Anchored In The Lord

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time "My child, conduct your affairs with humility."  Humility is one of the most important and misunderstood virtues. Humility is NOT walking around with your head bowed down, or being quiet/submissive/weak, or downplaying things you're good at.  Humility is acknowledging the truth; it's living in reality.  It's an interior attitude recognizing that everything we have come...

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time We respect and expect hard work and dedication in so many areas of life; why should the spiritual life be any different?  Jesus says to us today, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate."  Are we striving?  Are we even trying?  Our relationship with Jesus Christ and our spiritual life require time, effort, hard work and dedication - just like anything else we value in...

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time Athletes in the Olympic games put in endless hours of practice, pushing their bodies to the furthest limits - mentally and physically beyond what most people could handle - so that they can be the best in the world.  Paul says today that all of us Christians are also in a contest and we are to "persevere in running the race that lies before us, while keeping our eyes f...

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time Faith is not simply believing in God.  If it were, then even the devil would have faith.  Faith, rather, is trusting in God, trusting that He will take care of us, trusting that He will do what He says...even if it's not exactly when we'd want or expect it.  Today Abraham is held up as a model of faith.  Through his example, we are invited to a new way of seeing our li...

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time So many things in this world and in our life are simply passing by: when we spend too much of our precious time, energy, and thoughts on them, when we give them more weight than they deserve, it's like chasing bubbles - some day they will pop and disappear forever, leaving us empty.  But Paul challenges us to seek what is above, and Jesus urges us to become rich in wha...

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time Our conscience is God's voice speaking deep in our hearts, guiding us along the path, urging us to do the right, dissuading us from the wrong.  The only problem is that over time we learn how to rationalize that voice away to get to the conclusions that we want.  We are reminded today in our readings that we were created through Christ, made with God's law and voice in...

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time Today in our Gospel Jesus sends 72 out ahead of him to prepare the way; today you have been sent out ahead of Jesus to prepare the way.  In the midst of the joyful celebrations of the 4th of July this weekend, we are challenged to keep an eye open for anyone around us who is hurting, who has a heavy heart, and to help lighten their load, if only just a little.  In this...

13th Sunday in Ordinary Time The learning process never ends - we continue learning our whole life long.  Our life of faith is meant to grow our whole life long as well: "disciple" means "learner".  In our readings today God calls certain people to follow Him - the big call.  But we also see God asking daily favors of those who already follow him - the small calls.  As disciples of Jesus, God is c...

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time Have you ever been accused of being like your parents?  Usually, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.  On this Father's Day weekend, Jesus asks his disciples, and us, "Who do you say that I am?"  If we take Jesus at His word, then we believe that He is the Son of God the Father, and that in Jesus we are also sons and daughters of a heavenly Father.  Jesus was like...

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time Our readings today show that we have a God with an attitude of forgiveness.  As God's people, we are called to take on this same attitude.  Whether it's something as small as bad driving or as large as lifelong divisions and family rifts, we are called to begin living our lives with an attitude of forgiveness.  Unforgiveness is exhausting; we carry around the weight of...

10th Sunday in Ordinary Time The readings today announce God as the giver of life - physical and spiritual.  God wants us to live rich, fulfilled, happy lives.  In the Gospel Jesus raises a dead man to life by the touch of His hand.  Is there a part of my life that seems lifeless?  Is there an area in my life that is not as rich, deep, and fulfilling as I'd like it to be?  Today, ask Jesus to lay...

Corpus Christi At the Mass we celebrate each weekend, when the priest says those words in the name of Jesus - "This is my body...this is my blood...." - bread and wine are transformed entirely into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.  How might your daily life be different if you experienced Jesus Christ with you, in you, next to you every hour of every day of your week?  When we receive Communion...

Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity From all eternity God has existed in a relationship of love - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  These Three Persons of the Trinity are so united in love that they are actually 1 God.  This is the amazing faith we proclaim every time we make the sign of the cross.  And we have personally experienced this life of God: every single time we experience love, we taste for...

Pentecost The Holy Spirit comes on this Pentecost day to strengthen us in 3 ways: In our relationship with Jesus Christ In defending the faith In spreading the faith Every day this week, pray, "Come, Holy Spirit.  Come, Holy Spirit.  Come, Holy Spirit."  When you're relationship is faltering, when the Church is being looked down on, when someone needs to hear the good news of Jesus, it is the Holy...

Solemnity of the Ascension After a brief word from Pope Francis ; ) we celebrate how Jesus ascends today into heaven.  This ascension is still happening every time a faithful soul passes from this life into the next.  Those who are in heaven cheer us on and assist us in our ascension to God.  But even when every soul is in the presence of God, heaven will still be waiting: waiting for the resurrec...

6th Sunday of Easter Our 1st reading opens with a controversy: Paul and Barnabas preaching salvation in Jesus one way, another group preaching salvation in Jesus another way.  Who's right?  What's the true faith?  The first Christians, with a deep sense that the Holy Spirit would guide the Church to the true faith, brought their dispute to Jerusalem and the apostles.  Presently, we bring our dispu...

4th Sunday of Easter Congratulations to all of our students who received their First Holy Communion this weekend!  There is an exhortation for priests that says, "O Priest of Jesus Christ, celebrate this Holy Mass as if it were your First Mass, your Last Mass, your Only Mass."  Whether you've been receiving the Eucharist for 1 year or 100 years, whether you're young or old, I challenge you at ever...

3rd Sunday of Easter We are blessed to have an amazing Pope right now - Pope Francis!  And in our Gospel we hear one of the great Biblical texts supporting the papacy: Jesus singles out Peter to fee his lambs and tend his sheep.  In this we see Jesus' commissioning of Peter as the first shepherd of His Church, the first Pope.  Passed down through the centuries, this office of head shepherd has kep...

2nd Sunday of Easter To ask God questions, to seek to understand the "Why?" behind our beliefs or events in our life, is not a lack of faith.  Rather, it's an indication of faith.  We are a people of faith seeking understanding - it's precisely our faith that drives us to want to understand where and how God fits into these events and beliefs.  In the resurrection story from our Gospel today, I th...

Happy Easter! What the Father did in raising Jesus from the dead, He also wants to do in us: God wants to raise us up - literally, at the end of life, but also right now, figuratively, in our present life.  God wants to raise us up to a rich life filled with purpose, meaning, deep happiness and joy!  Jesus came that we might have Life (with a capital "L").  What's weighing you down?  What's holdin...

We enter now into the holiest week of the year as we walk with Jesus through His final days, culminating with His death and resurrection.  We heard today the reading of the passion narrative and we are invited to personally enter into this Holy Week so that we might die with Jesus and rise with Him on Easter.  For us, this week will be as holy as we make it - so let's make it a good one!

5th Sunday of Lent What if you were alive when Jesus was preaching and teaching?  What if you were a part of the stories in Scripture?  What if you heard Jesus speak to you?  God's Word is living and active, and the same God who was at work then is still at work now.  Lectio Divina ('Divine Reading') is a way of reading the Scriptures by inserting yourself into the story - the sights, the smells,...

4th Sunday of Lent Pain in our body warns us that something is wrong - physically.  Pain in our interior life warns us that something is wrong - spiritually.  Both the younger son and the older son in today's Gospel experience pain.  It's pain that leads the younger son home.  It's pain that keeps the older son from going back inside his home.  Pain, as a warning, is also an invitation: an invitat...

3rd Sunday of Lent Jesus is serious in today's Gospel: "But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!"  When we sin, we choose 'Not-God', and we get exactly what we want - 'Not-God' - that's the definition of hell.  Jesus came to save us from this choice, so He calls us to repentance - to take full responsibility for our mistakes and to beg for God's forgiveness, to turn a...

2nd Sunday of Lent In the midst of our Lenten journey, we catch a glimpse today of Jesus transfigured in glory atop a mountain.  This Jesus who was seen by Peter, James and John is the same Jesus who has appeared to us, who has tangibly broken into our life at moments, who has woken us up, if only for an instant, to the reality of His presence in and around us.  What are some of your mountaintop m...