Lent (Page 17)

April 3 Readings – The readings for today are technically the “Easter Vigil” mass readings which include 7 readings, psalms, prayers, an epistle and the gospel!  If you want to read all of them, please check it out at https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040321.cfm The Easier Vigil is quite an amazing ritual and is the Christian “high holy day” and blueprint of the faith.  This mass was intended to teach the faithful all they needed to know and was originally the only time of…

April 2 Readings – IS 52:13—53:12; HEB 4:14-16; 5:7-9; JN 18:1—19:42 Today’s a day just to sit with hard realities. Isaiah speaks of the suffering servant – the one who is targeted, marginalized and outcast.  This the one who suffers under the weight of violence (individual and/or collective) and bears it in their bodies. Of course the Christian tradition identifies Jesus as the “suffering servant,” but I am guessing that we can all relate in one way or another.  Our…

April 1 Readings – EX 12:1-8, 11-14; JN 13:1-15 I am always struck by the simplicity and power of how Jesus uses his body and words. He asks the disciples, ‘What have you got?” as he prepares to feed 5000 people and passes a basket around. He calms an angry mob who is about to stone a woman by drawing on the ground and then saying, “Let the one among you who has no sin cast the first stone…” And…

March 31 Readings – IS 50:4-9A; MT 26:14-25 One of my favorite lines from scripture appears in today’s reading: “the Lord has given me a well trained tongue that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them.”  And the gospel gives us another version of Jesus’ last supper and the betrayal by Judas for 30 silver pieces. As I have mentioned in other places, I relate to that line from Isaiah because of…

March 30 Readings – IS 49:1-6; JN 13:21-33, 36-38 Holy Week certainly doesn’t pull any punches.  It’s only Tuesday and some hard truths are already coming at us. Isaiah tells us that the “servant of God” is disillusioned and discouraged and wonders if their efforts were in vain. And then Jesus tells his disciples that “one of you will betray me.”   He doesn’t say “if” someone will betray him.  He says “when.” I think this is true for our lives…

March 29 Readings – IS 42:1-7; JN 12:1-11 These readings offer us a very powerful start to Holy Week.  Just as a suggestion, if you are able to, perhaps take a little more time this week – for stillness, for prayer, for reflection – to take in the richness in of what we are entering into. In the reading from Isaiah, I’d direct our attention to the words that are spoken (and we hear said by God at Jesus’ baptism):…

March 28 Readings – Palm Sunday (MK 14:1—15:47) In recent years, some historical theologians have started to call Palm Sunday the “tale of two parades.”  On the West side of Jerusalem during Passover, the Romans had a parade that highlighted their might and power.  It was meant to send a strong signal to the Jews that their occupiers were not going anywhere.  On the East side of Jerusalem, Jesus had his own parade which was meant to be a public…

March 27 Readings – EZ 37:21-28; JN 11:45-56 I have been reading a bit more in recent years about the life and work of Fred Hampton.  Hampton was a 21 year old leader in the Black Panther Party in Chicago and was an amazing thinker, organizer and strategist.  Hampton, while unapologetically upholding the Black freedom struggle, also saw the intersections between that struggle and other struggles for housing, medical care, living wage jobs and political rights.  He started to build…

March 26 Readings – JER 20:10-13; JN 10:31-42 Lately I have been reading Jon Meacham’s biography of John Lewis titled His Truth is Marching On.  I have been so inspired by John Lewis’ deep faith from such a young age and his willingness to suffer for the cause of civil rights.  He saw it as his duty as a disciple to put his body on the line, say what needed to be said and be willing to suffer for the…

March 25 Readings: Is 7:10-14; 8:10; Heb 10:4-10; Lk 1:26-38 Today we celebrate the feast of the Aunnunciation – when the angel Gabriel came to Mary and invited her into her role as the mother of Jesus. There is so much in this reading that we could focus our reflections on (in fact, entire books have been written on this passage alone) but here are a few things that stand out for me: When God comes to announce something, there’s…

March 24 Readings – DN 3:14-20, 91-92, 95; JN 8:31-42 Our first reading today is a famous one of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego surviving the fiery furnace.  They are in there, however, because they refused to worship a foreign god.  In the gospel, Jesus is squaring off with the crowd and calling them to task for their anger and intent to harm him.  They say he’s not a legitimate messenger from God and that they follow Abraham.  Jesus makes no…

March 23 Readings – NM 21:4-9; JN 8:21-30 In an earlier blog (3/14), I referenced the reading that we hear today in Numbers. The Israelites are in the desert having been led out of slavery.  And they complain because there’s no food or water.  God gets angry and sends serpents to bite them, and many die (there’s obviously a lot about God’s parenting that needs to be unpacked in the scriptures…). The Israelites see the error of their ways, repent…