Gospel Reflections for Challenging Times

  Second Sunday of Easter   Gospel – John 20:19-31 Faith and Family Us Decades ago, when Jaime was maybe 7 or 8 years old, I was having some stomach issues, bad enough to spend some time in the hospital to figure out what was going on.   Finally, one morning, with Jaime and Ginger in the room, the doctor comes rushing in to tell me in these overly blunt words – you have cancer, we will perform surgery today and start you on chemo treatments tomorrow!   After I got over the initial shock, I basically had 2 reactions!   First, how dare you blurt out such a diagnosis with our little daughter in the room without even consulting us beforehand.   How disrespectful! How insensitive!   And secondly, my personal health, or lack thereof, was the last thing on my mind.   All that mattered to me was Ginger and Jaime and how all this would affect them! Some things never change!   Truth be told, after all that stress and worry, his diagnosi...

Easter Saturday Gospel – Mark16:9-15 Snap Out of It Sea of Galilee A fellow was stuck on his rooftop in a flood. He was praying to God for help. Soon a man in a rowboat came by and the fellow shouted to the man on the roof, "Jump in, I can save you." The stranded fellow shouted back, "No, it's OK, I'm praying to God and he is going to save me." So the rowboat went on. Then a motorboat came by. "The fellow in the motorboat shouted, "Jump in, I can save you." To this the stranded man said, "No thanks, I'm praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith."   So the motorboat went on. Then a helicopter came by and the pilot shouted down, "Grab this rope and I will lift you to safety."   To this the stranded man again replied, "No thanks, I'm praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith."   So the helicopter reluctantly flew off. Soon the water rose above the rooftop and the ...

  Easter Friday Gospel – John 21:1-14 Sitting around the Campfire The Sea of Galilee Please forgive my sense of humor today but, in a different reality, today’s Gospel reads like a pilot episode for a new TV comedy.   A group of men return home to their village after 3 years on the road and they try to return to their former occupation – fishermen.   It doesn’t go well; they spend the whole night and catch nothing.   Then as dawn breaks, some joker on the beach (calling them children) yells to them to go fishing over there.   Yeah, right!   So they do and they catch a boatload.   One of them recognizes the guy on the beach as their dearest friend.   And what does Peter do – he jumps into the Sea and swims ashore, in his best version of Forrest Gump.   When they all get there, their friend has made a fire on the beach and has cooked them breakfast.   So they sit down and what do they talk about with this long-lost friend? ...