In my 45 years of ministerial priesthood, I have found myself confronted by situations that elicited in me spontaneous, irrepressible pity. As a priest, of course, I know and I preach about the value of suffering in union with Christ. I maintain...
Three women went to a tomb just outside the city limits of Jerusalem in the morning of the day after Jesus of Nazareth, at a place named Golgotha, had been horribly crucified as a criminal and his body buried in a nearby garden owned by a wealthy...
This week the Church celebrates the Fifth Sunday of Lent. Until 1959, this Sunday was known as Passion Sunday because it marked the beginning of Passiontide, a period of intense preparation for the rites of Holy Week. This year we hear the Gospel...
This Gospel that we read today is read every year on the 2nd Sunday of Easter. But every time I read this Gospel passage, I feel sorry for poor Thomas. I think he has been unfairly branded. Because of this Gospel text, he is forever known as the...
There’s a cemetery in Geneva, Switzerland, famous for its many beautiful and expressive monuments and tombstones. A particularly striking one has a granite carving of a father lying in his grave, with his daughter kneeling beside him, weeping and...
On this Third Sunday of Easter, the first reading as well as the Gospel account are both all about recognition, about recognizing the presence of Jesus Christ and who He really is. In the first reading (Acts 3:13-15, 17-19) we find Peter and John at...
Over the centuries, a number of ancient customs and beliefs have shaped society’s understanding and celebration of Easter. The word itself comes from the name of a pagan goddess of spring, and for the Saxon people, April was “ostermonud”—that is...
For a moment I would like you to imagine yourself at a party, maybe a party that you have been to, or one that you have given for friends and acquaintances. Let’s say it’s a costume party and people are there with altered ways of seeing...
