“I will praise You, Lord, for You have rescued me.” The great Octave of Easter concluded with Divine Mercy Sunday, one of Pope St. John Paul the Great’s many gifts to the Church. During these last few weeks we have been graphically reminded of the gifts to us of the Eucharistic Lord, of the ... Read more
“Jesus wept.” There is a rather sharp contrast between the joy we celebrated last Sunday as the Church heeded the King's command to rejoice and the very somber verse cited from the Gospel of this Sunday. "Jesus wept" is the shortest verse in the English Bible, but in that so short verse is contained one of the most profound ... Read more
“Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel!” The beginning of the first reading for Gaudete Sunday invites us, in fairly specific terms, to be a people of rejoicing. This initial command here is to the People of Israel, that they would rejoice. Why are they told to do so? The Scripture answers ... Read more
“Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery... for God is leading Israel in joy by the light of His glory!” When we hear a Scripture like that, what does this stir in our hearts? Do we see it as some kind of statement of future benediction, or is it even possible to see ... Read more
“The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise...” Jeremiah spoke these words to the People of Israel five hundred years before they were fulfilled. The Holy One promised them that He would “raise up for David a just shoot.” Centuries after that prediction, the One comes Who was acclaimed as ... Read more
“The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy!” The verse quoted above deserves some time of quality reflection, especially dur- ing troubling times when the circumstances seem oriented toward us taking our eyes off the Lord Jesus and staring instead at those circumstances that con- spire to rob us of ... Read more
“Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets!” Moses’ response to Joshua’s complaint about some people receiving the gift of prophecy, just not in the expected way, reflects his great desire that all of the Jew- ish people could walk in God’s presence, receiving His guidance. However, that level of availability of the ... Read more
“The Lord upholds my life.” The first reading describes a very interesting scenario. The ones who are just, who are trying to follow the Lord, who are trying to do the right thing, are a target. They are targeted for two different reasons. First, even though the popular dictum is “live and let live,” ... Read more
“Who do you say that I am?” It was a very interesting day. We were having a somewhat vociferous staff discussion about where to put the trash cans in the new church, when we got a call to turn on the TV, which we did, just in time to see the second plane hit the ... Read more
“Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not!” It’s been noted by some that the Bible states 365 times, “Do not be afraid!” This amounts to a once a year reminder: do not be afraid! On the one hand, in theory, all of us know that as followers of the Lord ... Read more
“Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.” One of the amazing gifts that we have been given as human beings is the ability to learn, the ability to receive information. We can get this from many different sources. One of the most crucial of the ... Read more
“Master, to whom shall we go?” The disciples were faced here with a significant challenge. The Lord Jesus had just proclaimed His teaching about His Real Presence in the Eucharist in a way that many of the disciples found it impossible to accept: that He would give them His flesh to eat. The response of ... Read more
“All generations will call me blessed.” The Solemnity of the Assumption is one of the few feasts in the General Calendar of the Church that overrides a Sunday in Ordinary Time. As Sacrosanctum Concilium (“This Most Sacred Council,” the Constitution on the Liturgy of the Second Vatican Council) states, “Other celebrations, unless they be truly ... Read more
“...then, strengthened by that food...” Here we see the great hero of Mt. Carmel, whose amazing actions in calling down fire from Heaven in his contest with the pagan priests has restored the faith of the Jewish people. But what happens next? He is threatened by the pagan queen, and he flees into the desert, ... Read more
“This is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat” As the Church has given us these wonderful readings about the gift of the Bread from Heaven, we will take the next several weeks to share about this gift of infinite value. Last week it was mentioned that there are two trajectories ... Read more
“Bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.” In the first reading and the Gospel for this Sunday, we are reminded of the great- ness of the power of God and how He delights to use it for His People. Elisha’s faith in the ... Read more
“Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of My pasture.” Of all the topics I would choose to avoid during this crazy time, addressing the issue of the current shepherds of the Church would rank high on the list. However, as one of the responsibilities of the pastor is to ... Read more
Then He asked them, "Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?" “Why are you terrified?” the Lord Jesus asks them, which seems like a perfectly reasonable question, given the fact that they were in a boat that happened to be sinking! It probably seems to most of us like that would be ... Read more
“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God!” Jesus Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Jesus Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Jesus Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! The Scripture above reminds us of who we are. In the first place, we exist because God is love. He … Read more
“I will praise You, Lord, in the assembly of Your people!” Jesus Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Jesus Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Jesus Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! As we continue toward the great solemnity of Pentecost, we are reminded of a crucial truth that should inspire us … Read more
“Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you.” Regardless of whatever else is going on, that Scripture above is true: the Light has come, the true light that enlightens every man and woman has come into the world. The blessing is that, to those who received … Read more
“Fear not, Abram! I am your shield!” This may seem like an odd verse to highlight for the Feast of the Holy Family, but it speaks to an often neglected reality: our families are meant to be our first line of defense for our family members. It is interesting and perhaps crucial to note that … Read more
“May it be done to me according to your word!” As we approach the great Solemnity of Christmas, today we hear the Gospel of the Annunciation, which speaks of the event exactly nine months before Christmas in which the Archangel Gabriel invites Mary to rejoice and has the dialogue with her that concludes with her … Read more
“I rejoice heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul!” The first reading for this Third Sunday of Advent announces a reality that all of us who have been Baptized and especially all of us who have been Confirmed have experienced: “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me!” … Read more
“Prepare the way of the Lord!” Encounter! As we begin this holy season of Advent, this year is a bit different because we are more formally focusing our attention on our Discipleship Pathway. This is a perfectly acceptable approach to the season; as the Glossary of the Catechism points out, the purpose of this season … Read more
“Lord, make us turn to You; let us see Your face and we shall be saved.” As we begin this holy season of Advent, this year is a bit different because we are more formally focusing our attention on our Discipleship Pathway. This is a perfectly acceptable approach to the season; as the Glossary of … Read more
Note: In the 1990s, Fr. Ed, who is a Secular Discalced Carmelite, wrote a series of bulletin articles on “The Carmelite Charism.” This is a reprint of one of those articles. The Brown Scapular is a Roman Catholic devotion to Mary under her title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. It is worn as a … Read more
Note: Due to early bulletin deadlines, this column does not appear in the Dec. 23, 2018 bulletin. “He shall stand firm and shepherd His flock by the strength of the LORD!” {Stewardship of Treasure II} Who do you trust? There are people in our lives that we have learned to trust because we have experienced them … Read more
Note: This is the first of a series of five columns on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The accompanying homily for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time is available to listen to online by clicking here. “Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for His mercy!” The Psalms contain a very beautiful section … Read more
“A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD!” In the Gospel for this Sunday, the beginning of the Gospel of Mark, we are again introduced to the great Saint of God, St. John the Baptist. He is that voice crying out in the wilderness, a voice that we are called … Read more
Note: Fr. Ed’s homily for the First Sunday of Advent is now available online! Click here to listen. “Ready or not, here I come!” How often did we use that phrase while growing up, indicating that the seeker was now going after the hidden! This is the theme that will dominate Advent, as we hear … Read more
Note: Fr. Ed’s homily for the Solemnity of Christ the King is now available online! Click here to listen. “The Lord is my Shepherd, there is nothing I shall want” It was a time when many different ideologies were vying for dominance in the heart of man, supplanting the role and place of the King of … Read more
“Stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour…” The story of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13) highlights what can be a common experience for many of us: we know something very important is about to happen but we don’t exactly know when. At Christ the King this is a common occurrence, e.g., … Read more
Note: Fr. Ed’s homily for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time is now available online! Click here to listen. “They sit in the seat of Moses, so do what they say…” It is a common approach to disregard what people say if their actions are not consistent with the values they articulate. In the common parlance, … Read more
Note: Fr. Ed’s homily for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time is now available online! Click here to listen. “The whole Law and the Prophets depend on these two Commandments.” The rabbis, in articulating the commandments of the Scriptures, have come up with a number traditionally valued at 613, the Taryag Mitzvot. (“Mitzvot” is simply the … Read more
Note: Fr. Ed’s homily for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time is now available online! Click here to listen. “Repay to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what belongs to God.” This is one of the most complex statements in the New Testament. Oceans of ink have been spilled trying to explain exactly what it means. … Read more
Note: Fr. Ed’s homily for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time is now available online! Click here to listen. “My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside….” The parables in the first reading and the Gospel both begin in the same way, describing how the Holy One of Israel created a vineyard for Himself. But … Read more
Note: Fr. Ed’s homily for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time is now available online! Click here to listen. “Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important….” This invitation to us by St. Paul serves as an introduction to his great Christological hymn about the Lord Jesus (Phil. … Read more
Note: Fr. Ed’s homily for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time is now available online! Click here to listen. “Seek the Lord while He may be found….” That is an interesting idea, because, is there actually any time in which He cannot be found? Strictly speaking, no; He is always available. But having said that, it … Read more
Note: Fr. Ed’s homily for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time is now available online! Click here to listen. “The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.” Peter asks the Lord Jesus a now-famous question: “If my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive?” Various translations list His response … Read more
“You…I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel!” This is one of the scariest verses in all of the Scriptures and, unfortunately, one also prone to the most inappropriate applications. The Holy One of Israel speaks to the prophet and names him to be watchman and then spells out exactly what that demands. In … Read more
Note: Fr. Ed’s homily for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time is now available online! Click here to listen. “My soul is thirsting for You, O Lord my God!” On some level, all of us would acknowledge that that is the case: that we are thirsting for more of the presence of the Lord in our … Read more
Note: Fr. Ed’s homily for the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time is now available online! Click here to listen. Who do you say that I am? There is no answer to any question that is more critical for every human being than the answer to that question. Our eternal destiny rides, in a very crucial way, … Read more
Note: Fr. Ed’s homily for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time is now available online! Click here to listen. “The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, … loving the name of the LORD, and becoming His servants…I will bring to My holy mountain and make joyful in My house of prayer…”—Isaiah 56:6-7 The Word of … Read more
Note: Fr. Ed’s homily for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time is now available online! Click here to listen. Special Effects Many of the movies these days attempt to make their money by touting the new and bigger-than-ever special effects, especially those movies in, yes, I’ll admit it, my favorite genre, science fiction. Here in … Read more
Note: Fr. Ed’s homily for the Feast of the Transfiguration is now available online! Click here to listen. Heroes Many of us have heroes, or at least people that we look up to, maybe even famous people that we would like to meet someday. One of my heroes was St. John Paul the Great. The year that … Read more
Note: Fr. Ed’s homily for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time is now available online! Click here to listen. What would you ask for? Imagine having a conversation with God and He says that to you—the omnipotent ruler of the entire universe has just made Himself totally available to you, to give you whatever you request! What … Read more
Note: Fr. Ed’s homily for the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time is now available online! Click here to listen. The Foundation for the Good News The fundamental reality that is the foundation for the good news is this truth, that the Lord our God is good and forgiving. If He were not, what would be our reason … Read more
Note: Fr. Ed’s homily for the Solemnity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is now available online! Click here to listen. Why Our Lady of Mount Carmel? Praised be Jesus Christ! This is the standard greeting that members of the Carmelite Order often use to greet each other as well as visitors to their monasteries. This … Read more
Who does this not apply to? Is there anyone who does not experience in this life feeling burdened and in fact desperately needing that very rest that only the Lord Jesus can give? The fact that we have a Savior Who knows us better than we know ourselves, and Who delights to lift our burdens … Read more
This phrase is a great consolation to us. It speaks of the fact that the Lord Jesus not only draws us into a deeper relationship with Him, but that He then brings about, for us, a deeper relationship with His Father as well. This is the great mystery that our recent celebration of Trinity Sunday … Read more
This phrase is a great consolation to us. It speaks to us of how the Lord Jesus Himself will respond, even in the very courts of Heaven, to those who live and speak in a way that acknowledges Him! How do we do that? He is Risen! He has sent us His Spirit. That reception … Read more
He is Risen! He has sent us His Spirit. He has invited us to share in the very life of the Triune God, and now He invites us more deeply into the Communion of His Body and Blood. This is one of the most graced times of our liturgical year, as we celebrate these great … Read more
What words of incomparable consolation! The Holy One of Israel, in a defining moment of His self-revelation, announces to Moses, the Chosen People, and to us, what His heart is like for those Who follow Him! He is merciful and gracious—isn’t that like a dream come true? Isn’t that exactly what you would want the … Read more
He is Risen! Jesus has returned to the Father, and now He sends us His Holy Spirit. His gracious respect for our free will is once again shown—in this Gospel for the Vigil of Pentecost, He offers an invitation to choose to come to Him and drink. Always inviting, always accompanying us on our journey, … Read more
He is Risen! The Lord Jesus now prepares to depart, to return to His Throne in Glory, and in this section of the Acts of the Apostles He is giving His farewell instruction to the Apostles. He has, on several different occasions, spoken to them about the Holy Spirit, but what that means to them … Read more
He is Risen! During the time that the Lord Jesus spent with His disciples after the Resurrection, He gave them news which at first must have been heartbreaking: that He was leaving, returning to His Father. But in the Gospel we hear this Sunday, we are reminded of His promise that He will not leave … Read more
He is Risen! As we continue to celebrate the Easter Season, we take some time to honor our mothers. The first ones we honor on this day, of course, are our own mothers, which can lead to some very poignant moments at Christ the King, given that so many of our mothers have died. We … Read more
“Even now, says the Lord, return to Me with your whole heart.” We are loved by a Father Who will never let us go, a Father Who loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son. We begin Lent with the reminder that its foundation is first and foremost the love of … Read more
The first two readings and the responsorial Psalm reveal, in a wonderful way, the nature of the Triune God’s heart for us. By inspiring Isaiah with this amazing analogy, He dispels for us any possible thought that He chooses to be distant from us or abandon us: “Can a mother forget her infant, be without … Read more
In our second reading, St. Paul reminds us that we participate in one of the most amazing mysteries of the Christian life: that we are temples of God! For St. Paul, the great Temple in Jerusalem was the heart of his life, and to protect it was one of the reasons why he so arduously … Read more
Our readings this Sunday focus on the gift of the Commandments and the explicit invitation by the Holy One of Israel to follow them. Seeing the Commandments as a gift is a particular challenge for us, as in our progressively more anti-law culture, the law is seen as somehow inhibiting our freedom. This was not … Read more
Our readings this Sunday focus on the first act of God’s creation: Light. But not just any light, the light that we are called to be as followers of the Lord Jesus. The first reading speaks of the light that will be given to us as a result of us being obedient to His … Read more
All four of our readings this Sunday speak to that same reality: “blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” But what does that mean? Many interpretations have been given over the years, I like the approach that suggests that it refers to all who not only are poor … Read more
“I urge you brothers and sisters…that there be no divisions among you!” Thus St. Paul issues one of his most difficult challenges to the Christians of his time and to the Christians of all times. In St. Paul’s day, the biggest internal division was between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians, and often focused … Read more
We have just concluded celebrating some of the most magnificent Feasts of our Church year, and hopefully have grown more deeply in love with the King of Kings as we have done so. Now, we enter into Ordinary Time, whose color is green which is meant for us to indicate a season of hope. As … Read more
“Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you!” The meaning of this glorious feast, Epiphany, literally is “to shine upon.” In the Biblical usage, it refers specifically to being physically visible, observable to the senses. As we celebrate the Feast, the Gospel makes clear that the … Read more
“Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem! Your light has come, the glory of the Lord shines upon you!” The meaning of this glorious feast, Epiphany, literally is “to shine upon.” In the Biblical usage, it refers specifically to being physically visible, observable to the senses. As we celebrate the Feast, the Gospel makes clear that the … Read more
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given!” For the last few days before Christmas I put my iPhone music app in a constantly repeating loop, treating me to an endless play of the chorus of Handel’s great rendition of that verse. Every time I hear it, there is that … Read more
As we continue our Advent journey, in the Scriptures for the Fourth Sunday of Advent we hear the wondrous prophecy in Isaiah of the Virgin who will bear the great Immanuel, “God with us” and then in the Gospel, we hear unfolding of that prophecy, as Joseph is brought ‘on board’ to share in the … Read more
As we continue our Advent journey, we come across the great St. John the Baptist. We are reminded of the joy of this season when we recall the great joy that marked his first encounter with the Lord Jesus, how his mother recounts how the baby in her womb literally leaps for joy in the … Read more
What does it mean for us to be disciples of the Lord Jesus? This is the most important question in our lives. We see a great variety in the lifestyles and choices of those who are followers of the Lord Jesus; choices that are often incompatible with the choices made by others who also consider … Read more
As we continue in our Advent journey, we hear St. John the Baptist proclaim in the readings for the Second Sunday of Advent: prepare for the Kingdom! Many prophets of old had similar proclamations, but then St. John the Baptist, as the precursor of the Lord, the one who was to prepare His way, takes it to the … Read more