On Pentecost Sunday, you will see that different readings are prescribed for the Vigil Mass than for the Mass on Sunday.  I will reflect on the readings for the Sunday Masses, so don’t be surprised if you attend the Vigil Mass and hear different readings.

John 20:19-23

If this reading sounds familiar to you, it is because you heard it just a few weeks ago.  On the Second Sunday of Easter, the Gospel reading is the same in all three years of the Liturgical Cycle – John 20:19 – 31.  On that […]

John 14:15 – 21

This Sunday, we hear a continuation from last week of Jesus’ address to the apostles at the Last Supper as presented in John’s Gospel.  As you will remember from your footnotes, most scholars consider the section of 13:31 – 17:26 to be Johannine compositions, modeled on farewell discourses found in Greek and Hebrew literature of that time. As we quickly approach Pentecost – it’s only two weeks away – we hear Jesus speak of the coming of the Holy Spirit.  I invite you to put yourselves in […]

John 14:1 – 12

This Sunday, we hear a portion of Jesus’ address to the apostles during the Last Supper as presented in John’s Gospel.  In this Gospel, it is presented as our Lord’s farewell discourse to his disciples in anticipation of his death.  Most scripture scholars consider this section (chapters 14 – 18) to be a Johannine composition, modeled on farewell discourses found in contemporary Greek and Hebrew literature.  You will notice that the only action in John’s account of the Last Supper is the washing of the feet and […]

We begin on Sunday the week that we appropriately call Holy Week, when our Lord Jesus, the Holy Son of God, comes to Jerusalem where he is first hailed as the Son of David, and the Prophet and then is tried as a criminal in a sham trial orchestrated by the Jewish leaders, only to be scourged and crucified.  For the Jewish leaders of his time, it was just to get rid of a trouble maker.  But, as I hope you have come to learn, this was all part of […]