The obvious question must be: “Why would Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, be led by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil in the desert for forty days?” The answer must be that Jesus is our Leader on the way to endless life in the Father’s...
Some of the words we encounter in the readings for the Fifth Sunday of Lent are laden with ominous, scary sentiments as they expose raw emotions from the depths of the heart. In the days when he was in the flesh, Jesus offered prayers and...
Lent is a journey of continual renewal into the paschal mystery of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In this special time of the year it is important that we do not go about it alone but walk this journey in the company of others...
We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who...
Some pious, well-intentioned people are eager to come up with something original to do as penance during Lent! Such eagerness, though, could be spiritually dangerous and pretentious! A quick glance at the Crucifix should make us realize that all the...
In Mark’s Gospel (14:22-26), we read about the Institution of the Lord’s Supper. There, in the Upper Room, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to his disciples, and said: “Take, this is my body.” Shortly thereafter, Jesus took a cup...
In his message for this year’s Lent Pope Francis said: “It is good to contemplate more deeply the paschal mystery through which God’s mercy has been bestowed upon us. Indeed, the experience of mercy is only possible in a ‘face to face’ relationship...
In the February 19 edition of the Wall Street Journal is an article entitled “Bed Bath Boss Seeks to Cut The Clutter.” I found that an interesting title, since Lent is about reducing some of the clutter in our physical and spiritual life. CEO, Mark...