Holy Spirit of Christ, live and move and breathe in me. Speak your words of peace, love, and truth through me. Perform your works of charity, mercy, and power through me. Sing your hymns of praise, joy, and beauty through me. Serve your needy and poor through me. Weep your tears of sorrow and grief through me. Endure your pain and suffering through me. Forgive poor souls through me. Love your beloved children through me.…
God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord. Psalm 47:6/9 St. Augustine said, “Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend with him.” What does this mean to you, to have your heart ascend with Christ? In the Mass, during the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the celebrant prompts, “Lift up your hearts.” We respond, “We lift them up to the Lord.” This is a…
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; remain in my love. John 15:9 What exactly does it mean to “remain” in Jesus’ love? Jesus tells us that one way to remain in His love is by keeping His commandments, just as He has kept God the Father’s commandments (John 15:10). Then He goes on to sum up what He means by “commandments” into one thought: “This is my commandment, that you…
I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. – John 15:5 Have you ever felt burned out in your vocation, job, or ministry? Completely spent, like you just couldn’t get anything accomplished or make progress at all? If so, today’s Gospel reading is for you. Well, it’s for all of us, but it can particularly speak…
I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me. – John 10:14 Jesus, the Good Shepherd, knows and loves you inside and out. You are one of His beloved sheep. He knows and calls you by your name: “the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out” (John 10:3). This is your identity: a beloved son or daughter of God the Father, named…
You are witnesses of these things. Luke 24:48 When you hear the words “new evangelization,” what do you think of? Knocking on doors to tell strangers about Jesus? Or is it not about you at all, but more about the priests, bishops, authors, and Catholic media working to spread the Gospel to more people? What’s wonderful is that each and every Christian has a part to play in helping Jesus fulfill His mission of mercy…
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” John 20:21 Happy Divine Mercy Sunday! God the Father sent Jesus on His saving mission. It was a mission of mercy. He came to free us from the captivity of our sins and death, sin’s logical consequence. Jesus’s victory over sin and death was His gift of mercy to us. Mercy is God’s name. God revealed…
An Easter Poem Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? – 1 Corinthians 15:55 At early morning, join the women at the tomb. The tomb now stings of death no more. No more shall death prevail nor scare, for Christ triumphant left it there. There in the morning, join the women, who come to anoint the Son. The Son now risen victoriously—sin and death…
Palm Sunday – March 28, 2021 You are not your own; you were bought with a price. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). We who are baptized are free children of God. Christ Himself, in His messianic role, freed us from the captivity of sin and death. But our freedom was not free. It came at a great price: the death of God Himself. His death freed us from Satan’s grasp, who seeks to enslave us. His death…
I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? “Father, save me from this hour?” But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” John 12:27-28 Lent is a time when we can practice dying to ourselves. By dying to our own desires, we learn to live this verse: “whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life” (John 12:25). Hating our lives does…