Second Sunday of Easter

Christ Is Risen!

Rise from the Dead! What does it really mean to RISE FROM THE DEAD?

While the answer seems so obvious, the reality is almost beyond belief! Many times when Jesus would predict his passion and death, AND RISING FROM THE DEAD, his disciples would wonder and discuss among themselves what this might mean.

We profess to believe in the RESSURECTION FROM THE DEAD, arising to a new and never-ending life with a perfect body that is beyond all imagining! As the Gospel Resurrection stories attest, it would take awhile before his followers would grasp the reality of the Resurrection and allow it to change their lives. Once it did, they lost fear and began to go out to spread the Good News of Jesus!

Have we yet grasped what the Resurrection fully means? Once we do, we too will be able to lose our fear to go out and Spread the Good News of Jesus! This is what New Life and Easter Joy are all about!

Fourth Sunday of Lent

Who is Without Sin?

Have you ever met anyone who is perfect? And when you have met someone who acted as if they were, you were probably tempted to “put them in their place!”

A “big sinner” is dragged in front of Jesus in today’s Gospel  the Woman caught in the act of adultery. The scribes and Pharisees feel fully justified, quoting Mosaic law. This is a perfect opportunity to trap Jesus. What will he say? What will he do?
Jesus says: “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” What does he do? He begins writing on the ground with his finger, and little by little, one by one, the accusers fade away.
Jesus is left alone with the woman accused and reached out to her with the gift of healing: “Go, and from now on, sin no more.”

These same powerful words are spoken to us as we continue our Lenten journey to new life!

The Third Sunday of Lent

Come To The Living Water!

Living Water! What is “Living Water?” What is the best water in the world?

We are told that we live alongside the best water in the world, on the shores of the second largest body of fresh water on the planet, although you might not guess it, with all who drink “bottled” water instead! For most of us, living water is taken for granted because fresh water is so abundant where we live. Yet even today with all our technology, fresh water is a “life and death” concern and issue for billions of people!

In today’s Gospel reading from John, Jesus talks about and uses the image of “living water” as he encounters the Samaritan Woman at the well. Through this encounter, she is confronted with who she really is, and who she can truly become. She is called to faith and responds enthusiastically!

The story recalls our encounter with “Living Water” at our Baptism. What have we taken for granted about that life-saving event for us? This is a time to Come to the Living Water!

Second Sunday of Lent

“This is my beloved Son,
Listen to him.”

Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant.

First Sunday of Lent

Resist Temptation! Repent And Believe!

The Desert
— a stark, foreboding place, dangerous and life-threatening. Hot in the day, cold at night, the desert is a seemingly “lifeless” place.

Yet there is life in the desert. There is life to be discovered in the desert! And that is why Jesus, before beginning his ministry, first goes into the desert for forty days and nights.
Mark tells us in the Gospel reading that Jesus is driven into the desert  to pray, to fast, and yes, to be tempted. He will emerge from the desert strong, determined and fortified. He will proclaim his message: “This is the time of fulfilment, The Kingdom of God is at hand. Re-pent, and believe in the gospel!”

We have begun our Lenten journey. We are challenged to make a “desert place” in our lives, a time, a place, an attitude where we can return to a spirit of prayer, where we can fast from those things that keep us from God and one another. Yes, this can be a time of fulfillment! Repent and believe in the gospel!