Blog Post 2/14/2024 - Ash Wednesday

 

We begin our Lent on Ash Wednesday pondering, “When will I come to the end of my pilgrimage and enter the presence of God?” and reflecting on “I bow before the cross made precious by Christ by Christ, my Master.  I embrace it as his disciple.”

We reflect of the gift of Ashes, thinking about the cross of Ashes on our forehead, when we heard, “Repent and believe in the Gospel” or “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

May the Ashes of this day remind us to ask God for His Grace of Repentance and Forgiveness.  And may Grace guide our lives.

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 2/13/2024 - When a Loved One Leaves

 

Today I hope and pray, “When will I come to the end of my pilgrimage and enter the presence of God?” St. Francis de Sales wrote, “Those who stay go, and those who go stay.”

When the Lord calls a loved one to the heavenly home thank God for the joy and laughter shared, and the memories made.  One day we shall all be together again in paradise, where there will be no more tears, no more leaving or departing, only joy together in God.

In the Book of Deuteronomy we read, “You must keep his statutes and commandments which I enjoin on you today, that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may have long life on the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you forever.”

My prayer for you is that you listen to God and inscribe the Word in your heart because that is where true joy and happiness are found.

 

May God Be Praised.

 

 

Blog Post 2/12/2024 - Way, Light, Eucharist & Word

Lord, teach me to walk in Your ways, to follow Your light, to feed on Your Eucharist and to nourish on Your Word.  As morning breaks upon us, may we experience Your Glory and as the evening closes our day may we praise You for Your fidelity.

 

May God Be Praised.

Blog Post 2/11/2024 – There’s a Place for us!

God is our shepherd, we find refuge in His care.  The old A T & T commercial exclaimed “Reach out and Touch Someone.” The slogan was designed to promote long-distance telephone calls so we could connect with loved ones who far away.   

Jesus came to remind us that we can reach out to Him, the Son of God anytime.  In times of joy, of sadness, in confusion, or in gratitude.  As we journey in a broken world, the Lord shows us the way home, the way to our eternal home.  We walk with Him while we are still on the way.

Ponder these words from the Gospel of John, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.  In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.  Where [I] am going you know the way.  Thomas said to him, Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?

Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  [John 14:1-6]

Follow Jesus, the Way, the Truth & the Light, and remember you can reach and touch Him any time.

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 2/10/2024 - Homily Offered at OLPH

 

Today we remember and celebrate St. Scholastica who asked her brother, St. Benedict, for a favor and he said no.  She then prayed to God, Who said yes.  In our 1^st reading we heard, “God wants to be the seal on our heart….” and in our Responsorial we were encouraged to “… praise the name of the Lord.”  God became the seal on our heart when we were Baptized and our response should be to praise God always.

 

The Gospel relates the famous story of Martha and Mary.  Today focus on Jesus’ call to each one of us into His inner circle, and reflect of this line from the Gospel, “There is need of only one thing.”

Our Prayer, Study and Action must be focused on Jesus.  St. Francis de Sales recommends we focus on Living on Jesus.

Vive Jesu is the one thing needed.

 

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 2/09/2024 – “Teacher, where are you staying”?

 

“Come, and you will see . . .

I am sleeping under the bridge with the homeless who have no one, who have no place.

I am sitting at the same table with the poor kid no one wants anything to do with.

 

I am watching TV with the elderly couple who lives alone.

I am holding the young woman who is terrified of the surgery she is facing.

I am with your children when you are not there. I am with your spouse when you are apart.

I am with you when you’re feeling lost and alone.

I am putting my shoulder to yours in bearing your crosses of illness, despair and catastrophe.

 

Where am I staying? Come, and you will see.”  [Connections - January 2024]

 

Jesus our teacher waiting for you to find Him – where He is staying.

 

May God Be Praised.

 

Blog Post 3/08/2024 – Season of Listening

 

Pope Francis in his 2024 Lenten Message offered us this advice, “Lent is the season of grace in which the desert can become once more – in the words of the prophet Hosea – the place of our first love. [Hosea 2:16-17]  God shapes his people … whispering words of love to our hearts.”

This Lent listen attentively to God’s whispering words of love to your heart and allow them mold and guide your will.

 

May God Be Praised.