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“The Great Good Friday Eclipse” (Mark 15:1-47) It’s early afternoon on an early spring day, with lots of people in town, and the sky turns completely dark. No, I’m not talking about what will happen here on April 8, when Greenwood and the whole Indianapolis area will lie in the path of totality of a solar eclipse, and lots of people will be here to experience that rare event. No, I’m talking about what happened in Jerusalem back on the day when Jesus was crucified. On that day, lots of people were in town for the Passover festival. And on...

Last week an item on Fox News.com caught my attention. It was a “this day in history” article, commemorating the first rock music concert held, on March 21, 1952. It took place in Cleveland, and it ended in chaos. Glenn Gass, a professor emeritus from Indiana University, said, “Right from the start, it was seen as dangerous music. Kids loved it. Parents hated it. Great. What a way for rock ‘n’ roll to get its start.”

“Love to Receive, Love to Give” (John 13:1-17, 31b-35) “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” Yes, Jesus did that. And he also tells his disciples: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” And so our message tonight is all about love: The love with which Jesus loved us, and then the love he would have us give to one another. “Love to Receive, Love to Give.” First of all, love to receive. This...

[Catholic Caucus] Leading Italian bishop, Vatican newspaper pay tribute to ‘Via Crucis of a Gay Boy’The Vatican newspaper has published Bishop Francesco Savino’s preface to Via Crucis di un ragazzo gay [Via Crucis of a Gay Boy], a new book by Luigi Testa, an Italian law professor.Appointed a bishop in 2015, Bishop Savino has been the vice president of the Italian Episcopal Conference since 2022. Father Sergio Massironi, an official of the Dicastery for the Promoting Integral Human Development, contributed an afterword to the book.In conjunction with Bishop Savino’s preface—which focused more on the prelate’s own reflections than on the...

“Reserved for a King” (Mark 11:1-10) Our story today starts out with “a colt tied.” As our text says, “You will find a colt tied.” But no, I’m not talking about finding Peyton Manning tied with Brett Favre at 186 regular-season wins. This is not about an Indianapolis Colt. This is about a different colt, in a different town, tied in a different way. The colt I’m talking about is the one that Jesus uses to ride into Jerusalem on. Jesus sends two of his disciples ahead to get it: “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately...

“Why?” (Matthew 27:11-50) Why? That is the question of the day here on this Good Friday. We hear the question raised twice in our Gospel account. First, when the crowd is demanding that Jesus be crucified, Pontius Pilate asks, “Why, what evil has he done?” And then second, when Jesus is crucified, he himself asks, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” These “why” questions are understandable, since none of this makes any sense--until we know the real reason for the “Why?” This whole entire episode--the trials, the beatings, the crucifixion: Why? Why did this take place? Why...

“Christian Questions with Their Answers: ‘This Do’” This is the night our Lord Jesus Christ gave his disciples to eat and to drink of his body and blood. And he didn’t mean just for that night. No, Christ was instituting a sacrament to be used often. Already in the pages of the New Testament, we see that the church partook of this sacrament whenever they met on the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day. And that practice continued through the history of the church. Now tonight, on this night when our Lord instituted the Sacrament, we here intend...

“Flourishing Palms” (Psalm 92) At the start of today’s service, with palm branches in our hands, we sang, “All glory, laud, and honor to You, Redeemer, King.” Today we’re like the crowd that greeted Jesus on his way into Jerusalem: “They took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!’” These palm branches befit the praises with which we hail our coming King. Today these palms are fresh and green, just as our worship today is strong and vigorous....

May 1st 2022 3rd Sunday of Eastertide St John Nepomucene, Pisek, ND Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White First readingActs 5:27-32,40-41 ©We are witnesses to all this: we and the Holy SpiritThe high priest demanded an explanation of the Apostles. ‘We gave you a formal warning’ he said ‘not to preach in this name, and what have you done? You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and seem determined to fix the guilt of this man’s death on us.’ In reply Peter and the apostles said, ‘Obedience to God comes before obedience to men; it was the God of our ancestors...

April 30th 2022 Saturday of the 2nd week of Eastertide National Shrine of St. Jude, Chicago Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White First readingActs 6:1-7 ©They elected seven men full of the Holy SpiritAbout this time, when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenists made a complaint against the Hebrews: in the daily distribution their own widows were being overlooked. So the Twelve called a full meeting of the disciples and addressed them, ‘It would not be right for us to neglect the word of God so as to give out food; you, brothers, must select from among yourselves seven...

April 24th 2022 Divine Mercy Sunday National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White First readingActs 5:12-16 ©The numbers of men and women who came to believe in the Lord increased steadilyThe faithful all used to meet by common consent in the Portico of Solomon. No one else ever dared to join them, but the people were loud in their praise and the numbers of men and women who came to believe in the Lord increased steadily. So many signs and wonders were worked among the people at the hands of the apostles that...

April 22nd 2022 Easter Friday St. Stephen's basilica, Budapest Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White First readingActs 4:1-12 ©The name of Jesus Christ is the only one by which we can be savedWhile Peter and John were talking to the people the priests came up to them, accompanied by the captain of the Temple and the Sadducees. They were extremely annoyed at their teaching the people the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead by proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus. They arrested them, but as it was already late, they held them till the next day. But many of those who...

April 17th 2022 Paschal Sunday Church of the Holy Sepulchre, over Golgotha, Jerusalem, Israel Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White First readingActs 10:34,37-43 ©'We have eaten and drunk with him after his resurrection'Peter addressed Cornelius and his household: ‘You must have heard about the recent happenings in Judaea; about Jesus of Nazareth and how he began in Galilee, after John had been preaching baptism. God had anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and because God was with him, Jesus went about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the power of the devil. Now I, and...

April 16th 2022 Holy Saturday Church of Mary, Queen of Poland, Gdańska, Warsaw Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White First readingGenesis 1:1-2:2 ©God saw all that he had made, and indeed it was very goodIn the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, and God’s spirit hovered over the water. God said, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light. God saw that light was good, and God divided light from darkness. God called light ‘day’, and darkness he called ‘night.’ Evening came and morning came: the...

“Evil Friday Is Also Good Friday” (Luke 23:44-56) The theme for our Lenten journey this year has been “You Meant It for Evil, But God Meant It for Good.” We have seen how God can just plain grab something evil and use it for good, in his larger plan. No one could see it at the time, but that’s how God works. We see God working this way in our reading tonight from Luke 23. Something evil was happening on the day our Lord Jesus was crucified. But God used it for good--for incredible, tremendous good--which is why call this...

15 April 2022Good FridaySt. Nicholas Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, St. Clair, PA Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Red.There is no Mass today. The readings given here are used in the afternoon celebration of the Lord's Passion.First readingIsaiah 52:13-53:12 ©The servant of the Lord, an expiatory SacrificeSee, my servant will prosper,he shall be lifted up, exalted, rise to great heights.As the crowds were appalled on seeing him– so disfigured did he lookthat he seemed no longer human –so will the crowds be astonished at him,and kings stand speechless before him;for they shall see something never toldand witness something never heard before:‘Who could...

“The Eternal Passover That Jesus Desired to Eat” (Luke 22:14-20) During this season of Lent, we’ve tried to be realistic as we learn again to trust our God. The realism has to do with evil--the evil that betrayed, condemned, and crucified Jesus long ago, and the evil in our world and in our lives also today. In the face of that evil, we trust our God and the plan he carried out in Christ. We can say to Satan, to the world, and even to ourselves, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” This evening’s service...

“Palm Sunday, Sunday of the Passion” (Luke 19:28-40; 22:1 – 23:56) Today is a day that goes by two names: “Palm Sunday” and the “Sunday of the Passion.” The title that we’re probably more familiar with is “Palm Sunday.” For it was on this day that Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, greeted by the cheering crowds, and the people used palm branches to welcome him. Palms were used to indicate victory and triumph. Palms symbolized success and long life. And so on Palm Sunday, Jesus is hailed as the Messiah, the long-prophesied King of Israel, coming to Jerusalem...

The Swedish Lutheran theologian, Gustav Aulen, published a seminal work on the types of atonement theory in 1930 (Christus Victor). Though time and critical studies have suggested many subtler treatments of the question, no one has really improved on his insight. Especially valuable was his description of the “Classic View” of the atonement. This imagery, very dominant in the writings of the early Fathers and in the liturgical life of the Eastern Church, focused on the atonement as an act of invasion, the smashing of gates and bonds, and the setting free of those bound in hell. Aulen clearly preferred...

"Behold, the Bridegroom comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching; and again, unworthy is the servant whom He shall find heedless. Beware, therefore, O my soul, do not be weighed down with sleep, lest you be given up to death and lest you be shut out of the Kingdom. But rouse yourself crying: Holy, holy, holy, art Thou, O our God. Through the Theotokos, have mercy on us."+ Troparion of Bridegroom Matins The services of the first few days of Orthodox Holy Week have a collective theme of judgment. The centerpiece of those days...