ABVM PARISH COMMUNITY

Christianity rises or falls on the claim of the Resurrection of her founder from the dead. St. Paul admitted as much: “If Christ has not been raised, then empty is our preaching; empty, too, your faith…If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all” (1 Cor 15:14,19). Everything turns on the truth of the Resurrection of Christ. The Catechism of the Catholic Church provides an excellent and succinct explanation of the significance of the Resurrection, including this affirmation: “The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ, a faith believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community; handed on as fundamental by Tradition; established by the documents of the New Testament; and preached as an essential part of the Paschal mystery along with the cross” (#638). Faith in the Resurrection is what drove the early Christians to spread the good news. Their faith was reasonable, for it was founded

The Gospel of Matthew records the sad words of Jesus: The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born (Mat 26:24). Perhaps the betrayal of Judas Iscariot was the greatest pain that our Lord suffered during his Passion. But there is another betrayal that likely rivals it – the threefold denial of Peter: But he denied it in front of everyone, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about!” … Again he denied it with an oath, “I do not know the man.” … At that he began to curse and swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately a cock crowed (Mat 26:69-75). All of his closest friends, who spent so much time with him, either betrayed him or ran away at the moment of trial. John eventually sneaked back, to be a support to Mary at Calvary. Jesus knew that they would leave him, but the foreknowledge did not make it any less painful. At the moment of his

A sacrament is defined as an outward sign, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, which communicates grace. The form of each sacrament is the words by which it is celebrated, and the matter is the element(s) used in its celebration. In the sacrament of baptism, the words are, “I baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The matter is water, which must be applied by the minister as he says the words, either by pouring it on the one who is baptized or by plunging him or her into the water. Just as she did in discerning the divine inspiration of the books of the New Testament, which took a few centuries to be universally acknowledged as they are today, so the Church discerned over time the seven liturgical celebrations of the Church that are unique in their infallible communication of grace to those who receive them. These liturgical rites were not officially defined as sacraments, according to our understanding of them tod

Vince Lombardi walked into the Green Bay Packers training camp in 1961 to begin a new season of football, after having lost the championship game 17 - 13 the previous season to the Philadelphia Eagles. He gathered the team together, which was still smarting from the defeat, took a football in his hands and held it before them. He said, “Gentlemen, this is a football…” That year in training camp Lombardi emphasized the fundamentals of football for men who were playing at the height of their sport. That year the Packers beat the New York Giants 37 – 0 in the NFL Championship game. The 1961 Green Bay Packers provide us with a lesson for life. As far as we may go in life, we cannot forget the basics; not in sports, not in healthy living, not in our relationships, and certainly not in our spirituality. It is helpful for us from time to time to make a close examination of our spiritual and moral lives. The season of Lent calls us to this every year, especially by making a good confes

In the Sermon on the Mount, among other things, Jesus teaches the disciples how to be effective in prayer. “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” He wants them to ask with confidence, using the example of a human father responding to his son: “Or what man among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7-11). This seems easy and straightforward. And yet, sometimes we are frustrated by the response, or what seems to be a lack of response, to our request. Although prayer is infallible, we who pray are not! Saint Augustine diagnoses the problem in his famous tome, City of God. He su