Friday of the Third Week of Easter
"Real food" has been in the news a lot lately. Real food could be summed up as food that has both ingredients you can pronounce, and which you can prepare in your very own kitchen without too much trouble.
Thursday of the Third Week of Easter
Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter
Sometimes the joy of the resurrection is harder to participate in when times get tough. When we are in the midst of tragic loss, or struggling through the pain a shattered marriage or friendship, or even journeying with a loved one who is near death, Easter joy might seem far away. We may not feel it, but these times are when the Lord is trying even harder to remind us of his desire to lead us to from death to eternal life.
Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter
In the Easter Season it is sometimes easy for the memory of Easter Sunday to recede pretty quickly. At this time of year, it is natural to look forward to summer, rather than backwards to reflect on what took place during Lent and the Triduum. The scriptures for today can inspire us to keep our focus on Jesus even as we move ahead through the season of Easter.
Monday of the Third Week of Easter
This week eighteen youth at our parish will receive the sacrament of Confirmation. During their time of preparation over the past eight months they have learned many things about Jesus, the Church and their faith. Now, in order to put into action the truths that they have received, they turn to the Lord for the outpouring of His Holy Spirit. Today’s readings illustrate how it is the Holy Spirit who allows followers of Jesus not only to believe in Him, but to live lives that challenge the ways of the world. It is the Holy Spirit who transforms disciples into people so different, so radical, that other people take notice.
Third Sunday of Easter
Here is to all you Justin Bieber fans. The last I checked, he has more than 51 million likes on his facebook page and close to a million friends as well. How it is possible to have some many ‘likes’ and ‘friends’ on Facebook? Well we now know that there are companies, who for about five dollars, can find you hundreds of Facebook friends. And Justin Bieber has done just that. I cannot wrap my mind around why someone so talented and popular would do that… but I guess these days you are not known by the kind of friends you have but how many friends you have. And thanks to social media we can have as many friends as we want.
Saturday of the Second Week of Easter
Sandwiched in between two overtly Eucharistic sections of John’s Gospel—the multiplication of the loaves and the Bread of Life discourse—is the story we have in today’s gospel reading of Jesus walking on water. I have found myself wondering on multiple occasions: why? Why would Jesus walk on water? What was He trying to communicate? Aren’t there many other things that would’ve been better uses of His time? Was this a kind of David Blane or Houdini act meant to marvel the disciples?
Friday of the Second Week of Easter
It is so, so easy these days to feel a lot of anxiety about the world we live in: will we lose all our drinkable water by 2020? Will there be a nuclear attack from North Korea? Will the Catholic Church keep hemorrhaging members (currently 30% of the American population considers itself ex-Catholic)? Am I doing enough to fight poverty? Am I doing enough to maintain my health?
Memorial of Saint Stanislaus, Bishop and Martyr
I always dreaded it in elementary school when the PE teacher chose team captains and then let the captains choose who would be on their team. I don’t know how often it happened, but it only took one time of being chosen last to feel like a “loser.” I had friends, but I was never in the popular crowd. And I’m sure I was jealous at times of those that were. Even as an adult I still sometimes find myself feeling jealous toward others who seems to be or have what I wish for myself or even for my kids. It’s not something I’m proud of; jealousy is a powerful emotion that if acted on can end up being very destructive.
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.