Last week we focused on the Transfiguration of Jesus pointing us to His Resurrection. This week, Sunday’s Gospel passage of the woman at the well (John 4:5-42) points us toward Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit. The woman and Jesus are both thirsty for something earthly and something spiritual. She is thirsting for physical water and subconsciously, for love. (Check out some key Old Testament stories of a man meeting his future bride…
“He saved us and called us to a holy life…” – 2 Timothy 1:9 This second week of Lent, we travel up Mt. Tabor with Peter, James, and John and witness Jesus’ Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-9). This miraculous manifestation of the Holy Trinity seems like a strange detour during Lent. Shouldn’t we be sitting somewhere covered in sackcloth and ashes (Jonah 3:5-6)? Instead, we find ourselves on a mountaintop surrounded by Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, the…
“Restore to me the gladness of your salvation; uphold me with a willing spirit.” – Psalm 51:14 Psalm 51 is one of my favorites. Also known as the Miserere, it is a central penitential prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours. It’s a touchstone we can come back to again and again when we have sinned, when we feel the weight of our transgressions and those of the world in which we live. It’s one…
My Beloved One, What made you think you could work to build my kingdom without sharing in my royal crown of thorns? jagged – piercing – countless barbsIt was the only crown that graced my head while I walked as King among you. cruel – blinding – breaking inSee the hands of thoseof those who forced itupon my head? mocking – bleeding – themselves tornThe Kingdom I ask you to buildis not of this world.…
Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? – Isaiah 43:18-19 Did you know that I am a convert? Yes! I went through RCIA and became Catholic when I was 17 years old. One of my dearest childhood friends is Catholic, and I sensed something different and beautiful about her family’s faith. The way…
While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. Luke 15:20 Are you as struck as I am by the love of the father in this Sunday’s Gospel reading, the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Luke 15:1-32? After the sinful son comes to his senses (Luke 15:17), he examines his conscience, prepares to confess his…
…he came in search of fruit on it but found none. – Luke 13:6 What’s going on with the fig tree in this Sunday’s Gospel reading (Luke 13:1-9)? It has failed to bear fruit for three years. It’s just there among the other trees of the orchard taking up space and water and depleting the nutrients in the soil. The one who owns the orchard tells the gardener–the one in charge of caring for the…
…they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. Luke 9:32 In the Transfiguration of Christ, each of the Persons of the Holy Spirit is present. It is a theophany–a tangible manifestation–of the Holy Trinity. Jesus appeared in glory, the shining “Light of the World” (John 8:12); the Holy Spirit appeared as a “bright cloud;” and the Father spoke: “then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my chosen Son;…
The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” Luke 4:3-4 Do you ever wonder how Jesus fasted in the desert for 40 days? It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking, “Jesus is God. He doesn’t need to eat!” But “Jesus Christ is true God and true man, in the unity…
…when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself. – John 12:32 All people belong to Jesus. Everyone. Not just Christians, all of mankind. He is King of the Universe, after all! In our Gospel passage for this Sunday (John 12:20-33), notice Jesus’s curious reaction after Andrew and Philip told Him that some Greeks wanted to speak with Him: “Jesus answered them: ‘The hour has come for the Son of…