Confidence in Princes

04-25-2021Stewardship

Have you ever confided your problems to a friend, only to get the answer, “have you prayed about it as much as you’ve talked about it?”

Like all good advice, it can really irritate the recipient at first. Here I am, vulnerable and wounded, unloading my problems, and this joker tries to load them right back up and ship them off to Someone with a higher pay grade.

But again, like all good and irritating advice, it rings true if you sit and think about it.

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4th Sunday of Easter: The Good Shepard

04-25-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Bing Colasito

The first three Sundays of Easter bring us back to the days after the resurrection and deepen our understanding of the meaning of the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb. What does it mean to us? The Gospel brings us back to the early days of the ministry of Jesus. John uses one of the common occupations to describe His mission. Jesus describes Himself as a Good Shepherd who lays down His life from His sheep. Such is the image we reflect on Good Shepherd Sunday. Our Easter journey continues knowing that we are in the watchful care of the Divine Shepherd.

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3rd Sunday of Easter: Easter Faith

04-18-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Bing Colasito

Peter stood before the people and tried to convince them of the true identity and mission of Jesus. That Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah; that His Christ would suffer (Act. 3:18). He wanted to make them realize the wrong they have done to the Messiah and convert them for the forgiveness of their sins.

Jesus appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection. Not understanding His words about the Messiah, Jesus opened their mind, heart; and made them see the whole horizon. Initially, together with the Apostles, they all doubted the resurrection of Jesus. So, Jesus had to lead them out of their fears and doubts and gave them the faith, confidence, and courage to go out to be His witnesses. Jesus has set them to become Easter people. Let us be open to the way God sees and does things. Let us not allow our selfish, limited, and biased opinions to cloud our faith in the resurrection.

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How to Fail Your Way to Heaven

04-18-2021Stewardship

You know what are some of my favorite moments in Scripture? The little “Easter eggs” of Jesus’ humanity, things like Jesus falling asleep, Jesus drawing in the sand, Jesus playing with kids. And how about Jesus rising from the dead, appearing to his disciples and saying, “So, have you got anything to eat?” It’s right for us to always keep in mind that Jesus is God. But we also have to remember that he was man. He got hungry. He cried when he felt sad and laughed when he felt happy. He got tired. He got bored. Because he was God, none of those feelings ever led him into sin, like they do us. He never spent a car ride trying to pass the hours by seeing how annoyed he could make his older sister. He never smacked Peter over the head for saying something really stupid. But he did unleash some Biblically righteous anger on those traders in the temple, didn’t he? And he wasn’t shy about calling Peter “a Satan” when his friend tempted him to take the easy way out. It’s the tightrope walk we all try to balance every day, honoring our human emotions while still answering God’s call to be better. Being perfect isn’t the domain of the Christian that’s the domain of Christ only. Trying and failing, then trying again (and failing again) and again and again? That’s the domain of the Christian. - Tracy Earl Welliver, MTS

Eye Has Not Seen

04-11-2021Stewardship

They say seeing is believing. But if you’ve ever ordered a pair of pants online, you know that’s not always the case. Whatever the photos promise us, what looked like a perfectly nice shade of navy blue on our computer screens comes in the mail as an unusual shade of blue green that only appears in the giant box of Crayola crayons.

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Divine Mercy

04-11-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Bing Colasito

After the death of Jesus, his disciples scattered, afraid and unsure what their fate will be. But their faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ prevailed. It led to a profound sense of unity among His disciples. Easter faith has changed the way they lived their lives. When we accept Jesus in our midst, the risen Lord is with us, and that He is one with His Church, we can overcome our worries about our needs and fear of those who act against His Church. But like the first community of believers, with one heart and mind, we can freely and joyfully look after one another’s needs.

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Easter Sunday: Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

04-04-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Bing Colasito

In a homily at the Cathedral of Hippo, St. Augustine said: You are an Easter people, and Alleluia is your song. A year into the pandemic, I joyfully greet everyone: A Blessed Easter, Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Be Easter people: we have survived the test of Covid-19 and the changes that it brought the whole world. The greeting of Alleluia means, Praise God. In ancient Hebrew, it means, Thanks be to God. To be an Easter person, therefore, is to be full of Praise and Thanksgiving to God. An invitation to have a disposition of gratitude or thanksgiving to God for everything. For this life, as we continue to live, thank God for every person in our life, for being part of our life. Remember: Some people are a blessing, and others are a lesson.

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A Happy Ending Isn’t the Whole Story

04-04-2021Stewardship

“Is there a happy ending?”

When my kids were young, we never made it past the first whiff of any narrative tension before I got this question. As soon as whatever princess or furry woodland animal who was the hero of the story got into any small scrape, they wanted that reassurance, “Is there a happy ending?”

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A Glimpse of Suffering and Glory

03-28-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Bing Colasito

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord is the official name of this liturgical celebration. Holy Week starts with the festive celebration when Jesus enters Jerusalem. People welcomed Him by spreading their cloaks on the road while others spread reeds they have cut in the field. Still, others got palm branches and met Jesus with a joyful cry, Hosanna! Blessed be He who comes in the name of the Lord. But the sad thing is that a few days later the same people will be shouting, Crucify him! Crucify him!

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Walk Every Step with Christ

03-28-2021Stewardship

Holy Week is a week for being mindful. We must set loose the baggage of Lent, and not be deterred by the dazzling sunrise of Easter morning beckoning in the distance.

It’s okay for us to be excited for Easter. We’ve waited so long, after all. In my opinion it’s one of the best feelings there is: the yearning we have in our hearts for the Resurrection as we embark on Palm Sunday. And in a purely logical sense, many of us have Easter celebrations for which we are preparing, and practical considerations to contend with. It’s going to be a busy week, one likely full of happy distractions.

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When our Own Hour Comes

03-21-2021Stewardship

We parents know that it’s tricky, tackling the topic of fear with our kids. We want them to know that it’s okay to be scared, that it’s something we all feel from time to time. We want them to understand that bravery isn’t the absence of fear, but the choices we make in persevering despite that feeling.

Most of all, we want to model the right kind of behavior for our kids. Whatever our scary situation is illness, a job loss, life changes we want them to see us make a choice to face that fear head-on.

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The Grain of Wheat

03-21-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Bing Colasito

As we approach Holy Week, the Gospel reveals to us the things that will happen to Jesus. It does not give us all the details, but Jesus nears the fulfillment of His mission. He speaks about the whole Paschal Mystery in the image of the “grain of wheat that dies to produce much fruit.” Jesus introduces this image after some Greeks approach His disciples searching to deepen their spiritual life.

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Pull Back the Curtains

03-14-2021Stewardship

Awake, O Sleeper! This morning came a little earlier than I would have liked Daylight Savings Time always does. Sometimes that morning sunlight seems more intrusive than illuminating. You’re still half-lost in sleep, and that sun is demanding of you a lot more than you’re ready to give.

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Laetare

03-14-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Bing Colasito

The religious leaders and the people have violated their covenant relationship with Yahweh, not respecting the Sabbath rest and desecrating the Temple. Warned before of the consequences of refusing God’s commandment, they still persisted. The conquest by King Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian captivity was God’s way of punishing them. Not until they have repented, restored the Sabbath-rest did they appease Yahweh. Finally, only after a decree of Cyrus, did they return to Jerusalem and restored the Temple.

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The New Temple and New Sacrifice

03-07-2021Weekly ReflectionFr. Bing Colasito

The first reading talks about the Law. Following the Law constitutes true worship of God. The second reading and the Gospel are more or less related: Christ’s death on the cross, the temple of the body is destroyed but will rise again. Because the cross is the symbol of the mystery of Salvation, it made Christianity a religion of the cross. For the Jews of His time, death on the cross was a scandal of the highest level. For the pagan Greeks, it was utter foolishness. But to believers, those called: the death of Christ was part of the Divine Plan of Salvation, foretold by the prophets long ago. In an effort to offset and lessen the impact of this scandal, some of the teachings in the New Testament consist of trying to remove or transcend the scandal of the cross. Especially in the minds and the hearts of the converts.

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Parents Just Don’t Understand

03-07-2021Stewardship

Anybody remember the old rap song by the Fresh Prince, aka Will Smith, “Parents Just Don’t Understand?” As we grow up, it is sometimes a struggle for us to imagine that our parents understand us. It can seem impossible that Mom and Dad remember the stress of exam week or peer pressure. We never saw them as children; we never saw their disappointed faces when they weren’t invited to a party, or their dashed hopes at a bad test grade. We never saw them homesick their first week of college or nervous to ask their crush to Homecoming.

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