no coincidence that the Lord Jesus celebrated the Holy Mass not after the Resurrection but immediately before going out to the Passion. If He had done it after the Resurrection, His words “Do this in remembrance of Me” could have been understood as they are commonly understood: do it to remember – to make My Passion present. However, Jesus did not do so. He uttered the words “Do this in remembrance of Me” when He was in a state of trepidation awaiting these dramatic Events. He uttered them not only as a command to the disciples who were to utter them in the future but as His own act of consecration and explication of that action He was performing in the Upper Room. (1:19)
The meaning of Jesus’ words should be understood more deeply: He does this as a sacrifice of a particular kind, as a sacrifice offered for a very specific purpose, as a sacrifice known as a “memorial sacrifice” (Greek: anamnesis – cf. 1Cor 11:24, 26), a “memorial offering.” God already established this type of sacrifice as Israel’s covenant partner (cf. Num 10:9-10). The purpose of offering such a “memorial sacrifice” was to gain victory in battle. Namely, when Israel killed and burned animals on the altar before battle, it performed this “memorial sacrifice,” a “memorial offering,” and God, as Israel’s protector, based on His covenant with Israel, remembered her during the battle, ensured her victory and happy return to the place from whence she had set out to fight. (1:20)
Jesus does the same as the Israelites did before the battle: before leaving the Upper Room for the battle, He offers a memorial sacrifice, a remembrance, an anamnesis. He offers it while going out to the final battle against the self-proclaimed prince of this world, the devil. He makes this sacrifice so that God will remember Him during the battle and thus throughout His way from the Upper Room to Golgotha and through the land of death, which was under the devil’s power until then. (0:44)
Jesus’ remembrance has the same purpose as any Old Testament “remembrance,” but it is not in all respects identical with those sacrifices. The difference to the Israelites’ sacrifice is qualitative. First, Jesus offers a sacrifice not of animals killed and burned on the altar but of Himself. Second, It is clear that the Israelites offered as a “memorial offering” an animal that they had already killed. Jesus, on the other hand, offers as a “memorial offering” the One who, viewed from the point of view of historical time, will only be killed in the nearest future – on the cross at Golgotha. (1:06)
Let us add, moreover, that in the Upper Room, Jesus offers as a memorial offering to the Father, first and foremost, that act of definitively giving up his life on the cross at Golgotha; however, He also associates with that act the entire overwhelming effort of going towards Death. Jesus offers as a memorial sacrifice to the Father the total effort of entering the Abyss in order to struggle with the devil in it and personally defeat him in the end. It is evidenced by Jesus’ words, accurately translated from Greek, which sound as follows, “This is My Body giving out for you,” and “This is My Blood, pouring out for you.” The present tense of the terms giving out / pouring out indicates that this giving out Himself to Death has already begun in the Upper Room and continues until the moment of the definitive defeat of the devil in the Abyss. (1:22)
Having familiarized ourselves with the concept of the memorial offering as a sacrifice preceding the battle, we should still consider what circumstances preceded the day Jesus proceeded to celebrate the Last Supper, i.e., the Holy Mass. Jesus did so after completing the stage of preaching the good news and confirming it with numerous miracles. As will be seen in a moment, Jesus subordinated His life to a precise plan, made up of four successive stages, in order to give it the same structure that God gave to His plan to fight Pharaoh, the plan to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, a plan made up precisely of four main stages. (1:08)
Before discussing the stages of Jesus’ life, we should note a little-noticed but essential detail in St. Luke’s Gospel (9:31). Behold, when Jesus spoke to Moses and Elijah during the transfiguration on the mountain, He spoke of the “departure He was about to make in Jerusalem,” with the word “departure” in the Greek original being exodos. It is the Greek word we usually pronounce exodus, referring to the Israelites’ departure from Egypt (cf. Ex 19:1). The comparison of Jesus’ life to the exodus – or exodus – of the Israelites from Egypt, therefore, has a profound biblical basis. (1:00)
In Jesus’ life, it is necessary to discover these four main stages of His plan of salvation, the four elements of the structure given to His life by Himself. The Last Supper is one of these four main stages. (0:24)
And here are these four stages of Jesus’ salvific plan:
It turns out that the four stages of Jesus’ life are analogous to the four stages of the plan God used to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, namely:
From the presented juxtaposition of the stages of Jesus’ life with the stages of the exodus of all Israel from Egypt, we can see that – to put the above enumeration in a nutshell – the order is as follows:
In both cases, the banquet preceded the passage through the Abyss, and the exit from the Abyss occurred identically on the morning of the third day after the banquet was held. The difference lies only in the significance of the elements enumerated here. (0:25)
Thus, regarding the banquet: The Israelites ate the Passover, i.e., a roasted lamb, while the Apostles, and with them we too, eat the Passover, i.e., Jesus, as St. Paul mentions: “For Christ was sacrificed as our Passover” (1Cor 5:7). (0:27)
Similarly, regarding the passage: Jesus passed through the Abyss-Death, i.e., the land of the dead, while the Israelites passed through the Abyss of the Red Sea, i.e., between the waters of the sea. It is worth knowing, however, that the Scriptures use the same term Abyss [2] in both cases, by which the Holy Spirit as the Divine Author of all Scripture prompts the analogy noted here. (0:41)
As for the new life: after passing through the Abyss of waters, the Israelites entered a new life – the life of freedom from Pharaoh, but a temporal life. Jesus enters a new life, but a completely new one, because He receives eternal life from the Father in Resurrection. Along with Him, His disciples enter into that life, i.e., the Apostles gathered in the Upper Room and fed by His Sacrament, and all of us who participate with them in the same Eucharist. Moreover, just as the Israelites entered the Promised Land after 40 years of wandering, Jesus, after 40 days, entered definitively into eternal life in heaven, where He resides now as God Incarnate in union with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. We, too, through participation in the Eucharist and especially in Holy Communion, will ascend there definitively after the end of mortal life. (1:27)
Returning in reflection to the Eucharist of the early Christians, they never held social gatherings after it but remained in prayer until morning (cf. Acts 20:7-12). In turn, they adopted this from the customs associated with the Jewish Passover banquet, after which, according to the rules, neither eating nor entertaining was allowed but only praying was allowed and should be done until the morning, which is also practiced to this day by the most pious Jews. We should remember that the Lord Jesus was a Jew, and He is the one who transformed the Jewish banquet into the Eucharist (cf. Luke 22:15); moreover, all the Apostles present in the Upper Room were also Jews who had faithfully celebrated the annual Passover until that time. Jesus imposed on them the responsibility of passing on to the nascent Church all the requirements associated with His New Passover, built on the Jewish Passover. Hence, the customs associated with the Jewish Passover also passed from the beginning to the Eucharist – to the Passover of the New Testament. (1:38)
Why do pious Jews continue to pray until the morning after the Old Covenant Passover banquet, involuntarily providing a model for Christians of prayerful continuance after the New Covenant Passover banquet? They know that although the Passover banquet gives them a share in the passage with their Fathers through the Red Sea, [3] they persist in prayer until dawn, for, as Exodus 14:24-31 relates, it was at dawn when God stopped the chariot wheels of the Egyptian army and finally plunged them into the sea abyss. At dawn, the Fathers went out from the depths of the sea to its other side to sing a magnificent hymn to God there, to explode, as it were, with the full joy of the resurrection to a new life of freedom! (1:18)
The Jews know that when they pray until dawn after the Passover banquet, they are really participating in the exodus/departure of the Fathers from Egypt and their three-day march to the Red Sea, culminating in a miraculous passage through the sea depths. They know that they are participating in this miracle that God performed for them to grant them full victory over the hostile Egyptians. (0:43)
Is it only a coincidence that Jesus Christ came out of the Abyss just at the dawn of the third day – counting from the time of eating the New Passover? Jesus came out of the Abyss of Death after the same period as the Israelites came out of the Abyss of waters… It helps us understand why we are given to hear in the Mass readings of Holy Saturday the account from the Book of Exodus of the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea… It is because Holy Saturday makes it present the time of Jesus’ passage through the Abyss, the time between His Death and descent into the Abyss on Good Friday and His Resurrection on Easter Sunday. It is because Jesus’ passage through the Abyss is typified by Israel’s passage through another Abyss – the Abyss of the waters of the sea. (1:22)
It is worth noting regarding the exodus from Egypt that God carried out the slaying of Israel’s enemies twice: first, He killed all the first-born of Egypt. He did so precisely in the middle of the night and when the Israelites ate the Passover banquet. The second time, He did it in the middle of the waters of the sea, on the morning of the third day after that first event. He killed Pharaoh and all his choice army: not a single one of them survived! (0:46)
It is no coincidence that the Lord Jesus celebrated the banquet of the New Passover before setting out towards Golgotha and the Abyss of Death: Jesus first made present the act of His death during the Eucharistic banquet and then realized the same act of His death, of His entry into the Abyss, on the cross at Golgotha. In this way, Jesus realized one act of death twice in historical time in a genuinely Divine manner; He realized in a manner beyond all human imagination what was foreshadowed by two separate acts of killing the Egyptians: the first at the banquet, the second at the crossing of the sea. (1:03)
Like God in Egypt, Jesus caused first the act of the Death of the Firstborn Son to take place in the Upper Room at the Passover banquet, and it took place under the cover of the sacramental signs of Bread and Wine. This resemblance is remarkable for its incomparable depth to the event in Egypt since it is not so much an act of killing as an act of recalling from the future what will be accomplished on the Cross at Golgotha. Nonetheless, the Death of Jesus as the Firstborn Son is foreshadowed in a typological way by the act of killing the firstborn sons of Egypt. (0:55)
Then, after the banquet in the Upper Room, Jesus started the way to pass to the top of Golgotha and then – like the Israelites [4] – entered the realm of death. We should note that the Israelites passed between the mighty walls of waters and, therefore, passed, as it were, through death. The Israelites passed through the Abyss thanks to God’s power and the fact that God, in the signs of the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud, walked with them. Jesus also passed victoriously through the Abyss, through the land of the dead, from which, as the Letter to the Hebrews says, God brought Him forth – “brought up from the dead the Great Shepherd of the sheep” (Heb 13:20). (0:58)
In this case, did God bring out only the Shepherd alone, without the sheep? No, not only – in the passage of Jesus-Shepherd through the Abyss also participate His sheep – all those who, thanks to their participation in prayer after the Mass, remain united with Him, all carrying in their bowels two sacramental signs, so similar in color to the two signs from Egypt: the sign of white Bread, similar to the cloud, the sign of red Wine, similar to fire. Therefore, they participate in this victorious passage not only during the Eucharistic banquet but also after its conclusion. It is just as with the Israelites after the Passover, who participate with their Fathers in the passage through the Abyss of the Red Sea, even though they had already participated in this passage during the banquet itself. (1:21)
Based on the principle of biblical typology, built by noting the similarities between the four stages of Jesus’ exodus (departure) from this world and the four stages of Israel’s exodus (departure), one should conclude: Just as the Jews praying after the Passover banquet until the morning participate in the definitive defeat of the hostile powers, securing God’s blessing in their lives, so too will Christians be blessed with definitive victory over the hostile powers if they persist in prayer not only during the New Passover banquet, but also after its end. (1:01)
Before us, in just a moment, the doors of the Upper Room will open. In just a moment, we will stand next to the Immaculate Mary and enter under her maternal protection the space and time of two thousand years ago to sit down to the feast of the New Passover next to Christ, to sit among His Apostles. We are aware that Jesus has just completed the first stage of His plan of life and is beginning the second stage. Namely, He will now perform the memorial sacrifice, a sacrifice before the deadly battle against the devil, the implacable enemy of God and people. In just a few dozen minutes, we, the Community of the Perpetual Rosary, nourished by the Body and Blood of the Son of God at the Mass, will be endowed with the grace of abiding in sacramental union with Jesus in prayer in order to participate fully with Him in the definitive smiting of the powers of hell, which He, the Son of God and Son of Mary, accomplishes precisely at this time of grace. May the Immaculate Mary be our model and intercessor with God in this union. Amen! (1:44)