Weekend Masses

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Many times I have heard the words “now we can have closure” after a sentence is pronounced. Many times I ask the question is that true? For me closure comes when I find the ability to forgive, to let go and leave it to God. Take a look at today’s gospel, two sons, one by all standards a cad and a waste and yet an explorer, the other a good guy, but he seems to have no capacity to appreciate all he has received and all he has going for him. I believe he is a little resentful of the fact that he is left alone on the farm even though it is all his. I often ask does he wish that he had done the same as his brother. So many questions; but one thing shines through God’s love and secondly that God’s love is unconditional. What also strikes me is, that sometimes we have to ask for forgiveness and in order to do that we need to repent. In this case repentance comes about by reflecting on all the good he had experienced in his father’s house. While he may be a cad and a waster he has the ability to reflect whereas the other brother has allowed the resentment to build up in him and does not seem to be able to look at the situation in a calm and reflected way. We can ask ourselves where do I fit in. Am I grateful for the good things in my life or am I resentful or maybe even envious of others. Have I the ability to reflect and repent and ask for forgiveness when necessary. Do I have the ability to say “I am sorry?” Help me Lord as I Journey though Lent to change the things I can change , to accept the things I cannot change and Lord please give me the ability to know the difference. Let the Journey continue, Pray for me as I Pray for you, Fr Karl

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Last week Deacon Tom spoke of those mountain top moments when we see a glimpse of the glory of God. Very often we would love to capture it and bottle it and not have to walk to the bottom of the mountain. Moses and the burning bush is one of those moments. His curiosity brings him to the bush and there is God calling him. Throughout the scriptures God is in the unexpected (the burning bush, the gentle wind, or comes to people who are seen as nothing. This is very different from the world we live in, where it is hard to find silence or to hear the gentle wind The hymn says “be still and know that I am God” . As we seek to rediscover Jesus we have to find moments of stillness, we have to be open to God in unexpected places. How do we do that? 1 . By realizing that we need quiet time (God time) or reflection time. 2. By finding a place or an object that reminds me of that need. (I have a prayer stool at the foot of my bed a reminder that I need to pause at the beginning and end of every day.) or it could be an icon or an image that makes you stop and pray. 3. Find a time? There are people from the parish who on Tuesday night spend an hour before the Blessed Sacrament in our Church between 5pm and 8 pm and on Thursday after Mass. Every one of as Christians need to find that time otherwise we will not recognize that mountain top moment or see God in the burning bush or the quiet wind or in the face of our brother or sister. Let the Journey continue. Pray for me as I pray for you, Fr Karl