Saint + Elizabeth + Ann + Seton + Parish

Morning by morning, week by week, minute by minute, second by second, January to December, day in, day out, God is faithful to you and God is faithful to me. 

For us as Christians and Catholics, the culture of welcoming is not a public relations strategy. It is not a marketing strategy. It is something that comes right from the heart of our vocation as Christians. 

Nature is alive and growing, and God’s grace sustains it. And so the Church chooses green as the color for Ordinary Time. Color reaches into our senses every bit as much as music or art or architecture, or the poetry of liturgical language–because prayer involves every part of the human person. Download Transcript

The disobedience of Adam marks all people; the obedience of Christ marks those who embrace the Second Adam. When we follow Jesus Christ we are lifted up from the bondage of sin so we can wing our way to heaven. Download Transcript

It became clear to me—through worshiping and praying in other congregations—that they may be very, very good at talking about Jesus and singing about Jesus, but it was only in a Catholic Mass that I had the clear impression that we were not talking about the Lord, we were talking with the Lord, who was truly present in our midst. 

Between the three Persons of the Divine Trinity, which we call Father, Son, and Spirit, there exists love so real that it took on the form of another Person. The Father so filled with love that the Son was generated by pure love. The Son looking back on the Father and so filled with love for the Father and the Father for the Son that their love became real and became the third Person of the Blesse...

A mystery is not something we cannot ever understand. That’s not what a mystery is. A mystery is a truth that we need revelation to help us understand. 

Pentecost shows us the meaning and power of what Jesus has made possible. In the body, Jesus could only be with a few people at one time; in the Spirit, the presence of Jesus is available to everyone all the time. The Spirit is like the air around us, present and ready to be breathed. Through his death for us, Jesus makes it possible for us to breathe―spiritually. His death removes our sins; his l...

What does the Holy Spirit teach us about ourselves? What do I learn about myself, what do you learn about yourself from the Holy Spirit—but that you are spiritual? This is very important. 

A young monk sought out a wizened old Abbot in the monastery. “Why,” the young man asked, “has my prayer become dry and distant?” Download Transcript

The Lord rose as a full person, body and soul. That tells us that we are full persons, body and soul. We don’t despise our bodies, as if our bodies were something obnoxious, and something to be despised, disposed of, degraded. Our bodies are us. We judge in our culture, we judge people, we judge ourselves, our own value, based on our image, our bodies. And very often, the world is telling us, ‘You...

Think about this: As we follow Jesus, we are heading to the same place where he has gone. That is the meaning of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. Jesus suffered and was then glorified. Because Jesus has gone ahead of us into glory.... because even now the Spirit of Christ is changing those who belong to him into his likeness from one degree of glory to another(2Cor 3:18).... because of t...

Jesus wasn’t playing a game, and He really meant it when He said, “If you love me, you’ll keep my commandments and I’ll send you the Holy Spirit.” It’s what He meant by love that makes all the difference. Download Transcript

We open ourselves to be remade . . . to be a living stone . . . to be a dwelling place for God himself. This week, while you are getting dressed, look at yourself in the mirror. Look yourself in the eyes and into your soul. Then affirm your faith in Jesus and tell yourself: ‘The risen Son of God lives in me . . .  I am a living stone in God’s house!’ As you do that, God will show something of hims...

So it is in every challenge of life. We know that things may look one way, but because of the promises and grace and gifts of God Almighty, they are in actuality different and better and holier. And that’s what this wonderful celebration is all about. 

If we come to Mass with a closed heart, a closed mind, a closed soul, it’s often hard for the Lord to get through that closed barrier.

I’d like to suggest a prayer for this coming week (or maybe for the rest of your life): Lord Jesus, I open my life today to your mercy. Help me to adore and obey you. Give me the grace never to ignore you. Let me be a channel of your mercy to the people I meet today. Amen. Download Transcript

The last chapter of humanity has been written. It doesn’t end on the cross. It ends in resurrection. It ends in glory. It ends in restoration. It ends in reconstituting the original innocence with which we were all created in the Garden.

Our salvation is like a bouquet of flowers. Yes, you can look at each stem in its isolation; it will be beautiful. But if you want to look at the totality, what some people would say is ‘the big picture’, then you’ve got to have faith—to perceive, to look, and to believe.

What is the worth of a person? … Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back Guilty of dust and sin. But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack From my first entrance in, Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning, If I lacked any thing. A guest, I answered, worthy to be here: Love said, You shall be he. (Love, by George Herbert)

Here was Jesus, leaving the meal and putting on a servant’s apron, washing the feet of his students…. Jesus already knew that Peter would turn his back on Him in His hour of need, yet here He is, on his knees, as a slave, before him.

In this act of raising Lazarus––and waiting to do it, even though it caused Mary and Martha more distress––Jesus showed his power over death even before he himself went to the cross. Download Transcript

Each painful wound that Jesus carried, each particle of the cross he hoisted to his shoulder, comes from your life and mine. So as we begin a week we know so well, as we begin a week of events we can narrate without any text, allow the Lord to make this Holy Week yours. Let him reach into your heart and take the crosses you carry onto his own shoulder. Let him reach into your memories and heal the...

Even if you forget every other thing I said this morning, there are three things I don’t want you to forget:  Number one, spiritual obedience. Number two, witnessing. And number three, worship. These are the three things that bring the joy of Christ in our hearts.

We need to understand that God works in these spectacular and powerful ways. We need to be awestruck sometimes. We need to be humbled sometimes. Knowing that God works in these ways which are beyond our comprehension is right and good. But we also need to be able to see God at work in a way that is much more intimate and personally encouraging.