faith
Having beheld and received Jesus, may we go forth to serve him in one another.
Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15). Jesus is once again claiming who he is: Kyrios – Lord. The word, gospel, comes from the Greek word, euangelion, meaning good news, but the one who proclaimed “good news” during the time of Jesus was the emperor. Caesar would send his emissaries to announce such good news as a great victory or his birthday. What Mark conveys in the very first line and here at the ending of his Gospel, is that Jesus is Lord! Not Kaiser Kyrios, Caesar is Lord, but Jesus Kyrios, Jesus is Lord!!!
We receive Jesus our Lord in an intimate way in the Eucharist. We receive his Body and Blood. We are loved and transformed by him each time we receive him by consuming him as we have been reviewing these past few days with Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse. When we are dismissed from Mass, one of the dismissal lines is, “Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.” This is to echo the command of Jesus for all of us to proclaim the Gospel in our everyday experiences and encounters.
We proclaim the Gospel first and foremost by believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, our Savior and Lord. He has risen! He has risen indeed! He is the firstborn of the new creation. This is something to get excited about, something to fill us with joy. We are not to be a Grumpy Gus People, but an Alleluia People!!! Once we remind ourselves what we believe, who we believe in, who we are, and whose we belong to, then we are better prepared to engage with others.
The most powerful witness we can offer is when we seek opportunities to act, speak about and engage others with respect, caring, and joy. When we catch the eye of another offer a smile. We can also say hello, a nod of our head, or offer a wave, fist bump, high five, or a hug. We also need to be aware of other’s boundaries and respect their space at the same time. If someone is not open, we need to respect their posture, and meet them where they are.
Reaching out to others to acknowledge their dignity and value is the simplest, yet most profound way to spread the Gospel, which really means to share the love of Jesus by willing their good. We are to accept and accompany others as Jesus does with the purpose of building relationships. We are more inviting when we are willing to be patient, gracious, and willing to listen and hear in our interactions with each person we meet and in doing so we may begin to understand each other a little better.
Remember God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason because it is better to listen first and speak second. As we encounter others, we are to also remember the common courtesy of saying please, thank you, and I forgive you, whether in a store, restaurant, bank, convenience store, on the sidewalk, in traffic, or online. It is just as important to engage in a similar fashion with those of our family, friends, and those closest to us.
Especially now, with our country and the world on edge and more anxious than ever, believing in Jesus, embracing his love, and putting into practice small actions with great love we can make a difference. As Pope Leo said in his homily on Holy Thursday: “Christ offers us the example of self-giving, service and love. We need his example to learn how to love, not because we are incapable of it, but precisely to teach ourselves and one another what true love is. Learning to act like Jesus — the living sign that God has placed within the history of the world — is the work of a lifetime.”
Photo: Pope Leo XIV celebrating Mass Holy Thursday Evening (@Vatican Media)
Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, April 25, 2026
“The source and summit of the Christian life.”
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 to have the opportunity to celebrate daily the person of Jesus in our midst. This happens through participating in “the source and summit of the Christian life” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1324), the Mass. Our hearts have the opportunity to be set on fire, as Cleopas and his companion, 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.
That we eat the Flesh and Blood of Jesus may sound just as bizarre as it did to Jesus’ followers. The term we have for this miraculous transformation of bread and wine is transubstantiation. What happens at the calling down of the Holy Spirit and the words of institution which are invoked by the priest 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. We consume his glorified body that has transcended the three dimensional realm as we know it.
Jesus is giving all of who he is corporally, holding nothing back of himself so that we receive all of him – Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. The miracle does not stop there because in the receiving of Jesus’ fullness in the appearance of bread and wine, we also become divinized through our participation in his life as he permeates our whole being. We receive eternal life! This takes the saying, we are what we eat, to a whole new level.
This gift we get to then share. We are dismissed at the end of the Mass to go, like Mary, to bear Jesus Christ, to love others as Jesus loved us. In seeing and receiving Jesus in the Eucharist, we better see him in each other and are then inspired to serve one another. For what we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do to Jesus (cf. Mt 25:40). Jesus is risen, he has risen indeed. We are not alone. Jesus remains with us now and for all ages, most intimately in the Eucharist! We are alive and given eternal life, because the Bread of Life lives within and among us! Amen. Alleluia!
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Painting: “Christ with the Host”, by Paolo de San Leocadio
Link for the Mass readings for Friday, April 24, 2026
“the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world”
Those in the crowd who Jesus is speaking are those who experienced his multiplication of the loaves and fish. Step by systematic and deliberate step, Jesus is setting the stage for today’s insertion into his presentation.
Jesus begins slowly, but with each successive addition, he is not willing to be tamed. He came, the One from above, the One who has seen and has been sent by the Father, is fully divine, as well as fully human, to speak the truth to those who have come. He has responded to the people’s request regarding how they were to “accomplish the works of God” (see John 6:28-29) and his response is 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” (John 6:27). Jesus with the multiplication of the loaves and fish provided for those who were hungry in the moment. He provided physical nourishment. He is now moving from satisfying physical needs, to how he will provide food that will endure for eternal life. Jesus shared that he is this food, the bread from heaven, that will give life to the world.
What Jesus 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” (John 6:51). 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. Jesus died and experienced utter God forsakenness by giving his very life for the life the world.
But for those in the crowd who only the day before sought to unanimously make him their Messiah by popular acclamation are, with each word expressed by Jesus, growing a bit more uncomfortable. This discourse is moving away from what might have initially appeared to be a figurative discussion to a more dramatic and concrete presentation with horrific implications. After an initial gasp or two, some murmuring started to circulate, maybe centering around such questions as:
“Did Jesus really just say he would give us his flesh?”
“Jesus is equating himself with the bread from heaven, and the bread he is offering is his flesh?”
“Is Jesus saying what I think he is saying?”
Yes! Jesus stated clearly that he is the Bread of Life, and this Bread is his very Flesh. Beyond and before time, 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 nothing back, to the Father. This eternal giving and receiving, this eternal communion of Love shared between the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit. Jesus is offering his listeners and continues to offer us today participation in this perichoresis, this divine dance of infinite communion. Jesus offers all that he is to be consumed.
Just as Jesus gave all of himself on the cross, he gives all of himself, holding nothing back in his glorified Body present in the Eucharist. We are invited not only to receive all that Jesus is, we are also invited to give ourselves away in return. As we receive, we become who we eat. We are transformed by the love of Jesus’ presence in our being as we consume him so that we to, as Jesus did, give of ourselves to serve others.
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Photo of the Rose Window from the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.
Even in our darkest moments, Jesus cares, and is here for us.
“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 when we seek him out and when we come to him. He accepts us because he knows that we come because we have on some level listened to his Father and allowed our hearts and minds to be moved by his love. Jesus has come to do his Father’s will which is to lead us all to salvation, to redeem and restore us to the proper order of freedom from our enslavement to sin. Even when we turn away, are diverted by distractions, misled by our sin, or misunderstandings, Jesus is with us. We don’t experience him or his love though when we have turned away from him. In the depths of our souls thought, we all seek the love of God that we have been created for.
This is why Jesus met Cleopas and the other disciple on the road to Emmaus. Even though they were walking the wrong way, Jesus did not point that out. He came upon them, walked among them, and opened up the Scriptures to them. In doing so, the fire that had been dimmed by the despair of Jesus’ death, was rekindled in Jesus’ breaking open the word for them, in sharing salvation history, such that when Jesus moved to continue on, they invited him to stay with them. Then, in the breaking of the bread, they recognized Jesus, who they thought they lost. They experienced in their presence and were nourished by “the bread of life” (John 6:35).
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 Sacred 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, table fellowship.
Not only are the basic needs of sustenance met, but also in sharing his time and conversation with anyone willing to eat with him, no matter their level of ritual purity, they were touched at the deepest hunger within their hearts, which is to belong, to be accepted, and loved. The majority of the crowd that Jesus spoke to has continued to come to him because he fed them with only a few loaves and some fish. In the miraculous multiplication, Jesus provided for their bodily nourishment, but also was also inviting them to experience the deeper spiritual nourishment of the soul which can only be nourished by his Body and Blood.
Jesus loves us, he wills the best for us. Many resist this truth for different reasons. It could be the callouses, scars, and growing cynicism as a result of wounds inflicted by others, those who did not fulfill expectations, and/or betrayal. Each of us could have experienced the same and have also been 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. This is because sooner or later, when we draw close, the masks will come down and who we truly are, the fullness of our wounds and our gifts will come to the fore. Conflicts will arise because we are finite and imperfect, human beings. We are still a work in progress.
None of us are perfect. We are all on a journey. On our own, we will consistently fall short of our goal. That is why we need a savior. We need someone that we can trust that will be there for us when we are let down and 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.
Even if we are not able to look past the predicament, or smile in return, we might just be able to catch his eyes looking at us and then we will see him offer us his hand. We can then rise together, and stand again. That is how Jesus shows his mercy and love for us. He enters into our chaos and meets us in the midst of the muck and mire of our mistakes, wounds, and sins. 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 with Jesus grows, as our trust deepens, we will begin to feel safe, to believe that we belong and have dignity. We will begin to heal and realize that we are a part of something greater than ourselves. Then with wobbly steps, begin to offer attempts of the same mercy, forgiveness, and unconditional love to others that we have received. This is the path of discipleship. This is the road we are on, together.
When we allow ourselves to be loved in those places we have kept everyone at a distance, when we trust Jesus to come into those places and receive his love even there. We begin to heal. We are not problems to be solved or machines to be fixed. We are children to be loved by Our Father.
This is not a hundred-yard dash but a long and winding road. Let us be willing to: persist, be loved and led, be there for, and accompany one another as we take the hand of Jesus and allow him to lead us on the Way. Jesus will not reject any of us who are willing to take his hand and walk with him. May we help others, as Jesus helps us, when we fall, to rise up, and begin again.
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Photo: When we are willing to go into the dark places in need of healing, we will see the light of Jesus there guiding us to healing.
Link for Mass readings for Wednesday, April 22, 2026
“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger… will never thirst”
Yesterday and today’s Gospel readings from John are laying the groundwork for Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse. 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, Jesus asserted that he was even greater than Moses. The people, who believed that Moses gave them bread from heaven, asked Jesus for a similar sign, to prove he was who he said he was. Jesus reminded them first and foremost that his Father, not Moses, had given them the bread from heaven, and also as he often did, met their request but built upon it: “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 also, they want an endless supply. Jesus welcomes the opportunity to offer them what they desire, in the very depths of their souls but unaware: “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 shared how his Father gave 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 of God 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 became one with us in our humanity so that we can become one with him in his divinity. 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, experience the limitations of the finite and seek something more. This is how we are wired, because ultimately, our deepest hunger, craving, and desire, is that which we seek to fulfill us, that which is eternal. The only One to satisfy our eternal hunger is the bread of life, Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God.
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 been caught up: in the business of life, in mere existence or survival mode of the day-to-day, or stuck in our sin, addiction, wounds, 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 seek to, “believe in the one who God sent”, commit or recommit our selves, our very life, to the one who is our source and sustainer, Jesus, the Bread of Life. When we encounter Jesus in his glorified body, present in the consecrated host, we encounter our Savior, the bread of everlasting life who will satisfy our deepest hunger and thirst.
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Photo: Print of the painting: “Christ the Saviour” by Vicente Juan Masip hanging in the sacristy in the chapel of St. Mary of the Lake.
Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, April 20, 2026
“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”
One of the best ways to celebrate the Easter Season is to continue to conform our lives to the one who gave his life for us that we may experience and be engaged in our life to the full. We can accomplish this better by putting into practice what we read in the Gospels as well as being open to encountering God in our daily experiences and one another.
Today’s Gospel reading continues after Jesus not only fed the 5,000 but also after he had walked across the Sea of Galilee and guided his disciples safely to the shore. Those who had eaten as a result of the multiplication of the loaves and fish, got into their own boats to follow Jesus to Capernaum as well.
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).
To believe in the one he sent. The response of Jesus may not appear to fit the request of how to accomplish the works of God. But to believe is not passive. Belief is to be followed by action. If we say that we believe in Jesus, we are invited to pray with him, worship him in communion with fellow believers, sing songs praising him, give to and serve one another by practicing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
Believing in the one God the Father sent, believing in his Son, also means that we allow Jesus into our minds and hearts, we allow his light to shine in our places where there is darkness and pain, where we are in need of confessing and healing. When we believe in Jesus, we are willing to submit our will to his will. The good news is that Jesus knows what: is the best for us, will heal and truly fulfill us, and give our lives meaning. The challenge is, are we willing to trust Jesus with the direction and path of our lives?
To accomplish the work of God, we must believe in the one whom he sent. To believe in Jesus, we need to trust him and know him. As we spend time reading, meditating upon and praying with the recorded accounts of Jesus in the gospels, our lives become transformed when we then put what he has taught us into practice. We will accomplish the work of God by trusting, learning from, and following his Son, Jesus, who the Father sent to be one with us in our humanity so that we can become one with him in his divinity.
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Photo: Jesus is the light that shines in our darkness. When we believe, trust, and follow his lead we will experience his love and healing. Statue on the grounds of University of St. Mary of the Lake.
Jesus did not give up on Thomas or Cleopas. He will not give up on us.
We return again to the reading of the Road to Emmaus pericope that we heard less than two weeks ago. This rich record is certainly worth many readings because there is within its telling so much contained in its depths that one, two, or three readings is nowhere near sufficient.
Jesus comes upon Cleopas and another disciple heading away from Jerusalem feeling devastated because not only had their teacher been brutally crucified but their hopes of him truly being the Messiah were also dashed. The interesting points that come up when they begin to talk to Jesus are that “some women…had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive.” They also announced to Jesus: “Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see.”
Cleopas and the other disciple were certainly close enough to the inner circle of the Apostles to know Mary Magdalene and the Eleven to be in hiding with them after the crucifixion. This also meant that they knew Jesus pretty well. They had to have heard on more than one occasion either from Jesus himself or the other Apostles that Jesus would rise again on the third day.
Why then did they leave after hearing the tomb was empty? Wouldn’t they want to find out if what Jesus said about his Resurrection was actually true? Jesus had told them to wait for him in Jerusalem, not Emmaus. Cleopas and the other are heading the wrong way! Last week we read about how Thomas was away when Jesus reappears to the Apostles. Could he have gone his own way and leave like Cleopas and the other disciple did?
There were those like Mary, Peter, and John who stayed in Jerusalem, while at the same time we know about Thomas, Cleopas, and another disciple who had left, even after hearing about the empty tomb. Jesus was clear in what he taught about his coming back on the third day, just as he was when he told his followers that they would eat his flesh and drink his blood. People left then as well.
How many times have we given up or given in just when what we had been waiting for or working for would have been fulfilled? We may never know. Fortunately, for Cleopas and the other disciple that we read about this week and Thomas last week, Jesus was willing to reach out to them a second time. They heard his words about the Resurrection but they did not grasp or comprehend the full meaning of what Jesus meant.
The same is often true of us. Jesus invites us to follow him as he did the others, as he does with all of humanity, yet we often do not understand or fully appreciate the fullness of what Jesus is offering. Until we are able to relate to and value the deeper meaning and worth of what it means to truly develop a relationship with Jesus, to know, be loved by and love him, and be a follower of his, we will not be willing to invest our time and commitment. The Good News is that Jesus did not give up on Thomas or Cleopas nor will he give up on us. One day we too will also be able to exclaim with joy, “The Lord has truly been raised,” and our life we never be the same.
Painting: The Supper at Emmaus by Rembrandt 1648
Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, April 19, 2026
Choosing Jesus will help us to experience his peace.
Some of the context for today’s reading of the Gospel is found in John’s account of the multiplication of the loaves which closes with this verse: “Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone” (Jn 6:15). Both Jesus and the people knew the Torah. In Deuteronomy 18:15-18, Moses shared that he was not the seal or end of prophetic tradition, he, like John the Baptist, pointed to one that would be greater than he.
As the five-thousand ate they talked among themselves, many may have then recalled how God fed the Hebrews in the desert, manna, bread from heaven. The miraculous multiplication mingled with the manna remembrance, comingled with the already growing messianic hope, could make a good case for why the people began to believe that Jesus was the “Prophet, the one who is to come into the world” (Jn 6:14), and then they rose to make him their king.
Recognizing their motivation and lack of understanding of the fullness of the kingship he would indeed assume, Jesus withdrew back higher up the mountain upon which he saw the people coming to him in the first place. The people presumably camped where they had eaten since evening drew near. Separation occurred between Jesus and the people because they moved to make him into something he was not. He refused, as he did during his fast in the desert, to give in to the temptation of power, pride, and honor.
The disciples were also separated from Jesus. They set out on the sea and headed toward Capernaum and would be reunited as they experienced a storm that arose on the sea of Galilee. Already full of anxiety as they were being tossed about by the waves, their fear grew as Jesus came closer to their boat, walking on the water. He calmed them as he said, “It is I. Do not be afraid” (Jn 6: 20).
Those present at the multiplication of the loaves and fish, the disciples, nor us today totally comprehend all of who Jesus is, for he embodies the fullness of humanity and divinity. Nor is he ours to tame. Jesus comes to us, is present to us, loves, and is willing to walk with us through all our trials and tribulations, as well as our joys and wonders. Though, what he will not do is be untrue to himself or to who he calls us to be. If we want to be fulfilled in this life, we need to let go of making Jesus into our image and likeness. Instead, with humility, we are invited to be conformed to his will, which, deep down is what we want too. We need to decrease, so that he may increase. We need to die in him, so that he may live in us.
In our willingness to surrender to the will of Jesus, we are able to keep our eyes focused on him. This does not mean our life will be perfect. There will continue to be challenges and conflict. The closer we come to Jesus the clearer we will see the truth and the absence of it within us and without. Conflicts with others will still arise. The difference is that when we experience the closeness of Jesus, while storms may rage on the outside, we will experience more calm on the inside. We will feel less need to react when our buttons are pressed, see people with a wider lens, experience more understanding, and love, and discern better how to engage or remain still.
We will grow stronger in our faith and trust in Jesus, and be more able to help others along the way to do the same, when we are willing to follow the guidance of Jesus and collaborate with him. In this free act of our will, we are aligning ourselves with the infinite power and ground of our being. In our participation with Jesus, we have access to his power working in and through us, we become agents of stillness and calm for ourselves and others, even while experiencing the storms of our everyday lives: “Be not afraid!” Trust in Jesus! When we do so, we will experience his peace.
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Painting: “Christ Walking on Water after. Julius Von Klever by Jay Bryant Ward
Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, April 17, 2026
Spiritual Stepping Stones 