Gospel: The Passion narratives on #PalmSunday remind us that Jesus understands us not only because he is divine and knows all things, but because he is human and experienced all things, including physical pain. Know that you can turn to Jesus with any and all of your problems...
Image: This is the interior of my childhood parish, Epiphany of Our Lord in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., showing the dramatic lighting effect in the sanctuary that always fascinated me as a boy....
As you can see, it appears as if the Cross is on Calvary, with the two thieves flanking Jesus....
When the parish was built in the early 1960s, the lighting consultants turned on the lights in the new church and this was the accidental effect. The pastor, Father Grady, was astonished and asked them not to change it at all.

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More from @JamesMartinSJ

Apr 1
Gospel: Today Gospel speak about "the Jews" ("oi Ioudaioi") wanting to kill Jesus (Jn 7). Christians must confront the legacy of anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism brought about by such passages. First, they must understand that Jesus, his family and his disciples were all Jews...
Second, that there were a variety of Jewish groups (Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, etc.) as well as beliefs (about the Resurrection, for example.) Moreover, knowing something about these groups (via the Gospels) does not mean you understand all of Judaism in Jesus's time...
Third, the common and lazy stereotypes about "Jewish leaders" of the time (e.g., they were only interested in rules, not compassion; they didn't care about women; they were interested in a "warrior messiah") still passed along by preachers and writers, need to be challenged...
Read 6 tweets
Mar 27
Gospel: Who among us hasn't sinned? Who hasn't done things they regret, and would give anything to do over? Yet God always forgives us and offers us reconciliation and welcome. In today's Parable of the Prodigal Son we hear the story of a son who dishonors his father by asking...
...for his inheritance--before the father has died (Lk 15). He squanders it, finds himself impoverished, comes to his senses and decides he will ask for forgiveness. But in the parable, even before he has uttered a word, the father forgives him. At the same time, the older son...
...jealous over the father's mercy towards his brother, explodes, and catalogues all his resentments. Yet the father loves him too, and forgives him for his hard heart....
Read 5 tweets
Mar 22
Gospel: In today's Parable of the Ungrateful Servant, Jesus offers a story in which a king forgives a servant a great debt (Mt 18). But that same servant fails to forgive a fellow servant for a much smaller debt, and chokes him till he repays him. The king, enraged...
....hands his servant over to "the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt." It's a harsh parable, since Jesus then says God will do the same to us if we fail to forgive (since we have been forgiven for so much.) But his message is clear: Forgive....
Jesus uses other gentler parables about forgiveness, for example, the Prodigal Son, whose father lovingly forgives his son for his sins without the son saying anything at all. For other audiences, Jesus may have needed to use a stronger parable, with a warning, like today's...
Read 5 tweets
Mar 17
Gospel: In today's Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, Jesus consigns to hell the rich man who ignores the poor man seated right outside his door (Lk 16). As James Keenan, SJ, has written about the Gospels: for Jesus, sin is often a "failure to bother to love..." ImageImage
That is, as Fr. Keenan has written, Jesus usually does not criticize people who are weak but trying, but rather people who are strong but not bothering. E.g., the two men who pass the beaten man on the Road to Jericho in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, could help...
...but they don't bother. And today, the Rich Man had plenty of opportunities to help the poor man (named Lazarus) but he simply doesn't bother. As Fr. Keenan says, for Jesus, sin is often a "failure to bother to love." Where are we failing to bother today?
Read 4 tweets
Mar 15
At times it's important to share stories of how #LGBTQ Catholics are treated in their parishes, which I hear almost every day. I'd like to share one I heard last night, with their permission, to let people know (who may think otherwise) of the way that LGBTQ people are treated:
Four years ago, a gay couple, two men, both lifelong Catholics, were together fired from their positions as a pianist and a vocalist in their local parish after it was discovered that they were married to one another....
NB: Remember how many other people whose lives do not fully conform to Catholic teaching--Jewish people, Protestants, divorced and remarried Catholics, and others—are employed by Catholic institutions in various capacities....
Read 10 tweets
Mar 3
Dear friends: Dear friends: Thanks to all who joined us in praying the Rosary tonight for peace in #Ukraine, as Pope Francis invited us to do today on Ash Wednesday.

Here is the prayer, from the National Council of Churches, which we prayed after the Rosary:
"Gracious and Merciful God,

We pray today for the Ukrainian people and ask for Your intervention in this senseless war levied against them by Russia. We pray, O God, for protection and that there would be peace. We pray for restoration and renewed hope....
"We pray for the families, especially, the children living through the horrors of war and all the upheaval and tribulation it brings. We also pray for those protesting in Russia against these violent acts by their government....
Read 5 tweets

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