God's Plan

04-26-2020Weekly Reflection

Saint Peter speaks to us twice today. In the first reading, we hear an excerpt from his sermon on Pentecost; in the second, part of his first letter. Once a frightened, uneducated fisherman who often said just the wrong thing, now Peter is speaking what he knows to be true. Everything Jesus had said now makes sense. His death and rising were all part of God’s plan, and our faith and hope can be centered on God.

Today’s Gospel tells the story of Jesus’ walk to Emmaus with two of the disciples. Frightened, sad, and confused, the two of them don’t recognize Jesus, who tells them what we heard Peter say above: All this had to happen as part of God’s plan. In the end, these disciples recognize Jesus as we are to recognize him—in the breaking of the bread.

Get Real!

04-19-2020Weekly Reflection

Those of us who flatter ourselves that we have a “realistic” view of the world may listen to the first reading today and say, “Get real!” when we hear Luke’s account of the early, Elysian days of the Christian movement. All seems to be rosy, lots of wonders are performed, everyone shares selflessly, they eat together in “exultation,” and the Lord added to their numbers? Well, who wouldn’t be attracted to a group like this? From the wind that swept through the upper room at Pentecost as the Spirit of God blew over the face of the waters in Genesis, and the fire that appeared over each disciple as the light appeared at the dawn of creation, Luke’s intent in Acts is to show a new creation, a restoration of creation’s original goodness through the working of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit who continues to make us into the Body of Christ. We may occasionally, like Thomas in the Gospel, say, “Get real!” but our ultimate reality in the Spirit is to work continually to make our Christian community a new creation, one in which others will find God’s joy and beauty.

Happy Easter

04-12-2020Weekly ReflectionReverend Monsignor Domenico C. Pinti

The joy of Jesus showing us that death has no more power. The Resurrection is the life after death. Jesus showed us the gift that our soul awaits eternal life. This is our faith. We have FAITH. WE have HOPE. We have LOVE.

The joy of the Seven Sacraments. The joy of receiving the Sacrament of Penance, Holy Communion and Anointing of the Sick, Matrimony, Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders remains with us in our Catholic doctrine. WE ARE CATHOLICS—Happy Easter! The LORD IS RISEN.

In St. John’s Gospel, Chapter 14, Jesus said “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God: and faith in me. I am the way and the truth and the life.” Jesus showed us the way. During this time of struggle in our life, we walk by faith. Pope Francis recently said in a dramatic solidarity service, “We are in “The same boat”. He praised everyone who continues to serve the public in health care, police, security, volunteers, transportation, and many others. They are “writing the decisive events of our time”.

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Hosanna

04-05-2020Weekly Reflection

“Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest” (Matthew 21:9). With these words the Church enters the holiest of weeks, commemorating the passion, death, and resurrection of Christ. When the people of Jerusalem cried out with their “hosannas,” they were using an ancient Hebrew shout of acclamation that meant “Pray, save us.” The king to whom they were shouting eventually would save them, but in a way that would be far from what they expected. Salvation would come from the wood of the cross as Jesus hung there to bring freedom from sin and life through death, opening the gates of heaven for all who put their faith and trust in him.

Give Glory to God

03-29-2020Weekly Reflection

On the Fifth Sunday of Lent, just before we begin to enter Holy Week, we are summoned to Bethany. If we had been friends of Mary, Lazarus, and Martha, and found out that Lazarus was gravely ill, we probably would have dropped everything to be with them. This was what was so surprising about the behavior of Jesus. Although he was their close friend, he chose to stay away, that God’s glory would be manifested. This is a persistent theme in John’s Gospel. Right to the very end, Jesus’ works were meant to give glory to the Father. As our Lenten journey reaches a crescendo, let us be mindful that, as people who have “put on Christ” in baptism, we are also called, by our attitudes and actions, to give glory to God.

Light

03-22-2020Weekly Reflection

“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Ephesians 5:14). We are at the midpoint of our Lenten journey of conversion. As always, God never gives up on us, especially those who have “fallen asleep” along the road to conversion. The most powerful stories of conversion are proclaimed during these final weeks of Lent. They have the power to shake us out of our sleep. Today’s Gospel story of the healing of the man born blind exposes the real blindness in the time of Christ—the blindness of the self-righteous religious leaders. In a few weeks, at the Easter Vigil, the Church will proclaim “Christ our Light” as the paschal candle is carried into darkened churches throughout the world. May the darkness of sin that still pervades our lives, communities, and world, be dispelled by the Christ who comes to bring sight to the blind and light to the world.

Thirst

03-15-2020Weekly Reflection

Each time today’s Gospel story is read, I can’t help but think of the many television commercials I’ve seen depicting perspiring athletes lifting a beverage to their lips while the scorching sun beats down on them. Our culture has definite ideas about how to quench thirst. Today, those ideas are turned upside down. The Samaritan woman operates, initially, on the TV commercial level. She asks Jesus for the flowing water so that she will not have to keep coming to the well. Jesus then talks about what real thirst is, and how he, and he alone, can quench that thirst. Lent calls us to find those places deep within ourselves where we thirst. In our thirst, as did the Israelites, we cry out to God asking for springs of living water. Deep down we know that only the Lord can satisfy these thirsts.

Change

03-08-2020Weekly Reflection

Lent is all about change and change is usually not easy. In order to change we have to leave something behind. Today we hear about a very old man who decides to answer God’s call. Abram experiences a tremendous amount of change when he leaves everything behind, risking it all for God’s promise. Jesus changes, is transfigured, right before the eyes of his disciples. The Lenten scriptures issue the call for us to change, to be transfigured, so that we, too, will soon share in the glory of God. What is it that the Lord is asking us to leave behind? Are we willing to take the risk for the promise made by God? These questions are at the heart of the Lenten journey of conversion.

Strength Against Tempation

03-01-2020Weekly Reflection

The first Sunday of the season of Lent always includes a Gospel account of the temptation of the Lord Jesus in the desert by the devil. This year, the story is set against the backdrop of the first reading from Genesis, which recounts the very first temptation by the devil. That story is set in a garden of delight. The Gospel story is set in the desert. As believers, we know that temptation comes our way in our own gardens of delight as well as the deserts of our lives. As Lent begins, our attention is drawn to that temptation within each of us to become like God—we want control, power, and answers to all of life’s difficult questions. As communities of faith, we are given this season of repentance so that we can join our hearts with others on the difficult journey of conversion. We look to God and to one another for strength against temptation.

Ash Wednesday

02-23-2020Weekly Reflection

Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving: these disciplines, prescribed by Jesus himself in the Sermon on the Mount, along with strict instructions not to flaunt them in public to win recognition and praise (Matthew 6:1-18), have been embraced by all the saints at the beginning of every Lent for almost two thousand years. But mention Lent, and many react with a grimace or slight shudder—even now, years after official obligations have been reduced to a minimum! No wonder the Eastern Rite’s “Lenten Announcement” sounds surprising: “Let us receive with joy, O faithful people, the divinely inspired announcement of Lent! The Lenten Spring shines forth! Begin the fast with joy! Let us fast from passions as well as food, taking pleasure in the good works of the Spirit, and accomplishing them in love!” Saint John Chrysostom, whose feast is September 13, elaborates: “Do you fast? Give proof by your works. If you see a poor person, take pity. An enemy, be reconciled. A friend gaining honor, don’t be jealous.” A positive approach! May the saints help us keep such a Lent!

Choice

02-16-2020Weekly Reflection

“If you choose you can keep the commandments,” Sirach tells us. God “has set before you fire and water; to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand” (Sirach 15:15, 16). This is a great mystery: God does not control us so completely that we cannot choose our own path. We have certain boundaries, of course, but no one but we can choose our way within those boundaries.

In today’s reading from Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us of our freedom and our responsibility for our lives. He calls us to look beyond the words of the commandments, all the way to their meaning. Look beyond the adultery to the selfishness that poisons our love. Look beyond the murder to the anger that eats away at our compassion. Look beyond the perjured testimony to the lies and deception that drive our behavior.

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God's Call

02-09-2020Weekly Reflection

The person who has been “saved,” who has “heard the good news of salvation,” still lives in an unsaved world, a world sadly oblivious to the presence of God. Today’s readings outline how the disciple is present in the world.

The outline begins with Isaiah: “Share your bread . . . shelter the oppressed . . . clothe the naked” (Isaiah 58:7). Those who hear the word of salvation are not insensitive to the urgent needs of others. Then Paul reminds his flock that he brought Christ to them not in eloquence or wisdom, but by being with them in the “weakness and fear” of their daily lives (1 Corinthians 2:3). Finally, Jesus tells his disciples to go out into the gloom and darkness of the streets of the world and let God’s light shine through their good deeds.

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A Christmas Reprise

02-02-2020Weekly Reflection

The Church’s celebration three weeks ago of the Baptism of the Lord signaled the “official” end of the Christmas season. Today’s feast of the Presentation of the Lord seems to extend the Incarnation celebration a bit longer. In fact, some have called this feast a “second Epiphany.”

The first reading recalls the anticipation of Advent, as Malachi writes, “Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me.” The reading from Hebrews reminds us of the Incarnation, proclaiming that Jesus had a “share” in our own “blood and flesh.” The Gospel finds the infant Jesus on his first visit to Jerusalem and his human parents once again surprised and in awe over the events surrounding his birth.

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