Today’s Gospel comes from the instructions the Lord gave the Twelve Apostles before sending them out on a short mission. In this excerpt, the Lord delivers bad news and good news. The bad news is that following Him requires complete surrender and a life of self-sacrifice. The good news is that if you live unselfishly for the sake of the Gospel you will be rewarded.

Each time two or more of the Lord’s disciples gather to celebrate the Eucharist, we do it with the intent of being in the Lord’s presence and eating the supernatural food that sustains our souls on our journey through life. Therefore, “the Eucharist is the most precious possession which the Church can have in her journey through history,” and “this explains that lively concern which she has always shown for the Eucharistic mystery” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 9).

The book of Exodus tells the amazing story of the true God coming to dwell among His people. Today’s first reading from Exodus finds the people of God early in their wilderness journey, arriving for the very first time at the mountain of God—known as Mount Sinai, or Mount Horeb in the book of Deuteronomy.

The Church celebrates the Solemnity of Corpus Christi with such joy and devotion. It stems from the profound love we, the faithful, have for the Eucharist. It is often surprising to learn that this feast was not added to the Church calendar until the 13th century, as we naturally assume it was one of the very first. This delay reveals something about the early Church. The first generations of Christians believed so deeply in the Real Presence of the Lord that they did not need a specific feast day to remind them of it.

The Most Holy Trinity signifies that God exists as three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. However, using the word "person" to refer to each member of the Trinity is admittedly problematic, as we struggle to conceive of a single being that is simultaneously three distinct persons.

Today is a day of celebration in the Church: it is the day of her birth! The community of believers in the Lord came to life on that historic day of Pentecost described in the Acts of the Apostles.

The Ascension of the Lord represents both the culmination of the Lord's saving mission and the definitive beginning of the Church's mission. By leaving this world, He cleared the way for His disciples to begin their ministry.

In today’s Gospel, we hear the Lord speaking with His disciples at the Last Supper. He promises them, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth.”

Today’s Gospel marks the beginning of the Lord’s beautiful farewell discourse spoken to His disciples at the Last Supper. The Lord tells His disciples that He will soon depart to be with His Heavenly Father.

The Gospel of the Good Shepherd is read every Fourth Sunday of Easter. The image of the selfless shepherd—one who risks everything for his flock—attains its full significance when viewed through the lens of the Lord’s Passion and Death, which we have recently celebrated.

The two disciples were traveling to Emmaus, a village near Jerusalem, on the evening of the Resurrection. Though they were well-versed in the story of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection, they did not yet believe.

St. John recounts the Lord’s first appearance to His disciples on the day of the Resurrection.

St. Matthew tells us that on the day of the Resurrection, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary arrived very early in the morning to visit the Lord’s tomb. There, they encountered an angel who had descended from heaven to roll away the enormous stone sealing the tomb. The angel sat upon the stone and announced the incredible news of the Lord’s Resurrection.

In the Passion and Death of the Lord on the Cross, we grasp the significance of the two realities most intrinsic to humanity and God: for humanity, that reality is sin; for God, it is His merciful love.

St. John begins his lengthy account of the Lord’s Last Supper with these words: “Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that His hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved His own in the world and He loved them to the end.” There, the Lord performed several acts that demonstrate the utter extent to which He loved His disciples.

St. Matthew tells us that the Lord entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey. This was one of the many things foretold by the prophets. Centuries in advance, God had already prepared the manner of His Son's entry into His Passion and Death in Jerusalem.

Belief in the resurrection of the dead evolved over time among the people of Israel. Some eighteen centuries before the time of the Lord, Abraham could never have imagined such a reality. In his day, the most one could hope for—so as not to vanish completely after death—was to live on, in some form, through one's descendants.

The Gospel tells us that the Samaritan woman came to Jacob’s well at midday. In the scorching heat of the Samarian sun, the well was typically deserted, yet she chose this hour precisely because she was a social outcast. Her life was the subject of town gossip, and she walked in the heat to avoid the cold stares of her neighbors. The Lord, well-aware of her isolation, did not arrive at that well by chance; He was there by design.

After more than two years of traveling together, the Lord shared a revelation that shattered the disciples' expectations. He spoke plainly of the looming shadow: his impending suffering and execution in Jerusalem. For the disciples, who viewed their journey as an exciting, dream-like adventure, this news was devastating.

“Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; rend your hearts, not your garments.”