Articles for Lent

  [Jesus] said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that he had said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” (John…

“Father, they are your gift to me.” John 17: 24 This is a profound and touching statement of our Lord! And it includes us – we are the Father’s gifts to Jesus. God the Father, by his graces, gives us over to the saving, redeeming love of his Son. One of the things this means…

  “I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth.” Jn 17:14, 16-17 I find something of a commentary on this text in our first reading today. St. Paul is speaking to his…

  “I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours…” John 17:9 To learn, ever so gradually, that we belong to the Father, that we are given to Christ by the Father – this dawning knowledge is a wonderful thing! But how do I learn…

  “In the world, you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” John 16:33 How do we “take courage?” I mean, how does one lay hold of it? Where do we get it? I offer two suggestions toward an answer. St. Benedict says that it is by cultivating and living humility…

    There is, deep in the human heart, a desire for fulfillment, for completion. We want to be completed! St. Paul, in our second reading today (Eph. 1:17-23) tells us how this comes about in Christ. I offer you something of an outline of what he’s saying.  To begin, there is “the Father of…