The Gospel of Emmaus unfolds like a great liturgy in three stages: the liturgy of the road, the liturgy of the Word, and the liturgy of bread. Emmaus is twelve miles from Jerusalem, a three-hour walk during which they talked about the divine hope they had invested so much in, now tarnished by blood on…
One week after the women and the disciples saw the risen Christ, there was still an atmosphere of fear in that house. Fear of the Jews, but also fear of themselves, of their own cowardice, of how they behaved on the night of the betrayal. It feels like there is no air. Despite our unreliable…
At dawn, at first light, almost clandestinely, two women go to the tomb in the garden. They are the same women who on Friday stood, without retreating an inch, around the perimeter of the cross. An angel descended from heaven, rolled away the stone, and sat on it. He did not open the tomb for…
Palm Sunday celebrates a joyful moment in Jesus’ life, with smiles from the Mount of Olives to the temple, which helps reminisce when a friend asked a monk, “Father, do you ever get tired of devoting all your time to God?” We expected him to respond, “How can you be tired of God? That shows…
This Gospel is so descriptive that the heartbreaking beauty of Jesus’ humanity is seen in his trembling, weeping, and engaging nature. He is a God who laughs and cries, involved in the lives of his children, not shying away from the struggles of each one of us. We know important things about Lazarus: he is…
A man born blind, so poor that he possesses only himself. And Jesus stops precisely for him, while others start questioning: why blind? Who sinned? Him or his parents? Jesus immediately distances us from the idea that sin is the explanation for evil, which, at one time, was the cornerstone of religion. The Bible does…
As we approach the midpoint of Lent, we travel with the Israelites through the barren desert, and with Jesus and his disciples into the hostile land of Samaria. These readings help us get to know God, his wisdom, mercy, and Fatherly love. In the reading from Exodus, the people are suffering, they’ve run out of…
God’s heart hurts and has a longing; hurting that his offspring look for solace in dry wells that don’t offer life; God longs for their hearts to come to his fountain of eternal love. He desires that we be tuned to that true love. The Bridegroom Messiah walking our streets wants to fine-tune our hearts…
Lent, that season you would say is marked by penance, masterfully takes us by surprise with a Gospel full of sunshine and light. From the 40 days in the desert of sand to the mountain of transfiguration; from the yellow scorching heat to faces bathed in heaven’s light. Lent follows the seasons, beginning in winter…
Lent is beautiful. It does not impose itself as a season of sadness, but rather as a season of new beginnings: of springtime renewal, of life moving straight towards the light of Easter. It is a time of newness, of new, simple, supportive, concrete lifestyles, cared for by the “common home” and all its inhabitants.…