THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER With First Holy Communion
It’s so good to see you children who are about to receive Holy Communion for the first time, all dressed up and excited. I’m delighted that so many members of your family are here, as well, and I hope you know that all of us – everyone here at Mass – is praying for you as you take this important step in being even more a part of our worshiping community. We have this wonderful tradition here in our parish of celebrating First Holy Communion at the regularly scheduled Sunday […]
THE SEDE VACANTE AND THE UPCOMING CONCLAVE
As we continue experiencing a rather unusual time in the Church between the death of Pope Francis and the election of a new pope, allow me to provide you with a step-by-step overview of how the Church operates during this time. Over the 2,000 years of its existence, the Catholic Church has developed laws, regulations and protocols to order its life; the time of the sede vacante (vacant seat) and the upcoming conclave are no exception. This period of time has been regulated over the past 30 years by the […]
SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER
“Peace be with you.” Three times in today’s Gospel, we hear the risen Lord assure his disciples with these comforting words: “Peace be with you.” And, although this greeting of peace, “Shalom,” was a common expression among the Jewish people of his day – as it still is today – it had taken on a much deeper meaning for the followers of Jesus who had just gone through three days filled with anything but peace. It made them remember our Lord’s words of encouragement to them just a few days […]
DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY
HAPPY EASTER! As we bring the Octave of Easter to its conclusion, know that I have kept you in my prayers all week, that you may experience ever more fully the joy of the Resurrection. Today is also Divine Mercy Sunday. How appropriate it is to celebrate our Lord’s mercy as we say farewell to Pope Francis whose years of ministry as our Holy Father were highlighted by his preaching on mercy both in word and deed. Who can forget the first Good Friday that he celebrated as pope. Rather […]
Easter Sunday
So, when did the apostles know? This question seems inevitable in meditating upon Jesus’ Resurrection and the fullness of joy it brings. The gospel readings give us important hints. During last night’s vigil Mass, we heard a passage from the Gospel of Luke where we heard that, after Peter ran to the tomb and saw the burial cloths alone, he went home amazed at what had happened. Did he really know yet? In the gospel passage from John that we heard today – we heard about that the other disciple […]
Mass of the Lord’s Supper
Can you imagine being invited to a friend’s house for dinner and, as you prepare to dig into the first dish, your friend gets up, grabs a towel, a water pitcher and basin and offers to wash your feet. What would you think and how would you feel? For the people of Jesus’ time, it was customary to have the household servant wash the dust off the feet of guests as they entered the house. It was refreshing for the guests after they had walked hot, dusty roads to their […]
EASTER GREETINGS!
Alleluia! This Easter proclamation that we repeat over and over again during the joyful Easter Season has a powerful meaning, one that we should all know and embrace. It is a combination of two Hebrew words: “hallelu” (the plural imperative of “hallel”) which means “praise” and “yah,” the first half of the Hebrew word for God, Yahweh. So, it literally means “everyone praise God!” We should praise God always because of all the good he does for us every moment of our lives. But Easter is the time for us […]