Before you get serious about Jesus, first consider how good you are going to look on wood!

Second Sunday of Easter (Year A) April 27 (Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 118; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31)

The Church had very simple beginnings. There were no impressive church buildings or elaborate liturgies. In those first generations of the faith, believers met together in their homes. Their new faith was not just a religion but a new way of life lived together and in common. The presence of the Spirit and their shared, unified life were the source of energy and power. There was no “mine and thine” attitude, for they shared all that they had, ensuring that no one was deprived of the basics of life. Their shared ideals and union of minds and hearts bound them together in what they called the body of Christ. This resulted in a community in which the trust and support level was very high. But far more powerful was the observation that they ate their shared meals with “glad and generous hearts.”

VATICAN CITY - In the humble act of washing his disciples' feet, Jesus is showing all Christians how he wants them to serve others with love, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY - The often silent plight of sexually abused children, victims of domestic violence, prisoners, the abandoned elderly, the unemployed and immigrants facing hostility will be given a powerful voice during the Stations of the Cross at Rome's Colosseum.

Resurrection of the Lord (Year A) April 20 (Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Psalm 118; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-18)

Christians do not often sound joyful and excited when describing the wonderful deeds of Jesus. Perhaps more disturbing is the fact that many would be hard pressed to describe the activity of Jesus in today’s world or in their own lives.

After Mother Teresa died, her diaries revealed something that shocked many people. During the last 60 years of her life she struggled to imagine that God existed and had no affective experience of either the person or the existence of God. Yet, during all those years, everything in her life incarnated and radiated an exceptional, one-in-a-hundred-million selflessness, altruism and faith commitment.

With the sudden death of my Basilian confrère Fr. Ulysse (Bud) Paré on March 25, many tributes and accolades will rightly be heaped upon him for his academic accomplishments, first at the University of Toronto, then at Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute and at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. His many former students at St. Thomas More College in Saskatoon, the University of Toronto, Assumption University in Windsor and most recently at St. Peter’s Seminary in London will fondly recall his clear, dynamic presentations on exegetical methods and hermeneutical interpretation of the Bible.

Did I really want to spend a long evening sitting alone in a chapel — not getting done any of the things I wanted to get done, not visiting any of the people I wanted to visit, not having any of the adventures I wanted on a Friday night? Instead, a seven to midnight Lenten prayer vigil.

When we no longer know how to pray, the Spirit, in groans too deep for words, prays through us.

Passion Sunday (Year A) April 13 (Isaiah 50:4-7; Psalm 22; Philippians 2:6-11; Matthew 26:14-27:66)

There is a great difference between passivity and non-violence. People often confuse the two, but the first is something to overcome while the latter is a powerful spiritual principle.