SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (Year A)
John 14:15 - 21 This Sunday, we hear a continuation from last week of Jesus’ address to the apostles at the Last Supper as presented in John’s Gospel. As you will remember from your footnotes, most scholars consider the section of 13:31 – 17:26 to be Johannine compositions, modeled on farewell discourses found in Greek and Hebrew literature of that time. As we quickly approach Pentecost – it’s only two weeks away – we hear Jesus speak of the coming of the Holy Spirit. I invite you to put [...]
FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (Year A)
John 14:1 - 12 This Sunday, we hear a portion of Jesus’ address to the apostles during the Last Supper as presented in John’s Gospel. In this Gospel, it is presented as our Lord’s farewell discourse to his disciples in anticipation of his death. Most scripture scholars consider this section (chapters 14 – 18) to be a Johannine composition, modeled on farewell discourses found in contemporary Greek and Hebrew literature. You will notice that the only action in John’s account of the Last Supper is the washing of the feet [...]
CONGRATULATIONS FIRST COMMUNION CLASS!
This weekend and next, at the 5:00pm and 9:30am Masses, 71 of our parishioners will receive our Lord in Holy Communion for the first time! This is a very important event in their faith lives as they now join with the rest of the believing community in participating fully in the Celebration of the Eucharist. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains so clearly, Holy Communion is “our fellowship with Jesus and other baptized Christians in the Church, which has its source and summit in the celebration of the [...]
THE MONTH OF MARY
It’s hard to believe that it’s already May, it arrives on Monday! As you surely know, this month is traditionally dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God and the Mother of the Church. As Pope Paul VI expressed so well in his encyclical entitled the Month of May, this is the "month which the piety of the faithful has especially dedicated to Our Blessed Lady," and it is the occasion for a "moving tribute of faith and love which Catholics in every part of the world [pay] to the Queen [...]
FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER (Year A)
John 10:1 - 10 As I mentioned last week, most of the Sunday Gospels during Easter this year will be from the Gospel of John. We heard from the Gospel of Luke last week but we return to John’s Gospel. This Sunday, we hear a presentation of the Lord’s attack against the Pharisees. The good shepherd discourse continues the theme of attack on the Pharisees that ends John 9; let’s quickly review this chapter that recounts the incident of Jesus curing the man born blind. In this account, we [...]
DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY
HAPPY EASTER! As we bring the Octave of Easter to its conclusion, know that I have kept you in my prayers all week, that you may experience the joy of the Resurrection! Today is also Divine Mercy Sunday. Heeding the call that our risen Lord gave to St. Marie Faustina Kowalska in the 1930’s, the Church decreed on 23 May 2000 that “throughout the world, the Second Sunday of Easter will receive the name Divine Mercy Sunday, a perennial invitation to the Christian world to face, with confidence in divine [...]