Earlier today, the world learned of the election of Pope Leo XIV, the first Pontiff born in the United States. The pundits were not betting on someone from the United States. Evidently, the Holy Spirit was.
The news of the election of Pope Leo XIV has brought joy to the whole world. In a special way, it has brought joy to the Church in the United States.
We are “ambassadors for Christ”, as St. Paul teaches. As followers of Christ, members of the Church, & members of Legatus, we represent, not a country, but rather the Kingdom of God in our midst.
In these days when we mourn the passing of Pope Francis, and pray for the Cardinals as they choose the next successor of Peter, we have gathered in this Cathedral of Mary Our Queen to choose and to ordain five men to serve the Church as deacons. In so doing, we are acting in accord with a most ancient tradition.
Teresa Ellen “Terry” Brashears, an Annapolis resident who found a second career in fundraising for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, died April 19 from injuries sustained in a car accident in Frederick County. She was 69, and had worked many years in the archdiocesan Advancement Department, most recently as assistant director of the Catholic Community Foundation […]
May this great pilgrim of joy and peace and hope safely reach his destination, the joy of the Kingdom of God that he proclaimed so insistently and effectively. Even as we pray for Pope Francis, may he pray for us that we may proclaim with similar conviction the joy of the Gospel in every community of this Premier See.
I learned this morning with great sadness of the death of Pope Francis. Just yesterday, he greeted the crowds in Rome, as if to say farewell to the People of God whom he loved so dearly and served so devotedly. May his great soul rest in peace.
This, in fact, is the great project of our lives. To die to self and so that even now we can live in that newness of life that Christ’s death and resurrection make possible.
With our hearts glowing still more brightly, we shall then celebrate anew the mystery of the Lord’s death and resurrection by which we are redeemed. In receiving the Body of Christ, we shall taste his victory over sin and death. In receiving the Blood Christ, we shall be washed clean.
Let us now remind ourselves what it is we are doing on this Good Friday. We are making a journey “from desolate bitterness to sweet hope.”
Our eyes of faith see how Jesus more than fulfilled the promise of Exodus. Our liturgy dramatizes how to live as those as who hope and trust in the Lord.
In this Jubilee Year of Hope, we re-affirm our trust and hope in the saving power of the Church’s sacraments, in Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Orders, and the Anointing of the Sick, together with Holy Matrimony, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and above all, the Most Holy Eucharist.
