There are many things and experiences in life that create fear in us. Anything from heights to speaking in public. Fear is a crippler. It prevents us from enjoying life in its fullness. Think about the fears you have or have dealt with in the past that made your life more difficult than it needs to be.
Second Sunday of Easter - Year B
I have to be honest, I wasn’t entirely successful in my Lenten promises. I was hoping to enter Easter with a renewed sense of accomplishment. However, because of my missteps, and good intentions gone awry, I was confronted by what I could not do. I was humbled. I felt defeated ...but then I remembered a line from one of my favorite artists. In his song, Anthem, Leonard Cohen sings: There is a crack in everything; that’s how the light gets in.
Easter Sunday - Year B
Easter is a story about dirt and graves and uncertainty. Even Mary Magdalene mistook Jesus for a gardener.
Nadia Bolz-Weber, a theologian and author, reminds us that the depictions in churches of the risen Christ never show dirt under his nails. Somehow, we needed to ‘clean things up’ for Easter, so no one would be offended by the truth.
Pentecost Sunday
Today we celebrate Pentecost. The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes the event for us: there was a noise like a strong diving wind and it filled the entire house. Tongues as of fire appeared and came to rest on those in the house. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak as the Spirit enabled them.
Seventh Sunday of Easter - Year A
There are two points which I would like to share with you today, the Seventh Sunday of Easter. The first is how we are all connected and related to one another, as members of God’s family and particularly as Christians and Catholics, as members of the Church, the Body of Christ. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ.
Sixth Sunday of Easter - Year A
Fifth Sunday of Easter - Year A
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled.” (Jn 14:1) Don’t let them? Do I have control if my heart gets troubled or not?
It is easy for Jesus to say that I shouldn’t let my heart get troubled as I experience the death of a close relative or friend, as I myself have a serious ailment or I experience the serious sickness of someone close to me, as I deal with an addiction-my own or someone else’s, as I experience a divorce, as my parents are fighting, or as I am out of work. How can I prevent myself in these situations and many others from being troubled?
Fourth Sunday of Easter - Year A
Third Sunday of Easter - Year A
About 15 years ago, I was on a cruise through the Greek Isles. It was a wonderful trip I was sharing with a fellow Augustinian friar. One day after the afternoon excursion, the Captain came on the loudspeaker saying our departure would be delayed due to the tragic death of a crew member who died in a car accident while on shore.
Second Sunday of Easter - Year A
Growing up, my older brother and I would often spend weekend days in spring or summer doing yard work and landscaping at our home under the supervision of my father. Powerful memories stay with me from these times when, during really hot days, my father would remove his t-shirt and we would notice that both of his shoulders were strangely deformed...
Easter Sunday - Year A
Pentecost Sunday - Year C
Seventh Sunday of Easter - Year C
Sixth Sunday of Easter - Year C
Jesus tells us in today’s gospel for the sixth Sunday of Easter, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you.” Is Jesus referring to a type of peace that is different from the world? Or is it the way in which he leaves peace as a gift that is so different from the world? Let’s look at both questions separately.
Fifth Sunday of Easter - Year C
“I give you a new commandment: love one another.”
These words are certainly among the most famous the Lord ever spoke; but just as certainly they present us with a problem: How can Jesus command us to love? Doesn’t love just happen? It wells up from some secret place, quick and fresh, and floods our hearts and swamps our minds, sweeping reason and resolve before its fierce winds? How can such a force of nature be commanded? Yes, Christ could walk upon waves and quiet winds; but can he decree that we must do likewise?
Fourth Sunday of Easter - Year C
It will be known forever by Villanova University Basketball fans around the world as “The Shot.” With 4.7 seconds left and the score tied, Kris Jenkins did a one step, two step, and let it fly from just inside half court, sending the ball perfectly through the rim as well as sending Villanova University into the record books as 2016 NCAA Champions!
Yet, before the shot, there was “the pass.”
Third Sunday of Easter - Year C
The centerpiece of today’s gospel is an exuberant response to the risen Christ. Peter sets out fishing with the other apostles. There is a tone in his words in today’s Gospel, “I am going fishing”, that seems to be a response to the confusion and frustration with the way events were unfolding after the crucifixion of Jesus. And then everything changes!
Second Sunday of Easter - Year C
In light of this Jubilee Year of Mercy, Divine Mercy Sunday offers an enhanced opportunity to reflect on compassion and forgiveness. The early Church community encountered severe obstacles in their proclamation of Jesus as the Risen Lord and Messiah, sometimes to the point of death. Danger lurked around every corner as they were typically rounded up, beaten and imprisoned for their witness to the faith.
