Pastor's Corner

Welcome Father Chris Krymski, O.S.M. who will lead our Parish Mission on Monday, March 27th and Tuesday, March 28th. The theme for the Mission is: Jesus Christ is Our Real Presence of God in the Eucharist. The Mission begins at 6:30 P.M. The Mission talks will take place during a Holy Hour with Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Monday’s Mission talk will be How do We Prepare Ourselves to Receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist? Tuesday’s Mission talk will be How do We Share Jesus in the Eucharist with Others? Please make every effort to attend the Mission. Invite your family and friends to the Mission!! Our Eucharistic theme for the Mission is in response to the Bishops of the United States implementing a “Eucharistic Revival.”

As we did last week, we are reading from the Gospel of John. Today, we will listen to the story of the healing of the blind man to which we turn for insight into the spiritual life. For people in the Bible, isolation from the community was a form of death. Life was re-entry into the community. As we celebrate the blind man’s healing, we celebrate his acceptance and return to the community. What is it that needs healing in our lives? How do we need to change our hearts and let Christ’s gifts of freedom, light, and life enter us?

On this Third Sunday of Lent and for the next two Sundays, we take a break from reading the Gospel of Matthew to read from the Gospel of John. In today’s Gospel, the dialogue between Jesus and a woman from Samaria is among the most lengthy and most theological found in Sacred Scripture. The most startling aspect of the conversation is that it happens at all. Jesus an observant Jew of that time, was expected to avoid conversation with women in public. Jesus and the Samaritan woman speak of their thirsts, their shared human need. Jesus offers the woman “life-giving water!”

As we journey with Jesus on this Second Sunday of Lent, we move from Jesus’ retreat in the desert to His Transfiguration. Each year on the Second Sunday of Lent, we are told the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration from the Gospel writers of Mark, Matthew and Luke. The Transfiguration follows Jesus’ first prediction of His death and His teaching about the cost of discipleship. Jesus’ Transfiguration is a promise of Jesus’ glory—His Resurrection. On the mountain in today’s Gospel reading, a voice affirms that Jesus is God’s Son: “This is my Beloved Son; with whom I am well pleased, listen to Him.” During our Lenten journey, let us fine tune our listening skills to hear and respond to the voice of God.

As we start our journey through Lent, we read how Jesus was tempted by the devil. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke tells us about the temptation. Mark’s gospel account is very short; however, the accounts of the temptation in Matthew and Luke’s Gospel gives us more details. In St. Matthew’s version, the one we read today, the devil presents three temptations to Jesus. The devil tempts Jesus to use His power to appease His hunger. The devil tempts Jesus to put God’s promise of protection to the test; and the devil offers Jesus all of the kingdoms of the world if Jesus will worship him. In each case, Jesus resists the temptation, rebuking the devil with the words from Scripture. As we face temptations during the season of Lent, may we adopt the same confidence that Jesus had in the face of temptation: God’s word alone will suffice. God’s promise of protection can be trusted—God alone is God.