Readings: Isa. 52: 13-53; Hebrews 10: 16-25; John 18: 1-19:42. Good Friday once again. Why do we celebrate or remember a death so long ago? Why do we immerse ourselves in liturgies so somber and quiet? After all this is very much an interruption from our daily life; the hectic pace, the quest for productivity, …
Readings: Exodus 12: 1-4; 11-14; I Cor. 11: 23-26; John 13: 1-17; 31b-35 “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you,” said Jesus in today’s Gospel reading but what does it mean? Love is a much-used word in our world and its popularity can lead to …
Today is the World Health Organization World Health Day1, with an emphasis this year on celebrating the work of nurses and midwives during this International Year of the Nurse and Midwife2. It is hard to imagine a more appropriate theme for the day of observance this year than to celebrate the vital and selfless work …
Ezekiel 37: 12-14; Romans 8:8-11; John 11: 1-45. “Untie him and let him go!” says Jesus in today’s Gospel’s reading after he brought life back to a dead Lazarus. Poor Lazarus, wrapped up in burial shroud with new life bursting within, found himself all tied up. “Untie her and let her go!” How many ways …
1 Samuel 16 1b,6-7, 10-13a; Ephesians 5: 8-14; John 9: 1-41. You might remember the movie The Matrix, which still remains a cult classic with many people. In the film a person is given a choice of seeing reality as it is or how we normally view it. While for the film reality was, in …
A few days ago, my wife Sheila and I were at our local warehouse store (and no, we were not buying a five-year supply of toilet paper :-). It was quite busy, and many people in the checkout line had their carts filled with cases of bottled water. They would push their carts out to …
Readings: Exodus 17: 3-7; Romans 5: 1-2, 5-8; John 4: 5-42. This time of year in California it is common to check the newspaper not only for Spring Training baseball scores ( 😊 ) but also for reports on the accumulated snow pack on the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Interest in snow accumulation so far north …
“…we are facing a global health emergency that is like nothing we have seen in our lifetimes. But our hope is in the Lord and we know that he will give us his grace and mercy in our time of need.” -Archbishop José H. Gomez Archdiocese of Los Angeles President of US Conference of Catholic Bishops …
Second Sunday of Lent and today we hear in the Gospel reading from Matthew about the story of the Transfiguration. Jesus went to a remote mountain with three disciples (James, John, and Peter) to prayer and there was a vision of the exalted Christ alongside Elijah and Moses. On the mountaintop, the three disciples got …
Today’s reading from the Gospel of Matthew is the story of Jesus’ temptation in the desert. It begins by stating: “Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights and afterward he was famished.” Sounds like an understatement to me! After forty days without food! So what is the point and why did Matthew have Jesus begin …