Wednesday of the Second Week of Easter
This past Holy Thursday our new Pope Francis celebrated the washing of the feet in the way he was accustomed. While the Pope felt comfortable visiting the detention center, and washing the feet of women and non-Christians. His actions made other people feel uncomfortable.
Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter
The first reading for today describes the life of Jesus’ disciples after his resurrection. It describes Jesus’ followers as a community and states that his followers were “one in mind and spirit.” Rather than having private property they “had everything in common.” The reading goes on to state that no one in the community of believers was needy. When new members joined the community, they would sell what they had and distribute the proceeds to those who were in need.
Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
I have a good friend who is currently serving as a missionary pilot in Africa. His dedication to service, his living witness to the Gospel, his self-giving temperament, and the focus he has placed on God's will in his life has stretched me, challenged me, and taught me a great deal about what it means to be a Catholic and how to better live out my discipleship of Christ. In particular, one of the things that he has taught me is to "behold" Jesus. Now, when I read or hear the word "behold", it begs me to pause, to reflect, to listen, to watch carefully with anticipation, and to become aware. That simplistic and humble word, "behold", is a word which is found often in scripture. At every Mass, as the consecrated host is elevated, we hear the words of John the Baptist: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29) In the context of our Christian experience, to "behold" is to observe and to recognize the presence and acting of God in our very midst. Today, on the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, as I reflected on today's readings, I asked myself to describe the discipleship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I found my answer in one word: behold.
Second Sunday of Easter
Think about this for a moment. Just before Jesus finally breathed his last what if his nails came loose, his wounds were healed and a triumphant Jesus stood in the midst of all his oppressors and crucifiers? God could still claim that Christ endured suffering for us up until the very end and Christ’s suffering could have still atonement for sin. Or, what if Christ, after his resurrection, first appeared to Pilate, then to Herod, then to the chief priests and the elders and then to all the Roman soldiers? I think that world history would have been written very differently if that were the case. Why did Jesus only appear to his disciples and few friends after his resurrection?
Saturday in the Octave of Easter
These words from today’s Psalm (Ps 118:15) illustrate the insuppressible good news of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. The good news of the resurrection bubbles forth from Jesus’ disciples out of their gut, almost uncontrollably; it is unable to be squelched or held down.
Friday within the Octave of Easter
Sometimes I think it is very difficult to comprehend, let alone believe, that Jesus rose from the dead. Death for us is something final. It is something that we have to deal with and confront because we cannot undo time and make someone come back. That finality makes it quite hard to see that perhaps death does not always win – that God’s Son rose from the dead.
Thursday in the Octave of Easter
Jesus understands that touch is important to us as human beings, perhaps as important as food for our survival. Sadly, it is known that if an infant is fed but does not receive touch on a regular basis, he or she will not thrive. As mammals, we have been created, biologically, to feed our offspring through the mother’s body; breastfeeding requires physical contact. And the desire to share a meal with our family, with friends, seems to remain even once we are capable of feeding ourselves.
Today’s post-resurrection gospel reading (Luke 24: 35-48) begins with two of the disciples recounting to the others how Jesus was “made known to them in the breaking of the bread” when they encountered him on the road to Emmaus (detailed in yesterday’s gospel). While they are sharing this with the others, Jesus appears to them and they are “startled and terrified” thinking that they are seeing a ghost. Jesus greets them with “Peace be with you,” and reassures them that it is not a ghost they’re seeing, but the risen Jesus in flesh and bone. He invites them, “touch me and see,” showing them his hands and feet. And then asks for something to eat. He eats a piece of fish in front of them as further evidence that his body is resurrected; they are not just seeing a spirit. Jesus asks for physical touch and food, knowing that this is what the disciples need to know that it is truly he, the Jesus that they had eaten with and walked and talked with and whose crucifixion they witnessed. How overwhelming, and joyous, and even confusing it must have been!
Wednesday in the Octave of Easter
Yesterday, I went to the eye doctor. In the office they asked if I had gone to any other eye doctors. Apparently, I had not been there in four years. When the doctor asked why I came in, I told her my eye sight had gotten worse. After my examination, she looked at my glasses and noticed that there were a number of scratches that might account for what appeared to be changed vision. Some of the smaller scratches my eye had compensated for, while the bigger ones were getting in the way of my being able to see clearly.
Tuesday in the Octave of Easter
Participating in the Triduum and attending the Easter vigil mass this year brought to my attention the thought that each day of the year should involve a recognition and awareness of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. I have a tendency to think of Easter as a day or perhaps as a weeklong celebration (The Octave of Easter). Yet it is more than that. It is an entire season of the Church year, stretching from Easter Sunday until Pentacost Sunday.
Monday in the Octave of Easter
I have always found the readings during the Easter Season so very uplifting. The deep sorrow and confusion and loss of Holy Week is dashed away suddenly and replaced by a sense of hope and certitude, urgency and mission. Reading the stories of the early Church and the testimonies of the first disciples compels me to really think of what the Resurrection of Jesus means. Nothing is “as it seems” anymore. To the disciples, everything is changed. It means something so deep and wide and all encompassing that fear is completely cast aside. The only thing that matters to them is to spread the news of the Kingdom of God. And this commission means so much that all of them will die trying to fulfill it.
The Resurrection of the Lord
For those of us who continue to be intrigued about how the universe came about, there was fabulous news last week. Physicists employing the $900 million Planck space telescope mapped background radiation from the early universe. They were able to study sound echoes and fossilized light going back billions of years. Physicists now say that the universe is 13.8 billion years old – 80 million years older than we had originally thought it to be. The new discovery also bolstered the belief that the universe was smaller than an atom in the beginning when, in a split second, it exploded (Big Bang Theory), cooled and expanded faster than the speed of light. Here, however is the most intriguing thing. 68.3% of the universe is dark energy – dark, not meaning bad but that we do not understand what it is. It is a mysterious energy that is spread smoothly throughout the universe. Physicists have not identified what this energy is. Imagine the possibilities! The material world is only 5% of the universe. The universe almost offers us unlimited possibilities.
Holy Saturday
Something strange is happening - there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.
Friday of the Passion of the Lord (Good Friday)
I want to reflect today mostly on the Isaiah passage (Isaiah 52:13—53:12), not because the reading of the passion (John 18:1-19:42) isn’t intensely important, but because when it comes to Good Friday and the crucifixion, I think that meditation on the cross, and the liturgy of the day, speaks for itself. What more could I possibly say? If you have a chance at all to get to a Good Friday service, go.
Holy Thursday: Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper
“Fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God…” (John 13:3), Jesus proceeds to wash his disciples’ feet. The gospel writer tells us that Jesus was fully aware of his power and, yet, he chose to model serving others. The disciples’ feet were, no doubt, dirty, maybe rough and calloused too. Washing another person’s feet was an act that could not even be required of the lowliest Jewish slave, and yet here was Jesus washing and drying the disciples’ feet. After he finished, John’s gospel says that Jesus told his disciples, “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”(vs15)
Wednesday of Holy Week
Recently, I was able to watch a movie called “The Lucky One,” based on a Nicholas Sparks book of the same name. While the movie is not perfect, I was glad to have watched it, especially in light of today’s first reading. The movie starts out with the main character Logan in a firefight in Afghanistan. In the very next scene he is resting, contemplating the night before when he spies a picture laying on a rock about twenty yards away. He goes to pick up the picture laying and a small missile kills everyone where he was just standing. The long and the short of it is he is grateful for life. This remains his attitude even when people who dislike him confront and challenge his dignity. Despite these buffets Logan responds to the irrational with charity.
Tuesday of Holy Week
I’ve been reflecting lately on how difficult it is for me to imagine what it is like to have experienced what Jesus did, especially at the end of his life when so few people seemed to understand who he really was. The gospel reading speaks to this theme. In the reading, Jesus foretells his betrayal by Judas and his being handed over to suffer and to die. One line in particular in the reading strikes me. Jesus tells his disciples, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later” (v. 36).
Monday of Holy Week
The election of Pope Francis brought me great joy. Of all the wonderful attributes that he brings to the papacy, I believe that it is his humility and his call for justice which give me the greatest cause for hope. I think that the readings today speak of how we are all called to serve others humbly in order to achieve the justice that God calls us to bring to this world.
Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
We Catholics are a little crazy. After all, we eat and drink the body and blood a guy who died two thousand years back but believe that he is alive. We are so crazy that we think that when we read his words that he is actually talking to us. We even think that when we gather in his name he is in our midst even though we do not see him. It is a little spooky but without him being with us there would no reason to get together. And then we break bread and drink wine in his memory but then, it is not just ordinary remembering; rather, we believe that we are actually reliving his death and resurrection. If this has not freaked you out yet, we also believe that those who are yet to come into the world, those who are here and those who have gone before us are all connected in an ‘eternal NOW.” I told you we Catholics are a little crazy!
Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent
In today’s first reading, the prophet Ezekiel writes of how the LORD God will gather the people of Israel together again from their exile. God promises to heal their divisions, to cleanse them from their sinfulness, and to help them obey His commands. He promises to set up make a new and eternal covenant with them. He promises to make a sanctuary, a place to worship Him properly, that will last forever. As Catholic Christians, although we would acknowledge that the Jewish people may have other legitimate ways that they would see a passage such as this fulfilled in their own history, we interpret this passage primarily as relating to the coming of Jesus and to the establishment of the Church. Much of the passage is understood metaphorically- we do not seek to control a particular piece of land upon the earth but instead to be united to God as one “People of God” who are spread out all over the earth. In our understanding, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist means that God dwells with us constantly in the tabernacles of our various Church communities.
Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent
It is so ridiculously easy to feel despair, anxiety, and worry. I've been surrounded this week by people who ask: why bother with the church? Isn't Christianity just dying? The "young people" just don't care anymore, they'll say. While I don't think Christianity is (or should be) a numbers game and that Jesus is never "relevant" to cultures, I do worry about being a good evangelist for new generations - especially my own children. I've been surrounded this week, too, by hundreds of stories (literally) about the Steubenville rape trial, its victims, more rape victims in around the world, and rape culture as a whole. Golly - sex and women - we don't treat either very well more often than not.