Gospel of John, Chapter 5, verses 17-30
Today's Gospel follows immediately after yesterday's, where Jesus healed the elderly crippled man and invited him to stand, pick up his mat, and go home.  So in today's Gospel, Jesus confronts the leadership of the Temple and attempts to pull them out of their small thinking.  It's a long soliloquy from Jesus, but it has some foundational questions for you and I today.  
Original score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of John, Chapter 5, verses 1-16
Jesus heads south to Jerusalem for another feast, and mingles among the blind, the lame and the crippled.  And where Jesus is, healing takes place.  However, trouble isn't far behind.  The leaders of the Jewish people get caught up in the small stuff and can't see the bigger picture.  This Gospel holds similar questions for us.

Gospel of John, Chapter 4, verses 43-54
Jesus, after journeying through the middle region of Samaria, enters Galilee.  And while the people are happy to see Him, Jesus realizes that it is only because they heard of the things He did in Jerusalem during Passover.  But there was one person who came with a request - a royal official who trusted, at least partially, that Jesus could heal his son.  Today's Gospel shows that interchange...and it invites us into that same journey that the royal official is on.  
Original score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of Luke, Chapter 1, verses 26-38
We take time out of this regularly scheduled Lenten Season to step into a different time and space - a Solemnity that transcends liturgical seasons.  Today celebrates not only my father-in-law's birthday, but also the Feast of the Annunciation.  God presents the plan to humanity, specifically a young woman in a small backwater town.  And all of heaven holds its' breath for her reply.  An interaction, by the way, the continues to repeat itself (in various and sundry forms) even today...
Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of Luke, Chapter 11, verses 14-23
Jesus, after driving out a demon that was mute, is accused of driving out demons in the name of Beelzebul.  Jesus chastises those accusing him, however, saying that a kingdom divided against itself will not stand and that whoever is not with Him is against Him.  So just whom do we stand with?
Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 5, verses 17-19
Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, invites us not just to look at the letter of the Law, but at the heart.  And so to fulfill where it points, we must understand it at its essence.  And so it is true with us as well.
Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 18, verses 21-35
Peter approaches Jesus with a magnanimous offer - should I offer forgiveness to someone who wrongs me up to seven times?  Jesus uses a parable to teach him - and us - that there is no end to forgiveness.  We are either in the flow of God, or we are apart from it.  Forgiveness is not something God does.  It's who God is.
Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of Luke, Chapter 4, verses 24-30
Jesus, fresh out of the desert after His baptism, goes to His native place...and the hometown people begin to doubt what they see.  Not because what they have seen is worth doubting - but because they won't allow themselves to believe.  And so Jesus is forced to go elsewhere.  
Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 21, verses 33-43, 45-46
Jesus shares with us another parable, specifically directed toward the Chief Priests and the Elders, about a vineyard owner, tenants and the produce expected.  And what was a story directed at a particular people 2,000 years ago can still find root within us today - inviting us to see God's trust, patience and expectation.  And beyond that, Jesus invites us to see the role of our defects within our lives.  
Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

Gospel of Luke, Chapter 16, verses 19-31
Jesus tells a parable about a rich man who dines sumptuously (named by the church Dives) and a poor man at his doorstep named Lazarus.  The story follows them not only in this life but into the next - and as we see Dives tormented in the fires of the afterlife and feeling the effects of the chasm, we are invited to ask ourselves: just what is the sin of Dives?  St. Patrick, pray for us!
Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk