The readings for today remind us that Jesus is our advocate. They reassure us that Jesus’ atoning sacrifice for us and for our sins extends beyond us to the whole world. In the Gospel, first Jesus said to the disciples: ” Peace be with you! ” Knowing how disturbed they were , the state of their minds, the Lord asked, ” Why are you so troubled? ” In other words, Jesus was asking them ” Can you give me reasons ...
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Although nobody witnessed the actual moment Jesus rose from the tomb, Mary Magdalene was the first to witness the Risen Lord. And, as a good disciple should do, she ran and told others. Those others told others who told others who told us. That’s how we come to be here this morning. But discipleship, whether it’s Mary Magdalene’s or our own, isn’t as simple as turning on a light switch. If you’re anything like me, on the road to becoming ...
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Each of the four gospel writers tell the resurrection story from a slightly different angle. The resurrection story could be told from 100 different viewpoints, and they would all add another layer of richness. Mark’s version has three women going to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. They are not the first to take up the task of anointing Jesus. On Palm Sunday we heard about a woman who broke open and poured, in a lavish way, costly ...
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Your former pastor, Jeff Doucette, and I used to call Good Friday—facetiously, I might add—the great Catholic guilt day. We weren’t totally wrong as guilt often fills people when they hear that Passion reading we just heard. Even though none of us were personally there 2000 years ago yelling, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” we, nonetheless, feel at least a twinge of guilt for not being the best version of ourselves here and now. We see and hear about God’s great ...
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Traditionally what we celebrate on Holy Thursday is the institution of the Eucharist, the Passover meal reinterpreted by Jesus and celebrated by us to this very day. There are five accounts of the Last Supper. The earliest account comes from Paul, as we heard in that second reading. Although Paul wasn’t one of the twelve gather at the Last Supper, he nevertheless tells us that Jesus broke bread and passed a cup of wine to his apostles and told them ...
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Not that there isn’t enough food for thought in these readings because there really is—I nonetheless would like to start by first going back to something we heard in last Sunday’s second reading. Let me refresh your memory from a week ago. In the Letter to the Hebrews it said, “Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries to the one who was able to save him from death…” However, when I listen to the Passion reading of today ...
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My God, my God…
Years ago, when I was the catechetical coordinator at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, the parent of a child in year 5 called me with a question from her son. They had been to mass on Palm Sunday, and hearing in the Gosepl the same words used during the the responsorial psalm – “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” – the child asked, ‘Since Jesus is the Son of God, and knows everything, why ...
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In the opening line of this gospel story we just heard, we are told that some Greeks have come to Jerusalem obviously to a Jewish festival. These Greek-speaking people are non-Jews, or what we call “Gentiles.” They have heard something intriguing about this Jesus, and whatever has stirred within them, they cannot let it go unaddressed. They want to make an appointment and so they say to Philip, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” The reason the Greeks go to ...
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A few years ago, someone close to me learned through DNA testing that one of the parents who raised her was not a biological parent. This sent waves of shock through her family, in part because half her DNA was from an entirely different race of people with a different language and culture. “Your ancestry DNA certainly sounds more interesting than mine,” was my response, which I now know was cavalier, given the personal and emotional upheavel she was experiencing. ...
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Testing or Trusting?
As a kid growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, the two things’ boys talked about most on the school yard were “Friday Night at the Fights” (boxing from Madison Square Garden in N.Y.C.) and stuntman Evel Knievel. We didn’t have pay-per-view, the wide range of live stream venues, or the internet to entertain us. Evel Knievel was a motorcycle daredevil who performed death-defying jumps over buses, cars, and even canyons to the thrill of audiences. He would ...
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