Dear Family!

The greatest treasure of Advent is Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! As the new Church Year begins, I urge you to take along the ‘Green’ (Treasures of the Season of Ordinary Time) to the ‘Purple’ (The Season of Advent)”. Yes we are back to the days of purple as the season shares certain qualities of another purple season - Lent.

Dear Family!

Reflecting on the Gospel this Sunday, St. Ambrose wrote, “The superscription is written and placed above, not below the cross, because the government is upon his shoulders. What is this government if not his eternal power and Godhead? When asked, “Who are you?” he replied, “The beginning, who also speaks to you.” Let us read this superscription. “Jesus of Nazareth,” it says, “The King of the Jews.”

Dear Family!

This Sunday is the second last Sunday of the church year. The following Sunday we will celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. The readings logically speak about the ‘last things’ (Eschatology) - The Coming Day of the Lord, the Divine Judge. For us Catholic Christians, the end of the world is not God losing control of the earth, rather God bringing things to a triumphant end.

Dear Family!

“The most holy Church of the Lateran, the mother and head of all the churches of the city and the world!” These words, in Latin, greet every pilgrim entering through the front door of the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome and clearly proclaim the Lateran’s significance in Christianity.

Dear Family!

The readings focus on ‘justice’. Our human understanding of ‘justice’ results from logic - you worked for a month, and you get your pay; you did this and you get that. To be fair there is a balance between an act and a result (reward or punishment). ‘Justice’ in God’s language is rooted in love. God’s love is present while we are still sinners (St. Paul). To be just, to be fair in God’s language is to be in love. The First Reading reminds us that God’s almighty power includes his strength to be merciful.