'Reflections' Tagged Posts (Page 4)
Celebration of the Lord’s Passion Reflection (2020)
We acknowledge Jesus Christ as our great high priest. We get the most detailed discussion of that in the letter to the Hebrews, the second reading on Good Friday. But what do priests do? We can think of priests as religious leaders who teach the congregation, lead worship, lend an ear to people who need to talk. An interesting aspect of human culture is that, over millennia, there have been and are now thousands of religions. Most of them have priests and what priests…
Holy Thursday Reflection (2020)
There are a lot of important and interesting elements to St. John’s Gospel. He gives by far the longest, most detailed description of the Last Supper. Matthew, Mark, and Luke use two or three pages. St. John’s record goes five chapters, starting with chapter 13 and finishing at the end of chapter 17. We also only get the tradition of washing feet at the Thursday evening Mass of the Last Supper from St. John (John 13:1 – 15). Very interestingly, St. John does not…
Christ at Mass Palm Sunday Reflection (2020)
The Passion and death of Jesus is so full of many sobering and profound moments, all of which could be meditated and prayed about on many levels. Many think one of the most poignant moments of the Passion is when Jesus cries out “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”, echoing Psalm 22 in the Old Testament On one level, we suspect we know exactly what Jesus means by these words. Of course, Jesus feels abandoned by his…
Palm Sunday Mass Reflection (2020)
On Palm Sunday (like Good Friday) we read the story of the passion and death of Christ. Passion, or Palm, Sunday is the only Mass we open with a Gospel reading (Matthew 21:1 – 11, Mark 11:1 – 10, John 12:12 – 16). This highlights Christ entry into Jerusalem and marks the beginning of Holy Week. Jesus sends the disciples to get an ass and colt for him to ride into Jerusalem. The entry of Christ into the city has…
Christ at Mass Reflection (March 29th, 2020)
As a preview to Easter week and a timely parallel to the COVID-19 events we are currently facing, all of today’s readings tell us of death yielding to a new way of life. In the first reading [EZ 37:12-14], the prophet Ezekiel urges the exiled Israelite people in Babylon to look beyond the siege and destruction of Jerusalem to a new future, when God’s Spirit will restore their nation. Just like we need to believe today during these unknown times,…
Mass Reflection (March 29th, 2020)
Christ uses parables as an important teaching tool. We have some difficulty engaging their impact because we have grown up hearing them. We tend to think of parables as touchy-feely stories of God’s love. Actually, parables always have an unusual twist. Christ’s original audience would have been puzzled or disturbed by the twists and turns in the story (e.g. The Unjust Steward Luke 16:1 – 13). We need to listen for those discords. Christ means them to lead us to…