March 9, 2025: First Sunday of Lent

We journey into the desert with Jesus, led by the Spirit as He was to face our human weakness. There, we encounter the power of God at work.

The Hebrews journeyed through the desert, which was a call for them to wait upon God to provide for them.  They weren't so faithful.

Jesus, the Word of God, withstood temptation because He spoke the Word that is Truth and Life, showing us an example of how to be faithful.

In this Lenten journey, we strive to be faithful to God, with Jesus as our example, as we abide by and internalize the Word of God, knowing that God's brings us Abundant Life to us in Christ. We call upon Him, professing our faith and belief in the One Who, by the Paschal Mystery, has brought us to life.

I answered the call to live out belief during a week of service at St. Augustine Mission, a trip which concluded 12 years ago with my arrival home.  I continued to put faith into action a year later as I met with the Confirmation group as they continued to prepare for the sacrament.

In these experiences, I pondered deeply what it means to have a relationship with God and how I could be transformed to live it more fully as a profession of faith I have in God.

March 5, 2025: Ash Wednesday

We hear the pressing call to repent.  We must recognize our sinfulness and call upon God, for He is just and merciful.

We call upon Him in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving not to bring attention to ourselves but to honor Him, because we know that He is good to us, even when we are unfaithful.  He responds to people when they call out to Him and turn to Him anew.

As St. Paul bodly writes, now is the acceptable time and the day of salvation, by which we can be transformed anew to be holy before God Who has saved us.

March 2, 2025: 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Approaching the end of the Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel according to St. Luke, Jesus calls His disciples not to fixate on the imperfections of others, but to turn inwardly and examine ourselves.  Because no one is perfect, we draw upon God to fill us so that we can bear good fruit.  No one is above our Teacher, and we should turn to Him so He can fill us to live His way.

We can persist in the good work of displaying righteousness in this world because Jesus has conquered death victoriously.  We live with great hope and purpose because of the newness of Life we have in our Savior.

Lent starts soon, and we go with hope, like in the spirit of this Jubilee Year, because we know that our God is alive in us and we have purpose.  It was that sense of purpose that motivated me as I traveled 500 miles with a group to serve in Nebraska 12 years ago this week as it inspires me to keep serving, especially as I accompany young people in my parish community to the sacrament of Confirmation so Christ may be alive in them.

February 23, 2025: 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time

David had the opportunity to end the threat that King Saul personally posed to him.  Yet David wouldn't take matters into his own hands, but took a much different approach of letting God mete out justice and instead holding himself to being merciful.

This story points ahead to what Christ calls us to do as His disciples.  We are called to reflect God's mercy in our interactions, remembering the highest example of mercy when God poured out His love for us when Christ was upon the Cross.

Now in light of the Paschal Mystery, we are transformed to be living beings, like St. Paul writes, to be beings who, like Christ, give life.  We respond to evil in the world with God's goodness that He pours into our hearts.

February 22, 2025: Feast of the Chair of St. Peter

Christ asked His apostles Who people though He was, and then pointed the question directly at them.

St. Peter responded with a declaration of faith, that Christ is Son of the Living God.

Christ acclaimed St. Peter for expressing what God the Father revealed to Him, and furthermore stated that the Church would be built on the rock of him, who made such a profession.

We, the Church, continue to ground ourselves on that rock of faith, professing what God the Father reveals to us, which the Church has stewarded through the centuries, with the successors of the apostles, the Pope and the other bishops, guiding as shepherds.

By faithfully upholding this Truth of Who Christ is, we advance the Kingdom on Earth as we reveal in our lives the Living God.

February 16, 2025: 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

When God entered the world in Jesus Christ, He reversed the typical ways of the world.

Jesus offers 4 beautitudes and 4 woes in the Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel according to St. Luke, saying those of us who are poor are blessed, and woe to those of us who are rich.

Pondering the idea of poverty versus riches, if don't recognize our need for God, we will ultimately wither by not drawing upon Him.

The reading from the Prophet Jeremiah uses a great illustration of a tree watering itself from abundant streams, an illustration also in Psalm 1.

We are blessed when we don't seek to live in our own strength, but constantly draw upon God, Who is the limitless source of life..

Indeed, we stake ourselves in God because He is alive among us because of the Resurrection of Christ.  Without it, we have no life and no faith.

Like waters that constantly keep us fresh, we can count on the Resurrection to bring us alive with waters ever living.

February 9, 2025: 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I've come to Temple, TX, on vacation this weekend, and in the first reading, we hear how Isaiah is in the Temple.

Isaiah, St. Paul, and St. Peter encounter God's presence in powerful ways.

They become aware of how much less they are than God, and respond to His presence, aware of their unworthiness.

Yet God raises them and fills them so they can fulfill His mission to His people, to proclaim His message.

Indeed, God's grace is powerful, because it flows forth from the Paschal Mystery, as St. Paul states so eloquently in the second reading.

By it, we are filled with His grace to live the life of mission He gives us.  We go out into the depths, as Jesus sends Simon, to ultimately build the Kingdom by fishing for people.

Truly we live to proclaim that God is alive because He is at work in us.

February 2, 2025: Candlemas/Feast of the Presentation of hte Lord

When Christ was born, a Great Light shone in the world, as we so richly celebrated on the Feast of the Lord's Nativity on Christmas Day.

Through the eyes of faith, Simeon and Anna recognized Christ for Who He is when Mary and Joseph brought Him to the Temple, as we celebrate on this glorious Feast Day that is 40 days after Christmas.

Simeon and Anna praised God for revealing His salvation.

It was the promise of God fulfilled for His people, and also a great blessing to all the world.  God would send His messenger to the Temple to purify His people of unrighteousness so we could be Holy before Him.

This messenger was our Savior Jesus Christ Who purified us of sin by becoming One with us, taking on Flesh.

We indeed rejoice that Christ shines as our Great Light in the darkness.  No longer do we fear the dark power of sin, because we have a Light with us that is far greater.

We join with Simeon in embracing Christ Who continues to abide with us, and we carry His Light that continues to shine so brightly.

This Feast speaks to me so profoundly because even though the glorious celebration of Christ's birth Christmas Day was 40 days ago, we can continue to celebrate the glorious power of the Mystery of the Incarnation.  Truly, the Light shines and will continue shining because it is the power of God ever constantly made present in our world.

January 26, 2025: 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Word Became Flesh when Christ was born.

So God fulfilled His Word in our presence, as He continues to do, and thus, we celebrate Word of God Sunday today.

Christ was anointed to fulfill the mission to bring Good News, with life and healing, to the world.

We are called to rejoice because the joy of the Lord is our strength because His life-giving Word is present to us.

Furthermore, we share in the mission of Christ to bring the Good News to all the world as the Word takes shape in us.

I remember powerfully receiving this call 6 years ago when I heard these passages proclaimed at the World Youth Day 2019 Closing Mass in Panama with 700000 people, celebrated by Pope Francis. It was a time when I heard God's Word anew and realized how it is being fulfilled in me as I join with the Church in fulfilling His mission.

January 25, 2025: Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul

A great Light shone in our world when Christ was born

That great Light shone brightly upon Saul, calling Him to radical repentance.

He truly encountered Christ's Living Presence.  In baptism, He received God's grace.

Convinced of this reality, He answered the call of Christ in the Gospels to proclaim the Good News.

In his work, he helped lay the foundation for the Church.

Upon this foundation, we continue to build as we proclaim the Good News.

January 19, 2025: 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

In our recent Christmas celebrations, we marveled at how God made HImself present to us in Jesus Christ, through His birth at Bethlehem, the visit of the Magi, and Christ's baptism.

Today we marvel at how God manifested Himself in Jesus through the first of Christ's signs, the changing of water into wine.

It's special that this sign happens at a wedding, highlighting an idea from the first reading: that despite the ways we've gone astray, God desires to rejoice and be in a relationship with us like a groom rejoices in His Bride.

As God provided for the couple when the wine ran out, God provides us restoration to a life-giving relationship.

Furthermore, He provides for gifts that we can live out our relationship in tune with the Holy Spirit, Who is the source of all gifts.

As we mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, God desires for us to be One Church. On this Sanctity of Life Sunday, we recognize that in God's sight, we all have value.  God rejoices in all of us, and reveals His presence to us constantly so we draw close to Him and believe in Him.

January 12, 2025: Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

We rejoice at the birth of Christ because God came to our world and became human.

Jesus Christ identified Himself so closely with us by taking on our flesh.

As the Word Made Flesh, He raises our humanity to the divine life of Heaven.

God indeed shepherds us into the ways of Eternal Life.  He cleanses us so that we are rightoues in God's sight and equipped for good works.

Jesus didn't need to be baptized, yet in His baptism, He identified Himself with us and transformed this ritual into a means by which God would cleanse us, declare us His beloved, and transform us to be part of His people.

So we join with the Church in praising Christ, the presence of God Who continues to abide with us, and open ourselves to transformation that manifests God's Divine Presence in us.

January 5, 2025: Epiphany of the Lord Sunday

A great Light shone in our world when our Lord was born as the Word Made Flesh.

This Light reached all the nations, and by it, they have come to encounter the God Who was born among the Chosen People.

The Child born unto us is a great gift because, though He was the fulfillment of promises to Israel, He offers salvation to all the world.

In light of this glorious gift, we all have the opportunity to respond and offer our gifts and devotion.  Like the Magi, let us lift our gaze above to see the wonders of God and follow the signs to encounter Him, because He has come to be so close to all of us in the whole world.

January is a special month because it was when I participated in the 2005 National Geograph Bee Final Round at Julian Middle School.  It's also when I went to Panama for World Youth Day.  Taking on a global perspective, I see how God has filled the earth with His light by the Incarnation and inspires us to join with all people in seeking Him.

January 1, 2025: Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God/Naming of Jesus

The Incarnation was a great blessing because God revealed Himself fully in the birth of Christ in the flesh.

God, Who is outside of time, entered in time, as St. Paul writes in his epistle to the Galatians, to ransom us and transform us into children and heirs of God.

Only in the name of Jesus do we find salvation, and that is why He is such a great gift from God.  The shepherds provide a great example for us to go in haste to encounter the God Who comes to us.

Mary also provides a great example because she ponders the mystery revealed to her in such an intimate way because she bore the Son of God into the world.  She certainly had so much to ponder, as do we.

In so pondering this mystery, like her, we then respond by answering the call to bear the Son of God into the world around us, announcing the Good News of God Who entered time from the outside to sanctify our time for His Glory.