REFLECTIONS TODAY In the second week of Easter, the Church focuses on the Ur-sacrament–Baptism: the entry into life in Christ and in the Church. At Pentecost, when people were moved by the preaching of Peter, they asked the apostles, “What are we to do, my brothers?” Peter answered, “Repent...
REFLECTIONS TODAY JOHN 20:19-31 On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The original version of the Gospel of Mark ends in verse 8 of chapter 16, with the women still cowering in fear and overcome with bewilderment. Thus, they are unable to obey the command of the angel to convey to the apostles that Jesus will meet with them in Galilee. The Gospel...
REFLECTIONS TODAY In Matthew and Mark, Jesus calls the first disciples to be “fishers of men.” In Luke, Peter and his companions follow Jesus following a catch of a great number of fish (5:6-7). In the third apparition of Jesus in John, the risen Jesus is recognized because of the great catch...
REFLECTIONS TODAY On the road to Emmaus and later in the cenacle in Jerusalem, Jesus explains that what had happened in the last three days—his passion, death, and resurrection—had been written in Scriptures. This does not mean that the Old Testament has the “career” of Jesus already...
Reflections Today Luke has a beautiful story of Jesus’ appearance to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus joins them on their journey, but they mistake Him for a stranger, as their vision is still blurred by grief and a sense of failure, and because to see the resurrected Jesus, their...
REFLECTIONS TODAY After Peter and the beloved disciple saw the empty tomb and departed, Mary of Magdala comes back, lingers for a while, desperately searching for the dead body of her beloved Rabbi. Immersed in her intense grief, she is hardly attentive to the presence of two angels, to whom she...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Matthew’s resurrection account combines two events—the discovery that the tomb is empty, and the appearance to Mary Magdalene and to the other Mary. Initially, the women are overtaken by awe by the theophany of the angel who tells them that Jesus has risen from the dead, and...
REFLECTIONS TODAY JOHN 20:1-9 On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the...
REFLECTIONS TODAY When Jesus resurrects from the dead, a young man (angel) tells the women to go and tell his disciples about it, but they say nothing. And yet, in the midst of the failure of men and women—there is a believing community. Human beings fail—but God succeeds. God who raises Jesus...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Mary, who is totally prepared to commit all to the word of Jesus, stands by the cross. She is the model of faith and is now given as “mother” to the Beloved Disciple who clearly is presented as the model of the disciples. But the model disciple must learn from the woman of...
REFLECTIONS TODAY In a culture which valued honor and upheld societal roles, Jesus violates cultural status that shocks Peter and his companions. Footwashing is not just an act of humility. Rabbi ha-Nasi (about 220 AD) was said to be a very humble person and would do anything for a person —...
