Monday in the Octave of Easter
For Christians Easter is like Ohio, “the heart of it all.” Every chapter, every verse, every word of the New Testament is permeated with Easter. “We are Easter people and Alleluia is our song” (Saint Augustine). But do we put more energy into Lent than Easter? We spend 40 days preparing, and then celebrate Easter as if it’s a single day.
Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion
I have somewhat of a “love-hate” relationship with Good Friday. The fasting is challenging (at least for me it is). We’re very close to Easter but aren’t there yet. We have to face the cross first, the suffering. It’s not easy. Yet there’s also the beauty of the cross, the beauty of this mid-point of the Triduum – the liturgy and rituals that the Church, in her wisdom, provides us with in its fullness. We know there truly is no Easter without the Cross, there is no resurrection without death. Yet, I’d prefer to avoid the “death” part, the suffering, not just mine (as minor as it is), but Jesus’ suffering – which, as we read in today’s passion narrative from John, Peter tried to prevent with the sword, and then (very humanly) out of fear and weakness later denied even knowing Jesus.
Holy Thursday -Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper
Some people don’t like to have their feet touched. My daughter, for one, thinks feet are “gross” and doesn’t want anyone to touch her feet. When we’re born, our feet start out so clean and smooth and fresh, and then after years of wear and tear, they become rougher, calloused, cut and bruised, and they smell bad! Jesus’ disciples walked everywhere they went and probably only wore sandals on the dusty, dry roads, so we can imagine how dirty their feet would get. Washing another person’s feet was an act that could not even be required of the lowliest Jewish slave, so imagine the disciples’ surprise when in today’s gospel reading of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper (John 13:1-15), Jesus gets up from the table, takes off his outer garment, wraps a towel around his waist, and begins to wash and dry the disciples’ feet.
Wednesday of Holy Week
Blessed Holy Week, everyone! Today I’m marveling at the prophets of old who heard God’s voice and spoke about Jesus our Messiah, the Suffering Servant. May their ability to hear and communicate God’s Word and the fulfillment of their prophesies give us hope and increase our faith. May we, like them, have open ears and well-trained tongues to speak a word that will “sustain the weary” whenever God gives us opportunity.
Tuesday of Holy Week
“Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” (Jn. 13:21b) The Gospel goes on to tell us that those gathered for the Last Supper are at a total and complete loss by this proclamation from Jesus. They begin to look at one another in astonishment and disbelief that one of them would hand over their friend for execution.
Monday of Holy Week
He will bring forth justice (Isaiah 42:3).
Throughout Holy Week we hear the Suffering Servant Songs of the prophet Isaiah. The primitive Church readily identified this Servant with Jesus. We are reminded that the Servant of YHWH will bring forth justice to the nations.
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
How do you know that Jesus is God? When is the last time we paused to contemplate this? Christ is Lord. Each of us is called to consider this today, and every day. If I cannot answer this question, does that not put me in the camp of the stone throwers from the gospel? My answer is quite simply connected to the Psalm today. “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.” (Ps 18:7) He heard my voice. Growing up, any time I was faced with a challenging situation or a tough decision, I was consistently told to pray about it. To be clear, I wasn’t just told, I was taught how to take my prayer to the Lord. I was gifted with the opportunity to spend time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. I was taught how to spend time with the Lord and enter into the classroom of silence. It has never been easy to be patient but in countless moments throughout my life, I have encountered the work of our Lord.
Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent
One morning a few years ago, my then 3-year-old son, Dominic, came running in from outside. His hands full of dandelion heads he excitedly poured them in my lap while telling me that these flowers are called daisies and there are a lot of them growing in the back yard, and they used to be giraffes that died and came back as daisies, and they came back because they wanted to grow in our back yard because they wanted a little boy to pick them to show his mommy and daddy how much he loves them. Wow. And here I thought they were just weeds.
Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
What if someone else could look at our lives from a vantage point outside of ourselves? Let’s say they could video tape our every move and our every word. What would they find? Would they hear us bad mouthing our neighbor? Would they see us worshiping something other than our Triune God? They might be able to help us realize that our golden statue is something more like materialism. Or maybe it is winning a battle at all costs with little regard for larger outcomes.
Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
In the summer of 2002, my older sister and I had the privilege to go on pilgrimage with our youth group to Toronto for World Youth Day. This once in a lifetime experience, the highlight of which was attending a talk by the now Saint, Pope John Paul II, was truly life changing. It was here that my sister first received her call to the religious life. She has since then followed this call and is a Dominican Sister of the Sisters of Saint Cecilia.
Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Today Jesus tells the mob surrounding the condemned woman, “Let those without sin cast the first stone.”
Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
Today we celebrate the feast of the Annunciation of the Lord. In her “yes” to God, Mary illustrates how we are invited to respond to God’s call for our lives. Doing God’s will does not mean there will be a lack of worry, suffering or doubt, but we are promised that if we say “yes”, God will dwell within us to accompany us in all that we do.
Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent
How often do we think we know someone because of “where they’re from” or what they look like or who they hang out with? And how often do we miss actually knowing someone as a result? I know I’ve been guilty of the above. Today’s gospel reading about Jesus and today’s saint whose feast day we celebrate (spoiler alert: Oscar Romero) challenges us to consider otherwise.
Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent
It seems to be a part of the fallen human condition that we constantly seek other things or people to take the place of God. This is manifested in the first reading from Exodus in such an explicit way: the people make an idol and worship it as the God of Israel. It is no wonder that God is described as angry… after rescuing his people from Egypt, these same people return the favor by worshiping an idol! Moses’ petition on their behalf saves them. It’s tempting to look at this incident and think that the Israelite people were just being silly. Why would anyone worship the statue of a calf? It is our current day context that makes calf-worship seem ridiculous; in the context of Egypt this would have made sense. Regardless, we cannot easily dismiss the Israelite people’s struggle. Our own cultural situation provides us with countless idols – money, sex, fame, etc. Even if these idols do not appear in worshipable calf form, our lives often bear witness to our prioritizing other things over the one God.
Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Deutero-Isaiah announces today that “the LORD will comfort his own and show mercy to the afflicted.” The prophet wrote during the Babylonian Exile and gave the Judahites hope that God was about to intervene on their behalf.
Solemnity of Saint Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary
We think we know Saint Joseph. Or do we?
Saturday of the Third Week of Lent
Today’s gospel invites us all to re-examine the way we pray - namely, the type of prayer that God truly desires. Do we focus on ‘what we aren’t’ like the Pharisee, or do we focus on ‘who we are’ like the tax collector. The difference determines are ability to let Christ into our hearts.
Friday of the Third Week of Lent
On a day like today, I enjoy claiming to be Irish and not just because I like Notre Dame football or that my favorite meal is fish and chips with a draft of Guinness. Despite my distinctly German last name, I have Irish ancestry. My great-grandfather’s family immigrated to the United States from Ireland in the late 19th century. All of this aside, I’m fascinated by the story of St. Patrick. He dedicated his life to each of the great commandments that Jesus shares in the gospel today.
Thursday of the Third Week of Lent
Apparently, the phrase “seeing is believing” was pretty much lost on the crowd who watched Jesus drive the demon out of the mute man, thereby healing him. They were amazed by Jesus’ exorcism. But instead of seeing it for what it was—namely, proof that Jesus was bringing forth the Kingdom of God in their time—they went in for the idea that Jesus was casting out demons at Beelzebul’s (aka Satan’s) command. For them, Jesus was hardly the Son of God. Quite the opposite. He was doing Satan’s bidding!