This week’s Gospel is very similar to the Gospel we heard last week on Divine Mercy Sunday.

As any teacher can attest, you can always tell when a student is guilty of some infraction. Few, if any, are capable of not wearing the word “guilt” on their facial expressions.

I have to admit that I am not a big fan of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” the musical. Perhaps it is my own personal inclinations, my own disposition, but something about Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s “rock opera musical” I really don’t like.

When I was leaving my very first priestly assignment as a young parochial vicar, I was, naturally enough, very sad.

On this fifth Sunday of Lent, we read from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah. Our loving and just God speaks, through the prophet, about the nature of the Covenant.

This third chapter of the Gospel of John is a curious one. In it, we have the Lord’s dialogue with Nicodemus. They meet at night. You might note that this dialogue quickly becomes a monologue between Nicodemus and Jesus quite soon after it begins.

You might notice that in this “Year B” cycle of our lectionary, which is dedicated to the proclamation of the Gospel according to St. Mark, we are now reading from another Gospel altogether, that of St. John.

As a kid growing up, I never looked forward to the season of Lent. In preparing for these 40 days of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, my family would constantly ask me, “What are you giving up for Lent?”