Lent (Page 24)

March 2 Readings: Lv 19:1-2, 11-18; Mt 25:31-46 In the first reading from Leviticus, we hear God instructing the people to be holy as God is holy. Two things. First, growing up Catholic I was never really taught very much about the “Old Testament” (which are now referred to more respectfully as the Hebrew Scriptures) and I found passages from books like Leviticus boring and, frankly, just skipped over them. Second.  That was a big mistake on my part. If…

Sunday March 1 Readings: Gn 2:7-9; 3:1-7; Rom 5:12-19; Mt 4:1-11 I’d be engaging in a near impossible task if I tried to sum up the first two readings – the first being the story of humans in the garden of Eden and the second being a very complex theology of sin put forth by St. Paul.  Yet both represent a profound wrestling with the idea of brokenness in the world and in our own lives. Almost any time you…

Saturday February 29 Readings: Isaiah 58: 9B – 14; Luke 5: 27 – 32 The scriptures are always filled with action words. In today’s reading from Isaiah we hear the following:  remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;  bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted. We’re then told that once we do that, our light will shine, God will guide us, and our strength will be renewed.  We will be known as “repairers of…

Readings: Isaiah 58:1-9A; Matthew 9:14-15 I find this reading from Isaiah a very challenging one. God says that the people keep crying out (and I am paraphrasing), “God, how come we keep doing religious observances and praying for things to change but you do not hear us?” Then God says in response, “You say you are fasting, but instead carry out your own pursuits!”  And God goes on to say that the ‘real’ fasting that you should be doing is,…

Readings: Deuteronomy 30: 15 – 20; Luke 9: 22 – 25 In our first reading, God sets a choice before the people, “life and prosperity, death and doom.”  While we are encouraged to “choose life”, God won’t force it on us.  And then Jesus reminds us in the gospel that it does us no good to “gain the whole world” yet lose ourselves in the process. Yet that seems to be what our culture has opted for.  We seem to…

At the beginning of Lent, maybe we can just sit with the words from Joel where God says, “Return to me with your whole heart…”

Easter Sunday Readings: ACTS 10:34A, 37-43; COL 3:1-4 or I COR 5:6B-8; JN 20:1-9 I want to start today’s reflection with a heartfelt, “Thank you!” to all of you who have been on this journey with me.  It’s been an honor to be able to do this for Spiritus, and I fully acknowledge that there are so many people who could have written fantastic reflections that would have brought us to very different spiritual places.  And those would have been…

Holy Saturday – April 19 Readings: Because the church celebrates the Easter vigil on Saturday evening, the readings for today are many!  In fact the readings really encapsulate the whole faith story, and I would highly recommend reading the progression at http://usccb.org/bible/readings/042019.cfm But for today, I am going to focus on the day between Jesus’ death and what happened after that. All that the disciples knew on this day was that their leader was dead after having been betrayed and…

Good Friday – April 19 Readings: IS 52:13—53:12; HEB 4:14-16; 5:7-9; JN 18:1—19:42 Today’s first reading from Isaiah has a lot of overtones of what would be called “atonement” theology.  In this thinking, Jesus died for our sins.  Isaiah says it clearly, “Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured.”  Jews at the time would have also been familiar with the idea of the scapegoat.  In this ritual, a goat was ritually burdened with the…

Holy Thursday Readings: EX 12:1-8, 11-14; 1 COR 11:23-26; JN 13:1-15 The Pesach or Passover is one of the most important Jewish holidays.  It is a beautiful ritual that remembers the deliverance of Israel from Egypt.  In many ways, it is the birth story of Israel.  In a very similar way, the gospel tells the birth story of a people that is remembered in what has come to be called the Last Supper which is then commemorated in the eucharist.…

Wednesday of Holy Week Readings: IS 50:4-9A; MT 26:14-25 We just heard this reading from Isaiah as part of the Sunday cycle, so I won’t say much more on it other than what I wrote the other day. The gospel tells the story of how Judas plotted against Jesus in exchange for silver.  Then at the Passover celebration, Jesus tells his friends, “One of you will betray me.”  Even Judas says, “Surely it is not I…”  But Jesus knows otherwise.…

Tuesday of Holy Week Readings: IS 49:1-6; JN 13:21-33, 36-38 The first reading from Isaiah offers us a line that I’m sure many of us can relate to, “I thought I had toiled in vain, and for nothing, uselessly, spent my strength.”  I am guessing that anyone who is reading this has thought something similar about an undertaking or relationship.  We might have wondered, “Why did I pour myself into this for nothing?” My guess is that Jesus felt this…