Be Better Than Me

 

Seeing how the Son ushers in a new creation and a new week

04/10/2026

Sequence – Victimae paschali laudes Christians, to the Paschal Victim Offer your thankful praises! A Lamb the sheep redeems; Christ, who only is sinless, Reconciles sinners to the Father. Death and life have contended in that combat stupendous: The Prince of life, who died, reigns immortal. Speak, Mary, declaring What you saw, wayfaring. “The tomb of Christ, who is living, The glory of Jesus’ resurrection; bright angels attesting, The shroud and napkin resting. Yes, Christ my hope is arisen; to Galilee he goes before you.”Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining. Have mercy, victor King, ever reigning! Amen. Alleluia.

Have you ever heard or seen the internet meme called “6 or 7”, which was wildly popular in 2025? By the way, it’s no long popular, except to be used in homilies. It’s kind of an inside joke by Gen Alpha – the most recent generation – that really makes no sense, and therefore they call it “brainrot” – things that are funny but do little more than rot your brain. They have no practical value or intrinsic purpose than to be funny.

Today I don’t want to talk to you about the 6 or 7 meme but I want to say a word about the 7 or 8 meme. And that is not brainrot but a brain-revelation. How so? Well, we are currently in the Octave of Easter, which means the 8 days of Easter Sunday. The grand miracle of Jesus’ resurrection cannot be contained in a one 24-hour period, indeed, we need 8 days to celebrate it adequately. That is why every Mass from Easter to the following Sunday includes the Gloria: in effect, Easter Sunday spread over 8 days.

Now here is where the 7-8 meme comes in. In the Old Testament book of Genesis, how many days did God need to create the heavens and the earth? We read in Gn 2:2, “On the seventh day God completed the work he had been doing; he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken.” Hence, in the Jewish calculation of the week, the first day of the week is Sunday and the seventh day is Saturday, the Sabbath, the day of rest, when God, too, rested from creating.

Well, as we know from Jn 5:19, God the Son does what he sees God the Father doing but he sort of “one ups” him. That is, Jesus creates a new heavens and a new earth. And that new creation is symbolized not by the 7 days of the Old Testament week, but by the 8 days of the New Testament week. In other words, the Octave of Easter, the 8 days of Easter, means we not only think about "creation" differently, we think about "time" different. The Father introduced the 7-day week; the Son inaugurates an 8-day week called the Octave.

Here is another application of the 7-8 meme. If you look closely at our baptismal font in the sanctuary (located in front of Mary’s altar), you will notice it has 8 sides. And that is not by accident or simply artistic license; it is charged with significance. How so? Well, when we are baptized, we not only become a new creation, we are introduced into an new order of time. We leave behind the seven-day week of the Old Testament and are plunged into the 8-day week of the New Testament.

You see, every baptism is a reenactment of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Being plunged into the darkness of the water represents death. Rising out of the water into light signifies new birth, indeed, being born by water and the Spirit as Jesus taught Nicodemus in Jn 3:5. And what day did Jesus rise from the dead? Well, it was on Sunday. But if you calculate as a Jew using the original, Old Testament week, what day would Sunday be? It would be the day following the Sabbath, the day following the seventh day.

And what day follows the seventh day? Folks, I’m not very good at math but even an imbecile like me knows what comes after 7 is 8. In other words, we create baptismal fonts with 8 sides not because we didn’t have enough marble to make one with 10 sides. But because 8 – especially the 8th day – is no arbitrary number, but in fact, signifies not only a new creation, but a new week. Jesus’ resurrection has not only transformed matter, it transforms time. A Christian’s week has 8 days.

One last thought about the 7-8 meme. All good parents want their children to be better than them. That’s why my parents came to the United States from India, so their children would have more opportunities for education and careers, to live happier, healthier, and holier lives. That is what I wish for all the young associate priests who come to I.C. My prayer for them is: “Be better than me.” Learn from what I do well, and do it better. Watch my mistakes and avoid them. Be better than me.

I hope this doesn’t sound too sacrilegious but maybe that was God the Father’s desire for his divine Son: be better than me. If I create the old heavens and earth symbolized by 7 days, then you create a new heavens and earth symbolized by 8 days. If I create a 7-day week, then you create an 8-day week. Indeed, Jesus adds in Jn 5:20, “The Father will show the Son even greater works than these.” My friends, there’s an Old Testament and a New Testament, an old creation and a new creation, the old 6-7 meme that was brainrot, and the new 7-8 meme that is a brain-revelation. And all this suggests what every father wants for his son, namely, “Be better than me.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!