Passion (Palm) Sunday

Our high holy days are upon us! Our Palm Sunday celebration this weekend begins Holy Week. You will find a complete schedule of events leading us to the Holy Triduum - Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil and Easter liturgies on our parish web site.

The Easter Vigil is the focal point of the entire Church year. In remembering the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, we proclaim our death to sin and our rising to new life in Jesus. Plunged into the waters of baptism, we emerge refreshed and enlivened to help God do the work of the Church. The best gift we can give our families and ourselves is a prayerful participation in the liturgies of the Holy Triduum. Let us walk with and pray with Jesus as we celebrate the events marking the beginning of our salvation. Let us ask God to strengthen us so we can continue the work begun by Jesus our Savior.

Lent 5

One of writer Ramona C. Carroll’s most well-known faith quotes is: “Faith is putting all your eggs in God’s basket, then counting your blessings before they hatch.”

In our Gospel this weekend, Jesus does not ask the Father to save him from the hour of his death. Even as he foretells his death on the cross, Jesus puts all of his faith in God’s basket. Through such faith, we see that there is hope on the horizon. From the dark agony of Calvary will come the glorious triumph of the Resurrection. In that Easter sunrise, we find ourselves heirs to an everlasting day, basking in the presence of God himself.

There’s no need to hedge our bets. Salvation can only be found by putting all our eggs in God’s basket.

Lent 4

The rod of Asclepius, with a single snake entwined upon the staff, remains a symbol used in modern medicine. Its biblical likeness as the bronze serpent lifted up on a pole is the sign of God’s saving power during the Exodus when the people of Israel had rebelled against the Lord and he sent seraph serpents among them as a punishment. In the Gospel of John the victory of God’s saving action is not a symbolic serpent, but the Son of Man who is lifted up on the cross. The self-offering of Christ is the ultimate victory over death. The Gospel reminds us: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

Lent 3

As each Lenten Sunday draws us nearer to Holy Week and Easter, the scriptures urge us to measure ourselves against the mysteries we celebrate so we can be better, grow in God more deeply and believe more fully – both as individuals and as a community.

A wonderful word that comes to mind is zeal. Zeal is that passionate driving force that can enflame a person’s heart and motivate one to give great effort. I am sure the disciples recalled the words of Psalm 69 when they saw Jesus cleansing the Temple, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” We are at the midpoint of Lent and maybe some of our initial enthusiasm and zeal for the traditional practice of prayer, fasting and almsgiving have worn off a bit. The zealousness of Jesus for setting things aright might serve to encourage us and help us renew our own zeal this week.

Lent 2

I have had the opportunity to go up Mt. Tabor, the mountain on which Jesus was transfigured. It was quite an adventure. The mountain is steep and thus preventing a bus to travel up it. What is needed is a strong-powered taxi. The road zigs and zags going up the mountain and there is no guard rail. To add to the adventure the taxi driver who only speaks Arabic is looking at the passengers and speaking to them while he drives up the perilous road. When one finally arrives at the top there is a beautiful panoramic view of the countryside below. There is also a beautiful church built in honor of the Transfiguration. I am sure Peter, James and John got to see the same beautiful sight as well. They also saw an amazing sight when Jesus was transfigured before them. We may never get a chance to go up Mt. Tabor to see the face of Jesus transformed, but our Lenten acts of kindness and almsgiving will transform the faces of those around us who are Christ present among us.

Lent 1

Today my father turns 91 years old. He turns another year. God has given him some more time to serve him. For ourselves we have come to another Lent. We have received another season of Lent of striving in the battle against evil, knowing that we always will fall short of our goal of perfection. But this is not a day to throw up our hands in despair. If we truly believe in the Incarnation – that the Word took on our human flesh so completely that he is one of us – then we are filled with hope this day. For our Gospel tells us that Jesus – the human Christ – battled temptation and overcame the tricks of Satan. And with the support of one another and with faith in God, we can do the same. Just as my father celebrates the anniversary of his birth, he has been given an extension in his life to do more for God. So as we journey through this season of Lent let us know also that God will help us become closer to him.

Ordinary Time 7

On Ash Wednesday, we begin the season of Lent by receiving ashes on our forehead. Receiving ashes in the shape of a cross identifies us as a disciple of Jesus Christ. The ashes also serve as reminders of human mortality and the need for repentance and change in our lives. This day is a time for fasting and abstaining from meat. We begin the forty-day season of Lent by keeping our sights on Jesus’ victory over death on Easter. Lent is a time for change - changing our lives to be more Christ-like. Lent is a time when we make space in our lives to think about our relationship with our heavenly Father and the ways in which we are responding or failing to respond to his love and care for us. This desire to change our lives toward God and away from sin finds outward expression in various ways: prayer, fasting, almsgiving, reading the Bible, praying the Rosary, following the Stations of the Cross, going to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

This Lent when we receive ashes, keep in mind that it is an invitation to repent, a challenge to grow closer to the Lord and a gentle reminder that our time on earth is limited.