Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your people.

 

PENTECOST  C  2025

Pentecost arrived for the disciples after fifty days of uncertainty.  True, Jesus had risen.  Overjoyed, they had seen him, listened to his words and even shared a meal with him.  Yet they had not overcome their doubts and fears.  They still met behind locked doors.

This leads us to ask what fears do we have that we have not overcome and that keep us behind locked doors? 

Initially the disciples were locked in the upper room out of fear.  On the Day of Pentecost those locked doors were thrown open; the fear in the disciples was replaced with a Spirit-filled courage and enthusiasm.  They were now fearless proclaimers of the Word of God.

What had changed for the disciples?  They received the Holy Spirit.

The great truth of Pentecost – for the first disciples and for us as well – is that the Holy Spirit has the power to enlarge and expand the human heart if we allow the Spirit of Jesus to grow and enliven us from within.

The feast of Pentecost brings to a close the season of Easter because the gift of the Spirit is the inevitable outcome of the death and resurrection of Jesus. The church understood clearly that what happened to Jesus on Easter Sunday was not just an amazing miracle to prove that he really was the Son of God. It was rather the next step in God’s desire to heal, once and for all, the relationship between himself and a broken humanity. Now the outpouring of the Spirit of Jesus means that our relationship with God is fundamentally transformed. So, let’s celebrate of our new life in the Spirit and the birthday of the church as the new people of God.

In today’s first Scripture reading, we hear how the Holy Spirit was given to the followers of Jesus.   Listen again: “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 of fire, which parted and came to rest on each of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled to proclaim.”

The great meaning of Pentecost is that it was time for God to be born again not in one body that was Jesus but this time in a body of believers who would receive the breath of life from their Lord and pass it to others.  We see how the growth of the Church took place with the influence of the Holy Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles.  The Book of Acts is the story of the incredible growth of the first Christian communities.  The Acts of the Apostles is kind of like a Gospel of the Holy Spirit.  In the first four books of the New Testament, we learn the Good News of what God did through Jesus Christ in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  In the Book of Acts of the Apostles, we learn the Good News of what God did through the Holy Spirit.

The first and foremost attribute of the servant church is its daring openness to the Spirit.  It is our prayer that the Church make room for the release of the Spirit in the life of the community and the courage to act when it does.  We are not to fall back into being the safe and self-absorbed church, but rather a place of miraculous hope and extravagant hospitality.

God chose a young virgin named Mary to bear God’s Son, and Jesus chose a bunch of Galilean fishermen to share in His ministry.   God chooses you and me to hear his message of hope and promise and love in this place and in our world this day.

 Defensive Christianity is not a Biblical idea.  The posture of Christian disciples is not hiding in fear to protect ourselves.   No, the disciples are sent to proclaim the Good News of the love of Jesus to one and all.  St. Joseph’s and Holy Spirit are called to be sister parishes who help and serve and love one another.

In receiving the Holy Spirit, the first disciples received the gift of forgiveness.  They also were able to speak in tongues and so were understood by those listening.  There is a universal language in which everyone understands and embracing all difference: a language of forgiveness.  I think if we can forgive each other that action crosses all cultures and invites whoever is the Other to see us as brothers and sisters.

Now more than ever, we invoke the Holy Spirit to wipe away the darkness of anxiety allowing us to be guided by the light of Christ and to trust in God’s promise of new life.

Our Gospel today takes place on Easter evening.  On that first evening they were gathered in a house with the doors locked, because they were afraid – afraid of being killed, just as Jesus had been killed three days before.  But Jesus was among them, and He said: “Peace be with you.”  To this scared group of former followers, the Risen Christ begins by bringing the peace of God.

Filled with inner peace that only God can give, our hearts are like a deep sea, which remains peaceful, even when its surface is swept by waves.  

The Church today still needs a new Pentecost – not a one-time event, but a continuous openness to the Spirit.  Let us not keep the Spirit locked in the Upper Room.  Let the Spirit send us out – into our families , our schools, our workplaces, our streets – to speak the language of Christ:  the language of love, mercy, truth, and hope.

 

Come, Holy Spirit.  Fill  the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.

Have a Blessed Day.

 

Life itself is our best school, and God is our teacher.

 

Seventh Sunday of Easter  C   2025

We find ourselves on this 7^th Sunday of Easter in a kind of in-between time.  The Ascension has taken place – Jesus has returned to the Father – and Pentecost is just around the corner.  The Church waits in prayer and anticipation go the coming of the Holy Spirit.  It’s a sacred pause,a time of transition.  And today’s readings speak to us deeply about saying good bye and embracing the mission Jesus gives to the Church.

Today between the Feasts of the Ascension and Pentecost, we are marking Jesus’ leave taking from the disciples.  There is sadness for the disciples of Jesus on the Feast of the Ascension.  What the first disciples had to learn is a lesson for all of us -- many, many times we have to let go and say good-bye and trust that with each letting go, God promises that he will not leave us orphans.  We have to change many times in our discipleship journey.  We choose some of the good-byes of life; other times our good-byes are not of our own choosing.  With each transition, we are called to trust in God’s continuous presence in our life.

Personally, today is my 57^th anniversary of priestly ordination.  I am many times blessed.  Over these many years, I have had several assignments which involves saying  good bye to people I love in one assignment and trusting in God’s plan for me in my next ministry assignment.  Also, I have presided over many, many funerals in my family and my parish family of beloved parishioners.

With each goodbye we experience, we are called to trust more fully in God’s continuous presence in our life.  God never says goodbye but always us to trust more fully in his unending love for us.

I invite you to hold on to this truth:  Life itself is the best school.  God is our teacher.  The problems we are facing right now are our best assignment from God.  In your present challenge, whatever it is, you may have to let go; you may have to take a risk; but please God this challenge may invite you to place even more trust in the plan of God for your life.  We face challenges in our community, in our parish, and In our personal life. We are facing the challenge of senseless gun violence in our schools and in the streets of our city:  we are facing the devastation of the war in Ukraine and in the Middle East; in our parish life we ask ourselves how can we better engage the young families in our parish; in grieving the loss of a family member; in dealing with your illness or sickness in one you love, we are left with questions that don’t have the answers we would like.

As I say, life itself is our best school.  God is our teacher.  In the problems we are facing just now, what are we called to let go up and take the risk of faith and to trust even more deeply in the plan of God for our lives.

The Gospel is taken from the end of Jesus’ prayer at the Last Supper.  We are privileged to eavesdrop on Jesus’ intimate prayer with his heavenly Father.  In the Upper Room on the Eve of his Passion, the Lord prayed for his disciples gathered around him.  At the same time, Jesus looked ahead to community of disciples of all centuries.  In his prayer for all disciples of all time, he saw us too, and prayed for us.  He prayed that we be consecrated in truth.

In today’s Gospel, we are listening to the prayer of Jesus to his heavenly Father.  This takes place at the Last Supper with Jesus being conscious of His impending death on the cross.  Jesus does not see his death as ending, but rather his going home to his heavenly Father and a new way of being with us who are in the world.

Overhearing Jesus at prayer is our way of understanding the identity of Jesus and our participation in the divine plan.  The mission of Jesus to be become our mission.  What is this mission – to release divine love into the world. This is such an awesome mission for us as a parish community.

 May the prayer of Jesus be our prayer as well.  The prayer of Jesus is that we all may be one.  Jesus prayed for us to experience a unity based on our love for one another.  We needn’t be reminded for its need.  We often witness breakdowns of communication in families, enmity among members of the same faith community, dissension in civil society. 

Jesus’ unity  is to overcome all such divisions, especially those within the fold.  Jesus wants a unity like that between himself and the Father – a unity that preserves individuality, but which is close and intimate.  That union of the Father and the Son is our model.  It is a unity in which people will love and serve each other because they love and serve him; it is heart speaking to heart.  Its key is love.

Like Jesus, we find our glory in doing not what we will but what God wills.  What would it take for all of us to be committed to the petition we make in the Our Father: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” 

In the first Scripture reading today, Stephen was beautifully releasing divine love into the world by offering forgiveness to those who were stoning him to death.  Forgiveness is an essential element for achieving the unity that Jesus prayed for.

What a challenge this is for us.  We may not face martyrdom, but we all face situations of conflict and hurt.  Can we – like Stephen – pray for those who wrong us?  Can we work toward reconciliation in our families, communities, and parishes?

 

At the end of the day, may we claim the prayer of Jesus to be our own prayer.  Jesus prayed: “I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”  We are missioned to make the Lord’s name known in our parish and in our community. We make the Lord’s name known best when we release divine love into our world.

Lord, make us instruments of your peace.

 

Have a Blessed Day.

 

 

 

The peace that Jesus brings begins and ends with love.

 

Sixth Sunday of Easter C  2025

 

The final wishes or words of a loved one near death have a way of remaining with us.   Powerful words between the dying and the living is a sacred moment.   I can think of a parishioner whose last words to his wife were: “I love you.”  His last words to me were: “I am ready to go home to God.”  These beautiful last words of this parishioner are seared in my memory.

The Gospel today are the last words of Jesus as he spoke to his disciples at the Last Supper on the night before he died.  This is Jesus’ going away conversation with his disciples.  Listen again to the last words of Jesus to His disciples: “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you.  Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”

Have you ever thought about the gift you would pass to your loved ones?  Many of us have a will in which we carefully think what to do with your assets after your death.  It goes without saying that it is a good idea to have a will.  But when we think about a will, we usually think about our material assets and who gets what.  Today’s Gospel is taken from the last will and testament of Jesus in His conversation with his apostles.

The farewell gift of Jesus was a not a bequest of his earthly goods.  It was a gift far more important.

Jesus is departing from this earth and, as every dying person, wishes to reveal a gift.    Jesus names peace as what he wants to leave.  He immediately specifies it as my peace.  It is not like the peace of this world.   Whenever everything is going well, we can manage a certain amount of inner calm.  However, when bad times come, calm is replaced by anxiety and fear.  We shake with the wind, vacillate with the circumstances.

Peace is a complicated word with many interpretations.  We deploy our well-equipped military around the world as peacekeepers.  Some people passionately fight for uncontrolled gun ownership which they believe will ensure peace.  Yet despite all of our energy and resources we put into protecting ourselves, we still are not at peace.

 Perhaps we are looking for peace in the wrong places.  Jesus urges, “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”  His words refocus us to the question.  “What needs to happen in our hearts so that we can find peace?”  The peace that Jesus brings begins and ends with love. 

Tensions in families are often unavoidable.  However, which is more likely to bring reassuring healing to this friction – anger and revenge, or compassion and forgiveness?   Turbulence in the stock markets can leave us greedily scrambling for an economic advantage, or we can humbly trust God to provide for our needs.

Stress can keep us up at night, damage our health and suck the joy out of life.  But what if we enjoyed the peace that only God can give, and it is a peace that is rooted in the conviction that nothing can separate us from the love of God.  This non-abandoning presence of Good is revealed in the cross of Christ and is the source of our inner peace.

What is the peace that Jesus brings?  With hectic schedules, where time for family, friends, work, study, errands – and relaxation – must be planned for each day, we look for ways to simplify our lifestyles to find some peace.  Banks and investment services offer any number of services to manage our money so that we can have “peace of mind.”

The peace Jesus gives is not imposed but given as a gift, not just a brief vacation but a centering peace in which Jesus says to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”

We today live in the same space that Jesus was speaking with his disciples.  The Lord does not leave us orphans.  Rather he sends the Holy Spirit to be with us all our days.  The inner gift of peace is the Lord’s lasting legacy to us

But the peace that is Jesus’s gift for us can only be given birth by living the Gospel.  A beautiful example of the Christian dream of peace can be seen in the first Scripture reading taken from the Acts of the Apostle about life in the early Christian community.  The Church worked out a new peace through disagreement.  Each side was given a chance to represent its position and each side was listened to.  In the end, each side also gave up some of its demands, so that a new consensus emerged.  Christians, it was decided, need not follow all Jewish customs (like circumcision) but they need to follow some which were considered essential.  Disagreement was not crushed or avoided but acknowledged, and people of good will were led to a compromise.

Let us pray for a deep trust in God’s promise of peace and strive in our way to see it a reality.

There is both blessing and responsibility in Christ’s love.  Jesus unconditionally gives us His love so we can know and grow in love.  The gift we have been given is meant to be shared so that others can know and grow in peace.  Where and how are you as a Christian being called to share your love and promote the peace of Christ in our world today?

For us at the parish community of St. Joseph’s, we seek at all times to be guided by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.  Like the first Christian communities from the accounts in the Acts of the Apostles, all need to be able to express their convictions; we need to listen to one another;  decisions need to be made under the guidance of the Holy Spirit; and, most of all, we need to embrace the peace that only God can give and share our love with one another.

 

Have a Blessed Day.

 

 

 

 

 

Pope Leo calls us to build bridges and to dialogue with love.

 

FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER C 2025

 

 

Today we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of the Easter Season - Good Shepherd Sunday.  We are invited to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd. 

 

We celebrate and pray for our new Holy Father – Pope Leo XIV.  An American from Chicago; an Augustinian priest in fact he became the superior general of the Augustinians; a missionary to Peru where he became bishop; a Vatican official in charge of the appointment of bishops for Pope Francis.

 

As Pope, we look forward to Pope Leo being the Good Shepherd of our Church in the footsteps of Jesus himself.

 

In the Pope’s first words to us:  “We have to seek together to be a missionary Church.  He called the Church to build bridges and to dialogue with love.  To show charity to all.”

 

From the Gospel:  Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.”

 

The Shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  The sheep follow him because they do not follow the voice of a stranger.

 

What are the voices in your life in which you are safe and very much loved?  How well do we recognize the voice of Jesus in our life?

 

Today we celebrate Mother’s Day, and we ask God’s many blessings to be with our mothers.  As we think of the voices in our lives in which we feel safe and very much loved.  We think of our mother’s love.  Who is the first person that spoke to you the words: “I love you.”  For me, those words were first spoken to me by my mom. 

 

On the day of my ordination to the priesthood, it was my mother’s faith and love for me that revealed the face of God’s love in a privileged way.

 

May be ever thankful for the people in our lives who help to recognize the voice of God in our lives.

 

Who in your family speaks words of unconditional love to you?  Who in our faith community speaks words to you to assure you that you are safe and very much loved?  Who is the first person who spoke to you the words: “I love you?”  Who is the last person to say those words to you?  When was the last time you spoke the words “I love you” to someone?

 

The challenge for all of us is that we live in a time and in a society in which there are many voices that demand our attention. We hear them all the time, from our first conscious moment till the day we die.  Voices hurt us, heal us, form our self-concept, encourage or diminish us.   What voices do our youth listen to in the video games and the music and the culture that fantasizes and celebrates violence in all forms of our media?

 

There are voices from Wall Street that demand our attention as we seek financial security for our lives.  There are voices of Broadway that seek to entertain us in so many ways.  Sometimes positively, other times not so much.  There are voices from our smart phone that continuously demand our attention.

 

What would it take for the voice of the Good Shepherd to be the dominant voice that we hear in our hearts?   Perhaps Jesus could hire a better advertising firm?  An improved website?  More money?  Surely, it is much deeper than that.  There is a critical need for moral leadership in our society and in our church. We need to be able to hear the stirrings of God’s love that is within – our inner voice.

 

For the voice of the Good Shepherd to be our dominant voice, we need to tap into the inner resources of the mystery of God’s love that is within each one of us.  There is a longing in the hearts of each of us to hear and to know the voice of the Good Shepherd.

 

A major question for you and for me is are we able to quiet ourselves down each day in prayer to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd that is within us?

 

Today is the World Day of Prayer for Vocations.  Vocation comes from the Latin word vocare “to call.”  Our vocation is our response to the call of God in our lives.  By Baptism, God calls us to be disciples, to be witnesses of His presence in our world.  All of us have a vocational story to share.  Your vocational story is to be found in the way you share the giftedness you have been given in relationships, in the work, and in the ways you live your life.  Your vocational story is your continuous response to God’s call.  To be aware of your vocation is to be aware of the voice of God in your life on this day.

 

In the context of celebrating all the ways we hear and respond to the voice of the Good Shepherd in our lives, may we encourage, may we pray that some of the young men from our faith community will consider the call of God to the ordained priesthood.   For me, the vocation of my ministry as a priest has been a source of grace, considerable joy, and a wonderful opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives.  It has given me the opportunity to get to know you and for us together to celebrate the mystery of God’s love in our midst.  Without any doubt, the Church needs people to respond to the call to the ordained ministry as a deacon and as a priest. 

 

As we know in the life of our parish community, we also need men and women to respond to the call of lay ecclesial ministry.  We are blessed by the generosity of our lay ecclesial ministers.

 

Each of us is called to lead others to the gracious mercy of God.  Like the Good Shepherd, we do not do this by herding or forcing people along.  We seek to live lives of such self-evident joy that others can trust that we are leading them in the path of life eternal.

 

Jesus, our Good Shepherd, give us the grace to gently lead others to become more aware of our love and of God’s love.

 

As we continue the Eucharist, where the Good Shepherd feeds us with His Body and Blood, let us pray for the grace to know Him more deeply, to trust Him more fully, and to love others more generously.

 

Have a Blessed Day.

 

Jesus, I trust in you.

 

Second Sunday of Easter  C  2025

Divine Mercy Sunday

 

On this the Second Sunday of Easter, on this Divine Mercy Sunday, as we gather to celebrate this Eucharistic mystery, we proclaim that Jesus is the face of the Father’s Divine Mercy.  In today’s Gospel, the Risen Jesus appeared to His disciples who were behind locked doors in a state of fear.  The first words that Jesus spoke: “Peace be with you.”  Jesus then went on to speak of forgiveness: “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven then.”

We clearly see the power of Divine Mercy as Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit on these afraid, grieving, doubting disciples who were huddled behind locked doors.  Jesus shared with his apostles the grace of the Divine Mercy of God.  As the recipients of the merciful love of Jesus, these original apostles were transformed into fearless disciples who were missioned to proclaim God’s mercy with one and all.

Today we pray the novena of the divine mercy chaplet; we seek the intercession of Sister Faustina who received apparitions from Jesus resulting in the familiar Divine Mercy image.  In  the 1930’s, Jesus chose a humble Polish nun, sister Maria Faustina Kowalska to receive private revelations concerning Divine Mercy that were recorded in her diary.

In the very familiar Divine Mercy Image, the red and white rays emanate from the heart of Jesus symbolizing the blood and water that was poured out on the cross for our salvation and sanctification.  The red rays recall the blood which is the sacrifice of Golgotha and the mystery of the Eucharist.  The white rays symbolize the water of baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Through the wounded heart of Jesus, His merciful love is showered upon us.  The wounds of Jesus are the wounds of mercy to us.  In the revelation recorded by Sister Faustina, the Lord requested that the words: “Jesus, I trust in you” be inscribed under the image.

Jesus is the face of the Father’s Mercy.  As we are nourished by the body and blood of Jesus, we are the generous recipients of the merciful love of Jesus.

I invite you to consider the faith journey of the apostle Thomas on this Divine Mercy Sunday.  Thomas is the recipient of the Father’s Divine Mercy.

The popular interpretation of Thomas is that he is doubting Thomas -- seen in a bit of a negative light.  I invite you to revisit this Easter Gospel and see Thomas as a model of faith.

I suggest Thomas is teaching the important lesson that we must not separate the resurrection from the cross.  We are the disciples of the crucified as well as the risen Lord.   We cannot live the life of grace authentically unless we bear in our bodies the wounds of the cross.  This means being conscious that we develop the capacity to love and be loved only by dying to ourselves.  Our wounds are also a constant reminder of our frailty, and that it is God’s grace that raises us up to new life.

Thank you, Thomas for bringing honesty into our faith, for helping to acknowledge at times that there are areas in our life that Jesus is not yet Lord.  Thomas didn’t pretend that he was better than he was. He began by wanting proof and ended by being glad of faith.  He is the patron saint of transitions and steps in faith.  Faith is a journey.  The community was the place he found faith, having lost it when he tried to go it alone.  Then he came back to the community of faith and went on a journey of life that took him to martyrdom in India.

The Bible describes mercy as a gift of God, a gift that is to be given to those who need it.  Establishing the abiding faithfulness of God, we the Church of the Holy Spirit are to circulate mercy, to pay it forward irrespective of deservedness, inviting one and all to experience the merciful love of Jesus.

On this Divine Mercy Sunday, my hunch is that we who are gathered today come from all over the spiritual landscape.  There is a side of us that is doubting Thomas and there is a side of us that is the believing Thomas.  Each one of us is unique.  This is not by accident.  It is by God’s design that there is no perfect cookie-cutter approach of the journey of faith for Catholics.  We need to dispense with the myth that there is one size that fits all for us as Catholic Christians.

The journey of faith of each one of us is unique.  But it is the plan of Jesus that we are better together as a parish community rather than as isolated individuals.  This was the experience of the apostle Thomas, and I suggest that in this community may you experience again the merciful love of Jesus in the love we have for each other as a parish community.

Thomas, “the twin,” has many brothers and sisters in today’s Church.  Most of us are doubters at some point in life.   When I’m out of sync in a significant relationship in my life, I can be out of sync in my relationship with the Lord.  Resurrection faith is crucial, but often we want to believe on our own terms. 

Jesus is the model leader and spiritual guide.  He is pleased to give Thomas the assurance he is looking for and then challenges him to look forward to the day when he will believe without seeing – always in the Jesus who passes through death to resurrection.

The Risen Lord never gives up on us as He never gave up on Thomas.  The Lord encounters us in the circumstances of our life.  We seek to live a new life trusting in the Spirit of the Risen Lord.

Jesus on this Divine Mercy Sunday is pleased to give what you are looking for in your journey of faith.  Jesus does not want His Body, the Church, to remain in the tomb but always raise her up to new life.  Each of us is not to remain in the tomb of our doubts, of our fears, of our anxieties.

Lord, we thank you for friends, leaders and spiritual guides who challenge us as Jesus challenged Thomas.  But may we like Thomas know that we need to see the scars and the wounds for us also to believe in resurrection and new life.  Thomas professes the true faith of the church.  We too must insist that the Jesus we follow is the true Jesus, the one whose risen body bears the wounds of Calvary.

On this Divine Mercy Sunday, may live in a state of thanksgiving for God’s redemptive mercy that is shared with each and every one of us.  And may the Gospel we proclaim help us to recognize that scars are the pathway to our sharing in the Risen life of Christ.  This was the journey of the apostle Thomas.  It is the journey for each one of us.

Have a Blessed Day

We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song.

 

EASTER 2025

Today is about abundance! The abundance of food and drink, of family and friends, of gratitude and hope. Today is about an abundance of Grace.  Today is a day of Easter joy.  We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song.

And yet, on the first Easter day, the first disciples did not exactly experience the Resurrection event with the magnificence of Easter music and Easter flowers and a wonderful sense of celebration.  The first disciples did not immediately proclaim: We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song.

For the first disciples, their Easter faith was much more gradual.  The first disciples encountered the empty tomb before experiencing the Risen Lord.  The Easter Gospel speaks of the empty tomb experiences of Mary Magdalene and the apostles Peter and John.  They only gradually came to an Easter faith.

An important truth of our lives is that we discover important things about our lives at the empty tomb. 

Just as the first disciples experienced the empty tomb before they came to a resurrection faith, we need to encounter the empty tombs of our own lives – whether the cancer will be cured, or we will love again, or find a job that fulfills our calling. 

As with the first disciples, our empty tomb experiences are the moments of darkness and confusion in life.  As we peer into the empty tombs of the ups and downs of everyday life, we are challenged to see and believe as the apostle John did as he stared into the empty tomb.

 

Ours is an Easter religion.  For us Easter is a living reality.  We do not deny the challenges, the setbacks, the darkness, the grieving we experience, the anxiety that too often gets the best of us.

We do not deny these miseries, but we refuse to surrender to their power because of our faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Suffering will be vindicated; death will be overcome; a new life will arise: that is the Easter message of the paschal mystery. We do not deny these miseries, but we refuse to surrender to their power because of our faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I invite you to use the prayerthat is meaningful to me:   “Lord of Easter’s Promise, I live in faith of the Resurrection, but . . . so much of me remains entombed. Break open the tomb so that I may live with a Easter Joy.”

May our Easter faith in the presence of the Risen Christ within our hearts fill us with an Easter joy.   Allow yourself to be loved by the God who goes with us in all situations of life. Be assured that with the eyes of faith the vaccine we most need is found in our solidarity with the Risen Lord and in our solidarity with each other as a community of faith.

We are an Easter people.  This means that we are not buried in the tomb of our sins, evil habits, or dangerous addictions.  Our Resurrection faith gives us the Good News that no tomb can hold us down anymore -- not the tomb of despair, discouragement or doubt, not that of death.  Instead, the joy of the Risen Lord fills our spirit.

May we listen as the Risen Lord  calls us by name and welcomes us into the joy of sharing in His Risen life. 

Whenever and wherever we trust and hope in the light that comes from the risen Lord, our spiritual darkness fades away.   May you too be very much in touch with how the spirit of the Risen Lord lives in your family and in our parish family.

Today is the day of Easter joy.   We proclaim the centerpiece of our Catholic Christian faith:  Jesus Christ is Risen from the dead.  Alleluia! Alleluia!  Today we celebrate the reason why we are a people of hope and new life.  Today we cast off fear and make a leap of faith.  Liturgically we light the Easter candle because we believe in the light that comes from the Risen Lord.  This Easter candle needs to be lit in the deep recesses of our hearts. 

In every way possible to say it, the Lord’s Easter message is that all are welcome; all are forgiven; all are invited to the Easter banquet.  Does this mean that anything goes, that our Church is a Church without rules or discipline?   Of course not.   It does mean that the Lord’s love and Risen Life is to be shared by all.  There is nothing we can do to stop God from loving us.  Yes, we do need to open ourselves to the forgiveness and reconciliation and love the Lord extends to us.  And as sure as the sun rises each day, when our hearts are touched by the love of Jesus, we are motivated to share this love with one and all.  

More than ever on this beautiful Easter day, we need to trust and embrace the grace Jesus offers.  The Risen Jesus calls us by name and offers us the grace to walk away from the empty tombs of the fears and the demons of our lives so that we live with Easter joy and an Easter peace.  This indeed is our journey to an Easter faith.

For me my Easter dream is that we as a parish family  gather to give thanks to the Lord our God because God desires our Easter friendship.  May we allow the Risen Lord to fill this world and our hearts with his love.

In the words of Pope Francis, the grandeur of life lies not in possessions and promotions, but in realizing that we are loved and in experiencing the beauty of loving others.

In his farewell message to his disciples at the Last Supper said: “By this all shall know that you are my disciples, by your love for one another.”

God desires our Easter friendship. God desires that we share our friendship with each other.  May we allow the Risen Lord to fill this world and our hearts with His love.

Have a blessed Easter day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rejoice, O Mother Church, exult in glory. Jesus Christ, our King, is risen.

 

Easter Vigil 2025

With this solemn Easter Vigil, we celebrate the centerpiece of our Catholic Christian faith – the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Indeed, this is  the most sacred night of the liturgical year.

We began this solemn Easter Vigil with the lighting of the Easter Fire in the landscaped area at the front entrance of the Church.  From the Easter fire, we lit the Easter candle, the Christ candle – the light of the Risen Christ that overcomes the darknesses of our lives. 

After lighting the Christ Candle, we enter the Church in darkness.  It is the darkness of the closed-up tomb where Jesus’ body lay on Holy Saturday.  The stone has been rolled in front of it.  No light enters.  It is utterly dark.

In our prayer, the darkness of the Church at the beginning of our liturgy speaks to the daily reality of our lives at times.  This is where many of us live from time to time. Yes, there are times when we live between death and resurrection. It is the valley of grief and unknowing--for us as well as for the first disciples. On Holy Saturday we, and they, don't know what the future will bring. Whether the cancer will be cured, or we will love again, or find a job that fulfills our calling. It can be a time of dark uncertainty.

Into the darkness of our lives, we proclaim the great Easter mystery that the light of the Risen Christ overcomes the darkness of our lives.  Susan Gividen proclaimed the Easter mystery in the singing of the Exultet.

Rejoice, heavenly powers!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor!

Rejoice, O Mother Church, exult in glory.

Sound the trumpet of salvation.

Jesus Christ, our King, is Risen!

Let this place resound in joy,

Echoing the song of all God’s people!

 

Then in the Liturgy of the Word, we are swept through the landscape of our salvation history.

From the first Scripture reading, the creation account from the Book of Genesis, “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep..." In the beginning, all was a dark void. And in this empty tomb where Jesus was buried, we find the same reality--it is a dark void.  How many times will we find ourselves in that dark place? A place where any ray of hope is extinguished in the vacuum of fear, of not knowing, of total emptiness.

Darkness is shorthand for anything that scares me--either because I am sure that I do not have the resources to survive it or because I do not want to find out.

But in that place, somehow through the grace of God, we must be patient. We must wait for the wind of the Spirit, the "wind from God that sweeps over the face of the waters" to fan the dim embers of our faith.

"Then God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light.... God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day."

You see, both darkness and light are part of the first day. Darkness and light are halves of every day ever since that first day. Darkness and light are essential parts of our lives. And when we find ourselves in that dark lonely place, we must remind ourselves of this truth. There will always ultimately be light in the midst of the darkness.

In the second Scripture reading from the Book of Exodus, as God leads Moses and the Israelites out of Egypt at night, the Israelites cry out to God in fear and uncertainty as they see the massive army of Pharaoh in pursuit behind them, while in front of them is the sea--they are trapped in the darkness of fear and faithlessness. "It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness!" they cry out. But Moses tells them, "Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today.... The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still."

It is so hard to keep still in the fearful dark, isn't it? It is so hard to trust that the wind of God's spirit will, finally, blow on the dim embers of our cooling faith.

Thanks be to God, the angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them."  The divine presence, the angel of God, glowing within the cloud in the darkness, blocks the oncoming threat of the Egyptian army. You see, there will always be light in the midst of darkness. God will show up at night. We have only to keep still.

Darkness is part of every day. But there will be light. What would our lives with God look like if we trusted this rhythm of darkness and light instead of fighting it? 

Then in the Gospel, the angels announce to the women of Jerusalem that Jesus has been raised from the dead as he had foretold.  Alleluia, Alleluia. The final word was not the death of Jesus.  The resurrection of Jesus gives us the mystery of our faith that in dying we ar born to eternal life.

Following this Liturgy of the Word, we will joyfully celebrate the Sacraments of Initiation with our RCIA candidates.  They have been on a spiritual journey all of their lives.  Some time ago, they have heard God’s call and enrolled in the RCIA program.  They have been praying and discerning, and we have been praying for them.

As a faith community, we rejoice with an Easter joy in welcoming our elect fully into the sacramental life of the Church, the mystery of the dying and rising of Christ Jesus.

As well as rejoicing with our elect, we will all be invited back to the baptismal font to renew our baptismal commitment to live our discipleship of the Lord Jesus.

The final movement of the great Easter Vigil is the Liturgy of the Eucharist. 

We gather to give thanks to the Lord our God.  In Eucharist, we are fed and nourished at the Table of the Lord.  We share in the mystery of the dying and rising of Christ Jesus.  As the community of the baptized and as a Eucharistic community, we proclaim that we are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song.