Imagine while you are fixing something in the garage and accidentally drop a hammer on your foot. You would immediately feel significant pain and lose your focus on everything else. Your attention would shift to your foot! That is how the sensation of pain is perceived in the body affecting how we react.
Coping with the loss of a loved one, friend, or anyone close to us is one of the stiffest challenges in life. Grief is the emotional and physical reaction we channel to cope with a loss. Nevertheless, it is a normal part of the healing process when we know how to deal appropriately. Otherwise, grief could lead to prolonged periods of anger, confusion, depression, frustration, hopelessness, or withdrawal.
During the Easter Vigil, the parish welcomed seven new members to become Catholics. They made a profession of faith, confirmed, and received the gifts of the Holy Spirit. With congratulations, we welcomed them and their families for their enthusiastic initiative in following the Risen Christ and the Church.
When we listen to the Passion Reading on this Palm Sunday, what do we imagine? We can picture all sorts of destruction and suffering, such as pain, torture, violence, hatred, despair, and abandonment inflicted on Jesus. As we listen to the Passion, we might wonder, "Are these real?" Or "Where was God's power and love for His Son? We may not be capable of answering such questions, but we see Jesus go through both physical and emotional horrific suffering on the cross when he finally cries out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" Did God really abandon His loved Son?
Last Saturday, our parish celebrated the Eucharist for the Rite Christiaan Initiation of Adults. There were seven candidates, sponsors, and relatives present at the Eucharist. In my homily, I acknowledged and admired their patience and courage for attending the classes via zoom meetings and fulfilling the requirements even during these difficult times! I could see these qualities in their willing attentiveness to learn about God via the teachings each Thursday. They did not merely seek a short answer or quick-fix but accepted the Catholic Church's spiritual journey as a process.
Light is essential for all living beings. Life is constricted or deprived if there’s no light at all. Our lives have improved significantly thanks to innovative medical technologies regarding various types of electromagnetic waves used for microwaves, infrared waves, X-rays, MRIs, gamma rays, and so forth. These advances help with seeing better inside our bodies, our bones, cells, and detecting cancers. They help medical experts see images that provide valuable information to help treat patients appropriately. In summary, light advances life and saves lives in many ways.
We use various instruments to guide our travels, one of which is the GPS. We rely on GPS devices to guide us to the places we want to go. Alternatively, when we want to monitor our blood pressure, we use manual or digital monitors. If high blood pressure is indicated, we will need to change our diets and activities or check with a medical doctor. What if we want to find out what is good or evil? What tools or framework can we use?
The word transcendence means “be surpassing, excel, or move beyond.” In other words, it denotes that someone or thing has gone beyond ordinary constraints or physical natures. Consider sunlight energy. We use the sun’s light to dry the clothes and generate electricity, while plants use the sun’s energy to convert water and carbon dioxide into oxygen. It only takes a little solar power to make so many good things for life.
We wish we could know what the future will bring so we can efficiently prepare everything nicely. The government could have given more grants to hospitals to build more ICU beds and purchase face masks and ventilators. People could have readied extra rooms or spaces before the virus emerged. Nevertheless, if we were warned about what could happen a year ago, would we take appropriate actions?
Our Pledge to Protect Vulnerable Adults Pope Francis recently defined the phrase of "vulnerable adults" as those who are "in an infirm state, of physical or mental deficiency, or deprivation of personal freedom," the condition of which, whether consistently or occasionally, "limits their ability to understand or to want or otherwise resist" offenses against them.1 The Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (Charter)2 details the commitment of the Catholic Church in the United States to safeguard minors from sexual abuse, and also has given a brief definition of a vulnerable adult: as persons who "habitually lack the use of reason," although this definition is limited and does not fully encompass the complex vulnerabilities experienced by adults.
Michelangelo once said, “To touch can be to give life.” In today’s gospel story, a leper violates the rule of social distancing! Remember that the lepers, during the time of our Lord, were prohibited contact with their families and the public. People would avoid lepers for fear of transmitting the disease. It must have been very emotional for people to face such restrictions. Nonetheless, such social norms did not reduce the leper’s hope for a better life and future.
The question of human suffering had been a significant issue in the Bible for ages. Moreover, it is a current issue right now. Every day, we learn about people dying from the Covid-19 virus. We also learn about human suffering via a myriad of forms such as abortion, illness, injustice, oppression, abandonment, addiction, poverty, conflict, and so forth. The question we might ask is, “why does God not intrude?” The answer is beyond human understanding.
This is a summary of the homily from Fr. O’Neill’s Memorial Mass. I cannot imagine what was in the minds of a young couple when they took their son to a local parish in Cork, Ireland, in September of 1932 for baptism: What did they envision? It is impossible to imagine their son, one day, would become a priest in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.