Your homilist still doesn't understand how a Sunday of Easter can be named for a private devotion.

Get rid of the old yeast and become unleavened. St. Paul's Passover imagery is applied to the change that comes about when we acknowledge the sense of human dignity that follows from the treasure of the resurrection.

The amazement of the women at the tomb may, very usefully, be compared with the amazement of the brothers of Joseph when they found that one they thought dead was in the position of saving them from starvation.

The Passion of St. John is most emphatic about Jesus "laying down" his life, as opposed to having someone snatch it from him. The calm silence of Jesus unnerves Pontius Pilate.

This is a homily on "basics" of the sacrament of the Eucharist.

Was "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" a cry of despair? We must consider the source of this expression in order to understand properly why the writer of Mark's Gospel put it on Jesus' lips when he was on the cross.

The image of the grain of wheat "dying" may not be botanically satisfactory, but we certainly know what Jesus means. Conversion means entering into an existence that cannot be foreseen. It demands abandonment of self so that one's true self can be found.

An extremely important characteristic of our conversion into Jesus Christ is its personal nature. God as Trinity is personal. We come to understand that, as precious as any of our personal relationships is, there is infinite richness in the relationships among Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It was truly a personal sacrifice when the Son of God became human.

Tell a psychiatrist what Jesus does in today's Gospel, and you will get a diagnosis affirming that he is suffering from delusions. That's the scandal of Christianity: we acknowledge that anyone else in this circumstance would be delusional, but in the case of Jesus, his identity and his special relationship with the Father are real.

What sort of God gives a couple a child -- miraculously -- and then says, offer up the child as a sacrifice? The same God who gave his son as the sacrifice which achieves humanity's salvation. Glory is found in the midst of suffering. God is truly personal.