Good Shepherd, First Communions, & Confirmations - All a great joy!

This week has been a little busy since Sunday so it took me a while to get to post a blog update.    On Sunday there was first communion for 70 kids in the afternoon, my son-in-law’s birthday and trip to look for a new puppy for our family; Rosary for a funeral vigil this past Monday evening, confirmations for Ss. Francis and Clare & St. Jude parishes Tuesday, and confirmation for St. Barnabus and Little Flower parishes on Wednesday (my God-daughter Gloria Herron was confirmed).  The first communion and confirmations were joyous occasions to be part of.  I’ll comment on both of those events later.

This past Sunday, with reading from the Fourth Sunday of Easter, was Good Shepherd Sunday.  Father Vince focused on the Acts of the Apostles and the reaction of St. Paul and St. Barnabus to the persecution on their preaching about Christ.   It says, “The disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.” These are good words to hear in the face of adversity.   We’ve had some very troubling news the past few weeks with the Boston Marathon bombing and the explosion at West, Texas, that can get us down.   But the resurrection of Christ and the hope of eternal life is something to sustain us and keep us going in the midst of trouble.   It inspired St. Paul and St. Barnabus as they just “shook the dust from their feet in protest against them, and went to Iconium”.  The Gospel can inspire us to do the same.   We have Christ to proclaim which should bring us joy no matter what happens to us. 

Picture from http://media.photobucket.com

Father Anto shared his experience with us on living among the shepherds, the sheep knowing their shepherd and also the shepherd knowing their sheep.  He used a good analogy of the close tie many of us have with our family pets and how close we can be with them.  He said that the shepherd’s relationship with the sheep was many times closer.  He told us that shepherd knew what was wrong with the sheep just by the sounds it would make, and would give it the care it needed to help sustain it to good health.   Our Lord Jesus helps us and listens to our needs as well.  We just need to share our needs with him.  Sometimes he answers them in the midst of our everyday dealings with trial of life.  

Father Anto shared a personal story on trouble he had with a flight from France to return home to India.    His flight had a connection through London and when he checked in they told him he could not return due to an invalid travel visa. They law had changed since he booked the ticket and he could not take the flight.  Another flight would have cost him four times more than the money he had.  In his trouble he turned to the Lord in prayer to help.   Checking back at the gate a little later resulted in a ticket being provided at no additional cost.

What I really got out of this story was that sometimes the ordinary trials we have in life and the way some things just work out are God’s way of taking care of his sheep.  Sometimes when these things happen we don't recognize or think of God in the way things work out.  The key to Father Anto's message was turning to our Lord in prayer.   Maybe it was a coincidence that the ticket came about, but the real grace was the consolation in being able to turn to our Lord when we have challenges we are faced with.   The next time I’m faced with a difficult situation I am definitely going to remember to turn to God in prayer.  I hope you will too.

Seeing all the children at first communion this week was an exceptional joy.    They were very excited and smiling as they received their first communion, as were their parents, grandparents, and family members.  We even had the grandchildren of four deacons receiving first communion and the grand kids were able to receive first communion from their Grandparents.    Deacon Jerry Gagne, Deacon Mark Kellums, and Deacon Mike Gardner assisted at Mass and Deacon Tim Harte was a Eucharistic minister. 

One of the joys I also saw were many new faces of visitors who were not Catholic, as they came up for a blessing at communion.   This is one of the special “Catholic moments” that people of other faiths and even no faith get to experience.   The joy of this day will help to draw others into a desire to experience the same joy.  Please remember to invite non-Catholic friends and family to these special occasions.

Gloria with Archbishop & Linda

Gloria with Linda and myself

I was also able to serve at two confirmation Masses this week.   This was my first opportunity to do so and it was a very joyful event.  Archbishop Tobin gave a great homily to inspire these young adults as they were sealed with the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation.    One key point he made was in relating the Holy Spirit to the wind.  He asked the youth if they have ever seen the wind.  His answer to them was they may not have seen the wind, but they have seen what the wind can do.    He shared that the gift of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation could be seen by what these young adults do with their lives.     He encouraged them to do the things God dreamed for them and to not settle for less.   God has great dreams for each one of them and the Holy Spirit will help and inspire them to follow these dreams.    This gift of the Holy Spirit at confirmation can help them to follow great dreams and not be distracted by the lesser dreams that the world has to offer.   I thought this was a great message of what Confirmation does in our lives.  

Please pray for all of our children who received first communion and our young adults who were confirmed this week that they spread the joy received from the grace of these sacraments to bring others to Christ. May God bless you!

Do you want to go Fishing?

Do you want to go fishing?  That was Father Vince’s opening question for this weekends’ homily. In the Gospel of John for the third week of Easter we hear about a resurrection story that sounds very familiar to a fishing story at the beginning of the Gospel of Luke.  Father Vince pointed out similarities and differences in the stories. 

                              Picture by Peter Paul Rubens from the National Gallery

 

-       Both of the stories had the disciples fishing at night and catching nothing.  The dark of night represented the sinful nature of man without God. 

-       When Jesus appears at dawn in both stories the disciples catch a lot of fish.  The light of dawn represents the good of God.

-       In the first story Jesus tells the disciples to put out into deep water, but in the second Jesus gives them specific direction to cast over the right side.  The disciples had clear direction in John’s story, with right representing the power of God.

-       In the first story from look the nets were tearing.   In the second story the nets did not tear.  This represented the maturity of faith of the disciples and the unbreakable bond of the Church.

-       The second story there were more specifics about the fish.  There were large fish that totaled 153.  This was representing all nations known at the time.  This was symbolic of the apostles going out to all the earth “catching” people of all nations for Christ.

At the great catch of fish the disciples recognized it was the Lord.  This was the third time he had appeared after his resurrection.  Jesus shared bread and fish with them, which was another sharing of Eucharistic.

Jesus showed the disciples who he was sending out to catch men & women though out the world that with him they could do amazing things.  We can too if we share Jesus with others.   Are you ready to go fishing with Jesus for a great catch? Share these amazing stories of Jesus from the Gospel and also how he has changed your life bringing joy, love, &hope through your faith in our Risen Lord! May God bless you.

Blessed are those who believe without seeing & God's infinite mercy: Divine Mercy Sunday

Who here is blessed? Jesus tells the disciples in today’s Gospel: Blessed are those who have not seen and believed.  I suspect you believe in Jesus. That’s why you are here. You are blessed and this beatitude is for all of us here! He was speaking a message to the faithful of His Church.        

Today we conclude the Octave of Easter on the Second Sunday known as Divine Mercy Sunday. Easter is an eight-day Feast.   One day is just not enough to celebrate the joy of the Risen Lord.  Last week on Easter Sunday, we heard about the empty tomb. Jesus had risen from the tomb, but the disciples had not yet encountered him. Today we hear about 

Jesus appears twice to the disciples after his resurrection.  In the first encounter the disciples were together on the first day of the week, Sunday, locked away, for “fear of the Jews”.  They just experienced the loss of Jesus who they followed and hoped was the Messiah and had went through a brutal death. Now they probably feared for their own life and Jesus appears to them. Put your self in the place of the disciples and imagine you are at your home with a group of friends mourning a loss of a loved one, it’s late at night, the doors are locked, and the security alarm is set.  All of the sudden your loved one appears out of no where to greet you.  Wouldn’t you be frightened? To help in their fear Jesus greets the disciples twice with, “Peace be with you”. The disciples really needed to hear this.

Jesus appears to the disciples in his glorified body and shows them his hands and feet and feet so they can recognize him.  In the resurrection stories the disciples don’t always recognize the glorified body of Jesus.  By retaining the wounds that He suffered they could recognize Him.  

Jesus then does something amazing: He breathes the Holy Spirit on disciples and sends to do work of extending His mercy through forgiveness of sins telling them: “Who sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained”.  This is reminiscent of God breathing life into Man in the creation story. 

As the resurrected Jesus returns, He gives new life the to the disciples sending them as Apostles to extend his mercy. In this action Jesus institutes the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Thomas was absent when Jesus appeared to the other disciples. He hears about the appearance, but was a typical skeptic as many in Middle-Easterner culture were at the time.  He refused to believe until he could touch Jesus’ wounds himself.   Thomas was much like people in our culture today who rely totally on experiencing it themselves or having scientific proof before they will believe something.

The following week the disciples are gathered again, a good example of early Christians gathering on Sunday, and Jesus appears again with the greeting, “Peace be with you”.  Jesus offers Thomas to touch his wounds, giving him what he needs to come to belief.  Thomas professes his faith: “My Lord and My God”.  We don’t know if Thomas really touched the wounds, but Jesus invited him and offered Thomas the gift of his physical presence to help him believe.  We are given this story to help us believe. 

The Church helps us to believe through our all of our senses by the Liturgy and the sacraments.  Through the Scripture & Gospel we hear at Mass of healings, conversions, and encounters with Christ. We also hear homilies that give meaning of Scripture in our own daily lives it helps us to believe.  But there are many of us like Thomas who need to use more of our senses to affirm our belief.   We need to see, touch, taste, smell, and feel the presence of Jesus.

The sacraments of our Catholic faith provide the grace to help us believe through those other senses. Through the Eucharist we have an intimate encounter with the Lord where we see, taste, touch, and smell.  We can acclaim interiorly at the consecration as the priest elevates the host: "My Lord and my God", just as Thomas did. We also use the sense of human touch through anointing with oil at Baptism, Confirmation, and Anointing of Sick, and laying on of hands in Ordination through the sacrament of Holy Orders. We can feel the comfort of Jesus’ presence, when we come to the chapel and pray, attend Mass, and visit the tabernacle in any church where the Lord is reserved in His Eucharistic presence.

One of the most healing ways we encounter the Lord is through the priest when he extends the Mercy of God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation looking into our eyes and saying the words, “I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit”.  It’s fitting today that we hear about the Lord sending the Apostle to extend his mercy through the forgiveness of sins on the second Sunday of Easter is also known as the Sunday of Divine Mercy.   I’d like to share a little background about Divine Mercy.

During the early part of the 20^th century there were many evils going on through expansion of nazism and communism and a deep disrespect for the dignity of life. In the 1930s, Jesus chose a humble Polish nun, St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, to receive private revelations concerning Divine Mercy that were recorded in her Diary.  This private revelation has been approved by the Church and doesn’t reveal anything new beyond what scripture already tells us. It does help to emphasize what has already been revealed. In the case of the Divine Mercy it strengthens our hope in the infinite mercy of God.

In these private revelations there were 14 occasions when Jesus requested that a Feast of Mercy (Divine Mercy Sunday) be observed.  I’d like to share one of those revelations from Jesus with you:

My daughter, tell the whole world about My inconceivable mercy. I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the Fount of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. … Let no soul fear to draw near to Me. … It is My desire that it be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy. (Diary, no. 699)

Blessed Pope John Paul II was very familiar with the message of Divine Mercy from St. Faustina being a native of his homeland of Poland.  Five days after St. Faustina was declared a saint on May 5, 2000, the Vatican decreed that the Second Sunday of Easter would be known as Divine Mercy Sunday

It’s a gift that many of have prepared for this Feast through our Lenten practices going to confession. In receiving the Eucharist on this special day we are able to obtain these graces offered by God of the complete remissions of sins and punishment, but the most exciting message is that Jesus invites to extend his mercy to all as he told St. Faustina, Let no soul fear to draw near to Me.

 

Jesus also appeared to St. Faustina in a vision with his right hand raised in a blessing and his left touching his garment above his heart. Red and white rays emanate from his heart, symbolizing the blood and water that was poured out for our salvation and our sanctification.  The Lord requested this image to be painted with the words, “Jesus, I trust in You”, inscribed under his image, and that it be venerated around the world. Jesus said about this image that: “I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish” (Diary, no. 48) and “By means of this image I will grant many graces to souls” (Diary, no. 742). The image of Divine Mercy has been seen by many of you as it’s hanging on the wall in the confessional. 
 

Our Lord also gave a devotional prayer to St. Faustina with this promise: “Encourage souls to say the chaplet which I have given you” (Diary, no. 1541). “Whoever will recite it will receive great mercy at the hour of death. … Even if there were a sinner most hardened, if he were to recite this chaplet only once, he would receive grace from My infinite mercy. I desire that the whole world know My infinite mercy” (Diary, no. 687).

On Sunday at 10 am there will be special opportunity to participate in devotions for the Feast of Divine Mercy.  I invite you to spend some time with the Lord in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

Now, I ask again, who here is blessed?   Happy Easter and May God’s Mercy be known and shared with all

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you would like to explore more about Divine Mercy I’d recommend to look into the Marians of the Immaculate Conception Divine Mercy web site.  If you want to pray the Divine Mercy devotion take it with you on the go and download the Divine Mercy app to your Smartphone.

        

.

Happy Easter! Joy and a new beginning

Happy Easter! In the readings for Easter we hear about the empty Jesus rising from the dead.  Father Vince greeted us all with Happy Easter and we all responded back with the same greeting, Happy Easter.   He then asked us what we mean when we responded, Happy Easter.   Two of the responses were joy and a new beginning.   There were several others and Father Vince invited up children who gave responses to receive a gift.   He gave them little pieces of paper that had the words: worry, loneliness, emptiness, fear, and depression.    He shared that many of the people who came to confession were experiencing these, but the joy of Easter and Jesus rising to overcome death gives us a new beginning to overcome these anxieties of life.   Father Vince then went to the purple box in front of the altar and brought out 5 candy bunnies and offered to each of the children in exchange for the pieces of paper.  The kids eagerly exchanged them.  We should just as eager to exchange our worries for the joy of Jesus rising at Easter.   Happy Easter!