June 11, 2017: Most Holy Trinity Sunday

While it's oft said that the Trinity is a hard to understand doctrine of our faith, we are aware of the presence of Godhead Who is three Persons of One Substance abiding with each other in harmony, and reflect that harmony in our own relationships.

We acknowledge God as Almighty, yet He is so near to us.  The relationship of the Trinity poured forth into bringing into existence all of Creation, so that God pervades everything.  In His mercy God makes Himself known to us, and draws us into a relationship with Him.  He pours forth His love on us in the presence of the Son Jesus Christ, Who came to Earth to make God real to us.  He brings us to Eternal Life, even now as He believe and abide in Him.  And He abides with us through Holy Spirit.

So we praise Him as the Trinity works in us to display peace and harmony with one another, and the very glory of God, Who is ever present.

June 4, 2017: Pentecost Sunday

We celebrate the great feast commemorating when the Holy Spirit descended upon the gathered disciples of Jesus and fulfilled the promises of Jesus Christ and His New Covenant by bringing into being the Church.  We rejoice that the Holy Spirit is the bond that binds us together as the one Body of Christ.  The Holy Spirit is the very breath of God that brings the Life of the Risen Jesus into us.  With this Life in us, we are made alive and are sent forth to proclaim the Gospel that announces His Good News.  We are no longer divided by barriers that arise from our sinful world, like happened at Babel, as the Holy Spirit makes us one, connecting us with one another and God.  So we show the world that God is real, as we use our Holy Spirit-given gifts to proclaim the marvelous works of God Almighty, as His Spirit fills us.

May 28, 2017: Feast of the Ascension of the Lord Sunday

We have great hope in Christ because He died, rose again to New Life, and now is in Heaven, where He reigns at the right hand of God--all through the working of God's mighty power.  We have hope because of His promise that in joining with Him in dying and rising, we will one day join Him in Heaven in His Glory as God the Father works that mighty power in us.

Indeed, God is working His Mighty Power in us even now, as we live out the mission Christ gave to His Church upon His departure, to make disciples of all people, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Since He ascended to Heaven, He no longer has a physical earthly body, but promises to be with us forever, because He grants us the Holy Spirit as His abiding presence within us.

Indeed, we are given a great mission by which we continue to know the presence of God, and continue to make Him known, as we live in the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon us.

May 21, 2017: Sixth Sunday of Easter

God is doing a great work in saving us, especially by sending the power of the Holy Spirit into us.  This is the Advocate Jesus promised would come to be with His disciples, continuing His abiding presence with them always.  It gives us reassurance that no matter what troubles we face, we are grounded in the Truth of God.  It is this Truth we share when we face hostility, and this Truth that the Holy Spirit works in us so that we are brought alive and make His presence known, as He show our Love for the Father by living out His Love for others.  Indeed, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Life of Jesus lives in us, so that we truly live.

May 14, 2017: Fifth Sunday of Easter

The Last Supper discourse of Jesus Christ is an extraordinarily rich passage of Scripture.  In a selection that is today's Gospel reading, Jesus tells His Apostles that they will participate in doing His works, and do even greater works than Him because He is going to the Father.

We see the great works being done in Acts.  In today's first reading, the Church chooses seven reputable men to minister to the needs of Hellenist widows.  They are empowered by the Holy Spirit to do their part in the work of Church's ministry to the needs of people.

We, indeed, can do great works when we follow in the Way that is Christ, Who is the Truth, and is Life, empowering us through the Holy Spirit to do His works in our lives as we entrust ourselves to Him, to let Him work in us, because He, the Living Stone, Who was once rejected by people, is now the foundation of our faith.  He rescued us from sin, and brought us into glorious Light that we may praise Him.  We become living stones ourselves, who make God manifest to the world, as He accomplishes great works in and through us, greater than when Jesus was on Earth, because He is now with the Father and lives in us by His Spirit.

May 7, 2017: Fourth Sunday of Easter/Good Shepherd Sunday

Jesus is the Good Shepherd because He is invested in us, His sheep, putting all of His efforts into caring for them and protecting them, knowing how much they need Him.

As the reading from 1 Peter states, our Shepherd even goes so far as to die for us, that we may live.  And not just live, going through the motions, but having an abundant, rich Life, filled with His Holy Spirit, abiding in His way.  That is the way of Life Peter calls his audience to, who have just witnesses the power of the Spirit descend.

And following in the leadings of the Holy Spirit, we embrace a way of life that brings challenges to us because of those who oppose our faith.  But we have assurance in following a way that leads to Eternal Life, and makes God's glory known now as we endure and let His power shine through us as His transformed people, as we each play our specially unique parts in His plan of redemption, like was said so well at St. Peter's Church in the Loop at Mass this weekend.  

It makes me think about what I've experienced giving of myself as a Religious Education teacher in the year that just ended, as I've sought to shepherd my students into the ways of Eternal Life.

We have assurance because God, when we went astray, died to bring us back into right relationship with Him, so that we may have abundant life unto Eternity.

April 30, 2017: Third Sunday of Easter

Throughout this Easter Season, we extend the Paschal celebration of Christ, Who died, and rose again to new Life.  We celebrate that the sacrifice of the perfect Paschal Lamb has made us whole again, and brought us to God by faith, for His glory.  We no longer need to fear the grave, because our souls, like Christ, will not see decay, but will enter into newness of Life in the glory of God, as surely as God raised Jesus Christ.

And we experience this glory now as Christ makes Himself present in the sacraments, just as at Emmaus, the disciples recognized Him when He broke the bread.  Father Hurlbert insightfully shared in his homily this weekend that even though Christ disappeared the instance the disciples recognized Him, He was still with them.  Indeed, even though we don't physically see Him, we know His powerful presence as we encounter Him in the sacraments and throughout our world and our experiences, as He is now so close to us.  He is in our hearts, stirring them to faith, that we may with great joy proclaim that His real presence among us.