Gospel Reflections for Challenging Times

  Wednesday – 5th Week in Lent Gospel - John 8:31-42 Who’s Your Daddy! Church of St. Joseph, Nazareth Who’s your Daddy?   Who is the one you turn to when you need advice or comfort or direction?   Who is the one who tells you the truth and helps you to see light in times of darkness?   Who guides you, corrects you and encourages you?   Even after his passing 21 years ago, my Dad still is ‘the one’!   He still continues to counsel and serve as an example of how to be a person of charity and of compassion and forgiveness.   Even today he remains my moral compass.   And, believe me, when I falter or stumble, my ‘fatherly’ conscience lets me have it!   But I also know that, besides being a son of Will, I am also a child of God. And that is what Jesus reminds us of in today’s Gospel.   As Jesus continues to spar with the Pharisees, they argue that they are the children of Abraham (man), children of the Law.   Jesus challeng...

  Tuesday – 5 th Week of Lent Gospel – John 8: 21-30 Lifting Up Inside the Tomb, Church of Holy Sepulchre So how’s your Lent going?   Has your prayer been more frequent or more focused?   Has fasting been a hardship or a blessing?   Have you been more aware of and more responsive to the needs of others?   Have you grown in your spiritual life and in your relationship with the Lord?   Or has the world brought you down and you ended up taking a few steps backward?   Or maybe you just stalled out and hit a brick wall, wandering off the path?   Or maybe we are just slacking, as we find the Lenten Season grinding us down. In today’s Gospel, Jesus makes a clear statement of His divinity.   When asked who He was, He replied “I AM”, a direct connection to God at the burning bush - I AM WHO I AM!   But He also reflects on what is to come – His crucifixion and death!   He talks about being ‘lifted up’, an obvious reference to...

  Monday – 5 th Week of Lent Gospel – John 8:12-20 I Am The Light of the World Church of the Holy Sepulchre There was a little boy living with his family on their farm.   He always liked to help out as much as he could but he had a secret fear of the dark.   One night, his father asked him to go out to the barn to check on their cows.   His father gave him a lantern to light his way, but the boy was still terrified.   “I can’t even see the barn” he said.   His dad replied, “You don’t need to.”   “Just go as far as the light from the lantern will take you; then go a bit farther, then a bit farther, and you will reach the barn.   Just keep following the light and you will get there.” So it is for us – baby steps, follow the light, and eventually we will get to the kingdom. We all have moments of darkness, even as adults.   Moments when we are lost, frightened, so unsure of the future that we just want to crawl under the cover...