June 29, 2020: Feast of Saints Peter and Paul

We celebrate this day Saints Peter and Paul, two bold examples of people living their faith.

And their faith came as a gift from God that empowered them to fulfill His purposes for their lives in the world.

It sustained them through great trouble, as we see in St. Peter's rescue and St. Paul's assurance that God would deliver Him through the final trials to Heaven and his reward.

Faith is worth all that we invest in it, because it is the power of God in the world.

As we can see, God built up a great Church on the foundation He laid in these two apostles, who proclaimed with their preaching and by their lives the Paschal Mystery.

June 28, 2020: 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time

God has delivered us from sin and, as St. Paul writes in the 2nd reading from Romans, He has brought us into newness of Life

Now our lives have a new direction and a special purpose granted us by God.

We take up our Crosses to follow God's way, wholly consumed in embracing His mission.

Setting Him as the primary focus in our lives brings a new order to everything we do.

And by giving of ourselves, we truly find ourselves and become fully Who He has created us to be.

June 24, 2020: Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist

It's a great day to think about gifts.

St. John the Baptist was a special gift to his parents Elizabeth and Zechariah, who were blameless before God yet without child.

And St. John the Baptist would be a gift to the world as he heralded the coming of God's salvation in the great gift of Jesus Christ.

May we embrace the opportunity to be a gift to others, as we receive what others offer to us, knowing this act of giving is part of the purpose God gives us for our lives.

June 21, 2020: 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

As God's people, we often find ourselves in challenging situations as we seek to proclaim the message He has given us, because there are many who oppose it.

But we can take assurance that God has our ultimate destiny in Heaven secured because the grace of Christ makes possible the Way to God, and is more powerful than any evil force in the world.  Indeed, God cares for us, just as He does the sparrows.

So let us not cowardly back away from this mission God has granted us.  Let us go unafraid to face the world and proclaim the reality of our God boldly, because He has given us a purpose in life.

June 20, 2020: Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

This Feast that is set because of the way Resurrection is timed makes it a sort of bookend to Ash Wednesday.

Having celebrated the Paschal Mystery through Lent, the Triduum, Easter Season, and some marvelous feasts in the start of second Ordinary Time of the year, let us take up the example of Mary, pondering in her heart all these great mysteries.

Even as the Blessed Mother sometimes couldn't completely comprehend her Son, she entrusted herself to God, marveling at how He made Himself present in her life and in the world around her.

Let us marvel at how God is so close to us, stirring in our hearts, and treasure His presence so we may be stirred to live in His ways all our days.

June 19, 2020: The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

We come to know the love of God because He reveals His love in sending His Son to die for us.  And His great love for us continually flows from the Sacred Heart of Jesus

In the Paschal Mystery, God has brought us back into right relationship with Him so we can love as He loves, in a sacrificial way.

Indeed, we have experienced great mercy as God has made us His people, and He calls us to live in that way, in the gentle embrace of His merciful love.

June 14, 2020: Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)

Through all our journeys of the deserts in life, God is guiding us, just as He did for the Hebrews for 40 years in the desert.

Certainly, Roman Catholics throughout the world are starting to reach the end of a long journey without the Eucharist for many weeks in the midst of a pandemic.  The multiple times of applause at Mass when I was in attendance this morning at my home parish spoke volumes about our appreciation for being back.

Even beyond physical hunger, we long for something to satisfy us deep down inside.  And God provides food from Heaven itself to feed us.  Indeed, the manna He gave His people foreshadowed Jesus Christ, Who offered Himself as food for us, that we may truly live.  It's food unlike anything else, which is why it prompted harsh reactions from those who heard they were to eat of His flesh and drink His blood.

Only by partaking of Him do we truly have life, and we experience it by being brought together as One people in Him.  And when He is inside of us, we are called to go forth and live as the Body of Christ, to be His presence in our world.

June 7, 2020: Most Holy Trinity Sunday

While the Most Holy Trinity is indeed a great mystery, we are aware of its effects all around us.  From the manifestations of the Trinity, we are certain that God is relational, manifesting Himself in three different ways, yet of the same substance.

God desires for us to participate in this relationship, inviting us into this Mystery which we can never fully grasp, but we can know from how we see God at work.  He created us so that He could love us, and then has continued to show His love by seeking to restore us to right relationship with Himself, lavishing us with His mercy, ultimately in sending His Son.

Risen Jesus gifts us with the Holy Spirit, Who continues to sustain us that we may live to adore such a great God, even by the way we relate to those around us, revealing our Triune God through our love.

June 1, 2020: Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church

Mary helped make possible the way for our Salvation by consenting to the Word of God that she would bear the Son.

And the Son has given us the Church, birthed by the power of the Holy Spirit flowing from the Risen Christ.

It's fitting that Mary would have a special role in the Church, giving us an example as the first disciple to a life of prayer and bearing God's presence into all the world.  Truly her example helps us to live faithfully for God as Church.