Thursday of the Third Week of Easter
readings may be found here
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In the system of Temple sacrifices in Jesus’s day, there were offerings of grain, animals, and money. All these offerings were symbolic in that they represented the piety, atonement, or prayer of the person or persons making the sacrifice. The most important sacrifice of the year was that of the lambs for the feat of Passover. That sacrifice differed in that the lambs were sacrificed in the Temple, but they were not burned on the altar. They were distributed to the people to consume in their Passover observances. 
 
The Gospel of John draws a parallel between Jesus, the “Lamb of God,” and this sacrifice and observance of Passover. Jesus does not offer a symbolic, external, offering. Rather He offers His own Body and Blood. He is the offering. And this Lamb is given to the faithful so that they may participate in His offering and receive His life within them. And so Jesus can say as He does today in this passage: “I am the living bread…” and “I will give my flesh for the life of the world.”
 
We also hear today of Philip’s baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch. Here we have another allusion to Jesus as the Lamb, but here in the context of the call to baptism. We witness again the rapid and almost miraculous spread of the faith in Jerusalem and beyond even as the authorities try to suppress it. 
 
I wonder if these readings might inspire us to reflect upon the nature of our own baptism. To be baptized into Christ Jesus is more than “joining” a group or accepting a set of beliefs and practices. It is the entrusting of our whole selves, all that we are and will become, to the Lord. St. Ignatius of Antioch, on his way to be martyred offered powerful testimony to this truth and its link to our participation in the Eucharist: “I am the wheat of God and am ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ.” Like that great Saint and every disciple baptized into Christ, you and I are called to be a living offering.”

Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter
Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church
Readings may be found here
 
In ancient Israel, the strong family culture required that family members assist each other in times of war, famine, or other calamities. If a member of the family should be taken prisoner or enslaved, it was the duty of the other family members to “redeem” that person – to pay the ransom or buy the person out of slavery. 
 
The prophets took this family role and pointed to the Lord’s similar role in the family of Israel – the Redeemer of Israel from slavery in Egypt. The prophets went on to proclaim the Lord’s particular role as Redeemer in the lives of the most vulnerable – those who did not have family members to assist them – the widow, the orphan, the poor, the stranger. 
 
This truth of God’s desire to redeem us from sin and death lies at the heart of the Good News. We apply the language of redemption to the work of Jesus Christ and He points out this sacred purpose today in the passage from John, part of the Bread of Life discourse. 
 
The passage from Acts offers a different aspect of the redemption made possible in the Christ event – the Divine grace that draws life from death, goodness from moments of evil. We have a picture here of a suffering Church. And at the same time we see how their trusting faith participates in God’s power to redeem – the moment of suffering and death becomes a moment of new life as the faith spreads ever further and more rapidly beyond Judea. 
 
The Saint of the Day, Catherine of Siena offers similar testimony with her life and work. She lived in tragic time of plague, division, and conflict. As a woman there were many constraints placed upon her in Medieval society. And yet this woman, entirely devoted to God from childhood became peace-making diplomat, intercessor for the condemned and persecuted, influential author, and a voice of conscience and truth to confront the powers of her time.
 
The Holy Scriptures and our Saint today teach us a critical truth: that when God is present and men and women of good will respond with willing hearts - even the most difficult circumstances will see an outpouring of goodness, blessing, and new life. Love redeems.

Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter
Readings may be found here
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More than once, I have been told by someone that they just cannot forgive some offense done to them. And I will admit that I often struggle to forgive. Even when we tell people that we have forgiven them, forgetting the matter can be a whole lot more difficult – especially if the words or actions involved the betrayal of trust. 
 
Is it not amazing then that the Lord Jesus forgives so readily and so entirely. He was free of sin, He never did any harm to anyone. If anyone has ever had the right to judge and condemn, it is the Son of God. And indeed His trust was betrayed. He was rejected, reviled, tormented, and killed. This Innocent One might have condemned with all justification, He might have railed against a sinful lost humanity, bewailed His fate, cursed us for all eternity. Instead He prayed “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Instead He offered Himself on the cross for His betrayers and tormenters.
 
Today, we see this amazing grace at work in the death of Stephen. This young deacon does not fear to speak the truth to the angry crowd, but when their anger turns to unjust and deadly violence Stephen prays for them in imitation of the One Who fills his heart with faith and love. Stephen prays for his persecutors as a man free of hatred and resentment.
 
Stephen knew what Jesus proclaims today in the passage from John – that He is with His disciples still, feeding them, encouraging them, strengthening them. 
 
The next time we tell ourselves that we cannot forgive, that we prefer the acid of our anger, may we remember the truth that in fact this Lord Jesus offers us the grace to forgive. If we wear the chains of resentment, we wear them by our own choice. He would liberate us to forgive, to forget, and to love again.

Monday of the Third Week of Easter
Readings may be found here
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The word “angel” comes from the word for “messenger” or “representative.” In the Old and New Testaments, Angels bear the presence and message of God to human beings. 
 
Today, we are told that the young deacon Stephen is brought before a hostile Sanhedrin where he offers testimony and his face is like that “of an angel.” This makes perfect sense when you consider that Stephen in his living and in his testimony has become a messenger for the Lord Jesus. He has received the truth revealed by Jesus in the Gospel of John today – that the work of God is to be in right relationship with the One sent by the Father. Stephen believes. With his deeds, words, and in his martyrdom, he proclaims that Jesus to the world and to us. An Angel indeed!

​Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist
Readings may be found here

​Today we celebrate St. Mark the Evangelist. The Gospel of Mark may be the shortest of the gospel accounts, but it has a genius all its own. Mark proclaimed the Lord to a Christian community experiencing great suffering and the danger of death. In that moment of darkness, Mark did not fall into easy promises. Instead, he offered and unflinching look at the agonies suffered by the Lord Jesus in the passion. In fact, scholars sometimes call his gospel a “Passion account with an introduction.” It may be counterintuitive to offer such harsh good news to people in suffering, but Mark understood the liberating truth that the Lord Jesus is with us in our agonies and that His love for us is powerfully expressed in His free embrace of the cross for our deliverance. 
 
The First Letter of Peter today references Mark. And it reminds us of the intentions of the evil one, often called the father of lies. His lie is that we are forgotten in our struggles. He whispers that we are lost, worthless, and alone. The Gospel of Mark unveils the lie and shows forth the truth that we are infinitely valuable. We are loved – loved in sweat and struggle, loved in blood and sacrifice, loved by the One Who walks with us in our struggles. 

Friday of the Second Week of Easter
Readings may be found here
 
Our gospel passage from John offers us an account of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. All four gospels record these accounts in one way or another – indicating how important this miracle was for early. This miracle left such a lasting impression because of its superabundance. Jesus did more than provide unexpected food, he filled their hunger and left twelve baskets full of “fragments” from the bread. That last detail, the “fragments,” points to another reason for the focus of the gospels on this miracle. The term used there is the term that early Christians used in the breaking of the bread that was their Eucharistic participation in the Lord’s paschal mystery. These men and women of faith came to understand Jesus’ miracle as a prophetic indication of the abundance that would flow from the gift of His grace long after and far beyond that original miracle in Galilee. They heard these words as we typically do, gathered to be fed in abundance by the Good Shepherd. 
 
While it’s true that we who profess faith in Jesus often fail, the more important and lasting truth is the one revealed by the Saints: when men and women of faith live that grace of Jesus the world is changed and that grace is multiplied in superabundance. That which is of God does not and cannot fail. Look across the ages at how that tiny beleaguered band became a Church from every nation spread across the centuries and the globe. See how the Saints have lived the Lord’s call to communion and compassion. So many things we take for granted today have sprung from a Christian culture of love: human rights, charitable organizations, the need for the strong to assist and protect the vulnerable. All these things did not exist when the Apostles set out across the Roman world. In every generation, the saints reveal the presence, will, and work of the God of love. And the Lord Jesus feeds the Saints with His body, the “fragments” from that superabundance of love that are the gift of the Eucharist. 

Thursday of the Second Week of Easter
Readings may be found here
 
Christians around the world experience intense persecution – sometimes by governments and sometimes resulting from prejudice or mob violence. John Allen documented the extensive nature of the suffering in his book, The Global War on Christians. In North Korea entire families are sent to death camps for the crime of possessing a bible. In Nigeria and Indonesia, mob violence regularly sees christians attacked and churches and schools burned. In China, even in pandemic, the government continues to arrest christians and demolish churches. In Saudi Arabia it is a crime to possess a rosary. The Turkish government routinely forbids christians to repair churches after they have been attacked by mobs. Coptic christians in Egypt are denied access to education, housing, and employment. The list of the way in which Christians face violence, denial of rights, and mistreatment goes on. In countries like the US, we do not see this kind of persecution, but we certainly have felt the rising tide of condemnation and rejection by cultural elites. 
 
This is not to say that christians are the only group that suffers injustice. Nor would I deny that there are times and places where christians have done the persecuting. But it is important to acknowledge the very real suffering of our brothers and sisters and to recall that persecution has been a constant in one form or another throughout Christian history. It begins, of course, with the Lord Himself – rejected, reviled, put to death for no other crime than His ministry of compassion and healing. Despite the danger, of which He is very well aware, Jesus consistently and courageously proclaims the truth of His identity. As the Johannine passage puts it today: “He testifies to what He has seen and heard.”
 
The passage from the Acts reminds us that the same persecution provoked by the preaching of the Lord Himself arises in the experience of those who preach in His Name. Today, the Apostles are made to stand before a hostile Sanhedrin. And indeed they do stand up, proclaiming their faith boldly, knowing the risks. 
 
These models of courageous testimony challenge us to stand up – to stand up for brothers and sisters enduring terrible suffering, to stand up for the sanctity of all human life, to stand up and witness to our faith in Jesus Christ. Do not fear rejection, do not worry about what others will think or say, do not count the cost, just stand up! 

Wednesday in the Second Week of Easter
Readings may be found here
 
When our culture imagines freedom, it appears to have in mind freedom from restrictions, personal autonomy, and the idea that we somehow create ourselves as we see fit. Sadly, this cultural version is a much reduced version of the freedom for which our hearts truly long.
 
To understand this, we need to recall the link between love and freedom. In marriage, the husband and wife each surrender part of themselves, some of their personal autonomy. But when that marriage is lived authentically as a communion of life, that surrender becomes gain as the two individuals become so much more. In the mathematics of love, 1+1= infinity. And consider when that expanding love participates in God’s life-giving work by the raising of children. Parents, in love, place all kinds of restrictions on their children. But these restrictions in fact enable the freedom of the children as they are able to engage in the world protected and guided. Sometimes we find ourselves needing to care for a loved one in need or illness. Is that service in love feel like a reduction of our freedom or do we render that service with a sense of joy and gratitude that we can help?
 
Today, we hear about the imprisonment and miraculous deliverance of the Apostles. But the truth is that even in prison, they were still free. They knew the freedom of the children of God. Their earthly circumstances could never change the gift given to them by God. As the Gospel of John puts it so succinctly “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son…”
 
In these days of pandemic, the many restrictions on daily life and work are hard to bear. And yet it is good to be reminded of the truth that has already set us free – the truth of God’s loving mercy. We may be limited in movement, but there are no restrictions on our capacity to believe, to hope, to love. 

Tuesday of the Second Week of Easter
Readings may be found here
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Jesus is Lord! Who among us would disagree? This truth is central to our lives as Christian disciples.
 
I wonder, though, if this truth is so obvious that we sometimes forget the profound consequences of proclaiming it?
 
Look to the readings today and you will see the challenges to our usual ways of thinking and acting as human beings. Remember that the original sin was rooted in the temptation to imagine ourselves the masters of our own fate, little gods as it were. Human beings are drawn to wealth, fame, worldly knowledge, and power over others. All these temptations whisper the lie that we are now secure, that we have life under control. 
 
Then we look to the gospels and see that the one Who truly is God, Jesus, does not show any interest in any of these worldly temptations that so mesmerize us. Instead, He gives clear witness to the true power of self-surrendering love. This truth of God, breaking into the world is radical and revolutionary. And it requires a response. To know the truth of Jesus is to see our illusory values turned upside down. 
 
Look at how Jesus challenges Nicodemus’s presumption. Nicodemus is a “teacher of Israel,” already decided in his view of the world and his narrow view of how God should offer salvation. Jesus must shake him out of that illusion and He begins to do so today. As Jesus prophesies today, this awakening will take time for Nicodemus as indeed he will only truly grasp the truth of Jesus after He has been lifted up on the cross. 
 
Then consider the positive example of the Christian community in Acts. They live the truth that Jesus is Lord as a new kind of selflessness and life in communion grows in their hearts. They understand that faith in Jesus, to call Him Lord, is to demand a new and renewed way of living in imitation of the One Who offered Himself in Love and Trust. And this new way of living is not some new code of required behavior, it is a restoration of these Christians to the image and likeness of the God of Love. 
 
You and I are experiencing a moment of terrible crisis. We have so many fears and with those fears comes the perennial temptation to turn in on ourselves, to grasp at the illusion of power or security. The deeper truth is that the moment of fear is precisely the moment for trust and the unselfish gift of self for the sake of others. For Jesus is Lord. Our fate is in His loving hands. And to call Him Lord is to submit ourselves to His Law of Love. 

Monday of the Second Week of Easter
Readings may be found here 
How many Facebook posts begin with a Greek work from the New Testament?
The Greek word parresia is used in the New Testament (especially the Acts) to describe the quality of early Christian and Apostolic preaching. The word means “openly,” “passionately,” “boldly.” This last word is utilized twice in the translation of our first reading today. We have already seen how the resurrection of Jesus and His gift of the Spirit brings those first disciples alive with passion for their mission. They become eloquent, courageous, and full of fire where before they were frightened, silent, retreating. 
On one level, the encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus in the passage from John brings us back to that hesitancy. Nicodemus comes “at night” and fails to acknowledge Jesus’ true identity – he calls Him only “Rabbi.” And Nicodemus resists Jesus’ invitation to see the deeper truth of God’s sovereign power at work. Nicodemus is still trapped by his own limited vision. 
Here we see another aspect of the gift of the Spirit and the boldness that overtakes the Apostles after the resurrection. Their encounters with the Risen Lord have given them an entirely new perspective. They now see the depths. The next time you look out at the waves of the ocean, imagine looking beyond the surface and beneath the waves where the hidden tides and currents are the life of the sea. There in the depths lies the truth.
That possibility is open to us as well – to see the world anew with those eyes of faith. To see there the awesome depth and truth of Divine love and grace is to be made anew and filled with the desire to share the gift. May the Spirit give us parresia - boldness in our proclamation of the goodness and mercy of God!