‘Do not let your hearts be troubled’ (Jn 14:1).  These words open the gospel for this Sunday.  Of course, our hearts are going to be troubled.  This is part of our human nature and being ‘troubled’ will happen over and over again for many reasons and for reasons that we often don’t even understand.  Still the Divine voice tells us ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled’.  If we are receptive to receiving this voice what effect does it have upon us?  The troubling situation may not have changed, but what about our heart?  Do we not feel a little lighter?  Whatever is troubling us is put into a larger horizon: the horizon that we are never alone…God is with us…and it is this reality that this gospel is encouraging us to remember and to lean on.

“…They hear his voice”; “…They recognize his voice”…and they follow.  For the Fourth Sunday of Easter the gospel reading is from St. John’s gospel on the theme of the ‘Good Shepherd’ (Jn 10:1-10). 

This is Divine Mercy Sunday, and it is the Second Sunday of Easter.  This gospel is always given for the Eucharist following Easter.  It describes two encounters: the first is the appearance of Jesus to the disciples where he first says, ‘peace be with you’, then he shows his wounds, finally he breathes his own Spirit upon them and sends them out with the gospel message of ‘forgiveness’.

What is the horizon of the mind and heart of Jesus?  How would you describe it?  What is the horizon of the Christian faith?  These questions come into central focus on this Holy Thursday which opens the Triduum.  Foundational to Christian faith is love, the primacy of love, the love of God fully revealed in Christ.  Today’s liturgy focuses on two rituals: the sacrament of the Eucharist and the washing of the feet.  Woven into both is the transformative power of love…love is the reality, the motivating force, behind and within these rituals, one a Christian sacrament and the other sacramental in conveying Divine love, mercy, and grace.

The Divine cry: ‘Lazarus, come out’ (Jn 11:1-45).  The cry of God calling us all out of the tombs of death.  Yes, we will all physically die someday.  But here we are the so-called ‘living’ who in many ways live like we are entombed, diminishing ourselves, diminishing the gift of life that God has graced us with.