Where Did Marriage Come From
I Can’t Do It
Sometimes, when I am saying Mass, consecrating the bread and the wine to become the Body and Blood of Christ, I look at myself inwardly and say, “Who do you think you are?” And, I look at the people and wonder how on earth can I provide for you what all of you need?
Other times, like when I am anointing someone who is sick or dying, I look at myself inwardly and wonder if such a ritual can possibly help the person who is facing serious consequences or death. What hope am I bringing to them?
Missionary Call to Unity
One of the most challenging tasks facing a Pastor is how to create unity in a parish. There are so many forces pulling apart or dividing the community. However, this is so very human. People tend to remain within the groups that make them comfortable. They gather in their favorite groups. Often it is difficult for them to move into other groups of people with whom they are unfamiliar.
In parishes this happens with Mass time communities, with language groups and with ministries.
In other worldly pursuits this happens also with groups like neighborhoods, professional societies, labor unions, political parties and even gangs.
Death – Life – Marriage
Someone dies. Someone really close to us is no longer here with us because they died.
It is not unusual that the response of the loving survivor is anger at God: “How could a loving God do this?”
We have to be reminded constantly about our Judeo-Christian beliefs as written by the author of the Old Testament book of Wisdom.
God did not make death,
nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living….
For God formed man to be imperishable;
the image of his own nature….
Perspective
Holy Trinity 2015
Confirmation. We are in the season of Confirmation. However, something seems to be missing, especially when so many disappear from the Church after receiving the Sacrament.
What appears to be missing is the experience and the miracles of the Holy Spirit working within us. The Spirit really does work within us, doing wonderful things. We can’t see them with the eyes of the world. Only with the eyes of Faith can we see the miracles of the Holy Spirit. But that can’t happen until we actively, consciously invite the Spirit to live in us. It must be a conscious, frequent invitation, when we say with truth and sincerity, “Come Holy Spirit!”
Confirmation
The Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. What does it mean for us?
The Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. What does it mean for us?
It means that Jesus, who shared our humanity, has entered into the inner life of God. There is a human being dwelling within the Holy Trinity. The second person of the Holy Trinity is totally human. Pope Benedict has said that, “… man has found an everlasting place in God.”
So where do we go when we die? For baptized believers, we are already in Christ. We go to heaven because we are already in Christ because of our Baptism.
Ascension
Pitchers and Catchers
My first professor for preaching sermons told us he would teach us strictly according to official Church theology as taught in the great Council of Vatican II from the 1960’s, but he said he would use a “baseball analogy”.
He told us to imagine the preacher like a pitcher in baseball. The big game is coming when the pitcher will pitch the game. Like a pitcher, the preacher also prepares. He should pray. He should read the scriptures and study them carefully; and then, pray some more. Good preaching comes out of scripture and prayer and reflection.
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Mary
Resurrection and Repentance
The Resurrection. How would we describe it to someone? No one saw Jesus rise from the dead. So where does our information about the Resurrection come from if nobody saw Jesus emerge from the tomb?
This is where we begin to grow in faith. The various testimonies of the witnesses are consistent, with multiple authors as witnesses, including Peter and John and Matthew. There is Paul who experienced the Risen Jesus on the road to Damascus. We trust the witnesses.
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Resurrection
Easter 2015
God Cannot Die
It is not possible for God to die. The Word of God, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, was not able to die. He had to take from us our mortal flesh. This is the only way he was able to die. This was the only way he could give us eternal life.
Of ourselves we had no power to live, nor did He have the power to die.
Holy Week
God Cannot Die
Reflection on Death
Jesus at the End of His Ministry
In all three readings today, we hear prophecies of the successful outcome of God’s plan of salvation for the human race. Jeremiah, writing 600 years before Jesus’ birth, wrote,
The days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and the house of Judah. (Jer 31:31)
This passage is one of the most important passages in all of Scripture, and it is the clearest foundation for division of the Bible into two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Lent Week IV: How Is It Going?
(Given at Mary Immaculate Church, Kirksville, Mo)
How is your Lent going? Is something changing in your life? Have you determined if anything needs to change to improve your relationship with God? Are you praying? Are you fasting? Been to Confession lately? Are you doing anything? We all want to go to Heaven! Does something have to change? Something has to change! That is what Lent is about!
One thing to examine in Lent would be whether or not you prefer to be more a child of this world, and are resisting becoming a child of God, a citizen of Heaven. How does your behavior have to change to prepare for Eternal Life with God? God won’t force us to go to Heaven. We have to choose God and Eternal Life with Him.