Grace, love, and fellowship: these are key blessings of our Trinitarian God. In today’s second reading, St. Paul ends his epistle by extending God’s trifold blessings to the Church in Corinth: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you” (2 Corinthians 13:13). The grace of Christ is God’s life living inside of us. It’s God’s supreme gift to us:…
Come Holy Spirit, set my heart on fire with Your divine love. Renew my spirit and fill me with Your holy power. Burn away my selfish and sinful habits. Bless me with Your gifts and then empower me to use those gifts for Your glory. Bless me with the gift of wisdom so I recognize how crucial it is to keep You at the center of my life. Bless me with understanding that I might…
Christ spent the forty days before His Ascension preparing the apostles for their mission by teaching them about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). Their mission was the same as ours; we are to help establish and extend Christ’s Kingdom: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you”…
God often feels hidden from us. We cannot see Him with our physical eyes, but only through the eyes of faith. Jesus will reveal Himself to us if we love Him and keep His commandments: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him” (John 14:21). Jesus reveals Himself to us…
Christ, our Good Shepherd is our gate—our Way—to heaven (John 10:9; 14:6). Jesus spoke about the effort it takes to enter the heavenly gate: “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough” (Luke 13:24). To go through that narrow gate, we must make ourselves small and humble. We can become small by striving to become like little children, like God’s beloved…
Just after His resurrection, Jesus met two disciples on the road to Emmaus. One of the disciples was Cleopas; the other is unnamed. We know that Mary, the wife of Clopas, was one of the women who was present at the crucifixion (John 19:25). Some Biblical scholars have postulated that this Mary could have been the second disciple. So we might imagine a married couple who had been disciples of Christ just days before—one of…
Our first reading tells of the apostles in the early days of the Church. It was a time of togetherness, sincerity, and joyful praise. They met in their homes to worship, pray, and eat together. They shared all that they had, and Love—yes Love with a capital “L”—united them. The Holy Spirit had come upon them just before this at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). It was this Spirit of peace and unity that gave them the…
The first disciples did not have the gift of hindsight, as we do: “For they did not yet understand the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead” (John 20:9). Jesus said that He would rise again (Mark 9:31), but His disciples had to live through His crucifixion and those deathly quiet hours afterward without knowing what would happen next and armed with only their faith. We can use our Gospel imagination to suppose…
Our journey through the desert of Lent has brought us to this point: Holy Week and the cross. On this Palm Sunday, we walk along beside Christ as He lays down His life for us. Imagine you are there with the Blessed Mother, St. John, and the Magdalen as they walk with Jesus through His passion. Helplessly, you watch Jesus suffer as He is beaten, mocked, spat on, and crowned with thorns. Imagine yourself there,…
Our world is facing an unprecedented threat from the Coronavirus outbreak. We are facing our own mortality; we are witnessing how fragile we truly are. We are facing the possibility of death itself. We have been forced to let go of our own plans and instead trust in the Lord (Psalm 130: 5-6). It’s easy to hear frightening news and despair, and it’s natural to be afraid. But as Christians, we have hope in Christ.…