ELEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
After celebrating some of the great feasts of our faith – Pentecost, the Trinity and the Body and Blood of our Lord – we now return to ordinary time, time ordered by God for our salvation. And, we return to hearing from the Gospel of Matthew, the gospel that is featured throughout this liturgical year. The passage we hear this evening follows Matthew’s presentation of our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. Great crowds are following Jesus now as he goes from town to town because they were impressed by his […]
THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST
“The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” (1 Cor 10:16). Last week, we celebrated the central mystery of our faith – the Blessed Trinity. Today, as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ and join with all parishes throughout our country in initiating the parish phase of the Eucharistic Revival sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, […]
EUCHARISTIC REVIVAL – PARISH PHASE
Next week, as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, we will join with all parishes throughout our country in the introduction of the parish phase of the three-year National Eucharistic Revival that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has initiated to renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with our Lord, Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
In preparation for this National Eucharistic Revival, the USCCB published “The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church,” a compelling document to […]
PENTECOST SUNDAY
Today, we celebrate Pentecost, the third most important day of our liturgical year. On Christmas we celebrated the birth of Jesus, the Son of God who became the son of Mary. On Easter we celebrated his victorious resurrection from death. Today, we celebrate his giving of the Holy Spirit. This is presented on two occasions, according to Sacred Scriptures: on Easter day and on the Jewish Feast of Pentecost; we hear of both events in this evening’s readings.
As we just heard from the reading taken from the Gospel of John, […]
PENTECOST SUNDAY
When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
(Acts 2:1-4)
With this dramatic description from today’s first […]
SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
One of my favorite books on prayer is entitled Teach us to Pray, by Louis Evely. As he begins his book, the author writes: “Too many Christians regard God as pilots regard their parachute, namely, good if needed, but better if they can get along without it.” In our very busy world, and our culture of self-sufficiency, many of us find that we pray only when we’re faced with a situation that’s beyond our control. And yet, regular, ongoing prayer is so important. It unites us to God, who is […]