Second Sunday in Lent

The second Sunday of Lent, we hear the passage of the Transfiguration. Some hold that the transfiguration occurred shortly before the Passion, which makes sense. Jesus reveals His glory to the apostles Peter, James, and John. It prepared them for the 'scandal' of the Cross, the humiliation and extreme pain of crucifixion. They may not have understood at the time of the transfiguration, or even during the Passion, but certainly after the Resurrection, they were able to reflect on it as Christ's way of showing them who He truly is, encouraging them to a faith.

On of the principals of the Christian life is that we keep returning in prayer to the episodes when Christ is revealed to us, to understand at a deeper level. St. Peter provides that model, and when we follow it, we will find the grace to follow the Lord even in the darkest of days.

First Sunday of Lent

Jesus is tempted after his 40 day fast in the desert. He entered the desert to prepare for His ministry, and in resisting the temptations of the devil, He shows that he is (of course) perfectly united with the will of His Father.

In our Lenten Journey, we also enter the desert so that we can be be configured at a greater level to the mystery of Christ. We too are tempted - nothing disturbs Satan more than a person committed to Christ! Are our wills in union with God's will? If not, we have the gift of the sacraments, the sacramentals, the Scriptures, and the teaching of the Church. We have the example of the saints. Let us be further configured to Christ, asking for the Grace to avoid temptation and evil, and follow God's loving will.

Our Newest prayer Calendar

Our newest prayer calendar for priests, pastoral administrators, and seminarians is online. You can download it here.

Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Blessing or curse - which one we experience is dependent on were we put our faith. If we place it on our current state of things, on our human understanding, we will find that they do not last. If, however, we place our trust in the Lord stretching out to him like a tree's roots grow toward water, we will find hope that endures, and will know the blessings of the Lord.

Those who are discerning a vocation must place their trust in the Lord, not on their human understanding. Too often, many will stop discerning when they consider the low pay, the long hours, the hard study. But one who is able to trust in the Lord is also able to know the blessing of knowing the Lord.

Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Depart from me, for I am a sinful man. Both Simon Peter and Isaiah state that, in their own way. The veil between the human and divine was lowered, and each had an experience of God. But both responded out of a realization of their situation, but both found themselves cleansed and called.

In every Eucharist, we cry out with the angels and saints the same song that Isaiah heard "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord of Hosts". Do we have the same pious fear of the Lord that makes us aware of His goodness and our sins? Do we hear and respond to His call, changed by the encounter we have with the Lord?

Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, 2010

May we never grow so familiar with Jesus Christ that we forget who He really is and why He came! The residents of His hometown cannot accept Him because they know His family. Jesus chides them on this, and compares them to the widows and lepers of the Old Testament during the time of the prophets Elijah and Elisha. These two prophets helped a pagan woman (from Sidon) and a pagan leprous military leader (from Syria) respectively. The townspeople could not have been pleased, but Christ stands his ground. We must come to the Lord, place our perceptions of Him at His feet, and let Him tell us who He is and who we are in His light.

Third Sunday of Ordinary Time

That we may have certainty, St. Luke writes his own ordered sequence of the events of the life of Christ. This is the prologue of his gospel, and in it he gives the purpose of writing. While the next part of the Gospel passage we have this weekend is 4 chapters later, we hear Christ saying that the message of justice and peace is being fulfilled in their hearing. Jesus gives us the motivation for our treatment of the poor, sick, and disenfranchised: To treat them with love and compassion.