Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper
Today begins the Easter Triduum with Holy Thursday liturgy, continuing with Good Friday and Holy Saturday, and reaching its high point in the Easter Vigil. The Easter Triduum is the culmination of the liturgical year in proclaiming Jesus’ passion and resurrection.
The readings for the Holy Thursday liturgy begin with the Exodus reading (12: 1-8, 11-14), which includes the ritual instructions for the Passover of the Lord. The blood of the Passover lamb was placed on the doorpost to protect the firstborn from the angel of death. On that night the Israelites were released from slavery in Egypt. Remembrance and celebration of this freedom continues with the yearly Jewish Passover celebration.
Wednesday of the Holy Week
Have you ever played chess? A chess match can be as complex as the people playing. As the game progresses, it is possible to look ahead many moves. Sometimes the best strategy demands the use of a move called a sacrifice. While this sacrifice may seem like folly to an opponent, it can encourage a series of events that ultimately ends with your opponents collapse. Thus, temporary folly unlocks long term positive results. In the case of chess that means a checkmate. In the case of faith, that means eternal results.
Tuesday of the 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
Ever since I can remember, I’ve pondered what life after death would be like. And occasionally, throughout my young life, I’ve been blessed with experiences in which I get a tiny glimpse of what I think it will be like. For instance, seemingly unending mornings spent hiking, unexpected moments of consolation in Eucharistic Adoration, and, without question, my wedding day, have all given me a deeper, yet inexpressible, understanding of life after death. And perhaps you’ve had similar experiences? Being raised in a Catholic home, one common denominator has remained with regard to my understanding of life after death: God would be there. That much I knew for sure! I am eternally grateful for that awareness and my heaven-like experiences on earth which have only reinforced that truth in my life. To many, life after death is an absurdity. To others, life after death is a coping mechanism to somehow deal with our own mortality. But for the Christian, life after death is reality!
Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
Suffer... Suffering... I do not like the very sound of these words. I don’t like the thoughts that these words trigger in my mind. I don’t want to imagine or think about it. There is not a single moment that I have spent trying to figure out what like must be if I had a lot of suffering. I have imagined my life without suffering... not ever getting old, not getting a single grey hair, not ever having to deal with wrinkles, not ever having to go the hospital, not ever having misunderstandings... but I try not to spend time imagining suffering. And yet, even as I stand here and preach, there is no denying that for one reason or another, I suffer. And I am aware that each one of you, for one reason or another, in small or greater degree, suffer.
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.
Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent
In the first reading for today, Jeremiah is responding with deep emotion to the situation in which he currently finds himself. He is at a very low point, in fact very close to despair, but he hasn’t quite lost hope yet. His spirit is divided. On the one side, he cries out with accusations and reproaches against God for bringing him to this low point. He has experienced his friends and acquaintances turning against him. And his message to the people of Judah has not been accepted by the people or the leaders of Judah. On the other side, he reaffirms his trust in God as his only help and recourse during a very troubling and trying time. In addition to his own personal sense of loss and futility, Jeremiah sees that the Lord is sending Judah into exile because Judah has turned against the Lord and his prophet, Jeremiah. Jeremiah is saddened by this. Nevertheless, he acknowledges that God has made a promise to help him and that this promise will eventually be fulfilled.
Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent
What strength Jesus has! His life is on the line – some of the Jews are plotting to kill him and now they are accusing him of being possessed or insane, yet he remains strong in the truth and his understanding of his divinity. The Jews in today’s gospel (John 8: 51-59) do not understand that Jesus is speaking the truth. What they hear is someone speaking nonsense and lies. When Jesus responds with “before Abraham came to be, I AM”, one of Jesus’ most emphatic affirmations of his divine nature, they react out of the belief that he is blasphemous and they intend to stone him.
Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
We live in a culture where messages are aimed at us from many directions. It is fascinating how if a message is said loudly and frequently enough in our culture, that its veracity is unquestioned. Consider the messages we have heard within our own families. Some families have raised their children with the truth that Catholics are not Christians. Others who have poor self-images have passed them onto their children unconsciously. In both of these examples what passes for truth is clearly not truth.
Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
I continue to be concerned and disturbed by many things that are going on in the world today. The economy continues to improve, but many people remain unemployed. Wars continue to rage and innocent people get caught in the crossfire. It is beginning to feel as though the only news is bad news. At times like these I find myself tempted to despair about the world. What good can possibly come to people in a world like this? Yet I realize that this is wrong. There is still hope for the world. And I believe that this hope is the very work of God in our midst.
Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
Every one of us can understand what it means to love another human being. We think of our parents, our children, our spouses, our friends. We have all experienced the joys as well as the sacrifices of loving another person. Several of my friends are taking care of elderly parents right now and the physical and emotional toll is overwhelming. As a parent, I know when my child is suffering or helpless or in trouble, I do everything in my power to help them no matter what the personal sacrifice. It seems when you love another person that intensely you do not consider the cost, you do not consider it a choice—you just pull out all the stops! At times this can seem irrational and mysterious and even downright foolish. But deep down inside we know exactly what it is—it is the real “stuff”, the real demonstration of loving another. This is authentic love.
Fifth Sunday of Lent - Year A Scrutinies
Between last weekend and this weekend we have had three funerals. There are many things I could say about each of these funerals. At one of them, the grand-daughter concluded her eulogy by saying what she would say to her grandpa when he was still alive. She said, “See you later, alligator.” Is it not precious that we can say that to each other as bury the people we love? Sometimes I think, though, that sometimes we take the reason for this hope for granted? Why is it that we can say, “See you later,” when people die? What did it take to get us to that hope?
Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent
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). Even as a prophet—one who speaks for God—however, Jeremiah struggles to understand what God is telling him. This is especially true when Jeremiah’s expectations contrast with what God tells him. Often, too, the word that God expects Jeremiah to deliver contrasts sharply with the expectations of the people to whom he is called to deliver it. This made for some difficult trials for Jeremiah!
Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent
I hope no one else is finding this the case, but for myself, I am finding it difficult to be Catholic these days. This is not because I am thinking about leaving - but friends of mine - friends who are smart and loving and helpful and generous and usually kind but who do not share my faith, keep asking: "Why are you still Catholic?" For some, it is the HHS mandate and the church's teachings on homosexuality that lead them to ask these questions; for others, it is the clash over immigration in Alabama, the rejection of libertarian thought in the pope's latest encyclical, and statements against the death penalty and war that lead them to ask these questions. For still others, it is the apparent contradiction between a God who loves us and has a personal encounter with us with the empirical evidence of science that lead them to ask these questions. And for others, it is the sinfulness of a church hierarchy that has, in the past (hopefully now, always in the past) condoned sexual abuse through its silence.
Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent
How arrogant we human beings can be. We think we know best and want to do things our own way rather than listen to God, creator of all. We get ourselves into a lot of trouble that way: destroying people, destroying the environment, idolizing wealth, physical beauty, and worldly power. And most of this is done by Christians! We create our own ideas about God and we stop hearing or even listening for the true voice of God.
Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Have you ever felt truly alone? I mean so alone you felt forsaken. In those moments, the loneliness can seem an all consuming darkness. It is unclear how one has arrived there or how one leaves such a place. In the times that I have felt all alone, I have struggled to trust that the people who say they love me actually do. When I think about it now, it seems almost silly. Could a parent ever stop loving their child, and even if a parent could, would God? I cannot imagine such circumstances. Yet in those dark moments, it is as if our ability to hear, see or recognize love has been disabled. That sense of being forsaken can leave us feeling imprisoned by our emotion.
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
At this point in the season of Lent, I often find myself wishing for a little bit of encouragement. I find myself asking, why am I going through this? What purpose is it serving? How much longer is it going to be before life can return to ‘normal’? The scriptures for today, especially the gospel reading, provide some of this needed encouragement.
Solemnity of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Joseph. There are so many things about the life of St. Joseph that are inspiring. As the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus, he plays a critical role in the upbringing of Jesus. But what I find most amazing is the way that he lives out his role in salvation history with quiet, simple steadfast faith in God and complete obedience to God’s will for his life.
Fourth Sunday of Lent - Year A Scrutinies
One of the most meaningful parts of my ministry is spending time in conversation with people. On an average I talk to at least five to ten people each week. The conversations revolve around the enormous amounts of PAIN that people carry. And I can identify with every person because I have my own pain. Take for example, talking with a person to whom the doctor has given a limited time to live; think about a family where both the adults are unemployed; think about the person who discovers that the spouse had been secretly unfaithful for months and sometimes years; think about the pain of a family on the verge of breaking up; think about the pain of being misunderstood; think about the pain of emotional, physical and sexual abuse; the pain of addiction and the pain it causes to families; and then there is the pain of sin, guilt and loss of faith. These are all real-life situations that I encounter on a daily basis and I am sure you do too.
Saturday of the Third Week of Lent
The great Catholic fiction writer Flannery O’Connor wrote a short story entitled “Revelation” in which the main character, Mrs. Turpin is a Southern white farmer, who is social, keeps up a nice appearance, and is well-respected. However, a glimpse into Mrs. Turpin’s head shows a different picture: