SUNDAY 10 MAY 2026: THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER.

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Descent of the Holy Spirit, Holger Schué, Pixabay.  

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Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for it had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.     Acts of the Apostles, 8:14-17.

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  • Today’s first reading is intriguing in that it seems to elaborate on the presence of God’s Holy Spirit at baptism and, it seems, how the full presence of the Holy Spirit required a separate ritual. Yes, God’s Holy Spirit descends on us at our Baptism, as was the case at Jesus’ Baptism by John the Baptist. That told the Lord that he was, first, the Son of God (“This is my beloved Son”), giving him his identity and we become children of God at that time. Then the Holy Spirit of God came upon him, anointing him, designating God’s will for him: to fulfill his task as the Messiah of Israel and the world – in other words, he was given his vocation, and, depending on our gifts from God, we become Christ to the world at that moment, our vocation. The Holy Spirit did indeed anoint him (Messiah means “Anointed”) as the Holy Spirit did with each of us at our Baptism. But we have to note today’s first reading; “that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for it had not yet fallen upon any of them“. So note today the critical distinction between Baptism and the sacrament of Confirmation: “Then they laid hands on them”. That does not happen at Baptism but it does when we are confirmed. Also note a further distinction. Philip was the minister who was baptizing the Samaritans; he was one of the newly chosen deacons (see last Sunday). It required the apostles Peter and John (and later, bishops) to go there to invoke the Holy Spirit fully upon them. We are dealing here with one of the scriptural foundations of the sacrament of Confirmation, given to this day by a bishop (save under special conditions, when it may be performed by a priest, especially at the Easter Vigil). 
  • We should also note that this all took place in Samaria. The Jews of Galilee and Jerusalem considered Samaritans to be Jewish heretics, betrayers of Jewish identity. Samaritans tolerated marriage between themselves and foreigners, for example; Jewish tradition frowns on that to this day! So the mission of these first believers in the Lord in deliberately traveling to Samaria to preach was remarkable, and an indication of things to come. Actively seeking Samaritans to The Way (the first name given to Christianity) certainly pointed to the future history of the church, welcoming just about everyone! It certainly set the stage for our world-wide Christian community, not linked to a particular city or ethnic group as are many, even very large, religions seem to be. Now for that gospel reading. Jesus is talking about God’s Most Holy Spirit, and at this point I clad myself in spiritual armor and plunge into controversy.
  • Jesus, in our English translation of the Greek original texts of the New Testament, consistently talks of the Holy Spirit as “he”. In today’s reading, for example: “…the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him” and “But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you”. Please note the following. In Hebrew, the word for Spirit is ruach (רוּחַ) and is grammatically feminine. Thinking of Jesus’ baptism, where the Spirit descended on the Lord “like a dove“, in Hebrew Yonah (יוֹנָה), dove, is grammatically feminine. At Pentecost, where the disciples, with Our Lady, experienced the Spirit as tongues of fire. Fire in Hebrew is aysh, אֵשׁ and is primarily feminine, and is the same word for “wind”, which was also experienced by those same people. The word tongue is also grammatically feminine, lashon לָשׁוֹן. Jesus spoke Aramaic, the common language in Palestine at that time. It was very closely related to Hebrew in his day, but Hebrew was rather conservative and closely aligned with religious life (a little, perhaps, like the way we say the “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name….” But my point is, that if Jesus could have heard our English translation of the Greek (where, by the way, the Greek word for Spirit, πνεῦμα (pneuma), is in fact, neuter, and so the Holy Spirit should be grammatically referenced as “it”), he would be at the very least, surprised, and would wonder what our problem was! If you accept all that, the Trinity therefore contains a feminine principle and inspires our human reality much more satisfactorily! Pope Leo has encouraged dioceses throughout the world to adopt Synodal Evangelization: (and) urges them to look for effective forms of evangelization in a synodal spirit, emphasizing a “pastoration that is solidarity, empathetic, discreet and non-judgmental”. I sent a note about my thought here to our local bishop, suggesting a diocesan-wide consideration of what would probably be quite a revolutionary but uniting concept, but heard nothing back! But doesn’t it make sense? A Blessed Trinity with strength, fidelity and love (Father, Son and Spirit) embracing a highly positive masculinity and femininity all at once.
  • Perhaps 100 years from now… But:

 

The Holy Trinity, Church of St, James, Urschalling, Bavaria, Germany. A highly intriguing representation of the  Holy Trinity from the Middle Ages….

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SUNDAY 3 MAY 2026: THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER.

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Church of  St. Thomas à Becket, Fairfield, Romney March, Kent, UK.

In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.     John 14:2-3.

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My Anglican (that is, Episcopalian) friend Richard takes delight in showing me wonderful locations near his home city of Eastbourne on the south coast of England. One day in 2014 he outdid himself. We drove to the middle of nowhere, turned a corner and I saw the sight pictured above, and took that picture. The village in which this tiny church was located vanished long ago, but the church still stands where it was built  perhaps 800 years ago. Today’s readings triggered that memory, a House of God still standing despite everything the world could throw at it. Although built at a time when the Pope was recognized as the leader of the church, it is now part of the Anglican Church, perhaps one of the “many dwelling places” in today’s gospel? Jesus had just mentioned to his friends that he would be shortly leaving them. One can try to imagine the pain that announcement must have had; here was the greatest man they would ever meet, and I’m sure they knew that, and yet he said he would shortly be leaving them, abandoning them as perhaps they felt. Just imagine the most grief-stricken moment you have ever endured, and it might have been something like that. The thought was simply unbearable. Yet Jesus told them that he would prepare a place for each of them where he was going, which one imagines was some consolation, but of course they had no clue as to what exactly that might mean. All but John, remember, were to be martyred for their faith in Jesus. But his assurance that he was “the way, the truth and the life” and was the sure foundation of the new life they were to live, and that gave them the strength to create what was to become our Christian way of life.

But that new way of life was soon to face its first challenge. This first style of living was, it seems, to have many things in common including meals. That almost naturally led to complaints that “they” were getting more than “us”. There was apparently a social divide among those first converts from the Jewish communities, one local (getting more food it was claimed) than the other, the “Hellenists” or foreigners whose language was more Greek than Hebrew (getting less). Well, the apostles, the first leaders of the community or “The Way”  (they were not to be called Christian for some time) were much more interested in spreading the Word of God, as today’s passage from the Acts of the Apostles puts it, than “serving at table”. So they asked for volunteers to handle the dispute so as to free themselves up. This was agreed to, and seven were chosen to run the early community peacefully and well. Interestingly, all seven are thought to have been Hellenist Jews. However, it seems to have solved the problem as “the proposal was acceptable to the whole community”. This event is considered to have been the creation of the first order of priesthood, the deaconate. The word διάκονος, diakonos, is an ancient Greek word meaning servant or waiter. Also, Stephen, one of those first seven deacons, was the first person to be martyred, or killed, because of his belief in Jesus as the Messiah. He was therefore our protomartyr. His feast is celebrated in December 26th. One further note. Everything being held in common, as described in the very early church, seems to have been a kind of voluntary communism. It did not last very long, but is still found today in the church. When I joined the Jesuits in 1973, for example, I surrendered all of my belongings quite voluntarily, and entered into community life, clearly a form of (Christian) communism – but one which works!

And then there is the second reading today. St. Peter calling Jesus Christ the cornerstone, the foundation of the entire Church. Upon this stone was to be built the Church of God, starting with the apostles who were called by Christ, the deacons who managed the daily running of the Church, and everyone else, all dependent on Christ himself supporting everyone with the strongest spirituality. And just like that ancient church pictured above, the Christian community has survived right down to this day, through endless ages and tumult. and now it is up to us to support it, nurture it and strengthen it for those generations who follow. And we do that through being perfect examples of Christian love, support and vision, as strong as the stones in that small church above, which has been through all the centuries and survived!

And from one of the humblest of Christian churches (above) to one of the most magnificent, all beloved of the Lord:

Notre-Dame de la Belle-Verrière (Our Lady of the Beautiful Stained Glass) or the Blue Virgin, 12th Century, Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, France.

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SUNDAY 26 APRIL 2026: THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER.

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Jesus as the Gate for the Sheep, unknown provenance.

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So Jesus said again, “Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.    John 10:7-9.

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The first words spoken by St. Peter in today’s first reading are “Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified”. Considering that we had been told elsewhere that they were so terrified (that they too would be crucified) that they had locked and hidden themselves away from those very authorities Peter was addressing – so what is going on? What on earth had happened to them to abandon all fear and declare in public what the authorities would consider blasphemous and worthy of crucifixion? Quite simply the Holy Spirit of God. That same Spirit that had descended on Jesus being baptized by John in the Jordan River and anointed him as the Messiah. That same Spirit who conceived the Lord in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. That same Spirit had descended on the terrified followers of the Lord and rendered them Lions of the Truth about Jesus, as witnessed in today’s first reading. And it is that same Spirit that has guided God’s Holy Church down through the ages, protecting, defending and strengthening her. In fact, on reflection, the Old Testament contains the revelation of God the Father through the ages, then the age of  God’s Son who founded God’s Church, inspiring those who would carry on after him, guided by the four Gospels, and the Age of God’s Holy Spirit who has been with us since Jesus’ Ascension into heaven, guiding us down to this day. Without that courage and strength seen in today’s first reading – without God’s Holy Spirit – there would be no church, no hope, no message and no guidelines to heaven. That leads us to the profoundest mystery of all, the Three Persons in One God. And it was at this juncture in Salvation History that this greatest truth of all was revealed.

Now look at today’s second reading, a guide as to what we should do when challenged, following this example: He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When he was insulted, he returned no insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten; instead, he handed himself over to the one who judges justly”. Not easy as we are so easily attracted by all that glitters….

And then, ultimately, we come to the sheepfold itself, and the Gate whereby we enter, to be told it is the Lord himself. To enter that way we anticipate that we “might have life and have it more abundantly”. All given freely, without condition, given out of love of us. One might ask, how can this be?  What needs to be done? In fact, the first people to hear this, in today’s first reading, asked the identical question. And the answer is: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.”  And that includes us, here and now, all called by God to holiness and fulfillment in the Lord. For we are those lambs in the meadow, guarded by none other than the Son of God himself. But, Jesus says, “All who came before me are thieves and robbers” caring nothing for us, wanting us captive, slaves to whatever might lure us out of the fold and into captivity. And there is such a choice! Drugs, money, power, anything that would draw us away from the one who really cares for us and our safety and offers  protection, and instead into the domination of the one who wants us in slavery, leading to destruction and, ultimately, the worship of evil. And that leads to hell, the antithesis of life: the realm of Moloch, the god of death in one form or another. There are so many!

So we should respond positively to that open and free invitation, to enter into true life, true love, acting as Jesus did, no matter the outcome. For we are never alone in that. We have the Divine Shepherd, the Divine Entry into true fulfillment and happiness. That means trusting in the Savior, following him, obeying him and responding to his voice, having been given the strength of the Holy Spirit and obeying the Father’s will for us all – to live guarded by the shepherd and guardian of your souls as Peter says in today’s second reading. So, to put it bluntly, we rely on the total power of the Blessed Trinity to protect and help us navigate the shoals and jagged rocks of our lives, trusting totally in the love that God has for each of us.

The Holy Trinity Stained Glass Window, unknown provenance.

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SUNDAY 19TH APRIL 2026: THE THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER.

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Supper at Emmaus or The Pilgrims at Emmaus, Rembrandt 1648, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France.

Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?”     Luke 24:32.

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Today’s gospel is one of the most famous events in Scripture. Do you remember the risen Jesus’ instruction to his followers? “And when they came together, he gave them this order: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift I told you about, the gift my Father promised” (Acts of the Apostles 1:4). And yet here are two men, followers of the Lord, leaving Jerusalem, directly disobeying the Risen Lord’s clear order! One might ask why, as no explanation is given in Scripture, but one can hazard a guess: they were terrified that what had happened to Jesus would happen to them if they became known as his followers. But without one word of censure, the risen Jesus, unrecognizable to them for some reason, simply approached them, joined them as they walked along, and began to explain the moments in Holy Scripture which prophesied his death and resurrection – and generations of scripture scholars would give their eye teeth to have been on that walk with them! They were, of course, transfixed with what he had to say, as they remarked afterwards, so much so that they seem to have almost begged him to stay with them and dine with them. This he did, and just as he broke bread with them, he vanished from their sight (except, of course, he hadn’t: he was there in the consecrated bread he was breaking at that moment..). They, now filled with the strength and presence of God, returned immediately to Jerusalem and couldn’t wait to share their good news with the others. No longer scared, no longer mice, but men, but men who had not yet received the Holy Spirit. Their courage would not last long…

Today’s first reading is also evidence of the new, real, strength God gave them. This passage, from the book of Acts, occurred immediately after the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the terrified followers of Jesus, probably locked away in what became known as the Upper Room, or the Cenacle. None of them could bear the thought that what had happened to the Lord might well happen to them as his followers. And can you blame them? That initial excitement of seeing the Risen Lord did not readily translate into the bravery that would face death. Take one good look at the man in the Shroud of Turin to see the brutal treatment he endured, the marks of the nails, the scourging, the evidence of the crown of thorns, and on and on. This was punishment of the cruelest possible nature. It meant that the entire Christian church was locked away securely in that Upper Room, afraid to show themselves lest they too be crucified. If God’s Holy Spirit had not descended upon them, you would not be reading this, there would be no Christian presence in the world, humanity would have been left to its own fate (the Jewish people not being interested in propagating their belief in God). But God had other plans.

Today’s second reading from the First Letter of St. Peter echoes last week’s reflection on Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables. You will remember the incident with the saintly bishop who saved Jean Valjean from being thrown back into prison for stealing the bishop’s silverware. In saving him, the bishop declared he had ransomed Valjean’s soul for God, so that from now on he was of God. St. Peter says, “you were ransomed from your futile conduct, handed on by your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb”. We were all born to be children of God, not for some other debased ideal such as wealth or power or self-glorification. No: we are called to reflect God’s beauty and goodness in our lives, reflected in the glory of Jesus’ example of self-giving to the end. So today’s Scripture should produce in us what Jesus’ presence did to those two people running away to Emmaus: Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us? Please God, that should be the exact same reaction today, 2000 years later, with us all, not running away to Emmaus, but to union with God in heaven!

Disputation of the Sacrament, Raphael 1510, Stanza della Segnatura, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City State.

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SUNDAY 12 APRIL 2026: THE SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER: FEAST OF DIVINE MERCY.

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The Shrine of Divine Mercy, Vilnius, Lithuania.

St. Peter writes: “Although you have not seen him you love him; even though you do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”    1 Peter 1:8-9.

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St. Maria Faustyna Kowalska of the Blessed Sacrament was a religious sister born in Poland and entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. St. Faustina barely had an education, and her family was poor, but very devout. She took her vows in 1928, and a year later she was sent to the convent of the sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Vilnius, at that time in Poland, now the capital of Lithuania. In 1931 she began to receive visions of Our Lord clothed in a white garment with red and pale white rays emanating from his heart. His message to St. Faustina concerned his desire for the image “to be venerated, first in your chapel (in Vilnius), and then throughout the world. I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish”. In the same 22 February 1931 message about the Divine Mercy image, Jesus told her that he wanted the Divine Mercy image to be “solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter Sunday; that Sunday is to be the Feast of Mercy”. (It was on that day in the year 2000 that Pope St. John Paul II canonized St. Faustina). The process of contemplating and getting to know the mystery of God’s mercy helped develop within St. Faustina the attitude of child-like trust in God as well as mercy toward her neighbors. The Lord said to her: “I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to My people. Today I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world. I do not want to punish aching mankind, but I desire to heal it, pressing it to My Merciful Heart”. Clearly, mercy is at the root of this day’s celebration. and the Lord’s desire to have this on the first Sunday after Easter is significant. So what is mercy?

Look at the Latin for mercy: misericordia. The word combines two ideas, “miseria” meaning human misery, and “cor”, meaning of the heart. So the word could refer to the heart that feels the suffering of others. One possible definition of mercy is compassion for someone who does not deserve it. We could each one of us begin by treating ourselves like that. We are all sinful in the eyes of the Lord, no question about that. But do we treat ourselves compassionately? Or do we sometimes pull ourselves to pieces over things we should have done but did not, or pull ourselves to pieces over things we did but should not have done? Surely we should extend that virtuous gaze both to ourselves as well as to others. In other words, we should treat everyone, including ourselves, with compassion whether or not we or they deserve it. At its heart then is generosity. As Christians, we should extend to all others in our life all help necessary as best we can. The heart of Jesus, before being wounded by the soldier’s lance, forgave those who had inflicted such suffering on him, and was therefore merciful to them and to us. There was no revenge, no anger even, towards his enemies. In literature, one example of mercy is very moving. In Les Misérables, Victor Hugo’s masterpiece, our hero Jean Valjean, starving, impoverished and living rough, having just been released from prison, is taken in by local Bishop Myriel, who welcomes him, feeds him and gives him a bed for the night. Now alone, he makes off with the bishop’s silver, and gets caught. His captors recognize the silver pieces, and take them and him back to the bishop’s house. Of course the bishop recognizes his stolen property but declares that he had, in fact, given them to the impoverished man as a gift… So the captors have to leave. Bishop Myriel declares to the astounded Valjean that by this action he had bought Valjean’s soul for God! From now on, Valjean belonged, not in jail, but to God! This act of mercy transformed Valjean completely, and from then on he became the child of God he was always meant to be and went on to great and good adventures, all reflecting this new identity, Hugo’s ultimate example for us all to adopt. He modeled the bishop on an actual person, Bienvenu de Miollis, the Bishop of Digne, near Marseille, in the south of France. He was bishop there for 33 years. There is a movement in France for his beatification.

Charles-François-Melchior de Miollis, Bishop of Digne 1805-1838, undated painting, OSV News photo/Public Domain.

St. Faustina Kowalska described Divine Mercy as God’s greatest attribute, an unfathomable, inexhaustible love that acts as a refuge for sinners and is greater than human misery. She taught that this mercy is freely offered, not earned, and asks for trust from believers, aiming for complete transformation into love. She described it as an ocean of graces poured upon contrite souls, with special compassion for the greatest sinners. She said that the image, featuring red and pale white rays, represents the blood (life of souls) and water (justification) flowing from Jesus’s heart, a shield against God’s wrath. She also emphasized that faith requires action, and faith in God told her her to perform at least one act of mercy toward neighbors daily. And today (once called Low Sunday after the exuberance of Easter) is now elevated to rejoice in the generosity of the Lord, loving where loving seemed impossible, forgiveness where it seemed unimaginable. So today the Lord turns to each one of us, and tells to go do likewise. And, with God’s help and Jesus’ perseverance working in each one of us, we can!

From the 1935 movie Les Miserables, with Bishop Myriel (Cedric Hardwicke) and Jean Valjean (Frederick March)

 

 

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SUNDAY 5 APRIL 2026: THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD: THE MASS OF EASTER DAY.

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The Face of the Risen Lord? Image on the Shroud of Turin, Turin, Italy.

It is said to be the most studied artifact in history! See Shroud. 

“So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.”               John 20:3-7.

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Today we celebrate the most profound reason that we call ourselves Christian: Jesus defeated death itself. The age-old enemy of life was itself destroyed and Jesus invites each of us to join him; not that we will not die – even Jesus himself endured that heavy burden – but he brought back the tremendous hope that not all is ended at that moment. Life continues! And the life we expect to live after death will reflect the life we have lived here on earth, be it good, bad or indifferent. And as Christians we hope, pray and attempt to live a life that is good in the eyes of God. And the highly controversial picture above may be the actual proof of life after death! That ghostly image, a negative of the actual image on the Shroud of Turin, is recorded on barely visible marks on the top of ancient linen which, by one calculation, would need a momentary burst of vacuum ultraviolet radiation requiring billions of watts of light energy, far exceeding the capabilities of any known UV source even today, to have made that image. Additionally, the radiation would have to produce light without generating heat, as the accompanying heat would have vaporized the cloth instantly. In other words, after years of research and hypotheses, experts are still debating what could have produced that image. But after 2000 years of men and women believing in the Resurrection, it is certainly reassuring that we might well have proof of such a unique event, And the fact that this artifact has baffled our most advanced minds in this 21st century is a great comfort. I can’t help thinking that Our Lord left behind this mystifying image with our present questioning and skeptical day and age in mind! Who knows? But there it is, challenging us to believe that where the Lord went, we might follow.

The gospel today is taken from John, the last gospel to be written, the experts assure us. The earliest is Mark, and those same experts claim that the empty tomb was where Mark laid down his pen and stopped (The other verses which follow in Mark’s gospel are additions from different authors, we are told, though are still canonical, that is to say, true). It is also supposed that the John who wrote today’s gospel is the same John as entered the tomb once Peter had gone in. In other words, he is writing directly from his memory of the event. And the careful description of the burial cloths is an intriguing element. Many claim the gospel writer is actually describing the Shroud of Turin! And who folded them up so carefully? (By the way, the smaller, second, cloth is thought by many to be the Sudarium of Oviedo). That both objects have survived for 2000 years is itself miraculous! But if true, and there are many reasons to say that, then each is direct evidence of the Resurrection for a multitude of reasons offered by scientists. Some of these have actually converted to the Faith as a result of their studies of the Shroud.

So this relic is probably the most important evidence of the most important event in human history! And today we celebrate the defeat of death, humanity’s oldest enemy. It is on this day that our Greek-speaking Christian friends say from midnight on Holy Saturday and throughout Easter Sunday, the traditional greeting: “Christos Anesti” (Χριστός Ανέστη), meaning “Christ is Risen,” to which the response is “Alithos Anesti” (Αληθώς Ανέστη), “Truly He is Risen”. This is so much more Christian than our rather lame “Happy Easter”, especially as the word “Easter” is not even Christian! But putting language aside, we know that Christianity is based on the event we celebrate today. Without it, who knows what the world would be like? Almost certainly not as good as it is now, wars and plagues notwithstanding! Tom Holland’s brilliant book “How the Christian Revolution Remade the World” (2019), is a convincing argument of the overwhelming influence of today’s event has had over the last 2000 years. All of us can truthfully say, I believe, that without the event we celebrate today, life would be far more brutal and desperate than it is now. So it is with the profoundest humility and gratitude we can all say:

Χριστός Ανέστη! Christ is Risen! Αληθώς Ανέστη! Truly He is Risen!

Or, with true Christian conviction and faith, Happy Easter!

The Resurrection, Piero della Francesca c.1465, Museo Civico, Sansepolcro, Italy.

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SUNDAY 29 MARCH 2023: PALM SUNDAY OF THE LORD’S PASSION AND HOLY WEEK.

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Mosaic of the Races, Charioteer Marcianus in his quadriga (four-horse chariot), holding the victor’s palm branch, 4th Century CE, National Museum of Roman Art, Merida, Spain.

The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and strewed them on the road. Crowds preceding him and those following kept crying out and saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.”     Matthew 21:9.

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First, a small note.  Only the gospel of John mentions “palms”. Today’s passage from Matthew simply says branches from the trees. But it would make sense to believe that these were palm leaves, otherwise movement would be, shall we say, challenging for the lowly donkey on which Jesus was sitting (and compare that to the four stallions in the picture above).

So it is very possible that this symbol of victory and triumph was being thrown before the Lord in what could be truly labelled his victorious entry into the holy city of Jerusalem. Laurel leaves and palms, for some ancient reason, where regarded as symbolic of total victory. But, when one thinks about it, palms are extremely hardy, standing up even to hurricanes!  So they are strong, robust and fully able to carry the honorific of victory. And one is tempted to say that it was because of the raising of Lazarus from the dead just days before, was the reason for such a reception for Jesus. Anyone who could conquer death could conquer anything – or anyone. Such as the pagan, unclean, occupying Romans… 

At that time, the almost universal Jewish image of the Messiah – the Anointed One –  the Mashiach – was indeed rooted in Divine Scripture but there always seems to be an element of violence or conquest. Take a look at this list of Scriptural passages said to foretell the Jewish Messiah. He was to re-establish the Kingdom of David, and that could hardly happen peacefully, especially with the Roman Empire at its height! Despite all that, the first Holy Week began with just about everyone waiting for Jesus to make the call to arms! Which did not come. As day followed peaceful day, the high hopes of that first Palm Sunday crowd began to be slowly eliminated, so that by the time of Passover came around, the perfect date for rebirth of David’s Kingdom, no hope was left. No call to arms. (Take a look at this conjectural meeting of Jesus and Barabbas in the Temple at that time). The result was that the people felt they had been fooled! High hope turned into grim revenge and the ecstatic cries of “Hosanna to the Son of David” had turned into “Crucify him!” And all this was foreseen by Jesus, despite his followers’ rejection of such a prediction. And when it happened almost all of them vanished. From his cross Jesus presumably saw nothing but catastrophic failure and utter abandonment. Yet he still trusted in God….

So this week begins the foundational story of our faith. It begins with complete faith in the Lord at his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, then the utter rejection of him by just about everyone, then the worst possible, agonizing, debasing and humiliating public death accompanied by scorn and laughter, and, finally, burial in a stranger’s tomb. And peace. But it also saw the Last Supper, the promise of the Lord to be always with us (“This is my body”), and the example for us all of humility and service recalled in the Maundy Thursday washing of the feet. And then the final empty, hollow peace, represented by the open and deserted tabernacle on the altar, for Catholics a chilling and forceful picture of a world without the Lord. But God had not given up on us all even though we deserved (deserve?) it. It reminds me of a moment when, in the Jesuit seminary where I was a novice in 1974, one day during the 30-day retreat (that all Jesuit novices must experience in order to take vows), I had a chilling, memorable, inexplicable moment. All of a sudden, I knew there was no God! There was a chilling feeling of absence, aloneness. My immediate thought was “What on earth am I doing here?” For someone who suddenly found that there was no God – god – I had no business being where I was. In the Jesuit 30-day retreat, you maintain silence, with the exception of talking to your director who guides you through the experience. Of course I told him about it, and he calmed me down, told me to wait and see… And God’s presence returned. But I have never forgotten that coldness and absence. I wonder if the Lord endured a moment like that on the cross. Heaven knows he had every reason to think so, having obeyed God his Father through everything only to be led to such agony and humiliation. But he maintained his belief, even in the agonizing cry of “My God why have you abandoned me?”  He died and was taken down from the cross and laid in the tomb of a sympathetic stranger and laid to rest.

Entry of Christ into Jerusalem, Pietro Lorenzetti c.1320, Lower Church of St. Francis, Assisi, Italy.                                 

There is almost unanimous scholarly opinion that Jesus deliberately followed the prophecy of Zechariah: “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey’ (Zechariah 9:9). Probably many in the crowd would know that prophecy: it would signify the arrival of the Messiah, when all things would change. Except they didn’t…. Except they did….

The Crucifixion, iStock

And the final reflection about this week of weeks. The Last Supper was conducted by Jesus in the full knowledge of what was to happen. He knew that his followers would be horrified at all that. He knew they would think his whole ministry was a disaster, to be forgotten as soon as possible, and their memory of him to be eliminated. So they gathered for that last meal, when he did something they never forgot, despite every reason to. He took a common piece of bread – unleavened, as per the instructions governing the Passover festival – and said “Take, eat, this is my body”. That is a command, a mandate from the Lord, giving this day its “Maundy” title. Then at the end of the meal, he took what was almost certainly a poor grade of wine, and told them to “Drink – this is my blood”. It was a direct consequence of the ceremony on Mount Sinai when the 12 tribes stood around a stone altar, and pledged to follow God foever, and symbolized that by the blood of sacrified animals sprinkled over the altar, symbolizing God, and also over all of them – united to the life of God! But with us Christians, we take God literally into ourselves at Communion!

There’s the huge difference!

 

The Last Supper, Duccio c.1311, Museo dell’Opera Metropolitana del Duomo, Siena, Italy.

 

The Crucifixion, Tintoretto 1565, Sala dell’albergo, Scuola di San Rocco, Venice, Italy.

 

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SUNDAY 22 MARCH 2026: THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT.

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The Raising of Lazarus, Unknown Artist 6th Century AD, Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuova, Ravenna, Italy.

And Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” And when he had said this, He cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.”     John 11:41-44.

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And so we come to Jesus’ greatest miracle, the one which probably assured his condemnation and destruction. The Prince of Life in clearly demonstrating his control over life and death, assured his own death. It was the step too far for the powers in control, and shortly afterwards he was crucified:

They rise and needs will have my dear Lord made away
A murderer they save; the Prince of Life they slay
Yet cheerful He to suffering goes
That He His foes from thence might free.

Love Unknown, Samuel Crossman 1664, John Ireland 1918.

The time was near Passover, and Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. His friends Martha and Mary had sent word that his friend Lazarus was sick unto death, and would he come to help them? Jesus did, but inexplicably waited a few days before going to Bethany where the three friends lived. It was therefore not too surprising that Lazarus had died several days before, and had already been laid in a tomb. Jesus ordered the stone entrance to the tomb be moved away, opening it up, no doubt, to the horrified reaction of the rapidly assembling crowd. First, Jesus prayed, raising his eyes and saying, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” And the miracle happened. He commanded: “Lazarus, come forth!” and the dead man, now walking, emerged. He was bound in burial cloths, and clearly unable to move freely. Jesus ordered the burial wrappings be removed, and so Lazarus was fully restored to life. (The other two times when Jesus demonstrated this divine power, the daughter of Jairus and the son of the widow of Nain were, in comparison. very quiet, almost private events). Now Bethany (modern-day-El Aizariya – “of Lazarus”) was and is very close to Jerusalem, perhaps two miles. It was unthinkable that such an event – unheard of in all history – could be kept quiet. Word must have spread like wildfire. The event, showing he had power over death itself, unquestionably revealed him to be the long awaited Messiah. (It accounts for the rapturous greeting he received entering Jerusalem shortly after). Yes, the crowds certainly acknowledged him as the Messiah, the Son of David, spreading palm branches before him, an ancient symbol of victory and conquest. It certainly seemed like the moment of triumph in his call from God. But one thing troubled me. This was clearly the event which triggered the passion and death of the Lord, yet this miracle is mentioned only in the gospel of John (the last to be written, long after the other three). There is no mention of this event in the other three gospels. Scholars have several possible explanations, but the one which made most sense to me was this. The other three gospels were written much closer to the time of Jesus and already there was trouble between the followers of the Lord, claiming he was the Messiah, and the Jewish authorities who denied it. As this final miracle was the most spectacular and well known, the person of Lazarus might well have been in danger of persecution by the Pharisees as the cause of the trouble. Some  scholars suggest that because of this, the other three authors of the gospels refrained from even mentioning it to protect Lazarus. By the time John wrote his gospel, perhaps 70 or more years after the Ascension of the Lord, Lazarus had died a natural death and was no longer in need of protection. Certainly the proximity of this miracle and the triumphant entry into Jerusalem (next Sunday’s gospel) and its tragic consequences meant that Lazarus had to have been very famous (or infamous in the eyes of the authorities) in that locality and needed to live quietly, out of the spotlight. However, the incredible had happened, witnessed by many people. The power that Jesus had was, literally, Godlike. There was no way, after that, that this man could be anyone other than the Messiah. Hence the overwhelming greeting he received on entering Jerusalem, next week’s gospel. Meanwhile, consider this passage which examines this gospel completely, revealing all the implications and Scriptural references involved.

The Raising of Lazarus, Sebastiano del Piombo c.1519, The National Gallery, London UK.

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SUNDAY 15 MARCH 2026: THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – LAETARE SUNDAY.

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The Light of the World, William Holman Hunt c.1856, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK.

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[Jesus said,] “We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”       John 9:4-5.

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The picture above is quite famous, representing Jesus literally as the light of the world (though there are three versions: this one in Manchester, and two others, one in Keble College, Oxford, and the third in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London). Jesus is knocking on a  (our?) door hoping for admission. But look at the condition of the door itself; overgrown with weeds, and  presumably difficult to open. In addition, there is no clear handle. We have a problem. We have to decide whether to open it – from the other side – and it will take quite an effort to achieve! Hence a perfect Lenten situation. And believe it – Jesus will knock! It might be that, on the inside of that door, could be our perfect life, wrapped comfortably up in ourselves, not open to the world, but warm and cozy inside. Who would want to open it at that ungodly hour? And will Jesus knock twice? And louder? But more important, will we hear it and respond? And taking the cue from the first reading, which says, “not as we see does God see, because humanity sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart” (adapting the language a little), so perhaps that door is the door to our heart. And perhaps today, in Lent, that might well be the state that our heart is in; not perhaps bad, but maybe closed to the world. And the second reading today states boldly that “you (which is to say all of us) are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth”. But a closed door with no window in it cannot even light up the pathway, let alone the neighborhood or the world…

Jesus performed a miracle in this gospel, empowering a man born blind to see for the first time. Remember that being the Son of God, Jesus possessed omnipotence, all power, which he never – ever – used for himself but only for others. Remember the insults he endured on the cross? “If you’re the Son of God, come down from that cross!” (Matthew 27:40, Mark 15:29-32, and Luke 23:35-39). Could he? Yes. Did he? No. His supreme power was for the exclusive benefit of others, never himself. And in today’s gospel he cured a blind man. It was surely the clearest sign that the Messiah had arrived – who could cure a man born blind?  Yet the powers- that-be did NOT want to know about it. As the gospel says today, “for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged him as the Christ, he would be expelled from the synagogue” – shunned in other words. One wonders what it would have taken to convince the Jewish leaders; but I suspect what they really wanted was a military conquering warrior who would expel the Romans and re-establish the kingdom of David. And today’s first reading is none other than the revealing of King David to the prophet Samuel. The scene is a little, forgive me, comical. Jesse, to whom the prophet Samuel was sent by God, had seven sons. Six were each presented to the prophet, with God whispering “no” to Samuel as each appeared. Then Samual’s question, “do you have any more?”  Er, yes, and David was brought in, the One, the youngest, out in the field tending the sheep… (from which Jesus possibly received the image of the Good Shepherd, so strong in Christian scripture and even adopted by Jesus himself, John 10-18). “Yes” said God to Samuel “this is the one.” And the House of David was, as it were, born that moment. That is exactly what the Pharisees should have said that day about Jesus – He is the One! That would been in direct contrast to today’s gospel event. Instead of the instant recognition of the Messiah being present, responsible for an event unknown in history (sight restored to one born blind) there was instead hostility to Jesus in their midst. Instead there was a huge effort to disown his miraculous cure as it took place on the Sabbath... Hence he, Jesus, must be a sinner as no “work” might take place on that day; “we know that this man is a sinner” as they said. The “work” in this case was clearly rather strange, with Jesus making a sort of paste from earth and his spittle, and placing it on the man’s sightless eyes. But this was “work” in the opinion of the powers-that-be. And it was that attitude which was to lead him to the cross. So the contrast was between the unwavering belief shown by Samuel following God’s wishes by choosing David (which could have seen Samuel arguing with God as David was the youngest, the least experienced and fit more to be a shepherd than a king!) and the Pharisees who saw nothing in Jesus’ miraculous event unparalleled in history, and, instead, accusing the Lord of being a  sinner! As Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains”. They see, but did not believe or accept the evidence of their own eyes. They denied it, so their sin remained. Had they simply accepted the evidence of  the miracle, there would have been joy rather than denial, glorying God rather than condemning the Prince of Peace.

Pope Francis as The Good Shepherd!

 

And with that image let us remember that this Sunday’s old traditional name was – and is – Laetare Sunday, the name of which is taken from the entrance antiphon for today’s Mass: “Laetare, Jerusalem: et conventum facite, omnes qui diligitis eam: gaudete cum laetitia…” or, in English, “Be glad, Jerusalem: gather together all you that love her: rejoice and be glad…” (and I copied that from my Roman Missal for the 4th Sunday of Lent, which I bought in 1962, just as everything changed…). We are now in the middle of the Lenten season, and the church allows a little celebration as such, hence the more joyful rose vestments the priest is permitted to wear today: Gaudete cum laetitia!

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