Truly this man was the Son of God!

Scripture readings for Palm Sunday can be found at http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/032518.cfm

This week our spiritual activities during Lent comes to a climax. In the gospel of St. Mark that will be read today at Mass we hear of the suffering and death of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. A death that has changed the course of history.

In our first reading from Isaiah, we hear Isaiah prophesizing about Jesus when he says, "The Lord GOD has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them." Isaiah 50:4 People were attracted to Jesus. People who were thought to be sinners and outcasts felt attracted to Jesus and all He was telling them about the love God had for them. People that Jesus wanted to bring back into relationship with God. As a result, the Scribes and Pharisees were jealous of the attention Jesus was getting. He was "rocking the boat"! They had Him Crucified because Jesus was considered a threat to their way of life.

Jesus changed the lives of many people while he was walking the earth. He was leading people back to God and to God's love and mercy. Even at His death on the Cross, the centurion said, "Truly this was the Son of God." (Mark 15:39) The centurion saw Jesus for who He was: The Son of God.

During this Holy Week, let's gaze on the crucifix, as the centurion did, and praise Jesus for who is: the Son of God. Ask Jesus to come into your life, with all your cares and concerns and ask Jesus to change your life for the better. The better way is the love and peace that can come only from faith in Jesus. Will the problems go away? No. But with Jesus we can deal with our problems in a way that is beneficial to us and pleasing to Him.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son!!

Scripture readings can be found at http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/031118-year-b.cfm

God's offer of salvation is a gift that sinful humanity does not deserve and has not, in any way, earned. But this gift does require a response and a commitment to turn away from darkness and live in the light of Christ.

How are we to turn away from the sinfulness of our lives to live in that light that comes from God? There are so many ways we can turn to God and live in the light.

First, our Lord is calling us to turn to God and to believe in the one He sent: Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came into this world "so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." (John 3:15) Our first calling as Christians is to believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior and this will lead us to eternal life.

But it doesn't stop there. Believing alone in Jesus Christ, without action, will get us nowhere. Jesus tells us that the there's no place in the kingdom for those who do wicked things. Rather we are called to live the truth, "so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God." (John 3:21) Jesus Christ is calling us to love God and to love our neighbor. We are to manifest the love of God in this world by sincerely living out our Christian vocation by living pure and loving lives, loving God, and loving those in our lives, even when those in our lives are sometimes not very loveable.

The Obedience of Christ

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“Jesus humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.  Because of this, God greatly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:8-11

It’s been a few weeks already since Ash Wednesday and we are in the middle of the Holy Season of Lent. Lent will come to a climax during Holy Week, starting on Palm Sunday on March 25^th. This journey of forty days leading up to the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ has hopefully made us more aware of our need and dependence on the love and forgiveness of God.

In St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians we learn that Jesus was humble and obedient to the Will of God, even to the point of death on the Cross. Doing the Will of His heavenly Father was central to all that Jesus was about. He was obedient to God in order to bring mankind into relationship and forgiveness with God.

We are all called, like Jesus, to be humble and obedient to the Will of God. Through the example of Jesus we are called to have love of God and of neighbor. Even during His suffering on the Cross, He was loving and forgiving to those who condemned Him to death. There may be times in our sufferings during our lifetime that we, like Jesus, may say, “MyGod, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34), but like Jesus, we know that God is always present in our sufferings and will help us in all our needs. In just a few days after Jesus was crucified, He rose from the dead, defeating death, and bringing us salvation and forgiveness with God our Father.

As we conclude our Lent, let us turn to God to seek His love and forgiveness in the Sacrament of Confession, and to love and respect those that God has place in our life. Then we can say with the apostle Paul, that “that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:11)