News - February 2021 RSS Feed

That phrase usually refers to “peak” spiritual experiences or those dramatic, critical moments in one’s life. Today we hear about two different mountaintop experiences. Abraham is called to sacrifice his son, Isaac, on Mount Moriah and we also hear about the Transfiguration of Jesus on a high mountain. Both accounts pre-figure and point to another mount – Golgotha, Calvary, the Place of the Skull – where Jesus would accomplish his final Passover.

Do you feel afraid or insecure? It’s difficult not to be after the past year. A global pandemic, social and political turmoil, economic uncertainty, scandals and confusion in the Church, etc….need we go on? Thank God for his grace, which is still amazing! First, last and always, we need and we have God’s grace.  As the converted slave trader, John Newton, wrote:

St. Joseph: Model Husband and Father - Wayne and Merce Trosclair Mass: Msgr. Lanaux Rareshide Music by Jamie Diliberto and Tongues of Fire St. Benilde - 1901 Division Street - Metairie, LA MASKS AND SOCIAL DISTANCING

Flood…covenant…salvation…baptism – all this might sound a little unusual on this First Sunday of Lent, called Temptation Sunday because the gospel always relates the temptation of Jesus in the desert. We are entering into the Lenten Season – in its earliest form, a time of preparation for baptism and entry into the Church for catechumens. Our first two readings today reflect that aspect.

It is interesting that when today’s readings talk about leprosy, they use the terms clean, cleansing, unclean. We can easily understand that leprosy is symbolic of sin – which truly makes us unclean and sets us apart. This is the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday. The emphasis on cleansing from sin is an appropriate lead-in to the penitential season of Lent.

Rummel Raider Room - St. Benilde 1901 Division Street Metairie, LA - Masks and Social Distancing

We have all been there at some point – feeling low, discouraged, down, depressed. We would prefer not to stay there, however, but to look forward in hope to better times. Today’s readings are a progression from Job’s drudgery and misery to the healing and good news that Jesus brings.