Our Lady of Hope Blog

My Dear Friends,

Last week we celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday. Today, April 28th, is the anniversary of the 18th year of my priestly ordination, the feast day of St. Peter Chanel and St. Louis de Montfort. Reflecting on my priesthood and through coincidence only, I have been watching a few movies with Catholic priests as characters. It got me to think about all the great movies with great performances of actors playing priests.

My Dear Friends,

Today, the fourth Sunday of Easter, is commonly called Good Shepherd Sunday. It is a day for us to pray extra for shepherds to feed our Lord ’s sheep. Vocations to the priesthood, although they have dropped precipitously in many dioceses throughout the world and in our own United States, are a gift to the Church. We remember as well that we need priests in order to have celebrations of Mass and to stop the unfortunate closing of many parishes and church buildings because of a lack of priests.

My Dear Friends,

We are moving quickly through the Easter season. On this third Sunday of Easter we continue to rejoice in the Risen Lord and our redemption. As the beginning of the Gospel today says, the disciples recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread. This is just a way to say that they recognized Jesus in the most Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Eucharist.

My Dear Friends,

Today is the eighth day of the octave of Easter. For eight days we have been celebrating Easter day liturgically. Pope St. John Paul the Great also named this day Divine Mercy Sunday, after the devotion of St. Faustina, who received from our Lord words to share concerning his over abiding mercy to all sinners. The Diary of St. Faustina is a wellspring of comforting words from our Lord.

My Dear Friends,

Happy Easter!!!! Our Lord has not only risen, but he is very much alive!! He has conquered death and opened up the way to the Father! On this Easter Sunday we celebrate the love of Christ by commemorating his victory over death, but in all reality, we celebrate his victory over death each and every day. Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross is a perpetual offering to the Father, for he has transcended time and at the moment of breathing his last, he says to he Father, “Forgive them for they know not what they do, ” and “Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my Spirit.”

My Dear Friends,

We are entering Holy Week; a week devoted to our meditation of the suffering and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. We start today, Palm Sunday, with the reading of the Passion account from the Gospel of St. Mark (Cycle B of the three year cycle of readings for the Mass). Then during the next three daily Masses we hear about the plans to betray Jesus, culminating on what is usually called Spy Wednesday, when Judas the Iscariot approaches the chief priests and offers to hand over Jesus to them for thirty pieces of silver.

My Dear Friends,

We are moving through Lent at a fast pace. Easter is only two weeks away. These next two weeks are a special time for me. We start noticing more Mass readings talking about our Lord’s suffering and death, and this is capped off by the reading of the Passion on Palm Sunday and again on Good Friday. But there is also the expectation of the Resurrection as we move closer to Holy Week. The joy that comes from celebrating the Resurrection on the Easter Vigil and on Easter Sunday is exhilarating.

My Dear Friends,

For three weeks we have been discussing Salvation History, beginning with Adam, followed by Noah and Abraham and last week Moses. Today we discuss King David and the covenant God makes with him. David is the youngest son of Jesse and a shepherd. When Samuel the prophet met with Jesse, he introduced to Samuel every son but David. Yet it was not until he asked Jesse to call David that God picked David to be the one to enter into the covenant. David was described as a youth, ruddy in appearance.

My Dear Friends,

During Lent, like we did last year, we are singing the Holy, Holy, Holy and the Lamb of God in Latin. We have added the Lord have mercy in Greek as well this year. Some people seem to be afraid of Latin and/or Greek because they claim that they do not know what it means. (Surprisingly these same people never seem to mind if we have Spanish in one of our hymns). The Greek is more difficult to try and make a connection to the prayer in English, but it is sung during the same place of the Lord, Have Mercy in English, so there should be no problem in figuring out what the Greek means.

My Dear Friends,

The Mass of the second Sunday of Lent is always the reading of the Transfiguration. In each Gospel (Matthew, Mark and Luke), it is the event that ushers in Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and the beginning of his passion. The Transfiguration on top of Mount Tabor consists of Jesus, Moses, Elijah, Peter, James and John. Moses and Elijah represent the Law and the Prophets. Peter, James and John are the three apostles that are privileged to be with Jesus during important events and miracles.

My Dear Friends,

It is the time of year again for the Archbishop ’s Annual Appeal. Last year we made 94 percent of our goal. That is amazing!! And we did that with only 20 percent of the parishioners who donated money. This year, our goal is the same as last year. Archbishop Blair is beginning the appeal, but very shortly, when he retires, Archbishop Coyne will be inheriting the appeal.

My Dear Friends,

As I mentioned at Mass last week, I am beginning a Lenten series on Scott Hahn ’s book, A Father Who Keeps His Promises. It is a book on Salvation History and God’s covenants with his people. The five Old Testament covenants begin with Adam, then Noah, Abraham, Moses and David. The New Covenant is with Jesus Christ. The question that surrounds Jesus is “Why did Jesus have to die?” By following Salvation History and the five covenants of the Old Testament, we will come to the answer of that question.

My Dear Friends,

Ash Wednesday will soon be upon us. The receiving of ashes on our foreheads is a sign of penance. The ashes remind us that we are sinners and that we are called to repent, to change our way. There are two formulas that can be said while the ashes are being put on your forehead: “Turn away from sin and believe in the Gospel, ” or “Remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return.” The ashes themselves are a sacramental.