Today’s readings Well, it wasn’t all that long ago that we saw the disciples scatter in fear, was it? Here they had seen their friend arrested, tortured, and killed, so one could not blame them for running scared. I’m sure I would have done no different if I had been them. But in today’s first… Continue reading Easter Monday
Month: April 2011
Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord: Mass During the Day
Today’s readings Can you remember a time when you had a breakthrough moment, a kind of “aha!” experience? Maybe it was getting the answer to a math problem, or mastering the technique of a pitch in baseball, or coming up with just the right combination of ingredients cooking a sauce, or getting a particularly delicate… Continue reading Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord: Mass During the Day
Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord: The Easter Vigil
Tonight’s readings We English-speakers have just one word for time, but other languages have more; those languages recognize the different kinds of time. Most notably for us because it is reflected in the New Testament, the Greek language has two kinds of time: chronos and kairos. Chronos is the kind of time you can measure. … Continue reading Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord: The Easter Vigil
Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion
Today’s readings Isaiah’s lament catches us up in the emotion of Good Friday. The suffering servant’s appearance is so marred, stricken and infirm that we cannot bear to look at him. Because if we really looked hard enough, we know, in our heart of hearts, that the marring, the strickenness, the infirmity are all ours. … Continue reading Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion
Monday of Holy Week
Today’s readings I don’t know about you, but Holy Week usually finds me a little raw, emotionally. And looking at today’s Gospel reading, I guess I’m not alone. All the characters in that reading from John are experiencing a heightened sense of some emotion: The chief priests, the religious leaders of the Jews, were experiencing… Continue reading Monday of Holy Week
Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion
Today’s readings This is it. With today’s Liturgy, we enter solemnly into Holy Week, in which unfold the great mysteries of our faith. Right up front, we see two very dramatic moments in the life of Christ, moments that, quite honestly, seem so very opposed to one another. As we begin, we travel with Jesus… Continue reading Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion
Lenten Penance Service
Today’s readings: Romans 5:12, 17-19; Matthew 26:20-25 In Jesus Christ, we have absolutely everything that we need for the forgiveness of sins, except one thing. In Jesus Christ, we have our God who became man. We have in Christ the Saving Sacrifice, his life poured out on us to take away the penalty of our sins and… Continue reading Lenten Penance Service
Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Today’s readings Susanna’s story is one of the most eloquent and deeply moving in the Old Testament Scriptures. In it we see the wisdom of the prophet Daniel, as well as the mercy and justice of God. But sadly, we also see in this story the fickleness of the human heart and the evil and… Continue reading Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Confirmation
My dear Confirmation candidates, you come here tonight after a long period of growing in faith and preparing for this beautiful sacrament. You have completed many hours of service, you have learned a good deal about our faith and our church, and you have prayed together on retreat and in many other ways. Tonight you… Continue reading Confirmation
Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Today’s readings At the heart of our practice of prayer has to be trust in God. We don’t – or shouldn’t – need signs to convince us of God’s love and care for us. But don’t we do that all the time? Aren’t we just like those Galileans looking for a sign? We might be… Continue reading Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent