Each year Holy Week begins with a re-enactment of Jesus entering Jerusalem amid shouts of praise The week soon moves to his rejection suffering and death and concludes with the preconium paschale the ringing proclamation that he has been raised Each Evangelist highlights different aspects Luke

As the sequence of Sundays proclaiming repentance draws to a close the Gospel presents one of the most graphic of all New Testament narratives on the mercy of Christ that leads to new life The reading from Isaiah prepares the way as the Lord says to the returning exiles See I am doing something

Today rsquo s readings are the second of the three Sundays before Holy Week all of which stress the summons to return to God repentance Paul states the theme crisply ldquo The old things have passed away behold new things have come And all this is from God who has reconciled us to himself t

Shortly before Christmas 1997 a much beloved Jesuit died Harry Corcoran charter member of the Catholic Theological Society of America and first dean of the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley but above all a shining person who walked constantly in God rsquo s presence Once Harry was talking

The Gospel this week is the second half of the diptych that presents Jesus rsquo anticipated suffering the temptation and his ultimate exaltation the transfiguration All the Synoptic Gospels recount the transfiguration but each has its distinctive accents While Mark and Matthew locate it aft

The first two Sundays of Lent present the temptation and transfiguration of Jesus which form a virtual epitome of the paschal mystery Jesus taking on human form humbled himself even to death and was tested by his Father yet this was a presage of his glorification The following three Sundays in

Whether dispensed by Ann Landers Miss Manners a legion of talk show hosts or reams of self-help books handy advice on a host of matters is as American as apple pie Whatever their lofty and diverse religious ideals people live out of a store of folk wisdom A stitch in time saves nine You do w

Ash Wednesday has become a virtual sacrament of Catholic identity as people throng churches to get ashes which paradoxically is just what the Gospel counsels againstexternal signs of devotion It also begins not simply the 40 days preceding Easter but the whole paschal cycle which continues past

As the religious landscape becomes more pluralistic people especially the young wonder what is most characteristic of Christianity Today rsquo s Gospel presents a paradox Love of enemies compassion mercy and forgiveness appear as the core of Jesus rsquo teaching in Luke rsquo s ldquo Sermon

quot Cursed rdquo be the one who trusts in human beings ldquo the wicked rdquo are like chaff that the wind drives away and ldquo Woe rdquo to you who are rich and filled now Harsh words for a Sunday in grey February In Luke rsquo s Sermon on the Plain in contrast to Matthew while the po