Sunday Scriptures

I was not alone on the Mount of Olives when I placed my foot in that stony depression where our Gospel takes place today.

On March 23, 1999, Chris Chelios — a Chicago native and star defenseman of the Chicago Blackhawks — was traded to the Detroit Red Wings at the age of 37.

The Gospel reading appointed for the Third Sunday of Easter in Cycle B contains the third and fourth narratives about the risen Jesus on Easter Sunday in a series of five recounted in Luke 24: an appearance to Jesus’ disciples gathered in Jerusalem (36-43) and a remembrance of his final instructions to them (44-49).

Darkness, as we all know, can be quite powerful; amid suffering, it can be hard to see a way out. But as Holy Week shows us, love and hope are far more powerful than the forces of evil.

Perhaps you saw the commercial during the Super Bowl titled “He Gets Us,” depicting a variety of individuals washing the feet of others.

When Frodo Baggins learns that the ring he has inherited is the One Ring of Power, which needs to be destroyed to rid the world of a great evil, he naturally has questions.

Oh, to be a leper in those days. Lepers were considered unclean by the Jewish faithful. They were outcasts. They were accused of being lawbreakers, sinners. Throughout the Gospels, they had a nose for Jesus. And Jesus did not disappoint.

Many facets mark this week’s Gospel, which might be titled “A Day in the Life of Jesus.”