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This week I thought to share a reflection from Gerald Darring in hopes that you find it helpful as you respond to the Lord’s invitation to discipleship. "We are a people who have been promised inheritance and life; we are 'heirs of the same promise' made to Abraham. We have, therefore, put our hope in God: 'our soul waits for the Lord,' who will come when we least expect him... [Click to read more]

Qoheleth, the protagonist of the book of Ecclesiastes, speaks of the vanity of human existence. All our toils under the sun amount to nothing. At face value, this represents a dark and nihilistic attitude to life. It would be a terrible way to live if one held such an extremely negative view about life. We believe that the world was created good by God, and it is the best world that God could create. The evils we see in the world are largely consequences of human sin... [Click to keep reading]

Persistence. This is the word that comes to mind as I reflect on the readings for this weekend. Abraham prevails with God until he quits. Imagine what difference his persistence would have made. The man in the Gospel gets his request because he persists. Jesus promises those who ask, seek and knock whatever they need... [Click here to read more]

Lord, do you not care…? The above concern, expressed to Our Lord in the form of a question, betrays Martha’s frustration over what seemed a nonchalant disposition of her sister, Mary. This question could resonate with many of us when we seem to be working all alone on what would have been considered a collective project... [Click to read more]

We thank the Lord who continues to show us his love by writing his commandments within our hearts. We do not have to go too far to seek them out as they are very near to us. In the First Reading for this weekend’s liturgy, Moses urges the people to obey God’s commandments. This is prerequisite for enjoying the land into which God has brought them. He is the good Samaritan who sees us beaten, stripped of our possessions, and abandoned by the roadside for dead, on account of our sins, yet he does not discriminate. He comes down from his exalted position, reaches to save us, and pays the costly price for our redemption. [Click to read more]

Imagine that the Lord was calling you to a mission, and he tells you to go to a country you have never been before. He tells you not to worry about any of the common preoccupations... and that you would have to depend on the hospitality of strangers. How many would respond to such a call? If the Lord would ask you to travel with just one suitcase, or none at all, how many would take him seriously? Imagine that the mission the Lord is sending you was to a country famed for its hostilities to strangers, would you still go? [Click to read more]

The readings for this weekend suggest that the call of God requires our urgent but free response. It leaves no room for delays. In the First Reading, the Lord calls Elisha to be a supporter and helper of Elijah. Although Elisha wanted to follow Elijah, he however asked for leave so he could kiss his parents goodbye... [Click here to read more]

Here we are in the natural season of Summer, the Liturgical season of Ordinary Time (Growing Time, for our children in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program). Life is blossoming all around us...How is the Lord wanting to cultivate your heart during this season? [Click to read more]

We celebrate this weekend the mystery of the Godhead. We celebrate that God is a Trinity of distinct, yet undivided, persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These three are not three Gods but one. God is one but not solitary. He is a community of persons. And each person is equal in substance, in majesty, and power. [Click to read more]

We celebrate Pentecost Sunday this weekend and we commemorate the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples who were united in prayer in anticipation. Pentecost concludes Eastertide. It is also the birthing of the Church and the commissioning of the disciples as Apostles – those sent. [Click here to read more]

This weekend the Church commemorates the Ascension of Our Lord into heaven forty days after his post resurrection mission among his disciples. Christ ascends into heaven, into a sanctuary not made by human hands. And he now sits at the right hand of the Father in glory interceding for us. Our faith teaches us that where Christ our head has gone before, we his body will follow. We see that he was already preparing his disciples’ minds for his ascension.

Imagine that your best friend is leaving town and there is no way to change things. How would you feel? What would you do with your sorrow? This seems to be the scene in this weekend’s gospel. Jesus is comforting his disciples because he is moving, not just to a different town, but away from this world. His departure is certain and there is nothing the disciples can do about it. [Click here to read more]

Before his passion, our Lord gives a ‘New Commandment.’ This is a commandment of love, which would characterize the new community he is establishing, which is the church. Jesus says, love one another (not as yourself, which is already admonished in the Old Testament, but as he, Jesus, loves you). This begs the question, how has Jesus loved us? And the response would be: “Look at the Cross.” His dying and rising are proof of his love. The cross demonstrates the extent to which he would go for love of us. [Click to read more]

Last week we examined evidence for the claim that Jesus actually died on the cross, as opposed to the critical claim that he merely fainted before waking up in the tomb. This week we will examine the charge that Jesus didn’t actually rise from the dead, but that the disciples either mistakenly visited another empty tomb or that Jesus’ body was stolen. [Click to read more]

The Fourth Sunday of Easter is popularly called “Good Shepherd Sunday” because each year the Gospel reading is from John 10, the “Good Shepherd Discourse.” On this day prayers are offered for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, because priests and religious are visible manifestations to us of Christ in his role as the Good Shepherd. [Click to read more]

The miracle of Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead is the central historical claim at the heart of Christianity. Some people have claimed that there is no good evidence that Jesus rose from the dead; but in fact, the Resurrection explains the evidence we have better than any other hypothesis...

What inspiration can Christians today gain from the defiance of the disciples? They had been instructed by the Sanhedrin not to preach in the name of the risen Christ again. These fearful men, who only some days before, had fled and abandoned the Lord as he went to his death, now stand in defiance before the highest Jewish authority. Where did they get this courage? [Click here to read more}

My Lenten journey started when Father Julius said that Lent is not only a time to give something up. “Do Something.” Mother Teresa said “Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.” We don’t know what in life is going on with each other; every day: spouse, job, kids, house, car, and miscellaneous and then the next day, again. With this Lenten journey, I have put my focus on making sure everyone that I come across gets a greeting of kindness...

As someone who works for the Church, it is often difficult to set healthy boundaries between my work life and my personal life. As a parish staff member, it is easy to feel like I should always be doing more. After all, unlike office workers at huge companies, I know I wouldn’t be “doing more” for a faceless, multi-national, bazillion-dollar corporation. Instead, I would be “doing more” for Jesus, for my Beloved, for the God who made me. How could I say no to that? And yet, Jesus does not call us to wear ourselves ragged, as though we had to earn our place in His heart...

How can you allow the Lord to be the grand author of your life? Sacrificing your plans, your dreams, your expectations and letting God write the pages of your life. This Lenten season, I am spending time reflecting on how much better my life has been since letting go of my wishes and placing my life in the hands of the Lord...