St. John Vianney Catholic Church

3rd Sunday of Lent

Mar 4, 2021 In Sunday Reflections

We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ~Rm 5:1 “The tranquility of order” is how St. Augustine defines peace in The City of God. This order results when something finds that for which it is searching. The dog experiences peace when it finds its bone. The runner experiences peace when he finds the finish line. The human being experiences peace when he finds his home. Ultimate peace is to be found in God alone, and truly only once we have completed our journey to God. Often times we confuse peace with concord or agreement. We believe that if...

2nd Sunday of Lent

Feb 24, 2021 In Sunday Reflections

If God is for us, who can be against us?~Rm 8:31 During the season of Lent, we hopefully engage in some degree of self-reflection: what have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What will I do for Christ? Not infrequently, when confronted with our sins, assuming we are willing to acknowledge them and take ownership for the ways in which we fail to respond to God’s continual offer of friendship and grace, we become overwhelmed. For many of us, our sins are all too visible to us. Often times, it is easier for us to come up...

1st Sunday of Lent

Feb 19, 2021 In Sunday Reflections

It’s Lent—and your covenant is “up for renewal.” A covenant is an agreement that binds two parties. In today’s First Reading from Genesis, we hear of the agreement God makes with Noah never again to destroy the earth by water. In return, Noah and his family were to populate the earth. In every Mass during the Eucharistic Prayer we hear Christ’s words, “This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant….” In Christ, the ancient relationship between God and humankind has taken on a human face. Why do I say Lent is a time to renew your covenant? Well, in centuries...

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Feb 12, 2021 In Sunday Reflections

A common experience of human illness—no matter how serious—is isolation. A simple cold or the flu can cut us off from other people. A common experience of healing comes when the human touch of another shatters our isolation: the touch of professional healers or the embrace of friends. Mark’s Gospel knows this human experience. In today’s story, Mark shows Jesus reaching across a huge cultural barrier to touch and heal a leper. For Mark this story is one of many that identify the mission of Jesus as a struggle against evil, manifested partly in human sickness and suffering. Sickness doesn’t mean...

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Feb 3, 2021 In Sunday Reflections

When disasters--personal or communal--occur in our world, it’s likely that religious people will be asked: What does God have to do with this? This short reflection can’t hope to answer that question, but perhaps today’s Sunday readings can help. In the First Reading, we hear from that Biblical expert on suffering—Job. It’s a short description of Job’s—and humankind’s—miserable condition. If we read more of the Book of Job, we discover that it doesn’t try to resolve the question of human suffering either. Rather it ends by bringing us face to face with the very mystery of God. With Job we’re invited...

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jan 28, 2021 In Sunday Reflections

I have a seminary classmate who will occasionally chide me when we’re having a conversation—or rather, when he’s talking to me. If he perceives me not really paying attention to him, he’ll say, “Gregory, are you in my world?” What he means is, “Are you listening to me?” Listening is crucial. When it comes to the word of God, listening is absolutely essential. Today’s First Reading and Gospel share the theme of “listening.” Moses tells the people that God will raise up a prophet for them. God is giving them a prophet since the people were too frightened when they heard God address them...

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jan 21, 2021 In Sunday Reflections

How about a real “fish story” from today’s Sunday Scriptures? Hello, I’m Franciscan Father Greg Friedman with the Sunday Soundbite for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time. A fish story is usually an outlandish, exaggerated tale. Our First Reading fits the bill—part of the story of Jonah. Besides featuring a pretty big fish, it tells a rather fantastic account of the instantaneous conversion of the ancient pagan city of Nineveh! Scripture scholars see the story as a kind of folk tale—short on history but long on spiritual truth: God calls each of us—even if we’re reluctant prophets like Jonah. Jonah resisted God’s...

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jan 14, 2021 In Sunday Reflections

Despite all the slick, hi-tech forms of advertising around today, “word of mouth” is still an effective way to find out about things. Take movies for example. If people are talking about a film around the water cooler at work, you can be sure the weekend attendance figures for that movie will increase. Today’s Gospel depicts the effectiveness of word of mouth in spreading the news about Jesus. John the Baptist points out Jesus to two disciples, who meet the Lord and then in turn begin to share what they’ve found with others. Their early “evangelization” efforts continue beyond the verses...

Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

Jan 8, 2021 In Sunday Reflections

While the following is taken from a homily by St. Proclus of Constantinople (5th century archbishop of Constantinople) for the feast of the Epiphany, the content of that feast in the Eastern Church focuses on the Mystery of the Lord’s Baptism, and therefore is appropriate for our celebration today. Christ appeared in the world, and, bringing beauty out of disarray, gave it luster and joy. He bore the world’s sin and crushed the world’s enemy. He sanctified the fountains of waters and enlightened the minds of men. Into the fabric of miracles he interwove ever greater miracles. For on this day...

The Epiphany of the Lord

Dec 29, 2020 In Sunday Reflections

And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way. ~Mt 2:12 “Epiphany” is from the Greek for “manifestation” especially of the divine. While among Eastern Christians today’s feast revolves around the “manifestation” of the Blessed Trinity at our Lord’s baptism, in the West the feast focuses on the “manifestation” of Christ not only to the Jewish nation, but to all the nations, represented by the magi. Our encounter with Christ cannot but change us. While the route home for the magi was altered as a consequence of the instruction to...

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