The Extra Meisl: Sunday Gospel Reflections

At His Ascension, Jesus does not abandon us. Rather, He gives us the strength to flourish as mature disciples. This Sunday as we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord, we are inspired by Jesus' commission to “make disciples of all nations” and are comforted by His words “I am with you always, to the end of the age”.

Happy Mother's Day! Today's Gospel ( Jn 14:15-21 ) comes from Jesus' farewell discourse, His last will and testament to his followers. In this, He gives his disciples hope, summarizes the core of His teaching and speaks of His success, the Holy Spirit. In a special way, Jesus entrusts us with the mission of loving others as Jesus loved us. This sacrificial love is epitomized for so many of us by t...

This Sunday, Good Shepherd Sunday, we celebrate the sacrificial love that Christ has for us. The image of Christ as the gate (Jn 10:1-10) shows us that we are called to participate in this gift of salvation. On this Day of Prayer for Vocations, we remember that we do this by responding generously to our own vocation.

On the Road to Emmaus (Lk 24), two disciples had their sorrow transformed into joy when they finally recognized the Risen Jesus who was in their midst the whole time. This story not only tells us about a past encounter. It also teaches us who live long after the Ascension how we can recognize the Risen Christ who is present to us in the scripture, the Eucharist, community, and charity.

We can learn a lot from the example of "doubting Thomas" we read about in the Gospel ( Jn 20:19-31 ). Like him, we should be open with God about what we need so that Divine Mercy can transform our lives.

Easter fills us with hope. Just as the rising sun at dawn bring the promise of a new day, so the Resurrection ensures that the Light of Christ will conquer all the darkness of sin and death. When we renew our baptismal creed at Easter, we recommit ourselves to being people of the dawn, bringing the light of Christ to those around us.

During the Easter Vigil, we have the opportunity to hear the highlights of the story of God's interaction with humanity. In the Gospel, we hear the end of the story, the triumph of love and life over sin and death. At our baptism, we enter into this story. Knowing that our story ends in life transforms us here and now. As the candles that we light as the Vigil from the Pasqual Candle light up the...

Good Friday reveals to us that we received mercy from a God who loves us rather than strict justice. This mercy cannot end on the Cross. We receive this mercy as a gift we share with others.

The theme of remembering runs through the readings for Holy Thursday. The Passover is a remembrance of the Exodus. The Lord's Supper or Eucharist is in remembrance of the Last Supper. The remembrance that the Jesus speaks about at the Last Supper is meant to transform us to become servant like Him, treating all with dignity and love.

The two Gospel we hear on Palm or Passion Sunday show diverse reactions to Jesus. While there are some who stand by Jesus through His Passion, many abandon Him. Why? The answer can be found in the palms they waved. Jesus was an unexpected Messiah.

The story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead ( Jn 11:1-45 ), speaks to us of three tombs, the tombs of Lazarus, Jesus, and our own. This story shows up the compassion Jesus has for those who mourn and the life Jesus gives us, now and for eternity.

The Gospel this Sunday ( Jn 9:1-41 ) tells the story of Jesus giving sight to the blind man. It is rich in symbolism. The Gospel teaches us how Jesus is the light of the world. Just as the pillar of fire led the people of Israel through the wilderness, so Jesus is the light that guides us. Further, the Gospel challenges us to consider how we respond to Jesus, the light of the world. Do we reject J...

Water is a basic human need. When we lack water, we can experience a thirst that can be painful at times. In Jesus' interaction with the Samaritan woman ( Jn 4:5-42 ), the image of thirst is used to explain how we all have deeper longings in our heart that Christ satisfies with His gift of the living water.

Just before His journey to Calvary, the Transfiguration of Jesus gave hope to his followers by giving them a preview to the end of Christ's story: the Resurrection (Mt 17:1-9). In our lives, God gives us mini-transfiguration moments which give us hope in the midst of our challenges

1 Sunday Lent, Matthew 4:1-11 Similar to how the song of Orpheus conquered the Siren's song, so Christ points us towards our true good and away from temptations which can never fulfil us.

"Remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return". "Repent and believe in the Gospel". The two invocations we use while imposing ashes remind us that God has given us an assignment - to follow the Gospel - and that this assignment has a due date.

When we think of someone who we may consider an enemy, Jesus teaching to love that person can seem impossible (Mt 5:38-48). Part of the problem can be that we misunderstand what Jesus means by "love". Ultimately Jesus teaches us that non-violent resistance and forgiveness is the path that brings lasting peace.

In the Gospel this Sunday (Matthew 5:17-37), Jesus tells us that He came to fulfill and not abolish the Law or the prophets. What does this mean? From the examples Jesus gives, we learn that He emphasizes our interior motivations for following the commandments. Jesus wants us to follow the commandments of course, but our living relationship with God is what is most important. As Benedict XVI wrote...

In the Gospel today Jesus (Mt 5:13-16), Jesus teaches us a lesson we all probably learned in Kindergarten: we are called to transform those around us by being salt and light. We do this by letting the light of Christ, which we received at our baptism, shine through us to those around us.

Social media if full of influencers who try offering advice to people, telling them what it means to live a good life. Those who create this content want to get the maximum number of people watching them - they want to go viral. If Jesus had a social media platform in which he offered His teaching, would He go viral? When we hear the Beatitudes in today's Gospel (Mt 5:1-12), it seems that such tea...

In the Gospel today, Jesus choses his initial followers, the first members of His team (Mt 4:12-23). Sometimes we might fear we don't have what it takes to be chosen by Christ. In reality, He calls all of us. We are all necessary and important members of the community.

John the Baptist was like a commercial for Christ. By his words and actions he drew people to Jesus (Jn 1:29-34). In our baptism, we are called to imitate John the Baptist, being signposts directing people to the goodness of Jesus.

The story of the Magi (Matthew 2) is more than just a nice story to tell at Christmas. The stages of their journey to encounter Christ parallels our own experience as we follow Jesus. Their story is our story.

We may want to imitate one practice of Mary as a New Year's resolution. The Gospel today ( Lk 2:16-21 ) shows us the ability of Our Lady to "ponder" the wonders God was working around her. By taking some time in silence each day, we too can ponder the ways God blesses us and be strengthened and filled with hope.

When we listen to the Christmas story, we hear about many characters (Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, Magi) whose lives were changed when they chose to play a role in the story of Jesus. This Christmas, let us not only hear the story of Jesus' birth, but participate in it and be transformed.