god

Do you love me?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus forgives Peter for denying him three times by asking him three times if Peter loves him. Again, Peter does not quite grasp the teaching, for after the third request of “Do you love me?” Peter is distressed, and with an impatient tone said, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you” (Jn 21:17).

Jesus’ forgiveness of Peter is not just about the repentance of Peter’s denial but the true nature of discipleship. To be disciples of Jesus is to love one another as Jesus loves us. Peter is called to repentance not just for himself but to grow in his love of others, to serve others. After each affirmation of love by Peter Jesus responds with: “Feed my lambs.” “Tend my sheep.” “Feed my sheep.”

Love is well defined by St Thomas Aquinas as willing the good of the other as other. This is expressed vividly in Jesus’ imagery to Peter. If we say we love Jesus like Peter did, we will feed and tend the lambs and sheep of his flock. We will forgive, take care of, nourish, empower, support, guide and accompany one another. This means we will also love those who hate us, those who seek to persecute us, and love our enemies as ourselves.

Jesus loves us and invites us to share and give away this love, person to person, expecting nothing in return. We do not love to get, but love to freely give without cost. The expression of our love will be different for each of us because Jesus commissions each of us to serve his lambs and sheep in different ways.

Ultimately, what Jesus sends us to do is to enter into and build relationships. To do so, it is important that we deepen our relationship with Jesus first. We cannot give what we don’t have. For the love of Jesus to flow through us, we must breathe, receive, rest and abide in his love daily and often each day. From abiding in God’s peace and love, we will be less reactive, more patient and understanding. We will be able to will to good of the person as they are and where they are, just as Jesus has done with us.

Jesus does not define us by our worst mistakes, Jesus loves us more than we can ever mess up, and Jesus loves us more than we can ever imagine and his grace is more powerful than our sins. He leads with love and mercy. Now, he also doesn’t want us to stay in our sins. He loves us there so that we might feel safe, begin to trust, and choose to allow Jesus to lead us out of our darkness and into the light of his love.

Are we ready to go into this week, day by day, encounter by encounter, online and in person, willing to do the same? Willing to feed Jesus’ lambs, willing to tend his sheep, and willing to feed his sheep? To do so as Pope Francis said, we must be willing to smell like the sheep. Which means we need to spend time with God and one another, to receive and share the love the Father and the Son share, who is the Holy Spirit.

Painting: Closeup of “Jesus and the Rich Young Ruler” by Heinrich Hofmann

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, May 4, 2025

“I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

In our growing global and increasingly interacting world, a sense of pluralism, the recognition and affirmation of diversity and peaceful coexistence has become more and more of an ideal. In and of itself, the embracing of diversity is good. Especially when we have and continue to experience and see such atrocities committed in the name of “tribalism”. What can be a dark side of pluralism though, is that for the sake of getting along we are not true to who we are, we limit our public discourse so as not to offend.

Identity is also not to be held up as the sole model either. Identity has a dark side as well in that we can easily slip into a defensive posture when we feel our identity is threatened. This is why we are told that if you want to have a conflict free conversation you may want to avoid speaking about such topics as politics and religion. The reason is that in these areas we identify ourselves with our personal beliefs and if someone critiques or criticizes our beliefs we feel personally threatened, and more often than not, we slip into a defensive posture and reactive mode. Dialogue quickly devolves into talking at and over each other.

These thoughts lead me to the opening verses in today’s Gospel from John: Jesus said to Thomas, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him” (Jn 14:6-7). This may not appear to be a pluralistically sensitive comment if wanting to keep calm at the dinner table. Though it is a statement of truth.

Another statement from Jesus that could raise the hackles of those who are not Christian is, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” This may appear, at face value, to be an arrogant statement. Unless, Jesus is who he says he is, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity. If Jesus is God, then of course to get to God you will be going through Jesus. Jesus does not say that you have to be a Christian to get to God. Jesus himself was not a Christian.

Regarding interfaith dialogue the Catholic Church has come far regarding some dehumanizing stances from the past to embrace a truer interpretation of Jesus’ statement. The Vatican II document, Nostra Aetate, meaning In Our Time, the first lines of the document, states that the Catholic Church “rejects nothing of what is true and holy… She has a high regard for the manner of life and conduct, the precepts and doctrines which, although differing in many ways from her own teaching, nevertheless reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all…”

The place to enter dialogue is not to avoid sharing about the truth of our beliefs, but to be able to reclaim the ability to share clearly what we believe and be willing to allow someone else to do the same. We have lost the ability to have a good argument or debate that is founded on the respect and dignity of the person first, an openness and understanding for different and diverse opinions and beliefs, grounded in the ultimate goal of learning and growing from one another.

We can reclaim the gift of dialogue if we are willing to let go of the need to talk at others, to be right, and entrench ourselves in our positions, and instead seek to be more grounded in integrity instead of identity. To grow as a person of integrity means developing the ability to think critically and with a more nuanced outlook, resisting absolutes and black and white thinking. Another line from Nostra Aetate states: “Let Christians, while witnessing to their own faith and way of life, acknowledge, preserve and encourage the spiritual and moral truths found among non-Christians, also their social life and culture.”

Being a person of integrity means standing up for the dignity of another person no matter who they are because they are a human being, created in the image and likeness of God. This is what the parable of the Good Samaritan was all about. Being a person of integrity means martialing the courage to hold someone accountable and refuse to look the other way just because they are of the same gender, political party, religion, or tribe. Being a person of integrity means saying what we believe and allowing another to do the same, respecting our differences, agreeing to disagree, and finding common ground where we can. In this way we are more open to growing and broadening our understanding of the people and wonder of the world around us.

Being a person of integrity is not easy. To follow Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life, demands courage to speak truth to our peers, to power, to speak truth in and out of season, in the midst of our fear of conflict, of offending, and of being wrong. Jesus invites us to have the humility to recognize when we have not respected others and are willing to be held accountable. To strive for being people of truth and integrity is worth the effort, otherwise we succumb to a slow death of cowardice that eats away at our soul. When we are true to who we are and who God calls us to be, we can experience the soaring heights of the freedom and joy we were created for!

Jesus, help us today in our discernment to be true to who your and our Father calls us to be and help us to be more willing to allow the Holy Spirit to fill us with his courage, joy, and love so to strive to be people who are willing to be aware, to care, to enter into dialogue, to serve, and to be people of integrity.

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Photo: “Head of Christ” by Heinrich Hoffman

Nostra Aetate, Declaration on the Relation of the Church to non-Christian Religions, October 28, 1965. Tr. in Vatican Council II: Vol. I: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, Costello Publishing, 2004.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, May 3, 2025

We experience the wonder of life when we embrace our faith and reason.

The feeding of the five thousand that we encounter in today’s Gospel from John is reported in each of the four Gospels. This point is relevant because biblical scholars look to the multiple attestation theory as one means as to whether an account in the Gospel record is more or less plausible. Having the same account present in each of the four is strong evidence in support for that event happening.

From a different perspective, there are those that embrace scientism meaning that they will not believe in anything that can not be measured, experimented upon, or proven within the realm of the five senses. For those ascribing to this strict interpretation, religion and accounts of miracles are often dismissed as superstition, that if something indeed did happen, there is a scientific explanation to dismiss the miraculous. Even some believers may discount the record of the feeding of the five thousand as more of a symbolic representation of the generosity and service encouraged by Jesus such that everyone gave their small share and there was enough for all, not that he actually was able to multiply the bread and fish.

These perspectives of downplaying the miracle of multiplication seek to reduce or limit Jesus to just his humanity, but he is so much more. Jesus is human, fully human, yes, even more so after his resurrection, but he is also fully divine. Coming to understand the wonder of the unity of the divinity and humanity of Jesus can help us better understand the reality of our world and the whole of the cosmos.

One of the core aspects of who we are as human beings is that we are people of wonder. The physical sciences are tools that we have in our toolbox that we can access to help us to understand our physical realm, while at the same time we also have spiritual tools that help us to receive insights from both physical and spiritual realities. The physical sciences actually emerge precisely because of our spiritual pursuit to understand the wonders of God’s creation. In accessing both faith and reason, we come to have a broader picture, more pieces of the puzzle in which to put together and better experience our world.

When we limit or explain away the miracles of Jesus we rob ourselves of a more accurate picture of the reality of creation. One concrete example of this is when our third president, Thomas Jefferson, took a sharp object and painstakingly cut out verses from the Bible and pasted them to blank pages. He did so in columns of Latin and Greek on one side of the paper and French and English on the other. This eighty-four-page tome is commonly called the Jefferson Bible, but the president titled it: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. This text offers a human portrayal of Jesus that dismisses anything divine.

If we remove ourselves from the divine, and 99.9% of our life, experience, interests, and thought is spent in the finite material realm, we will miss a deeper expression of who we are as human beings and much of the joy and gift of life. It stands to reason then why we would find it hard to believe in miracles, the mystical, and the spiritual. The miracles are not a self-aggrandizing move on Jesus’ part, but a move of love and empathy. Jesus is moved, time and again, to reach out in love, to care for and support those who are in need. They are also a foretaste of heaven. Jesus entered into our human condition, fully divine to become fully human. In doing so, he opened up heaven for us.

We need to resist the temptation to write off too quickly the miracles of Jesus. May we also not dismiss the gift and value of the sciences. By approaching our world with a both/and approach, we will get a better understanding of and appreciation for not only the gift and wonder of creation but also who we are as human beings. God has imparted within us the ability to access and develop both our faith and reason, to think critically, and to pray and meditate deeply.

Jesus as the firstborn of the new creation embodies the reality of the fullness of who we are called by God and in the depths of our souls, aspire to be, human and divine. Jesus is still present to us today, knocking on the doors of our hearts, minds, and souls. If we only follow the moral and social teachings of Jesus, as did Thomas Jefferson, we will experience some benefit but we will limit ourselves by cutting out the very life force that sustains those virtues we hope to aspire to. We will access the fullness of all that God the Father offers us when we open the door to his Son this Easter Season. Let us invite the Holy Spirit in, offer the little we have, and watch how much he will multiply our simple gifts.

Let us continue our journey, to read and pray together the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. May we resist rejecting outright what we do not understand or comprehend, and instead be willing to ponder the wonders that God seeks to unfold for us, the gift of God’s grace building on nature, the reality of God-incidences all around us, and embrace the eternal foundation and ground of our being which is the Trinitarian Love of God.

Photo: Mosaic of fish and basket with bread present at the foot of the altar in the Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes, at Tabgha, Galilee, Israel.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, May 2, 2025

When we read and pray with the Bible, we encounter Jesus.

The question that arises and is foremost regarding Christianity above all else is, “Who is Jesus?” How this is answered has a lot to do with what we believe. Biblical scholars debate whether today’s passage, John 3:31-36 is a continuation John the Baptist talking with his disciples or these are an insertion by John the author. Either way, the points of concern is coming to understand and to believe that Jesus is the one who “comes from above” and the one who “comes from heaven is above all”; he “testifies to what he has seen and heard” and he is sent by God to speak “the words of God”; he is also generous in that he “does not ration the gift of the Spirit”; and the Son is loved by the Father and God “has given everything over to him”.

Each of these phrases are revealing the truth that Jesus is the Son of God who has come from above to reveal the truth about his Father and that he is able to do so because he has seen and has an infinite relationship with him. Jesus preaches the Gospel, the Good News, that God loves us, that he seeks and has always sought, to be in communion with us, his created beings. Jesus has come to reveal the Love of the Father and that his love is unlimited.

The proclamation that Jesus is the Messiah, is not just revealed in the Gospel of John, but each of the three other Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, as well as the epistles. Jesus, as the Son of God, is also the key to unlocking the Hebrew Scriptures, and we can see how the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings all point to Jesus as well. Jesus shared this outline of salvation history with Cleopas and the other disciple on the road to Emmaus, such that their hearts were burning within them while Jesus opened the scriptures to them (cf. Lk 24:32).

John the Baptist gets it, the Apostle John and the other apostles will eventually get it that Jesus is the Son of the Living God and he offers a model for us to follow when the Baptist shared with his disciples, the truth that we all called to ascribe to if we are to grow in our faith: “He must increase; I must decrease” (Jn 3:30). May we spend some time in quiet reflection today by pondering the phrases offered to us regarding who Jesus is. Which one, two, or few call to you?

“The one who comes from above is above all.”
“The one who comes from heaven is above all.”
“He testifies to what he has seen and heard.”

“For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God.”
“He does not ration his gift of the Spirit.”
“The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him.”

When we have finished, what is our response? Do we disobey or discount that Jesus is who he says he is or do we “accept his testimony” and “certify that God is trustworthy”? If we “accept his testimony”, are we willing to decrease, such that he will increase his influence in our life. Do we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God?

Spending time reading, meditating, and listening for God’s guidance in his word, especially the Gospels, helps us to encounter, sit at the feet, and be in the presence of Jesus. Jesus can teach us in our time and space as he has done with each generation of believers from the time of the apostles to our present age. We just need to be willing to be still and listen. We need, in the words of Pope Benedict XVI, to meet the Risen Christ and to “know him intimately by the power of the Holy Spirit…” and have “actually touched him” so that we “can witness to him” (Martin and Wright, 79).

Too many today follow the lead of the rich man who walked away sad from his encounter with Jesus. May we follow the lead of the Apostles, Mary Magdalene, the woman at the well, Cleopas and his companion, and surrender our lives to him and so be loved, forgiven, healed, transformed, that we may be witnesses of joy.

Painting: “Supper at Emmaus,” by Matthias Stom —- Will we disobey the invitation of the Son and refuse to believe or obey, choose to believe, and receive eternal live?

Pope Benedict XVI, “Homily,” May 7, 2005 found in: Martin, Francis and Wright IV, William M. The Gospel of John. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2015.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, May 1, 2025

Jesus’ light leads us from darkness into his love and eternal life.

Jesus continues his conversation with Nicodemus in today’s Gospel from John. In the opening verse, Jesus outlines why he came into the world: “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). God has created us out of love and shepherds us out of love. God loves what he has created, and in his order and timing, he sent his Son to enter humanity to become one with us, to heal us and invite us to come out of the shadows and dark recesses of turning in upon ourselves, from living in fear and sin, and to coming home to God.

Loving means to risk being rejected. Jesus entered humanity as we all did, in the utter vulnerability of the womb. His very life was at risk from the moment of his conception. Mary, a young woman,  betrothed to Joseph, in a time and culture in which a woman found to be with child and not from her husband, could be stoned to death. Mary could have made a different choice, Joseph could have made a different choice, but both chose to follow the will of God. They resisted the temptation to close in upon themselves and make an isolated decision based on their own needs, anxieties, and fears. While all of creation held its collective breath, Mary and Joseph trusted God, they chose the light, they chose to protect life.

“Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God” (Jn 3:18). Jesus did not come to condemn, he came to redeem, to save, to love us into eternity. For love to be real, it must be truly free. Free to the full extent that it can be rejected. To love is to risk rejection. Otherwise, what is experienced by the other is coercion, conditional, manipulation, pressure, but not love. The Son of God entered the womb of Mary risking rejection by her, Joseph, and/or their extended family. The only difference between Jesus in the womb and Jesus who ministered to those on the margins was that he was smaller and more vulnerable. Those who, like Mary and Joseph, believe will come to have eternal life, and those who do not have already been condemned, not by God but by themselves.

Those rejecting God have been invited to receive his love also, but for reasons they may or may not be aware of say no. We who follow Jesus are to be his presence of love among those we encounter, even those who shy away or reject him. We may be the only Bible someone ever reads. We are to protect the the unborn as well as those who have been born. We as Christians are not just pro-birth, but we are also pro-life. That means that each of us has a charism of who we are called to reach out to and touch with the love of Jesus, to be present to those who God brings into our lives. We can think, speak, and act by respecting the dignity of each person we encounter, in-person and online, supporting a consistent ethic of life from the moment of conception until natural death and at every stage in between.

“God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). We, even in our brokenness, imperfections, and sin, are loved by Jesus. We can reject or accept his love. As Pope Francis wrote: “We are called to be holy by living our lives with love and by bearing witness in everything we do, wherever we find ourselves.” As we receive and experience the love of Jesus, may we seek to love every person we encounter as he has loved us. If there are those that we might not necessarily include in everyone, may we be willing to allow Jesus to love them through us.

Photo: Some quiet and prayerful time with Jesus by the water.

Link for article on Gaudete et Exultate (“Rejoice and Be Glad”)

Link for the Mass readings for Wednesday, April 30, 2025

The one who has come down from heaven, has come to share the love of God with us.

Jesus continued to teach Nicodemus and with these words, “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man” (Jn 3:13). Jesus expressed the truth about who he is, the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He called himself the Son of Man back in the first chapter when he described how angels will be ascending and descending on him, how in his very person, he opens up heaven for humanity (John 1:51). Jesus is the Son of God and the Son of man. From all eternity and for all eternity the Son is begotten not made. The Son has always existed with the Father and at the appropriate time, the Father sent his Son to be one with us in our humanity so that we can become one with him in his divinity.

We have been loved into existence, along with all of creation, by the outpouring of the love shared between God the Father and God the Son, who is God the Holy Spirit. The Son came to invite us back to restore our relationship with his Father, to show us where we have strayed, so that we may correct the course of our journey and return back to who we have been created to be. We have been created to be in communion, in an intimate relationship with God and one another.

Jesus, the Son of God became incarnate, took on flesh, and entered into our human condition that we would be deified, transformed into the very likeness of God by our participation in the life of Christ. This is why Jesus tells Nicodemus that we are to be born from above because through our baptism we are born again as  daughters and sons of God the Father. The one who has come down from heaven has, as St Irenaeus wrote, “opened up heaven for us in the humanity he assumed.”

It is important to make time each day to savor the truth that we have been loved into existence. As we do so, we will realize that our lives are gifts from God and we have been created to receive God’s love and love others in return. During these present, uncertain times, we are given an opportunity to be more aware of what is important to us as well as Who and where our true stability lies. It is in times like these that we are given a chance to appreciate and grow closer to God, our family and friends, as well as begin to be more aware of those who are in dire need around us.

The gift of all life is precious. May we resist taking this precious gift for granted, and love others today in our own special and unique way. Jesus has loved us from the beginning, more than we can ever imagine and more than we can ever mess up! Just as the sun shines on the good and bad alike, so God loves each one of us with a love that is beyond all our understanding. The flow of our lives as disciples is to receive and share the love of God.

Painting: “Jesus Christ with Open Arms Art Print, Radiant Light” from Etsy

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Apart from Jesus we can do nothing, but with him all things are possible.

There are a handful of incidents in today’s Gospel reading from John that refer back to encounters Jesus had with his Apostles before his death and resurrection. Jesus waits on the shore as seven of his disciples; Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, James, John, and two others, return from a night of fishing. This is reminiscent of when Jesus first came to Andrew and Simon, James and John as they were casting and mending nets and he invited them to follow him.

The disciples are on their way back to shore with their nets empty, and Jesus suggests that they cast their net over the right side and they quickly find that they “were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish.” Peter had this experience in one of his first encounters with Jesus when he had been fishing all night and Jesus encouraged him to put out into the deep water, and that time also they were able to fill two boats with fish.

After their great catch “of one hundred fifty-three large fish,” John told Peter that the Lord was the one who had instructed them. Just as when Jesus approached his disciples that night walking on the stormy waters, Peter jumped out of the boat and walked on water until he took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink. Peter again “jumped into the sea.” When Peter and the disciples came to shore “they saw a charcoal fire.” The most recent event with another charcoal fire was outside the gate where Jesus was led for his judgment. To keep warm Peter joined the servants and slaves huddled around a charcoal fire. It was at that charcoal fire that Peter denied Jesus. The final scene in today’s account was when Jesus offered cooked fish and bread to his disciples, this is reminiscent of Jesus feeding the five thousand with two loaves and a few fish and also an echo of the Last Supper and the road to Emmaus account we just read a few days ago in which Jesus was made known in the breaking of the bread.

Throughout our lives, we will have encounters with people and experience incidents that we have experienced before. We may not have been as present as we have wanted to be when attempting to comfort someone, we may have been involved in some task and made a mistake, may have given in to temptation or fear that we regretted, just as Peter had denied Jesus three times at that first charcoal fire. Peter wept when he heard the cock crow. The sound brought back Jesus’ prediction, brought to light Peter’s own denial and cowardice. How many times must he have berated himself, as we have done when we have sinned, fallen short of our goals, or made mistakes?

Making mistakes and taking risks, are necessary for learning and growing in any endeavor in life. Jesus does not want us to beat ourselves up when we fall short or fail. What is required for maturation is an honest assessment of the situation, an acknowledgment of our mistakes and sins, and then a movement to correct and learn from them. Often we overcompensate in the beginning, but as we remain persistent we reach a healthy balance. Jesus does not seek to condemn or shame us. He shines his light that we might see to identify where we have missed the mark so we can identify and confess our sins.

Jesus returns to his disciples after his Resurrection, he meets them in very similar settings as he had before his when he had first called them. All of his disciples failed him, yet Jesus did not condemn or shame them. Jesus helped to show them how far they had come since he first called them, while at the same time helping them to see how far they still have to go to actualize their potential. Jesus is not only their teacher but the divine source of their own transformation. Apart from Jesus they and we can do nothing. In fishing all night on their own nothing happened, but as soon as they did what Jesus called them to do, they caught fish to bursting.

Jesus guides and empowers us with his love and encouragement. He reminds us we can’t nor ought we to go it alone. When we are with Jesus, grow in our relationship with and trust him as the disciples did, we will be a little more present to someone the next time we are in a position to provide comfort or understanding, have greater resolve when tempted, and be able to identify our sins and mistakes as well as learn from them.

Jesus has risen, appeared to his disciples to guide, encourage, and empower them to be who God has called them to be. Jesus offers us the same teaching, guidance, and power shared from the wellspring of his humanity and divinity so that we will be able to participate in his life. Our repentance and Jesus’ forgiveness go beyond helping us to become better people. Through the love of Jesus, our minds, hearts, and souls change, we are transfigured, and conformed to Jesus and his life of resurrection. This is good news to share not only in word but in deed. Alleluia!!!

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Photo by Emerson Peters on Unsplash from “The Charcoal Fire” by Grace Abruzo.

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, April 25, 2025

Today is Good Friday because in dying, Jesus conquered death.

Jesus was betrayed, arrested, falsely accused, tried, scourged, and beaten. Jesus carried his cross, was crucified, and with his words, “It is finished” (Jn 19:30), Jesus died. The gift of a crucifix is that it is an icon of the moment of the death of Jesus. Having a crucifix is not a morbid fascination with death, nor is it a rejection of his resurrection. The crucifix is not a magic talisman either, but a sacramental, that helps us to remember the reality of what the Son of God, who became one with us, did. Jesus embraced humanity all the way even unto his death, even dying on the cross and giving his life for us that we might have the opportunity to be born again, to be one with him, to be deified, and live with him forever. Without the crucifixion, there would have been no resurrection.

On this Good Friday, let us spend time in venerating Jesus on the Cross, meditating before a crucifix, before this expression of the most intimate act of Love ever expressed in human history. This icon expresses the wonderful bestowal of the grace of God upon humanity, in that it reminds us that we have a God who has experienced and understands betrayal, loss, suffering, pain, anguish, and even death. Jesus is relevant to our lives because he meets us in the chaos and suffering of our own lives.

In making time to be still and looking upon the cross upon which he died, seeing his body slumped and lifeless, we can call to mind the times we have been betrayed, the struggles, trials, pains, sorrows, and losses that we have or are enduring right now. We can also recall those times we have betrayed and hurt others with our actions or inactions, as well as caused pain and suffering. With each conflict or experience of injustice, we can be comforted in knowing that Jesus understands because he has experienced them all.

Making time to gaze upon the crucifix in times of fear, anxiety, temptation, indecision, and/or in need of forgiveness, can give us the strength and courage to endure or go through what lies before us. Jesus with his arms outstretched represents for us his eternal welcome, that he loves us more than we can ever mess up, that he does not define us by our sins or worst mistakes, and that he loves us more than we can ever imagine.

When we resist running from our trials, our suffering, and our pain, and instead face them, we will find that Jesus is waiting for us with his arms outstretched and wide open, just as he did on the Cross. Jesus meets us in the depths of the whirlwind of our deepest hurts, struggles, and confusion, as well as when and where we need him most.

I still remember thinking, in the final weeks of JoAnn’s life when she was just skin and bones, that her suffering was like watching a crucifixion. Yet, she never lost her dignity, beauty, or her grace. JoAnn radiated love for me, our children, and any of those who helped to care for her in her final days. Jesus held each of us up and drew us closer together. Our twenty-three years and especially those final months together has helped me to be a better priest. God indeed does bring about a greater good from even the worst of circumstances.

This is why we venerate Jesus on the cross today, this is why today is Good Friday, so we remember that death does not have the final word, for Jesus conquered death. This is why we can say with St. Paul, “Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death is your sting” (1 Cor 15:55). Jesus did not leave us orphans when he died on the Cross. Jesus conquered death and became the firstborn of the new creation. We are not alone because as St Irenaeus wrote, “Jesus opened up heaven for us in the humanity he assumed.” Jesus is present in whatever we may be dealing with, now, always, and forever.

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Painting: Christ Crucified by Diego Valázquez

Link for the Mass readings for Friday, April 18, 2025

Jesus’ washing of his disciple’s feet – an act of humility and a foreshadowing of the cross.

A key focal point of the last supper narrative in the Gospel of John is Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. Washing feet was certainly a custom in the ancient Near East, for either people walked barefoot or wore sandals. In either event, people’s feet became quite sore and dirty getting from here to there. Walk accumulated on a person’s feet was also substantial. Washing of the feet was a hospitable way to welcome guests into one’s home. This action though was the most menial of tasks and often performed by slaves or the lowest of servants.

After washing his disciples’ feet and sitting down, Jesus 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” (Jn 13:13-14). Jesus is sharing with those who will carry on his message and ministry that they are not to feel so high and mighty in their being called to follow him. The Apostles, those sent by Jesus, are to look at their ministry as seeking how best to serve others, not seeking to be served themselves.

The ultimate service will be displayed in only a few more days. Jesus’ washing on his disciples feet is a foreshadowing of the ultimate act of humility and service that Jesus will show in giving his life for them on the cross. The most degrading, humiliating, and painful of deaths. Jesus will give his life on the cross as will Peter: “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me” (John 13:8). Peter does not grasp what Jesus is talking about. He followed Jesus on the literal level of the feet washing and much as he did when Jesus told him that he must die, Peter did not understand then either.

Traditionally, this evening at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, select members of the parish will come to have a foot washed by the priests, following the model set by Jesus washing his disciples’ feet. This would remind all of us, as members of the Church, that we are all an integral part of the Body of Christ. Reenacting the actions of Jesus proclaimed in the Gospel brings the vivid reality of Jesus’ invitation. We are at our best when we are willing to serve, support, and lift one another up. This is to be true when all is well and rosy, in addition to when conflict and challenges arise in the messiness of our daily lives.

Pope Francis, in his homily on April 5, 2020 highlighted this same point: “Dear brothers and sisters, what can we do in comparison with God, who served us even to the point of being betrayed and abandoned? We can refuse to betray him for whom we were created, and not abandon what really matters in our lives. We were put in this world to love him and our neighbors. Everything else passes away, only this remains. The tragedy we are experiencing summons us to take seriously the things that are serious, and not to be caught up in those that matter less; to rediscover that life is of no use if not used to serve others. For life is measured by love.”

We best exemplify Jesus’ washing of the feet when we resist the allure and temptation of pride because our life is not about us. We are not the center of the universe. We are invited to walk away from the table presenting a buffet of the false substitutes for God: pleasure, wealth, fame and power. We are not to curve in upon ourselves either, afraid that our sins are not forgivable. Jesus has not abandoned us and he never tires of loving, forgiving, and serving us. Jesus gave his life for us, and is with us every step of our journey and we experience him with us when we keep him first. As we receive and experience his love and forgiveness, may we be more willing to love and serve one another.

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Painting: “Jesus Washing Peter’s Feet” by Ford Madox Brown

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, April 17, 2025

“Better for you that one man should die instead of the people…”

A core group within the leadership of Israel has decided. They will not deny themselves, their power, prestige, their place. They will not take up their cross and follow Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life. They will not allow the teaching and momentum of the growing number of those following Jesus to continue unchecked. As Passover drew nearer, thousands of people were coming to Jerusalem to purify themselves for the great feast.

This meant that many more centurions would be in place to keep the peace. The division and commotion that Jesus was causing could escalate conflict, unrest, and then swift and violent retribution from the Roman presence. The Sanhedrin, the Jewish High Council, followed the lead of the high priest, Caiaphas, who said, “You know nothing, nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish” (Jn 11:49-50). With these words, they began to plan how to put to death the carpenter of Nazareth.

With the words of Caiaphas, the sun began to set on the life of Jesus. These words even affect us still today as they usher in the sunset of our Lenten observance. The gift of our liturgical readings allows us to relive the story of our faith. Lent has given us a time to reflect, to meditate upon who Jesus is. Is he just a carpenter, another teacher, or a holy man from the past? Is he each of these, but someone so much more, the Son of God who became one with us in our humanity so that we can become one with him in his divinity?

Do we see Jesus’ teachings and life as a threat as did the Sanhedrin? Do we like our life the way it is, such that we do not want Jesus to come into our home and start turning over the tables and disrupting our order and comfort? Do the Gospels cut us to the heart and inspire us to shake off our complacency, our indifference, our cynicism, our fear, so to be inspired to acknowledge our sins, to repent, and to begin anew? Are we willing to have our hearts opened such that we see the needs of our brothers and sisters and so are moved with compassion to help?

As Holy Week begins with the Vigil Mass for Passion Sunday may we meditate on the words of Caiaphas, “consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish” (Jn 11:49-50). Caiaphas did not know that what he proclaimed would be so true. The one, Jesus, would die, not only so the nation would not perish, but that all of humanity would not perish and be saved.

Jesus died for each and everyone of us that we might have life and have it to the full. As the sun sets this Saturday evening, may it not be just another rotation of the earth on its axis, but an opportunity to commit once again to make time to ponder and appreciate Jesus dying for us that we may be empowered to die to our false selves, our egos, our self-centered postures, and better take up our cross and follow Jesus into Holy Week.
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Photo: As each day ends, may we examine what we have been grateful for and where we have fallen short ask for forgiveness and help to begin again.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, April 12, 2025