Fr. Bob’s Weekly Reflections

A small child looks at a stove. It's been turned off, but it's still quite hot. She has been told the word several times: "Hot." But it doesn't mean much to her. It's just a word; a sound her mother makes when she does not want her to touch the oven.

Every year at the Easter Vigil, a new spark is struck from the flint to light a new candle. New holy water is blessed and new hosts are consecrated. We are beginning all over again, making all things new.

Holy Week begins as it will end: in triumph. We see the fleeting triumph of Palm Sunday and it's followed the lasting triumph of Easter Sunday. In between is a strange mixture of joy and pain; of sorrow and fear, known to all of us human beings.

We hear in our Gospel today about some people who have come to Jerusalem for the Passover. They have heard about this miracle worker named Jesus.  So, they approach a friend of His, Philip, and make a request.

People who love are often eager to offer reasons for their affection. Reasons make declarations of love credible. A person unexpectedly touched by another’s love is typically moved to ask, “Why do you love me?”

I’d like to turn the focus to our second reading today, taken from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. Because it is perhaps the pinnacle of Christian literature. St. Paul tells us that the crucified one is the stumbling block, the absurdity for the unbeliever. But to those who are graced and gifted with faith, this is the power and wisdom of God.

A Jesuit priest friend of mine, Father John, once told me a story, while I was on a priest’s retreat. Father John was teaching a college course called “Theology of Faith.” It was mandatory. Every student had to take the class.

We are now in the season of Lent. It’s a period of 40 days to repent and believe in the Gospel. It will end in Holy Week, and I find it strange that we call it Holy Week, because it was seven days of political corruption, moral cowardice, religious hypocrisy and physical violence.

The ancient Hebrews did not have the type of medical knowledge that exists today. So, when they saw people with any kind of skin diseases, they called it leprosy. Leprosy today might look like psoriasis or shingles.

We begin the scripture readings today with Job’s lament. It’s very downbeat. His days are full of misery, which he projects to everyone. He calls man a drudge, a hireling and a slave. All this is very different from the opening pages of the Bible, which describe the human person as one who shares God’s creative power.