Month: April 2022

Holy Thursday – Chrism Mass

Reading I Is 61:1-3a, 6a, 8b-9

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
            because the LORD has anointed me;
He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly,
            to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
            and release to the prisoners,
To announce a year of favor from the LORD
            and a day of vindication by our God,
            to comfort all who mourn;
To place on those who mourn in Zion
            a diadem instead of ashes,
To give them oil of gladness in place of mourning,
            a glorious mantle instead of a listless spirit.

You yourselves shall be named priests of the LORD,
            ministers of our God shall you be called.

I will give them their recompense faithfully,
            a lasting covenant I will make with them.
Their descendants shall be renowned among the nations,
            and their offspring among the peoples;
All who see them shall acknowledge them
            as a race the LORD has blessed.

Responsorial Psalm 89:21-22, 25 and 27

R.        (2)  For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
“I have found David, my servant;
            with my holy oil I have anointed him.
That my hand may always be with him;
            and that my arm may make him strong.”
R.        For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
“My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him;
            and through my name shall his horn be exalted.
He shall say of me, ‘You are my father,
            my God, the Rock, my savior!’“
R.        For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

Reading II Rv 1:5-8

[Grace to you and peace] from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,
the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his Blood,
who has made us into a Kingdom, priests for his God and Father,
to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.

Behold, he is coming amid the clouds,
            and every eye will see him,
            even those who pierced him.
All the peoples of the earth will lament him.
            Yes. Amen.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God,
“the one who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Verse Before the Gospel Is 61:1 (cited in Lk 4:18)

The Spirit of the LORD is upon me;
for he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor.

Gospel Lk 4:16-21

Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,
and went according to his custom
into the synagogue on the sabbath day.
He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:

            The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
                        because he has anointed me
                        to bring glad tidings to the poor.
            He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
                        and recovery of sight to the blind,
                        to let the oppressed go free,
            and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,
            and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
He said to them,
“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
 

– – –

Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

What Makes You Think That You’re So Special?

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I have the good fortune to work in an office that is on the same grounds as a Catholic retreat center. Because of this, I often come into contact with a lot of great Christ-centered wisdom. This past week, a woman was staying in one of the rooms below my office and I talked to her when I walked into work, on my lunch breaks, and then when I left work. Over these short, passing conversations, I felt the Lord calling me to take the time to talk with her, to truly give her my time, so one day before leaving work, I knocked on her door to chat. 

This woman shared with me that nearly six years ago, she was given another shot at life. She suffered an embolism that should have killed her, or left her with only 6 months to live, but instead, the doctors working her case considered her a miracle. 

She knew it was a miracle. She knew it was a miracle because as soon as she was given her diagnosis, she prayed and immediately felt peace. Enough peace to make jokes with the nurses as she was life-flighted from one hospital to another. She knew it was God and it changed everything. 

Still…she told me that there was someone in her life, someone she considered a good  friend, that told her, “What makes you think you’re so special that God would want to save YOUR life?” At first, it hurt her to think that her friend didn’t think that she was special. Then it hurt her heart even more when she realized that her friend didn’t know that she was also so special that God wanted to save her life, too. 

This woman’s realization is something I have not been able to stop thinking about. How many times have I failed to realize that I am so special that God wants to save my life. In fact, He sent His only Son to be arrested, ridiculed, crucified, stabbed, and ultimately face death… all to save me. All to save you. 

As we prepare for the Easter Triduum, let us stop and marvel at the fact that our God, our Father, loves us so dearly and wants to save us so badly, that Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice… and then CONQUERED THE GRAVE for our sins! He wants to wash away the shame, the fear, the sadness, and all we have to do is say “yes.”

So forget “What makes you think you’re so special that God would want to save your life?” because the better question is “What makes you think that an all-loving, all-powerful God wouldn’t want to save your life?” God is calling us. By name. So why don’t we listen this time?

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Image Credit: Mert Talay, https://unsplash.com/photos/KYZoOmpn1Aw

Veronica Alvarado is a born and raised Texan currently living in Pennsylvania. Since graduating from Texas A&M University, Veronica has published various Catholic articles in bulletins, newspapers, e-newsletters, and blogs. She continued sharing her faith after graduation as a web content strategist and digital project manager. Today, she continues this mission in her current role as communications director and project manager for Pentecost Today USA, a Catholic Charismatic Renewal organization in Pittsburgh. 

St. Lydwine: Saint of the Day for Thursday, April 14, 2022

St. Lydwine is the patroness of sickness Lydwine of Schiedam was born at Schiedam, Holland, one of nine children of a working man. After an injury in her youth, she became bedridden and suffered the rest of her life from various illnesses and diseases. She experienced mystical gifts, including supernatural visions of heaven, hell, purgatory, apparitions of Christ, and the stigmata. Thomas a Kempis wrote a biography of her. She was canonized Pope Leo XIII in 1890. Lydwine suffered a fall while …

Be Better

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We are in the middle of Holy Week, people! Less than a week until Easter! Less than a week until we commemorate the greatest gift of all! Is your soul refreshed? Are your hopes and desires getting you a step closer to heaven? Can you feel the deep waves of forgiveness pulling you into God’s great ocean of peace?  

If your answer is without a doubt yes, then please, do tell me your secrets. I feel like I have done my best to be prepared for the memorial of Jesus’ resurrection, but I wouldn’t say that I’m 100 percent heaven-ready. Luckily, God understands that we are not perfect by default and has given us the Bible as a tool to use.

As I read over today’s first reading, it sounds like just the kind of quick guide that I need. I have a tongue, so I should speak to the weary. I have ears, so I should listen to the true word of Christ. My body, though beaten by people that make fun of me and scoff at my beliefs, has the Lord God at my side to hold me up. Going into the responsorial Psalm, we ask, “Lord, in your great love, answer me,” as we admit to being weak, picked on, an outcast, insulted. We praise him because we are thankful, but our thanks must go further than just words. It should be evident in our actions.

As Catholics, we must understand that we will always have more to strive for. Our God challenges us in everyday situations to step up and live out our faith, whether it is with the people around us or in our own hearts. Instead of seeing our faith as a burden or as an annoyance (because sometimes we do), we should instead see it as an opportunity to become a better person. Instead of trying to please our critics, society, or our parents, we should try to become someone our heavenly Father would be proud of.

So if your Lent didn’t go as planned, know that it’s okay because it is a journey. As you attend each Mass this Holy Week, ask God for what you need. Ask Him to bless your body with the skills and strengths you need. He wants you to succeed and is willing to give you the tools because He wants nothing more than to be in communion with Him in heaven. It is a simple matter of who you want to be and if you are willing to work on it. Do you want to be better? Will you allow your Lenten sacrifice to carry on after Sunday and continue to bring you closer to God? Or will you allow Jesus’ Lenten sacrifice be for nothing?

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Image Credit: Volodymyr Hyshchenko, https://unsplash.com/photos/L0oJ4Dlfyuo

Veronica Alvarado is a born and raised Texan currently living in Pennsylvania. Since graduating from Texas A&M University, Veronica has published various Catholic articles in bulletins, newspapers, e-newsletters, and blogs. She continued sharing her faith after graduation as a web content strategist and digital project manager. Today, she continues this mission in her current role as communications director and project manager for Pentecost Today USA, a Catholic Charismatic Renewal organization in Pittsburgh. 

Pope Saint Martin I: Saint of the Day for Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Martin I lay too sick to fight on a couch in front of the altar when the soldiers burst into the Lateran basilica. He had come to the church when he heard the soldiers had landed. But the thought of kidnapping a sick pope from the house of God didn’t stop the soldiers from grabbing him and hustling him down to their ship. Elected pope in 649, Martin I had gotten in trouble for refusing to condone silence in the face of wrong. At that time there existed a popular heresy that held that Christ …

Prayer to be Faithful of Serving God: Prayer of the Day for Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Father in Heaven,
ever-living source of all that is good,
keep me faithful in serving You.
Help me to drink of Christ’s Truth,
and fill my heart with His Love
so that I may serve You in faith
and love and reach eternal life.
In the Sacrament of the Eucharist
You give me the joy of sharing Your Life.
Keep me in Your presence.
Let me never be separated from You
and help me to do Your Will.

God’s Plan for You

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As I sit down to write this reflection, my daughter-in-law is in labor! Like the servant in the passage from today’s First Reading, our grandson is known by God, even in the womb of his mother. The same God who brought this little boy into being at the moment of his conception has a unique purpose and plan for his life. Praise God!

And our loving Father has a plan for each one of us as well. We mustn’t doubt it.

Often, we are tempted to judge the worth of our lives by very different standards than the standard God has for us. Like the servant in this passage from Isaiah, we often toil and strain and feel as though we have spent all of our strength, just to experience defeat, loss, or rejection. We wonder what purpose our life has and doubt whether we are making a difference.

We can and will make a difference if we follow the example of Christ, the ultimate servant of God, whose faithfulness is prefigured in today’s First Reading.

First, we need to be in tune with what God the Father wants for us every day. The goal is to do His will. Jesus spent time in prayer, communing with the Father and strengthening Himself to do the Father’s will. If we are doing what seems good to us, but not really submitting ourselves to God, we might experience worldly success, but eventually we will realize how shallow that kind of success is. It may even be dangerous to our souls.

The second way we must imitate Christ is by faithfulness and perseverance. For many years, Jesus worked, lived, and suffered just like any person of His day before radically pouring Himself out in public ministry. Finally, our Savior gave every drop of his blood to do the Father’s will and, as He hung naked on the cross, all of His effort, His entire life, appeared to be in vain.

In our own ways, we too experience “failure,” as we strive to live as authentic Catholic Christians. Seeking to do God’s will, we may try to start a business, write a book, or enter religious life. Years of effort and sacrifice may pass with little or no positive results. Think of the couple who loses a child. Or a parent who raises his or her children in the faith, just to see them reject a relationship with God. These “failures” can make us feel that all of our effort to radically follow God’s will is pointless. 

We can’t always see what God is doing, but He is always working marvelously for those who are faithful. When Jesus Christ rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, He brought about the greatest come-back victory of all time! 

We must believe that if our priorities are in order, and we are constantly seeking to do God’s will, our Easter Sunday will come. We will rejoice with an endless joy when we realize what God has done in and though us. In the words of St. Catherine of Siena, “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.”

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Christine Hanus is a thwarted idealist who, nevertheless, lives quite happily in Upstate NY. She is a wife and mother of five grown children.

Feature Image Credit: Christian Bowen, https://unsplash.com/photos/I0ItPtIsVEE

St. Julius: Saint of the Day for Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Julius whose feast day is April 12th. Julius was the son of a Roman named Rusticus. He was elected Pope to succeed Pope St. Mark on February 6, 337. Julius was soon involved in the Arian controversy when Eusebius of Nicomedia opposed the return of Athanasius to the See of Alexandria in 338. Eusebius and his followers elected George, whereupon the Arians elected Pistus. Julius convened a synod in Rome in 340 or 341 that neither group attended, and in a letter to the Eusebian bishops, Julius …

Consecration of the Sick to Mary: Prayer of the Day for Tuesday, April 12, 2022

O kind and good Mother,
whose own soul was pierced by the sword of sorrow,
look upon us while,
in our sickness,
we arraign ourselves beside you
on the Calvary where your Jesus hangs.
Dowered with the high grace of suffering,
and hopeful of fulfilling in our own flesh
what is wanting in our sharing of Christ’s passion,
on behalf of his Mystical Body, the Church,
we consecrate to you ourselves and our pain.
We pray that you will place them
on that Altar of the …