Irritation Often Leads To Enlightenment!
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Malcolm Muggeridge, a well-known British journalist and author, made a movie of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and he described filming the Home for the Dying in his book on this saint. He was worried because the lighting in that room was very poor and so they did some filming outside as…
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If Only You Knew The Gift That God Wants To Give You!
Dear Brothers and Sisters, It is very strange not to do Sunday Masses in church and to see your faces. I hope this does not last too long. I would invite you to take this time as a gift from God to remind us of the fragility of life which we usually take for granted….
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Remember The Gift You Received
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Welcome! We see in the second reading that Paul is in jail, close to death and he is writing what seems like his last will and testament to his disciple Timothy who is afraid. My guess is that Timothy is wondering what he will do in his life without Paul. Imagine…
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Let The Spirit Lead Us This Lent!
Dear Brothers and Sisters, It is surprising to me how passive Jesus Christ is in the gospel of the temptations in the desert (Matthew 4: 1-11) on this First Sunday of Lent. He was led into the desert by the Holy Spirit and was tested by the devil. This is the same Spirit that blew…
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Surprise Your Adversary!
Dear Brothers and Sisters, You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ This was to limit the amount of damage you could do to the one who hurt you. Before this law if someone took out your eye then you might kill him and his…
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Jesus Wants The Law To Transform Us, To Be Authentic
Dear Brothers and Sisters, In the gospel that is part of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5: 17-37) which Jesus must have preached many times in different locations and in different ways, he is not interested in making the law lighter. He came to ensure that the law accomplishes an interior transformation within us. …
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Make God Present To Those Around You!
Dear brothers and Sisters, Sister Josephine Bakhita said if I was to meet those slave raiders that abducted me and those who tortured me, I’d kneel down and kiss their hands, because if it was not for them I would not have become a Christian and a religious sister. She was taken as a nine…
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The Lord Returns To The Temple Suddenly
Dear Brothers and Sisters, The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple marks in a way the end of Christmas in the sense that the mangers are taken down after this feast. According to Jewish law the first-born son had to be redeemed and the mother needed to be purified. Luke is…
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Many Who Have Regrets Don’t Turn To The Lord
Dear Brothers and Sisters, This week we hear some of the first words that Christ preached (Mt. 4: 12-23) and he is still making himself known to Jew and gentile alike. The word metanoia in Greek means repent. It has two aspects. First is to regret an action or a sin or bad habit or…
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Behold The Lamb, The Weak One Who Doesn’t Strike Back!
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Finally I had the good fortune to see the movie A Hidden Life recently, which is about a conscientious objector in Austria during World War II, Franz Jagerstatter, who was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007. He and his wife and three daughters lived on a farm and life becomes…
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