Thursday of Easter Week Reflection To say, “I believe in Jesus Christ . . . who rose from the dead,” is to say something about myself at the same time. It says that I myself am ready to be transformed. Once the Christ-life rises in me, I rise to new life as well. “Christ is risen, we are risen,” we
Reflection It is interesting that in the gospel narratives it is the women who first learn of Jesus resurrection. They rush to tell the apostles and are met with disbelief. The two men on the road to Emmaus tell their story and are met with disbelief. Finally, the apostles experience Jesus themselves and he” upraided them for their disbelief and
Reflection There is a residue of the “we had hoped” in all of us. Like the Emmaus’ disciples, our basic problem is one of unbelief. They had been witnesses to all that took place. Yet, there was something preventing them from seeing the truth. We are like those disciples. We wander around in life. Like them, we know the facts
Reflection On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them,“Shalom. John 20:19-31 The locked places of our lives are always more about what is going on inside of us than around us. The
Easter Sunday Reflection Something happened. We cannot describe the experience. We only know that it was so powerful that the bleak dark of loss became the light of hope and joyfulness. We know that cowards became courageous, fear became daring, silence found its voice and there was an overwhelming conviction that life had conquered death. Jesus lived in God and
Holy Saturday Reflection Christ’s body lies in a tomb hewn from rock; he is returned to the earth. It is the earth the birther of life, the earth into which he said the seed must fall to live again. All is silence while germination takes place. We reflect that nothing that exists is ever lost only transformed, that the remains
Good Friday Reflection The execution of Jesus was a consequence of his preaching and behavior. He preached and acted in fidelity to God, with all the radical consequences this had for social and religious institutions and this led to confrontation with those in power. He preached a God of the outcast and sinner, and this led to his own death
Holy Thursday Reflection According to scripture, the night before he died Jesus shared a meal with his friends. During the meal, he broke the bread and shared it and also shared the cup of wine with them. He asked that whenever they did this they would remember him. This has become the primary Christian sacrament and it is based in
Wednesday of Holy Week Reflection One very prominent theme in Mark’s gospel is the theme of failed discipleship. The Apostles failed to accept their destiny to remain alongside Jesus. Like those early apostles, we would like to avoid these implications of discipleship. We would like the conclusion of holy week to be about the interior rather than the exterior, about
Tuesday of Holy Week Reflection On Tuesday, the conspiracies to trap Jesus escalated. Israel’s religious leaders had one goal: to get rid of Jesus of Nazareth. If this meant cooperating with lifelong enemies, the means were justified. The Pharisees, the Herodians and the Sadducees joined forces to discredit Jesus. His authority was questioned. “By what authority do you do these