Saint Cyril of Jerusalem Catholic Church

The peace that Jesus gives is not a mere feeling of well-being but the wholeness that flows from His gift of salvation. Through His death and resurrection we have been given eternal life.

In His love for us, Jesus calls us to His mission of love.  Whereas the Father, has sent Him, now he sends us on this mission to love.  Only the gift of the Spirit can enable us to participate in the mission of the Son of God.

The mandate that Jesus gives His disciples is a summary of His life and ours: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  As Jesus revealed the Father for all to see— through His teachings, His healing signs, and finally through His total self-gift on the cross, now Jesus sends us, His disciples, on that same mission.  We are to embody the Father’s love, to teach and heal, to comfort and bring peace, to love as Jesus loved.

Thomas acts out our reluctance to believe.  Could an executed man still walk about?  Thomas says “you’ll have to show me.”  Jesus does.  Thomas then responds with one of the supreme statements of faith in John’s gospel: “My Lord and My God.”  This statement is the climax of the gospel. Jesus’ response is its conclusion.  You and I believe in Jesus even though we have not seen Him.  Blessed indeed are we.

God Bless,

Msgr. Powell

The Passion of Our Lord

Today’s reading of the Passion ended on the dismal note of death— Jesus died and His tomb was sealed with a stone.  Sometimes that is the way our day ends: on a dismal note, for we still suffer our pain, hurt from our losses, or feel terribly lonely.

However, Passion Sunday is not the last word of the Jesus story.  Rather, it is only the first word of a Holy Week that will reach its climax next Easter Sunday.  The final word will not be the death of Jesus, but His rising from the dead.

So too, no matter how many of our days seem to end in a depressing way, they are not the last word of our story.  Rather, they are only a prelude to triumphs we have yet to experience in this life, and they point to that ultimate victory which will be ours in the next life.  There we will again process with palm branches, not to mark Christ’s triumph entry into the earthly city of Jerusalem, but our own victorious entrance into the heavenly city of Jerusalem.

God Bless,

Msgr. Powell