Lenten Resources
“It is truly right and just, with ardent love of mind and heart… to acclaim our God invisible, the almighty Father, and Jesus Christ, our Lord, his Son, His only begotten, Who for our sake paid Adam’s debt to the Eternal Father and, pouring out his own dear Blood, wiped clean the record of…
Continue Reading“Rejoice, let Mother Church rejoice, arrayed with the lightning of his glory,..filled with the mighty voices of the peoples.” Exultet, lines 6-7 St. Stephen gives his witness in the Sanhedrin. Since no one could defeat him in debate his rivals used lies to attack him. He held to his confidence in Christ as he…
Continue ReadingForward: Easter is the most festive season of the Liturgical Year. It is a time of both joy and remembrance. It can easily be a time to lose focus as Spring begins things get busy. Just as we are meant to keep a penitential attitude throughout Lent, we are meant to keep a celebratory…
Continue ReadingI always say that Saturdays are reserved for Our Lady. Tradition has it, that “The glorious Virgin Mary who remained unshaken in faith all day Saturday after the death of her Divine Son.” More here. Our Lady knew what was to happen; she knew that Jesus would rise on the third day! Tradition also…
Continue ReadingToday we hear the miraculous story of the loaves and the fish. They had very little for the crowd, but Jesus’s disciples, being obedient to him, had the crowd recline—all 5,000 of them. Jesus gave thanks and had disciples pick up what was left over—12 wicker baskets full! Today is the feast day of…
Continue ReadingToday is the optional memorial of St. Louis de Montfort, a great apostle of Our Lady! He said “Take advantage of little sufferings even more than of great ones. God considers not so much what we suffer as how we suffer… Turn everything to profit.” In our first reading, the apostles knew how to…
Continue ReadingToday’s responsorial psalm verse stuck out to me the most today. “The Lord hears the cry of the poor.” I am not only thinking of those who are poor in material possessions but poor in spirit. They could be the wealthiest people on the planet, but in spirit, they possess nothing. It makes me…
Continue ReadingIn our Alleluia verse today, we hear, “The Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” At his Passion, Christ was lifted on the cross to draw the whole world to himself. At Mass, when the priest elevates the host, Christ present in the…
Continue ReadingOn this Feast of St. Mark, we hear in our first reading today, “Clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for God opposes the proud but bestows favor on the humble. So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. Cast all your…
Continue ReadingPaint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: Jesus, I trust in You. I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish. I also promise victory over [its] enemies already here on earth, especially at the hour of death. I Myself will defend it as My…
Continue ReadingPeter and John were filled with zeal and faith as they stood before the Sanhedrin. They boldly spoke of Jesus Christ, risen from the dead. But shortly before, according to Mark’s gospel, they dismissed the claim of his resurrection by Mary Magdalen and the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus had to appear…
Continue ReadingJesus is the stone rejected by the builders. Peter applies this commonly quoted passage from Psalm 118 to Jesus and the meaning is fairly clear. As with masons who reject a large ill-formed stone for building the wall of the building and yet find it perfectly suited for the more essential role of keystone…
Continue ReadingEven though Jesus stands before his disciples as proof that he has risen from the dead, he is not content to let their faith rest strictly on what their eyes can see and their hands can touch. It is important to him, as it had been when speaking to the disciples on the road…
Continue ReadingThe Emmaus story seems to mirror our common experience of coming to faith in Jesus Christ and his resurrection through gradual stages, rather than suddenly as it happened with Mary. In the Emmaus story, the disciples come to recognize Jesus through two means: the Word of God and the breaking of bread. We have…
Continue ReadingThis Gospel presents St. John’s version of the Easter story. Mary wants to reverence the dead body of Jesus and discovers that it is missing from the tomb. She asks the gardener where the body has been taken. But the gardener turns out to be Jesus. Mary tries to resume her relationship with him…
Continue Reading“If Christ is not risen, then our faith is in vain and we are still in our sins.” That the resurrection actually occurred is as important to us today as it was to Jesus’ followers on the day of Pentecost when Peter spoke to the people of Jerusalem and when Matthew wrote his Gospel.…
Continue ReadingTwo lights dominate our Easter Vigil: the light from the Easter candle and the light from the sun that rises this morning. Both represent Christ, but they stand for two ways we experience Christ’s light. The candle is Christ’s light in this world; the sun is Christ’s life beyond this world. We entered…
Continue ReadingWe have all probably heard the encouragement, “God will not give you anything you can’t handle.” The truth, however, is far from this. Examine your life; is it true? No, we receive suffering, in all forms, far beyond our strength. God allows or gives us suffering far beyond what we can handle, and that…
Continue ReadingToday we commemorate the gift of Christ dying on the cross on our behalf. Here Christ offers himself as a sacrifice for the world’s sins, healing the rift between humanity and God. In this gift, we can reenter the gift of God’s presence and enter into heaven, the New Eden, once again. We must…
Continue ReadingHoly Thursday is an extraordinary time. Next to Easter, Holy Thursday is one of the most important days of the Church’s liturgical calendar. Holy Thursday commemorates two significant events; the first is the institution of the Eucharist, and the second is the institution of the ministerial priesthood. The Eucharist, the Holy Sacrifice of the…
Continue Reading“Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” These are tough words to hear. They speak of the betrayal of a close friend, the betrayal of God. We have become very familiar with the story of Judas and his actions, affirming for ourselves that, “no, I would never do that, Lord,…
Continue Reading“The Lord called me from birth, from my mother’s womb he gave me my name.” Our names matter. They tell us we are someone, that we are unique, known, and often cared for. When someone calls out your name, you turn and listen. We frequently receive our name at birth from our parents, but…
Continue Reading“You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” Jesus affirms that the poor have a special place in the heart of the Church. Consider another Gospel, Matthew 25. Here, Jesus says to those who were faithful stewards, “you gave me food when hungry, clothing when naked, a drink…
Continue ReadingOne of the most gut-wrenching phrases uttered in the scriptures is spoken today in our responsorial psalm, “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me.” From the Cross, Jesus cries out these words, expressing his great anguish and pain. Hanging on the cross between two criminals, enduring torment by Roman soldiers, the…
Continue ReadingToday we are on the threshold of the holiest days of the liturgical year. The stage is being set for the events of the Paschal Triduum. At the entrance, we hear Jesus’ prayer as the religious leaders devise their plot to kill him: “O Lord, do not stay afar off; my strength, make haste…
Continue ReadingHoly Week draws near. In the entrance antiphon of today’s liturgy, we glimpse the darkness of the coming days: “Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in distress. Deliver me from the hands of my enemies and those who pursue me. O Lord, let me never be put to shame, for I…
Continue ReadingAt the beginning of today’s liturgy, the entrance antiphon speaks directly to the heart of the first reading from Genesis 17. “Christ is mediator of a New Covenant, so that by means of his death, those who are called may receive the promise of an eternal inheritance” (Heb 9:15). Christ is the fulfillment of…
Continue Reading“My deliverer from angry nations, you set me above my assailants; you saved me from the violent man, O Lord” (Cf. Ps 17: 48-49) This opening acclamation of confidence in God’s saving action echoes the prayer of Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego that we hear in the first reading from Daniel 3. The three young…
Continue ReadingThe liturgy begins today with the words, “Wait for the Lord; be strong; be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!” (Ps 26:14). These could well be the words of Moses spoken to the Israelites who have lost heart during their desert trek and are complaining about the wretched food that they must eat. They…
Continue ReadingThe liturgy today opens with the profound prayer of one who implores God for help: “Have mercy on me, O God, for people assail me; they fight me all day long and oppress me” (Cf. Ps 55: 2). It could be a prayer that is on the lips of Susanna who is falsely charged…
Continue ReadingThe tone of the entire fifth week of Lent is set in the entrance antiphon of this Sunday’s liturgy. “Give me justice, O God, and plead my cause against a nation that is faithless. From the deceitful and cunning, rescue me, for you, O God, are my strength” (Cf. Ps 42: 1-2). In…
Continue ReadingYou, O LORD of hosts, O just judge, searcher of mind and heart… One of the mysterious aspects of God’s search for us is his knowledge of our sinfulness. Our sins are a mysterious part of our lives. We think we know why we do this or avoid that. Yet there remains a mystery…
Continue Reading… they knew not the hidden counsels of God; We can easily become dull against the hidden purposes of God. Of course, one can ask, ‘Who can know the hidden purposes of God?’ But the Scriptures, in what they say next, point to what is meant: neither did they count on a recompense of…
Continue ReadingA theme in our readings today is stubbornness, obstinacy, a troubling resistance. In the first reading, it is Moses who faces it in the people; in the Gospel, it is Jesus who faces it in the Jewish leaders. The evangelist sees it in this statement: you do not have his word remaining in you,…
Continue Reading“Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for what he does, the Son will do also.” Jesus has come so that we can believe in the One who sent him! He sent him for this purpose so that we…
Continue ReadingWhen Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be well?” (v. 6) It is a question put to us as we enter the Eucharist. ‘Do you want to be well?’ Christ asks us: Do you consider it…
Continue Reading“Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.’” Jesus is exasperated over the unbelief he experiences. This exasperation arises from his perception that his hearers are unwilling to grow up and take responsibility for their desires. It is wanting signs and wonders which has to do with wanting…
Continue Reading“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” The welcome which appears in today’s Gospel of the Prodigal Son is the grace of repentance. We received it in our baptism into Christ. There we were welcomed into the unfolding mystery of God at work in us. The word, “synergy” is helpful to describe…
Continue ReadingIn today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us a powerful parable about two individuals. One is called a Pharisee; the other a tax collector. What kind of persons are they? The Pharisees are presented in the Gospels as very self-assured. They brag about being better than others. This particular one proudly proclaims that he is “not…
Continue ReadingIn today’s Gospel, the angel promised two things to Mary. Gabriel said, firstly: “You will be with child”— that is, you will conceive and become pregnant. And secondly, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called…
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