Praying and Running

The Feast of the Annunciation. More properly the "Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord."  This is a real and tangible event. Not some vague feeling or thought or word. Not some story that could have no real impact but an actual historical event. In other words, God did something for us to show that he meant business, that he would provide a real means for our reconciliation and salvation that we may once again be untied with Him. He gave us freedom, He gave us laws and commandments, He gave us covenant after covenant. It wasn't enough to salvage the wreck we had made. Finally, He gave us Himself and today we celebrate that particular moment in time when He became human in flesh and blood; that real moment in history when God became man. Think about that. That He would come down and become like us that we may go up and become like Him. Praise you God for giving us your Son and thank you Mother Mary for you unconditional Yes The angel Gabriel was sent from God to ...

In the Gospel reading for Mass today, LK 5:12-16 we read Now there was a man full of leprosy in one of the towns where he was; and when he saw Jesus, he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” LK 5:12 The weather this morning forced me into the gym and onto the treadmill. So as I was runningandpraying on the treadmill I kept coming back to this first verse of today's Gospel. This verse I think addresses 2 profound yet prevalent misconceptions about Christianity. On one hand, there is a notion that Christians believe they are perfect and don't sin and don't need to be made clean. But that is just not true. We are all like this leper, full of sin that is eating away our life. That doesn't mean we cannot approach our Lord. Rather, it means that we must approach Him because He is the one who can make us clean. On the other hand, a lot of people have the idea that Christians think they merely need to say "Jesus i...

Last week before Mass I  was once again surprised by what had sadly become cliche to me. On the 1 hand it saddens me that I have fallen into the trap of letting it become cliche and meaningless but on the other hand I am so happy for the times when I discover the beauty, truth, and goodness of our faith that gets buried in these cliches. The discovery was simply this, I am created by a God who loves me and truly want to be reunited with me. He doesn't just say this, He showed me by taking on humanity, walking along side of humanity and subjecting Himself to the worst humanity had to offer, hanging Him on a cross to die an excruciating death and forgiving humanity, and me, despite it. I don't think this is a free pass and don't want to imply that it is. I still have to respond but God wants me to be with Him and all I have to do is respond. When I really think about it this is cause for great joy. What should cause this joy to ever fade; what could?

I love it when the a daily reading from Mass is one that has a special meaning. But today both the first reading and the Gospel were passages that have meaning for me. The first reading , 2 Timothy 2:8-15 contains our Bishop's Episcopal Motto "The word of God is not chained" and the Gospel Mark 12:28-34 included the "Two Great Commandments", "The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these." The first is meaningful because it is our Bishop's Episcopal Motto. If it means enough to a "Successor to the Apostles" to make it his motto then it should probably be a passage that I contemplate, perhaps I would learn something. The second from the Gospel is a great passage that I...

I am always interested in how the readings at Mass come together to form a cohesive teaching and theme. All though most of the time I try to find it on my own by reading them before Mass the connection is more often than not lost on me. That is when I rely on either the Missal (or some form of it) or the priests homily to point it out. I always get it, I just sometimes need some help. After all, I am not a biblical scholar and let's be honest there is a whole lot of background, cultural anomalies and "you had to be there"'s going on most of the time to make the connections. So when I do make that connection, when I can see the cohesiveness on my own, I get kind of excited.  That happened  this Sunday and because this last Sunday was the Feast of the Holy Trinity the homily focused on the mystery of the Trinity. Almost any commentary to be found on Sunday's Mass was focused on that as well.  There was also an underlying c...

In today's(1/15/2012) Gospel reading for Mass , our Lord asks "What are you looking for?" of 2 men who follow after Him. I am sure there are many ways to contemplate this reading but one particular angle that presented itself to me was "How would it change my day to day plans when I answer this question to the Lord?" As a Christian, I profess to live a life of following Jesus. Therefore, I could expect at any moment for our Lord to turn to me and ask "What are you looking for?" If I recall this question as I go about my daily life, put myself in the place of the disciples and know that it is God that I am answering, how does that affect my answer and thus my actions throughout the day? It seems that using this question to make my day to day plans and decisions would be a great start in the struggle of trying live the Christian life. I know that answering the question is just the beginning but I think answering it in this light would help in moving ...

This Advent I have been thinking a lot about "the inn keeper". As we read in the Gospel of Luke and as most people are aware Jesus was born while Mary and Joseph were traveling to Bethlehem. At that time many people were traveling to the towns of their ancestors to comply with an order for a census. In other words, it was a very busy time. Because of this busyness of the situation and all of the extra people that had to be accommodated no one had room for the Holy Family. Instead, Jesus, our Lord and our God made in human flesh, was born in a stable amid animals and filth. I guess that people relegated Him to the stable because they could not recognize Him. I guess they could not recognize Him because they were not looking for Him but instead they were preoccupied with everything going on around them. I know that people are as familiar with that part of the story as I have always been. But I have never really considered the other peo...

Today's (1/10/2011 Mark 1:14-20) Gospel reading has really stuck with me and developed in my mind over the course of the day. I wanted to share what I have been contemplating about today as a result of the reading. Believe me, I understand that this sounds cliche. I love it when the readings force me to see the the truth and beauty of what all to often gets written off as cliche. The first thing that struck me was verse 1:15 “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”  I love this. I think I am so attracted to this saying because it is the LORD Himself saying "Your time has not run out. You have another opportunity to come to me."  Think about it. This is Mercy. The day of the LORD has come. But you still have a chance to repent of the evil you have done and make amends with GOD. If this were not true I think Christ may have said something like "Too late, I am here and you are out of luck." Thank you, J...