The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity marks the Church’s celebration of the one God in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Trinity is the word that we use to describe the threefold nature of God. Interestingly, the word Trinity doesn’t actually appear anywhere in the Bible. It’s a word …

The liturgical feast of Pentecost has roots going back into the Old Testament, where it’s established in the book of Exodus 34:22 (NABRE). The common name of the feast comes from a Greek root word, Πεντηκοστή (pentecoste), meaning “fiftieth” because it occurs on the fiftieth day (seven weeks) after Easter. The …

The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord is the feast that marks Jesus going up to heaven following his Resurrection. Jesus’ Ascension is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles 1:6-11 (NABRE). In the United States, dioceses are allowed to celebrate this solemnity on either Thursday or the last …

The fifteenth chapter of the Gospel According to John (NABRE) contains Jesus’ commandment to his followers: “love one another as I have loved you.” The word here translated as love, ἀγαπάω (agapao), is the verb form of the Greek agape, which often is used to describe God’s love for humanity. …

The fifteenth chapter of the Gospel According to John (NABRE) describes the work of Jesus Christ building his Church using the image of pruning a vine. This powerful and significant image addresses the idea of qualifying or earning a place in God’s kingdom. Within this image, the Greek text contains …

The First Letter of John 3:2 (NABRE) is a fascinating verse that hints at our future relationship with God in the statement: “We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” This is an especially interesting phrase because …

In the twenty-fourth chapter of the Gospel According to Luke (NABRE), Jesus appears to his disciples for the first time after he has been raised from the dead. In the Catholic lectionary and the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE), the Evangelist records that at Jesus’ appearance, the disciples were …

The Gospel According to John 20:19–31 (NABRE) focuses on issues of faith and trust in the well-known context of the disciple Thomas’ doubt and pathway to belief. Jesus calls all Christians also to believe, and we well might ask what that belief looks like. The Greek word πίστις (pistis) is translated …

Passion Sunday celebrates the entry into Holy Week as the Church prepares to commemorate the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus. We refer to this event a great deal during Holy Week, but how well do we understand what the word passion means? The word and concept enter English in a …

In the Gospel According to John 12:25 (NABRE), Jesus presents a paradox: “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.” This seems like a challenging and even contradictory proposition, though looking at the original Greek does help to …