Tuesday, December 26, 2017

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Christmas Day '17 - Silence and Faith

Posted: 25 Dec 2017 11:54 AM PST

The Homily from Christmas Day. Readings are found at: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/122517-day.cfm

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Christmas Midnight '17 - Silence and Faith

Posted: 25 Dec 2017 11:48 AM PST

Homily of the Mass at Midnight. Give ourselves a gift of silence and faith. Readings are found at http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/122517-midnight.cfm

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Monday, December 25, 2017

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4th Sunday Advent '17 - Yearn and Yield

Posted: 24 Dec 2017 10:20 AM PST

The Virgin Mary models perfectly how we should prepare this Advent, as she demonstrates both her yearning for the Lord and yielding to His will. Readings are found at: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/122417.cfm

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Monday, December 18, 2017

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3rd Sunday Advent '17 - Adore and Acknowledge

Posted: 17 Dec 2017 10:08 AM PST

Like John the Baptist and the Blessed Mother, we have a relationship, identity, and mission from God, and fulfilling that mission gives joy. We discover our mission in prayer, especially adoration. But He works in our life yet - and when we acknowledge that we grow in joy. Readings are found at http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/121717.cfm

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Monday, December 11, 2017

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2nd Sunday Advent '17 - Repent

Posted: 10 Dec 2017 10:33 AM PST

We prepare our hearts by repentance and reconciliation. This is truly good news. Do we believe it? Readings are found at http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/121017.cfm

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Saturday, December 9, 2017

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Immaculate Conception '17 - Saved from Poison

Posted: 08 Dec 2017 07:38 AM PST

Recorded during the John Ireland School Mass for the Immaculate Conception. Mary needed a Savior to save her from the poison of sin, too, but a singular act of grace, God preserved her from the first moment of her conception, so she becomes the model for us o live our baptisms. Readings are found at http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/120817.cfm

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Monday, December 4, 2017

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1st Sunday Advent '17 - Prepare

Posted: 03 Dec 2017 10:41 AM PST

As we begin Advent, we are asked to watch and prepare. How does Christ come to us? Readings can be found at http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/120317.cfm

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Monday, November 27, 2017

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Chirst the King '17 - Working for the King

Posted: 26 Nov 2017 03:12 PM PST

A brief reflection (in the absence of giving a homily this weekend) on the readings http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/112617.cfm for the Feast of Christ the King.

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Friday, November 24, 2017

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Thanksgiving '17 - Everyday Eucharist

Posted: 23 Nov 2017 08:09 AM PST

As Catholics, we are invited to give thanks everyday. The challenge is that we too readily fail to recognize God's blessings. Readings are found at http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/112317-thanksgiving.cfm

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Monday, November 20, 2017

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33rd Sunday OT '17 - Dare to Lose It

Posted: 19 Nov 2017 03:25 PM PST

At our LifeTeen Retreat this weekend, we received a reminder that we are gifted with all we need to live and guide disciples to the Lord. Are we going to dare to use it, perhaps even fail and lose it. Readings found at http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/111917.cfm

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Monday, November 13, 2017

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32nd Sunday OT '17 - Heart of a Steward - Wisdom

Posted: 12 Nov 2017 10:35 AM PST

In our readings, we hear of wisdom, and that is a virtue needed in to be stewards. Wisdom is to see as God sees, with an eternal perspective. We grow in wisdom by avoiding vice and going to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, prayer and adoration, reading of the lives and the writings of the Saints, and by remembering we become the average of the people we spend time with. Readings can be found at http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/111217.cfm.

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Monday, November 6, 2017

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31 Sunday OT '17 - Heart of a Steward - Gentleness

Posted: 05 Nov 2017 10:52 AM PST

Unlike the harshness of the pharisees, to whom Jesus refers as those who are to be listened to but not followed by their example, St. Paul is gentle and proclaims the Gospel without being a burden. Stewards are called to be gentle. The readings can be found at http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/110517.cfm

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Thursday, November 2, 2017

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All Saints '17 - Children and Saints

Posted: 01 Nov 2017 07:41 AM PDT

We are God's Children NOW! We are called to be saints, and the Loving Father gives us what we need. Readings are found at http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/110117.cfm

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Monday, October 30, 2017

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30th Sunday OT '17 - Heart of a Steward -Love

Posted: 29 Oct 2017 11:13 AM PDT

The heart of a steward is filled with love of God and neighbor, willing the good of each, responding to the love of God with every part of one's being. How are we loving the Lord? Readings can be found at http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/102917.cfm

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Monday, October 23, 2017

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29th Sunday OT '17 - Heart of a Steward - Justice

Posted: 22 Oct 2017 10:18 AM PDT

We are called to render to God what is His due, and to give to others their due. This requires Justice, which enables us to know a do the right. As we strive to be stewards, praying for the gift of justice helps us to know what is right to give.

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Monday, October 16, 2017

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28th Sunday OT '17 - Heart of a Steward - Trust

Posted: 15 Oct 2017 11:28 AM PDT

We are called to a great eternal banquet, but a simple yes does not suffice. Do we prepare our hearts with trust, seeking conversion?

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Saturday, October 14, 2017

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Parish Consecration Prayer

Posted: 13 Oct 2017 08:24 AM PDT

Consecrating ourselves to the Lord through the Blessed Mother, we offered this prayer at the end of our Mass on the 100th Anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima.

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Votive of Mary. Mother of the Church 10/13/17

Posted: 13 Oct 2017 08:04 AM PDT

On the 100th anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, we offered a special school/parish Mass in which we prayed the votive Mass of the Blessed Mother, Mother of the Church. At the end of Mass, we consecrated ourselves, our parishes, our School and Little Angels Preschool, to the Blessed Mother.

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Monday, October 9, 2017

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27 Sunday OT '17 - Heart of a Steward - Generousity

Posted: 08 Oct 2017 10:34 AM PDT

Are we generous with the Lord who has provided everything we have and need?

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Monday, October 2, 2017

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26th Sunday OT '17 - Heart of a Steward - Humble Service

Posted: 30 Sep 2017 05:00 PM PDT

Continuing with the virtues and gifts of a steward, we ask to follow the mind of Jesus, who humble serves us.

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Monday, September 25, 2017

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25th Sunday '17 - Heart of a Steward - Gratitude

Posted: 23 Sep 2017 05:00 PM PDT

We are invited to live lives of gratitude, which means we cannot be greedy or envious. What are we truly grateful for?

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Friday, September 22, 2017

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St. Matthew '17 - Our Story

Posted: 20 Sep 2017 05:00 PM PDT

The John Ireland School Mass. St. Matthew recorded his story of how Jesus called him. Jesus calls us - what's our story going to be?

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Monday, September 18, 2017

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Ecumenical Prayer Service - Reformation as Pruning

Posted: 16 Sep 2017 05:00 PM PDT

At an Ecumenical prayer service commemorating the the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther, we read of the vine and branches, and in the prayer, invited ourselves to continual pruning to be better witnesses and servant in the world.

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24th Sunday OT '17 - Let It Go

Posted: 16 Sep 2017 05:00 PM PDT

Jesus tells us to forgive 77 times, from our heart. But forgiveness is hard, and we make it harder but not understanding what it really is. When we forgive others, we are more able to receive God's forgiveness. To receive God's love, we must let it go...

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Friday, September 15, 2017

Exultation of the Cross

This week, most Orthodox and all Catholic Rite churches will celebrate the Exultation of the Cross. It marks the finding of the True Cross in 327 and the dedication in 335 of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built over the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. This feast marks something more than simple history. This feast gives us a chance to reflect on the meaning of the Cross, and ask the question of whether we are willing to take it up in our lives. Before His death, Jesus spoke of the Cross explicitly and implicitly. He spoke to Nicodemus of the Son of Man being lifted up, and referenced the episode of the bronze snake mounted on a pole. He invited the disciples to take up their cross and follow Him. He prophesied His death on a cross. They would have understood exactly the reference. While not necessarily an everyday occurrence, crucifixion was common enough in Roman-occupied Israel. It meant death, humiliating and literally excruciating. Jesus was to transform it. He embraced the cross, submitted himself in humility. Dying on the Cross, He put death to death, and robbed hell of its false claim on those who obediently submit themselves to God. In rising, He gives life to all who believe. Jesus Christ models for us that we who are sinners need to die to ourselves. More importantly, by the Cross, He gives us the only means of salvation and eternal life. We are invited to take up our cross. Too often, we ‘reduce’ the cross to something that frustrates or troubles us. Jesus does not want us to reduce the cross to only something like sickness or cancers, or a difficult family situations, or whatever else, as difficult as those things are. He wants us to carry our cross in the whole of our life - to submit our entire lives, not just those difficulties. He wants to be Lord of our entirety. Certainly, the Cross of Jesus transforms those difficulties, but He wants His Cross to transform us. He wants us to follow Him so closely that when others see us, they see Christians who embrace our own dying to self and seeking to exult Him. As Christians, we cry out everyday of our lives, as we carry our own cross, "We exult you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by your Holy Cross, you have redeemed the world."

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Exultation of the Cross '17 - What's it Matter

Posted: 14 Sep 2017 04:52 PM PDT

At the weekly John Ireland School Mass (done in dialog form), we asked ourselves what does Jesus' death and Resurrection, which we celebrate on the Exultation of the Cross, matter to us. What are we going to do?

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Monday, September 11, 2017

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23rd Sunday OT '17 - The Watchman's Correction

Posted: 09 Sep 2017 05:00 PM PDT

Jesus gives the model of fraternal correction, and we are so hesitant to use it. Perhaps, we ought to ask some questions: Are we given authority to guide (like the watchmen of old)? Are we loving the other person? Is it a sin (Illegal, immoral, or unjust)? Are we loving the person we need to correct? Are we seeking conversion and reconciliation? Are we doing it in a manner that most protects everyone's dignity?

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