Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Jeremiah 11:18-20  +  John 7:40-53
April 6, 2019

“Then each went to his own house.”

This morning’s Gospel Reading is fairly unusual in that Jesus neither appears nor speaks.  The passages focuses upon the reactions of various persons to Jesus, or rather, to what He had just said.  In fact, the first sentence of today’s Gospel Reading begins, “Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said….”  So to make sense of today’s passage, we need to recall yesterday’s. Continue reading →

Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Wisdom 2:1,12-22  +  John 7:1-2,10,25-30
April 5, 2019

So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon Him, because His Hour had not yet come.

Today’s Gospel Reading might not seem very dramatic.  There is more said about Jesus than there is said by Him.  A good part of the reading is the evangelist describing Jesus’ moving about and avoiding conflict.  Yet the final sentence of this passage heightens the setting of all that is said and done here. Continue reading →

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Exodus 32:7-14  +  John 5:31-47
April 4, 2019

“…these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.”

Jesus’ words today seem somewhat harsh, as they often seem in St. John’s Gospel account.  Jesus’ words to the Jews confirm that they are lacking in faith, unwilling to believe in the Good News that Jesus is preaching.  As we, the members of the Church, draw closer to Good Friday, we ought to ask whether we fully believe in the power of the Cross in our lives.  Do we believe that in suffering we can find redemption?  Do we believe that there is a meaning to all the suffering that we are constantly experience (often, of our own making)? Continue reading →

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Isaiah 49:8-15  +  John 5:17-30
April 3, 2019

“Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing”.

In these latter weeks of Lent, each weekday’s Gospel passage comes from St. John’s account of the Gospel.  These are proclaimed in sequential order, but they’re not always consecutive:  each does not necessarily follow the previous day’s passage.  For example, this Thursday’s Gospel passage ends with John 5:47, the last verse of that chapter.  The following day’s Gospel passage begins at John 7:1. Continue reading →

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Ezekiel 47:1-9,12  +  John 5:1-16
April 2, 2019

Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a sabbath.

It was divine love that moved Jesus to heal the sick man in today’s Gospel passage.  It was this love that motivated Jesus to risk incurring the wrath of the Jewish people by healing this man on the Sabbath.  Sadly, even the man who is healed by Jesus does not quite understand Him.  When the healed man is confronted by the Jews about the “inappropriateness” of this miracle being performed on the Sabbath, he does not give faithful witness to Jesus’ love for Him.  Instead, he lamely tries to pass the buck to Jesus so that he himself is not blamed. Continue reading →

During these latter weeks of Lent I’ll be posting each day’s reflection separately, instead of a week at a time…

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Isaiah 65:17-21  +  John 4:43-54
April 1, 2019

“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”

The Fourth Sunday of Lent—sometimes known by the Latin name “Laetare Sunday”—is roughly the mid-point of Lent.  Before this mid-point, at the weekday Masses of Lent the Gospel Readings are taken from non-sequential chapters among the first three Gospel accounts.  For example, on the first four days of Lent, the Gospel Readings are taken from Matthew 6, Luke 9, Matthew 9, and Luke 5, respectively. Continue reading →

The Fourth Sunday of Lent [C]
Jos 5:9,10-12  +  2 Cor 5:17-21  +  Lk 15:1-3,11-32
March 31, 2019

“But now we must celebrate and rejoice….”

One of the great treasures of our Catholic Faith is a work written by the Catholic husband, father, statesman and martyr, Saint Thomas More.  He wrote this work, titled The Sadness of Christ, in the Tower of London before he was executed. In this work, he meditates on the agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Continue reading →

The Annunciation of the Lord
Isa 7:10-14;8:10  +  Heb 10:4-10  +  Lk 1:26-38
March 25, 2019

… the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel….

In the person of Jesus Christ, God and man are united.  This is the good news that Saint Gabriel came to announce to Mary:  that she would bear in her womb the one through whom all human beings could find eternal life.  The profundity of this news overwhelmed Mary, and made her fearful.  What would this mean for her life? Continue reading →

The Third Sunday of Lent [C]
Ex 3:1-8,13-15  +  1 Cor 10:1-6,10-12  +  Lk 13:1-9
March 24, 2019

Yet God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the desert.

Both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, gardens, plants and trees of all sorts serve as symbols of growth—and decay—in the spiritual life.  The very first story of the Bible takes place in a garden called Eden.  In this Sunday’s Gospel passage, Jesus tells us a parable along a similar line. Continue reading →