Whatever our shape or size, age or ability, we all have gifts that God has placed within us. As we acknowledge our gifts may we use them to show our love for God and one another.
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Archive of Fr. Andrew’s Podcasts
Monthly Archives: September 2017
Daily Mass: A powerful miracle. Catholic Inspiration
Mass Readings – Tuesday of the 24th Week of the Year
Jesus revives a dead man and returns him to his widowed mother in the sight of a large crowd. This powerful miracle anticipates the Lord’s resurrection that we might be restored in our relationship with God. A powerful miracle, indeed!
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Archive of Fr. Andrew’s Podcasts
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25th Sunday of the Year: A generous heart.
Study: How have I reacted in the past when someone I know has been particularly blessed or fortunate? Am I supportive or jealous?
Pray: Ask the Lord for the grace and wisdom to celebrate sincerely with others when they have received special gifts or opportunities.
Serve: How can you support others in their moments of blessing? How might you be generous with gratitude for another person’s good fortune?
Mass Readings – 25th Sunday of the Year
Consider the following possible situations and scenarios:
- Your neighbor that you have known for over twenty years has just won the lottery.
- A high school classmate that you didn’t talk to very much in school makes it big in Hollywood.
- A relative gets left a hefty sum of money from your old uncle and goes on a long trip around the world.
- A kid who used to ride your bus to school is now the executive at the company – and is your boss.
- A fellow employee in another office gets a big bonus for a successfully completed project.
- Your best friend has the opportunity to have a special audience with the Pope – through a connection with a friend in the Vatican.
All of these scenes have one thing in common: through an encounter with generosity and/or opportunity another individual benefits and possesses rewards that we do not share.
How do we react? How do our attitudes and actions change toward those who have received unexpected (and sometimes unearned) generosity? While I know that I hope that I would be good natured, polite, friendly, and supportive – a part of me echoes with the sentiments of the workers in today’s Gospel.
There is a sense of justice, a feeling that we should get what we deserve that goes against the grain of the message today. The last workers got the same wage, even though they only worked a fraction of the time. It’s not fair!
In reality, the story went beyond fairness. No worker was cheated. No worker was denied a fair and agreeable wage. The Master simply wanted to be generous out of concern and care for others.
The fact is, God is generous to all of us. There are moments when we have fallen short of the Lord’s justice through sin and temptation. Yet like the workers today, we receive God’s generosity even when we have not earned it. May we live accordingly.
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Archive of Fr. Andrew’s Podcasts
Note: This blog was originally published on September 14, 2014.
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24th Sunday of the Year: Forgiveness. Catholic Inspiration
Mass Readings – 24th Sunday of the Year
It’s non-negotiable. Forgiveness is a key ingredient in the Christian life and without it we cannot receive the grace that the Lord lavishes upon us. Who do we need to forgive? To whom do we need to ask for forgiveness? May we call upon God’s grace for the strength we need to be people who put forgiveness into practice.
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Archive of Fr. Andrew’s Podcasts
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Daily Mass: It’s all about action. Catholic Inspiration
Mass Readings – Saturday of the 23rd Week of the Year (Sts. Cornelius & Cyprian)
Through a series of illustrations Jesus points out that our faith is witnessed through our action. Our words can indicate the state of our hearts, but the actions we carry out reveal the depth of our conviction.
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Daily Mass: Our Lady of Sorrows. Catholic Inspiration
Mass Readings – Our Lady of Sorrows
Following immediately after yesterday’s Feast of the Holy Cross, the readings today focus on Mary as she endured the “sword of sorrow” as she stood at the Cross of her son. Her sorrow reaches out through time and space to all people who have been overwhelmed by grief. May her example help us to face our moments of pain with a sure and steadfast faith in Jesus Christ.
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Archive of Fr. Andrew’s Podcasts
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The Descent from the Cross, Rogier van der Weyden, 1435, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.
Note: This is one of the most moving paintings I have ever stood before.
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The Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Catholic Inspiration
Mass Readings – Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
How many times throughout our lives have we made the sign of the Cross? Stop and think: at Mass; meal prayers; morning & evening prayers; special gatherings; and moments of blessing and grace. This simple action, which we teach to children at an early age, invokes a connection with the passion of Jesus.
We adorn our homes with the Cross. A crucifix is a common gift to a new home; they are placed in bedrooms and common areas as a reminder that Jesus is the source of our help and strength.
We adorn ourselves with the Cross in many ways: a crucifix on a chain; a cross in our pocket; earrings; rings; bracelets; and all the extra cards, bookmarks, figurines, and miscellaneous items that remind us that Jesus died on a Cross.
The Paschal Mystery – the death and resurrection of Christ – speaks to the heart of our faith. Out of love for us God sent Jesus, who gave his life on the Cross that we might have eternal life. Through his suffering and death, we recognize that God has made a pathway possible that we might all journey through this life to the gates of Heaven.
The Cross teaches us many lessons:
* Life is difficult, and at times painful
* Weakness and sin are part of our experience
* God identifies with our pain
* God dies that we might have life
At the core of our teaching the Cross stands as the testament of God’s love for us. On one hand the Cross is an embarrassment – after all, why would God (all powerful, all knowing, supreme) choose to be humiliated? Does that not mean that God is weak? Why could God not take away our sins in a way that showed majesty and splendor?
Yet on the other hand, the Cross is a statement that God meets us where we are in life. In our weakness, in our humiliation, in our low moments of doubt and sin God comes to us. Jesus, like us in every way but sin, understands our pain because through his Cross he shares in the suffering of the world. He knows us, and loves us even more.
Every time we make the sign of the Cross may we recall what the Lord endured for us. May the Cross be our strength as we trust in God’s love, and may we seek to follow that love as we journey through this life toward the world to come.
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Daily Mass: Blessings and Woes. Catholic Inspiration
Mass Readings – Wednesday of the 23rd Week of the Year (St. John Chrysostom)
Jesus offers a series of blessings and woes, reminding us that when we are united to the Lord we are blessed…and when we drift off on our own we find ourselves in a bad place.
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Daily Mass: Called by name. Catholic Inspiration
Mass Readings – Tuesday of the 23rd Sunday of the Year
Jesus calls by name the Twelve Apostles from the disciples who followed him. Chosen by him, they have work to do…reminding us today that the Lord continues to call people to carry on the Lord’s saving work through the mission of the Church.
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24th Sunday of the Year: Forgiveness
Study: Recall a time when you received forgiveness. What did it feel like?
Pray: Is there someone you need to forgive? Ask the Lord for the courage and strength to do it.
Serve: Is there someone you need to ask for forgiveness? Be the first to foster healing in the relationship.
Mass Readings – 24th Sunday of the Year
Let’s take a quick look at a sketch of the readings:
- 1st Reading – Forgive your neighbor, so that the Lord will forgive you
- Psalm – “The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.”
- 2nd Reading – We live and die for the Lord
- Gospel – We forgive others, just as our Father forgives us
On one hand the teaching is simple: if you want to be forgiven by God, start forgiving one another. It’s sound logic and makes complete sense…until you have something hard to forgive. Perhaps we have felt slighted or neglected, been hurt or experienced disappointment. Maybe we just don’t understand, or maybe we are choosing to interpret a situation in its worst possible light.
Forgiveness is the practical dimension of Christian love. After all, it’s easy to love people when we are comfortable, rested, calm and free of all distractions. The real test of our love happens when we can forgive one another in the light of Jesus Christ.
The Lord offers us the teaching of forgiveness with clarity and conviction. There is no middle ground. We forgive one another if we expect God to forgive us of our own sins. We forgive, knowing that we all stand in need of God’s forgiveness, so that by unlocking the gates of our hearts through forgiveness we can stand before the Lord ready to receive the grace of his mercy.
Two thoughts then emerge today:
- Who do I need to forgive?
- To whom do I need to apologize and ask for forgiveness?
May the Lord inspire us to be people of forgiveness as we practice his teaching and follow his example.
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Archive of Fr. Andrew’s Podcasts
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Catholic Inspiration – Podcast Archives of Homilies & Talks- Daily Mass: God is love
- Daily Mass: We belong to God
- Study, Pray, Serve: The Baptism of the Lord
- Epiphany: What will we offer to the Lord?
- Daily Mass: All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God
- Daily Mass: When distracted by life, we follow Christ
- Mary, the Mother of God
- Daily Mass: We testify that Jesus Christ is Lord
- Daily Mass: Lord, help us to grow!
- Daily Mass: Our spiritual sight evokes a response of faith
Three Great Things 