Articles in the category "editorials"

The Grace of Good Friday

Friday March 21, 2008

Jesus is dead! Banks are closed. No mail delivery today. Off to Nassau and the islands for a break? or instead to Disneyworld? Color Easter…Read full entry


Open Letter to US Bishops

Thursday June 21, 2007

Last Sunday in observance of the fifth anniversary of the meeting of the US bishops in Dallas to hear the…Read full entry


Editorial - Op Ed

Monday March 19, 2007

It’s a matter of conscience For several weeks in succession, I repeated the ‘pulpit’ announcement at the conclusion of Mass at…Read full entry


Tomorrow's Priests - a 'guest' editorial

Saturday January 13, 2007

November 3, 2006 / Volume CXXXIII, Number 19 EDITORIAL – COMMONWEAL Magazine The Catholic priesthood in…Read full entry


Unanswered Question Linger...

Tuesday January 9, 2007

Boston Globe on the Fifth Anniversary of Disclosure By Steven Krueger | January 7, 2007 It couldn’t be stated more…Read full entry


The latest article in category editorials

The Grace of Good Friday

Friday March 21, 2008

Jesus is dead!

Banks are closed.
No mail delivery today.
Off to Nassau and the islands for a break?
or instead to Disneyworld?

Color Easter eggs but not before 3:00 o’clock.

Collegians off to Florida beaches
for sun, sex and a bottle of booze.
Easter break.

Artist’s rendition of the crucified
in milk chocolate,
on sale at the local candy store.

Nightly news competing with ‘U-Tube’ catering to viewers
telling them what they want to know
rather than what they need to know.

The news is rarely good,
especially on ‘Good Friday.’

Easter bunnies stand on the sidelines of life
watching ‘the Holy One’ pass,
wondering what it’s all about.
No, not the execution,
but life itself.
“What’s it all about, Alfie?”

What IS the grace of the day?

Liturgists remind us that it’s not a feast day
and certainly not a holiday.
It’s a commemoration,
an observance
on which Christians over the world
contemplate and ponder the death of ‘the Christ.’

But the death of the ‘Anointed’ is not on the cross.
It’s at the mall
on the battlefields
and in oil fields
across the world,
in skyscrapers,
on Wall Street
in brothels and casinos that rival ancient shrines
with their gold and silver arches and
and even in basilicas—elegant theaters of ceremony
and carefully staged rituals

Preachers pointing to the large crucifix
mouthing the words of scripture
shouting out to the assembly:
“God sent his son to die” and
“you put him on the cross!”

No, God did not send his son to die;
He sent him to live
and no,
I didn’t put him there,
though I do confess that
I might have been in the crowd that
called for the release of Barabbas,
not for the death of Jesus.
I am innocent of that man’s blood.
I’m no terrorist!
I’m a Christian!

I stood with Peter;
I was frightened,
scared to death that they would haul us all
into the courtyard
and tie us to a cross too.

Yes, it’s all about denial.
Death to the prophet!
It is always expedient that one person die
for the sake of the many.

The grace of the day
is in the air
everywhere.

Be attentive,
stay awake lest you miss the point
not of his death
but of his life.


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