“Peace be with you.”  Three times in today’s Gospel, we hear the risen Lord assure his disciples with these comforting words: “Peace be with you.”  And, although this greeting of peace, “Shalom,” was a common expression among the Jewish people of his day – as it still is today – it had taken on a much deeper meaning for the followers of Jesus who had just gone through three days filled with anything but peace.  It made them remember our Lord’s words of encouragement to them just a few days […]

So, when did the apostles know?  This question seems inevitable in meditating upon Jesus’ Resurrection and the fullness of joy it brings.  The gospel readings give us important hints.  During last night’s vigil Mass, we heard a passage from the Gospel of Luke where we heard that, after Peter ran to the tomb and saw the burial cloths alone, he went home amazed at what had happened. Did he really know yet?  In the gospel passage from John that we heard today – we heard about that the other disciple […]

Can you imagine being invited to a friend’s house for dinner and, as you prepare to dig into the first dish, your friend gets up, grabs a towel, a water pitcher and basin and offers to wash your feet.  What would you think and how would you feel?  For the people of Jesus’ time, it was customary to have the household servant wash the dust off the feet of guests as they entered the house.  It was refreshing for the guests after they had walked hot, dusty roads to their […]

As you know, every year, we hear a different Gospel version of the Passion; this year we heard it from the Gospel of Luke.  Scripture scholars call this Gospel the Gospel of Mercy since it so often depicts Jesus teaching and showing God’s mercy.  Today’s passion account is filled with examples of Jesus reaching out in mercy and compassion as he is suffering his own passion.  Allow me to point them out to you so we can reflect on them together. 

The first example of mercy we hear in today’s […]