Pastor’s Column 3rd Sunday of Easter April 26, 2020 “And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.” (from Luke 24:13-35) This haunting gospel sounds familiar to us on many levels because it has within it all the elements of the Mass! Luke is, in fact, describing not only what happened that first evening after the Resurrection, but what happened at an early Christian worship service. Let’s look at a few elements of the story and see if they aren’t familiar to us. While the disciples are gathered and conversing, Jesus walks along with them. Didn’t Jesus tell us that whenever two

Pastor's Column Mercy Sunday, 2020 I turned around to see who had spoken to me and when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and surrounded by them a figure like a Son of man, dressed in a long robe tied at the waist with a golden girdle. His head and his hair were white as white wool or as snow, his eyes were a burning flame , his speech like burnished bronze when it has been refined as in a furnace, and his voice like the sound of the ocean. In his right hand he was holding seven stars, out of his mouth came a sharp sword, double-edged, and his face was like the sun shining in all its force Revelation 1:13-16 I don’t know about you, but this description of Jesus does not sound like the

Pastor’s Column Easter Sunday, 2020 This week, my yard has had regular visits from some uninvited (though cute) guests, just in time for Easter: two mallard ducks and two white bunnies. They come and go as if they own the place. All I need now are a few chicks, colored eggs and Easter lilies and I will have all the symbols most people associate with Easter. Yet Easter really has nothing to do with chicks, ducklings, eggs and bunnies! The truth is more incredible than anything we could ever imagine. There exists another world, very close to our own, but invisible to our eyes at present. How do we know it exists? We know it because Jesus, who came from that world into our own, told us abou

Pastor’s Column Palm Sunday April 5, 2020 3:00 p.m. on Good Friday is the Hour of Mercy, because at this hour Jesus died to save us from our sins. Jesus often works powerfully in our lives during the three o’clock hour. I have seen this many times in my ministry. Once I was invited into the hospital to see a man who was dying; his wife called me in, but the dying man wanted nothing to do with Jesus, the Church, or a Catholic priest. Nevertheless, he consented to pray the Our Father with me. I gave him my card and told him he could call anytime and I would return. Then I left the room--it was 3:00 PM. As I left, I knew that God had his eye on this man. When a priest is called out at the