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Updated: Apr 13


ree

Sunday April 07, 2025

The mirrors we throw


See


We rush to document others' failures with screenshot precision while furiously deleting evidence of our own. The court of public opinion never adjourns, but somehow we're always on the jury, never in the defendant's box. Our selective outrage reveals not moral clarity but strategic blindness—we measure others by their worst moments while granting ourselves lifetime grace.


The stones we clutch aren't just weapons but shields. Behind each accusation hides a fear: that someone might apply our own standards to us. We build elaborate explanations for why our identical mistakes deserve understanding while others' warrant exposure. How easily forgiveness becomes a resource we hoard rather than distribute, available in abundance for our reflection but scarce for the stranger.


The ground beneath accusers and accused remains the same earth. The finger tracing in dust writes what we already know but refuse to acknowledge: we stand in both places simultaneously. True transformation begins not when we perfect our judgment but when we release the exhausting pretense of having earned the right to cast it.


Listen



Reflect


(John 7:53-8:11)


When did you last find yourself part of a collective judgment—piling on someone's mistake online, participating in office gossip, or mentally cataloging others' failures? Notice how comfortable it felt to stand outside the circle looking in.


Jesus disrupts our rush to judgment not by denying wrongdoing but by expanding the circle until it includes us all. What would change if you approached others' mistakes with the same context and compassion you hope others apply to yours?


Identify one person you've been holding to an impossible standard. How might your relationship transform if you set down the stone of judgment—not excusing harmful behavior, but creating space where growth becomes possible?


Pray


Lord, you see completely without condemning. Grant us courage to examine our own hearts before criticizing others, wisdom to recognize our selective standards of judgment, and compassion that creates spaces of transformation. Help us become people who offer others the same grace we desperately need ourselves.

 
 
 

ree

April 07 - April 12, 2025



Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 This dramatic reading follows on extremely well from yesterday’s Gospel about the woman caught in adultery. Many dimensions could help us, but perhaps the courage and intelligence of Daniel could be underlined.


John 8:12-20 The theme of judgement unites the two readings—by which standards do we judge? In the discussion with the Pharisees, the Fourth Gospel offers us a deep and still challenging understanding of Jesus. Who was he? Who is he?



Numbers 21:4-9 We know from our human experience that when something is harming us, we need to face it. Something of that ordinary experience lies beyond this extraordinary story. The image of the serpent lifted up is found on the lips of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel, speaking of his own death and resurrection.


John 8:21-30 The image of “lifting up”—so central to John’s Gospel—is taken from the story of the bronze serpent. The evangelist reminds us of our need the healing that God provides in Jesus.



Daniel 3:14-20, 24-25, 28 In this dramatic illustration, faithfulness to the one true God is a deadly risk— and yet God shows himself to be faithful to all who are faithful to him.


John 8:31-42 In early Christian reection, Abraham was in everyone’s mind—notably in Paul’s but also as we see in John’s gospel. The big question being answered is, who is Jesus?



Genesis 17:3-7 The reading today picks out an emblematic story about Abraham, as a preparation for the Gospel, where Abraham is mentioned again. He was the original man of faith, our father in faith, as Hebrews puts it, who put his trust in God and in a way God puts his trust in Abraham.


John 8:51-59 In the Fourth Gospel, there are seven I AM sentences, usually qualied by some image or afrmation such as the good shepherd. The I AM in today’s reading is without qualication, an absolute claim to identity with God. While clearly “theological, it may have a grounding in history: Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” Jesus said, “I am.” (Mark 14:61–62).



Jeremiah 20:10-13 Right up to today, good people are made to suffer when they tell the truth and say it like it is. This was true also in the past: Jeremiah suffered greatly for his convictions and prophecies, in the same way as Jesus would, much later.


John 10:31-42 As often in John’s gospel, we are overhearing later disputes about the identity of Jesus and the arguments for and against. Only in the light of the resurrection did the early Christian really grasp who Jesus was and who the risen Jesus is today.



Ezekiel 37:21-28 This short reading was written a time of national disaster and disgrace. As we listen, we might keep in mind what picture of God comes out of this picture? Can it help me or us today?


John 11:45-56 Today, our reading takes us to the consequences of the story of Lazarus. John’s Gospel is looking back after many year’s of prayer and reection. The evangelist see that the cause of Jesus’ death was really who he was — the Messiah and the Son of God. Ironically, Caiaphas speaks the a deep truth, even if he doesn’t know what he is really saying: it is better for one man to die for the people.


References

-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2025ac, April 6). Fifth Sunday of Lent. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040625-YearC.cfm

-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings


 
 
 

ree

April 06, 2025



Through Christ, we are constantly called back to God. With hope, then, let us offer our prayers in Jesus’ name:


That Christ may be the “wealth” of our Church and parish community: let us pray to the Lord.


That Pope N., and the bishops, priests, and ministers of our Church may instruct us in God’s ways of peace and reconciliation: let us pray to the Lord.


That the justice and peace of God may spring forth in our world through cooperation and trust among all nations and peoples: let us pray to the Lord.


That we may acknowledge our need for forgiveness and seek reconciliation with those who have harmed us: let us pray to the lord.

 

That the lives of those entrapped by their addictions or enslaved by abuse may be “grasped by Christ” and made new in his healing peace: let us pray to the Lord.


That those who have died in the peace of Christ [especially _________], may come to know the “power flowing from his”: let us pray to the Lord.

 

That our gracious God will hear the prayers we now offer in the silence of our hearts [Pause...]: let us pray to the Lord.


We lift our hearts to you, O Lord – you who grasp the lives of the fallen, who transform our tears into laughter, who remembers not our past but constantly makes all things new. May we be worthy of your limitless forgiveness and unconditional love. by our forgiveness and love of one another. In Jesus’ name, we pray.


References

-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2025ac, April 6). Fifth Sunday of Lent. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040625-YearC.cfm

-Cormier, J. (1995). Lord, Hear Our Prayer: Prayer of the Faithful for Sundays, Holy Days, and Ritual Masses.


 
 
 
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