Christ is risen! A life of faith never grows and matures on “automatic pilot.” The constant call of the liturgy, the fathers, and the faith to “give attention” is no accident, but the well travelled path of experience in how easy it is for a man to forget himself if he doesn’t pay attention to his internal journey. “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he…
Christ is risen! Listen to our Lord Jesus respond to the demand of the crowd that He speak plainly to them and tell them if He is the Christ or not: “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness to me…” (see John 10:17-28) My grandmother once told me an old saying she had heard from her mother: “Your actions…
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Christ is risen! The old saying is “Seeing is believing.” But through the centuries wise men have concluded that sometimes “Believing is seeing!” The Blessed Augustine declared “Therefore do not seek to understand in order to believe, but believe that thou mayest understand.” What is it about believing before you see that makes a life of faith possible? Our Lord Jesus speaks plainly to us all in today’s Gospel lesson when He…
Christ is risen! There is a saying of Jesus recorded in both Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospel: “If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:13-14 and Luke 6:39-40) As we move toward the Sunday of the Blind Man, we will see the daily scripture readings offered to us by the lectionary of the Church focus our sight on overcoming blindness of soul. Today is no…
Christ is risen! Notice what our Lord Jesus says in today’s Gospel reading: The Lord said to the Jews who came to him, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I proceeded and came forth from God; I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. (St. John 8:42…
Christ is risen! A few years ago a book came out titled “The Hard Sayings of Jesus.” The book attempted to tackle some of the more difficult passages attributed to Christ in His earthly ministry. You know, sayings like “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” (St. Luke 14:26)…
Christ is risen! “All by myself, don’t want to be all by myself anymore…” So sang Eric Carmen in 1975. The song was loosely based on the second movement of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor. It tells the story of a young man all alone as he is stood up at the altar on his wedding day. It grips with telling power the sadness of being alone. And this…
Christ is risen! Today, what is the regular rhythm of your life? Looking at your daily routine, what does it teach you about your “habit” of prayer and devotion? The questions are not meant to bring shame or confrontation, but revelation. St. Basil, called by the Church the “Minstrel of the Holy Trinity,” taught that to know God one must get to know one’s self without falling into the trap of self-centeredness.…
Christ is risen! There was a popular song in the 1970’s called “Me and Jesus.” It became popular during the “Jesus People” movement in the United States during this decade. This movement was something of a small awakening of young people to faith in Christ. The lyrics testify of a central idea of modern religious thought that reduces faith to nothing more than a “personal” idea. The chorus says it all: “Me…
