Vocations Newsletter

Help us prepare your way, O Lord,exalting every valley and making lowevery hill and mountain to announceYour coming among usour Messiah and God.With hearts longing for your peacewe eagerly await your advent, O Lord,when the glory of God again fills the earth with your peace, and justice rains down from the highest heavens.May your kingdom come andYour will be done, when heaven and earth acknowledge Your presence among us O Lord our God, and love, mercy, forgiveness and truth fill the world With the glory of God.Amen.Father Joseph Veneroso, M.M.
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Time to take stock. In just a couple of weeks, we begin a new liturgical year. But before then, we have a little work to do.Rather than think about a literal “end of the world”—the images in today’s readings—let’s think instead about the fulfillment of God’s reign on earth, something each of us can contribute to because we are all missioners. The world we hope to end is one of darkness and disillusion. The world we want to create is built on God’s eternal love and the promise of salvation that we are gifted in the Christ Child.From this perspective, preparing for the arrival of the Son of Man becomes a more hopeful kind of challenge. So I suggest taking the time between now and the beginning of Advent to see where God in your life right now. How do you reflect the joy of our faith at home? At work? In your neighborhood? In your parish? How much time are you making for prayer and self-reflection? Where God is absent, how are you being called to make the Lord’s presence known?Friend, as Advent approaches, now is a good time for an examination of conscience—a checklist for the soul that…
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“Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.” ~ Mark 12:43-44Everyone has something to give, so the saying goes—whether in wealth, talent, or time. Today’s Gospel, the story of the widow’s mite, is a great lesson in giving—but not so much from abundance as from poverty. The widow who had little to give made her contribution in the temple as the wealthy were making theirs. Her gesture was very modest—just two coins probably worth pennies—and accomplished without calling any attention to herself. But Jesus noticed her modesty and compared it to some of the wealthy who liked to give as a way of impressing others—and giving away only what they really didn’t need in the first place. When Jesus addressed his disciples, he had another kind of giving in mind. He talked about giving from a place of challenge or even deficit… giving out of concern for someone else’s well-being or just because the greater good is more important than our own. That was the widow in…
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Mark’s Gospel today is a journey into the simplicity of a life well lived: Love God with your whole heart, soul, and strength; then love your neighbor as yourself. As Jesus reminds us, there is no other commandment above these. When a scribe confirmed that these two commandments are even greater than burnt offerings and sacrifices, Jesus saw that the man understood the meaning of God’s reign. In response he told the scribe, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”—an observation we would surely want to claim for ourselves. But it’s Mark’s final words that give us pause: “And no one dared to ask him any more questions.” What were the others afraid of? These were undoubtedly learned men schooled in Mosaic Law. Asking and answering questions of one another would have been commonplace. We can’t know for sure why the scribes felt threatened—and then fell silent. But I can say that in any relationship of value, asking questions is not only good but necessary. If one of us had been standing among the scribes that day, these are the questions we might have asked Jesus: • How can I build God’s reign on earth? • What can…
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