During Confirmation prep, many of us probably had to memorize the list of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. These gifts are what we receive from the Holy Spirit who is poured out in full into our hearts in the sacrament of Confirmation. But how many of us know what each individual gift is, what they do for us? Well, St. Thomas Aquinas gives us the answer:

This past week, we celebrated the feast of St. Mark. While we rightly understand the Bible and the various books that make it up to be the divinely inspired Word of God, they were still written by human beings. But who is St. Mark, and what makes his Gospel account special compared to the others?

Many of us with non-Catholic friends or family have probably heard the accusation that the Mass is nowhere to be found in the Bible. I am sure many of us know that is not true, but what are some examples of the Mass in the Bible? Some of us may go to the Last Supper scenes, but are there others besides that? Arguably the best example after the Last Supper would be the scene of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, which we hear about in today’s Gospel reading. What happens here? Look closely: the two are on the road to Emmaus and encounter Jesus but do not recognize Him. He recounts the Scriptures to them (readings), He interprets them for the two (homily), and then sits down at table with them and offers the bread and wine and “breaks the bread” with them (Eucharist). This scene is an exact reflection of the Mass. In fact, any time we see the words “breaking of bread” in the Bible, it is referring to the Mass. The books of the New Testament were written before we actually had names and terms for things, including the Mass and the Eucharist. The term “breaking the bread” is what the early Church called the Mass while they still worked to figure out what to call these things.

In today’s Psalm, the text (which comes from the New American Bible) says, “His mercy endures forever.” Meanwhile, in many other translations it says, “His love endures forever.” Love and mercy are not exactly opposite words, but neither do they mean the same thing. 

This weekend, we will be moving from our Lenten preparations to our Easter celebration! The Easter season begins with what is called the Easter Triduum: the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, the Commemoration of our Lord’s Passion on Good Friday and the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night. This special and ancient liturgy celebrates the primary moment of our salvation: Jesus’ Passion and death on the Cross, paying the price for our sins and winning us freedom from the enemy, and His Resurrection, defeating Death itself once and for all. 

This past week, our parish celebrated our Patronal Feast, the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. What “Patronal Feast” means is that this feast, already so important on its merits, takes on an added significance for us because it is the namesake of our parish. 

This past week we celebrated the feast of St. Patrick. St. Patrick is both the patron saint of Ireland and also the patron saint of our own diocese. So this feast is of special importance for our local church, so much so that it actually gets promoted for us to a solemnity! (Hence we can be dispensed from our Lenten fasts) With that in mind, though, who actually is St. Patrick? What do we know about him?

There is a lot going on in the Church at the moment, both in our deanery area as well as in the diocese at large. With so much going on, it can perhaps be a bit much to keep track of. Currently, we have a number of areas where fundraising is going on or being looked at. With that in mind, let me briefly review:

Starting this weekend, we begin the stage of Lent called the “Scrutinies.” These ancient and sacred rites are given to those preparing for Baptism and Confirmation at the Easter Vigil. They are preparatory rites, purifying the person and enlightening them in stages as they journey closer and closer to Christ. But what exactly are they? What do they entail?

A couple of years ago, I helped lead a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Naturally, one of our stops was the Mount of the Transfiguration. A church was built on this holy site that is meant to reflect the beauty and splendor of that moment. It is uniquely built facing north-south, rather than east-west. This is so that the sunlight can enter the church fully and illuminate the mosaics and other artwork throughout the interior. Centermost of these is a mosaic depicting the Transfiguration as well, which is positioned perfectly to catch the sun at certain times of day. At those times of day, Jesus’ body in the picture shines just as brilliantly as it did in that moment! 

Lent is now in full swing. Many of us typically think of Lent as a season to prepare for Easter, and there is truth in that. But did you know: Lent was originally something different. If you look back at the ancient Church, Lent is actually about the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA). 

This coming Wednesday, believe it or not, is Ash Wednesday! Every year, we commemorate this occasion by prayer, fasting and (most notably) by putting ashes on our heads. But have you ever wondered why we do this? Why do we start Lent by rubbing (or sometimes sprinkling) ashes on our heads?

This weekend, we welcome three Dominican priests to lead our parish mission as the start of our anniversary celebrations. As a way of introduction, I wanted to devote this bulletin reflection to talking about the Dominican order a bit.

Tomorrow the Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation. Believe it or not, this traditionally had been the conclusion of the Christmas season. That’s right: Christmas is more than just 12 days; it was actually 40! 

This past Friday hundreds of thousands of people came together in Washington for the National March for Life, and before that we celebrated the “Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of the Unborn.” A couple of years ago, we had a major victory in the fight to protect infants from the sin of abortion with the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. However, this victory has left many wondering why should we continue such events as the March for Life. Here is why.

Did you know? Every Mass is offered for an intention; depending on if it is a Sunday or weekday Mass, we always mention “For {insert intention here} for whom this Mass is being offered.” If you look just to the left of this reflection, you should see the Mass schedule, listed with the intentions that that Mass is being offered for. Nine times out of ten, those Masses are offered for someone who is deceased; but the Mass can actually be offered for any intention. Do you know someone who is sick? Have a Mass offered for them. Got a friend or relative who has fallen away from the Church? Have a Mass offered for them. Just had your first child? Have a Mass offered for them. Masses can be offered for any intention that we want to bring to God. 

This week we begin the season of Ordinary Time. Given the name, many people perhaps think of it as the “filler” of the Gospel. Some may even go so far as to say it is the “boring” parts of the Bible. Ordinary time, however, is anything but ordinary. 

In Christian tradition, we do know the names of the Magi to be Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar. However, there is little suggesting they were kings. Instead, most evidence from both the Bible and other historical documents suggest these men were astrologers. This would likely make them royal advisers, but not kings. Also, because of this, the consensus is that these men were not Jewish. They were foreigners and pagans, men who did not know God or His Law. And yet, we see them coming to pay homage to the newborn “king of the Jews.” Furthermore, we can tell from their gifts that they have some idea of who Jesus really is: the Son of God. 

Many often joke about how it must have been to be the family of Jesus (God); Jesus standing on the bathwater, Jesus sneaking and multiplying cookies, etc.; and there is some humor to that. But the importance of this feast comes down to: the Holy Family is meant to be the model for all families. If you want to have a healthy family life, then look to them for guidance and example. Some are perhaps thinking, “That is not a fair comparison. Jesus is God and Mary is without sin; of course they are going to be the perfect family. How is that supposed to help my family?” Do not forget that they were not without their problems, too. Remember, Jesus was hunted from his birth; they had to spend two years as exiles in Egypt; Mary lost Jesus for three whole days. They had their fair share of drama as well, but they stayed strong in the face of all of that. 

One question that I have been surprised to get as often as I have is: “What would have happened if Adam and Eve had not eaten the fruit?” This is a question that has been asked numerous times over the history of the Church. However, the answer has always been the same: that we can play the “what if” game all we want, it is moot point because at the end of the day they ate it. That being said, one thing we know for sure would have been the same whether they ate the fruit or not is this: Jesus would have still been born.