Exploring the depth of our prayers
I have no Hispanic background, so I wasn’t that aware of this amazing Feast we are blessed with today.
We’re commemorating the 1531 appearance of Our Lady to a peasant named Juan Diego in Mexico. Juan was sent to a place where roses were blooming – in the middle of winter – to gather them up and show them to his bishop.
Here is more of the amazing story.
Continue reading “Our Lady of Guadalupe”
I never knew that much about Our Lady of Loreto, so it was fascinating to learn about this new celebration just recently announced by Pope Francis. Squeezed in between the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Dec 8) and Our Lady of Guadalupe (Dec 12), I’m getting the feeling that this first half of Advent is trying to remind us of the amazing role of Mary in our redemption.
It’s a pretty amazing story.
In the early church, people revered the house in which Mary was raised. It’s believed to be where she gave her fiat to Jesus’ conception, then lived with Joseph.
Continue reading “Our Lady of Loreto”
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception seems to throw off a lot of people. We understand that Jesus was conceived in a totally special and unique way, yet this isn’t about Jesus.
It’s about Mary!
Created as the Ark of the New Covenant, Mary was given this special blessing from the moment of HER conception.
Continue reading “Mary’s Immaculate Conception”
What a wonderful time of expectation we have!
Continue reading “Blessed are you”When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
Luke 1:41-42
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
“Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” — Luke 3:16
We have a colloquial phrase in American English: “baptism by fire.” I have no doubt that it’s based on exactly this biblical passage, although with a slightly different meaning.
Do I actually want to be baptized by fire?
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.” — Luke 3:4
On this Second Sunday of Advent, we anticipate the birth of God’s only Son to become part of humanity.
It’s an amazing and unique event in the entire history of the world.
For a while now, I’ve been praying my Rosary totally inside my head. Of course there’s the guilt … maybe I’m doing it wrong!
But I also know that God is in everything, and silent prayer is a powerful part of our tradition. So I figure that God, Mary, Jesus and the saints can hear me even when it’s just in my head.
What’s interesting is that I find it MUCH harder to stay on track when it’s just in my head. I lose the thread quite easily, and even switch from one prayer to another right in the middle.
So it’s good mental discipline for me to try to stay focused as much as I would if I were speaking out loud.
And I do need discipline and focus in my prayer life.
It all begins with the resurrection.
It’s not that Jesus wouldn’t have been God without rising from the dead. Or that salvation wouldn’t have been possible.
No, it’s because we wouldn’t be paying attention to any of this without the resurrection.
OK, so why does Pontius Pilate get a mention in both our Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed?
It’s not like he’s the hero of the story. Or that his name was particularly important.
He played a crucial role in Jesus’ necessary suffering, but so did others.
Isn’t it interesting that we declare that glory was to be given to God in the beginning?
We weren’t here. Nothing existed except God.
I would say that all creation exists because of the glory of God.