Affirming Others
May 31, 2023
Everyday Resurrections: A Meditation on Easter
During the Easter season, I often ask workshop or retreat groups to name their own “small r” resurrections. I do so because it seems impossible to appreciate Jesus’ resurrection with a capital R without some grounding in our own experience.
Lent with the Saints: John Paul II
Exodus 12:1–8, 11–14; Psalm 116:12–13, 15–16, 17–18; 1 Corinthians11:23–26; John 13:1–5
On Holy Thursday, 2003, Pope John Paul II issued his final encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, “On the Eucharist and Its Relationship to the Church.” At the beginning of chapter one, the pope quoted tonight’s Second Reading, from St. Paul, on the institution of the Eucharist. The Holy Father wrote: The words of the Apostle Paul bring us back to the dramatic setting in which the Eucharist was born.
Keep Watch with Me
The Gospel says Jesus arrives at Gethsemane with his disciples but then distances himself a bit. This is a battle that Jesus needs to face by himself. He asks his companions to keep watch with him and to pray not to enter into temptation, but he needs to face this hour in solitude. The disciples do not hold up; they are not capable of keeping vigil and they fall asleep. But this sleep is certainly not a sign of weariness. So what kind of sleep is this? It is a way of escape. Sleep is the thing in life that most resembles death; it can be a way of escape.