Author: jcgosj

“CAN I BE A SHINING LAMP FOR YOU?” (Jn 5:31-47):  06 March 2008 (Thursday)

Today’s Readings

The Lord gives a long speech in today’s gospel, as he typically does in John’s gospel, but one line leapt out of the screen when I read it (I was reading the passage from an online Bible).  Referring to John the Baptist, he says, “He was a burning and shining lamp.”

My first thought:  Can I be the same?  I know my shortcomings and my sinfulness, but for some reason, I felt the question from inside me:  “Can I also be a burning and shining lamp?”

‘WHY CAN’T IT ALWAYS BE SO GOOD?’ (Jn 5:17-30):  05 March 2008 (Wednesday)

Today’s Readings

One of the first hits of the band Lighthouse Family is “Lost in Space”–an obvious love song where the singer typically  waxes poetry about his beloved.  I don’t know if it’s some of the lines in the song (“How will I ever get to Heaven without you?”) or the title of the album (“Postcards from Heaven”) or even the music video (which features the giant statue of Christ, arms outstretched over Sao Paolo), but for some reason, I’ve always attached a religious or spiritual meaning to this song.

“WILL I SINK LIKE A STONE?” (Jn 5:1-16):  04 March 2008 (Tuesday)

Today’s Readings

The band Grace has a poetic and provocative music video for their song “Sink Like A Stone.”  It shows a man lying on a raft floating in the middle of nowhere.  We’re not sure, but he looks like he has just survived a shipwreck.

A number of things happen to him while at sea:  He accidentally drops his ring into the ocean.  He examines his locket.  He sets a toy boat on fire and sends it sailing away (to call for help?).  All the while he is singing a sad, haunting mantra:   “Oh no, oh no, I’m not alone (even if) I may sink like a stone.  Sink like a stone…”

“WILL I SEE YOU THROUGH MY TEARS?” (Jn 4:43-54):  03 March 2008 (Monday)

Today’s Readings

In his epic The Aeneid, Vergil narrates the story of Aeneas, who escapes the sack of Troy with his son Ascanius by his side and his father Anchises on his shoulder.  Tricked by the Greeks to accept the gift of a large wooden horse, the Trojans are caught off-guard by the attack of the Greek soldiers hiding inside the horse.  Aeneas wakes up in the middle of the night to see the slaughter of his people. He tries his best to fight the Greeks, but to no avail.  Venus appears to him ordering him to leave Troy as soon as possible for his own safety and for a greater destiny, which turns out to be the founding of Rome.

“IS SEEING REALLY BELIEVING?” (Jn 9:1-41):  02 March 2008 (4th Sunday of Lent)

Today’s Readings

After “The Sixth Sense,” the next best thing from M. Night Shyamalan is “Signs,” his 2002 science fiction thriller about aliens and UFO’s starring Mel Gibson.  But the movie isn’t just about hostile aliens; it’s also about an Episcopalian priest who one day finds himself hostile and alien to his faith.

Graham Hess (Mel Gibson) finds that he no longer believes in God because of the recent tragic death of his wife.  Aside from coping with this loss, he has to deal with his son Morgan’s asthma condition and his daughter Bo’s disturbing habit of leaving half-filled glasses of water around the house.  His brother Merrill (Joaquin Phoenix), a former minor league baseball player, moves in to help him out.