PENTECOST SUNDAY (Year B)
On this, Pentecost Sunday, we come to the end of the Easter Season as we celebrate the birth of the Church and hear an exhortation of how we are to live as the Church. Different readings are prescribed for the Vigil Mass than for the Mass on Sunday and that there are options for both sets of readings. I will reflect on the readings for Sunday that I will use at the Masses I will celebrate. I don’t know which readings Fr. Waters and Fr. Reilly will use, so don’t [...]
THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD
As they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.” (Acts 1:10-11) This past Thursday, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Ascension [...]
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY AND FIRST COMMUNION
Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers of the parish and the mothers of all our parishioners! We all know how important our mothers have been to us as we grew up and so we join with our nation in honoring them today. And, during this ongoing coronavirus pandemic, we become even more aware of the essential role mothers play in our homes in ways that we may have taken for granted in the past. Mother’s Day has a very long history; allow me to offer a little background. The earliest [...]
SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (Year B)
John 15:9 - 17 This Sunday, we hear a continuation from last week of Jesus’ address to the apostles at the Last Supper as presented in John’s Gospel. Whereas last week we heard Jesus provide a parable about the vine and the branches, this week, we hear Jesus speak of the Father’s love and his call to his disciples to love in the same way. As you will read in your footnotes, most scholars consider the section of 13:31 – 17:26 to be Johannine compositions, modeled on farewell discourses found [...]
FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (Year B)
John 15:1 - 8 Last Sunday, we heard Jesus speak of himself as the Good Shepherd. He used that image against the Jewish leaders, whom he, by inference, characterized as bad shepherds, mere hirelings who are in it for themselves. He, on the other hand, was the Good Shepherd who “lays down his life for his sheep.” As I mentioned last week, this is the only occasion in the Gospel of John where Jesus uses a human image as an analogy for himself. This Sunday, we hear Jesus speak [...]
GOOD SHEPERD SUNDAY WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR VOCATIONS
The Fourth Sunday of Easter is also called Good Shepherd Sunday since the gospel every year focuses on Jesus, the Good Shepherd. For the past 58 years, the Church has called us to observe a World Day of Prayer for Vocations on the Fourth Sunday of Easter. Specifically, this day calls us to pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, consecrated or religious life. The purpose of World Day of Prayer for Vocations is to publicly fulfill our Lord's instruction to, "Pray the Lord of the harvest to send [...]