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Mike Landry: Catholic speaker, writer, & music minister in Alberta, Canada HomepageMike Landry: Catholic speaker, writer, & music minister in Alberta, Canada

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Crucifixion

April 19, 2019 By Mike Landry

Good Friday Reflection: The Power of Christ’s Blood (St. John Chrysostom)

You may not know that one of the promises clergy & religious make upon entering their vocation is to pray the Liturgy of the Hours (AKA Divine office.)  This is a routine of prayers that they pray at various times throughout the day to make sure that they don’t lose sight of their relationship with God within their service to His Church.  One of the hours they pray is called the Office of Readings, which includes both a selection from the Bible and something from one of the saints.  The following is the reading for Good Friday, taken from the Catecheses by St. John Chrysostom, one of the early Church fathers.  I moved it back to the front of the blog in honor of what we celebrate today, because Chrysostom says it all so much better than I ever could.  If you’re looking for the readings for the day, click here to get them from the USCCB website.

If we wish to understand the power of Christ’s blood, we should go back to the ancient account of its prefiguration in Egypt.  Sacrifice a lamb without blemish, commanded Moses, and sprinkle its blood on your doors. If we were to ask him what he meant, and how the blood of an irrational beast could possibly save men endowed with reason, his answer would be that the saving power lies not in the blood itself but in the fact that it is a sign of the Lord’s blood.  In those days, when the destroying angel saw the blood on the doors he did not dare to enter, so much less will the devil approach now when he sees, no tthat figurative blood on the doors, but the true blood on the lips of believers, the doors of the temple of Christ. [Read more…] about Good Friday Reflection: The Power of Christ’s Blood (St. John Chrysostom)

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Filed Under: Articles/speeches, Homilies, Mass Reflections, Saints Tagged With: Blood of Christ, Crucifixion, Good Friday, hope, Suffering

March 27, 2018 By Mike Landry

Unfolding John 5:1-18

Jesus healed people.

This is the sort of no-brainer statement that ranks up there with “ice is cold” or “rocks are hard.”  Even someone with the most superficial understanding of the Gospel knows that many of Jesus miracles in the Gospels involved healing (and a number of the miracles we still see today, particularly those which relate to canonizations) still involve healing.

When we look at many of Jesus’ miracles – like the subject of this week’s study, John 5:1-18 (Jesus healing the lame man), two questions come to mind.

  1. Why did Jesus perform all of these miracles?
  2. Why does God allow good people to suffer (and thus to require His healing)?

The first question is easier to answer than the second one. [Read more…] about Unfolding John 5:1-18

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Filed Under: BibleStudy, Reflections Tagged With: Crucifixion, healing, Jesus, miracles, Suffering

April 14, 2017 By Mike Landry

The Cross = a Broken Heart?

Photo Credit: John & Sarah Pollard

Today, the Church celebrates Good Friday.  It seems odd to me to call the day Jesus suffered, died, and was buried “good.”  Because on this day Jesus shed his blood, we have been rescued from sin and death, and we also know just how deep and wide the love of God for us really is that makes it truly good. [Read more…] about The Cross = a Broken Heart?

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Filed Under: Food for thought, Reflections Tagged With: c.s. lewis, Crucifixion, Easter, God is love, Good Friday, Jesus, love

July 13, 2015 By Mike Landry

The Greatest Rescue Mission of All Time

Scene from Disney’s “Frozen” (2013)

 When Frozen came out last winter, I was a little late to get to see it (I didn’t actually watch the movie all the way through until about 6 months after it’s release.  For a father of two little girls, this may be a serious  sin!)  I was duly impressed, and I can understand why so many compared the quality of what they had in Frozen to The Lion King – both movies do an exceptional job at moving their audiences.  Both also grab onto core themes from our Christian faith. While The Lion King retells the story of Moses (both are princes who flee to the desert, fearing the punishment they are owed for the death of another – and their return is inspired by an encounter with their Father’s), Frozen, grabs onto the story of salvation history: the story we celebrate over Easter weekend.

[Read more…] about The Greatest Rescue Mission of All Time

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Filed Under: Food for thought, Reflections, Talks by Mike, Uncategorized Tagged With: batman, Cross, Crucifixion, disney, God's love, Good Friday, love, movies, sacrifice, salvation history, star trek, triduum

June 3, 2014 By Mike Landry

Unfolding Scripture: Mark 15

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Mark 15 presents us with the tragic sequence of events from Jesus’ trial up until His death and burial.  Mark 15:1-5 begins with Jesus’ interrogation by Pontius Pilate.  One of the interesting comments I’ve often read about Pilate is that he is presented in the Gospels as a sympathetic character in the midst of these sad events.  The truth, apparently, is that he was quite the opposite.  Some historians have told stories of Pilate sending out Roman spies to incite Israelite crowds into riots, so he could in turn send out soldiers to “quell” the crowds.  Regardless, his interactions with Jesus seem to exemplify cowardice – even if he was sympathetic to Jesus, it wasn’t enough to stop him from sending an innocent man to his death. [Read more…] about Unfolding Scripture: Mark 15

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Filed Under: BibleStudy, Food for thought, Reflections Tagged With: bible study, Crucifixion, death of Jesus, Gospel

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Who is Mike Landry?

A husband & father of five children, Mike serves most days as Chaplain to Evergreen Catholic Schools.

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Diving into Scripture

Echoing an invitation from Archbishop Richard Smith, Mike has some resources to get you started on reading your Bible more often.
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Mike Landry is a Catholic speaker based near Edmonton, Alberta who serves in Western Canada & beyond.
All content is intended to reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. © 2019, Feel free to get in touch!

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