Anchored In The Lord

Merry Christmas! What child is this, who, laid to rest, On Mary's lap is sleeping? Whom angels greet with anthems sweet, While shepherds watch are keeping?

4th Sunday of Advent God made a promise to King David, that He would establish a house and kingdom for him that would last forever, and that an heir of his would rule in this kingdom.  1,000 years later, that promise came true in a little baby born on Christmas - Jesus.  God gave us, in Jesus, the greatest present of all: a savior to be present with us always, so that we would never be separated f...

3rd Sunday of Advent Christ is Coming!  Amidst all the preparations for Christmas - food, shopping, cleaning, gifts, cards, travel plans - it's all because Christ is coming!  The most important preparations we make, then, aren't the externals of the beautifully cleaned and decorated house or the delicious food we've prepared, but the internals of how we've cleaned and made room in our heart for Je...

Feast of Christ the King God's judgment is totally different than ours.  Our judgment of people and situations is narrow and subjective - concluded based on our limited perception.  God's judgment, on the other hand, takes into account every thought, every inclination, every factor, every pressure, every influence - God's judgment is absolutely fair.  After our own particular judgment at the end o...

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time The Master in this weekend's gospel puts a serious amount of cash into the hands of his servants, gives them absolute freedom, and then leaves on a trip.  When he comes back, we realize that his end game is NOT about the money: it's about having his servants share in his work so that they can also share in his JOY.  Do you lack joy in your life?  God has given us every...

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time The image most often used in the Bible to describe God's relationship with us is that of a marriage.  In the Gospel parable today, 10 virgins are waiting for the groom to arrive and lead them all (with the bride) to the wedding celebration.  The groom was running late.  Five of the virgins brought extra oil for their lamps while five of them did not.  When the five who...

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time Every person in this world is called to have a deep, rich, personal relationship with God - that is the first and primary vocation (call) from God to each and every one of us.  After that universal vocation comes our particular vocations - how we can best share our love for God with others - whether that's through marriage, priesthood, religious life or single life.  A...

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Michelangelo, one of the greatest artists of all time, loved sculpting most of all.  He could look at a block of marble, see the potential, a vision for what that block of marble was hiding, and then carve away everything that was not that potential.  Each one of us is standing in front of a block of marble called, "The rest of your life."  Do you have a vision for wha...

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time In the Gospel today, Jesus' opponents want Him SILENCED!  They set a trap for Him in the form of both a political and religious kenundrum of the time: the census tax of Caesar.  Jesus skillfully beats them at their own game, refusing to be silenced.  Present day opponents of Christ and His Good News are seeking to silence the voice of Christ in this world by silencing...

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time The parable which Jesus gives about a king inviting guests to the wedding reception of his son is ultimately a parable about eternal life and heaven (which our 1st reading from Isaiah speaks of as "God's holy mountain").  The king in the parable is God, his son is Jesus, and the wedding banquet is eternal salvation.  Some have ignored the invitation (God's original Cho...

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time A vineyard is meant to produce grapes, which turn into wine, which lightens and cheers the hearts of all those willing to drink of it.  Isaiah says that God's Chosen People, the Jews, were the vine, hand-selected by God, to produce amazing wine for this world - but they didn't produce good fruit.  So God took the vineyard from them and gave it to other tenants: now we,...

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time In this Sunday's Gospel we have a story of change: one son says "no" to his dad's request, then changes his mind and does it; the other says "yes" to his dad's request, then changes his mind and doesn't do it.  We all have the possibility to change, for better or for worse, every single day.  Every day is an opportunity to follow God's voice again...or to choose to let...

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time This weekend's readings center on unity.  God desires complete unity for us: in our families, in our communities, and in our Church.  Today's readings show how God uses confrontation and correction (always in love) to bring about true unity...as opposed to cheap unity, which avoids differences and assumes that since there's no arguing, everyone must be united.  God's d...

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Life gives us many crosses and we have 2 choices: avoid them or embrace them.  Jesus embraced His cross and He asks us, His followers, to do the same.  When we try to avoid our crosses they begin to slow us down and sap the life out of us.  But when we invite Jesus in and embrace our crosses, He gives us the strength to live a strong and rich life even in the midst of...

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time Jesus brings his disciples to a great pagan temple today with hundreds of niches housing the statues of all kinds of different gods.  With all these other gods in the background, Jesus asks his disciples, point-blank, "Who do you say that I am?"  Most of us have been taught since we were young to answer,"Jesus is God, the Christ."  While we might know the right words,...

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time In the Gospel today, a pagan woman approaches Jesus asking Him to heal her daughter.  Jesus' actions should bother us: First, Jesus doesn't respond.  Second, He rejects her.  Third, He insults her.  Then finally, when she refuses to stop, He works a miracle for her.  What is Jesus doing?  He's coaxing out of her an extreme act of faith and perseverance.  Have you ever...

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time Jesus comes to the disciples today walking on the water - that's a Big Moment, a miraculous moment, one that's hard to miss, and it strengthens their faith.  Elijah is told in our 1st reading that the Lord will be passing by: there is a great wind, a tremendous earthquake, a blazing fire, and yet, Scripture says, God was in none of those seemingly big moments.  Rather,...

Most Holy Trinity Every time we say, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," we are proclaiming that our God is a Trinity - that from all time our God has been a relationship of love: 3 distinct Persons, fully united as 1 God.  And this God made us - humanity - to share in His love!  But to know God as Trinity is not something we can describe with words alone, it is so...

Pentecost In our baptism we received the same Holy Spirit that the disciples received 2,000 years ago.  By our Confirmation we were sealed and strengthened in that Holy Spirit.  So why don't we see the miracles and wonders that the presence of the Spirit brings, like those in our 1st reading?  In order for the power of the Spirit (which is already within us) to be unlocked and unleashed through ou...

Ascension Sunday Jesus ascended into heaven not to distance Himself from us, but so that He could turn around, reach down, and raise us up to where He is!

5th Sunday of Easter Every Christian, by their baptism, is anointed priest, prophet and king.  Peter challenges us this weekend to that first anointing: "be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God."  There is the ordained priesthood by which priests in the Church offer to God's people the sacraments, but there is also the priesthood of the baptized by which every Christia...

4th Sunday of Easter Dreams are hopeful and safe - they can't be failed.  Goals, on the other hand, are not safe - they can be failed.  It's easy to dream; it's not easy to make goals and follow through on them.  In the Gospel this weekend, Jesus calls himself the good shepherd whose sheep hear his voice and follow him as he leads them to good pastures. Dreamers hear that voice but don't actually...

3rd Sunday of Easter In the Gospel today, Jesus joins two disciples on the way to Emmaus, but they do not recognize Him until "the breaking of the bread".  In the Eucharist, at every Mass, Jesus not only draws close to walk with us on our journey through life, He also transforms bread and wine into His Body and Blood so that He can be physically united with us: thanks be to God for this great gift...

Happy Easter!!!

Palm Sunday We are entering into the holiest week of the year as we join Jesus for his final days of earthly life: partaking with his disciples at the Last Supper, grieving with his followers as he is led to the cross and crucified, waiting in silence as he lies in the grave, and then rejoicing with the whole world as he rises from the dead!  I know this is a busy time - lots of preparation for Ea...