News RSS Feed

This weekend is the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. Yes, Jesus is still with us! He is with us at every mass we celebrate. “The real presence” means that in reality Jesus makes his dwelling in us when we receive him as Holy Communion.

When we want to look for role models to exemplify these traits, we only need to look to the Holy Trinity. For example, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit love us unconditionally. So, it’s appropriate that Father’s Day this year falls on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Even though this Solemnity is only once a year, the Holy Trinity should be in our lives 365 days a year. For example, we recite the name of each member of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit when we make the sign of the cross. We reference each member of the Trinity when we recite the Gloria and the Creed. Christians are baptized in the names of the Holy Trinity. So, the Holy Trinity’s fingerprints are all over our Catholic faith.

Jesus filled the infant Church with the Holy Spirit to continue His mission, and He continues to do so today. On that first Pentecost, after hearing our first Pope preach his first sermon (Acts 2: 14-40), about three thousand souls “received his word and were baptized” Acts 2: 41). Many of them were probably among the crowd some fifty days earlier crying for Jesus to be crucified. Now they knew why. What made the difference? The Holy Spirit of truth and power, of love and forgiveness; the Spirit that the ascended body of Jesus released from heaven upon His disciples like tongues of fire (cf. Acts 2: 1-4). The counter-cultural courageous witness of dynamic disciples transformed Jerusalem that day, and it continues to transform our world.

There is a liturgical principle stated in Latin, “Lex orandi statuat legum credendi,” which means, “the law of prayer establishes the laws of belief.” Today’s liturgy gives us a great example of this principle. The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord invites us to believe in more than the fact that the glorified body of Jesus ascended from earth to heaven. The prayers of the liturgy invite us into a much higher reality, to contemplate the relevance of the Ascension for ourselves. Let us review these prayers for our edification.

The coming of the Holy Spirit is connected with the gift of peace in the Gospel of John (cf. 20: 19-22). It is good for us to ponder this during the last two weeks of the Easter Season as we prepare for the Solemnity of Pentecost (June 9). Jesus came to bring His peace which is unlike that of the world because His peace starts in the human heart, not in the rooms of worldly leaders trying to get the best deal for themselves while their armies and drones keep attacking.

Can you complete the above sentence? If so, then you know this famous teaching of Jesus. “As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” (John 13: 34). This condition, “as I have loved you,” could mean many different of things. Love one another by preaching like Jesus, healing like Jesus, forgiving like Jesus, serving and washing feet like Jesus, suffering and dying like Jesus, etc. No one can imitate Jesus perfectly in all these areas. But since we are focusing on priestly vocations this weekend, I’d like to mention another condition which is sometimes overlooked: Love one another by serving the Church through the gift of celibacy.

This weekend we focus on our Stewardship of Creation. This has nothing to do with political agendas or scientific theories. It’s as simple as this: God created a beautiful world and placed human beings within it to cultivate and take care of it (see Genesis 1:15). Stewardship of Creation invites us to do two things. 1) Be thankful to God for the gift of creation, which includes ourselves. And 2) Express our gratitude to God by doing what we can to cultivate and take care of creation. I pray that this reflection will inspire us to grow as good stewards of creation.

Today’s gospel passage describes the transition of Peter from a fisherman to a shepherd through the graceful call of Jesus (John 21: 1-19). As fishermen, he and his six companions worked all night but caught nothing. At the break of dawn, we can imagine their disappointment as the only thing filling their submerged nets was the rays of the rising sun. Then the risen Son appeared on the beach inviting them to “cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.” Indeed! Their net is stunningly filled with so many fish that they cannot even pull it into the boat! They realize that “It is the Lord!” and Peter jumps into the sea toward Jesus, while the others drag the net through the water towards the beach.

Numerous people have expressed their sorrow to me over the recent death of Pope Francis. But I must admit that I do not share their sorrow. It’s not that I had enough of Pope Francis and am happy to see him vacate the See of Peter. Quite the opposite. I think he did many good things for the Church and humanity. But after all the physical challenges he had in recent years, frankly, I’m happy the Lord has relieved him of his suffering. As a Catholic who believes in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting, I pray and trust that the God of Love is shining the rays of His mercy upon his servant on this Divine Mercy Sunday.

Today we begin to celebrate the greatest event in human history: the resurrection of Jesus our Lord. We begin the season of Easter which extends for fifty days. The mystery of the resurrection is so profound that we need at least fifty days to ponder it, to celebrate it, and to appropriate it into our lives. Since this season is just beginning, the Church does not give us all the information on this first day. We only hear the beginning of the story: the discovery of the empty tomb.

Welcome to Holy Week which extends from Palm Sunday to Easter. It includes the Sacred Triduum: Holy Thursday of the Lord’s Supper, Friday of the Lord’s Passion, and Holy Saturday with the great Easter Vigil. Since we have a whole week to contemplate the paschal mystery—the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus—you may wonder why we read the Good Friday story on Palm Sunday?

In this weekend’s first reading, the Lord announces: “I put water in the desert and rivers in the wasteland for my chosen people to drink, the people whom I formed for myself, that they might announce my praise” (Isaiah 43:20-21).

“It’s not fair!” we catch ourselves thinking when we read the parable of The Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11-32). The parable could easily be renamed “The Prodigal Father.” The word “prodigal” means to spend money or resources recklessly and extravagantly; something (or someone) that is lavishly abundant or generous. It applies to both the younger son and the father.

Moses was about eighty years old as he quietly led his father-in-law’s flock across the desert to the base of Mt. Horeb. After his escape from Egypt, he had been dwelling in that region with his wife, Zippo’rah, and their son for about forty years. He was probably expecting to slip peacefully into retirement.

The transfiguration of Jesus is told in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke and read by the Church on the Second Sunday of Lent. This year we hear Luke’s account which has one very interesting addition. All three tell of Jesus’ appearance being transformed into dazzling white, and all three tell of Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus. But only Luke tells us what they were speaking about. The “spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31).

Sometimes prayer is a battle, a battle to stay focused on what matters most: our relationship with God. Our thoughts and feelings can easily be accosted by distractions and temptations. That’s only human. Even Jesus, who was human and divine, allowed himself to be tempted, as we hear in the gospel reading for this Sunday. Each year on the First Sunday of Lent of Lent we hear the story of the temptation of Jesus in the desert. The gospels tell us that it was the Holy Spirit that led him into the desert, and Matthew and Luke point out the specific reason Jesus was led there: “to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1; Luke 4:2).

Lent means Springtime. Are you ready for Spring? We have had a taste of Spring with the nice weather lately. But just because Lent begins this Wednesday does not mean that every day to Easter will be warm and sunny. Such is life.

Among the many religions of humanity, why do we think that Christianity is the best? The Second Vatican Council took up this question in it’s “Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (Nostrae Aetate). It is the shortest “Declaration” of Vatican II, consisting of only five paragraphs, so it is not meant to be a comprehensive treatment of the subject. The Council fathers set forth their modest intention in the second sentence. Regarding the Church’s “task of promoting unity and love among people, indeed among nations, she considers above all in this declaration what people have in common and what draws them to fellowship.”

How did Jesus lay the foundation for the largest continually existing human institution ever? By the wisdom and love that flowed through everything He said and did, and in a way which was rather unconventional. His unconventional wisdom is expressed in today’s gospel passage when He declares that those who are normally seen as unfortunate are actually blessed.

It was the worst night ever on the lake. We spent all our energy hauling in the nets countless times for nothing, not a single fish. There we were cleaning our nets on the beach, and looking forward to a morning nap, when I heard some people gathering behind me. I turned and, to my surprise, I saw Jesus sitting in my boat! He smiled and waved me over with some urgency as more people gathered around. I felt a certain need to rescue him, so I dropped my net and ran to him. James and John noticed and did the same.