In a few weeks many of us will have an opportunity to take a break from school or work and make time for leisure activities. As we continue to make time for leisure activities and travel, we are strongly encouraged to keep our focus on God. We are reminded that the time for Mass and prayer should be included in our plans.

When attending Mass, especially during the summer months, we are asked to exercise prudence and judgment in how we act and in what we wear. (Read more…)

As disciples of Christ, we are challenged to set a good example for others and to truly and publicly live our faith. We are therefore invited to prayerfully consider making time for the Lord by making the Mass the heart of our day, not just a small part of our day, each Sunday and each Holy Day of Obligation. This is especially true as we make time for rest and recreation as summer approaches.

The third commandment of God is to remember to keep holy the day of the Lord, and keeping holy the day of the Lord is something that Christians of all faith traditions should strive to do. (Read more…)

Today is the great Feast of Corpus Christi, when the Church, with joy, celebrates the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

In 1247, the Feast of Corpus Christi was celebrated in France for the first time. It gained widespread acceptance throughout the Church after 1300. The Feast is generally considered to reflect the Holy Thursday Mass, but without its sorrowful connection to the Passion.

An outdoor procession has been an integral part of Corpus Christi since its beginning, and may have originated from the procession of the Blessed Sacrament to the Altar of Repose that is conducted on Holy Thursday. (Read more…)

We might have thought that before God created the angels and before he created the people on this planet, He must have been alone out there somewhere.  But when God sent His Son to save us, we learned that God was never alone. He was always a family, a sharing community of three – Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The three Persons in God are so united in love and submission to one another that the three act as one, always in perfect harmony. (Read more…)

Pentecost Sunday

This Sunday we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost. On this day, we see the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus to send the Holy Spirit upon his Apostles. And as we know, the Holy Spirit will transform the lives of these Apostles. These frightened men who abandoned Jesus at his Passion will be transformed into bold witnesses who clearly show that they not only understand the teaching of Jesus but also are willing to put his teaching into practice. (Read more…)

Today, June 1st, we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord, commemorating that day when Jesus was taken up to heaven, to the glory of his Father – 40 days after he rose from the dead and 10 days before the Feast of the Pentecost.  What is so significant or important about this feast?

Once, I was asked, “If Jesus loves us and lives forever, why did he leave?” It’s an excellent question. If we consider the Ascension simply in terms of Jesus leaving us, then we might wonder why He did it. (Read more…)