Weekend Masses

Dear Brothers and Sisters, I was in a Parish for a mission appeal many years ago on Mother’s Day weekend. A woman comes to me before the Saturday evening Mass and starts talking about her family. She tells me about her daughter. They have not spoken for many years. I asked what happened. She is in tears but cannot remember what it was all about. I ask does your daughter come to church. Yes is her answer, her on a Sunday Morning. I make a suggestion which she is reluctant to agree to. Sunday morning before Mass a youngish woman greets me with two young kids. I wish her Happy Mother’s Day and she starts crying and tells me that her mother does not talk to her. I ask her what happened. She is not sure. I tell her I will talk to her after Mass. Does that story sound familiar? Have you heard of experienced a similar one? In the book rediscovering Jesus in Chapter 12, Matthew Kelly asks the question How seriously do you take Jesus’ invitation to forgive? He also says “everybody needs to forgive somebody”. Sometimes we need to forgive ourselves sometimes it another. The story above had a happy ending. I asked the older women to come to the same Mass as her daughter. I suggested she stay close to the back of the church and to walk out behind her daughter and pass her on the steps and say Happy Mother’s Day. Two women were in tears at the foot of the steps and we all went out for brunch together. Those two women were ready for forgiveness and open to it. Are you ready and are you open to it. We continue to Journey rediscovering Jesus. Pray for me as I pray for you, Fr Karl

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, As we listen to the gospel this weekend we find out a little more about how Jesus is tempted. When I first put the wolf in sheep’s clothing on the grounds, many people came to me and said Father that is not good. The reality is that evil often comes to us dressed in sheep’s clothing. Are there people in your life who use you and tell you they know better and lead you down the wrong road? (Try this once I have tried it and I am ok. Try this tablet it will make you feel great or this will make the water fizz or the coffee nicer.) We see it in the gospel Jesus is tired and hungry and vulnerable. He is human and the devil plays on that. Use your power, you are hungry. As we read rediscov- er Jesus we are invited to get to know the human and the divine Jesus. Who is He, who is he to me, what is he calling me to become. How can I get to know Him better? How can I share Him with others? In learning about and getting to know Jesus I hope it will help us all to live better lives, help us handle better the ways we deal with the wolves in sheep clothing but above all to have a deep personal relationship with the One who is the way the truth and the life. In many ways that is what Lent is about. Repentance leads us to renewal and to finding new ways to show Jesus to the world. As we continue to read let us journey with and to the Lord Pray for me as I pray for you, Fr Karl