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Readings: Seventh Sunday of Easter – Ascension | USCCB  “The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.” (Matthew 28:16)   Here is the first verse of this weekend’s Gospel, and while there is a lot happening in the Gospel passage, the first verse may be the most important. They went to the mountain, which implies they went to pray; they went to encounter Him.  The Lord was waiting at the top of the mountain for them and when they saw Him, they worshiped. Prayer is the absolute most important thing that we do in this life, and it is from our prayer and interior life that we are able to receive commandments from the Lord, just as the disciples did. St. Teresa of Avila advises us that prayer is coming in contact with the living Jesus, not just a matter of reciting prayers, but a deep friendship and union with God. “Since vocal prayer is prayer, it must be accompanied by reflection.”   It is no small task that Jesus entrusts you with, to “go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations” but when we live in deep friendship and union with him through prayer, all things become possible. Let us resemble the disciples and encounter the Lord this week […]

Readings: Second Sunday of Easter (or Sunday of Divine Mercy) | USCCB  Peace be with you. “Trees Die Standing…”  Pope Leo recently encouraged disciples to cultivate a personal friendship with Jesus. A relationship not content with measuring the intensity of external activities but centered on the fruitfulness of friendship with Him. He used a powerful image: “Trees die standing,” he said referring to the reality that a tree can appear strong and healthy on the outside, while inwardly decaying.  The Gospel scene is in the upper room. Just three days after the most devastating experience of their lives – the suffering and death of their Friend and Lord – the Apostles are locked in fear. The same men who fled, denied, and abandoned Jesus now sit under the burden of shame, and regret in the very place where they promised their fidelity to Him at the Last Supper.  Into that space, He appears. He does not rebuke them nor remind them of their failures. Instead, He speaks: “Peace be with you.” And He says it again.   He not only offers them forgiveness but entrusts them with it. He sends them forth to extend that same mercy to others. The mercy that […]

Readings: The Resurrection of the Lord | USCCB  For Christians, the hope of Easter is not a fragile hope. It is not contingent on the peaceful resolution of our raging wars, or the curing of a terrible disease, or a positive economic outlook, or the restoration of long-frayed family relations. The hope of Easter does not depend on how things are going in our lives or in our world.    The hope of Easter emerges from Christ’s victory over death – an event that revealed a reality that extends for all eternity, never to be dislodged by whatever tumult or travail may come. The truth of Easter is a reason for hope, now and forever.  Keeping our eyes on eternity doesn’t mean we ignore the present world, of course. As C.S. Lewis observes, “If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were . . . those who thought most of the next.” But as we work for a more just here-and-now, the crosses we bear must never obscure the ultimate hope that sustains us.  As Pope Leo has explained, “Easter does not eliminate the cross, but defeats it in the miraculous duel that changed our human history.” And in our time, which is “marked by so many crosses,” the Risen Christ, through the Holy Spirit, “continues to remind us of this, so that we can be His […]

Readings: Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion | USCCB  The theme of these readings is abandonment. In less than a week, the crowds that cheered Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem are calling for his crucifixion. Judas, one of the twelve apostles, betrays his teacher for 30 pieces of silver. Simon Peter pledges unshakeable faith, but the same night denies Jesus three times. At Gethsemane, Jesus asks his disciples, “Remain here and keep watch with me.” Yet when Jesus returns from his agonizing prayers, he finds his disciples asleep—not once, not twice, but three times. When Jesus is arrested later that evening, Matthew tells us, “all the disciples left him and fled.” Christ’s lament from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” is haunted by these betrayals.  God sent his only son, and we abandoned him, turned on him, and murdered him.  In the face of this awful reality, I am moved by the image at the end of the Passion narrative. Joseph of Arimathea has gone to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus. He wrapped it in clean linen and placed it in a new tomb. “Then he rolled a huge stone across the entrance of the tomb and departed. But […]