Isaiah 49:1-6John 13:21-33,36-38 While at supper with his disciples, Jesus was troubled in spirit and declared, ‘I tell you most solemnly, one of you will betray me. In today’s Gospel the mood intensifies. We can easily imagine the scene of Jesus sharing a meal with his disciples. When film producers portray this they build the …
Category Archives: Monastic
Monday in Holy Week
Isaiah 42:1-7John 12:1-11 The anointing at Bethany stops me in my tracks each year. For much of the liturgical year the lectionary leads us through the teaching and miracles of Jesus. From time to time we have a personal encounter: Zacchaeus, the Syro-Phoenecian woman, the Samaritan woman etc. Each encounter is life-changing. Today’s text from …
Palm Sunday
Isaiah 50:4-7Matthew 26:14-27:66 Each morning he wakes me to hear,to listen like a disciple.The Lord has opened my ear. As we begin Holy Week the Church invites us on a journey. This week is like no other in the year. The Church tells her story in words and images, in silence and song, and in …
Saturday in the Fifth Week of Lent
Ezekiel 37:21-28John 11:45-56 I shall make a covenant of peace with them, an eternal covenant with them. I shall resettle them and increase them; I shall settle my sanctuary among them for ever. We have met the prophet Ezekiel already during Lent. Woven together with warnings and reminders of just how much Israel has …
Friday in the Fifth Week of Lent
Jeremiah 20:10-13John 10:31-42 As we get closer to Holy Week there is a sense of growing tension in every encounter that Jesus has. He is challenged on every level and his responses only add to the confusion of his hearers. Today he makes a very simple appeal: if you don’t believe in me, at least …
Thursday in the Fifth Week of Lent
Genesis 17:3-9Psalm 104(105):4-9John 8:51-59 The Lord remembers his covenant for ever. Using the responsorial psalm verse as a repeated prayer or mantra can often be a very helpful way into the Liturgy of the Word. It’s especially helpful today as the theme of covenant links our readings. God’s faithfulness to us and our faithfulness to …
Wednesday in the Fifth Week of Lent
Daniel 3:14-20,24-25,28John 8:31-42 In much of John’s Gospel Jesus speaks to people who struggle to understand him. He speaks figuratively and his hearers assume he is being concrete. We, however, are so used to quotations from the Gospels and usually can grasp their meaning. ‘If you make my word your homeyou will indeed be my …
Tuesday in the Fifth Week of Lent
Numbers 21:4-9John 8:21-30 Each year as we get closer to Holy Week I find that the readings are a little more complex than those we read in the early weeks of Lent. The texts from John’s Gospel ask a little more of me. John writes in a register which I feel requires me to hold …
Monday in the Fifth Week of Lent
Daniel 13:1-9,15-17,19-30,33-62John 8:1-11 This is perhaps one of the most tender encounters in all of the Gospels. We picture the uncomfortable scene of a woman brought by the Pharisees to Jesus. In the eyes of the crowd she is in disgrace. But Jesus diffuses a situation, shifting the focus away from the woman and writing …
Fifth Sunday in Lent
Ezekiel 37:12-14John 11:1-45 ‘The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with bands of stuff and a cloth round his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, let him go free.’ I come to today’s Gospel with several strands which have resisted being woven together. This is undoubtedly a message for me. I …