“This is my son, my Chosen: listen to him!” These words from today’s Gospel are a perfect summation of the way that we are called to live our life of faith. Listen to Jesus, follow his commands, and you will inherit eternal life. On the surface, it sounds easy: but in practice, it can be very difficult.
Often, the challenge is to figure out how we know when God is speaking to us. Where do we see Jesus present in our world today? Unlike Peter, James, and John, we don’t have the advantage of seeing our Lord transfigured before us or walking with him during his public ministry. Most of us probably won’t have an earth-shattering experience where the veil between heaven and earth is lifted, and we are able to see the full glory of God as the Apostles did. However, each of us can experience little moments of transfiguration in our day to day lives- little moments where we catch a glimpse of the presence of God. These can occur when we receive the Eucharist, in the other Sacraments of the Church, and even in the people that we meet on a daily basis.
Think about the times that a person has come up to you, and spoken the exact words that you needed to hear at that point in your life. That is Jesus, speaking to you through that person. Are we open to the words that we receive from others, or do we sometimes fail to listen because of who the messenger is? As we go throughout this week, I invite you to pray for the grace to be open to hearing God’s word, regardless of who the messenger may be.
I also ask you to pray for the catechumens in our RCIA program who will be completing the Rite of Election this weekend. This is a significant step in their journey of faith, as they are formally chosen by the Church to receive the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil. Please pray also for our Candidates for Full Communion, who will also be called to continuing conversion, as they prepare to be received into the Church at Easter.
I also want to extend to you a special invitation to join us for Mass on Saturday, March 19, as we celebrate the Feast of Saint Joseph, the Patron Saint of Canada, and of the Universal Church. Mass will be at 10 am at all three of our Parishes. The Masses at Assumption and St. Alphonsus will be in English, and the Mass at St. Angela Merici will be Bilingual (English and Italian). Bishop Dabrowski will also be with us for Masses the weekend of March 19-20. The Bishop will do the blessing of bread at the 4:30 pm Mass Saturday afternoon. Please join us as we invoke St. Joseph’s intercession for our country and our church.
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Steven Huber, CSB