Divine Mercy Sunday, sanctioned by Pope St. John Paul II and dedicated to the vision of God’s love as revealed to St. Faustina Kowalska, is celebrated by the Church on the first Sunday following Easter. The Greek word for mercy, ἔλεος (heleos), can also be translated as “pity” or “compassion.” …

This week we celebrate Holy Week, which includes the Triduum services on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and finally Easter. In this three-day celebration (from a Jewish point of view, evening Thursday is considered Friday), we walk through Jesus’ last conversation with his followers, his Passion, death, and Resurrection. Because of …

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion is described in an account from the Gospel According to Matthew. Much of the Christian focus around this feast is on the timing of the Passover, but from a Jewish point of view, the Passover is only a part of the larger eight-day feast. …

The eleventh chapter of the Gospel According to John (NABRE) contains the account of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. This event serves as the culmination of the signs Jesus performs in the Fourth Gospel, and it serves as a foreshadowing of Jesus’ own Resurrection. The Gospel According to …

The ninth chapter of the Gospel According to John (NABRE) contains themes of light and darkness, seeing and blindness, and the interrelationship of those elements. Congenital blindness appears in the readings as a metaphor for the human condition, and Jesus’ healing of the blind man represents the healing he came …

The fourth chapter of the Gospel According to John (NABRE) includes a description of the encounter between Jesus and a Samaritan woman at a well. One of the more interesting interpretation questions in this text concerns the correct translation of when this all occurs. The Gospel According to John 4:6 …

The book of Genesis 2:7–9 (NABRE) contains an account of the Creation of the first person. In this account, God forms man out of clay and breathes into him as the means of giving him life. This passage is tremendously significant from a theological perspective, and much has been written …

The idea of becoming perfect and complete as a person is a spiritual goal for all Christians. Jesus’ instruction to his disciples found in the Gospel According to Matthew 5:48 (NABRE) to “be perfect just as your heavenly father is perfect” remains a call that applies to us all. What …

The Sermon on the Mount contains a fascinating but unclear comparison in the Gospel According to Matthew 5:22 (NABRE). Jesus offers two different insults, one in Greek and one in Aramaic, that seem to have a similar meaning, but he also attributes a much harsher punishment to one of them. …

This week we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, which commemorates the occasion in which Jesus was taken to Jerusalem to be dedicated in the temple according to the Law. This precedent originated with the tenth plague in Egypt in which God doomed all the firstborn and …