Our
faith, based on the gospel reading for this Sunday, tells us that God does not
love the world in some big, bland, generic way. God’s love is particular and
concrete. Love that is not concrete is not love at all. Love is about this
particular young man (not all men) whose addiction is costing our family
dearly. Love considers this particular woman (not all women) who just became a
widow. Love takes into account this particular guy, (not …
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Of the four gospel writers, Luke is by far the best
storyteller. And today, we have Luke’s best story. By the way, scholars and
archeologists to this day, cannot find, in the Holy Land, this place called
Emmaus. They keep unearthing dig after dig, each, as the story tells us, 11 km
from Jerusalem, but they still cannot find it. From a storyteller’s point of
view, what is important is that these two disciples are going away
from Jerusalem. …
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Just
when I thought things could not get worse, with all the suffering COVID-19 has
brought the world, things actually did get worse with the mass shooting in Nova
Scotia this week. With 23 known dead, what great pain there must be within
those families, including the family of the shooter.
When I try to
ponder something that is either too good or too bad, my mind boggles, and I
lose words. Even wordsmiths—writers,
poets, and …
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The Resurrected Lord told his disciples to remain
in Jerusalem and to wait for his spirit to come to them, a spirit
he promised them at the Last Supper, a spirit that would clothe them with power
from on high (see Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4). Waiting is easier said than done.
Waiting implies we remain in the same spot, even, and especially, when we would
rather be elsewhere.
With the coronavirus severely curbing what we …
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All liturgical celebrations, not just Sunday Mass, have
one theme. That one theme is the death and resurrection of the Lord, or what we
theologically call the “Paschal Mystery.” You may have also heard the paschal
mystery referred as the “Easter Mystery” or the “Christ-event.” When we
celebrate a baptism, we are celebrating the paschal mystery. The candidate
enters the baptismal font (the tomb) and joins with Christ in his death but
also emerges from those same waters and …
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Every Holy Week, the “Passion of our Lord Jesus
Christ” is proclaimed twice — once on Passion/Palm Sunday to begin Holy Week and
again, on Good Friday. This year, had we
been able to gather, we would have heard the passion readings of gospel writers
Matthew (Passion Sunday) and John (Good Friday). However, in the midst of these trying times,
there is a line, found only in Luke’s passion reading, that really speaks to
me.
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We are living in unsettling times, dangerous times, and
paradoxical times. Every day we hear from health officials or politicians
something to this effect: “keep apart but remain together.” That sound like a paradox to me—keep apart,
but remain together. How do you hold the paradox, the contradiction together?
The keeping apart is a physical keeping apart; the remaining together is
non-physical. We find living this paradox difficult because we are social
beings and we were never meant to …
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It
is still hard for me to believe that we will not be assembling for Holy
Week, the holiest week of the liturgical year for us Christians. Holy Week
begins with the blessing of the palms on Passion/Palm Sunday, but it is the
last three days, the Triduum, the passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord that
is the liturgical and spiritual pinnacle for believers.
The Triduum begins at sunset on Holy Thursday, the day …
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Before
you read any further, take out your Bible and read John 11:1-45. (The Bible is
that thick book covered in dust that you may be using as a coaster!). Read it?
Good. It is this Sunday’s gospel reading of the raising of Lazarus. One
question arising from that story that still prompts much debate is: Was Lazarus
resuscitated or resurrected by Jesus?
Some
say he was clearly resuscitated, not resurrected. His physical life was
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In 1624, English poet and clergyman,
John Donne (1572-1631) coined the expression, “no man is an island.” Yet, as we
sequester ourselves in our homes and remain two metres apart in public, many of
us are beginning to feel like little, isolated islands. I happened to cough in the grocery store the
other day, and five people gave me dirty looks. (I’m used to dirty looks but
not that many at the one time!) It was a
little taste …
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