There is a Longing

Matthew 22:34-40 We’ve probably all been told at least once in our life: “don’t touch!”  It’s the first warning when we come close to another’s most prized possession;  the primary rule when near someone’s greatest work;  the first reaction when we annoy our loved ones by our curiosity.  We’d be smart to listen, lest we invoke wrath upon ourselves! But that is not the case here.  The first thing our God commands of us, is that we love Him.  He is everything, and compared to Him, we’re but dust; and yet, His first commandment is not that we keep our distance, not that we keep our nothingness to ourselves.  He commands us to enter into a relationship (union is the more proper term, I think) with Him!  Our Heavenly Father commands us to share in that prized possession of His blessed life;  commands us to admire His great works;  and assures us that our “curiosity” and presence will never annoy Him.  When we think of it that way...

"He will provide the way and the means, such as you could never have imagined. Leave it all to Him, let go of yourself, lose yourself on the Cross, and you will find yourself entirely." (St. Catherine of Siena)

October 22, Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time When I was little, I would sing little songs about loving God, imagine what Heaven is like, and dream about becoming a saint. Spoiler alert: I’ve not gotten very far on that last one! Now as I’ve gotten older, I hum movie soundtracks, I imagine what my future will look like, and though I still admire the saints, I dream about a lot of other things too. Regardless of how many “presidential trading cards” we have, we’re incredibly poor. The most valuable thing we have, from an eternal standpoint, is our soul. So this leads me to question myself. Am I filling my soul with a sweet tune? Am I fortifying my soul with pure thoughts? Am I directing my soul toward good dreams? What I was doing as a child was rendering what little I had to God. I gave Him my voice, my imagination, my aspirations. It’s funny, yet very sad, how hard that becomes as one gets older and establishes oneself in the world. Today, let’s turn our hearts to Chri...

Today, October 21, is the feast day of Blessed Giuseppe “Pino” Puglis, an Sicilian priest & martyr of the 20th Century. He was born September 15, 1937 in Palermo, Sicily. His father was a cobbler and his mother a dressmaker. His childhood neighborhood was crime-ridden, full of street activities he refused to be a part of in his youth. He had a desire to fight back against crime & at the age of 16, he attended a seminary with the intention of becoming a priest. He was ordained in 1960. His archbishop, Cardinal Ruffini, refused to believe in the Italian mafia, citing that communism was the true threat. Giuseppe disagreed & actively spoke out against the Mafia within his parishes. He refused financial assistance from those Mafia groups & wouldn’t allow their recommendations of organizations to repair the church. Even when he returned to his hometown as priest of St. Gaetano’s Parish, he continued to speak out against organized crime & refused to allow the Mafia to man...

On October 15, the Church celebrates the feast of St. Teresa of Avila, a great Carmelite nun, saint, & doctor of the church. For today's quote, I am sharing a prayer of hers. This is a prayer I was first introduced to many years ago when I was part of a small church community. Our group met twice a month to read & discuss the upcoming weekend's readings, pray the rosary, & intercede for one another. We shared our joys & pains, births & deaths, triumphs & trials. Each meeting was ended with this prayer, which became a blessing to each of us until we met the next time.  Although most of us have kept in touch, our group eventually dissolved & over time, I had forgotten about this prayer until a friend shared it on Facebook a few weeks ago.  *************** "May today there be peace within. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts t...

Matthew 22:1-14      The Church stands as a gate to the wedding feast (eternal life), open to the whole world. Belonging to the Body of Christ, it is our duty to pass out the wedding invitation, as it were, to those who have not yet arrived at the gate. Some will refuse the invitation; some will ignore it. Others will ridicule and persecute it.      It is also our job to prepare ourselves for the wedding feast. In this life, we must dress ourselves in the proper wedding garment. We do this by clothing ourselves in holiness. There are two sides to this coin: when we dress ourselves in holiness, we dress the Church in holiness, because as members of the Body of Christ, we are all one!      It is possible to arrive at the wedding feast without properly dressing ourselves. But Jesus reminds us in His parable that now is the time to clothe ourselves in the wedding garment, not later. Holiness is found in the present moment, it is our in...

Today is the feast of St. John XXIII, the pope who called the ecumenical council together that would become known as Vatican II. Unlike most saints whose feast days are celebrated on the anniversary of their deaths, St. John XXIII's feast day is October 11, in honor of the day Vatican II opened in 1962. *********** Man has the right to live. He has the right to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of life, particularly food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest, and, finally, the necessary social services. In consequence, he has the right to be looked after in the event of ill health; disability stemming from his work; widowhood; old age; enforced unemployment; or whenever through no fault of his own he is deprived of the means of livelihood. St. John XXIII, Pacem In Terris, 1963

Matthew 21:33-43 “Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.” Written in the depths of our being is a desire for happiness. Imprinted on the surface of our being is the urge to obtain happiness regardless of the cost. Between the depth and surface of our being, our understanding of happiness is distorted. What we pursue then, is not the happiness we deeply desire, but rather a fragment of some fleeting pleasure. It is true, perhaps, that we want this inheritance, but usually we want it under our own terms. “Peace? Oh yes, I want peace, and I’d have it too, if so-and-so would just…” “Love? Sure, I love everyone!...it’s the Church that’s not staying up to date with the times…” “Joy? Almost in my grasp, if I could only…” Maybe we don’t kill, but do we allow Christ to live in our thoughts, words, and actions? Do we search for our inheritance in the world, or are we seeking Our Lord Jesus Christ, in Whom our inheritance lies? St. Paul implores us to think about those thin...

On October 13, the Church celebrates the life of the mystic Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa. Born in Balasar, Portugal on March 30, 1904, she & her sister, Deolinda, were brought up in the Catholic Faith. At the age of seven, she was sent to live with a carpenter’s family so that she could be educated in a primary school. Back in Balasar, at the age of 14, three men broke into her home & attempted to attack her. She jumped out of a window to protect her virtue, but injured herself in the process, becoming fully paralyzed & bedridden by the age of 21. With the aid of the Mother of God, she accepted her suffering as the Will of God & offered it for the conversion of sinners, as well as for peace around the world. “I have no purpose other than that of giving glory to God and saving souls.” From 1938-1942, she received a mystical gift; she overcame her paralysis to relive the Passion of Christ every Friday for three hours. On October 31, 1942, she asked Pope Pius XII fo...

Today of the Feast of St. Francis of Asssisi. Here are two quotes of his which exemplify the fact that our actions do speak louder than our words. ********** “The deeds you do may be the only sermon some persons will hear today.” "It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching."

In the first reading, the house of Israel is, as it were, trapped in a corner. Who’s way is better, the Lord’s or the Israelites? But presented with the Lord’s way, we see that unfairness is out of the question; for despite the most grievous sins, it only takes one act of repentance, a turning back to God, in order to be forgiven. On the other hand, if one lives a life of virtue, and suddenly turns away from God, justice will demand recompense. How much more would that one owe, seeing as they have lived the pure life and renounced it, as opposed to renouncing an impure life for a pure one? Then we have our Gospel. Jesus poses a scenario for the chief priests and elders. One son disobeys his father in word, but not in deed; the other son disobeys in deed, but not in word. The one son turns away from his disobedience and reconciles himself with his father; the other son turns away from his obedience and estranges himself from his father. St. Therese of the Child Jesus, whose feast is cel...