Saturday of Easter Week

 Doubting the Resurrection Mk. 16:9-15

Why did Mary Magdalene and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus see the Risen Lord,

But when the 11 disciples were told about it, they doubted.

Because of their unbelief and hardness of heart.

We nurture our bodies with food,

And so we must nurture our Faith with prayer.

Otherwise we too will not believe.

Our hearts become hardened by cynicism

and for desires other than God,

And we must strive to keep them open to God,

So that they remain on fire with the love of God.

If we have doubts,

We must check our Faith and our Hearts.

For in them lies the problem and the answer.

God Bless

Friday of Easter Week

 

Fishing with Jesus! Jn. 21:1-14

The disciples were not the best fishermen.

It seems every time they went fishing,

They caught nothing;

Until Jesus came along!

Then their nets were filled to overflowing.

So many people go fishing for fame, money or power

Only to come up empty.

Only when we listen to Jesus,

Will the nets of our lives be filled to overflowing.

God Bless

Thursday of Easter Week

 

Touch Me! Lk. 24:35-48

After Jesus had risen from the dead,

His body changed.

He now had a glorious body.

A body so glorious that the disciples thought they were seeing a ghost.

But Jesus assured them that they were not,

By taking a piece of fish and eating before their eyes.

In the creed we profess that we believe in the resurrection of the body.

Just as our bodies are united with our souls here on this earth,

So On the Last Day,

Our bodies will be reunited with our souls,

In the resurrection of the dead.

But with one difference,

Our bodies will be glorified.

And no longer bound by time and space;

But a body nonetheless.

God Bless

Wednesday of Easter Week

 

What do we talk about along the way?

There were two disciples walking along the road,

Discussing how Jesus had been handed over to death to be crucified;

And how now there was a story going about that He had risen from the dead.

And as they walked,

Jesus appeared to them

And walked with them,

And explained to them all that the prophets had said,

Concerning Him.

Why is it that Jesus does not appear to us on the road of life,

And talk to us and explain things to us?

Could it be because unlike the disciples on the road to Emmaus,

We do not talk about Jesus along the way.

We are too concerned with trivial matters;

And the latest gossip and news;

To listen to Jesus.

And so we miss our opportunity to walk with Him,

Feel our hearts burn!

God Bless

Tuesday of Easter Week

 

She did not recognize Him Jn 20:11-18

How is it that Mary Magdalene

who followed Jesus every He went and stood at the foot of His cross,

Not recognize Him when we had risen from the dead?

Because the life to come,

Is nothing like this world.

There will be a New Heavens and a New Earth,

And the old heaven and the old earth will have passed away.

And He will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body. Phil. 3:21

God Bless

Monday of Easter Week

 

Fearful yet overjoyed Mt. 28:28

Mary Magdalene had gone to visit the tomb where Jesus was laid,

Expecting to anoint His Body,

Only to find the tomb empty.

Fearful and yet overjoyed for she remembered the words of Jesus,

That He was the Resurrection and the Life.

How would you feel if you went to the cemetery to visit the grave of a loved one and found it empty?

Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice, and come forth. Jn 5:28

God Bless

Easter

 

The Paschal Mystery

The Christian Faith is centered entirely on the Paschal Mystery.

So If someone were to ask you what the Paschal Mystery was,

Could you explain it?

The Greek word Paschal, refers to the Hebrew Passover,

Which refers to the time,

When the Passover Lamb was sacrificed,

And the Blood of the Passover Lamb,

Was put on the door posts of each house

Of the Israelites in Egypt, so that the Angel of Death,

Would PASSOVER their house and spare them.

Thus the word “Passover”

And then the Passover Lamb,

Was eaten to give the Jews strength and nourishment

On their journey to the Promised Land.

Christ is the New Passover or Paschal Lamb,

Who was sacrificed on the cross,

And Whose Blood was poured out,

Not on door posts,

But on our souls,

So that we might not die forever,

But rise to everlasting Life.

And we eat the Flesh of Christ, the Paschal Lamb,

To strengthen us on our journey to the Kingdom of Heaven.

While other Christian denominations remember

what Jesus said and did in their services,

At every Mass we not only Remember

We become part of the Paschal Mystery.

In a mysterious way we are made actually present in the Upper Room

And we are seated around Jesus,

As He gives us His Body and Blood.

In a mysterious way we are actually present at Calvary

Where Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross.

This is why we call it,

“The Sacrifice of the Mass.”

And lastly, in a mysterious way,

We are at the Tomb, with Mary Magdalene,

Where Christ is Risen.

This is the Paschal Mystery.

Where we Passover from Death to Eternal Life,

And in a mysterious way,

We too are made present at the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus.

And this all takes place at Mass.

This is why Padre Pio said,

“It would be easier for the world to exist without the sun,

Than it would without the Mass.”

I lived in Jerusalem for one year.

And almost everyday I would go and sit at Calvary and pray.

And six times I had Mass in the Empty Tomb,

Where Jesus was laid and rose from the dead.

And there were times when I would pray to go back there again,

Until one day at Mass,

Jesus reminded me that at EVERY Mass,

I truly am with Him at Calvary,

And at the Tomb where He rose from the dead.

And ever since then,

My need to return to Jerusalem has subsided.

Because I am at Calvary and the Tomb,

Every time I go to Mass.

Good Friday

 

Why did Jesus have to suffer?

Why did Jesus have to be handed over to the chief priests and scribes

and be condemned to death, scourged and crucified?

Why didn’t He just snap His fingers and make sin go away?

And make everything go back the way it was,

In the Garden of Eden when everything was good?

He was God after all, and God can do anything!

Why not take the easy route

Instead of the cross?

Isn’t that what most of us would do?

Because it wouldn’t work.

Oh it might for maybe a day or a month or a year.

But eventually Cain would kill his brother Abel once more;

and it would start all over again.

Brother against brother;

This is the way of the human heart,

Once it has been wounded by sin.

The Cross is the visible sign of our sins;

What we have done and of what we are capable of doing.

As individuals and as a race.

There is no whitewashing or ignoring it.

No turning away.

Sin is real!

And it is legion!

With many different names.

From Pride; hatred; anger; greed and gluttony;

To jealousy, gossip and lust.

These reside in every human heart in one form or another;

Great or small.

And then there is racism, sexism, poverty, war; genocide and injustice

that resides in the heart of the human race.

And there is no one individual or political party or country or philosophy

that can overcome it, heal it or forgive it.

Only God!

Who through His Son’s death on the cross;

Brings about the forgiveness of sins

of our personal sins and those of the world,

This is the mystery of the cross.

That We can only be healed

Not by a snap of His fingers,

But by His wounds!

God Bless

Holy Saturday

 

Jesus Rested

After Jesus was taken down from the cross and laid in the tomb,

What did He do?

He rested.

After giving Himself on the cross;

And pouring out His blood;

It was time to rest.

The grave is not the end.

It is a place of rest after a life of

Joy and sorrow;

Hard work and suffering;

Of sowing and reaping

And gathering and losing.

The grave is a place of rest,

Until Jesus Who rose from the grave

Alive and glorious,

Calls us to do the same!

For He and He alone,

Is the Resurrection and the Life.

God Bless

Holy Thursday

 

On the Night He was Betrayed 1Cor. 11:23

On the night Jesus was betrayed;

On the night His own disciple was going to betray Him with a kiss;

On the night He was going to be arrested;

On the night He sweat blood in the Garden of Gethsemane;

On the night Peter denied Him three times;

On the night before He would be scourged;

On the night before He would be crowned with thorns and mocked;

On the night before He would be nailed to a cross;

On the night before He would hang in agony for 6 hrs on the cross;

On the night before He would die;

What do you think Jesus did?

What would you do?

If You were going to be betrayed, denied, beaten, scourged, nailed to a cross and die in agony?

Some people might complain “why me?”

While others might become angry at God

And still others try to escape it all.

What did Jesus do?

He gave thanks!

It is almost incomprehensible that in the face of such horrific suffering,

Jesus gave thanks.

Yet On the night He was betrayed,

He took bread that was to become His Body given on the cross and gave thanks to His Father,

And then He took the cup that was to be His Blood poured out on the cross and gave thanks again.

He did not let His suffering defeat Him,

Nor take away His Love and Faith in His Father.

And then when supper was over,

He went out singing to the Garden of Gethsemane.

As was the custom after the end of every Passover meal.

In the face of suffering how do we respond?

It all depends if we have Faith.

A Real Faith that lives and moves and has its being in us.

A Faith that “always and everywhere gives thanks.”

That kind of Faith starts by giving thanks for the little things

And then grows and grows into a

Faith that nothing can defeat or overcome;

At every Mass we are at the Last Supper, With Jesus,

giving thanks always and everywhere to God;

Whether we are On the beach or on the cross;

At the beginning of our life or at the end;

God Bless

Wednesday of Holy Week

 

Who will betray the Lord? Jn. 13:21-38

The disciples had gathered around Jesus for the Last Supper,

And He told them, that one of them would betray Him.

And they all started saying,

“Not me, Not me!”

But one of them did!

And another denied Him!

And the rest scattered.

We have gathered around this table of the Lord,

And He looks at us as well and asks,

Will you too betray me?

And all we can do is pray that we are not put to the test. Mt. 26:41

God Bless

Tuesday of Holy Week

 

St. Peter’s Denial Jn. 13:36-38

After the Reformation many churches in France put a cock or rooster on their steeples instead of a cross,

To represent they were Catholic Churches,

Following St. Peter, the first Pope

It was Peter however who before the cock crowed,

Denied Jesus three times.

But after the resurrection it was Peter,

Who told the Lord three times,

that he Loved Him.

For every time we deny the Lord through our actions or our words,

May we profess our Love for Him,

In the poor, the homeless, the naked, the sick and those in prison.

For then the Lord will know that our sorrow for our sins is sincere,

And our Love for Him real!

God Bless

Monday of Holy Week

 Only By the cross Is. 42:1-7

He shall bring Justice to the nations,

Not by shouting out!

Not by making His voice heard in the streets!”

“He is so gentle and humble,

That bruised reed is not broken,

Nor a shouldering wick quenched!”

This is how Jesus saved the world.

Not by His voice crying out in the streets,

But by His voice crying out on the cross.

“Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

God Bless

Palm Sunday

 

Hosanna! Mk. 11:10

Some of the words we use at Mass,

Are like a foreign language.

Ancient words from times gone past.

Symbols and imagery that people do not use in ordinary language.

But there is a reason for it.

Religious language is meant to take us away,

from the mundane things of this world,

And transport us to the heights of Heaven.

But if one does not know the meaning of the words,

It is just gibberish.

We say Hosanna at every Mass,

But What does it mean?

When a football team takes the field.

A cry goes up;

The fight song is sung;

And the crowd goes wild.

So we to should be excited and cheer;

For the Lord is taking the field;

Holy, Holy, Holy is our fight song!

Hosanna to the Lord God of Hosts!

Blessed is He Who is coming in the name of God.

Hosanna!

And He is truly coming

To this church! To this altar!

And Like an athlete, leaves it all on the field;

Christ is going to leave it all on the cross.

Bruised and bloodied

But not broken;

Victorious in the fight with sin and death.

We are facing challenges and battles

Everyday of our life.

And sometimes it seems like the odds are against us.

But at every Mass,

The Lord comes,

Our Savior, Our Champion

To fight for us.

So the cry of every Christian in the arena of this world,

Is Hosanna, Hosanna,

And We are sure to win the battle,

For Our Savior, Our Champion is coming.

Blessed is He Who comes in the name of God!

Hosanna in the Highest!

God Bless

Saturday 5th Week of Lent

 

Excuses! Jn. 11:45-56

The Pharisees had their excuses for rejecting Jesus and wanting Him dead;

If they let Jesus alone, the Romans would come and take away their land and their nation.

So they made plans to put Him to death.

What excuses do we have for not praying daily?

For not going to Church for a visit or Mass?

For not helping our neighbor and loving our enemy?

Our excuses, only serve to put Jesus to death in our own hearts.

God Bless

Friday 5th Week of Lent

 

Watching for missteps Jeremiah 20:10-13

Whatever Jesus said;

Whatever Jesus did;

Wherever Jesus went;

The Pharisees and Sadducees,

Were watching Jesus for any misstep;

Hoping to trap Him and take their vengeance upon Him.

And denounce Him.

Do we ever do that to others?

Watch for others to make a mistake;

Take a misstep;

Say the wrong thing;

So that we can denounce them!

If so we are no better than the Pharisees and Sadducees

Who crucified Jesus.

God Bless

 

The Annunciation

The Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and asked her if she would bear God’s only Son.

When Mary said “Yes” to God,

the Word became flesh and dwelt within her

and it bore fruit

and she gave birth to Jesus.

When we go to communion,

our “Amen” is our “Yes”,

and through the Eucharist we receive,

the Word becomes flesh and dwells within us. 

Does it bear fruit in our lives?

Do we give birth to Jesus in the world as Mary did?

Only when we say “Yes” as Mary did,

Will the life of Jesus within us bear fruit.

God Bless

Wednesday 5th Week of Lent

 

Standing in the Fire : Daniel 3:14-95

Shadrach, Mishach and Abednego found themselves in a hot situation, literally!!

For when they refused to worship

the god of King Nebuchadnezzar,

He had them thrown into the firey furnace.

But in the midst of the flames they prayed,

“Blessed are you O Lord!

Praiseworthy and glorious forever.”

Sometimes it is not possible to escape the firey flames of life.

When things get too hot to handle,

The best thing one can do

Is Praise God for Sister Fire.

For one’s greatness is most often found not on the beach,

But in the crucible of life.

God Bless

Tuesday 5th Week of Lent

 

Jesus and the Father Jn. 8:21-30

Soon Jesus would be rejected, scourged, crowned with thorns, nailed to a cross and die.

How could He possibly endure it all?

Because He is not alone.

The One Who sent Him is with Him.

He is always with Him. Jn. 8:2-30

We too are never alone.

When we receive His Body and Blood in Communion,

Jesus is always with us.

His Body is in our body giving us strength;

And His Blood is flowing through our veins,

Giving us life.

When we receive Christ in the Eucharist

We are never alone!

For the life and the power of God is dwelling within us!

God Bless

Monday 5th Week of Lent

 

Let the Person Without Sin Cast the First Stone! Jn. 8:1-11

Social Media has become anything but Social!

It has become a mud wrestling contest to see who can throw the most mud, hoping some will stick.

Back in ancient Israel they threw stones instead.

Israel is a very dry and rocky country

so there we stones everywhere.

All one had to do was look down,

and there was a stone one could throw.

And throw them they did, for lots of reasons,

Both political and religious.

No one could agree.

And Jesus’ response to all of the stone throwing was,

“Let whoever is without sin cast the first stone.”

Only when we recognize our own sinfulness,

With the stone throwing and the mudslinging end.

God Bless

5th Sunday of Lent

 

The 10 commandments were written on stone,

But the Israelites made a golden calf and worshipped it.

Speed limit signs are posted on metal,

But how many people follow it?

The Constitution is written on paper,

But how many people are treated as equal?

Unless it is written on our hearts,

We will not do what we are supposed to do.

This is why Jeremiah prophesied

That God will write the Law upon their hearts.

For once God has touched our heart,

Everything changes.

Fishermen leave their nets behind;

Martyrs leave their lives behind;

Lepers become beautiful

And going to church is a joy.

For when it is written on our hearts;

everything is done out of love.

And nothing done out of love is ever a burden.

If life, or going to church or work, or family or friends

ever becomes a burden.

Something that you “have” to do

rather than something you “love” to do.

Then it is time for a new heart.

To ask God to create a clean heart in you.

And Wipe out all of the bitterness and hurt;

All the apathy and mediocrity;

And create a clean heart all over again.

One that loves!

And then nothing is too difficult

No cross too heavy;

For the deepest waters cannot quench the fires of love

Nor even death put out its flames.

God Bless

Saturday 4th Week of Lent

 

Like a Lamb led to the slaughter Jer. 11:18-20

In the Book of Exodus,

The Passover Lamb was killed and its blood was sprinkled on the doorposts thus saving the Israelites from death and freeing them slavery in Egypt.

Jesus is the Lamb that was led to the slaughter, Jer. 11:19.

And by His death we are set free from to slavery to sin and eternal death.

Whenever we say “Lamb of God” as Mass,

We are reminding ourselves,

that Jesus is the New Passover Lamb,

that was sacrificed on the cross.

Whose Blood is poured out not on doorposts

But on our hearts,

so that we might be set free from Eternal Death and slavery to sin

And enter into Our Promised Land,

The Kingdom of Heaven.

God Bless

St. Joseph Spouse of the Virgin Mary

 

Do Not Be Afraid

Some people are afraid to pray to Mary;

To get too close to Mary.

For some odd reason that it might take them away from Jesus.

This is why God sent an angel to Joseph,

That he should not be afraid to draw close to Mary,

And take her as his wife. Mt. 1:20.

And when he did, what happened.

He got Jesus!

When Joseph took Mary into his heart and his home,

Jesus came with her.

So Joseph teaches us to never be afraid to welcome Mary into our hearts,

For when we do,

The Child she bore in her womb and nursed at her breast,

Comes with her.

God Bless

St. Cyril of Jerusalem.

 St. Cyril of Jerusalem.

St. Cyril lived in Jerusalem and died in 386.

He once said,

“you have just heard distinctly, That our Lord Jesus Christ in the night in which He was betrayed.

Took bread, and when He had given thanks He broke it, and gave to His disciples, saying, Take, eat, this is My Body:

and having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, Take, drink, this is My Blood. “

Since then Jesus Himself declared and said of the Bread, This is My Body, who should dare to doubt any longer?

And since He has Himself affirmed and said, This is My Blood, who should ever hesitate, saying, that it is not His blood?”

And neither should we hesitate to proclaim

That we receive His very Body and Blood at every Mass.

God Bless

Feast of St. Patrick

 

When People think of St. Patrick they think of shamrocks, green beer, parades and snakes.

But the real St. Patrick

Was a slave captured by Irish raiders;

And became a shepherd on a cold and windswept hill in Ireland.

How does one go from being a slave who herds sheep;

On a forgotten hill,

On an island

On the farthest edge of the known world,

To one of the most famous people on the planet?

Well when the God who took the form of a slave,

And died on a hill

In the backwaters of the Roman Empire

Calls you in a dream to come.

Anything is possible.

Patrick faced slavery;

Cold and isolation;

Betrayal by his best friend;

Went back to the land of his slavery;

And Risked imprisonment and death;

And converted an entire country.

How did he do it?

Because he had Christ.

As he wrote:

Christ was on his left and on his right.

Christ was above him and below him.

Christ was within him and all around him.

Christ was in the face of every person he met.

Christ was his Shield.

With Christ, All things are possible.

God Bless

Tuesday 4th Week of Lent

 

Water Ez. 47:1-9,12

The Prophet Ezekiel saw a strange vision,

Of water flowing from the Temple;

Not just flowing but turning into a flood,

That waters and gives life to everything.

In Israel, they can go months without rain in the summer,

So when the rain finally comes,

They go out into the streets and dance sometimes.

For the rain brings life!

Our world is a desert.

There is no love, no forgiveness, no mercy anymore.

Only canceling, and politics and division.

But from this altar flows a river of love and forgiveness and mercy.

From the open Heart of Jesus is all

The love and forgiveness and mercy that one needs.

If one only comes and drinks from it.

God Bless

Monday 4th Week of Lent

The Promises of God Is. 65:17-21

Take a look around at the world today.

What do you see?

This is not the world God created.

It is the world that Man has created.

Through the Prophet Isaiah,

God promises a new heavens and a new earth.

Where there will be rejoicing and gladness.

Only God will bring the Change that is needed!

Everything else are only Empty Promises!!

God Bless

 

4th Sunday of Lent

After 40 yrs. of wandering in the desert,

Israel had finally settled into the Promised Land

And it was time for a king.

So God sent the Prophet Samuel to the the House of Jesse,

Who had 8 sons to anoint one of them King.

Now if you were Samuel wouldn’t you choose the one who was the strongest, or the most intelligent or who had leadership and organizational skills to run a country.

Not God!

God chose David, the youngest and the least of them all.

Because God sees things in us that we don’t even see in ourselves.

Let alone see in other people.

For God has all the talent, skills, intelligence and strength that we need;

He only needs an open heart willing to do His Will,

And He will take care of the rest.

In other words,

God is looking for an Instrument with which He can work.

Imagine if a conductor wanted the symphony to play

Beethoven’s 5th, and all of the instruments wanted to play The Rolling Stones instead.

Or a carpenter wanted to do some hammering,

And the hammer didn’t feel like hitting the nail today.

Or an author wanted to write a novel

And and the pen felt like writing poetry instead.

Just imagine if all of these inanimate objects had a mind of their own,

What chaos the world would be in.

Well, each one of us has a mind of our own,

And no wonder the world is in the shape it is in nowadays.

What kind of Instrument are we in God’s hands?

We may be saying to ourselves,

I am no King David, or St. Francis, or Mother Teresa.

We don’t have to be.

The Divine Carpenter needs all kinds of Instruments in His tool box.

We just have to be willing to be an Instrument in His hands,

Docile and open to whatever way, He wants to use us.

Lord make Me an instrument of Your peace

Where there is hatred let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness joy.

O Divine master grant that I may

Not so much seek to be consoled as to console

To be understood, as to understand.

To be loved. as to love

For it's in giving that we receive

And it's in pardoning that we are pardoned

And it's in dying that we are born...

To eternal life.

Amen!

God Bless

Saturday 3rd Week of Lent

 

What does God Want? Hosea 6:1-6

Lent is time of Sacrifice and Penance.

Giving up food or TV

And while all these sacrifices and penances are good.

Hosea reminds us that what God wants above all of our sacrifices,

Is our love.

Unless our sacrifices and penances lead us to love God more,

They are meaningless and worthless;

And We might as well stop pretending,

And have an extra bowl of ice cream.

God Bless

Friday 3rd Week of Lent

 

Love the Lord Mk. 12:28-34

The Great Commandment is that we should love the Lord,

With all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength.

Lent is a good time to make a list of how we love the Lord,

With all our heart, all our soul and with all our mind and strength.

So find time to sit down,

get out a piece of paper and write down,

All the ways that you show how much you love the Lord.

God Bless

Thursday 3rd Week of Lent

 

An Unfaithful Nation Jer. 7:23-28

If only Israel would have listened to the voice of the Lord,

They would have prospered.

Instead they did not obey;

They hardened their hearts,

Stiffened their necks,

And closed their ears.

And the Babylonians came and destroyed their Temple

And carried them off into exile.

It is not that God chastised them for their disobedience,

It is rather that God left them to their own designs.

And God will leave us and our country to our own designs as well,

If we harden our hearts and close our ears.

God Bless

Wednesday 3rd Week of Lent

The Laws of God Deut. 4:1-9

Every government makes laws for its citizens,

For the betterment of society.

Every parent makes laws for their children,

For their betterment and growth.

So why should God not make laws as well.

The 10 commandments are not hard.

There is only 10 of them!

And when we follow them,

From keeping the Lord’s Day Holy,

To not coveting your neighbor’s possession,

We become better people

And grow in holiness.

And become great in the Kingdom of Heaven. Mt. 5:19

God Bless

Tuesday 3rd Week of Lent

 

Judgement and Forgiveness Mt. 18:21-35

Forgiveness is not a one time deal!

It is a daily occurrence.

This is why Jesus says to forgive 77 times.

Everyday we have opportunities to forgive.

Great and small.

And each time we forgive someone,

God forgives us for the things we have done,

Great and small.

And if we don’t,

Then neither will Our Heavenly Father forgive us Mt. 18:35

And on the Judgment Day,

Each one of us is going to want all the Forgiveness we can get!

God Bless

Monday 3rd Week of Lent

 

Rejection Lk. 4:24-30

Jesus said that,

“No prophet is accepted in his own native place.”

Why is that?

Why do we not listen to our family and friends;

To those who are closest to us?

They may not be prophets,

But maybe they have some words of Wisdom

That might do us some good;

Lent is a time to listen to those who are closest to us;

To those who love us the most.

God Bless