"I Am the Bread of Life" - Today we hear only of the signature miracle of the Lord’s that presages all that Jesus will say about, “The food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” The feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle of the Lord’s that is witnessed by all four Gospel accounts. (Photo from "The Passion of the Christ")

“We are witnesses of these things, as is the Holy Spirit…” - (Acts 5:32) - One of my favorite sayings of Jesus comes from the Gospel according to St. John: “And the Truth will set you free” (John 8:32). One of my least favorite sayings of Jesus is also: “And the Truth will set you free.” You might look at those two sentences and say: “How can this be?”

“I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears—Ps. 34.” - It seems that every day we hear or read about negative dark news: continuing war for survival in Ukraine; people struggling for life at our borders; tornados, snowstorms and floods that destroy lives and homes; people shooting up neighborhoods and shopping malls. Among all this horror, where is our risen Jesus?

“So Must the Son of Man Be Lifted Up” - On one level, Jesus is comparing Himself to the serpent on the pole that Moses lifted up during the sojourn of the Jews in the desert. This was to save them from an attack by serpents as a result of their infidelity to the Covenant struck with God at Sinai.

"Open to the Spirit" - Appropriately during this Easter Season today’s gospel reading (John 3: 1-8) speaks of that rebirth or birth from above which is our baptism. Nicodemus recognizes that Jesus has come from God and Jesus says to him: “no one can see the kingdom of God unless he or she is born from above.”

"Come & Have Breakfast" - Here, these men who had supposedly left everything to follow Jesus, return, at the lead of Peter, to what they know and what they were before meeting the Lord, fishermen. Everything, it seems, has ended. The great hope and adventure has been crushed and they are like men lost.

"Easter Joy... The Story Continues" - Both of our scripture passages from the Lectionary today are Installments-Part II in the continuing, intense, over-the-top Easter Octave joy that flows from encounters with Christ-resurrected.

“The disciples recognized the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread.” —Luke 24:35 - Since Easter our readings from Acts and the gospel relate how the joy of Jesus’ resurrection permeates the lives of his followers.  This joy is fertile, fruitful, and contagious.

“Mary!” - This one word from Jesus is, in my opinion, the central moment in one of the most powerful and beautiful passages (Jn 20:11-18) in all four gospels.

“You will show me the path to life” - If only all those who make daily Mass a practice during Lent could be persuaded to include the Easter week as well!!! The scripture readings for this Great Week of the Octave of Easter are full of the deep-down freshness of that awesomely ordinary morning of the Lord’s Resurrection.

“Father, Into Your Hands I Commend My Spirit” - For the death of Jesus, the crucifixion of the Messiah, is and always will be a deep and abiding mystery that eludes any explanations or attempts to simply figure it out.

On Holy Thursday we gather around our ‘family table.’ We come with our sorrows and our joys, our burdens and our hopes, to raise them up before God, remembering that we are both guests and hosts.

“The Lord God is my help; therefore, I am not disgraced.” (Isaiah 50:7)- In the first reading today, Isaiah gives us an intimate description of the love relationship between the Father and the Son. On the other hand, both Psalm 69 and Matthew’s description of what happens at the Passover supper prepare us for the suffering resulting from a broken relationship—a friendship gone bad.

“I Tell You Solemnly, One of You Will Betray Me.” - On this Tuesday of Holy Week, our gospel “sets the table” at the Last Supper for our celebration of the Paschal Mystery of Our Lord’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection, which begins two days from now. I think it is most reasonable to assume certain things about this context that the gospels do not describe in detail.

"To Kill the Author of Life" - Irony, the dictionary says, is “The use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning.” Again, we hear it in John’s Gospel. And it is not rare in ordinary life; we all use it at times. We say to friends when tempting them to raspberry white chocolate cheesecake, “Sure, no calories in that.”

“Repent and Believe in the Gospel” - ... At the end of chapter 8 when Jesus told them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” In the verse immediately before today’s passage, Jesus tells the Pharisees, “The Father and I are one.”

"The Lord Remembers His Covenant Forever." - 'Covenant vs. contract' has been on my mind these days. My husband Jim and I are in the final weeks of a ministry of accompaniment with an engaged couple, one month to go now before they will pledge their futures to each other on an afternoon in May. I feel such tenderness for them -- and a spirit of protection, too.

“Blessed are they who kept the word with a generous heart.” - Luke 8 - The theme running through our Scriptural words today is “truth.”  Can the truth really set the brothers and the Jews free?  Can the truth set us free?

“When You Lift Up the Son of Man, You Will Come to Realize that I AM….” - Today’s gospel from John (8:21-30) is in the context of an exchange with a group of Pharisees. Not surprisingly, there is not much mutual understanding taking place between them. They “see” things from a this-world perspective and fail to see things from Jesus’ perspective, which is rooted in ‘another’ world and is in keeping with His Father’s will.

"The Last to Throw Stones" - It is a strange thing about human nature that we feel shame over our failings and fight to keep them hidden, yet we revel in exposing those of others. We hate being judged and evaluated by superiors and peers and yet often have little hesitation about judging other people. We’re resentful when someone tries to change us to fit their expectations, and yet may have no reluctance to try to change someone else to fit ours.