Bulletins on Sunday Bulletins (Page 17)

“Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, the one who lives. Once I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever” (Revelation 1:17b-18). For the Church, the great Easter Feast extends for 50 days, until Pentecost, this year on June 5. But the “day” of Easter itself lasts until this Sunday, which we call the Second Sunday of Easter. This is the greatest of our holy days. Even Christmas Day is only one day, but Easter Day is eight days. In fact, it takes that long for us at our daily Masses to hear all of the Easter appearances of the Lord. While we are not literally at the empty tomb, in the garden, the upper room or on the road to Emmaus, the Risen Lord continues to make Himself present to us – in His word, the Eucharist, and the Christian Community, especially when gathered for the celebration of the Eucharist. As He lives “forever and ever,” He sends us forth, as disciples, to announce the good news (“gospel”) that the Lord is risen and, even more, that we also will rise. Our parish Easter celebrations were the cause of great joy last weekend. It was the first time since the pandemic that we experienced a full church. I pray that this continues, even when it is not Easter Sunday. It was so good to see all of you!! Happy Easter!

Dear Parishioners, This ancient Easter greeting resounds through time and space as a reflection of our joy and our hope. We are far from first century Jerusalem, yet these words continue to proclaim the fundamental Christian mystery: the Lord Jesus has conquered death and sin and the darkness of our lives and our world. In Baptism, each of us is united to the Lord’s victory and we walk in His light, as sharers of the life that has no end. In our Christian living, we are witnesses to God’s abiding presence and to the hope that is the foundation of our lives. May our gathering during Holy Week and the Easter Triduum renew our faith; may they also renew us and all people in appreciation of God’s unending love. We thank you once more for the privilege of serving you.

As we enter this week that we consider the holiest of all, we try to unite ourselves with the Passion of the Lord, so also to share His Resurrection. We might ask ourselves where we can begin our personal and communal journeys this week. Perhaps, we can take as our starting point this Sunday’s second reading from Saint Paul to the Philippians, where we find this: “Your attitude must be that of Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God. . . emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” May our participation in the mysteries of the Lord’s Cross and Resurrection help us – one and all – to serve in love, even as He did.

The “water in the desert and rivers in the wasteland” that God promised through the prophet Isaiah was referring to forgiving the forsaken, the lost, and the hopeless. This is borne out in Jesus’ treatment of the woman caught in adultery, whom the scribes and Pharisees wanted to stone to death: “Has no one condemned you?. . . Neither do I condemn you.” In rejecting the penalty prescribed by the Law, Jesus chooses mercy. . . for the woman and for each of us. If we had been in the crowd that day, could any of us claim to be sinless, to be able to cast the first stone? Only in recognizing our own sins and failings can we also recognize God’s limitless forgiveness. . .and become that same forgiveness for one another. This coming Saturday afternoon, we will celebrate our Lenten Reconciliation Liturgy. During the pandemic – and for a good number of years previous to it – many have neglected celebration of the sacrament. As we heard on Ash Wednesday, “Now is the acceptable time. . .Now is the day of salvation.” Join us next Saturday at 3:00 pm, in the Church. We will have a number of visiting priests to serve as confessors.

The fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of Saint Luke is filled with stories of God’s relentless love. This is most particularly true of the gospel story we hear this Sunday. “The Prodigal Son” tells of the richness of God’s mercy, forgiveness and love. In fact, it may be more correctly titled as “The Parable of the Loving Father.” Some of us may mistakenly think that “prodigal” refers the repentant son when he decides to return to his father; however, “prodigal” actually describes the way the young man squandered his father’s wealth. The elder son could only focus on his brother’s misdeeds and had no room for forgiveness in his heart. His bitterness seems never to have gone away and he remains alienated from his brother and his father, in spite of his father’s pleading, “My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” On this Fourth Sunday of Lent, may each of us not only experience a love that is like that of the father in this parable, but let us also extend that forgiving love to one another.

The readings this Third Sunday of Lent cover much ground in the history of salvation. In the story of Moses and the burning bush, we hear of God’s love for the people of Israel: “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering.” Psalm 103 declares that “The Lord is kind and merciful,” yet the reading from the first letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians warns against the kind of infidelity that Israel practiced in the desert with the caution that “anyone who thinks to be standing secure should take care not to fall.” Jesus warns of the need to repent, otherwise, “You will all perish,” telling the parable of the fig tree that had not borne fruit: “‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ He [the gardner] said to him [the owner of the orchard] in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’” Even for our kind and merciful God, revealed most fully in Jesus, there comes the day of reckoning. So let us hear the call of Ash Wednesday, and of all of Lent, to “repent and believe” and live in the Lord.

“Master, it is good for us to be here.” Peter did not understand the meaning of the Transfiguration; he wanted to prolong the moment of Jesus’ glory: “Let us erect three tents.” But Jesus was on His way to the Cross, and the purpose of the Transfiguration was to offer hope of what was to come and consolation in the midst of challenges – then and now. Later, when the apostles understood its significance, they found encouragement along the path that led most of them, also, to suffering and martyrdom. For us, on this Second Sunday of Lent, we can reflect upon “transfiguring” events in our lives: such powerful experiences that, although fleeting, affect us at the deepest levels. Although we cannot extend the time of such moments (such as the birth of a child, a couple’s marriage, etc.), those events have within them the power to transform the rest of our lives, even to give our lives added dimensions of meaning. God appears to us in the little things, the ordinary happenings of our lives. As we reflect upon them, may we all draw nearer to the Lord.

This First Sunday of Lent transports us to the desert where Jesus was tested by “every temptation.” In the course of His forty days in the desert, Jesus remained faithful to the Father. Our Lenten journey serves to strengthen us, also, to be faithful to the Baptism we share. During Lent, the traditional practices of prayer, penance and care for the poor are the means by which we strive to mature in Christian living. It is also a time of special prayer for those who will approach the waters of Baptism at Easter. May our efforts, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, encourage them on their way to union with Christ and the Church. In keeping with the Church’s traditional practice, the Fridays of Lent (except for March 25, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord) and Good Friday are days of abstinence from all meat and Good Friday is also a day of fasting, as was Ash Wednesday, for those between 18 and 59 years old.