Sunday’s Readings: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29/Rev 21:10-14, 22-23/Jn 14:23-29Lecturas del Dia RETURNING TO ORDINARY LIFESix weeks into our Easter rejoicing, the Church gives us readings today that start preparing usfor a return to ordinary life. The Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel both dwell on proper daily behavior for followers of Jesus, while the reading…
Sundays Readings: Acts 13:14, 43-52/Rev 7:9, 14b-17/Jn 10:27-30Lecturas del Dia A FORETASTE OF PARADISEThroughout Easter Time, the Church rejoices with Jesus, risen from the dead. Our readings on this Fourth Sunday of Easter celebrate our instinct to come together in joy, worshiping in church. While private prayer nourishes our individual relationship with the Lord, community prayer is a foretaste of paradise. The…
GOD’S OVERFLOWING KINDNESSThe superabundance of God’s kindness ties all of today’s readings together. Especially when life overwhelms us, the Lord provides all we need, and then some. In the Acts of the Apostles, Peter takes the lead when facing the Sanhedrin. We might expect the man who denied Jesus to crumble under the imposing glare…
DIFFICULTY, SURVIVAL, AND GLORYIn Revelation, John the Evangelist tells us what we can expect as followers of the risen Jesus: distress, endureance, and a kingdom. Although we are only eight days into our fifty-day Easter feasting, we cannot ignore the distress weighing down our daily lives. Jesus’ resurrection does not erase individual suffering, but his glorious triumph over death cultivates endurance in…
EVERYTHING IS CHANGEDEaster changes everything. Having been raised from the dead, Jesus shatters the frightful images that haunt humanity. Betrayal, torture, crucifixion, death, burial—these terrors pale in the brilliant glory of Jesus resurrected. Today’s psalm guides our response to God’s power: “it is wonderful in our eyes.” Today is indeed a day for wonder, for…
SOMETHING NEW IN CHRISTJesus knew that the scribes and Pharisees were trying to trap him. They put him in what seemed to be a no-win situation. Let the woman who was caught in adultery go, and he would have been accused of ignoring the law. Let her be stoned, and he would fail to show…
LOST AND FOUNDThe parable of the father and his sons is one of the most familiar of all of Jesus’ stories. The father inthe parable is lavish in forgiveness and revels in the return of his young son, who was lost and now is found. The older son is also lost—lost in his refusal to…
HOLY GROUNDMoses met God in a most astounding way in the bush that was burning but not consumed byfire. Moses clearly had a powerful encounter with the Lord. He even felt bold enough to ask God’sname, something unheard of among his people at the time—God’s name was unspeakable. Mosesstood on holy ground. Do we not…
Sunday’s Readings: Gn 15:5-12, 17-18/Phil 3:17—4:1/Lk 9:28b-36Lecturas del Dia A GLIMPSE OF GODHave you ever had a glimpse of God? Perhaps you perceived God’s presence in a quiet moment of prayer, a tender conversation with a loved one, or a difficult situation that was resolved unexpectedly. Peter, James, and John in today’s Gospel were given…
IN THE DESERTJesus was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, and then the devil tested him. Moses and the Israelites had been in the desert for forty years before being led to the land of milk and honey. There were times when they called out to God, sure that, as Saint…