Our readings for this Sunday before Ascension are dramatic stories of Jesus’s healing of the blind man, and the conversion of the jailer after Paul and Silas had been wrongfully imprisoned (John 9:1-38; Acts 16:16-35). Psalm 2 and Daniel 7 help us to understand the authority (and compassion) of the Son of Man, and lead us to reflect upon our place in an increasingly hostile world, where both religious and political powers may not appreciate the glory of the Lord, or our solidarity with Him.

St. John Chrysostom sets the tone for us, showing us how to receive riches from our readings for this Sunday, the Sunday of the paralytic. Both John 5:1-15 and Acts 9:32-42 relate stories that are concrete fulfillments of the prophecy in Micah 4:1-7 that God would call those on the margins of society, including the disabled, as part of his “remnant,” to give glory to Him.

This Sunday we listen in on Jesus’ appearance to the eleven, and then his special visit with St. Thomas, learning, with the help of the epistle of John, how Jesus is LORD and God over the whole created order. He answers our sensory questions, and not simply the abstract “spiritual” problems of life, bringing us to know Him intimately.

John 20:19-31; 1 John 1:1-7

Genesis 2; Exodus 3

This Sunday we listen in on Jesus’ appearance to the eleven, and then his special visit with St. Thomas, learning, with the help of the epistle of John, how Jesus is LORD and God over the whole created order. He answers our sensory questions, and not simply the abstract “spiritual” problems of life, bringing us to know Him intimately.

John 20:19-31; 1 John 1:1-7

Genesis 2; Exodus 3

Why is Rahab such an important figure in the NT, found in Hebrews, Matthew and James? Two of our passages for this divine Liturgy mention her! Consider what the NT authors say about her, her place in salvation history, and the remarkable story in the book of Joshua concerning this disreputable woman who came to live “outside the camp” with the Hebrews.

We consider the donkey who bore Jesus into Jerusalem and, with St. Mary of Bethany (John 12:1-18), contemplate the beautiful but surprising acts of God (Philippian 4:4-9) in the light of Numbers 22; Zechariah 9:9, and select poems from G. K. Chesterton, William Blake, and Samuel Crossman.

This week we read the epistle through the lenses of St. John Chrysostom, St. John Climacus, the book of Genesis and Isaiah’s portrait of the Suffering Servant. Here we are given the hope to continue following our great forerunner Jesus. The gospel reading adds to this the importance of faith, prayer and fasting, as we set our faces towards the cross.

We read Hebrews 1:10-2:3 and Mark 2:1-12 shows how the arrival of God the Son in our midst was wholly unanticipated, something completely new, helped by hints in Psalm 101 (102 MT) and Daniel 7.

Consider how the prophet Isaiah and the sage ben Sirach help us to understand more about the gospel’s teaching on forgiveness, and St. Paul’s words on living the attentive life of ascesis. Why should we ask forgiveness of those whom we think we haven’t even hurt—because our sins hurt everyone in the body of Christ!

Luke 15:11-32; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20

Hosea 14:1-9; Isaiah 55:1-7