resurrection

“Peace be with you.”

The disciples locked themselves in a room fearing further persecution from the Jewish leadership. Jesus was crucified and as their followers, they believed that they would be next. The distinction needs to be made that Jesus and his disciples are Jewish. When John referenced the fact that the disciples were locked in the room because they were “afraid of the Jews”, John was referring to was the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem that led to the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus and his followers were Galilean Jews from the north.

The Apostles were not only afraid of the potential persecution, they were also most likely ashamed of having turned away from Jesus during his time of dire need, as well as mourning the death of Jesus. While they gathered in the darkness and were locked away experiencing fear, shame, and grief, Jesus “came and stood in their midst”. As a light shining in their darkness, Jesus has returned as he promised. Their reaction of amazement and fear of the possibility of Jesus’ impending judgment had no time to form in their minds. As quickly as Jesus arrived and stood in their midst, he said to them, “Peace be with you.”

Jesus forgave them for their betrayal. He did not rub their nose in their shame or say that he had told them so. Jesus came among them and immediately bestowed upon them his mercy. He then commissioned them to be his Apostles as he said: “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” As Jesus is the Son of God, he has the power to forgive, and he is now sending his Apostles to be bearers of his forgiveness and mercy in his name. Just as the Father sent his Son and gave him authority to act in his name, Jesus was now giving the same authority to his brothers.

Thomas was not among the eleven and when they shared with him the good news of their encounter with the risen Lord. Thomas did not believe. Just like the apostles did not believe Mary Magdalene’s nor Cleopas and his companion’s account that they had encountered the risen Lord. The following week, Jesus returned again, and seeing the marks on Jesus’ hands and his side, Thomas too believed, saying, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus acknowledges Thomas’ affirmation but also builds on it for those who would come after: “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

Today, we still have access to the gift of God’s mercy and forgiveness instituted by Jesus as is recorded in today’s Gospel of John. Jesus is just as present to us as he was to his disciples. He is present in his word when we receive it proclaimed in the Mass or read, meditate, and pray with his word on our own. Jesus is present in the Eucharist that we receive, where we behold again the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus is present through our priests who hear our confession, and he is present in each one of us.

On this Divine Mercy Sunday, may we spend some quiet time with today’s Gospel and imagine ourselves in the locked room with the disciples. May we allow Jesus to appear to us in the midst of any sorrow, grief, fear, or doubts and challenges that we may be struggling with. May our minds and hearts be open to hear his words, “Peace be with you!” and allow the radiating light of his mercy, peace, and forgiveness to wash over and through our whole being. May we allow ourselves to be healed and transformed by the love and forgiveness of Jesus.

Jesus sends us out as he sent his apostles to practice mercy and forgiveness. We do so when we react less and breathe deeply more as well as become advocates for peace, healing, joy, and reconciliation. Is there someone who could benefit from the presence of Jesus through our being present with them, someone who may in the words of Pope Francis, the Pope of Mercy, who we lost this week, need “to hear God’s good news of forgiveness and love” (Francis, 25)? Allowing ourselves to be loved by Jesus we can then be filled to overflowing to share a smile, radiate his joy, and share God’s love and mercy as he did. Alleluia!

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Close up of painting by Robert Skemp. “Have mercy on us and on the whole world.”

McCann, Deborah. 30 Days of Reflections and Prayers: What Pope Francis Says About Mercy. New London, CT: Twenty-Third Publications, 2015.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, April 27, 2025

Mary saw, believed, and shared.

Today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark, 16:9-16, is commonly called, “The Longer Ending.” Most ancient manuscripts of Mark end at 16:8. Whether this Gospel ended there or the original ending was lost is not definitively known. Many biblical scholars also recognize in these verses a different writing style, so attribute this longer ending to a different author. This ending recounts that Mary Magdalene and two disciples, presumably the same on the road to Emmaus as recorded in Luke, met the risen Jesus. When both Mary and the this pair share their experiences with the eleven, they are not believed, and then, “later, as the eleven were at table, he [Jesus] appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart”

How many times had Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for being hard of heart? Now he is saying the same to the eleven for not believing the accounts of Mary and the two disciples. We do not have a reason for their unbelief and maybe that is well and good because that gives us the opportunity to ponder for ourselves when has someone brought us a message from Jesus and we responded to them with hard hearts and were unbelieving? Are there certain people we would not believe no matter what good news they had to share with us?

Mary a woman and a woman that has had seven demons exorcized from her would not have been considered a credible witness in the ancient near East. And yet, Jesus chose her to appear to first and to bring the message of his resurrection to the Apostles. And that such an “unreliable” source, Mary’s witness, has been retained in all four gospels has something to also say – Mary encountered Jesus, believed, and shared what she saw and experienced.

Jesus does not belabor the point. His rebuke helped them to see that as his followers their hearts needed to be open to him working through others, as he told John when someone was casting out demons in Jesus’ name, “whoever is not against us is for us” (cf. Mk 9:40). He was also preparing them for those who would believe their testimonies.

Christianity is not a secret sect, it is a universal call and proclamation to be shared with all. We are celebrating this Easter Octave, as we continue to do so each year, the fullness of the Paschal Mystery. The reality that the Son of God became incarnate, entered into our human condition, lived, suffered, and died, conquered death, and rose again, for all of humanity and creation.

This was no mere resuscitation. Jesus conquered death and became the firstborn of the new creation and he invites us to participate in his reign of the kingdom of heaven. He invites us to share in his divinity. This is the Good News he wanted his eleven to proclaim when he said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature” (Mk 16:15).

Will we believe the apostolic claim that was first shared by Mary Magdalene, the Apostle to the Apostles, and has been passed on generation and generation. Will we, like those who have gone before us, hear and believe and share our experiences.  Jesus is calling us to do the same, as brothers and sisters, working in solidarity, not for a select few in our pew, but for all in our realm of influence. We are to build relationships by bringing the light, joy, and love of Jesus to each individual that we meet, person to person. Let us also be open to God working through others and receive his message from them as well! Alleluia!!!

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Photo: Mary Magdalene at the foot of the cross with Jesus. Stained glass behind the altar here at Holy Cross.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, April 26, 2025

Jesus “opened their minds to understand the scriptures.”

Just as Jesus came among Cleopas and the other disciple on their road to Emmaus, Jesus does so again as the pair was recounting their encounter with the risen Jesus. What Jesus does differently in this interaction is that he clarifies that he is not a ghost, that he is not a mere spirit. Jesus said to those gathered around him, “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 then requested some fish and he ate and talked with his disciples as he had done during their time together before his crucifixion and resurrection.

We have heard about the resurrection of Jesus, maybe for years, but it is important not to get complacent with the amazing miracle that this is. Also, we need to resist the temptation to diminish in any way the significance of the transfiguration of Jesus. Jesus was and continues to be a hypostatic union, meaning Jesus is one divine person subsisting in two natures, the human and divine.

The humanity of Jesus through his resurrection was fully actualized and transcended the limitations of the three-dimensional realm that he had experienced in his humanity before. This is how he could disappear after making himself known in the breaking of the bread and how he just came through a locked door to interact with his disciples.

The relevance of the bodily resurrection of Jesus for us is that he, in dying and conquering death, is now the reality of who we will one day be. We will be fully actualized as God has created us to be. The good news is that we do not have to wait to go to heaven for this process to begin! The path of becoming fulfilled and whole begins in this life, now, as we accept Jesus as our Lord, Savior, and Redeemer. Jesus in his encounter with his disciples from today’s reading from Luke continues the message he began at the beginning of his ministry, which is one of repentance and forgiveness.

When we were baptized we were born again as an integral part of the new creation given to us by the death and resurrection of Jesus. Through this grace, our humanity has been redeemed. Each day we are to live in humility, calling to mind our sins and repenting daily. As we do so, Jesus will forgive us, and as we receive his mercy and forgiveness we will not only be more and more conformed to him, we are to offer the same to others. Jesus suffered and died for each and every one of us, and he also seeks to live through us. Jesus is the foundation and source of our lives and he is our means to salvation. Jesus has come to show us that we are not in competition with God, but that his Father, our Father, seeks to be in solidarity with us.

One of the best ways to grow in our relationship with God is to rest and renew in God’s word. We are blessed that the Church gives us daily readings that we can read, meditate, and pray with each day. We can also certainly work through one of the Gospels or any book of the Bible at our own pace. God has a word to communicate with each of us when we make the time to be still, breathe, read, and pray.

Jesus opened up the minds of Clopas, his companion, and the Apostles. Jesus will help us to understand the Scriptures and reveal himself to us as well when we are willing to slow down long enough and are committed to doing so daily. Even when we feel tired, let us resist scrolling through social media or surfing channels, which actually don’t help us but overstimulate our nervous system and can get us hyped up on dopamine. I invite you to instead rest and abide in God’s word which will help our minds to come to rest, renew, and help us to discern better how to resist frittering away the precious time that God gives us each day.

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Photo: Let us take a the hands of our risen Lord and allow him to lead us.

Link for the Mass readings for Thursday, April 24, 2025

“Mary!” – “Rabbouni!”

As we continue through the readings for Easter we will be given glimpses of encounters with the risen Jesus. This is good news for us, as the risen Jesus of the Gospels is the same Jesus who we have the opportunity to encounter each day in his word proclaimed, the Eucharist, and one another.

Today’s Gospel account from John picks up where Sunday’s account left off. Peter and John have come to the tomb and left. Mary did not return with them after they observed the empty tomb. Mary stayed by the side of the tomb and wept. She then peered into the tomb and witnessed two angels. As she turned back she saw who she believed to be the gardener. Why a gardener? Because the tomb was in a garden. Maybe a hint of Jesus going back to the beginning and restoring what God had planned from the beginning, before the Fall.

Mary questioned the “gardener” as to the whereabouts of Jesus. She was still holding onto the loss and grief of his death and the reason why she most likely came to the tomb in the first place which was to anoint him. To find his body now gone, just added salt to the already wide open wound. When he did not immediately answer, Mary must have turned away, because: Jesus said to her, “Mary” (Jn 20:16)!

Just as a sheep recognizes the voice of its shepherd, upon hearing her name, Mary Magdalene recognized Jesus.

Peter and John left the empty tomb. We do not know why. Maybe they wanted to share with and confirm to the other disciples that Mary was correct about the empty tomb. Mary could have gone back also, but something moved her to stay. It could have been the sorrow that brought her to tears, it could have been her dedication and faithfulness to Jesus to find him, to anoint him as she had come to do that first early Easter morning, it could have been that she did not know what to do next, or there was a sense beyond her understanding that held her in place. Shortly thereafter, Jesus came to her, she recognized him not at first, but when he called her by name. When she called him “Rabbouni”, Jesus asked her to, “Stop holding on to me”.

What was Mary holding on to? Though mistaking him for the gardener at first, she came to recognize that he had indeed come back to life. But in calling Jesus Rabbouni, teacher or master, Mary was going back to the relationship she had with him before. Jesus was transfigured, he was different than he was before. Jesus had remained fully divine when he became human, and now having taken another major step to complete his Father’s work through his death and resurrection, he assumed the perfection of his humanity. His mission would not be complete until he returned back to the Father at his Ascension.

There was not only a newness to the appearance of the resurrected Jesus, but his relationship with his followers would also be transformed. He did not return to avenge those who betrayed him. Jesus charged Mary to go to his “brothers”. He no longer called them disciples but his brothers. Once Jesus returned to the Father at his Ascension, he unleashed the power of the divine communion of the love shared between him and his Father, who is the Holy Spirit which his new brothers and sisters received at Pentecost.

We are heirs to the same promise that Mary Magdalene, the Apostle to the Apostles, shared with the Twelve. Jesus has become the firstborn of the new creation and through our baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we participate in his death and Resurrection as well. We too are his brothers and sisters, we too are being configured and transformed into the Body of Christ, and we too are being perfected and divinized, because Jesus shares with each of us the relationship he shares with his Father. This is why we have cause for joy and celebration this Easter Season. This is why, like Mary, we are called to, “Go and announce the Good News of the Resurrection” in our everyday lives! Alleluia!!!

Painting: Are we willing to seek Jesus with the same love as Mary did?

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, April 22, 2025

Who will we believe?

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were bewildered from their encounter with the angel and the empty tomb. As they ran to get the news to the disciples, they were also dealing with mixed emotions, feeling both “fearful yet overjoyed,” (Mt 28:8) when in the midst of their travel they were greeted by Jesus. Jesus assured them and then sent them to, “tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me” (Mt 28:10). Off the pair went to share the message that Jesus had risen!

At the same time, some of the guards who witnessed the event at the tomb took a different way and headed into the city to meet with the chief priests. They relayed the incident about the earthquake and the angel appearing to them and the two women. After deliberating, the chief priests and the elders paid the guards a large sum to perpetuate the tale that his disciples took Jesus away.

Who would be believed, the two women or the guards? Apparently both! Mary Magdalene and the other Mary fulfilled their first apostolic role and passed on Jesus’ message to his disciples for them to meet him in Galilee. Galilee was where the public ministry of Jesus began. They would all go back to the beginning. The tale spread by the guards would also be believed, because by the time of the writing of the Gospel of Matthew, the community, to which he wrote, were aware that, “this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day” (Mt 28:15).

Did Jesus really rise again from the dead as the angel, Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary claim or was this an elaborate plot by the disciples of Jesus to stage his resurrection, as the guards portrayed? How we answer these questions ought to make a difference in our lives. If we say yes, that we believe in Jesus and that he rose again, do we live our lives any differently than those who say they don’t believe?

We, who follow Jesus who rose again, are to be like the angel and each Mary. We are to be an Alleluia people, allowing the risen Christ to proclaim through us to those facing death – the promise of hope and life; to those living in the darkness of sin and addiction – the inviting light of a new direction; to those who are weak and indifferent – our presence and accompaniment. Each day, during this Easter Season, may we become less, so that the risen Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, becomes more.

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Photo: Il Ragazo from http://www.cathopic.com

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, April 21, 2025

Jesus has risen from the tomb, Alleluia!!!

Mary of Magdala comes to the tomb during the wee hours of the morning while it is still dark and finds the stone rolled away. She runs to Peter and John to share with them the news, that: “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him” (Jn 20:2). Peter and John retrace the steps of Mary, running to find the tomb empty as well. All three are stunned because “they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead” (Jn 20:9).

How can we blame them? Do we fully understand the reality and fact that Jesus has risen from the dead? There is conjecture today that Jesus did not really die, but woke up three days later, aching all over from the excruciating effects of the crucifixion. Others say that the accounts of the resurrection were mass hallucinations, or that the Gospel accounts of Jesus rising from the dead are a mere myth. These propositions do not stand up to the fact that Jesus, fully God and fully man died, entered death, and conquered it. In so doing he entered into a new life, a new reality. Jesus, in becoming the firstborn of the dead, was transfigured from our three-dimensional reality that we all know and experience, such that he now resonates at a higher pitch, in a higher dimensional reality. Jesus is the firstborn of a new creation!

All of human history changed in that tomb because of this new fact of the resurrection of Jesus. How this has happened is indeed a mystery, but in our seeking understanding, we will fall short and be frustrated if we only approach the mystery of God in the same way that we tackle a problem to be solved. The Apostles and disciples of Jesus struggled to find meaning and understanding about how Jesus crucified was now gone from the tomb. They came to understand the Mystery of the Resurrection, the same way that they would the mystery that Jesus is fully human and fully divine. This happened when they encountered Jesus again. The Mystery of the Resurrection is not a problem to be solved, but a person to encounter, a relationship to embrace, as it was for the Apostles and is so for each of us.

Faith seeking understanding is grounded in having an encounter with a person, Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Pope Francis writes: “The joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. Those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness” (Francis, 9).

Easter Sunday is the day where this joy first truly became possible, and this joy is needed now more than ever. For in each age there has been darkness in the world. Sin, suffering, and death continue to be present in people’s experiences. Yet, because of this day, we celebrate Jesus’ victory over death. We celebrate the truth that the light has overcome the darkness, that death does not have the final answer, Jesus does. We can place our hope in Jesus that no matter what challenges we are experiencing he will guide and accompany us.

We are an alleluia people, meaning that no matter what ails or troubles us, we are a people endowed with hope. We have not only been loved into existence, but we have also been loved in such a way that the promise of eternity is real, where suffering and death are no more! A promise I believe in even more strongly on this Easter. This is not only my fifth Easter without JoAnn but this year, I have also been blessed to have helped and accompanied some forty brothers and sisters in Christ along their journey home to God since becoming a priest.

I continue to hope that JoAnn and they are all now celebrating along with Jesus, Mary, and the saints. I hope they are now where we, hope that we all will one day be, because Jesus has opened up heaven for us in the humanity he assumed, the death he conquered, and the resurrection we celebrate today! Alleluia!

May God bless each of you and fill you with his joy! Happy Easter!!!

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Photo: Resurrection of Jesus, stain glass window here at Holy Cross.

Francis. Evangelii Gaudium, Joy of the Gospel, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Frederick, MD: The Word Among Us Press, 2013.

Link for the Mass readings for Sunday, April 20, 2025

“Do not be afraid, just have faith.”

“Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, ‘Who has touched my clothes'” (Mk 5:30)? The woman could have slipped away, she could have stood still and said nothing, no one knew. His disciples were bewildered that Jesus asked such a question with so many pressing about him. But the woman approached with “fear and trembling” and told him the truth. Jesus did not admonish her for breaking a social taboo but publicly acknowledged her faith and so empowered her with a deeper healing than the merely physical that she sought.

All the while as this scene transpired, Jairus must have been in agony. He knew how close his daughter was to death, and every second counted. Jesus took that limited, precious time and engaged with this woman. Just as they were about to resume their journey, and he began to breathe again, the terrible news came that his daughter had passed away.

What might have flashed through his mind at that moment? The time Jesus took to talk with the woman, could that have made the difference? He was a synagogue official and would have known the taboos she crossed to reach out and touch Jesus in public, he knew that in doing so she would make Jesus unclean, she was a woman considered the lowest of low. She was frail and pallid from her condition, at death’s door herself, yet she had mustered such courage and faith to touch him. She took such a risk. While these or any other thoughts were passing through his mind, Jesus assured him, “Do not be afraid, just have faith” (Mk 5:36).

Jairus had just witnessed such faith with the woman healed from the hemorrhage, probably someone until this very moment for whom he might have shown disdain for. Maybe just maybe, if he could muster the same faith as her. Jesus could bring his daughter back to life just as Jesus had brought this woman, who was death’s door back to life and wholeness. A light shone in the darkness of his despair and the darkness did not overcome it. He would not be let down. Jesus indeed healed his daughter. He took her hand as he had done with Peter’s mother-in-law, and commanding her to rise and walk, she came back to life.

How many of us have ourselves or have ever known someone who has experienced such great needs as did Jairus, whose twelve-year old daughter died, or the woman who had been suffering for twelve years with hemorrhages, with no healing from doctors all this time? In both of these cases Jesus brought about miraculous healings. How many of us have experienced the opposite? No healing that we prayed for. We wondered where Jesus was or why he didn’t bother to help? The truth is Jesus is present, though he may or may not have brought about the outcome we may have sought.

February 2 marked five years and five months since JoAnn died. She was not healed from the pancreatic cancer that ate away at her body, as was the woman with the hemorrhage. Nor did Jesus come to raise JoAnn from the dead, as he did for Jaurus’ daughter, while I laid by her side and held her hand awaiting the funeral home to pick up her body. Does that mean Jesus does not heal anymore or that there is no relevance in the readings of the Gospel of Mark for us today?

No. Quite the opposite. Entering into the daily rhythm of reading, praying with, and meditating upon these accounts helps us to know him not as a historical figure but to encounter him as our Lord and Savior, brother and friend, who is present with us in this and each moment. As we enter into each passage, slowly and prayerfully, we are invited to enter into his memory, receive his direction and guidance. Over these five and a half years, I have healed, become aware of further areas in need of healing, attachments to let go of, and Jesus has helped me each step of the way. No step has been easy, but Jesus has given me the guidance and strength to make each one possible.

Read again prayerfully today’s account. May we pray for the courage and faith to approach Jesus and place all our trust in him for each situation as this woman did. When we struggle, when the ground feels a bit shaky underneath, let us take to heart and believe in the words that Jesus spoke to Jairus, “Do not be afraid, just have faith (Mk 5:36). When we place our trust and faith in Jesus, who is truly with us through it all, the good, the bad, and the ugly, we will experience his love, direction, and strength with each step we take along the way.

Photo: JoAnn received an even greater healing and I believe now that Jesus did come that day. He took JoAnn by the hand, and she like Jairus’ daughter arose to be with him for all eternity. 

Link for the Mass readings for Tuesday, February 4, 2025

When we die: We don’t become angels? We neither marry nor are given in marriage?

The Sadducees present an absurd scenario for Jesus to respond to: a woman’s spouse died leaving her childless. She then successively married her husband’s six brothers who all subsequently, died, also leaving her childless. The Sadducees then asked, “Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” (Lk 20:33)? The Sadducees sought to have Jesus weigh in on whether or not there was a resurrection of the dead.

The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection from the dead because they only believed in a literal interpretation of the Torah, the law, or the teachings, which we as Christians today recognize as the first five books of the Old Testament. In the Torah, there is no overt reference to the resurrection. The Pharisees recognized the written Torah, but also acknowledged an oral tradition beyond the written text, and thus acknowledged the resurrection of the dead. Jesus deftly answered the question by keying in on the verse from Exodus: “That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called ‘Lord’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive” (Lk 20:37-38).

Jesus pointed out that God was not a God of the dead but of the living. He also granted some insight into the heavenly realm as he continued: “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise” (Lk 20:34-36).

Heaven is a different reality than we experience here on earth, a different dimension beyond the temporal time as we know it. We will no longer marry because we will be living eternally, there will be no death, so there will be no more need to procreate. We will be “like angels” in that we will be eternal beings. That said, we will not be nor do we become angels. Angels are finite, eternal, spiritual beings. We are finite, eternal, human beings consisting of a soul and a body.

Our bodies are separated at our death from our soul, as Jesus pointed out with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in sharing that God is a God of the living, but will be reunited at the end of time when the new age that Jesus has ushered in with his death and resurrection comes to fulfillment. Until that time in heaven those who have gone before us are experiencing what we hope to experience. God face to face. A deeper and more intimate communion with the living God.

Many would scoff and say, “That’s it?” I am sure there is more, but if that was all, there would be more joy, more acceptance, more totality of being than we could ever imagine or embrace in just a second of that eternal gaze. As the psalmist wrote: “Better one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere” (Psalm 84:11).

Definitively speaking, heaven is a mystery. That stated, the Mystery of God is not a problem to be solved but a relationship to experience and develop. Looking up to the things of heaven, in which we will eventually experience the fulfillment of our deepest longing, helps us to realize that what we experience here on earth is not all there is.

We may be taken aback when Jesus shared that there is no longer marriage in heaven, but he is revealing the promise of deeper and more intimate relationships, even more intimate than the marital, sexual embrace. We will know one another more deeply because we will be free from that which puts up barriers between us, the wounds, insecurities, and attachments we engage in here.

In heaven we will be free from any stain of sin, healed from emotional, psychological, and physical wounds. We can simply be. We can experience the freedom of resting in God’s loving gaze and embracing who we are and who God has created us to be for all eternity. We will also experience one another in the same way, with the same unconditional love. The greatest joy we have experienced in this life will be far surpassed by an eternal present and ever growing consolation from the infinite outpouring of God’s eternal love for us and our eternal and unconditional love for one another.

Photo: JoAnn is now where I one day will be.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, November 23, 2024

“Everyone who seeks the Son and believes in him may have eternal life.”

“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who seeks the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day” (Jn 6:40).

This is our hope and what we believe, that we who encounter Jesus and believe in him shall have eternal life. God’s will, what he created all of us for, is to be in communion with him and one another in this life and the next. A word of assurance that I often lean on is from the book of Wisdom from our first reading today, “The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us utter destruction. But they are in peace” (Wisdom 3:1-3).

The miracle of Jesus raising the daughter of the Roman official, Jairus, embodies these verses from Wisdom. As Jesus entered the home of the official many were “making a commotion” and Jesus dismissed them stating: “Go away! the girl is not dead but sleeping.” He was ridiculed by the crowd but paid them no heed. He went to the girl, took her hand, “and the little girl arose” (cf. Mt 9:18-26).

Jesus assured his followers as he assures us today that the will of his Father is that all will be saved. Experiences like the raising of Jairus’ daughter, the son of the widow from Nain, and Lazarus, were not only seeds of hope planting the promise of his resurrection to come but a foretaste of the raising of humanity on the last day. His disciples witnessed Jesus’ actions and words, and not only kept these experiences in their hearts but shared them.

Through the Gospels we are able to enter into and experience the encounters Jesus experienced with others again and again. We also experience Jesus each time we pray, participate in the sacraments, communal worship, and in our willingness to love one another. In each of these moments, we are conformed and shaped into who we have been created and called by God to be in this life and the next.

This All Souls Day we celebrate the gift that Jesus was victorious over sin and death, not only for himself but for all of us. Unlike those he raised from the dead and died again: “We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him” (Romans 6:9). The difference between All Saints yesterday, and the commemoration of all souls today, is that we pray for those who have died still in need of the purifying fire of God’s love. Just as “gold in the furnace” (Wisdom 3:6) is purified, so God purifies those in purgatory. Let us pray for them today that they may be freed from any stain of sin so to also join the communion of Saints!

“Merciful Father, hear our prayers and console us. As we renew our faith in your Son, whom you raised from the dead, strengthen our hope that all our departed brothers and sisters will share in his resurrection, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever” (Prayer for All Souls, from the Liturgy of the Hours).

Photo: Rosary walk a few weeks back, Riverside Park, Vero Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Saturday, November 2, 2024

Jesus gave his life that we might have life.

Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were overwhelmed with grief (Mt 17:22-23).

This is the second time in the Gospel of Matthew that Jesus shares with his disciples that he will die soon. They are overwhelmed with grief because their focus is on the first part of Jesus’ statement that he will be handed over to death. They do not understand or yet comprehend the second part about how he will be raised on the third day. How could they? There was no point of reference for them. Jesus did bring three people back to life during his ministry, but Jesus would not be merely resuscitated as they were and just die again. Jesus would resurrect and conquer death.

For us, we can read today’s Gospel about the impending death of Jesus and gloss over it a bit too easily. Because we celebrate Easter each year, we celebrate that Jesus has risen. Yet, do we give ourselves time to ponder the wonder and reality of the Resurrection of Jesus? Does the fact of the Resurrection, the reality that Jesus has conquered death and become the firstborn of the new creation really have relevance in our lives?

The life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus matters! The missing piece for those for whom this statement doesn’t register any relevance may be that they do not want to think about death all that much. To be honest, none of us really want to come face to face with our own mortality, and most of us don’t until we or a loved one is forced to.

Beginning the summer after my freshman year of college, I began working the second shift in a nursing home as a CNA. It was the first time that I experienced death up close through the care of the residents. They were not merely patients, they had become more like family.

The first death I experienced surprised me. I was with a woman holding her hand as she peacefully gave up her last breath. I was surprised and blessed by the peace I felt. Another time, I had the opposite experience. When I arrived at work and went directly to a man named Richard whose health had been slipping, only to find his bed empty. I felt the loss and the grief begin to rise and then found out he had not died, only his room had been changed.

The important lesson that I learned from these, the other experiences of death since then, and especially when faced with JoAnn’s diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, is that life is fragile. To appreciate life, the people in our lives, and not to take anyone or any moment for granted is important. Life goes too quick, even in the best-case scenarios. All that God has given us is a gift and it is important to appreciate and thank God for those people he has brought into our lives as well as all that he has given us.

Jesus understands each of our struggles and tribulations, our sins and our failings, as well as our deepest hopes and dreams. Jesus also knows about our deepest fear of death, for he, as a human being, experienced the reality of his impending death in the Garden of Gethsemane. He sought to help his apostles prepare for his death though they did not understand. The crucifix, the beautiful sacramental object of Jesus on the Cross, is a reminder to us all that death does not have the final answer, Jesus, fully human and fully divine, does.

Photo: Crucifix in the adoration chapel of Holy Cross Catholic Church, Vero Beach, FL.

Link for the Mass readings for Monday, August 12, 2024