Listen now: CLICK HERE

May 26, 2019 Sixth Sunday of Easter

Prayers of the Faithful

Let us pray for peace within our Church, in every faithful heart, in every effort to heal and reconcile in the name of Christ Jesus. May this Easter season transform us into a Church of love.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for peace within our families and in all of our relationships. We pray for people divided by hurt and despair. We pray for new life for those we love.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for peace among young couples seeking marriage, among our graduates deciding on their future, among all who seek new life in Easter.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for peace among those who are unsettled in their lives. May we all seek the solace and comfort of Christ Jesus in every difficult choice and decision.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for peace among those who lead us in our nation in every form of government. May hope be the rock on which our nation’s future will be built.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for peace for our loved ones who are ill and those who face depression and addiction. May Christ heal and sustain our family members. We pray for our dead. In this Mass…

We pray to the Lord.

Dear Followers of Jesus,

On this sixth Sunday of Easter, we listen to John 14:23-29. We are edging closer to the end of Easter that will culminate at Pentecost in two weeks. Next week, we celebrate the Ascension of Christ Jesus.

Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. This phrase of the gospel reminds us that following Jesus is not always easy. God’s love is countercultural. God’s love and commandments invite us deeper into union with God that does not always follow our human lives. Jesus explains that the Holy Spirit will give us all peace, a peace that the world cannot give. This peace is far reaching in the world and deep within our lives. This peace forms our conscience and penetrates hate, violence and pride.

Sometimes the peace the Holy Spirit offers us goes against our vision of life, our politics and even what we have learned. If we remain rooted in God through personal prayer, the Eucharist and the riches of our own baptism, a deep and abiding peace will flourish in our lives. We need a new reliance in this Easter season on the reality of God, our place in God’s life and a deeper understanding of our reliance on the Holy Spirit.

God invites us to live fearlessly. We should not be afraid, reluctant or bashful about living our faith in the world. We are given all we need to live in faith. Sometimes we forget that the Holy Spirit is present to us and that the Holy Spirit will be the force of comfort and strength we need to live out of our own needs, to live a life that is reflective and loving in our world.

Easter is a sheer gift to us. Yet, we hesitate to commit our lives even when we are sure of the Lord’s presence and his gifts of reconciliation, salvation and new life. We cannot let this gift of mercy and love be ignored by us. This gift must be taken to our hearts and shared in our daily lives. Love is what we are looking for in life. Peace comes to us when we are willing to offer such faith, hope and love to others. Peace is also not just an illusive gift from God. Peace comes to us when we believe that God is more powerful than our sin, our doubt and our grief. Peace is incredibly beautiful and shows within us when we finally move toward it. We all know people who exude the peace of Christ in our daily interactions. Perhaps we can imitate them.

Love, peace and mercy are all gifts to the first disciples and it is those gifts from God, from the resurrection of Christ, which formed the early Church. I wonder what will form the Church in the future if we do not find these gifts in our hectic lives? We worship on the shoulders of those who believed before us. Our gift to this next generation of believers will certainly reveal to our children and grandchildren what we take seriously and what we believe today.

In peace,

Fr. Ron

LISTEN NOW: CLICK HERE

Fifth Sunday of Easter: Prayers of the Faithful

Let us pray for our Universal Church that we may be made new in our faith, our hope and our love in Christ Jesus. May Christ’s name be proclaimed in all we do on earth.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for unity and love where division and hatred have made a home. We pray for harmony in our nation, hope within our families and love within our service toward one another.

We pray to the Lord.

Let is pray for our children and grandchildren who graduate this spring. May hope abound for our young people who step into the next chapters of life.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for farmers and growers in this spring season. We pray for farm workers who face flooding and destruction of pastures and livestock especially in the heartland of our nation.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for the ill and the uncared for. May our elderly find integrity in aging, and may our sick discover the healing touch of Christ Jesus.

We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for our beloved dead and for those who grieve here on earth. In this Mass…

We pray to the Lord.

Jean Vanier: Impression painting by: Ronald Raab, CSC

I painted this impression of Jean Vanier this morning.

His funeral took place on Thursday, May 16, 2019.

Here is a link to the ceremony.  WATCH: CLICK HERE

Dear Followers of the Risen One,

We celebrate the Fifth Sunday of Easter today. The season unfolds with some beautiful images of Christ and what his Resurrection means for our daily lives. Every year, this season of seven weeks helps us enter into the core of what it means to be Christian. This jubilee of hope, love and peace brings us to celebrate our own baptism and the initiation sacraments for our new members of the Church as well.

Our gospel today, John 13:31-33a, 34-35, gives us a central image in which we are to find in our lives with Jesus. LOVE. This word of course is over used, and so often misinterpreted. This word is not flimsy or plastic. This word is not an excuse to not follow Jesus further or not to learn Church teaching. This word is not an excuse to enter more deeply into mystery. We cannot dismiss this word because we think we know what it means.

Jesus gave his life for us. Jesus becomes the Messiah, the Risen Christ. This foundation of love is overwhelming when we pray with intention. He healed, forgave, and raised the dead when he walked the earth, but through his resurrection, he becomes our way to feel, to understand, and know intimately the love of the Father. Jesus is the source of love, integrity, justice and peace for every human on earth and every soul in heaven.

We are connected to Jesus Christ and love itself, through our baptism. In this love, we learn to live in our world. We work diligently for justice because people deserve to have food, shelter, clean water and jobs. We work to correct the essential wrongs of people’s situations because God has first loved us. Love is not a pious bandage or a word to dismiss people’s problems. Love is meant to flow from our lives in Christ in order to heal the world and bring all people into wholeness and into the Kingdom of Heaven reflected on earth.

Love is a lifetime commitment. Love is not held for safekeeping. Love is reaching out to the sick because Jesus heals us first. Love is about justice because we capture a glimpse of heaven in the Eucharist. Love reaches out to the hopeless because we find the miracle of Jesus’ presence in our hearts. Love commands change. Love rouses humility and removes pride. Love does not build up falsehood. Love brings peace.

As Christians and Catholics, the love we possess is not meant to build us up, but to lower our gaze toward the poor and forgotten. Love is not about self-importance, but a life of spiritual self-stripping in order to discover the healing, satisfaction and tenderness of Christ Jesus.

Gracious God, help us find our way toward the love you have left us on earth in Christ Jesus. May our lives be broken open so to live our baptismal commitments toward the poor, with unbelievers, and among those who ache for justice and peace on earth. Amen

Easter Blessings,
Fr. Ron

This 60-Second Homily was from Holy Thursday, 2019. The blog, PrayTell, posted this during Holy Week.

Here it is: CLICK HERE

LISTEN: CLICK HERE