Article for Easter

Monday of the Second Week of Easter

April 28, 2025

  Jesus uses an expression with Nicodemus today in our gospel that Nicodemus finds puzzling. Jesus tells him that one must be born from above to the enter the Kingdom. This was an image Jesus was using to communicate the newness one will experience when they take on this new identity, this new form that…

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Sunday of Divine Mercy

April 27, 2025

  When a child does something wrong, and they know that they have done something wrong, what does the child do? They go and hide. Why does a child hide? Because the child knows what they did was wrong and they are scared of getting punished and being embarrassed because they’ve been caught red handed.…

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Saturday in the Octave of Easter

April 26, 2025

  Jesus’ appearances to his disciples following his resurrection were very powerful and emotional moments. To have a loved one return from the dead would bring out in us reactions very similar to Mary Magdelene’s, the two travelers to Emmaus, and the disciples. But the long-term effect would be deeper and more meaningful. St. Paul,…

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Friday in the Octave of Easter

April 25, 2025

  Jesus frequently comes to persons through normal everyday events. A simple conversation while fishing. A suggestion to try something different to improve the chances for a catch. Breakfast afterwards. All of the senses (sight, touch, taste, hearing, and smell) combine to gradually unveil the truth: Jesus is in our midst. He has now appeared…

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Thursday in the Octave of Easter

April 24, 2025

  News about the resurrection of Jesus spread very slowly. Mary Magdelene was the first to hear and then to see him. The realization eventually also dawned upon the travelers to Emmaus. The disciples in Jerusalem came to know of both events. Still they, too, were startled, terrified, and troubled when Jesus appeared to them.…

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Wednesday in the Octave of Easter

April 23, 2025

  The burial of a loved one is sobering. When the body is lowered into the tomb and earth covers it, reality sets in. Two men were still trying to make sense Jesus’ death as they walked to Emmaus. He was really gone. Why did all these things happen? And now there are rumors that…

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Tuesday in the Octave of Easter

April 22, 2025

  St. John’s telling of Mary Magdelene at Jesus’ tomb lacks some of the drama of St. Matthew’s version yesterday. In place of a great earthquake, Mary is simply weeping. The depth of her grief over the empty tomb is such that she is neither startled by two angels who are nearby, nor does she…

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Monday in the Octave of Easter

April 21, 2025

  The Gospel readings at Mass this week will be taken from each of the four Evangelists. Through them, we will relive what the followers of Christ experienced immediately after his crucifixion and burial. The first readings at Mass this week are all from the Acts of the Apostles, and they begin after the Holy…

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Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church

May 20, 2024

  This memorial was added to the calendar for the Monday after Pentecost at the direction of Pope Francis in 2018. As with all of the titles that honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, this one is not new. Pope St Paul VI in 1964, at the Vatican Council II promulgated the Blessed Virgin Mary as…

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Pentecost Sunday

May 19, 2024

  Today we celebrate Pentecost: the 50th day of our Easter celebration, the conclusion of the Paschal Season, which goes all the way back to the beginning of Lent. This is the time when we reflect again on our redemption and what it all means and who we have become, that is, we are God’s…

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Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter

May 18, 2024

  St. Paul has arrived in Rome. During his final two years, he will have private lodgings (guarded by only one soldier), and he will be permitted to have visitors. But what about the communities he founded in Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae, and Thessalonica (to name a few)? What about Barnabas, Silas, Mark, Luke,…

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Friday of the Seventh Week of Easter

May 17, 2024

  The last few days have provided snapshots of St. Paul’s last missionary journey. He knew even before arriving in Jerusalem how things would end. We all knew. There was no self-glorification and no self-pity. He had worked too hard for things to end so pathetically. There was his conversion to Christianity and the pain…

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Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter

May 16, 2024

  Unlike St. Matthias, who knew Jesus from his baptism to his Ascension, St. Paul had not been a disciple of Jesus. In his ignorance, he persecuted The Way until he experienced the kindness and charity of a fearful Ananias, who brought him into the Christian community at Damascus. Barnabas was entrusted with Paul’s initial…

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Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter

May 15, 2024

  The ministry of Jesus was primarily to the Jewish people. The apostles at first stayed close to Jerusalem to shore up the community of followers. It made sense to begin there, because the Jews believed there was only one God (monotheism). This faith tradition also awaited the coming of a Messiah. There was at…

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Feast of St. Matthias, Apostle

May 14, 2024

  Before his Ascension, Jesus commissioned those whom he had chosen to continue his ministry of spreading the Gospel message. But one who had been chosen, Judas Iscariot, betrayed Jesus. St. Peter assembled the Christian community in Jerusalem and, referring to Psalm 109:8, determined that someone should be chosen to replace Judas. What sort of…

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Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter

May 13, 2024

  Jesus built his Church upon St. Peter, the rock and cornerstone. He was the first Apostle to the Gentiles. However, the Church needed a firm foundation from which to evangelize, and St. Peter spent much time in and around Jerusalem teaching, preparing disciples for ministry, and fundraising for the missions. The Lord found another…

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Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

May 12, 2024

  The ministry of Jesus began with humility. God became one like us, and he learned under the tutelage of his parents. His life’s work began at 30 years of age and spanned three years. His target market was the Jewish people, who already believed that there is only one God. Jesus looked for and…

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Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter

May 11, 2024

  “The Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God.” (v.27) God loves us because we have accepted his Son, whom he sent into the world, the one sent to reveal God’s love for us. Our acceptance is put in terms of belief –…

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Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter

May 10, 2024

  You will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy. Pope St. Paul VI, in his exhortation on Joy, gave the Church a practical way to work at turning grief to joy. Here are his words at the end of his exhortation.        …

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Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter

May 9, 2024

  “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.” Jean Corbon, in his book, “The Wellspring of Worship,” makes an interesting statement:            “The silence of the resurrection is here more than ever the mystery of the kingdom…

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Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

May 8, 2024

  “The Spirit of truth” … will declare to you the things that are coming.” Yes, and these things have come! But they are not “these things” but this “thing”, the reality, Christ! The Lectionary used at mass speaks of this reality: “’The purpose of the homily at Mass is that the spoken word of…

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Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

May 7, 2024

  “It is better for you that I go…” …so that the Holy Spirit could come! This gift from the Father and the Son is indispensable in the face of a very secular and sometimes hostile culture. Because of Christ’s coming this “world is on trial. The Paraclete is the prosecuting attorney. He will prove…

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Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter

May 6, 2024

  “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me.” Jesus tells us, in another place in St. John’s Gospel: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always.” As…

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Sixth Sunday of Easter

May 5, 2024

  “I have told you this so that my own joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” (v 11) Before this, Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,…

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Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter

May 4, 2024

  The message that Jesus speaks to us today is difficult to hear. He speaks of the hatred for the Gospel that he experienced, and which put him on the cross. And he assures us that we will experience the same hatred. And he says to us “they will do these things because they do…

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Feast of Sts. Philip and James, Apostles

May 3, 2024

  Today we celebrate the feast of the Apostles Philip and James. Thanks to this we have a special Gospel passage for today. In this passage Philip tells Jesus, “show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Thanks to Philip, Jesus, in his response to Philip, brings some clarity to his relation…

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Memorial of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

May 2, 2024

  In today’s gospel, when Jesus tells us “if you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,” it may at first seem to us that he is saying that his love is conditional, that it depends on our obedience. But he immediately follows this up by saying “just as I have kept my…

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Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter

May 1, 2024

  Today we have an optional memorial in honor of St. Joseph the Worker. When I was serving as a priest in Kingston, Jamaica, we would transfer this memorial to May 23, which is Jamaica’s National Labour Day, celebrated on this date to honor the beginning of a Jamaican labor movement that led to Jamaica’s…

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Tuesday of Fifth Week of Easter

April 30, 2024

  In today’s Gospel, Jesus says to us, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you.” This peace that Christ gives us is larger and stronger than the world and the peace that the world can give. This is because Christ’s peace…

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Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

April 29, 2024

  Jesus says to us today, “whoever loves me will keep my word.” This is because we can only love what we know, and because we know Christ, we recognize the truth of his words. That doesn’t mean that it is always easy. In chapter 6 of the Gospel of John, Jesus is teaching the…

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Fifth Sunday of Easter

April 28, 2024

  In today’s gospel passage, Jesus tells us, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” This is a beautiful thought, that we are connected to Christ, and that his life flows into us and gives us a share in his Divine life. We shouldn’t think of this as being metaphorical. Rather, it is very…

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Saturday of the Fourth Week of Easter

April 27, 2024

  So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. Acts 13:52. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God. Ps. 98.3. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater…

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Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter

April 26, 2024

  What God promised our fathers he has brought to fulfillment for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. Acts 13: 32-33. R. You are my Son; this day I have begotten you. Ps. 2. 7. I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.…

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Feast of Saint Mark, evangelist

April 25, 2024

  So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. 1 Peter 5:7 R. (2) For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord. Ps. 89. 2 These signs will accompany those who believe Mk.16:16. In philosophy, a massive debate has raged for ages about the…

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Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

April 24, 2024

  While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Acts 13.1. R. O God, let all the nations praise you! Ps. 67.4 I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in…

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Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter

April 23, 2024

  …and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians. Acts 11: 23, 26. R. All you nations, praise the Lord. Ps.117:1a The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. John 10: 24. Once I visited France and stayed…

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Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter

April 22, 2024

  “God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.” Acts 11:18. Ps. 42. “Athrist is my soul for the living God.” “I am the gate for the sheep… Whoever enters through me will be saved. I came so that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.” John 10: 8,10. When I…

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Fourth Sunday of Easter

April 21, 2024

  “He is the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.” Acts 4:11 “The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone.” Ps. 118, 1. “Beloved, we are God’s children now,” 1 Jn 3: 2. “I am the Good Shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”…

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Saturday of the Third Week of Easter

April 20, 2024

  Many of Jesus’ disciples reject him and return to their former way of life because they cannot accept what he is teaching them. This teaching regards his divinity, that he will bring about new and eternal life, and his gift to us of the Eucharist. The people cannot accept what turns out to be…

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Friday of the Third Week of Easter

April 19, 2024

  Saul thought very highly of himself. He knew the teachings of Judaism and lived his life according to the precepts of the Law, and this made him bold in persecuting the early Church because they were spreading dangerous teachings that he believed were untrue. He did not know Jesus or the salvation he had…

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