We have always wanted to be God, to claim the right of truth, to receive and not to give. Yet on this night, Jesus pours it all away, our very understanding of God, over our feet and into a basin to be pitched.

In so many of our resurrection accounts it is the voice, not the face, that reveals the presence of the living, resurrected Christ.

“The Jews” didn’t kill Jesus. And if the Gospel of John makes people think that, we should read a different Gospel on Good Friday.

Jesus’ peace “is not an armed peace, never!” Pope Francis said in his general audience. “The weapons of the Gospel are prayer, tenderness, forgiveness and freely-given love for one’s neighbor.”

The Easter Vigil is a Mass that bears only a basic resemblance to typical Catholic weekend worship, but in breaking from that form it brings home the power of the Resurrection anew.

On Palm Sunday, Pope Francis made an appeal to “lay down the arms in Ukraine” and asked, “What kind of a victory would it be to plant a flag on a heap of ruins?”