Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion
When I was in college, I was fortunate to be taught how to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, the daily prayer of the Church. Through the years, I garnered a deep appreciation for the meditative dialogue and encounter with scripture found in the practice. One of my favorite prayers is the psalm found in night prayer which we hear a version of today:
Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.
- Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.
You have redeemed us, Lord God of truth.
- I commend my spirit.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit
- Into your hands, Lord, I commend my spirit.
Though we read the passion from the gospel of John today, the psalm response is drawn from Luke’s gospel using the final words of Christ before he breathed his last: Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Lk 23:46). We are shown the ultimate example of obedience, of trust in God. “Christ became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8). We can trust in the Father; surrender ourselves to the will of God. This, of course, is not an easy task, especially considering the egocentric culture that bears down around us. However, every morning, we awake to a new day, a new opportunity to take up our cross(es) and follow Christ. With Jesus, we are not alone, we will never be abandoned. Each moment of struggle, frustration, anguish, pain, and likewise every experience of joy, happiness, and peace is an invitation to call upon the name of Jesus.
On this day, the glory of our good God is found on the cross. The image of the crucified Christ–though it be stark, grim, grotesque, horrifying– is that of God’s great love. We are loved unconditionally. Jesus shows us the way to the Father. He grants us freedom from our sins and a path to everlasting life. Do we believe in the crucifixion and trust in this outpouring of grace? Do we have faith in blood and water which gushed forth from the heart of Jesus as a fountain of mercy for us?
We stand at the foot of the cross with Mary and the beloved disciple, called to proclaim the good news. We know what is to come; we live for the hope of the resurrection. Yet, today let us be present to the darkness and grief; sit with the pain and confusion; reflect on suffering in our own lives and in that of the crucified Christ. On this Good Friday, may we revel in appreciation at the ransom that was paid by our Lord and savior; at his obedience unto death, even death on a cross.
We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you
For by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world. Amen.
Peace,
Brandon Meyer
Holy Thursday | Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper
Foot washing. It’s not what I would call one of the favored rituals among Christians. At least not among the Christians I have known. And for good reason. Touching other people’s feet kind of freaks people out. And they’re also not keen on having someone else touch theirs. Washing someone else’s feet is personal. It can feel like it’s intimate even. And, of course, unless you’ve recently had a pedicure, you’d likely prefer just to keep your socks on!
Wednesday of Holy Week
You never know when the Lord Jesus himself will show up at your door or present himself to you unexpectedly, asking you to offer him radical hospitality. I was surprised by what leapt out at me from today’s Gospel. Jesus has me pondering anew what it means to welcome him in the form of a brother or sister with unconditionally loving hospitality.
Tuesday of Holy Week
Possibly the worst thing you can do to any lover of movie or television is spoil the ending of a good story. There are movies that are fifteen years old that I don’t know the ending to, because people will say “Well, I won’t spoil the ending” as if now of all times, I’m going to go out and watch that movie. Today, Jesus spoils one of the plot twists for the disciples. He tells them, “the one who I had the morsel after I have dipped it [will betray me],” and then does so and hands it directly to Judas (John 13:26). Jesus builds all this suspense about his betrayal, and then tells us what’s going to happen without giving us time to guess until the big reveal!
Monday of Holy Week
Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am well pleased. Isaiah 42:1
No more appropriate scripture could be proclaimed by the church at the start of Holy Week.
Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Peace- we all long for this state of being, yet peace seems to be difficult to find. In today’s reading, God promises to make a “covenant of peace” with the children of Israel. Where is this peace that God offers, and how can we become vehicles to bring this peace to the world around us.
Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Monday of this week (April 4) was the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.. In the words of Robert Ellsberg, author of All Saints and Blessed Among Us, King was “a prophet in the truest biblical sense, who proclaimed to his generation the justice and mercy of God, remaining true to his mission even to the laying down of his life.” King, himself, preached, “The cross is something that you bear and ultimately that you die on.” He knew his life was on the line as he continued to nonviolently stand up for justice and truth, leading others to do the same even in the face of hatred and violence. It was not without struggle. Dare I say, similarly, while not without struggle, today’s readings remind us that risk of death did not stop Jeremiah or Jesus either.
Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Throughout the Bible the issue of God's covenant comes up. We see this in the stories of Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and again in the New Testament with Jesus. Covenants in the ancient world in which the Israelites lived, were about families. When people entered into covenants, they extended family relationships. The best example of this is marriage. People who once were not related, enter into an unbreakable family relationship. In today's first reading from the Book of Genesis, we find God making a covenant with Abram. In this covenant, God changes Abram's name to Abraham, and He fortells how Abraham's descendents will prosper. This is an important covenant for the people of Israel.
Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Today’s first reading presents us with a well-known Bible story from the book of Daniel – the three friends in the fiery furnace. I’m struck by Shadrach’s, Meshach’s, and Abednego’s unwavering commitment to the truth and their heroic obedience to God. They did the right thing against all odds. I think it’s fair to say, they had well-formed consciences. In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us a vision of true discipleship and what it means to be formed in the truth. To be well-formed, we must move beyond simply being acquainted with the truth to having intimate knowledge of the Truth Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
One of the main goals of the gospel according to John is to show that Jesus is divine and that he has been sent by God. At several points in the reading he identifies himself with God by using the words ‘I AM.’ Those who hear or read these words are being led to make the same conclusion that many of Jesus’ disciples come to as described in the gospel of John—namely that he is “the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world” (John 11:27).
Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent
In today's liturgy young prophet Daniel interrupts the railroading of Susanna by a Kangaroo court. By demanding that her corrupt judges be examined, the lad prevents the shedding of innocent blood.
Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent
There is an interesting interplay in today’s readings on the relationship between God’s power and human power.
In the first reading from the prophet Jeremiah, we hear the emphasis on God as the one who knows all, “I knew their plot because the LORD informed me; at that time you, O LORD, showed me their doings” (Jer 11:18). All knowledge comes from God, yet of course as did Jeremiah, we don’t realize what God is telling us. We also see in this reading that God, God alone, is the bearer of vengeance, “Let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause!” (Jer 11:20). Striking is Jeremiah’s desire for vengeance, but he knows that he has not the power to carry it out himself; that is God’s alone. Today’s Psalm expresses a desire for God’s protection. God is the one who protects, He is also the one who empowers the just and ends the malice of the wicked (Ps 7:10).
Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent
There is a quote from the author and educator Parker Palmer that has stuck with me since the first time I came across it in graduate school, “The more we know about another’s story, the harder it is to hate or harm that person.” The original quote from Palmer is used in the context of personal experience and building community. In reading the gospel for today, I kept returning to this aspect of ‘knowing’ another, of knowing Christ. The burning question that seems to surround Jesus is, where is this guy from? Well, they know where he is from in the literal sense, Nazareth. However, does the knowledge of his hometown truly help us to know Jesus, his roots, his origin? In short, kind of, but not really. “You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” (Jn 7:28-29)
Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Growing up, I was among “the unchurched.” My parents stopped taking me to church before I was six. So, I had no training in the Bible. I knew nothing. And I mean nothing. Had you stumbled upon me in elementary school and asked me to tell you about any of the major (and rather dramatic) highlights of the Bible, I would have responded with a baffled look. I would not have been able to tell you about the Creation, Fall, Flood, Ten Commandments, burning bush, parting of the Red Sea. You get the idea.
Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
As we journey through Lent, the path begins to lead us from repentance into promise, from sorrow into joy, from death to Resurrection. Today’s readings are chock full of evidence of God’s extravagant love and fidelity to us, God’s beloveds. I summarize what the readings pour out in a simple bulleted list. I pray that simply seeing the list, in addition to praying the full readings bowls you over with gratitude and brings you into deeper intimacy with the One who knows you better than you know yourself and who loves you with an unfathomable love.
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
One of the debates we encounter throughout John's Gospel, for example in today's reading, is the issue of what constitutes work on the Sabbath. In the case of these readings, the question revolves around healing. Can one heal on the Sabbath? Jesus' answer would clearly be yes, one can heal on the Sabbath. But there is far more than simply the first century Jewish debate about what constitutes working on the Sabbath at issue here in today's Gospel text. Notice that the man who is ill is trying to get physical healing from special waters in the pool of Bethesda. The man has been unable to get into the water because of his illness. Jesus does not place the man in the water, rather He heals him on the spot. Notice also that Jesus never makes any claim like, "your faith has healed you." Often when Jesus heals someone He makes this claim, but not here.
Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Here comes the sun. It's been a long cold lonely winter. Here comes the sun. It seems like years since its been here. Here comes the sun. I feel that ice is slowly melting. Here comes the sun. It seems like years since it's been clear. Here comes the sun. Here comes the sun. Here comes the sun. It's all right.-The Beatles.
George Harrison's lyrics echo today's sun burst of a message from Trito-Isaiah: “There shall be joy and happiness...I will exalt in my people. No more weeping or the sound of crying...I create joy and a people to be a delight...” (Isaiah 65:17-21)
Saturday of the Third Week of Lent
Being humble is a challenging mindset, but it is essential in our relationship with God. When we practice humility, we acknowledge that we do not know everything, we can and will make mistakes, we need others to survive, and we are not in control. Today’s readings remind us that God desires a relationship based on humility and love. When we understand our great need for God’s love and mercy, and allow God’s love to direct our lives, then we are able to give to God what is most desired- a humble and contrite heart. It is from this foundation that God sends us forth to be God’s presence to the world.
Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
I’m not sure why it seems to catch me by surprise, celebrating the Annunciation in Lent rather than in Advent. But of course we know Mary’s pregnancy with Jesus had to be about nine months, so it makes sense that we celebrate it today. I have previously written about the annunciation during Advent since the Church does give us those readings in the liturgical cycle as well. But today, it appears differently to me. With the liturgical perspective of Lent, Mary’s “yes” to the angel's annunciation carries the weight of the cross, the cross that the infant being formed in her womb will one day carry and be hung on. Could Mary have guessed this?