When words fail my mother who, to my knowledge, never recited the Rosary as such, in the last month or so of her life would constantly exclaim the words ‘Hail Mary’…
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The readings for this Sunday call us to self-examination. The gospel describes various levels of receptivity, the willingness to allow ourselves to receive from another, to be influenced by another, perhaps even to be transformed…
The readings for today engage us in a reflection on the nature of the Trinity, as well as the ways that we are enriched by each of the divine Persons. The gospel acknowledges the sovereignty of God. This is followed immediately by mention of the handing over of all things to Jesus, making him a kind of vice-regent of God.…
Today we are faced with the cost of discipleship, but we are also comforted by the promise of the providence of God…
The demands of discipleship can be very difficult. The strength that is needed to continue on the chosen path despite its hardships can come only from God…
The major themes today are call and discipleship. Most of us are rather insignificant in the eyes of the broader society. And even those who are well known or in some way famous are still just simple human beings with needs and fears and dreams like the rest of us. Yet we have been called by God.
This feast harkens back to the celebration of Holy Thursday. By way of the metaphors of food and drink, its readings provide us with a look at the mystery of divine presence…
Pentecost celebrates the fullness of the Spirit and the great gathering of nations. It brings the Easter season to its conclusion. The Risen Lord has been exalted to his rightful place…
The feast of the Ascension is really a kind of liminal moment in the Easter season. It is a time between times, a moment when we have left one place in our journey but have not yet arrived at a second…
We live in hope because we have been blessed with the opportunity of participating in the exaltation of Jesus…
The gospel readings for the Sundays just before the feast of Pentecost are all taken from Jesus’ last discourse in the Gospel of John. In them, Jesus prepares his followers for his death and resurrection and his ultimate exaltation. This Sunday Jesus says that it is through his death that he goes to God. However, it is as he is raised up in crucifixion that he is exalted. The author of the epistle declares him ‘chosen and precious in the sight of God’ but it is as the stone that was rejected that he is so honoured. If we ever wonder how the exaltation of Jesus will effect us, we have Jesus’ own words of explanation. He promises to go ahead of us and make arrangements for us to share in his exaltation in the house of the one he calls Father. All we need do is follow him. Today’s readings suggest that the exaltation of Jesus is most dramatically manifested in the character of the community of those called by his name. It is revealed in the way Christians settle their differences so that all parties are treated fairly. Jesus is the cornerstone upon which this community is built, and the community mirrors his influence in its life. Christians also participate in the exaltation of Jesus by spreading the good news to others. In Acts we see how the witness of life and the preaching of the word of God increased the number of believers.
© Dianne Bergant CSA, https:///www.liturgyhelp.com/calendar/date/2026May03/0/RefDiBer
This is ‘Good Shepherd Sunday’ and a particular focus taken today is leadership. Which voices do we follow? Why do we follow these voices and not others? Authentic leadership is rooted in authority, and authentic authority is the ability to author or bring life to birth…
The Easter mystagogical instruction continues. Today we reflect on life as a journey. This theme expresses well the fact that life is not static, but is a movement from one point to another…
The themes for the second Sunday of Easter set the tone for the entire Easter season. They are all directed toward mystagogical instruction…
Easter is the season of mystagogical catechesis, that instruction that unpacks the hidden mystery of the experience of the sacraments of initiation received or renewed at Easter…
As we prepare to enter the sacred time of Holy Week, we look again at the significance of Christ in our lives…
As a metaphor, death can stand for many things…
Humans see and judge by appearances, but God looks into the heart…
All people thirst for meaning, but of what does that meaning consist? The people in the desert thirsted for water, but they misunderstood their thirst. The woman of Samaria thirsted. Her conversation with Jesus showed that she thirsted for understanding and insight as well as water…
The blessings upon which we meditate today are undeserved gifts from God. They were not earned. The graciousness of God transforms us in such a way as to effect new beginnings…