BIG C CATHOLICS

"FOLLOW ME." Fr. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for today’s readings ) At the time of Jesus officials wrote on very fragile materials like papyrus and vellum. Poor people among whom Jesus moved and who were His disciples didn’t have access to those materials. This caused Jesus to teach using very hard and cutting-edge images, images that His listeners would never forget. And so we hear Jesus saying: “If your eye is a source of sin, pluck it out” and “if your hand is a source of sin, cut if off!” People would never forget those words, words used in His teachings, teachings that everyone would remember. With that in mind let me repeat a key part of today’s Gospel account: And to another he said, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, let me go first and bury my father.” But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. “And another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell...

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) Many Christians around us today do not accept the truth of Jesus’ words about His Body and Blood. For us as Catholics, however, along with Eastern Orthodox Christians, this teaching of Jesus is central to the very nature of the Church. Without the Body and Blood of Christ, the Church wouldn’t be what it is. The Eucharist makes the Church and the Church makes the Eucharist. Without Christ’s sacrifice of His Body and Blood there would be no priesthood. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is central to the very existence of the Church. Likewise, it is central to our life as Catholics. Because of it we can access heaven, whereas before Christ gave it to us heaven’s doors were closed. The Eucharist and the Church are God’s marvelous gifts to us. They are not of our making. Jesus Christ saves us from our sins by offering the totality of Himself to our Father in heaven, offering His body, blood, soul, and divinity. Jesu...

All we know of Barnabas comes from the New Testament. A Jew from Cyprus, Barnabas was chosen by the Holy Spirit to share in the mission of the Apostles. So much so, that the Church honors him as one of them. He played an essential role in the spread of Christianity beyond the Jewish world. Barnabas was closely affiliated with St. Paul (he introduced Paul to Peter and the other apostles) and was a mediator between Paul and the still suspicious Jewish Christian community. He was Paul's traveling companion on the latter's first missionary journey. With Paul he brought Antioch's donation to the Jerusalem Christians during a famine, and returned to Antioch with John Mark, his cousin. The three went on to Cyprus, where they were violently persecuted. Barnabas is mentioned as one of the most selfless members of the new, extremely poor Church in Jerusalem: "The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but...

Fr. Thomas J. Lane S.T.D. Associate Professor of Sacred Scripture Mt. St. Mary's Seminary Emmitsburg, MD ( Click here for today’s readings ) "O Father who sought me O Son who bought me O Holy Spirit who taught me." That beautiful prayer to the Trinity is quoted in a book on Celtic prayer ( The Celtic Way of Prayer: The Recovery of the Religious Imagination page 43 by Esther de Waal). It expresses beautifully the different qualities of the three persons of the Holy Trinity. The Father sought us. That reminds me of Psalm 139, a beautiful Psalm about God seeking us and being present with us at all times. O Lord you search me and you know me, You know my resting and my rising, You discern my purpose from afar. You mark when I walk or lie down, All my ways lie open to you. Before ever a word is on my tongue You know it, O Lord through and through. Behind and before you besiege me, Your hand ever laid upon me. Too wonderful for me, this knowledge, To...

Fr. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for today’s readings ) From time to time it is good for us to stand back and look at The Big Picture so I want to begin by doing that as I share some thoughts with you on this Solemnity of Pentecost. In ancient times God approached us through the Jewish prophets and through their major leaders such as Abraham and Moses. It was through Moses that God gave us His Ten Commandments, commandments that allowed us not only to live as God intended us to live but to live with each other in peace and communion. Then in the fullness of time God came to us in His Word made flesh, in His only begotten Son who became man and thus brought the nearness of God into our very own humanity. “ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us ,” reports St. John in the Prologue to his gospel. After He lived among us, suffered and died for us, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, God came to us, and still does even now, in His...

Fr. Thomas J. Lane S.T.D. Associate Professor of Sacred Scripture Mt. St. Mary's Seminary Emmitsburg, MD ( Click here for today’s readings ) Waiting in Prayer for the Holy Spirit - Intercessory Prayer You go on holidays every year and I do also. We need time away to recharge our batteries and replenish our energy. Many of you tell me where you go on vacation and you go to all sorts of interesting places. As well as going on holidays every year priests and religious also go on holidays with the Lord; it is called a retreat. Priests and Sisters take this holiday with the Lord every year but an increasing number of lay people also take this holiday with the Lord, a retreat, every year. Why? The pace of life is such now that we need a quiet time to spend with the Lord, loving him and soaking up his love and reflecting on our lives and where we’re going. We all need our private space and time apart, our time with the Lord. After Jesus’ Ascension his disciples returne...