My dear parishioners, on this Passion Sunday, it will do us good to reflect that suffering is both very personal as well as universal, a sorrowful fact of life in every age and culture. Suffering shatters the powerful strongholds of individual human pride as well as the hubris of mighty nations...

Grace and Peace in the Lord’s Name! My dear parishioners, Lent is a season of grace, a time to grow in the knowledge and love of God.  Every Catholic is given the opportunity to approach the Lord of Glory as he passes by.   As Catholics, God calls us to echo Moses' words of assent, Here am I Lord! and to peer more perfectly through the window of our hearts and be reconciled to Christ crucified. A Christian, ever thirsting for the “spring of water welling up to eternal life”  [Jn 4:14]  must drink from the fountain of grace and mercy flowing from the heart of the Lord of Glory.

My dear parishioners, throughout its history Israel experienced shocking episodes of intellectual and spiritual disintegration. The law painfully illuminated Israel’s shortcomings along the way even as it continued to reassure its people of God’s care in a hostile world. Though a perpetual good, the law failed to achieve Israel’s lasting conversion of heart.