3rd Sunday of Easter - C (May 1, 2022)

What Do I Have?

John 21: 1-19

 

When Jesus first appeared on the scene, he asked the disciples if they had “caught anything to eat.”  Curiously, Jesus had breakfast ready when the disciples came in.  Why did he ask if they had caught something to eat?      

 

Besides, while he had breakfast ready, he still told the disciples to bring over some of the fish they caught with his instruction.

 

Later, Jesus asked Peter to feed his sheep.  That came only after Jesus himself had fed Peter, not only with breakfast that day, but with his love, the love that led him to the Cross for Peter and for all his sheep.

 

What Jesus did in this passage gives us consolation when we feel inadequate, or when the task is more than we could handle. 

 

Jesus has fed us first.  He continues to feed us with his love, his words of life and his Eucharist.  

 

Image source: www.agnusday.org

 

2nd Sunday of Easter - C (April 24, 2022)

 

 “We”

John 20: 19-31

 

“We have seen the Lord.” 

 

The pronoun “we” suggests the importance of the communal aspect of Christian witness. 

 

Today, let us pray for Christian unity.  That together, may we witness to the world of the peace of the Risen Christ.  

 

Image source: www.agnusday.org

Easter Sunday - C (April 17, 2022)

 

He Saw and Believed

John 20: 1-9

 

In this short Gospel passage, the word “saw” is used four times. 

 

Three people “saw” the empty tomb.  Mary thought that “they have taken the Lord from the tomb.”  Peter – we do not know his response, at least at this point in his journey. 

 

Only the disciple, “whom Jesus loves,” believed as a result of what he saw.

 

We all see.  May God give us the eyes of faith.  

 

 

Images: Chapel of the Salesians of Don Bosco Community in New Rochelle, NY 

Palm Sunday - C (April 10, 2022)

 

The Great Love of God

Philippians 2: 6-11

 

The Son of God came to live among us.  He accepted the death on the cross of a slave. (The Law of Moses forbids crucifixion.  The Romans would not use crucifixion to put Roman citizens to death.  It was only for slaves). 

 

In so doing, the Son of God, who has no sins, freed us from slavery to sin and makes us children of God. 

 

Let us spend some time during this Holy Week to reflect on the immensity of God’s love for us.  

 

Painting by Salvador Dalí, wikipedia.org

5th Sunday of Lent (April 3, 2022)

 

“Neither Do I Condemn You”

John 8: 1-11

 

Meeting Jesus results in both the woman and her accusers knowing their sins. 

 

The difference is in their responses to that awareness. 

 

The woman’s accusers walk away from Jesus.  Was it because they were ashamed, or because they did not accomplish their plan “to test Jesus”?

 

The woman stays.  She probably could have walked away once her accusers have left.  But she remains.  She then hears Jesus’ words of forgiveness.

 

What do I do when I become aware of my sins?

 

Image:  Andrey Mironov, Christ and the sinner, commons.wikimedia.org