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Podcast for St. Thomas of the Apostle Parish.
Episodes
Monday Apr 06, 2020
Monday Apr 06, 2020
Most of the people who saw Jesus on that final week of His life were hostile to Him. But six days before the feast of Passover, during which Jesus was crucified, He experienced a very great kindness. Not only was He the guest at the table of a family that He loved, one member of that family, Mary, went to great expense to render Him a very thoughtful service. She anointed His feet with very expensive perfume and dried them with her hair. A little later in the same gospel, Jesus will wash the feet of His followers.
Mary, the sister of Lazarus, anticipated that servant-gesture of Jesus Himself. She offered Him a generous, loving service exactly like what Jesus would do for His disciples, and for all of us. Jesus interprets her generous act as preparing Him for His death and burial.
At the beginning of the last Week of his life, he welcomed this act of kindness from Mary of Bethany. What she did for Him we are called to do for each other. On our own life journey, we may meet people who make things difficult for us. We will also experience people like Mary who support us on our journey, and, hopefully, we can do for others what Mary did for Jesus, a kind and generous gesture in an often-hostile world.+
Sunday Apr 05, 2020
Sunday Apr 05, 2020
Crucifixion is said to be one of the most horrible ways to die. Scourging, which often preceded crucifixion, was itself a horrible experience. It wasn’t unheard of for a person to actually die during scourging.
These horrible scenes may cause one to ask why Jesus submitted to such an ordeal. The answers people give to this question boil down to three main responses.
First, Jesus wanted His death to be a sign of what He had so often said to His disciples, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
Second, Jesus wanted His death to be an invitation to do what He told His disciples to do so often, “Love one another as I love you.”
Finally, Jesus wanted His death to be a revelation that life entails suffering. He said, “Whoever, wishes to come after me must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me.”
While hopefully we do not suffer just for the sake of suffering, we do have to make sacrifices throughout our lives in order to make the right decisions. Sacrifice, of its very nature, entails some suffering.
As we contemplate our lives this Holy Week, as we discern God’s call and the sacrifices this may entail, and as we experience now in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic, sacrifices, we have never had to make before, let us be mindful of the supreme sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf. Let us ask God for the courage to do as we should, and the wisdom to see that the things we sacrifice for the good of our world, pale in comparison to the gifts God has given us, and the gift we will receive in the everlasting Kingdom of heaven.+
Saturday Apr 04, 2020
Saturday Apr 04, 2020
In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus' name appears on a hit list: His Gospel of justice and compassion has become too much for the Sanhedrin, who rationalize a "prophecy" to justify Jesus' elimination.
Today's Gospel is relived in the lives of men and women who dare to speak the truth to power. Ridicule, isolation, rejection — even death — can be required of anyone for taking seriously God's call to be His prophets: to proclaim God's compassion, forgiveness, and justice to societies and institutions that are in determined opposition to the very idea of these things.
But the promise of the Resurrection belongs to those who dare to take up the cause of justice and reconciliation in order to proclaim that God has redeemed his people.[1]
[1] Cormier, Jay, Connections, Weekdays of Lent, 2007
Friday Apr 03, 2020
Friday Apr 03, 2020
Both Jeremiah (from today’s first reading) and Jesus were persecuted because they upset those who placed rituals and rules over people. These people were not bad but were deeply mistaken. They knew their laws, but these had become so rigid and so primary that they no longer expressed God’s mercy.
When applied rigidly, religious rules become like idols. They can be misused as God’s judgment upon every action. Sometimes religious people find false security in fixed rules that are unchangeable.
Jesus tells us that the two greatest commandments are the love of God and love of neighbor. It is in following these commandments that we are most like Christ and most assured that our lives are what God created them to be.+
Thursday Apr 02, 2020
Thursday Apr 02, 2020
The words of Jesus reach back not only to the age of the great patriarch, Abraham (sometime around 1850 B.C.) but even further back, to that first day in Israel’s history, to the eternal day before creation. “Before Abraham came to be, I AM.” In this evocative phrase, Jesus identifies Himself with the YAHWEH. This name for God —very special and sacred to Israel — means in ancient Hebrew, “He who is always there.”
John’s Gospel presents Jesus as more than the fulfillment of Abraham’s faith and hope; He was one with God before the universe was even created. John understands that God was leading Israel’s history forward to the day when the eternal Word became incarnate as Jesus, son of Mary.
For Christians, Jesus is the LORD of our history. His hopes and plans will remain at least partially unfulfilled until all nations are united as one faith and family. This is echoed by Paul’s statement: “All of you who have been baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with him. There is no longer among you Jew or Greek, slave or free person, male or female. All are one in Christ Jesus. Furthermore, if you belong to Christ, you are the descendants of Abraham, which means you inherit all that was promised.”+
Wednesday Apr 01, 2020
Wednesday Apr 01, 2020
Jesus declares, “the truth will set you free.” A little later in John’s Gospel, He will say of Himself, “I am the truth.”
Jesus is a source of true freedom for His followers. He goes on to declare, “If the Son frees you, then you will be truly free.” It is through staying close to Him that we can enter into what St. Paul calls “the glorious freedom of the children of God.”
Our relationship with Jesus, and the Holy Spirit that He pours into our hearts, lets us live as God wants us to live: in ways that correspond to what is best within us.
True freedom is the freedom to love, to give of ourselves to others as Jesus gave of Himself to us. It is for this freedom we pray during these final weeks of Lent.+
Wednesday Apr 01, 2020
Wednesday Apr 01, 2020
Jesus declares, “the truth will set you free.” A little later in John’s Gospel, He will say of Himself, “I am the truth.”
Jesus is a source of true freedom for His followers. He goes on to declare, “If the Son frees you, then you will be truly free.” It is through staying close to Him that we can enter into what St. Paul calls “the glorious freedom of the children of God.”
Our relationship with Jesus, and the Holy Spirit that He pours into our hearts, lets us live as God wants us to live: in ways that correspond to what is best within us.
True freedom is the freedom to love, to give of ourselves to others as Jesus gave of Himself to us. It is for this freedom we pray during these final weeks of Lent.+
Wednesday Apr 01, 2020
Wednesday Apr 01, 2020
Jesus declares, “the truth will set you free.” A little later in John’s Gospel, He will say of Himself, “I am the truth.”
Jesus is a source of true freedom for His followers. He goes on to declare, “If the Son frees you, then you will be truly free.” It is through staying close to Him that we can enter into what St. Paul calls “the glorious freedom of the children of God.”
Our relationship with Jesus, and the Holy Spirit that He pours into our hearts, lets us live as God wants us to live: in ways that correspond to what is best within us.
True freedom is the freedom to love, to give of ourselves to others as Jesus gave of Himself to us. It is for this freedom we pray during these final weeks of Lent.+
Wednesday Apr 01, 2020
Wednesday Apr 01, 2020
Jesus declares, “the truth will set you free.” A little later in John’s Gospel, He will say of Himself, “I am the truth.”
Jesus is a source of true freedom for His followers. He goes on to declare, “If the Son frees you, then you will be truly free.” It is through staying close to Him that we can enter into what St. Paul calls “the glorious freedom of the children of God.”
Our relationship with Jesus, and the Holy Spirit that He pours into our hearts, lets us live as God wants us to live: in ways that correspond to what is best within us.
True freedom is the freedom to love, to give of ourselves to others as Jesus gave of Himself to us. It is for this freedom we pray during these final weeks of Lent.+
Tuesday Mar 31, 2020
Tuesday Mar 31, 2020
“O LORD, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.”
I focus, once again, on our responsorial psalm for the day. Today’s Psalm begins with a pleading for God to hear the prayer of the psalmist and recalls how God has always heard the cry of His people.
In the end, the psalm seems to be reassuring that God hears our prayers made amid our struggles and that God keeps us from succumbing from our trials.
Of course, this last part of the prayer refers to the end times and to our belief that regardless of what happens in this life, there is joy and salvation in the next.
May we always trust that God hears our prayers and may we always trust in His promise of eternal life.+