This weekend we hear utterly astonishing words from Isaiah pronounced 800 years before the Messiah’s arrival. These prophetic words are fulfilled perfectly in Christ Jesus the Lord: I will spread prosperity over her like a river, like an overflowing torrent (Isaiah 66:12). The “her” is the new Jerusalem – the Church – which includes each...
It was an especially troublesome time into which Catherine Benincasa was born in 1347. The popes had fled scandal-laden Rome and were leading from Avignon in the south of France. Our blessed Lord placed upon Catherine’s heart and unmistakable mission to champion urgently needed restoration of Church life. Taking to heart Jesus’ words and actions,...
It is from the throne of the Cross that Jesus draws all things to Himself. This week especially avail yourself of the full merits of His sorrowful Passion. Accept His gift first by asking for it. He so deeply desires that you do.
Resist the lure to settle in with sin. Make every effort to overcome missing the mark, no matter how badly missed and how often. Refuse to accept failures that separate us form God and others. Never excuse them as part of who we are or that we’ve tried and failed to many times. Persevere in...
At Jesus’ Transfiguration, the voice of God the Father resounds, instructing us all to listen to His beloved Son(Luke 9:35). Listening to God the Son means we take to heart everything that Jesus says and does in the pages of Sacred Scripture and in His continuing work through His Church. Christ’s words and actions teach...
The words today Jesus speaks – that the Father forgives them; that He is abandoned; that His soul is commended into the Father’s hands; that another will share paradise with Him; that His mother is our mother; that He thirsts; that, truly, everything is finished – have meaning only because He is utterly perfect love...
Our blessed Lord Jesus’ obedience to the Father’s saving plan gives us the example of perfect humility. Note carefully, that His obedience is not passive, but active. That is, Jesus makes the Father’s saving plan His own. By means of His suffering and death, Christ Jesus chooses to give Himself up for us and for...
![3rd Sunday Advent [B] December 17, 2017](https://littleflowertoledo.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/two-good-mins-2019-300x300.jpg "3rd Sunday Advent [B] December 17, 2017")
The Third Sunday of Advent also is called Gaudete Sunday. From the Latin imperative meaning “Rejoice!”, today draws our attention to the closeness of the Lord’s arrival. It is a splendid occasion for us all to recommit to preparing well with the time that remains before the Nativity of the Lord Jesus. That is, we...
Crucifixion was the sadistic invention of the Romans designed to maximize suffering while executing persons. Today – September 14 – we celebrate the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. Since the 3rd century, Christians this day have marveled upon God’s perfect love and greatest work. In the Cross of Christ we witness the conquering...
You also were put to death to the law through the body of Christ, so that you might belong to another, to the one who was raised from the dead in order that we might bear fruit for God (Romans 7:4). Before baptism, we belonged to the devil as slaves. However, baptism made us in...
