Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” Matthew 28.19 Christians follow Jesus’ example in naming God in intimate, relational terms. As baptized Christians, we follow Jesus in calling God Father; we claim kinship with God, […]
Gospel Reflection for June 3, 2012, Trinity Sunday Read More »
Jesus said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any they are retained. John 20.21-23 In this gospel, the whole community of believers receives peace and the power to forgive. If the community graciously shares the peace and forgiveness Jesus bestows
Gospel Reflection for May 27, 2012, Pentecost Sunday Read More »
Jesus said, “There is no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15.13 Love is a verb. Jesus isn’t talking about having friends but about being a friend. Liberation theologians have a term for laying down one’s life—acompoñar. It doesn’t mean martyrdom, though that my happen. It means accompanying
Gospel Reflection for May 13, 2012, 6th Sunday of Easter Read More »
Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15.5 The image of the vine communicates the risen Jesus’ sustaining love for the Christian community. Disciples tap into the common vein of life
Gospel Reflection for May 6, 2012, 5th Sunday of Easter Read More »
Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. Good shepherds lay down their lives for the sheep.” John 10.11 As John’s chapter 10 begins, Jesus talk in an elaborate figure of speech about sheep and shepherds. Sheep know their shepherd’s voice; they won’t follow a stranger or a thief. A shepherd leads a flock in and
Gospel Reflection for April 29, Fourth Sunday of Easter Read More »
Jesus said, “Thus it was written and so it happened that the messiah is to suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. In his name, repentance and forgiveness of sins are to be preached to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. Luke 24.46-48 In this story
A Gospel Reflection for April 22, Third Sunday of Easter Read More »
Jesus breathed on his disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive people’s sins, they are forgiven them, if you hold them bound, they are held bound.” John 20.21-23 Jesus breathes the new life of the Spirit upon his disciples, just as in the beginning God breathed the spirit of life into the
A Gospel Reflection for April 15th, 2nd Sunday of Easter Read More »
Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Mark 11.9 Holy Week begins by celebrating Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem with palms and songs that express honor and praise. In the Palm Sunday gospel and in the “Holy, Holy, Holy” at every Eucharist, Christians identify Jesus as the one who comes
Gospel Reflection for April 1st, Palm/Passion Sunday Read More »
Jesus said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it will bear much fruit. Those who love their lives will lose them. Those who hate their lives in this world will keep them to life eternal.” John 12.24-25
A Gospel Reflection for March 25, 5th Sunday of Lent Read More »
Jesus said to Nicodemus, “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but so the world might be saved through him.” John 3.17 Jesus’ mission is not to condemn the world but to save it. He calls us who believe in him to do likewise. Like Nicodemus, we find this
Gospel Reflection for March 18th, 4th Sunday in Lent Read More »