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By Bishop John, February 25, 2012 8:03 am

Sunday, February 26th
Once again, we find ourselves confronting this wonderful spiritual gift that the Church presents to us each year in the spring. I am referring to the holy season of Lent and it is truly a gift. The important thing is that we should properly utilize this gift.

All of us find ourselves harried, over-extended, busy, over-committed, stressed out, and sometimes nervous and insecure about the direction that our life seems to be taking. When any one of us is experiencing some of those feelings, the Church says with the warm, loving voice of a mother, “Here is the gift of Lent. Here are a few weeks for a calm spiritual renewal.”

In today’s Gospel, we see Jesus walking out into the desert. Let’s don’t let him go alone! Let’s walk with him. In the desert, there is a sameness about the terrain, there is an absence of distractions and there is the opportunity to lift our eyes towards God while at the same time looking inside of ourselves.

Let’s see these six weeks as a walk. We are not alone. We are walking behind Jesus and we will be walking with St. Mark. We will be walking with millions of our brothers and sisters in faith as we try to pull our battered and tired lives together, and give ourselves a clear focus on what life is about and how it ought to be lived.

Onward into the desert.

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By Bishop John, August 28, 2010 3:28 am

Well, we are still walking with our Lord as He continues on his way to Jerusalem.  The Church uses the text from the 14^th chapter of Luke about the subject of social humility.  Prior to the Gospel, the book of Sirach introduces the subject of humility urging us to conduct our affairs with that virtue, as well as being prepared to “humble yourselves the more, the greater you are.”  That leads us into that brief excerpt from Hebrews where the sacred author tells us that in making this journey we are being drawn to Mount Zion in the city of the living God.  There we will experience extraordinary glory and be awed by God’s power manifested before us.

Humility and awe in relationship to God provides us with good first steps towards the Gospel itself.  It tells us not to be seeking the spotlight, not to being on the top of the list or in the best places, but simply to move forward with a clear awareness that in relationship to the infinite power and glory of God we are humble indeed.  If we see that relationship between ourselves and God, it should make it easier for us to see those with whom we are sharing life.

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