Category: Uncategorized

***

Gospel: Matthew 22: 34-40

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law, tested him by asking,
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him,
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

When preparing couples for marriage, I always ask them: “What is love?”

It’s beautiful to see how unique each response – and relationship – can be.

***

If a couple struggles to formulate an answer, I offer one of my favorite definitions of love, coming from Shakespeare’s famous play, Romeo and Juliet.

You may remember the balcony scene when a young Juliet gazes down upon Romeo and says, “Romeo, the more I give to you, the more I seem to have.”

That’s the strange, scary, exhilarating truth about love: the more we give, the more we have.

I call it the law of self-donation, which has been written into all of creation.

***

If you walk outside and look up, what will you see? The sun does not shine on itself; it gives its light away, warming and brightening the earth.

Trees do not eat their own fruit; they offer it for the nourishment of others. Meanwhile, their branches reach for the heavens, growing leaves, offering others shade from the noonday heat.

Rivers do not drink their own water. Flowers release their fragrance.

Living for others – giving oneself away – is a law of nature written into all of creation, including every human heart.

***

In what ways do I give myself away? How do I live like the sun and the stars?

***

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,” Jesus says, “and your neighbor as yourself.” These are the greatest of the commandments.

May we embrace this law of self-donation, living like all of creation. 

The more we give, the more we will seem to have.

***

***

Image credits: (1) Life Coach and Spiritual Guide (2) The Conversation (3) philosiblog

***

Gospel: Luke 1: 26-38

The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”
But Mary said to the angel,
“How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?”
And the angel said to her in reply,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God.”
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

Jesus changed my life. Because of Jesus, I’m Catholic. I’m a priest. I’m the pastor of this parish. Because of Jesus, my world and my priorities have been turned upside down, right-side up.

***

Today we celebrate the Queenship of Mary, our belief that she has been assumed body and soul into heaven, and now she reigns as Queen – as intercessor for us, her children – until the end of time.

Mary’s entire life changed – as so many others have – because of Jesus. 

Before the angel Gabriel appeared to her, she lived an ordinary life. She was a poor Jewish teenager living on the edge of the Roman Empire. None of us would’ve ever known she existed … until God acted in her life.

Suddenly, Christ began growing in her womb. The simple future Mary envisioned with Joseph was forever changed. In fact, her marriage would’ve been over had Joseph not also accepted God’s will, becoming the foster father of our Lord.

Thirty years later, Mary finds herself standing at the foot of the Cross, gazing upon “the fruit of her womb,” breathing his last. 

Three days after, his tomb was empty. 

And some time thereafter, the Risen Lord welcomes Mary – body and soul – into heaven. Their journey together – from the womb, to the tomb, to the splendor of heaven now complete.

More than any other, Mary’s life changed because of Jesus.

***

How has your own life changed because of the Lord? 

***

May Mary, the Queen of Heaven, intercede for us, that we would welcome the Lord deeper into our lives. Doing so will change us, even into eternity.

***

***

Image credits: (1) Catholic News Agency (2) Busted Halo (3) Coronation of the Virgin, Velazquez

***

Gospel: John 21: 15-17

After Jesus had revealed himself to his disciples and
eaten breakfast with them,
he said to Simon Peter,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
He then said to Simon Peter a second time,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
He said to him, “Tend my sheep.”
He said to him the third time,
“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time,
“Do you love me?” and he said to him,
“Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”
[Jesus] said to him, “Feed my sheep.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

When you walk into our parish office, you may notice a framed icon of Saint Francis of Assisi hanging on the wall. That icon represents the call of every Christian – past, present, and future.

***

800 years ago, as Francis was praying in the church of San Damiano, a tiny chapel located in the hills of Assisi, the Lord spoke to him, saying, “Rebuild my Church.”

That chapel was physically in tatters, so Francis rebuilt it. But the Lord spoke to him again, saying: “Rebuild my Church.” 

God wasn’t asking Francis to rebuild a chapel; rather, to restore faith in the Church. So, Francis started a religious order, the Franciscans, whose mission it was to share the Gospel in word and deed.

On his deathbed, Francis looked at his brothers and said, “I have done what was mine to do. Now you must do what is yours to do.” 

Renew the faith of the Church, a call that summons us throughout the ages.

***

700 years later, Pope Saint Pius X, whose feast day we celebrate today, answered that call, instituting several reforms.

First, he dropped the age of First Communion from twelve to seven. He believed in the power of the Eucharist – and that every Catholic should receive that grace as early as possible. As Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “Feed my sheep.”

Pius X also required the teaching of the Catechism in every parish, another effort to “rebuild” the faith of the Church.

***

This is our mission, too. Each of us must consider: What is mine to do? How do I hand on the faith?

***

May the Saints who’ve answered this call, Pius X and Francis included, pray for us.

***

***

Image credits: (1) Slide Player (2) Indian Catholic Matters (3) RoadLife