The Gospel brings the disciples of Emmaus back to the community. Now that they are all together, Jesus appears in their midst. Shocked and full of fear, they thought they were seeing a ghost. After three years with Jesus, they knew him well, preaching, healing, and breaking bread, but in this divine moment, they saw…
On this Divine Mercy Sunday, we read the very end of John’s gospel and receive an offer of mercy from Christ. It says, “Now Jesus did many other signs that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,…
Hi, my name is Thomas, but truth be told, I don’t know who I am anymore. Once, I told my brother apostles to go together and die with the master while he mourned Lazarus (John 11, 16), but when I saw the soldiers arresting Jesus, I ran as if I never knew him. When I…
Mary of Magdala leaves the house when everything is dark in the sky and somber in her heart. She’s been restless all night, and the image of Jesus on the cross broke her heart. She has nothing in her hands, carries no spices like the other women, and has only her love rebelling against the…
Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem is a historical event and a parable in action. Jesus transpires affirming love; the preacher stirs joy wherever he goes, and this time, joy and biblical expectations finally meet. The teacher needs this colt but will send him right back. He is so poor that he doesn’t own even a beast…
As we navigate Christian life we fluctuate between two extremes, seeking God’s direction in our lives and seeking to reduce the load His direction requires.” We either seek purpose, engagement, and joy or we feel overwhelmed and ask for relief, help, and support. It is like when I used to play water polo, I always…
Nicodemus holds Jesus in high esteem and wants to understand more, but not too much to compromise his position as chief Pharisee, so he goes to him at night. First surprise: the Jesus who commands “let your yes mean yes” respects Nicodemus’ dread, does not get lost in the confines of his little consistency, but…
In the center of the Gospel of Mark, we reach a mountain of light; as in a diptych, the first part of his booklet before the mountain recounts marvelous miracles with the scent of Godly love, and the second part, starting here, draws the other face of the Nazarene, He is the Son of the…
The Spirit pressed Jesus into the desert, and he remained there for forty days, tempted by Satan. The temptation? A choice between two loves. Temptation asks you to select the compass, the north star for your heart. If you don’t desire, you don’t live, at least not with a whole heart. God speaks to you…
In comes a leper, a desperate man who has lost everything: home, employment, friends, hugs, dignity, and it seems even God. This man is decaying while alive; for society, he is a sinner, rejected by God and chastised with leprosy. He approaches Jesus but knows that he mustn’t; he can’t; the law imposes absolute isolation…