From Season to Season

Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” —John 10:11 This Sunday, which is also World Day of Prayer for Vocations, is a time set aside each year to pray, in a special way, for an increase in vocations to the priesthood, permanent diaconate, and consecrated life. The Church needs ministers who are willing to give their lives in service and prayer for the sake of the Gospel.   The Good Shepherd from the Catacomb of Priscilla in Rome (250-300) Today, as I offer my own prayers for those who are discerning God’s call, I was especially struck by the first line of the Gospel of this Sunday’s Mass (quoted above). This sentiment is echoed in Pope Francis’ Message for the 52nd World Day of Prayer for Vocations : “To offer one’s life in mission is possible only if we are able to leave ourselves behind… At the root of every Christian vocation we find this basic movement, which is part of the experience of faith. Belief means t...

 " I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.” —John 17:20-21 The divisions that exist within the Church today are a sad reality that most of us simply take for granted. Although we’re quick to identify ourselves as followers of Jesus, we’re equally as ready to qualify our commitment when we label ourselves as “Catholic,” “Orthodox,” and “Protestant.”   In his General Audience of August 27, 2014, Pope Francis spoke about this sad reality in a very direct way: If we look at the history of the Church, there are so many divisions among Christians. Even now we are divided. Also in history, we see Christians have made war among ourselves for theological differences… But, this is not Christian. We must also work for the unity of all Christians, to take the path of unity which is what Je...

In classes and days of recollection I offer during Lent, I often remind participants that the purpose of Lent is twofold: it is the time of final preparation of the uninitiated (i.e. catechumens) for baptism and the time for Christians to recall their own baptism and they prepare to renew their baptismal promises on Easter Sunday. Unfortunately, this second aspect of Lent often gets lost. Yes, we all renewed our baptismal promises at Easter and were symbolically sprinkled with holy water, but, for most of us, that moment seems to be over as soon as it has begun and we don’t really appreciate the significance of the act… which is surprising since we’ve spent 40 days preparing to say “I do!” with a renewed mind, heart, and spirit. We renew our baptismal promises each year because conversion and growing in faith are lifelong processes. In saying that, I simply mean that each moment of every day (not just the days of Lent) offers us infinite possibilities for experiencing grace, for cho...

We are not discouraged; rather, although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal. —2 Corinthians 4:16-18   For most of us, the experience of illness is a burden. Whether we face a chronic, debilitating illness, just minor allergies, or a cold, our worlds can often be reduced to our “feeling bad” or the frustration that we aren’t getting better. Our Faith tradition has always understood that illness and physical ailments are opportunities for growing in our relationship with God. Our pain and discomfort, the patience that has to accompany illness, and our reliance on others give us an amazing opportunity to be in solidarity with those who are suffering throughout the world. In his 2015 Messagefor the World Day of t...

On Sunday, April 12, Pope Francis will celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday by offering a Mass in remembrance of the 1.5 million Armenians murdered in the Ottoman Empire between 1915 and 1918, in what has become known as the " Armenian Genocide ." Among those killed in what has been called the "first genocide of the 20th century," was a bishop of the Armenian Catholic Church : Blessed Ignatius Maloyan. Born in 1869 in Mardin, Turkey, Shokr Allah Maloyan was baptized into the Armenian Catholic Church as an infant. A good student and gifted linguist, he was sent by the local bishop to a nearby convent to begin studies for the priesthood. Ordained in 1896, he took the name Ignatius in honor of Saint Ignatius of Antioch. In November of that year, he was sent to Alexandria, Egypt, to serve as an aid to the Armenian Patriarch. Distinguishing himself for his learning and rhetorical skills, he became a popular speaker and was actively involved in dialogues with the Coptic Chu...

In The Dwelling of the Light , a reflection on icons of Christ, RowanWilliams (the former archbishop of Canterbury), reflecting on the icon tradition of the Eastern Church, wrote,  Orthodox theologians have said—surely rightly—that the moment of resurrection could not be depicted, any more than you could depict the moment of creation or the moment of incarnation. You cannot paint a picture of the simple act of God… You can only show the effect of God’s action: the creation itself carrying the mystery of God in its very being, the human situation transformed by God. So you can depict the Risen Christ, but not the event of the resurrection… So the classical Easter icon shows something more than an historical event: it shows, you might say, the effect of God’s action on human history up to that point, and implicitly, the effect of God’s action on all history. Just as the transfiguration icon shows the light of Jesus’ presence illuminating Moses and Elijah, this icon sho...