From Crucifixion to Resurrection
Christ is risen! Truly, he is risen! Jesus Christ has conquered sin and death. We know that God has the final word. And that word is love. For “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8). The kingdom of God which Jesus...
Category: Reflection
We are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song!
Reflection for Easter 2024 — Click here for the Scripture readings Friends, Pope John Paul II woke the world to a whole new vision on Sunday, November 30, 1986, during his visit to Australia. He offered a world facing a...
Pope Francis meditates on Jesus’ cry of abandonment
Today, Pope Francis presided over the Stations of the Cross in Rome, reading from prayers and meditations he wrote himself. Traditionally, for the annual Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) held each year at the Colosseum, the pope will designate...
Celebrating the Covenant of Love: Becoming a Feet-Washing People
A Reflection for Holy Thursday Today is the Passover of the Lord. When Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples for the last time, it was different than all the other Passovers he had celebrated. There were no bitter herbs...
Assuming the Sufferings of Others
Several years ago I gave a talk about the Presentation of the Lord that included a reflection Cardinal Ratzinger. I just happened to stumble across it again yesterday and it struck me in a new way this Holy Week. Ratzinger...
“Once Años”
Eleven years. We are just beginning to realize the great mercy that God has showed us by giving us a Universal Shepherd who invites us daily to personal conversion, to social fraternity, and towards the necessary reform of the Church....
We are a kingdom of priests
The Word is living, being, spirit, all verdant greening, all creativity. This Word manifests itself in every creature. St. Hildegard of Bingen I’d like to begin this reflection on the royal priesthood of the faithful with Paul’s letter to the...
Pilgrimage and the Path Ahead
I returned late Monday from a ten-day trip to Rome, which began less than two weeks after a short trip to Lourdes. I used most of my Tuesday morning sleeping off jetlag, and then I dedicated the late afternoon and...
“Repent, and Believe in the Gospel.”
Welcome to Lent! The Catechism says of this season that “By the solemn forty days of Lent, the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert” (CCC 540), and fittingly, every year the Gospel for...
Lent, Fasting, and Tradition
Anthony (not his real game) was the fifth child in a family of seven kids, with the eighth on the way. He was extroverted, bright, and imaginative. At “meet the teacher night,” his mother warned me that this second grader...
Shaped by God’s Love: A Vision for Lent 2024
Lent always raises a few all-familiar questions, “What are you doing for Lent?” or, “What are you giving up for Lent?” Answers to questions like these often indicate a Lent that is primarily driven by us. We plan our Lent,...
A Poem for Mardi Gras (George Herbert, 1593–1633)
For Mardi Gras, also known as Shrove Tuesday in English Christianity, and in preparation for Lent, we present this poem by the great George Herbert (1593–1633). The Collar I struck the board, and cried, “No more; I will abroad!...
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