In today’s Gospel we have the well-known story of Jesus’ appearance on the road to Emmaus. Luke tells us that the disciples came to recognize Jesus “in the breaking of the bread.” This phrase was the way the early church referred to the Eucharist or the mass. Two...
Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus expecting only death. She went full of overpowering grief and sadness. All of her hopes about a savior and messiah were destroyed by death. She arrives at the tomb and finds it empty. Everything in her life experience leads her...
Today’s gospel from St. Matthew is familiar to all readers: Jesus has been crucified, died, and laid within a tomb guarded by soldiers and watched by Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary.” The Sabbath has passed and dawn approaches on the first day of a new week. The...
This was the pontiff who took the name “Francis” in homage to Catholicism’s most iconic and beloved saint, the “little poor man” of Assisi; the pope who rejected the marble and gold of the Papal Apartments in favor of the Domus Santa Marta, a modest hotel on Vatican...
Today is known as “spy Wednesday” and we see Judas setting up Jesus’ arrest with the religious leaders. There are hundreds of theories about why Judas betrayed Jesus. The Gospel simply says he was a despicable thief. Some theories say he was trying to force Jesus to...