Pentecost Sunday • Year C
There, the people stood a long way off, there was an atmosphere of dread, not of love. I mean, they were so terrified that they said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself, and do not let the Lord speak to us, lest we die’ (Ex 20:19). So God came down, as it is written, on Sinai in fire; but he was terrifying the people who stood a long way off, and ‘writing with his finger on stone’ (Ex 31:18), not on the heart. Here, however, when the Holy Spirit came, the faithful were gathered together as one; and he didn’t terrify them on a mountain, but came in to them in a house.
Seventh Sunday of Easter • Year C
Jesus reveals that God’s very nature is restorative, generous, and merciful. He was willing to die for our small-mindedness so that we might become spacious and welcoming. During this Easter season, we are invited to live more fully the soul’s journey of life, death, and resurrection modeled by Jesus. The Holy Spirit prompts our soul with discernment so our hearts and minds learn and may be transformed. Where would we be without the learning we are given in prayer, in service of others, and participation in the liturgies of our church?
Fifth Sunday of Easter • Year C
To love this way is hard. To love this way is painful. To love this way will feel like we are dying, and yet that is what we are called to do. Yet, it was loving this way that took Jesus right through the cross to the resurrection. It is no wonder that He wanted us to remember this, and live the same way he did. St. Paul says if we die with Christ we rise with Christ.
Fourth Sunday of Easter • Year C
At this time, the Word of God may focus our attention on what’s happening at the Vatican. The Word speaks to us of Jesus’ intimate relationship with us and our relationships with other people. “I know my sheep.” Jesus knows each of us very well. He knows our strengths and weaknesses, our successes and our failures, the choices we make whether they are healthy or sometimes sinful. That can be comforting and encouraging. It can also be scary for us when we may be ashamed of our actions. However, he takes us as we are. He sticks by us, he never abandons us because he loves us and wants to show us the way to a better life.
Third Sunday of Easter • Year C
Think back for a moment to the creation story in the Book of Genesis at the beginning of the Bible. “Then God said, ‘Let there be light, and there was light.’” We note that when God speaks, God’s words not only impart information. They also cause action: “and there was light.” Something happens! In the gospel story, Jesus is not only forgiving Peter. He is also empowering Peter to love with a self-sacrificing love. To love God above all things and to love his neighbor as himself. Jesus, Word of God, makes things come to be by his words!
Second Sunday of Easter • Year C
Many things in the world make us not happy: War, loneliness, discrimination, hatred, poverty, hard work with low wages, domestic violence, drugs, alcoholism, just to name a few. These are problems that many of us struggle with. Jesus gently invites us to believe. He invites Thomas to have faith in him. He invites you and me to have faith in him. And he invites us to accept his gift of peace.
Easter Sunday • Year C
All of us have various stones in our lives; stones that threaten to entrap us in tombs. Tombs of fear, jealousy, anger, resentment, guilt, shame, addiction, and grief can all rob us of Easter joy. Easter teaches us the Savior doesn’t live in those tombs; the stones of helplessness have been rolled away.
Pentecost Sunday • Year B
The Seventh Sunday of Easter contains the prayer of hope that Christ proclaims on Good Friday: “Father forgive them, they know not what they are doing.” How do we imitate Christ’s Good Friday prayer? Such a prayer is the pathway to Peace that was given to disillusioned disciples when he breathed on them the gift of mercy. “Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Have we received and implemented the disciples’ gift to forgive, to love one another? Or do we choose to live in the darkness of anger which often migrates to hatred?
Seventh Sunday of Easter • Year B
The Seventh Sunday of Easter contains the prayer of hope that Christ proclaims on Good Friday: “Father forgive them, they know not what they are doing.” How do we imitate Christ’s Good Friday prayer? Such a prayer is the pathway to Peace that was given to disillusioned disciples when he breathed on them the gift of mercy. “Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Have we received and implemented the disciples’ gift to forgive, to love one another? Or do we choose to live in the darkness of anger which often migrates to hatred?
Sixth Sunday of Easter • Year B
. It begins with our weakness for instant gratification. Love and friendship have been devalued in many ways, lost in a torrent of words and images, trivialized, and emptied of moral concerns and responsibilities. Our media-matic gadgets carry a deluge of that stuff every day. It is all too easy to talk, sing or act in a manner that looks like friendship or love. People become intoxicated to the point of living the illusion without examining the reality in their own lives. And it becomes difficult to sort out the good from the false and harmful elements that pervade like weeds our love and friendships.