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This first Sunday of Lent is a time to reinvigorate ourselves as Catholics.  It enables us to step back from the usual habits and distractions and give particular attention to God.  It leads us to the Easter Sunday celebration of our risen Christ.  It is a time for prayer (justice towards God), fasting (justice towards self) and almsgiving (justice towards neighbours).

Common practice for me when I was a child was giving up sweets, candy, trying …

In this week’s Gospel account, the Angel Gabriel appears to Mary to tell her that she would bear a child who would be holy, called Jesus the Son of God. His words, “FOR NOTHING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD” have resonated over these thousands of years. These seven words have been the inspiration for many followers, faith-believers, over time. 

The sport company Adidas had an ad years ago – Impossible Is Nothing. It was a very …

This week’s gospel is the familiar rendition of attempts to entrap Jesus when He is asked, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?”  If Jesus says that the tax should be paid to Caesar, He would be considered guilty of false worship since the Romans believe the emperor to be divine.  On the other hand, if Jesus says the tax should not be paid, He would be encouraging disobedience to Roman laws, which would be sedition …

Today we
celebrate the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. In 1950 Pope Pius XII defined
Mary’s Assumption into heaven as dogma of Roman Catholicism:  “The
Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-Virgin Mary, having completed the course of
her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven.”

As a child
growing up in the 50’s and 60’s, Mary was always an integral part of my
religious upbringing. In May we took our bicycles to school …

In
the Gospel for this Sunday it states that Jesus said to His apostles, “Fear no one;
for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that
will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and
what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who
kill the body but cannot kill the soul.”  In saying these words,
Jesus describes the worth of human …

This week, the readings for the 2nd Sunday
of Easter have a theme of “doubt,” as evidenced by Thomas who could not believe
that Jesus was alive unless he saw proof.  We all have moments of doubt, uncertainties,
confusion, disbelief, hopelessness, selfishness and frustrations. Henri Nouwen
has stated that, “Doubt stubbornly exists.  It’s an unmistakable part of life that we
can’t seem to get rid of. We doubt ourselves; we doubt whether or not we’ve
made the right decisions, …

This week’s readings and gospel reflect the theme of the ten
commandments. “Those who obey God’s laws will become great in the kingdom
of God.”  It has been said that the
Ten Commandments given by God are meant to protect His children from self-destruction;
they are not harsh rules meant to enslave and oppress. They give us our
boundaries; the boundaries that make our hearts pure and prevent self-destruction. 

Catholicism is a faith of rules and …

This week, in the second reading from the Letter of Saint James, we are told to be “patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.”
“Being patient” is something we all have experienced. Patience is a hard discipline. It …

This week’s gospel reflects the importance of faith in our lives. It is a lesson about faith and reminds us that faith is sometimes found in unlikely places. Jesus commends the man, a Samaritan, for his faith, which has been his salvation.
The gospel made me think about the concept of faith. I had a very positive example of strong faith~ “living proof”~ in my mother. Her faith sustained her through many trials, early widowhood, health issues, the obstacles …

Today’s Gospel according to John is the familiar story of Jesus appearing to the disciples after His death. But Thomas, who was called the Twin, was not with them at the time and doubted that this was indeed true. Hence the term “Doubting Thomas” one of few biblical references that retains instant recognition.
In “The Genesee Diary” Henri Nouwen recalled that Didymus, the name of Thomas, means, “twin” and that the Fathers of the Church had commented that “all of …