Recognizing our sins and asking for forgiveness challenges us to honestly acknowledge our faults and humbly ask for help. While this is not easy, this process puts us in right relationship with the Lord and one another…allowing us to grow in maturity, wisdom and love.
Mass Readings – Thursday of the 31st Week of the Year
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Jesus speaks about the cities that heard his message and rejected it. Their punishment is the result of the natural consequence of not repenting. The point for us is sobering; we have been given so much…does it inspire us to draw near to the Lord?
Mass Readings – Tuesday of the 15th Week of the Year
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Study: Reflect on a time when you willingly took on a hard task with joy. What gave you courage to begin?
Pray: Is there something that needs to change in your life? Pray for the grace to begin again.
Serve: How can you help someone make a change for the good?
Mass Readings – 3rd Sunday of Easter
The season of Easter offers us many opportunities to celebrate and rejoice. After all, the light of the Risen Lord brings hope, courage and strength to all who call upon the name of Jesus. Take a look at a quick overview of these readings:
Why all this talk of repentance? First and foremost, because we need it. The Good News of the resurrection of Jesus Christ brings light to the darkness of death and sin. Easter does not downplay the call to turn away from sin; rather, we have renewed hope that in Christ’s victory on the Cross we are empowered to face our weaknesses with God’s grace.
The light of the resurrection shines in our hearts…and sometimes we need to clean out what’s in there. We might not like it, might try to avoid it, but in the end we stand before the Lord and acknowledge that all that we have is sustained by His love.
Here’s my point: this holy season offers us a chance to draw near to Christ – who knows us better than we know ourselves – and receive his mercy for our sins. All that’s required is our acknowledgement for what we’ve done, make a change to live for the Lord and then receive the forgiveness that flows from the Sacred Heart.
Repentance is a lifetime work. There will be days when we follow the Lord with joy and conviction; then again there will be days when we fail miserably. What matters most is that we continue to seek Jesus with all our heart and strive to live our lives in the light of his resurrection.
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Archive of Fr. Andrew’s Podcasts
Christ calls us to repent of our sins and turn to Him. This 45 minute presentation outlines some of the ways we embrace repentance as an ongoing part of our conversion of heart as we draw closer to God and one another. Given at a Parish Mission at St. Anthony Abbot Catholic Church on March 11, 2018.
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Archive of Fr. Andrew’s Podcasts
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For a copy of the handout that accompanied this presentation click here: Repentance
It’s a simple phrase, and yet it has the power to change our lives and renew our hearts. What began on Ash Wednesday continues now with full power: we repent of our sins and turn to the Lord with open hearts that God’s grace might renew us and make us whole.
Mass Readings – 1st Sunday of Lent
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The ashes on our foreheads invite us to repent of the sins that keep us from God and one another. Through fasting, prayer and almsgiving we have powerful tools that can open our hearts and transform our lives in this great season of Lent.
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Study: Start out this Lent with a good Examination of Conscience.
Pray: Ask the Lord for the grace to repent.
Serve: Consider a practical way you can bring “good news” to someone in your life.
Mass Readings – 1st Sunday of Lent
Mark’s Gospel is direct and to the point:
Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1: 14-15)
It’s time. Maybe you got a late start to Lent, maybe it caught up on you before you were ready. Maybe you’ve been ready, but you needed that little push – that extra kick – to get started and make a change.
It’s not complicated. Is there something that’s keeping us from God or one another? Is there something that needs to be different in our words and actions? Does the pattern of our lives need to be altered toward the Lord’s goodness? Two simple steps:
In the first reading the rainbow is a sign from God that never again will the world be flooded with waters of destruction. The covenant with Noah is a built on hope: life is worth saving, worth fighting for, worth dying for, and worthy of the ultimate sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. Once we recognize God’s faithfulness, we can more easily let go of past sins and temptations – turning to the one who love’s us completely.
Is there anything holding us back from the Lord? Now is a good time to honestly assess our lives, cast out what does not belong, and call upon the grace of Jesus Christ.
After all, he brings Good News – and once we’ve left our sins behind, we can embrace the joy that flows from Heaven.
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Archive of Fr. Andrew’s Podcasts
