Our Lady of Hope Blog

My Dear Friends,

Today we remember Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday, April 21st. He is among one of the oldest popes in history, and he reigned as pope for 13 years.

When I was born in 1969, Pope St. Paul VI was the current pope of the Catholic Church. When he died in 1978, it did not occur to me that it was a big deal (being that I was only 9 years old). Blessed Pope John Paul I was elected, but he lived only thirty days as pope before he died.

My Dear Friends,

The Lord is Risen! Alleluia! Today we commemorate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead and His final defeat of Satan. Sacrificing Himself as the Paschal Lamb as He celebrated Passover with His Apostles, preparing Himself for the act of sacrifice on Good Friday on Calvary, Jesus offered Himself as both priest and victim. And because the Old Testament sacrifices were not complete until the act of eating the flesh of the sacrificed animal, Jesus’ sacrifice is also completed when we come to feast on the Body and Blood of the Paschal Lamb.

My Dear Friends,

Today begins Holy Week. It begins with Palm Sunday and the reading of the Lord’s Passion, this year from the Gospel of Luke. In the traditional Mass, Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday are two different days, but since the reform we have combined Passion and Palm Sunday to the same day. After Palm Sunday the next big celebration is the Chrism Mass, which we celebrate on Tuesday at the cathedral.

My Dear Friends,

Last week there was a disturbing video in front of the Kansas Statehouse. There was an attempt to desecrate our Blessed Sacrament by a group of Satanists. Their attempt to celebrate a “Black Mass” turned violent as Catholics were present to pray and stop the desecration from happening. Black Masses make a mockery of our Lord’s sacrifice and open a doorway to evil in our midst.

My Dear Friends,

Lent is now three weeks finished, and we have three more weeks before Holy Week and Easter Sunday. On this fourth Sunday of Lent, where the priest and deacon are allowed, if they so choose, to wear rose-colored vestments, it is an appropriate time to reflect on how we are doing with our Lenten promises.

My Dear Friends,

Several decades ago, when I was in high school, I attended Mass at The Church of the Immaculate Conception (now Basilica) in Waterbury. The pastor was Father John Blanchfield, who was also a long time principal at Sacred Heart high School (although by the time I was in high school the principal was Father (now Monsignor) James Coleman. Eventually, Father Blanchfield was reassigned to St. Aloysius in Plantsville, where he served as pastor until he died in 2006 (died after celebrating Mass). I remember when he died because it was a couple of weeks before my ordination to the priesthood. I was privileged to be able to vest as a deacon at his funeral Mass. I learned many things from Father Blanchfield, but the one thing that sticks with me the most is how he felt about a Mass filled with young children and babies. Many times, after Holy Communion, he would comment on how beautiful it was to have a church filled with these “little angels” and how their voices and cries were beautiful music to his ears.

My Dear Friends,

Since I have been preparing for my talks on the 33 Days to Eucharistic Glory, I came across a talk by Terence Cardinal Cooke, Archbishop of New York. It is a beautiful talk he gave at a conference.

“The spiritual energy, the grace that comes with each reception of Holy Communion, we absorb only in proportion to our dispositions at the time we receive … A hunger and thirst for union with our Divine Lord will result in a good preparation and thanksgiving. Sometimes we start our preparation for Holy Communion for no very great longing for union with our Lord, but our preparation results in an increased desire for him … From experience we learn that little or no desire for Holy Communion will result in no preparation or only a minimum of preparation. In return, we should not be surprised to receive from the Blessed Sacrament only a minimum of divine grace.

My Dear Friends,

Lent has begun, and today we celebrate the First Sunday of Lent. The readings are always taken from the temptation accounts of Jesus in the desert. St. Matthew and St. Luke give us the account of the dialogue between Jesus and Satan. St. Mark just casually mentions that he went into the desert to be tempted after His baptism. Lent is a time for us to look at what tempts us, what leads us to sin, and how we are called to fight those temptations. These temptations traditionally come to us through the three avenues of the flesh, the world, and the devil. Not every temptation is of the devil.

My Dear Friends,

This week begins the great season of Lent, starting with Ash Wednesday this Wednesday. As Catholics, we are obligated to fast on the days of Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. We are also obligated to abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesdays and the Fridays of Lent, including Good Friday. Of course, there is nothing to stop you from fasting on other days and from abstaining from meat on other days as well.

My Dear Friends,

I recently watched four movies that are centered on World War II. They are all classics: The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Guns of Navarone, From Here to Eternity, and The Caine Mutiny. It was the first time I watched The Guns of Navarone with Gregory Peck, but the other three movies I have seen several times. I do enjoy war movies or movies that have a war as a backdrop, especially World War II, but I also have a fondness for Vietnam War era movies as well.

My Dear Friends,

After the perennial long January, it is difficult to believe that we are already more than half way through February, which means we are also that much closer to the beginning of Lent. I have been reading the Eucharistic consecration book (33 Days to Eucharistic Glory) that I gave the parish for Christmas. Many parishioners have approached me to let me know how much they love the book. I will be offering a Lenten series on the book for the six weeks of Lent, the days and times to be determined.

My Dear Friends,

Today is my little Barley’s 12th birthday. I know that not everyone is a dog person. I myself was bit three times in my life by dogs, and I was terrified of other dogs in the neighborhood and in my parishes. But the dogs we had growing up in Watertown were very special, and many dogs that belonged to friends of mine were also wonderful to be around. For most of my life, I was a medium to large dog lover and was not really a fan of the little ones.

My Dear Friends,

When we read the letters of St. Paul, or truly listen to the words of Jesus Christ in the Gospels, or even listen intently to the prayers of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we begin to notice that we are a theocentric religion; in other words, we praise and worship the Trinitarian God. But it goes deeper than just worshiping the Trinity. All of our prayers are, or should be, directed to the Father, through the Son and in the Holy Spirit. Jesus wants to bring us to the Father’s heart. In the second part of chapter three in Pope Francis’s encyclical, we see this more clearly. Francis writes, “Jesus wants to bring us to the Father. That is why, from the very beginning, the Church’s preaching does not end with Jesus, but with the Father. As source and fullness, the Father is ultimately the one to be glorified.” (paragraph 70). Francis quotes Pope St. John Paul II in paragraph 71, “the whole of the Christian life is like a great pilgrimage to the house of the Father.”