01/08/17 Three Lessons from the Epiphany
01/01/17 Knowing Mary’s Heart
11/6/16 God of the Living
THE 32ND SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
Dear friends in Christ,
Sometimes in our daily lives, God becomes more of an idea than a real person. Jesus was very emphatic in his response to the Sadducees: God is God of the living, not of the dead. God is alive, He is the Living God, the All-Powerful Father who sustains all that exists. When God is not seen as the Living God, then He is perceived as an idea, a preference, something negotiable, at the same level of other ideas or opinions. Then, as it was the case for the Sadducees, we can ask interesting questions about God, but be far from Him. Then, as we see often today, God and his Word are not a source of authority, but only a matter of preference, as long as there is no other idea that we would rather choose. The God of the living calls us to know Him, love Him and follow Him. And, in difficult times, He assures us of his company and support. Even in times of trial and persecution, He offers heaven, and gives us everlasting encouragement and good hope, directing our hearts to the love of God and the endurance of Christ, as St. Paul said today. As we get ready for the presidential election, let us renew our faith in the living God, and receive from Him the endurance and hope we need to be faithful to Him at all times.
United in prayer,
Fr. Daniel
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10/30/16 The Desire for Something More
THE 31ST SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
Brothers and sisters, God’s power is seen in the wonder of his creation. But this power shines even more in God’s mercy. You have mercy on all, because you can do all things, we heard in the first reading. Of course, the power to create the world from nothing is impressive; but the power to forgive evil, to have mercy on those who choose to betray the goodness of love, is even more impressive, as that power is not only gratuitous but also undeserved. This power is what transformed the heart of Zacchaeus. Because he realized that he had done wrong, he was open to forgiveness and salvation, and so he changed his life. This is how things work: it would be naïve to expect someone to change just out of some formal duty; there has to be an encounter, there has to be conversion. And because God is powerful, his mercy can do all things.
This message brings hope, not only to our lives but also to our society. In times of challenges hope has to be more than optimism. Hope has to be rooted in the truth: the truth of our own weakness, and the truth of God’s mercy. Only in this way does mercy transform our hearts, and therefore, our society as well.
Let us pray for each other,
Fr. Daniel
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8/21/16 Entering Through the Narrow Gate
THE 21ST SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
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Dear brothers and sisters,
Someone asked the Lord a question about how many would be saved. He did not give any number nor statistics, but rather turned the curious question into a personal matter: [you] strive to enter through the narrow gate.
Salvation is not a given, a cheap reality that will happen anyway to anyone, regardless of our good or bad actions. If a wrong understanding of mercy led us to think this way, we would not truly appreciate the high price paid by Christ for our salvation. But He died for us, so that we can live and be saved! So we need to strive, make an effort and enter through the narrow gate.
This also means that we need to help others to know and be aware of this reality. We cannot simply ignore that many people are at risk of ignoring or rejecting the right path! And for this, as a duty of love, we need to share the good news: God loves us and wants our salvation. Let us say that kind word, let us make that invitation, let us bring people to Christ!
With my prayers,
Fr. Daniel
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O Beauty So Ancient and So New
SUMMER RETREAT:
Liturgy, Sacred Music & The New Evangelization
Adam Bartlett is the President and Editor of Illuminare Publications and is editor of the Lumen Christi Series. He has served as a parish and cathedral music director for over 10 years, and has previously served as Assistant Director of the Liturgical Institute, Mundelein, and as professor of Liturgical Chant at Mundelein Seminary. He studied music at Arizona State University, liturgy at The Liturgical Institute, Mundelein, and Gregorian chant at St. Meinrad Archabbey under the direction of Fr. Columba Kelly, OSB. Adam teaches, speaks and writes extensively on topics of liturgical music.
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7/24/16 Praying with Confidence
THE 17TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
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Dear friends in Christ,
The Lord himself teaches us how to pray. What a blessing! We do not believe in a distant God who has no contact with us, but rather, we trust in a loving God who wants to be with us and who teaches us how to pray! Today we learn again the most important prayer of all: the Our Father. And with it, we are encouraged to pray with persistence: to ask, knock, and call, knowing that God will always hear our prayer. One of the most important lessons about prayer is that trust is at the root of any authentic prayer. We need to believe that God will give us good gifts. To be clear, the promise is not that we will receive exactly what we wish. Rather, Jesus said that the Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. This is his promise, this is our hope: God will listen to our prayer and will give us what we need. Let us find comfort in this certainty, and renew our commitment to pray with confidence.
United in prayer,
Fr. Daniel
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7/17/16 The Practice of God’s Presence (takes 2 minutes per day)
THE 16TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
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Dear friends in Christ,
Our beautiful Gospel tells us of Martha and Mary and their relationship with the Lord. We know that they —and Lazarus, their brother— were good friends of Jesus and would host Him at their home. And we also know that they were different and had a different way of relating with Him.
Typically, Mary has been seen as a symbol of contemplation and Martha of action. While this is important and true, it is also important to keep in mind that what matters is not primarily the way in which we encounter Christ, but that we actually do encounter Him, that we choose the better part. Martha’s problem was not that she was working hard, but that she was anxious and distracted and, therefore, while preparing a feast for Jesus, she was away from Him. The main lesson of today’s Gospel is that we need to choose the better part: be with Christ always, whether we are in church or at work, because that will never be taken away from us.
United in prayer,
Fr. Daniel
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7/3/16 Your Name Written in Heaven
THE 14TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
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Dear brothers and sisters,
The Lord invites us today to reflect upon the true understanding of joy. After the disciples came back from their first mission, they were excited and happy about what they had done. Spontaneously, they began to share all their great works. It is significant that Jesus led them to a deeper joy than that which comes from what we can do. That deeper joy is also more stable as it does not depend on what we do; it lasts forever because it comes from God. That joy is the joy of being called: the awareness of being chosen, of having received a gift that we do not deserve, that surpasses our merits and can only be understood when we realize that we are loved. God’s love is unconditional; therefore, we have always a reason to rejoice, for our names are written in heaven. With gratitude, let us try to open our hearts to this profound joy so that we can also respond with generosity to such a generous gift.
God bless you all,
Fr. Daniel
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