Today is often called Good Shepherd Sunday because we hear from the Gospel of John in which Jesus reminds us that he is the “Good Shepherd” who never abandons his sheep. He assures his disciples, and us, that there are others who claim to lead the sheep but will run away at the first sight…
In our culture we have an abundance. We have so many things at our disposal that it can be hard to know what to pay attention to. Even within one of these many things we can be inundated with choices. A great example is sports: we have an abundance of choices depending on our inclination…
The mystics maintain that there are two primary paths of transformation in this life. The first is the path of prayer and love and the second is the path of suffering. Most people want the first path but get the second path. Unfortunately, most of us are not well equipped to respond to the path…
Christ is Risen! Alleluia! It is so hard to believe that we have been in lockdown for over a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on our personal and professional lives, it has also devastated our economy and it will take us a long time to recover. But…
I recently read that we will never fully penetrate the mystery of God’s revelation in Jesus until we realize that most of Jesus’ life was hidden; even his three “public” years were invisible to most people. On Passion Sunday we enter into Holy Week, the holiest of weeks for Christians, as we celebrate the three…
Yesterday we celebrated the Feast of St. Joseph, patron saint of our Diocese and it opens a year of celebrations recognizing the 40th anniversary of the foundation of the Diocese of San Jose. Last night we began with a Mass at the Cathedral of St. Joseph. The pandemic limited our attendance at the Jubilee celebration to…
It is hard to believe that one year ago this week, our County of Santa Clara was the first county in the nation to “Shelter in Place.” With no precedent for this action, we were all in shock and afraid to even leave our homes. We were told it would be for 3 weeks and…
Even though the pandemic continues, we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel with vaccinations reaching our elderly, our teachers and more essential workers. This week we heard that every adult will have vaccinations available to them by the end of May. What a relief! On top of this news,…
Last week, we began our Lenten series on Forgiveness: A Journey from Hurt to Freedom and I began by walking towards the “first cairn of this Second Mountain” namely, to become more self-aware of our need for forgiveness in our own lives. One of the critical steps to understanding unforgiveness in our lives and why we remain…