The 2023 Bishop Ireton Lenten Reflection Booklet

The 2023 Bishop Ireton Lenten Reflection Booklet

Written by the BI Faculty and Staff

Thank you to all the contributors. May God bless you as you read and reflect on His word this Lenten season.

Opening Message

By Kathleen McNutt, Head of School

Dear Bishop Ireton Community,

Lent is upon us, and we find ourselves preparing to follow Christ’s ministry, passion and death over the next 40 days. While we will all experience this liturgical season in different ways, we will all be ministered to by the same Spirit. It is this Spirit that will help us persevere in our observances of prayer, fasting, and service, whether it is here on Cambridge Road or in our homes.

I am so grateful to the faculty and staff who have dedicated time and prayerful effort to provide the reflections in this year’s Salesian Lenten booklet. My prayer is that their words speak to your heart and mind, and help you focus on the season and the presence of God in your life. I hope that this is just one of the many ways that Christ will reach you and our community this Lent. May these opportunities of reading and reflection draw us closer to Him so that we can experience the joys of the Resurrection come Easter.

God Bless and Live Jesus,

Kathleen McNutt Head of School

Opening Salesian Lenten Reflection

By Father Donald Heet, OSFS St. Francis de Sales on Temptation

On Ash Wednesday, one of the formulas that we hear when we receive ashes is “Repent and believe the gospel.” The words remind us that Lent is more than at time to give up something we like, or even to start doing something “extra”. At its root, Lent is a time to turn away from sin so that we may celebrate the gift of new life at Easter with purified hearts. Mindful of this truth, when we hear the gospel about Jesus being tempted by Satan on the first Sunday of Lent, Francis de Sales devoted his sermon to the topic of temptation, He began that sermon by reminding his listeners “that no one is exempt from temptation when they have truly resolved to serve God.” As he goes on to explain, the devil doesn’t need to spend much time tempting those who are habitual sinners; they carry temptation within themselves. It is those who are trying to be faithful to God who experience temptation and who are most bothered by it. In both that sermon as well as in Part 4 of his Introduction to the Devout Life, Francis reflects on temptation and how to deal with it.

In the Introduction he begins by distinguishing temptation from sin. He writes, “Temptation to a certain sin, to any sin whatsoever, might last throughout our whole life, yet it can never make us displeasing to God’s Majesty provided we do not take pleasure in it and give consent to it.” Even though we have felt a strong attraction to the temptation – it wouldn’t be a temptation if we weren’t attracted – if we kept our resolution never to consent to the sin or the temptation, we haven’t sinned. In fact, Francis tells us, “God permits violent assaults and strong temptations only in souls whom he desires to raise up to his own pure and surpassing love.” However, our rejection of temptation is not automatic; it is by means of the continued practice of prayer, the sacraments and confidence in God that our strength will return, and we will live a healthful and happy life.

Some temptations are very strong and dangerous. The first way to resist them is to turn to God and implore his mercy and love; if the temptation persists, Francis suggests imagining Jesus on the cross. Look at our crucified Savior rather than at the temptation; in other words, refocus your attention on the Lord. You can also turn your thoughts to some good commendable activity; when such thoughts enter and find place in your heart, they will drive away temptations and evil thoughts.

However, most temptations are much smaller in nature: feelings of pride or jealousy, laziness, overeating, brief anger and the like. Francis says they are much like gnats that buzz around our face. They are not nearly as dangerous as wolves or bears, but much more annoying. The best way to deal with them is to ignore them as much as possible. If they persist, you can perform an opposing virtue – e.g., if you are tempted to be judgmental about someone, ask the Lord to bless them and change you. He also advises identifying which temptations we most often experience and then very consciously work to live our lives in a way that is opposite to them; if we are tempted to gluttony, make a point of not taking a second portion.

That last suggestion seems to be a good way of spending Lent. Identify your most bothersome temptation and then adopt a practice that is contrary to it. At the same time, every day, ask the Lord for help in resisting that temptation. Finally, if it is a temptation you have given into, make a point of confessing it in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. After all, Lent can be a grace-filled time. It’s a time to ask the Lord to help you to “Repent and believe the Gospel,” so that you can celebrate Easter with a renewed heart.

The First Sunday of Lent Opening Reflection

By Stephen Crooker

The spiritual journey of Lent begins with a wonderful and powerful reading from the Book of Genesis regarding the creation of Adam. The beginning of life and humanity’s relationship with our Creator is powerfully spoken in Genesis and is, very timely, the very key to the larger message of Lent itself. As we begin the walk with Our Lord these days of Lent, we too, begin a journey to “reset” our relationship with our Creator. Like our first parents, Adam and Eve, we are also tempted into sin. We are called to rise above sin and embrace the grace given to us by Jesus Christ. Like Adam and Eve, we too want to open our eyes and see more, but we fall into lure of sin. Lent is a reminder that we can, and must, rise above our fallen human nature. Saint Paul very clearly echoes this very theme when he states that sin entered the world through Adam and through Jesus Christ, we are redeemed from sin and called to share in the participation of eternal life with Him. Lent is a reminder to be fully alive, living in the fullness of grace. When Jesus entered the desert and wasteland for those forty days, He did so with the support and love of His Father. Satan, always tempting, comes to Jesus when the moment seems most ideal, when his weakness, hunger and thirst are deeply compelling. Only then does Satan make the same offer to Jesus that was made to Adam. Unlike Adam, Our Lord will follow the divine plan. Unlike Adam, our Lord will not forsake nor despair. No false god or fallen angel will be worshipped. God alone is victorious and He is the author of life itself. Our Lord’s great statement to “Get away, Satan!” is our rally and call to follow as we begin Lent. Get away from sin! Get away from division! Get away from lying! Follow the Lord into Lent this year. Walk with Him and know that your journey is not one that is made alone.

God of goodness and mercy, hear my prayer as I begin this Lenten journey with you. Let me be honest with myself as I look into my heart and soul, noticing the times I turn away from you. Guide me as I humbly seek to repent and return to your love.

The First Sunday of Lent

Gospel Reading

Matthew 4: 1-11

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” He said in reply, “It is written: ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you’ and ‘with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.’” Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, “All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.” At this, Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan! It is written: ‘The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.’” Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.

First Sunday Gospel Reflection

By Ryan Fannon

The Gospel begins with, "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry ” It invokes many thoughts of all the temptations that exist in our world today and how only with God by our side can we choose the right path.

God provides us many gifts in our lifetime, but the gift of free will is one of the greatest gifts of them all, yet one of our most challenging. How often do we come to a fork in the road with a tough decision and ask ourselves what the right thing is to do. As Jesus was tempted by the devil in the desert, we are tempted every day of our lives to make the right decision or the wrong decision. Often, we might not even know what the right or wrong decision is.

Something happens to us when we stop at these tough decisions in our daily lives and simply ask God to guide us to make the right decision. Not the earthly decision our human mind makes in these circumstances on our own without asking for God's guidance, for it never will be enough. It's the freedom and the free will of letting go and knowing that God is in charge, not us. When we accept that and embrace that reality of our Catholic faith, our daily decisions and choosing between right and wrong often find a true clarity and provide us an inner peace that only God can give.

God gives us the ability and gift of our free will to make hard decisions by simply stopping and asking, "What would Jesus do in this moment?" If we can say that before we make important decisions, and even if our decision appears to have been wrong by the earthly outcome, it will always be the right decision because we made it through God's help.

We all have made and will make many more mistakes in our lifetime because that is reality, and we are human beings. But if we put our faith in God every day to lead us down the path he has chosen for us with strength and conviction, the positive impact we can make in our lives and for others has no limits.

Because one day, when all of us go before the Lord on our Judgment Day, we hope and pray the words of God for us will be, "Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

For all this and more, we pray and thank you Lord for the guidance to all be able to say one day as 2 Timothy 4:7 reads, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Please God, guide us all home to You. Amen.

The Second Sunday of Lent Opening Reflection

By Stephen Crooker

The reading this Sunday from the Book of Genesis considers the amazing call of Abram: a call to radical change, to leave everything he knew and go to another place that God would show him. God promised that Abram would be a blessing to those with whom he came into contact.

Psalm 121 promises that God will be with us day and night. In the Letter to the Romans, Saint Paul encourages us to see that God blesses us as we work, and even if we are doing nothing, because we believe in God’s transforming love that creates and recreates and makes possible what we may think impossible.

The Gospel reading traditionally for the second Sunday of Lent is the Transfiguration. Our Lord took Peter, James, and John up to a mountain, and before their very own eyes they saw his Divinity. They saw His connection to the past, the present with them, and His future mission. They were stunned and afraid and didn’t know what to think or do. However, Jesus reassured them and asked them not to speak of it until later. For a moment, the humanity of Our Lord is lifted to show His full divinity.

As we continue to journey forward during this season of Lent, let us also be a witness to others of the saving power of Jesus Christ in our lives. Let us also ponder this question: Do we believe as Abram did that God is blessing others through us, day, and night?

Loving God, there is so much darkness in my life and I hide from you. Take my hand and lead me out of the shadows of my fear. Help me to change my heart. Bring me to your truth and help me to respond to your generous love. Let me recognize the fullness of your love which will fill my life.

Free me from the darkness in my heart.

The Second Sunday of Lent

Gospel Reading

Matthew 17: 1-9

After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents* here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate and were very much afraid. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and do not be afraid.” And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone. The Coming of Elijah. As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, “Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

Second Sunday Gospel Reflection

By Rebecca Vaccaro

I don’t know if it makes sense to have favorite Apostles (shouldn’t they all be our favorites?), but Peter is in my top three (Thomas and “the other Judas” round out the group). Why? In part because that poor guy never seemed to get much right. Just in chapter 16 of Matthew’s gospel alone, the chapter before the reading for this week, we see the Apostles (Peter chief among them) wrestling with what Jesus is trying to tell them regarding the Pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus warns them by saying, “Look out, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Mt 16:6). They conclude, “It is because we have brought no bread” (Mt 16:7), which prompts Jesus’s rebuke, “Ye of little faith” (Mt 16:8). Later, when Jesus is talking with them about His suffering and death, Peter reacts with horror: “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you,” to which Jesus responds, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me” (Mt 16: 22-23).

Certainly, Peter isn’t at his finest during the Lord’s Passion. When the temple guards come for Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter does what many of us would probably do if someone was threatening our best friend; he pulls his sword and attacks, cutting off Machus’s ear (John 18:10). Result: “Put your sword into its scabbard. Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave me?” (Jn 18:11). And we all know about the denial (Mt 26:69-75).

Despite these miscues, errors, and failings, Jesus persists in choosing Peter. Peter is the rock “and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it” (Mt. 16:18). He merits witnessing the Transfiguration, glimpsing Moses and Elijah, and hearing the Father affirm Jesus’s status as His Son (Mt. 17:2-3, 5). But why? Perhaps a look at the rest of the readings for the Second Sunday in Lent can help clarify what Jesus seemed to see as the defining characteristics of Peter.

Peter, like Abram, “went as the Lord directed him” (Gn 12:4). His recognition of Jesus as Lord and his faith in that truth, led him to abandon his father and his profession to follow Jesus. By giving up his life to follow the Lord, Peter led a life of faith and thus fulfilled God’s promise that “all the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you” (Gn 12:3).

Peter was also a man of hope. He frequently made bad decisions. And yet his continued faith contextualizes those mistakes. Every failing Peter displayed is followed by a moment of repentance. One can very easily imagine him begging the Lord’s forgiveness in the words of the Psalmist: “May your kindness, O LORD, be upon [me] who [has] put [my] hope in you” (Ps 33:22). And this humility is what ultimately allowed Peter to find the hope and courage to “bear [his] share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God” (2 Tm 1:8).

Peter shows all of us that it isn’t about how many mistakes we make, how often we make them, or even how egregious any of them are. It’s about believing in the reality of God, hoping for the salvation He promises, and working toward that salvation every day. Even if we fail sometimes.

St. Peter, pray for us.

Excerpt from “The Deluge” – G.K. Chesterton

Though giant rains put out the sun, Here stand I for a sign.

Though earth be filled with waters dark, My cup is filled with wine.

Tell to the trembling priests that here

Under the deluge rod, One nameless, tattered, broken man Stood up, and drank to God.

The Third Sunday of Lent Opening Reflection

By Father Noah Morey

A quick internet search reveals that 70% of the earth is water-covered, while up to 60% of the human body is made of water. The power of water is frightening, yet water is necessary for life and health. In the arid regions where the Scriptures were written, and especially in an agricultural society, access to water was a matter of life and death. How fitting that today’s readings focus our attention on the living water that God provides. The Chosen People had miraculously crossed dry-shod through the Red Sea, having left slavery in Egypt. But amid their wanderings in the desert, they had lost hope in God’s power to save them from evil and make good on his promises.

Spiritually, the waters of baptism bring supernatural regeneration in souls. We enter the waters of baptism, a symbol of death, and we rise up to newness of life. Baptism washes us from slavery to sin, making us heirs to the promised land of heaven. Created in the image and likeness of God, through our baptism we are recreated in the image of the Son of God. Interestingly, Jesus is the one here who asks for a drink. He thirsts for the Samaritan woman’s love; He wants to be the bridegroom of her soul because her five previous husbands could not satisfy her desires. The water Jesus provides satisfies all our desires because it leads us to eternal life.

From the cross, Jesus said, “I thirst.” Granted, Our Lord was physically thirsty because he had had nothing to eat or drink since the Last Supper about 18 hours earlier, and He had lost a great quantity of blood, which only increased His need for water. But on a deeper level, Jesus was thirsting for our love, just as in today’s reading. To paraphrase Saint Augustine: “Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him” (CCC, 2560). Baptism gives us ample reason to hope in God for eternal life, for “hope does not disappoint, because the love of G od has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Let us rejoice in the marvels that God does for us daily, specifically for adopting us as His beloved sons and daughters through baptism.

O God, thank you for making water a symbol of health and new life. Thank you for taking care of our every need, and for sending your Son, Jesus Christ, to sanctify all the waters of the world through His baptism. May we live always as your very dear children, ever aware of your power to transform us anew. Amen.

The Third Sunday of Lent

Gospel Reading

John 4: 5-42

So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” [The woman] said to him, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the well is deep; where then can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” Jesus said to her, “Go call your husband and come back.” The woman answered and said to him, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus answered her, “You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’ For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Anointed; when he comes, he will tell us everything.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking with you.” At that moment his disciples returned, and were amazed that he was talking with a woman, but still no one said, “What are you looking for?” or “Why are you talking with her?” The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people, “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Messiah?” They went out of the town and came to him. Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” So the disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’? I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest. The reaper is already receiving his payment and gathering crops for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together. For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of their work.” Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me everything I have done.” When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. Many more began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”

Third Sunday Gospel Reflection

By Mary Briody

Woman, words and water are the dominant images in this passage. The Samarian woman is seemingly filling her jug, an ordinary task, with great love (St. Jane de Chantal would be proud) when a Jew (Jesus) “dares” to ask her for some water. Suddenly, this typically routine activity becomes a turning point, a defining moment in her life. Both bravely cross the social customs of Jesus's day and rise above to engage with each other’s spiritual beings. Like most women, she is part of a large community and soon enough this moment has a ripple effect through the community because she spreads the “good word” about Jesus, the Jew. The word on the Samarian streets was that you can’t trust a Jew. Yet this woman did. The words Jesus had heard about her – “you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband” might be gossip in any other sense, but in this non-judgmental way that Jesus says it to her, it helps to seal his credibility with her. Kind words can make your day and harsh words can linger in your head for days and unfortunately sometimes years. It used to be said that “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” That does not ring as true today perhaps in part due to words being saved in perpetuity in an email, text, social media post, etc. It’s harder to let them pass. The point is driven home, though, that words are only part of the story. Actions need to follow for us to truly believe as the Samaritans said: “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.” Words pave the way and actions seal the deal. Finally, in this passage we have the image of water rushing over the community and spreading the good word. “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” I love this imagery of the “living water” springing us up to eternal life in contrast to the deep abyss of the well. We just have to believe and keep ourselves “spiritually hydrated.”

Dear God, Help me to recognize opportunities amidst everyday life to rise above no matter how uncomfortable and grant me the courage to live up to your spiritual expectations of me. Help me to choose my words carefully and communicate positive thoughts whenever possible. Help me to drink this “living water” through prayer and good deeds to give me the “spiritual adrenaline” and inner joy to get through almost anything in life and help others to do the same. Amen.

The Fourth Sunday of Lent Opening Reflection #1

By Stephen Crooker

As we grow closer to Holy Week and Easter celebrations, Lent’s penitential purple vestments are replaced this Sunday to rose, a lighter version of violet. While our Scripture texts still clearly remind us of our sinfulness and need of grace, they also bid us to rejoice, because God in His immeasurable mercy loves us “even when we were dead in our transgressions.”

Laetare means “rejoice” in the Latin text. On Laetare Sunday (as similarly with the Third Sunday of Advent’s Gaudete Sunday) the Church expresses hope and joy during our Lenten fasts and penances. The change in color to rose indicates a glimpse of the joy that awaits us at Easter, just before we enter the somber days of Passiontide.

Laetare Sunday is the Church’s way of giving us a final and wonderful Lenten reminder as we approach the darkness of the days into Good Friday and Holy Saturday. It’s an opportunity to savor and keep in the back of our minds what awaits us on Easter Sunday the reality that Jesus Christ is truly risen from the dead, and that our hearts will always be filled with joy!

Lent is a somber, penitential season. It is difficult to spend forty days concentrating on our sinfulness. As we examine our consciences, it is sad and humbling to count the number of sins that we have committed. The process can be demoralizing. Laetare Sunday is a bright and happy occasion, a one-day breather, not dwelling so much upon our sinfulness but upon the joyful promise of God’s mercy.

The readings today show us the Prophet Samuel being sent to find the next King of Israel. It was a dark time for the Chosen People. Sin and division were evident. King Saul was leading the nation to slow ruin. Samuel heeded the call of the Lord and went to the home of Jesse, finding the youthful David, anointed and declared the next King of Israel. It took time for these events to unfold.

Saint Paul reminds the Ephesians they have lived in darkness and sin. No longer. They are now called and invited to live as “children of light” to be examples to others of the grace of Jesus Christ. These events take time. Sin is not abandoned immediately for many, Ephesians included.

The Gospel for Laetare Sunday is a masterwork in the Gospel of John. The man born blind has no identified name. He literally lives in darkness. After many years and into adulthood, the blind man encounters Jesus Christ. He begs to survive day to day. In the Book of Genesis, God creates man from the dust of the earth. Our Lord does the very same to restore the blind man to sight. Jesus works in and through creation. Adding to the restored sight, Jesus also speaks to those who can “see” in the Pharisees. They have eyesight, yet they do not see Jesus and His divinity. The man born blind cannot see, but clearly identifies Jesus as Lord and Savior! Nothing here happened immediately. Sight was restored to the man in adulthood, well into his life.

Laetare Sunday is about rejoicing. It is also about waiting for Easter, for redemption, for liberation from sin. Come Lord Jesus!

Loving Creator, I feel the pace quicken, the time draw near. I am filled with joy as I move toward Easter and the promised reconciliation with you. Teach me to follow the example of your Son, to be worthy of being called one his people: a Christian.

Help me to live each day as he did turning hatred to love and conflict to peace. I await the new life with eagerness, faith and a deep gratitude.

Opening Reflection #2

By Father Noah Morey

Today we celebrate Laetare Sunday, the Latin word for “rejoice”, which comes from our entrance antiphon: “Rejoice, Jerusalem . . . be joyful, all who were in mourning.” We rejoice today because Lent is more than half over, and the Lord’s resurrection is drawing very near. The rose vestments are a symbol of joy and hope, right in the middle of a penitential season. Christian joy is compatible with mortification and sacrifice, because joy is the opposite of sorrow, not of penance. Our Lenten penances don’t make interior joy impossible. Rather, they should increase our joy, because our redemption is near at hand.

Our readings today present the themes of light and darkness, of sight and blindness. Blindness is an image for our sinful condition, and we, like the blind man, were born in sin Original Sin. But by God’s free gift, we’ve been enlightened by Christ through baptism. In a few short phrases of our 2nd reading, St. Paul sums up our past, present, and future. He said, “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of the light.”

By using material things (spit, mud, water), Jesus shows us that He truly became man in the Incarnation. And today, He continues to use outward signs to convey his inward grace through the sacraments. Baptism is prefigured in this gospel passage, where the man’s physical blindness is cured in the pool of water. In baptism, we see only the element of water, but Jesus takes away sin through this water, just as He actually restored the man’s physical sight through the waters of Siloam. But the greater miracle is not the restoration of physical sight; the man, in his poverty and simplicity, has come from spiritual blindness to the light of faith. He can now see Jesus with his physical eyes, but he professes faith in what he can’t see the divinity of Christ. The same happens in the Eucharist.

The Fourth Sunday of Lent

Gospel Reading

John 9: 1-41

As he passed by he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him. We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes, and said to him, “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed, and came back able to see. His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is,” but others said, “No, he just looks like him.” He said, “I am.” So they said to him, “[So] how were your eyes opened?” He replied, “The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went there and washed and was able to see.” And they said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.” They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees. Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a sabbath. So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.” So some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the sabbath.” [But] others said, “How can a sinful man do such signs?” And there was a division among t hem. So they said to the blind man again, “What do you have to say about him, since he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” Now the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and gained his sight until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight. They asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How does he now see?” His parents answered and said, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. We do not know how he sees now, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is of age; he can speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged him as the Messiah, he would be expelled from the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; question him.” So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give God the praise! We know that this man is a sinner.” He replied, “If he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.” So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” They ridiculed him and said, “You are that man’s disciple; we are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this one is from.” The man answered and said to them, “This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him. It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything.” They answered and said to him, “You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us?” Then they threw him out. When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered and said, “Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him and the one speaking with you is he.” He said, “I do believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him. Then Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.” Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not also blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.

Fourth Sunday Gospel Reflection

By Lonnell Battle

This story depicts Jesus performing a miracle as he restores sight to the blind man who had been blind since birth. What is interesting is the blind man can “see” the truth of who Jesus is, whereas the Pharisees who have physical sight are blind to the truth that Jesus is the Light of the world. They are in denial of the truth and refuse to see it. Jesus heals the blind man by smearing clay on his eyes and sending him to the Pool of Siloam to wash it off. This use of water is like a baptismal cleansing of the man to open his eyes to see God’s truth. The Pharisees go so far as to say that the man who can now see is not the blind man, he only looks like him, to deny the truth of who Jesus is and of the miracle performed by Him.

Basically, the blind man “saw” the truth of who Jesus was and told the others, “If this man were not from God,” he would not be able to open his eyes to see, whereas the Pharisees denied, made excuses, and chose not to “see” who Jesus was and what he had done, even though some questioned their logic. This leads me to ask myself: What do I need to do to improve my spiritual vision? When do I see the truth, and when am I blind to the truth that is right in front of me?

Saint Anthony, Restorer of Sight to the Blind

“Dear St. Anthony, you recall the Gospel episode about the blind man who, partly healed, could see men ‘looking like walking trees.’ After a second laying-on of Jesus's hands, he could see perfectly. St. Anthony, Restorer of Sight to the Blind, please sharpen my spiritual vision. May I see people, not as trees or numbers, but as sons and daughters of the Most High. Help me in my pressing needs.”

The Fifth Sunday of Lent Opening Reflection

By Father Noah Morey

As we draw near to the celebration of Easter, the raising of Lazarus foreshadows Jesus’ greatest miracle of all Our Lord’s own resurrection. For if Jesus can call a dead man back to life after four days, then He certainly can raise up His own body on the third day. Nothing can stay dead in the presence of Jesus because He is the resurrection and the life. Just as the Lord says through Ezekiel in the first reading: “O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them.” Christ’s resurrection is categorically different from that of Lazarus because Our Lord rose to a glorified and perfected existence, not simply a return to ordinary mortal life. Jesus promises us eternal life, free from pain, arthritis, financial loss, death, and other tragedies. As Saint Paul wrote, “The one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit dwelling in you.”

We can learn from the Scriptures by putting ourselves into the scene. Jesus’ love for us, as for Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, is present and real. However, He sometimes tests our faith as He did theirs. Jesus knew that Lazarus was dead, yet He remained out of sight for two full days! All of us can point to some concrete tragedy from our own lives, perhaps the death of a family member or some other hardship. In that moment, we might paraphrase Martha and Mary’s cry: “Lord, if you had been here, then I wouldn’t be facing this challenge…” But then we look to Jesus, who shared in our suffering and death. Thus, God knows what’s best for us, even if we don’t understand in the moment. He can use even suffering and death for His purposes, although their place in His plan might remain hidden from us. Jesus said of Lazarus: “This illness is not to end in death but is for the glory of God.” How often do we call out to God to heal our pain or sadness, only to find that He seems absent or aloof? Quite the contrary: Jesus is very near to us, completely aware of the truth of the situation. He is in full control of our lives and right there with us in our weakness, ready to raise us up from any challenge or difficulty.

Lord Jesus, come to us with the power of your resurrection. Make us long for the eternal life you promise more than for material things, for with you is the fullness of life. Let your face shine upon us and we shall be saved. Amen.

The Fifth Sunday of Lent

Gospel Reading

John 11: 1-45

Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was ill. So the sisters sent word to him, saying, “Master, the one you love is ill.” When Jesus heard this he said, “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard t hat he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was. Then after this he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in a day? If one walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” He said this, and then told them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him.” So the disciples said to him, “Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved.” But Jesus was talking about his death, while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep. So then Jesus said to them clearly, “Lazarus has died. And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe. Let us go to him.” So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go to die with him.” When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. [But] even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, “The teacher is here and is asking for you.”29As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to him.30For Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still where Martha had met him. So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her saw Mary get up quickly and go out, they followed her, presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Sir, come and see.” And Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.” But some of them said, “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?” So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” And when he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.” Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him.

Fifth Sunday Gospel Reflection

By Kathleen McNutt

The raising of Lazarus from the dead gospel reading was incredibly impactful to me as a child, and as I have grown, my reflections have taken focus beyond the miraculous rising to two other significant happenings with that event in the life of Jesus:

The first reflection is on Martha’s greeting of Jesus. Although Jesus had been called to come prior to Lazarus’ death, Jesus didn’t arrive in time, and Martha was obviously distraught. Her words “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” were strong. I can imagine myself saying something similar, but much more along the lines of, “What took you so long?!” In our humanity, our impatience often steps forward, and our desire to control becomes paramount. How many times have we questioned God and told Him what we think should have happened or what He should have done, particularly when dealing with illness and those we love? Yet Martha, in her wisdom and understanding of Jesus, relinquished trying to control the outcome and trusted in Christ, saying, “[But] even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Even in tragedy, God is with us and working through us always. How difficult and yet how freeing it is to have faith and trust in our Lord.

The second reflection is on Jesus’ reaction to hearing that Lazarus had died. “And Jesus wept.” The mystery of Christ, true God and true man, is seen beautifully in this one phrase. How much God loves each one of us and how deeply He wants to connect with us. He experienced love and pain as a man, and He shares His grace through each connection He makes with us now. How comforting it is to know that our Lord felt the depths of human pain and sadness, and to know that He is still with us now in our grief, joy, sadness, and more.

As we continue our Lenten journey, let us remember to trust Jesus and remember that He is always with us.

Palm Sunday Opening Reflection

By Rory O’Donnell

In the first reading, we see Isaiah anticipate the fruits of the Holy Spirit. He mentions a “well-trained tongue” and opened ears. These dispositions enable a certain docility that allows for vulnerability and suffering. It is only through the Cross, the tantamount paradoxical expression of suffering and joy, that Christ will make available to us the outpouring of his Holy Spirit. And what are these gifts for? They are given in order that we might become like Christ himself who loves and gives unconditionally. Thus, after having a well-trained tongue and opened ears, the Suffering Servant prophesizes “I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting.” While we may marvel at the Suffering Servant prophecy and how closely it details Christ’s passion centuries before it occurred, as Christians we should also see in this portrait of Christ a model for us to imitate. We are called to do marvelous things according to the gifts we receive, but ultimately, to love and to do so by offering a love that is divine, i.e., a love that has God as its source.

Reflect: What ability has God given to me as a supernatural gift? How does this ability draw others closer to him so that I disappear? If my responsibility is connect other to the divine life, energy, and love, all that others should encounter is that very love that brought me into being.

Matthew 26:14 – 27:66

Then one of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The teacher says, “My appointed time draws near; in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”’” The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered, and prepared the Passover.

When it was evening, he reclined at table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, “Surely it is not I, Lord?” He said in reply, “He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me. The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.” Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” He answered, “You have said so.”

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, from now on I shall not drink this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it with you new in the kingdom of my Father.” Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Then Jesus said to them, “This night all of you will have your faith in me shaken,* for it is written:

‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be dispersed’; but after I have been raised up, I shall go before you to Galilee.” Peter said to him in reply, “Though all may have their faith in you shaken, mine will never be.” Jesus said to him, “Amen, I say to you, this very night before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” Peter said to him, “Even though I should have to die with you, I will not deny you.” And all the disciples spoke likewise.

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to feel sorrow and distress. Then he said to them, “My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch with me.” He advanced a little and fell prostrate in prayer, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will.” When he returned to his disciples he found them asleep. He said to Peter, “So you could not keep watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Withdrawing a second time, he prayed again, “My Father, if it is not possible that this cup pass without my drinking it, your will be done!” Then he returned once more and found them asleep, for they could not keep their eyes open. He left them and withdrew again and prayed a third time, saying the same thing again. Then he returned to his disciples

and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand when the Son of Man is to be handed over to sinners. Get up, let us go. Look, my betrayer is at hand.”

The Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus. While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived, accompanied by a large crowd, with swords and clubs, who had come from the chief priests and the elders of the people. His betrayer had arranged a sign with them, saying, “The man I shall kiss is the one; arrest him.” Immediately he went over to Jesus and said, “Hail, Rabbi!”* and he kissed him. Jesus answered him, “Friend, do what you have come for.” Then stepping forward they laid hands on Jesus and arrested him. And behold, one of those who accompanied Jesus put his hand to his sword, drew it, and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its sheath, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot call upon my Father and he will not provide me at this moment with more than twelve legions of angels? But then how would the scriptures be fulfilled which say that it must come to pass in this way?” At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to seize me? Day after day I sat teaching in the temple area, yet you did not arrest me. But all this has come to pass that the writings of the prophets may be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.

Those who had arrested Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. Peter was following him at a distance as far as the high priest’s courtyard, and going inside he sat down with the servants to see the outcome. The chief priests and the entire Sanhedrin kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus in order to put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward who stated, “This man said, ‘I can destroy the temple of God and within three days rebuild it.’” The high priest rose and addressed him, “Have you no answer? What are these men testifying against you?” But Jesus was silent. Then the high priest said to him, “I order you to tell us under oath before the living God whether you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “You have said so. But I tell you: From now on you will see ‘the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power’ and ‘coming on the clouds of heaven.’”

Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! What further need have we of witnesses? You have now heard the blasphemy; what is your opinion?” They said in reply, “He deserves to die!” Then they spat in his face and struck him, while some slapped him, saying, “Prophesy for us, Messiah: who is it that struck you?”

Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. One of the maids came over to him and said, “You too were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it in front of everyone, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about!” As he went out to the gate, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, “This man was with Jesus the Nazorean.” Again he denied it with an oath, “I do not know the man!” A little later the bystanders came over and said to Peter, “Surely you too are one of them; even your speech gives you away.” At that he began to curse and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately a cock crowed. Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken: “Before the cock crows you will deny me three times.” He went out and began to weep bitterly.

When it was morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.

Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that Jesus had been condemned, deeply regretted what he had done. He returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned in betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? Look to it yourself.” Flinging the money into the temple, he departed and went off and hanged himself. The chief priests gathered up the money, but said, “It is not lawful to deposit this in the temple treasury, for it is the price of blood.” After consultation, they used it to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. That is why that field even today is called the Field of Blood. Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of a man with a price on his head, a price set by some of the Israelites, and they paid it out for the potter’s field just as the Lord had commanded me.”

Now Jesus stood before the governor, and he questioned him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You say so.” And when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he made no answer. Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they are testifying against you?” But he did not answer him one word, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

Now on the occasion of the feast the governor was accustomed to release to the crowd one prisoner whom they wished. And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called [Jesus] Barabbas. So when they had assembled, Pilate said to them, “Which one do you want me to release to you, [Jesus] Barabbas, or Jesus called Messiah?” For he knew that it was out of envy that they had handed him over. While he was still seated on the bench, his wife sent him a message, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man. I suffered much in a dream today because of him.” The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas but to destroy Jesus. The governor said to them in reply, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” They answered, “Barabbas!” Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus called Messiah?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” But he said, “Why? What evil has he done?”

They only shouted the louder, “Let him be crucified!” When Pilate saw that he was not succeeding at all, but that a riot was breaking out instead, he took water and washed his hands in the sight of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. Look to it yourselves.”

And the whole people said in reply, “His blood be upon us and upon our children.” Then he released Barabbas to them, but after he had Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified.

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus inside the praetorium and gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped off his clothes and threw a scarlet military cloak about him. Weaving a crown out of thorns, they placed it on his head, and a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat upon him and took the reed and kept striking him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him off to crucify him.

As they were going out, they met a Cyrenian named Simon; this man they pressed into service to carry his cross.

And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of the Skull), they gave Jesus wine to drink mixed with gall. But when he had tasted it, he refused to drink. After they had crucified him, they divided his garments by casting lots; then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And they placed over his head the written charge against him: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Two

revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and the other on his left. Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, if you are the Son of God, [and] come down from the cross!” Likewise the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him and said, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. So he is the king of Israel! Let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now if he wants him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” The revolutionaries who were crucified with him also kept abusing him in the same way.

From noon onward, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”* which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Some of the bystanders who heard it said, “This one is calling for Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran to get a sponge; he soaked it in wine, and putting it on a reed, gave it to him to drink. But the rest said, “Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to save him.” But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, rocks were split, tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming forth from their tombs after his resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many. The centurion and the men with him who were keeping watch over Jesus feared greatly when they saw the earthquake and all that was happening, and they said, “Truly, this was the Son of God!” There were many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him. Among them were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who was himself a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be handed over. Taking the body, Joseph wrapped it [in] clean linen and laid it in his new tomb that he had hewn in the rock. Then he rolled a huge stone across the entrance to the tomb and departed. But Mary Magdalene and the other Mary remained sitting there, facing the tomb.

The next day, the one following the day of preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember that this impostor while still alive said, ‘After three days I will be raised up.’ Give orders, then, that the grave be secured until the third day, lest his disciples come and steal him and say to the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead.’ This last imposture would be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “The guard is yours; go secure it as best you can.” So they went and secured the tomb by fixing a seal to the stone and setting the guard.

Palm Sunday Gospel Reflection

By Paige Johnson

The Gospel for Palm Sunday begins with Judas asking the Chief Priests, “Hey, what’ll you give me if I hand this Jesus guy over to you to be killed?” It can’t really get much worse than that: Judas is the original bad guy, managing to commit nearly every grave sin at once by betraying God himself. He’s been part of a very close-knit group of friends who have loved, served, and followed the same teacher, and right when the going gets tough, he betrays all of them for some coins. The writer/reader in me wants to know more about why; was it born more of fear or greed? Was it pure self-preservation, or did he actually decide Jesus was not who He said He was? Or: did he just really need the money?

Then of course Peter betrays Jesus, too, and Jesus is taken away to be tortured and crucified.

But the thing that stands out to me in this whole Gospel is that Last Supper, when Jesus says This IS my body, and This IS my blood. These are the lines that made me explore Catholicism at age twenty and eventually decide to break my Presbyterian parents’ hearts and become Catholic– I studied the Hebrew and Greek and Latin translations of those words and discovered that he did not say “This represents my body”, or “Hey, friends, pretend this is my body…” He said “Is,” and meant “Is.” Which meant I had to change my religion.

Reading this Gospel now, I see that even though it seems to be about betrayal and torture and heartbreak and death, it really isn’t. It’s about gifts and hope and forgiveness and life and a father saying, “I’m leaving you with this gift so you don’t miss me too much, you knuckleheads.” You just have to know the story ahead of time and read it with that in mind.

Lord, give us the strength to trust you, and to joyfully look for clues as we wait for the end of the story.

Holy Thursday

First Reading

Exodus 12: 1-8, 11-14

“The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month will stand at the head of your calendar; you will reckon it the first month of the year. Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every family must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household. If a household is too small for a lamb, it along with its nearest neighbor will procure one, and apportion the lamb’s cost in proportion to the number of persons, according to what each household consumes. Your lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats. You will keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole community of Israel assembled, it will be slaughtered during the evening twilight. They will take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They will consume its meat that same night, eating it roasted with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you will eat it in a hurry. It is the LORD’s Passover. For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every firstborn in the land, human being and beast alike, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt I, the LORD! But for you the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thereby, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you. This day will be a day of remembrance for you, which your future generations will celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD; you will celebrate it as a statute forever.”

Reflection

By Grattan Brown

Holy Thursday begins in busy-ness and ends waiting in silence.

On this day, the first scripture reading recalls the first Passover. Through Moses and Aaron, God commanded his people to sacrifice their most valuable lambs. Then put blood on the doorposts. Then prepare the Passover meal and eat it following all the rules. And then wait… for God to liberate them from slavery.

On this day, Jesus’s disciples prepared the Passover, celebrated together, heard Jesus’s final teaching, and watched him wash their feet. They followed him to the Garden of Gethsemane, saw him betrayed and arrested, tried to defend him, and fled. Where did they go? Into the silence of hiding. Only Peter tried to follow. His courage failed, and he ended up in tears.

Today, Catholics throughout the world prepare the Holy Thursday Mass and the Triduum. Decorate the altars, prepare the homilies, practice the music, … Then the Holy Thursday Mass unfolds with the rite everyone remembers: the washing of the feet. Then after the Eucharist, the stripping of the altars and procession out of the churches to the altars of repose. The silence of empty churches.

But also, the silence of prayer. Beautiful altars of repose become places to wait in prayer. It is the way God draws us out of our places of hiding and into communion.

Holy Thursday

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 116: 12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18

How can I repay the LORD for all the great good done for me? I will raise the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD. Dear in the eyes of the LORD is the death of his devoted. LORD, I am your servant, your servant, the child of your maidservant; you have loosed my bonds. I will offer a sacrifice of praise and call on the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.

Reflection #1

By Jessica Conner

I am the mother of a four-year-old. As the experience of motherhood is a new, beautiful, and ever-changing thing for me, it is from the perspective of a mother that I often view the world. Psalms 116 evokes the mother in me.

The Psalmist considers the blessings of life and practicing gratitude. I live a beautiful life full of blessings and make a point to regularly consider all of God’s gifts. When praying with my son at night I am modeling prayer; I am helping to develop his relationship with God. I want him to have conversations with God, and a great place to start is in thanks. Our prayers go something like, “God, thank you for all your blessings today, I am thankful for _________.” Our gratitude ranges from beautiful weather and a visit to the park, to Legos and trucks; which I then extend to opportunities and a prayer for the less fortunate.

The Psalmist of 116 then continues to remind us of God’s love, how our death is important and Dear to Him. Dear because He loves us. God’s love is UNCONDITIONAL. As a parent, this is the kind of love I want my child to know. I want my child to know that no matter what, in any situation, in happiness and sadness, during times of excitement and disappointment, anytime, anywhere - I love him always. God’s love is the same. We work to accept that love, return that love, and strive to be worthy of His love. I never want my son to question my love or to think there are stipulations on it. Much like the deep love God has for us, my love for my son just - is. As recipients of God’s amazing love, we must give praise and thanks.

Dear Lord, the beauty of your great works and blessings are everywhere. For the beautiful morning sunrise, the shining night stars, and all the opportunities presented throughout the glorious day, I offer my thanks and praise. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Reflection #2

By Chris Gilliland

As I read the Psalm and reflect on what it means to me, I asked myself how do I repay the Lord for all the great good done for me? I feel there are times where we can recite specific passages or full chapters but often do not look at the literal meaning of what has been written. I know I am guilty of that from time to time and force myself to focus on small pieces of the text to grasp the concept or larger meaning.

If we go through the motions and do not reflect on the sacrifice that Jesus made for each of us, we’ll continue to get very little out of our relationship with our master craftsman. In an era where social media and instant gratification reigns supreme, it is sometimes difficult to focus on what is vitally important to our well-being on Earth and the eternity we hope to spend in Heaven.

What we can be excited about is the love that God has for us is everlasting and we can always trust that He will never put too much on our plate. When we are feeling overwhelmed or stuck in a rut, turning everything over to Him and loosening our anxiety will result in peace.

O God, thank you for giving us your very self and everything else as well. As we reflect upon your gifts with gratitude, help us to make a fitting return to you each day, always keeping our attention on the eternal life of heaven to which you call us. Amen.

Holy Thursday

Second Reading

1 Corinthians 11: 23-26

For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

Reflection #1

By Molly McGraw

As a child, I was a creature of habit in all facets of my life, especially when it came to prayer. Every Sunday, after receiving the Eucharist, I’d walk back to my seat and fall into my routine: pray for each member of my family and the challenges they were facing that week, pray for each of my friends and thank God for their many qualities that made my life brighter, and pray for my classmates who offered up prayer requests that week.

Then, I’d ask for signs from God signs of His existence, His love for me, His presence in my life. On some days, I’d take the sunbeams illuminating the nave as a sign, and on others, I’d open to a random page in the missal, read the passage my finger landed on, and take it as a sign of what God most needed me to hear that day.

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, there are key moments when Christ gives his followers instructions pray this prayer, follow these precepts, love each other in this way. One such moment is during the Last Supper when Christ gives us a clear directive: break bread and drink of this cup “in remembrance” of His ultimate sacrifice for us.

Like the habitual nature of my prayer life, the Liturgy of the Eucharist, at times, can feel like any other routine monotonous and repetitive. But what I didn’t realize when I was nine and what I often forget even today, is that the Eucharist is the greatest sign of God’s steadfast presence in my life. Every Sunday (and on weekdays when I get myself up and ready on time), the bread and wine transforms into the Body and Blood of Christ before my eyes. What a gift far greater than any sunbeam shining through the stained glass.

Dear Lord, today, in a special way, we thank you for the many ways that you reveal yourself to us. Thank you for the people who point us toward you, the events that push us closer to you, and the signs of your love that bring us back to you.

Reflection #2

By Meredith Tombs

I find that it’s often easier to make progress when I know where I am going. I’m able to be more confident in reaching my goals when I have some guidance on how to get there. To be honest, I like a set of rules, regulations, or a road map, because then I know what is expected. I still appreciate a good amount of adventure and creativity, of course, but it’s helpful to know when I’m on the right path.

Well, here it is. We’ve been given guidance on how to live our lives for the Lord - from the Lord. When we partake of his sacrifice, we are renewed on our faith and life journey. When we share in Communion, we proclaim the truth for others. When we listen to the Lord, we can live for the Lord.

Today, we remember the Institution of the Eucharist. Jesus’ sacrifice of the bread and wine this evening foreshadows his corporal sacrifice coming the next day. This is the guidance he left for his disciples and for us.

Heavenly Father - help us to hear your word and to live it with wisdom. We reflect humbly on your sacrifice and ask for the courage to live the lives that you have called us to. With gratitude and hope, we pray - Amen.

Holy Thursday

Gospel Reading

John 13: 1-15

Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.” Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all.” For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.” So when he had washed their feet [and] put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.

Reflection

By Nicole DiLorenzo

In the Gospel, Jesus has come to the realization that He will soon meet His Father in Heaven. One of Jesus’s last actions was to wash the feet of His disciples with water and a towel. He brings himself to the feet of His disciples, showing His humility as servant. Jesus takes on the role as a servant demonstrating love for His disciples without expecting anything in return.

As educators, we are called to serve our students with compassion and love without expecting anything in return. In our jobs, we do not always receive the return for the work we put into preparing, teaching, coaching, counseling our students. By nature, it makes us feel good when our work is recognized. When we are not recognized, we often feel unappreciated; however, we need to rise above those feelings. While we may not get credit for the work we do, God is watching, and He knows the good you are doing and He appreciates the kindness and gentleness you exhibit to those around you. Ultimately, we are called to do God’s work with humility and honor and without complaint. If we live a life of serving others, then our final reward will earn eternal life in Heaven.

O Lord Jesus, in order that the merits of your sacrifice on the Cross might be applied to every soul of all time, you willed that it should be renewed upon the altar. At the Last Supper, you said:

"Do this in remembrance of me."

By these words you gave your apostles and their successors the power to consecrate and to the command to do what you yourself did.

I believe that the Mass is both a sacrifice and a memorial- reenacting your passion, death and resurrection.

Help me to realize that the Mass is the greatest gift of God to us and our greatest gift to God.

Good Friday

First Reading

Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12

See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted. Even as many were amazed at him so marred were his features, beyond that of mortals his appearance, beyond that of human beings So shall he startle many nations, kings shall stand speechless; For those who have not been told shall see, those who have not heard shall ponder it. Who would believe what we have heard? To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up like a sapling before him, like a shoot from the parched earth; He had no majestic bearing to catch our eye, no beauty to draw us to him. He was spurned and avoided by men, a man of suffering, knowing pain, like one from whom you turn your face, spurned, and we held him in no esteem. Yet it was our pain that he bore, our sufferings he endured. We thought of him as stricken, struck down by God and afflicted, but he was pierced for our sins, crushed for our iniquity. He bore the punishment that makes us whole, by his wounds we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, all following our own way; But the LORD laid upon him the guilt of us all. Though harshly treated, he submitted and did not open his mouth; Like a lamb led to slaughter or a sheep silent before shearers, he did not open his mouth. Seized and condemned, he was taken away. Who would have thought any more of his destiny? For he was cut off from the land of the living, struck for the sins of his people. He was given a grave among the wicked, a burial place with evildoers, though he had done no wrong, nor was deceit found in his mouth. But it was the LORD’s will to crush him with pain. By making his life as a reparation offering, he shall see his offspring, shall lengthen his days, and the LORD’s will shall be accomplished through him. Because of his anguish he shall see the light; because of his knowledge he shall be content; My servant, the just one, shall justify the many, their iniquity he shall bear. Therefore, I will give him his portion among the many, and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty, because he surrendered himself to death, was counted among the transgressors, Bore the sins of many, and interceded for the transgressors.

Reflection

By Lucy Lu

Today’s reading must have shocked Isaiah’s audience: a Messiah who would suffer and die for our sins. In fact, an Ethiopian eunuch was reading this exact same prophecy, but he didn’t understand who the Suffering Servant was until St. Philip proclaimed Jesus to him (Acts 8: 26-40). Like the Ethiopian eunuch, we need help to discover the true face of Christ within the contours of Isaiah’s fourth Suffering Servant song.

To contemplate the face of Christ in all its depth, we need to recognize that love has a crucified form. First, it is important to affirm that love has an order or form. It is something, not just anything. For example, if one were to claim that being treated poorly was love we would take issue with that, precisely because love does not act like that. We experience many kinds of love, the love of a parent for his child, child for parent, friendship, etc. But what is the form of love that is Christ’s love for us? This love takes on a crucified form of bearing all wrongs, all abuse, and all poverty. The blind Longinus received his sight when he pierced Jesus after His death with a lance (John 19:34). And so it is that the Divine Goodness still does not cease from shedding marks of the Blood of His love upon those who behave so, allowing Himself sometimes to be cruelly wounded, in order that after all they may enter into themselves, repent of their cruelty, and turn to that purest Blood, to heal their souls.

On this Good Friday, let us be healed of our spiritual blindness by Christ’s crucified love and repeat with St. Peter Favre: “O my Lord Jesus Christ, let Thy death be my life, make me learn how to find life in Thy death, let Thy travail be my repose, Thy human weakness my strength, Thy confusion my glory, Thy sadness my joy, and in Thy humiliation let me be exalted. In brief, let all my good lie in the ills which Thou hast suffered, since Thou, O Lord, hast repaired my life, which was on the road to death without any hope of remedy.”

Good Friday

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 31: 2, 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17, 25

In you, LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. In your righteousness deliver me; Into your hands I commend my spirit; you will redeem me, LORD, God of truth. To all my foes I am a thing of scorn, and especially to my neighbors a horror to my friends. When they see me in public, they quickly shy away. I am forgotten, out of mind like the dead; I am like a worn-out tool. But I trust in you, LORD; I say, “You are my God.” My destiny is in your hands; rescue me from my enemies, from the hands of my pursuers. Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your mercy. Be strong and take heart, all who hope in the LORD.

Reflection

By Jane Hannon

On Good Friday we commemorate the Passion and Death of Jesus, an agony that we will never endure. My first thought upon re-encountering this Psalm, with its vivid references to persecution and suffering, was that I am extremely fortunate to be at Bishop Ireton, in a bright welcoming space inhabited by charitable people. But here in northern Virginia, some of our neighbors have in fact fled life-threatening oppression. And thinking back to my adolescence, well before social media and cyberbullying existed, it is not so hard to imagine feeling, at least transiently, like “a thing of scorn” and “a horror to my friends.” There are undoubtedly those among us experiencing that degree of stigma and self-consciousness. Mellowed by age and writing in this time of year, the reference to oneself as “a worn-out tool” resonates most with me.

Regardless of the nature of our suffering, this Psalm reminds us that the Lord is “my rock of refuge, a stronghold to save me.” Here and now, we might long for a cozy hearth or a peaceful, restorative vacation spot. The deliverance that God promises us, however, is more challenging than that. It is not an invitation to cower or roost: “Be strong and take heart, all who hope in the Lord.”

Lord God, like Jesus, I pray, “Into Your hands I commend my spirit.” Thank you for always being my refuge. Through Your guidance, help me also to provide refuge for those in need. Amen.

Good Friday

Second Reading

Hebrews 4: 14-16; 5: 7-9

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin. So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.

In the days when he was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.

Reflection

By Jon Pressimone

Mercy. There have been many times in my life when I have been in dire need of mercy. In kindergarten, I shoved my sister and she fell into a thorn bush. I talked back to my mom. I forgot about promises I made to close friends. I have hurt my relationships, and it is only by the mercy of those I hurt that I was able to heal.

The mercy of Christ comes from a place of experience. He knows the difficulty we face in “walking the narrow path,” because he had to walk it himself. He faced temptations and he resisted them all. Jesus had an incredibly human experience, and St. Paul reminds us that due to this experience the salvation he offers is based upon his unending mercy.

When Jesus was alive, he cried out to God to ask for aid, to save him from death, to offer his prayers. We should model ourselves after this. We are all in need of mercy, so let us cry out. Let us turn to the God of love and mercy. On this Good Friday, as we remember Christ’s ultimate sacrifice, let us remember the price he paid to give us that mercy for all time. “Let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.”

Lord, in the times when I am weak, please grant me your strength. In the times when I am tired, please grant me your endurance. In the times when I am tempted, please grant me your perseverance. And when I am fall and sin, please grant me your unending mercy. Amen

Good Friday

Gospel Reading

John 18: 1 – 19: 42

When he had said this, Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to where there was a garden, into which he and his disciples entered. Judas his betrayer also knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. So Judas got a band of soldiers and guards from the chief priests and the Pharisees and went there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Jesus, knowing everything that was going to happen to him, went out and said to them, “Whom are you looking for?” They answered him, “Jesus the Nazorean.” He said to them, “I AM.” Judas his betrayer was also with them. When he said to them, “I AM,” they turned away and fell to the ground. So he again asked them, “Whom are you looking for?” They said, “Jesus the Nazorean.” Jesus answered, “I told you that I AM. So if you are looking for me, let these men go.” This was to fulfill what he had said, “I have not lost any of those you gave me.” Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus. Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its scabbard. Shall I not drink the cup that the Father gave me?”

So the band of soldiers, the tribune, and the Jewish guards seized Jesus, bound him, and brought him to Annas first. He was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. It was Caiaphas who had counseled the Jews that it was better that one man should die rather than the people.

Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. Now the other disciple was known to the high priest, and he entered the courtyard of the high priest with Jesus. But Peter stood at the gate outside. So the other disciple, the acquaintance of the high priest, went out and spoke to the gatekeeper and brought Peter in. Then the maid who was the gatekeeper said to Peter, “You are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” Now the slaves and the guards were standing around a charcoal fire that they had made, because it was cold, and were warming themselves. Peter was also standing there keeping warm.

The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his doctrine. Jesus answered him, “I have spoken publicly to the world. I have always taught in a synagogue or in the temple area where all the Jews gather, and in secret I have said nothing. Why ask me? Ask those who heard me what I said to them. They know what I said.” When he had said this, one of the temple guards standing there struck Jesus and said, “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong; but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?” Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

Now Simon Peter was standing there keeping warm. And they said to him, “You are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” One of the slaves of the high priest, a relative of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?” Again Peter denied it. And immediately the cock crowed.

Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the praetorium. It was morning. And they themselves did not enter the praetorium, in order not to be defiled so that they could eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to

them and said, “What charge do you bring [against] this man?” They answered and said to him, “If he were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.” At this, Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law.” The Jews answered him, “We do not have the right to execute anyone,” in order that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled that he said indicating the kind of death he would die. So Pilate went back into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own or have others told you about me?” Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants [would] be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here.” So Pilate said to him, “Then you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” When he had said this, he again went out to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in him. But you have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at Passover. Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” They cried out again, “Not this one but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged. And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and placed it on his head, and clothed him in a purple cloak, and they came to him and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck him repeatedly. Once more Pilate went out and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak. And he said to them, “Behold, the man!” When the chief priests and the guards saw him they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him. I find no guilt in him.” The Jews answered, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.” Now when Pilate heard this statement, he became even more afraid, and went back into the praetorium and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” Jesus did not answer him. So Pilate said to him, “Do you not speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you and I have power to crucify you?” Jesus answered [him], “You would have no power over me if it had not been given to you from above. For this reason the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.” Consequently, Pilate tried to release him; but the Jews cried out, “If you release him, you are not a Friend of Caesar. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” When Pilate heard these words he brought Jesus out and seated him on the judge’s bench in the place called Stone Pavement, in Hebrew, Gabbatha. It was preparation day for Passover, and it was about noon. And he said to the Jews, “Behold, your king!” They cried out, “Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!”

Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your king?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.

So they took Jesus, and carrying the cross himself he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, “Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews.” Now many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that he said, ‘I am the King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four shares, a share for each soldier. They also took his tunic, but the

tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top down. So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it will be,” in order that the passage of scripture might be fulfilled [that says]: “They divided my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots.” This is what the soldiers did. Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.” And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.

Now since it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath, for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and they be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may [come to] believe. For this happened so that the scripture passage might be fulfilled: “Not a bone of it will be broken.” And again another passage says: “They will look upon him whom they have pierced.”

After this, Joseph of Arimathea, secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it. So he came and took his body. Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom. Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried. So they laid Jesus there because of the Jewish preparation day; for the tomb was close by.

Reflection

By Joseph Jacobeen

I love a garden in springtime. The warm weather, flower trees and bushes, and daffodils poking up from the grey ground. This beautiful, hopeful season seems strangely juxtaposed to the cruel crucifixion of Jesus, which we remember on this day.

Jesus apparently liked gardens, too. He regularly met with his disciples in Gethsemane. I imagine the many deep conversations and moments of companionship Our Lord spent there with his friends. Gethsemane should remind us of Eden, the first garden, where God walked with Adam and Eve in the peaceful, cool of the day. These gardens represent communion with God.

But Eden, and Gethsemane, too, became places of broken trust. In Eden, the deceiver tricked Adam and Eve into self-reliance, and they forsook their love for God. God sought for them, yet they hid in their nakedness and fear. In Gethsemane, the betrayer comes to reject Jesus with a deceptive kiss, and his disciples flee in fear.

The Garden becomes the place of “the Fall”. Communion and peace are destroyed.

After God is utterly rejected and killed on the cross, the Gospel of John gives a subtle, but hopeful sign: “Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb.” Despite all our previous betrayal, God still wants to walk with us in the garden again! When it seems like we have killed and buried God, maybe God is planting a seed, which, after a brief winter, will burst forth into a new garden.

Even in the face of my own countless rejections of God, I have hope that He wants to create a new springtime within me. As one of my favorite songs by Matt Maher goes, “...you walk with me. You’ll never leave. You’re making my heart a garden.”

Prayer:

Jesus, despite my faithlessness, please allow me to be at peace with you. Thank you for your mercy. Create a clean heart, and new garden, in me.

Easter Sunday

First Reading Acts 10: 34a, 37-43

Then Peter proceeded to speak and said, “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. What has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and (in) Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. This man God raised (on) the third day and granted that he be visible, not to all the people, but to us, the witnesses chosen by God in advance, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commissioned us to preach to the people and testify that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Reflection

By Tim Guy

This passage recalls the beginning. John’s account of creation opens with “In the beginning was the Word.” While that account recounts the beginning of creation, Peter’s sermon recounts the beginning of our salvation. Peter testifies to Jesus’ good works, crucifixion and the resurrection as he preaches to Cornelius and the relatives and close friends that he had gathered to hear Peter. Peter recounts “what happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached.”

It seems to me that there is another beginning, founded in the visions that preceded Peter’s travel to Caesarea. Peter is also going through something here and had visions which he struggled to make sense of until he arrived at this gathering and proclaims, “I see that God shows no partiality.” This epiphany is very likely a disruption for Peter (and the others who accompanied him), and he had already commented on the unlawfulness of the association of those who were gathered “but God has shown me that I should not call any person profane or unclean.” Peter fully embraces and proclaims the beginning of the catholic (small “c”, all-embracing) nature of the church and that disregarding existing national, cultural, or racial limitations, “everyone who believes in him will receive forgiveness of sins through his name.” For Cornelius and the others gathered, this was a beginning in that salvation was revealed.

Easter is a beginning for us all as a celebration of our salvation through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Blessed are you, O Mary, silent witness of Easter! You, O Mother of the Crucified One now risen, who at the hour of pain and death kept the flame of hope burning, teach us also to be, amongst the incongruities of passing time, convinced and joyful witnesses of the eternal message of life and love brought to the world by the Risen Redeemer. - Pope John Paul II, 2004

Easter Sunday

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 118: 1-2, 16-17, 22-23

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, his mercy endures forever. Let Israel say: his mercy endures forever. the LORD’s right hand is raised; the LORD’s right hand works valiantly.” I shall not die but live and declare the deeds of the LORD. The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. By the LORD has this been done; it is wonderful in our eyes.

Reflection

By Rosie Driscoll

In this semester’s Introduction to Creative Writing class, we started with the concept of attention, grounded in a short poem by Mary Oliver:

Instructions for Living a Life

Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.

We start – and often return – to this poem because powerful writing begins with attention, a word rooted in the late 14th century French attencioun: “a giving heed; the active direction of the mind upon some object or topic.” In the title of her poem, Oliver reminds us that to pay attention – to actively direct our minds (and hearts) - to our world full of wonder (be astonished!) is essential not just for good writing, but for good living.

Today’s Psalm directs our attention to the miracle of this day – Easter Sunday! – for which we rejoice and are glad, for His mercy endures forever. His mercy gives us new life in Christ’s resurrection, and new life here on earth to declare His deeds.

Pay attention! His mercy endures forever, Be astonished! I shall not die but live… Tell about it! and declare the deeds of the Lord.

We give thanks for God’s mercy by declaring the resurrection of Jesus in our words and, most importantly, in our deeds. It is He who gives us the ultimate Instructions for Living a Life. Let us rejoice and be glad!

Easter Wings

Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store, Though foolishly he lost the same, Decaying more and more, Till he became Most poore: With thee O let me rise As larks, harmoniously, And sing this day thy victories: Then shall the fall further the flight in me.

My tender age in sorrow did beginne And still with sicknesses and shame. Thou didst so punish sinne, That I became Most thinne. With thee Let me combine, And feel thy victorie: For, if I imp my wing on thine, Affliction shall advance the flight in me.

Easter Sunday

Second Reading

Colossians 3: 1-4

If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory.

Reflection

By Michael Rauer

Are we too much concerned with what others think of us?

Are we too much focused on the type of automobile we have when we see the cars of others?

Do we look critically at the clothing of others and wish that we were better dressed?

Do we spend too much time on social media trying to supplement our lives through the prosperity of others?

We must remind ourselves that we too want to rise up to Our Blessed Lord in our lives as he reminds us with His own Resurrection at Easter.

The things of this life are only temporary and will pass much sooner than we are inclined to think.

We need to focus on what is to come, not on what is here in our presence.

For the people of Colossae, it was important that they heard to true words of St. Paul as he worked to counteract the false teachings of others.

In our present lives we are seeing a rise of false teachings that say there is no God, that abortion is acceptable, that people can change their biological sex.

While these false teachings of today’s world were not heard 1900 years ago, they still carry the same false narrative.

We must remember that we should persevere in our quest for the truth and holiness. That alone comes from Our Blessed Lord and his message to us.

With His Easter Resurrection, He reminds us to focus on what is to come, and not to be dissuaded by the false teachings of this life.

Easter Sunday

Gospel Reading

John 20: 1-9

On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead.

Reflection

By Gina Garcia

The suffering is over, and we rejoice in Jesus’ resurrection! It begins with Mary Magdalene’s arrival to the tomb. Convinced that someone has taken Jesus’s earthly body, she runs to tell the apostles. It is their reaction that reveals to us that they did not fully understand what the resurrection was all about either. We believe by faith that the resurrection gives meaning to all suffering and reassures us that when we die, our earthly life is over but that there is a new life ahead. In fact, it is Jesus’ suffering that gives meaning to our suffering, and just as we can unite our trials and tribulations to the cross that Jesus carried for us and for our sins, we can also understand the resurrection of our Lord and Savior as a means to understand that we too will share in an eternal life. At the end of the Gospel, we understand that John through faith has himself begun to understand what has happened. It is our faith in the resurrection that makes sense of our life on earth and gives us hope for eternal salvation. If not for this faith, what purpose would our earthly life have? It is on Easter Sunday, the very day of Christ’s rising from the dead that we understand the point of our existence. It is Easter Sunday that is the essence of our hope and our faith! Alleluia, Alleluia.

O God, through the resurrection of your Son, you brought light and joy to a fallen world. Help us to believe in the power of His resurrection and to live that Easter joy every day of our lives. Amen.