Blessings of Easter

A Happy and Blessed Easter to everyone!!!! We had two wonderful themes during Lent and Holy Week, "Let Go, Let God," and "Jesus loves you, and there is NOTHING you can do about it"!!!!! Now we gather at the empty tomb for The Lord has truly risen!!!! God is still working in our lives and hopefully we can feel His presence at all times. Of course, His love is unconditional, so let us be open to what God has in store for us as we continue our journey of life and faith!!! Christ is Risen, Amen, Alleluia!!!!!!!

Holy Week Theme

On Saturday, as I was making my last preparation for Palm Sunday, I received a message that made me think and it is a great theme for us, not just this week, but every day of our lives. The person that sent the message heard it in a Catholic radio station where they live. The message is this, "Jesus loves you and there is NOTHING you can do about it"!!! That is how I began my homily for Palm Sunday. I went on to say that Jesus invites us and he wants us to come along on this journey with him! Do not be afraid because to get to the resurrection we need to go through the cross. No matter the crosses we carry in our lives, Jesus is always there. May God bless us in our journey through Holy Week!!!!

Chrism Mass 2013

Yesterday, with our bishop, the priests and faithful of the Diocese of Salina gathered at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Salina to celebrate the Chrism Mass. The Mass is a beautiful one and I always look forward to it. One, we get to witness the bishop blessing the holy oils that will be used in our parishes over the next year- Oil of Catechumen, Oil of the Sick, and Sacred Chrism. Secondly, the priests of the diocese renew their promises of priestly service. As I type this blog today, there is the feeling of joy and of being renewed in the priesthood that God has called me to live. We are also grateful for the jubilarians who offer an example to all of us. One priest is celebrating 50 years, two priests are celebrating 40 years, and one priest is celebrating 25 years. This year of 2013 marks my 16th year as a priest. As our bishop talked about in his homily, the senior priests have much to offer to our junior priests, while the junior priests have much to offer to our senior priests! We can learn from each other as we live this priestly fraternity together. If you ever get the chance to attend the Chrism Mass, I would encourage you to do so. It is a wonderful time to thank God for the gifts that He has given to the Church and to thank Him for the call to the priesthood! The Chrism Mass prepares us to enter fully into Holy Week next week. May God richly bless our journey!!!

Psalm 51

Last week, the Sacrament of Reconciliation was offered to the students at the Catholic School where I am pastor. I put together a prayer service to set the tone and give them an opportunity to listen to God and allow Him to work in their lives in a special way. The service that I had for them began with Psalm 51. I used the shorter version that was in the missalette, but for the penance services that I have had for the parishes, we have recited the entire psalm. I fell in love with this penitential psalm when I was in the seminary. It is the first psalm that is used for morning prayer every Friday in the Liturgy of the Hours. The psalm calls to mind our sinfulness, but it also reminds us of the great love and mercy that God has for us. I would encourage you to take the time and pray Psalm 51. Hopefully it will touch your heart like it has touched mine. God Bless You on your journey!!!

Saint Joseph

Today is the beautiful Solemnity of Saint Joseph, the Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary!!! This also happens to be my patronal feast day since Saint Joseph is not only my patron saint, but it is also my middle name!! I am blessed to have a wonderful patron like Joseph because of his example and how he lived as the husband of Mary and the foster-father of Jesus. We know that Joseph was an upright man and he was going to divorce Mary quietly because she was with child. However the angel of The Lord appeared to him and told him to not be afraid and take Mary as his wife. Joseph followed the dream and accepted the will of God in his life. The call to not be afraid is a beautiful one. The angel told Mary and Joseph to not be afraid, Jesus told his listeners to not be afraid, and in our own time, Blessed John Paul II said do not be afraid. May we follow the example of Saint Joseph, to not be afraid, and allow God to work in our lives in a special way! Saint Joseph, Pray for Us!!!!

Ministry of Reconciliation!

Since Lent began, I have been encouraging the faithful to experience the love, mercy, forgiveness of God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This is a ministry that has been entrusted to us. It is a very beautiful and moving ministry because many times you will encounter someone who has been away from the sacrament for a long period of time. The feelings they have and the emotions they share is a gift because God is truly working in their life in a special way! If you have been away from the Sacrament of Reconciliation for a long time, please consider making going this Lent. We are a week away from Holy Week and the celebration of the Paschal Festivities. What a great way to enter into the Easter Time with mind and heart renewed! Let us make time for God because He always has time for us! God needs to be number one in our lives because with God all things are possible. Let us make the move to get our relationship with God on track because when we get our spiritual lives in order, than everything else should fall into place. May the ministry of reconciliation be a blessing to you and your journey of faith!!!

Pope Francis

Today, the Church truly rejoices in the election of Pope Francis as the 266th Successor of St. Peter! What a joy to mention the Holy Father's name in the Eucharistic Prayer! I pray that God will bless Pope Francis and bless his ministry as he begins his Pontificate!!!

Conclave 2013

This is a significant and historic time in the Church. As I write this blog, the Conclave has begun and the first vote did not elect a Pope. I made the comment with it being dark in Rome if we could see the black smoke come out and lo and behold it came rolling out. Only one vote was scheduled on the first day and four the next however many days. The bottom line is, let us keep the Cardinal-electors in prayer as the Conclave continues and let us look forward to the white smoke announcing that a new Holy Father has been elected. Come Holy Spirit, and guide the Cardinals and the Church as we continue the mission entrusted to us by our Lord!

The Love of God

God's love is unconditional!!!!!! The most beautiful example of God's love is that He sent His only Son to be our Savior and Redeemer!!!! Jesus loves us so much that he endured his passion and death so that we would have forgiveness of our sins and through his resurrection the hope of eternal life!!!! We have all been created out of love because God, the Creator of all human life wanted to share His love with others. Jesus speaks about the great commandments of love, to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbor as ourself!!! When we live the great commandments of love, we are ultimately living the Ten Commandments. The first three commandments focus on love of God while the final seven focus on love of neighbor. Love is a gift that we pray for every day! As God loves us, so may we love one another! God Bless You!!!

The Voice of God!

The caption for the prophet Jeremiah says today, "This is the nation that will not listen to the voice of the Lord God." The prophet goes on to say what the Lord said, "This is what I commanded my people: Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you, so that you may prosper" (Jeremiah 7:23-28). The Psalmist picks up on this in Psalm 95: "If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts." How true all of this is. The voice of the Lord is always speaking to us. We can listen to His voice in Sacred Scripture, in prayer, and in the voices of others. I remember being at a vocation event some years ago and one of the priests that was speaking said this, "I do not believe there is a shortage of vocations, but a shortage of listeners." That makes sense because if God is calling us to a respective vocation, we need to listen and discern His voice. The same is true in all aspects of life, God is calling out to us, He is speaking to us, but, are we listening? That is the key and we know that listening is an acquired discipline. Let us pray for the grace to hear with our physical ears, as well as the ears of faith, because the voice of God is speaking to us! God Bless You!!!

No Counting Forgiveness!

One of the commentaries for today started out with this line, "Forgiveness cannot be calculated." It went on to say that if we are keeping a tally of how many times we forgive and are getting close to Jesus' comments about forgiving seventy-seven times, then we are not forgiving at all. The context for today is the Gospel of Saint Matthew, 18:21-35. Peter approached our Lord and asked, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus responded by saying, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy seven times." Truly, we cannot put a count on forgiveness, it is an unconditional gift. Our ultimate example is Jesus on the cross when he forgives those who have done this to him, "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do." Those examples continue down to our present day. The one example I always like to reference is when Blessed John Paul II went to visit the man who tried to assassinate him in 1981. I call that the example of forgiveness heard around the world. I don't know how many would do that because in our world we think of violence and revenge, instead of forgiveness. However, this Lenten Time is a great reminder of how much God's loves us and how His forgiveness is unconditional. We experience the love, mercy, compassion, forgiveness of God in a special way when we approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation. As God forgives us, may we have the grace and courage to do the same. There is no counting when it comes to forgiveness, it is unconditional! God Bless You!!!

Whose in Charge?

This is the first weekend that we will not say Benedict's name in the Eucharistic Prayer. Our prayer is that God will grant Benedict XVI special graces and good health. We also pray for the College of Cardinals as they begin their meetings on Monday in preparation for the Conclave. The Cardinals are in charge of the Church while we are in the "Interregnum" period. However, in his final address, Benedict XVI told us who is in charge: "Christ is in the boat. The bark of Peter is not mine, it is not ours, but it is his, and he will not let it sink." As we heard in the gospel from Friday, Jesus is the cornerstone. It is him that we place our faith and our trust. When we listen to the gospel of the woman at the well, which we hear for the First Scrutiny, we know Jesus has the words of eternal life and he is the water that we drink from and we will never be thirsty. God is ultimately in charge of the Church and everything else as the Creator of all. He sent His only Son to be our Savior and we truly rejoice and are glad. God is in charge! Jesus is in the boat! With that, we have nothing to be afraid of. Have a blessed weekend!!!!

Strong Foundation!!!

Jesus says, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes." This passage came from Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46. The context is the landowner who planted the vineyard and went on a journey. When it came time for harvest, the landowner sent servants to the tenants and they killed them. The landowner finally sent his son but he received the same fate. Of course, Jesus asks his listeners what the landowner will do to those tenants. Our Lord's parable speaks of him and what our Heavenly Father has done. God sent His only Son into the world to save us and His only Son was put to death. However, three days after his crucifixion, the Son rose from the dead. Jesus is the cornerstone, the strong foundation that we build our lives and our faith upon. In all circumstances, Jesus Christ will always be with us. Let us place our whole faith and trust in him who has saved us by his death and resurrection, and let us not be afraid! Have a blessed day!!!