Author name: Essjay Peatoo

He is Risen!   He is Risen, indeed! Alleluia! During this octave of Easter, we recall the multiple appearances of Jesus to his followers after his resurrection.  We also start to hear the stories of how the Good News begins to spread, first in Jerusalem, then throughout the known world.  A common theme in these […]

I wonder how many of you have seen what many regard as British comic actor Peter Sellers’ greatest movie. Being There was produced less than a year before his death in 1980. It tells the story of a guileless, simple-minded man named Chance. As the film opens, Chance’s entire world has been the protected environment of the

He is risen.  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!  Rev. Fr. Leon Juchniewicz, a student of our Patron Saint, St. John Paul II, drilled this greeting into us when he was Pastor of our Good Shepherd Catholic Church here in Elk Grove, California.  The origin of this traditional Easter greeting appears in Luke 24:34 “The Lord

What is the holiest night of the year?  Many would presume that the answer would be Christmas Eve, the night in which the Christian world celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.  However, the correct answer is Easter Vigil, the night before Easter Sunday. It is this night that Christians celebrate the resurrection of Christ from

Today we are in vigil, in mourning for the cruel death of our beloved Jesus.  Today we put ourselves there with Mary, the mother of Jesus, with Mary Magdalen, with the other women, and with John, who stood by the cross and witnessed as Jesus died.  We are there with the 11 disciples, all left

See, my servant will prosper,he shall be lifted up, exalted, rise to great heights.As the crowds were appalled on seeing him– so disfigured did he lookthat he seemed no longer human –so will the crowds be astonished at him,and kings stand speechless before him;for they shall see something never toldand witness something never heard before:‘Who

When, exactly, did the Last Supper take place?  The synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) have Jesus and his disciples eating the Last Supper as the Passover feast, before he suffers, so that the Day of Passover should be the day of his crucifixion.  In John’s Gospel, the timing of the Last Supper occurs twenty-four

The Lord has given mea well-trained tongue.That I may know how to speak to the wearya word that will rouse them.Each morning, he wakes me to hear,to listen like a disciple.The Lord has opened my ear. For my part, I made no resistance,neither did I turn away.I offered my back to those who struck me,my

Islands, listen to me,pay attention, remotest peoples.The Lord called me before I was born,from my mother’s womb he pronounced my name. He made my mouth a sharp sword,and hid me in the shadow of his hand.He made me into a sharpened arrow,and concealed me in his quiver. He said to me, ‘You are my servant

During this sacred time of Holy Week, we may be tempted to fall into a pattern of ‘knowing’ the stories and rituals and thus move on automatic pilot through the week.   After all, we Christians have prayerfully reflected on these events throughout our lives. Isaiah contains four so-called “Servant Songs”, three of which will