HOLY WEEK / EASTER MEDITATIONS - 2026

These meditations from previous posts focus on Jesus' battle with Satan and His Victory on the Cross. Palm Sunday begins with Meditation 01, and continues through each day of Holy Week and the Easter Season.

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HOLY WEEK / EASTER MEDITATIONS
Meditation 01	Meditation 05	Meditation 09
Meditation 02	Meditation 06	Meditation 10
Meditation 03	Meditation 07	Meditation 11
Meditation 04	Meditation 08	Meditation 12

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Fifth Sunday of Lent - 2026

The Fifth Sunday of Lent gives us yet another of Jesus great signs, the raising of Lazarus. It may seem strange to this generation that the problem some of the Jewish officials were having with Jesus’ signs was that he was performing them on the Sabbath. Today the problem is whether or not they even happened at all. Added to this there is even a further problem. If God who is professed to be a loving and merciful God exists why is there so much suffering in the world? (This is known as the “problem of evil”.) That is not to say that devout believers are not challenged by the suffering they see all around them or that they suffer personally. Meditating on the healing miracles of Jesus builds up one's faith in Jesus and becomes a source of encouragement for every believer. But then there is the Cross of Christ. In this Sunday's gospel, the account of the raising of Lazarus, we see lived out by Jesus' devout believers the challenge of the greatest of all evils, death. It is in this event that the mystery of the problem of evil is revealed. Let us examine the details of Lazarus death and how Jesus leads the people, and us, through the mystery. + Jesus loves Lazarus and His sisters Mary and Martha. If anyone deserves the touch of Jesus' healing hands it is Lazarist. + Jesus is informed of Lazarus' serious illness but deliberately delays going to him, waiting until he knew Lazarus would be dead. Jesus does this because he is going to disarm suffering and death of its power crush faith and hope in God's love. + The Quetion; Jesus, why? "If you had been here ..." Lazarus would be alive. The problem of evil solved. + The Answer: "Lazarus is not dead but sleeping - I am going to awaken him." Physical death is not the problem. Those who believe that all life offers is these few years of mixed blessings and making the best of them is what life is all about find no comfort in Jesus. But it is different for those who allow Jesus to take them into the mystery of why suffering, why death into the fuller picture in which death is scene as only a passage into the fulness of life. Jesus and his revelation now become the whole purpose of life. By calling Lazarus back from the sleep of the death Jesus demonstrates that death is not what is appears to be. Lazarus will again face his natural death but the life he will now be living will be filled with unshakable confidence that the fulness of life awaits him.  Dr. Pitre has an excellent commentary on today's gospel. >>>>> LINK <<<<<

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Fourth Sunday of Lent - 2026

Doctor Brant Pitre - Catholic Productions The Man Born Blind So they say "who sinned, this man or his parents?” And Jesus says "neither, neither this man nor his parents, but his blindness in this case is so that the work of God might be manifest in him." LINK to the Video

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From an Earlier Post. 

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Third Sunday of Lent - 2026

Ancestrally, Samaritans claim to be descent from the tribe of Ephraim and tribe of Manasseh (two sons of Joseph, O.T.) as well as from the Levites. They occupied the region of Israel between Judea in the south and Galilee to the north. Some Religious their beliefs: That there is one God, YHWH, the same God recognized by the Hebrew prophets. That the Torah, the Law, was given by God to Moses. That Mount Gerizim, not Jerusalem, is the one true sanctuary chosen by Israel’s God to worship Him. Samaritans were considered unclean heretics by the Jews whom they despised even more than they despised Gentiles. Now the Samaritan woman’s life is a total mess and by engaging with her Jesus is breaking all the conventional norms of shunning the Jews practiced toward Samaritans. The woman is totally surprised by Jesus’ willingness to engage with her and his disciples where dumbfounded when they saw him doing so. But Jesus tells them that he has come not to perpetuate division but to unite all peoples by taking them to a higher state of religious belief and practice. “The hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.” This proclamation by Jesus is no less relevant for us to hear today than for these in today’s gospel. True religion, true worship comes down from God – it is God acting on the believer – it is a work of the Spirit. The worshipper cooperates by seeking after this outpouring of God’s grace. We create rituals around this “sacred act” of the Spirit. They are intended to help us to recognize and cooperate with the Spirit acting in us. We must never forget that it is not the rituals that make worship true, it is our humble surrender to the action of the Spirit working within us that makes our worship true and fruitful. Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that it is not the mountain that makes worship true. During lent we are asked to examine the quality of our worship. Just showing up in church on Sunday is not enough. Merely reciting prayer formulas by rote while our mind is way off shopping is not true prayer. Rituals play an important part, and when they are performed with reverence and devotion, they serve to help us rise up into God’s grace acting upon us. Let us always come to worship with such disposition of mind and heart.