The enemies of Christ, those who serve the cause of the ruler of this world, include the soothsayers of all false peace, the clients of easy accommodations, the mystical whisperers of seductive but superficial harmony draped in the fading popularity of this world. John 14: 27-31a comes right after Jesus’ teaching on the indwelling of [...]
Here is Nazareth, the neediest of Israel’s villages, well known as a place of dishonour. And yet, instead of celebrating their local celebrity, the people were filled with scepticism at Jesus’ works. "Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary?" Matthew 13: 54-58 recounts an episode in which Jesus visits Nazareth [...]
Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night, presumably so as not to be observed. Yet the night in which he comes is our night also. The night has this double meaning: for on the one hand, we are blind and stumble about, while on the other hand, the night brings counsel. John 3: 7-15 continues the [...]
Since we are not greater than our Master, the recourse He invokes is our recourse also: we can, like Him, call upon the name of the Lord, of the Father, and thus we will in the end be delivered from our enemies because we know the Father. John 15: 18-21 comes from the discourse of [...]
Everything needed for evil to conquer was overthrown on Easter morning; of that there is no doubt. But every individual must live that conflict in themselves, even now. Matt 28: 8-15 tells us something about the power of a garden. The women emerged amazed from the tomb and started to run to tell the disciples [...]
Jesus retaining his wounds teaches us that the wounds we endure are not condemnations from a shameful past, but are the means by which God brings us to heaven. “Wait… his hand is in him!?” cried the boy. Kids were screaming, markers were flying, little girls were pretending to faint, all at the sight of this [...]
St Mary Magdalen came very early to the tomb on Easter Morning. There is something crucial in the timing: it was still dark. Mary at this point was still going through a trial that had started with Jesus' arrest. She had very little to sustain her, knowing only the destruction of her Master's body on the [...]
Christ descended into hell to deliver His loved ones from their exile. He came to reward those who, from our first father, Adam, to His own foster-father, St. Joseph, had fought the good fight and had finished the race. The second reading from the Office of Readings for Holy Saturday is taken from an ancient homily on Christ’s [...]
Not only did Jesus manifest Himself as the Logos so long desired in the pagan West on that Friday afternoon, but He also manifested Himself as the Christ, the true and eternal king. In some mysterious way, it was the death on Friday that revealed all of this, not the resurrection on Sunday. As Jesus [...]
I went with Peter to make the arrangements for the Passover supper. When we arrived in Jerusalem, Jesus had told us to look for a man carrying a pitcher of water. We were to follow him into the house he entered, ask to speak to the owner, and say: “The master asks you where is [...]
Our faith tells us, and we believe, that the Presence of the Lord is not just a thing of the past. He is with us now, in the present. Once again, our faith has brought us here to mark what Jesus did on that first Holy Thursday. We solemnly remember that night in the upper [...]
It started in a garden—man’s first sin, our fall. It began beneath a tree with fruit that was good and pleasing to the eyes (Gen 3:6). Although we tend to place the blame on the apple based on a Latin pun, some traditions point to the fig tree, whose leaves Adam and Eve used to cover themselves. [...]
Unlike the mute stones surrounding Jesus during that great procession of the first Holy Week, let us hail his arrival with shouts. As Jesus approaches our stony hearts, let us cry out, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out” (Luke 19:40). As our Lord [...]
When we listen to the cross, we hear the call of His love to rise above the misery of our current condition. And from the heights of the cross, we can see into the distant country of our eternal home. John 8: 21-30 sees Jesus in teaching mode but now with the Jewish crowd at [...]