2021 Lent - Thursday, March 25 - Annunciation

John witnessed what Jesus said about the "Bread of Life" and this homily expresses the theology.  

Imagine yourself in front of the crucifix.  Look up and see our loving Jesus.  How can we not be moved by the pain and deep love of the seeing our gentle Jesus.  Faith, Hope and Charity.  Pray for true contrition of our sins.  Look up at Jesus and see the nails in His hands and feet.  How can we not be moved.  Let our crucified Lord Jesus draw you into the depths of His love on the cross.  Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.  Amen.

One of the best ways is to pray includes the Stations of the Cross which helps us understand the amount of love God has for each of us.  All the while we go through the stations we can meditate on each and "compassionate" for your savior.  So as we walk through the stations with Him we suffer with Him.  We should feel our suffering for our sins and our saying no to Him.  Our faith is not built on our feelings... but emotions can be a good thing if directed by faith and true love.  

The Annunciation is a celebration.  Listen to this episode to hear how Jesus picked up His cross on this day and carried it all the way to Calvary.  He was brought into the world to die on the cross for our sins. He suffered on this earth but continued to carry His cross. Pick up your cross and carry it even with all the suffering. 

It is very easy to be a slave to sin.  Penance can help us develop virtues which will help us in self discipline.  The first step is choosing to be free. It is so hard to choose to give up sin.  If the Son frees you then you will truly be free.  We must choose to accept the grace He pours out to us.  If we can open our will even the slightest bit, the grace pours out.  Walk away from temptation and be truly free in Christ.  Listen to this episode to hear more about true freedom from sin.

Jesus stated, "If you do not believe that "I am", then you will die in your sins".  All throughout the gospel we hear over and over again that people are trying to figure out who He is.  Jesus does not come out and say that He is God until His hour as the people would have killed Him.  Listen to this episode to understand directly identifying His divinity and why.  

In today's gospel, the people thought they could trick Jesus.  They were not successful.  God has so much mercy.  Listen to this episode to learn what Jesus says to the woman after the people leave and reflect on something you may not have considered when you have heard or read this gospel in the past.  Penance in lent is not the same as the sacrament of penance.  The sacrament is first about penitence: realizing the sin, rejecting and ammending it.  Jesus' mercy is boundless and so is His justice.

Passiontide, the last two weeks of lent where we walk back in time with Jesus as He walks to His passion.  We cover the statues and the crucifix.  At this point in history, there are no saints yet as Jesus has not opened Heaven and no crucifix as Jesus has not yet been crucified.  Listen to this episode to understand the true meaning of what Passiontide is and how we can benefit this lent by understanding the actual events that are occurring at this very time 2000 years ago. 

There is a lot of talk today about unity.  In the last supper, Jesus talked about being perfectly united.  Another time Jesus stated, "Those who are are not with me are against me" and that applied then and today.  Lent is a time for siding with Jesus.  We do not side with Him when we sin.  We must value Jesus above all.  Lent is a time to repent and love God by keeping His commandments.  Pick up your cross and follow Jesus.  Let's get rid of any divisions between us and Jesus.  

Saint Joseph protected and provided for Mary and Jesus as husband and father. In the self gift of marriage, Mary and Joseph totally gave themselves to each other.  They cooperated with God for the specific and unique way Jesus was received in their family.  Joseph as father to Jesus was a "just man" meaning he fully gave of himself what was due to Jesus. Saint Joseph comes right after Mary in holiness. Listen to this episode to learn more about Saint Joseph.