3rd Sunday of Easter

 Touch Me! Lk. 24:35-48

Sometimes our eyes can deceive us. 

We thought we saw something but we were not quite sure. 

Sometimes our hearing can deceive us 

We thought we heard something but we were not quite sure. 

If we want to know that something is real

We want to touch it!

Feel it, grab hold of it!

The disciples thought that they were seeing a ghost. 

But Jesus assured them that they were not. 

He said,  “Touch Me.”

And then asked for a piece of baked fish that He ate before their very eyes. 

When Jesus rose from the dead,

His dead body was not resuscitated.

It was transformed in a new a glorious way

And reunited with His Soul. 

It will be the same with us. 

At death our Souls are separated from our Body. 

When we die our Soul ascends to God. 

And our body is laid in the tomb. 

But on the Last Day;

The dead will rise from their slumbering place;

And their souls will be reunited with a glorious body. 

And death will be no more. 

No more aches and pains. 

No more sorrow or suffering. 

It will be the time of the Great Reunion of family and friends

And we will not only see the Face of God and hear His voice. 

We will touch Him and be embraced by the love of God. 

It is a day I look forward to. 

Friday Second Week of Easter

Rejoice in Suffering Acts. 5:34-42

The disciples in the book of Acts were beaten, imprisoned  and

Rejected. 

And They rejoiced that they had been found worthy to suffer for the Lord. 

Isn’t that odd?

They found joy in suffering for the Lord!

Not in money or popularly or power but in suffering. 

In the eyes of the world,

The cross represents suffering and death,

But for Christians it is joy and life. 

Thursday second week of Easter

Obedience. Acts. 5:27:33

The Sanhedrin hauled Peter in court and questioned him as to what he believed. 

Peter told the Sanhedrin that they had to obey God rather than men.  

This is easier said than done!

The world tells us many things. 

And if we do not do as we are told there will be serious consequences. 

We will lose our job. 

We will lose our place on the team. 

We will be canceled. 

The world is going to haul us into court and question us

As to what we believe. 

Are we willing to pay the price

And obey God rather than the world?

Wednesday second Week of Easter

 

God so Loved the World Jn. 3:16-20

God so loved the world that He sent us His only Son. 

His only Son who Who was scourged and crowned with thorns for us. 

Who died on the cross for us. 

Whose heart was pierced with a sword for us. 

There can be no doubt therefore that God loves us. 

For God has clearly shown His love for us. 

But Do we love God?

We may say we do,

Do our actions show our love for God?

As God’s actions showed His love for us?

Tuesday Second Week of Easter

The early Christian community was of one heart and mind. 
No one claimed anything of their own. 
And if someone was in need, another would go and sell his property in order to help that person. 

Have we progressed or regressed in our Faith since the early days of the Church?

Are we too of one heart and mind?

Not always. 

What keeps us from being so?

How can the Church of St. Patrick’s Be Of one heart and mind?

How can We be of one heart and mind with the Church in Wenona, or Toluca or Lostant?

Through Love. 

Love others as the Lord has loved us. 

Through forgiveness 

Forgive one another as the Lord has forgiven us. 

Through prayer

Prayer that we all might be one One Body, One Spirit in Christ. 

Just as Jesus has loved us, so we must love one another.  

Monday Second Week of Easter

Born of Water and The Spirit Jn. 3:1-8

Everyone is born of flesh and blood. 

But not everyone is reborn of Water and the Holy Spirit. 

Those born of flesh and blood are of this world. 

Those reborn of Water and the Holy Spirit are of heaven. 

Jesus reminds us that what is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 

He therefore, places a choice before us. 

Flesh or Spirit. 

This world or the Kingdom of Heaven.

If we want the Kingdom of Heaven, then we must be born again of Water and the Holy Spirit in Baptism. 

Through Baptism the flesh becomes filled and led by the Holy Spirit. 

And the Holy Spirit blows where He wills. 

In other words, those born again leave aside their fleshly desires and allow them selves to be "blown" by the Holy Spirit wherever He wills. 

Divine Mercy Sunday

 Divine Mercy Sunday

Lord Have Mercy

When you were caught with your hands in the cookie jar did you want Justice or Mercy?

A slap of the wrist or forgiveness?

We often want Mercy for ourselves

And Justice for everyone else. 

Mercy for us when we do wrong

But Justice for others when they do wrong. 

We all know God is Love,

Because we do, we sometimes take advantage of that love. 

And do whatever we want. 

God however is also s a God of Justice. 

and On the Last Day He will judge the living and the dead. 

And on that Day, we will stand there and watch God dole out His Justice to those we think deserve it 

And then God will come to us and we will want Him to be Merciful. 

So how is God going to decide to whom He will extol His Justice on those to whom He will give Mercy?

It is simple,

Those who ask for Mercy will receive Mercy. 

And so we ask for mercy at every Mass 

At the beginning of Mass we pray Lord have Mercy on us when we sin. 

At the Gloria we pray that God have mercy on us.

At the Lamb of God we pray that God have mercy not just for ourselves but for the whole world. 

Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. 

For how can we ask God to give us something 

Unless we are willing to give the same Mercy to others. 

Mercy is a gift given to those who ask for it because they acknowledge their need for it because what they have done. 

Justice is given to everyone else.