In his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, John Paul writes: “The Eucharist is a mystery of faith” that rises above our human understanding so much so that the only way we can respond is to surrender: to abandon ourselves to do the Will of God in our lives.
The fact that we believe that Jesus exists in the form of Bread and Wine is awesome and acknowledges for the world that God and Man do meet and do encounter one another every day right here on our Altar.
The readings today lead us to a God Who always desires for us to remain in communion with Him and if we sin, that we seek in sacramental ways the mercy and reconciliation necessary to achieve reunion with Him.
We are, a sacramental People and as Catholics we depend on these seven ‘outward signs’ as the conduit of God’s grace. If we deny the sacraments we deny our hope for eternal life.
The Gospel today gives us Thomas, the doubter, who represents us in our frailty and sin. He who could not see with his own eyes the truths proclaimed to him, refuses in his own human stubbornness to believe that Jesus had been raised
Continue reading “Catholics are fundamentally a sacramental People”
“He is not here. He has been raised!” With those words our lives have been changed forever. “It is now no longer I who live…Christ lives in me.”
This message burst forth from the mouths of the Twelve lighting up a darkened world, saddened by sin and spiritual sloth.
The same message reverberates through a new generation of believers, igniting the Church with a spark that reaches the darkest corners and nourishes its most impoverished dwellings. He is risen! Alleluia!
“There was a time when you were in darkness, but now you are in the light of the Lord…”
Everything we do during lent aims at awakening our consciences, arousing them to make good judgments and understand that the Light offered us dispels the darkness of the world and those secrets we hide from even ourselves.
A person who has a hardened heart and a formless conscience becomes a spiritually blind man who cannot see or hear the call to repentance or exercise the freedom that results from a life with Jesus.
We will never be able to live a full life, a meaningful life, a life of satisfaction unless we live the life of Jesus. Nor can we avoid the consequences of our actions no matter how big or small they might be; we cannot pretend them away.
By this third week of Lent, we come to the well of the Eucharist, tired, worn out and thirsty. So too, does the Samaritan woman and even Jesus Himself.
We are thirsting for water as a basic human need, and it is through our common human heritage that God intends to touch our lives and to replenish our spirits by opening the floodgates of His eternal love within us.
God became man to dwell among us, and today He was with us in the Sacrament of Confession – reconciling us to Himself through our admission of sin and sorrow.
The Scriptures give us two examples of extraordinary events. We can wonder how they can relate to our own lives. But, in fact, they have everything to do with who we are as true disciples of Christ.
I think that ordinary men and women like us can make a difference in the world if we would just believe in our God given power to do something and not be afraid to stand up and make a difference in the world.
Look at what the Gospel says about you. Jesus takes you up the mountain. He calls you from your homes to be here on the mountain, on this holy place. He shows you His Face in the Eucharist with Moses and with Elijah, the Law and the Prophets. Then He says, “Listen.”
In the Gospel today, Jesus gives us remedies for the temptations we will all encounter during our Lenten Fast.
Jesus goes into the desert because the Holy Spirit directed Him there. He fasts for forty days and forty nights at the end of which He is tempted in three ways: with hunger, with loneliness and with power.
We can expect to be tempted in the same way.
Anyone who knows me, knows I am a foodie; I love any kind of food. Recently I had stitches on my tongue (all well now). I couldn’t eat anything but soups and yogurt and little quantities of that. During this time, I realized I don’t need a lot of food to survive. If I gave away the abundance of food I really didn’t need, I could feed a lot of people. What I really need in my life is to consume the Word of God and the Bread of Life. This is the food that will satisfy me.
Saint Augustine said that the Christian life can be summoned up in one phrase, “Love God and do what you like.” It sounds good, doesn’t it until you realize that it is filled with responsibility and consequences. “Love God and do what you like.” When we realize how much God has loved us, the one desire of our life is to answer that love; this becomes our greatest task and primary focus in all the world, for it presents us with the obligation to love the way God loves.
“Keep your family safe, O Lord, with unfailing care.” In these hystercial times, we all want to keep our families safe.
The Book of Isaiah reminds us when we find our lives steeped in the darkness of sin or we find ourselves stuck in an attitude of gloom and doom, to “share your bread with the hungry.”
Jesus reminds us that we are “the salt of the earth.” But what if salt goes flat? There are three demonstrations of ‘Spirit and power’ that you can do to keep your faith active and effective: Confession, Communion and Prayer.
No where does it say that it will be easy. It depends on how strong our earthly desires have become. Relying on good Christian practice will ignite a desire to share with others the Good News we have been given freely and unconditionally.
“So that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God,” do not be afraid to take up the Cross of Virtue every day consciously and joyfully.
May our families always be defended by God’s protection and by our example in virtues: Confession, Communion and Prayer.
The Beatitudes serve as a code of moral attitudes based in the Ten Commandments that guide us to true and lasting happiness.
Jesus reminds us that all other desires in this world are fleeting. The only real sense of happiness, our only true peace in life is what we will find by putting into practice the commandments in this way.
Continue reading “Jesus calls us to become better for the sake of the lost”