The man born blind and our "own blindness."

In this Sunday's Gospel, we have the healing of the man born blind.  In the Gospel of John, the people encountering Jesus are in a way every man and every woman.  Their encounters are narrated for our sake that in them we may recognize ourselves and be drawn into meeting Jesus.  In the encounter with the blind man, may we be in touch with our blindness and be drawn to encounter Jesus, the light of the world.

As we reflect on the words of Jesus as the light of the world, we come to understand the movement from darkness to light involves more than physical sight.  The Gospel calls us to spiritual sightedness.

The Gospel challenges each of us to recognize ourselves in the person and the experience of the man born blind.  What are the spiritual blindnesses of your life in which you seek the light of Christ in this Lenten season?  Perhaps it is the busyness of our life that causes us to neglect our inner life, our life with God.  Indeed, that busyness can cause spiritual blindness.

Jesus' disciples see the blind and raise the theological issue -- "Rabbi, who sinned?  Jesus, on the other hand, sees the blind man and responds to him with great love. As a true shepherd, he restores his sight.  

This past weekend, we had a pre-cana session for couples in the parish preparing to celebrate the Sacrament of Marriage.  This very enriching day for our per-cana couples concluded with the Saturday celebration of the Eucharist at our 5:00 Mass.

On Sunday morning, we welcomed our scouts to the 9:00 Eucharist and and a delicious pancake breakfast following.

Thanks be to God for all the people we welcome to our Sunday Eucharist.

Bishop Matano at St Joseph's and the Gospel of the Samaritan Woman

On Saturday Evening, a very full Church welcomed  Bishop Salvatore Matano to St. Joseph's.  We were honored by the Bishop's presence among us and were inspired by his deep faith in leading us in the celebration of the Eucharist.  As our shepherd and spiritual leader, the Bishop is pleased to come to our parish.

In the reception following the liturgy, the Bishop greeted everyone individually with considerable warmth and genuine care.  All of us were touched by the Bishop's desire to get to know us.  Each and every time we celebrate the Eucharist, we hold the Bishop in prayer.  We look forward to April 24th when Bishop Matano will confirm our candidates for Confirmation.

The Gospel tells the story of the intriguing conversation of Jesus with the Samaritan woman.  It is a wonderful story of conversion.  Through her encounter with Jesus, she went from being considered an outcast and an outsider to becoming a missionary, an evangelizer who brought people to Jesus.

Even as the Samaritan woman initially spoke to Jesus with sarcasm and hurt in the tone, Jesus accepted her with great love.  In faith, Jesus revealed to her that she had within herself the wellspring of eternal living, living water, the life of Jesus.

Jesus revealed to her that he was the Messiah.

In our encounters with Jesus, do we experience the Lord listening to our story with great love.  Jesus wishes to lead us to something more than water from the well.  Jesus gives us the "living water" in which we will never thirst again.  Jesus showers us with limitless divine love that satisfies the deepest longing of our heart.

Through our Eucharistic encounter with Jesus, may we be moved to be missionaries, evangelizers.  May we we too bring people to Jesus.

How do we experience the Lord?

For the Gospel for the Second Sunday of Lent, Jesus took the apostles Peter, James, and John up the mountain and was transfigured before their eyes.  They were given a glimpse of the Risen Lord to strengthen then in their journey to Jerusalem.  This journey to Jerusalem is code for the true meaning of discipleship of the Lord Jesus.  For it was in Jerusalem that Jesus was to experience suffering, the cross, and even death.  To be a disciple of Jesus means to be a follower of the crucified Lord as well as the Risen Lord.

As disciples, none of us get a free pass on dealing with the cross in life.  It goes with the territory of being a follower of Jesus.  However the cross is not a dead-end street.  Rather, our crosses in life when united with the cross of Jesus is the path to resurrection and new life.  The cross teaches us the life lesson of the meaning of love -- love of others and love of God.

The transfiguration moments of our life, when we experience the Lord and His unending love for us, are meant to strengthen us in faith in dealing with the setbacks of life.  Thanks be to God for the transfiguration experiences of life.  We don't need to climb the mountain.  We need just to be aware of how the Lord shares His love with us.

In our Lenten journey, we need to go to Jerusalem.  Be awake of the gifts of transfiguration experiences that help us to be spirit-filled and guide in our path of discipleship.

The temptations of Jesus and our temptations as well.

On this the First Sunday of Lent, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.  In our Lenten journey, we enter the same space as Jesus.  We are led by the Spirit into the desert experience of Lent through fasting and self-denial and then are tested with the demons that are within us -- the demons of too much busyness, addictions that enslave us, the faces of those we are unable to love.

The desert is the place of struggle in life.   The desert is also the place where we encounter God.  The places of struggle in life can lead us to trust in God's unending love for us.

The real temptation of Satan was to offer Jesus a way to be the Messiah without the cross.  It is our temptation as well -- to be a disciple without the experience of the cross in life.  The cross is part of who Jesus is, and it is an enduring sign of His unconditional love for us.  In our Lenten journey, we take up the cross by embracing spiritual disciplines.  We also take up the cross by our commitment to trust in God's healing presence in the face of the brokenness that causes us to lose our spiritual footing.

Lent is a wonderful time to be honest with ourselves and to recognize that which is not yet transformed within us.  We are then invited to place our lives more completely in the hands and the heart of a God who loves us infinitely.

This afternoon we had a great family Lenten gathering in which we engaged in prayer, talks on the meaning of Lent, and activities that involved everyone in the family.  Thank you to Eva Mascadri and Jeanne Mooney and the team.

We also had the RCIA Rite of Election at Sacred Heart Cathedral this afternoon  with Bishop Matano in which William Paul, Adam Welz, Nicole Diehl, Virginia Falcon, Daniel Henry, James King, and Vincent Tassone took another step on their journey to be fully initiated as members of our Catholic faith community.

This evening our middle school and high school youth gathered for their FAITH NIGHT reflecting on the miracles and parables of Jesus.  The faith community of St. Joseph's is fully engaged in our desire to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

What is most important in our lives?

In his homily, Deacon Duncan Harris asked us to reflect upon:  who do we worship; to whom do we belong; what is most important in our lives?  We must all confess that we, at times, do not walk our talk.  The way we live our lives leaves a confusing message.

May we have the desire to place God first in our lives as we focus on the conversion the Season of Lent calls us to.  May we embrace the Lenten spiritual disciplines that enable us to focus on Jesus and our call to discipleship.

This weekend at the 9:00 liturgy, we prayed and celebrated with our girl scouts in giving praise to our God.

Joyfully in the sacrament of Baptism, we welcomes five new members to our faith community:  Angela Mary Phillips, Charles Germano, Hailey Mensinga, Mia DiLorenzo, and Evan Lawrence Hill (my grand nephew).