As the Easter cycle moves to Ascension and Pentecost the readings foreshadow the ongoing life of the church Acts describes an early conflict in the community and the choice of seven men filled with the Spirit One is Stephen who immediately afterward is put to death This leads to the spread of t

Today’s Gospel and Luke’s whole theology of the Spirit, which will unfold in Acts, is a chronicle of the way God can walk with us in surprising, often unknown ways, reversing our path from fear and disappointment to make of us bearers of the power of the risen one.

The shepherd imagery is deeply rooted in biblical thought.

People frequently ask, “What is the church?” Today’s readings provide foundational images for God’s own people.

Dic nobis Maria quid vidisti in via sepulchrum Christi viventis et gloriam vidi resurgentis Yes tell us again Mary what did you see on your journey I saw the tomb of one who still lives and the glory of the risen one The core of Easter faith resounds through these words from the poetic Easter

He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave (Phil. 2:7)

Death has been too much our companion in recent months near us not only in the disaster of Sept 11 but in molten lava submerging a village crumbling houses in Turkey and a horrendous fire in Lagos Death walks with Jesus in today rsquo s Gospel as he moves in measured pace toward his suffering a

The feast of Tabernacles Sukkoth was one of the great celebrations of the Jewish liturgical calendar at the time of Jesus as it is today It was celebrated as an autumn harvest festival and people built little booths or tents that recalled the way they had dwelt during their wilderness wandering

For Christ, while we were still godless, died at the appointed time for the ungodly (Rom. 5:6)

As a diptych to the story of the temptation of Jesus the Transfiguration is always proclaimed on the Second Sunday of Lent The title masks its deeper meaning since the earliest English use of quot transfiguration quot is for the feast and the word rarely appears in quot secular quot discours