Easter is not simply one feast among others, but the "solemnity of solemnities," which culminates in Divine Mercy Sunday - that is today! Why do we turn our attention to God's mercy during the holiest time of year? It is woven throughout all scripture and comes to its fullest expression in the Resurrection. We hear this most explicitly in today's second reading from St. Peter, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy (IN HIS GREAT MERCY!) gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

With great humility and an almost desperate jubilation, we approach the great mystery of the Resurrection. A very happy Easter to everyone — the sacred day without which true “happiness” would be only a passing shadow or a wishful dream. As Saint Paul says, “If Christ has not been raised... if for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.”

But He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Today our humble King riding His donkey asks permission to explore your inner Jerusalem.

Palm Sunday reflects the paradox of Christian life: exultation and sorrow woven together in a single mystery. The spiritual life is not a steady climb upward, but a journey with deep valleys, unexpected turns, and sacred plunges. Palm Sunday reveals this pattern in Jesus Himself and in us.

In today’s Gospel reading about the resurrection of Lazarus, it struck me that twice in this passage, Jesus was “perturbed. Jesus is fully human and fully divine. He must have experienced a wide range of human emotions. Feeling troubled and perturbed is not a feeling that I often think about when meditating on the life of the Son of God. However, I find it consoling to know that Jesus can relate to us and our feelings - whether positive or negative - because He felt them all too.

“Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance, but the LORD looks into the heart.”

Our readings today deal, in different ways, with sight and appearance. In our first reading we see Samuel anoint God’s chosen king from the sons of Jesse. God bypasses Jesse’s seven older sons, despite their “lofty stature,” before anointing David, the youngest and most unassuming.

Later, in the Gospel, we hear the story of Jesus giving sight to the man born blind…

In our Gospel today, we meet the Samaritan Woman. The Church gives us this reading while we are still at the front end of Lent. The rush of Ash Wednesday and a new liturgical season are over, and we have now fully entered the desert. And in the desert, we are reminded of our desire. Perhaps you have already slipped once or twice in your Lenten fasts. The truth about humanity is that we are made with infinite desire. The Lord alone can satisfy these caverns within us, and it will be our life’s work to understand that truth and live it.

In our Gospel this week, Peter, James, and John get a momentary glimpse of Jesus in all of his divine glory, radiantly transfigured into the God that he is. After years of talking to Jesus as a friend, eating with him, camping with him, seeing him at work in his humanity, they suddenly catch sight of his brilliant divinity unveiled. Understandably, they cower in the face of this awesome appearance.

In the Gospel today, we see Jesus led into the wilderness for forty days and forty nights to fast. There, He is tempted by Satan. But before we look at these temptations, it’s important to examine what happens just before this.

In Matthew 3, Jesus goes to the Jordan to be baptized. As He rises from the water, the heavens open and a voice proclaims, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” What a stark contrast. One moment, the beautiful assurance of Christ’s identity. The next, intense fasting and temptation.

We must admit, our Gospel today is very challenging! So much so that it could be a temptation for us to dismiss this section of the sermon. For example Jesus tells us, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna.”

What are we to make of this? Haven’t most of our eyes caused us to sin at some point in our lives? What is Jesus trying to say? This is where the wisdom of the Church is an enormous gift.

You are the salt of the earth. Salt enhances taste not by adding flavor, but by chemically altering how our taste buds perceive bitterness and sweetness. If salt were to lose its taste, it would be useless to any dish — nothing can substitute for salt.

The Beatitudes in today’s Gospel remind us that God does not operate in the ways of the world. The world rewards power, wealth and admiration while God rewards those who are poor in spirit, meek and persecuted. When I prayed with this Gospel passage, I was convicted that I had gotten stuck in thinking the way that the world does. That I needed to expand my mind and be open to what God is trying to tell me, even if it doesn’t make sense right away. When we are surrounded by so many voices, from social media to television shows, it’s important to once again immerse ourselves in the Word of the Lord. As we hear in Isaiah 55:8 “For my ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts”. The best way to become familiar with the voice and the will of God is to read Scripture.

Today’s Gospel highlights how intentional God is through the way He calls His Disciples. Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John are all fishermen, and Jesus calls them by saying “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” He meets them where they physically are, using language that is custom-tailored to their profession, just like He will come to you wherever you are and speak to you as His beloved child. I encourage you to try to open your eyes to the ways God is trying to particularly love you!

The Gospel presents us with a profound moment of transition and revelation. We see John the Baptist standing with his disciples when Jesus walks by, prompting John’s famous declaration: “Behold, the Lamb of God!” This encounter is much more than a chance meeting; it is the fulfillment of a lifelong journey of faith and a blueprint for our own lives as baptized Christians.

We greeted the Christ-child just a few short weeks ago, but in today’s readings Jesus emerges as a man embarking on his public mission. In the first reading, Isaiah prophesies that God will send his “chosen one with whom he he is pleased,” and that he will place his spirit upon him. Isaiah says that this “servant” of God will bring justice to the nations, not by shouting in the streets, but in gentleness, teaching truth and bringing light. In the Gospel, we see Isaiah’s prophesy finally come to pass: Jesus comes, in humility, to be baptized by his cousin John. In that moment, God sends his spirit upon Jesus, proclaiming that “this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Today with the wise men, rejoice at the sight of the star of the Lord- the child Jesus, who “is the light of all mankind” (John 1:4). Let us all welcome this light into our hearts. Letting Him into our hearts, after all, is the most fitting way to “pay him homage” and “open our treasures to him, ”as the wise men did long ago on this most special feast. The darkness has not, and will not, overcome the light of the newborn King. May His light enter all of our hearts today!

Today the Church celebrates the Holy Family—Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Together they are the greatest model of family life. But what is it about their family dynamic that makes it so great?

We often picture the Holy Family as portrayed in Christmas cards. And while I’m sure they shared many serene, beautiful moments, that image can give us a very unrealistic sense of what their life was actually like.

Merry Christmas dear friends! An angel of the Lord, bathed in light, illumines the night and brings glad tidings to the shepherds: “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” (Lk 2:10). God has become one of us to make us like Himself and so bring us together to the embrace of the Father.

In these final days before Christmas, the liturgy slowly draws us into the mystery of the Incarnation—the Savior born for humanity. As we keep watch in silence with Mary and Joseph, I invite you to reflect on this poem by St. John of the Cross:

Happy third Sunday of advent!

Advent is a time of waiting and anticipation for the birth of Jesus; the first two weeks have been focused on preparation. This Sunday, Gaudete Sunday, is marked by the pink candle on the advent wreath and is a joyful day. In Latin, Gaudete translates to “rejoice”; today is about the excitement, anticipation, and hope we feel as Christmas quickly approaches.

In our Gospel today, we hear from John the Baptist. We don’t know much about his life other than a few pivotal moments, but what we can glean from the few words that we hear from John in the recounts of his life is that he was a man of great focus. One thing alone mattered to him. His ministry was one of prophecy, and of preparing the people to meet their Divine Bridegroom and King. His words awoke people to the reality of their sin, and the necessity to respond to that reality.