We have four different versions of the gospel. Matthew and Mark, Luke and John, have each written an account of Jesus’ life. They have recorded for us the words and actions of Jesus. We can read about his preaching, his travelling through Palestine, his healing people. The evangelists have not […]
Palm Sunday, Year B – 2024
The scene of Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey is rich in colorful details. Bible commentators and spiritual writers, each picks up the aspect of the text which he/she finds deserves more attention. Just now, one point strikes me – it is expressed in the first part of the narrative […]
Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord, Year B –2024
A star… a sign… an intuition… A question… a dream… a decision… Our lives are made of such, are they not? The situations we find ourselves in are often made of these elements. It happens that things are clear-cut and obvious. But, very often, we are faced with events that […]
Easter Sunday, Year C – 2022
A stone rolled away… A corpse… missing… “Strips of linen lying there”… Cloth wrapping the body “still lying in its place”… All these are seen, noted, but… No body lying there, NOBODY present! Yet, the gospel text tells us that when John had witnessed this scene, “He saw and believed.” […]
3rd Sunday of Advent, Year A – 2019
Periods of questioning… Situations when one wonders… Events that cause bewilderment… Happenings that leave us perplexed… We all know this from experience, repeated experience, we could say. John the Baptist has gone through this as well – his cousin, Jesus, somehow brings confusion to him. So, he sends some of […]
22nd Sunday of Year C – 2019
People speak of the tyranny of ‘should’, the slavery of ‘must’, the compulsion of ‘ought to’ – all the things I should be doing, the people I must see, the commitments I ought to honour! All these lead us to get busy, and always busier, being constantly on the run, […]
Palm Sunday, Year B
As an introduction to the celebration of Palm Sunday, we are given a choice between two gospel texts: one from Mark (11:1-10) and the other from John (12:12-16). In the shorter text from John, one verse caught my attention: “At the time, his disciples did not understand… Later… they remembered.” […]
2nd Sunday of Lent, Year B
In our conversation, some words have a special meaning, they can have an impact of their own. Usually, such words do not leave a person indifferent. When someone says: “Trust me!” the expression catches our attention and calls for a decision: to trust, or not, the person before us… These […]
26th Sunday of Year A
« What is your opinion? » These are not my words but those of Jesus himself in the gospel of this Sunday (26th of Year A – Mt.21:28-32). He was speaking to the people who had come to hear him, but he is now addressing also each one of us today. I […]
Easter, Year A
« The disciples had failed to understand… that he must rise from the dead. » (Jn.20:1-9) They had been with him for three years. They had heard him teach day in, day out. They had seen him cure so many people, even bringing dead people back to life. And yet… “They had […]