April 28, 2024: 5th Sunday of Easter

We celebrated the new Life of Christ on Resurrection Sunday 4 weeks ago, and we continue to celebrate it today as we ponder what that Life means for us.

Jesus calls Himself the True vine, and we are the branches.  Without Him, we cannot do anything.  By remaining in Him, He remains in us, an important theme in the readings.  We are filled with His life, so that we can obey His commandment, which is ultimately about bearing fruit as we love others.

Indeed, in the Resurrection Life of Jesus, we are transformed as God prunes us, to take away what leads us away from Him, so we can draw closer to Him, like Saul.  People were suspicious of him after his conversion, but Barnabas made it clear that God appeared to Saul.  And Saul boldly proclaimed the Word revealed to Him by the Risen Lord.

By remaining in Jesus, Who gives us His life, we live as His disciples.  As the second reading in 1 John elaborates, we are to believe in God and to act on that belief and love beyond words by showing it in tangible actions, which is pleasing to God because, simply put, is His command.  We don't do this on our own, but we cooperate with the Holy Spirit in following this command that is the heart of our faith.

This day is significant in my faith life as I celebrate joyfully the anniversary of my baptism, when I encountered Christ in the waters, and was joined to Him and His Paschal Mystery.  It was a great day for Father Pacocha to live out his priestly calling by baptizing me on his ordination anniversary.

I was indeed joined to the True Vine of Jesus so that I could be equipped to grow and bear fruit, in subsequent steps of my faith journey, like when I celebrated my First Holy Communion, which was 25 years ago this week.  Continuing on, I keep marveling at how God is at work as I take my part in His Church and He works in me for bearing fruit.

April 25, 2024: Feast of St. Mark, the Evangelist

God has offered us the great gift of salvation in Jesus Christ, Who died and rose again.

Now, God calls us to accept this gift and act on it by proclaiming the Gospel message to all the Earth.

As God worked through Jesus, especially in His ministry of teaching and healing, as we hear throughout this year in the Cycle B for the Gospel according to St. Mark, so God works through us through signs, including healings, to bring newness of Life to the earth.

As a lion roars mightily, so we are called to boldly proclaim this Good News.

April 21, 2024: Fourth Sunday of Easter/Good Shepherd Sunday

We have a Good Shepherd in Jesus Christ, Who, out of love for us, His flock, laid down His life and then, took it back up again, as we celebrate throughout this Easter Season.

And He did it not just for His own flock, but for other people in the world, to build up His Body.

That's why St. Peter declares before the authorities that the Name of Jesus is the only Name by which all in the world are to be saved, because He made possible the salvation of all.  He was disowned like the stone rejected, yet has become the cornerstone of our faith.

Jesus not only saved us, but is transforming us as God reveals Himself to us, and we become like Him as we follow our Good Shepherd into the way of Eternal Life.

It's a day that, in history, speaks to many important leaders, like the day John Adams became the first US Vice President, and Queen Elizabeth II's birthday.  Yesterday and last weekend Saturday, bishops visited the Oak Park parishes for Confirmation Masses, including Cardinal Cupich.  Let us give thanks to God for the many leaders He has chosen to serve us as priests and bishops, who live out their vocation by leading us into the ways of Eternal Life.  As we are transformed in this way, let us open ourselves to how we can lead others closer to God.

I furthermore offer thanks to God because this weekend marks 100 years since Resurrection Sunday, April 20, 1924, when the first Mass was celebrated in the partially completed National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  It is a marvelous space that draws those Who come deeper into the presence of God Who was born of Mary, the Patroness of the USA.

April 14, 2024: 3rd Sunday of Easter

As we continue celebrating the Easter/Paschal Season, we once again hear an account of the appearance of the Risen Christ in teh readings, as a way to reinforce this new reality that He is alive in a whole new way.  He came alive in a whole new way to His disciples and this reality persists for us now.

Now that He is alive, He offers us a way to enter more deeply into His presence as we repent, turning away from sin to live for Him.

He speaks to us in His word, just like He did for the disciples, and He offers us His Body and Blood.

By partaking of what He offers us, we live in His Truth and are transformed.

The greatest part is that He is so real to us, we can touch Him, and we can count on His Risen Presence to sustain us as we strive to live our our faith that springs from His New Life.

April 8, 2024: Solenity of the Annunication of the Lord

Having completed the observance of Holy Week and Easter Week, we continue the spirit of joy in celebrating the day when the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would bear the Son of God into the world.

In the context of our recent Paschal Festival, on this Feast Day, we rejoice in how God brought the new life of a baby into the world Who offered Himself in obedience to the Father so that we could all experience newness of Life.

Mary was the first to experience this newness of Life.  By obediently submitting to the Word of God presented to her, she offers a model for how we can open ourselves to God's work in our lives, and as we keep following Him, He does great wonders in our world.  We, too, can bear New Life into the world.

It's telling that a total solar eclipse crossed over a huge swath of North America today.  May the Virgin of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas, intercede for us, so that we can be open to God's plan and the wonders He unveils.

April 7, 2024: 2nd Sunday of Easter/Divine Mercy Sunday

By His Resurrection, Christ came to free us from the effects of sin and bring us into a glorious new Life.

That image is powerfully displayed when Christ passed through locked doors into the room where the disciples were gathered because they were afraid, perhaps thinking that the authorities who came after Jesus would be after them next.

He brings them peace, and shows that the evil of world that led to His death, signified by His still-present wounds, no longer has power over Him.

He offers them the Holy Spirit so that His Death and Resurrection can lead to forgiveness of sins.

Christ did it again a week later, and furthermore broke through the doubt Thomas and called him to a higher level of belief, to acknowledge the new reality of the Resurrection that He now offers all of us who express faith.

Even with all the troubles in the world, we can be, like the 2nd reading in 1 John states, victors because of Jesus Christ, Who died and rose again.  It is truly a great gift of mercy to us sinners that God would bring us alive so powerfully as only He can, washing us in blood and water that pour forth from His body.

We continue to live in this victory as we come together in Church community to make His Risen Presence known to each other.  As Bishop Barron said in his homily for this Sunday, it's telling that St. Thomas encountered the Risen Christ when he was together with the other apostles, and then expressed great faith.

May we open ourselves to the ways that God reveals Himself to us, and acclaim the same faith, "My Lord and my God!"