The Way and the Truth and the Life (Easter V - Cycle A)

One of the false claims of secular culture is that Jesus was merely a great teacher who said insightful things about human life but never claimed to be divine. On the contrary, throughout the Gospels, Jesus clearly and unambiguously presents himself as divine, as he does in the Gospel reading for this Sunday. He states: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:19). If a mere human were to say that, we would consider the statement blasphemous. Only Jesus, who is God Incarnate, can make such a claim.

The Gospel passage for today was a key element of the development of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. One way to try to conceptualize the mystery of the Holy Trinity is to start with the premise that God is infinite love. Love, by its very nature, requires a love dynamic. In God, there is the Father, who is the One Who Loves. His love is received and reciprocated by the Son, who is the Beloved. The love that exists between the Father and the Son is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Trinity is an eternal exchange of infinite love, which is not bound by time, but takes place in the eternal timeless now of God’s infinite nature.

Read more...


Photo Credit: Saint Mary of the Presentation Catholic Church (Geneva, Indiana) - stained glass, Behold I Stand at the Door and Knock, detail from Wikimedia Commons.

Christ Is the Only Way (Good Shepherd Sunday - Cycle A)

Psalm 23, the Responsorial Psalm for this Sunday, is arguably the most well-known and beloved psalm from the Holy Bible and one that is often sung at funerals. The central image of this psalm is that of the Lord as the Good Shepherd, which is the theme of the Fourth Sunday of Easter every year.

The metaphor of the Lord as the Shepherd runs through the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments. In the Gospels, as we see in the passage for this Sunday, Christ applies the image of the Shepherd to himself. He is the Good Shepherd, and we, his followers, are his sheep. In the context of the biblical tradition, for Christ to call himself the Shepherd is to claim divine authority. Christ makes it clear that it is through him and only through him that we can have eternal life. The doctrine of Christ being the only path to salvation is stated very clearly in the New Testament, especially in the Gospel of John. The biblical teaching is clear: There is no way to eternal life in Heaven without Christ.

Read more...


Photo Credit: Jesus as the Good Shepherd from the early Christian catacomb of Domitilla/Domatilla circa 350 A.D. from Wikimedia Commons.

Preparing for the Greatest Gift (Easter III - Cycle A)

The account of the encounter with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, found in the Gospel Reading for this Sunday, is one of the most famous and beloved passages from the New Testament. Emmaus was a town about seven miles northwest of Jerusalem. Today, pilgrims can visit the ruins of a Byzantine era church that, according to one tradition, was built at the site where Jesus ate with the two disciples.

In the passage, we see that the two disciples walking toward Emmaus still do not understand what has truly happened. They do not know who Jesus really is and do not understand what he has actually accomplished. Jesus uses the Old Testament to instruct them, starting with Moses and the Prophets. Our contemporary nomenclature with regard to the Books of the Bible is different from what the books were called at the time of Jesus. "Moses" referred to the first five books of the Bible, known as the Five Books of Moses. "The Prophets" meant what we now call the historical and the prophetic books.

Read more...


Photo Credit: Ruins of the Byzantine era church at Emmaus by Zoltan Abraham (c) 2016.

Divine Mercy Reshapes History (Divine Mercy Sunday - Cycle A)

One of the most significant sites for human history is the Upper Room, located in the Mt. Zion area of Jerusalem. It was in this room that Jesus ate the Last Supper with the Apostles. It was here that Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, when they were hiding behind closed doors. And it was in the Upper Room that the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples at Pentecost. The original building is no longer there, but in the 12th century, the Crusaders, who worked hard to preserve the holy sites of Christianity in the Holy Land, erected a new structure in its place.

Today, the Upper Room is under the control of the state of Israel. Pilgrims and tourists are welcome to visit the building, but Christians are usually not permitted to hold services there. One rare exception was Pope Francis, who was allowed to say Mass in the room. Today, Christians are limited in their access to this holy place; whereas the first disciples were afraid to leave it, for fear of being arrested.

Read more...


Photo Credit: Church of the Divine Mercy, bird's eye view from Wikimedia Commons.

Love Is the Message of Easter (Easter Sunday - Cycle A)

In the midst of our beautiful celebration of Easter, we should remember that, in a way, each Mass is also Easter. On the one hand, each Mass celebrates the fullness of our faith. On the other hand, the Church has given us the gift of the Liturgical Year, a cycle of seasons and feasts, which helps us to focus in on different aspects of our faith. At Easter, we celebrate in a special way the resurrection of Christ.

But just as each Mass is Easter, each Mass is also Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Holy Thursday is rooted in the Jewish Passover celebration. When the Israelites were captives in Egypt, Pharaoh persistently refused to let them go. In response, God sent 10 plagues to overcome Pharaoh's resistance. The last plague involved the Angel of Death flying over Egypt and striking down the first born male in every household. The Israelites could escape this punishment by sacrificing and eating a lamb and smearing its blood on the doorframe of their houses. When the Angel of Death saw the blood on the doorframe, he passed over each of those homes, thereby sparing the family inside.

Read more...


Photo Credit: The Empty Tomb of Christ in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre by Zoltan Abraham (c) 2016.

What Is Our Promised Land? (Palm Sunday - Cycle A)

When I went to Rome for the first time, over ten years ago, I spent many hours looking at the ancient Roman ruins in and around the Forum Romanum. Today, only fragments of the original buildings remain, and it is hard to picture what the area would have looked like in its glory days. And yet, once upon a time, those buildings were the heart of mighty Rome, the Empire that straddled much of the known world. The lives of millions in many lands were shaped in various ways by the decisions that were made in those ancient edifices. But today, so little remains. Tourists come and go, taking selfies or snapping pictures of the cute cats that roam the ruins. Those old stones are little more than just curiosities.

Contemplating the former glory of the Roman Empire makes me wonder about our own country. Will our magnificent government buildings in Washington, D.C., one day be nothing more than ruins where cats wander and tourists take pictures and buy souvenirs? Dystopian science-fiction stories often depict such scenarios, but hopefully nothing of the sort will happen for many centuries. But no country is permanent. No political oder is forever. Civilizations rise and fall, as the march of history goes on. That is also one of the lessons of Palm Sunday for us.

Read more...


Photo Credit: View of Jerusalem from the Kidron Valley by Zoltan Abraham (c) 2016.

Much More Than Endless Life (Lent V - Cycle A)

The famous Christian writer C.S. Lewis once suggested that Lazarus was the first Christian martyr. Why did he make this unusual claim? His contention was that Lazarus had already gone through the experience of death when Jesus called him back to life. Lazarus would then need to go through the process of dying again at a later time. By being brought back to life, Lazarus was, Lewis suggested, the first disciple who was called upon to commit to dying for Christ.

This take by Lewis might seem a bit strange, but it points to a deeper reality. Our physical life in this world is not our final end. It is not the ultimate life we hope for. As is often the case in The Gospel of John, there are layers of meaning in the passage for this Sunday.

Read more...


Photo Credit: First Century Jewish Tomb by Zoltan Abraham (c) 2016.