Vocations Newsletter

Easter and divine mercy… these are sacred partners in the practice of our faith, and this time of crisis is a moment to recall the power of both gifts in our lives.Easter is God’s promise that through the Cross we are inheritors of the Kingdom—if we share Christ’s mercy with the world. That’s the plan! So today, we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, an observance started by St. Pope John Paul II who often preached about mercy at Easter time. That’s because of his spiritual closeness with Faustina Kowalska, a Catholic nun and mystic, whom he declared a saint of the Church in 2000.During her brief lifetime, Faustina received revelations from Our Lord who asked her to record her experiences. Known today as the Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, this is the saint’s message that touches me the most: “Humanity will never find peace until it turns with trust to Divine Mercy.”Today, in her honor and with St. Faustina as our model, we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, knowing that God’s mercy and forgiveness are beyond our imagination. Beyond understanding. But not beyond imitating in our own human way. A good meditation on mercy is to recall a time someone forgave…
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“Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven, exult, let Angel ministers of God exult, let the trumpet of salvation sound aloud our mighty King's triumph!”~ The Exsultet: The Proclamation of EasterFriend,Even as we wait for our prayers for healing from COVID-19 to be answered, we know that Christ our Savior has risen from the dead and the promise of eternal life is ours to celebrate!The joy of Easter is almost beyond our comprehension. God turns everything we know upside down with his victory over the Cross. Death passes over to life, sorrow becomes exultation and joy, and darkness becomes light. God will even transform the spread of the coronavirus. Today we are filled with the grace of salvation and the hope that in Christ we are destined for eternal life.These are gifts to treasure and share… and they are sustaining us when we pass through moments of darkness and suffering ourselves. Faith teaches us that death is never the last word. The Resurrection is. Easter is the experience of new life that is even more sustaining in difficult moments.Easter Sunday always brings back a flood of fond memories for me. Years ago, when I served the people of the…
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“Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.”~ Matthew 21:9It happened 2,000 years ago: the triumphal entrance of Our Lord into Jerusalem, so quickly followed by the way of the cross. It’s the day we remember as Palm Sunday and the start of Holy Week when faith triumphs over all suffering, including death itself.The enduring majesty of the message invites our remembering—and reflection—for in the midst of this pandemic we are on the most important journey of faith we will ever take: the journey to salvation through death to resurrection in Our Savior, Jesus Christ. This is the week we experience the very core of our faith. And it’s a time to take stock. How are we living our faith during these moments of crisis? Are we modeling our lives on the life of Christ? Are we able to pass from joy to suffering with hope, knowing that the promise of Easter is our ultimate reward?Palm Sunday begins our many reflections, ones we will think about all week long. During this Lent weighed down by the spread of the coronavirus we prepared ourselves to receive the Risen…
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“Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?”John chapter 11, verse 40John’s Gospel is a consolation, particularly for today as we confront the suffering, pain and death brought on by the current pandemic.Like Martha and Mary, we may have our doubts—and our understandable fears. But our common faith in Christ provides the assurance that God is always with us, even as we pass through the valley of the shadow of death. Martha and Mary learned that lesson after Jesus brought their brother Lazarus back from the dead. We have the benefit of the Gospel and our personal faith experience that make God’s presence a tangible reality in our lives.As we come into the final week of Lent, let’s focus on the opportunities we still have to change those parts of our lives that have left us less than alive. In faith we are called to new life. Things that hurt us can be overcome. It takes work as we well know. But being open to God’s grace—believing in new life —is the first step we need to take each and every day. Renewal and new life is what we will celebrate come…
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