CHARLOTTE — “If we live in Jesus and the risen Savior lives in us, we conquer sin and death.”
This was the message proclaimed by Bishop Peter Jugis as he celebrated the Easter vigil Mass March 31 at St. Patrick Cathedral, which was filled with young and old there to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The liturgy began with the blessing of the Paschal fire and lighting of the Paschal candle at the Marian grotto outside the cathedral. Then the hundreds of faithful processed behind Bishop Jugis – candles in hand –into the darkened cathedral to hear the Exsultet chanted by Deacon Brian McNulty. In part, the Easter proclamation stated, “This is the night, when Christ broke the prison-bars of death and rose victorious from the underworld.”
After the Scripture readings and psalms, the cathedral’s lights were turned on and bells were rung as the faithful sang the Gloria.
In his homily, Bishop Jugis reflected on the reading from the vigil Mass Gospel according to Mark (Mk 16:1-7), “a very stirring gospel” which recounts how the holy women came to Jesus’ tomb and found it empty.
“Jesus Christ is risen from the dead!” the bishop said. “That is what we celebrate today and what we celebrate, in fact, every season of the year, at every liturgical time of the year. Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, is with us always – our living Savior, our living Lord.”
The Gospels’ eyewitness accounts of seeing, touching, speaking and eating with the risen Christ follow eyewitness accounts of His death and burial, he noted.
All of the eyewitness accounts affirm for us “the resurrection of Jesus is real,” he said. His resurrection is “the most amazing thing that happened in the history of the world since creation.”
The resurrection demonstrates that Jesus is triumphant over sin and death, he said.
“The message for us, we know – as Christians, as Catholics – is that if we live in Jesus and the risen Savior lives in us, we also conquer sin and death.”
The risen Jesus offers us freedom from sin and death, he reiterated. “One day we will also experience, then, the consequence of that freedom from sin, freedom from death: our own resurrection on the final day.”
Bishop Jugis welcomed three catechumens at the vigil Mass, giving them the sacraments of initiation – baptism, confirmation and Holy Communion.
During his homily, he explained the connection between baptism and the celebration of Easter.
“It is no accident that the Church likes to celebrate the sacrament of baptism during the Easter season, beginning with the Easter vigil,” he said.
“Of course, baptism is celebrated any time of the year. I was baptized on March 24, which was a Sunday in Lent, way back when,” he admitted with a smile.
But baptism at Eastertime is a special time “to begin a new life in the risen Christ,” he continued, because it “lets us see … the full meaning of Jesus’ resurrection.”
“Baptism joins us to the risen Christ. We begin to experience His own resurrected life within us as the risen Christ lives within us. We are washed of our sins, we are purified, and the divine life of Jesus Christ is imparted to our souls.”
That new life within the risen Christ “lasts forever,” he said. “That new and glorious life begins with us in baptism.”
And everyone at the Mass, not just the catechumens, receive a reminder of their baptism when they are sprinkled with holy water, he explained.
“We carry Christ’s victory over sin and death within us,” he said, “so there is no excuse to live as slaves to sin. Jesus is within you, the risen Savior lives within you.
“And if He can conquer death, He certainly can conquer anything that might be lurking in us.”
He concluded, “So with Easter joy, singing alleluia in our hearts, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, who says to each one of us now, ‘Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the earth.’”
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor
See more photos from Easter Masses
‘It was our infirmities that He bore, our sufferings that He endured'
Bishop Jugis commemorates Good Friday, venerates cross March 30
CHARLOTTE — Entering St. Patrick Cathedral in a silent procession to begin the Good Friday liturgy, Bishop Jugis lay prostrate before the sanctuary steps, humbling himself before God and in the presence of the faithful. This annual service held at 3 p.m., the hour Jesus Christ died on the cross, recalled the sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son for the salvation of souls.
The March 30 liturgy began with the reading of the Passion narrated by Deacon Brian McNulty, with Deacon Carlos Medina as the voice, Bishop Jugis as Jesus, and the congregation responding as the crowd. They took those gathered on the tortuous journey Christ suffered from the Garden of Gethsemane through His crucifixion on Golgotha.
In his homily, Bishop Jugis asked, ““Why did Jesus choose this path of such extreme public humiliation?” He then recalled that in the first reading if the Solemn Liturgy of Good Friday from Isaiah 52:13-53-12, the prophet Isaiah expressed what the Word of God spoke to him, foretelling what would happen to the Messiah.
“This is a very important passage for understanding and interpreting the Passion of Jesus," Bishop Jugis explained. “In there He says He surrenders Himself to death and by that means He will take away the sins of many and win pardon for their offenses. By His suffering, by His death, He does win salvation and take away the sins of the whole world.”
“Such humiliation, such degradation that He experiences – all for love of us, all for love of you in fulfillment of what He had foretold speaking to the prophet Isaiah. Being dragged publicly, humiliatingly from the high priest to Pontius Pilate, the governor, in a public spectacle. Then being forced to hear the crowd say to Him, ‘Crucify Him! Crucify Him!’ And stand there alone as all of the crowds are shouting at Him. What humiliation."
“Being scourged, being crowned with thorns, carrying the instrument of His torture through the streets of Jerusalem. What a humiliation He was put through that He freely accepted, that He freely willed and wanted. And then, if that was not enough, undergoing the torture. He was tortured to death by His hanging on the cross, as if He were the worst of criminals.”
Bishop Jugis reminded those gathered that as Isaiah has foretold: "He (Jesus) will be counted among the wicked": “He will be counted as a wicked man, as an evil man. He accepts all of this, such public humiliation."
“When you think, though, how else could He show us the full extent of His love for us?” Bishop Jugis asked. “How else could He show that His love was truly genuine? He chooses to go through the most degrading, the most humiliating ordeal to prove how much He loves us. He loves us for our salvation.”
When the bystanders shout at Him, "Save yourself, come down off that cross," the bishop continued, “No, He wouldn’t, because it was because of love that He stayed on that cross."
Jesus' humiliation began at the Last Supper, the bishop said, when He washes the feet of His disciples. The act of washing another’s feet – especially by a Jewish rabbi – was considered degrading, and not even the lowest Jewish slave would be required to wash someone else’s feet.
“Yet here He is degrading Himself, humiliating Himself in the presence of His disciples,” Bishop Jugis noted.
That is why St. Peter says to Jesus, "You will never wash my feet," – in other words, "Jesus, this is completely beneath your dignity." It is a sign of how much Peter esteemed Jesus but also a sign that Peter did not understand what love demands, the bishop said.
“Would you be willing to do anything for the person you love? Would you be willing to be humiliated? Would you be willing to accept degradation for the persons you love?” Bishop Jugis asked. “Jesus says, ‘Yes, whatever it takes, whatever is required. I will do it all. I will accept it all. I will not turn back. I will not say no. I will accept it all – because of love, because I am doing it for you.’”
(In Scripture) Jesus says, "I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly."
“As we know, because of that extreme humiliation and degradation of Himself in front of everyone – the whole Jewish community, that emptying out of self, that gift on the cross, the complete pouring out of His love – comes abundant life for the Church, comes abundant life for every one of us.
“The abundant life of the Resurrection springs forth out of His death. It will continue to flow forth like a river of His self-giving, His self-humiliation until the end of time for each one of us. It is such an abundant life that keeps giving, that never is exhausted. So powerful, so potent,” Bishop Jugis continued.
The reading from Isaiah 53 also says, "It was our infirmities that He bore, our sufferings that He endured."
“He has already taken your infirmities, your sicknesses, your burdens, your sufferings upon Himself,” Bishop Jugis assured the faithful. “Today in honor of the Lord and His Good Friday Passion, it would be a good idea to once again give to Him, give to Christ all of the infirmities that you bear, all of the sufferings that you endure, all of your crosses. Give them to Jesus and unite them to Him and His cross."
“Are there any people who are sick or who are suffering that you know of? Today, in honor of the Lord’s Passion and the passion that they suffer, today would be a good day to visit them," he suggested.
“Let us ask our Lord Jesus, whom we love so much, to consecrate us once again this day in His love,” he concluded.
After the homily, Bishop Jugis, along with Father Christopher Roux, rector of St. Patrick Cathedral, and parochial vicars Father Richard Sutter and Father David McCanless took turns venerating the wooden cross containing a relic of the True Cross. The faithful then also came forward to the base of the sanctuary steps to venerate the cross, usually by giving it a tender kiss.
— SueAnn Howell, senior reporter
More scenes from Good Friday observances
Bishop Jugis: The Eucharist is perpetual reminder of Jesus’ constant, fruitful love
CHARLOTTE — St. Patrick Cathedral was filled to capacity March 29 as Bishop Peter Jugis celebrated the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.
The Mass of the Lord's Supper on Thursday commemorates Jesus' institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper, His washing the feet of His disciples, His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, and His betrayal and arrest. The liturgy marked the start of the Triduum, the three holy days preceding the Resurrection of the Lord at Easter.
In his homily, Bishop Jugis reflected on the day’s Gospel reading from John 13:1-15, particularly the statement, “He loved His own in the world and He loved them to the end.”
Jesus’ love, even as He approaches His death, Bishop Jugis noted, “is constant. It does not vacillate; it does not waver at all. It is full and it is undiminished.”
Knowing that He is about to die, Jesus gives His disciples – and us – the ultimate gift of His love: the Eucharist, Bishop Jugis said.
Of course, Jesus shows His love throughout His life, from obedience to His parents in His youth to the working of many miracles and healings during His public ministry, the bishop continued, “but here at the Last Supper is the greatest expression, the most perfect expression of His love for the whole human race.”
“He’s laying down His life. Everything is now on the line.”
The bishop recalled that Jesus had once said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.” (John 15:13)
Jesus’ coming death on the cross is “the most beautiful and perfect and full expression of His love,” he emphasized.
Bishop Jugis also explained that Jesus institutes the Eucharist at this critical moment before His death, and not earlier in His ministry such as when He multiplied the loaves and fishes. Why?
“He chooses now, as He is approaching His death, because the Eucharist is the perpetuation of the sacrifice that He’s about to undergo. The Eucharist is the greatest expression of the love that He wants to show us.
“The Eucharist is the perpetual reminder of His living presence with us, the Real Presence – His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.”
There is “no greater memorial that He could possibly leave us about how much He loves us.”
The Eucharist, Bishop Jugis said, is “the great love, the great sacrifice, the ultimate sign of His love, that remains also constant, full, undiminished, even to our own time. He wanted a sign of His love to remain to the end, until the end of the world.”
“That greatest love will remain constant through the institution of the Eucharist.”
Bishop Jugis also recalled the words of St. John Paul II that “the Eucharist is the fruit of Jesus’ death.”
“Out of Jesus’ death springs forth abundant life,” he said. Just as when Jesus said that a grain of wheat has to die to produce fruit, He had to die for the fruit of His salvific grace to be produced.
“That love changes lives. That love changes people,” the bishop continued, because the Eucharist nourishes the faithful, enabling them to share God’s love with others.
The saints and martyrs are prime examples of this fruitful, selfless love, he said.
“That Eucharist, that sacrifice of Christ, His Real Presence continues through the ages to produce abundant life for the Church and for the world,” he said. “How blessed we are to be able to know the meaning of the Last Supper, why Jesus is doing this now, and now to be receiving what He wanted to be perpetuated throughout history, until His Second Coming.”
“This is the gift of Jesus, the gift that He gives you,” he said, gesturing to everyone gathered for the Mass.
“Ask the Lord to make His Eucharist produce in you abundant gifts of holiness, of faith, hope and charity and mercy, and all the other virtues that you especially need to live faithfully,” he concluded.
At the end of the Holy Thursday Mass, altars in every church were stripped bare, candles and lights were extinguished, and the Blessed Sacrament was transferred to a temporary altar of repose until Easter – outwardly demonstrating the sense of the Church's bereavement and loss during the time of Christ's Passion, death and burial.
Catholics then spent time in Eucharistic Adoration, recalling Jesus' words to His sleepy disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Could you not keep watch with Me for one hour?"
On Good Friday, no Mass is celebrated.
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor
See more photos and video highlights from Holy Thursday liturgies
Bishop Jugis encourages priests, blesses oils at Chrism Mass
Anointing and mission
CHARLOTTE — Nearly 100 priests gathered with Bishop Peter Jugis for the annual Chrism Mass March 27 at St. Patrick Cathedral, renewing their priestly promises to the Church and assisting in the blessing of sacramental oils.
The holy oils blessed during the Chrism Mass are used in the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and anointing of the sick, as well as for ordination of priests and consecration of churches.
Looking out over the sea of vestments during the Mass, Bishop Jugis addressed the clergy in his homily by recalling the fundamentals of their priestly ministry: anointing and mission.
“The Chrism Mass gives us a unique opportunity to take a look at our calling as priests,” he said. “We have been anointed by God’s grace and the Holy Spirit at our ordination. There is a mission, therefore, that is imposed upon us because of our anointing. The mission is none other than Christ’s mission itself. We look to Christ for our meaning and purpose.”
Bishop Jugis then paraphrased from the day’s Gospel reading from Luke 4:16-21: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me, to proclaim the Good News by healing the broken-hearted, proclaiming liberty to captives, release to prisoners and by comforting all who mourn.”
“Those words stand as a guiding light for our ministry,” he told the priests. “His words help to bring everything into focus for us, because His mission is our priestly mission. This merits our attention, especially at the Chrism Mass.”
“What is our mission? We look to Jesus Christ and His mission,” he reiterated.
“The blessing of the oils and the consecration of the chrism will also look to this mission that we are anointed to perform, to heal the wounds of human hearts. And how many human hearts are wounded? In fact, we can say every human heart on the face of the earth,” he said.
They have the ability “to proclaim liberation in the face of so many afflictions and so many evils that hold people prisoner, to console and to comfort all those who are in need of the Lord’s strength,” he said, “because Jesus gave us the means to accomplish this, through the Lord’s sacraments, through the Word of God, the Gospel which we proclaim and live, and by shepherding them with Christ’s love.”
“Our mission is given to us because of Christ and our anointing in Him,” he continued. “The image of Christ and the Redeemer shines forth in His ordained priests.”
Bishop Jugis expounded about the joy that comes from serving the people of God.
“What a joy it is to serve your parishioners, young and old and bring them Christ’s love,” he said. “What a joy it is to serve the sick. What a joy to serve those near death and bring them the comfort of Christ. What a joy to serve the poor and needy. What a joy to be a servant of the Eucharist and a servant of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and bring to your parishioners the Bread of Life. What a joy it is to serve your parishioners and shepherd them to Eternal life. What a joy to be a servant of Christ and a servant of the blessed Triune God.”
He then told the priests that he was inspired by the depth of the love the priests have for their parishioners which he witnesses first-hand when he visits their parishes for sacramental celebrations and anniversaries.
“It is always evident to me that the Lord has placed His faithful servants in charge of His household,” he told them.
“This Chrism Mass and the entire Easter Triduum are graced times to come close to the Lord and to be with Him. He calls you to come near Him. After all, it was during these days that the Lord instituted the priesthood that we have received as a gift in the Upper Room on Holy Thursday.
“As He was preparing to lay down His life, He brought the priesthood into existence. Out of His self-giving comes life for the Church for all times.
“So it is to that source – the Upper Room with Christ at the Last Supper – that we must go always to confirm our priestly identity, to confirm our priestly vocation and our mission as priests, to draw our priestly life from Christ the High Priest Himself as He is laying down His life in love for our salvation,” Bishop Jugis said.
Concelebrating the Chrism Mass were Benedictine Abbot Placid Solari of Belmont Abbey; Monsignor Mauricio West, vicar general and chancellor of the diocese; Father John Putnam, judicial vicar of the diocese; and 95 additional diocesan and religious order priests who gathered around the altar for the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
All the priests also stood during the blessing of the sacred chrism with their hands outstretched, joining with Bishop Jugis in prayer as he performed the blessing rite.
Father Wilbur Thomas, pastor of St. Lawrence Basilica in Asheville, was also in attendance. He just celebrated his 45th anniversary of ordination the day before the Chrism Mass. He will retire this summer.
“In renewing our vows, it became even more important for me after 45 years of doing it. It’s just a refresher to renew those vows, to say yes, to continue to say yes,”
Father Thomas said. “I feel that I am who I am, a priest of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am very happy to be in this ministry.”
He added, “It’s always good to be with other priests. It’s always good to be among them.”
Father Carmen Malacari, pastor of Holy Spirit Church in Denver, also attended the Mass. He celebrates his 25th jubilee this October.
What stood out to him during the Chrism Mass was “the renewal of our priesthood – what this is all about, what we are called to do in our ministry,” Father Malacari said, and “the bishop asking the people of God to pray for us in our ministry.”
“As Bishop said in his homily, the blessing of the oils is always a reminder of the joy and privilege of priestly ministry – instructing catechumens, being with the sick, and bringing people into the Church,” noted Father David McCanless, who was recently assigned as a parochial vicar at the cathedral. “As priests, we are collaborators with the bishop in his ministry, and the Chrism Mass is one of the principal expressions of this. It’s a reminder that although there are many priests and parishes in the diocese, we are all unified in professing the same faith.”
In the closing remarks of his homily, Bishop Jugis reminded the priests that in this Mass, “We renew our promises to be faithful to all that Christ has bestowed upon us, our priestly anointing, our priestly identity, our priestly vocation and our priestly mission – deeply rooted in the anointing and the mission of Christ Himself.”
After Mass, deacons divided the blessed oils into smaller oil stocks that will be distributed to all 92 parishes and missions across the diocese for use in sacramental celebrations throughout the upcoming year.
– SueAnn Howell, senior reporter
Bishop Jugis: This Holy Week, turn towards Jesus and away from sin
CHARLOTTE — Holy Week is a time for us to grow closer to Jesus Christ – following Him during His triumphant entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, through to His Passion and death on a cross, Bishop Peter Jugis preached as Holy Week began with Palm Sunday March 25.
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The entire story of Jesus’ sacrifice is summarized and relived during the Palm Sunday liturgy, Bishop Jugis noted in his homily at St. Patrick Cathedral.
The start of the Palm Sunday liturgy, when people process into the church carrying palm fronds, re-enacts how people joyfully greeted Christ upon His entrance into Jerusalem.
“The people know who Jesus is and they are proclaiming Him the savior, they are proclaiming Him the Messiah,” Bishop Jugis said, but “Jesus knows what’s about to happen to Him.”
“Jesus knows what He has to do as the Messiah, as the savior,” because His sacrifice was prophesied in Scripture, the bishop explained. Jesus knew the ancient Biblical prophecies and He knew the psalms, because He is the Word of God made flesh.
The words of the psalmist chanted in the liturgy’s Responsorial Psalm (from Psalm 22) – “they have pierced my hands and my feet; I can count all my bones.” – foretell Jesus’ Passion and death, Bishop Jugis noted. “What else would that refer to but a crucifixion?”
He continued, “The devil is always trying to disfigure the beautiful things that God does.”
“The hands of Jesus that healed the sick and blessed the crowds and multiplied the bread and fish for the people – those beautiful hands – the devil sees to it that those hands become disfigured by being pierced with nails,” he said. “Those feet of Jesus that walked all over Israel to bring the Good News of salvation and the kingdom of God to the whole countryside, the devil sees to it that those feet are pierced through.”
But what the prophet Isaiah writes in the liturgy’s first reading (from Isaiah 50:4-7), Jesus fulfills: “…I have not rebelled, have not turned back. I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting.”
“‘He was pierced through for our offenses,’ … and He ‘was crushed for our sins; upon Him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by His stripes we were healed,’” Bishop Jugis then quoted from Isaiah 53, which will be read at the liturgy on Good Friday.
He prayed, “Let us use this Holy Week to develop a deep love for Jesus and grow in our friendship with Jesus. Yet, at the same time, let us have a deep hatred for sin because sins disfigure us, as they once disfigured Jesus in His Passion and crucifixion.”
— Patricia L. Guilfoyle, editor
HIGH POINT — Winners of the annual Immaculate Heart of Mary School 8th Grade Respect Life Essay Contest were recognized during the school year-end Mass and closing ceremonies June 5.
Essayists presented papers on a variety of topics this year, which were judged by a panel of five judges, who awarded Culler Combs, first place for an essay on human trafficking; Cameron Martin, second place for an essay on gun control; and Sarah Truskolaski, third place for an essay on dyslexia and disabilities.
Organized by the parish’s Respect Life committee, under the guidance of Dr. Maryann Leonard, chair of the English Department, the contest is sponsored by the Bishop Haley Council 4507 Knights of Columbus.
The annual contest encourages graduating eighth-graders to give early thought to life issues as they transition from middle school to high school.
— Donald C. Barrett