The Friar Podcasts - preaching prayer and spiritual reflections

We live in a time of new life. While it may not feel that way to all, the Church is growing, the Spirit is moving, and Jesus is still offering his new life. Readings for Today.

Something wonderful is happening here

If you have been paying attention, you might have noticed that religion is making a small comeback. All over the world the number of people coming into the Catholic Church has been remarkable. 

The National Catholic Register reported that the Diocese of Cleveland “expects 812 converts at Eastertime 2025, which is about 50% higher than in 2024 (542) and about 75% higher than in 2023 (465). It’s so high that the diocese had to move its Rite of Election — during which prospective converts meet with the bishop near the beginning of Lent to declare their intention to join the Church — to the city’s Public Auditorium and Conference Center, because the cathedral wasn’t big enough to accommodate the nearly 3,000 attendants, including converts, sponsors, family and friends, according to Nancy Fishburn, the diocese’s executive director of communications.”

The same article reports that there is a 56% increase in the Texas diocese of San Angelo. The Diocese of Winona-Rochester has a 67% increase in those entering the Church, and the numbers there are almost double what they were in 2022. “In 2023, in a parish in a town of 12,000 people, St. John’s welcomed 32 adult converts, followed by 27 in 2024. This year the total number is 38: 30 adults and eight children.” The article reports that dioceses in all parts of the United States are seeing increases. And it is not just the United States. According to the French bishops, 10,384 adults will be baptized this year on Easter night, and more than 7,400 teenagers aged 11 to 17. This brings the total number of catechumens receiving baptism in France this year to over 17,800, an increase of 45% for adults compared to 2024. Of these 42% of these are 18-25 year olds. 

Similar stories are reported in Canada, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Mongolia, the Netherlands and Spain among others. And here at Saint Dominic Parish in Denver, we are seeing similar trends. 

The New York Times features a columnist who wrote about her former life as a quite active Mormon. She left the Mormon faith, not for another religion but for a more secular life. And yet she feels something is missing. 

She writes this: “Actively religious people tend to report they are happier than people who don’t practice religion. Religious Americans are healthier, too. They are significantly less likely to be depressed or to die by suicide, alcoholism, cancer, cardiovascular illness or other causes. In a long-term study, doctors at Harvard found that women who attended religious services once a week were 33 percent less likely to die prematurely than women who never attended.”

It seems that many are discovering what we already know. Jesus brings life. Our faith is not one where we only share the positive elements. Our Messiah, the Divine Son of God was crucified and killed. The first leaders of the Church do not hide their failures, but speak clearly about how they denied him, betrayed him, ran away at his hour of need and doubted him.

But they spoke clearly about how their lives were changed. They went from frightened mice to bold martyrs. A small band of believers became a Church that now boasts over 1 billion members.

And while there are many reasons for this, it cannot be denied that there is an increasing recognition of the action of God in people’s lives. There is, to quote Saint Paul, a greater likelihood these days that people “seek what is above.” They realize that just allowing the Holy Spirit into our souls produces unbelievable spiritual growth.

Consider the example of yeast and dough. If you are like me, you might not even think about yeast. But yeast is tiny. And yet when added to dough the result produces exponential growth.  “A little yeast leavens all the dough.” Read more . . .

Far from a defeat, the Cross is the triumph from which the Church is born. Lejos de ser una derrota, la Cruz es el triunfo del que nace la Iglesia. Readings for Today. Lecturas para hoy.

The Triumph of the Cross / El triunfo de la Cruz

The passion account in the Gospel of John is different from the passion accounts in the other four gospels. As J Alan Culpepper writes, 

“There is (1) no mockery of Jesus at the cross; (2) no penitent thief; (3) no darkness, even though John often plays with the symbolism of light and darkness; (4) no counting of the hours (except for the comment in 19:14 that it was the sixth hour), though John has spoken repeatedly of the coming of Jesus' hour; (5) no rending of the veil, though John tells of the cleansing of the Temple at the beginning of Jesus' ministry; (6) no cry of dereliction; (7) no earthquake; (8) no opening of the tombs, though John has spoken earlier of the opening of the tombs and records the raising of Lazarus; and (9) no confession of the centurion, though John places particular emphasis throughout the Gospel on the recognition of Jesus as 'the Son of God.'”

Why is this? For John, the point of the telling of the story is to highlight the Cross not as a defeat, but as a triumph. The death of Jesus on the cross is “a humiliation that is followed by an exaltation but as the first step in Jesus' exaltation and glorification. The resurrection is compressed into the crucifixion so that the two are stages in one upward motion. The death is itself an integral part of Jesus' exaltation and glorification- which of course is completed in the resurrection.”

En el relato de la pasión de Juan, las acciones de Jesús y hacia Jesús sirven para dejar clara una cuestión importante. Jesús no es sólo un predicador itinerante. Juan relata los acontecimientos de la pasión de Jesús para demostrar que Jesús es el Hijo de Dios. Y utiliza las imágenes de las Escrituras como telón de fondo de sus argumentos.

Durante la Pascua, se sacrificaban miles de corderos. Pero uno era para el Sumo Sacerdote, cuatro días antes de la Pascua. Esto habría ocurrido cuando Jesús hizo su entrada triunfal en Jerusalén. El cordero confiado llevado al matadero.

Juan nos dice que Jesús es el Cordero Pascual. Jesús, con total confianza en el Padre, es él mismo llevado al matadero. Jesús es el Cordero de la Gran Fiesta. Jesús, el Cordero de Dios, cambia deliberadamente el significado de la Pascua haciendo referencia a sí mismo. Comed mi cuerpo. Bebed mi sangre.

Jesús muere el Día de la Preparación, cuando los corderos se preparan para el sacrificio. Y como la puesta de sol en esta época del año en Jerusalén es justo después de las siete, la matanza de los Corderos habría ocurrido a media tarde.

While the sign hung above the head of Jesus says he is the King of the Jews (a seeming admission by Pilate that he did not believe Jesus to be guilty), that the sign is written in the three common languages of the area indicates that the death of Jesus is for the Jews, but not just for the Jews. All are saved by the death of Jesus. 

Again from Culpepper. “John's interpretation of the tradition highlights elements that have ecclesiological significance, and this reinterpretation of the tradition reflects a fundamental theological insight: The Church is founded not just on the resurrection of Jesus- it has its origin at the cross. What happened at the cross, therefore, shapes for all time the nature and design of the Church.”

Con todo el sacrificio de los corderos, el Templo se habría llenado de sangre. Por eso, para limpiar el Templo antes de la puesta del sol, cuando no podían trabajar, a menudo arrojaban grandes cubos de agua, que salían por unos agujeros en el lateral del Templo.

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My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? The cry of dereliction. Just what did it mean for Jesus? And what does it mean for us? Readings for today. 

My God, My God, Why have you abandoned me?

On the Cross, Jesus quotes the first line from Psalm 22. "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" These words of Jesus, often referred to as the "Cry of Dereliction", have been the subject of much interpretation and analysis over the centuries. (One of my Dominican brothers, who just received his doctorate in sacred theology wrote on this very topic.)

Given that most of us will never explore the Cry of Dereliction in such depth or insight, what can we gain from these words? They are one of the seven last words of Christ, another motif that has been preached about for some time.

Perhaps for this Good Friday, the words of Psalm 22 offer a good basis for reflection on this Good Friday. The start of the Psalm represents the psalmist in a bad place. The psalmist is abandoned and alone. 

My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

Why so far from my call for help,

from my cries of anguish?

My God, I call by day, but you do not answer;

by night, but I have no relief.

To be sure, things seem bad. Not only are things not going well, but God, who has always been present, loving and supportive, no longer seems to be that way. The psalmist feels abandoned, distant from God, full of anguish. And God is silent.

And yet, the psalmist still has faith. For God is "enthroned as the Holy One". God has not only been the source of trust for those in the past, but God has been trustworthy. The ancestors cried out and God heard. They escaped from their enemies. 

Despite this faith, the way the psalmist looks upon themselves, not only do they feel the absence and silence of God, but at the same time they are conscious of their lowly state. 

But I am a worm, not a man,

scorned by men, despised by the people.

All who see me mock me;

they curl their lips and jeer;

they shake their heads at me:

“He relied on the LORD—let him deliver him;

if he loves him, let him rescue him.”

The psalmist feels abandoned in their weakness. They know who they are, especially as compared to God. But they are also surrounded by enemies, and so their abandonment is more complete. Not only do they have enemies, they have enemies who mock precisely because the psalmist trusted in God.

The words of the psalm are echoed in the accounts of the passion. It does not take much imagination, especially in the gospels that are so familiar to us to hear those around Jesus as he hung upon the Cross speak this way about Jesus.

But the end of the psalm moves from the despair at the beginning and the long account of just how bad things are, it moves from here to faith. And this is the pattern we see during this Holy Week, and now into the Easter Triduum.

After the Last Supper, which we commemorated last night, Jesus prays for this cup of suffering to be taken away from him. But only if it be the Father's will. If it be the Father's will that Jesus make the total abandonment to that will, Jesus will do it. 

Some scholars claim (even early Church theologians) that the Cry of Dereliction came when Jesus felt the enormity of all of the sins of humanity. But what if the explanation is simpler, even though the implications would be profound.

Consider that the ultimate cause of death of crucifixion was suffocation. So it would be logical to assume that Jesus had some difficulty in speaking. What if he was praying Psalm 22 in its entirety, but only had the strength to say the first line?

And so Jesus, who in his human suffering feels not only abandonment, but also feels alone (his followers have abandoned him), but is being jeered by the crowds and mocked for his faith in God the Father. 

What if, then, the Cry of Dereliction represents the total self-gift of Jesus for our sins? Rather than being abandoned, Jesus has completed the work of the Father he was sent to do.

Read more . . .

Do this in remembrance of me. This means that the events of the Eucharist, Good Friday, and Easter are not simple recollections, but an invitation to enter more fully into the divine actions of Christ. Readings for Today.

Do this in remembrance of me

Memory is an amazing faculty. Memory allows us to time travel, making the past into the present. Memory invokes all kinds of wonderful feelings. Memory can even bring the dead back to life, at least in our minds.

But there is a special type of "memory" that we engage in when we go to Mass. When we talk about the remembrance at Mass, we do not mean memory like remembering what we had for dinner the night before. 

The type of remembrance we mean is anamnesis. In an article by David Ramsey, published in Religion and Literature, we read some interesting observations about the word anamnesis, and about the words from the second reading today by Saint Paul.

Ramsey points out that when Saint Paul says, "Do this in remembrance of me", he is not simply referring to memory as a function of the brain. There is something much deeper. Let's consider each part. 

The verb "do" is poieö." "When used in connection with human activity, the verb poieö is the sense of making, manufacturing or producing something." (Ramsey, 2017, 83.) The result is that this is not to be a passive function of the intellect, but rather an active entering into something much greater. 

What Saint Paul reminds us of are the words of Jesus. Do this in remembrance of me. This word remembrance, is the word anamnesis. Anamnesis is "an event or experience of the past that is brought actually and effectively into the present." (Ramsey, p. 83) So the anamnesis at Mass is not simply a recollection of the past, but an entering into an event in the present. 

So rather than the Reformation objection that calling Mass a sacrifice meant killing Jesus over and over again, the Mass is a time where we are entering in an engaging way the one sacrifice of Christ. The once for all sacrifice is made present again. This is what it is meant to do when we are told by Jesus to "do this in remembrance of me."

But there is more. What we are engaging in is the Divine Liturgy in heaven. What is meant by anamnesis "is that the 'action' of the earthly church in the eucharist only manifests within time the eternal act of Christ as the heavenly High-priest at the altar before the throne of
God, perpetually pleading his accomplished and effectual sacrifice." (Ramsey, p. 83)

This is sometimes expressed in the phrase that Mass is the meeting of heaven and earth. This is made more clear in the sense of the theology of the eastern Church, where there is a clear iconostasis, or wall that represents the division of heaven and earth. There are words and actions not visible to the faithful, because the cleric, acting in the person of Christ is standing before the Father in heaven.

And so what we celebrate tonight is our entrance into heaven here on earth. And to actually be able to enter, the gospel reminds us that at the heart of the heavenly and earthly encounter is the absolute recognition of the inherent human dignity every human being shares.

The washing of the feet then is an action for the leaders of the Church. The leadership Jesus envisions in his Church is one of service. We are not to lord over our leadership with brutal authority, but to show forth in our actions, attitudes and beliefs the need to serve. 

This is the sense the Jewish people have when they celebrate the Passover. Mass is not simply saying the right words. It is entering into, over and over again throughout the Mass into a series of actions. Not only do we hear words of text when the readings are proclaimed. God's word is made real to us again.

The actions of Jesus, particularly at the Last Supper stand outside of time. The death of Jesus on the Cross stands outside of time. And Mass is when we enter into these events that stand outside of time, in eternity.

Read more . . .

The oils for use over the next year are blessed by the bishop at the Chrism Mass. The bishop blesses the oils used at Baptism, Confirmation, Ordination, in the Anointing of the Sick. The oils signify strength, healing and consecration.Readings for the Chrism Mass.

Strength, Healing, Consecration

Modern culture is familiar with oil. Whether it is at the gas station filling up our car or making the engine run smoothly, or the ingredient in ointments that heal us from rashes, cuts and scrapes.

In a religious usage, oil goes back a long way. When Israel entered the promised land, one of the signs of abundance was the plentiful crop of olive trees. But olives took long to prepare for eating, so much of its use was for other things. Olive oil was valuable and was used to anoint kings, to light lamps, to sacrifice and to heal.

Oil was also in the Bible a sign of abundance and wealth. Being anointed set one aside to be king or as a priest. Oil was also used to designate objects and buildings for special purposes. 

In the Catholic Church, oil signifies strength, healing and consecration. In baptism it is the Oil of Catechumens that is used to provide the strength that will be needed for the one who is baptized. Moreover the Sacred Chrism is also used in Baptism and again at Confirmation, so that the ones who are baptized are both strengthened to provide witness and anointed because they are set apart, or consecrated, for a special purpose.

The Oil of the Sick is obviously for healing. In so many things we use today for healing, oil forms a solid basis. But the Oil of the Sick is also about strength. Being sick, especially serious sickness, is not easy to face. It changes the way we see everything. Just as we use oil for physical healing, we also use it as a sign of the spiritual healing that only God can give.

The Sacred Chrism is different than the other types of oil. It is closely connected to consecration, which means to be set apart for a special purpose. At baptism, we use Sacred Chrism as a sign of consecration. We consecrate churches. We consecrate people at the baptisms, confirmations, and when they are ordained.

The Oil of the Catechumens and the Oil of the Sick are made from olive oil. The Sacred Chrism is also olive oil, but a perfume of balsam is added, signifying that this oil is set apart for consecration.

It is the oils that are blessed by the bishop that will be used by those coming into the Church at the Easter Vigil Mass on Saturday. And so it is appropriate, if possible, for those receiving the sacraments of initiation to see the Chrism Mass if possible.

But it is important for all of us if possible as well. The connection for each one of us to the oil used at our own baptism and the oil blessed each year by the bishop is a great reminder of the great blessing God has given us in the sacraments.

The Sacred Chrism we see should serve as a reminder that at our baptism and confirmation, we were set apart for a specific purpose. And if you are blessed to have people coming into the Church at the Easter Vigil, they serve as a reminder that each of the baptized, all of us, must hear the command of Jesus to go forth, teach and baptize.

And this responsibility arises from our baptism. For our baptism is connected to our salvation, and it is our baptism that obligates each one of us to share the Good News that Jesus came to bring.

The readings used at the Chrism Mass are powerful as well. Consider this section from the prophet Isaiah which we hear in the first reading.

Read more. . .

The deed is done. Judas goes through with the betrayal of Jesus. How many times did he stop to think about what he was doing? How many times was he even a little unsure? Readings for Today. 

The deed is done

Two persons. Two different goals. Only one ending leads to life. Both Jesus and Judas have deeds to do today. For Judas, the deed has to do with betrayal. For Jesus, the deed leads to life.

For Judas, the deed begins with a question. While not in these words, Judas wants to know what is in it for him. He wants to know what he will get for betraying Jesus, handing him over. Despite all he has seen, all he has witnessed, in the end, Judas' question is about himself, and what he will get.

For Jesus, the announcement about betrayal brings great distress from the disciples. They have seen the same things as Judas. They have had their lives changed. All but one. By the point of the Passover, Judas has gotten the answer the the question, "What's in it for me?"

Too bad Judas didn't direct his question to Jesus. In Matthew 19:27, Peter asks just this question. "Then Peter said to him in reply, “We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?” In Luke 18:28 Peter says, “We have given up our possessions and followed you.” Saint Mark recounts the same question of Saint Peter to Jesus.

But there is a big difference in the two questions. Judas' is asking not a question of faith, but one of selfishness. He is not asking about what he gets because of his relationship with Jesus. No, he is asking what he gets in this life, here and now.

And to whom we direct our questions makes a big difference too. Will we seek answers from the world? Or will we turn to Jesus to ask our questions, and to receive his answers? For the focus of the questions determines the quality of the answers.

Questions asked of the world have a limited time frame. The are only for the here and now. Questions asked of the Christ have an eternal timeframe. They are not just about the here and now but about the here and hereafter.

Unfortunately the question Judas does ask Jesus has an answer that is not satisfying. What did the other apostles think of Jesus' reply to Judas? Were they confused? Were they able to figure out the meaning of this answer of Jesus to Judas' question?

And even after Judas regrets his actions, seeks to give back the money, he simply cannot bring himself to ask Jesus for forgiveness. For while Peter did not hand Jesus over, he did not stand up for him either. He couldn't admit to even knowing Jesus, let alone to stand up for him.

But whereas Judas despaired, Peter wept bitterly. But he did not despair of what Jesus could do for him. He may not have been there at first when Jesus needed him, he also was able to face Jesus and to seek the ways in which Jesus could forgive him and renew him.

Judas is only known as the betrayer. But despite the three denials by Peter, he is known as an apostle. He is known as the pope. He is known as a martyr. Most importantly, he is known as a saint. 

How is it you will be known?

On the friar, you can listen to our homilies (based on the readings of the day) and reflections. You can also ask us to pray for you or to pray for others. You can subscribe to our website to be informed whenever we publish an update.

Each of us probably has a dream, or had one. But was our dream inspired by Christ, or someone else? Judas may have thought he was living out a dream, but it was not for Christ but for himself. Readings for Today.

What's your dream?

Why did I do it?
What did it get me?
Scrapbooks full of me in the background.
Give 'em love and what does it get ya?
What does it get ya?
One quick look as each of 'em leaves you.
All your life and what does it get ya?
Thanks a lot and out with the garbage,
They take bows and you're battin' zero.

Today's readings brought to mind for me the musical Gypsy. It was the first Broadway show I had seen. And even though Tyne Daley (Cagney and Lacey) was scheduled to perform, Mama Rose was played by Linda Lavin (Alice).

The lyrics above come near the end of the show. Things have not turned out the way Mama Rose thought. She had a dream, but it was never for her. It had been always for someone else. And things did not turn out so well.

The lyrics come after her daughter, now Gypsy Rose Lee, has become a stripper, much to her mother's disappointment. But it was her mother who put her in this position. And so when Mama Rose expresses her disappointment, and asks, "Why did I do it?", Gypsy Rose sadly answers, "I thought you did it for me, mama."

This answer sends Mama Rose into a reflection, the result of which is this song. She begins to realize that as the ultimate stage mother, in a time where Vaudeville is dying, what she thought she was doing for others, she was actually doing for herself.

If we are not people of prayer, reflection and discernment it can be the case that our dream becomes our own, and not the one God intends for us. This is what happens for Judas. Somewhere he went from being a disciple, that is, following Jesus, to being the one who wanted Jesus to follow him.

In yesterday's reflection we discussed a little as to how this might happen. Not usually all at once, but little by little, often until we are able to do more than we could possibly imagine ourselves ever doing. 

For that is the way that sin works. It is insidious, creeping more and more into our lives unless we seek God's grace. How do we do this? By staying close to the sacraments. Frequent confessions, regular attendance at Mass. By praying, recognizing how it is that God is present in our lives.

Because the message of this week is the outstanding desire of Jesus that we be saved. Jesus longs to see us turn to him. Jesus longs to extend to us his mercy and forgiveness. Jesus wants us to experience his powerful love for each one of us.

Today Judas leaves the meal, the meal where Jesus gives the great gift of himself in the Eucharist. It is not simply a Passover meal, for Jesus changes the meal, he fulfills the meal. This is my body. This is my blood.

During Holy Week, there is a reminder that now is the time to turn to Jesus. Now is the time to seek his forgiveness and mercy. Now is the time to pursue Jesus' dream for our lives.

On the friar, you can listen to our homilies (based on the readings of the day) and reflections. You can also ask us to pray for you or to pray for others. You can subscribe to our website to be informed whenever we publish an update.

There are times when people protest something because their sin hits a little too close to home. Judas is now at the point where his greed has caused him to be unable to understand the works of Jesus. Can it be the same with us? Readings for today.

Thou dost protest too much

There can be times when our selfishness rises to a level so high, that when what we want becomes threatened, we react badly. We get mad, stubborn and unreasonable. We appear self-righteous and seek to make bold moral pronouncements to hide our own selfishness.

We see this very clearly in the actions of Judas. While he appears to be concerned for the poor, by this time his heart is set too deeply on greed. This is particularly sad when we consider that it was often the most trusted member of the community that kept the purse.

When was it that Judas began to change? Maybe it was the first time he kept a little back for himself. It did not seem like much at first, but over time this desire for more became too strong. He started with a little, but had to have a lot.

Maybe it was the case that he wanted Jesus to act faster, to do more, to be the type of Messiah that was expected. The military leader, the man of action. Why didn't Jesus act more like Judas wanted him to act?

Maybe it was the question about why Jesus could do such dramatic healing, but couldn't get rid of the Romans. Maybe there was brokenness in the family of Judas that Jesus seemed not to pay any attention of healing or fixing.

Whatever it was, it became the case that Judas lost his way. And rather than allow himself to be found by Jesus, reclaimed by God, Judas decided it was all too much. If Jesus wasn't going to take action, then Judas would take matters into his own hands. 

Isn't this how it works with sin? First, tempted a little bit. We give in. We fail to see how it is Jesus can help. We sin a little more. At some point, we decide not to seek out the help or the grace of Jesus. We can actually find ourselves fighting against Jesus himself.

But Jesus is the powerful Son of God. Using Saint John's timeline in the gospel, it could be the case that Jesus stops in Bethany to eat with Martha, Mary and Lazarus just before his triumphal entry into Jerusalem which we heard yesterday.

Despite the protests of Judas, Jesus remains the servant of God. Isaiah describes the servant who is the just one. Despite the suffering, this servant is supported by God, upheld by God, loved by God.

Of course it is the case that Jesus never stopped loving Judas. Jesus continued to do all he could to offer the pathway of forgiveness, the pathway back to Jesus. At any point Judas could have turned to Jesus, confessed his sins, and been healed. 

But when sin becomes too deep, it is all the more difficult to see our way out of it. Despite the necessary outpouring of God's grace, we refuse to see. In the legal profession, there is a concept called willful blindness, where an organization or a person simply turns a blind eye to harm. They should have seen it, but they choose not to see it.

More than anything, this week is our chance to allow Jesus to open our eyes to our sin. It is our chance to end the charade, turn away from sin, and ask Jesus for a stronger relationship with him. This is the time! This is the day of salvation! Don't wait a minute more. Come back to Jesus.

On the friar, you can listen to our homilies (based on the readings of the day) and reflections. You can also ask us to pray for you or to pray for others. You can subscribe to our website to be informed whenever we publish an update.

his whole week, starting today, is about Jesus as the Pascal Lamb who brings salvation to the entire world. We are asked to enter into living and experiencing these great events of faith. Through them all, we ask Jesus to remember us and taking us to paradise. Readings for Today.

Jesus is the Pascal Lamb

Is it estimated that during Passover, in the time of Christ, thousands of lambs were slaughtered so that the pilgrims who came to Jerusalem could in fact celebrate Passover in Jerusalem. This was a lifelong goal of every devout Jew. The Passover Seder even ends with the toast, “Next year in Jerusalem.”

And so in the Temple during the week we call holy, there was much slaughtering of lambs. But there was one specific lamb to be slaughtered. The one for the High Priest. This lamb was slaughtered four days before Passover.

Think of this timeline. If the Last Supper is on a Thursday, the preparation of the Lamb four days before would be on a Sunday. And before the resurrection of Jesus, Sunday is the first workday of the week.

So think of the symbolic importance of the timeline. The lamb of Passover is called the Paschal Lamb, based upon the word Pesach (PAY-SOCK), the word used for Passover.

It is not unfamiliar to many Christians to hear of Jesus as the Paschal (Passover) Lamb. The lamb of the high priest prepared four days before, mirrors Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem, which we celebrated with today’s first gospel.

But very quickly things switch. As Holy Week progresses, we will see that the scene gets darker and darker for Jesus, leading to his death on Good Friday.

The parallels between Jesus as the Lamb of God and Passover are striking. The move of Jesus from triumphal entry to passion and death is reminiscent of Isaiah 53:7, where the lamb is led trustingly to slaughter. 

Jesus, with total trust in the Father, is himself led to slaughter. Jesus is the Lamb for the Great Feast. Jesus, the Lamb of God, deliberately changes the meaning of Passover by making the reference to himself. Eat my body. Drink my blood.

And since on Good Friday, since we always hear the passion according to John, it is important to note that Jesus dies on Preparation Day when the lambs are prepared for the slaughter. 

Just as the lambs are slaughtered for Passover, the Paschal feast, Jesus too is slaughtered for Passover. But there is more. I looked up the time for sunset in Jerusalem, and it is just after 7 pm. 

Why is that important? Because Jewish holidays start at sundown. In order to be prepared, and to clean the Temple, it would likely have started at mid-afternoon.

With all of the slaughtering of the lambs, the Temple would have been filled with blood. So, to clean the Temple before sundown, when they could not work, they often threw big buckets of water, which flowed out of holes in the side of the Temple.

So blood and water flows out the sides of the Temple. Blood and water flows from the sides of Christ. John’s point is clear. While the original Passover celebrates the liberation of the Jews from Egypt, the New Passover, the Lamb of God, celebrates our ultimate freedom from sin and death.

And so the point of the readings we read and the stories we hear is the focus on Jesus. He is the major focus of these stories, and this week is the only week we hear the details in the gospels of his death.

We celebrate what the gentle Lamb of God means for us. We witness the gentle Lamb’s complete surrender to the Father, and his total self-gift to us.

In the other persons in the readings we hear this week, we see ourselves. For we can be as fickle as the crowds who cheered Jesus on Sunday, and sought is death on Friday.

We recognize that without the grace of God, we too can take matters into our own hands. Taking control, like Judas, only to make things terribly worse.

We see that like Peter, we too can find it hard to stand up for Jesus. We can lose our courage, even pretending with do not know Jesus. . .

Read more...

Hope and pessimism. The prophet Ezekiel proclaims a great promise from God, that the division and brokenness between the two kingdoms will cease. And the writing is on the wall for Jesus. Readings for Today.

Hope and pessimism

At first glance, the first reading might seem a little out of place. The Lord speaks a great promise for Israel and Judah. They will again be one kingdom. The division that has been experienced will end.

The imagery Ezekiel uses is quite optimistic. The Lord will do great things. The sins, the abominations, the evil will be no more. The divided land will be united under God's servant King David. All will be well.

If this sounds a little familiar to us today it is because it really is a foreshadowing of the Messiah, the ultimate king of the world. And this ultimate king is not King David, but his descendent, Jesus.

And so, we finish out this week with a beautiful reminder of what Lent is all about. And we finish out this week with a reminder of just what will happen to Jesus. But this is not to make us sad, but to rejoice!

It is not that the ultimate hope is about politics. No, the ultimate hope is our salvation. And so what might be seen as pessimism in the gospel becomes pointed to the great and hopeful promise of God for each one of us. 

It is an interesting exercise to hear the words of the first reading as if the Lord is speaking directly to us. So let's alter the first reading a little bit. Consider that God is not speaking to an entire people, but to you. Here is the edited text.

No longer shall they (you) defile themselves with their (your) idols, their (your) abominations, and all their (your)transgressions. I will deliver them (you) from all their (your) sins of apostasy, and cleanse them (you) so that they (you)may be my people and I may be their (your) God.

For this is the promise of God for each one of us. That we will no longer be ruled by our sins, our idols, our abominations and transgressions. The suffering of Christ is for nothing less than our salvation. All that he endures for us, as painful and difficult as it is, has no other purpose but to save us. 

The negative aspects of our sins has brought us to this moment. We fail, and we, through our sinful failures are the reason we need a savior. And even more powerful is that the suffering Christ is to spare us from the judgement that could condemn us for all eternity.

Because of the works of Jesus, the people are coming to believe. And that is a problem. There are a few reasons the Christ was killed. But today we see in the Jewish leaders the fear that the civil world could collapse. The Romans could take away everything.

If we think of the crucifixion, the cross, from the perspective or the view that we must do this so that our nation does not collapse, we see a different perspective than we might have focused on before. 

The Jewish leaders are concerned that the Romans will take away the privileges they have to practice their faith. But in reality, without realizing it, they have traded away their loyalty to God for loyalty to the comfortable. 

We can be tempted to do the same thing. Where do our loyalties lie? With our political leaders or with God? With this political party, or with God? Do we worship money, or do we worship God? Do we want to sacrifice what we will stand for so as not to rock the boat?

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