We enter now into the holiest week of the year as we walk with Jesus through His final days, culminating with His death and resurrection.  We heard today the reading of the passion narrative and we are invited to personally enter into this Holy Week so that we might die with Jesus and rise with Him on Easter.  For us, this week will be as holy as we make it – so let’s make it a good one!

5th Sunday of Lent

What if you were alive when Jesus was preaching and teaching?  What if you were a part of the stories in Scripture?  What if you heard Jesus speak to you?  God’s Word is living and active, and the same God who was at work then is still at work now.  Lectio Divina (‘Divine Reading’) is a way of reading the Scriptures by inserting yourself into the story – the sights, the smells, the sounds, the feelings – you read through a passage slowly, place yourself in the story and experience what God has to say to you through His living Word.  Try it!  It’ll change your life.

4th Sunday of Lent

Pain in our body warns us that something is wrong – physically.  Pain in our interior life warns us that something is wrong – spiritually.  Both the younger son and the older son in today’s Gospel experience pain.  It’s pain that leads the younger son home.  It’s pain that keeps the older son from going back inside his home.  Pain, as a warning, is also an invitation: an invitation from our merciful Father to come home, to come back inside, so that we can experience the feast that God is preparing for us!

3rd Sunday of Lent

Jesus is serious in today’s Gospel: “But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”  When we sin, we choose ‘Not-God’, and we get exactly what we want – ‘Not-God’ – that’s the definition of hell.  Jesus came to save us from this choice, so He calls us to repentance – to take full responsibility for our mistakes and to beg for God’s forgiveness, to turn away from sin and turn toward God.  Then Jesus can finally do what He’s been waiting to do – He can take away our sins and fill us with His life!  Then we know, by experience, the mercy of the Father.

Click here for my homily from this weekend.

2nd Sunday of Lent

In the midst of our Lenten journey, we catch a glimpse today of Jesus transfigured in glory atop a mountain.  This Jesus who was seen by Peter, James and John is the same Jesus who has appeared to us, who has tangibly broken into our life at moments, who has woken us up, if only for an instant, to the reality of His presence in and around us.  What are some of your mountaintop moments?  These experiences are meant to strengthen us for the journey.  When the road seems too long, remember the view from mountaintop, and keep your eyes open…who knows when you’ll suddenly find yourself on top of another mountain?

Click here for my homily from this weekend.

1st Sunday of Lent

Lent is a great opportunity for us – an excuse to slow down a little bit, turn off the TV, turn off the radio, and spend some extra time with our Lord.  Our Lenten practices shake us out of our daily routine and provide us an opportunity to look up to our Father.  Jesus in the desert wins against the temptations of the devil by looking up to His Father for strength.  In the midst of your Lenten practices, do you do them by your own will power?  Or do you let these practices turn your heart and mind to the Father in true and honest prayer?   Then even the simplest actions will give your faith a supernatural strength!

Click here for my homily from this weekend.

Ash Wednesday

The ashes of today remind us that we are dust, and to dust we shall return.  But in the certainty of death is also our hope – we know that we are more than ashes, that the Lord has breathed life into this dust, that we are filled with God’s Spirit, that death is not the end – we’re headed somewhere!  So, how are you doing on the way?  What Lenten practices will you take up in order to better hear God’s daily calls and act on them?  Lean on Jesus this Lent, and He will give you the strength to live it!

Click here for my homily from Ash Wednesday.

 

Some Lenten daily reflections I’d suggest:

Dynamic Catholic: Best Lent Ever – http://dynamiccatholic.com/bestlentever/

Bishop Barron’s Daily Lent Reflections – http://www.lentreflections.com/