This week the posts focus on the Passion Narrative from Matthew’s gospel which will be proclaimed this coming Sunday on Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. As you well know it is a long reading. And so I have broken the commentary on the gospel into 18 posts spread from today until Saturday morning. And still some of the posts will be long, e.g. the arrest of Jesus and his crucifixion. Over the course of the week you can expect that there will be 3-4 posts per day. I hope this makes reading the commentary a little more manageable.
Death is always untimely. It comes crashing headlong into our lives and into our families. Even if death’s inevitability has been forecasted and known, its arrival remains untimely. There is always more we want to do or say. There is never enough time, only the time given us. Continue reading →
Continuing to geek out As the NCAA Division I swimming championships reached Day 3. The team championship race is as close as I ever remember, but the talk of the meet remains Leon Marchand, the sophmore from Arizona State. His performance in the 400 IM was beyond amazing, pre-race expectations were sky high and he raced passed all of those. Here are his splits on his way to a 3:28.83
100 fly – 47.10
100 back – 52.20
100 breast – 58.59
100 free – 50.93
The Arizona State sophomore now owns the three fastest swims in history and seven of the top 10, with his prelim swim standing up 10th.
Leon Marchand (Arizona State), 3:28.82 – 2023 NCAA Championships Leon Marchand (Arizona State), 3:31.57 – 2023 Pac-12 Championships Leon Marchand (Arizona State), 3:31.84 – 2023 ASU v. Cal Hugo Gonzalez (Cal), 3:32.88 – 2022 NCAA Championships Chase Kalisz (Georgia), 3:33.42 – 2017 NCAA Championships Leon Marchand (Arizona State), 3:33.65 – 2022 Wolfpack Invite Carson Foster (Texas), 3:33.79 – 2022 NCAA Championships Leon Marchand (Arizona State), 3:34.08 – 2022 NCAA Championships Leon Marchand (Arizona State), 3:34.45 – 2022 Pac-12 Championships Leon Marchand (Arizona State), 3:34.47 – 2023 NCAA Championships
Take a moment to watch the video and see just how far he finished ahead of Carson Foster who is the World Championship silver medalist.
The gospel reading for 5th Sunday in Lent is the account of the raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-45). In yesterday’s post we listened in on the conversation between Jesus and Mary, the sister of Martha. Today we consider the actions and event of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Continue reading →
The gospel reading for 5th Sunday in Lent is the account of the raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-45). In yesterday’s post we arrived in Bethany and considered Jesus’ dialogue with Martha, the sister of Lazarus. Today we listen in on the conversation between Jesus and Mary, the sister of Martha. Continue reading →
In the first reading today, there is no missing the straight-up idolatry. It is the classic text of the story from Exodus:
The LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once to your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, for they have become depraved. They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them, making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it, sacrificing to it and crying out, ‘This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ The LORD said to Moses, “I see how stiff-necked this people is.
Even the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 106) gets in comment: “Our fathers made a calf in Horeb and adored a molten image; They exchanged their glory for the image of a grass-eating bullock.” The line is almost humorous if it weren’t so serious. And God’s reaction is as serious as it gets.
Admittedly this is a post that might appeal to but a narrow slice of readership. It is all about NCAA Men’s swimming championships. Last night I was able to watch the first evening finals which consisted of the 200 yard medley relay and the 800 freestyle relay. I can babble about the amazing swims, but take my word for it…. amazing. For me the most amazing was the anchor leg of the Arizona State 800 relay: Leon Marchand. Marchand is from France and swims for Bob Bowman, Michael Phelp’s coach, and is the best swimmer in the world. In the Paris 2024 Olympics he will be the next multi-gold winner.
He anchored the 2nd place ASU relay (Texas was the winner with a new NCAA and American record). This might not mean a lot to the average reader of this blog, but his split for a 200 yard freestyle was 1:28.42…. holy guacamole. How fast is that? … it is fast. At the pool where I swim (and remain a legend in my own mind….) the average lap swimmer will cover 25 yards in about 30 seconds – and those are the better ones. That means they will have covered 75 yards in about the same amount of time as Marchand swam 200 yards.
At his Pac-12 conference championships he set an NCAA record in the 200 yard breaststroke and 400 individual medley and he wasn’t fully tapered and rested for that meet. Yikes!
The gospel reading for 5th Sunday in Lent is the account of the raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-45). In yesterday’s post we considered the debate among Jesus and the disciples about returning to Galilee to attend to the illness of Lazarus. In today’s post we arrive in Bethany and Jesus’ dialogues with the sisters of Lazarus begin. Continue reading →
The first reading today is a companion piece with yesterday’s first reading. The message of encouragement remains even as the prophet who speaks the word changes. A verse from the Gospel succinctly makes the point: “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.” Continue reading →
The gospel reading for 5th Sunday in Lent is the account of the raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-45). In yesterday’s post we discussed the outline of the passage and the setting of the gospel story, introducing a theme previously given by John:“I have come that they might have life and have it to the full” (10:10). Today we consider the debate among Jesus and the disciples about returning to Galilee to attend to the illness of Lazarus. Continue reading →
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