The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

April 20, 2025 – Easter Sunday, John 20:1-9

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

I used to think of Christmas as the most important day of the year. Then I learned that the Catholic Church said that Easter was more important. This made no sense to me. On Christmas I received lots of presents. On Easter I merely got a basket of candy and colored eggs.  

Now it is decades later. I have spent years and years trying to achieve a greater understanding of the Christian faith and I can now announce that for me Easter has moved ahead of Christmas on my list as the most important holiday and holy day. And somewhat ironically my reversal of number ones still has to do with gifts. Not gifts like Christmas presents and Easter baskets, but something much more precious and certainly more lasting. I am referring to the gift of life that is given to each of us by God.

The Nazareth Page -A gospel meditation for your home

April 13, 2025 - Palm Sunday, Luke 19:28-40

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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We are entering the most important week of our liturgical year: the holiest of weeks! It is helpful to reflect on the week as a whole. I like to think of it as a drama in three acts. Act one: the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem; act two: the Last Supper; and act three: the death and resurrection of Jesus. To know why this all fits together, we need to reflect on, "what is the primary message of each act?"

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

April 6, 2025 – Fifth Sunday of Lent, John 11:1-45

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

Do we fully know the mind of God? Does anyone? And do we make judgments about the behavior of others as if we did? Apparently certain religious officials (scribes and pharisees) thought they did. Afterall, they thought of themselves as experts in making judgments about what others did. And apparently, they felt that they could use their assumed knowledge and judgments to trick Jesus.  

They likely knew enough about Jesus to know him as being kind and generous. But they also felt that they had God on their side. They knew the law. They knew what was considered lawful and what was surely unlawful.

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

March 30, 2025 – Fourth Sunday of Lent, Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

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

Of all the parables told by Jesus, the one we hear today is perhaps the most baffling. It is a family story that defies common sense and logic, and while it has a happy ending, it’s not one that is expected. In fact, we might even object to it. Still, it contains a truth that is at the very heart of the teachings of Jesus. Two aspects of it deserve our consideration. First, God does not always act in a way that we might expect, and second, we are challenged to act in a similar way.

Most of us who value the teachings of Jesus are familiar with this story usually referred to as the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Some of us see in this parable our own lives. For instance, as a time when our love for someone moves us to forgiveness rather than judgment.

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

March 23, 2025 – Third Sunday of Lent, Luke 13:1-9

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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One of the more familiar gospel passages goes something like this: Repent, God’s reign is at hand. I grew up in a church where the notion of sin and repentance were often mentioned. Every month in the Catholic school I attended, we were all marched over to the parish church “to go to confession.” I did not complain. I felt that this was a good excuse to get outside, away from the daily routine. Plus there was always something that I had done wrong and I was grateful to be rid of that through the sacrament of repentance.

Now, as an adult I have rethought the meaning of repentance as more than simply an act of confessing one’s sins. It has a more positive meaning involving doing good in the world, helping the needy, feeding the hungry, caring for others. And if you are a caring person, you will be aware of the many opportunities to repent each day by moving in a positive way. I recall an adage from my youth: Eliminate the negative and accentuate the positive. Still a good expression.

The Nazareth Page  - A gospel meditation for your home

March 16, 2025 – Second Sunday of Lent, Luke 9:28-36

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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Most of us have enjoyed some really good days, but also days that are not so good. And days that are both. At least that’s how we think about them. Today’s gospel describes a time when three of the disciples of Jesus, Peter, James and John, were invited by Jesus to join him in a mountain climb. For “a good time” where they would learn more about Jesus,

This gospel is familiar to most, especially since it contains a rather dramatic moment. Commonly called the Transfiguration, it is one of those gospels that causes many, myself included, to wonder, what is this about?

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

March 9, 2025 -First Sunday of Lent, Luke 4:1-13

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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The season of Lent begins with the gospel about the temptations experienced by Jesus in the desert. They are indicators of his human nature. We learn elsewhere that he did not sin, but that does not rule out that he was not tempted to do so. The holy season of Lent has often been referred to as a time when we might deal with harmful or evil tendencies in each of us. Years back, I knew of relatives who gave up consuming alcohol during Lent, likely a move in the right direction for them.

Many of us know the nature of the temptations that Jesus faced. First, he was led to turn stones to bread, an invitation to Jesus to selfishly use his power in the natural world. Next, he was offered earthly social or political power, the power to rule over others. And finally, he was invited to test to power of God by enlisting the help of angels to safely catch him if he jumped off the high reaches of the Temple. Summarizing, dominate nature, dominate others and finally dominate God. Get full control of everything and everyone.

The Nazareth Page -A gospel meditation for your home

March 2nd, 2025 – Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time and Ash Wednesday, Luke 6:39-45

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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Having been carried around the sun over eighty times (a way of describing my 80-plus years of existence here on Earth) and having been an amateur astronomer for most of those years, I know part of origin of my existence is star dust created billions of years ago. Through the power of gravity dust particles came together to make stars and planets and water and plants and animals. Eventually you and me.

This week we celebrate Ash Wednesday when we are reminded that the dust we are made of will again become dust. But that’s only a part of the story.

That’s because we believe that existence beyond death is in our forecast. Our dust will return to the Earth from which it came, but the most important part of us will continue to exist. We are all created by God and will experience life with God forever. So, Ash Wednesday is a reminder of our origins but says nothing about our future. That revelation comes on Easter.

The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home

February 23, 2025 –Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time - Luke 6:27-38

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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Perhaps you have heard of “the gospel of non-violence.” It is based on the words of today’s gospel. In it we hear stated. “Be merciful, just as your Father (God) is merciful.” Or “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” Further, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” And perhaps the most trying statement of all, “If one strikes you on one cheek, offer the other as well.” Which is more recognized as the command, “Turn the other cheek.”

When passages from the New Testament are posted on a sign on the front of a church, I have never seen any of these passages shown. Unlikely would these words of Jesus draw more people into the church. They appear too demanding or unrealistic.

But they all are important words in the gospels because they tell us something about the “personality” of God. Especially of how God reacts to those times when we have stepped outside the lines of Christian virtue. And they are also important words about how we should react to others.

The Nazareth Page -A gospel meditation for your home

February 16, 2025 – Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Luke 6:17-26

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
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Today’s gospel includes a listing of what are commonly called the beatitudes. In Luke’s gospel they might be a shorter form of the sermon on the mount found in Matthew.  Matthew’s gospel contains twice as many beatitudes than Luke offers. Or perhaps it is another sermon given by Jesus to difference group. Still, both have similar in tone.

I once heard a priest complain about having to preach about them because they were so contrary to what most people want to hear. On the surface, these beatitudes seem to bless being poor, hungry, sad and disliked. Might there be more?