Get Behind Me, Not Ahead Of Me!
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Peter gets the identity of Jesus Christ correct (Mark 8: 27-35) but he doesn’t understand that only through suffering will he will be saved. We can fall into the same trap. A friend of mine often asks what did God save you from? If he really is your savior, what did…
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Lord, You Have ‘Words’ Of Eternal Life
Dear Brothers and Sisters, The gospel today puts before us our history, who am I and how have I lived the life God gave me? Concretely, the Lord is asking, “Do you also want to go away?” Is this our desire especially when things go badly for us? How beautiful it would be to respond…
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The Virgin Mary Brings Christ To Others, With Joy
Dear Friends, St. Philip Neri was known to say, “If I am not home by a certain time, look for me in the brothels.” He was a man who knew himself very well and how easily he could sin. He also read a well-known classic joke book before saying his Mass, and at stressful times,…
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He Became Man So That He Could Also Become Our Bread
Dear Friends, When we die the priest hopefully comes a day or two before and gives us the Viaticum, the last Communion we will receive in this world. And he will say, “Jesus Christ is the food for our journey; he calls us to the heavenly table.” He is speaking about our journey to the…
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I Am The Bread Of Life
Dear Brothers and Sisters, The Eucharist sustains our body and our soul. Many saints have existed only eating the Host for months and even years. For Blessed Alexandrina from Portugal, who ate only the Eucharist for thirteen years. During that time, she spent more than a month in a hospital being checked out by specialists,…
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When We Are Loved, We Can Love
Dear Brothers and Sisters, There is a profound yearning in us for Jesus Christ, for eternal life and we easily drown it out with our plans and the struggles of life. We were made for God and this is what our heart deeply seeks. Jesus sees the needs of the people in the gospel and…
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They Did Not Have A Shepherd
Dear Friends, The Lord notices and has compassion on the people. He is truly the good shepherd looking out for us. The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want. Is that true for you and me? If he is really my shepherd then I am perfectly fulfilled with him, and only him….
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A Fig Needs To Be Pinched to Be Sweet
Dear Friends, The Zacchaeus climbed up a sycamore tree to see Christ. These trees are easy to climb because their branches are low to the ground. Christ didn’t call him, “Hey fatso,” or any kind of derogatory name; he didn’t call him a thief. He called him by his name; he pinched him. A fig…
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But I Love Everyone!
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Jesus Christ returns to Nazareth and also symbolically comes to our land, to our country, to our world. How many times has he come to us when we were in crisis and could not understand the meaning of life or of our suffering? How often he was present in our history,…
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I Can Do This One Thing
Dear Brothers and Sisters, In the gospel of Mark, we hear of Jairus, the leader of the synagogue, who comes with great humility, falling at his feet and pleading for help. This leader goes to the King of leaders and begs for help. He also does something very unusual. He asks Jesus not only to…
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