There is a Longing

Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.” (John 10:27-30) Even though we have a short Gospel today, it's big enough to designate this day as Good Shepherd Sunday. According to the Collins Dictionary online, one of the definitions of a shepherd is, "One who protects, guides, or watches over a person or group of people." Jesus is our Shepherd who does indeed give us eternal life. Just as a shepherd in the field will do anything to protect his sheep, including risk & give up his life, Jesus did the same. Willingly, He suffered a violent death to save & protect us from our sins. How do we repay Jesus? Sadly, many times we don't. Our humanity encompasses our whole being & we often turn our backs to Him. We sh...

It's been said that the three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him are representative of the three times Peter denied Jesus during His Passion. Each inquiry into his love of Christ was a chance for Peter to redeem himself & fully accept the responsibility Jesus had bestowed upon him to lead as the first pope.  "Feed My lambs...Tend My sheep...Feed My sheep...Follow Me!" These directives, are not just for Peter, but are for all church leaders. I think of the bishop of our diocese & one of the great successes of his leadership. Since his installation as bishop in 2022, two of his primary focuses have been vocations & evangelization. That year saw no priestly ordinations in our diocese. In May 2023, we had one priest ordained & in May 2024, we had five. Next weekend, we will see three more ordained.  Since his installation as our bishop, the number of seminarians in our diocese has gone from 17 to 40. Vatican News even shared an article on this great achiev...

     Today we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday and mark the conclusion of the Octave of Easter. It is fitting that we hear of the institution of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, for Christ’s Resurrection is a call to repentance and newness of life. Indeed, the entirety of our Christian life is a continual conversion, a turning back to God and delving deeper into His love.      Made in the image and likeness of God, we are made for greatness. Not the greatness of the world, but the greatness of knowing our Creator and living in union with Him. But we are also frail, broken creatures, caught in a cycle of falling and struggling to get up again. Our Lord knows this, and in His mercy forgives our failings. His hand is always outstretched to help us stand and He provides the grace to avoid stumbling blocks. Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, He makes these graces of healing available to us and we can strengthen our confidence in Him.      Now ...

(Photo Credit: Columbus Catholic Women's Conference, Facebook) This past February, along with over 3000 other women, we attended the Columbus Catholic Women's Conference. The talks by Fr. John Riccardo, Carrie Daunt, Sr. Mercedes Torres, Sarah Swafford, & Mary Guilfoyle were uplifting & inspiring. In addition, there were various vendors sharing their ministries & religious materials, an Adoration chapel for private prayer, & relics of St. Padre Pio available for veneration. Fr. John Riccardo also led an hour of Adoration. We prayed & adored Our Lord as Father walked around the conference seating area with the Blessed Sacrament. In his talk later that afternoon, he spoke of how powerful it was for him to process with Our Lord around the room. He said that each time he turned the monstrance toward someone or a section of those in attendance, it was not of his own choosing, but Our Lord leading him.  The procession touched me in a way I'd never experienced ...

  Birth and death are the two major experiences every person throughout all of history has shared in common. Birth is an experience (hopefully) filled with joy, potential, and excitement; whereas Death is usually accompanied with grief, sorrow, and sometimes regret. Our Good Lord, in becoming man, didn’t cut corners. He shared in our experiences, from birth to death, raising them to a new dignity, revealed especially in the light of His Resurrection. Yes, He gives us the promise of a new experience, one we can share with Him: life after death. A second, permanent birth, into eternity. Easter is a celebration of this. A celebration of victory over death and grief, a victory over sin and the enemy; won for us, that we who were unworthy, might be made worthy through Christ Jesus; worthy of a share in this victory, in this new dignity, and in the Resurrection.  As Christians, we also share in a universal call. The call to relationship with God. The call to holiness. Rela...

This is my body, which will be given up for you; do this in memory of me…This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.  On the eve of His death, Jesus institutes the Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist, which will become the summit of our Catholic faith, a profound source of grace, and the pathway to Eternal Life.  He also leaves us the instruction to imitate His own example:  Let the greatest among you be as the youngest, and the leader as the servant.  He reminds us to have confidence in God, Who knows the extent of our poverty and pain:  Were you in need of anything?  No, nothing, they replied. Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done.  Burdened by the tremendous sacrifice before Him and by the weight of our sin, Jesus teaches us to take refuge in prayer and submission to God’s Holy Will.  Yet we, like the Apostles, are often blinded to the sorrows of His Sacred He...

Numbers 21:4-9 was the first reading from the daily Mass yesterday (4/8/2025). The passage details what happened to the Israelites who grumbled against Moses & the Lord, questioning why they were led to the desert, only to die. God punished them by sending saraph serpents which bit & killed many of them. They went to Moses, imploring him to intercede & ask God to take the serpents away. God, in turn, had Moses make a serpent & attach it to a bronze pole. Anyone bitten was to look upon it & they would live. The translation used for the Mass reading does not say the people would be “healed” , only that they would “live” . Curious about how the passage had been translated in other Bibles, I went to the Bible Gateway website . I looked up at least 25 Bible translations, most of which used the word “live”. Two used “recovered” , & three said “healed” (Douay Rheims 1899, The Voice, & Wycliffe). That got me thinking…why would God want the Israelites to live, but ...

  When we were younger, my siblings and I excelled in the art of tattletaling.  One instance (which I will never live down) was when I attempted to slap my older brother.  He was being annoying, so naturally I wanted to hit him.  Foreseeing my action, he raised his hand and turned my strike into a high-five.  I ran to Mom in order to “tell on” him, but realized too late how pathetic my case looked.  “Mom, I tried to hit Sam, but he just gave me a high-five!”   Guess who got the scolding?  I’ll give you a hint.  It wasn’t my brother. You could say that the scribes and Pharisees were playing their own game of tattletale, only with a more devious motive.  They weren’t really interested in the adulterous woman.  They were more occupied with catching Jesus.  One statement contradicting the law was all they needed in order to silence Him.  Presenting Him with the adulterous woman was the perfect opportunity.   It...

  Joan Carroll Cruz is a favorite Catholic author of ours, so don't be surprised if you see more of her books in future posts! If I remember correctly, I believe Eucharistic Miracles and Eucharistic Phenomena in the Lives of the Saints was the first of hers which I read. Published in 1987, this is a collection of 36 miracles throughout history (as early as the 8th century & as recent as the 20th) which show proof of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The author det ails these miracles, including investigations made into them & even telling where some can still be witnessed today. In the 2nd part of the book, she explains Eucharistic phenomena of saints who lived on the Eucharistic alone, experienced levitations, visions, raptures, & other extraordinary experiences surrounding the Real Presence.  Throughout the book, there are photos of some of the miracles, artistic renderings of the miracles & people who experienced them, & photos of the locati...

We have a popular parable from Jesus (and one of my favorites) in today’s Gospel. Many a homily, essay, book, etc. has focused on the Prodigal Son who requested his inheritance while his father was still alive, took his share, and spent it on frivolous vices. When the money ran out, he returned home in shame. I would like to turn our focus towards the older son in this reflection. He is angry over the banquet celebrating his brother’s return. He had always done the right thing and never disobeyed his father. The older brother sees this banquet as a reward for his brother’s selfish actions and refuses to join the celebration. His hardness of heart toward his brother causes as much pain to his father as his younger brother’s leaving did. “The father only is good. He loves both sons. He runs out to meet both. He wants both to sit at his table and participate in his joy.… [God’s] love does not force itself on the beloved.” (from Henri J.M. Nouwen’s book, The Return of the Prodigal Son) Th...

The owner of the fig tree is frustrated because the tree has not produced any fruit for three years. When asked to cut it down, his gardener requests one more year to give it special attention. If it continues to not produce fruit after that time, he'll cut it down. I see three figures represented in this parable. The owner of the tree is God, the gardener is Jesus, and the fig tree is us. God is the great Judge who, at the end of time, will sort the good from the bad, the produce from the weeds. The “year” that Jesus has to cultivate our hearts & souls, to intercede for us, is actually the whole of our lives. He will continue to clear out the weeds of sin and fertilize us with His love and mercy up to our very last breath. Accepting His care, we, like roots that grow deep into the soil, will become grounded in our Faith and fully bloom in Heaven. Even better, we actually have a group of gardeners tending to our growth. Our Blessed Mother Mary and all the saints in Heaven are i...

  Up on the mountain, Peter, James, & John witness Jesus’ Transfiguration. The Gospel of Luke says that Jesus’ face changed in appearance, but doesn’t explain how. Matthew’s Gospel says His face “shone like the sun” and 2 Peter 1:16 says, “...but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” It’s safe to assume, then, that what they saw in Jesus’ face was a radiance far surpassing anything they’d ever seen before. They knew they were on sacred ground, so Peter offered to make up three tents in honor of Jesus, Moses, & Elijah…a place to worship and remember the greatness of Jesus’ glory. They felt safe away from the cares of the world and wanted to remain there with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. God, however, had other plans. Seeing Jesus transfigured in front of their eyes was God’s message to them, revealing Jesus’ true identity and setting things in motion that would lead to His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. While it was good to step away from their regular lives, they needed t...

I’ve heard it said that the closer you are to God, the harder the devil will work his temptations on you. Can't get much closer to God than Jesus was in the desert! I was recently talking to a friend who experienced an amazing, deeply spiritual pilgrimage last year. Since then, she's felt extreme pressure daily from the evil one’s attempts to distract her. She could pinpoint the exact tricks he used to keep her from getting to Mass just that morning. The devil sure is persistent, isn’t he? Look at his attacks on Jesus in the Gospel. Four times he tried to tempt Jesus in the desert and four times Jesus resisted, using Old Testament Scripture to thwart each attempt.  Oh, that we could all have the strength of Jesus to resist the devil & all his lies! But we do! We don't have to have a Bible verse each time we're attacked, although it definitely wouldn't hurt to put a few to memory. All we need to say is, “In the name of Jesus Christ, I renounce you evil one!” An...

  “You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.” I once heard that the faults, traits, or behaviors that irritate us most in others are often those we are most guilty of ourselves. After learning that, I began to take notice of some pet peeves I had about the people around me. Lo & behold, I was just as culpable! OUCH! I was (and still am at times) that hypocrite Jesus is calling out in today’s Gospel. Perhaps calling out those faults in others is a way to make us feel better about ourselves. Maybe it’s an attempt to mask our own faults in hopes that others will not see them in us. But…if we can see them in those around us, I’m pretty sure others can see them in us as well. And remember, absolutely nothing is hidden from God!  Ash Wednesday is coming up in just a few days, beginning our great penitential season of Lent. This would be the perfect time to reflect on our faults and ask God f...

All media (social, news outlets, magazines, etc) is flooded with differences these days. It seems that everyone is quick to spout off their opinion & harshly criticize those who oppose them. It's frustrating to pull up my Facebook feed & be flooded with angry, rude (often vulgar) views about politics, religion, education, whatever the current hot topic is. Jesus tells us in today's Gospel, “Love your enemies and do good to them…”, and also “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.” What can be tough in those situations mentioned above is how to differentiate between what is being said & the person who is saying it. Many of the views I read on Facebook come from family members & friends I’ve had for a long time, people I care for & love. While they are not my enemies in a Vietnam or World War sense, some of their comments do offend me & my values. I have three choices: I can choose to criticize right back at...

Today, from Luke’s Gospel, we hear a shorter version of the Beatitudes. One difference from Matthew’s version, other than the number of Beatitudes mentioned, is that Luke also expresses woe to those who do not adhere to them. As I listened to the Gospel at Mass last evening, I realized that this passage could be used to examine our consciences prior to confession or each night before bed. I then remembered that The Fathers of Mercy has a great pamphlet for adults & teens & it includes the Beatitudes as one of their suggestions. ( Fathers of Mercy Examine ) Blessed are you poor…Woe to you who are rich      How do I assist the poor?      Do I give from my surplus or what’s leftover?      Do I look someone in the eye when I help or just give & go? Blessed are you who are hungry…Woe to you who are filled      The same questions above could apply here.      Do I waste food or eat more than I should? Blesse...

Today we celebrate the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. Per Mosaic Law, after the required time of purification, Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem to be presented to the Lord.  Traditionally, this day has also been known as Candlemas, a time for celebrating Christ as the Light for the world. Candlemas can be celebrated through the blessing of candles to be used throughout the upcoming year, a candlelit procession at the beginning of the Mass, bringing candles from home to be blessed, and leaving Christmas decorations up through this day. In parts of Europe, some families feast on savory or sweet crepes, while some Mexican households enjoy tamales and hot chocolate. It is suggested that whatever meals families eat, they should be accompanied by many candles symbolizing Christ’s light in the darkness. Simeon acknowledged Christ’s Light when he met Jesus in the temple. He took the infant into his arms and expressed his blessing to God, ending with, “…for my eye...

Today, I would like to reflect on the 2nd reading for this 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. It comes from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians 12:4-11: Brothers and sisters: There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit;  there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. To one is given through the Spirit the expression of wisdom; to another, the expression of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another, faith by the same Spirit; to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another, mighty deeds; to another, prophecy; to another, discernment of spirits; to another, varieties of tongues; to another, interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing them individually to each person as he wishes. St. Paul talks about the gifts we receive. Go...

On this Feast of the Epiphany, my thoughts for this reflection have come from several sources. As I share each thought, I will also share from where I received the inspiration for it. We hear in the Gospel that the Magi were led by a star from the East. When they arrived in Jerusalem, Herod inquired about the star’s appearance. He sent them to search for the child, with a request that they return so that he, too, may pay homage. This star preceded them to Bethlehem, stopping over the place where Baby Jesus lay.  Inspired by our priest’s homily at Mass last evening, I began to ponder myself as a star. Is the light of my star a bright beacon, leading others to Christ through my words & actions? Or have I let my star grow dimmer by the earthly worries & trials of human frailty? I must continue to polish my star, so that its light can remain a strong guide for those I encounter on a daily basis. That polishing process can be done through frequent reception of the sacraments ...