Sunday, January 31, 2010

The Mocking of Christ



Read Matt 5:10

This picture is called the Mocking of Christ by Fra Angelico. Jesus is seated on a throne; his right hand holds a reed, a mocking substitute for the scepter; in his left hand is an orb indicating that he is Lord of all creation. Jesus is depicted wearing a blindfold, but you can see that his eyes are closed. He seems nothing, not even the evil being done to him. All around Him are disembodied pictures--hands and a head, suspended in air. Jesus is beaten, mocked, and spit upon. This personalization signifies the human evil that falls upon the mystery of God. Jesus cannot see the evil, yet he takes the shameful evil upon Himself for our sakes. Outside the Mocking is Mary, His Mother, sadly contemplating, and St. Dominic studying the mystery and meditating.

I'm asking you to do likewise.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Sign Up


What are you doing for Lent?

Do you want more understanding of what reconciliation is?

Do you want to help create an environment of healing in your parish?

Would you like to meet and connect with other parishioners?

Would you like to see what Arise is all about?

Lent is the time to do do all these things. It's time to do something extra for God, and for yourself. Sign up for Arise.

Sign Up Sunday: January 23/24, 2010.

C'mon. What are you waiting for?

What ARE you waiting for?

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Attitude


If you think you can,
and
if you think you can't,
you're both right.

This was on a poster in the YMCA that stared at me, for fifteen years, when I took my children to swimming lessons.

Read Matt 1: 39.

This is the attitude that we must learn to have in order to be happy. Really. We have to embrace God's plans and just trust that He knows better than us.

Often times, as I stared at that poster I would think: I think I can have no cavities. I think I can be the President of England. I think I can go back in time. I think.....

Sunday, January 3, 2010

A Priest's Blessing


We are blessed to receive many blessings. ;-)

But isn't it really special to receive a Pope's blessing? Your mother's? How about your priest's?

Read Genesis 49:25.


See what the people who leave Mass right after they receive Communion are missing?