Jesus continues to present the imagery of the shepherd in today’s Gospel reading from John. He presents an assurance for security and protection that is to be found for those that are in his fold when he says, “No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one” (Jn 10:28-30). How does one enter the fold of the Good Shepherd? All who hear his voice and follow him will be known by him and so be a part of his flock.

Yet, there are those that hear his voice and do not recognize the Shepherd. They do not follow him and so are not known by him, although he seeks them out. They may know about the Shepherd, have heard of him, but do not know him. Their hearts and minds are closed to Jesus. They do not believe in his miracles, his exorcisms, his teachings, and the question of those opposing him in today’s reading is, “If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly” (Jn 10:24). Jesus did just that by saying that he and the Father are one. The response for the forthright comment of Jesus is that the Jews pick up rocks to throw at him (see Jn 10:31).

Jesus offers, free of conditions, the gift of relationship with him, and his Father, to experience the love shared between them, the Holy Spirit. Jesus is completely open as to who he is, who we are, and who we can become in participation with him. Those who say no to this invitation do so for their own reasons; some being, a demand for proof, a listing of the terms and conditions on their part that need to be met first, assurances sought for and/or excuses offered. Just as Jesus invites us to freely come to him, he will only come so far as we are willing to receive him. He does not conform to us or our will.  Jesus does not need us, he loves us.

Even we who have said yes, only go so far. We hedge our bets, dip our toes into the water, and maybe go in ankle deep, but not too many of us are willing to relinquish control and surrender fully all at once. We too see the promise Jesus offers, eternal life, true, but also a life of meaning and fulfillment now. A perfect life? No, there will continue to be challenges, because Jesus’ voice continues to call us to follow him to go deeper, to seek freedom from our anxieties, fears, weaknesses. He urges us to face conflicts, to be true in the midst of temptations, and to preach and stand up for the Gospel in and out of season. Through all our experiences, the ups and downs, the only assurance we often may have is to trust in Jesus.

No matter what we face today or tomorrow, we can be assured that Jesus will never let us go and no one can take us out of his hand. We can walk forward trusting, that Jesus our Good Shepherd, will be there to guide and protect us as long as we are willing to listen to his voice.

Photo: accessed at https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-holding-sheep-statuette-161289/

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, April 24, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/042418.cfm

“…the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice” (Jn 10:4). This verse is one of the keys to growing in the spiritual life and becoming a disciple of Jesus. Amidst all the voices, distractions, and temptations clamoring for our attention, we want to develop an ear to hear and a mind to discern his voice. There are so many directions we can take and opportunities we can be enticed by, many that are detrimental, but more challenging those that are good in and of themselves.

Jesus came to us so that we “might have life and have it more abundantly” (Jn 10:10). To live life to the fullest, to actualize our potential, we need to be able to discern the distinction between apparent goods and the true Good. An apparent good is appealing, attractive, and desirable, though once experienced, we conclude that it was indeed not good for us at all. We can see this in the promotion of processed foods, with additives and an excess incentive of enticing the taste buds with salts and sugars. The experience of eating many of these products is that they taste good going down, especially if eaten quickly and not savored, such that we often eat them in excess. They not only have little, if any nutritional value, if this is the main source of our nutrition, in short order we will feel the ill affects of eating in this way.

When I sit down to eat pizza, there are two clear voices. One voice encourages an eating of the whole pie in one setting, while another urges a balanced two slice approach. I will let you decide which is the voice of my shepherd 😉 The same is true regarding how we spend our time and treasure. We all have the same amount of time in the day. In what ways do we use our time, who is it that we are listening to regarding how we use the time we have been given? Do we listen to the Father of Lies or the Good Shepherd?

A good practice for developing an ear to hear and discern the voice of the Good Shepherd is to resist making decisions impulsively. When a decision comes to mind let us make time to pray with Jesus and seek his guidance, and resist making an impulsive decision, regarding food, purchases, jobs, relationships, and in all areas of our lives. We can ask ourselves each time, is what I am about to decide helping me to become a better disciple, or as the author and speaker, Matthew Kelly, says, is this helping me to be the best version of myself?

With time and experiences of the results of our decisions we will come to better hear more clearly the voice of Jesus. For the process of discernment, it is also a good practice to have a core group of people we can talk over decisions with to get their perspective, to help keep us accountable, and help us to stay on the path. In this way, we can also learn to hear the words of Jesus through others.

May we have ears to hear the Good Shepherd’s voice today, and the humility to follow his will that we may live our life more abundantly!

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, April 23, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/042318.cfm

I am not sure how many people reading this reflection are shepherds, live on a farm, or raise sheep. Many of us are most likely removed from the daily life and commitment of a shepherd. With such ignorance as our starting point, we can fall prey to a false romanticism of the life of a shepherd as a reaction to the fast pace and hustle and bustle of modern urban and suburban life. The commitment and demands of shepherds during Jesus’ time were demanding, all consuming, with little acknowledgment or recognition. In fact, many shepherds were looked down upon, and groveling at the bottom of the social class of ancient Palestine. Yet Jesus compared himself to being a shepherd.

Just scratching the surface of the social context of shepherds could help to shed light on John’s Gospel today where Jesus paints an image of himself as the Good Shepherd: “I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep” (Jn 10:14-15).

Jesus is not just a shepherd, but the good shepherd. A good shepherd lived among his sheep, watched over them, cared for them, helped to birth and raise them, as well as was willing to protect them with his life from predators and thieves. Though we may not be fond of being compared to sheep, Jesus does the same for us. He watches and cares for us, protects, nourishes us with his own Body and Blood, and has given his life for us.

We get in trouble when we stray from his protective care and wander away. Yet, Jesus will come when we are in need, baying for help. Each one of us are precious and important to him. He will find us if we are willing to be found, if we just call out to him, for he knows our voice. He will come to us and will carry us back home on his shoulders.

I invite you to spend some quiet time with Jesus the Good Shepherd today. With the humility and simplicity of a lamb, allow yourself to rest your head on his lap, surrender to him all your cares, doubts, anxieties and fears. Allow your self to be healed by confessing any sins that are weighing you down, let him impart some healing balm on past hurts left unforgiven, and let him bind up any recent wounds. At some point in your contemplation, also let soak in the ultimate gift this shepherd gave: his life for you that you might have life in him, a life not merely to exist or survive, but a life of joy and fulfillment.

May we willing to let go and spend some time today, to receive, rest in, and renew in the Shepherd’s love. This is the Lord’s Day, the day he rose again, conquering death for ever and always for himself and for us.

Link for the Mass readings for the fourth Sunday of Easter, April 22, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/042218.cfm

Even though Jesus had fed the five thousand and they were satisfied and there was plenty more where this gift of grace came from, even though they traveled by boat and followed him to Capernaum seeking a sign, the discourse regarding eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood was just too far of a stretch for the disciples to take. In fact: Many of the disciples of Jesus who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it” (Jn 6:60)?

Many of his disciples walked away from Jesus at that point. They returned to their former ways of life because they could not believe in what Jesus was saying. They could not believe because they did not fully appreciate who Jesus was, the One from above, who was sent by the Father. They had not developed a deep enough relationship with him such that they could see past what he said to trust him.

Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God” (Jn 6:67-69). Peter’s response is one of belief and trust. I am sure they reacted in the same way as the other disciples gathered there, but they trusted Jesus enough that even though this teaching was hard, even inconceivable, he would make sense of it for them, just as he had done so when he helped to share with them the deeper meaning of his parables.

This is to be our response as well. When we find some of his teachings are hard to digest, we need to resist the temptation to walk away. Instead may we follow Mary’s model of pondering, as she did when Gabriel shared she would bear the Savior of the world. She did not fully comprehend what the message meant, but she trusted God and said yes. May we follow Peter, who not grasping and may have also been dealing with mixed emotions and doubts, remained firm in his belief in Jesus because he trusted that Jesus was the “Holy One of God”. Peter had experienced that Jesus had known what he was saying and doing before, he would continue to trust him this time as well.

We can also follow the model of Jesus, who does not give us more burdens to bear, but graces that build on our nature that we are invited to receive. He did not want to die, but he was willing to say yes, to submit his human will to his Father because he trusted him and knew he would bring about a greater good. Jesus gave his life, so that he died and in so doing conquered death, transcending the time and space of our present dimension so to be present to us in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Jesus lives, he is the first born of the new creation, and he wants to not only lead us to eternal life, but impart his life in us that we may be one with him in this life and for all eternity! Let us trust and believe in the Risen One. Amen?

Amen. Amen.
I’m alive, I’m alive,
Because he lives.
Amen. Amen.
Let my song join the One that never ends.
Because he lives.

• Verse from Matt Maher’s song, “Because He Lives (Amen)”.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, April 20, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/042118.cfm

Photo: Serving Jesus at my first Mass after ordination

Because He Lives (Amen), Matt Maher, from cd: Saints and Sinners, 2015

Link to music video: Music video by Matt Maher performing Because He Lives (Amen) [Official Lyric Video]. (C) 2014 Provident Label Group LLC, a unit of Sony Music Entertainment

All that Jesus has been building up to is now coming to a climax. Any silent shock of disbelief or quiet murmuring has now escalated. The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his Flesh to eat” (Jn 6:52). Jesus hears the growing concern and disbelief. If he was speaking in a figurative or symbolic way, this would be the moment to clarify his point.

Jesus does speak, but he does not walk back or qualify his comments. Jesus doubles down: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you do not have life within you” (Jn 6:53). Jesus does not only repeat that his disciples are to eat his Flesh but he also insists that they are to drink his Blood. Drinking or even eating meat with the blood of an animal was inconceivable for devout Jews. Also, the Greek used here in John’s Gospel for eat is trogein, which is used to describe how an animal eats, by gnawing and tearing at the flesh. The imagery that Jesus is using here is more graphic than the customary use of phagein, which would be used for chewing, as a human would chew their food.

Jesus continues to make his point that whoever does eat his flesh and drink his blood, will not only remain in him, but also Jesus will remain in them, and they will have eternal life. A wonderful end goal, but would any be able to make the leap of faith to get there? In tomorrow’s Gospel reading we will be able to see the response to Jesus’ claims.

Almost two thousand years later, we continue have the opportunity to celebrate daily the person of Jesus in our midst. This happens through participating in the source and summit of our faith, the Liturgy of the Mass. Our hearts have the opportunity to be set on fire as we hear the word proclaimed during the Liturgy of the Word, and then Jesus is made known to us in the breaking of the bread in the Liturgy of the Eucharist. We are invited to experience an intimate encounter with the Son of God, as we consume him, Body, Soul, and Divinity.

These words may sound as bizarre as Jesus’ words presented to those who heard him say that they would have to eat his Flesh and drink his Blood. The term we have for this miraculous transformation of bread and wine is transubstantiation. What happens during the words of consecration and the calling down of the Holy Spirit is that the substance, the reality, of the bread and wine is transfigured into the Body and Blood of Jesus, while the accidental form or appearance remains the same. So we consume Jesus’ unbloody, acceptable sacrifice.

Jesus is giving all of who he is of himself corporally, fully, holding nothing back of himself so we can receive all of him. We become what we eat. In consuming Jesus, we become divine through our participation with him. We are then dismissed at the end of the Mass to go, like Mary, to bear Jesus Christ, to love others as Jesus loved us, by giving of ourselves to others. We are called to proclaim the Good News. Jesus is risen, he has risen indeed, and he has not left us orphans but remains with us now and for all ages! We are alive, because the Bread of Life lives within us! Amen. Alleluia!

Photo: Our tabernacle which is in the chapel at Cardinal Newman High School. Jesus is present in the consecrated hosts within.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, April 20, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/042018.cfm

As we have been reading through chapter six of John we have been reflecting upon the conversation and teaching of Jesus with those who have experienced his multiplication of the loaves and fish. Step by systematic and deliberate step he is setting the stage for today’s insertion into his presentation.

Each step of the way Jesus is not willing to be tamed. He, as the One from above, the One who has seen and has been sent by the Father, is fully divine, as well as fully human speaking among those who have come to him. He has responded to the people’s request regarding how they were to “accomplish the works of God” and his response was that they are to believe in him, he who had been sent by God. They were to “work for food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give”. Jesus himself, as he did with the multiplication, will provide the food that will endure for eternal life. Jesus shared that he is this food, bread from heaven, that will give life to the world.

What Jesus has shared thus far and what he shares in today’s Gospel message has been given to him to say from his Father and is for everyone who is willing to accept his invitation: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.” We have an advantage, that those listening to Jesus, did not have. We just experienced Lent and we can certainly draw a line to how Jesus certainly does give his very life, his Flesh, that is sacrificed and hung on the cross. We believe too that Jesus gave his very life for the life the world.

But for those in the crowd who only the day before sought to unanimously claim him as their Messiah by popular acclamation are growing a bit uncomfortable. This discourse is now starting to move away from a more figurative discussion to a more dramatic and concrete presentation with horrific implications. After an initial gasp or two, some murmuring would have begun, centering around such questions as:

“Did he really just say he would give his flesh?”

“He is equating himself with the bread from heaven, and the bread he is offering is his flesh?”

“Is he saying what I think he is saying?”

Yes! The Son is because the Father has given all that he is, holding nothing back, emptying himself into the Son. The Son has received all that the Father is and returns himself, giving all that he is, holding back nothing to the Father. This eternal communion of Love shared between the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit. Jesus is offering all that he is to his disciples and to us, to be consumed. He is holding nothing back in his offer. We are invited to receive all that Jesus is. We are invited to participate in the divine communion of Love, the Holy Trinity. We are to receive all that Jesus is and give ourselves in return.

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Photo: Artistic rendition of the face of Jesus based on the Shroud of Turin.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, April 19, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041918.cfm

“Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me” (Jn 6:37-38). Jesus does not reject us, he accepts us as we are first and foremost. Jesus has come to do his Father’s will which is to lead us all to salvation, to be redeemed and restored to the proper order of freedom from our enslavement to sin. This is why Jesus met Cleopas and the other disciple on the road to Emmaus. They were walking the wrong way! Jesus did not tell them that, he just opened up the Scriptures to them, so they could see that he was who he claimed to be and revealed himself to them in the breaking of the bread. Once they had a deeper encounter with him, they determined on their own to turn back, and even though evening approached they went back to tell the Apostles the Good News of their encounter with him.

It was through sharing a meal with them that they recognized him. How many meals had they shared together before his death? A close reading of the Scripture shows how important table fellowship is for Jesus and his followers before his death and after his Resurrection. True, Jesus eating with his disciples after his Resurrection shows that he is no ghost, he is human, but also he is reestablishing the cornerstone of his ministry, eating together and socializing around a meal.

Here the basic needs of sustenance are met, for the body, and his sharing his time and conversation with anyone willing to eat with him, no matter their level of ritual purity touches the deepest hunger within each of us, which is to belong, to be accepted as we are, for who we are. The majority of the crowd that Jesus is speaking to have continued to come to him because he fed them with only a few loaves and some fish. In the miraculous multiplication, Jesus is providing for their bodily nourishment, but also preparing them for the deeper spiritual nourishment of the body and soul to come in the next verses as he goes deeper into his Bread of Life discourse.

Jesus loves us, he wills the best for us. Many are resistant of this claim because of our own callouses and growing cynicism brought on by the wounds that we have been inflicted with because of taking the risk of placing our trust in someone else and having been burned, in having expectations not fulfilled, in being betrayed and in being let down by those we have looked up to and trusted. If we are involved in a relationship long enough, we will experience disappointment or worse, sooner or later, and it is often from those closest to us, because these are the people we let in to our inner circle.

We need to remember that none of us are perfect, ourselves included. We are all on a journey, and we are going to fall short of our goal, and that is why we need a savior. Someone who we can trust that will be there for us when we are let down, when we fall down face first into the mud. Someone who, when that happens, will lay down in the mud with us, look us in the eye and smile. When we are able to look past the predicament, smile in return, our eyes locked on his, he will then offer us his hand. Both of us then rise together, maybe even laughing, to stand again. That is how Jesus loves us. He meets us in the muck and grime of our brokenness. He loves us there, and when we are ready to accept his offer of love, he invites us to get up, and begin to walk again.

As our relationship grows and deepens and as our trust strengthens, we begin to believe that we belong. We realize that we are a part of something greater than ourselves and we are then strong enough to share that same mercy, forgiveness, and unconditional love with others that we have been blessed to receive from Jesus. This is the path of discipleship. This is the road we are on, together. Let us be willing to love, to be there for and accompany one another.

Photo: Me, as Jesus in the Living Stations, Jesus falls the third time, Good Friday around 1991 in the streets of the Bronx

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, April 17, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041818.cfm

Yesterday and today’s Gospel reading for John are laying the groundwork for the discourse of Jesus to come. In yesterday’s account Jesus shared with the people who gathered about him, the people who had already received the miraculous multiplication of bread, that they were not to “work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life” and Jesus also shared that they were to “believe in the one [God] sent” (see Jn 6:27-29).

In today’s account the people are asking for a sign, just as Moses gave to their ancestors in the desert. Jesus reminds them that his Father had given them the bread from heaven, and also added: “My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (Jn 6:32-33). Certainly, this offer is appealing, and so the people not only want some of this bread too, they want an endless supply of it. Now Jesus moves from the subtle foundation he has been building to the core structure of his point: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst” (Jn 6:35).

Jesus encouraged his listeners to pursue the food that “endures for eternal life” to believe in the one his Father sent, then he shares how his Father gives them the true bread from heaven “for the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Jesus is the one his listeners are to build their relationship with, for he is the very presence in their midst, Jesus is the promise of eternal life. Jesus is the one sent by his Father to give life to the world. Jesus is the bread of life!

We are a living craving, hunger and desire to be one with God and each other, and this is true for the atheist and the believer alike. That which God has created, he has created good, but the material and finite will not fulfill us. We, in short order, find the limitations to the finite and seek something more. This is how we are wired, because ultimately, our deepest desire, what we seek to fulfill us, is the eternal. The One to satisfy this eternal hunger which we can never exhaust is the bread of life, Jesus Christ.

Do we believe this to be true? Do we believe that Jesus is the bread of life, that he is the source and sustenance, the very foundation of our being and existence? If we have forgotten this, if we have been caught up: in the business of life, in the mere existence or survival mode of the day to day, in our sin, addiction, brokenness or disillusionment, or if we feel like we are just running on empty. If we have just taken this reality for granted. Then let us commit or recommit our selves, our life to the one who is our source and sustainer, Jesus, the Bread of Life. This is why we are an Alleluia people. This is Good News, let us radiate his joy today!

Painting: Portrait of Christ, The Savior, Heinrich Hofmann, 1894

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, April 17, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041718.cfm

The best way to celebrate the Easter Season is to continue to conform ourselves to the one who gave his life for us and that we may experience and be engaged in our life to the full. The best way to accomplish this is to live the Gospels in our everyday encounters with God and one another. Today’s Gospel reading from John picks up the storyline we have been following from Friday and Saturday. After Jesus walked across the Sea of Galilee and guided his disciples safely to the shore, that morning, those who had eaten as a result of the multiplication of the loaves and fish, got in their own boats to follow Jesus to Capernaum.

When the crowd found and gathered around Jesus, he continued to teach them, guiding them to “not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” The people asked him what they could, “do to accomplish the works of God?”

Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent” (cf: Jn 6:27-29).

The people asked Jesus what they were to do to accomplish the work of God, and he said to believe in the one he sent. The response of Jesus may not appear to fit the request. But to believe is not just a passive activity. Belief is to be followed by action. If we say that we believe in Jesus, do we pray with him, do we worship him independently and in communion with fellow believers, to we sing songs praising him, do we serve him through our giving ourselves to one another by practicing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy? When we experience set backs, interruptions, conflict, or outright tribulations, do we turn to cursing and yelling or Jesus for guidance and direction? Do we turn within ourselves or only surround ourselves with those of like mind, color, political and religious views, or do we embrace the richness of the uniqueness and diversity of God’s people?

If we are not consistently doing any of the above, then do we really believe in Jesus Christ, the one whom God sent? Where are we spending our time, talent, and treasure? Answering these questions is a good way to assess what and in who we truly believe. Admitting to ourselves where we really are in our relationship with Jesus is good to do. If our diagnosis today is that we are not as faithful as we would like, my recommendation is to take a spoonful of belief in Jesus, and do one small thing today with great love.

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Easter flowers surrounding the altar at St Peter Catholic Church, Jupiter, FL

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, April 16, 2018:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041618.cfm

A ghost is a disembodied spirit or an apparition. Jesus is no ghost, though when he appears to his disciples they believe him to be just that. Jesus then tells them: “Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have” (Lk 24:39). He also then requested from them something to eat, and Jesus received and ate the baked fish he was given.

Jesus, in showing the wounds on his hands and feet, in eating of the fish, revealed to his disciples that his resurrection is a bodily one. Jesus is not disembodied, and no mere apparition or hallucination. Jesus, not merely resuscitated, has conquered death and is risen from the dead. Jesus then proceeded, as he had done with Cleopas and the other disciple on the road to Emmaus, to share with those present how he is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.

Jesus, in today’s Gospel of Luke not only revealed himself as having risen from the dead and shared that he was the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, Jesus embodied forgiveness. Though the disciples had all betrayed him, and carried the weight of shame upon their shoulders for their lack of courage, the first words Jesus spoke when he was in their midst was: “Peace be with you” (Lk 24:36). He did not bring up their past failures. In the showing of his wounds, the disciples were certainly reminded of what Jesus had gone through, his suffering and crucifixion. Could Jesus’ wounds and offering of peace have also been a mirror for the disciples to see their own internal wounds, their own need for healing and repentance?

All of us are wounded. We all have experienced trauma brought on by the myriad ways we have been exposed to the fallen nature of humanity. May we stop running from the fear of facing our hurts and the roots of our suffering and instead be willing to kneel before Jesus, with his hands held out to us, so that we may ponder the wounds of his hands. May we come to a deeper appreciation of the suffering he endured for us, even into his death, that we may also see in his hands a mirror that reveals to us our brokenness and our need for his healing. Then let us look up to the face of the one who conquered death, who rose again. May we resist turning away from the smile of his unconditional love, may we lose ourselves in the eyes of his acceptance, that offer us the realization that Jesus loves us in this moment as we are, and soak in the words, “Peace be with you.” 

In those words of invitation, may all our fears, anxieties, and hurt melt away. May we die to our pride and arise, allowing ourselves to be embraced by Jesus, embraced by his love, and experience the foretaste of eternity. Let the healing to begin.

Pencil drawing: Kathryn J. Brown, 1982

Link for the Mass readings for the third Sunday of Easter:

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041518.cfm