God loves my story and God loves your story, not because our stories are perfect (they are not), but because they are our stories. And God loves us. It is in and through the stories of our lives that God meets us, and makes His home in our hearts, and saves us.
For many people, a pilgrimage is a time of renewal. Going to a specific, holy place, often walking more than usual, praying in a place that is made significant by who has been there and what has happened in the past, any one of these things would help us to reflect on our lives, and a pilgrimage usually has all of them. ...
The theme for this edition of the TAU-USA is “Renewal.” What comes to mind? A day of rest? Something one does for a magazine subscription or a driver’s or professional license? What happens when we do not renew something? We may become burned out or exhausted in terms of our mind, or we may need to pay extra or pay a fine in terms of a license, or perhaps we might not be able to practice our profession/work. How about a renewal of our commitment to the Gospel? ...
Conversion, commission, and crucifixion initiated your Christian existence, your Franciscan vocation. In your Baptism you died to sin and self, you rose to God, to “newness of life.” At your profession you said—three times—this is what I want!
I have some good news to share with you. The new TAU-USA newsletter team has produced its first digital-only newsletter (Issue 111). The theme for Issue 111 is very fitting for this time of year - "Renewal." The full newsletter is available in English and Spanish. Selected articles have been translated into Korean.
Our lives are not our own. We are called to give over our lives in service to others. Pope Francis inspires us to find ways to reach across the boundaries of all Christian faiths. “Our borders should be windows, not barriers of division,” he challenges.
God’s mercy is manifest in the Church, being the fruit of the Paschal Mystery, preaching and confessing mercy, recalling it and imitating it, realizing it and making it present in the sacrament of salvation.
On this blessed day you and I thank God for the incredible grace to declare in the Sunday Creed: “On the third day He rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.” Jesus is alive, alive in His humanity and in His divinity—the very same person who was born in Bethlehem, walked the dusty roads of Palestine, died in anguish on Calvary’s cross.
“O Sacred Banquet, in which Christ is received, the memory of His Passion is renewed, the mind is filled with grace, and the future pledge is given to us.” This Sunday of Passion we begin a whole week of gathering in prayer and liturgy to proclaim the mystery of our faith. The week of our Lord’s Passion begins with His triumphal entry into His holy city, Jerusalem. “We adore, You, O Christ, and we bless You, because by Your holy cross You have redeemed the world.”
Now is “the hour,” Jesus says. It is Passover. Jesus is the Lamb. He is speaking of His own sacrifice. It becomes more explicit in later verses, when, speaking again of His hour, Jesus says, “Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say?” Father, save Me from this “hour?” No, for this purpose I have come to this “hour.” Father, glorify Your name.”