Deep Calls to Deep 3rd of Easter – Emmaus & Heartburn (4)
How might heartburn (from Jesus opening the scriptures to them) and broken bread be related? Seems to me… Heartburn revealed their experience of purification from their idolatry – their demand that Jesus be the kind of redeemer they wanted. They were choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life and remained immature. Jesus […]
2nd of Easter – Thomas and Safe Environments (4)
Rather than ‘retaining’ the sins of the disciples, especially Thomas, Jesus granted them eschatological peace, breathed the Holy Spirit upon them, sent them as the Father had sent Jesus, and gave them the mission of rebuilding and restoring all. So, Thomas shows up. Jesus granted peace and, in effect, welcomed Thomas’ inquiry. For what Thomas […]
2nd of Easter – Thomas and Safe Environments (3)
The way Jesus treated the disciples, including Thomas tells us something about how he treats us (in the midst of fears) and what “whose sins you retain are retained” means. Popular interpretation of this passage carries the image of the priest-confessor deciding the adequacy of a) confession of sins in kind and number and b) the person’s […]
Easter Week – Remembering Triduum backwards… 1
Easter Sunday: In the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius had the retreatant repeat this or that contemplation in order to deepen the experience of knowing, loving, and serving Jesus Christ. In a similar way, those baptized, confirmed, and who shared in the Eucharist for the first time at the Easter Vigil now seek to […]
Holy Thursday
First, John connects the Foot Washing scene (ch. 13) with Jesus’ death on the cross through the noun, telos – Knowing his hour had come… “He loved them to the end, to the finish, to the fullness.” Then, before Jesus died, John wrote: John 19:28 (NRSV) — 28 After this, when Jesus knew that all was […]
8th SUN ORD – [An Aside]
We’ve had such challenging gospels on Sundays since the Sermon on the Mount began. Same for the weekdays of the 8th Week – tough to deal with. I hope this aside clarifies where I’m going with the Sunday gospel from the 8th Week. And it’s a pretty darn good set-up for Lent. YIKES! Monday, February […]
8th SUN ORD – “Let’s talk serving…”
Yep, let’s talk “serving…” The Greek word below translates the Hebrew, abodah, “to serve… to worship.” We’ll see how it shows up in Exodus as the difference between serving / worshiping Pharaoh or God. Or in Deuteronomy as serving idols in the Promised Land. Or in the prophets… You get the picture. To serve; worship; bond […]
7th SUN ORD – “The other side…”
If I love my enemy, I will feel vulnerable, exposed, unprotected, and defenseless. If I step out of my fortress – and the fortress of my ideologically compatible group – I will be vulnerable, exposed, unprotected, and defenseless. It’s a helluva conundrum, wanting to be conformed to Christ. Scares the stuffing out of me. You?
6th SUN ORD – “If you are angry with…”
It’s important to be taught by anger in our day and time. There’s so much of it. Let me begin, then, with this proposition – every act of anger serves to protect one from basic vulnerability, to deny one’s status as creature of God by taking the place of God. Yes, I’m claiming that even righteous anger involves avoidance. Let’s […]
5th SUN ORD – audio version of homily
I can’t believe this either, but my homily went just over 9 minutes! Will miracles never cease? Peace to you today! –roc,sj
Deep Calls to Deep 