40daysoflent

Easter Sunday: Reflection of John 20:1-9

By Scott Suter

John’s Gospel reveals God’s promise of salvation to all mankind in so few words. Taking place before dawn while the world is dark, Jesus’ followers have found the stone of the Lord’s temple pushed away with the Lord’s burial clothes still inside. Without an understanding of the events that have taken place but knowing of the Lord’s miracles, the disciples would begin to believe because of this shimmer of hope during such a bleak time.

John uses darkness of the night with the disappearance of Jesus in the tomb in order to display the idea of light in the dark. With the many dark and immoral actions that inexplicably impact our world despite the years of human learning and understanding, God still reminds us that he has made a promise with all of humanity. When we cannot find the Lord’s love, he will be there forever guiding us like the lighthouse which brings ships to their harbors safely.

Scott Suter is a freshman at Monmouth University

Good Friday

By Sarah Opatovsky

This reading for Good Friday was enlightening; I feel that I got more out of reading the passages as opposed to listening to it being said aloud. For example, I read how Jesus gave himself up to the authorities after finding out that they are looking for him. Instead of hiding, he confronts the same people who have come to put him to death. Even though as a human, he would be afraid (but then again, who really knows?) yet he still approaches the High priests and identifies himself even though he could have escaped if he wanted to.

While reading this story, I also couldn’t help but focus on Pontius Pilate. He was a man who was put in position of power and became the leader of the area in which Jesus lived.  While reading about this man, I started to feel sympathy for him because he found Jesus innocent, but could not stand up for Jesus.  Pilate allowed Jesus to be crucified for fear of the repercussions that Pilate himself would have endured. He gave into pressure from others because of fear and because he was human.

Sarah Opatovsky is a junior at Monmouth University

Fifth Sunday of Lent

By James C. Joy

In this reading from the Gospel of John, we are presented with a very typical scenario. Trying to expose Jesus as something of a heretic, the Jewish elders bring him a woman who was a known adulterer, and they ask him if she should be condemned in the spirit of Old Testament laws and rituals.

Jesus’ reply: “Let the man among you who has no sin to be the first to cast a stone at her.”

In the end, Jesus—the only one among the group gathered without sin, I might add—forgives the woman of her transgression, imploring her to avoid the sin in the future.

We live in a world in which judgment is an inevitable reality. Whether it’s through stories on the evening news, gossip columns in the newspapers, or simply the word of a friend, we’re surrounded by a constant flow of information about others’ wrongdoings, simply being tempted, even begged, to judge them.

However, we are not called to judge others, but instead to imitate Christ. As St. Paul notes in his letter to the Philippians, we are to put our past, a past full of sin, behind and strive toward a life devoted to Christ. Yet, Jesus shows us that even those who uphold God’s laws strictly are not without sin, and thus aren’t in a position to judge. Through his forgiveness, he shows us that God, whose power can move mountains, is indeed merciful.

 James C. Joy is a student at Princeton University and a ministry assistant at the Aquinas Institute, the university’s campus ministry.