The View Up Here

In my Good Friday tradition, I am starting my day with scripture. Yesterday at the Holy Thursday Mass of the Last Supper, we heard from the Gospel of John. Today, I'm reading the Gospel of Luke, in particular the Passion Narrative. Here's what has struck me this morning:  As they led him away they took hold of a certain Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country; and after laying the cross on him, they made him carry it behind Jesus.   (Lk 23:26) I realized after meditating on this passage that for most of my life, whenever I heard the phrase "take up your cross," it evoked an image of me dragging the impossibly heavy burdens of life around the world on my own, with Jesus far off on a hilltop, looking down and giving me the thumbs up sign. I know, that's ridiculous.  But really, in a culture that emphasizes individualism and self-reliance, it's not too surprising that this is how many of us think of "taking up our crosses."  Lik...

In the Gospel of John, Yeshua tenderly washes the apostles' feet, then sits down and asks them, "Do you know what I have done for you?" (Jn 13:12) At the time, Simon (Cephas/Peter) and the apostles didn't really catch on to what was  going  on. But eventually, they did. And so can we. Jesus (Yeshua)  has shown us that we are to be servant leaders; we are to serve our brothers and sisters in humility and love - just as He did. In Holy Thursday Mass, we have the "washing of the feet" to commemorate this act. But what does it really mean, and why did Jesus wash the disciples' feet, not  just  serve a meal or do some other act of service? We must do two things to unpack this gesture - one is the examine the physicality of it, and the other is to remember Jesus' time and place. Jesus took off his outer garment and wrapped a towel around his waist. Taking off an outer garment can symbolize getting ready to work (akin to "rolling up one'...

Tomorrow is Passion (Palm) Sunday, the start of Holy Week. I'm very pleased to be singing in choir at my parish, and I hope that the experience will remain an inspiring one through the coming months. I believe it was St. Augustine who first commented that "A person who sings prays twice."   I haven't written here much since I've been busy with work (a full time job and an on-going string of free lance editing for which I am very grateful). A quick update: I'm still on track for paying off my last piece of personal debt by the end of June. Yay! I will be returning to NYS mid-June for my cousin's ordination (he is becoming a Catholic priest). At that time I will visit friends and family, and nose around some of my old stomping grounds in Elmira.  I will also be visiting the Transfiguration Monastery in Windsor, NY when I'm back for my summer visit. I'm very excited about finding them; interestingly, they were founded around the same time...

At long last, I've finished something.  Happy Valentines Day!

Today I'd like to share a reflection from the Sisters of Notre Dame. I've been receiving weekly Lenten Reflections from them on email, and today's meditation for Palm Sunday is especially moving for me. My prayer is that I, all of us, can unconditionally say 'Yes' to what God has prepared for us in our lives, just as Yeshua Messiah did, trusting that our greater good is always in God's mind, even when we cannot see it ourselves. "Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." (Mt. 21.9) With these words in song or chant Catholics around the world will process into the Church on Palm Sunday waving palm branches which have been liturgically blessed as "sacramentals." The increase in church-going folks on this day, demonstrates how Catholics like to get their palms but more, how this Sunday transitions us from Lent into Holy Week and to a closer focus on the Passion of Christ. What we recall...