Category: Prayers

“Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away.” —John 20:1 Jesus is risen from the dead! Alleluia! “This is the day the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it” (Ps 118:24). I am writing this teaching for Easter with an IV in my arm, as I await having a tube put down my throat. This may be followed by other tortures, which may lead to surgery. What kind of Easter celebration is this!?...

“In baptism you were not only buried with Him but also raised to life with Him because you believed in the power of God Who raised Him from the dead.” —Colossians 2:12 Today in the Catholic community, we have no Mass and no Holy Communion until we celebrate the Easter Vigil. It is a most peculiar day during which we identify with Jesus buried in the tomb. “Through baptism into His death we were buried with Him” (Rm 6:4). To be buried with Christ means that our old fallen nature is “six feet under.” We must keep it that way...

“Take courage and be stouthearted, all you who hope in the Lord.” —Psalm 31:25 As Jesus agonized over His decision to lay down His life for us, He was so severely tempted to give in to fear that His sweat became as drops of blood (Lk 22:44). Nonetheless, Jesus refused to be intimidated by Satan. He stood up to a cohort of soldiers and several police officers (Jn 18:3). “They retreated slightly and fell to the ground” (Jn 18:6) in the face of Jesus’ love and courage. Then Jesus fearlessly died on the cross for us. However, except for the...

“The Lord Jesus on the night in which He was betrayed took bread, and after He had given thanks, broke it and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.’ ” —1 Corinthians 11:23-24 I wrote this during a curfew. Because of racial violence, my city was under a curfew. Our Mass of the Last Supper had to be finished in 30-40 minutes so that parishioners could be home by the 8:00 PM curfew. Only a handful of people came to the Mass because most people were afraid to come. (The parish and...

Judas “kept looking for an opportunity to hand [Jesus] over.” —Matthew 26:16 Judas was disappointed in Jesus. Like many Jews of his time, Judas likely expected the Messiah to be a nationalistic hero, one who would cast out the occupying Roman armies and liberate Jerusalem. In spending three years with Jesus, Judas gradually came to realize that Jesus was not interested in being the kind of Messiah Jews expected. Jesus made it clear to the apostles that He was interested in freeing people from sin (see e.g. Jn 8:34-36). He also made it clear that He accepted people from all...