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Easter is at the center of our faith. Paul affirms: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14).
The faith life of Saint Francis was never still. Though he was comfortable with solitude and prayer, he was a doer.
Wednesday of Holy Week | Readings: Isaiah 50:4-9a; Matthew 26:14-25
Most of us aren’t likely to betray anyone to a death squad. But as we meditate on the events of the Passion, we might reflect on the times we’ve betrayed a trust, the times we’ve talked about someone behind their back, the times we’ve stayed silent when a friend has been ridiculed. Resolve to keep silent when tempted to gossip and to speak out when others are gossiping. That sounds like a challenge, doesn’t it? It is. Pray for the grace to meet it.
Tuesday of Holy Week | Readings: Isaiah 49:1-6; John 13:21-33, 36-38
REFLECTION
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Monday of Holy Week | Readings: Isaiah 42:1-7; John 12:1-11
As members of the body of Christ, we experience the death and resurrection that Jesus did. Everything in our lives—the heights of joy and triumph, the depths of suffering and death—is united with the life of Christ. The cross is before us now with its wordless challenge to love beyond death. Take some time this week to think about events in your own life that have given you an experience of Jesus’ command to pick up your cross and follow him.
Palm Sunday | Readings: Philippians 2:6-11
REFLECTION
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So it is that the Sabbath, if practiced well, is no refuge from our everyday lives, but a reorientation that should come to permeate them.
Selfishness leads nowhere and love frees. Those who are able to live their lives as a gift to give others will never be alone and will never experience the drama of the isolated conscience. Jesus says something remarkable to us: “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Love always takes this path: to give one’s life.
