Third Sunday of Easter

‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road…...’ These burning hearts take us further into God’s world.

When Jesus approaches the disciples along the road, ‘their eyes were kept from recognizing him.’ Jesus still ‘meets people where they are’ - whether in locked in a room for fear or walking along the road in grief and despair. One disciple was called Cleopas. It has been suggested that the other was a woman because was not named, but scripture scholar and former archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, said in a talk in Melbourne, that it certainly was not a woman because Jesus never referred to a woman as having little faith! 

Second Sunday of Easter

The resurrection does not solve our problems about dying and death. It is not the happy ending to our life’s struggle, nor is it the big surprise that God has kept in store for us.

No, the resurrection is the expression of God’s faithfulness….

The resurrection is God’s way of revealing to us that nothing that belongs to God will ever go to waste.

What belongs to God will never get lost.

Henri Nouwen, Our Greatest Gift

EASTER SUNDAY 2023

Jesus is risen! The good news is that the crucified Jesus whom a cruel, imperialistic power crucified was brought back to life. The spirit of God in Jesus came to show us life which the powers responded to with what the cross represents. In the last couple of years, books by Father Greg Boyle have made an impact on me. Barking to the Choir and Tattoos on the Heart. When I contemplate the presence of Mary at the tomb, a quote from Boyle comes to mind: ‘God was – and is – in the heartbreak and in the insight born of sadness, and in the arms that wrap around our grief.’ Boyle writes about people with tattoos inked over their bodies but also tattoos they may not be aware of - tattoos in their brains where they see their core identity, or are seen by others, as B-O-R-N-S-C-U-M. 

The Passion of Jesus is one we are so familiar with that we are tempted to skim it. But it is a time to pause in our constantly changing world. We have the opportunity to notice and claim our responsibility for the world we have had a hand in making. Here is Jesus: betrayed by one of his own, denied by the disciple who will eventually lead his church, abandoned by those who loved him. Jesus is called before the political power of his day because the religious leaders of his time are threatened by Jesus’ charisma, following, and power. Writers say that we are storytellers. This us how we make sense of everything around us from arising in the morning to working for peace and justice.  Other writers say, if we want to change our life and the world, we need to begin with stories.

Fifth Sunday of Lent

Today’s gospel proclaims the truth that Jesus is gives life but calling us out of our tomb. There is a stench in the tomb that emanates from the suffering, injustice and death where people are being threatened by fear, racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, exploitation, and many other death-dealing powers which destroy lives and rupture relationships. It is constantly before us in the media - just like it does for Martha, Mary and indeed for Lazarus in today’s Gospel.