Today we see how St. John presents this first appearance of the Risen Lord to His disciples on the evening of that first day of the week – the day of the Resurrection – the new 8th day – the day of the new creation in which something truly phenomenal has occurred.
Reflections on Easter
One of the ancient hymns for the Holy Saturday has the words:
To earth the Master came down to save Adam,
and not finding him on earth,
He descended into the realm of the dead seeking him there.
Adam was afraid when God walked in Paradise.
But now he rejoices when God descends into Hades.
Then he fell, but now he is raised up.
Reflections on Maundy Thursday
In the Durham Cathedral in northern England, in the fourteenth century, a ritual known as the Judas Cup ceremony was instituted as part of the Maundy Thursday liturgy. It offers a stark and compelling image of the theme of betrayal. Following Holy Communion, a large cup of water was placed before the monks.
Reflections on Palm Sunday
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
That is what our life in Jesus Christ is all about, finally: to acquire His mind the mind of the Son of God, the Incarnate Lord, the crucified and risen conqueror of death, the anointed King, the Word and Wisdom of God Almighty.
Reflections on Passion Sunday
On Passion Sunday, we enter the final two weeks of Lent, which the Church has named “Passiontide,” or “The Season of the Passion.” During these two weeks, the Churchs ancient Lenten course reaches its climax as we contemplate our Lord Jesus Christs death for us on the Cross. As much as it is humanly possible, and with the supernatural help of Gods grace, we are meant to let nothing in this world divert our attention from our Saviors Passion and death as we prepare to celebrate His Resurrection.
Reflections on the Fourth Sunday in Lent
And He said this to prove him, for He Himself knew what He would do. John 6
Reflections on the Third Sunday in Lent
I suspect that most people would likely consider St. Antony to be a little crazy selling all that he had, giving it to the poor, and deciding to live by himself in the Egyptian desert, struggling there to find out what it took to live out the teachings of the Gospel in thought, word, and deed. But in fact, St. Antony had decided that righteousness was an end worth pursuing in itself.
Reflections on “Pererinion”
We are now into our Lenten pilgrimage as brothers and sisters in the communion of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. As such, I thought it a good time to answer a question that has come to me about this blog.
Reflections on the First Sunday in Lent
We begin Lent with the reading of the account of Jesus temptation in the wilderness, uniting our meager fast to His own. But as we look more closely at the two accounts in St. Matthew and St. Luke, some interesting points are revealed.
Reflections on Ash Wednesday
Metanoia, the word generally translated “repentance” is both temporary and, in its final stage, permanent. Temporarily, it can happen at any moment of the day or night, when we correctly discriminate in that moment between the back-to-front truth of the world, which sees us being and doing, and the gospel truth, which recognizes that Being and Doing belong to God.