Ephphatha, Be Open
Dear Brothers and Sisters: We heard last week from the Letter of St. James, ‘Be doers of the Word, not just listeners, otherwise you are deluding yourselves. Humbly welcome the Word of God for it can save your souls.’ What beautiful and strong words does St. James have for us these past few weeks. The…
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Be a Doer of the Word of God
Dear Brothers and Sisters: Junípero Serra will be canonized a saint by Pope Francis in Washington, DC during the Pontiff’s trip to the US in a few weeks. In the Capitol Building there is a hall filled with greater than life size statues of the pioneers who established the United States of America and one…
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Christ is Present in Christian Marriage
The third part of this series on the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist will center on Christian marriage as St. Paul speaks of in his letter to the Ephesians. In a true Christian marriage Jesus Christ is present: to the couple and to everyone close to them. It is a great mystery how…
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We Can Live Forever
The second part of the triptych on the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist focuses on how the Eucharist gives us the possibility of living forever. Torgney Segerstedt was the editor of a leading paper in Guttenburg, Sweden during the first half of the 20th Century. He was well known at the time for…
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Christ in the Eucharist
Dear Brothers and Sisters: For this week and for the next two Sundays I would like to present a series on the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The majority of Catholics today think that Christ is only symbolically present in the Eucharist and in the church. His presence Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity…
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Go and Announce
This week 800 people: priests, married and single were sent two by two to all the dioceses of the US to announce the Gospel as St. Mark tells us (Mk. 6:7-13). I was sent in 2008 to Sacramento, CA. God took good care of me and a seminarian and I were shown hospitality at the…
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He Can Do Mighty Works
St. Augustine is one of the greatest minds of the Church, especially in the first millennium since Jesus Christ. The Confessions is a classic work of his conversion and is a wonderful book to read, this summer, or anytime (the translation by Maria Boulding, OSB is wonderful). It was a book very unusual for his…
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Little Girl, Get up!
Naaman the Syrian was a great commander in the army and he had a big personal problem; he suffered from a virulent skin-disease. One of his slave girls said to her mistress if only he would approach the prophet Elisha he could be cured. The mistress told Naaman and he sent to the King of…
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Who is Lord Over Wind and Sea
Jonah was a very important person in the primitive Church since he is a figure of Jesus Christ. Many Catholics may have never read the Book of Jonah (only four chapters) nor have a familiarity with his life. The Gospel of this Sunday (Mark 4:35-41) has many parallels, and contrasts with the experience of Jonah…
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Recovering the Body and Blood of Christ
The feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, Corpus Christi, is always a gift which helps us not only to celebrate the Eucharist but also to remind us that God is always with us. In thinking of this feast I remembered one of the recent times I went to the Seminary with a group…
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