Category: Reflections

THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER (2021) Readings:Acts of the Apostles  3:13-15, 17-19Psalms  4:2, 4, 7-91 John  2:1-5Luke  24:35-48 The wealth of having four gospels can also lead to a great deal of confusion, since our Sunday cycle of readings overlaps and repeats accounts of what is nearly the same event. Today’s gospel is practically the same… Continue reading THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER (2021)

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER - END OF THE EASTER OCTAVE (DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY) 2021 Readings:Acts 4:32-35Psalms 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-251 John 5:1-6John 20:19-31 In the days before St. Pope John Paul II’s personal piety changed the liturgical focus of today’s “end of the Octave of Easter Sunday,” it was simply known as the Second Sunday of… Continue reading SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER – END OF THE EASTER OCTAVE

EASTER SUNDAY DURING THE DAY (2021) Readings:Acts 10:34, 37-43Psalms 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23Colossians 3:1-4John 20:1-9 For fans of the sometimes cumbersome, and always substantially more lengthy, Saturday Easter Vigil, we seem once again to be cheated out of the possibility by a pandemic of even attending the magnificent Vigil service, with its solemn hymn to the… Continue reading EASTER SUNDAY DURING THE DAY (2021)

PALM (PASSION) SUNDAY 2021 Readings:Procession Gospel:  Mark 11:1-10Isaiah  50:4-7Psalms  22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24Philippians 2:6-11Mark 14:1-15:47 We commemorate on this day Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the start of where Jesus’ entire earthly ministry has been headed. Were this passage at the end of all the gospels, we might have been confused into thinking that the ending of… Continue reading PALM (PASSION) SUNDAY 2021

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT (2021) Readings:Jeremiah  31:31-31Psalms  51:3-4, 12-13, 14-15Hebrews  5:7-9John  12:20-33 Our Lenten journey is swiftly coming to a close. We know how it ends liturgically, for, in spite of our natural affections for the celebration of Christmas, it is Easter which is the quintessential Christian feast. Not the rabbits and eggs of course,… Continue reading FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT (2021)

FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT (2021) Readings:2 Chronicles  36:14-16,19-23Psalms  137:1-6Ephesians  2:4-10John  3:14-21 Today is the first of only two opportunities in the entire liturgical year, when a priest celebrating Mass can wear rose-colored vestments. It also means that we are halfway through the Lenten season. Whatever promises we may have made on Ash Wednesday to spiritually… Continue reading FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT (2021)

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT (2021) Readings:Exodus 20:1-17Psalms 19:8-111 Corinthians 1:22-25John 2:13-25 For the third Sunday in a row, our Old Testament reading begins with the very important concept of “covenant,” that contract with God that reminds us, “I am your God, and you are my people” if we do as God commands. The first covenant… Continue reading THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT (2021)

SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT (2021) Readings:Genesis 22:1-2,9-13,15-18Psalms 116:10, 15-19Romans 8:31-34Mark 8:2-10 The first reading from the Book of Genesis is particularly unnerving, raising as it does a variety of questions which are nearly impossible to answer. Would God ask anyone to sacrifice their own son? Was the outcome planned in advance? Had God been busy,… Continue reading SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT (2021)

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT (2021) Readings:Genesis 9:8-15Psalms 25:4-91 Letter of Peter  3:18-22Mark 1:12-15 The first recorded covenant that God makes with His creation is recounted for us in our first reading from the Book of Genesis (although some might suggest that the creation of man and woman is the most original covenant). In the days… Continue reading FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT (2021)