Rev. James A. Wallace, C.Ss.R.

Jan 30 2025

He Has Risen! Alleluia!

“This is the day the Lord has made! Alleluia!” the Church sings today. This is the day that defines who we are as believers. If a belief in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is not at the top of your list of essential beliefs, then it is time to go back to school for a little remedial Christianity.

From the beginning this belief was what set the followers of Jesus apart from their fellow Jews. Paul even provides a listing of those, including himself, who had had an experience of the risen Lord (see 1 Corinthians 15:5–8). He goes on to make the very clear statement, “If Christ has not been raised, our faith is vain; you are still in your sins” (v. 17).

Peter the denier became Peter the bold proclaimer of the risen Lord, first to the crowds that gathered to hear him on Pentecost, then to the members of the Sanhedrin, and then in the house of Cornelius the Roman centurion. Tradition tells us the others also went about preaching and teaching that God had raised Jesus from the dead.

In the first three Gospels, angels or men dressed in white give the good news of Jesus’ resurrection to the women who had come to the tomb. John’s Gospel presents Mary Magdalene, who believes the body was stolen; Peter, who sees only an empty tomb and the discarded wrappings; and the beloved disciple. Only this last disciple “saw and believed.” He is the model of all who see with the eyes of Easter faith—all who want to.

Consider/Discuss

With whom do you identify—Peter, Mary Magdalene, or the beloved disciple? Why?
Why does Paul say that if Christ has not risen, our faith is in vain? Do you see the belief in the resurrection of Jesus as being at the heart of our faith?

Responding to the Word

All powerful, life-giving Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are not the first to whom you have sent an angel, we are not the first to see the empty tomb or the garments neatly folded, and still we say: Alleluia! We believe. Deepen our faith in the resurrection of your Son, our Lord.

Jan 30 2025

The Purpose of the Palm

Someone once told me that people come to church on Palm Sunday because they get something. But I like to think that palm says something they recognize as true.

“He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness,” writes Paul, quoting the words of an early Christian hymn. “He humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross,” follow soon after (Philippians 2:7, 8). Emptying and humbling are the two key words embracing the trajectory of the life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God: from incarnation to passion and death.

He poured himself out for us and for our salvation, certainly suffering physically—from the beating, the scourging, the crowning with thorns, being struck with a reed, spat upon, prodded, pushed, and stumbling up the hill to Golgotha. Then he was stretched out on a crossbeam, nailed to it, and lifted up, his body suspended between heaven and earth. Finally, he suffocated, unable to raise himself to take in more air.

There was also the inner suffering of abandonment, of seeing his disciples run off, of realizing that all those who had cried “Hosanna” a few days ago had either been silent or had cried out, “Crucify him.” Only the women had remained with him.

Today, when we take home a piece of palm, it invites us to prepare to renew our baptismal promises on Easter. Then we can add our voices to that solitary voice almost two millennia ago, saying, “Truly, this is the Son of God!”

Consider/Discuss

Do you have a special place for the blessed palm so it can call you to remember?
What does Mark’s Passion say to you?

Responding to the Word

Loving God, lift up our hearts to give you thanks and praise for all you have done for us through the saving death of your Son. We sing out in our day, “Blessed is he who continues to come in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.”

Jan 30 2025

A Sister Speaks

So, I’m pushy. At least that’s what Mary was always telling me. “Martha, you don’t have to say everything that comes into your mind,” she would whisper. Like the time when she left me to do all the work in the kitchen while she plopped herself down at Jesus’ feet. No sense going into that—you know the story.

But this time being pushy paid off. Our younger and only brother had taken ill with fever. We waited to send word, thinking it would pass, but then early one morning, our beloved Lazarus died. We were heartbroken. He was our protector, our friend, the apple of both our eyes. Never to hear his voice, or pretend annoyance at his silly jokes at our expense. Neither of us could stop crying. As soon as word came that Jesus had reached the outskirts of the village, I went out to him. I was beside myself with grief: “Where were you? Why didn’t you come? If you had, he would not have died.” My anger and sorrow broke against him like waves during a summer storm. He listened, then spoke: “He will rise again.” “Yes, I know . . . on the last day.” His eyes looked into my soul: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever lives and believes in me will never die, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” That is the question, isn’t it? Do you believe his words? Do you believe him? Do you believe he is the resurrection and life? Well, do you?

Consider/Discuss

Is there anything you want to ask Martha? Or say to her?
What does it mean to believe Jesus is the resurrection and the life?

Responding to the Word

Lord, death seems so merciless, so final. It is hard to believe life can ever be restored. Help us to trust your word and the promise of the Father that death will not be victorious. Help us to place our trust in you as the Lord of life.

Jan 30 2025

A Heart Renewed

One of the earliest pictures of Jesus I can remember portrayed him at prayer in the garden of Gethsemane. I still see his hands, clasped tight. They spoke to me of an inner struggle long before I knew about his words, “Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup away from me, but not what I will but what you will” (Mark 14:36). More than any other scene in the Gospels, this one brought home what it meant to say Jesus was truly man.

Today’s Gospel has been called John’s version of the agony in the garden. The word agony (agonia in Greek) means struggle, and we can hear the struggle in Jesus’ awareness that “the hour” he has spoken of before in John’s Gospel, beginning at Cana, has finally arrived. It is the hour of his being lifted up—the hour of both his glory and his crucifixion. It is why he came into the world, and yet we hear him say, “I am troubled.” We hear him wrestling with himself, asking for release from the hour, but then recognizing that it holds “the purpose for which I came.”

Hebrews affirms this when it says “he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence” (5:7). He was able to bear the suffering and become the source of eternal salvation for all who listen to him and follow in his steps.

Consider/Discuss

Do you desire a new heart? What would be different about it?
How do Jesus’ words about the seed falling into the ground, dying, and only then producing fruit challenge you? What needs to die in you?

Responding to the Word

Loving God, give us a new heart in these final days of Lent, a heart that carries within it your loving imprint, that we may always know your will and yield to it, even when it calls for a dying of some kind. In such dying, may we trust that you will bring forth new life.

Jan 30 2025

The Gift of Sight and Vision

My name is Samuel, after the great prophet who anointed our first kings, Saul and David. I used to think my parents showed their sense of humor by naming their blind son after Samuel the seer. But even he didn’t always see clearly.

When Samuel went to Jesse’s house that day, he thought for sure God wanted him to anoint the eldest, Eliab, tall and handsome, just like Saul had been. But God brought him up short: “No, no, no—not him!” Ended up being the youngest out in the fields tending sheep. A case of the see-er not seeing. Easy to get blinded by appearances, I could not see Jesus, so I couldn’t be blinded by his appearance, or unimpressed if he wasn’t that remarkable to look at. But I could tell he had God’s power in him. And a fire. After smearing mud on my eyes, he told me to wash in the pool of Siloam. I did. And I saw.

Then the trouble started. My neighbors started arguing, then the Pharisees got into it, and they got my poor parents. Well, I told them he was from God. That’s when they threw me out. And suddenly I hear someone say, “Do I believe in the Son of Man?” Without any hesitation, I said: “I do believe, Lord.” He said he came into the world so the blind might see and those who saw might be blind.

Consider/Discuss

Why would Jesus say he came into the world so that those who do see might become blind?
What kind of seeing does Jesus bring about?

Responding to the Word

Jesus, you are the light come into the world. Sometimes I feel lost in the dark, not sure where I am and which way to go. Enlighten my mind so I may understand more fully the direction you wish me to go in my life. Help me to see so I can serve you.