Parish Blog

Dear Friends in Christ,

In our Gospel for today, Jesus, on the first day of the week, entered a locked room where the disciples were hidden for fear of the Jews. Their Lord and Savior had been crucified by the Romans; their special friend, companion, and Lord was gone from their lives. I’m sure that you could cut the confusion and fear with a knife.

Into this locked room, Jesus suddenly appears and says, “Peace be with you!” and he shows them his hands and his side. And our Gospel tells us that the disciples “rejoiced when they saw the Lord.” Can you imagine their wonderment and joy? What would it have been like to be there? In this busy and demanding world, could your life use some wonderment and joy?

Dear Friends in Christ,

We have already heard the good news—or rather, the best news: “Christ is alive! He has risen and has appeared to His disciples.” Happy Easter to all! The sadness that filled our hearts at Christ's passion and death gives way to the uncontainable joy brought about by His resurrection.

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today, we read the narrative of the Passion from the Gospel of Luke. According to this evangelist, Jesus entering Jerusalem to a joyous parade of palms and the Passion narrative are mutually related. This is so even though the first part is jubilant while the second part is humiliating and degrading.

Dear Friends in Christ,

The Gospel passage describes the encounter of sin with divine mercy. The Pharisees who bring the adulterous woman have already decided that she must die; they focus on her past and want the law to be applied to her. Jesus doesn't want to play their game because none of them can pronounce just judgment. They too have a sinful past. It is Jesus who will exercise judgment, not by condemning, but by offering a way of salvation. He doesn't condemn because he looks to the future, to the plan he has lovingly established for each person.

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today, in this Laetare Sunday (“Rejoice Sunday”), the fourth Sunday of Lent, we hear again that amazing parable of Luke's Gospel, where Jesus justifies his unprecedented practice of forgiving sins to regain men for God.

Many wonder if the expression “prodigal son,” which this parable is named after, is really understood by most people. Perhaps we should rename it as the parable of the “merciful father.”

Dear Friends in Christ,

Jesus tells his followers a parable that concerns us: “The owner of the vineyard approaches the fig tree to pick its fruit and finds none.” This Lent, God demands fruit from us: Are we happy that Jesus calls us to account? Are we surprised? Are we afraid when we see our life as a tree full of leaves but without fruit? The episode begins with anxiety but has a happy ending. God will make one last effort to recover his tree: he will turn the earth, apply fertilizer, and wait another year because he is patient with what he sowed with such enthusiasm. Indeed, we should not reach the end of our lives empty-handed. Lent is an invitation to conversion.

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today, the second Sunday in Lent, the liturgy of the word invariably brings us the dramatic event of the Lord's transfiguration. This year it is with the nuances typical of St. Luke's Gospel.

It is St. Luke who more strongly emphasizes the praying Jesus, the Son who is permanently linked to the Father through personal prayer, at times intimate and hidden, at times in the presence of his disciples, but always full of joy through the Holy Spirit.

Dear Friends in Christ,

The Year of Evangelization starts this Lent as the first year of the five-year Diocesan pastoral plan called “Via Fidelis.” In the coming weeks, Bishop Fabre will be sending out a pastoral letter detailing this five-year journey. Recently, he shared suggestions for all of us for prayer and evangelization each month during this Year of Evangelization.

Dear Friends in Christ,

According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), the preeminent issue facing us as Americans is respecting and protecting life, from conception all the way to natural death. Currently, a serious concern for all faithful Catholics is the aggressive manner in which in vitro fertilization (IVF) is being promoted at the federal and state level.

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today, we hear our Lord inviting us to live the life of Christian charity as fully as He did (“Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” Lk 23:34). This has been the example of our brothers and sisters preceding us to the glory of Heaven, the Saints; for they lived a model of Christian charity with perfection, following what Jesus Christ had said: “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:48)

Dear Friends in Christ,

God wants all men to be saved, which is why He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to bring us this good news. Deep within our being, we all carry an insatiable hunger for fulfillment. We seek health, satisfaction, intelligence, love, friendship, joy, perfection, and happiness.

Many people only aspire to two things: “efficiency and profit.” Jesus came to revolutionize these criteria by changing the hierarchy of values. If we wanted to translate the concept of “beatitude” into a modern term today, we could perhaps refer to the “complete realization of man.”

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today the Gospel offers us the simple yet profound dialogue between Jesus and Simon Peter, a dialogue that we could make our own: in the midst of the stormy waters of this world, we strive to swim against the current, hoping that our Gospel proclamation will obtain a fruitful response.

Dear Friends in Christ,

    Today, we see how Simeon, ignoring the winter's cold, is awaiting the arrival of the Messiah. Five hundred years before, when the Temple was starting to be built, there was such poverty in the country that its builders were highly discouraged. It was then when Haggai, the prophet, said: “Greater will be the glory of this house the latter more than the former —says the LORD of hosts; And in this place I will give you peace— oracle of the LORD of hosts.” (Hag 2:9); and added “I will shake all the nations, so that the treasures of all the nations will come in. And I will fill this house with glory” (Hag 2:7). In the place of “treasures of all nations,” St. Jerome translated: “the desired of all nations.”