​Father in Heaven, Creator of all and source of all goodness and love, please look kindly upon us and receive our heartfelt gratitude in this time of giving thanks.

Thank you for all the graces and blessings. You have betowed upon us, spiritual and temporal: our faith and religious heritage. Our food and shelter, our health, the loves we have for one another, our family and friends.

Dear Father, in Your infinite generosity, please grant us continued graces and blessing throughout the coming year.

This we ask in the Name of Jesus, Your Son and our Brother. Amen.

For Christians, Labor Day invites us to examine how we view our own labor in the light of what the Scriptures and the teaching Church proclaims about the dignity of all human work
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On this Labor Day weekend most of us take a break from what we refer to as our "jobs" in order to rest and re-create. We are invited to honor human work and all human workers. It is a unique secular holiday with profound Christian potential. Many will gather for late summer cookouts and celebrations. We may sleep in a bit later than usual and relax from what is so often a frenzied pace in our contemporary pattern of life. For many parents, Labor Day weekend marks a transition from the hectic pace of the summer to the new hectic pace of the school year. For students and teachers, it is also a portal into the new school year when we begin the work of education, a word whose Latin root means to "draw out" of the student what is good. Through authentically Christian education we are all invited to be drawn out into a fuller way of life. For Christians, Labor Day invites us to examine how we view our own labor in the light of what the Scriptures and the teaching Church proclaims about the dignity of all human work, no matter what kind, precisely because it is done by human persons who are created in the Image and Likeness of God.

We are living in an age which desperately needs a vibrant living Christian witness of the dignity, meaning and true value of all human work - one which is rooted in a rediscovery of the dignity of the human person. Let's offer it to them by living a Christian approach to work in our own daily lives. Happy Labor Day!

On this Labor Day weekend most of us take a break from what we refer to as our "jobs" in order to rest and re-create. We are invited to honor human work and all human workers. It is a unique secular holiday with profound Christian potential. Many will gather for late summer cookouts and celebrations. We may sleep in a bit later than usual and relax from what is so often a frenzied pace in our contemporary pattern of life.

For many parents, Labor Day weekend marks a transition from the hectic pace of the summer to the new hectic pace of the school year. For students and teachers, it is also a portal into the new school year when we begin the work of education, a word whose Latin root means to "draw out" of the student what is good. Through authentically Christian education we are all invited to be drawn out into a fuller way of life.

For Christians, Labor Day invites us to examine how we view our own labor in the light of what the Scriptures and the teaching Church proclaims about the dignity of all human work, no matter what kind, precisely because it is done by human persons who are created in the Image and Likeness of God.

In 2004, St. John Paul II addressed leaders of the Catholic Action movement in Italy on the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker and spoke of what he called the "gospel of work". The word "gospel" means good news. One of the late Pope's favorite passages from the Second Vatican Council's Pastoral Constitution on the Role of the Church in the Modern World informed so much of his writing and is worthy of consideration as we examine the dignity of work and the worker:

"The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. For Adam, the first man, was a figure of Him Who was to come, namely Christ the Lord. Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear. It is not surprising, then, that in Him all the aforementioned truths find their root and attain their crown."

"He who is "the image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15) is Himself the perfect man. To the sons of Adam He restores the divine likeness which had been disfigured from the first sin onward. Since human nature as He assumed it was not annulled, by that very fact it has been raised up to a divine dignity in our respect too. For by His incarnation the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with every man. He worked with human hands, He thought with a human mind, acted by human choice and loved with a human heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, He has truly been made one of us, like us in all things except sin." (G.S. #22)

In 1981 John Paul released an Encyclical letter entitled "On Human Work" which beautifully presents a  Christian vision of the dignity of human work and the worker. In the introductory paragraph he wrote: "(W)ork means any activity by man, whether manual or intellectual, whatever its nature or circumstances; it means any human activity that can and must be recognized as work, in the midst of all the many activities of which man is capable and to which he is predisposed by his very nature, by virtue of humanity itself. Man is made to be in the visible universe an image and likeness of God himself, and he is placed in it in order to subdue the earth."

"From the beginning therefore he is called to work. Work is one of the characteristics that distinguish man from the rest of creatures, whose activity for sustaining their lives cannot be called work. Only man is capable of work, and only man works, at the same time by work occupying his existence on earth. Thus work bears a particular mark of man and of humanity, the mark of a person operating within a community of persons. And this mark decides its interior characteristics; in a sense it constitutes its very nature."

We live in an age that has lost sight of the true dignity of work - precisely because we have lost sight of the dignity of the worker. This loss is one more bad fruit of the rupture which was wrought by sin. In the industrial age, men and women were often reduced to mere instruments in a society that emphasized "productivity" over the dignity of the human person, the worker.

The technological age promised something different, but it has failed to deliver on that promise. Too often, men and women are still viewed as instruments and objects rather than persons and gifts. Even Science, a great gift meant to be placed at the service of the human person, human flourishing, the family and the common good, has often promoted a view of the human person as an object to be experimented on and disposed of at will. This fundamental error is the root of the contemporary culture of death.

To grasp the truth that dignity of all human labor derives from the dignity of the human person who engages in it requires what St Paul rightly called a "renewal of the mind" (See, Romans 12:2).In 2004, St John Paul told those participants at the Catholic Action gathering that because work "has been profaned by sin and contaminated by egoism," it is an activity that "needs to be redeemed." His words are critical for us to consider in this day in which we seem to be profoundly confused about the purpose, goodness and ends or goals of human work.

He reminded them that "Jesus was a man of work and that work enabled him to develop his humanity". He emphasized that "the work of Nazareth constituted for Jesus a way to dedicate himself to the 'affairs of the Father,'" witnessing that "the work of the Creator is prolonged" through work and that therefore "according to God's providential plan, man, by working, realizes his own humanity and that of others: In fact, work 'forms man and, in a certain sense, creates him."
He emphasized the need for work to be rescued "from the logic of profit, from the lack of solidarity, from the fever of earning ever more, from the desire to accumulate and consume." When the focus of work becomes subjected to what he called "inhuman wealth", he said, it becomes a "seductive and merciless idol." That rescue occurs when we "return to the austere words of the Divine Master: 'For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?'"

Finally, John Paul II unveiled for his listeners an important understanding of the Incarnation, that Jesus, the "Divine Worker of Nazareth" also reminds us that 'life is more than food' and that work is for man, not man for work. What makes a life great is not the entity of gain, nor the type of profession, or the level of the career. Man is worth infinitely more than the goods he produces or possesses."

What a profound and truly liberating message for us all to consider on this Labor Day! 

​Why are human beings willing to fight and die for freedom? As Americans, this Memorial Day we will remember those who died in the service of our country. But as Catholic Americans, we should also reflect on the meaning of true freedom and thank God for the Church which proclaims the way to the fullness of that freedom. 

I honor those in my family and yours who paid the ultimate price for the freedom that I have enjoyed as an American. However, I believe that some today have trivialized the meaning of freedom or distorted it beyond recognition. True freedom is much deeper than being able to do what we want. Freedom directs us toward truth and choosing the truth perfects our exercise of freedom.

Again, the Catholic Catechism is so very helpful for our understanding: "The more one does what is good, the freer one becomes. There is no true freedom except in the service of what is good and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads to "the slavery of sin." Freedom makes man responsible for his acts to the extent that they are voluntary. Progress in virtue, knowledge of the good, and ascesis enhance the mastery of the will over its acts." (See, CCC #1731-1734) 

The Church teaches us that to understand freedom we need to consider both our nature and the very purpose of our humanity. "Through our physical bodies, we sum up the elements of the material world and bring them to their highest perfection and freely raise their voice in praise to the creator" (cf. Gaudium et spes 14). Thus, we know that we are more than the material world, for which we have the capacity to appreciate and give thanks.

Once we understand that we are a unity of body and soul, created in the image of God and endowed with reason and free will, we are ready to taste of the Church's teaching on freedom. Paragraph 1730 found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church is short, but its breadth is enormous. It states that "God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions. God willed that man should be 'left in his own counsel,' so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him."

The perfection of any created thing is to be able to fully act according to what it is, to its nature. And, in this respect, the thing gives glory to its creator. On the other hand, when, for any reason, a thing cannot fully act according to its nature, we correctly view it as lacking in a good. When a person cannot fully act according to their human nature, this lacking in a good can take on a moral dimension and result in the loss of freedom.

Human beings, by virtue of their reason and free will, are unique among all other created things in that they can freely choose to act in ways that are not in accord with their nature, that is, they can turn away from God and reject their own perfection, which is to become fully human and fully alive. However, turning away from God is not true freedom, it is an abuse of freedom. Instead of freeing us; it enslaves us. We need to understand this point because it is critical. Therefore, I have selected two examples.

First, in order to help us understand the significance of the abuse of freedom, Dr. Scott Hahn gives us a general example using a train. It is the nature of a train to run on tracks. As long as the train remains on the tracks, it is able to carry people or needed materials across the country. If, one day, the train viewed its tracks as restricting its freedom and decided to jump its tracks, what would happen? Therefore, acting according to our nature liberates and frees us. Acting against our nature results in a kind of slavery because we are no longer free to "Be all that we can be."

Second, Blessed John Paul II gives us a more specific example in The Gospel of Life. He shows us that when freedom is no longer based on objective truth, it destroys itself.  He says, since freedom is inherently relational, if the self is understood in terms of absolute autonomy, as it is in secular society, then people will eventually reject each other as each person seeks to have their interests prevail. Thus, society becomes a mass of competing individuals without mutual bonds. Such a society does not become more free; it becomes less free as vice, corruption, brutality, and oppression inevitably increase.
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Now, I believe we can try to answer our original question. One reason why we human beings are willing to fight and die for freedom is because the need for freedom is imprinted onto our very nature. By virtue of our ability to reason and our free will, we are impelled to seek truth, especially religious truth.

​In June of 1776 Thomas Jefferson, seated in the second-floor parlor of a bricklayer's house in Philadelphia, brilliantly composed the first drafts of the Declaration of Independence. After some revision, the bulk of the document was approved by Congress on 4 July, 1776. While the Declaration would soon become one of the world's most significant documents, its second sentence is perhaps most famous:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Those words, written over two centuries ago, still resonate in the depths of our hearts, not simply because they are lofty ideals for which we find ourselves compelled to strive, but because they reflect an aspect of man's irrepressible desire to attain and enjoy human fulfillment.

They speak not only of the American experiment particularly, but echo the goals of human experience generally. With those words we are reminded of the specific purpose for which we are created and the particular end toward which we are directed; on hearing them, we are moved to realize that to be human, bestowed as we are with the gift of life and dignity, created in God's image and likeness, is truly spectacular.

Given the many alarming elements present in today's America which seek to deal a fatal blow to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, whether through direct attacks, covert manipulation of public opinion, or through the dissemination and application of counterfeit notions of human freedom, it is easy to fall into despair. That our nation is in peril is not an exaggeration in the least. In the first place, this dire predicament is the effect of secularism's insistence on the detachment of human rights from the moral law. The American crisis is a moral crisis.

As Christians we are called to analyze culture, and, aided by the Spirit, heal, elevate and purify those elements within it which run contrary to the Gospel. Given how far adrift America is, the restoration of her proper course is a daunting task. But regardless of the strength, duration and outcome of the storm in which we are immersed, as Christians, as men and women informed by the light of faith, we will not lose hope. As St. Teresa of Avila said, God alone suffices. Our hope does not rest on the passing form of this world (1 Cor. 7:31), but on the promises of Christ and the glorious future that awaits us, for "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Cor. 1:9).

We are called to become, by faith in Christ, members of the divine family and thus enter into the invisible and other-worldly (Jn 18:36) fellowship of the kingdom of God. Jesus, as the door to eternal life (Jn 10:7-9), has opened the way to that divine kingdom. Life in Christ is a participation in God's own life and is therefore a substantially and qualitatively new way of living. Speaking of his salvific mission for humankind, Jesus said: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (Jn 10:10).

Abundant life! While Thomas Jefferson wrote of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the context of throwing off a despotic British government in favor of an independent nation, Christ speaks of eternal realities which travel inconceivably beyond the temporal, and which will continue with an unending permanency guaranteed by God himself.

We are brought forth from nothingness to life by Christ, sustained by Christ, and gifted with the potential to enjoy everlasting, divinely infused supernatural bliss by Christ's redemptive sacrifice on the cross. So long as we remain in Christ, we no longer simply pursue happiness, but rather it becomes an inalienable and eternal reality -- and this wondrous state of existence is available as God's gift to us here, right now, although its fullest dimension is attained only in the next life.
St. Paul wrote that "Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it so much as dawned on man what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor. 2:9). Since the glorious state of our future as Christians far exceeds our understanding, there is little that can be definitively said about what awaits those who love God.

The temptation, however, is to project our experience of the often meager happiness tasted here through contact with created objects onto the eternal "now" of heaven. That is, since the normal experience of earthly happiness is often so fleeting and unsatisfying, we tend to view the happiness of heaven through an unsatisfactory, temporal lens. Given that, we might not even be too sure we want to live forever!

Most of us have not the slightest idea of what supernaturally infused bliss is. What is it like? What does happiness that flows directly from God, an infinitely powerful Being who is life itself, into the very depths of our soul, feel like? What might such a powerful encounter with God's love do to us? To be sure, it is life changing. Additionally, we learn from the saints that it cannot be characterized simply as a feeling of pleasure or security or satisfaction or tranquility, or even all of these put together.

It is far more. Take all the pleasurable experiences in life and fashion them into one event: it would seem as nothing compared to God's favorable gaze upon the soul for even a single instant. A tremendous, unforgettable and fiery love is ignited in the human spirit with but one sudden, unexpected Divine glance -- an incomparable love of such depth that all the treasures of the world become less than rusted iron.

St. Thérčse of Lisieux speaks of an encounter she had with Christ after a period of voluntary mortification she underwent in order to cleanse herself of less than heavenly desires. "God did for me what Ezechiel reports in his prophecies: Passing by me, Jesus saw that the time had come for me to be loved, He entered into a covenant with me and I became His own. He spread his mantle over me, he washed me with precious perfumes, He reclothed me in embroidered robes, He gave me priceless necklaces and ornaments. He nourished me with purest flour, with honey and oil in abundance. Then I became beautiful in His eyes and He made me a mighty queen" (Story of a Soul 101).

Indeed, divinely infused happiness can be experienced right now. Scripture is filled with numerous references indicating we have access in the present to the love of God, to the consolations of the Spirit and to an infused joy that permeates the soul as a heavenly dew. The love of God is not something to be had only later, after a long life of deprivation and suffering, for our personal God seeks to lift us on divine arms, sweep us into his very life, and caress us in the sweet waters of tenderness. "See, I come quickly; I have my reward in hand" (Revelation 22:12).

"All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, receive grain and eat; come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk!" ( Isaiah 55:1 ). The journey toward human fulfillment is found in Christ, whose love supplies both our strength and our thirst, for the Lamb is our shepherd who leads us to springs of living waters (Revelation 7:17 ).
Christ gave of himself as an infinite gift of love for all people, past, present and future. What remains to be seen, is whether we will reciprocate that love, for Christ gives his greatest favors only to those who give themselves completely to him. In the first place, this means living a moral life of virtue and holiness, characterized by diligent and sincere fidelity to God and his teaching presented through the Church.

Unfortunately, many brethren, thinking access to the divine treasures of love can be had by halfhearted measures, and who even exhibit a spirit of willful dissent from holy mother Church, fail to understand the meaning of obedience of faith in loving freedom. To have faith in Christ is to assent fully with both intellect and will to all his words and deeds, including whatsoever he has ordained through his Church for our own good. Obviously, it is necessary to believe the Church and adhere to her divinely instituted teachings on faith and morals.

Giving oneself to Christ is, of course, not easy; for it is a disciplined, prayerful and sacramental way of life opposed to the ways of the world, involving the whole man, both interiorly and exteriorly. "To be in Christ means being a completely new creature. Everything of the old is gone, now everything is made anew" (2 Cor. 5:17). Regardless of the difficulties involved, take courage and remember they are temporary; for as we share in Christ's suffering so too will we share abundantly in his divine glory (Rom. 8:17; 2 Cor. 1:5).

On this Independence Day, it is important to reflect on what it means to seek life, liberty and happiness. While it is safe to say everyone desires these goods, not everyone understands where they are found. In fact, it is not even a question of where they are found, but in Whom they are found: "I am the way and the truth and the life" (Jn 14:6).
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Do we see beyond the present into the window of eternity? Do we truly desire above all else to love God for his sake, to become his child, and to live as a member of the divine family? These are the gifts God offers to man. These are the gifts the Church presents, as the sacrament of salvation, to the world, in order that the world may be brought to Christ.

​The third Sunday in June is observed each year in the United States as Father's Day. The origins of this national event are not clear. Some records suggest that it was first celebrated as a church service some 100 years ago in Fairmont, West Virginia, at Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, now known as Central United Methodist Church. Whether this is true or not, the impulse to honor fathers is a worthy one and it comes with the biblical admonition to honor our fathers and mothers.
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In the Bible it is Abraham who is counted as the father of faith and he is revered in Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The word "faith" is an important component to remember because it means trust in God--being able to rely on that which is dependable. Abraham trusted God's assurance that his children would become a great nation. The promise came at a point when he and his wife, Sarah, were elderly and childless. And yet Abraham believed that God could do what was foretold to him. He went forward in confidence that God could accomplish, through him, a benefit for all of the world.
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Joseph of Galilee is an exemplary father in the Bible. He married Mary, despite the unusual circumstances of her pregnancy. He dared to be unconventional because he trusted that God was working through her and him. He was a righteous man who dared to take on the roles of husband and foster father. And as refugees from danger, after the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, it is clear that he protected his family by going beyond what was familiar to find a safe haven. We can learn much about fatherhood from Joseph.

Another father that captures the imagination is a man called Jairus. We read about him in the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke. He was a man of importance whose daughter was dying and he came to Jesus, fell at his feet and begged Jesus to help his child. The actions of Jairus revealed his character. He trusted that God could help and it didn't matter that he had wealth and prestige. He humbled himself for the sake of his daughter.

A final father from the Bible that is impressive is the one who had two sons, one of whom went astray. This is, of course, the story told by Jesus of the prodigal son. The father in the parable teaches his two sons powerful lessons of love: the one who went astray who discovered that his father's care came to him even when he had run away from it and the other who struggled to understand such extravagant love in the face of his brother's failures and his own fidelity. The father in the story, like God, never gave up on either of his children.
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On Father's Day let us remember that we have been given a heritage of dedication and faithfulness from the fathers we encounter in the Bible and from those fathers who exemplify the best qualities of parenting.

​Easter is the celebration of Christ's resurrection from the dead. It is celebrated on Sunday, and marks the end of Holy Week, the end of Lent, the last day of the Easter Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday), and is the beginning of the Easter season of the liturgical year.

As we know from the Gospels, Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day following his crucifixion, which would be Sunday. His resurrection marks the triumph of good over evil, sin and death. It is the singular event which proves that those who trust in God and accept Christ will be raised from the dead.

Since Easter represents the fulfillment of God's promises to mankind, it is the most important holiday on the Christian calendar.

In the Gospels, the precise details of the Easter narrative vary slightly, but none of these variances are critical to the main story. In fact, it is argued that the variances are simply matters of style and not substance. Despite the variances, the key aspects of the Easter story all match. Above all, they agree that the tomb of Christ was indeed empty, which is the most essential fact.

​Based on direct evidence from the mid-second century, it is believed that Easter was regularly celebrated from the earliest days of the Church.

The Easter date is movable and always falls on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25. Easter in the Roman Catholic Church is always on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.

Most Catholics attend Easter Vigil at midnight, although the services can be lengthy because many sacraments are performed, such as baptisms and Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, during the Mass. Services during the daytime on Easter are shorter and well attended.

Sunrise services are common, but are distinctly Protestant. Sunrise services are gathered before dawn and reflect the arrival of the women at Jesus' tomb early in the morning. The services take place outdoors, often in church yards, cemeteries, or in parks, and are timed so the sun will rise during the course of worship.

Traditional family activities vary by region. In the United States, children often hunt for Easter eggs, which are often brightly-dyed hard boiled eggs, though they can be plastic eggs filled with candy or small denominations of money. Candy is a traditional gift for Easter as children often break their Lenten fasts with sweets. Adults tend to share bouquets of flowers, greeting cards, and may gather for a family meal. Such celebrations are often secularized and focused on children and family rather than the religious aspect of the holy day.

Following Easter Sunday, the season of Easter begins and lasts for seven weeks, ending with Pentecost.
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On this greatest day of the year, all fasting and somber thoughts
are banished. As St. John Chrysostom announces in this famous
Easter sermon, all are invited to the feast: "Let all then enter
the joy of Our Lord!
Both the first and the last, and those who come after, enjoy your reward!
Rich and poor, dance with one another, sober and slothful,
celebrate the day.
Those who have kept the fast and those who have not, rejoice today, for the table is richly spread.
Fare royally upon it-the calf is a fatted one.
Let no one go away hungry.
All of you, enjoy the banquet of faith!
All enjoy the riches of His goodness.
Let no one cry over his poverty, for the universal Kingdom has
appeared!
Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again, for
forgiveness has risen from the grave.
Let none fear death, for the death of our Savior has set us free.
He has destroyed it by enduring it.
He spoiled the power of hell when he descended thereto.
Isaiah foretold this when he cried, 'Death has been frustrated in meeting him below!'
It is frustrated, for it is destroyed.
It is frustrated, for it is annihilated.
It is frustrated, for now it is made captive.
For it grabbed a body and discovered God.
It took earth and behold! It encountered Heaven.
It took what was visible, and was overcome by what was invisible.
O Death, where is your sting?
O Death, where is your victory?
Christ is risen, and the demons are cast down.
Christ is risen, and life is set free.
Christ is risen, and the tomb is emptied of the dead.
For Christ, having risen from the dead, is become the first-fruits for those who sleep.
to Him be glory and power forever and ever!
Amen. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!"

​During this powerful liturgical experience called Passion or Palm Sunday, two Gospels will be read. One precedes the procession into the Church where, joining the throngs who gathered to welcome Jesus into the Holy City, we will waive palm branches and exalt Him.

The week we call Holy (Great Week for Eastern Christians) begins for me with proclaiming those contrasting Gospel readings during the Liturgy of Palm or Passion Sunday. Before we enter the Church in a Procession waving Palm branches, we listen to the Gospel narrative and are invited to identify with the jubilant crowds welcoming the Master into Jerusalem.

Once inside the sanctuary, the Liturgy of the Word begins. Before long, some of those same people shouted "Let Him be Crucified!" as the Passion Gospel is proclaimed. As I grow older the connection between the two gospel accounts, my participation in that rejection of God's love and the frailties of life have become clearer to me.

Holy Week invites us all to let go of self love and embrace the Lord anew through saying Yes to the invitation to continuing conversion. How desperately we all need to hear the Good news that we can begin again! We can choose to enter more fully into the celebrations of Holy Week. When we do, we change. Or, we can approach them as empty ritual and miss the marvelous moment of grace.
Holy times presuppose a people who hunger to be made holy.

The question is not whether we will mark time but how we will do so? For the Christian time is not meant to be a tyrant ruling over us with impunity. Rather, it is a teacher, inviting and instructing us to choose to enter more fully into our relationship with the Lord and in Him to make progress on the Path of Life.

Only by grace can I make progress in the path that leads to eternal life passes trough time. It winds through the real stuff of our daily lives. What those contrasting Gospel accounts reveal draws me into this week called Holy and it's numerous times of prayer and reflection. It draws me to an honest admission of my weakness, an acknowledgement and confession of my sin, and an ever deepening appreciation of the "Amazing Grace" given in Jesus Christ. 

The Passion narrative is filled with biblical characters with whom we can all identify. Many a great Saint in the Christian tradition has advised the faithful to enter into the characters in these inspired accounts. Identify with them. Place yourself in the narrative. Let the Holy Spirit use the encounter to deepen your experience of who Jesus is, and who you are called to become in Him.

Each year, in the parish in which I serve, we are invited to reflectively prepare ourselves for the Holy Week services by doing just that. My friend and pastor will regularly ask us, "who were you on Calvary?"  This has been a hard lent. I have come to believe that is part of the plan for such liturgical seasons. Not because God is somehow "mean", quite to the contrary, because he is Love and He wants us to live in Love. As the Apostle of Love affirms in his first letter, "God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them." (John 4:16)
 
I know that this Holy Week is a personal invitation to me, to be made new again, to progress on the path that leads to life. I desperately need it. The only question is, will I respond fully? I suggest to my readers, it is the same invitation to you. Say "YES" and let grace do the rest.

In the 1977 film "Jesus of Nazareth" Franco Zefferrelli ended the original version with words spoken by a character not found in the biblical accounts' named Zerah. The name literally means "Brilliance". He enters the empty crypt and seeing the burial cloth lying on the empty slab because Jesus has been raised says, "Now it begins; now it all begins." It is these words which come to my mind every year as we begin the High Holy Days of the Christian faith during this "Holy Week" or "Great Week".

The Liturgy of Palm or Passion Sunday, with its re-presentation of the triumphal entry of the Master into Jerusalem leading into the first Passion Narrative sets the Liturgical framework for a week which is filled with invitations of grace.
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However, it is up to each of us to choose to receive them or not. That is part of the mystery of human freedom. To be "Holy" is to be set aside for God. Entering fully into the Liturgical celebrations of this week can actually change us - that is what it means to be converted. "Now it begins; now it all begins".

​For many years in the English speaking world the feast of Epiphany has been overshadowed by that of Christmas. But unless we realize the significance of this great day, we see only one side of the mystery of the Incarnation. Now after contemplating the staggering fact that God has become a human child, we turn to look at this mystery from the opposite angle and realize that this seemingly helpless Child is, in fact, the omnipotent God, the King and Ruler of the universe. The feast of Christ's divinity completes the feast of His humanity. It fulfills all our Advent longing for the King "who is come with great power and majesty." We see that whereas Christmas is the family feast of Christianity, Epiphany is the great "world feast of the Catholic Church."

​Epiphany is a complex feast. Originating in the Eastern Church and formed by the mentality of a people whose thought processes differ sharply from our own, the Epiphany is like a rich Oriental tapestry in which the various themes are woven and interwoven-- now to be seen in their historical setting, again to be viewed from a different vantage point in their deep mystical significance. In this brief introduction four of the main ideas of the Epiphany will be outlined.

Divine manifestation: The Epiphany takes its name from the Greek "epiphania," which denotes the visit of a god to earth. The first idea of the feast is the manifestation of Christ as the Son of God. "Begotten before the daystar and before all ages, the Lord our Savior is this day made manifest to the world." The feast unites three events in the life of Christ when His divinity, as it were, shines through His humanity: the adoration of the Magi; the baptism of Christ in the Jordan; and the first miracle at the wedding feast of Cana. Moreover, at Epiphany the Church looks forward to the majestic coming of Christ on the "youngest day" when His manifestation as God will be complete. The Gospels of the baptism and the marriage at Cana are read on the Octave Day and the Second Sunday after Epiphany, and later Sunday masses in the Epiphany season continue to show the divine power of our Lord in some of His most striking miracles.

Royal kingship: A second important idea in Epiphany is the extension of Christ's kingship to the whole world. The revelation of Christ to the three kings at Bethlehem is a symbol of His revelation to the whole of the Gentile world. Epiphany presents to us the calling of not merely a chosen few, but all nations to Christianity.

Your Light is Come: Closely linked to both these themes of divine manifestation and world kingship is a third idea running through the Epiphany feast: that of light. During Advent, the world was in darkness, and we prayed and waited in the spirit of the Jewish nation which lived in expectation of the Coming Light during thousands of years. At Christmas the Light shone forth, but dimly, seen only by a few around the crib: Mary and Joseph and the shepherds. But at Epiphany the Light bursts forth to all nations and the prophecy is fulfilled: "The Gentiles shall walk in Thy light, and kings in the brightness of Thy rising." The mysterious star of Epiphany, "flashing like a flame," is still another facet of the light-motif, a symbol capable of being interpreted in a dozen different ways.

How much food for thought and reflection is contained in just these three ideas, and what a significance they have for our own time! Epiphany lifts our eyes from the family celebrations and demands that we should include in our vision "all the ends of the earth." It demands that, like the three wise men, we should have the courage to follow the light of the star we have seen, however hazardous the journey; that the light of our faith, like that of the wise men, should be so strong that we are able to see and recognize our Lord and Ruler in however unexpected a way He may present Himself to us; and that having recognized Him, we should bow down and adore Him, offering Him our total loyalty.

Moreover, Epiphany demands that like these kings we should return to our own countries a different way, carrying to all those we meet the light of Christ. "For behold, darkness shall cover the earth," says the Epistle of the Epiphany Mass, "and a mist the people: but the Lord shall arise upon Thee, and His glory shall be seen upon Thee. And the Gentiles shall walk in Thy light..." These words may be applied to us, upon whom the light of Christ has indeed risen, and who have the responsibility to radiate that light in the darkness of our own world. It is clear how much the feast of Epiphany must mean to all who are engaged in the apostolate and are striving to extend the kingdom of Christ.
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The royal nuptials: Besides the important ideas outlined above, there is still another great theme threaded through the Epiphany feast--the theme of the royal nuptials, the wedding of Christ with humanity. It is an idea on a completely different level from the historical events which the Epiphany celebrates, yet inextricably bound up with them; for example, the historical marriage feast of Cana is used by the Church to suggest the setting for Christ's nuptials with the Church; the wise men represent not only the three Persian Magi adoring the Babe 2000 years ago at Bethlehem, but also the Gentile world hurrying to the wedding feast at the end of time when mankind's nuptials with the divine Bridegroom will be celebrated; the gold, frankincense and myrrh are not only tokens for the little Baby King in the stable, but royal wedding gifts for the mystical marriage feast of heaven.

The New Year can often bring a mixed bag of emotions and memories for many of us. The events of 2020 including a pandemic, racial tensions, joblessness, and political battles created an unprecedented time of unrest and anxiety. While some may have just experienced the best year ever and look forward to an even greater one looming ahead, others may have just trudged through one deep struggle after another. The fresh calendar year brings desperate hope for things to be better, with an ache for the still-fresh wounds to slowly begin their process of healing. Praying at the start of the New Year doesn't always bring immediate change at the stroke of midnight, but it begins the opening of our hearts to God's Words of hope and peace. 

Whether you’ve just walked through the greatest year of your life, or are incredibly glad to see this one finally over, one truth still rings clear amidst it all. You are not alone. Not ever. Scripture is filled with prayers of men and women who reached out to God for a fresh start. Praying is the main source of connection to the one who created you and the one who wants you to experience blessings and promises in the future.

Our God is a “with us" God. On the heels of the celebration of the birth of our King, that reminder has the power to carry us right into a fresh, new start. He is Emmanuel, God with us. And though things and people around us shift and change, our God never changes. May these New Year prayers fill your heart and mind with powerful proclamations as you step into 2021.

A Prayer to Keep God First This New Year

Dear God,

Thank you that you make all things new. Thank you for all that you've allowed into our lives this past year, the good along with the hard things, which have reminded us how much we need you and rely on your presence filling us every single day.

We pray for your Spirit to lead us each step of this New Year. We ask that you will guide our decisions and turn our hearts to deeply desire you above all else. We ask that you will open doors needing to be opened and close the ones needing to be shut tight. We ask that you would help us release our grip on the things to which you’ve said “no,” “not yet,” or “wait.” We ask for help to pursue you first, above every dream and desire you’ve put within our hearts.

We ask for your wisdom, for your strength and power to be constantly present within us. We pray you would make us strong and courageous for the road ahead. Give us ability beyond what we feel able, let your gifts flow freely through us, so that you would be honored by our lives, and others would be drawn to you. We pray that you’d keep us far from the snares and traps of temptations. That you would whisper in our ear when we need to run, and whisper in our heart when we need to stand our ground.

We pray for your protection over our families and friends. We ask for your hand to cover us and keep us distanced from the evil intent of the enemy; that you would be a barrier to surround us, that we’d be safe in your hands. We pray that you would give us discernment and insight beyond our years, to understand your will, hear your voice, and know your ways. We ask that you would keep our footsteps firm, on solid ground, helping us to be consistent and faithful. Give us supernatural endurance to stay the course, not swerving to the right or to the left, or being too easily distracted by other things that would seek to call us away from a close walk with you.

Forgive us for the times we have worked so hard to be self-sufficient, forgetting our need for you, living independent of your spirit. Forgive us for letting fear and worry control our minds, and for allowing pride and selfishness wreak havoc over our lives. Forgive us for not following your ways and for living distant from your presence. We confess our need for you…fresh…new…again. We ask that you make all things new, in our hearts, in our minds, in our lives, for this coming year. We pray for your refreshing over us.

Keep your words of truth planted firm within us, help us to keep focused on what is pure and right, give us the power to be obedient to your word. And when the enemy reminds us where we have been, hissing his lies and attacks our way, we trust that your voice speaks louder and stronger, as you remind us we are safe with you and your purposes and plans will not fail. We ask that you will be our defense and rear guard, keeping our way clear, removing the obstacles, and covering the pitfalls. Lord, lead us on your level ground.

We ask that you would provide for our needs, we ask for your grace and favor. We pray for your blessings to cover us, we pray that you would help us to prosper and make every plan that you have birthed in our heart to succeed. We pray that others would take notice of your goodness and could not help but to say, “These are the ones that the Lord has blessed.”

Help us to be known as great givers, help us to be generous and kind, help us to look to the needs of others and not be consumed by only our own. May we be lovers of truth, may the fruits of your spirit be evident in our lives - your love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
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Shine your light in us, through us, over us. May we make a difference in this world, for your glory and purposes. Set you way before us. May all your plans succeed. We may reflect your peace and hope to a world that so desperately needs your presence and healing. To you be glory and honor, in this New Year, and forever. In Jesus’ name, Amen.