The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

April 21, 2024 – Fourth Sunday of Easter, John 10:11-18

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
Download this simple process to Prepare for Sunday using the Observe, Judge, Act Method.

Once again, we are invited to think about one of the ways that Jesus spoke about his own life though the example of being “a good shepherd.” And we are also included in this narration. We play the role of a lost sheep. In the time of Jesus, everyone knew about shepherds and flocks and their care. It was hard work being a good shepherd as sheep tended to wander. And get lost. Yet Jesus used this scenario to teach us about what Jesus (and God) are really like.

Of course, it is quite challenging for us to imagine God acting like a good shepherd. Such attention to us (as wayward sheep) might seem almost too good to be true. Yet here is God in Jesus wanting to find us when we are lost. Or when we were wayward. And all the time wanting to bring us back into the flock. And why does “the shepherd” even leave his flock to do this? Why does this concern for even one lost sheep cause him to do something that many others would call almost crazy, or even reckless?

The answer is found when we examine the two of the most basic aspects of Jesus, his mind and heart. So first, let’s thinks about this which also gives us a glimpse of the mind and heart of God.

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

April 14, 2024 – Third Sunday of Easter, Luke 24:35-48

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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Do you ever ask yourself what do you hope for? Or what do you expect up ahead? As my days pass (seemingly more quickly as I age), in quiet moments I find myself in a state of wonder. I ask myself what do I honestly desire after my time on Earth has ended? What do I hope for? In general, if I am honest with myself, I want to continue living, and if possible, maybe have it better.

I accept that my hopefulness is not shared by all. A certain pessimism about the future is not uncommon. As is cynicism. We can be turned toward darkness by much of the news that fills our TVs and sours the internet. We are all too aware of the downside of things. Of life hanging by a thread. Or of a future that might not end well at all. The prophets of doom remain in our midst.  

But I try to remain hopeful knowing full well that contrary views remain popular among many. Some might think of me as being unrealistic, even a bit crazy.

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

April 7, 2024 – Second Sunday of Easter, John 20:19-31

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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From all indications, it appeared that the life of Jesus had ended. He was arrested, judged guilty of some vague crime and according to Roman law and was condemned to die. His death took place in public view. There were witnesses, most sadly his own mother, to his final breath. He was taken down from the cross on which he hung and placed in a nearby tomb.

So many of his closest known followers hid from the authorities because they were worried that they would be next in line for arrest and all the rest. All his teachings about life and its future seemed to have departed with his terrible death. They were confused, their hope was all but gone, and worst of all, they were filled with fear. His closest followers locked themselves in a place where they might have felt somewhat safe. Still, however, they were scared.

Then Jesus suddenly was there in the room, the marks of his wounds still fresh on his body. With his presence came his gift of peacefulness. His basic message was that death is not the last word. Life is.

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

March 31, 2024 – Easter Sunday, John 20:1-9

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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Officially, the Catholic Church lists Easter as the most important day of the year. Personally, I was inclined to give Christmas that designation. Now I give them both a #1 rating. They are the meaningful celebration of our faith that recalls the beginning and the end of the life of the human Jesus. Yes, Easter is his final culminating moment.

Therefore, his death was not his last day. Easter was! Which means that his last day was also his first day of all the rest. I know that this idea is a challenge to think about and affirm. Our society can be overly materialistic in this regard. And further worth noting is that Easter is not just about him, but also about us. Easter is called in Scripture the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

March 24, 2024 –Palm Sunday, Mark 14:1-15:47

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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This Palm Sunday we read about the suffering and death of Jesus along with the many details that led to this event. Biblical scholars suggest that this gospel account is among the earliest narratives recorded by the first Christians. In other words, the bedrock on which the rest of the life of Jesus rests. Like myself, many of us have heard this gospel read in church on this, the first day of Holy Week.

Before I compose thoughts about each Sunday’s gospel, I quietly read them in the silence of our home. When I read today’s gospel, I was struck by how much of it I never thought about while listening to this gospel read in a church full of others, who might have thought this was a kind of “marathon” gospel. Some churches even have the congregants sit during its reading. The power of this gospel might have been diminished by those circumstances.

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

March 17, 2024 – Fifth Sunday of Lent, John 12:20-33

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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Jesus is coming to the end of his life on Earth. He tells his followers that he is approaching death. He is still relatively young, but he sees opposition building around him. Perhaps he looked back on his recent years, his public life as we call it, and wondered whether it was all good. Did he accomplish what he had hoped to do? And was he always happy?

While the gospels are silent on much of what he experienced, it seems clear that he accepted his past and was not seeking escape from what seemed ahead of him. He recalled good moments, but also those when it was difficult and discouraging. And he likely expected even harder moments ahead. In other words, he had good days, but also times from a human perspective were not always as good. Just like us.

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

March 10, 2024 – Fourth Sunday of Lent, John 3:14-21

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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Lent is often thought of as a retreat time for active believers. The actual word, Lent, comes from an earlier word associated with springtime, a time when warmer days come our way, and nature creates new buds and sprouts around us. And the primary message of the liturgy is that new life with God is renewed though our deeper awareness of God and God’s attitude and intent for us. The holiest week of the year is on the horizon when we recall the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. All of this takes place because of God and God’s reason for creating life, especially our personal lives during this time of Creation.

Perhaps you have pondered the provocative philosophical question: Why is there something and not nothing at all. I certainly have. Many times! And for me the most satisfying answer is what I have learned from my religious faith. And from the catechism that I learned in my youth

Today’s gospel includes this sentence: “For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son ...  (that we) might have eternal life.” So why is there something and why are you and me living right now? It’s because the basic attitude of God is that of love. God not only loves, but God’s very nature is loving. God will not do otherwise than share God’s own life with others, with you and me. With everyone. It’s both that simple and that amazing and that wonderful.

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

March 3, 2024 – Third Sunday of Lent, John 2:13-25

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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In the time of Jesus, the primary place where business transactions took place in Jerusalem was on the grounds of the great Temple, the most sacred place in the world for Jesus and his Jewish companions. In his humanness, Jesus sought out places where God’s presence was assumed, locales where people went to pray. Imagine his reaction, his disappointment, and even anger in learning that the grounds of God’s holiest of places was consumed with making money.

Religious life can be violated by those seeing to profit from its operation. We are not surprised when we learn that Jesus immediately proceeded to prevent this corruption of what was intended to bring people closer to God. While religious bodies certainly need financial resources, they do not serve God by simply making money.

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

February 25, 2024 – Second Sunday of Lent, Mark 9:2-10

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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On my fiftieth birthday I climbed a famous mountain in Colorado called Pikes Peak. It is over 14,000 feet high and offers a wonderful view of the surrounding landscape. While there was a touristy gift shop atop, I thought it would be a wonderful setting for a home. But I immediately saw the impracticality of that. No one lives on a mountain top.

Today’s gospel is one that most of us are familiar with. It describes an event in the life of the closest disciples of Jesus when he was “transfigured” before them. Some biblical scholars say that Jesus assumed an appearance reminiscent of his resurrection. The scene is placed right before the account of his suffering and death. The contrast is obvious, one scene being horrendous and painful, the other being glorious and triumphant.

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

February 18, 2024 – First Sunday of Lent, Mark 1:12-15

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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We begin the holy season of Lent by recalling the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert before he began his public life. Perhaps this chapter of his life was done in memory of the forty years the Jews wandered in another desert as they made their way from Egypt to the Promised Land. Today, this desert time of solitude in his life is recalled when we spend the forty days of Lent focusing on praying more, some fasting from food on occasion and in doing additional good works. It’s a time when we pay more attention to being closer to Jesus.

In times past most Catholics followed a fixed set of religious practices during Lent. I recall “giving up candy for Lent.” If I was given or acquired any candy during that time, I would store it on a container that was in my mom’s kitchen, and eat most of it the minute Lent ended. Back then this was at noon on Holy Saturday. Looking back, this was a rather stupid practice of mine.