9 April 2026 - be not afraid, he's no ghost

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

"Peace be with you."
But they were startled and terrified
and thought that they were seeing a ghost.

They had been wrong about this before. When he came across the waves to their boat during a storm they also "thought it was a ghost and cried out" (see Mark 6:49). But from this we might surmise that it wasn't just the fact on the presence of Jesus that startled and terrified them. On the lake he had been terrifying specifically because the event was revelation of his divinity, a theophany. So too here. He had crossed the greater stormy sea of death to return once more to his frightened flock in the little vessel of his Church. His risen humanity, now glorified, was now, in some mysterious way, transparent to his divinity. What Peter, James, and John, saw briefly during the transfiguration was now normalized. It wasn't that his old human aspect was gone. It was rather more like a new dimension of reality had opened up around him. No wonder people needed his graced assistance in order to recognize him. They could stare at him directly but not see his familiar humanity because of the blinding light of his divinity. No wonder, too, then, that this was not an experience that was given immediately to the whole world, but rather to chosen witnesses. These witnesses were able, eventually, to correctly interpret what they had seen because they had been with him the whole time. They had known the human Jesus. They were the ones who could understand that he was not some glorious angelic being or phantasm, but rather than same Jesus whom they had known. What was the ultimate link that definitively proved that the one they had known before was the same one whom they now beheld? It was his wounds.

Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones
as you can see I have."
And as he said this,
he showed them his hands and his feet.

As he had done for the disciples on the way to Emmaus so now he opened the minds of the others to understand the Scriptures. Specifically they came to understand the way that he was at the center of everything. Not only was he the one predicted in the obviously messianic passages of the prophets, but the law of Moses and the psalms as well ultimately found the true fulfillment of their deepest meaning in him as well. Although Jesus said so, it was not obvious to the untrained mind that it is written in the Old Testament "that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached". But once one saw it, he could not unseen it. Jesus was sacrificed in the figure of Isaac, offered as the lamb by Moses, prefigured as the suffering servant in Isaiah, shown as persecuted but eventually triumphant in the psalms of David, just to name a few examples. Even as recently as Vatican I prophecy was affirmed as an important external "motive of credibility" (motiva credibitatis) that makes the act of faith rational (see Vatican I, Session III, Ch. 3). We can see in our recent readings that prophecy has always been considered a vital part of the witness of the Church. Fulfillment was the foundation of Peter's message today in our reading from Acts, including fulfillment of the words of Moses and Samuel, and of God's promise to Abraham. But what is the eventual result of this conviction supposed to be, or what do we become as a consequence? Jesus tells us:

You are witnesses of these things.

Peter understood this, as we can see in the reading from Acts, when he  says "of this we are witnesses". But do we understand it? Are we persuaded that all of human history finds its fulfillment in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ? And if so, how can we help but proclaim it?

O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth!

Passion - Holy Ground

 

8 April 2026 - heading the wrong way

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

That very day, the first day of the week,
two of Jesus’ disciples were going
to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus

They were heading in the wrong direction. The degree of their culpability for this is unclear. Jesus had told everyone what would happen. But no one really seemed to understand it beforehand. These two disciples had hoped that Jesus "would be the one to redeem Israel", implying that they no longer held that hope. After what they had witnessed in the horrific death of Jesus it is hard to blame them. But their readiness to give up on Jesus demonstrated that their initial hope in him was thin. Those with the strongest hope remained at the tomb, unable to accept that the light of the world could be dead. Besides them there were the other disciples who at least remained in the city and continued to gather in fellowship. They were well positioned to receive the revelation of the resurrection. Even the most famous doubter among them was unable to avoid that revelation for long. This shows us that it is among gatherings of other disciples that we find the privileged place for encounter with Jesus. Yet the story of Emmaus gives us hope for those who are heading the wrong way, that Jesus does not abandon them, but follows after them, finds them, and engages them. However, he does not force himself on them. Before he allows himself to be fully recognized they must signal that they desire him to do so. By opening the Scriptures to them he gives them a taste of the possibility that their hope indeed lives on. But before he fully opens their eyes to his presence he waits for them to say "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over." They have to want it. And they do.

And it happened that, while he was with them at table,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, and gave it to them.
With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,
but he vanished from their sight.

They had known Jesus in a human way. This was good, valid, and useful. It allowed him to teach them, to lead them, and to instruct them by his example. But it was still too limited. The reason he allowed them to experience some darkness as to knowing him in a merely human way was so that they could experience his presence on a deeper level, one that was more spiritual, and obtained in some degree to his divinity. Knowing him as a man allowed him to be their Teacher. But knowing him as God allowed him to be their wisdom and their Eucharistic food. What was previously external to them was internalized, and they were transformed in the process.

Were not our hearts burning within us
while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?

When the Scriptures change from historical narratives about past events into a place of encounter with Jesus himself our hearts too will burn within us. And it is above all in the Eucharist that we not only meet Jesus as we might meet any man, but that, to a degree, we actually become one with him, one body through the one loaf of Eucharistic bread. But the fact that this is preceded both in the story and in the mass by a Scriptural exposition is no accident. Rather, it is the presence of the living one in his Word, in both the Old and New Testaments, that gives us the context of how and why he would choose to be present in the humble elements of bread and wine. We see that he is our lamb of sacrifice and our priest-king Melchizedek. And when we receive him in the Eucharist with hearts that are on fire for him there are no limits to what his grace is able to do in us.

Carey Landry - Known To Us

 

7 April 2026 - sorrow turns to joy

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”

She was weeping because she loved Jesus so much, and had placed so much hope in him. He had restored her, and for a time it seemed he would restore the world as well. Could she have merely imagined that Jesus was all that he seemed to be? In a way, it seemed that she must have. But still, she couldn't leave the tomb, refused to abandon the body, and therefore give up on the connection she had to Jesus. As a woman in a garden, she wept like Eve for all that might have been but now seemed lost. But then she encountered the gardener. How fitting a misapprehension this was, since she turned to see the new Adam who was in fact in the process of planting the seed of a new Eden. But, although she was looking at all the signs of a new reality breaking forth, she still naturally interpreted them according to the old paradigm of fallen world. Although she had a real and profound love for Jesus it was nevertheless still a love that clung to the way that things which had been, which was not immediately open to be led into a new future of hope. Her love averted the potential disaster of full blown despair, even when all hope seemed lost. It was not enough on its own. But it was enough in the light of the one who loved her even more than she loved him, who knew her even better than she knew herself. It was this feeling of transcendence that she experienced when Jesus called her name.

Jesus said to her, “Mary!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,”
which means Teacher.

She was beginning to experience the promise of Jesus, that she would see him again, and that her sorrow would turn to joy. But even on recognizing him, she still needed to realize that his resurrection implied that she must now relate to him in a new way. He was still Teacher. But the Teacher was now risen and glorified. He could, yes, still be touched, as she and others demonstrated. But in order to reign over his Church, send his Spirit, and guide the work of evangelizing the world, he could no longer be held to one specific place alone. He was preparing her for his ascension in which he would still be present, even more present in fact, but in a different way than before. The contact of touch would indeed still be possible, but only through faith, since by faith we may touch the risen Lord in the Eucharist. But even there we do not cling. We do not try to arrest a moment in time that is meant to be a transition. We do not build tents on the mountain but allow the transformation to surge forward, changing us and our world in turn.

But go to my brothers and tell them,
‘I am going to my Father and your Father,
to my God and your God.’”
Mary went and announced to the disciples,
“I have seen the Lord,”
and then reported what he had told her.

Like Mary we too are meant to encounter the risen Lord and become witnesses to his resurrection. We too are meant to spread the news that it is now possible for everyone to become sons and daughters of the Father through faith and baptism, in which we are united to Jesus, and are thereby adopted into the divine life of the Trinity. When we really encounter him and allow him to unleash his Spirit in our lives we gain the motivation and confidence of Peter on the day of Pentecost:

Let the whole house of Israel know for certain
that God has made him both Lord and Christ,
this Jesus whom you crucified.

Darrell Evans - Trading My Sorrows

 

6 April 2026 - missing body problem

Today's Readings
(Audio)

You are to say,
‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’

The opponents of Jesus seemed to realize the implications of the empty tomb more quickly than did his own disciples. His disciples interpreted the missing body to be merely that, a missing body, still dead, but now lost. The chief priests and the elders knew all too well that the missing body implied resurrection. It was, perhaps, easier for them to understand, since they weren't emotionally invested in the way that the disciples were. And yet, though they understood the implications of the empty tomb they did not seem to consider the factual basis of those implications. Rather, they were more concerned with preserving the narrative they had created of Jesus as a false and failed messiah. They chose to say that the disciples had stolen the body, since it was the most logical option for maintaining the coherence of that scenario. Yet, they did this knowing that it could not have been the case. The disciples had not overwhelmed the guards and moved the stone. Inconvenient facts, such as the guards' witness to the overwhelming and awe-inspiring presence of one or more angelic beings, were summarily dismissed. These, were of course, Roman guards, not given to flights of fancy or making excuses to explain dereliction of duty. Yet the chief priests and elders would cram the details into their existing narrative, no matter how much violence was required to make them fit.

Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid.
Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee,
and there they will see me.”

The fact of the empty tomb could only be explained by the factual and historical resurrection of Jesus from the dead. In the same way, the subsequent spread of Christianity could only be accounted for if the disciples really were convinced that they had encountered the risen Lord himself. We have seen that they were not convinced easily or immediately. Only as their alternative explanations failed, and they were able to see, hear, and touch the very much alive Jesus himself, did they eventually allow their hearts to dare to believe. They must have been very certain of the fact of the resurrection by the time they left the upper room and began to preach in the name of Jesus, since, in an earthly sense, they stood to gain very little by doing so. They did not become powerful or wealthy. They did, it is true, become popular in a sense, but not so much amongst the upper crust of society. We hear this in Paul's description of the church at Corinth: "not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth" (see First Corinthians 1:26). In fact, such popularity as the leaders of the early Christian movement did obtain proved to be their downfall, at least in an earthly sense. We know that virtually all of the first Christian leaders (perhaps excluding John) were martyred. One does not die to perpetuate a hoax. And we can see from the clarity and persuasiveness with which they spoke that they were more fully in their right minds than ever before. Therefore, since the disciples could not be explained away as liars or lunatics, Jesus must truly be risen, and if risen, than Lord. The implications explained by Peter to the crowd on Pentecost must in fact be true:

God raised this Jesus;
of this we are all witnesses.
Exalted at the right hand of God,
he poured forth the promise of the Holy Spirit
that he received from the Father, as you both see and hear.

As Christians, the resurrection is at the core of our faith. But we must become fully convinced of it both as a historical reality and as the source of our spiritual transformation. When the Holy Spirit makes the power of the resurrection present in us we will surge out like the disciples from the upper room and again become effective witnesses, persuading the world of what really happened to the momentarily missing body of our master. We see as history what the psalmist saw prophetically:

Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices,
my body, too, abides in confidence;
Because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world,
nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.

Matt Maher - Resurrection Day

 

5 April 2026 - the new paradigm of joy

Today's Readings
(Audio)

They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don’t know where they put him.”
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.

One thing all of the accounts of the resurrection make clear is that no one anticipated it, no one simply assumed it, or was easily willing to interpret events to mean that it had happen. We can therefore understand that it was not the credulous beliefs of the desperate and the emotionally traumatized. Rather, precisely because they were emotionally traumatized they had a resistance to any suggestion of the possibility of hope. They interpreted death as having the same significance of finality as any modern person might. The fact that their faith hinted at a last day on which the dead would be raised did not not help in this particular instance. That day was too far off to ever impact the reality of their present circumstances. Or so they thought. It is true that Jesus said he had to die and to rise again on the third day. But they never seemed to be able to understand him when he said it. They couldn't understand why he had to die. And they couldn't link it to the Scriptural context of a far off future resurrection. Yet in spite of all this, they were unable to ignore the signs that something unprecedented had occurred. They tried, it is true, to categorize that event, to fit it into preexisting boxes. But it continued to fail to fit until they eventually encountered Jesus himself.

When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.

The soldiers wanted the body to stay put, in proof of which they guarded even the almost immovable stone that sealed the tomb. So if the body was missing, what then? Grave robbers? But it could not be, since they wouldn't have taken the time to neatly remove the cloth and fold the burial robes. At the sight they began to believe, but did not yet believe fully. Belief was not to be a mere response to the evidence, however persuasive that may have been. Rather it would always stem from an encounter with the risen Lord himself. Only such an encounter could make the Scriptural context of rising from the dead clear, now with Jesus at the very center of the story. Only the recognition of the triumph of life over death demonstrated definitively the reason for the life of Jesus, and therefore the reason for all of history up until that point, and finally also the new horizon and direction for the future that had opened as a consequence.

‘He has been raised from the dead,
and he is going before you to Galilee;
there you will see him.’
Behold, I have told you.”

Being told about the resurrection causes joy to begin to stir in us. But it is still mixed with fear that comes from uncertainty and limited understanding. Like the women at the tomb we need to let the joy guide us into the fullness of encounter with Jesus. It is in his presence that fear is cast out, that contradictions are resolved, our confidence is restored, and our hope is made firm. The disciples on the way to Emmaus demonstrate why we need to experience the risen Lord for ourselves. They had been so certain that Jesus had been the one. Now the women were suggesting that he was still alive. But they simply couldn't process that in the context of the Scriptures as they understood them. Just as with Peter and John, "they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead". And so, what did Jesus do? He unlocked those very Scriptures for them. He demonstrated how he was at the center of everything described therein, such that it was fair to say that Moses wrote of him specifically (see John 5:46).

Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him
in all the Scriptures.

It was not just the Scriptures that did the trick. It was their encounter with the risen Lord through the Scriptures. Not only that, it was in the context of the breaking of the bread, that is, the Eucharist, that this encounter took place. Jesus is always present in his word, which is why the letter to the Hebrews calls it living and active (see Hebrews 4:12). But combined with his Eucharistic presence it is something else again. Or, at least, it can be. If we are there on autopilot the meager abilities of the clergy to preach, even if they are faithful and accurate, might not prove sufficient wake us up to the presence of Jesus among us. But if we let the rumors of joy and words of the angels guide us we ourselves will set off with intention toward the possibility of that encounter. Yet when we prove unable to do so, still too wounded by grief to make much forward motion, he is still more than capable of taking us by surprise and revealing himself to us. But in that case too we must respond for the revelation to transform us. When the possibility of joy arrives among us we must urge it to remain until Jesus makes himself known. Let us say with those disciples, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over".

It is only the peace and the joy that only the risen Lord can give that can make sense of the darkness of our world, give our lives value even in spite of death, and our struggles purpose even in spite of impermanence. It is this joy that is meant to define as Christians. It makes us recognizably different from everyone else who must see all of reality against the horizon of eventual death. We must open ourselves to this joy so that the good news may spread to every person in every land. May what was said of the early Christian community also apply to us today: "And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit" (see Acts 13:52).

Matt Maher - Christ Is Risen

 

4 April 2026 - something strange is happening

 

From An Ancient Homily For Holy Saturday, taken from the Office of Readings
(Audio) 

Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.

For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.

I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.

Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity. 

Vineyard Worship - Bring Your Kingdom

Ike Ndolo - Awake, O Sleeper

 

3 April 2026 - the throne of grace

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

In the Passion narrative from the Gospel of John we see a variety of archetypes of opposition against Jesus. We see the religious leaders who were jealous of his success, who were upset that they received less attention than him, and who wanted his popularity and influence for themselves. It seemed to them that had somehow invalidated the purpose of the positions they held by the way their importance was relativized to be less significant compared to him. They wanted to insist on being the protagonists in the own stories and were unwilling to yield the lead role to Jesus. With them were guards, who perpetuated violence in the name of doing their jobs. Perhaps they rationalized their role by assuming Jesus was a danger to the Roman government. But they did not nothing to change their plans when they found him to be anything but a threat, far different than they must have expected based on what his opponents said of him. Then their were the Judean crowds who too easily succumbed to a mob mindset and a thirst for the spectacle of violence. They had a reason for this violence rubber stamped for them by the religious leaders and shouted their endorsement to ensure they could behold it. 

So Pilate said to him,
“Then you are a king?”
Jesus answered,
“You say I am a king.
For this I was born and for this I came into the world,
to testify to the truth.
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

Pilate was such a modern figure, not openly hostile, willing to listen to Jesus explain himself. Yet by being unwilling to actually stand up for Jesus he actually created the conditions that led to his death. Although he desired to wash his hands of it, without his approval Jesus could not have been crucified. It became evident that what Jesus said was true. Those who were not actively for him would eventually be implicated in opposing him. If only Pilate had been willing to see that, regarding Jesus, there weren't multiple conflicting truths, but rather one objective truth. If he hadn't been felt the need to be so political, to balance multiple conflicting demands as though they were of equal value, he might have been able to take a stand for Jesus and to save him. But it was not the plan of Jesus to be saved. It was for this reason that he allowed himself to be handed over to Pilate, because he fully intended to drink the cup that his Father gave him.

One of the slaves of the high priest,
a relative of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, said,
“Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?”
Again Peter denied it.
And immediately the cock crowed.

The final type of opposition to Jesus we will consider is that of the unfaithful disciple. Even aside from Judas, who intentionally planned to betray him, his other disciples failed to be good friends to him in his hour of need. They fled at the arrest. Even the desire of Peter to remain close to him was not enough to overcome his need for self-protection. He denied Jesus rather than allowing himself to face any risk to life, limb, or even reputation. He was willing to go to any length for Jesus when he appeared ascendant. But in this hour of weakness and apparent failure he couldn't bring himself to share the lot of his master. He probably thought to himself, 'What good will it do if I die as well?' No good, perhaps, besides love.

We probably have a little of all of these archetypes in us, each of us containing the potential to oppose or betray Jesus in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons. If we recognize this in advance we can avoid it. We can make good resolutions in how we will act in difficult circumstances. We can commit ourselves to speak up for Jesus no matter the consequences.

But there is something else worth saying about all of these people and groups aside from presenting them as cautionary tales. The fact is that it was for all of these that Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (see Luke 23:34). There wasn't a form of opposition that Jesus didn't foresee. There was no sin so grave that the sinner disqualified himself from God's mercy. Jesus came to show mercy knowing in advance all of the sin and opposition he would face. And he did it anyway, not for some imaginary group of innocents, but for sinners like them, like you and me.

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (see Romans 5:8).

What does all of this mean for us now, here, today? The letter to the Hebrews tells us:

So let us confidently approach the throne of grace
to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.

Songs In His Presence - Surely He Has Borne Our Griefs