News RSS Feed

As a kid I was fascinated with the Church calendar hanging in my grandma’s kitchen. I would look at the saints who were pictured there each month and read what it said about them. I remember being curious that the Wednesday of Holy Week was called “Spy Wednesday,” and the Sunday after Easter was named “Low Sunday.” I found out that it was called “low” only because Easter is so “high.”

“Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone.” This song written by the Gaithers aptly expresses our resurrection faith and what it means in our lives. Today is a victory celebration. Today we rejoice in the definitive triumph of Jesus over Satan, sin and death. The resurrection of Jesus is the pledge of our own salvation, resurrection and victory. “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Alleluia!

Last year, in April 2020, we were wondering how long our lockdown due to this “COVID thing” would last, and if we would be free by Easter. Well, we all found out, didn’t we? Now in April 2021, we are a year later – older, wiser, and thankful that we are seeing some signs of progress.

Today’s celebration has a dual focus: the Blessing of Palms and Procession commemorating the glorious entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem amid the cheers and palm branches of the crowd; then the Mass, in which the emphasis is on the Passion and Death of Jesus. In fact, today is officially called “Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord.” We go from Palms to Passion in the space of an hour or so! Holy Week and Good Friday bring us to a bitter remembrance. But we rejoice that just one week from now, we are back to glory again celebrating the Lord’s resurrection. Indeed, Holy Week is a study in contrasts.

How is your heart? Because of the Fall,  we know that “the heart is deceitful above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9). As we get closer to the end of Lent, we are called today to a “heart exam,” a spiritual EKG. The goal of Lent, indeed the goal of the whole Christian life, is to develop an obedient heart, as Jesus had.

The Fourth Sunday of Lent is traditionally called Laetare Sunday, meaning “rejoice,” from the first word of the Entrance Antiphon: “Rejoice, Jerusalem!” (Isaiah 66:10-11). Very appropriate, because we hear about God’s mercy today, and that is truly something to rejoice over! “His tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm 145:9).

Don’t take God for granted and don’t treat him casually! That is the message for today, the Third Sunday of Lent. As we move toward the middle of the Lenten Season, today’s readings challenge us to renew our zeal for God and the things of God: his sovereignty, his law, his plan, his house. Today’s readings are like a much-needed wake-up call or splash of cold water on our face. “God is not mocked” (Gal. 6:7).

Karl Barth, the famous Swiss Reformed theologian, was once asked to sum up the essence of all the millions of words in the multiple volumes he had published. He replied simply, “Jesus loves me, this I know; for the Bible tells me so.”

That phrase usually refers to “peak” spiritual experiences or those dramatic, critical moments in one’s life. Today we hear about two different mountaintop experiences. Abraham is called to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on Mount Moriah and we also hear about the Transfiguration of Jesus on a high mountain. Both accounts pre-figure and point to another mount – Golgotha, Calvary, the Place of the Skull – where Jesus would accomplish his final Passover.

Do you feel afraid or insecure? It’s difficult not to be after the past year. A global pandemic, social and political turmoil, economic uncertainty, scandals and confusion in the Church, etc….need we go on? Thank God for his grace, which is still amazing! First, last and always, we need and we have God’s grace.  As the converted slave trader, John Newton, wrote:

St. Joseph: Model Husband and Father - Wayne and Merce Trosclair Mass: Msgr. Lanaux Rareshide Music by Jamie Diliberto and Tongues of Fire St. Benilde - 1901 Division Street - Metairie, LA MASKS AND SOCIAL DISTANCING

Flood…covenant…salvation…baptism – all this might sound a little unusual on this First Sunday of Lent, called Temptation Sunday because the gospel always relates the temptation of Jesus in the desert. We are entering into the Lenten Season – in its earliest form, a time of preparation for baptism and entry into the Church for catechumens. Our first two readings today reflect that aspect.

It is interesting that when today’s readings talk about leprosy, they use the terms clean, cleansing, unclean. We can easily understand that leprosy is symbolic of sin – which truly makes us unclean and sets us apart. This is the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday. The emphasis on cleansing from sin is an appropriate lead-in to the penitential season of Lent.

Rummel Raider Room - St. Benilde 1901 Division Street Metairie, LA - Masks and Social Distancing

We have all been there at some point – feeling low, discouraged, down, depressed. We would prefer not to stay there, however, but to look forward in hope to better times. Today’s readings are a progression from Job’s drudgery and misery to the healing and good news that Jesus brings.

“What is this teaching? Who is this man, really? Where does he come from?” All these questions were swirling around Jesus as he began his public ministry and they would continue until his life and ministry climaxed in his death and resurrection. Today’s liturgy presents the answer: Jesus is the great prophet that Moses promised, and he is the Holy One of God with absolute authority over evil spirits.

God calls and man responds, ready to follow and obey – well, maybe not always! The readings today present calls from the Lord but contrasting responses – first, God’s call to the prophet Jonah, and then Jesus’ call to Simon and Andrew, James and John. Jonah was a most reluctant prophet. But the gospel gives us an example of instant obedience on the part of Jesus’ first followers.

It is fitting that the readings of this Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, in the first weeks of 2021, speak of “firsts” and “new beginnings.” The young boy Samuel, while asleep in the temple, hears the Lord’s voice for the first time and thus begins his prophetic mission. Andrew meets Jesus for the first time and begins to follow him, later to become one of his Twelve Apostles. Today’s readings urge us to hear, encounter, and obey the word of the Lord.

Why, indeed? Jesus had no sin. John’s baptism was one of repentance, but Jesus had no need of repentance. In fact, in Matthew’s account of the Baptism of the Lord (not read this year), John actually tried to prevent Jesus from being baptized by him, saying that the roles should be reversed. Jesus, however, urged John to “go along for now,” and John complied.

I remember seeing this on a bumper sticker (when people still used bumper stickers). Actually, it was one of the better bumper stickers I’ve seen. Some were rather unmentionable!