Sunday, June 29, 2025

June 29, 2025: Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul

God gave us the Church through Jesus Christ.  He handed on the authority of His teachings to those He specially chose.

St. Peter boldly made a profession of faith about Who Christ is, and Jesus Christ declared him to be the rock upon which the Church would be built and would be firm against its enemies.

Indeed, even when St. Peter was imprisoned, God provided a way out for him so that he could continue his mission.

Jesus Christ appeared to St. Paul, and he was radically transformed, turning his zeal from suppression of the Church to boldly edifying the Church.  He spread the Gospel message far and wide, by which it made inroads among the Gentiles.

They both testified to the Gospel, even to the point of giving their lives, because they knew their place in the Church and the power of the Gospel to continue building the Church.

So we rejoice this day that the Church continues to rise on the foundation of such noble saints who gave so much to build the Church.  We root ourselves in the same Gospel, the same profession of faith, and the same encounters with the Risen Christ so we declare to the world by our lives that God is at work among us.

A great story from 20 years ago at the 2005 conclave was when Cardinal George was seen staring intently out from the balcony as Pope Benedict XVI made his introduction.  When asked later about what he was thinking, Cardinal George said as he looked at the ancient Roman ruins, including monuments to emperors, he asked where the successors of the Caesars were.  Then he asked, who cares?  But the successor of St. Peter?  He was feet away from him.

Bishop Barron offered similar thoughts based on his experience in Rome during the 2025 conclave for his homily for this week.  It's a great insight that testifies to the power of the Church because God has been at work through people like Saints Peter and Paul, who were faithful to God's call in their lives to contribute their part.  It's a challenge and a gift to all of us in the Church today to contribute our part in response to the call.

Saturday, June 28, 2025

June 28, 2025: Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Mary the Blessed Mother was filled with love and devotion to her Son.

As the first disciple, she gives us an example of how to respond to the immense Divine Love God has for us. 

She pondered this great love deep in her heart, even as she bore Jesus and raised Him in the world.

We have had so many opportunities to ponder this Love, as we celebrated during yesterday's Solemnity, and throughout the past weeks from Lent to the Triduum into Easter and then the special feasts of June.

Indeed, we realize the unseen God has marvelously manifested Himself in tangible ways.

Recognizing how God is making Himself known to us, we live as a gift of love to bless others so that others may know God.

Friday, June 27, 2025

June 27, 2025: Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

God's love is so beyond our sense of love.

Jesus gave a picture of it in teh parable of the lost sheep.  It doesn't make sense that someone would seek one lost sheep, yet the shepherd in this story rejoices in finding the lost sheep.

As our Good Shepherd, Jesus sought us when we strayed like lost sheep.  He revealed the depths of God's divine love by dying for us upon the Cross.

We can now stake everything on Him, because He loved us enough to die for us, and now, as our Risen Lord, leads us, as the Good Shepherd, into Eternal Life.

Indeed, we are called to be devoted to Jesus Christ by opening ourselves to the Love God pours into our hearts so we can bring that love to others that truly changes us and the world.

We furthermore rejoice that 350 years ago, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque received visions of the Sacred Heart that drew us back to beholding the immense Divine Love revealed by the Sacred Heart.

It is so far beyond our comprehension, yet through revelations, we know it is real, especially as God works it into our hearts.

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

June 24, 2025: Solemnity of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist

God had a special design in mind for St. John the Baptist, from the moment of his conception.

He brought joy to his parents, since St. Elizabeth was barren and beyond the typical age of childbearing.

He furthermore brought joy to the world because he heralded the coming of the Messiah, even from the moment he leapt in his mother's womb for the joy of being in Christ's presence.

His life's purpose was to point others to the Messiah, recognizing the joy that His coming would bring salvation, a great light shining brightly upon the Earth.

Here's a Leonardo Da Vinci painting of St. John the Baptist. I notice that it looks like he's pointing to the top of the staff he's holding, and it looks like the shape of a Cross.

St. John the Baptist sets a great example for us who are disciples of Jesus Christ, that the mission of our lives is to joyfully point to Jesus.

Sunday, June 22, 2025

June 22, 2025: Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

We are given a great gift when Christ offered His Body and Blood, as we've been made aware through the seasons of Lent, Triduum, and Easter.

It was a sacrifice that brought us back to God.

Christ is a priest like Melchizedek who offered bread and wine, from natural elements, to be a meal.  Now Christ fulfilled that feast by offering Himself so that we could be completely satisfied.  As Monsignor Shea said in his presentation at the National Eucharistic Congress last summer, the Eucharist has a satiety score of infinity.

Through this meal, we re-present the sacrifice of Christ and He continues to bring us Life when we gather to partake of this meal and proclaim the death of the Lord that has brought us life, the very life of God in which we now share.

We now share in His mission to be Christ in the world, because we have been joined to God, so we are His Body in the world.

It's special that churches have Corpus Christi processions today as a way to show how we take the Body of Christ out into the world, so that others can experience the life of God as we have.  He indeed satisfies us with the great abundance of the offering of Himself, His Divine Life.

Indeed, just as we have focused on for the past few weeks on the idea of the mysteries of our faith, on this day we celebrate that though the Eucharist is a great mystery, it becomes something very real in us and that we make real in the world.

Sunday, June 15, 2025

June 15, 2025: Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity Sunday

This annual solemnity reminds us that the Trinity is a mystery, but we can continue pondering and probing its depth because we know it is something real in our lives.

God worked wonders to create the world as an expression of His love, which is so wondrously described in the first reading.  The Psalmist in Psalm 8 further marvels that God created us people as the crown of His creation.  And through redemption made possible by Jesus Christ, the Son, God's love was poured into our hearts, as has been our focus from Lent through the Triduum into Easter Season.  We, indeed, have hope in this firm assurance because we know God is with us because of how He has revealed His love to us.  God's essence is love, and lives it in a communion of Three Persons.  We have reassurance in the depths of our being because God loves us as part of His character.

The Holy Spirit, resulting from the love of Father and the Son, makes this mystery real to us.  As one instance of the rich language in the Last Supper Discourse, Jesus says the Holy Spirit takes from what Jesus has and declares it to us as real while He continues to sanctify us so that we live God's love and so reveal Him to the world.  And since the Triune God is a communion of Persons, we are called to make that love real in how we share it with others.

As I marvel at my recent 20th anniversary of Julian 8th Grade Graduation, and then Pope Leo XIV's celebration this weekend, God is truly working wonders, showing that we are part of something larger than ourselves. Even today, as we celebrate Fathers' Day, we marvel at God, our Father, and what He has done for us together with the Son and the Holy Spirit, as we rejoice in how God has revealed Himself in earthly fathers. We are called to participate in the Trinity so this mystery can be a little bit more real in our world.

Monday, June 9, 2025

June 9, 2025: Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church

Mary has been present at the unfolding of God's plan of salvation for the world.  She bore the Savior into the world.  And when her Son Jesus was dying upon the Cross, He entrusted her to the beloved disciple. Then, from the body of Jesus came blood and water to signal the emergence of the Church, in which she would have a special role.

As she joined the apostles in prayer, waiting for the descent of the Holy Spirit, so she continues to intercede for the Church so that we may faithfully live out the transforming power of the Paschal Mystery that the Holy Spirit brings deeply into us.