Pastoral Message – May 12, 2024

Hey Y’all, It’s Ascension Sunday! (This Feast was moved from Thursday to Sunday in the late 1990’s in the United States.) This is the day when we consider a few theological points… Jesus is the supreme archetype of “Priest,” “Prophet” and “King” Jesus ascends bodily into heaven. Remember that the Old Testament prophets Enoch and Elijah were “taken up” to heaven. Elijah in a more dramatic fashion than Enoch. The big difference - Enoch and Elijah needed God’s power to be taken

I’m really grateful to have the opportunity to share a message with you every other week in our bulletin. As you might guess, when I write I must look ahead in the calendar to anticipate whatever might be going on when my words appear in print. One of the things I check is the Scripture readings we will use at Sunday (and Saturday evening) Mass. So I typed https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings into my web browser and checked out May 5 (Cinco de

Hey Y'all, It's still Easter Season and on Sundays we're reading through the Gospel according to John. Last week we heard Jesus say, "I am the good Shepherd".  This 5th Sunday of Easter we'll hear Jesus teach, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower".  There are seven of these "I am" statements presented to us by Jesus in John's Gospel. These statements indicate roles or titles or metaphors that give us a better insight to just

Have you ever seen an image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd? I’m willing to bet you have. There are plenty of statues and paintings in devotional art that illustrate this theme. From my Roman years, I remember seeing such images dating back to the 3rd and 4th centuries after Christ. It’s all based on Jesus’ words in the Gospel of John, “I am the Good Shepherd.” (Jn. 10:11) In the verses following verse 11, Jesus explains what this title

Hey y’all! Happy Easter Season! For the next few weeks we’ll be in the liturgical season of Easter. Because of Jesus’ action at that original Easter – His resurrection – and because the later understanding of the revelation that Easter caused, the single day’s Feast grew into a whole Season. And from that initial revelation that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, theology was thought out, reasoned out, fleshed out, and eventually lived out and given as the central message of