Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year B
This story accurately and genuinely reflects the common human experience that some of our most beautiful moments happen between tasks, moments that may seem to be a kind of distraction or happenstance. Lord, help us be attentive to the times You reach out to us while we are busy doing something else. Jesus’ trip to the home of Jairus was interrupted by a magnificent moment; give us the grace to spot these opportunities as they unfold.
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year B
Jesus heard the cries of the Disciples, got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still! And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.” Quiet, Be Still! That is all it took from Jesus. The question is, did you listen carefully enough to hear Jesus say to you, Quiet, Be Still? The wind that was causing the storms within you now cease because you trusted in the Lord Jesus.
Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year B
How do we start to make the needed changes that allow God to transform us? St. Paul reminds us to be courageous. Even surrounded by a world of hate and war, we can remain faithful if we “walk by faith, not by sight.” We do not know where God is leading us, but we trust by faith that he will never abandon us and always be our shepherd. We can’t see the details of the future but we can keep close to God when we trust in the promise of eternal life. The lack of human sight does not mean we do not have spiritual sight, or faith itself. Faith is the fuel when we do not have human sight.
Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time • Year B
The Holy Spirit is the power of forgiveness. Recall the appearance of the risen Lord to the apostles recorded in the Gospel of John: Jesus said to them, “‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.’” To deny the Holy Spirit is to cut ourselves off from forgiveness. The Church has received this power from the risen Lord, and each of us has received this power in baptism.
Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ • Year B
This once and for all sacrifice of Christ transports us from the rituals of the Old Testament to a new and profound understanding that has moved the Church forward since those moments when Christ offered himself as the one true sacrifice for all humankind. Let us in the true spirit of our Eucharistic Revival and in the words of St. Augustine, recognize who we are when we look upon the consecrated host and the cup of salvation, becoming what we receive, the Body of Christ.
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity • Year B
The revelation of this Mystery that the Church has received is one first mirrored to us, in and through Jesus. We hear in the Gospel, how Jesus tells his disciples, “I am with you always.” And just last week we celebrated Pentecost in which we mark that Jesus breathed upon the Church the Holy Spirit, pulling us into the very Mystery of this God Whom we celebrate, making us God’s children, as we heard in the second reading from Paul’s Letter to the Romans.
Pentecost Sunday • Year B
The Seventh Sunday of Easter contains the prayer of hope that Christ proclaims on Good Friday: “Father forgive them, they know not what they are doing.” How do we imitate Christ’s Good Friday prayer? Such a prayer is the pathway to Peace that was given to disillusioned disciples when he breathed on them the gift of mercy. “Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Have we received and implemented the disciples’ gift to forgive, to love one another? Or do we choose to live in the darkness of anger which often migrates to hatred?
Seventh Sunday of Easter • Year B
The Seventh Sunday of Easter contains the prayer of hope that Christ proclaims on Good Friday: “Father forgive them, they know not what they are doing.” How do we imitate Christ’s Good Friday prayer? Such a prayer is the pathway to Peace that was given to disillusioned disciples when he breathed on them the gift of mercy. “Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Have we received and implemented the disciples’ gift to forgive, to love one another? Or do we choose to live in the darkness of anger which often migrates to hatred?
Sixth Sunday of Easter • Year B
. It begins with our weakness for instant gratification. Love and friendship have been devalued in many ways, lost in a torrent of words and images, trivialized, and emptied of moral concerns and responsibilities. Our media-matic gadgets carry a deluge of that stuff every day. It is all too easy to talk, sing or act in a manner that looks like friendship or love. People become intoxicated to the point of living the illusion without examining the reality in their own lives. And it becomes difficult to sort out the good from the false and harmful elements that pervade like weeds our love and friendships.
Fifth Sunday of Easter • Year B
Today we hear about one of Saint Paul’s big challenges. After his conversion, a famous story itself, he had to overcome the understandable suspicion and fear of the disciples who did not trust him. At the same time, he had to evade capture and execution by those who considered him a traitor by becoming a disciple of Jesus. Now that was the proverbial “rock and a hard place!” Fortunately, it all worked out. They didn’t let fear and prejudice prevail over truth and faith. This is a good lesson for all times, including our own.