The gospel readings in Holy week always speak about Judas and his betrayal of Jesus. The Gospel of Mark, for example, gives no motivation for Judas’s sudden betrayal. Matthew, writing a decade or so...
Outside the Light
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Friar Reflection
A Model to Follow
Jesus, after he washed the feet of his disciples, declared: “Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the...
Eternal Life
Jesus declares in today’s Gospel: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.” The way to eternal life is through not only hearing Jesus’ words but putting them into...
Truth and Freedom
Jesus declares in today’s Gospel: “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” In John’s Gospel truth is not an abstract...
Where Do You Look?
Jesus had been preparing his disciples and followers for his impending separation from them while they were on the road to Jerusalem. Today we find Jesus in Jerusalem speaking hard words to the...
Silence
There was an interesting article that appeared in this past week’s news. It was 1980 and Jimmy Carter was in the White House, bedeviled by a hostage crisis in Iran that had paralyzed his presidency...
Confidence
After having some initial conflict with the religious leaders in Jerusalem, Jesus decides to return to Galilee. There were threats of arrest and threats against his life at that time. After being...
Prayer of Petition and Service
It seems that Israel, the community of ex-slaves gathered in the desert after the Exodus, was not all that different from us today: impatient, complainers, and idolaters. Today we don’t build golden...
At work until now
The first reading today is a companion piece with yesterday’s first reading. The message of encouragement remains even as the prophet who speaks the word changes. A verse from the Gospel succinctly...
Vision and Restoration
In today’s first reading we hear from the Prophet Ezekiel. It is from the end of his prophetic writings and there is a lot of “water under the bridge” that has led to this amazing vision of a new...
You Are What You Eat
We have all heard the expression, “you are what you eat”. Indeed, doctors and nutritionists are constantly reminding us that we need to be discerning, to be careful about what we eat, as it can...
Do we really have to love a bully?
The reflection for today is from a Mass with the students and teachers from the parish elementary school. The gospel for the school Mass is the same as the gospel reading from the recent 7th Sunday...