March 28, 2021: Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion

In the Gospel readings at Mass for Palm Sunday, we recount the epic week for Christ in Jerusalem.

And we recognize that in these events, Christ became exalted as the source of our salvation.  He faced the worst of humanity, in obedience to the Father's will, so that we could be saved and transformed more closely to the image of God in whom we are created.

In the Passion of Jesus, we find an example for how to live with purpose in the face of sufferings, for it is because of the Paschal Mystery that our suffering now have been redeemed for a purpose to make God more fully known in the world.

And we furthermore see the way we are called to live, giving of ourselves for others.

I recall that my cousin and his wife chose the hymn-like passage from Philippians 2 to be proclaimed at their wedding liturgy.  It is indeed a great image of self-emptying love for all of us, knowing that it was through such emptying that Christ saved us, and in such self-giving that we discover who we are meant to be as people following the way of our Savior.

We know that death is not the end for us who profess faith in Christ, for we hope for new life.

March 25, 2021: Solemnity of the Annunication

The Theology of the Body teachings of Pope St. John Paul II teach us that God gave Himself totally as gift to us, and we are called to be total gift to others in that same spirit.

That idea of gift really speaks to this glorious Feast of the Annunciation.

God offered Himself as total gift to humanity by becoming one of us, so that He could die and be our Savior, bringing us from death to new life.

God chose Mary to be His mother, and in so doing, called her to be total gift by offering herself in reverent obedient submission to God's plan of salvation.

While there was much that didn't make sense at that moment, and wouldn't in the years ahead for Mary, she moved from belief to trust in God, and became a gift that has blessed the world.

So we can be a blessing by responding affirmatively to God's calling in our lives to be a gift to others.

March 21, 2021: Fifth Sunday of Lent

As we draw closer to the Triduum, we realize, in the readings, that in death, we find new life.

In the Gospel reading, in the days leading up to His death, Jesus realizes the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  It appears He's not answering the request from some Greeks who want to see Him, an element to the story that has some manner of humor to it, yet is another example of how Jesus looks beyond the circumstances at hand to a greater truth, in this case, His purpose for coming to Eaerth.  He then expresses that He is troubled by what is soon to take place. But then He acknowledges that it is for this purpose that He has come to this hour to experience suffering and death, which will give way to New Life, so that the Father may be glorified.  Indeed, God worked in the midst of the Son's sufferings, as Hebrews writes, so that He would become the Source of Salvation and Eternal Life for all.

As people of faith joined with Christ in baptism, we share in the death of Christ so we may enter into His New Life.

So throughout our lives, especially in Lent, we are called to experience death to what is not leading us closer to God, and so rise into new Life, restored to living in accordance with the purpose that God created us.  That is the great value of the New Covenant.  The Old Covenant, written on tablets of stone, was unable to penetrate beyond the exterior into the interior of our beings and our hearts.  The New Covenant, effected in Christ, penetrates deep to transform us inwardly, so that death may lead to new life.  And it happens because, through Christ, God has forgiven our sins so we can live fully in this new life.  With new hearts oriented toward God, our lives become a matter of various instances of dying, which is not the end of the story, because we also experience moments of Resurrection.

March 19, 2021: Solemnity of St. Joseph

God unfolded a marvelous plan to save us from sin, and restore us to Himself and His glorious purpose for us. He promised King David His line and house would endure forever, and chose one of David's descendants to raise up the Son Who would establish the House of David forever and bring salvation to the world.

St. Joseph humbly obeyed when he heard the word of God in his dreams, and so took his part in God's great plan of salvation. His life is a great example of faith in action through virtuous living, as he gave of himself to provide for his family, he worked with purpose, and he listened attentively to God so that his path in life would follow His plans.

March 14, 2021: 4th Sunday of Lent/Laetare Sunday

We rejoice this Sunday because we're more than halfway through Lent, and we marvel at how God is at work in us.

God, as Just and Righteous, holds us accountable for sin, as is recorded of the nation of Israel in the first reading.  Yet, ultimately, the reading describes how God's punishment comes to an end and He bestows His mercy on His people, restoring them to their land.

Centuries later, Christ came to save and restore us, His people, from the deep-down effects of sin and restore us to new life.  He is the great gift of the Father, raised up on the Cross to be our salvation.  Christ reveals the love of the Father Who desires not our condemnation, but our salvation and restoration.

In a similar vein, St. Paul writes in the passage for the 2nd reading in the Epistle to the Ephesians that when we were dead in our sins, God saved us by His grace and brought us to new Life, so we could participate in His works of advancing the Kingdom of God.  Indeed, we are God's masterpiece, and God has made us whole again when we were broken, so that we could live fully in His great Light and shine it in the world.  Indeed, God has not only brought us out of sin, He has brought us into new Life so that we live with profound purpose.  We no longer shun the Light, 

So while we have sorrow over our sins, we also praise the mercy and grace of God.

That is great news, truly reason to rejoice!

March 7, 2021: Third Sunday of Lent

Throughout history, God has sought to save us when we went astray and bring us back into right relationship with Him.

Because He has saved us, He alone is worthy of our devotion, which He emphasizes in the first reading from Exodus stating the 10 commandments.

Jesus calls for a return to wholehearted devotion to God when He clears the Temple of commercial activity that was leading people astray from worshipping God.

When the Jews ask for a sign to assert His authority to act as He does, Jesus declares that the Paschal Mystery of His death and resurrection is the sign of a new covenant calling us into a new relationship with God more deeply from the heart.  While the Cross was an awful sign in the context of that time, by faith, we see it truly as the power of God to redeem and transform.

Lent is an important time of purification, so that we can remove what does not help us grow in God, and engage with those practices that do bring us growth in relationship with God.

We see in the Gospel reading an example of purification, in a rather forceful way, which is another way Jesus calls people to repentance.

This idea of purification reminds me of participating in a Native American sweat lodge ceremony, which is regarded as a purification ritual in their culture, and was also a time of prayer to God in a chapel.

Through purification, we can truly become who God has called us to be.

God desires us to grow in holiness from the heart.  Through the Paschal Mystery, He has freed us from sin and brought us new life, so that we may worship Him with a deep inward devotion and that is evident in our living.