Today we celebrate Pentecost and rejoice in the coming of the Holy Spirit. On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit filled the hearts of the faithful and renewed the face of the earth. Emboldened by the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit, the apostles went forth to spread the Good News to the ends of the earth and build up the Body of Christ. As we approach the end of the school year, we pray in a special way for our High School Graduates who getting ready to follow
Today is the Second Sunday of Easter, called Divine Mercy Sunday. Sometimes we may not think of Easter as more than just a day, but it is SO much more than one day of celebration; it is a season of 50 days where we are renewed in Him!
On Good Friday, I arrived for liturgy early and found myself sitting in a nearly empty church, staring at the empty tabernacle. The altar was bare, the sanctuary light removed, the statues covered. The absence of Jesus was palpable. As I sat in uncomfortable silence, I reflected upon how lifeless the church felt without His real Presence. I became lost in thought, pondering how the disciples felt in the wake of Good Friday and how desolate and barren life without His Presence would be. Without Jesus,
For Holy Week, in stead of a reflection, we have added a version of the Stations of the Cross focusing on age groups. There is one written by some of the adults of the parish, a second version for our teens, and finally, a third version for our youngest believers.
You can find them here, in the Stations of the Cross section. You will also find links to the live-streaming of the Adult and Teen version.
Our gospel reading brings us to yet another encounter with the Lord's mercy in the story of the adulterous woman, a story of sin meeting grace.
While the Lord Jesus was teaching at the temple area one morning, "the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle." Then they laid out to the Lord their case against the woman: "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the
Whether we realize it or not, mercy is all around us, every day. In the story of the Prodigal Son, the young son committed a sin by taking a share of his father’s wealth and spending it frivolously on things that he did not need and would not make him a better person. After a while, the son realized that he had made a mistake, and that he dishonored his
The forty days of Lent are a time of personal reflection during which we deepen our relationship with God and prepare for the suffering on Good Friday and the joy of Easter. Jesus conquered death and promises us the gift of eternal life. We need to follow Jesus with all of
Today is the second Sunday in Lent. Our readings today remind us that we need to always put our trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We have all experienced dark times in our lives. These are the times when we feel our Faith might not be strong enough to see us through this uncertainty. Perhaps we have received a frightening diagnosis, we are facing the loneliness of a lost loved one or our child is facing his next dangerous deployment. Now we are all praying for dear Ukraine,
Today is the first Sunday of Lent. That went amazingly fast for me and Ash Wednesday was the realization that we are coming back to the paramount of our faith and relationship with God. Easter is my favorite time of the year. Do you long for Easter too? I do, not for the chocolate, although I do enjoy that, but for getting right to the heart of our faith; Jesus rising from the dead!
Today is Pentecost Sunday, our festival celebrating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus after his Ascension. In our First Reading, the disciples are gathered in Jerusalem for the Festival of Weeks, which celebrates the revelation of the five books of the Torah by God to Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai (thanks Google!). Certainly, this is an important festival in the Jewish faith, so many people are gathered all throughout Jerusalem.
In our Gospel on this Solemnity of the Ascension, we hear Jesus give the Great Commissioning to his friends: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.” Having formed and shaped his disciples during His earthly ministry, Jesus knows that they are ready for the next phase of their journey.
What a beautiful gospel passage to write a reflection on: the overriding principal of this passage is Love. When we are asked who is God, one of the many answers to this question is “GOD IS LOVE”. When we think of God, what comes to mind is the abundance of Love that He has shown to us. His love is so vast that He was willing to sacrifice His only Son to give us the promise of eternal life and forgiveness.
This week’s Gospel is taken from John 15: 1-8. It is a verse that is very familiar to many people,one that we have sung in many of our hymns. Jesus said to his disciples, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit because, without me, you can do nothing.” He goes on to say that God removes every branch that does not bear fruit. He prunes the ones that do, and we are already pruned because we believe His word.
Recently, my son needed to find some baby pictures for a school project. In this age of digital images, rather than dig out photo albums, we went straight to the computer and quickly got lost on the winding road of Memory Lane. Warmth filled my heart, as I looked at pictures from the past 14 years.
The Gospel reading for the 3 rd Sunday of Easter continues with another appearance of the Risen Lord, this time to the Eleven and other disciples gathered with them in Jerusalem. This narrative depicts a process by which the disciples came to believe in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, leading to the call for them to be his witnesses to all nations.
Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, one of my most favorite days of the year simply because it always brings me to pause when I think of the immense and inconceivable love God has for me.
Our first reading is short and seemingly paints an image of utopia for the Apostles; that perfect setting or perfect community in which everyone “was of one heart and mind” and no one was in need. As I think of this ‘perfection,’ I cannot help but recall how many
In lieu of an individual reflection on Palm Sunday, we have added 3 versions of the Stations of the Cross. There is an adult version, written by some adult volunteers and
In this week's Gospel reading, we enter into the period where we remember the suffering and death of Our Lord. He would glorify His Father’s Name through His
actions. Jesus mentions how He will suffer and eventually die for the sake of our
salvation, taking up upon Himself the sins of the whole world and placing them on His
own shoulders, enduring all those for our sake, because of the love He has for us.
As we journey through the forty days of Lent, we remember that it is a time of sacrifice, almsgiving, and reflection. As Catholics, we prepare over these six weeks for the
crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As God sacrificed His
only Son for us, we must, in our own way, take time to reflect on God’s gift and
sacrifice to help others to follow in the example that God has given us.
As the mom of three boys, I find myself repeating house rules often. Well, let’s be honest – it’s more than often. I reiterate some instructions constantly, repeatedly, ad finitum. “Boys, don’t forget to brush your teeth! Boys, laundry goes in the hamper, not on the floor!