Sunday, April 21, 2024

Good Shepherd Sunday: Loving Others Means Calling Them to Christ


Christ using the image of a shepherd for himself was, in his cultural context, a profound act of humility. Shepherds were among the lowest ranking workers in the social hierarchy of the time. God humbled himself by becoming one of us through the incarnation. He further humbled himself by calling himself the shepherd of his flock.

But Jesus makes clear that he is not the usual type of shepherd, who is hired to watch over the sheep. The hired shepherds will flee when lethal danger appears, because they don't have a connection with their flock beyond their wages. But Christ, who is God, has an existential connection with us. God is our creator, our redeemer, our sanctifier.

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Sunday, April 14, 2024

Third Sunday of Easter: What Is Sin?


All three readings this Sunday address the question of sin and call for repentance. But what is sin and why are we so concerned about it? Sin at its core is idolatry, worshipping something other than God. We know that many people are unbelievers, but no one is a non-worshipper. Worship is the centering of our being on someone or something, making that entity the organizing principle of our life. Everyone worships. If not God, then someone or something else.

God is love and he made the world out of love for us, to share his love with us. Deep in our essence is a fundamental yearning for his love. We can never find true fulfillment until we accept his love and give ourselves in love to him in return. As St. Augustine famously says at the beginning of his Confessions, “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.” Centering our whole being on God gives us true joy, abiding peace, eternal fulfillment.

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Sunday, April 7, 2024

Divine Mercy: Let Us Say With Thomas: My Lord and My God


All but one of the apostles abandoned Jesus as he was being tortured to death upon the cross. But now when he has risen from the dead and returns to see the disciples, he greets them with the words "Peace be with you!" If you were in a similar situation, would those be your first words to those who had abandoned you? I know I would struggle to be so gracious. But Jesus underwent his suffering out of love for all of us, offering his pain for the spiritual healing of all of humanity. He took our sins upon himself so that we can be cleansed.

The outpouring of God's Mercy is what we celebrate in a special way on Divine Mercy Sunday. Christians have often envisioned God as angry, eager to mete out punishment. But what Christ teaches us through the Gospels and what the Divine Mercy devotion highlights is that God is always ready to fill our lives with his Mercy, eager to cleanse us and heal us. Sins are the things that separate us from God's love and therefore bring sorrow and misery into our lives. If we persist in sin, we suffer the consequences of being separated from God's goodness. But if we turn to God for his Mercy, he restores us and shares with us his eternal divine life, imbuing us with his infinite love.

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Saturday, March 30, 2024

Holy Saturday: The Divine Plan to Re-Create the World


I think of the Easter Vigil Mass celebrated on Holy Saturday as the liturgical equivalent of a Thanksgiving meal. At Thanksgiving, we do not count calories. We indulge. At the Easter Vigil, we do not worry about time. We feast liturgically.

A part of that liturgical feasting is the proclamation of seven readings from the Old Testament and two from the New, plus eight responsorial psalm sections. The readings start with the account of creation and then highlight key moments of our salvation history. The culmination of the sequence is the proclamation of the resurrection of Christ in the Gospel reading.

As we see from the passage from Genesis, God created a good world. All that he made was good. Evil entered the world through human sin, which brought about the marring of God's creation. After this marring, the Fall, God undertakes the redemption of humanity. Over the course of centuries, he prepares the way for the Incarnation, his coming among us as one of us to take upon himself our own sins and thereby restore us to our original blessed state.

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Good Friday Reflection - Yearning for Paradise


Passage:

Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us." The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." (Luke 25:39-43)

Reflection:

When I was about 12, I saw a raunchy Italian comedy, called Il Ladorne, depicting a fictional account of the life of the Good Thief. I remember very little of the story now, but I do recall the last scene. After various adventures and misadventures, the Thief gets sentenced to death by the Romans. At the end of the movie, he is hanging on a cross next to Jesus, who turns to him and says: "Today you will be with me in Paradise." The Thief responds, somewhat nonchalantly: "That’s okay. I can wait."

The Thief’s reply is, admittedly, a bit sacrilegious, and you might be wondering why I am quoting it now. But is this not very often our own response to Christ? When Christ tells us "Today you will be with me in Paradise," do we not say, "That’s okay. I can wait."

Isn’t death the greatest fear in our culture? Do we not almost worship youth, resisting, resenting the process of aging?

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Friday, March 29, 2024

Good Friday: Don't Leave Jesus Because of Judas


Books have been written on the Passion narrative proclaimed on Good Friday, so a short reflection can focus only on a small portion of the treasure-trove of meaning in the readings of this day. For this reflection, out of the many possible topics, I will focus on Judas.

The question of Judas has generated a vast array of interpretation throughout history. In Dante's Inferno, we see him in the innermost circle of Hell, right next to Satan, as a result of committing the supreme act of betrayal. By contrast, in the Gnostic Gospel of Judas, he is depicted as a friend of Jesus, in that, according to the Gnostics, he helped Jesus leave the chains of this earthly existence by facilitating his execution. Many other gradation of interpretation can also be found between these two.

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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Holy Thursday: Service and Self-Sacrifice Are at the Heart of the Eucharist


On two occasions, Jesus rebukes Peter in the Gospels. The first time is when Jesus foretells his suffering and death but Peter objects. The second time is in the Gospel passage for today, when Jesus is about to serve the disciples by washing their feet but Peter tries to stop him.

In the synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the focal point of the Last Supper narrative is the institution of the Eucharist, through which Christ gives us his Body and Blood to eat and drink under the appearance of bread and wine.

In his Gospel, John puts the emphasis on Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, an act which, at the time of Jesus, would have been performed only by the lowliest of servants. Through this act of service, Jesus models servant leadership for the disciples. He also leads us more deeply into the mystery of the Eucharist.

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Sunday, March 24, 2024

Palm Sunday: Let Us Welcome Jesus As the Crowds Did


In the first Gospel proclaimed today, Jesus rides into Jerusalem in advance of the Passover celebration. The feast of the Passover goes back to ancient Israelite history, which we see recounted in The Books of Genesis and Exodus. The patriarchs of Israel settle in Egypt, where the Israelites start to prosper greatly over several generations. But in time Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, turns against them and starts to oppress them to the point of enslaving them.

God then sends Moses and Aaron to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave Egypt. Pharaoh refuses, so God punishes Egypt with ten plagues, the last of which involves the angel of death going through Egypt and striking down the firstborn male of every household. The Israelites can escape this punishment by sacrificing a lamb to be eaten and smearing its blood on the doorframe of their home. The angel of death will then see the blood and pass over the house, sparing that family from the punishment to be inflicted.

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Sunday, March 17, 2024

Fifth Sunday of Lent (Cycle A): Jesus Offers Us Much More Than Endless Life


The famous Christian writer C.S. Lewis once suggested that Lazarus was the first Christian martyr. Why did he make this unusual claim? His contention was that Lazarus had already gone through the experience of death when Jesus called him back to life. Lazarus would then need to go through the process of dying again at a later time. By being brought back to life, Lazarus was, Lewis suggested, the first disciple who was called upon to commit to dying for Christ.

This take by Lewis might seem a bit strange, but it points to a deeper reality. Our physical life in this world is not our final end. It is not the ultimate life we hope for. As is often the case in The Gospel of John, there are two layers of meaning in the discussion in the passage.

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Fifth Sunday of Lent (Cycle B): Choosing the Ultimate Self-Sacrifice


Once and only once in my life, I did a celebrity stakeout. My wife and I spent hours in a Croatian hotel to see members of the band Duran Duran, who were known to be staying there. We managed to meet three of them briefly. I have to wonder if a sort of celebrity stakeout is happening at the beginning of today's Gospel passage too when some Greeks come to see Jesus and try to gain access to him through the disciples.

In the context of the passage, Jesus has just ridden triumphantly into Jerusalem. Many in the city expect him to claim the Messianic kingship. During the day, he is teaching in the city, accompanied by his disciples. By night, he is at a hidden location at the Mount Olives outside of the city, so he is not as easily accessible during these days as before. Are the Greeks hoping to see him for spiritual reasons or because he is widely regarded as the rising power of the political order?

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Saturday, March 9, 2024

Fourth Sunday of Lent (Cycle A): Are We Blind to God's Graces?


Today's Gospel passage reminds me of an ironic time in my life. When acquaintances would ask about how things were going in my life and I would give them a brief overview, they would invariably tell me how happy they were that things were going so well for me. The irony was that I was feeling absolutely miserable about my life during this time. I was simply unable to see the blessings that had been given to me.

In today's passage, the leaders do not see the blessing that is so plainly before them. Ironically, the blind person regains his sight, but the people who have been able to see physically are not able to see spiritually and they disregard even the physical evidence before them.

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Fourth Sunday of Lent (Cycle B): How Is Our Sin Working for Us?


The Gospel passage for today alludes to an account in The Book of Numbers (21:4-9) where God punishes the Israelites for their sins by sending seraph serpents among them to bite them. After they repent, God instructs Moses to make a bronze serpent and to lift it up among the people. As long as they gaze upon the serpent, they are healed from the snake bites. They can escape the consequence of their sin by accepting the healing grace of God, given to them in the form of the bronze image.

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Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Third Sunday of Lent (Cycle A): Christianity Is a Proposal of Marriage


Back in the 90's, I saw a quote that has stayed with me over the years. The quote said: Christianity is not a religion. It is a proposal of marriage. In many ways, those few words capture the essence of our faith.

In the Old Testament, the relationship between God and Israel is often depicted as a marriage. Israel is the bride, many times unfaithful, and God is the aggrieved husband who keeps calling his beloved back to him. As Scripture scholar Brant Pitre expounds in his book Jesus the Bridegroom, the marriage metaphor continues in the New Testament.

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Sunday, March 3, 2024

Third Sunday of Lent (Cycle B): The Grace of God Is Not Transactional


In today's Gospel passage, Jesus shows anger because the Temple leaders are taking advantage of the people. According to the Mosaic Law, the Israelites must travel to Jerusalem periodically and have various sacrifices offered on their behalf in the Temple, many of which involve animals.

However, the Temple leaders make a financial racket out of the necessary sacrifices.

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Sunday, February 25, 2024

Second Sunday of Lent: The Gate of Heaven Is in the Shape of the Cross


Modern audiences are usually horrified by the account of the sacrifice of Isaac. How could, the objection goes, God be so cruel as to command Abraham to sacrifice his son, even just as a test of his willingness, even without requiring to go through with the sacrifice itself? But our objections are rooted in our own cultural setting. We need to see the situation from Abraham's perspective.

Child sacrifice was a common practice among the pagan religions at the time of Abraham. Many parents would offer the lives of their children in exchange for material blessings. For Abraham, the command to sacrifice Isaac would not have been shocking or unusual. The surprise would have been the command to stop the sacrifice. God was teaching Abraham that he did not need to perform such an evil act to curry favor with him. Quite the contrary.

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Sunday, February 18, 2024

First Sunday of Lent: The Desert Helps Us Find Our True Treasure


Before he starts his ministry, Jesus goes out into the desert to pray and fast. We are called to do the same during this Lenten season. In Christian spirituality, the desert has always been a symbol of spiritual purification. We will most likely not spend time in an actual desert praying and fasting, as Jesus did, but we can enter into the desert experience by pushing aside the many things that distract us from our relationship with God.

What are the things we use for comfort? Do we go from one source of digital distraction to another? Do we reach for food or coffee or another source of pleasure when we are stressed? We should identify and name the crutches we use to deal with the ups and downs of daily life. Some of these crutches are deeply destructive, while others might be okay in moderation. But we need to examine the role they play in our lives.

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Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Ash Wednesday: What Is Our Recompense?


Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving have traditionally been the three pillars of Lent. Jesus warns us against engaging in these practices for show, for building up our public reputation. Instead, we are to pray, fast, and give alms in secret in order to receive our recompense from God. But what is it that we gain from these practices? What is our recompense?

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12 Ways to Make Lent a Life-changing Experience

As Catholics, one of the most counter-cultural things we can do is to observe the season of Lent. In our hyper-materialistic, instant grat culture, the idea of 40 days of deliberate self-denial is sure to be seen as crazy. But Lent is a profound opportunity for positive transformation.

The focus of Lent is fourfold:

- Preparing for the liturgical celebration of the death and resurrection of Christ, especially through the Triduum liturgies of Holy Week.

- Atoning for our sins through penitential practices.

- Becoming spiritually purified so that we can be more fully opened to the presence of Christ in our daily lives.

- Preparing ourselves and the world for the Second Coming of Christ.

In this article, I will explore 12 disciplines that can help us to set out on a path of life-giving transformation during the Lenten season. The first three of these, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, are especially encouraged by the Church during this penitential season.

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14 Tips for a Catholic Celebration of St. Valentine's Day


Catholic reactions to Valentine's Day range from a whole-hearted embracing of the day with all of its commercialized dimensions, to utter disdain, wishing nothing more than that the day might be obliterated from our calendar. But I would propose an approach different from both of these. I would, instead, advocate for an intentionally Catholic celebration of the day. After all, whether Valentine's Day is a Christian holiday that was secularized, or a pagan holiday that was Christianized and then re-secularized, or simply a commercial holiday made up for the benefit of merchants, the day is tied to the date of a Catholic feast. As Catholics, let's claim, or reclaim, this day as St. Valentine's Day, and let's celebrate it as one of our special Catholic days.

Below are 14 tips for how we can do so (plus a bonus one at the end). These suggestions are intended for Catholic couples, but others might benefit from them as well.

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Sunday, February 11, 2024

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Grace Favors the Bold


Back in the day, it was dangerous to take the kids with me when I would go shopping, because when they would ask me to buy this and that, I would usually give in. Sometimes, I would say no. But more often than not, I would make the purchase. The items in question weren't bad. They were just things I was not otherwise planning to buy. But when asked, I did so.

My shopping outings have some parallels with prayer.

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