Lent (Page 19)
Reflections on the Lenten Journey
Rupture and Repair
February 20 Readings – IS 58:9B-14; LK 5:27-32 If I had to recommend one reading to focus on in Lent, it might just be Isaiah 58. This chapter is such a powerful manifesto which articulates the heart of our faith as spoken through the prophets. And this is the faith that Jesus read and studied and embodied in his ministry. A broken, hurting world is not God’s desire. People made choices that made it this way, and many people continue…
Choose life
February 18 Readings – DT 30:15-20; LK 9:22-25 Sometimes when I read the scriptures, it feels like they could have been written just yesterday. Moses saying to the people, “I have set before you life and death,” feels like a contemporary choice. Every day we are confronting choices and situations that have very real impacts of life and death in this world. The COVID-19 pandemic, the racial uprisings we witnessed all across this country and the January insurrection in Washington…
The journey begins (again)
Ash Wednesday JL 2:12-18; 2 COR 5:20—6:2; MT 6:1-6, 16-18 Welcome to the Lenten Journey. For the next 40 days, we will be retracing Jesus’ journey in the wilderness as we enter the wilderness of our own lives. Growing up Catholic, I always heard a lot about the requirement and obligation of Lent. And while these certainly have their place, I think more now about the opportunity of Lent. Lent is a time to pull back from our day-to-day lives…
Practice Resurrection
April 12 – Easter Sunday Readings: Acts 10:34A, 37-43; 1 Cor 5:6B-8 (or Col 3:1-4); Jn 20:1-9 Happy Easter, my friends! It is always hard for me to believe that we have arrived at the “end” of our Lenten time together. I have really appreciated all of you for being on this journey with me and I hope that these writings have helped you connect more deeply to your own faith commitments. I have also really appreciated all of the…
Breathe, Surrender, Wait
Saturday April 11 Readings: There are so many readings for today (because these are the readings for the Easter vigil) that I direct you to usccb.org for the full line up. The readings are worth exploring especially because they provide the DNA (if you will) of our faith story through scripture. I think of Holy Saturday as the “feast of all those who wait” and this day highlights the “in between”-ness of so many parts of our lives – especially…
Holy Day of Brokenness
April 10 – Good Friday Readings: Is 52:13—53:12; Heb 4:14-16; 5:7-9; Jn 18:1—19:42 Christians all over the world join together today to remember the “passion” of Jesus. I love that word because Jesus was a man of passion and the pain and suffering he endured is also referred to as his passion. My sense is that this is a characteristic of living whole-heartedly – we feel and experience it all! You do not have to look far to know that…
Forgetting is Exile; Remembering is Redemption
Thursday April 9 – Holy Thursday Readings: Ex 12:1-8, 11-14; 1 Cor 11:23-26; Jn 13:1-15 Today marks the beginning of the “high holy days” of the Christian faith. It encompasses the time from Holy Thursday evening to the Easter Vigil/Easter Sunday services and is referred to as the “Easter Triduum” (meaning three) due to the great importance of these three days. The readings and services of these days also strive to give us a blueprint or summary, if you will,…
The Path of Love
Wednesday April 8 Readings: Is 50:4-9A; Mt 26:14-25 As is often the case in the lectionary cycle, the church “repeats” readings. Generally when this happens it is meant to slow us down to that we take a second look at something. In this case, it’s the passage from Isaiah 50 that we just heard a few days ago on Palm Sunday. The early Christians – who were Jewish – went back and re-read their own scriptures from the perspective of…
Inevitable letdowns, Rediscovered Identities
Readings: Is 49:1-6; Jn 13:21-33, 36-38 Today’s readings reflect a lot of pain and hardship. In Isaiah, the speaker wonders if they have “toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength.” While they ultimately decide to trust in God, this is not a good feeling. Have you ever questioned if something was “worth it” after you had poured your heart and soul into it? It’s a terrible feeling. Then our gospel tells us that while Jesus is celebrating…
Return to the Mission
Readings: Is 42:1-7; Jn 12:1-11 It is probably not a coincidence that the church readings begin Holy Week with this reading from Isaiah. This passage contains words that are said at Jesus’ baptism (when the dove descended and we hear God say the words from Isaiah 42, “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased”). And this is the passage that Jesus himself cites when he comes out of his time in the…
A Tale of Two Parades
Reading: Mt 21:1-11; Is 50:4-7; Phil 2:6-11; Mt 26:14—27:66 Today we celebrate the feast of Palm Sunday as we begin Holy Week. We come back to this great drama year after year in order to reflect upon the deep mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection – a mystery that we participate in as well. The readings are long and full of many themes, so I won’t try to unpack them here. Instead I’ll offer some general thoughts, and they’ll be…
Sacrifice for the Cause of Justice
Readings: Ez 37:21-28; Jn 11:45-56 Ezekiel tells us today that God is trying to make a covenant of everlasting peace with God’s people and Israel will be delivered from its apostasy and idols. The gospel, however, shows us that maybe we (collectively) are not so eager to be parted from our idols. We hear the Sanhedrin speaking about Jesus saying, “What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs.” The Sanhedrin is the local council of elders. …