Reflections on the Sunday Readings

  Corpus Christi 6-7-26 Today we celebrate the great sacrament of the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Jesus Christ.   It is not a symbol of Christ’s body, it is really him. We know this because we have the testimony of the apostles who at the Last Supper heard the words-   “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.”(Luke 22:19) and the testimony and promise of Jesus   who said:   “For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.   Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. (John 6: 55-56)                                                                                                                   ...

May 31, 2026 In the opening lines of Genesis, we find the following:”  Then God said: Let us make *  human beings in our image, after our likeness.     Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth.      God created mankind in his image; in the image of God, he created them; male and female *  he created them. (Genesis 1: 26-27)                                   We celebrate in our liturgy this weekend the feast of the Holy Trinity, which calls us to ponder the very nature of God, that is three persons in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.       Now speaking in those terms, and using the customary language of the Old Testament, it would seem that God...

  The other evening as I was writing a reflection for our Prison Ministry, that they were going to be sharing with the prisoners, I noted in my reflection that it addressed not only the Feast of the Ascension but also the readings that would be heard for the coming 7 th Sunday of Easter.      So, this is what I like to call a “hinge sharing.”    The definition of a hinge is- “ a movable mechanism which connects linked objects.” 1     Thus, this “hinge sharing” carries us from the event of the Ascension (i.e., commissioning of the apostles to go into the world and to baptize people in the name of Jesus Christ).   But also, that commission includes a condition given by Jesus, that that the apostles must wait until the coming of the Holy Spirit upon them, so that they will be fully able to fulfill this commission.   Both parts are needed to work together, the Ascension and Pentecost, like hinge, in order for the fullnes...

  “There is a story from the Second World War of a young girl who fled into hiding during the Nazi occupation of Warsaw. She found shelter in a cave outside the city. Alone, cut off from everything she knew, she lived there until the end of her life.    Before she died, she scratched words into the wall of that cave: “I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining.   I believe in love, even when I do not feel it.   I believe in God, even when He is silent.” That is not certainty. That is trust. 1 In the opening of the gospel this weekend, Jesus asks of his disciples (and that includes us)  “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.”   Not always the easiest of things to do, right?     Even the apostles in the gospel this weekend want details on how everything Jesus is saying is going to unfold.   Thomas, who often desires assurances, wants Jesus to be specific concerning how can the...

Our readings this weekend give us hints of the coming feast of Pentecost.  We see apostle Philip going down to Samaria and through his work and the miracles that he performs the people begin to believe in this Christ that he has come to preach about. They want to be more in union with Christ and so, they ask for the sacrament of baptism.   Their desire for this is contagious and spreads to all the areas around Samaria.  When the church in Jerusalem hears of their enthusiasm and acceptance of Christ, they send Peter and John to them to lay hands upon them so that the Holy Spirit of God, the gift of the Father through the prophecy of Christ, could come down upon them.  Once they received this Spirit, they were empowered then to live out their lives as followers of Christ.  Reflecting on this reading we might ponder, is this the same enthusiasm we experience in sharing our faith with others?                ...