Today I am reminded of a famous Catholic hymn and responsorial psalm, psalm 104 “Lord send out your spirit and renew the face of the earth.” As I continue to try and wrap my head around how our world has changed over the past two weeks, I find myself humming this tune, “Lord send out your spirit and renew the face of the earth.”

Not to downplay the virus or to make light the sacrifice and sufferings of those afflicted, I can’t help but be encouraged by what I see and hear around me. With the amount of good coming out of this dark time it is hard to dismiss God at work.

Families are able to spend more time together doing basic things that would not have been done before social distancing and quarantining. Family dinners are now a ‘thing’, as is family game night, family outdoor play, family worship of the Lord on Sundays, overall togetherness. Could this be the spirit of God working to renew our families, i.e. His domestic church?

The environment has begun to heal itself as the air quality improves around the globe. Major industrial cities are now breathing air cleaner than they have since the 1950’s. National parks are reporting air quality data showing, in some cases, more than a 50% ozone clearing. The waterways around the world are beginning to transition back to their original brilliance, and sea creatures are returning to their abandoned homes since human pollution is down. Could this be God’s spirit renewing our battered earth?

Something wonderful and profound is happening to mankind as well. Isolation has somehow filled us with more kindness, charity, love and understanding than even the greatest natural disasters of the last 20 years. Companies and small businesses are banning together to problem solve and offer solutions in real time. Could this be God’s spirit renewing the human spirit by way of His own?

We are witnessing God at work all around us. He has removed all of our normal distractions and is asking if we are paying attention to Him? He demands and deserves our undivided attention. We have no excuses, my friends. The time is now. God wants to renew us now. He wants us to share so deeply in His death and resurrection this year like never before. Let us heed His call and allow our spirits to be moved and molded by His. Let us take the opportunity of these next two weeks to pray more, to listen more, and to seek God’s forgiveness and friendship. May His spirit of renewal fill you and your families with the hope of the resurrection.

Blessings to You and Yours!

Happy Passiontide! We are celebrating the 5th Sunday of Lent today. We had a very moving Gospel reading today to jump start us in our two week lead-up to Easter.

Today’s reading comes from JN 11:1-45. In this selection we really get to see the awesomeness of Jesus being both God and man. When he hears of his friend Lazarus’s death he is deeply moved. He travels to Martha and Mary’s house, sisters of Lazarus, in order to be with them in their grief, as well as to work a miracle so that those present would come to believe he was the Christ. We are told that Jesus “wept” and that he was “deeply troubled.” Can you imagine our God shedding tears over the loss of a loved one? Don’t you know he becomes deeply troubled when we fall into sin and lead a life far from Him, choosing to exclude Him from our daily lives. Jesus weeps along with Mary, the sister of Lazarus. He weeps alongside us too. When we experience hardship and loss he walks that journey alongside us too, sharing in our sorrow and grief.

Martha and Mary both greet Jesus in the street proclaiming “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus tells them “your brother will rise.” He then illicits from them their testimony of who He really is. Martha tells him, ” I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” Mary affirms her belief in him as Christ by her sorrowful exclamation. “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” It is after their profession of faith that Jesus is moved to act out of love for his friends. He speaks words of thanksgiving to God for having his prayer heard and then speaks those powerful words “Lazarus, come out.” We are told that Lazarus walks out of the tomb, alive, and restored to his sisters, thus ending their grief. Who among us would have been able to witness this and NOT believe that Jesus was the Christ, the messiah, “the one who is coming into the world”? Our God did not want to remain a faceless, formless, all-powerful deity as in the old testament. He wished to be seen, to be relatable and like us. To share in our humanity enabled him to connect with us intimately in our physical pain, joy, grief, happiness and sadness.

Now in the home stretch of Lent, may we pause today to give thanks to God for sharing in our human condition. May we be bold like Martha and Mary, proclaiming Jesus as the Christ. And in so doing be counted as one of God’s friends, like Lazarus, to be raised to glory.

Blessings to You and Yours!

When our ears and heart are open to God, he often times speaks to us in the least likely of situations. Today I experienced such a moment. After finishing a workout session on YouTube, the trainer concluded the session by stating “progression not perfection.” While this isn’t the first time I’ve ever heard this motto, I received it a little differently today. Progression not perfection. It is the perfect anecdote for Christian life.

God knows that as humans we are destined to make mistakes. He knows of our frailties and weaknesses as well as our innate desires to want to do the right thing as often as possible. God desires our will. He wants us to have the courage and the resolve to greet each day with a sense of purpose. He wants to be that purpose.

Lent gives us time to reflect interiorly and ask ourselves some tough questions. Are we striving to better ourselves by deepening our relationship with God? Are we making every effort or every excuse to spend time in prayer or quiet reflection getting to know God? Are we making every effort or every excuse to spend time in prayer or quiet reflection getting to know God? If we have been lax in our zeal for the Lord, why? Can we forgive ourselves and ask for God’s forgiveness in the sacrament of reconciliation. It is there that He waits to greet us and give us His grace to continue making progress on our journey to Heaven. None of us are perfect and that’s how God intended. He wants to be needed by us.

Progression not perfection. A beautiful challenge and reminder to always press ahead, never give up, and always move forward. It reminds us that we do not need to attain perfection to have worth, or to be valued or desired by God.

Blessings to You and Yours!

We, as humans, are fickle creatures. We are easily swayed by our passions, good or bad, and are so easily led astray. The daily readings of the past few days have shed light on this reality.

It is a strange feeling identifying with the peoples of Moses’s time. When they cried out in the desert, hungry for food and longing to end their journey, frustrated in following a god they could not see. How often I have felt these same feelings, searching through the overgrown foot paths of my life for a well-marked trail. Struggling to keep faith when I am experiencing what feels like God’s absence in my life.

Today we read in Exodus of the people making the molten calf and worshiping it, and how it angered God. I think of the times I have failed to put God in his proper place within my own life. Instead choosing to worship other things (the gods of wealth, the gods of entertainment/frivolity, the gods of earthly pleasures). But the biblical teachings do not end in despair, rather, God sends messengers- ministers, if you will, to lead the people and to be the voice of reason, guiding them to the straight and narrow path. Often times these prophetic individuals pleaded with God on behalf of mankind and were able to relinquish deserved punishment (EX 32: 7-14).

God in his mercy has been sending his prophets to the world throughout the history of time. In every age, in every culture, his love for us moves him to send his holy spirit among us to draw us closer to Him and avert our own punishment. These messengers, like Moses in Exodus, are even able to reason with God to steady His hand in enacting judgement.

It is as mentioned before, we humans are a stubborn and pigheaded lot. We often time think we have all the answers and are self-sufficient, relying on ourselves for everything. Excluding God in such a way that we are incapable of recognizing the signs around us and too busy to listen to the messengers He sends.

Luke 5: 19-31 has one of the most scandalizing lines in scripture. Jesus gives a sobering lesson on ignoring the teachings of God and the messages brought to His people through the prophets.

He tells the story of a rich man who dies having ignored a poor beggar that lived close to his home. The beggar dies on the same day. Upon death, the rich man finds himself in hell and from hell he sees the beggar enjoying heaven. Abraham is also there in heaven and corresponds with the man who begs to be allowed to visit his family to warn them of the reality of hell, so that they can amend their lives. Abraham says, “IF they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.”

In over two thousand years, not much has changed. We still tend to ignore the men and women God sends us, we tend to turn a blind eye to the waywardness of the world as if not acknowledging such evils somehow releases us from the share in their sinfulness. Our world is suffering and experiencing unprecedented times. As we examine ourselves this Lent, let us not be afraid to look around a little. We are to be God’s light to the world, a beacon for others to guide them onto the right path. Let us not find ourselves like the rich man, where it is too late to save ourselves, rather, let us be God’s messengers, bringing His people back to Him, and inspiring a new generation of believers.

Blessings to You and Yours!

Water. For the past several weeks the daily scriptural readings have mentioned water. It seems pretty basic, hardly profound, and yet it is being mentioned over and over again. Water, as we know, is essential to sustain life. Our own human bodies are made up of over 50% water and our planet is 97% water. If we lose even as little as 10% of the water within our bodies, we begin to experience immediate health problems such as low blood pressure, increased heart rate, fever, unconsciousness, all of which can and will prompt serious medical decline. When our earth becomes parched and various areas experience drought the foliage begins to wither and fade, animals migrate if they can or become sick and die, crops and vegetation become disturbed, which threatens commerce and incites fear amongst us. Water is vital to our existence and with it we have the opportunity to flourish and blossom. Water is life-giving. Over the past week we have read about Jesus’s encounter with the woman at the well. In his thirst he asks her for a drink. They engage in dialogue and Jesus tells her those that drink the water He gives will never thirst. We have read about Jesus meeting the ill man at the pool of Bethesda. He asks the man if he wishes to be made well and he is physically unable to get his body into the pool. Jesus heals him immediately. We also read of Jesus curing the blind man with his spittle and dirt where the man’s physical healing was only complete after he washed himself with water. What is the takeaway? We are transformed by water. It began at our baptisms. Our souls were cleansed by the sacramental waters and we were given God’s sanctifying grace, thus being invited into a closer relationship with God as His son or daughter. This Lenten season gives us a chance to renew that baptismal promise of belonging to the Lord. As Jesus told the Samaritan woman, He wishes to give us water that will quench our thirst forever. If we abide in the Lord He sustains us. He gives us His life-giving grace, through the waters of Baptism, and this grace helps to sustain us until we reach our heavenly home. AS the waters of biblical time healed, refreshed, cleansed, and gave life, may it continue to do so in our present time. May the life-giving waters of God heal our brokenness, refresh our spirits, cleanse us from sin and help us to gain eternal life, where we shall thirst no more.
REFLECTION: Consider acquiring a holy water font for your home. Put it in a place easily accessible to everyone in the home. Get into the practice of blessing yourself daily (maybe before leaving for the day, or before bed) as a way of renewing your own baptismal vows.
Blessings to You and Yours!

I ran across a quote today that really moved me. It seemed to speak to me on many levels. The quote comes from my child’s catechism book and it goes like this “No greater gift can a person give than his own life for someone else.” Now of course, in the context of this religious text, the author is describing the sacrificial offering of Jesus on the cross. While we are moving into the 5th week of Lent, it made for a very special lesson for myself and my children. While the sacrifice of Jesus was profound, and did more for us than we will ever truly be able to comprehend, it can sometime feel stale, rehearsed because it is a story so well-known. The familiarity of the story can at times desensitize us to the magnificence of it. That said, I was immediately struck with images of those who have sacrificed themselves for my sake. My mother endured nearly nine months of pregnancy to bring me into the world, sacrificing her body so that I could live. As I grew, she and my father sacrificed their time, finances, and often their own well-being for my sake. I think of my siblings who have gone out of their way on many occasions often times sacrificing their time and money to do so. I think of my husband who selflessly gives of his time, week after week, to provide a life for myself and our children. I think of the sacrifices he made in service to our country, which in turn benefited me. I think of friends, relatives, neighbors, pastors, former students and coworkers who sacrificed of themselves for my benefit. I am left feeling immense gratitude towards these people and it inspires me to want to pay it forward. I think this is the message God meant to share with me today. He’s reminding me that sacrificial love began at the cross, over 2000 years ago and continues. Every celebration of Holy Mass is a re-sharing in the ultimate sacrifice of His son in the greatest display of love ever known to the human race. And while no sacrifice on earth will ever measure up to that of Jesus, He is reminding me to look around and see the other people giving of themselves for the betterment of another. He also reminds me to take my own sacrificial gift of being a wife and mother a little more seriously. He challenges me to give of myself more generously as I keep in mind it’s my family I give myself to (my time, energy, finances) and that in serving my family well I in turn serve God well, and He faithfully rewards such sacrifice.
CHALLENGE: Open your hearts more fully this week. Make sure to thank someone who constantly gives of themselves for your benefit. It may even be someone in your community. Don’t forget to include our parish priests as well as the elderly. Try to go about your daily tasks with a bit more grace, striving to serve your family or community with a greater sense of who you are really serving. May we make of ourselves a worthy sacrifice to the Lord.
Blessings to You and Yours!

The readings for this 4th weekend of Lent are about seeing. In the first reading from Samuel (1 SM 16: 1B, 6-7, 10-13 A) we read the account of the Lord asking Samuel to travel to Jesse in Bethlehem where God’s chosen king will be revealed to him. When he arrives he looks over Jesse’s sons and is surprised that God desires none of those he sees, rather God choose the absent son, David, who was away tending sheep at the time. God tells Samuel “Not as man sees does God see.” The second reading from Ephesians (EPH 5: 8-14) Paul reminds us that as God’s children we are lightbearers, bringing His light into the world. Light by it’s very nature dispels darkness and makes visible the things that were once in shadow. Finally, the Gospel selection is a story we all know well. JN 9: 1-41, Jesus cures the blind man. Jesus uses his own saliva mixed with the dirt of the earth, smears it across the blind man’s eyes, and has him to wash his face. Of coarse, after this cleansing with water, the man’s eyes are opened. The common thread through all of these readings is sight. The limitations of our human ability to see is juxtaposed with God’s ability to see deeper within us, to our cores. Samuel is guided by God to choose from among Jesse’s sons a leader for His people. To Samuel’s eyes, he thinks that any one of Jesse’s sons, standing before him, could do the job. Their outward appearance being the primary influencer for Samuel. But the Lord tells him that God odes not see as humans see, and thus he sends of David and upon seeing him is reassured of God’s plan. John’s Gospel account is multilayered in meaning. First, Jesus explains to his disciples that it was not because of sin that the man was blind from birth, but he was made so as a means of glorifying God. God’s purposes are always greater and this man’s life was a testament to this. Jesus pities the man and decides to heal him. Having the man to wash himself with water, a parallel to the life-giving properties of water as a spiritual cleansing given to us at Baptism. When the Pharisees see the man they immediately send for his parents, as they are unable to believe what they see. They deny Jesus ‘s divinity and label him as a sinner. It is here the blind man makes a beautiful decree and bold testimony, “This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him. It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind. IF this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything.” It is after the blind man’s eyes are opened that Jesus shares his identity with the man who then worships him. The message for us is challenging. We must see with our eyes of faith. We must not be too quick to judge others by physical appearance and their outward actions alone. When we recognized God’s works and blessings we cannot forget to recognize the goodness of God and thank Him for his generosity. May our eyes be open this week to the many wonders of our God. May we look past the physical appearances of others and strive to see Christ who lives within them. May God have mercy on us for the times we were blinded by our own prejudices or misunderstandings and failed to see Him in is great works. May he help us to be His lightbearers in our darkened world.
Blessings to You and Yours!

Stop. Stop what you are doing and listen. For just a moment, be still and listen. What do you hear? If you’re like most of the country and you and your family have self-quarantined, then your house is probably noisy. Children carrying on, the sound of televisions, maybe radios or tablets playing music. Continue being still. Focus on what you can hear above the noise surrounding you. If you are trained in this practice, you may have heard a call to action, a mission for the day. You might have heard some encouraging words or some challenging ones. In both instances you were able to listen by first using your sense of hearing, being able to identify auditory sounds. In the second scenario, you were able to listen with your heart, an opportunity for your soul to be opened to God in the silence, where He waits for you and I. We have a unique opportunity right now to spend more time listening. For a lot of us this lent, we have given up more than we intended. What an opportunity we have been given to further walk with Jesus in closer communion and really feel his message of sacrifice, suffering, and redemption. Most schools are closed, more people are being temporarily laid off, businesses are being shut down, the world is being put on hold. We are being given a change to slow down, take stock of what’s important, and to rest. So what are you listening to? Are you listening to your family members with greater intent? Listening to your children as they play? Listening to their laughter, their dreams, their silly stories, their questions? Listening to your spouse more earnestly? What are you listening to in your neighborhoods? Perhaps you hear more families enjoying outdoor activities together. The sounds of laughter as children are playing, reveling in the extra attention of their parents, who would ordinarily be at work. Can you hear the sounds of the birds singing in the trees or the buzzing of the bees as they go about pollinating? These sounds are simple but would have easily been ignored during the hustle and bustle of our regular routines. In the midst of our uncertainty, we have been given an extraordinary gift. Let us not waste it. Furthermore, make use of this time to cultivate the ‘listening ears’ of your heart. God wants us to find Him. Now is our chance.
CHALLENGE: Use some time, allow yourself 10 minutes, and be still. Seek Him in the quiet. Allow yourself to be open to whatever He wishes to share with you. “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” Luke 11:28.

Blessings to You and Yours!

If we could rewind time back to the days of early Christendom it might surprise us to see how these early disciples worshiped the Lord. Not long after the resurrection, the zeal of the faithful was palpable. They were ever eager to share the message of God with everyone and to increase the number of believers. The miracles Jesus worked, coupled with his teachings, his rising from the dead, and the sacred law gave way to a communal practice of honoring and praising God together, with friends and family. A family gathering became the usual way of honoring the law of keeping holy the sabbath. Being in the early advent of the church, and in fear of persecution, churches were not a possibility for them. Instead, they found ways to honor and glorify God right where they were with what they already had. It is here that this idea of a
‘domestic church’ was conceived. Christians have long maintained the idea that our homes are where we first discover God. The love of our parents, the sacrifices they made all for the good of the family, charity, sharing, forgiveness, etc. All of these Christian values on display within the home and among the people. The early church was born from this. These believers would gather their families and get together with other families to break bread and speak about the Lord. It was here that the Gospel messages would be proclaimed, the statutes and decrees of the Lord taught, instruction and encouragement to live out the Christian life would have been had, and children would have played and found friendship with other children with their same values and beliefs. Today, we would refer to this practice of communal worship of God, breaking bread, and instruction of God’s law, church. As we all face the next few weeks of social isolation, where attending our churches has been deemed unsafe, let us remember that our homes, our families, are where our faith practice begins.
CHALLENGE: Consider ways you and your family can honor God this week in your own domestic church, be it family prayer, lessons taught on the virtues of our faith, or spending quality time together in fellowship. May we all honor the Lord where we are and with the example of our lives.
Blessings to You and Yours!

“Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’, and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Mt 17:20. If we but have the smallest amount of faith, Jesus tells us, we will be able to move mountains. What are mountains? They are those overwhelming obstacles we all face that weigh us down and challenge us (addictions, illness, financial struggles, relationship problems, etc.). It is during these experiences of life, that we are invited to take up our cross and follow Jesus. His faith in the Father allowed him to walk the road of Calvary ever hopeful of the good that would come of His sacrifice and death. “If God sends you many sufferings it is a sign that He has great plans for you, and certainly wants to make you a saint.” St. Ignatius of Loyola. “The world offers you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.” Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Suffering is a great paradox. Our physical bodies despise it, the culture we live in denies it, and yet God tells us to expect it and that through it we too will be transformed into something great. Believing in this transformation requires faith. Cultivating this great virtue takes daily commitment. Like most things, the more we practice deepening and strengthening of our faith, the better equipped we will be to putting it into practice.
CHALLENGE: Rev. David Ricken, Bishop of Green Bay and contributor to The Cardinal Newman Society shares some ides to help us increase our faith and make the most out of this Lenten season. While not all of these will be doable for all of us, see what may apply to you, what will challenge you the most, or an area you can improve upon and accept the call. Let us come to the Easter celebration this year with a gift for our Lord, our own increased faith in Him.
1. Participate in Mass. 2. Go to confession. 3. Learn about the lives of the saints. 4. Read the Bible daily. 5. Read the documents of the church. 6. Study the Catechism. 7. Volunteer in ministry. 8. Invite a friend to Mass. 9. Incorporate the Beatitudes into daily living.
Blessings to You and Yours!